William Hickling PrescottWilliam Hickling Prescott (1796-1859) was the first American to win international acclaim as an historian. Prescott has stood the test of time and is as fascinating to read today as he must have been 100 years ago. This biography was originally published in 1905 and contains the following chapters: The New England Historians Early Years The Choice of a Career Success In Mid Career The Last Ten Years ôFerdinand and Isabellaö - PrescottÆs Style ôThe Conquest of Mexicoö as Literature and as History ôThe Conquest of Peruö - ôPhilip IIö PrescottÆs Rank as an Historian Index |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Alfred Ainger Aztecs beautiful began Boston CHAPTER character civilisation Conquest of Mexico Conquest of Peru Cortés cott criticism early England English F. W. H. Myers fact father favour feel Ferdinand and Isabella French friends HICKLING historian historical composition honour Inca Indian interest Iroquois Irving Isabella and Elizabeth Italian J. A. Symonds Jared Sparks labour Lady Leslie Stephen less letters literary literature Lord Madrid manuscript ment Mexican mind Montezuma months Motley Nahant narrative nature never noctograph North American once paper Peruvian Philip Philip II possessed Pres Prescott published R. W. Church reader records reign Review romances scholar seemed sentences shows Sidney Colvin sort Spain Spaniards Spanish spirit story style Thackeray theme thing thought thousand copies Ticknor tion took volumes whole wholly William WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT writing written wrote
Popular passages
Page 140 - Corte.s and his squadrons, with the baggage, ammunition wagons, and a part of the artillery. But before they had time to defile across the narrow passage, a gathering sound was heard, like that of a mighty forest agitated by the winds. It grew louder and louder, while on the dark waters of the lake was heard a plashing noise, as of many oars. Then came a few stones and arrows striking at random among the hurrying troops. They fell every moment faster...
Page 162 - Friends and comrades!' he said, 'on that side are toil, hunger, nakedness, the drenching storm, desertion, and death ; on this side, ease and pleasure. There lies Peru with its riches ; here Panama and its poverty. Choose, each man, what best becomes a brave Castiliun. For my part I go to the south.
Page 167 - Thanks to the liberality of many modern governments of Europe, the archives where the state-secrets of the buried centuries have so long mouldered, are now open to the student of history. To him who has patience and industry many mysteries are thus revealed, which no political sagacity or critical acumen could have divined. He leans over the shoulder of Philip the Second at his writing-table, as the King spells patiently out, with cipherkey in hand, the most concealed hieroglyphics of Parma or Guise...
Page 52 - I contrive to embrace the gift of the Spanish subject, without involving myself in the unwieldy, barbarous records of a thousand years ? What new and interesting topics may be admitted — not forced — into the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella? Can I not indulge in a retrospective picture of the Constitutions of Castile and Aragon, — of the Moorish dynasties, and the causes of their decay and dissolution? Then I have the Inquisition, with its bloody persecutions; the Conquest of Granada, a brilliant...
Page 140 - As they passed along the lanes and alleys which opened into the great street, or looked down the canals, whose polished surface gleamed with a sort of ebon lustre through the obscurity of night, they easily fancied that they discerned the shadowy forms of their foe lurking in ambush and ready to spring on them. But it was only fancy; and the city slept undisturbed even by the prolonged echoes of the tramp of the horses and the hoarse rumbling of the artillery and baggage trains. At length a lighter...
Page 139 - The night was cloudy, and a drizzling rain, which fell without intermission, added to the obscurity. The great square before the palace was deserted, as, indeed, it had been since the fall of Montezuma.
Page 76 - When I gave it up to him, I, in a manner, gave him up my bread ; for I depended upon the profit of it to recruit my waning finances. I had no other subject at hand to supply its place. I was dismounted from my cheval de bataille, and have never been completely mounted since.
Page 111 - Contrary to the assertion, of La Bruyere, — who somewhere says, that the most fortunate husband finds reason to regret his condition at least once in twenty-four hours, — I may truly say that I have found no such day in the quarter of a century that Providence has spared us to each other.
Page 168 - Walsingham the last secret which he has picked from the Emperor's pigeon-holes, or the Pope's pocket, and which, not Hatton, nor Buckhurst, nor Leicester, nor the Lord Treasurer, is to see ; nobody but Elizabeth herself ; he sits invisible at the most secret councils of the Nassaus and...