e I might
expect to find documents that would be of use to me. Indeed, it is in
the nature of such a collection, covering so wide an extent of ground,
that it can never be complete. The historian may be satisfied, if he has
such authentic materials at his command, as, while they solve much that
has hitherto been enigmatical in the accounts of the time, will enable
him to present, in their true light, the character of Philip and the
policy of his government. I must acknowledge my obligations to more than
one person, who has given me important aid in prosecuting my further
researches.

One of the first of them is my friend, Mr. Edward Everett, who, in his
long and brilliant career as a statesman, has lost nothing of that love
of letters which formed his first claim to distinction. The year before
his appointment to the English mission he passed on the Continent,
where, with the kindness that belongs to his nature, he spent much time
in examining for me the great libraries, first in Paris, and afterwards
more effectually in Florence. From the _Archivio Mediceo_, in which he
was permitted by the grand duke to conduct his researches, he obtained
copies of sundry valuable documents, and among them the letters of the
Tuscan ministers, which have helped to guide me in some of the most
intricate parts of my narrative. A still larger amount of materials he
derived from the private library of Count Guicciardini, the descendant
of the illustrious historian of that name. I am happy to express my
lively sense of the courtesy shown by this nobleman; also my gratitude
for kind offices rendered me by Prince Corsini; and no less by the
Marquis Gino Capponi, whose name will be always held in honor for the
enlightened patronage which he has extended to learning, while
suffering, himself, under the severest privation that can befall the
scholar.

There was still an important deficiency in my collection,--that of the
_Relazioni Venete_, as the reports are called which were made by
ambassadors of Venice on their return from their foreign missions. The
value of these reports, for the information they give of the countries
visited by the envoys, is well known to historians. The deficiency was
amply supplied by the unwearied kindness of my friend, Mr. Fay, who now
so ably fills the post of minister from the United States to
Switzerland. When connected with the American legation at Berlin, he, in
the most obliging manner, assisted me in making