That he had no belief in conjugal fidelity is
evidenced by his saying that "to ensure domestic happiness
the husband should be deaf and the wife blind." He himself
had several mistresses, and lived at variance with his wife,
respecting whom some particulars are given in a note on page
69. He died in 1458, at the age of seventy-four, bequeathing
his Italian possessions to Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria, his
natural son by a Spanish beauty named Margaret de Hijar. It
may be added that Brantome makes a passing allusion to this
tale of the _Heptameron_ in his _Vies des Dames Galantes_
(Disc, i.), styling it "a very fine one."--L. and Ed.
3 Meaning that he employed his sovereign authority for the
accomplishment of his amorous desires.--M.
She vied with her husband in grace and comeliness, and there was great
love between them, until a certain day in Carnival time, when the King
went masked from house to house. All strove to give him the best
welcome they could, but when he came to this gentleman's house he
was entertained better than anywhere else, what with sweetmeats,
and singers, and music, and, further, the fairest woman that, to his
thinking, he had ever seen.
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