[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.”