* * * * * Well! dear ladies, I must e’en draw to an end; and I do beg you pardon me, an if I have said aught to offend you. ’Tis very far from my nature, whether inborn or gotten by education, to offend or displeasure you in any wise. In what I say of women, I do speak of some, not of all; and of these, I do use only false names and garbled descriptions. I do keep their identity so carefully hid, none may discover it, and never a breath of scandal can come on them but by mere conjecture and vague suspicion, never by certain inference. I fear me ’tis only too likely I have here repeated a second time sundry witty sayings and diverting tales I have already told before in my other Discourses. Herein I pray such as shall be so obliging as to read all my works, to forgive me, seeing I make no pretence to being a great Writer or to possess the retentive memory needful to bear all in mind. The great Plutarch himself doth in his divers Works repeat several matters twice over. But truly, they that shall have the task of printing my books, will only need a good corrector to set all this matter right. [Illustration: Decorative scrollwork above chapter start] NOTES [1] P. 3: ◆At first this discourse was the last; it is outlined in the manuscript 608 as follows: “Discourse on why beautiful and faithful women love valiant men, and why worthy men love courageous women.” [2] P. 5: ◆Virgil, in his Æneid (Bk. I), makes Penthesileia appear only after Hector’s death. For these accounts on the Amazons, consult _Traité historique sur les Amazones_, by Pierre Petit, Leyde, 1718. [3] P. 6: ◆See Boccaccio, _De Claris Mulieribus_. ◆Æneid, IV., 10–13. [4] P. 8: ◆A Latin work of Boccaccio in nine books. ◆Bk. IX., Chap. 3. [5] P. 9: ◆_Nouvelle_, 1554–1574. ◆Bandello, t. III., p. 1 (Venice, 1558). [6] P. 11: ◆The Duc d’Anjou, afterwards Henri III. of France, is meant. He was the third son of Henri II. and Catherine de Medici, and was born at Fontainebleau 1551. On the death of his brother Charles IX. in 1574 he succeeded to the throne. Died 1589. The victories referred to are those of Jarnac and Montcontour. [7] P. 12: ◆Ronsard, _Œuvres_, liv. 1, 174th sonnet. [8] P. 13: ◆“Petit-Lit” is Leith,—the port of Edinburgh, on the Firth of Forth. The English army under Lord Grey of Wilton invaded Scotland in 1560, and laid siege to Leith, then occupied by the French. The place was stubbornly defended, but must soon have fallen, when envoys were sent by Francis II. from France to conclude a peace. These were Monluc, Bishop of Valence, and the Sieur de Rendan mentioned in the text; the negotiators appointed to meet them on the English side were the Queen’s great minister Cecil and Wotton, Dean of Canterbury. The French troops were withdrawn.