Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/349

 12 8.1. APRIL 29, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

343

I have been unable to see this, but, from the analysis of it given in Von der Hagen's 1 Gesammtabenteuer,' 1850, vol. iii. p. ciii, it is obvious that the English tale of ' Frederick of Jennen ' is translated from it.

In both the German and English versions we have the following incidents common to the ' Decameron ' tale and ' Cymbeline ' : the wager on the wife's chastity ; the conceal- ment of the villain in the chest, the taking of the jewels, &c., from the room, and the birth-mark, " a black wart on the left arm." The husband is unwilling to believe in his wife's infidelity merely by the production of the jewels, &c., and demands further proof, and is satisfied by the description of the birth-mark.

So far these versions have analogy with ' Cymbeline,' but neither contains the in- cident, common to both Boccaccio and Shakespeare, of the description of the furni- ture, &c., of the bedchamber, which could only have been derived by the latter from the ' Decameron,' either directly or in- directly.

It may be convenient to set out the corre- spondences between the incidents in the ' Decameron ' and ' Cymbeline ' which only occur there, and not in ' Westwards for Smelts ' or ' Frederick of Jennen.'

In the ' Decameron'

(For convenience I quote from the translation by J. M. Rigg.)

" So the lady suffered the chest to remain in the room, and when the night was so far spent that Ambrogiuolo [Mr. Rigg by a clerical error has Bernabo] thought she must be asleep, he opened it with some tools with which he had provided himself and stole softly out. There was a light in the room so that he was able to form an idea of its situation, to take note of the pictures and everything else of consequence that it contained, and to commit the whole to memory.... He looked about for some mark that might serve him as evidence that he had seen her in this state [i.e., nude], but found nothing except a mole which she had under the left breast, and which was fringed with a few fair hairs that shone like gold "

Ambrogiuolo then goes to Bernabo, and tells him that he has won the wager,

" and in proof thereof he first of all described the appearance of the room and the pictures, and then displayed the articles belonging to the lady which he had brought away with him, averring that she had given them to him. Bernabo acknow- ledged the accuracy of the description of the room and that the articles did really belong to his wife, but objected that Ambrogiuolo might have learned the characteristic features of the room from one of the servants and have come by the things in a similar way, and therefore unless he had something more to say he could not justly claim to have won the bet. ' Verily,' rejoined

Ambrogiuolo, ' this should suffice, but as them requirest that I say somewhat further I will satisfy thee. I say then that Madam Zinevra, thy wife, has under her left breast a mole of some size around which are perhaps six hairs of a golden hue.' "

' Cymbeline,' Act II. sc. ii. In lachimo's speech we have :

But my design's

To note the chamber : I will write all down Such and such pictures ; there the window such Th' adornment of her bed ; the arras, figures, Why, such and such ; and the contents o' the

story

Ah, but some natural notes about her body, &c. And when he takes off her bracelet he sees

On her left breast

A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops I' the bottom of a cowslip. And a few lines further on :

No more. To what end ?

Why should I write this down, that's riveted, Screwed to my memory ?

Then in ActII.sc. iv. we have the descrip- tion by lachimo of the bedchamber, and Posthumus says :

This is true ;

And this you might have heard of here, by me Or by some other.

And again, after a further description of the room by lachimo, Posthumus says :

This is a thing

Which you might from relation likewise reap, Being, as it is, much spoken of.

And a little further on :

The description

Of what is in her chamber nothing saves The wager you have laid.

And again where Philario says to Posthumus,.

Have patience, sir,

And take your ring again ; 'tis not yet won : It may be probable she lost it ; or Who knows if one o' her women, being corrupted, Hath stolen it from her ?

For a fuller discussion of the various tales on the subject of a wager on a wife's chastity, I may perhaps be allowed to refer to my ' The Decameron, its Sources and Analogues,' D. Nutt, 1909. A. COLLINGWOOD LEE.

Waltham Abbey.

EMENDATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE.

IN the following notes the references to acts and scenes are to the Globe edition of Messrs. Macmillan.

' Tempest,' III. iii. 103 :

But one fiend at a time, I'll fight their legions o'er.

As the reference in the mind of the writer is certainly to the Gadarene demoniac we

ought to read legion in the singular. On ! the other hand, in ' Richard II.,' II. i. 202,