undertaking in the opinion of those who understand the navigation of the globe. “At the beginning of the voyage there was an unfavorable opinion formed concerning it, many thinking that there would be no more news respecting him and his vessel, and that he would be lost on that side of Norway, in consequence of the great ice which is in the northern ocean.[414] However, the great God, as the Moor said, in order to give us every day proofs of his infinite power, and to show how admirable is this mundane sphere, has disclosed to him a breadth of land, as you will perceive, of great extent, as shown by good reasoning and by degrees of latitude and longitude. “He declares and shows it to be greater than Europe, Africa, and a part of Asia; therefore a new world (_ergo mundus novus_); and this exclusive of what the Spaniards have discovered in several years in the West; as it is hardly a year since Fernando Magellan returned, who discovered a great country with one ship out of the five sent on the discovery, from which he brought spices much more excellent than the common kind, and of his other ships no news has transpired for five years. They are supposed to be lost.[415] “What this our captain has brought he does not state in his letter, except a very young boy taken from those countries; but it is supposed he has brought a sample of gold, which they do not value in those parts, and of drugs and other aromatic liquors, in order to confer here with several merchants after he shall have been in the presence of his most serene majesty. And at this hour he should be with the king, and from choice should come here soon, as he is much desired, in order to be conversed with; moreover, here he will find his majesty, the king, our sire, who is expected in three or four days.[416] And we hope that his serene majesty will intrust him with a half dozen good vessels, and that he will go on the voyage. If our Francisco Carli be returned from Cairo, advise him to go at a venture on this voyage with him, for I believe they were acquainted at Cairo, where he [Verrazzano] was for several years, and not only in Egypt and Syria, but almost in all parts of the known world. On account of his merits, he is regarded as another Amerigo Vespucci, another Magellan, and even more than they. We hope that, being provided with other good ships and vessels, well-built and properly provisioned, he will discover and develop a profitable traffic, and will, our Lord God preserving his life, do honor to our country in acquiring immortal fame and memory. Alderotto Brunelleschi, who started with him, and by chance turned back unwilling to accompany him farther, will, when he hears this news, be discontented.