The Voyage of the Verrazzano | Page 9

value in those parts, and of drugs and other aromatic liquors
for the purpose of conferring here with several merchants after he shall
have been in the presence of the Most Serene Majesty. And at this hour
he ought to be there, and from choice to come here shortly, as he is
much desired in order to converse with him; the more so that he will
find here the Majesty, the King, our Lord, who is expected herein three
or four days. And we hope that S. M. will entrust him again with half a
dozen good vessels and that he will return to the voyage. And if our
Francisco Carli be returned from Cairo, advise him to go, at a venture,
on the said voyage with him; and I believe they were acquainted at
Cairo where he has been several years; and not only in Egypt and Syria,
but almost through all the known world, and thence by reason of his
merit is esteemed another Amerigo Vespucci, another Fernando
Magellan and even more; and we hope that being provided with other
good ships and vessels, well built and properly victualed, he may

discover some profitable traffic and matter; and will, our Lord God
granting him life, do honor to our country, in acquiring immortal fame
and memory. And Alderotto Branelleschi who started with him and by
chance turning back was not willing to accompany him further, will,
when he hears of this, be discontented. Nothing else now occurs to me,
as I have advised you by others of what is necessary. I commend
myself constantly to you, praying you to impart this to our friends, not
forgetting Pierfrancesco Dagaghiano who in consequence of being an
experienced person will take much pleasure in it, and commend me to
him. Likewise to Rustichi, who will not be displeased, if he delight, as
usual, in learning matters of cosmograpby. God guard you from all evil.
Your son.
FERNANDO CARLI, in Lyons.
This letter bears date only twenty-seven days after that of the
Verrazzano letter, which is declared to be inclosed. To discover its
fraudulent nature and the imposition it seeks to practise, it is only
necessary to bear this fact in mind, with its pretended origin, in
connection with this warlike condition of France and the personal
movements of the king, immediately preceding and during the interval
between the dates of the two letters. It purports to have been written by
Fernando Carli to his father in Florence. Carli is not an uncommon
Italian name and probably existed in Florence at that time, but who this
Fernando was, has never transpired. He gives in this letter all there is of
his biography, which is short. He had formerly been in the service of
the emperor, Charles V, under Moncada, in the fleet sent against the
Moors in Barbary, and was then in Lyons, where, it might be inferred,
from a reference to its merchants, that he was engaged in some
mercantile pursuit; but the reason of his presence there is really
unaccounted for. It is not pretended that he held any official position
under the king of France. The name of his father, by means of which
his lineage might be traced, is not mentioned, but Francisco Carli is
named as of the same family, but without designating his relationship.
Whether a myth or a reality, Fernando seems to have been an obscure
person, at the best; not known to the political or literary history of the
period, and not professing to occupy any position, by which he might
be supposed to have any facility or advantage for obtaining official
information or the news of the day, over the other inhabitants of Lyons

and of France.
He is made to say that he writes this letter for the particular purpose of
communicating to his father and their friends in Florence, the news,
which had reached Lyons, of the arrival of Verrazzano from his
wonderful and successful voyage of discovery, and that he had advised
his parent of all other matters touching his own interests, by another
conveyance. It might be supposed and indeed reasonably expected in a
letter thus expressly devoted to Verrazzano, that some circumstance,
personal or otherwise, connected with the navigator or the voyage, or
some incident of his discovery, besides what was contained in the
enclosed letter, such as must have reached Lyons, with the news of the
return of the expedition, would have been mentioned, especially, as it
would all have been interesting to Florentines. But nothing of the kind
is related. Nothing appears in the letter in regard to the expedition that
is not found in the Verrazzano letter. [Footnote: Mr. Greene, in his life
of Verrazzano, remarks that it appears from Carli's letter, that the
Indian boy whom