Inconnu, in the old French; this epithet Ly beauxs desconnus is found metamorphosed as Lybius Disconius, Gifflet le fils Do, of the French poem of Guinglain, and becomes in the prose Gyflroun le fludous. See Romania, Janvier, 1886, pp. 5, 13.

KING ARTHUR (p. 229).

In the twelfth century, Gervase of Tilbury (Otia Imperialia Ed. Liebrecht, p. 12) was told by the natives that Arthur was imprisoned in Mongibel (= Mount Etna), and that the Bishop of Catana's groom once wandered into the Arthurian palace in search of a strayed horse. A variant of the legend is related by Cæsarius Heisterbacensis. The Old French poem of Florian et Florete locates the marvellous palace of Morgan the Fay within Etna. Alexander N. Vesselovsky, Iz Istorii Romana, etc., 1886, p. 117. See also G. Pitré's article, Le Tradizioni Cavalleresche Popolari in Sicilia, Romania, 1884, p. 391. The classic story of the Cretan poet Epimenides who is fabled to have slept for half a century in a cave, will recur to the memory.

MILLES ET AMYs (p. 318).

Dr. Paul Schwieger (Die Sage von Amis und Amiles, Berlin, Hayn, 1885) approximates the history of Milles and Amys to that of Siegfried and Gunther. In both narratives a friend (or vassal) conquers a wife for his friend (or lord) by replacing him, and is afterwards punished. This general resemblance, however, hardly authorizes the inference of any radical connection between the two stories. The episode (p. 320) of the leper cured by the blood of the children sacrificed for the purpose by the friend may very probably be of Eastern origin, and may have been transmitted through some Byzantine channel. It has been associated with two persons, of whom the tombs are shown at Mortara, in Piedmont (see p. 317), Romania, No. 54, Avril, 1885, p. 318, 19. The Anglo-Norman Amis and Amiloun, with the English version, have been published by Eugen Koelbing, in t. ii. of the Altenglische Bibliothek, in completion of his work published in 1877, and referred to in the note, p. 318, Amis and Amiloun zugleich mit der altfranzözischen Quelle, Heilbronn, 1884. In Juan Timoneda's "Patrañuelo," No. 37, an only son is sacrificed to save a friend's

son.

a

LUMINOUS STONES (p. 408, and vol. ii. p. 22).

=

A power of emitting light seems to have been associated from time immemorial in the East with certain precious stones, notably the carbuncle. A shining stone is likewise of frequent occurrence in Russian stories. Afanasief (Vozrenia, iii. 800, etc.) remarks that the Russian Alatuir and the Greek йλεктρоν are derived from common root-Sanskrit, ark aλk, to flash, emit rays. Raviratnaka (precious stone dedicate to the sun), and tarala (sparkling) are among Indian names for the ruby. See note, vol. ii. p. 22. The stone eyes of the monumental lion in the Piazzetta at Venice were believed to emit light; and Antony of Novgorod speaks of a picture painted above the porta paradisiaca of Sta. Sophia, representing the emperor Leo the Wise, having upon his brow a precious stone which at night illuminated the whole temple with its brightness.

Josephus (Ant. Jud., iii. c. 8), alludes to a luminous jewel in the dress of the high priest. Ælian mentions a light-emitting carbuncle, indeed, the allusions to the luminosity of this stone are very numerous. Many will be found in W. Jones's "Precious Stones; their History and Mystery." London, 1880. Roland while yet a youth, as the legend runs, despoiled the Ardennes giant of a gem which he carried in his buckler and which shone like the sun, and inserted the sparkling trophy in his father Milon's shield. See Warnke, Pflanzen in Sitte, Sage und Geschichte. Leipzig, 1878.

The idea occurs in the Roman de la Rose.

"A fyn charboncle sette saugh I
The stoon so clere was and so bright,
That, also soone as it was nyght,
Men myghte seen to go for nede
A myle or two, in lengthe and brede
Sich lyght tho sprang oute of the stone
That Richesse wondir brighte shone
Bothe hir heed, and alle hir face
And eke aboute hir al the plaie,"

and in Mandeville's description of Prester-John's palace.

"And alle the Pileres in his Chambre, ben of fyne gold with preciouse Stones, and with many Carboncles, that zeven gret lyght upon the nyght to alle peple. And alle be it that the char

boncle zeve lyght right y nowe, natheless at all tymes brenneth a vesselle of cristalle fulle of Bawme, for to zeven gode smelle and odour to the Emperour."

In Mandeville's "Grand Lapidaire" (1561) it is said: “Le rubis est appelé en grec Epiteste . et si cette pierre est au soleil par un espace de temps, elle rendra raies rouges comme du feu." Mr. Dutens, Member of the Royal Society, in his work on precious stones, published in 1776, says that the ruby may be rendered phosphorescent by exposing it for several hours to the solar rays, or raising it to a red heat in the crucible.

The belief in the luminosity of certain stones may, perhaps, in some instances have arisen from their high refractive power, in other cases from the property of phosphorescing for a considerable period after exposure to strong light or heat, which characterizes certain substances, notably the sulphides of calcium, barium, and strontium. In the case of the celebrated Bologna stone (sulphide of barium) this phenomenon was authentically recorded as early as 1603, and caused much sensation. In his Adamas Lucens, Robert Boyle asserted the phosphorescent power of the diamond, which was confirmed by M. Dufay in the Mémoire de l'Académie, 1730, and by M. Dutens in his treatise on precious stones (1776). M. Edmond Becquerel (La Lumière, etc. Paris, 1867, vol. ii.), although premising (p. 207) that probably the phosphorescence of precious stones was not early observed, says (p. 210) he had observed calcic fluoride and two white diamonds to phosphoresce an hour after exposure to solar rays, and again (p. 348), that, roughly speaking, 50 per cent. of diamonds will phosphoresce, though faintly, for over an hour's space after insolation. The duration of phosphorescence in the aluminous compounds (rubies, carbuncles), is, however, much less. According to his experiments (p. 339), it hardly exceeds

of a second, and can only be observed with a phosphoroscope, and can therefore hardly have been really noticed in previous times.

VIRGIL'S BRAZEN ARCHER (vol. i. p. 433, and vol. ii. p. 22).

Gervase of Tilbury, in his Otia Imperialia, tells a story of Virgil (given in vol. i. p. 433, supra), essentially the same with that in the Gesta Romanorum. A somewhat similar fiction is the story of Rosencreutz's (the founder of the Rosicrucians) Sepulchre,

given by Eustace Budgell in a contribution published in the Spectator, May 15, 1712, under the epigraph: "Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter." Pers. Sat., i. 27. The same narrative was prefixed to the English edition of the Abbé Villars' "Count de Gabalis." In this instance a vault is discovered illuminated by a lamp, which burned before a figure seated at a table, clad in armour and grasping a truncheon. The intruder "had no sooner set one foot within the vault, than the statue erected itself from its leaning posture, stood bolt upright, and upon the fellow's advancing another step, lifted up the truncheon in his right hand. The man still ventured a third step, when the statue, with a furious blow, broke the lamp into a thousand pieces, and left his guest in a sudden darkness." It was subsequently found that the effect had been produced by mechanism. "Rosicrucius, say his disciples, made use of this method to show the world that he had re-invented the everburning lamps of the ancients, though he was resolved no one should reap any advantage from the discovery."

Just as Verzhiulovoe Kolo, so the Welsh fferylliaeth (alchemy and chemistry) was derived from Virgil, the Irish Feargal who was referred to the eighth century, and stated to have asserted the existence of the antipodes.

APPENDIX.

No. 1, p. 152.
MERLIN.

Quand les Chevaliers et Dames et Damoyselles furent arrivez, Dieu sait la joye que le Roy leur fist; et s'en vint a Yguerne et a son Mari, et les fist menger en sa table, et fist seoir le Duc de coste lui. Et fist tant le Roy par ses paroles que Yguerne ne se peut deffendre qu'elle ne print de ses jouyaulx, tant qu'elle sceut bien de vrai, que le Roy l'aimoit; et apres que la feste fut passee, chascun se en voulut retourner, et prinrent congié du Roy. Et le Roy leur pria qu'ils revinssissent tousjours, ainsi qu'il leur avoit commandé; si luy accorderent chascun. Si endura le Roy cette peine d'amours jusques a long-temps. Si ne peut plus endurer ce martyre, et luy convint se descouvrir a deux des plus privéz de son conseil, et leur dit l'angoisse qu'il souffroit pour l'amour d'Yguerne.- -Et quant le jour de la feste fut venu, chascun se trouva a Cardeuil avecque leurs appareils, tant Dames et Damoyselles, de quoy le Roy fut moult joyeux; et quant le Roy sceut que chascun fut arrivé, et le Duc de Tintaiel, et sa femme Yguerne, si prist sa couronne, et se presenta devant tous les Barons auxqueulx il donna plusieurs riches jouyaulx, et aux dames et Damoyselles aussi. Et quant se vint a la table, que chascun fut assis pour menger, le Roy fut moult joyeux et lye. Si parla a ung sien conseiller, auquel il se fioit, qui fut nommé Ulfin. Et lui dist que l'amour d'Yguerne le tuoit, et le feroit mourir, et qu'il ne povoit durer s'il ne la veoit, et que quant il en perdoit la vue, le cueur lui meurdrissoit, et que s'il n'avoit remede d'elle, qu'il ne povoit longuement vivre. Et Ulfin lui re