woman"; Cluvia was a profession-courtesan. (Cf. Livy, XXVI., Chap. xxxiii.)
P. 156: This more human reason is probably truer than the one generally given of Jean's chivalrous conduct regarding his pledge.
P. 156: Jean (surnamed le Bon), King of France, 1350-1364. Taken prisoner by Edward the Black Prince at the battle of Poitiers.
P. 159: Proverb marking the small connection that often exists between gifts of body and good qualities of mind and character.
P. 164: The quotation as given in the text is mutilated and the words transposed. It should read:
"Si tibi simplicitas uxoria, deditus uni
Est animus:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nil unquam invita donabis conjuge: vendes
Hac obstante nihil; nihil, haec si nolit, emetur."
Juvenal, Sat. VI, 205 sqq.
that is to say, "If you are attached solely and entirely to your wife,... you will not be able to give a thing away, or sell or buy a thing, without her consent."
P. 164: They used to say of those Italian infamies: "In Spagna, gli preti; in Francia, i grandi; in Italia, tutti quanti."
P. 164: Why not let Boccaccio have the responsibility of this baseness? (Decameron, Vth day, Xth story.)
P. 168: Christine de Lorraine, daughter of Duke Charles, married to Ferdinand I. de Medici. This young princess had arrived in Italy adorned in her rich French gowns, which she soon cast off in favor of Italian fashions. This concession quickly made her a favorite. It was at the wedding of Christine that the first Italian operas were performed. (Litta, Medici di Firenze, IV., tav. xv.)
P. 171: Brantôme is very likely thinking of Princess de Condé, whom Pisani brought before the Parliament, which acquitted her.
P. 174-175: Probably an allusion to Mme. de Sinners and not to Marguerite de Valois, as Lalanne thinks. More tenacious if not more
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