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By Root 21496 0

and exercises. And when Giannetto and Ansaldo were landed, all the court when out to meet them, crying, Long live our sovereign lord! long live our sovereign lord! When they arrived at the palace, the lady ran to embrace An saldo; but feigned anger against Giannetto, tho' she loved him exces sively : yet the feastings, tilts and diversions went on as usual, at which all the lords and ladies assisted. Giannetto seeing that his wife did not receive him with her accustomed good countenance, called her, and inquiring the reason, would have saluted her. She told him, she wanted not his caresses: I am sure, says she, you have been lavish of them to some of your former mistresses at Venice. Giannetto began to make excuses. She asked him where was the ring she had given him? It is no more that what I expected, cries Giannetto, and I was in the right to say you would be angry with me; but, I swear by all that is sacred, and by your dear self, that I gave the ring to the lawyer who gained our cause. And I can swear, says the lady, with as much solemnity, that you gave the ring to a woman; and I know it certainly:

dico il vero, e piu ch' io lo dissi col giudice insieme, quando egli me lo chiese. Disse la donna: Tu vi ti potevi anco rima- nere, e qua mandare messere Ansaldo, e tu goderti con le tue manze, che odo che tutte piangevano quando tu ti partisti. Messer Giannetto comincid a lagrimare, e a darsi assai tribu- lazione, dicendo: Tu fai Sacramento di quel che non e vero, e non potrebbe essere. Dove la donna veggendolo lagrimare, parve che le fosse dato d' un coltello nel cuore, e subito corse ad abbracciarlo, facendo le maggiori risa del mondo; e mos- trogli 1' anello, e dissegli ogni cosa, com' egli aveva detto al giudice, e come ella era stata quel giudice, e in che modo glielo diede. Onde messer Giannetto di questo si fece la maggior maraviglia del mondo; e veggendo ch' egli era pur vero, ne comincid a fare gran festa. E uscito fuor di camera lo disse con alcuno de' suoi baroni e compagni, e per questo erebbe e moltiplico 1' amore fra loro due. Dapoi messer Giannetto chiamo quella cameriera che gli aveva insegnato la sera che non beesse, e diella per moglie a messere Ansal do; e cosi stettero lungo tempo in allegrezza e festa, mentre che duro la lor vita.

therefore swear no more. Giannetto said, if what he had told her was not true, he wished every misfortune to fall on him, that might destroy him; and that he said all this to the lawyer, when he asked for the ring. The lady replied, you would have done better to stay at Venice with your mistresses, and have sent Ansaldo here; for I hear they all wept when you came away. Giannetto's tears began to fall, and in great sorrow he assured her that what she supposed could not possibly be true. The lady seeing his tears, which were daggers in her bosom, ran to embrace him, and in a tit of laughter shewed the ring, told every thing which he had said to the lawyer; that she was herself the lawyer; and how she obtained the ring. Giannetto was greatly asto nished, finding it all true, and was highly delighted with what he had heard; and went out of the chamber, and told the story to the nobles and to his companions; and this heightened greatly the love between him and his lady. He then called the damsel who had given him the good advice the evening not to drink the liquor, and gave her to An saldo for a wife: and they spent the rest of their lives in great felicity and contentment.

DECLAMATION NINETY-FIVE

OF A JEW, WHO WOULD FOR HIS DEBT HAVE A POUND OF THE FLESH OF A CHRISTIAN.

From the Orator of Alex. Silvayn, Englished by L. P.,1598

A Jew unto whom a Christian Merchant ought nine hundred crownes, would have summoned him for the same in Turckie : the Merchant because he would not be discredited, promised to pay the said summe within the tearme of three months, and if he paied it not, he was bound lo give him a pound of the flesh of his bodie. The tearme being past some fifteene daies, the Jew refused to take his money, and demaunded the pound of flesh : the ordinarie