Note 289 — Chapter V

[My friend Mr. Picard has furnished me with the copy of an inscription which may be seen, or could a few years since, on the house in which Cortés expired. “Here died, on the second of September, 1544, victim of sorrow and misfortune, the renowned Hernan Cortés, the glory of our country and the conqueror of the Mexican empire.” It is strange that the author of the inscription should have made a blunder of more than three years in the date of the hero’s death.]