¹ Concerning the “femmes savantes” of the Renaissance, M. Roger Peyre writes as follows: “Marguerite apprit le grec et lut bientôt couramment les classiques latins sans que les contemporains aient songé à l'accuser de singularité ou de pédantisme. Plus d'une femme faisait de même. …

“Dorat fut choisi comme précepteur des trois filles de Henri II: Elisabeth, depuis reine d'Espagne, Claude, devenue duchesse de Lorraine, Marguerite, qui épousa Henri IV. Parmi les savantes du temps, on peut citer: Marguerite d'Angoulême; Renée de France, duchesse de Ferrare; sa fille, Anne d'Este, duchesse de Guise, qui fut l'élève d'une docte demoiselle ferraraise Olympia Morata; Marie Stuart. .., les trois sœurs Morel …, Marguerite d'Autriche …, les trois sœurs Seymour, élèves du français Nicolas Denisot.”—Une princesse de la Renaissance, Marguerite de France, duchesse de Berry, duchesse de Savoie (Paris: E. Paul, 1902), p. 5.

² Camille de Morel, in a letter to Scévole de Sainte-Marthe (Bibl. de l'Institut, MS. 290, fol. 44r), says that her father died “le xix du mois de novembre 1581.” Later Sainte-Marthe writes that Morel died at the age of seventy years, so this would place his birth either during the last months of 1510 or early in 1511. Cf. Eloges des hommes illustres, mis en français par Guillaume Colletet (Paris, 1644), pp. 292–294.

³ Bourrilly, Guillaume du Bellay, seigneur de Langey (Paris, 1905), p. 322.

⁴ This statement, repeated by all who have written of Morel, occurs for the first time in Sainte-Marthe's Eloges, loc. cit.

⁵ Jérôme de la Rovère was elected bishop of Toulon in 1559, archbishop of Turin in 1564, and Cardinal in 1586. He died in Rome, January 26, 1592, at the age of sixty-two years. (See Du Verdier, Bibliothèque Françoise, il, 227. We should state, in this connection, that the Bibliothèque Nationale possesses a copy of La Croix du Maine and Du Verdier with numerous manuscript notes by Mercier de Saint-Léger, of which the “cote” is Rés. Q. 205–210. This copy, of an importance which can scarcely be exaggerated, seems to be little known by specialists in the sixteenth century. We are indebted to it for the information given above concerning Jérôme de la Rovère and for several other points of departure.)

Mercier de Saint-Léger also states (loc. cit.): “Jérôme de la Rovère a écrit les deux Sermons funèbres ès obséques et enterrement du feu Roi très-chrétien Henri II de ce nom, prononcés par lui; l'un en l'église Notre Dame de Paris, l'autre à Saint-Denys en France, imprimés à Paris, in-4°, par Robert Estienne, 1559.” These sermons are quite uninteresting, but on the back of the title page are found nine Latin couplets and a sonnet by Joachim Du Bellay, which Marty-Laveaux failed to include in his edition. Cf. Becker, Un Humaniste du seizième siècle, Loys Le Roy. (Paris, 1896), pp. 60–61.

⁶ In August, 1544, La Rovère addressed a letter “A Mons^r Mons^r Morel, Gouverneur du petit seigneur de Vineus, en Court.”—Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Codex Monacensis Latinis 10383, fol. 169–170.—Vineus, who later entered the service of Cardinal Jean Du Bellay, was a friend of the poets of the Pléiade. Sonnets xliii, xlvi, xlvii, cxxiv, cxxxii and clxxvii of Joachim Du Bellay's Regrets are addressed to him.

⁷ Sainte-Marthe, Eloges, loc. cit.

⁸ Cf. La Généalogie de la famille de Loynes (Orléans, 1895), pp. 33 ff. This volume also contains an Eloge d'Antoinette de Loynes, extracted from a Généalogie manuscrite de la famille de Loynes written in 1778 by Georges de Loynes, in Orléans, the city from which the Paris branch of the family had originally come.

⁹ In 1524 Conrad Resch sought the aid of François de Loynes in his effort to secure from the “Parlement de Paris” permission to print the Paraphrases of Erasmus on Saint Mark and Saint Luke, but their attempt proved fruitless. Cf. Burigny, Vie d'Erasme, (Paris, 1757), pp. 473–474. François de Loynes was also a correspondent of Erasmus.

¹⁰ Généalogie …, p. 240.

¹¹ Généalogie …, p. 241. Lubin Dallier was still living in 1540, but died before 1544.

¹² Joachim Dallier, son of Antoinette de Loynes, was a frequent correspondent of Morel. (Cf. Bibliothèque Nationale, Fonds latin 8589, fols. 45–46, 47–48, 49, 50–51, 52–53, 59–60.) Marie Dallier, his sister, was born about 1529. In 1552 she became the wife of Jean Mercier, “professeur et lecteur public du roi en langue hébraïque à Paris.” Their son, Josias Mercier, was the father-in-law of the famous Claude Saumaise. (Généalogie …, p. 241.)

¹³ “Marguerite de Valois, reine de Navarre, sœur de François premier, vivoit alors, princesse qui par goût et par sentiment protégeoit tous les arts et les sciences et qui mérita d'être appelée sur les médailles du temps la dixième muse et la quatrième grâce; la réputation naissante d'Antoinette lui fit désirer de la connaître et de l'entretenir, et dès la première entrevue elle luy accorda son estime et ses bonnes grâces; la conformité de goût et d'inclination acheva de les unir et de combler la distance qu'il y avoit entre elles. Antoinette devint la favorite et l'inséparable de Marguerite; elles s'exerçaient ensemble à la composition. …” (Généalogie …, p. 240.)

¹⁴ In addition to the two sonnets which Antoinette published with Charles de Sainte-Marthe's Oraison funebre de l'incomparable Marguerite, royne de Navarre, duchesse d'Alençon (Paris, 1550), she helped to compose the Tombeau de Marguerite de Valois (Paris, 1551). Her contribution consisted of a sonnet and the translation into French verse of eighteen of the Latin couplets of the Seymour sisters. Her collaborators were, among others, Nicolas Denisot, former preceptor of the Seymour sisters, Baïf, Dorat, Du Bellay, Ronsard, Nicolas Bourbon and Jean de Morel. Cf. Pierre de Nolhac, Ronsard et l'humanisme (Paris: Champion, 1921), p. 50.

¹⁵ Pierre de Nolhac, “Le premier salon littéraire de Paris,” Revue Universelle, v (1^er juin 1921), 337–352.

¹⁶ A list of the compositions of the different members of the Morel family is appended to this article.

¹⁷ Concerning this affair see especially Paul Laumonier, Ronsard, poète lyrique (Paris: Hachette, 1909), pp. 70–119; and Pierre de Nolhac, Ronsard et l'humanisme, pp. 179–187.

¹⁸ Œuvres, iii, 157. Critical edition by Laumonier, Société des textes français modernes (Paris: Hachette, 1914–19—).

¹⁹ The Hymne des Muses was never completed.

²⁰ Œuvres, iv, 248. Edition of Laumonier (Paris: Lemerre, 1914–1919), 8 vols.

²¹ Paris, Vincent Certenas. Cf. also Œuvres, vi, 246–255. All references to the works of Du Bellay are to the critical edition of M. Henri Chamard (Paris: Hachette, 1908–1931). (Société des textes français modernes.)

²² In offering this work to Morel, Ronsard relates how Triton had given to Euphème, one of the Argonauts of Jason's band, “un vert gazon de terre,” which was transformed, as had been predicted in a dream, into the most beautiful island in the world. He then continues:

Ainsi, mon cher Morel, la fleur de mes amis,

Je t'ay offert le don le premier qui s'est mis

De fortune en ma main, à fin qu'en quelque sorte

Je descouvrisse au iour l'amour que ie te porte,

Comme voulant trop mieux te donner seulement

Un don qui fust petit, que rien totalement,

A toy qui as esgard au coeur de la personne

Et non à la valeur du present qu'on te donne …

(Œuvres, Laumonier-Lemerre ed., v, 209–212.)

²³ Regrets, sonnet xix.

²⁴ Du Bellay's Regrets were not published until 1558, after his return from Rome. (Paris, F. Morel, in-4°.) Sonnets xviii, xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxvi, xxxix, lxxxv, cv, cxi, cxxxi, cxxvi and clxxxiii are addressed to Morel, and he is also mentioned in sonnet cxxix.

²⁵ Morel had met Captain Polin, or Paulin de la Garde, during his stay in Piedmont with Guillaume Du Bellay. Polin rendered distinguished service to France under Henri II as admiral of the fleet.

²⁶ Œuvres, ii, 282–283. A Mons. de Morel Ambr.

²⁷ Regrets, sonnet xviii.

²⁸ Regrets, sonnet xxxiii.

²⁹ Lettres de Du Bellay (Paris, 1883). Also RHL, 1894, pp. 49–51 and 1899, pp. 360–361.

³⁰ Lettres, pp. 35–41. Printed with a few slight changes under the title of Lettre à un sien amy in the Tombeau of Henri II. Reproduced by Marty-Laveaux in his edition of Du Bellay's Œuvres, ii, 472–475.

³¹ (Paris: F. Morel, 1569). Following the Xenia.

³² Nouveaux Lundis (Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1884), xiii, 352.

³³ Henri Chamard, Joachim Du Bellay (Lille, 1900), p. 464.

³⁴ Discours de Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, sur les imitations et autres œuvres, fol. 92 in the Œuvres de Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, (Paris: M. Patisson, 1579).

³⁵ Le second livre de l'Arithmétique (Paris: G. Cavellat).—This portion of the dedication has been reproduced by Dupré-Lasale, Les amis et les protégés de L'Hospital (Paris, 1896), pp. 10–11.

³⁶ The baptismal certificates of Camille, Lucrèce and Diane de Morel were published by Dupré-Lasale in his Michel de L'Hospital avant son élévation au poste de Chancelier de France, ii, 30. That of Camille follows: “Le samedi 18 septembre 1547 fut baptisée Camille fille de Maistre Jehan Morel escuyer et de damoyselle Anthoinette de Loynes, sa femme. Le parrain Anthoine de Lyon, conseiller du Roi en sa court de parlement, et marraines damoyselles Françoise Duprat et Marguerite Vignault.”—These certificates were copied from the register of the church of Saint-André-des-Arts before their destruction by the Commune.

³⁷ If we may accept the testimony of La Croix du Maine, Camille's linguistic ability was not confined to the ancient tongues. He writes: “Cette Damoiselle a été si bien instruite par les plus savans hommes de France, et autres lieux, qu'elle s'est rendue admirable à tout nostre siècle, pour être des plus doctes Damoiselles de France, soit en Grec, Latin, François, Italien, Espagnol, et autres langues étrangères. …” Bibl. Fran., i, 99.

³⁸ In a charming letter to Michel de L'Hospital, Antoinette tells how, having abandoned her studies for a few days, she conceived the idea that the Carmina Aurea of Pythagoras might contain something worthy of being known by the youth of her day. She had, therefore, translated these poems into French and was sending the manuscript to L'Hospital in the hope that her efforts might meet with his approval. It is more than probable that Antoinette did this in connection with the instruction of her own children. (Bibl. Nat., Fonds Dupuy 699, fol. 24.)

³⁹ In 1558 Jean Dorat addressed to Utenhove the Latin poem: Ad Carolum Utenhovium patrilium Gandavensem, Joan. Aurati Lemovicis Elegia. See Adriani Tornebi … variorum poematum Silva (Bâle, 1568?), pp. 166–169.

⁴⁰ Fonds latin 10327, fol. 141. On the back: “Ant^a Deloina.”

⁴¹ Although the name of Charles Utenhove the elder does not occur in any of Morel's papers, the friendship of Erasmus and Utenhove would indicate that the latter was also an acquaintance of Morel.

⁴² A portrait of Utenhove in the manuscripts of the Bibliothèque Nationale (Fonds latin 18592, fol. 119) bears the inscription: “An mdcxcv, aetat 59.” Colletet states, erroneously, that he died “le premier jour du mois d'août l'an 1590, agé de 64 ans.” (Bibl. Nat., Nouvelles Acquisitions Françaises 3073, fol. 490.) If he died at the age of 64, it must have been in 1600. The volume which contains his portrait is composed of his Latin epistles, and was evidently intended for publication.

⁴³ Colletet's essay on Utenhove occupies fols. 489—491 of the volume referred to above.

⁴⁴ For a bibliography of Jean Othon's works, see Foppens, Bibliotheca Belgica (Brussels, 1739), ii, 707.

⁴⁵ On the death of Du Bellay, Utenhove collected the poetic tributes of those who frequented the Morel home and published them under the title Epitaphes sur le trespas de Joachim du Bellay Angevin, Poëte Latin et François. They follow the Epitaphium in mortem Herrici Gallorum … per Car. Utenhovium (Paris: Robert Estienne, 1560).

⁴⁶ Cf. Œuvres de Ronsard, ed. Laumonier-Lemerre, iii, 280.

⁴⁷ Colletet, loc. cit.

⁴⁸ Ibid.

⁴⁹ Lettres de Du Bellay, p. 24.

⁵⁰ De Camille Jani Morelli F., published in the Poemata (Paris, 1558), fol. 32. Translated by Coupé in Les Soirées littéraires (Paris, 1795). In his remark on Jean de Morel, Coupé says that he “fut recherché de tous les littérateurs de la cour de François 1^er et de Henri II, sur-tout de Baïf, de Mellin de Saint-Gelais, de Marot, de Joachim Du Bellay.” There is no mention of Morel in the works of either Marot or Saint-Gelais.

⁵¹ Camille and her sisters must have possessed considerable musical ability, however, for in his epistle Ad Morellas, Michel de L'Hospital says: “Quels sons harmonieux vous savez tirer des instruments! de quelles voix charmantes vous les accompagnez encore! Quelles beautés à la Cour forment leurs pas avec plus de grâce dans un ballet, et se défendent avec plus de réserve de nos licentieuses danses! …” Coupé, Essai de traduction … de Michel de L'Hospital, ii, 261.

⁵² C. Utenhovii … Xenia (Bâle, 1568?), Xenia 81.

⁵³ Epitaphium in mortem Herrici Gallorum Regis Christianissimi, eius nominis secundi, per Carolum Utenhovium Gandavensem, et alios duodecim linguis. Plus les epitaphes sur le trespas de Joachim du Bellay Angevin, Poëte Latin et François. (Paris: Rob. Estienne, 1560).

⁵⁴ The indication “vix undecim” is interesting when we consider that at the time of the death of Henri II, Camille lacked but two months of being twelve years old.

⁵⁵ Compare Du Bellay's letter of October 3, 1559, to Morel. “… Je ne puis continuer plus longuement ce propoz sans larmes, je dy les plus vrayes larmes que je pleuray jamais. Et vous prye m'excuser si je me suis laissé transporter si avant en mes passions, qui me sont (comme je m'asseure) communes avecques vous et tous ceulx qui sont comme nous admirateurs de ceste bonne et vertueuse Princesse, et qui véritablement se ressentent du regret que son absence doit apporter à tous amateurs de la vertu et des bonnes lectres. …” Lettres de Du Bellay, p. 38.

⁵⁶ Epithalame sur le mariage de tresillustre Prince Philibert Emanuel, duc de Savoye, et tresillustre Princesse Marguerite de France, sœur unique du Roy et Duchesse de Berry (Paris: F. Morel, 1559). (Œuvres, v, 199–226.)

⁵⁷ Œuvres, v, 201–202.

⁵⁸ Bibl. Nat., Fonds français 4600, fol. 302. It is signed with the initial “C,” which suggests that it may be from the hand of Camille de Morel.

⁵⁹ For the details of his death on the night of January first, 1560, see Chamard, Joachim Du Bellay, pp. 480–481.

⁶⁰ The majority of his letters to Morel date from this period, and the Elegia ad Janum Morellum Ebrei. Pyladem suum, as we have seen, shows the intimacy of their relationship.

⁶¹ For Jean de Morel's version of the same epitaph, see Epitaphes sur le trespas de J. Du Bellay, fol. Fi.

⁶² Op. cit., fol. Eiiii.

⁶³ Epitaphes …, fol. Fiii–Fiiii.

⁶⁴ It has been asserted that, after having taken the dedication of his Hymne de la Mort away from Pierre Paschal, Ronsard offered it to Camille. The poem was in reality offered to Antoinette de Loynes, as we have indicated in “The Dedication and Rededication of Ronsard's Hymne de la Mort,” PMLA, xlvi (1931), 432–440.

⁶⁵ Fonds Dupuy 809, fol. 13–17, original in handwriting of L'Hospital and copy; Carmina, 1732, pp. 432–435. This epistle was written the year before the Chancellor's death, in 1572. Coupé has given the following translation into French prose of the first part of the epistle:

“Je salue les pures et doctes Vierges de notre âge. Leur voisin autrefois dans la Capitale, aujourd'hui fermier d'un champ désert, sans doute le grand nombre me croit mort, et le reste s'embarrasse fort peu si je suis encore en vie. Hélas! l'adversité fait bien disparoître les amis, et la fortune, en nous délaissant, nous isole d'une manière fort étrange!

“Mais vous qu'une amitié sincère, étagée sur la vertu, m'unit d'une indissoluble nœud, vous les enfants de mes amis les plus chers, filles généreuses! votre attachement pour moi est plus durable, vous me restez fidelles autant qu'à la pudeur, votre unique trésor. …” (Essai de traduction …, ii, 259–261.)

⁶⁶ Camille also honored the Chancellor with her own verses. Among her unpublished works, in the Munich Library, are the 19 Latin couplets entitled Ad Michaelem Hospitalium Galliae Nomophilacem. Cam. Morella. On the back is written: “Camillae Morellae Versus.” (Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 247.)

⁶⁷ Cf., for example, her poem Ad Auratum, which ends thus:

Exiit innumerus de te auri thesaurus, at in te

Nil minus auratum quàm fuit antè manet.

Ergo tibi nomen qui totus es aureus, istud

Impropriè Auratus convenit, Aureus es.

(Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 249.)

⁶⁸ See Essais, Courbet et Royer ed. (Paris: Lemerre, 1890), i, 215, 219.

⁶⁹ Ad Omnibus et Musis et Gratiis dextris natam Virgunculam 13 ann. Camillam, Jo-Morelli et Antoniae Deloinae F., in the collection Georgii Buchanani Scoti poetae eximii Franciscanus et Odae …, p. 132. This collection, pp. 132–134, contains the following poems dedicated to Camille and her sisters: (a) The ode to Camille cited above; (b) C. U. (Utenhove) ad eandem, earn sui oblitam querens, 2 lines; (c) Joach. Bellaii in eandem; (d) In eandem eiúsque sorores, Lucretiam et Dianam Morellides, Car. Utenh., 2 lines, Greek; (e) Idem latinè, 3 lines; (f) Ad eandem G. B. C. U. nomine, 6 lines.

In Du Bellay's Poemata (1558), (c) appears with the title De Camilla Jani Morelli F. (fol. 32); (d) as Aliud de Camilla, Lucretia et Anna, Morellis, Jani Morelli FF. incerti auctoris (fol. 33); and (e) as Idem Latine, fere ad verbum expressum (fol. 33). It would be easy to accept these lines as Du Bellay's:

Tres fuerant quondam Charites, Jovis inclyta proles,

Tres iterum Charites nascentur, non Jovis illae

Progenies, docti sed docta propage Morelli.

⁷⁰ His departure for England is described in a letter to Jean de Morel, dated “ii Novemb. 1562.” (Bibl. Nat., Fonds latin 8589, fol. 3.)

⁷¹ A letter from Jérôme de la Rovère to his former preceptor, “de Poissy, ce v^e jour de janvyer 1562” (O.S.) establishes the fact that Utenhove has for some time been away from Paris. It also shows that Morel had inspired in his pupil, La Rovère, the taste for poetry. The letter says in part: “… Je suys bien aise, que mon sonnet ne vous ayt despieu; quelques fois les apressoupées me trousvant seul, je m'entretiens des Muses, pour me desennuyer, et auray d'oresenavant par occasions la compagnye de Monsieur Utenhovius, lequel est de retour de son voiage. …” Fonds latin 8589, fol. 37–38.

⁷² Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 261.—Although this letter is undated, its approximate date may be surmised from certain remarks relative to the mysterious disappearance of Isaac de Morel, Camille's brother. Utenhove suspects that he has gone to Scotland or England.

Isaac de Morel disappeared sometime in 1561, as we learn from letters written to Morel by Jérôme de la Rovère (Rivoli, Oct. 22, 1561) and Joachim Dallier (Toulon, Oct. 23, 1561.) (Bibl. Nat., Fonds latin 8589, fols. 50–51, 35–36.) The circumstances of his disappearance, together with his ultimate fate, are completely shrouded in mystery. In so far as we know, Morel was never able to find out what had become of him.

⁷³ MS. cit., fol. 261r.

⁷⁴ Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 262. Above these lines Camille has written: C. U. C. M.' which is made more explicit, in another handwriting, as: Carolo Utenhovio Camilla Morella On the back: “Erudito iuxta et pio viro D. Johanni Morello.” The poem is unpublished.

⁷⁵ Utenhove probably refers to the group of young men who frequented the lessons of Dorat, Turnèbe and Baudouin. A year later he wrote: “Turnebum Auratum et Balduinum a quibus doceor frequentare soleo …” Fonds latin 8589, fol. 3.

⁷⁶ MS cit., fol. 261v.

⁷⁷ Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 263. Utenhove probably wished to bring Camille's compositions to the attention of the Queen of England. (Cf. also his letter announcing his departure, Fonds latin 8589, fol. 3.) Camille acceded to his request with the poem Ad Sereniss. Angliae Reginam, etc., which begins:

Cum meus extremos iret praeceptor ad Anglos

Exigua mecum talia voce queror:

Qua merui culpa ne sit, Regina, videndi

Te quoque iamdudum copia facta mihi?

The poem is signed “Anno 1563 Parisiis, Camilla Morella,” and appears in Car. Utenhovii Allusionum Lib. I, (Bâle, 1568?), pp. 15–16.

⁷⁸ His collection of 1568 contains: Ad Camillam Morellam alumnam suam, Xenia Col. Jan., signed “Augustae 1566,” and Ad eandem Ca. Morel. Xenia, signed “Basiliae, Calendis Janu. 1568.”

⁷⁹ This document occupies three large pages, Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 255r–256r. The part cited here is on fol. 255v.

⁸⁰ Although there is no absolute proof that Camille ever wrote Hebrew verse, her knowledge of that language is attested by the translation of Utenhove's Xenia to the Queen of England into Latin verse. Cf. Caroli Utenhovii Xenia, ad Ser. Angliae Reginam Ex Ebraeo tra[ns]lata, signed: “Camilla Morella vertebat,” Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 258r. The poem is published, with several variants, as Xenia 12 in Utenhove's collection of 1568.

⁸¹ For further indications concerning Jean Mercier, see Nolhac, Ronsard et l'humanisme, p. 218.

⁸² Foppens places Jeanne Othon among the “foeminae illustres” in his Bibliotheca Belgica, ii, 707. “Joanna Othonia, Joannis Othonis filia, Guilielmi Maiarti in comitio Flandriae advocata vidua, supra sexum erudita, quippe quae Musas latinas lacessere ausa carmen pangeret neque inelegans, neque invitâ Minervâ. Cuius rei testimonio sunt Carminum diversorum libri II, editi Argentorati, 1616, 4. Item Poëmalia sive Lusus extemporanei, Antv. Guil. à Tongris, 1617, 8.”

⁸³ Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 250–251. Ad Camillam Morellam genere, pietate et literis Latinis et Graecis nobilem virginem Iana Iani Othonis filia. (84 lines.)

⁸⁴ Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 279.

⁸⁵ In addition to her works mentioned elsewhere, Camille's twelve Latin couplets entitled: In Typographiam Musarum Matrem Camilla Morella J. Morelli Ebredunei filia ex Graeco J. Aurati are published in an undated folio printed by Robert Estienne. It contains also some Greek verse by Florent Chrestien, and an ode dedicated to the printer by Jacques Grévin. Camille's poem follows:

Carmine Musarúmque Patrem, Musasque puellas

Cantemus, matrem Chalcotypénque Deam.

Chalcotypen omnis pulchríque boníque parentem,

Dicamus nostro carmine Chalcotypen.

Namque omnes solus genuit Pater ipse Camoenas,

Non tamen ex una, matribus imo tribus.

Mnemosynae primùm commistus fronte serena,

Edidit antiquam progeniem Aonidum.

Progenies sed enim brevis haec erat atque caduca,

Ipsa quidem pulchrae matris, et aevibrevis.

Concepit sobolémque aliarum deinde sororum

Ex Chirographia, Daedaleis-digitis.

His quoque vita fuit brevior, genetrice creatis,

Quae pariat longa pignora pauca mora.

Iámque ferè occiderat reliquarum turba sororum,

Nullum unquam in terris, fors, habitura locum.

Ab Jove mortales miserato, ni meliorum

Tertia Musarum stirps, reparata foret.

Quem fata Vulcano diváque Tritonide quondam

Nigra superciliis Chalcotype genuit.

Quod genus Aonidum longos volvetur in annos,

Nempe ut ahena qui sit genitrice satus.

Saluete ô multum vates, et ametis ahenas

Quas fecit Musas Dîa Typographia.

Concerning this folio and the relations of the Morels with the Estiennes, see Lucien Pinvert, Jacques Grévin (Paris, 1898), pp. 248, 250.

⁸⁶ Among those comprising her circle should also be mentioned Guy Le Fèvre de la Boderie. In his Hymnes Ecclesiastiques, Cantiques Spirituelz, et autres Meslanges Poetiques (Paris, 1578) are found two poems dedicated to Camille de Morel, fol. 52v–53r and fol. 249v–250r.

⁸⁷ V. C. Joan. Morelli Ebredun. Consiliarii Œconomiq. Regii, moderatoris illustrissimi principis Henrici Engolismaei, Magni Franciae Prioris, Tumulus. (Paris: F. Morel, 1583.)

⁸⁸ Camille is almost reproachful in her lines to Ronsard:

Clare nepos clari vera probitate Morelli,

Ronsarde, ô patriae laúsque decúsque tuae,

Sic Patrui manes iam negligis, ut sit in illos

Nulla tua docta linea ducta manu?

Tam citò te capiunt tam chari oblivia amici?

Qui fuit extremum fidus ad usque diem? …

(Tumulus, pp. 45–46, 32 lines.)

⁸⁹ Camille's verses to Utenhove conclude the part printed in the first six “feuilles,” pp. 47–48. They express her relief at the completion of the task, and suggest that Utenhove's failure to contribute may be the result of her having neglected to continue sending verses to him. Begging him to forgive, she writes:

… Nunc tandem insolito dolore victa

Te cervice rogat gemens remissa,

Ad te confugit, et suae precatur

Ne sis duritiae memor, tuósque

Versus mellifluos et eruditos

(Quamvis ipsa suos, sed invenustos,

Nec dignos numero, negarit olim)

Ne sibi, ut tibi juris est, recuses …

⁹⁰ The contributions to the Tumulus are signed by: Camille, Dorat, Nicolas Goulu, Frédéric Morel père, Jean de la Jessée, Claude Ménard, Philippe Canaye, Guillaume Du Vair, Nicolas Rapin, Pierre Boulenger, Jean Édouard Du Monin, De Lerm, René Bouchet, Paul Thomas, Jean Mercier, Jean Gordon, René de Sainte-Marthe, Leonicus Poemenius, René Leclerc, Frédéric Morel fils, C. D. L. G., Abel de Sainte-Marthe, Baïf, Jean Marquis, Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, Maximilianus Avignacurae, L. M. (Pierre Énoc de la Meschinière).

⁹¹ Ad Scaev. Sammarthanum. Tumulus, pp. 46–47. (26 lines.)

⁹² Address on back of letter.

⁹³ Bibliothèque de l'Institut, MS 290, fol. 44. Autograph. Published by Dupré-Lasale, Michel de L'Hospital avant son élévation au poste de Chancelier de France, II, 66–67.

⁹⁴ Jo. Morelli Viri Clarissimi Epicedium. Tumulus, pp. 49–51. These 62 lines, which are of little interest to us, were later revamped by the author and published under the title Joannis Morelli Epicedium ad Camillam eius filiam (116 lines) in his Opera (Paris: Pierre Durand, 1616).

⁹⁵ Bibl. de l'Institut, MS 290, fol. 46. Autograph.

⁹⁶ Cf. Dreux du Radier, Bibliothèque du Poitou (Paris, 1754), v, 247–249; and P. de Longuemare, Les Sainte-Marthe (Paris, 1902), p. 123.

⁹⁷ René Bouchet, a nephew of Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, was also a friend of the Morel family and a contributor to the Tumulus. Concerning his life, see Dreux du Radier, op. cit., iii, 72 n.

⁹⁸ Tumulus, p. 40. Both Dreux du Radier and Longuemare claim that Abel de Sainte-Marthe composed these lines at the age of fourteen, but the following dates will speak for themselves. Abel was born May 3, 1566. Jean de Morel died November 19, 1581. The Tumulus was published in September, 1583.

The same poet also dedicated to Camille de Morel Marg. Laciae Tumulus. Ad Camillam Morellam, (37 lines) in Abelii Sammarthani Scaevolae fil., Poemata (Paris, 1597), fol. 29v.

⁹⁹ Tumulus, pp. 3–5, Camillae Morellae in Joan. Morelli patris sui diarissimi obitum.

¹⁰⁰ Loc. cit.

¹⁰¹ Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 266.

¹⁰² Cod. Mon. Lat. 10383, fol. 265. Copy, probably in the hand of Lucrèce.

¹⁰³ Ad Joanneum Jesseum Camilla Morella, pp. 12–13, 36 lines.

¹⁰⁴ Camilla Morella ad P. Bulengerum, p. 25, 6 lines.

¹⁰⁵ Ad Scaev. Sammarthanum, pp. 46–47, 26 lines.

¹⁰⁶ Ad Carolum Utenhovium Camilla Morella, pp. 47–48, 30 lines.

¹⁰⁷ Camilla Morella ad Ronsardum, p. 45, 32 lines.

¹⁰⁸ Some years earlier, Camille had translated into Latin verse the Greek poem in which Utenhove derives the name Deloines from Delus and Aonia:

Antonia Deloina ex Graeco C. U. Camilla Morella Interprete.

Credita quae Phoebi Delus fuit insula nutrix,

Illa tibi nomen Deiloïna dedit.

Illa Deum, doctae gaudent quo praeside Musae,

Nutriit, Ambrosio Delus odore fluens.

Inde tuo Ambrosii distillant ore liquores,

Aonia Aonii lausque decúsque chori.

(C. Utenhovii … Xenia, Xenia 67. Also in Epitaphium Her. Gall. … Diiii.)

¹⁰⁹ Tumulus, p. 6.

¹¹⁰ Tumulus, p. 55. If we may judge from the position of this sonnet in the Tumulus, it may have been composed in order to use up all the space made available by the printing of a seventh “feuille.” (Cf. Camille's second letter to Sainte-Marthe.) It is followed (p. 56) only by the lines of Frédéric Morel the younger, in honor of the friendship which had existed between Jean de Morel and his own father, who had died while the Tumulus was being assembled.

¹¹¹ In Antoniae Deloinae Matris Chariss. Tumulum, Camillae Morellae Epitaphium, pp. 43–44, 18 lines. Followed by Aliud Eiusdem, p. 44, 2 lines.

¹¹² This mention of “tenerae puellae” would indicate that the Epitaphium was composed at the time of Antoinette's death rather than when the Tumulus was being compiled.

¹¹³ See Adolphe Rochas, Biographie du Dauphiné (Paris, 1856–1860), article on Jean de Morel; and Ménage, Vitae Petri Oerodii …, followed by the Remarques sur la vie de Pierre Ayrault (Paris, 1675), pp. 190–192.—Ménage reveals that the Morel and Ayrault families were close friends, and substantiates his statements by the publication of a letter from Utenhove to Pierre Ayrault, in which both Morel and Antoinette de Loynes are mentioned. He shows, moreover, that the two families were related by blood, François Ayrault having married Marie de Loynes, the sister of Antoinette. (p. 121.)

¹¹⁴ This reveals the fact that Diane was married, however, which is not mentioned elsewhere. In the Elegie a Madamoiselle Camille de Morel, sur la Mort de Monsieur de Morel son pere, we read.

… Ta Lucrece sentit la rigueur obstinee

Premiere du destin, et l'autre qui rengee

S'estoit dessoubs Hymen, peu favorable Dieu,

Un peu apres te dict ce long et grand Adieu. … (pp. 52–55.)

The Elegie is signed “L.M.,” and is attributed by Lachèvre to Pierre-Enoc de la Meschinière. Bibliographie des Recueils collectifs de poésies du XVI ^e siècle (Paris: Champion, 1922).

¹¹⁵ Tumulus, pp. 44–45.

¹¹⁶ Cf. P. de Nolhac, Un Poète Rhénan ami de la Pléiade, Paul Melissus (Paris: Champion, 1923).

¹¹⁷ Op. cit., pp. 11–19.

¹¹⁸ Melissi, Schediasmata poetica, secunda edita … (Paris, 1586), i, 194–196.

¹¹⁹ Op. cit., i, 197–198.

¹²⁰ In all, Melissus dedicated seven poems to Camille de Morel, as follows: i, 194–196, 197–198, 199–201, 202–203, 206–207; iii, 96, 248–249.

¹²¹ Op. cit., i, 202–203. Cf. also Nolhac, op. cit., pp. 71–72.

¹²² Op. cit., iii, 96. First published in the Melissi Schediasmatum reliquiae (1575), p. 75.

¹²³ Bibl. Fran., i, 99.

¹²⁴ The de Loynes and de l'Estoile families came originally from Orléans and were related by marriage. Michel de l'Estoile, “échevin d'Orléans en 1547,” married Marie de Loynes, a distant cousin of Antoinette. Cf. the Généalogie de la famille de Loynes, p. 40.

¹²⁵ Du Bellay was the first to apply this title to Camille.

¹²⁶ In Frontispicium Theatri Urbium Francisci Hogenbergii Dialogismus, Fonds latin 18592, fol. 86–87. The speakers in this dialogue are Carolus Utenhovius and Camilla Morella.

¹²⁷ Although Camille probably held this property until her death, it later passed to Josias Mercier, grandson of Antoinette de Loynes by her first marriage. See MS note of Mercier de Saint-Léger in edition of La Croix du Maine previously referred to, i, 548.

¹²⁸ Mémoires-Journaux, Paris, Lemerre, 1875–1896. “Sept. 1606. Le mercredi 20^e, j'ay receu des lettres de Grigni, de Madamoiselle Morel, auxquelles j'ay différé faire response jusques à mon retour ou jusques à ce que je me porte mieux.—Rendus, et l'un et l'autre, ce 25^e novembre 1606.” viii, 242–243.

¹²⁹ “Sept. 1608. M. de Greban m'a donné, ce jour, la copie du Testament de Madamoiselle Daurigni, qui est court, mais bien fait, estant morte depuis trois ou quatre mois au plus, en reputation d'une des plus sages et vertueuses damoiselles de ce temps, grande amie d'une de mes amies, Madamoiselle C. Morel, d'où ledit Testament est venu.” ix, 127.

¹³⁰ Gilbert Fihlet de la Curée was Camille's first cousin, having married Charlotte Ayrault, daughter of François Ayrault and Marie de Loynes. Marie was the sister of Antoinette de Loynes. See Ménage, op. cit., p. 121.

¹³¹ ix, 199–200.

¹³² xi, 80. If Buchanan was faithful to his promise, a copy of his Psautier should have been included among the books of Camille's library. For, in 1564, David Riccio had written as follows to Jean de Morel: “… Je n'ay failly de faire voz recommendations a Monsieur Buccanan qui vous en rend ung million, et s'il eust paracheve le livre de psalmes en vers latins come il a comence il m'en eust faict part pour les vous envoyer. Mais il m'a promis que vous serez le premier preffere aprez qu'ils seront parfaicts …” (Fonds latin 8589, fol. 39–40. The greater part of this letter concerns Morel's effort to discover the identity of the mother of Henri d'Angoulême. It is dated: “Escript a Edinburg ce dernier jour de may 1564.” On the back Morel wrote: “Du Sr. David Riccio, segret^re de la R^ne d'Escosse. 1564.)

¹³³ Camille's contributions to the Tumulus are not included here.