; or else at that of Oiron, another domain of
the Gouffiers, between Loudun and Bressuire. In the chapel
of Oiron were buried Bonnivet, his mother, his brother
Artus, and his nephew Claud. Their tombs, large marble
mausoleums of Italian workmanship, surmounted by recumbent
statues, were opened and mutilated by the Huguenots in 1568,
when the bones they contained were scattered to the winds.
Bon-nivet's statue is probably the most damaged of the four.
The chateau of Oiron, with its marble staircases, quaint
frescoes, sculptured medallions, &c, testifies to the great
wealth possessed by the Gouffier family, and justifies the
cynical motto assumed by Bonnivet's nephew: "Others have
beaten the bushes, but we have the birds."--Ed.

One day during the carnival, when he was among the maskers, he danced
with one of the most beautiful and bravely attired ladies to be found
in the whole city; and whenever a pause occurred in the music of the
hautboys, he did not fail to address her with love speeches, in which he
excelled all others. But she (3) having no favourable reply to give him,
suddenly checked his discourse by assuring him that she neither loved
nor ever would love any man but her husband, and that he must by no
means expect that she would listen to him.

3 This lady may perhaps be the "Sennora Clerice" (Clarissa)
of whom Brantome writes as follows in his _Capitaines
Francois_:--"It was Bonnivet alone who advised King Francis
to cross the mountains and follow M. de Bourbon, and in this
he had less his master's advantage and service at heart than
his desire to return and see a great and most beautiful lady
of Milan, whom he had made his mistress some years
previously.... It is said that this was the 'Sennora
Clerice,' then accounted one of the most beautiful ladies of
Italy.... A great lady of the time, from whom I heard this
story, told me that he, Bonnivet, had commended this lady
Clerice to the King so highly as to make him desirous of
seeing and winning her; and this was the principal cause of
this expedition of the King's."--Lalanne's _OEuvres de
Brantome_, vol. ii. p. 167-8.--L.

The gentleman, however, would not take this answer for a refusal, and
continued to press his suit with great energy until mid-Lent. But he
found her still firm in her declaration that she would love neit