THE HEPTAMERON.—II.
I have not yet noticed the claim of Charles Nodier to give the Heptameron to Bonaventure Desperriers. For, indeed, I believe this claim has very few supporters, and that it would be impossible to prove its justice. On the other side, on the side of Margaret, is ranked all past tradition, all modern authority. Brantôme, whose grandmother held the ink-horn for the Queen; Claude Gruget, who copied the unfinished text and gave the Heptameron, written for the Court, to the world at large; and in modern days Michelet Génin, the bibliophile Jacob, Monsieur Roux de Lincy, with all Margaret's historians and editors, affirm the book to be written by her hand. Miss Freer, to whom Margaret's Heptameron appears
The first fleck's fall on her wonder of white,
would gladly accept the theory of Nodier; but, with the best will in the world, she cannot be convinced. Indeed, he has a hard case to prove. Desperriers left so very little authentic work behind him that the
