curiofity. The firft and moft eminent of thefe was Marco Polo, a Venetian of a noble family, (1269.) Having engaged early in trade, accor, ding to the custom of his country, his afpiring mind wifhed for a sphere of activity more extenfive than was afforted to it by the established traffic carried in thofe ports of Europe and Afia, which the Venetians frequented. This promted him to travel into unknown countries, in expectation of opening with them a commercial intercourse, more fuited to the fanguine ideas and hopes of a young adventurer,

As his father had already carried fome European commodities to the court of the great Chan of the Tartars, and had difpofed of them to advantage, he reforted thither. Under the protection of Kublay Chan, the most powerfull of all the Succeffors of Zengis, he continued his mercantile peregrinations in Afia upwards of twenty-fix years; and during that time advanced towards the east, far beyond the utmoft boundaries to which any European traveller had ever proceeded. Inftead of following the course of Carpini and Rubruquis, along the vast unpeopled plains of Tartary, he paffed through the chief trading cities in the more cultivated parts of Afia, and penetrated to Cambalu, or Pecking, the capital of the great kingdom of Cathay, or China, fubject at that time to the fucceffors of Zengis, He made more than one voyage on the Indian ocean, he traded in many of the iflands, from

which Europe had long received fpiceries and other commodities, which it held in high estimation. though unacquainted with the particular countries to which it was indebted for thofe precious productions; and he obtained information concerning feveral countries, which he did not visit in person, particularly the island Zigangry, probably the fame now known by the name of Japan p). On his return, he aftonifhed his contemporaries with his defcriptions of vaft regions, whofe names had never been heard of in Europe, and with fuch pompous accounts of their fertility, their populousness, their opulence, the variety of their manufactures, and the extent of their trade, as rofe far above the conception of an uninformed age.

(1322) About half a century after Marco Polo, Sir John Mandeville, an Englifhman, encouraged by his example, vifited moft of the countries in the eaft wich he had defcribed, and, like him, published an account of them q). The narrations. of thofe early travellers abound with many wild incoherent tales, concerning giants, enchanters, and monfters. But they were not, from that circumftance, lefs acceptable to an ignorant age, which delighted in what was marvellous. The wonders which they told, moftly on hearfey, filled the multitude with admiration. The facts which they related from their own obfervation,

p.) Viaggi di Marco Polo. Ramuf. ii. 2. Bergeron, tom, i, Voyages and Traveis, by Sir John Mandeville.

attracted the attention of the more difcerning, The former, wich may be confidered as the popular traditions and fables of the countries through which they had paffed, were gradually difregarded as Europe advanced in knowledge. The latter, howewer incredible fome of them may have appeared in their own time, have been confirmed by the observations of modern travellers. By means of both, howewer, the curiofity of mankind was excited with respect to te remote parts of the earth, their ideas were enlarged, and they were not only infenfibly difpofed to attempt new difcoveries, but received fuch information as directed to that particular course in which these were afterwards carried on,

And by the invention of the mariners compass,

While this fpirit was gradually forming in Europe, a fortunate difcovery was made, which contributed more than all the efforts and ingenuity of preceding ages, to improve and to extend navigation. That wonderful property of the magnet by which it communicates fuch virtue to a needle or flender rod of iron, as to point towards the poles of the earth, was obferved. The ufe which might be made of this in directing navigation was immediately perceived. That most valuable, but now familiar inftrument, the mariners compafs, was formed. When, by means of it, navigators found that at all feafons, and in every place, they could difcover the north and

fouth with fo much eafe and accuracy, it became no longer neceffary to depend merely on the light of the ftars and the obfervation of the fea coaft. They gradually abandoned their ancient timid and lingering courfe along the fhore, ventured boldly into the ocean, and relying on this new guide, could fteer in the darkest night, and under the most cloudy sky, with a fecurity and precifion hitherto unknown. The compafs may be faid to have opened to man the dominion of the sea, and to have put him in full poffeffion of the earth, by enabling him to vifit every part of it. Flavio Gioia, a citizen of Amalfi, a town of confiderable trade in the kingdom of Naples, was the author of this great difcovery, about the year one thousand three hundred and two. It hath been often the fate of thofe illuftrious benefactors of mankind, who have enriched fcience and improved the arts by their inventions, to derive more reputation than benefit from the happy efforts of their genius. But the lot of Gioia has been ftill more cruel; through the inattention or ignorance of contemporary hiftorians, he has been defrauded even of the fame to which he had such a juft title. We receive from them no information with respect to his profeffion, his character, the precise time when he made this important discovery, or the accidents and inquirieswhich led to it. The knowledge of this event, though productive of greater effects than any recorded in the annals of the

human race, is tranfmitted to us without any of those circumftances, which can gratify the curiofity that it naturally awakens r). But though the ufe of the compafs might enable the Italians to perform the short voyages to which they were accustomed, with greater fecurity and expedition, its influence was not fo fudden or extenfive, as immediately to render navigation adventurous, and to excite a fpirit of difcovery. Many caufes combined in preventing this beneficial invention from producing its full effect inftantaneously. Men relinquifh ancient habits flowly, and with reluctance. They are averfe to new experiments, and venture upon them with timidity. The commercial jealoufy of the Italians, it is probable, laboured to conceal the happy difcovery of their countryman from other nations, The art of fteering by the compafs, with fuch fkill and accuracy as to infpire a full confidence in its direction, was acquired gradually. Sailors unaccustomed to qnit fight of land, durft not launch out at once and commit themselves to unknown feas. Accordingly,'near half a century elapsed,from the time of Gioia's discovery, before navigators ventured into any feas which they had not been accustomed to frequent.

Some appearance a bolder spirit in navigation.

The firft appearance of a bolder spirit may, be dated from the voyages of the Spaniards to:

r) Collinas & Trombellus de Acns nautica Inventore. In ftit, Acad. Bonon, tom, ii, part. iii, p. 372.