ei; that is to seyn, Alle folke schalle serven Him.  But zit thei cone not speken perfytly; (for there is no man to techen hem) but only that thei cone devyse be hire naturelle wytt.  For thei han no knouleche of the Sone, ne of the Holy Gost:  but thei cone alle speken of the Bible:  and namely of Genesis, of the prophetes lawes, and of the Bokes of Moyses.  And thei seyn wel, that the creatures, that thei worschipen, ne ben no goddes:  but thei worschipen hem, for the vertue that is in hem, that may not be, but only be the grace of God.  And of simulacres and of ydoles, thei seyn, that there ben no folk, but that thei han simulacres:  and that thei seyn, for we Cristene men han ymages, as of Oure Lady, and of othere seyntes, that wee worschipen; nohte the ymages of tree or of ston, but the seyntes, in whoos name thei ben made aftre.  For righte as the bokes of the Scripture of hem techen the clerkes, how and in what manere thei schulle beleeven, righte so the ymages and the peyntynges techen the lewed folk to worschipen the seyntes, and to have hem in hire mynde, in whoos name that the ymages ben made aftre.  Thei seyn also, that the aungeles of God speken to hem in tho ydoles, and that thei don manye grete myracles.  And thei seyn sothe, that there is an aungele with in hem:  for there ben 2 maner of aungeles, a gode and an evelle; as the Grekes seyn, Cacho and Calo; this Cacho is the wykked aungelle, and Calo is the gode aungelle:  but the tother is not the gode aungelle, but the wykked aungelle, that is with inne the ydoles, for to disceyven hem, and for to meyntenen hem in hire errour.

CAPVT. 50.

De compositione huius tractatus in nobili ciuitate Leodiensi.

In reuertendo igitur venitur ab hac insula per prouincias magnas Imperij Tartarorum, in quibus semper noua, semper mira, imo nonnunquam incredibilia viator potest videre, percipere, et audire.

Et Noueritis, vt praedixi, me pauca eorum vidisse, quae in terris sunt mirabilium, sed nec hic scripsisse centessimam partem eorum quae vidi, quod nec omnia memoriae commendare potui, et de commendatis multa subticui, propter modestiam, quam decet omnibus actibus addi.

Idcirco vt et alijs, qui vel ante me in partibus illis steterunt, vel ituri sunt, maneat locus narrandi siue scribendi, modum huius pono tractatus, potius decurtans quam complens, quoniam alias loquendi non esset finis, nec aures implerentur auditu.

[Sidenote:  Concludit opus suum.] Itaque anno a natiuitate Domini nostri Iesu Christi 1355. in patriando, cum ad nobilem Legiae, seu Leodij ciuitatem peruenissem, et prae grandeuitate ac artericis guttis illic decumberem in vico qui dicitur, Bassessanemi, consului causa conualescendi aliquos medicos ciuitatis:  Et accidit, Dei nutu, vnum intrare physicum super alios aetate simul et canicie venerandum, ac in sua arte euidenter expertum, qui ibidem dicebatur communiter, Magister Ioannes ad barbam.