Excerpt from Wm; Hickling Prescott, Vol. 21

The remarks into which I have been led will, I trust, not be set down by the reader to an unworthy egotism, butto their true source, a desire to correct a misapprehension to which I may have unintentionally given rise myself, and which has gained me the credit with some - far from grate ful to my feelings, since undeserved - of having surmounted the incalculable obstacles which lie in the path of the blind man.

The reader of Prescott's memoir scarcely knows whether most to admire the modesty, the humility, the manliness, or the strict regard for exact truthfulness manifest in these gracefully written and touching paragraphs. In them the historian unconsciously illustrates that nice sense of honor which was such a marked feature in his fine character.

The Reign of Philip the Second was his next great undertaking. His old reluctance to begin a new book held him like the spell of a magician in a state of hesitation for some time. New embarrassments also threw their shadows over his elastic spirit. His only available eye was growing worse, could only be used for reading an hour a day, and that at intervals, and there was no hope that it would ever improve, since the decay of the strained nerve was appar ent. Moreover, his general health began to show the effects of the severe strain which his past labors had put upon it. Nevertheless, he finally resolved to make Philip his theme, began and completed his preparations on his usual exhaust ive method, and entered resolutely upon the more congenial task of composition, when dyspepsia and other ailments set in with such force as to compel him to quit all literary work and to seek recuperation in traveling and in a tem porary change of climate. Hence, in the spring of 1850, he sailed for England.

His reception in England was more cordial than his native modesty could have suffered him to dream. The intellect of the fatherland - its best blood, its highest dignitaries.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.