Dunlop as an utterance of Rustician's, that personage would seem to claim to have been a comrade in arms of the two de Borrons. We might, therefore, conjecture that Rustician himself had accompanied Prince Edward to Syria.* Romance 40. Rustician's literary work appears from the extracts and remarks of M. Paulin-Paris to be that of an industrious simple Character of man, without method or much judgment. "The Rustician's haste with which he worked is too perceptible; the compilations. adventures are told without connexion; you find long stories of Tristan followed by adventures of his father Meliadus." For the latter derangement of historical sequence we find a quaint and ingenuous apology offered in Rustician's epilogue to Giron le Courtois :— "Cy fine le Maistre Rusticien de Pise son conte en louant et regraciant le Père le Filz et le Saint Esperit, et ung mesme Dieu, Filz de la Benoite Vierge Marie, de ce qu'il m'a doné grace, sens, force, et mémoire, temps et lieu, de me mener à fin de si haulte et si noble matière come ceste-cy dont j'ay traicté les faiz et les proesses recitez et recordez à mon livre. Et se aucun me demandeoit pourquoy j'ay parlé de Tristran avant que de son père le Roy Meliadus, le respons que ma matière n'estoist pas congneue. Car je ne puis pas scavoir tout, ne mettre toutes mes paroles par ordre. Et ainsi fine mon conte. Amen."† In a passage of these compilations the Emperor Charlemagne is asked whether in his judgment King Meliadus or his son Tristan were the better man? The Emperor's answer is: "I should say that the King Meliadus was the better man, and I will tell you why I say so. As far as I can see, every * The passage runs thus as quoted (from the preamble of the Meliadus-I suspect in one of the old printed editions): : "Aussi Luces de Jau (Gast?) translata en langue Françoise une partie de l'Hystoire de Monseigneur Tristan, et moins assez qu'il ne deust. Moult commença bien son livre et si ny mist tout les faicts de Tristan, ains la greigneur partie. Après s'en entremist Messire Gasse le Blond, qui estoit parent au Roy Henry, et divisa l'Hystoire de Lancelot du Lac, et d'autre chose ne parla il mye grandement en son livre. Messire Robert de Borron s'en entremist et Helye de Borron, par la prière du dit Robert de Borron, et pource que compaignons feusmes d'armes longuement, je commencay mon livre," &c. (Liebrecht's Dunlop, p. 80.) If this passage be authentic it would set beyond doubt the age of the de Borrons and the other writers of Anglo-French Round Table Romances, who are placed by the Hist. Littéraire de la France, and apparently by Fr. Michel, under Henry II. I have no means of pursuing the matter, and have preferred to follow M. PaulinParis, who places them under Henry III. I notice moreover that the Hist. Litt. (xv. p. 498) puts not only the de Borrons but Rustician himself under Henry II.; and, as the last view is certainly an error, the first is probably so too. Transc. from MS. 6975 (Fr. 355) of Paris Library. thing that Tristan did was done for Love, and his great feats would never have been done but under the constraint of Love which was his spur and goad. Now that never can be said of King Meliadus! For what deeds he did, he did them not by dint of Love, but by dint of his strong right arm. Purely out of his own goodness he did good, and not by constraint of Love." "It will be seen," remarks on this M. Paulin-Paris, "that we are here a long way removed from the ordinary principles of Round Table Romances. And one thing besides will be manifest, viz., that Rusticien de Pise was no Frenchman!" The same discretion is shown even more prominently in a passage of one of his compilations, which contains the romances of Arthur, Gyron, and Meliadus (No. 6975-see last note but one) : "No doubt," Rustician says, "other books tell the story of the Queen Ginevra and Lancelot differently from this; and there were certain passages between them of which the Master, in his concern for the honour of both those personages, will say not a word." Alas, says the French Bibliographer, that the copy of Lancelot, which fell into the hands of poor Francesca of Rimini, was not one of those expurgated by our worthy friend Rustician! † Identity of Compiler with Polo's fellow-pri 41. A question may still occur to an attentive reader as to the identity of this Romance-compiler Rusticien de Pise with the Messire Rustacians de Pise, of a solitary MS. of Polo's work (though the oldest and most authen- the Romance tic), a name which appears in other copies as Rusta Pisan, Rasta Pysan, Rustichelus Civis Pisanus, Rustico, Restazio da Pisa, Stazio da Pisa, and who is stated in the preamble to have acted as the Traveller's scribe at Genoa. soner. M. Pauthier indeed ‡ asserts that the French of the MS. Romances of Rusticien de Pise is of the same barbarous character as that of the carly French MS. of Polo's Book to which we have just alluded, and which we shall show to be the nearest presentation of the work as originally dictated by the Traveller. The language of the latter MS. is so peculiar that this would be almost perfect evidence of the identity of the writers, if it were really the fact. A cursory inspection which I have made of two of those MSS. in Paris, and the extracts which I have given and am about to give, do not, however, by any means support M. Pauthier's view. Nor would that view be consistent with the judgment of so competent an authority as M. Paulin-Paris, implied in his calling Rustician a nom recommandable in old French literature, and his speaking of him as "versed in the secrets of the French Romance Tongue."* In fact the difference of language in the two cases would really be a difficulty in the way of identification, if there were room for doubt. This, however, M. Paulin-Paris seems to have excluded finally, by calling attention to the peculiar formula of preamble which is common to the Book of Marco Polo and to one of the Romance compilations of Rusticien de Pise. The former will be found in English at pp. 1, 2, of our Translation; but we give a part of the original below † for comparison with the preamble to the Romances of Meliadus, Tristan, and Lancelot, as taken from MS. 6961 (Fr. 340) of the Paris Library : Seigneurs Empereurs et Princes, Ducs et Contes et Barons et Chevaliers et Vavasseurs et Bourgeois, et tous les preudommes de cestui monde qui avez talent de vous deliter en rommans, si prenez cestui (livre) et le faites lire de chief en chief, si orrez toutes les grans aventure qui advindrent entre les Chevaliers errans du temps au Roy Uter Pendragon, jusques à le temps au Roy Artus son fils, et des compaignons de la Table Ronde. Et sachiez tout vraiment que cist livres fust translatez du livre Monseigneur Edouart le Roy d'Engleterre en cellui temps qu'il passa oultre la mer au service nostre Seigneur Damedieu pour conquester le Sant Sepulcre, et Maistre Rusticiens de Pise, lequel est ymaginez yci dessus, compila ce rommant, car il en translata toutes les merveilleuses nouvelles et aventures qu'il trouva en celle livre et traita tout certainement de toutes les aventures du monde, et si sachiez qu'il traitera plus de Monseigneur Lancelot du Lac, et Mons' Tristan le fils au Roy Meliadus de Leonnoie que d'autres, porcequ'ilz furent sans faille les meilleurs chevaliers *See Four. As. Ser. II. tom. xii. p. 251. "Seignors Enperaor et Rois, Dux et Marquois, Cuens, Chevaliers et Borgions [for Borgiois] et toutes gens qe voles savoir les diverses jenerasions des homes, et les deversités des deverses region dou monde, si prennés cestui livre et le feites lire et chi troverés toutes les grandismes merveilles," &c. The portrait of Rustician here referred to would have been a precious illustration for our book. But unfortunately it has not been transferred to MS. 6961, nor apparently to any other noticed by M. Paulin-Paris. qui à ce temps furent en terre; et li Maistres en dira de ces deux pluseurs choses et pluseurs nouvelles que l'en treuvera escript en tous les autres livres ; et porce que le Maistres les trouva escript au Livre d'Engleterre." "Certainly," M. Paulin-Paris observes, "there is a singular analogy between these two prefaces. And it must be remarked that the formula is not an ordinary one with translators, compilers, or authors of the 13th and 14th centuries. Perhaps you would not find a single other example of it." * This seems to place beyond question the identity of the Romance-compiler of Prince Edward's suite in 1270, and the Prisoner of Genoa in 1298. ticulars Rustician. 42. In Dunlop's History of Fiction a passage is quoted from the preamble of Meliadus, as set forth in the Paris printed edition of 1528, which gives us to understand that Further parRusticien de Pise had received as a reward for some concerning of his compositions from King Henry III. the prodigal gift of two chateaux. I gather, however, from passages in the work of M. Paulin Paris that this must certainly be one of those confusions of persons to which I have referred before, and that the recipient of the chateaux was in reality Helye de Borron, the author of some of the originals which Rustician manipulated. This supposed incident in Rustician's scanty history must therefore be given up. We call this worthy Rustician or Rusticiano, as the nearest probable representation in Italian form of the Rusticien of the Round-Table MSS. and the Rustacians of the old text of Polo. But it is highly probable that his real name was Rustichello, as is suggested by the form Rustichelus in the early Latin version published by the Société de Géographie. The change of one liquid for another never goes for much in Italy, and Rustichello might easily Gallicize himself as Rusticien. In a very long list of Pisan officials during the Middle Ages I find several bearing the name of Rustichello or Rustichelli, but no Rusticiano or Rustigiano. § Respecting him we have only to add that the peace be Jour. As. as above. See Liebrecht's Dunlop, p. 77; and MSS. François, II. 349, 353. The alleged gift to Rustician is also put forth by D'Israeli the Elder in his Amenities of Literature, 1841, I. p. 103. E.g. Geronimo, Girolamo; and garofalo, garofano; Cristoforo, Cristovalo; gonfalone, gonfanone, &c. § See the List in Archivio Stor. Ital. VI. pp. 64, seqq. tween Genoa and Venice was speedily followed by a treaty between Genoa and Pisa. On the 31st July, 1299, a truce for twenty-five years was signed between those two Republics. It was a very different matter from that between Genoa and Venice, and contained much that was humiliating and detrimental to Pisa. But it embraced the release of prisoners; and those of Meloria, reduced it is said to less than one tithe of their original number, had their liberty at last. Among the prisoners then released no doubt Rustician was one. But we hear of him no more. VIII. NOTICES OF MARCO POLO'S HISTORY, AFTER THE TERMINATION OF HIS IMPRISONMENT AT GENOA. 43. A few very disconnected notices are all that can be collected of matter properly biographical in relation to the quarter century during which Marco Polo survived the Genoese captivity. Death of Father before 1300. Will of his brother Maffeo. We have seen that he would probably reach Venice in the course of August, 1299. Whether he found his aged father alive is not known; but we know at least that a year later (31st August, 1300) Messer Nicolo was no longer in life. This we learn from the Will of the younger Maffeo, Marco's brother, which bears the date just named, and of which we give an abstract below.* It seems to imply strong regard for 1. The Will is made in prospect of his voyage to Crete. ... 2. He had drafted his will with his own hand, sealed the draft, and made it over to Pietro Pagano, priest of St. Felice and Notary, to draw out a formal testament in faithful accordance therewith in case of the Testator's death; and that which follows is the substance of the said draft rendered from the vernacular into Latin. ("Ego Matheus Paulo . . . volens ire in Cretam, ne repentinus casus hujus vite fragilis me subreperet intestatum, mea propria manu meum scripsi et condidi testamentum, rogans Petrum Paganum ecclesie Scti. Felicis presbiterum et Notarium, sana mente et integro consilio, ut, secundum ipsius scripturam quam sibi tunc dedi meo sigillo munitam, meum scriberet testamentum, si me de hoc seculo contigeret pertransire; cujus scripture tenor translato vulgari in latinum per omnia talis est.") 3. Appoints as Trustees Messer Maffeo Polo his uncle, Marco Polo his brother, Messer Nicolo Secreto (or Sagredo) his father-in-law, and Felix Polo his cousin (consanguineum). 4. Leaves 20 soldi to each of the Monasteries from Grado to Capo d'Argine; and 150 lire to all the congregations of Rialto, on condition that the priests |