speak, he would have been willing to tell them not to worry themselves on his account, for he would give them their own again. But his load pressed so heavily upon him, and he was so deep in the water, that he, after drinking water enoughmore, indeed, than was good for him-died; and he is dead at the present day, and dead he will, shall, and must remain! The earliest known edition of the history of the Schildburgers was printed in 1597, but the story itself is no doubt older. It will be seen at once that it involves a satire upon the municipal towns of the middle ages.

ITALIAN WIT AND HUMOR

Of Italian wit and humor up to and through the Sixteenth Century there is little to be said. Translators who have given us in English the early literature of Italy have been so concerned with the serious poetry and prose that they neglected the lighter veins.

If, indeed, there were any worth while.

The outstanding name of the Fourteenth Century is that of Giovanni Boccaccio.

But though the Decameron, a collection of one hundred stories, is a mirror of the humorous taste of that time, the stories are for the most part, long, dull and prosy.

They relate the intrigues of lovers in a freely licentious way, but both humorous description and witty repartee are consciously lacking.

One of the most amusing of the decent tales is here given, also a sonnet of Boccaccio's translated by Rossetti.

OF THREE GIRLS AND THEIR TALK

By a clear well, within a little field

Full of green grass and flowers of every hue,

Sat three young girls, relating (as I knew)

Their loves. And each had twined a bough to shield
Her lovely face; and the green leaves did yield

The golden hair their shadow,-while the two
Sweet colours mingled, both blown lightly through
With a soft wind for ever stirr'd and still'd.
After a little while one of them said

(I heard her)-"Think! if ere the next hour struck
Each of our lovers should come here to-day,
Think you that we should fly or feel afraid?"
To whom the others answer'd-"From such luck
A girl would be a fool to run away!"

THE STOLEN PIG

Calandrino had a little farm, not far from Florence, which came to him through his wife. There he used to have a pig fatted every year, and some time about December he and his wife went always to kill and salt it for the use of the family. Now it happened once-she being unwell at the time that he went thither by himself to kill his pig; which Bruno and Buffalmacco hearing, and knowing she was not to be there, they went to spend a few days with a great friend of theirs, a priest in Calandrino's neighborhood. Now the pig had been killed the very day they came thither, and Calandrino, seeing them along with the priest, called to them and said, "Welcome, kindly; I would gladly you should see what a good manager I am." Then, taking them into the house, he showed them this pig. was fat, and were told by him that it was his family. "Salted, booby?" said Bruno. make merry with the money, and tell your wife that it was stolen." "No," said Calandrino, "she will never believe it; and, besides, she would turn me out of doors. Trouble me, then, no further about any such thing, for I will never do it." They said a great deal more to him, but all to no purpose. At length he invited them to supper, but did it in such a manner that they refused.

They saw that it to be salted for "Sell it, let us

After they had come away from him, said Bruno to Buffalmacco, "Suppose we steal this pig from him to-night." "How is it possible?" "Oh, I know well enough how to

do it, if he does not remove it in the meantime from the place where we just now saw it." "Then let us do it, and afterward we and the parson will make merry over it." The priest assured them that he should like it above all things. "We must use a little art," quoth Bruno; "you know how covetous he is, and how freely he drinks when it is at another's cost. Let us get him to the tavern, where the parson shall make a pretense of treating us all, out of compliment to him. He will soon get drunk, and then the thing will be easy enough, as there is nobody in the house but himself."

This was done, and Calandrino, finding that the parson was to pay, took his glasses pretty freely, and, getting his dose, walked home betimes, left the door open, thinking that it was shut, and so went to bed. Buffalmacco and Bruno went from the tavern to sup with the priest, and as soon as supper was over they took proper tools with them to get into the house; but finding the door open, they carried off the pig to the priest's and went to bed likewise.

In the morning, as soon as Calandrino had slept off his wine, he rose, came down-stairs, and finding the door open and his pig gone, began to inquire of everybody if they knew anything of the matter; and receiving no tidings of it, he made a terrible outcry, saying, "What shall I do now? Somebody has stolen my pig!" Bruno and Buffalmacco were no sooner out of bed than they went to his house to hear what he would say; and the moment he saw them he roared out, "Oh, my friends, my pig is stolen!" Upon this Bruno whispered to him and said, "Well, I am glad to see you wise in your life for once." "Alas!" quoth he, "it is too true." "Keep to the same story," said Bruno, "and make noise enough for every one to believe you."

Calandrino now began to bawl louder, "Indeed! I vow and swear to you that it is stolen." "That's right; be sure you let everybody hear you, that it may appear so." "Do you think that I would forswear myself about it? May I be hanged this moment if it is not so!" "How is it possible!" quoth Bruno; "I saw it but last night; never imagine that

I can believe it." "It is so, however," answered he, "and I am undone. I dare not now go home again, for my wife will never believe me, and I shall have no peace this twelvemonth." "It is a most unfortunate thing," said Bruno, "if it be true; but you know I put it into your head to say so last night, and you should not make sport both of your wife and us at the same time."

At this Calandrino began to roar out afresh, saying, “Good God! you make me mad to hear you talk. I tell you once for all it was stolen this very night!" "Nay, if it be so," quoth Buffalmacco, "we must think of some way to get it back again." "And what way must we take," said he "to find it?" "Depend upon it," replied the other, "that nobody came from the Indies to steal it; it must be somewhere in your neighborhood, and if you could get the people together I could make a charm, with some bread and cheese, that would soon discover the thief." "True," said Bruno, "but they would know in that case what you were about; and the person that has it would never come near you.". "How must we manage, then?" said Buffalmacco. "Oh!" replied Bruno, "you shall see me do it with some pills of ginger and a little wine, which I will ask them to come and drink. They will have no suspicion what our design is, and we can make a charm of these as well as of the bread and cheese." "Very well," quoth the other. "What do you say, Calandrino? Have you a mind we should try it?" "For Heaven's sake do," he said; "if I only knew who the thief is, I should be half comforted." "Well, then," quoth Bruno, “I am ready to go to Florence for the things, if you will only give me some money." He happened to have a few florins in his pocket, which he gave him, and off went Bruno.

When he got to Florence, Bruno went to a friend's house and bought a pound of ginger made into pills. He also got two pills made of aloes, which had a private mark that he should not mistake them, being candied over with sugar like the rest. Then, having bought a jar of good wine, he returned to Calandrino, and said, "To-morrow you must take care to invite every one that you have the least suspicion

of; it is a holiday, and they will be glad to come. We will finish the charm to-night, and bring the things to your house in the morning, and then I will take care to do and say on your behalf what is necessary upon such an occasion."

Calandrino did as he was told, and in the morning he had nearly all the people in the parish assembled under an elmtree in the churchyard. His two friends produced the pills and wine, and, making the people stand round in a circle, Bruno said to them, "Gentlemen, it is fit that I should tell you the reason of your being summoned here in this manner, to the end, if anything should happen which you do not like, that I be not blamed for it. You must know, then, that Calandrino had a pig stolen last night, and, as some of the company here must have taken it, he, that he may find out the thief, would have every man take and eat one of these pills, and drink a glass of wine after it. Whoever the guilty person is, you will find he will not be able to get a bit of it down, but it will taste so bitter that he will be forced to spit it out. Therefore, to prevent such open shame, he had better, whoever he is, make a secret confession to the priest, and I will proceed no further."

All present declared their readiness to eat; so, placing them all in order, he gave every man his pill and coming to Calandrino, he gave one of the aloe pills to him, which he straightway put into his mouth, and no sooner did he began to chew it than he was forced to spit it out. Every one was now attentive to see who spit his pill out, and while Bruno kept going round, apparently taking no notice of Calandrino, he heard somebody say behind him, "Hey-day! what is the meaning of its disagreeing so with Calandrino?" Bruno now turned suddenly about, and seeing that Calandrino had spit out his pill, he said, "Stay a little, honest friends, and be not too hasty in judging; it may be something else that has made him spit, and therefore he shall try another." So he gave him the other aloe pill, and then went on to the rest that were unserved. But if the first was bitter to him, this he thought much more so. However, he