All mankind owe her a debt of gratitude
because she brought some comfort into the life of the poor
madman who wore the crown of France.
Born (May 1391) of such a noble stock, Charles was to know
from the first all favours of nature and art. His father's
gardens were the admiration of his contemporaries; his
castles were situated in the most agreeable parts of France,
and sumptuously adorned. We have preserved, in an inventory
of 1403, the description of tapestried rooms where Charles
may have played in childhood. (1) "A green room, with the
ceiling full of angels, and the DOSSIER of shepherds and
shepherdesses seeming (FAISANT CONTENANCE) to eat nuts and
cherries. A room of gold, silk and worsted, with a device of
little children in a river, and the sky full of birds. A
room of green tapestry, showing a knight and lady at chess in
a pavilion. Another green room, with shepherdesses in a
trellised garden worked in gold and silk. A carpet
representing cherry-trees, where there is a fountain, and a
lady gathering cherries in a basin." These were some of the
pictures over which his fancy might busy itself of an
afternoon, or at morning as he lay awake in bed. With our
deeper and more logical sense of life, we can have no idea
how large a space in the attention of mediaeval men might be
occupied by such figured hangings on the wall.
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