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
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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 Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris]
[Illustration: Titlepage]
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
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