Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parke, Robert (fl.1588)
PARKE, ROBERT (fl. 1588), translator, was author of ‘The Historie of the Great and Mightie Kingdome of China, and the situation thereof: together with the great riches, huge citties, politike governement, and rare inventions in the same. Translated out of Spanish by R. Parke. London. Printed by J. Wolfe for Edward White,’ 1588, 4to. This is a translation of the Chinese ‘History of Gonzales de Mendoza,’ published at Rome in 1585. The dedication to ‘M. Thomas Candish [Cavendish], Esquire,’ is dated 1 Jan. 1589, and states that the translation has been undertaken ‘at the earnest request and encouragement of my worshipfull friend, Master Richard Hakluit, late of Oxforde;’ it further presses Cavendish, who has just returned from his first voyage to the Philippines and China, to attempt to reach the China seas by a north-west passage. Parke's translation was edited for the Hakluyt Society by Sir George T. Staunton, with an introduction by R. H. Major, in 2 vols. 8vo, in 1853; but no details of Parke's life have been discovered.
[Brit. Mus. Libr. Cat.]