his hopes of recompense; and after hesitating for a time between the Royalists, the Leaguers, and the Spaniards, he left the court, retired into private life, and began to write memoirs, partly in consequence of a severe accident. He seems to have begun to write about 1594, and he lived for twenty years longer, dying on the 15th of July, 1614. The form of Brantôme’s works is, as has been said, peculiar. They are usually divided into two parts, dealing respectively with men and women. The first part in its turn consists of many subdivisions, the chief of which is made up of the _Vies des Grand Capitaines Étrangers et Français_, while others consist of separate disquisitions or essays, _Des Rodomontades Espagnoles_, “On some Duels and Challenges in France” and elsewhere, “On certain Retreats, and how they are sometimes better than Battles,” etc. Of the part which is devoted to women the chief portion is the celebrated _Dames Galantes_, which is preceded by a series of _Vies des Dames Illustres_, matching the _Grands Capitaines_. _The Dames Galantes_ is subdivided into eight discourses, with titles which smack of Montaigne. These discourses are, however, in reality little but a congerie of anecdotes, often scandalous enough. Besides these, his principal works, Brantôme left divers _Opuscula_, some of which are definitely literary, dealing chiefly with Lucan. None of his works were published in his lifetime, nor did any appear in print until 1659. Meanwhile manuscript copies had, as usual, been multiplied, with the result, also usual, that the text was much falsified and mutilated.