Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/257

MARRIAGE OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 113 rente, torn. i. p. 382.) But Las Casas entertained too hearty an aversion for the man, whom he publicly accused of rapacity and cruelty, and was too decidedly op- posed to his ideas on the govern- ment of the Indies, to be a fair critic. Oviedo, though somewhat loose and rambling, possessed ex- tensive stores of information, by which those who have had occa- sion to follow in his track have liberally profited. The work with which we are concerned, is his Quincuagenas. It is entitled " Las Quincuagenas de los generosos 6 ilustres 6 no menos famosos Reyes, Principes, Duques, Marqueses y Condes et Caballeros, et Personas notables de Espaila, que escribio el Capitan Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdez, Alcaide de sus Magestades de la Fortaleza de la Cibdad e Puerto de Sancto Domingo de la Isla Espa- fiola, Coronista de las Indias," &;c. At the close of the third volume is this record of the octogenarian au- thor; " Acab6 de escribir de mi mano este faraoso tractado de la nobleza de Espaiia, domingo 1° dia de Pascua de Pentecostes XXIII. de mayo de 1556 aiios. LausDeo. Y de mi edad 79 ailos." This very curious work is in the form of dialogues, in which the author is the chief interlocutor. It con- tains a very full, and, indeed, pro- lix notice of the principal persons in Soain. their lineage, revenues, and arms, with an inexhaustible CHAPTEK fund of private anecdote. The m. author, who was well acquainted ■ — with most of the individuals of note in his time, amused himself, daring his absence in the New World, with keeping alive the images of home by this minute record of early reminiscences. In this mass of gossip, there is a good deal, indeed, of very little value. It contains, however, much for the illustration of domestic manners, and copious particulars, as I have intimated, respecting the charac- ters and habits of eminent person- ages, which could have been knovm only to one familiar with them. On all topics of descent and herald- ry, he is uncommonly full ; and one would think his services in this department alone, might have secured him, in a land where these are so much respected, the honors of the press. His book, however, still remains in manuscript, appar- ently little known, and less used, by Castilian scholars. Besides the three folio volumes in the Royal Library at Madrid, from which the transcript in my pos- session was obtained, Clemencin, whose commendations of this work, as illustrative of Isabella's reign, are unqualified, (Mem.de la Acad, de Hist., torn. vi. Ilust. 10.) enu- merates three others, two in the king's private library, and one in that of the Academy. VOL I. 15