the works of travellers, for geographic and scientific information, not for the rehearsal of fables; to which they had learnt to attach the degree of consideration which they deserved; and when so great a proportion of a work like this appeared to be founded on a credulous echo of what was now acknowledged falsehood, a general cry of wilful fraud was raised against our author and his contemporaries of the same stamp. The accusation was, in a great measure, unjust, and founded on a total misconception of the principles and motives of the writer. Making his book rather a progressive description of the lands through which he passed, than a narrative of personal experiences, he adds, from the accounts of others, as he expressly declares in the beginning of his book, the current stories then received for truth about each country, as explanatory and illustrative of his subject; and to most of these tales he doubtless gave implicit credence: but what is not of the marvellous cast, what he himself saw and tells in the straightforward course of his narrative, he generally describes accurately and judiciously-his authority is then weighty and his testimony true. What he tells of the Holy Land, for instance, is minutely correct, and confirmed by the report of Broccardus, who preceded him, and by other cotemporary travellers. Many instances might be produced of striking coincidences between Mandeville and the accounts of other writers of the age, and this confirms his assertion, that he consulted their works in the composition of his own book. Marco Polo had gone over much of the same country nearly half a century before. His narrative of what he saw of manners and customs, as well as of his personal adventures, is simple, and bears the stamp of truth. Mandeville's accounts of the old man who made a Paradys" on a mountain, in which, by all sorts of enticements, he sought to seduce strangers into serving his purposes of secret assassination, of the tomb of St. Thomas,-of the general customs of the Tartars,-and the court of the great Chan,-remarkably agree with the story of Marco Polo, who also bears testimony to Prester John. The fabulous parts of each also often concur. Marco Polo tells of the men with tails,-of Gog and Magog, -of the tree of life, whose leaves are green above and white beneath, and of the islands beyond Madagascar, where the wonderful bird is to be found which can carry an elephant through the air. Mandeville seems also to have been acquainted with Hayton, for his account of the origin of the Tartar monarchy perfectly agrees with that author's. So also does his history of the Egyptian dynasty of Sultans-of the dethroning, by Mango Chan, of the Chalif of " Baldak” [Bagdad] and his death by starvation, in the midst of a sumptuous feast of " precyous stones, ryche perles, and tresour"-and of the province of

66

Georgia, called Hanyson, three days' journey round, which "is alle covered with derkness, and withouten ony brightnesse or light," though men witen well that men dwellen therein, but thei know not what men."

66

Much, however, rested on the single and unsupported authority of Mandeville, which later discoveries and inquiries have abundantly confirmed, although, for a long time, they might have ranked with Marco Polo's account of the stones used for fuel. He notices the cultivation of pepper-the burning of widows on the funeral piles of their husbands-the trees which bear wool, of which clothing is made-the carrier pigeons-the gymnosophists-the Chinese predilection for small feet-the variety, &c. of diamonds—the artificial egg hatching in Egyptthe balsam trade-the south pole stars and other astronomical appearances, from which he argues for the spherical form of the earth-the crocodile-the hippopotamus-the giraffe-the rattle snake, and many other singular productions of nature. He describes, with spirit and discernment, the manners of the Chan's court, whose claims we shall beg leave here to record, to a very early discovery of the use of an unconvertible paper currency, which enabled him to dispose of his bullion for other purposes.

"This Emperour may dispenden als moche as he will, with outen estymacioun. For he despendethe not, ne makethe no money, but of lether emprented, or of papyre. And of that moneye, is som of gretter prys, and some of lasse prys, aftre the dyversitee of his statutes. And when that moneye hathe ronne so longe, that it begynnethe to waste, than men beren it to the Emperoure's tresorye: and than thei taken newe moneye for the olde. And that money gothe thorghe out alle the contree, and thorghe out alle his provynces. For there and beyonde hem, thei make no moneye nouther of gold nor of sylver. And therfore he may despende ynow, and outrageously. And of gold and sylver, that men beren in his contree, he makethe cylours, pyleres and paumentes in his palays, and other dyverse thinges, what him lykethe."

One would almost fancy, that he had seen or, at least, heard of a sort of mirage, or that appearance which is often observed by those who ascend Vesuvius;

"And withen well that in that contrie (Silha, or Ceylon) and in othere isles there abouten, the see is so highe, that it seemeth as though it henge at the clowdes, and that it wolde covere all the world. And that is gret marvaylle, that it myghte be so, saf only the wille of God, that the eyr susteynethe it. And therefore seyth David in the Psautere, Mirabiles elationes Maris."

We have often thought, that the comparative toleration of each other by the rival faiths, in and about the time of the Cru

sades, might not only be of some interest as mere matter of research, but as bearing upon the comparative progress of the contending parties in civilization. We are very much inclined to fear the balance would greatly preponderate in favor of the Mussulman, whose valor was comparatively little tinctured with savage bigotry, and was nearly, if not altogether, political, and confined to resisting attacks upon his empire. We find no Mahometan revelling in rapture, like the European chronicler, at the blood and slaughter of his opponents: far less were they disgraced by such atrocious orgies as the romance of Cœur de Lion records, when it describes Richard's banquet on a Saracen young and fat."

66

Christian history has recorded the benevolent conduct of Camel, Sultan of Cairo, (who, when the army of Pelagius, after committing the most horrible and cool-blooded massacre, was in his power, shed tears of pity over it, and opened his granaries to its relief,) and the equally noble conduct of his successor, to St. Louis. We are not, therefore, surprised to find that Mandeville, after all the political and religious animosity which so many outrages might be supposed to have engendered, no where, in the course of his long journey through the very scene of the war, complains of any ill usage on the part of the Mussulman powers, either towards himself or their Christian subjects. On the contrary, though every where avowing his faith, and refusing all temptations to abandon it, we find him received with that honor and attention which it would certainly have been very hazardous for any paynim adventurer to look for in Europe. He particularly tells us of the many Christian sects who, for all that appears, dwelt peaceably under Saracen dominion, and were certainly indulged in greater latitude of opinion than was likely to have been allowed them in any country, even of their Christian brethren in the west. He is himself (though glorying on all occasions in his own belief) candid to others, and in no respect partaking of the exclusive spirit of a much later age.

66 And yee schulle undirstonde, that of alle theise contrees, and of alle theise yles, and of all the dyverse folk, that I have spoken of before, and of dyverse lawes, and of dyverse beleeves that thei han; yit is there non of hem alle, but that thei han sum resoun within hem and understondinge, but gif it be the fewere: and that han certeyn articles of oure feithe and sume gode poyntes of our beleeve: and that thei beleeven in God, that formede alle thinges and made the world ; and clepen him God of Nature, aftre that the Prophete seythe, Et metuent eum omnes fines terræ: and also in another place, Omnes gentes servient ei: that is to seyn, alle folk schalle serven him. But yit thei cone not speken perfytly; (for there is no man to techen hem) but only that thei cone devyse be hire naturelle wytte. For thei han

no knouleche of the Sone, ne of the Holy Gost: but thei cone alle speken of the Bible: and namely of Genesis, of the Prophete's lawes, and of the Bokes of Moyses. And thei seyn wel, that the creatures, that thei worschipen, ne ben no Goddes: but thei worschipen hem, for the vertue that is in hem, that may not be, but only be the grace of God. And of Simulacres, and of Ydoles, thei seyn, that there ben no folk, but that thei han Simulacres; and that thei seyn, for we Cristene men han ymages, as of oure Lady, and of othere Seyntes, that wee worschipen; not the Ymages of tree or of ston, but the Seyntes, in whoos name thei ben made aftre. For righte as the bokes of the Scripture of hem techen the Clerkes, how and in what manere thei schulle beleeven, ryghte so the ymages and the peyntynges techen the lewed folk to worschipen the Seyntes, and to have hem in hire mynde; in whoos name that the ymages ben made aftre. Thei seyn also, that the Aungeles of God speken to hem in the Ydoles, and that thei don manye great myracles. And that thei seyn sothe, that there is an Aungele within hem: for there ben 2 maner of Aungeles, a gode and an evelle; as the Grekes seyn, Cacho and Calo; this Cacho is the wykked Aungelle, and Calo is the gode Aungelle: but the tother is not the gode Aungelle but the wykked Aungelle, that is withinne the Ydoles, for to disceyven hem, and for to meyntenen hem in hire errour."

The account which he gives of the Mahometan faith is fair -he bears testimony to the superiority of their moral conduct; and the anecdotes which follow, concerning his patron the Sultan of Egypt, do honor to that monarch as a worthy successor of the merciful opponents of Pelagius and St. Louis, and place his political sagacity and activity in a striking point of view.

"And therfore I schalle telle you what the Soudan tolde me upon a day, in his chambre. He leet voyden out of his chambre alle maner of men, lordes and othere; for he wolde speke with me in conseille. And there he askede me, how the Cristene men governed hem in oure contree. And I seyde him, righte wel, thonked be God. And he seyde me, treulyche, nay: for yee Christene men ne recthen righte noghte how untrewly to serve God. Ye scholde geven ensample to the lewed peple, for to do wel: and yee geven hem ensample to don evylle. For the Comownes, upon festyfulle dayes, whan thei scholden gon to chirche to serve God, than gon thei to tavernes, and ben there in glottony alle the day and all nyghte, and eten and drynken, as bestes that have no resoun, and wite not whan thei have ynow. And there with alle thei ben so proude, that thei knowen not how to ben clothed; now long, now schort, now streyt, now large, now sworded, now daggered, and in all manere gyses. They scholden ben symple, meke and trewe, and full of almesdede, as Jhesu was, in whom thei trowe: but thei ben alle the contrarie, and evere enclyned to the evylle, and to don evylle. And thei ben so coveytous, that for a lytylle sylver thei sellen here doughters, here susters, and here own wyfes, to putten hem to leccherie. And on withdrawethe the wyf of

another, and non of hem holdethe feythe to another: but thei defoulen here lawe, that Jhesu Crist betook hem keep, for here salvacioun. And thus for here synnes, han thei lost alle this lond, that wee holden. For, for hire synnes here God hathe taken hem in to oure hondes, noghte only be strengthe of our self, but for here synnes. For wee knowen wel in verry sothe, that whan yee serve God, God wil helpe you: and whan he is with you, no man may be agenst you. And that knowe wee wel, be oure prophecyes, that Cristene men schulle wynnen agen this lond out of our hondes, whan thei serven God more devoutly. But als long als thei ben of foule and of unclene lyvynge, (as thei ben now) wee have no drede of hem, in no kynde: for here God wil not helpen hem in no wise. And than I asked him how he knew the state of Cristene men. And he answerde me, that he knew alle the state of the Comounes also, be his messangeres, that he sent to alle londes, in manere, as thei weren marchauntes of precyous stones, of clothes of golde, and of othere thinges, for to knowen the manere of every contree amonges Cristene men. And than he leet clepe in alle the Lordes, that he made voyden first out of his chambre; and there he schewed me four that weren grete Lordes in the contree, that tolden me of my contree, and of many othere Cristerne contrees, als wel as thei had ben of the same contree; and thei spak Frensche righte wel; and the Sowdan also, whereof I had gret marvaylle. Allas! that it is gret sclaundre to oure feythe and to oure lawes, when folk that ben withouten lawe schulle reproven us, and undernemen us of our synnes. And thei that scholden ben converted to Crist and to the lawe of Jhesu, be oure gode ensamples and be oure acceptable lif to God, and so converted to the lawe of Jhesu Crist, ben thorghe oure wykkednesse and evylle lyvynge, fer fro us; and straungers fro the holy and verry beleeve, schulle thus appelen us and holden us for wykkede lyvères and cursed. And treuly thei sey sothe. For the Sarazines ben gode and feythfulle. For thei keepen entierly the comaundement of the holy book Alkaron, that God sent hem be his messager Machomet; to the whiche, as they seyne, seynt Gabrielle the Aungel often tyme tolde the wille of God."

66

The versions and editions of Mandeville's book are very various, and unequal in execution. It has been printed in all countries as a popular, or as the Germans call it a folks," book; and of course many of such editions are excessively inaccurate and mutilated.

The one from which our quotations have been made is the English version of 1727, which purports to be printed from "A MS. in the Cottonian Library, (Titus c. XVI.) then about three hundred years of age, and collated with seven MSS., some near as old as the author's time, and from old printed editions." From this book we have not hesitated to make such extracts as the elucidation of our remarks required, (though sometimes going to rather an inconvenient length) when we considered that its language is exceedingly curious, as illustrating the progress of the English tongue in, as is supposed, its earliest prose work.