. from MS. 6975 (now Fr. 355) of Paris Library.

[10] _MSS. Francois_, iii. 60-61.

[11] Ibid. 56-59.

[12] _Introd._ pp. lxxxvi.-vii. note.

[13] See _Jour. As._ ser. II. tom. xii. p. 251.

[14] "_Seignors Enperaor, & Rois, Dux & Marquois, Cuens, Chevaliers &
Bargions_ [for Borgiois] _& toutes gens qe uoles sauoir les deuerses
jenerasions des homes_, & les deuersites des deuerses region dou
monde, _si prennes cestui lire & le feites lire & chi troueres toutes
les grandismes meruoilles_," etc.

[15] The portrait of Rustician here referred to would have been a precious
illustration for our book. But unfortunately it has not been
transferred to MS. 6961, nor apparently to any other noticed by Paulin
Paris.

[16] _Jour. As._ as above.

[17] See _Liebrecht's Dunlop_, p. 77; and _MSS. Francois_, II. 349, 353.
The alleged gift to Rustician is also put forth by D'Israeli the Elder
in his _Amenities of Literature_, 1841, I. p. 103.

[18] E.g. Geronimo, _Girolamo_; and garofalo, _garofano_; Cristoforo,
_Cristovalo_; gonfalone, _gonfanone_, etc.

[19] See the List in _Archivio Stor. Ital._ VI. p. 64, seqq.

VIII. NOTICES OF MARCO POLO'S HISTORY, AFTER THE TERMINATION OF HIS
IMPRISONMENT AT GENOA.

43. A few very disconnected notices are all that can be collected of matter
properly biographical in relation to the quarter century during which Marco
Polo survived the Genoese captivity.

[Sidenote: Death of Marco's Father before 1300. Will of his brother
Maffeo.]

We have seen that he would probably reach Venice in the course of August,
1299. Whether he found his aged father alive is not known; but we know at
least that a year later (31st August, 1300) Messer Nicolo was no longer in
life.

This we learn from the Will of the younger Maffeo, Marco's brother, which
bears the date just named, and of which we give an abstract below.[1] It
seems to imply strong regard for the testator's brother Marco, who is made
inheritor of the bulk of the property, failing the possible birth of a
son. I have already indicated some conjectural deductions from this
document. I may add that the terms of the second clause, as quoted in the
note, seem to me to throw considerable doubt on the genealogy which
bestows a large family of sons upon this brother Maffeo. If he lived to
have such a family it seems improbable that the draft which he thus left
in the hands of a notary, to be converted i