As to the news of the fleet which the King Don Carlos orders to be built to defend himself from, or to attack France, or to go to the Empire, as it is said, I excuse myself from writing of it to your Highness, since your Highness will obtain them with more certainty from Nuno Ribeiro, who is in Cartagena. But there is certain news in this city by letters, that the King of France announces that the King Don Carlos is not going to be emperor, and that he will be it. The Pope assists the King of France in an honest way. He grants to him four cardinal’s hats for him to give to whomsoever he pleases. It is said that the King of France keeps them to give to those whom the electors of the empire might wish. There it is assured that either the King of France will be emperor or else the person he may choose. I will take especial care to inform your Highness of what more happens with these fleets, although I had become cool in this matter, because it seemed to me that your Highness wished to learn it from some one else; for I saw here Nuno Ribeiro and other persons who spoke to me in a dissembling manner, and seeking to learn about me. I kiss the hands of your Highness. From Seville, the 18th of July, of 1519. +Sebastian Alvarez.+ The long interval which elapsed before the example set by Magellan was followed by Drake and Van Noort (for the expedition of the Comendador Loaysa in 1527, and two others having failed, this voyage was not again attempted in those times by the Spaniards) is a proof that greater hardihood was displayed in Magellan’s voyage than in those of Columbus and Gama; and the fortitude and constancy of Magellan appear strongly from the foregoing despatches, since in addition to the physical difficulties of his enterprise, he had to struggle against intrigues, jealousy, and the alternate upbraiding and cajolery of the King of Portugal’s agents. The despatch of Sebastian Alvarez to Dom Manuel, though biassed as it naturally is, shows that whatever he and the Portuguese of that day thought of Magellan’s design, he himself did not consider that he was doing anything injurious to his king or country, and Camoens, though he repeats the hackneyed accusation of disloyalty against Magellan, yet boasts of his achievements as a lasting honour to Portugal, in the following lines: