" is the
best of Greene's tales, and approaches more closely the modern novel
than any work of the time. It is related with much less than the usual
prolixity, and contains two characters of distinct individuality. The
scene is placed in Venice, partly in consequence of the Italian origin
of the story, and partly, it would seem, because writers of fiction
imagined that the further distant they could represent their incidents
to have occurred, the more interest and probability would attach to
them. Philippo Medici possessed a wife Philomela, renowned, "not for
her beauty, though Italy afforded none so fair--not for her dowry,
though she were the only daughter of the Duke of Milan--but for the
admirable honours of her mind, which were so many and matchless, that
virtue seemed to have planted there the paradise of her perfection."
Philippo was so prone to jealousy, that he suspected even this paragon,
and worked himself into a belief in her infidelity by such euphuisms as
these: "The greener the Alisander leaves be, the more bitter is the
sap, and the salamander is the most warm when he lieth furthest from
the fire," therefore "women are most heart-hollow, when they are most
lip-holy." Inflamed by this reasoning, he induced a friend, one
Lutesio, to attempt his wife's virtue, enjoining him to bring immediate
information in case of any evidence of success. Lutesio, after some
misgivings, undertook the task, and under the influence of Philomela's
beauty, found it a very agreeable one. His most elaborate discourses on
love in the abstract were met by Philomela with replies fully as long
and fully as lofty, but when he made the conversation personal, and
declared his attitude to be that of a lover, he was met with a virtuous
indignation which fully bore out the reputation of Philomela. Even this
conclusive test did not satisfy the jealous mind of the wretched
Philippo. Having hired two slaves to swear in court to his wife's
infidelity, he procured her banishment to Palermo. By the efforts of
the Duke of Milan, this infamous proceeding was finally exposed, and
Philippo, overcome by remorse, set out in search of Philomela. At
Palermo, he accused himself, in a fit of despair, of a murder which had
been committed in that city. But while the trial was in progress,
Philomela, in order to shield her husband, appeared in court and
proclaimed herself guilty of the crime. The innocence of both was
discovered. Philippo, as he deserved, di