XIII
The original Latin MS. of Biard's letter to his general, dated at Amiens, May 26, 1614, is in the archives of the Gesù, at Rome. In 1858, Father Martin there copied this document, with others of like character; and in the present publication we follow his apograph, which is now preserved in the archives of St. Mary's College, Montreal. Martin's translation of the letter into French appears in Carayon's Première Mission, pp. 106-116.
See Bibliographical Data in Volume [I.] of the present series, for particulars of Carayon's collection. The originals of the letters in Carayon, were written in three different languages: nos. 2, 5, 9, 12, 18, 25, 27-31, were in French; nos. 13, 14, 15, 16, in Italian; and the others in Latin. Letters to the general in Rome were for the most part in Italian or Latin, but those to the provincial in Paris were in French. The Italian and Latin letters were translated for Carayon, into French, in most cases by Martin, who had copied them for that publication. In our series, we have followed the printed pages of Carayon, for the French letters; but for the Italians and Latins (except Documents III., V., and VI., in Volume I.), have reverted for our copy to Martin's own apographs, at Montreal, and our translations into English are made directly from these.