acroix, who believes that the heroine of this
tale is Margaret herself (she is described as telling it
under the name of Parlamente), is also of opinion that the
gentleman referred to is the Baron de Malleville, a knight
of Malta, who was killed at Beyrout during an expedition
against the Turks, and whose death was recounted in verse by
Clement Marot (_OEuvres_, 1731, vol. ii. p. 452-455).
Margaret's gentleman, however, is represented as being
married, whereas M. de Malleville, as a knight of Malta, was
necessarily a bachelor. Marot, moreover, calls Malleville a
Parisian, whereas the gentleman in the tale belonged to
Normandy (see _post_, p. 136).--B. J. and L.

The old gentleman was all impatience to find his wife and tell her of
what he had done. She was as anxious to make the journey as her husband,
and on that account often spoke about it to the Captain, who, paying
more attention to her person than her words, fell so deeply in love
with her, that when speaking to her of the voyages he had made, he often
confused the port of Marseilles with the Archipelago, and said "horse"
when he meant to say "ship," like one distracted and bereft of sense.
Her character, however, was such that he durst not give any token of
the truth, and concealment kindled such fires in his heart that he often
fell sick, when the lady showed as much solicitude for him as for the
cross and guide of her road, (3) sending to inquire after him so often
that the anxiety she showed cured him without the aid of any other
medicine.

3 This may simply be an allusion to wayside crosses which
serve to guide travellers on their road. M. de Montaiglon
points out, however, that in the alphabets used for teaching
children in the olden time, the letter A was always preceded
by a cross, and that the child, in reciting, invariably
began: "The cross of God, A, B, C, D," &c. In a like way, a
cross figured at the beginning of the guide-books of the
time, as a symbol inviting the traveller to pray, and
reminding him upon whom he should rely amid the perils of
his journey. The best known French guide-book of the
sixteenth century is Charles Estienne's _Guide des Chemins
de France_.--M. and Ed.

Several persons who knew that this Captain had been more renowned for
valour and jollity than for piety, were amazed that he should have
become so intimate