has a rich gem inclosed within its head. Milton gives his serpent eyes of carbuncle.—Paradise Lost, ix. 500."—Warton.
Note 14.Page 90.
"Spencer, in the 'Faerie Queene,' seems to have distantly remembered this fable, where a fiend expecting Sir Guyon, will be tempted to snatch some of the treasures of the subterraneous House of Richesse, which are displayed in his view, is prepared to fasten upon him.
Thereat the fiend his gnashing teeth did grate,
And grieved so long to lack his greedy prey,
For well he weened that so glorious bait
Would tempt his guest to take thereof assay:
Had he so done, he had him snatched away
More light than culver in the falcon's fist."
"This story was originally invented of Pope Gerbert, or Sylvester the Second, who died in the year 1003. He was eminently learned in the mathematical sciences, and on that account was styled a magician. William of Malmesbury is, I believe, the first writer now extant by whom it is recorded;
