[Footnote 31: From his early youth, George Phranza, or
Phranzes, was employed in the service of the state and
palace; and Hanckius (de Script. Byzant. P. i. c. 40) has
collected his life from his own writings. He was no more
than four-and-twenty years of age at the death of Manuel,
who recommended him in the strongest terms to his successor:
Imprimis vero hunc Phranzen tibi commendo, qui ministravit
mihi fideliter et diligenter (Phranzes, l. ii. c. i.) Yet
the emperor John was cold, and he preferred the service of
the despots of Peloponnesus.]