Then, with the
permission of the King and your consent, it was sent to the press to be
published such as it should be.
Concerning it, I am reminded of what Count Balthazar says of Boccaccio
in the Preface to his _Courtier_(2) that what he had done by way of
pastime, namely, his _Decameron_, had brought him more honour than all
his other works in Latin or Tuscan, which he esteemed the most serious.
1 This preface was inserted in the edition issued in 1559
by Claud Gruget, who gave the title of "_Heptameron_" to
Queen Margaret's tales.
2 The _Libro del Cortegiano_, by Count Baldassare
Castiglione, was the nobleman's _vade-mecum_ of the period.
First published at Venice in 1528, it was translated into
French in 1537 by J. Colin, secretary to Francis I.--Ed.
Thus, the Queen, that true ornament of our century, from whom you do
not derogate in the love and knowledge of good letters, while
amusing herself with the acts of human life, has left such beauteous
instructions that there is no one who does not find matter of erudition
in them; and, indeed, according to all good judgment, she has surpassed
Boccaccio in the beautiful Discourses which she composes upon each
of her tales.
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