A. (Tale XX., Page 21.)
Brantome alludes as follows to this tale, in the Fourth Discourse of his_Vies des Dames Galantes_:--
"I knew a great lady whose plumpness was the subject of general talkboth whilst she was a maid and when she became a wife, but she happenedto lose her husband, and gave way to such extreme grief that she becameas dry as a stick. Still she did not cease to enjoy herself to herheart's content, with the assistance of one of her secretaries, andeven so it is said of her cook. Nevertheless, she did not regain herplumpness, albeit the said cook, who was all grease and fat, should asit seems to me have made her stout again. Whilst she thus amused herselfwith one and another of her varlets, she affected more prudery andchastity than any other lady of the Court, having none but wordsof virtue on her lips, speaking ill of all other women and findingsomething to be censured in each of them. Very similar to this one wasthat great lady of Dauphine who is mentioned in the Hundred Tales ofthe Queen of Navarre, and who was found, lying on the grass with herstableman or muleteer, by a gentleman who was in love with her todistraction. On finding her thus, however, he was speedily cured of hislove-sickness.
"I have read in an old romance about John de Saintre, printed inblack-letter, that the late King John brought him up as a page.In the old times it was usual for great personages to send their pagesabout with messages, as is indeed done nowadays, but at that time theyjourneyed anywhere across country, on horseback. In fact, I have heardour fathers say that pages were often sent on little embassies, for veryoften a matter would be settled and expense saved by merely despatchinga page with a horse and a piece of silver. This little Jehan de Saintre,as he was long called, was a great favourite with his master King John,for he was full of wit, and it often happened that he was sent withmessages to his [the King's?] sister, who was then a widow, thoughof whom the book does not say. This lady fell in love with him afterseveral messages that he had delivered to her, and one day finding himalone, she engaged him in converse, and, according to the usual practiceof ladies when they wish to engage any one in a love attack, she beganto ask him if he were in love with any lady of the Court, and which onepleased him the most. This little John de Saintre, who had never even somuch as thought of love, told her that he cared for none at the Court asyet, whereupon she mentioned several other ladies to him, and asked himwhether he thought of them. 'Still less,' replied he.... Thereupon thelady, seeing that the young fellow was of good appearance, told him thatshe would give him a mistress who would love him tenderly if he wouldserve her well, and whilst he stood there feeling greatly ashamed,she made him promise that he would keep the matter secret, and finallydeclared to him that she herself wished to be his lady and lover, forat that time the word 'mistress' was not yet used. The young page wasvastly astonished, thinking that the lady was joking, or wished todeceive him or to have him whipped. However, she soon showed him so manysigns of the fire and fever of love, saying to him that she wished totutor him and make a man of him, that he at last realised that it wasnot a jest. Their love lasted for a long time, both whilst he was a pageand afterwards, until at length he had to go upon a long journey, whenshe replaced him by a big, fat abbot. This is the same story that onefinds in the _Nouvelles du Monde Advantureux_ by a valet of the Queen ofNavarre [Antoine de St. Denis], in which one sees the abbot insultthis same John de Saintre who was so brave and valiant, and who rightspeedily and liberally paid back my lord the abbot in his owncoin.... So you see it is no new thing for ladies to love pages. Whatinclinations some women have, they will willingly take any number oflovers but they want no husband! All this is through love of liberty,which they deem such a pleasant thing. It seems to them as though theywere in Paradise when they are not under a husband's rule. They have afine dowry and spend it thriftily, they have all their household affairsin hand, receive their income, everything passing through their hands;and instead of being servants they are mistresses, select theirown pleasures and favourites, and amuse themselves as much as theylike."--Lalanne's _OEuvres de Brantome_, vol. xi. pp. 703-6.