Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/150

 144

NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. m. FEB. 24, 1917.

FOREIGN BOOKS OF FORTUNE. I.

IN a previous communication. (12 S. ii, 185, 202) I dealt with Mrs. Stopes's first article in The Alhenceum, reprinted in her recently published ' Shakespeare's Industry.' On the present occasion I wish, first of all, to call ^attention to an interesting feature in Fanti's " Triompho di Fortuna,' which she has described, but the working of which she has not explained in her second article. The book is well known among book-lovers on account of its engravings, and more especi- ally the portrait of Michelangelo, who is represented on Plate XXXVIII. working in his studio.

We have seen that in Spirito's book, ^when soliciting a reply to a question, we are sent to a king, and from there to a philo- sopher. Sigismondo Fanti sends us to a " Fortuna," and she in turn refers us to a '" Casa." There are a dozen of each, both -of ladies and of houses. At the palace of the noble family of Ursini, or Colonna, or Medici, &c., as the case may be, we are told to go to a certain Rota (wheel) on a specified Carta (plate) ; and arrived there we find that there are two pairs of such wheels on each leaf, one pair on each page, each pair being marked with the name of a celestial body or an animal, or of a mythological or allegori- cal figure. There are twice 36 pairs, in accordance with the 72 questions to which replies may be found in the book.

Now, on comparing the two Rote or wheels on each page, we find that they are both divided by concentric circles and radial lines into compartments or cells, as in Lorenzo Spirito's book ; but while the outer ring of the upper wheel is divided into twenty-one com- partments with a pair of dice in each com- partment, the lower wheel has no dice, but a -central dial divided into twenty-one sectors, marked with consecutive Roman numerals. All writers, so far, have told us that the dial shows the hours of the day some authors say in accordance with the Italian custom, which is incorrect, as by referring to the title-page they will see by the turret clock there that in Italy the day was divided into twenty-four hours. The explanation, we are told, is that the twenty-one pairs of dice in the upper wheel represent the twenty-one possible throws with a pair of dice, and if the central dial had been divided correctly into twenty-four hours this would have upset the scheme of consulting the oracle. Not in the

slightest degree. Sigismondo Fanti, with his excellent talent for complicating matters, would have easily got over the difficulty. It should be explained that the beginning of the ' Proemio ' was written by Sigismondo Fanti himself, but the two notes at the end by " Mercurio Vanello Romano de la present e Opera espositore," and it is difficult to decide who is responsible for the " Regola prima la quale insegna per via e virtudi d'hore del commune horologio." According to this rule, if the lower wheel of fortune is consulted no dice are to be used, but the further direc- tion for finding the reply to a question is to be sought by the clock according to the hour in which the question is put, which is arrant nonsense, because the inquirer would get a wholly different answer at ev^ry hour of the day. There is also a small difficulty about asking questions between the hours of 10 P.M. and midnight, but according to Fanti or Vanullo this can be got over by calling 10 P.M. 1 A.M., 11 P.M. 2 A.M., and midnight 3 A.M. Mrs. Stopes suggests that the lower wheel with the clock was probably intended for indicating the natal hour of the inquirer, which is quite feasible and a sound sugges- tion. Persons born between 9 P.M. and 1 A.M. would then have to adopt the ex- pedient proposed in the book and shift the hands of the clock. The horoscopes which embellish the answers may be ignored entirely, as they are only make-believes.

In my opinion, however, it is far more likely that the lower wheel of fortune was used with Italian tarok cards, which, as we know, are numbered from I. to XXI. in Roman numerals.

To proceed now with the explanation of the working of Fanti's book, the questioner had to throw a pair of dice, or look at the clock, or remember his natal hour, or use a pack of tarok cards, as the case may be, and was then referred to one of seventy-two spheres or dials under a certain name on a specified plate, and told to find a certain town, &c., on the dial (thus : " Va alia sphera de Libra di Fanti a Damasco a carta 44 ") ; and having found the town so named on the dial, he was sent to one of sixty-three astrologers, or one of eleven Sibyls, on a specified plate and a number (thus : " Va all' astro logo Beheco a LXV la figura XV " ), where the reply could be found. Some of these vie in ambiguity with those said to have been received at Apollo's oracle at Delphi.

The ' Triompho di Fortuna,' though highly esteemed for its engravings by book- collectors, as already stated, and by lovers of