. Freudenberg. There are also the one hundred and
fifty elaborate head and tail pieces executed for the Berne edition by
Dunker, well known to connoisseurs as one of the principal engravers of
the _Cabinet_ of the Duke de Choiseul.

The Portrait of Queen Margaret placed as frontispiece to the present
volume is from a crayon drawing by Clouet, preserved at the Bibliotheque
Nationale, Paris.

Ernest A. Vizetelly.

London,

1893.

_Explanation of the Initials appended to the Notes_.

B.J...Bibliophile Jacob, i.e. Paul Lacroix.

D.....F. Dillaye.

F.....Felix Frank.

L.....Le Roux de Lincy.

M.....Anatole de Montaiglon.

Ed....E. A. Vizetelly.

_MARGARET OF ANGOULEME, QUEEN OF NAVARRE._

I.

_Louise of Savoy; her marriage with the Count of Angouleme--
Birth of her children Margaret and Francis--Their father's
early death--Louise and her children at Amboise--Margaret's
studies and her brother's pastimes--Marriage of Margaret
with the Duke of Alencon--Her estrangement from her husband--
Accession of Francis I.--The Duke of Alencon at Marignano--
Margaret's Court at Alencon--Her personal appearance--Her
interest in the Reformation and her connection with Clement
Marot--Lawsuit between Louise of Savoy and the Constable de
Bourbon._

In dealing with the life and work of Margaret of Angouleme (1) it is
necessary at the outset to refer to the mother whose influence and
companionship served so greatly to mould her daughter's career.

1 This Life of Margaret is based upon the memoir by M, Le
Roux de Lincy prefixed to the edition of the _Heptameron_
issued by the Societe des Bibliophiles Francais, but various
errors have been rectified, and advantage has been taken of
the researches of later biographers.

Louise of Savoy, daughter of Count Philip of Bresse, subsequently Duke
of Savoy, was born at Le Pont d'Ain in 1477, and upon the death of her
mother, Margaret de Bourbon, she married Charles d'Orleans, Count of
Angouleme, to whom she brought the slender dowry of thirty-five thousand
livres. (1) She was then but twelve years old, her husband being some
twenty years her senior. He had been banished from the French Court for
his participation in the insurrection of Brittany, and was living in
straitened circumstances. Still, on either side the alliance was an
honourable one. Louise belonged to a sovereign house, while t