THE TALES OF
THE HEPTAMERON
OF
Margaret, Queen of Navarre
Newly Translated into English from the Authentic Text
OF M. LE ROUX DE LINCY WITH
AN ESSAY UPON THE HEPTAMERON
BY
GEORGE SAINTSBURY, M.A.
Also the Original Seventy-three Full Page Engravings
Designed by S. FREUDENBERG
And One Hundred and Fifty Head and Tail Pieces
By DUNKER
IN FIVE VOLUMES
VOLUME THE FIRST
LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY OF ENGLISH BIBLIOPHILISTS
MDCCCXCIV
[Margaret, Queen of Navarre, from a crayon drawing by Clouet, preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris]
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
Preface
Memoir of Margaret of Angoulême
Essay on the Heptameron
Dedications and Preface to the Original Editions
of the Heptameron
The Prologue
FIRST DAY.
Tale I. The pitiful history of a Proctor of Alençon, named St. Aignan, and of his wife, who caused her husband to assassinate her lover, the son of the Lieutenant-General
II. The fate of the wife of a muleteer of Amboise, who suffered herself to be killed by her servant rather than sacrifice her chastity
III. The revenge taken by the Queen of Naples, wife to King Alfonso, for her husband’s infidelity with a gentleman’s wife
IV. The ill success of a Flemish gentleman who was unable to obtain, either by persuasion or force, the love of a great Princess
V. How a boatwoman of Coulon, near Nyort, contrived to escape from the vicious designs of two Grey Friars
Tale VI. How the wife of an old valet of the Duke of Alençon’s succeeded in saving her lover from her husband, who was blind of one eye
VII. The craft of a Parisian merchant, who saved the reputation of the daughter by offering violence to the mother