He lived, too, for some time in England,
where he figured at court as the secretary of Philippa, queen of Edward
III. Although not always to be relied on as an historian, his work is
unique and charming, and is very truthful in its delineation of the men
and manners of that age: it was written for courtly characters, and not
for the common people. The title of his work may be translated "Chronicles
of France, England, Scotland, Spain, Brittany, Gascony, Flanders, and
surrounding places."
SIR JOHN MANDEVIL, (1300-1371.)--We also place in this general catalogue a
work which has, ever since its appearance, been considered one of the
curiosities of English literature. It is a narrative of the travels of
Mandevil in the East. He was born in 1300; became a doctor of medicine,
and journeyed in those regions of the earth for thirty-four years. A
portion of the time he was in service with a Mohammedan army; at other
times he lived in Egypt, and in China, and, returning to England an old
man, he brought such a budget of wonders--true and false--stories of
immense birds like the roc, which figure in Arabian mythology and romance,
and which could carry elephants through the air--of men with tails, which
were probably orang-outangs or gorillas.
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