but rude and commonplace, looking at a little dog standing on its hind
legs and begging, with a collar round its neck. Inscribed "OBEDIENTI *
*;" the rest of the sentence is much defaced, but looks like
"A'ONOEXIBEO."
I suppose the note of contraction above the final A has disappeared and
that the inscription was "Obedientiam domino exhibeo."
This virtue is, of course, a principal one in the monkish systems;
represented by Giotto at Assisi as "an angel robed in black, placing the
finger of his left hand on his mouth, and passing the yoke over the head
of a Franciscan monk kneeling at his feet." [Footnote: Lord Lindsay,
vol. ii. p. 226.]
Obedience holds a less principal place in Spenser. We have seen her
above associated with the other peculiar virtues of womanhood.