CHRISTINE DE PISAN 



of sixty books, old and new, of history and love- 

 stories, he says that for every bad woman, 

 mention was duly made of a hundred good ones. 

 Time and experience in no way dull this appre- 

 ciation, for when, later, The Canterbury Tales 

 appear, his estimate has risen ten-fold, since in 

 the prologue to " The Miller's Tale " we read, 

 " and ever a thousand gode ageyn one badde." 

 From this time onwards, literature on the sub- 

 ject increases almost ad infinitum. Treatises and 

 imaginary debates seem to vie with each other for 

 popularity. All these make intensely interesting 

 reading, for these fanciful discussions, which are 

 supposed to take place, sometimes between a 

 man and a woman, sometimes between a mixed 

 company in a garden or villa or some bath resort 

 where many are gathered together, are really a 

 record of the intellectual amusements of the late 

 Middle Ages and the Renaissance. " Que devez- 

 ,vous preferer, du plaisir qui va vous echapper 

 bientot, ou d'une esperance toujours vive, quoique 

 toujours trompee ? " " Which sex loves the more 

 easily or can do the better without love ? " " It is not 

 enough to know how to win love, but one must 

 also know how to keep such love when it has been 

 won." Such-like were the subtle problems which 

 on these occasions folk set themselves to solve. 



But whilst love problems could be treated as 

 a pastime, they also had their serious side. Of 

 this there is an example in Christine's story of 

 The Duke of True Lovers. Although much in 

 its narration is evidently the mere invention of 



