MERCEDES OF CASTILE; OR, THE VOYAGE TO CAT HAY. BY J. FENIMORE COOPER. "I fill this cup to one made up of loveliness alone, A woman of her gentle sex the seeming paragon; To whom the better elements and kindly stars have given PINKNEY. NEW YORK: AND COMPANY, BROADWAY. 1879. D. APPLETON 549 & 551 PS 1409 .M3 1879 439771 MAY 2 ENTERED, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by W. A. TOWNSEND AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. So much has been written of late years, touching the discovery of America, that it would not be at all surprising should there exist a disposition in a certain class of readers to deny the accuracy of all the statements in this work. Some may refer to history, with a view to prove that there never were such persons as our hero and heroine, and fancy that by establishing these facts, they completely destroy the authenticity of the whole book. In answer to this anticipated objection, we will state, that after carefully perusing several of the Spanish writers-from Cervantes to the translator of the journal of Columbus, the Alpha and Omega of peninsular literature-and after having read both Irving and Prescott from beginning to end, we do not find a syllable in either of them, that we understand to be |