Percy, Vol. I., 1 and Book III.
Percy derives the ballad from “Le Court Mantel,” an old French piece and Mr. Evans (Specimens of Welsh Poetry) from an ancient MS. of Tegan Earfron, one of Arthur’s mistresses, who possessed a mantle which would not fit immodest women. See also in Spenser, Queen Florimel’s Girdle (F. Q. iv. 5, 3), and the detective is a horn in the Morte d’Arthur, translated from the French, temp. Edward IV., and first printed in A.D. 1484. The Spectator (No. 579) tells us “There was a Temple upon Mount Etna which was guarded by dogs of so exquisite a smell, that they could discover whether the Persons who came thither were chaste or not;” and that they caused, as might be expected, immense trouble. The test-article becomes in the Tuti-námeh the Tank of Trial at Agra; also a nosegay which remains fresh or withers; in the Kathá Sarit Ságara, the red lotus of Shiva; a shirt in Story lxix. Gesta Romanorum; a cup in Ariosto; a rose-garland in “The Wright’s Chaste Wife,” edited by Mr. Furnival for the Early English Text Society; a magic picture in Bandello, Part I., No. 21; a ring in the Pentamerone, of Basile; and a distaff in “L’Adroite Princesse,” a French imitation of the latter.
[44]. Looking glasses in the East are mostly made, like our travelling mirrors, to open and shut.
[45]. In Eastern countries the oarsman stands to his work and lessens his labour by applying his weight which cannot be done so forcibly when sitting even upon the sliding-seat. In rowing as in swimming we have forsaken the old custom and have lost instead of gaining.
[46]. I have explained this word in vol. iii. 100; viii. 51, etc., and may add the interpretation of Mr. L. C. Casartelli (p. 17) “La Philosophie Religieuse du Mazdéisme, etc.,” Paris Maisonneuve, 1884. “A divine name, which has succeeded little (?) is the ancient title Bagh, the O. P. Baga of the Cuneiforms (Baga vazraka Auramazda, etc.) and the Bagha of the Avesta, whose memory is preserved in Baghdad—the city created by the Gods (?). The Pahlevi books show the word in the compound Baghôbakht, lit. = what is granted by the Gods, popularly, Providence.”
[47]. The H. V. makes the old woman a “finished procuress whose skill was unrivalled in that profession.”
[48]. In the text “Al-Sádí w’al-Ghádí:” the latter may mean those who came for the morning meal.
[49]. An antistes, a leader in prayer (vols. ii. 203, and iv. 227); a reverend, against whom the normal skit is directed. The H. V. makes him a Muezzin, also a Mosque-man; and changes his name to Murad. Imám is a word with a host of meanings, e.g., model (and master), a Sir-Oracle, the Caliph, etc., etc.
[50]. i.e. being neighbours they would become to a certain extent answerable for the crimes committed within the quarter.
[51]. Arab. “Nakshat” and “Sifrat.”