[1] CTESIAS, a physician in high repute at the Persian Court, and
often referred to by Diodorus. He has been universally condemned as a
fabulous writer, to which charge his descriptions of some animals was
liable. But a naturalist of the highest order, the famous CUVIER, has
perhaps done an act of justice to this fabricator of animals. Ctesias
reported the mythological creations which he had witnessed in
hieroglyphical representations as actual living animals. It is
glorious to remove from the darkened name of a writer, unjustly
condemned, the obloquy of two thousand years.--"Theory of the Earth,"
translated by Professor Jameson, 76.
[2] Of modern editions of Mandeville's "Travels in England," that of
1725, printed by Bowyer, is a large octavo. There are numerous
manuscripts of Mandeville in existence. An edition collated might
discover either omissions or interpolations. This might serve as the
labour of an amateur. Mandeville has not had the fortune of his
predecessor Marco Polo, to have met with a Marsden, learned in
geographical and literary illustration.
Long subsequently to the time that this article was written, this
edition of 1725 has been reprinted, with the advantage of a
bibliographical introduction by Mr. Halliwell, and a collation of
texts. [It was published in 1839, in an octavo volume of 326 pages,
with illustrative engravings from manuscripts and printed books.]