william hickling prescott was born in salem, massachusetts, may 4, 1796. he died in boston, january 28, 1859. william prescott, his father, a lawyer of great ability and of sterling worth, was at one time a judge, and was frequently elected to public positions of trust and responsibility. his mother was a daughter of thomas hickling, for many years united states consul at the azores. his grandfather, william prescott, was in command of the american forces at the battle of bunker hill, june 17, 1775. on both sides, therefore, the future historian was descended from what oliver wendell holmes aptly termed the “new england brahman stock.” he was prepared for college by an unusually accomplished scholar, john sylvester john gardiner, for many years the rector of trinity church, boston, and entered harvard college as a sophomore in 1811. three years later he graduated with the class of 1814.
during his junior year came the accident which was to change the whole course of his life. as he was leaving the dining-hall, in which the students sat at “commons,” a biscuit, thrown by a careless fellow-student, struck him squarely in the left eye and stretched him senseless upon the{vi} floor. paralysis of the retina was the result; the injury was beyond the reach of the healing art, and the sight of one eye was utterly destroyed. after a period of intense suffering, spent in a darkened room, he recovered sufficiently to resume his college work and to be graduated with his class. for a year and a half the uninjured eye served him fairly well. then, suddenly, acute rheumatism attacked it, causing, except in occasional periods of intermission, excruciating pain during the rest of his life. total darkness, for weeks at a time, was not infrequently prescott’s lot, and work, except under a most careful adjustment of every ray of light, was almost out of the question. under these circumstances the career at the bar which his father had planned for him, and to which he had looked forward with so much pleasure was no longer to be thought of. business offered no attractions, even if a business life had been possible to him in his semi-blindness. he turned his attention to literature, and found there his vocation.
but for this work he felt that the most careful preparation was necessary. in a letter, written eighteen months before his death, he says, “i proposed to devote ten years of my life to the study of ancient and modern literature, chiefly the latter, and to give ten years more to some historical work. i have had the good fortune to accomplish this design pretty nearly within the limits assigned. in the christmas of 1837 my first work was given to the public.”
during the first ten years of preparation he was{vii} a frequent contributor to the reviews, writing some of the papers which are printed in the volume of “miscellanies” which has always formed part of his “works.” his historical work was accomplished with the utmost difficulty. american scholarship was not then advanced, and it was almost impossible to secure readers who possessed a knowledge of foreign languages. pathetically mr. prescott tells of the difficulties surmounted. the secretary he employed at first knew no language but his own. “i taught him to pronounce the castilian in a manner suited, i suspect, much more to my ear than to that of a spaniard; and we began our wearisome journey through mariana’s noble history. i cannot even now recall to mind without a smile the tedious hours in which, seated under some old trees in my country residence, we pursued our slow and melancholy way over pages which afforded no glimmering of light to him, and from which the light came dimly struggling to me through a half intelligible vocabulary. but in a few weeks the light became stronger, and i was cheered by the consciousness of my own improvement; and when we had toiled our way through seven quartos i found i could understand the book when read about two-thirds as fast as ordinary english.” having thus gathered the ideas of his many authorities from the mechanical lips of his secretary, mr. prescott would ponder them for a time, and would then dictate the notes for a chapter of from forty to fifty pages. these notes were read and reread to him while the subject was still fresh in his memory. he ran them{viii} over many times in his mind before he began to dictate the final copy, and was thus able to escape errors into which men with full command of their sight frequently fall. for the last thirty years of his life he made use of a writing instrument for the blind, the noctograph, by which he was able to write his own pages and partially to dispense with dictation. with the noctograph he wrote with great rapidity, but in an almost illegible hand which only the author and his secretary could read.
when, after twenty years of labor, the “history of the reign of ferdinand and isabella” was finished, its author was so doubtful respecting its value that he proposed simply to put it upon his library shelf “for the benefit of those who should come after.” his father wisely combated this morbid judgment and insisted upon its publication. “the man who writes a book which he is afraid to publish is a coward,” he said to his son. the work was given to the world in 1837 and was immediately and immensely successful. its author, who had hitherto been only an obscure writer of reviews, took his place at once in the first rank of contemporary historians,—to use the words of daniel webster,—“like a comet that had blazed out upon the world in full splendor.” in a very short space of time translations appeared in spanish, german, french, and italian. critics of many nationalities joined in concurrent praise.
in a way mr. prescott’s achievement was a national triumph. british reviewers were even{ix} more laudatory than were the american. one of the most striking testimonials came from richard ford, the author of the famous “handbook for spain,”—an english scholar whose knowledge of things spanish was phenomenal. mr. ford wrote, “mr. prescott’s is by far the first historical work which british america has yet produced, and one that need hardly fear a comparison with any that has issued from the european press since this century began.” mr. ford was not enthusiastic over american institutions and was by no means prepared to believe that the american experiment in democratic government was likely to result in a permanent state. it was with an eye to posterity, therefore, that he cautiously and vaguely assigned mr. prescott not to the united states, but to british america. the commendatory notices that appeared in british publications showed that many men besides mr. ford were astounded that “british america” could produce such an excellent specimen of historical workmanship. sydney smith’s praise was most enthusiastic. he even went so far as to promise the american author a “caspian sea of soup” if he would visit england.
the new historian was not spoiled by the adulation showered upon him. rejoicing in the unexpected praise, he devoted himself with renewed zeal, and with even greater care, to the composition of another work. this, “the history of the conquest of mexico,” appeared in 1843, and in less than twelve months seven thousand copies of it had been sold in the united states. the art of{x} advertising, in which the publishers of to-day are so proficient, had not then been developed; the “conquest of mexico” made its own way among the reading public. for the english copyright bentley, the london publisher, paid ￡650. ten editions were published in england in sixteen years, and twenty-three were issued in the united states. popular approval was even more pronounced than in the case of the “ferdinand and isabella,” and the applause of the reviewers was also much more loud. the pure and sound english appealed especially to scholars like milman. that famous historian placed prescott “in the midst of the small community of really good english writers of history in modern times.” coming from the editor of the best edition of gibbon’s “decline and fall of the roman empire,” this was praise indeed. the edinburgh review said, “every reader of intelligence forgets the beauty of his coloring in the grandeur of his outline.... nothing but a connected sketch of the latter can do justice to the highest charm of the work.” stirling, author of the “cloister life of the emperor charles the fifth,” wrote, “the account of the triste noche, the woeful night in which, after the death of montezuma, cortés and his band retreated across the lake and over the broken causeway, cutting their way through a nation in arms, is one of the finest pictures of modern historical painting.” the spanish royal academy of history had elected prescott to membership in that august body soon after his “history of the reign of ferdinand and isa{xi}bella” appeared; other historical societies and learned bodies now heaped honors upon him.
the historian kept steadily at work. the task to which he had devoted himself was to tell the tale of spanish greatness when the fortunes of spain were at their highest point. the “history of the conquest of peru” was published in 1847, four years after the appearance of the “mexico.” it reads like a romance and has always been the most popular of prescott’s works. to-day it is the only history of the early spanish achievements in peru which is regarded as an “authority” on the south american republic, and is always kept in stock in peruvian bookstores. for the english copyright of this work bentley paid ￡800. seventeen thousand copies were sold in thirteen years. the demand for it is constant.
the author’s fame was now fully established. he was everywhere regarded as one of the greatest of living historians, and honors and wealth flowed steadily towards him. his income from his books was very large. stirling estimates it at from ￡4000 to ￡5000 per annum. this, in addition to the fortune he had inherited, made mr. prescott a very wealthy man in the years when the enormous incomes of to-day were hardly dreamed of. he was as methodical and careful in pecuniary affairs as in his literary work. a most accurate account was kept of his receipts and expenditures, and one-tenth of his income was always devoted to charity.
in 1850 he made a short visit to europe, spending some time upon the continent but more in{xii} england and scotland. everywhere he was lionized in a way that would have turned the heads of most men. the university of oxford made him a d.c.l. the doors of the houses where learning was honored opened at his approach. his own charming personality was, however, one of the greatest factors in his social success. as a man he was most lovable.
upon his return to america he devoted himself to writing the “history of the reign of philip the second,” for which task he had accumulated an extensive collection of documentary “authorities.” this work was to appear in six volumes, and for it the author was offered ￡1000 a volume by two publishers. two volumes were published in 1855 and a third appeared three years later. macaulay pronounced “philip the second” mr. prescott’s best work. its style is more finished, its use of authorities more masterly than in the previous volumes. for dramatic interest the chapters describing the defence of malta by the knights of the hospital of st. john of jerusalem are quite equal to the account of the “triste noche,” of cortés and his companions in mexico, which so excited the admiration of stirling. but the work was never to be completed. after two volumes had appeared, there was published “prescott’s edition of robertson’s charles the fifth.” this was simply a new edition of the scottish historian’s work, with additions dealing with the later years of the emperor’s life which robertson had not treated. in it is given the true story of the emperor’s retirement and death. mr.{xiii} prescott had for robertson a very great admiration. he always acknowledged his deep obligation to him, and he felt that it would be most unnecessary, and in fact almost presumptuous, for him to attempt to re-write a history which the scottsman had written so well. in these three works, “ferdinand and isabella,” “charles the fifth,” and “philip the second,” a century and a half of the most important part of spanish history is presented. that prescott did not live to complete the third must always be regarded as a great calamity by the literary world.
besides the volumes already specified, another, of “miscellaneous essays” (a selection from his earlier contributions to reviews and other periodicals) has always been included in prescott’s published works. to the historical student this volume is even more interesting than to the general reader. it illustrates the change, which, since its publication, has taken place in the methods of the reviewer and of the writer of history as well.
on february 4, 1858, mr. prescott was stricken with paralysis. the shock was a slight one. he soon recovered from its effects and continued with undaunted perseverance his literary work. in less than a year, january 28, 1859, while at work in his library with his secretary, he fell back speechless from a second attack and died an hour or so afterwards.
it is quite within bounds to say that no historian’s death ever affected more profoundly the community in which he dwelt. other authors have been respected and admired by those with whom{xiv} they came in contact, prescott was universally loved. no american writer was perhaps more sincerely and more widely mourned. affable, generous, courtly, thoughtful for others, singularly winning in his personal appearance, he had drawn the hearts of all his associates to himself, while the gracious, kindly humanity manifested in every page of his writings had endeared him to thousands of readers in all parts of the world.
mr. prescott’s distinguishing characteristic was his intense love for truth. as an author he had no thesis to establish. he never wasted time in arguments wherewith to demonstrate the soundness of his views. his single desire was to set forth with scrupulous accuracy all the facts which belonged to his subject. some critics will have it that his tendency towards hero-worship occasionally leads him into extravagance of statement and that his gorgeous descriptions sometimes blind us to most unpleasant facts. this is possibly partly true in the case of “ferdinand and isabella,” his first work, but even in those volumes the reader will almost always find footnotes to establish the author’s statements or to indicate the possibility of a doubt which he himself felt. in clear grasp of facts, in vivid powers of narration, combined with artistic control of details, no historical writer has exceeded him. the power of philosophical analysis he did not possess in so high a degree, but no philosophical historian of the first rank was ever so widely read as william hickling prescott has been and still is.
for the additional knowledge concerning the{xv} historian, which will unquestionably be desired after a perusal of his writings, the reader is referred to the charming biography, published by george ticknor in 1864, and reissued with this edition of prescott’s works.
more than thirty years have elapsed since the last revised edition was presented to the public. its editor, mr. john foster kirk, was pre-eminently fitted for his work. he had been mr. prescott’s private secretary for eleven years, and was perhaps more familiar than was any other man with the period of spanish history of which prescott wrote. he had, moreover, himself achieved a most enviable international reputation by his “life of charles the bold.” in his notes he condensed the additional information which a generation of scholars had contributed to the subjects treated of in prescott’s pages. those notes are all incorporated in the present edition.
but since kirk’s notes were penned another generation of students has been investigating the history of spain—a generation which has enjoyed more abundant opportunities for research than any scholars before had known. numberless manuscripts have been rescued from monastic limbo, the caked dust of centuries has been scraped away from scores of volumes in the public archives, and the searchlights of modern scientific investigation have been turned upon places that once seemed hopelessly dark. as if this were not enough, explorers from many lands have plunged into the depths of the mexican forests, and penetrated the quebradas of the andes, in{xvi} attempts to wrest from them the secrets of their ancient history.
the result is an immense number of volumes filled with statements startlingly diverse and with conclusions widely conflicting. many of these volumes, especially those that emanated from the explorers, were written by men unskilled in historical writing,—special pleaders, and not historians,—men who were more anxious to demonstrate the soundness of their own theories than to arrive at absolute knowledge concerning the institutions of peru and of mexico.
it has been the task of the editor of this edition to separate from this mass of material the conclusions in which scholars for the most part agree, and to embody those conclusions in additional footnotes. he has not ordinarily deemed it necessary to specify the authors read. because he knows that the average reader abhors quotations hurled at him in unfamiliar tongues, he has, in quoting, always used the best known authority in english.
in preparing these new volumes for the press the texts of editions previously issued have been carefully compared in order to insure perfect accuracy. in all such matters the publishers have aimed to put forth prescott’s writings in the form that must be regarded for many years to come as the standard edition of america’s most popular historian.
wilfred h. munro.
brown university,
december 20, 1904.
