pire, intermixed with some passages relating to the eastern Christians. His abilities must have been considerable; since, though he professed Christianity, he held an office of trust near the persons of the Mahometan princes. He was son to Yaser Al Almid, secretary to the council of war under the sultans of Egypt for 45 years, and in 1238, when his father died, succeeded him in his place. His history of the Saracens was translated from Arabic into Latin by Erpinius; and printed in these two languages in folio, at Leyden, in 1625. Erpinius died before the publication; but Golius took care of it, and prefixed a preface. It was dedicated by Erpinius's widow to Dr. Andrews, bishop of Winchester.

FADLALLAH, or Chodsa Raschid Addin Fadlallah, a Persian historian. He was vizier to the sultan Cazan, who reigned at Taurus, at whose command he compiled a history of the Moguls, which he finished in 1294. He added a supplement to this work by the order of Cazan's successor. The first part was translated into French by La Croix.

GEORGE PACHYMERUS, an eminent Greek, who flourished under the reign of Michael Palæologus, and Andronicus his successor. He was a person of high birth, and had acquired no less knowledge in church affairs by the great posts he had among the clergy of Constantinople, than of state matters by the first employments he held in the court of the emperor; so that his " history of Michael Palæologus and Andronicus" is the more esteemed, as he was not only an eye-witness of the affairs of which he writes, but had also a great share in them. This history was published with a Latin translation and notes, by Passin, a Jesuit, in 1666. Pachymerus composed also some Greek verses; but they were little esteemed, and never printed.

JOHN DE CERMENATI, a man of letters and an historian, who was a notary and syndic of Milan. In 1312, he was deputed by his countrymen as envoy of Guarineri, vicar of the emperor Henry VII. His history of his native city, comprehending, besides its origin, situation, and the character of its inhabitants, all the occurrences in it from 1307 to 1313, is written with uncommon force and precision, and in a style of unusual elegance for that period. We have two editions of it by Muratori, the last in the 9th volume of his collection of Italian historians, 1726. Cermenati was living in 1337.

GREGORY NICEPHORUS, a Greek historian, who flourished under the emperors Andronicus II. and III., John Palæologus, and John Cantacuzenus. He was in great esteem with Andronicus II., whom he accompanied in his misfortunes, and attended at his death. He compiled a history, which in eleven books contains all that passed from 1204, when Constantinople was taken by the French, to the death of Andronicus III. in 1341. The best edition is that of Louvre, in Greek and Latin, in 1702.

THEODORE METOCHITA, a modern Greek historian. He attained to high honours in the Constantinopolitan empire, but in the reign of Andronicus the younger, he was banished, and his goods confiscated. He was afterwards recalled, and ended his life in a monastery of his own founding, in 1332. He was a man of extensive and very deep learning, and was entitled by his contemporaries a living library.

PTOLEMY of Lucca, an ecclesiastical historian, was descended from a noble family, from whom he derived the name of " Bartholomew Fiadoni." He entered young into the order of St. Dominic, and upon his profession he took the name of Ptolemy. He ranked among the most celebrated Italian divines of his time, and was the first of his countrymen who employed his pen on ecclesiastical history. He was superior of the monastery of Lucca in 1301, and in 1302 he filled the same post at Florence. He was afterwards selected by pope John XXII. as his confessor, and in 1318 he was made bishop of Torsello, under the patriarchate of Venice. This prelate died in the year 1327. He was author of " Annales," extending from the year 1060 to 1303, which was published at Lyons in 1619. But his largest work was "Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ," in twenty four books, commencing with the birth of Jesus Christ, and brought down to the year 1313.

WILLIAM DE NANGIUS, a monkish historian. He was author of two Chronicles;-1. A Chronicle from the Creation of the World to his own time, in 1301. 2. A Chronicle of the kings of France.

CONRAD, of Mentz, known by the name of Conrad the bishop. He was the author of a chronicle from the year 1140 to 1250, first published in 1535.

CONRAD, of Sheurn, surnamed the philosopher, a German monk. He wrote a chronicle, and more than fifty volumes on historical and other subjects, which John Aventine acknowledges, was of considerable service in composing the last volume of his annals.

ALBERT of STADE, an historian, was a Benedictine monk. He was the author of a chronicle, comprehending the whole period from the beginning of the world to the year 1256. Reineccius published this work with notes, in 1587.

ARNOLD of Hildesheim, a German historian, who wrote a continuation of Helmeldus's chronicle of the Sclavonians, which was published at Lubeck in 1659.

RODERIC XIMENES, archbishop of Toledo. He wrote a history of Spain, in nine books.

ALBERTIN MUSSATO, an Italian historian and poet, was born at Padua in 1261. He rose from a state of indigence to public employments in his native town; but notwithstanding his services, he became an object of popular fury; and in 1314, an

attempt was made to assassinate him. The ringleaders in this conspiracy were executed, but Mussato was afterwards banished to Chiozzo, where he died in 1330. In his exile he wrote "Historia Augusta Henrici VII. Imp.," folio. His poetical works are inserted in the " Thesaurus Hist. Ital."

FERRETO, an early historian and poet of Vicenza, a city of Italy. He was one of those who contributed to the restoration of polite literature in Italy. He wrote, in Latin, a history of Italian affairs, particularly such as related to his own country, from the death of Frederic II., in 1250, to the year 1318. This is one of the best compositions of the age; much more elegant in its style and polished in its manner of narration, than was usual at that time. It was first printed in Muratori's collection of writers on Italian history, vol. ix. together with some Latin poems of the same author, one of which relates to the origin of the Scaligers, and the actions of the great Candella Scala. His verse is likewise superior in style to that of his contemporaries.

In

GIOVANNI VILLAÑI, a native of Florence, was old enough in 1300 to visit Rome at the jubilee, and is supposed to have afterwards travelled into France and Flanders. 1316 and 1817 he was one of the priors at Florence, and also in the latter year official at the mint, to whom was due an exact register, still extant, of all the money coined at Florence, in and before his time. He served in the Florentine army in 1323, and in 1328 found means for relieving his poor countrymen at a period of distressing scarcity. On occasion of the failure of the company of Bonaccorsi, in which he had a share, in 1345, and to which he was not accessary, he was committed to the public prison, and his life was terminated by the plague, which severely visited Florence in 1348. Villani bears the character of one of the most polished writers of his age, and the most conversant in the history of his country. His history records, in twelve books, the events occurring in Florence from its foundation till the year of his death, and comprehends also the principal changes that happened in the other Italian provinces. The early part of this history abounds with errors and fables; but in describing the occurrences of Tuscany in his own time, he is deemed a safe guide, allowing for his partiality to the Guelph interest, and for his unacknowledged extracts from the History of Ricordano Malaspini. This History, which has been always much esteemed both for its matter and the elegance of its style, was first printed by the Giunti of Florence in 1537, and the latest of several editions of it was that of Milan, in the collection of Italian Historians. It was continued after his death by his brother Matteo Villani, who brought it down to 1363, in which year, whilst he was writing the eleventh book, he was carried off by the plague. His history is not held

in equal estimation with that of his brother, his style being too diffuse, but he was contemporary with the events which he relates.

MATTHEW PARIS, one of the best English historians, from William the Conqueror to the latter end of the reign of Henry III. Leland, his original biographer, informs us, that he was a monk of St. Albans, and that he was sent by pope Innocent to reform the monks of the convent at Holm in Norway; bishop Bale adds, that, on account of his extraordinary gifts, he was much esteemed by Henry III., who ordered him to write the history of his reign. Fuller makes him a native of Cambridgeshire, and says that he was sent by the pope to visit the monks in the diocese of Norwich. Paris died in the monastery of St. Albans, in 1259. He was a man of extraordinary knowledge for the time in which he lived; of an excellent moral character, and, as an historian, of strict integrity. He wrote "A History of the World, from the Creation to the Conquest;" and afterwards continued it to 1259. The work, with Rishanger's continuation, was printed in 1571, and several times since. This author also wrote, "Vitæ duorum Offarum, Merciæ regum;" and other pieces which remain in manuscript.

GUY COLUMNA, was born at Messina in Sicily, and accompanied Edward I. into England, after his crusade. He compiled a Chronicle in 36 books, and wrote several historical tracts in relation to England. His most curious work is, " The History of the Siege of Troy," printed first at Cologne in 1477, in quarto; and several times since.

PETER LANGTOFT, an English historian. He was a canon of the order of St. Augustine, at Bridlington, in Yorkshire, and died at the beginning of the reign of Edward II. He translated from the Latin into French verse, Boscand's Life of Thomas Becket, and compiled in the same language a metrical Chronicle of England; printed by Hearne in 1725, two vols. octavo.

WALTER DE HEMMINGFORD, an English historian. He was an ecclesiastic in Guisborough Abbey, in Yorkshire. He died in 1347. He wrote an English Chronicle, which comprehends the period between 1066 and 1308. It was published by Gale in his " Veteres Scriptores:" and by Hearne, in two vols. 8vo., 1731.

NICHOLAS TRIVET, an English historian, was the descendant of a respectable family in Norfolk. Having entered among the dominicans in London, he studied at Oxford and at Paris; and at the latter place collected from books on the history of the Normans and the Franks such passages as related to the English nation, and supplied their defects from the best accounts which he could procure in his own country. In this way, he composed his " Annals of the Six Kings of England

sprung from the Counts of Anjou," introducing a detail of the most remarkable events that occurred under the Roman pontiffs, the emperors, the kings of France, and other contemporary princes, together with an account of learned men, particularly of his own order, and intending that his work should be a continuation of that of William of Malmsbury. He also wrote various other works, containing illustrations of authors, but none of them were printed, except his commentary on St. Augustine's book" De Civitate Dei." Soon after his return he became prior of a monastery in London, where he died in 1328, at the age of nearly 70 years. His historical work has passed through several editions under different titles.

GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVELLING.

MARCO POLO, a celebrated traveller, was born about the year 1250. His father Nicolo, and uncle to Matteo, were two citizens of Venice, who sailed to Constantinople in the reign of the emperor Baldwin II., and in that city Marco was born. The two brothers sailed across the Euxine to Armenia, whence they travelled by land to the court of a considerable Tartarian lord, named Barca. By him they were favourably received; but after a year spent at his capital, they went to Persia, where they remained three years, whence they accompanied a messenger going to the count Kublai, grand Khan of the Tartars, and arrived after a year's journey. Here they were favourably received by the powerful monarch, who was curious in his inquiries concerning the affairs of Europe, and the Christian religion. They gained his confidence so completely, that he determined to despatch them as his ambassadors to the pope, with the request that he would send persons to instruct his people in the true faith. They set out, and in three years, viz. in 1269, reached Italy. At this time there was a vacancy in the popedom, and the brothers remained at Venice two years before it was filled. At length they obtained letters for Kublai from Gregory X., taking with them young Marco, and accompanied by two friars of the order of preachers, they again departed for the East. On their arrival at Armenia, they found the sultan of Babylon at war with that province; on which account the friars refused to advance, but no sense of danger could prevent the Venetians from proceeding on their course, and after a journey of three years and a half, in the midst of dangers and disasters, they came to a city in which Kublai then resided. He was much pleased with their return, and received with the most profound respect the letters of the pope, and a present of some oil from the lamp burning before the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem. To Marco he paid the greatest attention, and the young man in a