In the third and concluding volume of the History of Central America will be more fully presented the social, industrial, and political condition of the country in the nineteenth century, particularly at the transitional epoch following the achieving of independence from Spain, and immediately afterward. Twice during the sixteenth century did Spain narrowly escape the loss of her richest territories by rebellion. Twice during the eighteenth did British armaments threaten to overthrow her dominion in the New World. And now, at the close of the latter century, the Spaniards of Central America, goaded by heavy and unjust taxation, and by the vexatious restrictions imposed on the trade of the colonies, stimulated, moreover, by the success with which the republic of the west had thrown off the yoke of England, and by the brilliant career which the great republic of Europe had achieved under the dazzling leadership of the first Napoleon, were already ripe for revolution. Spain meanwhile is about to reap the reward of nearly three centuries of misrule. Through her indifference the commerce of the western hemisphere had long since fallen into the hands of foreigners; and her colonies no longer desired to maintain their connection with the mother country, from which they had nothing to gain, and with whose interests they had little in common.

For the history of the colonial period of the Central American provinces, especially that portion immediately following the conquest, when, a secure foothold having been gained by the Spaniards, gradual exploration and settlement completed their subjugation, the data supplied by the earlier Spanish chroniclers and official reports are abundant; but the evidence from these sources is, in some respects, so incomplete and contradictory, that it is only after an examination of the numerous valuable collections of original documents brought to light in modern times, that the student is able to fix with precision the true character and sequence of events. The standard general historians of the sixteenth century, such as Bernal Diaz, Gomara, Oviedo, and Las Casas, give us but little information concerning Central America after 1530; and in consequence the special accounts of individuals like Gage, Benzoni, and Andagoya, not to mention the writings of the buccaneers, with occasional special efforts of a time or place like those of Reynolds, and of Fuentes y Guzman, followed by Juarros, and all supplemented by documents, assume paramount importance, and become the chief sources of historic material for this epoch.

The founding and subsequent progress of the church in this territory are traced in a general way by its representative chroniclers, Motolinia, Mendieta, Torquemada, and Fernandez, until Remesal and Vazquez, chroniclers respectively of the Dominican and Franciscan orders in Central America, profiting by the labors of the former, and adding some original research, bring the history of the church down to the end of the seventeenth century. Some attempt is also made by the last two writers to follow the political history, but only in a desultory way.

The first special history to be written was that of Fuentes y Guzman, containing much original matter, but not generally reliable. The manuscript was never published, but was used by Juarros. Later appeared the pamphlet of Cadena, devoted entirely to a description of the destruction of Guatemala City, and about the same time Escamilla compiled from official sources a list of governors and bishops and of the more important historical events, and gave a special account of the destruction of Guatemala City.

Without the valuable collections of Squier, Pacheco and Cárdenas, Cartas de Indias, Ternaux-Compans, Arévalo, Icazbalceta, and Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos, the result of modern research, the history of this territory from 1531 to 1800 would be meagre indeed. These collections, special notices of nearly all of which I have already given, contain almost numberless official letters and reports, which were either unknown or inaccessible to early writers. Prominent among them all is what has been called the Squier collection, consisting mostly of manuscripts, and which fell to my collection by purchase after the death of Mr Squier. It consists of extracts and copies of letters and reports of audiencias, governors, bishops, and various government officials, taken from the Spanish archives at Madrid and from the library of the Spanish Royal Academy of History, mostly under the direction of the indefatigable collector Mr Buckingham Smith. Many rare and valuable documents relating to Central America, including numerous letters and reports of Las Casas, are also to be found in the voluminous collection of Pacheco and Cárdenas, and, though fewer in number, in that of Ternaux-Compans.

In the absence of any early local chronicler, and by reason of the neglect of those who came later, many of the records have been lost. The only portions of those published are to be found in the collections of Arévalo, which are indispensable to the local history of Guatemala, though evidently not complete, and containing some omissions owing to the apparent illegibility of the originals. The second of these collections, Coleccion de Documentos Antiguos de Guatemala, published in Guatemala in 1857, contains, besides the grants of the coat of arms and privileges to the city of Guatemala, and memorials and reports of the city council from 1537 to 1782, a few letters of Alvarado and Bishop Marroquin, some without date, not found elsewhere.

The work of Remesal, though published in Madrid, was the first one written in Guatemala. In connection with the special history of the Dominican order and a general account of the church, considerable political history is given, though in a desultory manner. This author was the first to make use of the archives of Guatemala, but in the presentation of this original matter much carelessness is shown. Las Casas, the Dominican order, and the natives are his favorite topics, and events are colored accordingly. A century later, deeming his order neglected by Remesal, the Franciscan chronicler Vazquez issued his work. Borrowing much from Remesal and other writers for the earlier epoch, he continued the history of the church down to the end of the seventeenth century, giving also, as that author had done, the political history in a disconnected form. With the same facilities as regards original sources Vazquez makes better use of them than Remesal, but while exposing the errors of his rival he falls into others equally great, displaying a narrow-minded prejudice against the natives, while fanatically defending their oppressors. Remesal and Vazquez are at variance on many points of church history, but on none more than the missionary labors of their respective orders. Each claims for his order the honor of first entering the missionary field in this quarter, but neither makes good his pretensions.

The next work to appear was that of Juarros, which, having absorbed that of Fuentes y Guzman, was the first published of what might be called a history of Guatemala. Notwithstanding his access to original documents, Fuentes y Guzman committed many errors which were unwittingly copied by Juarros. With the aid of subsequent research, however, these errors are readily detected, Juarros still remaining the leading historian of Central America, though owing to the greater importance of Guatemala as the seat of government, the greater portion of the work is taken up with the history of this province. In fact this is the only comprehensive history extant of Guatemala and its adjoining provinces, while the other portions of Central America make scarcely any pretext to the possession of a history. From no other source can the writer obtain connected accounts of their conquest and settlement, description of towns, early resources, and lists of officials and biographies of prominent men. Of the Spanish writers he is also one of the most impartial, even in matters pertaining to the church, though he was one of its ministers. Nevertheless, Juarros is in many respects incomplete. He has failed in a lamentable degree to present anything like the true political, social, and moral condition of the people, or the development of the country during this period; and for the conquest and early colonial epochs there is a manifest lack of study and research. Noting these defects, Pelaez in his Memorias attempted to supply them, and has succeeded in a measure. Arranged in a clear concise form, under their appropriate headings, and with corresponding references, the student will find collected all the evidence presented on the different subjects by nearly all of the earlier and modern authors of note; to which is added the testimony from a large number of original documents overlooked or neglected by his predecessors. But while the history of Guatemala for the latter colonial period is comparatively complete, that of the remaining provinces of Central America, as I have intimated, is but a meagre outline, dependent for the most part on occasional documents. Among the modern authorities composed chiefly of English, French, and German, but a brief historical review is given of this period, a mere compilation from well known works, which serve as an introduction to narratives of travel, or books describing the different provinces and their resources.

A peculiar feature of Central American bibliography is the buccaneer literature, here being the principal scene of the piratical operations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The total absence of any Spanish work on this subject has left the field open to the English, French, and Dutch, whose accounts of the exploits of their countrymen on the Spanish main are not always impartial.

Preceding this class of literature and closely allied to it, owing to the spirit of adventure and the geographical knowledge which it diffused, are the numerous accounts of voyages made for the purposes of trade, exploration, or discovery in this part of the world. Some of these I will here notice; though in truth many of them relate as much to other sections of my work as to Central America, or even more.

Complete as is the Raccolta of Ramusio and like collections, in reproducing the leading voyages up to its time, a large number of minor narratives remained unnoticed, while others stood briefly recorded upon mere hearsay in the writing of others. This deficiency had been observed by Antonio Galvano in earlier collections, and his effort to repair it gave rise to the first comprehensive history of voyages. Born at Lisbon in 1503, Galvano left at the age of twenty-four for the Indies, where he was intrusted with the conquest and government of the Moluccas. Of this he remained in charge for six or seven years, distinguishing himself both as a just and benevolent ruler, and as a zealous proselytizer. His unselfish conduct served only to attract calumny and to reduce him to poverty, so much so that he had to seek refuge in the royal hospital at Lisbon, where he died in 1557. His undoubted talent had been fostered by extensive reading, particularly of narratives of voyages. While so employed he kept notes with a view to form an outline of the progress of navigation and discovery, which should serve as introductory to a collection. During the latter part of his life, while suffering under the ban of royal displeasure, he found ample time to perfect these researches, and at his death a friend, Francisco de Sousa Tavares, was intrusted with the papers. Among these appears to have been a history of the discovery and resources of the Moluccas, a manuscript in ten books, according to Faria, of which Pinelo says: "Por no haverle visto, duda, si permanece." Epitome, ii. 636. De Sousa caused the treatise under consideration to be published at Lisbon in 1563, under the title of Tratado que compōs o nobre e notauel capitão Antonio Galuão de todos os descobrimentos antigos e modernos que são feitos á era de mil e quinhentos e cincoenta, with a dedication to the duke of Aveiro, wherein he records Galvano's many services, and comments on their poor recognition. Mention has been made of a duodecimo edition of 1555, but this must be a mistake, to judge by Sousa's preface to the edition of 1563. Of this only three copies are known to exist, one owned by Mr John Carter Brown, of Providence, from whom the Hakluyt Society obtained a copy, printed as a running foot-note to their reissue of Hakluyt's version, under the editorship of Admiral Bethune. The latter is called The Discoveries of the World from their first originall vnto the yeere 1555, by Antonie Galvano, Londini, 1601, to be found also in the reprint of Hakluyt's Voyages, and in Churchill's Collection, while Purchas gives it in reduced form. The Portuguese copy was reprinted at Lisbon in 1731. Hakluyt explains in the dedication to Sir Robert Cecil that his publication thereof was intended as an introductory to his own work, and was made from an old manuscript translated by an English merchant. In order to modify the "manifold errours" therein, Hakluyt took pains to consult Spanish works for the corrections and additions which are to be noticed in this version. The treatise goes back to the discovery voyages related by Chinese, Greek, and Latin writers, and brings the concise record for every region of the globe, in chronologic order, down to 1550. The East India voyages are partly from his own notes, while other contemporary expeditions are derived from the chroniclers. The pre-Columbian period occupies only a little over one fourth of the text, and shows the want of access to material revealed by subsequent investigations in different countries. The later period is pretty complete for Spanish and Portuguese voyages, considering the tardiness with which occurrences were published. Hakluyt, while regretting that English voyages are "scarce fower times mentioned," admits that at the time "there was little extant of our men's trauailes." Muñoz speaks slightingly of Galvano, saying "compendia infelizmente" what others have done more fully. Whatever its defects, the treatise was certainly a most valuable contribution to the subject, and is still highly important as one of the first essays toward a history of voyages.

Among those who followed Ramusio's example of collecting and publishing narratives of voyages and travels stands pre-eminent Richard Hakluyt, whose work was remarkable not only as the first but as the most valuable in English for the originality and rarity of its narratives, particularly those relating to America. When Hakluyt began his studies Eden's Historie of Travayle, containing translations from Martyr and Oviedo, was the only English book extant on maritime discovery. Nor was much known abroad of English voyages, partly because the traders preferred to keep their own counsel. Hakluyt's perusal of foreign collections, and his private researches, showed him, however, that the English had performed deeds worthy of being recorded, and he was fired with ambition to make them public.

Hakluyt belonged to a good Herefordshire family, settled at Yatton, which had for centuries held a leading position in the county. After passing through Westminster school as a queen's scholar, he was in 1570, at the age of 17, elected to Christ Church college, Oxford, and took the degree of B. A. four years later; that of M. A. being obtained after three years' further study. While yet a boy he had been directed by a cousin to the study of geography and navigation, which henceforth became his favorite pursuit. So well did he use his opportunity at Oxford, where he also mastered several languages for his studies, that he appears to have been appointed lecturer on cosmography. In the dedication to Walsingham of the first edition of his collection he says: "I in my publike lectures was the first that produced and shewed both the olde and imperfectly composed and the new lately reformed mappes, globes," etc. Between 1584 and 1589 he held the post of chaplain to the embassy at Paris, and while there pursued actively his researches, besides publishing narratives of voyages in French and English. In 1590 he obtained a rectory in Suffolk County, on the strength of which he married four years later, and in 1605 he succeeded Dr Webster as prebendary of Westminster abbey. Dying November 23, 1616, he was buried in St Peter's of this abbey, leaving to his son a fair estate which was soon squandered. Although interested in Raleigh's patent for making discoveries, and forming one of the chief adventurers in the company for the colonization of Virginia, he took no other share in maritime projects than to promote them by his writings. His devotion to researches was so great that he once rode two hundred miles to meet the only survivor of Hare's disastrous voyage. He corresponded with Ortelius and Mercator, and received the friendly encouragement of Walsingham, Cecil, Admiral Howard, Drake, and others. His first publication was Divers Voyages touching the Discoverie of America and the Islands adiacent, London, 1582, dedicated to Philip Sydney. Of the original only five copies are supposed to exist, from one of which the Hakluyt Society issued a reprint in 1850, under the editorship of John Winter Jones, of the British Museum, who prefaces it with a valuable review of Hakluyt's life and writings. The several narratives refer to the north-east and north-west passages, the East Indies, and the east coast of North America. A curious map herein of conic projection shows the North American continent extending to about latitude 46°, where the California peninsula connects with a range called Sierra Neuada, running latitudinally. Above 46° all is open ocean, bordered on the east, however, by a strip of land connected with Florida by a narrow isthmus, and extending to Cape Labrador. The northern part of California bears the name Quiviri, the southern (Cape) California, and the central part S. Croce (Santa Cruz). On the mappemonde the Tierra del Fuego forms part of a great antarctic continent. While at Paris, Hakluyt caused to be published in French an account of Florida, from a manuscript found by him, and this was issued the following year, 1587, in English, as A notable historie containing foure voyages unto Florida, both versions dedicated to Raleigh, with an exhortation to prosecute the colonization of Virginia. The same year he published at Paris an improved edition of Martyr's De orbe novo which some years later was translated into English by M. Lock. In 1589 appeared the first instalment of the great work The principall navigations, voiages and discoveries of the English nation made by sea or over land, a folio, dedicated to Sir Francis Walsingham. It is divided into three parts, relating respectively to Asia and Africa, to the north and north-east of Europe and Asia, and to America, including Drake's voyage. Nine years later he published the first volume of a new edition of his collection, followed in 1599 and 1600 by two more volumes, in none of which reference is made to the first issue. They are fine specimens of black-letter type, with marginals and headpieces, but with the prefaced Latin text, headings, and names in roman type and italics. The first volume is dedicated to Lord Howard as a tribute to the patriotic services of the family, and in recognition of the favors received by Hakluyt and his brother; the others to Sir Robert Cecil, secretary of state. They are properly a rearranged enlargement of the first issue, volume i. containing voyages toward the north and north-east of England; volume ii. to the Mediterranean and Africa; and volume iii. to America, including several voyages by foreigners to parts not visited by the English. The narratives are generally in the language of the narrator, and in the first two volumes their order is chronologic; but in the American section they are grouped under different geographic headings. This opens with the dubious voyage of Madoc in 1170, and continues with expeditions to the extreme northern parts of the continent, chiefly with reference to the north-west passage. The region between Canada and Florida comes next, followed by explorations toward New Mexico and California, and in Mexico; then the Antilles and Central America, succeeded by a series of groups for South America, the whole concluding with circumnavigations and voyages directed to the South Sea. In the dedication to the third volume Hakluyt says: "Now because long since I did foresee, that my profession of diuinitie, the care of my family, and other occasions might call and diuert me from these kinde of endeauors, I have for these 3 yeeres last past encouraged and furthered in these studies of Cosmographic and forren histories, my very honest, industrious, and learned friend Mr Iohn Pory." Profiting by this training, Pory in 1600 issued a translation of Leo's History of Africa. Others were similarly directed to geographical research, among them Parke who issued a translation of a history of China, and Erondelle who published a part of Lescarbot's Histoire de la Nouvelle France. Hakluyt himself continued to devote to his favorite subject the little leisure remaining, and left enough manuscript to have added a fourth volume to his collection; but coming into Purchas' hands they were abridged for his Pilgrimes. Some of them were evidently prepared for the guidance of the East India Company, which had not failed to consult the renowned cosmographer, without whose advice few maritime enterprises were then undertaken. In 1601 he issued a translation of Galvano's Discoveries of the World, and in 1609 his last book, a translation of Soto's Discoveries in Florida, with the main object of encouraging the Virginia colony. Virginia is greatly indebted to Hakluyt, and the maritime enterprise of England in general was much promoted by his personal application and writings. Robertson adds that to him "England is more indebted for its American possessions than to any man of that age." A reprint of all Hakluyt's works was issued in five volumes quarto in 1809-12, by R. Evans, only 325 copies being printed. The fifth volume, issued in a larger edition, is entitled A Selection of Curious, Rare, and Early Voyages, and Histories of Interesting Discoveries, Chiefly Published by Hakluyt, but not included in his Compilation; London, 1812, 807 pp., and is really a supplement to Hakluyt and Purchas, offering reprints of documents touching different parts of the globe, as Galvano's Discoveries, The Historie of the West Indies by Martyr, from Lock's translation of Hakluyt's version, and several others, chiefly relating to Asia. Hakluyt's works stand an enduring monument to well earned fame, and his spirit, after influencing contemporary enterprise, continued to animate the nation, and to assume embodiment in the Hakluyt Society, which has for its aim to continue the labors that have done so much for literature and science.

Among foreign writers influenced by Hakluyt's exhortation and example may be mentioned Theodore De Bry, the engraver of Frankfort. The opportunity afforded him in his profession to become acquainted with and to collect works relating to voyages and conquests, had not failed to awaken an interest for the subject. But a visit to Hakluyt, then engaged upon his collection, gave a decided impulse to his ideas, and being a man of enterprise he forthwith engaged editors, and in 1590 began publishing, simultaneously in Latin, German, and French, the famous Collection des Grands et Petits Voyages, referring respectively to the new and old worlds, the larger size of the volumes for America giving rise to the title. Under the supervision of his sons and other members of the family, the collection was continued after his death, in 1598, till completed in its fortieth year. The numerous reprints of volumes and sets during this interval, with more or less changes, have given no little trouble to collectors in search of the complete issue. Formed without critique, it is remarkable rather as a convenient set and as a bibliographic curiosity, wherein the engravings constitute the main attraction, then for geographic value, since most of the narratives had already been published in better form, and have been reproduced in later works.

De Bry's set proved a fertile source in text and engravings for compilers, and among them Gaspar L. Ens, the author of several individual European travels, and one of the editors employed by De Bry, who issued the Indiæ Occidentalis Historia, Coloniæ, 1612. On the same plan as Ens', but on a larger scale, and partly based upon it, is the Newe Welt Vnd Americanische Historien, Franckfurt, 1631, reprinted 1655, folio. The author, Johann Ludwig Gottfriedt, whose proper name appears to be Jean Philippe Abelin, was also an editor of De Bry, and wrote several works, one of them being the "Archontologia Cosmica, que es Farrago de diversos Autores, sin distinguir lo cierto de lo dudoso." Pinelo, Epitome, tom. iii. pp. 1288. It is also called a translation of D'Avity's Les etats. Gottfriedt naturally sets up a claim for his Newe Welt to be compiled from leading writers, without referring to De Bry, who no doubt supplied the material for the text as well as the plates. De Bry, says Brunet, Manuel, tom. ii. p. 1674, "a abrégé des douze premières parties de la collection." The plates, which are perhaps the most interesting part of the volume, have been selected chiefly from the nude and the curious, such as Indians driving whales, playing with mermaids, or hunting semi-human beasts. The arrangement of the text shows no improvement upon Ens, but the third section differs in being more of a supplement to both the preceding parts.

Hakluyt's unpublished papers, failing to attain their destined object, accomplished a wider result by giving rise to the larger collection of Samuel Purchas; for it was their possession that gave impulse to a work so much needed, both to fill the gaps of the former and to narrate the numerous expeditions which had taken place since its date. The precursor of the work was Pvrchas his Pilgrimage, or Relations of the World and the Religions observed in all Ages and Places, London, 1613, dedicated to the archbishop of Canterbury. It was reprinted in 1614, and soon reached several editions, the fourth, 1626, being dedicated to King Charles, who had deigned to inquire for it, and whose royal father had read it seven times, as the author proudly announces. This object of kingly delight claims to be a compilation from over thirteen hundred authors, which are decidedly well represented in the numerous marginals, and gives a review in nine books of the social condition and the institutions of the nations in Asia, Africa, and America, particularly the religious feature, with some reference to political history. Beginning with the Mosaic creation it takes up the nations of south-east Asia, of the East Indies and China, and reaches Africa in the sixth book. The last two are devoted to the New World, whose physical and natural features receive two chapters, followed by the general description of the region above Florida in five chapters, while the eighth is given to the country west of this, and the next six to New Spain. The fifteen chapters of book nine cover South America and the Antilles, the last being an attack on Spanish cruelty and maleconversion. Three parts similar to this volume were promised, the second to relate to Europe, and the others to continue the subject for the four divisions of the world; but the necessary aid was withheld, as Purchas hints in an address to the Pilgrimes, and wherein he attempts a pun upon his name by intimating that Europe cannot now be purchased. The project had evidently to yield to others, as Microcosmus, or the History of Man, 1619, and to the great collection which soon engrossed his whole attention. Purchas was like Hakluyt a preacher, but of the rival university of Cambridge, trained at St John College, as he states in the dedicatory to volume iii. He attained the degree of bachelor of divinity, conferred also by Oxford in 1615. In 1604 he assumed charge of a vicarage in his native county of Essex, but was soon called by his literary researches to London, where he fell into difficulties, and had recourse to lecturing and to friends. Finally Bishop King came to his aid with means to prosecute the publication of his work, and by conferring upon him the rectory of St Martins. Purchas expresses his gratitude for these favors in the opening address to volume i., wherein he speaks of "my decessed Patron Doctor King, ... to whose bountie vnder God, I willingly ascribe my life, deliuered from a sickly Habitation, and consequently (as also by opportunities of a London Benefice) whatsoeuer additions in my later Editions of my Pilgrimage; these present Pilgrimes also." In the dedication of the Pilgrimage to the archbishop, he signs himself his chaplain, which may be a figurative expression. He is generally supposed to have died in poverty, and even in prison; but the title-page portrait of 1625, at the age of forty-eight, presents him as a sleek, contented-looking preacher, with a full though not large beard; and the several editions of the Pilgrimage would indicate that he had prospered up to that time at least. According to Wood he died in his own house about 1628. In 1625 appeared Haklvytvs Posthumus or Pvrchas his Pilgrimes. Contayning a History of the World, in Sea voyages & lande-Trauells. Imprinted at London for Henry Fetherston. In four parts or volumes, folio, each dedicated to a different personage. The first title-page is filled with emblematic designs, and portraits of princes and great men, among them Purchas, at the foot, between two hemispheres, with his anagram of "Pars sva Celvm." The other title-pages are all headed Pvrchas his Pilgrimes, and this quaint name the author sustains to some extent by opening the dedication to Prince Charles with: "May a poore Pilgrime salute Your Highnesse in the words of a better Samvel." Directly afterward, however, he assumes another higher role in "hauing out of a Chaos of confused intelligences framed this Historicall World, by a New way of Eye-evidence;" and then he begins to lose himself in an attempt at magniloquent phraseology, with no great promise for his power to bring order out of chaos. Later he declares himself a mere laborer "howsoeuer here a Masterbuilder also," doing everything with his own hands, except where aided by his son. The manuscripts left by Hakluyt, although forming a very small proportion of the book, "encouraged me to vse my endeuours in and for the rest," he gratefully observes. The printing of the work began in 1621, although not with volume i. The first of the twenty books into which the set is divided, treats of ancient navigation, progress of discovery, and religious phases. The second begins with Portuguese and Columbian voyages, and continues with circumnavigations, after which come the regular narratives of voyages, chiefly by Englishmen, interspersed with extracts from notable journals and histories, with a view to cover subjects and periods not otherwise disposed of. Volumes i. and ii. relate almost wholly to Asia, Africa, and the Levant, and also the next two books, while books iii. and iv., following, deal partly with north-west voyages, beginning with Zeno. Book v. gives extracts from Herrera, Oviedo, Acosta, and Cortés, which chiefly concerns Mexico, and a part of vi. touches the Isthmus, but the main portion of this and the next book are occupied with South America. Book viii. is divided between Mexico and the country northward to Virginia, which latter takes up the whole of ix. The last book is shared among New England, Newfoundland, and the English expeditions against Spain. Altogether the arrangement is as confusing as the text, and in both respects far inferior to Hakluyt's; nor is the work as complete as might have been expected. In the attempt to introduce foreign narratives the limits of space were overstepped, to the prejudice of other accounts, which were often injudiciously condensed. Pinkerton remarks, somewhat too severely, I think, that Purchas directed his utmost attention to "selecting the most useless parts of the unhappy authors." Col. Voy., vol. i. p. iv.

Purchas' labors found recognition abroad in the well known Relation de divers voyages, Paris, 1663-96, 5 parts, by Melchisedech Thévenot, formed mainly with a view to reproduce the best portions of Hakluyt and his successor, while adding some unpublished narratives. Thévenot appears to have been particularly well fitted for such undertakings. A savant, and somewhat of a diplomatist, he was for eight years in charge of the Royal Library at Paris, dying at his post in 1692, at the age of 71. The selection of his material gives evidence of good judgment; yet the arrangement and other points may be questioned.

Another reproduction, and a continuation of the two great English collections, was offered some years later by John Harris, Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca: or, a Compleat Collection of Voyages and Travels; London, 1705, 2 vols, folio, with copper-plates and maps. One of its chief aims being to repair the many omissions that had become apparent in the original works, the first volume is devoted to the same period as Purchas' collection, while introducing a number of additional voyages. Its five books refer respectively to circumnavigation, to Asia, to Africa, to the north and north-east parts of the globe, and to America, the latter embracing one third more narratives than Purchas. The mappemonde places the strait of Anian above the island of California, but on the American map this is not marked. The second volume, relating to voyages and travels after this time, chiefly by Englishmen, is less distinct and careful in its arrangement. Books i. and ii. cover Russia, Asia, and the Levant; book iii., Europe; and book iv., America. The latter includes only the buccaneer expeditions, Dampier's voyage, and explorations in the Mississippi and Canada regions. A varied appendix concludes the volume. According to Green, of the Astley collection, John Harris, who is styled an A. M., and Fellow of the Royal Society, had little or nothing to do with the work besides writing the introductory on the origin and emigration of races, and on the progress of navigation. Four hundred authors are claimed to have been included in the text, in abridged or compiled form. Rich, Bib. Amer., vol. i. 9, remarks that "it appears to have been got up in competition with Churchill's Collection;" but it is much more general in its scope. Of undoubted value it was reissued in 1743-4, with numerous corrections and additions, and reprinted in 1764.

A book typical of its nationality is Leeven en Daaden Der Doorluchtigste Zee-Helden, Amsterdam, 1676, by Lambert van der Bos or Bosch, wherein are given the biographies of naval heroes from Zeno down, but of course with particular prominence to those of Holland, and foremost among them Admiral Ruyter, to whose son the dedication is addressed. While entering into the biography and political events connected with their lives the object is mainly to describe naval expeditions and encounters in various zones, and to this end tend also the plates. Columbus, Vespucci, Drake, Cavendish, and some of the searchers for the north-west passage are those touching my field who have been accorded a comparatively small space. Despite the laudable object of the book, to place before the people their chief glories, the author feels it necessary to bring forward the now well worn excuse that to the solicitation of persons interested in the subject was due the publishing of what his own inclination had led him to prepare. The German translation of Nürnberg, 1681, is an abnormally stout little volume, with an appendix by Erasmus.

Naaukeurige versameling der gedenkwaardigste Reysen naar Oost en West-Indien, Leyden, 1706-7, is a black-letter book of 30 volumes 12mo, issued by Pieter vander Aa, and embracing voyages to all parts of the globe from 1246 to 1693. Interspersed are compilations of minor expeditions, and of political affairs, apparently with a view to cover some of the many chronologic and geographic gaps in the regular series of narratives, and to form a complete historic review; but this effort is merely spasmodic and serves rather to expose the haste of the editor in not consulting more authorities, or in doing so carelessly. In addition to the incompleteness must be noted the lack of order in chapters as well as divisions, distinct and disconnected narratives being not unfrequently jumbled under inappropriate headings. The matter relating to America is, in accordance with the original though neglected plan, scattered throughout the set, in fair proportion for the earlier periods at least. This applies particularly to the northern Spanish colonies, for which the period from Columbus to Cortés is pretty fully told, chiefly from Herrera. Acosta and Marquette are given in abbreviated form. After 1526 this region receives little notice beyond the relation of a few voyages from Purchas, such as Ulloa, Chilton, Drake, and Cavendish, the latest date being 1595. The numerous copper-plates and maps are an attractive feature as may be judged from the fact that De Bry had been largely borrowed from. His text has also been used to some extent, Meusel, Bib. Hist., tom. ii. pt. i. 336, going so far as to say that all belongs to De Bry; but this is an exaggeration, for most of the text can readily be traced to Herrera, Hakluyt, De Barros, and others. A revised edition of this work was published in 1727 as De Aanmerkenswaardigste en Alomberoemde Zee- and Landreizen, folio, 8 volumes bound in 4. The same black-letter type and plates are preserved, but the arrangement differs, each set being in chronological order, and each narrative in a separately paged section. The first two volumes relate to Portuguese voyages toward the East India region; the next two to Spanish voyages up to 1540, to both hemispheres though chiefly to America; the two following to similar English voyages, till 1696; and the last two volumes to those of other nations, and to narratives supplementary to the preceding. The Portuguese division is chiefly made up from De Barros and De Couto, and the following Spanish from Herrera. Volume iii., bearing on the title-page the portraits of Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan, and Ponce de Leon, opens with the voyages of the great admiral, and continues with expeditions and events in Tierra Firme, the Antilles, Nicaragua, and Florida, concluding with Grijalva's discovery of New Spain. The next volume is almost wholly devoted to Cortés, and events in connection with his conquest and rule, alternating with sections on contemporary expeditions under Magellan, Narvaez, Godoy, Loaisa, and Cabot. In the following set, obtained chiefly from Hakluyt, Frobisher's voyages are the first to touch America, followed by Drake's and other circumnavigations and the settlement of the English American colonies. In volumes vii. and viii. we find Verrazano, Pizarro, and Soto, Dutch and French expeditions to South and North America, including P. Marquette, and extracts from Benzoni and Acosta. On the title-page Vander Aa chooses to announce that the collection is based on the German works of I. L. Gottfried, but largely augmented with material from his originals and from later authorities. This affectation can be regarded only as an advertisement.

A Collection of Voyages and Travels, Some now First Printed from Original Manuscripts, others Now First Published in English, is generally known by the name of Churchill, the publisher, who, in connection with Awnsham, issued the first edition in 1704, in four volumes. In 1733 it was increased by two volumes, and the reprint of 1744-7 by two more of the so-called Harleian Collection, culled from the Oxford Library, and printed by Thomas Osborne. The whole eight were reissued in 1752, and also used by foreign publishers, the introductory discourse by Caleb Locke, on the progress of navigation, being translated into French to form, with additions, two duodecimo volumes known as Histoire de la Navigation, Paris, 1722. Although neither so universal in its scope as Hakluyt's or Harris', nor so well translated and arranged, yet it stands as one of the most valuable of collections from its many rare narratives, such as the life of Columbus by his son, in vol. ii.; Gemelli Carreri's much questioned yet interesting voyage, vol. iv.; an account of the Mosquito kingdom, vol. vi., and Castell's description of America, in the Harleian Collection. A number of other pieces refer to America, as Monson's tracts, and Ovalle's history of Chile, but they do not touch my field.

The most famous collection of voyages published in the eighteenth century is the Histoire Générale des Voyages, Paris, 1746, etc., 20 vols, 4to, edited by Abbé Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles. Provost was one of those bright bubbling geniuses whose life and writings have assisted in making the capital of La Belle France also the capital of the literary and fashionable world. In the role of a dashing young officer, he had at an early age sipped of all frivolities in that gay city, till a misdirected Cupidian barb caused him in 1719, at the age of twenty-two, to exchange the glittering uniform for the simple garb of a Benedictine. His success as a preacher again drew him into the whirl of society, and, tiring of the vows that held him bound, he cast aside the robe and retired to Holland in 1729. Already famous as a writer, he entered with ardor upon the career for which he saw himself destined, producing a number of romances, histories, biographies, and periodical works. The protection of Prince de Conti, whose almoner he became, enabled him to return to France and to obtain the robe of a secular ecclesiastic. In November 1763, while in the height of his fame, he was seized with an apoplectic fit, and, regarded as dead, the scalpel of an unskilful hand cut off the life that was just returning. The most important of his many works is the Histoire des Voyages, which might indeed be pronounced of English origin. In 1745 Astley, the London publisher, began issuing with great flourish the weekly numbers of A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, edited by I. Green. Planned on a large scale, it was intended to supersede all other collections as a standard work. Every country was to be represented, and every first and leading voyage to any region was to be narrated in extenso. To avoid useless and uninteresting repetition, later and minor expeditions were to be used merely for extracts and notes, as a complement to those preceding. It was also proposed to form a compiled description of the several countries. Hakluyt and his successors were to be overhauled, and their mutilations and omissions repaired, while later narratives would be supplemented with a proportion of foreign voyages. The government was besought to grant aid to so valuable a work, but failed to comply; and the cost proving too great, the collection stopped in 1747 with the fourth volume, after covering nearly half of the proposed field by its Asiatic and African narratives. The only voyages relating to America are those by Captain Roberts, and I. Atkins, in 1721, extending from Bermuda to Brazil.

No sooner had Green's first volume appeared than the French publisher, Didot, resolved to be the means of giving France the benefit of so great a project, and Abbé Prévost's skill as an English translator being well known it was arranged that he should be the editor. Prévost did not follow the English edition implicitly, but made several alterations in text as well as arrangement, some of which were severely condemned, and corrected in a supplementary volume. He also gave perhaps too much play to the style of writing so much admired in his romances. With his seventh volume the English set was exhausted, and Prévost now continued the collection independently, introducing, with the aid of French libraries and foreign ministers, more foreign narratives than had been done by the English editor. He also improved the order by allowing several travellers to the same region to succeed one another, so as to form a continuous account. The conclusion of the set, so far as he and Didot are concerned, came with the sixteenth volume, containing the index. Soon after a seventeenth volume was added, with further matter and corrections, chiefly from the Dutch edition. Among the medley of narratives in volume xi., forming the sequel to Old World voyages, is Gemelli Carreri's journey round the world, which touches also New Spain. The New World division, covering volumes xii. to xv., begins with Columbus' voyages, and contemporary and immediately succeeding events in and round the Isthmus region, followed by the conquest of Mexico, together with a compiled description of its social and political condition under native and Spanish rule. After this comes Charlevoix' history of New France at disproportionate length, succeeded by narratives on the conquest and condition of the South American countries. The region from Florida northward is treated in a similar series, followed by north-west voyages, including those made by Spaniards on the Pacific side, particularly under Aguilar and Fonte. A description of the Antilles concludes the division, though several additional pieces are given in the supplementary volume on Vespucci, Pizarro, and Spanish South Sea voyages. This partial review shows that faults have been committed both in the arrangement and in the selection of material, due partly to haste, with a consequent confusion and repetition, and a carelessness of facts, which greatly impair the value of the work. The uniformity of style for the varying subjects and the dissertations on trifles are also to be objected to. After Didot's death the collection passed into the hands of Rozet, who caused three volumes to be added by Querlon and de Leyre. They are the best edited part of the set, according to La Harpe, and form a continuation of the voyages to the north begun in vol. xv., with a full description of the northern regions in the three parts of the world. The fine engravings, after Cochin, have aided greatly to make the first edition in quarto esteemed above others, and to make the fortune of the publishers. Two reprints, one of eighty volumes duodecimo, were issued while the publication was still progressing. The Dutch version of Hague, 1747-80, in 25 vols, 4to, begun from the English, but continued from Prévost, contains the portions omitted by Prévost in his early volumes, and several additional narratives, chiefly on the Dutch Asiatic possessions. A German translation in 21 vols 4to was issued at Leipzig in 1747-74 by Arkstee and Merkus. The editors, Kästner and Schwaben, begin with a round of abuse on Prévost's faulty production, and announce that they will follow the English original, while copying the superior French engravings. With the stoppage of Green's labors, they suddenly discover Prévost's superiority, but in adopting him as their guide for the remainder, they maintain their former division of chapters and sub-headings. The last three volumes cover Rozet's additions.

The plan of a general history of voyages outlined by Green had been projected already by the academician Du Perier de Montfraisier in his Histoire Universelle des Voyages faits par Mer & par Terre dans l'ancien & dans le nouveau Monde, Paris, 1707, wrongly ascribed to Abbé Bellegarde. Although dedicated to the duke of Burgundy, the king's father, the patronage failed to give it popularity, and the first duodecimo volume proved also the last. Beginning with an introductory on the development of navigation, he opens the narrative with Columbus and closes it with Cortés, giving in addition to the intermediate voyages, a general description of resources and nations of tropic America. The whole is brief and superficial, with particular attention to the marvellous, as indicated also by the engravings. The English hastened to give their approval by issuing a translation, but only to be superseded like Prévost's collection. If this work had anything to do with promoting Green's plan, it may be said not altogether to have failed in its aim.