[Footnote 206: We find in a treatise of 1511, composed of a tract chart of Europe by Hylacomylus, with a description of the same continent by his friend Philesius, an interesting tribute to the memory of René II. Hylacomylus dedicates this map, of which he is very proud, to Duke Antony, René's son and successor. He observes that the late duke was "the first among the first of princes to favor the liberal arts, full of the love of letters and of lettered men. We ourselves remember the indulgent ear, the smiling countenance, and the good grace with which he received the general description of the globe, and other monuments of our literary labors offered by us to him." This book (Biblio. Magazine, No. 16169) is entitled: Instructio manuductionem praestans in cartam itinerariam Martini Hilacomile, cum luculentiori ipsius Europae enarratione à Ringmanno Philesio conscripta. Strasbourg Imprimerie Grieninger, April, 1511.]
In the language of the editors, two ecclesiastical dignitaries of Strasburg, it was aroused from its sleep among the rocks of the Vosges only after six years of neglect. It was published at Strasburg in the year 1513, under the superintendence of Philesius. The maps do not present the name of Americus, nor the body of the work that of Hylacomylus. But, following those belonging to the geography proper of Ptolemaeus, there is a rich supplementary atlas, which represents the geographical state of the world in the sixteenth century, and offers us two very curious maps; a map of the world, entitled "Orbis typus universalis juxta hydrographorum traditionem," with the profile of the western mainland and several islands of the Antilles and a special map of discoveries, Tabula Terre Nove, loaded with names that mount in a grand scale up to the fortieth degree of south latitude. This place is eminently suited to introduce the name of America, [Footnote 207] but we seek it in vain. It was destined to appear in a posthumous work of the bookseller of Saint-Dié.
[Footnote 207: On the contrary, we find this inscription: Haec terra cum adjacentibua insulis inventa est per Columbum Januensem ex mandate Regis Castellae. Elsewhere the preface of the supplement contains this singular phrase à propos of the map of the world: "Charta autem marina quam hydrographiam vocant per admiralem quondam serenissimum Portugaliae regis Ferdinandi caeteros denique lustratores verissimis peragrationibus lustrata." (Folio, Imperial Lib., G. 10.) How place Ferdinand on the Portuguese throne then occupied by Emmanuel? Who is this admiral? Remark that the names of locality on the second map are Spanish. This extraordinary confusion of names of kings will serve to explain other errors in after times.]
In 1522, Laurentius Phrisius, who must not be confounded with Philesius, published a new edition of Ptolemaeus at John Grieninger's in Strasburg. Hylacomylus was dead; but how could they do better than employ the maps prepared by him in his lifetime? "That we may not seem," says Phrisius to the reader, "to arrogate to ourselves another's merit, know that these maps have been lately prepared by Martin Hylacomylus, dead in Christ, and reduced to dimensions smaller than their first form. If they are good, to him then, and not to us, peace and place among the celestial hierarchy, in the bosom of him who separated the edifice of this world by spaces so marvellous. For the remainder that follows, know that it is our own work." [Footnote 208]
[Footnote 208: Crit. Exam. vol. iv. p. 116.]
Now, upon this map of the world, which is the work of Hylacomylus, and, is entitled as in the Ptolemaeus of 1513, "Orbis typus universalis juxta hydrographorum traditionem," is displayed the name of America. And what a triumphant commentary upon it is given in the preface written by Thomas Aucuparius! "Not less worthy of panegyric are those who, since the days of Ptolemaeus, have succeeded by an incredible effort of genius in exploring new countries and islands. And in the first rank among them, and deserving an extraordinary fame, stands Americus Vespucius, the illustrious and eminent man who discovered and explored and was the first guest of the land of America, called to-day America, or the New World, or the fourth part of the world; as well as of other new islands adjacent to it or lying at no great distance."
This enthusiasm was not free from confusion. The savans on the borders of the Rhine received by repercussion the echoed reports of these wonderful Portuguese and Spanish discoveries, without distinguishing quite clearly the name and extent of each one. For instance, this Ptolemaeus of 1522 repeats the map of 1513, with the indication that the continent in question with its neighboring islands was discovered by the Genoese Columbus under orders of the King of Castile. [Footnote 209]
[Footnote 209: We have not been fortunate enough to find the Ptolemaeus of 1522. But there exists in the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève (G. 8) an edition of 1525, made by Bilinald Pirckeymer, at Grieninger, in Strasburg. The atlas, in the second part of the volume, evidently repeats in a smaller form that of 1513. The maps are identical. Now, the last Orbis typus universalis juxta hydrographorum traditionem exactissime depicta bears, with the sacramental date of 1522, the name of America upon the great tract of country in the south-western part of the Western ocean. This, then, is the first document. After the date come the initials L. P. (Laurentius Frisius. Frisius, another form of Phrisius.)]
The same legend, under date of 1497, adjoining the words America provincia, on Apian's map, appears in the edition of Pomponius Mela, by Vadianus, (Joacquin de Watt,) Bâle, 1522. Yet the first pages in the book reproduce a letter from Vadianus to a friend, concerning the discovery of America by Vespucius, and the remarkable proficiency in mathematics of this navigator. The editor does not remark that the name of America upon the map is in contradiction with that of Columbus in the legend, or that elsewhere he attaches erroneously to the third voyage of Columbus, during which the great navigator touched Paria, the pretended date (1497) of the discovery of Americus Vespucius. [Footnote 210]
[Footnote 210: Crit. Exam. vol. iv. p. 144. Columbus discovered the terra firma of the delta of the Orinoco, (Isla Santa,) August 1st, 1498. The third voyage lasted from May 30th, 1498, to November 25th, 1500.]