properties of gems, animals, etc. Besides these he quotes many other
writers (a list of whom is given in an appendix) little known to
modern readers.

THE TRANSLATION AND PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION.--The translation from
which we quote was made for Sir Thomas lord of Berkeley in 1397 by
John Trevisa, his chaplain. We owe this good Englishman something for
the works in English prose he called into existence--some not yet
printed; may we not see in him another proof of what we owe to
Chaucer--a language stamped with the seal of a great poet, henceforth
sufficient for the people who speak it, ample for the expression of
their thoughts or needs?

In selecting from such a book, the principles which have guided the
editor are these: To the general reader he desires to offer a fair
representation of the work of Bartholomew Anglicus, preserving the
language and style. To be fair, the work must be sometimes dull--in
the whole book there are many very dull passages. He has desired to
select passages of interest for their quaint language, and their views
of things, often for their very misrepresentations of matters of
common knowledge to-day, and for their bearing upon the literature of
the country. The student of literature and science will find in it the
materials in which the history of their growth is read. In conclusion,
the editor ventures to hope that the work will not be unwelcome to the
numerous and growing class who love English for its own sake as the
noblest tongue on earth, and who desire not to forget the rock from
which it was hewn, and the pit from which it was digged.

Our first selection will naturally be the translator's prologue in the
very shortened form of Berthelet. The present editor's work is, to