OF SIX MEDIEVAL WOMEN 



the poetess, it is quite possible, nay even 

 probable, that it has some historical basis. 

 Christine begins her story by saying that it had 

 been confided to her by a young prince who 

 did not wish his name to be divulged, and who 

 desired only to be known as " The Duke ot 

 True Lovers." It has been suggested, with 

 much likelihood, that this is in truth the love- 

 story of Jean, Due de Bourbon, and of Marie, 

 Duchesse de Berri, daughter of the famous 

 Jean, Due de Berri, and the inheritor of his MSS. 

 When the story opens, the heroine of it, who- 

 ever she may have been, is already wedded. 

 Hence all the difficulties of the hero, and indeed 

 of both. Christine, with her womanly sympathy 

 and psychological insight,, makes all so intensely 

 real that we are quite carried away in imagina- 

 tion' to the courtly life of the fifteenth century. 

 We read of the first meeting ; of the Duke's 

 love at first sight ; of Castle daily life ; of a 

 three days' tournament given in honour of the 

 lady ; of devices for secret meetings and the 

 interchange of letters ; of the inevitable scandal- 

 monger ; of a letter from a former gouvernante 

 whose aid as go-between had been sought 

 containing a most comprehensive and remarkable 

 treatise on feminine morality, the dangers of 

 illicit love, and the satisfaction of simple wifely 

 duty ; of the separation which the position of 

 the lady, and the gallantry of her lover, alike 

 demanded ; of meetings at intervals ; of the 

 mutual solace of short love-poems ; and then 



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