makes no allusion to the complicity of the Queen.

Boccaccio proclaims her the special pride of Italy, so gracious, gentle,
and kindly, that she seemed rather the companion than the queen of her
subjects.

Our author cites likewise some of her accusers, and considers most of
the current sayings against her as apocryphal. Some of these will not
bear quotation in English. Mistral evidently wishes to believe her
innocent, and he makes out a pretty good case. He approves the remark of
Scipione Ammirato, that she contracted four successive marriages through
a desire to have direct heirs. Another notices that had she been
dissolute, she would have preferred the liberty of remaining a widow.
The poet cites Pope Innocent VI, who gave her the golden rose, and sets
great store upon the expression of Saint Catherine of Siena, who calls
her "Venerabile madre in Gesu Cristo," and he concludes by saying, "We
prefer to concur in the judgment of the good Giannone (1676-1748), which
so well agrees with our traditions."

The first act opens with a picture that might tempt a painter of Italian
scenes. The Queen and her gay court are seated on the lawn of the palace
garden at Naples, overlooking the bay and islands. At the very outset we
hear of the Gai Savoir, and the Queen utters the essentially Provencal
sentiment that "the chief glory the world should strive for is light,
for joy and love are the children of the sun, and art and literature the
great torches." She calls upon Anfan of Sisteron to speak to her of her
Provence, "the land of God, of song and youth, the finest jewel in her
crown," and Anfan, in long and eloquent tirades, tells of Toulouse and
Nice and the Isles of Gold, reviews the settling of the Greeks, the
domination of the Romans, and the sojourn of the Saracens; Aix and
Arles, les Baux, Toulon, are glorified again; we hear of the old
liberties of these towns where men sleep, sing, and shout, and of the
magnificence of the papal court at Avignon.

"Enfin, en Avignoun, i'a lou papo! grandour
Poude, magnificenci, e poumpo e resplendour,
Que mestrejon la terro e fan, senso messorgo,
Boufa l'alen de Dieu i ribo de la Sorgo."

Lastly, in Avignon, there's the Pope! greatness, power,
magnificence, pomp, and splendor, dominating the earth, and without
exaggeration, causing the breath of God to blow upon the banks of
the Sorgue.

We learn that the brilliancy and animation of the court at