APPENDIX.

Obsequies of Columbus.

THE body of Columbus was deposited in the convent of S. Francisco, and his obsequies were celebrated with funereal pomp in the parochial church of Santa Maria de la Antigua, in Valladolid. His remains were transported, in 1513, to the Carthusian convent of Las Cuevas, at Seville, and deposited in the chapel of Santa Christo. In the year 1536, they were removed to Hispaniola, and interred by the side of the grand altar of the cathedral of the city of San Domingo. But even here they did not rest in quiet. On the cession of Hispaniola to the French in 1795, it was determined by the Spaniards to bear them off to the island of Cuba as precious relics, connected with the most glorious epoch of Spanish history. Accordingly, on the 20th December, 1795, in the presence of an august assemblage of the dignitaries of the church and the civil and military officers, the vault was opened beside the high altar of the cathedral: within were found the fragments of a leaden coffin, a number of bones, and a quantity of mould, evidently the remains of a human body. These were carefully collected, and put into a case of gilded lead, secured by an iron lock; the case was enclosed in a coffin covered with black velvet, and the whole

placed in a temporary mausoleum. On the following day there was another grand convocation at the cathedral: the vigils and masses for the dead were chanted, and a funeral sermon was preached by the archbishop. After these solemn ceremonials in the cathedral, the coffin was transported to the ship, attended by a grand civil, religious, and military procession. The banners were covered with crape; there were chants and responses, and discharges of artillery; and the most distinguished persons of the several orders took turns to support the coffin.

The reception of the body at Havanna was equally august. There was a splendid procession of boats to conduct it from the ship to the shore. On passing the vessels of war in the harbour, they all paid the honours due to an admiral and captain-general of the navy. On arriving at the mole, the remains were met by the governor of the island, accompanied by the generals of the military staff. They were then conveyed in the utmost pomp to the cathedral. Masses and the solemn ceremonies of the dead were performed by the bishop, and the mortal remains of Columbus were deposited in the wall, on the right side of the grand altar, where they still remain.

It is with deep satisfaction that the author of this work is able to close his history with the account of a ceremonial so noble and affecting, and so honourable to the Spanish nation. When we read of the remains of Columbus thus conveyed from the port of San Domingo, after an interval of nearly three hundred years, as sacred national relics, with civil and military pomp, and high religious ceremonial, we cannot but reflect that it was

from this very port he was carried off loaded with ignominious chains, blasted apparently in fame and fortune, and taunted by the revilings of the rabble : such honours, it is true, are nothing to the dead, nor can they atone to the heart, now dust and ashes, for all the wrongs and sorrows it may have suffered; but they speak volumes of comfort to the illustrious yet slandered and persecuted living, encouraging them bravely to bear with present injuries, by showing them how true merit outlives all calumny, and receives its glorious reward in the admiration of after ages.

NOTE. While this abridgment was going to press, the author received a letter from Madrid, mentioning a recent circumstance, which may be of some interest to the reader of this work. The emancipation of the Spanish Colonies in America had stripped the heirs of Columbus of all their property, insomuch that his last direct descendant and representative, the Duke of Veraguas, a young nobleman of worth and talent, was reduced to extreme poverty. He instituted a claim upon the government for indemnification, which has just been allowed. A pension of twenty-four thousand dollars has been assigned him on the revenues of Cuba and Porto Rico. It is a circumstance highly to his credit, that, in the time of his greatest distress, he refused sums that were offered him for various documents in the archives of his family, and particularly for autographs of his illustrious ancestor.

THE END.