to answer this inquiry; but we have found nothing but partial and incorrect statements of facts with which the public is already familiar,—­nothing that had escaped the notice of Prescott himself,—­nothing that Mr. Ticknor, in his “History of Spanish Literature,” had omitted to state, and that had not been fully discussed between these two distinguished men during an intercourse that had originated not only in the warmest personal friendship, but in the similarity of their studies and pursuits.  On this, as on every other topic of which he treats, Mr. Wilson is reckless and arrogant in assertion; but on this, as on every other topic, he makes no show of proofs.

His compliment to Prescott’s “good faith” seems, after all, to have been premature.  In other parts of his book we find remarks that seem in conflict with this admission.  He makes several severe strictures on Mr. Prescott’s omission to give due credit to General Cass for his valuable contribution to Aztec history.  “Mr. Prescott nowhere refers to the subject, as we think he ought to have done.” (p. 30.) “The ink was hardly dry on the leaves of the North American Quarterly which contained the exposure of these fictions, when another contributor to the same periodical, Mr. Prescott, began his history, founded on authors already denounced as fabulous by so high an authority as the Hon. Lewis Cass!” Think of the unparalleled audacity of the author of the “History of Ferdinand and Isabella” in actually exercising his own judgment with regard to the credibility of the Spanish chroniclers, after so high an authority had pronounced against them!  However, we are not yet prepared to abandon our own belief in Mr. Prescott’s “good faith.”  We really believe that he was guilty of no intentional disrespect towards the Hon. Lewis Cass.  It is possible that he may never have seen the article in question.  Contributors to periodicals are sometimes sadly neglectful of the most brilliant performances of their confreres.  We doubt whether the “Autocrat” has ever read with proper attention any of our own modest, but not, we hope, inelegant effusions.

Mr. Wilson is not without a suspicion that the world may be slow to surrender its confidence in the veracity and accuracy of a writer whose works have already stood the test of many a severe and critical examination.  When this idea breaks upon his mind, he manages to lash himself into a state of considerable excitement.  He foresees the difficulty of convincing “those who take an array of great names for the foundation of their belief, and those who judge a work only by the elegance with which its periods are strung together.  And, besides these two,”—­meaning, we presume, not two men, but two classes of men,—­“we have to encounter also the opposition of savans—­men who live and judge the outside world through the medium of books alone.  These hold as of no account, all but Greece and Rome,” [the proof-reader is requested not to disturb Mr. Wilson’s punctuation,]