The Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois contain what is perhaps the best-known and oftenest quoted passage of any memoirs of the time, that in which the Princess describes the night of St. Bartholomew. There are not many such stirring passages in them, but throughout Marguerite gives evidence of the remarkable talent which distinguished the Valois. Her evident object is to justify herself, and this makes the book somewhat artificial. It is dedicated to Brantome, but shows in its manner rather the influence of Ronsard and the Pleiade by the classical correctness of the style, the absence of archaisms, and the precision and form of the sentences. According to the principles of the school, the vocabulary is simple and vernacular enough, for the Pleiade regarded ornate classicisms of language as proper to poetry. In a rank not much below those mentioned must be placed the so-called _Memoires de Vieilleville_, the _Chronologies_ of Palma-Cayet, the _Registres-Journaux_ of Pierre de l'Estoile, the Letters of Duplessis-Mornay, Cardinal d'Ossat, and Henri IV. himself, and the _Negotiations_ of the President Jeannin. [Sidenote: Vieilleville.] The Marechal de Vieilleville was one of the foremost French generals of the sixteenth century, and, considering the violent and unscrupulous ways of the time, he had a good reputation for moderation, probity, and patriotism, as well as for courage and ability. His Memoirs are not his own work, but that of his secretary and lifelong companion, Vincent Carloix. They have some of the defects of a deliberate panegyric; but Carloix is a vigorous and able writer, who, without completely emancipating himself from the tyranny of the long involved sentence, contrives to write clearly, and often with much picturesque effect. [Sidenote: Palma-Cayet.] Pierre Victor Palma-Cayet was of mean extraction, but received a good education, and was introduced by La Noue to Jeanne d'Albret as a suitable assistant-tutor for her son. After the accession of his pupil, he was appointed to various offices, one of which, that of Chronologer Royal, no doubt occasioned the odd titles of his two principal works, _Chronologie Novenaire_ and _Chronologie Septenaire_, which give the history of Henri's reign, dividing it into two portions, the one of nine years, the other of seven. Cayet also wrote several minor works, and divides with D'Aubigne the doubtful honour of being the author of the _Divorce Satirique_, a scurrilous pamphlet against Marguerite. The _Chronologies_ are extremely full of matter, and admirably precise in their information, but their literary value is not great. [Sidenote: Pierre de l'Estoile.]