A portion of the time he was in service with a Mohammedan army; at other times he lived in Egypt, and in China, and, returning to England an old man, he brought such a budget of wonders--true and false--stories of immense birds like the roc, which figure in Arabian mythology and romance, and which could carry elephants through the air--of men with tails, which were probably orang-outangs or gorillas.
Some of his tales, which were then entirely discredited, have been ascertained by modern travellers to be true.

His work was written by him first in Latin, and then in French--Latin for the savans, and French for the court--and afterward, such was the power and demand of the new English tongue, that he presented his marvels to the world in an English version.

This was first printed by Wynken de Worde, in 1499.
Other Writers of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, Who Preceded Chaucer.
Robert Manning, a canon of Bourne--called also Robert de Brunne: Translated a portion of Wace's _Brut_, and also a chronicle of Piers de Langtoft bringing the history down to the death of Edward I.( 1307.) He is also supposed to be the author of a translation of the "Manuel des Peches," (Handling of Sins,) the original of which is ascribed to Bishop Grostete of Lincoln.
_The Ancren Riwle_, or _Anchoresses' Rule_, about 1200, by an unknown writer, sets forth the duties of a monastic life for three ladies (anchoresses) and their household in Dorsetshire.
Roger Bacon, (1214-1292,) a friar of Ilchester: He extended the area of knowledge by his scientific experiments, but wrote his Opus Magus, or _greater work_, in comparison with the Opus Minus, and numerous other treatises in Latin.

If he was not a writer in English, his name should be mentioned as a great genius, whose scientific knowledge was far in advance of his age, and who had prophetic glimpses of the future conquests of science.
Robert Grostete, Bishop of Lincoln, died 1253, was probably the author of the _Manuel des Peches_, and also wrote a treatise on the sphere.
Sir Michael Scott: He lived in the latter half of the thirteenth century; was a student of the "occult sciences," and also skilled in theology and medicine.

He is referred to by Walter Scott as the "wondrous wizard, Michael Scott." Thomas of Ercildoun--called the Rhymer--supposed by Sir Walter Scott, but erroneously, as is now believed, to be the author of "Sir Tristram." _The King of Tars_ is the work of an unknown author of this period.
In thus disposing of the authors before Chaucer, no attempt has been made at a nice subdivision and classification of the character of the works, or the nature of the periods, further than to trace the onward movement of the language, in its embryo state, in its birth, and in its rude but healthy infancy..