Brantome mentions this tale in both the First and the Fourth Discourse
of his _Dames Galantes_. In the former, after contending that all women
are naturally inclined to vice--a view which he borrows from the _Roman
de la Rose_, and which Pope afterwards re-echoed in the familiar line,
“Every woman is at heart a rake”--he proceeds to speak of those who
overcome their inclinations and remain virtuous:--
“Of this,” says he, “we have a very fine story in the Hundred Tales of
the Queen of Navarre; the one in which that worthy Lady of Pampeluna,
vicious at heart and by inclination, burning too with love for that
handsome Prince, Monsieur d’Avannes, preferred to die consumed by the
fire that possessed her rather than seek a remedy for it, as she
herself declared in her last words on her deathbed. This worshipful and
beautiful lady dealt herself death most iniquitously and unjustly; and
as I once heard a worthy man and worthy lady say of this very passage,
she did really offend against God, since it was in her power to deliver
herself from death; whereas in seeking it and advancing it as she did,
she really killed herself. And thus have done many similar to her,
who by excessive continence and abstinence have brought about the
destruction both of their souls and bodies.”--Lalanne’s _OEuvres de
Brantôme_, vol. ix. pp. 209-n.
In the Fourth Discourse of his work, Brantôme mentions the case of a
“fresh and plump” lady of high repute, who, through love-sickness for
one of her admirers, so wasted away that she became seriously alarmed,
and for fear of worse resolved to satisfy her passion, whereupon she
became “plump and beautiful as she had been before.”
“I have heard speak,” adds Brantôme, “of another very great lady, of
very joyous humour, and great wit, who fell ill and whose doctor told
her that she would never recover unless she yielded to the dictates of
nature, whereupon she instantly rejoined: ‘Well then, let it be so;’ and
she and the doctor did as they listed.... One day she said to him: ‘It
is said everywhere that you have relations with me; but that is all the
same to me, since it keeps me in good health... and it shall continue
so, as long as may be, since my health depends on it.’ These two ladies
in no wise resemble that worthy lady of Pampeluna, in the Queen of
Navarre’s Hundred Tales, who, as I have previously said, fell madly in
love with Monsieur d’Avannes, but preferred to hide her flame and nurse
it in her burning breast rather than forego her honour. And of this I
have heard some worthy ladies and lords discourse, saying that she was
a fool, caring but little for the salvation of her soul, since she dealt
herself death, when it was in her power to drive death away, at very
trifling cost.”--Lalanne’s _OEuvres de Brantôme_, vol. xi. pp. 542-5.
To these extracts we may add that the problem discussed by Brantôme,
three hundred years ago, is much the same as that which has so largely
occupied the attention of modern medical men, namely the great spread
of nervous disease and melancholia among women, owing to the unnatural
celibacy enforced upon them by the deficiency of husbands.--Ed.