"The dawn had already, under the near approach of the sun,
from rosy become golden: when on Sunday, the Queen[3] arising
and arousing all her company, and the chamberlain--having
long before sent in advance to the locality where they were
to go, enough of the articles required so that he might
prepare what was necessary--seeing the Queen on the way,
quickly loading all other things as if it were the moving of
the camp, went off with the baggage, leaving the servants
with the Ladies and the Gentlemen. The Queen, then, with slow
steps, accompanied and followed by her Ladies and the three
Gentlemen, with the escort of perhaps twenty nightingales and
other birds, by a little path not too frequented, but full of
green plants and flowers which by the rising sun began to
open, took the road towards the west; and gossiping,
laughing, and exchanging witticisms with her brigade, arrived
before having gone two thousand steps at a most beautiful and
rich palace, which, somewhat raised above the plain, was
posted on a hill."
[Footnote 3: Each day a Queen or King was chosen to rule over the doings
of the company and determine all questions.]
As the description of the surroundings of the villa into which the gay
assembly now entered is one of the most vivid and one of the gayest
pieces of description in the brilliant counterfoil which the author has
contrived, to set off the gloom of the city, it is worth giving entire;
being as well a noble example of the prose of the 'Decameron':--
"Near to which [the balcony on which they had reposed after
their walk] having ordered to open a garden which was annexed
to the palace, being all inclosed in a wall, they entered in;
and as it appeared to them on entering to be of a marvelous
beauty altogether, they set themselves to examine it in
detail. It had within, and in many directions through it,
broad paths, straight as arrows and covered with arbors of
vine which gave indications of having that year an excellent
vintage, and they all giving out such odors to the garden,
that, mingled with those of many other things which perfumed
it, they seemed to be in the midst of all the perfumeries
that the Orient ever knew; the sides of the paths being
closed in by red and white roses and jasmine, so that not
only in the morning, but even when the sun was high, they
could wander at pleasure under fragrant and odoriferous
shade, without entanglement. How many, of what kind, and how
planted were the plants in that place, it were long to tell;
but there is nothing desirable which suits our climate which
was not there in abundance. In the midst of which (which is
not less delightful than other things that were there, but
even more so) was a meadow of the most minute herbs, and so
green that it seemed almost black, colored by a thousand
varieties of flowers, and closed around by green and living
orange and lemon trees, which, having the ripe and the young
fruit and the flowers together, gave not only grateful shade
for the eyes, but added the pleasures of their odors. In the
midst of that meadow was a fountain of the whitest marble
with marvelous sculptures. From within this, I know not
whether by a natural vein or artificial, through a figure
which stood on a column in the midst of it, sprang so much
water, and so high, falling also into the fountain with
delightful sound, that it would at least have driven a mill.
This, then (I mean the water which ran over from the
fountain), through hidden channels went out of the meadow,
and by little canals beautiful and artfully made becoming
visible outside of it, ran all around it; and then by similar
canals into every part of the garden, gathering together
finally in that part of it where from the beautiful garden it
escaped, and thence descending limpid to the plain, and
before reaching it, with great force and not a little
advantage to the master, turned two mills. To see this
garden, its beautiful orderliness, the plants and the
fountain with the brooks running from it, was so pleasing to
the ladies and the three youths that all commenced to declare
that if Paradise could be found on earth, they could not
conceive what other form than that of this garden could be
given to it, nor what beauty could be added to it. Wandering
happily about it, twining from the branches of various trees
beautiful garlands, hearing everywhere the songs of maybe
twenty kinds of birds as it were in contest with each other,
they became aware of another charm of which, to the others
being added, they had not taken note: they saw the garden
full of a hundred varieties of beautiful animals, and
pointing them out one to the other, on one side ran out
rabbits, on another hares, here lying roe-deer and there
feeding stags, and besides these many other kinds of harmless
beasts, each one going for his pleasure as if domesticated,
wandering at ease; all which, beyond the other pleasures,
added a greater pleasure. And when, seeing this or that, they
had gone about enough, the tables being set around the
beautiful fountain, first singing six songs and dancing six
dances, as it pleased the Queen, they went to eat, and being
with great and well-ordered service attended, and with
delicate and good dishes, becoming gayer they arose and
renewed music and song and dance, until the Queen on account
of the increasing heat judged that whoever liked should go to
sleep. Of whom some went, but others, conquered by the beauty
of the place, would not go, but remained, some to read
romances, some to play at chess and at tables, while the
others slept. But when passed the ninth hour, they arose, and
refreshing their faces with the fresh water, they came to the
fountain, and in their customary manner taking their seats,
waited for the beginning of the story-telling on the subject
proposed by the Queen."
Of the character of the Novelle I have need to say little: they were the
shaping of the time, and made consonant with its tastes, and nobody was
then disturbed by their tone. Some are indelicate to modern taste, and
some have passed into the classics of all time. The story of 'Griselda';
that of 'The Stone of Invisibility,' put into shape by Irving;
'Frederick of the Alberighi and his Falcon'; 'The Pot of Basil'; and
'The Jew Abraham, Converted to Christianity by the Immorality of the
Clergy,' are stories which belong to all subsequent times, as they may
have belonged to the ages before. Those who know what Italian society
was then, and in some places still is, will be not too censorious,
judging lightness of tongue and love of a good story as necessarily
involving impurity. And Boccaccio has anticipated his critics in this
vein, putting his apology in the mouth of Filomena, who replies to
Neifile, when the latter speaks of scandal growing out of their holiday,
"This amounts to nothing where I live virtuously and my conscience in no
wise reproaches me--let them who will, speak against me: I take God and
the truth for my defense." ¸ [Illustration: signature: M. Stevenson]
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