olds and royal stewards affirmed that they
always occupied at least one-half of all the apartments, as I
myself have seen during the thirty-three years that I lived at
Court, except during time of war, or while in foreign countries.
But upon my return I was habitually there, for life there was
most agreeable to me, and I never saw anything so attractive
elsewhere. And I think that the world, since then, has never
seen its equal; and as the list of those fair dames who assisted
our Queen to ornament the Court should not be slighted, I shall
mention some of them here as they occur to me, whom I saw after
the Queen's marriage and during her widowhood. Before that time
I was too young.

First of all, there were Mesdames, the daughters of France [the
Royal Princesses]. I head the list with them because they never
lost their high rank, and belong before all the others, so grand
and noble was their house, viz.: Madame Elizabeth of France,
afterwards Queen of Spain.

Madame Claude, since Duchess of Lorraine.

Madame Marguerite, afterwards Queen of Navarre.

Madame, the King's sister, afterwards Duchess of Savoie.

Mary Queen of Scots, afterwards Dauphiness and Queen of France.

The Queen of Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret.

Madame Catharine, her daughter, now Madame, the King's sister.

Madame Diane, natural daughter of King Henry II, afterwards
legitimatised and made Duchess d'Angouleme.

Madame D'Enghien, heiress of Estouteville.

Madame the Princess of Conde.

Madame de Nevers.

Madame de Guise.

Madame Diane de Poitiers [the King's favourite].

Mesdames, the Duchesses d'Aumale and de Bouillon, and their
daughters.

Madame de Montpensier.[1]

[Footnote 1: The author here continues with a long catalogue
of names including some one hundred and fifty other ladies of
the Court, belonging to various noble houses of France.]

But why name any others? No, for my memory could not supply them
all. Indeed, there are so many other ladies and maidens that
I beg of them to excuse me if I pass them by with a stroke of
the pen. Not that I do not hold and esteem them highly, but I
should dream over them and devote myself to them too much. I will
say, to conclude this, that in all this company I can name none
who might be found fault with, for beauty abounded everywhere,
and all was majesty, gentleness and grace. Lucky was the man
who might be touched with the love of such fair ones, and very
lucky he who could escape it. I