{0a} Of which there is an English translation by E. F. M. Benecke
entitled “Virgil in the Middle Ages.” London, Swan Sonnenschein and Co.
{0b} Comparetti.
{0c} Alexandra Dumas also used this book very freely for his “Mille et
Une Fantômes”—in fact, the latter work may be said to be based on it.
The “Histoire des Fantômes” was the first and principal source from which
French lovers of the supernatural derived the interest in were-wolves and
vampires which manifested itself during the time of Napoleon and more
recently.
{0d} “Pioneers of Evolution.”
{12} Possibly meaning that it was the first time when he recognised his
power as a sage or sorcerer.
{13} Horus Apollo, “Hieroglyph.,” II. 32.
{18} Simply an _omelette aux truffes_, the common fashion of eating
truffles among the peasants. It is possibly an old Roman dish, and may
be in Apicius.
{21a} “Egli ha la lupa” (_i.e._, fame); also “Ho una fame ch’io la
veggio.”—“Proverbi Italiani da Orlando,” Pescetti, 1618.
{21b} In the Italian MS.: “I figlii erano al letto del padre che
sapevano alla fine, ma non una lacrima sortiva dal loro ciglio.”
{23} “Morto io, morto il porco.” Latin: “Me mortuo terra misceatur
incendio” (Suetonius in “Vitâ Neronis”)—“When I shall be dead, the devil
may take everything!”
{32} Published by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 1897.
{34} _Male a far ti mangiare da qualche orco_—_Orco_ is from _Orcus_,
the Spirit of Hell.
{39} Swearing by the body or any part thereof implied the destruction or
forfeiture of it, _i.e._, death or slavery in case the oath should be
broken.
{40} The same was believed of Diana. I have omitted here much needless
verbiage and repetition, and abbreviated what follows.
{41a} I conjecture that this is wild poppy.
{41b} A play on _paura_ (fear) and the name of the plant.
{46} Quaintly spelled _quo prire_ in the original MS.
{47} London, D. Nutt, 1844, price 1s., Mediæval Legends, No. II.
{49} “Legends of Florence,” collected from the people, etc., by Charles
Godfrey Leland. London, David Nutt, 1896.
{50a} This is certain proof that the columns had been brought from the
East.
{50b} This is mentioned by many writers. I read it last in a very
curious old manuscript History of Florence, written apparently about
1650, which—though it was in good condition, and well bound in
parchment—I purchased for four _soldi_, or twopence, from an itinerant
dealer. Finding by a note that the work belonged to the library of the
Liceo Dante, I restored it to that institution. I also found in this
manuscript an account of the miracle of the blooming of the elm-tree of
San Zenobio.
{52} It is worth noting _en passant_ that, according to Max Nordau, one
of the Ibsenites, modern Illuminati or Naturalists—I forget to which
division of the great body of reformers he belongs—has seriously proposed
this creation of _donne artificiale_. _Vide_ Nordau, “Degeneration.”
{55} This is finely conceived to give an idea of the great effect of the
agony expressed in the face of the spectre. Adelone would naturally be
so deeply impressed by it as to be unable to maintain the interview.
{57} E ne un luogo sporco.
{58} Evidently the Belsàbo of a preceding tale.
{60} In the MS.: “‘Many are deluded, or get a thumb at the nose,’ says
the proverb.” “Maxima sero delusi, ho sia con un palma di’ naso cosi,
dice il proverbio.” This expressive sign of the thumb is represented in
an Irish Gospel of St. Mark of the sixth century.
{61} This superlative is rendered in the original manuscript by the very
original expression: “They were so near being killed, that they were
almost at the point of death.”
{62a} “Lo spirito del vaso che era quel santo Virgilio.” Here Virgil is
for once fairly sainted or canonized.
{62b} “Bevve un barile pieno di vino, e divenne ubbriaco come un tegolo
o quattro suonatori di violini.” This recalls “tight as a brick”
(Manuscript).
{63} “Virgiglio e la Donna di Diaccio” (Title in MS.).
{64} In allusion, probably, to the “Madonna del Fuoco,” whose festival
is annually celebrated at Forli, in the Toscana Romagna. The writer of
this story was from the neighbourhood of Forli. “The Madonna del Fuoco
is probably Vesta” (_vide_ “Etrusco-Roman Legends,” by C. G. Leland).
{67} Four antique marble statues of women. Any ancient female statue is
commonly called a _Venus_ by the people at large in Italy.
{68} Here there is a hiatus, or blank in the manuscript. By crown is
here meant a fillet or tiara, as will be shown anon.
{72} “Tutto era artificiale,” meaning very artistic or æsthetic.
{77} “Alla _sua_ religione.”
{78a} “La testa d’un uomo piena di vermi e puzzolente,” a parody of the
decayed cabbage.
{78b} I may here note that the ruined castle of the dreaded Falkenstein
is in sight of the rooms where I am now writing in Homburg-les-Bains.
{80} Singer or minstrel, one who sings his poems, and not merely a
writer of poems, is understood by _poeta_ in all these legends.
{88} So given in the text for Seneca.
{89a} “Cosi moriva e tutta Roma piangeva.”
{89b} _Vampa_.
{89c} _Capitalisti_, bankers.
{90} “Il più grande birbone.”
{98a} “E cosi tutti facevano l’amore nel buio, senza sapere chi era
quello che facevano. . . .”
{98b} _Vide_ “Etrusco-Roman Remains.”
{98c} By inadvertence or a blunder in the original manuscript, the
wizard or witch is made male and female, and the victim alternately the
young lady and the lover. It would make no difference as regards the
plot.
{99} “Serratura o luchetta.”
{100} Florentine _folar_, or _follo_, from _foglio_, a leaf. I
conjecture that this is the original of the English slang _vogel_, a silk
handerchief, and not the German _vogel_, a bird.
{106} It may be noted that any clever modern juggler could perform the
miracle of the fish as here described.
{109} The original reduces this to a minimum—“Non più grande del dito
mignole di un’ bimbo di nascita.”
{110a} This is exactly like a small tambourine, but more strongly made.
{110b} _The Boston Comic Annual_, 1828.
{114} Signore Cosino, or Cosimo. This name appears here for the first
time in the story.
{126} _Vide_ “Algonkin Tales of New England,” by Charles G. Leland.
{134} In the original “La Dea della Neve.” In Italy the word “goddess”
is more familiarly and frequently used than it is by peasants in England,
but rather with application to great and good spirits of any kind than to
deities.
{135} This was probably due to the very rapid formation of a frozen
crust. _Vide_ Nansen’s work.
{138} Anime.
{140} _Comare_, godmother, gossip, a familiar form of address. In
French _commère_; Scotch, _cummer_.
{141a} “Andiede bene”—Cut their lucky.
{141b} “I find this is a peasant’s expression for the ‘gloaming.’
_Verso sera_ was the explanation” (Roma Lister). Literally “between the
dim and the dark.” “Entre chien et loup”—the owl’s light.
{143} Literally “ugly mammy.”
{144} This conveys the idea of complete cleanliness, as well-scoured
bare walls and floors are most easily vibrated by currents of air, and
consequently most echoing.
{147} “Ora siamo belli fritti.”
{148} “Passegiando, passegiando,
Me ne vengo, ricordando,”
or “walking away.”
{150} M. Annæi Lucani, “De Bello Civili, vel Pharsaliæ,” Liber X., 225.
{151} The reader will find this Herodias-Lilith fully described in a
little work entitled “Aradia; or, The Gospel of the Witches,” by Charles
Godfrey Leland. London: D. Nutt.
{155a} “Scongiurati”—evoked.
{155b} The sentence is twice repeated in the original.
{156} “Ed aria resplendente,” a play on the name Bell’ Aria.
{158} This I have supplied to fill a blank.
{159} Evidently with quicksilver or mercury—_similia similibus_.
{165} Bottles for wine are sometimes made to contain several gallons.
{166} “An Enquiry into the Life and Legend of Michael Scott,” by the
Rev. J. Wood Brown, M.A. Edinburgh, David Douglas, 1897.
{172} “Pigionale come si dei ebbe volgarmente” (original text).
{173} Annunziata.
{177} “Perche e stato sempre il mio dio.”
{178} Vollmer, “Wörterbuch der gesammten Mythologie,” p. 1162.
{182} “Anche dopo morte rimarrai la stemma di Firenze, ovunque si
trovera il Giglio.”
{183a} Pausanias, v. ii.
{183b} “Christliche Kunstsymbolik,” p. 28; Frankfort, 1839, _apud_
Friedrich.
{187a} Here there is a manifest omission. It would appear that the
Emperor made love to the girl, and that the first speech which follows
was by him and not by her.
{187b} Here the remark and answer are run together in absurd confusion,
but I believe that I have correctly restored the original.
{190a} “Sentenze,” as defined by D’Ambra, “Apothegms.”
{190b} Avviso, “Quando l’ amico guardara (o), ricordava bene l’ avviso,
cosi lo spirito lo guardava, e cosi quella persona diveniva buona.”
{194} “Il proverbio o poema divena
Uno spirito vivente,
Che ti aiutera
A divenire savio e sapiente.”
{196} The Bag of Nails was once a tavern sign in England. It was
conjectured to be a corruption of _Bacchanals_—a very unlikely
derivation.
{203} This means here the recitation of five prayers, after which
stories are told or traditions imparted and discussed. An immense amount
of folklore can be gathered on such occasions.
{204a} “Ne avevano un capo e ne gnente”—No head and no nothing—in the
original.
{204b} The speech as given by the precocious maiden in the original text
is an amusing effort at fine talk or elevated language by an illiterate
person, its object being to strengthen the marvel of the child’s
inspiration.
{204c} That is, on her face. To do this in a pig-sty was a special
means of invoking dreams or inspirations, as described in Norse sagas.
It is fully illustrated in my “Etrusco-Roman Remains.”
{206} Their temples were the last which were abandoned in Rome, as
Wilkie Collins has minutely described in a novel.
{207} “Wegen ihrer erregenden Eigenschaft wurde die Zwiebel ein
erotisches Symbol; deshalb _salaces_ genannt; daher in die Schamtheile
weiblicher Mumien als Sinnbilder der Auferstehung gelegt
wurden.”—Friedrich, “Symbolik.”