ing party to draw Bussy alone into the forest,
and to demand certain explanations of him. D'Ambois gave these in a
satisfactory manner; but had he not done so, the Duke declared, in spite
of their difference of rank, he would have engaged in single combat with
him. The explanations demanded may well have concerned the honour of the
Duchess, and we get at any rate a hint for the episode in Chapman's play
(I, ii, 57-185).

For the duelling narrative (II, i, 35-137) we get considerably more than
a hint. Our chief authority is again Brantome, in another work, the
_Discours sur les Couronnels de l'infanterie de France_. He tells us
that he was with Bussy at a play, when a dispute arose between him and
the Marquis of Saint-Phal as to whether the jet embroidery on a certain
muff represented XX or YY. The quarrel was appeased for the time being,
but on the following day Bussy, meeting Saint-Phal at the house of a
lady with whom he had had relations, and who was now the mistress of the
Marquis, renewed the dispute. An encounter took place between Bussy,
supported by five or six gentlemen, and Saint-Phal, assisted by an equal
number of Scotchmen of the Royal Guard, one of whom wounded Bussy's
hand. Thereupon Saint-Phal withdrew, but his fire-eating rival was
anxious at all hazards for another encounter. It was only with the
greatest difficulty, as Brantome relates in entertaining fashion, that
the King was able to bring about a reconciliation between them. Such an
episode, reported with exaggeration of details, might well have
suggested the narrative in Act II of the triple encounter.

Brantome further relates a midnight attack upon Bussy, about a month
later, by a number of his jealous rivals, when he had a narrow escape
from death. Of this incident another account has been given by Margaret
of Valois in her _Memoires_. Margaret and her brother, the Duke of
Anjou, were devoted to one another, and Bussy was for a time a paramour
of the Queen of Navarre. Though she denies the liaison, she says of him
that there was not "_en ce siecle-la de son sexe et de sa qualite rien
de semblable en valeur, reputation, grace, et esprit_." Margaret,
L'Estoile, and Brantome all relate similar incidents during Bussy's
sojourn at court in the year 1578, and the last-named adds:

"_Si je voulois raconter toutes les querelles qu'il a eues,
j'aurois beaucoup affaire; helas! il en a trop eu, et toutes
les a desmeslees a son tres-grand