54 1 * * * * 6 - The Difcovery, Settlement, and Commerce Beck .1 
lutely neceffary, to the underftanding the fubfequent Voy- 
ages to the Eaji- Indies. 
The laft of thefe old Writers taken into our Collection, 
ftiall be Sir John Mandeville our Countryman, who, not- 
with (landing all the Objections made to his Relation, de- 
ferves much better Ufage than he has met with. This 
great Traveller fiourilhed in the fourteenth Century, and 
fpent no lefs than thirty-three Years in Travelling through 
the Levant , Syria, Tart ary, India , Cathay , Egypt , Ly- 
hia , Ethiopia , and other Countries. He compofed the 
Hiftory of thefe Travels in Latin , French , and Englijh , 
and yet we have never hitherto had his Work fet in fueh 
a Light as might bear reading with Pleafure. I had almoft 
faid, and it would be no more than Truth with Patience, 
and at the fame Time it has been refpebled and well eftee ril- 
ed Abroad. There are indeed Abundance of ftrange Sto- 
ries and incredible Paffages in his Work, which we do 
not pretend to juftify or impofe upon the Reader, but 
there are others worth knowing, and to be met with no 
where elfe. 
The Trouble which neceffarily attends freeing thefe Au- 
thors from the Rubbiih under which they have been bu- 
ried, and recovering fo much' of their perfonal Hiftory as 
is requifite to give Light and Life, Spirit and Intelligence 
to their feveral Labours, has been not a little ; but when 
one confiders how pious an Aft it is to vindicate the Me* 
mory of great Men deceafed, who thought no Pains too 
great for the Service of Pofterity ; and how ready the pre- 
fen t Age is to encourage all Attempts of this kind, a 
Man goes through his Tafk with Pleafure. It is our Hap- 
pinefs to live in Times more enlightened, in which all the 
Sciences are better underftood than when thole Authors 
lived and wrote ; but the Contemplation of our Advan- 
tages ought to difpofe us to a charitable Condefcenfion, 
and a Diipofition to excufe Infirmities, not fo properly in 
them as in the Ages in which they' fiourilhed, and from 
which therefore they could not be exempt, efpeciaily when 
we refledl, that to their Attempts we owe the Splendour 
that has fucceeded, and that without the Struggles made 
by them we muft have been in the fame Region of Dark- 
nefs Hill. 
SECTION XIX. 
! The Travels of Rabbi Benjamin, the Son of Jonas of Tudela, through Europe, Afia, and 
Africa, from Spain to China, from the Tear of our Lord 1160 to 1 173. 
From the Latin Verfions of Benedict Arias Montanus, and Conftantine l’Empereur, com- 
pared with other Tranffations into different La?tguages . 
I. A ' fuccinSl Account of Benjamin of Tudela, the feveral Editions and Tranfations of his Work , mid the 
Reputation it has acquired. 2. The Objections that have been made to the Credit of our Author , and' the 
true State of that Queflion. 3. The Manner in which we propofe to give the Subflance of thefe Travels to 
the Reader. 4. The Defcription of the City of Conftantinople, the Court of the Greek Emperor , and other 
things remarkable there , in the Words of Benjamin of Tudela. 5. A fuccinci Account of his Travels prom 
Conftantinople to Balfora, or Baftora. 6. His Journey from thence to the Frontiers of Ferfia, to the City of 
Aria ; and his Account of the Tomb of the Prophet Daniel. 7. The Hiftory of the celebrated David El R01, , 
a Native of Aria, who fet up for the Mefiah , induced the Jews to revolt from the King of Perfia; of the 
Miracles faid to be performed by him , and of his deplorable End. 8. The Rout from Aria, and the Moun- 
tains of Haphton to the Mountains of Nifbon and the River Qxus, by Hamadan and Hpahan. 9. Defcrip- 
tion of the Mountains of Nifbon, or Nifbor, inhabited by the Tribes of Dm, Zebulon, Afher, and Neph- ■ 
thali. The Hiftory of the War between the Gopher al Turks and the Perfians, together with an Account cf 1 
Rabbi Mofes. 10. Return to Chuzeftan, Defcription of the If and of Nekrokis, cf the Pearl Fijhery, . 
cf feveral Counories in the Indies, of the diabolical Practices of the Natives, and finally of the frozen Sea , , 
cr the Sea of China. 1 1. Rout from Gingala into Ethiopia, and from thence to Grand Cairo. 12. A large ■ 
Defcription of the City of Mitzraim, or Grand Cairo, the State of the Jews in that Country , of the over- 
flowing of the Nile, of the famous Column for meafuring the Rife of that River , the Fertility of the Country \ 
of Egypt, the Mouths of the River Nile, and the Situation of the ancient City of Memphis. 13. An Ac - ■ 
count of many other Cities in Egypt, a large Defcription of Alexandria, and the principal Things therein, 
with the State of its Commerce at the Time of our Author's being there. 14. A concije Account of his . 
Return into Europe, and going back into his native Country of Spain. 15. Remarks and Obfervations on 
the foregoing Travels. 
1 ‘ H E R E are few Authors better known to the 
I learned World than our Benjamin , called from 
A the Place of his Birth Benjamin of Tudela , a 
very pleafant Town in Navarre, on the Confines of the 
Kingdoms of Cajtile and Arragon , The Jews, who boaft 
very much of our Author’s Work, inform us, that he was 
the Son of Rabbi Jonas , who was fettled at Tudela but 
they do not acquaint us with the Year in which our Author 
was born, of what Profeffion he was, or what induced him 
to travel. In Short, all that at this Diftance of Time can 
be difeo vered on the Subject, amounts to no more than this, 
that he began his Travels, A. D. 1160, and that he ended 
them in 1173, which was the very Year in which he died. 
Thefe Travels of his have been always in great Credit 
amongft his own Countrymen, who never cite them but 
with the greateft Applaufe ; neither have there been want- 
ing feveral very learned Chriftians, who have been of 
the fame Opinion, to which probably it may be owing, 
that from A.D. 1 543, when it was firft printed at Conjlan- 
tinople , we have had of this Book no lefs than fixteen dif- : 
ferent Editions, and fome of them by the ableft Criticks. 
The firft Verfion of it that appeared in Latin was in i 
1575, by Benedict Arias Montanus , a Man of great Learn- 
ing, and high Reputation, who in his Preface paid great ; 
Compliments to the Spanijh Nation on account of the Dif- 1 
coveries made by them in the mod diftant Parts of the • 
World. 
This, however, did not hinder Conftantine VEmpemir , 
from making another Tranflation in 1 633, with the Hebrew : 
Text in the Margin, and the Addition of very learned * 
Notes ; notwithstanding which, many great Criticks have r 
teftified an earned Defire to fee another and (till correfter : 
Verfion, fince to fay the Truth, there are fome apparent 1 
Errors in this as well as in the former Tranflation, occafion- 1 
ed, as I conceive, chiefly by the Miftakes that have been 1 
made by Tranfcribers in the Text, where we have many r 
Names of Countries, Cities, and Princes, that never were r 
heard of in any other Author *, and therefore are with great ; 
a Reafcn ; 
