explain the allusions to natural objects met with in the Scriptures or
in the Gloss. It was, in fact, an account of the properties of things
in general; an encyclopaedia of similes for the benefit of the village
preaching friar, written for men without deep--sometimes without any--
learning. Assuming no previous information, and giving a fairly clear
statement of the state of the knowledge of the time, the book was
readily welcomed by the class for which it was designed, and by the
small nucleus of an educated class which was slowly forming. Its
popularity remained in full vigour after the invention of printing, no
less than ten editions being published in the fifteenth century of the
Latin copy alone, with four French translations, a Dutch, a Spanish,
and an English one.

The first years of the modern commercial system gave its death-blow to
the popularity of this characteristically mediaeval work, and though
an effort was made in 1582 to revive it, the attempt was
unsuccessful--quite naturally so, since the book was written for men
desirous to hear of the wonders of strange lands, and did not give an
accurate account of anything. The man who bought cinnamon at
Stourbridge Fair in 1380 would have felt poorer if any one had told
him that it was not shot from the phoenix' nest with leaden arrows,
while the merchant of 1580 wished to know where it was grown, and how
much he would pay a pound for it if he bought it at first hand. Any
attempt to reconcile these frames of mind was foredoomed to failure.

THE INTEREST OF BARTHOLOMEW'S WORK.--The interest of Bartholomew's
work to modern readers is twofold: it has its value as literature pure
and simple, and it is one of the most important of the documents by
the help of which we rebuild for ourselves the fabric of mediaeval
life. The charm of its style lies in its simple forcible language, and