Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 5.djvu/46

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. v. JAN. is, 1912.

of E. Schwan's ' Grammatik des altfranzos- ischen.'

Mulierem was certainly accented at one time on the penultimate. Further, the vowel-sound of this syllable became long. Dracontius (fifth century A.D.) has muliere.

Compare the late anonymous couplet :

Quid levius pluma ? Flumen. Quid flumine ?

Ventus. Quid vento ? Mulier. Quid muliere ? Nihil.

In some Renaissance Latin verse-writers the same quantity is found. John Owen, the English epigrammatist, has mulieri, muliere, mulieribus.

EDWARD BENSLY.

SPIDER STORIES (US. iv. 26, 76, 115, 137, 477). Apropos of spider stories, there are several versions of the origin of the Taran- tella dance which may interest many readers. The one I now contribute to these columns was told to me years ago in Naples regarding the large tarantula spider which still abounds in S. Italy. Its bite is supposed to render its victim insane.

There still exists at Baiae, near Naples, the picturesque octagonal ruin of what was once the Sudatorium of some ancient Roman baths, which in the time of Horace were richly decorated with marble columns and statues. About 1200 A.D. a pretty, bare- footed Neapolitan maiden took refuge in the ruin to protect herself from the scorching rays of the midday sun, and sat down on a fallen column to rest. Shortly afterwards a huge tarantula spider ran along the ceiling until he came to a spot exactly over where the damsel sat. Espying her toe, before one could say "Jack Robinson" he dropped down upon it, and held on like grim death, penetrating the warm flesh with his sharp teeth, and, like a vampire, sucking out the life-blood. There was a scream of terror and anguish, and then the damsel jumped up and began to dance. At first the motion was slow and dignified, but as the poison began to take effect, her speed increased, until at- las t she revolved like a rapid humming-top or a dancing dervish, for she had become hopelessly insane.

Tradition asserts that there is no cure or antidote for the bite of the tarantula save the kiss of a youth who has been down into the Cave of Avernus, and has braved the terrible gaze of the human-headed spider who dwells therein. His web is stretched over a fathomless abyss, and is strong enough to catch men and animals. Some, paralyzed by the hypnotizing stare of the

spider's fearsome eyes, fall through the more open part of the meshes into the gloomy depths below ; others get entangled in the web and become food for the hungry demon. Those, however, who have been wise enough to wear a certain magical amulet, a protection against the evil eye, can approach the monster with impunity, and are permitted to return to daylight un- harmed, provided they have lived chaste and moral lives.

Classic mythology does not deal much with spiders, but I have in my mind the scene in Ovid's ' Metamorphoses ' where Arachne tries her skill against that of Minerva, and where the latter touches the daughter of Idmon with her magical shuttle, sprinkles her with the juice of the Hecatean herb, and transforms her into a spider.

A gold pendant found in the villa of Hagia Triada, Crete, formed in the shape of the human breast, has upon it, among other devices, a spider. The spider may sym- bolize the torture which the venom of love can cause by wild desire, or it may suggest how love can lay a snare like a web to catch men's hearts. SYDNEY HERBERT.

Carlton Lodge, Cheltenham.

When I was young, spider's web was the usual remedy in my home to stop the bleeding from a cut.

I also know as a fact that, as a cure for ague, a black spider, taken from a privy and put inside a green gooseberry, was to be swallowed. I am a Sussex man.

H. A. C. SAUNDERS.

HISTORY or ENGLAND WITH RIMING VERSES (11 S. iv. 168, 233, 278, 375, 418, 517). I am sure others with me will thank you for printing the extracts sent by MR. FOSTER PALMER. I believe this history was called ' Little Arthur's ' ; but am I confus- ing two works ? I have long tried to get a copy, but failed. Apparently it is not only out of print, but forgotten, and yet it must have been well known forty years ago.

Its view of things was from a different standpoint from Froude's, as the following lines on Henry VIII. show, but none the less the last of these may be said of it too : Henry the Eighth who married six wives, And ended by violence two of their lives ; lie was a tyrant fat, savage, and proud, But still he was useful, it must be allowed. If any of your readers can say where I can get a, copy, or will lend one for a copy to be made, I shall be grateful. Lucis.

[' Little Arthur's History of England ' is in prose.]