Upon this Pasquier made such a speech as a Frenchman might be expected to make upon so felicitous an occasion, admiring the taste of the flea, envying its happiness, and marvelling at its boldness _de s'estre mise en si beau jour; parce que jaloux de son heur, peu s'en falloit,_ he says, _que je ne misse la main sur elle, en deliberation de luy faire un mauvais tour; et bien luy prenoit qu'elle estoit en lieu de franchise!_ This led to a _contention mignarde_ between the young lady and the learned lawyer, who was then more than fifty years of age; _finalement, ayant esté l'autheur de la noise,_ says Pasquier, _je luy dis que puisque ceste Puce avoit receu tant d'heur de se repaistre de son sang, et d'estre reciproquement honorée de nos propos, elle meritoit encores d'estre enchâssée dedans nos papiers, et que tresvolontiers je m'y employerois, si cette Dame vouloit de sa part faire le semblable; chose qu'elle m'accorda liberalement._ Each was in earnest, but each, according to the old Advocate, supposed the other to be in jest: both went to work upon this theme after the visit, and each finished a copy of verses about the same time, _tombants en quelques rencontres de mots les plus signalez pour le subject._ Pasquier thinking to surprize the lady, sent his poem to her as soon as he had transcribed it, on a Sunday morning,—the better the day the better being the deed: and the lady apprehending that they might have fallen upon some of the same thoughts, lest she should be suspected of borrowing what she knew to be her own, sent back the first draught of her verses by his messenger, not having had time to write them fairly out. _Heureuse, certes, rencontre et jouyssance de deux esprits, qui passe d'un long entrejet, toutes ces opinions follastres et vulgaires d'amour. Que si en cecy tu me permets d'y apporter quelque chose de mon jugement je te diray, qu'en l'un tu trouveras les discours d'une sage fille, en l'autre les discours d'un homme qui n'est pas trop fol; ayants l'un et l'autre par une bienseance des nos sexes joüé tels roolles que devions._ The Demoiselle after describing in her poem the feats of the flea, takes a hint from the resemblance in sound between _puce_ and _pucelle_, and making an allegorical use of mythology, makes by that means a decorous allusion to the vulgar notion concerning the unclean circumstances by which fleas, as they say, are bred: _Puce, si ma plume estoit digne, Je descrirois vostre origine; Et comment le plus grand des Dieux, Pour la terre quittant les cieux, Vous fit naître, comme il me semble, Orion et vous tout ensemble._ She proceeds to say that Pan became enamoured of this sister of Orion; that Diana to preserve her from his pursuit, metamorphosed her into a flea (_en puce_,) and that in this transformation nothing remained of her _Sinon La crainte, l'adresse, et le nom._