And, in the fourth and last, let us
endeavour to disengage that peculiar tone, flavour, note, or whatever
word may be preferred, which, as it seems to me at least, at once
distinguishes the _Heptameron_ from other books of the kind, and
renders it peculiarly attractive to those whose temperament and
taste predisposes them to be attracted. For there is a great deal of
pre-established harmony in literature and literary tastes; and I have a
kind of idea that every man has his library marked out for him when he
comes into the world, and has then only got to get the books and read
them.
Margaret herself refers openly enough to the example of the _Decameron_,
which had been translated by her own secretary, Anthony le Macon, a
member of her literary coterie, and not improbably connected with the
writing or redacting of the _Heptameron_ itself. Nor were later Italian
tale-tellers likely to be without influence at a time when French was
being "Italianated" in every possible way, to the great disgust of some
Frenchmen.
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