se article, and a silver pink which
is a sort of prize at large, and which may be given for a composition of
any character.

This belief in the actual existence of Clemence Isaure is still held by
many, and, in fact, the legend seems stronger than the facts adduced
against it; but whatever the truth may be, the story symbolizes in a
most beautiful and fitting way the part which woman has played in this
Provencal country in the encouragement given to song and poetry. It was
the women who gave the real encouragement to the troubadours and
inspired them to their greatest efforts, and it seems but poetic
justice, at least, that in Toulouse the only existing institution
representative of those old troubadour days should claim a woman as its
greatest patron.

CHAPTER V

INFLUENCE OF WOMEN IN EARLY LITERATURE

"Nine times now since my birth, the heaven of light had turned almost to
the same point in its own gyration, when the glorious Lady of my
mind--who was called Beatrice by many who knew not what to call
her--first appeared before my eyes. She had already been in this life so
long, that in its course the starry heaven had moved toward the region
of the East one of the twelve parts of a degree; so that at about the
beginning of her ninth year she appeared to me, and I near the end of my
ninth year saw her. She appeared to me clothed in a most noble color, a
modest and becoming crimson, and she was girt and adorned in such wise
as befitted her very youthful age. At that instant, I can truly say that
the spirit of life, which dwells in the most secret chamber of the
heart, began to tremble with such violence that it appeared fearfully in
the least pulses, and, trembling, said these words: _Ecce deus fortior
me, qui veniens dominabitur mihi_ [Behold a god stronger than I, who,
coming, shall rule over me]. At that instant the spirit of the soul,
which dwells in the high chamber to which all the spirits of the senses
carry their perceptions, began to marvel greatly, and, speaking
especially to the spirit of the sight, said these words: _Apparuit jam
beatitudo vestra_ [Now has appeared your bliss]. At that instant the
natural spirit, which dwells in that part where our nourishment is
supplied, began to weep, and, weeping, said these words: _Heu miser!
quia frequenter impeditus ero deinceps_ [Woe is me, wretched! Because
often from this time forth shall I be hindered]."

Nowhere in all literature can be found a deare