[Jambicque repudiating her Lover]
TALE XLIII.
Jambicque, preferring the praise of the world to a good
conscience, strove to appear before men other than site
really was; but her friend and lover discovered her
hypocrisy by means of a little chalk-mark, and made known to
everybody the wickedness that she was at such pains to
hide.
There dwelt in a very handsome castle a high and mighty Princess, who had in her train a very haughty lady called Jambicque. (1) The latter had so deceived her mistress that the Princess did nothing save by her advice, deeming her the discreetest and most virtuous lady of her day.
1 There are no means of positively identifying this woman.
Brantôme, who refers at length to the above tale in his
Vies des Dames Galantes (Lalanne’s edition, pp. 236-8),
implies that he knew her name but would not tell it. He
says, however, that “she was a widow and lady of honour to a
very great Princess, and knew better how to play the prude
than any other lady at Court.”—M.