his profession. Careless of the difference between good and evil; a
courtier who has no idea that anything can be blameworthy in the great,
but who sees and narrates their vices and their crimes all the more
frankly in that he is not very sure whether what he tells be good or
bad; as indifferent to the honor of women as he is to the morality of
men; relating scandalous things with no consciousness that they are
such, and almost leading his reader into accepting them as the simplest
things in the world, so little importance does he attach to them;
terming Louis XI., who poisoned his brother, the _good_ King Louis,
calling women whose adventures could hardly have been written by any pen
save his own, _honnêtes dames_."

Brantôme must therefore not be regarded as a chronicler who revels in
scandals, although his pages reek with them; but as the true mirror of
the Valois court and the Valois period.

* * * * *

THE DANCING OF ROYALTY

From 'Lives of Notable Women'

Ah! how the times have changed since I saw them together in the
ball-room, expressing the very spirit of the dance! The King always
opened the grand ball by leading out his sister, and each equaled the
other in majesty and grace. I have often seen them dancing the Pavane
d'Espagne, which must be performed with the utmost majesty and grace.
The eyes of the entire court were riveted upon them, ravished by this
lovely scene; for the measures were so well danced, the steps so
intelligently placed, the sudden pauses timed so accurately and making