in 
Literature 
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refiitance, and only obtained their pardon through the generous inter- 
cefhon of the princefs Whom they had fo groflly infulted. 
Marguerite was herfelf a poetefs, and the loved above all things thofe 
gay, and feldom very delicate, ttories, the telling of which was at that 
time one of the favourite amufements of the evening, and one in which 
{he was known to excel. Her poetical writings were colleeted and 
printed, under her own authority, in 1547, by her then  
Jean de la Haye, who dedicated the volume to her daughter. They are 
all graceful, and fome of them Worthy of the bell poets of her time. The 
title of this colleetion Was, punning upon her name, which means a peail, 
" Marguerites de la Marguerite des princeifes, tres illuftre reyne de 
Navarre." Marguerite's ilories (nouvelles) were more celebrated than 
her verfes, and are (aid to have been committed to writing under her 
own diitation. All the ladies of her court poiTeH'ed copies of them in 
writing. It is underltood to have been her intention to form them into 
ten clays" tales, of ten in each day, fo as to refemble the "Decameron " 
of Boccaccio, but only eight days were finiihed at the time of her death, 
and the imperfect work was publilhed pofthumoufly by her valet-de- 
chambre, Claude Gruget, under the title of " L'Heptameron, ou Hittoire 
des Amants Fortunes." It is by far the belt collection of {tories of the 
fixteenth century. They are told charmingly, in language which is a 
perfect model of French compofition of that age, but they are all tales of 
gallantry fuch as could only be repeated in polite fociety in an age 
which was eifentially licentious. Queen Marguerite died on the 21ft of 
December, 1549, and was buried in the cathedral of Pau. Her death 
was a fubjeet of regret to all that was good and all that was poetic, not 
only in France, but in Europe, which had been accuflomcd to look upon 
her as the tenth Mufe and the fourth Grace  
Mufarum dccima at Clrarilum quarta, inrlyta reg-um 
Er jrror er conjux, Marguari: illa jacet. 
Before M arguerite's death, her literary circle had been broken up by 
the hatred of religious perfecutors. Already, in 1536, the imprudent 
boldnefs of Marot had rendered it impollible to protevii him any longer, 
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