Page:The life of Christopher Columbus.djvu/58

34 Enriquez, nor a doubt raised on the legitimacy of his second son. The idea of such an accusation did not occur to his enemies. After his death, no trace of it is found anywhere. It is not seen in any cotemporary author; it is never found in any Spanish author. Now, it was the part of Spain, rather than that of Italy, to know the civil status of Columbus. In Italy, even, during more than three hundred years, no such accusation is found. Not only do historians not accuse him of an illicit connection, but they formally speak of his marriage; and the gravest among them, and especially Tiraboschi, assert that he espoused Beatrix Enriquez in his second marriage.

No impediment was opposed to their union. She whom Humboldt is pleased to call "a beautiful lady of Cordova," was a maiden, and free from every engagement. The great poverty and the plebeian condition of Beatrix Enriquez, which Spotorno brings into notice to show there were obstacles, are both material errors.

The want of fortune could not have stopped Columbus. At this period, what was he himself as regarded Spain? A foreign geographer without influence, a widower charged with a child, drawing charts to gain a livelihood. In his first marriage in Portugal, if he had met with beauty, birth and virtue, assuredly he did not gain riches. Father Spotorno draws from the will of Columbus his proof that Beatrix was very poor, because he enjoins his heir to give her a pension. Intrinsically, this proof is without value. But we find, on the contrary, the denial of this fact in a circumstance relative to the execution of this testamentary behest. During the first years, Beatrix Enriquez received annually a pension of ten thousand maravedis at her dwelling-house in Cordova. Afterwards, the payments were irregular, but she did not demand them. When the