[3] I have made personal enquiry at the National Libraries of Naples and Palermo, at the Communal Library in the latter city, and at the Benedictine Libraries of Monte Cassino, Monreale, S. Martino, and Catania. In the 15th century, when Polo’s book had become more generally diffused we find three copies of it in the Catalogue of the Library of Charles VI. of France, made at the Louvre in 1423, by order of the Duke of Bedford. The estimates of value are curious. They are in _sols parisis_, which we shall not estimate very wrongly at a shilling each:— “No. 295. _Item_. Marcus Paulus; _en ung cahier escript de lettre formée, en françois, à deux coulombes. Commt. ou ii{e.} fo._ ‘deux frères prescheurs,’ _et ou derrenier_ ‘que sa arrières.’ _X. s. p._ * * * “No. 334. _Item_. Marcus Paulus. _Couvert de drap d’or, bien escript & enluminé, de lettre de forme en françois, à deux coulombes. Commt. ou ii{e.} fol._; ‘il fut Roys,’ _& ou derrenier_ ‘propremen,’ _à deux fermouers de laton. XV. s. p._ * * * “No. 336. _Item_. Marcus Paulus; _non enluminé, escript en françois, de lettre de forme. Commt. ou ii{e.} fo._ ‘vocata moult grant,’ _& ou derrenier_ ‘ilec dist il.’ _Couvert de cuir blanc, à deux fermouers de laton. XII. s. p._” (_Inventaire de la Bibliothèque du Roi Charles VI._, etc. Paris, Société des Bibliophiles, 1867.) [4] See _Del Reggimento e de’ Costumi delle donne di Messer Francesco da Barberino_, Roma, 1815, pp. 166 and 271. The latter passage runs thus, on _Slavery_:— “E fu indutta prima da Noé, E fu cagion lo vin, perchè si egge: Ch’egli è un paese, dove Son molti servi in parte di Cathay: Che per questa cagione Hanno a nimico il vino, E non ne beon, nè voglion vedere.” The author was born the year before Dante (1264), and though he lived to 1348 it is probable that the poems in question were written in his earlier years. _Cathay_ was no doubt known by dim repute long before the final return of the Polos, both through the original journey of Nicolo and Maffeo, and by information gathered by the Missionary Friars. Indeed, in 1278 Pope Nicolas III., in consequence of information said to have come from Abaka Khan of Persia, that Kúblái was a baptised Christian, sent a party of Franciscans with a long letter to the Kaan _Quobley_, as he is termed. They never seem to have reached their destination. And in 1289 Nicolas IV. entrusted a similar mission to Friar John of Monte Corvino, which eventually led to very tangible results. Neither of the Papal letters, however, mentions _Cathay_. (See _Mosheim_, App. pp. 76 and 94.) [5] See _Muratori_, IX. 583, _seqq._; _Bianconi_, Mem. I. p. 37.