Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 2.djvu/209

 s. ii. SEPT. a, i9i6.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

the book. On the next page (signature A 2) is the " Preface teaching the use and under- standing of this book." Then follow the portraits of 20 kings, 4 on each page. Next we have 20 pp. of philosophers, a whole page to each philosopher (A 5 recto to B 6 verso, both inclusive). Each page is covered by a diagram showing the 56 possible throws with 3 dice, and under each throw a direction, as to how to pursue the inquiry further. Then follow 10 leaves with a dial on each page, 20 dials in all, the last on E 4 verso. On the next page begin the replies in quatrains, or rather four-lined doggerels. There are, of course, 20 groups of replies, 56 in each group, to correspond with the 56 throws of dice. Each group occupies 2ipp. in double columns, and is marked with the name of an astrono- mer, whose " portraits " embellish the book. Haly has a woodblock all to himself ; the other 19 worthies have to content themselves with three blocks between them. Finally, the last leaf (F 6) has some further poetry on the front page in Latin, the same text in French, and " out of French into English." On the verso there is another large woodcut representing Fortune, a lady with flowing tresses and holding a well- filled sail in her hands, while balancing herself on a sphere, and two other figures, all three standing on the top of the wheel of fortune ; then follow more verses and a small woodcut, under- neath, and the legend : " Here endeth the Book of Fortune." Our volume is therefore complete.

The working of the oracle can now be shown on an example. In reply to the query " if thy life shall be fortunate or not,'' we are told to go to King Romulus, where in turn we are referred to a philosopher, in the present instance to Socrates. The place is duly found, and we have to cast three dice, which when thrown we assume to show the combination of one on each of the three top faces. In that case we are told to " go to the Sun to the Spirit Gior." To under- stand this, it should be explained that each of the twenty dials is marked with the sun or the moon or some other planet or a " sign celestial " (those of the zodiac), and consists of three concentric circles, the two outer rings, the " uttermost " and the " middle " rings, being divided into compartments or cells by radial lines, the former into 30, the latter into 26, that is 56 cells in all. Each such compartment or cell contains a direction for further search. In our case the Spirit Gior sends us to Tolo, one of the astronomers, to quatrain No. 1, where the following reply to our question will be found :

Almighty God for very kindness

Will give to thee both health and riches :

So by grace long for to endure

To thy great joy and perfect pleasure.

The reader is warned in the Preface that

" this is no Astronomy, Necromancy, not Witchcraft, but rather a conceit scorning privily them that follow such false Illusions, and as I said before [on the title-page] framed for recrea- tion of the mind."

If any simple-minded maiden, for instance, should take the author, or his English trans- lator, seriously, she would receive rude shocks when reading some of the answers.. Thus, e.g., should she want to know " how many husbands a woman unwedded shall have," and should the chance of the dice send her to Ose 17, she would learn there that " ye shall have husbands sixteen " ;- another throw of the dice would send her to the reply "twenty and four" (Acha 48); or yet another would produce the replv (Acha 38) :

Husbands, Sister, ye shall have nine, The first as lovely as a swine.

The book was evidently intended merely for amusement.

On comparing now Spirito's book of for- tune with the fragment described by Mrs. Stopes it will be seen that in her book juries,, and not astronomers, gave replies to the questions, and that all the introductory portion containing the rules and the ex- planation of the scheme is lost. In Spirito's scheme the reply is settled by dice,, in others by cards, or, as in some of the more simple German books of fate, by a revolving disk.

In conclusion, I must join issue with Mrs. Stopes in respect of her statement that the folio was an unusual size for books of this kind in this country. The size of the book was naturally dependent on the size of the illustrations. In Spirito's book the dials occupy a full folio page each, as already ex- plained, and the printing even here is quite small, and barely legible in some cases. It would have been hopeless to try to squeeze the illustrations (the dials at any rate) on to a quarto page. The alternative would have been ten folding plates, soon worn into tatters by constant use and by careless folding. Folio, therefore, was the rule, and smaller sizes were the exception.

As regards Fanti's book and Brunei's statement, quoted by Mrs. Stopes, that it compares with Spirito's book, I purpose to deal with these on a future occasion, with the Editor's permission. L L. K.