She was meanwhile much admired at the French Court for her learning. A Latin and Greek scholar of merit, she studied Aristotle's _Ethics_ and is reported to have sent to Paris for at least three different editions of Cicero. She had no special gift in the use of the pen like her versatile aunt,[101] the authoress of the _Heptameron_, although she occupied her mind with continual study and much careful reading. She patronised the poet Du Bellay, who translated for her Bembo and Naugerius and she induced him to assert that no century would ever extinguish the memory of Boccaccio and Petrarch. Moreover, she attracted to the French Court Baccio del Bene, of whom Ronsard said that he was the only Italian author worthy of earnest consideration at this period. Her learning acquired for her the _sobriquet_ of "Pallas"; her emblem was an olive-branch; and she was looked upon as the symbol of Platonism in its highest form. Her father, King Francis, paid but little attention to her; but her brother, Henri II, loved and esteemed her greatly and when she married ordered for her adornment magnificent robes, costly lace and jewels, and organised great festivities. It was on the occasion of these nuptials, however, that the terrible tragedy occurred which brought about His Majesty's death. Like her aunt Rénée at Ferrara Marguerite[102] in her home in Piedmont never ceased to long for her "sweet France"; and every Frenchman who passed through Turin, on presenting himself at her Court, was warmly welcomed and munificently entertained. With her enlightened views she was able to act as mediator in the religious differences which raged so violently in France during the sixteenth century, and which extended into the country of her adoption; and she protected, as far as she was able, the persecuted Waldenses. The last years of her life were devoted chiefly to the education of her son, Charles Emmanuel of Savoy; and Michel de l'Hôpital declared that this Prince owed the success of his career entirely to her. The French Ambassador at Constantinople left to her his entire fortune, and the poet Du Bellay on his death-bed wept bitterly because he was unable to take a last farewell of her. When she herself died there perished with her all that was best in the spirit of the neo-Platonism initiated by her aunt, the first Marguerite; so that it presently fell entirely to pieces under the influence of the third Marguerite, youngest daughter of Catherine de Medicis. [Illustration: Plate LVIII. THE DAUPHIN FRANCOIS, ELDEST SON OF FRANCIS I. Jean Clouet. Photo. Giraudon. HENRI D'ORLEANS, AFTERWARDS HENRI II. Attributed to Jean Clouet. Musée Condé. _To face page 220._]