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Page 5
The existence of the copy which, in consequence of its connection in
the same manuscript with that of the Carli letter, may be designated
as the Carli version, is first mentioned in an eulogy or life of
Verrazzano in the series of portraits of illustrious Tuscans,
printed in Florence in 1767-8, as existing in the Strozzi library.
[Footnote: Serie di Ritratti d'Uomini Illustri Toscani con gli elogi
istorici dei medesimi. Vol. secondo Firenze, 1768.] The author calls
attention to the fact, that it contains a part of the letter which
is omitted by Ramusio. In another eulogy of the navigator, by a
different hand, G. P. (Pelli), put forth by the same printer in the
following year, the writer, referring to the publication of the
letter of Ramusio, states that an addition to it, describing the
distances to the places where Verrazzano had been, was inserted in
writing in a copy of the work of Ramusio, in the possession at that
time of the Verrazzano family in Florence. These references were
intended to show the existence of the cosmography, which Tiraboschi
afterwards mentions, giving, however, the first named eulogy as his
authority. No portion of the Carli copy appeared in print until
1841, when through the instrumentality of Mr. Greene, the American
consul at Rome, it was printed in the collections of the New York
Historical Society, accompanied by a translation into English by the
late Dr. Cogswell. It was subsequently printed in the Archivio
Storico Italiano at Florence, in 1853, with some immaterial
corrections, and a preliminary discourse on Verrazzano, by M.
Arcangeli. From an inspection of the codex in the library, where it
then existed in Florence, M. Arcangeli supposes the manuscript was
written in the middle of the sixteenth century. This identical copy
was, therefore, probably in existence when Ramusio published his
work. Upon comparing the letter as given by Ramusio with the
manuscript, the former, besides wanting the cosmography, is found to
differ from the latter almost entirely in language, and very
materially in substance, though agreeing with it in its elementary
character and purpose. The two, therefore, cannot be copies of the
same original. Either they are different versions from some other
language, or one of them must be a recomposition of the other in the
language in which they now are found. In regard to their being both
translated from the French, the only other language in which the
letter can be supposed to have been written besides the native
tongue of Verrazzano, although it is indeed most reasonable to
suppose that such a letter, addressed to the king of France, on the
results of an expedition of the crown, by an officer in his service,
would have been written in that language, it is, nevertheless,
highly improbable that any letter could, in this instance, have been
so addressed to the King, and two different translations made from
it into Italian, one by Carli in Lyons in 1524, and the other by
Ramusio in Venice twenty-nine years afterwards, and yet no copy of
it in French, or any memorial of its existence in that language be
known. This explanation must therefore be abandoned. If on the other
hand, one of these copies was so rendered from the French, or from
an original in either form in which it appears in Italian, whether
by Verrazzano or not, the other must have been rewritten from it. It
is evident, however, that the Carli version could not have been
derived from that contained in Ramusio, because it contains an
entire part consisting of several pages, embracing the
cosmographical explanations of the voyage, not found in the latter.
As we are restricted to these two copies as the sole authority for
the letter, and are, therefore, governed in any conclusion on this
subject by what they teach, it must be determined that the letter in
Ramusio is a version of that contained in the Carli manuscript. This
suggestion is not new. It was made by Mr. Greene in his monograph on
Verrazzano, without his following it to the conclusion to which it
inevitably leads. If the version in Ramusio be a recomposition of
the Carli copy, an important step is gained towards determining the
origin of the Verrazzano letter, as in that case the inquiry is
brought down to the consideration of the authenticity of the Carli
letter, of which it forms a part. But before proceeding to that
question, the reasons assigned by Mr. Greene, and some incidental
facts stated by him in connection with them, should be given. He
says:
"The Strozzi Library is no longer in existence; but the manuscripts
of that collection passed into the hands of the Tuscan government,
and were divided between the Magliabechian and Laurentian libraries
of Florence. The historical documents were deposited in the former.
Among them was the cosmographical narration of Verrazzano mentioned
by Tiraboschi, and which Mr. Bancroft expresses a desire to see
copied for the Historical Society of New York. It is contained in a
volume of Miscellanies, marked "Class XIII. Cod. 89. Verraz;" and
forms the concluding portion of the letter to Francis the First,
which is copied at length in the same volume. It is written in the
common running hand of the sixteenth century (carrattere corsivo),
tolerably distinct, but badly pointed. The whole volume, which is
composed of miscellaneous pieces, chiefly relating to contemporary
history, is evidently the WORK OF THE SAME HAND.
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