and giants twenty-eight feet tall, and dangerous women who have bright jewels in their heads instead of eyes, “and if they behold any man in wrath, they slay him with a look, as doth the basilisk.”  Here also are the folk of Ethiopia, who have only one leg, but who hop about with extraordinary rapidity.  Their one foot is so big that, when they lie in the sun, they raise it to shade their bodies; in rainy weather it is as good as an umbrella.  At the close of this interesting book of travel, which is a guide for pilgrims, the author promises to all those who say a prayer for him a share in whatever heavenly grace he may himself obtain for all his holy pilgrimages.

Footnote 104:  For titles and publishers of reference works see General
Bibliography at the end of this book.

Footnote 105:  Constitutional History of England.

Footnote 106:  Symonds, Revival of Learning.

Footnote 107:  Sismondi attributes this to two causes:  first, the lack of general culture; and second, the absorption of the schools in the new study of antiquity.  See Literature of the South of Europe, II, 400 ff.

Footnote 108:  Erasmus, the greatest scholar of the Renaissance, was not an Englishman, but seems to belong to every nation.  He was born at Rotterdam (c. 1466), but lived the greater part of his life in France, Switzerland, England, and Italy.  His Encomium Moriae was sketched on a journey from Italy (1509) and written while he was the guest of Sir Thomas More in London.

Footnote 109:  Unless, perchance, the reader finds some points of resemblance in Plato’s “Republic.”

Footnote 110:  See Wordsworth’s sonnet, On the Sonnet.  For a detailed study of this most perfect verse form, see Tomlinson’s The Sonnet, Its Origin, Structure, and Place in Poetry.

Footnote 111:  William Caxton (c. 1422-1491) was the first English printer.  He learned the art abroad, probably at Cologne or Bruges, and about the year 1476 set up the first wooden printing press in England.  His influence in fixing a national language to supersede the various dialects, and in preparing the way for the literary renaissance of the Elizabethan age, is beyond calculation.

Footnote 112:  Malory has, in our own day, been identified with an English country gentleman and soldier, who was member of Parliament for Warwickshire in 1445.

Footnote 113:  For titles and publishers of general works see General Bibliography at the end of this book.

Footnote 114:  Eastward Ho! a play given in Blackfriars Theater about 1603.  The play was written by Marston and two collaborators.

Footnote 115:  Lie so faint.

Footnote 116:  The View was not published till 1633.

Footnote 117:  clad.

Footnote 118:  handsome.

Footnote 119:  jousts, tournaments.