2 Sainte-Marthe states that she would sit with two
secretaries, one on either side, and dictate poetry to the
one and letters to the other.
Margaret’s daughter Jane was at this period at the Court of France,
living in extravagant style, as is shown by the letters in which
Margaret declares that the Princess’s expenditure is insupportable. She
herself spent but little money upon personal needs, though she devoted
considerable sums to charity. In October 1548 she emerged from her
seclusion to attend the second marriage of her daughter, who now became
the wife of Anthony de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme. From Moulins, where the
ceremony took place, Margaret repaired to the Court at Fontainebleau.
Here all was changed: there was a new King, and Diana of Poitiers
occupied the position of the Duchess of Etampes. After returning to Bearn
for Christmas, Margaret spent the Lent of 1549 in retreat at Tusson,
where she apparently divided her time between prayer and literary
labour. She was still writing the _Heptameron_, as is shown by the
sixty-sixth tale, which chronicles an adventure that befell her daughter
and Anthony de Bourbon on their marriage trip during the winter of
1548-49. It may be noted, too, that the scene of the sixty-ninth story
is laid at the Castle of Odos near Tarbes, and as Margaret came to
reside at the castle in the autumn of 1549, this tale was probably
written during her sojourn there. Whilst adding fresh stories to the
_Heptameron_, she was not neglecting poetry, for from this period also
dates the _Miroir de Jésus Christ crucifié_, which Brother Olivier
published in 1556, stating that it was the Queen’s last work, and that
she had handed it to him a few days before her death.
Margaret had long been in failing health and was growing extremely weak.
Brantôme, on the authority of his grandmother, states that when her
approaching death was announced to her, she found the monition a very
bitter one, saying that she was not yet so aged but that she might live
some years longer. She was then in her fifty-eighth year. Sainte-Marthe
relates that shortly before her death she saw in a dream a very
beautiful woman holding in her hand a crown of all sorts of flowers
which she showed to her, telling her that she would soon be crowned with
it.(1)