208 ' THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



deprived of his notes on the passage which 

 Scot :irs to Michael Scot. In the Decamerone, how- 

 ;*, he treats the subject in a passing way ; making 

 vtizen of Bologna speak of the magician's resi- 

 de in that town. 1 Scot, he said, had performed 

 ?y prodigies there, to the delight of sundry 

 tlemen his friends, and at their request had, 

 , re ais departure, left behind him two scholars, who 

 wn t up fairly the traditions of his art. This seems 

 n 'ndicate that Boccaccio had in mind the stories 



com Pi by the other commentators on Dante, and the 

 i j 



ta r g of his novel supports the conjecture that he 

 3ed with the great poet and with Da Buti, in 

 sec irding these prodigies as pertaining to the de- 

 ie Sfcment of fictitious magic. , 



.More interesting, perhaps, are the tales which 

 )lve Michael the magician with the fates of Ms 

 tt master, Frederick n. In the Paradiso deqli 



* -i- 1 



. yrti* for example, we read how, at the feast 



e ]sn by the Emperor to celebrate his coronation at 



ma( * e ie, which had taken place on November 22, 1220, 



r company were entertained by a strange event. 



16 y were just in the act of washing their hands 



re *>re sitting down to table in the great hall at 



Tf T 



:3rmo. The pages were still on foot with ewers 

 noble b asms o f perfumed water and embroidered 



els, when suddenly Michael Scot appeared with 

 w mpanion, both of them dressed in Eastern robes, 

 sou g* offered to show the guests a marvel. The 



ther was oppressively warm, so Frederick asked 



* to procure them a shower of rain which might 

 its nig coo } ness> This the magicians accordingly did, 

 1 L! 



Seemiy< 1 In the ninth novel of the eighth day. 



in 1219 2 Wesselo/sky, Bologna, 1867, vol. ii. pp. 180-217. 



