The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. I

The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. I. (of V.), by

Margaret, Queen Of Navarre This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. I. (of V.)
Author: Margaret, Queen Of Navarre
Illustrator: Freudenberg and Dunker
Translator: George Saintsbury: From The Authentic Text Of M. Le Roux De Lincy With An Essay Upon The Heptameron by the Translator
Release Date: February 7, 2006 [EBook #17701]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALES OF THE HEPTAMERON ***

Produced by David Widger

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
[Illustration: Frontispiece]
[Margaret, Queen of Navarre, from a crayon drawing by Clouet, preserved at the Biblioth��que Nationale, Paris]
[Illustration: Titlepage]
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
Preface
Memoir of Margaret of Angoul��me
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 Alen?on, 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 Alen?on'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
Appendix to the First Day

ENGRAVINGS
To face page Queen Margaret of Navarre. Frontispiece.
Prologue: The Story-tellers in the Meadow near The Gave. By S. Freudenberg
FIRST DAY.
Tale I. Du Mesnil learns his Mistress's Infidelity from her Maid. By S. Freudenberg
II. The Muleteer's Servant attacking his Mistress. By S. Freudenberg
III. The King Joking upon the Stag's Head being A fitting Decoration. By S. Freudenberg
IV. The Princess's Lady of Honour hurrying to her Mistress's Assistance. By S. Freudenberg
V. The Boatwoman of Coulon outwitting the Friars. By S. Freudenberg
VI. The Wife's Ruse to secure the Escape of her Lover. By S. Freudenberg
VII. The Merchant transferring his Caresses from the Daughter to the Mother. By S. Freudenberg

PREFACE.
The first printed version of the famous Tales of Margaret of Navarre, issued in Paris in the year 1558, under the title of "Histoires des Amans Fortunez," was extremely faulty and imperfect. It comprised but sixty-seven of the seventy-two tales written by the royal author, and the editor, Pierre Boaistuau, not merely changed the order of those narratives which he did print, but suppressed numerous passages in them, besides modifying much of Margaret's phraseology. A somewhat similar course was adopted by Claude Gruget, who, a year later, produced what claimed to be a complete version of the stories, to which he gave the general title of the Heptameron, a name they have ever since retained. Although he reinstated the majority of the tales in their proper sequence, he still suppressed several of them, and inserted others in their place, and also modified the Queen's language after the fashion set by Boaistuau. Despite its imperfections, however, Gruget's version was frequently reprinted down to the beginning of the eighteenth century, when it served as the basis of the numerous editions of the Heptameron in beau langage, as the French phrased it, which then began to make their appearance. It served, moreover, in the one or the other form, for the English and other translations of the work, and down to our own times was accepted as the standard version of the Queen of Navarre's celebrated tales. Although it was known that various contemporary MSS. were preserved at the French National Library in Paris, no attempt was made to compare Gruget's faulty version with the originals until the Soci��t�� des Bibliophiles Fran?ais entrusted this delicate task to M. Le Roux de Lincy, whose labours led to some most valuable discoveries, enabling him to produce a really authentic version of Margaret's admired masterpiece, with the suppressed tales restored, the omitted passages reinstated, and the Queen's real language given for the first time in all its simple