_Pope Joan_ (Vol. iii., p. 265.).--You have referred to Sir Thomas Browne,
and might have added the opinion of his able editor (_Works_, iii. 360.),
who says, "Her very existence itself seems now to be universally rejected
by the best authorities as a fabrication from beginning to end." On the
other hand, old Coryat, in his _Crudities_ (vol. ii. p. 443.), has the
boldness to speak with "certainty of her birth at a particular place,--viz.
at Mentz." Mosheim tells us (vol. ii. p. 300.) that during the five
centuries succeeding 855, "the event was generally believed." He quotes
some distinguished names, as well among those who maintained the truth of
the story as amongst those who rejected it as a fable. Bayle may be
included amongst the latter, who, in the third volume of his Dictionary
(Article PAPESSE), has gone deeply into the question. Mosheim himself seems
to leave it where Sir Roger de Coverley would have done,--"much may be said
on both sides."