illin's _Antiquites Nationales_ (vol. iii. f.
xxviii. p. 6) is quoted--

"In the middle of the nave of the collegial church of Ecouis, in the
cross aisle, was found a white marble slab on which was inscribed this
epitaph:--

"Hore lies the child, here lies the father,
Here lies the sister, here lies the brother,
Here lie the wife and the husband,
Yet there are but two bodies here."

"The tradition is that a son of Madame d'Ecouis had by his mother,
without knowing her or being recognised by her, a daughter named
Cecilia, whom he afterwards married in Lorraine, she then being in the
service of the Duchess of Bar. Thus Cecilia was at one and the same time
her husband's daughter, sister and wife. They were interred together in
the same grave at Ecouis in 1512."

According to Millin, a similar tradition will be found with variations
in different parts of France. For instance, at the church of Alincourt,
a village between Amiens and Abbeville, there was to be seen in Millin's
time an epitaph running as follows:--

"Here lies the son, here lies the mother,
Here lies the daughter with the father;
Here lies the sister, here lies the brother,
Here lie the wife and the husband;
And there are only three bodies here."

Gaspard Meturas, it may be added, gives the same epitaph in his _Hortus
Epitaphiomm Selectorum_, issued in 1648, but declares that it is to be
found at Clermont in Auvergne--a long way from Amiens--and explains it
by saying that the mother engendered her husband by intercourse with her
own father; whence it follows that he was at the same time her husband,
son and brother.--L. M. and Ed.

End of vol. III.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY OF ENGLISH BIBLIOPHILISTS

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. III.
(of V.), by Margaret, Queen Of Navarre

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALES OF THE HEPTAMERON ***

***** This file should be named 17703.txt or 17703.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/7/0/17703/

Produced by David Widger

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and