efficacy of holy water, is carried off bodily, and never heard of again.
It seems to me that this story bears the stamp of the character of
Louis, who though suspicious towards men, was childishly credulous in
religious matters, but I leave the question for critics more capable
than I to decide.

Of the thirty-two noblemen or squires who contributed the other stories,
mention will be made in the notes. Of the stories, I may here mention
that 14 or 15 were taken from Boccaccio, and as many more from Poggio or
other Italian writers, or French _fabliaux_, but about 70 of them appear
to be original.

The knights and squires who told the stories had probably no great skill
as _raconteurs_, and perhaps did not read or write very fluently. The
tales were written down afterwards by a literary man, and they owe "the
crispness, fluency, and elegance," which, as Prof. Saintsbury remarks,
they possess in such a striking degree, to the genius of Antoine de la
Sale. He was born in 1398 in Burgundy or Touraine. He had travelled much
in Italy, and lived for some years at the Court of the Comte d' Anjou.
He returned to Burgundy later, and was, apparently, given some sort
of literary employment by Duke Philippe le Bel. At any rate he was
appointed by Philippe or Louis to record the stories that enlivened the
evenings at the Castle of Genappe, and the choice could not have fallen
on a better man. He was already known as the author of two or three
books, one of which--_Les Quinze Joyes de Mariage_--relates the woes
of married life, and displays a knowledge of character, and a quaint,
satirical humour that are truly remarkable, and remind the reader
alternately of Thackeray and Douglas Jerrold,--indeed some of the
Fifteen Joys are "Curtain Lectures" with a mediaeval environment, and
the word pictures of Woman's foibles, follies, and failings are as