his family, as his care and attention to the education and advancement
of his nephew, and his memory of relatives in Florence, from whom he
had been so long absent, amply testify."

Finally, the structure which Columbus fain would have raised has
crumbled to ruins, while that built by Vespucci, who labored without
thought of himself, or hope of reward, has been strengthened by the
lapse of time, and will stand so long as the world endures. Vespucci
humbled himself, and was exalted, for the name bestowed upon the
hemisphere which these two were instrumental in revealing to Europe
was suggested by utter strangers to the Florentine--men of penetrating
mind, who perceived an eternal fitness in calling it _America_.

These reflections arise from the fact that, soon after the return of
Vespucci to Seville, he met, and was probably entertained by,
Christopher Columbus. The old Admiral had but recently returned from
his fourth and last voyage to the West Indies, where he had escaped
death by a miracle, and had suffered humiliation at the hands of the
atrocious Ovando. He had come back to Spain to find his friend and
protectress, Isabella, on a bed of death; to encounter the ingratitude
of Ferdinand and meet the charges of his enemies. He was never to make
another voyage until he embarked on that last long journey into the
world unknown.

Broken in fortune, worn by the ills of advancing age, crushed beneath
the calumnies of his foes, Columbus felt the end approaching,
probably, and perhaps looked upon Vespucci as, in a sense, his
successor. At least he perceived that the latter's star was in the
ascendant, for he knew him as a friend of King Ferdinand, who,
mistrustful ever of the man who had discovered a new empire for him to
rule, yet was inclined to favor Vespucci, whose sterling qualities he
appreciated. He had always liked the Florentine for his manly, modest
bearing, his sturdy good sense, his industry, patience, erudition, and
eminent abilities in general. Here was a man who made voyages by which
the pathways were opened to new countries, without stipulating in
advance that he should be rewarded with the admiralty of the Ocean
Sea, without bargaining for the viceroyship of the countries he
discovered, or for a tenth of all their resources and trade. He seemed
to have no thought of himself, so absorbed was he in performing a work
which, he had every reason to believe, would redound to the honor of
the land he was born i