All this languor for love before tymes fell,
Lang or Betok was born,
Scho bred of ane accorne;
The laif of the story to morne,
To you I sall telle.]

But chiefly in Italy were traced many dim characters of ancient
mythology, in the creed of tradition. Thus, so lately as 1536, Vulcan,
with twenty of his Cyclops, is stated to have presented himself suddenly
to a Spanish merchant, travelling in the night, through the forests of
Sicily; an apparition, which was followed by a dreadful eruption of
Mount Aetna.--_Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels,_ p. 504 Of this
singular mixture, the reader will find a curious specimen in the
following tale, wherein the Venus of antiquity assumes the manners of
one of the Fays, or Fatae, of romance. "In the year 1058, a young man
of noble birth had been married at Rome, and, during the period of his
nuptial feast, having gone with his companions to play at ball, he put
his marriage ring on the finger of a broken statue of Venus in the area,
to remain, while he was engaged in the recreation. Desisting from the
exercise, he found the finger, on which he had put his ring, contracted
firmly against the palm, and attempted in vain either to break it, or to
disengage his ring. He concealed the circumstance from his companions,
and returned at night with a servant, when he found the finger extended,
and his ring gone. He dissembled the loss, and returned to his wife;
but, whenever he attempted to embrace her, he found himself prevented
by something dark and dense, which was tangible, though not visible,
interposing between them; and he heard a voice saying, 'Embrace me! for
I am Venus, whom this day you wedded, and I will not restore your ring.'
As this was constantly repeated, he consulted his relations, who had
recourse to Palumbus, a priest, skilled in necromancy. He directed the