The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. III. (of V.)
Page 17
C. (Tale XXVI., Page 143.)
Brantome mentions this tale in both the First and the Fourth Discourseof his _Dames Galantes_. In the former, after contending that all womenare naturally inclined to vice--a view which he borrows from the _Romande la Rose_, and which Pope afterwards re-echoed in the familiar line,"Every woman is at heart a rake"--he proceeds to speak of those whoovercome their inclinations and remain virtuous:--
"Of this," says he, "we have a very fine story in the Hundred Tales ofthe Queen of Navarre; the one in which that worthy Lady of Pampeluna,vicious at heart and by inclination, burning too with love for thathandsome Prince, Monsieur d'Avannes, preferred to die consumed by thefire that possessed her rather than seek a remedy for it, as sheherself declared in her last words on her deathbed. This worshipful andbeautiful lady dealt herself death most iniquitously and unjustly; andas I once heard a worthy man and worthy lady say of this very passage,she did really offend against God, since it was in her power to deliverherself from death; whereas in seeking it and advancing it as she did,she really killed herself. And thus have done many similar to her,who by excessive continence and abstinence have brought about thedestruction both of their souls and bodies."--Lalanne's _OEuvres deBrantome_, vol. ix. pp. 209-n.
In the Fourth Discourse of his work, Brantome mentions the case of a"fresh and plump" lady of high repute, who, through love-sickness forone of her admirers, so wasted away that she became seriously alarmed,and for fear of worse resolved to satisfy her passion, whereupon shebecame "plump and beautiful as she had been before."
"I have heard speak," adds Brantome, "of another very great lady, ofvery joyous humour, and great wit, who fell ill and whose doctor toldher that she would never recover unless she yielded to the dictates ofnature, whereupon she instantly rejoined: 'Well then, let it be so;' andshe and the doctor did as they listed.... One day she said to him: 'Itis said everywhere that you have relations with me; but that is all thesame to me, since it keeps me in good health... and it shall continueso, as long as may be, since my health depends on it.' These two ladiesin no wise resemble that worthy lady of Pampeluna, in the Queen ofNavarre's Hundred Tales, who, as I have previously said, fell madly inlove with Monsieur d'Avannes, but preferred to hide her flame and nurseit in her burning breast rather than forego her honour. And of this Ihave heard some worthy ladies and lords discourse, saying that she wasa fool, caring but little for the salvation of her soul, since she dealtherself death, when it was in her power to drive death away, at verytrifling cost."-Lalanne's _OEuvres de Brantome_, vol. xi. pp. 542-5.
To these extracts we may add that the problem discussed by Brantome,three hundred years ago, is much the same as that which has so largelyoccupied the attention of modern medical men, namely the great spreadof nervous disease and melancholia among women, owing to the unnaturalcelibacy enforced upon them by the deficiency of husbands.--Ed.
D. (Tale XXX., Page 191).
Various French, English and Italian authors have written imitations ofthis tale, concerning which Dunlop writes as follows in his History ofFiction:--
"The plot of Bandello's thirty-fifth story is the same as that of HoraceWalpole's comedy _The Mysterious Mother_, and of the Queen of Navarre'sthirtieth tale. The earlier portion will be found also in Masuccio'stwenty-third tale: but the second part, relating to the marriage, occursonly in Bandello's work and the _Heptameron_. It is not likely, however,that the French or the Italian novelist borrowed from one another. Thetales of Bandello were first published in 1554, and as the Queen ofNavarre died in 1549, it is improbable that she ever had an opportunityof seeing them. On the other hand, the work of the Queen was not printedtill 1558, nine years after her death, so it is not likely that any partof it was copied by Bandello, whose tales had been edited some yearsbefore."
Walpole, it may be mentioned, denied having had any knowledge either ofthe _Heptameron_ or of Bandello when he wrote _The Mysterious Mother_,which was suggested to him, he declared, by a tale he had heard whenvery young, of a lady who had waited on Archbishop Tillotson with astory similar to that which is told by Queen Margaret's heroine tothe Legate of Avignon. According to Walpole, Tillotson's advice wasidentical with that given by the Legate.
Dunlop mentions that a tale of this character is given in Byshop's_Blossoms_ (vol. xi.); and other authors whose writings contain similarstories are: Giovani Brevio, _Rime e Prose vulgari_, Roma, 1545 (Novellaiv.); Desfontaine's _L'Inceste innocent, histoire veritable_, Paris,1644 5 Tommaso Grappulo, or Grappolino, _Il Convito Borghesiano_,Londra, 1800 (Novella vii.); Luther, _Colloquia Mens alia_ (article onauricular confession); and Masuccio de Solerac, _Novellino_, Ginevra,1765 (Novella xxiii.).
Curiously enough, Bandello declares that the story was related to him bya lady of Navarre (Queen Margaret?) as having occurred in that country,while Julio de Medrano, a Spanish author of the sixteenth century,asserts that it was told to him in the Bourbonnais as being actual fact,and that he positively saw the house where the lady's son and his wiferesided; but on the other hand we find the tale related, in its broadlines, in _Amadis de Gaule_ as being an old-time legend, and in proof ofthis, it figures in an ancient French poem of the life of St. Gregory,the MS. of which still exists at Tours, and was printed in 1854.
In support of the theory that the tale is based on actual fact, thefollowing passage from Millin's _Antiquites Nationales_ (vol. iii. f.xxviii. p. 6) is quoted--
"In the middle of the nave of the collegial church of Ecouis, in thecross aisle, was found a white marble slab on which was inscribed thisepitaph:--
"Hore lies the child, here lies the father, Here lies the sister, here lies the brother, Here lie the wife and the husband, Yet there are but two bodies here."
"The tradition is that a son of Madame d'Ecouis had by his mother,without knowing her or being recognised by her, a daughter namedCecilia, whom he afterwards married in Lorraine, she then being in theservice of the Duchess of Bar. Thus Cecilia was at one and the same timeher husband's daughter, sister and wife. They were interred together inthe same grave at Ecouis in 1512."
According to Millin, a similar tradition will be found with variationsin different parts of France. For instance, at the church of Alincourt,a village between Amiens and Abbeville, there was to be seen in Millin'stime an epitaph running as follows:--
"Here lies the son, here lies the mother, Here lies the daughter with the father; Here lies the sister, here lies the brother, Here lie the wife and the husband; And there are only three bodies here."
Gaspard Meturas, it may be added, gives the same epitaph in his _HortusEpitaphiomm Selectorum_, issued in 1648, but declares that it is to befound at Clermont in Auvergne--a long way from Amiens--and explains itby saying that the mother engendered her husband by intercourse with herown father; whence it follows that he was at the same time her husband,son and brother.--L. M. and Ed.
End of vol. III.
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