[Footnote 8: It was at Villers-Cotterets, a small town in the department of Aisne, where François I. had a château, that the famous ordinance was signed, providing that the acts of sovereign courts should no longer be written in Latin, but should be drawn up in the vernacular. This château is still in existence, although sadly shorn of its pristine magnificence, and diverted from the uses for which it was originally intended. Begun by François I., who carved the salamanders upon it, it was finished by Henri II., who added his cipher and that of Catherine de Medicis. The visitor may still see those two letters, masterpieces of the Renaissance, connected,--and note this well, for the spirit of the time is epitomized in this lapidary fact,--connected by a lover's knot, which includes also the crescent of Diane de Poitiers. A charming, but, we must agree, a strange trilogy, which consists of the cipher and arms of the husband, the wife, and the mistress.] [Footnote 9: _Ce maraud de Marot._] [Footnote 10: I often wish that I were Phœbus, Not for his heaven-born knowledge of herbs, For the pain which I seek to deaden Can be cured by no herb that grows. Nor is it to have my abode in the firmament, Nor for his bow to contend against Love, For I do not choose to betray my king. I long to be Phœbus simply for this, To be beloved by Diane the fair.] [Footnote 11: Dainty, pretty little creature, Kind to mount, to dismount gentle.] [Footnote 12: Though thou'rt not a Bucephalus, Thou bearest a greater than Alexander.] II FOUR VARIETIES OF BRIGANDS Benvenuto crossed the Seine in all haste, and procured, not a bag as he had told Comte d'Orbec that he should, but a small wicker basket given him by one of his cousins, a nun at Florence. As he was determined to make an end of the affair that day, and it was already two o'clock, he did not wait for Ascanio, whom he had completely lost sight of, nor his workmen, who had gone to dinner; but started at once for Rue Froid-Manteau, where Comte d'Orbec had his official residence; and although he kept his eyes open he saw nothing on the way to cause him the least uneasiness. When he reached the treasurer's abode that dignitary informed him that he could not deliver his gold to him at once, as there were certain indispensable formalities to be gone through with, a notary to be summoned, and a contract to be drawn up. The count apologized with a thousand expressions of regret, knowing Cellini's impatient nature, and was so courteous withal that it was impossible to be angry; and Benvenuto resigned himself to wait, believing in the reality of these obstacles to a speedy delivery of the gold.