Chapter XXVI: Conclusion (3)

[154] Cornelius Agrippa furnishes a curious piece of evidence on this point. Disgraced by Louise of Savoy, he asked himself what had caused the princess’s hatred. While pondering the matter he mechanically opened his Bible and lit upon the passage where Ahab says in regard to the prophet Micaiah, “I hate him, because he doth not prophesy good concerning me.” “That’s my very own case,” cries Agrippa, and remembers that one day he had foretold a victory for M. de Bourbon. What victory?—he did not say, and for good reasons: but that was enough. So he takes his pen, and writes a long address to prove that he is not, has not been, and will not be of the Bourbon party, in spite of the overtures made to him. He got nothing by his prose; some time afterwards Bourbon was killed at Rome, and, adds Agrippa, “Jezebel possesses his vineyard. The angel of the Lord has warned me and saved me from the evil woman. Nothing remains but to fling Jezebel headlong and give her carcase to the dogs.”

[155]

Awaiting thus the seasonable hour
For justice or for God to interpose with power.

[156] _L’aisnée Fille de fortune._ [“If she had a little of that, she would be the most accomplished lady God ever gave life to.”]

[157] La Vauguyon describes with emotion the sorrow of her servants and vassals: “What will become of us now?... Death has seized our mother.”

[158]

Bonnet entendoit la magie
Aussi bien que l’astrologie:
Bonnet le futur prédisoit,
Et de tout présages faisoit....
Bonnet sçeut la langue hébraïque
Aussi bien que la caldaïque;
Mais en latin le bon abbé
N’y entendoit ny A ny B.
Bonnet avoit mis en usage
Un barragouin de langage
Entremeslé d’italien,
De françois et ... savoysien.
Bonnet fut de l’Académie,
De ceux qui souflent l’alchumie.

—Du Bellay, _Epitaphe de l’abbé Bonnet_.

[Bonnet knew astrology
As well as demonology.
Bonnet the future could foretell
And cast your horoscope as well.
Bonnet knew the Hebrew tongue,
And in Chaldee spake and sung,
But, good soul, in Latin he
Could not say his A B C.
Bonnet used with good intention
A jargon of his own invention—
Words from France he would employ,
From Italy and from—Savoy.
And in academic state
Of alchemy Bonnet would prate.]

[159] Montaigne, bk. iii. cap. x.

[160] A naïve French poet, with the words ‘grace’ and ‘hope’ ever on his lips, somewhat scornfully depicts the French court guarded military fashion by two Italians, Pasquil and Aretino, whom he styles Bohemians of sinister aspect. ‘Diligence’ and ‘Bon Vouloir,’ old deities of the past, had much difficulty in approaching. “Noble Cœur,” says a poet, “found his ‘temporal joy’ in chatting with and serving ladies; Nature encourages Noblesse-Féminine to rule men, who include good and bad. In a delightful garden the tree of Humanity flourishes; this splits into two equal branches, that is, between the two sexes ‘one in being, one in substance, one in dignity,’ and differentiated only by accident. Vilain-Cœur and Malebouche have long been devising mischief against Noblesse-Féminine; at the instigation of Nature, Noble-Cœur at length arms himself in her defence.”

[161] [In reference to the group of seven literary men who banded themselves together to reform and classicise the French language and literature. Ronsard, Du Bellay, and Baïf were three members of the Pléiade who reappear in the following pages. But as the manifesto of this coterie was issued in 1549, the year of Margaret’s death, the name Pléiade is anticipated for the literary court she maintained, the most notable members of which were Marot and Bonaventure des Périers.]

[162] Margaret to the King, 1534.

[Ah, with what error Dante’s head is crowned,
Who comes to paint his Passion, antique tale,
And with his gloomy Hell our souls astound.]

[163] _Heptameron_, Tale 40.

[164] [French admiral (1488-1525), who after the defeat at Pavia deliberately threw his life away. He rivalled Francis I. in gallantry, paid sedulous court to Margaret, and is said to have been the luckless (and well-scratched) hero of the nocturnal escapade described in the 4th Tale of the _Heptameron_.]

[165]

[Loves like little budding flowers,
Loves to sweeten idle hours,
Likewise old amours.]

[166]

Amoureux suis d’une paintresse,
Qui est belle en perfection.
Son geste plein d’affection
La fait juger demie princesse.

—_Gilles d’Aurigny._

[I adore a painter dear,
Perfect grace and beauty she,
And her loving ways to me
Make her half princess appear.]

[167] _Heptameron_, Tale 18.

[168] _Ibid._, Tale 58.

[169] _Heptameron_, Tale 14.

[170] [Poet and translator (1493-1545), friend of Aretino. He wrote ‘amorous discourses’ in imitation of Boccaccio; comedies in imitation of Plautus; a translation of the _Golden Ass_ of Apuleius; and a prose work on the beauty of women.]

[171]

Son âge estoit d’envyron les quinze ans,
Qui est le temps que désirent amans.
La taille en fut longue, menue et droicte,
Espaulle platte, et par les flancs estroicte.

(Anne de Graville.)

Toutes les nuyctz, je ne pense qu’en celle
Qui a le corps plus gent qu’une pucelle.

(Marot.)

[Her age was fifteen, as I guessed,
The age that pleases lovers best;
Her figure long, slim, straight as arrow,
Her shoulders broad, her haunches narrow.]

[I lie awake o’ nights, and my thoughts are sure to go
To the maid whose body’s comelier than any maid’s I know.]

[172]

Is she plump, or is she lean?
My pleasure is the same, I ween.

[173] [Both these ladies were mistresses of Francis I.]

[174] [A poet (1463-1537) who having lost his all in the sack of Rome was succoured by Bembo. He wrote sonnets and pastorals.]

[175] [The French Baedeker.]

[176] Castiglione, _Courtier_ [(Tudor Translations, pp. 212, 213.)]

[177] Castiglione, _ibid._, p. 166.

[178]

“Thy shape! Ah, lady! ’tis to me well known
Through him whose soul is thine, no more his own.”

[179] [Jean Clouet (1485-1545), painter to Francis I.: Janet was his pet name at court. The reference is to Ronsard’s lines—

Peins-moy, Janet, peins-moy, je t’en supplie,
Sur ce tableau les beautés de ma mie.]

[180] [A master in portraiture in enamel (1505-1575.) As many as 1840 of his works are known, all signed. Specimens may be seen in the Louvre.]

[181] [Sculptor to Francis I., born 1515, killed in the St. Bartholomew massacre, Aug. 24, 1572. His statue of Diana adorned the front of Diana of Poitiers’ palatial château of Anet. Diana is represented nude, reclining upon a stag, with a bow in her hand, and surrounded by dogs.]

[182] [The _blason_ was a short poem celebrating a single feature, or some small possession of a lady—an eyebrow, a rose, or a jewel, for instance.]

[183] This portrait, painted by an Italian, no longer exists, but an excellent miniature copy, executed in Henri IV.’s time, is to be found in the rare manuscript known as the _Book of Hours of Catherine de’ Medici_. The other miniatures in this manuscript are made after French portraits, and do not admit of so extravagant an interpretation. Louise of Savoy is represented as a widow, in the classical severe and ungainly costume.

[184] Night-dresses, by the way, were not yet in use.

[185] Tale 45.

[186] _Heptameron_, Tale 4.

[187]

Washed of her paint, of her vices bereft,
Body and soul there is nought of her left.

[188] [A painter of the Florentine school (died 1440) about whom nothing is known but a treatise on painting discovered in 1820, and some frescoes at Volaterra.]

[189] [Author of _Gli ornamenti delle donne_ (the ornaments of ladies), published at Venice in 1574.]

[190] [A poetess of Lyons, author of some remarkable sonnets.]

[191]

For pleasure oft my black I wear,
More often than for woe or care.

[192] [Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, one of the most vigorous opponents of the French king’s Italian expeditions. The surname “Il Moro” came from his cognisance, a mulberry-tree.]

[193] Alione, in one of his farces, has related the amusing story of a Lombard lady (and she was not the only one) who gave herself to a French soldier passing through, on the mere promise of a dress of Venetian velvet, and to whom the rogue afterwards sent six crowns, with the excuse that an everyday dress was good enough for a casual lady.

[194]

This ring is old and out of date,
This ruby’s badly cut:
This girdle’s precious ugly—wait,
This casket’s silver, but
I wish for one of beaten gold—

[195] [Librarian to Cardinal Farnese (1529-1600), a great authority on antiquities, especially coins; he spent the greater part of his modest income on pictures and bronzes.]

[196] [Historian and member of the academy of Pomponius Laetus (1421-1481). He was Vatican librarian under Sixtus IV., wrote a history of the popes, and a curious work on hygiene entitled _Opusculum de obsoniis ac honesta voluptate_—the work here referred to.]

[197] [Sebastian Brandt (1438-1521), jurisconsult and poet of Strasburg, author of the famous _Ship of Fools_, referred to in subsequent pages.]

[198] On ordinary days, the household of Marie of Cleves easily disposed of half a calf, a quarter of an ox, five or six sheep, and dozens of fowls.

[199] “Gout,” cries Cardan, “is queen, gout is noble! She is a synthesis of ills! She is discreet and courteous; she attacks only the showable parts of the body. There is nothing hideous about her as about leprosy. She purifies man and raises his moral worth, as all pain does, but more than any other pain. Why is she the enemy of grand dinners, and of midnight toil, and of all the charming occupations of mind and body?” (_De malo medendi usu._) A German song was dedicated to her:

O Gout my goddess, Gout my queen,
What mortal wight but fears thee?
Earth, sea and sky have ever been
Thy subjects: Jove reveres thee.
O mighty goddess, hear the prayer
Of those that now implore thee:
Give peace to every gouty toe,
And grant to all who limping go
Freedom from pain, release from care,
And perfect health before thee.

(_Podagrae Laus._)

[200] Gout was very common. Louise of Savoy suffered from it.

[201] [A sort of farcical comedy.]

[202] [Jean Gast, Swiss Protestant theologian (died 1553): author of _Convivalium sermonum liber, meris jocis ac salibus refertus_.]

[203] Entering a lady’s house, a man would kiss her hands; and to recall to mind a first presentation the graceful formula frequently employed was: “The first time I kissed her hands.”

[204] To civilise his dominions, Peter the Great required his subjects of both sexes to learn dancing, and he directed the performance, like a general directing manœuvres. He insisted on the gentlemen kissing the ladies on the lips.

[205]

“Ou soit d’un baiser sec, ou d’un baiser humide,
D’un baiser court ou long, ou d’un baiser qui guide
L’âme dessuz la bouche et laisse trespasser
Le baiseur ...
Ou d’un baiser donné comme les colombelles.”

[Dry kiss or wet kiss,
Long kiss or short kiss—
Kiss that lures the kisser’s soul,
Leading him to sin and dole—
Kiss that seals the purest loves,
Innocent as kiss of doves.]

[206] [One of the earliest of French theologians who accepted the Reformed faith, born in 1530. He wrote a tractate on dancing.]

[207] _Heptameron_, Tale 21.

[208] Bonaventure des Périers, Tale 114.

[209]

Templa pudicitiam maculant, ni rite peractis
Rebus abis: templi noxia saepe mora est.

(_De Liberis._)

[The temples stain thy modesty unless when service is over thou departest: to delay in the temple is often hurtful.]

[210] _Heptameron_, Tale 42.

[211] Margaret of France.

All hail! ye gardens, mansions, Edens of delight,
Whose comeliness and beauty put your vices out of sight!

[212] See the frescoes in the Borromeo palace at Milan.

[213] [In allusion to the wreaths used at the ceremony of laureation.]

[214] [Anne de Montmorency, the coarse, violent Constable of France, who mumbled his prayers and his orders to his men together, because, as Brantôme says, “he was so conscientious that he always tried to combine the two duties.”]

[215] “Most illustrious and excellent lady, most respected madam,” wrote the countess of Forli to the duchess of Ferrara: “the credible accounts and perfect information brought in by innumerable persons about the extreme kindliness and rare munificence of your excellency, inspire me with the boldness to address you in confidence. I know that the most illustrious lord your spouse and your most illustrious ladyship adore hunting and birds, and that you always have in abundance dogs of all kinds, excellent, perfect. I beseech your excellency very earnestly that you would deign to make me a very beautiful and very precious present, namely, a pair of greyhounds, well trained and fleet-footed, for the deer of the Campagna, which are very swift: a couple of good deer-hounds and a couple of handsome pointers, so good that I may hope to say regarding their exploits when they catch their quarry, ‘these are the dogs the most illustrious duchess of Ferrara gave me.’ I know that your excellency will not send me anything but what is really good.” She cordially recommends to the duchess the falconer she is sending, to fetch the hounds, and probably to choose them. (Letter of Catherine Sforza to the duchess of Ferrara, 1481).

[216]

King Louis Twelfth had perfect pastimes three:
Triboulet first, then Chailly, lastly me.

The author has collected the various pieces, still unpublished, in which these hounds and hawks of Louis are celebrated.

[217] [Professor of mathematics and philosophy at the Cardinal Lemoine college at Paris (1455-1537): a broad-minded man, the quarry of a heresy hunt: chosen by Francis I. as tutor to his son Charles.]

[218] [Architect and antiquary of Verona (1445-1525). He spent eight years in France at the invitation of Louis XII., designing bridges and buildings: he was afterwards one of the architects of St. Peter’s at Rome.]

[219]

Kathin alloit bien montée a la chasse,
Portant espieu. Cupido la pourchasse
Avecques son arc, et luy dit: “Combatons,
Puisqu’ainsi est que nous avons bastons.”
Elle respond: “Amour, que penses tu?
Longtemps y a que je t’ay combatu
Sans estre armée: a présent, je le suis;
Retourne-t-en, et plus ne me poursuis,
Car seure je suis que tu seroys batu.”

(Michel d’Amboise.)

[Kitty well mounted to the hunt was hying,
Holding a spear; Dan Cupid her espying,
Loosing his bow, gave chase and caught her. Said he:
“Come let us fight, since both are armed and ready.”
Then answered she: “Love, art thou then so daring?
Long have I fought thee, weapon never bearing;
Now am I armed, turn, never more pursue me,
For I would beat thee, ere thou couldst undo me.”]

[220] _Ship of Fools_, sixth engraving. Critics almost always represent epicurism in a boat.

[221] [A Franciscan friar (1440-1508) and a vigorous and racy preacher. His sermons were larded with buffooneries.]

[222]

C’est a l’image saincte Jame
Ou se vont baigner ces femmes;
Et baignez, et estuvez, allez.
Bien servies vous y serez
De varletz, de chambrière,
De la dame bonne chère.
Allez tost, les baings sont prestz.

(_Les Cris de Paris._)

[To the image of St. James
Go for bathing these fair dames.
Haste ye, ladies, bathe and stew,
Maids and varlets wait for you,
Service good, delightful fare;
The baths are ready: speed ye there.]

[223] “A work, for our epoch, in which the use of mineral waters is so common, very useful to physicians, but still more to all other persons, and very entertaining.”

[224] For example, _Le Bain de St Barthélemy_: “A man of Feltre named Petrarch, after an accident to his knee, having been attended by a series of, I will not say bone-setters but, bone-breakers, experienced the keenest anguish; a flux resulted: astringents and cold remedies were applied; and an induration ensued, which compelled him always to walk with a stick or a crutch. At the end of two years, he came to see me; I prescribed the baths. They did him so much good that after a fortnight he left for home without his crutch.” (_De Balneis_, 1563).

[225] Gregorovius gives in his _Lucretia Borgia_ an account of an extremely free fête got up at Sienna for fair bathers, from which husbands and brothers were excluded.

[226] Poggio.

[227] [The _balle à grelot_ was a hollow ball of metal containing something that caused a jingle when the ball was moved or thrown—like our horse-bells.]

[228]

So many books there are, my memory fails
To number or to name them; but to see
Their fair array’s a pleasant sight to me.
...
And as for fearing what they have inside,
’Tis a mere folly I may not abide.
...
I piled a pillar of them, and methought
It heaven and earth together brought.

[229] Lucretia Borgia took to Ferrara for her personal use only beautifully decorated Books of Hours, a few devotional books, a manual of history, a collection of songs, a Dante, and a small Petrarch.

[230] Especially Castiglione, who borrowed entire passages from Cicero. A translation of the _De Officiis_ was published at Lyons on Feb. 11, 1493-94.

[231]

All this is excellent good lore,
And none of it locked in the cupboard.

[232] [Rheinauer (Latinised as Rhenanus), a famous German philologist, a friend and correspondent of Erasmus.]

[233] The duchess of Orleans was so fond of them that her husband could find no finer present to give her than the romance of _Troilus and Cressida_, and one day she sent a messenger in hot haste after a lady of the court who had borrowed a _Cleriadus_ and forgotten to return it—as often happens.

[234] The reading of _Lancelot of the Lake_ inspired Dante, as is well known, with the exquisite passage on Francesca da Rimini.

[235] [“In which there are divers relations of the deceptions of servants towards their masters, and of pimps towards lovers, translated from Italian into French.” Paris: 1527.]

[236] He had got it in the library of the Palace.

[237] A woodcut, thrice repeated in the _Illustrations des Gaules_ (1528) represents France on a throne, with Ill-hap at her feet; on her right is Noblesse, represented as a maiden playing a violin; on her left, the People, depicted as a young man playing a guitar.

[238] National Gallery.

[239] So well interpreted by Giovanni Bellini in his _Girl Singing_ in Hampton Court Palace.

[240] Charles VIII. was even obliged to threaten serious consequences in order to secure the restitution of a singer and a lute-player who had been enticed away when he passed through Florence.

[241] Ockeghem, it has been said, “breathes into his music the soul of song, envelops it in a vigorous harmonic body, and clothes it with a fine tissue of ingenious thematic developments, imitations more or less close and more or less extended. One finds in his pieces, often in their inner parts, phrases of great melodic beauty, and full of an extraordinary sweetness and depth of expression. His harmonies are often enough peculiar and archaic, but they are striking and rich. He also brings his pieces to a close in a manner sometimes surprising and odd, but certainly very interesting.” (R. Eitner.)

[242] _Harmony_, by Paul Veronese (fresco at Masera): _Parnassus_, the _Crowning of the Virgin_, by Raphael (Vatican).

[243] Neapolitan proverb.

[244] Erasmus.

[245] In the Louvre.

[246] The Madrid museum possesses a magnificent portrait of him by Raphael.

[247] He was born, like Leo, in 1470.

[248] An opera-ballet was got up in the open-air by Bergonza di Botta, in his park at Tortona, on the occasion of the marriage of Isabella of Aragon.

[249] At Metz, in 1502, the public violently interrupted and rendered impossible the representation of one of the comedies of Terence which were constantly played at Rome; the performance had to be postponed till next day, when it was continued before a select audience, composed in great part of clergy.

[250] _E.g._ The Mystery of the Passion; of the Three Gifts, played in 1509; of St. Andrew, played in 1512; of St. Barbara, and St. Eustache, played in 1504.

[251] [_Pochades_]

[252] Lorenzo de’ Medici, Pico della Mirandola, Agnolo Dovizio da Bibbiena, Bernardo Ruccellai [see George Eliot’s _Romola_], Machiavelli, and others: it was a singular, incoherent, burlesque procession of characters of all sorts and sizes—devils, deaths, nymphs, courtiers, old husbands, young wives, merry nuns, hunters and huntresses, pages, winds, furies.

[253] “With the tongue seven men are not a match for one woman” (Erasmus, _Colloquies_).

[254] “He who keeps his mouth shut knows no care” (P. Meyer).

[255] _Heptameron_, Tale 10.

[256]

Beneath the broidered sheets we lay—
Sheets flashing with gems and gold—
And whiled the dreary hours away
With comfortable tales of old,
And converse debonair and gay.

[257] [One of the Urbino coterie.]

[258] [A lawyer of Poitiers who is said to have composed a hundred thousand verses, mostly dull. He called himself _Le Traverseur des voies périlleuses_ (the traverser of perilous ways), and wrote moral and familiar letters and _Les Regnars_ (foxes) _traversant les voies périlleuses_.]

[259] [The brilliant Bishop of Orleans (1802-1878), noted equally for his eloquence, his pugnacity, and the huge blue umbrella he carried on sunny days. It was said of him that he was “a journalist who had strayed into a bishopric.” He wrote _Letters on the Education of Girls_, and especially opposed the opening of university courses to girls: he did not wish them to go “from the bosom of the Church to the arms of the University.”]

[260] He adds: “We gambled, played music, took walks, supped, and worked (not often that): no cares, no anxieties! We were often with the Venetian nobles: my life flourished like a growing plant. Nothing could be more pleasant than that life, which lasted five years and a half (September, 1526-February, 1532): we used to chat with the prefect, whose palace was our kingdom and rostrum.”

[261] Raphael’s portrait of Castiglione in the Louvre.

[262] Like the good curé who, seeing a lady shedding hot tears at the conclusion of a superb _exaltet_, charitably approached her to console her for what he believed to be the effect of the music, and stopped aghast when the good dame replied, “Ah! I fancied I heard my poor dead donkey!”

[263]

O liberté aujourd’hui clairsemée
Et cher vendue, on te doit bien servir,
Car en tous lieux souvent est réclamée.

(Alione.)

[O liberty, to-day so rare
And dear sold, we must serve thee well,
For thou art asked for everywhere.]

[264] Here is an example: “Why, Dagoucin,” says Simontaut, “don’t you yet know that women have neither love nor regret?”—“I don’t yet know it,” he replies, “for I have never dared try for their love, for fear of finding less than I hope for.”—“You live on faith and hope, then,” says Nomerfide, “as the plover lives on wind? You are very easy to feed.” (_Heptameron_, Tale 32.)

[265] “When women confess, they always tell what they have not done.” (Old Italian proverb.)

[266]

Rusticus est vere, qui turpia de muliere
Dicit, nam vere sumus omnes de muliere.

(_Facetus._)

[He is truly a boor who speaks ill of women, for verily we are all of woman born.]

[267] _Heptameron_, Tale 62.

[268] [Filippo Beroaldo (1453-1505), professor of ancient literature at Bologna, so learned that Pico della Mirandola called him the ‘Living Library.’ His most curious work is _Declamatio ebriosi, scortatoris et aleatoris_, in which three brothers, a drunkard, a lecher, and a dicer, dispute among themselves which of them, being the most vicious, their father will disinherit.]

[269] [Italian poet (1445-1515) attached to the court of Ludovico il Moro at Milan. When Ludovico was captured by the French, Fregoso went into seclusion and became known as the Friend of Solitude.]

[270] An attempt was made to revive this system in certain notable salons of the 18th century. The rules for the _Lanturelus_ drawn up in Madame Geoffrin’s salon included the obligation of being just, loyal, cheerful and kindly; they forbade one to grow old, that is, to become peevish and misanthropical. The sittings held under the direction of a “queen” were divided into two parts, one devoted to song, poetry and _facéties_, the other to philosophy.

[271]

But that I fear to shock beyond forgiveness
The soilless purity of your chaste ears.

[272] He used to amuse himself with a drunken impromptu-monger, a Roman named Querno, whom he jestingly called Archipoeta. Querno says to him:

Archipoeta facit versus pro mille poetis.

[Arch-poet makes enough verses for a thousand poets]

Leo replies:

Et pro mille aliis Archipoeta bibit.

[And drinks enough for another thousand]

Archipoeta responds:

Porrige quod faciat mihi carmina docta, Falernum,

[Give me some Falernian, to inspire my song]

and Leo:

Hoc etiam enervat debilitatque pedes.

[That also renders your feet weak and shaky]

[273] [A clerical poet (1466-1502) who translated Ovid’s Epistles into French.]

[274]

“De son cheval on fait une rosse,
Et de sa femme une catin.”

[Of one’s horse one makes a jade,
And of one’s wife a harlot.]

[275] _Heptameron_, Tale 52.

[276] Seventy-five letters of this princess have been collected by M. Amante.

[277] [Mistress of Francis I.]

[278] Anne of Laval, for example, writes to her sister: “J’ay entendu que Monsieur mon frère ce vante que à son retour j’auré ung petit neveu. Plust a Dieu qui fust ainsi, d’aussi bon cueur que je le desire. L’espérance que j’en ay me faict vous envoyer des poix en gousse, qui est viande de femme grosse.”

[I have heard that my brother is boasting that on his return I shall have a little nephew. God grant it may be so, of as good heart as I desire it. The hope I have induces me to send you some peas in the pod, which is a food for pregnant women.]

[279] Here are some samples of these private letters:

“Monsigneur, tant et si tres humblement que je puis a vostre bonne grace me recommende.

Monsigneur, je vous suplie tres humblement croire que la créance que remais a ce porteur n’est que la plus grande obaissence que james tres humble fille ne servente vous saroit porter et coume la plus obligée de ce monde.

Monsigneur, prie Dieu qui vous dont tres bonne et tres longue vie.

Voutre tres humble et tres obaissente fille,

Magdalene.

_Address_: Au Roy mon souverain seigneur.”

[My lord, as truly and as humbly as I can I commend myself to your good favour.

My lord, I beg you very humbly to believe that the letter of credit I confide to this carrier is only the greatest obedience that ever humblest maid and servant could bear to you, and like the most dutiful in the world.

My lord, I pray God to give you a very good and very long life.

Your very humble and very obedient daughter,

Magdalene.]

“Ma cousine, je n’ay point voullu que ce porteur soit passé par Chantilli sans vous porter de mes laitres; je vous en usses plutost envoié, mes les piteulses nouvelles qu’avons repsues de Hedin m’an onst engardé, car je n’aime poinct a mander de mauvesses nouvelles, et en cete perte j’ay esté tres esse d’entendre que Monsieur le conte de Villars vostre frere est seulement prisonnir (_sic_) avecq tant d’onneur que je suis sure que vos prieres luy onst beaucoup servi. Vous feres tant pour moy, ma cousine, de croire que tout ce qui vous touchera que je ceray mervelleucement esse qu’il soint anci hureulx comme vous le desires et moy anci ce que je suplie de bien bon cueur Dieu et de vous donner bonne vie et longue et a moy l’eur de vostre bonne grasse a laquelle de bien bon cueur me recommande.

Vostre melieure cousine et amie,

Marguerite de France.

A ma cousine Madame la connestable [duc]esse de Montmorency.”

[My cousin, I would not let this carrier pass through Chantilly without taking some letters from me for you. I should have written sooner, but the dreadful news we have received from Hedin has prevented me, for I do not care to send bad news, and in this loss I was very glad to hear that the count of Villars your brother is only a prisoner, with so much honour that I am sure your prayers have much profited him. You will do so much for me, my cousin, as to believe that, in all that touches you, I shall be wonderfully glad if all falls out as lucky as you desire, and myself too, and I pray God so with all my heart, both to give you a good and long life, and me the bliss of your good favour, to which with all my heart I commend myself.

Your best cousin and friend,

Margaret of France.]

“Mon pere, je ne voulu leser aler se pourteur sans vous faire savoir de mes nouvelles, lequeles sont bonnes, pour se que je aeudire souvan des vostres qai me pabise (?) bien, car s’et au proufit du roy et a vostre ouneur. Je prie Dieu vous i vouloyr tenir; je ne veus oblier a vous faire mes reconmandasions bien fort voustre bonne grase.

Vostre bonne fille,

Marguerite.

A Monsieur le grant maistre.”

[My father, I would not allow this carrier to go without letting you have news of me, which are good, because I have often had news of you which please me, for ’tis to the profit of the king and your honour. I pray that God will keep you in the same; I do not forget to commend myself very earnestly to your good favour.

Your good daughter,

Margaret.]

“Mon pere, j’ay esté tres esse d’entendre par vostre cegretere presant porteur du bon partement du Roy et du vostre et aucy que toutes les afaires continuent de mieulx en mieulx; cant a cele conpagnie, la Royne et monsieur ce portent tres bien, aucy faict tout le reste. Nous ne fesons faute de prier bien Dieu tout les jours pour le Roy; après luy, mon pere, je vous puis assurer que vous estes le prumier (_sic_) en mes auraisons. Je vous prire (_sic_), mon pere, presanter mes tres humbles recommandasions au Roy et me tenir en sa bonne grasse et an la vostre. A laquelle de bien bon ceur me recommande, et prie Dieu vous donner bonne vie et longue.

Vostre milieure figle et cousine,

Marguerite de France.

A mon pere, Monsieur le connestable.”

[My father, I was very glad to hear by your secretary the present bearer of the good departure of the king and yourself, and also that affairs are going better and better: as to this company, the queen and _monsieur_ (the king’s brother) are very well, as are all the rest. We do not neglect to pray God every day for the king: after him, my father, I can assure you that you are the first in my prayers. I beg you, my father, to present my very humble greetings to the king and to keep me in his good favour and in yours. To which with much love I commend myself, praying God to give you good and long life.

Your best daughter and cousin,

Margaret of France.]

[280] [She came near perishing by shipwreck on her way to join her young husband, the Infant of Spain, and composed her epitaph:

Ci-git Margot, la gente demoiselle,
Qu’eut deux maris, et si mourut pucelle.]

[281] She died in 1530, barely fifty years old.

[282] Her portrait is in the Louvre.

[283]

Friends, know that I have changed my dame;
Another holds me at her will,
In soul Renée, Renée her name.

(Renée = re-born: the pun cannot be translated.)

[284] “I fatti sono maschi, le parole femine.”

[285] Clément Marot writes:

Adieu le bal, adieu la dance!;
Adieu mesure, adieu cadence,
Tanbourins, aulboys, violons,
Puisqu’à la guerre nous allons ...
Adieu les regards gracieux,
Messagers des cœurs soucieux;
Adieu les profondes pensées,
Satisfaictes ou offensées;
Adieu les armonieux sons
De rondeaulx, dixains et chansons ...
Adieu la lettre, adieu le page!
(To the court ladies.)

[Farewell to dance, farewell to ball,
And cadenced measures, farewell all!
Fiddles, hautboys, tambourines,
For we go to warlike scenes.
Sweet looks from ladies’ eyes, that tell
How much they love us, fare ye well!
Farewell to meditation deep,
That gives us joy or mars our sleep;
Farewell to all harmonious strains
Of ballads, rondeaux, and dizains;
Letters and pages, all farewell!]

[286] National Gallery.

[287] _Ibid._

[288] The brilliant captain whose Memoirs or Commentaries, it is said, were afterwards called the Soldier’s Bible by Henri IV.

[289] “Catherine, if you make the dance go thus, Atlas will find the world a lighter burden,” exclaims a poet.

[290] Francis I. regarded this as Michelangelo’s masterpiece.

[291] Emile Trolliet, _La Vie silencieuse_.

The veil of flesh is rent; the spirit’s light
Pierces and routs the clinging mist of sense;
And Earth, this Virgin and this God beholding,
Learns what Love is, and worships Womankind.

[292] [The sovereign family of Rimini and Romania, a race of warriors and cut-throats. Robert, commandant of the troops of Sixtus IV., was poisoned by Riario in 1483.]

[293]

En cas d’amour, c’est trop peu d’une dame,
Car si un homme aime une honneste femme,
Et s’il ne peut à son aise l’avoir,
Il fait très bien d’autre accointance avoir.

(Melin de Saint-Gelais.)

[In case of love, one dame doth not suffice,
For if a man loveth one fair of fame,
And cannot have her at an easy price,
’Tis well for him to have another flame.]

[294] _Heptameron_, Tale 42.

[295] Coquillart.

[296] _Heptameron_, Tale 8.

[297] _Heptameron_, Tale 38.

[298] Nifo, _De Amore_, cap. xvi.: _De viro aulico_, Bk. I., caps. xxx.-xxxiv.

[299] _Heptameron_, Tale 4.

[300] _Heptameron_, Tales 18 and 25.

[301] _Heptameron_, Tale 24.

[302] _Ibid._, Tale 50.

[303] _Ibid._, Tale 5.

[304] Calvin regards his co-workers as “playactors,” worthy of bespattering with mud. “The future appals me,” he cries: “I dare not think of it: unless the Lord descends from heaven, barbarism will engulf us.” (Preface to the Geneva Catechism.)

[305] Aretino wrote placidly: “I have legitimated my dear girls in my heart; no other ceremony is needed.”

[306] Natural children easily obtained recognition by the concession of the right to bear arms, or their legitimation. In Italy, legitimation was only a fiscal formality; Innocent VIII. gave his nephew the right of granting it.

[307] The Grecised name of Otto Schwartzmann, German jurisconsult (1571-1670).

[308] The “Pomeranian doctor” (1485-1558). He married Luther, and buried him, and was one of his coadjutors in the translation of the Bible.

[309] Bernardino Ochino of Sienna (1487-1565). He was a monk, and for three years general of the Capuchins, but turned Protestant and got into hot water with the Church. He spent a few years in England at the invitation of Cranmer. A man of rare independence of mind, his opinions soon verged towards heresy, and his _Diologi_, in which he opposed the doctrines of the Incarnation, the divinity of Christ, and others, and spoke in favour of polygamy, brought on him the displeasure and even persecution of his co-religionists.

[310] “Difficiles aditu fugias in amore puellas.” (_Celtis_, _Quattuor libri_.)

[311] _Heptameron_, Tale 30.

[312]

Souvienne-toy, regaignant ta raison,
Que ta maîtresse est de grande maison,
De noble sang, et non pas amusée
A dévider ou tourner la fusée;
Et que son œil, mais plutôt un soleil doré,
Et son esprit, des autres adoré,
Et ses cheveux, les liens de ta prise,
Sa belle main, à la victoire apprise,
Son ris, son chant, son parler et sa voix,
Méritent bien le mal que tu reçois.

(Ronsard.)

[Remember, when thou canst regain thy nous,
Thy mistress is of high and famous house,
Of noble blood, nor is she wont to play
At wheel and distaff all the livelong day.
Remember that her eye, a sun of gold,
Her mind, by other worshippers extolled,
Her hair, the bonds of thy captivity,
Her lovely hand, well trained to victory,
Her smile, her song, her speech, her gentle voice
Deserve that for thy smart thou shouldst rejoice.]

[313]

Et, si l’on dit que le privé toucher
Faict près du feu le tison approcher,
Je respondray: Il y ha ja longtemps
Que, si l’honneur, où tousjours je prétens,
N’eust en moy deu faire plus de demeure,
Un, que nommer je ne veux pour ceste heure,
Par les effors de sa langue diserte
Auroit plus tost tiré gaing de ma perte,
Que par baisers, ne par approchements
Qui de la chair ne sont qu’attouchemens.

Héroët (one of Margaret’s friends).

[And if one says the intimate caress
Is fire to tinder, then will I confess
That if the honour hitherto my pride
Within my soul no longer would abide,
Long, long ere now a man I will not name
(Lest at this hour it bring us both to shame),
Would by his tongue’s delicious eloquence
Have won his profit at my dear expense
Far speedier than by kiss or dalliance hot,
That titillates the flesh, and is forgot.]

[314] The ancient Valentinians went much farther, and maintained that it is impossible to the witty to become corrupt, whatever their actions.

[315]

Qu’eust fait ce grec, si ceste image nue
Entre ses bras fust Vénus devenue?
Que suis-je lors, quand Louize me touche
Et, l’accollant, d’un long baiser me baise?
L’âme me part, et, mourant en cet aise,
Je la reprens ja fuiant en sa bouche.

[What would that Greek of old have done if in his clinging arms
His naked statue had become Venus with all her charms?
And when Louisa touches me, ah! what is then my bliss,
When all my body tingles with the thrill of her long kiss?
In that sweet agony I die, my soul then from me slips;
But I catch it as it passes ’twixt my lady’s burning lips.]

[316] There are some rather lively and amusing letters of Bibbiena. On February 7, 1516, he wrote to the Marchioness of Mantua: “The compliments your Excellency has been good enough to pay me on behalf of Isabella have given me supreme pleasure, for I have always loved and still love Isabella more than myself. I am wholly Isabella’s, body and soul; so that, whether loving or not loving Isabella Mario, I am wholly hers, and desire above all things in the world to be loved by her.”

[317] _Heptameron_, Tales 20, 25, 14.

[318] Here are specimens of Phausina’s talk, that Nifo found so delightful. “Phausina,” said he, “since it befell me to love you, you have become an Aurora, superb, resplendent! How happy it makes me!”—“Near such a sun as you,” she replies, “ought I not to become the finest dawn ever seen?”

“One day I asked her how it was that with her sixteen years and her charm she could love an old fellow like me, reciprocity of love resulting philosophically from a certain similarity.”—“True, we are different,” she replied prettily, “yet we are wholly at one in the basis of our mutual love” (she meant beauty of soul).

“Who is the true lover?” he said. “The idolater,” she replied, “is he who adores the image and not the divinity; the false lover, he who loves the face of a girl, but does not respect her modesty.”

“Phausina, how can you love a man with one foot in the grave?” “’Tis not the dotard I love so warmly, but he whom neither age nor anything can affect; he who, after his death, will come to life again.”

“One day I was teasing Phausina: to provoke her I said, ‘Come now. Phausina, when you are quite old, do you think I shall still love you?’: ‘Why, of course,’ she said: ‘what you love in me will not grow old. Petrarch loved Laura ardently, young, mature, living, dead: he saw no mark of age, which nevertheless he might have earnestly desired, so that he might enjoy her beauty without any suspicion.’ And I then asked Phausina what would be the reward for such a love. ‘That you will not be a liar when you shower your praises on me.’”

[319] “One day, among the group of girls, someone set the little problem of guessing what gave me the greatest pleasure in my relations with Phausina. One of them said it was to gaze at so pretty a woman, another that her conversation was very sweet, another swore that in reality it was because we wrangled so pleasantly, and that she knew it. Phausina smiled and said: ‘We all know, my dear Nifo, that all those things go to produce my pleasure: but my deepest satisfaction is to be able to enjoy everything, frequently, freely, without fear of material seductions, because of your age.’”

[320]

Ma dame, un jour, daigna tant s’abaisser,
Parlant à moy, de doucement me dire:
‘Je ne te veux, amy, rien escond[u]ire
Qui soit en moy, je te pry le penser.’
Et pour encor du tout récompenser
Mon triste cueur de l’enduré martire,
Sa blanche main hors du gand elle tire
Et me la tend pour la mener danser.

(Magny, p. 7.)

[My fair did condescend one day
Sweetly to speak to me, and say:
“My friend, nothing will I deny thee
Of all I have, come prithee, try me.”
And for to recompense my heart
For all its grievous dole and smart,
From out her glove she drew her lily hand,
To lead her forth to dance did then command.]

[321] “And you, Madam, if you succumb to the flesh, beat your breast, for you do not shun temptation. Why do you stand at your window? why chat with young men?... Why go to the ball and give yourself to so many idle conversations? Shun temptation, and the devil will leave you in peace. Resist him and he will flee from you!” Woman’s tongue is one of the greatest of the devil’s instruments: “I did that because the devil seduced me:” it is Eve over again: “The serpent beguiled me.” (Baraleta.)

[322] “Casta est quam nemo rogavit.”

[323]

The servant that is brisk and trusty
Becometh master ere he be rusty.

[324] _Heptameron_, Tale 40, and prologue of first day.

[325] “Most illustrious and wicked girl. When the terrible duchess Elizabeth was alive, she made me her martyr and protomartyr; and you perhaps, nay certainly, with your angel’s face and your serpent’s heart, were her perfidious counsel to my detriment; and now look at me, compelled by aid of medicine to support as best I can the miserable remnant of a life thus exhausted. Through that pity which you know not, either in life or in fiction, you will condescend to do me the favour to send me a _baratollo_ or rather a little tree of _barbe di calcatrepuli_, a specialty of Urbino, so that I may boast of once having had a prayer granted by the flinty ladies of the house of Gonzaga. I do not commend myself to your highness, not wishing to waste my words on the air. I only pray Heaven to keep you long in health and happiness, so that you may long make mincemeat (_macello_) of your servitors.—Your servant for life, Unicus.”

[326] _Heptameron_, Tale 8.

[327] Tales 9, 10.

[328] One of the ladies replies tranquilly: “I should prefer all my life long to see the bones of all my servitors in my room than to die for them: for everything can be amended but death.” (_Heptameron_, Tale 32.)

[329]

“Je le sçay bien, mais point ne le veux croire,
Car je perdrois l’aise que j’ai reçeu.”

(Clément Marot.)

[I know it well, but will not it believe,
For I should lose the comfort I receive.]

[330] Hütten writes: “What shall I say of Samson, who while all but in the arms of a woman received the inspiration of the Holy Ghost?... And of Solomon, who had 300 queens and an infinite number of concubines, till his death, and who nevertheless in the eyes of the divines passes for saved? What is the inference? I am not stronger than Solomon, nor wiser, and one must sometimes have a little joy. The doctors say ’tis necessary to cure melancholy. Well, what do you say of these grave authors? Ecclesiastes says: ‘There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works.’ So I say to my love, with Solomon: ‘Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy hairs. How fair is thy breast, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy breast than wine!’ and so on.”

[331] _Heptameron_, Tale 15.

[332] _Ibid._, Tale 18.

[333] _Ibid._, Tale 13 and end of First Day.

[334] [Referring to the fable of the Stork and the Fox, versified later by La Fontaine. “The stork with his long neck could not pick up a bit.”]

[335]

Comes from divinity,
And its torment from our humanity.

[336] [Ninon was the celebrated courtesan who, without any great beauty, retained her ascendancy over men through a long life (1616-1706). She was well-born, wealthy and witty, and capricious in the bestowal of her favours. She is the original of Clarisse in Mlle de Scudéry’s interminable romance _Clélie_. Herself a writer and a lover of literature, she left Voltaire 2000 francs to buy books.]

[337] [An ancient princely family of Rome which claimed descent from Fabius Maximus the Dictator.]

[338] Panormita, who died in 1471, had already employed his muse in lamenting departed courtesans; for example:

Hoc jacet ingenuae formae Catharina sepulcro;
Grata fuit multis scita puella procis, etc.

[In this tomb lies Catharine of noble beauty: pleasing was the fair girl to many a wooer.]

[339] Women “may accept of our service unto a certain measure, and make us honestly perceive how they disdain us not; for the law which enjoineth them to abhor us, because we adore them, and to hate us forasmuch as we love them, is doubtless very cruel.... A queen of our time said wittily that to refuse men’s kind summons is a testimony of much weakness, and an accusing of one’s own facility, and that an unattempted lady could not vaunt of her chastity.... If rareness be in any thing worthy estimation, it ought to be in this.” And again: “In my time, the pleasure of reporting and blabbing what one hath done (a pleasure not much short of the act itself in sweetness) was only allowed to such as had some assured, trusty and singular friend; whereas nowadays the ordinary entertainments and familiar discourses of meetings and at tables are the boastings of favours received, graces obtained, and secret liberalities of ladies. Verily it is too great an abjection and argueth a baseness of heart, so fiercely to suffer those tender, dainty, delicious joys to be persecuted, pelted and foraged by persons so ungrateful, so indiscreet, and so giddy-headed.” (Montaigne, Bk. III., cap. v.)

[340] Vice was incredibly base and ignoble at the courts of Charles VIII. and Louis XII. Ragged and loathsome wretches went everywhere in the train of the court, to whom the princes gave alms on fête days.

[341]

[Nor will you find it hard to tell
On what fair morning this befell.]

[342]

[God hath sent you to this place
Like some miracle of grace,
That you may both have and hold
Our great sovreign’s heart of gold,
And that like a holy fire,
Purified in all desire
His affection light may shed,
By your true perfections fed.
Kings to mortal men below
God’s own form and image show.]

[343] [And you have won the whole great heart of France.]

[344]

[Shall I alone of all this age in France
Forbear to sing thy dread and puissant name,
Nor tell the glory of thy crescent flame,
Nor by some deathless rime thy praise enhance?]

[345] Some historians have maintained that the love of Henri II. for Diana was purely platonic.

[346] As a prelate and an aspirant to the purple Bembo was tied to celibacy; but he was only in the lower ranks of the clergy so far as actual _orders_ were concerned.

[347] Before becoming pope Julius had shaved. It was during his pontificate that the discussion waxed bitter. Clement VII. lent his name to the tractate _Pro sacerdotum barbis_ of Piero.

[348] “Well may a piece of marble raise your titles as high as you list, because you have repaired a piece of an old wall, or cleansed a common ditch, but men of judgment will never do it.” (Montaigne, III. x.)

[349] In the Louvre.

[350]

The day thy sail dipped to the dancing brine,
And from our streaming eyes robbed sight of thine,
That fatal bark bore far from weeping France
The Muses erst who dwelt there—sad mischance!
And now Parnassus thrums a tuneless lyre,
And Helicon distils an ooze of mire;
Our laurel is all parched, our ivy sere,
Our song-birds stint their singing—thou not here!

[351]

Prince Françoys, veulx tu, comme seigneur
Supérieur, estre dominateur,
Prans pour faveur, par amour et mérite.
Celle qui est en florée verdeur,
Digne d’honneur, nommée Margarite.

[Prince Francis, if thou dost desire
To rule indeed as lord and sire,
For love and worth in favour set
Her who is filled with youthful fire,
Deserving honour, Margaret.]

[352] This is especially noticeable in her first work, _The Mirror of the Soul_, which she modestly called the work of a woman “who had in herself neither science nor knowledge.” Besides, she employed a good secretary.

[353] Another anecdote of the court of Urbino. A Bergamese peasant had just entered the service of a nobleman. The princesses were told that there had arrived a retainer of Cardinal Borgia, who was a fine musician, a dancer, and a great oddity. They fetched him in, welcomed him, sat him down among them, and lionised him with great respect. Unhappily the good man spoke an indescribable jargon. The author of the trick made the princesses believe that he was shamming the Lombard peasant for fun. The scene lasted a rather long time, while those in the secret were splitting their sides.

[354]

O main polye, main divine,
Main qui n’as ta pareille en terre,
Main qui tient la paix et la guerre ...
Main portant la clef pour fermer
Et ouvrir l’huys de bien aymer,
Main plaisante, main délicate,
Je n’oserois te dire ingrate.
Tu peulx blesser, tu peulx guérir,
Tu peulx faire vivre et mourir.

[O fair smooth hand, O hand divine,
Hand never match’d on earth before,
The arbiter of peace and war,
That bears the key to lock or loose
The door for happy lover’s use,
O pleasant hand and dainty, ne’er
To call thee thankless could I dare.
’Tis thine to wound and thine to heal,
And thine both life and death to deal.]

[355] The question has often been asked whether the _Heptameron_ is a work of imagination, or whether it should be taken seriously. After the labours of MM. de Montaiglon, Franck, and Gaston Pâris, to speak only of the principal authorities, there can be no longer any doubt. Margaret, like Castiglione, certifies in a general way the veracity of her stories. She worked at this collection for several years, beginning probably in 1545, and with so much care that in 1549, when she died, she left it incomplete. The _Heptameron_ then is not a juvenile work, but the testament of her court life and her philosophic career, and an autobiography, since several anecdotes relate to her, her brother, and her intimate friends. Moreover, among the large number of manuscripts she left in her portfolios, Boistuau (another strange character, to judge by his works!) chose this one to publish under the title of _History of Fortunate Lovers_, with some touching up, and a few excisions he thought it well to make in certain risky passages. This precaution gave offence, and Margaret’s own daughter took care to get a new and authentic edition published, two years later.

[356] So we identify “Simontault,” [one of the _raconteurs_ of the _Heptameron_].

[357] Thus we identify “Nomerfide.”

[358] “Ennasuite.”

[359] Margaret excelled in artistic needlework. She made a piece of tapestry, representing a high mass as perfectly as a picture could have done. While she plied her needle, she had near her someone to read to her, or a historian, poet, or writer of some kind to talk to her.

[360] Very few poets had the audacity of Clément Marot, who, harassed by his creditors, went a-begging to the Queen of Navarre, beslavering her with love the while: she replied with a _dixain_. He acknowledged receipt of it ironically, saying that on the strength of her verses his creditors have called him “Monsieur,” and have permitted him to borrow again, which he proceeded to do.

[361] “My heart’s friend, I beg you to send me the crucifix for a short time, even if it is not far advanced, so that I may show it to the gentlemen of the Most Reverend Cardinal of Mantua. And if you are not very busy to-day, come and talk to me at any hour that suits you.—Yours to command, the Marchioness of Pescara.”

[362] [Usually known as Lydius Cattus. His Latin poems in praise of Lydia appeared at Venice in 1502.]

[363] [A Portuguese writer (1505-1566) who spent the most of his life in France and taught philosophy at Paris. He is chiefly notable for his crushing reply to Ramus’s attacks on Aristotle.]

[364] Paul Bourget, address in the French Academy, Dec. 9, 1897.

[365] He undertook to write for her the _Annals of Brittany_, and had an idea of a history of the Greeks and Turks for the same princess.

[366] [So called because their aim was to purify the Italian tongue by sifting the wheat from the chaff.]