With his eminent qualifications, and with a social position that
commanded respect, it is strange that so much of his writings -
the whole of his great Historia de las Indias, and his curious
Quincuagenas - should be so long suffered to remain in
manuscript. This is partly chargeable to the caprice of fortune;
for the History was more than once on the eve of publication, and
is even now understood to be prepared for the press. Yet it has
serious defects, which may have contributed to keep it in its
present form. In its desultory and episodical style of
composition, it resembles rather notes for a great history, than
history itself. It may be regarded in the light of commentaries,
or as illustrations of the times. In that view his pages are of
high worth, and have been frequently resorted to by writers who
have not too scrupulously appropriated the statements of the old
chronicler, with slight acknowledgments to their author.
It is a pity that Oviedo should have shown more solicitude to
tell what was new, than to ascertain how much of it was strictly
true. Among his merits will scarcely be found that of historical
accuracy. And yet we may find an apology for this, to some
extent, in the fact, that his writings, as already intimated, are
not so much in the nature of finished compositions, as of loose
memoranda, where every thing, rumor as well as fact, - even the
most contradictory rumors, - are all set down at random, forming
a miscellaneous heap of materials, of which the discreet
historian may avail himself to rear a symmetrical fabric on
foundations of greater strength and solidity.
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