by the Trouveur Jean de Boves, entitled De Gombert et des deux Clercs. There two clerks go to get their corn ground. The miller pretends to be from home, and while they are seeking him through the wood, he purloins the corn, but without their suspecting him of the theft. The night scene corresponds with the Decameron, except that the cradle is removed intentionally by one of the clerks, in order to entrap the miller's wife : the catastrophe, however, is different; for the miller, during his quarrel with the other clerk, on account of the information he had unconsciously given, strikes a light, and discovers the circumstances in which his wife is placed. He addresses her in terms the most energetic. She answers that what she had done was unintentional, which is more than he can say of stealing the corn. The Reeves Tale in Chaucer seems to be compounded of the fabliau and the novel of Boccaccio. It bears the nearest resemblance to the former, but in one or two incidents is different from both. A miller deprived two clerks of Cambridge of their corn, by letting their horse loose when they came to have it ground. They find it gone when they return from their search of the animal. Suspecting the thief, they return one evening with the intention of being revenged. The cradle is intentionally removed by the one clerk, while the other is with the daughter. During the squabble, the miller's wife mistakes her husband for one of the clerks, and knocks him down. He is then soundly beat by the clerks, who ride off with their corn;-a solution by no means so ingenious as that either of the fabliau or the tale in the DecaThe story, as related by Boccaccio, has been imitated in the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, and in the Berceau of Fontaine.

meron.

9. Two young men repair to Jerusalem to consult Solomon. One asks how he may be well liked, the other how he may best manage a froward wife. Solomon advises the first to love others, and the second to repair to the bridge of Oca. From this last counsel neither can extract any meaning, but it is explained on their road home; for when they come to the bridge of that name they meet a number of caravans and mules, and one of these animals being restive, its master forces it on with a stick. The advice of Solomon being now understood, is followed, and with complete success. From all the Italian novelists we hear of this species of discipline being exercised by husbands, and it is always mentioned with approbation. In the Fabliaux, as De la dame qui fut corrigée, (Le Grand, 3, 204), the cudgel chiefly is employed for procuring do

mestic felicity. It may perhaps appear singular, that an age of which the characteristic was veneration for the fair sex, should have given commencement to a long series of jests, founded on the maxim, that manual discipline is requisite to correct the evil disposition of some wives, and to support the virtue of others.

10. This story is taken from the fabliau of the Trouveur Rutebeuf, in which a clerk, while pretending to add wings and feathers to a lady, that she might fly, acts in a similar manner with the priest of Barletta. It is Fontaine's La Jument du compere Pierre.

The stories of the

X. DAY. Are of those who acted with magnificence or generosity in matters of love, or any thing else.

1. A noble Italian, called Ruggieri, entered into the service of Alphonso, king of Spain. He soon perceives that his majesty is extremely liberal to others, but thinking his own merits not sufficiently rewarded, he asks leave to return to his own country. This the king grants, after presenting him

Di chi liberalmente, o vero magnificamente alcuna

cosa operasse, intorno a fatti d'amore, o d'altra cosa. VOL. II.

T

with a fine mule for his journey. Alphonso commands one of his attendants to contrive to fall in with him on the road, to note if he make any complaint of the treatment he had received, and, if he should, to command his return. The mule having stopped in a river, and refusing to go on, Ruggieri said she was like the person who gave her. Ruggieri being in consequence brought back to the capital, and his words reported to the king, he is introduced into the presence of his majesty, and asked why he had compared him to the mule; 'because,' replied Ruggieri, 'the mule would not stop where it ought, but stood still when it should have gone on; in like manner you give where it is not suitable, and withhold where you ought to bestow.' On hearing this, the king carries him into a hall, and shows him two coffers, one filled with earth, another containing the crown and sceptre, with a variety of precious stones. The king desires him to take which he will; Ruggieri having accidentally fixed on the one with earth, the king affirms that it is bad fortune that has all along prevented him from being a partaker of his benefits. Then having presented him with the valuable chest, he allows him to return to Italy.

The rudiments of this story may be traced as far back as the romance of Josaphat and Barlaam. A king commanded four chests to be made, two of which were covered with gold, and secured by golden locks, but were filled with rotten bones of human carcases. The other two were overlaid with pitch, and bound with rugged cords, but were replenished with precious stones, and ointments of most exquisite odour. The king called his nobles together, and placing these chests before them, asked which they deemed most valuable. They pronounced those with the golden coverings to be the most precious, and surveyed the other two with contempt. ' I foresaw, said the king, 'what would be your determination, for you look with the eyes of sense; but to discern baseness or value, which are hid within, we must look with the eyes of the mind:' he then ordered the golden chests to be opened, which exhaled an intolerable stench, and filled the beholders with horror. The story next appeared in the 109th chapter of the continental Gesta Romanorum. There an innkeeper found a chest, which he.discovered to be full of money. It was claimed by the proprietor, and the innkeeper, in order to ascertain if it was the will of Providence he should restore it, ordered three pasties to be made. One he filled with earth, the second with bones of dead men, and the third with the money: he gave his choice of these