rer strays,
And carman mid the public ways,
And tradesman in his shop shall swell
Their voice in Psalm or Canticle,
Sing to solace toil; again,
From woods shall come a sweeter strain
Shepherd and shepherdess shall vie
In many a tender Psalmody;
And the Creator's name prolong
As rock and stream return their song!
Begin then, ladies fair! begin
The age renew'd that knows no sin!
And with light heart, that wants no wing,
Sing! from this holy song-book, sing![302]

This "holy song-book" for the harpsichord or the voice, was a gay
novelty, and no book was ever more eagerly received by all classes than
Marot's "Psalms." In the fervour of that day, they sold faster than the
printers could take them off their presses; but as they were understood
to be _songs_, and yet were not accompanied by music, every one set them
to favourite tunes, commonly those of popular ballads. Each of the royal
family, and every nobleman, chose a psalm or a song which expressed his
own personal feelings, adapted to his own tune. The Dauphin, afterwards
Henry the Second, a great hunter, when he went to the chase, was singing
_Ainsi qu'on vit le cerf bruyre_. "Like as the hart desireth the
water-brooks." There is a curious portrait of the mistress of Henry, the
famous Diane de Poictiers, recently published, on which is inscribed
this _verse of the Psalm_. On a portrait which exhibits Diane in an
attitude rather unsuitable to so solemn an application, no reason could
be found to account for this discordance; perhaps the painter, or the
lady herself, chose to adopt the favourite psalm of her royal lover,
proudly to designate the object of her love, besides its double allusion
to her name. Diane, however, in the first stage of their mutual
attachment, took _Du fond de ma pensee_, or, "From the depth of my
heart." The queen's favourite was

_Ne veuilles pas, o sire,
Me reprendre en ton ire;_

that is, "Rebuke me not in thy indignation," which she sung to a
fashionable jig. Antony, king of Navarre, sung _Revenge moy prens la
querelle_, or "Stand up, O Lord, to revenge my quarrel," to the air of a
dance of Poitou. We may conceive the ardour with which this novelty was
received, for Francis sent to Charles the Fifth Marot's collection, who
both by promises and presents encouraged the French bard to proceed with
his version, and entreating Marot to send him as soon as possible
_Confitemini