This seems to have struck M. Lenient, a French critic, who says:

"Generally the incidents and personages belong to the _bourgeoisée_;
there is nothing chivalric, nothing wonderful; no dreamy lovers,
romantic dames, fairies, or enchanters. Noble dames, bourgeois, nuns,
knights, merchants, monks, and peasants mutually dupe each other. The
lord deceives the miller's wife by imposing on her simplicity, and the
miller retaliates in much the same manner. The shepherd marries the
knight's sister, and the nobleman is not over scandalized.

"The vices of the monks are depicted in half a score tales, and the
seducers are punished with a severity not always in proportion to the
offence."

It seems curious that this valuable and interesting work has never
before been translated into English during the four and a half centuries
the book has been in existence. This is the more remarkable as the work
was edited in French by an English scholar--the late Thomas Wright. It
can hardly be the coarseness of some of the stories which has prevented
the _Nouvelles_ from being presented to English readers when there are
half a dozen versions of the _Heptameron_, which is quite as coarse as
the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, does not possess the same historical
interest, and is not to be compared to the present work as regards
either the stories or the style.

In addition to this, there is the history of the book itself, and
its connection with one of the most important personages in French
history--Louis XI. Indeed, in many French and English works of
reference, the authorship of the _Nouvelles_ has been attributed to him,
and though in recent years, the writer is now believed--and no doubt