. Illustrations of Shakespeare and of ancient manners : with dissertations on the clowns and fools of Shakespeare ; on the collection of popular tales entitled Gesta Romanorum, and on the English Morris dance. ovel, and inthe Cento novelle antiche, nov. 55. Villani, in his Chronicle, relates that in 1228 the inhabi-tants of Carmignano insulted the Florentines by setting up astatue on a rock with the hand making the fig, and turnedtowards the city of Florence. Pope Paul II. made a lawagainst this insult, which punished the offending party by afine of twenty soldi. In France the use of it may be
. Illustrations of Shakespeare and of ancient manners : with dissertations on the clowns and fools of Shakespeare ; on the collection of popular tales entitled Gesta Romanorum, and on the English Morris dance. ovel, and inthe Cento novelle antiche, nov. 55. Villani, in his Chronicle, relates that in 1228 the inhabi-tants of Carmignano insulted the Florentines by setting up astatue on a rock with the hand making the fig, and turnedtowards the city of Florence. Pope Paul II. made a lawagainst this insult, which punished the offending party by afine of twenty soldi. In France the use of it may be traced to a very early occurs in a satire by Guyot de Provins, a poet of the twelfth century. The Spaniards, in all probability, got it from the Romans. Tliey use the phrase Mga para vos as a term of contemptuous insult and also as a spell against the consequences of satirical ap-plause. See Menckenii dissertationes, Amulets against fascination, or the evil eye, are still used in Spain by women and chil-dren, precisely in the same manner as formerly among the Romans. These are made of ivory, but more frequently of jet. A figure of one of the latter, from an original, is here 306 ILLUSTRATIONS OF SHAKSPEARE. It furnishes a very extraordinary combination of subjects:figures of the holy Virgin and the infant Jesus ; the manuslasciva or phallic hand ; and a lunar crescent. It is indeedan obvious remnant of the ancient Roman amulet, the po-tency of which is strengthened by the addition of a Christianmystery. These things are said to be sometimes met within nunneries, but the use which is there made of them doesnot seem generally known. One of these modern hands, wellcarved in ivory, and converted to the purpose of a snufF-box,was lately picked up by a curious traveller in Russia. A very learned Spaniard, Ramirez de Prado, the author ofa commentary on ^lartial and other ingenious works, adoptingthe opinion of Doctor Francis Penna Castellon, has falleninto
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