Dedication: For David

Epigraph: A woman of considerable physical courage mounted a horse, rode side by side with her soldier-husband, and witnessed the drilling of the troops for battle. The exciting music and scene together inspired her with a deep thirst to behold a war and a conquest. This event transpired a few months before the birth of her child - his name, Napoleon.

During the period immediately preceding the birth of Dante, his young mother saw a startling vision. She beheld a populated globe rise gradually out of the sea and float mid-heavens. Upon a high and grand mountain stood a man with brilliant countenance, whom she knew to be her son.

A woman gave birth to a child covered with hair, and having the claws of a bear. This was attributed to her beholding the images and pictures of bears hung up in the palace of the Ursini family, to which she belonged.

-Dr Foote's Home Cyclopedia of Popular Medical, Social and Sexual Science, 1858

Warning: Please be aware that this work may contain words, terms or descriptions which may be culturally sensitive and are considered inappropriate today, but which reflect the period in which it was written.