620 
his part, that he had the title of Cavaliere 
conferred on bim.. In the courfe of his 
travels Trevifano noticed and. defcribed 
‘every thing remarkable with the mof mi- 
nute care. He paid particular attention 
to the topography of the various coun- 
tries feen by him ; their foil, productions, 
the plants which grew there, and, in ge- 
neral, every thing that could throw any 
light on their natural hiftory and geogra. 
phy. 
i During bis flay in the Ifle of Cyprus 
he compofed a treatife of which the fol- 
lowing is the title :—‘* De Nili origine 
et incremento : item de Ethiopum regione 
& moribus, liber fingularis, compofitus 
per mé Paulum Trevifanum, tobilem 
Venetum, in infula Cypri, anno reparate 
falutis M.CCCC.LXXXIII. This work, 
all of which was written in Latin, and 
proves that Trevifano had received an ex- 
cellent education, is to be confidered as 
the firft tract after the revival of letters 
which treats of the fource of the Nile. 
2. GIOVANNI BEMBO, 
This traveller, like the other, was a 
noble Venetian, born in 1473. Notwith.- 
ftanding bis family was but little favoured 
with the gifts of fortuae, he alfo received 
an excellent education, under the able 
matters of that period. He fiudied buma- 
nity under Benedetto Brugnolo, who, in 
the opinion of the celebrated Politian, was 
a very learned man, not being excelled by 
any of his contemporaries in rhetoric, 
ethics, or the knowledge of the Greek and 
Latin tongues. He afterwards commen- 
ced a courle of Greek literature under Ar- 
fenius, who at length became archbifhop 
of Malvcifia, (Monembafiz,) and con. 
cluded his ftudies at Corfu, under Mof- 
chus, a Greek, of whom Lilio Gregorio 
Giraldi expreffes him‘elf thus :—** Fuit 
vir fane in omni virtutum & f{cientiarum 
genere totius Greciz judicio excellentiffi- 
mus.’” While there, he obtained a com- 
plete maftery over the learned languages, 
and tranflated the Dilcourfe of Libanius 
relative to the burning of the Temple of 
Apollo at Daphne near Antioch. 
After the capture of. Lepanto by the 
Turks, in 14.99, he took refuge at Ragu- 
fa with his wife Chiara Coriera, on whom - 
he beftowed many ,high eulcgiums ina 
manufcript letter, now in the peffcffion of 
the Abbé Morelli. At Racufa he 
feund Czlius Grudius, a noble Raguian,’ 
weil verfed in the Greek and Latin lan- 
guages, who pad the greateft attention 
to bs family, and fhew:d him the tranf- 
lations of fome of Cicero’s Orations by 
himfelf, ; 
4 
: Retrofpect of French Literature.— Biography. 
From Ragufa Bembo repaired to Pefa- 
ro, where he was invited, in 1500, to take 
upon him the inftru&tion of youth. While 
in this capacity he enjoyed a {mail houfe 
and garden ; but he foon after retired to 
Venice, in confequence of the occurrence 
of two circumftances : the firit was, the 
feizure of Pefaro by the famous Ceefar 
Borgia, Duke of Valentinois, and fon of 
Pope Alcxander I.; the fecond was, the 
death of hisown father. I- wis then that 
he executed the idea long entertained by 
him of publifhing the remarks and criti- 
cifms of Marc- Antonio Sabeilico, Filippo 
Beroaldo, Battifta Dio Pol:ziano, Domi- 
zio Calderino, and Battifia Egnazio, on 
ancient authors. This work was reprint- 
ed at Venice in 1508, and at Paris in1r514. 
At this period he appears to have en- 
joyed an office in the magiftracy of his na~ 
tive country ; this was called the Gzufiz- 
ziere Nuovo, ov Prefident of the New Cri- 
minal Tribunal ; but as it was the culiom 
to abfolve the nobles appertaining to the 
Great Council, although recognized as 
culpable, and to punith all other individu. 
als according to the rigour of the laws, 
he hafened to quit this *¢ tribunal of ini- 
quity,”” over which he only prefided dur- 
ing the fhort period of forty-five days. 
In the account tranfmitted by, him to his 
friend André Ainfi of this affair, he ex- 
prefles himflf with an energetical degree 
of indignation which does honcur to his 
heart: 
<¢ Paulo poft creatus fui Praefe&tus Juf- 
titi Novz, ubi more civitatis (nam preva- 
luit legibus) oportebat nobiles Majoris 
Confilti, quamvis nocenies, abfolvere ; 
alios vero omnes fecundum leges damnare. 
Quadraginta quinque diebus in eo magif- 
tratu abfolutis, ab illa me iniquitate abdi- 
cavi.”” 
We next find Bembo engaged in a com- 
mercial expedition. Four noble Vene- 
tians, according to the cuftom of thofe 
days, having freighted a merchantmas for 
Barbary, he was entrufted with the fuper- 
intendance of the expedition. After vifit- 
ing Iftria, Dalmatia, Poullia, Calabria, 
and Sicily, he repaired to and refided fome 
time at Tripoli and Tunis. He then ex. 
plored the ruins of Carthage, traverfed part 
of Numidia, and at la{t landed in Spain. 
_On his return home he occupied an ho- 
nourable cfice, as we gather from hig 
ows letter to Aing. 
<¢ Ver deinde Advocatus magnus omni- 
um Curia:um Palatii electus fur, cum Ca- 
rolo -Contareno qui legatus in caltris nofs 
tris ebut, & cum Thoma Donato qui nunc 
Veronz Piztor eft? . 
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