Margery Volume 01
Ebers, Georg, 1837-1898
English
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MARGERY
By Georg Ebers
Volume 1.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE:
In translating what is supposed to be a transcript into modern German of
the language of Nuremberg in the fifteenth century, I have made no
attempt to imitate English phraseology of the same date. The difficulty
would in fact be insuperable to the writer and the annoyance to the
reader almost equally great.
I have merely endeavored to avoid essentially modern words and forms of
speech.
INTRODUCTION:
"PIETRO GIUSTINIANI, merchant, of Venice." This was the signature
affixed to his receipt by the little antiquary in the city of St. Mark,
from whom I purchased a few stitched sheets of manuscript. What a name
and title!
As I remarked on the splendor of his ancestry he slapped his pocket, and
exclaimed, half in pride and half in lamentation:
"Yes, they had plenty of money; but what has become of it?"
"And have you no record of their deeds?" I asked the little man, who
himself wore a moustache with stiff military points to it.
"Their deeds!" he echoed scornfully. "I wish they had been less zealous
in their pursuit of fame and had managed their money matters better!--
Poor child!"
And he pointed to little Marietta who was playing among the old books,
and with whom I had already struck up a friendship. She this day
displayed some strange appendage in the lobes of her ears, which on
closer examination I found to be a twist of thread.
The child's pretty dark head was lying confidentially against my arm and
as, with my fingers, I felt this singular ornament, I heard, from behind
the little desk at the end of the counter, her mother's shrill voice in
complaining accents: "Aye, Sir, it is a shame in a family which has given
three saints to the Church--Saint Nicholas, Saint Anna, and Saint
Eufemia, all three Giustinianis as you know--in a family whose sons have
more than once worn a cardinal's hat--that a mother, Sir, should be
compelled to let her own child--But you are fond of the little one, Sir,
as every one is hereabout. Heh, Marietta! What would you say if the
gentleman were to give you a pair of ear-rings, now; real gold ear-rings
I mean? Thread for ear-rings, Sir, in the ears of a Giustiniani! It is
absurd, preposterous, monstrous; and a right-thinking gentleman like you,
Sir, will never deny that."
How could I neglect such a hint; and when I had gratified the antiquary's
wife, I could reflect with some pride that I might esteem myself a
benefactor to a family which boasted of its descent from the Emperor
Justinian, which had been called the 'Fabia gens' of Venice, and, in its
day had given to the Republic great generals, far-seeing statesmen, and
admirable scholars.
When, at length, I had to quit the city and took leave of the curiosity-
dealer, he pressed my hand with heartfelt regret; and though the Signora
Giustiniani, as she pocketed a tolerably thick bundle of paper money,
looked at me with that kindly pity which a good woman is always ready to
bestow on the inexperienced, especially when they are young, that, no
doubt, was because the manuscript I had acquired bore such a dilapidated
appearance. The margins of the thick old Nuremberg paper were eaten into
by mice and insects, in many places black patches like tinder dropped
away from the yellow pages; indeed, many passages of the once clear
writing had so utterly faded that I scarcely hoped to see them made
legible again by the chemist's art. However, the contents of the
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