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Margaret, Queen of Navarre, 1492-1549

"The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. I. (of V.)"

"--St. Luke vi.
45.
6 The Father Superior of the Grey Friars was called the
Warden.--B.J.
7 Henry Etienne quotes this story in his _Apologie pour
Herodote_, and praises the Queen for thus denouncing the
evil practices of the friars.--F.
"I pray you, ladies, consider, since this poor boatwoman had the wit to
deceive two such evil men, what should be done by those who have read
of and witnessed so many fair examples, and who have had the goodness of
virtuous ladies ever before their eyes? Indeed, the virtue of well-bred
women is not so much to be called virtue as habit. It is in the women
who know nothing, who hear scarcely two good sermons during the whole
year, who have no leisure to think of aught save the gaining of their
miserable livelihood, and who nevertheless jealously guard their
chastity, hard-pressed as they may be (8)--it is in such women as these
that one discovers the virtue that is natural to the heart. Where
man's wit and might are smallest, there the Spirit of God performs the
greatest work.


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