in
1299, while in the prison of Genoa, to one Rustigielo, an inhabitant of
Pisa, who was his fellow prisoner. They were afterwards published in
Italian, and subsequently translated into Latin by Pessuri, a Dominican
monk of Bologna. Copies of the original manuscript, though written in the
Venetian dialect, which is extremely different from the Tuscan or pure
Italian, were multiplied with great rapidity in all parts of Italy, and
even made their way into France and Germany. From one or more of these,
corrupted by the carelessness or ignorance of transcribers, some of whom
may have abridged the work, or may even have interpolated it from other
sources, a thing quite common before the invention of printing, the Latin
translations may have been made and circulated over Europe. Ramusio, an
early editor of voyages and travels, published these travels in an Italian
translation from the Latin, which he erroneously supposed to have been the
original dictation of Marco to Rustigielo; and many other editions have
been published in the various languages of Europe, but all from one or
other of these corrupted transcripts or translations.

A manuscript of the travels of Marco polo, in the Venetian dialect, was
long preserved by the Soranza family at Venice, but whether this now
exists, or has ever been published, is unknown. Mr Pinkerton informs us
[3], that a genuine edition of these travels, probably from the original
MS. either of Marco himself, after his return from Genoa, or from that of
his amanuensis Rustigielo, was published at Trevigi in 1590, in the dialect
of Venice, which has hitherto escaped the attention of all editors and
commentators. This curious publication is often worded in the names of all
the three travellers, father, uncle, and son; but when the peculiar travels
of Marco are indicated, his name only is employed. In the former case, the
language runs thus, "_We_, Nicolo, Maffei, and Marco, have heard, seen, and
know, &c.:" In the latter, "I Marco was in that place, and saw, &c." In
this Venetian edition, the names of places and persons are often widely
different from those in the other editions, and probably more genuine and
correct. But that publication being at present inaccessible, we are under
the necessity of being contented with the edition of Harris, in which he
professes to have carefully collated the edition of Ramusio with most of
the other translations, and with an original MS. in the royal library of