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LIFE OF MAGELLAN.
xxxv
Translation.
Letter of Alvaro da Costa, giving an Account to the King Dom Manuel of what passed with the King of Castile, to dissuade him from the discovery which he determined to order the execution of, by Fernan de Magalhaes.
Torre do Tombo. Gav. 18, Maço 8, No. 38.
Sire,
With respect to the business of Fernam de Magalhaes, I have done and laboured very much, as God knows, as I have written to you at length; and now, Xebres being ill, I have spoken on this matter very firmly to the king, laying before him all the objections that there were in it, and besides other matters, setting forth how ill-seeming and unusual a matter it was for a king to receive the vassals of another king his friend, against his will; which was a thing which was not usual amongst knights, and was held to be a great fault, and a very ill-looking thing: also that I had just before offered to him in Valladolid the services of your royal self, and kingdom and lordships, while he was already receiving these men against your pleasure; and I begged him to look well that this was not a time for causing discontent to your Highness, especially in a matter of such little importance to him, and of such little certainty, and that he had many vassals and men for making discoveries when the time came, without making use of those who came away from your Highness discontented, and that your Highness could not fail to suspect that these men would labour more to do you a dis-service than for anything else; and that his Highness had now so much to do with discovering his own kingdoms and lordships, and settling them, that such novelties ought hardly to come into his recollection, from which scandals might follow, and other things which might well be dispensed with. I also laid before him