notice, viz., that in which the monk of Corrigan describes
Dante Alighieri such as we picture him to ourselves to-day.
The miniatures in a very old manuscript of the "Divine
Comedy," the "Codex Venetianus," represent the poet as a
little fat man clad in a short tunic, the skirts of which
fall above his knees. As for Virgil, he still wears the
philosophical beard, in the wood-engravings of the sixteenth
century.

One would not have thought either that Marbodius, or even Virgil, could
have known the Etruscan tombs of Chiusi and Corneto, where, in fact,
there are horrible and burlesque devils closely resembling those of
Orcagna. Nevertheless, the authenticity of the "Descent of Marbodius
into Hell" is indisputable. M. du Clos des Lunes has firmly established
it. To doubt it would be to doubt palaeography itself.

VII. SIGNS IN THE MOON

At that time, whilst Penguinia was still plunged in ignorance and
barbarism, Giles Bird-catcher, a Franciscan monk, known by his writings
under the name Aegidius Aucupis, devoted himself with indefatigable
zeal to the study of letters and the sciences. He gave his nights to
mathematics and music, which he called the two adorable sisters,
the harmonious daughters of Number and Imagination. He was versed in
medicine and astrology. He was suspected of practising magic, and it
seemed true that he wrought metamorphoses and discovered hidden things.

The monks of his convent, finding in his cell Greek books which they
could not read, imagined them to be conjuring-books, and denounced their
too learned brother as a wizard. Aegidius Aucupis fled, and reached the
island of Ireland, where he lived for thirty studious years. He went
from monastery to monastery, searching for and copying the Greek and
Latin manuscripts which they contained. He also studied physics and
alchemy. He acquired a universal knowledge and discovered notable
secrets concerning animals, plants, and stones. He was found one day in
the company of a very beautiful woman who sang to her own accompaniment
on the lute, and who was afterwards discovered to be a machine which he
had himself constructed.

He often crossed the Irish Sea to go into the land of Wales and to visit
the libraries of the monasteries there. During one of these crossings,
as he remained during the night on the bridge of the ship, he saw
beneath the waters two sturgeons swimming side by side. He had very
good hearing