was in 1531,
and at Alencon, that she issued her first volume of poems, the _Miroir
de l'Ame Pecheresse_, (1) which created a great stir at the time, for
when it was re-issued in Paris by Augereau in 1533 (2) the Sorbonne
denounced it as unorthodox, and Margaret would have been branded as
a heretic if Francis had not intervened and ordered the Rector of the
Sorbonne to withdraw the decree censuring his sister's work. Nor did
that content the King, for he caused Noel Beda, the syndic of the
Faculty of Theology, to be arrested and confined in a dungeon at Mont
St. Michel, where he perished miserably.

1 Brunet's _Manual_, 4th ed., vol. iii. p. 275.

2 A second edition also appeared at Alencon in the same
year.

Margaret thus gained the day, but the annoyance she had been subjected
to doubtless taught her to be prudent, for although she steadily went
on writing, sixteen years elapsed before any more of her poems were
published. In the meantime various manuscript copies, some of which are
still in existence, were made of them, notably one of the poem called
"Debat d'Amour" by Margaret, and re-christened "La Coche" by her
secretary, John de la Haye, when he subsequently published it in the
_Marguerites de la Marguerite_. This manuscript is enriched with eleven
curious miniatures, the last of which represents the Queen handing
the volume bound in white velvet (1) to the Duchess of Etampes, her
brother's mistress, whose qualities the poem extols. The Queen of
Navarre was on the best of terms with this favourite, to whom in one of
her letters she recommends certain servants.

Margaret was not only given to versifying, but was fond of' framing
devices, which she inscribed upon her books and furniture. At one time
she adopted as her device a marigold turning towards the sun's rays,
with the motto, "Non inferiora secutus," implying that she turned
"all her acts, thoughts, will, and affections towards the great Sun of
Justice, God Almighty." (2)

1 From the Queen's _Livre de Depenses_, published by M. de
la Ferriere, we learn that this MS., with the miniatures and
binding, cost Margaret fifty golden crowns. It was formerly
in the possession of M. Jerome Pichon, and was afterwards
acquired by M. Didot, at the sale of whose library it
realised L804. The MS. was recently in the possession of M.
de La Roche-la-Carelle.

2 Claude Paradin's _Devises heroiques_, Lyons, 15