ather's neglect and her mistress's disdain, the poor
maiden continued unmarried for a long while; and this at last made her
sad at heart, not so much because she longed to be married as because
she was ashamed at not being so, wherefore she forsook the vanities and
pomps of the Court and gave herself up wholly to the worship of God. Her
sole delight consisted in prayer or needlework, and thus in retirement
she passed her youthful years, living in the most virtuous and holy
manner imaginable.

Now, when she was approaching her thirtieth year, there was at Court a
gentleman who was a Bastard of a high and noble house; (4) he was one of
the pleasantest comrades and most worshipful men of his day, but he was
wholly without fortune, and possessed of such scant comeliness that no
lady would have chosen him for her lover.

4 One cannot absolutely identify this personage; but judging
by what is said of him in the story--that he came of a great
house, that he was very brave but poor, neither rich enough
to marry Rolandine nor handsome enough to be made a lover
of, and that a lady, who was a near relative of his, came to
the Court after his intrigue had been going on for a couple
of years--he would certainly appear to be John, Bastard of
Angoulome, a natural son of Count John the Good, and
consequently half-brother to Charles of Angoulome ( who
married Louise of Savoy) and uncle to Francis I. and Queen
Margaret. In Pere Anselme's _Histoire Genealogique de la
Maison de France_, vol. i. p. 210 B. there is a record of
the letters of legitimisation granted to the Bastard of
Angouleme at his father's request in June 1458, and M. Paul
Lacroix points out that if Rolandine's secret marriage to
him took place in or about 1508, he would then have been
about fifty years old, hardly the age for a lover. The
Bastard is, however, alluded to in the tale as a man of
mature years, and as at the outset of the intrigue (1505) he
would have been but forty-seven, we incline with M. de Lincy
to the belief that he is the hero of it.--Eu.

Thus this poor gentleman had continued unmated, and as one unfortunate
often seeks out another, he addressed himself to Rolandine, whose
fortune, temper and condition were like his own. And while they were
engaged in mutually lamenting their woes, they became very fond of each
other, and finding that they were