supposed author, of her other
works, and of the probable character of her connection with this one. In
the third, without attempting dry argument, let us give some sketch of
the vital part, which we have called the framework, and some general
characteristics of the stories. And, in the fourth and last, let us
endeavour to disengage that peculiar tone, flavour, note, or whatever
word may be preferred, which, as it seems to me at least, at once
distinguishes the _Heptameron_ from other books of the kind, and
renders it peculiarly attractive to those whose temperament and
taste predisposes them to be attracted. For there is a great deal of
pre-established harmony in literature and literary tastes; and I have a
kind of idea that every man has his library marked out for him when he
comes into the world, and has then only got to get the books and read
them.

Margaret herself refers openly enough to the example of the _Decameron_,
which had been translated by her own secretary, Anthony le Macon, a
member of her literary coterie, and not improbably connected with the
writing or redacting of the _Heptameron_ itself. Nor were later Italian
tale-tellers likely to be without influence at a time when French was
being "Italianated" in every possible way, to the great disgust of some
Frenchmen. But the Italian ancestors or patterns need not be dealt with
here, and can be discovered with ease and pleasure by any one who wishes
in the drier pages of Dunlop, or in the more flowery and starry pages of
Mr. Symonds' "History of the Renaissance in Italy." The next few pages
will deal only with the French tale-tellers, whose productions before
Margaret's days were, if not very numerous, far from uninteresting, and
whose influence on the slight difference of _genre_ which distinguishes
the tales before us from Italian tales was by no means slight.

In France, as everywhere else, prose fiction, like prose of all kinds,
was considerably later in production than verse, and short tales of the
kind before us were especially postponed by the number, excellence, and
popularity of the verse _fabliaux_. Of these, large numbers have come
down to us, and they exactly correspond in verse to the tales of the
_Decameron_ and the _Heptameron_ in prose, except that the satirical
motive is even more strongly marked, and that touches of romantic
sentiment are rarer. This element of romance, however, appears
abundantly in the long prose versions of the Arthuria