This statement is incorrect in more than one respect, and may be cited as another instance of the desire on the part of the ancient biographers to give a dramatic, and at the same time an erotic, turn to the stories of their heroes. The allegation of the poet’s prolonged courtship of the Duchess of Normandy having been interrupted by the lady’s marriage with Henry is self-contradictory, for the simple reason that she became Duchess of Normandy and took up her residence in that country in consequence of this identical marriage, which took place in the same year with her separation from Louis VII. of France. Moreover, all the songs known to us as having been addressed by the poet to Eleanor are written after Henry’s accession to the English throne. One of these songs, in which Bernart calls himself ‘a Norman or Englishman for the king’s sake,’ was most likely composed in England, whither Bernart had followed the court of his supposed rival. The same songs tend also to throw grave doubts on another statement of the old manuscript—that with regard to the mutual passion between lady and troubadour. It is true that his devotion frequently adopts the language of love; but there is no evidence to show that this love was returned by anything but friendship and kindness. He never boasts of favours granted, as troubadours were but too prone to do, and the joyful expectation expressed in one of his poems is evidently and confessedly a hope against hope. One somewhat obscure remark of the poet seems to indicate that King Henry did not regard the matter in an altogether innocent light. The line reads thus in the original Provençal: ‘Per vos me sui del rei partiz;’ which means, ‘For your sake I have parted from the king,’ and seems to indicate some sort of disagreement between the poet and the lady’s husband. But, supposing even that Henry’s jealousy were proved by this vague hint, we are not for that reason obliged to adopt his suspicions. Internal evidence points strongly towards a different relation—a relation much more common between the ladies and poets of Provence than is generally believed, and which is marked by fervent admiration on the one side, and by helpful and gentle, but irreproachable, kindness on the other.