In one of the best towns in Touraine there dwelt a lord of illustrious
family, who had there been brought up from early youth. Of the
perfections, graces, beauty and great virtues of this young Prince (1) I
will say nothing, except that in his time his equal could not be found.
Being fifteen years of age, he had more pleasure in hunting and hawking
than in looking at beautiful ladies.
1 This is undoubtedly Francis I., then Count of Angouleme.
M. de Lincy thinks that the scene of the story must be
Amboise, where Louise of Savoy went to live with her
children in 1499, and remained for several years; Louis XII.
having placed the chateau there at her disposal. Francis,
however, left Amboise to join the Court at Blois in August
1508, when less than fourteen years old (see Memoir of Queen
Margaret, vol. i. p. xxiii.), and in the tale, above, he is
said to have been fifteen at the time of the incidents
narrated. These, then, would have occurred in the autumn of
1509. It will be seen that in the tale the young Prince's
sister (Margaret) is described as residing at the castle.
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