od 
£48 Froin the Port-folte 
As the Englifh Barons are frequently 
embroiled in difputes and quarrels with 
tne Sovereign, and with each other, they 
take the precaution of building ftrong 
caftles for their refidence, with high toweis 
and deep moats furrounding them, and 
ftrengthened with draw bridges, pofterns, 
and porrcullifes. And further to enable 
ahemfeives to hold out for a confiderable 
length of time in cafe they fhould happen 
to be befieged, they make a provifion of 
victuals, arms, and whatever elfe 1s ne- 
ceflary for the purpofe. (Carles feignors 
Englcis qui fovent guerrcient ob |i fires 
et entreaus fe celitent en faire tors et 
hautes maifons de pierres, et fe ceft hors 
de vil il fone fofies et palus, et murs et 
tornelles et pons et portes colleyces. Et 
font garnies de mangoniaus et de {eetes et 
de toutes choles qui befoignent a guerre 
por deffendre, et por gregier et por la vie 
des homes ens et hors maintenir. | 
The country furrounding the city of 
Oxford is exceedingly beautiful. The 
city is itlelf watered by the Chervel and 
the Ifis, or Ouse, which rivers wander over 
the land in many a wild meander. As I 
ftood viewing thefe fcenes frem the fur- 
rounding hills, this thought occurred to 
me—* If the ftudy of phyfic and the arts 
uftful for fociety be commendable; and 
if commerce, when properly conducted, 
and made productive without fraud, be 
defirable, for if it be fmall it 1s defpifed ; 
yet, after every confideration, agriculture 
muft certainly be the employment moft 
profitable and moit fitting for a gentleman 
(Franc Home): and then I repeated thete 
words of Hozace:— 
Peatus ille, qui procu! negotiis, 
Uc pritca gens mortalium, 
Paterna rura bobus exercet fuis 
Solutus omni fencre. 
Efod. 2. 
Happy the man from bufinefs free, 
Who tills his land at liverty 5 
Acres which unincumber’d came, 
By grandfires left, who till’d the fame. 
[Medecine et charpenterie font honeke a 
ciaus a cui eles covienent. Mais mar- 
chandife fe elle eft petite lon la tienta laide. 
Se ele ef grant et bien gaignabie et done 
a pluiffors {ans vanite ele ne doit eftre 
blamee. Nul meftier neft meillor que ja- 
boreor de terre re plus planteif ne plus 
diene de Franc Home. Decui dit Oraces. 
¢¢ Cil eft bonevrevs qui laifie tous meftiers 
fi come firent li ancien, et coutive fes bues 
et fes chans, et eft dete fans ulures.’”] 
[ June 1, 
The number of fcholars belonging to 
this high {chool (Oxford) is about 30005 
indeed their number is too gieats inaf- 
much as the revenues of their houfes are 
infufficient for their fupport; therefore 
they are conftrained to afk relief at the 
butteries of the great Barons, and the 
cabins of their vaffals. I do not fay this 
is the cafe with all of them; but it is 
cniefly fo with. thofe educated for the 
church, and defigned to be preachers of 
the Faith in Chrift and the Judgment 
which is to come. Others intended to 
practife law or phyfic, and employments 
wherein learning is requifife, live with 
their refpective Societies, without being 
chargeable with the like tcandal. [Ja 
foit que li uns foit clers et moftre @ reli- 
gion et la for Thu Crit et la gioire des 
bons et linfi:mite des mauvais. Li autre 
qui font juges ou mieges qui aide lume 
faine a maintenir fa fante, ou autre mef- 
tier de clergie veent au proifit de la co- 
mune compaignie fans tort et fans honte. } 
You may be affured that I did not fail 
to fee Friar Bacon as foocn as I arriyed at 
Oxford. He is the only one there that [ 
could hear of who is fkilled in Hebrew 
and Greek. The Latin they have amongtt 
them is not the Latin of Tully; and as 
the Doors know nothing of the Romance 
Tongue, my communication with them 
was very little. But my amends was 
fufficiently made in the converfations I 
frequently had with this mirror of good 
learning, who is not like Dic?ys,* men- 
tioned by Herace, 
of a Mau of Lettexs. 
Non fumum ex fulgore,fed ex fumo dare lucert 
Cogitat. 
* Who is this Diffus mentioned here by 
Brunetto Latini? Did he underftand that te 
be the name of the author cited by Ho- 
race, under the appellation of Scriptor Cyclicus, 
to whom both he and Horace evidently al- 
lude, as being a writer who made ‘* what’ 
was clear and intelligible dark and obfcure 3” 
I have written this name Diéys, becaufe I 
fuppoied Brunetto Latini to have feen the fix 
cooks upon the Trojan War, compofed by 
Di&ys, of Crete, who was himfelf prefent at 
the Siege. This fabulous work was originally 
written in Greek, and was tranflated into 
the Latin Tongue in the reign of the Empe- 
ror Nero. It is to be obferved, that Brunetto 
Latini never mentions Homer, nor any Greek 
author, whofe works were not tranflated into 
Latin before the thirteenth century. He 
knew nothing of Homer’s iliad and Odyfley, 
though he might have found honourable 
mention made of them in his favourite Ho- 
race, 
Z 
: - 
7 eee Te 
ee ae eee ke 
yh eee 
