itle of Empress, to the
resting-place of her son. Her statue in the convent, with a purse in her
hand, seems to attest the tale, which was no doubt related to the
Scottish Poet, and may well have stirred his fancy. What the epitaph was
which he copied we cannot now determine. It is not pretended that the
unhappy lady was buried here, but two inscriptions commemorate the
ferocity of Charles of Anjou, and the vicissitudes of fortune which
befell his victims. One, believed to be of great antiquity, is attached
to a cross or pillar erected at the place of execution. It breathes the
insolence of the conqueror mingled with a barbarous humour embodied in a
play on words--for "Asturis" has a double reference to the kite and to
the place "Astura," at which the fugitive Princes were captured:

"Asturis ungue Leo Pullum rapiens Aquilinum
Hic deplumavit, acephalumque dedit."

The other lines, in the Church, of more modern date, are conceived in a
humaner spirit, and may possibly be those which touched the heart of the
old worshipper of chivalry.

Ossibvs et memoriae Conradini de Stovffen, vltimi ex sva progenie
Sveviae dveis, Conradi Rom. Regis F. et Friderici II, imp. nepotis,
qui cvm Siciliae et Apvliae regna exercitv valido, vti hereditaria
vindicare proposvisset, a Carolo Andegavio I. hvivs nominis rege
Franco caeperani in agro Palento victvs et debellatvs extitit,
deniqve captvs cvm Frederico de Asbvrgh vltimo ex linea Avstriae
dvce, itineris, ac eivsdem fortvnae sotio, hic cvm aliis (proh
scelvs) a victore rege secvri percvssvs est.

Pivm Neap. coriariorvm collegivm, hvmanarvm miseriarvm memor, loco
in aedicvlam redacto, illorvm memoriam ab interitv conservavit.

(For the details of the death of Conradin and the stories connected with
his memory see Summonte, _Storia di Napoli_, vol. ii. Celano, _Notizie
di Napoli Giornata Quarta_, and St. Priest, _Histoire de la Conquete de
Naples_, vol. iii.)

* * * * *

No. V.

"Mother Goose's Tales," p. 459. _The following note by a distinguished
authority on Nursery Tales, will be read with interest._

"It is unfortunate that Sir Walter Scott did not record in his Diary the
dates of the Neapolitan collection of 'Mother Goose's Tales,' and of the
early French editions with which he was acquainted. He may possibly have
meant Basile's _Lo Cunto de li cunti_ (Naples, 1637-44 and 1645),