We see, ’neath white attire,In mourning great and sadness,Passing, with many a charmOf beauty, this fair goddess,Holding the shaft in handOf her son, heartless.And Love, without his frontlet,Fluttering round her,Hiding his bandaged eyesWith veil of mourningOn which these words are writ:Die or be captured.
We see, ’neath white attire,In mourning great and sadness,Passing, with many a charmOf beauty, this fair goddess,Holding the shaft in handOf her son, heartless.
And Love, without his frontlet,Fluttering round her,Hiding his bandaged eyesWith veil of mourningOn which these words are writ:Die or be captured.
(Seepage 94.)
Translation as nearly literal as possible.
In my sad, sweet song,In tones most lamentableI cast my cutting griefOf loss incomparable;And in poignant sighsI pass my best of years.Was ever such an illOf hard destiny,Or so sad a sorrowOf a happy lady,That my heart and eyeShould gaze on bier and coffin?That I, in my sweet springtide,In the flower of youth,All these pains should feelOf excessive sadness,With naught to give me pleasureExcept regret and yearning?That which to me was pleasantNow is hard and painful;The brightest light of dayIs darkness black and dismal;Nothing is now delightIn that of me required.I have, in heart and eye,A portrait and an imageThat mark my mourning lifeAnd my pale visageWith violet tones that areThe tint of grieving lovers.For my restless sorrowI can rest nowhere;Why should I change in placeSince sorrow will not efface?My worst and yet my bestAre in the loneliest places.When in some still sojournIn forest or in field,Be it by dawn of day,Or in the vesper hour,Unceasing feels my heartRegret for one departed.If sometimes toward the skiesMy glance uplifts itself,The gentle iris of his eyesI see in clouds; or elseI see it in the water,As in a grave.If I lie at restSlumbering on my couch,I hear him speak to me,I feel his touch;In labour, in repose,He is ever near me.I see no other object,Though beauteous it may beIn many a subject,To which my heart consents,Since its perfection lacksIn this affection.End here, my song,Thy sad complaint,Of which be this the burden:True love, not feigned,Because of separationShall have no diminution.
In my sad, sweet song,In tones most lamentableI cast my cutting griefOf loss incomparable;And in poignant sighsI pass my best of years.
Was ever such an illOf hard destiny,Or so sad a sorrowOf a happy lady,That my heart and eyeShould gaze on bier and coffin?
That I, in my sweet springtide,In the flower of youth,All these pains should feelOf excessive sadness,With naught to give me pleasureExcept regret and yearning?
That which to me was pleasantNow is hard and painful;The brightest light of dayIs darkness black and dismal;Nothing is now delightIn that of me required.
I have, in heart and eye,A portrait and an imageThat mark my mourning lifeAnd my pale visageWith violet tones that areThe tint of grieving lovers.
For my restless sorrowI can rest nowhere;Why should I change in placeSince sorrow will not efface?My worst and yet my bestAre in the loneliest places.
When in some still sojournIn forest or in field,Be it by dawn of day,Or in the vesper hour,Unceasing feels my heartRegret for one departed.
If sometimes toward the skiesMy glance uplifts itself,The gentle iris of his eyesI see in clouds; or elseI see it in the water,As in a grave.
If I lie at restSlumbering on my couch,I hear him speak to me,I feel his touch;In labour, in repose,He is ever near me.
I see no other object,Though beauteous it may beIn many a subject,To which my heart consents,Since its perfection lacksIn this affection.
End here, my song,Thy sad complaint,Of which be this the burden:True love, not feigned,Because of separationShall have no diminution.
(Seepage 235.)
This book, entitledLes Marguerites de la Marguerite des princesses, is a collection of the poems of this princess, made by Simon de La Haie, surnamed Sylvius, hervalet de chambre, and printed at Lyon, by Jean de Tournes, 1547, 8vo.
TheNouvellesof the Queen of Navarre appeared for the first time without the name of the author, under the title:Histoire des Amants fortunés, dediée à l’illustre princesse, Madame Marguerite de Bourbon, Duchesse de Nivernois, by Pierre Boaistuau, called Launay. Paris, 1558 4to. This edition contains only sixty-seven tales, and the text has been garbled by Boaistuau. The second edition is entitled:Heptameron des Nouvelles de très-illustre et très-excellente princesse Marguerite de Valois, reine de Navarre, remis en son vrai ordre, by Charles Gruget, Paris, 1559, 4to.
French editor.
In 1841 M. Genin published a volume of Queen Marguerite’s letters, and in the following year a volume of her letters addressed to François I.
Since then Comte H. de La Ferrière-Percy has made her the subject of an interesting “Study.” This careful investigator having discovered her book of expenses, kept by Frotté, Marguerite’s secretary, has developed from it a daily proof of the beneficent spirit and inexhaustible liberality of the good queen. The title of the book is:Marguerite d’Angoulême, sœur de François Ier. Aubry: Paris, 1862.
The poems of François I., with other verses by his sister and mother, were published in 1847 by M. Aimé Champollion.
Notes to Sainte-Beuve’s Essay.
(Seepage 262.)
The Ladies given in Discourse VII. appear under the head of “The Widows” in the volume ofLes Dames Galantes, a very different book from theLivre des Dames, which is their rightful place. As Brantôme placed them under the title of Widows, he has naturally enlarged chiefly upon the period of their widowhood.
French editor.
A,B,C,D,É,F,G,H,I,J,L,M,N,P,R,S,T,V,Y
Anne de Bretagne, Queen of France, wife of Charles VIII. and of Louis XII., her inheritance, lovers, and first marriage,25,26;her beauty, wisdom, and goodness,26;spirit of revenge,27,28;second marriage,29;the first queen to hold a great court, a noble school for ladies,29,30;how King Louis honoured her,30-32;her death and burial,32-34;her noble record,34,35,37;her tomb at Saint-Denis,39;the founder of a school of manners and perfection for her sex,42,43;Sainte-Beuve’s remarks upon her,40-43,219.Anne de France(Madame), daughter of Louis XI.,216-218.Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie,293-297.Book of the Ladies(The), Brantôme’s own name for this volume,1.Bourdeille(Madame de),297,298.Bourdeille(Pierre de), Abbé de Brantôme, his name for the present volume,1;origin and arms of his family,3,4;general sketch of his life and career,4-19;his retirement,20;his books, his will,21;titles of his books, when first printed,22,23.Castelnaud(Pierre de), his account of Brantôme,1-3.Catherine de Clèves, wife of Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, “le Balafré,”297.Catherine de’ Medici, Queen of France, wife of Henri II.,44;sketchof the Medici,45-48;her marriage to the dauphin,48-50;personal appearance and tastes,51-54;her mind,54;conduct as regent and queen-mother, Brantôme’s defence of it,57-72;her liberality and public works,74;her accomplishments and majesty,75-77;her court,77-80,81,82;Henri IV.’s opinion of it,83;her death at Blois,83;Sainte-Beuve’s estimate of her,85-88;H. de Balzac’s novel upon her,86;Mézeray’s opinion of her,85;her daughter Élisabeth’s fear of her,145,146;164,165,167,289,290,300.Charles IX., King of France, his funeral attended by Brantôme,35-37;198,264,265,271,272.Charlotte de France(Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, died young,223.Chastellard(Seigneur de), his journey with Brantôme in attendance on Marie Stuart to Scotland,99;his story and death,117-120.Christineof Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine,283-291.Claude de France(Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of François I., died young,223.Claude de France(Madame), daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, wife of the Duc de Lorraine,229-231.Cordelière(La), man-o’-war built by Anne de Bretagne, which fought the “Regent of England,” both ships destroyed,30,299.Dargaud(M.), his impulsive history of Marie Stuart,122.Diane de France(Madame), Duchesse d’Angoulême, illegitimate daughter of Henri II.,231-234.Élisabeth de France, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, second wife of Philip II. of Spain,137-151,229,230,270,271.Élisabeth de France, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri IV. and Marie de’ Medici, her portraits by Rubens,212.Fleur-de-lis, how connected with the Florentine lily,45.François I., King of France,219,220,236,237,238,241,245-249,254.Germaine de Foix, wife of King Ferdinand of Spain,142,143.Guise(Henri I., Duc de), le Balafré,117,198,199,273,283,288.Guise(Catherine de Clèves, Duchesse de),283,289.Henri II., King of France,231,232.Henri III., King of France,177,178,180,184,196-198,234,267,280,283,285,286,292.Henri IV., King of France, opinion of Catherine de’ Medici,83,87,88;176,180,181,201,209;remark at the coronation of Marie de’ Medici,210;234.Isabelle d’Autriche, Queen of France, daughter of Maximilian II., wife of Charles IX. of France,262-270.Isabella of Bavaria, wife of Charles VI. of France, first brought the pomps and fashions of dress to France,157.Jeanne d’Autriche, wife of Jean, Infante of Portugal,270-273.Jeanne de France(Madame), daughterof Louis XI., married to and divorced by Louis XII.,215,216.Labanoff(Prince Alexander), his careful research into the history of Marie Stuart,121.L’Hôpital(Michel de), chancellor of France, epithalamium on the marriage of Marie Stuart and François II.,124;his changed feeling,131,132.LouisXII., King of France,25,29,30,31,32,39,41-43.Louise de France(Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, died young,223.Louise de Lorraine, Queen of France, wife of Henri III.,280-282,283.Magdelaine de France(Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, wife of James V. of Scotland,223,224.Maintenon(Madame de), a pendant to Anne de Bretagne,43.Maison-Fleur(M. de),91,97,300.Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre, sister of François I., wife of Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre, grandmother of Henri IV.,234;her poems,235;her devotion to her brother,237-240,245,249;interest in the phenomenon of death,242;her “Nouvelles,”242,243,244;Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her,243-261;her learning and comprehension of the Renaissance,244,245;her letters,249;Erasmus’ opinion of her,250,251;favours, but does not belongto, the Religion,251-255;her writings, the Heptameron,255-260;the patron of the Renaissance,261;her works,303.Marguerite de France(Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, wife of the Duc de Savoie,224-229.Marguerite, Queen of France and of Navarre, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, wife of HenriIV., Brantôme visits her at the Castle of Usson and dedicates his work to her,19;mention of her in his will,22;his discourse,152-193;her beauty and style of dress,153-163;her mind and education,164-166;marriage to Henri IV.,167;Brantôme’s argument in favour of the Salic law,168-175;difficulty of religion between herself and her husband,176;her dignity and sense of honour,178-180;retirement in the Castle of Usson,183;on ill terms with her brother Henri III.,184;her beautiful dancing,185;her liberality and generosity,186-190;love of reading,191;corresponds with Brantôme,191;Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her,193;reasons why she began her Memoirs,195;faithfulness to the Catholic religion,195;intimacy with her brother d’Anjou, Henri III.,196,197;her love for Henri Duc de Guise, le Balafré, her marriage to Henri IV.,198;the Saint-Bartholomew,201;her Memoirs,202, etc.;anecdote of a Princesse de Ligne,205;friendship with her brother, Duc d’Alençon,206;her letters,208;her life at Usson,209;divorce from Henri IV.,209,210;return to Paris, eccentricities, appearance at the coronation of Marie de’ Medici,210-212;comparison with Marie Stuart,213;her real merit,213,231.Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse,282,283.Marie d’Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II.,291-293.Marie d’Autriche, sister of the Emperor Charles V. and wife of Louis, King of Hungary,273-280.Marie Stuart, Queen of France and Scotland, her parentage,89;youthful accomplishments and beauty,90-93;marriage to François II., and widowhood,93,94;her poem on her widowhood,94-96,294;Charles IX.’s love for her,96;returns to Scotland,Brantôme accompanies her,97-101,marriage to Darnley,101;Brantôme’s defence of her,102;her disasters,103;her imprisonment in England,104;her death, as related to Brantôme by one of her ladies there present,105-115;Sainte-Beuve’s essay on Marie Stuart and summing up of her life,121-136,289;her poem on her widowhood, translation,301.Mézeray(François Eudes de), his History of France, his picture of Catherine de’ Medici,85.Mignet(François Auguste), his invaluable History of Marie Stuart,121,122,136.Moland(M. Henri), his essay on Brantôme used in the introduction to this volume,1.Niel(M.), librarian to Ministry of the Interior, his collection of original portraits and crayons of celebrated persons of the 16th century,86,87.Patin(Gui), his feelings in Saint-Denis before the tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne,40,41.Philip II.of Spain,138,139,142.Renée de France(Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of the Duke of Ferrara,220-223.Rœderer(Comte), his Memoirs on Polite Society, study of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne,41-43.Ronsard(Pierre de),91,124,156,157,160,185,224.Sainte-Beuve(Charles-Augustin), his remarks on Anne de Bretagne,40-43;his estimate of Catherine de’ Medici,85-88;his essay on Marie Stuart,121-136;on Marguerite de Navarre,193-213;on Marguerite de Valois,243-261.Salic Law(the), Brantôme’s argument about it,168-175.Tavannes(Vicomte de), Memoirs,136.Vignaud(M. H.), his introduction to Brantôme’s “Vie des Dames Illustres” used in the introduction to this volume,1.Vincent de Paul(Saint), chaplain to Queen Marguerite de Navarre,212.Yoland de France(Madame), daughter of Charles VII. and wife of the Duc de Savoie,214,215.