Margaret, Queen Of Navarre - The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. IV. (of V.)

M >> Margaret, Queen Of Navarre >> The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. IV. (of V.)

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

The longed-for evening being come, the gentleman repaired to the
appointed place with such extreme joy as must needs come soon to an end,
since increase of it were not possible. He had waited but a short time
after his arrival, when she whom he loved more dearly than his own soul
came to meet him. He did not occupy himself with making long speeches,
for the fire that consumed him prompted him to seek with all speed that
which he could scarcely believe to be at last within his power. But
whilst, intoxicated beyond measure with love and joy, he was in one
direction seeking a cure that would give him life, he brought to pass
in another the hastening of his death; for, heedless of himself for his
sweetheart's sake, he perceived not that his arm became unbound, and
that the newly-opened wound discharged so much blood that he was, poor
gentleman, completely bathed in it. Thinking, however, that his weakness
had been caused by his excess, he bethought himself of returning home.

Then love, which had too closely united them, so dealt with him that, as
he was parting from his sweetheart, his soul parted from his body, and,
by reason of his great loss of blood, he fell dead at his lady's feet.

She, on her side, stood there in astonishment, contemplating the loss of
so perfect a lover, of whose death she had herself been the sole cause.
Reflecting, on the other hand, on the shame and sorrow that would be
hers if the dead body were found in her house, she carried it, with a
serving-woman whom she trusted, into the street in order that the matter
might not be known. Nevertheless, she felt that she could not leave it
there alone. Taking up the dead man's sword, she was fain to share his
fate, and, indeed, to punish her heart, which had been the cause of all
his woe, she pierced it through and through, so that her dead body fell
upon that of her lover.

When her father and mother came out of their house in the morning,
they found this pitiful sight, and, after making such mourning as was
natural, they buried the lovers together.

"Thus, ladies, may it be seen that excessive love brings with it other
woe."

"This is what I like to see," said Simontault, "a love so equal that
when one died the other could not live. Had I, by the grace of God,
found such a mistress, I think that none could ever have ioved her more
perfectly than I."

"Yet am I of opinion," said Parlamente, "that you would not have been so
blinded by love as not to bind up your arm better than he did. The days
are gone when men were wont to forget their lives for the ladies' sake."

"But those are not gone," said Simontault, "when ladies are apt to
forget their lovers' lives for their pleasure's sake."

"I think," said Ennasuite, "that there is no living woman that can take
pleasure in the death of a man, no, not even though he were her enemy.
Still, if men will indeed kill themselves, the ladies cannot prevent
them."

"Nevertheless," said Saffredent, "she that denies the gift of bread to a
poor starving man is held to be a murderess."

"If your requests," said Oisille, "were as reasonable as those of a poor
man seeking to supply his needs, it would be over cruel of the ladies to
refuse you. God be thanked, however, your sickness kills none but such
as must of necessity die within the year."

"I do not understand, madam," said Saffredent, "that there can be any
greater need than that which causes all others to be forgotten. When
love is deep, no bread and no meat whatsoever can be thought of save the
glance and speech of the woman whom one loves."

"If you were allowed to fast," said Oisille, "with no other meat but
that, you would tell a very different tale."

"I acknowledge," he replied, "that the body might fail, but not so the
heart and will."

"Then," said Parlamente, "God has dealt very mercifully with you in
leading you to have recourse to a quarter where you find such little
contentment that you must needs console yourself with eating and
drinking. Methinks in these matters you acquit yourself so well, that
you should praise God for the tenderness of His cruelty."

"I have been so nurtured in torment," he replied, "that I am beginning
to be well pleased with woes of which other men complain."

"Perhaps," said Longarine, "our complaints debar you from company where
your gladness makes you welcome; for nothing is so vexatious as an
importunate lover."

"Say, rather," answered Simontault, "as a cruel lady ------'"

"I clearly see," said Oisille, "now that the matter touches Simontault,
that, if we stay until he brings his reasonings to an end, we shall find
ourselves at complines (3) rather than vespers. Let us, therefore, go
and praise God that this day has passed without graver dispute."

3 The last division in the Roman Catholic breviary.--Ed.

She was the first to rise, and all the others followed her, but
Simontault and Longarine ceased not to carry on their quarrel, yet so
gently that, without drawing of sword, Simontault won the victory, and
proved that the strongest passion was the sorest need.

At this point they entered the church, where the monks were waiting for
them.

Having heard vespers, they went to sup as much off words as meat, for
their converse lasted as long as they were at table, and throughout the
evening also, until Oisille told them that they might well retire and
give some rest to their minds. The five days that were past had been
filled with such brave stories, that she had great fear lest the sixth
should not be equal to them; for, even if they were to invent their
tales, it was not possible to tell any better than those true ones which
had already been related in the company.

Geburon, however, told her that, so long as the world lasted, things
would happen worthy of remembrance.

"For," said he, "the wickedness of wicked men is always what it has been,
as also is the goodness of the good. So long as wickedness and good
reign upon earth, they will ever fill it with fresh actions, although it
be written that there is nothing new under the sun. (4) But we, who have
not been summoned to the intimate counsels of God, and who are ignorant
of first causes, deem all new things noteworthy in proportion as we
would not or could not ourselves accomplish them. So, be not afraid that
the days to come will not be in keeping with those that are past, and be
sure that on your own part you perform well your duty."

4 _Ecclesiastes_ i. 9, 10.--M.

Oisille replied that she commended herself to God, and in His name she
bade them good-night.

So all the company withdrew, thus bringing to an end the Fifth Day.

[Illustration: 240.jpg Tailpiece]

APPENDIX.

A. (Tale XXXVI., Page 63.)

The following are the more important particulars, supplied by M. Jules
Roman, with reference to President Charles of Grenoble:--

Jeffroy Charles was an Italian, born in the marquisate of Saluzza, where
his father, Constant, had been a distinguished jurisconsult. The hero
of Queen Margaret's xxxvith tale always signed his name Jeffroy Charles,
but his descendants adopted the spelling Carles. Doubtless the name had
originally been Caroli. Before fixing himself in France, Jeffroy Charles
had been in the service of Luigi II., Marquis of Saluzza, who had
appointed him to the office of "Podesta" and entrusted him with
various diplomatic missions to the French Court (see _Discorsi sopre
alame famiglie nobili del Piemonte_ by Francesco Agostini della Chiesa,
in MS. in the State Archives, at Turin). At the time when Charles VIII.
was planning his expedition to Naples, he gave a cordial greeting to all
the Italians who presented themselves at his Court, and, securing
the services of Jeffroy Charles, he appointed him counsellor of the
Parliament of Grenoble (October 5, 1493), and entrusted him with various
secret missions, the result being that he sojourned but unfrequently in
Dauphine. On the death of Charles VIII., Jeffroy secured the good
graces of his successor, Louis XII., and was appointed (June 16, 1500)
President of the Senate of Turin, and some months later Chief President
of the Parliament of Grenoble. Charles spent the greater part of that
year on missions, both to the Court of the Emperor Maximilian and that
of the Pope. It was he who obtained from the former the investiture of
Louis XII. as Duke of Milan, which afterwards led to so much warfare.
Most of the following years he spent at Milan, seeking to organise the
government of the duchy, and contending against the rapacity of both
the French and the Italian nobles. In 1508 he was sent by Louis XII.
to Cambrai, in company with Cardinal d'Amboise, to conclude an alliance
with the Emperor against Venice, and he also repaired the same year
to Rome with Marshal Trivulzio to negotiate the Pope's entry into this
league.

On war being declared, he set aside his judicial robes, and took an
active part in the campaign against Venice, fighting so bravely at
Agnadel that Louis XII. knighted him on the battlefield. His last
diplomatic mission was to the Court of Leo X. in 1515, in which year he
was, on account of his great learning, appointed to direct the education
of the King's younger daughter, the celebrated Renee of Ferrara. But
it is doubtful whether he ever even entered upon these duties, since he
died soon after he had been entrusted with them. His family remained in
Dauphine, where it died out, obscurely, during the seventeenth century.
Only one of his sons, Anthony, evinced any talent, becoming counsellor
of the Rouen Parliament (1519), and ambassador at Milan (1530). Lancelot
de Carles, Bishop of Riez, was not, as some biographers assert, a son
of Jeffroy Charles, nor was he, it would seem, in any way connected with
the Saluzza family.

Jeffroy Charles's wife, Margaret du Mottet, had borne him eight children
before he surprised her in adultery. After the tragical ending of his
conjugal mishaps he adopted as his crest the figure of an angel holding
the forefinger of one hand to his mouth as if to enjoin secrecy. (1) In
the seventeenth century this "angel of silence" was to be seen, carved
in stone, and serving as a support of the Charles escutcheon, on the
house where the President had resided in the Rue des Clercs at Grenoble
(Guy Allard's _Dictionnaire du Dauphine, &c_, Grenoble 1695). Escutcheon
and support have nowadays disappeared, but on certain of Charles's
seals, as well as in books that belonged to him, now in the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris, the emblem of the angel will still be found. The
earliest seal on which we find it is one affixed to a receipt dated from
Milan, July 31, 1506. Assuming that he adopted this crest in memory of
the events narrated by Queen Margaret, it is probable that the latter
occurred in the earlier part of 1506 or the latter part of the previous
year. (2)

1 The suggestion here presents itself that, apart from the
question of any crime, this emblem of secrecy was a very
fitting one for a diplomatist to assume.--Ed.

2 That is, twenty years after the _Cent Nouvelles
Nouvelles_, from which some commentators think the
_Heptameron_ story to have been borrowed, was first printed.
--Ed.

Three copies of a medal showing Charles's energetic, angular profile,
with the inscription _Jafredus Karoli jurisconsultus preses Delphinatus
et Mediolani_, are known to exist; one in the Grenoble museum, one in
that of Milan, and one in my (M. Roman's) collection. Three MS. works
from the President's library are in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
The frontispiece of one of these (MSS. Lat. No. 4801) is a miniature
painting of his escutcheon, surmounted by the half-length figure of the
"angel of silence," who is clad in dark blue, with wings of red, green
and blue feathers. On folio 74 of the same MS. is a full-length figure
of the angel, clad in light blue and supporting Charles's escutcheon
with one hand, whilst the forefinger of the other is pressed to
his lips. In the libraries of Lyons, Grenoble and Turin are other
richly-illuminated works that belonged to the President, who was a
distinguished bibliophilist and great patron of letters, several learned
Italian writers, and among others, J. P. Parisio, J. M. Cattaneo and
P'ranchino Gafforio, having dedicated their principal works to him.
He it was, moreover, who saved the life of Aldo Manuzio, the famous
Venetian printer, when he was arrested by the French as a spy in 1506.

From the foregoing particulars it will be seen that
President Charles was alike learned, brave and skilful. But
for the Queen of Navarre's circumstantial narrative it would
be hard to believe that a man with so creditable a public
record killed his wife by means of a salad of poisonous
herbs.--Ed.

THE END OF THE FOURTH VOLUME

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12