Stanza 1, line 1. _Calixte._ These names are of less interest. _Calixte_ was Pope Calixtus III, Alphonso Borgia, who died in 1458--in Villon's twenty-sixth year. _Alphonse_ is Alphonso V of Arragon, who died in that same year. The _Duc de Bourbon_ is Charles the First of Bourbon, who died at the end of the year 1456, "gracieux" because his son protected Villon. _Artus_ (Arthur) of Brittany is that same Richemont who recaptured Paris from Willoughby. Charles VII is Charles VII. The _Roy Scotiste_ is James II, who died in 1460: the _Amethyst_ half of his face was a birthmark. The _King of Cyprus_ is probably John III, who died in that same fatal year, 1458. Pedants will have it that the _King of Spain_ is John II of Castille, who died in 1454--but it is a better joke if it means nobody at all. _Lancelot_ is Vladislas of Bohemia, who died in 1457. _Cloquin_ is Bertrand de Guesclin who led the reconquest. _The Count Daulphin_ of Auvergne is doubtful; _Alencon_ is presumably the Alencon of Joan of Arc's campaign, who still survived, and is called "feu" half in ridicule, because in 1458 he had lost his title and lands for treason. Stanza 2, line 3. _Amatiste_=amethyst. Stanza 3, line 7. _Tayon_=Ancestor. "_Etallum._" Latin "_Stallio_." THE DIRGE. Line 1. _Cil_=celui-ci. The Latin "_ecce illum_." Line 3. _Escuelle_=bowl. "With neither bowl nor platter." Line 4. Note again the constant redundant negative of the populace in this scholar: "Had never, no--not a sprig of parsley." Line 5. _Rez_=ras, cropped. MAROT. OF COURTING LONG AGO. Line 5. _On se prenoit_, one attacked--"it was but the heart one sought." Line 11. _Fainctz_=sham; "_changes_" is simply like the English "changes": the form survives in the idiom: "donner le change." Line 13. _Refonde_=recast. NOEL. Verse 1, line 3. _L'Autre hyer_=alterum heri, "t'other day." Line 10. _Noe._ The tendency to drop final letters, especially the _l_, is very marked in popular patois, and this is, of course, a song based on popular language. Most French peasants north of the Loire would still say "Noe" for "Noel." _Noel_ is, of course, _Natalem_ (diem). Verse 2, line 2. _Cas de si hault faict_=so great a matter. TWO EPIGRAMS. Epigram 1, line 2. _Vostre._ Marguerite of Navarre. As I have remarked, in the text, she had sent him a Dixaine (some say he wrote it himself). This one is written in answer.--_Ay._ Note, till the verb grew over simple in the classical French of the seventeenth century there was no more need for the pronoun than in Latin. Thus Montaigne will omit the pronoun, but Malherbe never. Line 5. _Cuydans_=thinking (_Cogitare_=_Cogtare_=_Coyde_=_cuider_, the _oi_ became _ui_ by a common transition; _cf._ noctem, octem, noit, nuit, huit.) The word is now archaic. Line 9. _Encor._ Without the final e. This is not archaic but poetic licence. _Encore_="hanc horam," and a post tonic "am" in Latin always means a final mute e in French.