also devoted himself to the placing of the country in a
proper state of defence, and fortified several of the towns. Navarreinx,
commanding the valley of the Gave of Oloron, was virtually rebuilt by
him and transformed into a perfect stronghold, as was evidenced during
the religious wars, when it successfully withstood the artillery
of Terrade, the Catholic commander. Long afterwards, when Vauban
inaugurated his new system of fortification, he came to Navarreinx, and
on seeing the ramparts raised by Margaret's husband was so favourably
impressed, that instead of levelling them to the ground he contented
himself with adding to them and making various improvements. Henry
d'Albret was also anxious to refortify Sauveterre, which the Prince of
Orange, with one of the Imperial armies, had captured in 1523, when he
half-demolished the old castle of Montreal, then the most formidable
citadel in Beam. However, as time and money were lacking, Henry had to
abandon his plans, and the ruins left by the Imperialists, the ivy-clad
keep, and mutilated bridge over the Gave soon fell into irremediable
decay.(1)

1 M. Paul Perret's _Pyrenees francaises_, vol. ii. p. 303.

IV.

_Margaret's attachment to her daughter--Refusal of Jane to
marry the Duke of Cleves--Intervention of Margaret--The
wedding at Chatelherault and the fall of the Constable de
Montmorency--Margaret and her husband at Caulerets--The
"Heptameron"--Illness and death of Francis I.--Margaret's
anxiety and grief--Her "Marguerites de la Marguerite"--Jane
d'Albret's second marriage--Death of Margaret at Odos or
Audaux----Her funeral at Lescar--Destruction of her tomb_.

Whilst Margaret was living amongst divines and scholars at Pau and
Nerac, her mind, as her letters indicate, constantly turned to her
daughter Jane, whom Aimee de la Fayette, wife of the Bailiff of Caen,
was bringing up at Plessis-les-Tours. Margaret was only able to see Jane
at rare intervals during some of her trips to France, and she was mainly
indebted to sympathising friends for news of the little Princess's
condition and health. All her maternal tenderness was concentrated on
this daughter, and whenever the child was ailing she became distracted.

Sainte-Marthe records that in December 1537, while Margaret was
sojourning in Paris, her daughter, then scarcely nine years old, fell
seriously ill at the royal house of Plessis-les-Tours; and as it
was r