The VO YA GE S and TRAVELS Book L 
twenty-fix Years more without any News being heard of 
them by their Friends at Venice , returned fafely thither in 
the Year 1295. On their Arrival at their own Houfe in 
St. John Chryf fern’s Street, they found thernfelves in a 
fcrange Situation, being not only worn entirly out of the 
Memory of their Family and Acquaintance, but having 
loft in a manner the very Tokens of their Country* Being 
become Ear tars in their Speech as Well as their Habit, and 
therefore under a Neceffity of faking fome extraordinary 
Steps to recover the Refped and Reverence due to them, 
by convincing the World that they were really noble Ve- 
netians^ and the individual Periods who had been fo long 
loft to their Country and Friends. 
It was with this View that they gave a magnificent En- 
tertainment to their Relations, at which they all three came 
forth in rich Suits of Crimfon-fatin, of which, when the 
Guefts were feated, they {tripped thernfelves, and gave them 
to the Servants •, appearing next in Crimfon-damafk, thefe 
alfo they put off at the laft Service, and bellowed like- 
wife on the Servants, being then dreffed in Crimi'on- 
velvet. When Dinner was over, and all who Waited 
withdrawn, Marco Polo brought out their Coats of Tar- 
tarian Cloth or Felt, and out of their Foldings pro- 
duced an incredible Quantity of rich Jewels, among which 
there were fome well known to thofe prelent, and which 
indifputably proved thefe Strangers of the Polo Family. 
Seignior Mathio Polo became a worthy Magiftrate of Ve- 
nice ^ and lived and died in Peace. 
As for our Author Signiof Marco , a few Months after 
his Return, the Genoefe Admiral Lampa Doria coming 
with a Fleet of leventy Gallies to the Ifland of Curxola , 
they fitted out from Venice, under the Command of An- 
drea Bandolo , a great naval Force, in which he had the 
Command of a Galley, and was fo unlucky as to be taken 
Prifoner and carried to Genoa , where he remained in fpight 
of all the Offers that were made for his Ran lorn feveral 
Years •, fo that his Father defpairing of his Return, and dc- 
firous that his ownQffspring might inherit his Riches, marri- 
ed a fecond Time, and had three Children. In the Time of 
this Imprifonment ail the young Nobility of Genoa re- 
farted to our Mar co to hear the Recital of his Voyages and 
Adventures, which gave them fo great Satisfaction, that 
one of them prevailed upon him to fend for his Notes 
from Venice ; and when thus affifted, wrote from his own 
Mouth the following Hiftory in Latin *, From whence it 
was tranflated into Italian •, and this Italian was again 
tranflated into Latin, and abridged *, whence grew that 
prodigious Corruption fo juftly complained of in the firft 
printed Copies. ' This Work of Marco’ s was fupported 
by the Teftimony of his Father, and by that of his Un- 
cle on his Death-bed. At laft Marco himfelf obtained his 
Liberty, returned to Venice , married , and had two 
Daughters, Moretta and Fautina, but had no male Iffue. 
He died as he lived, beloved and admired by all who 
knew or converfed with him ; for with the Advantages of 
Birth and Fortune he was humble, and made no other 
Ufe of his great Intereft in the State than to do good. 
3. We have already fheWn, that this Work was origi- 
nally written in Latin , and if not by the Author’s Hand, 
at leaft from his Mouth •, but after the Italian Verfion that 
was made of it, the Copies of the Latin Mariufcript be- 
came extremely rare, infomuch that the Italian Tranfla- 
tion was taken for the Original. One Francis Pepin a 
Monk, tranflated it into Latin , and abridged it at the 
Command of his Superiors j and it is a Copy of this Ma~ 
nufeript that is in the Library of the King of PruJJia. 
It was printed at Bajil by the Care of the celebrated 
Reinecius , and afterwards in other Places. It was from 
one of thefe Copies that it was tranflated by Hakluit , of 
which Purchas fo heavily, and, at the fame Time, fo 
juftly complains. Ramufio took a great deal of Pains, as 
well in reftoring the Senfe and the Text of our Author, as 
in juftifying his Charader, and fupporting the Credit of his 
Work by his learned Difcourfes. He was affifted therein 
by a Copy of the original Latin Manufcript, which was 
lent him by his Friend Seignior Chifi, without which it 
had been impoffible for him to have brought it into fo 
good Order as we now fee it. 
There has been, befides the Tranflations already men- 
tioned, at kaft two in the German Language. It was 
printed in Portuguefe at Lijhon in 1502, and it has been 
feveral Times tranflated into Butch . I have been the 
more particular in the Account of thefe Additions and 
Tranflations, becaufe they differ very much from each 
other i fo that the only Way to come at a compleat View 
of the Author, is by cofleding and comparing thefe y 
Work of infinite Pains arid labour, in which however 
we have the Affifiance of Andrew Muller a learned Ger- 
man Crititk, arid of Peter Bergeron a Frenchman, who, 
next to Ramufio , was, of all others, the molt capable of 
fuch an Undertaking, and has fucceeded in it the beft. 
There was, however, one Thing Wanting, which was 
the juftifying the Dates, verifying the Fads, and explain- 
ing the obfeure Names of Places which occur in thefe 
Travels i and this we have done, to the beft of our Ability, 
iri this Trariflation, fo that the Reader may be fatisfied that 
he has the Work of this ancient Writer as entire, and in as 
good Condition as it was in bur Power to give it him. 
4. There have been abundance of Objedions raffed 
againft the Credit and Authority of this Writer* many of 
which, as they were founded on the Errors of Tranfcribers 
and Tranflators, are taken away by reftoring our Author’s 
genuine Seftfe; and therefore we need not mention them par- 
ticularly *, but thefe are others which defer ve more Regard* 
It is faid, that our Author mentioned fome Countries and 
many Places that Were never heard of before or fince. A 
fhrewd Objedion this, inafmuch as it feems to reprefent 
all the Pairis that has been taken about his Writings* as 
entirely thrown away. In anfwer to this, we muft obferve, 
that he wrote according to the Lights he received* and 
thofe Lights were chiefly from the Tartars ; whence it 
might very well happen that the Names of Places menti- 
oned by him Ihould appear ftrange and uncouth iri this 
Part of the World. But it fo happens, that we have 
fince received fuch Helps as enable us to get pretty well 
clear of this Difficulty *, for though we have retained- in 
the Text the Names ufed by our Author, yet We have af- 
forded, from the Affiftance given us by oriental Writer*, 
fuch Explanations as remove, in every refped, thefe geo- 
graphical Obfcurities, fo as to leave no fort of Doubt ci- 
ther as to the Capacity, or the Veracity of Marco Polo . 
Another Charge againft him is, that he does not agree 
with other Writers, or rather that other Writers do not 
agree with him 5 but when examined to the Bottom, this 
Charge will not be found to have any great Weight, as 
having chiefly ariferi from the Miftakes made as to the 
true Senfe of what this Writer delivered ; fo that very of- 
ten, what was imputed as Ignorance to him* was, in Fad, 
no more than Temerity in thofe who pretended to find 
fault with them. The laft, and indeed the greateft Objec- 
tion is, that he has related many Things that are abfurd, 
fome that dre incredible, and not a few that are impoffible^ 
Againft this Charge we cannot pretend to vindicate him, 
though much may be faid to excufe him. The Fads he 
tells us of his own Knowledge, are furprifingly verified by 
authentick and indifputabie Evidence ; and grant that h& 
might be impofed upon in what he gives us on the Au- 
thority of others, we muft be content, the rather becaufe 
it is our Happinefs to live in an Age when Men are lels lia- 
ble to be cheated and milled *, therefore this ought to make 1 
us the more ready to bear with Failings in one who wanted 
this Advantage, who lived in a Time of Darknefs and Qb- 
feurity, when Credulity paffed for Faith, and when con- 
fequently Errors of this fort were rather a Man’s Mis- 
fortune than his Fault. 
5. In fpite however of all thefe Charges, there hav£ 
been fome great Men in all Ages, who have done Ju- 
ftice to our Author’s Merit. Among thefe we may reckoa 
the famous Vqffius, in his Account of the Latin Hiftori- 
ans, the great Geographer Sebajlian Munjler , the learn- 
ed Naturalift Conrad Gefner , the accurate Hiftorian Leun- 
clavius, the celebrated Jofepb Scaliger , and many others. 
The learned German Critick, William Scbickard, in his Hi- 
ftory of the Kings of Perfia, gives our Author this Cha-v 
rader ; “ Marco Polo , the Venetian , fays he, is a very 
44 good Writer, and. thofe Things which he reports, and 
44 were heretofore thought incredible, are now , verified 
“ daily by later Difcoveries.” But of all who have un- 
dertaken the Caufe of our Author, none has done it with 
greater Capacity, with more Goed- will, or better Succefs 
