The Tales of the Heptameron, Vol. V | Page 2

death, the wife was rescued and brought back to La Rochelle.
Tale LXVIII. The wife of an apothecary at Pau, hearing her husband give some powder of cantharides to a woman who was godmother with himself, secretly administered to him such a dose of the same drug that he nearly died.
Tale LXIX. How the wife of one of the King's Equerries surprised her husband muffled in the hood of their servant-maid, and bolting meal in her stead.
Tale LXX. Of the love of a Duchess of Burgundy for a gentleman who rejects her advances, for which reason she accuses him to the Duke her husband, and the latter does not believe his oaths till assured by him that he loves the Lady du Vergier. Then the Duchess, having drawn knowledge of this amour from her husband, addresses to the Lady du Vergier in public, an allusion that causes the death of both lovers; and the Duke, in despair at his own lack of discretion, stabs the Duchess himself.
EIGHTH DAY.
Prologue
Tale LXXI. The wife of a saddler of Amboise is saved on her deathbed through a fit of anger at seeing her husband fondle a servant-maid.
Tale LXXII. Kindness of the Duchess of Alen?on to a poor nun whom she meets at Lyons, on her way to Rome, there to confess to the Pope how a monk had wronged her, and to obtain his Holiness's pardon.
Appendix (The Narrators of the Heptameron)
Bibliography

PAGE ENGRAVINGS CONTAINED IN VOLUME V.
Tale LI. The Duke of Urbino sending the Maiden to Prison for carrying Messages between his Son and his Sweetheart.
LII. The Gentleman and his Friend annoyed by The Smell of that which they Thought was Sugar.
LIII. The Lord des Cheriots flying from the Prince's Servant.
LIV. The Lady watching the Shadow Faces Kissing.
LV. The Servant selling the Horse with the Cat.
LVI. The Grey Friar introducing his Comrade to the Lady and her Daughter.
LVII. The English Lord seizing the Lady's Glove.
LVIII. The Gentleman Mocked by the Ladies When Returning From The False Tryst.
LIX. The Lady discovering her Husband with the Waiting-woman.
LX. The Chanter of Blois delivering his Mistress from the Grave.
LXI. The Lady returning to her Lover, the Canon of Autun.
LXII. The Gentleman's Spur catching in the Sheet.
LXIII. The King asking the Young Lord to join his Banquet.
LXIV. The Lady Swooning in the Arms of the Gentleman of Valencia who had become a Monk.
LXV. The Old Woman startled by the Waking of the Soldier.
LXVI. The Old Serving-woman explaining her Mistake to the Duke and Duchess of Vend?me.
LXVII. The Wife Reading to her Husband on the Desert Island.
LXVIII. The Apothecary's Wife giving the Dose of Cantharides to her Husband.
LXIX. The Wife discovering her Husband in the Hood of their Serving-maid.
LXX. The Gentleman Killing Himself on the Death of his Mistress.
LXXI. The Saddler's Wife Cured by the sight of her Husband Caressing the Serving-maid.
LXXII. The Monk Conversing with the Nun while Shrouding a Dead Body.

SIXTH DAY.
_On the Sixth Day are related the deceits practised by Man on Woman, Woman on Man, or Woman on Woman, through greed, revenge, and wickedness_.

PROLOGUE.
In the morning the Lady Oisille went earlier than was her wont to make ready for her reading in the hall, but the company being advised of this, and eager to hearken to her excellent instruction, used such despatch in dressing themselves that she had not long to wait. Perceiving their fervour, she set about reading them the Epistle of St. John the Evangelist, which is full of naught but love, in the same wise as, on the foregoing days, she had expounded to them St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. The company found this fare so much to their taste, that, although they tarried a half-hour longer than on the other days, it seemed to them as if they had not remained there a quarter of an hour altogether. From thence they proceeded to the contemplation of the mass, when one and all commended themselves to the Holy Ghost in order that they might that day be enabled to satisfy their merry audience; and, after they had broken their fast and taken a little rest, they set out to resume their accustomed diversion.
And the Lady Oisille asking who should begin the day, Longarine made answer--
"I give my vote to Madame Oisille; she has this day read to us so beauteous a lesson, that she can but tell us some story apt to crown the glory which she won this morning."
"I am sorry," said Oisille, "that I cannot tell you aught so profitable this afternoon as I did in the morning. But at least the purport of my story shall not depart from the teaching of Holy Scripture, where it is written, 'Trust not in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom is not our salvation.' (1) And that this truth may not