vented by the interference of Bishop Quevedo and the Governor's wife. Balboa was permitted, therefore, to remain in the colony, but in great perplexity and under a "cloud of imputation."

At length, letters were received from Spain, written after the news of Balboa's discovery, which changed, completely, the aspect of his fortune. One was from the king himself, to Balboa, informing him how sensible he was of his services, and "appointing him Adelantado of the South Sea, and governor of the provinces of Panama and Coyba, though subordinate to the general command of Pedrarias."

After some dispute in council, and some hesitation on the part of Pedrarias, Balboa was publicly invested with his new honors. The people taking up the idea, that, from the arrangement of things, these two governors could not preserve any harmonious action, began to divide into parties, attaching themselves, as each thought most politic, to one or the other leader. Pedrarias becoming alarmed at the growing popularity of his rival, took the first plausible opportunity which offered, to seize Balboa, and was about to confine him in a wooden cage, when his old friend Bishop Quevedo once more interposed and saved him. At last, to settle all their jealousies, it was agreed to send to Spain for the eldest daughter of Pedrarias, and marry her to Balboa.

This arrangement having been made, Pedrarias became the hearty friend of Balboa, and seconded him in his great undertaking of launching a fleet into the Pacific. This could only be done by transporting the materièl of the vessels across the mountains to the opposite side of the Isthmus. After incredible labour and great sacrifice of life, Balboa effected his object and proudly sailed over those unploughed waters. In the course of his cruizing, he was very near discovering the kingdom of Peru, but his followers, and perhaps himself, became alarmed at the new ocean upon which they were embarked, and returned to port.

Reports having reached Balboa that a new governor had been appointed in the room of Pedrarias, he despatched one in whom he trusted to discover their truth. This man betrayed his trust and represented to Pedrarias that Balboa was conspiring to throw off his allegiance, and that another attachment would prevent him from consummating the intended marriage with his daughter Treachery was heaped upon treachery by all who had ever been excited against Balboa, until the old enmity of Pedrarias was anew awakened.

We now approach the close of this drama. Balboa was entrapped by Pedrarias, charged with a treasonable conspiracy to

throw off all allegiance to the crown and condemned to die. No entreaties could arrest the determined malice of Pedrarias.

"It was a day of gloom and horror at Acla, when Vasco Nuñez and his companions were led forth to execution. The populace were moved to tears at the unhappy fate of a man, whose gallant deeds had excited their admiration, and whose generous qualities had won their hearts. Most of them regarded him as the victim of a jealous tyrant; and even those who thought him guilty, saw something brave and brilliant in the very crime imputed to him. Such, however, was the general dread inspired by the severe measures of Pedrarias, that no one dared to lift up his voice, either in murmur or remonstrance.

"The public crier walked before Vasco Nuñez, proclaiming, This is the punishment inflicted by command of the king and his lieutenant, Don Pedrarias Davila, on this man, as a traitor and an usurper of the territories of the crown.'

"When Vasco Nuñez heard these words, he exclaimed indignantly, 'It is false! never did such a crime enter my mind. I have ever served my king with truth and loyalty, and sought to augment his dominions.'

"These words were of no avail in his extremity, but they were fully believed by the populace.

"The execution took place in the public square of Acla; and we are assured by the historian, Oviedo, who was in the colony at the time, that the cruel Pedrarias was a secret witness of the bloody spectacle, which he contemplated from between the reeds of the wall of a house, about twelve paces from the scaffold.

"Vasco Nuñez was the first to suffer death. Having confessed himself and partaken of the sacrament, he ascended the scaffold with a firm step and a calm and manly demeanour; and laying his head upon the block, it was severed in an instant from his body. Three of his officers, Valderrabano, Botello, and Hernan Muños, were in like manner brought one by one to the block, and the day had nearly expired before the last of them was executed.

"One victim still remained. It was Hernan de Arguello, who had been condemned as an accomplice, for having written the intercepted letter.

"The populace could no longer restrain their feelings. They had not dared to intercede for Vasco Nuñez, knowing the implacable enmity of Pedrarias; but they now sought the governor, and throwing themselves at his feet, entreated that this man might be spared, as he had taken no active part in the alleged treason. The daylight, they said, was at an end, and it seemed as if God had hastened the night, to prevent the execution.

'No,' said

"The stern heart of Pedrarias was not to be touched. he, 'I would sooner die myself than spare one of them.' The unfortunate Arguello was led to the block. The brief tropical twilight was past, and in the gathering gloom of the night the operations on the scaffold could not be distinguished. The multitude stood listening in breathless silence, until the stroke of the executioner told that all was

accomplished. They then dispersed to their homes with hearts filled with grief and bitterness, and a night of lamentation succeeded to this day of horrors.

"The vengeance of Pedrarias was not satisfied with the death of his victim; he confiscated his property and dishonoured his remains, causing his head to be placed upon a pole and exposed for several days in the public square.

"Thus perished, in his forty-second year, in the prime and vigour of his days, and the full career of his glory, one of the most illustrious and deserving of the Spanish discoverers-a victim to the basest and most perfidious envy.

"How vain are our most confident hopes, our brightest triumphs! When Vasco Nuñez from the mountains of Darien, beheld the Southern ocean revealed to his gaze, he considered its unknown realms at his disposal. When he had launched his ships upon its waters, and his sails were in a manner flapping in the wind, to bear him in quest of the wealthy empire of Peru, he scoffed at the prediction of the astrologer, and defied the influence of the stars. Behold him interrupted at the very moment of his departure; betrayed into the hands of his most invidious foe; the very enterprize that was to have crowned him with glory wrested into a crime; and himself hurried to a bloody and ignominious grave, at the foot, as it were, of the mountain from whence he had made his discovery! His fate, like that of his renowned predecessor Columbus, proves, that it is sometimes dangerous even to discern too greatly." pp. 274-276.

The account of Valdivia and his companions is nothing more than a narrative of the adventures of two obscure individuals among the Indians on the coast of Yucatan. They had escaped shipwreck and cannibalism-to which Valdivia and their comrades had fallen victims-only to become savages. They incorporated themselves so thoroughly with the Indians, that when an opportunity offered of returning to Spain, one of them thought it most prudent to decline the offer, as he had not only discoloured his face by the too free use of paint, but had actually tattooed it. The other united himself to Cortez, and rose to some rank under that warrior.

The voyage of Ponce de Leon is more remarkable for the object which induced it, than for the nature of his adventures or the greatness of his discoveries. Having heard of the existence of a fountain, which could renovate youth and give back vigour to the debilitated frame, he, not a whit more credulous than his contemporaries, undertook to hunt it out among the Bahama Islands. In this search, he landed upon a neck of land, so covered with verdure and flowers, that he called it Florida. But old Ponce could find nothing to restore the greenness of youth to his system, and he had the mortification of returning home, a little older and a little the worse for wear, than

when he sailed. He was killed in an after expedition against the Caribs.

This volume will add to the already well-deserved reputation of Mr. Irving. It has the merit, of which so few American books can boast, of going to the bottom of its subject. Its author has not dealt out to us second-hand information, gleaned without labour from some injudicious translator, or prejudiced compiler, but has carefully selected his materials from the very best contemporaneous authorities. By this research into original and authentic documents, he has acquired a fulness and certainty of knowledge, that give to his assertions and discussions, fearlessness and confidence, and to his cominentary and illustrations, grace and vigour.

Mr. Irving stands, as yet, unique in American literature. He is our only writer, whose successive publications have added to his fame. While his contemporaries are fast failing around him, some writing themselves out of popularity by repetition and extravagance, and others not writing at all, he alone continues to interest and instruct, to charm and to improve us. There was a time when we feared that even he was taking a downward flight, but his wing had flagged only for a moment and he soon resumed his proud but solitary elevation. We rejoice to see him, a writer of acknowledged fancy and wit, setting an example of laborious investigation, and careful study, than which nothing is more wanting to our literature. If we continue to neglect and despise severe application and profound learning, our greatest blessing-the inheritance of a rich and varied literature-will become our greatest evil, and the vigorous and polished language, which enshrines the genius of our ancestors, will be to us only a memento of our servile imbecility.

ART. IX.-Harper's Family Library, No. 15. Life and Times of George IV. By the Rev. GEORGE CROLY. With a portrait, complete in one volume, 12mo. New-York. 1831.

PARADOXICAL as it may sound, we do not know that any publications are more honourable to the age in which we live, as shewing its decidedly intellectual character, than the "Family Library," and others of the same class. The collection just mentioned is a series of masterly compositions, upon various subjects, all of them highly interesting, many of them highly useful, addressed expressly to the popular taste of the day, and calculated, by the very low price at which they are sold, to be brought into an unprecedented circulation. The American publishers deserve all praise for their share in this important and beneficent enterprise. These epithets are not at all too lofty. It is an important and beneficent enterprise, if there ever was one, to contribute so essentially to the diffusion of useful knowledge, to the awakening of a just taste in literature, to the maintenance of a high standard of morality, and, finally, to that grand and crowning result, the formation of what is the very life and soul of all our institutions, an enlightened public opinion.

The pursuits, the interests of a people and an age must be highly intellectual, where such enterprises are profitable speculations to the bookseller. We speak in reference to the great Lody of the people. Such books as Bayle's Dictionary and the Encyclopédie were accurate indicia of the studies and tendencies of the times which produced them. The former had upon it the stamp of a learned, the latter of a scientific, and bothso far as the élite of mankind were concerned-of a curious

and philosophic age. But as there was a great deal less of scholastic speculation, and a great deal more of practical utility and the bold spirit of social improvement, in the Encyclopédie, than had appeared in the more learned collections of any previous age, so things have been ever since going on, but with a progress accelerated in a sort of geometrical ratio, in the same way. We do not believe in the march of mind' as some enthusiasts have explained the phrase. We do not believe that any future age will produce better compositions, or more perfect works of art, than adorn the library and the museum of the present day. We do not believe, that all the powers of chemistry and dynamics put together, and combined and developed ten thousand ways, will add a single cubit to the