The publication in London was offered to John Murray and to the Longmans, and was declined by both. Bentley finally became the London publisher. The work was well received on both sides of the Atlantic; it was translated into several languages, and procured for the author at once a world-wide reputation. The Conquest of Mexico was a worthy outgrowth of so splendid a creation as the Ferdinand and Isabella. The year following the publication of his first work, and after having sent to Spain and Mexico for materials for histories of the conquests of Mexico and Peru, Mr Prescott learned accidentally that Mr Irving was engaged on similar work. He wrote Irving, acquainting him of the fact, and the latter retired gracefully from the field. In 1843 the Conquest of Mexico appeared, under 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