March 24, 1554

Wonderful news. Lord Erskine tells me that a new music teacher has been hired to replace Monsieur Boulon, who has been ailing all these months. He is to join us at Fontainebleau, for which we leave straight after Easter. I must practise my lute and I would practise the cithara, but I think it is out of tune, and its strings are nearly impossible to tune unless one is an expert. I hope this new teacher, Signore Marcellini, will be able to do it. I do want to ask Lord Erskine about the possibility of having some Scottish musicians sent here to court. Now that I have my own household, I think that we should have the music of Scotland. I would like at least half a dozen bagpipers. The music of the pipes always puts me in the best of humours; I think it balances them. Indeed, I have talked with Doctor Bourgoing about this theory of music and the correct balance of humours. I like Doctor Bourgoing, for he always takes time to explain. Anyhow I think he agrees with me about the humours and the beneficial effects of music.

There are four humours – blood, black bile, phlegm, and yellow bile. These four humours originate in the heart, spleen, brain, and liver. An imbalance can cause a person to be hopeful, or sad, or listless, or quick to anger. I think that I am nicely balanced. Poor Francis, however, shows every sign of an excess of phlegm, thus making him listless, and his mother, Queen Catherine, undoubtedly has a surfeit of yellow bile. She is a bilious person and so quick to anger. The most perfectly balanced person I know is Diane de Poitiers. And I would say the second most perfectly balanced is Mary Beaton. However, I think music would help us all – especially the music of the bagpipers. I would be happy to let them play for Queen Catherine.