o Cosimo benedetto, cosi lo
voglio._'"[81]

[81] Knight: _The Worship of Priapus_, pp. 3-6,7.

This church was in Isernia, a little village about fifty miles from
Naples, and away from the direct line of travel, hence its inhabitants
saw little of the world, and therefore kept to their old customs longer
than their more favored neighbors. Thus it happened that, even in the
latter half of the eighteenth century, Priapus had his votaries almost
within the shadow of the Vatican! These phallic rites were finally
abolished by episcopal command.

One of the most common amulets or charms against _jettitura_, or the
"evil eye," the _bete noire_ of every Italian, is a little coral hand.
The middle finger of this hand is extended, thus representing the penis,
while the other fingers are closed on the palm, thus representing the
testicles. In ancient times, when a man extended his hand, closed in
this manner, it was a gesture of insult and anger; to-day this gesture
is only made in derision and contempt. The hand closed in this way, or,
rather, with the thumb projecting between the first and second fingers
(another very common phallic symbol or sign), was called a "fig"; hence,
the old expression of contempt and indifference, "a fico for you, sir,"
now modernized into "I don't care a fig."[AB]

[AB] A modification of this is seen in the derisive gesture of the
street Arab who closes all of his fingers, except the middle one,
on his palm. The middle finger he holds stiffly erect and the hand
is then extended towards the object of his contempt. This gesture,
once performed as a deeply religious rite, has now become the
contemptuous sign of a boy of the street!

France, as well as Italy, had her phallic charms and her phallic saints.
Priapus was a god to the ancients--to the people of the Middle Ages he
was a saint. According to M. Dulaure, in the south of France, Provence,
Languedoc, and the Lyonnais, he was worshiped under the name of St.
Foutin. This name is derived from that of the first bishop of Lyons,
Fotinus, to whom the people had transferred (as they have done to many
other sainted individuals) the distinguishing characteristics of a god;
in this instance, Priapus. At Lyons there was an immense wooden
phallus, and the women were in the habit of scraping this image, and
then steeping the wood-dust in water, which they drank as a remedy
against barrenness. Sometimes they gave it to the