1 The Bibliophile Jacob surmises that this personage may be one of the Italian grandees at that period in the service of France, in which case the allusion may be to John Caraccioli, Prince of Melphes, created a marshal of France in 1544. Queen Margaret, however, makes no mention of her Prince being a foreigner. Belhoste is of course a fictitious name invented to replace that which the Prince really bore, and admits of so many interpretations that its meaning in the present instance cannot well be determined. From the circumstance, however, that the Princes wife was of inferior birth to himself, it is not impossible that the personage referred to may be either Charles de Bourbon, Prince of La Roche-sur-Yonne and Duke of Beaupréau, or John VIII., Lord of Créqui, Canaples and Pontdormi, and Prince of Poix. The former, who married Philippa de Montespedon, widow of René de Montéjan, and a lady of honour to Catherine de Medici when Dauphiness, took a prominent part in the last wars of Francis I.s reign, and survived till 1565. The latter, generally known at Court by the name of Canaples, was a gentleman of the chamber and an especial favourite of Francis I. Brantôme says of him in his _Homines Illustres_ that he was a valiant lord and the strongest man of arms that in those days existed in all Christendom, for he broke a lance, no matter its strength, as easily as though it were a mere switch, and few were able to withstand him. In 1525 the Prince of Poix married a Demoiselle dAcigné or Assigny, of _petite noblesse_, who in 1532 became a lady of honour to Queen Eleanor. She died in 1558, surviving her husband by three years. See Rouards rare _Notice dun Recueil de Crayons à la Bibliothèque Méjanes dAix_, Paris, 1863.--Ed.
Now this Prince conceived a deep affection for a widow lady called Madame de Neufchastel, (2) who was reputed the most beautiful woman it were possible to see; and if the Prince of Bel-hoste loved her well, his wife loved her no less, and would often send and bid her to dinner, for she deemed her so discreet and honourable, that, instead of being grieved by her husbands love for her, she rejoiced to see him address his attentions to one so full of honour and virtue.