New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-01-14


/ Pr IL rs The Macmillan Company.
In the great series Of decorations painted by
fLgz Signoreln in the Duomo Of Orvieto there
5 panel IN the centre OF which Virgil is rep
IaSented- Subjects from Dante are illustrated
y four medaLions placed at regular intervals
round the portrait All the remaining space
Il he panel IS filed with a medley Of strange
EnOnsters drawn from the bestiaries Of the Mid
Ge Ages fauns and sphinxes borrowed from
Eacient mythology Such arabesques were com
|ron IN the art Of the Renaissance. SignoreIITs
employment Of them in more than one part Of
his scheme showed that he used them with a
purely decorative intention as they had been
Fsed b. Raphael and his pupils in the loggie
d the Vatican, by Giulio Romano in the Pa
Fezzo del Te al Mantua. by Pinturicchio in the
EbrsTy al Siena, and by scores Of other Italian
masters But while We may not attribute TO
Egnoreih a special purpose in the Virgil panel
beyond thaI which belongs TO the symboIicaI
hnd decorative plan Of his whole work We may.
z no whimsical or arbitrary spirit, read into the
paid panel a remarkable significance. It ex-
presses, no doubt without meaning 10, the actual
Experience OF Virgil in the history of literature
End in a pictorial way anticipates literary works
TX Comparetts 'Virgilio mel Medic .41vo."
Ind The book by Mr.. Leland. The Unpublished
Legends Of Virgil" which suggests these re-
EarkS
Around Virgil, as in the panel at Orvieto, a
bangle Of legendary ideas has arisen The
E2l-an peasants derive from their witches and
ieoTUmance-s tales which they tell among them
Ielves Of dark and wonderful happenings,
trOUgh many Of which the figure OF the Man
Fuan moves as an Indispensable factor in the
teVelopment Of events. With the help Of his old
Plend Maddalena, a native soothsayer, and by
tVers other expedients, Mr.. Leland has amassed
: considerable number Of these stories, some Of
Shlch he now puts into English. The book
feutd De amusing TO any reader simply for its
tuA1ntness- M. Leland does not care TO faunt
rs scholarship, but gives US the fruits Of his
Fessearch with a twinkle in his eye, as who
f1o1io say, Let the pedants rave; I write to
Interest ny reader" But he leaves out nothing
taai Is essential 10 the student The latter may
ron this volume substantially enrich his
knowledge Of VirgiPs relation to Italian folk
pr Il Is q familiar fact that In the Middle
Ages his poetic fame received some odd accre-
pons Re was linked il the minds Of the lower
F2sSes with the heroes Of mythology; they as
f1Ded 70 him the powers Of the magician and
ioroerer, and presently it came TO pass that in
fznt4tOns instead Of poems were laid TO his
toor; ancient c-ones. holding speubound the
pmpie folk Of the Italian countryside woye
'sles Of faery in which the bard became 4 kind
y benevolent representative Of the powers of
~ welding unhOly powers TO good ends. He
hppeo easily into the heathenish society pict-
rrec b those witches whose SUCCESSORS still DIV
Ihelr fantastic but harmless trade in ItaIv
Hnrough centuries the lore Of paganisn had
pi1eTed down amid the uneducated and they
penny adapted VirgiIs personality TO the ex-
F-ncaes q Olympus. Classical Legends were 10
ra-ized, and Virgil along with gods and god
'esseS became fixed N the unearthly history OF
be earth
HE tale u his birth begins in the following
rl@lLer- There was once IN an old temple in
A'l1e great man, very learned signore- His
e was Flrgilio, or Virgil He was a magi-
t1~h but very good IN ali things TO all men: he
&c kind heart and was ever friend to the
p'T- Virgil was as brave and fearless as he
Ns good And he a famous poet-bis
h'neS we're sung ali over Italy some say that
p WE the son Of a fairy, and that his father
var king Of the magicians. others declared
aal his mother was the most beautiful woman
the whole world, and that her name was
ELenR Q4e3en). and his father was a srirft
Lnt1i We come 10 the name Of Helen in this in
reduction, there Is nothing To remark sa,,e tho
usual easy DVenuVeness II the fresida sto,
'ziler But az Helen enters she brings with ber
Ne dnniy and incoherentiy remembered nara
2AerIlalLa Of classical literature and soon No
Sehoic her In her Trojan tower visited like
Danae, BY Jupiter In a shower Of gold Tho
pin Of Virgil follows, the fairies ATTENDING, ~,