NOTES TO CANTO VI.

Note I.

She wrought not by forbidden spell.—St. V. p. 177. Popular belief, though contrary to the doctrines of the Church, made a favourable distinction betwixt magicians, and necromancers, or wizards; the former were supposed to command the evil spirits, and the latter to serve, or at least to be in league and compact with, those enemies of mankind. The arts of subjecting the demons were manifold; sometimes the fiends were actually swindled by the magicians, as in the case of the bargain betwixt one of their number and the poet Virgil. The classical reader will doubtless be curious to peruse this anecdote:

Virgilius was at scole at Tolenton, where he stodyed dy"lygently, for he was of great understandynge. Upon a tyme, "the scolers had lycense to go to play and sporte them in the "fyldes, after the usance of the old tyme. And there was "also Virgilius therbye, also walkynge among the hylles alle

“about. It fortuned he spyed a great hole in the syde of a 66 great hyll, wherein he went so depe, that he culd not see "no more lyght; and than he went a lytell farther therein, " and than he saw some lyght agayne, and than he went fourth "streyghte, and within a lytell wyle after he harde a voyce " that called, Virgilius! Virgilius!' and looked aboute, and ❝he colde nat see no body. Than sayd he, (i. e. the voice,) 'Virgilius, see ye not the lytyll borde lying bysyde you "there marked with that word?' Than answered Virgilius, "I see that borde well anough.' The voyce said, 'Doo

awaye that borde, and lette me out there atte.' Than an"swered Virgilius to the voice that was under the lytell "borde, and sayd, Who art thou that callest me so?' Than "answered the devyll, I am a devyll conjured out of the "body of a certeyne man, and banysshed here tyll the day of “ judgmend, without that I be delyvered by the handes of men. Thus, Virgilius, I pray the, delyvere me out of this payn, and I shall shewe unto the many bokes of negroman"cye, and how thou shalt come by it lyghtly, and know the "practyse therein, that no man in the scyence of negroman"cye, shall passe the. And moreover, I shall shewe and en"forme the so, that thou shalt have alle thy desyre, whereby "mythinke it is a great gyfte for so lytyll a doyng. For ye

may also thus all your power frendys helpe, and make ryche "your enemyes.' Thorough that great promyse was Virgi"lius tempted; he badde the fynd show the bokes to him, "that he might have and occupy them at his wyll; and so "the fynde shewed hym. And than Virgilius pulled open a

"borde, and there was a lytell hole, and thereat wrang the

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devyll out like a yeel, and cam and stode before Virgilius lyke a bygge man; wherof Virgilius was astonied and mar- •

veyled greatly thereof, that so great a man myght come out "at so lytyll a hole. Than sayd Virgilius, 'Shulde ye well passe into the hole that ye cam out of?' 'Yea, I shall "well,' said the devyl. I holde the best plegge that I have, "that ye shall not do it.' 'Well,' sayd the devyll, there"to I consent.' And than the devyll wrange himselfe into "the lytyll hole ageyne; and as he was therein, Virgilius "kyverd the hole ageyne with the borde close, and so was "the devyll begyled, and myght nat there come out agen, "but abydeth shytte styll therein. Than called the devyll 66 dredefully to Virgilius, and said, 'What have ye done, Vir"gilius?' Virgilius answered, Abyde there styll to your "day appoynted;' and fro thens forth abydeth he there."And so Virgilius became very connynge in the practyse of "the black scyence."

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This story may remind the reader of the Arabian tale of the Fisherman and the imprisoned Genie; and it is more than probable, that many of the marvels narrated in the life of Virgil are of oriental extraction. Among such I am disposed to reckon the following whimsical account of the foundation of Naples, containing a curious theory concerning the origin of the earthquakes with which it is afflicted. Virgil, who was a person of gallantry, had, it seems, carried off the daughter of a certain Soldan, and was anxious to secure his prize.

"Than he thought in his mynde how he myghte mareye

“hyr, and thought in his mynde to founde in the middes of "the see a fayer towne, with great landes belongynge to it; " and so he dyd by his cunnynge, and called it Napells. And "the fandacyon of it was of egges, and in that town of Na"pells he made a tower with iiii corners, and in the toppe he ❝ set an apell upon an yron yarde, and no man culde pull away "that apell without he brake it ; and thoroughe that yren set "he a bolte, and in that bolte set he a egge. And he henge "the apell by the stauke upon a cheyne, and so hangeth it "still. And when the egge styrreth, so shulde the towne of Napells quake; and whan the egge brake, than shulde the "towne sinke. Whan he had made an ende, he lette call it "Napells." This appears to have been an article of current belief during the middle ages, as appears from the statutes of the order Du Saint Esprit au droit desir, instituted in 1352. A chapter of the knights is appointed to be held annually at the Castle of the Enchanted Egg, near the grotto of Virgil.— MONTFAUCON, vol. II. p. 329.

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Note II.

A merlin sat upon her wrist.—St. V. p. 177.

A merlin, or sparrow-hawk, was usually carried by ladies of rank, as a falcon was, in time of peace, the constant attendant of a knight or baron. See LATHAM on Falconry.-Godscroft relates, that, when Mary of Lorraine was regent, she pressed the Earl of Angus to admit a royal garrison into his castle of Tantallon. To this he returned no direct answer; but, as if apostrophising a goss-hawk, which sat on his wrist, and which

he was feeding during the Queen's speech, he exclaimed, "The devil's in this greedy glade, she will never be full."HUME'S History of the House of Douglas, 1743, vol. II. p. 131. Barclay complains of the common and indecent practice of bringing hawks and hounds into churches.

Note III.

And princely peacock's gilded train.-St. VI. p. 178. The peacock, it is well known, was considered, during the times of chivalry, not merely as an exquisite delicacy, but as a dish of peculiar solemnity. After being roasted, it was again decorated with its plumage, and a spunge, dipt in lighted spirits of wine, was placed in its bill. When it was introduced on days of grand festival, it was the signal for the adventurous knights to take upon them vows to do some deed of chivalry, "before the peacock and the ladies."

Note IV.

And o'er the boar-head, garnish'd brave.-St. VI. p. 178. The boar's head was also an usual dish of feudal splendour, In Scotland it was sometimes surrounded with little banners, displaying the colours and achievements of the baron at whose board it was served.-PINKERTON's History, vol. I, p. 432,