acting on his moods, might show them all, however apparently in contradiction, to be working harmoniously together. It is the superficial judgment that finds inconsistencies in character, simply because it never looks below the surface. The restraints on the mind of Cortés, arising from his duties, his interests, or, it may be, and probably was, from a real conviction of his own temporary deficiencies,-compelling patience, must naturally have brought him wisdom. He saw, from the numerous failures and baffling defeats of the cavaliers around him, that the day had not yet arrived,—that the fruit was not ripe, that there was an accepted season of action, for which courage must be patient. To know "when," is quite as important to achievement as to know "how." Every day sent forth its novel armament from Hispaniola and Cuba. Brave preparations distinguished each adventure,-worthy and valiant cavaliers led the enterprize,—yet how few attained the goal,-how many perished in sad defeat, how many more came back, with ruined health, fame and fortune. The keen, vigilant eye of Cortés, took counsel of strength for the future, as he beheld the weakness of those who went before him. He saw that the hour was yet to come, they had shown that they were not the men for the hour. May we not suppose, knowing, as we do, his career, that, at such moments, with such reflections, a fond but secret emotion in his soul informed him, that the hour and the man were destined to co-operate hereafter in his own patiently-abiding self!

It is said by some of the historians, that his greatness, in spite of the generosity which he showed, or seemed to show, to his companions, was tainted by the miserable vice of avarice, perhaps the meanest and least manly of all vices. To this passion, they allege, are we to ascribe his persevering devotion to his agricultural and commercial pursuits. His liberality to his companions, say they, was only a superior sort of policy, by which he attached them to his person, making them the subservient creatures of his ambition. But the statement involves many contradictions, and assumes for Cortés a variety of passions, all earnest and in action, such as we rarely discover in any person, and which, if in possession of the mind of any man, would be apt to leave him unperforming, a constant victim to the most momentary eapri

Ambition and avarice seldom work together. We are not satisfied that there is not some great mistake in the usu

ally received biography of Marlborough, who is on record for a rare union of these natures, so at conflict,—the one soaring to the summit, the other grovelling at the base of all human appetites and aims. The passions are foes, not twins. There is no affinity between them. The frank, impulsive nature of that sort of ambition which seeks for renown through the medium of arms, is hardly capable of that cold consideration of small gains,-that petty, slavish, matter-ofdetail spirit, which is for realizing the pounds by a constant concern for the pence. Ambition is a thing of large generalization, which usually scorns details, and shrinks, with a sort of disgust, from all servile literalnesses. It looks upward, and not, as Mammon, that "least exalted spirit of heaven," upon the gold of the pavement beneath his feet. If its glance is ever cast below, it is only because, perched like the eagle on some sky-uplifting eminence, there is nothing farther to be sought or seen above.

It would be more easy to believe, in the case of Cortés, that he was not understood by his neighbors. As nobody at this period suspected the great military and statesman-like genius which he possessed, so no one could reasonably determine upon those proceedings in his career, the objects of which were latent, and only determinable by the grand results. It is not easy to look back, after the grand march of a conqueror, and sit in just judgment on his first beginnings. It would not, perhaps, be easy for himself to do so, and determine accurately upon his own motives. We are all so much the creatures of circumstances,-so much led by our own instincts, that we seem motiveless in a thousand movements, when, in fact, we have been impelled by a secret nature, superior to mere worldly deliberation,-a nature which operates like an instinct, with all the energies, and, seemingly, with all the prescience of a god. Doubtless, Cortés worked under some such influences, without well knowing why he worked, and wondering sometimes at his own passivity. Supposing that he conjectured something of his future career, it is natural he should seek the acquisition of fortune,-nay, that he should hoard and secure it with all prudential care, in contemplation of the wondrous enterprizes which lay before him. We find him, when the time for these enterprizes arrived, frankly embarking all of his fortune in their prosecution. Keeping this fact in mind, there will be no difficulty in accounting for the two-fold desire

which he showed, at once to accumulate money, and by the generous use of it at times, to attach his companions to his arms. There is yet another consideration, which needs only to be entertained for an instant, to make it doubtful whether he is justly liable, at any time, to the charge of withholding his resources, or betraying any uncommon or close regard to acquisition. Liberality of mood, like most objects of moral analysis, is a thing of relative respect. Among one set of people, a person shall be held selfish whom another class will esteem as generous in a high degree. Cortés, differing largely from the usual profligacy of Spanish cavaliers, men reckless equally of past, present and to come,might naturally enough suffer from their denunciations, yet deserve no reproach of avarice in any justly-minded community. He certainly differed from themselves, he was no profligate, he respected laws which they despised, he was prudent when they were profligate,-sober when they were intoxicated,-firm when they were wild,--and, consequently, triumphant when they failed.

The circumstance that strikes us, over all, and as wonderfully significant of his character, is the calm, unchanging quiet of his life, during the long period of-as we must regard it-his probation. Believing, as we do, that every great mind has not only some partial knowledge of its own endowments, but some strong presentiments of what are to be its future performances, we are half disposed to ascribe this seeming lethargy, in his career, to a deliberate purpose of self-training and self-preparation, for the work which was before him. No great mind is entirely without a knowledge of its deficiencies. The greatest minds are those who first and most fully discover them. Cortés felt his infirmities of temper. His nature was originally too fierce and intractable. His blood needed schooling. His impetuosity-and this was the disease of Spanish heroism-would have been the greatest impediment to his conquest of Tenochtitlan. It was on. ly by restraining and subjecting his own, that he could hope to subdue the minds of others to his will. Will is not yielded in the attainment of patience. It is strengthened-made consistent, and doubly intense from its habitual compression. If there were no secret suggestions of his own nature, counselling him to this result, the observant thought of Cortés would have received the lesson from instances hourly before his eyes. It was in consequence of this deficient train

ing, that the brave and gallant cavaliers who preceded him in the march of discovery, and helped to prepare his way, suffered all their disasters. He saw them daily returning in poverty and mortification, who had set forth in all the pride and insolence of spirit which characterized the Spanish chivalry at that wondrous period. He saw that it was not from want of skill or deficient courage, or inferior numbers in the field, that they failed,-but of the proper temper, of the adequate reflection, of the decisive judgment, all of which, operating equally upon the minds of one's followers and foes, make victory inevitable and reap certainly its fruits. There were yet other considerations, natural enough to an intellect so well balanced and so greatly endowed as that of Cortés, by which his patience was induced and his career influenced. Conscious that his extreme youth was unfavorable to his claims to command and lead, and unwilling to go upon great enterprizes in a subordinate capacity to those by whom they were most likely to be rendered futile, he preferred to wait upon time, and prepare for the more favorable progress of events. The born-leader of men is always thus content to wait, conscious that his mission cannot be wrested from his hands. It is only your spirit, doubtful of itself and destiny, that is forever forestalling time and hurrying prematurely into the field, for the real dangers of which it has made no preparation. In truth, Cortés had been in the field. from the beginning, even as the race horse is already master of the prize, whose previous training and exercise has made him sure of it, the moment that the time of trial has arrived. In his seclusion, he had been at work. In his retirement he had been making the preliminary conquests which were to secure the greater. His regular habits of industry, his stability of character, his uniform good sense, had secured him friends among the cooler, the more sober and reflective of the population of Cuba and Hispaniola, so that they were all ready to say, when a man was needed for man-work-this is our man! His generosity to his companions, admitted even by those who dwell upon his avarice, had won him other affections among the ardent. He himself was ardent, without being insane. Frank in his deportment, easy of address, ready in his intercourse, unassuming even when firmest, and gracious even when unfamiliar, he had contrived to win golden opinions from all sorts of people. Besides, though as yet quite unknown in a military capacity, he had yet, strange

to say, acquired the popular confidence in his self-possession, fortitude and courage. His conversation, though animated, was always sensible, and one trait, given by Solis, is worthy of being remembered: "He always spoke well of the absent." With a vigorous constitution, unimpaired by dissipation or disease, he was possessed of great physical strength, and accomplished in all martial exercises. His stature was good and well proportioned, active and robust. His chest was broad and prominent,-his countenance clear, bright and intelligent, his beard strong and black,-the expression of his eyes lively and amorous, and, to conclude in a word, and to show the fruits of that period of probation, which, to the careless mind, would seem to have been utterly without fruits, he was a general favorite with both sexes. Verily, we may begin to conclude, that our farmer and merchanthero, so far, has not been working entirely in vain. Let the future speak for itself. We are not to forget, however, among the essential and important qualities in the moral constitution of Cortés, that he entertained an abiding sense of the presence of the Deity in all the concerns and workings of humanity. He was of that earnest, concentrative nature, that all operations of his thoughts were impressed with the serious influences of a deep and still dependent faith. The Deity was always present to his imagination, as a constituent motive in his own proceedings. Like Columbus, even when he wrought in error, he flattered himself that he wrought for truth; and it was in some sort a holy sense of indignation, at the atrocities which he beheld among the pagan nations, in their loathsome worship, that reconciled him on some occasions to his own savage excesses. These were occasional only. Cortés was among the most indulgent of the captains of the time. He was merciful beyond his age, and could forbear to claim its sanction for crime, even when his own performances would seem to have required it. This religious faith which he possessed, it may be remarked, was one of the chief sources of the audacity of his courage. How should he doubt of the result, who, adopting the banner of Constantine, sees, ever visible in its awful folds, the inscription which pious zeal may well assume to embody an encouraging assurance from Christ himself,-"Amici, Crucem sequamur, et in hoc signo vincemus."

Such was Hernan Cortés,-thus prepared, thus encouraged, when it became his part to enter actively upon that