" Apparently, Mr. Wilson, besides writing in a singular style
himself, is the cause of singularities in the writings of other men.
What is more worthy of note is the credulity with which he swallows the
fabulous inventions of the "monkish chroniclers" when set before him
in English earthenware. We would undertake, for a very trifling
consideration, to furnish him with the Spanish originals of the stories
of "Hispan" and "Hercules," and all the other absurdities with which his
old folio has supplied him. From what source does he imagine them to
have been derived? Does he think they belong to the stock of traditions
in possession of the Anglo-Saxon race,--that Grimshaw got them from
Bagshaw, and Bagshaw from Bradshaw?
Our argument in regard to Mr. Wilson's ignorance of most of the
"standard authorities" will be strengthened by a review of the works
which he actually has used,--or, to speak more correctly, misused,--and
an examination of his reasons for selecting them. They are two in
number. He can hardly be said to overrate the importance of one of
these works,--the celebrated Letters of Cortes. For the events of
the Conquest, and the first impressions made upon the minds of the
discoverers by the aspect of the country, we could have no evidence of
equal value with the dispatches written by the great adventurer from the
field of his enterprises and during the course of the operations.
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