ared alike," said Hircan, "it seems to me that they did
well to console one another."

"Nay," said Geburon, "they should never have acknowledged it for the
sake of their own honour. The books of the Round Table (7) teach us that
it is not to the honour of a worthy knight to overcome one that is good
for naught."

7 Queen Margaret was well acquainted with these (see
_ante_, vol. iii. p. 48). In a list drawn up after her
father's death, of the two hundred volumes of books in his
library, a most remarkable one for the times, we find
specified several copies of "Lancelot," "Tristan," &c, some
in MS. with miniatures and illuminated letters, and others
printed on parchment. Besides numerous religious writings,
volumes of Aristotle, Ovid, Mandeville, Dante, the
Chronicles of St. Denis, and the "Book of the Great Khan,
bound in cloth of gold," the library contained various works
of a character akin to that of the _Heptameron_. For
instance, a copy of the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_ in print;
a French translation of Poggio's _Facetio_, also in print,
and two copies of Boccaccio in MS., one of them bound in
purple velvet, and richly illuminated, each page having a
border of blue and silver. This last if still in existence
would be very valuable.--Eu.

"I am amazed," said Longarine, "that the unhappy woman did not die of
shame in presence of her captives."

"Those who have lost shame," said Oisille, "can hardly ever recover it,
excepting, however, she that has forgotten it through deep love. Of such
have I seen many return."

"I think," said Hircan, "that you must have seen the return of as many
as went, for deep love in a woman is difficult to find."

"I am not of your opinion," said Longarine; "I think that there are some
women who have loved to death."

"So exceedingly do I desire to hear a tale of that kind," said Hircan,
"that I give you my vote in order to learn of a love in women that I had
never deemed them to possess."

"Well, if you hearken," said Longarine, "you will believe, and will see
that there is no stronger passion than love. But while it prompts one
to almost impossible enterprises for the sake of winning some portion
of happiness in this life, so does it more than any other passion reduce
that man or woman to despair, who loses the hope of gaining what is
longed for. This indeed you will see from the following story.