2 Whilst admitting the historical basis of this story, M. Le Roux de Lincy conceives it to be the same as No. xlvii. of the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, printed half-a-century before the _Heptameron_ was written. Beyond the circumstance, however, that in both cases a judge is shown privily avenging himself on his wife for her infidelity, there is no resemblance between the two tales. There is good reason for believing that Queen Margaret’s narrative is based on absolute fact, and not on the story in the _Cent Nouvelles_. Both tales have often been imitated. See for instance Bonaventure Despéricr’s _Contes, Nouvelles, et joyeux Devis_ (tale xcii., or, in some editions, xc. ); _Les Heures de Récréation de Louis Guicciardini_, p. 28; G. Giraldi Cinthio’s _Hecatommithi, overro cento Novelle, &c_. (dec. iii. nov. vi. ); Malespini’s _Ducento Novelle _(part ii. nov. xvi.); Verboquet’s _Les Délices, &c_, 1623, p. 23; and Shirley’s _Love’s Cruelly_. These tales also inspired some of the Spanish dramatists, notably Calderon.--Ed. and L. “I do not mean by this, ladies, to praise the President’s conscience, but rather to bring out the frailty of a woman and the great patience and prudence of a man. And I beg you, ladies, be not angered by the truth, which sometimes speaks as loudly against ourselves as against the men; for vice and virtue are common alike to men and women.” “If all those,” said Parlamente, “who have fallen in love with their servants were obliged to eat salads of that kind, I know some who would be less fond of their gardens than they are at present, and who would pluck up the herbs to get rid of such as restore the honour of a family by compassing the death of a wanton mother.” Hircan, who guessed why she had said this, angrily replied--“A virtuous woman should never judge another guilty of what she would not do herself.” “Knowledge is not judgment nor yet foolishness,” returned Parlamente. “However, this poor woman paid the penalty that many others have deserved, and I think that the President, when desirous of vengeance, comported himself with wondrous prudence and wisdom.” “And with great malevolence, also,” said Longarine. “‘Twas a slow and cruel vengeance, and showed he had neither God nor conscience before his eyes.” “Why, what would you have had him do,” said Hircan, “to revenge himself for the greatest wrong that a woman can deal to a man?” “I would have had him kill her in his wrath,” she replied. “The doctors say that since the first impulses of passion are not under a man’s control, such a sin may be forgiven; so it might have obtained pardon.” “Yes,” said Geburon, “but his daughters and descendants would have always borne the stain.” “He ought not to have killed her at all,” said Longarine, “for, when his wrath was past, she might have lived with him in virtue, and nothing would ever have been said about the matter.”