Note 480 — Chapter XIV

This curious pamphlet was reprinted from a unique copy by Panizzi, op. cit. vol. iii. p. 361. In the introduction, Vergerio gives an interesting account of Berni. He represents him as a man of worldly life, addicted to gross pleasures and indecent literature until within a few years of his death. Having been converted to evangelical faith in Christ, Berni then resolved to use the Orlando as a vehicle for Lutheran opinions; and his rifacimento was already almost printed, when the devil found means to suppress it. Vergerio is emphatic in his statement that the poem was finished and nearly printed. If this was indeed the case, we must suppose that Albicante worked upon the sheets, canceling some and leaving others, and that the book thus treated was afterwards shared by Giunta and Calvo.