“’Alas, madam, receive the heart which would fain break forth from my breast to leap into the hand of her from whom I look for indulgence, life and pity, and which now constrains me to make known to you the love that I have so long concealed, for neither my heart nor I can now control this potent God.’

“When she heard those words, she deemed them very strange.  She wished to withdraw her hand, but I held it fast, and the glove remained in her cruel hand’s place; and having neither before nor since had any more intimate favour from her, I have fastened this glove upon my heart as the best plaster I could give it.  And I have adorned it with the richest rings I have, though the glove itself is wealth that I would not exchange for the kingdom of England, for I deem no happiness on earth so great as to feel it on my breast.”

The Lord de Montmorency, who would have rather had a lady’s hand than her glove, praised his very honourable behaviour, telling him that he was the truest lover he had ever known, and was worthy of better treatment, since he set so much value upon so slight a thing; though perchance, if he had obtained aught better than the glove, the greatness of his love might have made him die of joy.  With this the English lord agreed, not suspecting that the Lord de Montmorency was mocking him. (3)

3 Alluding to this story, Brantome writes as follows in his Dames Galantes:  “You have that English Milord in the Hundred Tales of the Queen of Navarre, who wore his mistress’s glove at his side, beautifully adorned.  I myself have known many gentlemen who, before wearing their silken hose, would beg their ladies and mistresses to try them on and wear them for some eight or ten days, rather more than less, and who would then themselves wear them in extreme veneration and contentment, both of mind and body.”—­ Lalanne’s OEuvres de Brantome, vol. ix. p. 309.—­L.

“If all men were so honourable as this one, the ladies might well trust them, since the cost would be merely a glove.”

“I knew the Lord de Montmorency well,” said Geburon, “and I am sure that he would not have cared to fare after the English fashion.  Had he been contented with so little, he would not have been so successful in love as he was, for the old song says—­

     ’Of a cowardly lover
     No good is e’er heard.’”

“You may be sure,” said Saffredent, “that the poor lady withdrew her hand with all speed, when she felt the beating of his heart, because she thought that he was about to die, and people say that there is nothing women loathe more than to touch dead bodies.” (4)

     4 Most of this sentence, deficient in our MS., is taken
     from MS. No. 1520.—­L.

“If you had spent as much time in hospitals as in taverns,” said Ennasuite, “you would not speak in that way, for you would have seen women shrouding dead bodies, which men, bold as they are, often fear to touch.”