DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63221#0052
26
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
illustrations for every circumstance in life—even for their
jokes—without any sense of irreverence. From their birth
to their death they were surprising. Queens and Princesses
were bound to die conventionally and to say an effective
last word, but their inferiors were seldom edifying on their
deathbeds. Sometimes they remained philosophical. Bran-
tome’s niece was a scientific Precieuse who understood her
own pulse and left her body to be dissected. Madame de
la Rochefoucauld was nobler. Her Confessor tried to console
her by preaching the worthlessness of life: “ I am still in
the verdure of life,” she replied, “ and I love living. Never-
theless I will welcome death as if I were ugly and abject.”
But the majority were like the merry Mademoiselle de
Limeuil who died at Court. During her illness, “jamais le
bee ne lui cessa.... car elle etait fort grande parleuse.”
“ ‘Julien,’ she said to her favourite Varlet, a sweet player of
instruments, ‘Julien, take your violin, and until you see
that I am dead, (for I am passing away,) go on playing
“The Defeat of the Swiss” to me as well as you can, and
when you come to the words “All is lost”, play the phrase
four or five times over, as piteously as possible.’ He did
so—and when he came to ‘All is lost’, she said the words
twice—and turning to the othei’ side of the bed: ‘ All is
lost, with that chord,’ quoth she, and thus she died.... Voila,”
ends her chronicler, “ une mort joy euse et plaisante.” 1
Joyousness and pleasantness were essential qualities in the
eyes of King Francis. Sadness he regarded as a capital
offence. No lady without happy spirits and happy looks
1 Brantome, Vol. ix.
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
illustrations for every circumstance in life—even for their
jokes—without any sense of irreverence. From their birth
to their death they were surprising. Queens and Princesses
were bound to die conventionally and to say an effective
last word, but their inferiors were seldom edifying on their
deathbeds. Sometimes they remained philosophical. Bran-
tome’s niece was a scientific Precieuse who understood her
own pulse and left her body to be dissected. Madame de
la Rochefoucauld was nobler. Her Confessor tried to console
her by preaching the worthlessness of life: “ I am still in
the verdure of life,” she replied, “ and I love living. Never-
theless I will welcome death as if I were ugly and abject.”
But the majority were like the merry Mademoiselle de
Limeuil who died at Court. During her illness, “jamais le
bee ne lui cessa.... car elle etait fort grande parleuse.”
“ ‘Julien,’ she said to her favourite Varlet, a sweet player of
instruments, ‘Julien, take your violin, and until you see
that I am dead, (for I am passing away,) go on playing
“The Defeat of the Swiss” to me as well as you can, and
when you come to the words “All is lost”, play the phrase
four or five times over, as piteously as possible.’ He did
so—and when he came to ‘All is lost’, she said the words
twice—and turning to the othei’ side of the bed: ‘ All is
lost, with that chord,’ quoth she, and thus she died.... Voila,”
ends her chronicler, “ une mort joy euse et plaisante.” 1
Joyousness and pleasantness were essential qualities in the
eyes of King Francis. Sadness he regarded as a capital
offence. No lady without happy spirits and happy looks
1 Brantome, Vol. ix.