In her _Miroir de l’Ame Pécheresse_, previously referred to, there
figures another device composed merely of the three words “Ung pour
tout;” and in the manuscript of “La Coche” presented to the Duchess of
Etampes, the motto “Plus vous que moys” is inscribed beneath each of the
miniatures. Margaret also composed a series of devices for some jewels
which her brother presented to his favourite, Madame de Châteaubriant.
Respecting these Brantôme tells the following curious anecdote:--
“I have heard say, and hold on good authority, that when King Francis I.
had left Madame de Châteaubriant, his favourite mistress, to take Madame
d’Etampes, as one nail drives out another, Madame d’Etampes begged the
King to take back from the said Madame de Châteaubriant all the finest
jewels that he had given her, not on account of their cost and value,
for pearls and precious stones were not then so fashionable as they have
been since, but for the love of the fine devices that were engraved and
impressed upon them; which devices the Queen of Navarre, his sister, had
made and composed, for she was a mistress in such matters.
“King Francis granted the request, and promised that he would do it.
Having with this intent sent a gentleman to Madame de Châteaubriant to
ask for the jewels, she at once feigned illness, and put the gentleman
off for three days, when he was to have what he asked for. However, out
of spite, she sent for a goldsmith, and made him melt down all these
jewels without exception, and without having any respect for the
handsome devices engraved upon them. And afterwards, when the said
gentleman returned, she gave him all the jewels converted into gold
ingots.
“‘Go,’ said she, ‘and take these to the King, and tell him that since
he has been pleased to take back from me that which he had given me
so freely, I restore it and send it back in golden ingots. As for the
devices, I have impressed them so firmly on my mind and hold them
so dear in it, that I could not let any one have and enjoy them save
myself.’
“When the King had received all this, the ingots and the lady’s remark,
he only said, ‘Take her back all. What I did was not for the value, for
I would have restored her that twofold, but for the love of the devices,
and since she has thus destroyed them, I do not want the gold, and send
it back. She has shown in this matter more courage and generosity than
it would have been thought could come from a woman.’” (1)
Besides writing verses and framing devices, Margaret, as Brantôme tells
us, “often composed comedies and moralities, which were in those days
styled pastorals, and which she had played by the young ladies of her
Court.” (2)