SCOT AT THE COURT OF SICILY 25 



in supposing that Scot profited by this as well as 

 by the other opportunity. 



In point of general culture too a residence at 

 Palermo offered many and varied advantages. Rare 

 manuscripts abounded, some lately brought to the 

 island, like that of the Secreta Secretorum, the 

 prize of Philip the Clerk, which he carried with 

 him when he came from Tripoh to Sicily, and 

 treasured there, calling it his ' precious pearl ' ; ^ 

 others forming part of collections that had for some 

 time been established in the capital. As early as_ 

 the year 1143, George of Antioch, the Sicilian 

 "AHmiral, had founded the Church of St. Maria della 

 Martorana in Palermo, and had enriched it with a 

 valuable library, no doubt brought in great part 

 from the East.^ ^ A better opportunity for literary 

 studies could hardly have been desired than that 

 which the Prince's Master now enjoyed. 



The society and surroundings in which Michael 

 Scot now found himself were such as must have 

 communicated a powerful impulse to the mind. 

 The Court was grave rather than gay, as had 

 befitted the circumstances of a royal widow, and 

 now of an orphan still under canonical protection 

 and busied in serious study, but this allowed the 

 wit and wisdom of learned men free scope, and thus 

 invited and encouraged their residence. Already, 

 probably, had begun that concourse and competition 

 of talents, for which the Court of Frederick was 

 afterwards so remarkable. Amid delicious gardens 

 at evening, or by day in the cool shade of court- 

 yards : those patios which the Moors had built so 

 well and adorned with such fair arabesques, all that 



1 See the preface to the Secreta. - Aiiiari. See infra, p. 83. 



