Pasquier in his poem gave himself a pretty free scope in his imaginary pursuit of the flea, and in all the allusions to which its name would on such an occasion invite an old Frenchman. If the story had ended here, it would have been characteristic enough of French manners, _Or voy, je te prie,_ says Pasquier, _quel fruict nous a produit cette belle altercation, ou pour mieux dire, symbolization de deux ames. Ces deux petits Jeux poëtiques commencerent à courir par les mains de plusieurs, et se trouverent si agreables, que sur leur modelle, quelques personnages de marque voulurent estre de la partie; et s'employerent sur mesme subject à qui mieux mieux, les uns en Latin, les autres en François, et quelquesuns en l'une et l'autre langue: ayant chacun si bien exploté en son endroict, qu' à chacun doit demeurer la victoire._ Among the distinguished persons who exercised their talents upon this worthy occasion, Brisson was one; that Brisson of whom Henri III. said that no king but himself could boast of so learned a subject; who lent the assistance of his great name and talents towards setting up the most lawless of all tyrannies, that of an insurrectionary government; and who suffered death under that tyranny, as the reward which such men always (and righteously as concerns themselves however iniquitous the sentence) receive from the miscreants with whom they have leagued. He began his poem much as a scholar might be expected to do, by alluding to the well known pieces which had been composed upon somewhat similar subjects. _Fœlices meritò Mures Ranæque loquaces Queis cæci vatis contigit ore cani: Vivet et extento lepidus Passerculus ævo Cantatus numeris, culte Catulle tuis. Te quoque, parve Culex, nulla unquam muta silebit Posteritas, docti suave Maronis opus. Ausoniusque Pulex, dubius quem condidit auctor, Canescet sæclis innumerabilibus. Pictonici at Pulicis longè præclarior est sors, Quem fovet in tepido casta puella sinu. Fortunate Pulex nimium, tua si bona noris, Alternis vatum nobilitate metris._