280 ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS
All the qualities of the truly great man were combined in Colum-
bus : genius, work, patience ; obscurity of condition vanquished by
strength of nature ; steadfastness, gentle but inflexible to the end •
resignation to the will of Heaven, wrestling with the world, long-
brooding thought in solitude, heroic execution of thought in action
intrepidity and coolness against the elements in tempests and against
death in rebellions, confidence in the star—not of man, but of human-
ity ; life hazarded with temerity and without looking behind
him, in casting himself Into that unknown and phantom-crowded
ocean, a Rubicon of 1500 leagues, far more irrepassable than that of
Caesar ! A fitness, nobility, and dignity of outward form which
revealed the greatness of his soul and enchained the eyes and minds of
all; language harmonising with the elevation of his thoughts ; an
eloquence which convinced kings and subdued the seditious spirit of
his crews ; an immense, ardent, and active love of humanity; the
wisdom of a legislator and the mildness of a philosopher In the
administration of his colonies ; a paternal compassion for the
Indians ; forgetfulness of injuries, majesty of pardon towards his
enemies ; a constant presence of God in the mind, of justice in the
conscience, of pity in the heart; gratitude in success, resignation in
suffering, adoration everywhere and always—such was Columbus.
We know of no man more perfect. He contained In his sole self
several men. He was worthy of personifying the ancient world
before that unknown world which he was the first to enter, and to
bear to the men of another race all the virtues of the old continent
without any of its vices. No one by the grandeur of his Influence has
better deserved the name of the Civiliser.
His influence on civilisation was without limit. He completed
the universe ; he perfected the physical oneness of the globe. It was
his to advance, far beyond what had been done before him, the work
of God, the moral unity of the human race. The work in which Colum-
bus thus co-operated was too grand to be recompensed by the im-
position of his name on the fourth continent of the earth. America does
not bear his name ; mankind, brought together and re-united through
his labours, shall bear it over all the globe. Alphonse de Lamartine
Pursuing Fame
ONCE in the keen pursuit of fame
I, schoolboy-like, pursued a bubble ;
But death, before I gained a name,
Stepped in and saved a world of trouble.
By Sir Walter Scott's friend John Ley den
The Widow's Bong
QLEEP, little darling, sleep ;
O God watch o'er thee.
Thou'rt all that's left i'th world
To comfort me. Edwin Waugh