Note 47 — Chapter I

"Let those who are disposed to faint under difficulties, in the prosecution of any great and worthy undertaking, remember that eighteen years elapsed after the time that Columbus conceived his enterprise before he was enabled to carry it into effect; that most of that time was passed in almost hopeless solicitation, amid poverty, neglect, and taunting ridicule; that the prime of his life had wasted away in the struggle, and that, when his perseverance was finally crowned with success, he was about in his fifty-sixth year. This example should encourage the enterprising never to despair."—Washington Irving's Life of Columbus, vol. i., p. 174.