1582.
Your worships alwayes to commaund,
_Nicholas Lichefild._
[1] Bibl. des Voyages, V. 2.
* * * * *
DEDICATION BY CASTANEDA.
_To
The most high and mighty Prince,
John III.
King of Portugal and Algarve,
&c._
It hath seemed to me, most high and mighty prince, our dread king and
sovereign, so important and weighty a matter to undertake a history of
the great and valiant actions which our Portuguese have performed in
the discovery and conquest of India, that I often thought to
relinquish the attempt. But as these noble deeds were principally
undertaken and performed for the glory of Almighty God, the conversion
of the barbarous nations to the Christian faith, and the great honour
of your highness; and as, by the power and mercy of the Omnipotent,
such fortunate success has been granted to these famous enterprises, I
have been encouraged to proceed. I therefore trust entirely to the aid
and comfort of the divine goodness in publishing this work, giving the
glory thereof to God alone, and its earthly praise to your excellent
highness, and the king Don Manuel your father, of famous and happy
memory.
Although these glorious deeds are well known and spread abroad over
the world, they yet cannot be sufficiently made manifest unless set
forth in writing, by means of which their memory may endure for ever,
and remain always as if present to the readers; as history hath
perpetuated the actions of the Greeks and Romans which are of such
high antiquity.
