Note 205 — APPENDIX,

Americus Vespucius, a merchant of Florence, had the honour of giving his name to this new half of the globe, in which he did not possess one acre of land; and pretended to be the first who discovered the continent. Admitting it true that he first discovered it, the glory is due to the man who had the penetration to see that the voyage was practicable, and the courage to perform it. Columbus made three voyages, as viceroy and admiral, five years before Americus made one as a geographer; but Vespucius writing to his friends at Florence that he had discovered a new world, they took his word, and the citizens decreed that a grand illumination should be made before the door of his house every three years, on the feast of All Saints. Such are the accidents by which honours are attained. A merchant gives his name to one half of the globe from happening to be on board a fleet that in 1489 sailed along the coast of Brazil!