Phillips.] 450 [Jan. Hi, 



frequent, occurrence. Nor is the griffin forgotten among the prodigies 



which nature is supposed to have lavished upon the lands of the Orient. 



At page 1073 a hippopotamus is figured as a horned horse with huge 

 fangs, whose hody is half concealed in the river. Snakes arc also repre- 

 sented with several heads, each of which hears a regal crown. Still fur- 

 ther on (at page 1080) we find the Cynocephali, "the men whose heads 

 do grow beneath their shoulders," the people who have but one eye and 

 that in the centre of their forehead, a race of double-headed dwarfs and a 

 nation whose feet are more than twice the size of the rest of their bodies. 

 These last are represented as taking their ease on their backs under the 

 shadow of their own feet, which they are holding propped in the air sup- 

 ported by their hands. The pygmies and their incessant warfare with 

 their hereditary enemies the cranes, are not forgotten. 



At page 1410 occurs a woodcut illustrative of the customs of Cathay 

 which modesties gratia is transcribed in the German oi the edition of 1503 : 



" WaiT einer sein tochter nio kan auss.tetirn, nimp't ertrumenund pfeyffert, 

 und zeueht mit seine tochtern uffdeu marckt, and sojederman herzu lault't. als 

 zu einem ofifcntlichen spectakel Oder schawspil; liebt, die tochter ire kleider (la- 

 in nden auffbissan die schultern, und lasse si eh dahinden besehen, darnach bebt 

 sie sieh dafornen audi auffbiss tlber diebrust, und lasst ilice Ipib dafornc auch 

 seh en, und so etwann einer do ist dem sie gefalt, der nimpt sie zu der eh, und 

 tluit kein blinden kauri." 



The foregoing extracts will give a general idea of the work and its con- 

 tents. To transcribe at greater length would be profitless, as the remain- 

 ing matter for the most part presents no novelty either of subject or treat- 

 ment. There are narrations of the voyages of Columbus and Vespucius,' 

 but differing in no wise from the generally received accounts. 



There is a very remarkable map of the New World, which, however, I 

 pass over for the present, intending in the hereafter to make it a study by 

 itself. 



It is needless to dilate upon the pleasure to be derived from the perusal 

 of old books. Cardan says with much truth : 



" That as in traveling the rest go forward and look before them, an antiquarian 

 looks around about him, seeing all things, both the past, present and future, 

 and so he alone hath a complete horizon." "Such studies allure the mind by 

 their agreeable attraction on accountof the incredible variety and pleasantness 

 of their subjects and excite to further steps toward knowledge. What greater 

 pleasure can there be than to peruse those books of cities put out by Braunus 

 and Hogenbergius? To read those exquisite descriptions of Magnius, Munster, 

 Herrera, Laet, Morula, Boterus, Leander, &c? These famous expeditions of 

 Christoph. Columbus, Americus Vespucius? These hodoeporicona to remote 

 and fabulous places of the world? To see birds, beasts, and fishes of the sea, 

 spiders, gnats Hies, serpents, &c, all creatures set out and truly represented ?"* 



The hook itself is one of those huge folios in which our ancestors so 

 greatly had their delight; books with broad margins, heavy linen paper, 

 good black ink, large type, hound in ponderous oak hoards covered with 

 stamped hogskin, and weighing several pounds. | "Scholars of a former 



* Burton- 

 | Disraeli. 



