was leader of the former, while the 

 beautiful Diane de Poictiers was chief 

 of the wearers of the blue. The two, 

 the most beautiful and prominently 

 unscrupulous women of their time, 

 were loved respectively by the King 

 and Dauphin. The struggle for su- 

 premacy was bitter and long. Not 

 a day passed without an expression 

 of hostility on one side or the other. 

 Madame d'Etampeswas nine years the 

 junior of Diane, but the wit and cour- 

 age pf the latter were more than a 

 match for the beauty and youth of 

 Madame d'Etampes, and in the end 

 she triumphed over her rival. 



But, after all, it is in England that 

 the lilac is best known, or, perhaps, 

 one should say longest known, save 

 in Vienna. No festival in ihe long 

 category of holidays has called forth 

 more joyous writing than Ma.y-day. 

 It was beloved by simple as well as 



144 -r'y^.-' • 



