with which lie had expedited Bugençy , and
on a silver silver, held by his page, a pair of
beautiful steel scissors requesting the humourist
to take his choice, Saint Marceau said his
hair was already beginning to fall off, and he
preferred being clipped to being killed. So he
is the Reverend Friar Joseph—and if poems
were miracles would be certain to be canonised."

"You are over-flippant, sir," said Francis,
pulling a long countenance, "in talking of
sacred things. The Bishop of Aigos Potamos
—by the by, I hope your lordship's parishioners
are well?—will put you to penance—"

'' Of what sort? " inquired the offending
noble, looking humbly towards the prelate.

"Why, he will make you listen to his
sermons all through Lent," said Aloys de
Chabannes.

"He will lend you his mule to ride when
you are in a hurry to visit your lady," said
Adrien de Cossè.

"He will make you play cards with him,"
said Hercule the young Duc de Mirecourt,
showing an empty purse; " and keep the deal
in his own hands—the Pope himself couldn't
cheat more openly."

"Enough, my lords," said Francis,
"remember we are the most Christian King—
and, besides (in a low tone of voice) that his
lordship of Aigos Potamos—I really hope
that they have no dissent among them in that
populous diocese—was so drunk last night,
that he doesn't know what you are saying.—
Draw swords! " he added, suddenly, " and
sun id on your guard! for here's Herminie
D'Evreux and her companion of Satan, the
demoniacal English dog. How remarkably
like our brother Henry!"

A dog of the most preposterous ferocity of
aspect now walked sulkily up the hall. It
had a broad chest, strong legs, round head,
sullen eyes, and wicked-looking ears. It had
an expression of hunger in its watering mouth
when it came near a gentleman's leg, most
unsatisfactory for the proprietor of the leg to
notice. And, altogether, it was so detestable
an animal, so dangerous and untameable
that the Bishop of Aigos Potamos had at
once christened it Luther, who was at
that time summoned to appear before the
Diet of Augsburg. If the gentlemen of
France had been the assembled princes and
prelates, before whom he was to appear,
Luther couldn't have displayed his teeth in a
more menacing manner. However, he
wouldn't have had the redeeming charm of
having a blue ribband round his neck, attached
at the other end to a waist, so slim, so graceful,
so perfect in shape and proportion, that
it was evident it could only belong to the
beauty of the most beautiful Court of the
world, the paragon of wits and graces; of
strong minds and sharp tongues; the dashing,
flashing, slashing Herminie D'Evreux,
whom we saw receiving her father's blessing
with so many tears, and her aunt's
assistance with so much helplessness and shame.
Oh! three months of the Marais had driven
away the effects of seventeen years of the
Marue. She had discarded her blushes and
her litter, and rode forth an Amazonian queen,
on steeds which the courtiers were afraid to
ride. She had dismissed her country taste,
her lute, her flowers, her books of devotion
(beautifully emblazoned), and had taken up
with rackets; and the high dance; and the
songs of the Troubadours. In short, she
had sent away her graceful, timid, little
Italian greyhound, Venus, and taken to her
heart the English mastiff Luther. At her
side, walked, obedient, submissive, respectful,
the acknowledged champion of the French
nobility; the tallest, the strongest, the most
skilful of the chivalry of that strong and
chivalrous age, the Chevalier de Mont-Chery,
commonly called Sir Caribert of the Leaf. If
she looked, he obeyed her glance; if she
spoke, he was all ear; and she was always
looking and always speaking—his obedience
was incessant and his ears getting very long.
Courtships were tremendous operations at
that time. The lover was happy if in ten
years he was allowed to touch his mistress's
glove; when he got possession of a tress it
was generally getting grey; and she seldom
smiled upon the most favoured of her adorers
till she had lost a few of her teeth. And the
hostility was immense. If the worshipper
admired a riband, it was thrown into the fire
—if he praised a song, it was sung no more—
if, as in the case of which I am the veracious
chronicler, a favourite lap-dog was restored,
it was banished from her presence. It was,
in fact, a long engagement, in the most
military sense of the word, for the skirmishes
were perpetual, and the animosity inappeasable.
The lady moved up the Hall with the
tread of an imperial goddess, curtsied to the
royal Francis with a proud humility, which
asserted the superiority of the crown of
youth and loveliness she bore upon her brow
to the golden ring which he had placed upon
his head at Kheims; and announced that the
Queen and twelve maids of honour would be
ready at ten of the clock that night, to
receive the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne, who
would be admitted to the Temple of Apollo
and entertained by Minerva (her majesty of
France), attended by the nine Muses and the
three Graces.

"Of which last the Athenian Pallas has
chosen the loveliest for her messenger,"
replied the gallant Francis.

He advanced a step, but suddenly stopped
short, as he felt the breath of the long- toothed
German reformer upon his leg.

"If it were not for circumstances," he
said, " over which we have no control, we
should bestow the kiss of salutation on the
cheek of the incomparable Agleia that——that
cursed dog! have we no knight or gentleman
of our suite who will make an A'Becket
of the brute?——But bear our message," he