ius_ was the chief of the Imperial body-guard, of which
the _spatharocandidati_ constituted the _elite_.

P. 114. _The Wisdom of the Indians._--Appeared in 1890 in _The Universal
Review_. The idea was suggested by an incident in Dr. Bastian's travels in
Burma.

P. 124. _The Dumb Oracle._--Appeared in the _University Magazine_ for
June, 1878. The legend on which it is founded, a mediaeval myth here
transferred to classical times, is also the groundwork of Browning's
ballad, "The Boy and the Angel."

P. 136. _Duke Virgil._--The subject of this story is derived from Leopold
Schefer's novel, "Die Sibylle von Mantua," though there is but little
resemblance in the incidents. Schefer cites Friedrich von Quandt as his
authority for the Mantuans having actually elected Virgil as their duke in
the thirteenth century: but the notion seems merely founded upon the
interpretation of the insignia accompanying a mediaeval statue of the poet.

P. 138. _To put the devil into a hole_.--"Then sayd Virgilius, 'Shulde ye
well passe in to the hole that ye cam out of?' 'Yea, I shall well,' sayd
the devyl. 'I holde the best plegge that I have, that ye shall not do it.'
'Well,' sayd the devyll, 'thereto I consent.' And then the devyll wrange
himselfe into the lytyll hole ageyne, and he was therein. Virgilius kyvered
the hole ageyne with the borde close, and so was the devyll begyled, and
myght nat there come out agen, but abideth shutte still therein" ("Romance
of Virgilius").

_Ibid. Canst thou balance our city upon an egg?_--"Than he thought in his
mynde to founde in the middle of the sea a fayre towne, with great landes
belongynge to it, and so he did by his cunnynge, and called it Napells. And
the foundacyon of it was of eggs" ("Romance of Virgilius").

P. 148. _The Claw_.--Originally published in _The English Illustrated
Magazine_.

P. 151. _Peter of Abano_.--Pietro di Abano, who took his name from his
birthplace, a village near Padua, was a physician contemporary with Dante,
whose skill in medicine and astrology caused him to be accused of magic. It
is nevertheless untrue that he was burned by the Inquisition or stoned by
the populace; but after his death he was burned in effigy, his remains
having been secretly removed by his friends. Honours were afterwards paid
to his memory; and there seems no doubt that he was a man of great
attainments, including a knowledge of Greek, and of unblemished character,
if he had not sometimes sold