Page:The life of Christopher Columbus.djvu/86

62 the assiduous attentions of the sons of Nicolao Espindola, and he paid their benevolence with immortality, in transmitting to us the obscure names of these estimable merchants.

Dating from his sojourn in Lisbon, except some short phases, the principal events of his life are shown us in an uninterrupted order, and remain fully open to investigation. Properly speaking, it is here his history commences.

After his almost miraculous landing in Portugal, the first fact we notice connected with him concerns his habits of piety. His edifying assiduity in its offices had as a consequence the great event of his life, which was the propitious occasion of his genius becoming developed, his comparative faculties enlarged, his being confirmed in his vocation, and of his holding communications with the learned and the great of the earth.

Columbus having then finished his thirty-third year, had attained the completion of his physical vigor and of his intellectual endowments. His tall stature gave his robust constitution a manly elegance, which naturally assorted with his character. His long visage presented a pure oval. Although his cheek bones were high, his rounded cheeks softened their contours. The noble largeness of his forehead indicated that of his thought. In his light blue eyes there beamed a limpid serenity. His nose was aquiline. Some freckles on his cheeks gave his ruddy complexion an animated cast. Under the influence of a sole thought for three years, his hair, which was blond, inclining to chestnut, began to turn gray.

His airs in natural relation with his gestures, and his gestures so conformable to his stature, formed a perfect union between his physical and his moral constitution. His mien and manners revealed an innate dignity that could not be doubted. Nothwithstanding his modest exterior, he could nowhere pass without being noticed.