Mercedes of Castile; Or, The Voyage to Cathay (Illustrated)

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 conclusive evidence, or indeed
to be any evidence at all, on the portions of our subject that are
likely to be disputed. Until some solid affirmative proof, therefore,
can be produced against us, we shall hold our case to be made out, and
rest our claims to be believed on the authority of our own statements.
Nor do we think there is any thing either unreasonable or unusual in
this course, as perhaps the greater portion of that which is daily and
hourly offered to the credence of the American public, rests on the same
species of testimony--with the trifling difference that we state truths,
with a profession of fiction, while the great moral caterers of the age
state fiction with the profession of truth. If any advantage can be
fairly obtained over us, in consequence of this trifling discrepancy, we
must submit.