[302] In the ninth novel of the eighth day. [303] _Wesseloffsky_, Bologna, 1867, vol. ii. pp. 180-217. [304] No. xx. [305] _Chiose sopra Dante_, published by Lord Vernon; Florence, 1846, pp. 162-163. [306] Pl. lxxxix. sup. cod. 38. [307] No. 489. [308] Fondo Vaticano 2392, p. 97vo. and 98ro. See Boncompagni, _Della vita e delle opere de Gherardo Cremonese_; Roma, 1851, p. 7. [309] _Maccheronea_, xviii. [310] ‘Innumerabiles fabulae aniles circumferuntur, et jam nunc hodie.’ _Hist. Eccl._ p. 494. [311] _Obiit_ 1625. [312] ‘Chiose anonime alla prima Cantica della _Divina Commedia_’; Torino, Salmi, 1865, p. 114. [313] _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Note W. [314] _Ibid._ Note Z. [315] _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Note Y. [316] _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Note Y. [317] ‘Et, ut puto, in Scotia libri ipsius dicebantur, me puero, extare, sed sine horrore quodam non posse attingi ob malorum daemonum praestigias quae, illis apertis, fiebant.’—_Hist. Eccl._ p. 495. [318] _Lay of the Last Minstrel_, Note W. [319] _Apologie des Grands Hommes accusez de Magie_, Paris, 1669. [320] _De Michaele Scoto, Veneficii injuste damnato_, 1739. [321] My readers owe these tales to the kindness of Mr. C. G. Leland, who procured them for me from an old Florentine woman. She is familiar to Mr. Leland’s friends as ‘Maddalena,’ and is the depository of that traditional lore on which he has so happily drawn in his _Legends of Florence_. Her stories are interesting if only as an example of folklore up to date, and of the way in which an Italian mind deals with the legend of Michael Scot, while some points they offer are certainly original and highly curious. [322] This may be a variant of ‘Maugis’ or Merlin. In the romance of _Maugis d’Aygremont_ we find the following passage: ‘Il n’y avoit meilleur maistre que lui … et l’appelloit-on Maistre Maugis.’ On the other hand Mengot is a genuine early Teutonic name. ‘Et hic liber finitus est per manus Mengoti Itelbrot, Anno domini mºcccºlxxxv.’ is the colophon to a manuscript of the _Almagest_ of Ptolemy in the Vatican, Fondo Palatino, 1365, p. 206ro. [323] ‘M’hai _scottato_ me, ma ora _scotto_ te.’ This play on words is the turning-point of the tale. [324] ‘Scorticata.’ It may be that a play on words is intended here also. [325] This is no doubt the _benj_ or _bhang_ of the Arabs and Indians which still furnishes them with a potent narcotic. [326] Laurentian Library, P. lxxxix, sup. cod. 38, p. 409 (old number 256) verso. [327] Here and elsewhere in this text are astrological signs which cannot be reproduced in print. Transcriber’s Note: By comparison with a copy of Scot’s manuscript (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Plut. 89 sup. 038, ff. 409v-413r), the correct astrological signs have here been added. [328] _Cf._ with the expression in the colophon ‘qui summus inter alios nominatur magister.’