448 
cen, infant of Majorca. Him fhe fuffered 
only to be fiyled Duke of Calabria, and 
being jealous of him had his head ftruck 
off. Her fourth hulband was Otho of 
Brunfwick. He was made prifoner by 
Charles Durazzo, Joan at the fame time 
furrendering herfelf. Lewis of Hungary, 
who joined the army which had conquered 
Naples, caufed Joan to be hanged on the 
fpot where fhe had put her firft hufband 
(Lewis's brother) to death. Froiffart 
fays fhe was finothered betwixt two fea- 
ther-beds, but Brantome aflerts this to be 
a miftake. Joan fettled the kingdom of 
Sicily and Naples on Durazzo, and had 
fold Avignon to the-Pope. Brantome 
{peaks of her beauty and great accom- 
plifhments in the higheft terms, and is at 
fome pains to vindicate her character. 
COURTEZANS. 
Brantome in his Memoirs, after enu- 
Merating the forces which the Duke of 
Alba led into Flanders, fays,9*‘* De plus, 
il y avoit quatre cens Courtifanes a che- 
val, belles & braves comme Princeffes, & 
huit cens a pied, bien a point auffi ;""—Be- 
fides thefe, there went four hundred cour- 
tezans on horfeback, all as handfome and 
well-clothed as princefles; and likewife 
eight hundred on foot, not inferior to the 
former in the famie refpects.” 
PaGES OF HONOUR. 
The manner in which pages (as they 
are now called, of Honour) were treated at 
the court of France in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, will appear from the following paf- 
fage from Brantome’s Memoirs. ‘* Feu 
mon Pére & Monfieur d’ Eltrée avoit 
tous deux efté nourris pnges de la Reine 
Ainne, et tous deux allorent fares mulets 
de fa litiere ; lefques* (a ce que J’Sy oul 
dire 2 mon dit Pére & au dit MOGeur 
d’ Eftrée ;) elle a bien fait . fouters, 
quand ils faifeient aller les mulets ¢1 ps 
fagon qu’elle ne vouloit, ou qu’ls eulfent 
bronché le moins de monde; mo» Pére 
alloit fur le premier, Monf. d’Eftrée. fur 
le fecond, & puis tous deux foriant hors 
de Page les envoyadela les monts 4 la 
guerre. ’’"—** My late father (anobleman 
by birth, and allied-to the firft families 
in France) and Monfieur d’Eftrée were 
both brought up in the court of Queen 
Anne, and were both pages. ‘They rode 
on the mules of her litter, and as I have 
heard my father and M. d’Ettrée fay, 
she bas caufed them to be whipped when- 
ever the mules did not go to her liking, 
_or if they chanced to ftumble in the leaft.: 
My father rode on the'firft mule and M. 
d’Etrée on the fecond. “When they were 
From the Port-folio of a Man of Letters. 
-had been aétually married 
[ Dec. 4, 
grown up they were both fent to the army 
in Italy.” This Queen Anne here men= 
‘tioned was the confort of Charles VIII, 
who reigned in France from 1483 to 1498. 
She was the daughter of Francis Duke 
of Bretagne, and he dying without other 
iffue, the duchy in confequence of this 
marriage devolved toa the crown of 
France. Charles contrived to procure 
her to be married to himfelf, though fhe 
by proxy. to 
the Emperor Maximilian. © AG 
WILLIAM POSTEL 
Loft his father and mother at the age 
of eight years. They died of the plague ; 
as he was born with a pajflion for let- 
ters, which neither thirft nor hunger nor 
fatigue could extinguifh, he colleéted 
a little money together, and fet out from 
his native village in the depth of winter 
for Paris, in the purfuit of knowledge. 
On his arrival in the capital, he almoft 
withed himfelf back in the circle of the 
ruftics he had deferted, whom he now 
looked upon as the happieft people on the 
face of the earth. He could read nothing 
but avarice, diffipation and hypocrify in 
every countenance he met. Young as he 
was, however, he knew that he would be 
laughed at if he returned, by thofe wha 
deemed themfelves wifer than others, be- 
caufe they happened to be more fortunate 
in the enjoyment of the good things of 
this life. He was refolved, at all events, 
that the malicious gratification of that 
fordid race of beings fhould not be in- 
dulged at hisexpence.' He hired a garret, 
and as every day made his little lefS, he 
pafled his moments in digefting plans to, 
recruit the confumption of his flender 
purfe. One morning, when he thought he 
had hit on one, that would immediately 
{natch him out of the jaws of defpair, he 
ftarted ina tranfport of pleafure out of 
bed—but this tranfport was of momen.. 
tary duration ; for alas! fome unrelenting 
thief had ftolen his cloaths, and all the 
money he could command alongwith them. 
He was going to throw himfelf out of the 
window, but an early fenfe of religion ar. ~ 
refted the impetus of the moment, and 
whifpered in at his ear, that, if defér®@d by 
man, he was not deferted by Heaven. He 
funk into his wretched bed—the fudden 
tranfition from hope to the oppofite ex- 
treme, brought on adylentery. He was 
conveyed to the hofpital, and it was two 
years before he could recover bis ftrength. 
As foon as he was able to walk, he quitted 
Paris. Neceffity, which chafed him full in 
view, drove him to the tafk ef gleaning in 
. harveits 
