caught this disease from La
belle Feronniere."

Against this we have to set the express statement of Louise of Savoy,
who writes in her journal, under date 1512, that her son (born in 1494)
had already and at an early age had a complaint _en secrete nature_. Now
this was long before the belle Feronniere was ever heard of, and further
it was prior to the intrigue with Jane Disome, who, by Queen Margaret's
showing, did not meet with "the young prince" until she had been married
some time and was in despair of having children by her husband. The
latter had lost his first wife late in 1511, and it is unlikely that he
married Jane Lecoq until after some months of widowhood. To our thinking
Prince Francis would have appeared upon the scene in or about 1514,
his intrigue culminating in the scandal of the following year, in
which Mons. Cruche played so conspicuous a part. With reference to the
complaint from which King Francis is alleged to have suffered, one must
not overlook the statement of a contemporary, Cardinal d'Armagnac, who,
writing less than a year before the King's death, declares that Francis
enjoys as good health as any man in his kingdom (Genin's _Lettres de
Marguerite_, 1841, p. 473). Cardinal d'Armagnac's intimacy with the
King enabled him to speak authoritatively, and his statement refutes the
assertions of Brantome, Guyon de la Nauthe and Mezeray, besides tending
to the conclusion that the youthful complaint mentioned by Louise of
Savoy was merely a passing disorder.--Ed.

C. (Tale XXVI., Page 143.)

Brantome mentions this tale in both the First and the Fourth Discourse
of his _Dames Galantes_. In the former, after contending that all women
are naturally inclined to vice--a view which he borrows from the _Roman
de la Rose_, and which Pope afterwards re-echoed in the familiar line,
"Every woman is at heart a rake"--he proceeds to speak of those who
overcome their inclinations and remain virtuous:--

"Of this," says he, "we have a very fine story in the Hundred Tales of
the Queen of Navarre; the one in which that worthy Lady of Pampeluna,
vicious at heart and by inclination, burning too with love for that
handsome Prince, Monsieur d'Avannes, preferred to die consumed by the
fire that possessed her rather than seek a remedy for it, as she
herself declared in her last words on her deathbed. This worshipful and
beautiful lady dealt herself death most iniquitously and unjustly; and
as I once heard a worth