remote East. A desire of information, and that restlessness of mind with which it is so frequently blended, prompted him to pursue a course which it had till now required the irresistible inducements of devotion to undertake with courage. He may, therefore, perhaps be fairly regarded as the first of our countrymen to whom the name of traveller ought strictly to be applied; and when either the extent of his wanderings are remembered, or the few facilities which the age afforded for pursuing them in safety, he may be considered, with equal justice, as one of the most enterprising of his class. It has not been ascertained in what year he was born, but there are documents to prove that it was at or very near the commencement of the fourteenth century, and that Saint Albans was his birth place The family from which he descended is represented as having been of the highest respectability; the same scanty traditions relating to him acquaint us that he was brought up as a physician, and that he exercised his profession for some years, but was at length so strongly excited by the desire of seeing distant countries, that in 1332 he bade farewell to his native land, and commenced a tour which, with his stay in the different regions that attracted his curiosity, occupied no less a period than thirty-four years. During this time, he traversed the chief parts of Asia, Egypt, and Libya, spent three years at Pekin in China, attended the grand khan of Cathay in his wars, and even served as a soldier himself under the soldan of Egypt. The variety of adventures with which he must have met in such a journey would have been amply sufficient to satisfy his readers, and it is only to be regretted that the interesting and valuable information he might have conveyed should have been sacrificed to the extravagancies which disfigure his journal. From the length of time he expended in his wanderings, from the close intercourse which he seems to have kept up with the natives of the countries he explored, and the skill he acquired in their languages, he was qualified to enlarge the knowledge of his countrymen on subjects of the most important practical utility. But either his mind was deficient in acuteness, or he was unwilling to diminish the amazement with which the common stories respecting the east were received by the people. Thus the most extravagant assertions are made with an appearance of faith which is almost as startling as the wonders themselves. Nature is represented under aspects which set at defiance all the laws by which it may reasonably be supposed she is every where governed. Circumstances occur which the sober earnestness of the narrative sets forth as worthy of all credit, but which are scarcely more credible than those of the wildest romance. The journal, therefore, of Sir John would be worthy of little attention were it not for the light which it throws upon the taste of the English at the time when it was written. In the preface to the work, he speaks with some eloquence on the claims which the land of Palestine has to the devout attention of Christian men and states as his motive for describing it, that a long time had passed since the route thither was familiar or general, and that a number of persons desired to hear it described. He then formally declares, “I, John Mandeville, knight, who was born in England in the town of St Albans, passed the sea in the year 1332, on Saint Michael's day; and there remained a long time, and went through many lands and many provinces, kingdoms, 66 and isles, and have passed through Turkie, and through Armony the Little and Great, through Tartary, Jury, Araby, Egypt the High and Low, through Liby, Chalde, and a great part of Æthiope, through Amazony, through Jude the Less and the More, and through many other isles which are about Jude, where many people dwell of divers shape Of the men of which lands I shall speak plainly, and shall declare part of the things I have seen." He then proceeds to describe the way to Jerusalem, on horse, on foot, or by sea," prefacing his account with the remark, that he had "ridden it and passed it with good observation." Many of the principal towns on the road are mentioned in order, and the care is every where evident which the author took not to omit any legend which might please the lovers of the marvellous. The description given of Bethlehem may serve to make the reader acquainted with his style ::-"From Hebron," says he, 66 men go to Bethlehem in half a day, for it is but five miles, and it is a very fair way and through pleasant woods. Bethlehem is but a little city, long and narrow, and was walled and enclosed with a great ditch; it hath been formerly called Ephrata, as holy writ saith, Ecce audivimus cum in Ephrata,' &c., that is, 'Lo we heard of the same at Ephrata.' And near the end of the city towards the east, is a very fair and goodly church, which has many towers and pinnacles, being strongly built. Within that church are four and forty great marble pillars; and not far from this church is a field which flourished very strangely, as you shall hear. The cause is, forasmuch as a fair maiden that was accused wrongfully for that she had done dishonestly, for which cause she was doomed to die, and to be burnt in that place, to which she was led. And as the wood began to burn about her, she made her prayer to our Lord, as she was not guilty of that thing, that he would help her, that it might be known to all men. And having thus prayed, she entered the fire, and those branches that were burning became red roses, and those that were not kindled became white roses, and these were the first roses that any man ever saw : And so was the maiden saved through the grace of God, wherefore that field is called the field that God flourished, for that it was full of roses." The wonders which he relates of the isles in the eastern seas are less pleasing to the imagination. Thus, the people of the isle of Raso are said to hang their friends who are supposed to be near dying on the boughs of trees, in order that the birds might eat them, saying, it was better that the birds which are angels of God-should eat them than the worms. In another island hounds are said to be kept to strangle the sick, which, after they have been thus destroyed, are eaten for venison.' The isle of Macumeran is celebrated for being inhabited by men and women who have heads like dogs' heads. In Dodyn the people, it is said, beat even their sick parents to death, and then assemble all their friends and relatives to feast on their remains. Other islands are distinguished like that of Macumeran for the monstrosities of human shape which they produce, and one is especially mentioned, the inhabitants of which have no heads, and to supply the defect have their eyes in their shoulders and their mouths in their breasts. Numerous instances might be produced of fables of another class, but the above specimen of Sir John's veracious gravity will enable the reader to form a tolerably correct idea of the privilege which travellers assumed to themselves in the fourteenth century, or rather, perhaps, of the taste which prevailed at that period, and which a man desirous of reputation as a traveller dared not venture to oppose. Steele and Addison unite in celebrating the fertility of the venerable tourist's imagination, and observe, that among all the authors of his kind he deserves the foremost place for "the copiousness of his invention and the greatness of his genius." It has, however, been discovered, that Sir John merits less praise for originality than the applause of these wits implies. From the comparison which has been instituted between his journal and that of Oderic de Portenau, it is found that he borrowed whole pages from that writer, while most of his marvellous tales are traced with equal clearness to the old romances, which were then generally well-known on the continent. Notwithstanding the medley of extravagance which occupied so large a portion of this journal, Sir John enjoyed an extensive reputation both in England and abroad. Some of his relations, indeed, are ascribed to the monks, who are supposed to have added them of their own accord; and it is not improbable, but that while he condescended to amuse the ignorant with fables, he obtained the respect of the more enlightened by a juster account of what he had seen and heard. It was chiefly to alleviate the unpleasant sensation of languor which he suffered after his return to England that he wrote the account of his journey, but the amusement which it afforded him was not sufficient to cure his ennui, and after a vain endeavour to remain contented at home, he again set out for the continent, and repaired to Liege, where he took up his residence, and where he died in the year 1372. A handsome monument in the principal church of that city, records his honourable descent, and the faith in which he died. His name richly deserves to be remembered; however little he did to promote the interests of science, he was a man of singular resolution, and contributed, if he did nothing farther, to awaken a spirit of curiosity and enterprise. It is evident, from the character of his journal, that knowledge of every species was subjected at the time he wrote to the sway of superstition; and when it is remembered that in little more than a hundred years from that period, Vasco de Gama rendered the remote shores of India familiar to every merchant in Europe, and Columbus had successfully traversed the Atlantic in search of shores before unheard of, the visionary tales of Sir John Mandeville, taken as a starting point, will serve to show in the strongest manner the extent to which in one century improvement may be carried. A similar inference will be drawn from his narrative when it is recollected, that at the time when his stories of Indians without heads, and other such marvels, were received with delight in England, the Venetians and Genoese viewed those countries as the proper seat of their commerce, and would have been as little inclined to credit his stories as they were ready to follow the suggestions of the boldest trafficker. As England was enabled to extend its commerce, the narratives of travellers were filled with contents of a very different nature, and those of Sir John Mandeville were speedily forgotten by all but the most curious inquirers into the state of our earl; liter? ture. Robert Longlande. FLOR. CIRC. A. D. 1350. Ir deserves to be spoken to the praise of poetry, that those who have cultivated the art have, in numerous instances, shown themselves very superior to the age in which they lived. Philosophers have frequently received this praise; and every anticipation, however slight, of improvements in science, every glance they have given at a world advancing in light and intelligence, has been justly regarded as a token of the loftiest intellectual power. But the noble elevation of poetical freedom,-its superiority to the fashions of the day,-its enmity to real prejudices and whatever else betokens an advance on the age, are far less carefully noted; and poetry is thus deprived of the credit which in some instances has been remarkably its due. This is especially the case with more than one of our early English writers, who, living in an iron age, when superstition was at its height, when every art that peculation could invent to keep the people in ignorance was exercised, stood boldly forth from among their brethren, and ventured to proclaim the laws of plain sense and reason. Robert Longlande belongs eminently to this number, and it is a matter of regret that tradition has not preserved more memorials of a man who deserves so well of his country and posterity. Antiquaries differ as to the precise period when he flourished, but the dates 1350 and 1362 point out with some degree of certainty the time at which he completed the work to which he owes his fame. It is also known, that he was a fellow of Oriel college, Oxford, and a secular priest. To the latter circumstance may probably be ascribed some portion of the freedom and intelligence, and still more the keen, biting sarcasm, which characterize his poem. The opposition which long prevailed between the secular and regular clergy, combined with the greater intercourse with society which the former enjoyed, gave to that class of the clerical order a very important advantage over their monastic brethren. Obliged to defend themselves and their conduct by continual appeals from the prejudices which had been fostered by the long reign of darkness to those practical rules of wisdom which it was their interest to inculcate, they naturally acquired a readiness in judging of men and affairs which could scarcely fail of enlarging their views, and rendering them useful instructors. To a man of good natural powers it must have afforded an immense advantage to stand in this position. While his professional character would give him innumerable opportunities of studying the world, it would prevent his being ruined with it; and while he would enjoy much of the reverence with which all orders of the clergy were then regarded, he would be free from the trammels which the regulars wore as the price of their respectability. That Longlande possessed ample qualifications for making the best use of his experience, his work abundantly proves, and the labours of critics have rarely been more profitably employed than they have been in elucidating or correcting the pages of this author. The Vision of Pierce Plowman' is a satire on the most conspicuous follies and superstitions of his cotemporaries. No rank or profession escapes his bold and sweeping sar casın. He looks on the world with the eye of a severe moralist, but not without the gay feeling of a poet. His blows are quick and heavy, but he fights with a well-polished weapon; and while we may fairly give him the honour due to a useful instructor, we may, at the same time, consider his poem as deserving a high rank, as such, among the earliest of our classics. His own order suffers most severely under his hand, but he was too good a satirist to confine his views to one class of mankind, and in the introduction to the poem he represents himself as contemplating a vast and mixed multitude, composed of men of every age and degree :— "And as I beheld on hey, est on to the sonne, I saw a towr on a toft, ryaly emaked, A depe dale be nethe, a donjoun therein, With depe dykys and dyrke, and dredful of sygth; Of al maner of men, the mene and the ryche, This vision and the others, in the description of which the poem consists, was seen by the author, as he represents, while he was sleeping, after having enjoyed a long and solitary ramble among the Malverne hills. In this respect he has followed the plan of more than one other early poet; and the student of Italian literature will remember that the famous Brunetto Latini, the preceptor of Dante, has formed his prinIcipal work on this system. The love of allegory rendered such a method of introducing the subject almost necessary, or, at least, gave a species of natural existence to the personages of the fable, and a verisimilitude to the relations, which they would not otherwise have possessed. In the land of dreams we may allow a man to converse with Avarice, Bribery, &c., as living visible personages; and if the poet has the art to lead his reader over the shadowy threshold, his descriptions thenceforth assume the form and air of realities. We find in Longlande's work some personifications which we with difficulty admit in the present day to intercourse with our fancy. Simony and Theology have too many grave associations in their train to flow easily into verse; but in the age when Longlande wrote, there was little nicety of taste in this respect, and whatever could be named was considered as lawfully subject to the process of personification. Thus, among his chief characters are Do-Well, Do-Better, and Do Best; Do-Evil is another; Wit and Thought are both active characters in the plot; See-Well, SayWell, and Hear-Well, have also distinct offices to perform. The last mentioned personages are honoured with the appellation of Sir; and accompanying them is Sir Godfray Go-Well.' The great object of their labour is to preserve the Soul, represented as a lady with the name of Anima, and the following lines will show how skilfully the author manages his numerous train of shadows : "Sir Dowel dwellith, coth Witt, nogt a day hennes In a castel that kynde (nature) made, of four kynnes thinges; |