strong attacks made on Marguerite by the Faculty of Theology (the Sorbonne) of Paris. She cannot be called a Protestant, but she had broken completely with mediæval modes of religious life and thought. Marguerite's letters contain such graphic glimpses, that it is possible to see her daily life, whether at Bourges, where she held her Court as the Duchess of Alençon, or at Nérac, where she dwelt as the Queen of Navarre. Every hour was occupied, and was lived in the midst of company. Her _Contes_ and her poetry were for the most part written in her litter when she was travelling from one place to another. Her "Household" was large even for the times. No less than one hundred and two persons--ladies, secretaries, almoners, physicians, etc.--made her Court; and frequently many visitors also were present. The whole "Household," with the visitors, met together every forenoon in one of the halls of the Palace, a room "well-paved and hung with tapestry," and there the Princess commonly proposed some text of Scripture for discussion. It was generally a passage which seemed obscure to Marguerite; for example, "The meek shall inherit the earth." All were invited to make suggestions about its meaning. The hostess was learned, and no one scrupled to quote the Scriptures in their original languages, or to adduce the opinions of such earlier Fathers as Augustine, Jerome, Chrysostom, or the Gregories. If it surprises us to find one or other of the twenty _valets de chambre_, who were not menials and were privileged to be present, familiar with theology, and able to quote Greek and even Hebrew, it must not be forgotten that Marguerite's _valets de chambre_ included distinguished Humanists and Reformers, to whom she extended the protective privilege of being enrolled in her "Household." When the weather permitted, the whole company went for a stroll in the park after the discussion, and then seated themselves near a "pleasant fountain" on the turf, "so soft and delicate that they needed neither carpet nor cushions."[166] There one of the ladies-in-waiting (thirty _dames_ or _demoiselles_ belonged to the "Household") read aloud a tale from the _Heptameron_, not forgetting the improving conversation which concludes each story. This gave rise to an animated talk, after which they returned to the Palace. In the evening the "Household" assembled again in a hall, fitted as a simple theatre, to witness one of the Comedies or Pastorals which the Queen delighted to write, and in which, through a medium as strange as the _Contes_, she inculcated her mystical Christianity, and gave expression to her longings for a reformation in the Church and society. Her Court was the precursor of the _salons_ which in a later age exercised such a powerful influence on French political, literary, and social life.