Note 239 — Chapter X · MULTIPLICATION OF PLOTS. June-July, 1519.
Reading edition
No generous allusion appears to have been made to the discoverers who opened the way for him. Gomara alone gives a brief outline of the letter, but the original or copy has never been found, notwithstanding the close search made. Since Charles V. received it on the eve of his departure for Germany, it occurred to Robertson that the Vienna archives might throw on it some light, and the consequent search led to the discovery of an authenticated copy of the companion letter from the municipality of Villa Rica, but nothing relating to Cortés’ report. Hist. Am., preface, x.-xi. Panes insists that the letter must have existed in the Vienna Court Library at one time. Doc. Domin. Esp., MS., 59-60. Barcia suggests several ways in which it might have been lost; one being its production before the royal council at the instance of Pánfilo de Narvaez. Bibl. Occid., tit. iv. ii. 598. Fortunately the companion letter and other narratives cover its essential points.