the auspices of the Harpers, who paid $7500 for the use of the plates and the right to publish 5000 copies. The Conquest of Peru was published in 1847; Philip the Second in 1855-8; and Robertson’s Charles the Fifth in 1856. Mr Prescott died of apoplexy in the sixty-third year of his age.
For his Conquest of Mexico, besides all printed material extant, Mr Prescott drew upon a large mass of new information in manuscript, from several sources, notably from the valuable collection of Muñoz, brought together for an intended history of America; that of Vargas Ponce, obtained chiefly from Seville archives; that of Navarrete, president of the Royal Academy of History at Madrid; and the archives of Cortés’ heirs, all of which shed new light on almost every section of the subject. His deep research, manifest throughout in copious foot-notes, is especially displayed in the very appropriate introduction on Mexican civilization, which enables the reader to gain an intimate knowledge of the people whose subjugation he follows. Good judgment is also attested in the dissertation on the moot question of the origin of this culture, wherein he prudently abstains from any decided conclusions. The fact of occasional inaccuracies cannot be severely criticised when we consider the infirmity under which the author labored. Since his time so great a mass of material has been brought to light that the aspect of history is much changed. This new material consists partly of native records, and it is due to his unacquaintance with these records that a great lack is implied in his pages. The fact that Prescott relied too much on Spanish material may account for the marked bias in favor of the conquerors in many instances where strict impartiality might be expected, and for the condemnatory and reflective assertions which at times appear in direct contradiction to previous lines of thought. At times, as if aware of this tendency, he assumes a calmness that ill fits the theme, giving it the very bias he seeks to avoid. Yet with all this it is safe to say that few histories have been written in which the qualities of philosopher and artist are so happily blended.