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iam C. Bryant and Robert C. Sands, edited the " Talisman," an annual, which continued three years, beginning with 1827. These volumes, con- taining some of the choicest productions of their authors, were republished in 1833 with the title of " Miscellanies first published under the Name of the ' Talisman.' " — His cousin, Isaac A., jurist, b. in Coeymans, Albany co., N. Y., 16 Oct., 1812 ; d. in Buffalo, N. Y., 16 April, 1873, was graduated at Union in 1831, studied law, and began practice in Batavia, N. Y., in 1834. He went to Buffalo in 1847, was elected a judge of the superior court of that city in 1854, and twice re-elected, and by the choice of his associates was made chief. As a member of the convention of 1867-'8 he assisted materially in the revision of the state constitution.

VERRAZANO, VERAZZANI, or VERRAZZANO, Giovanni de (vay-rah-tsah'-ne), Florentine navigator, b. in Yal di Greve, near Florence, in 1470 ; d. either in Newfoundland or Puerto del Pico in 1527. At the age of twenty-five he entered the French mari- time service and was employed in voyages of dis- covery. It is as- serted in the French annals that he visited the northern coast of Ameri- ca as early as 1508, but no ac- count of his dis- coveriesisknown to exist. Later he was employed in ravaging the Spanish and Por- tuguese posses- sions in the East

and West Indies,

and soon became famous as a corsair. In 1521 he secured valuable prizes in the West Indies, and he captured in 1522 the treasure-ship in which Hernan Cortes was sending home the rich spoils of Mexico. Toward the end of 1523 he left Dieppe on the frigate " La Dauphine " with a mission from Francis I., king of France, to explore the coast of North Ameri- ca. He sailed from Madeira, 17 Jan., 1524, and ar- rived in February off the coast of North America. For three months he explored the coast from 30° to 50° north latitude, landed at a point near Cape Fear, and, coasting northward, discovered New York and Narragansett bays. He landed on Newfound- land, of which he took possession in the name of the king, and endeavored to find a passage to the East Indies by the northwest. On his return to Dieppe he wrote, on 8 July, a memoir to Francis I., relating his discoveries, of which he gave a somewhat confused description. Very little is known of the remainder of Verrazano's life. References to the French annals make it possible that he was killed by Indians in Newfoundland during a subsequent voyage of exploration. It is known that he communicated to persons in Eng- land a map of his discoveries, and a document found at Rouen in 1876 proves that he executed a power of attorney to his brother, Geronimo (Jeras- me de Verasenne), 11 May, 1527, before sailing to the East Indies, by virtue of an agreement with Admiral Philippe Chabot and the famous mer- chant of Dieppe, Jean Ango. It is claimed that during the voyage he was captured on the southern coast of Spain, and executed at Pico as a privateer. His exploits, capture, and execution are narrated by Pietro Martire d'Anghiera, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, and others, who call him Juan Florin. In the 18th century, on the authority of Andres Gon- zalez Barcia, in his " Ensayo Cronologico, etc. " (Madrid, 1723), Juan Florin was identified with Verrazano, but more modern authors contest the identification. Ramusio published in his collec- tion in 1556 an Italian version of Verrazano's let- ter to King Francis I. ; and Antonio de Herrera, in his " Decades," gives extracts from the letter, say- ing that he had seen the original. The authentici- ty of the letter was attacked in 1864 by Bucking- ham Smith, who claimed that Esteban Gomez, pilot of Magellan, was the first to visit the coast of Carolina in 1525. But James Carson Brevoort, in "Verrazzano, the Navigator" (New York, 1874), maintains the authenticity of the letter, which Henry C. Murphy rejects as spurious in his " Voy- age of Verrazzano, a Chapter of the Early Maritime Discoveries in America (New York, 1875). The conclusion is not yet definitive, as George W. Greene discovered in the Strozzi library at Florence a manuscript copy of Verrazano's letter, varying somewhat in text from the* Ramusio version, and containing some additional paragraphs. It was published in the transactions of the New York historical society for 1841. Brevoort gave also an account of a planisphere that is preserved in the Strozzi library, dated 1529, signed by Geronimo Verazzano, in which he calls the land "Nuova Gallia, quale discopri, 5 annos fa, Giovanni de Verazzano, Fiorentino." The French archives, recently searched by Ramee for his " Documents inedits sur Jacques Cartier et le Canada," afford proof that Verrazano discovered the northern coast of North America.

VERREAU, Hospice-Anthelme Jean Baptiste, Canadian educator, b. in LTslet, Quebec, 6 Sept., 1828. He was educated at the Seminary of Quebec, taught there in 1847-'8, was principal of Sainte Therese college in 1848-'56, and has been principal of Jacques Cartier normal school, Mon- treal, since 1856. He was ordained a priest in 1851, in 1873 was commissioned by the provincial government to make investigations in Europe re- garding Canadian history, and made extensive notes of his travels and researches, which were published in 1875. He was appointed an officer of Eublic instruction by the French government. He as published " Invasion du Canada " (Montreal, 1873), and prefaces and notices of memoirs of the historical society.

VERREN, Antoine, clergyman, b. in Marseilles, France, 14 Feb., 1801 ; d. in New York city, 17 March, 1874. He studied philosophy and the- ology, was graduated in Geneva, Switzerland, ordained a minister in the French Protestant church in August, 1825, and was in parochial charge at Ferney, Switzerland, in 1825-'7. He came to the United States in September, 1827, and was called to the rectorship of L'Eglise du St. Esprit, New York city, which post he held during his life. He was ordained deacon and priest in September, 1828, by Bishop Hobart, and was professor of French literature in Columbia in 1832-'44. A new church edifice was built on the corner of Franklin and Church streets in 1834; the interior was destroyed by fire in 1839, but was restored in 1840. Services were discontinued in this building in 1862, and a new building was erected in West Twenty-second street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. He received the degree of D. D. from Hobart college in 1860. Dr. Vetren in 1831, by appointment, revised and corrected the " Book of Common Prayer " in