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diff --git a/42515-0.txt b/42515-0.txt index d8f8e09..b764fb4 100644 --- a/42515-0.txt +++ b/42515-0.txt @@ -1,26 +1,4 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The book of the ladies, by Pierre de Bourdeille Brantôme - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The book of the ladies - Illustrious Dames: The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Régime - -Author: Pierre de Bourdeille Brantôme - -Release Date: April 12, 2013 [EBook #42515] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE LADIES *** - - - +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42515 *** Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was @@ -9660,365 +9638,4 @@ in 1588.--TR. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The book of the ladies - Illustrious Dames: The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Rgime - -Author: Pierre de Bourdeille Brantme - -Release Date: April 12, 2013 [EBook #42515] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE LADIES *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - THE BOOK OF THE LADIES - - [Illustration: MESSIRE PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE - - SEIGNEUR DE BRANTOME.] - - _The Reign and Amours of the - Bourbon Rgime_ - - A Brilliant Description of - the Courts of Louis XVI, - Amours, Debauchery, Intrigues, - and State Secrets, including - Suppressed and Confiscated MSS. - - [Illustration] - - The Book of the - Illustrious Dames - - BY - - PIERRE DE BOURDELLE, ABB DE BRANTME - - WITH INTRODUCTORY ESSAY BY - C.-A. SAINTE-BEUVE - - _Unexpurgated Rendition into English_ - - PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR MEMBERS OF THE - VERSAILLES HISTORICAL SOCIETY - NEW YORK - - Copyright, 1899. - BY H. P. & CO. - - _All Rights Reserved._ - - dition de Luxe - - _This edition is limited to two - hundred copies, of which this - is Number_ ........ ..... - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - -INTRODUCTION 1 - -DISCOURSE I. ANNE DE BRETAGNE, Queen of France 25 - -_Sainte-Beuve's remarks upon her_ 40 - -DISCOURSE II. CATHERINE DE' MEDICI, Queen, and mother of -our last kings 44 - -_Sainte-Beuve's remarks upon her_ 85 - -DISCOURSE III. MARIE STUART, Queen of Scotland, formerly -Queen of our France 89 - -_Sainte-Beuve's essay on her_ 121 - -DISCOURSE IV. LISABETH OF FRANCE, Queen of Spain 138 - -DISCOURSE V. MARGUERITE, Queen of France and of Navarre, -sole daughter now remaining of the Noble House of France 152 - -_Sainte-Beuve's essay on her_ 193 - -DISCOURSE VI. MESDAMES, the Daughters of the Noble House -of France: - -Madame Yoland 214 - -Madame Jeanne 215 - -Madame Anne 216 - -Madame Claude 219 - -Madame Rene 220 - -Mesdames Charlotte, Louise, Magdelaine, Marguerite 223 - -Mesdames lisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite 229 - -Madame Diane 231 - -MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, Queen of Navarre 234 - -_Sainte-Beuve's essay on the latter_ 243 - -DISCOURSE VII. OF VARIOUS ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES: - -Isabelle d'Autriche, wife of Charles IX 262 - -Jeanne d'Autriche, wife of the Infante of Portugal 270 - -Marie d'Autriche, wife of the King of Hungary 273 - -Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III 280 - -Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse 282 - -Christine of Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine 283 - -Marie d'Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II 291 - -Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie 293 - -Catherine de Clves, wife of Henri I. de Lorraine, Duc de Guise 297 - -Madame de Bourdeille 297 - -APPENDIX 299 - -INDEX 305 - - - - -LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS. - - -PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, ABB AND SEIGNEUR DE BRANTME _Frontispiece_ -From an old engraving by I. Von Schley. - - PAGE - -FRANOIS DE LORRAINE, DUC DE GUISE 8 -By Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. - -DISCOURSE - -I. TOMB OF LOUIS XII. AND ANNE DE BRETAGNE 34 - -By Jean Juste, in the Cathedral of Saint-Denis. The king and -queen are carved as skeletons within the twelve columns; -above they kneel at their prie-dieus, and the tradition is -that the portraits are faithful. The cardinal virtues, Justice, -Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude, sit at the corners of -the monument: the twelve apostles between the pillars; and -round the base, between the virtues, are exquisite representations -(not visible in the reproduction) of the king's campaigns in Italy. - -II. CATHERINE DE' MEDICI, QUEEN OF FRANCE 44 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - -II. HENRI II., KING OF FRANCE 52 -By Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. - -II. BALL AT THE COURT OF HENRI III., WITH PORTRAITS 81 -Attributed to Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. See description -in note to Discourse VII. - -III. MARIE STUART, QUEEN OF FRANCE AND SCOTLAND 90 -Painter unknown; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. - -III. THE SAME 120 -School of the sixteenth century; Versailles. - -V. HENRI IV., KING OF FRANCE 166 -By Franz Pourbus (le jeune); in the Louvre. - -V. LISABETH DE FRANCE, QUEEN OF SPAIN 185 -By Rubens; in the Louvre. - -V. CORONATION OF MARIE DE' MEDICI, WITH PORTRAITS 211 -By Rubens (Peter Paul); in the Louvre. See description in -note to the Discourse. - -VI. FRANOIS I., KING OF FRANCE 224 -By Jean Clouet; in the Louvre. - -VI. DIANE DE FRANCE, DUCHESSE D'ANGOULME 232 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - -VII. ISABELLE D'AUTRICHE, WIFE OF CHARLES IX. 262 -By Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. - -VII. CHARLES IX., KING OF FRANCE 271 -By Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. - -VII. LOUISE DE LORRAINE, WIFE OF HENRI III 280 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - -VII. HENRI III., KING OF FRANCE 286 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - - - - -INTRODUCTION.[1] - - -The title, "Vie des Dames Illustres," given habitually to one volume of -Brantme's Works, is not that which was chosen by its author. It was -given by his first editor fifty years after his death; Brantme himself -having called his work "The Book of the Ladies." - -One of his earliest commentators, Castelnaud, almost a cotemporary, says -of him in his Memoirs:-- - -"Pierre de Bourdeille, Abb de Brantme, author of volumes of which I -have availed myself in various parts of this history, used his quality -as one of those warrior abbs who were called _Abbates Milites_ under -the second race of our kings; never ceasing for all that to follow arms -and the Court, where his services won him the Collar of the Order and -the dignity of gentleman of the Bedchamber to the King. - -"He frequented, with unusual esteem for his courage and intelligence, -the principal Courts of Europe, such as Spain, Portugal (where the king -honoured him with his Order), Scotland, and those of the Princes of -Italy. He went to Malta, seeking an occasion to distinguish himself, and -after that lost none in our wars of France. But, although he managed -perfectly all the great captains of his time and belonged to them by -alliance of friendship, fortune was ever contrary to him; so that he -never obtained a position worthy, not of his merits only, but of a name -so illustrious as his. - -"It was this that made him of a rather bad humour in his retreat at -Brantme, where he set himself to compose his books in different frames -of mind, according as the persons who recurred to his memory stirred his -bile or touched his heart. It is to be wished that he had written a -discourse on himself alone, like other seigneurs of his time. He would -then have shown us much, if nothing were omitted in it; but perhaps he -abstained from doing this in order not to declare his inclinations for -the House of Lorraine at the very moment of the ruin of all its schemes; -for he was greatly attached to that house, and it appears in various -places that he had more respect than affection for the House of Bourbon. -It was this that made him take part against the Salic law, in behalf of -Queen Marguerite, whom he esteemed infinitely, and whom he saw, with -regret, deprived of the Crown of France. - -"In many other matters he gives out sentiments which have more of the -courtier than the abb; indeed to be a courtier was his principal -profession, as it still is with the greater part of the abbs of the -present day; and in view of this quality we must pardon various little -liberties which would be less pardonable in a sworn historian. - -"I do not speak of the volume of the 'Dames Galantes' in order not to -condemn the memory of a nobleman whose other Works have rendered him -worthy of so much esteem; I attribute the crime of that book to the -dissolute habits of the Court of his time, about which more terrible -tales could be told than those he relates. - -"There is something to complain of in the method with which he writes; -but perhaps the name of 'Notes' may cover this defect. However that may -be, we can gather from him much and very important knowledge on our -History; and France is so indebted to him for this labour that I do not -hesitate to say that the services of his sword must yield in value to -those of his pen. He had much wit and was well read in Letters. In youth -he was very pleasing; but I have heard those who knew him intimately say -that the griefs of his old age lay heavier upon him than his arms, and -were more displeasing than the toils and fatigues of war by sea or land. -He regretted his past days, the loss of friends, and he saw nothing that -could equal the Court of the Valois, in which he was born and bred...." - -"The family of Bourdeille is not only illustrious in temporal -prosperities, but it is remarkable throughout antiquity for the valour -of its ancestors. King Charlemagne held it in great esteem, which he -showed by choosing, when the splendid abbey of Brantme was founded in -Prigord, that the Seigneur de Bourdeille should be associated in that -pious work and be, with him, the founder of the Monastery. He therefore -made him its patron, and obliged his posterity to defend it against all -who might molest the monks and hinder them in the enjoyment of their -property. - -"If we may rely on ancient deeds [_pancartes_] still in possession of -this family, we must accord it a first rank among those which claim to -be descended from kings, inasmuch as they carry back its origin to -Marcomir, King of France, and Tiloa Bourdelia, daughter of a king of -England. - -"The same old deeds relate that Nicanor, son of this Marcomir, being -appealed to by the people of Aquitaine to assist them in throwing off -the Roman yoke, and having come with an army very near to Bordeaux, was -compelled to withdraw by the violence of the Romans, who were stronger -than he, and also by a tempest that arose in the sea. Nicanor cast -anchor at an island, uninhabited on account of the wild beasts that -peopled it, and especially certain griffins, animals with four feet, and -heads and wings like eagles. - -"He had no sooner set foot on land with his men than he was forced to -fight these monsters, and after battling with them a long time, not -without loss of soldiers, he succeeded in vanquishing them. With his own -hand he killed the largest and fiercest of them all, and cut off his -paws. This victory greatly rejoiced all the neighbouring countries, -which had suffered much damage from these beasts. - -"On account of this affair, Nicanor was ever after surnamed 'The -Griffin' and honoured by every one, like Hercules when he killed the -Stymphalides in Arcadia, those birds of prey that feed on human flesh. -This is the origin of the arms which the Seigneurs de Brantme bear to -this day, to wit: Or, two griffins' paws gules, ongle azure, counter -barred." - - * * * * * - -Pierre de Bourdeille, third son of Franois, Vicomte de Bourdeille and -Anne de Vivonne de la Chtaignerie, was born in the Prigord in 1537, -under the reign of Franois I. The family of Bourdeille is one of the -most ancient and respected in the Prigord, which province borders on -Gascony and echoes, if we may say so, the caustic tongue and rambling, -restless temperaments that flourish on the banks of the Garonne. "Not to -boast of myself," says Brantme, "I can assert that none of my race have -ever been home-keeping; they have spent as much time in travels and wars -as any, no matter who they be, in France." - -As for his father, Brantme gives an amusing account of him as a true -Gascon seigneur. He began life by running away from home to go to the -wars in Italy, and roam the world as an adventurer. He was, says -Brantme, "a jovial fellow, who could say his word and talk familiarly -to the greatest personages." Pope Julius II. took a fancy to him. "One -day they were playing cards together and the pope won from my father -three hundred crowns and his horses, which were very fine, and all his -equipments. After he had lost all, he said: '_Chadieu bnit_!' (that was -his oath when he was angry; when he was good-natured he swore: '_Chardon -bnit!_')--'_Chadieu bnit!_ pope, play me five hundred crowns against -one of my ears, redeemable in eight days. If I don't redeem it I'll give -you leave to cut it off, and eat it if you like.' The pope took him at -his word; and confessed afterwards that if my father had not redeemed -his ear, he would not have cut it off, but he would have forced him to -keep him company. They began to play again, and fortune willed that my -father won back everything except a fine courser, a pretty little -Spanish horse, and a handsome mule. The pope cut short the game and -would not play any more. My father said to him: 'Hey! _Chadieu_! pope, -leave me my horse for money' (for he was very fond of him) 'and keep the -courser, who will throw you and break your neck, for he is too rough for -you; and keep the mule too, and may she rear and break your leg!' The -pope laughed so he could not stop himself. At last, getting his breath, -he cried out: 'I'll do better; I'll give you back your two horses, but -not the mule, and I'll give you two other fine ones if you will keep me -company as far as Rome and stay with me there two months; we'll pass the -time well, and it shall not cost you anything.' My father answered: -'_Chadieu!_ pope, if you gave me your mitre and your cap, too, I would -not do it; I wouldn't quit my general and my companions just for your -pleasure. Good-bye to you, rascal.' The pope laughed, while all the -great captains, French and Italians, who always spoke so reverently to -his Holiness, were amazed and laughed too at such liberty of language. -When the pope was on the point of leaving, he said to him, 'Ask what -you want of me and you shall have it,' thinking my father would ask for -his horses; but my father did not ask anything, except for a license and -dispensation to eat butter in Lent, for his stomach could never get -accustomed to olive and nut oil. The pope gave it him readily, and sent -him a bull, which was long to be seen in the archives of our house." - -The young Pierre de Bourdeille spent the first years of his existence at -the Court of Marguerite de Valois, sister of Franois I., to whom his -mother was lady-in-waiting. After the death of that princess in 1549 he -came to Paris to begin his studies, which he ended at Poitiers about the -year 1556. - -Being the youngest of the family he was destined if not for the Church -at least for church benefices, which he never lacked through life. An -elder brother, Captain de Bourdeille, a valiant soldier, having been -killed at the siege of Hesdin by a cannon-ball which took off his head -and the arm that held a glass of water he was drinking on the breach, -King Henri II. desired, in recognition of so glorious a death, to do -some favour to the Bourdeille family; and the abbey of Brantme falling -vacant at this very time, he gave it to the young Pierre de Bourdeille, -then sixteen years old, who henceforth bore the name of Seigneur and -Abb de Brantme, abbreviated after a while to Brantme, by which name -he is known to posterity. In a few legal deeds of the period, especially -family documents, he is mentioned as "the reverend father in God, the -Abb de Brantme." - -Brantme had possessed his abbey about a year when he began to dream of -going to the wars in Italy; this was the high-road to glory for the -young French nobles, ever since Charles VIII. had shown them the way. -Brantme obtained from Franois I. permission to cut timber in the -forest of Saint-Trieix; this cut brought him in five hundred golden -crowns, with which he departed in 1558, "bearing," he says, "a matchlock -arquebuse, a fine powder-horn from Milan, and mounted on a hackney worth -a hundred crowns, followed by six or seven gentlemen, soldiers -themselves, well set-up, armed and mounted the same, but on good stout -nags." - -He went first to Geneva, and there he saw the Calvinist emigration; -continuing his way he stayed at Milan and Ferrara, reaching Rome soon -after the death of Paul IV. There he was welcomed by the Grand-Prior of -France, Franois de Guise, who had brought his brother, the Cardinal of -Lorraine, to assist in the election of a new pontiff. - -This was the epoch of the Renaissance,--that epoch when the knightly -king made all Europe resound with the fame of his amorous and warlike -prowess; when Titian and Primaticcio were leaving on the walls of -palaces their immortal handiwork; when Jean Goujon was carving his -figures on the fountains and the faades of the Louvre; when Rabelais -was inciting that mighty roar of laughter which, in itself, is a whole -human comedy; when the Marguerite of Marguerites was telling in her -"Heptameron" those charming tales of love. Franois I. dies; his son -succeeds him; Protestantism makes serious progress. Montgomery kills -Henri II., and Franois II. ascends the throne only to live a year; and -then it is that Marie Stuart leaves France, the tears in her eyes, sadly -singing as the beloved shores over which she had reigned so short a -while recede from sight: "Farewell, my pleasant land of France, -farewell!" - -Returning to France without any warrior fame but closely attached by -this time to the Guises, Brantme took to a Court life. He assisted in a -tournament between the grand-prior, Franois de Guise, disguised as an -Egyptian woman, "having on her arm a little monkey swaddled as an -infant, which kept its baby face there is no telling how," and M. de -Nemours, dressed as a bourgeoise housekeeper wearing at her belt more -than a hundred keys attached to a thick silver chain. He witnessed the -terrible scene of the execution of the Huguenot nobles at Amboise -(March, 1560); was at Orlans when the Prince de Cond was arrested, and -at Poissy for the reception of the Knights of Saint-Michel. In short, he -was no more "home-keeping" in France than in foreign parts. - -Charles IX., then about ten years old, succeeded his brother Franois -II. in December, 1560. The following year Duc Franois de Guise was -commissioned to escort his niece, Marie Stuart, to Scotland. Brantme -went with them, saw the threatening reception given to the queen by her -sullen subjects, and then returned with the duke by way of England. In -London, Queen Elizabeth greeted them most graciously, deigning to dance -more than once with Duc Franois, to whom she said: "Monsieur mon -prieur" (that was how she called him) "I like you very much, but not -your brother, who tore my town of Calais from me." - -[Illustration: _Duc Franois de Guise_] - -Brantme returned to France at the moment when the edict of -Saint-Germain granting to Protestants the exercise of their religion was -promulgated, and he was struck by the change of aspect presented by the -Court and the whole nation. The two armed parties were face to face; the -Calvinists, scarcely escaped from persecution, seemed certain of -approaching triumph; the Prince de Cond, with four hundred gentlemen, -escorted the preachers to Charenton through the midst of a quivering -population. "Death to papists!"--the very cry Brantme had first heard -on landing in Scotland, where it sounded so ill to his ears--was -beginning to be heard in France, to which the cry of "Death to the -Huguenots!" responded in the breasts of an irritated populace. Brantme -did not hesitate as to the side he should take,--he was abb, and -attached to the Guises; he fought through the war with them, took part -in the sieges of Blois, Bourges, and Rouen, was present at the battle of -Dreux, where he lost his protector the grand-prior, and attached himself -henceforth to Franois de Guise, the elder, whom he followed to the -siege of Orlans in 1563, where the duke was assassinated by Poltrot de -Mr under circumstances which Brantme has vividly described in his -chapter on that great captain. - -In 1564 Brantme entered the household of the Duc d'Anjou (afterwards -Henri III.) as gentleman-in-waiting to the prince, on a salary of six -hundred livres a year. But, being seized again by his passion for -distant expeditions, he engaged during the same year in an enterprise -conducted by Spaniards against the Emperor of Morocco, and went with the -troops of Don Garcia of Toledo to besiege and take the towns on the -Barbary coast. He returned by way of Lisbon, pleased the king of -Portugal, Sebastiano, who conferred upon him his Order of the Christ, -and went from there to Madrid, where Queen lisabeth gave him the -cordial welcome on which he plumes himself in his Discourse upon that -princess. He was commissioned by her to carry to her mother, Catherine -de' Medici, the desire she felt to have an interview with her; which -interview took place at Bayonne, Brantme not failing to be present. - -In that same year, 1565, Sultan Suleiman attacked the island of Malta. -The grand-master of the Knights of Saint-John, Parisot de La Valette, -called for the help of all Christian powers. The French government had -treaties with the Ottoman Porte which did not allow it to come openly to -the assistance of the Knights; but many gentlemen, both Catholic and -Protestant, took part as volunteers. Among them went Brantme, -naturally. "We were," he says, "about three hundred gentlemen and eight -hundred soldiers. M. de Strozzi and M. de Bussac were with us, and to -them we deferred our own wills. It was only a little troop, but as -active and valiant as ever left France to fight the Infidel." - -While at Malta he seems to have had a fancy to enter the Order of the -Knights of Saint-John, but Philippe Strozzi dissuaded him. "He gave me -to understand," says Brantme, "that I should do wrong to abandon the -fine fortune that awaited me in France, whether from the hand of my -king, or from that of a beautiful, virtuous lady, and rich, to whom I -was just then servant and welcome guest, so that I had hope of marrying -her." - -He left Malta on a galley of the Order, intending to go to Naples, -according to a promise he had made to the "beautiful and virtuous lady," -the Marchesa del Vasto. But a contrary wind defeated his project, which -he did not renounce without regret. In after years he considered this -mischance a strong feature in his unfortunate destiny. "It was -possible," he says, "that by means of Mme. la marquise I might have -encountered good luck, either by marriage or otherwise, for she did me -the kindness to love me. But I believe that my unhappy fate was resolved -to bring me back to France, where never did fortune smile upon me; I -have always been duped by vain expectations: I have received much honour -and esteem, but of property and rank, none at all. Companions of mine -who would have been proud had I deigned to speak to them at Court or in -the chamber of the king or queen, have long been advanced before me; I -see them round as pumpkins and highly exalted, though I will not, for -all that, defer to them to the length of my thumb-nail. That proverb, -'No one is a prophet in his own country,' was made for me. If I had -served foreign sovereigns as I have my own I should now be as loaded -with wealth and dignities as I am with sorrows and years. Patience! if -Fate has thus woven my days, I curse her! If my princes have done it, I -send them all to the devil, if they are not there already." - -But when he started from Malta Brantme was still young, being then only -twenty-eight years of age. "Jogging, meandering, vagabondizing," as he -says, he reached Venice; there he thought of going into Hungary in -search of the Turks, whom he had not been able to meet in Malta. But the -death of Sultan Suleiman stopped the invasion for one year at least, and -Brantme reluctantly decided to return to France, passing through -Piedmont, where he gave a proof of his disinterestedness, which he -relates in his sketch of Marguerite, Duchesse de Savoie. - -Reaching his own land he found the war he had been so far to seek -without encountering it; whereupon he recruited a company of -foot-soldiers, and took part in the third civil war with the title of -commander of two companies, though in fact there was but one. Shortly -after this he resigned his command to serve upon the staff of Monsieur, -commander-in-chief of the royal army. After the battle of Jarnac (March -15, 1569), being sick of an intermittent fever, he retired to his abbey, -where his presence throughout the troubles was far from useless. But -always more eager for distant expeditions than for the dulness of civil -war, Brantme let himself be tempted by a grand project of Marchal -Strozzi, who dreamed of nothing less than a descent on South America and -the conquest of Peru. Brantme was commissioned in 1571 to go to the -port of Brouage and direct the preparations for the armament. It was -this enterprise that prevented him from being present at the battle of -Lepanto (October 7, 1571). "I should have gone there resolutely, as did -that brave M. de Grillon," he says, "if it had not been for M. de -Strozzi, who amused me a whole year with that fine embarkation at -Brouage, which ended in nothing but the ruin of our purses,--to those of -us at least who owned the vessels." But if the duties which kept him at -Brouage robbed him of the glory of being present at the greatest battle -of the age, it also saved him from being a witness of the Saint -Bartholomew. - -The treaty of June 24, 1573, put an end to the siege of Rochelle and the -fourth civil war. Charles IX. died on May 30, 1574. Monsieur, elected -the year before to the throne of Poland, was in that distant country -when the death of his brother made him king of France. He hastened to -return. Brantme went to meet him at Lyons and was one of the gentlemen -of his Bedchamber from 1575 to 1583. During the years just passed -Brantme, besides the principal events already named in which he -participated, took part in various little or great events in the daily -life of the Court, such as: the quarrel of Sussy and Saint-Fal, the -splendid disgrace of Bussy d'Amboise, the death and obsequies of Charles -IX., the coronation of Henri III., etc. Throughout them all he played -the part of interested spectator, of active supernumerary without -importance; discontented at times and sulky, but always unable to make -himself feared. - -The years went by in this sterile round. He was now thirty-five years -old. The hope of a great fortune was realized no more on the side of his -king than on that of his beautiful, virtuous, and rich lady. He is, no -doubt, "liked, known, and made welcome by the kings, his masters, by his -queens and his princesses, and all the great seigneurs, who held him in -such esteem that the name of Brantme had great renown." But he is not -satisfied with the Court small-change in which his services are paid. He -is vexed that his own lightheartedness is taken at its word; he would be -very glad indeed if that love of liberty with which he decked himself -were put to greater trials. Philosopher in spite of himself, he finds -his disappointments all the more painful because of his own opinion of -his merits. He sees men to whom he believes himself superior, preferred -before him. "His companions, not equal to him," he says in the epitaph -he composed for himself, "surpassed him in benefits received, in -promotions and ranks, but never in virtue or in merit." And he adds, -with posthumous resignation: "God be praised nevertheless for all, and -for his sacred mercy!" - -Meantime, perchance a queen, Catherine de' Medici or Marguerite de -Valois, deigns to drop into his ear some trifling word which he relishes -with delight. Henri de Guise [le Balafr], who was ten years younger -than himself, called him "my son;" and the Baron de Montesquieu, the one -that killed the Prince de Cond at Jarnac and was very much older than -Brantme, who had pulled him out of the water during certain aquatic -games on the Seine, called him "father." Such were the familiarities -with which he was treated. - -He was, it is true, chevalier of the Order of Saint-Michel, but that was -not enough to console his ambition. He complained that they degraded -that honour, no longer reserved to the nobility of the sword. He thinks -it bad, for instance, that it was granted to his neighbour, Michel de -Montaigne. "We have seen," he says, "counsellors coming from the courts -of parliament, abandoning robes and the square cap to drag a sword -behind them, and at once the king decks them with the collar, without -any pretext of their going to war. This is what was given to the Sieur -de Montaigne, who would have done much better to continue to write his -Essays instead of changing his pen into a sword, which does not suit -him. The Marquis de Trans obtained the Order very easily from the king -for one of his neighbours, no doubt in derision, for he is a great -joker." Brantme always speaks very slightingly of Montaigne because the -latter was of lesser nobility than his own; but that does not prevent -the Sieur de Montaigne from being to our eyes a much greater man than -the Seigneur de Brantme. - -Brantme continued to follow the Court. He accompanied the queen-mother -when she went in 1576 to Poitou to bring back the Duc d'Alenon, who was -dabbling in plots. He accompanied her again when she conducted in 1578 -her daughter Marguerite to Navarre; and at their solemn entry into -Bordeaux he had the honour of being near them on the "scaffold," or, as -we should say in the present day, the platform. He had also the luck to -hear at Saint-Germain-en-Laye King Henri III. make during his dinner, in -presence of the Duc de Joyeuse (on whose nuptials the fluent monarch was -destined to spend a million), a discourse worthy of Cato against luxury -and extravagance. - -In 1582, his elder brother, Andr de Bourdeille, seneschal and governor -of the Prigord, died. He left a son scarcely nine years old. Brantme -had obtained from King Henri III. a promise that he should hold those -offices until the majority of his nephew, on condition of transmitting -them at that time. The king confirmed this promise on several occasions -during the last illness of Andr de Bourdeille. But at the latter's -death it was discovered that he had bound himself in his daughter's -marriage contract to resign those offices to his son-in-law. The king -considered that he ought to respect this family arrangement. Brantme -was keenly hurt. "On the second day of the year," he says, "as the king -was returning from his ceremony of the Saint-Esprit, I made my complaint -to him, more in anger than to implore him, as he well understood. He -made me excuses, although he was my king. Among other reasons he said -plainly that he could not refuse that resignation when presented to him, -or he should be unjust. I made him no reply, except: 'Well, sire, I -ought not to have put faith in you; a good reason never to serve you -again as I have served you.' On which I went away much vexed. I met -several of my companions, to whom I related everything. I protested and -swore that if I had a thousand lives not one would I employ for a King -of France. I cursed my luck, I cursed life, I loathed the king's favour, -I despised with a curling lip those beggarly fellows loaded with royal -favours who were in no wise as worthy of them as I. Hanging to my belt -was the gilt key to the king's bedroom; I unfastened it and flung it -from the Quai des Augustins, where I stood, into the river below. I -never again entered the king's room; I abhorred it, and I swore never to -set foot in it any more. I did not, however, cease to frequent the Court -and to show myself in the room of the queen, who did me the honour to -like me, and in those of her ladies and maids of honour and of the -princesses, seigneurs, and princes, my good friends. I talked aloud -about my displeasure, so that the king, hearing of what I said, sent me -a few words by M. du Halde, his head _valet de chambre_. I contented -myself with answering that I was the king's most obedient, and said no -more." - -Monsieur (the Duc d'Alenon) took notice of Brantme, and made him his -chamberlain. About this time it was that he began to compose for this -prince the "Discourses" afterwards made into a book and called "Vies des -Dames Galantes," which he dedicated to the Duc d'Alenon. The latter -died in 1584,--a loss that dashed once more the hopes of Brantme and of -others who, like him, had pinned their faith upon that prince. After -all, Brantme had some reason to complain of his evil star. - -Then it was that Brantme meditated vast and even criminal projects, -which he himself has revealed to us: "I resolved to sell the little -property I possessed in France and go off and serve that great King of -Spain, very illustrious and noble remunerator of services rendered to -him, not compelling his servitors to importune him, but done of his own -free will and wise opinion, and out of just consideration. Whereupon I -reflected and ruminated within myself that I was able to serve him well; -for there is not a harbour nor a seaport from Picardy to Bayonne that I -do not know perfectly, except those of Bretagne which I have not seen; -and I know equally well all the weak spots on the coast of Languedoc -from Grasse to Provence. To make myself sure of my facts, I had recently -made a new tour to several of the towns, pretending to wish to arm a -ship and send it on a voyage, or go myself. In fact, I had played my -game so well that I had discovered half a dozen towns on these coasts -easy to capture on their weak sides, which I knew then and which I still -know. I therefore thought I could serve the King of Spain in these -directions so well that I might count on obtaining the reward of great -wealth and dignities. But before I banished myself from France I -proposed to sell my estates and put the money in a bank of Spain or -Italy. I also proposed, and I discoursed of it to the Comte de La -Rochefoucauld, to ask leave of absence from the king that I might not be -called a deserter, and to be relieved of my oath as a subject in order -to go wherever I should find myself better off than in his kingdom. I -believe he could not have refused my request; because everyone is free -to change his country and choose another. But however that might be, if -he had refused me I should have gone all the same, neither more nor less -like a valet who is angry with his master and wants to leave him; if the -latter will not give him leave to go, it is not reprehensible to take it -and attach himself to another master." - -Thus reasoned Brantme. He returns on several occasions to these lawless -opinions; he argues, apropos of the Conntable de Bourbon and La Noue, -against the scruples of those who are willing to leave their country, -but not to take up arms against her. "I'faith!" he cries, "here are -fine, scrupulous philosophers! Their quartan fevers! While I hold shyly -back, pray who will feed me? Whereas if I bare my sword to the wind it -will give me food and magnify my fame." - -Such ideas were current in those days among the nobles, in whom the -patriotic sentiment, long subordinated to that of caste, was only -developed later. These projects of treachery should therefore not be -judged altogether with the severity of modern ideas. Besides, Brantme -is working himself up; it does not belong to every one to produce such -grand disasters as these he meditates. Moreover, thought is far from -action; events may intervene. People call them fate or chance, but -chance will often simply aid the secret impulses of conscience, and bind -our will to that it chooses. - -"Fine human schemes I made!" Brantme resumes. "On the very point of -their accomplishment the war of the League broke out and turmoiled -things in such a way that no one would buy lands, for every man had -trouble enough to keep what he owned, neither would he strip himself of -money. Those who had promised to buy my property excused themselves. To -go to foreign parts without resources was madness,--it would only have -exposed me to all sorts of misery; I had too much experience to commit -that folly. To complete the destruction of my designs, one day, at the -height of my vigor and jollity, a miserable horse, whose white skin -might have warned me of nothing good, reared and fell over upon me -breaking and crushing my loins, so that for four years I lay in my bed, -maimed, impotent in every limb, unable to turn or move without torture -and all the agony in the world; and since then my health has never been -what it once was. Thus man proposes, and God disposes. God does all -things for the best! It is possible that if I had realized my plans I -should have done more harm to my country than the renegade of Algiers -did to his; and because of it, I might have been perpetually cursed of -God and man." - -Consequently, this great scheme remained a dream; no one need ever have -known anything about it if Brantme himself had not taken pains to -inform us of it with much complacency. - -The cruel fall which stopped his guilty projects must have occurred in -1585. At the end of three years and a half of suffering he met, he tells -us, "with a very great personage and operator, called M. -Saint-Christophe, whom God raised up for my good and cure, who succeeded -in relieving me after many other doctors had failed." As soon as he was -nearly well he began once more to travel. It does not appear that he -frequented the Court after the death of Catherine de' Medici, which took -place in January, 1589; but he was present, in that year, at the baptism -of the posthumous son of Henri de Guise, whom the Parisians adopted -after the father's murder at Blois, and named _Paris_. Agrippa -d'Aubign, in his caricature of the Procession of the League, gives -Brantme a small place as bearer of bells. But was he really there? It -seems doubtful; he makes somewhere the judicious reflection that: "One -may well be surprised that so many French nobles put themselves on the -side of the League, for if it had got the upper hand it is very certain -that the clergy would have deprived them of church property and wiped -their lips forever of it, which result would have cut the wings of their -extravagance for a very long while." The secular Abb de Brantme had -therefore as good reasons for not being a Leaguer as for not being a -Huguenot. - -In 1590 he went to make his obeisance to Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, -then confined in the Chteau d'Usson in Auvergne. He presented to her -his "discourse" on "Spanish Rhodomontades," perhaps also a first copy of -the life of that princess (which appears in this volume), and he also -showed her the titles of the other books he had composed. He was so -enchanted with the greeting Queen Marguerite, la Reine Margot, gave him, -"the sole remaining daughter of the noble house of France, the most -beautiful, most noble, grandest, most generous, most magnanimous, and -most accomplished princess in the world" (when Brantme praises he does -not do it by halves), that he promised to dedicate to her the entire -collection of his works,--a promise he faithfully fulfilled. - -His health, now decidedly affected, confined more and more to his own -home this indefatigable rover, who had, as he said, "the nature of a -minstrel who prefers the house of others to his own." Condemned to a -sedentary life, he used his activity as he could. He caused to be built -the noble castle of Richemont, with much pains and at great expense. He -grew quarrelsome and litigious; brought suits against his relations, -against his neighbours, against his monks, whom he accused of -ingratitude. By his will he bequeathed his lawsuits to his heirs, and -forbade each and all to compromise them. - -Difficult to live with, soured, dissatisfied with the world, he was not, -it would seem, in easy circumstances. He did not spare posterity the -recital of his plaints: "Favours, grandeurs, boasts, and vanities, all -the pleasant things of the good old days are gone like the wind. Nothing -remains to me but to _have been_ all that; sometimes that memory pleases -me, and sometimes it vexes me. Nearing a decrepit old age, the worst of -all woes, nearing, too, a poverty which cannot be cured as in our -flourishing years when nought is impossible, repenting me a hundred -thousand times for the fine extravagances I committed in other days, and -regretting I did not save enough then to support me now in feeble age, -when I lack all of which I once possessed too much,--I see, with a -bursting heart, an infinite number of paltry fellows raised to rank and -riches, while Fortune, treacherous and blind that she is, feeds me on -air and then deserts and mocks me. If she would only put me quickly into -the hands of death I would still forgive her the wrongs she has done me. -But there is the worst of it; we can neither live nor die as we wish. -Therefore, let destiny do as it will, never shall I cease to curse it -from heart and lip. And worst of all do I detest old age weighed down by -poverty. As the queen-mother said to me one day when I had the honour to -speak to her on this subject about another person, 'Old age brings us -inconveniences enough without the additional burden of poverty; the two -united are the height of misery, against which there is one only -sovereign cure, and that is death. Happy he who finds it when he reaches -fifty-six, for after that our life is but labour and sorrow, and we eat -but the bread of ashes, as saith the prophet.'" - -He continued, however, to write, retracing all that he had seen and -garnered either while making his campaigns with the great captains of -his time, or in gossiping with idle gentlemen in the halls of the -Louvre. It was thus he composed his biographical and anecdotical -volumes, which he retouched and rewrote at intervals, making several -successive copies. That he had the future of his writings much at heart, -in spite of a scornful air of indifference which he sometimes assumed, -appears very plainly from the following clause in his will: - -"I will," he says, "and I expressly charge my heirs to cause to be -printed my Books, which I have composed from my mind and invention with -great toil and trouble, written by my hand, and transcribed clearly by -that of Mataud, my hired secretary; the which will be found in five -volumes covered with velvet, black, tan, green, blue, and a large -volume, which is that of 'The Ladies,' covered with green velvet, and -another covered with vellum and gilded thereon, which is that of 'The -Rhodomontades.' They will be found in one of my wicker trunks, carefully -protected. Fine things will be found in them, such as tales, discourses, -histories, and witticisms; which no one can disdain, it seems to me, if -once they are placed under his nose and eyes. In order to have them -printed according to my fancy, I charge with that purpose Madame la -Comtesse de Duretal, my dear niece, or some other person she may choose. -And to do this I order that enough be taken from my whole property to -pay the costs of the said printing, and my heirs are not to divide or -use my property until this printing is provided for. It is not probable -that it will cost much; for the printers, when they cast their eyes upon -the books, would pay to print them instead of exacting money; for they -do print many gratis that are not worth as much as mine. I can boast of -this; for I have shown them, at least in part, to several among that -trade, who offered to print them for nothing. But I do not choose that -they be printed during my life. Above all, I will that the said printing -be in fine, large letters, in a great volume to make the better show, -with license from the king, who will give it readily; or without -license, if that can be. Care must also be taken that the printer does -not put on another name than mine; otherwise I shall be frustrated of -all my trouble and of the fame that is my due. I also will that the -first book that issues from the press shall be given as a gift, well -bound and covered in velvet, to Queen Marguerite, my very illustrious -mistress, who did me the honour to read some of my writings, and who -thought them fine and esteemed them." - -This will was made about the year 1609. On the 15th of July, 1614, -Brantme died, after living his last years in complete oblivion; he was -buried, according to his wishes, in the chapel of his chteau of -Richemont. In spite of his express directions, neither the Comtesse de -Duretal nor any other of his heirs executed the clause in his will -relating to the publication of his works. Possibly they feared it might -create some scandal, or it may be that they could not obtain the royal -license. The manuscripts remained in the chteau of Richemont. Little by -little, as time went on, they attracted attention; copies were made -which found their way to the cabinets and libraries of collectors. They -were finally printed in Holland; and the first volume, which appeared in -Leyden from the press of Jean Sambix the younger, sold by F. Foppons, -Brussels, 1665, was that which here follows: "The Book of the Ladies," -called by the publisher, not by Brantme, "Lives of Illustrious Dames." - -It is not easy to distinguish the exact periods at which Brantme wrote -his works. "The Book of the Ladies," first and second parts,--_Dames -Illustres and Dames Galantes_,--were evidently the first written; then -followed "The Lives of Great and Illustrious French Captains," "Lives of -Great Foreign Captains," "Anecdotes concerning Duels," "The -Rhodomontades," and "Spanish Oaths." Brantme did not write his Memoirs, -properly so-called; his biographical facts and incidents are scattered -throughout the above-named volumes. - -The following translation of the "Book of the Ladies" does not pretend -to imitate Brantme's style. To do so would seem an affectation in -English, and attract attention to itself which it is always desirable to -avoid in translating. Wherever a few of Brantme's quaint turns of -phrase are given, it is only as they fall naturally into English. - - - - -THE BOOK OF THE LADIES. - - - - -DISCOURSE I. - -ANNE DE BRETAGNE, QUEEN OF FRANCE. - - -Inasmuch as I must speak of ladies, I do not choose to speak of former -dames, of whom the histories are full; that would be blotting paper in -vain, for enough has been written about them, and even the great -Boccaccio has made a fine book solely on that subject [_De claris -mulieribus_]. - -I shall begin therefore with our queen, Anne de Bretagne, the most -worthy and honourable queen that has ever been since Queen Blanche, -mother of the King Saint-Louis, and very sage and virtuous. - -This Queen Anne was the rich heiress of the duchy of Bretagne, which was -held to be one of the finest of Christendom, and for that reason she was -sought in marriage by the greatest persons. M. le Duc d'Orlans, -afterwards King Louis XII., in his young days courted her, and did for -her sake his fine feats of arms in Bretagne, and even at the battle of -Saint Aubin, where he was taken prisoner fighting on foot at the head of -his infantry. I have heard say that this capture was the reason why he -did not espouse her then; for thereon intervened Maximilian, Duke of -Austria, since emperor, who married her by the proxy of his uncle the -Prince of Orange in the great church at Nantes. But King Charles VIII., -having advised with his council that it was not good to have so -powerful a seigneur encroach and get a footing in his kingdom, broke off -a marriage that had been settled between himself and Marguerite of -Flanders, took the said Anne from Maximilian, her affianced, and wedded -her himself; so that every one conjectured thereon that a marriage thus -made would be luckless in issue. - -Now if Anne was desired for her property, she was as much so for her -virtues and merits; for she was beautiful and agreeable; as I have heard -say by elderly persons who knew her, and according to her portrait, -which I have seen from life; resembling in face the beautiful Demoiselle -de Chteauneuf, who has been so renowned at the Court for her beauty; -and that is sufficient to tell the beauty of Queen Anne as I have heard -it portrayed to the queen-mother [Catherine de' Medici]. - -Her figure was fine and of medium height. It is true that one foot was -shorter than the other the least in the world; but this was little -perceived, and hardly to be noticed, so that her beauty was not at all -spoilt by it; for I myself have seen very handsome women with that -defect who yet were extreme in beauty, like Mme. la Princesse de Cond, -of the house of Longueville. - -So much for the beauty of the body of this queen. That of her mind was -no less, because she was very virtuous, wise, honourable, pleasant of -speech, and very charming and subtile in wit. She had been taught and -trained by Mme. de Laval, an able and accomplished lady, appointed her -governess by her father, Duc Franois. For the rest, she was very kind, -very merciful, and very charitable, as I have heard my own folks say. -True it is, however, that she was quick in vengeance and seldom pardoned -whoever offended her maliciously; as she showed to the Marchal de Gi -for the affront he put upon her when the king, her lord and husband, -lay ill at Blois and was held to be dying. She, wishing to provide for -her wants in case she became a widow, caused three or four boats to be -laden on the River Loire with all her precious articles, furniture, -jewels, rings and money,--and sent them to her city and chteau of -Nantes. The said marshal, meeting these boats between Saumur and Nantes, -ordered them stopped and seized, being much too wishful to play the good -officer and servant of the Crown. But fortune willed that the king, -through the prayers of his people, to whom he was indeed a true father, -escaped with his life. - -The queen, in spite of this luck, did not abstain from her vengeance, -and having well brewed it, she caused the said marshal to be driven from -Court. It was then that having finished a fine house at La Verger, he -retired there, saying that the rain had come just in time to let him get -under shelter in the beautiful house so recently built. But this -banishment from Court was not all; through great researches which she -caused to be made wherever he had been in command, it was discovered he -had committed great wrongs, extortions and pillages, to which all -governors are given; so that the marshal, having appealed to the courts -of parliament, was summoned before that of Toulouse, which had long been -very just and equitable, and not corrupt. There, his suit being viewed, -he was convicted. But the queen did not wish his death, because, she -said, death is a cure for all pains and woes, and being dead he would be -too happy; she wished him to live as degraded and low as he had been -great; so that he might, from the grandeur and height where he had been, -live miserably in troubles, pains, and sadness, which would do him a -hundred-fold more harm than death, for death lasted only a day, and -mayhap only an hour, whereas his languishing would make him die daily. - -Such was the vengeance of this brave queen. One day she was so angry -against M. d'Orlans that she could not for a long time be appeased. It -was in this wise: the death of her son, M. le dauphin, having happened, -King Charles, her husband, and she were in such despair that the -doctors, fearing the debility and feeble constitution of the king, were -alarmed lest such grief should do injury to his health; so they -counselled the king to amuse himself, and the princes of the Court to -invent new pastimes, games, dances, and mummeries in order to give -pleasure to the king and queen; the which M. d'Orlans having -undertaken, he gave at the Chteau d'Amboise a masquerade and dance, at -which he did such follies and danced so gayly, as was told and read, -that the queen, believing he felt this glee because, the dauphin being -dead, he knew himself nearer to be King of France, was extremely -angered, and showed him such displeasure that he was forced to escape -from Amboise, where the Court then was, and go to his chteau of Blois. -Nothing can be blamed in this queen except the sin of vengeance,--if -vengeance is a sin,--because otherwise she was beautiful and gentle, and -had many very laudable sides. - -When the king, her husband, went to the kingdom of Naples [1494], and so -long as he was there, she knew very well how to govern the kingdom of -France with those whom the king had given to assist her; but she always -kept her rank, her grandeur, and supremacy, and insisted, young as she -was, on being trusted; and she made herself trusted, so that nothing was -ever found to say against her. - -She felt great regret for the death of King Charles [in 1498], as much -for the friendship she bore him as for seeing herself henceforth but -half a queen, having no children. And when her most intimate ladies, as -I have been told on good authority, pitied her for being the widow of so -great a king, and unable to return to her high estate,--for King Louis -[the Duc d'Orlans, her first lover] was then married to Jeanne de -France,--she replied she would "rather be the widow of a king all her -life than debase herself to a less than he; but still, she was not so -despairing of happiness that she did not think of again being Queen of -France, as she had been, if she chose." Her old love made her say so; -she meant to relight it in the bosom of him in whom it was yet warm. And -so it happened; for King Louis [XII.], having repudiated Jeanne, his -wife, and never having lost his early love, took her in marriage, as we -have seen and read. So here was her prophecy accomplished; she having -founded it on the nature of King Louis, who could not keep himself from -loving her, all married as she was, but looked with a tender eye upon -her, being still Duc d'Orlans; for it is difficult to quench a great -fire when once it has seized the soul. - -He was a handsome prince and very amiable, and she did not hate him for -that. Having taken her, he honoured her much, leaving her to enjoy her -property and her duchy without touching it himself or taking a single -louis; but she employed it well, for she was very liberal. And because -the king made immense gifts, to meet which he must have levied on his -people, which he shunned like the plague, she supplied his deficiencies; -and there were no great captains of the kingdom to whom she did not give -pensions, or make extraordinary presents of money or of thick gold -chains when they went upon a journey; and she even made little presents -according to quality; everybody ran to her, and few came away -discontented. Above all, she had the reputation of loving her domestic -servants, and to them she did great good. - -She was the first queen to hold a great Court of ladies, such as we have -seen from her time to the present day. Her suite was very large of -ladies and young girls, for she refused none; she even inquired of the -noblemen of her Court whether they had daughters, and what they were, -and asked to have them brought to her. I had an aunt de Bourdeille who -had the honour of being brought up by her [Louise de Bourdeille, maid of -honour to Queen Anne in 1494]; but she died at Court, aged fifteen -years, and was buried behind the great altar of the church of the -Franciscans in Paris. I saw the tomb and its inscription before that -church was burned [in 1580.] - -Queen Anne's Court was a noble school for ladies; she had them taught -and brought up wisely; and all, taking pattern by her, made themselves -wise and virtuous. Because her heart was great and lofty she wanted -guards, and so formed a second band of a hundred gentlemen,--for -hitherto there was only one; and the greater part of the said new guard -were Bretons, who never failed, when she left her room to go to mass or -to promenade, to await her on that little terrace at Blois, still called -the Breton perch, "La Perche aux Bretons," she herself having named it -so by saying when she saw them: "Here are my Bretons on their perch, -awaiting me." - -You may be sure that she did not lay by her money, but employed it well -on all high things. - -She it was, who built, out of great superbness, that fine vessel and -mass of wood, called "La Cordelire," which attacked so furiously in -mid-ocean the "Regent of England;" grappling to her so closely that both -were burned and nothing escaped,--not the people, nor anything else that -was in them, so that no news was ever heard of them on land; which -troubled the queen very much.[2] - -The king honoured her so much that one day, it being reported to him -that the law clerks at the Palais [de Justice] and the students also -were playing games in which there was talk of the king, his Court, and -all the great people, he took no other notice than to say they needed a -pastime, and he would let them talk of him and his Court, though not -licentiously; but as for the queen, his wife, they should not speak of -her in any way whatsoever; if they did he would have them hanged. Such -was the honour he bore her. - -Moreover, there never came to his Court a foreign prince or an -ambassador that, after having seen and listened to them, he did not send -them to pay their reverence to the queen; wishing the same respect to be -shown to her as to him; and also, because he recognized in her a great -faculty for entertaining and pleasing great personages, as, indeed, she -knew well how to do; taking much pleasure in it herself; for she had -very good and fine grace and majesty in greeting them, and beautiful -eloquence in talking with them. Sometimes, amid her French speech, she -would, to make herself more admired, mingle a few foreign words, which -she had learned from M. de Grignaux, her chevalier of honour, who was a -very gallant man who had seen the world, and was accomplished and knew -foreign languages, being thereby very pleasant good company, and -agreeable to meet. Thus it was that one day, Queen Anne having asked him -to teach her a few words of Spanish to say to the Spanish ambassador, he -taught her in joke a little indecency, which she quickly learned. The -next day, while awaiting the ambassador, M. de Grignaux told the story -to the king, who thought it good, understanding his gay and lively -humour. Nevertheless he went to the queen, and told her all, warning her -to be careful not to use those words. She was in such great anger, -though the king only laughed, that she wanted to dismiss M. de Grignaux, -and showed him her displeasure for several days. But M. de Grignaux -made her such humble excuses, telling her that he only did it to make -the king laugh and pass his time merrily, and that he was not so -ill-advised as to fail to warn the king in time that he might, as he -really did, warn her before the arrival of the ambassador; so that on -these excuses and the entreaties of the king she was pacified. - -Now, if the king loved and honoured her living, we may believe that, she -being dead, he did the same. And to manifest the mourning that he felt, -the superb and honourable funeral and obsequies that he ordered for her -are proof; the which I have read of in an old "History of France" that I -found lying about in a closet in our house, nobody caring for it; and -having gathered it up, I looked at it. Now as this is a matter that -should be noted, I shall put it here, word for word as the book says, -without changing anything; for though it is old, the language is not -very bad; and as for the truth of the book, it has been confirmed to me -by my grandmother, Mme. la Seneschale de Poitou, of the family du Lude, -who was then at the Court. The book relates it thus:-- - -"This queen was an honourable and virtuous queen, and very wise, the -true mother of the poor, the support of gentlemen, the haven of ladies, -damoiselles, and honest girls, and the refuge of learned men; so that -all the people of France cannot surfeit themselves enough in deploring -and regretting her. - -"She died at the castle of Blois on the twenty-first of January, in the -year 1513, after the accomplishment of a thing she had most desired, -namely: the union of the king, her lord, with the pope and the Roman -Church, abhorring as she did schism and divisions. For that reason she -had never ceased urging the king to this step, for which she was as -much loved and greatly revered by the Catholic princes and prelates as -the king had been hated. - -"I have seen at Saint-Denis a grand church cope, all covered with pearls -embroidered, which she had ordered to be made expressly to send as a -present to the pope, but death prevented. After her decease her body -remained for three days in her room, the face uncovered, and nowise -changed by hideous death, but as beautiful and agreeable as when living. - -"Friday, the twenty-seventh of the month of January, her body was taken -from the castle, very honourably accompanied by all the priests and -monks of the town, borne by persons wearing mourning, with hoods over -their heads, accompanied by twenty-four torches larger than the other -torches borne by twenty-four officers of the household of the said lady, -on each of which were two rich armorial escutcheons bearing the arms -emblazoned of the said lady. After these torches came the reverend -seigneurs and prelates, bishops, abbs, and M. le Cardinal de Luxembourg -to read the office; and thus was removed the body of the said lady from -the Chteau de Blois.... - -"Septuagesima Sunday, twelfth of February, they arrived at the church of -Notre-Dame des Champs in the suburbs of Paris, and there the body was -guarded two nights with great quantities of lights; and on the following -Tuesday, the devout services having been read, there marched before the -body processions with the crosses of all the churches and all the -monasteries of Paris, the whole University in a body, the presidents and -counsellors of the sovereign court of Parliament, and generally of all -other courts and jurisdictions, officers and advocates, merchants and -citizens, and other lesser officers of the town. All these accompanied -the said body reverentially, with the very noble seigneurs and ladies -aforenamed, just as they started from Blois, all keeping fine order -among themselves according to their several ranks.... And thus was borne -through Paris, in the order and manner above, the body of the queen to -be sepulchred in the pious church of Saint-Denis of France; preceded by -these processions to a cross which is not far beyond the place where the -fair of Landit is held. - -"And to the spot where stands the cross the reverend father in God, the -abb, and the venerable monks, with the priests of the churches and -parishes of Saint-Denis, vestured in their great copes, with their -crosses, came in procession, together with the peasants and the -inhabitants of the said town, to receive the body of the late queen, -which was then borne to the door of the church of Saint-Denis, still -accompanied honourably by all the above-named very noble princes and -princesses, seigneurs, dames, and damoiselles, and their train as -already stated.... - -"And all being duly accomplished, the body of the said lady, Madame -Anne, in her lifetime very noble Queen of France, Duchesse of Bretagne, -and Comtesse d'tampes, was honourably interred and sepulchred in the -tomb for her prepared. - -"After this, the herald-at-arms for Bretagne summoned all the princes -and officers of the said lady, to wit: the chevalier of honour, the -grand-master of the household, and others, each and all, to fulfil their -duty towards the said body, which they did most piteously, shedding -tears from their eyes. And, this done, the aforenamed king-at-arms cried -three times aloud in a most piteous voice: 'The very Christian Queen of -France, Duchesse de Bretagne, our Sovereign Lady, is dead!' And then all -departed. The body remained entombed. - -[Illustration: _Tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne_] - -"During her life and after her death she was honoured by the titles I -have before given: true mother of the poor; the comfort of noble -gentlemen; the haven of ladies and damoiselles and honest girls; -the refuge of learned men and those of good lives; so that speaking of -her dead is only renewing the grief and regrets of all such persons, and -also that of her domestic servants, whom she loved singularly. She was -very religious and devout. It was she who made the foundation of the -'Bons-Hommes' [monastery of the order of Saint-Franois de Paule at -Chaillot], otherwise called the Minimes; and she began to build the -church of the said 'Bons-Hommes' near Paris, and afterwards that in Rome -which is so beautiful and noble, and where, as I saw myself, they -receive no monks but Frenchmen." - -There, word for word, are the splendid obsequies of this queen, without -changing a word of the original, for fear of doing worse,--for I could -not do better. They were just like those of our kings that I have heard -and read of, and those of King Charles IX., at which I was present, and -which the queen, his mother, desired to make so fine and magnificent, -though the finances of France were then too short to spend much, because -of the departure of the King of Poland, who with his suite had -squandered and carried off a great deal [1574]. - -Certainly I find these two interments much alike, save for three things: -one, that the burial of Queen Anne was the most superb; second, that all -went so well in order and so discreetly that there was no contention of -ranks, as occurred at the burial of King Charles; for his body, being -about to start for Notre-Dame, the court of parliament had some pique of -precedence with the nobility and the Church, claiming to stand in the -place of the king and to represent him when absent, he being then out of -the kingdom. [Henri III. was then King of Poland]. On which a great -princess, as the world goes, who was very near to him, whom I know but -will not name, went about arguing and saying: "It was no wonder if, -during the lifetime of the king, seditions and troubles had been in -vogue, seeing that, dead as he was, he was still able to stir up -strife." Alas! he never did it, poor prince! either dead or living. We -know well who were the authors of the seditions and of our civil wars. -That princess who said those words has since found reason to regret -them. - -The third thing is that the body of King Charles was quitted, at the -church of Saint-Lazare, by the whole procession, princes, seigneurs, -courts of parliament, the Church, and the citizens, and was followed and -accompanied from there by none but poor M. de Strozzi, de Fumel, and -myself, with two gentlemen of the bedchamber, for we were not willing to -abandon our master as long as he was above ground. There were also a few -archers of the guard, quite pitiable to see, in the fields. So at eight -in the evening in the month of July, we started with the body and its -effigy thus badly accompanied. - -Reaching the cross, we found all the monks of Saint-Denis awaiting us, -and the body of the king was honourably escorted, with the ceremonies of -the Church, to Saint-Denis, where the great Cardinal de Lorraine -received it most honourably and devoutly, as he knew well how to do. - -The queen-mother was very angry that the procession did not continue to -the end as she intended--save for Monsieur her son, and the King of -Navarre, whom she held a prisoner. The next day, however, the latter -arrived in a coach, with a very good guard, and captains of the guard -with him, to be present at the solemn high service, attended by the -whole procession and company as at first,--a sight very sad to see. - -After dinner the court of parliament sent to tell and to command the -grand almoner Amyot to go and say grace after meat for them as if for -the king. To which he made answer that he should do nothing of the kind, -for it was not before them he was bound to do it. They sent him two -consecutive and threatening commands; which he still refused, and went -and hid himself that he might answer no more. Then they swore they would -not leave the table till he came; but not being able to find him, they -were constrained to say grace themselves and to rise, which they did -with great threats, foully abusing the said almoner, even to calling him -scoundrel, and son of a butcher. I saw the whole affair; and I know what -Monsieur commanded me to go and tell to M. le cardinal, asking him to -pacify the matter, because they had sent commands to Monsieur to send to -them, as representatives of the king, the grand almoner if he could be -found. M. le cardinal went to speak to them, but he gained nothing; they -standing firm on their opinion of their royal majesty and authority. I -know what M. le cardinal said to me about them, telling me not to say -it,--that they were perfect fools. The chief president, de Thou, was -then at their head; a great senator certainly, but he had a temper. So -here was another disturbance to make that princess say again that King -Charles, either living or dead, on earth or under it, that body of his -stirred up the world and threw it into sedition. Alas! that he could not -do. - -I have told this little incident, possibly more at length than I should, -and I may be blamed; but I reply that I have told and put it here as it -came into my fancy and memory; also that it comes in _ propos_; and -that I cannot forget it, for it seems to me a thing that is rather -remarkable. - -Now, to return to our Queen Anne: we see from this fine last duty of her -obsequies how beloved she was of earth and heaven; far otherwise than -that proud, pompous queen, Isabella of Bavaria, wife of the late King -Charles VI., who having died in Paris, her body was so despised it was -put out of her palace into a little boat on the river Seine, without -form of ceremony or pomp, being carried through a little postern so -narrow it could hardly go through, and thus was taken to Saint-Denis to -her tomb like a simple damoiselle, neither more nor less. There was also -a difference between her actions and those of Queen Anne: for she -brought the English into France and Paris, threw the kingdom into flames -and divisions, and impoverished and ruined every one; whereas Queen Anne -kept France in peace, enlarged and enriched it with her beautiful duchy -and the fine property she brought with her. So one need not wonder that -the king regretted her and felt such mourning that he came nigh dying in -the forest of Vincennes, and clothed himself and all his Court so long -in black; and those who came otherwise clothed he had them driven away; -neither would he see any ambassador, no matter who he was, unless he -were dressed in black. And, moreover, that old History which I have -quoted, says: "When he gave his daughter to M. d'Angoulme, afterwards -King Franois, mourning was not left off by him or his Court; and the -day of the espousals in the church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the -bridegroom and bride were vestured and clothed"--so this History -says--"in black cloth, honestly cut in mourning shape, for the death of -the said queen, Madame Anne de Bretagne, mother of the bride, in -presence of the king, her father, accompanied by the princes of the -blood and noble seigneurs and prelates, princesses, dames, and -damoiselles, all clothed in black cloth made in mourning shape." That is -what the book says. It was a strange austerity of mourning which should -be noted, that not even on the day of the wedding was it dispensed with, -to be renewed on the following day. - -From this we may know how beloved, and worthy to be beloved this -princess was by the king, her husband, who sometimes in his merry moods -and gayety would call her "his Breton." - -If she had lived longer she would never have consented to that marriage -of her daughter; it was very repugnant to her and she said so to the -king, her husband, for she mortally hated Madame d'Angoulme, afterwards -Regent, their tempers being quite unlike and not agreeing together; -besides which, she had wished to unite her said daughter to Charles of -Austria, then young, the greatest seigneur of Christendom, who was -afterwards emperor. And this she wished in spite of M. d'Angoulme -coming very near the Crown; but she never thought of that, or would not -think of it, trusting to have more children herself, she being only -thirty-seven years old when she died. In her lifetime and reign, reigned -also that great and wise queen, Isabella of Castile, very accordant in -manners and morals with our Queen Anne. For which reason they loved each -other much and visited one another often by embassies, letters, and -presents; 'tis thus that virtue ever seeks out virtue. - -King Louis was afterwards pleased to marry for the third time Marie, -sister of the King of England, a very beautiful princess, young, and too -young for him, so that evil came of it. But he married more from policy, -to make peace with the English and to put his own kingdom at rest, than -for any other reason, never being able to forget his Queen Anne. He -commanded at his death that they should both be covered by the same -tomb, just as we now see it in Saint-Denis, all in white marble, as -beautiful and superb as never was. - -Now, here I pause in my discourse and go no farther; referring the rest -to books that are written of this queen better than I could write; only -to content my own self have I made this discourse. - -I will say one other little thing; that she was the first of our queens -or princesses to form the usage of putting a belt round their arms and -escutcheons, which until then were borne not inclosed, but quite loose; -and the said queen was the first to put the belt. - -I say no more, not having been of her time; although I protest having -told only truth, having learned it, as I have said, from a book, and -also from Mme. la Seneschale, my grandmother, and from Mme. de -Dampierre, my aunt, a true Court register, and as clever, wise, and -virtuous a lady as ever entered a Court these hundred years, and who -knew well how to discourse on old things. From eight years of age she -was brought up at Court, and forgot nothing; it was good to hear her -talk; and I have seen our kings and queens take a singular pleasure in -listening to her, for she knew all,--her own time and past times; so -that people took word from her as from an oracle. King Henri III. made -her lady of honour to the queen, his wife. I have here used -recollections and lessons that I obtained from her, and I hope to use -many more in the course of these books. - -I have read the epitaph of the said queen, thus made:-- - - "Here lies Anne, who was wife to two great kings, - Great a hundred-fold herself, as queen two times! - Never queen like her enriched all France; - That is what it is to make a grand alliance." - - * * * * * - -Gui Patin, satirist and jovial spirit of his time [he was born in 1601], -attracted to Saint-Denis because a fair was held there, visits the -abbey, the treasury, "where" he says, "there was plenty of silly stuff -and rubbish," and lastly the tombs of the kings, "where I could not keep -myself from weeping to see so many monuments to the vanity of human -life; tears escaped me also before the tomb of the great and good king, -Franois I., who founded our College of Professors of the King. I must -own my weakness; I kissed it, and also that of his father-in-law, Louis -XII., who was the Father of his People, and the best king we have ever -had in France." Happy age! still neighbour to beliefs, when those -reputed the greatest satirists had these touching navets, these wholly -patriotic and antique sensibilities. - -Mzeray [born ten years later], in his natural, sincere and expressive -diction, his clear and full narration, into which he has the art to -bring speaking circumstances which animate the tale, says in relation to -Louis XII. [in his "History of France"]: "When he rode through the -country the good folk ran from all parts and for many days to see him, -strewing the roads with flowers and foliage, and striving, as though he -were a visible God, to touch his saddle with their handkerchiefs and -keep them as precious relics." - -And two centuries later, Comte Roederer, in his Memoir on Polite -Society and the Htel de Rambouillet, printed in 1835, tells us how in -his youth his mind was already busy with Louis XII., and, returning to -the same interest in after years, he made him his hero of predilection -and his king. In studying the history of France he thought he -discovered, he says, that at the close of the fifteenth century and the -beginning of the sixteenth what has since been called the "French -Revolution" was already consummated; that liberty rested on a free -Constitution; and that Louis XII., the Father of his People, was he who -had accomplished it. _Bonhomie_ and goodness have never been denied to -Louis XII., but Roederer claims more, he claims ability and skill. The -Italian wars, considered generally to have been mistakes, he excuses and -justifies by showing them in the king's mind as a means of useful -national policy; he needed to obtain from Pope Alexander VI. the -dissolution of his marriage with Jeanne de France, in order that he -might marry Anne de Bretagne and so unite the duchy with the kingdom. -Roederer makes King Louis a type of perfection; seeming to have -searched in regions far from those that are historically brilliant, far -from spheres of fame and glory, into "the depths obscure," as he says -himself, "of _useful_ government for a hero of a new species." - -More than that: he thinks he sees in the cherished wife of Louis XII., -in Anne de Bretagne, the foundress of a school of polite manners and -perfection for her sex. "She was," Brantme had said, "the most worthy -and honourable queen that had ever been since Queen Blanche, mother of -the King Saint-Louis.... Her Court was a noble school for ladies; she -had them taught and brought up wisely; and all, taking pattern by her, -made themselves wise and virtuous." Roederer takes these words of -Brantme and, giving them their strict meaning, draws therefrom a series -of consequences: just as Franois I. had, in many respects, overthrown -the political state of things established by Louis XII., so, he -believes, had the women beloved of Franois overturned that honourable -condition of society established by Anne de Bretagne. Starting from that -epoch he sees, as it were, a constant struggle between two sorts of -rival and incompatible societies: between the decent and ingenuous -society of which Anne de Bretagne had given the idea, and the licentious -society of which the mistresses of the king, women like the Duchesse -d'tampes and Diane de Poitiers, procured the triumph. These two -societies, to his mind, never ceased to co-exist during the sixteenth -century; on the one hand was an emulation of virtue and merit on the -part of the noble heiresses, alas, too eclipsed, of Anne de Bretagne, on -the other an emulation with high bidding of gallantry, by the giddy -pupils of the school of Franois I. To Roederer the Htel de -Rambouillet, that perfected salon, founded towards the beginning of the -seventeenth century, is only a tardy return to the traditions of Anne de -Bretagne, the triumph of merit, virtue, and polite manners over the -license to which all the kings, from Franois I., including Henri IV., -had paid tribute. - -Reaching thus the Htel de Rambouillet and holding henceforth an -unbroken thread in hand, Roederer divides and subdivides at pleasure. -He marks the divers periods and the divers shades of transition, the -growth and the decline that he discerns. The first years of Louis XIV.'s -youth cause him some distress; a return is being made to the ways of -Franois I., to the brilliant mistresses. Roederer, not concerning -himself with the displeasure he will cause the classicists, lays a -little of the blame for this return on the four great poets, Molire, La -Fontaine, Racine, and Boileau himself, all accomplices, more or less, in -the laudation of victor and lover. However, age comes on; Louis XIV. -grows temperate in turn, and a woman, issuing from the very purest -centre of Mme. de Rambouillet's society, and who was morally its -heiress, a woman accomplished in tone, in cultivation of mind, in -precision of language, and in the sentiment of propriety,--Mme. de -Maintenon,--knows so well how to seize the opportunity that she seats -upon the throne, in a modest half-light, all the styles of mind and -merit which made the perfection of French society in its better days. -The triumph of Mme. de Maintenon is that of polite society itself; Anne -de Bretagne has found her pendant at the other extremity of the chain -after the lapse of two centuries. - -SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_, Vol. VIII. - - - - -DISCOURSE II. - -CATHERINE DE' MEDICI, QUEEN, AND MOTHER OF OUR LAST KINGS. - - -I have wondered and been astonished a hundred times that, so many good -writers as we have had in our day in France, none of them has been -inquisitive enough to make some fine selection of the life and deeds of -the queen-mother, Catherine de' Medici, inasmuch as she has furnished -ample matter, and cut out much fine work, if ever a queen did--as said -the Emperor Charles to Paolo Giovio [Italian historian] when, on his -return from his triumphant voyage in the "Goulette" intending to make -war upon King Franois, he gave him a provision of ink and paper, saying -he would cut him out plenty of work. So it is true that this queen cut -out so much that a good and zealous writer might make an Iliad of it; -but they have all been lazy,--or ungrateful, for she was never niggardly -to learned men; I could name several who have derived good benefits from -this queen, from which, in consequence, I accuse them of ingratitude. - -There is one, however, who did concern himself to write of her, and made -a little book which he entitled "The Life of Catherine;"[3] but it is an -imposture and not worthy of belief, as she herself said when she saw it; -such falsities being apparent to every one, and easy to note and reject. -He that wrote it wished her mortal harm, and was an enemy to her name, -her condition, her life, her honour, and nature; and that is why he -should be rejected. As for me, I would I knew how to speak well, or -that I had a good pen, well mended, at my command, that I might exalt -and praise her as she deserves. At any rate, such as my pen is, I shall -now employ it at all hazards. - -[Illustration: _Catherine de' Medici_] - -This queen is extracted, on the father's side, from the race of the -Medici, one of the noblest and most illustrious families, not only in -Italy, but in Christendom. Whatever may be said, she was a foreigner to -these shores because the alliances of kings cannot commonly be chosen in -their kingdom; for it is not best to do so; foreign marriages being as -useful and more so than near ones. The House of the Medici has always -been allied and confederated with the crown of France, which still bears -the _fleur-de-lys_ that King Louis XI. gave that house in sign of -alliance and perpetual confederation [the _fleur de Louis_, which then -became the Florentine lily]. - -On the mother's side she issued originally from one of the noblest -families of France; and so was truly French in race, heart, and -affection through that great house of Boulogne and county of Auvergne; -thus it is hard to tell or judge in which of her two families there was -most grandeur and memorable deeds. Here is what was said of them by the -Archbishop of Bourges, of the house of Beaune, as great a learned man -and worthy prelate as there is in Christendom (though some say a trifle -unsteady in belief, and little good in the scales of M. Saint-Michel, -who weighs good Christians for the day of judgment, or so they say): it -is given in the funeral oration which the archbishop made upon the said -queen at Blois:-- - -"In the days when Brennus, that great captain of the Gauls, led his army -throughout all Italy and Greece, there were with him in his troop two -French nobles, one named Felsinus, the other named Bono, who, seeing the -wicked design of Brennus, after his fine conquests, to invade the -temple of Delphos and soil himself and his army with the sacrilege of -that temple, withdrew, both of them, and passed into Asia with their -vessels and men, advancing so far that they entered the sea of the -Medes, which is near to Lydia and Persia. Thence, having made great -conquests and obtained great victories, they were returning through -Italy, hoping to reach France, when Felsinus stopped at a place where -Florence now stands beside the river Arno, which he saw to be fine and -delectable, and situated much as another which had pleased him much in -the country of the Medes. There he built a city which to-day is -Florence; and his companion, Bono, built another and named it Bononia, -now called Bologna, the which are neighbouring cities. Henceforth, in -consequence of the victories and conquests of Felsinus among the Medes, -he was called _Medicus_ among his friends, a name that remained to the -family; just as we read of Paulus surnamed _Macedonicus_ for having -conquered Macedonia from Perseus, and Scipio called _Africanus_ for -doing the same in Africa." - -I do not know where M. de Beaune may have taken this history; but it is -very probable that before the king and such an assembly, there convened -for the funeral of the queen, he would not have alleged the fact without -good authority. This descent is very far from the modern story invented -and attributed without grounds to the family of Medici, according to -that lying book which I have mentioned on the life of the said queen. -After this the said Sieur de Beaune says further, he has read in the -chronicles that one named Everard de' Medici, Sieur of Florence, went, -with many of his subjects, to the assistance of the voyage and -expedition made by Charlemagne against Desiderius, King of the Lombards; -and having very bravely succoured and assisted him, was confirmed and -invested with the lordship of Florence. Many years after, one Anemond -de' Medici, also Sieur of Florence, went, accompanied by many of his -subjects, to the Holy Land, with Godefroy de Bouillon, where he died at -the siege of Nica in Asia. Such greatness always continued in that -family until Florence was reduced to a republic by the intestine wars in -Italy between the emperors and the peoples, the illustrious members of -it manifesting their valour and grandeur from time to time; as we saw in -the latter days Cosmo de' Medici, who, with his arms, his navy, and -vessels, terrified the Turks in the Mediterranean Sea and in the distant -East; so that none since his time, however great he may be, has -surpassed him in strength and valour and wealth, as Raffaelle Volaterano -has written. - -The temples and sacred shrines by him built, the hospitals by him -founded, even in Jerusalem, are ample proof of his piety and -magnanimity. - -There were also Lorenzo de' Medici, surnamed the Great for his virtuous -deeds, and two great popes, Leo and Clement, also many cardinals and -grand personages of the name; besides the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosmo -de' Medici, a wise and wary man, if ever there was one. He succeeded in -maintaining himself in his duchy, which he found invaded and much -disturbed when he came to it. - -In short, nothing can rob this house of the Medici of its lustre, very -noble and grand as it is in every way. - -As for the house of Boulogne and Auvergne, who will say that it is not -great, having issued originally from that noble Eustache de Boulogne, -whose brother, Godefroy de Bouillon, bore arms and escutcheons with so -vast a number of princes, seigneurs, chevaliers, and Christian soldiers, -even to Jerusalem and the Sepulchre of our Saviour; and would have made -himself, by his sword and the favour of God, king, not only of -Jerusalem but of the greater part of the East, to the confusion of -Mahomet, the Saracens, and the Mahometans, amazing all the rest of the -world and replanting Christianity in Asia, where it had fallen to the -lowest? - -For the rest, this house has ever been sought in alliance by all the -monarchies of Christendom and the great families; such as France, -England, Scotland, Hungary, and Portugal, which latter kingdom belonged -to it of right, as I have heard Prsident de Thou say, and as the queen -herself did me the honour to tell me at Bordeaux when she heard of the -death of King Sebastian [in Morocco, 1578], the Medici being received to -argue the justice of their rights at the last Assembly of States before -the decease of King Henry [in 1580]. This was why she armed M. de -Strozzi to make an invasion, the King of Spain having usurped the -kingdom; she was arrested in so fine a course only by reasons which I -will explain at another time. - -I leave you to suppose, therefore, whether this house of Boulogne was -great; yes, so great that I once heard Pope Pius IV. say, sitting at -table at a dinner he gave after his election to the Cardinals of Ferrara -and Guise, his creations, that the house of Boulogne was so great and -noble he knew none in France, whatever it was, that could surpass it in -antiquity, valour, and grandeur. - -All this is much against those malicious detractors who have said that -this queen was a Florentine of low birth. Moreover, she was not so poor -but what she brought to France in marriage estates which are worth -to-day twenty-six thousand _livres_,--such as the counties of Auvergne -and Lauragais, the seigneuries of Leverons, Donzenac, Boussac, Gorrges, -Hondecourt and other lands,--all an inheritance from her mother. Besides -which, her dowry was of more than two hundred thousand ducats, which are -worth to-day over four hundred thousand; with great quantities of -furniture, precious stones, jewels, and other riches, such as the finest -and largest pearls ever seen in so great a number, which she afterwards -gave to her daughter-in-law, the Queen of Scotland [Mary Stuart], whom I -have seen wearing them. - -Besides all this, many estates, houses, deeds, and claims in Italy. - -But more than all else, through her marriage the affairs of France, -which had been so shaken by the imprisonment of the king and his losses -at Milan and Naples, began to get firmer. King Franois was very willing -to say that the marriage had served his interests. Therefore there was -given to this queen for her device a rainbow, which she bore as long as -she was married, with these words in Greek [Greek: phs pherei de -galnn]. Which is the same as saying that just as this fire and bow in -the sky brings and signifies good weather after rain, so this queen was -a true sign of clearness, serenity, and the tranquillity of peace. The -Greek is thus translated: _Lucem fert et serenitatem_--"She brings light -and serenity." - -After that, the emperor [Charles V.] dared push no longer his ambitious -motto: "Ever farther." For, although there was truce between himself and -King Franois, he was nursing his ambition with the design of gaining -always from France whatever he could; and he was much astonished at this -alliance with the pope [Clement VII.], regarding the latter as able, -courageous, and vindictive for his imprisonment by the imperial forces -at the sack of Rome [1527]. Such a marriage displeased him so much that -I have heard a truthful lady of the Court say that if he had not been -married to the empress, he would have seized an alliance with the pope -himself and espoused his niece [Catherine de' Medici], as much for the -support of so strong a party as because he feared the pope would assist -in making him lose Naples, Milan, and Genoa; for the pope had promised -King Franois, in an authentic document, when he delivered to him the -money of his niece's dowry and her rings and jewels, to make the dowry -worthy of such a marriage by the addition of three pearls of inestimable -value, of the excessive splendour of which all the greatest kings were -envious and covetous; the which were Naples, Milan, and Genoa. And it is -not to be doubted that if the said pope had lived out his natural life -he would have sold the emperor well, and made him pay dear for that -imprisonment, in order to aggrandize his niece and the kingdom to which -she was joined. But Clement VII. died young, and all this profit came to -nought. - -So now our queen, having lost her mother, Magdelaine de Boulogne, and -Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, her father, in early life, was -married by her good uncle the pope to France, whither she was brought by -sea to Marseille in great triumph; and her wedding was pompously -performed, at the age of fourteen. She made herself so beloved by the -king, her father-in-law, and by King Henri, her husband [not king till -the death of Franois I.], that on remaining ten years without producing -issue, and many persons endeavouring to persuade the king and the -dauphin, her husband, to repudiate her because there was such need of an -heir to France, neither the one nor the other would consent because they -loved her so much. But after ten years, in accordance with the natural -habit of the women of the race of Medici, who are tardy in conceiving, -she began by producing the Little King Franois II. After that, was born -the Queen of Spain, and then, consecutively, that fine and illustrious -progeny whom we have all seen, and also others no sooner born than dead, -by great misfortune and fatality. All this caused the king, her husband, -to love her more and more, and in such a way that he, who was of an -amorous temperament, and greatly liked to make love and to change his -loves, said often that of all the women in the world there was none like -his wife for that, and he did not know her equal. He had reason to say -so, for she was truly a beautiful and most amiable princess. - -She was of rich and very fine presence; of great majesty, but very -gentle when need was; of noble appearance and good grace, her face -handsome and agreeable, her bosom very beautiful, white and full; her -body also very white, the flesh beautiful, the skin smooth, as I have -heard from several of her ladies; of a fine plumpness also, the leg and -thigh very beautiful (as I have heard, too, from the same ladies); and -she took great pleasure in being well shod and in having her stockings -well and tightly drawn up. - -Besides all this, the most beautiful hand that was ever seen, as I -believe. Once upon a time the poets praised Aurora for her fine hands -and beautiful fingers; but I think our queen would efface her in that, -and she guarded and maintained that beauty all her life. The king, her -son, Henri III., inherited much of this beauty of the hand. - -She always clothed herself well and superbly, often with some pretty and -new invention. In short, she had many charms in herself to make her -beloved. I remember that one day at Lyons she went to see a painter -named Corneille, who had painted in a large room all the great -seigneurs, princes, cavaliers, queens, princesses, ladies of the Court, -and damoiselles. Being in the said room of these portraits we saw there -our queen, painted very well in all her beauty and perfection, -apparelled _ la Franaise_ in a cap and her great pearls, and a gown -with wide sleeves of silver tissue furred with lynx,--the whole so well -represented to the life that only speech was lacking; her three fine -daughters were beside her. She took great pleasure at the sight, and all -the company there present did the same, praising and admiring her -beauty above all. She herself was so ravished by the contemplation that -she could not take her eyes from the picture until M. de Nemours came to -her and said: "Madame, I think you are there so well portrayed that -nothing more can be said; and it seems to me that your daughters do you -proper honour, for they do not go before you or surpass you." To this -she answered: "My cousin, I think you can remember the time, the age, -and the dress of this picture; so that you can judge better than any of -this company, for you saw me like that, whether I was estimated such as -you say, and whether I ever was as I there appear." There was not one in -the company that did not praise and estimate that beauty highly, and say -that the mother was worthy of the daughters, and the daughters of the -mother. And such beauty lasted her, married and widowed, almost to her -death; not that she was as fresh as in her more blooming years, but -always well preserved, very desirable and agreeable. - -For the rest, she was very good company and of gay humour; loving all -honourable exercises, such as dancing, in which she had great grace and -majesty. - -She also loved hunting; about which I heard a lady of the Court tell -this tale: King Franois, having chosen and made a company which was -called "the little band of the Court ladies," the handsomest, daintiest, -and most favoured, often escaped from the Court and went to other houses -to hunt the stag and pass his time, sometimes staying thus withdrawn -eight days, ten days, sometimes more and sometimes less, as the humour -took him. Our queen (who was then only Mme. la dauphine) seeing such -parties made without her, and that even Mesdames her sisters-in-law were -there while she stayed at home, made prayer to the king, to take her -always with him, and to do her the honour to permit that she should -never budge without him. - -[Illustration: _Henri II_] - -It was said that she, being very shrewd and clever, did this as much or -more to see the king's actions and get his secrets and hear and know all -things, as from liking for the hunt. - -King Franois was pleased with this request, for it showed the good-will -that she had for his company; and he granted it heartily; so that -besides loving her naturally he now loved her more, and delighted in -giving her pleasure in the hunt, at which she never left his side, but -followed him at full speed. She was very good on horseback and bold; -sitting with ease, and being the first to put the leg around a pommel; -which was far more graceful and becoming than sitting with the feet upon -a plank. Till she was sixty years of age and over she liked to ride on -horseback, and after her weakness prevented her she pined for it. It was -one of her greatest pleasures to ride far and fast, though she fell many -times with damage to her body, breaking her leg once, and wounding her -head, which had to be trepanned. After she was widowed and had charge of -the king and the kingdom, she took the king always with her, and her -other children; but while her husband, King Henri, lived, she usually -went with him to the meet of the stag and the other hunts. - -If he played at pall-mall she watched him play, and played herself. She -was very fond of shooting with a cross-bow _ jalet_ [ball of stone], -and she shot right well; so that always when she went to ride her -cross-bow was taken with her, and if she saw any game, she shot it. - -She was ever inventing some new dance or beautiful ballet when the -weather was bad. Also she invented games and passed her time with one -and another intimately; but always appearing very grave and austere when -necessary. - -She was fond of seeing comedies and tragedies; but after "Sophonisbe," -a tragedy composed by M. de Saint-Glais, was very well represented by -her daughters and other ladies and damoiselles and gentlemen of her -Court, at Blois for the marriages of M. du Cypire and the Marquis -d'Elboeuf, she took an opinion that it was harmful to the affairs of -the kingdom, and would never have tragedies played again. But she -listened readily to comedies and tragi-comedies, and even those of -"Zani" and "Pantaloon," taking great pleasure in them, and laughing with -all her heart like any other; for she liked laughter, and her natural -self was jovial, loving a witty word and ready with it, knowing well -when to cast her speech and her stone, and when to withhold them. - -She passed her time in the afternoons at work on her silk embroideries, -in which she was as perfect as possible. In short, this queen liked and -gave herself up to all honourable exercises; and there was not one that -was worthy of herself and her sex that she did not wish to know and -practise. - -There is what I can say, speaking briefly and avoiding prolixity, about -the beauty of her body and her occupations. - -When she called any one "my friend" it was either that she thought him a -fool, or she was angry with him. This was so well known that she had a -serving gentleman named M. de Bois-Fevrier, who made reply when she -called him "my friend": "Ha! madame, I would rather you called me your -enemy; for to call me your friend is as good as saying I am a fool, or -that you are in anger against me; for I know your nature this long -time." - -As for her mind, it was very great and very admirable, as was shown in -so many fine and signal acts by which her life has been made illustrious -forever. The king, her husband, and his council esteemed her so much -that when the king went his journey to Germany, out of his kingdom, he -established and ordered her as regent and governor throughout his -dominions during his absence, by a declaration solemnly made before a -full parliament in Paris. And in this office she behaved so wisely that -there was no disturbance, change, or alteration in the State by reason -of the king's absence; but, on the contrary, she looked so carefully to -business that she assisted the king with money, means, and men, and -other kinds of succour; which helped him much for his return, and even -for the conquest which he made of cities in the duchy of Luxembourg, -such as Yvoy, Montmedy, Dampvilliers, Chimay, and others. - -I leave you to think how he who wrote that fine life I spoke of -detracted from her in saying that never did the king, her husband, allow -her to put her nose into matters of State. Was not making her regent in -his absence giving her ample occasion to have full knowledge of them? -And it was thus she did during all the journeys that he made yearly in -going to his armies. - -What did she after the battle of Saint-Laurens, when the State was -shaken and the king had gone to Compigne to raise a new army? She so -espoused affairs that she roused and excited the gentlemen of Paris to -give prompt succour to their king, which came most apropos, both in -money and in other things very necessary in war. - -Also, when the king was wounded, those who were of that time and saw it -cannot be ignorant of the great care she took for his cure: the watches -she made beside him without ever sleeping; the prayers with which, time -after time, she importuned God; the processions and visitation of -churches which she made; and the posts which she sent about everywhere -inquiring for doctors and surgeons. But his hour had come; and when he -passed from this world into the other, she made such lamentations and -shed such tears that never did she stanch them; and in memory of him, -whenever he was spoken of as long as she lived, they gushed from the -depths of her eyes; so that she took a device proper and suitable to her -tears and her mourning, namely: a mound of quicklime, on which the drops -of heaven fell abundantly, with these words writ in Latin: _Adorem -extincta testantur vivere flamma_; the drops of water, like her tears, -showing ardour, though the flame was extinct. This device takes its -allegory from the nature of quicklime, which, being watered, burns -strangely and shows its fire though flame is not there. Thus did our -queen show her ardour and her affection by her tears, though flame, -which was her husband, was now extinct; and this was as much as to say -that, dead as he was, she made it appear by her tears that she could -never forget him, but should love him always. - -A like device was borne in former days by Madame Valentine de Milan, -Duchesse d'Orlans, after the death of her husband, killed in Paris, for -which she had such great regret that for all comfort and solace in her -moaning, she took a watering-pot for her device, on the top of which was -an S, in sign, so they say, of _seule_, _souvenir_, _soucis_, -_soupirer_, and around the said watering-pot were written these words: -_Rien ne m'est plus; plus ne m'est rien_--"Nought is more to me; more is -to me nothing." This device can still be seen in her chapel in the -church of the Franciscans at Blois. - -The good King Ren of Sicily, having lost his wife Isabel, Duchesse de -Lorraine, suffered such great grief that never did he truly rejoice -again; and when his intimate friends and favourites urged him to -consolation he led them to his cabinet and showed them, painted by his -own hand (for he was an excellent painter), a Turkish bow with its -string unstrung, beneath which was written: _Arco per lentare piaga non -sana_--"The bow although unstrung heals not the wound." Then he said to -them: "My friends, with this picture I answer all your reasons: by -unstringing a bow or breaking its string, the harm thus done by the -arrow may quickly be mended, but, the life of my dear spouse being by -death extinct and broken, the wound of the loyal love--the which, her -living, filled my heart--cannot be cured." And in various places in -Angers we see these Turkish bows with broken strings and beneath them -the same words, _Arco per lentare piaga non sana_; even at the -Franciscan church, in the chapel of Saint-Bernardin which he caused to -be decorated. This device he took after the death of his wife; for in -her lifetime he bore another. - -Our queen, around her device which I have told of, placed many trophies: -broken mirrors and fans, crushed plumes, and pearls, jewels scattered to -earth, and chains in pieces; the whole in sign of quitting worldly pomp, -her husband being dead, for whom her mourning never was remitted. And, -without the grace of God and the fortitude with which he had endowed -her, she would surely have succumbed to such great sadness and distress. -Besides, she saw that her young children and France had need of her, as -we have since seen by experience; for, like a Semiramis, or second -Athalie, she foiled, saved, guarded, and preserved her said young -children from many enterprises planned against them in their early -years; and this with so much industry and prudence that everybody -thought her wonderful. She, being regent of the kingdom after the death -of her son King Franois during the minority of our king by the ordering -of the Estates of Orlans, imposed her will upon the King of Navarre, -who, as premier prince of the blood, wished to be regent in her place -and govern all things; but she gained so well and so dexterously the -said Estates that if the said King of Navarre had not gone elsewhere she -would have caused him to be attainted of the crime of lse-majest. And -possibly she would still have done so for the actions which, it was -said, he made the Prince de Cond do about those Estates, but for Mme. -de Montpensier, who governed her much. So the said king was forced to -content himself to be under her. Now there is one of the shrewd and -subtle deeds she did in her beginning. - -Afterwards she knew how to maintain her rank and authority so -imperiously that no one dared gainsay it, however grand and disturbing -he was, for a period of three months when, the Court being at -Fontainebleau, the said King of Navarre, wishing to show his feelings, -took offence because M. de Guise ordered the keys of the king's house -brought to him every evening, and kept them all night in his room like a -grand-master (for that is one of his offices), so that no one could go -out without his permission. This angered the King of Navarre, who wished -to keep the keys himself; but, being refused, he grew spiteful and -mutinied in such a way that one morning suddenly he came to take leave -of the king and queen, intending to depart from the Court, taking with -him all the princes of the blood whom he had won over, together with M. -le Conntable de Montmorency and his children and nephew. - -The queen, who did not in any way expect this step, was at first much -astonished, and tried all she could to ward off the blow, giving good -hope to the King of Navarre that if he were patient he would some day be -satisfied. But fine words gained her nothing with the said king, who was -set on departing. Whereupon the queen bethought her of this subtle -point: she sent and gave commandment to M. le conntable, as the -principal, first, and oldest officer of the crown, to stay near the -king, his master, as his duty and office demanded, and not to leave him. -M. le conntable, wise and judicious as he was, being very zealous for -his master and careful of his grandeur and honour, after reflecting on -his duty and the command sent to him, went to see the king and present -himself as ready to fulfil his office; which greatly astonished the King -of Navarre, who was on the point of mounting his horse expecting M. le -conntable, who came instead to represent his duty and office and to -persuade him not to budge himself nor to depart; and did this so well -that the King of Navarre went to see the king and queen at the -instigation of the conntable, and having conferred with their -Majesties, his journey was given up and his mules were countermanded, -they having then arrived at Melun. So all was pacified to the great -content of the King of Navarre. Not that M. de Guise diminished in any -way his office, or yielded one atom of his honour, for he kept his -pre-eminence and all that belonged to him, without being shaken in the -least, although he was not the stronger; but he was a man of the world -in such things, who was never bewildered, but knew very well how to -brave all and hold his rank and keep what he had. - -It is not to be doubted, as all the world knows, that, if the queen had -not bethought her of this ruse regarding M. le conntable, all that -party would have gone to Paris and stirred up things to our injury; for -which reason great praise should be given to the queen for this shift. I -know, for I was there, that many persons said it was not of her -invention, but that of Cardinal de Tournon, a wise and judicious -prelate; but that is false, for, old stager though he was, i' faith the -queen knew more of wiles than he, or all the council of the king -together; for very often, when he was at fault, she would help him and -put him on the traces of what he ought to know, of which I might produce -a number of examples; but it will be enough to give this instance, which -is fresh, and which she herself did me the honour to disclose to me. It -is as follows:-- - -When she went to Guyenne, and lately to Coignac, to reconcile the -princes of the Religion and those of the League, and so put the kingdom -in peace, for she saw it would soon be ruined by such divisions, she -determined to proclaim a truce in order to treat of this peace; at which -the King of Navarre and the Prince de Cond were very discontent and -mutinous,--all the more, they said, because this proclamation did them -great harm on account of their foreigners, who, having heard of it, -might repent of their coming, or delay it; and they accused the said -queen of having made it with that intention. So they said and resolved -not to see the queen, and not to treat with her unless the said truce -were rescinded. Now finding her council, whom she had with her, though -composed of good heads, very ridiculous and little to be honoured -because they thought it impossible to find means to rescind the said -truce, the queen said to them: "Truly, you are very stupid as to the -remedy. Know you not better? There is but one means for that. You have -at Maillezais the regiment of Neufvy and de Sorlu, Huguenots; send me -from here, from Niort, all the arquebusiers that you can, and cut them -to pieces, and there you have the truce rescinded and undone without -further trouble." As she commanded so it was executed; the arquebusiers -started, led by the Capitaine l'Estelle, and forced their fort and their -barricades so well that there they were quite defeated, Sorlu killed, -who was a valiant man, Neufvy taken prisoner with many others, and all -their banners captured and brought to Niort to the queen; who, using her -accustomed turn of clemency, pardoned all and sent them away with their -ensigns and even with their flags, which, as regards the flags, is a -very rare thing. But she chose to do this stroke, rare or not, so she -told me, to the princes; who now knew they had to do with a very able -princess, and that it was not to her they should address such mockery as -to make her rescind a truce by the very heralds who had proclaimed it; -for while they were thinking to make her receive that insult, she had -fallen upon them, and now sent them word by the prisoners that it was -not for them to affront her by asking unseemly and unreasonable things, -because it was in her power to do them both good and evil. - -That is how this queen knew how to give and teach a lesson to her -council. I might tell of many such things, but I have now to treat of -other points: the first of which must be to answer those whom I have -often heard say that she was the first to rouse to arms, and so was -cause of our civil wars. Whoso will look to the source of the matter -will not believe that; for the triumvirate having been created, she, -seeing the proceedings which were preparing and the change made by the -King of Navarre,--who from being formerly Huguenot and very reformed had -made himself Catholic,--and knowing that through that change she had -reason to fear for the king, the kingdom, and her own person that he -would move against them, reflected and puzzled her mind to discover to -what such proceedings, meetings, and colloquies held in secret tended. -Not being able, as they say, to come at the bottom of the pot, she -bethought her one day, when the secret council was in session in the -room of the King of Navarre, to go into the room above his, and by means -of a tube which she had caused to be slipped surreptitiously under the -tapestry she listened unperceived to their discourse. Among other things -she heard one thing that was very terrible and bitter to her. The -Marchal de Saint-Andr, one of the triumvirate, gave it as his opinion -that the queen should be put in a sack and flung into the river, for -that otherwise they could never succeed in their plans. But the late M. -de Guise, who was very good and generous, said that must not be; for it -were too unjust to make the wife and mother of our kings perish thus -miserably, and he opposed it all. For this the said queen has always -loved him, and proved it to his children after his death by giving them -his estates. - -I leave you to suppose what this sentence was to the queen, having heard -it thus with her own ears, and whether she had no occasion for fear, -although she was thus defended by M. de Guise. From what I have heard -tell by one of her most intimate ladies, she feared they would strike -the blow without the knowledge of M. de Guise, as indeed she had reason -to do; for in deeds so detestable an upright man should always be -distrusted, and the act not communicated to him. She was thus compelled -to consider her safety, and employ those she saw already under arms [the -Prince de Cond and other Protestant leaders], begging them to have pity -for a mother and her children. - -That is the whole cause, just as it was, of the civil war. She would -never go to Orlans with the others, nor give them the king and her -children, as she could have done; and she was very glad that in the -hurly-burly of arms she and the king her son and her other children were -in safety, as was reasonable. Moreover, she requested and held the -promise of the others that whenever she should summon them to lay down -their arms they would do so; which, nevertheless, they would not do when -the time came, no matter what appeals she made to them, and what pains -she took, and the great heat she endured at Talsy, to induce them to -listen to the peace she could have made good and secured for all France -had they then listened to her; and this great fire and others we have -since seen lighted from this first brand would have been forever -extinguished in France if they would then have trusted her. I know what -I myself have heard her say, with the tears in her eyes, and with what -zeal she endeavoured to do it. - -This is why they cannot charge her with the first spark of the civil -war, nor yet with the second, which was the day of Meaux; for at that -time she was thinking only of a hunt, and of giving pleasure to the king -in her beautiful house at Monceaux. The warning came that M. le Prince -and others of the Religion were in arms and advancing to surprise and -seize the king under colour of presenting a request. God knows who was -the cause of this new disturbance, and without the six thousand Swiss -then lately raised, who knows what might have happened? This levy of -Swiss was only the pretext of their taking up arms, and of saying and -publishing that it was done to force them to war. In fact it was they, -themselves, as I know from being at Court, who requested that levy of -the king and queen, on the passage of the Duke of Alba and his army, -fearing that under colour of reaching Flanders he might descend upon the -frontiers of France; and they urged that it was the custom to arm the -frontiers whenever a neighbouring State was arming. No one can be -ignorant how urgent for this they were to the king and queen by letters -and embassies,--even M. le Prince himself and M. l'amiral [Coligny] -coming to see the king on this subject at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where I -saw them. - -I would also like to ask (for all that I write here I saw myself) who it -was who took up arms on Shrove Tuesday, and who suborned and solicited -Monsieur the king's brother, and the King of Navarre, to give ear to the -enterprises for which Mole and Coconas were executed in Paris. It was -not the queen, for it was by her prudence that she prevented them from -uprising,--by keeping Monsieur and the King of Navarre so locked in to -the forest of Vincennes that they could not set out; and on the death of -King Charles she held them so tightly in Paris and the Louvre, barring -their windows one morning,--at any rate those of the King of Navarre, -who was lodged on the lower floor (the King of Navarre, told me this -himself with tears in his eyes),--that they could not escape as they -intended, which would greatly have embroiled the State and prevented the -return of Poland to the King, which was what they were after. I know all -this from having been invited to the _fricasse_, which was one of the -finest strokes ever made by the queen. Starting from Paris she conducted -them to Lyons to meet the king so dexterously that no one who saw them -would ever have supposed them prisoners; they went in the same coach -with her, and she presented them herself to the king, who, on his side, -pardoned them soon after. - -Also, who was it that enticed Monsieur the king's brother to leave Paris -one fine night and the company of his brother who loved him well, and -whose affection he cast off to go and take up arms and embroil all -France? M. de La Noue knows well, and also the secret plots that began -at the siege of Rochelle, and what I said to him about them. It was not -the queen-mother, for she felt such grief at seeing one brother banded -against another brother and his king, that she swore she would die of -it, or else replace and reunite them as before--which she did; for I -heard her say at Blois, in conversation with Monsieur, that she prayed -for nothing so much as that God would grant her the favour of that -reunion, after which he might send her death and she would accept it -with all her heart; or else she would gladly retire to her houses of -Monceaux and Chenonceaux, and never mix further in the affairs of -France, wishing to end her days in tranquillity. In fact, she truly -wished to do the latter; but the king implored her to abstain, for he -and his kingdom had great need of her. I am assured that if she had not -made this peace at that time, all was over with France, for there were -in the country fifty thousand foreigners, from one region or another, -who would have aided in humbling and destroying her. - -It was, therefore, not the queen who called to arms at this time to -satisfy the State-Assembly at Blois, the which, wanting but one religion -and proposing to abolish that which was contrary to their own, demanded, -if the spiritual blade did not suffice to abolish it, that recourse -should be had to the temporal. Some have said that the queen had bribed -them; that is false. I do not say that she did not bribe them later, -which was a fine stroke of policy and intelligence; but it was not she -who called together the said Assembly; so far from that, she blamed them -for all, and also because they lessened greatly the king's authority and -her own. It was the party of the Religion which had long demanded that -Assembly, and required by the terms of the last peace that it should be -called together and assembled; to which the queen objected strongly, -foreseeing abuses. However, to content them because they clamoured for -it so much, they had it, to their own confusion and damage, and not to -their profit and contentment as they expected, so that finally they took -up arms. Thus it was still not the queen who did so. - -Neither was it she who caused them to be taken up when Mont-de-Marsan, -La Fre in Picardy, and Cahors were taken. I remember what the king said -to M. de Miossans, who came to him on behalf of the King of Navarre; he -rebuffed him harshly, and told him that while those princes were cloying -him with fine words they were calling to arms and taking cities. - -Now that is how this queen was the instigator of all our wars and civil -fires, the which, while she never lighted them, she spent her pains and -labour in striving to extinguish, abhorring to see so many of the nobles -and men of honour die. And without that, and without her commiseration, -they who have hated her with mortal hatred would have been ill-off, and -their party underground and not flourishing as it now is; which must be -imputed to her kindness, of which we now have sore need, for, as every -one says and the poor people cry, "We have no longer the queen-mother to -make peace for us." It was not her fault that peace was not made when -she went to Guyenne lately to treat of it with the King of Navarre and -the Prince de Cond. - -They have tried to accuse her also of being an accomplice in the wars of -the League. Why, then, should she have brought about the peace of which -I speak if she were that? Why should she have pacified the riot of the -barricades in Paris? Why should she have reconciled the king and the Duc -de Guise only to destroy the latter and kill him? - -Well, let them launch into such foul abuse against her all they will, -never shall we have another queen in France so good for peace. - -They have accused her of that massacre in Paris [the Saint-Bartholomew]; -all that is a sealed book to me, for at that time I was preparing to -embark at Brouage; but I have often heard it said that she was not the -chief actress in it. There were three or four others, whom I might name, -who were more ardent in it than she and pushed her on, making her -believe, from the threats uttered on the wounding of M. l'amiral, that -the king was to be killed, and she with all her children and the whole -Court, or else that the country would be in arms much worse than ever. -Certainly the party of Religion did very wrong to make the threats it is -said they made; for they brought on the fate of poor M. l'amiral, and -procured his death. If they had kept themselves quiet, said no word, and -let M. l'amiral's wound heal, he could have left Paris at his ease, and -nothing further would have come of it. M. de La Noue was of that -opinion. He and M. Strozzi and I have often spoken of it, he not -approving of such bravados, audacities, and threats as were made at the -very Court of the king in his city of Paris; and he greatly blamed M. de -Theligny, his brother-in-law, who was one of the hottest, calling him -and his companions perfect fools and most incapable. M. l'amiral never -used such language as I have heard from others, at least not aloud. I do -not say that in secret and private with his intimate friends he never -spoke it. That was the cause of the death of M. l'amiral and the -massacres of his people, and not the queen; as I have heard say by those -who know well, although there are many from whose heads you could never -oust the opinion that this train was long laid and the plot long in -hatching. It is all false. The least passionate think as I have said; -the more passionate and obstinate believe the other way; and very often -we give credit for the ordering of events to kings and great princes, -and say after those events have happened how prudent and provident they -were, and how well they knew how to dissimulate, when all the while they -knew no more about them than a plum. - -To return again to our queen; her enemies have put it about that she was -not a good Frenchwoman. God knows with what ardour I saw her urge that -the English might be driven from France at Havre de Grce, and what she -said of it to M. le Prince, and how she made him go with many gentlemen -of his party, and the crown-companies of M. d'Andelot, and other -Huguenots, and how she herself led the army, mounted usually on a horse, -like a second beautiful Queen Marfisa, exposing herself to the -arquebusades and the cannonades as if she were one of her captains, -looking to the making of the batteries, and saying she should never be -at ease until she had taken that town and driven the English out of -France; hating worse than poison those who had sold it to them. And -thus she did so much that finally she made the country French. - -When Rouen was besieged, I saw her in the greatest anger when she beheld -supplies entering the town by means of a French galley captured the year -before, she fearing that the place, failing to be taken by us, would -come under the dominion of the English. For this reason she pushed hard -at the wheel, as they say, to take it, and never failed every day to -come to the fort Sainte-Catherine to hold council and see the firing. I -have often seen her passing along the covered way of Sainte-Catherine, -the cannonades and arquebusades raining round her, and she caring -nothing for them. - -Those who were there saw her as I did; there are still many ladies, her -maids of honour who accompanied her, to whom the firing was not too -pleasant; I knew this for I saw them there; but when M. le conntable -and M. de Guise remonstrated with her, telling her some misfortune would -come of it, she only laughed and said: Why should she spare herself more -than they, inasmuch as she had as good courage as they had, though not -their strength, which her sex denied her? As for fatigue, she endured -that well, whether on foot or on horseback. I think that for long there -had never been a queen or a princess better on horseback, sitting with -such grace,--not appearing, for all that, like a masculine dame, in form -and style a fantastic amazon, but a comely princess, beautiful, -agreeable, and gentle. - -They said of her that she was very Spanish. Certainly as long as her -good daughter lived [lisabeth, wife of Philip II.] she loved Spain; but -after her daughter died we knew, at least some of us, whether she had -reason to love it, either country or nation. True it is that she was -always so prudent that she chose to treat the King of Spain as her good -son-in-law, in order that he in turn should treat better her good and -beautiful daughter, as is the custom of good mothers; so that he never -came to trouble France, nor to bring war there, according to his brave -heart and natural ambition. - -Others have also said that she did not like the nobility of France and -desired much to shed its blood. I refer for that to the many times that -she made peace and spared that blood; besides which, attention should be -paid to this, namely: that while she was regent, and her children -minors, there were not known at Court so many quarrels and combats as we -have seen there since; she would not allow them, and forbade expressly -all duelling and punished those who transgressed that order. I have seen -her at Court, when the king went away to stay some days and she was left -absolute and alone, at a time when quarrels had begun again and were -becoming common, also duelling, which she never would permit,--I have -known her, I say, give a sudden order to the captain of the guards to -make arrests, and to the marshals and captains to pacify the quarrel; so -that, to tell the truth, she was more feared than the king; for she knew -how to talk to the disobedient and the dissolute, and rebuke them -terribly. - -I remember that once, the king having gone to the baths of Bourbon, my -late cousin La Chastaignerie had a quarrel with Pardailhan. She had him -searched for, in order to forbid him, on his life, to fight a duel; but -not being able to find him for two whole days, she had him tracked so -well that on a Sunday morning, he being on the island of Louviers -awaiting his enemy, the grand provost arrived to arrest him, and took -him prisoner to the Bastille by order of the queen. But he stayed there -only one night; for she sent for him and gave him a reprimand, partly -sharp and partly gentle, because she was really kind, and was harsh only -when she chose to be. I know very well what she said to me also when I -was for seconding my said cousin, namely: that as the older I ought to -have been the wiser. - -The year that the king returned to Poland a quarrel arose between -Messieurs de Grillon and d'Entraigues, two brave and valiant gentlemen, -who being called out and ready to fight, the king forbade them through -M. de Rambouillet, one of his captains of the guard then in quarters, -and he ordered M. de Nevers and the Marchal de Retz to make up the -quarrel, which they failed in doing. That evening the queen sent for -them both into her room; and as their quarrel was about two great ladies -of her household, she commanded them with great sternness, and then -besought them both in all gentleness, to leave to her the settlement of -their differences; inasmuch as, having done them the honour to meddle in -it, and the princes, marshals, and captains having failed in making them -agree, it was now a point of honour with her to have the glory of doing -so: by which she made them friends, and they embraced without other -forms, taking all from her; so that by her prudence the subject of the -quarrel, which was delicate, and rather touched the honour of the two -ladies, was never known publicly. That was the true kindness of a -princess! And then to say she did not like the nobility! Ha! the truth -was, she noticed and esteemed it too much. I think there was not a great -family in the kingdom with whom she was not acquainted; she used to say -she had learned from King Franois the genealogies of the great families -of his kingdom; and as for the king, her husband, he had this faculty, -that when he had once seen a nobleman he knew him always, in face, in -deeds, and in reputation. - -I have seen the queen, often and ordinarily, while the king, her son, -was a minor, take the trouble to present to him herself the gentlemen -of his kingdom, and put them in his memory thus: "Such a one did service -to the king your grandfather, at such and such times and places; and -this one served your father;" and so on,--commanding him to remember all -this, and to love them and do well by them, and recognize them at other -times; which he knew very well how to do, for, through such instruction, -this king recognized readily all men of character and race and honour -throughout his kingdom. - -Detractors have also said that she did not like her people. What -appears? Were there ever so many tailles, subsidies, imposts, and other -taxes while she was governing during the minority of her children as -have since been drawn in a single year? Was it proved that she had all -that hidden money in the banks of Italy, as people said? Far from that, -it was found after her death that she had not a single sou; and, as I -have heard some of her financiers and some of her ladies say, she was -indebted eight thousand crowns, the wages of her ladies, gentlemen, and -household officers, due a year, and the revenue of the whole year spent; -so that some months before her death her financiers showed her these -necessities; but she laughed and said one must praise God for all and -find something to live on. That was her avarice and the great treasure -she amassed, as people said! She never amassed anything, for she had a -heart wholly noble, liberal, and magnificent, like her great uncle, Pope -Leo, and that magnificent Lorenzo de' Medici. She spent or gave away -everything; erecting buildings, spending in honourable magnificences, -and taking pleasure in giving recreations to her people and her Court, -such as festivals, balls, dances, tournaments and spearing the ring -[_couremens de bague_], of which latter she held three that were very -superb during her lifetime: one at Fontainebleau on the Shrove Tuesday -after the first troubles; where there were tourneys and breaking of -lances and combats at the barrier,--in short, all sorts of feats of -arms, with a comedy on the subject of the beautiful Genevra of Ariosto, -which she caused to be represented by Mme. d'Angoulme and her most -beautiful and virtuous princesses and the ladies and damoiselles of her -Court, who certainly played it very well, and so that nothing finer was -ever seen. The second was at Bayonne, at the interview between the queen -and her good daughter lisabeth, Queen of Spain, where the magnificence -was such in all things that the Spanish, who are very disdainful of -other countries than their own, swore they had never seen anything -finer, and that their own king could not approach it; and thus they -returned to Spain much edified. - -I know that many in France blamed this expense as being superfluous; but -the queen said that she did it to show foreigners that France was not so -totally ruined and poverty-stricken because of the late wars as they -thought; and that if for such tourneys she was able to spend so much, -for matters of importance she could surely do better, and that France -was all the more feared and esteemed, whether through the sight of such -wealth and richness, or through that of the prowess of her gentlemen, so -brave and adroit at arms; as indeed there were many there very good to -see and worthy to be admired. Moreover, it was very reasonable that for -the greatest queen of Christendom, the most beautiful, the most -virtuous, and the best, some great solemn festival above all others -should be held. And I can assure you that if this had not been done, the -foreigners would have mocked us and gone back to Spain thinking and -holding us all in France to be beggars. - -Therefore it was not without good and careful consideration that this -wise and judicious queen made this outlay. She made another very fine -one on the arrival of the Poles in Paris, whom she feasted most superbly -in her Tuileries; after which, in a great hall built on purpose and -surrounded by an infinite number of torches, she showed them the finest -ballet that was ever seen on earth (I may indeed say so); the which was -composed of sixteen of her best-taught ladies and damoiselles, who -appeared in a great rock [_roc_, grotto?] all silvered, where they were -seated in niches, like vapours around it. These sixteen ladies -represented the sixteen provinces of France, with the most melodious -music ever heard; and after having made, in this rock, the tour of the -hall, like a parade in camp, and letting themselves be seen of every -one, they descended from the rock and formed themselves into a little -battalion, fantastically imagined, with violins to the number of thirty -sounding a warlike air extremely pleasant; and thus they marched to the -air of the violins, with a fine cadence they never lost, and so -approached, and stopped before their Majesties. After which they danced -their ballet, most fantastically invented, with so many turns, -counterturns, and gyrations, such twining and blending, such advancing -and pausing (though no lady failed to find her place and rank), that all -present were astonished to see how in such a maze order was not lost for -a moment, and that all these ladies had their judgment clear and held it -good, so well were they taught! This fantastic ballet lasted at least -one hour, the which being concluded, all these sixteen ladies, -representing, as I have said, the sixteen provinces, advanced to the -king, the queen, the King of Poland, Monsieur his brother, the King and -Queen of Navarre, and other grandees of France and Poland, presenting to -each a golden salver as large as the palm of the hand, finely enamelled -and beautifully chased, on which were engraved the fruits and products -of each province in which they were most fertile, such as citrons and -oranges in Provence, cereals in Champagne, wines in Burgundy, and in -Guyenne warriors,--great honour that for Guyenne certainly! And so on, -through the other provinces. - -At Bayonne the like presents were made, and a combat fought, which I -could represent very well, with the presents and the names of those who -received them, but it would be too long. At Bayonne it was the men who -gave to the ladies; here, it was the ladies giving to the men. Take note -that all these inventions came from no other devising and brain than -that of the queen; for she was mistress and inventress of everything; -she had such faculty that whatever magnificences were done at Court, -hers surpassed all others. For which reason they used to say there was -no one like the queen-mother for doing fine things. If such outlays were -costly, they gave great pleasure; and people often said she wished to -imitate the Roman emperors, who studied to exhibit games to their people -and give them pleasures, and so amuse them as not to leave them leisure -to do harm. - -Besides the pleasure she took in giving pleasure to her people, she also -gave them much to earn; for she liked all sorts of artisans and paid -them well; employing them each in his own art, so that they never wanted -for work, especially masons and builders, as is shown by her beautiful -houses: the Tuileries (still unfinished), Saint-Maur, Monceaux, and -Chenonceaux. Also she liked learned men, and was pleased to read, and -she made others read, the books they presented to her, or those that she -knew they had written. All were acceptable, even to the fine invectives -which were published against her, about which she scoffed and laughed, -without anger, calling those who wrote them gabblers and "givers of -trash"--that was her use of the word. - -She wished to know everything. On the voyage to Lorraine, during the -second troubles, the Huguenots had with them a fine culverin to which -they gave the name of "the queen-mother." They were forced to bury it at -Villenozze, not being able to drag it on account of its long shafts and -bad harness and weight; after which it never could be found again. The -queen, hearing that they had given it her name, wanted to know why. A -certain person, having been much urged by her to tell her, replied: -"Because, madame, it has a calibre [diameter] broader and bigger than -that of others." The queen was the first to laugh at this reply. - -She spared no pains in reading anything that took her fancy. I saw her -once, having embarked at Blaye to go and dine at Bourg, reading the -whole way from a parchment, like any lawyer or notary, a procs-verbal -made on Derbois, favourite secretary of the late M. le conntable, as to -certain underhand dealings and correspondence of which he was accused -and for which imprisoned at Bayonne. She never took her eyes off it -until she had read it through; and there were more than ten pages of -parchment. When she was not hindered, she read herself all letters of -importance, and frequently with her own hand made replies; I saw her -once, after dinner, write twenty long letters herself. - -She wrote and spoke French very well, although an Italian; and even to -persons of her own nation she usually spoke it, so much did she honour -France and its language; taking pains to exhibit its fine speech to -foreigners, grandees, and ambassadors, who came to visit her after -seeing the king. She always answered them very pertinently, with great -grace and majesty; as I have also seen and heard her do to the courts of -parliament, both publicly and privately; often controlling the latter -finely when they rambled in talk or were over-cautious, or would not -comply with the edicts made in her privy council and the ordinances -issued by the king and herself. You may be sure she spoke as a queen and -made herself feared as one. I saw her once at Bordeaux when she took her -daughter Marguerite to her husband, the King of Navarre. She had -commanded that court of parliament to come and be spoken to,--they not -being willing to abolish a certain brotherhood, by them invented and -maintained, which she was determined to break up, foreseeing that it -would bring some results in the end which might be prejudicial to the -State. They came to meet her in the garden of the Bishop's house, where -she was walking one Sunday morning. One among them spoke for all, and -gave her to understand the fruitfulness of this brotherhood and the -utility it was to the public. She, without being prepared, replied so -well and with such apt words, and apparent and appropriate reasons to -show it was ill-founded and odious, that there was no one present who -did not admire the mind of the queen and remain confused and astonished -when, as her last word, she said: "No, I will, and the king my son wills -that it be exterminated, and never heard of again, for secret reasons -that I shall not tell you, besides those that I have told you; and if -not, I will make you feel what it is to disobey the king and me." So -each and all went away and nothing more was said of it. - -She did these turns very often to the princes and the greatest people, -when they had done some great wrong and made her so angry that she took -her haughty air,--no one on earth being so superb and stately as she, -when needful, sparing no truths to any one. I have seen the late M. de -Savoie, who was intimate with the emperor, the King of Spain, and so -many grandees, fear and respect her more than if she had been his -mother, and M. de Lorraine the same,--in short, all the great people of -Christendom; I could give many examples; but another time, in due -course, I will tell them; just now it suffices to say what I have said. - -Among other perfections she was a good Christian and very devout; always -making her Easters, and never failing any day to attend divine service -at mass and vespers; which she rendered very agreeable to pious persons, -by the good singers of her chapel,--she being careful to collect the -most exquisite; also she herself loved music by nature, and often gave -pleasure with it in her apartment, which was never closed to virtuous -ladies and honourable men, she seeing all and every one, not restricting -it as they do in Spain, and also in her own land of Italy; nor yet as -our later queens, Isabella of Austria and Louise of Lorraine, have done; -but saying, like King Franois, her father-in-law (whom she greatly -honoured, he having set her up and made her free), that she wished to -keep her Court as a good Frenchwoman, and as the king, her husband, -would have wished; so that her apartments were the pleasure of the -Court. - -She had, ordinarily, very beautiful and virtuous maids of honour, who -conversed with us daily in her antechamber, discoursing and chatting so -wisely and modestly that none of us would have dared to do otherwise; -for the gentlemen who failed in this were banished and threatened, and -in fear of worse until she pardoned and forgave them, she being kind in -herself and very ready to do so. - -In short, her company and her Court were a true paradise in the world, -and a school of all virtue and honour, the ornament of France, as the -foreigners who came there knew well and said; for they were all most -politely received, and her ladies and maids of honour were commanded to -adorn themselves at their coming like goddesses, and to entertain these -visitors, not amusing themselves elsewhere; otherwise she taunted them -well and reprimanded them. - -In fact, her Court was such that when she died the voices of all -declared that the Court was no longer a Court, and that never again -would France have a true queen-mother. What a Court it was! such as, I -believe, no Emperor of Rome in the olden time ever held for ladies, nor -any of our Kings of France. Though it is true that the great Emperor -Charlemagne, King of France, during his lifetime took great pleasure in -making and maintaining a grand and full Court of peers, dukes, counts, -palatines, barons, and knights of France; also of ladies, their wives -and daughters, with others of all countries, to pay court and honour (as -the old romances of that day have said) to the empress and queen, and to -see the fine jousts, tournaments, and magnificences done there by -knights-errant coming from all parts. But what of that? These fine, -grand assemblies came together not oftener than three or four times a -year; at the end of each fte they departed and retired to their houses -and estates until the next time. Besides, some have said that in his old -age Charlemagne was much given over to women, though always of good -company; and that Louis le Debonnaire, on ascending the throne, was -obliged to banish his sisters to other places for the scandal of their -lives with men; and also that he drove from Court a number of ladies who -belonged to the joyous band. Charlemagne's Courts were never of long -duration (I speak now of his great years), for he amused himself in -those days with war, according to our old romances, and in his last -years his Court was too dissolute, as I have already said. But the Court -of our King Henri II and the queen his wife, was held daily, whether in -war or peace, and whether it resided in one place or another for months, -or went to other castles and pleasure-houses of our kings, who are not -lacking in them, having more than the kings of other countries. - -This large and noble company, keeping always together, at least the -greater part of them, came and went with its queen, so that usually her -Court was filled by at least three hundred ladies and damoiselles. The -intendants of the king's houses and the quartermasters affirmed that -they occupied fully one-half of the rooms, as I myself have seen during -the thirty-three years I lived at Court, except when at war or in -foreign parts. Having returned, I was always there; for the sojourn was -to me most agreeable, not seeing elsewhere anything finer; in fact I -think, since the world was, nothing has ever been seen like it; and as -the noble names of these beautiful ladies who assisted our queen in -adorning her Court should not be overlooked, I place them here, -according as I remember them from the end of the queen's married life -and throughout her widowhood, for before that time I was too young to -know them. - -First, I place Mesdames the daughters of France. I place them first -because they never lost their rank, and go before all others, so grand -and noble is their house, to wit:-- - -Madame lisabeth de France, afterwards Queen of Spain. - -Madame Claude, afterwards Duchesse de Lorraine. - -Madame Marguerite, afterwards Queen of Navarre. - -Madame the king's sister, afterwards Duchesse de Savoie. - -The Queen of Scots, afterwards dauphine and Queen of France. - -The Queen of Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret. - -Madame Catherine, her daughter, to-day called Madame the king's [Henri -IV.] sister. - -Madame Diane, natural daughter of the king [Henri II.], afterwards -legitimatized, the Duchesse d'Angoulme. - -Madame d'Enghien, of the house of Estouteville. - -Madame la Princesse de Cond, of the house of Roye. - -Madame de Nevers, of the house of Vendme. - -Madame de Guise, of the house of Ferrara. - -Madame Diane de Poitiers, Duchesse de Valentinois. - -Mesdames d'Aumale and de Bouillon, her daughters.[4] - -Need I name more? No, for my memory could not furnish them. There are so -many other ladies and maids that I beg them to excuse me if I pass them -by with my pen,--not that I do not greatly value and esteem them, but I -should dream over them and amuse myself too much. To make an end, I must -say that in all this company there was nothing to find fault with in -their day; beauty abounded, all majesty, all charm, all grace; happy was -he who could touch with love such ladies, and happy those who could that -love _escapar_. I swear to you that I have named only those ladies and -damoiselles who were beautiful, agreeable, very accomplished, and well -sufficient to set fire to the whole world. Indeed, in their best days -they burned up a good part of it, as much us gentlemen of the Court as -others who approached the flame; to some of whom they were gentle, -aimable, favourable, and courteous. I speak of none here, hoping to make -good tales about them in this book before I finish it, and of others -whose names are not comprised here; but the whole told so discreetly, -without scandal, that nothing will be known, for the curtain of silence -will cover their names; so that if by chance they should any of them -read tales of themselves they will not be annoyed. Besides, though the -pleasures of love cannot last forever, by reason of many inconveniences, -hindrances, and changes, the memories of the past are always -pleasing. - -[Illustration: _Ball at the Court of Henry III_] - -[This refers to "Les Dames Galantes," and not to the present volume.] - -Now, to thoroughly consider how fine a sight was this troupe of -beautiful ladies and damoiselles, creatures divine rather than human, we -must imagine the entries into Paris and other cities, the sacred and -superlative bridals of our kings of France, and their sisters, the -daughters of France; such as those of the dauphin, of King Charles, of -King Henri III., of the Queen of Spain, of Madame de Lorraine, of the -Queen of Navarre, not to speak of many other grand weddings of the -princes and princesses, like that of M. de Joyeuse, which would have -surpassed them all if the Queen of Navarre had been there. Also we must -picture to ourselves the interview at Bayonne, the arrival of the Poles, -and an infinite number of other and like magnificences, which I could -never finish naming, where I saw these ladies appear, each more -beautiful than the rest; some more finely appointed and better dressed -than others, because for such festivals, in addition to their great -means, the king and queen would give them splendid liveries. - -In short, nothing was ever seen finer, more dazzling, dainty, superb; -the glory of Nique never approached it [enchanted palace in "Amadis"]. -All this shone in a ballroom of the Tuileries or the Louvre as the stars -of heaven in the azure sky. The queen-mother wished and commanded her -ladies always to appear in grand and superb apparel, though she herself -during her widowhood never clothed herself in worldly silks, unless they -were lugubrious, but always properly and so well-fitting that she looked -the queen above all else. It is true that on the days of the weddings of -her two sons Henri and Charles, she wore gowns of black velvet, wishing, -she said, to solemnize the event by so signal an act. While she was -married she always dressed very richly and superbly, and looked what -she was. And it was fine to see and admire her in the general -processions that were made, both in Paris and other cities, such as the -Fte Dieu, that of the Rameaux [Palm Sunday], bearing palms and branches -with such grace, and on Candlemas Day, when the torches were borne by -all the Court, the flames of which contended against their own -brilliancy. At these three processions, which are most solemn, we -certainly saw nothing but beauty, grace, a noble bearing, a fine gait -and splendid apparel, all of which delighted the spectators. - -It was fine also to see the queen in her married life going through the -country in her litter, being pregnant, or afterwards on horseback -attended by forty or fifty ladies and damoiselles mounted on handsome -hackneys well caparisoned, and sitting their horses with such good grace -that the men could not do better, either in equestrian style or apparel; -their hats adorned with plumes which floated in the air as if demanding -either love or war. Virgil, who took upon himself to write of the -apparel of Queen Dido when she went to the chase, says nothing that -approaches the luxury of that of our queen with her ladies, may it not -displease her, as I think I have said elsewhere. - -This queen (made by the act of the great King Franois), who introduced -this beautiful pageantry, never forgot or let slip anything of the kind -she had once learned, but always wanted to imitate or surpass it; I have -heard her speak three or four times in my life on this subject. Those -who have seen things as I did still feel their souls enchanted like -mine, for what I say is true; I know it having seen it. - -So there is the Court of our queen. Unhappy was the day when she died! I -have heard tell that our present king [Henri IV.], some eighteen months -after he saw himself more in hope and prospect of becoming King of -France, began one day to discourse with the late M. le Marchal de -Biron, on the plans and projects he would undertake to make his Court -prosperous and fine and in all things like that of our said queen, for -at that time it was in its greatest lustre and splendour. M. le Marchal -answered: "It is not in your power, nor in that of any king who will -ever reign, unless you can manage with God that he shall resuscitate the -queen-mother, and bring her round to you." But that was not what the -king wanted, for when she died there was no one whom he hated so much, -but without grounds, as I could see, and as he should have known better -than I. - -How luckless was the day on which such a queen died, at the very point -when we had such great necessity for her, and still have! - -She died at Blois of sadness caused by the massacre which there took -place, and the melancholy tragedy there played, seeing that, without -reflection, she had brought the princes to Blois thinking to do well; -whereas it was true, as M. le Cardinal de Bourbon said to her: "Alas! -madame, you have led us all to butchery without intending it." That so -touched her heart, and also the death of those poor men, that she took -to her bed, having previously felt ill, and never rose again. - -They say that when the king announced to her the murder of M. de Guise, -saying that he was now absolutely king, without equal, or master, she -asked him if he had put the affairs of his kingdom in order before -striking the blow. To which he answered yes. "God grant it, my son," she -said. Very prudent that she was, she foresaw plainly what would happen -to him, and to all the kingdom.[5] - -Persons have spoken diversely as to her death, and even as to poison. -Possibly it was so, possibly not; but she was held to have died of -desperation, and she had reason to do so. - -She was placed on her state-bed, as one of her ladies told me, neither -more nor less like Queen Anne of whom I have already spoken, clothed in -the same royal garments that the said Queen Anne wore, they not having -served since her death for any others; and thus she was borne to the -church of the castle, with the same pomp and solemnity as Queen Anne, -where she lies and rests still. The king wished to take her to Chartres -and thence to Saint-Denis, to put her with the king, her husband, in the -same tomb which she had caused to be made, built, and constructed, so -noble and superb, but the war which came on prevented it. - -This is what I can say at this time of this great queen, who has given -assuredly such noble grounds to speak worthily of her that this short -discourse is not enough for her praise. I know that well; also that the -quality of my speech does not suffice, for better speakers than I would -be insufficient. At any rate, such as my discourse is, I lay it, in all -humility and devotion, at her feet; also I would avoid too great -prolixity, for which indeed I feel myself too capable; but I hope I -shall not separate from her much, although in my discourses I shall be -silent, and only speak of what her noble and incomparable virtues -command me, giving me ample matter so to do, I having seen all that I -have written of her; and as for what had happened before my time, I -heard it from persons most illustrious; and thus I shall do in all my -books. - - This queen, who was of many kings the mother, - Of queens also, belonging here to France, - Died when we had most need of her support; - For none but she could give us true assistance. - - * * * * * - -Mzeray [in his "History of France"], who never thinks of the dramatic, -nevertheless makes known to us at the start his principal personages; he -shows them more especially in action, without detaching them too much -from the general sentiment and interests of which they are the leaders -and representatives, while, at the same time, he leaves to each his -individual physiognomy. The old Conntable de Montmorency, the Guises, -Admiral de Coligny, the Chancellor de l'Hpital define themselves on his -pages by their conduct and proceedings even more than by the judgment he -awards them. Catherine de' Medici is painted there in all her -dissimulation and her network of artifices, in which she was often -caught herself; ambitious of sovereign power without possessing either -the force or the genius of it; striving to obtain it by craft, and using -for this purpose a continual system of what we should call to-day -_see-sawing_; "rousing and elevating for a time one faction, putting to -sleep or lowering another; uniting herself sometimes with the feeblest -side out of caution, lest the stronger should crush her; sometimes with -the stronger from necessity; at times standing neutral when she felt -herself strong enough to command both sides, but without intention to -extinguish either." Far from being always too Catholic, there are -moments when she seems to lean to the Reformed religion and to wish to -grant too much to that party; and this with more sincerity, perhaps, -than belonged to her naturally. The Catherine de' Medici, such as she -presents herself and is developed in plain truth on the pages of Mzeray -is well calculated to tempt a modern writer. As there is nothing new but -that which is old, for often discoveries are nothing more than that -which was once known and is forgotten, the day when a modern historian -shall take up the Catherine de' Medici of Mzeray and give her some of -the rather forced features which are to the taste of the present day, -there will come a great cry of astonishment and admiration, and the -critics will register a new discovery.[6] - -M. Niel, librarian to the ministry of the Interior, an enlightened -amateur of the arts and of history, has been engaged since 1848 in -publishing a series of Portraits or "Crayons" of the celebrated -personages of the sixteenth century, kings, queens, mistresses of kings, -etc., the whole forming already a folio volume. M. Niel has applied -himself in this collection to reproduce none but authentic portraits and -solely from the original, and he has confined himself to a single form -of portraiture, that which was drawn in crayons of divers colours by -artists of the sixteenth century. "They designated in those days by the -name of 'crayons,'" he observes, "certain portraits executed on paper in -red chalk, in black lead, and in white chalk, shaded and touched in a -way to present the effect of painting." These designs, faithfully -reproduced, in which the red tone predominates, are for the most part -originally due to unknown artists, who seem to have belonged to the true -French lineage of art. They resemble the humble companions and followers -of our chroniclers who simply sought in their rapid sketches to catch -physiognomies, such as they saw them, with truth and candour; the -likeness alone concerned them. - -Franois I. leads the procession with his obscure wives, and one, at -least, of his obscure mistresses, the Comtesse de Chteaubriant. Henri -II. succeeds him, giving one hand to Catherine de' Medici, the other to -Diane de Poitiers. We are shown a Marie Stuart, young, before and after -her widowhood. In general, the men gain most from this rapid -reproduction of feature; whereas with the women it needs an effort of -the imagination to catch their delicacy and the flower of their beauty. -Charles IX. at twelve years of age, and again at eighteen and twenty, is -there to the life and caught from nature. Henri IV. is shown to us -younger and fresher than as we are wont to see him,--a Henri de Navarre -quite novel and before his beard grizzled. His first wife, Marguerite de -Valois, is portrayed at her most beauteous age, but so masked by her -costume and cramped in her ruff that we need to be aware of her charm to -be certain that the doll-like figure had any. Gabrielle d'Estres, who -stands aloof, stiffly imprisoned in her gorgeous clothes, also needs -explanation and reflection before she appears what she really was. The -testimony of "Notices" aids these portraits; for M. Niel accompanies his -personages with remarks made with erudition and an inquiring mind. - -One of the brief writings of that period which make known clearly the -person and nature of Henri IV. is the Memoir of the first president of -Normandy, Claude Groulard, at all times faithful to the king, who has -left us a nave account of his frequent journeys to that prince and the -sojourns he made with him. Among many remarks which Groulard has -collected from the lips of Henri IV. there is one that paints the king -well in his sound good sense, his freedom from rancour, and his -knowledge--always practical, never ideal--of human beings. Groulard is -relating the approaching marriage of the king with a princess of -Florence. When Henri IV. announced it to him the worthy president -replied by an erudite comparison with the lance of Achilles, saying that -the Florentine house would thus repair the wounds it had given to France -in the person of Catherine de' Medici. "But I ask you," said Henri IV., -speaking thereupon of Catherine and excusing her, "I ask you what a -poor woman could do, left by the death of her husband, with five little -children on her arms, and two families in France who were thinking to -grasp the crown,--ours and the Guises. Was she not compelled to play -strange parts to deceive first one and then the other, in order to -guard, as she has done, her sons, who have successively reigned through -the wise conduct of that shrewd woman? I am surprised that she never did -worse." - -SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1855). - - - - -DISCOURSE III. - -MARIE STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND, FORMERLY QUEEN OF OUR FRANCE. - - -Those who wish to write of this illustrious Queen of Scotland have two -very ample subjects: one her life, the other her death; both very ill -accompanied by good fortune, as I shall show at certain points in this -short Discourse in form of epitome, and not a long history, which I -leave to be written by persons more learned and better given to writing -than I. - -This queen had a father, King James, of worth and valour, and a very -good Frenchman; in which he was right. After he was widowed of Madame -Magdelaine, daughter of France, he asked King Franois for some -honourable and virtuous princess of his kingdom with whom to re-marry, -desiring nothing so much as to continue his alliance with France. - -King Franois, not knowing whom to choose better to content the good -prince, gave him the daughter of M. de Guise, Claude de Lorraine, then -the widow of M. de Longueville, wise, virtuous, and honourable, of which -King James was very glad and esteemed himself fortunate to take her; and -after he had taken and espoused her he found himself the same; the -kingdom of Scotland also, which she governed very wisely after she was -widowed; which event happened in a few years after her marriage, but not -before she had produced a fine issue, namely this most beautiful -princess in the world, our queen, of whom I now speak, she being, as -one might say, scarcely born and still at the breast, when the English -invaded Scotland. Her mother was then forced to hide her from place to -place in Scotland from fear of that fury; and, without the good succour -King Henri sent her she would scarce have been saved; and even so they -had to put her on vessels and expose her to the waves, the storms and -winds of the sea and convey her to France for greater security; where -certainly ill fortune, not being able to cross the seas with her or not -daring to attack her in France, left her so alone that good fortune took -her by the hand. And, as her youth grew on, we saw her great beauty and -her great virtues grow likewise; so that, coming to her fifteenth year, -her beauty shone like the light at mid-day, effacing the sun when it -shines the brightest, so beauteous was her body. As for her soul, that -was equal; she had made herself learned in Latin, so that, being between -thirteen and fourteen years of age, she declaimed before King Henri, the -queen, and all the Court, publicly in the hall of the Louvre, an -harangue in Latin, which she had made herself, maintaining and -defending, against common opinion, that it was well becoming to women to -know letters and the liberal arts. Think what a rare thing and admirable -it was, to see this wise and beautiful young queen thus orate in Latin, -which she knew and understood right well, for I was there and saw her. -Also she made Antoine Fochain, of Chauny in Vermandois, prepare for her -a rhetoric in French, which still exists, that she might the better -understand it, and make herself as eloquent in French as she had been in -Latin, and better than if she had been born in France. It was good to -see her speak to every one, whether to great or small. - -[Illustration: _Marie Stuart_] - -As long as she lived in France she always reserved two hours daily to -study and read; so that there was no human knowledge she could not -talk upon. Above all, she loved poesy and poets, but especially M. de -Ronsard, M. du Bellay, and M. de Maison-Fleur[7], who all made beautiful -poems and elegies upon her, and also upon her departure from France, -which I have often seen her reading to herself, in France and in -Scotland, with tears in her eyes and sighs from her heart. - -She was a poet herself and composed verses, of which I have seen some -that were fine and well done and in no wise resembling those they have -laid to her account on her love for the Earl of Bothwell, which are too -coarse and too ill-polished to have come from her beautiful making. M. -de Ronsard was of my opinion as to this one day when we were reading and -discussing them. Those she composed were far more beautiful and dainty, -and quickly done, for I have often seen her retire to her cabinet and -soon return to show them to such of us good folk as were there present. -Moreover she wrote well in prose, especially letters, of which I have -seen many that were very fine and eloquent and lofty. At all times when -she talked with others she used a most gentle, dainty, and agreeable -style of speech, with kindly majesty, mingled, however, with discreet -and modest reserve, and above all with beautiful grace; so that even her -native tongue, which in itself is very rustic, barbarous, ill-sounding, -and uncouth, she spoke so gracefully, toning it in such a way, that she -made it seem beautiful and agreeable in her, though never so in others. - -See what virtue there was in such beauty and grace that they could turn -coarse barbarism into sweet civility and social grace. We must not be -surprised therefore that being dressed (as I have seen her) in the -barbarous costume of the uncivilized people of her country, she -appeared, in mortal body and coarse ungainly clothing a true goddess. -Those who have seen her thus dressed will admit this truth; and those -who did not see her can look at her portrait, in which she is thus -attired. I have heard the queen-mother, and the king too, say that she -looked more beautiful, more agreeable, more desirable in that picture -than in any of the others. But how else could she look, whether in her -beautiful rich jewels, in French or Spanish style, or wearing her -Italian caps, or in her mourning garments?--which latter made her most -beautiful to see, for the whiteness of her face contended with the -whiteness of her veil as to which should carry the day; but the texture -of her veil lost it; the snow of her pure face dimmed the other, so that -when she appeared at Court in her mourning the following song was made -upon her:-- - - "L'on voit, sous blanc atour - En grand deuil et tristesse, - Se pourmener mainct tour - De beaut la dese, - Tenant le trait en main - De son fils inhumain; - - "Et Amour, sans fronteau, - Voletter autour d'elle, - Desguisant son bandeau - En un funebre voile, - O sont ces mots ecrits: - _Mourir ou tre pris_."[8] - -That is how this princess appeared under all fashions of clothes, -whether barbarous, worldly, or austere. She had also one other -perfection with which to charm the world,--a voice most sweet and -excellent; for she sang well, attuning her voice to the lute, which she -touched very prettily with that white hand and those beautiful fingers, -perfectly made, yielding in nothing to those of Aurora. What more -remains to tell of her beauty?--if not this saying about her: that the -sun of her Scotland was very unlike her, for on certain days of the year -it shines but five hours, while she shone ever, so that her clear rays -illumined her land and her people, who of all others needed light, being -far estranged from the sun of heaven. Ah! kingdom of Scotland, I think -your days are shorter now than they ever were, and your nights the -longer, since you have lost the princess who illumined you! But you have -been ungrateful; you never recognized your duty of fidelity, as you -should have done; which I shall speak of presently. - -This lady and princess pleased France so much that King Henri was urged -to give her in alliance to the dauphin, his beloved son, who, for his -part, was madly in love with her. The marriage was therefore solemnly -celebrated in the great church and the palace of Paris; where we saw -this queen appear more beauteous than a goddess from the skies, whether -in the morning, going to her espousals in noble majesty, or leading, -after dinner, at the ball, or advancing in the evening with modest steps -to offer and perform her vows to Hymen; so that the voice of all as one -man resounded and proclaimed throughout the Court and the great city -that happy a hundredfold was he, the prince, thus joined to such a -princess; and even if Scotland were a thing of price its queen -out-valued it; for had she neither crown nor sceptre, her person and her -glorious beauty were worth a kingdom; therefore, being a queen, she -brought to France and to her husband a double fortune. - -This was what the world went saying of her; and for this reason she was -called queen-dauphine and her husband the king-dauphin, they living -together in great love and pleasant concord. - -Next, King Henri dying, they came to be King and Queen of France, the -king and queen of two great kingdoms, happy, and most happy in -themselves, had death not seized the king and left her widowed in the -sweet April of her finest youth, having enjoyed together of love and -pleasure and felicity but four short years,--a felicity indeed of short -duration, which evil fortune might well have spared; but no, malignant -as she is, she wished to miserably treat this princess, who made a song -herself upon her sorrows in this wise:-- - - En mon triste et doux chant, - D'un ton fort lamentable, - Je jette un deuil tranchant, - De perte incomparable, - Et en soupirs cuisans, - Passe mes meilleurs ans. - - Fut-il un tel malheur - De dure destine, - N'y si triste douleur - De dame fortune, - Qui mon coeur et mon oeil - Vois en bierre et cercueil, - - Qui en mon doux printemps - Et fleur de ma jeunesse - Toutes les peines sens - D'une extresme tristesse, - Et en rien n'ay plaisir - Qu'en regret et desir? - - Ce qui m'estoit plaisant - Ores m'est peine dure; - Le jour le plus luisant - M'est nuit noire et obscure. - Et n'est rien si exquis - Qui de moy soit requis. - - J'ay an coeur et l'oeil - Un portrait et image - Qui figure mon deuil - Et mon pasle visage, - De violettes teint, - Qui est l'amoureux teint. - - Pour mon mal estranger - Je ne m'arreste en place; - Mais j'en ay beau changer, - Si ma douleur n'efface; - Car mon pis et mon mieux - Sont les plus deserts lieux. - - Si en quelque sjour, - Soit en bois ou en pre. - Soit sur l'aube du jour, - On soit sur la vespre, - Sans cesse mon coeur sent - Le regret d'un absent. - - Si parfois vers les cieux - Viens dresser ma veue, - Le doux traict de ses yeux - Je vois en une nue; - Ou bien je le vois en l'eau, - Comme dans un tombeau. - - Si je suis en repos - Sommeillant sur ma couche, - J'oy qu'il me tient propos, - Je le sens qui me touche: - En labeur, en recoy - Tousjours est prs de moy. - - Je ne vois autre object, - Pour beau qu'il prsente - A qui que soit subject, - Oncques mon coeur consente, - Exempt de perfection - A cette affection. - - Mets, chanson, icy fin - A si triste complainte, - Dont sera le refrein: - Amour vraye et non feinte - Pour la separation - N'aura diminution.[9] - -Such are the regrets which this sad queen went piteously singing, and -manifesting even more by her pale face; for, from the time she became a -widow, I never saw her colour return during the time I had the honour to -see her in France and in Scotland; whither at the end of eighteen months -she was forced to go, to her great regret, to pacify her kingdom, much -divided on account of religion. Alas! she had neither wish nor will to -go. I have often heard her say she dreaded that journey like death; and -preferred a hundredfold to stay in France a simple dowager, and would -content herself with Touraine and Poitou for her dowry, rather than go -to reign in her savage country; but messieurs her uncles, at least some -of them, but not all, advised her, indeed they urged her (I will not -tell the occasions), for which they have since repented sorely. - -As to this, there is no doubt that if, at her departure King Charles, -her husband's brother, had been of age to marry, and not so small and -young (though much in love with her, as I have seen), he would never -have let her go, but resolutely would have wedded her; for I have seen -him so in love that never did he look upon her portrait that his eyes -were not fixed and ravished, as though he could not take them from it -nor yet be satisfied. And often have I heard him call her the most -beauteous princess ever born into the world, and say how he thought the -king, his brother, too happy to have enjoyed the love of such a -princess, and that he ought in no wise to regret his death in the tomb -since he had possessed in this world such beauty and pleasure for the -little time he stayed here; and also that such happiness was worth a -kingdom. So that had she remained in France he would surely have wedded -her; he was resolved upon it, although she was his sister-in-law, but -the pope would never have refused the dispensation, seeing that he had -already in like case granted one to his own subject, M. de Lov, and -also to the Marquis d'Aguilar in Spain, and many others in that country, -where they make no difficulty in maintaining their estates and do not -waste and dissipate them, as we do in France. - -Much discourse on this subject have I heard from him, and from many, -which I shall omit, not to wander from the topic of our queen, who was -at last persuaded, as I have said, to return to her kingdom of Scotland; -but her voyage being postponed till the spring she did so much to delay -it from month to month that she did not depart until the end of the -month of August. I must mention that this spring, in which she thought -to leave, came so tardily, and was so cold and grievous, that in the -month of April it gave no sign of donning its beautiful green robe or -its lovely flowers. On which the gallants of the Court augured and -proclaimed that the spring had changed its pleasant season for a hard -and grievous winter, and would not wear its beauteous colours or its -verdure because it mourned the departure of this sweet queen, who was -its lustre. M. de Maison-Fleur, a charming knight for letters and for -arms, made on that theme a most fine elegy. - -The beginning of the autumn having come, the queen, after thus delaying, -was forced to abandon France; and having travelled by land to Calais, -accompanied by all her uncles, M. de Nemours, most of the great and -honourable of the Court, together with the ladies, like Mme. de Guise -and others, all regretting and weeping hot tears for the loss of such a -queen, she found in port two galleys: one that of M. de Mevillon, the -other that of Captain Albise, with two convoying vessels for sole -armament. After six days' rest at Calais, having said her piteous -farewells all full of sighs to the great company about her, from the -greatest to the least, she embarked, having her uncles with her, -Messieurs d'Aumale, the grand prior, and d'Elboeuf, and M. d'Amville -(now M. le Conntable), together with many of us, all nobles, on board -the galley of M. de Mevillon, as being the best and handsomest. - -As the vessel began to leave the port, the anchor being up, we saw, in -the open sea, a vessel sink before us and perish, and many of the -sailors drown for not having taken the channel rightly; on seeing which -the queen cried out incontinently: "Ah, my God! what an omen is this for -my journey!" The galley being now out of port and a fresh wind rising, -we began to make sail, and the convicts rested on their oars. The queen, -without thinking of other action, leaned her two arms on the poop of the -galley, beside the rudder, and burst into tears, casting her beauteous -eyes to the port and land she had left, saying ever these sad words: -"Adieu, France! adieu, France!"--repeating them again and again; and -this sad exercise she did for nearly five hours, until the night began -to fall, when they asked her if she would not come away from there and -take some supper. On that, her tears redoubling, she said these words: -"This is indeed the hour, my dear France, when I must lose you from -sight, because the gloomy night, envious of my content in seeing you as -long as I am able, hangs a black veil before mine eyes to rob me of that -joy. Adieu, then, my dear France; I shall see you nevermore!" - -Then she retired, saying she had done the contrary of Dido, who looked -to the sea when neas left her, while she had looked to land. She -wished to lie down without eating more than a salad, and as she would -not descend into the cabin of the poop, they brought her bed and set it -up on the deck of the poop, where she rested a little, but did not cease -her sighs and tears. She commanded the steersman to wake her as soon as -it was day if he saw or could even just perceive the coasts of France, -and not to fear to call her. In this, fortune favoured her; for the wind -having ceased and the vessel having again had recourse to oars, but -little way was made during the night, so that when day appeared the -shores of France could still be seen; and the steersman not having -failed to obey her, she rose in her bed and gazed at France again, and -as long as she could see it. But the galley now receding, her -contentment receded too, and again she said those words: "Adieu, my -France; I think that I shall never see you more." - -Did she desire, this once, that an English armament (with which we were -threatened) should appear and constrain her to give up her voyage and -return to the port she had left? But if so, God in that would not favour -her wishes, for, without further hindrance of any kind we reached -Petit-Lict [Leith]. Of the voyage I must tell a little incident: the -first evening after we embarked, the Seigneur Chastellard (the same who -was afterwards executed for presumption, not for crime, as I shall -tell), being a charming cavalier, a man of good sword and good letters, -said this pretty thing when he saw them lighting the binnacle lamp: -"There is no need of that lamp or this torch to light us by sea, for the -eyes of our queen are dazzling enough to flash their fine fires along -the waves and illume them, if need be." - -I must note that the day before we arrived at Scotland, being a Sunday, -so great a fog arose that we could not see from the poop to the mast of -the galley; at which the pilot and the overseers of the galley-slaves -were much confounded,--so much so, that out of necessity we had to cast -anchor in open sea, and take soundings to know where we were. The fog -lasted all one day and all the night until eight o'clock on the -following morning, when we found ourselves surrounded by innumerable -reefs; so that had we gone forward, or even to one side, the ship would -have struck and we should have perished. On which the queen said that, -for her part, she should not have cared, wishing for nothing so much as -death; but that not for her whole kingdom of Scotland would she have -wished it or willed it for others. Having now sighted and seen (for the -fog had risen) the coast of Scotland, there were some among us who -augured and predicted upon the said fog, that it boded we were now to -land in a quarrelsome, mischief-making, unpleasant kingdom [_royaume -brouille, brouillon, et mal plaisant_]. - -We entered and cast anchor at Petit-Lict, where the principal persons of -that place and Islebourg [Edinburgh] were gathered to meet their queen; -and then, having sojourned at Petit-Lict only two hours, it was -necessary to continue our way to Islebourg, which was barely a league -farther. The queen went on horseback, and the ladies and seigneurs on -nags of the country, such as they were, and saddled and bridled the -same. On seeing which accoutrements the queen began to weep and say that -these were not the pomps, the dignities, the magnificences, nor yet the -superb horses of France, which she had enjoyed so long; but since she -must change her paradise for hell, she must needs take patience. And -what is worse was that when she went to bed, being lodged on the lower -floor of the abbey of Islebourg [Holyrood], which is certainly a noble -building and is not like the country, there came beneath her window some -five or six hundred scoundrels of the town, who gave her a serenade -with wretched violins and little rebecks (of which there is no lack in -Scotland), to which they chanted psalms so badly sung and so out of tune -that nothing could be worse. Ha! what music and what repose for her -first night! - -The next morning they would have killed her chaplain in front of her -lodging; had he not escaped quickly into her chamber he was dead; they -would have done to him as they did later to her secretary David [Riccio] -whom, because he was clever, the queen liked for the management of her -affairs; but they killed him in her room, so close to her that the blood -spurted upon her gown and he fell dead at her feet. What an indignity! -But they did many other indignities to her; therefore must we not be -astonished if they spoke ill of her. On this attempt being made against -her chaplain she became so sad and vexed that she said: "This is a fine -beginning of obedience and welcome from my subjects! I know not what may -be the end, but I foresee it will be bad." Thus the poor princess showed -herself a second Cassandra in prophecy as she was in beauty. - -Being now there, she lived about three years very discreetly in her -widowhood, and would have continued to do so, but the Parliament of her -kingdom begged her and entreated her to marry, in order that she might -leave them a fine king conceived by her, like him of the present day -[James I]. There are some who say that, during the first wars, the King -of Navarre desired to marry her, repudiating the queen his wife, on -account of the Religion; but to this she would not consent, saying she -had a soul, and would not lose it for all the grandeurs of the -world,--making great scruple of espousing a married man. - -At last she wedded a young English lord, of a great house, but not her -equal [Henry Darnley, Earl of Lennox, her cousin]. The marriage was not -happy for either the one or the other. I shall not here relate how the -king her husband, having made her a very fine child, who reigns to-day, -died, being killed by a _fougade_ [small mine] exploded where he lodged. -The history of that is written and printed, but not with truth as to the -accusations raised against the queen of consenting to the deed. They are -lies and insults; for never was that queen cruel; she was always kind -and very gentle. Never in France did she any cruelty, nor would she take -pleasure or have the heart to see poor criminals put to death by -justice, like many grandees whom I have known; and when she was in her -galley never would she allow a single convict to be beaten, were it ever -so little; she begged her uncle, the grand-prior, as to this, and -commanded it to the overseer herself, having great compassion for their -misery, so that her heart was sick for it. - -To end this topic, never did cruelty lodge in the heart of such great -and tender beauty; they are liars who have said and written it; among -others M. Buchanan,[10] who ill returned the kindnesses the queen had -done him both in France and Scotland in saving his life and relieving -him from banishment. It would have been better had he employed his most -excellent knowledge in speaking better of her, and not about the amours -of Bothwell; even to transcribing sonnets she had made, which those who -knew her poesy and her learning have always said were never written by -her; nor did they judge less falsely that amour, for Bothwell was a most -ugly man, with as bad a grace as could be seen. - -But if this one [Buchanan] said no good, others have written a noble -book upon her innocence, which I have seen, and which declared and -proved it so that the poorest minds took hold of it and even her enemies -paid heed; but they, wishing to ruin her, as they did in the end, were -obstinate, and never ceased to persecute her until she was put into a -strong castle, which they say is that of Saint-Andrew in Scotland. -There, having lived nearly one year miserably captive, she was delivered -by means of a most honourable and brave gentleman of that land and of -good family, named M. de Beton, whom I knew and saw, and who related to -me the whole story, as we were crossing the river before the Louvre, -when he came to bring the news to the king. He was nephew to the Bishop -of Glasco, ambassador to France, one of the most worthy men and prelates -ever known, and who remained a faithful servant to his mistress to her -last breath, and is so still, after her death. - -So then, the queen, being at liberty, did not stay idle; in less than no -time she gathered an army of those whom she thought her most faithful -adherents, leading it herself,--at its head, mounted on a good horse, -dressed in a simple petticoat of white taffetas, with a coif of crpe on -her head; at which I have seen many persons wonder, even the -queen-mother, that so tender a princess, and so dainty as she was and -had been all her life, should accustom herself at once to the hardships -of war. But what would one not endure to reign absolutely and revenge -one's self upon a rebellious people, and reduce it to obedience? - -Behold this queen, therefore, beautiful and generous, like a second -Zenobia, at the head of her army, leading it on to face that of her -enemies and to give battle. But alas! what misfortune! Just as she -thought her side would engage the others, just as she was animating and -exhorting them with her noble and valorous words, which might have moved -the rocks, they raised their lances without fighting, and, first on one -side and then upon another, threw down their arms, embraced, and were -friends; and all, confederated and sworn together, plotted to seize the -queen, and make her prisoner and take her to England. M. Coste, the -steward of her household, a gentleman of Auvergne, related this to the -queen-mother, having come from there, and met her at Saint-Maur, where -he told it also to many of us. - -After this she was taken to England, where she was lodged in a castle -and so closely confined in captivity that she never left it for eighteen -or twenty years until her death; to which she was sentenced too cruelly -for the reasons, such as they were, that were given on her trial; but -the principal, as I hold on good authority, was that the Queen of -England never liked her, but was always and for a long time jealous of -her beauty, which far surpassed her own. That is what jealousy is!--and -for religion too! So it was that this princess, after her long -imprisonment, was condemned to death and to have her head cut off; this -judgment was pronounced upon her two months before she was executed. -Some say that she knew nothing of it until they went to execute her. -Others declare that it was told to her two months earlier, as the -queen-mother, who was greatly distressed, was informed at Coignac, where -she then was; and she was even told of this particular: no sooner was -the judgment pronounced than Queen Marie's chamber and bed were hung -with black. The queen-mother thereon praised the firmness of the Queen -of Scotland and said she had never seen or heard tell of any queen more -steadfast in adversity. I was present when she said this, but I never -thought the Queen of England would let her die,--not esteeming her so -cruel as all that. Of her own nature she was not (though she was in -this). I also thought that M. de Bellivre, whom the king despatched to -save her life, would have worked out something good; nevertheless, he -gained nothing. - -But to come to this pitiful death, which no one can describe without -great compassion. On the seventeenth of February of the year one -thousand five hundred and eighty-seven, there came to the place where -the queen was prisoner, a castle called Fodringhaye, the commissioners -of the Queen of England, sent by her (I shall not give their names, as -it would serve no end) about two or three o'clock in the afternoon; and -in presence of Paulet, her guardian or jailer, read aloud their -commission to the prisoner touching her execution, declaring to her that -the next morning they should proceed to it, and admonishing her to be -ready between seven and eight o'clock. - -She, without in any way being surprised, thanked them for their good -news, saying that nothing could be better for her than to come to the -end of her misery; and that for long, ever since her detention in -England, she had resolved and prepared herself to die; entreating, -nevertheless, the commissioners to grant her a little time and leisure -to make her will and put her affairs in order,--inasmuch as all depended -upon their will, as their commission said. To which the Comte de -Cherusbery [Earl of Shrewsbury] replied rather roughly: "No, no, madame, -you must die. Hold yourself ready between seven and eight to-morrow -morning. We shall not prolong the delay by a moment." There was one, -more courteous it seemed to her, who wished to use some demonstrations -that might give her more firmness to endure such death. She answered him -that she had no need of consolation, at least not as coming from him; -but that if he wished to do a good office to her conscience he would -send for her almoner to confess her; which would be an obligation that -surpassed all others. As for her body, she said she did not think they -would be so inhuman as to deny her the right of sepulture. To this he -replied that she must not expect it; so that she was forced to write -her confession, which was as follows:-- - -"I have to-day been combated for my religion and to make me receive the -consolation of heretics. You will hear from Bourgoing and others that I -have faithfully made protestation of my faith, in which I choose to die. -I requested to have you here, to make my confession and to receive my -sacrament; this has been cruelly refused to me, also the removal of my -body, and the power to freely make my will, or to write aught, except -through their hands. In default of that, I confess the grievousness of -my sins in general, as I had expected to make to you in particulars; -entreating you, in God's name, to watch and pray with me this night for -the forgiveness of my sins, and to send me absolution and pardon for all -the offences which I have committed. I shall endeavour to see you in -their presence, as they have granted me; and if it is permitted I shall -ask pardon of you before them all. Advise me of the proper prayers to -use this night and to-morrow morning, for the time is short and I have -no leisure to write; I shall recommend you like the rest, and especially -that your benefices may be preserved and secured to you, and I shall -commend you to the king. I have no more leisure; advise me in writing of -all you think good for my salvation." - -That done, and having thus provided for the salvation of her soul before -all things else, she lost no time, though little remained to her (yet -long enough to have shaken the firmest constancy, but in her they saw no -fear of death, only much content to leave these earthly miseries), in -writing to our king, to the queen-mother, whom she honoured much, to -Monsieur and Madame de Guise, and other private persons, letters truly -very piteous, but all aiming to let them know that to her latest hour -she had not lost memory of friends; and also the contentment she -received in seeing herself delivered from so many woes by which for one -and twenty years she had been crushed; also she sent presents to all, of -a value and price in keeping with a poor, unfortunate, and captive -queen. - -After this, she summoned her household, from the highest to the lowest, -and opened her coffers to see how much money remained to her; this she -divided to each according to the service she had had from them; and to -her women she gave what remained to her of rings, arrows, headgear, and -accoutrements; telling them that it was with much regret she had no more -with which to reward them, but assuring them that her son would make up -for her deficiency; and she begged her _matre d'htel_ to say this to -her said son; to whom she sent her blessing, praying him not to avenge -her death, leaving all to God to order according to His holy will. Then -she bade them farewell without a tear; on the contrary she consoled -them, saying they must not weep to see her on the point of blessedness -in exchange for all the sorrows she had had. After which she sent them -from her chamber, except her women. - -It now being night, she retired to her oratory, where she prayed to God -two hours on her bare knees upon the ground, for her women saw them; -then she returned to her room and said to them: "I think it would be -best, my friends, if I ate something and went to bed, so that to-morrow -I may do nothing unworthy of me, and that my heart may not fail me." -What generosity and what courage! She did as she said; and taking only -some toast with wine she went to bed, where she slept little, but spent -the night chiefly in prayers and orisons. - -She rose about two hours before dawn and dressed herself as properly as -she could, and better than usual; taking a gown of black velvet, which -she had reserved from her other accoutrements, saying to her women: "My -friends, I would rather have left you this attire than that of -yesterday, but I think I ought to go to death a little honourably and -have upon me something more than common. Here is a handkerchief, which I -also reserved, to bind my eyes when I go there; I give it to you, _ma -mie_ (speaking to one of her women), for I wish to receive that last -office from you." - -After this, she retired to her oratory, having bid them adieu once more -and kissed them,--giving them many particulars to tell the king, the -queen, and her relations; not things that tended to vengeance, but the -contrary. Then she took the sacrament by means of a consecrated wafer -which the good Pope Pius V. had sent her to serve in some emergency, the -which she had always most sacredly preserved and guarded. - -Having said her prayers, which were very long, it now being fully -morning she returned to her chamber, and sat beside the fire; still -talking to her women and comforting them, instead of their comforting -her; she said that the joys of the world were nothing; that she ought to -serve as a warning to the greatest of the earth as well as to the -smallest, for she, having been queen of the kingdoms of France and -Scotland, one by nature, the other by fortune, after triumphing in the -midst of all honours and grandeurs, was reduced to the hands of an -executioner; innocent, however, which consoled her. She told them their -best pattern was that she died in the Catholic religion, holy and good, -which she would never abandon to her latest breath, having been baptized -therein; and that she wanted no fame after her death, except that they -would publish her firmness throughout all France when they returned -there, as she begged of them; and further, though she knew they would -have much heart-break to see her on the scaffold performing this -tragedy, yet she wished them to witness her death; knowing well that -none would be so faithful in making the report of what was now to -happen. - -As she ended these words some one knocked roughly on the door. Her -women, knowing it was the hour they were coming to fetch her, wanted to -make resistance; but she said to them: "My friends, it will do no good; -open the door." - -First there entered a man with a white stick in his hand, who, without -addressing any one, said twice over as he advanced: "I have come--I have -come." The queen, not doubting that he announced to her the moment of -execution, took a little ivory cross in her hand. - -Next came the above-named commissioners; and when they had entered, the -queen said to them: "Well, messieurs, you have come to fetch me. I am -ready and well resolved to die; and I think the queen, my good sister, -does much for me; and you likewise who are seeking me. Let us go." They, -seeing such firmness accompanied by so extreme a beauty and great -gentleness, were much astonished, for never had she seemed more -beautiful, having a colour in her cheeks which embellished her. - -Thus Boccaccio wrote of Sophonisba in her adversity, after the taking of -her husband and the town, speaking to Massinissa: "You would have said," -he relates, "that her misfortune made her more beauteous; it assisted -the sweetness of her face and made it more agreeable and desirable." - -The commissioners were greatly moved to some compassion. Still, as she -left the room they would not let her women follow her, fearing that by -their lamentations, sighs, and outcries they would disturb the -execution. But the queen said to them: "What, gentlemen! would you treat -me with such rigour as not to allow my women to accompany me to death? -Grant me at least this favour." Which they did, on her pledging her word -she would impose silence upon them when the time came to admit them. - -The place of execution was in the hall, where they had raised a broad -scaffold, about twelve feet square and two high, covered with a shabby -black cloth. - -She entered this hall without any change of countenance but with majesty -and grace, as though she were entering a ballroom, where in other days -she had so excellently shone. - -As she neared the scaffold she called to her _matre d'htel_ and said, -"Help me to mount; it is the last service I shall receive from you;" and -she repeated to him what she had already told him in her chamber he was -to tell her son. Then, being on the scaffold, she asked for her almoner, -begging the officers who were there to permit him to come to her, which -they flatly refused,--the Earl of Kent saying to her that he pitied her -greatly for thus clinging to superstitions of a past age, and that she -ought to bear the cross of Christ in her heart and not in her hand. To -which she made answer that it was difficult to bear so beautiful an -image in the hand without the heart being touched by emotion and memory; -and that the most becoming thing in a Christian person was to carry a -real sign of the redemption to the death before her. Then, seeing that -she could not have her almoner, she asked that her women might come as -they had promised her; which was done. One of them, on entering the -hall, seeing her mistress on the scaffold among her executioners, could -not keep from crying out and moaning and losing her control; but the -queen instantly laying her finger on her lips, she restrained herself. - -Her Majesty then began to make her protestations, namely: that never had -she plotted against the State, nor against the life of the queen, her -good sister,--except in trying to regain her liberty, as all captives -may. But she saw plainly that the cause of her death was religion, and -she esteemed herself very happy to finish her life for that cause. She -begged the queen, her good sister, to have pity upon her poor servants -whom she held captive, because of the affection they had shown in -seeking the liberty of their mistress, inasmuch as she was now to die -for all. - -They then brought to her a minister to exhort her [the Dean of -Peterborough], but she said to him in English, "Ah! my friend, give -yourself patience;" declaring that she would not hold converse with him -nor hear any talk of his sect, for she had prepared herself to die -without counsel, and that persons like him could not give her -consolation or contentment of mind. - -Notwithstanding this, seeing that he continued his prayers in his -jargon, she never ceased to say her own in Latin, raising her voice -above that of the minister. After which she said again that she esteemed -herself very happy to shed the last drop of her blood for her religion, -rather than live longer and wait till nature had completed the full -course of her life; and that she hoped in Him whose cross she held in -her hand, before whose feet she was prostrate, that this temporal death, -borne for Him, would be for her the passage, the entrance to, and the -beginning of life eternal with the angels and the blessd, who would -receive her blood and present it before God, in abolition of her sins; -and them she prayed to be her intercessors for the obtaining of pardon -and mercy. - -Such were her prayers, being on her knees on the scaffold, which she -made with a fervent heart; adding others for the pope, the kings of -France, and even for the Queen of England, praying God to illuminate her -with his Holy Spirit; praying also for her son and for the islands of -Britain and Scotland that they might be converted. - -That done, she called her women to help her to remove her black veil, -her headdress, and other ornaments; and as the executioner tried to -touch her she said, "Ah! my friend, do not touch me!" But she could not -prevent his doing so, for after they had lowered her robe to the waist, -that villain pulled her roughly by the arm and took off her doublet -[_pourpoint_] and the body of her petticoat [_corps de cotte_] with its -low collar, so that her neck and her beautiful bosom, more white than -alabaster, were bare and uncovered. - -She arranged herself as quickly as she could, saying she was not -accustomed to strip before others, especially so large a company (it is -said there were four or five hundred persons present), nor to employ the -services of such a valet. - -The executioner then knelt down and asked her pardon; on which she said -that she pardoned him, and all who were the authors of her death with as -much good-will as she prayed that God would show in forgiving her sins. - -Then she told her woman to whom she had given the handkerchief to bring -it to her. - -She wore a cross of gold, in which was a piece of the true cross, with -the image of Our Saviour upon it; this she wished to give to one of her -ladies, but the executioner prevented her, although Her Majesty begged -him, saying that the lady would pay him three times its value. - -Then, all being ready, she kissed her ladies, and bade them retire with -her benediction, making the sign of the cross upon them. And seeing that -one of them could not restrain her sobs she imposed silence, saying she -was bound by a promise that they would cause no trouble by their tears -and moans; and she commanded them to withdraw quietly, and pray to God -for her, and bear faithful testimony to her death in the ancient and -sacred Catholic religion. - -One of the women having bandaged her eyes with the handkerchief, she -threw herself instantly on her knees with great courage and without the -slightest demonstration or sign that she feared death. - -Her firmness was such that all present, even her enemies, were moved; -there were not four persons present who could keep from weeping; they -thought the sight amazing, and condemned themselves in their consciences -for such injustice. - -And because the minister of Satan importuned her, trying to kill her -soul as well as her body, and troubling her prayers, she raised her -voice to surmount his, and said in Latin the psalm: _In te, Domine, -speravi; non confundar in ternum_; which she recited throughout. Having -ended it, she laid her head upon the block, and, as she repeated once -more the words, _In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum_, the -executioner struck her a strong blow with the axe, that drove her -headgear into her head, which did not fall until the third blow,--to -make her martyrdom the greater and more glorious, though it is not the -pain but the cause that makes the martyr. - -This done, he took the head in his hand, and showing it to all present -said: "God save the queen, Elizabeth! Thus perish the enemies of the -gospel!" So saying, he uncoifed her in derision to show her hair, now -white; which, however, she had never shrunk from showing, twisting and -curling it as when her hair was beautiful, so fair and golden; for it -was not age had changed it at thirty-five years old (being now but -forty); it was the griefs, the woes, the sadness she had borne in her -kingdom and in her prison. - -This hapless tragedy ended, her poor ladies, anxious for the honour of -their mistress, addressed themselves to Paulet, her jailer, begging him -that the executioner should not touch the body, but that they might be -allowed to disrobe it after all the spectators had withdrawn, so that no -indignity might be done to it, promising to return all the clothing, -and whatever else he might ask or claim; but that cursd man sent them -roughly away and ordered them to leave the hall. - -Then the executioner unclothed her and handled her at his discretion, -and when he had done what he wished the body was carried to a chamber -adjoining that of her serving-men, and carefully locked in, for fear -they should enter and endeavour to perform any good and pious office. -And to their grief and distress was added this: that they could see her -through a hole, half covered by a piece of green drugget torn from her -billiard table. What brutal indifference! What animosity and -indignity!--not even to have bought her a black cloth a little more -worthy of her! - -The poor body was left there long in that state until it began to -corrupt so that they were forced to salt and embalm it,--but slightly, -to save cost; after which they put it in a leaden coffin, where it was -kept for seven months and then carried to profane ground around the -temple of Petersbrouch [Peterborough Cathedral]. True it is that this -church is dedicated to the name of Saint Peter, and that Queen Catherine -of Spain is buried there as a Catholic; but the place is now profane, as -are all the churches in England in these days. - -There are some who have said and written, even the English who have made -a book on this death and its causes, that the spoils of the late queen -were taken from the executioner by paying him the value in money of her -clothes and her royal ornaments. The cloth with which the scaffold was -covered, even the boards of it were partly burned and partly washed, for -fear that in times to come they might serve superstition; that is to -say, for fear that any careful Catholic might some day buy and preserve -them with respect, honour, and reverence (a fear which may possibly -serve as a prophecy and augury), as the ancient Fathers had a practice -of keeping relics and of taking care with devotion of the monuments of -martyrs. In these days heretics do nothing of the kind. _Quia omnia qu -martyrum erant_, cremabant, as Eusebius says, _et cineres in Rhodanum -spargebant, ut cum corporibus interiret eorum quoque memoria_. -Nevertheless, the memory of this queen, in spite of all things, will -live forever in glory and in triumph. - -Here, then, is the tale of her death, which I hold from the report of -two damoiselles there present, very honourable certainly, very faithful -to their mistress, and obedient to her commands in thus bearing -testimony to her firmness and to her religion. They returned to France -after losing her, for they were French; one was a daughter of Mme. de -Rar, whom I knew in France as one of the ladies of the late queen. I -think that these two honourable damoiselles would have caused the most -barbarous of men to weep at hearing so piteous a tale; which they made -the more lamentable by tears, and by their tender, doleful, and noble -language. - -I also learned much from a book which has been published, entitled "The -Martyrdom of the Queen of Scotland, Dowager of France." Alas! that being -our queen did her no service. It seems to me that being such they ought -to have feared our vengeance for putting her to death; and they would -have thought a hundred times before they came to it, if our king had -chosen to take the initiative. But, because he hated the Messieurs de -Guise, his cousins, he took no pains except as formal duty. Alas! what -could that poor innocent do? This is what many asked. - -Others say that he made many formal appeals. It is true that he sent to -the Queen of England M. de Bellivre, one of the greatest and wisest -senators of France and the ablest, who did not fail to offer all his -arguments, with the king's prayers and threats, and do all else that he -could; and among other things he declared that it did not belong to one -king or sovereign to put to death another king or sovereign, over whom -he had no power either from God or man. - -I have never known a generous person who did not say that the Queen of -England would have won immortal glory had she used mercy to the Scottish -queen; and also she would be exempt from the risk of vengeance, however -tardy, which awaits her for the shedding of innocent blood that cries -aloud for it. It is said that the English queen was well advised of -this; but not only did she pass over the advice of many of her kingdom, -but also that of many great Protestant princes and lords both in France -and Germany,--such as the Prince de Cond and Casimir, since dead, and -the Prince of Orange and others, who had subscribed to this violent -death while not expecting it, but afterwards felt their conscience -burdened, inasmuch as it did not concern them and brought them no -advantage, and they did it only to please the queen; but, in truth, it -did them inestimable detriment. - -They say, too, that Queen Elizabeth, when she sent to notify that poor -Queen Marie of this melancholy sentence, assured her that it was done -with great and sad regret on her part, under constraint of Parliament -which urged it on her. To which Queen Marie answered: "She has much more -power than that to make them obedient to her will when it pleases her; -for she is the princess, or more truly the prince, who has made herself -the most feared and reverenced." - -Now, I rely on the truth of all things, which time will reveal. Queen -Marie will live glorious in this world and in the other; and the time -will come in a few years when some good pope will canonize her in -memory of the martyrdom she suffered for the honour of God and of his -Law. - -It is not to be doubted that if that great, valiant, and generous -prince, the late M. de Guise, the last [Henri, le Balafr, assassinated -at Blois], was not dead, vengeance for so noble a queen and cousin thus -murdered would not still be unborn. I have said enough on so pitiful a -subject, which I end thus:-- - - This queen, of a beauty so incomparable, - Was, with too great injustice, put to death: - To sustain that heart of faith inviolable - Can it be there are none to avenge the wrong? - -One there is who has written her epitaph in Latin verses, the substance -of which is as follows: "Nature had produced this queen to be seen of -all the world: with great admiration was she seen for her beauty and -virtues so long as she lived: but England, envious, placed her on a -scaffold to be seen in derision: yet was well deceived; for the sight -turned praise and admiration to her, and glory and thanksgiving to God." - -I must, before I finish, say a word here in reply to those whom I have -heard speak ill of her for the death of Chastellard, whom the queen -condemned to death in Scotland,--laying upon her that she had justly -suffered for making others suffer. Upon that count there is no justice, -and it should never have been made. Those who know the history will -never blame our queen; and, for that reason, I shall here relate it for -her justification. - -Chastellard was a gentleman of Dauphin, of good family and condition, -for he was great-nephew on his mother's side of that brave M. de Bayard, -whom they say he resembled in figure, which in him was medium, very -beautiful and slender, as they say M. de Bayard had also. He was very -adroit at arms, and inclined in all ways to honourable exercises, such -as firing at a mark, playing at tennis, leaping, and dancing. In short, -he was a most accomplished gentleman; and as for his soul, it was also -very noble; he spoke well, and wrote of the best, even in rhyme, as well -as any gentleman in France, using a most sweet and lovely poesy, like a -knight. - -He followed M. d'Amville, so-called then, now M. le Conntable; but when -we were with M. le Grand Prieur, of the house of Lorraine, who conducted -the queen [to Scotland] the said Chastellard was with us, and, in this -company became known to the queen for his charming actions, above all -for his rhymes; among which he made some to please her in translation -from Italian (which he spoke and knew well), beginning, _Che giova -posseder citt e regni_; which is a very well made sonnet, the substance -of which is as follows: "What serves her to possess so many kingdoms, -cities, towns, and provinces, to command so many peoples, and be -respected, feared, admired of all, if still to sleep a widow, lone and -cold as ice?" - -He made also other rhymes, most beautiful, which I have seen written by -his hand, for they never were imprinted, that I know. - -The queen, therefore, who loved letters, and principally poems, for -sometimes she made dainty ones herself, was pleased in seeing those of -Chastellard, and even made response, and, for that reason, gave him good -cheer and entertained him often. But he, in secrecy, was kindled by a -flame too high, the which its object could not hinder, for who can -shield herself from love? In times gone by the most chaste goddesses and -dames were loved, and still are loved; indeed we love their marble -statues; but for that no lady has been blamed unless she yielded to it. -Therefore, kindle who will these sacred fires! - -Chastellard returned with all our troop to France, much grieved and -desperate in leaving so beautiful an object of his love. After one year -the civil war broke out in France. He, who belonged to the Religion -[Protestant], struggled within himself which side to take, whether to go -to Orlans with the others, or stay with M. d'Amville, and make war -against his faith. On the one hand, it seemed to him too bitter to go -against his conscience; on the other, to take up arms against his master -displeased him hugely; wherefore he resolved to fight for neither the -one nor yet the other, but to banish himself and go to Scotland, let -fight who would, and pass the time away. He opened this project to M. -d'Amville and told him his resolution, begging him to write letters in -his favour to the queen; which he obtained: then, taking leave of one -and all, he went; I saw him go; he bade me adieu and told me in part his -resolution, we being friends. - -He made his voyage, which ended happily, so that, having arrived in -Scotland and discoursing of his intentions to the queen, she received -him kindly and assured him he was welcome. But he, abusing such good -cheer and seeking to attack the sun, perished like Phaton; for, driven -by love and passion, he was presumptuous enough to hide beneath the bed -of her Majesty, where he was discovered when she retired. The queen, not -wishing to make a scandal, pardoned him; availing herself of that good -counsel which the lady of honour gives to her mistress in the "Novels of -the Queen of Navarre," when a seigneur of her brother's Court, slipping -through a trap-door made by him in the alcove, seeking to win her, -brought nothing back but shame and scratches: she wishing to punish his -temerity and complain of him to her brother, the lady of honour -counselled her that, since the seigneur had won nought but shame and -scratches, it was for her honour as a lady of such mark not to be talked -of; for the more it was contended over, the more it would go to the nose -of the world and the mouth of gossips. - -Our Queen of Scotland, being wise and prudent, passed this scandal by; -but the said Chastellard, not content and more than ever mad with love, -returned for the second time, forgetting both his former crime and -pardon. Then the queen, for her honour, and not to give occasion to her -women to think evil, and also to her people if it were known, lost -patience and gave him up to justice, which condemned him quickly to be -beheaded, in view of the crime of such an act. The day having come, -before he died he had in his hand the hymns of M. de Ronsard; and, for -his eternal consolation, he read from end to end the Hymn of Death -(which is well done, and proper not to make death abhorrent), taking no -help of other spiritual book, nor of minister or confessor. - -Having ended that reading wholly, he turned to the spot where he thought -the queen must be, and cried in a loud voice: "Adieu, most beautiful, -most cruel princess in all the world!" then, firmly stretching his neck -to the executioner, he let himself be killed very easily. - -Some have wished to discuss why it was that he called her cruel; whether -because she had no pity on his love, or on his life. But what should she -have done? If, after her first pardon she had granted him a second, she -would on all sides have been slandered; to save her honour it was -needful that the law should take its course. That is the end of this -history. - -[Illustration: MARIA STVART SCO: ET GAL: REGINA] - -"Well, they may say what they will, many a true heart will be sad for -Mary Stuart, e'en if all be true men say of her." That speech, which -Walter Scott puts into the mouth of one of the personages in his novel -of "The Abbot" at the moment when he is preparing the reader for an -introduction to the beautiful queen, remains the last word of posterity -as it was of contemporaries,--the conclusion of history as of poesy. - -Elizabeth living triumphed, and her policy after her lives and triumphs -still, so that Protestantism and the British empire are one and the same -thing. Marie Stuart succumbed, in her person and in that of her -descendants; Charles I. under the axe, James II. in exile, each -continued and added to his heritage of faults, imprudences, and -calamities; the whole race of the Stuarts was cut off, and seems to have -deserved it. But, vanquished in the order of things and under the empire -of fact, and even under that of inexorable reason, the beautiful queen -has regained all in the world of imagination and of pity. She has found, -from century to century, knights, lovers, and avengers. A few years ago, -a Russian of distinction, Prince Alexander Labanoff, began, with -incomparable zeal, a search through the archives, the collections, the -libraries of Europe, for documents emanating directly from Marie Stuart, -the most insignificant as well as the most important of her letters, in -order to connect them and so make a nucleus of history, and also an -authentic shrine, not doubting that interest, serious and tender -interest, would rise, more powerful still, from the bosom of truth -itself. On the appearance of this collection of Prince Labanoff, M. -Mignet produced, from 1847 to 1850, a series of articles in the "Journal -des Savants," in which, not content with appreciating the prince's -documents, he presented from himself new documents, hitherto -unpublished and affording new lights. Since then, leaving the form of -criticism and dissertation, M. Mignard has taken this fine subject as a -whole, and has written a complete narrative upon it, grave, compact, -interesting, and definitive, which he is now publishing [1851]. - -In the meantime, about a year ago, there appeared a "History of Marie -Stuart" by M. Dargaud, a writer of talent, whose book has been much -praised and much read. M. Dargaud made, in his own way, various -researches about the heroine of his choice; he went expressly to England -and Scotland, and visited as a pilgrim all the places and scenes of -Marie Stuart's sojourns and captivities. While drawing abundantly from -preceding writers, M. Dargaud does them justice with effusion and -cordiality; he sheds through every line of his history the sentiment of -exalted pity and poesy inspired within him by the memory of that royal -and Catholic victim; he deserves the fine letter which Mme. Sand wrote -him from Nohant, April 10, 1851, in which she congratulates him, almost -without criticism, and speaks of Marie Stuart with charm and eloquence. -If I do not dwell at greater length upon the work of M. Dargaud, it is, -I must avow, because I am not of that too emotional school which softens -and enervates history. I think that history should not necessarily be -dull and wearisome, but still less do I think it should be impassioned, -sentimental, and as if magnetic. Without wishing to depreciate the -qualities of M. Dargaud, which are too much in the taste of the day not -to be their own recommendation, I shall follow in preference a more -severe historian, whose judgment and whose method of procedure inspire -me with confidence. - -Marie Stuart, born December 8, 1542, six days before the death of her -father, who was then combating, like all the kings his predecessors, a -turbulent nobility, began as an orphan her fickle and unfortunate -destiny. Storms assailed her in her cradle,-- - - "As if, e'en then, inhuman Fortune - Would suckle me with sadness and with pain," - -as an old poet, in I know not what tragedy, has made her say. Crowned at -the age of nine months, disputed already in marriage between the French -and English parties, each desiring to prevail in Scotland, she was -early, through the influence of her mother, Marie de Guise (sister of -the illustrious Guises), bestowed upon the Dauphin of France, the son of -King Henri II. August 13, 1548, Marie Stuart, then rather less than six -years old, landed at Brest. Betrothed to the young dauphin, who, on his -father's death became Franois II., she was brought up among the -children of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, and remained in France, -first as dauphine, then as queen, until the premature death of her -husband. She lived there in every respect as a French princess. These -twelve or thirteen years in France were her joy and her charm, and the -source of her ruin. - -She grew up in the bosom of the most polished, most learned, most -gallant Court of those times, shining there in her early bloom like a -rare and most admired marvel, knowing music and all the arts (_divin -Palladis artes_), learning the languages of antiquity, speaking themes -in Latin, superior in French rhetoric, enjoying an intercourse with -poets, and being herself their rival with her poems. Scotland, during -all this time, seemed to her a barbaric and savage land, which she -earnestly hoped never to see again, or, at any rate, never to inhabit. -Trained to a policy wholly of the Court and wholly personal, they made -her sign at Fontainebleau at the time of her marriage (1558) a secret -deed of gift of the kingdom of Scotland to the kings of France, at the -same time that she publicly gave adherence to the conditions which the -commissioners from Scotland had attached to the marriage, conditions -under which she pledged herself to maintain the integrity, the laws, and -the liberties of her native land. It was at this very moment that she -secretly made gift to the kings of France of her whole kingdom by an act -of her own good-will and power. The Court of France prompted her to that -imprudent treachery at the age of sixteen. Another very impolitic -imprudence, which proclaimed itself more openly, was committed when -Henri II., on the death of Mary Tudor, made Marie Stuart, the dauphine, -bear the arms of England beside those of Scotland, thus presenting her -thenceforth as a declared rival and competitor of Elizabeth. - -When Marie Stuart suddenly lost her husband (December 5, 1560), and it -was decided that she, a widow at eighteen, should, instead of remaining -in her dowry of Touraine, return to her kingdom of Scotland to bring -order to the civil troubles there existing, universal mourning took -place in the world of young French seigneurs, noble ladies, and poets. -The latter consigned their regrets to many poems which picture Marie -Stuart to the life in this decisive hour, the first really sorrowful -hour she had ever known. We see her refined, gracious, of a delicate, -fair complexion, the form and bust of queen or goddess,--L'Hpital -himself had said of her, after his fashion, in a grave epithalamium:-- - - "Adspectu veneranda, putes ut Numen inesse: - Tantus in ore decor, majestas regia tanta est!-- - -of a long hand, elegant and slender (_gracilis_), an alabaster forehead -dazzling beneath the crape, and with golden hair--which needs a brief -remark. It is a poet (Ronsard) who speaks of "the gold of her ringed and -braided hair," and poets, as we know, employ their words a little -vaguely. Mme. Sand, speaking of a portrait she had seen as a child in -the English Convent, says, without hesitation, "Marie was beautiful, but -red-haired." M. Dargaud speaks of another portrait, "in which a sunray -lightens" he says rather oddly, "the curls of her living and electric -hair." But Walter Scott, reputed the most correct of historical -romance-writers, in describing Marie Stuart a prisoner in Lochleven -Castle, shows us, as though he had seen them, her thick tresses of "dark -brown," which escaped now and then from her coif. Here we are far from -the red or golden tints, and I see no other way of conciliating these -differences than to rest on "that hair so beautiful, so blond and fair" -[_si blonds et cendrs_] which Brantme, an ocular witness, -admired,--hair that captivity whitened, leaving the poor queen of -forty-six "quite bald" in the hands of her executioner, as l'Estoile -relates. But at nineteen, the moment of her departure from France, the -young widow was in all the glory of her beauty, except for a brilliancy -of colour, which she lost at the death of her first husband, giving -place to a purer whiteness. - -Withal a lively, graceful, and sportive mind, and French raillery, an -ardent soul, capable of passion, open to desire, a heart which knew not -how to draw back when flame or fancy or enchantment stirred it. Such was -the queen, adventurous and poetical, who tore herself from France in -tears, sent by politic uncles to recover her authority amid the roughest -and most savage of "Frondes." - -Scotland, since Marie Stuart left it as a child, had undergone great -changes; the principal was the Reformed religion which had taken root -there and extended itself vigorously. The great reformer Knox preached -the new doctrine, which found in Scotland stern, energetic souls ready -made to receive it. The old struggle of the lords and barons against the -kings was complicated and redoubled now by that of cities and people -against the brilliant beliefs of the Court and the Catholic hierarchy. -The birth of modern society, of civil equality, of respect for the -rights of all was painfully working itself out through barbaric scenes, -and by means of fanaticism itself. Alone and without counsel, contending -with the lords and the nobility as her ancestors had done, Marie Stuart, -quick, impulsive, subject to predilections and to antipathies, was -already insufficient for the work; what therefore could it be when she -found herself face to face with a religious party, born and growing -during recent years, face to face with an argumentative, gloomy party, -moral and daring, discussing rationally, Bible in hand, the right of -kings, and pushing logic even into prayer? Coming from a literary and -artificial Court, there was nothing in her that could comprehend these -grand and voiceless movements of the people, either to retard them or -turn them to her own profit by adapting herself to them. "She returned," -says M. Mignet, "full of regrets and disgust, to the barren mountains -and the uncultured inhabitants of Scotland. More lovable than able, very -ardent and in no way cautious, she returned with a grace that was out of -keeping with her surroundings, a dangerous beauty, a keen but variable -intellect, a generous but rash soul, a taste for the arts, a love of -adventure, and all the passions of a woman joined to the excessive -liberty of a widow." - -And to complicate the peril of this precarious situation she had for -neighbour in England a rival queen, Elizabeth, whom she had first -offended by claiming her title, and next, and no less, by a feminine and -proclaimed superiority of beauty and grace,--a rival queen capable, -energetic, rigid, and dissimulating, representing the contrary religious -opinion, and surrounded by able counsellors, firm, consistent, and -committed to the same cause. The seven years that Marie Stuart spent in -Scotland after her return from France (August 19, 1561) to her -imprisonment (May 18, 1568) are filled with all the blunders and all the -faults that could be committed by a young and thoughtless princess, -impulsive, unreflecting, and without shrewdness or ability except in the -line of her passion, never in view of a general political purpose. The -policy of Mme. de Longueville, during the Fronde, seems to me of the -same character. - -As to other faults, the moral faults of poor Marie Stuart, they are as -well known and demonstrated to-day as faults of that kind can well be. -Mme. Sand, always very indulgent, regards as the three black spots upon -her life the abandonment of Chastellard, her feigned caresses to the -hapless Darnley, and her forgetfulness of Bothwell. - -Chastellard, as we know, was a gentleman of Dauphin, musician and poet, -in the train of the servitors and adorers of the queen, who at first was -very agreeable to her. Chastellard was one of the troop who escorted -Marie Stuart to Scotland, and sometime later, urged by his passion, he -returned there. But not knowing how to restrain himself, or to keep, as -became him, to poetic passion while waiting to inspire, if he could, a -real one, he was twice discovered beneath the bed of the queen; the -second time she lost patience and turned him over to the law. Poor -Chastellard was beheaded; he died reciting, so they say, a hymn of -Ronsard's, and crying aloud: "O cruel Lady!" After so stern an act, to -which she was driven in fear of scandal and to put her honour above all -attainder and suspicion, Marie Stuart had, it would seem, but one course -to pursue, namely: to remain the most severe and most virtuous of -princesses. - -But her severity for Chastellard, though shown for effect, is merely a -peccadillo in comparison with her conduct to Darnley, her second -husband. By marrying this young man (July 29, 1565), her vassal, but of -the race of the Stuarts and her own family, Marie escaped the diverse -political combinations which were striving to attract her to a second -marriage; and it would have been, perhaps, a sensible thing to do, if -she had not done it as an act of caprice and passion. But she fell in -love with Darnley in a single day, and became disgusted in the next. -This tall, weakly youth, timid and conceited by turns, with a heart -"soft as wax," had nothing in him which subjugates a woman and makes her -respect him. A woman such as Marie Stuart, changeable, ardent, easily -swayed, with the sentiment of her weakness and of her impulsiveness, -likes to find a master and at moments a tyrant in the man she loves, -whereas she soon despises her slave and creature when he is nought but -that; she much prefers an arm of iron to an effeminate hand. - -Less than six months after her marriage Marie, wholly disgusted, -consoled herself with an Italian, David Riccio, a man thirty-two years -of age, equally well fitted for business or pleasure, who advised her -and served her as secretary, and was gifted with a musical talent well -suited to commend him to women in other ways. The feeble Darnley -confided his jealousy to the discontented lords and gentlemen, and they, -in the interests of their faction, prodded his vengeance and offered to -serve it with their sword. Ministers and Presbyterian pastors took part -in the affair. The whole was plotted and managed with perfect unanimity -as a chastisement of Heaven, and, what is more, by help of deeds and -formal agreements which simulated legality. The queen and her favourite, -apparently before they had any suspicions, were taken in a net. David -Riccio was seized by the conspirators while supping in Marie's cabinet -(March 9, 1566), Darnley being present, and from there he was dragged -into the next room and stabbed. Marie, at this date, was six months -pregnant by her husband. On that day, outraged in honour and embittered -in feeling, she conceived for Darnley a deeper contempt mingled with -horror, and swore to avenge herself on the murderers. For this purpose -she bided her time, she dissimulated; for the first time in her life she -controlled herself and restrained her actions. She became politic--as -the nature is of passionate women--only in the interests of her passion -and her vengeance. - -Here is the gravest and the most irreparable incident of her life. Even -after we have fully represented to ourselves what the average morality -of the sixteenth century, with all the treachery and atrocities it -tolerated, was, we are scarcely prepared for this. Marie Stuart's first -desire was to revenge herself on the lords and gentlemen who had lent -their daggers to Darnley, rather than on her weak and timid husband. To -reach her end she reconciled herself with the latter and detached him -from the conspirators, his accomplices. She forced him to disavow them, -thus degrading and sinking him in his own estimation. At this point she -remained as long as a new passion was not added to her supreme contempt. -Meantime her child was born (June 19), and she made Darnley the father -of a son who resembled both parents on their worst sides, the future -James I. of England, that soul of a casuist in a king. But by this time -a new passion was budding in the open heart of Marie Stuart. He whom she -now chose had neither Darnley's feebleness nor the salon graces of a -Riccio; he was the Earl of Bothwell, a man of thirty, ugly, but martial -in aspect, brave, bold, violent, and capable of daring all things. To -him it was that this flexible and tender will was henceforth to cling -for its support. Marie Stuart has found her master; and him she will -obey in all things, without scruple, without remorse, as happens always -in distracted passion. - -But how rid herself of a husband henceforth odious? How unite herself to -the man she loves and whose ambition is not of a kind to stop half way? -Here again we need--not to excuse, but to explain Marie Stuart--we need -to represent to our minds the morality of that day. A goodly number of -the same lords who had taken part in Riccio's murder, and who were -leagued together by deeds and documents, offered themselves to the -queen, and, for the purpose of recovering favour, let her see the means -of getting rid of a husband who was now so irksome. She answered this -overture by merely speaking of a divorce and the difficulty of obtaining -it. But these men, little scrupulous, said to her plainly, by the mouth -of Lethington, the ablest and most politic of them all: "Madame, give -yourself no anxiety; we, the leaders of the nobility, and the heads of -your Grace's Council, will find a way to deliver you from him without -prejudice to your son; and though my Lord Murray, here present (the -illegitimate brother of Marie Stuart), is little less scrupulous as a -Protestant than your Grace is as a Papist, I feel sure that he will look -through his fingers, see us act, and say nothing." - -The word was spoken; Marie had only to do as her brother did, "look -through her fingers," as the vulgar saying was, and let things go on -without taking part in them. She did take a part however; she led into -the trap, by a feigned return of tenderness, the unfortunate Darnley, -then convalescing from the small-pox. She removed his suspicions without -much trouble, and, recovering her empire over him, persuaded him to come -in a litter from Glasgow to Kirk-of-Field, at the gates of Edinburgh, -where there was a species of parsonage, little suitable for the -reception of a king and queen, but very convenient for the crime now to -be committed. - -There Darnley perished, strangled with his page, during the night of -February 9, 1567. The house was blown up by means of a barrel of -gunpowder, placed there to give the idea of an accident. During this -time Marie had gone to a masked ball at Holyrood, not having quitted her -husband until that evening, when all was prepared to its slightest -detail. Bothwell, who was present for a time at the ball, left Edinburgh -after midnight and presided at the killing. These circumstances are -proved in an irrefragable manner by the testimony of witnesses, by the -confessions of the actors, and by the letters of Marie Stuart, the -authenticity of which M. Mignard, with decisive clearness, places beyond -all doubt. She felt that in giving herself thus to Bothwell's projects -she furnished him with weapons against herself and gave him grounds to -distrust her in turn. He might say to himself, as the Duke of Norfolk -said later, that "the pillow of such a woman was too hard" to sleep -upon. During the preparation of this horrible trap she more than once -showed her repugnance to deceive the poor sick dupe who trusted her. "I -shall never rejoice," she writes, "through deceiving him who trusts me. -Nevertheless, command me in all things. But do not conceive an ill -opinion of me; because you yourself are the cause of this; for I would -never do anything against him for my own particular vengeance." And -truly this rle of Clytemnestra, or of Gertrude in Hamlet was not in -accordance with her nature, and could only have been imposed upon her. -But passion rendered her for this once insensible to pity, and made her -heart (she herself avows it) "as hard as diamond." Marie Stuart soon put -the climax to her ill-regulated passion and desires by marrying -Bothwell; thus revolting the mind of her whole people, whose morality, -fanatical as it was, was never in the least depraved, and was far more -upright than that of the nobles. - -The crime was echoed beyond the seas. L'Hpital, that representative of -the human conscience in a dreadful era, heard, in his country retreat, -of the misguided conduct of her whose early grace and first marriage he -had celebrated in his stately epithalamium; and he now recorded his -indignation in another Latin poem, wherein he recounts the horrors of -that funereal night, and does not shrink from calling the wife and the -young mother "the murderess, alas! of a father whose child was still at -her breast." - -On the 15th of May, three months--only three months after the murder, at -the first smile of spring, the marriage with the murderer was -celebrated. Marie Stuart justified in all ways Shakespeare's saying: -"Frailty, thy name is Woman." For none was ever more a woman than Marie -Stuart. - -Here I am unable to admit the third reproach of Mme. Sand, that of Marie -Stuart's forgetfulness of Bothwell. I see, on the contrary, through all -the obstacles, all the perils immediately following this marriage, that -Marie had no other idea than that of avoiding separation from her -violent and domineering husband. She loved him so madly that she said to -whosoever might hear her (April, 1567) that "she would quit France, -England, and her own country, and follow him to the ends of the earth in -nought but a white petticoat, rather than be parted from him." And soon -after, forced by the lords to tear herself from Bothwell, she reproaches -them bitterly, asking but one thing, "that both be put in a vessel and -sent away where Fortune led them." It was only enforced separation, -final imprisonment, and the impossibility of communication, which -compelled the rupture. It is true that Marie, a prisoner in England, -solicited the Parliament of Scotland to annul her marriage with -Bothwell, in the hope she then had of marrying the Duke of Norfolk, who -played the lover to herself and crown, though she never saw him. But, -Bothwell being a fugitive and ruined, can we reproach Marie Stuart for a -project from which she hoped for restoration and deliverance? Her -passion for Bothwell had been a delirium, which drove her into -connivance with crime. That fever calmed, Marie Stuart turned her mind -to the resources which presented themselves, among which was the offer -of her hand. Her wrong-doing does not lie there; amid so many -infidelities and horrors, it would be pushing delicacy much too far to -require eternity of sentiment for the remains of an unbridled and bloody -passion. That which is due to such passions, when they leave no hatred -behind them, that which becomes them best, is oblivion. - -Such conduct, and such deeds, crowned by her heedless flight into -England and the imprudent abandonment of her person to Elizabeth, seem -little calculated to make the touching and pathetic heroine we are -accustomed to admire and cherish in Marie Stuart. Yet she deserves all -pity; and we have but to follow her through the third and last portion -of her life, through that long, unjust, and sorrowful captivity of -nineteen years (May 18, 1568, to February 5, 1587) to render it -unconsciously. Struggling without defence against a crafty and ambitious -rival, liable to mistakes from friends outside, the victim of a grasping -and tenacious policy which never let go its prey and took so long a time -to torture before devouring it, she never for a single instant fails -towards herself; she rises ever higher. That faculty of hope which so -often had misled her becomes the grace of her condition and a virtue. -She moves the whole world in the interest of her misfortunes; she stirs -it with a charm all-powerful. Her cause transforms and magnifies itself. -It is no longer that of a passionate and heedless woman punished for her -frailties and her inconstancy; it is that of the legitimate heiress of -the crown of England, exposed in her dungeon to the eyes of the world, -a faithful, unshaken Catholic, who refuses to sacrifice her faith to the -interests of her ambition or even to the salvation of her life. The -beauty and grandeur of such a rle were fitted to stir the tender and -naturally believing heart of Marie Stuart. She fills her soul with that -rle; she substitutes it, from the first moment of her captivity, for -all her former personal sentiments, which, little by little, subside and -expire within her as the fugitive occasions which aroused them pass -away. She seems to remember them no more than she does the waves and the -foam of those brilliant lakes that she has crossed. For nineteen years -the whole of Catholicity is disquieted and impassioned about her; and -she is there, half-heroine, half-martyr, making the signal and waving -her banner behind the bars. Captive that she was, do not accuse her of -conspiring against Elizabeth; for with her ideas of right divine and of -absolute kingship from sovereign to sovereign, it was not conspiring, -she being a prisoner, to seek for the triumph of her cause; it was -simply pursuing the war. - -From the moment when Marie Stuart is a prisoner, when we see her -crushed, deprived of all that comforts and consoles, infirm, alas! with -whitened hair before her time, when we hear her, in the longest and most -remarkable of her letters to Elizabeth (November 8, 1582), repeating for -the twentieth time: "Your prison, without right, without just grounds, -has already so destroyed my body that you will soon see an end if this -lasts much longer; so that my enemies have no great time to satisfy -their cruelty against me; nought remains to me but my soul, the which it -is not in your power to render captive,"--when we dwell on this mixture -of pride and plaint, pity carries us along; our hearts speak; the tender -charm with which she was endowed, and which acted upon all who -approached her, asserts its power and lays its spell upon us even at -this distance. It is not by the text of a scribe, nor yet with the -logic of a statesman that we judge her; it is with the heart of a -knight, or rather, let me say, with that of a man. Humanity, pity, -religion, supreme poetic grace, all those invincible and immortal powers -feel themselves concerned in her person and cry to us across the ages. -"Bear these tidings," she said to her old Melvil at the moment of death: -"that I die firm in my religion, a true Catholic, a true Scotchwoman, a -true Frenchwoman." These beliefs, these patriotisms and nationalities -thus evoked by Marie Stuart have made that long echo that replies to her -with tears and love. - -What reproach can we make to one who, after nineteen years of anguish -and moral torture, searched, during the night that preceded her death, -in the "Lives of the Saints" (which her ladies were accustomed to read -to her nightly) for some great sinner whom God had pardoned. She stopped -at the story of the penitent thief, which seemed to her the most -reassuring example of human confidence and divine mercy; and while Jean -Kennedy, one of her ladies, read it to her, she said: "He was a great -sinner, but not so great as I. I implore our Lord, in memory of His -Passion, to remember and have mercy upon me, as He had upon him, in the -hour of death." Those true and sincere feelings, that contrite humility -in her last and sublime moments, this perfect intelligence, and profound -need of pardon, leave us without means of seeing any stain of the past -upon her except through tears. - -It was thus that old tienne Pasquier felt. Having to relate in his -"Recherches" the death of Marie Stuart, he compares it with the tragic -history of the Conntable de Saint-Pol, and that of the Conntable de -Bourbon, which left him under a mixture of conflicting sentiments. "But -in that of which I now discourse," he says, "methinks I see only tears; -and is there, by chance, a man who, reading this, will not forgive his -eyes?" - -M. Mignet, who examines all things as an historian, and gives but short -pages to emotion, has admirably distinguished and explained the -different phases of Marie Stuart's captivity, and the secret springs -which were set to work at various periods. He has, especially, cast a -new light, aided by Spanish documents in the Archives of Simancas, on -the slow preparations of the enterprise undertaken by Philip II., that -fruitless and tardy crusade, delayed until after the death of Marie -Stuart, which ended in the disastrous shipwreck of the invincible -Armada. - -Issuing from this brilliant and stormy episode of the history of the -sixteenth century, which has been so strongly and judiciously set before -us by M. Mignet, full of these scenes of violence, treachery, and -iniquity, and without having the innocence to believe that humanity has -done forever with such deeds, we congratulate ourselves in spite of -everything, and rejoice that we live in an age of softened and -ameliorated public morals. We exclaim with M. de Tavannes, when he -relates in his "Memoirs" the life and death of Marie Stuart: "Happy he -who lives in a safe State; where good and evil are rewarded and punished -according to their deserts." Happy the times and the communities where a -certain general morality and human respect for opinion, where a penal -Code, and especially the continual check of publicity, exist to -interdict, even to the boldest, those criminal resolutions which every -human heart, if left to itself, is ever tempted to engender. - -SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1851). - - - - -DISCOURSE IV. - -LISABETH OF FRANCE, QUEEN OF SPAIN. - - -I write here of the Queen of Spain, lisabeth of France, a true daughter -of France in everything, a beautiful, wise, virtuous, spiritual, and -good queen if ever there was one; and I believe since Saint lisabeth no -one has borne that name who surpassed her in all sorts of virtues and -perfections, although that beautiful name of lisabeth has been fateful -of goodness, virtue, sanctity, and perfection to those who have borne -it, as many believe.[11] - -When she was born at Fontainebleau, the king her grandfather, and her -father and mother made very great joy of it; you would have said she was -a lucky star bringing good hap to France; for her baptism brought peace -to us, as did her marriage. See how good fortunes are gathered in one -person to be distributed on diverse occasions; for then it was that -peace was made with King Henry [VIII.] of England; and to confirm and -strengthen it our king made him her sponsor and gave to his goddaughter -the beautiful name of lisabeth; at whose birth and baptism the -rejoicings were as great as at those of the little King Franois the -last. - -Child as she was, she promised to be some great thing at a future day; -and when she came to be grown up she promised it more surely still; for -all virtue and goodness abounded in her, so that the whole Court -admired her, and prognosticated a fine grandeur and great royalty to her -in time. So they say that when King Henri married his second daughter, -Madame Claude, to the Duc de Lorraine, there were some who remonstrated -against the wrong done to the elder in marrying the younger before her; -but the king made this response: "My daughter lisabeth is such that a -duchy is not for her to marry. She must have a kingdom; and even so, not -one of the lesser but one of the greater kingdoms; so great is she -herself in all things; which assures me that she can miss none, -wherefore she can wait." - -You would have said he prophesied the future. He did not fail on his -side to seek and procure one for her; for when peace was made between -the two kings at Cercan she was promised in marriage to Don Carlos, -Prince of Spain, a brave and gallant prince and the image of his -grandfather, the Emperor Charles, had he lived. But the King of Spain, -his father, becoming a widower by the death of the Queen of England, his -wife and cousin-german, and having seen the portrait of Madame lisabeth -and finding her very beautiful and much to his liking, cut the ground -from under the feet of his son and did himself the charity of wedding -her himself. On which the French and Spaniards said with one voice that -one would think she was conceived and born before the world and reserved -by God until his will had joined her with this great king, her husband; -for it must have been predestined that he, being so great, so powerful, -and thus approaching in all grandeur to the skies, should marry no other -princess than one so perfect and accomplished. When the Duke of Alba -came to see her and espouse her for the king, his master, he found her -so extremely agreeable and suited to the said master that he said she -was a princess who would make the King of Spain very easily forget his -grief for his last two wives, the English and the Portuguese. - -After this, as I have heard from a good quarter, the said prince, Don -Carlos, having seen her, became so distractedly in love with her, and so -full of jealousy, that he bore a great grudge against his father, and -was so angry with him for having deprived him of so fine a prize that he -never loved him more, but reproached him with the great wrong and insult -he had done him in taking her who had been promised to him solemnly in -the treaty of peace. They do say that this was, in part, the cause of -his death, with other topics which I shall not speak of at this hour; -for he could not keep himself from loving her in his soul, honouring and -revering her, so charming and agreeable did she seem in his eyes, as -certainly she was in everything. - -Her face was handsome, her hair and eyes so shaded her complexion and -made it the more attractive that I have heard say in Spain that the -courtiers dared not look upon her for fear of being taken in love and -causing jealousy to the king, her husband, and, consequently, running -risk of their lives. - -The Church people did the same from fear of temptation, they not having -strength to command their flesh to look at her without being tempted. -Although she had had the small-pox, after being grown-up and married, -they had so well preserved her face with poultices of fresh eggs (a very -proper thing for that purpose) that no marks appeared. I saw the queen, -her mother, very much concerned to send her by many couriers many -remedies; but this of the egg-poultice was sovereign. - -Her figure was very fine, taller than that of her sisters, which made -her much admired in Spain, where such tall women are rare, and for that -the more esteemed. And with this figure she had a bearing, a majesty, a -gesture, a gait and grace that intermingled the Frenchwoman with the -Spaniard in sweetness and gravity; so that, as I myself saw, when she -passed through her Court, or went out to certain places, whether -churches, or monasteries, or gardens, there was such great press to see -her, and the crowd of persons was so thick, there was no turning round -in the mob; and happy was he or she who could say in the evening, "I saw -the queen." It was said, and I saw it myself, that no queen was ever -loved in Spain like her (begging pardon of the Queen Isabella of -Castile), and her subjects called her _la reyna de la paz y de la -bondad_, that is to say, "the queen of peace and kindness;" but our -Frenchmen called her "the olive-branch of peace." - -A year before she came to France to visit her mother at Bayonne, she -fell ill to such extremity that the physicians gave her up. On which a -little Italian doctor, who had no great vogue at Court, presenting -himself to the king, declared that if he were allowed to act he would -cure her; which the king permitted, she being almost dead. The doctor -undertook her and gave her a medicine, after which they suddenly saw the -colour return miraculously to her face, her speech came back, and then, -soon after, her convalescence began. Nevertheless the whole Court and -all the people of Spain blocked the roads with processions and comings -and goings to churches and hospitals for her health's sake, some in -shirts, others bare-footed and bare-headed, offering oblations, prayers, -orisons, intercessions to God, with fasts, macerations of the body, and -other good and saintly devotions for her health; so that every one -believes firmly that these good prayers, tears, vows, and cries to God -were the cause of her cure, rather than the medicine of that doctor. - -I arrived in Spain a month after this recovery of her health; but I saw -so much devotion among the people in giving thanks to God, by ftes, -rejoicings, magnificences, fireworks, that there was no doubting in any -way how much they felt. I saw nothing else in Spain as I travelled -through it, and reaching the Court just two days after she left her -room, I saw her come out and get into her coach, sitting at the door of -it, which was her usual place, because such beauty should not be hidden -within, but displayed openly. - -She was dressed in a gown of white satin all covered with silver -trimmings, her face uncovered. I think that nothing was ever seen more -beautiful than this queen, as I had the boldness to tell her; for she -had given me a right good welcome and cheer, coming as I did from France -and the Court, and bringing her news of the king, her good brother, and -the queen, her good mother; for all her joy and pleasure was to know of -them. It was not I alone who thought her beautiful, but all the Court -and all the people of Madrid thought so likewise; so that it might be -said that even illness favoured her, for after doing her such cruel harm -it embellished her skin, making it so delicate and polished that she was -certainly more beautiful than ever before. - -Leaving thus her chamber for the first time, to do the best and -saintliest thing she could she went to the churches to give thanks to -God for the favour of her health; and this good work she continued for -the space of fifteen days, not to speak of the vow she made to Our Lady -of Guadalupe; letting the whole people see her face uncovered (as was -her usual fashion) till you might have thought they worshipped her, so -to speak, rather than honoured or revered her. - -So when she died [1568], as I have heard the late M. de Lignerolles, who -saw her die, relate, he having gone to carry to the King of Spain the -news of the victory of Jarnac, never were a people so afflicted, so -disconsolate; none ever shed so many tears, being unable to recover -themselves in any way, but mourning her with despair incessantly. - -She made a noble end [_at._ 23], leaving this world with firm courage, -and desiring much the other. - -Sinister things have been said of her death, as having been hastened. I -have heard one of her ladies tell that the first time she saw her -husband she looked at him so fixedly that the king, not liking it, said -to her: _Que mirais? Si tengo canas?_ which means: "What are you gazing -at? Is my hair white?" These words touched her so much to the heart that -ever after her ladies augured ill for her. - -It is said that a Jesuit, a man of importance, speaking of her one day -in a sermon, and praising her rare virtues, charities, and kindness, let -fall the words that she had wickedly been made to die, innocent as she -was; for which he was banished to the farthest depths of the Indies of -Spain. This is very true, as I have been told. - -There are other conjectures so great that silence must be kept about -them; but very true it is that this princess was the best of her time -and loved by every one. - -So long as she lived in Spain never did she forget the affection she -bore to France, and in that was not like Germaine de Foix, second wife -of King Ferdinand, who when she saw herself raised to such high rank -became so haughty that she made no account of her own country, and -disdained it so much that, when Louis XII., her uncle, and Ferdinand -came to Savonne, she, being with her husband, held herself so high that -never would she notice a Frenchman, not even her brother Gaston de Foix, -Duc de Nemours, neither would she deign to speak or look at the greatest -persons of France who were present; for which she was much ridiculed. -But after the death of her husband she suffered for this, having fallen -from her high estate and being held in no great account, whereat she -was miserable. They say there are none so vainglorious as persons of low -estate who rise to grandeur; not that I mean to say that princess was of -low estate, being of the house of Foix, a very illustrious and great -house; but from simple daughter of a count to be queen of so great a -kingdom was a rise which gave occasion to feel much glory, but not to -forget herself or abuse her station towards a King of France, her uncle, -and her nearest relations and others of the land of her birth. In this -she showed she lacked a great mind; or else that she was foolishly -vainglorious. For surely there is a difference between the house of Foix -and the house of France; not that I mean to say the house of Foix is not -great and very noble, but the house of France--hey! - -Our Queen lisabeth never did like that. She was born great in herself, -great in mind and very able, so that a royal grandeur could not fail -her. She had, if she had wished it, double cause over Germaine de Foix -to be haughty and arrogant, for she was daughter of a great King of -France, and married to the greatest king in the world, he being not the -monarch of one kingdom, but of many, or, as one might say, of all the -Spains,--Jerusalem, the Two Sicilies, Majorca, Minorca, Sardinia, and -the Western Indies, which seem indeed a world, besides being lord of -infinitely more lands and greater seigneuries than Ferdinand ever had. -Therefore we should laud our princess for her gentleness, which is well -becoming in a great personage towards each and all; and likewise for the -affection she showed to Frenchmen, who, on arriving in Spain, were -welcomed by her with so benign a face, the least among them as well as -the greatest, that none ever left her without feeling honoured and -content. I can speak for myself, as to the honour she did me in talking -to me often during the time I stayed there; asking me, at all hours, -news of the king, the queen her mother, messieurs her brothers, and -madame her sister, with others of the Court, not forgetting to name -them, each and all, and to inquire about them; so that I wondered much -how she could remember these things as if she had just left the Court of -France; and I often asked her how it was possible she could keep such -memories in the midst of her grandeur. - -When she came to Bayonne she showed herself just as familiar with the -ladies and maids of honour, neither more nor less, as she was when a -girl; and as for those who were absent or married since her departure, -she inquired with great interest about them all. She did the same to the -gentlemen of her acquaintance, and to those who were not, informing -herself as to who the latter were, and saying: "Such and such were at -Court in my day, I knew them well; but these were not, and I desire to -know them." In short, she contented every one. - -When she made her entry into Bayonne she was mounted on an ambling -horse, most superbly and richly caparisoned with pearl embroideries -which had formerly been used by the deceased empress when she made her -entries into her towns, and were thought to be worth one hundred -thousand crowns, and some say more. She had a noble grace on horseback, -and it was fine to see her; she showed herself so beautiful and so -agreeable that every one was charmed with her. - -We all had commands to go to meet her, and accompany her on this entry, -as indeed it was our duty to do; and we were gratified when, having made -her our reverence, she did us the honour to thank us; and to me above -all she gave good greeting, because it was scarcely four months since I -had left her in Spain; which touched me much, receiving such favour -above my companions and more honour than belonged to me. - -On my return from Portugal and from Pignon de Belis [Penon de Velez], a -fortress which was taken in Barbary, she welcomed me very warmly, asking -me news of the conquest and of the army. She presented me to Don Carlos, -who came into her room, together with the princess, and to Don Juan [of -Austria, Philip II.'s brother, the conqueror of Lepanto]. I was two days -without going to see her, on account of a toothache I had got upon the -sea. She asked Riberac, maid of honour, where I was and if I were ill, -and having heard what my trouble was she sent me her apothecary, who -brought me an herb very special for that ache, which, on merely being -held in the palm of the hand, cures the pain suddenly, as it did very -quickly for me. - -I can boast that I was the first to bring the queen-mother word of Queen -lisabeth's desire to come to France and see her, for which she thanked -me much both then and later; for the Queen of Spain was her good -daughter, whom she loved above the others, and who returned her the -like; for Queen lisabeth so honoured, respected, and feared her that I -have heard her say she never received a letter from the queen, her -mother, without trembling and dreading lest she was angry with her and -had written some painful thing; though, God knows, she had never said -one to her since she was married, nor been angry with her; but the -daughter feared the mother so much that she always had that -apprehension. - -It was on this journey to Bayonne that Pompadour the elder having killed -Chambret at Bordeaux, wrongfully as some say, the queen-mother was so -angry that if she could have caught him she would have had him beheaded, -and no one dared speak to her of mercy. - -M. Strozzi, who was fond of the said Pompadour, bethought him of -employing his sister, Signora Clarice Strozzi, Comtesse de Tenda, whom -the Queen of Spain loved from her earliest years, they having studied -together. The said countess, who loved her brother, did not refuse him, -but begged the Queen of Spain to intercede; who answered that she would -do anything for her except that, because she dreaded to irritate and -annoy the queen, her mother, and displease her. But the countess -continuing to importune her, she employed a third person who sounded the -ford privately, telling the queen-mother that the queen, her daughter, -would have asked this pardon to gratify the said countess had she not -feared to displease her. To which the queen-mother replied that the -thing must be wholly impossible to make her refuse it. On which the -Queen of Spain made her little request, but still in fear; and suddenly -it was granted. Such was the kindness of this princess, and her virtue -in honouring and fearing the queen, her mother, she being herself so -great. Alas! the Christian proverb did not hold good in her case, -namely: "He that would live long years must love and honour and fear his -father and mother;" for, in spite of doing all that, she died in the -lovely and pleasant April of her days; for now, at the time I write, -[1591] she would have been, had she lived, forty-six years old. Alas! -that this fair sun disappeared so soon in a dark-some grave, when she -might have lighted this fine world for twenty good years without even -then being touched by age; for she was by nature and complexion fitted -to keep her beauty long, and even had old age attacked her, her beauty -was of a kind to be the stronger. - -Surely, if her death was hard to Spaniards, it was still more bitter to -us Frenchmen, for as long as she lived France was never invaded by those -quarrels which, since then, Spain has put upon us; so well did she know -how to win and persuade the king, her husband, for our good and our -peace; the which should make us ever mourn her. - -She left two daughters, the most honourable and virtuous infantas in -Christendom. When they were large enough, that is to say, three or four -years old, she begged her husband to leave the eldest wholly to her that -she might bring her up in the French fashion. Which the king willingly -granted. So she took her in hand, and gave her a fine and noble training -in the style of her own country, so that to-day that infanta is as -French as her sister, the Duchesse de Savoie, is Spanish; she loves and -cherishes France as her mother taught her, and you may be sure that all -the influence and power that she has with the king, her father, she -employs for the help and succour of those poor Frenchmen whom she knows -are suffering in Spanish hands. I have heard it said that after the rout -of M. Strozzi, very many French soldiers and gentlemen having been put -in the galleys, she went, when at Lisbon, to visit all the galleys that -were then there; and all the Frenchmen whom she found on the chain, to -the number of six twenties, she caused to be released, giving them money -to reach their own land; so that the captains of the galleys were -obliged to hide those that remained. - -She was a very beautiful princess and very agreeable, of an extremely -graceful mind, who knew all the affairs of the kingdom of the king, her -father, and was well trained in them. I hope to speak of her hereafter -by herself, for she deserves all honour for the love she bears to -France; she says she can never part with it, having good right to it; -and we, if we have obligation to this princess for loving us, how much -more should we have to the queen, her mother, for having thus brought -her up and taught her. - -Would to God I were a good enough petrarchizer to exalt as I desire this -lisabeth of France! for, if the beauty of her body gives me most ample -matter, that of her fine soul gives me still more, as these verses, -which were made upon her at Court at the time she was married, will -testify: - - Happy the prince whom Heaven ordains - To lisabeth's sweet acquaintance: - More precious far than crown or sceptre - The glad enjoyment of so great a treasure. - Gifts most divine she had at birth, - The proof and the effect of which we see; - Her youthful years showed their appearance, - But now her virtues bear their perfect fruit. - -When this queen was put into the hands of the Duc de l'Infantado and the -Cardinal de Burgos, who were commissioned by their king to receive her -at Roncevaux in a great hall, after the said deputies had made their -reverence, she rising from her chair to welcome them, Cardinal de Burgos -harangued her; to whom she made response so honourably, and in such fine -fashion and good grace that he was quite amazed; for she spoke in the -best manner, having been very well taught. - -After which the King of Navarre, who was there as her principal -conductor, and also leader of all the army which was with her, was -summoned to deliver her, according to the order, which was shown to the -Cardinal de Bourbon, to receive her. The king replied, for he spoke -well, and said: "I place in your hands this princess, whom I have -brought from the house of the greatest king in the world to be placed in -the hands of the most illustrious king on earth. Knowing you to be very -sufficient and chosen by the king your master to receive her, I make no -difficulty nor doubt that you will acquit yourselves worthily of this -trust, which I now discharge upon you; begging you to have peculiar -care of her health and person, for she deserves it; and I wish you to -know that never did there enter Spain so great an ornament of all -virtues and chastities, as in time you will know well by results." - -The Spaniards replied at once that already at first sight they had very -ample knowledge of this from her manner and grave majesty; and, in -truth, her virtues were rare. - -She had great knowledge, because the queen her mother had made her study -well under M. de Saint-tienne, her preceptor, whom she always loved and -respected until her death. She loved poesy, and to read it. She spoke -well, in either French or Spanish, with a very noble air and much good -grace. Her Spanish language was beautiful, as dainty and attractive as -possible; she learned it in three or four months after coming to Spain. - -To Frenchmen she always spoke French; never being willing to discontinue -it, but reading it daily in the fine books they sent from France, which -she was very anxious to have brought to her. To Spaniards and all others -she spoke Spanish and very well. In short, she was perfect in all -things, and so magnificent and liberal that no one could be more so. She -never wore her gowns a second time, but gave them to her ladies and -maids; and God knows what gowns they were, so rich and so superb that -the least was reckoned at three or four hundred crowns; for the king, -her husband, kept her most superbly in such matters; so that every day -she had a new one, as I was told by her tailor, who from being a very -poor man became so rich that nothing exceeded him, as I saw myself. - -She dressed well, and very pompously, and her habiliments became her -much; among other things her sleeves were slashed, with scollops which -they call in Spanish _puntas_; her head-dress the same, where nothing -lacked. Those who see her thus in painting admire her; I therefore leave -you to think what pleasure they had who saw her face to face, with all -her gestures and good graces. - -As for pearls and jewels in great quantity, she never lacked them, for -the king, her husband, ordered a great estate for her and for her -household. Alas! what served her that for such an end? Her ladies and -maids of honour felt it. Those who, being French, could not constrain -themselves to live in a foreign land, she caused, by a prayer which she -made to the king, her husband, to receive each four thousand crowns on -their marriage; as was done to Mesdamoiselles Riberac, sisters, -otherwise called Guitignires, de Fumel, the two sisters de Thorigny, de -Noyau, d'Arne, de La Motte au Groin, Montal, and several others. Those -who were willing to remain were better off, like Mesdamoiselles de -Saint-Ana and de Saint-Legier, who had the honour to be governesses to -Mesdames the infantas, and were married very richly to two great -seigneurs; they were the wisest, for better is it to be great in a -foreign country than little in your own,--as Jesus said: "No one is a -prophet in his own land." - -This is all, at this time, that I shall say of this good, wise and very -virtuous queen, though later I may speak of her. But I give this sonnet -which was written to her praise by an honourable gentleman, she being -still Madame, though promised in marriage:-- - - "Princess, to whom the skies give such advantage - That, for the part you have in Heaven's divinity, - They grant you all the virtues of this earth, - And crown you with the gift of immortality: - - "And since it pleased them that in early years - Your heavenly gifts of deity be seen, - So that you temper with a humble gravity - The royal grandeur of your sacred heritage: - - "And also since it pleases them to favour you, - And place in you the best of all their best, - So that your name is cherished everywhere: - - "Methinks that name should undergo a change, - And though we call you now lisabeth of France, - You should be named lisabeth of Heaven." - -I know that I may be reproved for putting into this Discourse and others -preceding it too many little particulars which are quite superfluous. I -think so myself; but I know that if they displease some persons, they -will please others. Methinks it is not enough when we laud persons to -say that they are handsome, wise, virtuous, valorous, valiant, -magnanimous, liberal, splendid, and very perfect; those are general -descriptions and praises and commonplace sayings, borrowed from -everybody. We should specify such things and describe particularly all -perfections, so that one may, as it were, touch them with the finger. -Such is my opinion, and it pleases me to retain and rejoice my memory -with things that I have seen. - - EPITAPH ON THE SAID QUEEN. - - "Beneath this stone lies lisabeth of France: - Who was Queen of Spain and queen of peace, - Christian and Catholic. Her lovely presence - Was useful to us all. Now that her noble bones - Are dry and crumbling, lying under ground, - We have nought but ills and wars and troubles." - - - - -DISCOURSE V. - -MARGUERITE, QUEEN OF FRANCE AND OF NAVARRE, SOLE DAUGHTER NOW REMAINING -OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF FRANCE.[12] - - -When I consider the miseries and ill-adventures of that beautiful Queen -of Scotland of whom I have heretofore spoken, and of other princesses -and ladies whom I shall not name, fearing by such digression to impair -my discourse on the Queen of Navarre, of whom I now speak, not being as -yet Queen of France, I cannot think otherwise than that Fortune, -omnipotent goddess of weal and woe, is the opposing enemy of human -beauty; for if ever there was in the world a being of perfect beauty it -is the Queen of Navarre, and yet she has been little favoured by -Fortune, so far; so that one may indeed say that Fortune was so jealous -of Nature for having made this princess beautiful that she wished to run -counter in fate. However that may be, her beauty is such that the blows -of said Fortune have no ascendency upon her, for the generous courage -she drew at birth from so many brave and valorous kings, her father, -grandfather, great-grandfather, and their ancestors, has enabled her -hitherto to make a brave resistance. - -To speak now of the beauty of this rare princess: I think that all those -who are, will be, or ever have been beside it are plain, and cannot have -beauty; for the fire of hers so burns the wings of others that they dare -not hover, or even appear, around it. If there be any unbeliever so -chary of faith as not to give credence to the miracles of God and -Nature, let him contemplate her fine face, so nobly formed, and become -converted, and say that Mother Nature, that perfect workwoman, has put -all her rarest and subtlest wits to the making of her. For whether she -shows herself smiling or grave, the sight of her serves to enkindle -every one; so beauteous are her features, so well defined her -lineaments, so transparent and agreeable her eyes that they pass -description; and, what is more, that beautiful face rests on a body -still more beautiful, superb, and rich,--of a port and majesty more like -to a goddess of heaven than a princess of earth; for it is believed, on -the word of several, that no goddess was ever seen more beautiful; so -that, in order to duly proclaim her beauty, virtues, and merit, God must -lengthen the earth and heighten the sky beyond where they now are, for -space in the airs and on the land is lacking for the flight of her -perfection and renown. - -Those are the beauties of body and mind in this fair princess, which I -at this time represent, like a good painter, after nature and without -art. I speak of those to be seen externally; for those that are secret -and hidden beneath white linen and rich accoutrements cannot be here -depicted or judged except as being very beautiful and rare; but this -must be by faith, presumption, and credence, for sight is interdicted. -Great hardship truly to be forced to see so beautiful a picture, made by -the hand of a divine workman, in the half only of its perfection; but -modesty and laudable shamefacedness thus ordain it--for they lodge among -princesses and great ladies as they do among commoner folk. - -To bring a few examples to show how the beauty of this queen was admired -and held for rare: I remember that when the Polish ambassadors came to -France, to announce to our King Henri [then Duc d'Anjou] his election -to the kingdom of Poland, and to render him homage and obedience, after -they had made their reverence to King Charles, to the queen-mother, and -to their king, they made it, very particularly, and for several days, to -Monsieur, and to the King and Queen of Navarre; but the day when they -made it to the said Queen of Navarre she seemed to them so beautiful and -so superbly and richly accoutred and adorned, and with such great -majesty and grace that they were speechless at such beauty. Among -others, there was Lasqui, the chief of the embassy, whom I heard say, as -he retired, overcome by the sight: "No, never do I wish to see such -beauty again. Willingly would I do as do the Turks, pilgrims to Mecca, -where the sepulchre of their prophet Mahomet is, and where they stand -speechless, ravished, and so transfixed at the sight of that superb -mosque that they wish to see nothing more and burn their eyes out with -hot irons till they lose their sight, so subtly is it done; saying that -nothing more could be seen as fine, and therefore would they see -nothing." Thus said that Pole about the beauty of our princess. And if -the Poles were won to admiration, so were others. I instance here Don -Juan of Austria, who (as I have said elsewhere), passing through France -as stilly as he could, and reaching Paris, knowing that that night a -solemn ball was given at the Louvre, went there disguised, as much to -see Queen Marguerite of Navarre as for any other purpose. He there had -means and leisure to see her at his ease, dancing, and led by the king, -her brother, as was usual. He gazed upon her long, admired her, and then -proclaimed her high above the beauties of Spain and Italy (two regions, -nevertheless, most fertile in beauty), saying these words in Spanish: -"Though the beauty of that queen is more divine than human, she is made -to damn and ruin men rather than to save them." - -Shortly after, he saw her again as she went to the baths of Lige, Don -Juan being then at Namur, where she had to pass; the which crowned all -his hopes to enjoy so fine a sight, and he went to meet her with great -and splendid Spanish magnificence, receiving her as though she were the -Queen lisabeth, her sister, in the latter's lifetime his queen, and -Queen of Spain. And though he was most enchanted with the beauty of her -body, he was the same with that of her mind, as I hope to show in its -proper place. But it was not Don Juan alone who praised and delighted to -praise her, but all his great and brave Spanish captains did the same, -and even the very soldiers of those far-famed bands, who went about -saying among themselves, in soldierly chorus, that "the conquest of such -beauty was better than that of a kingdom, and happy would be the -soldiers who, to serve her, would die beneath her banner." - -It is not surprising that such people, well-born and noble, should think -this princess beautiful, but I have seen Turks coming on an embassy to -the king her brother, barbarians that they were, lose themselves in -gazing at her, and say that the pomp of their Grand Signior in going to -his mosque or marching with his army was not so fine to see as the -beauty of this queen. - -In short, I have seen an infinity of other strangers who have come to -France and to the Court expressly to behold her whose fame had gone from -end to end of Europe, so they said. - -I once saw a gallant Neapolitan knight, who, having come to Paris and -the Court, and not finding the said queen, delayed his return two months -in order to see her, and having seen her he said these words: "In other -days, the Princess of Salerno bore the like reputation for beauty in our -city of Naples, so that a foreigner who had gone there and had not seen -her, when he returned and related his visit, and was asked had he seen -that princess, and answered no, was told that in that case he had not -seen Naples. Thus I, if on my return without seeing this beautiful -princess I were asked had I seen France and the Court, could scarcely -say I had, for she is its ornament and enrichment. But now, having seen -and contemplated her so well, I can say that I have seen the greatest -beauty in the world, and that our Princess of Salerno is as nothing to -her. Now I am well content to go, having enjoyed so fine a sight. I -leave you Frenchmen to think how happy you should be to see at your ease -and daily her fine face; and to approach that flame divine, which can -warm and kindle frigid hearts from afar more than the beauty of our most -beauteous dames near-by." Such were the words said to me one day by that -charming Neapolitan knight. - -An honourable French gentleman, whom I could name, seeing her one -evening, in her finest lustre and most stately majesty in a ball-room, -said to me these words: "Ah! if the Sieur des Essarts, who, in his books -of 'Amadis' forced himself with such pains to well and richly describe -to the world the beautiful Nicque and her glory, had seen this queen in -his day he would not have needed to borrow so many rich and noble words -to depict and set forth Nicque's beauty; 't would have sufficed him to -declare she was the semblance and image of the Queen of Navarre, unique -in this world; and thus the beauteous Nicque would have been better -pictured than she has been, and without superfluity of words." - -Therefore, M. de Ronsard had good reason to compose that glorious elegy -found among his works in honour of this beautiful Princess Marguerite of -France, then not married, in which he has introduced the goddess Venus -asking her son whether in his rambles here below, seeing the ladies of -the Court of France, he had found a beauty that surpassed her own. "Yes, -mother," Love replied, "I have found one on whom the glory of the finest -sky is shed since ever she was born." Venus flushed red and would not -credit it, but sent a messenger, one of her Charites, to earth to -examine that beauty and make a just report. On which we read in the -elegy a rich and fine description of the charms of that accomplished -princess, in the mouth of the Charite Pasithea, the reading of which -cannot fail to please the world. But M. de Ronsard, as a very honourable -and able lady said to me, stopped short and lacked a little something, -in that he should have told how Pasithea returned to heaven, and there, -discharging her commission, said to Venus that her son had only told the -half; the which so saddened and provoked the goddess into jealousy, -making her blame Jupiter for the wrong he did to form on earth a beauty -that shamed those of heaven (and principally hers, the rarest of them -all), that henceforth she wore mourning and made abstinence from -pleasures and delights; for there is nothing so vexatious to a beautiful -and perfect lady as to tell her she has her equal, or that another can -surpass her. - -Now, we must note that if our queen was beauteous in herself and in her -nature, also she knew well how to array herself; and so carefully and -richly was she dressed, both for her body and her head, that nothing -lacked to give her full perfection. - -To the Queen Isabella of Bavaria, wife of King Charles VI., belongs the -praise of having brought to France the pomps and gorgeousness that -henceforth clothed most splendidly and gorgeously the ladies;[13] for in -the old tapestries of that period in the houses of our kings we see -portrayed the ladies attired as they then were, in nought but -drolleries, slovenliness, and vulgarities, in place of the beautiful, -superb fashions, dainty headgear, inventions, and ornaments of our -queen; from which the ladies of the Court and France take pattern, so -that ever since, appearing in her modes, they are now great ladies -instead of simple madams, and so a hundredfold more charming and -desirable. It is to our Queen Marguerite that ladies owe this -obligation. - -I remember (for I was there) that when the queen-mother took this queen, -her daughter, to the King of Navarre, her husband, she passed through -Coignac and made some stay. While they were there, came various grand -and honourable ladies of the region to see them and do them reverence, -who were all amazed at the beauty of the princess, and could not surfeit -themselves in praising her to her mother, she being lost in joy. -Wherefore she begged her daughter to array herself one day most -gorgeously in the fine and superb apparel that she wore at Court for -great and magnificent pomps and festivals, in order to give pleasure to -these worthy dames. Which she did, to obey so good a mother; appearing -robed superbly in a gown of silver tissue and dove-colour, _ la -bolonnoise_ [_bouillonne_--with puffs?], and hanging sleeves, a rich -head-dress with a white veil, neither too large nor yet too small; the -whole accompanied with so noble a majesty and good grace that she seemed -more a goddess of heaven than a queen of earth. The queen-mother said to -her: "My daughter, you look well." To which she answered: "Madame, I -begin early to wear and to wear out my gowns and the fashions I have -brought from Court, because when I return I shall bring nothing with me -only scissors and stuffs to dress me then according to current -fashions." The queen-mother asked her: "What do you mean by that, my -daughter? Is it not you yourself who invent and produce these fashions -of dress? Wherever you go the Court will take them from you, not you -from the Court." Which was true; for after she returned she was always -in advance of the Court, so well did she know how to invent in her -dainty mind all sorts of charming things. - -But the beauteous queen in whatsoever fashion she dressed, were it _ la -franaise_ with her tall head-dress, or in a simple coif, with her grand -veil, or merely in a cap, could never prove which of these fashions -became her most and made her most beautiful, admirable, and lovable; for -she well knew how to adapt herself to every mode, adjusting each new -device in a way not common and quite inimitable. So that if other ladies -took her pattern to form it for themselves they could not rival her, as -I have noticed a hundred times. I have seen her dressed in a robe of -white satin that shimmered much, a trifle of rose-colour mingling in it, -with a veil of tan crpe or Roman gauze flung carelessly round her head; -yet nothing was ever more beautiful; and whatever may be said of the -goddesses of the olden time and the empresses as we see them on ancient -coins, they look, though splendidly accoutred, like chambermaids beside -her. - -I have often heard our courtiers dispute as to which attire became and -embellished her the most, about which each had his own opinion. For my -part, the most becoming array in which I ever saw her was, as I think, -and so did others, on the day when the queen-mother made a fte at the -Tuileries for the Poles. She was robed in a velvet gown of Spanish rose, -covered with spangles, with a cap of the same velvet, adorned with -plumes and jewels of such splendour as never was. She looked so -beautiful in this attire, as many told her, that she wore it often and -was painted in it; so that among her various portraits this one carries -the day over all others, as the eyes of good judges will tell, for -there are plenty of her pictures to judge by. - -When she appeared, thus dressed, at the Tuileries, I said to M. de -Ronsard, who stood next to me: "Tell the truth, monsieur, do you not -think that beautiful queen thus apparelled is like Aurora, as she comes -at dawn with her fair white face surrounded with those rosy tints?--for -face and gown have much in sympathy and likeness." M. de Ronsard avowed -that I was right; and on this my comparison, thinking it fine, he made a -sonnet, which I would fain have now, to insert it here. - -I also saw this our great queen at the first States-general at Blois on -the day the king, her brother, made his harangue. She was dressed in a -robe of orange and black (the ground being black with many spangles) and -her great veil of ceremony; and being seated according to her rank she -appeared so beautiful and admirable that I heard more than three hundred -persons in that assembly say they were better instructed and delighted -by the contemplation of such divine beauty than by listening to the -grave and noble words of the king, her brother, though he spoke and -harangued his best. I have also seen her dressed in her natural hair -without any artifice or peruke; and though her hair was very black -(having derived that from her father, King Henri), she knew so well how -to curl and twist and arrange it after the fashion of her sister, the -Queen of Spain, who wore none but her own hair, that such coiffure and -adornment became her as well as, or better than, any other. That is what -it is to have beauties by nature, which surpasses all artifice, no -matter what it may be. And yet she did not like the fashion much and -seldom used it, but preferred perukes most daintily fashioned. - -In short, I should never have done did I try to describe all her -adornments and forms of attire in which she was ever more and more -beauteous; for she changed them often, and all were so becoming and -appropriate, as though Nature and Art were striving to outdo each other -in making her beautiful. But this is not all; for her fine accoutrements -and adornments never ventured to cover her beautiful throat or her -lovely bosom, fearing to wrong the eyes of all the world that roved upon -so fine an object; for never was there seen the like in form and -whiteness, and so full and plump that often the courtiers died with envy -when they saw the ladies, as I have seen them, those who were her -intimates, have license to kiss her with great delight. - -I remember that a worthy gentleman, newly arrived at Court, who had -never seen her, when he beheld her said to me these words: "I am not -surprised that all you gentlemen should like the Court; for if you had -no other pleasure than daily to see that princess, you have as much as -though you lived in a terrestrial paradise." - -Roman emperors of the olden time, to please the people and give them -pleasure, exhibited games and combats in their theatres; but to give -pleasure to the people of France and gain their friendship, it was -enough to let them often see Queen Marguerite, and enjoy the -contemplation of so divine a face, which she never hid behind a mask -like other ladies of our Court, for nearly all the time she went -uncovered; and once, on a flowery Easter Day at Blois, still being -Madame, sister of the king (although her marriage was then being treated -of), I saw her appear in the procession more beautiful than ever, -because, besides the beauty of her face and form, she was most superbly -adorned and apparelled; her pure white face, resembling the skies in -their serenity, was adorned about the head with quantities of pearls and -jewels, especially brilliant diamonds, worn in the form of stars, so -that the calm of the face and the sparkling jewels made one think of -the heavens when starry. Her beautiful body with its full, tall form was -robed in a gown of crinkled cloth of gold, the richest and most -beautiful ever seen in France. This stuff was a gift made by the Grand -Signior to M. de Grand-Champ, our ambassador, on his departure from -Constantinople,--it being the Grand Signior's custom to present to those -who are sent to him a piece of the said stuff amounting to fifteen ells, -which, so Grand-Champ told me, cost one hundred crowns the ell; for it -was indeed a masterpiece. He, on coming to France and not knowing how to -employ more worthily the gift of so rich a stuff, gave it to Madame, the -sister of the king, who made a gown of it, and wore it first on the said -occasion, when it became her well--for from one grandeur to another -there is only a hand's breadth. She wore it all that day, although its -weight was heavy; but her beautiful, rich, strong figure supported it -well and served it to advantage; for had she been a little shrimp of a -princess, or a dame only elbow-high (as I have seen some), she would -surely have died of the weight, or else have been forced to change her -gown and take another. - -That is not all: being in the precession and walking in her rank, her -visage uncovered, not to deprive the people of so good a feast, she -seemed more beautiful still by holding and bearing in her hand her palm -(as our queens of all time have done) with royal majesty and a grace -half proud half sweet, and a manner little common and so different from -all the rest that whoso had seen her would have said: "Here is a -princess who goes above the run of all things in the world." And we -courtiers went about saying, with one voice boldly, that she did well to -bear a palm in her hand, for she bore it away from others; surpassing -them all in beauty, in grace, and in perfection. And I swear to you that -in that procession we forgot our devotions, and did not make them while -contemplating and admiring that divine princess, who ravished us more -than divine service; and yet we thought we committed no sin; for whoso -contemplates divinity on earth does not offend the divinity of heaven; -inasmuch as He made her such. - -When the queen, her mother, took her from Court to meet her husband in -Gascoigne, I saw how all the courtiers grieved at her departure as -though a great calamity had fallen on their heads. Some said: "The Court -is widowed of her beauty;" others: "The Court is gloomy, it has lost its -sun;" others again: "How dark it is; we have no torch." And some cried -out: "Why should Gascoigne come here gascoigning to steal our beauty, -destined to adorn all France and the Court, Fontainebleau, -Saint-Germain, the htel du Louvre, and all the other noble places of -our kings, to lodge her at Pau and Nrac, places so unlike the others?" -But many said: "The deed is done; the Court and France have lost the -loveliest flower of their garland." - -In short, on all sides did we hear resound such little speeches upon -this departure,--half in vexed anger, half in sadness,--although Queen -Louise de Lorraine remained behind, who was a very handsome and wise -princess, and virtuous (of whom I hope to speak more worthily in her -place); but for so long the Court had been accustomed to that beauteous -sight it could not keep from grieving and proffering such words. Some -there were who would have liked to kill M. de Duras, who came from his -master the King of Navarre to obtain her; and this I know. - -Once there came news to Court that she was dead in Auvergne some eight -days. On which a person whom I met said to me: "That cannot be, for -since that time the sky is clear and fine; if she were dead we should -have seen eclipse of sun, because of the great sympathy two suns must -have, and nothing could be seen but gloom and clouds." - -Enough has now been said, methinks, upon the beauty of her body, though -the subject is so ample that it deserves a decade. I hope to speak of it -again, but at present I must say something of her noble soul, which is -lodged so well in that noble body. If it was born thus noble within her -she has known how to keep it and maintain it so; for she loves letters -much and reading. While young, she was, for her age, quite perfect in -them; so that we could say of her: This princess is truly the most -eloquent and best-speaking lady in the world, with the finest style of -speech and the most agreeable to be found. When the Poles, as I have -said before, came to do her reverence they brought with them the Bishop -of Cracovie, the chief and head of the embassy, who made the harangue in -Latin, he being a learned and accomplished prelate. The queen replied so -pertinently and eloquently without the help of an interpreter, having -well understood and comprehended the harangue, that all were struck with -admiration, calling her with one voice a second Minerva, goddess of -eloquence. - -When the queen her mother took her to the king her husband, as I have -said, she made her entry to Bordeaux, as was proper, being daughter and -sister of a king, and wife of the King of Navarre, first prince of the -blood, and governor of Guyenne. The queen her mother willed it so, for -she loved and esteemed her much. This entry was fine; not so much for -the sumptuous magnificence there made and displayed, as for the triumph -of this most beautiful and accomplished queen of the world, mounted on a -fine white horse superbly caparisoned; she herself dressed all in orange -and spangles, so sumptuously as never was; so that none could get their -surfeit of looking at her, admiring and lauding her to the skies. - -Before she entered, the State assembly of the town came to do reverence -and offer their means and powers, and to harangue her at the Chartreux, -as is customary. M. de Bordeaux [the bishop] spoke for the clergy; M. le -Marchal de Biron, as mayor, wearing his robes of office, for the town, -and for himself as lieutenant-general afterwards; also M. Largebaston, -chief president for the courts of law. She answered them all, one after -the other (for I heard her, being close beside her on the scaffold, by -her command), so eloquently, so wisely and promptly and with such grace -and majesty, even changing her words to each, without reiterating the -first or the second, although upon the same subject (which is a thing to -be remarked upon), that when I saw that evening the said president he -said to me, and to others in the queen's chamber, that he had never in -his life heard better speech from any one; and that he understood such -matters, having had the honour to hear the two queens, Marguerite and -Jeanne, her predecessors, speak at the like ceremonies,--they having had -in their day the most golden-speaking lips in France (those were the -words he used to me); and yet they were but novices and apprentices -compared to her, who truly was her mother's daughter. - -I repeated to the queen, her mother, this that the president had said to -me, of which she was glad as never was; and told me that he had reason -to think and say so, for, though she was her daughter, she could call -her, without falsehood, the most accomplished princess in the world, -able to say exactly what she wished to say the best. And in like manner -I have heard and seen ambassadors, and great foreign seigneurs, after -they had spoken with her, depart confounded by her noble speech. - -I have often heard her make such fine discourse, so grave and so -sententious, that could I put it clearly and correctly here in writing I -should delight and amaze the world; but it is not possible; nor could -any one transcribe her words, so inimitable are they. - -But if she is grave, and full of majesty and eloquence in her high and -serious discourses, she is just as full of charming grace in gay and -witty speech; jesting so prettily, with give and take, that her company -is most agreeable; for, though she pricks and banters others, 'tis all -so _ propos_ and excellently said that no one can be vexed, but only -glad of it. - -But further: if she knows how to speak, she knows also how to write; and -the beautiful letters we have seen from her attest it. They are the -finest, the best couched, whether they be serious or familiar, and such -that the greatest writers of the past and present may hide their heads -and not produce their own when hers appear; for theirs are trifles near -to hers. No one, having read them, would fail to laugh at Cicero with -his familiar letters. And whoso would collect Queen Marguerite's -letters, together with her discourses, would make a school and training -for the world; and no one should feel surprised at this, for, in -herself, her mind is sound and quick, with great information, wise and -solid. She is a queen in all things, and deserves to rule a mighty -kingdom, even an empire,--about which I shall make the following -digression, all the more because it has to do with the present subject. - -When her marriage was granted at Blois to the King of Navarre, -difficulties were made by Queen Jeanne [d'Albret, Henri IV.'s mother], -very different then from what she wrote to my mother, who was her lady -of honour, and at this time sick in her own house. I have read the -letter, writ by her own hand, in the archives of our house; it says -thus:-- - -[Illustration: _Henry IV_] - -"I write you this, my great friend, to rejoice and give you health with -the good news my husband sends me. He having had the boldness to ask of -the king Madame, his young daughter, for our son, the king has done him -the honour to grant it; for which I cannot tell you the happiness I -have." - -There is much to be said thereon. At this time there was at our Court a -lady whom I shall not name, as silly as she could be. Being with the -queen-mother one evening at her _coucher_, the queen inquired of her -ladies if they had seen her daughter, and whether she seemed joyful at -the granting of her marriage. This silly lady, who did not yet know her -Court, answered first and said: "How, madame, should she not be joyful -at such a marriage, inasmuch as it will lead to the crown and make her -some day Queen of France, when it falls to her future husband, as it -well may do in time." The queen, hearing so strange a speech, replied: -"_Ma mie_, you are a great fool. I would rather die a thousand deaths -than see your foolish prophecy accomplished; for I hope and wish long -life and good prosperity to the king, my son, and all my other -children." On which a very great lady, one of her intimates, inquired: -"But, madame, in case that great misfortune--from which God keep -us!--happens, would you not be very glad to see your daughter Queen of -France, inasmuch as the crown would fall to her by right through that of -her husband?" To which the queen made answer: "Much as I love this -daughter, I think, if that should happen, we should see France much -tried with evils and misfortunes. I would rather die (as she did in -fact) than see her in that position; for I do not believe that France -would obey the King of Navarre as it does my sons, for many reasons -which I do not tell." - -Behold two prophecies accomplished: one, that of the foolish lady, the -other, but only till her death, that of the able princess. The latter -prophecy has failed to-day, by the grace which God has given our king -[Henri IV.], and by the force of his good sword and the valour of his -brave heart, which have made him so great, so victorious, so feared, and -so absolute a king as he is to-day after too many toils and hindrances. -May God preserve him by His holy grace in such prosperity, for we need -him much, we his poor subjects. - -The queen said further: "If by the abolition of the Salic law, the -kingdom should come to my daughter in her own right, as other kingdoms -have fallen to the distaff, certainly my daughter is as capable of -reigning, or more so, as most men and kings whom I have known; and I -think that her reign would be a fine one, equal to that of the king her -grandfather and that of the king her father, for she has a great mind -and great virtues for doing that thing." And thereupon she went on to -say how great an abuse was the Salic law, and that she had heard M. le -Cardinal de Lorraine say that when he arranged the peace between the two -kings with the other deputies in the abbey of Cercan, a dispute came up -on a point of the Salic law touching the succession of women to the -kingdom of France; and M. le Cardinal de Grandvelle, otherwise called -d'Arras, rebuked the said Cardinal de Lorraine, declaring that the Salic -law was a veritable abuse, which old dreamers and chroniclers had -written down, without knowing why, and so made it accepted; although, in -fact, it was never made or decreed in France, and was only a custom that -Frenchmen had given each other from hand to hand, and so introduced; -whereas it was not just, and, consequently, was violable. - -Thus said the queen-mother. And, when all is said, it was Pharamond, as -most people hold, who brought it from his own country and introduced it -in France; and we certainly ought not to observe it, because he was a -pagan; and to keep so strictly among us Christians the laws of a pagan -is an offence against God. It is true that most of our laws come from -pagan emperors; but those which are holy, just, and equitable (and truly -there are many), we ourselves have ruled by them. But the Salic law of -Pharamond is unjust and contrary to the law of God, for it is written in -the Old Testament, in the twenty-seventh chapter of Numbers: "If a man -die and have no son ye shall cause his inheritance to pass to his -daughter." This sacred law demands, therefore, that females shall -inherit after males. Besides, if Scripture were taken at its word on -this Salic law, there would be no such great harm done, as I have heard -great personages say, for they speak thus: "So long as there be males, -females can neither inherit nor reign. Consequently, in default of -males, females should do so. And, inasmuch as it is legal in Spain, -Navarre, England, Scotland, Hungary, Naples, and Sicily that females -should reign, why should it not be the same in France? For what is right -in one place is right everywhere and in all places; places do not make -the justice of the law." - -In all the fiefs we have in France, duchies, counties, baronies, and -other honourable lordships, which are nearly and even greatly royal in -their rights and privileges, many women, married and unmarried, have -succeeded; as in Bourbon, Vendme, Montpensier, Nevers, Rhtel, -Flandres, Eu, Bourgogne, Artois, Zellande, Bretaigne; and even like -Mathilde, who was Duchesse de Normandie; Elonore, Duchesse de Guyenne, -who enriched Henry II., King of England; Batrix, Comtesse de Provence, -who brought that province to King Louis, her husband; the only daughter -of Raimond, Comtesse de Thoulouse, who brought Thoulouse to Alfonse, -brother of Saint-Louis; also Anne, Duchesse de Bretaigne, and others. -Why, therefore, should not the kingdom of France call to itself in like -manner the daughters of France? - -Did not the beautiful Galatea rule in Gaul when Hercules married her -after his conquest of Spain?--from which marriage issued our brave, -valiant, generous Gauls, who in the olden time made themselves laudable. - -Why should the daughters of dukes in this kingdom be more capable of -governing a duchy or a county and administering justice (which is the -duty of kings) than the daughters of kings to rule the kingdom of -France? As if the daughters of France were not as capable and fitted to -command and reign as those of other kingdoms and fiefs that I have -named! - -For still greater proof of the iniquity of the Salic law it is enough to -show that so many chroniclers, writers, and praters, who have all -written about it, have never yet agreed among themselves as to its -etymology and definition. Some, like Postel, consider that it takes its -ancient name and origin from the Gauls, and is only called Salic instead -of Gallic because of the proximity and likeness in old type between the -letter S and the letter G. But Postel is as visionary in that (as a -great personage said to me) as he is in other things. - -Jean Ceval, Bishop of Avranches, a great searcher into the antiquities -of Gaul and France, tried to trace it to the word _salle_, because this -law was ordained only for _salles_ and royal palaces. - -Claude Seissel thinks, rather inappropriately, that it comes from the -word _sal_ in Latin, as a law full of salt, that of sapience, wisdom, a -metaphor drawn from salt. - -A doctor of laws, named Ferrarius Montanus, will have it that Pharamond -was otherwise called Salicq. Others derive it from Sallogast, one of the -principal councillors of Pharamond. - -Others again, wishing to be still more subtle, say that the derivation -is taken from the frequent sections in the said law beginning with the -words: _si aliquis, si aliqua_. But some say it comes from Franois -Saliens; and it is so mentioned in Marcellin.[14] - -So here are many puzzles and musings; and it is not to be wondered at -that the Bishop of Arras disputed the matter with the Cardinal de -Lorraine: just as those of his nation in their jests and jugglings, -supposing that this law was a new invention, called Philippe de Valois -_le roi trouv_, as if, by a new right never recognized before in -France, he had made himself king. On which was founded that, the county -of Flanders having fallen to a distaff, King Charles V. of France did -not claim any right or title to it; on the contrary, he portioned his -brother Philippe with Bourgogne in order to make his marriage with the -Countess of Flanders; not wishing to take her for himself, thinking her -less beautiful, though far more rich, than her of Bourbon. Which is a -great proof and assurance that the Salic law was not observed except as -to the crown. And it cannot be doubted that women, could they come to -the throne, beautiful, honourable, and virtuous as the one of whom I -here speak, would draw to them the hearts of their subjects by their -beauty and sweetness far more than men do by their strength. - -M. du Tillet says that Queen Clotilde made France accept the Christian -religion, and since then no queen has ever wandered from it; which is a -great honour to queens, for it was not so with the kings after Clovis; -Chilperic I. was stained with Arian error, and was checked only by the -firm resistance of two prelates of the Gallican church, according to the -statement of Grgoire de Tours. - -Moreover, was not Catherine, daughter of Charles VI., ordained Queen of -France by the king, her father, and his council [in 1420]? - -Du Tillet further says that the daughters of France were held in such -honour that although they were married to less than kings they -nevertheless kept their royal titles and were called queens with their -proper names; an honour which was given them for life to demonstrate -forever that they were daughters of the kings of France. This ancient -custom shows dumbly that the daughters of France can be sovereigns as -well as the sons. - -In the days of the King Saint-Louis it is recorded of a court of peers -held by him that the Countess of Flanders was present, taking part with -the peers. This shows how the Salic law was not kept, except as to the -crown. Let us see still further what M. du Tillet says:-- - -"By the Salic law, written for all subjects, where there were no sons -the daughters inherited the patrimony; and this should rule the crown -also, so that Mesdames the daughters of France, in default of sons, -should take it; nevertheless, they are perpetually excluded by custom -and the private law of the house of France, based on the arrogance of -Frenchmen, who cannot endure to be governed by women." And elsewhere he -says: "One cannot help being amazed at the long ignorance that has -attributed this custom to the Salic law, which is quite the contrary of -it." - -King Charles V., treating of the marriage of Queen Marie of France, his -daughter, with Guillaume, Count of Hainault, in the year 1374, -stipulated for the renunciation by the said count of all right to the -kingdom and to Dauphin; which is a great point, for see the -contradictions! - -Certainly if women could handle arms like men they could make themselves -accredited; but by way of compensation, they have their beautiful faces; -which, however, are not recognized as they deserve; for surely it is -better to be governed by beautiful, lovely, and honourable women than by -tiresome, conceited, ugly, and sullen men such as I have seen in this -France of ours. - -I would like to know if this kingdom has found itself any better for an -infinitude of conceited, silly, tyrannical, foolish, do-nothing, -idiotic, and crazy kings--not meaning to accuse our brave Pharamond, -Clodion, Clovis, Ppin, Martel, Charles, Louis, Philippe, Jean, -Franois, Henri, for they are all brave and magnanimous, those kings, -and happy they who were under them--than it would have been with an -infinitude of the daughters of France, very able, very prudent, and very -worthy to govern. I appeal to the regency of the mothers of kings to -show this, to wit:-- - -Frdgonde, how did she administer the affairs of France during the -minority of King Clothaire, her son, if not so wisely and dexterously -that he found himself before he died monarch of Gaul and of much of -Germany? - -The like did Mathilde, wife of Dagobert, as to Clovis II., her son; and, -long after, Blanche, mother of Saint-Louis, who behaved so wisely, as I -have read, that, just as the Roman emperors chose to call themselves -"Augustus" in commemoration of the luck and prosperity of Augustus, the -great emperor, so the former queen-mothers after the decease of the -kings, their husbands, desired each to be called "Reine Blanche," in -honourable memory of the government of that wise princess. Though M. du -Tillet contradicts this a little, I have heard it from a very great -senator. - -And, to come lower down, Isabeau of Bavaria had the regency of her -husband, Charles VI. (who lost his good sense), by the advice of the -Council; and so had Madame de Bourbon for little King Charles VIII. -during his minority; Madame Louise de Savoie for King Franois I.; and -our queen-mother for King Charles IX., her son. - -If, therefore, foreign ladies (except Madame de Bourbon, who was -daughter of France) were capable of governing France so well, why should -not our own ladies do as much, having good zeal and affection, they -being born here and suckled here, and the matter touching them so -closely? - -I should like to know in what our last kings have surpassed our last -three daughters of France, lisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite; and -whether if the latter had come to be queens of France they would not -have governed it (I do not wish to accuse the regency, which was very -great and very wise) as well as their brothers. I have heard many great -personages, well-informed and far-seeing, say that possibly we should -not have had the evils we did have, now have, and shall have still; -adducing reasons too long to put here. But the common and vulgar fool -says: "Must observe the Salic law." Poor idiot that he is! does he not -know that the Germans, from whose stock we issued, were wont to call -their women to affairs of State, as we learn from Tacitus? From that, we -can see how this Salic law has been corrupted. It is but mere custom; -and poor women, unable to enforce their rights by the point of the -sword, men have excluded, and driven them from everything. Ah! why have -we no more brave and valiant paladins of France,--a Roland, a Renaud, an -Ogier, a Deudon, an Olivier, a Graffon, an Yvon, and an infinity of -other braves, whose glory and profession it was to succour ladies and -support them in the troubles and adversities of their lives, their -honour, and their fortunes? Why are they here no longer to maintain the -rights of our Queen Marguerite, daughter of France, who barely enjoys -an inch of land in France, which she quitted in noble state, though to -her, perhaps, the whole belongs by right divine and human? Queen -Marguerite, who does not even enjoy her county of Auvergne, which is -hers by law and equity as the sole heiress of the queen, her mother, is -now withdrawn into the castle of Usson, amid the deserts, rocks, and -mountains of Auvergne,--a different habitation, verily, from the great -city of Paris, where she ought now to be seated on her throne and place -of justice, which belongs to her in her own right as well as by that of -her husband. But the misfortune is that they are not there together. If -both were again united in body and soul and friendship, as they once -were, possibly all would go right once more, and together they would be -feared, respected, and known for what they are. - -(Since this was written God has willed that they be reconciled, which is -indeed great luck.) - -I heard M. de Pibrac say on one occasion that these Navarre marriages -are fatal, because husband and wife are always at variance,--as was the -case with Louis Hutin, King of France and of Navarre, and Marguerite de -Bourgogne, daughter of Duc Robert III.; also Philippe le Long, King of -France and Navarre, with Jeanne, daughter of Comte Othelin of Bourgogne, -who, being found innocent, was vindicated well; also Charles le Bel, -King of France and of Navarre, with Blanche, daughter of Othelin, -another Comte de Bourgogne; and further, King Henri d'Albret with -Marguerite de Valois, who, as I have heard on good authority, treated -her very ill, and would have done worse had not King Franois, her -brother, spoken sternly to him and threatened him for honouring his -sister so little, considering the rank she held. - -The last King Antoine of Navarre died also on ill terms with Queen -Jeanne, his wife; and our Queen Marguerite is now in dispute and -separation from her husband; but God will some day happily unite them in -spite of these evil times. - -I have heard a princess say that Queen Marguerite saved her husband's -life on the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew; for indubitably he was -proscribed and his name written on the "red paper," as it was called, -because it was necessary, they said, to tear up the roots, namely, the -King of Navarre, the Prince de Cond, Amiral de Coligny, and other great -personages; but the said Queen Marguerite flung herself on her knees -before King Charles, to implore him for the life of her husband and -lord.[15] King Charles would scarcely grant it to her, although she was -his good sister. I relate this for what it is worth, as I know it only -by hearsay. But she bore this massacre very impatiently and saved -several, among them a Gascon gentleman (I think his name was Lran), -who, wounded as he was, took refuge beneath her bed, she being in it, -and the murderers pursuing him to the door, from which she drove them; -for she was never cruel, but kind, like a daughter of France. - -They say that the quarrel between herself and her husband came more from -the difference in their religion than from anything else; for they each -loved his and her own, and supported it strongly. The queen having gone -to Pau, the chief town of Barn, she caused the mass to be said there; -and a certain secretary of the king, her husband, named le Pin, who had -formerly belonged to M. l'Amiral, not being able to stomach it, put -several of the inhabitants of the town who had been present at the mass -into prison. The queen was much displeased; and he, wishing to -remonstrate, spoke to her much louder than he should, and very -indiscreetly, even before the king, who gave him a good rebuke and -dismissed him; for King Henri knows well how to like and respect what he -ought; being as brave and generous as his fine and noble actions have -always manifested; of which I shall speak at length in his life. - -The said le Pin fell back upon the edict which is there made, and to be -observed under penalty, namely, that mass shall not be said. The queen, -feeling herself insulted, and God knows she was, vowed and declared she -would never again set foot in that country because she chose to be free -in the exercise of her religion; whereupon she departed, and has ever -since kept her oath very carefully. - -I have heard it said that nothing lay so heavily on her heart as this -indignity of being deprived of the exercise of her religion; for which -reason she begged the queen, her good mother, to come and fetch her and -take her to France to see the king and Monsieur, his brother, whom she -honoured and loved much. Having arrived, she was not received and seen -by the king, her brother, as she should have been. Seeing this great -change since she had left France, and the rise of many persons she would -never have thought of to grandeurs, it irked her much to be forced to -pay court to them, as others, her equals, were now doing; and far from -doing so herself, she despised them openly, as I well saw, so high was -her courage. Alas! too high, certainly, for it caused her misfortunes; -had she been willing to restrain herself and lower her courage the least -in the world she would not have been thwarted and vexed as she has been. - -As to which I shall relate this story: when the king, her brother, went -to Poland, he being there, she knew that M. du Gua, much favoured by her -brother, had made some remarks to her disadvantage, enough to set -brother and sister at variance or enmity. At the end of a certain time -M. du Gua returned from Poland and arrived at Court, bearing letters -from the king to his sister, which he went to her apartment to give her -and kiss hands. This I saw myself. When she beheld him enter she was in -great wrath, and as he came to her to present the letter she said to -him, with an angry face: "Lucky for you, du Gua, that you come before me -with this letter from my brother, which serves you as a safeguard, for I -love him much and all who come from him are free from me; but without -it, I would teach you to speak about a princess like myself, the sister -of your kings, your masters and sovereigns." M. du Gua answered very -humbly: "I should never, madame, have presented myself before you, -knowing that you wish me ill, without some good message from the king, -my master, who loves you, and whom you love also; or without feeling -assured, madame, that for love of him, and because you are good and -generous, you would hear me speak." And then, after making her his -excuses and telling his reasons (as he knew well how to do), he denied -very positively that he had ever spoken against the sister of his kings -otherwise than very reverently. On which she dismissed him with an -assurance that she would ever be his cruel enemy,--a promise which she -kept until his death. - -After a while the king wrote to Mme. de Dampierre and begged her, for -the sake of giving him pleasure, to induce the Queen of Navarre to -pardon M. du Gua, which Mme. de Dampierre undertook with very great -regret, knowing well the nature of the said queen; but because the king -loved her and trusted her, she took the errand and went one day to see -the said queen in her room. Finding her in pretty good humour, she -opened the matter and made the appeal, namely: that to keep the good -graces, friendship, and favour of the king, her brother, who was now -about to become King of France, she ought to pardon M. du Gua, forget -the past, and take him again into favour; for the king loved and -favoured him above his other friends; and by thus taking M. du Gua as a -friend she would gain through him many pleasures and good offices, -inasmuch as he quietly governed the king, his master, and it was much -better to have his help than to make him desperate and goad him against -her, because he could surely do her much harm; telling her how she had -seen in her time during the reign of Franois I., Mesdames Madeleine and -Marguerite, one Queen of Scotland later, the other Duchesse de Savoie, -her aunts, although their hearts were as high and lofty as her own, -bring down their pride so low as to pay court to M. de Sourdis, who was -only master of the wardrobe to the king, their father; yet they even -sought him, hoping by his means, to obtain the favour of the king; and -thus, taking example by her aunts, she ought to do the same herself in -relation to M. du Gua. - -The Queen of Navarre, having listened very attentively to Mme. de -Dampierre, answered her rather coldly, but with a smiling face, as her -manner was: "Madame de Dampierre, what you say to me may be good for -you; you need favours, pleasures, and benefits, and were I you the words -you say to me might be very suitable and proper to be received and put -in practice; but to me, who am the daughter of a king, the sister of -kings, and the wife of a king, they have no meaning; because with that -high and noble rank I cannot, for my honour's sake, be a beggar of -favours and benefits from the king, my brother; and I hold him to be of -too good a nature and too well acquainted with his duty to deny me -anything unless I have the favour of a du Gua; if otherwise, he will do -great wrong to himself, his honour, and his royalty. And even if he be -so unnatural as to forget himself and what he owes to me, I prefer, for -my honour's sake and as my courage tells me, to be deprived of his good -graces, because I would not seek du Gua to gain his favours, or be even -suspected of gaining them by such means and intercession; and if the -king, my brother, feels himself worthy to be king, and to be loved by me -and by his people, I feel myself, as his sister, worthy to be queen and -loved, not only by him but by all the world. And if my aunts, as you -allege, degraded themselves as you say, let them do as they would if -such was their humour, but their example is no law to me, nor will I -imitate it, or form myself on any model if not my own." On that she was -silent, and Mme. de Dampierre retired; not that the queen was angry with -her or showed her ill-will, for she loved her much. - -Another time, when M. d'pernon went to Gascoigne after the death of -Monsieur (a journey made for various purposes, so they said), he saw the -King of Navarre at Pamiers, and they made great cheer and caresses to -each other. I speak thus because at that time M. d'pernon was semi-king -of France because of the dissolute favour he had with his master, the -King of France. After having caressed and made good cheer together the -King of Navarre asked him to go and see him at Nrac when he had been to -Toulouse and was on his way back; which he promised to do. The King of -Navarre having gone there first to make preparations to feast him well, -the Queen of Navarre, who was then at Nrac, and who felt a deadly -hatred to M. d'pernon, said to the king, her husband, that she would -leave the place so as not to disturb or hinder the fte, not being able -to endure the sight of M. d'pernon without some scandal or venom of -anger which she might disgorge, and so give annoyance to the king, her -husband. On which the king begged her, by all the pleasures that she -could give him, not to stir, but to help him to receive the said Sieur -d'pernon and to put her rancour against him underfoot for love of him, -her husband, and all the more because it greatly concerned both of them -and their grandeur. - -"Well, monsieur," replied the queen, "since you are pleased to command -it, I will remain and give him good cheer out of respect to you and the -obedience that I owe to you." After which she said to some of her -ladies: "But I will answer for it that on the days that man is here I -will dress in habiliments I never yet have worn, namely: dissimulation -and hypocrisy; I will so mask my face with shams that the king shall see -there only good and honest welcome and all gentleness; and likewise I -will lay discretion on my lips, so that externally I will make him think -my heart internally is kind, which otherwise I would not answer for; I -do this being nowise in my own control, but wholly in his,--so lofty is -he and full of frankness, unable to bear vileness or the venom of -hypocrisy, or to abase himself in any way." - -Therefore, to content the king, her husband, for she honoured him much, -as he did her, she disguised her feelings in such a way that, M. -d'pernon being brought to her apartment, she received him in the same -manner the king had asked of her and she had promised; so that all -present, the chamber being full of persons eager to see the entrance and -the interview, marvelled much, while the king and M. d'pernon were -quite content. But the most clear-sighted and those who knew the nature -of the queen misdoubted something hidden within; and she herself said -afterwards it was a comedy in which she played a part unwillingly. - -These are two tales by which to see the lofty courage of this queen, the -which was such, as I have heard the queen, her mother, say (discoursing -of this topic), that she resembled in this her father; and that she, the -queen-mother, had no other child so like him, as much in ways, humours, -lineaments, and features of the face as in courage and generosity; -telling also how she had seen King Henri during King Franois' lifetime -unable for a kingdom to pay his court and cringe to Cardinal de Tournon -or to Amiral d'Annebault, the favourites of King Franois, even though -he might often have had peace with Emperor Charles had he been willing -so to do; but his honour could not submit to such attentions. And so, -like father, like daughter. Nevertheless, all that injured her much. I -remember an infinite number of annoyances and indignities she received -at Court, which I shall not relate, they are too odious; until at last -she was sent away, with great affront and yet most innocent of what they -put upon her; the proofs of which were known to many, as I know myself; -also the king, her husband, was convinced of it, so that he brought King -Henri to account, which was very good of him, and henceforth there -resulted between the two brothers [-in-law] a certain hatred and -contention. - -The war of the League happened soon after; and because the Queen of -Navarre feared some evil at Court, being a strong Catholic, she retired -to Agen, which had been given to her with the region about it by her -brothers, as an appanage and gift for life. As the Catholic religion was -concerned, which it was necessary to maintain, and also to exterminate -the other, she wished to fortify her side as best she could and repress -the other side. But in this she was ill-served by means of Mme. de -Duras, who governed her much, and made, in her name, great exactions and -extortions. The people of the town were embittered, and covertly sought -their freedom and a means to drive away their lady and her bailiffs. On -which disturbance the Marchal de Matignon took occasion to make -enterprise against the town, as the king, having learned the state of -things, commanded him with great joy to do in order to aggravate his -sister, whom he did not love, to more and more displeasure. This -enterprise, which failed at first, was led the second time so -dexterously by the said marshal and the inhabitants, that the town was -taken by force with such rapidity and alarm that the poor queen, in -spite of all she could do, was forced to mount in pillion behind a -gentleman, and Mme. de Duras behind another, and escape as quickly as -they could, riding a dozen leagues without stopping, and the next day as -much more, to find safety in the strongest fortress of France, which is -Carlat. Being there, and thinking herself in safety, she was, by the -manoeuvres of the king, her brother (who was a very clever and very -subtle king, if ever there was one), betrayed by persons of that country -and the fortress, so that when she fled she became a prisoner in the -hands of the Marquis de Canillac, governor of Auvergne, and was taken to -the castle of Usson, a very strong fortress also, almost impregnable, -which that good and sly fox Louis XI. had made such, in order to lodge -his prisoners in a hundred-fold more security than at Loches, Bois de -Vincennes, or Lusignan. - -Here, then, was this poor princess a prisoner, and treated not as a -daughter of France or the great princess that she was. But, at any rate, -if her body was captive, her brave heart was not, and it never failed -her, but helped her well and did not let her yield to her affliction. -See what a great heart can do, led by great beauty! For he who held her -prisoner became her prisoner in time, brave and valiant though he was. -Poor man! what else could he expect? Did he think to hold subject and -captive in his prison one whose eyes and beauteous face could subject -the whole world to her bonds and chains like galley-slaves! - -So here was the marquis ravished and taken by her beauty; but she, not -dreaming of the delights of love, only of her honour and her liberty, -played her game so shrewdly that she soon became the stronger, seized -the fort, and drove away the marquis, much dumfounded at such surprise -and military tactics. - -There she has now been six or seven years,[16] not, however, with all -the pleasures of life, being despoiled of the county of Auvergne by M. -le Grand Prieur de France, whom the king induced the queen-mother to -institute count and heir in her will; regretting much that she could not -leave the queen, her good daughter, anything of her own, so great was -the hatred that the king bore her. Alas! what mutation was this from the -time when, as I saw myself, they loved each other much, and were one in -body, soul, and will! Ah! how often was it fine to see them discourse -together; for, whether they were grave or gay, nothing could be finer -than to see and hear them, for both could say what they wished to say. -Ah! how changed the times are since we saw them in that great ball-room, -dancing together in such beautiful accord of dance and will! The king -always led her to the dance at the great balls. If one had a noble -majesty the other had none the less; the eyes of all were never -surfeited or delighted enough by so agreeable a sight; for the sets were -so well danced, the steps so correctly performed, the stops so finely -made that we knew not which to admire most, their beautiful fashion of -dancing or their majesty in pausing; representing now a gay demeanour -and next a noble, crave disdain; for no one ever saw them in the -dance that did not say they had seen no dance so fine with grace and -majesty as this of the king-brother and the queen-sister. As for me, I -am of that opinion; and yet I have seen the Queen of Spain and the Queen -of Scotland dance most beautifully. - -[Illustration: _lisabeth de France Queen of Spain_] - -Also I have seen them dance the Italian _pazzemeno_ [the minuet, _menu -pas_], now advancing with grave port and majesty, doing their steps so -gravely and so well; next gliding only; and anon making most fine and -dainty and grave passages, that none, princes or others, could approach, -nor ladies, because of the majesty that was not lacking. Wherefore this -queen took infinite pleasure in these grave dances on account of her -grace and dignity and majesty, which she displayed the better in these -than in others like _bransles_, and _volts_, and _courants_. The latter -she did not like, although she danced them well, because they were not -worthy of her majesty, though very proper for the common graces of other -ladies. - -I have seen her sometimes like to dance the _bransle_ by torchlight. I -remember that once, being at Lyon, on the return of the king from -Poland, at the marriage of Besne (one of her maids of honour) she danced -the _bransle_ before many foreigners from Savoie, Piedmont, Italy, and -elsewhere, who declared they had never seen anything so fine as this -queen, a grave and noble lady, as indeed she is. One of them there was -who went about declaring that she needed not, like other ladies, the -torch she carried in her hand; for the light within her eyes, which -could not be extinguished like the other, was sufficient; the which had -other virtue than leading men to dance, for it inflamed all those about -her, yet could not be put out like the one she had in hand, but lit the -night amid the darkness and the day beneath the sun. - -For this reason must we say that Fortune has been to us as great an -enemy as to her, in that we see no longer that bright torch, or rather -that fine sun which lighted us, now hidden among those hills and -mountains of Auvergne. If only that light had placed itself in some fine -port or haven near the sea, where passing mariners might be guided, safe -from wreck and peril, by its beacon, her dwelling would be nobler, more -profitable, more honourable for herself and us. Ah! people of Provence, -you ought to beg her to dwell upon your seacoasts or within your ports; -then would she make them more famous than they are, more inhabited and -richer; from all sides men in galleys, ships, and vessels would flock to -see this wonder of the world, as in old times to that of Rhodes, that -they might see its glorious and far-shining pharos. Instead of which, -begirt by barriers of mountains, she is hidden and unknown to all our -eyes, except that we have still her lovely memory. Ah! beautiful and -ancient town of Marseille, happy would you be if your port were honoured -by the flame and beacon of her splendid eyes! For the county of Provence -belongs to her, as do several other provinces in France. Cursd be the -unhappy obstinacy of this kingdom which does not seek to bring her -hither with the king, her husband, to be received, honoured and welcomed -as they should be. (This I wrote at the very height of the Wars of the -League.) - -Were she a bad, malicious, miserly, or tyrannical princess (as there -have been a plenty in times past in France, and will be, possibly, -again), I should say nothing in her favour; but she is good, most -splendid, liberal, giving all to others, keeping little for herself, -most charitable, and giving freely to the poor. The great she made -ashamed with liberalities; for I have seen her make presents to all the -Court on New Year's Day such as the kings, her brothers, could not -equal. On one occasion she gave Queen Louise de Lorraine a fan made of -mother-of-pearl enriched with precious stones and pearls of price, so -beautiful and rich that it was called a masterpiece and valued at more -than fifteen thousand crowns. The other, to return the present, sent her -sister those long _aiguillettes_ which Spaniards call _puntas_, enriched -with certain stones and pearls, that might have cost a hundred crowns; -and with these she paid for that fine New Year's gift, which was, -certainly, most dissimilar. - -In short, this queen is in all things royal and liberal, honourable and -magnificent, and, let it not displease the empresses of long past days, -their splendours described by Suetonius, Pliny, and others, do not -approach her own in any way, either in Court or city, or in her journeys -through the open country; witness her gilded litters so superbly covered -and painted with fine devices, her coaches and carriages the same, and -her horses so fine and so richly caparisoned. - -Those who have seen, as I have, these splendid appurtenances know what I -say. And must she now be deprived of all this, so that for seven years -she has not stirred from that stern, unpleasant castle?--in which, -however, she takes patience; such virtue has she of self-command, one of -the greatest, as many wise philosophers have said! - -To speak once more of her kindness: it is such, so noble, so frank, -that, as I believe, it has done her harm; for though she has had great -grounds and great means to be revenged upon her enemies and injure them, -she has often withheld her hand when, had she employed those means or -caused them to be employed, and commanded others, who were ready enough, -to chastise those enemies with her consent, they would have done so -wisely and discreetly; but she resigned all vengeances to God. - -This is what M. du Gua said to her once when she threatened him: -"Madame, you are so kind and generous that I never heard it said you did -harm to any one; and I do not think you will begin with me, who am your -very humble servitor." And, in fact, although he greatly injured her, -she never returned him the same in vengeance. It is true that when he -was killed and they came to tell her, she merely said, being ill: "I am -sorry I am not well enough to celebrate his death with joy." She had -also this other kindness in her: that when others had humbled themselves -and asked her pardon and favour, she forgave and pardoned, with the -generosity of a lion which never does harm to those who are humble to -him. - -I remember that when M. le Marchal de Biron was lieutenant of the king -in Guyenne, war having broken out around him (possibly with his -knowledge and intent), he went one day before Nrac, where the King and -Queen of Navarre were living at that time. The marshal prepared his -arquebusiers to attack, beginning with a skirmish. The King of Navarre -brought out his own in person, and, in a doublet like any captain of -adventurers, he held his ground so well that, having the best marksmen, -nothing could prevail against him. By way of bravado the marshal let fly -some cannon against the town, so that the queen, who had gone upon the -ramparts to see the pastime, came near having her share in it, for a -ball flew right beside her; which incensed her greatly, as much for the -little respect Marchal de Biron showed in braving her to her face, as -because he had a special command from the king not to approach the war -nearer than five hundred leagues to the Queen of Navarre, wherever she -might be. The which command he did not observe on this occasion; for -which she felt resentment and revenge against the marshal. - -About a year and a half later she came to Court, where was the marshal, -whom the king had recalled from Guyenne, fearing further disturbance; -for the King of Navarre had threatened to make trouble if he were not -recalled. The Queen of Navarre, resentful to the said marshal, took no -notice of him, but disdained him, speaking everywhere very ill of him -and of the insult he had offered her. At last, the marshal, dreading the -hatred of the daughter and sister of his masters, and knowing the nature -of the princess, determined to seek her pardon by making excuses and -humbling himself; on which, generous as she was, she did not contradict -him, but took him into favour and friendship and forgot the past. I knew -a gentleman by acquaintance who came to Court about this time, and -seeing the good cheer the queen bestowed upon the marshal was much -astonished; and so, as he sometimes had the honour of being listened to -by the queen, he said to her that he was much amazed at the change and -at her good welcome, in which he could not have believed, in view of the -affront and injury. To which she answered that as the marshal had owned -his fault and made his excuses and sought her pardon humbly, she had -granted it for that reason, and did not desire further talk about his -bravado at Nrac. See how little vindictive this good princess is,--not -imitating in this respect her grandmother, Queen Anne, towards the -Marchal de Gi, as I have heretofore related. - -I might give many other examples of her kindness in her reconciliations -and forgivenesses. - -Rebours, one of her maids of honour, who died at Chenonceaux, displeased -her on one occasion very much. She did not treat her harshly, but when -she was very ill she went to see her, and as she was about to die -admonished her, and then said: "This poor girl has done great harm, but -she has suffered much. May God pardon her as I have pardoned her." That -was the vengeance and the harm she did her. Through her generosity she -was slow to revenge, and in all things kind. - -Alfonso, the great King of Naples, who was subtle in loving the beauties -of women, used to say that beauty is the sign manual of kindness and -gentle goodness, as the beautiful flower is that of a good fruit. As to -that it cannot be doubted that if our queen had been ugly and not -composed of her great beauty, she would have been very bad in view of -the great causes to be so that were given her. Thus said the late Queen -Isabella of Castile, that wise and virtuous and very Catholic princess: -"The fruit of clemency in a queen of great beauty and lofty heart, -covetous of honour, is sweeter far than any vengeance whatever, even -though it be undertaken for just claims and reason." - -This queen most sacredly observes that rule, striving to conform to the -commandments of her God, whom she has always loved and feared and served -devotedly. Now that the world has abandoned her and made war upon her, -she takes her sole resource in God, whom she serves daily, as I am told -by those who have seen her in her affliction; for never does she miss a -mass, taking the communion often and reading much in Holy Scripture, -finding there her peace and consolation. - -She is most eager to obtain the fine new books that are composed, as -much on sacred subjects as on human; and when she undertakes to read a -book, however large and long it be, she never stops or quits it until -she sees the end, and often loses sleep and food in doing so. She -herself composes, both in prose and verse. As to which no one can think -otherwise than that her compositions are learned, beautiful, and -pleasing, for she knows the art; and could we bring them to the light, -the world would draw great pleasure and great profit from them. Often -she makes very beautiful verses and stanzas, that are sung to her by -choir-boys whom she keeps, and which she sings herself (for her voice is -beautiful and pleasant) to a lute, playing it charmingly. And thus she -spends her time and wears away her luckless days,--offending none, and -living that tranquil life she chooses as the best. - -She has done me the honour to write me often in her adversity, I being -so presumptuous as to send for news of her. But is she not the daughter -and sister of my kings, and must I not wish to know her health, and be -glad and happy when I hear 'tis good? In her first letter she writes -thus:-- - -"By the remembrance you have of me, which is not less new than pleasant -to me, I see that you have well preserved the affection you have always -shown to our family and to the few now left of its sad wreck, so that I, -in whatever state I be, shall ever be disposed to serve you; feeling -most happy that ill fortune has not effaced my name from the remembrance -of my oldest friends, of whom you are. I know that you have chosen, like -myself, a tranquil life; and I count those happy who can maintain it, as -God has given me the grace to do these five years, He having brought me -to an ark of safety, where the storms of all these troubles cannot, I -thank God, hurt me; so that if there remain to me some means to serve my -friends, and you particularly, you will find me wholly so disposed with -right good will." - -Those are noble words; and such was the state and resolution of our -beautiful princess. That is what it is to be born of a noble house, the -greatest in the world, whence she drew her courage by inheritance from -many brave and valiant kings, her father, grandfather, great-grandfather, -and all their ancestors. And be it, as she says, that from so great -a shipwreck she alone remains, not recognized and reverenced as she -should be by her people, I believe this people of France has suffered -much misery for that reason, and will suffer more for this war of the -League. But to-day this is not so;[17] for by the valour and wisdom -and fine government of our king never was France more flourishing, or -more pacific, or better ruled; which is the greatest miracle ever seen, -having issued from so vast an abyss of evils and corruptions; by which -it seems that God has loved our queen,--He being good and merciful. - -Oh! how ill-advised is he who trusts in the people of to-day! Oh! how -differently did the Romans recognize the posterity of Augustus Csar, -who gave them wealth and grandeurs, from the people of France, who -received so much from their later kings these hundred years, and even -from Franois I. and Henri II., so that without them France would have -been tumbled topsy-turvy by her enemies watching for that chance, and -even by the Emperor Charles, that hungry and ambitious man. And thus it -is they are so ungrateful, these people, toward Marguerite, sole and -only remaining daughter and princess of France! It is easy to foresee -the wrath of God upon them, because nothing is to Him so odious as -ingratitude, especially to kings and queens, who here below fulfil the -place and state of God. And thou, disloyal Fortune, how plainly dost -thou show that there are none, however loved by heaven and blessed by -nature, who can be sure of thee and of thy favours a single day! Art -thou not dishonoured in thus so cruelly affronting her who is all -beauty, sweetness, virtue, magnanimity and kindness? - -All this I wrote during those wars we had among us for ten years. To -make an end, did I not speak elsewhere of this great queen in other -discourses I would lengthen this still more and all I could, for on so -excellent a subject the longest words are never wearisome; but for a -time I now postpone them. - -Live, princess, live in spite of Fortune! Never can you be other than -immortal upon earth and in heaven, whither your noble virtues bear you -in their arms. If public voice and fame had not made common praise of -your great merits, or if I were of those of noble speech, I would say -further here; for never did there come into the world a figure so -celestial. - - This queen who should by good right order us - By laws and edicts and above us reign, - Till we behold a reign of pleasure under her, - As in her father's days, a Star of France, - Fortune hath hindered. Ha! must rightful claim - Be wrongly lost because of Fortune's spite? - - Never did Nature make so fine a thing - As this great unique princess of our France! - Yet Fortune chooses to undo her wholly. - Behold how evil balances with good! - - * * * * * - -In the sixteenth century there were three Marguerites: one, sister of -Franois I. and Queen of Navarre, celebrated for her intellect, her -Tales in the style of Boccaccio, and her verses, which are less -interesting; another, Marguerite, niece of the preceding, sister of -Henri II., who became Duchesse de Savoie, very witty, also a writer of -verses, and, in her youth, the patroness of the new poets at Court; and -lastly, the third Marguerite, niece and great-niece of the first two, -daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, first wife of Henri IV., -and sister of the last Valois. It is of her that I speak to-day as -having left behind her most agreeable historical pages and opened in our -literature that graceful series of women's Memoirs which henceforth -never ceases, but is continued in later years and lively vein by -Mesdames de La Fayette, de Caylus and others. All of these Memoirs are -books made without intending it, and the better for that. The following -is the reason why Queen Marguerite took the idea of writing those in -which she describes herself with so lightsome a pen. - -Brantme, who was making a gallery of illustrious French and foreign -ladies, after bringing Marie Stuart into it, bethought him of placing -Marguerite beside her as another example of the injustice and cruelty of -Fortune. Marguerite, at the period when Brantme indited his impulsive, -enthusiastic portrait of her, flinging upon his paper that eulogy which -may truly be called delirious, was confined at the castle of Usson in -Auvergne (1593), where she was not so much a prisoner as mistress. -Prisoner at first, she soon seduced the man who held her so and took -possession of the place, where she passed the period of the League -troubles, and beyond it, in an impenetrable haven. The castle of Usson -had been fortified by Louis XI., well-versed in precautions, who wanted -it as a sure place in which to lodge his prisoners. There Marguerite -felt herself safe, not only from sudden attack, but also from the trial -of a long siege and repeated assault. Writing to her husband, Henri IV., -in October, 1594, she says to him, jokingly, that if he could see the -fortress and the way in which she had protected herself within it he -would see that God alone could reduce it, and she has good reason to -believe that "this hermitage was built to be her ark of safety." - -The castle which she thus compares to Noah's ark, and which some of her -panegyrists, convinced that she who lived there was given to celestial -contemplations, compare to Mount Tabor, was regarded as a Caprea and an -abominable lair by enemies, who, from afar, plunged eyes of hatred into -it. It is very certain, however, that Queen Marguerite lost nothing in -that retreat of the delicate nicety of her mind, for it was there that -she undertook to write her Memoirs in a few afternoons, in order to come -to Brantme's assistance and correct him on certain points. We will -follow her, using now and then some contemporary information, without -relying too much upon either, but endeavouring to draw with simple truth -a singular portrait in which there enters much that was enchanting and, -towards the end, fantastic. - -Marguerite, born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, May 14, 1553, was six years -old when her father, Henri II., was killed at that fatal tournament -which ruined the fortunes of the house of Valois. She tells us several -anecdotes of herself and her childish repartees which prove a precocious -mind. She takes great pains to call attention to a matter which in her -is really a sign, a distinctive note through all excesses, namely: that -as a child and when it was the fashion at Court to be "Huguenot," and -when all those who had intelligence, or wished to pass for having it, -had withdrawn from what they called "bigotry," she resisted that -influence. In vain did her brother, d'Anjou, afterward Henri III., fling -her Hours into the fire and give her the Psalms and the Huguenot prayers -in place of it; she held firm and preserved herself from the mania of -Huguenotism, which at that date (1561) was a fancy at Court, a French -and mundane fashion, attractive for a time to even those who were soon -to turn against it and repress it. Marguerite, in the midst of a life -that was little exemplary, will always be found to have kept with -sincerity this corner of good Catholicism which she derived from her -race, and which made her in this respect and to this degree more of an -Italian than a Frenchwoman; however, that which imports us to notice is -that she _had it_. - -Still a child when the first religious wars began, she was sent to -Amboise with her young brother, d'Alenon. There she found herself in -company with several of Brantme's female relations: Mme. de Dampierre, -his aunt, Mme. de Retz, his cousin; and she began with the elder of -these ladies a true friendship; with the younger, the cousin, the -affection came later. Marguerite gives the reason for this very -prettily:-- - -"At that time the advanced age of your aunt and my childish youthfulness -had more agreement; for it is the nature of old people to love children; -and those who are in the perfection of their age, like your cousin, -despise and dislike their annoying simplicity." - -Childhood passed, and the first awakening to serious things was given to -Marguerite about the time of the battle of Moncontour (1569). She was -then sixteen. The Duc d'Anjou, afterwards Henri III., aged eighteen, -handsome, brave, and giving promise of a virtue and a prudence he never -justified, took his sister aside one day in one of the alleys of the -park at Plessis-lez-Tours to tell her of his desire, on starting for the -army, to leave her as his confidant and support with their mother, -Catherine de' Medici, during his absence at the wars. He made her a long -speech, which she reports in full with some complacency:-- - -"Sister, the nourishment we have taken together obliges us, not less -than proximity, to love each other.... Until now we have naturally been -guided to this without design and without the said union being of any -utility beyond the pleasure we have had in conversing together. That was -good for our childhood; but now it is time to no longer live like -children." - -He then points out to her the great and noble duties to which God calls -him, in which the queen, their mother, brought him up, and which King -Charles IX., their brother, lays upon him. He fears that this king, -courageous as he is, may not always be satisfied with hunting, but will -become ambitious to put himself at the head of the armies, the command -of which has been hitherto left to him. It is this that he wishes to -prevent. - -"In this apprehension," he continues, "thinking of some means of remedy, -I believe that it is necessary to leave some very faithful person behind -me who will maintain my side with the queen, my mother. I know no one as -suitable as you, whom I regard as a second myself. You have all the -qualities that can be desired,--intelligence, judgment, and fidelity." - -The Duc d'Anjou then proposes to his sister to change her manner of -life, to be assiduous towards the queen, their mother, at all hours, at -her _lever_, in her cabinet during the day, at her _coucher_, and so act -that she be treated henceforth, not as a child, but as a person who -represents him during his absence. "This language," she remarks, "was -very new to me, having lived until then without purpose, thinking of -nothing but dancing and hunting; and without much interest even in -dressing and in appearing beautiful, not having yet reached the age of -such ambitions." The fear she always felt for the queen, her mother, and -the respectful silence she maintained in her presence, held her back -still further. "I came very near," she says, "replying to him as Moses -did to God in the vision of the bush: 'Who am I? Send, I pray thee, by -him whom thou shouldest send.'" Nevertheless, she felt within her at her -brother's words a new courage, and powers hitherto unknown to her, and -she soon consented to all, entering zealously into her brother's design. -From that moment she felt herself "transformed." - -This fraternal and politic union thus created by the Duc d'Anjou did not -last. On his return from the victory of Moncontour she found him -changed, distrustful, and ruled by a favourite, du Gua, who possessed -him as so many others possessed him later. Henceforth his sister was out -of favour with him, and it was with her younger brother, the Duc -d'Alenon, that Marguerite renewed and continued as long as she could a -union of the same kind, which gave room for all the feelings and all the -ambitious activities of youth. - -Did she at that time give some ground for the coolness of her brother -d'Anjou by her liaison with the young Duc de Guise? An historian who -knew Marguerite well and was not hostile to her, says: "She had long -loved Henri, Duc de Guise, who was killed at Blois, and had so fixed the -affections of her heart from her youth upon that prince of many -attractions that she never loved the King of Navarre, afterwards King of -France of happy memory, but hated him from the beginning, and was -married to him in spite of herself, and against canonical law."[18] -However this may be, the Duc d'Anjou seized the pretext of the Duc de -Guise to break with his sister, whose enemy he became insensibly, and he -succeeded in alienating her from her mother. - -Marguerite, in this flower of her youth, was, according to all -testimony, enchantingly beautiful. Her beauty was not so much in the -special features of her face as in the grace and charm of her whole -person, with its mingling of seduction and majesty. Her hair was dark, -which was not thought a beauty in those days; blond hair reigned. "I -have seen her sometimes wearing her natural hair without any peruke -artifice," Brantme tells us, "and though it was black (having inherited -that colour from King Henri, her father), she knew so well how to twist -and curl and arrange it, in imitation of her sister, the Queen of Spain, -who never wore any hair but her own, that such arrangement and coiffure -became her as well as, or better than, any other." Toward the end of her -life Marguerite, becoming in her turn antiquated, with no brown hair to -dress, made great display of blond perukes. "For them she kept great, -fair-haired footmen, who were shaved from time to time;" but in her -youth, when she dared to be dark-haired as nature made her, it was not -unbecoming to her; for she had a most dazzling complexion and her -"beautiful fair face resembled the sky in its purest and greatest -serenity" with its "noble forehead of whitening ivory." Nor must we -forget her art of adorning and dressing herself to advantage, and the -new inventions of that kind she gave to women, she being then the queen -of the modes and fashion. As such she appeared on all solemn occasions, -and notably on that day when, at the Tuileries, the queen-mother fted -the Polish seigneurs who came to offer the crown of Poland to the Duc -d'Anjou, and Ronsard, who was present, confesses that the beautiful -goddess Aurora was vanquished; but more notably still on that flowery -Easter at Blois, when we see her in procession, her dark hair starred -with diamonds and precious stones, wearing a gown of crinkled cloth of -gold from Constantinople, the weight of which would have crushed any -other woman, but which her beautiful, rich, strong figure supported -firmly, bearing the palm in her hand, her consecrated branch, "with -regal majesty, and a grace half proud, half tender." Such was the -Marguerite of the lovely years before the disasters and the flights, -before the castle of Usson, where she aged and stiffened. - -This beauty, so real, so solid, which had so little need of borrowed -charms, had, like all her being, its fantasticalities and its -superstition. I have said already that she frequently disguised her -rich, brown hair, preferring a blond wig, "more or less charmingly -fashioned." Her beautiful face was presented to view "all painted and -stained." She took such care of her skin that she spoiled it with washes -and recipes of many kinds, which gave her erysipelas and pimples. In -fact, she was the model and eke the slave of the fashions of her time; -and as she survived those days she became in the end a species of -preserved idol and curiosity, such as may be seen in a show-case. The -great Sully, when he one day reappeared at the Court of Louis XIII. with -his ruff and his costume of the time of Henri IV., gave that crowd of -young courtiers something to laugh at; and so, when Queen Marguerite, -having returned from Usson to Paris, showed herself at the remodelled -Court of Henri IV. she produced the same effect on that young century, -which smiled at beholding this solemn survival of the Valois. - -Like all those Valois, a worthy granddaughter of Franois I., she was -learned. To the Poles who harangued in Latin she showed that she -understood them by replying on the spot, eloquently and pertinently, -without the help of an interpreter. She loved poetry and wrote it, and -had it written for her by salaried poets whom she treated as friends. -When she had once begun to read a book she could not leave it, or pause -till she came to the end, "and very often she would lose both her eating -and drinking." But let us not forestall the time. She herself tells us -that this taste for study and reading came to her for the first time -during a previous imprisonment in which Henri III. held her for several -months in 1575, and we are still concerned with her cloudless years. - -She was married, in spite of her objections as a good Catholic, to -Henri, King of Navarre, six days before the Saint-Bartholomew (August, -1572). She relates with much navet and in a simple tone the scenes of -that night of horror, of which she was ignorant until the last moment. -We see in her narrative that wounded and bleeding gentleman pursued -through the corridors of the Louvre, and taking refuge in Marguerite's -chamber, and flinging himself with the cry "Navarre! Navarre!" upon her; -shielding his own body from the murderers with that of his queen, she -not knowing whether she had to do with a madman or an assailant. When -she did know what the danger was she saved the poor man, keeping him in -bed and dressing his wounds in her cabinet until he was cured. Queen -Marguerite, so little scrupulous in morality, is better than her -brothers; of the vanishing Valois she has all the good qualities and -many of their defects, but not their cruelty. - -After this half-missed blow of the Saint-Bartholomew, which did not -touch the princes of the blood, an attempt was made to unmarry her from -the King of Navarre. On a feast day when she was about to take the -sacrament, her mother asked her to tell her under oath, truly, whether -the king, her husband, had behaved to her as yet like a husband, a man, -and whether there was not still time to break the union. To this -Marguerite played the _ingnue_, so she asserts, apparently not -comprehending. "I begged her," she says, "to believe that I knew nothing -of what she was speaking. I could then say with truth as the Roman lady -said, when her husband was angry because she had not warned him his -breath was bad, 'that she had supposed all men were alike, never having -been near to any one but him.'" - -Here Marguerite wishes to have it understood that she had never, so far, -made comparison of any man with another man; she plays the innocent, and -by her quotation from the Roman lady she also plays the learned; which -is quite in the line of her intelligence. - -It would be a great error of literary judgment to consider these -graceful Memoirs as a work of nature and simplicity; it is rather one of -discrimination and subtlety. Wit sparkles throughout; but study and -learning are perceptible. In the third line we come upon a Greek word: -"I would praise your work more," she writes to Brantme, "if you had -praised me less; not wishing that the praise I give should be attributed -to _philautia_ rather than to reason;" by _philautia_ she means -self-love. Marguerite (she will remind us of it if we forget it) is by -education and taste of the school of Ronsard, and a little of that of Du -Bartas. During her imprisonment in 1575, giving herself up, as she tells -us, to reading and devotion, she shows us the study which led her back -to religion; she talks to us of the "universal page of Nature;" the -"ladder of knowledge;" the "chain of Homer;" and of "that agreeable -Encyclopdia which, starting from God, returns to God, the principle -and the end of all things." All that is learned, and even -transcendental. - -She was called in her family Venus-Urania. She loved fine discourses on -elevated topics of philosophy or sentiment. In her last years, during -her dinners and suppers, she usually had four learned men beside her, to -whom she propounded at the beginning of the meal some topic more or less -sublime or subtile, and when each had spoken for or against it and given -his reasons, she would intervene and renew the contest, provoking and -attracting to herself at will their contradiction. Here Marguerite was -essentially of her period, and she bears the seal of it on her style. -The language of her Memoirs is not an exception to be counted against -the mannerism and taste of her time; it is only a more happy employment -of it. She knows mythology and history; she cites readily Burrhus, -Pyrrhus, Timon, the centaur Chiron, and the rest. Her language is by -choice metaphorical and lively with poesy. When Catherine de' Medici, -going to see her son, the Duc d'Anjou, travels from Paris to Tours in -three days and a half (very rapid in those times, and the journey put -that poor Cardinal de Bourbon, little accustomed to such discomfort, -entirely out of breath), it is because the queen-mother is "borne," says -Marguerite, "on the wings of desire and maternal affection." - -Marguerite likes and affects all comparisons borrowed from fabulous -natural history, and she varies them with reminiscences of ancient -history. When, in 1582, they recall her to the Court of France, taking -her from her husband and from Nrac, where she had then been three or -four years, she perceives a project of her enemies to blow up a quarrel -between herself and her husband during this absence. "They hoped," she -says, "that separation would be like the breaking of the Macedonian -battalion." When the famous Phalanx was once broken entrance was easy. -This style, so ornate and figurative, usually delicate and graceful, has -also its outspokenness and firmness of tone. Speaking of the expedition -projected by her brother, the Duc d'Alenon, in Flanders, she explains -it in terms of energetic beauty, representing to the king that "it is -for the honour and aggrandizement of France; it will prove an invention -to prevent civil war, all restless spirits desirous of novelty having -means to pass into Flanders and blow off their smoke and surfeit -themselves with war. This enterprise will also serve, like Piedmont, as -a school for the nobility in the practice of arms; we shall there revive -the Montlucs and Brissacs, the Termes and the Bellegardes, and all those -great marshals who, trained to war in Piedmont, have since then so -gloriously and successfully served their king and their country." - -One of the most agreeable parts of these Memoirs is the journey in -Flanders, Hainault, and the Lige country which Marguerite made in 1577; -a journey undertaken ostensibly to drink the waters of Spa, but in -reality to gain partisans for her brother d'Alenon, in his project of -wrenching the Low Countries from Spain. The details of her coquettish, -and ceremonial magnificence, so dear to ladies, are not omitted:-- - -"I went," says Marguerite, "in a litter with columns covered with -rose-coloured Spanish velvet, embroidered in gold and shaded silks with -a device; this litter was enclosed in glass, and each glass also bore a -device, there being, whether on the velvet or on the glass, forty -different devices about the sun and its effects, with the words in -Spanish and Italian." - -Those forty devices and their explanation were an ever fresh subject of -gallant conversation in the towns through which she passed. Amid it -all, Marguerite, then in the full bloom of her twenty-fourth year, went -her way, winning all hearts, seducing the governors of citadels, and -persuading them to useful treachery. On this journey she meets with -charming Flemish scenes which she pictures delightfully. Take, for -example, the gala festival at Mons, where the beautiful Comtesse de -Lalain (Marguerite, Princesse de Ligne), whose beauty and rich costume -are described most particularly, has her child brought to her in -swaddling-clothes and suckles it before the company; "which," remarks -Marguerite, "would have been an incivility in any one else; but she did -it with such grace and simplicity, like all the rest of her actions, -that she received as much praise as the company did pleasure." - -Leaving Namur, we have at Lige a touching and pathetic story of a poor -young girl, Mlle. de Tournon, who dies of grief for being slighted and -betrayed by her lover, to whom she was going in the utmost confidence; -and who himself, coming to a better mind too late, rushes to console -her, and finds her coffin on arrival. We have here from Queen -Marguerite's pen the finished sketch of a tale in the style of Mme. de -La Fayette, just as above we had the drawing of a perfect little Flemish -picture. On her return from this journey, the scenes Marguerite passes -through at Dinant prove her coolness and presence of mind, and present -us with another Flemish picture, but not so graceful as that of Mons and -the beautiful nursing countess; this time it is a scene of public -drunkenness, grotesque burgher rioting, and burgomasters in their cups. -A painter need only transfer and copy the very lines which Marguerite -has so happily traced, to make a faithful picture. - -After these journeys, being now reunited at her house of La Fre in -Picardy with her dear brother d'Alenon, she realizes there for nearly -two months, "which were to us" she says, "like two short days," one of -those terrestrial paradises which were at all times the desire of her -imagination and of her heart. She loved beyond all things those spheres -of enchantment, those Fortunate Isles, alike of Urania and of Calypso, -and she was ever seeking to reproduce them in all places and under all -forms, whether at her Court at Nrac or amid the rocks of Usson, or, at -the last, in that beautiful garden on the banks of the Seine (which -to-day is the Rue des Petits-Augustins) where she strove to cheat old -age. - -"O my queen! how good it is to be with you!" exclaims continually her -brother d'Alenon, enchanted with the thousand graceful imaginations -with which she varied and embellished this sojourn at La Fre. And she -adds navely, mingling her Christian erudition with sentiment: "He would -gladly have said with Saint Peter: 'Let us make our tabernacle here,' if -the regal courage he possessed and the generosity of his soul had not -called him to greater things." As for her, we can conceive that she -would gladly have remained there, prolonging without weariness the -enchantment; she would willingly have arranged her life like that -beautiful garden at Nrac of which she constantly speaks, "which has -such charming alleys of laurel and cypress," or like the park she had -made there, "with paths three thousand paces long beside the river;" the -chapel being close at hand for morning mass, and the violins at her -orders for the evening ball. - -Whatever ability and shrewdness Queen Marguerite may have shown in -various political circumstances in the course of her life, we -nevertheless perceive plainly that she was not a political woman; she -was too essentially of her sex for that. There are very few women who, -like the Princess Palatine [Anne de Gonzaga] or the illustrious -Catherine of Russia, know how to be libertine yet sure of themselves; -able to establish an impenetrable partition between the alcove and the -cabinet of public affairs. Nearly all the women who have mingled in the -intrigues of politics have introduced and confused with them their -intrigues of heart or senses. Consequently, whatever intelligence they -may have, they elude or escape at a certain moment, and unless there be -a man who holds the tiller and gives them with decision their course, we -find them unfaithful, treacherous, not to be relied on, and capable at -any moment of colloguing through a secret window with an emissary of the -opposite side. Marguerite, with infinite intelligence and grace, was one -of those women. Distinguished but not superior, and wholly influenced by -passions, she had wiles and artifices of a passing kind, but no views, -and still less stability. - -One of the remarkable features of her Memoirs is that she does not tell -all, nor even the half of all, and in the very midst of the odious and -extravagant accusations made against her she sits, pen in hand, a -delicate and most discreet woman. Nothing can be less like confession -than her Memoirs. "We find there," says Bayle, "many sins of omission; -but could we expect that Queen Marguerite would acknowledge the things -that would blast her? Such avowals are reserved for the tribunal of -confession; they are not meant for history." At the most, when -enlightened by history and by the pamphlets of the period, we can merely -guess at certain feelings of which she presents to us only the -superficial and specious side. When she speaks of Bussy d'Amboise she -scarcely restrains her admiration for that gallant cavalier, and we -fancy we can see in the abundance of that praise that her heart -overflows. - -Even the letters that we have from her say little more. Among them are -love letters addressed to him whom at one time she loved the most, -Harlay de Chanvalon. Here we find no longer the charming, moderately -ornate, and naturally polished style of the Memoirs; this is all of the -highest metaphysics and purest fustian, nearly unintelligible and most -ridiculous. "Adieu, my beauteous sun! adieu, my noble angel! fine -miracle of nature!" those are the most commonplace and earthly of her -expressions; the rest mount ever higher till lost in the Empyrean. It -would really seem, from reading these letters, as if Marguerite had -never loved with heart-love, only with the head and the imagination; and -that, feeling truly no love but the physical, she felt herself bound to -refine it in expression and to _petrarchize_ in words, she, who was so -practical in behaviour. She borrows from the false poetry of her day its -tinsel in order to persuade herself that the fancy of the moment is an -eternal worship. A practical observation is quoted of her which tells us -better than her own letters the secret of her life. "Would you cease to -love?" she said, "possess the thing beloved." It is to escape this quick -disenchantment, this sad and rapid awakening, that she is so prodigal of -her figurative, mythological, impossible expressions; she is trying to -make herself a veil; the heart counts for nothing. She seems to be -saying to love: "Thy base is so trivial, so passing a thing, let us try -to support it by words, and so prolong its image and its play." - -Her life well deduced and well related would make the subject of a -teeming and interesting volume. Having obtained, after the persecutions -and troubles, permission to rejoin her husband in Gascogne (1578), she -remained there three and a half years, enjoying her liberty and leaving -him his. She counts these days at Nrac, mingled, in spite of the -re-beginning wars, with balls, excursions, and "all sorts of virtuous -pleasures," as an epoch of happiness. Henri's weaknesses and her own -harmonized remarkably, and never clashed. But Henri soon crossed the -limit of license, and she, on her side, equally. It is not for us to -hold the balance or enter here into details which would soon become -indelicate and shameful. Marguerite, who had gone to spend some time in -Paris at her brother's Court (1582, 1583) did not return to her husband -until after an odious scandal had made public her frailty. - -From that time forth her life did not retain its early, smiling -joyfulness. She was now past thirty; civil wars were lighted, never to -be extinguished until after the desperate struggles and total defeat of -the League. Marguerite, becoming a queen-adventuress, changed her abode -from time to time, until she found herself in the castle of Usson, that -asylum of which I have spoken, where she passed no less than eighteen -years (1587-1605). What happened there? Doubtless many common frailties, -but less odious than are told by bitter and dishonourable chroniclers, -the only authorities for the tales they put forth. - -During this time Queen Marguerite did not entirely cease to correspond -with her husband, now become King of France. If the conduct of the royal -pair leaves much to be desired with regard to each other, and also with -regard to the public, let us at least recognize that their correspondence -is that of honourable persons, persons of good company, whose hearts are -much better than their morals. When reasons of State determined Henri to -_unmarry himself_, to break a union which was not only sterile but scandalous, -Marguerite agreed without resistance,--seeming, however, to be fully -conscious of what she was losing. To accomplish the formalities of -divorce, the pope delegated certain bishops and cardinals to interrogate -separately the husband and wife. Marguerite expresses the desire, -inasmuch as she must be questioned, that this may be done "by more -private and familiar" persons, her courage not being able to endure -publicly so great a _diminution_; "fearing that my tears," she writes, -"may make these cardinals think I am acting from force or constraint, -which would injure the effect the king desires" (Oct. 21, 1599). King -Henri was touched by the feelings she showed throughout this long -negotiation. "I am very satisfied," he writes, "at the ingenuousness and -candour of your procedure; and I hope that God will bless the remainder -of our days with fraternal affection, accompanied by the public good, -which will render them very happy." He calls her henceforth his sister; -and she herself says to him: "You are father, brother, and king to me." -If their marriage was one of the least noble and the most bourgeois, -their divorce, at any rate, was royal. - - * * * * * - -[Here Sainte-Beuve does not keep strictly to history. Henri IV. had long -urged Marguerite to consent to a divorce; but she, aware that he was -taking steps to divorce Gabrielle d'Estres from her husband, in order -to marry her, and feeling the indignity of such a marriage, firmly -refused, and continued to do so until the sudden death of Gabrielle in -Paris during Holy Week of 1599; on which Marguerite consented at once to -the divorce, and Henri married Marie de' Medici, December 17 of the same -year. - -[Illustration: The Coronation of Marie de' Medici] - -Five years later (1605) Marguerite returned from the castle of Usson and -held her Court in Paris at the htel de Sens (which still exists) and at -her various chteaux in Languedoc; no longer, alas! the Reine Margot of -our ill-regulated affections, and somewhat open to the malicious -comments of Tallemant des Reaux, but appearing at times with all her -wonted spirit and regal dignity. These were the days when she kept -a brigade of golden-haired footmen who were shorn for the wigs; and the -story goes that her gowns were made with many pockets, in each of which -she kept the mummied heart of a lover. But such tales must be taken for -what they are worth, and a better chronicler than the satirists of the -Valois has given us ocular proof of her last majestic presence at a -public ceremony five years before her death. - -In 1610, Henri IV. preparing to leave France for the war in Germany, and -wishing to appoint Queen Marie de' Medici regent, it became necessary to -have the latter crowned. This was done in the cathedral of Saint-Denis, -May 13, 1610. The Queen of Navarre, as Marguerite, daughter of France -and first princess of the blood, was required to be present at the -ceremony. Rubens' splendid picture (reproduced in this volume) gives the -scene. Marie de' Medici, kneeling before the altar, is being crowned by -Cardinal de Joyeuse, assisted by his clergy and two other cardinals; -beside the queen are the dauphin (Louis XIII.) and his sister, -lisabeth, afterwards Queen of Spain. The Princesse de Conti and the -Duchesse de Montpensier carry the queen's train; the Duc de Ventadour, -his back to the spectator, bears the sceptre, and the Chevalier de -Vendme the sword of Justice. To the left, leading the cortge of -princesses and nobles, is the Queen of Navarre, easily recognized by her -small closed crown, all the other princesses wearing coronets. In the -background, to right, in a gallery, sits Henri IV. viewing the ceremony. -As he did so he turned with a shudder to the man behind him and said: "I -am thinking how this scene would appear if this were the Last Day and -the Judge were to summon us all before Him." Henri IV. was killed by -Ravaillac the following morning, while his coach stood blocked in the -streets by the crowds who were collecting for the public entry of Marie -de' Medici into Paris. - -The young lisabeth, eldest daughter of the king and Marie de' Medici, -who appears at the coronation of her mother, was afterwards wife of -Philip IV. of Spain, and mother of the Infanta Maria Theresa, wife of -Louis XIV, also of Carlos II., at whose death Louis XIV. obtained the -crown of Spain for his grandson, the Duc d'Anjou, Philip V. This -lisabeth of France, Queen of Spain, is the original of Rubens' -magnificent portrait reproduced in this chapter.--TR.] - - * * * * * - -Queen Marguerite returned from Usson to Paris in 1605; and here we find -her in her last estate, turned slightly to ridicule by Tallemant, the -echo of the new century. Eighteen years of confinement and solitude had -given her singularities, and even manias; they now burst forth in open -day. She still had adventures both gallant and startling: an equerry -whom she loved was killed at her carriage door by a jealous servant, and -the poet Maynard, a young disciple of Malherbe, one of Marguerite's -_beaux-esprits_, wrote stanzas and plaints about it. During the same -period Marguerite had many sincere thoughts that were more than fits of -devotion. With Maynard for secretary, she had also Vincent de Paul, -young in those days, for her chaplain. She founded and endowed convents, -all the while paying learned men to instruct her in philosophy, and -musicians to amuse her during divine service and at hours more profane. -She gave many alms and gratuities and did not pay her debts. It was not -precisely good sense that presided over her life. But amidst it all she -was loved. "On the 27th day of the month of March" (1615), says a -contemporary, "died in Paris Queen Marguerite, sole remains of the race -of Valois,--a princess full of kindness and of good intentions for the -good and the peace of the State, _who did no harm to any but herself_. -She was greatly regretted. She died at the age of sixty-two." - -Certain persons have attempted to compare her for beauty, for -misfortunes, for intellect, with Marie Stuart. Certainly, at a point of -departure there was much in common between the two queens, the two -sisters-in-law, but the comparison cannot be maintained historically. -Marie Stuart, who had in herself the wit, grace, and manners of the -Valois, who was scarcely more moral as a woman than Marguerite, and was -implicated in acts that were far more monstrous, had, or seemed to have, -a certain elevation of heart, which she acquired, or developed, in her -long captivity crowned by her sorrowful death. Of the two destinies, the -one represents definitely a great cause, and ends in a pathetic legend -of victim and martyr; the reputation of the other is spent and scattered -in tales and anecdotes half smutty, half devout, into which there enters -a grain of satire and of gayety. From the end of one comes many a -tearful tragedy; from that of the other nought can be made but a -_fabliau_. - -That which ought to be remembered to Marguerite's honour is her -intelligence, her talent for saying the right word; in short, that which -is said of her in the Memoirs of Cardinal de Richelieu: "She was the -refuge of men of letters; she loved to hear them talk; her table was -always surrounded by them, and she learned so much from their -conversation that she talked better than any other woman of her time, -and wrote more elegantly than the ordinary condition of her sex would -warrant." It is in that way, by certain exquisite pages which form a -date in our language, that she enters, in her turn, into literary -history, the noble refuge of so many wrecks, and that a last and a -lasting ray shines from her name. - -C. A. SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1852). - - - - -DISCOURSE VI. - -MESDAMES, THE DAUGHTERS OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF FRANCE.[19] - - -1. _Madame Yoland de France._ - -'Tis a thing that I have heard great personages, both men and ladies of -the Court, remark, that usually the daughters of the house of France -have been good, or witty, or gracious, or generous, and in all things -accomplished; and to confirm this opinion they do not go back to the -olden time, but say it of those of whom they have knowledge themselves, -or have heard their fathers and grandfathers who have been at the Court -talk of. - -First, I shall name here Madame Yoland of France, daughter of Charles -VII., and wife of the Duc de Savoie and Prince of Piedmont. - -She was very clever; true sister to her brother, Louis XI. She leaned a -little to the party of Duc Charles de Bourgogne, her brother-in-law, he -having married her elder sister Catherine, who scarcely lived after -wedding her husband, so that her virtues do not appear. Yoland, seeing -that Duc Charles was her neighbour and might be feared, did what she -could to maintain his friendship, and he served her much in the business -of her State. But he dying, King Louis XI. came down upon her grandeur -and her means, and those of Savoie. But Madame la duchesse, clever lady! -found means of winning over her brother the king;, and went to see him -at Plessis-lez-Tours to settle their affairs. She having arrived, the -king went down to meet her in the courtyard and welcome her; and having -bowed and kissed her and put his arm around her neck, half laughing, -half pinching her, he said: "Madame la Bourgognian, you are very -welcome." She, making him a great curtsey, replied: "Monsieur, I am not -Bourgognian; you will pardon me if you please. I am a very good -Frenchwoman and your humble servant." On which the king took her by the -arm and led her to her chamber with very good welcome; but Madame -Yoland, who was shrewd and knew the king's nature, was determined not to -remain long with him, but to settle her affairs as fast as she could and -get away. - -The king, on the other hand, who knew the lady, did not press her to -stay very long; so that if one was displeased with the other, the other -was displeased with the first; wherefore without staying more than eight -days she returned, very little content with the king, her brother. - -Philippe de Commines has told about this meeting more at length; but the -old people of those days said that they thought this princess a very -able female, who owed nothing to the king, her brother, who twitted her -often about being a Bourgognian; but she tacked about as gently and -modestly as she could, for fear of affronting him, knowing full well, -and better than even her brother, how to dissimulate, being a hundred -times slyer than he in face, and speech, and ways, though always very -good and very wise. - - -2. _Madame Jeanne de France._ - -Jeanne de France, daughter of the aforesaid king, Louis XI., was very -witty, but so good that after her death she was counted a saint, and -even as doing miracles, because of the sanctity of the life she led -after her husband, Louis XII., repudiated her [to marry Anne de -Bretagne]; after which she retired to Bourges, which was given her as a -dowry for the term of her natural life; where all her time was spent in -prayer and orisons and in serving God and his poor, without giving any -sign of the wrong that was done her by such repudiation. But the king -protested that he had been forced to marry her fearing the wrath of her -father, Louis XI., a master-man, and declared positively that he had -never known her as his wife. Thus the matter was allowed to pass; in -which this princess showed her wisdom, not making the reply of Richarde -of Scotland, wife of Charles le Gros, King of France, when her husband -repudiated her, affirming that he had never lived with her as his wife. -"That is well," she said, "since by the oath of my husband I am maid and -virgin." By those words she scoffed at her husband's oath and her own -virginity. - -But the king was seeking to recover his first loves, namely: Queen Anne -and her noble duchy, which gave great temptations to his soul; and that -was why he repudiated his wife. His oath was believed and accepted by -the pope, who sent him the dispensation, which was received by the -Sorbonne and the parliament of Paris. In all of which this princess was -wise and virtuous, and made no scandal, nor uproar, nor appeal to -justice, because a king can do much and just what he will; but feeling -herself strong to contain herself in continence and chastity, she -retired towards God and espoused herself to Him so truly that never -another husband nor a better could she have. - - -3. _Madame Anne de France._ - -After her comes her sister, Anne de France, a shrewd woman and a cunning -if ever there was one, and the true image of King Louis, her father. The -choice made of her to be guardian and administrator of her brother, -King Charles [VIII.], proves this, for she governed him so wisely and -virtuously that he came to be one of the greatest of the kings of -France, who was proclaimed, by reason of his valour, Emperor of the -East. As to his kingdom she administered that in like manner. True it is -that because of her ambition she was rather mischief-making, on account -of the hatred she bore to M. d'Orlans, afterwards King Louis XII. I -have heard say, however, that in the beginning she loved him with love; -so that if M. d'Orlans had been willing to hear to her, he might have -had better luck, as I hold on good authority. But he could not constrain -himself, all the more because he saw her so ambitious, and he wished his -wife to depend upon him as first and nearest prince to the crown, and -not upon herself; while she desired the contrary, for she wanted to hold -the highest place and to govern in all things. - -She was very vindictive in temper like her father, and always a sly -dissembler, corrupt, full of deceit, and a great hypocrite, who, for the -sake of her ambition, could mask and disguise herself in any way. So -that the kingdom, beginning to be angry at her humours, although she was -wise and virtuous, bore with them so impatiently that when the king went -to Naples she no longer had the title of regent, but her husband, M. de -Bourbon, received it. It is true, however, that she made him do what she -had in her head, for she ruled him and knew how to guide him, all the -better because he was rather foolish,--indeed, very much so; but the -Council opposed and controlled her. She endeavoured to use her -prerogative and authority over Queen Anne, but there she found the boot -on the other foot, as they say, for Queen Anne was a shrewd Bretonne, as -I have told already, who was very superb and haughty towards her -equals; so that Madame Anne was forced to lower her sails and leave the -queen, her sister-in-law, to keep her rank and maintain her grandeur and -majesty, as was reasonable; which made Madame Anne very angry; for she, -being virtually regent, held to her grandeur terribly. - -I have read many letters from her to our family in the days of her -greatness; but never did I see any of our kings (and I have seen many) -talk and write so bravely and imperiously as she did, as much to the -great as to the small. Of a surety, she was a _matresse-femme_, though -quarrelsome, and if M. d'Orlans had not been captured and his luck had -not served him ill, she would have thrown France into turmoil; and all -for her ambition, which so long as she lived she never could banish from -her soul,--not even when retired to her estates, where, nevertheless, -she pretended to be pleased and where she held her Court, which was -always, as I have heard my grandmother say, very fine and grand, she -being accompanied by great numbers of ladies and maids of honour, whom -she trained very wisely and virtuously. In fact she gave such fine -educations (as I know from my grandmother) that there were no ladies or -daughters of great houses in her time who did not receive lessons from -her, the house of Bourbon being one of the greatest and most splendid in -Christendom. And indeed it was she who made it so brilliant, for though -she was opulent in estates and riches of her own, she played her hand so -well in the regency that she gained a great deal more; all of which -served to make the house of Bourbon more dazzling. Besides being -splendid and magnificent by nature and unwilling to diminish by ever so -little her early grandeur, she also did many great kindnesses to those -whom she liked and took in hand. To end all, this Anne de France was -very clever and sufficiently good. I have now said enough about her. - - -4. _Madame Claude de France._ - -I must now speak of Madame Claude de France, who was very good, very -charitable, and very gentle to all, never doing any unkindness or harm -to any one either at her Court or in the kingdom. She was much beloved -by King Louis [XII.] and Queen Anne, her father and mother, being their -good and best-loved daughter, as they showed her plainly; for after the -king was peaceably Duke of Milan they declared and proclaimed her, in -the parliament of Paris with open doors, duchess of the two finest -duchies in Christendom, to wit, Milan and Bretagne, the one coming from -her father, the other from her mother. What an heiress, if you please! -These two duchies joined together made a noble kingdom. - -Queen Anne, her mother, desired to marry her to Charles of Austria, -afterwards emperor, and had she lived she would have done so, for in -that she influenced the king, her husband, wishing always to have the -sole charge and care of the marriage of her daughters. Never did she -call them otherwise than by their names: "My daughter Claude," and "My -daughter Rene." In these our days, estates and seigneuries must be -given to daughters of princesses, and even of ladies, by which to call -them! If Queen Anne had lived, never would Madame Claude have been -married to King Franois [I.] for she foresaw the evil treatment she was -certain to receive; the king, her husband, giving her a disease that -shortened her days. Also, Madame la regente treated her harshly. But she -strengthened her soul as much as she could, by her sound mind and gentle -patience and great wisdom, to endure these troubles, and in spite of -all, she bore the king, her husband, a fine and generous progeny, -namely: three sons, Franois, Henri, and Charles; and four daughters, -Louise, Charlotte, Magdelaine, and Marguerite. - -She was much beloved by her husband, King Franois [I.], and well -treated by him and by all France, and much regretted when she died for -her admirable virtues and goodness. I have read in the "Chronique -d'Anjou" that after her death her body worked miracles; for a great lady -of her family being tortured one day with a hot fever, and having made -her a vow, recovered her health suddenly. - - -5. _Madame Rene de France._ - -Madame Rene, her sister, was also a very good and able princess; for -she had as sound and subtle mind as could be. She had studied much, and -I have heard her discoursing learnedly and gravely of the sciences, even -astrology, and knowledge of the stars, about which I heard her talking -one day with the queen-mother, who said, after hearing her, that the -greatest philosopher in the world could not have spoken better. - -She was promised in marriage to the Emperor Charles, by King Franois; -but the war interrupting that marriage, she was given to the Duc de -Ferrara, who loved her much and treated her honourably as the daughter -of a king. True it is they were for a time rather ill together because -of the Lutheran religion he suspected her of liking. Possibly; for -resenting the ill-turns the popes had done to her father in every way, -she denied their power and refused obedience, not being able to do -worse, she being a woman. I hold on good authority that she said this -often. Her husband, nevertheless, having regard to her illustrious -blood, respected her always and honoured her much. Like her sister, -Queen Claude, she was fortunate in her issue, for she bore to her -husband the finest that was, I believe, in Italy, although she herself -was much weakened in body. - -She had the Duc de Ferrara, who is to-day one of the handsomest princes -in Italy and very wise and generous; the late Cardinal d'Est, the -kindest, most magnificent and liberal man in the world (of whom I hope -to speak hereafter); and three daughters, the most beautiful women ever -born in Italy: Madame Anne d'Est, afterwards Mme. de Guise; Madame -Lucrezia, Duchesse d'Urbino; and Madame Leonora, who died unmarried. The -first two bore the names of their grandmothers: one from Anne de -Bretagne on her mother's side; the other, on the father's side, from -Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander [VI.], both very different -in manners as in character, although the said lady Lucrezia Borgia was a -charming princess of Spanish extraction, gifted with beauty and virtue -(see Guicciardini). Madame Leonora was named after Queen Leonora. These -daughters were very handsome, but their mother embellished them still -more by the noble education that she gave them, making them study -sciences and good letters, the which they learned and retained -perfectly, putting to shame the greatest scholars. So that if they had -beautiful bodies they had souls that were beautiful also. I shall speak -of them elsewhere. - -Now, if Madame Rene was clever, intelligent, wise, and virtuous, she -was also so kind and understood the subjects of her husband so well that -I never knew any one in Ferrara who was not content or failed to say all -the good in the world of her. They felt above all her charity, which she -had in great abundance and principally for Frenchmen; for she had this -good thing about her, that she never forgot her nation; and though she -was thrust far away from it, she always loved it deeply. No Frenchman -passing through Ferrara, being in necessity and addressing her, ever -left without an ample donation and good money to return to his country -and family; and if he were ill, and could not travel, she had him -treated and cured carefully and then gave him money to return to France. - -I have heard persons who know it well, and an infinite number of -soldiers who had good experience of it say that after the journey of M. -de Guise into Italy, she saved the lives of at least ten thousand poor -Frenchmen, who would have died of starvation and want without her; and -among the number were many nobles of good family. I have heard some of -them say that never could they have reached France without her, so great -was her charity and liberality to those of her nation. And I have also -heard her _matre d'htel_ assert that their food had cost her more than -ten thousand crowns; and when the stewards of her household remonstrated -and showed her this excessive expense, she only said: "How can I help -it? These are poor Frenchmen of my nation, who, if God had put a beard -on my chin and made me a man, would now be my subjects; and truly they -would be so now if that wicked Salic law did not hold me in check." - -She is all the more to be praised because, without her, the old proverb -would be still more true, namely, that "Italy is the grave of -Frenchmen." - -But if her charity was shown at that time in this direction, I can -assure you that in other places she did not fail to practise it. I have -heard several of her household say that on her return to France, having -retired to her town and house of Montargis about the time the civil wars -began to stir, she gave a refuge as long as she lived to a number of -persons of the Religion [Reformers] who were driven or banished from -their houses and estates; she aided, succoured, and fed as many as she -could. - -I myself, at the time of the second troubles, was with the forces in -Gascoigne, commanded by MM. de Terrids and de Montsals, amounting to -eight thousand men, then on their way to join the king. We passed -through Montargis and went, the leaders, chief captains, and gentlemen, -to pay our respects to Madame Rene, as our duty commanded. We saw in -the castle, as I believe, more than three hundred persons of the -Religion, who had taken refuge there from all parts of the country. An -old _matre d'htel_, a very honest man, whom I had known in Ferrara, -swore to me that she fed every day more than three hundred mouths of -these poor people. - -In short, this princess was a true daughter of France in kindness and -charity. She had also a great and lofty heart. I have seen her in Italy -and at Court, hold her state as well as possible; and though she did not -have an external appearance of grandeur, her body being weakened, there -was so much majesty in her royal face and speech that she showed plainly -enough she was daughter of a king and of France. - - -6. _Mesdames Charlotte, Louise, Magdelaine, and Marguerite de France._ - -I have said that Madame Claude [wife of Franois I.] was fortunate in -her fine progeny of daughters as well as of sons. First she had Mesdames -Charlotte and Louise, whom death did not allow to reach the perfect age -and noble fruit their tender youth had promised in sweet flowers. Had -they come to the perfection of their years they would have equalled -their sisters in mind and goodness, for their promise was great. Madame -Louise was betrothed to the Emperor when she died. Thus are lovely -rosebuds swept away by the wind, as well as full-blown flowers. Youth -thus ravished is more to be regretted than old age, which has had its -day and its loss is not great. Almost the same thing happened to Madame -Magdelaine, their sister, who had no great time allowed her to enjoy the -thing in all the world she most desired; which was, to be a queen, so -proud and lofty was her heart. - -She was married to the King of Scotland; and when they wanted to -dissuade her--not, certainly, that he was not a brave and handsome -prince, but because she thus condemned herself to make her dwelling in a -barbarous land among a brutal people--she replied: "At least I shall be -queen so long as I live; that is what I have always wished for." But -when she arrived in Scotland she found that country just what they had -told her, and very different from her sweet France. Still, without one -sign of repentance, she said nothing except these words: "Alas! I would -be queen,"--covering her sadness and the fire of her ambition with the -ashes of patience as best she could. M. de Ronsard, who went with her to -Scotland, told me all this; he had been a page of M. d'Orlans, who -allowed him to go with her, to see the world. - -She did not live long a queen before she died, regretted by the king and -all the country, for she was truly good, and made herself beloved, -having, moreover, a fine mind, and being wise and virtuous. - -Her sister, Madame Marguerite de France [the second of the three -Marguerites], afterwards Duchesse de Savoie, was so wise, virtuous, and -perfect in learning and knowledge that she was called the Minerva, or -the Pallas, of France, and for device she bore an olive branch with two -serpents entwining it, and the words: _Rerum Sapientia custos_: -signifying that all things are ruled, or should be, by wisdom--of which -she had much, and knowledge also; improving them ever by continual study -in the afternoons, and by lessons which she received from learned men, -whom she loved above all other sorts of people. For which reason -they honoured her as their goddess and patron. The great quantity of -noble books which they wrote and dedicated to her show this, and as they -have said enough I shall say no more about her learning. - -[Illustration: Franois I] - -Her heart was grand and lofty. King Henri wished to marry her to M. de -Vendme, first prince of the blood; but she made answer that never would -she marry a subject of the king, her brother. That is why she was so -long without a husband; until, peace being made between the two -Christian and Catholic kings, she was married to M. de Savoie, to whom -she had aspired for a long time, ever since the days of King Franois, -when Pope Paul III. and King Franois met at Nice, and the Queen of -Navarre went, by command of the king, to see the late Duc de Savoie in -the castle of Nice, taking with her Madame Marguerite, her niece, who -was thought most agreeable by M. de Savoie, and very suitable for his -son. But the affair dragged on, because of the great war, until the -peace, when the marriage was made and consummated at great cost to -France; for all that we had conquered and held in Piedmont and Savoie -for the space of thirty years, was given back in one hour; so much did -King Henri desire peace and love his sister, not sparing anything to -marry her well. But all the same, the greater part of France and -Piedmont murmured and said it was too much. - -Others thought it very strange, and others very incredible, until they -had seen her; and even foreigners mocked at us: and those who loved -France and her true good wept, and lamented, especially those in -Piedmont who did not wish to return to their former masters. - -As for the French soldiers, and the war companions who had so long -enjoyed the garrisons, charms, and fine living of that beautiful -country, there is no need to ask what they said, nor how they grumbled -and were desperate and bemoaned themselves. Some, more Gascon than the -rest, said: "Hey! _cap de Diou!_ for the little bit of flesh of that -woman, must we give back that large and noble piece of earth?" Others: -"A fine thing truly to call her Minerva, goddess of chastity, and send -her here to Piedmont to change her name at our expense!" - -I have heard great captains say that if Piedmont had been left to us, -and only Savoie and Bresse given up, the marriage would still have been -very rich and very fine; and if we could have stayed in Piedmont that -region would have served as a school and an amusement to the French -soldiers, who would have stayed there and not been so eager after civil -wars,--it being the nature of Frenchmen to busy themselves always with -the toils of Mars, and to hate idleness, rest, and peace. - -But such was now the unhappy fate of France. It was thus that peace was -bought, and Madame de Savoie could not help it; although she never -desired the ruin of France; on the contrary, she loved nothing so much -as the people of her nation; and if she received benefits from them she -was not ungrateful, but served them and succoured them all she could; -and as long as she lived she persuaded and won her husband, Monsieur de -Savoie, to keep the peace, and not combine, he being a Spaniard for -life, against France, which he did as soon as she was dead. For then he -stirred up, supported, and strengthened secretly M. le Marchal de -Bellegarde to do what he did and to rebel against the king, and seize -upon the marquisate of Saluces (which I shall speak of elsewhere); in -which certainly his Highness did great wrong, and ill returned the -benefits received from the Kings of France his relatives, especially our -late King Henri III., who, on his return from Poland, gave him so -liberally Pignerol and Savillan. - -Many well-advised persons believe that if Madame de Savoie had lived she -would have died sooner than allow that blow, so grateful did she feel to -the land of her birth. And I have heard a very great person say that he -thought that if Madame de Savoie were living and had seen her son seize -upon the marquisate of Saluces (as he did in the time of the late king), -she would have strangled him; indeed, the late king himself thought so -and said so. That king, Henri III., felt such wrath at that stroke that -the morning when the news reached him, as he was about to take the -sacrament, he put off that act and would not do it, so excited, angry, -and scrupulous was he, within as well as without; and he always said -that if his aunt had lived it would never have happened. - -Such was the good opinion this good princess left in the minds of the -king and of other persons. And to tell the truth, as I know from high -authority, if she had not been so good never would the king or his -council have portioned her with such great wealth, which, surely, she -never spared for France and Frenchmen. No Frenchman could complain, when -addressing her for his necessities in going or coming across the -mountains, that she did not succour and assist him and give him good -money to help him on his way. I know that when we returned from Malta, -she did great favours and gave much money to many Frenchmen who -addressed her and asked her for it; and also, without being asked, she -offered it. I can say that, as knowing it myself; for Mme. de -Pontcarlier, sister of M. de Retz, who was Madame de Savoie's favourite -and lady of honour, asked me to supper one evening in her room, and gave -me, in a purse, five hundred crowns on behalf of the said Madame, who -loved my aunt, Mme. de Dampierre, extremely and had also loved my -mother. But I can swear with truth and security that I did not take a -penny of it, for I had enough with me to take me back to Court; and had -I not, I would rather have gone on foot than be so shameless and -impudent as to beg of such a princess. I knew many who did not do like -that, but took very readily what they could get. - -I have heard one of her stewards say that every year she put away in a -coffer a third of her revenue to give to poor Frenchmen who passed -through Savoie. That is the good Frenchwoman that she was; and no one -should complain of the wealth she took from France; and it was all her -joy when she heard good news from there, and all her grief when it was -bad. - -When the first wars broke out she felt such woe she thought to die of -it; and when peace was made and she came to Lyon to meet the king and -the queen-mother, she could not rejoice enough, begging the queen to -tell her all; and showing anger to several Huguenots, telling them and -writing them that they stirred up strife, and urging them not to do so -again; for they honoured her much and had faith in her, because she gave -pleasure to many; indeed M. l'Amiral [Coligny] would not have enjoyed -his estates in Savoie had it not been for her. - -When the civil wars came on in Flanders she was the first to tell us on -our arrival from Malta; and you may be sure she was not sorry for them; -"for," said she, "those Spaniards rejoiced and scoffed at us for our -discords, but now that they have their share they will scoff no longer." - -She was so beloved in the lands and countries of her husband that when -she died tears flowed from the eyes of all, both great and small, so -that for long they did not dry nor cease. She spoke for every one to her -husband when they were in trouble and adversity, in pain or in fault, -requesting favour or pardon, which without her intercessions they would -often not have had. Thus they called her their patron-saint. - -In short, she was the blessing of the world; in all ways, as I have -said, charitable, munificent, liberal, wise, virtuous, and so accessible -and gentle as never was, principally to those of her nation; for when -they went to do her reverence she received them with such welcome they -were shamed; the most unimportant gentlemen she honoured in the same -way, and often did not speak to them until they were covered. I know -what I say, for, speaking with her on one occasion, she did me this -honour, and urged and commanded me so much that I was constrained to -say: "Madame, I think you do not take me for a Frenchman, but for one -who is ignorant who you are and the rank you hold; but I must honour you -as belongs to me." She never spoke to any one sitting down herself, but -always standing; unless they were principal personages, and those I saw -speaking to her she obliged to sit beside her. - -To conclude, one could never tell all the good of this princess as it -was; it would need a worthier writer than I to represent her virtues. I -shall be silent, therefore, till some future time, and begin to tell of -the daughters of our King Henri [II. and Catherine de' Medici], Mesdames -lisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite de France. - - -7. _Mesdames lisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite de France._ - -I begin by the eldest, Madame lisabeth de France, or rather I ought to -call her the beautiful lisabeth of the world on account of her rare -virtues and perfections, the Queen of Spain, beloved and honoured by her -people in her lifetime, and deeply regretted and mourned by the same -after death, as I have said already in the Discourse I made upon her. -Therefore I shall content myself for the present in writing no more, but -will speak of her sister, the second daughter of King Henri, Madame -Claude de France (the name of her grandmother), Duchesse de Lorraine, -who was a beautiful, wise, virtuous, good, and gentle princess. So that -every one at Court said that she resembled her mother and aunt and was -their real image. She had a certain gayety in her face which pleased all -those who looked at her. In her beauty she resembled her mother, in her -knowledge and kindness she resembled her aunt; and the people of -Lorraine found her ever kind as long as she lived, as I myself have seen -when I went to that country; and after her death they found much to say -of her. In fact, by her death that land was filled with regrets, and M. -de Lorraine mourned her so much that, though he was young when widowed -of her, he would not marry again, saying he could never find her like, -though could he do so he would remarry, not being disinclined. - -She left a noble progeny and died in childbed, through the appetite of -an old midwife of Paris, a drunkard, in whom she had more faith than in -any other. - -The news of her death reached Reims the day of the king's coronation, -and all the Court were in mourning and extreme sadness, for her kindness -was shown to all when she came there. The last time she came, the king, -her brother, made her a gift of the ransoms of Guyenne, which came from -the confiscations that took place there; but the ransoms were made so -heavy that often they exceeded the value of the confiscations. - -Mme. de Dampierre asked her for one, one day when I was present, for a -gentleman whom I know. The princess made answer: "Mme. de Dampierre, I -give it to you with all my heart, having merely accepted this gift from -the king, my brother, not having asked for it; he gave it to me of his -own good-will; not to injure France, for I am French and love all those -who are so like myself; they will have more courtesy from me than from -another who might have had that gift; therefore what they want of me and -ask of me I will give." And truly, those who had to do with her found -her all courtesy, gentleness, and goodness. - -In short, she was a true daughter of France, having good mind and -ability, which she proved by seconding wisely and ably her husband, M. -de Lorraine, in the government of his seigneuries and principalities. - -After this Claude de France, comes that beautiful Marguerite de France, -Queen of Navarre, of whom I have already spoken; for which reason I am -silent here, awaiting another time; for I think that April in its -springtime never produced such lovely flowers and verdure as this -princess of ours produced blooming at all seasons in noble and diverse -ways, so that all the good in the world could be said of her. - - -8. _Madame Diane de France._ - -Nor must I forget Madame Diane de France; although she was bastard and a -natural child, we must place her in the rank of the daughters of France, -because she was acknowledged by the late King Henri [II.] and -legitimatized and afterwards dowered as daughter of France; for she was -given the duchy of Chastellerault, which she quitted to be Duchesse -d'Angoulme, a title and estate she retains at this day, with all the -privileges of a daughter of France, even to that of entering the -cabinets and state business of her brothers, King Charles and King Henri -III. (where I have often seen her), as though she were their own -sister. Indeed, they loved her as such. She had much resemblance to -King Henri, her father, as much in features of the face as in habits and -actions. She loved all the exercises that he loved, whether arms, -hunting, or horses. I think it is not possible for any lady to look -better on horseback than she did, or to have better grace in riding. - -I have heard say (and read) from certain old persons, that little King -Charles VIII. being in his kingdom of Naples, Mme. la Princesse de -Melfi, coming to do him reverence, showed him her daughter, beautiful as -an angel, mounted on a noble courser, managing him so well, with all the -airs and paces of the ring, that no equerry could have done better, and -the king and all his Court were in great admiration and astonishment to -see such beauty so dexterous on horseback, yet without doing shame to -her sex. - -Those who have seen Madame d'Angoulme on horseback were as much -delighted and amazed; for she was so born to it and had such grace that -she resembled in that respect the beautiful Camilla, Queen of the -Volsci; she was so grand in body and shape and face that it was hard to -find any one at Court as superb and graceful at that exercise; nor did -she exceed in any way the proper modesty and gentleness; indeed, like -the Princesse Melfi, she outdid modesty; except when she rode through -the country, when she showed some pretty performances that were very -agreeable to those who beheld them. - -[Illustration: Diane de France] - -I remember that M. le Marchal d'Amville, her brother-in-law, gave her, -once upon a time, a very fine horse, which he named _le Docteur_, -because he stepped so daintily and advanced curveting with such -precision and nicety that a doctor could not have been wiser in his -actions; and that is why he called him so. I saw Madame d'Angoulme make -that horse go more than three hundred steps pacing in that way; and -often the whole Court was amused to see it, and could not tell which to -admire most, her firm seat, or her beautiful grace. Always, to add to -her lustre, she was finely attired in a handsome and rich riding-dress, -not forgetting a hat well garnished with plumes, worn _ la_ Guelfe. Ah! -what a pity it is when old age comes to spoil such beauties and blemish -such virtues; for now she has left all that, and quitted those -exercises, and also the hunting which became her so much; for nothing -was ever unbecoming to her in her gestures and manners, like the king, -her father,--she taking pains and pleasure in what she did, at a ball, -in dancing; indeed in whatever dance it was, whether grave or gay, she -was very accomplished. - -She sang well, and played well on the lute and other instruments. In -fact, she is her father's daughter in that, as she is in kindness, for -indeed she is very kind, and never gives pain to any one, although she -has a grand and lofty heart, but her soul is generous, wise, and -virtuous, and she has been much beloved by both her husbands. - -She was first married to the Duc de Castro, of the house of Farnese, who -was killed at the assault at Hesdin; secondly, to M. de Montmorency, who -made some difficulty in the beginning, having promised to marry Mlle. de -Pienne, one of the queen's maids of honour, a beautiful and virtuous -girl; but to obey a father who was angry and threatened to disinherit -him, he obtained his release from his first promise and married Madame -Diane. He lost nothing by the change, though the said Pienne came from -one of the greatest families in France, and was one of the most -beautiful, virtuous, and wise ladies of the Court, whom Madame Diane -loved, and has always loved without any jealousy of her past affections -with her husband. She knows how to control herself, for she is very -intelligent and of good understanding. The kings, her brothers, and -Monsieur loved her much, and so did the queens and duchesses, her -sisters, for she never shamed them, being so perfect in all things. - -King Charles loved her, because she went with him to his hunts and other -joyous amusements, and was always gay and good-humoured. - -King Henri [III.] loved her, because he knew that she loved him and -liked to be with him. When war arose so cruelly on the death of M. de -Guise, knowing the king, her brother, to be in need, she started from -her house at Isle-Adam, in a diligence, not without running great risks, -being watched for on the road, and took him fifty thousand crowns, which -she had saved from her revenues, and gave them to him. They arrived most -_ propos_ and, as I believe, are still owing to her; for which the king -felt such good-will that had he lived he would have done great things -for her, having tested her fine nature in his utmost need. And since his -death she has had no heart for joy or profit, so much did she regret and -still regrets him, and longs for vengeance, if her power were equal to -her will, on those who killed him. But never has our present king [Henri -IV.] consented to it, whatever prayer she makes, she holding Mme. de -Montpensier guilty of the death of the king, her brother, abhorring her -like the plague, and going so far as to tell her before Madame, the -king's sister, that neither Madame nor the king had any honest reason to -love her, except that through this murder of the late king they held the -rank they did hold. What a hunt! I hope to say more of this elsewhere; -therefore am I silent now. - - -9. _Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre._ - -I must now speak somewhat of Marguerite, Queen of Navarre. Certainly she -was not born daughter of a king of France, nor did she bear the name, -except that of Valois or d'Orlans, because, as M. du Tillet says in his -Memoirs, the surname of France does not belong to any but the daughters -of France; and if they are born before their fathers are kings they do -not take it until after their said fathers' accession to the crown. -Nevertheless this Marguerite, as the greatest persons of those days have -said, was held to be daughter of France for her great virtues, although -there was some wrong in putting her in that rank. That is why we place -her here among the Daughters of France.[20] - -She was a princess of very great mind and ability, both by nature and -power of acquisition, for she gave herself to letters in her early years -and continued to do so as long as she lived, liking and conversing with -the most learned men in her brother's kingdom in the days of her -grandeur and usually at Court. They all so honoured her that they called -her their Mcenas; and most of their books composed at that period were -dedicated either to her brother, the king, who was also learned, or to -her. - -She herself composed well, and made a book which she entitled "La -Marguerite des Marguerites" which is very fine and can still be found in -print.[21] She often composed comedies and moralities, which were called -in those days pastorals, and had them played and represented by the -maids of honour at her Court. - -She was fond of composing spiritual songs, for her heart was much given -to God; and for that reason she bore as her device a marigold, which is -the flower that has the most affinity with the sun of any there is, -whether in similitude of its leaves to rays, or by reason of the fact -that usually it turns to the sun wherever it goes from east to west, -opening and closing according to its rise and its setting. Also she -arranged this device with the words: _Non inferiora secutus_--"It stops -not for earthly things;" meaning that she aimed and directed all her -actions, thoughts, will, and affections to that great sun on high which -is God; and for that reason was she suspected of being of Luther's -religion. But out of the respect and love she bore the king, her -brother, who loved her only and called her his darling [his _mignonne_] -she never made any profession or semblance of that religion; and if she -believed it she kept it in her soul very secretly, because the king -hated it much, saying that that, and all other new sects, tended more to -the destruction of kingdoms, monarchies, and civil dominions than to the -edification of souls. - -The great sultan, Solyman, said the same; declaring that however much it -upset many points of the Christian religion and the pope, he could not -like it, "because," he said, "the monks of this new faith are only -seditious mischief-makers, who can never rest unless they are stirring -up trouble." That is why King Franois, a wise prince if ever there was -one, foreseeing the miseries that would come in many ways to -Christianity, hated these people and was rather rigorous in burning -alive the heretics of his day. Nevertheless, he favoured the Protestant -princes of Germany against the emperor. That is how these great kings -govern as they please. - -I have heard a trustworthy person relate how the Conntable de -Montmorency, in the days of his greatest favour, discoursing of this -with the king, made no difficulty or scruple in telling him that if he -wanted to exterminate the heretics of his kingdom he would have to begin -with his Court and his nearest relations, naming the queen, his sister. -To which the king replied: "Do not speak of her; she loves me too well. -She will never believe except as I believe, and never will she take any -religion prejudicial to my State." After which, hearing of it, she never -liked M. le conntable, and helped much in his disfavour and banishment -from Court. Now it happened that the day on which her daughter, the -Princesse de Navarre, was married to the Duc de Clves at -Chastellerault, the bride was so weighted with jewels and with her gown -of gold and silver stuff that her body was too weak to walk to church; -on which the king commanded the conntable to take his niece in his arms -and carry her to the church; which amazed the Court very much; a duty -like that being little suitable and honourable for a conntable, and -might have been given very well to another. But the Queen of Navarre was -in no wise displeased and said: "The man who tried to ruin me with my -brother now serves to carry my daughter to church." - -I have this story from the person I mentioned, who added that M. le -conntable was much displeased at this duty and showed great vexation at -being made such a spectacle, saying: "It is all over with my favour, I -bid it farewell." And so it proved; for after the _fte_ and the wedding -dinner, he had his dismissal and departed immediately. I heard this from -my brother, who was then a page at Court and saw the whole mystery and -remembered it well, for he had a good memory. Possibly I am wearisome in -making this digression; but as it came to my remembrance, may I be -forgiven. - -To speak again of the learning of this queen: it was such that the -ambassadors who spoke with her were greatly delighted, and made reports -of it to their nations when they returned; in this she relieved the -king, her brother, for they always went to her after paying their chief -embassy to him; and often when great affairs were concerned they -intrusted them to her. While they awaited the final and complete -decision of the king she knew well how to entertain and content them -with fine discourse, in which she was opulent, besides being very clever -in pumping them; so that the king often said she assisted him much and -relieved him a great deal. Therefore was it discussed, as I have heard -tell, which of the two sisters served their brothers best,--one the -Queen of Hungary, the emperor; the other, Marguerite, King Franois; the -one by the effects of war, the other by the efforts of her charming -spirit and gentleness. - -When King Franois was so ill in Spain, being a prisoner, she went to -him like a good sister and friend, under the safe-conduct of the -emperor; and finding her brother in so piteous a state that had she not -come he would surely have died, and knowing his nature and temperament -far better than all his physicians, she treated him and caused him to be -treated so well, according to her knowledge of him, that she cured him. -Therefore the king often said that without her he would have died, and -that forever would he recognize his obligation and love her for it; as -he did, until his death. She returned him the same love, so that I have -heard say how, hearing of his last illness, she said these words: -"Whoever comes to my door and announces the cure of the king, my -brother, whoever may be that messenger, be he lazy, ill-humoured, dirty -or unclean, I will kiss him as the neatest prince and gentleman of -France, and if he needs a bed to repose his laziness upon, I will give -him mine and lie myself on the hardest floor for the good news he brings -me." But when she heard of his death her lamentations were so great, her -regrets so keen, that never after did she recover from them, nor was she -ever as before. - -When she was in Spain, as I have heard from my relations, she spoke to -the emperor so bravely and so honestly on the bad treatment he had given -to the king, her brother, that he was quite amazed; for she showed him -plainly the ingratitude and felony he had practised, he, a vassal, to -his seigneur in relation to Flanders; after which she reproached him for -his hardness of heart and want of pity to so great and good a king; -saying that to use him in this way would never win a heart so noble and -royal and so sovereign as that of her brother; and that if he died of -such treatment, his death would not remain unpunished; he having -children who would some day, when they grew up, take signal vengeance. - -Those words, pronounced so bravely and with such deep anger, gave the -emperor much to think of,--so much indeed that he softened and visited -the king and promised him many fine things, which he did not, -nevertheless, perform at this time. - -Now, if the queen spoke so well to the emperor, she spoke still more -strongly to his council, of whom she had audience. There she triumphed -in speaking and haranguing nobly with that good grace she never was -deprived of; and she did so well with her fine speech that she made -herself more pleasing than odious and vexatious,--all the more, withal, -that she was young, beautiful, the widow of M. d'Alenon, and in the -flower of her age; which is very suitable to move and bend such hard and -cruel persons. In short, she did so well that her reasons were thought -good and pertinent, and she was held in great esteem by the emperor, his -council, and the Court. Nevertheless he meant to play her a trick, -because, not reflecting on the expiration of her safe-conduct and -passport, she took no heed that the time was elapsing. But getting wind -that the emperor as soon as her time had expired meant to arrest her, -she, always courageous, mounted her horse and rode in eight days a -distance that should have taken fifteen; which effort so well succeeded -that she reached the frontier of France very late on the evening of the -day her passport expired, circumventing thus his Imperial Majesty [_Sa -Csare Majest_] who would no doubt have kept her had she overstayed -her safe-conduct by a single day. She sent him word and wrote him this, -and quarrelled with him for it when he passed through France. I heard -this tale from Mme. la seneschale, my grandmother, who was with her at -that time as lady of honour. - -During the imprisonment of the king, her brother, she greatly assisted -Mme. la regente, her mother, in governing the kingdom, contenting the -princes, the grandees, and winning over the nobility; because she was -very accessible, and so won the hearts of many persons by the fine -qualities she had in her. - -In short, she was a princess worthy of a great empire; besides being -very kind, gentle, gracious, charitable, a great alms-giver and -disdaining none. Therefore was she, after her death, regretted and -bemoaned by everybody. The most learned persons vied with each other in -making her epitaph in Greek, Latin, French, Italian; so much so that -there is still a book of them extant, quite complete and very beautiful. - -This queen often said to this one and that one who discoursed of death, -and eternal happiness after it: "All that is true, but we shall stay a -long time under ground before we come to that." I have heard my mother, -who was one of her ladies, and my grandmother, who was her lady of -honour, say that when they told her in the extremity of her illness that -she must die, she thought those words most bitter, and repeated what I -have told above; adding that she was not so old but that she might live -on for many years, being only fifty-two or fifty-three years old. She -was born under the 10th degree of Aquarius, when Saturn was parted from -Venus by quaternary decumbiture, on the 10th of April, 1492, at ten in -the evening; having been conceived in the year 1491 at ten hours before -mid-day and seventeen minutes, on the 11th of July. Good astrologers can -make their computations upon that. She died in Barn, at the castle of -Audaus [Odos] in the month of December, 1549. Her age can be reckoned -from that. She was older than the king, her brother, who was born at -Cognac, September 12th, year 1494, at nine in the evening, under the -21st degree of Gemini, having been conceived in the year 1493, December -10th, at ten o'clock in the morning, became king January 11th, 1514 -[1515 new style], and died in 1547. - -This queen took her illness by looking at a comet which appeared at the -death of Pope Paul III.; she herself thought this, but possibly it only -seemed so; for suddenly her mouth was drawn a little sideways; which her -physician, M. d'Escuranis, observing, he took her away, made her go to -bed, and treated her; for it was a chill [_caterre_], of which she died -in eight days, after having well prepared herself for death. She died a -good Christian and a Catholic, against the opinion of many; but as for -me, I can affirm, being a little boy at her Court with my mother and my -grandmother, that we never saw any act to contradict it; indeed, having -retired to a monastery of women in Angoumois, called Tusson, on the -death of the king, her brother, where she made her retreat and stayed -the whole summer, she built a fine house there, and was often seen to do -the office of abbess, and chant masses and vespers with the nuns in the -choir. - -I have heard tell of her that, one of her waiting-maids whom she liked -much being near to death, she wished to see her die; and when she was at -the last gasp and rattle of death, she never stirred from beside her, -gazing so fixedly upon her face that she never took her eyes away from -it until she died. Some of her most privileged ladies asked her why she -took such interest in seeing a human being pass away; to which she -answered that, having heard so many learned persons discourse and say -that the soul and spirit issued from the body at the moment of death, -she wished to see if any wind or noise could be perceived, or the -slightest resonance, but she had noticed nothing. She also gave a reason -she had heard from the same learned persons, when she asked them why the -swan sang so well before its death; to which they answered it was for -love of souls, that strove to issue through its long throat. In like -manner, she said, she had hoped to see issue or feel resound and hear -that soul or spirit as it departed; but she did not. And she added that -if she were not firm in her faith she should not know what to think of -this dislodgment and departure of the soul from the body; but she -believed in God and in what her Church commanded, without seeking -further in curiosity; for, in truth, she was one of those ladies as -devotional as could ever be seen; who had God upon her lips and feared -Him also. - -In her gay moments she wrote a book which is entitled _Les Nouvelles de -la Reine de Navarre_, in which we find a style so sweet and fluent, so -full of fine discourse and noble sentences that I have heard tell how -the queen-mother and Madame de Savoie, being young, wished to join in -writing tales themselves in imitation of the Queen of Navarre; for they -knew that she was writing them. But when they saw hers, they felt such -disgust that theirs could not approach them that they put their -writings in the fire, and would not let them be seen; a great pity, -however, for both being very witty, nothing that was not good and -pleasant could have come from such great ladies, who knew many good -stories. - -Queen Marguerite composed these tales mostly in her litter travelling -through the country; for she had many other great occupations in her -retirement. I have heard this from my grandmother, who always went with -her in her litter as lady of honour, holding the inkstand while she -wrote, which she did most deftly and quickly, more quickly than if she -had dictated. There was no one in the world so clever at making devices -and mottoes in French, Latin, and other languages, of which we have a -quantity in our house, on the beds and tapestries, composed by her. I -have said enough about her at this time; elsewhere I shall speak of her -again. - - * * * * * - -The Queen of Navarre, sister of Franois I., has of late years -frequently occupied the minds of literary and learned men. Her Letters -have been published with much care; in the edition given of the Poems of -Franois I. she is almost as much concerned as her brother, for she -contributes a good share to the volume. At the present time [1853] the -Socit des Bibliophiles, considering that there was no correct edition -of the tales and _Nouvelles_ of this princess,--because, from the first, -the early editors have treated the royal author with great freedom, so -that it was difficult to find the true text of that curious work, more -famous than read,--have assumed the task of filling this literary -vacuum. The Society has trusted one of its most conscientious members, -M. Le Roux de Lincy, with compiling an edition from the original -manuscripts; and, moreover, wishing to give to this publication a stamp -of solidity, that air of good old quality so pleasing to amateurs, they -have sought for old type, obtaining some from Nuremberg dating back to -the first half of the eighteenth century, and have caused to be cast the -necessary quantity, which has been used in printing the present work, -and will serve in future for other publications of this Society. The -_Nouvelles de la Reine de Navarre_ are presented, with a portrait of the -author and a fac-simile of her signature, in a grave, neat, and elegant -manner. Let us therefore thank this Society, composed of lovers of fine -books, for having thus applied their good taste and munificence, and let -us come to the study of the personage whom they have aided us to know. - -Marguerite de Valois, the first of the three Marguerites of the -sixteenth century, does not altogether resemble the reputation made of -her from afar. Born at the castle of Angoulme, April 11, 1492, two -years before her brother, who will in future be Franois I., she -received from her mother, Louise de Savoie, early a widow, a virtuous -and severe education. She learned Spanish, Italian, Latin, and later, -Hebrew and Greek. All these studies were not made at once, nor in her -earliest youth. Contemporary of the great movement of the Renaissance, -she shared in it gradually; she endeavoured to comprehend it fully, and -to follow it in all its branches, as became a person of lofty and -serious spirit, with a full and facile understanding and more leisure -than if she had been born upon the throne. Brantme presents her to us -as "a princess of very great mind and ability, both by nature and power -of acquisition." She continued to acquire as long as she lived; she -protected with all her heart and with all her influence the learned and -literary men of all orders and kinds; profiting by them and their -intercourse for her own advantage,--a woman who could cope with Marot -in the play of verses as well as she could answer Erasmus on nobler -studies. - -We must not exaggerate, however; and the writings of Marguerite are -sufficiently numerous to allow us to justly estimate in her the two -distinct parts of originality and simple intelligence. As poet and -writer her originality is of small account, or, to speak more precisely, -she has none at all. Her intelligence, on the contrary, is great, -active, eager, generous. There was in her day an immense movement of the -human spirit, a Cause essentially literary and liberal, which filled all -minds and hearts with enthusiasm as public policy did much later. -Marguerite, young, open to all good and noble sentiments, to _virtue_ -under all its forms, grew passionate for this cause; and when her -brother Franois came to the throne she told herself that it was her -mission to be its good genius and interpreter beside him, and to show -herself openly the patron and protectress of men who were exciting -against themselves by their learned innovations much pedantic rancour -and ill-will. It was thus that she allowed herself to be caught and won -insensibly to the doctrines of the Reformers, which appealed to her, in -the first instance, under a learned and literary form. Translators of -Scripture, they only sought, it seemed to her, to propagate its spirit -and make it better understood by pious souls; she enjoyed and favoured -them in the light of learned men, and welcomed them as loving at the -same time "good letters and Christ;" never suspecting any factious -after-thought. And even after she appeared to be undeceived in the main, -she continued to the last to plead for individuals to the king, her -brother, with zeal and humanity. - -The passion that Marguerite had for that brother dominated all else. She -was his elder by two years and a half. Louise de Savoie, the young -widow, was only fifteen or sixteen years older than her daughter. These -two women had, the one for her son the other for her brother, a love -that amounted to worship; they saw in him, who was really to be the -honour and crown of their house, a dauphin who would soon, when his -reign was inaugurated at Marignano, become a glorious and triumphant -Csar. - -"The day of the Conversion of Saint Paul, January 25, 1515," says Madame -Louise in her Journal, "my son was anointed and crowned in the church at -Reims. For this I am very grateful to the Divine mercy, by which I am -amply compensated for all the adversities and annoyances which came to -me in my early years and in the flower of my youth. Humility has kept me -company, and Patience has never abandoned me." - -And a few months later, noting down with pride the day of Marignano -[victory of Franois I. over the Swiss and the Duke of Milan, making the -French masters of Lombardy], she writes in the transport of her heart:-- - -"September 13, which was Thursday, 1515, my son vanquished and destroyed -the Swiss near Milan; beginning the combat at five hours after mid-day, -which lasted all the night and the morrow till eleven o'clock before -mid-day; and that very day I started from Amboise to go on foot to -Notre-Dame-de-Fontaines, to commend to her what I love better than -myself, my son, glorious and triumphant Csar, subjugator of the -Helvetians. - -"_Item._ That same day, September 13, 1515, between seven and eight in -the evening, was seen in various parts of Flanders a flame of fire as -long as a lance, which seemed as though it would fall upon the houses, -but was so bright that a hundred torches could not have cast so great a -light." - -Marguerite, learned and enlightened as she was, must have believed the -presage, for she writes the same words as her mother. Married at -seventeen years of age to the Duc d'Alenon, an insignificant prince, -she gave all her devotion and all her soul to her brother; therefore -when, in the tenth year of his reign, the disaster of Pavia took place -(February 25, 1525), and Marguerite learned the destruction of the -French army and the captivity of their king, we can conceive the blow it -was to her and to her mother. While Madame Louise, appointed regent of -the kingdom, showed strength and courage in that position, we can follow -the thoughts of Marguerite in the series of letters she wrote to her -brother, which M. Genin has published. Her first word is written to -console the captive and reassure him: "Madame (Louise de Savoie) has -felt such doubling of strength that night and day there is not a moment -lost for your affairs; therefore you need have no anxiety or pain about -your kingdom or your children." She congratulates herself on knowing -that he has fallen into the hands of so kind and generous a victor as -the Viceroy of Naples, Charles de Lannoy; she entreats him, for the sake -of his mother, to take care of his health: "I have heard that you mean -to do this Lent without eating flesh or eggs, and sometimes fast -altogether for the honour of God. Monseigneur, as much as a very humble -sister can implore you, I entreat you not to do this, but consider how -fish goes against you; also believe that if you do it Madame has sworn -to do so too; and I shall have the sorrow to see you both give way." - -Marguerite, about this time, sees her husband, who escaped from Pavia, -die at Lyon. She mourns him; but after the first two days she surmounts -her grief and conceals it from her mother the regent, because, not being -able to render services herself, she should think she was most -unfortunate, she says, to hinder and shake the spirit of her who can do -such great things. When Marguerite is selected to go to her brother in -Spain (September, 1525) and work for his deliverance, her joy is great. -At last she can be useful to this brother, whom she considers "as him -whom God has left her in this world; father, brother, and husband." She -mingles and varies in many ways those names of master, brother, king, -which she accumulates upon him, without their sufficing to express her -affection, so full and sincere is it: "Whatever it may be, _even to -casting to the winds the ashes of my bones to do you service_, nothing -can seem to me strange, or difficult, or painful, but always -consolation, repose, honour." Such expressions, exaggerated in others, -are true on Marguerite's lips. - -She succeeded but little in her mission to Spain; there, where she -sought to move generous hearts and make their fibre of honour vibrate, -she found crafty dissimulation and policy. She was allowed to see her -brother for a short time only; he himself exacted that she should -shorten her stay, thinking her more useful to his interests in France. -She tears herself from him in grief, above all at leaving him ill, and -as low as possible in health. Oh! how she longed to return, to stay -beside him, and to take the "place of lacquey beside his cot." It is her -opinion that he should buy his liberty at any price; let him return, no -matter on what conditions; no terms can be bad provided she sees him -back in France, and none can be good if he is still in Spain. As soon as -she sets foot in France she is received, she tells him, as a forerunner, -"as the Baptist of Jesus Christ." Arriving at Bziers, she is surrounded -by crowds. "I assure you, Monseigneur," she writes, "that when I tried -to speak of you to two or three, the moment I named the king everybody -pressed round to listen to me; in short, I am constrained to talk of -you, and I never close my speech without an accompaniment of tears from -persons of all classes." Such was at that time the true grief of France -for the loss of her king. - -As Marguerite advances farther into the country she observes more and -more the absence of the master; the kingdom is "like a body without a -head, living to recover you, dying in the sense that you are absent." As -for herself, seeing this, she thinks that her toils in Spain were more -endurable than this stillness in France, "where fancies torment me more -than efforts." - -In general, all Marguerite's letters do the greatest honour to her soul, -to her generous, solid qualities, filled with affection and heartiness. -Romance and drama have many a time expended themselves, as was indeed -their right, on this captivity in Madrid and on those interviews of -Franois I. and his sister, which lend themselves to the imagination; -but the reading of these simple, devoted letters, laying bare their -feelings, tells more than all. Here is a charming passage in which she -smiles to him and tries, on her return, to brighten the captive with -news of his children. Franois I. at this date had five, all of whom, -with one exception, were recovering from the measles. - -"And now," says Marguerite, "they are all entirely cured and very -healthy; M. le dauphin does marvels in studying, mingling with his -studies a hundred other exercises; and there is no question now of -temper, but of all the virtues. M. d'Orlans is nailed to his book and -says he wants to be wise; but M. d'Angoulme knows more than the others, -and does things that may be thought prophetic as well as childish; -which, Monseigneur, you would be amazed to hear of. Little Margot is -like me, and will not be ill; they tell me here she has very good grace, -and is growing much handsomer than Mademoiselle d'Angoulme ever was." - -Mademoiselle d'Angoulme is herself; and the little Margot who promises -to be prettier than her aunt and godmother, is the second of the -Marguerites, who is presently to be Duchesse de Savoie. - -As a word has now been said about the beauty of Marguerite de Navarre, -what are we to think about it? Her actual portrait lessens the -exaggerated idea we might form of it from the eulogies of that day. -Marguerite resembles her brother. She has his slightly aquiline and very -long nose, the long, soft, and shrewd eye, the lips equally long, -refined and smiling. The expression of her countenance is that of -shrewdness on a basis of kindness. Her dress is simple; her _cotte_ or -gown is made rather high and flat, without any frippery, and is trimmed -with fur; her mob-cap, low upon her head, encircles the forehead and -upper part of the face, scarcely allowing any hair to be seen. She holds -a little dog in her arms. The last of the Marguerites, that other Queen -of Navarre, first wife of Henri IV., was the queen of modes and fashions -in her youth; she gave the tone. Our Marguerite did nothing of all that; -she left that rle to the Duchesse d'tampes and her like. Marot -himself, when praising her, insists particularly on her characteristic -of gentleness, "which effaces the beauty of the most beautiful," on her -chaste glance and that _frank speech, without disguise, without -artifice_. She was sincere, "joyous, laughing readily," fond of all -honest gayety, and when she wanted to say a lively word, too risky in -French, she said it in Italian or in Spanish. In other respects, full of -religion, morality, and sound training; justifying the magnificent -eulogy bestowed upon her by Erasmus. That wise monarch of literature, -that true emperor of the Latinity of his period, consoling Marguerite at -the moment when she was under the blow of the disaster of Pavia, writes -to her: "I have long admired and loved in you many eminent gifts of -God: prudence worthy of a philosopher, chastity, moderation, piety, -invincible strength of soul, and a wonderful contempt for all perishable -things. Who would not consider with admiration, in the sister of a great -king, qualities which we can scarcely find in priests and monks?" In -this last stroke upon the monks we catch the slightly satirical tone of -the Voltaire of those times. Remark that in this letter addressed to -Marguerite in 1525, and in another letter which closely followed the -first, Erasmus thanks and congratulates her on the services she never -ceases to render to the common cause of literature and tolerance. - -These services rendered by Marguerite were real; but that which is a -subject of eulogy on the part of some is a source of blame on the part -of others. Her brother having married her for the second time, in 1527, -to Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, she held her little Court at Pan -which thenceforth became the refuge and haven of all persecuted persons -and innovators. "She favoured Calvinism, which she abandoned in the -end," says Prsident Hnault, "and was the cause of the rapid progress -of that dawning sect." It is very true that Marguerite, open to all the -literary and generous sentiments of her time, behaved as, later, a -person on the verge of '89 might have favoured liberty with all her -strength without wishing or even perceiving the approaching revolution. -She did at this period as did the whole Court of France, which, merely -following fashion, the progress of Letters, the pleasure of -understanding Holy Scripture and of chanting the Psalms in French, came -near to being Lutheran or Calvinistic without knowing it. Their first -awakening was on a morning (October 19, 1534) when they read, affixed to -every wall in Paris, those bloody placards against the Catholic faith. -The imprudent ones of the party had fired the train before the -appointed time. Marguerite, good and loyal, knowing nothing of parties -and judging only by honourable persons and the men of letters of her -acquaintance, leaned to the belief that those infamous placards were the -act, not of Protestants, but of those who sought a pretext to compromise -and persecute them. Charitable and humane, she never ceased to act upon -her brother in the direction of clemency. - -It was thus that on two or three occasions she tried to save the -unfortunate Berquin, who persisted in dogmatizing, and was, in spite of -all the princess's efforts with the king, her brother, burned on the -Grve, April 24, 1529. To read the passages of the letters in which she -commends Berquin, one would think she espoused his opinions and his -beliefs; but we must not ask too much rigour and precision of Marguerite -in her ideas and their expression. There are moments, no doubt, in -reading her verse or her prose, when we might think that she had fully -accepted the Reformation; she reproduces its language, even its jargon. -Then, side by side, we see her become once more, or rather continue to -be, a believer after the manner of the best Catholics of her age, given -to all their practices, and not fearing to couple with them her -inconsistencies. Montaigne, who had great esteem for her, could not -prevent himself from noting, for example, her singular reflection about -a young and very great prince, whose history she relates in her -_Nouvelles_, and who has all the look of being Franois I.; she shows -him on his way to a rendezvous that is not edifying, and, to shorten his -way, he obtains permission of the porter of a monastery to cross its -enclosure. On his return, being no longer so hurried, the prince stops -to pray in the church of the cloister; "for," she says, "although he led -the life of which I tell you, he was a prince who loved and feared -God." Montaigne takes up that remark, and asks what good she found at -such a moment in that idea of divine protection and favour. "This is not -the only proof to be adduced," he adds, "that women are not fitted to -treat of matters of theology." - -And, in truth, Marguerite was no theologian; she was a person of real -piety, heart, knowledge, and humanity, who mingled with her serious life -a happy, enjoying temperament, making a most sincere harmony of it all; -which surprises us a little in the present day. Brantme relates (in his -"Lives of Illustrious Captains") an anecdote of Marguerite which paints -her very well in this connection and measure. A brother of Brantme, the -Capitaine de Bourdeille, had known at Ferrara in the household of the -duchess of that country (daughter of Louis XII.) a French lady, Mlle. de -La Roche, by whom he had made himself beloved. He brought her back with -him to France, and she went to the Court of the Queen of Navarre, where -she died, he no longer caring for her. One day, three months after this -death, Capitaine de Bourdeille passed through Pau, and having gone to -pay his respects to the Queen of Navarre as she returned from vespers, -was well received by her; and talking from topic to topic as they -walked, the princess led him quietly through the church to the spot -where the tomb of the lady he had loved and deserted was placed. -"Cousin," she said, "do you not feel something moving beneath your -feet?" "No, madame," he replied. "But reflect a moment, cousin," she -said. "Madame, I do reflect," he answered, "but I feel no movement, for -I am walking on solid stone." "Then I inform you," said the queen, -without keeping him further in suspense, "that you stand upon the grave -and body of that poor Mlle. de La Roche, who is buried beneath you, whom -you loved so much; and, since souls have feelings after death, it -cannot be doubted that so honest a being, dying of coldness, felt your -step above her; and though you felt nothing, because of the thickness of -that stone, she was moved, and conscious of your presence. Now, inasmuch -as it is a pious deed to remember the dead, I request you to give her a -_Pater noster_, an _Ave Maria_, and a _De Profundis_, and to sprinkle -her with holy water; you will thus obtain the name of a faithful lover -and a good Christian." She left him and went away, that he might fulfil -with a collected mind the pious ceremonies that were due to the dead. I -do not know why Brantme adds the remark that, in his opinion, the -princess said and did all this more from good grace and by way of -conversation than from conviction; it seems to me, on the contrary, that -there was belief as well as grace, the conviction of a woman of delicacy -and a pious soul, and that all is there harmonized. - -In Marguerite's own time there were not lacking those who blamed her for -the protection she gave to the lettered friends of the Reformation; she -found denunciators in the Sorbonne; she found them equally at Court. The -Conntable de Montmorency, speaking to the king of the necessity of -purging the kingdom of heretics, added that he must begin with the Court -and his nearest relations, naming the Queen of Navarre. "Do not speak of -her," said the king, "she loves me too well; she will believe only what -I believe; she will never be of any religion prejudicial to my State." -That saying sums up the truth: Marguerite could be of no other religion -than that of her brother; and Bayle has very well remarked, in a fine -page of his criticism, that the more we show that Marguerite was not -united in doctrine with the Protestants, the more we are forced to -recognize her generosity, her loftiness of soul, and her pure humanity. -By her womanly instinct she comprehended tolerance, like L'Hpital, -like Henri IV., like Bayle himself. From the point of view of the State -there may have been some danger in the direction of this tolerance, too -confiding and too complete; it so appeared, in Marguerite's time, at -this critical moment when the religion of the State, and with it the -constitution of those days, was in danger of overthrow. Nevertheless, it -is good that there should be such souls,--in love, before all else, with -humanity; who insinuate, in the long run, gentleness into public morals -and into laws and justice hitherto cruel; it is good because later, in -epochs when severity begins again, repression, while it may be commanded -by reasons of policy, is still forced to reckon with that spirit of -humanity introduced into customs, and with acquired tolerance. Thus the -rigour of present ages, softened and tempered as it now is by general -manners and morals, would have been a blessing in past centuries; these -are points gained in civil life which are never lost afterwards. - -The _Contes et Nouvelles_ of the Queen of Navarre have nothing, as we -can readily believe, that is much out of keeping or contradictory with -her life and the habitual character of her thoughts. M. Genin has -already made that judicious remark, and an attentive reading will only -justify it. Those Tales are neither the gayeties nor the sins of youth; -she wrote them at a ripe age, for the most part in her litter while -travelling, and by way of amusement--but the amusement had its serious -side. Death prevented her from concluding them; instead of the seven -Days which we actually have, she intended to make ten, like Boccaccio; -she wished to give, not an _Heptameron_, but a French _Decameron_. In -her prologue she supposes that several persons of condition, French and -Spanish, having met, in the month of September, at the baths of -Cauterets, in the Pyrenees, separate after a few weeks; the Spaniards -returning as best they can across the mountains, the French delayed on -their way by floods caused by the heavy rains. A certain number of these -travellers, men and women, after divers adventures more extraordinary -than agreeable, find themselves again in company at the Abbey of -Notre-Dame-de-Serrance, and there, as the river Gave is not fordable, -they decide to build a bridge. "The abb," says the narrator, "who was -very glad they should make this outlay, because the number of pilgrims -would thus be increased, furnished the workmen, but not a penny to the -costs, such was his avarice. The workmen declaring that they could not -build the bridge under ten or a dozen days, the company, half men, half -women, began to get very weary." It became necessary to find some -"pleasant and virtuous" occupation for those ten days, and for this they -consulted a certain Dame Oisille, the oldest of the company. - -Dame Oisille responded in a manner most edifying: "My children, you ask -me a thing that I find very difficult, namely: to teach you a pastime -which shall deliver you from ennui. Having searched for this remedy all -my life, I have found but one, and that is the reading of Holy Epistles, -in which will be found the true and perfect joy of the soul, from which -proceeds the repose and health of the body." But the joyous company -cannot keep wholly to so austere a system, and it is agreed that the -time shall be divided between the sacred and the profane. Early in the -morning the company assembled in the chamber of Dame Oisille to share in -her moral readings, and from there they went to mass. They dined at ten -o'clock, after which, having retired each to his or her chamber for -private affairs, they met again about mid-day on the meadow: "And, if it -please you, every day, from mid-day till four o'clock, we went through -the beautiful meadow, on the banks of the river du Gave, where the -trees are so leafy that the sun cannot pierce the shadows, or heat the -coolness; and there, seated at our ease, each told some story he had -known, or else heard from a trustworthy person." For it was well -understood that nothing should be told that was not _true_; narrators -must be content to disguise, if necessary, the names of both persons and -places. The company numbered ten; as many men as women, and each told a -story daily; so it followed that in ten days the hundred tales would be -completed. Every afternoon, at four o'clock, a bell was rung, giving -notice that it was time to go to vespers; the company went,--not, -however, without sometimes obliging the monks to wait for them; to which -delay the latter lent themselves with very good grace. Thus rolled the -time away, no one believing that he or she had passed the limits of -sanctioned gayety or committed any sin. - -The Tales of the Queen of Navarre have nothing absolutely out of keeping -with this framework and design. Each story has a moral, a precept, -either well or ill deduced; each is related to support some maxim, some -theory, on the pre-eminence of one or other of the sexes, on the nature -and essence of love, with examples or proofs (often very contestable) of -what is advanced. Prudery apart, there is not much in these tales that -is really charming. The subjects are those of the time. At moments we -exclaim with Dame Oisille: "Good God! shall we never get out of these -stories of monks?" We are made aware that even the honourable men and -well-bred women of those days were contemporaries of Rabelais. However, -it all turns to a good end. There is wit and subtlety in the discussions -which serve as epilogue or prologue to the different tales. Most of the -histories, being true, are without art, composition, or _dnouement_. -The Queen of Navarre has been very little imitated in the tales and -verses made since her day; in fact, she lends herself poorly to -imitation. Only once does La Fontaine put her under contribution, but -then in what is, as I think, the most piquant of her writings, namely: -the tale of _La Servante justifie_. In Marguerite's story a merchant, a -carpet-dealer, emancipates himself with another than his wife, and is -discovered by a female neighbour. Fearing that the latter will gabble, -the merchant, "who knew how to give any colour to carpets," arranges -matters in such a way that his wife is induced of her own accord to walk -to the same place; so that when the gossiping neighbour comes to tell -the wife what she has seen, the latter replies, "Hey! my crony, but that -was I." This "that was I" repeated many times and in varying tones, -becomes comical, like the sayings of the farce called _Patelin_, or a -scene of Regnard; there are, however, not many such sayings in -Marguerite's Tales. - -A question which arises on the reading of these _Nouvelles_, the image -and faithful reproduction of the good society of that day, is on the -singularity that the tone of conversation should have varied so much -among honourable persons at different epochs before it settled down upon -the basis of true delicacy and decency. Elegant conversation dates much -farther back than we suppose; polished society began much earlier than -we think. The character of conversation as we now understand it in -society, and that which specially distinguishes it among moderns, is -that women are admitted to it; and this it was that led, during the -finest period of the middle ages, to charming conversations in certain -Courts of the South, and also in Normandy, in France, and in England. In -those castles of the South where troubadours disported, and whence the -echo of their sweet songs comes to us, where exquisite and ravishing -stories were composed (like that of _Aucassin et Nicolette_), there -must have been all the delicacy, all the graces one could wish for in -conversation. But taking matters as they appear to us at the end of the -15th century, we notice a mixture, a very perceptible struggle between -purity and license, between coarseness and refinement. The pretty little -romance _Jehan de Saintr_, in which the chivalric ideal is pictured -from the start in the daintiest manner, and which assumes to give us a -little code in action of politeness, courtesy and gallantry,--in a word, -the complete education of a young equerry of the day,--this pretty -romance is also full of pedantic precepts, essays on minute ceremonial, -and towards the end it suddenly turns into gross sensuality and the -triumph of the monk, after Rabelais. - -The vein of license and wanton language never ceased its flow from the -time it originated, disguising itself in brilliant moments and noble -companies only to again unmask at the beginning of the sixteenth -century, when it seems to borrow still further audacity from the Latin -Renaissance. This was the time when virtuous women told and openly -discoursed of tales _ la_ Roquelaure. Such is the tone of the society -which the _Nouvelles_ of Marguerite of Navarre represent to us, all the -more navely because their intention is in no way indecent. Nearly a -century was needed to reform this vice of taste; it was necessary that -Mme. de Rambouillet and her daughter should come to reprimand and school -the Court, that professors of good taste and polite language, like Mlle. -de Scudry and the Chevalier de Mr, should apply themselves for years -to preach decorum; and even then we shall find many backslidings and -vestiges of coarseness in the midst of even their refinement and -formalism. - -The noble moment is that when, by some sudden change of season, -intellects and minds are spread, all of a sudden, in a richer and more -equal manner over a whole generation of vigorous souls who then return -eagerly to that which is natural, and give themselves up to it without -restraint. That noble moment came in the middle of the seventeenth -century, and nothing can be imagined comparable to the conversations of -the youth of the Conds, the La Rochefoucaulds, the Retzes, the -Saint-Evremonds, the Svigns, the Turennes. What perfect hours were -those when Mme. de La Fayette talked with Madame Henriette, lying after -dinner on the cushions! Thus we come, across the greatest of centuries, -to Mme. de Caylus, the smiling niece of Mme. de Maintenon, to that airy -perfection where the mind without reflecting about it, denies itself -nothing and observes all. - -In the second half of the seventeenth century no one but Mme. Cornuel -was allowed to use coarse language and be forgiven because of the spicy -wit with which she seasoned it. At all times virtuous women must have -heard and listened to more than they repeated; but the decisive moment -(which needs to be noted) is that when they ceased to say unseemly -things and fix them in writing without perceiving that they themselves -were lacking in a virtue. This moment is what Queen Marguerite, as a -romance-writer and maker of _Nouvelles_, had not the art to divine. - -As a poet she has nothing more than facility. She imitates and -reproduces the various forms of poesy in use at that date. It is told -how she often employed two secretaries, one to write down the French -verses she composed impromptu, the other to transcribe her letters. - -Marguerite died at the Castle of Odos in Bigorre, December 21, 1549, in -her fifty-eighth year; in yielding her last breath she cried out three -times: "Jesus!" She was the mother of Jeanne d'Albret. - -Such as I have shown her as a whole, endeavouring not to force her -features and to avoid all exaggeration, she deserves that name of -_gentil esprit_ [charming spirit] which has been so universally awarded -to her; she was the worthy sister of Franois I., the worthy patron of -the Renaissance, the worthy grandmother of Henri IV., as much for her -mercy as for her joyousness, and one likes to address her, in the halo -that surrounds her, these verses which her memory calls forth and which -blend themselves so well with our thought of her:-- - -"Spirits, charming and lightsome, who have been, from all time, the -grace and the honour of this land of France--ye who were born and played -in those iron ages issuing from barbaric horrors; who, passing through -cloisters, were welcomed there; the joyous soul of burgher vigils and -the gracious ftes of castles; ye who have blossomed often beside the -throne, dispersing the weariness of pomps, giving to victory politeness, -and recovering your smiles on the morrow of reverses; ye who have taken -many forms, tricksome, mocking, elegant, or tender, facile ever; ye who -have never failed to be born again at the moment you were said to have -vanished--the ages for us have grown stern, reason is more and more -accredited, leisure has fled; even our pleasures eagerness has turned -into business, peace is without repose, so busy is she with the useful; -to days serene come afterthoughts and cares to many a soul;--'tis now -the hour, or nevermore, for awakening; the hour to once more grasp the -world and again delight it, as, throughout all time, ye have known the -way, eternally fresh and novel. Abandon not forever this land of France, -O spirits glad and lightsome!" - -SAINT-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1852). - - - - -DISCOURSE VII. - -OF VARIOUS ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES.[22] - - -1. _Isabelle d'Autriche, wife of Charles IX., King of France [daughter -of the Emperor Maximilian II.]._ - -We have had our Queen of France, Isabelle d'Autriche, who was married to -King Charles IX., of whom it is everywhere said she was one of the best, -the gentlest, the wisest, and most virtuous queens who reigned since -kings and queens began to reign. I can say this, and every man who has -ever seen or heard of her will say it with me, and not do wrong to -others, but with the greatest truth. She was very beautiful, having the -complexion of her face as fine and delicate as any lady of her Court, -and very agreeable. Her figure was beautiful also, though it was of only -medium height. She was extremely wise, and very virtuous and kind, never -giving pain to others, no matter who, nor offending any by a single -word; and as to that, she was very sober, speaking little, and then in -Spanish. - -[Illustration: Isabella of Austria, Wife of Charles IX] - -She was most devout, but in no way bigoted, not showing her devotion by -external acts too visible and too extreme, such as I have seen in some -of our paternosterers; but, without failing in her ordinary hours of -praying to God, she used them well, so that she did not need to borrow -extraordinary ones. It is true, as I have heard her ladies tell, that -when she was in bed and hidden, her curtains well-drawn, she would kneel -on her knees, in her shift, and pray to God an hour and a half, -beating her breast and macerating it in her great devotion. Which they -did not see by her consent, and then not till her husband, King Charles, -was dead; at which time, she having gone to bed and all her women -withdrawn, one of them remained to sleep in her chamber; and this lady, -hearing her sigh one night, bethought her of looking through the -curtains and saw her in that state, and praying to God in that manner, -and so continuing every night; until at last the waiting-woman, who was -familiar with her, began to remonstrate, and told her she did harm to -her health. On which the queen was angry at being discovered and -advised, and wished to conceal what she did, commanding her to say no -word of it, and, for that night, desisted; but the night after she made -up for it, thinking that her women did not perceive what she did, -whereas they saw and perceived her by her shadow thrown by the -night-lamp filled with wax which she kept lighted on her bed to read and -pray to God; though other queens and princesses kept theirs upon their -sideboards. Such ways of prayer are not like those of hypocrites, who, -wishing to make an appearance before the world, say their prayers and -devotions publicly, mumbling them aloud, that others may think them -devout and saintly. - -Thus prayed our queen for the soul of the king, her husband, whom she -regretted deeply,--making her plaints and regrets, not as a crazed and -despairing woman, with loud outcries, wounding her face, tearing her -hair, and playing the woman who is praised for weeping; but mourning -gently, shedding her beautiful and precious tears so tenderly, sighing -so softly and lowly, that we knew she restrained her grief, not to make -pretence to the world of brave appearance (as I have seen some ladies -do), but keeping in her soul her greatest anguish. Thus a torrent of -water if arrested is more violent than one that runs its ordinary -course. - -Here I am reminded to tell how, during the illness of the king, her lord -and husband, he dying on his bed, and she going to visit him; suddenly -she sat down beside him, not by his pillow as the custom is, but a -little apart and facing him where he lay; not speaking to him, as her -habit was, she held her eyes upon him so fixedly as she sat there you -would have said she brooded over him in her heart with the love she bore -him; and then she was seen to shed tears so quietly and tenderly that -those who did not look at her would not have known it, drying her eyes -while making semblance to blow her nose, causing pity to one (for I saw -her) in seeing her so tortured without yielding to her grief or her -love, and without the king perceiving it. Then she rose, and went to -pray God for his cure; for she loved and honoured him extremely, -although she knew his amorous complexion, and the mistresses that he had -both for honour and for pleasure. But she never for that gave him worse -welcome, nor said to him any harsh words; bearing patiently her little -jealousy, and the robbery he did to her. She was very proper and -dignified with him; indeed it was fire and water meeting together, for -as much as the king was quick, eager, fiery, she was cold and very -temperate. - -I have been told by those who know that after her widowhood, among her -most privileged ladies who tried to give her consolation, there was one -(for you know among a large number there is always a clumsy one) who, -thinking to gratify her said: "Ah, madame, if God instead of a daughter -had given you a son, you would now be queen-mother of the king, and your -grandeur would be increased and strengthened." "Alas!" she replied, "do -not say to me such grievous things. As if France had not troubles -enough without my producing her one which would complete her ruin! For, -had I a son, there would be more divisions, troubles, seditions to gain -the government during his minority; from that would come more wars than -ever; and each would be trying to get his profit in despoiling the poor -child, as they would have done to the late king, my husband, when he was -little, if the queen-mother and her good servitors had not opposed it. -If I had a son, I should be miserable to think I had conceived him and -so caused a thousand maledictions from the people, whose voice is that -of God. That is why I praise my God, and take with gratitude the fruit -he gives me, whether it be to me myself for better or for worse." - -Such was the goodness of this good princess towards the country and -people to which she had been brought by marriage. I have heard related -how, at the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew, she, knowing nothing of it -nor even hearing the slightest breath of it, went to bed as usual, and -did not wake till morning, at which time they told her of the fine drama -that was playing [_le beau mystre qui se jouoit_]. "Alas!" she said -quickly, "the king, my husband, does he know of it?" "Yes, madame," they -answered her; "it was he himself who ordered it." "0 my God!" she cried, -"what is this? What counsellors are those who gave him such advice? My -God! I implore thee, I beg thee to pardon him; for if thou dost not pity -him, I fear that this offence is unforgivable." Then she asked for her -prayer-book and began her orisons, imploring God with tears in her eyes. - -Consider, I beg of you, the goodness and wisdom of this queen in not -approving such a festival nor the deed then performed, although she had -reasons to desire the total extermination of M. l'amiral and those of -his religion, not only because they were contrary to hers, which she -adored and honoured before all else in the world, but because she saw -how they troubled the States of the king, her husband; and also because -the emperor, her father, had said to her when she parted from him to -come to France: "My daughter, you will be queen of the finest, most -powerful and greatest kingdom in the world, and for that I hold you to -be very happy; but happier would you be if you could find that kingdom -as flourishing as it once was; but instead you will find it torn, -divided, weakened; for though the king, your husband, holds a good part -of it, the princes and seigneurs of the Religion hold on their side the -other part of it." And as he said to her, so she found it. - -This queen having become a widow, many persons, men and women of the -Court, the most clear-sighted that I know, were of opinion that the -king, on his return from Poland, would marry her although she was his -sister-in-law; for he could have done so by dispensation of the pope, -who can do much in such matters, and above all for great personages -because of the public good that comes of it. There were many reasons why -this marriage should be made; I leave them to be deduced by high -discoursers, without alleging them myself. But among others was that of -recognizing by this marriage the great obligations the king had received -from the emperor on his return from Poland and departure thence; for it -cannot be doubted that if the emperor had placed the smallest obstacle -in his way, he could never have left Poland or reached France safely. -The Poles would have kept him had he not departed without bidding them -farewell; and the Germans lay in wait for him on all sides to catch him -(as they did that brave King Richard of England of whom we read in the -chronicles); they would surely have taken him prisoner and held him for -ransom, and perhaps worse; for they were bitter against him for the -Saint-Bartholomew; or, at least, the Protestant princes were. But, -voluntarily and without ceremony, he threw himself in good faith upon -the emperor, who received him very graciously and amiably, and with much -honour and privilege as though they were brothers, and feasted him -nobly; then, after having kept him several days, he conducted him -himself for a day or two, giving him safe passage through his territory; -so that King Henri, by his favour, reached Carinthia, the land of the -Venetians, Venice, and then his own kingdom. - -This was the obligation the king was under to the emperor; so that many -persons, as I have said, were of opinion that King Henri III. would meet -it by drawing closer their alliance. But at the time he went to Poland -he saw at Blamont, in Lorraine, Mademoiselle de Vaudemont, Louise de -Lorraine, one of the handsomest, best, and most accomplished princesses -in Christendom, on whom he cast his eyes so ardently that he was soon in -love, and in such a manner that (nursing his flame during the whole of -his absence) on his return to France he despatched from Lyon M. du Gua, -one of his prime favourites, to Lorraine, where he arranged and -concluded the marriage between him and her very easily, and without -altercation, as I leave you to think; because by the father and the -daughter no such luck was expected, the one to be father-in-law of a -king of France, and the daughter to be queen. Of her I shall speak -elsewhere. - -To return now to our little queen, who, disliking to remain in France -for several reasons, especially because she was not recognized and -endowed as she should have been, resolved to go and finish the remainder -of her noble days with the emperor and empress, her father and mother. -When there, the Catholic king being widowed of Queen Anne of Austria, -own sister to Queen Isabelle, he desired to espouse the latter, and -sent to beg the empress, his own sister, to lay his proposals before -her. But she would not listen to them, not the first, nor the second, -nor the third time her mother the empress spoke of them; excusing -herself on the honourable ashes of the king, her husband, which she -would not insult by a second marriage, and also on the ground of too -great consanguinity and close parentage between them, which might -greatly anger God; on which the empress and her brother the king urged -her to lay the matter before a very learned and eloquent Jesuit, who -exhorted and preached to her as much as he could, not forgetting to -quote all the passages of Holy and other Scripture, which might serve -his purpose. But the queen confounded him quickly by other quotations as -fine and more truthful, for, since her widowhood, she had given herself -to the study of God's word; besides which, she told him her determined -resolution, which was her most sacred defence, namely, not to forget her -husband in a second marriage. On which the Jesuit was forced to leave -her without gaining anything. But, being urged to return by a letter -from the King of Spain, who would not accept the resolute answer of the -princess, he treated her with rigorous words and even threats, so that -she, not willing to lose her time contesting against him, cut him short -by saying that if he meddled with her again she would make him repent -it, and even went so far as to threaten to have him whipped in her -kitchen. I have also heard, but I do not know if it be true, that this -Jesuit having returned for the third time, she turned away and had him -chastised for his presumption. I do not believe this; for she loved -persons of holy lives, as those men are. - -Such was the great constancy and noble firmness of this virtuous queen, -which she kept to the end of her days, towards the venerated bones of -the king her husband, which she honoured incessantly with regrets and -tears; and not being able to furnish more (for a fountain must in the -end dry up) she succumbed, and died so young that she was only -thirty-five years old at the time of her death. Loss most inestimable! -for she might long have served as a mirror of virtue to the honest -ladies of all Christendom. - -If, of a surety, she manifested love to the king her husband, by her -constancy, her virtuous continence, and her continual grief, she showed -it still more in her behaviour to the Queen of Navarre, her -sister-in-law; for, knowing her to be in a great extremity of famine in -the castle of Usson in Auvergne, abandoned by most of her relations and -by so many others whom she had obliged, she sent to her and offered her -all her means, and so provided that she gave her half the revenue she -received in France, sharing with her as if she had been her own sister; -and they say Queen Marguerite would indeed have suffered severely -without this great liberality of her good and beautiful sister. -Wherefore she deferred to her much, and honoured and loved her so that -scarcely could she bear her death patiently, as people do in the world, -but took to her bed for twenty days, weeping continually with constant -moans, and ever since has not ceased to regret and deplore her; -expending on her memory most beautiful words, which she needed not to -borrow from others, in order to praise her and to give her immortality. -I have been told that Queen Isabelle composed and printed a beautiful -book which touched on the word of God, and also another concerning -histories of what happened in France during the time she was there. I -know not if this be true, but I am assured of it, and also that persons -have seen that book in the hands of the Queen of Navarre, to whom she -sent it before she died, and who set great store by it, calling it a -fine thing; and if so divine an oracle said so, we must believe it. - -This is a summary of what I have to say of our good Queen Isabella, of -her goodness, her virtue, her continence, her constancy, and of her -loyal love to the king her husband. And were it not her nature to be -good and virtuous (I heard M. de Langeac, who was in Spain when she -died, tell how the empress said to him: "That which was best among us is -no more"), we might suppose that in all her actions Queen Isabelle -sought to imitate her mother and her aunts. - - -_2. Jeanne d'Autriche, wife of Jean, Infante of Portugal, and mother of -the king, Don Sebastian._ - -This princess of Spain was of great beauty and very majestic, or she -would not have been a Spanish princess; for a fine carriage and good -grace always accompany the majesty of a Spanish woman. I had the honour -of seeing her and talking with her rather privately, being in Spain on -my way back from Portugal. I had gone to pay my respects to our Queen of -Spain, lisabeth of France, and was talking with her, she asking news -both of France and Portugal, when they came to tell her that Madame la -Princesse Jeanne was arriving. On which the queen said to me, "Do not -stir, M. de Bourdeille. You will see a beautiful and honourable -princess. It will please you to see her, and she will be very glad to -see you and ask you news of the king her son, since you have lately seen -him." Whereupon, the princess arrived, and I thought her very beautiful -according to my taste, very well attired, and wearing on her head a -Spanish toque of white crpe coming low in a point upon her nose, and -dressed as a Spanish widow, who wears silk usually. I admired and gazed -upon her so fixedly that I was on the point of feeling ravished when the -queen called me and said that Madame la princesse wished to hear from me -news of her son the king; I had overheard her telling the princess -that she was talking with a gentleman of her brother Court who had just -come from Portugal. - -[Illustration: Charles IX] - -On which I approached the princess, and kissed her gown in the Spanish -manner. She received me very gently and intimately; and then began to -ask me news of the king, her son, his behaviour, and what I thought of -him; for at that time they were thinking to make a marriage between him -and Madame Marguerite de France, sister of the king, and in these days -Queen of Navarre. I told her everything; for at that time I spoke -Spanish as well as, or better than French. Among her other questions she -asked me this: "Was her son handsome, and whom did he resemble?" I told -her he was certainly one of the handsomest princes of Christendom and -resembled her in everything and was, in fact, the very image of her -beauty; at which she gave a little smile and the colour came into her -face, which showed much gladness at what I said. After talking with her -some time they came to call the queen to supper, and the two princesses -separated; the queen saying to me with a smile: "You have given her a -great pleasure in what you said of the resemblance of her son." - -And afterwards she asked me what I thought of her; whether I did not -think her an honourable woman and such as she had described her to me, -adding: "I think she would like much to marry the king, my brother -[Charles IX.], and I should like it, too." She knew I should repeat this -to the queen-mother on my return to Court, which was then at Arles in -Provence; and I did so; but she said she was too old for him, old enough -to be his mother. I told the queen-mother, however, what had been said -to me in Spain, on good authority, namely: that the princess had said -she was firmly resolved not to marry again unless with the King of -France, and failing that to retire from the world. In fact, she had so -set her fancy on this high match and station, for her heart was very -lofty, that she fully believed in attaining her end and contentment; -otherwise she meant to end her days, as I have said, in a monastery, -where she was already building a house for her retreat. Accordingly she -kept this hope and belief very long in her mind, managing her widowhood -sagely, until she heard of the marriage of the king to her niece -[Isabelle], and then, all hope being lost, she said these words, or -something like them, as I have heard tell: "Though the niece be more in -her springtime and less weighed with years than the aunt, the beauty of -the aunt, now in its summer, all made and formed by charming years, and -bearing fruit, is worth far more than the fruit her youthful blooms give -promise of; for the slightest misadventure will undo them, make them -fall and perish, no more no less than the trees of spring, which with -their lovely blooms promise fine fruits in summer; but an evil wind may -blow and beat them down and nought be left but leaves. But let it be -done to the will of God, with whom I now shall marry for all time, and -not with others." - -As she said, so she did, and led so good and holy a life apart from the -world that she left to ladies, both great and small, a noble example to -imitate. There may be some who have said: "Thank God she could not marry -King Charles, for if she had done so she would have left behind the hard -conditions of widowhood and resumed all the sweetness of marriage." That -may be presumed. But may we not, on the other hand, presume that the -great desire she showed the world to marry that great king was a form -and manner of ostentation and Spanish pride, manifesting her lofty -aspirations which she would not lower?--for seeing her sister Marie -Empress of Austria and wishing to equal her she aspired to be Queen of -France which is worth an empire--or more. - -To conclude: she was, to my thinking, one of the most accomplished -foreign princesses I have ever seen, though she may be blamed for -retreating from the world more from vexation than devotion; but the fact -remains that she did it; and her good and saintly end has shown in her I -know not what of sanctity. - - -3. _Marie d'Autriche, wife of Louis, King of Hungary [sister of the -Emperor Charles V.]._ - -Her aunt, Queen Marie of Hungary, did the same, although at a more -advanced age, as much to retire from the world as to help the emperor, -her brother, to serve God well in his retreat. This queen became a widow -early, having lost King Louis, her husband, who was killed, very young, -in a battle against the Turks, which he fought, not for good reason, but -by persuasion and pertinacity of a cardinal who governed him much, -assuring him that he must not distrust God and His just cause, for if -there were but ten thousand Hungarians, they, being good Christians and -fighting for God's quarrel, could make an end of a hundred thousand -Turks; and that cardinal so urged and pushed him to the point that he -fought and lost the battle, and in trying to retreat he fell into a -marsh and was smothered. Such are the blunders of men who want to manage -armies and do not know the business. - -That was why the great Duc de Guise, after he was so greatly deceived on -his journey to Italy, said frequently: "I love the Church of God, but I -will never undertake an enterprise of war on the word or faith of a -priest,"--meaning by that to lay blame on Pope Paul IV., who had not -kept the promises he made him with great and solemn words, and also on -M. le Cardinal, his brother, who had sounded the ford as far as Rome, -and lightly pushed his brother into it. - -To return to our great Queen Marie; after this misfortune to her husband -she was left a widow very young, very beautiful, as I have heard said by -many persons who knew her, and as I judge myself from the portraits I -have seen, which represent her without anything ugly to find fault with, -unless it be her large, projecting mouth like that of the house of -Austria; though it does not really come from the house of Austria, but -from that of Bourgogne; for I have heard a lady of the Court of those -times relate as follows: once when Queen lonore, passing through -Dijon, went to make her devotions at the Chartreux monastery of that -town, she visited the venerable sepulchres of her ancestors, the Ducs de -Bourgogne, and was curious enough to have them opened, as many of our -kings have done with theirs. She found them so well preserved that she -recognized some by various signs, among others by their mouths, on which -she suddenly cried out: "Ha! I thought we got our mouths from Austria, -but I see we get them from Marie de Bourgogne and the Ducs de Bourgogne -our ancestors. If I see my brother the emperor again, I shall tell him -so, or else I shall send him word." The lady who was present told me -that she heard this, and also that the queen spoke as if taking pleasure -in it; as indeed she had reason to do; for the house of Bourgogne was -fully worth that of Austria, since it came from a son of France, -Philippe the Bold, and had gained much property and great generosities -of valour and courage from him; for I believe there never were four -greater dukes coming one after the other than those four Ducs de -Bourgogne. People may blame me sometimes for exaggerating; but I ought -to be readily pardoned, because I do not know the art of writing. - -Our Queen Marie of Hungary was very beautiful and agreeable, though she -was always a trifle masculine; but in love she was none the worse for -that, nor in war, which she took as her principal exercise. The emperor, -her brother, knowing how fitted for war and very able she was, sent for -her to come to him, and there invested her with the office which had -belonged to her Aunt Marguerite of Flanders, who had governed the Low -Countries with as much mildness as her successor now showed rigour. -Indeed, so long as Madame Marguerite lived King Franois never turned -his wars in that direction, though the King of England urged it on him; -for he said that he did not wish to annoy that honest princess, who had -shown herself so good to France and was so wise and virtuous, and yet so -unfortunate in her marriages; the first of which was with King Charles -VIII., by whom she was sent back very young to her father's house; -another with the son of the King of Arragon named Jean, by whom she had -a posthumous child who died as soon as he was born, and the third was -with that handsome Duc Philibert of Savoie, by whom she had no issue; -and for this reason she bore for her device the words _Fortune -infortune, fors une_. She lies with her husband in that beautiful -convent at Brou, which is so sumptuous, near the town of Bourg in -Bresse, where I have seen it.[23] - -Queen Marie of Hungary was of great assistance to the emperor, for he -stood alone. It is true he had Ferdinand, king of the Romans, his -brother; but he was forced to show front against that great Sultan -Solyman; also he had upon his hands the affairs of Italy, which were -then in combustion; of Germany, which were little better because of the -Grand Turk; of Hungary; of Spain, which had revolted under M. de -Chivres; besides the Indies, the Low Countries, Barbary, and France, -the greatest burden of all. In short, I may say the whole world almost. - -He made this sister Marie, whom he loved above everything, -governor-general of all his Low Countries, where for the space of -twenty-two or three years she served him so well that I know not how he -could have done without her. For this he trusted her with all the -affairs of the government, so that he himself, being in Flanders, left -all to her, and the Council was held by her in her own house. It is true -that she, being very wise and clever, deferred to him, and reported to -him all that was done at the Council when he was not there, in which he -took much pleasure. - -She made great wars, sometimes by her lieutenants, sometimes in -person,--always on horseback like a generous amazon. She was the first -to light fires and conflagrations in France,--some in very noble houses -and chteaux like that of Follembray, a beautiful and charming house -built by our kings for their comfort and pleasure in hunting. The king -took this with such wrath and displeasure that before long he returned -her the change for it, and revenged it on her beautiful mansion of -Bains, held to be a miracle of the world, shaming (if I may say so from -what I have heard those say who saw it in its perfection) the seven -wonders of the world renowned in antiquity. She fted there the Emperor -Charles and his whole Court, when his son, King Philip, came from Spain -to Flanders to see him; on which occasion its magnificences were seen in -such excellence and perfection that nothing was talked of at that time -but _las fiestas de Bains_, as the Spaniards say. I remember myself that -on the journey to Bayonne [where Catherine de' Medici met her daughter -lisabeth Queen of Spain], however great was the magnificence there -presented, in tourneys, combats, masquerades, and money expended, -nothing came up to _las fiestas de Bains_; so said certain old Spanish -gentlemen who had seen them, and also as I saw it stated in a Spanish -book written expressly about them; so that one could well say that -nothing finer was ever seen, not even, begging pardon of Roman -magnificence, the games of ancient times, barring the combats of -gladiators and wild beasts. Except for them, the ftes of Bains were -finer and more agreeable, more varied, more general. - -I would describe them here, according as I could borrow them from that -Spanish book and as I heard of them from some who were present, even -from Mme. de Fontaine, born Torcy, maid of honour at the time to Queen -lonore; but I might be blamed for being too digressive. I will keep it -for a _bonne bouche_ another time, for the thing is worth it. Among some -of the finest magnificences was this: Queen Marie had a great fortress -built of brick, which was assaulted, defended, and succoured by six -thousand foot-soldiers; cannonaded by thirty pieces of cannon, whether -in the batteries or the defences, with the same ceremonies and doings as -in real war; which siege lasted three days, and never was anything seen -so fine, the emperor taking great pleasure in it. - -You may be sure that if this queen played the sumptuous it was because -she wanted to show her brother that if she held her States, pensions, -benefits, even her conquests, through him, all were devoted to his glory -and pleasure. In fact, the said emperor was greatly pleased and praised -her much; and reckoned the cost very high; especially that of his -chamber which was hung with tapestry of splendid warp, of silver and -gold and silk, on which were figured and represented, the size of life, -all his fine conquests, great enterprises, expeditions of war, and the -battles he had fought, given, and won, above all, not forgetting the -flight of Solyman before Vienna, and the capture of King Franois. In -short, there was nothing in it that was not exquisite. - -But the noble house lost its lustre soon after, being totally pillaged, -ruined, and razed to the ground. I have heard say that its mistress, -when she heard of its ruin, fell into such distress, anger, and rage -that for long she could not be pacified. Passing near there some time -later she wished to see the ruins, and gazing at them very piteously -with tears in her eyes, she swore that all France should repent of the -deed, for never should she be at her ease until that fine Fontainebleau, -of which they thought so much, was razed to the ground with not one -stone left upon another. In fact, she vomited her rage upon poor -Picardy, which felt it in flames. And we may believe that if peace had -not intervened, her vengeance would have been greater still; for she had -a stern, hard heart, not easily appeased, and was thought to be, on her -side as much as on ours, too cruel. But such is the nature of women, -even the greatest, who are very quick to vengeance when offended. The -emperor, it was said, loved her the better for it. - -I have heard it related how, when at Brussels, the emperor, in the great -hall where he had called together the general Assembly, in order to give -up and despoil himself of his States, after making an harangue and -saying all he wished to say to the Assembly and to his son, humbly -thanked Queen Marie, his sister, who was seated beside him. On which she -rose from her seat and, with a grand curtsey made to her brother with -great and grave majesty and composed grace, she said, addressing her -speech to the people: "Messieurs, since for twenty-three years it has -pleased the emperor, my brother, to give me the charge and government of -all his Low Countries, I have employed and used therein all that God, -nature, and fortune have given me of means and graces to acquit myself -as well as possible. And if in anything I have been in fault, I am -excusable, thinking I have never forgotten what I should remember, nor -spared what was proper. Nevertheless, if I have been lacking in any way -I beg you to pardon me. But if, in spite of this, some of you will not -do so, and remain discontented with me, it is the least thing I care -for, inasmuch as the emperor, my brother, is content; for to please him -alone has been my greatest desire and solicitude." So saying, and having -made another grand curtsey to the emperor, she resumed her seat. I have -heard it said that this speech was thought too haughty and defiant, both -as relating to her office, and as bidding adieu to a people whom she -ought to have left with a good word and in grief at her departure. But -what did she care,--inasmuch as she had no other object than to please -and content her brother and, from that moment, to quit the world and -keep company with that brother in his retreat and his prayers [1556]? - -I heard all this related by a gentleman of my brother who was then in -Brussels, having gone there to negotiate the ransom of my said brother -who was taken prisoner at Hesdin and confined five years at Lisle in -Flanders. The said gentleman witnessed this Assembly and all these sad -acts of the emperor; and he told me that many persons were rather -scandalized under their breaths at this proud speech of the queen; -though they dared say nothing, nor let it be seen, for they knew they -had to do with a _matresse-femme_ who would, if irritated, deal them -some blow as a parting gift. But here she was, relieved of her office, -so that she accompanied her brother to Spain and never left him again, -she, and her sister, Queen lonore, until he lay in his tomb; the three -surviving exactly a year one after the other. The emperor died first, -the Queen of France, being the elder, next, and the Queen of Hungary -last,--both sisters having very virtuously governed their widowhood. It -is true that the Queen of Hungary was longer a widow than her sister -without remarrying; for her sister married twice, as much to be Queen of -France, which was a fine morsel, as by prayer and persuasion of the -emperor, in order that she might serve as a seal to secure peace and -public tranquillity; though, indeed, this seal did not last long, for -war broke out again soon after, more cruel than ever; but the poor -princess could not help that, for she had brought to France all she -could; though the king, her husband, treated her no better for that, but -cursed his marriage, as I have heard say. - - -4. _Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III., King of France._ - -We can and should praise this princess who, in her marriage, behaved to -the king, her husband, so wisely, chastely, and loyally that the tie -which bound her to him remained indissoluble and was never loosened or -undone, although the king her husband, loving change, went after others, -as the fashion is with these great persons, who have a liberty of their -own apart from other men. Moreover, within the first ten days of their -marriage he gave her cause for discontentment, for he took away her -waiting-maids and the ladies who had been with her and brought her up -from childhood, whom she regretted much; and more especially the sting -went deep into her heart on account of Mlle. de Changy, a beautiful and -very honourable young lady, who should never have been banished from the -company of her mistress, or from Court. It is a great vexation to lose a -good companion and a confidante. - -[Illustration: Louise de Lorraine - -wife of Henry III] - -I know that one of the said queen's most intimate ladies was so -presumptuous as to say to her one day, laughing and joking, that since -she had no children by the king and could never have them, for -reasons that were talked of in those days, she would do well to borrow a -third and secret means to have them, in order not to be left without -authority when the king should die, but rather be mother to a king and -hold the rank and grandeur of the present queen-mother, her -mother-in-law. But she rejected this bouffonesque advice, taking it in -very bad part and nevermore liking the good lady-counsellor. She -preferred to rest her grandeur on her chastity and virtue than upon a -lineage issuing from vice: counsel of the world! which, according to the -doctrine of Macchiavelli, ought not to be rejected. - -But our Queen Louise, so wise and chaste and virtuous, did not desire, -either by true or false means, to become queen-mother; though, had she -been willing to play such a game, things would have been other than they -are; for no one would have taken notice, and many would have been -confounded. For this reason the present king [Henri IV.] owes much to -her, and should have loved and honoured her; for had she played the -trick and produced the child, he would only have been regent of France, -and perhaps not that, and such weak title would not have guaranteed us -from more wars and evils than we have so far had. Still, I have heard -many, religious as well as worldly people, say and hold to this -conclusion, namely: that Queen Louise would have done better to play -that game, for then France would not have had the ruin and misery she -has had, and will have, and that Christianity would have been the better -for it. I make this question over to worthy and inquiring discoursers to -give their opinion on it; it is a brave subject and an ample one for the -State; but not for God, methinks, to whom our queen was so inclined, -loving and adoring Him so truly that to serve Him she forgot herself and -her high condition. For, being a very beautiful princess (in fact the -king took her for her beauty and virtue), and young, delicate, and very -lovable, she devoted herself to no other purpose than serving God, going -to prayers, visiting the hospitals continually, nursing the sick, -burying the dead, and omitting nothing of all the good and saintly works -performed by saintly and devoted good women, princesses, and queens in -the times past of the primitive Church. After the death of the king, her -husband, she did the same, employing her time in mourning and regretting -him, and in praying to God for his soul; so that her widowed life was -much the same as her married life. - -She was suspected during the lifetime of her husband of leaning a little -to the party of the Union [League] because, good Christian and Catholic -that she was, she loved all who fought and combated for her faith and -her religion; but she never loved these and left them wholly after they -killed her husband; demanding no other vengeance or punishment than what -it pleased God to send them, asking the same of men and, above all, of -our present king; who should, however, have done justice on that -monstrous deed done to a sacred person. - -Thus lived this princess in marriage and died in widowhood. She died in -a reputation most beautiful and worthy of her, having lingered and -languished long, without taking care of herself and giving way too much -to her sadness. She made a noble and religious end. Before she died she -ordered her crown to be placed on the pillow beside her, and would not -have it moved as long as she lived; and after her death she was crowned -with it, and remained so. - - -5. _Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of Anne, Duc de Joyeuse.[24]_ - -Queen Louise left a sister, Madame de Joyeuse, who has imitated her -modest and chaste life, having made great mourning and lamentation for -her husband, a brave, valiant, and accomplished seigneur. And I have -heard say that when the present king was so tightly pressed in Brest, -where M. du Maine with forty thousand men held him besieged and tied up -in a sack, that if she had been in the place of the Duc de Chartres, who -commanded within, she would have revenged the death of her husband far -better than did the said duke, who on account of the obligations he owed -the Duc de Joyeuse, should have done better. Since when, she has never -liked him, but hated him more than the plague, not being able to excuse -such a fault; though there are some who say that he kept the faith and -loyalty he had promised. - -But a woman justly or unjustly offended does not listen to excuses; nor -did this one, who never again loved our present king; but she greatly -regretted the late one [Henri III.] although she belonged to the League; -but she always said that she and her husband were under extreme -obligations to him. To conclude: she was a good and virtuous princess, -who deserves honour for the grief she gave to the ashes of her husband -for some time, although she remarried in the end with M. de Luxembourg. -Being a woman, why should she languish? - - -6. _Christine of Denmark, niece of the Emperor Charles V. Duchesse de -Lorraine._ - -After the departure of the Queen of Hungary no great princess remained -near King Philip II. [to whom Charles V. resigned the Low Countries, -Naples, and Sicily 1555] except the Duchesse de Lorraine, Christine of -Denmark, his cousin-german, since called her Highness, who kept him good -company so long as he stayed in Flanders, and made his Court shine; for -the Court of every king, prince, emperor, or monarch, however grand it -be, is of little account if it be not accompanied and made desirable by -the Court of queen, empress, or great princess with numerous ladies and -damoiselles; as I have well perceived myself and heard discoursed of and -said by the greatest personages. - -This princess, to my thinking, was one of the most beautiful and -accomplished princesses I have ever seen. Her face was very agreeable, -her figure tall, and her carriage fine; especially did she dress herself -well,--so well that, in her time, she gave to our ladies of France and -to her own a pattern and model for dressing the head with a coiffure and -veil, called _ la_ Lorraine; and a fine sight it was on our Court -ladies, who wore it only for ftes or great magnificences, in order to -adorn and display themselves, as did all Lorraine, in honour of her -Highness. Above all, she had one of the prettiest hands that were ever -seen; indeed I have heard our queen-mother praise it and compare it with -her own. She held herself finely on horseback with very good grace, and -always rode with stirrup and pommel, as she had learned from her aunt, -Queen Mary of Hungary. I have heard say that the queen-mother learned -this fashion from her, for up to that time she rode on the plank, which -certainly does not show the grace or the fine action with the stirrup. -She liked to imitate in riding the queen, her aunt, and never mounted -any but Spanish or Turkish horses, barbs, or very fine jennets which -went at an amble; I have known her have at one time a dozen very fine -ones, of which it would be hard to say which was the finest. - -Her aunt, the queen, loved her much, finding her suited to her humour, -whether in the exercises, hunting and other, that she loved, or in the -virtues that she knew she possessed. While her husband lived she often -went to Flanders to see her aunt, as Mme. de Fontaine told me; but after -she became a widow, and especially after they took her son away from -her, she left Lorraine in anger, for her heart was very lofty, and made -her abode with the emperor her uncle, and the queens her aunts, who -gladly received her. - -She bore very impatiently the parting from this son, though King Henri -made every excuse to her, and declared he intended to adopt him as a -son. But not being pacified, and seeing that they were giving the old -fellow M. de la Brousse to her son as governor, taking away from him M. -de Montbardon, a very wise and honourable gentleman whom the emperor had -appointed, having known him for a very long time, this princess, finding -how desperate the matter was, came to see King Henri on a Holy Thursday -in the great gallery at Nancy, where the Court then was; and with very -composed grace and that great beauty which made her so admired, and -without being awed or abating in any way her grandeur, she made him a -great curtsey, entreating him, and explaining with tears in her eyes -(which only made her the more beautiful) the wrong he did in taking her -son from her,--an object so dear to her heart and all she had in the -world; also that she did not merit such treatment, in view of the great -family from which she came; besides which she believed she had never -done anything against his service. She said these things so well, with -such good grace and reasoning, and made her complaint so gently that the -king, who was always courteous to ladies, had great compassion for -her,--not only he, but all the princes and the great and the little -people who saw that sight. - -The king, who was the most respectful king to ladies that was ever in -France, answered her most civilly; not with a flourish of words or a -great harangue, as Paradin in his History of France represents, for of -himself and by nature he was not at all prolix, nor copious in words nor -a great haranguer. Moreover, there is no need nor would it be becoming -that a king should imitate in his speech a philosopher or an orator; so -that the shortest words and briefest answers are best for a king; as I -have heard M. de Pibrac say, whose instruction was very sound on account -of the learning that was in him. Therefore, whoever reads that harangue -of Paradin, made, or presumed to be made by King Henri, should believe -none of it, for I have heard several great persons who were present -declare that he could not have heard that answer or that discourse as he -says he did. Very true it is that the king consoled her civilly and -modestly on the desolation she expressed, and told her she had no reason -to be troubled, because to secure his safety, and not from enmity, did -he wish to keep her son beside him, and put him with his own eldest son -to have the same education, same manner of life, same fortune; and since -he was of French extraction, and himself French, he could be better -brought up at the Court of France, among the French, where he had -relations and friends. Nor did he forget to remind her that the house of -Lorraine was more obliged to France than any house in Christendom, -reminding her of the obligation of the Duc de Lorraine in respect to Duc -Charles de Bourgogne, who was killed at Nancy. - -[Illustration: Henri III] - -But all these fine words and reasons could not console her or make her -bear her sorrow patiently. So that, having made her curtsey, still -shedding many precious tears, she retired to her chamber, to the door of -which the king conducted her; and the next day, before his departure, -she went to see him in his chamber to take leave of him, but could -not obtain her request. Therefore, seeing her dear son taken before her -eyes and departing for France, she resolved, on her side, to leave -Lorraine and retire to Flanders, to her uncle, the emperor (how fine a -word!), and to her cousin King Philip and the queens, her aunts (what -alliance! what titles!), which she did; and never stirred thence till -after the peace made between the two kings, when he of Spain crossed the -seas and went away. - -She did much for this peace, I might say all; for the deputies, as much -on one side as on the other, as I have heard tell, after much pains and -time consumed at Cercan [Cateau-Carabrsis] without doing or concluding -anything, were all at fault and off the scent, like huntsmen, when she, -being either instinct with the divine spirit, or moved by good Christian -zeal and her natural good sense, undertook this great negotiation and -conducted it so well that the end was fortunate throughout all -Christendom. Also it was said that no one could have been found more -proper to move and place that great rock; for she was a very clever and -judicious lady if ever there was one, and of fine and grand authority; -and certainly small and low persons are not so proper for that as the -great. On the other hand the king, her cousin [Philip II.], believed and -trusted her greatly, esteeming her much, and loving her with a great -affection and love; as indeed he should, for she gave his Court great -value and made it shine, when otherwise it would have been obscure. -Though afterwards, as I have been told, he did not treat her too well in -the matter of her estates which came to her as dowry in the duchy of -Milan; she having been married first to Duc Sforza, for, as I have heard -say, he took and curtailed her of some. - -I was told that after the death of her son she remained on very ill -terms with M. de Guise and his brother, the Cardinal, accusing them of -having persuaded the king to keep her son on account of their ambition -to see and have their near cousin adopted son and married to the house -of France; besides which, she had refused some time before to take M. de -Guise in marriage, he having asked her to do so. She, who was haughty to -the very extreme, replied that she would never marry the younger of a -house whose eldest had been her husband; and for that refusal M. de -Guise bore her a grudge ever after,--though indeed he lost nothing by -the change to Madame his wife, whom he married soon after, for she was -of very illustrious birth and granddaughter of Louis XII., one of the -bravest and best kings that ever wore the crown of France; and, what is -more, she was the handsomest woman in Christendom. - -I have heard tell that the first time these two handsome princesses saw -each other, they were each so contemplative the one of the other, -turning their eyes sometimes crossways, sometimes sideways, that neither -could look enough, so fixed and attentive were they to watch each other. -I leave you to think what thoughts they were turning in their fine -souls; not more nor less than those we read of just before the great -battle in Africa between Scipio and Hannibal (which was the final -settlement of the war between Rome and Carthage), when those two great -captains met together during a truce of two hours, and, having -approached each other, they stood for a little space of time, lost in -contemplation the one of the other, each ravished by the valour of his -companion, both renowned for their noble deeds, so well represented in -their faces, their bodies, and their fine and warlike ways and gestures. -And then, having stood for some time thus wrapt in meditation of each -other, they began to negotiate in the manner that Titus Livius describes -so well. That is what virtue is, which makes itself admired amid -hatreds and enmities, as beauty among jealousies, like that of the two -ladies and princesses I have just been speaking of. - -Certainly their beauty and grace may be reckoned equal, though Mme. de -Guise could slightly have carried the day; but she was content without -it,--being not at all vain or superb, but the sweetest, best, humblest, -and most affable princess that could ever be seen. In her way, however, -she was brave and proud, for nature had made her such, as much by beauty -and form as by her grave bearing and noble majesty; so much so that on -seeing her one feared to approach her; but having approached her one -found only sweetness, candour, gayety; getting it all from her -grandfather, that good father of his people, and the sweet air of -France. True it is, she knew well how to keep her grandeur and glory -when need was. - -Her Highness of Lorraine was, on the contrary, very vain-glorious, and -rather too presumptuous. I saw that sometimes in relation to Queen Marie -Stuart of Scotland, who, being a widow, made a journey to Lorraine, on -which I went; and you would have said that very often her said Highness -was determined to equal the majesty of the said queen. But the latter, -being very clever and of great courage, never let her pass the line, or -make any advance; although Queen Marie was always gentle, because her -uncle, the Cardinal, had warned and instructed her as to the temper of -her said Highness. Then she, being unable to be rid of her pride, -thought to soothe it a little on the queen-mother when they met. But -that indeed was pride to pride and a half; for the queen-mother was the -proudest woman on earth when she chose to be. I have heard her called so -by many great personages; for when it was necessary to repress the -vainglory of some one who wanted to seem of importance she knew how to -abase him to the centre of the earth. However, she bore herself civilly -to her Highness, deferring to her much and honouring her; but always -holding the bridle in hand, sometimes high, sometimes low, for fear she -should get away; and I heard her myself say, two or three times: "That -is the most vainglorious woman I ever saw." - -The same thing happened when her Highness came to the coronation of the -late King Charles IX. at Reims, to which she was invited. When she -arrived, she would not enter the town on horseback, fearing she could -not thus show her grandeur and high estate; but she put herself into a -most superb carriage, entirely covered with black velvet, on account of -her widowhood, which was drawn by four Turk horses, the finest that -could be chosen, and harnessed all four abreast after the manner of a -triumphal car. She sat by the door, very well dressed, but all in black, -in a gown of velvet; but her head was white and very handsomely and -superbly coiffed and adorned. At the other door of her carriage was one -of her daughters, afterwards Mme. la Duchesse de Bavire, and within was -the Princesse de Macdoine, her lady of honour. - -The queen-mother, wishing to see her enter the courtyard in this -triumphal manner, placed herself at a window and said, quite low, -"There's a proud woman!" Then her Highness having descended from her -carriage and come upstairs, the queen advanced to receive her at the -middle of the room, not a step beyond, and rather nearer the door than -farther from it. There she received her very well; because at that time -she governed everything, King Charles being so young; and did all she -wished, which was certainly a great honour to her Highness. All the -Court, from the highest to the lowest, esteemed and admired her much and -thought her very handsome, although she was declining in years, being -at that time rather more than forty; but nothing as yet showed it, her -autumn surpassing the summer of others. - -She died one year after hearing the news that she was Queen of Denmark, -from which she came, and that the kingdom had fallen to her; so that -before her death she was able to change the title of Highness, she had -borne so long, to that of Majesty. And yet, for all that, as I have -heard, she was resolved not to go to her kingdom, but to end her days in -her dower-house at Tortonia in Italy, where the countryside called her -only Madame de Tortonia; she having retired there some time before her -death, as much because of certain vows she had made to the saints of -those parts as to be near the baths of Tortonia, she being feeble in -health and very gouty. - -Her practices were fine, saintly, and honourable, to wit: praying God, -giving alms, and doing great charity to the poor, above all to widows. -This is a summary of what I have heard of this great princess, who, -though a widow and very beautiful, conducted herself virtuously. It is -true that one might say she was married twice: first with Duc Sforza, -but he died at once; they did not live a year together before she was a -widow at fifteen. Then her uncle, the Emperor Charles V., remarried her -to the Duc de Lorraine, to strengthen his alliance with him; but there -again she was a widow in the flower of her age, having enjoyed that fine -marriage but a very few years; and those that remained to her, which -were her finest and most precious in usefulness, she kept and consumed -in a chaste widowhood. - - -7. _Marie d'Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II._ - -This empress, though she was left a widow quite young and very -beautiful, would never marry again, but contained herself and continued -in widowhood very virtuously, having left Austria and Germany, the -scene of her empire, after the death of her husband. She returned to her -brother, Philip II. in Spain; he having sent for her, and begged her to -come and assist him with the heavy burden of his affairs, which she did; -being a very wise and judicious princess. I have heard the late King -Henri III. say,--and he was a better judge of people than any man in his -kingdom,--that to his mind she was one of the ablest and most honourable -princesses in the world. - -On her way to Spain, after crossing the Germanys, she came to Italy and -Genoa, where she embarked; and as it was winter and the month of -December when she set sail, bad weather overtook her near Marseille, -where she was forced to put in and anchor. But still, for all that, she -would not enter the port, neither her own galley nor the others, for -fear of causing suspicion or offence. Only once did she enter the town, -just to see it. She remained there eight days awaiting fair weather. Her -best exercise was in the mornings, when she left her galley (where she -slept) and went to hear mass and service at the church of Saint-Victor, -with very ardent devotion. Then her dinner was brought and prepared in -the abbey, where she dined; and after dinner she talked with her women -or with certain gentlemen from Marseille, who paid her all the honour -and reverence that were due to so great a princess; for King Henri had -commanded them to receive her as they would himself, in return for the -good greeting and cheer she had given him in Vienna. So soon as she -perceived this she showed herself most friendly, and spoke to them very -freely both in German and in French; so that they were well content with -her and she with them, selecting twenty especially; among them M. -Castellan, called the Seigneur Altivity, captain of the galleys, who was -distinguished for having married the beautiful Chteauneuf at Court, -and also for having killed the Grand-prior, as I shall relate elsewhere. - -It was his wife who told me all that I now relate, and discoursed to me -about the perfections of this great princess; and how she admired -Marseille, thinking it very fine, and went about with her on her -promenades. At night she returned to her galley, so that if the fine -weather and the good wind came, she might quickly set sail. I was at our -Court when news was brought to the king of this passing visit; and I saw -him very uneasy lest she should not be received as she ought to be, and -as he wished. This princess still lives, and continues in all her fine -virtues. She greatly helped and served her brother, as I have been told. -Since then she has retired to a convent of women called the -"bare-footed" [Carmelites], because they wear neither shoes nor -stockings. Her sister, the Princess of Spain, founded them. - - -8. _Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie._ - -While I am on this subject of noble widows I must say two words of one -of past times, namely: that honourable widow, Madame Blanche de -Montferrat, one of the most ancient houses in Italy, who was Duchesse de -Savoie and thought to be the handsomest and most perfect princess of her -time; also very virtuous and judicious, for she governed wisely the -minority of her son and his estates; she being left a widow at the age -of twenty-three. - -It was she who received so honourably our young King Charles VIII. when -he went to his kingdom of Naples, through all her lands and principally -her city of Turin, where she gave him a pompous entry, and met him in -person, very sumptuously accoutred. She showed she felt herself a great -lady; for she appeared that day in magnificent state, dressed in a grand -gown of crinkled cloth of gold, edged with large diamonds, rubies, -sapphires, emeralds, and other precious stones. Round her throat she -wore a necklace of very large oriental pearls, the value of which none -could estimate, with bracelets of the same. She was mounted on a -beautiful white ambling mare, harnessed most superbly and led by six -lacqueys dressed in figured cloth of gold. A great band of damoiselles -followed her, very richly, daintily, and neatly dressed in the Piedmont -fashion, which was fine to see; and after them came a very long troop of -noblemen and knights of the country. Then there entered and marched King -Charles, beneath a rich canopy, and went to the castle, where he lodged, -and where Madame de Savoie presented to him her son, who was very young. -After which she made the king a fine harangue, offering her lands and -means, both hers and her son's; which the king received with very good -heart, and thanked her much, feeling greatly obliged to her. Throughout -the town were everywhere seen the arms of France and those of Savoie -interlaced in a great lover's-knot, which bound together the two -escutcheons and the two orders, with these words: _Sanguinis arctus -amor_; as may be read in the "Chronicles of Savoie." - -I have heard several of our fathers and mothers, who got it from their -parents, and also Mademoiselle the Snchale de Poitou, my grandmother, -then a damoiselle at Court, affirm that nothing was talked of but the -beauty, wisdom, and wit of this princess, when the courtiers and -gallants returned from their journey; and, above all, by the king, who -seemed, from appearance, to be wounded in his heart. - -At any rate, even without her beauty, he had good reason to love her; -for she aided him with all the means in her power, and gave up her -jewels and pearls and precious stones to send them to him that he might -use them and pledge them as he pleased; which was indeed a very great -obligation, for ladies bear a great affection to their precious stones -and rings and jewels, and would sooner give and pledge some precious -piece of their person than their wealth of jewels--I speak of some, not -all. Certainly this obligation was great; for without this courtesy, and -that also of the Marquise de Montferrat, a very virtuous lady and very -handsome, he would have met in the long run a short shame, and must have -returned from the semi-journey he had undertaken without money; having -done worse than that bishop of France who went to the Council of Trent -without money and without Latin. What an embarkation without biscuit! -However, there is a difference between the two; for what one did was out -of noble generosity and fine ambition, which closed his eyes to all -inconveniency, thinking nothing impossible to his brave heart; while as -for the other, he lacked wit and ability, sinning in that through -ignorance and stupidity--if it was not that he trusted to beg them when -he got there. - -In this discourse that I have made of that fine entry, there is to be -noted the superbness of the accoutrements of this princess, which seem -to be more those of a married woman than a widow. Upon which the ladies -said that for so great a king she could dispense with mourning; and also -that great people, men and women, gave the law to themselves; and -besides, that in those times the widows, so it was said, were not so -restricted nor so reformed in their clothes as they have been since for -the last forty years; like a certain lady whom I know, who, being in the -good graces and delights of a king [probably Diane de Poitiers] dressed -herself much _ la_ modest (though always in silk), the better to cover -and hide her game; and in that respect, the widows of the Court, wishing -to imitate her, did the same. But this lady did not reform herself so -much, nor to such austerity, that she ceased to dress prettily and -pompously, though always in black and white; indeed there seemed more of -worldliness than of widow's reformation about it; for especially did she -always show her beautiful bosom. I have heard the queen, mother of King -Henri, say the same thing at the coronation and wedding of King Henri -III., namely: that the widows in times past did not have such great -regard to their clothes and to modesty of actions as they have to-day; -the which she said she saw in the times of King Franois, who wanted his -Court to be free in every way; and even the widows danced, and the -partners took them as readily as if they were girls or married women. -She said on this point that she commanded and begged M. de Vaudemont to -honour the fte by taking out Madame la Princesse de Cond, the dowager, -to dance; which he did to obey her; and he took the princess to the -grand ball; those who were at the coronation, like myself, saw it, and -remember it well. These were the liberties that widows had in the olden -time. To-day such things are forbidden them like sacrilege; and as for -colours, they dare not wear them, or dress in anything but black and -white; though their skirts and petticoats and also their stockings they -may wear of a tan-gray, violet, or blue. Some that I see emancipate -themselves in flesh-coloured red and chamois colour, as in times past, -when, as I have heard said, all colours could be worn in petticoats and -stockings, but not in gowns. - -So this duchess, about whom we have been speaking, could very well wear -this gown of cloth of gold, that being her ducal garment and her robe of -grandeur, the which was becoming and permissible in her to show her -sovereignty and dignity of duchess. Our widows of to-day dare not wear -precious stones, except on their fingers, on some mirrors, on some -"Hours," and on their belts; but never on their heads or bodies, unless -a few pearls on their neck and arms. But I swear to you I have seen -widows as dainty as could be in their black and white gowns, who -attracted quite as many and as much as the bedizened brides and maidens -of France. There is enough said now of this foreign widow. - - -9. _Catherine de Clves, wife of Henri I. de Lorraine, Duc de Guise._ - -Madame de Guise, Catherine de Clves, one of the three daughters of -Nevers (three princesses who cannot be lauded enough either for their -beauty or their virtues, and of whom I hope to make a chapter), has -celebrated and celebrates daily the eternal absence of her husband [Le -Balafr, killed at Blois 1588]. But oh! what a husband he was! The -none-such of the world! That is what she called him in several letters -which she wrote to certain ladies of her intimacy whom she held in -esteem, after her misfortune; manifesting in sad and grievous words the -regrets of her wounded soul. - - -10. _Madame de Bourdeille._ - -Madame de Bourdeille, issuing from the illustrious and ancient house of -Montbron, and from the Comtes de Prigord and the Vicomtes d'Aunay, -became a widow at the age of thirty-seven or thirty-eight, very -beautiful (in Guyenne, where she lived, it was believed that none -surpassed her in her day for beauty, grace, and noble appearance); and -being thus in fine estate and widowed, she was sought in marriage and -pursued by three very great and rich seigneurs, to whom she answered:-- - -"I shall not say as many ladies do, who declare they will never marry, -and give their word in such a way that they must be believed, after -which nothing comes of it; but I do say that, if God and flesh do not -give me any other wishes than I have at present, it is a very certain -thing that I have bade farewell to marriage forever." - -And then, as some one said to her, "But, madame, would you burn of love -in the flower of your age?" she answered: "I know not what you mean. For -up to this hour I have never been even warmed, but widowed and cold as -ice. Still, I do not say that, being in company with a second husband -and approaching his fire, I might not burn, as you think. But because -cold is easier to bear than heat, I am resolved to remain in my present -quality and to abstain from a second marriage." - -And just as she said then, so she has remained to the present day, a -widow these twelve years, without the least losing her beauty, but -always nourishing it and taking care of it, so that it has not a single -spot. Which is a great respect to the ashes of her husband, and a proof -that she loved him well; also an injunction on her children to honour -her always. The late M. Strozzi was one of those who courted her and -asked her in marriage; but great as he was and allied to the -queen-mother, she refused him and excused herself kindly. But what a -humour was this! to be beautiful, virtuous, a very rich heiress, and yet -to end her days on a solitary feather-bed and blanket, desolate and cold -as ice, and thus to pass so many widowed nights! Oh! how many there be -unlike this lady--but some are like her, too. - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -I. - -(See page 30.) - -Under Louis XII. the French fleet and the English fleet met, August 10, -1513, off the heights of Saint-Mach, in Lower Bretagne. The English -fleet, eighty vessels strong, attacked that of France, which had but -twenty. The French made up for numbers by courage and ability. They -seized the advantage of the wind, fouled the enemy's ships and shattered -them, and sent more than half to the bottom. The Breton Primauguet was -captain of "La Cordelire;" the vessel constructed after the orders of -Queen Anne; it could carry twelve hundred soldiers besides the crew. He -was attacked by twelve English vessels, defended himself with a courage -that amounted to fury, sunk a number of the enemy's vessels, and drove -off the rest. One captain alone dared approach him again, flinging -rockets on board of him, and so setting fire to the vessel. Primauguet -might have saved himself in the long-boat, as did some of the officers -and soldiers; but that valiant sailor would not survive the loss of his -ship; he only thought of selling his life dearly and taking from the -English the pleasure of enjoying the defeat of the French. Though all -a-fire, he sailed upon the flag-ship of the enemy, the "Regent of -England," grappled her, set fire to her, and blew up with her an instant -later. More than three thousand men perished in this action by cannon, -fire, and water. It is one of the most glorious pages in our maritime -annals. - -French editor of "Vie des Dames Illustres," -Garnier-Frres. Paris. - - -II. - -(See page 44.) - -This is doubtless the _Discours merveilleux de la vie, actions, et -dportemens de la reine Catherine de Mdicis_, attributed to Thodore de -Bze, also to de Serres, but with more probability to Henri tienne; -coming certainly from the hand of a master. It was printed and spread -about publicly in 1574 with the date of 1575; inserted soon after in the -_Mmoires d'tat sous Charles IX._, printed in 1577 in three volumes, -8vo, and subsequently in the various editions of the _Reccuil de -diverses pices pour servir l'histoire du rgne de Henri III._ - -French editor. - - -III. - -(See page 91.) - -M. de Maison-Fleur was a gentleman of the Bordeaux region, a Huguenot, -and a somewhat celebrated poet in his day, whose principal work, _Les -Divins Cantiques_, was printed for the first time at Antwerp in 1580, -and several times reprinted in succeeding years. For details on this -poet, see the _Bibliothque Franaise_ of the Abb Goujet. - -French editor. - - -IV. - -(See page 92.) - - We see, 'neath white attire, - In mourning great and sadness, - Passing, with many a charm - Of beauty, this fair goddess, - Holding the shaft in hand - Of her son, heartless. - - And Love, without his frontlet, - Fluttering round her, - Hiding his bandaged eyes - With veil of mourning - On which these words are writ: - DIE OR BE CAPTURED. - - -V. - -(See page 94.) - -_Translation as nearly literal as possible._ - - In my sad, sweet song, - In tones most lamentable - I cast my cutting grief - Of loss incomparable; - And in poignant sighs - I pass my best of years. - - Was ever such an ill - Of hard destiny, - Or so sad a sorrow - Of a happy lady, - That my heart and eye - Should gaze on bier and coffin? - - That I, in my sweet springtide, - In the flower of youth, - All these pains should feel - Of excessive sadness, - With naught to give me pleasure - Except regret and yearning? - - That which to me was pleasant - Now is hard and painful; - The brightest light of day - Is darkness black and dismal; - Nothing is now delight - In that of me required. - - I have, in heart and eye, - A portrait and an image - That mark my mourning life - And my pale visage - With violet tones that are - The tint of grieving lovers. - - For my restless sorrow - I can rest nowhere; - Why should I change in place - Since sorrow will not efface? - My worst and yet my best - Are in the loneliest places. - - When in some still sojourn - In forest or in field, - Be it by dawn of day, - Or in the vesper hour, - Unceasing feels my heart - Regret for one departed. - - If sometimes toward the skies - My glance uplifts itself, - The gentle iris of his eyes - I see in clouds; or else - I see it in the water, - As in a grave. - - If I lie at rest - Slumbering on my couch, - I hear him speak to me, - I feel his touch; - In labour, in repose, - He is ever near me. - - I see no other object, - Though beauteous it may be - In many a subject, - To which my heart consents, - Since its perfection lacks - In this affection. - - End here, my song, - Thy sad complaint, - Of which be this the burden: - True love, not feigned, - Because of separation - Shall have no diminution. - - -VI. - -(See page 235.) - -This book, entitled _Les Marguerites de la Marguerite des princesses_, -is a collection of the poems of this princess, made by Simon de La Haie, -surnamed Sylvius, her _valet de chambre_, and printed at Lyon, by Jean -de Tournes, 1547, 8vo. - -The _Nouvelles_ of the Queen of Navarre appeared for the first time -without the name of the author, under the title: _Histoire des Amants -fortuns, dedie l'illustre princesse, Madame Marguerite de Bourbon, -Duchesse de Nivernois_, by Pierre Boaistuau, called Launay. Paris, 1558 -4to. This edition contains only sixty-seven tales, and the text has been -garbled by Boaistuau. The second edition is entitled: _Heptameron des -Nouvelles de trs-illustre et trs-excellente princesse Marguerite de -Valois, reine de Navarre, remis en son vrai ordre_, by Charles Gruget, -Paris, 1559, 4to. - -_French editor._ - - * * * * * - -In 1841 M. Genin published a volume of Queen Marguerite's letters, and -in the following year a volume of her letters addressed to Franois I. - -Since then Comte H. de La Ferrire-Percy has made her the subject of an -interesting "Study." This careful investigator having discovered her -book of expenses, kept by Frott, Marguerite's secretary, has developed -from it a daily proof of the beneficent spirit and inexhaustible -liberality of the good queen. The title of the book is: _Marguerite -d'Angoulme, soeur de Franois I^{er}_. Aubry: Paris, 1862. - -The poems of Franois I., with other verses by his sister and mother, -were published in 1847 by M. Aim Champollion. - -Notes to Sainte-Beuve's Essay. - - -VII - -(See page 262.) - -The Ladies given in Discourse VII. appear under the head of "The Widows" -in the volume of _Les Dames Galantes_, a very different book from the -_Livre des Dames_, which is their rightful place. As Brantme placed -them under the title of Widows, he has naturally enlarged chiefly upon -the period of their widowhood. - -French editor. - - - - -INDEX. - - -ANNE DE BRETAGNE, Queen of France, wife of Charles VIII. and of Louis XII., her inheritance, lovers, and first marriage, 25, 26; - her beauty, wisdom, and goodness, 26; - spirit of revenge, 27, 28; - second marriage, 29; - the first queen to hold a great court, a noble school for ladies, 29, 30; - how King Louis honoured her, 30-32; - her death and burial, 32-34; - her noble record, 34, 35, 37; - her tomb at Saint-Denis, 39; - the founder of a school of manners and perfection for her sex, 42, 43; - Sainte-Beuve's remarks upon her, 40-43, 219. - -ANNE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Louis XI., 216-218. - - -BLANCHE DE MONTFERRAT, Duchesse de Savoie, 293-297. - -BOOK OF THE LADIES (The), Brantme's own name for this volume, 1. - -BOURDEILLE (Madame de), 297, 298. - -BOURDEILLE (Pierre de), Abb de Brantme, his name for the present volume, 1; - origin and arms of his family, 3, 4; - general sketch of his life and career, 4-19; - his retirement, 20; - his books, his will, 21; - titles of his books, when first printed, 22, 23. - -CASTELNAUD (Pierre de), his account of Brantme, 1-3. - -CATHERINE DE CLVES, wife of Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, "le Balafr," 297. - -CATHERINE DE' MEDICI, Queen of France, wife of Henri II., 44; - sketch - of the Medici, 45-48; - her marriage to the dauphin, 48-50; - personal appearance and tastes, 51-54; - her mind, 54; - conduct as regent and queen-mother, Brantme's defence of it, 57-72; - her liberality and public works, 74; - her accomplishments and majesty, 75-77; - her court, 77-80, 81, 82; - Henri IV.'s opinion of it, 83; - her death at Blois, 83; - Sainte-Beuve's estimate of her, 85-88; - H. de Balzac's novel upon her, 86; - Mzeray's opinion of her, 85; - her daughter lisabeth's fear of her, 145, 146; 164, 165, 167, 289, 290, 300. - -CHARLES IX., King of France, his funeral attended by Brantme, 35-37; 198, 264, 265, 271, 272. - -CHARLOTTE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Franois I. and Queen Claude, died young, 223. - -CHASTELLARD (Seigneur de), his journey with Brantme in attendance on Marie Stuart to Scotland, 99; - his story and death, 117-120. - -CHRISTINE of Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine, 283-291. - -CLAUDE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of Franois I., died young, 223. - -CLAUDE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, wife of the Duc de Lorraine, 229-231. - -CORDELIRE (La), man-o'-war built by Anne de Bretagne, which fought the "Regent of England," both ships destroyed, 30, 299. - - -DARGAUD (M.), his impulsive history of Marie Stuart, 122. - -DIANE DE FRANCE (Madame), Duchesse d'Angoulme, illegitimate daughter of Henri II., 231-234. - - -LISABETH DE FRANCE, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, second wife of Philip II. of Spain, 137-151, 229, 230, 270, 271. - -LISABETH DE FRANCE, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri IV. and Marie de' Medici, her portraits by Rubens, 212. - - -FLEUR-DE-LIS, how connected with the Florentine lily, 45. - -FRANOIS I., King of France, 219, 220, 236, 237, 238, 241, 245-249, 254. - - -GERMAINE DE FOIX, wife of King Ferdinand of Spain, 142, 143. - -GUISE (Henri I., Duc de), le Balafr, 117, 198, 199, 273, 283, 288. - -GUISE (Catherine de Clves, Duchesse de), 283, 289. - - -HENRI II., King of France, 231, 232. - -HENRI III., King of France, 177, 178, 180, 184, 196-198, 234, 267, 280, 283, 285, 286, 292. - -HENRI IV., King of France, opinion of Catherine de' Medici, 83, 87, 88; 176, 180, 181, 201, 209; - remark at the coronation of Marie de' Medici, 210; 234. - - -ISABELLE D'AUTRICHE, Queen of France, daughter of Maximilian II., wife of Charles IX. of France, 262-270. - -ISABELLA OF BAVARIA, wife of Charles VI. of France, first brought the pomps and fashions of dress to France, 157. - - -JEANNE D'AUTRICHE, wife of Jean, Infante of Portugal, 270-273. - -JEANNE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter -of Louis XI., married to and divorced by Louis XII., 215, 216. - - -LABANOFF (Prince Alexander), his careful research into the history of Marie Stuart, 121. - -L'HPITAL (Michel de), chancellor of France, epithalamium on the marriage of Marie Stuart and Franois II., 124; - his changed feeling, 131, 132. - -LOUIS XII., King of France, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32, 39, 41-43. - -LOUISE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Franois I. and Queen Claude, died young, 223. - -LOUISE DE LORRAINE, Queen of France, wife of Henri III., 280-282, 283. - - -MAGDELAINE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Franois I. and Queen Claude, wife of James V. of Scotland, 223, 224. - -MAINTENON (Madame de), a pendant to Anne de Bretagne, 43. - -MAISON-FLEUR (M. de), 91, 97, 300. - -MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, Queen of Navarre, sister of Franois I., wife of Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, grandmother of Henri IV., 234; - her poems, 235; - her devotion to her brother, 237-240, 245, 249; - interest in the phenomenon of death, 242; - her "Nouvelles," 242, 243, 244; - Sainte-Beuve's essay on her, 243-261; - her learning and comprehension of the Renaissance, 244, 245; - her letters, 249; - Erasmus' opinion of her, 250, 251; - favours, but does not belong - to, the Religion, 251-255; - her writings, the Heptameron, 255-260; - the patron of the Renaissance, 261; - her works, 303. - -MARGUERITE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Franois I. and Queen Claude, wife of the Duc de Savoie, 224-229. - -MARGUERITE, Queen of France and of Navarre, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, wife of Henri - IV., Brantme visits her at the Castle of Usson and dedicates his work to her, 19; - mention of her in his will, 22; - his discourse, 152-193; - her beauty and style of dress, 153-163; - her mind and education, 164-166; - marriage to Henri IV., 167; - Brantme's argument in favour of the Salic law, 168-175; - difficulty of religion between herself and her husband, 176; - her dignity and sense of honour, 178-180; - retirement in the Castle of Usson, 183; - on ill terms with her brother Henri III., 184; - her beautiful dancing, 185; - her liberality and generosity, 186-190; - love of reading, 191; - corresponds with Brantme, 191; - Sainte-Beuve's essay on her, 193; - reasons why she began her Memoirs, 195; - faithfulness to the Catholic religion, 195; - intimacy with her brother d'Anjou, Henri III., 196, 197; - her love for Henri Duc de Guise, le Balafr, her marriage to Henri IV., 198; - the Saint-Bartholomew, 201; - her Memoirs, 202, etc.; - anecdote of a Princesse de Ligne, 205; - friendship with her brother, Duc d'Alenon, 206; - her letters, 208; - her life at Usson, 209; - divorce from Henri IV., 209, 210; - return to Paris, eccentricities, appearance at the coronation of Marie de' Medici, 210-212; - comparison with Marie Stuart, 213; - her real merit, 213, 231. - -MARGUERITE DE LORRAINE, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse, 282, 283. - -MARIE D'AUTRICHE, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II., 291-293. - -MARIE D'AUTRICHE, sister of the Emperor Charles V. and wife of Louis, King of Hungary, 273-280. - -MARIE STUART, Queen of France and Scotland, her parentage, 89; - youthful accomplishments and beauty, 90-93; - marriage to Franois II., and widowhood, 93, 94; - her poem on her widowhood, 94-96, 294; - Charles IX.'s love for her, 96; - returns to Scotland, - Brantme accompanies her, 97-101, - marriage to Darnley, 101; - Brantme's defence of her, 102; - her disasters, 103; - her imprisonment in England, 104; - her death, as related to Brantme by one of her ladies there present, 105-115; - Sainte-Beuve's essay on Marie Stuart and summing up of her life, 121-136, 289; - her poem on her widowhood, translation, 301. - -MZERAY (Franois Eudes de), his History of France, his picture of Catherine de' Medici, 85. - -MIGNET (Franois Auguste), his invaluable History of Marie Stuart, 121, 122, 136. - -MOLAND (M. Henri), his essay on Brantme used in the introduction to this volume, 1. - - -NIEL (M.), librarian to Ministry of the Interior, his collection of original portraits and crayons of celebrated persons of the 16th century, 86, 87. - - -PATIN (Gui), his feelings in Saint-Denis before the tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, 40, 41. - -PHILIP II. of Spain, 138, 139, 142. - - -RENE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of the Duke of Ferrara, 220-223. - -ROEDERER (Comte), his Memoirs on Polite Society, study of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, 41-43. - -RONSARD (Pierre de), 91, 124, 156, 157, 160, 185, 224. - - -SAINTE-BEUVE (Charles-Augustin), his remarks on Anne de Bretagne, 40-43; - his estimate of Catherine de' Medici, 85-88; - his essay on Marie Stuart, 121-136; - on Marguerite de Navarre, 193-213; - on Marguerite de Valois, 243-261. - -SALIC LAW (the), Brantme's argument about it, 168-175. - - -TAVANNES (Vicomte de), Memoirs, 136. - - -VIGNAUD (M. H.), his introduction to Brantme's "Vie des Dames Illustres" used in the introduction to this volume, 1. - -VINCENT DE PAUL (Saint), chaplain to Queen Marguerite de Navarre, 212. - - -YOLAND DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Charles VII. and wife of the Duc de Savoie, 214, 215. - - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Regim=> The Reign and Amours of the -Bourbon Rgime {pg title} - -M. le marchal answered=> M. le Marchal answered {pg 83} - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Taken chiefly from the Essays preceding the various editions of -Brantme's works published in the 18th and 19th centuries; some of which -are anonymous; the more recent being those of M. H. Vignaud and M. Henri -Moland.--TR. - -[2] See Appendix. - -[3] See Appendix. - -[4] Here follow the names of ninety-three ladies and sixty-six -damoiselles; among the latter are "Mesdamoiselles Flammin (Fleming?) -Veton (Seaton?) Beton (Beaton?) Leviston, escossoises." The three -first-named on the above list are the daughters of Henri II. and -Catherine de' Medici.--TR. - -[5] Henri III. convoked the States-General at Blois in 1588; the Duc de -Guise (Henri, le Balafr) was there assassinated, by the king's order, -December 23, 1588; his brother, Cardinal de Bourbon, the next day.--TR. - -[6] Honor de Balzac's volume, in the Philosophical Series of his -"Comedy of Human Life," on Catherine de' Medici, while called a romance, -is really an admirable and carefully drawn historical portrait, and -might be read to profit in connection with Brantme's account of -her.--TR. - -[7] See Appendix. - -[8] See Appendix. - -[9] See Appendix. - -[10] George Buchanan, historian and Scotch poet, who wrote libels and -calumnies against Marie Stuart in prison. (French editor.) - -[11] She was the daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, married -to Philip II., King of Spain, after the death of Queen Mary of -England.--TR. - -[12] Daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici,--"La Reine -Margot."--TR. - -[13] Brantme's words are _gorgiasets_ and _gorgiasment_; do they mark -the introduction of ruffs around the neck, _gorge_?--TR. - -[14] The Salic law: so called from being derived from the laws of the -ancient Salian Franks,--according to Stormonth, Littr, and Cassell's -Cyclopdia.--TR. - -[15] Marguerite was married to Henri, King of Navarre, six days before -the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew, August, 1572. - -[16] Marguerite lived eighteen years in the castle of Usson, from 1587 -to 1605. She died in Paris, March 27, 1615, at the age of sixty-two, -rather less than one year after Brantme. (French editor.) - -[17] It is noticeable in the course of this "Discourse" that Brantme -wrote it at one period, namely, about 1593 or 1594, and reviewed it at -another, when Henri IV. was in full possession of the kingdom, but -before the end of the century and before the divorce. (French editor.) - -The passage to which the foregoing is a note is evidently an addition to -the text.--TR. - -[18] The story goes that she refused to answer at the marriage ceremony; -on which her brother, Charles IX., put his hand behind her head and made -her nod, which was taken for consent. In after years, the ground given -for her divorce was that of being married against her will. The marriage -took place on a stage erected before the west front of the cathedral of -Notre-Dame; the King of Navarre being a Protestant, the service could -not be performed in the church. It was here, in view of the assembled -multitude, that Marguerite's nod was forcibly given when she resolutely -refused to answer. Following Brantme's delight in describing fine -clothes, the wedding gown should be mentioned here. It was cloth of -gold, the body so closely covered with pearls as to look like a cuirass; -over this was a blue velvet mantle embroidered with _fleurs-de-lys_, -nearly five yards long, which was borne by one hundred and twenty of the -handsomest women in France. Her dark hair was loose and flowing, and was -studded with diamond stars. The Duc de Guise, le Balafr, with his -family connections and all his retainers, left Paris that morning, -unable to bear the spectacle of the marriage.--TR. - -[19] Meaning the daughters of the kings of France only.--TR. - -[20] She was daughter of Charles, Duc d'Angoulme, and Louise do Savoie, -great-granddaughter of Charles V., and sister of Franois I.--TR. - -[21] See Appendix. - -[22] See Appendix. - -[23] The tomb of Marguerite and Philibert is still to be seen in the -beautiful church, and the above motto, which is carved upon it, has been -the theme of much antiquarian discussion.--TR. - -[24] The picture of the Ball at Court, under Henri III., attributed to -Franois Clouet (see chapter ii. of this volume), was given in -celebration of her marriage. She advances, with her sweet and modest -face (evidently a portrait) in the centre of the picture. Henri III. is -seated under a red dais; next him is Catherine de' Medici, his mother, -and next to her is Louise de Lorraine, his wife; leaning on the king's -chair is Henri Duc de Guise, le Balafr, murdered by Henri III. at Blois -in 1588.--TR. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The book of the ladies, by -Pierre de Bourdeille Brantme - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE LADIES *** - -***** This file should be named 42515-8.txt or 42515-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/5/1/42515/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/42515-8.zip b/42515-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 6e9a0ef..0000000 --- a/42515-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/42515-h.zip b/42515-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d72d8af..0000000 --- a/42515-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/42515-0.txt b/old/42515-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d8f8e09..0000000 --- a/old/42515-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10024 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The book of the ladies, by Pierre de Bourdeille Brantôme - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The book of the ladies - Illustrious Dames: The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Régime - -Author: Pierre de Bourdeille Brantôme - -Release Date: April 12, 2013 [EBook #42515] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE LADIES *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - THE BOOK OF THE LADIES - - [Illustration: MESSIRE PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE - - SEIGNEUR DE BRANTOME.] - - _The Reign and Amours of the - Bourbon Régime_ - - A Brilliant Description of - the Courts of Louis XVI, - Amours, Debauchery, Intrigues, - and State Secrets, including - Suppressed and Confiscated MSS. - - [Illustration] - - The Book of the - Illustrious Dames - - BY - - PIERRE DE BOURDEÏLLE, ABBÉ DE BRANTÔME - - WITH INTRODUCTORY ESSAY BY - C.-A. SAINTE-BEUVE - - _Unexpurgated Rendition into English_ - - PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR MEMBERS OF THE - VERSAILLES HISTORICAL SOCIETY - NEW YORK - - Copyright, 1899. - BY H. P. & CO. - - _All Rights Reserved._ - - Édition de Luxe - - _This edition is limited to two - hundred copies, of which this - is Number_ ........ ..... - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - -INTRODUCTION 1 - -DISCOURSE I. ANNE DE BRETAGNE, Queen of France 25 - -_Sainte-Beuve’s remarks upon her_ 40 - -DISCOURSE II. CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI, Queen, and mother of -our last kings 44 - -_Sainte-Beuve’s remarks upon her_ 85 - -DISCOURSE III. MARIE STUART, Queen of Scotland, formerly -Queen of our France 89 - -_Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her_ 121 - -DISCOURSE IV. ÉLISABETH OF FRANCE, Queen of Spain 138 - -DISCOURSE V. MARGUERITE, Queen of France and of Navarre, -sole daughter now remaining of the Noble House of France 152 - -_Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her_ 193 - -DISCOURSE VI. MESDAMES, the Daughters of the Noble House -of France: - -Madame Yoland 214 - -Madame Jeanne 215 - -Madame Anne 216 - -Madame Claude 219 - -Madame Renée 220 - -Mesdames Charlotte, Louise, Magdelaine, Marguerite 223 - -Mesdames Élisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite 229 - -Madame Diane 231 - -MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, Queen of Navarre 234 - -_Sainte-Beuve’s essay on the latter_ 243 - -DISCOURSE VII. OF VARIOUS ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES: - -Isabelle d’Autriche, wife of Charles IX 262 - -Jeanne d’Autriche, wife of the Infante of Portugal 270 - -Marie d’Autriche, wife of the King of Hungary 273 - -Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III 280 - -Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse 282 - -Christine of Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine 283 - -Marie d’Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II 291 - -Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie 293 - -Catherine de Clèves, wife of Henri I. de Lorraine, Duc de Guise 297 - -Madame de Bourdeille 297 - -APPENDIX 299 - -INDEX 305 - - - - -LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS. - - -PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, ABBÉ AND SEIGNEUR DE BRANTÔME _Frontispiece_ -From an old engraving by I. Von Schley. - - PAGE - -FRANÇOIS DE LORRAINE, DUC DE GUISE 8 -By François Clouet; in the Louvre. - -DISCOURSE - -I. TOMB OF LOUIS XII. AND ANNE DE BRETAGNE 34 - -By Jean Juste, in the Cathedral of Saint-Denis. The king and -queen are carved as skeletons within the twelve columns; -above they kneel at their prie-dieus, and the tradition is -that the portraits are faithful. The cardinal virtues, Justice, -Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude, sit at the corners of -the monument: the twelve apostles between the pillars; and -round the base, between the virtues, are exquisite representations -(not visible in the reproduction) of the king’s campaigns in Italy. - -II. CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI, QUEEN OF FRANCE 44 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - -II. HENRI II., KING OF FRANCE 52 -By François Clouet; in the Louvre. - -II. BALL AT THE COURT OF HENRI III., WITH PORTRAITS 81 -Attributed to François Clouet; in the Louvre. See description -in note to Discourse VII. - -III. MARIE STUART, QUEEN OF FRANCE AND SCOTLAND 90 -Painter unknown; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. - -III. THE SAME 120 -School of the sixteenth century; Versailles. - -V. HENRI IV., KING OF FRANCE 166 -By Franz Pourbus (le jeune); in the Louvre. - -V. ÉLISABETH DE FRANCE, QUEEN OF SPAIN 185 -By Rubens; in the Louvre. - -V. CORONATION OF MARIE DE’ MEDICI, WITH PORTRAITS 211 -By Rubens (Peter Paul); in the Louvre. See description in -note to the Discourse. - -VI. FRANÇOIS I., KING OF FRANCE 224 -By Jean Clouet; in the Louvre. - -VI. DIANE DE FRANCE, DUCHESSE D’ANGOULÊME 232 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - -VII. ISABELLE D’AUTRICHE, WIFE OF CHARLES IX. 262 -By François Clouet; in the Louvre. - -VII. CHARLES IX., KING OF FRANCE 271 -By François Clouet; in the Louvre. - -VII. LOUISE DE LORRAINE, WIFE OF HENRI III 280 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - -VII. HENRI III., KING OF FRANCE 286 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - - - - -INTRODUCTION.[1] - - -The title, “Vie des Dames Illustres,” given habitually to one volume of -Brantôme’s Works, is not that which was chosen by its author. It was -given by his first editor fifty years after his death; Brantôme himself -having called his work “The Book of the Ladies.” - -One of his earliest commentators, Castelnaud, almost a cotemporary, says -of him in his Memoirs:-- - -“Pierre de Bourdeille, Abbé de Brantôme, author of volumes of which I -have availed myself in various parts of this history, used his quality -as one of those warrior abbés who were called _Abbates Milites_ under -the second race of our kings; never ceasing for all that to follow arms -and the Court, where his services won him the Collar of the Order and -the dignity of gentleman of the Bedchamber to the King. - -“He frequented, with unusual esteem for his courage and intelligence, -the principal Courts of Europe, such as Spain, Portugal (where the king -honoured him with his Order), Scotland, and those of the Princes of -Italy. He went to Malta, seeking an occasion to distinguish himself, and -after that lost none in our wars of France. But, although he managed -perfectly all the great captains of his time and belonged to them by -alliance of friendship, fortune was ever contrary to him; so that he -never obtained a position worthy, not of his merits only, but of a name -so illustrious as his. - -“It was this that made him of a rather bad humour in his retreat at -Brantôme, where he set himself to compose his books in different frames -of mind, according as the persons who recurred to his memory stirred his -bile or touched his heart. It is to be wished that he had written a -discourse on himself alone, like other seigneurs of his time. He would -then have shown us much, if nothing were omitted in it; but perhaps he -abstained from doing this in order not to declare his inclinations for -the House of Lorraine at the very moment of the ruin of all its schemes; -for he was greatly attached to that house, and it appears in various -places that he had more respect than affection for the House of Bourbon. -It was this that made him take part against the Salic law, in behalf of -Queen Marguerite, whom he esteemed infinitely, and whom he saw, with -regret, deprived of the Crown of France. - -“In many other matters he gives out sentiments which have more of the -courtier than the abbé; indeed to be a courtier was his principal -profession, as it still is with the greater part of the abbés of the -present day; and in view of this quality we must pardon various little -liberties which would be less pardonable in a sworn historian. - -“I do not speak of the volume of the ‘Dames Galantes’ in order not to -condemn the memory of a nobleman whose other Works have rendered him -worthy of so much esteem; I attribute the crime of that book to the -dissolute habits of the Court of his time, about which more terrible -tales could be told than those he relates. - -“There is something to complain of in the method with which he writes; -but perhaps the name of ‘Notes’ may cover this defect. However that may -be, we can gather from him much and very important knowledge on our -History; and France is so indebted to him for this labour that I do not -hesitate to say that the services of his sword must yield in value to -those of his pen. He had much wit and was well read in Letters. In youth -he was very pleasing; but I have heard those who knew him intimately say -that the griefs of his old age lay heavier upon him than his arms, and -were more displeasing than the toils and fatigues of war by sea or land. -He regretted his past days, the loss of friends, and he saw nothing that -could equal the Court of the Valois, in which he was born and bred....” - -“The family of Bourdeille is not only illustrious in temporal -prosperities, but it is remarkable throughout antiquity for the valour -of its ancestors. King Charlemagne held it in great esteem, which he -showed by choosing, when the splendid abbey of Brantôme was founded in -Périgord, that the Seigneur de Bourdeille should be associated in that -pious work and be, with him, the founder of the Monastery. He therefore -made him its patron, and obliged his posterity to defend it against all -who might molest the monks and hinder them in the enjoyment of their -property. - -“If we may rely on ancient deeds [_pancartes_] still in possession of -this family, we must accord it a first rank among those which claim to -be descended from kings, inasmuch as they carry back its origin to -Marcomir, King of France, and Tiloa Bourdelia, daughter of a king of -England. - -“The same old deeds relate that Nicanor, son of this Marcomir, being -appealed to by the people of Aquitaine to assist them in throwing off -the Roman yoke, and having come with an army very near to Bordeaux, was -compelled to withdraw by the violence of the Romans, who were stronger -than he, and also by a tempest that arose in the sea. Nicanor cast -anchor at an island, uninhabited on account of the wild beasts that -peopled it, and especially certain griffins, animals with four feet, and -heads and wings like eagles. - -“He had no sooner set foot on land with his men than he was forced to -fight these monsters, and after battling with them a long time, not -without loss of soldiers, he succeeded in vanquishing them. With his own -hand he killed the largest and fiercest of them all, and cut off his -paws. This victory greatly rejoiced all the neighbouring countries, -which had suffered much damage from these beasts. - -“On account of this affair, Nicanor was ever after surnamed ‘The -Griffin’ and honoured by every one, like Hercules when he killed the -Stymphalides in Arcadia, those birds of prey that feed on human flesh. -This is the origin of the arms which the Seigneurs de Brantôme bear to -this day, to wit: Or, two griffins’ paws gules, onglée azure, counter -barred.” - - * * * * * - -Pierre de Bourdeille, third son of François, Vicomte de Bourdeille and -Anne de Vivonne de la Châtaignerie, was born in the Périgord in 1537, -under the reign of François I. The family of Bourdeille is one of the -most ancient and respected in the Périgord, which province borders on -Gascony and echoes, if we may say so, the caustic tongue and rambling, -restless temperaments that flourish on the banks of the Garonne. “Not to -boast of myself,” says Brantôme, “I can assert that none of my race have -ever been home-keeping; they have spent as much time in travels and wars -as any, no matter who they be, in France.” - -As for his father, Brantôme gives an amusing account of him as a true -Gascon seigneur. He began life by running away from home to go to the -wars in Italy, and roam the world as an adventurer. He was, says -Brantôme, “a jovial fellow, who could say his word and talk familiarly -to the greatest personages.” Pope Julius II. took a fancy to him. “One -day they were playing cards together and the pope won from my father -three hundred crowns and his horses, which were very fine, and all his -equipments. After he had lost all, he said: ‘_Chadieu bénit_!’ (that was -his oath when he was angry; when he was good-natured he swore: ‘_Chardon -bénit!_’)--‘_Chadieu bénit!_ pope, play me five hundred crowns against -one of my ears, redeemable in eight days. If I don’t redeem it I’ll give -you leave to cut it off, and eat it if you like.’ The pope took him at -his word; and confessed afterwards that if my father had not redeemed -his ear, he would not have cut it off, but he would have forced him to -keep him company. They began to play again, and fortune willed that my -father won back everything except a fine courser, a pretty little -Spanish horse, and a handsome mule. The pope cut short the game and -would not play any more. My father said to him: ‘Hey! _Chadieu_! pope, -leave me my horse for money’ (for he was very fond of him) ‘and keep the -courser, who will throw you and break your neck, for he is too rough for -you; and keep the mule too, and may she rear and break your leg!’ The -pope laughed so he could not stop himself. At last, getting his breath, -he cried out: ‘I’ll do better; I’ll give you back your two horses, but -not the mule, and I’ll give you two other fine ones if you will keep me -company as far as Rome and stay with me there two months; we’ll pass the -time well, and it shall not cost you anything.’ My father answered: -‘_Chadieu!_ pope, if you gave me your mitre and your cap, too, I would -not do it; I wouldn’t quit my general and my companions just for your -pleasure. Good-bye to you, rascal.’ The pope laughed, while all the -great captains, French and Italians, who always spoke so reverently to -his Holiness, were amazed and laughed too at such liberty of language. -When the pope was on the point of leaving, he said to him, ‘Ask what -you want of me and you shall have it,’ thinking my father would ask for -his horses; but my father did not ask anything, except for a license and -dispensation to eat butter in Lent, for his stomach could never get -accustomed to olive and nut oil. The pope gave it him readily, and sent -him a bull, which was long to be seen in the archives of our house.” - -The young Pierre de Bourdeille spent the first years of his existence at -the Court of Marguerite de Valois, sister of François I., to whom his -mother was lady-in-waiting. After the death of that princess in 1549 he -came to Paris to begin his studies, which he ended at Poitiers about the -year 1556. - -Being the youngest of the family he was destined if not for the Church -at least for church benefices, which he never lacked through life. An -elder brother, Captain de Bourdeille, a valiant soldier, having been -killed at the siege of Hesdin by a cannon-ball which took off his head -and the arm that held a glass of water he was drinking on the breach, -King Henri II. desired, in recognition of so glorious a death, to do -some favour to the Bourdeille family; and the abbey of Brantôme falling -vacant at this very time, he gave it to the young Pierre de Bourdeille, -then sixteen years old, who henceforth bore the name of Seigneur and -Abbé de Brantôme, abbreviated after a while to Brantôme, by which name -he is known to posterity. In a few legal deeds of the period, especially -family documents, he is mentioned as “the reverend father in God, the -Abbé de Brantôme.” - -Brantôme had possessed his abbey about a year when he began to dream of -going to the wars in Italy; this was the high-road to glory for the -young French nobles, ever since Charles VIII. had shown them the way. -Brantôme obtained from François I. permission to cut timber in the -forest of Saint-Trieix; this cut brought him in five hundred golden -crowns, with which he departed in 1558, “bearing,” he says, “a matchlock -arquebuse, a fine powder-horn from Milan, and mounted on a hackney worth -a hundred crowns, followed by six or seven gentlemen, soldiers -themselves, well set-up, armed and mounted the same, but on good stout -nags.” - -He went first to Geneva, and there he saw the Calvinist emigration; -continuing his way he stayed at Milan and Ferrara, reaching Rome soon -after the death of Paul IV. There he was welcomed by the Grand-Prior of -France, François de Guise, who had brought his brother, the Cardinal of -Lorraine, to assist in the election of a new pontiff. - -This was the epoch of the Renaissance,--that epoch when the knightly -king made all Europe resound with the fame of his amorous and warlike -prowess; when Titian and Primaticcio were leaving on the walls of -palaces their immortal handiwork; when Jean Goujon was carving his -figures on the fountains and the façades of the Louvre; when Rabelais -was inciting that mighty roar of laughter which, in itself, is a whole -human comedy; when the Marguerite of Marguerites was telling in her -“Heptameron” those charming tales of love. François I. dies; his son -succeeds him; Protestantism makes serious progress. Montgomery kills -Henri II., and François II. ascends the throne only to live a year; and -then it is that Marie Stuart leaves France, the tears in her eyes, sadly -singing as the beloved shores over which she had reigned so short a -while recede from sight: “Farewell, my pleasant land of France, -farewell!” - -Returning to France without any warrior fame but closely attached by -this time to the Guises, Brantôme took to a Court life. He assisted in a -tournament between the grand-prior, François de Guise, disguised as an -Egyptian woman, “having on her arm a little monkey swaddled as an -infant, which kept its baby face there is no telling how,” and M. de -Nemours, dressed as a bourgeoise housekeeper wearing at her belt more -than a hundred keys attached to a thick silver chain. He witnessed the -terrible scene of the execution of the Huguenot nobles at Amboise -(March, 1560); was at Orléans when the Prince de Condé was arrested, and -at Poissy for the reception of the Knights of Saint-Michel. In short, he -was no more “home-keeping” in France than in foreign parts. - -Charles IX., then about ten years old, succeeded his brother François -II. in December, 1560. The following year Duc François de Guise was -commissioned to escort his niece, Marie Stuart, to Scotland. Brantôme -went with them, saw the threatening reception given to the queen by her -sullen subjects, and then returned with the duke by way of England. In -London, Queen Elizabeth greeted them most graciously, deigning to dance -more than once with Duc François, to whom she said: “Monsieur mon -prieur” (that was how she called him) “I like you very much, but not -your brother, who tore my town of Calais from me.” - -[Illustration: _Duc François de Guise_] - -Brantôme returned to France at the moment when the edict of -Saint-Germain granting to Protestants the exercise of their religion was -promulgated, and he was struck by the change of aspect presented by the -Court and the whole nation. The two armed parties were face to face; the -Calvinists, scarcely escaped from persecution, seemed certain of -approaching triumph; the Prince de Condé, with four hundred gentlemen, -escorted the preachers to Charenton through the midst of a quivering -population. “Death to papists!”--the very cry Brantôme had first heard -on landing in Scotland, where it sounded so ill to his ears--was -beginning to be heard in France, to which the cry of “Death to the -Huguenots!” responded in the breasts of an irritated populace. Brantôme -did not hesitate as to the side he should take,--he was abbé, and -attached to the Guises; he fought through the war with them, took part -in the sieges of Blois, Bourges, and Rouen, was present at the battle of -Dreux, where he lost his protector the grand-prior, and attached himself -henceforth to François de Guise, the elder, whom he followed to the -siege of Orléans in 1563, where the duke was assassinated by Poltrot de -Méré under circumstances which Brantôme has vividly described in his -chapter on that great captain. - -In 1564 Brantôme entered the household of the Duc d’Anjou (afterwards -Henri III.) as gentleman-in-waiting to the prince, on a salary of six -hundred livres a year. But, being seized again by his passion for -distant expeditions, he engaged during the same year in an enterprise -conducted by Spaniards against the Emperor of Morocco, and went with the -troops of Don Garcia of Toledo to besiege and take the towns on the -Barbary coast. He returned by way of Lisbon, pleased the king of -Portugal, Sebastiano, who conferred upon him his Order of the Christ, -and went from there to Madrid, where Queen Élisabeth gave him the -cordial welcome on which he plumes himself in his Discourse upon that -princess. He was commissioned by her to carry to her mother, Catherine -de’ Medici, the desire she felt to have an interview with her; which -interview took place at Bayonne, Brantôme not failing to be present. - -In that same year, 1565, Sultan Suleiman attacked the island of Malta. -The grand-master of the Knights of Saint-John, Parisot de La Valette, -called for the help of all Christian powers. The French government had -treaties with the Ottoman Porte which did not allow it to come openly to -the assistance of the Knights; but many gentlemen, both Catholic and -Protestant, took part as volunteers. Among them went Brantôme, -naturally. “We were,” he says, “about three hundred gentlemen and eight -hundred soldiers. M. de Strozzi and M. de Bussac were with us, and to -them we deferred our own wills. It was only a little troop, but as -active and valiant as ever left France to fight the Infidel.” - -While at Malta he seems to have had a fancy to enter the Order of the -Knights of Saint-John, but Philippe Strozzi dissuaded him. “He gave me -to understand,” says Brantôme, “that I should do wrong to abandon the -fine fortune that awaited me in France, whether from the hand of my -king, or from that of a beautiful, virtuous lady, and rich, to whom I -was just then servant and welcome guest, so that I had hope of marrying -her.” - -He left Malta on a galley of the Order, intending to go to Naples, -according to a promise he had made to the “beautiful and virtuous lady,” -the Marchesa del Vasto. But a contrary wind defeated his project, which -he did not renounce without regret. In after years he considered this -mischance a strong feature in his unfortunate destiny. “It was -possible,” he says, “that by means of Mme. la marquise I might have -encountered good luck, either by marriage or otherwise, for she did me -the kindness to love me. But I believe that my unhappy fate was resolved -to bring me back to France, where never did fortune smile upon me; I -have always been duped by vain expectations: I have received much honour -and esteem, but of property and rank, none at all. Companions of mine -who would have been proud had I deigned to speak to them at Court or in -the chamber of the king or queen, have long been advanced before me; I -see them round as pumpkins and highly exalted, though I will not, for -all that, defer to them to the length of my thumb-nail. That proverb, -‘No one is a prophet in his own country,’ was made for me. If I had -served foreign sovereigns as I have my own I should now be as loaded -with wealth and dignities as I am with sorrows and years. Patience! if -Fate has thus woven my days, I curse her! If my princes have done it, I -send them all to the devil, if they are not there already.” - -But when he started from Malta Brantôme was still young, being then only -twenty-eight years of age. “Jogging, meandering, vagabondizing,” as he -says, he reached Venice; there he thought of going into Hungary in -search of the Turks, whom he had not been able to meet in Malta. But the -death of Sultan Suleiman stopped the invasion for one year at least, and -Brantôme reluctantly decided to return to France, passing through -Piedmont, where he gave a proof of his disinterestedness, which he -relates in his sketch of Marguerite, Duchesse de Savoie. - -Reaching his own land he found the war he had been so far to seek -without encountering it; whereupon he recruited a company of -foot-soldiers, and took part in the third civil war with the title of -commander of two companies, though in fact there was but one. Shortly -after this he resigned his command to serve upon the staff of Monsieur, -commander-in-chief of the royal army. After the battle of Jarnac (March -15, 1569), being sick of an intermittent fever, he retired to his abbey, -where his presence throughout the troubles was far from useless. But -always more eager for distant expeditions than for the dulness of civil -war, Brantôme let himself be tempted by a grand project of Maréchal -Strozzi, who dreamed of nothing less than a descent on South America and -the conquest of Peru. Brantôme was commissioned in 1571 to go to the -port of Brouage and direct the preparations for the armament. It was -this enterprise that prevented him from being present at the battle of -Lepanto (October 7, 1571). “I should have gone there resolutely, as did -that brave M. de Grillon,” he says, “if it had not been for M. de -Strozzi, who amused me a whole year with that fine embarkation at -Brouage, which ended in nothing but the ruin of our purses,--to those of -us at least who owned the vessels.” But if the duties which kept him at -Brouage robbed him of the glory of being present at the greatest battle -of the age, it also saved him from being a witness of the Saint -Bartholomew. - -The treaty of June 24, 1573, put an end to the siege of Rochelle and the -fourth civil war. Charles IX. died on May 30, 1574. Monsieur, elected -the year before to the throne of Poland, was in that distant country -when the death of his brother made him king of France. He hastened to -return. Brantôme went to meet him at Lyons and was one of the gentlemen -of his Bedchamber from 1575 to 1583. During the years just passed -Brantôme, besides the principal events already named in which he -participated, took part in various little or great events in the daily -life of the Court, such as: the quarrel of Sussy and Saint-Fal, the -splendid disgrace of Bussy d’Amboise, the death and obsequies of Charles -IX., the coronation of Henri III., etc. Throughout them all he played -the part of interested spectator, of active supernumerary without -importance; discontented at times and sulky, but always unable to make -himself feared. - -The years went by in this sterile round. He was now thirty-five years -old. The hope of a great fortune was realized no more on the side of his -king than on that of his beautiful, virtuous, and rich lady. He is, no -doubt, “liked, known, and made welcome by the kings, his masters, by his -queens and his princesses, and all the great seigneurs, who held him in -such esteem that the name of Brantôme had great renown.” But he is not -satisfied with the Court small-change in which his services are paid. He -is vexed that his own lightheartedness is taken at its word; he would be -very glad indeed if that love of liberty with which he decked himself -were put to greater trials. Philosopher in spite of himself, he finds -his disappointments all the more painful because of his own opinion of -his merits. He sees men to whom he believes himself superior, preferred -before him. “His companions, not equal to him,” he says in the epitaph -he composed for himself, “surpassed him in benefits received, in -promotions and ranks, but never in virtue or in merit.” And he adds, -with posthumous resignation: “God be praised nevertheless for all, and -for his sacred mercy!” - -Meantime, perchance a queen, Catherine de’ Medici or Marguerite de -Valois, deigns to drop into his ear some trifling word which he relishes -with delight. Henri de Guise [le Balafré], who was ten years younger -than himself, called him “my son;” and the Baron de Montesquieu, the one -that killed the Prince de Condé at Jarnac and was very much older than -Brantôme, who had pulled him out of the water during certain aquatic -games on the Seine, called him “father.” Such were the familiarities -with which he was treated. - -He was, it is true, chevalier of the Order of Saint-Michel, but that was -not enough to console his ambition. He complained that they degraded -that honour, no longer reserved to the nobility of the sword. He thinks -it bad, for instance, that it was granted to his neighbour, Michel de -Montaigne. “We have seen,” he says, “counsellors coming from the courts -of parliament, abandoning robes and the square cap to drag a sword -behind them, and at once the king decks them with the collar, without -any pretext of their going to war. This is what was given to the Sieur -de Montaigne, who would have done much better to continue to write his -Essays instead of changing his pen into a sword, which does not suit -him. The Marquis de Trans obtained the Order very easily from the king -for one of his neighbours, no doubt in derision, for he is a great -joker.” Brantôme always speaks very slightingly of Montaigne because the -latter was of lesser nobility than his own; but that does not prevent -the Sieur de Montaigne from being to our eyes a much greater man than -the Seigneur de Brantôme. - -Brantôme continued to follow the Court. He accompanied the queen-mother -when she went in 1576 to Poitou to bring back the Duc d’Alençon, who was -dabbling in plots. He accompanied her again when she conducted in 1578 -her daughter Marguerite to Navarre; and at their solemn entry into -Bordeaux he had the honour of being near them on the “scaffold,” or, as -we should say in the present day, the platform. He had also the luck to -hear at Saint-Germain-en-Laye King Henri III. make during his dinner, in -presence of the Duc de Joyeuse (on whose nuptials the fluent monarch was -destined to spend a million), a discourse worthy of Cato against luxury -and extravagance. - -In 1582, his elder brother, André de Bourdeille, seneschal and governor -of the Périgord, died. He left a son scarcely nine years old. Brantôme -had obtained from King Henri III. a promise that he should hold those -offices until the majority of his nephew, on condition of transmitting -them at that time. The king confirmed this promise on several occasions -during the last illness of André de Bourdeille. But at the latter’s -death it was discovered that he had bound himself in his daughter’s -marriage contract to resign those offices to his son-in-law. The king -considered that he ought to respect this family arrangement. Brantôme -was keenly hurt. “On the second day of the year,” he says, “as the king -was returning from his ceremony of the Saint-Esprit, I made my complaint -to him, more in anger than to implore him, as he well understood. He -made me excuses, although he was my king. Among other reasons he said -plainly that he could not refuse that resignation when presented to him, -or he should be unjust. I made him no reply, except: ‘Well, sire, I -ought not to have put faith in you; a good reason never to serve you -again as I have served you.’ On which I went away much vexed. I met -several of my companions, to whom I related everything. I protested and -swore that if I had a thousand lives not one would I employ for a King -of France. I cursed my luck, I cursed life, I loathed the king’s favour, -I despised with a curling lip those beggarly fellows loaded with royal -favours who were in no wise as worthy of them as I. Hanging to my belt -was the gilt key to the king’s bedroom; I unfastened it and flung it -from the Quai des Augustins, where I stood, into the river below. I -never again entered the king’s room; I abhorred it, and I swore never to -set foot in it any more. I did not, however, cease to frequent the Court -and to show myself in the room of the queen, who did me the honour to -like me, and in those of her ladies and maids of honour and of the -princesses, seigneurs, and princes, my good friends. I talked aloud -about my displeasure, so that the king, hearing of what I said, sent me -a few words by M. du Halde, his head _valet de chambre_. I contented -myself with answering that I was the king’s most obedient, and said no -more.” - -Monsieur (the Duc d’Alençon) took notice of Brantôme, and made him his -chamberlain. About this time it was that he began to compose for this -prince the “Discourses” afterwards made into a book and called “Vies des -Dames Galantes,” which he dedicated to the Duc d’Alençon. The latter -died in 1584,--a loss that dashed once more the hopes of Brantôme and of -others who, like him, had pinned their faith upon that prince. After -all, Brantôme had some reason to complain of his evil star. - -Then it was that Brantôme meditated vast and even criminal projects, -which he himself has revealed to us: “I resolved to sell the little -property I possessed in France and go off and serve that great King of -Spain, very illustrious and noble remunerator of services rendered to -him, not compelling his servitors to importune him, but done of his own -free will and wise opinion, and out of just consideration. Whereupon I -reflected and ruminated within myself that I was able to serve him well; -for there is not a harbour nor a seaport from Picardy to Bayonne that I -do not know perfectly, except those of Bretagne which I have not seen; -and I know equally well all the weak spots on the coast of Languedoc -from Grasse to Provence. To make myself sure of my facts, I had recently -made a new tour to several of the towns, pretending to wish to arm a -ship and send it on a voyage, or go myself. In fact, I had played my -game so well that I had discovered half a dozen towns on these coasts -easy to capture on their weak sides, which I knew then and which I still -know. I therefore thought I could serve the King of Spain in these -directions so well that I might count on obtaining the reward of great -wealth and dignities. But before I banished myself from France I -proposed to sell my estates and put the money in a bank of Spain or -Italy. I also proposed, and I discoursed of it to the Comte de La -Rochefoucauld, to ask leave of absence from the king that I might not be -called a deserter, and to be relieved of my oath as a subject in order -to go wherever I should find myself better off than in his kingdom. I -believe he could not have refused my request; because everyone is free -to change his country and choose another. But however that might be, if -he had refused me I should have gone all the same, neither more nor less -like a valet who is angry with his master and wants to leave him; if the -latter will not give him leave to go, it is not reprehensible to take it -and attach himself to another master.” - -Thus reasoned Brantôme. He returns on several occasions to these lawless -opinions; he argues, apropos of the Connétable de Bourbon and La Noue, -against the scruples of those who are willing to leave their country, -but not to take up arms against her. “I’faith!” he cries, “here are -fine, scrupulous philosophers! Their quartan fevers! While I hold shyly -back, pray who will feed me? Whereas if I bare my sword to the wind it -will give me food and magnify my fame.” - -Such ideas were current in those days among the nobles, in whom the -patriotic sentiment, long subordinated to that of caste, was only -developed later. These projects of treachery should therefore not be -judged altogether with the severity of modern ideas. Besides, Brantôme -is working himself up; it does not belong to every one to produce such -grand disasters as these he meditates. Moreover, thought is far from -action; events may intervene. People call them fate or chance, but -chance will often simply aid the secret impulses of conscience, and bind -our will to that it chooses. - -“Fine human schemes I made!” Brantôme resumes. “On the very point of -their accomplishment the war of the League broke out and turmoiled -things in such a way that no one would buy lands, for every man had -trouble enough to keep what he owned, neither would he strip himself of -money. Those who had promised to buy my property excused themselves. To -go to foreign parts without resources was madness,--it would only have -exposed me to all sorts of misery; I had too much experience to commit -that folly. To complete the destruction of my designs, one day, at the -height of my vigor and jollity, a miserable horse, whose white skin -might have warned me of nothing good, reared and fell over upon me -breaking and crushing my loins, so that for four years I lay in my bed, -maimed, impotent in every limb, unable to turn or move without torture -and all the agony in the world; and since then my health has never been -what it once was. Thus man proposes, and God disposes. God does all -things for the best! It is possible that if I had realized my plans I -should have done more harm to my country than the renegade of Algiers -did to his; and because of it, I might have been perpetually cursed of -God and man.” - -Consequently, this great scheme remained a dream; no one need ever have -known anything about it if Brantôme himself had not taken pains to -inform us of it with much complacency. - -The cruel fall which stopped his guilty projects must have occurred in -1585. At the end of three years and a half of suffering he met, he tells -us, “with a very great personage and operator, called M. -Saint-Christophe, whom God raised up for my good and cure, who succeeded -in relieving me after many other doctors had failed.” As soon as he was -nearly well he began once more to travel. It does not appear that he -frequented the Court after the death of Catherine de’ Medici, which took -place in January, 1589; but he was present, in that year, at the baptism -of the posthumous son of Henri de Guise, whom the Parisians adopted -after the father’s murder at Blois, and named _Paris_. Agrippa -d’Aubigné, in his caricature of the Procession of the League, gives -Brantôme a small place as bearer of bells. But was he really there? It -seems doubtful; he makes somewhere the judicious reflection that: “One -may well be surprised that so many French nobles put themselves on the -side of the League, for if it had got the upper hand it is very certain -that the clergy would have deprived them of church property and wiped -their lips forever of it, which result would have cut the wings of their -extravagance for a very long while.” The secular Abbé de Brantôme had -therefore as good reasons for not being a Leaguer as for not being a -Huguenot. - -In 1590 he went to make his obeisance to Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, -then confined in the Château d’Usson in Auvergne. He presented to her -his “discourse” on “Spanish Rhodomontades,” perhaps also a first copy of -the life of that princess (which appears in this volume), and he also -showed her the titles of the other books he had composed. He was so -enchanted with the greeting Queen Marguerite, la Reine Margot, gave him, -“the sole remaining daughter of the noble house of France, the most -beautiful, most noble, grandest, most generous, most magnanimous, and -most accomplished princess in the world” (when Brantôme praises he does -not do it by halves), that he promised to dedicate to her the entire -collection of his works,--a promise he faithfully fulfilled. - -His health, now decidedly affected, confined more and more to his own -home this indefatigable rover, who had, as he said, “the nature of a -minstrel who prefers the house of others to his own.” Condemned to a -sedentary life, he used his activity as he could. He caused to be built -the noble castle of Richemont, with much pains and at great expense. He -grew quarrelsome and litigious; brought suits against his relations, -against his neighbours, against his monks, whom he accused of -ingratitude. By his will he bequeathed his lawsuits to his heirs, and -forbade each and all to compromise them. - -Difficult to live with, soured, dissatisfied with the world, he was not, -it would seem, in easy circumstances. He did not spare posterity the -recital of his plaints: “Favours, grandeurs, boasts, and vanities, all -the pleasant things of the good old days are gone like the wind. Nothing -remains to me but to _have been_ all that; sometimes that memory pleases -me, and sometimes it vexes me. Nearing a decrepit old age, the worst of -all woes, nearing, too, a poverty which cannot be cured as in our -flourishing years when nought is impossible, repenting me a hundred -thousand times for the fine extravagances I committed in other days, and -regretting I did not save enough then to support me now in feeble age, -when I lack all of which I once possessed too much,--I see, with a -bursting heart, an infinite number of paltry fellows raised to rank and -riches, while Fortune, treacherous and blind that she is, feeds me on -air and then deserts and mocks me. If she would only put me quickly into -the hands of death I would still forgive her the wrongs she has done me. -But there is the worst of it; we can neither live nor die as we wish. -Therefore, let destiny do as it will, never shall I cease to curse it -from heart and lip. And worst of all do I detest old age weighed down by -poverty. As the queen-mother said to me one day when I had the honour to -speak to her on this subject about another person, ‘Old age brings us -inconveniences enough without the additional burden of poverty; the two -united are the height of misery, against which there is one only -sovereign cure, and that is death. Happy he who finds it when he reaches -fifty-six, for after that our life is but labour and sorrow, and we eat -but the bread of ashes, as saith the prophet.’” - -He continued, however, to write, retracing all that he had seen and -garnered either while making his campaigns with the great captains of -his time, or in gossiping with idle gentlemen in the halls of the -Louvre. It was thus he composed his biographical and anecdotical -volumes, which he retouched and rewrote at intervals, making several -successive copies. That he had the future of his writings much at heart, -in spite of a scornful air of indifference which he sometimes assumed, -appears very plainly from the following clause in his will: - -“I will,” he says, “and I expressly charge my heirs to cause to be -printed my Books, which I have composed from my mind and invention with -great toil and trouble, written by my hand, and transcribed clearly by -that of Mataud, my hired secretary; the which will be found in five -volumes covered with velvet, black, tan, green, blue, and a large -volume, which is that of ‘The Ladies,’ covered with green velvet, and -another covered with vellum and gilded thereon, which is that of ‘The -Rhodomontades.’ They will be found in one of my wicker trunks, carefully -protected. Fine things will be found in them, such as tales, discourses, -histories, and witticisms; which no one can disdain, it seems to me, if -once they are placed under his nose and eyes. In order to have them -printed according to my fancy, I charge with that purpose Madame la -Comtesse de Duretal, my dear niece, or some other person she may choose. -And to do this I order that enough be taken from my whole property to -pay the costs of the said printing, and my heirs are not to divide or -use my property until this printing is provided for. It is not probable -that it will cost much; for the printers, when they cast their eyes upon -the books, would pay to print them instead of exacting money; for they -do print many gratis that are not worth as much as mine. I can boast of -this; for I have shown them, at least in part, to several among that -trade, who offered to print them for nothing. But I do not choose that -they be printed during my life. Above all, I will that the said printing -be in fine, large letters, in a great volume to make the better show, -with license from the king, who will give it readily; or without -license, if that can be. Care must also be taken that the printer does -not put on another name than mine; otherwise I shall be frustrated of -all my trouble and of the fame that is my due. I also will that the -first book that issues from the press shall be given as a gift, well -bound and covered in velvet, to Queen Marguerite, my very illustrious -mistress, who did me the honour to read some of my writings, and who -thought them fine and esteemed them.” - -This will was made about the year 1609. On the 15th of July, 1614, -Brantôme died, after living his last years in complete oblivion; he was -buried, according to his wishes, in the chapel of his château of -Richemont. In spite of his express directions, neither the Comtesse de -Duretal nor any other of his heirs executed the clause in his will -relating to the publication of his works. Possibly they feared it might -create some scandal, or it may be that they could not obtain the royal -license. The manuscripts remained in the château of Richemont. Little by -little, as time went on, they attracted attention; copies were made -which found their way to the cabinets and libraries of collectors. They -were finally printed in Holland; and the first volume, which appeared in -Leyden from the press of Jean Sambix the younger, sold by F. Foppons, -Brussels, 1665, was that which here follows: “The Book of the Ladies,” -called by the publisher, not by Brantôme, “Lives of Illustrious Dames.” - -It is not easy to distinguish the exact periods at which Brantôme wrote -his works. “The Book of the Ladies,” first and second parts,--_Dames -Illustres and Dames Galantes_,--were evidently the first written; then -followed “The Lives of Great and Illustrious French Captains,” “Lives of -Great Foreign Captains,” “Anecdotes concerning Duels,” “The -Rhodomontades,” and “Spanish Oaths.” Brantôme did not write his Memoirs, -properly so-called; his biographical facts and incidents are scattered -throughout the above-named volumes. - -The following translation of the “Book of the Ladies” does not pretend -to imitate Brantôme’s style. To do so would seem an affectation in -English, and attract attention to itself which it is always desirable to -avoid in translating. Wherever a few of Brantôme’s quaint turns of -phrase are given, it is only as they fall naturally into English. - - - - -THE BOOK OF THE LADIES. - - - - -DISCOURSE I. - -ANNE DE BRETAGNE, QUEEN OF FRANCE. - - -Inasmuch as I must speak of ladies, I do not choose to speak of former -dames, of whom the histories are full; that would be blotting paper in -vain, for enough has been written about them, and even the great -Boccaccio has made a fine book solely on that subject [_De claris -mulieribus_]. - -I shall begin therefore with our queen, Anne de Bretagne, the most -worthy and honourable queen that has ever been since Queen Blanche, -mother of the King Saint-Louis, and very sage and virtuous. - -This Queen Anne was the rich heiress of the duchy of Bretagne, which was -held to be one of the finest of Christendom, and for that reason she was -sought in marriage by the greatest persons. M. le Duc d’Orléans, -afterwards King Louis XII., in his young days courted her, and did for -her sake his fine feats of arms in Bretagne, and even at the battle of -Saint Aubin, where he was taken prisoner fighting on foot at the head of -his infantry. I have heard say that this capture was the reason why he -did not espouse her then; for thereon intervened Maximilian, Duke of -Austria, since emperor, who married her by the proxy of his uncle the -Prince of Orange in the great church at Nantes. But King Charles VIII., -having advised with his council that it was not good to have so -powerful a seigneur encroach and get a footing in his kingdom, broke off -a marriage that had been settled between himself and Marguerite of -Flanders, took the said Anne from Maximilian, her affianced, and wedded -her himself; so that every one conjectured thereon that a marriage thus -made would be luckless in issue. - -Now if Anne was desired for her property, she was as much so for her -virtues and merits; for she was beautiful and agreeable; as I have heard -say by elderly persons who knew her, and according to her portrait, -which I have seen from life; resembling in face the beautiful Demoiselle -de Châteauneuf, who has been so renowned at the Court for her beauty; -and that is sufficient to tell the beauty of Queen Anne as I have heard -it portrayed to the queen-mother [Catherine de’ Medici]. - -Her figure was fine and of medium height. It is true that one foot was -shorter than the other the least in the world; but this was little -perceived, and hardly to be noticed, so that her beauty was not at all -spoilt by it; for I myself have seen very handsome women with that -defect who yet were extreme in beauty, like Mme. la Princesse de Condé, -of the house of Longueville. - -So much for the beauty of the body of this queen. That of her mind was -no less, because she was very virtuous, wise, honourable, pleasant of -speech, and very charming and subtile in wit. She had been taught and -trained by Mme. de Laval, an able and accomplished lady, appointed her -governess by her father, Duc François. For the rest, she was very kind, -very merciful, and very charitable, as I have heard my own folks say. -True it is, however, that she was quick in vengeance and seldom pardoned -whoever offended her maliciously; as she showed to the Maréchal de Gié -for the affront he put upon her when the king, her lord and husband, -lay ill at Blois and was held to be dying. She, wishing to provide for -her wants in case she became a widow, caused three or four boats to be -laden on the River Loire with all her precious articles, furniture, -jewels, rings and money,--and sent them to her city and château of -Nantes. The said marshal, meeting these boats between Saumur and Nantes, -ordered them stopped and seized, being much too wishful to play the good -officer and servant of the Crown. But fortune willed that the king, -through the prayers of his people, to whom he was indeed a true father, -escaped with his life. - -The queen, in spite of this luck, did not abstain from her vengeance, -and having well brewed it, she caused the said marshal to be driven from -Court. It was then that having finished a fine house at La Verger, he -retired there, saying that the rain had come just in time to let him get -under shelter in the beautiful house so recently built. But this -banishment from Court was not all; through great researches which she -caused to be made wherever he had been in command, it was discovered he -had committed great wrongs, extortions and pillages, to which all -governors are given; so that the marshal, having appealed to the courts -of parliament, was summoned before that of Toulouse, which had long been -very just and equitable, and not corrupt. There, his suit being viewed, -he was convicted. But the queen did not wish his death, because, she -said, death is a cure for all pains and woes, and being dead he would be -too happy; she wished him to live as degraded and low as he had been -great; so that he might, from the grandeur and height where he had been, -live miserably in troubles, pains, and sadness, which would do him a -hundred-fold more harm than death, for death lasted only a day, and -mayhap only an hour, whereas his languishing would make him die daily. - -Such was the vengeance of this brave queen. One day she was so angry -against M. d’Orléans that she could not for a long time be appeased. It -was in this wise: the death of her son, M. le dauphin, having happened, -King Charles, her husband, and she were in such despair that the -doctors, fearing the debility and feeble constitution of the king, were -alarmed lest such grief should do injury to his health; so they -counselled the king to amuse himself, and the princes of the Court to -invent new pastimes, games, dances, and mummeries in order to give -pleasure to the king and queen; the which M. d’Orléans having -undertaken, he gave at the Château d’Amboise a masquerade and dance, at -which he did such follies and danced so gayly, as was told and read, -that the queen, believing he felt this glee because, the dauphin being -dead, he knew himself nearer to be King of France, was extremely -angered, and showed him such displeasure that he was forced to escape -from Amboise, where the Court then was, and go to his château of Blois. -Nothing can be blamed in this queen except the sin of vengeance,--if -vengeance is a sin,--because otherwise she was beautiful and gentle, and -had many very laudable sides. - -When the king, her husband, went to the kingdom of Naples [1494], and so -long as he was there, she knew very well how to govern the kingdom of -France with those whom the king had given to assist her; but she always -kept her rank, her grandeur, and supremacy, and insisted, young as she -was, on being trusted; and she made herself trusted, so that nothing was -ever found to say against her. - -She felt great regret for the death of King Charles [in 1498], as much -for the friendship she bore him as for seeing herself henceforth but -half a queen, having no children. And when her most intimate ladies, as -I have been told on good authority, pitied her for being the widow of so -great a king, and unable to return to her high estate,--for King Louis -[the Duc d’Orléans, her first lover] was then married to Jeanne de -France,--she replied she would “rather be the widow of a king all her -life than debase herself to a less than he; but still, she was not so -despairing of happiness that she did not think of again being Queen of -France, as she had been, if she chose.” Her old love made her say so; -she meant to relight it in the bosom of him in whom it was yet warm. And -so it happened; for King Louis [XII.], having repudiated Jeanne, his -wife, and never having lost his early love, took her in marriage, as we -have seen and read. So here was her prophecy accomplished; she having -founded it on the nature of King Louis, who could not keep himself from -loving her, all married as she was, but looked with a tender eye upon -her, being still Duc d’Orléans; for it is difficult to quench a great -fire when once it has seized the soul. - -He was a handsome prince and very amiable, and she did not hate him for -that. Having taken her, he honoured her much, leaving her to enjoy her -property and her duchy without touching it himself or taking a single -louis; but she employed it well, for she was very liberal. And because -the king made immense gifts, to meet which he must have levied on his -people, which he shunned like the plague, she supplied his deficiencies; -and there were no great captains of the kingdom to whom she did not give -pensions, or make extraordinary presents of money or of thick gold -chains when they went upon a journey; and she even made little presents -according to quality; everybody ran to her, and few came away -discontented. Above all, she had the reputation of loving her domestic -servants, and to them she did great good. - -She was the first queen to hold a great Court of ladies, such as we have -seen from her time to the present day. Her suite was very large of -ladies and young girls, for she refused none; she even inquired of the -noblemen of her Court whether they had daughters, and what they were, -and asked to have them brought to her. I had an aunt de Bourdeille who -had the honour of being brought up by her [Louise de Bourdeille, maid of -honour to Queen Anne in 1494]; but she died at Court, aged fifteen -years, and was buried behind the great altar of the church of the -Franciscans in Paris. I saw the tomb and its inscription before that -church was burned [in 1580.] - -Queen Anne’s Court was a noble school for ladies; she had them taught -and brought up wisely; and all, taking pattern by her, made themselves -wise and virtuous. Because her heart was great and lofty she wanted -guards, and so formed a second band of a hundred gentlemen,--for -hitherto there was only one; and the greater part of the said new guard -were Bretons, who never failed, when she left her room to go to mass or -to promenade, to await her on that little terrace at Blois, still called -the Breton perch, “La Perche aux Bretons,” she herself having named it -so by saying when she saw them: “Here are my Bretons on their perch, -awaiting me.” - -You may be sure that she did not lay by her money, but employed it well -on all high things. - -She it was, who built, out of great superbness, that fine vessel and -mass of wood, called “La Cordelière,” which attacked so furiously in -mid-ocean the “Regent of England;” grappling to her so closely that both -were burned and nothing escaped,--not the people, nor anything else that -was in them, so that no news was ever heard of them on land; which -troubled the queen very much.[2] - -The king honoured her so much that one day, it being reported to him -that the law clerks at the Palais [de Justice] and the students also -were playing games in which there was talk of the king, his Court, and -all the great people, he took no other notice than to say they needed a -pastime, and he would let them talk of him and his Court, though not -licentiously; but as for the queen, his wife, they should not speak of -her in any way whatsoever; if they did he would have them hanged. Such -was the honour he bore her. - -Moreover, there never came to his Court a foreign prince or an -ambassador that, after having seen and listened to them, he did not send -them to pay their reverence to the queen; wishing the same respect to be -shown to her as to him; and also, because he recognized in her a great -faculty for entertaining and pleasing great personages, as, indeed, she -knew well how to do; taking much pleasure in it herself; for she had -very good and fine grace and majesty in greeting them, and beautiful -eloquence in talking with them. Sometimes, amid her French speech, she -would, to make herself more admired, mingle a few foreign words, which -she had learned from M. de Grignaux, her chevalier of honour, who was a -very gallant man who had seen the world, and was accomplished and knew -foreign languages, being thereby very pleasant good company, and -agreeable to meet. Thus it was that one day, Queen Anne having asked him -to teach her a few words of Spanish to say to the Spanish ambassador, he -taught her in joke a little indecency, which she quickly learned. The -next day, while awaiting the ambassador, M. de Grignaux told the story -to the king, who thought it good, understanding his gay and lively -humour. Nevertheless he went to the queen, and told her all, warning her -to be careful not to use those words. She was in such great anger, -though the king only laughed, that she wanted to dismiss M. de Grignaux, -and showed him her displeasure for several days. But M. de Grignaux -made her such humble excuses, telling her that he only did it to make -the king laugh and pass his time merrily, and that he was not so -ill-advised as to fail to warn the king in time that he might, as he -really did, warn her before the arrival of the ambassador; so that on -these excuses and the entreaties of the king she was pacified. - -Now, if the king loved and honoured her living, we may believe that, she -being dead, he did the same. And to manifest the mourning that he felt, -the superb and honourable funeral and obsequies that he ordered for her -are proof; the which I have read of in an old “History of France” that I -found lying about in a closet in our house, nobody caring for it; and -having gathered it up, I looked at it. Now as this is a matter that -should be noted, I shall put it here, word for word as the book says, -without changing anything; for though it is old, the language is not -very bad; and as for the truth of the book, it has been confirmed to me -by my grandmother, Mme. la Seneschale de Poitou, of the family du Lude, -who was then at the Court. The book relates it thus:-- - -“This queen was an honourable and virtuous queen, and very wise, the -true mother of the poor, the support of gentlemen, the haven of ladies, -damoiselles, and honest girls, and the refuge of learned men; so that -all the people of France cannot surfeit themselves enough in deploring -and regretting her. - -“She died at the castle of Blois on the twenty-first of January, in the -year 1513, after the accomplishment of a thing she had most desired, -namely: the union of the king, her lord, with the pope and the Roman -Church, abhorring as she did schism and divisions. For that reason she -had never ceased urging the king to this step, for which she was as -much loved and greatly revered by the Catholic princes and prelates as -the king had been hated. - -“I have seen at Saint-Denis a grand church cope, all covered with pearls -embroidered, which she had ordered to be made expressly to send as a -present to the pope, but death prevented. After her decease her body -remained for three days in her room, the face uncovered, and nowise -changed by hideous death, but as beautiful and agreeable as when living. - -“Friday, the twenty-seventh of the month of January, her body was taken -from the castle, very honourably accompanied by all the priests and -monks of the town, borne by persons wearing mourning, with hoods over -their heads, accompanied by twenty-four torches larger than the other -torches borne by twenty-four officers of the household of the said lady, -on each of which were two rich armorial escutcheons bearing the arms -emblazoned of the said lady. After these torches came the reverend -seigneurs and prelates, bishops, abbés, and M. le Cardinal de Luxembourg -to read the office; and thus was removed the body of the said lady from -the Château de Blois.... - -“Septuagesima Sunday, twelfth of February, they arrived at the church of -Notre-Dame des Champs in the suburbs of Paris, and there the body was -guarded two nights with great quantities of lights; and on the following -Tuesday, the devout services having been read, there marched before the -body processions with the crosses of all the churches and all the -monasteries of Paris, the whole University in a body, the presidents and -counsellors of the sovereign court of Parliament, and generally of all -other courts and jurisdictions, officers and advocates, merchants and -citizens, and other lesser officers of the town. All these accompanied -the said body reverentially, with the very noble seigneurs and ladies -aforenamed, just as they started from Blois, all keeping fine order -among themselves according to their several ranks.... And thus was borne -through Paris, in the order and manner above, the body of the queen to -be sepulchred in the pious church of Saint-Denis of France; preceded by -these processions to a cross which is not far beyond the place where the -fair of Landit is held. - -“And to the spot where stands the cross the reverend father in God, the -abbé, and the venerable monks, with the priests of the churches and -parishes of Saint-Denis, vestured in their great copes, with their -crosses, came in procession, together with the peasants and the -inhabitants of the said town, to receive the body of the late queen, -which was then borne to the door of the church of Saint-Denis, still -accompanied honourably by all the above-named very noble princes and -princesses, seigneurs, dames, and damoiselles, and their train as -already stated.... - -“And all being duly accomplished, the body of the said lady, Madame -Anne, in her lifetime very noble Queen of France, Duchesse of Bretagne, -and Comtesse d’Étampes, was honourably interred and sepulchred in the -tomb for her prepared. - -“After this, the herald-at-arms for Bretagne summoned all the princes -and officers of the said lady, to wit: the chevalier of honour, the -grand-master of the household, and others, each and all, to fulfil their -duty towards the said body, which they did most piteously, shedding -tears from their eyes. And, this done, the aforenamed king-at-arms cried -three times aloud in a most piteous voice: ‘The very Christian Queen of -France, Duchesse de Bretagne, our Sovereign Lady, is dead!’ And then all -departed. The body remained entombed. - -[Illustration: _Tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne_] - -“During her life and after her death she was honoured by the titles I -have before given: true mother of the poor; the comfort of noble -gentlemen; the haven of ladies and damoiselles and honest girls; -the refuge of learned men and those of good lives; so that speaking of -her dead is only renewing the grief and regrets of all such persons, and -also that of her domestic servants, whom she loved singularly. She was -very religious and devout. It was she who made the foundation of the -‘Bons-Hommes’ [monastery of the order of Saint-François de Paule at -Chaillot], otherwise called the Minimes; and she began to build the -church of the said ‘Bons-Hommes’ near Paris, and afterwards that in Rome -which is so beautiful and noble, and where, as I saw myself, they -receive no monks but Frenchmen.” - -There, word for word, are the splendid obsequies of this queen, without -changing a word of the original, for fear of doing worse,--for I could -not do better. They were just like those of our kings that I have heard -and read of, and those of King Charles IX., at which I was present, and -which the queen, his mother, desired to make so fine and magnificent, -though the finances of France were then too short to spend much, because -of the departure of the King of Poland, who with his suite had -squandered and carried off a great deal [1574]. - -Certainly I find these two interments much alike, save for three things: -one, that the burial of Queen Anne was the most superb; second, that all -went so well in order and so discreetly that there was no contention of -ranks, as occurred at the burial of King Charles; for his body, being -about to start for Notre-Dame, the court of parliament had some pique of -precedence with the nobility and the Church, claiming to stand in the -place of the king and to represent him when absent, he being then out of -the kingdom. [Henri III. was then King of Poland]. On which a great -princess, as the world goes, who was very near to him, whom I know but -will not name, went about arguing and saying: “It was no wonder if, -during the lifetime of the king, seditions and troubles had been in -vogue, seeing that, dead as he was, he was still able to stir up -strife.” Alas! he never did it, poor prince! either dead or living. We -know well who were the authors of the seditions and of our civil wars. -That princess who said those words has since found reason to regret -them. - -The third thing is that the body of King Charles was quitted, at the -church of Saint-Lazare, by the whole procession, princes, seigneurs, -courts of parliament, the Church, and the citizens, and was followed and -accompanied from there by none but poor M. de Strozzi, de Fumel, and -myself, with two gentlemen of the bedchamber, for we were not willing to -abandon our master as long as he was above ground. There were also a few -archers of the guard, quite pitiable to see, in the fields. So at eight -in the evening in the month of July, we started with the body and its -effigy thus badly accompanied. - -Reaching the cross, we found all the monks of Saint-Denis awaiting us, -and the body of the king was honourably escorted, with the ceremonies of -the Church, to Saint-Denis, where the great Cardinal de Lorraine -received it most honourably and devoutly, as he knew well how to do. - -The queen-mother was very angry that the procession did not continue to -the end as she intended--save for Monsieur her son, and the King of -Navarre, whom she held a prisoner. The next day, however, the latter -arrived in a coach, with a very good guard, and captains of the guard -with him, to be present at the solemn high service, attended by the -whole procession and company as at first,--a sight very sad to see. - -After dinner the court of parliament sent to tell and to command the -grand almoner Amyot to go and say grace after meat for them as if for -the king. To which he made answer that he should do nothing of the kind, -for it was not before them he was bound to do it. They sent him two -consecutive and threatening commands; which he still refused, and went -and hid himself that he might answer no more. Then they swore they would -not leave the table till he came; but not being able to find him, they -were constrained to say grace themselves and to rise, which they did -with great threats, foully abusing the said almoner, even to calling him -scoundrel, and son of a butcher. I saw the whole affair; and I know what -Monsieur commanded me to go and tell to M. le cardinal, asking him to -pacify the matter, because they had sent commands to Monsieur to send to -them, as representatives of the king, the grand almoner if he could be -found. M. le cardinal went to speak to them, but he gained nothing; they -standing firm on their opinion of their royal majesty and authority. I -know what M. le cardinal said to me about them, telling me not to say -it,--that they were perfect fools. The chief president, de Thou, was -then at their head; a great senator certainly, but he had a temper. So -here was another disturbance to make that princess say again that King -Charles, either living or dead, on earth or under it, that body of his -stirred up the world and threw it into sedition. Alas! that he could not -do. - -I have told this little incident, possibly more at length than I should, -and I may be blamed; but I reply that I have told and put it here as it -came into my fancy and memory; also that it comes in _à propos_; and -that I cannot forget it, for it seems to me a thing that is rather -remarkable. - -Now, to return to our Queen Anne: we see from this fine last duty of her -obsequies how beloved she was of earth and heaven; far otherwise than -that proud, pompous queen, Isabella of Bavaria, wife of the late King -Charles VI., who having died in Paris, her body was so despised it was -put out of her palace into a little boat on the river Seine, without -form of ceremony or pomp, being carried through a little postern so -narrow it could hardly go through, and thus was taken to Saint-Denis to -her tomb like a simple damoiselle, neither more nor less. There was also -a difference between her actions and those of Queen Anne: for she -brought the English into France and Paris, threw the kingdom into flames -and divisions, and impoverished and ruined every one; whereas Queen Anne -kept France in peace, enlarged and enriched it with her beautiful duchy -and the fine property she brought with her. So one need not wonder that -the king regretted her and felt such mourning that he came nigh dying in -the forest of Vincennes, and clothed himself and all his Court so long -in black; and those who came otherwise clothed he had them driven away; -neither would he see any ambassador, no matter who he was, unless he -were dressed in black. And, moreover, that old History which I have -quoted, says: “When he gave his daughter to M. d’Angoulême, afterwards -King François, mourning was not left off by him or his Court; and the -day of the espousals in the church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the -bridegroom and bride were vestured and clothed”--so this History -says--“in black cloth, honestly cut in mourning shape, for the death of -the said queen, Madame Anne de Bretagne, mother of the bride, in -presence of the king, her father, accompanied by the princes of the -blood and noble seigneurs and prelates, princesses, dames, and -damoiselles, all clothed in black cloth made in mourning shape.” That is -what the book says. It was a strange austerity of mourning which should -be noted, that not even on the day of the wedding was it dispensed with, -to be renewed on the following day. - -From this we may know how beloved, and worthy to be beloved this -princess was by the king, her husband, who sometimes in his merry moods -and gayety would call her “his Breton.” - -If she had lived longer she would never have consented to that marriage -of her daughter; it was very repugnant to her and she said so to the -king, her husband, for she mortally hated Madame d’Angoulême, afterwards -Regent, their tempers being quite unlike and not agreeing together; -besides which, she had wished to unite her said daughter to Charles of -Austria, then young, the greatest seigneur of Christendom, who was -afterwards emperor. And this she wished in spite of M. d’Angoulême -coming very near the Crown; but she never thought of that, or would not -think of it, trusting to have more children herself, she being only -thirty-seven years old when she died. In her lifetime and reign, reigned -also that great and wise queen, Isabella of Castile, very accordant in -manners and morals with our Queen Anne. For which reason they loved each -other much and visited one another often by embassies, letters, and -presents; ‘tis thus that virtue ever seeks out virtue. - -King Louis was afterwards pleased to marry for the third time Marie, -sister of the King of England, a very beautiful princess, young, and too -young for him, so that evil came of it. But he married more from policy, -to make peace with the English and to put his own kingdom at rest, than -for any other reason, never being able to forget his Queen Anne. He -commanded at his death that they should both be covered by the same -tomb, just as we now see it in Saint-Denis, all in white marble, as -beautiful and superb as never was. - -Now, here I pause in my discourse and go no farther; referring the rest -to books that are written of this queen better than I could write; only -to content my own self have I made this discourse. - -I will say one other little thing; that she was the first of our queens -or princesses to form the usage of putting a belt round their arms and -escutcheons, which until then were borne not inclosed, but quite loose; -and the said queen was the first to put the belt. - -I say no more, not having been of her time; although I protest having -told only truth, having learned it, as I have said, from a book, and -also from Mme. la Seneschale, my grandmother, and from Mme. de -Dampierre, my aunt, a true Court register, and as clever, wise, and -virtuous a lady as ever entered a Court these hundred years, and who -knew well how to discourse on old things. From eight years of age she -was brought up at Court, and forgot nothing; it was good to hear her -talk; and I have seen our kings and queens take a singular pleasure in -listening to her, for she knew all,--her own time and past times; so -that people took word from her as from an oracle. King Henri III. made -her lady of honour to the queen, his wife. I have here used -recollections and lessons that I obtained from her, and I hope to use -many more in the course of these books. - -I have read the epitaph of the said queen, thus made:-- - - “Here lies Anne, who was wife to two great kings, - Great a hundred-fold herself, as queen two times! - Never queen like her enriched all France; - That is what it is to make a grand alliance.” - - * * * * * - -Gui Patin, satirist and jovial spirit of his time [he was born in 1601], -attracted to Saint-Denis because a fair was held there, visits the -abbey, the treasury, “where” he says, “there was plenty of silly stuff -and rubbish,” and lastly the tombs of the kings, “where I could not keep -myself from weeping to see so many monuments to the vanity of human -life; tears escaped me also before the tomb of the great and good king, -François I., who founded our College of Professors of the King. I must -own my weakness; I kissed it, and also that of his father-in-law, Louis -XII., who was the Father of his People, and the best king we have ever -had in France.” Happy age! still neighbour to beliefs, when those -reputed the greatest satirists had these touching naïvetés, these wholly -patriotic and antique sensibilities. - -Mézeray [born ten years later], in his natural, sincere and expressive -diction, his clear and full narration, into which he has the art to -bring speaking circumstances which animate the tale, says in relation to -Louis XII. [in his “History of France”]: “When he rode through the -country the good folk ran from all parts and for many days to see him, -strewing the roads with flowers and foliage, and striving, as though he -were a visible God, to touch his saddle with their handkerchiefs and -keep them as precious relics.” - -And two centuries later, Comte Rœderer, in his Memoir on Polite -Society and the Hôtel de Rambouillet, printed in 1835, tells us how in -his youth his mind was already busy with Louis XII., and, returning to -the same interest in after years, he made him his hero of predilection -and his king. In studying the history of France he thought he -discovered, he says, that at the close of the fifteenth century and the -beginning of the sixteenth what has since been called the “French -Revolution” was already consummated; that liberty rested on a free -Constitution; and that Louis XII., the Father of his People, was he who -had accomplished it. _Bonhomie_ and goodness have never been denied to -Louis XII., but Rœderer claims more, he claims ability and skill. The -Italian wars, considered generally to have been mistakes, he excuses and -justifies by showing them in the king’s mind as a means of useful -national policy; he needed to obtain from Pope Alexander VI. the -dissolution of his marriage with Jeanne de France, in order that he -might marry Anne de Bretagne and so unite the duchy with the kingdom. -Rœderer makes King Louis a type of perfection; seeming to have -searched in regions far from those that are historically brilliant, far -from spheres of fame and glory, into “the depths obscure,” as he says -himself, “of _useful_ government for a hero of a new species.” - -More than that: he thinks he sees in the cherished wife of Louis XII., -in Anne de Bretagne, the foundress of a school of polite manners and -perfection for her sex. “She was,” Brantôme had said, “the most worthy -and honourable queen that had ever been since Queen Blanche, mother of -the King Saint-Louis.... Her Court was a noble school for ladies; she -had them taught and brought up wisely; and all, taking pattern by her, -made themselves wise and virtuous.” Rœderer takes these words of -Brantôme and, giving them their strict meaning, draws therefrom a series -of consequences: just as François I. had, in many respects, overthrown -the political state of things established by Louis XII., so, he -believes, had the women beloved of François overturned that honourable -condition of society established by Anne de Bretagne. Starting from that -epoch he sees, as it were, a constant struggle between two sorts of -rival and incompatible societies: between the decent and ingenuous -society of which Anne de Bretagne had given the idea, and the licentious -society of which the mistresses of the king, women like the Duchesse -d’Étampes and Diane de Poitiers, procured the triumph. These two -societies, to his mind, never ceased to co-exist during the sixteenth -century; on the one hand was an emulation of virtue and merit on the -part of the noble heiresses, alas, too eclipsed, of Anne de Bretagne, on -the other an emulation with high bidding of gallantry, by the giddy -pupils of the school of François I. To Rœderer the Hôtel de -Rambouillet, that perfected salon, founded towards the beginning of the -seventeenth century, is only a tardy return to the traditions of Anne de -Bretagne, the triumph of merit, virtue, and polite manners over the -license to which all the kings, from François I., including Henri IV., -had paid tribute. - -Reaching thus the Hôtel de Rambouillet and holding henceforth an -unbroken thread in hand, Rœderer divides and subdivides at pleasure. -He marks the divers periods and the divers shades of transition, the -growth and the decline that he discerns. The first years of Louis XIV.’s -youth cause him some distress; a return is being made to the ways of -François I., to the brilliant mistresses. Rœderer, not concerning -himself with the displeasure he will cause the classicists, lays a -little of the blame for this return on the four great poets, Molière, La -Fontaine, Racine, and Boileau himself, all accomplices, more or less, in -the laudation of victor and lover. However, age comes on; Louis XIV. -grows temperate in turn, and a woman, issuing from the very purest -centre of Mme. de Rambouillet’s society, and who was morally its -heiress, a woman accomplished in tone, in cultivation of mind, in -precision of language, and in the sentiment of propriety,--Mme. de -Maintenon,--knows so well how to seize the opportunity that she seats -upon the throne, in a modest half-light, all the styles of mind and -merit which made the perfection of French society in its better days. -The triumph of Mme. de Maintenon is that of polite society itself; Anne -de Bretagne has found her pendant at the other extremity of the chain -after the lapse of two centuries. - -SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_, Vol. VIII. - - - - -DISCOURSE II. - -CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI, QUEEN, AND MOTHER OF OUR LAST KINGS. - - -I have wondered and been astonished a hundred times that, so many good -writers as we have had in our day in France, none of them has been -inquisitive enough to make some fine selection of the life and deeds of -the queen-mother, Catherine de’ Medici, inasmuch as she has furnished -ample matter, and cut out much fine work, if ever a queen did--as said -the Emperor Charles to Paolo Giovio [Italian historian] when, on his -return from his triumphant voyage in the “Goulette” intending to make -war upon King François, he gave him a provision of ink and paper, saying -he would cut him out plenty of work. So it is true that this queen cut -out so much that a good and zealous writer might make an Iliad of it; -but they have all been lazy,--or ungrateful, for she was never niggardly -to learned men; I could name several who have derived good benefits from -this queen, from which, in consequence, I accuse them of ingratitude. - -There is one, however, who did concern himself to write of her, and made -a little book which he entitled “The Life of Catherine;”[3] but it is an -imposture and not worthy of belief, as she herself said when she saw it; -such falsities being apparent to every one, and easy to note and reject. -He that wrote it wished her mortal harm, and was an enemy to her name, -her condition, her life, her honour, and nature; and that is why he -should be rejected. As for me, I would I knew how to speak well, or -that I had a good pen, well mended, at my command, that I might exalt -and praise her as she deserves. At any rate, such as my pen is, I shall -now employ it at all hazards. - -[Illustration: _Catherine de’ Medici_] - -This queen is extracted, on the father’s side, from the race of the -Medici, one of the noblest and most illustrious families, not only in -Italy, but in Christendom. Whatever may be said, she was a foreigner to -these shores because the alliances of kings cannot commonly be chosen in -their kingdom; for it is not best to do so; foreign marriages being as -useful and more so than near ones. The House of the Medici has always -been allied and confederated with the crown of France, which still bears -the _fleur-de-lys_ that King Louis XI. gave that house in sign of -alliance and perpetual confederation [the _fleur de Louis_, which then -became the Florentine lily]. - -On the mother’s side she issued originally from one of the noblest -families of France; and so was truly French in race, heart, and -affection through that great house of Boulogne and county of Auvergne; -thus it is hard to tell or judge in which of her two families there was -most grandeur and memorable deeds. Here is what was said of them by the -Archbishop of Bourges, of the house of Beaune, as great a learned man -and worthy prelate as there is in Christendom (though some say a trifle -unsteady in belief, and little good in the scales of M. Saint-Michel, -who weighs good Christians for the day of judgment, or so they say): it -is given in the funeral oration which the archbishop made upon the said -queen at Blois:-- - -“In the days when Brennus, that great captain of the Gauls, led his army -throughout all Italy and Greece, there were with him in his troop two -French nobles, one named Felsinus, the other named Bono, who, seeing the -wicked design of Brennus, after his fine conquests, to invade the -temple of Delphos and soil himself and his army with the sacrilege of -that temple, withdrew, both of them, and passed into Asia with their -vessels and men, advancing so far that they entered the sea of the -Medes, which is near to Lydia and Persia. Thence, having made great -conquests and obtained great victories, they were returning through -Italy, hoping to reach France, when Felsinus stopped at a place where -Florence now stands beside the river Arno, which he saw to be fine and -delectable, and situated much as another which had pleased him much in -the country of the Medes. There he built a city which to-day is -Florence; and his companion, Bono, built another and named it Bononia, -now called Bologna, the which are neighbouring cities. Henceforth, in -consequence of the victories and conquests of Felsinus among the Medes, -he was called _Medicus_ among his friends, a name that remained to the -family; just as we read of Paulus surnamed _Macedonicus_ for having -conquered Macedonia from Perseus, and Scipio called _Africanus_ for -doing the same in Africa.” - -I do not know where M. de Beaune may have taken this history; but it is -very probable that before the king and such an assembly, there convened -for the funeral of the queen, he would not have alleged the fact without -good authority. This descent is very far from the modern story invented -and attributed without grounds to the family of Medici, according to -that lying book which I have mentioned on the life of the said queen. -After this the said Sieur de Beaune says further, he has read in the -chronicles that one named Everard de’ Medici, Sieur of Florence, went, -with many of his subjects, to the assistance of the voyage and -expedition made by Charlemagne against Desiderius, King of the Lombards; -and having very bravely succoured and assisted him, was confirmed and -invested with the lordship of Florence. Many years after, one Anemond -de’ Medici, also Sieur of Florence, went, accompanied by many of his -subjects, to the Holy Land, with Godefroy de Bouillon, where he died at -the siege of Nicæa in Asia. Such greatness always continued in that -family until Florence was reduced to a republic by the intestine wars in -Italy between the emperors and the peoples, the illustrious members of -it manifesting their valour and grandeur from time to time; as we saw in -the latter days Cosmo de’ Medici, who, with his arms, his navy, and -vessels, terrified the Turks in the Mediterranean Sea and in the distant -East; so that none since his time, however great he may be, has -surpassed him in strength and valour and wealth, as Raffaelle Volaterano -has written. - -The temples and sacred shrines by him built, the hospitals by him -founded, even in Jerusalem, are ample proof of his piety and -magnanimity. - -There were also Lorenzo de’ Medici, surnamed the Great for his virtuous -deeds, and two great popes, Leo and Clement, also many cardinals and -grand personages of the name; besides the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosmo -de’ Medici, a wise and wary man, if ever there was one. He succeeded in -maintaining himself in his duchy, which he found invaded and much -disturbed when he came to it. - -In short, nothing can rob this house of the Medici of its lustre, very -noble and grand as it is in every way. - -As for the house of Boulogne and Auvergne, who will say that it is not -great, having issued originally from that noble Eustache de Boulogne, -whose brother, Godefroy de Bouillon, bore arms and escutcheons with so -vast a number of princes, seigneurs, chevaliers, and Christian soldiers, -even to Jerusalem and the Sepulchre of our Saviour; and would have made -himself, by his sword and the favour of God, king, not only of -Jerusalem but of the greater part of the East, to the confusion of -Mahomet, the Saracens, and the Mahometans, amazing all the rest of the -world and replanting Christianity in Asia, where it had fallen to the -lowest? - -For the rest, this house has ever been sought in alliance by all the -monarchies of Christendom and the great families; such as France, -England, Scotland, Hungary, and Portugal, which latter kingdom belonged -to it of right, as I have heard Président de Thou say, and as the queen -herself did me the honour to tell me at Bordeaux when she heard of the -death of King Sebastian [in Morocco, 1578], the Medici being received to -argue the justice of their rights at the last Assembly of States before -the decease of King Henry [in 1580]. This was why she armed M. de -Strozzi to make an invasion, the King of Spain having usurped the -kingdom; she was arrested in so fine a course only by reasons which I -will explain at another time. - -I leave you to suppose, therefore, whether this house of Boulogne was -great; yes, so great that I once heard Pope Pius IV. say, sitting at -table at a dinner he gave after his election to the Cardinals of Ferrara -and Guise, his creations, that the house of Boulogne was so great and -noble he knew none in France, whatever it was, that could surpass it in -antiquity, valour, and grandeur. - -All this is much against those malicious detractors who have said that -this queen was a Florentine of low birth. Moreover, she was not so poor -but what she brought to France in marriage estates which are worth -to-day twenty-six thousand _livres_,--such as the counties of Auvergne -and Lauragais, the seigneuries of Leverons, Donzenac, Boussac, Gorrèges, -Hondecourt and other lands,--all an inheritance from her mother. Besides -which, her dowry was of more than two hundred thousand ducats, which are -worth to-day over four hundred thousand; with great quantities of -furniture, precious stones, jewels, and other riches, such as the finest -and largest pearls ever seen in so great a number, which she afterwards -gave to her daughter-in-law, the Queen of Scotland [Mary Stuart], whom I -have seen wearing them. - -Besides all this, many estates, houses, deeds, and claims in Italy. - -But more than all else, through her marriage the affairs of France, -which had been so shaken by the imprisonment of the king and his losses -at Milan and Naples, began to get firmer. King François was very willing -to say that the marriage had served his interests. Therefore there was -given to this queen for her device a rainbow, which she bore as long as -she was married, with these words in Greek φὡϛ φἑρι ἡδἑ γαλἡνην. Which is -the same as saying that just as this fire and bow in the sky brings and -signifies good weather after rain, so this queen was a true sign of -clearness, serenity, and the tranquillity of peace. The Greek is thus -translated: _Lucem fert et serenitatem_--“She brings light and serenity.” - -After that, the emperor [Charles V.] dared push no longer his ambitious -motto: “Ever farther.” For, although there was truce between himself and -King François, he was nursing his ambition with the design of gaining -always from France whatever he could; and he was much astonished at this -alliance with the pope [Clement VII.], regarding the latter as able, -courageous, and vindictive for his imprisonment by the imperial forces -at the sack of Rome [1527]. Such a marriage displeased him so much that -I have heard a truthful lady of the Court say that if he had not been -married to the empress, he would have seized an alliance with the pope -himself and espoused his niece [Catherine de’ Medici], as much for the -support of so strong a party as because he feared the pope would assist -in making him lose Naples, Milan, and Genoa; for the pope had promised -King François, in an authentic document, when he delivered to him the -money of his niece’s dowry and her rings and jewels, to make the dowry -worthy of such a marriage by the addition of three pearls of inestimable -value, of the excessive splendour of which all the greatest kings were -envious and covetous; the which were Naples, Milan, and Genoa. And it is -not to be doubted that if the said pope had lived out his natural life -he would have sold the emperor well, and made him pay dear for that -imprisonment, in order to aggrandize his niece and the kingdom to which -she was joined. But Clement VII. died young, and all this profit came to -nought. - -So now our queen, having lost her mother, Magdelaine de Boulogne, and -Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, her father, in early life, was -married by her good uncle the pope to France, whither she was brought by -sea to Marseille in great triumph; and her wedding was pompously -performed, at the age of fourteen. She made herself so beloved by the -king, her father-in-law, and by King Henri, her husband [not king till -the death of François I.], that on remaining ten years without producing -issue, and many persons endeavouring to persuade the king and the -dauphin, her husband, to repudiate her because there was such need of an -heir to France, neither the one nor the other would consent because they -loved her so much. But after ten years, in accordance with the natural -habit of the women of the race of Medici, who are tardy in conceiving, -she began by producing the Little King François II. After that, was born -the Queen of Spain, and then, consecutively, that fine and illustrious -progeny whom we have all seen, and also others no sooner born than dead, -by great misfortune and fatality. All this caused the king, her husband, -to love her more and more, and in such a way that he, who was of an -amorous temperament, and greatly liked to make love and to change his -loves, said often that of all the women in the world there was none like -his wife for that, and he did not know her equal. He had reason to say -so, for she was truly a beautiful and most amiable princess. - -She was of rich and very fine presence; of great majesty, but very -gentle when need was; of noble appearance and good grace, her face -handsome and agreeable, her bosom very beautiful, white and full; her -body also very white, the flesh beautiful, the skin smooth, as I have -heard from several of her ladies; of a fine plumpness also, the leg and -thigh very beautiful (as I have heard, too, from the same ladies); and -she took great pleasure in being well shod and in having her stockings -well and tightly drawn up. - -Besides all this, the most beautiful hand that was ever seen, as I -believe. Once upon a time the poets praised Aurora for her fine hands -and beautiful fingers; but I think our queen would efface her in that, -and she guarded and maintained that beauty all her life. The king, her -son, Henri III., inherited much of this beauty of the hand. - -She always clothed herself well and superbly, often with some pretty and -new invention. In short, she had many charms in herself to make her -beloved. I remember that one day at Lyons she went to see a painter -named Corneille, who had painted in a large room all the great -seigneurs, princes, cavaliers, queens, princesses, ladies of the Court, -and damoiselles. Being in the said room of these portraits we saw there -our queen, painted very well in all her beauty and perfection, -apparelled _à la Française_ in a cap and her great pearls, and a gown -with wide sleeves of silver tissue furred with lynx,--the whole so well -represented to the life that only speech was lacking; her three fine -daughters were beside her. She took great pleasure at the sight, and all -the company there present did the same, praising and admiring her -beauty above all. She herself was so ravished by the contemplation that -she could not take her eyes from the picture until M. de Nemours came to -her and said: “Madame, I think you are there so well portrayed that -nothing more can be said; and it seems to me that your daughters do you -proper honour, for they do not go before you or surpass you.” To this -she answered: “My cousin, I think you can remember the time, the age, -and the dress of this picture; so that you can judge better than any of -this company, for you saw me like that, whether I was estimated such as -you say, and whether I ever was as I there appear.” There was not one in -the company that did not praise and estimate that beauty highly, and say -that the mother was worthy of the daughters, and the daughters of the -mother. And such beauty lasted her, married and widowed, almost to her -death; not that she was as fresh as in her more blooming years, but -always well preserved, very desirable and agreeable. - -For the rest, she was very good company and of gay humour; loving all -honourable exercises, such as dancing, in which she had great grace and -majesty. - -She also loved hunting; about which I heard a lady of the Court tell -this tale: King François, having chosen and made a company which was -called “the little band of the Court ladies,” the handsomest, daintiest, -and most favoured, often escaped from the Court and went to other houses -to hunt the stag and pass his time, sometimes staying thus withdrawn -eight days, ten days, sometimes more and sometimes less, as the humour -took him. Our queen (who was then only Mme. la dauphine) seeing such -parties made without her, and that even Mesdames her sisters-in-law were -there while she stayed at home, made prayer to the king, to take her -always with him, and to do her the honour to permit that she should -never budge without him. - -[Illustration: _Henri II_] - -It was said that she, being very shrewd and clever, did this as much or -more to see the king’s actions and get his secrets and hear and know all -things, as from liking for the hunt. - -King François was pleased with this request, for it showed the good-will -that she had for his company; and he granted it heartily; so that -besides loving her naturally he now loved her more, and delighted in -giving her pleasure in the hunt, at which she never left his side, but -followed him at full speed. She was very good on horseback and bold; -sitting with ease, and being the first to put the leg around a pommel; -which was far more graceful and becoming than sitting with the feet upon -a plank. Till she was sixty years of age and over she liked to ride on -horseback, and after her weakness prevented her she pined for it. It was -one of her greatest pleasures to ride far and fast, though she fell many -times with damage to her body, breaking her leg once, and wounding her -head, which had to be trepanned. After she was widowed and had charge of -the king and the kingdom, she took the king always with her, and her -other children; but while her husband, King Henri, lived, she usually -went with him to the meet of the stag and the other hunts. - -If he played at pall-mall she watched him play, and played herself. She -was very fond of shooting with a cross-bow _à jalet_ [ball of stone], -and she shot right well; so that always when she went to ride her -cross-bow was taken with her, and if she saw any game, she shot it. - -She was ever inventing some new dance or beautiful ballet when the -weather was bad. Also she invented games and passed her time with one -and another intimately; but always appearing very grave and austere when -necessary. - -She was fond of seeing comedies and tragedies; but after “Sophonisbe,” -a tragedy composed by M. de Saint-Gélais, was very well represented by -her daughters and other ladies and damoiselles and gentlemen of her -Court, at Blois for the marriages of M. du Cypière and the Marquis -d’Elbœuf, she took an opinion that it was harmful to the affairs of -the kingdom, and would never have tragedies played again. But she -listened readily to comedies and tragi-comedies, and even those of -“Zani” and “Pantaloon,” taking great pleasure in them, and laughing with -all her heart like any other; for she liked laughter, and her natural -self was jovial, loving a witty word and ready with it, knowing well -when to cast her speech and her stone, and when to withhold them. - -She passed her time in the afternoons at work on her silk embroideries, -in which she was as perfect as possible. In short, this queen liked and -gave herself up to all honourable exercises; and there was not one that -was worthy of herself and her sex that she did not wish to know and -practise. - -There is what I can say, speaking briefly and avoiding prolixity, about -the beauty of her body and her occupations. - -When she called any one “my friend” it was either that she thought him a -fool, or she was angry with him. This was so well known that she had a -serving gentleman named M. de Bois-Fevrier, who made reply when she -called him “my friend”: “Ha! madame, I would rather you called me your -enemy; for to call me your friend is as good as saying I am a fool, or -that you are in anger against me; for I know your nature this long -time.” - -As for her mind, it was very great and very admirable, as was shown in -so many fine and signal acts by which her life has been made illustrious -forever. The king, her husband, and his council esteemed her so much -that when the king went his journey to Germany, out of his kingdom, he -established and ordered her as regent and governor throughout his -dominions during his absence, by a declaration solemnly made before a -full parliament in Paris. And in this office she behaved so wisely that -there was no disturbance, change, or alteration in the State by reason -of the king’s absence; but, on the contrary, she looked so carefully to -business that she assisted the king with money, means, and men, and -other kinds of succour; which helped him much for his return, and even -for the conquest which he made of cities in the duchy of Luxembourg, -such as Yvoy, Montmedy, Dampvilliers, Chimay, and others. - -I leave you to think how he who wrote that fine life I spoke of -detracted from her in saying that never did the king, her husband, allow -her to put her nose into matters of State. Was not making her regent in -his absence giving her ample occasion to have full knowledge of them? -And it was thus she did during all the journeys that he made yearly in -going to his armies. - -What did she after the battle of Saint-Laurens, when the State was -shaken and the king had gone to Compiègne to raise a new army? She so -espoused affairs that she roused and excited the gentlemen of Paris to -give prompt succour to their king, which came most apropos, both in -money and in other things very necessary in war. - -Also, when the king was wounded, those who were of that time and saw it -cannot be ignorant of the great care she took for his cure: the watches -she made beside him without ever sleeping; the prayers with which, time -after time, she importuned God; the processions and visitation of -churches which she made; and the posts which she sent about everywhere -inquiring for doctors and surgeons. But his hour had come; and when he -passed from this world into the other, she made such lamentations and -shed such tears that never did she stanch them; and in memory of him, -whenever he was spoken of as long as she lived, they gushed from the -depths of her eyes; so that she took a device proper and suitable to her -tears and her mourning, namely: a mound of quicklime, on which the drops -of heaven fell abundantly, with these words writ in Latin: _Adorem -extincta testantur vivere flamma_; the drops of water, like her tears, -showing ardour, though the flame was extinct. This device takes its -allegory from the nature of quicklime, which, being watered, burns -strangely and shows its fire though flame is not there. Thus did our -queen show her ardour and her affection by her tears, though flame, -which was her husband, was now extinct; and this was as much as to say -that, dead as he was, she made it appear by her tears that she could -never forget him, but should love him always. - -A like device was borne in former days by Madame Valentine de Milan, -Duchesse d’Orléans, after the death of her husband, killed in Paris, for -which she had such great regret that for all comfort and solace in her -moaning, she took a watering-pot for her device, on the top of which was -an S, in sign, so they say, of _seule_, _souvenir_, _soucis_, -_soupirer_, and around the said watering-pot were written these words: -_Rien ne m’est plus; plus ne m’est rien_--“Nought is more to me; more is -to me nothing.” This device can still be seen in her chapel in the -church of the Franciscans at Blois. - -The good King René of Sicily, having lost his wife Isabel, Duchesse de -Lorraine, suffered such great grief that never did he truly rejoice -again; and when his intimate friends and favourites urged him to -consolation he led them to his cabinet and showed them, painted by his -own hand (for he was an excellent painter), a Turkish bow with its -string unstrung, beneath which was written: _Arco per lentare piaga non -sana_--“The bow although unstrung heals not the wound.” Then he said to -them: “My friends, with this picture I answer all your reasons: by -unstringing a bow or breaking its string, the harm thus done by the -arrow may quickly be mended, but, the life of my dear spouse being by -death extinct and broken, the wound of the loyal love--the which, her -living, filled my heart--cannot be cured.” And in various places in -Angers we see these Turkish bows with broken strings and beneath them -the same words, _Arco per lentare piaga non sana_; even at the -Franciscan church, in the chapel of Saint-Bernardin which he caused to -be decorated. This device he took after the death of his wife; for in -her lifetime he bore another. - -Our queen, around her device which I have told of, placed many trophies: -broken mirrors and fans, crushed plumes, and pearls, jewels scattered to -earth, and chains in pieces; the whole in sign of quitting worldly pomp, -her husband being dead, for whom her mourning never was remitted. And, -without the grace of God and the fortitude with which he had endowed -her, she would surely have succumbed to such great sadness and distress. -Besides, she saw that her young children and France had need of her, as -we have since seen by experience; for, like a Semiramis, or second -Athalie, she foiled, saved, guarded, and preserved her said young -children from many enterprises planned against them in their early -years; and this with so much industry and prudence that everybody -thought her wonderful. She, being regent of the kingdom after the death -of her son King François during the minority of our king by the ordering -of the Estates of Orléans, imposed her will upon the King of Navarre, -who, as premier prince of the blood, wished to be regent in her place -and govern all things; but she gained so well and so dexterously the -said Estates that if the said King of Navarre had not gone elsewhere she -would have caused him to be attainted of the crime of lèse-majesté. And -possibly she would still have done so for the actions which, it was -said, he made the Prince de Condé do about those Estates, but for Mme. -de Montpensier, who governed her much. So the said king was forced to -content himself to be under her. Now there is one of the shrewd and -subtle deeds she did in her beginning. - -Afterwards she knew how to maintain her rank and authority so -imperiously that no one dared gainsay it, however grand and disturbing -he was, for a period of three months when, the Court being at -Fontainebleau, the said King of Navarre, wishing to show his feelings, -took offence because M. de Guise ordered the keys of the king’s house -brought to him every evening, and kept them all night in his room like a -grand-master (for that is one of his offices), so that no one could go -out without his permission. This angered the King of Navarre, who wished -to keep the keys himself; but, being refused, he grew spiteful and -mutinied in such a way that one morning suddenly he came to take leave -of the king and queen, intending to depart from the Court, taking with -him all the princes of the blood whom he had won over, together with M. -le Connétable de Montmorency and his children and nephew. - -The queen, who did not in any way expect this step, was at first much -astonished, and tried all she could to ward off the blow, giving good -hope to the King of Navarre that if he were patient he would some day be -satisfied. But fine words gained her nothing with the said king, who was -set on departing. Whereupon the queen bethought her of this subtle -point: she sent and gave commandment to M. le connétable, as the -principal, first, and oldest officer of the crown, to stay near the -king, his master, as his duty and office demanded, and not to leave him. -M. le connétable, wise and judicious as he was, being very zealous for -his master and careful of his grandeur and honour, after reflecting on -his duty and the command sent to him, went to see the king and present -himself as ready to fulfil his office; which greatly astonished the King -of Navarre, who was on the point of mounting his horse expecting M. le -connétable, who came instead to represent his duty and office and to -persuade him not to budge himself nor to depart; and did this so well -that the King of Navarre went to see the king and queen at the -instigation of the connétable, and having conferred with their -Majesties, his journey was given up and his mules were countermanded, -they having then arrived at Melun. So all was pacified to the great -content of the King of Navarre. Not that M. de Guise diminished in any -way his office, or yielded one atom of his honour, for he kept his -pre-eminence and all that belonged to him, without being shaken in the -least, although he was not the stronger; but he was a man of the world -in such things, who was never bewildered, but knew very well how to -brave all and hold his rank and keep what he had. - -It is not to be doubted, as all the world knows, that, if the queen had -not bethought her of this ruse regarding M. le connétable, all that -party would have gone to Paris and stirred up things to our injury; for -which reason great praise should be given to the queen for this shift. I -know, for I was there, that many persons said it was not of her -invention, but that of Cardinal de Tournon, a wise and judicious -prelate; but that is false, for, old stager though he was, i’ faith the -queen knew more of wiles than he, or all the council of the king -together; for very often, when he was at fault, she would help him and -put him on the traces of what he ought to know, of which I might produce -a number of examples; but it will be enough to give this instance, which -is fresh, and which she herself did me the honour to disclose to me. It -is as follows:-- - -When she went to Guyenne, and lately to Coignac, to reconcile the -princes of the Religion and those of the League, and so put the kingdom -in peace, for she saw it would soon be ruined by such divisions, she -determined to proclaim a truce in order to treat of this peace; at which -the King of Navarre and the Prince de Condé were very discontent and -mutinous,--all the more, they said, because this proclamation did them -great harm on account of their foreigners, who, having heard of it, -might repent of their coming, or delay it; and they accused the said -queen of having made it with that intention. So they said and resolved -not to see the queen, and not to treat with her unless the said truce -were rescinded. Now finding her council, whom she had with her, though -composed of good heads, very ridiculous and little to be honoured -because they thought it impossible to find means to rescind the said -truce, the queen said to them: “Truly, you are very stupid as to the -remedy. Know you not better? There is but one means for that. You have -at Maillezais the regiment of Neufvy and de Sorlu, Huguenots; send me -from here, from Niort, all the arquebusiers that you can, and cut them -to pieces, and there you have the truce rescinded and undone without -further trouble.” As she commanded so it was executed; the arquebusiers -started, led by the Capitaine l’Estelle, and forced their fort and their -barricades so well that there they were quite defeated, Sorlu killed, -who was a valiant man, Neufvy taken prisoner with many others, and all -their banners captured and brought to Niort to the queen; who, using her -accustomed turn of clemency, pardoned all and sent them away with their -ensigns and even with their flags, which, as regards the flags, is a -very rare thing. But she chose to do this stroke, rare or not, so she -told me, to the princes; who now knew they had to do with a very able -princess, and that it was not to her they should address such mockery as -to make her rescind a truce by the very heralds who had proclaimed it; -for while they were thinking to make her receive that insult, she had -fallen upon them, and now sent them word by the prisoners that it was -not for them to affront her by asking unseemly and unreasonable things, -because it was in her power to do them both good and evil. - -That is how this queen knew how to give and teach a lesson to her -council. I might tell of many such things, but I have now to treat of -other points: the first of which must be to answer those whom I have -often heard say that she was the first to rouse to arms, and so was -cause of our civil wars. Whoso will look to the source of the matter -will not believe that; for the triumvirate having been created, she, -seeing the proceedings which were preparing and the change made by the -King of Navarre,--who from being formerly Huguenot and very reformed had -made himself Catholic,--and knowing that through that change she had -reason to fear for the king, the kingdom, and her own person that he -would move against them, reflected and puzzled her mind to discover to -what such proceedings, meetings, and colloquies held in secret tended. -Not being able, as they say, to come at the bottom of the pot, she -bethought her one day, when the secret council was in session in the -room of the King of Navarre, to go into the room above his, and by means -of a tube which she had caused to be slipped surreptitiously under the -tapestry she listened unperceived to their discourse. Among other things -she heard one thing that was very terrible and bitter to her. The -Maréchal de Saint-André, one of the triumvirate, gave it as his opinion -that the queen should be put in a sack and flung into the river, for -that otherwise they could never succeed in their plans. But the late M. -de Guise, who was very good and generous, said that must not be; for it -were too unjust to make the wife and mother of our kings perish thus -miserably, and he opposed it all. For this the said queen has always -loved him, and proved it to his children after his death by giving them -his estates. - -I leave you to suppose what this sentence was to the queen, having heard -it thus with her own ears, and whether she had no occasion for fear, -although she was thus defended by M. de Guise. From what I have heard -tell by one of her most intimate ladies, she feared they would strike -the blow without the knowledge of M. de Guise, as indeed she had reason -to do; for in deeds so detestable an upright man should always be -distrusted, and the act not communicated to him. She was thus compelled -to consider her safety, and employ those she saw already under arms [the -Prince de Condé and other Protestant leaders], begging them to have pity -for a mother and her children. - -That is the whole cause, just as it was, of the civil war. She would -never go to Orléans with the others, nor give them the king and her -children, as she could have done; and she was very glad that in the -hurly-burly of arms she and the king her son and her other children were -in safety, as was reasonable. Moreover, she requested and held the -promise of the others that whenever she should summon them to lay down -their arms they would do so; which, nevertheless, they would not do when -the time came, no matter what appeals she made to them, and what pains -she took, and the great heat she endured at Talsy, to induce them to -listen to the peace she could have made good and secured for all France -had they then listened to her; and this great fire and others we have -since seen lighted from this first brand would have been forever -extinguished in France if they would then have trusted her. I know what -I myself have heard her say, with the tears in her eyes, and with what -zeal she endeavoured to do it. - -This is why they cannot charge her with the first spark of the civil -war, nor yet with the second, which was the day of Meaux; for at that -time she was thinking only of a hunt, and of giving pleasure to the king -in her beautiful house at Monceaux. The warning came that M. le Prince -and others of the Religion were in arms and advancing to surprise and -seize the king under colour of presenting a request. God knows who was -the cause of this new disturbance, and without the six thousand Swiss -then lately raised, who knows what might have happened? This levy of -Swiss was only the pretext of their taking up arms, and of saying and -publishing that it was done to force them to war. In fact it was they, -themselves, as I know from being at Court, who requested that levy of -the king and queen, on the passage of the Duke of Alba and his army, -fearing that under colour of reaching Flanders he might descend upon the -frontiers of France; and they urged that it was the custom to arm the -frontiers whenever a neighbouring State was arming. No one can be -ignorant how urgent for this they were to the king and queen by letters -and embassies,--even M. le Prince himself and M. l’amiral [Coligny] -coming to see the king on this subject at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where I -saw them. - -I would also like to ask (for all that I write here I saw myself) who it -was who took up arms on Shrove Tuesday, and who suborned and solicited -Monsieur the king’s brother, and the King of Navarre, to give ear to the -enterprises for which Mole and Coconas were executed in Paris. It was -not the queen, for it was by her prudence that she prevented them from -uprising,--by keeping Monsieur and the King of Navarre so locked in to -the forest of Vincennes that they could not set out; and on the death of -King Charles she held them so tightly in Paris and the Louvre, barring -their windows one morning,--at any rate those of the King of Navarre, -who was lodged on the lower floor (the King of Navarre, told me this -himself with tears in his eyes),--that they could not escape as they -intended, which would greatly have embroiled the State and prevented the -return of Poland to the King, which was what they were after. I know all -this from having been invited to the _fricassée_, which was one of the -finest strokes ever made by the queen. Starting from Paris she conducted -them to Lyons to meet the king so dexterously that no one who saw them -would ever have supposed them prisoners; they went in the same coach -with her, and she presented them herself to the king, who, on his side, -pardoned them soon after. - -Also, who was it that enticed Monsieur the king’s brother to leave Paris -one fine night and the company of his brother who loved him well, and -whose affection he cast off to go and take up arms and embroil all -France? M. de La Noue knows well, and also the secret plots that began -at the siege of Rochelle, and what I said to him about them. It was not -the queen-mother, for she felt such grief at seeing one brother banded -against another brother and his king, that she swore she would die of -it, or else replace and reunite them as before--which she did; for I -heard her say at Blois, in conversation with Monsieur, that she prayed -for nothing so much as that God would grant her the favour of that -reunion, after which he might send her death and she would accept it -with all her heart; or else she would gladly retire to her houses of -Monceaux and Chenonceaux, and never mix further in the affairs of -France, wishing to end her days in tranquillity. In fact, she truly -wished to do the latter; but the king implored her to abstain, for he -and his kingdom had great need of her. I am assured that if she had not -made this peace at that time, all was over with France, for there were -in the country fifty thousand foreigners, from one region or another, -who would have aided in humbling and destroying her. - -It was, therefore, not the queen who called to arms at this time to -satisfy the State-Assembly at Blois, the which, wanting but one religion -and proposing to abolish that which was contrary to their own, demanded, -if the spiritual blade did not suffice to abolish it, that recourse -should be had to the temporal. Some have said that the queen had bribed -them; that is false. I do not say that she did not bribe them later, -which was a fine stroke of policy and intelligence; but it was not she -who called together the said Assembly; so far from that, she blamed them -for all, and also because they lessened greatly the king’s authority and -her own. It was the party of the Religion which had long demanded that -Assembly, and required by the terms of the last peace that it should be -called together and assembled; to which the queen objected strongly, -foreseeing abuses. However, to content them because they clamoured for -it so much, they had it, to their own confusion and damage, and not to -their profit and contentment as they expected, so that finally they took -up arms. Thus it was still not the queen who did so. - -Neither was it she who caused them to be taken up when Mont-de-Marsan, -La Fère in Picardy, and Cahors were taken. I remember what the king said -to M. de Miossans, who came to him on behalf of the King of Navarre; he -rebuffed him harshly, and told him that while those princes were cloying -him with fine words they were calling to arms and taking cities. - -Now that is how this queen was the instigator of all our wars and civil -fires, the which, while she never lighted them, she spent her pains and -labour in striving to extinguish, abhorring to see so many of the nobles -and men of honour die. And without that, and without her commiseration, -they who have hated her with mortal hatred would have been ill-off, and -their party underground and not flourishing as it now is; which must be -imputed to her kindness, of which we now have sore need, for, as every -one says and the poor people cry, “We have no longer the queen-mother to -make peace for us.” It was not her fault that peace was not made when -she went to Guyenne lately to treat of it with the King of Navarre and -the Prince de Condé. - -They have tried to accuse her also of being an accomplice in the wars of -the League. Why, then, should she have brought about the peace of which -I speak if she were that? Why should she have pacified the riot of the -barricades in Paris? Why should she have reconciled the king and the Duc -de Guise only to destroy the latter and kill him? - -Well, let them launch into such foul abuse against her all they will, -never shall we have another queen in France so good for peace. - -They have accused her of that massacre in Paris [the Saint-Bartholomew]; -all that is a sealed book to me, for at that time I was preparing to -embark at Brouage; but I have often heard it said that she was not the -chief actress in it. There were three or four others, whom I might name, -who were more ardent in it than she and pushed her on, making her -believe, from the threats uttered on the wounding of M. l’amiral, that -the king was to be killed, and she with all her children and the whole -Court, or else that the country would be in arms much worse than ever. -Certainly the party of Religion did very wrong to make the threats it is -said they made; for they brought on the fate of poor M. l’amiral, and -procured his death. If they had kept themselves quiet, said no word, and -let M. l’amiral’s wound heal, he could have left Paris at his ease, and -nothing further would have come of it. M. de La Noue was of that -opinion. He and M. Strozzi and I have often spoken of it, he not -approving of such bravados, audacities, and threats as were made at the -very Court of the king in his city of Paris; and he greatly blamed M. de -Theligny, his brother-in-law, who was one of the hottest, calling him -and his companions perfect fools and most incapable. M. l’amiral never -used such language as I have heard from others, at least not aloud. I do -not say that in secret and private with his intimate friends he never -spoke it. That was the cause of the death of M. l’amiral and the -massacres of his people, and not the queen; as I have heard say by those -who know well, although there are many from whose heads you could never -oust the opinion that this train was long laid and the plot long in -hatching. It is all false. The least passionate think as I have said; -the more passionate and obstinate believe the other way; and very often -we give credit for the ordering of events to kings and great princes, -and say after those events have happened how prudent and provident they -were, and how well they knew how to dissimulate, when all the while they -knew no more about them than a plum. - -To return again to our queen; her enemies have put it about that she was -not a good Frenchwoman. God knows with what ardour I saw her urge that -the English might be driven from France at Havre de Grâce, and what she -said of it to M. le Prince, and how she made him go with many gentlemen -of his party, and the crown-companies of M. d’Andelot, and other -Huguenots, and how she herself led the army, mounted usually on a horse, -like a second beautiful Queen Marfisa, exposing herself to the -arquebusades and the cannonades as if she were one of her captains, -looking to the making of the batteries, and saying she should never be -at ease until she had taken that town and driven the English out of -France; hating worse than poison those who had sold it to them. And -thus she did so much that finally she made the country French. - -When Rouen was besieged, I saw her in the greatest anger when she beheld -supplies entering the town by means of a French galley captured the year -before, she fearing that the place, failing to be taken by us, would -come under the dominion of the English. For this reason she pushed hard -at the wheel, as they say, to take it, and never failed every day to -come to the fort Sainte-Catherine to hold council and see the firing. I -have often seen her passing along the covered way of Sainte-Catherine, -the cannonades and arquebusades raining round her, and she caring -nothing for them. - -Those who were there saw her as I did; there are still many ladies, her -maids of honour who accompanied her, to whom the firing was not too -pleasant; I knew this for I saw them there; but when M. le connétable -and M. de Guise remonstrated with her, telling her some misfortune would -come of it, she only laughed and said: Why should she spare herself more -than they, inasmuch as she had as good courage as they had, though not -their strength, which her sex denied her? As for fatigue, she endured -that well, whether on foot or on horseback. I think that for long there -had never been a queen or a princess better on horseback, sitting with -such grace,--not appearing, for all that, like a masculine dame, in form -and style a fantastic amazon, but a comely princess, beautiful, -agreeable, and gentle. - -They said of her that she was very Spanish. Certainly as long as her -good daughter lived [Élisabeth, wife of Philip II.] she loved Spain; but -after her daughter died we knew, at least some of us, whether she had -reason to love it, either country or nation. True it is that she was -always so prudent that she chose to treat the King of Spain as her good -son-in-law, in order that he in turn should treat better her good and -beautiful daughter, as is the custom of good mothers; so that he never -came to trouble France, nor to bring war there, according to his brave -heart and natural ambition. - -Others have also said that she did not like the nobility of France and -desired much to shed its blood. I refer for that to the many times that -she made peace and spared that blood; besides which, attention should be -paid to this, namely: that while she was regent, and her children -minors, there were not known at Court so many quarrels and combats as we -have seen there since; she would not allow them, and forbade expressly -all duelling and punished those who transgressed that order. I have seen -her at Court, when the king went away to stay some days and she was left -absolute and alone, at a time when quarrels had begun again and were -becoming common, also duelling, which she never would permit,--I have -known her, I say, give a sudden order to the captain of the guards to -make arrests, and to the marshals and captains to pacify the quarrel; so -that, to tell the truth, she was more feared than the king; for she knew -how to talk to the disobedient and the dissolute, and rebuke them -terribly. - -I remember that once, the king having gone to the baths of Bourbon, my -late cousin La Chastaignerie had a quarrel with Pardailhan. She had him -searched for, in order to forbid him, on his life, to fight a duel; but -not being able to find him for two whole days, she had him tracked so -well that on a Sunday morning, he being on the island of Louviers -awaiting his enemy, the grand provost arrived to arrest him, and took -him prisoner to the Bastille by order of the queen. But he stayed there -only one night; for she sent for him and gave him a reprimand, partly -sharp and partly gentle, because she was really kind, and was harsh only -when she chose to be. I know very well what she said to me also when I -was for seconding my said cousin, namely: that as the older I ought to -have been the wiser. - -The year that the king returned to Poland a quarrel arose between -Messieurs de Grillon and d’Entraigues, two brave and valiant gentlemen, -who being called out and ready to fight, the king forbade them through -M. de Rambouillet, one of his captains of the guard then in quarters, -and he ordered M. de Nevers and the Maréchal de Retz to make up the -quarrel, which they failed in doing. That evening the queen sent for -them both into her room; and as their quarrel was about two great ladies -of her household, she commanded them with great sternness, and then -besought them both in all gentleness, to leave to her the settlement of -their differences; inasmuch as, having done them the honour to meddle in -it, and the princes, marshals, and captains having failed in making them -agree, it was now a point of honour with her to have the glory of doing -so: by which she made them friends, and they embraced without other -forms, taking all from her; so that by her prudence the subject of the -quarrel, which was delicate, and rather touched the honour of the two -ladies, was never known publicly. That was the true kindness of a -princess! And then to say she did not like the nobility! Ha! the truth -was, she noticed and esteemed it too much. I think there was not a great -family in the kingdom with whom she was not acquainted; she used to say -she had learned from King François the genealogies of the great families -of his kingdom; and as for the king, her husband, he had this faculty, -that when he had once seen a nobleman he knew him always, in face, in -deeds, and in reputation. - -I have seen the queen, often and ordinarily, while the king, her son, -was a minor, take the trouble to present to him herself the gentlemen -of his kingdom, and put them in his memory thus: “Such a one did service -to the king your grandfather, at such and such times and places; and -this one served your father;” and so on,--commanding him to remember all -this, and to love them and do well by them, and recognize them at other -times; which he knew very well how to do, for, through such instruction, -this king recognized readily all men of character and race and honour -throughout his kingdom. - -Detractors have also said that she did not like her people. What -appears? Were there ever so many tailles, subsidies, imposts, and other -taxes while she was governing during the minority of her children as -have since been drawn in a single year? Was it proved that she had all -that hidden money in the banks of Italy, as people said? Far from that, -it was found after her death that she had not a single sou; and, as I -have heard some of her financiers and some of her ladies say, she was -indebted eight thousand crowns, the wages of her ladies, gentlemen, and -household officers, due a year, and the revenue of the whole year spent; -so that some months before her death her financiers showed her these -necessities; but she laughed and said one must praise God for all and -find something to live on. That was her avarice and the great treasure -she amassed, as people said! She never amassed anything, for she had a -heart wholly noble, liberal, and magnificent, like her great uncle, Pope -Leo, and that magnificent Lorenzo de’ Medici. She spent or gave away -everything; erecting buildings, spending in honourable magnificences, -and taking pleasure in giving recreations to her people and her Court, -such as festivals, balls, dances, tournaments and spearing the ring -[_couremens de bague_], of which latter she held three that were very -superb during her lifetime: one at Fontainebleau on the Shrove Tuesday -after the first troubles; where there were tourneys and breaking of -lances and combats at the barrier,--in short, all sorts of feats of -arms, with a comedy on the subject of the beautiful Genevra of Ariosto, -which she caused to be represented by Mme. d’Angoulême and her most -beautiful and virtuous princesses and the ladies and damoiselles of her -Court, who certainly played it very well, and so that nothing finer was -ever seen. The second was at Bayonne, at the interview between the queen -and her good daughter Élisabeth, Queen of Spain, where the magnificence -was such in all things that the Spanish, who are very disdainful of -other countries than their own, swore they had never seen anything -finer, and that their own king could not approach it; and thus they -returned to Spain much edified. - -I know that many in France blamed this expense as being superfluous; but -the queen said that she did it to show foreigners that France was not so -totally ruined and poverty-stricken because of the late wars as they -thought; and that if for such tourneys she was able to spend so much, -for matters of importance she could surely do better, and that France -was all the more feared and esteemed, whether through the sight of such -wealth and richness, or through that of the prowess of her gentlemen, so -brave and adroit at arms; as indeed there were many there very good to -see and worthy to be admired. Moreover, it was very reasonable that for -the greatest queen of Christendom, the most beautiful, the most -virtuous, and the best, some great solemn festival above all others -should be held. And I can assure you that if this had not been done, the -foreigners would have mocked us and gone back to Spain thinking and -holding us all in France to be beggars. - -Therefore it was not without good and careful consideration that this -wise and judicious queen made this outlay. She made another very fine -one on the arrival of the Poles in Paris, whom she feasted most superbly -in her Tuileries; after which, in a great hall built on purpose and -surrounded by an infinite number of torches, she showed them the finest -ballet that was ever seen on earth (I may indeed say so); the which was -composed of sixteen of her best-taught ladies and damoiselles, who -appeared in a great rock [_roc_, grotto?] all silvered, where they were -seated in niches, like vapours around it. These sixteen ladies -represented the sixteen provinces of France, with the most melodious -music ever heard; and after having made, in this rock, the tour of the -hall, like a parade in camp, and letting themselves be seen of every -one, they descended from the rock and formed themselves into a little -battalion, fantastically imagined, with violins to the number of thirty -sounding a warlike air extremely pleasant; and thus they marched to the -air of the violins, with a fine cadence they never lost, and so -approached, and stopped before their Majesties. After which they danced -their ballet, most fantastically invented, with so many turns, -counterturns, and gyrations, such twining and blending, such advancing -and pausing (though no lady failed to find her place and rank), that all -present were astonished to see how in such a maze order was not lost for -a moment, and that all these ladies had their judgment clear and held it -good, so well were they taught! This fantastic ballet lasted at least -one hour, the which being concluded, all these sixteen ladies, -representing, as I have said, the sixteen provinces, advanced to the -king, the queen, the King of Poland, Monsieur his brother, the King and -Queen of Navarre, and other grandees of France and Poland, presenting to -each a golden salver as large as the palm of the hand, finely enamelled -and beautifully chased, on which were engraved the fruits and products -of each province in which they were most fertile, such as citrons and -oranges in Provence, cereals in Champagne, wines in Burgundy, and in -Guyenne warriors,--great honour that for Guyenne certainly! And so on, -through the other provinces. - -At Bayonne the like presents were made, and a combat fought, which I -could represent very well, with the presents and the names of those who -received them, but it would be too long. At Bayonne it was the men who -gave to the ladies; here, it was the ladies giving to the men. Take note -that all these inventions came from no other devising and brain than -that of the queen; for she was mistress and inventress of everything; -she had such faculty that whatever magnificences were done at Court, -hers surpassed all others. For which reason they used to say there was -no one like the queen-mother for doing fine things. If such outlays were -costly, they gave great pleasure; and people often said she wished to -imitate the Roman emperors, who studied to exhibit games to their people -and give them pleasures, and so amuse them as not to leave them leisure -to do harm. - -Besides the pleasure she took in giving pleasure to her people, she also -gave them much to earn; for she liked all sorts of artisans and paid -them well; employing them each in his own art, so that they never wanted -for work, especially masons and builders, as is shown by her beautiful -houses: the Tuileries (still unfinished), Saint-Maur, Monceaux, and -Chenonceaux. Also she liked learned men, and was pleased to read, and -she made others read, the books they presented to her, or those that she -knew they had written. All were acceptable, even to the fine invectives -which were published against her, about which she scoffed and laughed, -without anger, calling those who wrote them gabblers and “givers of -trash”--that was her use of the word. - -She wished to know everything. On the voyage to Lorraine, during the -second troubles, the Huguenots had with them a fine culverin to which -they gave the name of “the queen-mother.” They were forced to bury it at -Villenozze, not being able to drag it on account of its long shafts and -bad harness and weight; after which it never could be found again. The -queen, hearing that they had given it her name, wanted to know why. A -certain person, having been much urged by her to tell her, replied: -“Because, madame, it has a calibre [diameter] broader and bigger than -that of others.” The queen was the first to laugh at this reply. - -She spared no pains in reading anything that took her fancy. I saw her -once, having embarked at Blaye to go and dine at Bourg, reading the -whole way from a parchment, like any lawyer or notary, a procès-verbal -made on Derbois, favourite secretary of the late M. le connétable, as to -certain underhand dealings and correspondence of which he was accused -and for which imprisoned at Bayonne. She never took her eyes off it -until she had read it through; and there were more than ten pages of -parchment. When she was not hindered, she read herself all letters of -importance, and frequently with her own hand made replies; I saw her -once, after dinner, write twenty long letters herself. - -She wrote and spoke French very well, although an Italian; and even to -persons of her own nation she usually spoke it, so much did she honour -France and its language; taking pains to exhibit its fine speech to -foreigners, grandees, and ambassadors, who came to visit her after -seeing the king. She always answered them very pertinently, with great -grace and majesty; as I have also seen and heard her do to the courts of -parliament, both publicly and privately; often controlling the latter -finely when they rambled in talk or were over-cautious, or would not -comply with the edicts made in her privy council and the ordinances -issued by the king and herself. You may be sure she spoke as a queen and -made herself feared as one. I saw her once at Bordeaux when she took her -daughter Marguerite to her husband, the King of Navarre. She had -commanded that court of parliament to come and be spoken to,--they not -being willing to abolish a certain brotherhood, by them invented and -maintained, which she was determined to break up, foreseeing that it -would bring some results in the end which might be prejudicial to the -State. They came to meet her in the garden of the Bishop’s house, where -she was walking one Sunday morning. One among them spoke for all, and -gave her to understand the fruitfulness of this brotherhood and the -utility it was to the public. She, without being prepared, replied so -well and with such apt words, and apparent and appropriate reasons to -show it was ill-founded and odious, that there was no one present who -did not admire the mind of the queen and remain confused and astonished -when, as her last word, she said: “No, I will, and the king my son wills -that it be exterminated, and never heard of again, for secret reasons -that I shall not tell you, besides those that I have told you; and if -not, I will make you feel what it is to disobey the king and me.” So -each and all went away and nothing more was said of it. - -She did these turns very often to the princes and the greatest people, -when they had done some great wrong and made her so angry that she took -her haughty air,--no one on earth being so superb and stately as she, -when needful, sparing no truths to any one. I have seen the late M. de -Savoie, who was intimate with the emperor, the King of Spain, and so -many grandees, fear and respect her more than if she had been his -mother, and M. de Lorraine the same,--in short, all the great people of -Christendom; I could give many examples; but another time, in due -course, I will tell them; just now it suffices to say what I have said. - -Among other perfections she was a good Christian and very devout; always -making her Easters, and never failing any day to attend divine service -at mass and vespers; which she rendered very agreeable to pious persons, -by the good singers of her chapel,--she being careful to collect the -most exquisite; also she herself loved music by nature, and often gave -pleasure with it in her apartment, which was never closed to virtuous -ladies and honourable men, she seeing all and every one, not restricting -it as they do in Spain, and also in her own land of Italy; nor yet as -our later queens, Isabella of Austria and Louise of Lorraine, have done; -but saying, like King François, her father-in-law (whom she greatly -honoured, he having set her up and made her free), that she wished to -keep her Court as a good Frenchwoman, and as the king, her husband, -would have wished; so that her apartments were the pleasure of the -Court. - -She had, ordinarily, very beautiful and virtuous maids of honour, who -conversed with us daily in her antechamber, discoursing and chatting so -wisely and modestly that none of us would have dared to do otherwise; -for the gentlemen who failed in this were banished and threatened, and -in fear of worse until she pardoned and forgave them, she being kind in -herself and very ready to do so. - -In short, her company and her Court were a true paradise in the world, -and a school of all virtue and honour, the ornament of France, as the -foreigners who came there knew well and said; for they were all most -politely received, and her ladies and maids of honour were commanded to -adorn themselves at their coming like goddesses, and to entertain these -visitors, not amusing themselves elsewhere; otherwise she taunted them -well and reprimanded them. - -In fact, her Court was such that when she died the voices of all -declared that the Court was no longer a Court, and that never again -would France have a true queen-mother. What a Court it was! such as, I -believe, no Emperor of Rome in the olden time ever held for ladies, nor -any of our Kings of France. Though it is true that the great Emperor -Charlemagne, King of France, during his lifetime took great pleasure in -making and maintaining a grand and full Court of peers, dukes, counts, -palatines, barons, and knights of France; also of ladies, their wives -and daughters, with others of all countries, to pay court and honour (as -the old romances of that day have said) to the empress and queen, and to -see the fine jousts, tournaments, and magnificences done there by -knights-errant coming from all parts. But what of that? These fine, -grand assemblies came together not oftener than three or four times a -year; at the end of each fête they departed and retired to their houses -and estates until the next time. Besides, some have said that in his old -age Charlemagne was much given over to women, though always of good -company; and that Louis le Debonnaire, on ascending the throne, was -obliged to banish his sisters to other places for the scandal of their -lives with men; and also that he drove from Court a number of ladies who -belonged to the joyous band. Charlemagne’s Courts were never of long -duration (I speak now of his great years), for he amused himself in -those days with war, according to our old romances, and in his last -years his Court was too dissolute, as I have already said. But the Court -of our King Henri II and the queen his wife, was held daily, whether in -war or peace, and whether it resided in one place or another for months, -or went to other castles and pleasure-houses of our kings, who are not -lacking in them, having more than the kings of other countries. - -This large and noble company, keeping always together, at least the -greater part of them, came and went with its queen, so that usually her -Court was filled by at least three hundred ladies and damoiselles. The -intendants of the king’s houses and the quartermasters affirmed that -they occupied fully one-half of the rooms, as I myself have seen during -the thirty-three years I lived at Court, except when at war or in -foreign parts. Having returned, I was always there; for the sojourn was -to me most agreeable, not seeing elsewhere anything finer; in fact I -think, since the world was, nothing has ever been seen like it; and as -the noble names of these beautiful ladies who assisted our queen in -adorning her Court should not be overlooked, I place them here, -according as I remember them from the end of the queen’s married life -and throughout her widowhood, for before that time I was too young to -know them. - -First, I place Mesdames the daughters of France. I place them first -because they never lost their rank, and go before all others, so grand -and noble is their house, to wit:-- - -Madame Élisabeth de France, afterwards Queen of Spain. - -Madame Claude, afterwards Duchesse de Lorraine. - -Madame Marguerite, afterwards Queen of Navarre. - -Madame the king’s sister, afterwards Duchesse de Savoie. - -The Queen of Scots, afterwards dauphine and Queen of France. - -The Queen of Navarre, Jeanne d’Albret. - -Madame Catherine, her daughter, to-day called Madame the king’s [Henri -IV.] sister. - -Madame Diane, natural daughter of the king [Henri II.], afterwards -legitimatized, the Duchesse d’Angoulême. - -Madame d’Enghien, of the house of Estouteville. - -Madame la Princesse de Condé, of the house of Roye. - -Madame de Nevers, of the house of Vendôme. - -Madame de Guise, of the house of Ferrara. - -Madame Diane de Poitiers, Duchesse de Valentinois. - -Mesdames d’Aumale and de Bouillon, her daughters.[4] - -Need I name more? No, for my memory could not furnish them. There are so -many other ladies and maids that I beg them to excuse me if I pass them -by with my pen,--not that I do not greatly value and esteem them, but I -should dream over them and amuse myself too much. To make an end, I must -say that in all this company there was nothing to find fault with in -their day; beauty abounded, all majesty, all charm, all grace; happy was -he who could touch with love such ladies, and happy those who could that -love _escapar_. I swear to you that I have named only those ladies and -damoiselles who were beautiful, agreeable, very accomplished, and well -sufficient to set fire to the whole world. Indeed, in their best days -they burned up a good part of it, as much us gentlemen of the Court as -others who approached the flame; to some of whom they were gentle, -aimable, favourable, and courteous. I speak of none here, hoping to make -good tales about them in this book before I finish it, and of others -whose names are not comprised here; but the whole told so discreetly, -without scandal, that nothing will be known, for the curtain of silence -will cover their names; so that if by chance they should any of them -read tales of themselves they will not be annoyed. Besides, though the -pleasures of love cannot last forever, by reason of many inconveniences, -hindrances, and changes, the memories of the past are always -pleasing. - -[Illustration: _Ball at the Court of Henry III_] - -[This refers to “Les Dames Galantes,” and not to the present volume.] - -Now, to thoroughly consider how fine a sight was this troupe of -beautiful ladies and damoiselles, creatures divine rather than human, we -must imagine the entries into Paris and other cities, the sacred and -superlative bridals of our kings of France, and their sisters, the -daughters of France; such as those of the dauphin, of King Charles, of -King Henri III., of the Queen of Spain, of Madame de Lorraine, of the -Queen of Navarre, not to speak of many other grand weddings of the -princes and princesses, like that of M. de Joyeuse, which would have -surpassed them all if the Queen of Navarre had been there. Also we must -picture to ourselves the interview at Bayonne, the arrival of the Poles, -and an infinite number of other and like magnificences, which I could -never finish naming, where I saw these ladies appear, each more -beautiful than the rest; some more finely appointed and better dressed -than others, because for such festivals, in addition to their great -means, the king and queen would give them splendid liveries. - -In short, nothing was ever seen finer, more dazzling, dainty, superb; -the glory of Niquée never approached it [enchanted palace in “Amadis”]. -All this shone in a ballroom of the Tuileries or the Louvre as the stars -of heaven in the azure sky. The queen-mother wished and commanded her -ladies always to appear in grand and superb apparel, though she herself -during her widowhood never clothed herself in worldly silks, unless they -were lugubrious, but always properly and so well-fitting that she looked -the queen above all else. It is true that on the days of the weddings of -her two sons Henri and Charles, she wore gowns of black velvet, wishing, -she said, to solemnize the event by so signal an act. While she was -married she always dressed very richly and superbly, and looked what -she was. And it was fine to see and admire her in the general -processions that were made, both in Paris and other cities, such as the -Fête Dieu, that of the Rameaux [Palm Sunday], bearing palms and branches -with such grace, and on Candlemas Day, when the torches were borne by -all the Court, the flames of which contended against their own -brilliancy. At these three processions, which are most solemn, we -certainly saw nothing but beauty, grace, a noble bearing, a fine gait -and splendid apparel, all of which delighted the spectators. - -It was fine also to see the queen in her married life going through the -country in her litter, being pregnant, or afterwards on horseback -attended by forty or fifty ladies and damoiselles mounted on handsome -hackneys well caparisoned, and sitting their horses with such good grace -that the men could not do better, either in equestrian style or apparel; -their hats adorned with plumes which floated in the air as if demanding -either love or war. Virgil, who took upon himself to write of the -apparel of Queen Dido when she went to the chase, says nothing that -approaches the luxury of that of our queen with her ladies, may it not -displease her, as I think I have said elsewhere. - -This queen (made by the act of the great King François), who introduced -this beautiful pageantry, never forgot or let slip anything of the kind -she had once learned, but always wanted to imitate or surpass it; I have -heard her speak three or four times in my life on this subject. Those -who have seen things as I did still feel their souls enchanted like -mine, for what I say is true; I know it having seen it. - -So there is the Court of our queen. Unhappy was the day when she died! I -have heard tell that our present king [Henri IV.], some eighteen months -after he saw himself more in hope and prospect of becoming King of -France, began one day to discourse with the late M. le Maréchal de -Biron, on the plans and projects he would undertake to make his Court -prosperous and fine and in all things like that of our said queen, for -at that time it was in its greatest lustre and splendour. M. le Maréchal -answered: “It is not in your power, nor in that of any king who will -ever reign, unless you can manage with God that he shall resuscitate the -queen-mother, and bring her round to you.” But that was not what the -king wanted, for when she died there was no one whom he hated so much, -but without grounds, as I could see, and as he should have known better -than I. - -How luckless was the day on which such a queen died, at the very point -when we had such great necessity for her, and still have! - -She died at Blois of sadness caused by the massacre which there took -place, and the melancholy tragedy there played, seeing that, without -reflection, she had brought the princes to Blois thinking to do well; -whereas it was true, as M. le Cardinal de Bourbon said to her: “Alas! -madame, you have led us all to butchery without intending it.” That so -touched her heart, and also the death of those poor men, that she took -to her bed, having previously felt ill, and never rose again. - -They say that when the king announced to her the murder of M. de Guise, -saying that he was now absolutely king, without equal, or master, she -asked him if he had put the affairs of his kingdom in order before -striking the blow. To which he answered yes. “God grant it, my son,” she -said. Very prudent that she was, she foresaw plainly what would happen -to him, and to all the kingdom.[5] - -Persons have spoken diversely as to her death, and even as to poison. -Possibly it was so, possibly not; but she was held to have died of -desperation, and she had reason to do so. - -She was placed on her state-bed, as one of her ladies told me, neither -more nor less like Queen Anne of whom I have already spoken, clothed in -the same royal garments that the said Queen Anne wore, they not having -served since her death for any others; and thus she was borne to the -church of the castle, with the same pomp and solemnity as Queen Anne, -where she lies and rests still. The king wished to take her to Chartres -and thence to Saint-Denis, to put her with the king, her husband, in the -same tomb which she had caused to be made, built, and constructed, so -noble and superb, but the war which came on prevented it. - -This is what I can say at this time of this great queen, who has given -assuredly such noble grounds to speak worthily of her that this short -discourse is not enough for her praise. I know that well; also that the -quality of my speech does not suffice, for better speakers than I would -be insufficient. At any rate, such as my discourse is, I lay it, in all -humility and devotion, at her feet; also I would avoid too great -prolixity, for which indeed I feel myself too capable; but I hope I -shall not separate from her much, although in my discourses I shall be -silent, and only speak of what her noble and incomparable virtues -command me, giving me ample matter so to do, I having seen all that I -have written of her; and as for what had happened before my time, I -heard it from persons most illustrious; and thus I shall do in all my -books. - - This queen, who was of many kings the mother, - Of queens also, belonging here to France, - Died when we had most need of her support; - For none but she could give us true assistance. - - * * * * * - -Mézeray [in his “History of France”], who never thinks of the dramatic, -nevertheless makes known to us at the start his principal personages; he -shows them more especially in action, without detaching them too much -from the general sentiment and interests of which they are the leaders -and representatives, while, at the same time, he leaves to each his -individual physiognomy. The old Connétable de Montmorency, the Guises, -Admiral de Coligny, the Chancellor de l’Hôpital define themselves on his -pages by their conduct and proceedings even more than by the judgment he -awards them. Catherine de’ Medici is painted there in all her -dissimulation and her network of artifices, in which she was often -caught herself; ambitious of sovereign power without possessing either -the force or the genius of it; striving to obtain it by craft, and using -for this purpose a continual system of what we should call to-day -_see-sawing_; “rousing and elevating for a time one faction, putting to -sleep or lowering another; uniting herself sometimes with the feeblest -side out of caution, lest the stronger should crush her; sometimes with -the stronger from necessity; at times standing neutral when she felt -herself strong enough to command both sides, but without intention to -extinguish either.” Far from being always too Catholic, there are -moments when she seems to lean to the Reformed religion and to wish to -grant too much to that party; and this with more sincerity, perhaps, -than belonged to her naturally. The Catherine de’ Medici, such as she -presents herself and is developed in plain truth on the pages of Mézeray -is well calculated to tempt a modern writer. As there is nothing new but -that which is old, for often discoveries are nothing more than that -which was once known and is forgotten, the day when a modern historian -shall take up the Catherine de’ Medici of Mézeray and give her some of -the rather forced features which are to the taste of the present day, -there will come a great cry of astonishment and admiration, and the -critics will register a new discovery.[6] - -M. Niel, librarian to the ministry of the Interior, an enlightened -amateur of the arts and of history, has been engaged since 1848 in -publishing a series of Portraits or “Crayons” of the celebrated -personages of the sixteenth century, kings, queens, mistresses of kings, -etc., the whole forming already a folio volume. M. Niel has applied -himself in this collection to reproduce none but authentic portraits and -solely from the original, and he has confined himself to a single form -of portraiture, that which was drawn in crayons of divers colours by -artists of the sixteenth century. “They designated in those days by the -name of ‘crayons,’” he observes, “certain portraits executed on paper in -red chalk, in black lead, and in white chalk, shaded and touched in a -way to present the effect of painting.” These designs, faithfully -reproduced, in which the red tone predominates, are for the most part -originally due to unknown artists, who seem to have belonged to the true -French lineage of art. They resemble the humble companions and followers -of our chroniclers who simply sought in their rapid sketches to catch -physiognomies, such as they saw them, with truth and candour; the -likeness alone concerned them. - -François I. leads the procession with his obscure wives, and one, at -least, of his obscure mistresses, the Comtesse de Châteaubriant. Henri -II. succeeds him, giving one hand to Catherine de’ Medici, the other to -Diane de Poitiers. We are shown a Marie Stuart, young, before and after -her widowhood. In general, the men gain most from this rapid -reproduction of feature; whereas with the women it needs an effort of -the imagination to catch their delicacy and the flower of their beauty. -Charles IX. at twelve years of age, and again at eighteen and twenty, is -there to the life and caught from nature. Henri IV. is shown to us -younger and fresher than as we are wont to see him,--a Henri de Navarre -quite novel and before his beard grizzled. His first wife, Marguerite de -Valois, is portrayed at her most beauteous age, but so masked by her -costume and cramped in her ruff that we need to be aware of her charm to -be certain that the doll-like figure had any. Gabrielle d’Estrées, who -stands aloof, stiffly imprisoned in her gorgeous clothes, also needs -explanation and reflection before she appears what she really was. The -testimony of “Notices” aids these portraits; for M. Niel accompanies his -personages with remarks made with erudition and an inquiring mind. - -One of the brief writings of that period which make known clearly the -person and nature of Henri IV. is the Memoir of the first president of -Normandy, Claude Groulard, at all times faithful to the king, who has -left us a naïve account of his frequent journeys to that prince and the -sojourns he made with him. Among many remarks which Groulard has -collected from the lips of Henri IV. there is one that paints the king -well in his sound good sense, his freedom from rancour, and his -knowledge--always practical, never ideal--of human beings. Groulard is -relating the approaching marriage of the king with a princess of -Florence. When Henri IV. announced it to him the worthy president -replied by an erudite comparison with the lance of Achilles, saying that -the Florentine house would thus repair the wounds it had given to France -in the person of Catherine de’ Medici. “But I ask you,” said Henri IV., -speaking thereupon of Catherine and excusing her, “I ask you what a -poor woman could do, left by the death of her husband, with five little -children on her arms, and two families in France who were thinking to -grasp the crown,--ours and the Guises. Was she not compelled to play -strange parts to deceive first one and then the other, in order to -guard, as she has done, her sons, who have successively reigned through -the wise conduct of that shrewd woman? I am surprised that she never did -worse.” - -SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1855). - - - - -DISCOURSE III. - -MARIE STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND, FORMERLY QUEEN OF OUR FRANCE. - - -Those who wish to write of this illustrious Queen of Scotland have two -very ample subjects: one her life, the other her death; both very ill -accompanied by good fortune, as I shall show at certain points in this -short Discourse in form of epitome, and not a long history, which I -leave to be written by persons more learned and better given to writing -than I. - -This queen had a father, King James, of worth and valour, and a very -good Frenchman; in which he was right. After he was widowed of Madame -Magdelaine, daughter of France, he asked King François for some -honourable and virtuous princess of his kingdom with whom to re-marry, -desiring nothing so much as to continue his alliance with France. - -King François, not knowing whom to choose better to content the good -prince, gave him the daughter of M. de Guise, Claude de Lorraine, then -the widow of M. de Longueville, wise, virtuous, and honourable, of which -King James was very glad and esteemed himself fortunate to take her; and -after he had taken and espoused her he found himself the same; the -kingdom of Scotland also, which she governed very wisely after she was -widowed; which event happened in a few years after her marriage, but not -before she had produced a fine issue, namely this most beautiful -princess in the world, our queen, of whom I now speak, she being, as -one might say, scarcely born and still at the breast, when the English -invaded Scotland. Her mother was then forced to hide her from place to -place in Scotland from fear of that fury; and, without the good succour -King Henri sent her she would scarce have been saved; and even so they -had to put her on vessels and expose her to the waves, the storms and -winds of the sea and convey her to France for greater security; where -certainly ill fortune, not being able to cross the seas with her or not -daring to attack her in France, left her so alone that good fortune took -her by the hand. And, as her youth grew on, we saw her great beauty and -her great virtues grow likewise; so that, coming to her fifteenth year, -her beauty shone like the light at mid-day, effacing the sun when it -shines the brightest, so beauteous was her body. As for her soul, that -was equal; she had made herself learned in Latin, so that, being between -thirteen and fourteen years of age, she declaimed before King Henri, the -queen, and all the Court, publicly in the hall of the Louvre, an -harangue in Latin, which she had made herself, maintaining and -defending, against common opinion, that it was well becoming to women to -know letters and the liberal arts. Think what a rare thing and admirable -it was, to see this wise and beautiful young queen thus orate in Latin, -which she knew and understood right well, for I was there and saw her. -Also she made Antoine Fochain, of Chauny in Vermandois, prepare for her -a rhetoric in French, which still exists, that she might the better -understand it, and make herself as eloquent in French as she had been in -Latin, and better than if she had been born in France. It was good to -see her speak to every one, whether to great or small. - -[Illustration: _Marie Stuart_] - -As long as she lived in France she always reserved two hours daily to -study and read; so that there was no human knowledge she could not -talk upon. Above all, she loved poesy and poets, but especially M. de -Ronsard, M. du Bellay, and M. de Maison-Fleur[7], who all made beautiful -poems and elegies upon her, and also upon her departure from France, -which I have often seen her reading to herself, in France and in -Scotland, with tears in her eyes and sighs from her heart. - -She was a poet herself and composed verses, of which I have seen some -that were fine and well done and in no wise resembling those they have -laid to her account on her love for the Earl of Bothwell, which are too -coarse and too ill-polished to have come from her beautiful making. M. -de Ronsard was of my opinion as to this one day when we were reading and -discussing them. Those she composed were far more beautiful and dainty, -and quickly done, for I have often seen her retire to her cabinet and -soon return to show them to such of us good folk as were there present. -Moreover she wrote well in prose, especially letters, of which I have -seen many that were very fine and eloquent and lofty. At all times when -she talked with others she used a most gentle, dainty, and agreeable -style of speech, with kindly majesty, mingled, however, with discreet -and modest reserve, and above all with beautiful grace; so that even her -native tongue, which in itself is very rustic, barbarous, ill-sounding, -and uncouth, she spoke so gracefully, toning it in such a way, that she -made it seem beautiful and agreeable in her, though never so in others. - -See what virtue there was in such beauty and grace that they could turn -coarse barbarism into sweet civility and social grace. We must not be -surprised therefore that being dressed (as I have seen her) in the -barbarous costume of the uncivilized people of her country, she -appeared, in mortal body and coarse ungainly clothing a true goddess. -Those who have seen her thus dressed will admit this truth; and those -who did not see her can look at her portrait, in which she is thus -attired. I have heard the queen-mother, and the king too, say that she -looked more beautiful, more agreeable, more desirable in that picture -than in any of the others. But how else could she look, whether in her -beautiful rich jewels, in French or Spanish style, or wearing her -Italian caps, or in her mourning garments?--which latter made her most -beautiful to see, for the whiteness of her face contended with the -whiteness of her veil as to which should carry the day; but the texture -of her veil lost it; the snow of her pure face dimmed the other, so that -when she appeared at Court in her mourning the following song was made -upon her:-- - - “L’on voit, sous blanc atour - En grand deuil et tristesse, - Se pourmener mainct tour - De beauté la déese, - Tenant le trait en main - De son fils inhumain; - - “Et Amour, sans fronteau, - Voletter autour d’elle, - Desguisant son bandeau - En un funebre voile, - Où sont ces mots ecrits: - _Mourir ou être pris_.”[8] - -That is how this princess appeared under all fashions of clothes, -whether barbarous, worldly, or austere. She had also one other -perfection with which to charm the world,--a voice most sweet and -excellent; for she sang well, attuning her voice to the lute, which she -touched very prettily with that white hand and those beautiful fingers, -perfectly made, yielding in nothing to those of Aurora. What more -remains to tell of her beauty?--if not this saying about her: that the -sun of her Scotland was very unlike her, for on certain days of the year -it shines but five hours, while she shone ever, so that her clear rays -illumined her land and her people, who of all others needed light, being -far estranged from the sun of heaven. Ah! kingdom of Scotland, I think -your days are shorter now than they ever were, and your nights the -longer, since you have lost the princess who illumined you! But you have -been ungrateful; you never recognized your duty of fidelity, as you -should have done; which I shall speak of presently. - -This lady and princess pleased France so much that King Henri was urged -to give her in alliance to the dauphin, his beloved son, who, for his -part, was madly in love with her. The marriage was therefore solemnly -celebrated in the great church and the palace of Paris; where we saw -this queen appear more beauteous than a goddess from the skies, whether -in the morning, going to her espousals in noble majesty, or leading, -after dinner, at the ball, or advancing in the evening with modest steps -to offer and perform her vows to Hymen; so that the voice of all as one -man resounded and proclaimed throughout the Court and the great city -that happy a hundredfold was he, the prince, thus joined to such a -princess; and even if Scotland were a thing of price its queen -out-valued it; for had she neither crown nor sceptre, her person and her -glorious beauty were worth a kingdom; therefore, being a queen, she -brought to France and to her husband a double fortune. - -This was what the world went saying of her; and for this reason she was -called queen-dauphine and her husband the king-dauphin, they living -together in great love and pleasant concord. - -Next, King Henri dying, they came to be King and Queen of France, the -king and queen of two great kingdoms, happy, and most happy in -themselves, had death not seized the king and left her widowed in the -sweet April of her finest youth, having enjoyed together of love and -pleasure and felicity but four short years,--a felicity indeed of short -duration, which evil fortune might well have spared; but no, malignant -as she is, she wished to miserably treat this princess, who made a song -herself upon her sorrows in this wise:-- - - En mon triste et doux chant, - D’un ton fort lamentable, - Je jette un deuil tranchant, - De perte incomparable, - Et en soupirs cuisans, - Passe mes meilleurs ans. - - Fut-il un tel malheur - De dure destinée, - N’y si triste douleur - De dame fortunée, - Qui mon cœur et mon œil - Vois en bierre et cercueil, - - Qui en mon doux printemps - Et fleur de ma jeunesse - Toutes les peines sens - D’une extresme tristesse, - Et en rien n’ay plaisir - Qu’en regret et desir? - - Ce qui m’estoit plaisant - Ores m’est peine dure; - Le jour le plus luisant - M’est nuit noire et obscure. - Et n’est rien si exquis - Qui de moy soit requis. - - J’ay an cœur et à l’œil - Un portrait et image - Qui figure mon deuil - Et mon pasle visage, - De violettes teint, - Qui est l’amoureux teint. - - Pour mon mal estranger - Je ne m’arreste en place; - Mais j’en ay beau changer, - Si ma douleur n’efface; - Car mon pis et mon mieux - Sont les plus deserts lieux. - - Si en quelque séjour, - Soit en bois ou en prée. - Soit sur l’aube du jour, - On soit sur la vesprée, - Sans cesse mon cœur sent - Le regret d’un absent. - - Si parfois vers les cieux - Viens à dresser ma veue, - Le doux traict de ses yeux - Je vois en une nue; - Ou bien je le vois en l’eau, - Comme dans un tombeau. - - Si je suis en repos - Sommeillant sur ma couche, - J’oy qu’il me tient propos, - Je le sens qui me touche: - En labeur, en recoy - Tousjours est près de moy. - - Je ne vois autre object, - Pour beau qu’il présente - A qui que soit subject, - Oncques mon cœur consente, - Exempt de perfection - A cette affection. - - Mets, chanson, icy fin - A si triste complainte, - Dont sera le refrein: - Amour vraye et non feinte - Pour la separation - N’aura diminution.[9] - -Such are the regrets which this sad queen went piteously singing, and -manifesting even more by her pale face; for, from the time she became a -widow, I never saw her colour return during the time I had the honour to -see her in France and in Scotland; whither at the end of eighteen months -she was forced to go, to her great regret, to pacify her kingdom, much -divided on account of religion. Alas! she had neither wish nor will to -go. I have often heard her say she dreaded that journey like death; and -preferred a hundredfold to stay in France a simple dowager, and would -content herself with Touraine and Poitou for her dowry, rather than go -to reign in her savage country; but messieurs her uncles, at least some -of them, but not all, advised her, indeed they urged her (I will not -tell the occasions), for which they have since repented sorely. - -As to this, there is no doubt that if, at her departure King Charles, -her husband’s brother, had been of age to marry, and not so small and -young (though much in love with her, as I have seen), he would never -have let her go, but resolutely would have wedded her; for I have seen -him so in love that never did he look upon her portrait that his eyes -were not fixed and ravished, as though he could not take them from it -nor yet be satisfied. And often have I heard him call her the most -beauteous princess ever born into the world, and say how he thought the -king, his brother, too happy to have enjoyed the love of such a -princess, and that he ought in no wise to regret his death in the tomb -since he had possessed in this world such beauty and pleasure for the -little time he stayed here; and also that such happiness was worth a -kingdom. So that had she remained in France he would surely have wedded -her; he was resolved upon it, although she was his sister-in-law, but -the pope would never have refused the dispensation, seeing that he had -already in like case granted one to his own subject, M. de Lové, and -also to the Marquis d’Aguilar in Spain, and many others in that country, -where they make no difficulty in maintaining their estates and do not -waste and dissipate them, as we do in France. - -Much discourse on this subject have I heard from him, and from many, -which I shall omit, not to wander from the topic of our queen, who was -at last persuaded, as I have said, to return to her kingdom of Scotland; -but her voyage being postponed till the spring she did so much to delay -it from month to month that she did not depart until the end of the -month of August. I must mention that this spring, in which she thought -to leave, came so tardily, and was so cold and grievous, that in the -month of April it gave no sign of donning its beautiful green robe or -its lovely flowers. On which the gallants of the Court augured and -proclaimed that the spring had changed its pleasant season for a hard -and grievous winter, and would not wear its beauteous colours or its -verdure because it mourned the departure of this sweet queen, who was -its lustre. M. de Maison-Fleur, a charming knight for letters and for -arms, made on that theme a most fine elegy. - -The beginning of the autumn having come, the queen, after thus delaying, -was forced to abandon France; and having travelled by land to Calais, -accompanied by all her uncles, M. de Nemours, most of the great and -honourable of the Court, together with the ladies, like Mme. de Guise -and others, all regretting and weeping hot tears for the loss of such a -queen, she found in port two galleys: one that of M. de Mevillon, the -other that of Captain Albise, with two convoying vessels for sole -armament. After six days’ rest at Calais, having said her piteous -farewells all full of sighs to the great company about her, from the -greatest to the least, she embarked, having her uncles with her, -Messieurs d’Aumale, the grand prior, and d’Elbœuf, and M. d’Amville -(now M. le Connétable), together with many of us, all nobles, on board -the galley of M. de Mevillon, as being the best and handsomest. - -As the vessel began to leave the port, the anchor being up, we saw, in -the open sea, a vessel sink before us and perish, and many of the -sailors drown for not having taken the channel rightly; on seeing which -the queen cried out incontinently: “Ah, my God! what an omen is this for -my journey!” The galley being now out of port and a fresh wind rising, -we began to make sail, and the convicts rested on their oars. The queen, -without thinking of other action, leaned her two arms on the poop of the -galley, beside the rudder, and burst into tears, casting her beauteous -eyes to the port and land she had left, saying ever these sad words: -“Adieu, France! adieu, France!”--repeating them again and again; and -this sad exercise she did for nearly five hours, until the night began -to fall, when they asked her if she would not come away from there and -take some supper. On that, her tears redoubling, she said these words: -“This is indeed the hour, my dear France, when I must lose you from -sight, because the gloomy night, envious of my content in seeing you as -long as I am able, hangs a black veil before mine eyes to rob me of that -joy. Adieu, then, my dear France; I shall see you nevermore!” - -Then she retired, saying she had done the contrary of Dido, who looked -to the sea when Æneas left her, while she had looked to land. She -wished to lie down without eating more than a salad, and as she would -not descend into the cabin of the poop, they brought her bed and set it -up on the deck of the poop, where she rested a little, but did not cease -her sighs and tears. She commanded the steersman to wake her as soon as -it was day if he saw or could even just perceive the coasts of France, -and not to fear to call her. In this, fortune favoured her; for the wind -having ceased and the vessel having again had recourse to oars, but -little way was made during the night, so that when day appeared the -shores of France could still be seen; and the steersman not having -failed to obey her, she rose in her bed and gazed at France again, and -as long as she could see it. But the galley now receding, her -contentment receded too, and again she said those words: “Adieu, my -France; I think that I shall never see you more.” - -Did she desire, this once, that an English armament (with which we were -threatened) should appear and constrain her to give up her voyage and -return to the port she had left? But if so, God in that would not favour -her wishes, for, without further hindrance of any kind we reached -Petit-Lict [Leith]. Of the voyage I must tell a little incident: the -first evening after we embarked, the Seigneur Chastellard (the same who -was afterwards executed for presumption, not for crime, as I shall -tell), being a charming cavalier, a man of good sword and good letters, -said this pretty thing when he saw them lighting the binnacle lamp: -“There is no need of that lamp or this torch to light us by sea, for the -eyes of our queen are dazzling enough to flash their fine fires along -the waves and illume them, if need be.” - -I must note that the day before we arrived at Scotland, being a Sunday, -so great a fog arose that we could not see from the poop to the mast of -the galley; at which the pilot and the overseers of the galley-slaves -were much confounded,--so much so, that out of necessity we had to cast -anchor in open sea, and take soundings to know where we were. The fog -lasted all one day and all the night until eight o’clock on the -following morning, when we found ourselves surrounded by innumerable -reefs; so that had we gone forward, or even to one side, the ship would -have struck and we should have perished. On which the queen said that, -for her part, she should not have cared, wishing for nothing so much as -death; but that not for her whole kingdom of Scotland would she have -wished it or willed it for others. Having now sighted and seen (for the -fog had risen) the coast of Scotland, there were some among us who -augured and predicted upon the said fog, that it boded we were now to -land in a quarrelsome, mischief-making, unpleasant kingdom [_royaume -brouille, brouillon, et mal plaisant_]. - -We entered and cast anchor at Petit-Lict, where the principal persons of -that place and Islebourg [Edinburgh] were gathered to meet their queen; -and then, having sojourned at Petit-Lict only two hours, it was -necessary to continue our way to Islebourg, which was barely a league -farther. The queen went on horseback, and the ladies and seigneurs on -nags of the country, such as they were, and saddled and bridled the -same. On seeing which accoutrements the queen began to weep and say that -these were not the pomps, the dignities, the magnificences, nor yet the -superb horses of France, which she had enjoyed so long; but since she -must change her paradise for hell, she must needs take patience. And -what is worse was that when she went to bed, being lodged on the lower -floor of the abbey of Islebourg [Holyrood], which is certainly a noble -building and is not like the country, there came beneath her window some -five or six hundred scoundrels of the town, who gave her a serenade -with wretched violins and little rebecks (of which there is no lack in -Scotland), to which they chanted psalms so badly sung and so out of tune -that nothing could be worse. Ha! what music and what repose for her -first night! - -The next morning they would have killed her chaplain in front of her -lodging; had he not escaped quickly into her chamber he was dead; they -would have done to him as they did later to her secretary David [Riccio] -whom, because he was clever, the queen liked for the management of her -affairs; but they killed him in her room, so close to her that the blood -spurted upon her gown and he fell dead at her feet. What an indignity! -But they did many other indignities to her; therefore must we not be -astonished if they spoke ill of her. On this attempt being made against -her chaplain she became so sad and vexed that she said: “This is a fine -beginning of obedience and welcome from my subjects! I know not what may -be the end, but I foresee it will be bad.” Thus the poor princess showed -herself a second Cassandra in prophecy as she was in beauty. - -Being now there, she lived about three years very discreetly in her -widowhood, and would have continued to do so, but the Parliament of her -kingdom begged her and entreated her to marry, in order that she might -leave them a fine king conceived by her, like him of the present day -[James I]. There are some who say that, during the first wars, the King -of Navarre desired to marry her, repudiating the queen his wife, on -account of the Religion; but to this she would not consent, saying she -had a soul, and would not lose it for all the grandeurs of the -world,--making great scruple of espousing a married man. - -At last she wedded a young English lord, of a great house, but not her -equal [Henry Darnley, Earl of Lennox, her cousin]. The marriage was not -happy for either the one or the other. I shall not here relate how the -king her husband, having made her a very fine child, who reigns to-day, -died, being killed by a _fougade_ [small mine] exploded where he lodged. -The history of that is written and printed, but not with truth as to the -accusations raised against the queen of consenting to the deed. They are -lies and insults; for never was that queen cruel; she was always kind -and very gentle. Never in France did she any cruelty, nor would she take -pleasure or have the heart to see poor criminals put to death by -justice, like many grandees whom I have known; and when she was in her -galley never would she allow a single convict to be beaten, were it ever -so little; she begged her uncle, the grand-prior, as to this, and -commanded it to the overseer herself, having great compassion for their -misery, so that her heart was sick for it. - -To end this topic, never did cruelty lodge in the heart of such great -and tender beauty; they are liars who have said and written it; among -others M. Buchanan,[10] who ill returned the kindnesses the queen had -done him both in France and Scotland in saving his life and relieving -him from banishment. It would have been better had he employed his most -excellent knowledge in speaking better of her, and not about the amours -of Bothwell; even to transcribing sonnets she had made, which those who -knew her poesy and her learning have always said were never written by -her; nor did they judge less falsely that amour, for Bothwell was a most -ugly man, with as bad a grace as could be seen. - -But if this one [Buchanan] said no good, others have written a noble -book upon her innocence, which I have seen, and which declared and -proved it so that the poorest minds took hold of it and even her enemies -paid heed; but they, wishing to ruin her, as they did in the end, were -obstinate, and never ceased to persecute her until she was put into a -strong castle, which they say is that of Saint-Andrew in Scotland. -There, having lived nearly one year miserably captive, she was delivered -by means of a most honourable and brave gentleman of that land and of -good family, named M. de Beton, whom I knew and saw, and who related to -me the whole story, as we were crossing the river before the Louvre, -when he came to bring the news to the king. He was nephew to the Bishop -of Glasco, ambassador to France, one of the most worthy men and prelates -ever known, and who remained a faithful servant to his mistress to her -last breath, and is so still, after her death. - -So then, the queen, being at liberty, did not stay idle; in less than no -time she gathered an army of those whom she thought her most faithful -adherents, leading it herself,--at its head, mounted on a good horse, -dressed in a simple petticoat of white taffetas, with a coif of crêpe on -her head; at which I have seen many persons wonder, even the -queen-mother, that so tender a princess, and so dainty as she was and -had been all her life, should accustom herself at once to the hardships -of war. But what would one not endure to reign absolutely and revenge -one’s self upon a rebellious people, and reduce it to obedience? - -Behold this queen, therefore, beautiful and generous, like a second -Zenobia, at the head of her army, leading it on to face that of her -enemies and to give battle. But alas! what misfortune! Just as she -thought her side would engage the others, just as she was animating and -exhorting them with her noble and valorous words, which might have moved -the rocks, they raised their lances without fighting, and, first on one -side and then upon another, threw down their arms, embraced, and were -friends; and all, confederated and sworn together, plotted to seize the -queen, and make her prisoner and take her to England. M. Coste, the -steward of her household, a gentleman of Auvergne, related this to the -queen-mother, having come from there, and met her at Saint-Maur, where -he told it also to many of us. - -After this she was taken to England, where she was lodged in a castle -and so closely confined in captivity that she never left it for eighteen -or twenty years until her death; to which she was sentenced too cruelly -for the reasons, such as they were, that were given on her trial; but -the principal, as I hold on good authority, was that the Queen of -England never liked her, but was always and for a long time jealous of -her beauty, which far surpassed her own. That is what jealousy is!--and -for religion too! So it was that this princess, after her long -imprisonment, was condemned to death and to have her head cut off; this -judgment was pronounced upon her two months before she was executed. -Some say that she knew nothing of it until they went to execute her. -Others declare that it was told to her two months earlier, as the -queen-mother, who was greatly distressed, was informed at Coignac, where -she then was; and she was even told of this particular: no sooner was -the judgment pronounced than Queen Marie’s chamber and bed were hung -with black. The queen-mother thereon praised the firmness of the Queen -of Scotland and said she had never seen or heard tell of any queen more -steadfast in adversity. I was present when she said this, but I never -thought the Queen of England would let her die,--not esteeming her so -cruel as all that. Of her own nature she was not (though she was in -this). I also thought that M. de Bellièvre, whom the king despatched to -save her life, would have worked out something good; nevertheless, he -gained nothing. - -But to come to this pitiful death, which no one can describe without -great compassion. On the seventeenth of February of the year one -thousand five hundred and eighty-seven, there came to the place where -the queen was prisoner, a castle called Fodringhaye, the commissioners -of the Queen of England, sent by her (I shall not give their names, as -it would serve no end) about two or three o’clock in the afternoon; and -in presence of Paulet, her guardian or jailer, read aloud their -commission to the prisoner touching her execution, declaring to her that -the next morning they should proceed to it, and admonishing her to be -ready between seven and eight o’clock. - -She, without in any way being surprised, thanked them for their good -news, saying that nothing could be better for her than to come to the -end of her misery; and that for long, ever since her detention in -England, she had resolved and prepared herself to die; entreating, -nevertheless, the commissioners to grant her a little time and leisure -to make her will and put her affairs in order,--inasmuch as all depended -upon their will, as their commission said. To which the Comte de -Cherusbery [Earl of Shrewsbury] replied rather roughly: “No, no, madame, -you must die. Hold yourself ready between seven and eight to-morrow -morning. We shall not prolong the delay by a moment.” There was one, -more courteous it seemed to her, who wished to use some demonstrations -that might give her more firmness to endure such death. She answered him -that she had no need of consolation, at least not as coming from him; -but that if he wished to do a good office to her conscience he would -send for her almoner to confess her; which would be an obligation that -surpassed all others. As for her body, she said she did not think they -would be so inhuman as to deny her the right of sepulture. To this he -replied that she must not expect it; so that she was forced to write -her confession, which was as follows:-- - -“I have to-day been combated for my religion and to make me receive the -consolation of heretics. You will hear from Bourgoing and others that I -have faithfully made protestation of my faith, in which I choose to die. -I requested to have you here, to make my confession and to receive my -sacrament; this has been cruelly refused to me, also the removal of my -body, and the power to freely make my will, or to write aught, except -through their hands. In default of that, I confess the grievousness of -my sins in general, as I had expected to make to you in particulars; -entreating you, in God’s name, to watch and pray with me this night for -the forgiveness of my sins, and to send me absolution and pardon for all -the offences which I have committed. I shall endeavour to see you in -their presence, as they have granted me; and if it is permitted I shall -ask pardon of you before them all. Advise me of the proper prayers to -use this night and to-morrow morning, for the time is short and I have -no leisure to write; I shall recommend you like the rest, and especially -that your benefices may be preserved and secured to you, and I shall -commend you to the king. I have no more leisure; advise me in writing of -all you think good for my salvation.” - -That done, and having thus provided for the salvation of her soul before -all things else, she lost no time, though little remained to her (yet -long enough to have shaken the firmest constancy, but in her they saw no -fear of death, only much content to leave these earthly miseries), in -writing to our king, to the queen-mother, whom she honoured much, to -Monsieur and Madame de Guise, and other private persons, letters truly -very piteous, but all aiming to let them know that to her latest hour -she had not lost memory of friends; and also the contentment she -received in seeing herself delivered from so many woes by which for one -and twenty years she had been crushed; also she sent presents to all, of -a value and price in keeping with a poor, unfortunate, and captive -queen. - -After this, she summoned her household, from the highest to the lowest, -and opened her coffers to see how much money remained to her; this she -divided to each according to the service she had had from them; and to -her women she gave what remained to her of rings, arrows, headgear, and -accoutrements; telling them that it was with much regret she had no more -with which to reward them, but assuring them that her son would make up -for her deficiency; and she begged her _maître d’hôtel_ to say this to -her said son; to whom she sent her blessing, praying him not to avenge -her death, leaving all to God to order according to His holy will. Then -she bade them farewell without a tear; on the contrary she consoled -them, saying they must not weep to see her on the point of blessedness -in exchange for all the sorrows she had had. After which she sent them -from her chamber, except her women. - -It now being night, she retired to her oratory, where she prayed to God -two hours on her bare knees upon the ground, for her women saw them; -then she returned to her room and said to them: “I think it would be -best, my friends, if I ate something and went to bed, so that to-morrow -I may do nothing unworthy of me, and that my heart may not fail me.” -What generosity and what courage! She did as she said; and taking only -some toast with wine she went to bed, where she slept little, but spent -the night chiefly in prayers and orisons. - -She rose about two hours before dawn and dressed herself as properly as -she could, and better than usual; taking a gown of black velvet, which -she had reserved from her other accoutrements, saying to her women: “My -friends, I would rather have left you this attire than that of -yesterday, but I think I ought to go to death a little honourably and -have upon me something more than common. Here is a handkerchief, which I -also reserved, to bind my eyes when I go there; I give it to you, _ma -mie_ (speaking to one of her women), for I wish to receive that last -office from you.” - -After this, she retired to her oratory, having bid them adieu once more -and kissed them,--giving them many particulars to tell the king, the -queen, and her relations; not things that tended to vengeance, but the -contrary. Then she took the sacrament by means of a consecrated wafer -which the good Pope Pius V. had sent her to serve in some emergency, the -which she had always most sacredly preserved and guarded. - -Having said her prayers, which were very long, it now being fully -morning she returned to her chamber, and sat beside the fire; still -talking to her women and comforting them, instead of their comforting -her; she said that the joys of the world were nothing; that she ought to -serve as a warning to the greatest of the earth as well as to the -smallest, for she, having been queen of the kingdoms of France and -Scotland, one by nature, the other by fortune, after triumphing in the -midst of all honours and grandeurs, was reduced to the hands of an -executioner; innocent, however, which consoled her. She told them their -best pattern was that she died in the Catholic religion, holy and good, -which she would never abandon to her latest breath, having been baptized -therein; and that she wanted no fame after her death, except that they -would publish her firmness throughout all France when they returned -there, as she begged of them; and further, though she knew they would -have much heart-break to see her on the scaffold performing this -tragedy, yet she wished them to witness her death; knowing well that -none would be so faithful in making the report of what was now to -happen. - -As she ended these words some one knocked roughly on the door. Her -women, knowing it was the hour they were coming to fetch her, wanted to -make resistance; but she said to them: “My friends, it will do no good; -open the door.” - -First there entered a man with a white stick in his hand, who, without -addressing any one, said twice over as he advanced: “I have come--I have -come.” The queen, not doubting that he announced to her the moment of -execution, took a little ivory cross in her hand. - -Next came the above-named commissioners; and when they had entered, the -queen said to them: “Well, messieurs, you have come to fetch me. I am -ready and well resolved to die; and I think the queen, my good sister, -does much for me; and you likewise who are seeking me. Let us go.” They, -seeing such firmness accompanied by so extreme a beauty and great -gentleness, were much astonished, for never had she seemed more -beautiful, having a colour in her cheeks which embellished her. - -Thus Boccaccio wrote of Sophonisba in her adversity, after the taking of -her husband and the town, speaking to Massinissa: “You would have said,” -he relates, “that her misfortune made her more beauteous; it assisted -the sweetness of her face and made it more agreeable and desirable.” - -The commissioners were greatly moved to some compassion. Still, as she -left the room they would not let her women follow her, fearing that by -their lamentations, sighs, and outcries they would disturb the -execution. But the queen said to them: “What, gentlemen! would you treat -me with such rigour as not to allow my women to accompany me to death? -Grant me at least this favour.” Which they did, on her pledging her word -she would impose silence upon them when the time came to admit them. - -The place of execution was in the hall, where they had raised a broad -scaffold, about twelve feet square and two high, covered with a shabby -black cloth. - -She entered this hall without any change of countenance but with majesty -and grace, as though she were entering a ballroom, where in other days -she had so excellently shone. - -As she neared the scaffold she called to her _maître d’hôtel_ and said, -“Help me to mount; it is the last service I shall receive from you;” and -she repeated to him what she had already told him in her chamber he was -to tell her son. Then, being on the scaffold, she asked for her almoner, -begging the officers who were there to permit him to come to her, which -they flatly refused,--the Earl of Kent saying to her that he pitied her -greatly for thus clinging to superstitions of a past age, and that she -ought to bear the cross of Christ in her heart and not in her hand. To -which she made answer that it was difficult to bear so beautiful an -image in the hand without the heart being touched by emotion and memory; -and that the most becoming thing in a Christian person was to carry a -real sign of the redemption to the death before her. Then, seeing that -she could not have her almoner, she asked that her women might come as -they had promised her; which was done. One of them, on entering the -hall, seeing her mistress on the scaffold among her executioners, could -not keep from crying out and moaning and losing her control; but the -queen instantly laying her finger on her lips, she restrained herself. - -Her Majesty then began to make her protestations, namely: that never had -she plotted against the State, nor against the life of the queen, her -good sister,--except in trying to regain her liberty, as all captives -may. But she saw plainly that the cause of her death was religion, and -she esteemed herself very happy to finish her life for that cause. She -begged the queen, her good sister, to have pity upon her poor servants -whom she held captive, because of the affection they had shown in -seeking the liberty of their mistress, inasmuch as she was now to die -for all. - -They then brought to her a minister to exhort her [the Dean of -Peterborough], but she said to him in English, “Ah! my friend, give -yourself patience;” declaring that she would not hold converse with him -nor hear any talk of his sect, for she had prepared herself to die -without counsel, and that persons like him could not give her -consolation or contentment of mind. - -Notwithstanding this, seeing that he continued his prayers in his -jargon, she never ceased to say her own in Latin, raising her voice -above that of the minister. After which she said again that she esteemed -herself very happy to shed the last drop of her blood for her religion, -rather than live longer and wait till nature had completed the full -course of her life; and that she hoped in Him whose cross she held in -her hand, before whose feet she was prostrate, that this temporal death, -borne for Him, would be for her the passage, the entrance to, and the -beginning of life eternal with the angels and the blessèd, who would -receive her blood and present it before God, in abolition of her sins; -and them she prayed to be her intercessors for the obtaining of pardon -and mercy. - -Such were her prayers, being on her knees on the scaffold, which she -made with a fervent heart; adding others for the pope, the kings of -France, and even for the Queen of England, praying God to illuminate her -with his Holy Spirit; praying also for her son and for the islands of -Britain and Scotland that they might be converted. - -That done, she called her women to help her to remove her black veil, -her headdress, and other ornaments; and as the executioner tried to -touch her she said, “Ah! my friend, do not touch me!” But she could not -prevent his doing so, for after they had lowered her robe to the waist, -that villain pulled her roughly by the arm and took off her doublet -[_pourpoint_] and the body of her petticoat [_corps de cotte_] with its -low collar, so that her neck and her beautiful bosom, more white than -alabaster, were bare and uncovered. - -She arranged herself as quickly as she could, saying she was not -accustomed to strip before others, especially so large a company (it is -said there were four or five hundred persons present), nor to employ the -services of such a valet. - -The executioner then knelt down and asked her pardon; on which she said -that she pardoned him, and all who were the authors of her death with as -much good-will as she prayed that God would show in forgiving her sins. - -Then she told her woman to whom she had given the handkerchief to bring -it to her. - -She wore a cross of gold, in which was a piece of the true cross, with -the image of Our Saviour upon it; this she wished to give to one of her -ladies, but the executioner prevented her, although Her Majesty begged -him, saying that the lady would pay him three times its value. - -Then, all being ready, she kissed her ladies, and bade them retire with -her benediction, making the sign of the cross upon them. And seeing that -one of them could not restrain her sobs she imposed silence, saying she -was bound by a promise that they would cause no trouble by their tears -and moans; and she commanded them to withdraw quietly, and pray to God -for her, and bear faithful testimony to her death in the ancient and -sacred Catholic religion. - -One of the women having bandaged her eyes with the handkerchief, she -threw herself instantly on her knees with great courage and without the -slightest demonstration or sign that she feared death. - -Her firmness was such that all present, even her enemies, were moved; -there were not four persons present who could keep from weeping; they -thought the sight amazing, and condemned themselves in their consciences -for such injustice. - -And because the minister of Satan importuned her, trying to kill her -soul as well as her body, and troubling her prayers, she raised her -voice to surmount his, and said in Latin the psalm: _In te, Domine, -speravi; non confundar in æternum_; which she recited throughout. Having -ended it, she laid her head upon the block, and, as she repeated once -more the words, _In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum_, the -executioner struck her a strong blow with the axe, that drove her -headgear into her head, which did not fall until the third blow,--to -make her martyrdom the greater and more glorious, though it is not the -pain but the cause that makes the martyr. - -This done, he took the head in his hand, and showing it to all present -said: “God save the queen, Elizabeth! Thus perish the enemies of the -gospel!” So saying, he uncoifed her in derision to show her hair, now -white; which, however, she had never shrunk from showing, twisting and -curling it as when her hair was beautiful, so fair and golden; for it -was not age had changed it at thirty-five years old (being now but -forty); it was the griefs, the woes, the sadness she had borne in her -kingdom and in her prison. - -This hapless tragedy ended, her poor ladies, anxious for the honour of -their mistress, addressed themselves to Paulet, her jailer, begging him -that the executioner should not touch the body, but that they might be -allowed to disrobe it after all the spectators had withdrawn, so that no -indignity might be done to it, promising to return all the clothing, -and whatever else he might ask or claim; but that cursèd man sent them -roughly away and ordered them to leave the hall. - -Then the executioner unclothed her and handled her at his discretion, -and when he had done what he wished the body was carried to a chamber -adjoining that of her serving-men, and carefully locked in, for fear -they should enter and endeavour to perform any good and pious office. -And to their grief and distress was added this: that they could see her -through a hole, half covered by a piece of green drugget torn from her -billiard table. What brutal indifference! What animosity and -indignity!--not even to have bought her a black cloth a little more -worthy of her! - -The poor body was left there long in that state until it began to -corrupt so that they were forced to salt and embalm it,--but slightly, -to save cost; after which they put it in a leaden coffin, where it was -kept for seven months and then carried to profane ground around the -temple of Petersbrouch [Peterborough Cathedral]. True it is that this -church is dedicated to the name of Saint Peter, and that Queen Catherine -of Spain is buried there as a Catholic; but the place is now profane, as -are all the churches in England in these days. - -There are some who have said and written, even the English who have made -a book on this death and its causes, that the spoils of the late queen -were taken from the executioner by paying him the value in money of her -clothes and her royal ornaments. The cloth with which the scaffold was -covered, even the boards of it were partly burned and partly washed, for -fear that in times to come they might serve superstition; that is to -say, for fear that any careful Catholic might some day buy and preserve -them with respect, honour, and reverence (a fear which may possibly -serve as a prophecy and augury), as the ancient Fathers had a practice -of keeping relics and of taking care with devotion of the monuments of -martyrs. In these days heretics do nothing of the kind. _Quia omnia quæ -martyrum erant_, cremabant, as Eusebius says, _et cineres in Rhodanum -spargebant, ut cum corporibus interiret eorum quoque memoria_. -Nevertheless, the memory of this queen, in spite of all things, will -live forever in glory and in triumph. - -Here, then, is the tale of her death, which I hold from the report of -two damoiselles there present, very honourable certainly, very faithful -to their mistress, and obedient to her commands in thus bearing -testimony to her firmness and to her religion. They returned to France -after losing her, for they were French; one was a daughter of Mme. de -Raré, whom I knew in France as one of the ladies of the late queen. I -think that these two honourable damoiselles would have caused the most -barbarous of men to weep at hearing so piteous a tale; which they made -the more lamentable by tears, and by their tender, doleful, and noble -language. - -I also learned much from a book which has been published, entitled “The -Martyrdom of the Queen of Scotland, Dowager of France.” Alas! that being -our queen did her no service. It seems to me that being such they ought -to have feared our vengeance for putting her to death; and they would -have thought a hundred times before they came to it, if our king had -chosen to take the initiative. But, because he hated the Messieurs de -Guise, his cousins, he took no pains except as formal duty. Alas! what -could that poor innocent do? This is what many asked. - -Others say that he made many formal appeals. It is true that he sent to -the Queen of England M. de Bellièvre, one of the greatest and wisest -senators of France and the ablest, who did not fail to offer all his -arguments, with the king’s prayers and threats, and do all else that he -could; and among other things he declared that it did not belong to one -king or sovereign to put to death another king or sovereign, over whom -he had no power either from God or man. - -I have never known a generous person who did not say that the Queen of -England would have won immortal glory had she used mercy to the Scottish -queen; and also she would be exempt from the risk of vengeance, however -tardy, which awaits her for the shedding of innocent blood that cries -aloud for it. It is said that the English queen was well advised of -this; but not only did she pass over the advice of many of her kingdom, -but also that of many great Protestant princes and lords both in France -and Germany,--such as the Prince de Condé and Casimir, since dead, and -the Prince of Orange and others, who had subscribed to this violent -death while not expecting it, but afterwards felt their conscience -burdened, inasmuch as it did not concern them and brought them no -advantage, and they did it only to please the queen; but, in truth, it -did them inestimable detriment. - -They say, too, that Queen Elizabeth, when she sent to notify that poor -Queen Marie of this melancholy sentence, assured her that it was done -with great and sad regret on her part, under constraint of Parliament -which urged it on her. To which Queen Marie answered: “She has much more -power than that to make them obedient to her will when it pleases her; -for she is the princess, or more truly the prince, who has made herself -the most feared and reverenced.” - -Now, I rely on the truth of all things, which time will reveal. Queen -Marie will live glorious in this world and in the other; and the time -will come in a few years when some good pope will canonize her in -memory of the martyrdom she suffered for the honour of God and of his -Law. - -It is not to be doubted that if that great, valiant, and generous -prince, the late M. de Guise, the last [Henri, le Balafré, assassinated -at Blois], was not dead, vengeance for so noble a queen and cousin thus -murdered would not still be unborn. I have said enough on so pitiful a -subject, which I end thus:-- - - This queen, of a beauty so incomparable, - Was, with too great injustice, put to death: - To sustain that heart of faith inviolable - Can it be there are none to avenge the wrong? - -One there is who has written her epitaph in Latin verses, the substance -of which is as follows: “Nature had produced this queen to be seen of -all the world: with great admiration was she seen for her beauty and -virtues so long as she lived: but England, envious, placed her on a -scaffold to be seen in derision: yet was well deceived; for the sight -turned praise and admiration to her, and glory and thanksgiving to God.” - -I must, before I finish, say a word here in reply to those whom I have -heard speak ill of her for the death of Chastellard, whom the queen -condemned to death in Scotland,--laying upon her that she had justly -suffered for making others suffer. Upon that count there is no justice, -and it should never have been made. Those who know the history will -never blame our queen; and, for that reason, I shall here relate it for -her justification. - -Chastellard was a gentleman of Dauphiné, of good family and condition, -for he was great-nephew on his mother’s side of that brave M. de Bayard, -whom they say he resembled in figure, which in him was medium, very -beautiful and slender, as they say M. de Bayard had also. He was very -adroit at arms, and inclined in all ways to honourable exercises, such -as firing at a mark, playing at tennis, leaping, and dancing. In short, -he was a most accomplished gentleman; and as for his soul, it was also -very noble; he spoke well, and wrote of the best, even in rhyme, as well -as any gentleman in France, using a most sweet and lovely poesy, like a -knight. - -He followed M. d’Amville, so-called then, now M. le Connétable; but when -we were with M. le Grand Prieur, of the house of Lorraine, who conducted -the queen [to Scotland] the said Chastellard was with us, and, in this -company became known to the queen for his charming actions, above all -for his rhymes; among which he made some to please her in translation -from Italian (which he spoke and knew well), beginning, _Che giova -posseder città e regni_; which is a very well made sonnet, the substance -of which is as follows: “What serves her to possess so many kingdoms, -cities, towns, and provinces, to command so many peoples, and be -respected, feared, admired of all, if still to sleep a widow, lone and -cold as ice?” - -He made also other rhymes, most beautiful, which I have seen written by -his hand, for they never were imprinted, that I know. - -The queen, therefore, who loved letters, and principally poems, for -sometimes she made dainty ones herself, was pleased in seeing those of -Chastellard, and even made response, and, for that reason, gave him good -cheer and entertained him often. But he, in secrecy, was kindled by a -flame too high, the which its object could not hinder, for who can -shield herself from love? In times gone by the most chaste goddesses and -dames were loved, and still are loved; indeed we love their marble -statues; but for that no lady has been blamed unless she yielded to it. -Therefore, kindle who will these sacred fires! - -Chastellard returned with all our troop to France, much grieved and -desperate in leaving so beautiful an object of his love. After one year -the civil war broke out in France. He, who belonged to the Religion -[Protestant], struggled within himself which side to take, whether to go -to Orléans with the others, or stay with M. d’Amville, and make war -against his faith. On the one hand, it seemed to him too bitter to go -against his conscience; on the other, to take up arms against his master -displeased him hugely; wherefore he resolved to fight for neither the -one nor yet the other, but to banish himself and go to Scotland, let -fight who would, and pass the time away. He opened this project to M. -d’Amville and told him his resolution, begging him to write letters in -his favour to the queen; which he obtained: then, taking leave of one -and all, he went; I saw him go; he bade me adieu and told me in part his -resolution, we being friends. - -He made his voyage, which ended happily, so that, having arrived in -Scotland and discoursing of his intentions to the queen, she received -him kindly and assured him he was welcome. But he, abusing such good -cheer and seeking to attack the sun, perished like Phaëton; for, driven -by love and passion, he was presumptuous enough to hide beneath the bed -of her Majesty, where he was discovered when she retired. The queen, not -wishing to make a scandal, pardoned him; availing herself of that good -counsel which the lady of honour gives to her mistress in the “Novels of -the Queen of Navarre,” when a seigneur of her brother’s Court, slipping -through a trap-door made by him in the alcove, seeking to win her, -brought nothing back but shame and scratches: she wishing to punish his -temerity and complain of him to her brother, the lady of honour -counselled her that, since the seigneur had won nought but shame and -scratches, it was for her honour as a lady of such mark not to be talked -of; for the more it was contended over, the more it would go to the nose -of the world and the mouth of gossips. - -Our Queen of Scotland, being wise and prudent, passed this scandal by; -but the said Chastellard, not content and more than ever mad with love, -returned for the second time, forgetting both his former crime and -pardon. Then the queen, for her honour, and not to give occasion to her -women to think evil, and also to her people if it were known, lost -patience and gave him up to justice, which condemned him quickly to be -beheaded, in view of the crime of such an act. The day having come, -before he died he had in his hand the hymns of M. de Ronsard; and, for -his eternal consolation, he read from end to end the Hymn of Death -(which is well done, and proper not to make death abhorrent), taking no -help of other spiritual book, nor of minister or confessor. - -Having ended that reading wholly, he turned to the spot where he thought -the queen must be, and cried in a loud voice: “Adieu, most beautiful, -most cruel princess in all the world!” then, firmly stretching his neck -to the executioner, he let himself be killed very easily. - -Some have wished to discuss why it was that he called her cruel; whether -because she had no pity on his love, or on his life. But what should she -have done? If, after her first pardon she had granted him a second, she -would on all sides have been slandered; to save her honour it was -needful that the law should take its course. That is the end of this -history. - -[Illustration: MARIA STVART SCO: ET GAL: REGINA] - -“Well, they may say what they will, many a true heart will be sad for -Mary Stuart, e’en if all be true men say of her.” That speech, which -Walter Scott puts into the mouth of one of the personages in his novel -of “The Abbot” at the moment when he is preparing the reader for an -introduction to the beautiful queen, remains the last word of posterity -as it was of contemporaries,--the conclusion of history as of poesy. - -Elizabeth living triumphed, and her policy after her lives and triumphs -still, so that Protestantism and the British empire are one and the same -thing. Marie Stuart succumbed, in her person and in that of her -descendants; Charles I. under the axe, James II. in exile, each -continued and added to his heritage of faults, imprudences, and -calamities; the whole race of the Stuarts was cut off, and seems to have -deserved it. But, vanquished in the order of things and under the empire -of fact, and even under that of inexorable reason, the beautiful queen -has regained all in the world of imagination and of pity. She has found, -from century to century, knights, lovers, and avengers. A few years ago, -a Russian of distinction, Prince Alexander Labanoff, began, with -incomparable zeal, a search through the archives, the collections, the -libraries of Europe, for documents emanating directly from Marie Stuart, -the most insignificant as well as the most important of her letters, in -order to connect them and so make a nucleus of history, and also an -authentic shrine, not doubting that interest, serious and tender -interest, would rise, more powerful still, from the bosom of truth -itself. On the appearance of this collection of Prince Labanoff, M. -Mignet produced, from 1847 to 1850, a series of articles in the “Journal -des Savants,” in which, not content with appreciating the prince’s -documents, he presented from himself new documents, hitherto -unpublished and affording new lights. Since then, leaving the form of -criticism and dissertation, M. Mignard has taken this fine subject as a -whole, and has written a complete narrative upon it, grave, compact, -interesting, and definitive, which he is now publishing [1851]. - -In the meantime, about a year ago, there appeared a “History of Marie -Stuart” by M. Dargaud, a writer of talent, whose book has been much -praised and much read. M. Dargaud made, in his own way, various -researches about the heroine of his choice; he went expressly to England -and Scotland, and visited as a pilgrim all the places and scenes of -Marie Stuart’s sojourns and captivities. While drawing abundantly from -preceding writers, M. Dargaud does them justice with effusion and -cordiality; he sheds through every line of his history the sentiment of -exalted pity and poesy inspired within him by the memory of that royal -and Catholic victim; he deserves the fine letter which Mme. Sand wrote -him from Nohant, April 10, 1851, in which she congratulates him, almost -without criticism, and speaks of Marie Stuart with charm and eloquence. -If I do not dwell at greater length upon the work of M. Dargaud, it is, -I must avow, because I am not of that too emotional school which softens -and enervates history. I think that history should not necessarily be -dull and wearisome, but still less do I think it should be impassioned, -sentimental, and as if magnetic. Without wishing to depreciate the -qualities of M. Dargaud, which are too much in the taste of the day not -to be their own recommendation, I shall follow in preference a more -severe historian, whose judgment and whose method of procedure inspire -me with confidence. - -Marie Stuart, born December 8, 1542, six days before the death of her -father, who was then combating, like all the kings his predecessors, a -turbulent nobility, began as an orphan her fickle and unfortunate -destiny. Storms assailed her in her cradle,-- - - “As if, e’en then, inhuman Fortune - Would suckle me with sadness and with pain,” - -as an old poet, in I know not what tragedy, has made her say. Crowned at -the age of nine months, disputed already in marriage between the French -and English parties, each desiring to prevail in Scotland, she was -early, through the influence of her mother, Marie de Guise (sister of -the illustrious Guises), bestowed upon the Dauphin of France, the son of -King Henri II. August 13, 1548, Marie Stuart, then rather less than six -years old, landed at Brest. Betrothed to the young dauphin, who, on his -father’s death became François II., she was brought up among the -children of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, and remained in France, -first as dauphine, then as queen, until the premature death of her -husband. She lived there in every respect as a French princess. These -twelve or thirteen years in France were her joy and her charm, and the -source of her ruin. - -She grew up in the bosom of the most polished, most learned, most -gallant Court of those times, shining there in her early bloom like a -rare and most admired marvel, knowing music and all the arts (_divinæ -Palladis artes_), learning the languages of antiquity, speaking themes -in Latin, superior in French rhetoric, enjoying an intercourse with -poets, and being herself their rival with her poems. Scotland, during -all this time, seemed to her a barbaric and savage land, which she -earnestly hoped never to see again, or, at any rate, never to inhabit. -Trained to a policy wholly of the Court and wholly personal, they made -her sign at Fontainebleau at the time of her marriage (1558) a secret -deed of gift of the kingdom of Scotland to the kings of France, at the -same time that she publicly gave adherence to the conditions which the -commissioners from Scotland had attached to the marriage, conditions -under which she pledged herself to maintain the integrity, the laws, and -the liberties of her native land. It was at this very moment that she -secretly made gift to the kings of France of her whole kingdom by an act -of her own good-will and power. The Court of France prompted her to that -imprudent treachery at the age of sixteen. Another very impolitic -imprudence, which proclaimed itself more openly, was committed when -Henri II., on the death of Mary Tudor, made Marie Stuart, the dauphine, -bear the arms of England beside those of Scotland, thus presenting her -thenceforth as a declared rival and competitor of Elizabeth. - -When Marie Stuart suddenly lost her husband (December 5, 1560), and it -was decided that she, a widow at eighteen, should, instead of remaining -in her dowry of Touraine, return to her kingdom of Scotland to bring -order to the civil troubles there existing, universal mourning took -place in the world of young French seigneurs, noble ladies, and poets. -The latter consigned their regrets to many poems which picture Marie -Stuart to the life in this decisive hour, the first really sorrowful -hour she had ever known. We see her refined, gracious, of a delicate, -fair complexion, the form and bust of queen or goddess,--L’Hôpital -himself had said of her, after his fashion, in a grave epithalamium:-- - - “Adspectu veneranda, putes ut Numen inesse: - Tantus in ore decor, majestas regia tanta est!-- - -of a long hand, elegant and slender (_gracilis_), an alabaster forehead -dazzling beneath the crape, and with golden hair--which needs a brief -remark. It is a poet (Ronsard) who speaks of “the gold of her ringed and -braided hair,” and poets, as we know, employ their words a little -vaguely. Mme. Sand, speaking of a portrait she had seen as a child in -the English Convent, says, without hesitation, “Marie was beautiful, but -red-haired.” M. Dargaud speaks of another portrait, “in which a sunray -lightens” he says rather oddly, “the curls of her living and electric -hair.” But Walter Scott, reputed the most correct of historical -romance-writers, in describing Marie Stuart a prisoner in Lochleven -Castle, shows us, as though he had seen them, her thick tresses of “dark -brown,” which escaped now and then from her coif. Here we are far from -the red or golden tints, and I see no other way of conciliating these -differences than to rest on “that hair so beautiful, so blond and fair” -[_si blonds et cendrés_] which Brantôme, an ocular witness, -admired,--hair that captivity whitened, leaving the poor queen of -forty-six “quite bald” in the hands of her executioner, as l’Estoile -relates. But at nineteen, the moment of her departure from France, the -young widow was in all the glory of her beauty, except for a brilliancy -of colour, which she lost at the death of her first husband, giving -place to a purer whiteness. - -Withal a lively, graceful, and sportive mind, and French raillery, an -ardent soul, capable of passion, open to desire, a heart which knew not -how to draw back when flame or fancy or enchantment stirred it. Such was -the queen, adventurous and poetical, who tore herself from France in -tears, sent by politic uncles to recover her authority amid the roughest -and most savage of “Frondes.” - -Scotland, since Marie Stuart left it as a child, had undergone great -changes; the principal was the Reformed religion which had taken root -there and extended itself vigorously. The great reformer Knox preached -the new doctrine, which found in Scotland stern, energetic souls ready -made to receive it. The old struggle of the lords and barons against the -kings was complicated and redoubled now by that of cities and people -against the brilliant beliefs of the Court and the Catholic hierarchy. -The birth of modern society, of civil equality, of respect for the -rights of all was painfully working itself out through barbaric scenes, -and by means of fanaticism itself. Alone and without counsel, contending -with the lords and the nobility as her ancestors had done, Marie Stuart, -quick, impulsive, subject to predilections and to antipathies, was -already insufficient for the work; what therefore could it be when she -found herself face to face with a religious party, born and growing -during recent years, face to face with an argumentative, gloomy party, -moral and daring, discussing rationally, Bible in hand, the right of -kings, and pushing logic even into prayer? Coming from a literary and -artificial Court, there was nothing in her that could comprehend these -grand and voiceless movements of the people, either to retard them or -turn them to her own profit by adapting herself to them. “She returned,” -says M. Mignet, “full of regrets and disgust, to the barren mountains -and the uncultured inhabitants of Scotland. More lovable than able, very -ardent and in no way cautious, she returned with a grace that was out of -keeping with her surroundings, a dangerous beauty, a keen but variable -intellect, a generous but rash soul, a taste for the arts, a love of -adventure, and all the passions of a woman joined to the excessive -liberty of a widow.” - -And to complicate the peril of this precarious situation she had for -neighbour in England a rival queen, Elizabeth, whom she had first -offended by claiming her title, and next, and no less, by a feminine and -proclaimed superiority of beauty and grace,--a rival queen capable, -energetic, rigid, and dissimulating, representing the contrary religious -opinion, and surrounded by able counsellors, firm, consistent, and -committed to the same cause. The seven years that Marie Stuart spent in -Scotland after her return from France (August 19, 1561) to her -imprisonment (May 18, 1568) are filled with all the blunders and all the -faults that could be committed by a young and thoughtless princess, -impulsive, unreflecting, and without shrewdness or ability except in the -line of her passion, never in view of a general political purpose. The -policy of Mme. de Longueville, during the Fronde, seems to me of the -same character. - -As to other faults, the moral faults of poor Marie Stuart, they are as -well known and demonstrated to-day as faults of that kind can well be. -Mme. Sand, always very indulgent, regards as the three black spots upon -her life the abandonment of Chastellard, her feigned caresses to the -hapless Darnley, and her forgetfulness of Bothwell. - -Chastellard, as we know, was a gentleman of Dauphiné, musician and poet, -in the train of the servitors and adorers of the queen, who at first was -very agreeable to her. Chastellard was one of the troop who escorted -Marie Stuart to Scotland, and sometime later, urged by his passion, he -returned there. But not knowing how to restrain himself, or to keep, as -became him, to poetic passion while waiting to inspire, if he could, a -real one, he was twice discovered beneath the bed of the queen; the -second time she lost patience and turned him over to the law. Poor -Chastellard was beheaded; he died reciting, so they say, a hymn of -Ronsard’s, and crying aloud: “O cruel Lady!” After so stern an act, to -which she was driven in fear of scandal and to put her honour above all -attainder and suspicion, Marie Stuart had, it would seem, but one course -to pursue, namely: to remain the most severe and most virtuous of -princesses. - -But her severity for Chastellard, though shown for effect, is merely a -peccadillo in comparison with her conduct to Darnley, her second -husband. By marrying this young man (July 29, 1565), her vassal, but of -the race of the Stuarts and her own family, Marie escaped the diverse -political combinations which were striving to attract her to a second -marriage; and it would have been, perhaps, a sensible thing to do, if -she had not done it as an act of caprice and passion. But she fell in -love with Darnley in a single day, and became disgusted in the next. -This tall, weakly youth, timid and conceited by turns, with a heart -“soft as wax,” had nothing in him which subjugates a woman and makes her -respect him. A woman such as Marie Stuart, changeable, ardent, easily -swayed, with the sentiment of her weakness and of her impulsiveness, -likes to find a master and at moments a tyrant in the man she loves, -whereas she soon despises her slave and creature when he is nought but -that; she much prefers an arm of iron to an effeminate hand. - -Less than six months after her marriage Marie, wholly disgusted, -consoled herself with an Italian, David Riccio, a man thirty-two years -of age, equally well fitted for business or pleasure, who advised her -and served her as secretary, and was gifted with a musical talent well -suited to commend him to women in other ways. The feeble Darnley -confided his jealousy to the discontented lords and gentlemen, and they, -in the interests of their faction, prodded his vengeance and offered to -serve it with their sword. Ministers and Presbyterian pastors took part -in the affair. The whole was plotted and managed with perfect unanimity -as a chastisement of Heaven, and, what is more, by help of deeds and -formal agreements which simulated legality. The queen and her favourite, -apparently before they had any suspicions, were taken in a net. David -Riccio was seized by the conspirators while supping in Marie’s cabinet -(March 9, 1566), Darnley being present, and from there he was dragged -into the next room and stabbed. Marie, at this date, was six months -pregnant by her husband. On that day, outraged in honour and embittered -in feeling, she conceived for Darnley a deeper contempt mingled with -horror, and swore to avenge herself on the murderers. For this purpose -she bided her time, she dissimulated; for the first time in her life she -controlled herself and restrained her actions. She became politic--as -the nature is of passionate women--only in the interests of her passion -and her vengeance. - -Here is the gravest and the most irreparable incident of her life. Even -after we have fully represented to ourselves what the average morality -of the sixteenth century, with all the treachery and atrocities it -tolerated, was, we are scarcely prepared for this. Marie Stuart’s first -desire was to revenge herself on the lords and gentlemen who had lent -their daggers to Darnley, rather than on her weak and timid husband. To -reach her end she reconciled herself with the latter and detached him -from the conspirators, his accomplices. She forced him to disavow them, -thus degrading and sinking him in his own estimation. At this point she -remained as long as a new passion was not added to her supreme contempt. -Meantime her child was born (June 19), and she made Darnley the father -of a son who resembled both parents on their worst sides, the future -James I. of England, that soul of a casuist in a king. But by this time -a new passion was budding in the open heart of Marie Stuart. He whom she -now chose had neither Darnley’s feebleness nor the salon graces of a -Riccio; he was the Earl of Bothwell, a man of thirty, ugly, but martial -in aspect, brave, bold, violent, and capable of daring all things. To -him it was that this flexible and tender will was henceforth to cling -for its support. Marie Stuart has found her master; and him she will -obey in all things, without scruple, without remorse, as happens always -in distracted passion. - -But how rid herself of a husband henceforth odious? How unite herself to -the man she loves and whose ambition is not of a kind to stop half way? -Here again we need--not to excuse, but to explain Marie Stuart--we need -to represent to our minds the morality of that day. A goodly number of -the same lords who had taken part in Riccio’s murder, and who were -leagued together by deeds and documents, offered themselves to the -queen, and, for the purpose of recovering favour, let her see the means -of getting rid of a husband who was now so irksome. She answered this -overture by merely speaking of a divorce and the difficulty of obtaining -it. But these men, little scrupulous, said to her plainly, by the mouth -of Lethington, the ablest and most politic of them all: “Madame, give -yourself no anxiety; we, the leaders of the nobility, and the heads of -your Grace’s Council, will find a way to deliver you from him without -prejudice to your son; and though my Lord Murray, here present (the -illegitimate brother of Marie Stuart), is little less scrupulous as a -Protestant than your Grace is as a Papist, I feel sure that he will look -through his fingers, see us act, and say nothing.” - -The word was spoken; Marie had only to do as her brother did, “look -through her fingers,” as the vulgar saying was, and let things go on -without taking part in them. She did take a part however; she led into -the trap, by a feigned return of tenderness, the unfortunate Darnley, -then convalescing from the small-pox. She removed his suspicions without -much trouble, and, recovering her empire over him, persuaded him to come -in a litter from Glasgow to Kirk-of-Field, at the gates of Edinburgh, -where there was a species of parsonage, little suitable for the -reception of a king and queen, but very convenient for the crime now to -be committed. - -There Darnley perished, strangled with his page, during the night of -February 9, 1567. The house was blown up by means of a barrel of -gunpowder, placed there to give the idea of an accident. During this -time Marie had gone to a masked ball at Holyrood, not having quitted her -husband until that evening, when all was prepared to its slightest -detail. Bothwell, who was present for a time at the ball, left Edinburgh -after midnight and presided at the killing. These circumstances are -proved in an irrefragable manner by the testimony of witnesses, by the -confessions of the actors, and by the letters of Marie Stuart, the -authenticity of which M. Mignard, with decisive clearness, places beyond -all doubt. She felt that in giving herself thus to Bothwell’s projects -she furnished him with weapons against herself and gave him grounds to -distrust her in turn. He might say to himself, as the Duke of Norfolk -said later, that “the pillow of such a woman was too hard” to sleep -upon. During the preparation of this horrible trap she more than once -showed her repugnance to deceive the poor sick dupe who trusted her. “I -shall never rejoice,” she writes, “through deceiving him who trusts me. -Nevertheless, command me in all things. But do not conceive an ill -opinion of me; because you yourself are the cause of this; for I would -never do anything against him for my own particular vengeance.” And -truly this rôle of Clytemnestra, or of Gertrude in Hamlet was not in -accordance with her nature, and could only have been imposed upon her. -But passion rendered her for this once insensible to pity, and made her -heart (she herself avows it) “as hard as diamond.” Marie Stuart soon put -the climax to her ill-regulated passion and desires by marrying -Bothwell; thus revolting the mind of her whole people, whose morality, -fanatical as it was, was never in the least depraved, and was far more -upright than that of the nobles. - -The crime was echoed beyond the seas. L’Hôpital, that representative of -the human conscience in a dreadful era, heard, in his country retreat, -of the misguided conduct of her whose early grace and first marriage he -had celebrated in his stately epithalamium; and he now recorded his -indignation in another Latin poem, wherein he recounts the horrors of -that funereal night, and does not shrink from calling the wife and the -young mother “the murderess, alas! of a father whose child was still at -her breast.” - -On the 15th of May, three months--only three months after the murder, at -the first smile of spring, the marriage with the murderer was -celebrated. Marie Stuart justified in all ways Shakespeare’s saying: -“Frailty, thy name is Woman.” For none was ever more a woman than Marie -Stuart. - -Here I am unable to admit the third reproach of Mme. Sand, that of Marie -Stuart’s forgetfulness of Bothwell. I see, on the contrary, through all -the obstacles, all the perils immediately following this marriage, that -Marie had no other idea than that of avoiding separation from her -violent and domineering husband. She loved him so madly that she said to -whosoever might hear her (April, 1567) that “she would quit France, -England, and her own country, and follow him to the ends of the earth in -nought but a white petticoat, rather than be parted from him.” And soon -after, forced by the lords to tear herself from Bothwell, she reproaches -them bitterly, asking but one thing, “that both be put in a vessel and -sent away where Fortune led them.” It was only enforced separation, -final imprisonment, and the impossibility of communication, which -compelled the rupture. It is true that Marie, a prisoner in England, -solicited the Parliament of Scotland to annul her marriage with -Bothwell, in the hope she then had of marrying the Duke of Norfolk, who -played the lover to herself and crown, though she never saw him. But, -Bothwell being a fugitive and ruined, can we reproach Marie Stuart for a -project from which she hoped for restoration and deliverance? Her -passion for Bothwell had been a delirium, which drove her into -connivance with crime. That fever calmed, Marie Stuart turned her mind -to the resources which presented themselves, among which was the offer -of her hand. Her wrong-doing does not lie there; amid so many -infidelities and horrors, it would be pushing delicacy much too far to -require eternity of sentiment for the remains of an unbridled and bloody -passion. That which is due to such passions, when they leave no hatred -behind them, that which becomes them best, is oblivion. - -Such conduct, and such deeds, crowned by her heedless flight into -England and the imprudent abandonment of her person to Elizabeth, seem -little calculated to make the touching and pathetic heroine we are -accustomed to admire and cherish in Marie Stuart. Yet she deserves all -pity; and we have but to follow her through the third and last portion -of her life, through that long, unjust, and sorrowful captivity of -nineteen years (May 18, 1568, to February 5, 1587) to render it -unconsciously. Struggling without defence against a crafty and ambitious -rival, liable to mistakes from friends outside, the victim of a grasping -and tenacious policy which never let go its prey and took so long a time -to torture before devouring it, she never for a single instant fails -towards herself; she rises ever higher. That faculty of hope which so -often had misled her becomes the grace of her condition and a virtue. -She moves the whole world in the interest of her misfortunes; she stirs -it with a charm all-powerful. Her cause transforms and magnifies itself. -It is no longer that of a passionate and heedless woman punished for her -frailties and her inconstancy; it is that of the legitimate heiress of -the crown of England, exposed in her dungeon to the eyes of the world, -a faithful, unshaken Catholic, who refuses to sacrifice her faith to the -interests of her ambition or even to the salvation of her life. The -beauty and grandeur of such a rôle were fitted to stir the tender and -naturally believing heart of Marie Stuart. She fills her soul with that -rôle; she substitutes it, from the first moment of her captivity, for -all her former personal sentiments, which, little by little, subside and -expire within her as the fugitive occasions which aroused them pass -away. She seems to remember them no more than she does the waves and the -foam of those brilliant lakes that she has crossed. For nineteen years -the whole of Catholicity is disquieted and impassioned about her; and -she is there, half-heroine, half-martyr, making the signal and waving -her banner behind the bars. Captive that she was, do not accuse her of -conspiring against Elizabeth; for with her ideas of right divine and of -absolute kingship from sovereign to sovereign, it was not conspiring, -she being a prisoner, to seek for the triumph of her cause; it was -simply pursuing the war. - -From the moment when Marie Stuart is a prisoner, when we see her -crushed, deprived of all that comforts and consoles, infirm, alas! with -whitened hair before her time, when we hear her, in the longest and most -remarkable of her letters to Elizabeth (November 8, 1582), repeating for -the twentieth time: “Your prison, without right, without just grounds, -has already so destroyed my body that you will soon see an end if this -lasts much longer; so that my enemies have no great time to satisfy -their cruelty against me; nought remains to me but my soul, the which it -is not in your power to render captive,”--when we dwell on this mixture -of pride and plaint, pity carries us along; our hearts speak; the tender -charm with which she was endowed, and which acted upon all who -approached her, asserts its power and lays its spell upon us even at -this distance. It is not by the text of a scribe, nor yet with the -logic of a statesman that we judge her; it is with the heart of a -knight, or rather, let me say, with that of a man. Humanity, pity, -religion, supreme poetic grace, all those invincible and immortal powers -feel themselves concerned in her person and cry to us across the ages. -“Bear these tidings,” she said to her old Melvil at the moment of death: -“that I die firm in my religion, a true Catholic, a true Scotchwoman, a -true Frenchwoman.” These beliefs, these patriotisms and nationalities -thus evoked by Marie Stuart have made that long echo that replies to her -with tears and love. - -What reproach can we make to one who, after nineteen years of anguish -and moral torture, searched, during the night that preceded her death, -in the “Lives of the Saints” (which her ladies were accustomed to read -to her nightly) for some great sinner whom God had pardoned. She stopped -at the story of the penitent thief, which seemed to her the most -reassuring example of human confidence and divine mercy; and while Jean -Kennedy, one of her ladies, read it to her, she said: “He was a great -sinner, but not so great as I. I implore our Lord, in memory of His -Passion, to remember and have mercy upon me, as He had upon him, in the -hour of death.” Those true and sincere feelings, that contrite humility -in her last and sublime moments, this perfect intelligence, and profound -need of pardon, leave us without means of seeing any stain of the past -upon her except through tears. - -It was thus that old Étienne Pasquier felt. Having to relate in his -“Recherches” the death of Marie Stuart, he compares it with the tragic -history of the Connétable de Saint-Pol, and that of the Connétable de -Bourbon, which left him under a mixture of conflicting sentiments. “But -in that of which I now discourse,” he says, “methinks I see only tears; -and is there, by chance, a man who, reading this, will not forgive his -eyes?” - -M. Mignet, who examines all things as an historian, and gives but short -pages to emotion, has admirably distinguished and explained the -different phases of Marie Stuart’s captivity, and the secret springs -which were set to work at various periods. He has, especially, cast a -new light, aided by Spanish documents in the Archives of Simancas, on -the slow preparations of the enterprise undertaken by Philip II., that -fruitless and tardy crusade, delayed until after the death of Marie -Stuart, which ended in the disastrous shipwreck of the invincible -Armada. - -Issuing from this brilliant and stormy episode of the history of the -sixteenth century, which has been so strongly and judiciously set before -us by M. Mignet, full of these scenes of violence, treachery, and -iniquity, and without having the innocence to believe that humanity has -done forever with such deeds, we congratulate ourselves in spite of -everything, and rejoice that we live in an age of softened and -ameliorated public morals. We exclaim with M. de Tavannes, when he -relates in his “Memoirs” the life and death of Marie Stuart: “Happy he -who lives in a safe State; where good and evil are rewarded and punished -according to their deserts.” Happy the times and the communities where a -certain general morality and human respect for opinion, where a penal -Code, and especially the continual check of publicity, exist to -interdict, even to the boldest, those criminal resolutions which every -human heart, if left to itself, is ever tempted to engender. - -SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1851). - - - - -DISCOURSE IV. - -ÉLISABETH OF FRANCE, QUEEN OF SPAIN. - - -I write here of the Queen of Spain, Élisabeth of France, a true daughter -of France in everything, a beautiful, wise, virtuous, spiritual, and -good queen if ever there was one; and I believe since Saint Élisabeth no -one has borne that name who surpassed her in all sorts of virtues and -perfections, although that beautiful name of Élisabeth has been fateful -of goodness, virtue, sanctity, and perfection to those who have borne -it, as many believe.[11] - -When she was born at Fontainebleau, the king her grandfather, and her -father and mother made very great joy of it; you would have said she was -a lucky star bringing good hap to France; for her baptism brought peace -to us, as did her marriage. See how good fortunes are gathered in one -person to be distributed on diverse occasions; for then it was that -peace was made with King Henry [VIII.] of England; and to confirm and -strengthen it our king made him her sponsor and gave to his goddaughter -the beautiful name of Élisabeth; at whose birth and baptism the -rejoicings were as great as at those of the little King François the -last. - -Child as she was, she promised to be some great thing at a future day; -and when she came to be grown up she promised it more surely still; for -all virtue and goodness abounded in her, so that the whole Court -admired her, and prognosticated a fine grandeur and great royalty to her -in time. So they say that when King Henri married his second daughter, -Madame Claude, to the Duc de Lorraine, there were some who remonstrated -against the wrong done to the elder in marrying the younger before her; -but the king made this response: “My daughter Élisabeth is such that a -duchy is not for her to marry. She must have a kingdom; and even so, not -one of the lesser but one of the greater kingdoms; so great is she -herself in all things; which assures me that she can miss none, -wherefore she can wait.” - -You would have said he prophesied the future. He did not fail on his -side to seek and procure one for her; for when peace was made between -the two kings at Cercan she was promised in marriage to Don Carlos, -Prince of Spain, a brave and gallant prince and the image of his -grandfather, the Emperor Charles, had he lived. But the King of Spain, -his father, becoming a widower by the death of the Queen of England, his -wife and cousin-german, and having seen the portrait of Madame Élisabeth -and finding her very beautiful and much to his liking, cut the ground -from under the feet of his son and did himself the charity of wedding -her himself. On which the French and Spaniards said with one voice that -one would think she was conceived and born before the world and reserved -by God until his will had joined her with this great king, her husband; -for it must have been predestined that he, being so great, so powerful, -and thus approaching in all grandeur to the skies, should marry no other -princess than one so perfect and accomplished. When the Duke of Alba -came to see her and espouse her for the king, his master, he found her -so extremely agreeable and suited to the said master that he said she -was a princess who would make the King of Spain very easily forget his -grief for his last two wives, the English and the Portuguese. - -After this, as I have heard from a good quarter, the said prince, Don -Carlos, having seen her, became so distractedly in love with her, and so -full of jealousy, that he bore a great grudge against his father, and -was so angry with him for having deprived him of so fine a prize that he -never loved him more, but reproached him with the great wrong and insult -he had done him in taking her who had been promised to him solemnly in -the treaty of peace. They do say that this was, in part, the cause of -his death, with other topics which I shall not speak of at this hour; -for he could not keep himself from loving her in his soul, honouring and -revering her, so charming and agreeable did she seem in his eyes, as -certainly she was in everything. - -Her face was handsome, her hair and eyes so shaded her complexion and -made it the more attractive that I have heard say in Spain that the -courtiers dared not look upon her for fear of being taken in love and -causing jealousy to the king, her husband, and, consequently, running -risk of their lives. - -The Church people did the same from fear of temptation, they not having -strength to command their flesh to look at her without being tempted. -Although she had had the small-pox, after being grown-up and married, -they had so well preserved her face with poultices of fresh eggs (a very -proper thing for that purpose) that no marks appeared. I saw the queen, -her mother, very much concerned to send her by many couriers many -remedies; but this of the egg-poultice was sovereign. - -Her figure was very fine, taller than that of her sisters, which made -her much admired in Spain, where such tall women are rare, and for that -the more esteemed. And with this figure she had a bearing, a majesty, a -gesture, a gait and grace that intermingled the Frenchwoman with the -Spaniard in sweetness and gravity; so that, as I myself saw, when she -passed through her Court, or went out to certain places, whether -churches, or monasteries, or gardens, there was such great press to see -her, and the crowd of persons was so thick, there was no turning round -in the mob; and happy was he or she who could say in the evening, “I saw -the queen.” It was said, and I saw it myself, that no queen was ever -loved in Spain like her (begging pardon of the Queen Isabella of -Castile), and her subjects called her _la reyna de la paz y de la -bondad_, that is to say, “the queen of peace and kindness;” but our -Frenchmen called her “the olive-branch of peace.” - -A year before she came to France to visit her mother at Bayonne, she -fell ill to such extremity that the physicians gave her up. On which a -little Italian doctor, who had no great vogue at Court, presenting -himself to the king, declared that if he were allowed to act he would -cure her; which the king permitted, she being almost dead. The doctor -undertook her and gave her a medicine, after which they suddenly saw the -colour return miraculously to her face, her speech came back, and then, -soon after, her convalescence began. Nevertheless the whole Court and -all the people of Spain blocked the roads with processions and comings -and goings to churches and hospitals for her health’s sake, some in -shirts, others bare-footed and bare-headed, offering oblations, prayers, -orisons, intercessions to God, with fasts, macerations of the body, and -other good and saintly devotions for her health; so that every one -believes firmly that these good prayers, tears, vows, and cries to God -were the cause of her cure, rather than the medicine of that doctor. - -I arrived in Spain a month after this recovery of her health; but I saw -so much devotion among the people in giving thanks to God, by fêtes, -rejoicings, magnificences, fireworks, that there was no doubting in any -way how much they felt. I saw nothing else in Spain as I travelled -through it, and reaching the Court just two days after she left her -room, I saw her come out and get into her coach, sitting at the door of -it, which was her usual place, because such beauty should not be hidden -within, but displayed openly. - -She was dressed in a gown of white satin all covered with silver -trimmings, her face uncovered. I think that nothing was ever seen more -beautiful than this queen, as I had the boldness to tell her; for she -had given me a right good welcome and cheer, coming as I did from France -and the Court, and bringing her news of the king, her good brother, and -the queen, her good mother; for all her joy and pleasure was to know of -them. It was not I alone who thought her beautiful, but all the Court -and all the people of Madrid thought so likewise; so that it might be -said that even illness favoured her, for after doing her such cruel harm -it embellished her skin, making it so delicate and polished that she was -certainly more beautiful than ever before. - -Leaving thus her chamber for the first time, to do the best and -saintliest thing she could she went to the churches to give thanks to -God for the favour of her health; and this good work she continued for -the space of fifteen days, not to speak of the vow she made to Our Lady -of Guadalupe; letting the whole people see her face uncovered (as was -her usual fashion) till you might have thought they worshipped her, so -to speak, rather than honoured or revered her. - -So when she died [1568], as I have heard the late M. de Lignerolles, who -saw her die, relate, he having gone to carry to the King of Spain the -news of the victory of Jarnac, never were a people so afflicted, so -disconsolate; none ever shed so many tears, being unable to recover -themselves in any way, but mourning her with despair incessantly. - -She made a noble end [_at._ 23], leaving this world with firm courage, -and desiring much the other. - -Sinister things have been said of her death, as having been hastened. I -have heard one of her ladies tell that the first time she saw her -husband she looked at him so fixedly that the king, not liking it, said -to her: _Que mirais? Si tengo canas?_ which means: “What are you gazing -at? Is my hair white?” These words touched her so much to the heart that -ever after her ladies augured ill for her. - -It is said that a Jesuit, a man of importance, speaking of her one day -in a sermon, and praising her rare virtues, charities, and kindness, let -fall the words that she had wickedly been made to die, innocent as she -was; for which he was banished to the farthest depths of the Indies of -Spain. This is very true, as I have been told. - -There are other conjectures so great that silence must be kept about -them; but very true it is that this princess was the best of her time -and loved by every one. - -So long as she lived in Spain never did she forget the affection she -bore to France, and in that was not like Germaine de Foix, second wife -of King Ferdinand, who when she saw herself raised to such high rank -became so haughty that she made no account of her own country, and -disdained it so much that, when Louis XII., her uncle, and Ferdinand -came to Savonne, she, being with her husband, held herself so high that -never would she notice a Frenchman, not even her brother Gaston de Foix, -Duc de Nemours, neither would she deign to speak or look at the greatest -persons of France who were present; for which she was much ridiculed. -But after the death of her husband she suffered for this, having fallen -from her high estate and being held in no great account, whereat she -was miserable. They say there are none so vainglorious as persons of low -estate who rise to grandeur; not that I mean to say that princess was of -low estate, being of the house of Foix, a very illustrious and great -house; but from simple daughter of a count to be queen of so great a -kingdom was a rise which gave occasion to feel much glory, but not to -forget herself or abuse her station towards a King of France, her uncle, -and her nearest relations and others of the land of her birth. In this -she showed she lacked a great mind; or else that she was foolishly -vainglorious. For surely there is a difference between the house of Foix -and the house of France; not that I mean to say the house of Foix is not -great and very noble, but the house of France--hey! - -Our Queen Élisabeth never did like that. She was born great in herself, -great in mind and very able, so that a royal grandeur could not fail -her. She had, if she had wished it, double cause over Germaine de Foix -to be haughty and arrogant, for she was daughter of a great King of -France, and married to the greatest king in the world, he being not the -monarch of one kingdom, but of many, or, as one might say, of all the -Spains,--Jerusalem, the Two Sicilies, Majorca, Minorca, Sardinia, and -the Western Indies, which seem indeed a world, besides being lord of -infinitely more lands and greater seigneuries than Ferdinand ever had. -Therefore we should laud our princess for her gentleness, which is well -becoming in a great personage towards each and all; and likewise for the -affection she showed to Frenchmen, who, on arriving in Spain, were -welcomed by her with so benign a face, the least among them as well as -the greatest, that none ever left her without feeling honoured and -content. I can speak for myself, as to the honour she did me in talking -to me often during the time I stayed there; asking me, at all hours, -news of the king, the queen her mother, messieurs her brothers, and -madame her sister, with others of the Court, not forgetting to name -them, each and all, and to inquire about them; so that I wondered much -how she could remember these things as if she had just left the Court of -France; and I often asked her how it was possible she could keep such -memories in the midst of her grandeur. - -When she came to Bayonne she showed herself just as familiar with the -ladies and maids of honour, neither more nor less, as she was when a -girl; and as for those who were absent or married since her departure, -she inquired with great interest about them all. She did the same to the -gentlemen of her acquaintance, and to those who were not, informing -herself as to who the latter were, and saying: “Such and such were at -Court in my day, I knew them well; but these were not, and I desire to -know them.” In short, she contented every one. - -When she made her entry into Bayonne she was mounted on an ambling -horse, most superbly and richly caparisoned with pearl embroideries -which had formerly been used by the deceased empress when she made her -entries into her towns, and were thought to be worth one hundred -thousand crowns, and some say more. She had a noble grace on horseback, -and it was fine to see her; she showed herself so beautiful and so -agreeable that every one was charmed with her. - -We all had commands to go to meet her, and accompany her on this entry, -as indeed it was our duty to do; and we were gratified when, having made -her our reverence, she did us the honour to thank us; and to me above -all she gave good greeting, because it was scarcely four months since I -had left her in Spain; which touched me much, receiving such favour -above my companions and more honour than belonged to me. - -On my return from Portugal and from Pignon de Belis [Penon de Velez], a -fortress which was taken in Barbary, she welcomed me very warmly, asking -me news of the conquest and of the army. She presented me to Don Carlos, -who came into her room, together with the princess, and to Don Juan [of -Austria, Philip II.’s brother, the conqueror of Lepanto]. I was two days -without going to see her, on account of a toothache I had got upon the -sea. She asked Riberac, maid of honour, where I was and if I were ill, -and having heard what my trouble was she sent me her apothecary, who -brought me an herb very special for that ache, which, on merely being -held in the palm of the hand, cures the pain suddenly, as it did very -quickly for me. - -I can boast that I was the first to bring the queen-mother word of Queen -Élisabeth’s desire to come to France and see her, for which she thanked -me much both then and later; for the Queen of Spain was her good -daughter, whom she loved above the others, and who returned her the -like; for Queen Élisabeth so honoured, respected, and feared her that I -have heard her say she never received a letter from the queen, her -mother, without trembling and dreading lest she was angry with her and -had written some painful thing; though, God knows, she had never said -one to her since she was married, nor been angry with her; but the -daughter feared the mother so much that she always had that -apprehension. - -It was on this journey to Bayonne that Pompadour the elder having killed -Chambret at Bordeaux, wrongfully as some say, the queen-mother was so -angry that if she could have caught him she would have had him beheaded, -and no one dared speak to her of mercy. - -M. Strozzi, who was fond of the said Pompadour, bethought him of -employing his sister, Signora Clarice Strozzi, Comtesse de Tenda, whom -the Queen of Spain loved from her earliest years, they having studied -together. The said countess, who loved her brother, did not refuse him, -but begged the Queen of Spain to intercede; who answered that she would -do anything for her except that, because she dreaded to irritate and -annoy the queen, her mother, and displease her. But the countess -continuing to importune her, she employed a third person who sounded the -ford privately, telling the queen-mother that the queen, her daughter, -would have asked this pardon to gratify the said countess had she not -feared to displease her. To which the queen-mother replied that the -thing must be wholly impossible to make her refuse it. On which the -Queen of Spain made her little request, but still in fear; and suddenly -it was granted. Such was the kindness of this princess, and her virtue -in honouring and fearing the queen, her mother, she being herself so -great. Alas! the Christian proverb did not hold good in her case, -namely: “He that would live long years must love and honour and fear his -father and mother;” for, in spite of doing all that, she died in the -lovely and pleasant April of her days; for now, at the time I write, -[1591] she would have been, had she lived, forty-six years old. Alas! -that this fair sun disappeared so soon in a dark-some grave, when she -might have lighted this fine world for twenty good years without even -then being touched by age; for she was by nature and complexion fitted -to keep her beauty long, and even had old age attacked her, her beauty -was of a kind to be the stronger. - -Surely, if her death was hard to Spaniards, it was still more bitter to -us Frenchmen, for as long as she lived France was never invaded by those -quarrels which, since then, Spain has put upon us; so well did she know -how to win and persuade the king, her husband, for our good and our -peace; the which should make us ever mourn her. - -She left two daughters, the most honourable and virtuous infantas in -Christendom. When they were large enough, that is to say, three or four -years old, she begged her husband to leave the eldest wholly to her that -she might bring her up in the French fashion. Which the king willingly -granted. So she took her in hand, and gave her a fine and noble training -in the style of her own country, so that to-day that infanta is as -French as her sister, the Duchesse de Savoie, is Spanish; she loves and -cherishes France as her mother taught her, and you may be sure that all -the influence and power that she has with the king, her father, she -employs for the help and succour of those poor Frenchmen whom she knows -are suffering in Spanish hands. I have heard it said that after the rout -of M. Strozzi, very many French soldiers and gentlemen having been put -in the galleys, she went, when at Lisbon, to visit all the galleys that -were then there; and all the Frenchmen whom she found on the chain, to -the number of six twenties, she caused to be released, giving them money -to reach their own land; so that the captains of the galleys were -obliged to hide those that remained. - -She was a very beautiful princess and very agreeable, of an extremely -graceful mind, who knew all the affairs of the kingdom of the king, her -father, and was well trained in them. I hope to speak of her hereafter -by herself, for she deserves all honour for the love she bears to -France; she says she can never part with it, having good right to it; -and we, if we have obligation to this princess for loving us, how much -more should we have to the queen, her mother, for having thus brought -her up and taught her. - -Would to God I were a good enough petrarchizer to exalt as I desire this -Élisabeth of France! for, if the beauty of her body gives me most ample -matter, that of her fine soul gives me still more, as these verses, -which were made upon her at Court at the time she was married, will -testify: - - Happy the prince whom Heaven ordains - To Élisabeth’s sweet acquaintance: - More precious far than crown or sceptre - The glad enjoyment of so great a treasure. - Gifts most divine she had at birth, - The proof and the effect of which we see; - Her youthful years showed their appearance, - But now her virtues bear their perfect fruit. - -When this queen was put into the hands of the Duc de l’Infantado and the -Cardinal de Burgos, who were commissioned by their king to receive her -at Roncevaux in a great hall, after the said deputies had made their -reverence, she rising from her chair to welcome them, Cardinal de Burgos -harangued her; to whom she made response so honourably, and in such fine -fashion and good grace that he was quite amazed; for she spoke in the -best manner, having been very well taught. - -After which the King of Navarre, who was there as her principal -conductor, and also leader of all the army which was with her, was -summoned to deliver her, according to the order, which was shown to the -Cardinal de Bourbon, to receive her. The king replied, for he spoke -well, and said: “I place in your hands this princess, whom I have -brought from the house of the greatest king in the world to be placed in -the hands of the most illustrious king on earth. Knowing you to be very -sufficient and chosen by the king your master to receive her, I make no -difficulty nor doubt that you will acquit yourselves worthily of this -trust, which I now discharge upon you; begging you to have peculiar -care of her health and person, for she deserves it; and I wish you to -know that never did there enter Spain so great an ornament of all -virtues and chastities, as in time you will know well by results.” - -The Spaniards replied at once that already at first sight they had very -ample knowledge of this from her manner and grave majesty; and, in -truth, her virtues were rare. - -She had great knowledge, because the queen her mother had made her study -well under M. de Saint-Étienne, her preceptor, whom she always loved and -respected until her death. She loved poesy, and to read it. She spoke -well, in either French or Spanish, with a very noble air and much good -grace. Her Spanish language was beautiful, as dainty and attractive as -possible; she learned it in three or four months after coming to Spain. - -To Frenchmen she always spoke French; never being willing to discontinue -it, but reading it daily in the fine books they sent from France, which -she was very anxious to have brought to her. To Spaniards and all others -she spoke Spanish and very well. In short, she was perfect in all -things, and so magnificent and liberal that no one could be more so. She -never wore her gowns a second time, but gave them to her ladies and -maids; and God knows what gowns they were, so rich and so superb that -the least was reckoned at three or four hundred crowns; for the king, -her husband, kept her most superbly in such matters; so that every day -she had a new one, as I was told by her tailor, who from being a very -poor man became so rich that nothing exceeded him, as I saw myself. - -She dressed well, and very pompously, and her habiliments became her -much; among other things her sleeves were slashed, with scollops which -they call in Spanish _puntas_; her head-dress the same, where nothing -lacked. Those who see her thus in painting admire her; I therefore leave -you to think what pleasure they had who saw her face to face, with all -her gestures and good graces. - -As for pearls and jewels in great quantity, she never lacked them, for -the king, her husband, ordered a great estate for her and for her -household. Alas! what served her that for such an end? Her ladies and -maids of honour felt it. Those who, being French, could not constrain -themselves to live in a foreign land, she caused, by a prayer which she -made to the king, her husband, to receive each four thousand crowns on -their marriage; as was done to Mesdamoiselles Riberac, sisters, -otherwise called Guitignières, de Fumel, the two sisters de Thorigny, de -Noyau, d’Arne, de La Motte au Groin, Montal, and several others. Those -who were willing to remain were better off, like Mesdamoiselles de -Saint-Ana and de Saint-Legier, who had the honour to be governesses to -Mesdames the infantas, and were married very richly to two great -seigneurs; they were the wisest, for better is it to be great in a -foreign country than little in your own,--as Jesus said: “No one is a -prophet in his own land.” - -This is all, at this time, that I shall say of this good, wise and very -virtuous queen, though later I may speak of her. But I give this sonnet -which was written to her praise by an honourable gentleman, she being -still Madame, though promised in marriage:-- - - “Princess, to whom the skies give such advantage - That, for the part you have in Heaven’s divinity, - They grant you all the virtues of this earth, - And crown you with the gift of immortality: - - “And since it pleased them that in early years - Your heavenly gifts of deity be seen, - So that you temper with a humble gravity - The royal grandeur of your sacred heritage: - - “And also since it pleases them to favour you, - And place in you the best of all their best, - So that your name is cherished everywhere: - - “Methinks that name should undergo a change, - And though we call you now Élisabeth of France, - You should be named Élisabeth of Heaven.” - -I know that I may be reproved for putting into this Discourse and others -preceding it too many little particulars which are quite superfluous. I -think so myself; but I know that if they displease some persons, they -will please others. Methinks it is not enough when we laud persons to -say that they are handsome, wise, virtuous, valorous, valiant, -magnanimous, liberal, splendid, and very perfect; those are general -descriptions and praises and commonplace sayings, borrowed from -everybody. We should specify such things and describe particularly all -perfections, so that one may, as it were, touch them with the finger. -Such is my opinion, and it pleases me to retain and rejoice my memory -with things that I have seen. - - EPITAPH ON THE SAID QUEEN. - - “Beneath this stone lies Élisabeth of France: - Who was Queen of Spain and queen of peace, - Christian and Catholic. Her lovely presence - Was useful to us all. Now that her noble bones - Are dry and crumbling, lying under ground, - We have nought but ills and wars and troubles.” - - - - -DISCOURSE V. - -MARGUERITE, QUEEN OF FRANCE AND OF NAVARRE, SOLE DAUGHTER NOW REMAINING -OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF FRANCE.[12] - - -When I consider the miseries and ill-adventures of that beautiful Queen -of Scotland of whom I have heretofore spoken, and of other princesses -and ladies whom I shall not name, fearing by such digression to impair -my discourse on the Queen of Navarre, of whom I now speak, not being as -yet Queen of France, I cannot think otherwise than that Fortune, -omnipotent goddess of weal and woe, is the opposing enemy of human -beauty; for if ever there was in the world a being of perfect beauty it -is the Queen of Navarre, and yet she has been little favoured by -Fortune, so far; so that one may indeed say that Fortune was so jealous -of Nature for having made this princess beautiful that she wished to run -counter in fate. However that may be, her beauty is such that the blows -of said Fortune have no ascendency upon her, for the generous courage -she drew at birth from so many brave and valorous kings, her father, -grandfather, great-grandfather, and their ancestors, has enabled her -hitherto to make a brave resistance. - -To speak now of the beauty of this rare princess: I think that all those -who are, will be, or ever have been beside it are plain, and cannot have -beauty; for the fire of hers so burns the wings of others that they dare -not hover, or even appear, around it. If there be any unbeliever so -chary of faith as not to give credence to the miracles of God and -Nature, let him contemplate her fine face, so nobly formed, and become -converted, and say that Mother Nature, that perfect workwoman, has put -all her rarest and subtlest wits to the making of her. For whether she -shows herself smiling or grave, the sight of her serves to enkindle -every one; so beauteous are her features, so well defined her -lineaments, so transparent and agreeable her eyes that they pass -description; and, what is more, that beautiful face rests on a body -still more beautiful, superb, and rich,--of a port and majesty more like -to a goddess of heaven than a princess of earth; for it is believed, on -the word of several, that no goddess was ever seen more beautiful; so -that, in order to duly proclaim her beauty, virtues, and merit, God must -lengthen the earth and heighten the sky beyond where they now are, for -space in the airs and on the land is lacking for the flight of her -perfection and renown. - -Those are the beauties of body and mind in this fair princess, which I -at this time represent, like a good painter, after nature and without -art. I speak of those to be seen externally; for those that are secret -and hidden beneath white linen and rich accoutrements cannot be here -depicted or judged except as being very beautiful and rare; but this -must be by faith, presumption, and credence, for sight is interdicted. -Great hardship truly to be forced to see so beautiful a picture, made by -the hand of a divine workman, in the half only of its perfection; but -modesty and laudable shamefacedness thus ordain it--for they lodge among -princesses and great ladies as they do among commoner folk. - -To bring a few examples to show how the beauty of this queen was admired -and held for rare: I remember that when the Polish ambassadors came to -France, to announce to our King Henri [then Duc d’Anjou] his election -to the kingdom of Poland, and to render him homage and obedience, after -they had made their reverence to King Charles, to the queen-mother, and -to their king, they made it, very particularly, and for several days, to -Monsieur, and to the King and Queen of Navarre; but the day when they -made it to the said Queen of Navarre she seemed to them so beautiful and -so superbly and richly accoutred and adorned, and with such great -majesty and grace that they were speechless at such beauty. Among -others, there was Lasqui, the chief of the embassy, whom I heard say, as -he retired, overcome by the sight: “No, never do I wish to see such -beauty again. Willingly would I do as do the Turks, pilgrims to Mecca, -where the sepulchre of their prophet Mahomet is, and where they stand -speechless, ravished, and so transfixed at the sight of that superb -mosque that they wish to see nothing more and burn their eyes out with -hot irons till they lose their sight, so subtly is it done; saying that -nothing more could be seen as fine, and therefore would they see -nothing.” Thus said that Pole about the beauty of our princess. And if -the Poles were won to admiration, so were others. I instance here Don -Juan of Austria, who (as I have said elsewhere), passing through France -as stilly as he could, and reaching Paris, knowing that that night a -solemn ball was given at the Louvre, went there disguised, as much to -see Queen Marguerite of Navarre as for any other purpose. He there had -means and leisure to see her at his ease, dancing, and led by the king, -her brother, as was usual. He gazed upon her long, admired her, and then -proclaimed her high above the beauties of Spain and Italy (two regions, -nevertheless, most fertile in beauty), saying these words in Spanish: -“Though the beauty of that queen is more divine than human, she is made -to damn and ruin men rather than to save them.” - -Shortly after, he saw her again as she went to the baths of Liège, Don -Juan being then at Namur, where she had to pass; the which crowned all -his hopes to enjoy so fine a sight, and he went to meet her with great -and splendid Spanish magnificence, receiving her as though she were the -Queen Élisabeth, her sister, in the latter’s lifetime his queen, and -Queen of Spain. And though he was most enchanted with the beauty of her -body, he was the same with that of her mind, as I hope to show in its -proper place. But it was not Don Juan alone who praised and delighted to -praise her, but all his great and brave Spanish captains did the same, -and even the very soldiers of those far-famed bands, who went about -saying among themselves, in soldierly chorus, that “the conquest of such -beauty was better than that of a kingdom, and happy would be the -soldiers who, to serve her, would die beneath her banner.” - -It is not surprising that such people, well-born and noble, should think -this princess beautiful, but I have seen Turks coming on an embassy to -the king her brother, barbarians that they were, lose themselves in -gazing at her, and say that the pomp of their Grand Signior in going to -his mosque or marching with his army was not so fine to see as the -beauty of this queen. - -In short, I have seen an infinity of other strangers who have come to -France and to the Court expressly to behold her whose fame had gone from -end to end of Europe, so they said. - -I once saw a gallant Neapolitan knight, who, having come to Paris and -the Court, and not finding the said queen, delayed his return two months -in order to see her, and having seen her he said these words: “In other -days, the Princess of Salerno bore the like reputation for beauty in our -city of Naples, so that a foreigner who had gone there and had not seen -her, when he returned and related his visit, and was asked had he seen -that princess, and answered no, was told that in that case he had not -seen Naples. Thus I, if on my return without seeing this beautiful -princess I were asked had I seen France and the Court, could scarcely -say I had, for she is its ornament and enrichment. But now, having seen -and contemplated her so well, I can say that I have seen the greatest -beauty in the world, and that our Princess of Salerno is as nothing to -her. Now I am well content to go, having enjoyed so fine a sight. I -leave you Frenchmen to think how happy you should be to see at your ease -and daily her fine face; and to approach that flame divine, which can -warm and kindle frigid hearts from afar more than the beauty of our most -beauteous dames near-by.” Such were the words said to me one day by that -charming Neapolitan knight. - -An honourable French gentleman, whom I could name, seeing her one -evening, in her finest lustre and most stately majesty in a ball-room, -said to me these words: “Ah! if the Sieur des Essarts, who, in his books -of ‘Amadis’ forced himself with such pains to well and richly describe -to the world the beautiful Nicquée and her glory, had seen this queen in -his day he would not have needed to borrow so many rich and noble words -to depict and set forth Nicquée’s beauty; ‘t would have sufficed him to -declare she was the semblance and image of the Queen of Navarre, unique -in this world; and thus the beauteous Nicquée would have been better -pictured than she has been, and without superfluity of words.” - -Therefore, M. de Ronsard had good reason to compose that glorious elegy -found among his works in honour of this beautiful Princess Marguerite of -France, then not married, in which he has introduced the goddess Venus -asking her son whether in his rambles here below, seeing the ladies of -the Court of France, he had found a beauty that surpassed her own. “Yes, -mother,” Love replied, “I have found one on whom the glory of the finest -sky is shed since ever she was born.” Venus flushed red and would not -credit it, but sent a messenger, one of her Charites, to earth to -examine that beauty and make a just report. On which we read in the -elegy a rich and fine description of the charms of that accomplished -princess, in the mouth of the Charite Pasithea, the reading of which -cannot fail to please the world. But M. de Ronsard, as a very honourable -and able lady said to me, stopped short and lacked a little something, -in that he should have told how Pasithea returned to heaven, and there, -discharging her commission, said to Venus that her son had only told the -half; the which so saddened and provoked the goddess into jealousy, -making her blame Jupiter for the wrong he did to form on earth a beauty -that shamed those of heaven (and principally hers, the rarest of them -all), that henceforth she wore mourning and made abstinence from -pleasures and delights; for there is nothing so vexatious to a beautiful -and perfect lady as to tell her she has her equal, or that another can -surpass her. - -Now, we must note that if our queen was beauteous in herself and in her -nature, also she knew well how to array herself; and so carefully and -richly was she dressed, both for her body and her head, that nothing -lacked to give her full perfection. - -To the Queen Isabella of Bavaria, wife of King Charles VI., belongs the -praise of having brought to France the pomps and gorgeousness that -henceforth clothed most splendidly and gorgeously the ladies;[13] for in -the old tapestries of that period in the houses of our kings we see -portrayed the ladies attired as they then were, in nought but -drolleries, slovenliness, and vulgarities, in place of the beautiful, -superb fashions, dainty headgear, inventions, and ornaments of our -queen; from which the ladies of the Court and France take pattern, so -that ever since, appearing in her modes, they are now great ladies -instead of simple madams, and so a hundredfold more charming and -desirable. It is to our Queen Marguerite that ladies owe this -obligation. - -I remember (for I was there) that when the queen-mother took this queen, -her daughter, to the King of Navarre, her husband, she passed through -Coignac and made some stay. While they were there, came various grand -and honourable ladies of the region to see them and do them reverence, -who were all amazed at the beauty of the princess, and could not surfeit -themselves in praising her to her mother, she being lost in joy. -Wherefore she begged her daughter to array herself one day most -gorgeously in the fine and superb apparel that she wore at Court for -great and magnificent pomps and festivals, in order to give pleasure to -these worthy dames. Which she did, to obey so good a mother; appearing -robed superbly in a gown of silver tissue and dove-colour, _à la -bolonnoise_ [_bouillonnée_--with puffs?], and hanging sleeves, a rich -head-dress with a white veil, neither too large nor yet too small; the -whole accompanied with so noble a majesty and good grace that she seemed -more a goddess of heaven than a queen of earth. The queen-mother said to -her: “My daughter, you look well.” To which she answered: “Madame, I -begin early to wear and to wear out my gowns and the fashions I have -brought from Court, because when I return I shall bring nothing with me -only scissors and stuffs to dress me then according to current -fashions.” The queen-mother asked her: “What do you mean by that, my -daughter? Is it not you yourself who invent and produce these fashions -of dress? Wherever you go the Court will take them from you, not you -from the Court.” Which was true; for after she returned she was always -in advance of the Court, so well did she know how to invent in her -dainty mind all sorts of charming things. - -But the beauteous queen in whatsoever fashion she dressed, were it _à la -française_ with her tall head-dress, or in a simple coif, with her grand -veil, or merely in a cap, could never prove which of these fashions -became her most and made her most beautiful, admirable, and lovable; for -she well knew how to adapt herself to every mode, adjusting each new -device in a way not common and quite inimitable. So that if other ladies -took her pattern to form it for themselves they could not rival her, as -I have noticed a hundred times. I have seen her dressed in a robe of -white satin that shimmered much, a trifle of rose-colour mingling in it, -with a veil of tan crêpe or Roman gauze flung carelessly round her head; -yet nothing was ever more beautiful; and whatever may be said of the -goddesses of the olden time and the empresses as we see them on ancient -coins, they look, though splendidly accoutred, like chambermaids beside -her. - -I have often heard our courtiers dispute as to which attire became and -embellished her the most, about which each had his own opinion. For my -part, the most becoming array in which I ever saw her was, as I think, -and so did others, on the day when the queen-mother made a fête at the -Tuileries for the Poles. She was robed in a velvet gown of Spanish rose, -covered with spangles, with a cap of the same velvet, adorned with -plumes and jewels of such splendour as never was. She looked so -beautiful in this attire, as many told her, that she wore it often and -was painted in it; so that among her various portraits this one carries -the day over all others, as the eyes of good judges will tell, for -there are plenty of her pictures to judge by. - -When she appeared, thus dressed, at the Tuileries, I said to M. de -Ronsard, who stood next to me: “Tell the truth, monsieur, do you not -think that beautiful queen thus apparelled is like Aurora, as she comes -at dawn with her fair white face surrounded with those rosy tints?--for -face and gown have much in sympathy and likeness.” M. de Ronsard avowed -that I was right; and on this my comparison, thinking it fine, he made a -sonnet, which I would fain have now, to insert it here. - -I also saw this our great queen at the first States-general at Blois on -the day the king, her brother, made his harangue. She was dressed in a -robe of orange and black (the ground being black with many spangles) and -her great veil of ceremony; and being seated according to her rank she -appeared so beautiful and admirable that I heard more than three hundred -persons in that assembly say they were better instructed and delighted -by the contemplation of such divine beauty than by listening to the -grave and noble words of the king, her brother, though he spoke and -harangued his best. I have also seen her dressed in her natural hair -without any artifice or peruke; and though her hair was very black -(having derived that from her father, King Henri), she knew so well how -to curl and twist and arrange it after the fashion of her sister, the -Queen of Spain, who wore none but her own hair, that such coiffure and -adornment became her as well as, or better than, any other. That is what -it is to have beauties by nature, which surpasses all artifice, no -matter what it may be. And yet she did not like the fashion much and -seldom used it, but preferred perukes most daintily fashioned. - -In short, I should never have done did I try to describe all her -adornments and forms of attire in which she was ever more and more -beauteous; for she changed them often, and all were so becoming and -appropriate, as though Nature and Art were striving to outdo each other -in making her beautiful. But this is not all; for her fine accoutrements -and adornments never ventured to cover her beautiful throat or her -lovely bosom, fearing to wrong the eyes of all the world that roved upon -so fine an object; for never was there seen the like in form and -whiteness, and so full and plump that often the courtiers died with envy -when they saw the ladies, as I have seen them, those who were her -intimates, have license to kiss her with great delight. - -I remember that a worthy gentleman, newly arrived at Court, who had -never seen her, when he beheld her said to me these words: “I am not -surprised that all you gentlemen should like the Court; for if you had -no other pleasure than daily to see that princess, you have as much as -though you lived in a terrestrial paradise.” - -Roman emperors of the olden time, to please the people and give them -pleasure, exhibited games and combats in their theatres; but to give -pleasure to the people of France and gain their friendship, it was -enough to let them often see Queen Marguerite, and enjoy the -contemplation of so divine a face, which she never hid behind a mask -like other ladies of our Court, for nearly all the time she went -uncovered; and once, on a flowery Easter Day at Blois, still being -Madame, sister of the king (although her marriage was then being treated -of), I saw her appear in the procession more beautiful than ever, -because, besides the beauty of her face and form, she was most superbly -adorned and apparelled; her pure white face, resembling the skies in -their serenity, was adorned about the head with quantities of pearls and -jewels, especially brilliant diamonds, worn in the form of stars, so -that the calm of the face and the sparkling jewels made one think of -the heavens when starry. Her beautiful body with its full, tall form was -robed in a gown of crinkled cloth of gold, the richest and most -beautiful ever seen in France. This stuff was a gift made by the Grand -Signior to M. de Grand-Champ, our ambassador, on his departure from -Constantinople,--it being the Grand Signior’s custom to present to those -who are sent to him a piece of the said stuff amounting to fifteen ells, -which, so Grand-Champ told me, cost one hundred crowns the ell; for it -was indeed a masterpiece. He, on coming to France and not knowing how to -employ more worthily the gift of so rich a stuff, gave it to Madame, the -sister of the king, who made a gown of it, and wore it first on the said -occasion, when it became her well--for from one grandeur to another -there is only a hand’s breadth. She wore it all that day, although its -weight was heavy; but her beautiful, rich, strong figure supported it -well and served it to advantage; for had she been a little shrimp of a -princess, or a dame only elbow-high (as I have seen some), she would -surely have died of the weight, or else have been forced to change her -gown and take another. - -That is not all: being in the precession and walking in her rank, her -visage uncovered, not to deprive the people of so good a feast, she -seemed more beautiful still by holding and bearing in her hand her palm -(as our queens of all time have done) with royal majesty and a grace -half proud half sweet, and a manner little common and so different from -all the rest that whoso had seen her would have said: “Here is a -princess who goes above the run of all things in the world.” And we -courtiers went about saying, with one voice boldly, that she did well to -bear a palm in her hand, for she bore it away from others; surpassing -them all in beauty, in grace, and in perfection. And I swear to you that -in that procession we forgot our devotions, and did not make them while -contemplating and admiring that divine princess, who ravished us more -than divine service; and yet we thought we committed no sin; for whoso -contemplates divinity on earth does not offend the divinity of heaven; -inasmuch as He made her such. - -When the queen, her mother, took her from Court to meet her husband in -Gascoigne, I saw how all the courtiers grieved at her departure as -though a great calamity had fallen on their heads. Some said: “The Court -is widowed of her beauty;” others: “The Court is gloomy, it has lost its -sun;” others again: “How dark it is; we have no torch.” And some cried -out: “Why should Gascoigne come here gascoigning to steal our beauty, -destined to adorn all France and the Court, Fontainebleau, -Saint-Germain, the hôtel du Louvre, and all the other noble places of -our kings, to lodge her at Pau and Nérac, places so unlike the others?” -But many said: “The deed is done; the Court and France have lost the -loveliest flower of their garland.” - -In short, on all sides did we hear resound such little speeches upon -this departure,--half in vexed anger, half in sadness,--although Queen -Louise de Lorraine remained behind, who was a very handsome and wise -princess, and virtuous (of whom I hope to speak more worthily in her -place); but for so long the Court had been accustomed to that beauteous -sight it could not keep from grieving and proffering such words. Some -there were who would have liked to kill M. de Duras, who came from his -master the King of Navarre to obtain her; and this I know. - -Once there came news to Court that she was dead in Auvergne some eight -days. On which a person whom I met said to me: “That cannot be, for -since that time the sky is clear and fine; if she were dead we should -have seen eclipse of sun, because of the great sympathy two suns must -have, and nothing could be seen but gloom and clouds.” - -Enough has now been said, methinks, upon the beauty of her body, though -the subject is so ample that it deserves a decade. I hope to speak of it -again, but at present I must say something of her noble soul, which is -lodged so well in that noble body. If it was born thus noble within her -she has known how to keep it and maintain it so; for she loves letters -much and reading. While young, she was, for her age, quite perfect in -them; so that we could say of her: This princess is truly the most -eloquent and best-speaking lady in the world, with the finest style of -speech and the most agreeable to be found. When the Poles, as I have -said before, came to do her reverence they brought with them the Bishop -of Cracovie, the chief and head of the embassy, who made the harangue in -Latin, he being a learned and accomplished prelate. The queen replied so -pertinently and eloquently without the help of an interpreter, having -well understood and comprehended the harangue, that all were struck with -admiration, calling her with one voice a second Minerva, goddess of -eloquence. - -When the queen her mother took her to the king her husband, as I have -said, she made her entry to Bordeaux, as was proper, being daughter and -sister of a king, and wife of the King of Navarre, first prince of the -blood, and governor of Guyenne. The queen her mother willed it so, for -she loved and esteemed her much. This entry was fine; not so much for -the sumptuous magnificence there made and displayed, as for the triumph -of this most beautiful and accomplished queen of the world, mounted on a -fine white horse superbly caparisoned; she herself dressed all in orange -and spangles, so sumptuously as never was; so that none could get their -surfeit of looking at her, admiring and lauding her to the skies. - -Before she entered, the State assembly of the town came to do reverence -and offer their means and powers, and to harangue her at the Chartreux, -as is customary. M. de Bordeaux [the bishop] spoke for the clergy; M. le -Maréchal de Biron, as mayor, wearing his robes of office, for the town, -and for himself as lieutenant-general afterwards; also M. Largebaston, -chief president for the courts of law. She answered them all, one after -the other (for I heard her, being close beside her on the scaffold, by -her command), so eloquently, so wisely and promptly and with such grace -and majesty, even changing her words to each, without reiterating the -first or the second, although upon the same subject (which is a thing to -be remarked upon), that when I saw that evening the said president he -said to me, and to others in the queen’s chamber, that he had never in -his life heard better speech from any one; and that he understood such -matters, having had the honour to hear the two queens, Marguerite and -Jeanne, her predecessors, speak at the like ceremonies,--they having had -in their day the most golden-speaking lips in France (those were the -words he used to me); and yet they were but novices and apprentices -compared to her, who truly was her mother’s daughter. - -I repeated to the queen, her mother, this that the president had said to -me, of which she was glad as never was; and told me that he had reason -to think and say so, for, though she was her daughter, she could call -her, without falsehood, the most accomplished princess in the world, -able to say exactly what she wished to say the best. And in like manner -I have heard and seen ambassadors, and great foreign seigneurs, after -they had spoken with her, depart confounded by her noble speech. - -I have often heard her make such fine discourse, so grave and so -sententious, that could I put it clearly and correctly here in writing I -should delight and amaze the world; but it is not possible; nor could -any one transcribe her words, so inimitable are they. - -But if she is grave, and full of majesty and eloquence in her high and -serious discourses, she is just as full of charming grace in gay and -witty speech; jesting so prettily, with give and take, that her company -is most agreeable; for, though she pricks and banters others, ‘tis all -so _à propos_ and excellently said that no one can be vexed, but only -glad of it. - -But further: if she knows how to speak, she knows also how to write; and -the beautiful letters we have seen from her attest it. They are the -finest, the best couched, whether they be serious or familiar, and such -that the greatest writers of the past and present may hide their heads -and not produce their own when hers appear; for theirs are trifles near -to hers. No one, having read them, would fail to laugh at Cicero with -his familiar letters. And whoso would collect Queen Marguerite’s -letters, together with her discourses, would make a school and training -for the world; and no one should feel surprised at this, for, in -herself, her mind is sound and quick, with great information, wise and -solid. She is a queen in all things, and deserves to rule a mighty -kingdom, even an empire,--about which I shall make the following -digression, all the more because it has to do with the present subject. - -When her marriage was granted at Blois to the King of Navarre, -difficulties were made by Queen Jeanne [d’Albret, Henri IV.’s mother], -very different then from what she wrote to my mother, who was her lady -of honour, and at this time sick in her own house. I have read the -letter, writ by her own hand, in the archives of our house; it says -thus:-- - -[Illustration: _Henry IV_] - -“I write you this, my great friend, to rejoice and give you health with -the good news my husband sends me. He having had the boldness to ask of -the king Madame, his young daughter, for our son, the king has done him -the honour to grant it; for which I cannot tell you the happiness I -have.” - -There is much to be said thereon. At this time there was at our Court a -lady whom I shall not name, as silly as she could be. Being with the -queen-mother one evening at her _coucher_, the queen inquired of her -ladies if they had seen her daughter, and whether she seemed joyful at -the granting of her marriage. This silly lady, who did not yet know her -Court, answered first and said: “How, madame, should she not be joyful -at such a marriage, inasmuch as it will lead to the crown and make her -some day Queen of France, when it falls to her future husband, as it -well may do in time.” The queen, hearing so strange a speech, replied: -“_Ma mie_, you are a great fool. I would rather die a thousand deaths -than see your foolish prophecy accomplished; for I hope and wish long -life and good prosperity to the king, my son, and all my other -children.” On which a very great lady, one of her intimates, inquired: -“But, madame, in case that great misfortune--from which God keep -us!--happens, would you not be very glad to see your daughter Queen of -France, inasmuch as the crown would fall to her by right through that of -her husband?” To which the queen made answer: “Much as I love this -daughter, I think, if that should happen, we should see France much -tried with evils and misfortunes. I would rather die (as she did in -fact) than see her in that position; for I do not believe that France -would obey the King of Navarre as it does my sons, for many reasons -which I do not tell.” - -Behold two prophecies accomplished: one, that of the foolish lady, the -other, but only till her death, that of the able princess. The latter -prophecy has failed to-day, by the grace which God has given our king -[Henri IV.], and by the force of his good sword and the valour of his -brave heart, which have made him so great, so victorious, so feared, and -so absolute a king as he is to-day after too many toils and hindrances. -May God preserve him by His holy grace in such prosperity, for we need -him much, we his poor subjects. - -The queen said further: “If by the abolition of the Salic law, the -kingdom should come to my daughter in her own right, as other kingdoms -have fallen to the distaff, certainly my daughter is as capable of -reigning, or more so, as most men and kings whom I have known; and I -think that her reign would be a fine one, equal to that of the king her -grandfather and that of the king her father, for she has a great mind -and great virtues for doing that thing.” And thereupon she went on to -say how great an abuse was the Salic law, and that she had heard M. le -Cardinal de Lorraine say that when he arranged the peace between the two -kings with the other deputies in the abbey of Cercan, a dispute came up -on a point of the Salic law touching the succession of women to the -kingdom of France; and M. le Cardinal de Grandvelle, otherwise called -d’Arras, rebuked the said Cardinal de Lorraine, declaring that the Salic -law was a veritable abuse, which old dreamers and chroniclers had -written down, without knowing why, and so made it accepted; although, in -fact, it was never made or decreed in France, and was only a custom that -Frenchmen had given each other from hand to hand, and so introduced; -whereas it was not just, and, consequently, was violable. - -Thus said the queen-mother. And, when all is said, it was Pharamond, as -most people hold, who brought it from his own country and introduced it -in France; and we certainly ought not to observe it, because he was a -pagan; and to keep so strictly among us Christians the laws of a pagan -is an offence against God. It is true that most of our laws come from -pagan emperors; but those which are holy, just, and equitable (and truly -there are many), we ourselves have ruled by them. But the Salic law of -Pharamond is unjust and contrary to the law of God, for it is written in -the Old Testament, in the twenty-seventh chapter of Numbers: “If a man -die and have no son ye shall cause his inheritance to pass to his -daughter.” This sacred law demands, therefore, that females shall -inherit after males. Besides, if Scripture were taken at its word on -this Salic law, there would be no such great harm done, as I have heard -great personages say, for they speak thus: “So long as there be males, -females can neither inherit nor reign. Consequently, in default of -males, females should do so. And, inasmuch as it is legal in Spain, -Navarre, England, Scotland, Hungary, Naples, and Sicily that females -should reign, why should it not be the same in France? For what is right -in one place is right everywhere and in all places; places do not make -the justice of the law.” - -In all the fiefs we have in France, duchies, counties, baronies, and -other honourable lordships, which are nearly and even greatly royal in -their rights and privileges, many women, married and unmarried, have -succeeded; as in Bourbon, Vendôme, Montpensier, Nevers, Rhétel, -Flandres, Eu, Bourgogne, Artois, Zellande, Bretaigne; and even like -Mathilde, who was Duchesse de Normandie; Eléonore, Duchesse de Guyenne, -who enriched Henry II., King of England; Béatrix, Comtesse de Provence, -who brought that province to King Louis, her husband; the only daughter -of Raimond, Comtesse de Thoulouse, who brought Thoulouse to Alfonse, -brother of Saint-Louis; also Anne, Duchesse de Bretaigne, and others. -Why, therefore, should not the kingdom of France call to itself in like -manner the daughters of France? - -Did not the beautiful Galatea rule in Gaul when Hercules married her -after his conquest of Spain?--from which marriage issued our brave, -valiant, generous Gauls, who in the olden time made themselves laudable. - -Why should the daughters of dukes in this kingdom be more capable of -governing a duchy or a county and administering justice (which is the -duty of kings) than the daughters of kings to rule the kingdom of -France? As if the daughters of France were not as capable and fitted to -command and reign as those of other kingdoms and fiefs that I have -named! - -For still greater proof of the iniquity of the Salic law it is enough to -show that so many chroniclers, writers, and praters, who have all -written about it, have never yet agreed among themselves as to its -etymology and definition. Some, like Postel, consider that it takes its -ancient name and origin from the Gauls, and is only called Salic instead -of Gallic because of the proximity and likeness in old type between the -letter S and the letter G. But Postel is as visionary in that (as a -great personage said to me) as he is in other things. - -Jean Ceval, Bishop of Avranches, a great searcher into the antiquities -of Gaul and France, tried to trace it to the word _salle_, because this -law was ordained only for _salles_ and royal palaces. - -Claude Seissel thinks, rather inappropriately, that it comes from the -word _sal_ in Latin, as a law full of salt, that of sapience, wisdom, a -metaphor drawn from salt. - -A doctor of laws, named Ferrarius Montanus, will have it that Pharamond -was otherwise called Salicq. Others derive it from Sallogast, one of the -principal councillors of Pharamond. - -Others again, wishing to be still more subtle, say that the derivation -is taken from the frequent sections in the said law beginning with the -words: _si aliquis, si aliqua_. But some say it comes from François -Saliens; and it is so mentioned in Marcellin.[14] - -So here are many puzzles and musings; and it is not to be wondered at -that the Bishop of Arras disputed the matter with the Cardinal de -Lorraine: just as those of his nation in their jests and jugglings, -supposing that this law was a new invention, called Philippe de Valois -_le roi trouvé_, as if, by a new right never recognized before in -France, he had made himself king. On which was founded that, the county -of Flanders having fallen to a distaff, King Charles V. of France did -not claim any right or title to it; on the contrary, he portioned his -brother Philippe with Bourgogne in order to make his marriage with the -Countess of Flanders; not wishing to take her for himself, thinking her -less beautiful, though far more rich, than her of Bourbon. Which is a -great proof and assurance that the Salic law was not observed except as -to the crown. And it cannot be doubted that women, could they come to -the throne, beautiful, honourable, and virtuous as the one of whom I -here speak, would draw to them the hearts of their subjects by their -beauty and sweetness far more than men do by their strength. - -M. du Tillet says that Queen Clotilde made France accept the Christian -religion, and since then no queen has ever wandered from it; which is a -great honour to queens, for it was not so with the kings after Clovis; -Chilperic I. was stained with Arian error, and was checked only by the -firm resistance of two prelates of the Gallican church, according to the -statement of Grégoire de Tours. - -Moreover, was not Catherine, daughter of Charles VI., ordained Queen of -France by the king, her father, and his council [in 1420]? - -Du Tillet further says that the daughters of France were held in such -honour that although they were married to less than kings they -nevertheless kept their royal titles and were called queens with their -proper names; an honour which was given them for life to demonstrate -forever that they were daughters of the kings of France. This ancient -custom shows dumbly that the daughters of France can be sovereigns as -well as the sons. - -In the days of the King Saint-Louis it is recorded of a court of peers -held by him that the Countess of Flanders was present, taking part with -the peers. This shows how the Salic law was not kept, except as to the -crown. Let us see still further what M. du Tillet says:-- - -“By the Salic law, written for all subjects, where there were no sons -the daughters inherited the patrimony; and this should rule the crown -also, so that Mesdames the daughters of France, in default of sons, -should take it; nevertheless, they are perpetually excluded by custom -and the private law of the house of France, based on the arrogance of -Frenchmen, who cannot endure to be governed by women.” And elsewhere he -says: “One cannot help being amazed at the long ignorance that has -attributed this custom to the Salic law, which is quite the contrary of -it.” - -King Charles V., treating of the marriage of Queen Marie of France, his -daughter, with Guillaume, Count of Hainault, in the year 1374, -stipulated for the renunciation by the said count of all right to the -kingdom and to Dauphiné; which is a great point, for see the -contradictions! - -Certainly if women could handle arms like men they could make themselves -accredited; but by way of compensation, they have their beautiful faces; -which, however, are not recognized as they deserve; for surely it is -better to be governed by beautiful, lovely, and honourable women than by -tiresome, conceited, ugly, and sullen men such as I have seen in this -France of ours. - -I would like to know if this kingdom has found itself any better for an -infinitude of conceited, silly, tyrannical, foolish, do-nothing, -idiotic, and crazy kings--not meaning to accuse our brave Pharamond, -Clodion, Clovis, Pépin, Martel, Charles, Louis, Philippe, Jean, -François, Henri, for they are all brave and magnanimous, those kings, -and happy they who were under them--than it would have been with an -infinitude of the daughters of France, very able, very prudent, and very -worthy to govern. I appeal to the regency of the mothers of kings to -show this, to wit:-- - -Frédégonde, how did she administer the affairs of France during the -minority of King Clothaire, her son, if not so wisely and dexterously -that he found himself before he died monarch of Gaul and of much of -Germany? - -The like did Mathilde, wife of Dagobert, as to Clovis II., her son; and, -long after, Blanche, mother of Saint-Louis, who behaved so wisely, as I -have read, that, just as the Roman emperors chose to call themselves -“Augustus” in commemoration of the luck and prosperity of Augustus, the -great emperor, so the former queen-mothers after the decease of the -kings, their husbands, desired each to be called “Reine Blanche,” in -honourable memory of the government of that wise princess. Though M. du -Tillet contradicts this a little, I have heard it from a very great -senator. - -And, to come lower down, Isabeau of Bavaria had the regency of her -husband, Charles VI. (who lost his good sense), by the advice of the -Council; and so had Madame de Bourbon for little King Charles VIII. -during his minority; Madame Louise de Savoie for King François I.; and -our queen-mother for King Charles IX., her son. - -If, therefore, foreign ladies (except Madame de Bourbon, who was -daughter of France) were capable of governing France so well, why should -not our own ladies do as much, having good zeal and affection, they -being born here and suckled here, and the matter touching them so -closely? - -I should like to know in what our last kings have surpassed our last -three daughters of France, Élisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite; and -whether if the latter had come to be queens of France they would not -have governed it (I do not wish to accuse the regency, which was very -great and very wise) as well as their brothers. I have heard many great -personages, well-informed and far-seeing, say that possibly we should -not have had the evils we did have, now have, and shall have still; -adducing reasons too long to put here. But the common and vulgar fool -says: “Must observe the Salic law.” Poor idiot that he is! does he not -know that the Germans, from whose stock we issued, were wont to call -their women to affairs of State, as we learn from Tacitus? From that, we -can see how this Salic law has been corrupted. It is but mere custom; -and poor women, unable to enforce their rights by the point of the -sword, men have excluded, and driven them from everything. Ah! why have -we no more brave and valiant paladins of France,--a Roland, a Renaud, an -Ogier, a Deudon, an Olivier, a Graffon, an Yvon, and an infinity of -other braves, whose glory and profession it was to succour ladies and -support them in the troubles and adversities of their lives, their -honour, and their fortunes? Why are they here no longer to maintain the -rights of our Queen Marguerite, daughter of France, who barely enjoys -an inch of land in France, which she quitted in noble state, though to -her, perhaps, the whole belongs by right divine and human? Queen -Marguerite, who does not even enjoy her county of Auvergne, which is -hers by law and equity as the sole heiress of the queen, her mother, is -now withdrawn into the castle of Usson, amid the deserts, rocks, and -mountains of Auvergne,--a different habitation, verily, from the great -city of Paris, where she ought now to be seated on her throne and place -of justice, which belongs to her in her own right as well as by that of -her husband. But the misfortune is that they are not there together. If -both were again united in body and soul and friendship, as they once -were, possibly all would go right once more, and together they would be -feared, respected, and known for what they are. - -(Since this was written God has willed that they be reconciled, which is -indeed great luck.) - -I heard M. de Pibrac say on one occasion that these Navarre marriages -are fatal, because husband and wife are always at variance,--as was the -case with Louis Hutin, King of France and of Navarre, and Marguerite de -Bourgogne, daughter of Duc Robert III.; also Philippe le Long, King of -France and Navarre, with Jeanne, daughter of Comte Othelin of Bourgogne, -who, being found innocent, was vindicated well; also Charles le Bel, -King of France and of Navarre, with Blanche, daughter of Othelin, -another Comte de Bourgogne; and further, King Henri d’Albret with -Marguerite de Valois, who, as I have heard on good authority, treated -her very ill, and would have done worse had not King François, her -brother, spoken sternly to him and threatened him for honouring his -sister so little, considering the rank she held. - -The last King Antoine of Navarre died also on ill terms with Queen -Jeanne, his wife; and our Queen Marguerite is now in dispute and -separation from her husband; but God will some day happily unite them in -spite of these evil times. - -I have heard a princess say that Queen Marguerite saved her husband’s -life on the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew; for indubitably he was -proscribed and his name written on the “red paper,” as it was called, -because it was necessary, they said, to tear up the roots, namely, the -King of Navarre, the Prince de Condé, Amiral de Coligny, and other great -personages; but the said Queen Marguerite flung herself on her knees -before King Charles, to implore him for the life of her husband and -lord.[15] King Charles would scarcely grant it to her, although she was -his good sister. I relate this for what it is worth, as I know it only -by hearsay. But she bore this massacre very impatiently and saved -several, among them a Gascon gentleman (I think his name was Léran), -who, wounded as he was, took refuge beneath her bed, she being in it, -and the murderers pursuing him to the door, from which she drove them; -for she was never cruel, but kind, like a daughter of France. - -They say that the quarrel between herself and her husband came more from -the difference in their religion than from anything else; for they each -loved his and her own, and supported it strongly. The queen having gone -to Pau, the chief town of Béarn, she caused the mass to be said there; -and a certain secretary of the king, her husband, named le Pin, who had -formerly belonged to M. l’Amiral, not being able to stomach it, put -several of the inhabitants of the town who had been present at the mass -into prison. The queen was much displeased; and he, wishing to -remonstrate, spoke to her much louder than he should, and very -indiscreetly, even before the king, who gave him a good rebuke and -dismissed him; for King Henri knows well how to like and respect what he -ought; being as brave and generous as his fine and noble actions have -always manifested; of which I shall speak at length in his life. - -The said le Pin fell back upon the edict which is there made, and to be -observed under penalty, namely, that mass shall not be said. The queen, -feeling herself insulted, and God knows she was, vowed and declared she -would never again set foot in that country because she chose to be free -in the exercise of her religion; whereupon she departed, and has ever -since kept her oath very carefully. - -I have heard it said that nothing lay so heavily on her heart as this -indignity of being deprived of the exercise of her religion; for which -reason she begged the queen, her good mother, to come and fetch her and -take her to France to see the king and Monsieur, his brother, whom she -honoured and loved much. Having arrived, she was not received and seen -by the king, her brother, as she should have been. Seeing this great -change since she had left France, and the rise of many persons she would -never have thought of to grandeurs, it irked her much to be forced to -pay court to them, as others, her equals, were now doing; and far from -doing so herself, she despised them openly, as I well saw, so high was -her courage. Alas! too high, certainly, for it caused her misfortunes; -had she been willing to restrain herself and lower her courage the least -in the world she would not have been thwarted and vexed as she has been. - -As to which I shall relate this story: when the king, her brother, went -to Poland, he being there, she knew that M. du Gua, much favoured by her -brother, had made some remarks to her disadvantage, enough to set -brother and sister at variance or enmity. At the end of a certain time -M. du Gua returned from Poland and arrived at Court, bearing letters -from the king to his sister, which he went to her apartment to give her -and kiss hands. This I saw myself. When she beheld him enter she was in -great wrath, and as he came to her to present the letter she said to -him, with an angry face: “Lucky for you, du Gua, that you come before me -with this letter from my brother, which serves you as a safeguard, for I -love him much and all who come from him are free from me; but without -it, I would teach you to speak about a princess like myself, the sister -of your kings, your masters and sovereigns.” M. du Gua answered very -humbly: “I should never, madame, have presented myself before you, -knowing that you wish me ill, without some good message from the king, -my master, who loves you, and whom you love also; or without feeling -assured, madame, that for love of him, and because you are good and -generous, you would hear me speak.” And then, after making her his -excuses and telling his reasons (as he knew well how to do), he denied -very positively that he had ever spoken against the sister of his kings -otherwise than very reverently. On which she dismissed him with an -assurance that she would ever be his cruel enemy,--a promise which she -kept until his death. - -After a while the king wrote to Mme. de Dampierre and begged her, for -the sake of giving him pleasure, to induce the Queen of Navarre to -pardon M. du Gua, which Mme. de Dampierre undertook with very great -regret, knowing well the nature of the said queen; but because the king -loved her and trusted her, she took the errand and went one day to see -the said queen in her room. Finding her in pretty good humour, she -opened the matter and made the appeal, namely: that to keep the good -graces, friendship, and favour of the king, her brother, who was now -about to become King of France, she ought to pardon M. du Gua, forget -the past, and take him again into favour; for the king loved and -favoured him above his other friends; and by thus taking M. du Gua as a -friend she would gain through him many pleasures and good offices, -inasmuch as he quietly governed the king, his master, and it was much -better to have his help than to make him desperate and goad him against -her, because he could surely do her much harm; telling her how she had -seen in her time during the reign of François I., Mesdames Madeleine and -Marguerite, one Queen of Scotland later, the other Duchesse de Savoie, -her aunts, although their hearts were as high and lofty as her own, -bring down their pride so low as to pay court to M. de Sourdis, who was -only master of the wardrobe to the king, their father; yet they even -sought him, hoping by his means, to obtain the favour of the king; and -thus, taking example by her aunts, she ought to do the same herself in -relation to M. du Gua. - -The Queen of Navarre, having listened very attentively to Mme. de -Dampierre, answered her rather coldly, but with a smiling face, as her -manner was: “Madame de Dampierre, what you say to me may be good for -you; you need favours, pleasures, and benefits, and were I you the words -you say to me might be very suitable and proper to be received and put -in practice; but to me, who am the daughter of a king, the sister of -kings, and the wife of a king, they have no meaning; because with that -high and noble rank I cannot, for my honour’s sake, be a beggar of -favours and benefits from the king, my brother; and I hold him to be of -too good a nature and too well acquainted with his duty to deny me -anything unless I have the favour of a du Gua; if otherwise, he will do -great wrong to himself, his honour, and his royalty. And even if he be -so unnatural as to forget himself and what he owes to me, I prefer, for -my honour’s sake and as my courage tells me, to be deprived of his good -graces, because I would not seek du Gua to gain his favours, or be even -suspected of gaining them by such means and intercession; and if the -king, my brother, feels himself worthy to be king, and to be loved by me -and by his people, I feel myself, as his sister, worthy to be queen and -loved, not only by him but by all the world. And if my aunts, as you -allege, degraded themselves as you say, let them do as they would if -such was their humour, but their example is no law to me, nor will I -imitate it, or form myself on any model if not my own.” On that she was -silent, and Mme. de Dampierre retired; not that the queen was angry with -her or showed her ill-will, for she loved her much. - -Another time, when M. d’Épernon went to Gascoigne after the death of -Monsieur (a journey made for various purposes, so they said), he saw the -King of Navarre at Pamiers, and they made great cheer and caresses to -each other. I speak thus because at that time M. d’Épernon was semi-king -of France because of the dissolute favour he had with his master, the -King of France. After having caressed and made good cheer together the -King of Navarre asked him to go and see him at Nérac when he had been to -Toulouse and was on his way back; which he promised to do. The King of -Navarre having gone there first to make preparations to feast him well, -the Queen of Navarre, who was then at Nérac, and who felt a deadly -hatred to M. d’Épernon, said to the king, her husband, that she would -leave the place so as not to disturb or hinder the fête, not being able -to endure the sight of M. d’Épernon without some scandal or venom of -anger which she might disgorge, and so give annoyance to the king, her -husband. On which the king begged her, by all the pleasures that she -could give him, not to stir, but to help him to receive the said Sieur -d’Épernon and to put her rancour against him underfoot for love of him, -her husband, and all the more because it greatly concerned both of them -and their grandeur. - -“Well, monsieur,” replied the queen, “since you are pleased to command -it, I will remain and give him good cheer out of respect to you and the -obedience that I owe to you.” After which she said to some of her -ladies: “But I will answer for it that on the days that man is here I -will dress in habiliments I never yet have worn, namely: dissimulation -and hypocrisy; I will so mask my face with shams that the king shall see -there only good and honest welcome and all gentleness; and likewise I -will lay discretion on my lips, so that externally I will make him think -my heart internally is kind, which otherwise I would not answer for; I -do this being nowise in my own control, but wholly in his,--so lofty is -he and full of frankness, unable to bear vileness or the venom of -hypocrisy, or to abase himself in any way.” - -Therefore, to content the king, her husband, for she honoured him much, -as he did her, she disguised her feelings in such a way that, M. -d’Épernon being brought to her apartment, she received him in the same -manner the king had asked of her and she had promised; so that all -present, the chamber being full of persons eager to see the entrance and -the interview, marvelled much, while the king and M. d’Épernon were -quite content. But the most clear-sighted and those who knew the nature -of the queen misdoubted something hidden within; and she herself said -afterwards it was a comedy in which she played a part unwillingly. - -These are two tales by which to see the lofty courage of this queen, the -which was such, as I have heard the queen, her mother, say (discoursing -of this topic), that she resembled in this her father; and that she, the -queen-mother, had no other child so like him, as much in ways, humours, -lineaments, and features of the face as in courage and generosity; -telling also how she had seen King Henri during King François’ lifetime -unable for a kingdom to pay his court and cringe to Cardinal de Tournon -or to Amiral d’Annebault, the favourites of King François, even though -he might often have had peace with Emperor Charles had he been willing -so to do; but his honour could not submit to such attentions. And so, -like father, like daughter. Nevertheless, all that injured her much. I -remember an infinite number of annoyances and indignities she received -at Court, which I shall not relate, they are too odious; until at last -she was sent away, with great affront and yet most innocent of what they -put upon her; the proofs of which were known to many, as I know myself; -also the king, her husband, was convinced of it, so that he brought King -Henri to account, which was very good of him, and henceforth there -resulted between the two brothers [-in-law] a certain hatred and -contention. - -The war of the League happened soon after; and because the Queen of -Navarre feared some evil at Court, being a strong Catholic, she retired -to Agen, which had been given to her with the region about it by her -brothers, as an appanage and gift for life. As the Catholic religion was -concerned, which it was necessary to maintain, and also to exterminate -the other, she wished to fortify her side as best she could and repress -the other side. But in this she was ill-served by means of Mme. de -Duras, who governed her much, and made, in her name, great exactions and -extortions. The people of the town were embittered, and covertly sought -their freedom and a means to drive away their lady and her bailiffs. On -which disturbance the Maréchal de Matignon took occasion to make -enterprise against the town, as the king, having learned the state of -things, commanded him with great joy to do in order to aggravate his -sister, whom he did not love, to more and more displeasure. This -enterprise, which failed at first, was led the second time so -dexterously by the said marshal and the inhabitants, that the town was -taken by force with such rapidity and alarm that the poor queen, in -spite of all she could do, was forced to mount in pillion behind a -gentleman, and Mme. de Duras behind another, and escape as quickly as -they could, riding a dozen leagues without stopping, and the next day as -much more, to find safety in the strongest fortress of France, which is -Carlat. Being there, and thinking herself in safety, she was, by the -manœuvres of the king, her brother (who was a very clever and very -subtle king, if ever there was one), betrayed by persons of that country -and the fortress, so that when she fled she became a prisoner in the -hands of the Marquis de Canillac, governor of Auvergne, and was taken to -the castle of Usson, a very strong fortress also, almost impregnable, -which that good and sly fox Louis XI. had made such, in order to lodge -his prisoners in a hundred-fold more security than at Loches, Bois de -Vincennes, or Lusignan. - -Here, then, was this poor princess a prisoner, and treated not as a -daughter of France or the great princess that she was. But, at any rate, -if her body was captive, her brave heart was not, and it never failed -her, but helped her well and did not let her yield to her affliction. -See what a great heart can do, led by great beauty! For he who held her -prisoner became her prisoner in time, brave and valiant though he was. -Poor man! what else could he expect? Did he think to hold subject and -captive in his prison one whose eyes and beauteous face could subject -the whole world to her bonds and chains like galley-slaves! - -So here was the marquis ravished and taken by her beauty; but she, not -dreaming of the delights of love, only of her honour and her liberty, -played her game so shrewdly that she soon became the stronger, seized -the fort, and drove away the marquis, much dumfounded at such surprise -and military tactics. - -There she has now been six or seven years,[16] not, however, with all -the pleasures of life, being despoiled of the county of Auvergne by M. -le Grand Prieur de France, whom the king induced the queen-mother to -institute count and heir in her will; regretting much that she could not -leave the queen, her good daughter, anything of her own, so great was -the hatred that the king bore her. Alas! what mutation was this from the -time when, as I saw myself, they loved each other much, and were one in -body, soul, and will! Ah! how often was it fine to see them discourse -together; for, whether they were grave or gay, nothing could be finer -than to see and hear them, for both could say what they wished to say. -Ah! how changed the times are since we saw them in that great ball-room, -dancing together in such beautiful accord of dance and will! The king -always led her to the dance at the great balls. If one had a noble -majesty the other had none the less; the eyes of all were never -surfeited or delighted enough by so agreeable a sight; for the sets were -so well danced, the steps so correctly performed, the stops so finely -made that we knew not which to admire most, their beautiful fashion of -dancing or their majesty in pausing; representing now a gay demeanour -and next a noble, crave disdain; for no one ever saw them in the -dance that did not say they had seen no dance so fine with grace and -majesty as this of the king-brother and the queen-sister. As for me, I -am of that opinion; and yet I have seen the Queen of Spain and the Queen -of Scotland dance most beautifully. - -[Illustration: _Élisabeth de France Queen of Spain_] - -Also I have seen them dance the Italian _pazzemeno_ [the minuet, _menu -pas_], now advancing with grave port and majesty, doing their steps so -gravely and so well; next gliding only; and anon making most fine and -dainty and grave passages, that none, princes or others, could approach, -nor ladies, because of the majesty that was not lacking. Wherefore this -queen took infinite pleasure in these grave dances on account of her -grace and dignity and majesty, which she displayed the better in these -than in others like _bransles_, and _volts_, and _courants_. The latter -she did not like, although she danced them well, because they were not -worthy of her majesty, though very proper for the common graces of other -ladies. - -I have seen her sometimes like to dance the _bransle_ by torchlight. I -remember that once, being at Lyon, on the return of the king from -Poland, at the marriage of Besne (one of her maids of honour) she danced -the _bransle_ before many foreigners from Savoie, Piedmont, Italy, and -elsewhere, who declared they had never seen anything so fine as this -queen, a grave and noble lady, as indeed she is. One of them there was -who went about declaring that she needed not, like other ladies, the -torch she carried in her hand; for the light within her eyes, which -could not be extinguished like the other, was sufficient; the which had -other virtue than leading men to dance, for it inflamed all those about -her, yet could not be put out like the one she had in hand, but lit the -night amid the darkness and the day beneath the sun. - -For this reason must we say that Fortune has been to us as great an -enemy as to her, in that we see no longer that bright torch, or rather -that fine sun which lighted us, now hidden among those hills and -mountains of Auvergne. If only that light had placed itself in some fine -port or haven near the sea, where passing mariners might be guided, safe -from wreck and peril, by its beacon, her dwelling would be nobler, more -profitable, more honourable for herself and us. Ah! people of Provence, -you ought to beg her to dwell upon your seacoasts or within your ports; -then would she make them more famous than they are, more inhabited and -richer; from all sides men in galleys, ships, and vessels would flock to -see this wonder of the world, as in old times to that of Rhodes, that -they might see its glorious and far-shining pharos. Instead of which, -begirt by barriers of mountains, she is hidden and unknown to all our -eyes, except that we have still her lovely memory. Ah! beautiful and -ancient town of Marseille, happy would you be if your port were honoured -by the flame and beacon of her splendid eyes! For the county of Provence -belongs to her, as do several other provinces in France. Cursèd be the -unhappy obstinacy of this kingdom which does not seek to bring her -hither with the king, her husband, to be received, honoured and welcomed -as they should be. (This I wrote at the very height of the Wars of the -League.) - -Were she a bad, malicious, miserly, or tyrannical princess (as there -have been a plenty in times past in France, and will be, possibly, -again), I should say nothing in her favour; but she is good, most -splendid, liberal, giving all to others, keeping little for herself, -most charitable, and giving freely to the poor. The great she made -ashamed with liberalities; for I have seen her make presents to all the -Court on New Year’s Day such as the kings, her brothers, could not -equal. On one occasion she gave Queen Louise de Lorraine a fan made of -mother-of-pearl enriched with precious stones and pearls of price, so -beautiful and rich that it was called a masterpiece and valued at more -than fifteen thousand crowns. The other, to return the present, sent her -sister those long _aiguillettes_ which Spaniards call _puntas_, enriched -with certain stones and pearls, that might have cost a hundred crowns; -and with these she paid for that fine New Year’s gift, which was, -certainly, most dissimilar. - -In short, this queen is in all things royal and liberal, honourable and -magnificent, and, let it not displease the empresses of long past days, -their splendours described by Suetonius, Pliny, and others, do not -approach her own in any way, either in Court or city, or in her journeys -through the open country; witness her gilded litters so superbly covered -and painted with fine devices, her coaches and carriages the same, and -her horses so fine and so richly caparisoned. - -Those who have seen, as I have, these splendid appurtenances know what I -say. And must she now be deprived of all this, so that for seven years -she has not stirred from that stern, unpleasant castle?--in which, -however, she takes patience; such virtue has she of self-command, one of -the greatest, as many wise philosophers have said! - -To speak once more of her kindness: it is such, so noble, so frank, -that, as I believe, it has done her harm; for though she has had great -grounds and great means to be revenged upon her enemies and injure them, -she has often withheld her hand when, had she employed those means or -caused them to be employed, and commanded others, who were ready enough, -to chastise those enemies with her consent, they would have done so -wisely and discreetly; but she resigned all vengeances to God. - -This is what M. du Gua said to her once when she threatened him: -“Madame, you are so kind and generous that I never heard it said you did -harm to any one; and I do not think you will begin with me, who am your -very humble servitor.” And, in fact, although he greatly injured her, -she never returned him the same in vengeance. It is true that when he -was killed and they came to tell her, she merely said, being ill: “I am -sorry I am not well enough to celebrate his death with joy.” She had -also this other kindness in her: that when others had humbled themselves -and asked her pardon and favour, she forgave and pardoned, with the -generosity of a lion which never does harm to those who are humble to -him. - -I remember that when M. le Maréchal de Biron was lieutenant of the king -in Guyenne, war having broken out around him (possibly with his -knowledge and intent), he went one day before Nérac, where the King and -Queen of Navarre were living at that time. The marshal prepared his -arquebusiers to attack, beginning with a skirmish. The King of Navarre -brought out his own in person, and, in a doublet like any captain of -adventurers, he held his ground so well that, having the best marksmen, -nothing could prevail against him. By way of bravado the marshal let fly -some cannon against the town, so that the queen, who had gone upon the -ramparts to see the pastime, came near having her share in it, for a -ball flew right beside her; which incensed her greatly, as much for the -little respect Maréchal de Biron showed in braving her to her face, as -because he had a special command from the king not to approach the war -nearer than five hundred leagues to the Queen of Navarre, wherever she -might be. The which command he did not observe on this occasion; for -which she felt resentment and revenge against the marshal. - -About a year and a half later she came to Court, where was the marshal, -whom the king had recalled from Guyenne, fearing further disturbance; -for the King of Navarre had threatened to make trouble if he were not -recalled. The Queen of Navarre, resentful to the said marshal, took no -notice of him, but disdained him, speaking everywhere very ill of him -and of the insult he had offered her. At last, the marshal, dreading the -hatred of the daughter and sister of his masters, and knowing the nature -of the princess, determined to seek her pardon by making excuses and -humbling himself; on which, generous as she was, she did not contradict -him, but took him into favour and friendship and forgot the past. I knew -a gentleman by acquaintance who came to Court about this time, and -seeing the good cheer the queen bestowed upon the marshal was much -astonished; and so, as he sometimes had the honour of being listened to -by the queen, he said to her that he was much amazed at the change and -at her good welcome, in which he could not have believed, in view of the -affront and injury. To which she answered that as the marshal had owned -his fault and made his excuses and sought her pardon humbly, she had -granted it for that reason, and did not desire further talk about his -bravado at Nérac. See how little vindictive this good princess is,--not -imitating in this respect her grandmother, Queen Anne, towards the -Maréchal de Gié, as I have heretofore related. - -I might give many other examples of her kindness in her reconciliations -and forgivenesses. - -Rebours, one of her maids of honour, who died at Chenonceaux, displeased -her on one occasion very much. She did not treat her harshly, but when -she was very ill she went to see her, and as she was about to die -admonished her, and then said: “This poor girl has done great harm, but -she has suffered much. May God pardon her as I have pardoned her.” That -was the vengeance and the harm she did her. Through her generosity she -was slow to revenge, and in all things kind. - -Alfonso, the great King of Naples, who was subtle in loving the beauties -of women, used to say that beauty is the sign manual of kindness and -gentle goodness, as the beautiful flower is that of a good fruit. As to -that it cannot be doubted that if our queen had been ugly and not -composed of her great beauty, she would have been very bad in view of -the great causes to be so that were given her. Thus said the late Queen -Isabella of Castile, that wise and virtuous and very Catholic princess: -“The fruit of clemency in a queen of great beauty and lofty heart, -covetous of honour, is sweeter far than any vengeance whatever, even -though it be undertaken for just claims and reason.” - -This queen most sacredly observes that rule, striving to conform to the -commandments of her God, whom she has always loved and feared and served -devotedly. Now that the world has abandoned her and made war upon her, -she takes her sole resource in God, whom she serves daily, as I am told -by those who have seen her in her affliction; for never does she miss a -mass, taking the communion often and reading much in Holy Scripture, -finding there her peace and consolation. - -She is most eager to obtain the fine new books that are composed, as -much on sacred subjects as on human; and when she undertakes to read a -book, however large and long it be, she never stops or quits it until -she sees the end, and often loses sleep and food in doing so. She -herself composes, both in prose and verse. As to which no one can think -otherwise than that her compositions are learned, beautiful, and -pleasing, for she knows the art; and could we bring them to the light, -the world would draw great pleasure and great profit from them. Often -she makes very beautiful verses and stanzas, that are sung to her by -choir-boys whom she keeps, and which she sings herself (for her voice is -beautiful and pleasant) to a lute, playing it charmingly. And thus she -spends her time and wears away her luckless days,--offending none, and -living that tranquil life she chooses as the best. - -She has done me the honour to write me often in her adversity, I being -so presumptuous as to send for news of her. But is she not the daughter -and sister of my kings, and must I not wish to know her health, and be -glad and happy when I hear ‘tis good? In her first letter she writes -thus:-- - -“By the remembrance you have of me, which is not less new than pleasant -to me, I see that you have well preserved the affection you have always -shown to our family and to the few now left of its sad wreck, so that I, -in whatever state I be, shall ever be disposed to serve you; feeling -most happy that ill fortune has not effaced my name from the remembrance -of my oldest friends, of whom you are. I know that you have chosen, like -myself, a tranquil life; and I count those happy who can maintain it, as -God has given me the grace to do these five years, He having brought me -to an ark of safety, where the storms of all these troubles cannot, I -thank God, hurt me; so that if there remain to me some means to serve my -friends, and you particularly, you will find me wholly so disposed with -right good will.” - -Those are noble words; and such was the state and resolution of our -beautiful princess. That is what it is to be born of a noble house, the -greatest in the world, whence she drew her courage by inheritance from -many brave and valiant kings, her father, grandfather, great-grandfather, -and all their ancestors. And be it, as she says, that from so great -a shipwreck she alone remains, not recognized and reverenced as she -should be by her people, I believe this people of France has suffered -much misery for that reason, and will suffer more for this war of the -League. But to-day this is not so;[17] for by the valour and wisdom -and fine government of our king never was France more flourishing, or -more pacific, or better ruled; which is the greatest miracle ever seen, -having issued from so vast an abyss of evils and corruptions; by which -it seems that God has loved our queen,--He being good and merciful. - -Oh! how ill-advised is he who trusts in the people of to-day! Oh! how -differently did the Romans recognize the posterity of Augustus Cæsar, -who gave them wealth and grandeurs, from the people of France, who -received so much from their later kings these hundred years, and even -from François I. and Henri II., so that without them France would have -been tumbled topsy-turvy by her enemies watching for that chance, and -even by the Emperor Charles, that hungry and ambitious man. And thus it -is they are so ungrateful, these people, toward Marguerite, sole and -only remaining daughter and princess of France! It is easy to foresee -the wrath of God upon them, because nothing is to Him so odious as -ingratitude, especially to kings and queens, who here below fulfil the -place and state of God. And thou, disloyal Fortune, how plainly dost -thou show that there are none, however loved by heaven and blessed by -nature, who can be sure of thee and of thy favours a single day! Art -thou not dishonoured in thus so cruelly affronting her who is all -beauty, sweetness, virtue, magnanimity and kindness? - -All this I wrote during those wars we had among us for ten years. To -make an end, did I not speak elsewhere of this great queen in other -discourses I would lengthen this still more and all I could, for on so -excellent a subject the longest words are never wearisome; but for a -time I now postpone them. - -Live, princess, live in spite of Fortune! Never can you be other than -immortal upon earth and in heaven, whither your noble virtues bear you -in their arms. If public voice and fame had not made common praise of -your great merits, or if I were of those of noble speech, I would say -further here; for never did there come into the world a figure so -celestial. - - This queen who should by good right order us - By laws and edicts and above us reign, - Till we behold a reign of pleasure under her, - As in her father’s days, a Star of France, - Fortune hath hindered. Ha! must rightful claim - Be wrongly lost because of Fortune’s spite? - - Never did Nature make so fine a thing - As this great unique princess of our France! - Yet Fortune chooses to undo her wholly. - Behold how evil balances with good! - - * * * * * - -In the sixteenth century there were three Marguerites: one, sister of -François I. and Queen of Navarre, celebrated for her intellect, her -Tales in the style of Boccaccio, and her verses, which are less -interesting; another, Marguerite, niece of the preceding, sister of -Henri II., who became Duchesse de Savoie, very witty, also a writer of -verses, and, in her youth, the patroness of the new poets at Court; and -lastly, the third Marguerite, niece and great-niece of the first two, -daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, first wife of Henri IV., -and sister of the last Valois. It is of her that I speak to-day as -having left behind her most agreeable historical pages and opened in our -literature that graceful series of women’s Memoirs which henceforth -never ceases, but is continued in later years and lively vein by -Mesdames de La Fayette, de Caylus and others. All of these Memoirs are -books made without intending it, and the better for that. The following -is the reason why Queen Marguerite took the idea of writing those in -which she describes herself with so lightsome a pen. - -Brantôme, who was making a gallery of illustrious French and foreign -ladies, after bringing Marie Stuart into it, bethought him of placing -Marguerite beside her as another example of the injustice and cruelty of -Fortune. Marguerite, at the period when Brantôme indited his impulsive, -enthusiastic portrait of her, flinging upon his paper that eulogy which -may truly be called delirious, was confined at the castle of Usson in -Auvergne (1593), where she was not so much a prisoner as mistress. -Prisoner at first, she soon seduced the man who held her so and took -possession of the place, where she passed the period of the League -troubles, and beyond it, in an impenetrable haven. The castle of Usson -had been fortified by Louis XI., well-versed in precautions, who wanted -it as a sure place in which to lodge his prisoners. There Marguerite -felt herself safe, not only from sudden attack, but also from the trial -of a long siege and repeated assault. Writing to her husband, Henri IV., -in October, 1594, she says to him, jokingly, that if he could see the -fortress and the way in which she had protected herself within it he -would see that God alone could reduce it, and she has good reason to -believe that “this hermitage was built to be her ark of safety.” - -The castle which she thus compares to Noah’s ark, and which some of her -panegyrists, convinced that she who lived there was given to celestial -contemplations, compare to Mount Tabor, was regarded as a Caprea and an -abominable lair by enemies, who, from afar, plunged eyes of hatred into -it. It is very certain, however, that Queen Marguerite lost nothing in -that retreat of the delicate nicety of her mind, for it was there that -she undertook to write her Memoirs in a few afternoons, in order to come -to Brantôme’s assistance and correct him on certain points. We will -follow her, using now and then some contemporary information, without -relying too much upon either, but endeavouring to draw with simple truth -a singular portrait in which there enters much that was enchanting and, -towards the end, fantastic. - -Marguerite, born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, May 14, 1553, was six years -old when her father, Henri II., was killed at that fatal tournament -which ruined the fortunes of the house of Valois. She tells us several -anecdotes of herself and her childish repartees which prove a precocious -mind. She takes great pains to call attention to a matter which in her -is really a sign, a distinctive note through all excesses, namely: that -as a child and when it was the fashion at Court to be “Huguenot,” and -when all those who had intelligence, or wished to pass for having it, -had withdrawn from what they called “bigotry,” she resisted that -influence. In vain did her brother, d’Anjou, afterward Henri III., fling -her Hours into the fire and give her the Psalms and the Huguenot prayers -in place of it; she held firm and preserved herself from the mania of -Huguenotism, which at that date (1561) was a fancy at Court, a French -and mundane fashion, attractive for a time to even those who were soon -to turn against it and repress it. Marguerite, in the midst of a life -that was little exemplary, will always be found to have kept with -sincerity this corner of good Catholicism which she derived from her -race, and which made her in this respect and to this degree more of an -Italian than a Frenchwoman; however, that which imports us to notice is -that she _had it_. - -Still a child when the first religious wars began, she was sent to -Amboise with her young brother, d’Alençon. There she found herself in -company with several of Brantôme’s female relations: Mme. de Dampierre, -his aunt, Mme. de Retz, his cousin; and she began with the elder of -these ladies a true friendship; with the younger, the cousin, the -affection came later. Marguerite gives the reason for this very -prettily:-- - -“At that time the advanced age of your aunt and my childish youthfulness -had more agreement; for it is the nature of old people to love children; -and those who are in the perfection of their age, like your cousin, -despise and dislike their annoying simplicity.” - -Childhood passed, and the first awakening to serious things was given to -Marguerite about the time of the battle of Moncontour (1569). She was -then sixteen. The Duc d’Anjou, afterwards Henri III., aged eighteen, -handsome, brave, and giving promise of a virtue and a prudence he never -justified, took his sister aside one day in one of the alleys of the -park at Plessis-lez-Tours to tell her of his desire, on starting for the -army, to leave her as his confidant and support with their mother, -Catherine de’ Medici, during his absence at the wars. He made her a long -speech, which she reports in full with some complacency:-- - -“Sister, the nourishment we have taken together obliges us, not less -than proximity, to love each other.... Until now we have naturally been -guided to this without design and without the said union being of any -utility beyond the pleasure we have had in conversing together. That was -good for our childhood; but now it is time to no longer live like -children.” - -He then points out to her the great and noble duties to which God calls -him, in which the queen, their mother, brought him up, and which King -Charles IX., their brother, lays upon him. He fears that this king, -courageous as he is, may not always be satisfied with hunting, but will -become ambitious to put himself at the head of the armies, the command -of which has been hitherto left to him. It is this that he wishes to -prevent. - -“In this apprehension,” he continues, “thinking of some means of remedy, -I believe that it is necessary to leave some very faithful person behind -me who will maintain my side with the queen, my mother. I know no one as -suitable as you, whom I regard as a second myself. You have all the -qualities that can be desired,--intelligence, judgment, and fidelity.” - -The Duc d’Anjou then proposes to his sister to change her manner of -life, to be assiduous towards the queen, their mother, at all hours, at -her _lever_, in her cabinet during the day, at her _coucher_, and so act -that she be treated henceforth, not as a child, but as a person who -represents him during his absence. “This language,” she remarks, “was -very new to me, having lived until then without purpose, thinking of -nothing but dancing and hunting; and without much interest even in -dressing and in appearing beautiful, not having yet reached the age of -such ambitions.” The fear she always felt for the queen, her mother, and -the respectful silence she maintained in her presence, held her back -still further. “I came very near,” she says, “replying to him as Moses -did to God in the vision of the bush: ‘Who am I? Send, I pray thee, by -him whom thou shouldest send.’” Nevertheless, she felt within her at her -brother’s words a new courage, and powers hitherto unknown to her, and -she soon consented to all, entering zealously into her brother’s design. -From that moment she felt herself “transformed.” - -This fraternal and politic union thus created by the Duc d’Anjou did not -last. On his return from the victory of Moncontour she found him -changed, distrustful, and ruled by a favourite, du Gua, who possessed -him as so many others possessed him later. Henceforth his sister was out -of favour with him, and it was with her younger brother, the Duc -d’Alençon, that Marguerite renewed and continued as long as she could a -union of the same kind, which gave room for all the feelings and all the -ambitious activities of youth. - -Did she at that time give some ground for the coolness of her brother -d’Anjou by her liaison with the young Duc de Guise? An historian who -knew Marguerite well and was not hostile to her, says: “She had long -loved Henri, Duc de Guise, who was killed at Blois, and had so fixed the -affections of her heart from her youth upon that prince of many -attractions that she never loved the King of Navarre, afterwards King of -France of happy memory, but hated him from the beginning, and was -married to him in spite of herself, and against canonical law.”[18] -However this may be, the Duc d’Anjou seized the pretext of the Duc de -Guise to break with his sister, whose enemy he became insensibly, and he -succeeded in alienating her from her mother. - -Marguerite, in this flower of her youth, was, according to all -testimony, enchantingly beautiful. Her beauty was not so much in the -special features of her face as in the grace and charm of her whole -person, with its mingling of seduction and majesty. Her hair was dark, -which was not thought a beauty in those days; blond hair reigned. “I -have seen her sometimes wearing her natural hair without any peruke -artifice,” Brantôme tells us, “and though it was black (having inherited -that colour from King Henri, her father), she knew so well how to twist -and curl and arrange it, in imitation of her sister, the Queen of Spain, -who never wore any hair but her own, that such arrangement and coiffure -became her as well as, or better than, any other.” Toward the end of her -life Marguerite, becoming in her turn antiquated, with no brown hair to -dress, made great display of blond perukes. “For them she kept great, -fair-haired footmen, who were shaved from time to time;” but in her -youth, when she dared to be dark-haired as nature made her, it was not -unbecoming to her; for she had a most dazzling complexion and her -“beautiful fair face resembled the sky in its purest and greatest -serenity” with its “noble forehead of whitening ivory.” Nor must we -forget her art of adorning and dressing herself to advantage, and the -new inventions of that kind she gave to women, she being then the queen -of the modes and fashion. As such she appeared on all solemn occasions, -and notably on that day when, at the Tuileries, the queen-mother fêted -the Polish seigneurs who came to offer the crown of Poland to the Duc -d’Anjou, and Ronsard, who was present, confesses that the beautiful -goddess Aurora was vanquished; but more notably still on that flowery -Easter at Blois, when we see her in procession, her dark hair starred -with diamonds and precious stones, wearing a gown of crinkled cloth of -gold from Constantinople, the weight of which would have crushed any -other woman, but which her beautiful, rich, strong figure supported -firmly, bearing the palm in her hand, her consecrated branch, “with -regal majesty, and a grace half proud, half tender.” Such was the -Marguerite of the lovely years before the disasters and the flights, -before the castle of Usson, where she aged and stiffened. - -This beauty, so real, so solid, which had so little need of borrowed -charms, had, like all her being, its fantasticalities and its -superstition. I have said already that she frequently disguised her -rich, brown hair, preferring a blond wig, “more or less charmingly -fashioned.” Her beautiful face was presented to view “all painted and -stained.” She took such care of her skin that she spoiled it with washes -and recipes of many kinds, which gave her erysipelas and pimples. In -fact, she was the model and eke the slave of the fashions of her time; -and as she survived those days she became in the end a species of -preserved idol and curiosity, such as may be seen in a show-case. The -great Sully, when he one day reappeared at the Court of Louis XIII. with -his ruff and his costume of the time of Henri IV., gave that crowd of -young courtiers something to laugh at; and so, when Queen Marguerite, -having returned from Usson to Paris, showed herself at the remodelled -Court of Henri IV. she produced the same effect on that young century, -which smiled at beholding this solemn survival of the Valois. - -Like all those Valois, a worthy granddaughter of François I., she was -learned. To the Poles who harangued in Latin she showed that she -understood them by replying on the spot, eloquently and pertinently, -without the help of an interpreter. She loved poetry and wrote it, and -had it written for her by salaried poets whom she treated as friends. -When she had once begun to read a book she could not leave it, or pause -till she came to the end, “and very often she would lose both her eating -and drinking.” But let us not forestall the time. She herself tells us -that this taste for study and reading came to her for the first time -during a previous imprisonment in which Henri III. held her for several -months in 1575, and we are still concerned with her cloudless years. - -She was married, in spite of her objections as a good Catholic, to -Henri, King of Navarre, six days before the Saint-Bartholomew (August, -1572). She relates with much naïveté and in a simple tone the scenes of -that night of horror, of which she was ignorant until the last moment. -We see in her narrative that wounded and bleeding gentleman pursued -through the corridors of the Louvre, and taking refuge in Marguerite’s -chamber, and flinging himself with the cry “Navarre! Navarre!” upon her; -shielding his own body from the murderers with that of his queen, she -not knowing whether she had to do with a madman or an assailant. When -she did know what the danger was she saved the poor man, keeping him in -bed and dressing his wounds in her cabinet until he was cured. Queen -Marguerite, so little scrupulous in morality, is better than her -brothers; of the vanishing Valois she has all the good qualities and -many of their defects, but not their cruelty. - -After this half-missed blow of the Saint-Bartholomew, which did not -touch the princes of the blood, an attempt was made to unmarry her from -the King of Navarre. On a feast day when she was about to take the -sacrament, her mother asked her to tell her under oath, truly, whether -the king, her husband, had behaved to her as yet like a husband, a man, -and whether there was not still time to break the union. To this -Marguerite played the _ingénue_, so she asserts, apparently not -comprehending. “I begged her,” she says, “to believe that I knew nothing -of what she was speaking. I could then say with truth as the Roman lady -said, when her husband was angry because she had not warned him his -breath was bad, ‘that she had supposed all men were alike, never having -been near to any one but him.’” - -Here Marguerite wishes to have it understood that she had never, so far, -made comparison of any man with another man; she plays the innocent, and -by her quotation from the Roman lady she also plays the learned; which -is quite in the line of her intelligence. - -It would be a great error of literary judgment to consider these -graceful Memoirs as a work of nature and simplicity; it is rather one of -discrimination and subtlety. Wit sparkles throughout; but study and -learning are perceptible. In the third line we come upon a Greek word: -“I would praise your work more,” she writes to Brantôme, “if you had -praised me less; not wishing that the praise I give should be attributed -to _philautia_ rather than to reason;” by _philautia_ she means -self-love. Marguerite (she will remind us of it if we forget it) is by -education and taste of the school of Ronsard, and a little of that of Du -Bartas. During her imprisonment in 1575, giving herself up, as she tells -us, to reading and devotion, she shows us the study which led her back -to religion; she talks to us of the “universal page of Nature;” the -“ladder of knowledge;” the “chain of Homer;” and of “that agreeable -Encyclopædia which, starting from God, returns to God, the principle -and the end of all things.” All that is learned, and even -transcendental. - -She was called in her family Venus-Urania. She loved fine discourses on -elevated topics of philosophy or sentiment. In her last years, during -her dinners and suppers, she usually had four learned men beside her, to -whom she propounded at the beginning of the meal some topic more or less -sublime or subtile, and when each had spoken for or against it and given -his reasons, she would intervene and renew the contest, provoking and -attracting to herself at will their contradiction. Here Marguerite was -essentially of her period, and she bears the seal of it on her style. -The language of her Memoirs is not an exception to be counted against -the mannerism and taste of her time; it is only a more happy employment -of it. She knows mythology and history; she cites readily Burrhus, -Pyrrhus, Timon, the centaur Chiron, and the rest. Her language is by -choice metaphorical and lively with poesy. When Catherine de’ Medici, -going to see her son, the Duc d’Anjou, travels from Paris to Tours in -three days and a half (very rapid in those times, and the journey put -that poor Cardinal de Bourbon, little accustomed to such discomfort, -entirely out of breath), it is because the queen-mother is “borne,” says -Marguerite, “on the wings of desire and maternal affection.” - -Marguerite likes and affects all comparisons borrowed from fabulous -natural history, and she varies them with reminiscences of ancient -history. When, in 1582, they recall her to the Court of France, taking -her from her husband and from Nérac, where she had then been three or -four years, she perceives a project of her enemies to blow up a quarrel -between herself and her husband during this absence. “They hoped,” she -says, “that separation would be like the breaking of the Macedonian -battalion.” When the famous Phalanx was once broken entrance was easy. -This style, so ornate and figurative, usually delicate and graceful, has -also its outspokenness and firmness of tone. Speaking of the expedition -projected by her brother, the Duc d’Alençon, in Flanders, she explains -it in terms of energetic beauty, representing to the king that “it is -for the honour and aggrandizement of France; it will prove an invention -to prevent civil war, all restless spirits desirous of novelty having -means to pass into Flanders and blow off their smoke and surfeit -themselves with war. This enterprise will also serve, like Piedmont, as -a school for the nobility in the practice of arms; we shall there revive -the Montlucs and Brissacs, the Termes and the Bellegardes, and all those -great marshals who, trained to war in Piedmont, have since then so -gloriously and successfully served their king and their country.” - -One of the most agreeable parts of these Memoirs is the journey in -Flanders, Hainault, and the Liège country which Marguerite made in 1577; -a journey undertaken ostensibly to drink the waters of Spa, but in -reality to gain partisans for her brother d’Alençon, in his project of -wrenching the Low Countries from Spain. The details of her coquettish, -and ceremonial magnificence, so dear to ladies, are not omitted:-- - -“I went,” says Marguerite, “in a litter with columns covered with -rose-coloured Spanish velvet, embroidered in gold and shaded silks with -a device; this litter was enclosed in glass, and each glass also bore a -device, there being, whether on the velvet or on the glass, forty -different devices about the sun and its effects, with the words in -Spanish and Italian.” - -Those forty devices and their explanation were an ever fresh subject of -gallant conversation in the towns through which she passed. Amid it -all, Marguerite, then in the full bloom of her twenty-fourth year, went -her way, winning all hearts, seducing the governors of citadels, and -persuading them to useful treachery. On this journey she meets with -charming Flemish scenes which she pictures delightfully. Take, for -example, the gala festival at Mons, where the beautiful Comtesse de -Lalain (Marguerite, Princesse de Ligne), whose beauty and rich costume -are described most particularly, has her child brought to her in -swaddling-clothes and suckles it before the company; “which,” remarks -Marguerite, “would have been an incivility in any one else; but she did -it with such grace and simplicity, like all the rest of her actions, -that she received as much praise as the company did pleasure.” - -Leaving Namur, we have at Liège a touching and pathetic story of a poor -young girl, Mlle. de Tournon, who dies of grief for being slighted and -betrayed by her lover, to whom she was going in the utmost confidence; -and who himself, coming to a better mind too late, rushes to console -her, and finds her coffin on arrival. We have here from Queen -Marguerite’s pen the finished sketch of a tale in the style of Mme. de -La Fayette, just as above we had the drawing of a perfect little Flemish -picture. On her return from this journey, the scenes Marguerite passes -through at Dinant prove her coolness and presence of mind, and present -us with another Flemish picture, but not so graceful as that of Mons and -the beautiful nursing countess; this time it is a scene of public -drunkenness, grotesque burgher rioting, and burgomasters in their cups. -A painter need only transfer and copy the very lines which Marguerite -has so happily traced, to make a faithful picture. - -After these journeys, being now reunited at her house of La Fère in -Picardy with her dear brother d’Alençon, she realizes there for nearly -two months, “which were to us” she says, “like two short days,” one of -those terrestrial paradises which were at all times the desire of her -imagination and of her heart. She loved beyond all things those spheres -of enchantment, those Fortunate Isles, alike of Urania and of Calypso, -and she was ever seeking to reproduce them in all places and under all -forms, whether at her Court at Nérac or amid the rocks of Usson, or, at -the last, in that beautiful garden on the banks of the Seine (which -to-day is the Rue des Petits-Augustins) where she strove to cheat old -age. - -“O my queen! how good it is to be with you!” exclaims continually her -brother d’Alençon, enchanted with the thousand graceful imaginations -with which she varied and embellished this sojourn at La Fère. And she -adds naïvely, mingling her Christian erudition with sentiment: “He would -gladly have said with Saint Peter: ‘Let us make our tabernacle here,’ if -the regal courage he possessed and the generosity of his soul had not -called him to greater things.” As for her, we can conceive that she -would gladly have remained there, prolonging without weariness the -enchantment; she would willingly have arranged her life like that -beautiful garden at Nérac of which she constantly speaks, “which has -such charming alleys of laurel and cypress,” or like the park she had -made there, “with paths three thousand paces long beside the river;” the -chapel being close at hand for morning mass, and the violins at her -orders for the evening ball. - -Whatever ability and shrewdness Queen Marguerite may have shown in -various political circumstances in the course of her life, we -nevertheless perceive plainly that she was not a political woman; she -was too essentially of her sex for that. There are very few women who, -like the Princess Palatine [Anne de Gonzaga] or the illustrious -Catherine of Russia, know how to be libertine yet sure of themselves; -able to establish an impenetrable partition between the alcove and the -cabinet of public affairs. Nearly all the women who have mingled in the -intrigues of politics have introduced and confused with them their -intrigues of heart or senses. Consequently, whatever intelligence they -may have, they elude or escape at a certain moment, and unless there be -a man who holds the tiller and gives them with decision their course, we -find them unfaithful, treacherous, not to be relied on, and capable at -any moment of colloguing through a secret window with an emissary of the -opposite side. Marguerite, with infinite intelligence and grace, was one -of those women. Distinguished but not superior, and wholly influenced by -passions, she had wiles and artifices of a passing kind, but no views, -and still less stability. - -One of the remarkable features of her Memoirs is that she does not tell -all, nor even the half of all, and in the very midst of the odious and -extravagant accusations made against her she sits, pen in hand, a -delicate and most discreet woman. Nothing can be less like confession -than her Memoirs. “We find there,” says Bayle, “many sins of omission; -but could we expect that Queen Marguerite would acknowledge the things -that would blast her? Such avowals are reserved for the tribunal of -confession; they are not meant for history.” At the most, when -enlightened by history and by the pamphlets of the period, we can merely -guess at certain feelings of which she presents to us only the -superficial and specious side. When she speaks of Bussy d’Amboise she -scarcely restrains her admiration for that gallant cavalier, and we -fancy we can see in the abundance of that praise that her heart -overflows. - -Even the letters that we have from her say little more. Among them are -love letters addressed to him whom at one time she loved the most, -Harlay de Chanvalon. Here we find no longer the charming, moderately -ornate, and naturally polished style of the Memoirs; this is all of the -highest metaphysics and purest fustian, nearly unintelligible and most -ridiculous. “Adieu, my beauteous sun! adieu, my noble angel! fine -miracle of nature!” those are the most commonplace and earthly of her -expressions; the rest mount ever higher till lost in the Empyrean. It -would really seem, from reading these letters, as if Marguerite had -never loved with heart-love, only with the head and the imagination; and -that, feeling truly no love but the physical, she felt herself bound to -refine it in expression and to _petrarchize_ in words, she, who was so -practical in behaviour. She borrows from the false poetry of her day its -tinsel in order to persuade herself that the fancy of the moment is an -eternal worship. A practical observation is quoted of her which tells us -better than her own letters the secret of her life. “Would you cease to -love?” she said, “possess the thing beloved.” It is to escape this quick -disenchantment, this sad and rapid awakening, that she is so prodigal of -her figurative, mythological, impossible expressions; she is trying to -make herself a veil; the heart counts for nothing. She seems to be -saying to love: “Thy base is so trivial, so passing a thing, let us try -to support it by words, and so prolong its image and its play.” - -Her life well deduced and well related would make the subject of a -teeming and interesting volume. Having obtained, after the persecutions -and troubles, permission to rejoin her husband in Gascogne (1578), she -remained there three and a half years, enjoying her liberty and leaving -him his. She counts these days at Nérac, mingled, in spite of the -re-beginning wars, with balls, excursions, and “all sorts of virtuous -pleasures,” as an epoch of happiness. Henri’s weaknesses and her own -harmonized remarkably, and never clashed. But Henri soon crossed the -limit of license, and she, on her side, equally. It is not for us to -hold the balance or enter here into details which would soon become -indelicate and shameful. Marguerite, who had gone to spend some time in -Paris at her brother’s Court (1582, 1583) did not return to her husband -until after an odious scandal had made public her frailty. - -From that time forth her life did not retain its early, smiling -joyfulness. She was now past thirty; civil wars were lighted, never to -be extinguished until after the desperate struggles and total defeat of -the League. Marguerite, becoming a queen-adventuress, changed her abode -from time to time, until she found herself in the castle of Usson, that -asylum of which I have spoken, where she passed no less than eighteen -years (1587-1605). What happened there? Doubtless many common frailties, -but less odious than are told by bitter and dishonourable chroniclers, -the only authorities for the tales they put forth. - -During this time Queen Marguerite did not entirely cease to correspond -with her husband, now become King of France. If the conduct of the royal -pair leaves much to be desired with regard to each other, and also with -regard to the public, let us at least recognize that their correspondence -is that of honourable persons, persons of good company, whose hearts are -much better than their morals. When reasons of State determined Henri to -_unmarry himself_, to break a union which was not only sterile but scandalous, -Marguerite agreed without resistance,--seeming, however, to be fully -conscious of what she was losing. To accomplish the formalities of -divorce, the pope delegated certain bishops and cardinals to interrogate -separately the husband and wife. Marguerite expresses the desire, -inasmuch as she must be questioned, that this may be done “by more -private and familiar” persons, her courage not being able to endure -publicly so great a _diminution_; “fearing that my tears,” she writes, -“may make these cardinals think I am acting from force or constraint, -which would injure the effect the king desires” (Oct. 21, 1599). King -Henri was touched by the feelings she showed throughout this long -negotiation. “I am very satisfied,” he writes, “at the ingenuousness and -candour of your procedure; and I hope that God will bless the remainder -of our days with fraternal affection, accompanied by the public good, -which will render them very happy.” He calls her henceforth his sister; -and she herself says to him: “You are father, brother, and king to me.” -If their marriage was one of the least noble and the most bourgeois, -their divorce, at any rate, was royal. - - * * * * * - -[Here Sainte-Beuve does not keep strictly to history. Henri IV. had long -urged Marguerite to consent to a divorce; but she, aware that he was -taking steps to divorce Gabrielle d’Estrées from her husband, in order -to marry her, and feeling the indignity of such a marriage, firmly -refused, and continued to do so until the sudden death of Gabrielle in -Paris during Holy Week of 1599; on which Marguerite consented at once to -the divorce, and Henri married Marie de’ Medici, December 17 of the same -year. - -[Illustration: The Coronation of Marie de’ Medici] - -Five years later (1605) Marguerite returned from the castle of Usson and -held her Court in Paris at the hôtel de Sens (which still exists) and at -her various châteaux in Languedoc; no longer, alas! the Reine Margot of -our ill-regulated affections, and somewhat open to the malicious -comments of Tallemant des Reaux, but appearing at times with all her -wonted spirit and regal dignity. These were the days when she kept -a brigade of golden-haired footmen who were shorn for the wigs; and the -story goes that her gowns were made with many pockets, in each of which -she kept the mummied heart of a lover. But such tales must be taken for -what they are worth, and a better chronicler than the satirists of the -Valois has given us ocular proof of her last majestic presence at a -public ceremony five years before her death. - -In 1610, Henri IV. preparing to leave France for the war in Germany, and -wishing to appoint Queen Marie de’ Medici regent, it became necessary to -have the latter crowned. This was done in the cathedral of Saint-Denis, -May 13, 1610. The Queen of Navarre, as Marguerite, daughter of France -and first princess of the blood, was required to be present at the -ceremony. Rubens’ splendid picture (reproduced in this volume) gives the -scene. Marie de’ Medici, kneeling before the altar, is being crowned by -Cardinal de Joyeuse, assisted by his clergy and two other cardinals; -beside the queen are the dauphin (Louis XIII.) and his sister, -Élisabeth, afterwards Queen of Spain. The Princesse de Conti and the -Duchesse de Montpensier carry the queen’s train; the Duc de Ventadour, -his back to the spectator, bears the sceptre, and the Chevalier de -Vendôme the sword of Justice. To the left, leading the cortège of -princesses and nobles, is the Queen of Navarre, easily recognized by her -small closed crown, all the other princesses wearing coronets. In the -background, to right, in a gallery, sits Henri IV. viewing the ceremony. -As he did so he turned with a shudder to the man behind him and said: “I -am thinking how this scene would appear if this were the Last Day and -the Judge were to summon us all before Him.” Henri IV. was killed by -Ravaillac the following morning, while his coach stood blocked in the -streets by the crowds who were collecting for the public entry of Marie -de’ Medici into Paris. - -The young Élisabeth, eldest daughter of the king and Marie de’ Medici, -who appears at the coronation of her mother, was afterwards wife of -Philip IV. of Spain, and mother of the Infanta Maria Theresa, wife of -Louis XIV, also of Carlos II., at whose death Louis XIV. obtained the -crown of Spain for his grandson, the Duc d’Anjou, Philip V. This -Élisabeth of France, Queen of Spain, is the original of Rubens’ -magnificent portrait reproduced in this chapter.--TR.] - - * * * * * - -Queen Marguerite returned from Usson to Paris in 1605; and here we find -her in her last estate, turned slightly to ridicule by Tallemant, the -echo of the new century. Eighteen years of confinement and solitude had -given her singularities, and even manias; they now burst forth in open -day. She still had adventures both gallant and startling: an equerry -whom she loved was killed at her carriage door by a jealous servant, and -the poet Maynard, a young disciple of Malherbe, one of Marguerite’s -_beaux-esprits_, wrote stanzas and plaints about it. During the same -period Marguerite had many sincere thoughts that were more than fits of -devotion. With Maynard for secretary, she had also Vincent de Paul, -young in those days, for her chaplain. She founded and endowed convents, -all the while paying learned men to instruct her in philosophy, and -musicians to amuse her during divine service and at hours more profane. -She gave many alms and gratuities and did not pay her debts. It was not -precisely good sense that presided over her life. But amidst it all she -was loved. “On the 27th day of the month of March” (1615), says a -contemporary, “died in Paris Queen Marguerite, sole remains of the race -of Valois,--a princess full of kindness and of good intentions for the -good and the peace of the State, _who did no harm to any but herself_. -She was greatly regretted. She died at the age of sixty-two.” - -Certain persons have attempted to compare her for beauty, for -misfortunes, for intellect, with Marie Stuart. Certainly, at a point of -departure there was much in common between the two queens, the two -sisters-in-law, but the comparison cannot be maintained historically. -Marie Stuart, who had in herself the wit, grace, and manners of the -Valois, who was scarcely more moral as a woman than Marguerite, and was -implicated in acts that were far more monstrous, had, or seemed to have, -a certain elevation of heart, which she acquired, or developed, in her -long captivity crowned by her sorrowful death. Of the two destinies, the -one represents definitely a great cause, and ends in a pathetic legend -of victim and martyr; the reputation of the other is spent and scattered -in tales and anecdotes half smutty, half devout, into which there enters -a grain of satire and of gayety. From the end of one comes many a -tearful tragedy; from that of the other nought can be made but a -_fabliau_. - -That which ought to be remembered to Marguerite’s honour is her -intelligence, her talent for saying the right word; in short, that which -is said of her in the Memoirs of Cardinal de Richelieu: “She was the -refuge of men of letters; she loved to hear them talk; her table was -always surrounded by them, and she learned so much from their -conversation that she talked better than any other woman of her time, -and wrote more elegantly than the ordinary condition of her sex would -warrant.” It is in that way, by certain exquisite pages which form a -date in our language, that she enters, in her turn, into literary -history, the noble refuge of so many wrecks, and that a last and a -lasting ray shines from her name. - -C. A. SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1852). - - - - -DISCOURSE VI. - -MESDAMES, THE DAUGHTERS OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF FRANCE.[19] - - -1. _Madame Yoland de France._ - -’Tis a thing that I have heard great personages, both men and ladies of -the Court, remark, that usually the daughters of the house of France -have been good, or witty, or gracious, or generous, and in all things -accomplished; and to confirm this opinion they do not go back to the -olden time, but say it of those of whom they have knowledge themselves, -or have heard their fathers and grandfathers who have been at the Court -talk of. - -First, I shall name here Madame Yoland of France, daughter of Charles -VII., and wife of the Duc de Savoie and Prince of Piedmont. - -She was very clever; true sister to her brother, Louis XI. She leaned a -little to the party of Duc Charles de Bourgogne, her brother-in-law, he -having married her elder sister Catherine, who scarcely lived after -wedding her husband, so that her virtues do not appear. Yoland, seeing -that Duc Charles was her neighbour and might be feared, did what she -could to maintain his friendship, and he served her much in the business -of her State. But he dying, King Louis XI. came down upon her grandeur -and her means, and those of Savoie. But Madame la duchesse, clever lady! -found means of winning over her brother the king;, and went to see him -at Plessis-lez-Tours to settle their affairs. She having arrived, the -king went down to meet her in the courtyard and welcome her; and having -bowed and kissed her and put his arm around her neck, half laughing, -half pinching her, he said: “Madame la Bourgognian, you are very -welcome.” She, making him a great curtsey, replied: “Monsieur, I am not -Bourgognian; you will pardon me if you please. I am a very good -Frenchwoman and your humble servant.” On which the king took her by the -arm and led her to her chamber with very good welcome; but Madame -Yoland, who was shrewd and knew the king’s nature, was determined not to -remain long with him, but to settle her affairs as fast as she could and -get away. - -The king, on the other hand, who knew the lady, did not press her to -stay very long; so that if one was displeased with the other, the other -was displeased with the first; wherefore without staying more than eight -days she returned, very little content with the king, her brother. - -Philippe de Commines has told about this meeting more at length; but the -old people of those days said that they thought this princess a very -able female, who owed nothing to the king, her brother, who twitted her -often about being a Bourgognian; but she tacked about as gently and -modestly as she could, for fear of affronting him, knowing full well, -and better than even her brother, how to dissimulate, being a hundred -times slyer than he in face, and speech, and ways, though always very -good and very wise. - - -2. _Madame Jeanne de France._ - -Jeanne de France, daughter of the aforesaid king, Louis XI., was very -witty, but so good that after her death she was counted a saint, and -even as doing miracles, because of the sanctity of the life she led -after her husband, Louis XII., repudiated her [to marry Anne de -Bretagne]; after which she retired to Bourges, which was given her as a -dowry for the term of her natural life; where all her time was spent in -prayer and orisons and in serving God and his poor, without giving any -sign of the wrong that was done her by such repudiation. But the king -protested that he had been forced to marry her fearing the wrath of her -father, Louis XI., a master-man, and declared positively that he had -never known her as his wife. Thus the matter was allowed to pass; in -which this princess showed her wisdom, not making the reply of Richarde -of Scotland, wife of Charles le Gros, King of France, when her husband -repudiated her, affirming that he had never lived with her as his wife. -“That is well,” she said, “since by the oath of my husband I am maid and -virgin.” By those words she scoffed at her husband’s oath and her own -virginity. - -But the king was seeking to recover his first loves, namely: Queen Anne -and her noble duchy, which gave great temptations to his soul; and that -was why he repudiated his wife. His oath was believed and accepted by -the pope, who sent him the dispensation, which was received by the -Sorbonne and the parliament of Paris. In all of which this princess was -wise and virtuous, and made no scandal, nor uproar, nor appeal to -justice, because a king can do much and just what he will; but feeling -herself strong to contain herself in continence and chastity, she -retired towards God and espoused herself to Him so truly that never -another husband nor a better could she have. - - -3. _Madame Anne de France._ - -After her comes her sister, Anne de France, a shrewd woman and a cunning -if ever there was one, and the true image of King Louis, her father. The -choice made of her to be guardian and administrator of her brother, -King Charles [VIII.], proves this, for she governed him so wisely and -virtuously that he came to be one of the greatest of the kings of -France, who was proclaimed, by reason of his valour, Emperor of the -East. As to his kingdom she administered that in like manner. True it is -that because of her ambition she was rather mischief-making, on account -of the hatred she bore to M. d’Orléans, afterwards King Louis XII. I -have heard say, however, that in the beginning she loved him with love; -so that if M. d’Orléans had been willing to hear to her, he might have -had better luck, as I hold on good authority. But he could not constrain -himself, all the more because he saw her so ambitious, and he wished his -wife to depend upon him as first and nearest prince to the crown, and -not upon herself; while she desired the contrary, for she wanted to hold -the highest place and to govern in all things. - -She was very vindictive in temper like her father, and always a sly -dissembler, corrupt, full of deceit, and a great hypocrite, who, for the -sake of her ambition, could mask and disguise herself in any way. So -that the kingdom, beginning to be angry at her humours, although she was -wise and virtuous, bore with them so impatiently that when the king went -to Naples she no longer had the title of regent, but her husband, M. de -Bourbon, received it. It is true, however, that she made him do what she -had in her head, for she ruled him and knew how to guide him, all the -better because he was rather foolish,--indeed, very much so; but the -Council opposed and controlled her. She endeavoured to use her -prerogative and authority over Queen Anne, but there she found the boot -on the other foot, as they say, for Queen Anne was a shrewd Bretonne, as -I have told already, who was very superb and haughty towards her -equals; so that Madame Anne was forced to lower her sails and leave the -queen, her sister-in-law, to keep her rank and maintain her grandeur and -majesty, as was reasonable; which made Madame Anne very angry; for she, -being virtually regent, held to her grandeur terribly. - -I have read many letters from her to our family in the days of her -greatness; but never did I see any of our kings (and I have seen many) -talk and write so bravely and imperiously as she did, as much to the -great as to the small. Of a surety, she was a _maîtresse-femme_, though -quarrelsome, and if M. d’Orléans had not been captured and his luck had -not served him ill, she would have thrown France into turmoil; and all -for her ambition, which so long as she lived she never could banish from -her soul,--not even when retired to her estates, where, nevertheless, -she pretended to be pleased and where she held her Court, which was -always, as I have heard my grandmother say, very fine and grand, she -being accompanied by great numbers of ladies and maids of honour, whom -she trained very wisely and virtuously. In fact she gave such fine -educations (as I know from my grandmother) that there were no ladies or -daughters of great houses in her time who did not receive lessons from -her, the house of Bourbon being one of the greatest and most splendid in -Christendom. And indeed it was she who made it so brilliant, for though -she was opulent in estates and riches of her own, she played her hand so -well in the regency that she gained a great deal more; all of which -served to make the house of Bourbon more dazzling. Besides being -splendid and magnificent by nature and unwilling to diminish by ever so -little her early grandeur, she also did many great kindnesses to those -whom she liked and took in hand. To end all, this Anne de France was -very clever and sufficiently good. I have now said enough about her. - - -4. _Madame Claude de France._ - -I must now speak of Madame Claude de France, who was very good, very -charitable, and very gentle to all, never doing any unkindness or harm -to any one either at her Court or in the kingdom. She was much beloved -by King Louis [XII.] and Queen Anne, her father and mother, being their -good and best-loved daughter, as they showed her plainly; for after the -king was peaceably Duke of Milan they declared and proclaimed her, in -the parliament of Paris with open doors, duchess of the two finest -duchies in Christendom, to wit, Milan and Bretagne, the one coming from -her father, the other from her mother. What an heiress, if you please! -These two duchies joined together made a noble kingdom. - -Queen Anne, her mother, desired to marry her to Charles of Austria, -afterwards emperor, and had she lived she would have done so, for in -that she influenced the king, her husband, wishing always to have the -sole charge and care of the marriage of her daughters. Never did she -call them otherwise than by their names: “My daughter Claude,” and “My -daughter Renée.” In these our days, estates and seigneuries must be -given to daughters of princesses, and even of ladies, by which to call -them! If Queen Anne had lived, never would Madame Claude have been -married to King François [I.] for she foresaw the evil treatment she was -certain to receive; the king, her husband, giving her a disease that -shortened her days. Also, Madame la regente treated her harshly. But she -strengthened her soul as much as she could, by her sound mind and gentle -patience and great wisdom, to endure these troubles, and in spite of -all, she bore the king, her husband, a fine and generous progeny, -namely: three sons, François, Henri, and Charles; and four daughters, -Louise, Charlotte, Magdelaine, and Marguerite. - -She was much beloved by her husband, King François [I.], and well -treated by him and by all France, and much regretted when she died for -her admirable virtues and goodness. I have read in the “Chronique -d’Anjou” that after her death her body worked miracles; for a great lady -of her family being tortured one day with a hot fever, and having made -her a vow, recovered her health suddenly. - - -5. _Madame Renée de France._ - -Madame Renée, her sister, was also a very good and able princess; for -she had as sound and subtle mind as could be. She had studied much, and -I have heard her discoursing learnedly and gravely of the sciences, even -astrology, and knowledge of the stars, about which I heard her talking -one day with the queen-mother, who said, after hearing her, that the -greatest philosopher in the world could not have spoken better. - -She was promised in marriage to the Emperor Charles, by King François; -but the war interrupting that marriage, she was given to the Duc de -Ferrara, who loved her much and treated her honourably as the daughter -of a king. True it is they were for a time rather ill together because -of the Lutheran religion he suspected her of liking. Possibly; for -resenting the ill-turns the popes had done to her father in every way, -she denied their power and refused obedience, not being able to do -worse, she being a woman. I hold on good authority that she said this -often. Her husband, nevertheless, having regard to her illustrious -blood, respected her always and honoured her much. Like her sister, -Queen Claude, she was fortunate in her issue, for she bore to her -husband the finest that was, I believe, in Italy, although she herself -was much weakened in body. - -She had the Duc de Ferrara, who is to-day one of the handsomest princes -in Italy and very wise and generous; the late Cardinal d’Est, the -kindest, most magnificent and liberal man in the world (of whom I hope -to speak hereafter); and three daughters, the most beautiful women ever -born in Italy: Madame Anne d’Est, afterwards Mme. de Guise; Madame -Lucrezia, Duchesse d’Urbino; and Madame Leonora, who died unmarried. The -first two bore the names of their grandmothers: one from Anne de -Bretagne on her mother’s side; the other, on the father’s side, from -Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander [VI.], both very different -in manners as in character, although the said lady Lucrezia Borgia was a -charming princess of Spanish extraction, gifted with beauty and virtue -(see Guicciardini). Madame Leonora was named after Queen Leonora. These -daughters were very handsome, but their mother embellished them still -more by the noble education that she gave them, making them study -sciences and good letters, the which they learned and retained -perfectly, putting to shame the greatest scholars. So that if they had -beautiful bodies they had souls that were beautiful also. I shall speak -of them elsewhere. - -Now, if Madame Renée was clever, intelligent, wise, and virtuous, she -was also so kind and understood the subjects of her husband so well that -I never knew any one in Ferrara who was not content or failed to say all -the good in the world of her. They felt above all her charity, which she -had in great abundance and principally for Frenchmen; for she had this -good thing about her, that she never forgot her nation; and though she -was thrust far away from it, she always loved it deeply. No Frenchman -passing through Ferrara, being in necessity and addressing her, ever -left without an ample donation and good money to return to his country -and family; and if he were ill, and could not travel, she had him -treated and cured carefully and then gave him money to return to France. - -I have heard persons who know it well, and an infinite number of -soldiers who had good experience of it say that after the journey of M. -de Guise into Italy, she saved the lives of at least ten thousand poor -Frenchmen, who would have died of starvation and want without her; and -among the number were many nobles of good family. I have heard some of -them say that never could they have reached France without her, so great -was her charity and liberality to those of her nation. And I have also -heard her _maître d’hôtel_ assert that their food had cost her more than -ten thousand crowns; and when the stewards of her household remonstrated -and showed her this excessive expense, she only said: “How can I help -it? These are poor Frenchmen of my nation, who, if God had put a beard -on my chin and made me a man, would now be my subjects; and truly they -would be so now if that wicked Salic law did not hold me in check.” - -She is all the more to be praised because, without her, the old proverb -would be still more true, namely, that “Italy is the grave of -Frenchmen.” - -But if her charity was shown at that time in this direction, I can -assure you that in other places she did not fail to practise it. I have -heard several of her household say that on her return to France, having -retired to her town and house of Montargis about the time the civil wars -began to stir, she gave a refuge as long as she lived to a number of -persons of the Religion [Reformers] who were driven or banished from -their houses and estates; she aided, succoured, and fed as many as she -could. - -I myself, at the time of the second troubles, was with the forces in -Gascoigne, commanded by MM. de Terridès and de Montsalès, amounting to -eight thousand men, then on their way to join the king. We passed -through Montargis and went, the leaders, chief captains, and gentlemen, -to pay our respects to Madame Renée, as our duty commanded. We saw in -the castle, as I believe, more than three hundred persons of the -Religion, who had taken refuge there from all parts of the country. An -old _maître d’hôtel_, a very honest man, whom I had known in Ferrara, -swore to me that she fed every day more than three hundred mouths of -these poor people. - -In short, this princess was a true daughter of France in kindness and -charity. She had also a great and lofty heart. I have seen her in Italy -and at Court, hold her state as well as possible; and though she did not -have an external appearance of grandeur, her body being weakened, there -was so much majesty in her royal face and speech that she showed plainly -enough she was daughter of a king and of France. - - -6. _Mesdames Charlotte, Louise, Magdelaine, and Marguerite de France._ - -I have said that Madame Claude [wife of François I.] was fortunate in -her fine progeny of daughters as well as of sons. First she had Mesdames -Charlotte and Louise, whom death did not allow to reach the perfect age -and noble fruit their tender youth had promised in sweet flowers. Had -they come to the perfection of their years they would have equalled -their sisters in mind and goodness, for their promise was great. Madame -Louise was betrothed to the Emperor when she died. Thus are lovely -rosebuds swept away by the wind, as well as full-blown flowers. Youth -thus ravished is more to be regretted than old age, which has had its -day and its loss is not great. Almost the same thing happened to Madame -Magdelaine, their sister, who had no great time allowed her to enjoy the -thing in all the world she most desired; which was, to be a queen, so -proud and lofty was her heart. - -She was married to the King of Scotland; and when they wanted to -dissuade her--not, certainly, that he was not a brave and handsome -prince, but because she thus condemned herself to make her dwelling in a -barbarous land among a brutal people--she replied: “At least I shall be -queen so long as I live; that is what I have always wished for.” But -when she arrived in Scotland she found that country just what they had -told her, and very different from her sweet France. Still, without one -sign of repentance, she said nothing except these words: “Alas! I would -be queen,”--covering her sadness and the fire of her ambition with the -ashes of patience as best she could. M. de Ronsard, who went with her to -Scotland, told me all this; he had been a page of M. d’Orléans, who -allowed him to go with her, to see the world. - -She did not live long a queen before she died, regretted by the king and -all the country, for she was truly good, and made herself beloved, -having, moreover, a fine mind, and being wise and virtuous. - -Her sister, Madame Marguerite de France [the second of the three -Marguerites], afterwards Duchesse de Savoie, was so wise, virtuous, and -perfect in learning and knowledge that she was called the Minerva, or -the Pallas, of France, and for device she bore an olive branch with two -serpents entwining it, and the words: _Rerum Sapientia custos_: -signifying that all things are ruled, or should be, by wisdom--of which -she had much, and knowledge also; improving them ever by continual study -in the afternoons, and by lessons which she received from learned men, -whom she loved above all other sorts of people. For which reason -they honoured her as their goddess and patron. The great quantity of -noble books which they wrote and dedicated to her show this, and as they -have said enough I shall say no more about her learning. - -[Illustration: François I] - -Her heart was grand and lofty. King Henri wished to marry her to M. de -Vendôme, first prince of the blood; but she made answer that never would -she marry a subject of the king, her brother. That is why she was so -long without a husband; until, peace being made between the two -Christian and Catholic kings, she was married to M. de Savoie, to whom -she had aspired for a long time, ever since the days of King François, -when Pope Paul III. and King François met at Nice, and the Queen of -Navarre went, by command of the king, to see the late Duc de Savoie in -the castle of Nice, taking with her Madame Marguerite, her niece, who -was thought most agreeable by M. de Savoie, and very suitable for his -son. But the affair dragged on, because of the great war, until the -peace, when the marriage was made and consummated at great cost to -France; for all that we had conquered and held in Piedmont and Savoie -for the space of thirty years, was given back in one hour; so much did -King Henri desire peace and love his sister, not sparing anything to -marry her well. But all the same, the greater part of France and -Piedmont murmured and said it was too much. - -Others thought it very strange, and others very incredible, until they -had seen her; and even foreigners mocked at us: and those who loved -France and her true good wept, and lamented, especially those in -Piedmont who did not wish to return to their former masters. - -As for the French soldiers, and the war companions who had so long -enjoyed the garrisons, charms, and fine living of that beautiful -country, there is no need to ask what they said, nor how they grumbled -and were desperate and bemoaned themselves. Some, more Gascon than the -rest, said: “Hey! _cap de Diou!_ for the little bit of flesh of that -woman, must we give back that large and noble piece of earth?” Others: -“A fine thing truly to call her Minerva, goddess of chastity, and send -her here to Piedmont to change her name at our expense!” - -I have heard great captains say that if Piedmont had been left to us, -and only Savoie and Bresse given up, the marriage would still have been -very rich and very fine; and if we could have stayed in Piedmont that -region would have served as a school and an amusement to the French -soldiers, who would have stayed there and not been so eager after civil -wars,--it being the nature of Frenchmen to busy themselves always with -the toils of Mars, and to hate idleness, rest, and peace. - -But such was now the unhappy fate of France. It was thus that peace was -bought, and Madame de Savoie could not help it; although she never -desired the ruin of France; on the contrary, she loved nothing so much -as the people of her nation; and if she received benefits from them she -was not ungrateful, but served them and succoured them all she could; -and as long as she lived she persuaded and won her husband, Monsieur de -Savoie, to keep the peace, and not combine, he being a Spaniard for -life, against France, which he did as soon as she was dead. For then he -stirred up, supported, and strengthened secretly M. le Maréchal de -Bellegarde to do what he did and to rebel against the king, and seize -upon the marquisate of Saluces (which I shall speak of elsewhere); in -which certainly his Highness did great wrong, and ill returned the -benefits received from the Kings of France his relatives, especially our -late King Henri III., who, on his return from Poland, gave him so -liberally Pignerol and Savillan. - -Many well-advised persons believe that if Madame de Savoie had lived she -would have died sooner than allow that blow, so grateful did she feel to -the land of her birth. And I have heard a very great person say that he -thought that if Madame de Savoie were living and had seen her son seize -upon the marquisate of Saluces (as he did in the time of the late king), -she would have strangled him; indeed, the late king himself thought so -and said so. That king, Henri III., felt such wrath at that stroke that -the morning when the news reached him, as he was about to take the -sacrament, he put off that act and would not do it, so excited, angry, -and scrupulous was he, within as well as without; and he always said -that if his aunt had lived it would never have happened. - -Such was the good opinion this good princess left in the minds of the -king and of other persons. And to tell the truth, as I know from high -authority, if she had not been so good never would the king or his -council have portioned her with such great wealth, which, surely, she -never spared for France and Frenchmen. No Frenchman could complain, when -addressing her for his necessities in going or coming across the -mountains, that she did not succour and assist him and give him good -money to help him on his way. I know that when we returned from Malta, -she did great favours and gave much money to many Frenchmen who -addressed her and asked her for it; and also, without being asked, she -offered it. I can say that, as knowing it myself; for Mme. de -Pontcarlier, sister of M. de Retz, who was Madame de Savoie’s favourite -and lady of honour, asked me to supper one evening in her room, and gave -me, in a purse, five hundred crowns on behalf of the said Madame, who -loved my aunt, Mme. de Dampierre, extremely and had also loved my -mother. But I can swear with truth and security that I did not take a -penny of it, for I had enough with me to take me back to Court; and had -I not, I would rather have gone on foot than be so shameless and -impudent as to beg of such a princess. I knew many who did not do like -that, but took very readily what they could get. - -I have heard one of her stewards say that every year she put away in a -coffer a third of her revenue to give to poor Frenchmen who passed -through Savoie. That is the good Frenchwoman that she was; and no one -should complain of the wealth she took from France; and it was all her -joy when she heard good news from there, and all her grief when it was -bad. - -When the first wars broke out she felt such woe she thought to die of -it; and when peace was made and she came to Lyon to meet the king and -the queen-mother, she could not rejoice enough, begging the queen to -tell her all; and showing anger to several Huguenots, telling them and -writing them that they stirred up strife, and urging them not to do so -again; for they honoured her much and had faith in her, because she gave -pleasure to many; indeed M. l’Amiral [Coligny] would not have enjoyed -his estates in Savoie had it not been for her. - -When the civil wars came on in Flanders she was the first to tell us on -our arrival from Malta; and you may be sure she was not sorry for them; -“for,” said she, “those Spaniards rejoiced and scoffed at us for our -discords, but now that they have their share they will scoff no longer.” - -She was so beloved in the lands and countries of her husband that when -she died tears flowed from the eyes of all, both great and small, so -that for long they did not dry nor cease. She spoke for every one to her -husband when they were in trouble and adversity, in pain or in fault, -requesting favour or pardon, which without her intercessions they would -often not have had. Thus they called her their patron-saint. - -In short, she was the blessing of the world; in all ways, as I have -said, charitable, munificent, liberal, wise, virtuous, and so accessible -and gentle as never was, principally to those of her nation; for when -they went to do her reverence she received them with such welcome they -were shamed; the most unimportant gentlemen she honoured in the same -way, and often did not speak to them until they were covered. I know -what I say, for, speaking with her on one occasion, she did me this -honour, and urged and commanded me so much that I was constrained to -say: “Madame, I think you do not take me for a Frenchman, but for one -who is ignorant who you are and the rank you hold; but I must honour you -as belongs to me.” She never spoke to any one sitting down herself, but -always standing; unless they were principal personages, and those I saw -speaking to her she obliged to sit beside her. - -To conclude, one could never tell all the good of this princess as it -was; it would need a worthier writer than I to represent her virtues. I -shall be silent, therefore, till some future time, and begin to tell of -the daughters of our King Henri [II. and Catherine de’ Medici], Mesdames -Élisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite de France. - - -7. _Mesdames Élisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite de France._ - -I begin by the eldest, Madame Élisabeth de France, or rather I ought to -call her the beautiful Élisabeth of the world on account of her rare -virtues and perfections, the Queen of Spain, beloved and honoured by her -people in her lifetime, and deeply regretted and mourned by the same -after death, as I have said already in the Discourse I made upon her. -Therefore I shall content myself for the present in writing no more, but -will speak of her sister, the second daughter of King Henri, Madame -Claude de France (the name of her grandmother), Duchesse de Lorraine, -who was a beautiful, wise, virtuous, good, and gentle princess. So that -every one at Court said that she resembled her mother and aunt and was -their real image. She had a certain gayety in her face which pleased all -those who looked at her. In her beauty she resembled her mother, in her -knowledge and kindness she resembled her aunt; and the people of -Lorraine found her ever kind as long as she lived, as I myself have seen -when I went to that country; and after her death they found much to say -of her. In fact, by her death that land was filled with regrets, and M. -de Lorraine mourned her so much that, though he was young when widowed -of her, he would not marry again, saying he could never find her like, -though could he do so he would remarry, not being disinclined. - -She left a noble progeny and died in childbed, through the appetite of -an old midwife of Paris, a drunkard, in whom she had more faith than in -any other. - -The news of her death reached Reims the day of the king’s coronation, -and all the Court were in mourning and extreme sadness, for her kindness -was shown to all when she came there. The last time she came, the king, -her brother, made her a gift of the ransoms of Guyenne, which came from -the confiscations that took place there; but the ransoms were made so -heavy that often they exceeded the value of the confiscations. - -Mme. de Dampierre asked her for one, one day when I was present, for a -gentleman whom I know. The princess made answer: “Mme. de Dampierre, I -give it to you with all my heart, having merely accepted this gift from -the king, my brother, not having asked for it; he gave it to me of his -own good-will; not to injure France, for I am French and love all those -who are so like myself; they will have more courtesy from me than from -another who might have had that gift; therefore what they want of me and -ask of me I will give.” And truly, those who had to do with her found -her all courtesy, gentleness, and goodness. - -In short, she was a true daughter of France, having good mind and -ability, which she proved by seconding wisely and ably her husband, M. -de Lorraine, in the government of his seigneuries and principalities. - -After this Claude de France, comes that beautiful Marguerite de France, -Queen of Navarre, of whom I have already spoken; for which reason I am -silent here, awaiting another time; for I think that April in its -springtime never produced such lovely flowers and verdure as this -princess of ours produced blooming at all seasons in noble and diverse -ways, so that all the good in the world could be said of her. - - -8. _Madame Diane de France._ - -Nor must I forget Madame Diane de France; although she was bastard and a -natural child, we must place her in the rank of the daughters of France, -because she was acknowledged by the late King Henri [II.] and -legitimatized and afterwards dowered as daughter of France; for she was -given the duchy of Chastellerault, which she quitted to be Duchesse -d’Angoulême, a title and estate she retains at this day, with all the -privileges of a daughter of France, even to that of entering the -cabinets and state business of her brothers, King Charles and King Henri -III. (where I have often seen her), as though she were their own -sister. Indeed, they loved her as such. She had much resemblance to -King Henri, her father, as much in features of the face as in habits and -actions. She loved all the exercises that he loved, whether arms, -hunting, or horses. I think it is not possible for any lady to look -better on horseback than she did, or to have better grace in riding. - -I have heard say (and read) from certain old persons, that little King -Charles VIII. being in his kingdom of Naples, Mme. la Princesse de -Melfi, coming to do him reverence, showed him her daughter, beautiful as -an angel, mounted on a noble courser, managing him so well, with all the -airs and paces of the ring, that no equerry could have done better, and -the king and all his Court were in great admiration and astonishment to -see such beauty so dexterous on horseback, yet without doing shame to -her sex. - -Those who have seen Madame d’Angoulême on horseback were as much -delighted and amazed; for she was so born to it and had such grace that -she resembled in that respect the beautiful Camilla, Queen of the -Volsci; she was so grand in body and shape and face that it was hard to -find any one at Court as superb and graceful at that exercise; nor did -she exceed in any way the proper modesty and gentleness; indeed, like -the Princesse Melfi, she outdid modesty; except when she rode through -the country, when she showed some pretty performances that were very -agreeable to those who beheld them. - -[Illustration: Diane de France] - -I remember that M. le Maréchal d’Amville, her brother-in-law, gave her, -once upon a time, a very fine horse, which he named _le Docteur_, -because he stepped so daintily and advanced curveting with such -precision and nicety that a doctor could not have been wiser in his -actions; and that is why he called him so. I saw Madame d’Angoulême make -that horse go more than three hundred steps pacing in that way; and -often the whole Court was amused to see it, and could not tell which to -admire most, her firm seat, or her beautiful grace. Always, to add to -her lustre, she was finely attired in a handsome and rich riding-dress, -not forgetting a hat well garnished with plumes, worn _à la_ Guelfe. Ah! -what a pity it is when old age comes to spoil such beauties and blemish -such virtues; for now she has left all that, and quitted those -exercises, and also the hunting which became her so much; for nothing -was ever unbecoming to her in her gestures and manners, like the king, -her father,--she taking pains and pleasure in what she did, at a ball, -in dancing; indeed in whatever dance it was, whether grave or gay, she -was very accomplished. - -She sang well, and played well on the lute and other instruments. In -fact, she is her father’s daughter in that, as she is in kindness, for -indeed she is very kind, and never gives pain to any one, although she -has a grand and lofty heart, but her soul is generous, wise, and -virtuous, and she has been much beloved by both her husbands. - -She was first married to the Duc de Castro, of the house of Farnese, who -was killed at the assault at Hesdin; secondly, to M. de Montmorency, who -made some difficulty in the beginning, having promised to marry Mlle. de -Pienne, one of the queen’s maids of honour, a beautiful and virtuous -girl; but to obey a father who was angry and threatened to disinherit -him, he obtained his release from his first promise and married Madame -Diane. He lost nothing by the change, though the said Pienne came from -one of the greatest families in France, and was one of the most -beautiful, virtuous, and wise ladies of the Court, whom Madame Diane -loved, and has always loved without any jealousy of her past affections -with her husband. She knows how to control herself, for she is very -intelligent and of good understanding. The kings, her brothers, and -Monsieur loved her much, and so did the queens and duchesses, her -sisters, for she never shamed them, being so perfect in all things. - -King Charles loved her, because she went with him to his hunts and other -joyous amusements, and was always gay and good-humoured. - -King Henri [III.] loved her, because he knew that she loved him and -liked to be with him. When war arose so cruelly on the death of M. de -Guise, knowing the king, her brother, to be in need, she started from -her house at Isle-Adam, in a diligence, not without running great risks, -being watched for on the road, and took him fifty thousand crowns, which -she had saved from her revenues, and gave them to him. They arrived most -_à propos_ and, as I believe, are still owing to her; for which the king -felt such good-will that had he lived he would have done great things -for her, having tested her fine nature in his utmost need. And since his -death she has had no heart for joy or profit, so much did she regret and -still regrets him, and longs for vengeance, if her power were equal to -her will, on those who killed him. But never has our present king [Henri -IV.] consented to it, whatever prayer she makes, she holding Mme. de -Montpensier guilty of the death of the king, her brother, abhorring her -like the plague, and going so far as to tell her before Madame, the -king’s sister, that neither Madame nor the king had any honest reason to -love her, except that through this murder of the late king they held the -rank they did hold. What a hunt! I hope to say more of this elsewhere; -therefore am I silent now. - - -9. _Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre._ - -I must now speak somewhat of Marguerite, Queen of Navarre. Certainly she -was not born daughter of a king of France, nor did she bear the name, -except that of Valois or d’Orléans, because, as M. du Tillet says in his -Memoirs, the surname of France does not belong to any but the daughters -of France; and if they are born before their fathers are kings they do -not take it until after their said fathers’ accession to the crown. -Nevertheless this Marguerite, as the greatest persons of those days have -said, was held to be daughter of France for her great virtues, although -there was some wrong in putting her in that rank. That is why we place -her here among the Daughters of France.[20] - -She was a princess of very great mind and ability, both by nature and -power of acquisition, for she gave herself to letters in her early years -and continued to do so as long as she lived, liking and conversing with -the most learned men in her brother’s kingdom in the days of her -grandeur and usually at Court. They all so honoured her that they called -her their Mæcenas; and most of their books composed at that period were -dedicated either to her brother, the king, who was also learned, or to -her. - -She herself composed well, and made a book which she entitled “La -Marguerite des Marguerites” which is very fine and can still be found in -print.[21] She often composed comedies and moralities, which were called -in those days pastorals, and had them played and represented by the -maids of honour at her Court. - -She was fond of composing spiritual songs, for her heart was much given -to God; and for that reason she bore as her device a marigold, which is -the flower that has the most affinity with the sun of any there is, -whether in similitude of its leaves to rays, or by reason of the fact -that usually it turns to the sun wherever it goes from east to west, -opening and closing according to its rise and its setting. Also she -arranged this device with the words: _Non inferiora secutus_--“It stops -not for earthly things;” meaning that she aimed and directed all her -actions, thoughts, will, and affections to that great sun on high which -is God; and for that reason was she suspected of being of Luther’s -religion. But out of the respect and love she bore the king, her -brother, who loved her only and called her his darling [his _mignonne_] -she never made any profession or semblance of that religion; and if she -believed it she kept it in her soul very secretly, because the king -hated it much, saying that that, and all other new sects, tended more to -the destruction of kingdoms, monarchies, and civil dominions than to the -edification of souls. - -The great sultan, Solyman, said the same; declaring that however much it -upset many points of the Christian religion and the pope, he could not -like it, “because,” he said, “the monks of this new faith are only -seditious mischief-makers, who can never rest unless they are stirring -up trouble.” That is why King François, a wise prince if ever there was -one, foreseeing the miseries that would come in many ways to -Christianity, hated these people and was rather rigorous in burning -alive the heretics of his day. Nevertheless, he favoured the Protestant -princes of Germany against the emperor. That is how these great kings -govern as they please. - -I have heard a trustworthy person relate how the Connétable de -Montmorency, in the days of his greatest favour, discoursing of this -with the king, made no difficulty or scruple in telling him that if he -wanted to exterminate the heretics of his kingdom he would have to begin -with his Court and his nearest relations, naming the queen, his sister. -To which the king replied: “Do not speak of her; she loves me too well. -She will never believe except as I believe, and never will she take any -religion prejudicial to my State.” After which, hearing of it, she never -liked M. le connétable, and helped much in his disfavour and banishment -from Court. Now it happened that the day on which her daughter, the -Princesse de Navarre, was married to the Duc de Clèves at -Chastellerault, the bride was so weighted with jewels and with her gown -of gold and silver stuff that her body was too weak to walk to church; -on which the king commanded the connétable to take his niece in his arms -and carry her to the church; which amazed the Court very much; a duty -like that being little suitable and honourable for a connétable, and -might have been given very well to another. But the Queen of Navarre was -in no wise displeased and said: “The man who tried to ruin me with my -brother now serves to carry my daughter to church.” - -I have this story from the person I mentioned, who added that M. le -connétable was much displeased at this duty and showed great vexation at -being made such a spectacle, saying: “It is all over with my favour, I -bid it farewell.” And so it proved; for after the _fête_ and the wedding -dinner, he had his dismissal and departed immediately. I heard this from -my brother, who was then a page at Court and saw the whole mystery and -remembered it well, for he had a good memory. Possibly I am wearisome in -making this digression; but as it came to my remembrance, may I be -forgiven. - -To speak again of the learning of this queen: it was such that the -ambassadors who spoke with her were greatly delighted, and made reports -of it to their nations when they returned; in this she relieved the -king, her brother, for they always went to her after paying their chief -embassy to him; and often when great affairs were concerned they -intrusted them to her. While they awaited the final and complete -decision of the king she knew well how to entertain and content them -with fine discourse, in which she was opulent, besides being very clever -in pumping them; so that the king often said she assisted him much and -relieved him a great deal. Therefore was it discussed, as I have heard -tell, which of the two sisters served their brothers best,--one the -Queen of Hungary, the emperor; the other, Marguerite, King François; the -one by the effects of war, the other by the efforts of her charming -spirit and gentleness. - -When King François was so ill in Spain, being a prisoner, she went to -him like a good sister and friend, under the safe-conduct of the -emperor; and finding her brother in so piteous a state that had she not -come he would surely have died, and knowing his nature and temperament -far better than all his physicians, she treated him and caused him to be -treated so well, according to her knowledge of him, that she cured him. -Therefore the king often said that without her he would have died, and -that forever would he recognize his obligation and love her for it; as -he did, until his death. She returned him the same love, so that I have -heard say how, hearing of his last illness, she said these words: -“Whoever comes to my door and announces the cure of the king, my -brother, whoever may be that messenger, be he lazy, ill-humoured, dirty -or unclean, I will kiss him as the neatest prince and gentleman of -France, and if he needs a bed to repose his laziness upon, I will give -him mine and lie myself on the hardest floor for the good news he brings -me.” But when she heard of his death her lamentations were so great, her -regrets so keen, that never after did she recover from them, nor was she -ever as before. - -When she was in Spain, as I have heard from my relations, she spoke to -the emperor so bravely and so honestly on the bad treatment he had given -to the king, her brother, that he was quite amazed; for she showed him -plainly the ingratitude and felony he had practised, he, a vassal, to -his seigneur in relation to Flanders; after which she reproached him for -his hardness of heart and want of pity to so great and good a king; -saying that to use him in this way would never win a heart so noble and -royal and so sovereign as that of her brother; and that if he died of -such treatment, his death would not remain unpunished; he having -children who would some day, when they grew up, take signal vengeance. - -Those words, pronounced so bravely and with such deep anger, gave the -emperor much to think of,--so much indeed that he softened and visited -the king and promised him many fine things, which he did not, -nevertheless, perform at this time. - -Now, if the queen spoke so well to the emperor, she spoke still more -strongly to his council, of whom she had audience. There she triumphed -in speaking and haranguing nobly with that good grace she never was -deprived of; and she did so well with her fine speech that she made -herself more pleasing than odious and vexatious,--all the more, withal, -that she was young, beautiful, the widow of M. d’Alençon, and in the -flower of her age; which is very suitable to move and bend such hard and -cruel persons. In short, she did so well that her reasons were thought -good and pertinent, and she was held in great esteem by the emperor, his -council, and the Court. Nevertheless he meant to play her a trick, -because, not reflecting on the expiration of her safe-conduct and -passport, she took no heed that the time was elapsing. But getting wind -that the emperor as soon as her time had expired meant to arrest her, -she, always courageous, mounted her horse and rode in eight days a -distance that should have taken fifteen; which effort so well succeeded -that she reached the frontier of France very late on the evening of the -day her passport expired, circumventing thus his Imperial Majesty [_Sa -Cæsarée Majesté_] who would no doubt have kept her had she overstayed -her safe-conduct by a single day. She sent him word and wrote him this, -and quarrelled with him for it when he passed through France. I heard -this tale from Mme. la seneschale, my grandmother, who was with her at -that time as lady of honour. - -During the imprisonment of the king, her brother, she greatly assisted -Mme. la regente, her mother, in governing the kingdom, contenting the -princes, the grandees, and winning over the nobility; because she was -very accessible, and so won the hearts of many persons by the fine -qualities she had in her. - -In short, she was a princess worthy of a great empire; besides being -very kind, gentle, gracious, charitable, a great alms-giver and -disdaining none. Therefore was she, after her death, regretted and -bemoaned by everybody. The most learned persons vied with each other in -making her epitaph in Greek, Latin, French, Italian; so much so that -there is still a book of them extant, quite complete and very beautiful. - -This queen often said to this one and that one who discoursed of death, -and eternal happiness after it: “All that is true, but we shall stay a -long time under ground before we come to that.” I have heard my mother, -who was one of her ladies, and my grandmother, who was her lady of -honour, say that when they told her in the extremity of her illness that -she must die, she thought those words most bitter, and repeated what I -have told above; adding that she was not so old but that she might live -on for many years, being only fifty-two or fifty-three years old. She -was born under the 10th degree of Aquarius, when Saturn was parted from -Venus by quaternary decumbiture, on the 10th of April, 1492, at ten in -the evening; having been conceived in the year 1491 at ten hours before -mid-day and seventeen minutes, on the 11th of July. Good astrologers can -make their computations upon that. She died in Béarn, at the castle of -Audaus [Odos] in the month of December, 1549. Her age can be reckoned -from that. She was older than the king, her brother, who was born at -Cognac, September 12th, year 1494, at nine in the evening, under the -21st degree of Gemini, having been conceived in the year 1493, December -10th, at ten o’clock in the morning, became king January 11th, 1514 -[1515 new style], and died in 1547. - -This queen took her illness by looking at a comet which appeared at the -death of Pope Paul III.; she herself thought this, but possibly it only -seemed so; for suddenly her mouth was drawn a little sideways; which her -physician, M. d’Escuranis, observing, he took her away, made her go to -bed, and treated her; for it was a chill [_caterre_], of which she died -in eight days, after having well prepared herself for death. She died a -good Christian and a Catholic, against the opinion of many; but as for -me, I can affirm, being a little boy at her Court with my mother and my -grandmother, that we never saw any act to contradict it; indeed, having -retired to a monastery of women in Angoumois, called Tusson, on the -death of the king, her brother, where she made her retreat and stayed -the whole summer, she built a fine house there, and was often seen to do -the office of abbess, and chant masses and vespers with the nuns in the -choir. - -I have heard tell of her that, one of her waiting-maids whom she liked -much being near to death, she wished to see her die; and when she was at -the last gasp and rattle of death, she never stirred from beside her, -gazing so fixedly upon her face that she never took her eyes away from -it until she died. Some of her most privileged ladies asked her why she -took such interest in seeing a human being pass away; to which she -answered that, having heard so many learned persons discourse and say -that the soul and spirit issued from the body at the moment of death, -she wished to see if any wind or noise could be perceived, or the -slightest resonance, but she had noticed nothing. She also gave a reason -she had heard from the same learned persons, when she asked them why the -swan sang so well before its death; to which they answered it was for -love of souls, that strove to issue through its long throat. In like -manner, she said, she had hoped to see issue or feel resound and hear -that soul or spirit as it departed; but she did not. And she added that -if she were not firm in her faith she should not know what to think of -this dislodgment and departure of the soul from the body; but she -believed in God and in what her Church commanded, without seeking -further in curiosity; for, in truth, she was one of those ladies as -devotional as could ever be seen; who had God upon her lips and feared -Him also. - -In her gay moments she wrote a book which is entitled _Les Nouvelles de -la Reine de Navarre_, in which we find a style so sweet and fluent, so -full of fine discourse and noble sentences that I have heard tell how -the queen-mother and Madame de Savoie, being young, wished to join in -writing tales themselves in imitation of the Queen of Navarre; for they -knew that she was writing them. But when they saw hers, they felt such -disgust that theirs could not approach them that they put their -writings in the fire, and would not let them be seen; a great pity, -however, for both being very witty, nothing that was not good and -pleasant could have come from such great ladies, who knew many good -stories. - -Queen Marguerite composed these tales mostly in her litter travelling -through the country; for she had many other great occupations in her -retirement. I have heard this from my grandmother, who always went with -her in her litter as lady of honour, holding the inkstand while she -wrote, which she did most deftly and quickly, more quickly than if she -had dictated. There was no one in the world so clever at making devices -and mottoes in French, Latin, and other languages, of which we have a -quantity in our house, on the beds and tapestries, composed by her. I -have said enough about her at this time; elsewhere I shall speak of her -again. - - * * * * * - -The Queen of Navarre, sister of François I., has of late years -frequently occupied the minds of literary and learned men. Her Letters -have been published with much care; in the edition given of the Poems of -François I. she is almost as much concerned as her brother, for she -contributes a good share to the volume. At the present time [1853] the -Société des Bibliophiles, considering that there was no correct edition -of the tales and _Nouvelles_ of this princess,--because, from the first, -the early editors have treated the royal author with great freedom, so -that it was difficult to find the true text of that curious work, more -famous than read,--have assumed the task of filling this literary -vacuum. The Society has trusted one of its most conscientious members, -M. Le Roux de Lincy, with compiling an edition from the original -manuscripts; and, moreover, wishing to give to this publication a stamp -of solidity, that air of good old quality so pleasing to amateurs, they -have sought for old type, obtaining some from Nuremberg dating back to -the first half of the eighteenth century, and have caused to be cast the -necessary quantity, which has been used in printing the present work, -and will serve in future for other publications of this Society. The -_Nouvelles de la Reine de Navarre_ are presented, with a portrait of the -author and a fac-simile of her signature, in a grave, neat, and elegant -manner. Let us therefore thank this Society, composed of lovers of fine -books, for having thus applied their good taste and munificence, and let -us come to the study of the personage whom they have aided us to know. - -Marguerite de Valois, the first of the three Marguerites of the -sixteenth century, does not altogether resemble the reputation made of -her from afar. Born at the castle of Angoulême, April 11, 1492, two -years before her brother, who will in future be François I., she -received from her mother, Louise de Savoie, early a widow, a virtuous -and severe education. She learned Spanish, Italian, Latin, and later, -Hebrew and Greek. All these studies were not made at once, nor in her -earliest youth. Contemporary of the great movement of the Renaissance, -she shared in it gradually; she endeavoured to comprehend it fully, and -to follow it in all its branches, as became a person of lofty and -serious spirit, with a full and facile understanding and more leisure -than if she had been born upon the throne. Brantôme presents her to us -as “a princess of very great mind and ability, both by nature and power -of acquisition.” She continued to acquire as long as she lived; she -protected with all her heart and with all her influence the learned and -literary men of all orders and kinds; profiting by them and their -intercourse for her own advantage,--a woman who could cope with Marot -in the play of verses as well as she could answer Erasmus on nobler -studies. - -We must not exaggerate, however; and the writings of Marguerite are -sufficiently numerous to allow us to justly estimate in her the two -distinct parts of originality and simple intelligence. As poet and -writer her originality is of small account, or, to speak more precisely, -she has none at all. Her intelligence, on the contrary, is great, -active, eager, generous. There was in her day an immense movement of the -human spirit, a Cause essentially literary and liberal, which filled all -minds and hearts with enthusiasm as public policy did much later. -Marguerite, young, open to all good and noble sentiments, to _virtue_ -under all its forms, grew passionate for this cause; and when her -brother François came to the throne she told herself that it was her -mission to be its good genius and interpreter beside him, and to show -herself openly the patron and protectress of men who were exciting -against themselves by their learned innovations much pedantic rancour -and ill-will. It was thus that she allowed herself to be caught and won -insensibly to the doctrines of the Reformers, which appealed to her, in -the first instance, under a learned and literary form. Translators of -Scripture, they only sought, it seemed to her, to propagate its spirit -and make it better understood by pious souls; she enjoyed and favoured -them in the light of learned men, and welcomed them as loving at the -same time “good letters and Christ;” never suspecting any factious -after-thought. And even after she appeared to be undeceived in the main, -she continued to the last to plead for individuals to the king, her -brother, with zeal and humanity. - -The passion that Marguerite had for that brother dominated all else. She -was his elder by two years and a half. Louise de Savoie, the young -widow, was only fifteen or sixteen years older than her daughter. These -two women had, the one for her son the other for her brother, a love -that amounted to worship; they saw in him, who was really to be the -honour and crown of their house, a dauphin who would soon, when his -reign was inaugurated at Marignano, become a glorious and triumphant -Cæsar. - -“The day of the Conversion of Saint Paul, January 25, 1515,” says Madame -Louise in her Journal, “my son was anointed and crowned in the church at -Reims. For this I am very grateful to the Divine mercy, by which I am -amply compensated for all the adversities and annoyances which came to -me in my early years and in the flower of my youth. Humility has kept me -company, and Patience has never abandoned me.” - -And a few months later, noting down with pride the day of Marignano -[victory of François I. over the Swiss and the Duke of Milan, making the -French masters of Lombardy], she writes in the transport of her heart:-- - -“September 13, which was Thursday, 1515, my son vanquished and destroyed -the Swiss near Milan; beginning the combat at five hours after mid-day, -which lasted all the night and the morrow till eleven o’clock before -mid-day; and that very day I started from Amboise to go on foot to -Notre-Dame-de-Fontaines, to commend to her what I love better than -myself, my son, glorious and triumphant Cæsar, subjugator of the -Helvetians. - -“_Item._ That same day, September 13, 1515, between seven and eight in -the evening, was seen in various parts of Flanders a flame of fire as -long as a lance, which seemed as though it would fall upon the houses, -but was so bright that a hundred torches could not have cast so great a -light.” - -Marguerite, learned and enlightened as she was, must have believed the -presage, for she writes the same words as her mother. Married at -seventeen years of age to the Duc d’Alençon, an insignificant prince, -she gave all her devotion and all her soul to her brother; therefore -when, in the tenth year of his reign, the disaster of Pavia took place -(February 25, 1525), and Marguerite learned the destruction of the -French army and the captivity of their king, we can conceive the blow it -was to her and to her mother. While Madame Louise, appointed regent of -the kingdom, showed strength and courage in that position, we can follow -the thoughts of Marguerite in the series of letters she wrote to her -brother, which M. Genin has published. Her first word is written to -console the captive and reassure him: “Madame (Louise de Savoie) has -felt such doubling of strength that night and day there is not a moment -lost for your affairs; therefore you need have no anxiety or pain about -your kingdom or your children.” She congratulates herself on knowing -that he has fallen into the hands of so kind and generous a victor as -the Viceroy of Naples, Charles de Lannoy; she entreats him, for the sake -of his mother, to take care of his health: “I have heard that you mean -to do this Lent without eating flesh or eggs, and sometimes fast -altogether for the honour of God. Monseigneur, as much as a very humble -sister can implore you, I entreat you not to do this, but consider how -fish goes against you; also believe that if you do it Madame has sworn -to do so too; and I shall have the sorrow to see you both give way.” - -Marguerite, about this time, sees her husband, who escaped from Pavia, -die at Lyon. She mourns him; but after the first two days she surmounts -her grief and conceals it from her mother the regent, because, not being -able to render services herself, she should think she was most -unfortunate, she says, to hinder and shake the spirit of her who can do -such great things. When Marguerite is selected to go to her brother in -Spain (September, 1525) and work for his deliverance, her joy is great. -At last she can be useful to this brother, whom she considers “as him -whom God has left her in this world; father, brother, and husband.” She -mingles and varies in many ways those names of master, brother, king, -which she accumulates upon him, without their sufficing to express her -affection, so full and sincere is it: “Whatever it may be, _even to -casting to the winds the ashes of my bones to do you service_, nothing -can seem to me strange, or difficult, or painful, but always -consolation, repose, honour.” Such expressions, exaggerated in others, -are true on Marguerite’s lips. - -She succeeded but little in her mission to Spain; there, where she -sought to move generous hearts and make their fibre of honour vibrate, -she found crafty dissimulation and policy. She was allowed to see her -brother for a short time only; he himself exacted that she should -shorten her stay, thinking her more useful to his interests in France. -She tears herself from him in grief, above all at leaving him ill, and -as low as possible in health. Oh! how she longed to return, to stay -beside him, and to take the “place of lacquey beside his cot.” It is her -opinion that he should buy his liberty at any price; let him return, no -matter on what conditions; no terms can be bad provided she sees him -back in France, and none can be good if he is still in Spain. As soon as -she sets foot in France she is received, she tells him, as a forerunner, -“as the Baptist of Jesus Christ.” Arriving at Béziers, she is surrounded -by crowds. “I assure you, Monseigneur,” she writes, “that when I tried -to speak of you to two or three, the moment I named the king everybody -pressed round to listen to me; in short, I am constrained to talk of -you, and I never close my speech without an accompaniment of tears from -persons of all classes.” Such was at that time the true grief of France -for the loss of her king. - -As Marguerite advances farther into the country she observes more and -more the absence of the master; the kingdom is “like a body without a -head, living to recover you, dying in the sense that you are absent.” As -for herself, seeing this, she thinks that her toils in Spain were more -endurable than this stillness in France, “where fancies torment me more -than efforts.” - -In general, all Marguerite’s letters do the greatest honour to her soul, -to her generous, solid qualities, filled with affection and heartiness. -Romance and drama have many a time expended themselves, as was indeed -their right, on this captivity in Madrid and on those interviews of -François I. and his sister, which lend themselves to the imagination; -but the reading of these simple, devoted letters, laying bare their -feelings, tells more than all. Here is a charming passage in which she -smiles to him and tries, on her return, to brighten the captive with -news of his children. François I. at this date had five, all of whom, -with one exception, were recovering from the measles. - -“And now,” says Marguerite, “they are all entirely cured and very -healthy; M. le dauphin does marvels in studying, mingling with his -studies a hundred other exercises; and there is no question now of -temper, but of all the virtues. M. d’Orléans is nailed to his book and -says he wants to be wise; but M. d’Angoulême knows more than the others, -and does things that may be thought prophetic as well as childish; -which, Monseigneur, you would be amazed to hear of. Little Margot is -like me, and will not be ill; they tell me here she has very good grace, -and is growing much handsomer than Mademoiselle d’Angoulême ever was.” - -Mademoiselle d’Angoulême is herself; and the little Margot who promises -to be prettier than her aunt and godmother, is the second of the -Marguerites, who is presently to be Duchesse de Savoie. - -As a word has now been said about the beauty of Marguerite de Navarre, -what are we to think about it? Her actual portrait lessens the -exaggerated idea we might form of it from the eulogies of that day. -Marguerite resembles her brother. She has his slightly aquiline and very -long nose, the long, soft, and shrewd eye, the lips equally long, -refined and smiling. The expression of her countenance is that of -shrewdness on a basis of kindness. Her dress is simple; her _cotte_ or -gown is made rather high and flat, without any frippery, and is trimmed -with fur; her mob-cap, low upon her head, encircles the forehead and -upper part of the face, scarcely allowing any hair to be seen. She holds -a little dog in her arms. The last of the Marguerites, that other Queen -of Navarre, first wife of Henri IV., was the queen of modes and fashions -in her youth; she gave the tone. Our Marguerite did nothing of all that; -she left that rôle to the Duchesse d’Étampes and her like. Marot -himself, when praising her, insists particularly on her characteristic -of gentleness, “which effaces the beauty of the most beautiful,” on her -chaste glance and that _frank speech, without disguise, without -artifice_. She was sincere, “joyous, laughing readily,” fond of all -honest gayety, and when she wanted to say a lively word, too risky in -French, she said it in Italian or in Spanish. In other respects, full of -religion, morality, and sound training; justifying the magnificent -eulogy bestowed upon her by Erasmus. That wise monarch of literature, -that true emperor of the Latinity of his period, consoling Marguerite at -the moment when she was under the blow of the disaster of Pavia, writes -to her: “I have long admired and loved in you many eminent gifts of -God: prudence worthy of a philosopher, chastity, moderation, piety, -invincible strength of soul, and a wonderful contempt for all perishable -things. Who would not consider with admiration, in the sister of a great -king, qualities which we can scarcely find in priests and monks?” In -this last stroke upon the monks we catch the slightly satirical tone of -the Voltaire of those times. Remark that in this letter addressed to -Marguerite in 1525, and in another letter which closely followed the -first, Erasmus thanks and congratulates her on the services she never -ceases to render to the common cause of literature and tolerance. - -These services rendered by Marguerite were real; but that which is a -subject of eulogy on the part of some is a source of blame on the part -of others. Her brother having married her for the second time, in 1527, -to Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre, she held her little Court at Pan -which thenceforth became the refuge and haven of all persecuted persons -and innovators. “She favoured Calvinism, which she abandoned in the -end,” says Président Hénault, “and was the cause of the rapid progress -of that dawning sect.” It is very true that Marguerite, open to all the -literary and generous sentiments of her time, behaved as, later, a -person on the verge of ‘89 might have favoured liberty with all her -strength without wishing or even perceiving the approaching revolution. -She did at this period as did the whole Court of France, which, merely -following fashion, the progress of Letters, the pleasure of -understanding Holy Scripture and of chanting the Psalms in French, came -near to being Lutheran or Calvinistic without knowing it. Their first -awakening was on a morning (October 19, 1534) when they read, affixed to -every wall in Paris, those bloody placards against the Catholic faith. -The imprudent ones of the party had fired the train before the -appointed time. Marguerite, good and loyal, knowing nothing of parties -and judging only by honourable persons and the men of letters of her -acquaintance, leaned to the belief that those infamous placards were the -act, not of Protestants, but of those who sought a pretext to compromise -and persecute them. Charitable and humane, she never ceased to act upon -her brother in the direction of clemency. - -It was thus that on two or three occasions she tried to save the -unfortunate Berquin, who persisted in dogmatizing, and was, in spite of -all the princess’s efforts with the king, her brother, burned on the -Grève, April 24, 1529. To read the passages of the letters in which she -commends Berquin, one would think she espoused his opinions and his -beliefs; but we must not ask too much rigour and precision of Marguerite -in her ideas and their expression. There are moments, no doubt, in -reading her verse or her prose, when we might think that she had fully -accepted the Reformation; she reproduces its language, even its jargon. -Then, side by side, we see her become once more, or rather continue to -be, a believer after the manner of the best Catholics of her age, given -to all their practices, and not fearing to couple with them her -inconsistencies. Montaigne, who had great esteem for her, could not -prevent himself from noting, for example, her singular reflection about -a young and very great prince, whose history she relates in her -_Nouvelles_, and who has all the look of being François I.; she shows -him on his way to a rendezvous that is not edifying, and, to shorten his -way, he obtains permission of the porter of a monastery to cross its -enclosure. On his return, being no longer so hurried, the prince stops -to pray in the church of the cloister; “for,” she says, “although he led -the life of which I tell you, he was a prince who loved and feared -God.” Montaigne takes up that remark, and asks what good she found at -such a moment in that idea of divine protection and favour. “This is not -the only proof to be adduced,” he adds, “that women are not fitted to -treat of matters of theology.” - -And, in truth, Marguerite was no theologian; she was a person of real -piety, heart, knowledge, and humanity, who mingled with her serious life -a happy, enjoying temperament, making a most sincere harmony of it all; -which surprises us a little in the present day. Brantôme relates (in his -“Lives of Illustrious Captains”) an anecdote of Marguerite which paints -her very well in this connection and measure. A brother of Brantôme, the -Capitaine de Bourdeille, had known at Ferrara in the household of the -duchess of that country (daughter of Louis XII.) a French lady, Mlle. de -La Roche, by whom he had made himself beloved. He brought her back with -him to France, and she went to the Court of the Queen of Navarre, where -she died, he no longer caring for her. One day, three months after this -death, Capitaine de Bourdeille passed through Pau, and having gone to -pay his respects to the Queen of Navarre as she returned from vespers, -was well received by her; and talking from topic to topic as they -walked, the princess led him quietly through the church to the spot -where the tomb of the lady he had loved and deserted was placed. -“Cousin,” she said, “do you not feel something moving beneath your -feet?” “No, madame,” he replied. “But reflect a moment, cousin,” she -said. “Madame, I do reflect,” he answered, “but I feel no movement, for -I am walking on solid stone.” “Then I inform you,” said the queen, -without keeping him further in suspense, “that you stand upon the grave -and body of that poor Mlle. de La Roche, who is buried beneath you, whom -you loved so much; and, since souls have feelings after death, it -cannot be doubted that so honest a being, dying of coldness, felt your -step above her; and though you felt nothing, because of the thickness of -that stone, she was moved, and conscious of your presence. Now, inasmuch -as it is a pious deed to remember the dead, I request you to give her a -_Pater noster_, an _Ave Maria_, and a _De Profundis_, and to sprinkle -her with holy water; you will thus obtain the name of a faithful lover -and a good Christian.” She left him and went away, that he might fulfil -with a collected mind the pious ceremonies that were due to the dead. I -do not know why Brantôme adds the remark that, in his opinion, the -princess said and did all this more from good grace and by way of -conversation than from conviction; it seems to me, on the contrary, that -there was belief as well as grace, the conviction of a woman of delicacy -and a pious soul, and that all is there harmonized. - -In Marguerite’s own time there were not lacking those who blamed her for -the protection she gave to the lettered friends of the Reformation; she -found denunciators in the Sorbonne; she found them equally at Court. The -Connétable de Montmorency, speaking to the king of the necessity of -purging the kingdom of heretics, added that he must begin with the Court -and his nearest relations, naming the Queen of Navarre. “Do not speak of -her,” said the king, “she loves me too well; she will believe only what -I believe; she will never be of any religion prejudicial to my State.” -That saying sums up the truth: Marguerite could be of no other religion -than that of her brother; and Bayle has very well remarked, in a fine -page of his criticism, that the more we show that Marguerite was not -united in doctrine with the Protestants, the more we are forced to -recognize her generosity, her loftiness of soul, and her pure humanity. -By her womanly instinct she comprehended tolerance, like L’Hôpital, -like Henri IV., like Bayle himself. From the point of view of the State -there may have been some danger in the direction of this tolerance, too -confiding and too complete; it so appeared, in Marguerite’s time, at -this critical moment when the religion of the State, and with it the -constitution of those days, was in danger of overthrow. Nevertheless, it -is good that there should be such souls,--in love, before all else, with -humanity; who insinuate, in the long run, gentleness into public morals -and into laws and justice hitherto cruel; it is good because later, in -epochs when severity begins again, repression, while it may be commanded -by reasons of policy, is still forced to reckon with that spirit of -humanity introduced into customs, and with acquired tolerance. Thus the -rigour of present ages, softened and tempered as it now is by general -manners and morals, would have been a blessing in past centuries; these -are points gained in civil life which are never lost afterwards. - -The _Contes et Nouvelles_ of the Queen of Navarre have nothing, as we -can readily believe, that is much out of keeping or contradictory with -her life and the habitual character of her thoughts. M. Genin has -already made that judicious remark, and an attentive reading will only -justify it. Those Tales are neither the gayeties nor the sins of youth; -she wrote them at a ripe age, for the most part in her litter while -travelling, and by way of amusement--but the amusement had its serious -side. Death prevented her from concluding them; instead of the seven -Days which we actually have, she intended to make ten, like Boccaccio; -she wished to give, not an _Heptameron_, but a French _Decameron_. In -her prologue she supposes that several persons of condition, French and -Spanish, having met, in the month of September, at the baths of -Cauterets, in the Pyrenees, separate after a few weeks; the Spaniards -returning as best they can across the mountains, the French delayed on -their way by floods caused by the heavy rains. A certain number of these -travellers, men and women, after divers adventures more extraordinary -than agreeable, find themselves again in company at the Abbey of -Notre-Dame-de-Serrance, and there, as the river Gave is not fordable, -they decide to build a bridge. “The abbé,” says the narrator, “who was -very glad they should make this outlay, because the number of pilgrims -would thus be increased, furnished the workmen, but not a penny to the -costs, such was his avarice. The workmen declaring that they could not -build the bridge under ten or a dozen days, the company, half men, half -women, began to get very weary.” It became necessary to find some -“pleasant and virtuous” occupation for those ten days, and for this they -consulted a certain Dame Oisille, the oldest of the company. - -Dame Oisille responded in a manner most edifying: “My children, you ask -me a thing that I find very difficult, namely: to teach you a pastime -which shall deliver you from ennui. Having searched for this remedy all -my life, I have found but one, and that is the reading of Holy Epistles, -in which will be found the true and perfect joy of the soul, from which -proceeds the repose and health of the body.” But the joyous company -cannot keep wholly to so austere a system, and it is agreed that the -time shall be divided between the sacred and the profane. Early in the -morning the company assembled in the chamber of Dame Oisille to share in -her moral readings, and from there they went to mass. They dined at ten -o’clock, after which, having retired each to his or her chamber for -private affairs, they met again about mid-day on the meadow: “And, if it -please you, every day, from mid-day till four o’clock, we went through -the beautiful meadow, on the banks of the river du Gave, where the -trees are so leafy that the sun cannot pierce the shadows, or heat the -coolness; and there, seated at our ease, each told some story he had -known, or else heard from a trustworthy person.” For it was well -understood that nothing should be told that was not _true_; narrators -must be content to disguise, if necessary, the names of both persons and -places. The company numbered ten; as many men as women, and each told a -story daily; so it followed that in ten days the hundred tales would be -completed. Every afternoon, at four o’clock, a bell was rung, giving -notice that it was time to go to vespers; the company went,--not, -however, without sometimes obliging the monks to wait for them; to which -delay the latter lent themselves with very good grace. Thus rolled the -time away, no one believing that he or she had passed the limits of -sanctioned gayety or committed any sin. - -The Tales of the Queen of Navarre have nothing absolutely out of keeping -with this framework and design. Each story has a moral, a precept, -either well or ill deduced; each is related to support some maxim, some -theory, on the pre-eminence of one or other of the sexes, on the nature -and essence of love, with examples or proofs (often very contestable) of -what is advanced. Prudery apart, there is not much in these tales that -is really charming. The subjects are those of the time. At moments we -exclaim with Dame Oisille: “Good God! shall we never get out of these -stories of monks?” We are made aware that even the honourable men and -well-bred women of those days were contemporaries of Rabelais. However, -it all turns to a good end. There is wit and subtlety in the discussions -which serve as epilogue or prologue to the different tales. Most of the -histories, being true, are without art, composition, or _dénouement_. -The Queen of Navarre has been very little imitated in the tales and -verses made since her day; in fact, she lends herself poorly to -imitation. Only once does La Fontaine put her under contribution, but -then in what is, as I think, the most piquant of her writings, namely: -the tale of _La Servante justifiée_. In Marguerite’s story a merchant, a -carpet-dealer, emancipates himself with another than his wife, and is -discovered by a female neighbour. Fearing that the latter will gabble, -the merchant, “who knew how to give any colour to carpets,” arranges -matters in such a way that his wife is induced of her own accord to walk -to the same place; so that when the gossiping neighbour comes to tell -the wife what she has seen, the latter replies, “Hey! my crony, but that -was I.” This “that was I” repeated many times and in varying tones, -becomes comical, like the sayings of the farce called _Patelin_, or a -scene of Regnard; there are, however, not many such sayings in -Marguerite’s Tales. - -A question which arises on the reading of these _Nouvelles_, the image -and faithful reproduction of the good society of that day, is on the -singularity that the tone of conversation should have varied so much -among honourable persons at different epochs before it settled down upon -the basis of true delicacy and decency. Elegant conversation dates much -farther back than we suppose; polished society began much earlier than -we think. The character of conversation as we now understand it in -society, and that which specially distinguishes it among moderns, is -that women are admitted to it; and this it was that led, during the -finest period of the middle ages, to charming conversations in certain -Courts of the South, and also in Normandy, in France, and in England. In -those castles of the South where troubadours disported, and whence the -echo of their sweet songs comes to us, where exquisite and ravishing -stories were composed (like that of _Aucassin et Nicolette_), there -must have been all the delicacy, all the graces one could wish for in -conversation. But taking matters as they appear to us at the end of the -15th century, we notice a mixture, a very perceptible struggle between -purity and license, between coarseness and refinement. The pretty little -romance _Jehan de Saintré_, in which the chivalric ideal is pictured -from the start in the daintiest manner, and which assumes to give us a -little code in action of politeness, courtesy and gallantry,--in a word, -the complete education of a young equerry of the day,--this pretty -romance is also full of pedantic precepts, essays on minute ceremonial, -and towards the end it suddenly turns into gross sensuality and the -triumph of the monk, after Rabelais. - -The vein of license and wanton language never ceased its flow from the -time it originated, disguising itself in brilliant moments and noble -companies only to again unmask at the beginning of the sixteenth -century, when it seems to borrow still further audacity from the Latin -Renaissance. This was the time when virtuous women told and openly -discoursed of tales _à la_ Roquelaure. Such is the tone of the society -which the _Nouvelles_ of Marguerite of Navarre represent to us, all the -more naïvely because their intention is in no way indecent. Nearly a -century was needed to reform this vice of taste; it was necessary that -Mme. de Rambouillet and her daughter should come to reprimand and school -the Court, that professors of good taste and polite language, like Mlle. -de Scudéry and the Chevalier de Méré, should apply themselves for years -to preach decorum; and even then we shall find many backslidings and -vestiges of coarseness in the midst of even their refinement and -formalism. - -The noble moment is that when, by some sudden change of season, -intellects and minds are spread, all of a sudden, in a richer and more -equal manner over a whole generation of vigorous souls who then return -eagerly to that which is natural, and give themselves up to it without -restraint. That noble moment came in the middle of the seventeenth -century, and nothing can be imagined comparable to the conversations of -the youth of the Condés, the La Rochefoucaulds, the Retzes, the -Saint-Evremonds, the Sévignés, the Turennes. What perfect hours were -those when Mme. de La Fayette talked with Madame Henriette, lying after -dinner on the cushions! Thus we come, across the greatest of centuries, -to Mme. de Caylus, the smiling niece of Mme. de Maintenon, to that airy -perfection where the mind without reflecting about it, denies itself -nothing and observes all. - -In the second half of the seventeenth century no one but Mme. Cornuel -was allowed to use coarse language and be forgiven because of the spicy -wit with which she seasoned it. At all times virtuous women must have -heard and listened to more than they repeated; but the decisive moment -(which needs to be noted) is that when they ceased to say unseemly -things and fix them in writing without perceiving that they themselves -were lacking in a virtue. This moment is what Queen Marguerite, as a -romance-writer and maker of _Nouvelles_, had not the art to divine. - -As a poet she has nothing more than facility. She imitates and -reproduces the various forms of poesy in use at that date. It is told -how she often employed two secretaries, one to write down the French -verses she composed impromptu, the other to transcribe her letters. - -Marguerite died at the Castle of Odos in Bigorre, December 21, 1549, in -her fifty-eighth year; in yielding her last breath she cried out three -times: “Jesus!” She was the mother of Jeanne d’Albret. - -Such as I have shown her as a whole, endeavouring not to force her -features and to avoid all exaggeration, she deserves that name of -_gentil esprit_ [charming spirit] which has been so universally awarded -to her; she was the worthy sister of François I., the worthy patron of -the Renaissance, the worthy grandmother of Henri IV., as much for her -mercy as for her joyousness, and one likes to address her, in the halo -that surrounds her, these verses which her memory calls forth and which -blend themselves so well with our thought of her:-- - -“Spirits, charming and lightsome, who have been, from all time, the -grace and the honour of this land of France--ye who were born and played -in those iron ages issuing from barbaric horrors; who, passing through -cloisters, were welcomed there; the joyous soul of burgher vigils and -the gracious fêtes of castles; ye who have blossomed often beside the -throne, dispersing the weariness of pomps, giving to victory politeness, -and recovering your smiles on the morrow of reverses; ye who have taken -many forms, tricksome, mocking, elegant, or tender, facile ever; ye who -have never failed to be born again at the moment you were said to have -vanished--the ages for us have grown stern, reason is more and more -accredited, leisure has fled; even our pleasures eagerness has turned -into business, peace is without repose, so busy is she with the useful; -to days serene come afterthoughts and cares to many a soul;--’tis now -the hour, or nevermore, for awakening; the hour to once more grasp the -world and again delight it, as, throughout all time, ye have known the -way, eternally fresh and novel. Abandon not forever this land of France, -O spirits glad and lightsome!” - -SAINT-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1852). - - - - -DISCOURSE VII. - -OF VARIOUS ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES.[22] - - -1. _Isabelle d’Autriche, wife of Charles IX., King of France [daughter -of the Emperor Maximilian II.]._ - -We have had our Queen of France, Isabelle d’Autriche, who was married to -King Charles IX., of whom it is everywhere said she was one of the best, -the gentlest, the wisest, and most virtuous queens who reigned since -kings and queens began to reign. I can say this, and every man who has -ever seen or heard of her will say it with me, and not do wrong to -others, but with the greatest truth. She was very beautiful, having the -complexion of her face as fine and delicate as any lady of her Court, -and very agreeable. Her figure was beautiful also, though it was of only -medium height. She was extremely wise, and very virtuous and kind, never -giving pain to others, no matter who, nor offending any by a single -word; and as to that, she was very sober, speaking little, and then in -Spanish. - -[Illustration: Isabella of Austria, Wife of Charles IX] - -She was most devout, but in no way bigoted, not showing her devotion by -external acts too visible and too extreme, such as I have seen in some -of our paternosterers; but, without failing in her ordinary hours of -praying to God, she used them well, so that she did not need to borrow -extraordinary ones. It is true, as I have heard her ladies tell, that -when she was in bed and hidden, her curtains well-drawn, she would kneel -on her knees, in her shift, and pray to God an hour and a half, -beating her breast and macerating it in her great devotion. Which they -did not see by her consent, and then not till her husband, King Charles, -was dead; at which time, she having gone to bed and all her women -withdrawn, one of them remained to sleep in her chamber; and this lady, -hearing her sigh one night, bethought her of looking through the -curtains and saw her in that state, and praying to God in that manner, -and so continuing every night; until at last the waiting-woman, who was -familiar with her, began to remonstrate, and told her she did harm to -her health. On which the queen was angry at being discovered and -advised, and wished to conceal what she did, commanding her to say no -word of it, and, for that night, desisted; but the night after she made -up for it, thinking that her women did not perceive what she did, -whereas they saw and perceived her by her shadow thrown by the -night-lamp filled with wax which she kept lighted on her bed to read and -pray to God; though other queens and princesses kept theirs upon their -sideboards. Such ways of prayer are not like those of hypocrites, who, -wishing to make an appearance before the world, say their prayers and -devotions publicly, mumbling them aloud, that others may think them -devout and saintly. - -Thus prayed our queen for the soul of the king, her husband, whom she -regretted deeply,--making her plaints and regrets, not as a crazed and -despairing woman, with loud outcries, wounding her face, tearing her -hair, and playing the woman who is praised for weeping; but mourning -gently, shedding her beautiful and precious tears so tenderly, sighing -so softly and lowly, that we knew she restrained her grief, not to make -pretence to the world of brave appearance (as I have seen some ladies -do), but keeping in her soul her greatest anguish. Thus a torrent of -water if arrested is more violent than one that runs its ordinary -course. - -Here I am reminded to tell how, during the illness of the king, her lord -and husband, he dying on his bed, and she going to visit him; suddenly -she sat down beside him, not by his pillow as the custom is, but a -little apart and facing him where he lay; not speaking to him, as her -habit was, she held her eyes upon him so fixedly as she sat there you -would have said she brooded over him in her heart with the love she bore -him; and then she was seen to shed tears so quietly and tenderly that -those who did not look at her would not have known it, drying her eyes -while making semblance to blow her nose, causing pity to one (for I saw -her) in seeing her so tortured without yielding to her grief or her -love, and without the king perceiving it. Then she rose, and went to -pray God for his cure; for she loved and honoured him extremely, -although she knew his amorous complexion, and the mistresses that he had -both for honour and for pleasure. But she never for that gave him worse -welcome, nor said to him any harsh words; bearing patiently her little -jealousy, and the robbery he did to her. She was very proper and -dignified with him; indeed it was fire and water meeting together, for -as much as the king was quick, eager, fiery, she was cold and very -temperate. - -I have been told by those who know that after her widowhood, among her -most privileged ladies who tried to give her consolation, there was one -(for you know among a large number there is always a clumsy one) who, -thinking to gratify her said: “Ah, madame, if God instead of a daughter -had given you a son, you would now be queen-mother of the king, and your -grandeur would be increased and strengthened.” “Alas!” she replied, “do -not say to me such grievous things. As if France had not troubles -enough without my producing her one which would complete her ruin! For, -had I a son, there would be more divisions, troubles, seditions to gain -the government during his minority; from that would come more wars than -ever; and each would be trying to get his profit in despoiling the poor -child, as they would have done to the late king, my husband, when he was -little, if the queen-mother and her good servitors had not opposed it. -If I had a son, I should be miserable to think I had conceived him and -so caused a thousand maledictions from the people, whose voice is that -of God. That is why I praise my God, and take with gratitude the fruit -he gives me, whether it be to me myself for better or for worse.” - -Such was the goodness of this good princess towards the country and -people to which she had been brought by marriage. I have heard related -how, at the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew, she, knowing nothing of it -nor even hearing the slightest breath of it, went to bed as usual, and -did not wake till morning, at which time they told her of the fine drama -that was playing [_le beau mystère qui se jouoit_]. “Alas!” she said -quickly, “the king, my husband, does he know of it?” “Yes, madame,” they -answered her; “it was he himself who ordered it.” “0 my God!” she cried, -“what is this? What counsellors are those who gave him such advice? My -God! I implore thee, I beg thee to pardon him; for if thou dost not pity -him, I fear that this offence is unforgivable.” Then she asked for her -prayer-book and began her orisons, imploring God with tears in her eyes. - -Consider, I beg of you, the goodness and wisdom of this queen in not -approving such a festival nor the deed then performed, although she had -reasons to desire the total extermination of M. l’amiral and those of -his religion, not only because they were contrary to hers, which she -adored and honoured before all else in the world, but because she saw -how they troubled the States of the king, her husband; and also because -the emperor, her father, had said to her when she parted from him to -come to France: “My daughter, you will be queen of the finest, most -powerful and greatest kingdom in the world, and for that I hold you to -be very happy; but happier would you be if you could find that kingdom -as flourishing as it once was; but instead you will find it torn, -divided, weakened; for though the king, your husband, holds a good part -of it, the princes and seigneurs of the Religion hold on their side the -other part of it.” And as he said to her, so she found it. - -This queen having become a widow, many persons, men and women of the -Court, the most clear-sighted that I know, were of opinion that the -king, on his return from Poland, would marry her although she was his -sister-in-law; for he could have done so by dispensation of the pope, -who can do much in such matters, and above all for great personages -because of the public good that comes of it. There were many reasons why -this marriage should be made; I leave them to be deduced by high -discoursers, without alleging them myself. But among others was that of -recognizing by this marriage the great obligations the king had received -from the emperor on his return from Poland and departure thence; for it -cannot be doubted that if the emperor had placed the smallest obstacle -in his way, he could never have left Poland or reached France safely. -The Poles would have kept him had he not departed without bidding them -farewell; and the Germans lay in wait for him on all sides to catch him -(as they did that brave King Richard of England of whom we read in the -chronicles); they would surely have taken him prisoner and held him for -ransom, and perhaps worse; for they were bitter against him for the -Saint-Bartholomew; or, at least, the Protestant princes were. But, -voluntarily and without ceremony, he threw himself in good faith upon -the emperor, who received him very graciously and amiably, and with much -honour and privilege as though they were brothers, and feasted him -nobly; then, after having kept him several days, he conducted him -himself for a day or two, giving him safe passage through his territory; -so that King Henri, by his favour, reached Carinthia, the land of the -Venetians, Venice, and then his own kingdom. - -This was the obligation the king was under to the emperor; so that many -persons, as I have said, were of opinion that King Henri III. would meet -it by drawing closer their alliance. But at the time he went to Poland -he saw at Blamont, in Lorraine, Mademoiselle de Vaudemont, Louise de -Lorraine, one of the handsomest, best, and most accomplished princesses -in Christendom, on whom he cast his eyes so ardently that he was soon in -love, and in such a manner that (nursing his flame during the whole of -his absence) on his return to France he despatched from Lyon M. du Gua, -one of his prime favourites, to Lorraine, where he arranged and -concluded the marriage between him and her very easily, and without -altercation, as I leave you to think; because by the father and the -daughter no such luck was expected, the one to be father-in-law of a -king of France, and the daughter to be queen. Of her I shall speak -elsewhere. - -To return now to our little queen, who, disliking to remain in France -for several reasons, especially because she was not recognized and -endowed as she should have been, resolved to go and finish the remainder -of her noble days with the emperor and empress, her father and mother. -When there, the Catholic king being widowed of Queen Anne of Austria, -own sister to Queen Isabelle, he desired to espouse the latter, and -sent to beg the empress, his own sister, to lay his proposals before -her. But she would not listen to them, not the first, nor the second, -nor the third time her mother the empress spoke of them; excusing -herself on the honourable ashes of the king, her husband, which she -would not insult by a second marriage, and also on the ground of too -great consanguinity and close parentage between them, which might -greatly anger God; on which the empress and her brother the king urged -her to lay the matter before a very learned and eloquent Jesuit, who -exhorted and preached to her as much as he could, not forgetting to -quote all the passages of Holy and other Scripture, which might serve -his purpose. But the queen confounded him quickly by other quotations as -fine and more truthful, for, since her widowhood, she had given herself -to the study of God’s word; besides which, she told him her determined -resolution, which was her most sacred defence, namely, not to forget her -husband in a second marriage. On which the Jesuit was forced to leave -her without gaining anything. But, being urged to return by a letter -from the King of Spain, who would not accept the resolute answer of the -princess, he treated her with rigorous words and even threats, so that -she, not willing to lose her time contesting against him, cut him short -by saying that if he meddled with her again she would make him repent -it, and even went so far as to threaten to have him whipped in her -kitchen. I have also heard, but I do not know if it be true, that this -Jesuit having returned for the third time, she turned away and had him -chastised for his presumption. I do not believe this; for she loved -persons of holy lives, as those men are. - -Such was the great constancy and noble firmness of this virtuous queen, -which she kept to the end of her days, towards the venerated bones of -the king her husband, which she honoured incessantly with regrets and -tears; and not being able to furnish more (for a fountain must in the -end dry up) she succumbed, and died so young that she was only -thirty-five years old at the time of her death. Loss most inestimable! -for she might long have served as a mirror of virtue to the honest -ladies of all Christendom. - -If, of a surety, she manifested love to the king her husband, by her -constancy, her virtuous continence, and her continual grief, she showed -it still more in her behaviour to the Queen of Navarre, her -sister-in-law; for, knowing her to be in a great extremity of famine in -the castle of Usson in Auvergne, abandoned by most of her relations and -by so many others whom she had obliged, she sent to her and offered her -all her means, and so provided that she gave her half the revenue she -received in France, sharing with her as if she had been her own sister; -and they say Queen Marguerite would indeed have suffered severely -without this great liberality of her good and beautiful sister. -Wherefore she deferred to her much, and honoured and loved her so that -scarcely could she bear her death patiently, as people do in the world, -but took to her bed for twenty days, weeping continually with constant -moans, and ever since has not ceased to regret and deplore her; -expending on her memory most beautiful words, which she needed not to -borrow from others, in order to praise her and to give her immortality. -I have been told that Queen Isabelle composed and printed a beautiful -book which touched on the word of God, and also another concerning -histories of what happened in France during the time she was there. I -know not if this be true, but I am assured of it, and also that persons -have seen that book in the hands of the Queen of Navarre, to whom she -sent it before she died, and who set great store by it, calling it a -fine thing; and if so divine an oracle said so, we must believe it. - -This is a summary of what I have to say of our good Queen Isabella, of -her goodness, her virtue, her continence, her constancy, and of her -loyal love to the king her husband. And were it not her nature to be -good and virtuous (I heard M. de Langeac, who was in Spain when she -died, tell how the empress said to him: “That which was best among us is -no more”), we might suppose that in all her actions Queen Isabelle -sought to imitate her mother and her aunts. - - -_2. Jeanne d’Autriche, wife of Jean, Infante of Portugal, and mother of -the king, Don Sebastian._ - -This princess of Spain was of great beauty and very majestic, or she -would not have been a Spanish princess; for a fine carriage and good -grace always accompany the majesty of a Spanish woman. I had the honour -of seeing her and talking with her rather privately, being in Spain on -my way back from Portugal. I had gone to pay my respects to our Queen of -Spain, Élisabeth of France, and was talking with her, she asking news -both of France and Portugal, when they came to tell her that Madame la -Princesse Jeanne was arriving. On which the queen said to me, “Do not -stir, M. de Bourdeille. You will see a beautiful and honourable -princess. It will please you to see her, and she will be very glad to -see you and ask you news of the king her son, since you have lately seen -him.” Whereupon, the princess arrived, and I thought her very beautiful -according to my taste, very well attired, and wearing on her head a -Spanish toque of white crêpe coming low in a point upon her nose, and -dressed as a Spanish widow, who wears silk usually. I admired and gazed -upon her so fixedly that I was on the point of feeling ravished when the -queen called me and said that Madame la princesse wished to hear from me -news of her son the king; I had overheard her telling the princess -that she was talking with a gentleman of her brother Court who had just -come from Portugal. - -[Illustration: Charles IX] - -On which I approached the princess, and kissed her gown in the Spanish -manner. She received me very gently and intimately; and then began to -ask me news of the king, her son, his behaviour, and what I thought of -him; for at that time they were thinking to make a marriage between him -and Madame Marguerite de France, sister of the king, and in these days -Queen of Navarre. I told her everything; for at that time I spoke -Spanish as well as, or better than French. Among her other questions she -asked me this: “Was her son handsome, and whom did he resemble?” I told -her he was certainly one of the handsomest princes of Christendom and -resembled her in everything and was, in fact, the very image of her -beauty; at which she gave a little smile and the colour came into her -face, which showed much gladness at what I said. After talking with her -some time they came to call the queen to supper, and the two princesses -separated; the queen saying to me with a smile: “You have given her a -great pleasure in what you said of the resemblance of her son.” - -And afterwards she asked me what I thought of her; whether I did not -think her an honourable woman and such as she had described her to me, -adding: “I think she would like much to marry the king, my brother -[Charles IX.], and I should like it, too.” She knew I should repeat this -to the queen-mother on my return to Court, which was then at Arles in -Provence; and I did so; but she said she was too old for him, old enough -to be his mother. I told the queen-mother, however, what had been said -to me in Spain, on good authority, namely: that the princess had said -she was firmly resolved not to marry again unless with the King of -France, and failing that to retire from the world. In fact, she had so -set her fancy on this high match and station, for her heart was very -lofty, that she fully believed in attaining her end and contentment; -otherwise she meant to end her days, as I have said, in a monastery, -where she was already building a house for her retreat. Accordingly she -kept this hope and belief very long in her mind, managing her widowhood -sagely, until she heard of the marriage of the king to her niece -[Isabelle], and then, all hope being lost, she said these words, or -something like them, as I have heard tell: “Though the niece be more in -her springtime and less weighed with years than the aunt, the beauty of -the aunt, now in its summer, all made and formed by charming years, and -bearing fruit, is worth far more than the fruit her youthful blooms give -promise of; for the slightest misadventure will undo them, make them -fall and perish, no more no less than the trees of spring, which with -their lovely blooms promise fine fruits in summer; but an evil wind may -blow and beat them down and nought be left but leaves. But let it be -done to the will of God, with whom I now shall marry for all time, and -not with others.” - -As she said, so she did, and led so good and holy a life apart from the -world that she left to ladies, both great and small, a noble example to -imitate. There may be some who have said: “Thank God she could not marry -King Charles, for if she had done so she would have left behind the hard -conditions of widowhood and resumed all the sweetness of marriage.” That -may be presumed. But may we not, on the other hand, presume that the -great desire she showed the world to marry that great king was a form -and manner of ostentation and Spanish pride, manifesting her lofty -aspirations which she would not lower?--for seeing her sister Marie -Empress of Austria and wishing to equal her she aspired to be Queen of -France which is worth an empire--or more. - -To conclude: she was, to my thinking, one of the most accomplished -foreign princesses I have ever seen, though she may be blamed for -retreating from the world more from vexation than devotion; but the fact -remains that she did it; and her good and saintly end has shown in her I -know not what of sanctity. - - -3. _Marie d’Autriche, wife of Louis, King of Hungary [sister of the -Emperor Charles V.]._ - -Her aunt, Queen Marie of Hungary, did the same, although at a more -advanced age, as much to retire from the world as to help the emperor, -her brother, to serve God well in his retreat. This queen became a widow -early, having lost King Louis, her husband, who was killed, very young, -in a battle against the Turks, which he fought, not for good reason, but -by persuasion and pertinacity of a cardinal who governed him much, -assuring him that he must not distrust God and His just cause, for if -there were but ten thousand Hungarians, they, being good Christians and -fighting for God’s quarrel, could make an end of a hundred thousand -Turks; and that cardinal so urged and pushed him to the point that he -fought and lost the battle, and in trying to retreat he fell into a -marsh and was smothered. Such are the blunders of men who want to manage -armies and do not know the business. - -That was why the great Duc de Guise, after he was so greatly deceived on -his journey to Italy, said frequently: “I love the Church of God, but I -will never undertake an enterprise of war on the word or faith of a -priest,”--meaning by that to lay blame on Pope Paul IV., who had not -kept the promises he made him with great and solemn words, and also on -M. le Cardinal, his brother, who had sounded the ford as far as Rome, -and lightly pushed his brother into it. - -To return to our great Queen Marie; after this misfortune to her husband -she was left a widow very young, very beautiful, as I have heard said by -many persons who knew her, and as I judge myself from the portraits I -have seen, which represent her without anything ugly to find fault with, -unless it be her large, projecting mouth like that of the house of -Austria; though it does not really come from the house of Austria, but -from that of Bourgogne; for I have heard a lady of the Court of those -times relate as follows: once when Queen Éléonore, passing through -Dijon, went to make her devotions at the Chartreux monastery of that -town, she visited the venerable sepulchres of her ancestors, the Ducs de -Bourgogne, and was curious enough to have them opened, as many of our -kings have done with theirs. She found them so well preserved that she -recognized some by various signs, among others by their mouths, on which -she suddenly cried out: “Ha! I thought we got our mouths from Austria, -but I see we get them from Marie de Bourgogne and the Ducs de Bourgogne -our ancestors. If I see my brother the emperor again, I shall tell him -so, or else I shall send him word.” The lady who was present told me -that she heard this, and also that the queen spoke as if taking pleasure -in it; as indeed she had reason to do; for the house of Bourgogne was -fully worth that of Austria, since it came from a son of France, -Philippe the Bold, and had gained much property and great generosities -of valour and courage from him; for I believe there never were four -greater dukes coming one after the other than those four Ducs de -Bourgogne. People may blame me sometimes for exaggerating; but I ought -to be readily pardoned, because I do not know the art of writing. - -Our Queen Marie of Hungary was very beautiful and agreeable, though she -was always a trifle masculine; but in love she was none the worse for -that, nor in war, which she took as her principal exercise. The emperor, -her brother, knowing how fitted for war and very able she was, sent for -her to come to him, and there invested her with the office which had -belonged to her Aunt Marguerite of Flanders, who had governed the Low -Countries with as much mildness as her successor now showed rigour. -Indeed, so long as Madame Marguerite lived King François never turned -his wars in that direction, though the King of England urged it on him; -for he said that he did not wish to annoy that honest princess, who had -shown herself so good to France and was so wise and virtuous, and yet so -unfortunate in her marriages; the first of which was with King Charles -VIII., by whom she was sent back very young to her father’s house; -another with the son of the King of Arragon named Jean, by whom she had -a posthumous child who died as soon as he was born, and the third was -with that handsome Duc Philibert of Savoie, by whom she had no issue; -and for this reason she bore for her device the words _Fortune -infortune, fors une_. She lies with her husband in that beautiful -convent at Brou, which is so sumptuous, near the town of Bourg in -Bresse, where I have seen it.[23] - -Queen Marie of Hungary was of great assistance to the emperor, for he -stood alone. It is true he had Ferdinand, king of the Romans, his -brother; but he was forced to show front against that great Sultan -Solyman; also he had upon his hands the affairs of Italy, which were -then in combustion; of Germany, which were little better because of the -Grand Turk; of Hungary; of Spain, which had revolted under M. de -Chièvres; besides the Indies, the Low Countries, Barbary, and France, -the greatest burden of all. In short, I may say the whole world almost. - -He made this sister Marie, whom he loved above everything, -governor-general of all his Low Countries, where for the space of -twenty-two or three years she served him so well that I know not how he -could have done without her. For this he trusted her with all the -affairs of the government, so that he himself, being in Flanders, left -all to her, and the Council was held by her in her own house. It is true -that she, being very wise and clever, deferred to him, and reported to -him all that was done at the Council when he was not there, in which he -took much pleasure. - -She made great wars, sometimes by her lieutenants, sometimes in -person,--always on horseback like a generous amazon. She was the first -to light fires and conflagrations in France,--some in very noble houses -and châteaux like that of Follembray, a beautiful and charming house -built by our kings for their comfort and pleasure in hunting. The king -took this with such wrath and displeasure that before long he returned -her the change for it, and revenged it on her beautiful mansion of -Bains, held to be a miracle of the world, shaming (if I may say so from -what I have heard those say who saw it in its perfection) the seven -wonders of the world renowned in antiquity. She fêted there the Emperor -Charles and his whole Court, when his son, King Philip, came from Spain -to Flanders to see him; on which occasion its magnificences were seen in -such excellence and perfection that nothing was talked of at that time -but _las fiestas de Bains_, as the Spaniards say. I remember myself that -on the journey to Bayonne [where Catherine de’ Medici met her daughter -Élisabeth Queen of Spain], however great was the magnificence there -presented, in tourneys, combats, masquerades, and money expended, -nothing came up to _las fiestas de Bains_; so said certain old Spanish -gentlemen who had seen them, and also as I saw it stated in a Spanish -book written expressly about them; so that one could well say that -nothing finer was ever seen, not even, begging pardon of Roman -magnificence, the games of ancient times, barring the combats of -gladiators and wild beasts. Except for them, the fêtes of Bains were -finer and more agreeable, more varied, more general. - -I would describe them here, according as I could borrow them from that -Spanish book and as I heard of them from some who were present, even -from Mme. de Fontaine, born Torcy, maid of honour at the time to Queen -Éléonore; but I might be blamed for being too digressive. I will keep it -for a _bonne bouche_ another time, for the thing is worth it. Among some -of the finest magnificences was this: Queen Marie had a great fortress -built of brick, which was assaulted, defended, and succoured by six -thousand foot-soldiers; cannonaded by thirty pieces of cannon, whether -in the batteries or the defences, with the same ceremonies and doings as -in real war; which siege lasted three days, and never was anything seen -so fine, the emperor taking great pleasure in it. - -You may be sure that if this queen played the sumptuous it was because -she wanted to show her brother that if she held her States, pensions, -benefits, even her conquests, through him, all were devoted to his glory -and pleasure. In fact, the said emperor was greatly pleased and praised -her much; and reckoned the cost very high; especially that of his -chamber which was hung with tapestry of splendid warp, of silver and -gold and silk, on which were figured and represented, the size of life, -all his fine conquests, great enterprises, expeditions of war, and the -battles he had fought, given, and won, above all, not forgetting the -flight of Solyman before Vienna, and the capture of King François. In -short, there was nothing in it that was not exquisite. - -But the noble house lost its lustre soon after, being totally pillaged, -ruined, and razed to the ground. I have heard say that its mistress, -when she heard of its ruin, fell into such distress, anger, and rage -that for long she could not be pacified. Passing near there some time -later she wished to see the ruins, and gazing at them very piteously -with tears in her eyes, she swore that all France should repent of the -deed, for never should she be at her ease until that fine Fontainebleau, -of which they thought so much, was razed to the ground with not one -stone left upon another. In fact, she vomited her rage upon poor -Picardy, which felt it in flames. And we may believe that if peace had -not intervened, her vengeance would have been greater still; for she had -a stern, hard heart, not easily appeased, and was thought to be, on her -side as much as on ours, too cruel. But such is the nature of women, -even the greatest, who are very quick to vengeance when offended. The -emperor, it was said, loved her the better for it. - -I have heard it related how, when at Brussels, the emperor, in the great -hall where he had called together the general Assembly, in order to give -up and despoil himself of his States, after making an harangue and -saying all he wished to say to the Assembly and to his son, humbly -thanked Queen Marie, his sister, who was seated beside him. On which she -rose from her seat and, with a grand curtsey made to her brother with -great and grave majesty and composed grace, she said, addressing her -speech to the people: “Messieurs, since for twenty-three years it has -pleased the emperor, my brother, to give me the charge and government of -all his Low Countries, I have employed and used therein all that God, -nature, and fortune have given me of means and graces to acquit myself -as well as possible. And if in anything I have been in fault, I am -excusable, thinking I have never forgotten what I should remember, nor -spared what was proper. Nevertheless, if I have been lacking in any way -I beg you to pardon me. But if, in spite of this, some of you will not -do so, and remain discontented with me, it is the least thing I care -for, inasmuch as the emperor, my brother, is content; for to please him -alone has been my greatest desire and solicitude.” So saying, and having -made another grand curtsey to the emperor, she resumed her seat. I have -heard it said that this speech was thought too haughty and defiant, both -as relating to her office, and as bidding adieu to a people whom she -ought to have left with a good word and in grief at her departure. But -what did she care,--inasmuch as she had no other object than to please -and content her brother and, from that moment, to quit the world and -keep company with that brother in his retreat and his prayers [1556]? - -I heard all this related by a gentleman of my brother who was then in -Brussels, having gone there to negotiate the ransom of my said brother -who was taken prisoner at Hesdin and confined five years at Lisle in -Flanders. The said gentleman witnessed this Assembly and all these sad -acts of the emperor; and he told me that many persons were rather -scandalized under their breaths at this proud speech of the queen; -though they dared say nothing, nor let it be seen, for they knew they -had to do with a _maîtresse-femme_ who would, if irritated, deal them -some blow as a parting gift. But here she was, relieved of her office, -so that she accompanied her brother to Spain and never left him again, -she, and her sister, Queen Éléonore, until he lay in his tomb; the three -surviving exactly a year one after the other. The emperor died first, -the Queen of France, being the elder, next, and the Queen of Hungary -last,--both sisters having very virtuously governed their widowhood. It -is true that the Queen of Hungary was longer a widow than her sister -without remarrying; for her sister married twice, as much to be Queen of -France, which was a fine morsel, as by prayer and persuasion of the -emperor, in order that she might serve as a seal to secure peace and -public tranquillity; though, indeed, this seal did not last long, for -war broke out again soon after, more cruel than ever; but the poor -princess could not help that, for she had brought to France all she -could; though the king, her husband, treated her no better for that, but -cursed his marriage, as I have heard say. - - -4. _Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III., King of France._ - -We can and should praise this princess who, in her marriage, behaved to -the king, her husband, so wisely, chastely, and loyally that the tie -which bound her to him remained indissoluble and was never loosened or -undone, although the king her husband, loving change, went after others, -as the fashion is with these great persons, who have a liberty of their -own apart from other men. Moreover, within the first ten days of their -marriage he gave her cause for discontentment, for he took away her -waiting-maids and the ladies who had been with her and brought her up -from childhood, whom she regretted much; and more especially the sting -went deep into her heart on account of Mlle. de Changy, a beautiful and -very honourable young lady, who should never have been banished from the -company of her mistress, or from Court. It is a great vexation to lose a -good companion and a confidante. - -[Illustration: Louise de Lorraine - -wife of Henry III] - -I know that one of the said queen’s most intimate ladies was so -presumptuous as to say to her one day, laughing and joking, that since -she had no children by the king and could never have them, for -reasons that were talked of in those days, she would do well to borrow a -third and secret means to have them, in order not to be left without -authority when the king should die, but rather be mother to a king and -hold the rank and grandeur of the present queen-mother, her -mother-in-law. But she rejected this bouffonesque advice, taking it in -very bad part and nevermore liking the good lady-counsellor. She -preferred to rest her grandeur on her chastity and virtue than upon a -lineage issuing from vice: counsel of the world! which, according to the -doctrine of Macchiavelli, ought not to be rejected. - -But our Queen Louise, so wise and chaste and virtuous, did not desire, -either by true or false means, to become queen-mother; though, had she -been willing to play such a game, things would have been other than they -are; for no one would have taken notice, and many would have been -confounded. For this reason the present king [Henri IV.] owes much to -her, and should have loved and honoured her; for had she played the -trick and produced the child, he would only have been regent of France, -and perhaps not that, and such weak title would not have guaranteed us -from more wars and evils than we have so far had. Still, I have heard -many, religious as well as worldly people, say and hold to this -conclusion, namely: that Queen Louise would have done better to play -that game, for then France would not have had the ruin and misery she -has had, and will have, and that Christianity would have been the better -for it. I make this question over to worthy and inquiring discoursers to -give their opinion on it; it is a brave subject and an ample one for the -State; but not for God, methinks, to whom our queen was so inclined, -loving and adoring Him so truly that to serve Him she forgot herself and -her high condition. For, being a very beautiful princess (in fact the -king took her for her beauty and virtue), and young, delicate, and very -lovable, she devoted herself to no other purpose than serving God, going -to prayers, visiting the hospitals continually, nursing the sick, -burying the dead, and omitting nothing of all the good and saintly works -performed by saintly and devoted good women, princesses, and queens in -the times past of the primitive Church. After the death of the king, her -husband, she did the same, employing her time in mourning and regretting -him, and in praying to God for his soul; so that her widowed life was -much the same as her married life. - -She was suspected during the lifetime of her husband of leaning a little -to the party of the Union [League] because, good Christian and Catholic -that she was, she loved all who fought and combated for her faith and -her religion; but she never loved these and left them wholly after they -killed her husband; demanding no other vengeance or punishment than what -it pleased God to send them, asking the same of men and, above all, of -our present king; who should, however, have done justice on that -monstrous deed done to a sacred person. - -Thus lived this princess in marriage and died in widowhood. She died in -a reputation most beautiful and worthy of her, having lingered and -languished long, without taking care of herself and giving way too much -to her sadness. She made a noble and religious end. Before she died she -ordered her crown to be placed on the pillow beside her, and would not -have it moved as long as she lived; and after her death she was crowned -with it, and remained so. - - -5. _Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of Anne, Duc de Joyeuse.[24]_ - -Queen Louise left a sister, Madame de Joyeuse, who has imitated her -modest and chaste life, having made great mourning and lamentation for -her husband, a brave, valiant, and accomplished seigneur. And I have -heard say that when the present king was so tightly pressed in Brest, -where M. du Maine with forty thousand men held him besieged and tied up -in a sack, that if she had been in the place of the Duc de Chartres, who -commanded within, she would have revenged the death of her husband far -better than did the said duke, who on account of the obligations he owed -the Duc de Joyeuse, should have done better. Since when, she has never -liked him, but hated him more than the plague, not being able to excuse -such a fault; though there are some who say that he kept the faith and -loyalty he had promised. - -But a woman justly or unjustly offended does not listen to excuses; nor -did this one, who never again loved our present king; but she greatly -regretted the late one [Henri III.] although she belonged to the League; -but she always said that she and her husband were under extreme -obligations to him. To conclude: she was a good and virtuous princess, -who deserves honour for the grief she gave to the ashes of her husband -for some time, although she remarried in the end with M. de Luxembourg. -Being a woman, why should she languish? - - -6. _Christine of Denmark, niece of the Emperor Charles V. Duchesse de -Lorraine._ - -After the departure of the Queen of Hungary no great princess remained -near King Philip II. [to whom Charles V. resigned the Low Countries, -Naples, and Sicily 1555] except the Duchesse de Lorraine, Christine of -Denmark, his cousin-german, since called her Highness, who kept him good -company so long as he stayed in Flanders, and made his Court shine; for -the Court of every king, prince, emperor, or monarch, however grand it -be, is of little account if it be not accompanied and made desirable by -the Court of queen, empress, or great princess with numerous ladies and -damoiselles; as I have well perceived myself and heard discoursed of and -said by the greatest personages. - -This princess, to my thinking, was one of the most beautiful and -accomplished princesses I have ever seen. Her face was very agreeable, -her figure tall, and her carriage fine; especially did she dress herself -well,--so well that, in her time, she gave to our ladies of France and -to her own a pattern and model for dressing the head with a coiffure and -veil, called _à la_ Lorraine; and a fine sight it was on our Court -ladies, who wore it only for fêtes or great magnificences, in order to -adorn and display themselves, as did all Lorraine, in honour of her -Highness. Above all, she had one of the prettiest hands that were ever -seen; indeed I have heard our queen-mother praise it and compare it with -her own. She held herself finely on horseback with very good grace, and -always rode with stirrup and pommel, as she had learned from her aunt, -Queen Mary of Hungary. I have heard say that the queen-mother learned -this fashion from her, for up to that time she rode on the plank, which -certainly does not show the grace or the fine action with the stirrup. -She liked to imitate in riding the queen, her aunt, and never mounted -any but Spanish or Turkish horses, barbs, or very fine jennets which -went at an amble; I have known her have at one time a dozen very fine -ones, of which it would be hard to say which was the finest. - -Her aunt, the queen, loved her much, finding her suited to her humour, -whether in the exercises, hunting and other, that she loved, or in the -virtues that she knew she possessed. While her husband lived she often -went to Flanders to see her aunt, as Mme. de Fontaine told me; but after -she became a widow, and especially after they took her son away from -her, she left Lorraine in anger, for her heart was very lofty, and made -her abode with the emperor her uncle, and the queens her aunts, who -gladly received her. - -She bore very impatiently the parting from this son, though King Henri -made every excuse to her, and declared he intended to adopt him as a -son. But not being pacified, and seeing that they were giving the old -fellow M. de la Brousse to her son as governor, taking away from him M. -de Montbardon, a very wise and honourable gentleman whom the emperor had -appointed, having known him for a very long time, this princess, finding -how desperate the matter was, came to see King Henri on a Holy Thursday -in the great gallery at Nancy, where the Court then was; and with very -composed grace and that great beauty which made her so admired, and -without being awed or abating in any way her grandeur, she made him a -great curtsey, entreating him, and explaining with tears in her eyes -(which only made her the more beautiful) the wrong he did in taking her -son from her,--an object so dear to her heart and all she had in the -world; also that she did not merit such treatment, in view of the great -family from which she came; besides which she believed she had never -done anything against his service. She said these things so well, with -such good grace and reasoning, and made her complaint so gently that the -king, who was always courteous to ladies, had great compassion for -her,--not only he, but all the princes and the great and the little -people who saw that sight. - -The king, who was the most respectful king to ladies that was ever in -France, answered her most civilly; not with a flourish of words or a -great harangue, as Paradin in his History of France represents, for of -himself and by nature he was not at all prolix, nor copious in words nor -a great haranguer. Moreover, there is no need nor would it be becoming -that a king should imitate in his speech a philosopher or an orator; so -that the shortest words and briefest answers are best for a king; as I -have heard M. de Pibrac say, whose instruction was very sound on account -of the learning that was in him. Therefore, whoever reads that harangue -of Paradin, made, or presumed to be made by King Henri, should believe -none of it, for I have heard several great persons who were present -declare that he could not have heard that answer or that discourse as he -says he did. Very true it is that the king consoled her civilly and -modestly on the desolation she expressed, and told her she had no reason -to be troubled, because to secure his safety, and not from enmity, did -he wish to keep her son beside him, and put him with his own eldest son -to have the same education, same manner of life, same fortune; and since -he was of French extraction, and himself French, he could be better -brought up at the Court of France, among the French, where he had -relations and friends. Nor did he forget to remind her that the house of -Lorraine was more obliged to France than any house in Christendom, -reminding her of the obligation of the Duc de Lorraine in respect to Duc -Charles de Bourgogne, who was killed at Nancy. - -[Illustration: Henri III] - -But all these fine words and reasons could not console her or make her -bear her sorrow patiently. So that, having made her curtsey, still -shedding many precious tears, she retired to her chamber, to the door of -which the king conducted her; and the next day, before his departure, -she went to see him in his chamber to take leave of him, but could -not obtain her request. Therefore, seeing her dear son taken before her -eyes and departing for France, she resolved, on her side, to leave -Lorraine and retire to Flanders, to her uncle, the emperor (how fine a -word!), and to her cousin King Philip and the queens, her aunts (what -alliance! what titles!), which she did; and never stirred thence till -after the peace made between the two kings, when he of Spain crossed the -seas and went away. - -She did much for this peace, I might say all; for the deputies, as much -on one side as on the other, as I have heard tell, after much pains and -time consumed at Cercan [Cateau-Carabrésis] without doing or concluding -anything, were all at fault and off the scent, like huntsmen, when she, -being either instinct with the divine spirit, or moved by good Christian -zeal and her natural good sense, undertook this great negotiation and -conducted it so well that the end was fortunate throughout all -Christendom. Also it was said that no one could have been found more -proper to move and place that great rock; for she was a very clever and -judicious lady if ever there was one, and of fine and grand authority; -and certainly small and low persons are not so proper for that as the -great. On the other hand the king, her cousin [Philip II.], believed and -trusted her greatly, esteeming her much, and loving her with a great -affection and love; as indeed he should, for she gave his Court great -value and made it shine, when otherwise it would have been obscure. -Though afterwards, as I have been told, he did not treat her too well in -the matter of her estates which came to her as dowry in the duchy of -Milan; she having been married first to Duc Sforza, for, as I have heard -say, he took and curtailed her of some. - -I was told that after the death of her son she remained on very ill -terms with M. de Guise and his brother, the Cardinal, accusing them of -having persuaded the king to keep her son on account of their ambition -to see and have their near cousin adopted son and married to the house -of France; besides which, she had refused some time before to take M. de -Guise in marriage, he having asked her to do so. She, who was haughty to -the very extreme, replied that she would never marry the younger of a -house whose eldest had been her husband; and for that refusal M. de -Guise bore her a grudge ever after,--though indeed he lost nothing by -the change to Madame his wife, whom he married soon after, for she was -of very illustrious birth and granddaughter of Louis XII., one of the -bravest and best kings that ever wore the crown of France; and, what is -more, she was the handsomest woman in Christendom. - -I have heard tell that the first time these two handsome princesses saw -each other, they were each so contemplative the one of the other, -turning their eyes sometimes crossways, sometimes sideways, that neither -could look enough, so fixed and attentive were they to watch each other. -I leave you to think what thoughts they were turning in their fine -souls; not more nor less than those we read of just before the great -battle in Africa between Scipio and Hannibal (which was the final -settlement of the war between Rome and Carthage), when those two great -captains met together during a truce of two hours, and, having -approached each other, they stood for a little space of time, lost in -contemplation the one of the other, each ravished by the valour of his -companion, both renowned for their noble deeds, so well represented in -their faces, their bodies, and their fine and warlike ways and gestures. -And then, having stood for some time thus wrapt in meditation of each -other, they began to negotiate in the manner that Titus Livius describes -so well. That is what virtue is, which makes itself admired amid -hatreds and enmities, as beauty among jealousies, like that of the two -ladies and princesses I have just been speaking of. - -Certainly their beauty and grace may be reckoned equal, though Mme. de -Guise could slightly have carried the day; but she was content without -it,--being not at all vain or superb, but the sweetest, best, humblest, -and most affable princess that could ever be seen. In her way, however, -she was brave and proud, for nature had made her such, as much by beauty -and form as by her grave bearing and noble majesty; so much so that on -seeing her one feared to approach her; but having approached her one -found only sweetness, candour, gayety; getting it all from her -grandfather, that good father of his people, and the sweet air of -France. True it is, she knew well how to keep her grandeur and glory -when need was. - -Her Highness of Lorraine was, on the contrary, very vain-glorious, and -rather too presumptuous. I saw that sometimes in relation to Queen Marie -Stuart of Scotland, who, being a widow, made a journey to Lorraine, on -which I went; and you would have said that very often her said Highness -was determined to equal the majesty of the said queen. But the latter, -being very clever and of great courage, never let her pass the line, or -make any advance; although Queen Marie was always gentle, because her -uncle, the Cardinal, had warned and instructed her as to the temper of -her said Highness. Then she, being unable to be rid of her pride, -thought to soothe it a little on the queen-mother when they met. But -that indeed was pride to pride and a half; for the queen-mother was the -proudest woman on earth when she chose to be. I have heard her called so -by many great personages; for when it was necessary to repress the -vainglory of some one who wanted to seem of importance she knew how to -abase him to the centre of the earth. However, she bore herself civilly -to her Highness, deferring to her much and honouring her; but always -holding the bridle in hand, sometimes high, sometimes low, for fear she -should get away; and I heard her myself say, two or three times: “That -is the most vainglorious woman I ever saw.” - -The same thing happened when her Highness came to the coronation of the -late King Charles IX. at Reims, to which she was invited. When she -arrived, she would not enter the town on horseback, fearing she could -not thus show her grandeur and high estate; but she put herself into a -most superb carriage, entirely covered with black velvet, on account of -her widowhood, which was drawn by four Turk horses, the finest that -could be chosen, and harnessed all four abreast after the manner of a -triumphal car. She sat by the door, very well dressed, but all in black, -in a gown of velvet; but her head was white and very handsomely and -superbly coiffed and adorned. At the other door of her carriage was one -of her daughters, afterwards Mme. la Duchesse de Bavière, and within was -the Princesse de Macédoine, her lady of honour. - -The queen-mother, wishing to see her enter the courtyard in this -triumphal manner, placed herself at a window and said, quite low, -“There’s a proud woman!” Then her Highness having descended from her -carriage and come upstairs, the queen advanced to receive her at the -middle of the room, not a step beyond, and rather nearer the door than -farther from it. There she received her very well; because at that time -she governed everything, King Charles being so young; and did all she -wished, which was certainly a great honour to her Highness. All the -Court, from the highest to the lowest, esteemed and admired her much and -thought her very handsome, although she was declining in years, being -at that time rather more than forty; but nothing as yet showed it, her -autumn surpassing the summer of others. - -She died one year after hearing the news that she was Queen of Denmark, -from which she came, and that the kingdom had fallen to her; so that -before her death she was able to change the title of Highness, she had -borne so long, to that of Majesty. And yet, for all that, as I have -heard, she was resolved not to go to her kingdom, but to end her days in -her dower-house at Tortonia in Italy, where the countryside called her -only Madame de Tortonia; she having retired there some time before her -death, as much because of certain vows she had made to the saints of -those parts as to be near the baths of Tortonia, she being feeble in -health and very gouty. - -Her practices were fine, saintly, and honourable, to wit: praying God, -giving alms, and doing great charity to the poor, above all to widows. -This is a summary of what I have heard of this great princess, who, -though a widow and very beautiful, conducted herself virtuously. It is -true that one might say she was married twice: first with Duc Sforza, -but he died at once; they did not live a year together before she was a -widow at fifteen. Then her uncle, the Emperor Charles V., remarried her -to the Duc de Lorraine, to strengthen his alliance with him; but there -again she was a widow in the flower of her age, having enjoyed that fine -marriage but a very few years; and those that remained to her, which -were her finest and most precious in usefulness, she kept and consumed -in a chaste widowhood. - - -7. _Marie d’Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II._ - -This empress, though she was left a widow quite young and very -beautiful, would never marry again, but contained herself and continued -in widowhood very virtuously, having left Austria and Germany, the -scene of her empire, after the death of her husband. She returned to her -brother, Philip II. in Spain; he having sent for her, and begged her to -come and assist him with the heavy burden of his affairs, which she did; -being a very wise and judicious princess. I have heard the late King -Henri III. say,--and he was a better judge of people than any man in his -kingdom,--that to his mind she was one of the ablest and most honourable -princesses in the world. - -On her way to Spain, after crossing the Germanys, she came to Italy and -Genoa, where she embarked; and as it was winter and the month of -December when she set sail, bad weather overtook her near Marseille, -where she was forced to put in and anchor. But still, for all that, she -would not enter the port, neither her own galley nor the others, for -fear of causing suspicion or offence. Only once did she enter the town, -just to see it. She remained there eight days awaiting fair weather. Her -best exercise was in the mornings, when she left her galley (where she -slept) and went to hear mass and service at the church of Saint-Victor, -with very ardent devotion. Then her dinner was brought and prepared in -the abbey, where she dined; and after dinner she talked with her women -or with certain gentlemen from Marseille, who paid her all the honour -and reverence that were due to so great a princess; for King Henri had -commanded them to receive her as they would himself, in return for the -good greeting and cheer she had given him in Vienna. So soon as she -perceived this she showed herself most friendly, and spoke to them very -freely both in German and in French; so that they were well content with -her and she with them, selecting twenty especially; among them M. -Castellan, called the Seigneur Altivity, captain of the galleys, who was -distinguished for having married the beautiful Châteauneuf at Court, -and also for having killed the Grand-prior, as I shall relate elsewhere. - -It was his wife who told me all that I now relate, and discoursed to me -about the perfections of this great princess; and how she admired -Marseille, thinking it very fine, and went about with her on her -promenades. At night she returned to her galley, so that if the fine -weather and the good wind came, she might quickly set sail. I was at our -Court when news was brought to the king of this passing visit; and I saw -him very uneasy lest she should not be received as she ought to be, and -as he wished. This princess still lives, and continues in all her fine -virtues. She greatly helped and served her brother, as I have been told. -Since then she has retired to a convent of women called the -“bare-footed” [Carmelites], because they wear neither shoes nor -stockings. Her sister, the Princess of Spain, founded them. - - -8. _Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie._ - -While I am on this subject of noble widows I must say two words of one -of past times, namely: that honourable widow, Madame Blanche de -Montferrat, one of the most ancient houses in Italy, who was Duchesse de -Savoie and thought to be the handsomest and most perfect princess of her -time; also very virtuous and judicious, for she governed wisely the -minority of her son and his estates; she being left a widow at the age -of twenty-three. - -It was she who received so honourably our young King Charles VIII. when -he went to his kingdom of Naples, through all her lands and principally -her city of Turin, where she gave him a pompous entry, and met him in -person, very sumptuously accoutred. She showed she felt herself a great -lady; for she appeared that day in magnificent state, dressed in a grand -gown of crinkled cloth of gold, edged with large diamonds, rubies, -sapphires, emeralds, and other precious stones. Round her throat she -wore a necklace of very large oriental pearls, the value of which none -could estimate, with bracelets of the same. She was mounted on a -beautiful white ambling mare, harnessed most superbly and led by six -lacqueys dressed in figured cloth of gold. A great band of damoiselles -followed her, very richly, daintily, and neatly dressed in the Piedmont -fashion, which was fine to see; and after them came a very long troop of -noblemen and knights of the country. Then there entered and marched King -Charles, beneath a rich canopy, and went to the castle, where he lodged, -and where Madame de Savoie presented to him her son, who was very young. -After which she made the king a fine harangue, offering her lands and -means, both hers and her son’s; which the king received with very good -heart, and thanked her much, feeling greatly obliged to her. Throughout -the town were everywhere seen the arms of France and those of Savoie -interlaced in a great lover’s-knot, which bound together the two -escutcheons and the two orders, with these words: _Sanguinis arctus -amor_; as may be read in the “Chronicles of Savoie.” - -I have heard several of our fathers and mothers, who got it from their -parents, and also Mademoiselle the Sénéchale de Poitou, my grandmother, -then a damoiselle at Court, affirm that nothing was talked of but the -beauty, wisdom, and wit of this princess, when the courtiers and -gallants returned from their journey; and, above all, by the king, who -seemed, from appearance, to be wounded in his heart. - -At any rate, even without her beauty, he had good reason to love her; -for she aided him with all the means in her power, and gave up her -jewels and pearls and precious stones to send them to him that he might -use them and pledge them as he pleased; which was indeed a very great -obligation, for ladies bear a great affection to their precious stones -and rings and jewels, and would sooner give and pledge some precious -piece of their person than their wealth of jewels--I speak of some, not -all. Certainly this obligation was great; for without this courtesy, and -that also of the Marquise de Montferrat, a very virtuous lady and very -handsome, he would have met in the long run a short shame, and must have -returned from the semi-journey he had undertaken without money; having -done worse than that bishop of France who went to the Council of Trent -without money and without Latin. What an embarkation without biscuit! -However, there is a difference between the two; for what one did was out -of noble generosity and fine ambition, which closed his eyes to all -inconveniency, thinking nothing impossible to his brave heart; while as -for the other, he lacked wit and ability, sinning in that through -ignorance and stupidity--if it was not that he trusted to beg them when -he got there. - -In this discourse that I have made of that fine entry, there is to be -noted the superbness of the accoutrements of this princess, which seem -to be more those of a married woman than a widow. Upon which the ladies -said that for so great a king she could dispense with mourning; and also -that great people, men and women, gave the law to themselves; and -besides, that in those times the widows, so it was said, were not so -restricted nor so reformed in their clothes as they have been since for -the last forty years; like a certain lady whom I know, who, being in the -good graces and delights of a king [probably Diane de Poitiers] dressed -herself much _à la_ modest (though always in silk), the better to cover -and hide her game; and in that respect, the widows of the Court, wishing -to imitate her, did the same. But this lady did not reform herself so -much, nor to such austerity, that she ceased to dress prettily and -pompously, though always in black and white; indeed there seemed more of -worldliness than of widow’s reformation about it; for especially did she -always show her beautiful bosom. I have heard the queen, mother of King -Henri, say the same thing at the coronation and wedding of King Henri -III., namely: that the widows in times past did not have such great -regard to their clothes and to modesty of actions as they have to-day; -the which she said she saw in the times of King François, who wanted his -Court to be free in every way; and even the widows danced, and the -partners took them as readily as if they were girls or married women. -She said on this point that she commanded and begged M. de Vaudemont to -honour the fête by taking out Madame la Princesse de Condé, the dowager, -to dance; which he did to obey her; and he took the princess to the -grand ball; those who were at the coronation, like myself, saw it, and -remember it well. These were the liberties that widows had in the olden -time. To-day such things are forbidden them like sacrilege; and as for -colours, they dare not wear them, or dress in anything but black and -white; though their skirts and petticoats and also their stockings they -may wear of a tan-gray, violet, or blue. Some that I see emancipate -themselves in flesh-coloured red and chamois colour, as in times past, -when, as I have heard said, all colours could be worn in petticoats and -stockings, but not in gowns. - -So this duchess, about whom we have been speaking, could very well wear -this gown of cloth of gold, that being her ducal garment and her robe of -grandeur, the which was becoming and permissible in her to show her -sovereignty and dignity of duchess. Our widows of to-day dare not wear -precious stones, except on their fingers, on some mirrors, on some -“Hours,” and on their belts; but never on their heads or bodies, unless -a few pearls on their neck and arms. But I swear to you I have seen -widows as dainty as could be in their black and white gowns, who -attracted quite as many and as much as the bedizened brides and maidens -of France. There is enough said now of this foreign widow. - - -9. _Catherine de Clèves, wife of Henri I. de Lorraine, Duc de Guise._ - -Madame de Guise, Catherine de Clèves, one of the three daughters of -Nevers (three princesses who cannot be lauded enough either for their -beauty or their virtues, and of whom I hope to make a chapter), has -celebrated and celebrates daily the eternal absence of her husband [Le -Balafré, killed at Blois 1588]. But oh! what a husband he was! The -none-such of the world! That is what she called him in several letters -which she wrote to certain ladies of her intimacy whom she held in -esteem, after her misfortune; manifesting in sad and grievous words the -regrets of her wounded soul. - - -10. _Madame de Bourdeille._ - -Madame de Bourdeille, issuing from the illustrious and ancient house of -Montbéron, and from the Comtes de Périgord and the Vicomtes d’Aunay, -became a widow at the age of thirty-seven or thirty-eight, very -beautiful (in Guyenne, where she lived, it was believed that none -surpassed her in her day for beauty, grace, and noble appearance); and -being thus in fine estate and widowed, she was sought in marriage and -pursued by three very great and rich seigneurs, to whom she answered:-- - -“I shall not say as many ladies do, who declare they will never marry, -and give their word in such a way that they must be believed, after -which nothing comes of it; but I do say that, if God and flesh do not -give me any other wishes than I have at present, it is a very certain -thing that I have bade farewell to marriage forever.” - -And then, as some one said to her, “But, madame, would you burn of love -in the flower of your age?” she answered: “I know not what you mean. For -up to this hour I have never been even warmed, but widowed and cold as -ice. Still, I do not say that, being in company with a second husband -and approaching his fire, I might not burn, as you think. But because -cold is easier to bear than heat, I am resolved to remain in my present -quality and to abstain from a second marriage.” - -And just as she said then, so she has remained to the present day, a -widow these twelve years, without the least losing her beauty, but -always nourishing it and taking care of it, so that it has not a single -spot. Which is a great respect to the ashes of her husband, and a proof -that she loved him well; also an injunction on her children to honour -her always. The late M. Strozzi was one of those who courted her and -asked her in marriage; but great as he was and allied to the -queen-mother, she refused him and excused herself kindly. But what a -humour was this! to be beautiful, virtuous, a very rich heiress, and yet -to end her days on a solitary feather-bed and blanket, desolate and cold -as ice, and thus to pass so many widowed nights! Oh! how many there be -unlike this lady--but some are like her, too. - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -I. - -(See page 30.) - -Under Louis XII. the French fleet and the English fleet met, August 10, -1513, off the heights of Saint-Maché, in Lower Bretagne. The English -fleet, eighty vessels strong, attacked that of France, which had but -twenty. The French made up for numbers by courage and ability. They -seized the advantage of the wind, fouled the enemy’s ships and shattered -them, and sent more than half to the bottom. The Breton Primauguet was -captain of “La Cordelière;” the vessel constructed after the orders of -Queen Anne; it could carry twelve hundred soldiers besides the crew. He -was attacked by twelve English vessels, defended himself with a courage -that amounted to fury, sunk a number of the enemy’s vessels, and drove -off the rest. One captain alone dared approach him again, flinging -rockets on board of him, and so setting fire to the vessel. Primauguet -might have saved himself in the long-boat, as did some of the officers -and soldiers; but that valiant sailor would not survive the loss of his -ship; he only thought of selling his life dearly and taking from the -English the pleasure of enjoying the defeat of the French. Though all -a-fire, he sailed upon the flag-ship of the enemy, the “Regent of -England,” grappled her, set fire to her, and blew up with her an instant -later. More than three thousand men perished in this action by cannon, -fire, and water. It is one of the most glorious pages in our maritime -annals. - -French editor of “Vie des Dames Illustres,” -Garnier-Frères. Paris. - - -II. - -(See page 44.) - -This is doubtless the _Discours merveilleux de la vie, actions, et -déportemens de la reine Catherine de Médicis_, attributed to Théodore de -Bèze, also to de Serres, but with more probability to Henri Étienne; -coming certainly from the hand of a master. It was printed and spread -about publicly in 1574 with the date of 1575; inserted soon after in the -_Mémoires d’État sous Charles IX._, printed in 1577 in three volumes, -8vo, and subsequently in the various editions of the _Reccuil de -diverses pièces pour servir à l’histoire du règne de Henri III._ - -French editor. - - -III. - -(See page 91.) - -M. de Maison-Fleur was a gentleman of the Bordeaux region, a Huguenot, -and a somewhat celebrated poet in his day, whose principal work, _Les -Divins Cantiques_, was printed for the first time at Antwerp in 1580, -and several times reprinted in succeeding years. For details on this -poet, see the _Bibliothèque Française_ of the Abbé Goujet. - -French editor. - - -IV. - -(See page 92.) - - We see, ’neath white attire, - In mourning great and sadness, - Passing, with many a charm - Of beauty, this fair goddess, - Holding the shaft in hand - Of her son, heartless. - - And Love, without his frontlet, - Fluttering round her, - Hiding his bandaged eyes - With veil of mourning - On which these words are writ: - DIE OR BE CAPTURED. - - -V. - -(See page 94.) - -_Translation as nearly literal as possible._ - - In my sad, sweet song, - In tones most lamentable - I cast my cutting grief - Of loss incomparable; - And in poignant sighs - I pass my best of years. - - Was ever such an ill - Of hard destiny, - Or so sad a sorrow - Of a happy lady, - That my heart and eye - Should gaze on bier and coffin? - - That I, in my sweet springtide, - In the flower of youth, - All these pains should feel - Of excessive sadness, - With naught to give me pleasure - Except regret and yearning? - - That which to me was pleasant - Now is hard and painful; - The brightest light of day - Is darkness black and dismal; - Nothing is now delight - In that of me required. - - I have, in heart and eye, - A portrait and an image - That mark my mourning life - And my pale visage - With violet tones that are - The tint of grieving lovers. - - For my restless sorrow - I can rest nowhere; - Why should I change in place - Since sorrow will not efface? - My worst and yet my best - Are in the loneliest places. - - When in some still sojourn - In forest or in field, - Be it by dawn of day, - Or in the vesper hour, - Unceasing feels my heart - Regret for one departed. - - If sometimes toward the skies - My glance uplifts itself, - The gentle iris of his eyes - I see in clouds; or else - I see it in the water, - As in a grave. - - If I lie at rest - Slumbering on my couch, - I hear him speak to me, - I feel his touch; - In labour, in repose, - He is ever near me. - - I see no other object, - Though beauteous it may be - In many a subject, - To which my heart consents, - Since its perfection lacks - In this affection. - - End here, my song, - Thy sad complaint, - Of which be this the burden: - True love, not feigned, - Because of separation - Shall have no diminution. - - -VI. - -(See page 235.) - -This book, entitled _Les Marguerites de la Marguerite des princesses_, -is a collection of the poems of this princess, made by Simon de La Haie, -surnamed Sylvius, her _valet de chambre_, and printed at Lyon, by Jean -de Tournes, 1547, 8vo. - -The _Nouvelles_ of the Queen of Navarre appeared for the first time -without the name of the author, under the title: _Histoire des Amants -fortunés, dediée à l’illustre princesse, Madame Marguerite de Bourbon, -Duchesse de Nivernois_, by Pierre Boaistuau, called Launay. Paris, 1558 -4to. This edition contains only sixty-seven tales, and the text has been -garbled by Boaistuau. The second edition is entitled: _Heptameron des -Nouvelles de très-illustre et très-excellente princesse Marguerite de -Valois, reine de Navarre, remis en son vrai ordre_, by Charles Gruget, -Paris, 1559, 4to. - -_French editor._ - - * * * * * - -In 1841 M. Genin published a volume of Queen Marguerite’s letters, and -in the following year a volume of her letters addressed to François I. - -Since then Comte H. de La Ferrière-Percy has made her the subject of an -interesting “Study.” This careful investigator having discovered her -book of expenses, kept by Frotté, Marguerite’s secretary, has developed -from it a daily proof of the beneficent spirit and inexhaustible -liberality of the good queen. The title of the book is: _Marguerite -d’Angoulême, sœur de François I^{er}_. Aubry: Paris, 1862. - -The poems of François I., with other verses by his sister and mother, -were published in 1847 by M. Aimé Champollion. - -Notes to Sainte-Beuve’s Essay. - - -VII - -(See page 262.) - -The Ladies given in Discourse VII. appear under the head of “The Widows” -in the volume of _Les Dames Galantes_, a very different book from the -_Livre des Dames_, which is their rightful place. As Brantôme placed -them under the title of Widows, he has naturally enlarged chiefly upon -the period of their widowhood. - -French editor. - - - - -INDEX. - - -ANNE DE BRETAGNE, Queen of France, wife of Charles VIII. and of Louis XII., her inheritance, lovers, and first marriage, 25, 26; - her beauty, wisdom, and goodness, 26; - spirit of revenge, 27, 28; - second marriage, 29; - the first queen to hold a great court, a noble school for ladies, 29, 30; - how King Louis honoured her, 30-32; - her death and burial, 32-34; - her noble record, 34, 35, 37; - her tomb at Saint-Denis, 39; - the founder of a school of manners and perfection for her sex, 42, 43; - Sainte-Beuve’s remarks upon her, 40-43, 219. - -ANNE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Louis XI., 216-218. - - -BLANCHE DE MONTFERRAT, Duchesse de Savoie, 293-297. - -BOOK OF THE LADIES (The), Brantôme’s own name for this volume, 1. - -BOURDEILLE (Madame de), 297, 298. - -BOURDEILLE (Pierre de), Abbé de Brantôme, his name for the present volume, 1; - origin and arms of his family, 3, 4; - general sketch of his life and career, 4-19; - his retirement, 20; - his books, his will, 21; - titles of his books, when first printed, 22, 23. - -CASTELNAUD (Pierre de), his account of Brantôme, 1-3. - -CATHERINE DE CLÈVES, wife of Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, “le Balafré,” 297. - -CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI, Queen of France, wife of Henri II., 44; - sketch - of the Medici, 45-48; - her marriage to the dauphin, 48-50; - personal appearance and tastes, 51-54; - her mind, 54; - conduct as regent and queen-mother, Brantôme’s defence of it, 57-72; - her liberality and public works, 74; - her accomplishments and majesty, 75-77; - her court, 77-80, 81, 82; - Henri IV.’s opinion of it, 83; - her death at Blois, 83; - Sainte-Beuve’s estimate of her, 85-88; - H. de Balzac’s novel upon her, 86; - Mézeray’s opinion of her, 85; - her daughter Élisabeth’s fear of her, 145, 146; 164, 165, 167, 289, 290, 300. - -CHARLES IX., King of France, his funeral attended by Brantôme, 35-37; 198, 264, 265, 271, 272. - -CHARLOTTE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, died young, 223. - -CHASTELLARD (Seigneur de), his journey with Brantôme in attendance on Marie Stuart to Scotland, 99; - his story and death, 117-120. - -CHRISTINE of Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine, 283-291. - -CLAUDE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of François I., died young, 223. - -CLAUDE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, wife of the Duc de Lorraine, 229-231. - -CORDELIÈRE (La), man-o’-war built by Anne de Bretagne, which fought the “Regent of England,” both ships destroyed, 30, 299. - - -DARGAUD (M.), his impulsive history of Marie Stuart, 122. - -DIANE DE FRANCE (Madame), Duchesse d’Angoulême, illegitimate daughter of Henri II., 231-234. - - -ÉLISABETH DE FRANCE, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, second wife of Philip II. of Spain, 137-151, 229, 230, 270, 271. - -ÉLISABETH DE FRANCE, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri IV. and Marie de’ Medici, her portraits by Rubens, 212. - - -FLEUR-DE-LIS, how connected with the Florentine lily, 45. - -FRANÇOIS I., King of France, 219, 220, 236, 237, 238, 241, 245-249, 254. - - -GERMAINE DE FOIX, wife of King Ferdinand of Spain, 142, 143. - -GUISE (Henri I., Duc de), le Balafré, 117, 198, 199, 273, 283, 288. - -GUISE (Catherine de Clèves, Duchesse de), 283, 289. - - -HENRI II., King of France, 231, 232. - -HENRI III., King of France, 177, 178, 180, 184, 196-198, 234, 267, 280, 283, 285, 286, 292. - -HENRI IV., King of France, opinion of Catherine de’ Medici, 83, 87, 88; 176, 180, 181, 201, 209; - remark at the coronation of Marie de’ Medici, 210; 234. - - -ISABELLE D’AUTRICHE, Queen of France, daughter of Maximilian II., wife of Charles IX. of France, 262-270. - -ISABELLA OF BAVARIA, wife of Charles VI. of France, first brought the pomps and fashions of dress to France, 157. - - -JEANNE D’AUTRICHE, wife of Jean, Infante of Portugal, 270-273. - -JEANNE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter -of Louis XI., married to and divorced by Louis XII., 215, 216. - - -LABANOFF (Prince Alexander), his careful research into the history of Marie Stuart, 121. - -L’HÔPITAL (Michel de), chancellor of France, epithalamium on the marriage of Marie Stuart and François II., 124; - his changed feeling, 131, 132. - -LOUIS XII., King of France, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32, 39, 41-43. - -LOUISE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, died young, 223. - -LOUISE DE LORRAINE, Queen of France, wife of Henri III., 280-282, 283. - - -MAGDELAINE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, wife of James V. of Scotland, 223, 224. - -MAINTENON (Madame de), a pendant to Anne de Bretagne, 43. - -MAISON-FLEUR (M. de), 91, 97, 300. - -MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, Queen of Navarre, sister of François I., wife of Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre, grandmother of Henri IV., 234; - her poems, 235; - her devotion to her brother, 237-240, 245, 249; - interest in the phenomenon of death, 242; - her “Nouvelles,” 242, 243, 244; - Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her, 243-261; - her learning and comprehension of the Renaissance, 244, 245; - her letters, 249; - Erasmus’ opinion of her, 250, 251; - favours, but does not belong - to, the Religion, 251-255; - her writings, the Heptameron, 255-260; - the patron of the Renaissance, 261; - her works, 303. - -MARGUERITE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, wife of the Duc de Savoie, 224-229. - -MARGUERITE, Queen of France and of Navarre, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, wife of Henri - IV., Brantôme visits her at the Castle of Usson and dedicates his work to her, 19; - mention of her in his will, 22; - his discourse, 152-193; - her beauty and style of dress, 153-163; - her mind and education, 164-166; - marriage to Henri IV., 167; - Brantôme’s argument in favour of the Salic law, 168-175; - difficulty of religion between herself and her husband, 176; - her dignity and sense of honour, 178-180; - retirement in the Castle of Usson, 183; - on ill terms with her brother Henri III., 184; - her beautiful dancing, 185; - her liberality and generosity, 186-190; - love of reading, 191; - corresponds with Brantôme, 191; - Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her, 193; - reasons why she began her Memoirs, 195; - faithfulness to the Catholic religion, 195; - intimacy with her brother d’Anjou, Henri III., 196, 197; - her love for Henri Duc de Guise, le Balafré, her marriage to Henri IV., 198; - the Saint-Bartholomew, 201; - her Memoirs, 202, etc.; - anecdote of a Princesse de Ligne, 205; - friendship with her brother, Duc d’Alençon, 206; - her letters, 208; - her life at Usson, 209; - divorce from Henri IV., 209, 210; - return to Paris, eccentricities, appearance at the coronation of Marie de’ Medici, 210-212; - comparison with Marie Stuart, 213; - her real merit, 213, 231. - -MARGUERITE DE LORRAINE, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse, 282, 283. - -MARIE D’AUTRICHE, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II., 291-293. - -MARIE D’AUTRICHE, sister of the Emperor Charles V. and wife of Louis, King of Hungary, 273-280. - -MARIE STUART, Queen of France and Scotland, her parentage, 89; - youthful accomplishments and beauty, 90-93; - marriage to François II., and widowhood, 93, 94; - her poem on her widowhood, 94-96, 294; - Charles IX.’s love for her, 96; - returns to Scotland, - Brantôme accompanies her, 97-101, - marriage to Darnley, 101; - Brantôme’s defence of her, 102; - her disasters, 103; - her imprisonment in England, 104; - her death, as related to Brantôme by one of her ladies there present, 105-115; - Sainte-Beuve’s essay on Marie Stuart and summing up of her life, 121-136, 289; - her poem on her widowhood, translation, 301. - -MÉZERAY (François Eudes de), his History of France, his picture of Catherine de’ Medici, 85. - -MIGNET (François Auguste), his invaluable History of Marie Stuart, 121, 122, 136. - -MOLAND (M. Henri), his essay on Brantôme used in the introduction to this volume, 1. - - -NIEL (M.), librarian to Ministry of the Interior, his collection of original portraits and crayons of celebrated persons of the 16th century, 86, 87. - - -PATIN (Gui), his feelings in Saint-Denis before the tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, 40, 41. - -PHILIP II. of Spain, 138, 139, 142. - - -RENÉE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of the Duke of Ferrara, 220-223. - -RŒDERER (Comte), his Memoirs on Polite Society, study of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, 41-43. - -RONSARD (Pierre de), 91, 124, 156, 157, 160, 185, 224. - - -SAINTE-BEUVE (Charles-Augustin), his remarks on Anne de Bretagne, 40-43; - his estimate of Catherine de’ Medici, 85-88; - his essay on Marie Stuart, 121-136; - on Marguerite de Navarre, 193-213; - on Marguerite de Valois, 243-261. - -SALIC LAW (the), Brantôme’s argument about it, 168-175. - - -TAVANNES (Vicomte de), Memoirs, 136. - - -VIGNAUD (M. H.), his introduction to Brantôme’s “Vie des Dames Illustres” used in the introduction to this volume, 1. - -VINCENT DE PAUL (Saint), chaplain to Queen Marguerite de Navarre, 212. - - -YOLAND DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Charles VII. and wife of the Duc de Savoie, 214, 215. - - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Regimé=> The Reign and Amours of the -Bourbon Régime {pg title} - -M. le maréchal answered=> M. le Maréchal answered {pg 83} - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Taken chiefly from the Essays preceding the various editions of -Brantôme’s works published in the 18th and 19th centuries; some of which -are anonymous; the more recent being those of M. H. Vignaud and M. Henri -Moland.--TR. - -[2] See Appendix. - -[3] See Appendix. - -[4] Here follow the names of ninety-three ladies and sixty-six -damoiselles; among the latter are “Mesdamoiselles Flammin (Fleming?) -Veton (Seaton?) Beton (Beaton?) Leviston, escossoises.” The three -first-named on the above list are the daughters of Henri II. and -Catherine de’ Medici.--TR. - -[5] Henri III. convoked the States-General at Blois in 1588; the Duc de -Guise (Henri, le Balafré) was there assassinated, by the king’s order, -December 23, 1588; his brother, Cardinal de Bourbon, the next day.--TR. - -[6] Honoré de Balzac’s volume, in the Philosophical Series of his -“Comedy of Human Life,” on Catherine de’ Medici, while called a romance, -is really an admirable and carefully drawn historical portrait, and -might be read to profit in connection with Brantôme’s account of -her.--TR. - -[7] See Appendix. - -[8] See Appendix. - -[9] See Appendix. - -[10] George Buchanan, historian and Scotch poet, who wrote libels and -calumnies against Marie Stuart in prison. (French editor.) - -[11] She was the daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, married -to Philip II., King of Spain, after the death of Queen Mary of -England.--TR. - -[12] Daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici,--“La Reine -Margot.”--TR. - -[13] Brantôme’s words are _gorgiasetés_ and _gorgiasment_; do they mark -the introduction of ruffs around the neck, _gorge_?--TR. - -[14] The Salic law: so called from being derived from the laws of the -ancient Salian Franks,--according to Stormonth, Littré, and Cassell’s -Cyclopædia.--TR. - -[15] Marguerite was married to Henri, King of Navarre, six days before -the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew, August, 1572. - -[16] Marguerite lived eighteen years in the castle of Usson, from 1587 -to 1605. She died in Paris, March 27, 1615, at the age of sixty-two, -rather less than one year after Brantôme. (French editor.) - -[17] It is noticeable in the course of this “Discourse” that Brantôme -wrote it at one period, namely, about 1593 or 1594, and reviewed it at -another, when Henri IV. was in full possession of the kingdom, but -before the end of the century and before the divorce. (French editor.) - -The passage to which the foregoing is a note is evidently an addition to -the text.--TR. - -[18] The story goes that she refused to answer at the marriage ceremony; -on which her brother, Charles IX., put his hand behind her head and made -her nod, which was taken for consent. In after years, the ground given -for her divorce was that of being married against her will. The marriage -took place on a stage erected before the west front of the cathedral of -Notre-Dame; the King of Navarre being a Protestant, the service could -not be performed in the church. It was here, in view of the assembled -multitude, that Marguerite’s nod was forcibly given when she resolutely -refused to answer. Following Brantôme’s delight in describing fine -clothes, the wedding gown should be mentioned here. It was cloth of -gold, the body so closely covered with pearls as to look like a cuirass; -over this was a blue velvet mantle embroidered with _fleurs-de-lys_, -nearly five yards long, which was borne by one hundred and twenty of the -handsomest women in France. Her dark hair was loose and flowing, and was -studded with diamond stars. The Duc de Guise, le Balafré, with his -family connections and all his retainers, left Paris that morning, -unable to bear the spectacle of the marriage.--TR. - -[19] Meaning the daughters of the kings of France only.--TR. - -[20] She was daughter of Charles, Duc d’Angoulême, and Louise do Savoie, -great-granddaughter of Charles V., and sister of François I.--TR. - -[21] See Appendix. - -[22] See Appendix. - -[23] The tomb of Marguerite and Philibert is still to be seen in the -beautiful church, and the above motto, which is carved upon it, has been -the theme of much antiquarian discussion.--TR. - -[24] The picture of the Ball at Court, under Henri III., attributed to -François Clouet (see chapter ii. of this volume), was given in -celebration of her marriage. She advances, with her sweet and modest -face (evidently a portrait) in the centre of the picture. Henri III. is -seated under a red dais; next him is Catherine de’ Medici, his mother, -and next to her is Louise de Lorraine, his wife; leaning on the king’s -chair is Henri Duc de Guise, le Balafré, murdered by Henri III. at Blois -in 1588.--TR. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The book of the ladies, by -Pierre de Bourdeille Brantôme - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE LADIES *** - -***** This file should be named 42515-0.txt or 42515-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/5/1/42515/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/42515-0.zip b/old/42515-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 50875c3..0000000 --- a/old/42515-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/42515-8.txt b/old/42515-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b969c39..0000000 --- a/old/42515-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10025 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The book of the ladies, by Pierre de Bourdeille Brantme - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The book of the ladies - Illustrious Dames: The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Rgime - -Author: Pierre de Bourdeille Brantme - -Release Date: April 12, 2013 [EBook #42515] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE LADIES *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - THE BOOK OF THE LADIES - - [Illustration: MESSIRE PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE - - SEIGNEUR DE BRANTOME.] - - _The Reign and Amours of the - Bourbon Rgime_ - - A Brilliant Description of - the Courts of Louis XVI, - Amours, Debauchery, Intrigues, - and State Secrets, including - Suppressed and Confiscated MSS. - - [Illustration] - - The Book of the - Illustrious Dames - - BY - - PIERRE DE BOURDELLE, ABB DE BRANTME - - WITH INTRODUCTORY ESSAY BY - C.-A. SAINTE-BEUVE - - _Unexpurgated Rendition into English_ - - PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR MEMBERS OF THE - VERSAILLES HISTORICAL SOCIETY - NEW YORK - - Copyright, 1899. - BY H. P. & CO. - - _All Rights Reserved._ - - dition de Luxe - - _This edition is limited to two - hundred copies, of which this - is Number_ ........ ..... - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - -INTRODUCTION 1 - -DISCOURSE I. ANNE DE BRETAGNE, Queen of France 25 - -_Sainte-Beuve's remarks upon her_ 40 - -DISCOURSE II. CATHERINE DE' MEDICI, Queen, and mother of -our last kings 44 - -_Sainte-Beuve's remarks upon her_ 85 - -DISCOURSE III. MARIE STUART, Queen of Scotland, formerly -Queen of our France 89 - -_Sainte-Beuve's essay on her_ 121 - -DISCOURSE IV. LISABETH OF FRANCE, Queen of Spain 138 - -DISCOURSE V. MARGUERITE, Queen of France and of Navarre, -sole daughter now remaining of the Noble House of France 152 - -_Sainte-Beuve's essay on her_ 193 - -DISCOURSE VI. MESDAMES, the Daughters of the Noble House -of France: - -Madame Yoland 214 - -Madame Jeanne 215 - -Madame Anne 216 - -Madame Claude 219 - -Madame Rene 220 - -Mesdames Charlotte, Louise, Magdelaine, Marguerite 223 - -Mesdames lisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite 229 - -Madame Diane 231 - -MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, Queen of Navarre 234 - -_Sainte-Beuve's essay on the latter_ 243 - -DISCOURSE VII. OF VARIOUS ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES: - -Isabelle d'Autriche, wife of Charles IX 262 - -Jeanne d'Autriche, wife of the Infante of Portugal 270 - -Marie d'Autriche, wife of the King of Hungary 273 - -Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III 280 - -Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse 282 - -Christine of Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine 283 - -Marie d'Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II 291 - -Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie 293 - -Catherine de Clves, wife of Henri I. de Lorraine, Duc de Guise 297 - -Madame de Bourdeille 297 - -APPENDIX 299 - -INDEX 305 - - - - -LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS. - - -PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, ABB AND SEIGNEUR DE BRANTME _Frontispiece_ -From an old engraving by I. Von Schley. - - PAGE - -FRANOIS DE LORRAINE, DUC DE GUISE 8 -By Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. - -DISCOURSE - -I. TOMB OF LOUIS XII. AND ANNE DE BRETAGNE 34 - -By Jean Juste, in the Cathedral of Saint-Denis. The king and -queen are carved as skeletons within the twelve columns; -above they kneel at their prie-dieus, and the tradition is -that the portraits are faithful. The cardinal virtues, Justice, -Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude, sit at the corners of -the monument: the twelve apostles between the pillars; and -round the base, between the virtues, are exquisite representations -(not visible in the reproduction) of the king's campaigns in Italy. - -II. CATHERINE DE' MEDICI, QUEEN OF FRANCE 44 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - -II. HENRI II., KING OF FRANCE 52 -By Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. - -II. BALL AT THE COURT OF HENRI III., WITH PORTRAITS 81 -Attributed to Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. See description -in note to Discourse VII. - -III. MARIE STUART, QUEEN OF FRANCE AND SCOTLAND 90 -Painter unknown; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. - -III. THE SAME 120 -School of the sixteenth century; Versailles. - -V. HENRI IV., KING OF FRANCE 166 -By Franz Pourbus (le jeune); in the Louvre. - -V. LISABETH DE FRANCE, QUEEN OF SPAIN 185 -By Rubens; in the Louvre. - -V. CORONATION OF MARIE DE' MEDICI, WITH PORTRAITS 211 -By Rubens (Peter Paul); in the Louvre. See description in -note to the Discourse. - -VI. FRANOIS I., KING OF FRANCE 224 -By Jean Clouet; in the Louvre. - -VI. DIANE DE FRANCE, DUCHESSE D'ANGOULME 232 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - -VII. ISABELLE D'AUTRICHE, WIFE OF CHARLES IX. 262 -By Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. - -VII. CHARLES IX., KING OF FRANCE 271 -By Franois Clouet; in the Louvre. - -VII. LOUISE DE LORRAINE, WIFE OF HENRI III 280 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - -VII. HENRI III., KING OF FRANCE 286 -School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. - - - - -INTRODUCTION.[1] - - -The title, "Vie des Dames Illustres," given habitually to one volume of -Brantme's Works, is not that which was chosen by its author. It was -given by his first editor fifty years after his death; Brantme himself -having called his work "The Book of the Ladies." - -One of his earliest commentators, Castelnaud, almost a cotemporary, says -of him in his Memoirs:-- - -"Pierre de Bourdeille, Abb de Brantme, author of volumes of which I -have availed myself in various parts of this history, used his quality -as one of those warrior abbs who were called _Abbates Milites_ under -the second race of our kings; never ceasing for all that to follow arms -and the Court, where his services won him the Collar of the Order and -the dignity of gentleman of the Bedchamber to the King. - -"He frequented, with unusual esteem for his courage and intelligence, -the principal Courts of Europe, such as Spain, Portugal (where the king -honoured him with his Order), Scotland, and those of the Princes of -Italy. He went to Malta, seeking an occasion to distinguish himself, and -after that lost none in our wars of France. But, although he managed -perfectly all the great captains of his time and belonged to them by -alliance of friendship, fortune was ever contrary to him; so that he -never obtained a position worthy, not of his merits only, but of a name -so illustrious as his. - -"It was this that made him of a rather bad humour in his retreat at -Brantme, where he set himself to compose his books in different frames -of mind, according as the persons who recurred to his memory stirred his -bile or touched his heart. It is to be wished that he had written a -discourse on himself alone, like other seigneurs of his time. He would -then have shown us much, if nothing were omitted in it; but perhaps he -abstained from doing this in order not to declare his inclinations for -the House of Lorraine at the very moment of the ruin of all its schemes; -for he was greatly attached to that house, and it appears in various -places that he had more respect than affection for the House of Bourbon. -It was this that made him take part against the Salic law, in behalf of -Queen Marguerite, whom he esteemed infinitely, and whom he saw, with -regret, deprived of the Crown of France. - -"In many other matters he gives out sentiments which have more of the -courtier than the abb; indeed to be a courtier was his principal -profession, as it still is with the greater part of the abbs of the -present day; and in view of this quality we must pardon various little -liberties which would be less pardonable in a sworn historian. - -"I do not speak of the volume of the 'Dames Galantes' in order not to -condemn the memory of a nobleman whose other Works have rendered him -worthy of so much esteem; I attribute the crime of that book to the -dissolute habits of the Court of his time, about which more terrible -tales could be told than those he relates. - -"There is something to complain of in the method with which he writes; -but perhaps the name of 'Notes' may cover this defect. However that may -be, we can gather from him much and very important knowledge on our -History; and France is so indebted to him for this labour that I do not -hesitate to say that the services of his sword must yield in value to -those of his pen. He had much wit and was well read in Letters. In youth -he was very pleasing; but I have heard those who knew him intimately say -that the griefs of his old age lay heavier upon him than his arms, and -were more displeasing than the toils and fatigues of war by sea or land. -He regretted his past days, the loss of friends, and he saw nothing that -could equal the Court of the Valois, in which he was born and bred...." - -"The family of Bourdeille is not only illustrious in temporal -prosperities, but it is remarkable throughout antiquity for the valour -of its ancestors. King Charlemagne held it in great esteem, which he -showed by choosing, when the splendid abbey of Brantme was founded in -Prigord, that the Seigneur de Bourdeille should be associated in that -pious work and be, with him, the founder of the Monastery. He therefore -made him its patron, and obliged his posterity to defend it against all -who might molest the monks and hinder them in the enjoyment of their -property. - -"If we may rely on ancient deeds [_pancartes_] still in possession of -this family, we must accord it a first rank among those which claim to -be descended from kings, inasmuch as they carry back its origin to -Marcomir, King of France, and Tiloa Bourdelia, daughter of a king of -England. - -"The same old deeds relate that Nicanor, son of this Marcomir, being -appealed to by the people of Aquitaine to assist them in throwing off -the Roman yoke, and having come with an army very near to Bordeaux, was -compelled to withdraw by the violence of the Romans, who were stronger -than he, and also by a tempest that arose in the sea. Nicanor cast -anchor at an island, uninhabited on account of the wild beasts that -peopled it, and especially certain griffins, animals with four feet, and -heads and wings like eagles. - -"He had no sooner set foot on land with his men than he was forced to -fight these monsters, and after battling with them a long time, not -without loss of soldiers, he succeeded in vanquishing them. With his own -hand he killed the largest and fiercest of them all, and cut off his -paws. This victory greatly rejoiced all the neighbouring countries, -which had suffered much damage from these beasts. - -"On account of this affair, Nicanor was ever after surnamed 'The -Griffin' and honoured by every one, like Hercules when he killed the -Stymphalides in Arcadia, those birds of prey that feed on human flesh. -This is the origin of the arms which the Seigneurs de Brantme bear to -this day, to wit: Or, two griffins' paws gules, ongle azure, counter -barred." - - * * * * * - -Pierre de Bourdeille, third son of Franois, Vicomte de Bourdeille and -Anne de Vivonne de la Chtaignerie, was born in the Prigord in 1537, -under the reign of Franois I. The family of Bourdeille is one of the -most ancient and respected in the Prigord, which province borders on -Gascony and echoes, if we may say so, the caustic tongue and rambling, -restless temperaments that flourish on the banks of the Garonne. "Not to -boast of myself," says Brantme, "I can assert that none of my race have -ever been home-keeping; they have spent as much time in travels and wars -as any, no matter who they be, in France." - -As for his father, Brantme gives an amusing account of him as a true -Gascon seigneur. He began life by running away from home to go to the -wars in Italy, and roam the world as an adventurer. He was, says -Brantme, "a jovial fellow, who could say his word and talk familiarly -to the greatest personages." Pope Julius II. took a fancy to him. "One -day they were playing cards together and the pope won from my father -three hundred crowns and his horses, which were very fine, and all his -equipments. After he had lost all, he said: '_Chadieu bnit_!' (that was -his oath when he was angry; when he was good-natured he swore: '_Chardon -bnit!_')--'_Chadieu bnit!_ pope, play me five hundred crowns against -one of my ears, redeemable in eight days. If I don't redeem it I'll give -you leave to cut it off, and eat it if you like.' The pope took him at -his word; and confessed afterwards that if my father had not redeemed -his ear, he would not have cut it off, but he would have forced him to -keep him company. They began to play again, and fortune willed that my -father won back everything except a fine courser, a pretty little -Spanish horse, and a handsome mule. The pope cut short the game and -would not play any more. My father said to him: 'Hey! _Chadieu_! pope, -leave me my horse for money' (for he was very fond of him) 'and keep the -courser, who will throw you and break your neck, for he is too rough for -you; and keep the mule too, and may she rear and break your leg!' The -pope laughed so he could not stop himself. At last, getting his breath, -he cried out: 'I'll do better; I'll give you back your two horses, but -not the mule, and I'll give you two other fine ones if you will keep me -company as far as Rome and stay with me there two months; we'll pass the -time well, and it shall not cost you anything.' My father answered: -'_Chadieu!_ pope, if you gave me your mitre and your cap, too, I would -not do it; I wouldn't quit my general and my companions just for your -pleasure. Good-bye to you, rascal.' The pope laughed, while all the -great captains, French and Italians, who always spoke so reverently to -his Holiness, were amazed and laughed too at such liberty of language. -When the pope was on the point of leaving, he said to him, 'Ask what -you want of me and you shall have it,' thinking my father would ask for -his horses; but my father did not ask anything, except for a license and -dispensation to eat butter in Lent, for his stomach could never get -accustomed to olive and nut oil. The pope gave it him readily, and sent -him a bull, which was long to be seen in the archives of our house." - -The young Pierre de Bourdeille spent the first years of his existence at -the Court of Marguerite de Valois, sister of Franois I., to whom his -mother was lady-in-waiting. After the death of that princess in 1549 he -came to Paris to begin his studies, which he ended at Poitiers about the -year 1556. - -Being the youngest of the family he was destined if not for the Church -at least for church benefices, which he never lacked through life. An -elder brother, Captain de Bourdeille, a valiant soldier, having been -killed at the siege of Hesdin by a cannon-ball which took off his head -and the arm that held a glass of water he was drinking on the breach, -King Henri II. desired, in recognition of so glorious a death, to do -some favour to the Bourdeille family; and the abbey of Brantme falling -vacant at this very time, he gave it to the young Pierre de Bourdeille, -then sixteen years old, who henceforth bore the name of Seigneur and -Abb de Brantme, abbreviated after a while to Brantme, by which name -he is known to posterity. In a few legal deeds of the period, especially -family documents, he is mentioned as "the reverend father in God, the -Abb de Brantme." - -Brantme had possessed his abbey about a year when he began to dream of -going to the wars in Italy; this was the high-road to glory for the -young French nobles, ever since Charles VIII. had shown them the way. -Brantme obtained from Franois I. permission to cut timber in the -forest of Saint-Trieix; this cut brought him in five hundred golden -crowns, with which he departed in 1558, "bearing," he says, "a matchlock -arquebuse, a fine powder-horn from Milan, and mounted on a hackney worth -a hundred crowns, followed by six or seven gentlemen, soldiers -themselves, well set-up, armed and mounted the same, but on good stout -nags." - -He went first to Geneva, and there he saw the Calvinist emigration; -continuing his way he stayed at Milan and Ferrara, reaching Rome soon -after the death of Paul IV. There he was welcomed by the Grand-Prior of -France, Franois de Guise, who had brought his brother, the Cardinal of -Lorraine, to assist in the election of a new pontiff. - -This was the epoch of the Renaissance,--that epoch when the knightly -king made all Europe resound with the fame of his amorous and warlike -prowess; when Titian and Primaticcio were leaving on the walls of -palaces their immortal handiwork; when Jean Goujon was carving his -figures on the fountains and the faades of the Louvre; when Rabelais -was inciting that mighty roar of laughter which, in itself, is a whole -human comedy; when the Marguerite of Marguerites was telling in her -"Heptameron" those charming tales of love. Franois I. dies; his son -succeeds him; Protestantism makes serious progress. Montgomery kills -Henri II., and Franois II. ascends the throne only to live a year; and -then it is that Marie Stuart leaves France, the tears in her eyes, sadly -singing as the beloved shores over which she had reigned so short a -while recede from sight: "Farewell, my pleasant land of France, -farewell!" - -Returning to France without any warrior fame but closely attached by -this time to the Guises, Brantme took to a Court life. He assisted in a -tournament between the grand-prior, Franois de Guise, disguised as an -Egyptian woman, "having on her arm a little monkey swaddled as an -infant, which kept its baby face there is no telling how," and M. de -Nemours, dressed as a bourgeoise housekeeper wearing at her belt more -than a hundred keys attached to a thick silver chain. He witnessed the -terrible scene of the execution of the Huguenot nobles at Amboise -(March, 1560); was at Orlans when the Prince de Cond was arrested, and -at Poissy for the reception of the Knights of Saint-Michel. In short, he -was no more "home-keeping" in France than in foreign parts. - -Charles IX., then about ten years old, succeeded his brother Franois -II. in December, 1560. The following year Duc Franois de Guise was -commissioned to escort his niece, Marie Stuart, to Scotland. Brantme -went with them, saw the threatening reception given to the queen by her -sullen subjects, and then returned with the duke by way of England. In -London, Queen Elizabeth greeted them most graciously, deigning to dance -more than once with Duc Franois, to whom she said: "Monsieur mon -prieur" (that was how she called him) "I like you very much, but not -your brother, who tore my town of Calais from me." - -[Illustration: _Duc Franois de Guise_] - -Brantme returned to France at the moment when the edict of -Saint-Germain granting to Protestants the exercise of their religion was -promulgated, and he was struck by the change of aspect presented by the -Court and the whole nation. The two armed parties were face to face; the -Calvinists, scarcely escaped from persecution, seemed certain of -approaching triumph; the Prince de Cond, with four hundred gentlemen, -escorted the preachers to Charenton through the midst of a quivering -population. "Death to papists!"--the very cry Brantme had first heard -on landing in Scotland, where it sounded so ill to his ears--was -beginning to be heard in France, to which the cry of "Death to the -Huguenots!" responded in the breasts of an irritated populace. Brantme -did not hesitate as to the side he should take,--he was abb, and -attached to the Guises; he fought through the war with them, took part -in the sieges of Blois, Bourges, and Rouen, was present at the battle of -Dreux, where he lost his protector the grand-prior, and attached himself -henceforth to Franois de Guise, the elder, whom he followed to the -siege of Orlans in 1563, where the duke was assassinated by Poltrot de -Mr under circumstances which Brantme has vividly described in his -chapter on that great captain. - -In 1564 Brantme entered the household of the Duc d'Anjou (afterwards -Henri III.) as gentleman-in-waiting to the prince, on a salary of six -hundred livres a year. But, being seized again by his passion for -distant expeditions, he engaged during the same year in an enterprise -conducted by Spaniards against the Emperor of Morocco, and went with the -troops of Don Garcia of Toledo to besiege and take the towns on the -Barbary coast. He returned by way of Lisbon, pleased the king of -Portugal, Sebastiano, who conferred upon him his Order of the Christ, -and went from there to Madrid, where Queen lisabeth gave him the -cordial welcome on which he plumes himself in his Discourse upon that -princess. He was commissioned by her to carry to her mother, Catherine -de' Medici, the desire she felt to have an interview with her; which -interview took place at Bayonne, Brantme not failing to be present. - -In that same year, 1565, Sultan Suleiman attacked the island of Malta. -The grand-master of the Knights of Saint-John, Parisot de La Valette, -called for the help of all Christian powers. The French government had -treaties with the Ottoman Porte which did not allow it to come openly to -the assistance of the Knights; but many gentlemen, both Catholic and -Protestant, took part as volunteers. Among them went Brantme, -naturally. "We were," he says, "about three hundred gentlemen and eight -hundred soldiers. M. de Strozzi and M. de Bussac were with us, and to -them we deferred our own wills. It was only a little troop, but as -active and valiant as ever left France to fight the Infidel." - -While at Malta he seems to have had a fancy to enter the Order of the -Knights of Saint-John, but Philippe Strozzi dissuaded him. "He gave me -to understand," says Brantme, "that I should do wrong to abandon the -fine fortune that awaited me in France, whether from the hand of my -king, or from that of a beautiful, virtuous lady, and rich, to whom I -was just then servant and welcome guest, so that I had hope of marrying -her." - -He left Malta on a galley of the Order, intending to go to Naples, -according to a promise he had made to the "beautiful and virtuous lady," -the Marchesa del Vasto. But a contrary wind defeated his project, which -he did not renounce without regret. In after years he considered this -mischance a strong feature in his unfortunate destiny. "It was -possible," he says, "that by means of Mme. la marquise I might have -encountered good luck, either by marriage or otherwise, for she did me -the kindness to love me. But I believe that my unhappy fate was resolved -to bring me back to France, where never did fortune smile upon me; I -have always been duped by vain expectations: I have received much honour -and esteem, but of property and rank, none at all. Companions of mine -who would have been proud had I deigned to speak to them at Court or in -the chamber of the king or queen, have long been advanced before me; I -see them round as pumpkins and highly exalted, though I will not, for -all that, defer to them to the length of my thumb-nail. That proverb, -'No one is a prophet in his own country,' was made for me. If I had -served foreign sovereigns as I have my own I should now be as loaded -with wealth and dignities as I am with sorrows and years. Patience! if -Fate has thus woven my days, I curse her! If my princes have done it, I -send them all to the devil, if they are not there already." - -But when he started from Malta Brantme was still young, being then only -twenty-eight years of age. "Jogging, meandering, vagabondizing," as he -says, he reached Venice; there he thought of going into Hungary in -search of the Turks, whom he had not been able to meet in Malta. But the -death of Sultan Suleiman stopped the invasion for one year at least, and -Brantme reluctantly decided to return to France, passing through -Piedmont, where he gave a proof of his disinterestedness, which he -relates in his sketch of Marguerite, Duchesse de Savoie. - -Reaching his own land he found the war he had been so far to seek -without encountering it; whereupon he recruited a company of -foot-soldiers, and took part in the third civil war with the title of -commander of two companies, though in fact there was but one. Shortly -after this he resigned his command to serve upon the staff of Monsieur, -commander-in-chief of the royal army. After the battle of Jarnac (March -15, 1569), being sick of an intermittent fever, he retired to his abbey, -where his presence throughout the troubles was far from useless. But -always more eager for distant expeditions than for the dulness of civil -war, Brantme let himself be tempted by a grand project of Marchal -Strozzi, who dreamed of nothing less than a descent on South America and -the conquest of Peru. Brantme was commissioned in 1571 to go to the -port of Brouage and direct the preparations for the armament. It was -this enterprise that prevented him from being present at the battle of -Lepanto (October 7, 1571). "I should have gone there resolutely, as did -that brave M. de Grillon," he says, "if it had not been for M. de -Strozzi, who amused me a whole year with that fine embarkation at -Brouage, which ended in nothing but the ruin of our purses,--to those of -us at least who owned the vessels." But if the duties which kept him at -Brouage robbed him of the glory of being present at the greatest battle -of the age, it also saved him from being a witness of the Saint -Bartholomew. - -The treaty of June 24, 1573, put an end to the siege of Rochelle and the -fourth civil war. Charles IX. died on May 30, 1574. Monsieur, elected -the year before to the throne of Poland, was in that distant country -when the death of his brother made him king of France. He hastened to -return. Brantme went to meet him at Lyons and was one of the gentlemen -of his Bedchamber from 1575 to 1583. During the years just passed -Brantme, besides the principal events already named in which he -participated, took part in various little or great events in the daily -life of the Court, such as: the quarrel of Sussy and Saint-Fal, the -splendid disgrace of Bussy d'Amboise, the death and obsequies of Charles -IX., the coronation of Henri III., etc. Throughout them all he played -the part of interested spectator, of active supernumerary without -importance; discontented at times and sulky, but always unable to make -himself feared. - -The years went by in this sterile round. He was now thirty-five years -old. The hope of a great fortune was realized no more on the side of his -king than on that of his beautiful, virtuous, and rich lady. He is, no -doubt, "liked, known, and made welcome by the kings, his masters, by his -queens and his princesses, and all the great seigneurs, who held him in -such esteem that the name of Brantme had great renown." But he is not -satisfied with the Court small-change in which his services are paid. He -is vexed that his own lightheartedness is taken at its word; he would be -very glad indeed if that love of liberty with which he decked himself -were put to greater trials. Philosopher in spite of himself, he finds -his disappointments all the more painful because of his own opinion of -his merits. He sees men to whom he believes himself superior, preferred -before him. "His companions, not equal to him," he says in the epitaph -he composed for himself, "surpassed him in benefits received, in -promotions and ranks, but never in virtue or in merit." And he adds, -with posthumous resignation: "God be praised nevertheless for all, and -for his sacred mercy!" - -Meantime, perchance a queen, Catherine de' Medici or Marguerite de -Valois, deigns to drop into his ear some trifling word which he relishes -with delight. Henri de Guise [le Balafr], who was ten years younger -than himself, called him "my son;" and the Baron de Montesquieu, the one -that killed the Prince de Cond at Jarnac and was very much older than -Brantme, who had pulled him out of the water during certain aquatic -games on the Seine, called him "father." Such were the familiarities -with which he was treated. - -He was, it is true, chevalier of the Order of Saint-Michel, but that was -not enough to console his ambition. He complained that they degraded -that honour, no longer reserved to the nobility of the sword. He thinks -it bad, for instance, that it was granted to his neighbour, Michel de -Montaigne. "We have seen," he says, "counsellors coming from the courts -of parliament, abandoning robes and the square cap to drag a sword -behind them, and at once the king decks them with the collar, without -any pretext of their going to war. This is what was given to the Sieur -de Montaigne, who would have done much better to continue to write his -Essays instead of changing his pen into a sword, which does not suit -him. The Marquis de Trans obtained the Order very easily from the king -for one of his neighbours, no doubt in derision, for he is a great -joker." Brantme always speaks very slightingly of Montaigne because the -latter was of lesser nobility than his own; but that does not prevent -the Sieur de Montaigne from being to our eyes a much greater man than -the Seigneur de Brantme. - -Brantme continued to follow the Court. He accompanied the queen-mother -when she went in 1576 to Poitou to bring back the Duc d'Alenon, who was -dabbling in plots. He accompanied her again when she conducted in 1578 -her daughter Marguerite to Navarre; and at their solemn entry into -Bordeaux he had the honour of being near them on the "scaffold," or, as -we should say in the present day, the platform. He had also the luck to -hear at Saint-Germain-en-Laye King Henri III. make during his dinner, in -presence of the Duc de Joyeuse (on whose nuptials the fluent monarch was -destined to spend a million), a discourse worthy of Cato against luxury -and extravagance. - -In 1582, his elder brother, Andr de Bourdeille, seneschal and governor -of the Prigord, died. He left a son scarcely nine years old. Brantme -had obtained from King Henri III. a promise that he should hold those -offices until the majority of his nephew, on condition of transmitting -them at that time. The king confirmed this promise on several occasions -during the last illness of Andr de Bourdeille. But at the latter's -death it was discovered that he had bound himself in his daughter's -marriage contract to resign those offices to his son-in-law. The king -considered that he ought to respect this family arrangement. Brantme -was keenly hurt. "On the second day of the year," he says, "as the king -was returning from his ceremony of the Saint-Esprit, I made my complaint -to him, more in anger than to implore him, as he well understood. He -made me excuses, although he was my king. Among other reasons he said -plainly that he could not refuse that resignation when presented to him, -or he should be unjust. I made him no reply, except: 'Well, sire, I -ought not to have put faith in you; a good reason never to serve you -again as I have served you.' On which I went away much vexed. I met -several of my companions, to whom I related everything. I protested and -swore that if I had a thousand lives not one would I employ for a King -of France. I cursed my luck, I cursed life, I loathed the king's favour, -I despised with a curling lip those beggarly fellows loaded with royal -favours who were in no wise as worthy of them as I. Hanging to my belt -was the gilt key to the king's bedroom; I unfastened it and flung it -from the Quai des Augustins, where I stood, into the river below. I -never again entered the king's room; I abhorred it, and I swore never to -set foot in it any more. I did not, however, cease to frequent the Court -and to show myself in the room of the queen, who did me the honour to -like me, and in those of her ladies and maids of honour and of the -princesses, seigneurs, and princes, my good friends. I talked aloud -about my displeasure, so that the king, hearing of what I said, sent me -a few words by M. du Halde, his head _valet de chambre_. I contented -myself with answering that I was the king's most obedient, and said no -more." - -Monsieur (the Duc d'Alenon) took notice of Brantme, and made him his -chamberlain. About this time it was that he began to compose for this -prince the "Discourses" afterwards made into a book and called "Vies des -Dames Galantes," which he dedicated to the Duc d'Alenon. The latter -died in 1584,--a loss that dashed once more the hopes of Brantme and of -others who, like him, had pinned their faith upon that prince. After -all, Brantme had some reason to complain of his evil star. - -Then it was that Brantme meditated vast and even criminal projects, -which he himself has revealed to us: "I resolved to sell the little -property I possessed in France and go off and serve that great King of -Spain, very illustrious and noble remunerator of services rendered to -him, not compelling his servitors to importune him, but done of his own -free will and wise opinion, and out of just consideration. Whereupon I -reflected and ruminated within myself that I was able to serve him well; -for there is not a harbour nor a seaport from Picardy to Bayonne that I -do not know perfectly, except those of Bretagne which I have not seen; -and I know equally well all the weak spots on the coast of Languedoc -from Grasse to Provence. To make myself sure of my facts, I had recently -made a new tour to several of the towns, pretending to wish to arm a -ship and send it on a voyage, or go myself. In fact, I had played my -game so well that I had discovered half a dozen towns on these coasts -easy to capture on their weak sides, which I knew then and which I still -know. I therefore thought I could serve the King of Spain in these -directions so well that I might count on obtaining the reward of great -wealth and dignities. But before I banished myself from France I -proposed to sell my estates and put the money in a bank of Spain or -Italy. I also proposed, and I discoursed of it to the Comte de La -Rochefoucauld, to ask leave of absence from the king that I might not be -called a deserter, and to be relieved of my oath as a subject in order -to go wherever I should find myself better off than in his kingdom. I -believe he could not have refused my request; because everyone is free -to change his country and choose another. But however that might be, if -he had refused me I should have gone all the same, neither more nor less -like a valet who is angry with his master and wants to leave him; if the -latter will not give him leave to go, it is not reprehensible to take it -and attach himself to another master." - -Thus reasoned Brantme. He returns on several occasions to these lawless -opinions; he argues, apropos of the Conntable de Bourbon and La Noue, -against the scruples of those who are willing to leave their country, -but not to take up arms against her. "I'faith!" he cries, "here are -fine, scrupulous philosophers! Their quartan fevers! While I hold shyly -back, pray who will feed me? Whereas if I bare my sword to the wind it -will give me food and magnify my fame." - -Such ideas were current in those days among the nobles, in whom the -patriotic sentiment, long subordinated to that of caste, was only -developed later. These projects of treachery should therefore not be -judged altogether with the severity of modern ideas. Besides, Brantme -is working himself up; it does not belong to every one to produce such -grand disasters as these he meditates. Moreover, thought is far from -action; events may intervene. People call them fate or chance, but -chance will often simply aid the secret impulses of conscience, and bind -our will to that it chooses. - -"Fine human schemes I made!" Brantme resumes. "On the very point of -their accomplishment the war of the League broke out and turmoiled -things in such a way that no one would buy lands, for every man had -trouble enough to keep what he owned, neither would he strip himself of -money. Those who had promised to buy my property excused themselves. To -go to foreign parts without resources was madness,--it would only have -exposed me to all sorts of misery; I had too much experience to commit -that folly. To complete the destruction of my designs, one day, at the -height of my vigor and jollity, a miserable horse, whose white skin -might have warned me of nothing good, reared and fell over upon me -breaking and crushing my loins, so that for four years I lay in my bed, -maimed, impotent in every limb, unable to turn or move without torture -and all the agony in the world; and since then my health has never been -what it once was. Thus man proposes, and God disposes. God does all -things for the best! It is possible that if I had realized my plans I -should have done more harm to my country than the renegade of Algiers -did to his; and because of it, I might have been perpetually cursed of -God and man." - -Consequently, this great scheme remained a dream; no one need ever have -known anything about it if Brantme himself had not taken pains to -inform us of it with much complacency. - -The cruel fall which stopped his guilty projects must have occurred in -1585. At the end of three years and a half of suffering he met, he tells -us, "with a very great personage and operator, called M. -Saint-Christophe, whom God raised up for my good and cure, who succeeded -in relieving me after many other doctors had failed." As soon as he was -nearly well he began once more to travel. It does not appear that he -frequented the Court after the death of Catherine de' Medici, which took -place in January, 1589; but he was present, in that year, at the baptism -of the posthumous son of Henri de Guise, whom the Parisians adopted -after the father's murder at Blois, and named _Paris_. Agrippa -d'Aubign, in his caricature of the Procession of the League, gives -Brantme a small place as bearer of bells. But was he really there? It -seems doubtful; he makes somewhere the judicious reflection that: "One -may well be surprised that so many French nobles put themselves on the -side of the League, for if it had got the upper hand it is very certain -that the clergy would have deprived them of church property and wiped -their lips forever of it, which result would have cut the wings of their -extravagance for a very long while." The secular Abb de Brantme had -therefore as good reasons for not being a Leaguer as for not being a -Huguenot. - -In 1590 he went to make his obeisance to Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, -then confined in the Chteau d'Usson in Auvergne. He presented to her -his "discourse" on "Spanish Rhodomontades," perhaps also a first copy of -the life of that princess (which appears in this volume), and he also -showed her the titles of the other books he had composed. He was so -enchanted with the greeting Queen Marguerite, la Reine Margot, gave him, -"the sole remaining daughter of the noble house of France, the most -beautiful, most noble, grandest, most generous, most magnanimous, and -most accomplished princess in the world" (when Brantme praises he does -not do it by halves), that he promised to dedicate to her the entire -collection of his works,--a promise he faithfully fulfilled. - -His health, now decidedly affected, confined more and more to his own -home this indefatigable rover, who had, as he said, "the nature of a -minstrel who prefers the house of others to his own." Condemned to a -sedentary life, he used his activity as he could. He caused to be built -the noble castle of Richemont, with much pains and at great expense. He -grew quarrelsome and litigious; brought suits against his relations, -against his neighbours, against his monks, whom he accused of -ingratitude. By his will he bequeathed his lawsuits to his heirs, and -forbade each and all to compromise them. - -Difficult to live with, soured, dissatisfied with the world, he was not, -it would seem, in easy circumstances. He did not spare posterity the -recital of his plaints: "Favours, grandeurs, boasts, and vanities, all -the pleasant things of the good old days are gone like the wind. Nothing -remains to me but to _have been_ all that; sometimes that memory pleases -me, and sometimes it vexes me. Nearing a decrepit old age, the worst of -all woes, nearing, too, a poverty which cannot be cured as in our -flourishing years when nought is impossible, repenting me a hundred -thousand times for the fine extravagances I committed in other days, and -regretting I did not save enough then to support me now in feeble age, -when I lack all of which I once possessed too much,--I see, with a -bursting heart, an infinite number of paltry fellows raised to rank and -riches, while Fortune, treacherous and blind that she is, feeds me on -air and then deserts and mocks me. If she would only put me quickly into -the hands of death I would still forgive her the wrongs she has done me. -But there is the worst of it; we can neither live nor die as we wish. -Therefore, let destiny do as it will, never shall I cease to curse it -from heart and lip. And worst of all do I detest old age weighed down by -poverty. As the queen-mother said to me one day when I had the honour to -speak to her on this subject about another person, 'Old age brings us -inconveniences enough without the additional burden of poverty; the two -united are the height of misery, against which there is one only -sovereign cure, and that is death. Happy he who finds it when he reaches -fifty-six, for after that our life is but labour and sorrow, and we eat -but the bread of ashes, as saith the prophet.'" - -He continued, however, to write, retracing all that he had seen and -garnered either while making his campaigns with the great captains of -his time, or in gossiping with idle gentlemen in the halls of the -Louvre. It was thus he composed his biographical and anecdotical -volumes, which he retouched and rewrote at intervals, making several -successive copies. That he had the future of his writings much at heart, -in spite of a scornful air of indifference which he sometimes assumed, -appears very plainly from the following clause in his will: - -"I will," he says, "and I expressly charge my heirs to cause to be -printed my Books, which I have composed from my mind and invention with -great toil and trouble, written by my hand, and transcribed clearly by -that of Mataud, my hired secretary; the which will be found in five -volumes covered with velvet, black, tan, green, blue, and a large -volume, which is that of 'The Ladies,' covered with green velvet, and -another covered with vellum and gilded thereon, which is that of 'The -Rhodomontades.' They will be found in one of my wicker trunks, carefully -protected. Fine things will be found in them, such as tales, discourses, -histories, and witticisms; which no one can disdain, it seems to me, if -once they are placed under his nose and eyes. In order to have them -printed according to my fancy, I charge with that purpose Madame la -Comtesse de Duretal, my dear niece, or some other person she may choose. -And to do this I order that enough be taken from my whole property to -pay the costs of the said printing, and my heirs are not to divide or -use my property until this printing is provided for. It is not probable -that it will cost much; for the printers, when they cast their eyes upon -the books, would pay to print them instead of exacting money; for they -do print many gratis that are not worth as much as mine. I can boast of -this; for I have shown them, at least in part, to several among that -trade, who offered to print them for nothing. But I do not choose that -they be printed during my life. Above all, I will that the said printing -be in fine, large letters, in a great volume to make the better show, -with license from the king, who will give it readily; or without -license, if that can be. Care must also be taken that the printer does -not put on another name than mine; otherwise I shall be frustrated of -all my trouble and of the fame that is my due. I also will that the -first book that issues from the press shall be given as a gift, well -bound and covered in velvet, to Queen Marguerite, my very illustrious -mistress, who did me the honour to read some of my writings, and who -thought them fine and esteemed them." - -This will was made about the year 1609. On the 15th of July, 1614, -Brantme died, after living his last years in complete oblivion; he was -buried, according to his wishes, in the chapel of his chteau of -Richemont. In spite of his express directions, neither the Comtesse de -Duretal nor any other of his heirs executed the clause in his will -relating to the publication of his works. Possibly they feared it might -create some scandal, or it may be that they could not obtain the royal -license. The manuscripts remained in the chteau of Richemont. Little by -little, as time went on, they attracted attention; copies were made -which found their way to the cabinets and libraries of collectors. They -were finally printed in Holland; and the first volume, which appeared in -Leyden from the press of Jean Sambix the younger, sold by F. Foppons, -Brussels, 1665, was that which here follows: "The Book of the Ladies," -called by the publisher, not by Brantme, "Lives of Illustrious Dames." - -It is not easy to distinguish the exact periods at which Brantme wrote -his works. "The Book of the Ladies," first and second parts,--_Dames -Illustres and Dames Galantes_,--were evidently the first written; then -followed "The Lives of Great and Illustrious French Captains," "Lives of -Great Foreign Captains," "Anecdotes concerning Duels," "The -Rhodomontades," and "Spanish Oaths." Brantme did not write his Memoirs, -properly so-called; his biographical facts and incidents are scattered -throughout the above-named volumes. - -The following translation of the "Book of the Ladies" does not pretend -to imitate Brantme's style. To do so would seem an affectation in -English, and attract attention to itself which it is always desirable to -avoid in translating. Wherever a few of Brantme's quaint turns of -phrase are given, it is only as they fall naturally into English. - - - - -THE BOOK OF THE LADIES. - - - - -DISCOURSE I. - -ANNE DE BRETAGNE, QUEEN OF FRANCE. - - -Inasmuch as I must speak of ladies, I do not choose to speak of former -dames, of whom the histories are full; that would be blotting paper in -vain, for enough has been written about them, and even the great -Boccaccio has made a fine book solely on that subject [_De claris -mulieribus_]. - -I shall begin therefore with our queen, Anne de Bretagne, the most -worthy and honourable queen that has ever been since Queen Blanche, -mother of the King Saint-Louis, and very sage and virtuous. - -This Queen Anne was the rich heiress of the duchy of Bretagne, which was -held to be one of the finest of Christendom, and for that reason she was -sought in marriage by the greatest persons. M. le Duc d'Orlans, -afterwards King Louis XII., in his young days courted her, and did for -her sake his fine feats of arms in Bretagne, and even at the battle of -Saint Aubin, where he was taken prisoner fighting on foot at the head of -his infantry. I have heard say that this capture was the reason why he -did not espouse her then; for thereon intervened Maximilian, Duke of -Austria, since emperor, who married her by the proxy of his uncle the -Prince of Orange in the great church at Nantes. But King Charles VIII., -having advised with his council that it was not good to have so -powerful a seigneur encroach and get a footing in his kingdom, broke off -a marriage that had been settled between himself and Marguerite of -Flanders, took the said Anne from Maximilian, her affianced, and wedded -her himself; so that every one conjectured thereon that a marriage thus -made would be luckless in issue. - -Now if Anne was desired for her property, she was as much so for her -virtues and merits; for she was beautiful and agreeable; as I have heard -say by elderly persons who knew her, and according to her portrait, -which I have seen from life; resembling in face the beautiful Demoiselle -de Chteauneuf, who has been so renowned at the Court for her beauty; -and that is sufficient to tell the beauty of Queen Anne as I have heard -it portrayed to the queen-mother [Catherine de' Medici]. - -Her figure was fine and of medium height. It is true that one foot was -shorter than the other the least in the world; but this was little -perceived, and hardly to be noticed, so that her beauty was not at all -spoilt by it; for I myself have seen very handsome women with that -defect who yet were extreme in beauty, like Mme. la Princesse de Cond, -of the house of Longueville. - -So much for the beauty of the body of this queen. That of her mind was -no less, because she was very virtuous, wise, honourable, pleasant of -speech, and very charming and subtile in wit. She had been taught and -trained by Mme. de Laval, an able and accomplished lady, appointed her -governess by her father, Duc Franois. For the rest, she was very kind, -very merciful, and very charitable, as I have heard my own folks say. -True it is, however, that she was quick in vengeance and seldom pardoned -whoever offended her maliciously; as she showed to the Marchal de Gi -for the affront he put upon her when the king, her lord and husband, -lay ill at Blois and was held to be dying. She, wishing to provide for -her wants in case she became a widow, caused three or four boats to be -laden on the River Loire with all her precious articles, furniture, -jewels, rings and money,--and sent them to her city and chteau of -Nantes. The said marshal, meeting these boats between Saumur and Nantes, -ordered them stopped and seized, being much too wishful to play the good -officer and servant of the Crown. But fortune willed that the king, -through the prayers of his people, to whom he was indeed a true father, -escaped with his life. - -The queen, in spite of this luck, did not abstain from her vengeance, -and having well brewed it, she caused the said marshal to be driven from -Court. It was then that having finished a fine house at La Verger, he -retired there, saying that the rain had come just in time to let him get -under shelter in the beautiful house so recently built. But this -banishment from Court was not all; through great researches which she -caused to be made wherever he had been in command, it was discovered he -had committed great wrongs, extortions and pillages, to which all -governors are given; so that the marshal, having appealed to the courts -of parliament, was summoned before that of Toulouse, which had long been -very just and equitable, and not corrupt. There, his suit being viewed, -he was convicted. But the queen did not wish his death, because, she -said, death is a cure for all pains and woes, and being dead he would be -too happy; she wished him to live as degraded and low as he had been -great; so that he might, from the grandeur and height where he had been, -live miserably in troubles, pains, and sadness, which would do him a -hundred-fold more harm than death, for death lasted only a day, and -mayhap only an hour, whereas his languishing would make him die daily. - -Such was the vengeance of this brave queen. One day she was so angry -against M. d'Orlans that she could not for a long time be appeased. It -was in this wise: the death of her son, M. le dauphin, having happened, -King Charles, her husband, and she were in such despair that the -doctors, fearing the debility and feeble constitution of the king, were -alarmed lest such grief should do injury to his health; so they -counselled the king to amuse himself, and the princes of the Court to -invent new pastimes, games, dances, and mummeries in order to give -pleasure to the king and queen; the which M. d'Orlans having -undertaken, he gave at the Chteau d'Amboise a masquerade and dance, at -which he did such follies and danced so gayly, as was told and read, -that the queen, believing he felt this glee because, the dauphin being -dead, he knew himself nearer to be King of France, was extremely -angered, and showed him such displeasure that he was forced to escape -from Amboise, where the Court then was, and go to his chteau of Blois. -Nothing can be blamed in this queen except the sin of vengeance,--if -vengeance is a sin,--because otherwise she was beautiful and gentle, and -had many very laudable sides. - -When the king, her husband, went to the kingdom of Naples [1494], and so -long as he was there, she knew very well how to govern the kingdom of -France with those whom the king had given to assist her; but she always -kept her rank, her grandeur, and supremacy, and insisted, young as she -was, on being trusted; and she made herself trusted, so that nothing was -ever found to say against her. - -She felt great regret for the death of King Charles [in 1498], as much -for the friendship she bore him as for seeing herself henceforth but -half a queen, having no children. And when her most intimate ladies, as -I have been told on good authority, pitied her for being the widow of so -great a king, and unable to return to her high estate,--for King Louis -[the Duc d'Orlans, her first lover] was then married to Jeanne de -France,--she replied she would "rather be the widow of a king all her -life than debase herself to a less than he; but still, she was not so -despairing of happiness that she did not think of again being Queen of -France, as she had been, if she chose." Her old love made her say so; -she meant to relight it in the bosom of him in whom it was yet warm. And -so it happened; for King Louis [XII.], having repudiated Jeanne, his -wife, and never having lost his early love, took her in marriage, as we -have seen and read. So here was her prophecy accomplished; she having -founded it on the nature of King Louis, who could not keep himself from -loving her, all married as she was, but looked with a tender eye upon -her, being still Duc d'Orlans; for it is difficult to quench a great -fire when once it has seized the soul. - -He was a handsome prince and very amiable, and she did not hate him for -that. Having taken her, he honoured her much, leaving her to enjoy her -property and her duchy without touching it himself or taking a single -louis; but she employed it well, for she was very liberal. And because -the king made immense gifts, to meet which he must have levied on his -people, which he shunned like the plague, she supplied his deficiencies; -and there were no great captains of the kingdom to whom she did not give -pensions, or make extraordinary presents of money or of thick gold -chains when they went upon a journey; and she even made little presents -according to quality; everybody ran to her, and few came away -discontented. Above all, she had the reputation of loving her domestic -servants, and to them she did great good. - -She was the first queen to hold a great Court of ladies, such as we have -seen from her time to the present day. Her suite was very large of -ladies and young girls, for she refused none; she even inquired of the -noblemen of her Court whether they had daughters, and what they were, -and asked to have them brought to her. I had an aunt de Bourdeille who -had the honour of being brought up by her [Louise de Bourdeille, maid of -honour to Queen Anne in 1494]; but she died at Court, aged fifteen -years, and was buried behind the great altar of the church of the -Franciscans in Paris. I saw the tomb and its inscription before that -church was burned [in 1580.] - -Queen Anne's Court was a noble school for ladies; she had them taught -and brought up wisely; and all, taking pattern by her, made themselves -wise and virtuous. Because her heart was great and lofty she wanted -guards, and so formed a second band of a hundred gentlemen,--for -hitherto there was only one; and the greater part of the said new guard -were Bretons, who never failed, when she left her room to go to mass or -to promenade, to await her on that little terrace at Blois, still called -the Breton perch, "La Perche aux Bretons," she herself having named it -so by saying when she saw them: "Here are my Bretons on their perch, -awaiting me." - -You may be sure that she did not lay by her money, but employed it well -on all high things. - -She it was, who built, out of great superbness, that fine vessel and -mass of wood, called "La Cordelire," which attacked so furiously in -mid-ocean the "Regent of England;" grappling to her so closely that both -were burned and nothing escaped,--not the people, nor anything else that -was in them, so that no news was ever heard of them on land; which -troubled the queen very much.[2] - -The king honoured her so much that one day, it being reported to him -that the law clerks at the Palais [de Justice] and the students also -were playing games in which there was talk of the king, his Court, and -all the great people, he took no other notice than to say they needed a -pastime, and he would let them talk of him and his Court, though not -licentiously; but as for the queen, his wife, they should not speak of -her in any way whatsoever; if they did he would have them hanged. Such -was the honour he bore her. - -Moreover, there never came to his Court a foreign prince or an -ambassador that, after having seen and listened to them, he did not send -them to pay their reverence to the queen; wishing the same respect to be -shown to her as to him; and also, because he recognized in her a great -faculty for entertaining and pleasing great personages, as, indeed, she -knew well how to do; taking much pleasure in it herself; for she had -very good and fine grace and majesty in greeting them, and beautiful -eloquence in talking with them. Sometimes, amid her French speech, she -would, to make herself more admired, mingle a few foreign words, which -she had learned from M. de Grignaux, her chevalier of honour, who was a -very gallant man who had seen the world, and was accomplished and knew -foreign languages, being thereby very pleasant good company, and -agreeable to meet. Thus it was that one day, Queen Anne having asked him -to teach her a few words of Spanish to say to the Spanish ambassador, he -taught her in joke a little indecency, which she quickly learned. The -next day, while awaiting the ambassador, M. de Grignaux told the story -to the king, who thought it good, understanding his gay and lively -humour. Nevertheless he went to the queen, and told her all, warning her -to be careful not to use those words. She was in such great anger, -though the king only laughed, that she wanted to dismiss M. de Grignaux, -and showed him her displeasure for several days. But M. de Grignaux -made her such humble excuses, telling her that he only did it to make -the king laugh and pass his time merrily, and that he was not so -ill-advised as to fail to warn the king in time that he might, as he -really did, warn her before the arrival of the ambassador; so that on -these excuses and the entreaties of the king she was pacified. - -Now, if the king loved and honoured her living, we may believe that, she -being dead, he did the same. And to manifest the mourning that he felt, -the superb and honourable funeral and obsequies that he ordered for her -are proof; the which I have read of in an old "History of France" that I -found lying about in a closet in our house, nobody caring for it; and -having gathered it up, I looked at it. Now as this is a matter that -should be noted, I shall put it here, word for word as the book says, -without changing anything; for though it is old, the language is not -very bad; and as for the truth of the book, it has been confirmed to me -by my grandmother, Mme. la Seneschale de Poitou, of the family du Lude, -who was then at the Court. The book relates it thus:-- - -"This queen was an honourable and virtuous queen, and very wise, the -true mother of the poor, the support of gentlemen, the haven of ladies, -damoiselles, and honest girls, and the refuge of learned men; so that -all the people of France cannot surfeit themselves enough in deploring -and regretting her. - -"She died at the castle of Blois on the twenty-first of January, in the -year 1513, after the accomplishment of a thing she had most desired, -namely: the union of the king, her lord, with the pope and the Roman -Church, abhorring as she did schism and divisions. For that reason she -had never ceased urging the king to this step, for which she was as -much loved and greatly revered by the Catholic princes and prelates as -the king had been hated. - -"I have seen at Saint-Denis a grand church cope, all covered with pearls -embroidered, which she had ordered to be made expressly to send as a -present to the pope, but death prevented. After her decease her body -remained for three days in her room, the face uncovered, and nowise -changed by hideous death, but as beautiful and agreeable as when living. - -"Friday, the twenty-seventh of the month of January, her body was taken -from the castle, very honourably accompanied by all the priests and -monks of the town, borne by persons wearing mourning, with hoods over -their heads, accompanied by twenty-four torches larger than the other -torches borne by twenty-four officers of the household of the said lady, -on each of which were two rich armorial escutcheons bearing the arms -emblazoned of the said lady. After these torches came the reverend -seigneurs and prelates, bishops, abbs, and M. le Cardinal de Luxembourg -to read the office; and thus was removed the body of the said lady from -the Chteau de Blois.... - -"Septuagesima Sunday, twelfth of February, they arrived at the church of -Notre-Dame des Champs in the suburbs of Paris, and there the body was -guarded two nights with great quantities of lights; and on the following -Tuesday, the devout services having been read, there marched before the -body processions with the crosses of all the churches and all the -monasteries of Paris, the whole University in a body, the presidents and -counsellors of the sovereign court of Parliament, and generally of all -other courts and jurisdictions, officers and advocates, merchants and -citizens, and other lesser officers of the town. All these accompanied -the said body reverentially, with the very noble seigneurs and ladies -aforenamed, just as they started from Blois, all keeping fine order -among themselves according to their several ranks.... And thus was borne -through Paris, in the order and manner above, the body of the queen to -be sepulchred in the pious church of Saint-Denis of France; preceded by -these processions to a cross which is not far beyond the place where the -fair of Landit is held. - -"And to the spot where stands the cross the reverend father in God, the -abb, and the venerable monks, with the priests of the churches and -parishes of Saint-Denis, vestured in their great copes, with their -crosses, came in procession, together with the peasants and the -inhabitants of the said town, to receive the body of the late queen, -which was then borne to the door of the church of Saint-Denis, still -accompanied honourably by all the above-named very noble princes and -princesses, seigneurs, dames, and damoiselles, and their train as -already stated.... - -"And all being duly accomplished, the body of the said lady, Madame -Anne, in her lifetime very noble Queen of France, Duchesse of Bretagne, -and Comtesse d'tampes, was honourably interred and sepulchred in the -tomb for her prepared. - -"After this, the herald-at-arms for Bretagne summoned all the princes -and officers of the said lady, to wit: the chevalier of honour, the -grand-master of the household, and others, each and all, to fulfil their -duty towards the said body, which they did most piteously, shedding -tears from their eyes. And, this done, the aforenamed king-at-arms cried -three times aloud in a most piteous voice: 'The very Christian Queen of -France, Duchesse de Bretagne, our Sovereign Lady, is dead!' And then all -departed. The body remained entombed. - -[Illustration: _Tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne_] - -"During her life and after her death she was honoured by the titles I -have before given: true mother of the poor; the comfort of noble -gentlemen; the haven of ladies and damoiselles and honest girls; -the refuge of learned men and those of good lives; so that speaking of -her dead is only renewing the grief and regrets of all such persons, and -also that of her domestic servants, whom she loved singularly. She was -very religious and devout. It was she who made the foundation of the -'Bons-Hommes' [monastery of the order of Saint-Franois de Paule at -Chaillot], otherwise called the Minimes; and she began to build the -church of the said 'Bons-Hommes' near Paris, and afterwards that in Rome -which is so beautiful and noble, and where, as I saw myself, they -receive no monks but Frenchmen." - -There, word for word, are the splendid obsequies of this queen, without -changing a word of the original, for fear of doing worse,--for I could -not do better. They were just like those of our kings that I have heard -and read of, and those of King Charles IX., at which I was present, and -which the queen, his mother, desired to make so fine and magnificent, -though the finances of France were then too short to spend much, because -of the departure of the King of Poland, who with his suite had -squandered and carried off a great deal [1574]. - -Certainly I find these two interments much alike, save for three things: -one, that the burial of Queen Anne was the most superb; second, that all -went so well in order and so discreetly that there was no contention of -ranks, as occurred at the burial of King Charles; for his body, being -about to start for Notre-Dame, the court of parliament had some pique of -precedence with the nobility and the Church, claiming to stand in the -place of the king and to represent him when absent, he being then out of -the kingdom. [Henri III. was then King of Poland]. On which a great -princess, as the world goes, who was very near to him, whom I know but -will not name, went about arguing and saying: "It was no wonder if, -during the lifetime of the king, seditions and troubles had been in -vogue, seeing that, dead as he was, he was still able to stir up -strife." Alas! he never did it, poor prince! either dead or living. We -know well who were the authors of the seditions and of our civil wars. -That princess who said those words has since found reason to regret -them. - -The third thing is that the body of King Charles was quitted, at the -church of Saint-Lazare, by the whole procession, princes, seigneurs, -courts of parliament, the Church, and the citizens, and was followed and -accompanied from there by none but poor M. de Strozzi, de Fumel, and -myself, with two gentlemen of the bedchamber, for we were not willing to -abandon our master as long as he was above ground. There were also a few -archers of the guard, quite pitiable to see, in the fields. So at eight -in the evening in the month of July, we started with the body and its -effigy thus badly accompanied. - -Reaching the cross, we found all the monks of Saint-Denis awaiting us, -and the body of the king was honourably escorted, with the ceremonies of -the Church, to Saint-Denis, where the great Cardinal de Lorraine -received it most honourably and devoutly, as he knew well how to do. - -The queen-mother was very angry that the procession did not continue to -the end as she intended--save for Monsieur her son, and the King of -Navarre, whom she held a prisoner. The next day, however, the latter -arrived in a coach, with a very good guard, and captains of the guard -with him, to be present at the solemn high service, attended by the -whole procession and company as at first,--a sight very sad to see. - -After dinner the court of parliament sent to tell and to command the -grand almoner Amyot to go and say grace after meat for them as if for -the king. To which he made answer that he should do nothing of the kind, -for it was not before them he was bound to do it. They sent him two -consecutive and threatening commands; which he still refused, and went -and hid himself that he might answer no more. Then they swore they would -not leave the table till he came; but not being able to find him, they -were constrained to say grace themselves and to rise, which they did -with great threats, foully abusing the said almoner, even to calling him -scoundrel, and son of a butcher. I saw the whole affair; and I know what -Monsieur commanded me to go and tell to M. le cardinal, asking him to -pacify the matter, because they had sent commands to Monsieur to send to -them, as representatives of the king, the grand almoner if he could be -found. M. le cardinal went to speak to them, but he gained nothing; they -standing firm on their opinion of their royal majesty and authority. I -know what M. le cardinal said to me about them, telling me not to say -it,--that they were perfect fools. The chief president, de Thou, was -then at their head; a great senator certainly, but he had a temper. So -here was another disturbance to make that princess say again that King -Charles, either living or dead, on earth or under it, that body of his -stirred up the world and threw it into sedition. Alas! that he could not -do. - -I have told this little incident, possibly more at length than I should, -and I may be blamed; but I reply that I have told and put it here as it -came into my fancy and memory; also that it comes in _ propos_; and -that I cannot forget it, for it seems to me a thing that is rather -remarkable. - -Now, to return to our Queen Anne: we see from this fine last duty of her -obsequies how beloved she was of earth and heaven; far otherwise than -that proud, pompous queen, Isabella of Bavaria, wife of the late King -Charles VI., who having died in Paris, her body was so despised it was -put out of her palace into a little boat on the river Seine, without -form of ceremony or pomp, being carried through a little postern so -narrow it could hardly go through, and thus was taken to Saint-Denis to -her tomb like a simple damoiselle, neither more nor less. There was also -a difference between her actions and those of Queen Anne: for she -brought the English into France and Paris, threw the kingdom into flames -and divisions, and impoverished and ruined every one; whereas Queen Anne -kept France in peace, enlarged and enriched it with her beautiful duchy -and the fine property she brought with her. So one need not wonder that -the king regretted her and felt such mourning that he came nigh dying in -the forest of Vincennes, and clothed himself and all his Court so long -in black; and those who came otherwise clothed he had them driven away; -neither would he see any ambassador, no matter who he was, unless he -were dressed in black. And, moreover, that old History which I have -quoted, says: "When he gave his daughter to M. d'Angoulme, afterwards -King Franois, mourning was not left off by him or his Court; and the -day of the espousals in the church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the -bridegroom and bride were vestured and clothed"--so this History -says--"in black cloth, honestly cut in mourning shape, for the death of -the said queen, Madame Anne de Bretagne, mother of the bride, in -presence of the king, her father, accompanied by the princes of the -blood and noble seigneurs and prelates, princesses, dames, and -damoiselles, all clothed in black cloth made in mourning shape." That is -what the book says. It was a strange austerity of mourning which should -be noted, that not even on the day of the wedding was it dispensed with, -to be renewed on the following day. - -From this we may know how beloved, and worthy to be beloved this -princess was by the king, her husband, who sometimes in his merry moods -and gayety would call her "his Breton." - -If she had lived longer she would never have consented to that marriage -of her daughter; it was very repugnant to her and she said so to the -king, her husband, for she mortally hated Madame d'Angoulme, afterwards -Regent, their tempers being quite unlike and not agreeing together; -besides which, she had wished to unite her said daughter to Charles of -Austria, then young, the greatest seigneur of Christendom, who was -afterwards emperor. And this she wished in spite of M. d'Angoulme -coming very near the Crown; but she never thought of that, or would not -think of it, trusting to have more children herself, she being only -thirty-seven years old when she died. In her lifetime and reign, reigned -also that great and wise queen, Isabella of Castile, very accordant in -manners and morals with our Queen Anne. For which reason they loved each -other much and visited one another often by embassies, letters, and -presents; 'tis thus that virtue ever seeks out virtue. - -King Louis was afterwards pleased to marry for the third time Marie, -sister of the King of England, a very beautiful princess, young, and too -young for him, so that evil came of it. But he married more from policy, -to make peace with the English and to put his own kingdom at rest, than -for any other reason, never being able to forget his Queen Anne. He -commanded at his death that they should both be covered by the same -tomb, just as we now see it in Saint-Denis, all in white marble, as -beautiful and superb as never was. - -Now, here I pause in my discourse and go no farther; referring the rest -to books that are written of this queen better than I could write; only -to content my own self have I made this discourse. - -I will say one other little thing; that she was the first of our queens -or princesses to form the usage of putting a belt round their arms and -escutcheons, which until then were borne not inclosed, but quite loose; -and the said queen was the first to put the belt. - -I say no more, not having been of her time; although I protest having -told only truth, having learned it, as I have said, from a book, and -also from Mme. la Seneschale, my grandmother, and from Mme. de -Dampierre, my aunt, a true Court register, and as clever, wise, and -virtuous a lady as ever entered a Court these hundred years, and who -knew well how to discourse on old things. From eight years of age she -was brought up at Court, and forgot nothing; it was good to hear her -talk; and I have seen our kings and queens take a singular pleasure in -listening to her, for she knew all,--her own time and past times; so -that people took word from her as from an oracle. King Henri III. made -her lady of honour to the queen, his wife. I have here used -recollections and lessons that I obtained from her, and I hope to use -many more in the course of these books. - -I have read the epitaph of the said queen, thus made:-- - - "Here lies Anne, who was wife to two great kings, - Great a hundred-fold herself, as queen two times! - Never queen like her enriched all France; - That is what it is to make a grand alliance." - - * * * * * - -Gui Patin, satirist and jovial spirit of his time [he was born in 1601], -attracted to Saint-Denis because a fair was held there, visits the -abbey, the treasury, "where" he says, "there was plenty of silly stuff -and rubbish," and lastly the tombs of the kings, "where I could not keep -myself from weeping to see so many monuments to the vanity of human -life; tears escaped me also before the tomb of the great and good king, -Franois I., who founded our College of Professors of the King. I must -own my weakness; I kissed it, and also that of his father-in-law, Louis -XII., who was the Father of his People, and the best king we have ever -had in France." Happy age! still neighbour to beliefs, when those -reputed the greatest satirists had these touching navets, these wholly -patriotic and antique sensibilities. - -Mzeray [born ten years later], in his natural, sincere and expressive -diction, his clear and full narration, into which he has the art to -bring speaking circumstances which animate the tale, says in relation to -Louis XII. [in his "History of France"]: "When he rode through the -country the good folk ran from all parts and for many days to see him, -strewing the roads with flowers and foliage, and striving, as though he -were a visible God, to touch his saddle with their handkerchiefs and -keep them as precious relics." - -And two centuries later, Comte Roederer, in his Memoir on Polite -Society and the Htel de Rambouillet, printed in 1835, tells us how in -his youth his mind was already busy with Louis XII., and, returning to -the same interest in after years, he made him his hero of predilection -and his king. In studying the history of France he thought he -discovered, he says, that at the close of the fifteenth century and the -beginning of the sixteenth what has since been called the "French -Revolution" was already consummated; that liberty rested on a free -Constitution; and that Louis XII., the Father of his People, was he who -had accomplished it. _Bonhomie_ and goodness have never been denied to -Louis XII., but Roederer claims more, he claims ability and skill. The -Italian wars, considered generally to have been mistakes, he excuses and -justifies by showing them in the king's mind as a means of useful -national policy; he needed to obtain from Pope Alexander VI. the -dissolution of his marriage with Jeanne de France, in order that he -might marry Anne de Bretagne and so unite the duchy with the kingdom. -Roederer makes King Louis a type of perfection; seeming to have -searched in regions far from those that are historically brilliant, far -from spheres of fame and glory, into "the depths obscure," as he says -himself, "of _useful_ government for a hero of a new species." - -More than that: he thinks he sees in the cherished wife of Louis XII., -in Anne de Bretagne, the foundress of a school of polite manners and -perfection for her sex. "She was," Brantme had said, "the most worthy -and honourable queen that had ever been since Queen Blanche, mother of -the King Saint-Louis.... Her Court was a noble school for ladies; she -had them taught and brought up wisely; and all, taking pattern by her, -made themselves wise and virtuous." Roederer takes these words of -Brantme and, giving them their strict meaning, draws therefrom a series -of consequences: just as Franois I. had, in many respects, overthrown -the political state of things established by Louis XII., so, he -believes, had the women beloved of Franois overturned that honourable -condition of society established by Anne de Bretagne. Starting from that -epoch he sees, as it were, a constant struggle between two sorts of -rival and incompatible societies: between the decent and ingenuous -society of which Anne de Bretagne had given the idea, and the licentious -society of which the mistresses of the king, women like the Duchesse -d'tampes and Diane de Poitiers, procured the triumph. These two -societies, to his mind, never ceased to co-exist during the sixteenth -century; on the one hand was an emulation of virtue and merit on the -part of the noble heiresses, alas, too eclipsed, of Anne de Bretagne, on -the other an emulation with high bidding of gallantry, by the giddy -pupils of the school of Franois I. To Roederer the Htel de -Rambouillet, that perfected salon, founded towards the beginning of the -seventeenth century, is only a tardy return to the traditions of Anne de -Bretagne, the triumph of merit, virtue, and polite manners over the -license to which all the kings, from Franois I., including Henri IV., -had paid tribute. - -Reaching thus the Htel de Rambouillet and holding henceforth an -unbroken thread in hand, Roederer divides and subdivides at pleasure. -He marks the divers periods and the divers shades of transition, the -growth and the decline that he discerns. The first years of Louis XIV.'s -youth cause him some distress; a return is being made to the ways of -Franois I., to the brilliant mistresses. Roederer, not concerning -himself with the displeasure he will cause the classicists, lays a -little of the blame for this return on the four great poets, Molire, La -Fontaine, Racine, and Boileau himself, all accomplices, more or less, in -the laudation of victor and lover. However, age comes on; Louis XIV. -grows temperate in turn, and a woman, issuing from the very purest -centre of Mme. de Rambouillet's society, and who was morally its -heiress, a woman accomplished in tone, in cultivation of mind, in -precision of language, and in the sentiment of propriety,--Mme. de -Maintenon,--knows so well how to seize the opportunity that she seats -upon the throne, in a modest half-light, all the styles of mind and -merit which made the perfection of French society in its better days. -The triumph of Mme. de Maintenon is that of polite society itself; Anne -de Bretagne has found her pendant at the other extremity of the chain -after the lapse of two centuries. - -SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_, Vol. VIII. - - - - -DISCOURSE II. - -CATHERINE DE' MEDICI, QUEEN, AND MOTHER OF OUR LAST KINGS. - - -I have wondered and been astonished a hundred times that, so many good -writers as we have had in our day in France, none of them has been -inquisitive enough to make some fine selection of the life and deeds of -the queen-mother, Catherine de' Medici, inasmuch as she has furnished -ample matter, and cut out much fine work, if ever a queen did--as said -the Emperor Charles to Paolo Giovio [Italian historian] when, on his -return from his triumphant voyage in the "Goulette" intending to make -war upon King Franois, he gave him a provision of ink and paper, saying -he would cut him out plenty of work. So it is true that this queen cut -out so much that a good and zealous writer might make an Iliad of it; -but they have all been lazy,--or ungrateful, for she was never niggardly -to learned men; I could name several who have derived good benefits from -this queen, from which, in consequence, I accuse them of ingratitude. - -There is one, however, who did concern himself to write of her, and made -a little book which he entitled "The Life of Catherine;"[3] but it is an -imposture and not worthy of belief, as she herself said when she saw it; -such falsities being apparent to every one, and easy to note and reject. -He that wrote it wished her mortal harm, and was an enemy to her name, -her condition, her life, her honour, and nature; and that is why he -should be rejected. As for me, I would I knew how to speak well, or -that I had a good pen, well mended, at my command, that I might exalt -and praise her as she deserves. At any rate, such as my pen is, I shall -now employ it at all hazards. - -[Illustration: _Catherine de' Medici_] - -This queen is extracted, on the father's side, from the race of the -Medici, one of the noblest and most illustrious families, not only in -Italy, but in Christendom. Whatever may be said, she was a foreigner to -these shores because the alliances of kings cannot commonly be chosen in -their kingdom; for it is not best to do so; foreign marriages being as -useful and more so than near ones. The House of the Medici has always -been allied and confederated with the crown of France, which still bears -the _fleur-de-lys_ that King Louis XI. gave that house in sign of -alliance and perpetual confederation [the _fleur de Louis_, which then -became the Florentine lily]. - -On the mother's side she issued originally from one of the noblest -families of France; and so was truly French in race, heart, and -affection through that great house of Boulogne and county of Auvergne; -thus it is hard to tell or judge in which of her two families there was -most grandeur and memorable deeds. Here is what was said of them by the -Archbishop of Bourges, of the house of Beaune, as great a learned man -and worthy prelate as there is in Christendom (though some say a trifle -unsteady in belief, and little good in the scales of M. Saint-Michel, -who weighs good Christians for the day of judgment, or so they say): it -is given in the funeral oration which the archbishop made upon the said -queen at Blois:-- - -"In the days when Brennus, that great captain of the Gauls, led his army -throughout all Italy and Greece, there were with him in his troop two -French nobles, one named Felsinus, the other named Bono, who, seeing the -wicked design of Brennus, after his fine conquests, to invade the -temple of Delphos and soil himself and his army with the sacrilege of -that temple, withdrew, both of them, and passed into Asia with their -vessels and men, advancing so far that they entered the sea of the -Medes, which is near to Lydia and Persia. Thence, having made great -conquests and obtained great victories, they were returning through -Italy, hoping to reach France, when Felsinus stopped at a place where -Florence now stands beside the river Arno, which he saw to be fine and -delectable, and situated much as another which had pleased him much in -the country of the Medes. There he built a city which to-day is -Florence; and his companion, Bono, built another and named it Bononia, -now called Bologna, the which are neighbouring cities. Henceforth, in -consequence of the victories and conquests of Felsinus among the Medes, -he was called _Medicus_ among his friends, a name that remained to the -family; just as we read of Paulus surnamed _Macedonicus_ for having -conquered Macedonia from Perseus, and Scipio called _Africanus_ for -doing the same in Africa." - -I do not know where M. de Beaune may have taken this history; but it is -very probable that before the king and such an assembly, there convened -for the funeral of the queen, he would not have alleged the fact without -good authority. This descent is very far from the modern story invented -and attributed without grounds to the family of Medici, according to -that lying book which I have mentioned on the life of the said queen. -After this the said Sieur de Beaune says further, he has read in the -chronicles that one named Everard de' Medici, Sieur of Florence, went, -with many of his subjects, to the assistance of the voyage and -expedition made by Charlemagne against Desiderius, King of the Lombards; -and having very bravely succoured and assisted him, was confirmed and -invested with the lordship of Florence. Many years after, one Anemond -de' Medici, also Sieur of Florence, went, accompanied by many of his -subjects, to the Holy Land, with Godefroy de Bouillon, where he died at -the siege of Nica in Asia. Such greatness always continued in that -family until Florence was reduced to a republic by the intestine wars in -Italy between the emperors and the peoples, the illustrious members of -it manifesting their valour and grandeur from time to time; as we saw in -the latter days Cosmo de' Medici, who, with his arms, his navy, and -vessels, terrified the Turks in the Mediterranean Sea and in the distant -East; so that none since his time, however great he may be, has -surpassed him in strength and valour and wealth, as Raffaelle Volaterano -has written. - -The temples and sacred shrines by him built, the hospitals by him -founded, even in Jerusalem, are ample proof of his piety and -magnanimity. - -There were also Lorenzo de' Medici, surnamed the Great for his virtuous -deeds, and two great popes, Leo and Clement, also many cardinals and -grand personages of the name; besides the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosmo -de' Medici, a wise and wary man, if ever there was one. He succeeded in -maintaining himself in his duchy, which he found invaded and much -disturbed when he came to it. - -In short, nothing can rob this house of the Medici of its lustre, very -noble and grand as it is in every way. - -As for the house of Boulogne and Auvergne, who will say that it is not -great, having issued originally from that noble Eustache de Boulogne, -whose brother, Godefroy de Bouillon, bore arms and escutcheons with so -vast a number of princes, seigneurs, chevaliers, and Christian soldiers, -even to Jerusalem and the Sepulchre of our Saviour; and would have made -himself, by his sword and the favour of God, king, not only of -Jerusalem but of the greater part of the East, to the confusion of -Mahomet, the Saracens, and the Mahometans, amazing all the rest of the -world and replanting Christianity in Asia, where it had fallen to the -lowest? - -For the rest, this house has ever been sought in alliance by all the -monarchies of Christendom and the great families; such as France, -England, Scotland, Hungary, and Portugal, which latter kingdom belonged -to it of right, as I have heard Prsident de Thou say, and as the queen -herself did me the honour to tell me at Bordeaux when she heard of the -death of King Sebastian [in Morocco, 1578], the Medici being received to -argue the justice of their rights at the last Assembly of States before -the decease of King Henry [in 1580]. This was why she armed M. de -Strozzi to make an invasion, the King of Spain having usurped the -kingdom; she was arrested in so fine a course only by reasons which I -will explain at another time. - -I leave you to suppose, therefore, whether this house of Boulogne was -great; yes, so great that I once heard Pope Pius IV. say, sitting at -table at a dinner he gave after his election to the Cardinals of Ferrara -and Guise, his creations, that the house of Boulogne was so great and -noble he knew none in France, whatever it was, that could surpass it in -antiquity, valour, and grandeur. - -All this is much against those malicious detractors who have said that -this queen was a Florentine of low birth. Moreover, she was not so poor -but what she brought to France in marriage estates which are worth -to-day twenty-six thousand _livres_,--such as the counties of Auvergne -and Lauragais, the seigneuries of Leverons, Donzenac, Boussac, Gorrges, -Hondecourt and other lands,--all an inheritance from her mother. Besides -which, her dowry was of more than two hundred thousand ducats, which are -worth to-day over four hundred thousand; with great quantities of -furniture, precious stones, jewels, and other riches, such as the finest -and largest pearls ever seen in so great a number, which she afterwards -gave to her daughter-in-law, the Queen of Scotland [Mary Stuart], whom I -have seen wearing them. - -Besides all this, many estates, houses, deeds, and claims in Italy. - -But more than all else, through her marriage the affairs of France, -which had been so shaken by the imprisonment of the king and his losses -at Milan and Naples, began to get firmer. King Franois was very willing -to say that the marriage had served his interests. Therefore there was -given to this queen for her device a rainbow, which she bore as long as -she was married, with these words in Greek [Greek: phs pherei de -galnn]. Which is the same as saying that just as this fire and bow in -the sky brings and signifies good weather after rain, so this queen was -a true sign of clearness, serenity, and the tranquillity of peace. The -Greek is thus translated: _Lucem fert et serenitatem_--"She brings light -and serenity." - -After that, the emperor [Charles V.] dared push no longer his ambitious -motto: "Ever farther." For, although there was truce between himself and -King Franois, he was nursing his ambition with the design of gaining -always from France whatever he could; and he was much astonished at this -alliance with the pope [Clement VII.], regarding the latter as able, -courageous, and vindictive for his imprisonment by the imperial forces -at the sack of Rome [1527]. Such a marriage displeased him so much that -I have heard a truthful lady of the Court say that if he had not been -married to the empress, he would have seized an alliance with the pope -himself and espoused his niece [Catherine de' Medici], as much for the -support of so strong a party as because he feared the pope would assist -in making him lose Naples, Milan, and Genoa; for the pope had promised -King Franois, in an authentic document, when he delivered to him the -money of his niece's dowry and her rings and jewels, to make the dowry -worthy of such a marriage by the addition of three pearls of inestimable -value, of the excessive splendour of which all the greatest kings were -envious and covetous; the which were Naples, Milan, and Genoa. And it is -not to be doubted that if the said pope had lived out his natural life -he would have sold the emperor well, and made him pay dear for that -imprisonment, in order to aggrandize his niece and the kingdom to which -she was joined. But Clement VII. died young, and all this profit came to -nought. - -So now our queen, having lost her mother, Magdelaine de Boulogne, and -Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, her father, in early life, was -married by her good uncle the pope to France, whither she was brought by -sea to Marseille in great triumph; and her wedding was pompously -performed, at the age of fourteen. She made herself so beloved by the -king, her father-in-law, and by King Henri, her husband [not king till -the death of Franois I.], that on remaining ten years without producing -issue, and many persons endeavouring to persuade the king and the -dauphin, her husband, to repudiate her because there was such need of an -heir to France, neither the one nor the other would consent because they -loved her so much. But after ten years, in accordance with the natural -habit of the women of the race of Medici, who are tardy in conceiving, -she began by producing the Little King Franois II. After that, was born -the Queen of Spain, and then, consecutively, that fine and illustrious -progeny whom we have all seen, and also others no sooner born than dead, -by great misfortune and fatality. All this caused the king, her husband, -to love her more and more, and in such a way that he, who was of an -amorous temperament, and greatly liked to make love and to change his -loves, said often that of all the women in the world there was none like -his wife for that, and he did not know her equal. He had reason to say -so, for she was truly a beautiful and most amiable princess. - -She was of rich and very fine presence; of great majesty, but very -gentle when need was; of noble appearance and good grace, her face -handsome and agreeable, her bosom very beautiful, white and full; her -body also very white, the flesh beautiful, the skin smooth, as I have -heard from several of her ladies; of a fine plumpness also, the leg and -thigh very beautiful (as I have heard, too, from the same ladies); and -she took great pleasure in being well shod and in having her stockings -well and tightly drawn up. - -Besides all this, the most beautiful hand that was ever seen, as I -believe. Once upon a time the poets praised Aurora for her fine hands -and beautiful fingers; but I think our queen would efface her in that, -and she guarded and maintained that beauty all her life. The king, her -son, Henri III., inherited much of this beauty of the hand. - -She always clothed herself well and superbly, often with some pretty and -new invention. In short, she had many charms in herself to make her -beloved. I remember that one day at Lyons she went to see a painter -named Corneille, who had painted in a large room all the great -seigneurs, princes, cavaliers, queens, princesses, ladies of the Court, -and damoiselles. Being in the said room of these portraits we saw there -our queen, painted very well in all her beauty and perfection, -apparelled _ la Franaise_ in a cap and her great pearls, and a gown -with wide sleeves of silver tissue furred with lynx,--the whole so well -represented to the life that only speech was lacking; her three fine -daughters were beside her. She took great pleasure at the sight, and all -the company there present did the same, praising and admiring her -beauty above all. She herself was so ravished by the contemplation that -she could not take her eyes from the picture until M. de Nemours came to -her and said: "Madame, I think you are there so well portrayed that -nothing more can be said; and it seems to me that your daughters do you -proper honour, for they do not go before you or surpass you." To this -she answered: "My cousin, I think you can remember the time, the age, -and the dress of this picture; so that you can judge better than any of -this company, for you saw me like that, whether I was estimated such as -you say, and whether I ever was as I there appear." There was not one in -the company that did not praise and estimate that beauty highly, and say -that the mother was worthy of the daughters, and the daughters of the -mother. And such beauty lasted her, married and widowed, almost to her -death; not that she was as fresh as in her more blooming years, but -always well preserved, very desirable and agreeable. - -For the rest, she was very good company and of gay humour; loving all -honourable exercises, such as dancing, in which she had great grace and -majesty. - -She also loved hunting; about which I heard a lady of the Court tell -this tale: King Franois, having chosen and made a company which was -called "the little band of the Court ladies," the handsomest, daintiest, -and most favoured, often escaped from the Court and went to other houses -to hunt the stag and pass his time, sometimes staying thus withdrawn -eight days, ten days, sometimes more and sometimes less, as the humour -took him. Our queen (who was then only Mme. la dauphine) seeing such -parties made without her, and that even Mesdames her sisters-in-law were -there while she stayed at home, made prayer to the king, to take her -always with him, and to do her the honour to permit that she should -never budge without him. - -[Illustration: _Henri II_] - -It was said that she, being very shrewd and clever, did this as much or -more to see the king's actions and get his secrets and hear and know all -things, as from liking for the hunt. - -King Franois was pleased with this request, for it showed the good-will -that she had for his company; and he granted it heartily; so that -besides loving her naturally he now loved her more, and delighted in -giving her pleasure in the hunt, at which she never left his side, but -followed him at full speed. She was very good on horseback and bold; -sitting with ease, and being the first to put the leg around a pommel; -which was far more graceful and becoming than sitting with the feet upon -a plank. Till she was sixty years of age and over she liked to ride on -horseback, and after her weakness prevented her she pined for it. It was -one of her greatest pleasures to ride far and fast, though she fell many -times with damage to her body, breaking her leg once, and wounding her -head, which had to be trepanned. After she was widowed and had charge of -the king and the kingdom, she took the king always with her, and her -other children; but while her husband, King Henri, lived, she usually -went with him to the meet of the stag and the other hunts. - -If he played at pall-mall she watched him play, and played herself. She -was very fond of shooting with a cross-bow _ jalet_ [ball of stone], -and she shot right well; so that always when she went to ride her -cross-bow was taken with her, and if she saw any game, she shot it. - -She was ever inventing some new dance or beautiful ballet when the -weather was bad. Also she invented games and passed her time with one -and another intimately; but always appearing very grave and austere when -necessary. - -She was fond of seeing comedies and tragedies; but after "Sophonisbe," -a tragedy composed by M. de Saint-Glais, was very well represented by -her daughters and other ladies and damoiselles and gentlemen of her -Court, at Blois for the marriages of M. du Cypire and the Marquis -d'Elboeuf, she took an opinion that it was harmful to the affairs of -the kingdom, and would never have tragedies played again. But she -listened readily to comedies and tragi-comedies, and even those of -"Zani" and "Pantaloon," taking great pleasure in them, and laughing with -all her heart like any other; for she liked laughter, and her natural -self was jovial, loving a witty word and ready with it, knowing well -when to cast her speech and her stone, and when to withhold them. - -She passed her time in the afternoons at work on her silk embroideries, -in which she was as perfect as possible. In short, this queen liked and -gave herself up to all honourable exercises; and there was not one that -was worthy of herself and her sex that she did not wish to know and -practise. - -There is what I can say, speaking briefly and avoiding prolixity, about -the beauty of her body and her occupations. - -When she called any one "my friend" it was either that she thought him a -fool, or she was angry with him. This was so well known that she had a -serving gentleman named M. de Bois-Fevrier, who made reply when she -called him "my friend": "Ha! madame, I would rather you called me your -enemy; for to call me your friend is as good as saying I am a fool, or -that you are in anger against me; for I know your nature this long -time." - -As for her mind, it was very great and very admirable, as was shown in -so many fine and signal acts by which her life has been made illustrious -forever. The king, her husband, and his council esteemed her so much -that when the king went his journey to Germany, out of his kingdom, he -established and ordered her as regent and governor throughout his -dominions during his absence, by a declaration solemnly made before a -full parliament in Paris. And in this office she behaved so wisely that -there was no disturbance, change, or alteration in the State by reason -of the king's absence; but, on the contrary, she looked so carefully to -business that she assisted the king with money, means, and men, and -other kinds of succour; which helped him much for his return, and even -for the conquest which he made of cities in the duchy of Luxembourg, -such as Yvoy, Montmedy, Dampvilliers, Chimay, and others. - -I leave you to think how he who wrote that fine life I spoke of -detracted from her in saying that never did the king, her husband, allow -her to put her nose into matters of State. Was not making her regent in -his absence giving her ample occasion to have full knowledge of them? -And it was thus she did during all the journeys that he made yearly in -going to his armies. - -What did she after the battle of Saint-Laurens, when the State was -shaken and the king had gone to Compigne to raise a new army? She so -espoused affairs that she roused and excited the gentlemen of Paris to -give prompt succour to their king, which came most apropos, both in -money and in other things very necessary in war. - -Also, when the king was wounded, those who were of that time and saw it -cannot be ignorant of the great care she took for his cure: the watches -she made beside him without ever sleeping; the prayers with which, time -after time, she importuned God; the processions and visitation of -churches which she made; and the posts which she sent about everywhere -inquiring for doctors and surgeons. But his hour had come; and when he -passed from this world into the other, she made such lamentations and -shed such tears that never did she stanch them; and in memory of him, -whenever he was spoken of as long as she lived, they gushed from the -depths of her eyes; so that she took a device proper and suitable to her -tears and her mourning, namely: a mound of quicklime, on which the drops -of heaven fell abundantly, with these words writ in Latin: _Adorem -extincta testantur vivere flamma_; the drops of water, like her tears, -showing ardour, though the flame was extinct. This device takes its -allegory from the nature of quicklime, which, being watered, burns -strangely and shows its fire though flame is not there. Thus did our -queen show her ardour and her affection by her tears, though flame, -which was her husband, was now extinct; and this was as much as to say -that, dead as he was, she made it appear by her tears that she could -never forget him, but should love him always. - -A like device was borne in former days by Madame Valentine de Milan, -Duchesse d'Orlans, after the death of her husband, killed in Paris, for -which she had such great regret that for all comfort and solace in her -moaning, she took a watering-pot for her device, on the top of which was -an S, in sign, so they say, of _seule_, _souvenir_, _soucis_, -_soupirer_, and around the said watering-pot were written these words: -_Rien ne m'est plus; plus ne m'est rien_--"Nought is more to me; more is -to me nothing." This device can still be seen in her chapel in the -church of the Franciscans at Blois. - -The good King Ren of Sicily, having lost his wife Isabel, Duchesse de -Lorraine, suffered such great grief that never did he truly rejoice -again; and when his intimate friends and favourites urged him to -consolation he led them to his cabinet and showed them, painted by his -own hand (for he was an excellent painter), a Turkish bow with its -string unstrung, beneath which was written: _Arco per lentare piaga non -sana_--"The bow although unstrung heals not the wound." Then he said to -them: "My friends, with this picture I answer all your reasons: by -unstringing a bow or breaking its string, the harm thus done by the -arrow may quickly be mended, but, the life of my dear spouse being by -death extinct and broken, the wound of the loyal love--the which, her -living, filled my heart--cannot be cured." And in various places in -Angers we see these Turkish bows with broken strings and beneath them -the same words, _Arco per lentare piaga non sana_; even at the -Franciscan church, in the chapel of Saint-Bernardin which he caused to -be decorated. This device he took after the death of his wife; for in -her lifetime he bore another. - -Our queen, around her device which I have told of, placed many trophies: -broken mirrors and fans, crushed plumes, and pearls, jewels scattered to -earth, and chains in pieces; the whole in sign of quitting worldly pomp, -her husband being dead, for whom her mourning never was remitted. And, -without the grace of God and the fortitude with which he had endowed -her, she would surely have succumbed to such great sadness and distress. -Besides, she saw that her young children and France had need of her, as -we have since seen by experience; for, like a Semiramis, or second -Athalie, she foiled, saved, guarded, and preserved her said young -children from many enterprises planned against them in their early -years; and this with so much industry and prudence that everybody -thought her wonderful. She, being regent of the kingdom after the death -of her son King Franois during the minority of our king by the ordering -of the Estates of Orlans, imposed her will upon the King of Navarre, -who, as premier prince of the blood, wished to be regent in her place -and govern all things; but she gained so well and so dexterously the -said Estates that if the said King of Navarre had not gone elsewhere she -would have caused him to be attainted of the crime of lse-majest. And -possibly she would still have done so for the actions which, it was -said, he made the Prince de Cond do about those Estates, but for Mme. -de Montpensier, who governed her much. So the said king was forced to -content himself to be under her. Now there is one of the shrewd and -subtle deeds she did in her beginning. - -Afterwards she knew how to maintain her rank and authority so -imperiously that no one dared gainsay it, however grand and disturbing -he was, for a period of three months when, the Court being at -Fontainebleau, the said King of Navarre, wishing to show his feelings, -took offence because M. de Guise ordered the keys of the king's house -brought to him every evening, and kept them all night in his room like a -grand-master (for that is one of his offices), so that no one could go -out without his permission. This angered the King of Navarre, who wished -to keep the keys himself; but, being refused, he grew spiteful and -mutinied in such a way that one morning suddenly he came to take leave -of the king and queen, intending to depart from the Court, taking with -him all the princes of the blood whom he had won over, together with M. -le Conntable de Montmorency and his children and nephew. - -The queen, who did not in any way expect this step, was at first much -astonished, and tried all she could to ward off the blow, giving good -hope to the King of Navarre that if he were patient he would some day be -satisfied. But fine words gained her nothing with the said king, who was -set on departing. Whereupon the queen bethought her of this subtle -point: she sent and gave commandment to M. le conntable, as the -principal, first, and oldest officer of the crown, to stay near the -king, his master, as his duty and office demanded, and not to leave him. -M. le conntable, wise and judicious as he was, being very zealous for -his master and careful of his grandeur and honour, after reflecting on -his duty and the command sent to him, went to see the king and present -himself as ready to fulfil his office; which greatly astonished the King -of Navarre, who was on the point of mounting his horse expecting M. le -conntable, who came instead to represent his duty and office and to -persuade him not to budge himself nor to depart; and did this so well -that the King of Navarre went to see the king and queen at the -instigation of the conntable, and having conferred with their -Majesties, his journey was given up and his mules were countermanded, -they having then arrived at Melun. So all was pacified to the great -content of the King of Navarre. Not that M. de Guise diminished in any -way his office, or yielded one atom of his honour, for he kept his -pre-eminence and all that belonged to him, without being shaken in the -least, although he was not the stronger; but he was a man of the world -in such things, who was never bewildered, but knew very well how to -brave all and hold his rank and keep what he had. - -It is not to be doubted, as all the world knows, that, if the queen had -not bethought her of this ruse regarding M. le conntable, all that -party would have gone to Paris and stirred up things to our injury; for -which reason great praise should be given to the queen for this shift. I -know, for I was there, that many persons said it was not of her -invention, but that of Cardinal de Tournon, a wise and judicious -prelate; but that is false, for, old stager though he was, i' faith the -queen knew more of wiles than he, or all the council of the king -together; for very often, when he was at fault, she would help him and -put him on the traces of what he ought to know, of which I might produce -a number of examples; but it will be enough to give this instance, which -is fresh, and which she herself did me the honour to disclose to me. It -is as follows:-- - -When she went to Guyenne, and lately to Coignac, to reconcile the -princes of the Religion and those of the League, and so put the kingdom -in peace, for she saw it would soon be ruined by such divisions, she -determined to proclaim a truce in order to treat of this peace; at which -the King of Navarre and the Prince de Cond were very discontent and -mutinous,--all the more, they said, because this proclamation did them -great harm on account of their foreigners, who, having heard of it, -might repent of their coming, or delay it; and they accused the said -queen of having made it with that intention. So they said and resolved -not to see the queen, and not to treat with her unless the said truce -were rescinded. Now finding her council, whom she had with her, though -composed of good heads, very ridiculous and little to be honoured -because they thought it impossible to find means to rescind the said -truce, the queen said to them: "Truly, you are very stupid as to the -remedy. Know you not better? There is but one means for that. You have -at Maillezais the regiment of Neufvy and de Sorlu, Huguenots; send me -from here, from Niort, all the arquebusiers that you can, and cut them -to pieces, and there you have the truce rescinded and undone without -further trouble." As she commanded so it was executed; the arquebusiers -started, led by the Capitaine l'Estelle, and forced their fort and their -barricades so well that there they were quite defeated, Sorlu killed, -who was a valiant man, Neufvy taken prisoner with many others, and all -their banners captured and brought to Niort to the queen; who, using her -accustomed turn of clemency, pardoned all and sent them away with their -ensigns and even with their flags, which, as regards the flags, is a -very rare thing. But she chose to do this stroke, rare or not, so she -told me, to the princes; who now knew they had to do with a very able -princess, and that it was not to her they should address such mockery as -to make her rescind a truce by the very heralds who had proclaimed it; -for while they were thinking to make her receive that insult, she had -fallen upon them, and now sent them word by the prisoners that it was -not for them to affront her by asking unseemly and unreasonable things, -because it was in her power to do them both good and evil. - -That is how this queen knew how to give and teach a lesson to her -council. I might tell of many such things, but I have now to treat of -other points: the first of which must be to answer those whom I have -often heard say that she was the first to rouse to arms, and so was -cause of our civil wars. Whoso will look to the source of the matter -will not believe that; for the triumvirate having been created, she, -seeing the proceedings which were preparing and the change made by the -King of Navarre,--who from being formerly Huguenot and very reformed had -made himself Catholic,--and knowing that through that change she had -reason to fear for the king, the kingdom, and her own person that he -would move against them, reflected and puzzled her mind to discover to -what such proceedings, meetings, and colloquies held in secret tended. -Not being able, as they say, to come at the bottom of the pot, she -bethought her one day, when the secret council was in session in the -room of the King of Navarre, to go into the room above his, and by means -of a tube which she had caused to be slipped surreptitiously under the -tapestry she listened unperceived to their discourse. Among other things -she heard one thing that was very terrible and bitter to her. The -Marchal de Saint-Andr, one of the triumvirate, gave it as his opinion -that the queen should be put in a sack and flung into the river, for -that otherwise they could never succeed in their plans. But the late M. -de Guise, who was very good and generous, said that must not be; for it -were too unjust to make the wife and mother of our kings perish thus -miserably, and he opposed it all. For this the said queen has always -loved him, and proved it to his children after his death by giving them -his estates. - -I leave you to suppose what this sentence was to the queen, having heard -it thus with her own ears, and whether she had no occasion for fear, -although she was thus defended by M. de Guise. From what I have heard -tell by one of her most intimate ladies, she feared they would strike -the blow without the knowledge of M. de Guise, as indeed she had reason -to do; for in deeds so detestable an upright man should always be -distrusted, and the act not communicated to him. She was thus compelled -to consider her safety, and employ those she saw already under arms [the -Prince de Cond and other Protestant leaders], begging them to have pity -for a mother and her children. - -That is the whole cause, just as it was, of the civil war. She would -never go to Orlans with the others, nor give them the king and her -children, as she could have done; and she was very glad that in the -hurly-burly of arms she and the king her son and her other children were -in safety, as was reasonable. Moreover, she requested and held the -promise of the others that whenever she should summon them to lay down -their arms they would do so; which, nevertheless, they would not do when -the time came, no matter what appeals she made to them, and what pains -she took, and the great heat she endured at Talsy, to induce them to -listen to the peace she could have made good and secured for all France -had they then listened to her; and this great fire and others we have -since seen lighted from this first brand would have been forever -extinguished in France if they would then have trusted her. I know what -I myself have heard her say, with the tears in her eyes, and with what -zeal she endeavoured to do it. - -This is why they cannot charge her with the first spark of the civil -war, nor yet with the second, which was the day of Meaux; for at that -time she was thinking only of a hunt, and of giving pleasure to the king -in her beautiful house at Monceaux. The warning came that M. le Prince -and others of the Religion were in arms and advancing to surprise and -seize the king under colour of presenting a request. God knows who was -the cause of this new disturbance, and without the six thousand Swiss -then lately raised, who knows what might have happened? This levy of -Swiss was only the pretext of their taking up arms, and of saying and -publishing that it was done to force them to war. In fact it was they, -themselves, as I know from being at Court, who requested that levy of -the king and queen, on the passage of the Duke of Alba and his army, -fearing that under colour of reaching Flanders he might descend upon the -frontiers of France; and they urged that it was the custom to arm the -frontiers whenever a neighbouring State was arming. No one can be -ignorant how urgent for this they were to the king and queen by letters -and embassies,--even M. le Prince himself and M. l'amiral [Coligny] -coming to see the king on this subject at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where I -saw them. - -I would also like to ask (for all that I write here I saw myself) who it -was who took up arms on Shrove Tuesday, and who suborned and solicited -Monsieur the king's brother, and the King of Navarre, to give ear to the -enterprises for which Mole and Coconas were executed in Paris. It was -not the queen, for it was by her prudence that she prevented them from -uprising,--by keeping Monsieur and the King of Navarre so locked in to -the forest of Vincennes that they could not set out; and on the death of -King Charles she held them so tightly in Paris and the Louvre, barring -their windows one morning,--at any rate those of the King of Navarre, -who was lodged on the lower floor (the King of Navarre, told me this -himself with tears in his eyes),--that they could not escape as they -intended, which would greatly have embroiled the State and prevented the -return of Poland to the King, which was what they were after. I know all -this from having been invited to the _fricasse_, which was one of the -finest strokes ever made by the queen. Starting from Paris she conducted -them to Lyons to meet the king so dexterously that no one who saw them -would ever have supposed them prisoners; they went in the same coach -with her, and she presented them herself to the king, who, on his side, -pardoned them soon after. - -Also, who was it that enticed Monsieur the king's brother to leave Paris -one fine night and the company of his brother who loved him well, and -whose affection he cast off to go and take up arms and embroil all -France? M. de La Noue knows well, and also the secret plots that began -at the siege of Rochelle, and what I said to him about them. It was not -the queen-mother, for she felt such grief at seeing one brother banded -against another brother and his king, that she swore she would die of -it, or else replace and reunite them as before--which she did; for I -heard her say at Blois, in conversation with Monsieur, that she prayed -for nothing so much as that God would grant her the favour of that -reunion, after which he might send her death and she would accept it -with all her heart; or else she would gladly retire to her houses of -Monceaux and Chenonceaux, and never mix further in the affairs of -France, wishing to end her days in tranquillity. In fact, she truly -wished to do the latter; but the king implored her to abstain, for he -and his kingdom had great need of her. I am assured that if she had not -made this peace at that time, all was over with France, for there were -in the country fifty thousand foreigners, from one region or another, -who would have aided in humbling and destroying her. - -It was, therefore, not the queen who called to arms at this time to -satisfy the State-Assembly at Blois, the which, wanting but one religion -and proposing to abolish that which was contrary to their own, demanded, -if the spiritual blade did not suffice to abolish it, that recourse -should be had to the temporal. Some have said that the queen had bribed -them; that is false. I do not say that she did not bribe them later, -which was a fine stroke of policy and intelligence; but it was not she -who called together the said Assembly; so far from that, she blamed them -for all, and also because they lessened greatly the king's authority and -her own. It was the party of the Religion which had long demanded that -Assembly, and required by the terms of the last peace that it should be -called together and assembled; to which the queen objected strongly, -foreseeing abuses. However, to content them because they clamoured for -it so much, they had it, to their own confusion and damage, and not to -their profit and contentment as they expected, so that finally they took -up arms. Thus it was still not the queen who did so. - -Neither was it she who caused them to be taken up when Mont-de-Marsan, -La Fre in Picardy, and Cahors were taken. I remember what the king said -to M. de Miossans, who came to him on behalf of the King of Navarre; he -rebuffed him harshly, and told him that while those princes were cloying -him with fine words they were calling to arms and taking cities. - -Now that is how this queen was the instigator of all our wars and civil -fires, the which, while she never lighted them, she spent her pains and -labour in striving to extinguish, abhorring to see so many of the nobles -and men of honour die. And without that, and without her commiseration, -they who have hated her with mortal hatred would have been ill-off, and -their party underground and not flourishing as it now is; which must be -imputed to her kindness, of which we now have sore need, for, as every -one says and the poor people cry, "We have no longer the queen-mother to -make peace for us." It was not her fault that peace was not made when -she went to Guyenne lately to treat of it with the King of Navarre and -the Prince de Cond. - -They have tried to accuse her also of being an accomplice in the wars of -the League. Why, then, should she have brought about the peace of which -I speak if she were that? Why should she have pacified the riot of the -barricades in Paris? Why should she have reconciled the king and the Duc -de Guise only to destroy the latter and kill him? - -Well, let them launch into such foul abuse against her all they will, -never shall we have another queen in France so good for peace. - -They have accused her of that massacre in Paris [the Saint-Bartholomew]; -all that is a sealed book to me, for at that time I was preparing to -embark at Brouage; but I have often heard it said that she was not the -chief actress in it. There were three or four others, whom I might name, -who were more ardent in it than she and pushed her on, making her -believe, from the threats uttered on the wounding of M. l'amiral, that -the king was to be killed, and she with all her children and the whole -Court, or else that the country would be in arms much worse than ever. -Certainly the party of Religion did very wrong to make the threats it is -said they made; for they brought on the fate of poor M. l'amiral, and -procured his death. If they had kept themselves quiet, said no word, and -let M. l'amiral's wound heal, he could have left Paris at his ease, and -nothing further would have come of it. M. de La Noue was of that -opinion. He and M. Strozzi and I have often spoken of it, he not -approving of such bravados, audacities, and threats as were made at the -very Court of the king in his city of Paris; and he greatly blamed M. de -Theligny, his brother-in-law, who was one of the hottest, calling him -and his companions perfect fools and most incapable. M. l'amiral never -used such language as I have heard from others, at least not aloud. I do -not say that in secret and private with his intimate friends he never -spoke it. That was the cause of the death of M. l'amiral and the -massacres of his people, and not the queen; as I have heard say by those -who know well, although there are many from whose heads you could never -oust the opinion that this train was long laid and the plot long in -hatching. It is all false. The least passionate think as I have said; -the more passionate and obstinate believe the other way; and very often -we give credit for the ordering of events to kings and great princes, -and say after those events have happened how prudent and provident they -were, and how well they knew how to dissimulate, when all the while they -knew no more about them than a plum. - -To return again to our queen; her enemies have put it about that she was -not a good Frenchwoman. God knows with what ardour I saw her urge that -the English might be driven from France at Havre de Grce, and what she -said of it to M. le Prince, and how she made him go with many gentlemen -of his party, and the crown-companies of M. d'Andelot, and other -Huguenots, and how she herself led the army, mounted usually on a horse, -like a second beautiful Queen Marfisa, exposing herself to the -arquebusades and the cannonades as if she were one of her captains, -looking to the making of the batteries, and saying she should never be -at ease until she had taken that town and driven the English out of -France; hating worse than poison those who had sold it to them. And -thus she did so much that finally she made the country French. - -When Rouen was besieged, I saw her in the greatest anger when she beheld -supplies entering the town by means of a French galley captured the year -before, she fearing that the place, failing to be taken by us, would -come under the dominion of the English. For this reason she pushed hard -at the wheel, as they say, to take it, and never failed every day to -come to the fort Sainte-Catherine to hold council and see the firing. I -have often seen her passing along the covered way of Sainte-Catherine, -the cannonades and arquebusades raining round her, and she caring -nothing for them. - -Those who were there saw her as I did; there are still many ladies, her -maids of honour who accompanied her, to whom the firing was not too -pleasant; I knew this for I saw them there; but when M. le conntable -and M. de Guise remonstrated with her, telling her some misfortune would -come of it, she only laughed and said: Why should she spare herself more -than they, inasmuch as she had as good courage as they had, though not -their strength, which her sex denied her? As for fatigue, she endured -that well, whether on foot or on horseback. I think that for long there -had never been a queen or a princess better on horseback, sitting with -such grace,--not appearing, for all that, like a masculine dame, in form -and style a fantastic amazon, but a comely princess, beautiful, -agreeable, and gentle. - -They said of her that she was very Spanish. Certainly as long as her -good daughter lived [lisabeth, wife of Philip II.] she loved Spain; but -after her daughter died we knew, at least some of us, whether she had -reason to love it, either country or nation. True it is that she was -always so prudent that she chose to treat the King of Spain as her good -son-in-law, in order that he in turn should treat better her good and -beautiful daughter, as is the custom of good mothers; so that he never -came to trouble France, nor to bring war there, according to his brave -heart and natural ambition. - -Others have also said that she did not like the nobility of France and -desired much to shed its blood. I refer for that to the many times that -she made peace and spared that blood; besides which, attention should be -paid to this, namely: that while she was regent, and her children -minors, there were not known at Court so many quarrels and combats as we -have seen there since; she would not allow them, and forbade expressly -all duelling and punished those who transgressed that order. I have seen -her at Court, when the king went away to stay some days and she was left -absolute and alone, at a time when quarrels had begun again and were -becoming common, also duelling, which she never would permit,--I have -known her, I say, give a sudden order to the captain of the guards to -make arrests, and to the marshals and captains to pacify the quarrel; so -that, to tell the truth, she was more feared than the king; for she knew -how to talk to the disobedient and the dissolute, and rebuke them -terribly. - -I remember that once, the king having gone to the baths of Bourbon, my -late cousin La Chastaignerie had a quarrel with Pardailhan. She had him -searched for, in order to forbid him, on his life, to fight a duel; but -not being able to find him for two whole days, she had him tracked so -well that on a Sunday morning, he being on the island of Louviers -awaiting his enemy, the grand provost arrived to arrest him, and took -him prisoner to the Bastille by order of the queen. But he stayed there -only one night; for she sent for him and gave him a reprimand, partly -sharp and partly gentle, because she was really kind, and was harsh only -when she chose to be. I know very well what she said to me also when I -was for seconding my said cousin, namely: that as the older I ought to -have been the wiser. - -The year that the king returned to Poland a quarrel arose between -Messieurs de Grillon and d'Entraigues, two brave and valiant gentlemen, -who being called out and ready to fight, the king forbade them through -M. de Rambouillet, one of his captains of the guard then in quarters, -and he ordered M. de Nevers and the Marchal de Retz to make up the -quarrel, which they failed in doing. That evening the queen sent for -them both into her room; and as their quarrel was about two great ladies -of her household, she commanded them with great sternness, and then -besought them both in all gentleness, to leave to her the settlement of -their differences; inasmuch as, having done them the honour to meddle in -it, and the princes, marshals, and captains having failed in making them -agree, it was now a point of honour with her to have the glory of doing -so: by which she made them friends, and they embraced without other -forms, taking all from her; so that by her prudence the subject of the -quarrel, which was delicate, and rather touched the honour of the two -ladies, was never known publicly. That was the true kindness of a -princess! And then to say she did not like the nobility! Ha! the truth -was, she noticed and esteemed it too much. I think there was not a great -family in the kingdom with whom she was not acquainted; she used to say -she had learned from King Franois the genealogies of the great families -of his kingdom; and as for the king, her husband, he had this faculty, -that when he had once seen a nobleman he knew him always, in face, in -deeds, and in reputation. - -I have seen the queen, often and ordinarily, while the king, her son, -was a minor, take the trouble to present to him herself the gentlemen -of his kingdom, and put them in his memory thus: "Such a one did service -to the king your grandfather, at such and such times and places; and -this one served your father;" and so on,--commanding him to remember all -this, and to love them and do well by them, and recognize them at other -times; which he knew very well how to do, for, through such instruction, -this king recognized readily all men of character and race and honour -throughout his kingdom. - -Detractors have also said that she did not like her people. What -appears? Were there ever so many tailles, subsidies, imposts, and other -taxes while she was governing during the minority of her children as -have since been drawn in a single year? Was it proved that she had all -that hidden money in the banks of Italy, as people said? Far from that, -it was found after her death that she had not a single sou; and, as I -have heard some of her financiers and some of her ladies say, she was -indebted eight thousand crowns, the wages of her ladies, gentlemen, and -household officers, due a year, and the revenue of the whole year spent; -so that some months before her death her financiers showed her these -necessities; but she laughed and said one must praise God for all and -find something to live on. That was her avarice and the great treasure -she amassed, as people said! She never amassed anything, for she had a -heart wholly noble, liberal, and magnificent, like her great uncle, Pope -Leo, and that magnificent Lorenzo de' Medici. She spent or gave away -everything; erecting buildings, spending in honourable magnificences, -and taking pleasure in giving recreations to her people and her Court, -such as festivals, balls, dances, tournaments and spearing the ring -[_couremens de bague_], of which latter she held three that were very -superb during her lifetime: one at Fontainebleau on the Shrove Tuesday -after the first troubles; where there were tourneys and breaking of -lances and combats at the barrier,--in short, all sorts of feats of -arms, with a comedy on the subject of the beautiful Genevra of Ariosto, -which she caused to be represented by Mme. d'Angoulme and her most -beautiful and virtuous princesses and the ladies and damoiselles of her -Court, who certainly played it very well, and so that nothing finer was -ever seen. The second was at Bayonne, at the interview between the queen -and her good daughter lisabeth, Queen of Spain, where the magnificence -was such in all things that the Spanish, who are very disdainful of -other countries than their own, swore they had never seen anything -finer, and that their own king could not approach it; and thus they -returned to Spain much edified. - -I know that many in France blamed this expense as being superfluous; but -the queen said that she did it to show foreigners that France was not so -totally ruined and poverty-stricken because of the late wars as they -thought; and that if for such tourneys she was able to spend so much, -for matters of importance she could surely do better, and that France -was all the more feared and esteemed, whether through the sight of such -wealth and richness, or through that of the prowess of her gentlemen, so -brave and adroit at arms; as indeed there were many there very good to -see and worthy to be admired. Moreover, it was very reasonable that for -the greatest queen of Christendom, the most beautiful, the most -virtuous, and the best, some great solemn festival above all others -should be held. And I can assure you that if this had not been done, the -foreigners would have mocked us and gone back to Spain thinking and -holding us all in France to be beggars. - -Therefore it was not without good and careful consideration that this -wise and judicious queen made this outlay. She made another very fine -one on the arrival of the Poles in Paris, whom she feasted most superbly -in her Tuileries; after which, in a great hall built on purpose and -surrounded by an infinite number of torches, she showed them the finest -ballet that was ever seen on earth (I may indeed say so); the which was -composed of sixteen of her best-taught ladies and damoiselles, who -appeared in a great rock [_roc_, grotto?] all silvered, where they were -seated in niches, like vapours around it. These sixteen ladies -represented the sixteen provinces of France, with the most melodious -music ever heard; and after having made, in this rock, the tour of the -hall, like a parade in camp, and letting themselves be seen of every -one, they descended from the rock and formed themselves into a little -battalion, fantastically imagined, with violins to the number of thirty -sounding a warlike air extremely pleasant; and thus they marched to the -air of the violins, with a fine cadence they never lost, and so -approached, and stopped before their Majesties. After which they danced -their ballet, most fantastically invented, with so many turns, -counterturns, and gyrations, such twining and blending, such advancing -and pausing (though no lady failed to find her place and rank), that all -present were astonished to see how in such a maze order was not lost for -a moment, and that all these ladies had their judgment clear and held it -good, so well were they taught! This fantastic ballet lasted at least -one hour, the which being concluded, all these sixteen ladies, -representing, as I have said, the sixteen provinces, advanced to the -king, the queen, the King of Poland, Monsieur his brother, the King and -Queen of Navarre, and other grandees of France and Poland, presenting to -each a golden salver as large as the palm of the hand, finely enamelled -and beautifully chased, on which were engraved the fruits and products -of each province in which they were most fertile, such as citrons and -oranges in Provence, cereals in Champagne, wines in Burgundy, and in -Guyenne warriors,--great honour that for Guyenne certainly! And so on, -through the other provinces. - -At Bayonne the like presents were made, and a combat fought, which I -could represent very well, with the presents and the names of those who -received them, but it would be too long. At Bayonne it was the men who -gave to the ladies; here, it was the ladies giving to the men. Take note -that all these inventions came from no other devising and brain than -that of the queen; for she was mistress and inventress of everything; -she had such faculty that whatever magnificences were done at Court, -hers surpassed all others. For which reason they used to say there was -no one like the queen-mother for doing fine things. If such outlays were -costly, they gave great pleasure; and people often said she wished to -imitate the Roman emperors, who studied to exhibit games to their people -and give them pleasures, and so amuse them as not to leave them leisure -to do harm. - -Besides the pleasure she took in giving pleasure to her people, she also -gave them much to earn; for she liked all sorts of artisans and paid -them well; employing them each in his own art, so that they never wanted -for work, especially masons and builders, as is shown by her beautiful -houses: the Tuileries (still unfinished), Saint-Maur, Monceaux, and -Chenonceaux. Also she liked learned men, and was pleased to read, and -she made others read, the books they presented to her, or those that she -knew they had written. All were acceptable, even to the fine invectives -which were published against her, about which she scoffed and laughed, -without anger, calling those who wrote them gabblers and "givers of -trash"--that was her use of the word. - -She wished to know everything. On the voyage to Lorraine, during the -second troubles, the Huguenots had with them a fine culverin to which -they gave the name of "the queen-mother." They were forced to bury it at -Villenozze, not being able to drag it on account of its long shafts and -bad harness and weight; after which it never could be found again. The -queen, hearing that they had given it her name, wanted to know why. A -certain person, having been much urged by her to tell her, replied: -"Because, madame, it has a calibre [diameter] broader and bigger than -that of others." The queen was the first to laugh at this reply. - -She spared no pains in reading anything that took her fancy. I saw her -once, having embarked at Blaye to go and dine at Bourg, reading the -whole way from a parchment, like any lawyer or notary, a procs-verbal -made on Derbois, favourite secretary of the late M. le conntable, as to -certain underhand dealings and correspondence of which he was accused -and for which imprisoned at Bayonne. She never took her eyes off it -until she had read it through; and there were more than ten pages of -parchment. When she was not hindered, she read herself all letters of -importance, and frequently with her own hand made replies; I saw her -once, after dinner, write twenty long letters herself. - -She wrote and spoke French very well, although an Italian; and even to -persons of her own nation she usually spoke it, so much did she honour -France and its language; taking pains to exhibit its fine speech to -foreigners, grandees, and ambassadors, who came to visit her after -seeing the king. She always answered them very pertinently, with great -grace and majesty; as I have also seen and heard her do to the courts of -parliament, both publicly and privately; often controlling the latter -finely when they rambled in talk or were over-cautious, or would not -comply with the edicts made in her privy council and the ordinances -issued by the king and herself. You may be sure she spoke as a queen and -made herself feared as one. I saw her once at Bordeaux when she took her -daughter Marguerite to her husband, the King of Navarre. She had -commanded that court of parliament to come and be spoken to,--they not -being willing to abolish a certain brotherhood, by them invented and -maintained, which she was determined to break up, foreseeing that it -would bring some results in the end which might be prejudicial to the -State. They came to meet her in the garden of the Bishop's house, where -she was walking one Sunday morning. One among them spoke for all, and -gave her to understand the fruitfulness of this brotherhood and the -utility it was to the public. She, without being prepared, replied so -well and with such apt words, and apparent and appropriate reasons to -show it was ill-founded and odious, that there was no one present who -did not admire the mind of the queen and remain confused and astonished -when, as her last word, she said: "No, I will, and the king my son wills -that it be exterminated, and never heard of again, for secret reasons -that I shall not tell you, besides those that I have told you; and if -not, I will make you feel what it is to disobey the king and me." So -each and all went away and nothing more was said of it. - -She did these turns very often to the princes and the greatest people, -when they had done some great wrong and made her so angry that she took -her haughty air,--no one on earth being so superb and stately as she, -when needful, sparing no truths to any one. I have seen the late M. de -Savoie, who was intimate with the emperor, the King of Spain, and so -many grandees, fear and respect her more than if she had been his -mother, and M. de Lorraine the same,--in short, all the great people of -Christendom; I could give many examples; but another time, in due -course, I will tell them; just now it suffices to say what I have said. - -Among other perfections she was a good Christian and very devout; always -making her Easters, and never failing any day to attend divine service -at mass and vespers; which she rendered very agreeable to pious persons, -by the good singers of her chapel,--she being careful to collect the -most exquisite; also she herself loved music by nature, and often gave -pleasure with it in her apartment, which was never closed to virtuous -ladies and honourable men, she seeing all and every one, not restricting -it as they do in Spain, and also in her own land of Italy; nor yet as -our later queens, Isabella of Austria and Louise of Lorraine, have done; -but saying, like King Franois, her father-in-law (whom she greatly -honoured, he having set her up and made her free), that she wished to -keep her Court as a good Frenchwoman, and as the king, her husband, -would have wished; so that her apartments were the pleasure of the -Court. - -She had, ordinarily, very beautiful and virtuous maids of honour, who -conversed with us daily in her antechamber, discoursing and chatting so -wisely and modestly that none of us would have dared to do otherwise; -for the gentlemen who failed in this were banished and threatened, and -in fear of worse until she pardoned and forgave them, she being kind in -herself and very ready to do so. - -In short, her company and her Court were a true paradise in the world, -and a school of all virtue and honour, the ornament of France, as the -foreigners who came there knew well and said; for they were all most -politely received, and her ladies and maids of honour were commanded to -adorn themselves at their coming like goddesses, and to entertain these -visitors, not amusing themselves elsewhere; otherwise she taunted them -well and reprimanded them. - -In fact, her Court was such that when she died the voices of all -declared that the Court was no longer a Court, and that never again -would France have a true queen-mother. What a Court it was! such as, I -believe, no Emperor of Rome in the olden time ever held for ladies, nor -any of our Kings of France. Though it is true that the great Emperor -Charlemagne, King of France, during his lifetime took great pleasure in -making and maintaining a grand and full Court of peers, dukes, counts, -palatines, barons, and knights of France; also of ladies, their wives -and daughters, with others of all countries, to pay court and honour (as -the old romances of that day have said) to the empress and queen, and to -see the fine jousts, tournaments, and magnificences done there by -knights-errant coming from all parts. But what of that? These fine, -grand assemblies came together not oftener than three or four times a -year; at the end of each fte they departed and retired to their houses -and estates until the next time. Besides, some have said that in his old -age Charlemagne was much given over to women, though always of good -company; and that Louis le Debonnaire, on ascending the throne, was -obliged to banish his sisters to other places for the scandal of their -lives with men; and also that he drove from Court a number of ladies who -belonged to the joyous band. Charlemagne's Courts were never of long -duration (I speak now of his great years), for he amused himself in -those days with war, according to our old romances, and in his last -years his Court was too dissolute, as I have already said. But the Court -of our King Henri II and the queen his wife, was held daily, whether in -war or peace, and whether it resided in one place or another for months, -or went to other castles and pleasure-houses of our kings, who are not -lacking in them, having more than the kings of other countries. - -This large and noble company, keeping always together, at least the -greater part of them, came and went with its queen, so that usually her -Court was filled by at least three hundred ladies and damoiselles. The -intendants of the king's houses and the quartermasters affirmed that -they occupied fully one-half of the rooms, as I myself have seen during -the thirty-three years I lived at Court, except when at war or in -foreign parts. Having returned, I was always there; for the sojourn was -to me most agreeable, not seeing elsewhere anything finer; in fact I -think, since the world was, nothing has ever been seen like it; and as -the noble names of these beautiful ladies who assisted our queen in -adorning her Court should not be overlooked, I place them here, -according as I remember them from the end of the queen's married life -and throughout her widowhood, for before that time I was too young to -know them. - -First, I place Mesdames the daughters of France. I place them first -because they never lost their rank, and go before all others, so grand -and noble is their house, to wit:-- - -Madame lisabeth de France, afterwards Queen of Spain. - -Madame Claude, afterwards Duchesse de Lorraine. - -Madame Marguerite, afterwards Queen of Navarre. - -Madame the king's sister, afterwards Duchesse de Savoie. - -The Queen of Scots, afterwards dauphine and Queen of France. - -The Queen of Navarre, Jeanne d'Albret. - -Madame Catherine, her daughter, to-day called Madame the king's [Henri -IV.] sister. - -Madame Diane, natural daughter of the king [Henri II.], afterwards -legitimatized, the Duchesse d'Angoulme. - -Madame d'Enghien, of the house of Estouteville. - -Madame la Princesse de Cond, of the house of Roye. - -Madame de Nevers, of the house of Vendme. - -Madame de Guise, of the house of Ferrara. - -Madame Diane de Poitiers, Duchesse de Valentinois. - -Mesdames d'Aumale and de Bouillon, her daughters.[4] - -Need I name more? No, for my memory could not furnish them. There are so -many other ladies and maids that I beg them to excuse me if I pass them -by with my pen,--not that I do not greatly value and esteem them, but I -should dream over them and amuse myself too much. To make an end, I must -say that in all this company there was nothing to find fault with in -their day; beauty abounded, all majesty, all charm, all grace; happy was -he who could touch with love such ladies, and happy those who could that -love _escapar_. I swear to you that I have named only those ladies and -damoiselles who were beautiful, agreeable, very accomplished, and well -sufficient to set fire to the whole world. Indeed, in their best days -they burned up a good part of it, as much us gentlemen of the Court as -others who approached the flame; to some of whom they were gentle, -aimable, favourable, and courteous. I speak of none here, hoping to make -good tales about them in this book before I finish it, and of others -whose names are not comprised here; but the whole told so discreetly, -without scandal, that nothing will be known, for the curtain of silence -will cover their names; so that if by chance they should any of them -read tales of themselves they will not be annoyed. Besides, though the -pleasures of love cannot last forever, by reason of many inconveniences, -hindrances, and changes, the memories of the past are always -pleasing. - -[Illustration: _Ball at the Court of Henry III_] - -[This refers to "Les Dames Galantes," and not to the present volume.] - -Now, to thoroughly consider how fine a sight was this troupe of -beautiful ladies and damoiselles, creatures divine rather than human, we -must imagine the entries into Paris and other cities, the sacred and -superlative bridals of our kings of France, and their sisters, the -daughters of France; such as those of the dauphin, of King Charles, of -King Henri III., of the Queen of Spain, of Madame de Lorraine, of the -Queen of Navarre, not to speak of many other grand weddings of the -princes and princesses, like that of M. de Joyeuse, which would have -surpassed them all if the Queen of Navarre had been there. Also we must -picture to ourselves the interview at Bayonne, the arrival of the Poles, -and an infinite number of other and like magnificences, which I could -never finish naming, where I saw these ladies appear, each more -beautiful than the rest; some more finely appointed and better dressed -than others, because for such festivals, in addition to their great -means, the king and queen would give them splendid liveries. - -In short, nothing was ever seen finer, more dazzling, dainty, superb; -the glory of Nique never approached it [enchanted palace in "Amadis"]. -All this shone in a ballroom of the Tuileries or the Louvre as the stars -of heaven in the azure sky. The queen-mother wished and commanded her -ladies always to appear in grand and superb apparel, though she herself -during her widowhood never clothed herself in worldly silks, unless they -were lugubrious, but always properly and so well-fitting that she looked -the queen above all else. It is true that on the days of the weddings of -her two sons Henri and Charles, she wore gowns of black velvet, wishing, -she said, to solemnize the event by so signal an act. While she was -married she always dressed very richly and superbly, and looked what -she was. And it was fine to see and admire her in the general -processions that were made, both in Paris and other cities, such as the -Fte Dieu, that of the Rameaux [Palm Sunday], bearing palms and branches -with such grace, and on Candlemas Day, when the torches were borne by -all the Court, the flames of which contended against their own -brilliancy. At these three processions, which are most solemn, we -certainly saw nothing but beauty, grace, a noble bearing, a fine gait -and splendid apparel, all of which delighted the spectators. - -It was fine also to see the queen in her married life going through the -country in her litter, being pregnant, or afterwards on horseback -attended by forty or fifty ladies and damoiselles mounted on handsome -hackneys well caparisoned, and sitting their horses with such good grace -that the men could not do better, either in equestrian style or apparel; -their hats adorned with plumes which floated in the air as if demanding -either love or war. Virgil, who took upon himself to write of the -apparel of Queen Dido when she went to the chase, says nothing that -approaches the luxury of that of our queen with her ladies, may it not -displease her, as I think I have said elsewhere. - -This queen (made by the act of the great King Franois), who introduced -this beautiful pageantry, never forgot or let slip anything of the kind -she had once learned, but always wanted to imitate or surpass it; I have -heard her speak three or four times in my life on this subject. Those -who have seen things as I did still feel their souls enchanted like -mine, for what I say is true; I know it having seen it. - -So there is the Court of our queen. Unhappy was the day when she died! I -have heard tell that our present king [Henri IV.], some eighteen months -after he saw himself more in hope and prospect of becoming King of -France, began one day to discourse with the late M. le Marchal de -Biron, on the plans and projects he would undertake to make his Court -prosperous and fine and in all things like that of our said queen, for -at that time it was in its greatest lustre and splendour. M. le Marchal -answered: "It is not in your power, nor in that of any king who will -ever reign, unless you can manage with God that he shall resuscitate the -queen-mother, and bring her round to you." But that was not what the -king wanted, for when she died there was no one whom he hated so much, -but without grounds, as I could see, and as he should have known better -than I. - -How luckless was the day on which such a queen died, at the very point -when we had such great necessity for her, and still have! - -She died at Blois of sadness caused by the massacre which there took -place, and the melancholy tragedy there played, seeing that, without -reflection, she had brought the princes to Blois thinking to do well; -whereas it was true, as M. le Cardinal de Bourbon said to her: "Alas! -madame, you have led us all to butchery without intending it." That so -touched her heart, and also the death of those poor men, that she took -to her bed, having previously felt ill, and never rose again. - -They say that when the king announced to her the murder of M. de Guise, -saying that he was now absolutely king, without equal, or master, she -asked him if he had put the affairs of his kingdom in order before -striking the blow. To which he answered yes. "God grant it, my son," she -said. Very prudent that she was, she foresaw plainly what would happen -to him, and to all the kingdom.[5] - -Persons have spoken diversely as to her death, and even as to poison. -Possibly it was so, possibly not; but she was held to have died of -desperation, and she had reason to do so. - -She was placed on her state-bed, as one of her ladies told me, neither -more nor less like Queen Anne of whom I have already spoken, clothed in -the same royal garments that the said Queen Anne wore, they not having -served since her death for any others; and thus she was borne to the -church of the castle, with the same pomp and solemnity as Queen Anne, -where she lies and rests still. The king wished to take her to Chartres -and thence to Saint-Denis, to put her with the king, her husband, in the -same tomb which she had caused to be made, built, and constructed, so -noble and superb, but the war which came on prevented it. - -This is what I can say at this time of this great queen, who has given -assuredly such noble grounds to speak worthily of her that this short -discourse is not enough for her praise. I know that well; also that the -quality of my speech does not suffice, for better speakers than I would -be insufficient. At any rate, such as my discourse is, I lay it, in all -humility and devotion, at her feet; also I would avoid too great -prolixity, for which indeed I feel myself too capable; but I hope I -shall not separate from her much, although in my discourses I shall be -silent, and only speak of what her noble and incomparable virtues -command me, giving me ample matter so to do, I having seen all that I -have written of her; and as for what had happened before my time, I -heard it from persons most illustrious; and thus I shall do in all my -books. - - This queen, who was of many kings the mother, - Of queens also, belonging here to France, - Died when we had most need of her support; - For none but she could give us true assistance. - - * * * * * - -Mzeray [in his "History of France"], who never thinks of the dramatic, -nevertheless makes known to us at the start his principal personages; he -shows them more especially in action, without detaching them too much -from the general sentiment and interests of which they are the leaders -and representatives, while, at the same time, he leaves to each his -individual physiognomy. The old Conntable de Montmorency, the Guises, -Admiral de Coligny, the Chancellor de l'Hpital define themselves on his -pages by their conduct and proceedings even more than by the judgment he -awards them. Catherine de' Medici is painted there in all her -dissimulation and her network of artifices, in which she was often -caught herself; ambitious of sovereign power without possessing either -the force or the genius of it; striving to obtain it by craft, and using -for this purpose a continual system of what we should call to-day -_see-sawing_; "rousing and elevating for a time one faction, putting to -sleep or lowering another; uniting herself sometimes with the feeblest -side out of caution, lest the stronger should crush her; sometimes with -the stronger from necessity; at times standing neutral when she felt -herself strong enough to command both sides, but without intention to -extinguish either." Far from being always too Catholic, there are -moments when she seems to lean to the Reformed religion and to wish to -grant too much to that party; and this with more sincerity, perhaps, -than belonged to her naturally. The Catherine de' Medici, such as she -presents herself and is developed in plain truth on the pages of Mzeray -is well calculated to tempt a modern writer. As there is nothing new but -that which is old, for often discoveries are nothing more than that -which was once known and is forgotten, the day when a modern historian -shall take up the Catherine de' Medici of Mzeray and give her some of -the rather forced features which are to the taste of the present day, -there will come a great cry of astonishment and admiration, and the -critics will register a new discovery.[6] - -M. Niel, librarian to the ministry of the Interior, an enlightened -amateur of the arts and of history, has been engaged since 1848 in -publishing a series of Portraits or "Crayons" of the celebrated -personages of the sixteenth century, kings, queens, mistresses of kings, -etc., the whole forming already a folio volume. M. Niel has applied -himself in this collection to reproduce none but authentic portraits and -solely from the original, and he has confined himself to a single form -of portraiture, that which was drawn in crayons of divers colours by -artists of the sixteenth century. "They designated in those days by the -name of 'crayons,'" he observes, "certain portraits executed on paper in -red chalk, in black lead, and in white chalk, shaded and touched in a -way to present the effect of painting." These designs, faithfully -reproduced, in which the red tone predominates, are for the most part -originally due to unknown artists, who seem to have belonged to the true -French lineage of art. They resemble the humble companions and followers -of our chroniclers who simply sought in their rapid sketches to catch -physiognomies, such as they saw them, with truth and candour; the -likeness alone concerned them. - -Franois I. leads the procession with his obscure wives, and one, at -least, of his obscure mistresses, the Comtesse de Chteaubriant. Henri -II. succeeds him, giving one hand to Catherine de' Medici, the other to -Diane de Poitiers. We are shown a Marie Stuart, young, before and after -her widowhood. In general, the men gain most from this rapid -reproduction of feature; whereas with the women it needs an effort of -the imagination to catch their delicacy and the flower of their beauty. -Charles IX. at twelve years of age, and again at eighteen and twenty, is -there to the life and caught from nature. Henri IV. is shown to us -younger and fresher than as we are wont to see him,--a Henri de Navarre -quite novel and before his beard grizzled. His first wife, Marguerite de -Valois, is portrayed at her most beauteous age, but so masked by her -costume and cramped in her ruff that we need to be aware of her charm to -be certain that the doll-like figure had any. Gabrielle d'Estres, who -stands aloof, stiffly imprisoned in her gorgeous clothes, also needs -explanation and reflection before she appears what she really was. The -testimony of "Notices" aids these portraits; for M. Niel accompanies his -personages with remarks made with erudition and an inquiring mind. - -One of the brief writings of that period which make known clearly the -person and nature of Henri IV. is the Memoir of the first president of -Normandy, Claude Groulard, at all times faithful to the king, who has -left us a nave account of his frequent journeys to that prince and the -sojourns he made with him. Among many remarks which Groulard has -collected from the lips of Henri IV. there is one that paints the king -well in his sound good sense, his freedom from rancour, and his -knowledge--always practical, never ideal--of human beings. Groulard is -relating the approaching marriage of the king with a princess of -Florence. When Henri IV. announced it to him the worthy president -replied by an erudite comparison with the lance of Achilles, saying that -the Florentine house would thus repair the wounds it had given to France -in the person of Catherine de' Medici. "But I ask you," said Henri IV., -speaking thereupon of Catherine and excusing her, "I ask you what a -poor woman could do, left by the death of her husband, with five little -children on her arms, and two families in France who were thinking to -grasp the crown,--ours and the Guises. Was she not compelled to play -strange parts to deceive first one and then the other, in order to -guard, as she has done, her sons, who have successively reigned through -the wise conduct of that shrewd woman? I am surprised that she never did -worse." - -SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1855). - - - - -DISCOURSE III. - -MARIE STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND, FORMERLY QUEEN OF OUR FRANCE. - - -Those who wish to write of this illustrious Queen of Scotland have two -very ample subjects: one her life, the other her death; both very ill -accompanied by good fortune, as I shall show at certain points in this -short Discourse in form of epitome, and not a long history, which I -leave to be written by persons more learned and better given to writing -than I. - -This queen had a father, King James, of worth and valour, and a very -good Frenchman; in which he was right. After he was widowed of Madame -Magdelaine, daughter of France, he asked King Franois for some -honourable and virtuous princess of his kingdom with whom to re-marry, -desiring nothing so much as to continue his alliance with France. - -King Franois, not knowing whom to choose better to content the good -prince, gave him the daughter of M. de Guise, Claude de Lorraine, then -the widow of M. de Longueville, wise, virtuous, and honourable, of which -King James was very glad and esteemed himself fortunate to take her; and -after he had taken and espoused her he found himself the same; the -kingdom of Scotland also, which she governed very wisely after she was -widowed; which event happened in a few years after her marriage, but not -before she had produced a fine issue, namely this most beautiful -princess in the world, our queen, of whom I now speak, she being, as -one might say, scarcely born and still at the breast, when the English -invaded Scotland. Her mother was then forced to hide her from place to -place in Scotland from fear of that fury; and, without the good succour -King Henri sent her she would scarce have been saved; and even so they -had to put her on vessels and expose her to the waves, the storms and -winds of the sea and convey her to France for greater security; where -certainly ill fortune, not being able to cross the seas with her or not -daring to attack her in France, left her so alone that good fortune took -her by the hand. And, as her youth grew on, we saw her great beauty and -her great virtues grow likewise; so that, coming to her fifteenth year, -her beauty shone like the light at mid-day, effacing the sun when it -shines the brightest, so beauteous was her body. As for her soul, that -was equal; she had made herself learned in Latin, so that, being between -thirteen and fourteen years of age, she declaimed before King Henri, the -queen, and all the Court, publicly in the hall of the Louvre, an -harangue in Latin, which she had made herself, maintaining and -defending, against common opinion, that it was well becoming to women to -know letters and the liberal arts. Think what a rare thing and admirable -it was, to see this wise and beautiful young queen thus orate in Latin, -which she knew and understood right well, for I was there and saw her. -Also she made Antoine Fochain, of Chauny in Vermandois, prepare for her -a rhetoric in French, which still exists, that she might the better -understand it, and make herself as eloquent in French as she had been in -Latin, and better than if she had been born in France. It was good to -see her speak to every one, whether to great or small. - -[Illustration: _Marie Stuart_] - -As long as she lived in France she always reserved two hours daily to -study and read; so that there was no human knowledge she could not -talk upon. Above all, she loved poesy and poets, but especially M. de -Ronsard, M. du Bellay, and M. de Maison-Fleur[7], who all made beautiful -poems and elegies upon her, and also upon her departure from France, -which I have often seen her reading to herself, in France and in -Scotland, with tears in her eyes and sighs from her heart. - -She was a poet herself and composed verses, of which I have seen some -that were fine and well done and in no wise resembling those they have -laid to her account on her love for the Earl of Bothwell, which are too -coarse and too ill-polished to have come from her beautiful making. M. -de Ronsard was of my opinion as to this one day when we were reading and -discussing them. Those she composed were far more beautiful and dainty, -and quickly done, for I have often seen her retire to her cabinet and -soon return to show them to such of us good folk as were there present. -Moreover she wrote well in prose, especially letters, of which I have -seen many that were very fine and eloquent and lofty. At all times when -she talked with others she used a most gentle, dainty, and agreeable -style of speech, with kindly majesty, mingled, however, with discreet -and modest reserve, and above all with beautiful grace; so that even her -native tongue, which in itself is very rustic, barbarous, ill-sounding, -and uncouth, she spoke so gracefully, toning it in such a way, that she -made it seem beautiful and agreeable in her, though never so in others. - -See what virtue there was in such beauty and grace that they could turn -coarse barbarism into sweet civility and social grace. We must not be -surprised therefore that being dressed (as I have seen her) in the -barbarous costume of the uncivilized people of her country, she -appeared, in mortal body and coarse ungainly clothing a true goddess. -Those who have seen her thus dressed will admit this truth; and those -who did not see her can look at her portrait, in which she is thus -attired. I have heard the queen-mother, and the king too, say that she -looked more beautiful, more agreeable, more desirable in that picture -than in any of the others. But how else could she look, whether in her -beautiful rich jewels, in French or Spanish style, or wearing her -Italian caps, or in her mourning garments?--which latter made her most -beautiful to see, for the whiteness of her face contended with the -whiteness of her veil as to which should carry the day; but the texture -of her veil lost it; the snow of her pure face dimmed the other, so that -when she appeared at Court in her mourning the following song was made -upon her:-- - - "L'on voit, sous blanc atour - En grand deuil et tristesse, - Se pourmener mainct tour - De beaut la dese, - Tenant le trait en main - De son fils inhumain; - - "Et Amour, sans fronteau, - Voletter autour d'elle, - Desguisant son bandeau - En un funebre voile, - O sont ces mots ecrits: - _Mourir ou tre pris_."[8] - -That is how this princess appeared under all fashions of clothes, -whether barbarous, worldly, or austere. She had also one other -perfection with which to charm the world,--a voice most sweet and -excellent; for she sang well, attuning her voice to the lute, which she -touched very prettily with that white hand and those beautiful fingers, -perfectly made, yielding in nothing to those of Aurora. What more -remains to tell of her beauty?--if not this saying about her: that the -sun of her Scotland was very unlike her, for on certain days of the year -it shines but five hours, while she shone ever, so that her clear rays -illumined her land and her people, who of all others needed light, being -far estranged from the sun of heaven. Ah! kingdom of Scotland, I think -your days are shorter now than they ever were, and your nights the -longer, since you have lost the princess who illumined you! But you have -been ungrateful; you never recognized your duty of fidelity, as you -should have done; which I shall speak of presently. - -This lady and princess pleased France so much that King Henri was urged -to give her in alliance to the dauphin, his beloved son, who, for his -part, was madly in love with her. The marriage was therefore solemnly -celebrated in the great church and the palace of Paris; where we saw -this queen appear more beauteous than a goddess from the skies, whether -in the morning, going to her espousals in noble majesty, or leading, -after dinner, at the ball, or advancing in the evening with modest steps -to offer and perform her vows to Hymen; so that the voice of all as one -man resounded and proclaimed throughout the Court and the great city -that happy a hundredfold was he, the prince, thus joined to such a -princess; and even if Scotland were a thing of price its queen -out-valued it; for had she neither crown nor sceptre, her person and her -glorious beauty were worth a kingdom; therefore, being a queen, she -brought to France and to her husband a double fortune. - -This was what the world went saying of her; and for this reason she was -called queen-dauphine and her husband the king-dauphin, they living -together in great love and pleasant concord. - -Next, King Henri dying, they came to be King and Queen of France, the -king and queen of two great kingdoms, happy, and most happy in -themselves, had death not seized the king and left her widowed in the -sweet April of her finest youth, having enjoyed together of love and -pleasure and felicity but four short years,--a felicity indeed of short -duration, which evil fortune might well have spared; but no, malignant -as she is, she wished to miserably treat this princess, who made a song -herself upon her sorrows in this wise:-- - - En mon triste et doux chant, - D'un ton fort lamentable, - Je jette un deuil tranchant, - De perte incomparable, - Et en soupirs cuisans, - Passe mes meilleurs ans. - - Fut-il un tel malheur - De dure destine, - N'y si triste douleur - De dame fortune, - Qui mon coeur et mon oeil - Vois en bierre et cercueil, - - Qui en mon doux printemps - Et fleur de ma jeunesse - Toutes les peines sens - D'une extresme tristesse, - Et en rien n'ay plaisir - Qu'en regret et desir? - - Ce qui m'estoit plaisant - Ores m'est peine dure; - Le jour le plus luisant - M'est nuit noire et obscure. - Et n'est rien si exquis - Qui de moy soit requis. - - J'ay an coeur et l'oeil - Un portrait et image - Qui figure mon deuil - Et mon pasle visage, - De violettes teint, - Qui est l'amoureux teint. - - Pour mon mal estranger - Je ne m'arreste en place; - Mais j'en ay beau changer, - Si ma douleur n'efface; - Car mon pis et mon mieux - Sont les plus deserts lieux. - - Si en quelque sjour, - Soit en bois ou en pre. - Soit sur l'aube du jour, - On soit sur la vespre, - Sans cesse mon coeur sent - Le regret d'un absent. - - Si parfois vers les cieux - Viens dresser ma veue, - Le doux traict de ses yeux - Je vois en une nue; - Ou bien je le vois en l'eau, - Comme dans un tombeau. - - Si je suis en repos - Sommeillant sur ma couche, - J'oy qu'il me tient propos, - Je le sens qui me touche: - En labeur, en recoy - Tousjours est prs de moy. - - Je ne vois autre object, - Pour beau qu'il prsente - A qui que soit subject, - Oncques mon coeur consente, - Exempt de perfection - A cette affection. - - Mets, chanson, icy fin - A si triste complainte, - Dont sera le refrein: - Amour vraye et non feinte - Pour la separation - N'aura diminution.[9] - -Such are the regrets which this sad queen went piteously singing, and -manifesting even more by her pale face; for, from the time she became a -widow, I never saw her colour return during the time I had the honour to -see her in France and in Scotland; whither at the end of eighteen months -she was forced to go, to her great regret, to pacify her kingdom, much -divided on account of religion. Alas! she had neither wish nor will to -go. I have often heard her say she dreaded that journey like death; and -preferred a hundredfold to stay in France a simple dowager, and would -content herself with Touraine and Poitou for her dowry, rather than go -to reign in her savage country; but messieurs her uncles, at least some -of them, but not all, advised her, indeed they urged her (I will not -tell the occasions), for which they have since repented sorely. - -As to this, there is no doubt that if, at her departure King Charles, -her husband's brother, had been of age to marry, and not so small and -young (though much in love with her, as I have seen), he would never -have let her go, but resolutely would have wedded her; for I have seen -him so in love that never did he look upon her portrait that his eyes -were not fixed and ravished, as though he could not take them from it -nor yet be satisfied. And often have I heard him call her the most -beauteous princess ever born into the world, and say how he thought the -king, his brother, too happy to have enjoyed the love of such a -princess, and that he ought in no wise to regret his death in the tomb -since he had possessed in this world such beauty and pleasure for the -little time he stayed here; and also that such happiness was worth a -kingdom. So that had she remained in France he would surely have wedded -her; he was resolved upon it, although she was his sister-in-law, but -the pope would never have refused the dispensation, seeing that he had -already in like case granted one to his own subject, M. de Lov, and -also to the Marquis d'Aguilar in Spain, and many others in that country, -where they make no difficulty in maintaining their estates and do not -waste and dissipate them, as we do in France. - -Much discourse on this subject have I heard from him, and from many, -which I shall omit, not to wander from the topic of our queen, who was -at last persuaded, as I have said, to return to her kingdom of Scotland; -but her voyage being postponed till the spring she did so much to delay -it from month to month that she did not depart until the end of the -month of August. I must mention that this spring, in which she thought -to leave, came so tardily, and was so cold and grievous, that in the -month of April it gave no sign of donning its beautiful green robe or -its lovely flowers. On which the gallants of the Court augured and -proclaimed that the spring had changed its pleasant season for a hard -and grievous winter, and would not wear its beauteous colours or its -verdure because it mourned the departure of this sweet queen, who was -its lustre. M. de Maison-Fleur, a charming knight for letters and for -arms, made on that theme a most fine elegy. - -The beginning of the autumn having come, the queen, after thus delaying, -was forced to abandon France; and having travelled by land to Calais, -accompanied by all her uncles, M. de Nemours, most of the great and -honourable of the Court, together with the ladies, like Mme. de Guise -and others, all regretting and weeping hot tears for the loss of such a -queen, she found in port two galleys: one that of M. de Mevillon, the -other that of Captain Albise, with two convoying vessels for sole -armament. After six days' rest at Calais, having said her piteous -farewells all full of sighs to the great company about her, from the -greatest to the least, she embarked, having her uncles with her, -Messieurs d'Aumale, the grand prior, and d'Elboeuf, and M. d'Amville -(now M. le Conntable), together with many of us, all nobles, on board -the galley of M. de Mevillon, as being the best and handsomest. - -As the vessel began to leave the port, the anchor being up, we saw, in -the open sea, a vessel sink before us and perish, and many of the -sailors drown for not having taken the channel rightly; on seeing which -the queen cried out incontinently: "Ah, my God! what an omen is this for -my journey!" The galley being now out of port and a fresh wind rising, -we began to make sail, and the convicts rested on their oars. The queen, -without thinking of other action, leaned her two arms on the poop of the -galley, beside the rudder, and burst into tears, casting her beauteous -eyes to the port and land she had left, saying ever these sad words: -"Adieu, France! adieu, France!"--repeating them again and again; and -this sad exercise she did for nearly five hours, until the night began -to fall, when they asked her if she would not come away from there and -take some supper. On that, her tears redoubling, she said these words: -"This is indeed the hour, my dear France, when I must lose you from -sight, because the gloomy night, envious of my content in seeing you as -long as I am able, hangs a black veil before mine eyes to rob me of that -joy. Adieu, then, my dear France; I shall see you nevermore!" - -Then she retired, saying she had done the contrary of Dido, who looked -to the sea when neas left her, while she had looked to land. She -wished to lie down without eating more than a salad, and as she would -not descend into the cabin of the poop, they brought her bed and set it -up on the deck of the poop, where she rested a little, but did not cease -her sighs and tears. She commanded the steersman to wake her as soon as -it was day if he saw or could even just perceive the coasts of France, -and not to fear to call her. In this, fortune favoured her; for the wind -having ceased and the vessel having again had recourse to oars, but -little way was made during the night, so that when day appeared the -shores of France could still be seen; and the steersman not having -failed to obey her, she rose in her bed and gazed at France again, and -as long as she could see it. But the galley now receding, her -contentment receded too, and again she said those words: "Adieu, my -France; I think that I shall never see you more." - -Did she desire, this once, that an English armament (with which we were -threatened) should appear and constrain her to give up her voyage and -return to the port she had left? But if so, God in that would not favour -her wishes, for, without further hindrance of any kind we reached -Petit-Lict [Leith]. Of the voyage I must tell a little incident: the -first evening after we embarked, the Seigneur Chastellard (the same who -was afterwards executed for presumption, not for crime, as I shall -tell), being a charming cavalier, a man of good sword and good letters, -said this pretty thing when he saw them lighting the binnacle lamp: -"There is no need of that lamp or this torch to light us by sea, for the -eyes of our queen are dazzling enough to flash their fine fires along -the waves and illume them, if need be." - -I must note that the day before we arrived at Scotland, being a Sunday, -so great a fog arose that we could not see from the poop to the mast of -the galley; at which the pilot and the overseers of the galley-slaves -were much confounded,--so much so, that out of necessity we had to cast -anchor in open sea, and take soundings to know where we were. The fog -lasted all one day and all the night until eight o'clock on the -following morning, when we found ourselves surrounded by innumerable -reefs; so that had we gone forward, or even to one side, the ship would -have struck and we should have perished. On which the queen said that, -for her part, she should not have cared, wishing for nothing so much as -death; but that not for her whole kingdom of Scotland would she have -wished it or willed it for others. Having now sighted and seen (for the -fog had risen) the coast of Scotland, there were some among us who -augured and predicted upon the said fog, that it boded we were now to -land in a quarrelsome, mischief-making, unpleasant kingdom [_royaume -brouille, brouillon, et mal plaisant_]. - -We entered and cast anchor at Petit-Lict, where the principal persons of -that place and Islebourg [Edinburgh] were gathered to meet their queen; -and then, having sojourned at Petit-Lict only two hours, it was -necessary to continue our way to Islebourg, which was barely a league -farther. The queen went on horseback, and the ladies and seigneurs on -nags of the country, such as they were, and saddled and bridled the -same. On seeing which accoutrements the queen began to weep and say that -these were not the pomps, the dignities, the magnificences, nor yet the -superb horses of France, which she had enjoyed so long; but since she -must change her paradise for hell, she must needs take patience. And -what is worse was that when she went to bed, being lodged on the lower -floor of the abbey of Islebourg [Holyrood], which is certainly a noble -building and is not like the country, there came beneath her window some -five or six hundred scoundrels of the town, who gave her a serenade -with wretched violins and little rebecks (of which there is no lack in -Scotland), to which they chanted psalms so badly sung and so out of tune -that nothing could be worse. Ha! what music and what repose for her -first night! - -The next morning they would have killed her chaplain in front of her -lodging; had he not escaped quickly into her chamber he was dead; they -would have done to him as they did later to her secretary David [Riccio] -whom, because he was clever, the queen liked for the management of her -affairs; but they killed him in her room, so close to her that the blood -spurted upon her gown and he fell dead at her feet. What an indignity! -But they did many other indignities to her; therefore must we not be -astonished if they spoke ill of her. On this attempt being made against -her chaplain she became so sad and vexed that she said: "This is a fine -beginning of obedience and welcome from my subjects! I know not what may -be the end, but I foresee it will be bad." Thus the poor princess showed -herself a second Cassandra in prophecy as she was in beauty. - -Being now there, she lived about three years very discreetly in her -widowhood, and would have continued to do so, but the Parliament of her -kingdom begged her and entreated her to marry, in order that she might -leave them a fine king conceived by her, like him of the present day -[James I]. There are some who say that, during the first wars, the King -of Navarre desired to marry her, repudiating the queen his wife, on -account of the Religion; but to this she would not consent, saying she -had a soul, and would not lose it for all the grandeurs of the -world,--making great scruple of espousing a married man. - -At last she wedded a young English lord, of a great house, but not her -equal [Henry Darnley, Earl of Lennox, her cousin]. The marriage was not -happy for either the one or the other. I shall not here relate how the -king her husband, having made her a very fine child, who reigns to-day, -died, being killed by a _fougade_ [small mine] exploded where he lodged. -The history of that is written and printed, but not with truth as to the -accusations raised against the queen of consenting to the deed. They are -lies and insults; for never was that queen cruel; she was always kind -and very gentle. Never in France did she any cruelty, nor would she take -pleasure or have the heart to see poor criminals put to death by -justice, like many grandees whom I have known; and when she was in her -galley never would she allow a single convict to be beaten, were it ever -so little; she begged her uncle, the grand-prior, as to this, and -commanded it to the overseer herself, having great compassion for their -misery, so that her heart was sick for it. - -To end this topic, never did cruelty lodge in the heart of such great -and tender beauty; they are liars who have said and written it; among -others M. Buchanan,[10] who ill returned the kindnesses the queen had -done him both in France and Scotland in saving his life and relieving -him from banishment. It would have been better had he employed his most -excellent knowledge in speaking better of her, and not about the amours -of Bothwell; even to transcribing sonnets she had made, which those who -knew her poesy and her learning have always said were never written by -her; nor did they judge less falsely that amour, for Bothwell was a most -ugly man, with as bad a grace as could be seen. - -But if this one [Buchanan] said no good, others have written a noble -book upon her innocence, which I have seen, and which declared and -proved it so that the poorest minds took hold of it and even her enemies -paid heed; but they, wishing to ruin her, as they did in the end, were -obstinate, and never ceased to persecute her until she was put into a -strong castle, which they say is that of Saint-Andrew in Scotland. -There, having lived nearly one year miserably captive, she was delivered -by means of a most honourable and brave gentleman of that land and of -good family, named M. de Beton, whom I knew and saw, and who related to -me the whole story, as we were crossing the river before the Louvre, -when he came to bring the news to the king. He was nephew to the Bishop -of Glasco, ambassador to France, one of the most worthy men and prelates -ever known, and who remained a faithful servant to his mistress to her -last breath, and is so still, after her death. - -So then, the queen, being at liberty, did not stay idle; in less than no -time she gathered an army of those whom she thought her most faithful -adherents, leading it herself,--at its head, mounted on a good horse, -dressed in a simple petticoat of white taffetas, with a coif of crpe on -her head; at which I have seen many persons wonder, even the -queen-mother, that so tender a princess, and so dainty as she was and -had been all her life, should accustom herself at once to the hardships -of war. But what would one not endure to reign absolutely and revenge -one's self upon a rebellious people, and reduce it to obedience? - -Behold this queen, therefore, beautiful and generous, like a second -Zenobia, at the head of her army, leading it on to face that of her -enemies and to give battle. But alas! what misfortune! Just as she -thought her side would engage the others, just as she was animating and -exhorting them with her noble and valorous words, which might have moved -the rocks, they raised their lances without fighting, and, first on one -side and then upon another, threw down their arms, embraced, and were -friends; and all, confederated and sworn together, plotted to seize the -queen, and make her prisoner and take her to England. M. Coste, the -steward of her household, a gentleman of Auvergne, related this to the -queen-mother, having come from there, and met her at Saint-Maur, where -he told it also to many of us. - -After this she was taken to England, where she was lodged in a castle -and so closely confined in captivity that she never left it for eighteen -or twenty years until her death; to which she was sentenced too cruelly -for the reasons, such as they were, that were given on her trial; but -the principal, as I hold on good authority, was that the Queen of -England never liked her, but was always and for a long time jealous of -her beauty, which far surpassed her own. That is what jealousy is!--and -for religion too! So it was that this princess, after her long -imprisonment, was condemned to death and to have her head cut off; this -judgment was pronounced upon her two months before she was executed. -Some say that she knew nothing of it until they went to execute her. -Others declare that it was told to her two months earlier, as the -queen-mother, who was greatly distressed, was informed at Coignac, where -she then was; and she was even told of this particular: no sooner was -the judgment pronounced than Queen Marie's chamber and bed were hung -with black. The queen-mother thereon praised the firmness of the Queen -of Scotland and said she had never seen or heard tell of any queen more -steadfast in adversity. I was present when she said this, but I never -thought the Queen of England would let her die,--not esteeming her so -cruel as all that. Of her own nature she was not (though she was in -this). I also thought that M. de Bellivre, whom the king despatched to -save her life, would have worked out something good; nevertheless, he -gained nothing. - -But to come to this pitiful death, which no one can describe without -great compassion. On the seventeenth of February of the year one -thousand five hundred and eighty-seven, there came to the place where -the queen was prisoner, a castle called Fodringhaye, the commissioners -of the Queen of England, sent by her (I shall not give their names, as -it would serve no end) about two or three o'clock in the afternoon; and -in presence of Paulet, her guardian or jailer, read aloud their -commission to the prisoner touching her execution, declaring to her that -the next morning they should proceed to it, and admonishing her to be -ready between seven and eight o'clock. - -She, without in any way being surprised, thanked them for their good -news, saying that nothing could be better for her than to come to the -end of her misery; and that for long, ever since her detention in -England, she had resolved and prepared herself to die; entreating, -nevertheless, the commissioners to grant her a little time and leisure -to make her will and put her affairs in order,--inasmuch as all depended -upon their will, as their commission said. To which the Comte de -Cherusbery [Earl of Shrewsbury] replied rather roughly: "No, no, madame, -you must die. Hold yourself ready between seven and eight to-morrow -morning. We shall not prolong the delay by a moment." There was one, -more courteous it seemed to her, who wished to use some demonstrations -that might give her more firmness to endure such death. She answered him -that she had no need of consolation, at least not as coming from him; -but that if he wished to do a good office to her conscience he would -send for her almoner to confess her; which would be an obligation that -surpassed all others. As for her body, she said she did not think they -would be so inhuman as to deny her the right of sepulture. To this he -replied that she must not expect it; so that she was forced to write -her confession, which was as follows:-- - -"I have to-day been combated for my religion and to make me receive the -consolation of heretics. You will hear from Bourgoing and others that I -have faithfully made protestation of my faith, in which I choose to die. -I requested to have you here, to make my confession and to receive my -sacrament; this has been cruelly refused to me, also the removal of my -body, and the power to freely make my will, or to write aught, except -through their hands. In default of that, I confess the grievousness of -my sins in general, as I had expected to make to you in particulars; -entreating you, in God's name, to watch and pray with me this night for -the forgiveness of my sins, and to send me absolution and pardon for all -the offences which I have committed. I shall endeavour to see you in -their presence, as they have granted me; and if it is permitted I shall -ask pardon of you before them all. Advise me of the proper prayers to -use this night and to-morrow morning, for the time is short and I have -no leisure to write; I shall recommend you like the rest, and especially -that your benefices may be preserved and secured to you, and I shall -commend you to the king. I have no more leisure; advise me in writing of -all you think good for my salvation." - -That done, and having thus provided for the salvation of her soul before -all things else, she lost no time, though little remained to her (yet -long enough to have shaken the firmest constancy, but in her they saw no -fear of death, only much content to leave these earthly miseries), in -writing to our king, to the queen-mother, whom she honoured much, to -Monsieur and Madame de Guise, and other private persons, letters truly -very piteous, but all aiming to let them know that to her latest hour -she had not lost memory of friends; and also the contentment she -received in seeing herself delivered from so many woes by which for one -and twenty years she had been crushed; also she sent presents to all, of -a value and price in keeping with a poor, unfortunate, and captive -queen. - -After this, she summoned her household, from the highest to the lowest, -and opened her coffers to see how much money remained to her; this she -divided to each according to the service she had had from them; and to -her women she gave what remained to her of rings, arrows, headgear, and -accoutrements; telling them that it was with much regret she had no more -with which to reward them, but assuring them that her son would make up -for her deficiency; and she begged her _matre d'htel_ to say this to -her said son; to whom she sent her blessing, praying him not to avenge -her death, leaving all to God to order according to His holy will. Then -she bade them farewell without a tear; on the contrary she consoled -them, saying they must not weep to see her on the point of blessedness -in exchange for all the sorrows she had had. After which she sent them -from her chamber, except her women. - -It now being night, she retired to her oratory, where she prayed to God -two hours on her bare knees upon the ground, for her women saw them; -then she returned to her room and said to them: "I think it would be -best, my friends, if I ate something and went to bed, so that to-morrow -I may do nothing unworthy of me, and that my heart may not fail me." -What generosity and what courage! She did as she said; and taking only -some toast with wine she went to bed, where she slept little, but spent -the night chiefly in prayers and orisons. - -She rose about two hours before dawn and dressed herself as properly as -she could, and better than usual; taking a gown of black velvet, which -she had reserved from her other accoutrements, saying to her women: "My -friends, I would rather have left you this attire than that of -yesterday, but I think I ought to go to death a little honourably and -have upon me something more than common. Here is a handkerchief, which I -also reserved, to bind my eyes when I go there; I give it to you, _ma -mie_ (speaking to one of her women), for I wish to receive that last -office from you." - -After this, she retired to her oratory, having bid them adieu once more -and kissed them,--giving them many particulars to tell the king, the -queen, and her relations; not things that tended to vengeance, but the -contrary. Then she took the sacrament by means of a consecrated wafer -which the good Pope Pius V. had sent her to serve in some emergency, the -which she had always most sacredly preserved and guarded. - -Having said her prayers, which were very long, it now being fully -morning she returned to her chamber, and sat beside the fire; still -talking to her women and comforting them, instead of their comforting -her; she said that the joys of the world were nothing; that she ought to -serve as a warning to the greatest of the earth as well as to the -smallest, for she, having been queen of the kingdoms of France and -Scotland, one by nature, the other by fortune, after triumphing in the -midst of all honours and grandeurs, was reduced to the hands of an -executioner; innocent, however, which consoled her. She told them their -best pattern was that she died in the Catholic religion, holy and good, -which she would never abandon to her latest breath, having been baptized -therein; and that she wanted no fame after her death, except that they -would publish her firmness throughout all France when they returned -there, as she begged of them; and further, though she knew they would -have much heart-break to see her on the scaffold performing this -tragedy, yet she wished them to witness her death; knowing well that -none would be so faithful in making the report of what was now to -happen. - -As she ended these words some one knocked roughly on the door. Her -women, knowing it was the hour they were coming to fetch her, wanted to -make resistance; but she said to them: "My friends, it will do no good; -open the door." - -First there entered a man with a white stick in his hand, who, without -addressing any one, said twice over as he advanced: "I have come--I have -come." The queen, not doubting that he announced to her the moment of -execution, took a little ivory cross in her hand. - -Next came the above-named commissioners; and when they had entered, the -queen said to them: "Well, messieurs, you have come to fetch me. I am -ready and well resolved to die; and I think the queen, my good sister, -does much for me; and you likewise who are seeking me. Let us go." They, -seeing such firmness accompanied by so extreme a beauty and great -gentleness, were much astonished, for never had she seemed more -beautiful, having a colour in her cheeks which embellished her. - -Thus Boccaccio wrote of Sophonisba in her adversity, after the taking of -her husband and the town, speaking to Massinissa: "You would have said," -he relates, "that her misfortune made her more beauteous; it assisted -the sweetness of her face and made it more agreeable and desirable." - -The commissioners were greatly moved to some compassion. Still, as she -left the room they would not let her women follow her, fearing that by -their lamentations, sighs, and outcries they would disturb the -execution. But the queen said to them: "What, gentlemen! would you treat -me with such rigour as not to allow my women to accompany me to death? -Grant me at least this favour." Which they did, on her pledging her word -she would impose silence upon them when the time came to admit them. - -The place of execution was in the hall, where they had raised a broad -scaffold, about twelve feet square and two high, covered with a shabby -black cloth. - -She entered this hall without any change of countenance but with majesty -and grace, as though she were entering a ballroom, where in other days -she had so excellently shone. - -As she neared the scaffold she called to her _matre d'htel_ and said, -"Help me to mount; it is the last service I shall receive from you;" and -she repeated to him what she had already told him in her chamber he was -to tell her son. Then, being on the scaffold, she asked for her almoner, -begging the officers who were there to permit him to come to her, which -they flatly refused,--the Earl of Kent saying to her that he pitied her -greatly for thus clinging to superstitions of a past age, and that she -ought to bear the cross of Christ in her heart and not in her hand. To -which she made answer that it was difficult to bear so beautiful an -image in the hand without the heart being touched by emotion and memory; -and that the most becoming thing in a Christian person was to carry a -real sign of the redemption to the death before her. Then, seeing that -she could not have her almoner, she asked that her women might come as -they had promised her; which was done. One of them, on entering the -hall, seeing her mistress on the scaffold among her executioners, could -not keep from crying out and moaning and losing her control; but the -queen instantly laying her finger on her lips, she restrained herself. - -Her Majesty then began to make her protestations, namely: that never had -she plotted against the State, nor against the life of the queen, her -good sister,--except in trying to regain her liberty, as all captives -may. But she saw plainly that the cause of her death was religion, and -she esteemed herself very happy to finish her life for that cause. She -begged the queen, her good sister, to have pity upon her poor servants -whom she held captive, because of the affection they had shown in -seeking the liberty of their mistress, inasmuch as she was now to die -for all. - -They then brought to her a minister to exhort her [the Dean of -Peterborough], but she said to him in English, "Ah! my friend, give -yourself patience;" declaring that she would not hold converse with him -nor hear any talk of his sect, for she had prepared herself to die -without counsel, and that persons like him could not give her -consolation or contentment of mind. - -Notwithstanding this, seeing that he continued his prayers in his -jargon, she never ceased to say her own in Latin, raising her voice -above that of the minister. After which she said again that she esteemed -herself very happy to shed the last drop of her blood for her religion, -rather than live longer and wait till nature had completed the full -course of her life; and that she hoped in Him whose cross she held in -her hand, before whose feet she was prostrate, that this temporal death, -borne for Him, would be for her the passage, the entrance to, and the -beginning of life eternal with the angels and the blessd, who would -receive her blood and present it before God, in abolition of her sins; -and them she prayed to be her intercessors for the obtaining of pardon -and mercy. - -Such were her prayers, being on her knees on the scaffold, which she -made with a fervent heart; adding others for the pope, the kings of -France, and even for the Queen of England, praying God to illuminate her -with his Holy Spirit; praying also for her son and for the islands of -Britain and Scotland that they might be converted. - -That done, she called her women to help her to remove her black veil, -her headdress, and other ornaments; and as the executioner tried to -touch her she said, "Ah! my friend, do not touch me!" But she could not -prevent his doing so, for after they had lowered her robe to the waist, -that villain pulled her roughly by the arm and took off her doublet -[_pourpoint_] and the body of her petticoat [_corps de cotte_] with its -low collar, so that her neck and her beautiful bosom, more white than -alabaster, were bare and uncovered. - -She arranged herself as quickly as she could, saying she was not -accustomed to strip before others, especially so large a company (it is -said there were four or five hundred persons present), nor to employ the -services of such a valet. - -The executioner then knelt down and asked her pardon; on which she said -that she pardoned him, and all who were the authors of her death with as -much good-will as she prayed that God would show in forgiving her sins. - -Then she told her woman to whom she had given the handkerchief to bring -it to her. - -She wore a cross of gold, in which was a piece of the true cross, with -the image of Our Saviour upon it; this she wished to give to one of her -ladies, but the executioner prevented her, although Her Majesty begged -him, saying that the lady would pay him three times its value. - -Then, all being ready, she kissed her ladies, and bade them retire with -her benediction, making the sign of the cross upon them. And seeing that -one of them could not restrain her sobs she imposed silence, saying she -was bound by a promise that they would cause no trouble by their tears -and moans; and she commanded them to withdraw quietly, and pray to God -for her, and bear faithful testimony to her death in the ancient and -sacred Catholic religion. - -One of the women having bandaged her eyes with the handkerchief, she -threw herself instantly on her knees with great courage and without the -slightest demonstration or sign that she feared death. - -Her firmness was such that all present, even her enemies, were moved; -there were not four persons present who could keep from weeping; they -thought the sight amazing, and condemned themselves in their consciences -for such injustice. - -And because the minister of Satan importuned her, trying to kill her -soul as well as her body, and troubling her prayers, she raised her -voice to surmount his, and said in Latin the psalm: _In te, Domine, -speravi; non confundar in ternum_; which she recited throughout. Having -ended it, she laid her head upon the block, and, as she repeated once -more the words, _In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum_, the -executioner struck her a strong blow with the axe, that drove her -headgear into her head, which did not fall until the third blow,--to -make her martyrdom the greater and more glorious, though it is not the -pain but the cause that makes the martyr. - -This done, he took the head in his hand, and showing it to all present -said: "God save the queen, Elizabeth! Thus perish the enemies of the -gospel!" So saying, he uncoifed her in derision to show her hair, now -white; which, however, she had never shrunk from showing, twisting and -curling it as when her hair was beautiful, so fair and golden; for it -was not age had changed it at thirty-five years old (being now but -forty); it was the griefs, the woes, the sadness she had borne in her -kingdom and in her prison. - -This hapless tragedy ended, her poor ladies, anxious for the honour of -their mistress, addressed themselves to Paulet, her jailer, begging him -that the executioner should not touch the body, but that they might be -allowed to disrobe it after all the spectators had withdrawn, so that no -indignity might be done to it, promising to return all the clothing, -and whatever else he might ask or claim; but that cursd man sent them -roughly away and ordered them to leave the hall. - -Then the executioner unclothed her and handled her at his discretion, -and when he had done what he wished the body was carried to a chamber -adjoining that of her serving-men, and carefully locked in, for fear -they should enter and endeavour to perform any good and pious office. -And to their grief and distress was added this: that they could see her -through a hole, half covered by a piece of green drugget torn from her -billiard table. What brutal indifference! What animosity and -indignity!--not even to have bought her a black cloth a little more -worthy of her! - -The poor body was left there long in that state until it began to -corrupt so that they were forced to salt and embalm it,--but slightly, -to save cost; after which they put it in a leaden coffin, where it was -kept for seven months and then carried to profane ground around the -temple of Petersbrouch [Peterborough Cathedral]. True it is that this -church is dedicated to the name of Saint Peter, and that Queen Catherine -of Spain is buried there as a Catholic; but the place is now profane, as -are all the churches in England in these days. - -There are some who have said and written, even the English who have made -a book on this death and its causes, that the spoils of the late queen -were taken from the executioner by paying him the value in money of her -clothes and her royal ornaments. The cloth with which the scaffold was -covered, even the boards of it were partly burned and partly washed, for -fear that in times to come they might serve superstition; that is to -say, for fear that any careful Catholic might some day buy and preserve -them with respect, honour, and reverence (a fear which may possibly -serve as a prophecy and augury), as the ancient Fathers had a practice -of keeping relics and of taking care with devotion of the monuments of -martyrs. In these days heretics do nothing of the kind. _Quia omnia qu -martyrum erant_, cremabant, as Eusebius says, _et cineres in Rhodanum -spargebant, ut cum corporibus interiret eorum quoque memoria_. -Nevertheless, the memory of this queen, in spite of all things, will -live forever in glory and in triumph. - -Here, then, is the tale of her death, which I hold from the report of -two damoiselles there present, very honourable certainly, very faithful -to their mistress, and obedient to her commands in thus bearing -testimony to her firmness and to her religion. They returned to France -after losing her, for they were French; one was a daughter of Mme. de -Rar, whom I knew in France as one of the ladies of the late queen. I -think that these two honourable damoiselles would have caused the most -barbarous of men to weep at hearing so piteous a tale; which they made -the more lamentable by tears, and by their tender, doleful, and noble -language. - -I also learned much from a book which has been published, entitled "The -Martyrdom of the Queen of Scotland, Dowager of France." Alas! that being -our queen did her no service. It seems to me that being such they ought -to have feared our vengeance for putting her to death; and they would -have thought a hundred times before they came to it, if our king had -chosen to take the initiative. But, because he hated the Messieurs de -Guise, his cousins, he took no pains except as formal duty. Alas! what -could that poor innocent do? This is what many asked. - -Others say that he made many formal appeals. It is true that he sent to -the Queen of England M. de Bellivre, one of the greatest and wisest -senators of France and the ablest, who did not fail to offer all his -arguments, with the king's prayers and threats, and do all else that he -could; and among other things he declared that it did not belong to one -king or sovereign to put to death another king or sovereign, over whom -he had no power either from God or man. - -I have never known a generous person who did not say that the Queen of -England would have won immortal glory had she used mercy to the Scottish -queen; and also she would be exempt from the risk of vengeance, however -tardy, which awaits her for the shedding of innocent blood that cries -aloud for it. It is said that the English queen was well advised of -this; but not only did she pass over the advice of many of her kingdom, -but also that of many great Protestant princes and lords both in France -and Germany,--such as the Prince de Cond and Casimir, since dead, and -the Prince of Orange and others, who had subscribed to this violent -death while not expecting it, but afterwards felt their conscience -burdened, inasmuch as it did not concern them and brought them no -advantage, and they did it only to please the queen; but, in truth, it -did them inestimable detriment. - -They say, too, that Queen Elizabeth, when she sent to notify that poor -Queen Marie of this melancholy sentence, assured her that it was done -with great and sad regret on her part, under constraint of Parliament -which urged it on her. To which Queen Marie answered: "She has much more -power than that to make them obedient to her will when it pleases her; -for she is the princess, or more truly the prince, who has made herself -the most feared and reverenced." - -Now, I rely on the truth of all things, which time will reveal. Queen -Marie will live glorious in this world and in the other; and the time -will come in a few years when some good pope will canonize her in -memory of the martyrdom she suffered for the honour of God and of his -Law. - -It is not to be doubted that if that great, valiant, and generous -prince, the late M. de Guise, the last [Henri, le Balafr, assassinated -at Blois], was not dead, vengeance for so noble a queen and cousin thus -murdered would not still be unborn. I have said enough on so pitiful a -subject, which I end thus:-- - - This queen, of a beauty so incomparable, - Was, with too great injustice, put to death: - To sustain that heart of faith inviolable - Can it be there are none to avenge the wrong? - -One there is who has written her epitaph in Latin verses, the substance -of which is as follows: "Nature had produced this queen to be seen of -all the world: with great admiration was she seen for her beauty and -virtues so long as she lived: but England, envious, placed her on a -scaffold to be seen in derision: yet was well deceived; for the sight -turned praise and admiration to her, and glory and thanksgiving to God." - -I must, before I finish, say a word here in reply to those whom I have -heard speak ill of her for the death of Chastellard, whom the queen -condemned to death in Scotland,--laying upon her that she had justly -suffered for making others suffer. Upon that count there is no justice, -and it should never have been made. Those who know the history will -never blame our queen; and, for that reason, I shall here relate it for -her justification. - -Chastellard was a gentleman of Dauphin, of good family and condition, -for he was great-nephew on his mother's side of that brave M. de Bayard, -whom they say he resembled in figure, which in him was medium, very -beautiful and slender, as they say M. de Bayard had also. He was very -adroit at arms, and inclined in all ways to honourable exercises, such -as firing at a mark, playing at tennis, leaping, and dancing. In short, -he was a most accomplished gentleman; and as for his soul, it was also -very noble; he spoke well, and wrote of the best, even in rhyme, as well -as any gentleman in France, using a most sweet and lovely poesy, like a -knight. - -He followed M. d'Amville, so-called then, now M. le Conntable; but when -we were with M. le Grand Prieur, of the house of Lorraine, who conducted -the queen [to Scotland] the said Chastellard was with us, and, in this -company became known to the queen for his charming actions, above all -for his rhymes; among which he made some to please her in translation -from Italian (which he spoke and knew well), beginning, _Che giova -posseder citt e regni_; which is a very well made sonnet, the substance -of which is as follows: "What serves her to possess so many kingdoms, -cities, towns, and provinces, to command so many peoples, and be -respected, feared, admired of all, if still to sleep a widow, lone and -cold as ice?" - -He made also other rhymes, most beautiful, which I have seen written by -his hand, for they never were imprinted, that I know. - -The queen, therefore, who loved letters, and principally poems, for -sometimes she made dainty ones herself, was pleased in seeing those of -Chastellard, and even made response, and, for that reason, gave him good -cheer and entertained him often. But he, in secrecy, was kindled by a -flame too high, the which its object could not hinder, for who can -shield herself from love? In times gone by the most chaste goddesses and -dames were loved, and still are loved; indeed we love their marble -statues; but for that no lady has been blamed unless she yielded to it. -Therefore, kindle who will these sacred fires! - -Chastellard returned with all our troop to France, much grieved and -desperate in leaving so beautiful an object of his love. After one year -the civil war broke out in France. He, who belonged to the Religion -[Protestant], struggled within himself which side to take, whether to go -to Orlans with the others, or stay with M. d'Amville, and make war -against his faith. On the one hand, it seemed to him too bitter to go -against his conscience; on the other, to take up arms against his master -displeased him hugely; wherefore he resolved to fight for neither the -one nor yet the other, but to banish himself and go to Scotland, let -fight who would, and pass the time away. He opened this project to M. -d'Amville and told him his resolution, begging him to write letters in -his favour to the queen; which he obtained: then, taking leave of one -and all, he went; I saw him go; he bade me adieu and told me in part his -resolution, we being friends. - -He made his voyage, which ended happily, so that, having arrived in -Scotland and discoursing of his intentions to the queen, she received -him kindly and assured him he was welcome. But he, abusing such good -cheer and seeking to attack the sun, perished like Phaton; for, driven -by love and passion, he was presumptuous enough to hide beneath the bed -of her Majesty, where he was discovered when she retired. The queen, not -wishing to make a scandal, pardoned him; availing herself of that good -counsel which the lady of honour gives to her mistress in the "Novels of -the Queen of Navarre," when a seigneur of her brother's Court, slipping -through a trap-door made by him in the alcove, seeking to win her, -brought nothing back but shame and scratches: she wishing to punish his -temerity and complain of him to her brother, the lady of honour -counselled her that, since the seigneur had won nought but shame and -scratches, it was for her honour as a lady of such mark not to be talked -of; for the more it was contended over, the more it would go to the nose -of the world and the mouth of gossips. - -Our Queen of Scotland, being wise and prudent, passed this scandal by; -but the said Chastellard, not content and more than ever mad with love, -returned for the second time, forgetting both his former crime and -pardon. Then the queen, for her honour, and not to give occasion to her -women to think evil, and also to her people if it were known, lost -patience and gave him up to justice, which condemned him quickly to be -beheaded, in view of the crime of such an act. The day having come, -before he died he had in his hand the hymns of M. de Ronsard; and, for -his eternal consolation, he read from end to end the Hymn of Death -(which is well done, and proper not to make death abhorrent), taking no -help of other spiritual book, nor of minister or confessor. - -Having ended that reading wholly, he turned to the spot where he thought -the queen must be, and cried in a loud voice: "Adieu, most beautiful, -most cruel princess in all the world!" then, firmly stretching his neck -to the executioner, he let himself be killed very easily. - -Some have wished to discuss why it was that he called her cruel; whether -because she had no pity on his love, or on his life. But what should she -have done? If, after her first pardon she had granted him a second, she -would on all sides have been slandered; to save her honour it was -needful that the law should take its course. That is the end of this -history. - -[Illustration: MARIA STVART SCO: ET GAL: REGINA] - -"Well, they may say what they will, many a true heart will be sad for -Mary Stuart, e'en if all be true men say of her." That speech, which -Walter Scott puts into the mouth of one of the personages in his novel -of "The Abbot" at the moment when he is preparing the reader for an -introduction to the beautiful queen, remains the last word of posterity -as it was of contemporaries,--the conclusion of history as of poesy. - -Elizabeth living triumphed, and her policy after her lives and triumphs -still, so that Protestantism and the British empire are one and the same -thing. Marie Stuart succumbed, in her person and in that of her -descendants; Charles I. under the axe, James II. in exile, each -continued and added to his heritage of faults, imprudences, and -calamities; the whole race of the Stuarts was cut off, and seems to have -deserved it. But, vanquished in the order of things and under the empire -of fact, and even under that of inexorable reason, the beautiful queen -has regained all in the world of imagination and of pity. She has found, -from century to century, knights, lovers, and avengers. A few years ago, -a Russian of distinction, Prince Alexander Labanoff, began, with -incomparable zeal, a search through the archives, the collections, the -libraries of Europe, for documents emanating directly from Marie Stuart, -the most insignificant as well as the most important of her letters, in -order to connect them and so make a nucleus of history, and also an -authentic shrine, not doubting that interest, serious and tender -interest, would rise, more powerful still, from the bosom of truth -itself. On the appearance of this collection of Prince Labanoff, M. -Mignet produced, from 1847 to 1850, a series of articles in the "Journal -des Savants," in which, not content with appreciating the prince's -documents, he presented from himself new documents, hitherto -unpublished and affording new lights. Since then, leaving the form of -criticism and dissertation, M. Mignard has taken this fine subject as a -whole, and has written a complete narrative upon it, grave, compact, -interesting, and definitive, which he is now publishing [1851]. - -In the meantime, about a year ago, there appeared a "History of Marie -Stuart" by M. Dargaud, a writer of talent, whose book has been much -praised and much read. M. Dargaud made, in his own way, various -researches about the heroine of his choice; he went expressly to England -and Scotland, and visited as a pilgrim all the places and scenes of -Marie Stuart's sojourns and captivities. While drawing abundantly from -preceding writers, M. Dargaud does them justice with effusion and -cordiality; he sheds through every line of his history the sentiment of -exalted pity and poesy inspired within him by the memory of that royal -and Catholic victim; he deserves the fine letter which Mme. Sand wrote -him from Nohant, April 10, 1851, in which she congratulates him, almost -without criticism, and speaks of Marie Stuart with charm and eloquence. -If I do not dwell at greater length upon the work of M. Dargaud, it is, -I must avow, because I am not of that too emotional school which softens -and enervates history. I think that history should not necessarily be -dull and wearisome, but still less do I think it should be impassioned, -sentimental, and as if magnetic. Without wishing to depreciate the -qualities of M. Dargaud, which are too much in the taste of the day not -to be their own recommendation, I shall follow in preference a more -severe historian, whose judgment and whose method of procedure inspire -me with confidence. - -Marie Stuart, born December 8, 1542, six days before the death of her -father, who was then combating, like all the kings his predecessors, a -turbulent nobility, began as an orphan her fickle and unfortunate -destiny. Storms assailed her in her cradle,-- - - "As if, e'en then, inhuman Fortune - Would suckle me with sadness and with pain," - -as an old poet, in I know not what tragedy, has made her say. Crowned at -the age of nine months, disputed already in marriage between the French -and English parties, each desiring to prevail in Scotland, she was -early, through the influence of her mother, Marie de Guise (sister of -the illustrious Guises), bestowed upon the Dauphin of France, the son of -King Henri II. August 13, 1548, Marie Stuart, then rather less than six -years old, landed at Brest. Betrothed to the young dauphin, who, on his -father's death became Franois II., she was brought up among the -children of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, and remained in France, -first as dauphine, then as queen, until the premature death of her -husband. She lived there in every respect as a French princess. These -twelve or thirteen years in France were her joy and her charm, and the -source of her ruin. - -She grew up in the bosom of the most polished, most learned, most -gallant Court of those times, shining there in her early bloom like a -rare and most admired marvel, knowing music and all the arts (_divin -Palladis artes_), learning the languages of antiquity, speaking themes -in Latin, superior in French rhetoric, enjoying an intercourse with -poets, and being herself their rival with her poems. Scotland, during -all this time, seemed to her a barbaric and savage land, which she -earnestly hoped never to see again, or, at any rate, never to inhabit. -Trained to a policy wholly of the Court and wholly personal, they made -her sign at Fontainebleau at the time of her marriage (1558) a secret -deed of gift of the kingdom of Scotland to the kings of France, at the -same time that she publicly gave adherence to the conditions which the -commissioners from Scotland had attached to the marriage, conditions -under which she pledged herself to maintain the integrity, the laws, and -the liberties of her native land. It was at this very moment that she -secretly made gift to the kings of France of her whole kingdom by an act -of her own good-will and power. The Court of France prompted her to that -imprudent treachery at the age of sixteen. Another very impolitic -imprudence, which proclaimed itself more openly, was committed when -Henri II., on the death of Mary Tudor, made Marie Stuart, the dauphine, -bear the arms of England beside those of Scotland, thus presenting her -thenceforth as a declared rival and competitor of Elizabeth. - -When Marie Stuart suddenly lost her husband (December 5, 1560), and it -was decided that she, a widow at eighteen, should, instead of remaining -in her dowry of Touraine, return to her kingdom of Scotland to bring -order to the civil troubles there existing, universal mourning took -place in the world of young French seigneurs, noble ladies, and poets. -The latter consigned their regrets to many poems which picture Marie -Stuart to the life in this decisive hour, the first really sorrowful -hour she had ever known. We see her refined, gracious, of a delicate, -fair complexion, the form and bust of queen or goddess,--L'Hpital -himself had said of her, after his fashion, in a grave epithalamium:-- - - "Adspectu veneranda, putes ut Numen inesse: - Tantus in ore decor, majestas regia tanta est!-- - -of a long hand, elegant and slender (_gracilis_), an alabaster forehead -dazzling beneath the crape, and with golden hair--which needs a brief -remark. It is a poet (Ronsard) who speaks of "the gold of her ringed and -braided hair," and poets, as we know, employ their words a little -vaguely. Mme. Sand, speaking of a portrait she had seen as a child in -the English Convent, says, without hesitation, "Marie was beautiful, but -red-haired." M. Dargaud speaks of another portrait, "in which a sunray -lightens" he says rather oddly, "the curls of her living and electric -hair." But Walter Scott, reputed the most correct of historical -romance-writers, in describing Marie Stuart a prisoner in Lochleven -Castle, shows us, as though he had seen them, her thick tresses of "dark -brown," which escaped now and then from her coif. Here we are far from -the red or golden tints, and I see no other way of conciliating these -differences than to rest on "that hair so beautiful, so blond and fair" -[_si blonds et cendrs_] which Brantme, an ocular witness, -admired,--hair that captivity whitened, leaving the poor queen of -forty-six "quite bald" in the hands of her executioner, as l'Estoile -relates. But at nineteen, the moment of her departure from France, the -young widow was in all the glory of her beauty, except for a brilliancy -of colour, which she lost at the death of her first husband, giving -place to a purer whiteness. - -Withal a lively, graceful, and sportive mind, and French raillery, an -ardent soul, capable of passion, open to desire, a heart which knew not -how to draw back when flame or fancy or enchantment stirred it. Such was -the queen, adventurous and poetical, who tore herself from France in -tears, sent by politic uncles to recover her authority amid the roughest -and most savage of "Frondes." - -Scotland, since Marie Stuart left it as a child, had undergone great -changes; the principal was the Reformed religion which had taken root -there and extended itself vigorously. The great reformer Knox preached -the new doctrine, which found in Scotland stern, energetic souls ready -made to receive it. The old struggle of the lords and barons against the -kings was complicated and redoubled now by that of cities and people -against the brilliant beliefs of the Court and the Catholic hierarchy. -The birth of modern society, of civil equality, of respect for the -rights of all was painfully working itself out through barbaric scenes, -and by means of fanaticism itself. Alone and without counsel, contending -with the lords and the nobility as her ancestors had done, Marie Stuart, -quick, impulsive, subject to predilections and to antipathies, was -already insufficient for the work; what therefore could it be when she -found herself face to face with a religious party, born and growing -during recent years, face to face with an argumentative, gloomy party, -moral and daring, discussing rationally, Bible in hand, the right of -kings, and pushing logic even into prayer? Coming from a literary and -artificial Court, there was nothing in her that could comprehend these -grand and voiceless movements of the people, either to retard them or -turn them to her own profit by adapting herself to them. "She returned," -says M. Mignet, "full of regrets and disgust, to the barren mountains -and the uncultured inhabitants of Scotland. More lovable than able, very -ardent and in no way cautious, she returned with a grace that was out of -keeping with her surroundings, a dangerous beauty, a keen but variable -intellect, a generous but rash soul, a taste for the arts, a love of -adventure, and all the passions of a woman joined to the excessive -liberty of a widow." - -And to complicate the peril of this precarious situation she had for -neighbour in England a rival queen, Elizabeth, whom she had first -offended by claiming her title, and next, and no less, by a feminine and -proclaimed superiority of beauty and grace,--a rival queen capable, -energetic, rigid, and dissimulating, representing the contrary religious -opinion, and surrounded by able counsellors, firm, consistent, and -committed to the same cause. The seven years that Marie Stuart spent in -Scotland after her return from France (August 19, 1561) to her -imprisonment (May 18, 1568) are filled with all the blunders and all the -faults that could be committed by a young and thoughtless princess, -impulsive, unreflecting, and without shrewdness or ability except in the -line of her passion, never in view of a general political purpose. The -policy of Mme. de Longueville, during the Fronde, seems to me of the -same character. - -As to other faults, the moral faults of poor Marie Stuart, they are as -well known and demonstrated to-day as faults of that kind can well be. -Mme. Sand, always very indulgent, regards as the three black spots upon -her life the abandonment of Chastellard, her feigned caresses to the -hapless Darnley, and her forgetfulness of Bothwell. - -Chastellard, as we know, was a gentleman of Dauphin, musician and poet, -in the train of the servitors and adorers of the queen, who at first was -very agreeable to her. Chastellard was one of the troop who escorted -Marie Stuart to Scotland, and sometime later, urged by his passion, he -returned there. But not knowing how to restrain himself, or to keep, as -became him, to poetic passion while waiting to inspire, if he could, a -real one, he was twice discovered beneath the bed of the queen; the -second time she lost patience and turned him over to the law. Poor -Chastellard was beheaded; he died reciting, so they say, a hymn of -Ronsard's, and crying aloud: "O cruel Lady!" After so stern an act, to -which she was driven in fear of scandal and to put her honour above all -attainder and suspicion, Marie Stuart had, it would seem, but one course -to pursue, namely: to remain the most severe and most virtuous of -princesses. - -But her severity for Chastellard, though shown for effect, is merely a -peccadillo in comparison with her conduct to Darnley, her second -husband. By marrying this young man (July 29, 1565), her vassal, but of -the race of the Stuarts and her own family, Marie escaped the diverse -political combinations which were striving to attract her to a second -marriage; and it would have been, perhaps, a sensible thing to do, if -she had not done it as an act of caprice and passion. But she fell in -love with Darnley in a single day, and became disgusted in the next. -This tall, weakly youth, timid and conceited by turns, with a heart -"soft as wax," had nothing in him which subjugates a woman and makes her -respect him. A woman such as Marie Stuart, changeable, ardent, easily -swayed, with the sentiment of her weakness and of her impulsiveness, -likes to find a master and at moments a tyrant in the man she loves, -whereas she soon despises her slave and creature when he is nought but -that; she much prefers an arm of iron to an effeminate hand. - -Less than six months after her marriage Marie, wholly disgusted, -consoled herself with an Italian, David Riccio, a man thirty-two years -of age, equally well fitted for business or pleasure, who advised her -and served her as secretary, and was gifted with a musical talent well -suited to commend him to women in other ways. The feeble Darnley -confided his jealousy to the discontented lords and gentlemen, and they, -in the interests of their faction, prodded his vengeance and offered to -serve it with their sword. Ministers and Presbyterian pastors took part -in the affair. The whole was plotted and managed with perfect unanimity -as a chastisement of Heaven, and, what is more, by help of deeds and -formal agreements which simulated legality. The queen and her favourite, -apparently before they had any suspicions, were taken in a net. David -Riccio was seized by the conspirators while supping in Marie's cabinet -(March 9, 1566), Darnley being present, and from there he was dragged -into the next room and stabbed. Marie, at this date, was six months -pregnant by her husband. On that day, outraged in honour and embittered -in feeling, she conceived for Darnley a deeper contempt mingled with -horror, and swore to avenge herself on the murderers. For this purpose -she bided her time, she dissimulated; for the first time in her life she -controlled herself and restrained her actions. She became politic--as -the nature is of passionate women--only in the interests of her passion -and her vengeance. - -Here is the gravest and the most irreparable incident of her life. Even -after we have fully represented to ourselves what the average morality -of the sixteenth century, with all the treachery and atrocities it -tolerated, was, we are scarcely prepared for this. Marie Stuart's first -desire was to revenge herself on the lords and gentlemen who had lent -their daggers to Darnley, rather than on her weak and timid husband. To -reach her end she reconciled herself with the latter and detached him -from the conspirators, his accomplices. She forced him to disavow them, -thus degrading and sinking him in his own estimation. At this point she -remained as long as a new passion was not added to her supreme contempt. -Meantime her child was born (June 19), and she made Darnley the father -of a son who resembled both parents on their worst sides, the future -James I. of England, that soul of a casuist in a king. But by this time -a new passion was budding in the open heart of Marie Stuart. He whom she -now chose had neither Darnley's feebleness nor the salon graces of a -Riccio; he was the Earl of Bothwell, a man of thirty, ugly, but martial -in aspect, brave, bold, violent, and capable of daring all things. To -him it was that this flexible and tender will was henceforth to cling -for its support. Marie Stuart has found her master; and him she will -obey in all things, without scruple, without remorse, as happens always -in distracted passion. - -But how rid herself of a husband henceforth odious? How unite herself to -the man she loves and whose ambition is not of a kind to stop half way? -Here again we need--not to excuse, but to explain Marie Stuart--we need -to represent to our minds the morality of that day. A goodly number of -the same lords who had taken part in Riccio's murder, and who were -leagued together by deeds and documents, offered themselves to the -queen, and, for the purpose of recovering favour, let her see the means -of getting rid of a husband who was now so irksome. She answered this -overture by merely speaking of a divorce and the difficulty of obtaining -it. But these men, little scrupulous, said to her plainly, by the mouth -of Lethington, the ablest and most politic of them all: "Madame, give -yourself no anxiety; we, the leaders of the nobility, and the heads of -your Grace's Council, will find a way to deliver you from him without -prejudice to your son; and though my Lord Murray, here present (the -illegitimate brother of Marie Stuart), is little less scrupulous as a -Protestant than your Grace is as a Papist, I feel sure that he will look -through his fingers, see us act, and say nothing." - -The word was spoken; Marie had only to do as her brother did, "look -through her fingers," as the vulgar saying was, and let things go on -without taking part in them. She did take a part however; she led into -the trap, by a feigned return of tenderness, the unfortunate Darnley, -then convalescing from the small-pox. She removed his suspicions without -much trouble, and, recovering her empire over him, persuaded him to come -in a litter from Glasgow to Kirk-of-Field, at the gates of Edinburgh, -where there was a species of parsonage, little suitable for the -reception of a king and queen, but very convenient for the crime now to -be committed. - -There Darnley perished, strangled with his page, during the night of -February 9, 1567. The house was blown up by means of a barrel of -gunpowder, placed there to give the idea of an accident. During this -time Marie had gone to a masked ball at Holyrood, not having quitted her -husband until that evening, when all was prepared to its slightest -detail. Bothwell, who was present for a time at the ball, left Edinburgh -after midnight and presided at the killing. These circumstances are -proved in an irrefragable manner by the testimony of witnesses, by the -confessions of the actors, and by the letters of Marie Stuart, the -authenticity of which M. Mignard, with decisive clearness, places beyond -all doubt. She felt that in giving herself thus to Bothwell's projects -she furnished him with weapons against herself and gave him grounds to -distrust her in turn. He might say to himself, as the Duke of Norfolk -said later, that "the pillow of such a woman was too hard" to sleep -upon. During the preparation of this horrible trap she more than once -showed her repugnance to deceive the poor sick dupe who trusted her. "I -shall never rejoice," she writes, "through deceiving him who trusts me. -Nevertheless, command me in all things. But do not conceive an ill -opinion of me; because you yourself are the cause of this; for I would -never do anything against him for my own particular vengeance." And -truly this rle of Clytemnestra, or of Gertrude in Hamlet was not in -accordance with her nature, and could only have been imposed upon her. -But passion rendered her for this once insensible to pity, and made her -heart (she herself avows it) "as hard as diamond." Marie Stuart soon put -the climax to her ill-regulated passion and desires by marrying -Bothwell; thus revolting the mind of her whole people, whose morality, -fanatical as it was, was never in the least depraved, and was far more -upright than that of the nobles. - -The crime was echoed beyond the seas. L'Hpital, that representative of -the human conscience in a dreadful era, heard, in his country retreat, -of the misguided conduct of her whose early grace and first marriage he -had celebrated in his stately epithalamium; and he now recorded his -indignation in another Latin poem, wherein he recounts the horrors of -that funereal night, and does not shrink from calling the wife and the -young mother "the murderess, alas! of a father whose child was still at -her breast." - -On the 15th of May, three months--only three months after the murder, at -the first smile of spring, the marriage with the murderer was -celebrated. Marie Stuart justified in all ways Shakespeare's saying: -"Frailty, thy name is Woman." For none was ever more a woman than Marie -Stuart. - -Here I am unable to admit the third reproach of Mme. Sand, that of Marie -Stuart's forgetfulness of Bothwell. I see, on the contrary, through all -the obstacles, all the perils immediately following this marriage, that -Marie had no other idea than that of avoiding separation from her -violent and domineering husband. She loved him so madly that she said to -whosoever might hear her (April, 1567) that "she would quit France, -England, and her own country, and follow him to the ends of the earth in -nought but a white petticoat, rather than be parted from him." And soon -after, forced by the lords to tear herself from Bothwell, she reproaches -them bitterly, asking but one thing, "that both be put in a vessel and -sent away where Fortune led them." It was only enforced separation, -final imprisonment, and the impossibility of communication, which -compelled the rupture. It is true that Marie, a prisoner in England, -solicited the Parliament of Scotland to annul her marriage with -Bothwell, in the hope she then had of marrying the Duke of Norfolk, who -played the lover to herself and crown, though she never saw him. But, -Bothwell being a fugitive and ruined, can we reproach Marie Stuart for a -project from which she hoped for restoration and deliverance? Her -passion for Bothwell had been a delirium, which drove her into -connivance with crime. That fever calmed, Marie Stuart turned her mind -to the resources which presented themselves, among which was the offer -of her hand. Her wrong-doing does not lie there; amid so many -infidelities and horrors, it would be pushing delicacy much too far to -require eternity of sentiment for the remains of an unbridled and bloody -passion. That which is due to such passions, when they leave no hatred -behind them, that which becomes them best, is oblivion. - -Such conduct, and such deeds, crowned by her heedless flight into -England and the imprudent abandonment of her person to Elizabeth, seem -little calculated to make the touching and pathetic heroine we are -accustomed to admire and cherish in Marie Stuart. Yet she deserves all -pity; and we have but to follow her through the third and last portion -of her life, through that long, unjust, and sorrowful captivity of -nineteen years (May 18, 1568, to February 5, 1587) to render it -unconsciously. Struggling without defence against a crafty and ambitious -rival, liable to mistakes from friends outside, the victim of a grasping -and tenacious policy which never let go its prey and took so long a time -to torture before devouring it, she never for a single instant fails -towards herself; she rises ever higher. That faculty of hope which so -often had misled her becomes the grace of her condition and a virtue. -She moves the whole world in the interest of her misfortunes; she stirs -it with a charm all-powerful. Her cause transforms and magnifies itself. -It is no longer that of a passionate and heedless woman punished for her -frailties and her inconstancy; it is that of the legitimate heiress of -the crown of England, exposed in her dungeon to the eyes of the world, -a faithful, unshaken Catholic, who refuses to sacrifice her faith to the -interests of her ambition or even to the salvation of her life. The -beauty and grandeur of such a rle were fitted to stir the tender and -naturally believing heart of Marie Stuart. She fills her soul with that -rle; she substitutes it, from the first moment of her captivity, for -all her former personal sentiments, which, little by little, subside and -expire within her as the fugitive occasions which aroused them pass -away. She seems to remember them no more than she does the waves and the -foam of those brilliant lakes that she has crossed. For nineteen years -the whole of Catholicity is disquieted and impassioned about her; and -she is there, half-heroine, half-martyr, making the signal and waving -her banner behind the bars. Captive that she was, do not accuse her of -conspiring against Elizabeth; for with her ideas of right divine and of -absolute kingship from sovereign to sovereign, it was not conspiring, -she being a prisoner, to seek for the triumph of her cause; it was -simply pursuing the war. - -From the moment when Marie Stuart is a prisoner, when we see her -crushed, deprived of all that comforts and consoles, infirm, alas! with -whitened hair before her time, when we hear her, in the longest and most -remarkable of her letters to Elizabeth (November 8, 1582), repeating for -the twentieth time: "Your prison, without right, without just grounds, -has already so destroyed my body that you will soon see an end if this -lasts much longer; so that my enemies have no great time to satisfy -their cruelty against me; nought remains to me but my soul, the which it -is not in your power to render captive,"--when we dwell on this mixture -of pride and plaint, pity carries us along; our hearts speak; the tender -charm with which she was endowed, and which acted upon all who -approached her, asserts its power and lays its spell upon us even at -this distance. It is not by the text of a scribe, nor yet with the -logic of a statesman that we judge her; it is with the heart of a -knight, or rather, let me say, with that of a man. Humanity, pity, -religion, supreme poetic grace, all those invincible and immortal powers -feel themselves concerned in her person and cry to us across the ages. -"Bear these tidings," she said to her old Melvil at the moment of death: -"that I die firm in my religion, a true Catholic, a true Scotchwoman, a -true Frenchwoman." These beliefs, these patriotisms and nationalities -thus evoked by Marie Stuart have made that long echo that replies to her -with tears and love. - -What reproach can we make to one who, after nineteen years of anguish -and moral torture, searched, during the night that preceded her death, -in the "Lives of the Saints" (which her ladies were accustomed to read -to her nightly) for some great sinner whom God had pardoned. She stopped -at the story of the penitent thief, which seemed to her the most -reassuring example of human confidence and divine mercy; and while Jean -Kennedy, one of her ladies, read it to her, she said: "He was a great -sinner, but not so great as I. I implore our Lord, in memory of His -Passion, to remember and have mercy upon me, as He had upon him, in the -hour of death." Those true and sincere feelings, that contrite humility -in her last and sublime moments, this perfect intelligence, and profound -need of pardon, leave us without means of seeing any stain of the past -upon her except through tears. - -It was thus that old tienne Pasquier felt. Having to relate in his -"Recherches" the death of Marie Stuart, he compares it with the tragic -history of the Conntable de Saint-Pol, and that of the Conntable de -Bourbon, which left him under a mixture of conflicting sentiments. "But -in that of which I now discourse," he says, "methinks I see only tears; -and is there, by chance, a man who, reading this, will not forgive his -eyes?" - -M. Mignet, who examines all things as an historian, and gives but short -pages to emotion, has admirably distinguished and explained the -different phases of Marie Stuart's captivity, and the secret springs -which were set to work at various periods. He has, especially, cast a -new light, aided by Spanish documents in the Archives of Simancas, on -the slow preparations of the enterprise undertaken by Philip II., that -fruitless and tardy crusade, delayed until after the death of Marie -Stuart, which ended in the disastrous shipwreck of the invincible -Armada. - -Issuing from this brilliant and stormy episode of the history of the -sixteenth century, which has been so strongly and judiciously set before -us by M. Mignet, full of these scenes of violence, treachery, and -iniquity, and without having the innocence to believe that humanity has -done forever with such deeds, we congratulate ourselves in spite of -everything, and rejoice that we live in an age of softened and -ameliorated public morals. We exclaim with M. de Tavannes, when he -relates in his "Memoirs" the life and death of Marie Stuart: "Happy he -who lives in a safe State; where good and evil are rewarded and punished -according to their deserts." Happy the times and the communities where a -certain general morality and human respect for opinion, where a penal -Code, and especially the continual check of publicity, exist to -interdict, even to the boldest, those criminal resolutions which every -human heart, if left to itself, is ever tempted to engender. - -SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1851). - - - - -DISCOURSE IV. - -LISABETH OF FRANCE, QUEEN OF SPAIN. - - -I write here of the Queen of Spain, lisabeth of France, a true daughter -of France in everything, a beautiful, wise, virtuous, spiritual, and -good queen if ever there was one; and I believe since Saint lisabeth no -one has borne that name who surpassed her in all sorts of virtues and -perfections, although that beautiful name of lisabeth has been fateful -of goodness, virtue, sanctity, and perfection to those who have borne -it, as many believe.[11] - -When she was born at Fontainebleau, the king her grandfather, and her -father and mother made very great joy of it; you would have said she was -a lucky star bringing good hap to France; for her baptism brought peace -to us, as did her marriage. See how good fortunes are gathered in one -person to be distributed on diverse occasions; for then it was that -peace was made with King Henry [VIII.] of England; and to confirm and -strengthen it our king made him her sponsor and gave to his goddaughter -the beautiful name of lisabeth; at whose birth and baptism the -rejoicings were as great as at those of the little King Franois the -last. - -Child as she was, she promised to be some great thing at a future day; -and when she came to be grown up she promised it more surely still; for -all virtue and goodness abounded in her, so that the whole Court -admired her, and prognosticated a fine grandeur and great royalty to her -in time. So they say that when King Henri married his second daughter, -Madame Claude, to the Duc de Lorraine, there were some who remonstrated -against the wrong done to the elder in marrying the younger before her; -but the king made this response: "My daughter lisabeth is such that a -duchy is not for her to marry. She must have a kingdom; and even so, not -one of the lesser but one of the greater kingdoms; so great is she -herself in all things; which assures me that she can miss none, -wherefore she can wait." - -You would have said he prophesied the future. He did not fail on his -side to seek and procure one for her; for when peace was made between -the two kings at Cercan she was promised in marriage to Don Carlos, -Prince of Spain, a brave and gallant prince and the image of his -grandfather, the Emperor Charles, had he lived. But the King of Spain, -his father, becoming a widower by the death of the Queen of England, his -wife and cousin-german, and having seen the portrait of Madame lisabeth -and finding her very beautiful and much to his liking, cut the ground -from under the feet of his son and did himself the charity of wedding -her himself. On which the French and Spaniards said with one voice that -one would think she was conceived and born before the world and reserved -by God until his will had joined her with this great king, her husband; -for it must have been predestined that he, being so great, so powerful, -and thus approaching in all grandeur to the skies, should marry no other -princess than one so perfect and accomplished. When the Duke of Alba -came to see her and espouse her for the king, his master, he found her -so extremely agreeable and suited to the said master that he said she -was a princess who would make the King of Spain very easily forget his -grief for his last two wives, the English and the Portuguese. - -After this, as I have heard from a good quarter, the said prince, Don -Carlos, having seen her, became so distractedly in love with her, and so -full of jealousy, that he bore a great grudge against his father, and -was so angry with him for having deprived him of so fine a prize that he -never loved him more, but reproached him with the great wrong and insult -he had done him in taking her who had been promised to him solemnly in -the treaty of peace. They do say that this was, in part, the cause of -his death, with other topics which I shall not speak of at this hour; -for he could not keep himself from loving her in his soul, honouring and -revering her, so charming and agreeable did she seem in his eyes, as -certainly she was in everything. - -Her face was handsome, her hair and eyes so shaded her complexion and -made it the more attractive that I have heard say in Spain that the -courtiers dared not look upon her for fear of being taken in love and -causing jealousy to the king, her husband, and, consequently, running -risk of their lives. - -The Church people did the same from fear of temptation, they not having -strength to command their flesh to look at her without being tempted. -Although she had had the small-pox, after being grown-up and married, -they had so well preserved her face with poultices of fresh eggs (a very -proper thing for that purpose) that no marks appeared. I saw the queen, -her mother, very much concerned to send her by many couriers many -remedies; but this of the egg-poultice was sovereign. - -Her figure was very fine, taller than that of her sisters, which made -her much admired in Spain, where such tall women are rare, and for that -the more esteemed. And with this figure she had a bearing, a majesty, a -gesture, a gait and grace that intermingled the Frenchwoman with the -Spaniard in sweetness and gravity; so that, as I myself saw, when she -passed through her Court, or went out to certain places, whether -churches, or monasteries, or gardens, there was such great press to see -her, and the crowd of persons was so thick, there was no turning round -in the mob; and happy was he or she who could say in the evening, "I saw -the queen." It was said, and I saw it myself, that no queen was ever -loved in Spain like her (begging pardon of the Queen Isabella of -Castile), and her subjects called her _la reyna de la paz y de la -bondad_, that is to say, "the queen of peace and kindness;" but our -Frenchmen called her "the olive-branch of peace." - -A year before she came to France to visit her mother at Bayonne, she -fell ill to such extremity that the physicians gave her up. On which a -little Italian doctor, who had no great vogue at Court, presenting -himself to the king, declared that if he were allowed to act he would -cure her; which the king permitted, she being almost dead. The doctor -undertook her and gave her a medicine, after which they suddenly saw the -colour return miraculously to her face, her speech came back, and then, -soon after, her convalescence began. Nevertheless the whole Court and -all the people of Spain blocked the roads with processions and comings -and goings to churches and hospitals for her health's sake, some in -shirts, others bare-footed and bare-headed, offering oblations, prayers, -orisons, intercessions to God, with fasts, macerations of the body, and -other good and saintly devotions for her health; so that every one -believes firmly that these good prayers, tears, vows, and cries to God -were the cause of her cure, rather than the medicine of that doctor. - -I arrived in Spain a month after this recovery of her health; but I saw -so much devotion among the people in giving thanks to God, by ftes, -rejoicings, magnificences, fireworks, that there was no doubting in any -way how much they felt. I saw nothing else in Spain as I travelled -through it, and reaching the Court just two days after she left her -room, I saw her come out and get into her coach, sitting at the door of -it, which was her usual place, because such beauty should not be hidden -within, but displayed openly. - -She was dressed in a gown of white satin all covered with silver -trimmings, her face uncovered. I think that nothing was ever seen more -beautiful than this queen, as I had the boldness to tell her; for she -had given me a right good welcome and cheer, coming as I did from France -and the Court, and bringing her news of the king, her good brother, and -the queen, her good mother; for all her joy and pleasure was to know of -them. It was not I alone who thought her beautiful, but all the Court -and all the people of Madrid thought so likewise; so that it might be -said that even illness favoured her, for after doing her such cruel harm -it embellished her skin, making it so delicate and polished that she was -certainly more beautiful than ever before. - -Leaving thus her chamber for the first time, to do the best and -saintliest thing she could she went to the churches to give thanks to -God for the favour of her health; and this good work she continued for -the space of fifteen days, not to speak of the vow she made to Our Lady -of Guadalupe; letting the whole people see her face uncovered (as was -her usual fashion) till you might have thought they worshipped her, so -to speak, rather than honoured or revered her. - -So when she died [1568], as I have heard the late M. de Lignerolles, who -saw her die, relate, he having gone to carry to the King of Spain the -news of the victory of Jarnac, never were a people so afflicted, so -disconsolate; none ever shed so many tears, being unable to recover -themselves in any way, but mourning her with despair incessantly. - -She made a noble end [_at._ 23], leaving this world with firm courage, -and desiring much the other. - -Sinister things have been said of her death, as having been hastened. I -have heard one of her ladies tell that the first time she saw her -husband she looked at him so fixedly that the king, not liking it, said -to her: _Que mirais? Si tengo canas?_ which means: "What are you gazing -at? Is my hair white?" These words touched her so much to the heart that -ever after her ladies augured ill for her. - -It is said that a Jesuit, a man of importance, speaking of her one day -in a sermon, and praising her rare virtues, charities, and kindness, let -fall the words that she had wickedly been made to die, innocent as she -was; for which he was banished to the farthest depths of the Indies of -Spain. This is very true, as I have been told. - -There are other conjectures so great that silence must be kept about -them; but very true it is that this princess was the best of her time -and loved by every one. - -So long as she lived in Spain never did she forget the affection she -bore to France, and in that was not like Germaine de Foix, second wife -of King Ferdinand, who when she saw herself raised to such high rank -became so haughty that she made no account of her own country, and -disdained it so much that, when Louis XII., her uncle, and Ferdinand -came to Savonne, she, being with her husband, held herself so high that -never would she notice a Frenchman, not even her brother Gaston de Foix, -Duc de Nemours, neither would she deign to speak or look at the greatest -persons of France who were present; for which she was much ridiculed. -But after the death of her husband she suffered for this, having fallen -from her high estate and being held in no great account, whereat she -was miserable. They say there are none so vainglorious as persons of low -estate who rise to grandeur; not that I mean to say that princess was of -low estate, being of the house of Foix, a very illustrious and great -house; but from simple daughter of a count to be queen of so great a -kingdom was a rise which gave occasion to feel much glory, but not to -forget herself or abuse her station towards a King of France, her uncle, -and her nearest relations and others of the land of her birth. In this -she showed she lacked a great mind; or else that she was foolishly -vainglorious. For surely there is a difference between the house of Foix -and the house of France; not that I mean to say the house of Foix is not -great and very noble, but the house of France--hey! - -Our Queen lisabeth never did like that. She was born great in herself, -great in mind and very able, so that a royal grandeur could not fail -her. She had, if she had wished it, double cause over Germaine de Foix -to be haughty and arrogant, for she was daughter of a great King of -France, and married to the greatest king in the world, he being not the -monarch of one kingdom, but of many, or, as one might say, of all the -Spains,--Jerusalem, the Two Sicilies, Majorca, Minorca, Sardinia, and -the Western Indies, which seem indeed a world, besides being lord of -infinitely more lands and greater seigneuries than Ferdinand ever had. -Therefore we should laud our princess for her gentleness, which is well -becoming in a great personage towards each and all; and likewise for the -affection she showed to Frenchmen, who, on arriving in Spain, were -welcomed by her with so benign a face, the least among them as well as -the greatest, that none ever left her without feeling honoured and -content. I can speak for myself, as to the honour she did me in talking -to me often during the time I stayed there; asking me, at all hours, -news of the king, the queen her mother, messieurs her brothers, and -madame her sister, with others of the Court, not forgetting to name -them, each and all, and to inquire about them; so that I wondered much -how she could remember these things as if she had just left the Court of -France; and I often asked her how it was possible she could keep such -memories in the midst of her grandeur. - -When she came to Bayonne she showed herself just as familiar with the -ladies and maids of honour, neither more nor less, as she was when a -girl; and as for those who were absent or married since her departure, -she inquired with great interest about them all. She did the same to the -gentlemen of her acquaintance, and to those who were not, informing -herself as to who the latter were, and saying: "Such and such were at -Court in my day, I knew them well; but these were not, and I desire to -know them." In short, she contented every one. - -When she made her entry into Bayonne she was mounted on an ambling -horse, most superbly and richly caparisoned with pearl embroideries -which had formerly been used by the deceased empress when she made her -entries into her towns, and were thought to be worth one hundred -thousand crowns, and some say more. She had a noble grace on horseback, -and it was fine to see her; she showed herself so beautiful and so -agreeable that every one was charmed with her. - -We all had commands to go to meet her, and accompany her on this entry, -as indeed it was our duty to do; and we were gratified when, having made -her our reverence, she did us the honour to thank us; and to me above -all she gave good greeting, because it was scarcely four months since I -had left her in Spain; which touched me much, receiving such favour -above my companions and more honour than belonged to me. - -On my return from Portugal and from Pignon de Belis [Penon de Velez], a -fortress which was taken in Barbary, she welcomed me very warmly, asking -me news of the conquest and of the army. She presented me to Don Carlos, -who came into her room, together with the princess, and to Don Juan [of -Austria, Philip II.'s brother, the conqueror of Lepanto]. I was two days -without going to see her, on account of a toothache I had got upon the -sea. She asked Riberac, maid of honour, where I was and if I were ill, -and having heard what my trouble was she sent me her apothecary, who -brought me an herb very special for that ache, which, on merely being -held in the palm of the hand, cures the pain suddenly, as it did very -quickly for me. - -I can boast that I was the first to bring the queen-mother word of Queen -lisabeth's desire to come to France and see her, for which she thanked -me much both then and later; for the Queen of Spain was her good -daughter, whom she loved above the others, and who returned her the -like; for Queen lisabeth so honoured, respected, and feared her that I -have heard her say she never received a letter from the queen, her -mother, without trembling and dreading lest she was angry with her and -had written some painful thing; though, God knows, she had never said -one to her since she was married, nor been angry with her; but the -daughter feared the mother so much that she always had that -apprehension. - -It was on this journey to Bayonne that Pompadour the elder having killed -Chambret at Bordeaux, wrongfully as some say, the queen-mother was so -angry that if she could have caught him she would have had him beheaded, -and no one dared speak to her of mercy. - -M. Strozzi, who was fond of the said Pompadour, bethought him of -employing his sister, Signora Clarice Strozzi, Comtesse de Tenda, whom -the Queen of Spain loved from her earliest years, they having studied -together. The said countess, who loved her brother, did not refuse him, -but begged the Queen of Spain to intercede; who answered that she would -do anything for her except that, because she dreaded to irritate and -annoy the queen, her mother, and displease her. But the countess -continuing to importune her, she employed a third person who sounded the -ford privately, telling the queen-mother that the queen, her daughter, -would have asked this pardon to gratify the said countess had she not -feared to displease her. To which the queen-mother replied that the -thing must be wholly impossible to make her refuse it. On which the -Queen of Spain made her little request, but still in fear; and suddenly -it was granted. Such was the kindness of this princess, and her virtue -in honouring and fearing the queen, her mother, she being herself so -great. Alas! the Christian proverb did not hold good in her case, -namely: "He that would live long years must love and honour and fear his -father and mother;" for, in spite of doing all that, she died in the -lovely and pleasant April of her days; for now, at the time I write, -[1591] she would have been, had she lived, forty-six years old. Alas! -that this fair sun disappeared so soon in a dark-some grave, when she -might have lighted this fine world for twenty good years without even -then being touched by age; for she was by nature and complexion fitted -to keep her beauty long, and even had old age attacked her, her beauty -was of a kind to be the stronger. - -Surely, if her death was hard to Spaniards, it was still more bitter to -us Frenchmen, for as long as she lived France was never invaded by those -quarrels which, since then, Spain has put upon us; so well did she know -how to win and persuade the king, her husband, for our good and our -peace; the which should make us ever mourn her. - -She left two daughters, the most honourable and virtuous infantas in -Christendom. When they were large enough, that is to say, three or four -years old, she begged her husband to leave the eldest wholly to her that -she might bring her up in the French fashion. Which the king willingly -granted. So she took her in hand, and gave her a fine and noble training -in the style of her own country, so that to-day that infanta is as -French as her sister, the Duchesse de Savoie, is Spanish; she loves and -cherishes France as her mother taught her, and you may be sure that all -the influence and power that she has with the king, her father, she -employs for the help and succour of those poor Frenchmen whom she knows -are suffering in Spanish hands. I have heard it said that after the rout -of M. Strozzi, very many French soldiers and gentlemen having been put -in the galleys, she went, when at Lisbon, to visit all the galleys that -were then there; and all the Frenchmen whom she found on the chain, to -the number of six twenties, she caused to be released, giving them money -to reach their own land; so that the captains of the galleys were -obliged to hide those that remained. - -She was a very beautiful princess and very agreeable, of an extremely -graceful mind, who knew all the affairs of the kingdom of the king, her -father, and was well trained in them. I hope to speak of her hereafter -by herself, for she deserves all honour for the love she bears to -France; she says she can never part with it, having good right to it; -and we, if we have obligation to this princess for loving us, how much -more should we have to the queen, her mother, for having thus brought -her up and taught her. - -Would to God I were a good enough petrarchizer to exalt as I desire this -lisabeth of France! for, if the beauty of her body gives me most ample -matter, that of her fine soul gives me still more, as these verses, -which were made upon her at Court at the time she was married, will -testify: - - Happy the prince whom Heaven ordains - To lisabeth's sweet acquaintance: - More precious far than crown or sceptre - The glad enjoyment of so great a treasure. - Gifts most divine she had at birth, - The proof and the effect of which we see; - Her youthful years showed their appearance, - But now her virtues bear their perfect fruit. - -When this queen was put into the hands of the Duc de l'Infantado and the -Cardinal de Burgos, who were commissioned by their king to receive her -at Roncevaux in a great hall, after the said deputies had made their -reverence, she rising from her chair to welcome them, Cardinal de Burgos -harangued her; to whom she made response so honourably, and in such fine -fashion and good grace that he was quite amazed; for she spoke in the -best manner, having been very well taught. - -After which the King of Navarre, who was there as her principal -conductor, and also leader of all the army which was with her, was -summoned to deliver her, according to the order, which was shown to the -Cardinal de Bourbon, to receive her. The king replied, for he spoke -well, and said: "I place in your hands this princess, whom I have -brought from the house of the greatest king in the world to be placed in -the hands of the most illustrious king on earth. Knowing you to be very -sufficient and chosen by the king your master to receive her, I make no -difficulty nor doubt that you will acquit yourselves worthily of this -trust, which I now discharge upon you; begging you to have peculiar -care of her health and person, for she deserves it; and I wish you to -know that never did there enter Spain so great an ornament of all -virtues and chastities, as in time you will know well by results." - -The Spaniards replied at once that already at first sight they had very -ample knowledge of this from her manner and grave majesty; and, in -truth, her virtues were rare. - -She had great knowledge, because the queen her mother had made her study -well under M. de Saint-tienne, her preceptor, whom she always loved and -respected until her death. She loved poesy, and to read it. She spoke -well, in either French or Spanish, with a very noble air and much good -grace. Her Spanish language was beautiful, as dainty and attractive as -possible; she learned it in three or four months after coming to Spain. - -To Frenchmen she always spoke French; never being willing to discontinue -it, but reading it daily in the fine books they sent from France, which -she was very anxious to have brought to her. To Spaniards and all others -she spoke Spanish and very well. In short, she was perfect in all -things, and so magnificent and liberal that no one could be more so. She -never wore her gowns a second time, but gave them to her ladies and -maids; and God knows what gowns they were, so rich and so superb that -the least was reckoned at three or four hundred crowns; for the king, -her husband, kept her most superbly in such matters; so that every day -she had a new one, as I was told by her tailor, who from being a very -poor man became so rich that nothing exceeded him, as I saw myself. - -She dressed well, and very pompously, and her habiliments became her -much; among other things her sleeves were slashed, with scollops which -they call in Spanish _puntas_; her head-dress the same, where nothing -lacked. Those who see her thus in painting admire her; I therefore leave -you to think what pleasure they had who saw her face to face, with all -her gestures and good graces. - -As for pearls and jewels in great quantity, she never lacked them, for -the king, her husband, ordered a great estate for her and for her -household. Alas! what served her that for such an end? Her ladies and -maids of honour felt it. Those who, being French, could not constrain -themselves to live in a foreign land, she caused, by a prayer which she -made to the king, her husband, to receive each four thousand crowns on -their marriage; as was done to Mesdamoiselles Riberac, sisters, -otherwise called Guitignires, de Fumel, the two sisters de Thorigny, de -Noyau, d'Arne, de La Motte au Groin, Montal, and several others. Those -who were willing to remain were better off, like Mesdamoiselles de -Saint-Ana and de Saint-Legier, who had the honour to be governesses to -Mesdames the infantas, and were married very richly to two great -seigneurs; they were the wisest, for better is it to be great in a -foreign country than little in your own,--as Jesus said: "No one is a -prophet in his own land." - -This is all, at this time, that I shall say of this good, wise and very -virtuous queen, though later I may speak of her. But I give this sonnet -which was written to her praise by an honourable gentleman, she being -still Madame, though promised in marriage:-- - - "Princess, to whom the skies give such advantage - That, for the part you have in Heaven's divinity, - They grant you all the virtues of this earth, - And crown you with the gift of immortality: - - "And since it pleased them that in early years - Your heavenly gifts of deity be seen, - So that you temper with a humble gravity - The royal grandeur of your sacred heritage: - - "And also since it pleases them to favour you, - And place in you the best of all their best, - So that your name is cherished everywhere: - - "Methinks that name should undergo a change, - And though we call you now lisabeth of France, - You should be named lisabeth of Heaven." - -I know that I may be reproved for putting into this Discourse and others -preceding it too many little particulars which are quite superfluous. I -think so myself; but I know that if they displease some persons, they -will please others. Methinks it is not enough when we laud persons to -say that they are handsome, wise, virtuous, valorous, valiant, -magnanimous, liberal, splendid, and very perfect; those are general -descriptions and praises and commonplace sayings, borrowed from -everybody. We should specify such things and describe particularly all -perfections, so that one may, as it were, touch them with the finger. -Such is my opinion, and it pleases me to retain and rejoice my memory -with things that I have seen. - - EPITAPH ON THE SAID QUEEN. - - "Beneath this stone lies lisabeth of France: - Who was Queen of Spain and queen of peace, - Christian and Catholic. Her lovely presence - Was useful to us all. Now that her noble bones - Are dry and crumbling, lying under ground, - We have nought but ills and wars and troubles." - - - - -DISCOURSE V. - -MARGUERITE, QUEEN OF FRANCE AND OF NAVARRE, SOLE DAUGHTER NOW REMAINING -OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF FRANCE.[12] - - -When I consider the miseries and ill-adventures of that beautiful Queen -of Scotland of whom I have heretofore spoken, and of other princesses -and ladies whom I shall not name, fearing by such digression to impair -my discourse on the Queen of Navarre, of whom I now speak, not being as -yet Queen of France, I cannot think otherwise than that Fortune, -omnipotent goddess of weal and woe, is the opposing enemy of human -beauty; for if ever there was in the world a being of perfect beauty it -is the Queen of Navarre, and yet she has been little favoured by -Fortune, so far; so that one may indeed say that Fortune was so jealous -of Nature for having made this princess beautiful that she wished to run -counter in fate. However that may be, her beauty is such that the blows -of said Fortune have no ascendency upon her, for the generous courage -she drew at birth from so many brave and valorous kings, her father, -grandfather, great-grandfather, and their ancestors, has enabled her -hitherto to make a brave resistance. - -To speak now of the beauty of this rare princess: I think that all those -who are, will be, or ever have been beside it are plain, and cannot have -beauty; for the fire of hers so burns the wings of others that they dare -not hover, or even appear, around it. If there be any unbeliever so -chary of faith as not to give credence to the miracles of God and -Nature, let him contemplate her fine face, so nobly formed, and become -converted, and say that Mother Nature, that perfect workwoman, has put -all her rarest and subtlest wits to the making of her. For whether she -shows herself smiling or grave, the sight of her serves to enkindle -every one; so beauteous are her features, so well defined her -lineaments, so transparent and agreeable her eyes that they pass -description; and, what is more, that beautiful face rests on a body -still more beautiful, superb, and rich,--of a port and majesty more like -to a goddess of heaven than a princess of earth; for it is believed, on -the word of several, that no goddess was ever seen more beautiful; so -that, in order to duly proclaim her beauty, virtues, and merit, God must -lengthen the earth and heighten the sky beyond where they now are, for -space in the airs and on the land is lacking for the flight of her -perfection and renown. - -Those are the beauties of body and mind in this fair princess, which I -at this time represent, like a good painter, after nature and without -art. I speak of those to be seen externally; for those that are secret -and hidden beneath white linen and rich accoutrements cannot be here -depicted or judged except as being very beautiful and rare; but this -must be by faith, presumption, and credence, for sight is interdicted. -Great hardship truly to be forced to see so beautiful a picture, made by -the hand of a divine workman, in the half only of its perfection; but -modesty and laudable shamefacedness thus ordain it--for they lodge among -princesses and great ladies as they do among commoner folk. - -To bring a few examples to show how the beauty of this queen was admired -and held for rare: I remember that when the Polish ambassadors came to -France, to announce to our King Henri [then Duc d'Anjou] his election -to the kingdom of Poland, and to render him homage and obedience, after -they had made their reverence to King Charles, to the queen-mother, and -to their king, they made it, very particularly, and for several days, to -Monsieur, and to the King and Queen of Navarre; but the day when they -made it to the said Queen of Navarre she seemed to them so beautiful and -so superbly and richly accoutred and adorned, and with such great -majesty and grace that they were speechless at such beauty. Among -others, there was Lasqui, the chief of the embassy, whom I heard say, as -he retired, overcome by the sight: "No, never do I wish to see such -beauty again. Willingly would I do as do the Turks, pilgrims to Mecca, -where the sepulchre of their prophet Mahomet is, and where they stand -speechless, ravished, and so transfixed at the sight of that superb -mosque that they wish to see nothing more and burn their eyes out with -hot irons till they lose their sight, so subtly is it done; saying that -nothing more could be seen as fine, and therefore would they see -nothing." Thus said that Pole about the beauty of our princess. And if -the Poles were won to admiration, so were others. I instance here Don -Juan of Austria, who (as I have said elsewhere), passing through France -as stilly as he could, and reaching Paris, knowing that that night a -solemn ball was given at the Louvre, went there disguised, as much to -see Queen Marguerite of Navarre as for any other purpose. He there had -means and leisure to see her at his ease, dancing, and led by the king, -her brother, as was usual. He gazed upon her long, admired her, and then -proclaimed her high above the beauties of Spain and Italy (two regions, -nevertheless, most fertile in beauty), saying these words in Spanish: -"Though the beauty of that queen is more divine than human, she is made -to damn and ruin men rather than to save them." - -Shortly after, he saw her again as she went to the baths of Lige, Don -Juan being then at Namur, where she had to pass; the which crowned all -his hopes to enjoy so fine a sight, and he went to meet her with great -and splendid Spanish magnificence, receiving her as though she were the -Queen lisabeth, her sister, in the latter's lifetime his queen, and -Queen of Spain. And though he was most enchanted with the beauty of her -body, he was the same with that of her mind, as I hope to show in its -proper place. But it was not Don Juan alone who praised and delighted to -praise her, but all his great and brave Spanish captains did the same, -and even the very soldiers of those far-famed bands, who went about -saying among themselves, in soldierly chorus, that "the conquest of such -beauty was better than that of a kingdom, and happy would be the -soldiers who, to serve her, would die beneath her banner." - -It is not surprising that such people, well-born and noble, should think -this princess beautiful, but I have seen Turks coming on an embassy to -the king her brother, barbarians that they were, lose themselves in -gazing at her, and say that the pomp of their Grand Signior in going to -his mosque or marching with his army was not so fine to see as the -beauty of this queen. - -In short, I have seen an infinity of other strangers who have come to -France and to the Court expressly to behold her whose fame had gone from -end to end of Europe, so they said. - -I once saw a gallant Neapolitan knight, who, having come to Paris and -the Court, and not finding the said queen, delayed his return two months -in order to see her, and having seen her he said these words: "In other -days, the Princess of Salerno bore the like reputation for beauty in our -city of Naples, so that a foreigner who had gone there and had not seen -her, when he returned and related his visit, and was asked had he seen -that princess, and answered no, was told that in that case he had not -seen Naples. Thus I, if on my return without seeing this beautiful -princess I were asked had I seen France and the Court, could scarcely -say I had, for she is its ornament and enrichment. But now, having seen -and contemplated her so well, I can say that I have seen the greatest -beauty in the world, and that our Princess of Salerno is as nothing to -her. Now I am well content to go, having enjoyed so fine a sight. I -leave you Frenchmen to think how happy you should be to see at your ease -and daily her fine face; and to approach that flame divine, which can -warm and kindle frigid hearts from afar more than the beauty of our most -beauteous dames near-by." Such were the words said to me one day by that -charming Neapolitan knight. - -An honourable French gentleman, whom I could name, seeing her one -evening, in her finest lustre and most stately majesty in a ball-room, -said to me these words: "Ah! if the Sieur des Essarts, who, in his books -of 'Amadis' forced himself with such pains to well and richly describe -to the world the beautiful Nicque and her glory, had seen this queen in -his day he would not have needed to borrow so many rich and noble words -to depict and set forth Nicque's beauty; 't would have sufficed him to -declare she was the semblance and image of the Queen of Navarre, unique -in this world; and thus the beauteous Nicque would have been better -pictured than she has been, and without superfluity of words." - -Therefore, M. de Ronsard had good reason to compose that glorious elegy -found among his works in honour of this beautiful Princess Marguerite of -France, then not married, in which he has introduced the goddess Venus -asking her son whether in his rambles here below, seeing the ladies of -the Court of France, he had found a beauty that surpassed her own. "Yes, -mother," Love replied, "I have found one on whom the glory of the finest -sky is shed since ever she was born." Venus flushed red and would not -credit it, but sent a messenger, one of her Charites, to earth to -examine that beauty and make a just report. On which we read in the -elegy a rich and fine description of the charms of that accomplished -princess, in the mouth of the Charite Pasithea, the reading of which -cannot fail to please the world. But M. de Ronsard, as a very honourable -and able lady said to me, stopped short and lacked a little something, -in that he should have told how Pasithea returned to heaven, and there, -discharging her commission, said to Venus that her son had only told the -half; the which so saddened and provoked the goddess into jealousy, -making her blame Jupiter for the wrong he did to form on earth a beauty -that shamed those of heaven (and principally hers, the rarest of them -all), that henceforth she wore mourning and made abstinence from -pleasures and delights; for there is nothing so vexatious to a beautiful -and perfect lady as to tell her she has her equal, or that another can -surpass her. - -Now, we must note that if our queen was beauteous in herself and in her -nature, also she knew well how to array herself; and so carefully and -richly was she dressed, both for her body and her head, that nothing -lacked to give her full perfection. - -To the Queen Isabella of Bavaria, wife of King Charles VI., belongs the -praise of having brought to France the pomps and gorgeousness that -henceforth clothed most splendidly and gorgeously the ladies;[13] for in -the old tapestries of that period in the houses of our kings we see -portrayed the ladies attired as they then were, in nought but -drolleries, slovenliness, and vulgarities, in place of the beautiful, -superb fashions, dainty headgear, inventions, and ornaments of our -queen; from which the ladies of the Court and France take pattern, so -that ever since, appearing in her modes, they are now great ladies -instead of simple madams, and so a hundredfold more charming and -desirable. It is to our Queen Marguerite that ladies owe this -obligation. - -I remember (for I was there) that when the queen-mother took this queen, -her daughter, to the King of Navarre, her husband, she passed through -Coignac and made some stay. While they were there, came various grand -and honourable ladies of the region to see them and do them reverence, -who were all amazed at the beauty of the princess, and could not surfeit -themselves in praising her to her mother, she being lost in joy. -Wherefore she begged her daughter to array herself one day most -gorgeously in the fine and superb apparel that she wore at Court for -great and magnificent pomps and festivals, in order to give pleasure to -these worthy dames. Which she did, to obey so good a mother; appearing -robed superbly in a gown of silver tissue and dove-colour, _ la -bolonnoise_ [_bouillonne_--with puffs?], and hanging sleeves, a rich -head-dress with a white veil, neither too large nor yet too small; the -whole accompanied with so noble a majesty and good grace that she seemed -more a goddess of heaven than a queen of earth. The queen-mother said to -her: "My daughter, you look well." To which she answered: "Madame, I -begin early to wear and to wear out my gowns and the fashions I have -brought from Court, because when I return I shall bring nothing with me -only scissors and stuffs to dress me then according to current -fashions." The queen-mother asked her: "What do you mean by that, my -daughter? Is it not you yourself who invent and produce these fashions -of dress? Wherever you go the Court will take them from you, not you -from the Court." Which was true; for after she returned she was always -in advance of the Court, so well did she know how to invent in her -dainty mind all sorts of charming things. - -But the beauteous queen in whatsoever fashion she dressed, were it _ la -franaise_ with her tall head-dress, or in a simple coif, with her grand -veil, or merely in a cap, could never prove which of these fashions -became her most and made her most beautiful, admirable, and lovable; for -she well knew how to adapt herself to every mode, adjusting each new -device in a way not common and quite inimitable. So that if other ladies -took her pattern to form it for themselves they could not rival her, as -I have noticed a hundred times. I have seen her dressed in a robe of -white satin that shimmered much, a trifle of rose-colour mingling in it, -with a veil of tan crpe or Roman gauze flung carelessly round her head; -yet nothing was ever more beautiful; and whatever may be said of the -goddesses of the olden time and the empresses as we see them on ancient -coins, they look, though splendidly accoutred, like chambermaids beside -her. - -I have often heard our courtiers dispute as to which attire became and -embellished her the most, about which each had his own opinion. For my -part, the most becoming array in which I ever saw her was, as I think, -and so did others, on the day when the queen-mother made a fte at the -Tuileries for the Poles. She was robed in a velvet gown of Spanish rose, -covered with spangles, with a cap of the same velvet, adorned with -plumes and jewels of such splendour as never was. She looked so -beautiful in this attire, as many told her, that she wore it often and -was painted in it; so that among her various portraits this one carries -the day over all others, as the eyes of good judges will tell, for -there are plenty of her pictures to judge by. - -When she appeared, thus dressed, at the Tuileries, I said to M. de -Ronsard, who stood next to me: "Tell the truth, monsieur, do you not -think that beautiful queen thus apparelled is like Aurora, as she comes -at dawn with her fair white face surrounded with those rosy tints?--for -face and gown have much in sympathy and likeness." M. de Ronsard avowed -that I was right; and on this my comparison, thinking it fine, he made a -sonnet, which I would fain have now, to insert it here. - -I also saw this our great queen at the first States-general at Blois on -the day the king, her brother, made his harangue. She was dressed in a -robe of orange and black (the ground being black with many spangles) and -her great veil of ceremony; and being seated according to her rank she -appeared so beautiful and admirable that I heard more than three hundred -persons in that assembly say they were better instructed and delighted -by the contemplation of such divine beauty than by listening to the -grave and noble words of the king, her brother, though he spoke and -harangued his best. I have also seen her dressed in her natural hair -without any artifice or peruke; and though her hair was very black -(having derived that from her father, King Henri), she knew so well how -to curl and twist and arrange it after the fashion of her sister, the -Queen of Spain, who wore none but her own hair, that such coiffure and -adornment became her as well as, or better than, any other. That is what -it is to have beauties by nature, which surpasses all artifice, no -matter what it may be. And yet she did not like the fashion much and -seldom used it, but preferred perukes most daintily fashioned. - -In short, I should never have done did I try to describe all her -adornments and forms of attire in which she was ever more and more -beauteous; for she changed them often, and all were so becoming and -appropriate, as though Nature and Art were striving to outdo each other -in making her beautiful. But this is not all; for her fine accoutrements -and adornments never ventured to cover her beautiful throat or her -lovely bosom, fearing to wrong the eyes of all the world that roved upon -so fine an object; for never was there seen the like in form and -whiteness, and so full and plump that often the courtiers died with envy -when they saw the ladies, as I have seen them, those who were her -intimates, have license to kiss her with great delight. - -I remember that a worthy gentleman, newly arrived at Court, who had -never seen her, when he beheld her said to me these words: "I am not -surprised that all you gentlemen should like the Court; for if you had -no other pleasure than daily to see that princess, you have as much as -though you lived in a terrestrial paradise." - -Roman emperors of the olden time, to please the people and give them -pleasure, exhibited games and combats in their theatres; but to give -pleasure to the people of France and gain their friendship, it was -enough to let them often see Queen Marguerite, and enjoy the -contemplation of so divine a face, which she never hid behind a mask -like other ladies of our Court, for nearly all the time she went -uncovered; and once, on a flowery Easter Day at Blois, still being -Madame, sister of the king (although her marriage was then being treated -of), I saw her appear in the procession more beautiful than ever, -because, besides the beauty of her face and form, she was most superbly -adorned and apparelled; her pure white face, resembling the skies in -their serenity, was adorned about the head with quantities of pearls and -jewels, especially brilliant diamonds, worn in the form of stars, so -that the calm of the face and the sparkling jewels made one think of -the heavens when starry. Her beautiful body with its full, tall form was -robed in a gown of crinkled cloth of gold, the richest and most -beautiful ever seen in France. This stuff was a gift made by the Grand -Signior to M. de Grand-Champ, our ambassador, on his departure from -Constantinople,--it being the Grand Signior's custom to present to those -who are sent to him a piece of the said stuff amounting to fifteen ells, -which, so Grand-Champ told me, cost one hundred crowns the ell; for it -was indeed a masterpiece. He, on coming to France and not knowing how to -employ more worthily the gift of so rich a stuff, gave it to Madame, the -sister of the king, who made a gown of it, and wore it first on the said -occasion, when it became her well--for from one grandeur to another -there is only a hand's breadth. She wore it all that day, although its -weight was heavy; but her beautiful, rich, strong figure supported it -well and served it to advantage; for had she been a little shrimp of a -princess, or a dame only elbow-high (as I have seen some), she would -surely have died of the weight, or else have been forced to change her -gown and take another. - -That is not all: being in the precession and walking in her rank, her -visage uncovered, not to deprive the people of so good a feast, she -seemed more beautiful still by holding and bearing in her hand her palm -(as our queens of all time have done) with royal majesty and a grace -half proud half sweet, and a manner little common and so different from -all the rest that whoso had seen her would have said: "Here is a -princess who goes above the run of all things in the world." And we -courtiers went about saying, with one voice boldly, that she did well to -bear a palm in her hand, for she bore it away from others; surpassing -them all in beauty, in grace, and in perfection. And I swear to you that -in that procession we forgot our devotions, and did not make them while -contemplating and admiring that divine princess, who ravished us more -than divine service; and yet we thought we committed no sin; for whoso -contemplates divinity on earth does not offend the divinity of heaven; -inasmuch as He made her such. - -When the queen, her mother, took her from Court to meet her husband in -Gascoigne, I saw how all the courtiers grieved at her departure as -though a great calamity had fallen on their heads. Some said: "The Court -is widowed of her beauty;" others: "The Court is gloomy, it has lost its -sun;" others again: "How dark it is; we have no torch." And some cried -out: "Why should Gascoigne come here gascoigning to steal our beauty, -destined to adorn all France and the Court, Fontainebleau, -Saint-Germain, the htel du Louvre, and all the other noble places of -our kings, to lodge her at Pau and Nrac, places so unlike the others?" -But many said: "The deed is done; the Court and France have lost the -loveliest flower of their garland." - -In short, on all sides did we hear resound such little speeches upon -this departure,--half in vexed anger, half in sadness,--although Queen -Louise de Lorraine remained behind, who was a very handsome and wise -princess, and virtuous (of whom I hope to speak more worthily in her -place); but for so long the Court had been accustomed to that beauteous -sight it could not keep from grieving and proffering such words. Some -there were who would have liked to kill M. de Duras, who came from his -master the King of Navarre to obtain her; and this I know. - -Once there came news to Court that she was dead in Auvergne some eight -days. On which a person whom I met said to me: "That cannot be, for -since that time the sky is clear and fine; if she were dead we should -have seen eclipse of sun, because of the great sympathy two suns must -have, and nothing could be seen but gloom and clouds." - -Enough has now been said, methinks, upon the beauty of her body, though -the subject is so ample that it deserves a decade. I hope to speak of it -again, but at present I must say something of her noble soul, which is -lodged so well in that noble body. If it was born thus noble within her -she has known how to keep it and maintain it so; for she loves letters -much and reading. While young, she was, for her age, quite perfect in -them; so that we could say of her: This princess is truly the most -eloquent and best-speaking lady in the world, with the finest style of -speech and the most agreeable to be found. When the Poles, as I have -said before, came to do her reverence they brought with them the Bishop -of Cracovie, the chief and head of the embassy, who made the harangue in -Latin, he being a learned and accomplished prelate. The queen replied so -pertinently and eloquently without the help of an interpreter, having -well understood and comprehended the harangue, that all were struck with -admiration, calling her with one voice a second Minerva, goddess of -eloquence. - -When the queen her mother took her to the king her husband, as I have -said, she made her entry to Bordeaux, as was proper, being daughter and -sister of a king, and wife of the King of Navarre, first prince of the -blood, and governor of Guyenne. The queen her mother willed it so, for -she loved and esteemed her much. This entry was fine; not so much for -the sumptuous magnificence there made and displayed, as for the triumph -of this most beautiful and accomplished queen of the world, mounted on a -fine white horse superbly caparisoned; she herself dressed all in orange -and spangles, so sumptuously as never was; so that none could get their -surfeit of looking at her, admiring and lauding her to the skies. - -Before she entered, the State assembly of the town came to do reverence -and offer their means and powers, and to harangue her at the Chartreux, -as is customary. M. de Bordeaux [the bishop] spoke for the clergy; M. le -Marchal de Biron, as mayor, wearing his robes of office, for the town, -and for himself as lieutenant-general afterwards; also M. Largebaston, -chief president for the courts of law. She answered them all, one after -the other (for I heard her, being close beside her on the scaffold, by -her command), so eloquently, so wisely and promptly and with such grace -and majesty, even changing her words to each, without reiterating the -first or the second, although upon the same subject (which is a thing to -be remarked upon), that when I saw that evening the said president he -said to me, and to others in the queen's chamber, that he had never in -his life heard better speech from any one; and that he understood such -matters, having had the honour to hear the two queens, Marguerite and -Jeanne, her predecessors, speak at the like ceremonies,--they having had -in their day the most golden-speaking lips in France (those were the -words he used to me); and yet they were but novices and apprentices -compared to her, who truly was her mother's daughter. - -I repeated to the queen, her mother, this that the president had said to -me, of which she was glad as never was; and told me that he had reason -to think and say so, for, though she was her daughter, she could call -her, without falsehood, the most accomplished princess in the world, -able to say exactly what she wished to say the best. And in like manner -I have heard and seen ambassadors, and great foreign seigneurs, after -they had spoken with her, depart confounded by her noble speech. - -I have often heard her make such fine discourse, so grave and so -sententious, that could I put it clearly and correctly here in writing I -should delight and amaze the world; but it is not possible; nor could -any one transcribe her words, so inimitable are they. - -But if she is grave, and full of majesty and eloquence in her high and -serious discourses, she is just as full of charming grace in gay and -witty speech; jesting so prettily, with give and take, that her company -is most agreeable; for, though she pricks and banters others, 'tis all -so _ propos_ and excellently said that no one can be vexed, but only -glad of it. - -But further: if she knows how to speak, she knows also how to write; and -the beautiful letters we have seen from her attest it. They are the -finest, the best couched, whether they be serious or familiar, and such -that the greatest writers of the past and present may hide their heads -and not produce their own when hers appear; for theirs are trifles near -to hers. No one, having read them, would fail to laugh at Cicero with -his familiar letters. And whoso would collect Queen Marguerite's -letters, together with her discourses, would make a school and training -for the world; and no one should feel surprised at this, for, in -herself, her mind is sound and quick, with great information, wise and -solid. She is a queen in all things, and deserves to rule a mighty -kingdom, even an empire,--about which I shall make the following -digression, all the more because it has to do with the present subject. - -When her marriage was granted at Blois to the King of Navarre, -difficulties were made by Queen Jeanne [d'Albret, Henri IV.'s mother], -very different then from what she wrote to my mother, who was her lady -of honour, and at this time sick in her own house. I have read the -letter, writ by her own hand, in the archives of our house; it says -thus:-- - -[Illustration: _Henry IV_] - -"I write you this, my great friend, to rejoice and give you health with -the good news my husband sends me. He having had the boldness to ask of -the king Madame, his young daughter, for our son, the king has done him -the honour to grant it; for which I cannot tell you the happiness I -have." - -There is much to be said thereon. At this time there was at our Court a -lady whom I shall not name, as silly as she could be. Being with the -queen-mother one evening at her _coucher_, the queen inquired of her -ladies if they had seen her daughter, and whether she seemed joyful at -the granting of her marriage. This silly lady, who did not yet know her -Court, answered first and said: "How, madame, should she not be joyful -at such a marriage, inasmuch as it will lead to the crown and make her -some day Queen of France, when it falls to her future husband, as it -well may do in time." The queen, hearing so strange a speech, replied: -"_Ma mie_, you are a great fool. I would rather die a thousand deaths -than see your foolish prophecy accomplished; for I hope and wish long -life and good prosperity to the king, my son, and all my other -children." On which a very great lady, one of her intimates, inquired: -"But, madame, in case that great misfortune--from which God keep -us!--happens, would you not be very glad to see your daughter Queen of -France, inasmuch as the crown would fall to her by right through that of -her husband?" To which the queen made answer: "Much as I love this -daughter, I think, if that should happen, we should see France much -tried with evils and misfortunes. I would rather die (as she did in -fact) than see her in that position; for I do not believe that France -would obey the King of Navarre as it does my sons, for many reasons -which I do not tell." - -Behold two prophecies accomplished: one, that of the foolish lady, the -other, but only till her death, that of the able princess. The latter -prophecy has failed to-day, by the grace which God has given our king -[Henri IV.], and by the force of his good sword and the valour of his -brave heart, which have made him so great, so victorious, so feared, and -so absolute a king as he is to-day after too many toils and hindrances. -May God preserve him by His holy grace in such prosperity, for we need -him much, we his poor subjects. - -The queen said further: "If by the abolition of the Salic law, the -kingdom should come to my daughter in her own right, as other kingdoms -have fallen to the distaff, certainly my daughter is as capable of -reigning, or more so, as most men and kings whom I have known; and I -think that her reign would be a fine one, equal to that of the king her -grandfather and that of the king her father, for she has a great mind -and great virtues for doing that thing." And thereupon she went on to -say how great an abuse was the Salic law, and that she had heard M. le -Cardinal de Lorraine say that when he arranged the peace between the two -kings with the other deputies in the abbey of Cercan, a dispute came up -on a point of the Salic law touching the succession of women to the -kingdom of France; and M. le Cardinal de Grandvelle, otherwise called -d'Arras, rebuked the said Cardinal de Lorraine, declaring that the Salic -law was a veritable abuse, which old dreamers and chroniclers had -written down, without knowing why, and so made it accepted; although, in -fact, it was never made or decreed in France, and was only a custom that -Frenchmen had given each other from hand to hand, and so introduced; -whereas it was not just, and, consequently, was violable. - -Thus said the queen-mother. And, when all is said, it was Pharamond, as -most people hold, who brought it from his own country and introduced it -in France; and we certainly ought not to observe it, because he was a -pagan; and to keep so strictly among us Christians the laws of a pagan -is an offence against God. It is true that most of our laws come from -pagan emperors; but those which are holy, just, and equitable (and truly -there are many), we ourselves have ruled by them. But the Salic law of -Pharamond is unjust and contrary to the law of God, for it is written in -the Old Testament, in the twenty-seventh chapter of Numbers: "If a man -die and have no son ye shall cause his inheritance to pass to his -daughter." This sacred law demands, therefore, that females shall -inherit after males. Besides, if Scripture were taken at its word on -this Salic law, there would be no such great harm done, as I have heard -great personages say, for they speak thus: "So long as there be males, -females can neither inherit nor reign. Consequently, in default of -males, females should do so. And, inasmuch as it is legal in Spain, -Navarre, England, Scotland, Hungary, Naples, and Sicily that females -should reign, why should it not be the same in France? For what is right -in one place is right everywhere and in all places; places do not make -the justice of the law." - -In all the fiefs we have in France, duchies, counties, baronies, and -other honourable lordships, which are nearly and even greatly royal in -their rights and privileges, many women, married and unmarried, have -succeeded; as in Bourbon, Vendme, Montpensier, Nevers, Rhtel, -Flandres, Eu, Bourgogne, Artois, Zellande, Bretaigne; and even like -Mathilde, who was Duchesse de Normandie; Elonore, Duchesse de Guyenne, -who enriched Henry II., King of England; Batrix, Comtesse de Provence, -who brought that province to King Louis, her husband; the only daughter -of Raimond, Comtesse de Thoulouse, who brought Thoulouse to Alfonse, -brother of Saint-Louis; also Anne, Duchesse de Bretaigne, and others. -Why, therefore, should not the kingdom of France call to itself in like -manner the daughters of France? - -Did not the beautiful Galatea rule in Gaul when Hercules married her -after his conquest of Spain?--from which marriage issued our brave, -valiant, generous Gauls, who in the olden time made themselves laudable. - -Why should the daughters of dukes in this kingdom be more capable of -governing a duchy or a county and administering justice (which is the -duty of kings) than the daughters of kings to rule the kingdom of -France? As if the daughters of France were not as capable and fitted to -command and reign as those of other kingdoms and fiefs that I have -named! - -For still greater proof of the iniquity of the Salic law it is enough to -show that so many chroniclers, writers, and praters, who have all -written about it, have never yet agreed among themselves as to its -etymology and definition. Some, like Postel, consider that it takes its -ancient name and origin from the Gauls, and is only called Salic instead -of Gallic because of the proximity and likeness in old type between the -letter S and the letter G. But Postel is as visionary in that (as a -great personage said to me) as he is in other things. - -Jean Ceval, Bishop of Avranches, a great searcher into the antiquities -of Gaul and France, tried to trace it to the word _salle_, because this -law was ordained only for _salles_ and royal palaces. - -Claude Seissel thinks, rather inappropriately, that it comes from the -word _sal_ in Latin, as a law full of salt, that of sapience, wisdom, a -metaphor drawn from salt. - -A doctor of laws, named Ferrarius Montanus, will have it that Pharamond -was otherwise called Salicq. Others derive it from Sallogast, one of the -principal councillors of Pharamond. - -Others again, wishing to be still more subtle, say that the derivation -is taken from the frequent sections in the said law beginning with the -words: _si aliquis, si aliqua_. But some say it comes from Franois -Saliens; and it is so mentioned in Marcellin.[14] - -So here are many puzzles and musings; and it is not to be wondered at -that the Bishop of Arras disputed the matter with the Cardinal de -Lorraine: just as those of his nation in their jests and jugglings, -supposing that this law was a new invention, called Philippe de Valois -_le roi trouv_, as if, by a new right never recognized before in -France, he had made himself king. On which was founded that, the county -of Flanders having fallen to a distaff, King Charles V. of France did -not claim any right or title to it; on the contrary, he portioned his -brother Philippe with Bourgogne in order to make his marriage with the -Countess of Flanders; not wishing to take her for himself, thinking her -less beautiful, though far more rich, than her of Bourbon. Which is a -great proof and assurance that the Salic law was not observed except as -to the crown. And it cannot be doubted that women, could they come to -the throne, beautiful, honourable, and virtuous as the one of whom I -here speak, would draw to them the hearts of their subjects by their -beauty and sweetness far more than men do by their strength. - -M. du Tillet says that Queen Clotilde made France accept the Christian -religion, and since then no queen has ever wandered from it; which is a -great honour to queens, for it was not so with the kings after Clovis; -Chilperic I. was stained with Arian error, and was checked only by the -firm resistance of two prelates of the Gallican church, according to the -statement of Grgoire de Tours. - -Moreover, was not Catherine, daughter of Charles VI., ordained Queen of -France by the king, her father, and his council [in 1420]? - -Du Tillet further says that the daughters of France were held in such -honour that although they were married to less than kings they -nevertheless kept their royal titles and were called queens with their -proper names; an honour which was given them for life to demonstrate -forever that they were daughters of the kings of France. This ancient -custom shows dumbly that the daughters of France can be sovereigns as -well as the sons. - -In the days of the King Saint-Louis it is recorded of a court of peers -held by him that the Countess of Flanders was present, taking part with -the peers. This shows how the Salic law was not kept, except as to the -crown. Let us see still further what M. du Tillet says:-- - -"By the Salic law, written for all subjects, where there were no sons -the daughters inherited the patrimony; and this should rule the crown -also, so that Mesdames the daughters of France, in default of sons, -should take it; nevertheless, they are perpetually excluded by custom -and the private law of the house of France, based on the arrogance of -Frenchmen, who cannot endure to be governed by women." And elsewhere he -says: "One cannot help being amazed at the long ignorance that has -attributed this custom to the Salic law, which is quite the contrary of -it." - -King Charles V., treating of the marriage of Queen Marie of France, his -daughter, with Guillaume, Count of Hainault, in the year 1374, -stipulated for the renunciation by the said count of all right to the -kingdom and to Dauphin; which is a great point, for see the -contradictions! - -Certainly if women could handle arms like men they could make themselves -accredited; but by way of compensation, they have their beautiful faces; -which, however, are not recognized as they deserve; for surely it is -better to be governed by beautiful, lovely, and honourable women than by -tiresome, conceited, ugly, and sullen men such as I have seen in this -France of ours. - -I would like to know if this kingdom has found itself any better for an -infinitude of conceited, silly, tyrannical, foolish, do-nothing, -idiotic, and crazy kings--not meaning to accuse our brave Pharamond, -Clodion, Clovis, Ppin, Martel, Charles, Louis, Philippe, Jean, -Franois, Henri, for they are all brave and magnanimous, those kings, -and happy they who were under them--than it would have been with an -infinitude of the daughters of France, very able, very prudent, and very -worthy to govern. I appeal to the regency of the mothers of kings to -show this, to wit:-- - -Frdgonde, how did she administer the affairs of France during the -minority of King Clothaire, her son, if not so wisely and dexterously -that he found himself before he died monarch of Gaul and of much of -Germany? - -The like did Mathilde, wife of Dagobert, as to Clovis II., her son; and, -long after, Blanche, mother of Saint-Louis, who behaved so wisely, as I -have read, that, just as the Roman emperors chose to call themselves -"Augustus" in commemoration of the luck and prosperity of Augustus, the -great emperor, so the former queen-mothers after the decease of the -kings, their husbands, desired each to be called "Reine Blanche," in -honourable memory of the government of that wise princess. Though M. du -Tillet contradicts this a little, I have heard it from a very great -senator. - -And, to come lower down, Isabeau of Bavaria had the regency of her -husband, Charles VI. (who lost his good sense), by the advice of the -Council; and so had Madame de Bourbon for little King Charles VIII. -during his minority; Madame Louise de Savoie for King Franois I.; and -our queen-mother for King Charles IX., her son. - -If, therefore, foreign ladies (except Madame de Bourbon, who was -daughter of France) were capable of governing France so well, why should -not our own ladies do as much, having good zeal and affection, they -being born here and suckled here, and the matter touching them so -closely? - -I should like to know in what our last kings have surpassed our last -three daughters of France, lisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite; and -whether if the latter had come to be queens of France they would not -have governed it (I do not wish to accuse the regency, which was very -great and very wise) as well as their brothers. I have heard many great -personages, well-informed and far-seeing, say that possibly we should -not have had the evils we did have, now have, and shall have still; -adducing reasons too long to put here. But the common and vulgar fool -says: "Must observe the Salic law." Poor idiot that he is! does he not -know that the Germans, from whose stock we issued, were wont to call -their women to affairs of State, as we learn from Tacitus? From that, we -can see how this Salic law has been corrupted. It is but mere custom; -and poor women, unable to enforce their rights by the point of the -sword, men have excluded, and driven them from everything. Ah! why have -we no more brave and valiant paladins of France,--a Roland, a Renaud, an -Ogier, a Deudon, an Olivier, a Graffon, an Yvon, and an infinity of -other braves, whose glory and profession it was to succour ladies and -support them in the troubles and adversities of their lives, their -honour, and their fortunes? Why are they here no longer to maintain the -rights of our Queen Marguerite, daughter of France, who barely enjoys -an inch of land in France, which she quitted in noble state, though to -her, perhaps, the whole belongs by right divine and human? Queen -Marguerite, who does not even enjoy her county of Auvergne, which is -hers by law and equity as the sole heiress of the queen, her mother, is -now withdrawn into the castle of Usson, amid the deserts, rocks, and -mountains of Auvergne,--a different habitation, verily, from the great -city of Paris, where she ought now to be seated on her throne and place -of justice, which belongs to her in her own right as well as by that of -her husband. But the misfortune is that they are not there together. If -both were again united in body and soul and friendship, as they once -were, possibly all would go right once more, and together they would be -feared, respected, and known for what they are. - -(Since this was written God has willed that they be reconciled, which is -indeed great luck.) - -I heard M. de Pibrac say on one occasion that these Navarre marriages -are fatal, because husband and wife are always at variance,--as was the -case with Louis Hutin, King of France and of Navarre, and Marguerite de -Bourgogne, daughter of Duc Robert III.; also Philippe le Long, King of -France and Navarre, with Jeanne, daughter of Comte Othelin of Bourgogne, -who, being found innocent, was vindicated well; also Charles le Bel, -King of France and of Navarre, with Blanche, daughter of Othelin, -another Comte de Bourgogne; and further, King Henri d'Albret with -Marguerite de Valois, who, as I have heard on good authority, treated -her very ill, and would have done worse had not King Franois, her -brother, spoken sternly to him and threatened him for honouring his -sister so little, considering the rank she held. - -The last King Antoine of Navarre died also on ill terms with Queen -Jeanne, his wife; and our Queen Marguerite is now in dispute and -separation from her husband; but God will some day happily unite them in -spite of these evil times. - -I have heard a princess say that Queen Marguerite saved her husband's -life on the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew; for indubitably he was -proscribed and his name written on the "red paper," as it was called, -because it was necessary, they said, to tear up the roots, namely, the -King of Navarre, the Prince de Cond, Amiral de Coligny, and other great -personages; but the said Queen Marguerite flung herself on her knees -before King Charles, to implore him for the life of her husband and -lord.[15] King Charles would scarcely grant it to her, although she was -his good sister. I relate this for what it is worth, as I know it only -by hearsay. But she bore this massacre very impatiently and saved -several, among them a Gascon gentleman (I think his name was Lran), -who, wounded as he was, took refuge beneath her bed, she being in it, -and the murderers pursuing him to the door, from which she drove them; -for she was never cruel, but kind, like a daughter of France. - -They say that the quarrel between herself and her husband came more from -the difference in their religion than from anything else; for they each -loved his and her own, and supported it strongly. The queen having gone -to Pau, the chief town of Barn, she caused the mass to be said there; -and a certain secretary of the king, her husband, named le Pin, who had -formerly belonged to M. l'Amiral, not being able to stomach it, put -several of the inhabitants of the town who had been present at the mass -into prison. The queen was much displeased; and he, wishing to -remonstrate, spoke to her much louder than he should, and very -indiscreetly, even before the king, who gave him a good rebuke and -dismissed him; for King Henri knows well how to like and respect what he -ought; being as brave and generous as his fine and noble actions have -always manifested; of which I shall speak at length in his life. - -The said le Pin fell back upon the edict which is there made, and to be -observed under penalty, namely, that mass shall not be said. The queen, -feeling herself insulted, and God knows she was, vowed and declared she -would never again set foot in that country because she chose to be free -in the exercise of her religion; whereupon she departed, and has ever -since kept her oath very carefully. - -I have heard it said that nothing lay so heavily on her heart as this -indignity of being deprived of the exercise of her religion; for which -reason she begged the queen, her good mother, to come and fetch her and -take her to France to see the king and Monsieur, his brother, whom she -honoured and loved much. Having arrived, she was not received and seen -by the king, her brother, as she should have been. Seeing this great -change since she had left France, and the rise of many persons she would -never have thought of to grandeurs, it irked her much to be forced to -pay court to them, as others, her equals, were now doing; and far from -doing so herself, she despised them openly, as I well saw, so high was -her courage. Alas! too high, certainly, for it caused her misfortunes; -had she been willing to restrain herself and lower her courage the least -in the world she would not have been thwarted and vexed as she has been. - -As to which I shall relate this story: when the king, her brother, went -to Poland, he being there, she knew that M. du Gua, much favoured by her -brother, had made some remarks to her disadvantage, enough to set -brother and sister at variance or enmity. At the end of a certain time -M. du Gua returned from Poland and arrived at Court, bearing letters -from the king to his sister, which he went to her apartment to give her -and kiss hands. This I saw myself. When she beheld him enter she was in -great wrath, and as he came to her to present the letter she said to -him, with an angry face: "Lucky for you, du Gua, that you come before me -with this letter from my brother, which serves you as a safeguard, for I -love him much and all who come from him are free from me; but without -it, I would teach you to speak about a princess like myself, the sister -of your kings, your masters and sovereigns." M. du Gua answered very -humbly: "I should never, madame, have presented myself before you, -knowing that you wish me ill, without some good message from the king, -my master, who loves you, and whom you love also; or without feeling -assured, madame, that for love of him, and because you are good and -generous, you would hear me speak." And then, after making her his -excuses and telling his reasons (as he knew well how to do), he denied -very positively that he had ever spoken against the sister of his kings -otherwise than very reverently. On which she dismissed him with an -assurance that she would ever be his cruel enemy,--a promise which she -kept until his death. - -After a while the king wrote to Mme. de Dampierre and begged her, for -the sake of giving him pleasure, to induce the Queen of Navarre to -pardon M. du Gua, which Mme. de Dampierre undertook with very great -regret, knowing well the nature of the said queen; but because the king -loved her and trusted her, she took the errand and went one day to see -the said queen in her room. Finding her in pretty good humour, she -opened the matter and made the appeal, namely: that to keep the good -graces, friendship, and favour of the king, her brother, who was now -about to become King of France, she ought to pardon M. du Gua, forget -the past, and take him again into favour; for the king loved and -favoured him above his other friends; and by thus taking M. du Gua as a -friend she would gain through him many pleasures and good offices, -inasmuch as he quietly governed the king, his master, and it was much -better to have his help than to make him desperate and goad him against -her, because he could surely do her much harm; telling her how she had -seen in her time during the reign of Franois I., Mesdames Madeleine and -Marguerite, one Queen of Scotland later, the other Duchesse de Savoie, -her aunts, although their hearts were as high and lofty as her own, -bring down their pride so low as to pay court to M. de Sourdis, who was -only master of the wardrobe to the king, their father; yet they even -sought him, hoping by his means, to obtain the favour of the king; and -thus, taking example by her aunts, she ought to do the same herself in -relation to M. du Gua. - -The Queen of Navarre, having listened very attentively to Mme. de -Dampierre, answered her rather coldly, but with a smiling face, as her -manner was: "Madame de Dampierre, what you say to me may be good for -you; you need favours, pleasures, and benefits, and were I you the words -you say to me might be very suitable and proper to be received and put -in practice; but to me, who am the daughter of a king, the sister of -kings, and the wife of a king, they have no meaning; because with that -high and noble rank I cannot, for my honour's sake, be a beggar of -favours and benefits from the king, my brother; and I hold him to be of -too good a nature and too well acquainted with his duty to deny me -anything unless I have the favour of a du Gua; if otherwise, he will do -great wrong to himself, his honour, and his royalty. And even if he be -so unnatural as to forget himself and what he owes to me, I prefer, for -my honour's sake and as my courage tells me, to be deprived of his good -graces, because I would not seek du Gua to gain his favours, or be even -suspected of gaining them by such means and intercession; and if the -king, my brother, feels himself worthy to be king, and to be loved by me -and by his people, I feel myself, as his sister, worthy to be queen and -loved, not only by him but by all the world. And if my aunts, as you -allege, degraded themselves as you say, let them do as they would if -such was their humour, but their example is no law to me, nor will I -imitate it, or form myself on any model if not my own." On that she was -silent, and Mme. de Dampierre retired; not that the queen was angry with -her or showed her ill-will, for she loved her much. - -Another time, when M. d'pernon went to Gascoigne after the death of -Monsieur (a journey made for various purposes, so they said), he saw the -King of Navarre at Pamiers, and they made great cheer and caresses to -each other. I speak thus because at that time M. d'pernon was semi-king -of France because of the dissolute favour he had with his master, the -King of France. After having caressed and made good cheer together the -King of Navarre asked him to go and see him at Nrac when he had been to -Toulouse and was on his way back; which he promised to do. The King of -Navarre having gone there first to make preparations to feast him well, -the Queen of Navarre, who was then at Nrac, and who felt a deadly -hatred to M. d'pernon, said to the king, her husband, that she would -leave the place so as not to disturb or hinder the fte, not being able -to endure the sight of M. d'pernon without some scandal or venom of -anger which she might disgorge, and so give annoyance to the king, her -husband. On which the king begged her, by all the pleasures that she -could give him, not to stir, but to help him to receive the said Sieur -d'pernon and to put her rancour against him underfoot for love of him, -her husband, and all the more because it greatly concerned both of them -and their grandeur. - -"Well, monsieur," replied the queen, "since you are pleased to command -it, I will remain and give him good cheer out of respect to you and the -obedience that I owe to you." After which she said to some of her -ladies: "But I will answer for it that on the days that man is here I -will dress in habiliments I never yet have worn, namely: dissimulation -and hypocrisy; I will so mask my face with shams that the king shall see -there only good and honest welcome and all gentleness; and likewise I -will lay discretion on my lips, so that externally I will make him think -my heart internally is kind, which otherwise I would not answer for; I -do this being nowise in my own control, but wholly in his,--so lofty is -he and full of frankness, unable to bear vileness or the venom of -hypocrisy, or to abase himself in any way." - -Therefore, to content the king, her husband, for she honoured him much, -as he did her, she disguised her feelings in such a way that, M. -d'pernon being brought to her apartment, she received him in the same -manner the king had asked of her and she had promised; so that all -present, the chamber being full of persons eager to see the entrance and -the interview, marvelled much, while the king and M. d'pernon were -quite content. But the most clear-sighted and those who knew the nature -of the queen misdoubted something hidden within; and she herself said -afterwards it was a comedy in which she played a part unwillingly. - -These are two tales by which to see the lofty courage of this queen, the -which was such, as I have heard the queen, her mother, say (discoursing -of this topic), that she resembled in this her father; and that she, the -queen-mother, had no other child so like him, as much in ways, humours, -lineaments, and features of the face as in courage and generosity; -telling also how she had seen King Henri during King Franois' lifetime -unable for a kingdom to pay his court and cringe to Cardinal de Tournon -or to Amiral d'Annebault, the favourites of King Franois, even though -he might often have had peace with Emperor Charles had he been willing -so to do; but his honour could not submit to such attentions. And so, -like father, like daughter. Nevertheless, all that injured her much. I -remember an infinite number of annoyances and indignities she received -at Court, which I shall not relate, they are too odious; until at last -she was sent away, with great affront and yet most innocent of what they -put upon her; the proofs of which were known to many, as I know myself; -also the king, her husband, was convinced of it, so that he brought King -Henri to account, which was very good of him, and henceforth there -resulted between the two brothers [-in-law] a certain hatred and -contention. - -The war of the League happened soon after; and because the Queen of -Navarre feared some evil at Court, being a strong Catholic, she retired -to Agen, which had been given to her with the region about it by her -brothers, as an appanage and gift for life. As the Catholic religion was -concerned, which it was necessary to maintain, and also to exterminate -the other, she wished to fortify her side as best she could and repress -the other side. But in this she was ill-served by means of Mme. de -Duras, who governed her much, and made, in her name, great exactions and -extortions. The people of the town were embittered, and covertly sought -their freedom and a means to drive away their lady and her bailiffs. On -which disturbance the Marchal de Matignon took occasion to make -enterprise against the town, as the king, having learned the state of -things, commanded him with great joy to do in order to aggravate his -sister, whom he did not love, to more and more displeasure. This -enterprise, which failed at first, was led the second time so -dexterously by the said marshal and the inhabitants, that the town was -taken by force with such rapidity and alarm that the poor queen, in -spite of all she could do, was forced to mount in pillion behind a -gentleman, and Mme. de Duras behind another, and escape as quickly as -they could, riding a dozen leagues without stopping, and the next day as -much more, to find safety in the strongest fortress of France, which is -Carlat. Being there, and thinking herself in safety, she was, by the -manoeuvres of the king, her brother (who was a very clever and very -subtle king, if ever there was one), betrayed by persons of that country -and the fortress, so that when she fled she became a prisoner in the -hands of the Marquis de Canillac, governor of Auvergne, and was taken to -the castle of Usson, a very strong fortress also, almost impregnable, -which that good and sly fox Louis XI. had made such, in order to lodge -his prisoners in a hundred-fold more security than at Loches, Bois de -Vincennes, or Lusignan. - -Here, then, was this poor princess a prisoner, and treated not as a -daughter of France or the great princess that she was. But, at any rate, -if her body was captive, her brave heart was not, and it never failed -her, but helped her well and did not let her yield to her affliction. -See what a great heart can do, led by great beauty! For he who held her -prisoner became her prisoner in time, brave and valiant though he was. -Poor man! what else could he expect? Did he think to hold subject and -captive in his prison one whose eyes and beauteous face could subject -the whole world to her bonds and chains like galley-slaves! - -So here was the marquis ravished and taken by her beauty; but she, not -dreaming of the delights of love, only of her honour and her liberty, -played her game so shrewdly that she soon became the stronger, seized -the fort, and drove away the marquis, much dumfounded at such surprise -and military tactics. - -There she has now been six or seven years,[16] not, however, with all -the pleasures of life, being despoiled of the county of Auvergne by M. -le Grand Prieur de France, whom the king induced the queen-mother to -institute count and heir in her will; regretting much that she could not -leave the queen, her good daughter, anything of her own, so great was -the hatred that the king bore her. Alas! what mutation was this from the -time when, as I saw myself, they loved each other much, and were one in -body, soul, and will! Ah! how often was it fine to see them discourse -together; for, whether they were grave or gay, nothing could be finer -than to see and hear them, for both could say what they wished to say. -Ah! how changed the times are since we saw them in that great ball-room, -dancing together in such beautiful accord of dance and will! The king -always led her to the dance at the great balls. If one had a noble -majesty the other had none the less; the eyes of all were never -surfeited or delighted enough by so agreeable a sight; for the sets were -so well danced, the steps so correctly performed, the stops so finely -made that we knew not which to admire most, their beautiful fashion of -dancing or their majesty in pausing; representing now a gay demeanour -and next a noble, crave disdain; for no one ever saw them in the -dance that did not say they had seen no dance so fine with grace and -majesty as this of the king-brother and the queen-sister. As for me, I -am of that opinion; and yet I have seen the Queen of Spain and the Queen -of Scotland dance most beautifully. - -[Illustration: _lisabeth de France Queen of Spain_] - -Also I have seen them dance the Italian _pazzemeno_ [the minuet, _menu -pas_], now advancing with grave port and majesty, doing their steps so -gravely and so well; next gliding only; and anon making most fine and -dainty and grave passages, that none, princes or others, could approach, -nor ladies, because of the majesty that was not lacking. Wherefore this -queen took infinite pleasure in these grave dances on account of her -grace and dignity and majesty, which she displayed the better in these -than in others like _bransles_, and _volts_, and _courants_. The latter -she did not like, although she danced them well, because they were not -worthy of her majesty, though very proper for the common graces of other -ladies. - -I have seen her sometimes like to dance the _bransle_ by torchlight. I -remember that once, being at Lyon, on the return of the king from -Poland, at the marriage of Besne (one of her maids of honour) she danced -the _bransle_ before many foreigners from Savoie, Piedmont, Italy, and -elsewhere, who declared they had never seen anything so fine as this -queen, a grave and noble lady, as indeed she is. One of them there was -who went about declaring that she needed not, like other ladies, the -torch she carried in her hand; for the light within her eyes, which -could not be extinguished like the other, was sufficient; the which had -other virtue than leading men to dance, for it inflamed all those about -her, yet could not be put out like the one she had in hand, but lit the -night amid the darkness and the day beneath the sun. - -For this reason must we say that Fortune has been to us as great an -enemy as to her, in that we see no longer that bright torch, or rather -that fine sun which lighted us, now hidden among those hills and -mountains of Auvergne. If only that light had placed itself in some fine -port or haven near the sea, where passing mariners might be guided, safe -from wreck and peril, by its beacon, her dwelling would be nobler, more -profitable, more honourable for herself and us. Ah! people of Provence, -you ought to beg her to dwell upon your seacoasts or within your ports; -then would she make them more famous than they are, more inhabited and -richer; from all sides men in galleys, ships, and vessels would flock to -see this wonder of the world, as in old times to that of Rhodes, that -they might see its glorious and far-shining pharos. Instead of which, -begirt by barriers of mountains, she is hidden and unknown to all our -eyes, except that we have still her lovely memory. Ah! beautiful and -ancient town of Marseille, happy would you be if your port were honoured -by the flame and beacon of her splendid eyes! For the county of Provence -belongs to her, as do several other provinces in France. Cursd be the -unhappy obstinacy of this kingdom which does not seek to bring her -hither with the king, her husband, to be received, honoured and welcomed -as they should be. (This I wrote at the very height of the Wars of the -League.) - -Were she a bad, malicious, miserly, or tyrannical princess (as there -have been a plenty in times past in France, and will be, possibly, -again), I should say nothing in her favour; but she is good, most -splendid, liberal, giving all to others, keeping little for herself, -most charitable, and giving freely to the poor. The great she made -ashamed with liberalities; for I have seen her make presents to all the -Court on New Year's Day such as the kings, her brothers, could not -equal. On one occasion she gave Queen Louise de Lorraine a fan made of -mother-of-pearl enriched with precious stones and pearls of price, so -beautiful and rich that it was called a masterpiece and valued at more -than fifteen thousand crowns. The other, to return the present, sent her -sister those long _aiguillettes_ which Spaniards call _puntas_, enriched -with certain stones and pearls, that might have cost a hundred crowns; -and with these she paid for that fine New Year's gift, which was, -certainly, most dissimilar. - -In short, this queen is in all things royal and liberal, honourable and -magnificent, and, let it not displease the empresses of long past days, -their splendours described by Suetonius, Pliny, and others, do not -approach her own in any way, either in Court or city, or in her journeys -through the open country; witness her gilded litters so superbly covered -and painted with fine devices, her coaches and carriages the same, and -her horses so fine and so richly caparisoned. - -Those who have seen, as I have, these splendid appurtenances know what I -say. And must she now be deprived of all this, so that for seven years -she has not stirred from that stern, unpleasant castle?--in which, -however, she takes patience; such virtue has she of self-command, one of -the greatest, as many wise philosophers have said! - -To speak once more of her kindness: it is such, so noble, so frank, -that, as I believe, it has done her harm; for though she has had great -grounds and great means to be revenged upon her enemies and injure them, -she has often withheld her hand when, had she employed those means or -caused them to be employed, and commanded others, who were ready enough, -to chastise those enemies with her consent, they would have done so -wisely and discreetly; but she resigned all vengeances to God. - -This is what M. du Gua said to her once when she threatened him: -"Madame, you are so kind and generous that I never heard it said you did -harm to any one; and I do not think you will begin with me, who am your -very humble servitor." And, in fact, although he greatly injured her, -she never returned him the same in vengeance. It is true that when he -was killed and they came to tell her, she merely said, being ill: "I am -sorry I am not well enough to celebrate his death with joy." She had -also this other kindness in her: that when others had humbled themselves -and asked her pardon and favour, she forgave and pardoned, with the -generosity of a lion which never does harm to those who are humble to -him. - -I remember that when M. le Marchal de Biron was lieutenant of the king -in Guyenne, war having broken out around him (possibly with his -knowledge and intent), he went one day before Nrac, where the King and -Queen of Navarre were living at that time. The marshal prepared his -arquebusiers to attack, beginning with a skirmish. The King of Navarre -brought out his own in person, and, in a doublet like any captain of -adventurers, he held his ground so well that, having the best marksmen, -nothing could prevail against him. By way of bravado the marshal let fly -some cannon against the town, so that the queen, who had gone upon the -ramparts to see the pastime, came near having her share in it, for a -ball flew right beside her; which incensed her greatly, as much for the -little respect Marchal de Biron showed in braving her to her face, as -because he had a special command from the king not to approach the war -nearer than five hundred leagues to the Queen of Navarre, wherever she -might be. The which command he did not observe on this occasion; for -which she felt resentment and revenge against the marshal. - -About a year and a half later she came to Court, where was the marshal, -whom the king had recalled from Guyenne, fearing further disturbance; -for the King of Navarre had threatened to make trouble if he were not -recalled. The Queen of Navarre, resentful to the said marshal, took no -notice of him, but disdained him, speaking everywhere very ill of him -and of the insult he had offered her. At last, the marshal, dreading the -hatred of the daughter and sister of his masters, and knowing the nature -of the princess, determined to seek her pardon by making excuses and -humbling himself; on which, generous as she was, she did not contradict -him, but took him into favour and friendship and forgot the past. I knew -a gentleman by acquaintance who came to Court about this time, and -seeing the good cheer the queen bestowed upon the marshal was much -astonished; and so, as he sometimes had the honour of being listened to -by the queen, he said to her that he was much amazed at the change and -at her good welcome, in which he could not have believed, in view of the -affront and injury. To which she answered that as the marshal had owned -his fault and made his excuses and sought her pardon humbly, she had -granted it for that reason, and did not desire further talk about his -bravado at Nrac. See how little vindictive this good princess is,--not -imitating in this respect her grandmother, Queen Anne, towards the -Marchal de Gi, as I have heretofore related. - -I might give many other examples of her kindness in her reconciliations -and forgivenesses. - -Rebours, one of her maids of honour, who died at Chenonceaux, displeased -her on one occasion very much. She did not treat her harshly, but when -she was very ill she went to see her, and as she was about to die -admonished her, and then said: "This poor girl has done great harm, but -she has suffered much. May God pardon her as I have pardoned her." That -was the vengeance and the harm she did her. Through her generosity she -was slow to revenge, and in all things kind. - -Alfonso, the great King of Naples, who was subtle in loving the beauties -of women, used to say that beauty is the sign manual of kindness and -gentle goodness, as the beautiful flower is that of a good fruit. As to -that it cannot be doubted that if our queen had been ugly and not -composed of her great beauty, she would have been very bad in view of -the great causes to be so that were given her. Thus said the late Queen -Isabella of Castile, that wise and virtuous and very Catholic princess: -"The fruit of clemency in a queen of great beauty and lofty heart, -covetous of honour, is sweeter far than any vengeance whatever, even -though it be undertaken for just claims and reason." - -This queen most sacredly observes that rule, striving to conform to the -commandments of her God, whom she has always loved and feared and served -devotedly. Now that the world has abandoned her and made war upon her, -she takes her sole resource in God, whom she serves daily, as I am told -by those who have seen her in her affliction; for never does she miss a -mass, taking the communion often and reading much in Holy Scripture, -finding there her peace and consolation. - -She is most eager to obtain the fine new books that are composed, as -much on sacred subjects as on human; and when she undertakes to read a -book, however large and long it be, she never stops or quits it until -she sees the end, and often loses sleep and food in doing so. She -herself composes, both in prose and verse. As to which no one can think -otherwise than that her compositions are learned, beautiful, and -pleasing, for she knows the art; and could we bring them to the light, -the world would draw great pleasure and great profit from them. Often -she makes very beautiful verses and stanzas, that are sung to her by -choir-boys whom she keeps, and which she sings herself (for her voice is -beautiful and pleasant) to a lute, playing it charmingly. And thus she -spends her time and wears away her luckless days,--offending none, and -living that tranquil life she chooses as the best. - -She has done me the honour to write me often in her adversity, I being -so presumptuous as to send for news of her. But is she not the daughter -and sister of my kings, and must I not wish to know her health, and be -glad and happy when I hear 'tis good? In her first letter she writes -thus:-- - -"By the remembrance you have of me, which is not less new than pleasant -to me, I see that you have well preserved the affection you have always -shown to our family and to the few now left of its sad wreck, so that I, -in whatever state I be, shall ever be disposed to serve you; feeling -most happy that ill fortune has not effaced my name from the remembrance -of my oldest friends, of whom you are. I know that you have chosen, like -myself, a tranquil life; and I count those happy who can maintain it, as -God has given me the grace to do these five years, He having brought me -to an ark of safety, where the storms of all these troubles cannot, I -thank God, hurt me; so that if there remain to me some means to serve my -friends, and you particularly, you will find me wholly so disposed with -right good will." - -Those are noble words; and such was the state and resolution of our -beautiful princess. That is what it is to be born of a noble house, the -greatest in the world, whence she drew her courage by inheritance from -many brave and valiant kings, her father, grandfather, great-grandfather, -and all their ancestors. And be it, as she says, that from so great -a shipwreck she alone remains, not recognized and reverenced as she -should be by her people, I believe this people of France has suffered -much misery for that reason, and will suffer more for this war of the -League. But to-day this is not so;[17] for by the valour and wisdom -and fine government of our king never was France more flourishing, or -more pacific, or better ruled; which is the greatest miracle ever seen, -having issued from so vast an abyss of evils and corruptions; by which -it seems that God has loved our queen,--He being good and merciful. - -Oh! how ill-advised is he who trusts in the people of to-day! Oh! how -differently did the Romans recognize the posterity of Augustus Csar, -who gave them wealth and grandeurs, from the people of France, who -received so much from their later kings these hundred years, and even -from Franois I. and Henri II., so that without them France would have -been tumbled topsy-turvy by her enemies watching for that chance, and -even by the Emperor Charles, that hungry and ambitious man. And thus it -is they are so ungrateful, these people, toward Marguerite, sole and -only remaining daughter and princess of France! It is easy to foresee -the wrath of God upon them, because nothing is to Him so odious as -ingratitude, especially to kings and queens, who here below fulfil the -place and state of God. And thou, disloyal Fortune, how plainly dost -thou show that there are none, however loved by heaven and blessed by -nature, who can be sure of thee and of thy favours a single day! Art -thou not dishonoured in thus so cruelly affronting her who is all -beauty, sweetness, virtue, magnanimity and kindness? - -All this I wrote during those wars we had among us for ten years. To -make an end, did I not speak elsewhere of this great queen in other -discourses I would lengthen this still more and all I could, for on so -excellent a subject the longest words are never wearisome; but for a -time I now postpone them. - -Live, princess, live in spite of Fortune! Never can you be other than -immortal upon earth and in heaven, whither your noble virtues bear you -in their arms. If public voice and fame had not made common praise of -your great merits, or if I were of those of noble speech, I would say -further here; for never did there come into the world a figure so -celestial. - - This queen who should by good right order us - By laws and edicts and above us reign, - Till we behold a reign of pleasure under her, - As in her father's days, a Star of France, - Fortune hath hindered. Ha! must rightful claim - Be wrongly lost because of Fortune's spite? - - Never did Nature make so fine a thing - As this great unique princess of our France! - Yet Fortune chooses to undo her wholly. - Behold how evil balances with good! - - * * * * * - -In the sixteenth century there were three Marguerites: one, sister of -Franois I. and Queen of Navarre, celebrated for her intellect, her -Tales in the style of Boccaccio, and her verses, which are less -interesting; another, Marguerite, niece of the preceding, sister of -Henri II., who became Duchesse de Savoie, very witty, also a writer of -verses, and, in her youth, the patroness of the new poets at Court; and -lastly, the third Marguerite, niece and great-niece of the first two, -daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, first wife of Henri IV., -and sister of the last Valois. It is of her that I speak to-day as -having left behind her most agreeable historical pages and opened in our -literature that graceful series of women's Memoirs which henceforth -never ceases, but is continued in later years and lively vein by -Mesdames de La Fayette, de Caylus and others. All of these Memoirs are -books made without intending it, and the better for that. The following -is the reason why Queen Marguerite took the idea of writing those in -which she describes herself with so lightsome a pen. - -Brantme, who was making a gallery of illustrious French and foreign -ladies, after bringing Marie Stuart into it, bethought him of placing -Marguerite beside her as another example of the injustice and cruelty of -Fortune. Marguerite, at the period when Brantme indited his impulsive, -enthusiastic portrait of her, flinging upon his paper that eulogy which -may truly be called delirious, was confined at the castle of Usson in -Auvergne (1593), where she was not so much a prisoner as mistress. -Prisoner at first, she soon seduced the man who held her so and took -possession of the place, where she passed the period of the League -troubles, and beyond it, in an impenetrable haven. The castle of Usson -had been fortified by Louis XI., well-versed in precautions, who wanted -it as a sure place in which to lodge his prisoners. There Marguerite -felt herself safe, not only from sudden attack, but also from the trial -of a long siege and repeated assault. Writing to her husband, Henri IV., -in October, 1594, she says to him, jokingly, that if he could see the -fortress and the way in which she had protected herself within it he -would see that God alone could reduce it, and she has good reason to -believe that "this hermitage was built to be her ark of safety." - -The castle which she thus compares to Noah's ark, and which some of her -panegyrists, convinced that she who lived there was given to celestial -contemplations, compare to Mount Tabor, was regarded as a Caprea and an -abominable lair by enemies, who, from afar, plunged eyes of hatred into -it. It is very certain, however, that Queen Marguerite lost nothing in -that retreat of the delicate nicety of her mind, for it was there that -she undertook to write her Memoirs in a few afternoons, in order to come -to Brantme's assistance and correct him on certain points. We will -follow her, using now and then some contemporary information, without -relying too much upon either, but endeavouring to draw with simple truth -a singular portrait in which there enters much that was enchanting and, -towards the end, fantastic. - -Marguerite, born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, May 14, 1553, was six years -old when her father, Henri II., was killed at that fatal tournament -which ruined the fortunes of the house of Valois. She tells us several -anecdotes of herself and her childish repartees which prove a precocious -mind. She takes great pains to call attention to a matter which in her -is really a sign, a distinctive note through all excesses, namely: that -as a child and when it was the fashion at Court to be "Huguenot," and -when all those who had intelligence, or wished to pass for having it, -had withdrawn from what they called "bigotry," she resisted that -influence. In vain did her brother, d'Anjou, afterward Henri III., fling -her Hours into the fire and give her the Psalms and the Huguenot prayers -in place of it; she held firm and preserved herself from the mania of -Huguenotism, which at that date (1561) was a fancy at Court, a French -and mundane fashion, attractive for a time to even those who were soon -to turn against it and repress it. Marguerite, in the midst of a life -that was little exemplary, will always be found to have kept with -sincerity this corner of good Catholicism which she derived from her -race, and which made her in this respect and to this degree more of an -Italian than a Frenchwoman; however, that which imports us to notice is -that she _had it_. - -Still a child when the first religious wars began, she was sent to -Amboise with her young brother, d'Alenon. There she found herself in -company with several of Brantme's female relations: Mme. de Dampierre, -his aunt, Mme. de Retz, his cousin; and she began with the elder of -these ladies a true friendship; with the younger, the cousin, the -affection came later. Marguerite gives the reason for this very -prettily:-- - -"At that time the advanced age of your aunt and my childish youthfulness -had more agreement; for it is the nature of old people to love children; -and those who are in the perfection of their age, like your cousin, -despise and dislike their annoying simplicity." - -Childhood passed, and the first awakening to serious things was given to -Marguerite about the time of the battle of Moncontour (1569). She was -then sixteen. The Duc d'Anjou, afterwards Henri III., aged eighteen, -handsome, brave, and giving promise of a virtue and a prudence he never -justified, took his sister aside one day in one of the alleys of the -park at Plessis-lez-Tours to tell her of his desire, on starting for the -army, to leave her as his confidant and support with their mother, -Catherine de' Medici, during his absence at the wars. He made her a long -speech, which she reports in full with some complacency:-- - -"Sister, the nourishment we have taken together obliges us, not less -than proximity, to love each other.... Until now we have naturally been -guided to this without design and without the said union being of any -utility beyond the pleasure we have had in conversing together. That was -good for our childhood; but now it is time to no longer live like -children." - -He then points out to her the great and noble duties to which God calls -him, in which the queen, their mother, brought him up, and which King -Charles IX., their brother, lays upon him. He fears that this king, -courageous as he is, may not always be satisfied with hunting, but will -become ambitious to put himself at the head of the armies, the command -of which has been hitherto left to him. It is this that he wishes to -prevent. - -"In this apprehension," he continues, "thinking of some means of remedy, -I believe that it is necessary to leave some very faithful person behind -me who will maintain my side with the queen, my mother. I know no one as -suitable as you, whom I regard as a second myself. You have all the -qualities that can be desired,--intelligence, judgment, and fidelity." - -The Duc d'Anjou then proposes to his sister to change her manner of -life, to be assiduous towards the queen, their mother, at all hours, at -her _lever_, in her cabinet during the day, at her _coucher_, and so act -that she be treated henceforth, not as a child, but as a person who -represents him during his absence. "This language," she remarks, "was -very new to me, having lived until then without purpose, thinking of -nothing but dancing and hunting; and without much interest even in -dressing and in appearing beautiful, not having yet reached the age of -such ambitions." The fear she always felt for the queen, her mother, and -the respectful silence she maintained in her presence, held her back -still further. "I came very near," she says, "replying to him as Moses -did to God in the vision of the bush: 'Who am I? Send, I pray thee, by -him whom thou shouldest send.'" Nevertheless, she felt within her at her -brother's words a new courage, and powers hitherto unknown to her, and -she soon consented to all, entering zealously into her brother's design. -From that moment she felt herself "transformed." - -This fraternal and politic union thus created by the Duc d'Anjou did not -last. On his return from the victory of Moncontour she found him -changed, distrustful, and ruled by a favourite, du Gua, who possessed -him as so many others possessed him later. Henceforth his sister was out -of favour with him, and it was with her younger brother, the Duc -d'Alenon, that Marguerite renewed and continued as long as she could a -union of the same kind, which gave room for all the feelings and all the -ambitious activities of youth. - -Did she at that time give some ground for the coolness of her brother -d'Anjou by her liaison with the young Duc de Guise? An historian who -knew Marguerite well and was not hostile to her, says: "She had long -loved Henri, Duc de Guise, who was killed at Blois, and had so fixed the -affections of her heart from her youth upon that prince of many -attractions that she never loved the King of Navarre, afterwards King of -France of happy memory, but hated him from the beginning, and was -married to him in spite of herself, and against canonical law."[18] -However this may be, the Duc d'Anjou seized the pretext of the Duc de -Guise to break with his sister, whose enemy he became insensibly, and he -succeeded in alienating her from her mother. - -Marguerite, in this flower of her youth, was, according to all -testimony, enchantingly beautiful. Her beauty was not so much in the -special features of her face as in the grace and charm of her whole -person, with its mingling of seduction and majesty. Her hair was dark, -which was not thought a beauty in those days; blond hair reigned. "I -have seen her sometimes wearing her natural hair without any peruke -artifice," Brantme tells us, "and though it was black (having inherited -that colour from King Henri, her father), she knew so well how to twist -and curl and arrange it, in imitation of her sister, the Queen of Spain, -who never wore any hair but her own, that such arrangement and coiffure -became her as well as, or better than, any other." Toward the end of her -life Marguerite, becoming in her turn antiquated, with no brown hair to -dress, made great display of blond perukes. "For them she kept great, -fair-haired footmen, who were shaved from time to time;" but in her -youth, when she dared to be dark-haired as nature made her, it was not -unbecoming to her; for she had a most dazzling complexion and her -"beautiful fair face resembled the sky in its purest and greatest -serenity" with its "noble forehead of whitening ivory." Nor must we -forget her art of adorning and dressing herself to advantage, and the -new inventions of that kind she gave to women, she being then the queen -of the modes and fashion. As such she appeared on all solemn occasions, -and notably on that day when, at the Tuileries, the queen-mother fted -the Polish seigneurs who came to offer the crown of Poland to the Duc -d'Anjou, and Ronsard, who was present, confesses that the beautiful -goddess Aurora was vanquished; but more notably still on that flowery -Easter at Blois, when we see her in procession, her dark hair starred -with diamonds and precious stones, wearing a gown of crinkled cloth of -gold from Constantinople, the weight of which would have crushed any -other woman, but which her beautiful, rich, strong figure supported -firmly, bearing the palm in her hand, her consecrated branch, "with -regal majesty, and a grace half proud, half tender." Such was the -Marguerite of the lovely years before the disasters and the flights, -before the castle of Usson, where she aged and stiffened. - -This beauty, so real, so solid, which had so little need of borrowed -charms, had, like all her being, its fantasticalities and its -superstition. I have said already that she frequently disguised her -rich, brown hair, preferring a blond wig, "more or less charmingly -fashioned." Her beautiful face was presented to view "all painted and -stained." She took such care of her skin that she spoiled it with washes -and recipes of many kinds, which gave her erysipelas and pimples. In -fact, she was the model and eke the slave of the fashions of her time; -and as she survived those days she became in the end a species of -preserved idol and curiosity, such as may be seen in a show-case. The -great Sully, when he one day reappeared at the Court of Louis XIII. with -his ruff and his costume of the time of Henri IV., gave that crowd of -young courtiers something to laugh at; and so, when Queen Marguerite, -having returned from Usson to Paris, showed herself at the remodelled -Court of Henri IV. she produced the same effect on that young century, -which smiled at beholding this solemn survival of the Valois. - -Like all those Valois, a worthy granddaughter of Franois I., she was -learned. To the Poles who harangued in Latin she showed that she -understood them by replying on the spot, eloquently and pertinently, -without the help of an interpreter. She loved poetry and wrote it, and -had it written for her by salaried poets whom she treated as friends. -When she had once begun to read a book she could not leave it, or pause -till she came to the end, "and very often she would lose both her eating -and drinking." But let us not forestall the time. She herself tells us -that this taste for study and reading came to her for the first time -during a previous imprisonment in which Henri III. held her for several -months in 1575, and we are still concerned with her cloudless years. - -She was married, in spite of her objections as a good Catholic, to -Henri, King of Navarre, six days before the Saint-Bartholomew (August, -1572). She relates with much navet and in a simple tone the scenes of -that night of horror, of which she was ignorant until the last moment. -We see in her narrative that wounded and bleeding gentleman pursued -through the corridors of the Louvre, and taking refuge in Marguerite's -chamber, and flinging himself with the cry "Navarre! Navarre!" upon her; -shielding his own body from the murderers with that of his queen, she -not knowing whether she had to do with a madman or an assailant. When -she did know what the danger was she saved the poor man, keeping him in -bed and dressing his wounds in her cabinet until he was cured. Queen -Marguerite, so little scrupulous in morality, is better than her -brothers; of the vanishing Valois she has all the good qualities and -many of their defects, but not their cruelty. - -After this half-missed blow of the Saint-Bartholomew, which did not -touch the princes of the blood, an attempt was made to unmarry her from -the King of Navarre. On a feast day when she was about to take the -sacrament, her mother asked her to tell her under oath, truly, whether -the king, her husband, had behaved to her as yet like a husband, a man, -and whether there was not still time to break the union. To this -Marguerite played the _ingnue_, so she asserts, apparently not -comprehending. "I begged her," she says, "to believe that I knew nothing -of what she was speaking. I could then say with truth as the Roman lady -said, when her husband was angry because she had not warned him his -breath was bad, 'that she had supposed all men were alike, never having -been near to any one but him.'" - -Here Marguerite wishes to have it understood that she had never, so far, -made comparison of any man with another man; she plays the innocent, and -by her quotation from the Roman lady she also plays the learned; which -is quite in the line of her intelligence. - -It would be a great error of literary judgment to consider these -graceful Memoirs as a work of nature and simplicity; it is rather one of -discrimination and subtlety. Wit sparkles throughout; but study and -learning are perceptible. In the third line we come upon a Greek word: -"I would praise your work more," she writes to Brantme, "if you had -praised me less; not wishing that the praise I give should be attributed -to _philautia_ rather than to reason;" by _philautia_ she means -self-love. Marguerite (she will remind us of it if we forget it) is by -education and taste of the school of Ronsard, and a little of that of Du -Bartas. During her imprisonment in 1575, giving herself up, as she tells -us, to reading and devotion, she shows us the study which led her back -to religion; she talks to us of the "universal page of Nature;" the -"ladder of knowledge;" the "chain of Homer;" and of "that agreeable -Encyclopdia which, starting from God, returns to God, the principle -and the end of all things." All that is learned, and even -transcendental. - -She was called in her family Venus-Urania. She loved fine discourses on -elevated topics of philosophy or sentiment. In her last years, during -her dinners and suppers, she usually had four learned men beside her, to -whom she propounded at the beginning of the meal some topic more or less -sublime or subtile, and when each had spoken for or against it and given -his reasons, she would intervene and renew the contest, provoking and -attracting to herself at will their contradiction. Here Marguerite was -essentially of her period, and she bears the seal of it on her style. -The language of her Memoirs is not an exception to be counted against -the mannerism and taste of her time; it is only a more happy employment -of it. She knows mythology and history; she cites readily Burrhus, -Pyrrhus, Timon, the centaur Chiron, and the rest. Her language is by -choice metaphorical and lively with poesy. When Catherine de' Medici, -going to see her son, the Duc d'Anjou, travels from Paris to Tours in -three days and a half (very rapid in those times, and the journey put -that poor Cardinal de Bourbon, little accustomed to such discomfort, -entirely out of breath), it is because the queen-mother is "borne," says -Marguerite, "on the wings of desire and maternal affection." - -Marguerite likes and affects all comparisons borrowed from fabulous -natural history, and she varies them with reminiscences of ancient -history. When, in 1582, they recall her to the Court of France, taking -her from her husband and from Nrac, where she had then been three or -four years, she perceives a project of her enemies to blow up a quarrel -between herself and her husband during this absence. "They hoped," she -says, "that separation would be like the breaking of the Macedonian -battalion." When the famous Phalanx was once broken entrance was easy. -This style, so ornate and figurative, usually delicate and graceful, has -also its outspokenness and firmness of tone. Speaking of the expedition -projected by her brother, the Duc d'Alenon, in Flanders, she explains -it in terms of energetic beauty, representing to the king that "it is -for the honour and aggrandizement of France; it will prove an invention -to prevent civil war, all restless spirits desirous of novelty having -means to pass into Flanders and blow off their smoke and surfeit -themselves with war. This enterprise will also serve, like Piedmont, as -a school for the nobility in the practice of arms; we shall there revive -the Montlucs and Brissacs, the Termes and the Bellegardes, and all those -great marshals who, trained to war in Piedmont, have since then so -gloriously and successfully served their king and their country." - -One of the most agreeable parts of these Memoirs is the journey in -Flanders, Hainault, and the Lige country which Marguerite made in 1577; -a journey undertaken ostensibly to drink the waters of Spa, but in -reality to gain partisans for her brother d'Alenon, in his project of -wrenching the Low Countries from Spain. The details of her coquettish, -and ceremonial magnificence, so dear to ladies, are not omitted:-- - -"I went," says Marguerite, "in a litter with columns covered with -rose-coloured Spanish velvet, embroidered in gold and shaded silks with -a device; this litter was enclosed in glass, and each glass also bore a -device, there being, whether on the velvet or on the glass, forty -different devices about the sun and its effects, with the words in -Spanish and Italian." - -Those forty devices and their explanation were an ever fresh subject of -gallant conversation in the towns through which she passed. Amid it -all, Marguerite, then in the full bloom of her twenty-fourth year, went -her way, winning all hearts, seducing the governors of citadels, and -persuading them to useful treachery. On this journey she meets with -charming Flemish scenes which she pictures delightfully. Take, for -example, the gala festival at Mons, where the beautiful Comtesse de -Lalain (Marguerite, Princesse de Ligne), whose beauty and rich costume -are described most particularly, has her child brought to her in -swaddling-clothes and suckles it before the company; "which," remarks -Marguerite, "would have been an incivility in any one else; but she did -it with such grace and simplicity, like all the rest of her actions, -that she received as much praise as the company did pleasure." - -Leaving Namur, we have at Lige a touching and pathetic story of a poor -young girl, Mlle. de Tournon, who dies of grief for being slighted and -betrayed by her lover, to whom she was going in the utmost confidence; -and who himself, coming to a better mind too late, rushes to console -her, and finds her coffin on arrival. We have here from Queen -Marguerite's pen the finished sketch of a tale in the style of Mme. de -La Fayette, just as above we had the drawing of a perfect little Flemish -picture. On her return from this journey, the scenes Marguerite passes -through at Dinant prove her coolness and presence of mind, and present -us with another Flemish picture, but not so graceful as that of Mons and -the beautiful nursing countess; this time it is a scene of public -drunkenness, grotesque burgher rioting, and burgomasters in their cups. -A painter need only transfer and copy the very lines which Marguerite -has so happily traced, to make a faithful picture. - -After these journeys, being now reunited at her house of La Fre in -Picardy with her dear brother d'Alenon, she realizes there for nearly -two months, "which were to us" she says, "like two short days," one of -those terrestrial paradises which were at all times the desire of her -imagination and of her heart. She loved beyond all things those spheres -of enchantment, those Fortunate Isles, alike of Urania and of Calypso, -and she was ever seeking to reproduce them in all places and under all -forms, whether at her Court at Nrac or amid the rocks of Usson, or, at -the last, in that beautiful garden on the banks of the Seine (which -to-day is the Rue des Petits-Augustins) where she strove to cheat old -age. - -"O my queen! how good it is to be with you!" exclaims continually her -brother d'Alenon, enchanted with the thousand graceful imaginations -with which she varied and embellished this sojourn at La Fre. And she -adds navely, mingling her Christian erudition with sentiment: "He would -gladly have said with Saint Peter: 'Let us make our tabernacle here,' if -the regal courage he possessed and the generosity of his soul had not -called him to greater things." As for her, we can conceive that she -would gladly have remained there, prolonging without weariness the -enchantment; she would willingly have arranged her life like that -beautiful garden at Nrac of which she constantly speaks, "which has -such charming alleys of laurel and cypress," or like the park she had -made there, "with paths three thousand paces long beside the river;" the -chapel being close at hand for morning mass, and the violins at her -orders for the evening ball. - -Whatever ability and shrewdness Queen Marguerite may have shown in -various political circumstances in the course of her life, we -nevertheless perceive plainly that she was not a political woman; she -was too essentially of her sex for that. There are very few women who, -like the Princess Palatine [Anne de Gonzaga] or the illustrious -Catherine of Russia, know how to be libertine yet sure of themselves; -able to establish an impenetrable partition between the alcove and the -cabinet of public affairs. Nearly all the women who have mingled in the -intrigues of politics have introduced and confused with them their -intrigues of heart or senses. Consequently, whatever intelligence they -may have, they elude or escape at a certain moment, and unless there be -a man who holds the tiller and gives them with decision their course, we -find them unfaithful, treacherous, not to be relied on, and capable at -any moment of colloguing through a secret window with an emissary of the -opposite side. Marguerite, with infinite intelligence and grace, was one -of those women. Distinguished but not superior, and wholly influenced by -passions, she had wiles and artifices of a passing kind, but no views, -and still less stability. - -One of the remarkable features of her Memoirs is that she does not tell -all, nor even the half of all, and in the very midst of the odious and -extravagant accusations made against her she sits, pen in hand, a -delicate and most discreet woman. Nothing can be less like confession -than her Memoirs. "We find there," says Bayle, "many sins of omission; -but could we expect that Queen Marguerite would acknowledge the things -that would blast her? Such avowals are reserved for the tribunal of -confession; they are not meant for history." At the most, when -enlightened by history and by the pamphlets of the period, we can merely -guess at certain feelings of which she presents to us only the -superficial and specious side. When she speaks of Bussy d'Amboise she -scarcely restrains her admiration for that gallant cavalier, and we -fancy we can see in the abundance of that praise that her heart -overflows. - -Even the letters that we have from her say little more. Among them are -love letters addressed to him whom at one time she loved the most, -Harlay de Chanvalon. Here we find no longer the charming, moderately -ornate, and naturally polished style of the Memoirs; this is all of the -highest metaphysics and purest fustian, nearly unintelligible and most -ridiculous. "Adieu, my beauteous sun! adieu, my noble angel! fine -miracle of nature!" those are the most commonplace and earthly of her -expressions; the rest mount ever higher till lost in the Empyrean. It -would really seem, from reading these letters, as if Marguerite had -never loved with heart-love, only with the head and the imagination; and -that, feeling truly no love but the physical, she felt herself bound to -refine it in expression and to _petrarchize_ in words, she, who was so -practical in behaviour. She borrows from the false poetry of her day its -tinsel in order to persuade herself that the fancy of the moment is an -eternal worship. A practical observation is quoted of her which tells us -better than her own letters the secret of her life. "Would you cease to -love?" she said, "possess the thing beloved." It is to escape this quick -disenchantment, this sad and rapid awakening, that she is so prodigal of -her figurative, mythological, impossible expressions; she is trying to -make herself a veil; the heart counts for nothing. She seems to be -saying to love: "Thy base is so trivial, so passing a thing, let us try -to support it by words, and so prolong its image and its play." - -Her life well deduced and well related would make the subject of a -teeming and interesting volume. Having obtained, after the persecutions -and troubles, permission to rejoin her husband in Gascogne (1578), she -remained there three and a half years, enjoying her liberty and leaving -him his. She counts these days at Nrac, mingled, in spite of the -re-beginning wars, with balls, excursions, and "all sorts of virtuous -pleasures," as an epoch of happiness. Henri's weaknesses and her own -harmonized remarkably, and never clashed. But Henri soon crossed the -limit of license, and she, on her side, equally. It is not for us to -hold the balance or enter here into details which would soon become -indelicate and shameful. Marguerite, who had gone to spend some time in -Paris at her brother's Court (1582, 1583) did not return to her husband -until after an odious scandal had made public her frailty. - -From that time forth her life did not retain its early, smiling -joyfulness. She was now past thirty; civil wars were lighted, never to -be extinguished until after the desperate struggles and total defeat of -the League. Marguerite, becoming a queen-adventuress, changed her abode -from time to time, until she found herself in the castle of Usson, that -asylum of which I have spoken, where she passed no less than eighteen -years (1587-1605). What happened there? Doubtless many common frailties, -but less odious than are told by bitter and dishonourable chroniclers, -the only authorities for the tales they put forth. - -During this time Queen Marguerite did not entirely cease to correspond -with her husband, now become King of France. If the conduct of the royal -pair leaves much to be desired with regard to each other, and also with -regard to the public, let us at least recognize that their correspondence -is that of honourable persons, persons of good company, whose hearts are -much better than their morals. When reasons of State determined Henri to -_unmarry himself_, to break a union which was not only sterile but scandalous, -Marguerite agreed without resistance,--seeming, however, to be fully -conscious of what she was losing. To accomplish the formalities of -divorce, the pope delegated certain bishops and cardinals to interrogate -separately the husband and wife. Marguerite expresses the desire, -inasmuch as she must be questioned, that this may be done "by more -private and familiar" persons, her courage not being able to endure -publicly so great a _diminution_; "fearing that my tears," she writes, -"may make these cardinals think I am acting from force or constraint, -which would injure the effect the king desires" (Oct. 21, 1599). King -Henri was touched by the feelings she showed throughout this long -negotiation. "I am very satisfied," he writes, "at the ingenuousness and -candour of your procedure; and I hope that God will bless the remainder -of our days with fraternal affection, accompanied by the public good, -which will render them very happy." He calls her henceforth his sister; -and she herself says to him: "You are father, brother, and king to me." -If their marriage was one of the least noble and the most bourgeois, -their divorce, at any rate, was royal. - - * * * * * - -[Here Sainte-Beuve does not keep strictly to history. Henri IV. had long -urged Marguerite to consent to a divorce; but she, aware that he was -taking steps to divorce Gabrielle d'Estres from her husband, in order -to marry her, and feeling the indignity of such a marriage, firmly -refused, and continued to do so until the sudden death of Gabrielle in -Paris during Holy Week of 1599; on which Marguerite consented at once to -the divorce, and Henri married Marie de' Medici, December 17 of the same -year. - -[Illustration: The Coronation of Marie de' Medici] - -Five years later (1605) Marguerite returned from the castle of Usson and -held her Court in Paris at the htel de Sens (which still exists) and at -her various chteaux in Languedoc; no longer, alas! the Reine Margot of -our ill-regulated affections, and somewhat open to the malicious -comments of Tallemant des Reaux, but appearing at times with all her -wonted spirit and regal dignity. These were the days when she kept -a brigade of golden-haired footmen who were shorn for the wigs; and the -story goes that her gowns were made with many pockets, in each of which -she kept the mummied heart of a lover. But such tales must be taken for -what they are worth, and a better chronicler than the satirists of the -Valois has given us ocular proof of her last majestic presence at a -public ceremony five years before her death. - -In 1610, Henri IV. preparing to leave France for the war in Germany, and -wishing to appoint Queen Marie de' Medici regent, it became necessary to -have the latter crowned. This was done in the cathedral of Saint-Denis, -May 13, 1610. The Queen of Navarre, as Marguerite, daughter of France -and first princess of the blood, was required to be present at the -ceremony. Rubens' splendid picture (reproduced in this volume) gives the -scene. Marie de' Medici, kneeling before the altar, is being crowned by -Cardinal de Joyeuse, assisted by his clergy and two other cardinals; -beside the queen are the dauphin (Louis XIII.) and his sister, -lisabeth, afterwards Queen of Spain. The Princesse de Conti and the -Duchesse de Montpensier carry the queen's train; the Duc de Ventadour, -his back to the spectator, bears the sceptre, and the Chevalier de -Vendme the sword of Justice. To the left, leading the cortge of -princesses and nobles, is the Queen of Navarre, easily recognized by her -small closed crown, all the other princesses wearing coronets. In the -background, to right, in a gallery, sits Henri IV. viewing the ceremony. -As he did so he turned with a shudder to the man behind him and said: "I -am thinking how this scene would appear if this were the Last Day and -the Judge were to summon us all before Him." Henri IV. was killed by -Ravaillac the following morning, while his coach stood blocked in the -streets by the crowds who were collecting for the public entry of Marie -de' Medici into Paris. - -The young lisabeth, eldest daughter of the king and Marie de' Medici, -who appears at the coronation of her mother, was afterwards wife of -Philip IV. of Spain, and mother of the Infanta Maria Theresa, wife of -Louis XIV, also of Carlos II., at whose death Louis XIV. obtained the -crown of Spain for his grandson, the Duc d'Anjou, Philip V. This -lisabeth of France, Queen of Spain, is the original of Rubens' -magnificent portrait reproduced in this chapter.--TR.] - - * * * * * - -Queen Marguerite returned from Usson to Paris in 1605; and here we find -her in her last estate, turned slightly to ridicule by Tallemant, the -echo of the new century. Eighteen years of confinement and solitude had -given her singularities, and even manias; they now burst forth in open -day. She still had adventures both gallant and startling: an equerry -whom she loved was killed at her carriage door by a jealous servant, and -the poet Maynard, a young disciple of Malherbe, one of Marguerite's -_beaux-esprits_, wrote stanzas and plaints about it. During the same -period Marguerite had many sincere thoughts that were more than fits of -devotion. With Maynard for secretary, she had also Vincent de Paul, -young in those days, for her chaplain. She founded and endowed convents, -all the while paying learned men to instruct her in philosophy, and -musicians to amuse her during divine service and at hours more profane. -She gave many alms and gratuities and did not pay her debts. It was not -precisely good sense that presided over her life. But amidst it all she -was loved. "On the 27th day of the month of March" (1615), says a -contemporary, "died in Paris Queen Marguerite, sole remains of the race -of Valois,--a princess full of kindness and of good intentions for the -good and the peace of the State, _who did no harm to any but herself_. -She was greatly regretted. She died at the age of sixty-two." - -Certain persons have attempted to compare her for beauty, for -misfortunes, for intellect, with Marie Stuart. Certainly, at a point of -departure there was much in common between the two queens, the two -sisters-in-law, but the comparison cannot be maintained historically. -Marie Stuart, who had in herself the wit, grace, and manners of the -Valois, who was scarcely more moral as a woman than Marguerite, and was -implicated in acts that were far more monstrous, had, or seemed to have, -a certain elevation of heart, which she acquired, or developed, in her -long captivity crowned by her sorrowful death. Of the two destinies, the -one represents definitely a great cause, and ends in a pathetic legend -of victim and martyr; the reputation of the other is spent and scattered -in tales and anecdotes half smutty, half devout, into which there enters -a grain of satire and of gayety. From the end of one comes many a -tearful tragedy; from that of the other nought can be made but a -_fabliau_. - -That which ought to be remembered to Marguerite's honour is her -intelligence, her talent for saying the right word; in short, that which -is said of her in the Memoirs of Cardinal de Richelieu: "She was the -refuge of men of letters; she loved to hear them talk; her table was -always surrounded by them, and she learned so much from their -conversation that she talked better than any other woman of her time, -and wrote more elegantly than the ordinary condition of her sex would -warrant." It is in that way, by certain exquisite pages which form a -date in our language, that she enters, in her turn, into literary -history, the noble refuge of so many wrecks, and that a last and a -lasting ray shines from her name. - -C. A. SAINTE-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1852). - - - - -DISCOURSE VI. - -MESDAMES, THE DAUGHTERS OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF FRANCE.[19] - - -1. _Madame Yoland de France._ - -'Tis a thing that I have heard great personages, both men and ladies of -the Court, remark, that usually the daughters of the house of France -have been good, or witty, or gracious, or generous, and in all things -accomplished; and to confirm this opinion they do not go back to the -olden time, but say it of those of whom they have knowledge themselves, -or have heard their fathers and grandfathers who have been at the Court -talk of. - -First, I shall name here Madame Yoland of France, daughter of Charles -VII., and wife of the Duc de Savoie and Prince of Piedmont. - -She was very clever; true sister to her brother, Louis XI. She leaned a -little to the party of Duc Charles de Bourgogne, her brother-in-law, he -having married her elder sister Catherine, who scarcely lived after -wedding her husband, so that her virtues do not appear. Yoland, seeing -that Duc Charles was her neighbour and might be feared, did what she -could to maintain his friendship, and he served her much in the business -of her State. But he dying, King Louis XI. came down upon her grandeur -and her means, and those of Savoie. But Madame la duchesse, clever lady! -found means of winning over her brother the king;, and went to see him -at Plessis-lez-Tours to settle their affairs. She having arrived, the -king went down to meet her in the courtyard and welcome her; and having -bowed and kissed her and put his arm around her neck, half laughing, -half pinching her, he said: "Madame la Bourgognian, you are very -welcome." She, making him a great curtsey, replied: "Monsieur, I am not -Bourgognian; you will pardon me if you please. I am a very good -Frenchwoman and your humble servant." On which the king took her by the -arm and led her to her chamber with very good welcome; but Madame -Yoland, who was shrewd and knew the king's nature, was determined not to -remain long with him, but to settle her affairs as fast as she could and -get away. - -The king, on the other hand, who knew the lady, did not press her to -stay very long; so that if one was displeased with the other, the other -was displeased with the first; wherefore without staying more than eight -days she returned, very little content with the king, her brother. - -Philippe de Commines has told about this meeting more at length; but the -old people of those days said that they thought this princess a very -able female, who owed nothing to the king, her brother, who twitted her -often about being a Bourgognian; but she tacked about as gently and -modestly as she could, for fear of affronting him, knowing full well, -and better than even her brother, how to dissimulate, being a hundred -times slyer than he in face, and speech, and ways, though always very -good and very wise. - - -2. _Madame Jeanne de France._ - -Jeanne de France, daughter of the aforesaid king, Louis XI., was very -witty, but so good that after her death she was counted a saint, and -even as doing miracles, because of the sanctity of the life she led -after her husband, Louis XII., repudiated her [to marry Anne de -Bretagne]; after which she retired to Bourges, which was given her as a -dowry for the term of her natural life; where all her time was spent in -prayer and orisons and in serving God and his poor, without giving any -sign of the wrong that was done her by such repudiation. But the king -protested that he had been forced to marry her fearing the wrath of her -father, Louis XI., a master-man, and declared positively that he had -never known her as his wife. Thus the matter was allowed to pass; in -which this princess showed her wisdom, not making the reply of Richarde -of Scotland, wife of Charles le Gros, King of France, when her husband -repudiated her, affirming that he had never lived with her as his wife. -"That is well," she said, "since by the oath of my husband I am maid and -virgin." By those words she scoffed at her husband's oath and her own -virginity. - -But the king was seeking to recover his first loves, namely: Queen Anne -and her noble duchy, which gave great temptations to his soul; and that -was why he repudiated his wife. His oath was believed and accepted by -the pope, who sent him the dispensation, which was received by the -Sorbonne and the parliament of Paris. In all of which this princess was -wise and virtuous, and made no scandal, nor uproar, nor appeal to -justice, because a king can do much and just what he will; but feeling -herself strong to contain herself in continence and chastity, she -retired towards God and espoused herself to Him so truly that never -another husband nor a better could she have. - - -3. _Madame Anne de France._ - -After her comes her sister, Anne de France, a shrewd woman and a cunning -if ever there was one, and the true image of King Louis, her father. The -choice made of her to be guardian and administrator of her brother, -King Charles [VIII.], proves this, for she governed him so wisely and -virtuously that he came to be one of the greatest of the kings of -France, who was proclaimed, by reason of his valour, Emperor of the -East. As to his kingdom she administered that in like manner. True it is -that because of her ambition she was rather mischief-making, on account -of the hatred she bore to M. d'Orlans, afterwards King Louis XII. I -have heard say, however, that in the beginning she loved him with love; -so that if M. d'Orlans had been willing to hear to her, he might have -had better luck, as I hold on good authority. But he could not constrain -himself, all the more because he saw her so ambitious, and he wished his -wife to depend upon him as first and nearest prince to the crown, and -not upon herself; while she desired the contrary, for she wanted to hold -the highest place and to govern in all things. - -She was very vindictive in temper like her father, and always a sly -dissembler, corrupt, full of deceit, and a great hypocrite, who, for the -sake of her ambition, could mask and disguise herself in any way. So -that the kingdom, beginning to be angry at her humours, although she was -wise and virtuous, bore with them so impatiently that when the king went -to Naples she no longer had the title of regent, but her husband, M. de -Bourbon, received it. It is true, however, that she made him do what she -had in her head, for she ruled him and knew how to guide him, all the -better because he was rather foolish,--indeed, very much so; but the -Council opposed and controlled her. She endeavoured to use her -prerogative and authority over Queen Anne, but there she found the boot -on the other foot, as they say, for Queen Anne was a shrewd Bretonne, as -I have told already, who was very superb and haughty towards her -equals; so that Madame Anne was forced to lower her sails and leave the -queen, her sister-in-law, to keep her rank and maintain her grandeur and -majesty, as was reasonable; which made Madame Anne very angry; for she, -being virtually regent, held to her grandeur terribly. - -I have read many letters from her to our family in the days of her -greatness; but never did I see any of our kings (and I have seen many) -talk and write so bravely and imperiously as she did, as much to the -great as to the small. Of a surety, she was a _matresse-femme_, though -quarrelsome, and if M. d'Orlans had not been captured and his luck had -not served him ill, she would have thrown France into turmoil; and all -for her ambition, which so long as she lived she never could banish from -her soul,--not even when retired to her estates, where, nevertheless, -she pretended to be pleased and where she held her Court, which was -always, as I have heard my grandmother say, very fine and grand, she -being accompanied by great numbers of ladies and maids of honour, whom -she trained very wisely and virtuously. In fact she gave such fine -educations (as I know from my grandmother) that there were no ladies or -daughters of great houses in her time who did not receive lessons from -her, the house of Bourbon being one of the greatest and most splendid in -Christendom. And indeed it was she who made it so brilliant, for though -she was opulent in estates and riches of her own, she played her hand so -well in the regency that she gained a great deal more; all of which -served to make the house of Bourbon more dazzling. Besides being -splendid and magnificent by nature and unwilling to diminish by ever so -little her early grandeur, she also did many great kindnesses to those -whom she liked and took in hand. To end all, this Anne de France was -very clever and sufficiently good. I have now said enough about her. - - -4. _Madame Claude de France._ - -I must now speak of Madame Claude de France, who was very good, very -charitable, and very gentle to all, never doing any unkindness or harm -to any one either at her Court or in the kingdom. She was much beloved -by King Louis [XII.] and Queen Anne, her father and mother, being their -good and best-loved daughter, as they showed her plainly; for after the -king was peaceably Duke of Milan they declared and proclaimed her, in -the parliament of Paris with open doors, duchess of the two finest -duchies in Christendom, to wit, Milan and Bretagne, the one coming from -her father, the other from her mother. What an heiress, if you please! -These two duchies joined together made a noble kingdom. - -Queen Anne, her mother, desired to marry her to Charles of Austria, -afterwards emperor, and had she lived she would have done so, for in -that she influenced the king, her husband, wishing always to have the -sole charge and care of the marriage of her daughters. Never did she -call them otherwise than by their names: "My daughter Claude," and "My -daughter Rene." In these our days, estates and seigneuries must be -given to daughters of princesses, and even of ladies, by which to call -them! If Queen Anne had lived, never would Madame Claude have been -married to King Franois [I.] for she foresaw the evil treatment she was -certain to receive; the king, her husband, giving her a disease that -shortened her days. Also, Madame la regente treated her harshly. But she -strengthened her soul as much as she could, by her sound mind and gentle -patience and great wisdom, to endure these troubles, and in spite of -all, she bore the king, her husband, a fine and generous progeny, -namely: three sons, Franois, Henri, and Charles; and four daughters, -Louise, Charlotte, Magdelaine, and Marguerite. - -She was much beloved by her husband, King Franois [I.], and well -treated by him and by all France, and much regretted when she died for -her admirable virtues and goodness. I have read in the "Chronique -d'Anjou" that after her death her body worked miracles; for a great lady -of her family being tortured one day with a hot fever, and having made -her a vow, recovered her health suddenly. - - -5. _Madame Rene de France._ - -Madame Rene, her sister, was also a very good and able princess; for -she had as sound and subtle mind as could be. She had studied much, and -I have heard her discoursing learnedly and gravely of the sciences, even -astrology, and knowledge of the stars, about which I heard her talking -one day with the queen-mother, who said, after hearing her, that the -greatest philosopher in the world could not have spoken better. - -She was promised in marriage to the Emperor Charles, by King Franois; -but the war interrupting that marriage, she was given to the Duc de -Ferrara, who loved her much and treated her honourably as the daughter -of a king. True it is they were for a time rather ill together because -of the Lutheran religion he suspected her of liking. Possibly; for -resenting the ill-turns the popes had done to her father in every way, -she denied their power and refused obedience, not being able to do -worse, she being a woman. I hold on good authority that she said this -often. Her husband, nevertheless, having regard to her illustrious -blood, respected her always and honoured her much. Like her sister, -Queen Claude, she was fortunate in her issue, for she bore to her -husband the finest that was, I believe, in Italy, although she herself -was much weakened in body. - -She had the Duc de Ferrara, who is to-day one of the handsomest princes -in Italy and very wise and generous; the late Cardinal d'Est, the -kindest, most magnificent and liberal man in the world (of whom I hope -to speak hereafter); and three daughters, the most beautiful women ever -born in Italy: Madame Anne d'Est, afterwards Mme. de Guise; Madame -Lucrezia, Duchesse d'Urbino; and Madame Leonora, who died unmarried. The -first two bore the names of their grandmothers: one from Anne de -Bretagne on her mother's side; the other, on the father's side, from -Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander [VI.], both very different -in manners as in character, although the said lady Lucrezia Borgia was a -charming princess of Spanish extraction, gifted with beauty and virtue -(see Guicciardini). Madame Leonora was named after Queen Leonora. These -daughters were very handsome, but their mother embellished them still -more by the noble education that she gave them, making them study -sciences and good letters, the which they learned and retained -perfectly, putting to shame the greatest scholars. So that if they had -beautiful bodies they had souls that were beautiful also. I shall speak -of them elsewhere. - -Now, if Madame Rene was clever, intelligent, wise, and virtuous, she -was also so kind and understood the subjects of her husband so well that -I never knew any one in Ferrara who was not content or failed to say all -the good in the world of her. They felt above all her charity, which she -had in great abundance and principally for Frenchmen; for she had this -good thing about her, that she never forgot her nation; and though she -was thrust far away from it, she always loved it deeply. No Frenchman -passing through Ferrara, being in necessity and addressing her, ever -left without an ample donation and good money to return to his country -and family; and if he were ill, and could not travel, she had him -treated and cured carefully and then gave him money to return to France. - -I have heard persons who know it well, and an infinite number of -soldiers who had good experience of it say that after the journey of M. -de Guise into Italy, she saved the lives of at least ten thousand poor -Frenchmen, who would have died of starvation and want without her; and -among the number were many nobles of good family. I have heard some of -them say that never could they have reached France without her, so great -was her charity and liberality to those of her nation. And I have also -heard her _matre d'htel_ assert that their food had cost her more than -ten thousand crowns; and when the stewards of her household remonstrated -and showed her this excessive expense, she only said: "How can I help -it? These are poor Frenchmen of my nation, who, if God had put a beard -on my chin and made me a man, would now be my subjects; and truly they -would be so now if that wicked Salic law did not hold me in check." - -She is all the more to be praised because, without her, the old proverb -would be still more true, namely, that "Italy is the grave of -Frenchmen." - -But if her charity was shown at that time in this direction, I can -assure you that in other places she did not fail to practise it. I have -heard several of her household say that on her return to France, having -retired to her town and house of Montargis about the time the civil wars -began to stir, she gave a refuge as long as she lived to a number of -persons of the Religion [Reformers] who were driven or banished from -their houses and estates; she aided, succoured, and fed as many as she -could. - -I myself, at the time of the second troubles, was with the forces in -Gascoigne, commanded by MM. de Terrids and de Montsals, amounting to -eight thousand men, then on their way to join the king. We passed -through Montargis and went, the leaders, chief captains, and gentlemen, -to pay our respects to Madame Rene, as our duty commanded. We saw in -the castle, as I believe, more than three hundred persons of the -Religion, who had taken refuge there from all parts of the country. An -old _matre d'htel_, a very honest man, whom I had known in Ferrara, -swore to me that she fed every day more than three hundred mouths of -these poor people. - -In short, this princess was a true daughter of France in kindness and -charity. She had also a great and lofty heart. I have seen her in Italy -and at Court, hold her state as well as possible; and though she did not -have an external appearance of grandeur, her body being weakened, there -was so much majesty in her royal face and speech that she showed plainly -enough she was daughter of a king and of France. - - -6. _Mesdames Charlotte, Louise, Magdelaine, and Marguerite de France._ - -I have said that Madame Claude [wife of Franois I.] was fortunate in -her fine progeny of daughters as well as of sons. First she had Mesdames -Charlotte and Louise, whom death did not allow to reach the perfect age -and noble fruit their tender youth had promised in sweet flowers. Had -they come to the perfection of their years they would have equalled -their sisters in mind and goodness, for their promise was great. Madame -Louise was betrothed to the Emperor when she died. Thus are lovely -rosebuds swept away by the wind, as well as full-blown flowers. Youth -thus ravished is more to be regretted than old age, which has had its -day and its loss is not great. Almost the same thing happened to Madame -Magdelaine, their sister, who had no great time allowed her to enjoy the -thing in all the world she most desired; which was, to be a queen, so -proud and lofty was her heart. - -She was married to the King of Scotland; and when they wanted to -dissuade her--not, certainly, that he was not a brave and handsome -prince, but because she thus condemned herself to make her dwelling in a -barbarous land among a brutal people--she replied: "At least I shall be -queen so long as I live; that is what I have always wished for." But -when she arrived in Scotland she found that country just what they had -told her, and very different from her sweet France. Still, without one -sign of repentance, she said nothing except these words: "Alas! I would -be queen,"--covering her sadness and the fire of her ambition with the -ashes of patience as best she could. M. de Ronsard, who went with her to -Scotland, told me all this; he had been a page of M. d'Orlans, who -allowed him to go with her, to see the world. - -She did not live long a queen before she died, regretted by the king and -all the country, for she was truly good, and made herself beloved, -having, moreover, a fine mind, and being wise and virtuous. - -Her sister, Madame Marguerite de France [the second of the three -Marguerites], afterwards Duchesse de Savoie, was so wise, virtuous, and -perfect in learning and knowledge that she was called the Minerva, or -the Pallas, of France, and for device she bore an olive branch with two -serpents entwining it, and the words: _Rerum Sapientia custos_: -signifying that all things are ruled, or should be, by wisdom--of which -she had much, and knowledge also; improving them ever by continual study -in the afternoons, and by lessons which she received from learned men, -whom she loved above all other sorts of people. For which reason -they honoured her as their goddess and patron. The great quantity of -noble books which they wrote and dedicated to her show this, and as they -have said enough I shall say no more about her learning. - -[Illustration: Franois I] - -Her heart was grand and lofty. King Henri wished to marry her to M. de -Vendme, first prince of the blood; but she made answer that never would -she marry a subject of the king, her brother. That is why she was so -long without a husband; until, peace being made between the two -Christian and Catholic kings, she was married to M. de Savoie, to whom -she had aspired for a long time, ever since the days of King Franois, -when Pope Paul III. and King Franois met at Nice, and the Queen of -Navarre went, by command of the king, to see the late Duc de Savoie in -the castle of Nice, taking with her Madame Marguerite, her niece, who -was thought most agreeable by M. de Savoie, and very suitable for his -son. But the affair dragged on, because of the great war, until the -peace, when the marriage was made and consummated at great cost to -France; for all that we had conquered and held in Piedmont and Savoie -for the space of thirty years, was given back in one hour; so much did -King Henri desire peace and love his sister, not sparing anything to -marry her well. But all the same, the greater part of France and -Piedmont murmured and said it was too much. - -Others thought it very strange, and others very incredible, until they -had seen her; and even foreigners mocked at us: and those who loved -France and her true good wept, and lamented, especially those in -Piedmont who did not wish to return to their former masters. - -As for the French soldiers, and the war companions who had so long -enjoyed the garrisons, charms, and fine living of that beautiful -country, there is no need to ask what they said, nor how they grumbled -and were desperate and bemoaned themselves. Some, more Gascon than the -rest, said: "Hey! _cap de Diou!_ for the little bit of flesh of that -woman, must we give back that large and noble piece of earth?" Others: -"A fine thing truly to call her Minerva, goddess of chastity, and send -her here to Piedmont to change her name at our expense!" - -I have heard great captains say that if Piedmont had been left to us, -and only Savoie and Bresse given up, the marriage would still have been -very rich and very fine; and if we could have stayed in Piedmont that -region would have served as a school and an amusement to the French -soldiers, who would have stayed there and not been so eager after civil -wars,--it being the nature of Frenchmen to busy themselves always with -the toils of Mars, and to hate idleness, rest, and peace. - -But such was now the unhappy fate of France. It was thus that peace was -bought, and Madame de Savoie could not help it; although she never -desired the ruin of France; on the contrary, she loved nothing so much -as the people of her nation; and if she received benefits from them she -was not ungrateful, but served them and succoured them all she could; -and as long as she lived she persuaded and won her husband, Monsieur de -Savoie, to keep the peace, and not combine, he being a Spaniard for -life, against France, which he did as soon as she was dead. For then he -stirred up, supported, and strengthened secretly M. le Marchal de -Bellegarde to do what he did and to rebel against the king, and seize -upon the marquisate of Saluces (which I shall speak of elsewhere); in -which certainly his Highness did great wrong, and ill returned the -benefits received from the Kings of France his relatives, especially our -late King Henri III., who, on his return from Poland, gave him so -liberally Pignerol and Savillan. - -Many well-advised persons believe that if Madame de Savoie had lived she -would have died sooner than allow that blow, so grateful did she feel to -the land of her birth. And I have heard a very great person say that he -thought that if Madame de Savoie were living and had seen her son seize -upon the marquisate of Saluces (as he did in the time of the late king), -she would have strangled him; indeed, the late king himself thought so -and said so. That king, Henri III., felt such wrath at that stroke that -the morning when the news reached him, as he was about to take the -sacrament, he put off that act and would not do it, so excited, angry, -and scrupulous was he, within as well as without; and he always said -that if his aunt had lived it would never have happened. - -Such was the good opinion this good princess left in the minds of the -king and of other persons. And to tell the truth, as I know from high -authority, if she had not been so good never would the king or his -council have portioned her with such great wealth, which, surely, she -never spared for France and Frenchmen. No Frenchman could complain, when -addressing her for his necessities in going or coming across the -mountains, that she did not succour and assist him and give him good -money to help him on his way. I know that when we returned from Malta, -she did great favours and gave much money to many Frenchmen who -addressed her and asked her for it; and also, without being asked, she -offered it. I can say that, as knowing it myself; for Mme. de -Pontcarlier, sister of M. de Retz, who was Madame de Savoie's favourite -and lady of honour, asked me to supper one evening in her room, and gave -me, in a purse, five hundred crowns on behalf of the said Madame, who -loved my aunt, Mme. de Dampierre, extremely and had also loved my -mother. But I can swear with truth and security that I did not take a -penny of it, for I had enough with me to take me back to Court; and had -I not, I would rather have gone on foot than be so shameless and -impudent as to beg of such a princess. I knew many who did not do like -that, but took very readily what they could get. - -I have heard one of her stewards say that every year she put away in a -coffer a third of her revenue to give to poor Frenchmen who passed -through Savoie. That is the good Frenchwoman that she was; and no one -should complain of the wealth she took from France; and it was all her -joy when she heard good news from there, and all her grief when it was -bad. - -When the first wars broke out she felt such woe she thought to die of -it; and when peace was made and she came to Lyon to meet the king and -the queen-mother, she could not rejoice enough, begging the queen to -tell her all; and showing anger to several Huguenots, telling them and -writing them that they stirred up strife, and urging them not to do so -again; for they honoured her much and had faith in her, because she gave -pleasure to many; indeed M. l'Amiral [Coligny] would not have enjoyed -his estates in Savoie had it not been for her. - -When the civil wars came on in Flanders she was the first to tell us on -our arrival from Malta; and you may be sure she was not sorry for them; -"for," said she, "those Spaniards rejoiced and scoffed at us for our -discords, but now that they have their share they will scoff no longer." - -She was so beloved in the lands and countries of her husband that when -she died tears flowed from the eyes of all, both great and small, so -that for long they did not dry nor cease. She spoke for every one to her -husband when they were in trouble and adversity, in pain or in fault, -requesting favour or pardon, which without her intercessions they would -often not have had. Thus they called her their patron-saint. - -In short, she was the blessing of the world; in all ways, as I have -said, charitable, munificent, liberal, wise, virtuous, and so accessible -and gentle as never was, principally to those of her nation; for when -they went to do her reverence she received them with such welcome they -were shamed; the most unimportant gentlemen she honoured in the same -way, and often did not speak to them until they were covered. I know -what I say, for, speaking with her on one occasion, she did me this -honour, and urged and commanded me so much that I was constrained to -say: "Madame, I think you do not take me for a Frenchman, but for one -who is ignorant who you are and the rank you hold; but I must honour you -as belongs to me." She never spoke to any one sitting down herself, but -always standing; unless they were principal personages, and those I saw -speaking to her she obliged to sit beside her. - -To conclude, one could never tell all the good of this princess as it -was; it would need a worthier writer than I to represent her virtues. I -shall be silent, therefore, till some future time, and begin to tell of -the daughters of our King Henri [II. and Catherine de' Medici], Mesdames -lisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite de France. - - -7. _Mesdames lisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite de France._ - -I begin by the eldest, Madame lisabeth de France, or rather I ought to -call her the beautiful lisabeth of the world on account of her rare -virtues and perfections, the Queen of Spain, beloved and honoured by her -people in her lifetime, and deeply regretted and mourned by the same -after death, as I have said already in the Discourse I made upon her. -Therefore I shall content myself for the present in writing no more, but -will speak of her sister, the second daughter of King Henri, Madame -Claude de France (the name of her grandmother), Duchesse de Lorraine, -who was a beautiful, wise, virtuous, good, and gentle princess. So that -every one at Court said that she resembled her mother and aunt and was -their real image. She had a certain gayety in her face which pleased all -those who looked at her. In her beauty she resembled her mother, in her -knowledge and kindness she resembled her aunt; and the people of -Lorraine found her ever kind as long as she lived, as I myself have seen -when I went to that country; and after her death they found much to say -of her. In fact, by her death that land was filled with regrets, and M. -de Lorraine mourned her so much that, though he was young when widowed -of her, he would not marry again, saying he could never find her like, -though could he do so he would remarry, not being disinclined. - -She left a noble progeny and died in childbed, through the appetite of -an old midwife of Paris, a drunkard, in whom she had more faith than in -any other. - -The news of her death reached Reims the day of the king's coronation, -and all the Court were in mourning and extreme sadness, for her kindness -was shown to all when she came there. The last time she came, the king, -her brother, made her a gift of the ransoms of Guyenne, which came from -the confiscations that took place there; but the ransoms were made so -heavy that often they exceeded the value of the confiscations. - -Mme. de Dampierre asked her for one, one day when I was present, for a -gentleman whom I know. The princess made answer: "Mme. de Dampierre, I -give it to you with all my heart, having merely accepted this gift from -the king, my brother, not having asked for it; he gave it to me of his -own good-will; not to injure France, for I am French and love all those -who are so like myself; they will have more courtesy from me than from -another who might have had that gift; therefore what they want of me and -ask of me I will give." And truly, those who had to do with her found -her all courtesy, gentleness, and goodness. - -In short, she was a true daughter of France, having good mind and -ability, which she proved by seconding wisely and ably her husband, M. -de Lorraine, in the government of his seigneuries and principalities. - -After this Claude de France, comes that beautiful Marguerite de France, -Queen of Navarre, of whom I have already spoken; for which reason I am -silent here, awaiting another time; for I think that April in its -springtime never produced such lovely flowers and verdure as this -princess of ours produced blooming at all seasons in noble and diverse -ways, so that all the good in the world could be said of her. - - -8. _Madame Diane de France._ - -Nor must I forget Madame Diane de France; although she was bastard and a -natural child, we must place her in the rank of the daughters of France, -because she was acknowledged by the late King Henri [II.] and -legitimatized and afterwards dowered as daughter of France; for she was -given the duchy of Chastellerault, which she quitted to be Duchesse -d'Angoulme, a title and estate she retains at this day, with all the -privileges of a daughter of France, even to that of entering the -cabinets and state business of her brothers, King Charles and King Henri -III. (where I have often seen her), as though she were their own -sister. Indeed, they loved her as such. She had much resemblance to -King Henri, her father, as much in features of the face as in habits and -actions. She loved all the exercises that he loved, whether arms, -hunting, or horses. I think it is not possible for any lady to look -better on horseback than she did, or to have better grace in riding. - -I have heard say (and read) from certain old persons, that little King -Charles VIII. being in his kingdom of Naples, Mme. la Princesse de -Melfi, coming to do him reverence, showed him her daughter, beautiful as -an angel, mounted on a noble courser, managing him so well, with all the -airs and paces of the ring, that no equerry could have done better, and -the king and all his Court were in great admiration and astonishment to -see such beauty so dexterous on horseback, yet without doing shame to -her sex. - -Those who have seen Madame d'Angoulme on horseback were as much -delighted and amazed; for she was so born to it and had such grace that -she resembled in that respect the beautiful Camilla, Queen of the -Volsci; she was so grand in body and shape and face that it was hard to -find any one at Court as superb and graceful at that exercise; nor did -she exceed in any way the proper modesty and gentleness; indeed, like -the Princesse Melfi, she outdid modesty; except when she rode through -the country, when she showed some pretty performances that were very -agreeable to those who beheld them. - -[Illustration: Diane de France] - -I remember that M. le Marchal d'Amville, her brother-in-law, gave her, -once upon a time, a very fine horse, which he named _le Docteur_, -because he stepped so daintily and advanced curveting with such -precision and nicety that a doctor could not have been wiser in his -actions; and that is why he called him so. I saw Madame d'Angoulme make -that horse go more than three hundred steps pacing in that way; and -often the whole Court was amused to see it, and could not tell which to -admire most, her firm seat, or her beautiful grace. Always, to add to -her lustre, she was finely attired in a handsome and rich riding-dress, -not forgetting a hat well garnished with plumes, worn _ la_ Guelfe. Ah! -what a pity it is when old age comes to spoil such beauties and blemish -such virtues; for now she has left all that, and quitted those -exercises, and also the hunting which became her so much; for nothing -was ever unbecoming to her in her gestures and manners, like the king, -her father,--she taking pains and pleasure in what she did, at a ball, -in dancing; indeed in whatever dance it was, whether grave or gay, she -was very accomplished. - -She sang well, and played well on the lute and other instruments. In -fact, she is her father's daughter in that, as she is in kindness, for -indeed she is very kind, and never gives pain to any one, although she -has a grand and lofty heart, but her soul is generous, wise, and -virtuous, and she has been much beloved by both her husbands. - -She was first married to the Duc de Castro, of the house of Farnese, who -was killed at the assault at Hesdin; secondly, to M. de Montmorency, who -made some difficulty in the beginning, having promised to marry Mlle. de -Pienne, one of the queen's maids of honour, a beautiful and virtuous -girl; but to obey a father who was angry and threatened to disinherit -him, he obtained his release from his first promise and married Madame -Diane. He lost nothing by the change, though the said Pienne came from -one of the greatest families in France, and was one of the most -beautiful, virtuous, and wise ladies of the Court, whom Madame Diane -loved, and has always loved without any jealousy of her past affections -with her husband. She knows how to control herself, for she is very -intelligent and of good understanding. The kings, her brothers, and -Monsieur loved her much, and so did the queens and duchesses, her -sisters, for she never shamed them, being so perfect in all things. - -King Charles loved her, because she went with him to his hunts and other -joyous amusements, and was always gay and good-humoured. - -King Henri [III.] loved her, because he knew that she loved him and -liked to be with him. When war arose so cruelly on the death of M. de -Guise, knowing the king, her brother, to be in need, she started from -her house at Isle-Adam, in a diligence, not without running great risks, -being watched for on the road, and took him fifty thousand crowns, which -she had saved from her revenues, and gave them to him. They arrived most -_ propos_ and, as I believe, are still owing to her; for which the king -felt such good-will that had he lived he would have done great things -for her, having tested her fine nature in his utmost need. And since his -death she has had no heart for joy or profit, so much did she regret and -still regrets him, and longs for vengeance, if her power were equal to -her will, on those who killed him. But never has our present king [Henri -IV.] consented to it, whatever prayer she makes, she holding Mme. de -Montpensier guilty of the death of the king, her brother, abhorring her -like the plague, and going so far as to tell her before Madame, the -king's sister, that neither Madame nor the king had any honest reason to -love her, except that through this murder of the late king they held the -rank they did hold. What a hunt! I hope to say more of this elsewhere; -therefore am I silent now. - - -9. _Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre._ - -I must now speak somewhat of Marguerite, Queen of Navarre. Certainly she -was not born daughter of a king of France, nor did she bear the name, -except that of Valois or d'Orlans, because, as M. du Tillet says in his -Memoirs, the surname of France does not belong to any but the daughters -of France; and if they are born before their fathers are kings they do -not take it until after their said fathers' accession to the crown. -Nevertheless this Marguerite, as the greatest persons of those days have -said, was held to be daughter of France for her great virtues, although -there was some wrong in putting her in that rank. That is why we place -her here among the Daughters of France.[20] - -She was a princess of very great mind and ability, both by nature and -power of acquisition, for she gave herself to letters in her early years -and continued to do so as long as she lived, liking and conversing with -the most learned men in her brother's kingdom in the days of her -grandeur and usually at Court. They all so honoured her that they called -her their Mcenas; and most of their books composed at that period were -dedicated either to her brother, the king, who was also learned, or to -her. - -She herself composed well, and made a book which she entitled "La -Marguerite des Marguerites" which is very fine and can still be found in -print.[21] She often composed comedies and moralities, which were called -in those days pastorals, and had them played and represented by the -maids of honour at her Court. - -She was fond of composing spiritual songs, for her heart was much given -to God; and for that reason she bore as her device a marigold, which is -the flower that has the most affinity with the sun of any there is, -whether in similitude of its leaves to rays, or by reason of the fact -that usually it turns to the sun wherever it goes from east to west, -opening and closing according to its rise and its setting. Also she -arranged this device with the words: _Non inferiora secutus_--"It stops -not for earthly things;" meaning that she aimed and directed all her -actions, thoughts, will, and affections to that great sun on high which -is God; and for that reason was she suspected of being of Luther's -religion. But out of the respect and love she bore the king, her -brother, who loved her only and called her his darling [his _mignonne_] -she never made any profession or semblance of that religion; and if she -believed it she kept it in her soul very secretly, because the king -hated it much, saying that that, and all other new sects, tended more to -the destruction of kingdoms, monarchies, and civil dominions than to the -edification of souls. - -The great sultan, Solyman, said the same; declaring that however much it -upset many points of the Christian religion and the pope, he could not -like it, "because," he said, "the monks of this new faith are only -seditious mischief-makers, who can never rest unless they are stirring -up trouble." That is why King Franois, a wise prince if ever there was -one, foreseeing the miseries that would come in many ways to -Christianity, hated these people and was rather rigorous in burning -alive the heretics of his day. Nevertheless, he favoured the Protestant -princes of Germany against the emperor. That is how these great kings -govern as they please. - -I have heard a trustworthy person relate how the Conntable de -Montmorency, in the days of his greatest favour, discoursing of this -with the king, made no difficulty or scruple in telling him that if he -wanted to exterminate the heretics of his kingdom he would have to begin -with his Court and his nearest relations, naming the queen, his sister. -To which the king replied: "Do not speak of her; she loves me too well. -She will never believe except as I believe, and never will she take any -religion prejudicial to my State." After which, hearing of it, she never -liked M. le conntable, and helped much in his disfavour and banishment -from Court. Now it happened that the day on which her daughter, the -Princesse de Navarre, was married to the Duc de Clves at -Chastellerault, the bride was so weighted with jewels and with her gown -of gold and silver stuff that her body was too weak to walk to church; -on which the king commanded the conntable to take his niece in his arms -and carry her to the church; which amazed the Court very much; a duty -like that being little suitable and honourable for a conntable, and -might have been given very well to another. But the Queen of Navarre was -in no wise displeased and said: "The man who tried to ruin me with my -brother now serves to carry my daughter to church." - -I have this story from the person I mentioned, who added that M. le -conntable was much displeased at this duty and showed great vexation at -being made such a spectacle, saying: "It is all over with my favour, I -bid it farewell." And so it proved; for after the _fte_ and the wedding -dinner, he had his dismissal and departed immediately. I heard this from -my brother, who was then a page at Court and saw the whole mystery and -remembered it well, for he had a good memory. Possibly I am wearisome in -making this digression; but as it came to my remembrance, may I be -forgiven. - -To speak again of the learning of this queen: it was such that the -ambassadors who spoke with her were greatly delighted, and made reports -of it to their nations when they returned; in this she relieved the -king, her brother, for they always went to her after paying their chief -embassy to him; and often when great affairs were concerned they -intrusted them to her. While they awaited the final and complete -decision of the king she knew well how to entertain and content them -with fine discourse, in which she was opulent, besides being very clever -in pumping them; so that the king often said she assisted him much and -relieved him a great deal. Therefore was it discussed, as I have heard -tell, which of the two sisters served their brothers best,--one the -Queen of Hungary, the emperor; the other, Marguerite, King Franois; the -one by the effects of war, the other by the efforts of her charming -spirit and gentleness. - -When King Franois was so ill in Spain, being a prisoner, she went to -him like a good sister and friend, under the safe-conduct of the -emperor; and finding her brother in so piteous a state that had she not -come he would surely have died, and knowing his nature and temperament -far better than all his physicians, she treated him and caused him to be -treated so well, according to her knowledge of him, that she cured him. -Therefore the king often said that without her he would have died, and -that forever would he recognize his obligation and love her for it; as -he did, until his death. She returned him the same love, so that I have -heard say how, hearing of his last illness, she said these words: -"Whoever comes to my door and announces the cure of the king, my -brother, whoever may be that messenger, be he lazy, ill-humoured, dirty -or unclean, I will kiss him as the neatest prince and gentleman of -France, and if he needs a bed to repose his laziness upon, I will give -him mine and lie myself on the hardest floor for the good news he brings -me." But when she heard of his death her lamentations were so great, her -regrets so keen, that never after did she recover from them, nor was she -ever as before. - -When she was in Spain, as I have heard from my relations, she spoke to -the emperor so bravely and so honestly on the bad treatment he had given -to the king, her brother, that he was quite amazed; for she showed him -plainly the ingratitude and felony he had practised, he, a vassal, to -his seigneur in relation to Flanders; after which she reproached him for -his hardness of heart and want of pity to so great and good a king; -saying that to use him in this way would never win a heart so noble and -royal and so sovereign as that of her brother; and that if he died of -such treatment, his death would not remain unpunished; he having -children who would some day, when they grew up, take signal vengeance. - -Those words, pronounced so bravely and with such deep anger, gave the -emperor much to think of,--so much indeed that he softened and visited -the king and promised him many fine things, which he did not, -nevertheless, perform at this time. - -Now, if the queen spoke so well to the emperor, she spoke still more -strongly to his council, of whom she had audience. There she triumphed -in speaking and haranguing nobly with that good grace she never was -deprived of; and she did so well with her fine speech that she made -herself more pleasing than odious and vexatious,--all the more, withal, -that she was young, beautiful, the widow of M. d'Alenon, and in the -flower of her age; which is very suitable to move and bend such hard and -cruel persons. In short, she did so well that her reasons were thought -good and pertinent, and she was held in great esteem by the emperor, his -council, and the Court. Nevertheless he meant to play her a trick, -because, not reflecting on the expiration of her safe-conduct and -passport, she took no heed that the time was elapsing. But getting wind -that the emperor as soon as her time had expired meant to arrest her, -she, always courageous, mounted her horse and rode in eight days a -distance that should have taken fifteen; which effort so well succeeded -that she reached the frontier of France very late on the evening of the -day her passport expired, circumventing thus his Imperial Majesty [_Sa -Csare Majest_] who would no doubt have kept her had she overstayed -her safe-conduct by a single day. She sent him word and wrote him this, -and quarrelled with him for it when he passed through France. I heard -this tale from Mme. la seneschale, my grandmother, who was with her at -that time as lady of honour. - -During the imprisonment of the king, her brother, she greatly assisted -Mme. la regente, her mother, in governing the kingdom, contenting the -princes, the grandees, and winning over the nobility; because she was -very accessible, and so won the hearts of many persons by the fine -qualities she had in her. - -In short, she was a princess worthy of a great empire; besides being -very kind, gentle, gracious, charitable, a great alms-giver and -disdaining none. Therefore was she, after her death, regretted and -bemoaned by everybody. The most learned persons vied with each other in -making her epitaph in Greek, Latin, French, Italian; so much so that -there is still a book of them extant, quite complete and very beautiful. - -This queen often said to this one and that one who discoursed of death, -and eternal happiness after it: "All that is true, but we shall stay a -long time under ground before we come to that." I have heard my mother, -who was one of her ladies, and my grandmother, who was her lady of -honour, say that when they told her in the extremity of her illness that -she must die, she thought those words most bitter, and repeated what I -have told above; adding that she was not so old but that she might live -on for many years, being only fifty-two or fifty-three years old. She -was born under the 10th degree of Aquarius, when Saturn was parted from -Venus by quaternary decumbiture, on the 10th of April, 1492, at ten in -the evening; having been conceived in the year 1491 at ten hours before -mid-day and seventeen minutes, on the 11th of July. Good astrologers can -make their computations upon that. She died in Barn, at the castle of -Audaus [Odos] in the month of December, 1549. Her age can be reckoned -from that. She was older than the king, her brother, who was born at -Cognac, September 12th, year 1494, at nine in the evening, under the -21st degree of Gemini, having been conceived in the year 1493, December -10th, at ten o'clock in the morning, became king January 11th, 1514 -[1515 new style], and died in 1547. - -This queen took her illness by looking at a comet which appeared at the -death of Pope Paul III.; she herself thought this, but possibly it only -seemed so; for suddenly her mouth was drawn a little sideways; which her -physician, M. d'Escuranis, observing, he took her away, made her go to -bed, and treated her; for it was a chill [_caterre_], of which she died -in eight days, after having well prepared herself for death. She died a -good Christian and a Catholic, against the opinion of many; but as for -me, I can affirm, being a little boy at her Court with my mother and my -grandmother, that we never saw any act to contradict it; indeed, having -retired to a monastery of women in Angoumois, called Tusson, on the -death of the king, her brother, where she made her retreat and stayed -the whole summer, she built a fine house there, and was often seen to do -the office of abbess, and chant masses and vespers with the nuns in the -choir. - -I have heard tell of her that, one of her waiting-maids whom she liked -much being near to death, she wished to see her die; and when she was at -the last gasp and rattle of death, she never stirred from beside her, -gazing so fixedly upon her face that she never took her eyes away from -it until she died. Some of her most privileged ladies asked her why she -took such interest in seeing a human being pass away; to which she -answered that, having heard so many learned persons discourse and say -that the soul and spirit issued from the body at the moment of death, -she wished to see if any wind or noise could be perceived, or the -slightest resonance, but she had noticed nothing. She also gave a reason -she had heard from the same learned persons, when she asked them why the -swan sang so well before its death; to which they answered it was for -love of souls, that strove to issue through its long throat. In like -manner, she said, she had hoped to see issue or feel resound and hear -that soul or spirit as it departed; but she did not. And she added that -if she were not firm in her faith she should not know what to think of -this dislodgment and departure of the soul from the body; but she -believed in God and in what her Church commanded, without seeking -further in curiosity; for, in truth, she was one of those ladies as -devotional as could ever be seen; who had God upon her lips and feared -Him also. - -In her gay moments she wrote a book which is entitled _Les Nouvelles de -la Reine de Navarre_, in which we find a style so sweet and fluent, so -full of fine discourse and noble sentences that I have heard tell how -the queen-mother and Madame de Savoie, being young, wished to join in -writing tales themselves in imitation of the Queen of Navarre; for they -knew that she was writing them. But when they saw hers, they felt such -disgust that theirs could not approach them that they put their -writings in the fire, and would not let them be seen; a great pity, -however, for both being very witty, nothing that was not good and -pleasant could have come from such great ladies, who knew many good -stories. - -Queen Marguerite composed these tales mostly in her litter travelling -through the country; for she had many other great occupations in her -retirement. I have heard this from my grandmother, who always went with -her in her litter as lady of honour, holding the inkstand while she -wrote, which she did most deftly and quickly, more quickly than if she -had dictated. There was no one in the world so clever at making devices -and mottoes in French, Latin, and other languages, of which we have a -quantity in our house, on the beds and tapestries, composed by her. I -have said enough about her at this time; elsewhere I shall speak of her -again. - - * * * * * - -The Queen of Navarre, sister of Franois I., has of late years -frequently occupied the minds of literary and learned men. Her Letters -have been published with much care; in the edition given of the Poems of -Franois I. she is almost as much concerned as her brother, for she -contributes a good share to the volume. At the present time [1853] the -Socit des Bibliophiles, considering that there was no correct edition -of the tales and _Nouvelles_ of this princess,--because, from the first, -the early editors have treated the royal author with great freedom, so -that it was difficult to find the true text of that curious work, more -famous than read,--have assumed the task of filling this literary -vacuum. The Society has trusted one of its most conscientious members, -M. Le Roux de Lincy, with compiling an edition from the original -manuscripts; and, moreover, wishing to give to this publication a stamp -of solidity, that air of good old quality so pleasing to amateurs, they -have sought for old type, obtaining some from Nuremberg dating back to -the first half of the eighteenth century, and have caused to be cast the -necessary quantity, which has been used in printing the present work, -and will serve in future for other publications of this Society. The -_Nouvelles de la Reine de Navarre_ are presented, with a portrait of the -author and a fac-simile of her signature, in a grave, neat, and elegant -manner. Let us therefore thank this Society, composed of lovers of fine -books, for having thus applied their good taste and munificence, and let -us come to the study of the personage whom they have aided us to know. - -Marguerite de Valois, the first of the three Marguerites of the -sixteenth century, does not altogether resemble the reputation made of -her from afar. Born at the castle of Angoulme, April 11, 1492, two -years before her brother, who will in future be Franois I., she -received from her mother, Louise de Savoie, early a widow, a virtuous -and severe education. She learned Spanish, Italian, Latin, and later, -Hebrew and Greek. All these studies were not made at once, nor in her -earliest youth. Contemporary of the great movement of the Renaissance, -she shared in it gradually; she endeavoured to comprehend it fully, and -to follow it in all its branches, as became a person of lofty and -serious spirit, with a full and facile understanding and more leisure -than if she had been born upon the throne. Brantme presents her to us -as "a princess of very great mind and ability, both by nature and power -of acquisition." She continued to acquire as long as she lived; she -protected with all her heart and with all her influence the learned and -literary men of all orders and kinds; profiting by them and their -intercourse for her own advantage,--a woman who could cope with Marot -in the play of verses as well as she could answer Erasmus on nobler -studies. - -We must not exaggerate, however; and the writings of Marguerite are -sufficiently numerous to allow us to justly estimate in her the two -distinct parts of originality and simple intelligence. As poet and -writer her originality is of small account, or, to speak more precisely, -she has none at all. Her intelligence, on the contrary, is great, -active, eager, generous. There was in her day an immense movement of the -human spirit, a Cause essentially literary and liberal, which filled all -minds and hearts with enthusiasm as public policy did much later. -Marguerite, young, open to all good and noble sentiments, to _virtue_ -under all its forms, grew passionate for this cause; and when her -brother Franois came to the throne she told herself that it was her -mission to be its good genius and interpreter beside him, and to show -herself openly the patron and protectress of men who were exciting -against themselves by their learned innovations much pedantic rancour -and ill-will. It was thus that she allowed herself to be caught and won -insensibly to the doctrines of the Reformers, which appealed to her, in -the first instance, under a learned and literary form. Translators of -Scripture, they only sought, it seemed to her, to propagate its spirit -and make it better understood by pious souls; she enjoyed and favoured -them in the light of learned men, and welcomed them as loving at the -same time "good letters and Christ;" never suspecting any factious -after-thought. And even after she appeared to be undeceived in the main, -she continued to the last to plead for individuals to the king, her -brother, with zeal and humanity. - -The passion that Marguerite had for that brother dominated all else. She -was his elder by two years and a half. Louise de Savoie, the young -widow, was only fifteen or sixteen years older than her daughter. These -two women had, the one for her son the other for her brother, a love -that amounted to worship; they saw in him, who was really to be the -honour and crown of their house, a dauphin who would soon, when his -reign was inaugurated at Marignano, become a glorious and triumphant -Csar. - -"The day of the Conversion of Saint Paul, January 25, 1515," says Madame -Louise in her Journal, "my son was anointed and crowned in the church at -Reims. For this I am very grateful to the Divine mercy, by which I am -amply compensated for all the adversities and annoyances which came to -me in my early years and in the flower of my youth. Humility has kept me -company, and Patience has never abandoned me." - -And a few months later, noting down with pride the day of Marignano -[victory of Franois I. over the Swiss and the Duke of Milan, making the -French masters of Lombardy], she writes in the transport of her heart:-- - -"September 13, which was Thursday, 1515, my son vanquished and destroyed -the Swiss near Milan; beginning the combat at five hours after mid-day, -which lasted all the night and the morrow till eleven o'clock before -mid-day; and that very day I started from Amboise to go on foot to -Notre-Dame-de-Fontaines, to commend to her what I love better than -myself, my son, glorious and triumphant Csar, subjugator of the -Helvetians. - -"_Item._ That same day, September 13, 1515, between seven and eight in -the evening, was seen in various parts of Flanders a flame of fire as -long as a lance, which seemed as though it would fall upon the houses, -but was so bright that a hundred torches could not have cast so great a -light." - -Marguerite, learned and enlightened as she was, must have believed the -presage, for she writes the same words as her mother. Married at -seventeen years of age to the Duc d'Alenon, an insignificant prince, -she gave all her devotion and all her soul to her brother; therefore -when, in the tenth year of his reign, the disaster of Pavia took place -(February 25, 1525), and Marguerite learned the destruction of the -French army and the captivity of their king, we can conceive the blow it -was to her and to her mother. While Madame Louise, appointed regent of -the kingdom, showed strength and courage in that position, we can follow -the thoughts of Marguerite in the series of letters she wrote to her -brother, which M. Genin has published. Her first word is written to -console the captive and reassure him: "Madame (Louise de Savoie) has -felt such doubling of strength that night and day there is not a moment -lost for your affairs; therefore you need have no anxiety or pain about -your kingdom or your children." She congratulates herself on knowing -that he has fallen into the hands of so kind and generous a victor as -the Viceroy of Naples, Charles de Lannoy; she entreats him, for the sake -of his mother, to take care of his health: "I have heard that you mean -to do this Lent without eating flesh or eggs, and sometimes fast -altogether for the honour of God. Monseigneur, as much as a very humble -sister can implore you, I entreat you not to do this, but consider how -fish goes against you; also believe that if you do it Madame has sworn -to do so too; and I shall have the sorrow to see you both give way." - -Marguerite, about this time, sees her husband, who escaped from Pavia, -die at Lyon. She mourns him; but after the first two days she surmounts -her grief and conceals it from her mother the regent, because, not being -able to render services herself, she should think she was most -unfortunate, she says, to hinder and shake the spirit of her who can do -such great things. When Marguerite is selected to go to her brother in -Spain (September, 1525) and work for his deliverance, her joy is great. -At last she can be useful to this brother, whom she considers "as him -whom God has left her in this world; father, brother, and husband." She -mingles and varies in many ways those names of master, brother, king, -which she accumulates upon him, without their sufficing to express her -affection, so full and sincere is it: "Whatever it may be, _even to -casting to the winds the ashes of my bones to do you service_, nothing -can seem to me strange, or difficult, or painful, but always -consolation, repose, honour." Such expressions, exaggerated in others, -are true on Marguerite's lips. - -She succeeded but little in her mission to Spain; there, where she -sought to move generous hearts and make their fibre of honour vibrate, -she found crafty dissimulation and policy. She was allowed to see her -brother for a short time only; he himself exacted that she should -shorten her stay, thinking her more useful to his interests in France. -She tears herself from him in grief, above all at leaving him ill, and -as low as possible in health. Oh! how she longed to return, to stay -beside him, and to take the "place of lacquey beside his cot." It is her -opinion that he should buy his liberty at any price; let him return, no -matter on what conditions; no terms can be bad provided she sees him -back in France, and none can be good if he is still in Spain. As soon as -she sets foot in France she is received, she tells him, as a forerunner, -"as the Baptist of Jesus Christ." Arriving at Bziers, she is surrounded -by crowds. "I assure you, Monseigneur," she writes, "that when I tried -to speak of you to two or three, the moment I named the king everybody -pressed round to listen to me; in short, I am constrained to talk of -you, and I never close my speech without an accompaniment of tears from -persons of all classes." Such was at that time the true grief of France -for the loss of her king. - -As Marguerite advances farther into the country she observes more and -more the absence of the master; the kingdom is "like a body without a -head, living to recover you, dying in the sense that you are absent." As -for herself, seeing this, she thinks that her toils in Spain were more -endurable than this stillness in France, "where fancies torment me more -than efforts." - -In general, all Marguerite's letters do the greatest honour to her soul, -to her generous, solid qualities, filled with affection and heartiness. -Romance and drama have many a time expended themselves, as was indeed -their right, on this captivity in Madrid and on those interviews of -Franois I. and his sister, which lend themselves to the imagination; -but the reading of these simple, devoted letters, laying bare their -feelings, tells more than all. Here is a charming passage in which she -smiles to him and tries, on her return, to brighten the captive with -news of his children. Franois I. at this date had five, all of whom, -with one exception, were recovering from the measles. - -"And now," says Marguerite, "they are all entirely cured and very -healthy; M. le dauphin does marvels in studying, mingling with his -studies a hundred other exercises; and there is no question now of -temper, but of all the virtues. M. d'Orlans is nailed to his book and -says he wants to be wise; but M. d'Angoulme knows more than the others, -and does things that may be thought prophetic as well as childish; -which, Monseigneur, you would be amazed to hear of. Little Margot is -like me, and will not be ill; they tell me here she has very good grace, -and is growing much handsomer than Mademoiselle d'Angoulme ever was." - -Mademoiselle d'Angoulme is herself; and the little Margot who promises -to be prettier than her aunt and godmother, is the second of the -Marguerites, who is presently to be Duchesse de Savoie. - -As a word has now been said about the beauty of Marguerite de Navarre, -what are we to think about it? Her actual portrait lessens the -exaggerated idea we might form of it from the eulogies of that day. -Marguerite resembles her brother. She has his slightly aquiline and very -long nose, the long, soft, and shrewd eye, the lips equally long, -refined and smiling. The expression of her countenance is that of -shrewdness on a basis of kindness. Her dress is simple; her _cotte_ or -gown is made rather high and flat, without any frippery, and is trimmed -with fur; her mob-cap, low upon her head, encircles the forehead and -upper part of the face, scarcely allowing any hair to be seen. She holds -a little dog in her arms. The last of the Marguerites, that other Queen -of Navarre, first wife of Henri IV., was the queen of modes and fashions -in her youth; she gave the tone. Our Marguerite did nothing of all that; -she left that rle to the Duchesse d'tampes and her like. Marot -himself, when praising her, insists particularly on her characteristic -of gentleness, "which effaces the beauty of the most beautiful," on her -chaste glance and that _frank speech, without disguise, without -artifice_. She was sincere, "joyous, laughing readily," fond of all -honest gayety, and when she wanted to say a lively word, too risky in -French, she said it in Italian or in Spanish. In other respects, full of -religion, morality, and sound training; justifying the magnificent -eulogy bestowed upon her by Erasmus. That wise monarch of literature, -that true emperor of the Latinity of his period, consoling Marguerite at -the moment when she was under the blow of the disaster of Pavia, writes -to her: "I have long admired and loved in you many eminent gifts of -God: prudence worthy of a philosopher, chastity, moderation, piety, -invincible strength of soul, and a wonderful contempt for all perishable -things. Who would not consider with admiration, in the sister of a great -king, qualities which we can scarcely find in priests and monks?" In -this last stroke upon the monks we catch the slightly satirical tone of -the Voltaire of those times. Remark that in this letter addressed to -Marguerite in 1525, and in another letter which closely followed the -first, Erasmus thanks and congratulates her on the services she never -ceases to render to the common cause of literature and tolerance. - -These services rendered by Marguerite were real; but that which is a -subject of eulogy on the part of some is a source of blame on the part -of others. Her brother having married her for the second time, in 1527, -to Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, she held her little Court at Pan -which thenceforth became the refuge and haven of all persecuted persons -and innovators. "She favoured Calvinism, which she abandoned in the -end," says Prsident Hnault, "and was the cause of the rapid progress -of that dawning sect." It is very true that Marguerite, open to all the -literary and generous sentiments of her time, behaved as, later, a -person on the verge of '89 might have favoured liberty with all her -strength without wishing or even perceiving the approaching revolution. -She did at this period as did the whole Court of France, which, merely -following fashion, the progress of Letters, the pleasure of -understanding Holy Scripture and of chanting the Psalms in French, came -near to being Lutheran or Calvinistic without knowing it. Their first -awakening was on a morning (October 19, 1534) when they read, affixed to -every wall in Paris, those bloody placards against the Catholic faith. -The imprudent ones of the party had fired the train before the -appointed time. Marguerite, good and loyal, knowing nothing of parties -and judging only by honourable persons and the men of letters of her -acquaintance, leaned to the belief that those infamous placards were the -act, not of Protestants, but of those who sought a pretext to compromise -and persecute them. Charitable and humane, she never ceased to act upon -her brother in the direction of clemency. - -It was thus that on two or three occasions she tried to save the -unfortunate Berquin, who persisted in dogmatizing, and was, in spite of -all the princess's efforts with the king, her brother, burned on the -Grve, April 24, 1529. To read the passages of the letters in which she -commends Berquin, one would think she espoused his opinions and his -beliefs; but we must not ask too much rigour and precision of Marguerite -in her ideas and their expression. There are moments, no doubt, in -reading her verse or her prose, when we might think that she had fully -accepted the Reformation; she reproduces its language, even its jargon. -Then, side by side, we see her become once more, or rather continue to -be, a believer after the manner of the best Catholics of her age, given -to all their practices, and not fearing to couple with them her -inconsistencies. Montaigne, who had great esteem for her, could not -prevent himself from noting, for example, her singular reflection about -a young and very great prince, whose history she relates in her -_Nouvelles_, and who has all the look of being Franois I.; she shows -him on his way to a rendezvous that is not edifying, and, to shorten his -way, he obtains permission of the porter of a monastery to cross its -enclosure. On his return, being no longer so hurried, the prince stops -to pray in the church of the cloister; "for," she says, "although he led -the life of which I tell you, he was a prince who loved and feared -God." Montaigne takes up that remark, and asks what good she found at -such a moment in that idea of divine protection and favour. "This is not -the only proof to be adduced," he adds, "that women are not fitted to -treat of matters of theology." - -And, in truth, Marguerite was no theologian; she was a person of real -piety, heart, knowledge, and humanity, who mingled with her serious life -a happy, enjoying temperament, making a most sincere harmony of it all; -which surprises us a little in the present day. Brantme relates (in his -"Lives of Illustrious Captains") an anecdote of Marguerite which paints -her very well in this connection and measure. A brother of Brantme, the -Capitaine de Bourdeille, had known at Ferrara in the household of the -duchess of that country (daughter of Louis XII.) a French lady, Mlle. de -La Roche, by whom he had made himself beloved. He brought her back with -him to France, and she went to the Court of the Queen of Navarre, where -she died, he no longer caring for her. One day, three months after this -death, Capitaine de Bourdeille passed through Pau, and having gone to -pay his respects to the Queen of Navarre as she returned from vespers, -was well received by her; and talking from topic to topic as they -walked, the princess led him quietly through the church to the spot -where the tomb of the lady he had loved and deserted was placed. -"Cousin," she said, "do you not feel something moving beneath your -feet?" "No, madame," he replied. "But reflect a moment, cousin," she -said. "Madame, I do reflect," he answered, "but I feel no movement, for -I am walking on solid stone." "Then I inform you," said the queen, -without keeping him further in suspense, "that you stand upon the grave -and body of that poor Mlle. de La Roche, who is buried beneath you, whom -you loved so much; and, since souls have feelings after death, it -cannot be doubted that so honest a being, dying of coldness, felt your -step above her; and though you felt nothing, because of the thickness of -that stone, she was moved, and conscious of your presence. Now, inasmuch -as it is a pious deed to remember the dead, I request you to give her a -_Pater noster_, an _Ave Maria_, and a _De Profundis_, and to sprinkle -her with holy water; you will thus obtain the name of a faithful lover -and a good Christian." She left him and went away, that he might fulfil -with a collected mind the pious ceremonies that were due to the dead. I -do not know why Brantme adds the remark that, in his opinion, the -princess said and did all this more from good grace and by way of -conversation than from conviction; it seems to me, on the contrary, that -there was belief as well as grace, the conviction of a woman of delicacy -and a pious soul, and that all is there harmonized. - -In Marguerite's own time there were not lacking those who blamed her for -the protection she gave to the lettered friends of the Reformation; she -found denunciators in the Sorbonne; she found them equally at Court. The -Conntable de Montmorency, speaking to the king of the necessity of -purging the kingdom of heretics, added that he must begin with the Court -and his nearest relations, naming the Queen of Navarre. "Do not speak of -her," said the king, "she loves me too well; she will believe only what -I believe; she will never be of any religion prejudicial to my State." -That saying sums up the truth: Marguerite could be of no other religion -than that of her brother; and Bayle has very well remarked, in a fine -page of his criticism, that the more we show that Marguerite was not -united in doctrine with the Protestants, the more we are forced to -recognize her generosity, her loftiness of soul, and her pure humanity. -By her womanly instinct she comprehended tolerance, like L'Hpital, -like Henri IV., like Bayle himself. From the point of view of the State -there may have been some danger in the direction of this tolerance, too -confiding and too complete; it so appeared, in Marguerite's time, at -this critical moment when the religion of the State, and with it the -constitution of those days, was in danger of overthrow. Nevertheless, it -is good that there should be such souls,--in love, before all else, with -humanity; who insinuate, in the long run, gentleness into public morals -and into laws and justice hitherto cruel; it is good because later, in -epochs when severity begins again, repression, while it may be commanded -by reasons of policy, is still forced to reckon with that spirit of -humanity introduced into customs, and with acquired tolerance. Thus the -rigour of present ages, softened and tempered as it now is by general -manners and morals, would have been a blessing in past centuries; these -are points gained in civil life which are never lost afterwards. - -The _Contes et Nouvelles_ of the Queen of Navarre have nothing, as we -can readily believe, that is much out of keeping or contradictory with -her life and the habitual character of her thoughts. M. Genin has -already made that judicious remark, and an attentive reading will only -justify it. Those Tales are neither the gayeties nor the sins of youth; -she wrote them at a ripe age, for the most part in her litter while -travelling, and by way of amusement--but the amusement had its serious -side. Death prevented her from concluding them; instead of the seven -Days which we actually have, she intended to make ten, like Boccaccio; -she wished to give, not an _Heptameron_, but a French _Decameron_. In -her prologue she supposes that several persons of condition, French and -Spanish, having met, in the month of September, at the baths of -Cauterets, in the Pyrenees, separate after a few weeks; the Spaniards -returning as best they can across the mountains, the French delayed on -their way by floods caused by the heavy rains. A certain number of these -travellers, men and women, after divers adventures more extraordinary -than agreeable, find themselves again in company at the Abbey of -Notre-Dame-de-Serrance, and there, as the river Gave is not fordable, -they decide to build a bridge. "The abb," says the narrator, "who was -very glad they should make this outlay, because the number of pilgrims -would thus be increased, furnished the workmen, but not a penny to the -costs, such was his avarice. The workmen declaring that they could not -build the bridge under ten or a dozen days, the company, half men, half -women, began to get very weary." It became necessary to find some -"pleasant and virtuous" occupation for those ten days, and for this they -consulted a certain Dame Oisille, the oldest of the company. - -Dame Oisille responded in a manner most edifying: "My children, you ask -me a thing that I find very difficult, namely: to teach you a pastime -which shall deliver you from ennui. Having searched for this remedy all -my life, I have found but one, and that is the reading of Holy Epistles, -in which will be found the true and perfect joy of the soul, from which -proceeds the repose and health of the body." But the joyous company -cannot keep wholly to so austere a system, and it is agreed that the -time shall be divided between the sacred and the profane. Early in the -morning the company assembled in the chamber of Dame Oisille to share in -her moral readings, and from there they went to mass. They dined at ten -o'clock, after which, having retired each to his or her chamber for -private affairs, they met again about mid-day on the meadow: "And, if it -please you, every day, from mid-day till four o'clock, we went through -the beautiful meadow, on the banks of the river du Gave, where the -trees are so leafy that the sun cannot pierce the shadows, or heat the -coolness; and there, seated at our ease, each told some story he had -known, or else heard from a trustworthy person." For it was well -understood that nothing should be told that was not _true_; narrators -must be content to disguise, if necessary, the names of both persons and -places. The company numbered ten; as many men as women, and each told a -story daily; so it followed that in ten days the hundred tales would be -completed. Every afternoon, at four o'clock, a bell was rung, giving -notice that it was time to go to vespers; the company went,--not, -however, without sometimes obliging the monks to wait for them; to which -delay the latter lent themselves with very good grace. Thus rolled the -time away, no one believing that he or she had passed the limits of -sanctioned gayety or committed any sin. - -The Tales of the Queen of Navarre have nothing absolutely out of keeping -with this framework and design. Each story has a moral, a precept, -either well or ill deduced; each is related to support some maxim, some -theory, on the pre-eminence of one or other of the sexes, on the nature -and essence of love, with examples or proofs (often very contestable) of -what is advanced. Prudery apart, there is not much in these tales that -is really charming. The subjects are those of the time. At moments we -exclaim with Dame Oisille: "Good God! shall we never get out of these -stories of monks?" We are made aware that even the honourable men and -well-bred women of those days were contemporaries of Rabelais. However, -it all turns to a good end. There is wit and subtlety in the discussions -which serve as epilogue or prologue to the different tales. Most of the -histories, being true, are without art, composition, or _dnouement_. -The Queen of Navarre has been very little imitated in the tales and -verses made since her day; in fact, she lends herself poorly to -imitation. Only once does La Fontaine put her under contribution, but -then in what is, as I think, the most piquant of her writings, namely: -the tale of _La Servante justifie_. In Marguerite's story a merchant, a -carpet-dealer, emancipates himself with another than his wife, and is -discovered by a female neighbour. Fearing that the latter will gabble, -the merchant, "who knew how to give any colour to carpets," arranges -matters in such a way that his wife is induced of her own accord to walk -to the same place; so that when the gossiping neighbour comes to tell -the wife what she has seen, the latter replies, "Hey! my crony, but that -was I." This "that was I" repeated many times and in varying tones, -becomes comical, like the sayings of the farce called _Patelin_, or a -scene of Regnard; there are, however, not many such sayings in -Marguerite's Tales. - -A question which arises on the reading of these _Nouvelles_, the image -and faithful reproduction of the good society of that day, is on the -singularity that the tone of conversation should have varied so much -among honourable persons at different epochs before it settled down upon -the basis of true delicacy and decency. Elegant conversation dates much -farther back than we suppose; polished society began much earlier than -we think. The character of conversation as we now understand it in -society, and that which specially distinguishes it among moderns, is -that women are admitted to it; and this it was that led, during the -finest period of the middle ages, to charming conversations in certain -Courts of the South, and also in Normandy, in France, and in England. In -those castles of the South where troubadours disported, and whence the -echo of their sweet songs comes to us, where exquisite and ravishing -stories were composed (like that of _Aucassin et Nicolette_), there -must have been all the delicacy, all the graces one could wish for in -conversation. But taking matters as they appear to us at the end of the -15th century, we notice a mixture, a very perceptible struggle between -purity and license, between coarseness and refinement. The pretty little -romance _Jehan de Saintr_, in which the chivalric ideal is pictured -from the start in the daintiest manner, and which assumes to give us a -little code in action of politeness, courtesy and gallantry,--in a word, -the complete education of a young equerry of the day,--this pretty -romance is also full of pedantic precepts, essays on minute ceremonial, -and towards the end it suddenly turns into gross sensuality and the -triumph of the monk, after Rabelais. - -The vein of license and wanton language never ceased its flow from the -time it originated, disguising itself in brilliant moments and noble -companies only to again unmask at the beginning of the sixteenth -century, when it seems to borrow still further audacity from the Latin -Renaissance. This was the time when virtuous women told and openly -discoursed of tales _ la_ Roquelaure. Such is the tone of the society -which the _Nouvelles_ of Marguerite of Navarre represent to us, all the -more navely because their intention is in no way indecent. Nearly a -century was needed to reform this vice of taste; it was necessary that -Mme. de Rambouillet and her daughter should come to reprimand and school -the Court, that professors of good taste and polite language, like Mlle. -de Scudry and the Chevalier de Mr, should apply themselves for years -to preach decorum; and even then we shall find many backslidings and -vestiges of coarseness in the midst of even their refinement and -formalism. - -The noble moment is that when, by some sudden change of season, -intellects and minds are spread, all of a sudden, in a richer and more -equal manner over a whole generation of vigorous souls who then return -eagerly to that which is natural, and give themselves up to it without -restraint. That noble moment came in the middle of the seventeenth -century, and nothing can be imagined comparable to the conversations of -the youth of the Conds, the La Rochefoucaulds, the Retzes, the -Saint-Evremonds, the Svigns, the Turennes. What perfect hours were -those when Mme. de La Fayette talked with Madame Henriette, lying after -dinner on the cushions! Thus we come, across the greatest of centuries, -to Mme. de Caylus, the smiling niece of Mme. de Maintenon, to that airy -perfection where the mind without reflecting about it, denies itself -nothing and observes all. - -In the second half of the seventeenth century no one but Mme. Cornuel -was allowed to use coarse language and be forgiven because of the spicy -wit with which she seasoned it. At all times virtuous women must have -heard and listened to more than they repeated; but the decisive moment -(which needs to be noted) is that when they ceased to say unseemly -things and fix them in writing without perceiving that they themselves -were lacking in a virtue. This moment is what Queen Marguerite, as a -romance-writer and maker of _Nouvelles_, had not the art to divine. - -As a poet she has nothing more than facility. She imitates and -reproduces the various forms of poesy in use at that date. It is told -how she often employed two secretaries, one to write down the French -verses she composed impromptu, the other to transcribe her letters. - -Marguerite died at the Castle of Odos in Bigorre, December 21, 1549, in -her fifty-eighth year; in yielding her last breath she cried out three -times: "Jesus!" She was the mother of Jeanne d'Albret. - -Such as I have shown her as a whole, endeavouring not to force her -features and to avoid all exaggeration, she deserves that name of -_gentil esprit_ [charming spirit] which has been so universally awarded -to her; she was the worthy sister of Franois I., the worthy patron of -the Renaissance, the worthy grandmother of Henri IV., as much for her -mercy as for her joyousness, and one likes to address her, in the halo -that surrounds her, these verses which her memory calls forth and which -blend themselves so well with our thought of her:-- - -"Spirits, charming and lightsome, who have been, from all time, the -grace and the honour of this land of France--ye who were born and played -in those iron ages issuing from barbaric horrors; who, passing through -cloisters, were welcomed there; the joyous soul of burgher vigils and -the gracious ftes of castles; ye who have blossomed often beside the -throne, dispersing the weariness of pomps, giving to victory politeness, -and recovering your smiles on the morrow of reverses; ye who have taken -many forms, tricksome, mocking, elegant, or tender, facile ever; ye who -have never failed to be born again at the moment you were said to have -vanished--the ages for us have grown stern, reason is more and more -accredited, leisure has fled; even our pleasures eagerness has turned -into business, peace is without repose, so busy is she with the useful; -to days serene come afterthoughts and cares to many a soul;--'tis now -the hour, or nevermore, for awakening; the hour to once more grasp the -world and again delight it, as, throughout all time, ye have known the -way, eternally fresh and novel. Abandon not forever this land of France, -O spirits glad and lightsome!" - -SAINT-BEUVE, _Causeries du Lundi_ (1852). - - - - -DISCOURSE VII. - -OF VARIOUS ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES.[22] - - -1. _Isabelle d'Autriche, wife of Charles IX., King of France [daughter -of the Emperor Maximilian II.]._ - -We have had our Queen of France, Isabelle d'Autriche, who was married to -King Charles IX., of whom it is everywhere said she was one of the best, -the gentlest, the wisest, and most virtuous queens who reigned since -kings and queens began to reign. I can say this, and every man who has -ever seen or heard of her will say it with me, and not do wrong to -others, but with the greatest truth. She was very beautiful, having the -complexion of her face as fine and delicate as any lady of her Court, -and very agreeable. Her figure was beautiful also, though it was of only -medium height. She was extremely wise, and very virtuous and kind, never -giving pain to others, no matter who, nor offending any by a single -word; and as to that, she was very sober, speaking little, and then in -Spanish. - -[Illustration: Isabella of Austria, Wife of Charles IX] - -She was most devout, but in no way bigoted, not showing her devotion by -external acts too visible and too extreme, such as I have seen in some -of our paternosterers; but, without failing in her ordinary hours of -praying to God, she used them well, so that she did not need to borrow -extraordinary ones. It is true, as I have heard her ladies tell, that -when she was in bed and hidden, her curtains well-drawn, she would kneel -on her knees, in her shift, and pray to God an hour and a half, -beating her breast and macerating it in her great devotion. Which they -did not see by her consent, and then not till her husband, King Charles, -was dead; at which time, she having gone to bed and all her women -withdrawn, one of them remained to sleep in her chamber; and this lady, -hearing her sigh one night, bethought her of looking through the -curtains and saw her in that state, and praying to God in that manner, -and so continuing every night; until at last the waiting-woman, who was -familiar with her, began to remonstrate, and told her she did harm to -her health. On which the queen was angry at being discovered and -advised, and wished to conceal what she did, commanding her to say no -word of it, and, for that night, desisted; but the night after she made -up for it, thinking that her women did not perceive what she did, -whereas they saw and perceived her by her shadow thrown by the -night-lamp filled with wax which she kept lighted on her bed to read and -pray to God; though other queens and princesses kept theirs upon their -sideboards. Such ways of prayer are not like those of hypocrites, who, -wishing to make an appearance before the world, say their prayers and -devotions publicly, mumbling them aloud, that others may think them -devout and saintly. - -Thus prayed our queen for the soul of the king, her husband, whom she -regretted deeply,--making her plaints and regrets, not as a crazed and -despairing woman, with loud outcries, wounding her face, tearing her -hair, and playing the woman who is praised for weeping; but mourning -gently, shedding her beautiful and precious tears so tenderly, sighing -so softly and lowly, that we knew she restrained her grief, not to make -pretence to the world of brave appearance (as I have seen some ladies -do), but keeping in her soul her greatest anguish. Thus a torrent of -water if arrested is more violent than one that runs its ordinary -course. - -Here I am reminded to tell how, during the illness of the king, her lord -and husband, he dying on his bed, and she going to visit him; suddenly -she sat down beside him, not by his pillow as the custom is, but a -little apart and facing him where he lay; not speaking to him, as her -habit was, she held her eyes upon him so fixedly as she sat there you -would have said she brooded over him in her heart with the love she bore -him; and then she was seen to shed tears so quietly and tenderly that -those who did not look at her would not have known it, drying her eyes -while making semblance to blow her nose, causing pity to one (for I saw -her) in seeing her so tortured without yielding to her grief or her -love, and without the king perceiving it. Then she rose, and went to -pray God for his cure; for she loved and honoured him extremely, -although she knew his amorous complexion, and the mistresses that he had -both for honour and for pleasure. But she never for that gave him worse -welcome, nor said to him any harsh words; bearing patiently her little -jealousy, and the robbery he did to her. She was very proper and -dignified with him; indeed it was fire and water meeting together, for -as much as the king was quick, eager, fiery, she was cold and very -temperate. - -I have been told by those who know that after her widowhood, among her -most privileged ladies who tried to give her consolation, there was one -(for you know among a large number there is always a clumsy one) who, -thinking to gratify her said: "Ah, madame, if God instead of a daughter -had given you a son, you would now be queen-mother of the king, and your -grandeur would be increased and strengthened." "Alas!" she replied, "do -not say to me such grievous things. As if France had not troubles -enough without my producing her one which would complete her ruin! For, -had I a son, there would be more divisions, troubles, seditions to gain -the government during his minority; from that would come more wars than -ever; and each would be trying to get his profit in despoiling the poor -child, as they would have done to the late king, my husband, when he was -little, if the queen-mother and her good servitors had not opposed it. -If I had a son, I should be miserable to think I had conceived him and -so caused a thousand maledictions from the people, whose voice is that -of God. That is why I praise my God, and take with gratitude the fruit -he gives me, whether it be to me myself for better or for worse." - -Such was the goodness of this good princess towards the country and -people to which she had been brought by marriage. I have heard related -how, at the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew, she, knowing nothing of it -nor even hearing the slightest breath of it, went to bed as usual, and -did not wake till morning, at which time they told her of the fine drama -that was playing [_le beau mystre qui se jouoit_]. "Alas!" she said -quickly, "the king, my husband, does he know of it?" "Yes, madame," they -answered her; "it was he himself who ordered it." "0 my God!" she cried, -"what is this? What counsellors are those who gave him such advice? My -God! I implore thee, I beg thee to pardon him; for if thou dost not pity -him, I fear that this offence is unforgivable." Then she asked for her -prayer-book and began her orisons, imploring God with tears in her eyes. - -Consider, I beg of you, the goodness and wisdom of this queen in not -approving such a festival nor the deed then performed, although she had -reasons to desire the total extermination of M. l'amiral and those of -his religion, not only because they were contrary to hers, which she -adored and honoured before all else in the world, but because she saw -how they troubled the States of the king, her husband; and also because -the emperor, her father, had said to her when she parted from him to -come to France: "My daughter, you will be queen of the finest, most -powerful and greatest kingdom in the world, and for that I hold you to -be very happy; but happier would you be if you could find that kingdom -as flourishing as it once was; but instead you will find it torn, -divided, weakened; for though the king, your husband, holds a good part -of it, the princes and seigneurs of the Religion hold on their side the -other part of it." And as he said to her, so she found it. - -This queen having become a widow, many persons, men and women of the -Court, the most clear-sighted that I know, were of opinion that the -king, on his return from Poland, would marry her although she was his -sister-in-law; for he could have done so by dispensation of the pope, -who can do much in such matters, and above all for great personages -because of the public good that comes of it. There were many reasons why -this marriage should be made; I leave them to be deduced by high -discoursers, without alleging them myself. But among others was that of -recognizing by this marriage the great obligations the king had received -from the emperor on his return from Poland and departure thence; for it -cannot be doubted that if the emperor had placed the smallest obstacle -in his way, he could never have left Poland or reached France safely. -The Poles would have kept him had he not departed without bidding them -farewell; and the Germans lay in wait for him on all sides to catch him -(as they did that brave King Richard of England of whom we read in the -chronicles); they would surely have taken him prisoner and held him for -ransom, and perhaps worse; for they were bitter against him for the -Saint-Bartholomew; or, at least, the Protestant princes were. But, -voluntarily and without ceremony, he threw himself in good faith upon -the emperor, who received him very graciously and amiably, and with much -honour and privilege as though they were brothers, and feasted him -nobly; then, after having kept him several days, he conducted him -himself for a day or two, giving him safe passage through his territory; -so that King Henri, by his favour, reached Carinthia, the land of the -Venetians, Venice, and then his own kingdom. - -This was the obligation the king was under to the emperor; so that many -persons, as I have said, were of opinion that King Henri III. would meet -it by drawing closer their alliance. But at the time he went to Poland -he saw at Blamont, in Lorraine, Mademoiselle de Vaudemont, Louise de -Lorraine, one of the handsomest, best, and most accomplished princesses -in Christendom, on whom he cast his eyes so ardently that he was soon in -love, and in such a manner that (nursing his flame during the whole of -his absence) on his return to France he despatched from Lyon M. du Gua, -one of his prime favourites, to Lorraine, where he arranged and -concluded the marriage between him and her very easily, and without -altercation, as I leave you to think; because by the father and the -daughter no such luck was expected, the one to be father-in-law of a -king of France, and the daughter to be queen. Of her I shall speak -elsewhere. - -To return now to our little queen, who, disliking to remain in France -for several reasons, especially because she was not recognized and -endowed as she should have been, resolved to go and finish the remainder -of her noble days with the emperor and empress, her father and mother. -When there, the Catholic king being widowed of Queen Anne of Austria, -own sister to Queen Isabelle, he desired to espouse the latter, and -sent to beg the empress, his own sister, to lay his proposals before -her. But she would not listen to them, not the first, nor the second, -nor the third time her mother the empress spoke of them; excusing -herself on the honourable ashes of the king, her husband, which she -would not insult by a second marriage, and also on the ground of too -great consanguinity and close parentage between them, which might -greatly anger God; on which the empress and her brother the king urged -her to lay the matter before a very learned and eloquent Jesuit, who -exhorted and preached to her as much as he could, not forgetting to -quote all the passages of Holy and other Scripture, which might serve -his purpose. But the queen confounded him quickly by other quotations as -fine and more truthful, for, since her widowhood, she had given herself -to the study of God's word; besides which, she told him her determined -resolution, which was her most sacred defence, namely, not to forget her -husband in a second marriage. On which the Jesuit was forced to leave -her without gaining anything. But, being urged to return by a letter -from the King of Spain, who would not accept the resolute answer of the -princess, he treated her with rigorous words and even threats, so that -she, not willing to lose her time contesting against him, cut him short -by saying that if he meddled with her again she would make him repent -it, and even went so far as to threaten to have him whipped in her -kitchen. I have also heard, but I do not know if it be true, that this -Jesuit having returned for the third time, she turned away and had him -chastised for his presumption. I do not believe this; for she loved -persons of holy lives, as those men are. - -Such was the great constancy and noble firmness of this virtuous queen, -which she kept to the end of her days, towards the venerated bones of -the king her husband, which she honoured incessantly with regrets and -tears; and not being able to furnish more (for a fountain must in the -end dry up) she succumbed, and died so young that she was only -thirty-five years old at the time of her death. Loss most inestimable! -for she might long have served as a mirror of virtue to the honest -ladies of all Christendom. - -If, of a surety, she manifested love to the king her husband, by her -constancy, her virtuous continence, and her continual grief, she showed -it still more in her behaviour to the Queen of Navarre, her -sister-in-law; for, knowing her to be in a great extremity of famine in -the castle of Usson in Auvergne, abandoned by most of her relations and -by so many others whom she had obliged, she sent to her and offered her -all her means, and so provided that she gave her half the revenue she -received in France, sharing with her as if she had been her own sister; -and they say Queen Marguerite would indeed have suffered severely -without this great liberality of her good and beautiful sister. -Wherefore she deferred to her much, and honoured and loved her so that -scarcely could she bear her death patiently, as people do in the world, -but took to her bed for twenty days, weeping continually with constant -moans, and ever since has not ceased to regret and deplore her; -expending on her memory most beautiful words, which she needed not to -borrow from others, in order to praise her and to give her immortality. -I have been told that Queen Isabelle composed and printed a beautiful -book which touched on the word of God, and also another concerning -histories of what happened in France during the time she was there. I -know not if this be true, but I am assured of it, and also that persons -have seen that book in the hands of the Queen of Navarre, to whom she -sent it before she died, and who set great store by it, calling it a -fine thing; and if so divine an oracle said so, we must believe it. - -This is a summary of what I have to say of our good Queen Isabella, of -her goodness, her virtue, her continence, her constancy, and of her -loyal love to the king her husband. And were it not her nature to be -good and virtuous (I heard M. de Langeac, who was in Spain when she -died, tell how the empress said to him: "That which was best among us is -no more"), we might suppose that in all her actions Queen Isabelle -sought to imitate her mother and her aunts. - - -_2. Jeanne d'Autriche, wife of Jean, Infante of Portugal, and mother of -the king, Don Sebastian._ - -This princess of Spain was of great beauty and very majestic, or she -would not have been a Spanish princess; for a fine carriage and good -grace always accompany the majesty of a Spanish woman. I had the honour -of seeing her and talking with her rather privately, being in Spain on -my way back from Portugal. I had gone to pay my respects to our Queen of -Spain, lisabeth of France, and was talking with her, she asking news -both of France and Portugal, when they came to tell her that Madame la -Princesse Jeanne was arriving. On which the queen said to me, "Do not -stir, M. de Bourdeille. You will see a beautiful and honourable -princess. It will please you to see her, and she will be very glad to -see you and ask you news of the king her son, since you have lately seen -him." Whereupon, the princess arrived, and I thought her very beautiful -according to my taste, very well attired, and wearing on her head a -Spanish toque of white crpe coming low in a point upon her nose, and -dressed as a Spanish widow, who wears silk usually. I admired and gazed -upon her so fixedly that I was on the point of feeling ravished when the -queen called me and said that Madame la princesse wished to hear from me -news of her son the king; I had overheard her telling the princess -that she was talking with a gentleman of her brother Court who had just -come from Portugal. - -[Illustration: Charles IX] - -On which I approached the princess, and kissed her gown in the Spanish -manner. She received me very gently and intimately; and then began to -ask me news of the king, her son, his behaviour, and what I thought of -him; for at that time they were thinking to make a marriage between him -and Madame Marguerite de France, sister of the king, and in these days -Queen of Navarre. I told her everything; for at that time I spoke -Spanish as well as, or better than French. Among her other questions she -asked me this: "Was her son handsome, and whom did he resemble?" I told -her he was certainly one of the handsomest princes of Christendom and -resembled her in everything and was, in fact, the very image of her -beauty; at which she gave a little smile and the colour came into her -face, which showed much gladness at what I said. After talking with her -some time they came to call the queen to supper, and the two princesses -separated; the queen saying to me with a smile: "You have given her a -great pleasure in what you said of the resemblance of her son." - -And afterwards she asked me what I thought of her; whether I did not -think her an honourable woman and such as she had described her to me, -adding: "I think she would like much to marry the king, my brother -[Charles IX.], and I should like it, too." She knew I should repeat this -to the queen-mother on my return to Court, which was then at Arles in -Provence; and I did so; but she said she was too old for him, old enough -to be his mother. I told the queen-mother, however, what had been said -to me in Spain, on good authority, namely: that the princess had said -she was firmly resolved not to marry again unless with the King of -France, and failing that to retire from the world. In fact, she had so -set her fancy on this high match and station, for her heart was very -lofty, that she fully believed in attaining her end and contentment; -otherwise she meant to end her days, as I have said, in a monastery, -where she was already building a house for her retreat. Accordingly she -kept this hope and belief very long in her mind, managing her widowhood -sagely, until she heard of the marriage of the king to her niece -[Isabelle], and then, all hope being lost, she said these words, or -something like them, as I have heard tell: "Though the niece be more in -her springtime and less weighed with years than the aunt, the beauty of -the aunt, now in its summer, all made and formed by charming years, and -bearing fruit, is worth far more than the fruit her youthful blooms give -promise of; for the slightest misadventure will undo them, make them -fall and perish, no more no less than the trees of spring, which with -their lovely blooms promise fine fruits in summer; but an evil wind may -blow and beat them down and nought be left but leaves. But let it be -done to the will of God, with whom I now shall marry for all time, and -not with others." - -As she said, so she did, and led so good and holy a life apart from the -world that she left to ladies, both great and small, a noble example to -imitate. There may be some who have said: "Thank God she could not marry -King Charles, for if she had done so she would have left behind the hard -conditions of widowhood and resumed all the sweetness of marriage." That -may be presumed. But may we not, on the other hand, presume that the -great desire she showed the world to marry that great king was a form -and manner of ostentation and Spanish pride, manifesting her lofty -aspirations which she would not lower?--for seeing her sister Marie -Empress of Austria and wishing to equal her she aspired to be Queen of -France which is worth an empire--or more. - -To conclude: she was, to my thinking, one of the most accomplished -foreign princesses I have ever seen, though she may be blamed for -retreating from the world more from vexation than devotion; but the fact -remains that she did it; and her good and saintly end has shown in her I -know not what of sanctity. - - -3. _Marie d'Autriche, wife of Louis, King of Hungary [sister of the -Emperor Charles V.]._ - -Her aunt, Queen Marie of Hungary, did the same, although at a more -advanced age, as much to retire from the world as to help the emperor, -her brother, to serve God well in his retreat. This queen became a widow -early, having lost King Louis, her husband, who was killed, very young, -in a battle against the Turks, which he fought, not for good reason, but -by persuasion and pertinacity of a cardinal who governed him much, -assuring him that he must not distrust God and His just cause, for if -there were but ten thousand Hungarians, they, being good Christians and -fighting for God's quarrel, could make an end of a hundred thousand -Turks; and that cardinal so urged and pushed him to the point that he -fought and lost the battle, and in trying to retreat he fell into a -marsh and was smothered. Such are the blunders of men who want to manage -armies and do not know the business. - -That was why the great Duc de Guise, after he was so greatly deceived on -his journey to Italy, said frequently: "I love the Church of God, but I -will never undertake an enterprise of war on the word or faith of a -priest,"--meaning by that to lay blame on Pope Paul IV., who had not -kept the promises he made him with great and solemn words, and also on -M. le Cardinal, his brother, who had sounded the ford as far as Rome, -and lightly pushed his brother into it. - -To return to our great Queen Marie; after this misfortune to her husband -she was left a widow very young, very beautiful, as I have heard said by -many persons who knew her, and as I judge myself from the portraits I -have seen, which represent her without anything ugly to find fault with, -unless it be her large, projecting mouth like that of the house of -Austria; though it does not really come from the house of Austria, but -from that of Bourgogne; for I have heard a lady of the Court of those -times relate as follows: once when Queen lonore, passing through -Dijon, went to make her devotions at the Chartreux monastery of that -town, she visited the venerable sepulchres of her ancestors, the Ducs de -Bourgogne, and was curious enough to have them opened, as many of our -kings have done with theirs. She found them so well preserved that she -recognized some by various signs, among others by their mouths, on which -she suddenly cried out: "Ha! I thought we got our mouths from Austria, -but I see we get them from Marie de Bourgogne and the Ducs de Bourgogne -our ancestors. If I see my brother the emperor again, I shall tell him -so, or else I shall send him word." The lady who was present told me -that she heard this, and also that the queen spoke as if taking pleasure -in it; as indeed she had reason to do; for the house of Bourgogne was -fully worth that of Austria, since it came from a son of France, -Philippe the Bold, and had gained much property and great generosities -of valour and courage from him; for I believe there never were four -greater dukes coming one after the other than those four Ducs de -Bourgogne. People may blame me sometimes for exaggerating; but I ought -to be readily pardoned, because I do not know the art of writing. - -Our Queen Marie of Hungary was very beautiful and agreeable, though she -was always a trifle masculine; but in love she was none the worse for -that, nor in war, which she took as her principal exercise. The emperor, -her brother, knowing how fitted for war and very able she was, sent for -her to come to him, and there invested her with the office which had -belonged to her Aunt Marguerite of Flanders, who had governed the Low -Countries with as much mildness as her successor now showed rigour. -Indeed, so long as Madame Marguerite lived King Franois never turned -his wars in that direction, though the King of England urged it on him; -for he said that he did not wish to annoy that honest princess, who had -shown herself so good to France and was so wise and virtuous, and yet so -unfortunate in her marriages; the first of which was with King Charles -VIII., by whom she was sent back very young to her father's house; -another with the son of the King of Arragon named Jean, by whom she had -a posthumous child who died as soon as he was born, and the third was -with that handsome Duc Philibert of Savoie, by whom she had no issue; -and for this reason she bore for her device the words _Fortune -infortune, fors une_. She lies with her husband in that beautiful -convent at Brou, which is so sumptuous, near the town of Bourg in -Bresse, where I have seen it.[23] - -Queen Marie of Hungary was of great assistance to the emperor, for he -stood alone. It is true he had Ferdinand, king of the Romans, his -brother; but he was forced to show front against that great Sultan -Solyman; also he had upon his hands the affairs of Italy, which were -then in combustion; of Germany, which were little better because of the -Grand Turk; of Hungary; of Spain, which had revolted under M. de -Chivres; besides the Indies, the Low Countries, Barbary, and France, -the greatest burden of all. In short, I may say the whole world almost. - -He made this sister Marie, whom he loved above everything, -governor-general of all his Low Countries, where for the space of -twenty-two or three years she served him so well that I know not how he -could have done without her. For this he trusted her with all the -affairs of the government, so that he himself, being in Flanders, left -all to her, and the Council was held by her in her own house. It is true -that she, being very wise and clever, deferred to him, and reported to -him all that was done at the Council when he was not there, in which he -took much pleasure. - -She made great wars, sometimes by her lieutenants, sometimes in -person,--always on horseback like a generous amazon. She was the first -to light fires and conflagrations in France,--some in very noble houses -and chteaux like that of Follembray, a beautiful and charming house -built by our kings for their comfort and pleasure in hunting. The king -took this with such wrath and displeasure that before long he returned -her the change for it, and revenged it on her beautiful mansion of -Bains, held to be a miracle of the world, shaming (if I may say so from -what I have heard those say who saw it in its perfection) the seven -wonders of the world renowned in antiquity. She fted there the Emperor -Charles and his whole Court, when his son, King Philip, came from Spain -to Flanders to see him; on which occasion its magnificences were seen in -such excellence and perfection that nothing was talked of at that time -but _las fiestas de Bains_, as the Spaniards say. I remember myself that -on the journey to Bayonne [where Catherine de' Medici met her daughter -lisabeth Queen of Spain], however great was the magnificence there -presented, in tourneys, combats, masquerades, and money expended, -nothing came up to _las fiestas de Bains_; so said certain old Spanish -gentlemen who had seen them, and also as I saw it stated in a Spanish -book written expressly about them; so that one could well say that -nothing finer was ever seen, not even, begging pardon of Roman -magnificence, the games of ancient times, barring the combats of -gladiators and wild beasts. Except for them, the ftes of Bains were -finer and more agreeable, more varied, more general. - -I would describe them here, according as I could borrow them from that -Spanish book and as I heard of them from some who were present, even -from Mme. de Fontaine, born Torcy, maid of honour at the time to Queen -lonore; but I might be blamed for being too digressive. I will keep it -for a _bonne bouche_ another time, for the thing is worth it. Among some -of the finest magnificences was this: Queen Marie had a great fortress -built of brick, which was assaulted, defended, and succoured by six -thousand foot-soldiers; cannonaded by thirty pieces of cannon, whether -in the batteries or the defences, with the same ceremonies and doings as -in real war; which siege lasted three days, and never was anything seen -so fine, the emperor taking great pleasure in it. - -You may be sure that if this queen played the sumptuous it was because -she wanted to show her brother that if she held her States, pensions, -benefits, even her conquests, through him, all were devoted to his glory -and pleasure. In fact, the said emperor was greatly pleased and praised -her much; and reckoned the cost very high; especially that of his -chamber which was hung with tapestry of splendid warp, of silver and -gold and silk, on which were figured and represented, the size of life, -all his fine conquests, great enterprises, expeditions of war, and the -battles he had fought, given, and won, above all, not forgetting the -flight of Solyman before Vienna, and the capture of King Franois. In -short, there was nothing in it that was not exquisite. - -But the noble house lost its lustre soon after, being totally pillaged, -ruined, and razed to the ground. I have heard say that its mistress, -when she heard of its ruin, fell into such distress, anger, and rage -that for long she could not be pacified. Passing near there some time -later she wished to see the ruins, and gazing at them very piteously -with tears in her eyes, she swore that all France should repent of the -deed, for never should she be at her ease until that fine Fontainebleau, -of which they thought so much, was razed to the ground with not one -stone left upon another. In fact, she vomited her rage upon poor -Picardy, which felt it in flames. And we may believe that if peace had -not intervened, her vengeance would have been greater still; for she had -a stern, hard heart, not easily appeased, and was thought to be, on her -side as much as on ours, too cruel. But such is the nature of women, -even the greatest, who are very quick to vengeance when offended. The -emperor, it was said, loved her the better for it. - -I have heard it related how, when at Brussels, the emperor, in the great -hall where he had called together the general Assembly, in order to give -up and despoil himself of his States, after making an harangue and -saying all he wished to say to the Assembly and to his son, humbly -thanked Queen Marie, his sister, who was seated beside him. On which she -rose from her seat and, with a grand curtsey made to her brother with -great and grave majesty and composed grace, she said, addressing her -speech to the people: "Messieurs, since for twenty-three years it has -pleased the emperor, my brother, to give me the charge and government of -all his Low Countries, I have employed and used therein all that God, -nature, and fortune have given me of means and graces to acquit myself -as well as possible. And if in anything I have been in fault, I am -excusable, thinking I have never forgotten what I should remember, nor -spared what was proper. Nevertheless, if I have been lacking in any way -I beg you to pardon me. But if, in spite of this, some of you will not -do so, and remain discontented with me, it is the least thing I care -for, inasmuch as the emperor, my brother, is content; for to please him -alone has been my greatest desire and solicitude." So saying, and having -made another grand curtsey to the emperor, she resumed her seat. I have -heard it said that this speech was thought too haughty and defiant, both -as relating to her office, and as bidding adieu to a people whom she -ought to have left with a good word and in grief at her departure. But -what did she care,--inasmuch as she had no other object than to please -and content her brother and, from that moment, to quit the world and -keep company with that brother in his retreat and his prayers [1556]? - -I heard all this related by a gentleman of my brother who was then in -Brussels, having gone there to negotiate the ransom of my said brother -who was taken prisoner at Hesdin and confined five years at Lisle in -Flanders. The said gentleman witnessed this Assembly and all these sad -acts of the emperor; and he told me that many persons were rather -scandalized under their breaths at this proud speech of the queen; -though they dared say nothing, nor let it be seen, for they knew they -had to do with a _matresse-femme_ who would, if irritated, deal them -some blow as a parting gift. But here she was, relieved of her office, -so that she accompanied her brother to Spain and never left him again, -she, and her sister, Queen lonore, until he lay in his tomb; the three -surviving exactly a year one after the other. The emperor died first, -the Queen of France, being the elder, next, and the Queen of Hungary -last,--both sisters having very virtuously governed their widowhood. It -is true that the Queen of Hungary was longer a widow than her sister -without remarrying; for her sister married twice, as much to be Queen of -France, which was a fine morsel, as by prayer and persuasion of the -emperor, in order that she might serve as a seal to secure peace and -public tranquillity; though, indeed, this seal did not last long, for -war broke out again soon after, more cruel than ever; but the poor -princess could not help that, for she had brought to France all she -could; though the king, her husband, treated her no better for that, but -cursed his marriage, as I have heard say. - - -4. _Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III., King of France._ - -We can and should praise this princess who, in her marriage, behaved to -the king, her husband, so wisely, chastely, and loyally that the tie -which bound her to him remained indissoluble and was never loosened or -undone, although the king her husband, loving change, went after others, -as the fashion is with these great persons, who have a liberty of their -own apart from other men. Moreover, within the first ten days of their -marriage he gave her cause for discontentment, for he took away her -waiting-maids and the ladies who had been with her and brought her up -from childhood, whom she regretted much; and more especially the sting -went deep into her heart on account of Mlle. de Changy, a beautiful and -very honourable young lady, who should never have been banished from the -company of her mistress, or from Court. It is a great vexation to lose a -good companion and a confidante. - -[Illustration: Louise de Lorraine - -wife of Henry III] - -I know that one of the said queen's most intimate ladies was so -presumptuous as to say to her one day, laughing and joking, that since -she had no children by the king and could never have them, for -reasons that were talked of in those days, she would do well to borrow a -third and secret means to have them, in order not to be left without -authority when the king should die, but rather be mother to a king and -hold the rank and grandeur of the present queen-mother, her -mother-in-law. But she rejected this bouffonesque advice, taking it in -very bad part and nevermore liking the good lady-counsellor. She -preferred to rest her grandeur on her chastity and virtue than upon a -lineage issuing from vice: counsel of the world! which, according to the -doctrine of Macchiavelli, ought not to be rejected. - -But our Queen Louise, so wise and chaste and virtuous, did not desire, -either by true or false means, to become queen-mother; though, had she -been willing to play such a game, things would have been other than they -are; for no one would have taken notice, and many would have been -confounded. For this reason the present king [Henri IV.] owes much to -her, and should have loved and honoured her; for had she played the -trick and produced the child, he would only have been regent of France, -and perhaps not that, and such weak title would not have guaranteed us -from more wars and evils than we have so far had. Still, I have heard -many, religious as well as worldly people, say and hold to this -conclusion, namely: that Queen Louise would have done better to play -that game, for then France would not have had the ruin and misery she -has had, and will have, and that Christianity would have been the better -for it. I make this question over to worthy and inquiring discoursers to -give their opinion on it; it is a brave subject and an ample one for the -State; but not for God, methinks, to whom our queen was so inclined, -loving and adoring Him so truly that to serve Him she forgot herself and -her high condition. For, being a very beautiful princess (in fact the -king took her for her beauty and virtue), and young, delicate, and very -lovable, she devoted herself to no other purpose than serving God, going -to prayers, visiting the hospitals continually, nursing the sick, -burying the dead, and omitting nothing of all the good and saintly works -performed by saintly and devoted good women, princesses, and queens in -the times past of the primitive Church. After the death of the king, her -husband, she did the same, employing her time in mourning and regretting -him, and in praying to God for his soul; so that her widowed life was -much the same as her married life. - -She was suspected during the lifetime of her husband of leaning a little -to the party of the Union [League] because, good Christian and Catholic -that she was, she loved all who fought and combated for her faith and -her religion; but she never loved these and left them wholly after they -killed her husband; demanding no other vengeance or punishment than what -it pleased God to send them, asking the same of men and, above all, of -our present king; who should, however, have done justice on that -monstrous deed done to a sacred person. - -Thus lived this princess in marriage and died in widowhood. She died in -a reputation most beautiful and worthy of her, having lingered and -languished long, without taking care of herself and giving way too much -to her sadness. She made a noble and religious end. Before she died she -ordered her crown to be placed on the pillow beside her, and would not -have it moved as long as she lived; and after her death she was crowned -with it, and remained so. - - -5. _Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of Anne, Duc de Joyeuse.[24]_ - -Queen Louise left a sister, Madame de Joyeuse, who has imitated her -modest and chaste life, having made great mourning and lamentation for -her husband, a brave, valiant, and accomplished seigneur. And I have -heard say that when the present king was so tightly pressed in Brest, -where M. du Maine with forty thousand men held him besieged and tied up -in a sack, that if she had been in the place of the Duc de Chartres, who -commanded within, she would have revenged the death of her husband far -better than did the said duke, who on account of the obligations he owed -the Duc de Joyeuse, should have done better. Since when, she has never -liked him, but hated him more than the plague, not being able to excuse -such a fault; though there are some who say that he kept the faith and -loyalty he had promised. - -But a woman justly or unjustly offended does not listen to excuses; nor -did this one, who never again loved our present king; but she greatly -regretted the late one [Henri III.] although she belonged to the League; -but she always said that she and her husband were under extreme -obligations to him. To conclude: she was a good and virtuous princess, -who deserves honour for the grief she gave to the ashes of her husband -for some time, although she remarried in the end with M. de Luxembourg. -Being a woman, why should she languish? - - -6. _Christine of Denmark, niece of the Emperor Charles V. Duchesse de -Lorraine._ - -After the departure of the Queen of Hungary no great princess remained -near King Philip II. [to whom Charles V. resigned the Low Countries, -Naples, and Sicily 1555] except the Duchesse de Lorraine, Christine of -Denmark, his cousin-german, since called her Highness, who kept him good -company so long as he stayed in Flanders, and made his Court shine; for -the Court of every king, prince, emperor, or monarch, however grand it -be, is of little account if it be not accompanied and made desirable by -the Court of queen, empress, or great princess with numerous ladies and -damoiselles; as I have well perceived myself and heard discoursed of and -said by the greatest personages. - -This princess, to my thinking, was one of the most beautiful and -accomplished princesses I have ever seen. Her face was very agreeable, -her figure tall, and her carriage fine; especially did she dress herself -well,--so well that, in her time, she gave to our ladies of France and -to her own a pattern and model for dressing the head with a coiffure and -veil, called _ la_ Lorraine; and a fine sight it was on our Court -ladies, who wore it only for ftes or great magnificences, in order to -adorn and display themselves, as did all Lorraine, in honour of her -Highness. Above all, she had one of the prettiest hands that were ever -seen; indeed I have heard our queen-mother praise it and compare it with -her own. She held herself finely on horseback with very good grace, and -always rode with stirrup and pommel, as she had learned from her aunt, -Queen Mary of Hungary. I have heard say that the queen-mother learned -this fashion from her, for up to that time she rode on the plank, which -certainly does not show the grace or the fine action with the stirrup. -She liked to imitate in riding the queen, her aunt, and never mounted -any but Spanish or Turkish horses, barbs, or very fine jennets which -went at an amble; I have known her have at one time a dozen very fine -ones, of which it would be hard to say which was the finest. - -Her aunt, the queen, loved her much, finding her suited to her humour, -whether in the exercises, hunting and other, that she loved, or in the -virtues that she knew she possessed. While her husband lived she often -went to Flanders to see her aunt, as Mme. de Fontaine told me; but after -she became a widow, and especially after they took her son away from -her, she left Lorraine in anger, for her heart was very lofty, and made -her abode with the emperor her uncle, and the queens her aunts, who -gladly received her. - -She bore very impatiently the parting from this son, though King Henri -made every excuse to her, and declared he intended to adopt him as a -son. But not being pacified, and seeing that they were giving the old -fellow M. de la Brousse to her son as governor, taking away from him M. -de Montbardon, a very wise and honourable gentleman whom the emperor had -appointed, having known him for a very long time, this princess, finding -how desperate the matter was, came to see King Henri on a Holy Thursday -in the great gallery at Nancy, where the Court then was; and with very -composed grace and that great beauty which made her so admired, and -without being awed or abating in any way her grandeur, she made him a -great curtsey, entreating him, and explaining with tears in her eyes -(which only made her the more beautiful) the wrong he did in taking her -son from her,--an object so dear to her heart and all she had in the -world; also that she did not merit such treatment, in view of the great -family from which she came; besides which she believed she had never -done anything against his service. She said these things so well, with -such good grace and reasoning, and made her complaint so gently that the -king, who was always courteous to ladies, had great compassion for -her,--not only he, but all the princes and the great and the little -people who saw that sight. - -The king, who was the most respectful king to ladies that was ever in -France, answered her most civilly; not with a flourish of words or a -great harangue, as Paradin in his History of France represents, for of -himself and by nature he was not at all prolix, nor copious in words nor -a great haranguer. Moreover, there is no need nor would it be becoming -that a king should imitate in his speech a philosopher or an orator; so -that the shortest words and briefest answers are best for a king; as I -have heard M. de Pibrac say, whose instruction was very sound on account -of the learning that was in him. Therefore, whoever reads that harangue -of Paradin, made, or presumed to be made by King Henri, should believe -none of it, for I have heard several great persons who were present -declare that he could not have heard that answer or that discourse as he -says he did. Very true it is that the king consoled her civilly and -modestly on the desolation she expressed, and told her she had no reason -to be troubled, because to secure his safety, and not from enmity, did -he wish to keep her son beside him, and put him with his own eldest son -to have the same education, same manner of life, same fortune; and since -he was of French extraction, and himself French, he could be better -brought up at the Court of France, among the French, where he had -relations and friends. Nor did he forget to remind her that the house of -Lorraine was more obliged to France than any house in Christendom, -reminding her of the obligation of the Duc de Lorraine in respect to Duc -Charles de Bourgogne, who was killed at Nancy. - -[Illustration: Henri III] - -But all these fine words and reasons could not console her or make her -bear her sorrow patiently. So that, having made her curtsey, still -shedding many precious tears, she retired to her chamber, to the door of -which the king conducted her; and the next day, before his departure, -she went to see him in his chamber to take leave of him, but could -not obtain her request. Therefore, seeing her dear son taken before her -eyes and departing for France, she resolved, on her side, to leave -Lorraine and retire to Flanders, to her uncle, the emperor (how fine a -word!), and to her cousin King Philip and the queens, her aunts (what -alliance! what titles!), which she did; and never stirred thence till -after the peace made between the two kings, when he of Spain crossed the -seas and went away. - -She did much for this peace, I might say all; for the deputies, as much -on one side as on the other, as I have heard tell, after much pains and -time consumed at Cercan [Cateau-Carabrsis] without doing or concluding -anything, were all at fault and off the scent, like huntsmen, when she, -being either instinct with the divine spirit, or moved by good Christian -zeal and her natural good sense, undertook this great negotiation and -conducted it so well that the end was fortunate throughout all -Christendom. Also it was said that no one could have been found more -proper to move and place that great rock; for she was a very clever and -judicious lady if ever there was one, and of fine and grand authority; -and certainly small and low persons are not so proper for that as the -great. On the other hand the king, her cousin [Philip II.], believed and -trusted her greatly, esteeming her much, and loving her with a great -affection and love; as indeed he should, for she gave his Court great -value and made it shine, when otherwise it would have been obscure. -Though afterwards, as I have been told, he did not treat her too well in -the matter of her estates which came to her as dowry in the duchy of -Milan; she having been married first to Duc Sforza, for, as I have heard -say, he took and curtailed her of some. - -I was told that after the death of her son she remained on very ill -terms with M. de Guise and his brother, the Cardinal, accusing them of -having persuaded the king to keep her son on account of their ambition -to see and have their near cousin adopted son and married to the house -of France; besides which, she had refused some time before to take M. de -Guise in marriage, he having asked her to do so. She, who was haughty to -the very extreme, replied that she would never marry the younger of a -house whose eldest had been her husband; and for that refusal M. de -Guise bore her a grudge ever after,--though indeed he lost nothing by -the change to Madame his wife, whom he married soon after, for she was -of very illustrious birth and granddaughter of Louis XII., one of the -bravest and best kings that ever wore the crown of France; and, what is -more, she was the handsomest woman in Christendom. - -I have heard tell that the first time these two handsome princesses saw -each other, they were each so contemplative the one of the other, -turning their eyes sometimes crossways, sometimes sideways, that neither -could look enough, so fixed and attentive were they to watch each other. -I leave you to think what thoughts they were turning in their fine -souls; not more nor less than those we read of just before the great -battle in Africa between Scipio and Hannibal (which was the final -settlement of the war between Rome and Carthage), when those two great -captains met together during a truce of two hours, and, having -approached each other, they stood for a little space of time, lost in -contemplation the one of the other, each ravished by the valour of his -companion, both renowned for their noble deeds, so well represented in -their faces, their bodies, and their fine and warlike ways and gestures. -And then, having stood for some time thus wrapt in meditation of each -other, they began to negotiate in the manner that Titus Livius describes -so well. That is what virtue is, which makes itself admired amid -hatreds and enmities, as beauty among jealousies, like that of the two -ladies and princesses I have just been speaking of. - -Certainly their beauty and grace may be reckoned equal, though Mme. de -Guise could slightly have carried the day; but she was content without -it,--being not at all vain or superb, but the sweetest, best, humblest, -and most affable princess that could ever be seen. In her way, however, -she was brave and proud, for nature had made her such, as much by beauty -and form as by her grave bearing and noble majesty; so much so that on -seeing her one feared to approach her; but having approached her one -found only sweetness, candour, gayety; getting it all from her -grandfather, that good father of his people, and the sweet air of -France. True it is, she knew well how to keep her grandeur and glory -when need was. - -Her Highness of Lorraine was, on the contrary, very vain-glorious, and -rather too presumptuous. I saw that sometimes in relation to Queen Marie -Stuart of Scotland, who, being a widow, made a journey to Lorraine, on -which I went; and you would have said that very often her said Highness -was determined to equal the majesty of the said queen. But the latter, -being very clever and of great courage, never let her pass the line, or -make any advance; although Queen Marie was always gentle, because her -uncle, the Cardinal, had warned and instructed her as to the temper of -her said Highness. Then she, being unable to be rid of her pride, -thought to soothe it a little on the queen-mother when they met. But -that indeed was pride to pride and a half; for the queen-mother was the -proudest woman on earth when she chose to be. I have heard her called so -by many great personages; for when it was necessary to repress the -vainglory of some one who wanted to seem of importance she knew how to -abase him to the centre of the earth. However, she bore herself civilly -to her Highness, deferring to her much and honouring her; but always -holding the bridle in hand, sometimes high, sometimes low, for fear she -should get away; and I heard her myself say, two or three times: "That -is the most vainglorious woman I ever saw." - -The same thing happened when her Highness came to the coronation of the -late King Charles IX. at Reims, to which she was invited. When she -arrived, she would not enter the town on horseback, fearing she could -not thus show her grandeur and high estate; but she put herself into a -most superb carriage, entirely covered with black velvet, on account of -her widowhood, which was drawn by four Turk horses, the finest that -could be chosen, and harnessed all four abreast after the manner of a -triumphal car. She sat by the door, very well dressed, but all in black, -in a gown of velvet; but her head was white and very handsomely and -superbly coiffed and adorned. At the other door of her carriage was one -of her daughters, afterwards Mme. la Duchesse de Bavire, and within was -the Princesse de Macdoine, her lady of honour. - -The queen-mother, wishing to see her enter the courtyard in this -triumphal manner, placed herself at a window and said, quite low, -"There's a proud woman!" Then her Highness having descended from her -carriage and come upstairs, the queen advanced to receive her at the -middle of the room, not a step beyond, and rather nearer the door than -farther from it. There she received her very well; because at that time -she governed everything, King Charles being so young; and did all she -wished, which was certainly a great honour to her Highness. All the -Court, from the highest to the lowest, esteemed and admired her much and -thought her very handsome, although she was declining in years, being -at that time rather more than forty; but nothing as yet showed it, her -autumn surpassing the summer of others. - -She died one year after hearing the news that she was Queen of Denmark, -from which she came, and that the kingdom had fallen to her; so that -before her death she was able to change the title of Highness, she had -borne so long, to that of Majesty. And yet, for all that, as I have -heard, she was resolved not to go to her kingdom, but to end her days in -her dower-house at Tortonia in Italy, where the countryside called her -only Madame de Tortonia; she having retired there some time before her -death, as much because of certain vows she had made to the saints of -those parts as to be near the baths of Tortonia, she being feeble in -health and very gouty. - -Her practices were fine, saintly, and honourable, to wit: praying God, -giving alms, and doing great charity to the poor, above all to widows. -This is a summary of what I have heard of this great princess, who, -though a widow and very beautiful, conducted herself virtuously. It is -true that one might say she was married twice: first with Duc Sforza, -but he died at once; they did not live a year together before she was a -widow at fifteen. Then her uncle, the Emperor Charles V., remarried her -to the Duc de Lorraine, to strengthen his alliance with him; but there -again she was a widow in the flower of her age, having enjoyed that fine -marriage but a very few years; and those that remained to her, which -were her finest and most precious in usefulness, she kept and consumed -in a chaste widowhood. - - -7. _Marie d'Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II._ - -This empress, though she was left a widow quite young and very -beautiful, would never marry again, but contained herself and continued -in widowhood very virtuously, having left Austria and Germany, the -scene of her empire, after the death of her husband. She returned to her -brother, Philip II. in Spain; he having sent for her, and begged her to -come and assist him with the heavy burden of his affairs, which she did; -being a very wise and judicious princess. I have heard the late King -Henri III. say,--and he was a better judge of people than any man in his -kingdom,--that to his mind she was one of the ablest and most honourable -princesses in the world. - -On her way to Spain, after crossing the Germanys, she came to Italy and -Genoa, where she embarked; and as it was winter and the month of -December when she set sail, bad weather overtook her near Marseille, -where she was forced to put in and anchor. But still, for all that, she -would not enter the port, neither her own galley nor the others, for -fear of causing suspicion or offence. Only once did she enter the town, -just to see it. She remained there eight days awaiting fair weather. Her -best exercise was in the mornings, when she left her galley (where she -slept) and went to hear mass and service at the church of Saint-Victor, -with very ardent devotion. Then her dinner was brought and prepared in -the abbey, where she dined; and after dinner she talked with her women -or with certain gentlemen from Marseille, who paid her all the honour -and reverence that were due to so great a princess; for King Henri had -commanded them to receive her as they would himself, in return for the -good greeting and cheer she had given him in Vienna. So soon as she -perceived this she showed herself most friendly, and spoke to them very -freely both in German and in French; so that they were well content with -her and she with them, selecting twenty especially; among them M. -Castellan, called the Seigneur Altivity, captain of the galleys, who was -distinguished for having married the beautiful Chteauneuf at Court, -and also for having killed the Grand-prior, as I shall relate elsewhere. - -It was his wife who told me all that I now relate, and discoursed to me -about the perfections of this great princess; and how she admired -Marseille, thinking it very fine, and went about with her on her -promenades. At night she returned to her galley, so that if the fine -weather and the good wind came, she might quickly set sail. I was at our -Court when news was brought to the king of this passing visit; and I saw -him very uneasy lest she should not be received as she ought to be, and -as he wished. This princess still lives, and continues in all her fine -virtues. She greatly helped and served her brother, as I have been told. -Since then she has retired to a convent of women called the -"bare-footed" [Carmelites], because they wear neither shoes nor -stockings. Her sister, the Princess of Spain, founded them. - - -8. _Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie._ - -While I am on this subject of noble widows I must say two words of one -of past times, namely: that honourable widow, Madame Blanche de -Montferrat, one of the most ancient houses in Italy, who was Duchesse de -Savoie and thought to be the handsomest and most perfect princess of her -time; also very virtuous and judicious, for she governed wisely the -minority of her son and his estates; she being left a widow at the age -of twenty-three. - -It was she who received so honourably our young King Charles VIII. when -he went to his kingdom of Naples, through all her lands and principally -her city of Turin, where she gave him a pompous entry, and met him in -person, very sumptuously accoutred. She showed she felt herself a great -lady; for she appeared that day in magnificent state, dressed in a grand -gown of crinkled cloth of gold, edged with large diamonds, rubies, -sapphires, emeralds, and other precious stones. Round her throat she -wore a necklace of very large oriental pearls, the value of which none -could estimate, with bracelets of the same. She was mounted on a -beautiful white ambling mare, harnessed most superbly and led by six -lacqueys dressed in figured cloth of gold. A great band of damoiselles -followed her, very richly, daintily, and neatly dressed in the Piedmont -fashion, which was fine to see; and after them came a very long troop of -noblemen and knights of the country. Then there entered and marched King -Charles, beneath a rich canopy, and went to the castle, where he lodged, -and where Madame de Savoie presented to him her son, who was very young. -After which she made the king a fine harangue, offering her lands and -means, both hers and her son's; which the king received with very good -heart, and thanked her much, feeling greatly obliged to her. Throughout -the town were everywhere seen the arms of France and those of Savoie -interlaced in a great lover's-knot, which bound together the two -escutcheons and the two orders, with these words: _Sanguinis arctus -amor_; as may be read in the "Chronicles of Savoie." - -I have heard several of our fathers and mothers, who got it from their -parents, and also Mademoiselle the Snchale de Poitou, my grandmother, -then a damoiselle at Court, affirm that nothing was talked of but the -beauty, wisdom, and wit of this princess, when the courtiers and -gallants returned from their journey; and, above all, by the king, who -seemed, from appearance, to be wounded in his heart. - -At any rate, even without her beauty, he had good reason to love her; -for she aided him with all the means in her power, and gave up her -jewels and pearls and precious stones to send them to him that he might -use them and pledge them as he pleased; which was indeed a very great -obligation, for ladies bear a great affection to their precious stones -and rings and jewels, and would sooner give and pledge some precious -piece of their person than their wealth of jewels--I speak of some, not -all. Certainly this obligation was great; for without this courtesy, and -that also of the Marquise de Montferrat, a very virtuous lady and very -handsome, he would have met in the long run a short shame, and must have -returned from the semi-journey he had undertaken without money; having -done worse than that bishop of France who went to the Council of Trent -without money and without Latin. What an embarkation without biscuit! -However, there is a difference between the two; for what one did was out -of noble generosity and fine ambition, which closed his eyes to all -inconveniency, thinking nothing impossible to his brave heart; while as -for the other, he lacked wit and ability, sinning in that through -ignorance and stupidity--if it was not that he trusted to beg them when -he got there. - -In this discourse that I have made of that fine entry, there is to be -noted the superbness of the accoutrements of this princess, which seem -to be more those of a married woman than a widow. Upon which the ladies -said that for so great a king she could dispense with mourning; and also -that great people, men and women, gave the law to themselves; and -besides, that in those times the widows, so it was said, were not so -restricted nor so reformed in their clothes as they have been since for -the last forty years; like a certain lady whom I know, who, being in the -good graces and delights of a king [probably Diane de Poitiers] dressed -herself much _ la_ modest (though always in silk), the better to cover -and hide her game; and in that respect, the widows of the Court, wishing -to imitate her, did the same. But this lady did not reform herself so -much, nor to such austerity, that she ceased to dress prettily and -pompously, though always in black and white; indeed there seemed more of -worldliness than of widow's reformation about it; for especially did she -always show her beautiful bosom. I have heard the queen, mother of King -Henri, say the same thing at the coronation and wedding of King Henri -III., namely: that the widows in times past did not have such great -regard to their clothes and to modesty of actions as they have to-day; -the which she said she saw in the times of King Franois, who wanted his -Court to be free in every way; and even the widows danced, and the -partners took them as readily as if they were girls or married women. -She said on this point that she commanded and begged M. de Vaudemont to -honour the fte by taking out Madame la Princesse de Cond, the dowager, -to dance; which he did to obey her; and he took the princess to the -grand ball; those who were at the coronation, like myself, saw it, and -remember it well. These were the liberties that widows had in the olden -time. To-day such things are forbidden them like sacrilege; and as for -colours, they dare not wear them, or dress in anything but black and -white; though their skirts and petticoats and also their stockings they -may wear of a tan-gray, violet, or blue. Some that I see emancipate -themselves in flesh-coloured red and chamois colour, as in times past, -when, as I have heard said, all colours could be worn in petticoats and -stockings, but not in gowns. - -So this duchess, about whom we have been speaking, could very well wear -this gown of cloth of gold, that being her ducal garment and her robe of -grandeur, the which was becoming and permissible in her to show her -sovereignty and dignity of duchess. Our widows of to-day dare not wear -precious stones, except on their fingers, on some mirrors, on some -"Hours," and on their belts; but never on their heads or bodies, unless -a few pearls on their neck and arms. But I swear to you I have seen -widows as dainty as could be in their black and white gowns, who -attracted quite as many and as much as the bedizened brides and maidens -of France. There is enough said now of this foreign widow. - - -9. _Catherine de Clves, wife of Henri I. de Lorraine, Duc de Guise._ - -Madame de Guise, Catherine de Clves, one of the three daughters of -Nevers (three princesses who cannot be lauded enough either for their -beauty or their virtues, and of whom I hope to make a chapter), has -celebrated and celebrates daily the eternal absence of her husband [Le -Balafr, killed at Blois 1588]. But oh! what a husband he was! The -none-such of the world! That is what she called him in several letters -which she wrote to certain ladies of her intimacy whom she held in -esteem, after her misfortune; manifesting in sad and grievous words the -regrets of her wounded soul. - - -10. _Madame de Bourdeille._ - -Madame de Bourdeille, issuing from the illustrious and ancient house of -Montbron, and from the Comtes de Prigord and the Vicomtes d'Aunay, -became a widow at the age of thirty-seven or thirty-eight, very -beautiful (in Guyenne, where she lived, it was believed that none -surpassed her in her day for beauty, grace, and noble appearance); and -being thus in fine estate and widowed, she was sought in marriage and -pursued by three very great and rich seigneurs, to whom she answered:-- - -"I shall not say as many ladies do, who declare they will never marry, -and give their word in such a way that they must be believed, after -which nothing comes of it; but I do say that, if God and flesh do not -give me any other wishes than I have at present, it is a very certain -thing that I have bade farewell to marriage forever." - -And then, as some one said to her, "But, madame, would you burn of love -in the flower of your age?" she answered: "I know not what you mean. For -up to this hour I have never been even warmed, but widowed and cold as -ice. Still, I do not say that, being in company with a second husband -and approaching his fire, I might not burn, as you think. But because -cold is easier to bear than heat, I am resolved to remain in my present -quality and to abstain from a second marriage." - -And just as she said then, so she has remained to the present day, a -widow these twelve years, without the least losing her beauty, but -always nourishing it and taking care of it, so that it has not a single -spot. Which is a great respect to the ashes of her husband, and a proof -that she loved him well; also an injunction on her children to honour -her always. The late M. Strozzi was one of those who courted her and -asked her in marriage; but great as he was and allied to the -queen-mother, she refused him and excused herself kindly. But what a -humour was this! to be beautiful, virtuous, a very rich heiress, and yet -to end her days on a solitary feather-bed and blanket, desolate and cold -as ice, and thus to pass so many widowed nights! Oh! how many there be -unlike this lady--but some are like her, too. - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -I. - -(See page 30.) - -Under Louis XII. the French fleet and the English fleet met, August 10, -1513, off the heights of Saint-Mach, in Lower Bretagne. The English -fleet, eighty vessels strong, attacked that of France, which had but -twenty. The French made up for numbers by courage and ability. They -seized the advantage of the wind, fouled the enemy's ships and shattered -them, and sent more than half to the bottom. The Breton Primauguet was -captain of "La Cordelire;" the vessel constructed after the orders of -Queen Anne; it could carry twelve hundred soldiers besides the crew. He -was attacked by twelve English vessels, defended himself with a courage -that amounted to fury, sunk a number of the enemy's vessels, and drove -off the rest. One captain alone dared approach him again, flinging -rockets on board of him, and so setting fire to the vessel. Primauguet -might have saved himself in the long-boat, as did some of the officers -and soldiers; but that valiant sailor would not survive the loss of his -ship; he only thought of selling his life dearly and taking from the -English the pleasure of enjoying the defeat of the French. Though all -a-fire, he sailed upon the flag-ship of the enemy, the "Regent of -England," grappled her, set fire to her, and blew up with her an instant -later. More than three thousand men perished in this action by cannon, -fire, and water. It is one of the most glorious pages in our maritime -annals. - -French editor of "Vie des Dames Illustres," -Garnier-Frres. Paris. - - -II. - -(See page 44.) - -This is doubtless the _Discours merveilleux de la vie, actions, et -dportemens de la reine Catherine de Mdicis_, attributed to Thodore de -Bze, also to de Serres, but with more probability to Henri tienne; -coming certainly from the hand of a master. It was printed and spread -about publicly in 1574 with the date of 1575; inserted soon after in the -_Mmoires d'tat sous Charles IX._, printed in 1577 in three volumes, -8vo, and subsequently in the various editions of the _Reccuil de -diverses pices pour servir l'histoire du rgne de Henri III._ - -French editor. - - -III. - -(See page 91.) - -M. de Maison-Fleur was a gentleman of the Bordeaux region, a Huguenot, -and a somewhat celebrated poet in his day, whose principal work, _Les -Divins Cantiques_, was printed for the first time at Antwerp in 1580, -and several times reprinted in succeeding years. For details on this -poet, see the _Bibliothque Franaise_ of the Abb Goujet. - -French editor. - - -IV. - -(See page 92.) - - We see, 'neath white attire, - In mourning great and sadness, - Passing, with many a charm - Of beauty, this fair goddess, - Holding the shaft in hand - Of her son, heartless. - - And Love, without his frontlet, - Fluttering round her, - Hiding his bandaged eyes - With veil of mourning - On which these words are writ: - DIE OR BE CAPTURED. - - -V. - -(See page 94.) - -_Translation as nearly literal as possible._ - - In my sad, sweet song, - In tones most lamentable - I cast my cutting grief - Of loss incomparable; - And in poignant sighs - I pass my best of years. - - Was ever such an ill - Of hard destiny, - Or so sad a sorrow - Of a happy lady, - That my heart and eye - Should gaze on bier and coffin? - - That I, in my sweet springtide, - In the flower of youth, - All these pains should feel - Of excessive sadness, - With naught to give me pleasure - Except regret and yearning? - - That which to me was pleasant - Now is hard and painful; - The brightest light of day - Is darkness black and dismal; - Nothing is now delight - In that of me required. - - I have, in heart and eye, - A portrait and an image - That mark my mourning life - And my pale visage - With violet tones that are - The tint of grieving lovers. - - For my restless sorrow - I can rest nowhere; - Why should I change in place - Since sorrow will not efface? - My worst and yet my best - Are in the loneliest places. - - When in some still sojourn - In forest or in field, - Be it by dawn of day, - Or in the vesper hour, - Unceasing feels my heart - Regret for one departed. - - If sometimes toward the skies - My glance uplifts itself, - The gentle iris of his eyes - I see in clouds; or else - I see it in the water, - As in a grave. - - If I lie at rest - Slumbering on my couch, - I hear him speak to me, - I feel his touch; - In labour, in repose, - He is ever near me. - - I see no other object, - Though beauteous it may be - In many a subject, - To which my heart consents, - Since its perfection lacks - In this affection. - - End here, my song, - Thy sad complaint, - Of which be this the burden: - True love, not feigned, - Because of separation - Shall have no diminution. - - -VI. - -(See page 235.) - -This book, entitled _Les Marguerites de la Marguerite des princesses_, -is a collection of the poems of this princess, made by Simon de La Haie, -surnamed Sylvius, her _valet de chambre_, and printed at Lyon, by Jean -de Tournes, 1547, 8vo. - -The _Nouvelles_ of the Queen of Navarre appeared for the first time -without the name of the author, under the title: _Histoire des Amants -fortuns, dedie l'illustre princesse, Madame Marguerite de Bourbon, -Duchesse de Nivernois_, by Pierre Boaistuau, called Launay. Paris, 1558 -4to. This edition contains only sixty-seven tales, and the text has been -garbled by Boaistuau. The second edition is entitled: _Heptameron des -Nouvelles de trs-illustre et trs-excellente princesse Marguerite de -Valois, reine de Navarre, remis en son vrai ordre_, by Charles Gruget, -Paris, 1559, 4to. - -_French editor._ - - * * * * * - -In 1841 M. Genin published a volume of Queen Marguerite's letters, and -in the following year a volume of her letters addressed to Franois I. - -Since then Comte H. de La Ferrire-Percy has made her the subject of an -interesting "Study." This careful investigator having discovered her -book of expenses, kept by Frott, Marguerite's secretary, has developed -from it a daily proof of the beneficent spirit and inexhaustible -liberality of the good queen. The title of the book is: _Marguerite -d'Angoulme, soeur de Franois I^{er}_. Aubry: Paris, 1862. - -The poems of Franois I., with other verses by his sister and mother, -were published in 1847 by M. Aim Champollion. - -Notes to Sainte-Beuve's Essay. - - -VII - -(See page 262.) - -The Ladies given in Discourse VII. appear under the head of "The Widows" -in the volume of _Les Dames Galantes_, a very different book from the -_Livre des Dames_, which is their rightful place. As Brantme placed -them under the title of Widows, he has naturally enlarged chiefly upon -the period of their widowhood. - -French editor. - - - - -INDEX. - - -ANNE DE BRETAGNE, Queen of France, wife of Charles VIII. and of Louis XII., her inheritance, lovers, and first marriage, 25, 26; - her beauty, wisdom, and goodness, 26; - spirit of revenge, 27, 28; - second marriage, 29; - the first queen to hold a great court, a noble school for ladies, 29, 30; - how King Louis honoured her, 30-32; - her death and burial, 32-34; - her noble record, 34, 35, 37; - her tomb at Saint-Denis, 39; - the founder of a school of manners and perfection for her sex, 42, 43; - Sainte-Beuve's remarks upon her, 40-43, 219. - -ANNE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Louis XI., 216-218. - - -BLANCHE DE MONTFERRAT, Duchesse de Savoie, 293-297. - -BOOK OF THE LADIES (The), Brantme's own name for this volume, 1. - -BOURDEILLE (Madame de), 297, 298. - -BOURDEILLE (Pierre de), Abb de Brantme, his name for the present volume, 1; - origin and arms of his family, 3, 4; - general sketch of his life and career, 4-19; - his retirement, 20; - his books, his will, 21; - titles of his books, when first printed, 22, 23. - -CASTELNAUD (Pierre de), his account of Brantme, 1-3. - -CATHERINE DE CLVES, wife of Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, "le Balafr," 297. - -CATHERINE DE' MEDICI, Queen of France, wife of Henri II., 44; - sketch - of the Medici, 45-48; - her marriage to the dauphin, 48-50; - personal appearance and tastes, 51-54; - her mind, 54; - conduct as regent and queen-mother, Brantme's defence of it, 57-72; - her liberality and public works, 74; - her accomplishments and majesty, 75-77; - her court, 77-80, 81, 82; - Henri IV.'s opinion of it, 83; - her death at Blois, 83; - Sainte-Beuve's estimate of her, 85-88; - H. de Balzac's novel upon her, 86; - Mzeray's opinion of her, 85; - her daughter lisabeth's fear of her, 145, 146; 164, 165, 167, 289, 290, 300. - -CHARLES IX., King of France, his funeral attended by Brantme, 35-37; 198, 264, 265, 271, 272. - -CHARLOTTE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Franois I. and Queen Claude, died young, 223. - -CHASTELLARD (Seigneur de), his journey with Brantme in attendance on Marie Stuart to Scotland, 99; - his story and death, 117-120. - -CHRISTINE of Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine, 283-291. - -CLAUDE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of Franois I., died young, 223. - -CLAUDE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, wife of the Duc de Lorraine, 229-231. - -CORDELIRE (La), man-o'-war built by Anne de Bretagne, which fought the "Regent of England," both ships destroyed, 30, 299. - - -DARGAUD (M.), his impulsive history of Marie Stuart, 122. - -DIANE DE FRANCE (Madame), Duchesse d'Angoulme, illegitimate daughter of Henri II., 231-234. - - -LISABETH DE FRANCE, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, second wife of Philip II. of Spain, 137-151, 229, 230, 270, 271. - -LISABETH DE FRANCE, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri IV. and Marie de' Medici, her portraits by Rubens, 212. - - -FLEUR-DE-LIS, how connected with the Florentine lily, 45. - -FRANOIS I., King of France, 219, 220, 236, 237, 238, 241, 245-249, 254. - - -GERMAINE DE FOIX, wife of King Ferdinand of Spain, 142, 143. - -GUISE (Henri I., Duc de), le Balafr, 117, 198, 199, 273, 283, 288. - -GUISE (Catherine de Clves, Duchesse de), 283, 289. - - -HENRI II., King of France, 231, 232. - -HENRI III., King of France, 177, 178, 180, 184, 196-198, 234, 267, 280, 283, 285, 286, 292. - -HENRI IV., King of France, opinion of Catherine de' Medici, 83, 87, 88; 176, 180, 181, 201, 209; - remark at the coronation of Marie de' Medici, 210; 234. - - -ISABELLE D'AUTRICHE, Queen of France, daughter of Maximilian II., wife of Charles IX. of France, 262-270. - -ISABELLA OF BAVARIA, wife of Charles VI. of France, first brought the pomps and fashions of dress to France, 157. - - -JEANNE D'AUTRICHE, wife of Jean, Infante of Portugal, 270-273. - -JEANNE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter -of Louis XI., married to and divorced by Louis XII., 215, 216. - - -LABANOFF (Prince Alexander), his careful research into the history of Marie Stuart, 121. - -L'HPITAL (Michel de), chancellor of France, epithalamium on the marriage of Marie Stuart and Franois II., 124; - his changed feeling, 131, 132. - -LOUIS XII., King of France, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32, 39, 41-43. - -LOUISE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Franois I. and Queen Claude, died young, 223. - -LOUISE DE LORRAINE, Queen of France, wife of Henri III., 280-282, 283. - - -MAGDELAINE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Franois I. and Queen Claude, wife of James V. of Scotland, 223, 224. - -MAINTENON (Madame de), a pendant to Anne de Bretagne, 43. - -MAISON-FLEUR (M. de), 91, 97, 300. - -MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, Queen of Navarre, sister of Franois I., wife of Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre, grandmother of Henri IV., 234; - her poems, 235; - her devotion to her brother, 237-240, 245, 249; - interest in the phenomenon of death, 242; - her "Nouvelles," 242, 243, 244; - Sainte-Beuve's essay on her, 243-261; - her learning and comprehension of the Renaissance, 244, 245; - her letters, 249; - Erasmus' opinion of her, 250, 251; - favours, but does not belong - to, the Religion, 251-255; - her writings, the Heptameron, 255-260; - the patron of the Renaissance, 261; - her works, 303. - -MARGUERITE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Franois I. and Queen Claude, wife of the Duc de Savoie, 224-229. - -MARGUERITE, Queen of France and of Navarre, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, wife of Henri - IV., Brantme visits her at the Castle of Usson and dedicates his work to her, 19; - mention of her in his will, 22; - his discourse, 152-193; - her beauty and style of dress, 153-163; - her mind and education, 164-166; - marriage to Henri IV., 167; - Brantme's argument in favour of the Salic law, 168-175; - difficulty of religion between herself and her husband, 176; - her dignity and sense of honour, 178-180; - retirement in the Castle of Usson, 183; - on ill terms with her brother Henri III., 184; - her beautiful dancing, 185; - her liberality and generosity, 186-190; - love of reading, 191; - corresponds with Brantme, 191; - Sainte-Beuve's essay on her, 193; - reasons why she began her Memoirs, 195; - faithfulness to the Catholic religion, 195; - intimacy with her brother d'Anjou, Henri III., 196, 197; - her love for Henri Duc de Guise, le Balafr, her marriage to Henri IV., 198; - the Saint-Bartholomew, 201; - her Memoirs, 202, etc.; - anecdote of a Princesse de Ligne, 205; - friendship with her brother, Duc d'Alenon, 206; - her letters, 208; - her life at Usson, 209; - divorce from Henri IV., 209, 210; - return to Paris, eccentricities, appearance at the coronation of Marie de' Medici, 210-212; - comparison with Marie Stuart, 213; - her real merit, 213, 231. - -MARGUERITE DE LORRAINE, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse, 282, 283. - -MARIE D'AUTRICHE, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II., 291-293. - -MARIE D'AUTRICHE, sister of the Emperor Charles V. and wife of Louis, King of Hungary, 273-280. - -MARIE STUART, Queen of France and Scotland, her parentage, 89; - youthful accomplishments and beauty, 90-93; - marriage to Franois II., and widowhood, 93, 94; - her poem on her widowhood, 94-96, 294; - Charles IX.'s love for her, 96; - returns to Scotland, - Brantme accompanies her, 97-101, - marriage to Darnley, 101; - Brantme's defence of her, 102; - her disasters, 103; - her imprisonment in England, 104; - her death, as related to Brantme by one of her ladies there present, 105-115; - Sainte-Beuve's essay on Marie Stuart and summing up of her life, 121-136, 289; - her poem on her widowhood, translation, 301. - -MZERAY (Franois Eudes de), his History of France, his picture of Catherine de' Medici, 85. - -MIGNET (Franois Auguste), his invaluable History of Marie Stuart, 121, 122, 136. - -MOLAND (M. Henri), his essay on Brantme used in the introduction to this volume, 1. - - -NIEL (M.), librarian to Ministry of the Interior, his collection of original portraits and crayons of celebrated persons of the 16th century, 86, 87. - - -PATIN (Gui), his feelings in Saint-Denis before the tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, 40, 41. - -PHILIP II. of Spain, 138, 139, 142. - - -RENE DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of the Duke of Ferrara, 220-223. - -ROEDERER (Comte), his Memoirs on Polite Society, study of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, 41-43. - -RONSARD (Pierre de), 91, 124, 156, 157, 160, 185, 224. - - -SAINTE-BEUVE (Charles-Augustin), his remarks on Anne de Bretagne, 40-43; - his estimate of Catherine de' Medici, 85-88; - his essay on Marie Stuart, 121-136; - on Marguerite de Navarre, 193-213; - on Marguerite de Valois, 243-261. - -SALIC LAW (the), Brantme's argument about it, 168-175. - - -TAVANNES (Vicomte de), Memoirs, 136. - - -VIGNAUD (M. H.), his introduction to Brantme's "Vie des Dames Illustres" used in the introduction to this volume, 1. - -VINCENT DE PAUL (Saint), chaplain to Queen Marguerite de Navarre, 212. - - -YOLAND DE FRANCE (Madame), daughter of Charles VII. and wife of the Duc de Savoie, 214, 215. - - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Regim=> The Reign and Amours of the -Bourbon Rgime {pg title} - -M. le marchal answered=> M. le Marchal answered {pg 83} - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Taken chiefly from the Essays preceding the various editions of -Brantme's works published in the 18th and 19th centuries; some of which -are anonymous; the more recent being those of M. H. Vignaud and M. Henri -Moland.--TR. - -[2] See Appendix. - -[3] See Appendix. - -[4] Here follow the names of ninety-three ladies and sixty-six -damoiselles; among the latter are "Mesdamoiselles Flammin (Fleming?) -Veton (Seaton?) Beton (Beaton?) Leviston, escossoises." The three -first-named on the above list are the daughters of Henri II. and -Catherine de' Medici.--TR. - -[5] Henri III. convoked the States-General at Blois in 1588; the Duc de -Guise (Henri, le Balafr) was there assassinated, by the king's order, -December 23, 1588; his brother, Cardinal de Bourbon, the next day.--TR. - -[6] Honor de Balzac's volume, in the Philosophical Series of his -"Comedy of Human Life," on Catherine de' Medici, while called a romance, -is really an admirable and carefully drawn historical portrait, and -might be read to profit in connection with Brantme's account of -her.--TR. - -[7] See Appendix. - -[8] See Appendix. - -[9] See Appendix. - -[10] George Buchanan, historian and Scotch poet, who wrote libels and -calumnies against Marie Stuart in prison. (French editor.) - -[11] She was the daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici, married -to Philip II., King of Spain, after the death of Queen Mary of -England.--TR. - -[12] Daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de' Medici,--"La Reine -Margot."--TR. - -[13] Brantme's words are _gorgiasets_ and _gorgiasment_; do they mark -the introduction of ruffs around the neck, _gorge_?--TR. - -[14] The Salic law: so called from being derived from the laws of the -ancient Salian Franks,--according to Stormonth, Littr, and Cassell's -Cyclopdia.--TR. - -[15] Marguerite was married to Henri, King of Navarre, six days before -the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew, August, 1572. - -[16] Marguerite lived eighteen years in the castle of Usson, from 1587 -to 1605. She died in Paris, March 27, 1615, at the age of sixty-two, -rather less than one year after Brantme. (French editor.) - -[17] It is noticeable in the course of this "Discourse" that Brantme -wrote it at one period, namely, about 1593 or 1594, and reviewed it at -another, when Henri IV. was in full possession of the kingdom, but -before the end of the century and before the divorce. (French editor.) - -The passage to which the foregoing is a note is evidently an addition to -the text.--TR. - -[18] The story goes that she refused to answer at the marriage ceremony; -on which her brother, Charles IX., put his hand behind her head and made -her nod, which was taken for consent. In after years, the ground given -for her divorce was that of being married against her will. The marriage -took place on a stage erected before the west front of the cathedral of -Notre-Dame; the King of Navarre being a Protestant, the service could -not be performed in the church. It was here, in view of the assembled -multitude, that Marguerite's nod was forcibly given when she resolutely -refused to answer. Following Brantme's delight in describing fine -clothes, the wedding gown should be mentioned here. It was cloth of -gold, the body so closely covered with pearls as to look like a cuirass; -over this was a blue velvet mantle embroidered with _fleurs-de-lys_, -nearly five yards long, which was borne by one hundred and twenty of the -handsomest women in France. Her dark hair was loose and flowing, and was -studded with diamond stars. The Duc de Guise, le Balafr, with his -family connections and all his retainers, left Paris that morning, -unable to bear the spectacle of the marriage.--TR. - -[19] Meaning the daughters of the kings of France only.--TR. - -[20] She was daughter of Charles, Duc d'Angoulme, and Louise do Savoie, -great-granddaughter of Charles V., and sister of Franois I.--TR. - -[21] See Appendix. - -[22] See Appendix. - -[23] The tomb of Marguerite and Philibert is still to be seen in the -beautiful church, and the above motto, which is carved upon it, has been -the theme of much antiquarian discussion.--TR. - -[24] The picture of the Ball at Court, under Henri III., attributed to -Franois Clouet (see chapter ii. of this volume), was given in -celebration of her marriage. She advances, with her sweet and modest -face (evidently a portrait) in the centre of the picture. Henri III. is -seated under a red dais; next him is Catherine de' Medici, his mother, -and next to her is Louise de Lorraine, his wife; leaning on the king's -chair is Henri Duc de Guise, le Balafr, murdered by Henri III. at Blois -in 1588.--TR. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The book of the ladies, by -Pierre de Bourdeille Brantme - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE LADIES *** - -***** This file should be named 42515-8.txt or 42515-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/5/1/42515/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The book of the ladies - Illustrious Dames: The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Régime - -Author: Pierre de Bourdeille Brantôme - -Release Date: April 12, 2013 [EBook #42515] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE LADIES *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="293" height="450" alt="" title="" /> -</p> - -<p class="cb">THE BOOK OF THE LADIES</p> - -<p><a name="frontispiece" id="frontispiece"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_frontispiece_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_frontispiece_sml.jpg" width="312" height="550" alt="MESSIRE PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE SEIGNEUR DE BRANTOME." -title="MESSIRE PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE SEIGNEUR DE BRANTOME." /></a> -</p> - -<div class="boxx"> -<div class="bboxx"> -<p class="cb"><span class="scrip">The Reign and Amours of the<br /> -Bourbon Régime</span></p> - -<p class="c"> <br />A Brilliant Description of<br /> -the Courts of Louis XVI,<br /> -Amours, Debauchery, Intrigues,<br /> -and State Secrets, including<br /> -Suppressed and Confiscated MSS.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"><img src="images/fleur.jpg" -width="20" -height="24" -alt="colophon" -/></p> - -<h1>The Book of the<br /> -Illustrious Dames</h1> - -<p class="cb"><small>BY</small><br /> -<span class="smcap">Pierre de Bourdeïlle, Abbé de Brantôme</span><br /><br /> -<span class="smcap">With Introductory Essay By<br /> -C.-A. Sainte-Beuve</span><br /> -<br /> -<span class="scrip">Unexpurgated Rendition into English</span></p> -</div> - -<div class="bboxx"> -<p class="c"><small><span class="sans-serif">PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR MEMBERS OF THE<br /> -VERSAILLES HISTORICAL SOCIETY<br /> -NEW YORK</span></small></p> -</div></div> - -<p class="c"> <br /> <br /> -<small>Copyright, 1899.<br /> -<span class="smcap">By H. P. & Co.</span><br /> -——<br /> -<i>All Rights Reserved.</i></small><br /> <br /> -</p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="" -style="border:3px double black;"> -<tr><td align="center"><span class="eng"><b>Édition de Luxe</b></span><br /> - -<small><i>This edition is limited to two<br /> -hundred copies, of which this<br /> -is Number</i> .............</small></td></tr> -</table> - -<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> - -<tr><td align="right" colspan="2">P<small>AGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#INTRODUCTION1">INTRODUCTION</a> </td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_001">1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#DISCOURSE_I">DISCOURSE I. </a><span class="smcap">Anne de Bretagne</span>, Queen of France</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_025">25</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> <i>Sainte-Beuve’s remarks upon her</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_040">40</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#DISCOURSE_II">DISCOURSE II.</a> <span class="smcap">Catherine de’ Medici</span>, Queen, and mother of our last kings</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_044">44</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> <i>Sainte-Beuve’s remarks upon her</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_085">85</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#DISCOURSE_III">DISCOURSE III.</a> <span class="smcap">Marie Stuart</span>, Queen of Scotland, formerly Queen of our France</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_089">89</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> <i>Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_121">121</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#DISCOURSE_IV">DISCOURSE IV.</a> <span class="smcap">Élisabeth of France</span>, Queen of Spain</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_138">138</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#DISCOURSE_V">DISCOURSE V.</a> <span class="smcap">Marguerite</span>, Queen of France and of Navarre, sole daughter now remaining of the Noble House of France </td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_152">152</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> <i>Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_193">193</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#DISCOURSE_VI">DISCOURSE VI.</a> <span class="smcap">Mesdames</span>, the Daughters of the Noble House of France: </td></tr> -<tr><td> Madame Yoland</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_214">214</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Madame Jeanne</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_215">215</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Madame Anne</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_216">216</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Madame Claude</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_219">219</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Madame Renée</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_220">220</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Mesdames Charlotte, Louise, Magdelaine, Marguerite</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_223">223</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Mesdames Élisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_229">229</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Madame Diane</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_231">231</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> <span class="smcap">Marguerite de Valois</span>, Queen of Navarre</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_234">234</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> <i>Sainte-Beuve’s essay on the latter</i></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_243">243</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td colspan="2"><a href="#DISCOURSE_VII">DISCOURSE VII.</a> <span class="smcap">Of Various Illustrious Ladies</span>:</td></tr> -<tr><td> Isabelle d’Autriche, wife of Charles IX</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_262">262</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Jeanne d’Autriche, wife of the Infante of Portugal</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_270">270</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Marie d’Autriche, wife of the King of Hungary</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_273">273</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_280">280</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_282">282</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Christine of Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_283">283</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Marie d’Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_291">291</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_293">293</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Catherine de Clèves, wife of Henri I. de Lorraine, Duc de Guise</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_297">297</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> Madame de Bourdeille</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_297">297</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#APPENDIX">APPENDIX</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_299">299</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_305">305</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<h2><a name="LIST_OF_PHOTOGRAVURE_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_PHOTOGRAVURE_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF<br /> -PHOTOGRAVURE ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> - -<tr><td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Pierre de Bourdeille, Abbé and Seigneur de Brantôme</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="3"> From an old engraving by I. Von Schley. </td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" colspan="3"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td></tr> - -<tr><td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">François de Lorraine, Duc de Guise</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_008">8</a></td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="2"> By François Clouet; in the Louvre. </td></tr> - -<tr><td colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Discourse</span> </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td><span class="smcap">Tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_034">34</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td><p class="hang">By Jean Juste, in the Cathedral of Saint-Denis. The king<br /> -and queen are carved as skeletons within the twelve columns;<br /> -above they kneel at their prie-dieus, and the tradition is<br /> -that the portraits are faithful. The cardinal virtues, Justice,<br -/>Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude, sit at the corners of<br /> -the monument: the twelve apostles between the pillars;<br /> -and round the base, between the virtues, are exquisite representations<br /> -(not visible in the reproduction) of the king’s<br /> -campaigns in Italy.</p></td><td> </td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td><span class="smcap">Catherine de’ Medici, Queen of France</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_044">44</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td><span class="smcap">Henri II., King of France</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_052">52</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> By François Clouet; in the Louvre. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td><span class="smcap">Ball at the Court of Henri III., with Portraits</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_081">81</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> Attributed to François Clouet; in the Louvre. See description in note to Discourse VII. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td><span class="smcap">Marie Stuart, Queen of France and Scotland</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_090">90</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> Painter unknown; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td><span class="smcap">The Same</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_120">120</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> School of the sixteenth century; Versailles. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td><span class="smcap">Henri IV., King of France</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_166">166</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> By Franz Pourbus (le jeune); in the Louvre. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td><span class="smcap">Élisabeth de France, Queen of Spain</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_185">185</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> By Rubens; in the Louvre. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td><span class="smcap">Coronation of Marie de’ Medici, With Portraits</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_211">211</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> By Rubens (Peter Paul); in the Louvre. See description in note to the Discourse. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td><span class="smcap">François I., King of France</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_224">224</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> By Jean Clouet; in the Louvre. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td><span class="smcap">Diane de France, Duchesse d’Angoulême</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_232">232</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Isabelle d’Autriche, Wife of Charles IX.</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_262">262</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> By François Clouet; in the Louvre. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Charles IX., King of France</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_271">271</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> By François Clouet; in the Louvre. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Louise de Lorraine, Wife of Henri III</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_280">280</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre. </td></tr> -<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td><span class="smcap">Henri III., King of France</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_286">286</a></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td> School of the sixteenth century; in the Louvre.</td></tr> -</table> - -<p><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION1" id="INTRODUCTION1"></a>INTRODUCTION.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> - -<p>T<small>HE</small> title, “Vie des Dames Illustres,” given habitually to one volume of -Brantôme’s Works, is not that which was chosen by its author. It was -given by his first editor fifty years after his death; Brantôme himself -having called his work “The Book of the Ladies.”</p> - -<p>One of his earliest commentators, Castelnaud, almost a cotemporary, says -of him in his Memoirs:—</p> - -<p>“Pierre de Bourdeille, Abbé de Brantôme, author of volumes of which I -have availed myself in various parts of this history, used his quality -as one of those warrior abbés who were called <i>Abbates Milites</i> under -the second race of our kings; never ceasing for all that to follow arms -and the Court, where his services won him the Collar of the Order and -the dignity of gentleman of the Bedchamber to the King.</p> - -<p>“He frequented, with unusual esteem for his courage and intelligence, -the principal Courts of Europe, such as Spain, Portugal (where the king -honoured him with his Order), Scotland, and those of the Princes of -Italy. He went to Malta, seeking an occasion to distinguish himself, and -after that lost none in our wars of France. But, although he managed -perfectly all the great captains of his time and belonged to them by -alliance of friendship, fortune was ever contrary to<a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a> him; so that he -never obtained a position worthy, not of his merits only, but of a name -so illustrious as his.</p> - -<p>“It was this that made him of a rather bad humour in his retreat at -Brantôme, where he set himself to compose his books in different frames -of mind, according as the persons who recurred to his memory stirred his -bile or touched his heart. It is to be wished that he had written a -discourse on himself alone, like other seigneurs of his time. He would -then have shown us much, if nothing were omitted in it; but perhaps he -abstained from doing this in order not to declare his inclinations for -the House of Lorraine at the very moment of the ruin of all its schemes; -for he was greatly attached to that house, and it appears in various -places that he had more respect than affection for the House of Bourbon. -It was this that made him take part against the Salic law, in behalf of -Queen Marguerite, whom he esteemed infinitely, and whom he saw, with -regret, deprived of the Crown of France.</p> - -<p>“In many other matters he gives out sentiments which have more of the -courtier than the abbé; indeed to be a courtier was his principal -profession, as it still is with the greater part of the abbés of the -present day; and in view of this quality we must pardon various little -liberties which would be less pardonable in a sworn historian.</p> - -<p>“I do not speak of the volume of the ‘Dames Galantes’ in order not to -condemn the memory of a nobleman whose other Works have rendered him -worthy of so much esteem; I attribute the crime of that book to the -dissolute habits of the Court of his time, about which more terrible -tales could be told than those he relates.</p> - -<p>“There is something to complain of in the method with which he writes; -but perhaps the name of ‘Notes’ may cover this defect. However that may -be, we can gather from<a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a> him much and very important knowledge on our -History; and France is so indebted to him for this labour that I do not -hesitate to say that the services of his sword must yield in value to -those of his pen. He had much wit and was well read in Letters. In youth -he was very pleasing; but I have heard those who knew him intimately say -that the griefs of his old age lay heavier upon him than his arms, and -were more displeasing than the toils and fatigues of war by sea or land. -He regretted his past days, the loss of friends, and he saw nothing that -could equal the Court of the Valois, in which he was born and bred....”</p> - -<p>“The family of Bourdeille is not only illustrious in temporal -prosperities, but it is remarkable throughout antiquity for the valour -of its ancestors. King Charlemagne held it in great esteem, which he -showed by choosing, when the splendid abbey of Brantôme was founded in -Périgord, that the Seigneur de Bourdeille should be associated in that -pious work and be, with him, the founder of the Monastery. He therefore -made him its patron, and obliged his posterity to defend it against all -who might molest the monks and hinder them in the enjoyment of their -property.</p> - -<p>“If we may rely on ancient deeds [<i>pancartes</i>] still in possession of -this family, we must accord it a first rank among those which claim to -be descended from kings, inasmuch as they carry back its origin to -Marcomir, King of France, and Tiloa Bourdelia, daughter of a king of -England.</p> - -<p>“The same old deeds relate that Nicanor, son of this Marcomir, being -appealed to by the people of Aquitaine to assist them in throwing off -the Roman yoke, and having come with an army very near to Bordeaux, was -compelled to withdraw by the violence of the Romans, who were stronger -than he, and also by a tempest that arose in the sea. Nicanor cast -anchor at an island, uninhabited on account of the wild beasts<a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a> that -peopled it, and especially certain griffins, animals with four feet, and -heads and wings like eagles.</p> - -<p>“He had no sooner set foot on land with his men than he was forced to -fight these monsters, and after battling with them a long time, not -without loss of soldiers, he succeeded in vanquishing them. With his own -hand he killed the largest and fiercest of them all, and cut off his -paws. This victory greatly rejoiced all the neighbouring countries, -which had suffered much damage from these beasts.</p> - -<p>“On account of this affair, Nicanor was ever after surnamed ‘The -Griffin’ and honoured by every one, like Hercules when he killed the -Stymphalides in Arcadia, those birds of prey that feed on human flesh. -This is the origin of the arms which the Seigneurs de Brantôme bear to -this day, to wit: Or, two griffins’ paws gules, onglée azure, counter -barred.”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Pierre de Bourdeille, third son of François, Vicomte de Bourdeille and -Anne de Vivonne de la Châtaignerie, was born in the Périgord in 1537, -under the reign of François I. The family of Bourdeille is one of the -most ancient and respected in the Périgord, which province borders on -Gascony and echoes, if we may say so, the caustic tongue and rambling, -restless temperaments that flourish on the banks of the Garonne. “Not to -boast of myself,” says Brantôme, “I can assert that none of my race have -ever been home-keeping; they have spent as much time in travels and wars -as any, no matter who they be, in France.”</p> - -<p>As for his father, Brantôme gives an amusing account of him as a true -Gascon seigneur. He began life by running away from home to go to the -wars in Italy, and roam the world as an adventurer. He was, says -Brantôme, “a jovial fellow, who could say his word and talk familiarly -to the<a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a> greatest personages.” Pope Julius II. took a fancy to him. “One -day they were playing cards together and the pope won from my father -three hundred crowns and his horses, which were very fine, and all his -equipments. After he had lost all, he said: ‘<i>Chadieu bénit</i>!’ (that was -his oath when he was angry; when he was good-natured he swore: ‘<i>Chardon -bénit!</i>’)—‘<i>Chadieu bénit!</i> pope, play me five hundred crowns against -one of my ears, redeemable in eight days. If I don’t redeem it I’ll give -you leave to cut it off, and eat it if you like.’ The pope took him at -his word; and confessed afterwards that if my father had not redeemed -his ear, he would not have cut it off, but he would have forced him to -keep him company. They began to play again, and fortune willed that my -father won back everything except a fine courser, a pretty little -Spanish horse, and a handsome mule. The pope cut short the game and -would not play any more. My father said to him: ‘Hey! <i>Chadieu</i>! pope, -leave me my horse for money’ (for he was very fond of him) ‘and keep the -courser, who will throw you and break your neck, for he is too rough for -you; and keep the mule too, and may she rear and break your leg!’ The -pope laughed so he could not stop himself. At last, getting his breath, -he cried out: ‘I’ll do better; I’ll give you back your two horses, but -not the mule, and I’ll give you two other fine ones if you will keep me -company as far as Rome and stay with me there two months; we’ll pass the -time well, and it shall not cost you anything.’ My father answered: -‘<i>Chadieu!</i> pope, if you gave me your mitre and your cap, too, I would -not do it; I wouldn’t quit my general and my companions just for your -pleasure. Good-bye to you, rascal.’ The pope laughed, while all the -great captains, French and Italians, who always spoke so reverently to -his Holiness, were amazed and laughed too at such liberty of language. -When the pope was on the point of<a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a> leaving, he said to him, ‘Ask what -you want of me and you shall have it,’ thinking my father would ask for -his horses; but my father did not ask anything, except for a license and -dispensation to eat butter in Lent, for his stomach could never get -accustomed to olive and nut oil. The pope gave it him readily, and sent -him a bull, which was long to be seen in the archives of our house.”</p> - -<p>The young Pierre de Bourdeille spent the first years of his existence at -the Court of Marguerite de Valois, sister of François I., to whom his -mother was lady-in-waiting. After the death of that princess in 1549 he -came to Paris to begin his studies, which he ended at Poitiers about the -year 1556.</p> - -<p>Being the youngest of the family he was destined if not for the Church -at least for church benefices, which he never lacked through life. An -elder brother, Captain de Bourdeille, a valiant soldier, having been -killed at the siege of Hesdin by a cannon-ball which took off his head -and the arm that held a glass of water he was drinking on the breach, -King Henri II. desired, in recognition of so glorious a death, to do -some favour to the Bourdeille family; and the abbey of Brantôme falling -vacant at this very time, he gave it to the young Pierre de Bourdeille, -then sixteen years old, who henceforth bore the name of Seigneur and -Abbé de Brantôme, abbreviated after a while to Brantôme, by which name -he is known to posterity. In a few legal deeds of the period, especially -family documents, he is mentioned as “the reverend father in God, the -Abbé de Brantôme.”</p> - -<p>Brantôme had possessed his abbey about a year when he began to dream of -going to the wars in Italy; this was the high-road to glory for the -young French nobles, ever since Charles VIII. had shown them the way. -Brantôme obtained from François I. permission to cut timber in the -forest of Saint-Trieix; this cut brought him in five hundred golden<a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a> -crowns, with which he departed in 1558, “bearing,” he says, “a matchlock -arquebuse, a fine powder-horn from Milan, and mounted on a hackney worth -a hundred crowns, followed by six or seven gentlemen, soldiers -themselves, well set-up, armed and mounted the same, but on good stout -nags.”</p> - -<p>He went first to Geneva, and there he saw the Calvinist emigration; -continuing his way he stayed at Milan and Ferrara, reaching Rome soon -after the death of Paul IV. There he was welcomed by the Grand-Prior of -France, François de Guise, who had brought his brother, the Cardinal of -Lorraine, to assist in the election of a new pontiff.</p> - -<p>This was the epoch of the Renaissance,—that epoch when the knightly -king made all Europe resound with the fame of his amorous and warlike -prowess; when Titian and Primaticcio were leaving on the walls of -palaces their immortal handiwork; when Jean Goujon was carving his -figures on the fountains and the façades of the Louvre; when Rabelais -was inciting that mighty roar of laughter which, in itself, is a whole -human comedy; when the Marguerite of Marguerites was telling in her -“Heptameron” those charming tales of love. François I. dies; his son -succeeds him; Protestantism makes serious progress. Montgomery kills -Henri II., and François II. ascends the throne only to live a year; and -then it is that Marie Stuart leaves France, the tears in her eyes, sadly -singing as the beloved shores over which she had reigned so short a -while recede from sight: “Farewell, my pleasant land of France, -farewell!”</p> - -<p>Returning to France without any warrior fame but closely attached by -this time to the Guises, Brantôme took to a Court life. He assisted in a -tournament between the grand-prior, François de Guise, disguised as an -Egyptian woman,<a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a> “having on her arm a little monkey swaddled as an -infant, which kept its baby face there is no telling how,” and M. de -Nemours, dressed as a bourgeoise housekeeper wearing at her belt more -than a hundred keys attached to a thick silver chain. He witnessed the -terrible scene of the execution of the Huguenot nobles at Amboise -(March, 1560); was at Orléans when the Prince de Condé was arrested, and -at Poissy for the reception of the Knights of Saint-Michel. In short, he -was no more “home-keeping” in France than in foreign parts.</p> - -<p>Charles IX., then about ten years old, succeeded his brother François -II. in December, 1560. The following year Duc François de Guise was -commissioned to escort his niece, Marie Stuart, to Scotland. Brantôme -went with them, saw the threatening reception given to the queen by her -sullen subjects, and then returned with the duke by way of England. In -London, Queen Elizabeth greeted them most graciously, deigning to dance -more than once with Duc François, to whom she said: “Monsieur mon -prieur” (that was how she called him) “I like you very much, but not -your brother, who tore my town of Calais from me.”</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_guise_008_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_guise_008_sml.jpg" width="390" height="550" alt="Duc François de Guise" -title="Duc François de Guise" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Duc François de Guise</span> -</p> - -<p>Brantôme returned to France at the moment when the edict of -Saint-Germain granting to Protestants the exercise of their religion was -promulgated, and he was struck by the change of aspect presented by the -Court and the whole nation. The two armed parties were face to face; the -Calvinists, scarcely escaped from persecution, seemed certain of -approaching triumph; the Prince de Condé, with four hundred gentlemen, -escorted the preachers to Charenton through the midst of a quivering -population. “Death to papists!”—the very cry Brantôme had first heard -on landing in Scotland, where it sounded so ill to his ears—was -beginning to be heard in France, to which the cry of “Death to the<a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a> -Huguenots!” responded in the breasts of an irritated populace. Brantôme -did not hesitate as to the side he should take,—he was abbé, and -attached to the Guises; he fought through the war with them, took part -in the sieges of Blois, Bourges, and Rouen, was present at the battle of -Dreux, where he lost his protector the grand-prior, and attached himself -henceforth to François de Guise, the elder, whom he followed to the -siege of Orléans in 1563, where the duke was assassinated by Poltrot de -Méré under circumstances which Brantôme has vividly described in his -chapter on that great captain.</p> - -<p>In 1564 Brantôme entered the household of the Duc d’Anjou (afterwards -Henri III.) as gentleman-in-waiting to the prince, on a salary of six -hundred livres a year. But, being seized again by his passion for -distant expeditions, he engaged during the same year in an enterprise -conducted by Spaniards against the Emperor of Morocco, and went with the -troops of Don Garcia of Toledo to besiege and take the towns on the -Barbary coast. He returned by way of Lisbon, pleased the king of -Portugal, Sebastiano, who conferred upon him his Order of the Christ, -and went from there to Madrid, where Queen Élisabeth gave him the -cordial welcome on which he plumes himself in his Discourse upon that -princess. He was commissioned by her to carry to her mother, Catherine -de’ Medici, the desire she felt to have an interview with her; which -interview took place at Bayonne, Brantôme not failing to be present.</p> - -<p>In that same year, 1565, Sultan Suleiman attacked the island of Malta. -The grand-master of the Knights of Saint-John, Parisot de La Valette, -called for the help of all Christian powers. The French government had -treaties with the Ottoman Porte which did not allow it to come openly to -the assistance of the Knights; but many gentlemen, both<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a> Catholic and -Protestant, took part as volunteers. Among them went Brantôme, -naturally. “We were,” he says, “about three hundred gentlemen and eight -hundred soldiers. M. de Strozzi and M. de Bussac were with us, and to -them we deferred our own wills. It was only a little troop, but as -active and valiant as ever left France to fight the Infidel.”</p> - -<p>While at Malta he seems to have had a fancy to enter the Order of the -Knights of Saint-John, but Philippe Strozzi dissuaded him. “He gave me -to understand,” says Brantôme, “that I should do wrong to abandon the -fine fortune that awaited me in France, whether from the hand of my -king, or from that of a beautiful, virtuous lady, and rich, to whom I -was just then servant and welcome guest, so that I had hope of marrying -her.”</p> - -<p>He left Malta on a galley of the Order, intending to go to Naples, -according to a promise he had made to the “beautiful and virtuous lady,” -the Marchesa del Vasto. But a contrary wind defeated his project, which -he did not renounce without regret. In after years he considered this -mischance a strong feature in his unfortunate destiny. “It was -possible,” he says, “that by means of Mme. la marquise I might have -encountered good luck, either by marriage or otherwise, for she did me -the kindness to love me. But I believe that my unhappy fate was resolved -to bring me back to France, where never did fortune smile upon me; I -have always been duped by vain expectations: I have received much honour -and esteem, but of property and rank, none at all. Companions of mine -who would have been proud had I deigned to speak to them at Court or in -the chamber of the king or queen, have long been advanced before me; I -see them round as pumpkins and highly exalted, though I will not, for -all that, defer to them to the length of my thumb-nail. That proverb, -‘No one is a prophet in his<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a> own country,’ was made for me. If I had -served foreign sovereigns as I have my own I should now be as loaded -with wealth and dignities as I am with sorrows and years. Patience! if -Fate has thus woven my days, I curse her! If my princes have done it, I -send them all to the devil, if they are not there already.”</p> - -<p>But when he started from Malta Brantôme was still young, being then only -twenty-eight years of age. “Jogging, meandering, vagabondizing,” as he -says, he reached Venice; there he thought of going into Hungary in -search of the Turks, whom he had not been able to meet in Malta. But the -death of Sultan Suleiman stopped the invasion for one year at least, and -Brantôme reluctantly decided to return to France, passing through -Piedmont, where he gave a proof of his disinterestedness, which he -relates in his sketch of Marguerite, Duchesse de Savoie.</p> - -<p>Reaching his own land he found the war he had been so far to seek -without encountering it; whereupon he recruited a company of -foot-soldiers, and took part in the third civil war with the title of -commander of two companies, though in fact there was but one. Shortly -after this he resigned his command to serve upon the staff of Monsieur, -commander-in-chief of the royal army. After the battle of Jarnac (March -15, 1569), being sick of an intermittent fever, he retired to his abbey, -where his presence throughout the troubles was far from useless. But -always more eager for distant expeditions than for the dulness of civil -war, Brantôme let himself be tempted by a grand project of Maréchal -Strozzi, who dreamed of nothing less than a descent on South America and -the conquest of Peru. Brantôme was commissioned in 1571 to go to the -port of Brouage and direct the preparations for the armament. It was -this enterprise that prevented him from being present at the battle<a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a> of -Lepanto (October 7, 1571). “I should have gone there resolutely, as did -that brave M. de Grillon,” he says, “if it had not been for M. de -Strozzi, who amused me a whole year with that fine embarkation at -Brouage, which ended in nothing but the ruin of our purses,—to those of -us at least who owned the vessels.” But if the duties which kept him at -Brouage robbed him of the glory of being present at the greatest battle -of the age, it also saved him from being a witness of the Saint -Bartholomew.</p> - -<p>The treaty of June 24, 1573, put an end to the siege of Rochelle and the -fourth civil war. Charles IX. died on May 30, 1574. Monsieur, elected -the year before to the throne of Poland, was in that distant country -when the death of his brother made him king of France. He hastened to -return. Brantôme went to meet him at Lyons and was one of the gentlemen -of his Bedchamber from 1575 to 1583. During the years just passed -Brantôme, besides the principal events already named in which he -participated, took part in various little or great events in the daily -life of the Court, such as: the quarrel of Sussy and Saint-Fal, the -splendid disgrace of Bussy d’Amboise, the death and obsequies of Charles -IX., the coronation of Henri III., etc. Throughout them all he played -the part of interested spectator, of active supernumerary without -importance; discontented at times and sulky, but always unable to make -himself feared.</p> - -<p>The years went by in this sterile round. He was now thirty-five years -old. The hope of a great fortune was realized no more on the side of his -king than on that of his beautiful, virtuous, and rich lady. He is, no -doubt, “liked, known, and made welcome by the kings, his masters, by his -queens and his princesses, and all the great seigneurs, who held him in -such esteem that the name of Brantôme had great<a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a> renown.” But he is not -satisfied with the Court small-change in which his services are paid. He -is vexed that his own lightheartedness is taken at its word; he would be -very glad indeed if that love of liberty with which he decked himself -were put to greater trials. Philosopher in spite of himself, he finds -his disappointments all the more painful because of his own opinion of -his merits. He sees men to whom he believes himself superior, preferred -before him. “His companions, not equal to him,” he says in the epitaph -he composed for himself, “surpassed him in benefits received, in -promotions and ranks, but never in virtue or in merit.” And he adds, -with posthumous resignation: “God be praised nevertheless for all, and -for his sacred mercy!”</p> - -<p>Meantime, perchance a queen, Catherine de’ Medici or Marguerite de -Valois, deigns to drop into his ear some trifling word which he relishes -with delight. Henri de Guise [le Balafré], who was ten years younger -than himself, called him “my son;” and the Baron de Montesquieu, the one -that killed the Prince de Condé at Jarnac and was very much older than -Brantôme, who had pulled him out of the water during certain aquatic -games on the Seine, called him “father.” Such were the familiarities -with which he was treated.</p> - -<p>He was, it is true, chevalier of the Order of Saint-Michel, but that was -not enough to console his ambition. He complained that they degraded -that honour, no longer reserved to the nobility of the sword. He thinks -it bad, for instance, that it was granted to his neighbour, Michel de -Montaigne. “We have seen,” he says, “counsellors coming from the courts -of parliament, abandoning robes and the square cap to drag a sword -behind them, and at once the king decks them with the collar, without -any pretext of their going to war.<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a> This is what was given to the Sieur -de Montaigne, who would have done much better to continue to write his -Essays instead of changing his pen into a sword, which does not suit -him. The Marquis de Trans obtained the Order very easily from the king -for one of his neighbours, no doubt in derision, for he is a great -joker.” Brantôme always speaks very slightingly of Montaigne because the -latter was of lesser nobility than his own; but that does not prevent -the Sieur de Montaigne from being to our eyes a much greater man than -the Seigneur de Brantôme.</p> - -<p>Brantôme continued to follow the Court. He accompanied the queen-mother -when she went in 1576 to Poitou to bring back the Duc d’Alençon, who was -dabbling in plots. He accompanied her again when she conducted in 1578 -her daughter Marguerite to Navarre; and at their solemn entry into -Bordeaux he had the honour of being near them on the “scaffold,” or, as -we should say in the present day, the platform. He had also the luck to -hear at Saint-Germain-en-Laye King Henri III. make during his dinner, in -presence of the Duc de Joyeuse (on whose nuptials the fluent monarch was -destined to spend a million), a discourse worthy of Cato against luxury -and extravagance.</p> - -<p>In 1582, his elder brother, André de Bourdeille, seneschal and governor -of the Périgord, died. He left a son scarcely nine years old. Brantôme -had obtained from King Henri III. a promise that he should hold those -offices until the majority of his nephew, on condition of transmitting -them at that time. The king confirmed this promise on several occasions -during the last illness of André de Bourdeille. But at the latter’s -death it was discovered that he had bound himself in his daughter’s -marriage contract to resign those offices to his son-in-law. The king -considered that he ought to respect this family arrangement. Brantôme -was keenly hurt. “On<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a> the second day of the year,” he says, “as the king -was returning from his ceremony of the Saint-Esprit, I made my complaint -to him, more in anger than to implore him, as he well understood. He -made me excuses, although he was my king. Among other reasons he said -plainly that he could not refuse that resignation when presented to him, -or he should be unjust. I made him no reply, except: ‘Well, sire, I -ought not to have put faith in you; a good reason never to serve you -again as I have served you.’ On which I went away much vexed. I met -several of my companions, to whom I related everything. I protested and -swore that if I had a thousand lives not one would I employ for a King -of France. I cursed my luck, I cursed life, I loathed the king’s favour, -I despised with a curling lip those beggarly fellows loaded with royal -favours who were in no wise as worthy of them as I. Hanging to my belt -was the gilt key to the king’s bedroom; I unfastened it and flung it -from the Quai des Augustins, where I stood, into the river below. I -never again entered the king’s room; I abhorred it, and I swore never to -set foot in it any more. I did not, however, cease to frequent the Court -and to show myself in the room of the queen, who did me the honour to -like me, and in those of her ladies and maids of honour and of the -princesses, seigneurs, and princes, my good friends. I talked aloud -about my displeasure, so that the king, hearing of what I said, sent me -a few words by M. du Halde, his head <i>valet de chambre</i>. I contented -myself with answering that I was the king’s most obedient, and said no -more.”</p> - -<p>Monsieur (the Duc d’Alençon) took notice of Brantôme, and made him his -chamberlain. About this time it was that he began to compose for this -prince the “Discourses” afterwards made into a book and called “Vies des -Dames Galantes,” which he dedicated to the Duc d’Alençon. The<a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a> latter -died in 1584,—a loss that dashed once more the hopes of Brantôme and of -others who, like him, had pinned their faith upon that prince. After -all, Brantôme had some reason to complain of his evil star.</p> - -<p>Then it was that Brantôme meditated vast and even criminal projects, -which he himself has revealed to us: “I resolved to sell the little -property I possessed in France and go off and serve that great King of -Spain, very illustrious and noble remunerator of services rendered to -him, not compelling his servitors to importune him, but done of his own -free will and wise opinion, and out of just consideration. Whereupon I -reflected and ruminated within myself that I was able to serve him well; -for there is not a harbour nor a seaport from Picardy to Bayonne that I -do not know perfectly, except those of Bretagne which I have not seen; -and I know equally well all the weak spots on the coast of Languedoc -from Grasse to Provence. To make myself sure of my facts, I had recently -made a new tour to several of the towns, pretending to wish to arm a -ship and send it on a voyage, or go myself. In fact, I had played my -game so well that I had discovered half a dozen towns on these coasts -easy to capture on their weak sides, which I knew then and which I still -know. I therefore thought I could serve the King of Spain in these -directions so well that I might count on obtaining the reward of great -wealth and dignities. But before I banished myself from France I -proposed to sell my estates and put the money in a bank of Spain or -Italy. I also proposed, and I discoursed of it to the Comte de La -Rochefoucauld, to ask leave of absence from the king that I might not be -called a deserter, and to be relieved of my oath as a subject in order -to go wherever I should find myself better off than in his kingdom. I -believe he could not have refused my request; because everyone<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a> is free -to change his country and choose another. But however that might be, if -he had refused me I should have gone all the same, neither more nor less -like a valet who is angry with his master and wants to leave him; if the -latter will not give him leave to go, it is not reprehensible to take it -and attach himself to another master.”</p> - -<p>Thus reasoned Brantôme. He returns on several occasions to these lawless -opinions; he argues, apropos of the Connétable de Bourbon and La Noue, -against the scruples of those who are willing to leave their country, -but not to take up arms against her. “I’faith!” he cries, “here are -fine, scrupulous philosophers! Their quartan fevers! While I hold shyly -back, pray who will feed me? Whereas if I bare my sword to the wind it -will give me food and magnify my fame.”</p> - -<p>Such ideas were current in those days among the nobles, in whom the -patriotic sentiment, long subordinated to that of caste, was only -developed later. These projects of treachery should therefore not be -judged altogether with the severity of modern ideas. Besides, Brantôme -is working himself up; it does not belong to every one to produce such -grand disasters as these he meditates. Moreover, thought is far from -action; events may intervene. People call them fate or chance, but -chance will often simply aid the secret impulses of conscience, and bind -our will to that it chooses.</p> - -<p>“Fine human schemes I made!” Brantôme resumes. “On the very point of -their accomplishment the war of the League broke out and turmoiled -things in such a way that no one would buy lands, for every man had -trouble enough to keep what he owned, neither would he strip himself of -money. Those who had promised to buy my property excused themselves. To -go to foreign parts without resources was madness,—it would only have -exposed me to all sorts<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a> of misery; I had too much experience to commit -that folly. To complete the destruction of my designs, one day, at the -height of my vigor and jollity, a miserable horse, whose white skin -might have warned me of nothing good, reared and fell over upon me -breaking and crushing my loins, so that for four years I lay in my bed, -maimed, impotent in every limb, unable to turn or move without torture -and all the agony in the world; and since then my health has never been -what it once was. Thus man proposes, and God disposes. God does all -things for the best! It is possible that if I had realized my plans I -should have done more harm to my country than the renegade of Algiers -did to his; and because of it, I might have been perpetually cursed of -God and man.”</p> - -<p>Consequently, this great scheme remained a dream; no one need ever have -known anything about it if Brantôme himself had not taken pains to -inform us of it with much complacency.</p> - -<p>The cruel fall which stopped his guilty projects must have occurred in -1585. At the end of three years and a half of suffering he met, he tells -us, “with a very great personage and operator, called M. -Saint-Christophe, whom God raised up for my good and cure, who succeeded -in relieving me after many other doctors had failed.” As soon as he was -nearly well he began once more to travel. It does not appear that he -frequented the Court after the death of Catherine de’ Medici, which took -place in January, 1589; but he was present, in that year, at the baptism -of the posthumous son of Henri de Guise, whom the Parisians adopted -after the father’s murder at Blois, and named <i>Paris</i>. Agrippa -d’Aubigné, in his caricature of the Procession of the League, gives -Brantôme a small place as bearer of bells. But was he really there? It -seems doubtful; he makes somewhere the judicious<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a> reflection that: “One -may well be surprised that so many French nobles put themselves on the -side of the League, for if it had got the upper hand it is very certain -that the clergy would have deprived them of church property and wiped -their lips forever of it, which result would have cut the wings of their -extravagance for a very long while.” The secular Abbé de Brantôme had -therefore as good reasons for not being a Leaguer as for not being a -Huguenot.</p> - -<p>In 1590 he went to make his obeisance to Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, -then confined in the Château d’Usson in Auvergne. He presented to her -his “discourse” on “Spanish Rhodomontades,” perhaps also a first copy of -the life of that princess (which appears in this volume), and he also -showed her the titles of the other books he had composed. He was so -enchanted with the greeting Queen Marguerite, la Reine Margot, gave him, -“the sole remaining daughter of the noble house of France, the most -beautiful, most noble, grandest, most generous, most magnanimous, and -most accomplished princess in the world” (when Brantôme praises he does -not do it by halves), that he promised to dedicate to her the entire -collection of his works,—a promise he faithfully fulfilled.</p> - -<p>His health, now decidedly affected, confined more and more to his own -home this indefatigable rover, who had, as he said, “the nature of a -minstrel who prefers the house of others to his own.” Condemned to a -sedentary life, he used his activity as he could. He caused to be built -the noble castle of Richemont, with much pains and at great expense. He -grew quarrelsome and litigious; brought suits against his relations, -against his neighbours, against his monks, whom he accused of -ingratitude. By his will he bequeathed his lawsuits to his heirs, and -forbade each and all to compromise them.<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a></p> - -<p>Difficult to live with, soured, dissatisfied with the world, he was not, -it would seem, in easy circumstances. He did not spare posterity the -recital of his plaints: “Favours, grandeurs, boasts, and vanities, all -the pleasant things of the good old days are gone like the wind. Nothing -remains to me but to <i>have been</i> all that; sometimes that memory pleases -me, and sometimes it vexes me. Nearing a decrepit old age, the worst of -all woes, nearing, too, a poverty which cannot be cured as in our -flourishing years when nought is impossible, repenting me a hundred -thousand times for the fine extravagances I committed in other days, and -regretting I did not save enough then to support me now in feeble age, -when I lack all of which I once possessed too much,—I see, with a -bursting heart, an infinite number of paltry fellows raised to rank and -riches, while Fortune, treacherous and blind that she is, feeds me on -air and then deserts and mocks me. If she would only put me quickly into -the hands of death I would still forgive her the wrongs she has done me. -But there is the worst of it; we can neither live nor die as we wish. -Therefore, let destiny do as it will, never shall I cease to curse it -from heart and lip. And worst of all do I detest old age weighed down by -poverty. As the queen-mother said to me one day when I had the honour to -speak to her on this subject about another person, ‘Old age brings us -inconveniences enough without the additional burden of poverty; the two -united are the height of misery, against which there is one only -sovereign cure, and that is death. Happy he who finds it when he reaches -fifty-six, for after that our life is but labour and sorrow, and we eat -but the bread of ashes, as saith the prophet.’”</p> - -<p>He continued, however, to write, retracing all that he had seen and -garnered either while making his campaigns with the great captains of -his time, or in gossiping with idle gentlemen<a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a> in the halls of the -Louvre. It was thus he composed his biographical and anecdotical -volumes, which he retouched and rewrote at intervals, making several -successive copies. That he had the future of his writings much at heart, -in spite of a scornful air of indifference which he sometimes assumed, -appears very plainly from the following clause in his will:</p> - -<p>“I will,” he says, “and I expressly charge my heirs to cause to be -printed my Books, which I have composed from my mind and invention with -great toil and trouble, written by my hand, and transcribed clearly by -that of Mataud, my hired secretary; the which will be found in five -volumes covered with velvet, black, tan, green, blue, and a large -volume, which is that of ‘The Ladies,’ covered with green velvet, and -another covered with vellum and gilded thereon, which is that of ‘The -Rhodomontades.’ They will be found in one of my wicker trunks, carefully -protected. Fine things will be found in them, such as tales, discourses, -histories, and witticisms; which no one can disdain, it seems to me, if -once they are placed under his nose and eyes. In order to have them -printed according to my fancy, I charge with that purpose Madame la -Comtesse de Duretal, my dear niece, or some other person she may choose. -And to do this I order that enough be taken from my whole property to -pay the costs of the said printing, and my heirs are not to divide or -use my property until this printing is provided for. It is not probable -that it will cost much; for the printers, when they cast their eyes upon -the books, would pay to print them instead of exacting money; for they -do print many gratis that are not worth as much as mine. I can boast of -this; for I have shown them, at least in part, to several among that -trade, who offered to print them for nothing. But I do not choose that -they be printed during my life. Above all, I will that the said printing -be in fine, large letters, in a great volume to<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> make the better show, -with license from the king, who will give it readily; or without -license, if that can be. Care must also be taken that the printer does -not put on another name than mine; otherwise I shall be frustrated of -all my trouble and of the fame that is my due. I also will that the -first book that issues from the press shall be given as a gift, well -bound and covered in velvet, to Queen Marguerite, my very illustrious -mistress, who did me the honour to read some of my writings, and who -thought them fine and esteemed them.”</p> - -<p>This will was made about the year 1609. On the 15th of July, 1614, -Brantôme died, after living his last years in complete oblivion; he was -buried, according to his wishes, in the chapel of his château of -Richemont. In spite of his express directions, neither the Comtesse de -Duretal nor any other of his heirs executed the clause in his will -relating to the publication of his works. Possibly they feared it might -create some scandal, or it may be that they could not obtain the royal -license. The manuscripts remained in the château of Richemont. Little by -little, as time went on, they attracted attention; copies were made -which found their way to the cabinets and libraries of collectors. They -were finally printed in Holland; and the first volume, which appeared in -Leyden from the press of Jean Sambix the younger, sold by F. Foppons, -Brussels, 1665, was that which here follows: “The Book of the Ladies,” -called by the publisher, not by Brantôme, “Lives of Illustrious Dames.”</p> - -<p>It is not easy to distinguish the exact periods at which Brantôme wrote -his works. “The Book of the Ladies,” first and second parts,—<i>Dames -Illustres and Dames Galantes</i>,—were evidently the first written; then -followed “The Lives of Great and Illustrious French Captains,” “Lives of -Great Foreign Captains,” “Anecdotes concerning Duels,” “The<a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a> -Rhodomontades,” and “Spanish Oaths.” Brantôme did not write his Memoirs, -properly so-called; his biographical facts and incidents are scattered -throughout the above-named volumes.</p> - -<p>The following translation of the “Book of the Ladies” does not pretend -to imitate Brantôme’s style. To do so would seem an affectation in -English, and attract attention to itself which it is always desirable to -avoid in translating. Wherever a few of Brantôme’s quaint turns of -phrase are given, it is only as they fall naturally into English.</p> - -<p><a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a></p> - -<h1>THE BOOK OF THE LADIES.</h1> - -<h2><a name="DISCOURSE_I" id="DISCOURSE_I"></a>DISCOURSE I.<br /><br /> -<small>ANNE DE BRETAGNE, QUEEN OF FRANCE.</small></h2> - -<p>I<small>NASMUCH</small> as I must speak of ladies, I do not choose to speak of former -dames, of whom the histories are full; that would be blotting paper in -vain, for enough has been written about them, and even the great -Boccaccio has made a fine book solely on that subject [<i>De claris -mulieribus</i>].</p> - -<p>I shall begin therefore with our queen, Anne de Bretagne, the most -worthy and honourable queen that has ever been since Queen Blanche, -mother of the King Saint-Louis, and very sage and virtuous.</p> - -<p>This Queen Anne was the rich heiress of the duchy of Bretagne, which was -held to be one of the finest of Christendom, and for that reason she was -sought in marriage by the greatest persons. M. le Duc d’Orléans, -afterwards King Louis XII., in his young days courted her, and did for -her sake his fine feats of arms in Bretagne, and even at the battle of -Saint Aubin, where he was taken prisoner fighting on foot at the head of -his infantry. I have heard say that this capture was the reason why he -did not espouse her then; for thereon intervened Maximilian, Duke of -Austria, since emperor, who married her by the proxy of his uncle the -Prince of Orange in the great church at Nantes. But King Charles VIII., -having advised with his council that it was<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> not good to have so -powerful a seigneur encroach and get a footing in his kingdom, broke off -a marriage that had been settled between himself and Marguerite of -Flanders, took the said Anne from Maximilian, her affianced, and wedded -her himself; so that every one conjectured thereon that a marriage thus -made would be luckless in issue.</p> - -<p>Now if Anne was desired for her property, she was as much so for her -virtues and merits; for she was beautiful and agreeable; as I have heard -say by elderly persons who knew her, and according to her portrait, -which I have seen from life; resembling in face the beautiful Demoiselle -de Châteauneuf, who has been so renowned at the Court for her beauty; -and that is sufficient to tell the beauty of Queen Anne as I have heard -it portrayed to the queen-mother [Catherine de’ Medici].</p> - -<p>Her figure was fine and of medium height. It is true that one foot was -shorter than the other the least in the world; but this was little -perceived, and hardly to be noticed, so that her beauty was not at all -spoilt by it; for I myself have seen very handsome women with that -defect who yet were extreme in beauty, like Mme. la Princesse de Condé, -of the house of Longueville.</p> - -<p>So much for the beauty of the body of this queen. That of her mind was -no less, because she was very virtuous, wise, honourable, pleasant of -speech, and very charming and subtile in wit. She had been taught and -trained by Mme. de Laval, an able and accomplished lady, appointed her -governess by her father, Duc François. For the rest, she was very kind, -very merciful, and very charitable, as I have heard my own folks say. -True it is, however, that she was quick in vengeance and seldom pardoned -whoever offended her maliciously; as she showed to the Maréchal de Gié -for the affront he put upon her when the king, her lord and husband,<a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a> -lay ill at Blois and was held to be dying. She, wishing to provide for -her wants in case she became a widow, caused three or four boats to be -laden on the River Loire with all her precious articles, furniture, -jewels, rings and money,—and sent them to her city and château of -Nantes. The said marshal, meeting these boats between Saumur and Nantes, -ordered them stopped and seized, being much too wishful to play the good -officer and servant of the Crown. But fortune willed that the king, -through the prayers of his people, to whom he was indeed a true father, -escaped with his life.</p> - -<p>The queen, in spite of this luck, did not abstain from her vengeance, -and having well brewed it, she caused the said marshal to be driven from -Court. It was then that having finished a fine house at La Verger, he -retired there, saying that the rain had come just in time to let him get -under shelter in the beautiful house so recently built. But this -banishment from Court was not all; through great researches which she -caused to be made wherever he had been in command, it was discovered he -had committed great wrongs, extortions and pillages, to which all -governors are given; so that the marshal, having appealed to the courts -of parliament, was summoned before that of Toulouse, which had long been -very just and equitable, and not corrupt. There, his suit being viewed, -he was convicted. But the queen did not wish his death, because, she -said, death is a cure for all pains and woes, and being dead he would be -too happy; she wished him to live as degraded and low as he had been -great; so that he might, from the grandeur and height where he had been, -live miserably in troubles, pains, and sadness, which would do him a -hundred-fold more harm than death, for death lasted only a day, and -mayhap only an hour, whereas his languishing would make him die daily.</p> - -<p><a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a>Such was the vengeance of this brave queen. One day she was so angry -against M. d’Orléans that she could not for a long time be appeased. It -was in this wise: the death of her son, M. le dauphin, having happened, -King Charles, her husband, and she were in such despair that the -doctors, fearing the debility and feeble constitution of the king, were -alarmed lest such grief should do injury to his health; so they -counselled the king to amuse himself, and the princes of the Court to -invent new pastimes, games, dances, and mummeries in order to give -pleasure to the king and queen; the which M. d’Orléans having -undertaken, he gave at the Château d’Amboise a masquerade and dance, at -which he did such follies and danced so gayly, as was told and read, -that the queen, believing he felt this glee because, the dauphin being -dead, he knew himself nearer to be King of France, was extremely -angered, and showed him such displeasure that he was forced to escape -from Amboise, where the Court then was, and go to his château of Blois. -Nothing can be blamed in this queen except the sin of vengeance,—if -vengeance is a sin,—because otherwise she was beautiful and gentle, and -had many very laudable sides.</p> - -<p>When the king, her husband, went to the kingdom of Naples [1494], and so -long as he was there, she knew very well how to govern the kingdom of -France with those whom the king had given to assist her; but she always -kept her rank, her grandeur, and supremacy, and insisted, young as she -was, on being trusted; and she made herself trusted, so that nothing was -ever found to say against her.</p> - -<p>She felt great regret for the death of King Charles [in 1498], as much -for the friendship she bore him as for seeing herself henceforth but -half a queen, having no children. And when her most intimate ladies, as -I have been told on good authority, pitied her for being the widow of so -great a king, and unable to return to her high estate,—for King<a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a> Louis -[the Duc d’Orléans, her first lover] was then married to Jeanne de -France,—she replied she would “rather be the widow of a king all her -life than debase herself to a less than he; but still, she was not so -despairing of happiness that she did not think of again being Queen of -France, as she had been, if she chose.” Her old love made her say so; -she meant to relight it in the bosom of him in whom it was yet warm. And -so it happened; for King Louis [XII.], having repudiated Jeanne, his -wife, and never having lost his early love, took her in marriage, as we -have seen and read. So here was her prophecy accomplished; she having -founded it on the nature of King Louis, who could not keep himself from -loving her, all married as she was, but looked with a tender eye upon -her, being still Duc d’Orléans; for it is difficult to quench a great -fire when once it has seized the soul.</p> - -<p>He was a handsome prince and very amiable, and she did not hate him for -that. Having taken her, he honoured her much, leaving her to enjoy her -property and her duchy without touching it himself or taking a single -louis; but she employed it well, for she was very liberal. And because -the king made immense gifts, to meet which he must have levied on his -people, which he shunned like the plague, she supplied his deficiencies; -and there were no great captains of the kingdom to whom she did not give -pensions, or make extraordinary presents of money or of thick gold -chains when they went upon a journey; and she even made little presents -according to quality; everybody ran to her, and few came away -discontented. Above all, she had the reputation of loving her domestic -servants, and to them she did great good.</p> - -<p>She was the first queen to hold a great Court of ladies, such as we have -seen from her time to the present day. Her suite was very large of -ladies and young girls, for she<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a> refused none; she even inquired of the -noblemen of her Court whether they had daughters, and what they were, -and asked to have them brought to her. I had an aunt de Bourdeille who -had the honour of being brought up by her [Louise de Bourdeille, maid of -honour to Queen Anne in 1494]; but she died at Court, aged fifteen -years, and was buried behind the great altar of the church of the -Franciscans in Paris. I saw the tomb and its inscription before that -church was burned [in 1580.]</p> - -<p>Queen Anne’s Court was a noble school for ladies; she had them taught -and brought up wisely; and all, taking pattern by her, made themselves -wise and virtuous. Because her heart was great and lofty she wanted -guards, and so formed a second band of a hundred gentlemen,—for -hitherto there was only one; and the greater part of the said new guard -were Bretons, who never failed, when she left her room to go to mass or -to promenade, to await her on that little terrace at Blois, still called -the Breton perch, “La Perche aux Bretons,” she herself having named it -so by saying when she saw them: “Here are my Bretons on their perch, -awaiting me.”</p> - -<p>You may be sure that she did not lay by her money, but employed it well -on all high things.</p> - -<p>She it was, who built, out of great superbness, that fine vessel and -mass of wood, called “La Cordelière,” which attacked so furiously in -mid-ocean the “Regent of England;” grappling to her so closely that both -were burned and nothing escaped,—not the people, nor anything else that -was in them, so that no news was ever heard of them on land; which -troubled the queen very much.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p>The king honoured her so much that one day, it being reported to him -that the law clerks at the Palais [de Justice]<a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a> and the students also -were playing games in which there was talk of the king, his Court, and -all the great people, he took no other notice than to say they needed a -pastime, and he would let them talk of him and his Court, though not -licentiously; but as for the queen, his wife, they should not speak of -her in any way whatsoever; if they did he would have them hanged. Such -was the honour he bore her.</p> - -<p>Moreover, there never came to his Court a foreign prince or an -ambassador that, after having seen and listened to them, he did not send -them to pay their reverence to the queen; wishing the same respect to be -shown to her as to him; and also, because he recognized in her a great -faculty for entertaining and pleasing great personages, as, indeed, she -knew well how to do; taking much pleasure in it herself; for she had -very good and fine grace and majesty in greeting them, and beautiful -eloquence in talking with them. Sometimes, amid her French speech, she -would, to make herself more admired, mingle a few foreign words, which -she had learned from M. de Grignaux, her chevalier of honour, who was a -very gallant man who had seen the world, and was accomplished and knew -foreign languages, being thereby very pleasant good company, and -agreeable to meet. Thus it was that one day, Queen Anne having asked him -to teach her a few words of Spanish to say to the Spanish ambassador, he -taught her in joke a little indecency, which she quickly learned. The -next day, while awaiting the ambassador, M. de Grignaux told the story -to the king, who thought it good, understanding his gay and lively -humour. Nevertheless he went to the queen, and told her all, warning her -to be careful not to use those words. She was in such great anger, -though the king only laughed, that she wanted to dismiss M. de Grignaux, -and<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> showed him her displeasure for several days. But M. de Grignaux -made her such humble excuses, telling her that he only did it to make -the king laugh and pass his time merrily, and that he was not so -ill-advised as to fail to warn the king in time that he might, as he -really did, warn her before the arrival of the ambassador; so that on -these excuses and the entreaties of the king she was pacified.</p> - -<p>Now, if the king loved and honoured her living, we may believe that, she -being dead, he did the same. And to manifest the mourning that he felt, -the superb and honourable funeral and obsequies that he ordered for her -are proof; the which I have read of in an old “History of France” that I -found lying about in a closet in our house, nobody caring for it; and -having gathered it up, I looked at it. Now as this is a matter that -should be noted, I shall put it here, word for word as the book says, -without changing anything; for though it is old, the language is not -very bad; and as for the truth of the book, it has been confirmed to me -by my grandmother, Mme. la Seneschale de Poitou, of the family du Lude, -who was then at the Court. The book relates it thus:—</p> - -<p>“This queen was an honourable and virtuous queen, and very wise, the -true mother of the poor, the support of gentlemen, the haven of ladies, -damoiselles, and honest girls, and the refuge of learned men; so that -all the people of France cannot surfeit themselves enough in deploring -and regretting her.</p> - -<p>“She died at the castle of Blois on the twenty-first of January, in the -year 1513, after the accomplishment of a thing she had most desired, -namely: the union of the king, her lord, with the pope and the Roman -Church, abhorring as she did schism and divisions. For that reason she -had never ceased urging the king to this step, for which she was as<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a> -much loved and greatly revered by the Catholic princes and prelates as -the king had been hated.</p> - -<p>“I have seen at Saint-Denis a grand church cope, all covered with pearls -embroidered, which she had ordered to be made expressly to send as a -present to the pope, but death prevented. After her decease her body -remained for three days in her room, the face uncovered, and nowise -changed by hideous death, but as beautiful and agreeable as when living.</p> - -<p>“Friday, the twenty-seventh of the month of January, her body was taken -from the castle, very honourably accompanied by all the priests and -monks of the town, borne by persons wearing mourning, with hoods over -their heads, accompanied by twenty-four torches larger than the other -torches borne by twenty-four officers of the household of the said lady, -on each of which were two rich armorial escutcheons bearing the arms -emblazoned of the said lady. After these torches came the reverend -seigneurs and prelates, bishops, abbés, and M. le Cardinal de Luxembourg -to read the office; and thus was removed the body of the said lady from -the Château de Blois....</p> - -<p>“Septuagesima Sunday, twelfth of February, they arrived at the church of -Notre-Dame des Champs in the suburbs of Paris, and there the body was -guarded two nights with great quantities of lights; and on the following -Tuesday, the devout services having been read, there marched before the -body processions with the crosses of all the churches and all the -monasteries of Paris, the whole University in a body, the presidents and -counsellors of the sovereign court of Parliament, and generally of all -other courts and jurisdictions, officers and advocates, merchants and -citizens, and other lesser officers of the town. All these accompanied -the said body reverentially, with the very noble seigneurs and ladies -aforenamed, just as they started from Blois, all keeping fine<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a> order -among themselves according to their several ranks.... And thus was borne -through Paris, in the order and manner above, the body of the queen to -be sepulchred in the pious church of Saint-Denis of France; preceded by -these processions to a cross which is not far beyond the place where the -fair of Landit is held.</p> - -<p>“And to the spot where stands the cross the reverend father in God, the -abbé, and the venerable monks, with the priests of the churches and -parishes of Saint-Denis, vestured in their great copes, with their -crosses, came in procession, together with the peasants and the -inhabitants of the said town, to receive the body of the late queen, -which was then borne to the door of the church of Saint-Denis, still -accompanied honourably by all the above-named very noble princes and -princesses, seigneurs, dames, and damoiselles, and their train as -already stated....</p> - -<p>“And all being duly accomplished, the body of the said lady, Madame -Anne, in her lifetime very noble Queen of France, Duchesse of Bretagne, -and Comtesse d’Étampes, was honourably interred and sepulchred in the -tomb for her prepared.</p> - -<p>“After this, the herald-at-arms for Bretagne summoned all the princes -and officers of the said lady, to wit: the chevalier of honour, the -grand-master of the household, and others, each and all, to fulfil their -duty towards the said body, which they did most piteously, shedding -tears from their eyes. And, this done, the aforenamed king-at-arms cried -three times aloud in a most piteous voice: ‘The very Christian Queen of -France, Duchesse de Bretagne, our Sovereign Lady, is dead!’ And then all -departed. The body remained entombed.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_tomb_034_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_tomb_034_sml.jpg" width="550" height="409" alt="Tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne" -title="Tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne</span> -</p> - -<p>“During her life and after her death she was honoured by the titles I -have before given: true mother of the poor; the comfort of noble -gentlemen; the haven of ladies and damoiselles<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> and honest girls; -the refuge of learned men and those of good lives; so that speaking of -her dead is only renewing the grief and regrets of all such persons, and -also that of her domestic servants, whom she loved singularly. She was -very religious and devout. It was she who made the foundation of the -‘Bons-Hommes’ [monastery of the order of Saint-François de Paule at -Chaillot], otherwise called the Minimes; and she began to build the -church of the said ‘Bons-Hommes’ near Paris, and afterwards that in Rome -which is so beautiful and noble, and where, as I saw myself, they -receive no monks but Frenchmen.”</p> - -<p>There, word for word, are the splendid obsequies of this queen, without -changing a word of the original, for fear of doing worse,—for I could -not do better. They were just like those of our kings that I have heard -and read of, and those of King Charles IX., at which I was present, and -which the queen, his mother, desired to make so fine and magnificent, -though the finances of France were then too short to spend much, because -of the departure of the King of Poland, who with his suite had -squandered and carried off a great deal [1574].</p> - -<p>Certainly I find these two interments much alike, save for three things: -one, that the burial of Queen Anne was the most superb; second, that all -went so well in order and so discreetly that there was no contention of -ranks, as occurred at the burial of King Charles; for his body, being -about to start for Notre-Dame, the court of parliament had some pique of -precedence with the nobility and the Church, claiming to stand in the -place of the king and to represent him when absent, he being then out of -the kingdom. [Henri III. was then King of Poland]. On which a great -princess, as the world goes, who was very near to him, whom I know but -will not name, went about arguing and saying: “It was<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a> no wonder if, -during the lifetime of the king, seditions and troubles had been in -vogue, seeing that, dead as he was, he was still able to stir up -strife.” Alas! he never did it, poor prince! either dead or living. We -know well who were the authors of the seditions and of our civil wars. -That princess who said those words has since found reason to regret -them.</p> - -<p>The third thing is that the body of King Charles was quitted, at the -church of Saint-Lazare, by the whole procession, princes, seigneurs, -courts of parliament, the Church, and the citizens, and was followed and -accompanied from there by none but poor M. de Strozzi, de Fumel, and -myself, with two gentlemen of the bedchamber, for we were not willing to -abandon our master as long as he was above ground. There were also a few -archers of the guard, quite pitiable to see, in the fields. So at eight -in the evening in the month of July, we started with the body and its -effigy thus badly accompanied.</p> - -<p>Reaching the cross, we found all the monks of Saint-Denis awaiting us, -and the body of the king was honourably escorted, with the ceremonies of -the Church, to Saint-Denis, where the great Cardinal de Lorraine -received it most honourably and devoutly, as he knew well how to do.</p> - -<p>The queen-mother was very angry that the procession did not continue to -the end as she intended—save for Monsieur her son, and the King of -Navarre, whom she held a prisoner. The next day, however, the latter -arrived in a coach, with a very good guard, and captains of the guard -with him, to be present at the solemn high service, attended by the -whole procession and company as at first,—a sight very sad to see.</p> - -<p>After dinner the court of parliament sent to tell and to command the -grand almoner Amyot to go and say grace<a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a> after meat for them as if for -the king. To which he made answer that he should do nothing of the kind, -for it was not before them he was bound to do it. They sent him two -consecutive and threatening commands; which he still refused, and went -and hid himself that he might answer no more. Then they swore they would -not leave the table till he came; but not being able to find him, they -were constrained to say grace themselves and to rise, which they did -with great threats, foully abusing the said almoner, even to calling him -scoundrel, and son of a butcher. I saw the whole affair; and I know what -Monsieur commanded me to go and tell to M. le cardinal, asking him to -pacify the matter, because they had sent commands to Monsieur to send to -them, as representatives of the king, the grand almoner if he could be -found. M. le cardinal went to speak to them, but he gained nothing; they -standing firm on their opinion of their royal majesty and authority. I -know what M. le cardinal said to me about them, telling me not to say -it,—that they were perfect fools. The chief president, de Thou, was -then at their head; a great senator certainly, but he had a temper. So -here was another disturbance to make that princess say again that King -Charles, either living or dead, on earth or under it, that body of his -stirred up the world and threw it into sedition. Alas! that he could not -do.</p> - -<p>I have told this little incident, possibly more at length than I should, -and I may be blamed; but I reply that I have told and put it here as it -came into my fancy and memory; also that it comes in <i>à propos</i>; and -that I cannot forget it, for it seems to me a thing that is rather -remarkable.</p> - -<p>Now, to return to our Queen Anne: we see from this fine last duty of her -obsequies how beloved she was of earth and heaven; far otherwise than -that proud, pompous queen, Isabella of Bavaria, wife of the late King -Charles VI., who<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a> having died in Paris, her body was so despised it was -put out of her palace into a little boat on the river Seine, without -form of ceremony or pomp, being carried through a little postern so -narrow it could hardly go through, and thus was taken to Saint-Denis to -her tomb like a simple damoiselle, neither more nor less. There was also -a difference between her actions and those of Queen Anne: for she -brought the English into France and Paris, threw the kingdom into flames -and divisions, and impoverished and ruined every one; whereas Queen Anne -kept France in peace, enlarged and enriched it with her beautiful duchy -and the fine property she brought with her. So one need not wonder that -the king regretted her and felt such mourning that he came nigh dying in -the forest of Vincennes, and clothed himself and all his Court so long -in black; and those who came otherwise clothed he had them driven away; -neither would he see any ambassador, no matter who he was, unless he -were dressed in black. And, moreover, that old History which I have -quoted, says: “When he gave his daughter to M. d’Angoulême, afterwards -King François, mourning was not left off by him or his Court; and the -day of the espousals in the church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the -bridegroom and bride were vestured and clothed”—so this History -says—“in black cloth, honestly cut in mourning shape, for the death of -the said queen, Madame Anne de Bretagne, mother of the bride, in -presence of the king, her father, accompanied by the princes of the -blood and noble seigneurs and prelates, princesses, dames, and -damoiselles, all clothed in black cloth made in mourning shape.” That is -what the book says. It was a strange austerity of mourning which should -be noted, that not even on the day of the wedding was it dispensed with, -to be renewed on the following day.</p> - -<p>From this we may know how beloved, and worthy to be<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a> beloved this -princess was by the king, her husband, who sometimes in his merry moods -and gayety would call her “his Breton.”</p> - -<p>If she had lived longer she would never have consented to that marriage -of her daughter; it was very repugnant to her and she said so to the -king, her husband, for she mortally hated Madame d’Angoulême, afterwards -Regent, their tempers being quite unlike and not agreeing together; -besides which, she had wished to unite her said daughter to Charles of -Austria, then young, the greatest seigneur of Christendom, who was -afterwards emperor. And this she wished in spite of M. d’Angoulême -coming very near the Crown; but she never thought of that, or would not -think of it, trusting to have more children herself, she being only -thirty-seven years old when she died. In her lifetime and reign, reigned -also that great and wise queen, Isabella of Castile, very accordant in -manners and morals with our Queen Anne. For which reason they loved each -other much and visited one another often by embassies, letters, and -presents; ‘tis thus that virtue ever seeks out virtue.</p> - -<p>King Louis was afterwards pleased to marry for the third time Marie, -sister of the King of England, a very beautiful princess, young, and too -young for him, so that evil came of it. But he married more from policy, -to make peace with the English and to put his own kingdom at rest, than -for any other reason, never being able to forget his Queen Anne. He -commanded at his death that they should both be covered by the same -tomb, just as we now see it in Saint-Denis, all in white marble, as -beautiful and superb as never was.</p> - -<p>Now, here I pause in my discourse and go no farther; referring the rest -to books that are written of this queen better than I could write; only -to content my own self have I made this discourse.<a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a></p> - -<p>I will say one other little thing; that she was the first of our queens -or princesses to form the usage of putting a belt round their arms and -escutcheons, which until then were borne not inclosed, but quite loose; -and the said queen was the first to put the belt.</p> - -<p>I say no more, not having been of her time; although I protest having -told only truth, having learned it, as I have said, from a book, and -also from Mme. la Seneschale, my grandmother, and from Mme. de -Dampierre, my aunt, a true Court register, and as clever, wise, and -virtuous a lady as ever entered a Court these hundred years, and who -knew well how to discourse on old things. From eight years of age she -was brought up at Court, and forgot nothing; it was good to hear her -talk; and I have seen our kings and queens take a singular pleasure in -listening to her, for she knew all,—her own time and past times; so -that people took word from her as from an oracle. King Henri III. made -her lady of honour to the queen, his wife. I have here used -recollections and lessons that I obtained from her, and I hope to use -many more in the course of these books.</p> - -<p>I have read the epitaph of the said queen, thus made:—</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Here lies Anne, who was wife to two great kings,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Great a hundred-fold herself, as queen two times!<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Never queen like her enriched all France;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">That is what it is to make a grand alliance.”<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<hr class="spc" /> - -<p>Gui Patin, satirist and jovial spirit of his time [he was born in 1601], -attracted to Saint-Denis because a fair was held there, visits the -abbey, the treasury, “where” he says, “there was plenty of silly stuff -and rubbish,” and lastly the tombs of the kings, “where I could not keep -myself from weeping to see so many monuments to the vanity of human<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a> -life; tears escaped me also before the tomb of the great and good king, -François I., who founded our College of Professors of the King. I must -own my weakness; I kissed it, and also that of his father-in-law, Louis -XII., who was the Father of his People, and the best king we have ever -had in France.” Happy age! still neighbour to beliefs, when those -reputed the greatest satirists had these touching naïvetés, these wholly -patriotic and antique sensibilities.</p> - -<p>Mézeray [born ten years later], in his natural, sincere and expressive -diction, his clear and full narration, into which he has the art to -bring speaking circumstances which animate the tale, says in relation to -Louis XII. [in his “History of France”]: “When he rode through the -country the good folk ran from all parts and for many days to see him, -strewing the roads with flowers and foliage, and striving, as though he -were a visible God, to touch his saddle with their handkerchiefs and -keep them as precious relics.”</p> - -<p>And two centuries later, Comte Rœderer, in his Memoir on Polite -Society and the Hôtel de Rambouillet, printed in 1835, tells us how in -his youth his mind was already busy with Louis XII., and, returning to -the same interest in after years, he made him his hero of predilection -and his king. In studying the history of France he thought he -discovered, he says, that at the close of the fifteenth century and the -beginning of the sixteenth what has since been called the “French -Revolution” was already consummated; that liberty rested on a free -Constitution; and that Louis XII., the Father of his People, was he who -had accomplished it. <i>Bonhomie</i> and goodness have never been denied to -Louis XII., but Rœderer claims more, he claims ability and skill. The -Italian wars, considered generally to have been mistakes, he excuses and -justifies by showing them in the king’s mind as a means of useful -national policy; he needed to obtain from<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a> Pope Alexander VI. the -dissolution of his marriage with Jeanne de France, in order that he -might marry Anne de Bretagne and so unite the duchy with the kingdom. -Rœderer makes King Louis a type of perfection; seeming to have -searched in regions far from those that are historically brilliant, far -from spheres of fame and glory, into “the depths obscure,” as he says -himself, “of <i>useful</i> government for a hero of a new species.”</p> - -<p>More than that: he thinks he sees in the cherished wife of Louis XII., -in Anne de Bretagne, the foundress of a school of polite manners and -perfection for her sex. “She was,” Brantôme had said, “the most worthy -and honourable queen that had ever been since Queen Blanche, mother of -the King Saint-Louis.... Her Court was a noble school for ladies; she -had them taught and brought up wisely; and all, taking pattern by her, -made themselves wise and virtuous.” Rœderer takes these words of -Brantôme and, giving them their strict meaning, draws therefrom a series -of consequences: just as François I. had, in many respects, overthrown -the political state of things established by Louis XII., so, he -believes, had the women beloved of François overturned that honourable -condition of society established by Anne de Bretagne. Starting from that -epoch he sees, as it were, a constant struggle between two sorts of -rival and incompatible societies: between the decent and ingenuous -society of which Anne de Bretagne had given the idea, and the licentious -society of which the mistresses of the king, women like the Duchesse -d’Étampes and Diane de Poitiers, procured the triumph. These two -societies, to his mind, never ceased to co-exist during the sixteenth -century; on the one hand was an emulation of virtue and merit on the -part of the noble heiresses, alas, too eclipsed, of Anne de Bretagne, on -the other an emulation with high bidding of<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a> gallantry, by the giddy -pupils of the school of François I. To Rœderer the Hôtel de -Rambouillet, that perfected salon, founded towards the beginning of the -seventeenth century, is only a tardy return to the traditions of Anne de -Bretagne, the triumph of merit, virtue, and polite manners over the -license to which all the kings, from François I., including Henri IV., -had paid tribute.</p> - -<p>Reaching thus the Hôtel de Rambouillet and holding henceforth an -unbroken thread in hand, Rœderer divides and subdivides at pleasure. -He marks the divers periods and the divers shades of transition, the -growth and the decline that he discerns. The first years of Louis XIV.’s -youth cause him some distress; a return is being made to the ways of -François I., to the brilliant mistresses. Rœderer, not concerning -himself with the displeasure he will cause the classicists, lays a -little of the blame for this return on the four great poets, Molière, La -Fontaine, Racine, and Boileau himself, all accomplices, more or less, in -the laudation of victor and lover. However, age comes on; Louis XIV. -grows temperate in turn, and a woman, issuing from the very purest -centre of Mme. de Rambouillet’s society, and who was morally its -heiress, a woman accomplished in tone, in cultivation of mind, in -precision of language, and in the sentiment of propriety,—Mme. de -Maintenon,—knows so well how to seize the opportunity that she seats -upon the throne, in a modest half-light, all the styles of mind and -merit which made the perfection of French society in its better days. -The triumph of Mme. de Maintenon is that of polite society itself; Anne -de Bretagne has found her pendant at the other extremity of the chain -after the lapse of two centuries.</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Sainte-Beuve</span>, <i>Causeries du Lundi</i>, Vol. VIII.<br /> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="DISCOURSE_II" id="DISCOURSE_II"></a>DISCOURSE II.<br /><br /> -<small>CATHERINE DE’ MEDICI, QUEEN, AND MOTHER OF OUR LAST KINGS.</small></h2> - -<p>I <small>HAVE</small> wondered and been astonished a hundred times that, so many good -writers as we have had in our day in France, none of them has been -inquisitive enough to make some fine selection of the life and deeds of -the queen-mother, Catherine de’ Medici, inasmuch as she has furnished -ample matter, and cut out much fine work, if ever a queen did—as said -the Emperor Charles to Paolo Giovio [Italian historian] when, on his -return from his triumphant voyage in the “Goulette” intending to make -war upon King François, he gave him a provision of ink and paper, saying -he would cut him out plenty of work. So it is true that this queen cut -out so much that a good and zealous writer might make an Iliad of it; -but they have all been lazy,—or ungrateful, for she was never niggardly -to learned men; I could name several who have derived good benefits from -this queen, from which, in consequence, I accuse them of ingratitude.</p> - -<p>There is one, however, who did concern himself to write of her, and made -a little book which he entitled “The Life of Catherine;”<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> but it is an -imposture and not worthy of belief, as she herself said when she saw it; -such falsities being apparent to every one, and easy to note and reject. -He that wrote it wished her mortal harm, and was an enemy to her name, -her condition, her life, her honour, and nature; and that is why he -should be rejected. As for me, I would<a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a> I knew how to speak well, or -that I had a good pen, well mended, at my command, that I might exalt -and praise her as she deserves. At any rate, such as my pen is, I shall -now employ it at all hazards.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_catherine_044_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_catherine_044_sml.jpg" width="457" height="550" alt="Catherine de’ Medici" -title="Catherine de’ Medici" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Catherine de’ Medici</span> -</p> - -<p>This queen is extracted, on the father’s side, from the race of the -Medici, one of the noblest and most illustrious families, not only in -Italy, but in Christendom. Whatever may be said, she was a foreigner to -these shores because the alliances of kings cannot commonly be chosen in -their kingdom; for it is not best to do so; foreign marriages being as -useful and more so than near ones. The House of the Medici has always -been allied and confederated with the crown of France, which still bears -the <i>fleur-de-lys</i> that King Louis XI. gave that house in sign of -alliance and perpetual confederation [the <i>fleur de Louis</i>, which then -became the Florentine lily].</p> - -<p>On the mother’s side she issued originally from one of the noblest -families of France; and so was truly French in race, heart, and -affection through that great house of Boulogne and county of Auvergne; -thus it is hard to tell or judge in which of her two families there was -most grandeur and memorable deeds. Here is what was said of them by the -Archbishop of Bourges, of the house of Beaune, as great a learned man -and worthy prelate as there is in Christendom (though some say a trifle -unsteady in belief, and little good in the scales of M. Saint-Michel, -who weighs good Christians for the day of judgment, or so they say): it -is given in the funeral oration which the archbishop made upon the said -queen at Blois:—</p> - -<p>“In the days when Brennus, that great captain of the Gauls, led his army -throughout all Italy and Greece, there were with him in his troop two -French nobles, one named Felsinus, the other named Bono, who, seeing the -wicked<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a> design of Brennus, after his fine conquests, to invade the -temple of Delphos and soil himself and his army with the sacrilege of -that temple, withdrew, both of them, and passed into Asia with their -vessels and men, advancing so far that they entered the sea of the -Medes, which is near to Lydia and Persia. Thence, having made great -conquests and obtained great victories, they were returning through -Italy, hoping to reach France, when Felsinus stopped at a place where -Florence now stands beside the river Arno, which he saw to be fine and -delectable, and situated much as another which had pleased him much in -the country of the Medes. There he built a city which to-day is -Florence; and his companion, Bono, built another and named it Bononia, -now called Bologna, the which are neighbouring cities. Henceforth, in -consequence of the victories and conquests of Felsinus among the Medes, -he was called <i>Medicus</i> among his friends, a name that remained to the -family; just as we read of Paulus surnamed <i>Macedonicus</i> for having -conquered Macedonia from Perseus, and Scipio called <i>Africanus</i> for -doing the same in Africa.”</p> - -<p>I do not know where M. de Beaune may have taken this history; but it is -very probable that before the king and such an assembly, there convened -for the funeral of the queen, he would not have alleged the fact without -good authority. This descent is very far from the modern story invented -and attributed without grounds to the family of Medici, according to -that lying book which I have mentioned on the life of the said queen. -After this the said Sieur de Beaune says further, he has read in the -chronicles that one named Everard de’ Medici, Sieur of Florence, went, -with many of his subjects, to the assistance of the voyage and -expedition made by Charlemagne against Desiderius, King of the Lombards; -and having very bravely succoured<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a> and assisted him, was confirmed and -invested with the lordship of Florence. Many years after, one Anemond -de’ Medici, also Sieur of Florence, went, accompanied by many of his -subjects, to the Holy Land, with Godefroy de Bouillon, where he died at -the siege of Nicæa in Asia. Such greatness always continued in that -family until Florence was reduced to a republic by the intestine wars in -Italy between the emperors and the peoples, the illustrious members of -it manifesting their valour and grandeur from time to time; as we saw in -the latter days Cosmo de’ Medici, who, with his arms, his navy, and -vessels, terrified the Turks in the Mediterranean Sea and in the distant -East; so that none since his time, however great he may be, has -surpassed him in strength and valour and wealth, as Raffaelle Volaterano -has written.</p> - -<p>The temples and sacred shrines by him built, the hospitals by him -founded, even in Jerusalem, are ample proof of his piety and -magnanimity.</p> - -<p>There were also Lorenzo de’ Medici, surnamed the Great for his virtuous -deeds, and two great popes, Leo and Clement, also many cardinals and -grand personages of the name; besides the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosmo -de’ Medici, a wise and wary man, if ever there was one. He succeeded in -maintaining himself in his duchy, which he found invaded and much -disturbed when he came to it.</p> - -<p>In short, nothing can rob this house of the Medici of its lustre, very -noble and grand as it is in every way.</p> - -<p>As for the house of Boulogne and Auvergne, who will say that it is not -great, having issued originally from that noble Eustache de Boulogne, -whose brother, Godefroy de Bouillon, bore arms and escutcheons with so -vast a number of princes, seigneurs, chevaliers, and Christian soldiers, -even to Jerusalem and the Sepulchre of our Saviour; and would have made -himself, by his sword and the favour of God, king, not<a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a> only of -Jerusalem but of the greater part of the East, to the confusion of -Mahomet, the Saracens, and the Mahometans, amazing all the rest of the -world and replanting Christianity in Asia, where it had fallen to the -lowest?</p> - -<p>For the rest, this house has ever been sought in alliance by all the -monarchies of Christendom and the great families; such as France, -England, Scotland, Hungary, and Portugal, which latter kingdom belonged -to it of right, as I have heard Président de Thou say, and as the queen -herself did me the honour to tell me at Bordeaux when she heard of the -death of King Sebastian [in Morocco, 1578], the Medici being received to -argue the justice of their rights at the last Assembly of States before -the decease of King Henry [in 1580]. This was why she armed M. de -Strozzi to make an invasion, the King of Spain having usurped the -kingdom; she was arrested in so fine a course only by reasons which I -will explain at another time.</p> - -<p>I leave you to suppose, therefore, whether this house of Boulogne was -great; yes, so great that I once heard Pope Pius IV. say, sitting at -table at a dinner he gave after his election to the Cardinals of Ferrara -and Guise, his creations, that the house of Boulogne was so great and -noble he knew none in France, whatever it was, that could surpass it in -antiquity, valour, and grandeur.</p> - -<p>All this is much against those malicious detractors who have said that -this queen was a Florentine of low birth. Moreover, she was not so poor -but what she brought to France in marriage estates which are worth -to-day twenty-six thousand <i>livres</i>,—such as the counties of Auvergne -and Lauragais, the seigneuries of Leverons, Donzenac, Boussac, Gorrèges, -Hondecourt and other lands,—all an inheritance from her mother. Besides -which, her dowry was of more than two hundred thousand ducats, which are -worth to-day over four<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a> hundred thousand; with great quantities of -furniture, precious stones, jewels, and other riches, such as the finest -and largest pearls ever seen in so great a number, which she afterwards -gave to her daughter-in-law, the Queen of Scotland [Mary Stuart], whom I -have seen wearing them.</p> - -<p>Besides all this, many estates, houses, deeds, and claims in Italy.</p> - -<p>But more than all else, through her marriage the affairs of France, -which had been so shaken by the imprisonment of the king and his losses -at Milan and Naples, began to get firmer. King François was very willing -to say that the marriage had served his interests. Therefore there was -given to this queen for her device a rainbow, which she bore as long as -she was married, with these words in Greek <span title="Greek: phôs pherei êde -galênên">φὡϛ φἑρι ἡδἑ γαλἡνην</span>. Which is the same as saying that just as this fire and bow in -the sky brings and signifies good weather after rain, so this queen was -a true sign of clearness, serenity, and the tranquillity of peace. The -Greek is thus translated: <i>Lucem fert et serenitatem</i>—“She brings light -and serenity.”</p> - -<p>After that, the emperor [Charles V.] dared push no longer his ambitious -motto: “Ever farther.” For, although there was truce between himself and -King François, he was nursing his ambition with the design of gaining -always from France whatever he could; and he was much astonished at this -alliance with the pope [Clement VII.], regarding the latter as able, -courageous, and vindictive for his imprisonment by the imperial forces -at the sack of Rome [1527]. Such a marriage displeased him so much that -I have heard a truthful lady of the Court say that if he had not been -married to the empress, he would have seized an alliance with the pope -himself and espoused his niece [Catherine de’ Medici], as much for the -support of so strong a party as because he feared the pope would assist -in making him lose Naples, Milan, and<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a> Genoa; for the pope had promised -King François, in an authentic document, when he delivered to him the -money of his niece’s dowry and her rings and jewels, to make the dowry -worthy of such a marriage by the addition of three pearls of inestimable -value, of the excessive splendour of which all the greatest kings were -envious and covetous; the which were Naples, Milan, and Genoa. And it is -not to be doubted that if the said pope had lived out his natural life -he would have sold the emperor well, and made him pay dear for that -imprisonment, in order to aggrandize his niece and the kingdom to which -she was joined. But Clement VII. died young, and all this profit came to -nought.</p> - -<p>So now our queen, having lost her mother, Magdelaine de Boulogne, and -Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, her father, in early life, was -married by her good uncle the pope to France, whither she was brought by -sea to Marseille in great triumph; and her wedding was pompously -performed, at the age of fourteen. She made herself so beloved by the -king, her father-in-law, and by King Henri, her husband [not king till -the death of François I.], that on remaining ten years without producing -issue, and many persons endeavouring to persuade the king and the -dauphin, her husband, to repudiate her because there was such need of an -heir to France, neither the one nor the other would consent because they -loved her so much. But after ten years, in accordance with the natural -habit of the women of the race of Medici, who are tardy in conceiving, -she began by producing the Little King François II. After that, was born -the Queen of Spain, and then, consecutively, that fine and illustrious -progeny whom we have all seen, and also others no sooner born than dead, -by great misfortune and fatality. All this caused the king, her husband, -to love her more and more, and in such a way that he, who was of an -amorous temperament,<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a> and greatly liked to make love and to change his -loves, said often that of all the women in the world there was none like -his wife for that, and he did not know her equal. He had reason to say -so, for she was truly a beautiful and most amiable princess.</p> - -<p>She was of rich and very fine presence; of great majesty, but very -gentle when need was; of noble appearance and good grace, her face -handsome and agreeable, her bosom very beautiful, white and full; her -body also very white, the flesh beautiful, the skin smooth, as I have -heard from several of her ladies; of a fine plumpness also, the leg and -thigh very beautiful (as I have heard, too, from the same ladies); and -she took great pleasure in being well shod and in having her stockings -well and tightly drawn up.</p> - -<p>Besides all this, the most beautiful hand that was ever seen, as I -believe. Once upon a time the poets praised Aurora for her fine hands -and beautiful fingers; but I think our queen would efface her in that, -and she guarded and maintained that beauty all her life. The king, her -son, Henri III., inherited much of this beauty of the hand.</p> - -<p>She always clothed herself well and superbly, often with some pretty and -new invention. In short, she had many charms in herself to make her -beloved. I remember that one day at Lyons she went to see a painter -named Corneille, who had painted in a large room all the great -seigneurs, princes, cavaliers, queens, princesses, ladies of the Court, -and damoiselles. Being in the said room of these portraits we saw there -our queen, painted very well in all her beauty and perfection, -apparelled <i>à la Française</i> in a cap and her great pearls, and a gown -with wide sleeves of silver tissue furred with lynx,—the whole so well -represented to the life that only speech was lacking; her three fine -daughters were beside her. She took great pleasure at the sight, and all -the<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a> company there present did the same, praising and admiring her -beauty above all. She herself was so ravished by the contemplation that -she could not take her eyes from the picture until M. de Nemours came to -her and said: “Madame, I think you are there so well portrayed that -nothing more can be said; and it seems to me that your daughters do you -proper honour, for they do not go before you or surpass you.” To this -she answered: “My cousin, I think you can remember the time, the age, -and the dress of this picture; so that you can judge better than any of -this company, for you saw me like that, whether I was estimated such as -you say, and whether I ever was as I there appear.” There was not one in -the company that did not praise and estimate that beauty highly, and say -that the mother was worthy of the daughters, and the daughters of the -mother. And such beauty lasted her, married and widowed, almost to her -death; not that she was as fresh as in her more blooming years, but -always well preserved, very desirable and agreeable.</p> - -<p>For the rest, she was very good company and of gay humour; loving all -honourable exercises, such as dancing, in which she had great grace and -majesty.</p> - -<p>She also loved hunting; about which I heard a lady of the Court tell -this tale: King François, having chosen and made a company which was -called “the little band of the Court ladies,” the handsomest, daintiest, -and most favoured, often escaped from the Court and went to other houses -to hunt the stag and pass his time, sometimes staying thus withdrawn -eight days, ten days, sometimes more and sometimes less, as the humour -took him. Our queen (who was then only Mme. la dauphine) seeing such -parties made without her, and that even Mesdames her sisters-in-law were -there while she stayed at home, made prayer to the king, to take her -always with him, and to do her the honour to permit that she should -never budge without him.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_henry_ii_052_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_henry_ii_052_sml.jpg" width="306" height="550" alt="Henri II" -title="Henri II" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Henri II</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a></p> - -<p>It was said that she, being very shrewd and clever, did this as much or -more to see the king’s actions and get his secrets and hear and know all -things, as from liking for the hunt.</p> - -<p>King François was pleased with this request, for it showed the good-will -that she had for his company; and he granted it heartily; so that -besides loving her naturally he now loved her more, and delighted in -giving her pleasure in the hunt, at which she never left his side, but -followed him at full speed. She was very good on horseback and bold; -sitting with ease, and being the first to put the leg around a pommel; -which was far more graceful and becoming than sitting with the feet upon -a plank. Till she was sixty years of age and over she liked to ride on -horseback, and after her weakness prevented her she pined for it. It was -one of her greatest pleasures to ride far and fast, though she fell many -times with damage to her body, breaking her leg once, and wounding her -head, which had to be trepanned. After she was widowed and had charge of -the king and the kingdom, she took the king always with her, and her -other children; but while her husband, King Henri, lived, she usually -went with him to the meet of the stag and the other hunts.</p> - -<p>If he played at pall-mall she watched him play, and played herself. She -was very fond of shooting with a cross-bow <i>à jalet</i> [ball of stone], -and she shot right well; so that always when she went to ride her -cross-bow was taken with her, and if she saw any game, she shot it.</p> - -<p>She was ever inventing some new dance or beautiful ballet when the -weather was bad. Also she invented games and passed her time with one -and another intimately; but always appearing very grave and austere when -necessary.</p> - -<p>She was fond of seeing comedies and tragedies; but after<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a> “Sophonisbe,” -a tragedy composed by M. de Saint-Gélais, was very well represented by -her daughters and other ladies and damoiselles and gentlemen of her -Court, at Blois for the marriages of M. du Cypière and the Marquis -d’Elbœuf, she took an opinion that it was harmful to the affairs of -the kingdom, and would never have tragedies played again. But she -listened readily to comedies and tragi-comedies, and even those of -“Zani” and “Pantaloon,” taking great pleasure in them, and laughing with -all her heart like any other; for she liked laughter, and her natural -self was jovial, loving a witty word and ready with it, knowing well -when to cast her speech and her stone, and when to withhold them.</p> - -<p>She passed her time in the afternoons at work on her silk embroideries, -in which she was as perfect as possible. In short, this queen liked and -gave herself up to all honourable exercises; and there was not one that -was worthy of herself and her sex that she did not wish to know and -practise.</p> - -<p>There is what I can say, speaking briefly and avoiding prolixity, about -the beauty of her body and her occupations.</p> - -<p>When she called any one “my friend” it was either that she thought him a -fool, or she was angry with him. This was so well known that she had a -serving gentleman named M. de Bois-Fevrier, who made reply when she -called him “my friend”: “Ha! madame, I would rather you called me your -enemy; for to call me your friend is as good as saying I am a fool, or -that you are in anger against me; for I know your nature this long -time.”</p> - -<p>As for her mind, it was very great and very admirable, as was shown in -so many fine and signal acts by which her life has been made illustrious -forever. The king, her husband, and his council esteemed her so much -that when the king went his journey to Germany, out of his kingdom, he -established and ordered her as regent and governor throughout<a name="page_055" id="page_055"></a> his -dominions during his absence, by a declaration solemnly made before a -full parliament in Paris. And in this office she behaved so wisely that -there was no disturbance, change, or alteration in the State by reason -of the king’s absence; but, on the contrary, she looked so carefully to -business that she assisted the king with money, means, and men, and -other kinds of succour; which helped him much for his return, and even -for the conquest which he made of cities in the duchy of Luxembourg, -such as Yvoy, Montmedy, Dampvilliers, Chimay, and others.</p> - -<p>I leave you to think how he who wrote that fine life I spoke of -detracted from her in saying that never did the king, her husband, allow -her to put her nose into matters of State. Was not making her regent in -his absence giving her ample occasion to have full knowledge of them? -And it was thus she did during all the journeys that he made yearly in -going to his armies.</p> - -<p>What did she after the battle of Saint-Laurens, when the State was -shaken and the king had gone to Compiègne to raise a new army? She so -espoused affairs that she roused and excited the gentlemen of Paris to -give prompt succour to their king, which came most apropos, both in -money and in other things very necessary in war.</p> - -<p>Also, when the king was wounded, those who were of that time and saw it -cannot be ignorant of the great care she took for his cure: the watches -she made beside him without ever sleeping; the prayers with which, time -after time, she importuned God; the processions and visitation of -churches which she made; and the posts which she sent about everywhere -inquiring for doctors and surgeons. But his hour had come; and when he -passed from this world into the other, she made such lamentations and -shed such tears that never did she stanch them; and in memory of him, -whenever he was<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> spoken of as long as she lived, they gushed from the -depths of her eyes; so that she took a device proper and suitable to her -tears and her mourning, namely: a mound of quicklime, on which the drops -of heaven fell abundantly, with these words writ in Latin: <i>Adorem -extincta testantur vivere flamma</i>; the drops of water, like her tears, -showing ardour, though the flame was extinct. This device takes its -allegory from the nature of quicklime, which, being watered, burns -strangely and shows its fire though flame is not there. Thus did our -queen show her ardour and her affection by her tears, though flame, -which was her husband, was now extinct; and this was as much as to say -that, dead as he was, she made it appear by her tears that she could -never forget him, but should love him always.</p> - -<p>A like device was borne in former days by Madame Valentine de Milan, -Duchesse d’Orléans, after the death of her husband, killed in Paris, for -which she had such great regret that for all comfort and solace in her -moaning, she took a watering-pot for her device, on the top of which was -an S, in sign, so they say, of <i>seule</i>, <i>souvenir</i>, <i>soucis</i>, -<i>soupirer</i>, and around the said watering-pot were written these words: -<i>Rien ne m’est plus; plus ne m’est rien</i>—“Nought is more to me; more is -to me nothing.” This device can still be seen in her chapel in the -church of the Franciscans at Blois.</p> - -<p>The good King René of Sicily, having lost his wife Isabel, Duchesse de -Lorraine, suffered such great grief that never did he truly rejoice -again; and when his intimate friends and favourites urged him to -consolation he led them to his cabinet and showed them, painted by his -own hand (for he was an excellent painter), a Turkish bow with its -string unstrung, beneath which was written: <i>Arco per lentare piaga non -sana</i>—“The bow although unstrung heals not the wound.” Then he said to -them: “My friends, with this picture<a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a> I answer all your reasons: by -unstringing a bow or breaking its string, the harm thus done by the -arrow may quickly be mended, but, the life of my dear spouse being by -death extinct and broken, the wound of the loyal love—the which, her -living, filled my heart—cannot be cured.” And in various places in -Angers we see these Turkish bows with broken strings and beneath them -the same words, <i>Arco per lentare piaga non sana</i>; even at the -Franciscan church, in the chapel of Saint-Bernardin which he caused to -be decorated. This device he took after the death of his wife; for in -her lifetime he bore another.</p> - -<p>Our queen, around her device which I have told of, placed many trophies: -broken mirrors and fans, crushed plumes, and pearls, jewels scattered to -earth, and chains in pieces; the whole in sign of quitting worldly pomp, -her husband being dead, for whom her mourning never was remitted. And, -without the grace of God and the fortitude with which he had endowed -her, she would surely have succumbed to such great sadness and distress. -Besides, she saw that her young children and France had need of her, as -we have since seen by experience; for, like a Semiramis, or second -Athalie, she foiled, saved, guarded, and preserved her said young -children from many enterprises planned against them in their early -years; and this with so much industry and prudence that everybody -thought her wonderful. She, being regent of the kingdom after the death -of her son King François during the minority of our king by the ordering -of the Estates of Orléans, imposed her will upon the King of Navarre, -who, as premier prince of the blood, wished to be regent in her place -and govern all things; but she gained so well and so dexterously the -said Estates that if the said King of Navarre had not gone elsewhere she -would have <a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a>caused him to be attainted of the crime of lèse-majesté. And -possibly she would still have done so for the actions which, it was -said, he made the Prince de Condé do about those Estates, but for Mme. -de Montpensier, who governed her much. So the said king was forced to -content himself to be under her. Now there is one of the shrewd and -subtle deeds she did in her beginning.</p> - -<p>Afterwards she knew how to maintain her rank and authority so -imperiously that no one dared gainsay it, however grand and disturbing -he was, for a period of three months when, the Court being at -Fontainebleau, the said King of Navarre, wishing to show his feelings, -took offence because M. de Guise ordered the keys of the king’s house -brought to him every evening, and kept them all night in his room like a -grand-master (for that is one of his offices), so that no one could go -out without his permission. This angered the King of Navarre, who wished -to keep the keys himself; but, being refused, he grew spiteful and -mutinied in such a way that one morning suddenly he came to take leave -of the king and queen, intending to depart from the Court, taking with -him all the princes of the blood whom he had won over, together with M. -le Connétable de Montmorency and his children and nephew.</p> - -<p>The queen, who did not in any way expect this step, was at first much -astonished, and tried all she could to ward off the blow, giving good -hope to the King of Navarre that if he were patient he would some day be -satisfied. But fine words gained her nothing with the said king, who was -set on departing. Whereupon the queen bethought her of this subtle -point: she sent and gave commandment to M. le connétable, as the -principal, first, and oldest officer of the crown, to stay near the -king, his master, as his duty and office demanded, and not to leave him. -M. le connétable, wise and judicious as he was, being very zealous for -his<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a> master and careful of his grandeur and honour, after reflecting on -his duty and the command sent to him, went to see the king and present -himself as ready to fulfil his office; which greatly astonished the King -of Navarre, who was on the point of mounting his horse expecting M. le -connétable, who came instead to represent his duty and office and to -persuade him not to budge himself nor to depart; and did this so well -that the King of Navarre went to see the king and queen at the -instigation of the connétable, and having conferred with their -Majesties, his journey was given up and his mules were countermanded, -they having then arrived at Melun. So all was pacified to the great -content of the King of Navarre. Not that M. de Guise diminished in any -way his office, or yielded one atom of his honour, for he kept his -pre-eminence and all that belonged to him, without being shaken in the -least, although he was not the stronger; but he was a man of the world -in such things, who was never bewildered, but knew very well how to -brave all and hold his rank and keep what he had.</p> - -<p>It is not to be doubted, as all the world knows, that, if the queen had -not bethought her of this ruse regarding M. le connétable, all that -party would have gone to Paris and stirred up things to our injury; for -which reason great praise should be given to the queen for this shift. I -know, for I was there, that many persons said it was not of her -invention, but that of Cardinal de Tournon, a wise and judicious -prelate; but that is false, for, old stager though he was, i’ faith the -queen knew more of wiles than he, or all the council of the king -together; for very often, when he was at fault, she would help him and -put him on the traces of what he ought to know, of which I might produce -a number of examples; but it will be enough to give this instance, which -is fresh, and which she herself did me the honour to disclose to me. It -is as follows:—<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a></p> - -<p>When she went to Guyenne, and lately to Coignac, to reconcile the -princes of the Religion and those of the League, and so put the kingdom -in peace, for she saw it would soon be ruined by such divisions, she -determined to proclaim a truce in order to treat of this peace; at which -the King of Navarre and the Prince de Condé were very discontent and -mutinous,—all the more, they said, because this proclamation did them -great harm on account of their foreigners, who, having heard of it, -might repent of their coming, or delay it; and they accused the said -queen of having made it with that intention. So they said and resolved -not to see the queen, and not to treat with her unless the said truce -were rescinded. Now finding her council, whom she had with her, though -composed of good heads, very ridiculous and little to be honoured -because they thought it impossible to find means to rescind the said -truce, the queen said to them: “Truly, you are very stupid as to the -remedy. Know you not better? There is but one means for that. You have -at Maillezais the regiment of Neufvy and de Sorlu, Huguenots; send me -from here, from Niort, all the arquebusiers that you can, and cut them -to pieces, and there you have the truce rescinded and undone without -further trouble.” As she commanded so it was executed; the arquebusiers -started, led by the Capitaine l’Estelle, and forced their fort and their -barricades so well that there they were quite defeated, Sorlu killed, -who was a valiant man, Neufvy taken prisoner with many others, and all -their banners captured and brought to Niort to the queen; who, using her -accustomed turn of clemency, pardoned all and sent them away with their -ensigns and even with their flags, which, as regards the flags, is a -very rare thing. But she chose to do this stroke, rare or not, so she -told me, to the princes; who now knew they had to do with a very able -princess, and that it was not to her they should address such mockery as -to<a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a> make her rescind a truce by the very heralds who had proclaimed it; -for while they were thinking to make her receive that insult, she had -fallen upon them, and now sent them word by the prisoners that it was -not for them to affront her by asking unseemly and unreasonable things, -because it was in her power to do them both good and evil.</p> - -<p>That is how this queen knew how to give and teach a lesson to her -council. I might tell of many such things, but I have now to treat of -other points: the first of which must be to answer those whom I have -often heard say that she was the first to rouse to arms, and so was -cause of our civil wars. Whoso will look to the source of the matter -will not believe that; for the triumvirate having been created, she, -seeing the proceedings which were preparing and the change made by the -King of Navarre,—who from being formerly Huguenot and very reformed had -made himself Catholic,—and knowing that through that change she had -reason to fear for the king, the kingdom, and her own person that he -would move against them, reflected and puzzled her mind to discover to -what such proceedings, meetings, and colloquies held in secret tended. -Not being able, as they say, to come at the bottom of the pot, she -bethought her one day, when the secret council was in session in the -room of the King of Navarre, to go into the room above his, and by means -of a tube which she had caused to be slipped surreptitiously under the -tapestry she listened unperceived to their discourse. Among other things -she heard one thing that was very terrible and bitter to her. The -Maréchal de Saint-André, one of the triumvirate, gave it as his opinion -that the queen should be put in a sack and flung into the river, for -that otherwise they could never succeed in their plans. But the late M. -de Guise, who was very good and generous, said that must not be; for it -were too unjust to make the wife and mother of our kings perish thus<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a> -miserably, and he opposed it all. For this the said queen has always -loved him, and proved it to his children after his death by giving them -his estates.</p> - -<p>I leave you to suppose what this sentence was to the queen, having heard -it thus with her own ears, and whether she had no occasion for fear, -although she was thus defended by M. de Guise. From what I have heard -tell by one of her most intimate ladies, she feared they would strike -the blow without the knowledge of M. de Guise, as indeed she had reason -to do; for in deeds so detestable an upright man should always be -distrusted, and the act not communicated to him. She was thus compelled -to consider her safety, and employ those she saw already under arms [the -Prince de Condé and other Protestant leaders], begging them to have pity -for a mother and her children.</p> - -<p>That is the whole cause, just as it was, of the civil war. She would -never go to Orléans with the others, nor give them the king and her -children, as she could have done; and she was very glad that in the -hurly-burly of arms she and the king her son and her other children were -in safety, as was reasonable. Moreover, she requested and held the -promise of the others that whenever she should summon them to lay down -their arms they would do so; which, nevertheless, they would not do when -the time came, no matter what appeals she made to them, and what pains -she took, and the great heat she endured at Talsy, to induce them to -listen to the peace she could have made good and secured for all France -had they then listened to her; and this great fire and others we have -since seen lighted from this first brand would have been forever -extinguished in France if they would then have trusted her. I know what -I myself have heard her say, with the tears in her eyes, and with what -zeal she endeavoured to do it.<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a></p> - -<p>This is why they cannot charge her with the first spark of the civil -war, nor yet with the second, which was the day of Meaux; for at that -time she was thinking only of a hunt, and of giving pleasure to the king -in her beautiful house at Monceaux. The warning came that M. le Prince -and others of the Religion were in arms and advancing to surprise and -seize the king under colour of presenting a request. God knows who was -the cause of this new disturbance, and without the six thousand Swiss -then lately raised, who knows what might have happened? This levy of -Swiss was only the pretext of their taking up arms, and of saying and -publishing that it was done to force them to war. In fact it was they, -themselves, as I know from being at Court, who requested that levy of -the king and queen, on the passage of the Duke of Alba and his army, -fearing that under colour of reaching Flanders he might descend upon the -frontiers of France; and they urged that it was the custom to arm the -frontiers whenever a neighbouring State was arming. No one can be -ignorant how urgent for this they were to the king and queen by letters -and embassies,—even M. le Prince himself and M. l’amiral [Coligny] -coming to see the king on this subject at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where I -saw them.</p> - -<p>I would also like to ask (for all that I write here I saw myself) who it -was who took up arms on Shrove Tuesday, and who suborned and solicited -Monsieur the king’s brother, and the King of Navarre, to give ear to the -enterprises for which Mole and Coconas were executed in Paris. It was -not the queen, for it was by her prudence that she prevented them from -uprising,—by keeping Monsieur and the King of Navarre so locked in to -the forest of Vincennes that they could not set out; and on the death of -King Charles she held them so tightly in Paris and the Louvre, barring -their windows one morning,—at any rate those of the King of<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> Navarre, -who was lodged on the lower floor (the King of Navarre, told me this -himself with tears in his eyes),—that they could not escape as they -intended, which would greatly have embroiled the State and prevented the -return of Poland to the King, which was what they were after. I know all -this from having been invited to the <i>fricassée</i>, which was one of the -finest strokes ever made by the queen. Starting from Paris she conducted -them to Lyons to meet the king so dexterously that no one who saw them -would ever have supposed them prisoners; they went in the same coach -with her, and she presented them herself to the king, who, on his side, -pardoned them soon after.</p> - -<p>Also, who was it that enticed Monsieur the king’s brother to leave Paris -one fine night and the company of his brother who loved him well, and -whose affection he cast off to go and take up arms and embroil all -France? M. de La Noue knows well, and also the secret plots that began -at the siege of Rochelle, and what I said to him about them. It was not -the queen-mother, for she felt such grief at seeing one brother banded -against another brother and his king, that she swore she would die of -it, or else replace and reunite them as before—which she did; for I -heard her say at Blois, in conversation with Monsieur, that she prayed -for nothing so much as that God would grant her the favour of that -reunion, after which he might send her death and she would accept it -with all her heart; or else she would gladly retire to her houses of -Monceaux and Chenonceaux, and never mix further in the affairs of -France, wishing to end her days in tranquillity. In fact, she truly -wished to do the latter; but the king implored her to abstain, for he -and his kingdom had great need of her. I am assured that if she had not -made this peace at that time, all was over with France, for there were -in the country fifty thousand foreigners, from<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a> one region or another, -who would have aided in humbling and destroying her.</p> - -<p>It was, therefore, not the queen who called to arms at this time to -satisfy the State-Assembly at Blois, the which, wanting but one religion -and proposing to abolish that which was contrary to their own, demanded, -if the spiritual blade did not suffice to abolish it, that recourse -should be had to the temporal. Some have said that the queen had bribed -them; that is false. I do not say that she did not bribe them later, -which was a fine stroke of policy and intelligence; but it was not she -who called together the said Assembly; so far from that, she blamed them -for all, and also because they lessened greatly the king’s authority and -her own. It was the party of the Religion which had long demanded that -Assembly, and required by the terms of the last peace that it should be -called together and assembled; to which the queen objected strongly, -foreseeing abuses. However, to content them because they clamoured for -it so much, they had it, to their own confusion and damage, and not to -their profit and contentment as they expected, so that finally they took -up arms. Thus it was still not the queen who did so.</p> - -<p>Neither was it she who caused them to be taken up when Mont-de-Marsan, -La Fère in Picardy, and Cahors were taken. I remember what the king said -to M. de Miossans, who came to him on behalf of the King of Navarre; he -rebuffed him harshly, and told him that while those princes were cloying -him with fine words they were calling to arms and taking cities.</p> - -<p>Now that is how this queen was the instigator of all our wars and civil -fires, the which, while she never lighted them, she spent her pains and -labour in striving to extinguish, abhorring to see so many of the nobles -and men of honour die. And without that, and without her commiseration, -they<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a> who have hated her with mortal hatred would have been ill-off, and -their party underground and not flourishing as it now is; which must be -imputed to her kindness, of which we now have sore need, for, as every -one says and the poor people cry, “We have no longer the queen-mother to -make peace for us.” It was not her fault that peace was not made when -she went to Guyenne lately to treat of it with the King of Navarre and -the Prince de Condé.</p> - -<p>They have tried to accuse her also of being an accomplice in the wars of -the League. Why, then, should she have brought about the peace of which -I speak if she were that? Why should she have pacified the riot of the -barricades in Paris? Why should she have reconciled the king and the Duc -de Guise only to destroy the latter and kill him?</p> - -<p>Well, let them launch into such foul abuse against her all they will, -never shall we have another queen in France so good for peace.</p> - -<p>They have accused her of that massacre in Paris [the Saint-Bartholomew]; -all that is a sealed book to me, for at that time I was preparing to -embark at Brouage; but I have often heard it said that she was not the -chief actress in it. There were three or four others, whom I might name, -who were more ardent in it than she and pushed her on, making her -believe, from the threats uttered on the wounding of M. l’amiral, that -the king was to be killed, and she with all her children and the whole -Court, or else that the country would be in arms much worse than ever. -Certainly the party of Religion did very wrong to make the threats it is -said they made; for they brought on the fate of poor M. l’amiral, and -procured his death. If they had kept themselves quiet, said no word, and -let M. l’amiral’s wound heal, he could have left Paris at his ease, and -nothing further would have come of it. M. de La Noue was of that -opinion.<a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a> He and M. Strozzi and I have often spoken of it, he not -approving of such bravados, audacities, and threats as were made at the -very Court of the king in his city of Paris; and he greatly blamed M. de -Theligny, his brother-in-law, who was one of the hottest, calling him -and his companions perfect fools and most incapable. M. l’amiral never -used such language as I have heard from others, at least not aloud. I do -not say that in secret and private with his intimate friends he never -spoke it. That was the cause of the death of M. l’amiral and the -massacres of his people, and not the queen; as I have heard say by those -who know well, although there are many from whose heads you could never -oust the opinion that this train was long laid and the plot long in -hatching. It is all false. The least passionate think as I have said; -the more passionate and obstinate believe the other way; and very often -we give credit for the ordering of events to kings and great princes, -and say after those events have happened how prudent and provident they -were, and how well they knew how to dissimulate, when all the while they -knew no more about them than a plum.</p> - -<p>To return again to our queen; her enemies have put it about that she was -not a good Frenchwoman. God knows with what ardour I saw her urge that -the English might be driven from France at Havre de Grâce, and what she -said of it to M. le Prince, and how she made him go with many gentlemen -of his party, and the crown-companies of M. d’Andelot, and other -Huguenots, and how she herself led the army, mounted usually on a horse, -like a second beautiful Queen Marfisa, exposing herself to the -arquebusades and the cannonades as if she were one of her captains, -looking to the making of the batteries, and saying she should never be -at ease until she had taken that town and driven the English out of -France; hating worse than poison those who had sold<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a> it to them. And -thus she did so much that finally she made the country French.</p> - -<p>When Rouen was besieged, I saw her in the greatest anger when she beheld -supplies entering the town by means of a French galley captured the year -before, she fearing that the place, failing to be taken by us, would -come under the dominion of the English. For this reason she pushed hard -at the wheel, as they say, to take it, and never failed every day to -come to the fort Sainte-Catherine to hold council and see the firing. I -have often seen her passing along the covered way of Sainte-Catherine, -the cannonades and arquebusades raining round her, and she caring -nothing for them.</p> - -<p>Those who were there saw her as I did; there are still many ladies, her -maids of honour who accompanied her, to whom the firing was not too -pleasant; I knew this for I saw them there; but when M. le connétable -and M. de Guise remonstrated with her, telling her some misfortune would -come of it, she only laughed and said: Why should she spare herself more -than they, inasmuch as she had as good courage as they had, though not -their strength, which her sex denied her? As for fatigue, she endured -that well, whether on foot or on horseback. I think that for long there -had never been a queen or a princess better on horseback, sitting with -such grace,—not appearing, for all that, like a masculine dame, in form -and style a fantastic amazon, but a comely princess, beautiful, -agreeable, and gentle.</p> - -<p>They said of her that she was very Spanish. Certainly as long as her -good daughter lived [Élisabeth, wife of Philip II.] she loved Spain; but -after her daughter died we knew, at least some of us, whether she had -reason to love it, either country or nation. True it is that she was -always so prudent that she chose to treat the King of Spain as her good -son-in-law, in order that he in turn should<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a> treat better her good and -beautiful daughter, as is the custom of good mothers; so that he never -came to trouble France, nor to bring war there, according to his brave -heart and natural ambition.</p> - -<p>Others have also said that she did not like the nobility of France and -desired much to shed its blood. I refer for that to the many times that -she made peace and spared that blood; besides which, attention should be -paid to this, namely: that while she was regent, and her children -minors, there were not known at Court so many quarrels and combats as we -have seen there since; she would not allow them, and forbade expressly -all duelling and punished those who transgressed that order. I have seen -her at Court, when the king went away to stay some days and she was left -absolute and alone, at a time when quarrels had begun again and were -becoming common, also duelling, which she never would permit,—I have -known her, I say, give a sudden order to the captain of the guards to -make arrests, and to the marshals and captains to pacify the quarrel; so -that, to tell the truth, she was more feared than the king; for she knew -how to talk to the disobedient and the dissolute, and rebuke them -terribly.</p> - -<p>I remember that once, the king having gone to the baths of Bourbon, my -late cousin La Chastaignerie had a quarrel with Pardailhan. She had him -searched for, in order to forbid him, on his life, to fight a duel; but -not being able to find him for two whole days, she had him tracked so -well that on a Sunday morning, he being on the island of Louviers -awaiting his enemy, the grand provost arrived to arrest him, and took -him prisoner to the Bastille by order of the queen. But he stayed there -only one night; for she sent for him and gave him a reprimand, partly -sharp and partly gentle, because she was really kind, and was harsh only -when<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a> she chose to be. I know very well what she said to me also when I -was for seconding my said cousin, namely: that as the older I ought to -have been the wiser.</p> - -<p>The year that the king returned to Poland a quarrel arose between -Messieurs de Grillon and d’Entraigues, two brave and valiant gentlemen, -who being called out and ready to fight, the king forbade them through -M. de Rambouillet, one of his captains of the guard then in quarters, -and he ordered M. de Nevers and the Maréchal de Retz to make up the -quarrel, which they failed in doing. That evening the queen sent for -them both into her room; and as their quarrel was about two great ladies -of her household, she commanded them with great sternness, and then -besought them both in all gentleness, to leave to her the settlement of -their differences; inasmuch as, having done them the honour to meddle in -it, and the princes, marshals, and captains having failed in making them -agree, it was now a point of honour with her to have the glory of doing -so: by which she made them friends, and they embraced without other -forms, taking all from her; so that by her prudence the subject of the -quarrel, which was delicate, and rather touched the honour of the two -ladies, was never known publicly. That was the true kindness of a -princess! And then to say she did not like the nobility! Ha! the truth -was, she noticed and esteemed it too much. I think there was not a great -family in the kingdom with whom she was not acquainted; she used to say -she had learned from King François the genealogies of the great families -of his kingdom; and as for the king, her husband, he had this faculty, -that when he had once seen a nobleman he knew him always, in face, in -deeds, and in reputation.</p> - -<p>I have seen the queen, often and ordinarily, while the king, her son, -was a minor, take the trouble to present to him herself<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a> the gentlemen -of his kingdom, and put them in his memory thus: “Such a one did service -to the king your grandfather, at such and such times and places; and -this one served your father;” and so on,—commanding him to remember all -this, and to love them and do well by them, and recognize them at other -times; which he knew very well how to do, for, through such instruction, -this king recognized readily all men of character and race and honour -throughout his kingdom.</p> - -<p>Detractors have also said that she did not like her people. What -appears? Were there ever so many tailles, subsidies, imposts, and other -taxes while she was governing during the minority of her children as -have since been drawn in a single year? Was it proved that she had all -that hidden money in the banks of Italy, as people said? Far from that, -it was found after her death that she had not a single sou; and, as I -have heard some of her financiers and some of her ladies say, she was -indebted eight thousand crowns, the wages of her ladies, gentlemen, and -household officers, due a year, and the revenue of the whole year spent; -so that some months before her death her financiers showed her these -necessities; but she laughed and said one must praise God for all and -find something to live on. That was her avarice and the great treasure -she amassed, as people said! She never amassed anything, for she had a -heart wholly noble, liberal, and magnificent, like her great uncle, Pope -Leo, and that magnificent Lorenzo de’ Medici. She spent or gave away -everything; erecting buildings, spending in honourable magnificences, -and taking pleasure in giving recreations to her people and her Court, -such as festivals, balls, dances, tournaments and spearing the ring -[<i>couremens de bague</i>], of which latter she held three that were very -superb during her lifetime: one at Fontainebleau on the Shrove Tuesday -after the<a name="page_072" id="page_072"></a> first troubles; where there were tourneys and breaking of -lances and combats at the barrier,—in short, all sorts of feats of -arms, with a comedy on the subject of the beautiful Genevra of Ariosto, -which she caused to be represented by Mme. d’Angoulême and her most -beautiful and virtuous princesses and the ladies and damoiselles of her -Court, who certainly played it very well, and so that nothing finer was -ever seen. The second was at Bayonne, at the interview between the queen -and her good daughter Élisabeth, Queen of Spain, where the magnificence -was such in all things that the Spanish, who are very disdainful of -other countries than their own, swore they had never seen anything -finer, and that their own king could not approach it; and thus they -returned to Spain much edified.</p> - -<p>I know that many in France blamed this expense as being superfluous; but -the queen said that she did it to show foreigners that France was not so -totally ruined and poverty-stricken because of the late wars as they -thought; and that if for such tourneys she was able to spend so much, -for matters of importance she could surely do better, and that France -was all the more feared and esteemed, whether through the sight of such -wealth and richness, or through that of the prowess of her gentlemen, so -brave and adroit at arms; as indeed there were many there very good to -see and worthy to be admired. Moreover, it was very reasonable that for -the greatest queen of Christendom, the most beautiful, the most -virtuous, and the best, some great solemn festival above all others -should be held. And I can assure you that if this had not been done, the -foreigners would have mocked us and gone back to Spain thinking and -holding us all in France to be beggars.</p> - -<p>Therefore it was not without good and careful consideration that this -wise and judicious queen made this outlay. She<a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a> made another very fine -one on the arrival of the Poles in Paris, whom she feasted most superbly -in her Tuileries; after which, in a great hall built on purpose and -surrounded by an infinite number of torches, she showed them the finest -ballet that was ever seen on earth (I may indeed say so); the which was -composed of sixteen of her best-taught ladies and damoiselles, who -appeared in a great rock [<i>roc</i>, grotto?] all silvered, where they were -seated in niches, like vapours around it. These sixteen ladies -represented the sixteen provinces of France, with the most melodious -music ever heard; and after having made, in this rock, the tour of the -hall, like a parade in camp, and letting themselves be seen of every -one, they descended from the rock and formed themselves into a little -battalion, fantastically imagined, with violins to the number of thirty -sounding a warlike air extremely pleasant; and thus they marched to the -air of the violins, with a fine cadence they never lost, and so -approached, and stopped before their Majesties. After which they danced -their ballet, most fantastically invented, with so many turns, -counterturns, and gyrations, such twining and blending, such advancing -and pausing (though no lady failed to find her place and rank), that all -present were astonished to see how in such a maze order was not lost for -a moment, and that all these ladies had their judgment clear and held it -good, so well were they taught! This fantastic ballet lasted at least -one hour, the which being concluded, all these sixteen ladies, -representing, as I have said, the sixteen provinces, advanced to the -king, the queen, the King of Poland, Monsieur his brother, the King and -Queen of Navarre, and other grandees of France and Poland, presenting to -each a golden salver as large as the palm of the hand, finely enamelled -and beautifully chased, on which were engraved the fruits and products -of each province in which they were most fertile, such as<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a> citrons and -oranges in Provence, cereals in Champagne, wines in Burgundy, and in -Guyenne warriors,—great honour that for Guyenne certainly! And so on, -through the other provinces.</p> - -<p>At Bayonne the like presents were made, and a combat fought, which I -could represent very well, with the presents and the names of those who -received them, but it would be too long. At Bayonne it was the men who -gave to the ladies; here, it was the ladies giving to the men. Take note -that all these inventions came from no other devising and brain than -that of the queen; for she was mistress and inventress of everything; -she had such faculty that whatever magnificences were done at Court, -hers surpassed all others. For which reason they used to say there was -no one like the queen-mother for doing fine things. If such outlays were -costly, they gave great pleasure; and people often said she wished to -imitate the Roman emperors, who studied to exhibit games to their people -and give them pleasures, and so amuse them as not to leave them leisure -to do harm.</p> - -<p>Besides the pleasure she took in giving pleasure to her people, she also -gave them much to earn; for she liked all sorts of artisans and paid -them well; employing them each in his own art, so that they never wanted -for work, especially masons and builders, as is shown by her beautiful -houses: the Tuileries (still unfinished), Saint-Maur, Monceaux, and -Chenonceaux. Also she liked learned men, and was pleased to read, and -she made others read, the books they presented to her, or those that she -knew they had written. All were acceptable, even to the fine invectives -which were published against her, about which she scoffed and laughed, -without anger, calling those who wrote them gabblers and “givers of -trash”—that was her use of the word.<a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a></p> - -<p>She wished to know everything. On the voyage to Lorraine, during the -second troubles, the Huguenots had with them a fine culverin to which -they gave the name of “the queen-mother.” They were forced to bury it at -Villenozze, not being able to drag it on account of its long shafts and -bad harness and weight; after which it never could be found again. The -queen, hearing that they had given it her name, wanted to know why. A -certain person, having been much urged by her to tell her, replied: -“Because, madame, it has a calibre [diameter] broader and bigger than -that of others.” The queen was the first to laugh at this reply.</p> - -<p>She spared no pains in reading anything that took her fancy. I saw her -once, having embarked at Blaye to go and dine at Bourg, reading the -whole way from a parchment, like any lawyer or notary, a procès-verbal -made on Derbois, favourite secretary of the late M. le connétable, as to -certain underhand dealings and correspondence of which he was accused -and for which imprisoned at Bayonne. She never took her eyes off it -until she had read it through; and there were more than ten pages of -parchment. When she was not hindered, she read herself all letters of -importance, and frequently with her own hand made replies; I saw her -once, after dinner, write twenty long letters herself.</p> - -<p>She wrote and spoke French very well, although an Italian; and even to -persons of her own nation she usually spoke it, so much did she honour -France and its language; taking pains to exhibit its fine speech to -foreigners, grandees, and ambassadors, who came to visit her after -seeing the king. She always answered them very pertinently, with great -grace and majesty; as I have also seen and heard her do to the courts of -parliament, both publicly and privately;<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a> often controlling the latter -finely when they rambled in talk or were over-cautious, or would not -comply with the edicts made in her privy council and the ordinances -issued by the king and herself. You may be sure she spoke as a queen and -made herself feared as one. I saw her once at Bordeaux when she took her -daughter Marguerite to her husband, the King of Navarre. She had -commanded that court of parliament to come and be spoken to,—they not -being willing to abolish a certain brotherhood, by them invented and -maintained, which she was determined to break up, foreseeing that it -would bring some results in the end which might be prejudicial to the -State. They came to meet her in the garden of the Bishop’s house, where -she was walking one Sunday morning. One among them spoke for all, and -gave her to understand the fruitfulness of this brotherhood and the -utility it was to the public. She, without being prepared, replied so -well and with such apt words, and apparent and appropriate reasons to -show it was ill-founded and odious, that there was no one present who -did not admire the mind of the queen and remain confused and astonished -when, as her last word, she said: “No, I will, and the king my son wills -that it be exterminated, and never heard of again, for secret reasons -that I shall not tell you, besides those that I have told you; and if -not, I will make you feel what it is to disobey the king and me.” So -each and all went away and nothing more was said of it.</p> - -<p>She did these turns very often to the princes and the greatest people, -when they had done some great wrong and made her so angry that she took -her haughty air,—no one on earth being so superb and stately as she, -when needful, sparing no truths to any one. I have seen the late M. de -Savoie, who was intimate with the emperor, the King of Spain, and so -many grandees, fear and respect her more than<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a> if she had been his -mother, and M. de Lorraine the same,—in short, all the great people of -Christendom; I could give many examples; but another time, in due -course, I will tell them; just now it suffices to say what I have said.</p> - -<p>Among other perfections she was a good Christian and very devout; always -making her Easters, and never failing any day to attend divine service -at mass and vespers; which she rendered very agreeable to pious persons, -by the good singers of her chapel,—she being careful to collect the -most exquisite; also she herself loved music by nature, and often gave -pleasure with it in her apartment, which was never closed to virtuous -ladies and honourable men, she seeing all and every one, not restricting -it as they do in Spain, and also in her own land of Italy; nor yet as -our later queens, Isabella of Austria and Louise of Lorraine, have done; -but saying, like King François, her father-in-law (whom she greatly -honoured, he having set her up and made her free), that she wished to -keep her Court as a good Frenchwoman, and as the king, her husband, -would have wished; so that her apartments were the pleasure of the -Court.</p> - -<p>She had, ordinarily, very beautiful and virtuous maids of honour, who -conversed with us daily in her antechamber, discoursing and chatting so -wisely and modestly that none of us would have dared to do otherwise; -for the gentlemen who failed in this were banished and threatened, and -in fear of worse until she pardoned and forgave them, she being kind in -herself and very ready to do so.</p> - -<p>In short, her company and her Court were a true paradise in the world, -and a school of all virtue and honour, the ornament of France, as the -foreigners who came there knew well and said; for they were all most -politely received, and her ladies and maids of honour were commanded to -adorn themselves at their coming like goddesses, and to entertain these -visitors,<a name="page_078" id="page_078"></a> not amusing themselves elsewhere; otherwise she taunted them -well and reprimanded them.</p> - -<p>In fact, her Court was such that when she died the voices of all -declared that the Court was no longer a Court, and that never again -would France have a true queen-mother. What a Court it was! such as, I -believe, no Emperor of Rome in the olden time ever held for ladies, nor -any of our Kings of France. Though it is true that the great Emperor -Charlemagne, King of France, during his lifetime took great pleasure in -making and maintaining a grand and full Court of peers, dukes, counts, -palatines, barons, and knights of France; also of ladies, their wives -and daughters, with others of all countries, to pay court and honour (as -the old romances of that day have said) to the empress and queen, and to -see the fine jousts, tournaments, and magnificences done there by -knights-errant coming from all parts. But what of that? These fine, -grand assemblies came together not oftener than three or four times a -year; at the end of each fête they departed and retired to their houses -and estates until the next time. Besides, some have said that in his old -age Charlemagne was much given over to women, though always of good -company; and that Louis le Debonnaire, on ascending the throne, was -obliged to banish his sisters to other places for the scandal of their -lives with men; and also that he drove from Court a number of ladies who -belonged to the joyous band. Charlemagne’s Courts were never of long -duration (I speak now of his great years), for he amused himself in -those days with war, according to our old romances, and in his last -years his Court was too dissolute, as I have already said. But the Court -of our King Henri II and the queen his wife, was held daily, whether in -war or peace, and whether it resided in one place or another for months, -or went to other castles and pleasure-houses of our kings,<a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a> who are not -lacking in them, having more than the kings of other countries.</p> - -<p>This large and noble company, keeping always together, at least the -greater part of them, came and went with its queen, so that usually her -Court was filled by at least three hundred ladies and damoiselles. The -intendants of the king’s houses and the quartermasters affirmed that -they occupied fully one-half of the rooms, as I myself have seen during -the thirty-three years I lived at Court, except when at war or in -foreign parts. Having returned, I was always there; for the sojourn was -to me most agreeable, not seeing elsewhere anything finer; in fact I -think, since the world was, nothing has ever been seen like it; and as -the noble names of these beautiful ladies who assisted our queen in -adorning her Court should not be overlooked, I place them here, -according as I remember them from the end of the queen’s married life -and throughout her widowhood, for before that time I was too young to -know them.</p> - -<p>First, I place Mesdames the daughters of France. I place them first -because they never lost their rank, and go before all others, so grand -and noble is their house, to wit:—</p> - -<p>Madame Élisabeth de France, afterwards Queen of Spain.</p> - -<p>Madame Claude, afterwards Duchesse de Lorraine.</p> - -<p>Madame Marguerite, afterwards Queen of Navarre.</p> - -<p>Madame the king’s sister, afterwards Duchesse de Savoie.</p> - -<p>The Queen of Scots, afterwards dauphine and Queen of France.</p> - -<p>The Queen of Navarre, Jeanne d’Albret.</p> - -<p>Madame Catherine, her daughter, to-day called Madame the king’s [Henri -IV.] sister.</p> - -<p>Madame Diane, natural daughter of the king [Henri II.], afterwards -legitimatized, the Duchesse d’Angoulême.</p> - -<p>Madame d’Enghien, of the house of Estouteville.<a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a></p> - -<p>Madame la Princesse de Condé, of the house of Roye.</p> - -<p>Madame de Nevers, of the house of Vendôme.</p> - -<p>Madame de Guise, of the house of Ferrara.</p> - -<p>Madame Diane de Poitiers, Duchesse de Valentinois.</p> - -<p>Mesdames d’Aumale and de Bouillon, her daughters.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> - -<p>Need I name more? No, for my memory could not furnish them. There are so -many other ladies and maids that I beg them to excuse me if I pass them -by with my pen,—not that I do not greatly value and esteem them, but I -should dream over them and amuse myself too much. To make an end, I must -say that in all this company there was nothing to find fault with in -their day; beauty abounded, all majesty, all charm, all grace; happy was -he who could touch with love such ladies, and happy those who could that -love <i>escapar</i>. I swear to you that I have named only those ladies and -damoiselles who were beautiful, agreeable, very accomplished, and well -sufficient to set fire to the whole world. Indeed, in their best days -they burned up a good part of it, as much us gentlemen of the Court as -others who approached the flame; to some of whom they were gentle, -aimable, favourable, and courteous. I speak of none here, hoping to make -good tales about them in this book before I finish it, and of others -whose names are not comprised here; but the whole told so discreetly, -without scandal, that nothing will be known, for the curtain of silence -will cover their names; so that if by chance they should any of them -read tales of themselves they will not be annoyed. Besides, though the -pleasures of love cannot last forever, by reason of many inconveniences, -hindrances, and changes, the memories of the past are always -pleasing.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_ball_081_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_ball_081_sml.jpg" width="550" height="346" alt="Ball at the Court of Henry III" -title="Ball at the Court of Henry III" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Ball at the Court of Henry III</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a></p> - -<p class="nind">[This refers to “Les Dames Galantes,” and not to the present volume.]</p> - -<p>Now, to thoroughly consider how fine a sight was this troupe of -beautiful ladies and damoiselles, creatures divine rather than human, we -must imagine the entries into Paris and other cities, the sacred and -superlative bridals of our kings of France, and their sisters, the -daughters of France; such as those of the dauphin, of King Charles, of -King Henri III., of the Queen of Spain, of Madame de Lorraine, of the -Queen of Navarre, not to speak of many other grand weddings of the -princes and princesses, like that of M. de Joyeuse, which would have -surpassed them all if the Queen of Navarre had been there. Also we must -picture to ourselves the interview at Bayonne, the arrival of the Poles, -and an infinite number of other and like magnificences, which I could -never finish naming, where I saw these ladies appear, each more -beautiful than the rest; some more finely appointed and better dressed -than others, because for such festivals, in addition to their great -means, the king and queen would give them splendid liveries.</p> - -<p>In short, nothing was ever seen finer, more dazzling, dainty, superb; -the glory of Niquée never approached it [enchanted palace in “Amadis”]. -All this shone in a ballroom of the Tuileries or the Louvre as the stars -of heaven in the azure sky. The queen-mother wished and commanded her -ladies always to appear in grand and superb apparel, though she herself -during her widowhood never clothed herself in worldly silks, unless they -were lugubrious, but always properly and so well-fitting that she looked -the queen above all else. It is true that on the days of the weddings of -her two sons Henri and Charles, she wore gowns of black velvet, wishing, -she said, to solemnize the event by so signal an act. While she was -married she always dressed<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a> very richly and superbly, and looked what -she was. And it was fine to see and admire her in the general -processions that were made, both in Paris and other cities, such as the -Fête Dieu, that of the Rameaux [Palm Sunday], bearing palms and branches -with such grace, and on Candlemas Day, when the torches were borne by -all the Court, the flames of which contended against their own -brilliancy. At these three processions, which are most solemn, we -certainly saw nothing but beauty, grace, a noble bearing, a fine gait -and splendid apparel, all of which delighted the spectators.</p> - -<p>It was fine also to see the queen in her married life going through the -country in her litter, being pregnant, or afterwards on horseback -attended by forty or fifty ladies and damoiselles mounted on handsome -hackneys well caparisoned, and sitting their horses with such good grace -that the men could not do better, either in equestrian style or apparel; -their hats adorned with plumes which floated in the air as if demanding -either love or war. Virgil, who took upon himself to write of the -apparel of Queen Dido when she went to the chase, says nothing that -approaches the luxury of that of our queen with her ladies, may it not -displease her, as I think I have said elsewhere.</p> - -<p>This queen (made by the act of the great King François), who introduced -this beautiful pageantry, never forgot or let slip anything of the kind -she had once learned, but always wanted to imitate or surpass it; I have -heard her speak three or four times in my life on this subject. Those -who have seen things as I did still feel their souls enchanted like -mine, for what I say is true; I know it having seen it.</p> - -<p>So there is the Court of our queen. Unhappy was the day when she died! I -have heard tell that our present king [Henri IV.], some eighteen months -after he saw himself more in hope and prospect of becoming King of -France,<a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a> began one day to discourse with the late M. le Maréchal de -Biron, on the plans and projects he would undertake to make his Court -prosperous and fine and in all things like that of our said queen, for -at that time it was in its greatest lustre and splendour. M. le Maréchal -answered: “It is not in your power, nor in that of any king who will -ever reign, unless you can manage with God that he shall resuscitate the -queen-mother, and bring her round to you.” But that was not what the -king wanted, for when she died there was no one whom he hated so much, -but without grounds, as I could see, and as he should have known better -than I.</p> - -<p>How luckless was the day on which such a queen died, at the very point -when we had such great necessity for her, and still have!</p> - -<p>She died at Blois of sadness caused by the massacre which there took -place, and the melancholy tragedy there played, seeing that, without -reflection, she had brought the princes to Blois thinking to do well; -whereas it was true, as M. le Cardinal de Bourbon said to her: “Alas! -madame, you have led us all to butchery without intending it.” That so -touched her heart, and also the death of those poor men, that she took -to her bed, having previously felt ill, and never rose again.</p> - -<p>They say that when the king announced to her the murder of M. de Guise, -saying that he was now absolutely king, without equal, or master, she -asked him if he had put the affairs of his kingdom in order before -striking the blow. To which he answered yes. “God grant it, my son,” she -said. Very prudent that she was, she foresaw plainly what would happen -to him, and to all the kingdom.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> - -<p>Persons have spoken diversely as to her death, and even as<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a> to poison. -Possibly it was so, possibly not; but she was held to have died of -desperation, and she had reason to do so.</p> - -<p>She was placed on her state-bed, as one of her ladies told me, neither -more nor less like Queen Anne of whom I have already spoken, clothed in -the same royal garments that the said Queen Anne wore, they not having -served since her death for any others; and thus she was borne to the -church of the castle, with the same pomp and solemnity as Queen Anne, -where she lies and rests still. The king wished to take her to Chartres -and thence to Saint-Denis, to put her with the king, her husband, in the -same tomb which she had caused to be made, built, and constructed, so -noble and superb, but the war which came on prevented it.</p> - -<p>This is what I can say at this time of this great queen, who has given -assuredly such noble grounds to speak worthily of her that this short -discourse is not enough for her praise. I know that well; also that the -quality of my speech does not suffice, for better speakers than I would -be insufficient. At any rate, such as my discourse is, I lay it, in all -humility and devotion, at her feet; also I would avoid too great -prolixity, for which indeed I feel myself too capable; but I hope I -shall not separate from her much, although in my discourses I shall be -silent, and only speak of what her noble and incomparable virtues -command me, giving me ample matter so to do, I having seen all that I -have written of her; and as for what had happened before my time, I -heard it from persons most illustrious; and thus I shall do in all my -books.</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">This queen, who was of many kings the mother,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of queens also, belonging here to France,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Died when we had most need of her support;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">For none but she could give us true assistance.<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<hr class="spc" /> - -<p><a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a></p> - -<p>Mézeray [in his “History of France”], who never thinks of the dramatic, -nevertheless makes known to us at the start his principal personages; he -shows them more especially in action, without detaching them too much -from the general sentiment and interests of which they are the leaders -and representatives, while, at the same time, he leaves to each his -individual physiognomy. The old Connétable de Montmorency, the Guises, -Admiral de Coligny, the Chancellor de l’Hôpital define themselves on his -pages by their conduct and proceedings even more than by the judgment he -awards them. Catherine de’ Medici is painted there in all her -dissimulation and her network of artifices, in which she was often -caught herself; ambitious of sovereign power without possessing either -the force or the genius of it; striving to obtain it by craft, and using -for this purpose a continual system of what we should call to-day -<i>see-sawing</i>; “rousing and elevating for a time one faction, putting to -sleep or lowering another; uniting herself sometimes with the feeblest -side out of caution, lest the stronger should crush her; sometimes with -the stronger from necessity; at times standing neutral when she felt -herself strong enough to command both sides, but without intention to -extinguish either.” Far from being always too Catholic, there are -moments when she seems to lean to the Reformed religion and to wish to -grant too much to that party; and this with more sincerity, perhaps, -than belonged to her naturally. The Catherine de’ Medici, such as she -presents herself and is developed in plain truth on the pages of Mézeray -is well calculated to tempt a modern writer. As there is nothing new but -that which is old, for often discoveries are nothing more than that -which was once known and is forgotten, the day when a modern historian -shall take up the Catherine de’ Medici of Mézeray and give her some of -the rather forced features which are to the taste of the<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a> present day, -there will come a great cry of astonishment and admiration, and the -critics will register a new discovery.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> - -<p>M. Niel, librarian to the ministry of the Interior, an enlightened -amateur of the arts and of history, has been engaged since 1848 in -publishing a series of Portraits or “Crayons” of the celebrated -personages of the sixteenth century, kings, queens, mistresses of kings, -etc., the whole forming already a folio volume. M. Niel has applied -himself in this collection to reproduce none but authentic portraits and -solely from the original, and he has confined himself to a single form -of portraiture, that which was drawn in crayons of divers colours by -artists of the sixteenth century. “They designated in those days by the -name of ‘crayons,’” he observes, “certain portraits executed on paper in -red chalk, in black lead, and in white chalk, shaded and touched in a -way to present the effect of painting.” These designs, faithfully -reproduced, in which the red tone predominates, are for the most part -originally due to unknown artists, who seem to have belonged to the true -French lineage of art. They resemble the humble companions and followers -of our chroniclers who simply sought in their rapid sketches to catch -physiognomies, such as they saw them, with truth and candour; the -likeness alone concerned them.</p> - -<p>François I. leads the procession with his obscure wives, and one, at -least, of his obscure mistresses, the Comtesse de Châteaubriant. Henri -II. succeeds him, giving one hand to Catherine de’ Medici, the other to -Diane de Poitiers. We are shown a Marie Stuart, young, before and after -her widowhood.<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a> In general, the men gain most from this rapid -reproduction of feature; whereas with the women it needs an effort of -the imagination to catch their delicacy and the flower of their beauty. -Charles IX. at twelve years of age, and again at eighteen and twenty, is -there to the life and caught from nature. Henri IV. is shown to us -younger and fresher than as we are wont to see him,—a Henri de Navarre -quite novel and before his beard grizzled. His first wife, Marguerite de -Valois, is portrayed at her most beauteous age, but so masked by her -costume and cramped in her ruff that we need to be aware of her charm to -be certain that the doll-like figure had any. Gabrielle d’Estrées, who -stands aloof, stiffly imprisoned in her gorgeous clothes, also needs -explanation and reflection before she appears what she really was. The -testimony of “Notices” aids these portraits; for M. Niel accompanies his -personages with remarks made with erudition and an inquiring mind.</p> - -<p>One of the brief writings of that period which make known clearly the -person and nature of Henri IV. is the Memoir of the first president of -Normandy, Claude Groulard, at all times faithful to the king, who has -left us a naïve account of his frequent journeys to that prince and the -sojourns he made with him. Among many remarks which Groulard has -collected from the lips of Henri IV. there is one that paints the king -well in his sound good sense, his freedom from rancour, and his -knowledge—always practical, never ideal—of human beings. Groulard is -relating the approaching marriage of the king with a princess of -Florence. When Henri IV. announced it to him the worthy president -replied by an erudite comparison with the lance of Achilles, saying that -the Florentine house would thus repair the wounds it had given to France -in the person of Catherine de’ Medici. “But I ask you,” said Henri IV., -speaking thereupon<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a> of Catherine and excusing her, “I ask you what a -poor woman could do, left by the death of her husband, with five little -children on her arms, and two families in France who were thinking to -grasp the crown,—ours and the Guises. Was she not compelled to play -strange parts to deceive first one and then the other, in order to -guard, as she has done, her sons, who have successively reigned through -the wise conduct of that shrewd woman? I am surprised that she never did -worse.”</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Sainte-Beuve</span>, <i>Causeries du Lundi</i> (1855).<br /> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="DISCOURSE_III" id="DISCOURSE_III"></a>DISCOURSE III.<br /><br /> -<small>MARIE STUART, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND, FORMERLY QUEEN OF OUR FRANCE.</small></h2> - -<p>T<small>HOSE</small> who wish to write of this illustrious Queen of Scotland have two -very ample subjects: one her life, the other her death; both very ill -accompanied by good fortune, as I shall show at certain points in this -short Discourse in form of epitome, and not a long history, which I -leave to be written by persons more learned and better given to writing -than I.</p> - -<p>This queen had a father, King James, of worth and valour, and a very -good Frenchman; in which he was right. After he was widowed of Madame -Magdelaine, daughter of France, he asked King François for some -honourable and virtuous princess of his kingdom with whom to re-marry, -desiring nothing so much as to continue his alliance with France.</p> - -<p>King François, not knowing whom to choose better to content the good -prince, gave him the daughter of M. de Guise, Claude de Lorraine, then -the widow of M. de Longueville, wise, virtuous, and honourable, of which -King James was very glad and esteemed himself fortunate to take her; and -after he had taken and espoused her he found himself the same; the -kingdom of Scotland also, which she governed very wisely after she was -widowed; which event happened in a few years after her marriage, but not -before she had produced a fine issue, namely this most beautiful -princess in the world, our queen, of whom I now speak, she being, as<a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a> -one might say, scarcely born and still at the breast, when the English -invaded Scotland. Her mother was then forced to hide her from place to -place in Scotland from fear of that fury; and, without the good succour -King Henri sent her she would scarce have been saved; and even so they -had to put her on vessels and expose her to the waves, the storms and -winds of the sea and convey her to France for greater security; where -certainly ill fortune, not being able to cross the seas with her or not -daring to attack her in France, left her so alone that good fortune took -her by the hand. And, as her youth grew on, we saw her great beauty and -her great virtues grow likewise; so that, coming to her fifteenth year, -her beauty shone like the light at mid-day, effacing the sun when it -shines the brightest, so beauteous was her body. As for her soul, that -was equal; she had made herself learned in Latin, so that, being between -thirteen and fourteen years of age, she declaimed before King Henri, the -queen, and all the Court, publicly in the hall of the Louvre, an -harangue in Latin, which she had made herself, maintaining and -defending, against common opinion, that it was well becoming to women to -know letters and the liberal arts. Think what a rare thing and admirable -it was, to see this wise and beautiful young queen thus orate in Latin, -which she knew and understood right well, for I was there and saw her. -Also she made Antoine Fochain, of Chauny in Vermandois, prepare for her -a rhetoric in French, which still exists, that she might the better -understand it, and make herself as eloquent in French as she had been in -Latin, and better than if she had been born in France. It was good to -see her speak to every one, whether to great or small.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_marie_090_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_marie_090_sml.jpg" width="423" height="550" alt="Marie Stuart" -title="Marie Stuart" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Marie Stuart</span> -</p> - -<p>As long as she lived in France she always reserved two hours daily to -study and read; so that there was no human<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a> knowledge she could not -talk upon. Above all, she loved poesy and poets, but especially M. de -Ronsard, M. du Bellay, and M. de Maison-Fleur<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>, who all made beautiful -poems and elegies upon her, and also upon her departure from France, -which I have often seen her reading to herself, in France and in -Scotland, with tears in her eyes and sighs from her heart.</p> - -<p>She was a poet herself and composed verses, of which I have seen some -that were fine and well done and in no wise resembling those they have -laid to her account on her love for the Earl of Bothwell, which are too -coarse and too ill-polished to have come from her beautiful making. M. -de Ronsard was of my opinion as to this one day when we were reading and -discussing them. Those she composed were far more beautiful and dainty, -and quickly done, for I have often seen her retire to her cabinet and -soon return to show them to such of us good folk as were there present. -Moreover she wrote well in prose, especially letters, of which I have -seen many that were very fine and eloquent and lofty. At all times when -she talked with others she used a most gentle, dainty, and agreeable -style of speech, with kindly majesty, mingled, however, with discreet -and modest reserve, and above all with beautiful grace; so that even her -native tongue, which in itself is very rustic, barbarous, ill-sounding, -and uncouth, she spoke so gracefully, toning it in such a way, that she -made it seem beautiful and agreeable in her, though never so in others.</p> - -<p>See what virtue there was in such beauty and grace that they could turn -coarse barbarism into sweet civility and social grace. We must not be -surprised therefore that being dressed (as I have seen her) in the -barbarous costume of the uncivilized people of her country, she -appeared, in<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a> mortal body and coarse ungainly clothing a true goddess. -Those who have seen her thus dressed will admit this truth; and those -who did not see her can look at her portrait, in which she is thus -attired. I have heard the queen-mother, and the king too, say that she -looked more beautiful, more agreeable, more desirable in that picture -than in any of the others. But how else could she look, whether in her -beautiful rich jewels, in French or Spanish style, or wearing her -Italian caps, or in her mourning garments?—which latter made her most -beautiful to see, for the whiteness of her face contended with the -whiteness of her veil as to which should carry the day; but the texture -of her veil lost it; the snow of her pure face dimmed the other, so that -when she appeared at Court in her mourning the following song was made -upon her:—</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“L’on voit, sous blanc atour<br /></span> -<span class="i1">En grand deuil et tristesse,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Se pourmener mainct tour<br /></span> -<span class="i1">De beauté la déese,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Tenant le trait en main<br /></span> -<span class="i1">De son fils inhumain;<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Et Amour, sans fronteau,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Voletter autour d’elle,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Desguisant son bandeau<br /></span> -<span class="i1">En un funebre voile,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Où sont ces mots ecrits:<br /></span> -<span class="i1"><i>Mourir ou être pris</i>.”<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>That is how this princess appeared under all fashions of clothes, -whether barbarous, worldly, or austere. She had also one other -perfection with which to charm the world,—a voice most sweet and -excellent; for she sang well, attuning her voice to the lute, which she -touched very prettily with that white hand and those beautiful fingers, -perfectly made,<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a> yielding in nothing to those of Aurora. What more -remains to tell of her beauty?—if not this saying about her: that the -sun of her Scotland was very unlike her, for on certain days of the year -it shines but five hours, while she shone ever, so that her clear rays -illumined her land and her people, who of all others needed light, being -far estranged from the sun of heaven. Ah! kingdom of Scotland, I think -your days are shorter now than they ever were, and your nights the -longer, since you have lost the princess who illumined you! But you have -been ungrateful; you never recognized your duty of fidelity, as you -should have done; which I shall speak of presently.</p> - -<p>This lady and princess pleased France so much that King Henri was urged -to give her in alliance to the dauphin, his beloved son, who, for his -part, was madly in love with her. The marriage was therefore solemnly -celebrated in the great church and the palace of Paris; where we saw -this queen appear more beauteous than a goddess from the skies, whether -in the morning, going to her espousals in noble majesty, or leading, -after dinner, at the ball, or advancing in the evening with modest steps -to offer and perform her vows to Hymen; so that the voice of all as one -man resounded and proclaimed throughout the Court and the great city -that happy a hundredfold was he, the prince, thus joined to such a -princess; and even if Scotland were a thing of price its queen -out-valued it; for had she neither crown nor sceptre, her person and her -glorious beauty were worth a kingdom; therefore, being a queen, she -brought to France and to her husband a double fortune.</p> - -<p>This was what the world went saying of her; and for this reason she was -called queen-dauphine and her husband the king-dauphin, they living -together in great love and pleasant concord.<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a></p> - -<p>Next, King Henri dying, they came to be King and Queen of France, the -king and queen of two great kingdoms, happy, and most happy in -themselves, had death not seized the king and left her widowed in the -sweet April of her finest youth, having enjoyed together of love and -pleasure and felicity but four short years,—a felicity indeed of short -duration, which evil fortune might well have spared; but no, malignant -as she is, she wished to miserably treat this princess, who made a song -herself upon her sorrows in this wise:—</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">En mon triste et doux chant,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">D’un ton fort lamentable,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Je jette un deuil tranchant,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">De perte incomparable,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Et en soupirs cuisans,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Passe mes meilleurs ans.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Fut-il un tel malheur<br /></span> -<span class="i0">De dure destinée,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">N’y si triste douleur<br /></span> -<span class="i0">De dame fortunée,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Qui mon cœur et mon œil<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Vois en bierre et cercueil,<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Qui en mon doux printemps<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Et fleur de ma jeunesse<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Toutes les peines sens<br /></span> -<span class="i0">D’une extresme tristesse,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Et en rien n’ay plaisir<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Qu’en regret et desir?<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Ce qui m’estoit plaisant<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ores m’est peine dure;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Le jour le plus luisant<br /></span> -<span class="i0">M’est nuit noire et obscure.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Et n’est rien si exquis<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Qui de moy soit requis.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">J’ay an cœur et à l’œil<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Un portrait et image<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Qui figure mon deuil<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Et mon pasle visage,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">De violettes teint,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Qui est l’amoureux teint.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Pour mon mal estranger<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Je ne m’arreste en place;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Mais j’en ay beau changer,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Si ma douleur n’efface;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Car mon pis et mon mieux<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Sont les plus deserts lieux.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Si en quelque séjour,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Soit en bois ou en prée.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Soit sur l’aube du jour,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">On soit sur la vesprée,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Sans cesse mon cœur sent<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Le regret d’un absent.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Si parfois vers les cieux<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Viens à dresser ma veue,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Le doux traict de ses yeux<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Je vois en une nue;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Ou bien je le vois en l’eau,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Comme dans un tombeau.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Si je suis en repos<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Sommeillant sur ma couche,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">J’oy qu’il me tient propos,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Je le sens qui me touche:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">En labeur, en recoy<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Tousjours est près de moy.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Je ne vois autre object,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Pour beau qu’il présente<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A qui que soit subject,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Oncques mon cœur consente,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Exempt de perfection<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A cette affection.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Mets, chanson, icy fin<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A si triste complainte,<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Dont sera le refrein:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Amour vraye et non feinte<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Pour la separation<br /></span> -<span class="i0">N’aura diminution.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a><br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>Such are the regrets which this sad queen went piteously singing, and -manifesting even more by her pale face; for, from the time she became a -widow, I never saw her colour return during the time I had the honour to -see her in France and in Scotland; whither at the end of eighteen months -she was forced to go, to her great regret, to pacify her kingdom, much -divided on account of religion. Alas! she had neither wish nor will to -go. I have often heard her say she dreaded that journey like death; and -preferred a hundredfold to stay in France a simple dowager, and would -content herself with Touraine and Poitou for her dowry, rather than go -to reign in her savage country; but messieurs her uncles, at least some -of them, but not all, advised her, indeed they urged her (I will not -tell the occasions), for which they have since repented sorely.</p> - -<p>As to this, there is no doubt that if, at her departure King Charles, -her husband’s brother, had been of age to marry, and not so small and -young (though much in love with her, as I have seen), he would never -have let her go, but resolutely would have wedded her; for I have seen -him so in love that never did he look upon her portrait that his eyes -were not fixed and ravished, as though he could not take them from it -nor yet be satisfied. And often have I heard him call her the most -beauteous princess ever born into the world, and say how he thought the -king, his brother, too happy to have enjoyed the love of such a -princess, and that he ought in no wise to regret his death in the tomb -since he had possessed in this world such beauty and pleasure for<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> the -little time he stayed here; and also that such happiness was worth a -kingdom. So that had she remained in France he would surely have wedded -her; he was resolved upon it, although she was his sister-in-law, but -the pope would never have refused the dispensation, seeing that he had -already in like case granted one to his own subject, M. de Lové, and -also to the Marquis d’Aguilar in Spain, and many others in that country, -where they make no difficulty in maintaining their estates and do not -waste and dissipate them, as we do in France.</p> - -<p>Much discourse on this subject have I heard from him, and from many, -which I shall omit, not to wander from the topic of our queen, who was -at last persuaded, as I have said, to return to her kingdom of Scotland; -but her voyage being postponed till the spring she did so much to delay -it from month to month that she did not depart until the end of the -month of August. I must mention that this spring, in which she thought -to leave, came so tardily, and was so cold and grievous, that in the -month of April it gave no sign of donning its beautiful green robe or -its lovely flowers. On which the gallants of the Court augured and -proclaimed that the spring had changed its pleasant season for a hard -and grievous winter, and would not wear its beauteous colours or its -verdure because it mourned the departure of this sweet queen, who was -its lustre. M. de Maison-Fleur, a charming knight for letters and for -arms, made on that theme a most fine elegy.</p> - -<p>The beginning of the autumn having come, the queen, after thus delaying, -was forced to abandon France; and having travelled by land to Calais, -accompanied by all her uncles, M. de Nemours, most of the great and -honourable of the Court, together with the ladies, like Mme. de Guise -and others, all regretting and weeping hot tears for the loss<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> of such a -queen, she found in port two galleys: one that of M. de Mevillon, the -other that of Captain Albise, with two convoying vessels for sole -armament. After six days’ rest at Calais, having said her piteous -farewells all full of sighs to the great company about her, from the -greatest to the least, she embarked, having her uncles with her, -Messieurs d’Aumale, the grand prior, and d’Elbœuf, and M. d’Amville -(now M. le Connétable), together with many of us, all nobles, on board -the galley of M. de Mevillon, as being the best and handsomest.</p> - -<p>As the vessel began to leave the port, the anchor being up, we saw, in -the open sea, a vessel sink before us and perish, and many of the -sailors drown for not having taken the channel rightly; on seeing which -the queen cried out incontinently: “Ah, my God! what an omen is this for -my journey!” The galley being now out of port and a fresh wind rising, -we began to make sail, and the convicts rested on their oars. The queen, -without thinking of other action, leaned her two arms on the poop of the -galley, beside the rudder, and burst into tears, casting her beauteous -eyes to the port and land she had left, saying ever these sad words: -“Adieu, France! adieu, France!”—repeating them again and again; and -this sad exercise she did for nearly five hours, until the night began -to fall, when they asked her if she would not come away from there and -take some supper. On that, her tears redoubling, she said these words: -“This is indeed the hour, my dear France, when I must lose you from -sight, because the gloomy night, envious of my content in seeing you as -long as I am able, hangs a black veil before mine eyes to rob me of that -joy. Adieu, then, my dear France; I shall see you nevermore!”</p> - -<p>Then she retired, saying she had done the contrary of Dido, who looked -to the sea when Æneas left her, while she<a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a> had looked to land. She -wished to lie down without eating more than a salad, and as she would -not descend into the cabin of the poop, they brought her bed and set it -up on the deck of the poop, where she rested a little, but did not cease -her sighs and tears. She commanded the steersman to wake her as soon as -it was day if he saw or could even just perceive the coasts of France, -and not to fear to call her. In this, fortune favoured her; for the wind -having ceased and the vessel having again had recourse to oars, but -little way was made during the night, so that when day appeared the -shores of France could still be seen; and the steersman not having -failed to obey her, she rose in her bed and gazed at France again, and -as long as she could see it. But the galley now receding, her -contentment receded too, and again she said those words: “Adieu, my -France; I think that I shall never see you more.”</p> - -<p>Did she desire, this once, that an English armament (with which we were -threatened) should appear and constrain her to give up her voyage and -return to the port she had left? But if so, God in that would not favour -her wishes, for, without further hindrance of any kind we reached -Petit-Lict [Leith]. Of the voyage I must tell a little incident: the -first evening after we embarked, the Seigneur Chastellard (the same who -was afterwards executed for presumption, not for crime, as I shall -tell), being a charming cavalier, a man of good sword and good letters, -said this pretty thing when he saw them lighting the binnacle lamp: -“There is no need of that lamp or this torch to light us by sea, for the -eyes of our queen are dazzling enough to flash their fine fires along -the waves and illume them, if need be.”</p> - -<p>I must note that the day before we arrived at Scotland, being a Sunday, -so great a fog arose that we could not see from the poop to the mast of -the galley; at which the pilot and the<a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a> overseers of the galley-slaves -were much confounded,—so much so, that out of necessity we had to cast -anchor in open sea, and take soundings to know where we were. The fog -lasted all one day and all the night until eight o’clock on the -following morning, when we found ourselves surrounded by innumerable -reefs; so that had we gone forward, or even to one side, the ship would -have struck and we should have perished. On which the queen said that, -for her part, she should not have cared, wishing for nothing so much as -death; but that not for her whole kingdom of Scotland would she have -wished it or willed it for others. Having now sighted and seen (for the -fog had risen) the coast of Scotland, there were some among us who -augured and predicted upon the said fog, that it boded we were now to -land in a quarrelsome, mischief-making, unpleasant kingdom [<i>royaume -brouille, brouillon, et mal plaisant</i>].</p> - -<p>We entered and cast anchor at Petit-Lict, where the principal persons of -that place and Islebourg [Edinburgh] were gathered to meet their queen; -and then, having sojourned at Petit-Lict only two hours, it was -necessary to continue our way to Islebourg, which was barely a league -farther. The queen went on horseback, and the ladies and seigneurs on -nags of the country, such as they were, and saddled and bridled the -same. On seeing which accoutrements the queen began to weep and say that -these were not the pomps, the dignities, the magnificences, nor yet the -superb horses of France, which she had enjoyed so long; but since she -must change her paradise for hell, she must needs take patience. And -what is worse was that when she went to bed, being lodged on the lower -floor of the abbey of Islebourg [Holyrood], which is certainly a noble -building and is not like the country, there came beneath her window some -five or six hundred scoundrels of the town, who gave her a serenade<a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a> -with wretched violins and little rebecks (of which there is no lack in -Scotland), to which they chanted psalms so badly sung and so out of tune -that nothing could be worse. Ha! what music and what repose for her -first night!</p> - -<p>The next morning they would have killed her chaplain in front of her -lodging; had he not escaped quickly into her chamber he was dead; they -would have done to him as they did later to her secretary David [Riccio] -whom, because he was clever, the queen liked for the management of her -affairs; but they killed him in her room, so close to her that the blood -spurted upon her gown and he fell dead at her feet. What an indignity! -But they did many other indignities to her; therefore must we not be -astonished if they spoke ill of her. On this attempt being made against -her chaplain she became so sad and vexed that she said: “This is a fine -beginning of obedience and welcome from my subjects! I know not what may -be the end, but I foresee it will be bad.” Thus the poor princess showed -herself a second Cassandra in prophecy as she was in beauty.</p> - -<p>Being now there, she lived about three years very discreetly in her -widowhood, and would have continued to do so, but the Parliament of her -kingdom begged her and entreated her to marry, in order that she might -leave them a fine king conceived by her, like him of the present day -[James I]. There are some who say that, during the first wars, the King -of Navarre desired to marry her, repudiating the queen his wife, on -account of the Religion; but to this she would not consent, saying she -had a soul, and would not lose it for all the grandeurs of the -world,—making great scruple of espousing a married man.</p> - -<p>At last she wedded a young English lord, of a great house, but not her -equal [Henry Darnley, Earl of Lennox, her cousin]. The marriage was not -happy for either the one or<a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a> the other. I shall not here relate how the -king her husband, having made her a very fine child, who reigns to-day, -died, being killed by a <i>fougade</i> [small mine] exploded where he lodged. -The history of that is written and printed, but not with truth as to the -accusations raised against the queen of consenting to the deed. They are -lies and insults; for never was that queen cruel; she was always kind -and very gentle. Never in France did she any cruelty, nor would she take -pleasure or have the heart to see poor criminals put to death by -justice, like many grandees whom I have known; and when she was in her -galley never would she allow a single convict to be beaten, were it ever -so little; she begged her uncle, the grand-prior, as to this, and -commanded it to the overseer herself, having great compassion for their -misery, so that her heart was sick for it.</p> - -<p>To end this topic, never did cruelty lodge in the heart of such great -and tender beauty; they are liars who have said and written it; among -others M. Buchanan,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> who ill returned the kindnesses the queen had -done him both in France and Scotland in saving his life and relieving -him from banishment. It would have been better had he employed his most -excellent knowledge in speaking better of her, and not about the amours -of Bothwell; even to transcribing sonnets she had made, which those who -knew her poesy and her learning have always said were never written by -her; nor did they judge less falsely that amour, for Bothwell was a most -ugly man, with as bad a grace as could be seen.</p> - -<p>But if this one [Buchanan] said no good, others have written a noble -book upon her innocence, which I have seen, and which declared and -proved it so that the poorest minds took hold of it and even her enemies -paid heed; but<a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a> they, wishing to ruin her, as they did in the end, were -obstinate, and never ceased to persecute her until she was put into a -strong castle, which they say is that of Saint-Andrew in Scotland. -There, having lived nearly one year miserably captive, she was delivered -by means of a most honourable and brave gentleman of that land and of -good family, named M. de Beton, whom I knew and saw, and who related to -me the whole story, as we were crossing the river before the Louvre, -when he came to bring the news to the king. He was nephew to the Bishop -of Glasco, ambassador to France, one of the most worthy men and prelates -ever known, and who remained a faithful servant to his mistress to her -last breath, and is so still, after her death.</p> - -<p>So then, the queen, being at liberty, did not stay idle; in less than no -time she gathered an army of those whom she thought her most faithful -adherents, leading it herself,—at its head, mounted on a good horse, -dressed in a simple petticoat of white taffetas, with a coif of crêpe on -her head; at which I have seen many persons wonder, even the -queen-mother, that so tender a princess, and so dainty as she was and -had been all her life, should accustom herself at once to the hardships -of war. But what would one not endure to reign absolutely and revenge -one’s self upon a rebellious people, and reduce it to obedience?</p> - -<p>Behold this queen, therefore, beautiful and generous, like a second -Zenobia, at the head of her army, leading it on to face that of her -enemies and to give battle. But alas! what misfortune! Just as she -thought her side would engage the others, just as she was animating and -exhorting them with her noble and valorous words, which might have moved -the rocks, they raised their lances without fighting, and, first on one -side and then upon another, threw down their arms, embraced, and were -friends; and all, confederated and sworn<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a> together, plotted to seize the -queen, and make her prisoner and take her to England. M. Coste, the -steward of her household, a gentleman of Auvergne, related this to the -queen-mother, having come from there, and met her at Saint-Maur, where -he told it also to many of us.</p> - -<p>After this she was taken to England, where she was lodged in a castle -and so closely confined in captivity that she never left it for eighteen -or twenty years until her death; to which she was sentenced too cruelly -for the reasons, such as they were, that were given on her trial; but -the principal, as I hold on good authority, was that the Queen of -England never liked her, but was always and for a long time jealous of -her beauty, which far surpassed her own. That is what jealousy is!—and -for religion too! So it was that this princess, after her long -imprisonment, was condemned to death and to have her head cut off; this -judgment was pronounced upon her two months before she was executed. -Some say that she knew nothing of it until they went to execute her. -Others declare that it was told to her two months earlier, as the -queen-mother, who was greatly distressed, was informed at Coignac, where -she then was; and she was even told of this particular: no sooner was -the judgment pronounced than Queen Marie’s chamber and bed were hung -with black. The queen-mother thereon praised the firmness of the Queen -of Scotland and said she had never seen or heard tell of any queen more -steadfast in adversity. I was present when she said this, but I never -thought the Queen of England would let her die,—not esteeming her so -cruel as all that. Of her own nature she was not (though she was in -this). I also thought that M. de Bellièvre, whom the king despatched to -save her life, would have worked out something good; nevertheless, he -gained nothing.<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a></p> - -<p>But to come to this pitiful death, which no one can describe without -great compassion. On the seventeenth of February of the year one -thousand five hundred and eighty-seven, there came to the place where -the queen was prisoner, a castle called Fodringhaye, the commissioners -of the Queen of England, sent by her (I shall not give their names, as -it would serve no end) about two or three o’clock in the afternoon; and -in presence of Paulet, her guardian or jailer, read aloud their -commission to the prisoner touching her execution, declaring to her that -the next morning they should proceed to it, and admonishing her to be -ready between seven and eight o’clock.</p> - -<p>She, without in any way being surprised, thanked them for their good -news, saying that nothing could be better for her than to come to the -end of her misery; and that for long, ever since her detention in -England, she had resolved and prepared herself to die; entreating, -nevertheless, the commissioners to grant her a little time and leisure -to make her will and put her affairs in order,—inasmuch as all depended -upon their will, as their commission said. To which the Comte de -Cherusbery [Earl of Shrewsbury] replied rather roughly: “No, no, madame, -you must die. Hold yourself ready between seven and eight to-morrow -morning. We shall not prolong the delay by a moment.” There was one, -more courteous it seemed to her, who wished to use some demonstrations -that might give her more firmness to endure such death. She answered him -that she had no need of consolation, at least not as coming from him; -but that if he wished to do a good office to her conscience he would -send for her almoner to confess her; which would be an obligation that -surpassed all others. As for her body, she said she did not think they -would be so inhuman as to deny her the right of sepulture. To this he -replied that<a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a> she must not expect it; so that she was forced to write -her confession, which was as follows:—</p> - -<p>“I have to-day been combated for my religion and to make me receive the -consolation of heretics. You will hear from Bourgoing and others that I -have faithfully made protestation of my faith, in which I choose to die. -I requested to have you here, to make my confession and to receive my -sacrament; this has been cruelly refused to me, also the removal of my -body, and the power to freely make my will, or to write aught, except -through their hands. In default of that, I confess the grievousness of -my sins in general, as I had expected to make to you in particulars; -entreating you, in God’s name, to watch and pray with me this night for -the forgiveness of my sins, and to send me absolution and pardon for all -the offences which I have committed. I shall endeavour to see you in -their presence, as they have granted me; and if it is permitted I shall -ask pardon of you before them all. Advise me of the proper prayers to -use this night and to-morrow morning, for the time is short and I have -no leisure to write; I shall recommend you like the rest, and especially -that your benefices may be preserved and secured to you, and I shall -commend you to the king. I have no more leisure; advise me in writing of -all you think good for my salvation.”</p> - -<p>That done, and having thus provided for the salvation of her soul before -all things else, she lost no time, though little remained to her (yet -long enough to have shaken the firmest constancy, but in her they saw no -fear of death, only much content to leave these earthly miseries), in -writing to our king, to the queen-mother, whom she honoured much, to -Monsieur and Madame de Guise, and other private persons, letters truly -very piteous, but all aiming to let them know that to her latest hour -she had not lost memory of<a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a> friends; and also the contentment she -received in seeing herself delivered from so many woes by which for one -and twenty years she had been crushed; also she sent presents to all, of -a value and price in keeping with a poor, unfortunate, and captive -queen.</p> - -<p>After this, she summoned her household, from the highest to the lowest, -and opened her coffers to see how much money remained to her; this she -divided to each according to the service she had had from them; and to -her women she gave what remained to her of rings, arrows, headgear, and -accoutrements; telling them that it was with much regret she had no more -with which to reward them, but assuring them that her son would make up -for her deficiency; and she begged her <i>maître d’hôtel</i> to say this to -her said son; to whom she sent her blessing, praying him not to avenge -her death, leaving all to God to order according to His holy will. Then -she bade them farewell without a tear; on the contrary she consoled -them, saying they must not weep to see her on the point of blessedness -in exchange for all the sorrows she had had. After which she sent them -from her chamber, except her women.</p> - -<p>It now being night, she retired to her oratory, where she prayed to God -two hours on her bare knees upon the ground, for her women saw them; -then she returned to her room and said to them: “I think it would be -best, my friends, if I ate something and went to bed, so that to-morrow -I may do nothing unworthy of me, and that my heart may not fail me.” -What generosity and what courage! She did as she said; and taking only -some toast with wine she went to bed, where she slept little, but spent -the night chiefly in prayers and orisons.</p> - -<p>She rose about two hours before dawn and dressed herself as properly as -she could, and better than usual; taking<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a> a gown of black velvet, which -she had reserved from her other accoutrements, saying to her women: “My -friends, I would rather have left you this attire than that of -yesterday, but I think I ought to go to death a little honourably and -have upon me something more than common. Here is a handkerchief, which I -also reserved, to bind my eyes when I go there; I give it to you, <i>ma -mie</i> (speaking to one of her women), for I wish to receive that last -office from you.”</p> - -<p>After this, she retired to her oratory, having bid them adieu once more -and kissed them,—giving them many particulars to tell the king, the -queen, and her relations; not things that tended to vengeance, but the -contrary. Then she took the sacrament by means of a consecrated wafer -which the good Pope Pius V. had sent her to serve in some emergency, the -which she had always most sacredly preserved and guarded.</p> - -<p>Having said her prayers, which were very long, it now being fully -morning she returned to her chamber, and sat beside the fire; still -talking to her women and comforting them, instead of their comforting -her; she said that the joys of the world were nothing; that she ought to -serve as a warning to the greatest of the earth as well as to the -smallest, for she, having been queen of the kingdoms of France and -Scotland, one by nature, the other by fortune, after triumphing in the -midst of all honours and grandeurs, was reduced to the hands of an -executioner; innocent, however, which consoled her. She told them their -best pattern was that she died in the Catholic religion, holy and good, -which she would never abandon to her latest breath, having been baptized -therein; and that she wanted no fame after her death, except that they -would publish her firmness throughout all France when they returned -there, as she begged of them; and further, though she knew they would<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a> -have much heart-break to see her on the scaffold performing this -tragedy, yet she wished them to witness her death; knowing well that -none would be so faithful in making the report of what was now to -happen.</p> - -<p>As she ended these words some one knocked roughly on the door. Her -women, knowing it was the hour they were coming to fetch her, wanted to -make resistance; but she said to them: “My friends, it will do no good; -open the door.”</p> - -<p>First there entered a man with a white stick in his hand, who, without -addressing any one, said twice over as he advanced: “I have come—I have -come.” The queen, not doubting that he announced to her the moment of -execution, took a little ivory cross in her hand.</p> - -<p>Next came the above-named commissioners; and when they had entered, the -queen said to them: “Well, messieurs, you have come to fetch me. I am -ready and well resolved to die; and I think the queen, my good sister, -does much for me; and you likewise who are seeking me. Let us go.” They, -seeing such firmness accompanied by so extreme a beauty and great -gentleness, were much astonished, for never had she seemed more -beautiful, having a colour in her cheeks which embellished her.</p> - -<p>Thus Boccaccio wrote of Sophonisba in her adversity, after the taking of -her husband and the town, speaking to Massinissa: “You would have said,” -he relates, “that her misfortune made her more beauteous; it assisted -the sweetness of her face and made it more agreeable and desirable.”</p> - -<p>The commissioners were greatly moved to some compassion. Still, as she -left the room they would not let her women follow her, fearing that by -their lamentations, sighs, and outcries they would disturb the -execution. But the queen said to them: “What, gentlemen! would you treat -me with such rigour as not to allow my women to accompany<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a> me to death? -Grant me at least this favour.” Which they did, on her pledging her word -she would impose silence upon them when the time came to admit them.</p> - -<p>The place of execution was in the hall, where they had raised a broad -scaffold, about twelve feet square and two high, covered with a shabby -black cloth.</p> - -<p>She entered this hall without any change of countenance but with majesty -and grace, as though she were entering a ballroom, where in other days -she had so excellently shone.</p> - -<p>As she neared the scaffold she called to her <i>maître d’hôtel</i> and said, -“Help me to mount; it is the last service I shall receive from you;” and -she repeated to him what she had already told him in her chamber he was -to tell her son. Then, being on the scaffold, she asked for her almoner, -begging the officers who were there to permit him to come to her, which -they flatly refused,—the Earl of Kent saying to her that he pitied her -greatly for thus clinging to superstitions of a past age, and that she -ought to bear the cross of Christ in her heart and not in her hand. To -which she made answer that it was difficult to bear so beautiful an -image in the hand without the heart being touched by emotion and memory; -and that the most becoming thing in a Christian person was to carry a -real sign of the redemption to the death before her. Then, seeing that -she could not have her almoner, she asked that her women might come as -they had promised her; which was done. One of them, on entering the -hall, seeing her mistress on the scaffold among her executioners, could -not keep from crying out and moaning and losing her control; but the -queen instantly laying her finger on her lips, she restrained herself.</p> - -<p>Her Majesty then began to make her protestations, namely: that never had -she plotted against the State, nor against the life of the queen, her -good sister,—except in trying to regain<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a> her liberty, as all captives -may. But she saw plainly that the cause of her death was religion, and -she esteemed herself very happy to finish her life for that cause. She -begged the queen, her good sister, to have pity upon her poor servants -whom she held captive, because of the affection they had shown in -seeking the liberty of their mistress, inasmuch as she was now to die -for all.</p> - -<p>They then brought to her a minister to exhort her [the Dean of -Peterborough], but she said to him in English, “Ah! my friend, give -yourself patience;” declaring that she would not hold converse with him -nor hear any talk of his sect, for she had prepared herself to die -without counsel, and that persons like him could not give her -consolation or contentment of mind.</p> - -<p>Notwithstanding this, seeing that he continued his prayers in his -jargon, she never ceased to say her own in Latin, raising her voice -above that of the minister. After which she said again that she esteemed -herself very happy to shed the last drop of her blood for her religion, -rather than live longer and wait till nature had completed the full -course of her life; and that she hoped in Him whose cross she held in -her hand, before whose feet she was prostrate, that this temporal death, -borne for Him, would be for her the passage, the entrance to, and the -beginning of life eternal with the angels and the blessèd, who would -receive her blood and present it before God, in abolition of her sins; -and them she prayed to be her intercessors for the obtaining of pardon -and mercy.</p> - -<p>Such were her prayers, being on her knees on the scaffold, which she -made with a fervent heart; adding others for the pope, the kings of -France, and even for the Queen of England, praying God to illuminate her -with his Holy Spirit; praying also for her son and for the islands of -Britain and Scotland that they might be converted.<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a></p> - -<p>That done, she called her women to help her to remove her black veil, -her headdress, and other ornaments; and as the executioner tried to -touch her she said, “Ah! my friend, do not touch me!” But she could not -prevent his doing so, for after they had lowered her robe to the waist, -that villain pulled her roughly by the arm and took off her doublet -[<i>pourpoint</i>] and the body of her petticoat [<i>corps de cotte</i>] with its -low collar, so that her neck and her beautiful bosom, more white than -alabaster, were bare and uncovered.</p> - -<p>She arranged herself as quickly as she could, saying she was not -accustomed to strip before others, especially so large a company (it is -said there were four or five hundred persons present), nor to employ the -services of such a valet.</p> - -<p>The executioner then knelt down and asked her pardon; on which she said -that she pardoned him, and all who were the authors of her death with as -much good-will as she prayed that God would show in forgiving her sins.</p> - -<p>Then she told her woman to whom she had given the handkerchief to bring -it to her.</p> - -<p>She wore a cross of gold, in which was a piece of the true cross, with -the image of Our Saviour upon it; this she wished to give to one of her -ladies, but the executioner prevented her, although Her Majesty begged -him, saying that the lady would pay him three times its value.</p> - -<p>Then, all being ready, she kissed her ladies, and bade them retire with -her benediction, making the sign of the cross upon them. And seeing that -one of them could not restrain her sobs she imposed silence, saying she -was bound by a promise that they would cause no trouble by their tears -and moans; and she commanded them to withdraw quietly, and pray to God -for her, and bear faithful testimony to her death in the ancient and -sacred Catholic religion.</p> - -<p><a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a>One of the women having bandaged her eyes with the handkerchief, she -threw herself instantly on her knees with great courage and without the -slightest demonstration or sign that she feared death.</p> - -<p>Her firmness was such that all present, even her enemies, were moved; -there were not four persons present who could keep from weeping; they -thought the sight amazing, and condemned themselves in their consciences -for such injustice.</p> - -<p>And because the minister of Satan importuned her, trying to kill her -soul as well as her body, and troubling her prayers, she raised her -voice to surmount his, and said in Latin the psalm: <i>In te, Domine, -speravi; non confundar in æternum</i>; which she recited throughout. Having -ended it, she laid her head upon the block, and, as she repeated once -more the words, <i>In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum</i>, the -executioner struck her a strong blow with the axe, that drove her -headgear into her head, which did not fall until the third blow,—to -make her martyrdom the greater and more glorious, though it is not the -pain but the cause that makes the martyr.</p> - -<p>This done, he took the head in his hand, and showing it to all present -said: “God save the queen, Elizabeth! Thus perish the enemies of the -gospel!” So saying, he uncoifed her in derision to show her hair, now -white; which, however, she had never shrunk from showing, twisting and -curling it as when her hair was beautiful, so fair and golden; for it -was not age had changed it at thirty-five years old (being now but -forty); it was the griefs, the woes, the sadness she had borne in her -kingdom and in her prison.</p> - -<p>This hapless tragedy ended, her poor ladies, anxious for the honour of -their mistress, addressed themselves to Paulet, her jailer, begging him -that the executioner should not touch the body, but that they might be -allowed to disrobe it after all the spectators had withdrawn, so that no -indignity might<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a> be done to it, promising to return all the clothing, -and whatever else he might ask or claim; but that cursèd man sent them -roughly away and ordered them to leave the hall.</p> - -<p>Then the executioner unclothed her and handled her at his discretion, -and when he had done what he wished the body was carried to a chamber -adjoining that of her serving-men, and carefully locked in, for fear -they should enter and endeavour to perform any good and pious office. -And to their grief and distress was added this: that they could see her -through a hole, half covered by a piece of green drugget torn from her -billiard table. What brutal indifference! What animosity and -indignity!—not even to have bought her a black cloth a little more -worthy of her!</p> - -<p>The poor body was left there long in that state until it began to -corrupt so that they were forced to salt and embalm it,—but slightly, -to save cost; after which they put it in a leaden coffin, where it was -kept for seven months and then carried to profane ground around the -temple of Petersbrouch [Peterborough Cathedral]. True it is that this -church is dedicated to the name of Saint Peter, and that Queen Catherine -of Spain is buried there as a Catholic; but the place is now profane, as -are all the churches in England in these days.</p> - -<p>There are some who have said and written, even the English who have made -a book on this death and its causes, that the spoils of the late queen -were taken from the executioner by paying him the value in money of her -clothes and her royal ornaments. The cloth with which the scaffold was -covered, even the boards of it were partly burned and partly washed, for -fear that in times to come they might serve superstition; that is to -say, for fear that any careful Catholic might some day buy and preserve -them with respect, honour, and reverence (a fear which may possibly -serve as a prophecy and augury), as the ancient Fathers had a practice -of keeping<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a> relics and of taking care with devotion of the monuments of -martyrs. In these days heretics do nothing of the kind. <i>Quia omnia quæ -martyrum erant</i>, cremabant, as Eusebius says, <i>et cineres in Rhodanum -spargebant, ut cum corporibus interiret eorum quoque memoria</i>. -Nevertheless, the memory of this queen, in spite of all things, will -live forever in glory and in triumph.</p> - -<p>Here, then, is the tale of her death, which I hold from the report of -two damoiselles there present, very honourable certainly, very faithful -to their mistress, and obedient to her commands in thus bearing -testimony to her firmness and to her religion. They returned to France -after losing her, for they were French; one was a daughter of Mme. de -Raré, whom I knew in France as one of the ladies of the late queen. I -think that these two honourable damoiselles would have caused the most -barbarous of men to weep at hearing so piteous a tale; which they made -the more lamentable by tears, and by their tender, doleful, and noble -language.</p> - -<p>I also learned much from a book which has been published, entitled “The -Martyrdom of the Queen of Scotland, Dowager of France.” Alas! that being -our queen did her no service. It seems to me that being such they ought -to have feared our vengeance for putting her to death; and they would -have thought a hundred times before they came to it, if our king had -chosen to take the initiative. But, because he hated the Messieurs de -Guise, his cousins, he took no pains except as formal duty. Alas! what -could that poor innocent do? This is what many asked.</p> - -<p>Others say that he made many formal appeals. It is true that he sent to -the Queen of England M. de Bellièvre, one of the greatest and wisest -senators of France and the ablest, who did not fail to offer all his -arguments, with the king<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a>’s prayers and threats, and do all else that he -could; and among other things he declared that it did not belong to one -king or sovereign to put to death another king or sovereign, over whom -he had no power either from God or man.</p> - -<p>I have never known a generous person who did not say that the Queen of -England would have won immortal glory had she used mercy to the Scottish -queen; and also she would be exempt from the risk of vengeance, however -tardy, which awaits her for the shedding of innocent blood that cries -aloud for it. It is said that the English queen was well advised of -this; but not only did she pass over the advice of many of her kingdom, -but also that of many great Protestant princes and lords both in France -and Germany,—such as the Prince de Condé and Casimir, since dead, and -the Prince of Orange and others, who had subscribed to this violent -death while not expecting it, but afterwards felt their conscience -burdened, inasmuch as it did not concern them and brought them no -advantage, and they did it only to please the queen; but, in truth, it -did them inestimable detriment.</p> - -<p>They say, too, that Queen Elizabeth, when she sent to notify that poor -Queen Marie of this melancholy sentence, assured her that it was done -with great and sad regret on her part, under constraint of Parliament -which urged it on her. To which Queen Marie answered: “She has much more -power than that to make them obedient to her will when it pleases her; -for she is the princess, or more truly the prince, who has made herself -the most feared and reverenced.”</p> - -<p>Now, I rely on the truth of all things, which time will reveal. Queen -Marie will live glorious in this world and in the other; and the time -will come in a few years when some<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a> good pope will canonize her in -memory of the martyrdom she suffered for the honour of God and of his -Law.</p> - -<p>It is not to be doubted that if that great, valiant, and generous -prince, the late M. de Guise, the last [Henri, le Balafré, assassinated -at Blois], was not dead, vengeance for so noble a queen and cousin thus -murdered would not still be unborn. I have said enough on so pitiful a -subject, which I end thus:—</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">This queen, of a beauty so incomparable,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Was, with too great injustice, put to death:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To sustain that heart of faith inviolable<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Can it be there are none to avenge the wrong?<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>One there is who has written her epitaph in Latin verses, the substance -of which is as follows: “Nature had produced this queen to be seen of -all the world: with great admiration was she seen for her beauty and -virtues so long as she lived: but England, envious, placed her on a -scaffold to be seen in derision: yet was well deceived; for the sight -turned praise and admiration to her, and glory and thanksgiving to God.”</p> - -<p>I must, before I finish, say a word here in reply to those whom I have -heard speak ill of her for the death of Chastellard, whom the queen -condemned to death in Scotland,—laying upon her that she had justly -suffered for making others suffer. Upon that count there is no justice, -and it should never have been made. Those who know the history will -never blame our queen; and, for that reason, I shall here relate it for -her justification.</p> - -<p>Chastellard was a gentleman of Dauphiné, of good family and condition, -for he was great-nephew on his mother’s side of that brave M. de Bayard, -whom they say he resembled in figure, which in him was medium, very -beautiful and slender,<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a> as they say M. de Bayard had also. He was very -adroit at arms, and inclined in all ways to honourable exercises, such -as firing at a mark, playing at tennis, leaping, and dancing. In short, -he was a most accomplished gentleman; and as for his soul, it was also -very noble; he spoke well, and wrote of the best, even in rhyme, as well -as any gentleman in France, using a most sweet and lovely poesy, like a -knight.</p> - -<p>He followed M. d’Amville, so-called then, now M. le Connétable; but when -we were with M. le Grand Prieur, of the house of Lorraine, who conducted -the queen [to Scotland] the said Chastellard was with us, and, in this -company became known to the queen for his charming actions, above all -for his rhymes; among which he made some to please her in translation -from Italian (which he spoke and knew well), beginning, <i>Che giova -posseder città e regni</i>; which is a very well made sonnet, the substance -of which is as follows: “What serves her to possess so many kingdoms, -cities, towns, and provinces, to command so many peoples, and be -respected, feared, admired of all, if still to sleep a widow, lone and -cold as ice?”</p> - -<p>He made also other rhymes, most beautiful, which I have seen written by -his hand, for they never were imprinted, that I know.</p> - -<p>The queen, therefore, who loved letters, and principally poems, for -sometimes she made dainty ones herself, was pleased in seeing those of -Chastellard, and even made response, and, for that reason, gave him good -cheer and entertained him often. But he, in secrecy, was kindled by a -flame too high, the which its object could not hinder, for who can -shield herself from love? In times gone by the most chaste goddesses and -dames were loved, and still are loved; indeed we love their marble -statues; but for that<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a> no lady has been blamed unless she yielded to it. -Therefore, kindle who will these sacred fires!</p> - -<p>Chastellard returned with all our troop to France, much grieved and -desperate in leaving so beautiful an object of his love. After one year -the civil war broke out in France. He, who belonged to the Religion -[Protestant], struggled within himself which side to take, whether to go -to Orléans with the others, or stay with M. d’Amville, and make war -against his faith. On the one hand, it seemed to him too bitter to go -against his conscience; on the other, to take up arms against his master -displeased him hugely; wherefore he resolved to fight for neither the -one nor yet the other, but to banish himself and go to Scotland, let -fight who would, and pass the time away. He opened this project to M. -d’Amville and told him his resolution, begging him to write letters in -his favour to the queen; which he obtained: then, taking leave of one -and all, he went; I saw him go; he bade me adieu and told me in part his -resolution, we being friends.</p> - -<p>He made his voyage, which ended happily, so that, having arrived in -Scotland and discoursing of his intentions to the queen, she received -him kindly and assured him he was welcome. But he, abusing such good -cheer and seeking to attack the sun, perished like Phaëton; for, driven -by love and passion, he was presumptuous enough to hide beneath the bed -of her Majesty, where he was discovered when she retired. The queen, not -wishing to make a scandal, pardoned him; availing herself of that good -counsel which the lady of honour gives to her mistress in the “Novels of -the Queen of Navarre,” when a seigneur of her brother’s Court, slipping -through a trap-door made by him in the alcove, seeking to win her, -brought nothing back but shame and scratches: she wishing to punish his -temerity and complain<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a> of him to her brother, the lady of honour -counselled her that, since the seigneur had won nought but shame and -scratches, it was for her honour as a lady of such mark not to be talked -of; for the more it was contended over, the more it would go to the nose -of the world and the mouth of gossips.</p> - -<p>Our Queen of Scotland, being wise and prudent, passed this scandal by; -but the said Chastellard, not content and more than ever mad with love, -returned for the second time, forgetting both his former crime and -pardon. Then the queen, for her honour, and not to give occasion to her -women to think evil, and also to her people if it were known, lost -patience and gave him up to justice, which condemned him quickly to be -beheaded, in view of the crime of such an act. The day having come, -before he died he had in his hand the hymns of M. de Ronsard; and, for -his eternal consolation, he read from end to end the Hymn of Death -(which is well done, and proper not to make death abhorrent), taking no -help of other spiritual book, nor of minister or confessor.</p> - -<p>Having ended that reading wholly, he turned to the spot where he thought -the queen must be, and cried in a loud voice: “Adieu, most beautiful, -most cruel princess in all the world!” then, firmly stretching his neck -to the executioner, he let himself be killed very easily.</p> - -<p>Some have wished to discuss why it was that he called her cruel; whether -because she had no pity on his love, or on his life. But what should she -have done? If, after her first pardon she had granted him a second, she -would on all sides have been slandered; to save her honour it was -needful that the law should take its course. That is the end of this -history.</p> - -<hr class="spc" /> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_maria_120_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_maria_120_sml.jpg" width="415" height="550" alt="MARIA STVART SCO: ET GAL: REGINA" -title="MARIA STVART SCO: ET GAL: REGINA" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">MARIA STVART SCO: ET GAL: REGINA</span> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a>“Well, they may say what they will, many a true heart will be sad for -Mary Stuart, e’en if all be true men say of her.” That speech, which -Walter Scott puts into the mouth of one of the personages in his novel -of “The Abbot” at the moment when he is preparing the reader for an -introduction to the beautiful queen, remains the last word of posterity -as it was of contemporaries,—the conclusion of history as of poesy.</p> - -<p>Elizabeth living triumphed, and her policy after her lives and triumphs -still, so that Protestantism and the British empire are one and the same -thing. Marie Stuart succumbed, in her person and in that of her -descendants; Charles I. under the axe, James II. in exile, each -continued and added to his heritage of faults, imprudences, and -calamities; the whole race of the Stuarts was cut off, and seems to have -deserved it. But, vanquished in the order of things and under the empire -of fact, and even under that of inexorable reason, the beautiful queen -has regained all in the world of imagination and of pity. She has found, -from century to century, knights, lovers, and avengers. A few years ago, -a Russian of distinction, Prince Alexander Labanoff, began, with -incomparable zeal, a search through the archives, the collections, the -libraries of Europe, for documents emanating directly from Marie Stuart, -the most insignificant as well as the most important of her letters, in -order to connect them and so make a nucleus of history, and also an -authentic shrine, not doubting that interest, serious and tender -interest, would rise, more powerful still, from the bosom of truth -itself. On the appearance of this collection of Prince Labanoff, M. -Mignet produced, from 1847 to 1850, a series of articles in the “Journal -des Savants,” in which, not content with appreciating the prince’s -documents, he presented from himself new documents, hitherto<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a> -unpublished and affording new lights. Since then, leaving the form of -criticism and dissertation, M. Mignard has taken this fine subject as a -whole, and has written a complete narrative upon it, grave, compact, -interesting, and definitive, which he is now publishing [1851].</p> - -<p>In the meantime, about a year ago, there appeared a “History of Marie -Stuart” by M. Dargaud, a writer of talent, whose book has been much -praised and much read. M. Dargaud made, in his own way, various -researches about the heroine of his choice; he went expressly to England -and Scotland, and visited as a pilgrim all the places and scenes of -Marie Stuart’s sojourns and captivities. While drawing abundantly from -preceding writers, M. Dargaud does them justice with effusion and -cordiality; he sheds through every line of his history the sentiment of -exalted pity and poesy inspired within him by the memory of that royal -and Catholic victim; he deserves the fine letter which Mme. Sand wrote -him from Nohant, April 10, 1851, in which she congratulates him, almost -without criticism, and speaks of Marie Stuart with charm and eloquence. -If I do not dwell at greater length upon the work of M. Dargaud, it is, -I must avow, because I am not of that too emotional school which softens -and enervates history. I think that history should not necessarily be -dull and wearisome, but still less do I think it should be impassioned, -sentimental, and as if magnetic. Without wishing to depreciate the -qualities of M. Dargaud, which are too much in the taste of the day not -to be their own recommendation, I shall follow in preference a more -severe historian, whose judgment and whose method of procedure inspire -me with confidence.</p> - -<p>Marie Stuart, born December 8, 1542, six days before the death of her -father, who was then combating, like all the kings his predecessors, a -turbulent nobility, began as an<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> orphan her fickle and unfortunate -destiny. Storms assailed her in her cradle,—</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“As if, e’en then, inhuman Fortune<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Would suckle me with sadness and with pain,”<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p class="nind">as an old poet, in I know not what tragedy, has made her say. Crowned at -the age of nine months, disputed already in marriage between the French -and English parties, each desiring to prevail in Scotland, she was -early, through the influence of her mother, Marie de Guise (sister of -the illustrious Guises), bestowed upon the Dauphin of France, the son of -King Henri II. August 13, 1548, Marie Stuart, then rather less than six -years old, landed at Brest. Betrothed to the young dauphin, who, on his -father’s death became François II., she was brought up among the -children of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, and remained in France, -first as dauphine, then as queen, until the premature death of her -husband. She lived there in every respect as a French princess. These -twelve or thirteen years in France were her joy and her charm, and the -source of her ruin.</p> - -<p>She grew up in the bosom of the most polished, most learned, most -gallant Court of those times, shining there in her early bloom like a -rare and most admired marvel, knowing music and all the arts (<i>divinæ -Palladis artes</i>), learning the languages of antiquity, speaking themes -in Latin, superior in French rhetoric, enjoying an intercourse with -poets, and being herself their rival with her poems. Scotland, during -all this time, seemed to her a barbaric and savage land, which she -earnestly hoped never to see again, or, at any rate, never to inhabit. -Trained to a policy wholly of the Court and wholly personal, they made -her sign at Fontainebleau at the time of her marriage (1558) a secret -deed of gift of the kingdom of Scotland to the kings of France, at the -same time that she publicly gave adherence to the<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a> conditions which the -commissioners from Scotland had attached to the marriage, conditions -under which she pledged herself to maintain the integrity, the laws, and -the liberties of her native land. It was at this very moment that she -secretly made gift to the kings of France of her whole kingdom by an act -of her own good-will and power. The Court of France prompted her to that -imprudent treachery at the age of sixteen. Another very impolitic -imprudence, which proclaimed itself more openly, was committed when -Henri II., on the death of Mary Tudor, made Marie Stuart, the dauphine, -bear the arms of England beside those of Scotland, thus presenting her -thenceforth as a declared rival and competitor of Elizabeth.</p> - -<p>When Marie Stuart suddenly lost her husband (December 5, 1560), and it -was decided that she, a widow at eighteen, should, instead of remaining -in her dowry of Touraine, return to her kingdom of Scotland to bring -order to the civil troubles there existing, universal mourning took -place in the world of young French seigneurs, noble ladies, and poets. -The latter consigned their regrets to many poems which picture Marie -Stuart to the life in this decisive hour, the first really sorrowful -hour she had ever known. We see her refined, gracious, of a delicate, -fair complexion, the form and bust of queen or goddess,—L’Hôpital -himself had said of her, after his fashion, in a grave epithalamium:—</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Adspectu veneranda, putes ut Numen inesse:<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Tantus in ore decor, majestas regia tanta est!—<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p class="nind">of a long hand, elegant and slender (<i>gracilis</i>), an alabaster forehead -dazzling beneath the crape, and with golden hair—which needs a brief -remark. It is a poet (Ronsard) who speaks of “the gold of her ringed and -braided hair,” and poets, as we know, employ their words a little -vaguely. Mme. Sand, speaking of a portrait she had seen as a child<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a> in -the English Convent, says, without hesitation, “Marie was beautiful, but -red-haired.” M. Dargaud speaks of another portrait, “in which a sunray -lightens” he says rather oddly, “the curls of her living and electric -hair.” But Walter Scott, reputed the most correct of historical -romance-writers, in describing Marie Stuart a prisoner in Lochleven -Castle, shows us, as though he had seen them, her thick tresses of “dark -brown,” which escaped now and then from her coif. Here we are far from -the red or golden tints, and I see no other way of conciliating these -differences than to rest on “that hair so beautiful, so blond and fair” -[<i>si blonds et cendrés</i>] which Brantôme, an ocular witness, -admired,—hair that captivity whitened, leaving the poor queen of -forty-six “quite bald” in the hands of her executioner, as l’Estoile -relates. But at nineteen, the moment of her departure from France, the -young widow was in all the glory of her beauty, except for a brilliancy -of colour, which she lost at the death of her first husband, giving -place to a purer whiteness.</p> - -<p>Withal a lively, graceful, and sportive mind, and French raillery, an -ardent soul, capable of passion, open to desire, a heart which knew not -how to draw back when flame or fancy or enchantment stirred it. Such was -the queen, adventurous and poetical, who tore herself from France in -tears, sent by politic uncles to recover her authority amid the roughest -and most savage of “Frondes.”</p> - -<p>Scotland, since Marie Stuart left it as a child, had undergone great -changes; the principal was the Reformed religion which had taken root -there and extended itself vigorously. The great reformer Knox preached -the new doctrine, which found in Scotland stern, energetic souls ready -made to receive it. The old struggle of the lords and barons against the -kings was complicated and redoubled now by that of cities and people -against the brilliant beliefs of the Court and the<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a> Catholic hierarchy. -The birth of modern society, of civil equality, of respect for the -rights of all was painfully working itself out through barbaric scenes, -and by means of fanaticism itself. Alone and without counsel, contending -with the lords and the nobility as her ancestors had done, Marie Stuart, -quick, impulsive, subject to predilections and to antipathies, was -already insufficient for the work; what therefore could it be when she -found herself face to face with a religious party, born and growing -during recent years, face to face with an argumentative, gloomy party, -moral and daring, discussing rationally, Bible in hand, the right of -kings, and pushing logic even into prayer? Coming from a literary and -artificial Court, there was nothing in her that could comprehend these -grand and voiceless movements of the people, either to retard them or -turn them to her own profit by adapting herself to them. “She returned,” -says M. Mignet, “full of regrets and disgust, to the barren mountains -and the uncultured inhabitants of Scotland. More lovable than able, very -ardent and in no way cautious, she returned with a grace that was out of -keeping with her surroundings, a dangerous beauty, a keen but variable -intellect, a generous but rash soul, a taste for the arts, a love of -adventure, and all the passions of a woman joined to the excessive -liberty of a widow.”</p> - -<p>And to complicate the peril of this precarious situation she had for -neighbour in England a rival queen, Elizabeth, whom she had first -offended by claiming her title, and next, and no less, by a feminine and -proclaimed superiority of beauty and grace,—a rival queen capable, -energetic, rigid, and dissimulating, representing the contrary religious -opinion, and surrounded by able counsellors, firm, consistent, and -committed to the same cause. The seven years that Marie Stuart spent in -Scotland after her return from France<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a> (August 19, 1561) to her -imprisonment (May 18, 1568) are filled with all the blunders and all the -faults that could be committed by a young and thoughtless princess, -impulsive, unreflecting, and without shrewdness or ability except in the -line of her passion, never in view of a general political purpose. The -policy of Mme. de Longueville, during the Fronde, seems to me of the -same character.</p> - -<p>As to other faults, the moral faults of poor Marie Stuart, they are as -well known and demonstrated to-day as faults of that kind can well be. -Mme. Sand, always very indulgent, regards as the three black spots upon -her life the abandonment of Chastellard, her feigned caresses to the -hapless Darnley, and her forgetfulness of Bothwell.</p> - -<p>Chastellard, as we know, was a gentleman of Dauphiné, musician and poet, -in the train of the servitors and adorers of the queen, who at first was -very agreeable to her. Chastellard was one of the troop who escorted -Marie Stuart to Scotland, and sometime later, urged by his passion, he -returned there. But not knowing how to restrain himself, or to keep, as -became him, to poetic passion while waiting to inspire, if he could, a -real one, he was twice discovered beneath the bed of the queen; the -second time she lost patience and turned him over to the law. Poor -Chastellard was beheaded; he died reciting, so they say, a hymn of -Ronsard’s, and crying aloud: “O cruel Lady!” After so stern an act, to -which she was driven in fear of scandal and to put her honour above all -attainder and suspicion, Marie Stuart had, it would seem, but one course -to pursue, namely: to remain the most severe and most virtuous of -princesses.</p> - -<p>But her severity for Chastellard, though shown for effect, is merely a -peccadillo in comparison with her conduct to Darnley, her second -husband. By marrying this young man (July 29, 1565), her vassal, but of -the race of the<a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a> Stuarts and her own family, Marie escaped the diverse -political combinations which were striving to attract her to a second -marriage; and it would have been, perhaps, a sensible thing to do, if -she had not done it as an act of caprice and passion. But she fell in -love with Darnley in a single day, and became disgusted in the next. -This tall, weakly youth, timid and conceited by turns, with a heart -“soft as wax,” had nothing in him which subjugates a woman and makes her -respect him. A woman such as Marie Stuart, changeable, ardent, easily -swayed, with the sentiment of her weakness and of her impulsiveness, -likes to find a master and at moments a tyrant in the man she loves, -whereas she soon despises her slave and creature when he is nought but -that; she much prefers an arm of iron to an effeminate hand.</p> - -<p>Less than six months after her marriage Marie, wholly disgusted, -consoled herself with an Italian, David Riccio, a man thirty-two years -of age, equally well fitted for business or pleasure, who advised her -and served her as secretary, and was gifted with a musical talent well -suited to commend him to women in other ways. The feeble Darnley -confided his jealousy to the discontented lords and gentlemen, and they, -in the interests of their faction, prodded his vengeance and offered to -serve it with their sword. Ministers and Presbyterian pastors took part -in the affair. The whole was plotted and managed with perfect unanimity -as a chastisement of Heaven, and, what is more, by help of deeds and -formal agreements which simulated legality. The queen and her favourite, -apparently before they had any suspicions, were taken in a net. David -Riccio was seized by the conspirators while supping in Marie’s cabinet -(March 9, 1566), Darnley being present, and from there he was dragged -into the next room and stabbed. Marie, at this date, was six<a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a> months -pregnant by her husband. On that day, outraged in honour and embittered -in feeling, she conceived for Darnley a deeper contempt mingled with -horror, and swore to avenge herself on the murderers. For this purpose -she bided her time, she dissimulated; for the first time in her life she -controlled herself and restrained her actions. She became politic—as -the nature is of passionate women—only in the interests of her passion -and her vengeance.</p> - -<p>Here is the gravest and the most irreparable incident of her life. Even -after we have fully represented to ourselves what the average morality -of the sixteenth century, with all the treachery and atrocities it -tolerated, was, we are scarcely prepared for this. Marie Stuart’s first -desire was to revenge herself on the lords and gentlemen who had lent -their daggers to Darnley, rather than on her weak and timid husband. To -reach her end she reconciled herself with the latter and detached him -from the conspirators, his accomplices. She forced him to disavow them, -thus degrading and sinking him in his own estimation. At this point she -remained as long as a new passion was not added to her supreme contempt. -Meantime her child was born (June 19), and she made Darnley the father -of a son who resembled both parents on their worst sides, the future -James I. of England, that soul of a casuist in a king. But by this time -a new passion was budding in the open heart of Marie Stuart. He whom she -now chose had neither Darnley’s feebleness nor the salon graces of a -Riccio; he was the Earl of Bothwell, a man of thirty, ugly, but martial -in aspect, brave, bold, violent, and capable of daring all things. To -him it was that this flexible and tender will was henceforth to cling -for its support. Marie Stuart has found her master; and him she will -obey in all things, without scruple, without remorse, as happens always -in distracted passion.<a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a></p> - -<p>But how rid herself of a husband henceforth odious? How unite herself to -the man she loves and whose ambition is not of a kind to stop half way? -Here again we need—not to excuse, but to explain Marie Stuart—we need -to represent to our minds the morality of that day. A goodly number of -the same lords who had taken part in Riccio’s murder, and who were -leagued together by deeds and documents, offered themselves to the -queen, and, for the purpose of recovering favour, let her see the means -of getting rid of a husband who was now so irksome. She answered this -overture by merely speaking of a divorce and the difficulty of obtaining -it. But these men, little scrupulous, said to her plainly, by the mouth -of Lethington, the ablest and most politic of them all: “Madame, give -yourself no anxiety; we, the leaders of the nobility, and the heads of -your Grace’s Council, will find a way to deliver you from him without -prejudice to your son; and though my Lord Murray, here present (the -illegitimate brother of Marie Stuart), is little less scrupulous as a -Protestant than your Grace is as a Papist, I feel sure that he will look -through his fingers, see us act, and say nothing.”</p> - -<p>The word was spoken; Marie had only to do as her brother did, “look -through her fingers,” as the vulgar saying was, and let things go on -without taking part in them. She did take a part however; she led into -the trap, by a feigned return of tenderness, the unfortunate Darnley, -then convalescing from the small-pox. She removed his suspicions without -much trouble, and, recovering her empire over him, persuaded him to come -in a litter from Glasgow to Kirk-of-Field, at the gates of Edinburgh, -where there was a species of parsonage, little suitable for the -reception of a king and queen, but very convenient for the crime now to -be committed.</p> - -<p>There Darnley perished, strangled with his page, during<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a> the night of -February 9, 1567. The house was blown up by means of a barrel of -gunpowder, placed there to give the idea of an accident. During this -time Marie had gone to a masked ball at Holyrood, not having quitted her -husband until that evening, when all was prepared to its slightest -detail. Bothwell, who was present for a time at the ball, left Edinburgh -after midnight and presided at the killing. These circumstances are -proved in an irrefragable manner by the testimony of witnesses, by the -confessions of the actors, and by the letters of Marie Stuart, the -authenticity of which M. Mignard, with decisive clearness, places beyond -all doubt. She felt that in giving herself thus to Bothwell’s projects -she furnished him with weapons against herself and gave him grounds to -distrust her in turn. He might say to himself, as the Duke of Norfolk -said later, that “the pillow of such a woman was too hard” to sleep -upon. During the preparation of this horrible trap she more than once -showed her repugnance to deceive the poor sick dupe who trusted her. “I -shall never rejoice,” she writes, “through deceiving him who trusts me. -Nevertheless, command me in all things. But do not conceive an ill -opinion of me; because you yourself are the cause of this; for I would -never do anything against him for my own particular vengeance.” And -truly this rôle of Clytemnestra, or of Gertrude in Hamlet was not in -accordance with her nature, and could only have been imposed upon her. -But passion rendered her for this once insensible to pity, and made her -heart (she herself avows it) “as hard as diamond.” Marie Stuart soon put -the climax to her ill-regulated passion and desires by marrying -Bothwell; thus revolting the mind of her whole people, whose morality, -fanatical as it was, was never in the least depraved, and was far more -upright than that of the nobles.</p> - -<p>The crime was echoed beyond the seas. L’Hôpital, that<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a> representative of -the human conscience in a dreadful era, heard, in his country retreat, -of the misguided conduct of her whose early grace and first marriage he -had celebrated in his stately epithalamium; and he now recorded his -indignation in another Latin poem, wherein he recounts the horrors of -that funereal night, and does not shrink from calling the wife and the -young mother “the murderess, alas! of a father whose child was still at -her breast.”</p> - -<p>On the 15th of May, three months—only three months after the murder, at -the first smile of spring, the marriage with the murderer was -celebrated. Marie Stuart justified in all ways Shakespeare’s saying: -“Frailty, thy name is Woman.” For none was ever more a woman than Marie -Stuart.</p> - -<p>Here I am unable to admit the third reproach of Mme. Sand, that of Marie -Stuart’s forgetfulness of Bothwell. I see, on the contrary, through all -the obstacles, all the perils immediately following this marriage, that -Marie had no other idea than that of avoiding separation from her -violent and domineering husband. She loved him so madly that she said to -whosoever might hear her (April, 1567) that “she would quit France, -England, and her own country, and follow him to the ends of the earth in -nought but a white petticoat, rather than be parted from him.” And soon -after, forced by the lords to tear herself from Bothwell, she reproaches -them bitterly, asking but one thing, “that both be put in a vessel and -sent away where Fortune led them.” It was only enforced separation, -final imprisonment, and the impossibility of communication, which -compelled the rupture. It is true that Marie, a prisoner in England, -solicited the Parliament of Scotland to annul her marriage with -Bothwell, in the hope she then had of marrying the Duke of Norfolk, who -played the lover to herself and crown, though she never saw him.<a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a> But, -Bothwell being a fugitive and ruined, can we reproach Marie Stuart for a -project from which she hoped for restoration and deliverance? Her -passion for Bothwell had been a delirium, which drove her into -connivance with crime. That fever calmed, Marie Stuart turned her mind -to the resources which presented themselves, among which was the offer -of her hand. Her wrong-doing does not lie there; amid so many -infidelities and horrors, it would be pushing delicacy much too far to -require eternity of sentiment for the remains of an unbridled and bloody -passion. That which is due to such passions, when they leave no hatred -behind them, that which becomes them best, is oblivion.</p> - -<p>Such conduct, and such deeds, crowned by her heedless flight into -England and the imprudent abandonment of her person to Elizabeth, seem -little calculated to make the touching and pathetic heroine we are -accustomed to admire and cherish in Marie Stuart. Yet she deserves all -pity; and we have but to follow her through the third and last portion -of her life, through that long, unjust, and sorrowful captivity of -nineteen years (May 18, 1568, to February 5, 1587) to render it -unconsciously. Struggling without defence against a crafty and ambitious -rival, liable to mistakes from friends outside, the victim of a grasping -and tenacious policy which never let go its prey and took so long a time -to torture before devouring it, she never for a single instant fails -towards herself; she rises ever higher. That faculty of hope which so -often had misled her becomes the grace of her condition and a virtue. -She moves the whole world in the interest of her misfortunes; she stirs -it with a charm all-powerful. Her cause transforms and magnifies itself. -It is no longer that of a passionate and heedless woman punished for her -frailties and her inconstancy; it is that of the legitimate heiress of -the crown of England, exposed in her dungeon to the eyes of<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a> the world, -a faithful, unshaken Catholic, who refuses to sacrifice her faith to the -interests of her ambition or even to the salvation of her life. The -beauty and grandeur of such a rôle were fitted to stir the tender and -naturally believing heart of Marie Stuart. She fills her soul with that -rôle; she substitutes it, from the first moment of her captivity, for -all her former personal sentiments, which, little by little, subside and -expire within her as the fugitive occasions which aroused them pass -away. She seems to remember them no more than she does the waves and the -foam of those brilliant lakes that she has crossed. For nineteen years -the whole of Catholicity is disquieted and impassioned about her; and -she is there, half-heroine, half-martyr, making the signal and waving -her banner behind the bars. Captive that she was, do not accuse her of -conspiring against Elizabeth; for with her ideas of right divine and of -absolute kingship from sovereign to sovereign, it was not conspiring, -she being a prisoner, to seek for the triumph of her cause; it was -simply pursuing the war.</p> - -<p>From the moment when Marie Stuart is a prisoner, when we see her -crushed, deprived of all that comforts and consoles, infirm, alas! with -whitened hair before her time, when we hear her, in the longest and most -remarkable of her letters to Elizabeth (November 8, 1582), repeating for -the twentieth time: “Your prison, without right, without just grounds, -has already so destroyed my body that you will soon see an end if this -lasts much longer; so that my enemies have no great time to satisfy -their cruelty against me; nought remains to me but my soul, the which it -is not in your power to render captive,”—when we dwell on this mixture -of pride and plaint, pity carries us along; our hearts speak; the tender -charm with which she was endowed, and which acted upon all who -approached her, asserts its power and lays its spell upon us even at -this distance. It is not<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a> by the text of a scribe, nor yet with the -logic of a statesman that we judge her; it is with the heart of a -knight, or rather, let me say, with that of a man. Humanity, pity, -religion, supreme poetic grace, all those invincible and immortal powers -feel themselves concerned in her person and cry to us across the ages. -“Bear these tidings,” she said to her old Melvil at the moment of death: -“that I die firm in my religion, a true Catholic, a true Scotchwoman, a -true Frenchwoman.” These beliefs, these patriotisms and nationalities -thus evoked by Marie Stuart have made that long echo that replies to her -with tears and love.</p> - -<p>What reproach can we make to one who, after nineteen years of anguish -and moral torture, searched, during the night that preceded her death, -in the “Lives of the Saints” (which her ladies were accustomed to read -to her nightly) for some great sinner whom God had pardoned. She stopped -at the story of the penitent thief, which seemed to her the most -reassuring example of human confidence and divine mercy; and while Jean -Kennedy, one of her ladies, read it to her, she said: “He was a great -sinner, but not so great as I. I implore our Lord, in memory of His -Passion, to remember and have mercy upon me, as He had upon him, in the -hour of death.” Those true and sincere feelings, that contrite humility -in her last and sublime moments, this perfect intelligence, and profound -need of pardon, leave us without means of seeing any stain of the past -upon her except through tears.</p> - -<p>It was thus that old Étienne Pasquier felt. Having to relate in his -“Recherches” the death of Marie Stuart, he compares it with the tragic -history of the Connétable de Saint-Pol, and that of the Connétable de -Bourbon, which left him under a mixture of conflicting sentiments. “But -in that of which I now discourse,” he says, “methinks I see<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a> only tears; -and is there, by chance, a man who, reading this, will not forgive his -eyes?”</p> - -<p>M. Mignet, who examines all things as an historian, and gives but short -pages to emotion, has admirably distinguished and explained the -different phases of Marie Stuart’s captivity, and the secret springs -which were set to work at various periods. He has, especially, cast a -new light, aided by Spanish documents in the Archives of Simancas, on -the slow preparations of the enterprise undertaken by Philip II., that -fruitless and tardy crusade, delayed until after the death of Marie -Stuart, which ended in the disastrous shipwreck of the invincible -Armada.</p> - -<p>Issuing from this brilliant and stormy episode of the history of the -sixteenth century, which has been so strongly and judiciously set before -us by M. Mignet, full of these scenes of violence, treachery, and -iniquity, and without having the innocence to believe that humanity has -done forever with such deeds, we congratulate ourselves in spite of -everything, and rejoice that we live in an age of softened and -ameliorated public morals. We exclaim with M. de Tavannes, when he -relates in his “Memoirs” the life and death of Marie Stuart: “Happy he -who lives in a safe State; where good and evil are rewarded and punished -according to their deserts.” Happy the times and the communities where a -certain general morality and human respect for opinion, where a penal -Code, and especially the continual check of publicity, exist to -interdict, even to the boldest, those criminal resolutions which every -human heart, if left to itself, is ever tempted to engender.</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Sainte-Beuve</span>, <i>Causeries du Lundi</i> (1851).<br /> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="DISCOURSE_IV" id="DISCOURSE_IV"></a>DISCOURSE IV.<br /><br /> -<small>ÉLISABETH OF FRANCE, QUEEN OF SPAIN.</small></h2> - -<p>I <small>WRITE</small> here of the Queen of Spain, Élisabeth of France, a true daughter -of France in everything, a beautiful, wise, virtuous, spiritual, and -good queen if ever there was one; and I believe since Saint Élisabeth no -one has borne that name who surpassed her in all sorts of virtues and -perfections, although that beautiful name of Élisabeth has been fateful -of goodness, virtue, sanctity, and perfection to those who have borne -it, as many believe.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> - -<p>When she was born at Fontainebleau, the king her grandfather, and her -father and mother made very great joy of it; you would have said she was -a lucky star bringing good hap to France; for her baptism brought peace -to us, as did her marriage. See how good fortunes are gathered in one -person to be distributed on diverse occasions; for then it was that -peace was made with King Henry [VIII.] of England; and to confirm and -strengthen it our king made him her sponsor and gave to his goddaughter -the beautiful name of Élisabeth; at whose birth and baptism the -rejoicings were as great as at those of the little King François the -last.</p> - -<p>Child as she was, she promised to be some great thing at a future day; -and when she came to be grown up she promised it more surely still; for -all virtue and goodness<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a> abounded in her, so that the whole Court -admired her, and prognosticated a fine grandeur and great royalty to her -in time. So they say that when King Henri married his second daughter, -Madame Claude, to the Duc de Lorraine, there were some who remonstrated -against the wrong done to the elder in marrying the younger before her; -but the king made this response: “My daughter Élisabeth is such that a -duchy is not for her to marry. She must have a kingdom; and even so, not -one of the lesser but one of the greater kingdoms; so great is she -herself in all things; which assures me that she can miss none, -wherefore she can wait.”</p> - -<p>You would have said he prophesied the future. He did not fail on his -side to seek and procure one for her; for when peace was made between -the two kings at Cercan she was promised in marriage to Don Carlos, -Prince of Spain, a brave and gallant prince and the image of his -grandfather, the Emperor Charles, had he lived. But the King of Spain, -his father, becoming a widower by the death of the Queen of England, his -wife and cousin-german, and having seen the portrait of Madame Élisabeth -and finding her very beautiful and much to his liking, cut the ground -from under the feet of his son and did himself the charity of wedding -her himself. On which the French and Spaniards said with one voice that -one would think she was conceived and born before the world and reserved -by God until his will had joined her with this great king, her husband; -for it must have been predestined that he, being so great, so powerful, -and thus approaching in all grandeur to the skies, should marry no other -princess than one so perfect and accomplished. When the Duke of Alba -came to see her and espouse her for the king, his master, he found her -so extremely agreeable and suited to the said master that he said<a name="page_139" id="page_139"></a> she -was a princess who would make the King of Spain very easily forget his -grief for his last two wives, the English and the Portuguese.</p> - -<p>After this, as I have heard from a good quarter, the said prince, Don -Carlos, having seen her, became so distractedly in love with her, and so -full of jealousy, that he bore a great grudge against his father, and -was so angry with him for having deprived him of so fine a prize that he -never loved him more, but reproached him with the great wrong and insult -he had done him in taking her who had been promised to him solemnly in -the treaty of peace. They do say that this was, in part, the cause of -his death, with other topics which I shall not speak of at this hour; -for he could not keep himself from loving her in his soul, honouring and -revering her, so charming and agreeable did she seem in his eyes, as -certainly she was in everything.</p> - -<p>Her face was handsome, her hair and eyes so shaded her complexion and -made it the more attractive that I have heard say in Spain that the -courtiers dared not look upon her for fear of being taken in love and -causing jealousy to the king, her husband, and, consequently, running -risk of their lives.</p> - -<p>The Church people did the same from fear of temptation, they not having -strength to command their flesh to look at her without being tempted. -Although she had had the small-pox, after being grown-up and married, -they had so well preserved her face with poultices of fresh eggs (a very -proper thing for that purpose) that no marks appeared. I saw the queen, -her mother, very much concerned to send her by many couriers many -remedies; but this of the egg-poultice was sovereign.</p> - -<p>Her figure was very fine, taller than that of her sisters, which made -her much admired in Spain, where such tall women are rare, and for that -the more esteemed. And with<a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a> this figure she had a bearing, a majesty, a -gesture, a gait and grace that intermingled the Frenchwoman with the -Spaniard in sweetness and gravity; so that, as I myself saw, when she -passed through her Court, or went out to certain places, whether -churches, or monasteries, or gardens, there was such great press to see -her, and the crowd of persons was so thick, there was no turning round -in the mob; and happy was he or she who could say in the evening, “I saw -the queen.” It was said, and I saw it myself, that no queen was ever -loved in Spain like her (begging pardon of the Queen Isabella of -Castile), and her subjects called her <i>la reyna de la paz y de la -bondad</i>, that is to say, “the queen of peace and kindness;” but our -Frenchmen called her “the olive-branch of peace.”</p> - -<p>A year before she came to France to visit her mother at Bayonne, she -fell ill to such extremity that the physicians gave her up. On which a -little Italian doctor, who had no great vogue at Court, presenting -himself to the king, declared that if he were allowed to act he would -cure her; which the king permitted, she being almost dead. The doctor -undertook her and gave her a medicine, after which they suddenly saw the -colour return miraculously to her face, her speech came back, and then, -soon after, her convalescence began. Nevertheless the whole Court and -all the people of Spain blocked the roads with processions and comings -and goings to churches and hospitals for her health’s sake, some in -shirts, others bare-footed and bare-headed, offering oblations, prayers, -orisons, intercessions to God, with fasts, macerations of the body, and -other good and saintly devotions for her health; so that every one -believes firmly that these good prayers, tears, vows, and cries to God -were the cause of her cure, rather than the medicine of that doctor.</p> - -<p><a name="page_141" id="page_141"></a>I arrived in Spain a month after this recovery of her health; but I saw -so much devotion among the people in giving thanks to God, by fêtes, -rejoicings, magnificences, fireworks, that there was no doubting in any -way how much they felt. I saw nothing else in Spain as I travelled -through it, and reaching the Court just two days after she left her -room, I saw her come out and get into her coach, sitting at the door of -it, which was her usual place, because such beauty should not be hidden -within, but displayed openly.</p> - -<p>She was dressed in a gown of white satin all covered with silver -trimmings, her face uncovered. I think that nothing was ever seen more -beautiful than this queen, as I had the boldness to tell her; for she -had given me a right good welcome and cheer, coming as I did from France -and the Court, and bringing her news of the king, her good brother, and -the queen, her good mother; for all her joy and pleasure was to know of -them. It was not I alone who thought her beautiful, but all the Court -and all the people of Madrid thought so likewise; so that it might be -said that even illness favoured her, for after doing her such cruel harm -it embellished her skin, making it so delicate and polished that she was -certainly more beautiful than ever before.</p> - -<p>Leaving thus her chamber for the first time, to do the best and -saintliest thing she could she went to the churches to give thanks to -God for the favour of her health; and this good work she continued for -the space of fifteen days, not to speak of the vow she made to Our Lady -of Guadalupe; letting the whole people see her face uncovered (as was -her usual fashion) till you might have thought they worshipped her, so -to speak, rather than honoured or revered her.</p> - -<p>So when she died [1568], as I have heard the late M. de Lignerolles, who -saw her die, relate, he having gone to carry to the King of Spain the -news of the victory of Jarnac, never were a people so afflicted, so -disconsolate; none ever shed<a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a> so many tears, being unable to recover -themselves in any way, but mourning her with despair incessantly.</p> - -<p>She made a noble end [<i>at.</i> 23], leaving this world with firm courage, -and desiring much the other.</p> - -<p>Sinister things have been said of her death, as having been hastened. I -have heard one of her ladies tell that the first time she saw her -husband she looked at him so fixedly that the king, not liking it, said -to her: <i>Que mirais? Si tengo canas?</i> which means: “What are you gazing -at? Is my hair white?” These words touched her so much to the heart that -ever after her ladies augured ill for her.</p> - -<p>It is said that a Jesuit, a man of importance, speaking of her one day -in a sermon, and praising her rare virtues, charities, and kindness, let -fall the words that she had wickedly been made to die, innocent as she -was; for which he was banished to the farthest depths of the Indies of -Spain. This is very true, as I have been told.</p> - -<p>There are other conjectures so great that silence must be kept about -them; but very true it is that this princess was the best of her time -and loved by every one.</p> - -<p>So long as she lived in Spain never did she forget the affection she -bore to France, and in that was not like Germaine de Foix, second wife -of King Ferdinand, who when she saw herself raised to such high rank -became so haughty that she made no account of her own country, and -disdained it so much that, when Louis XII., her uncle, and Ferdinand -came to Savonne, she, being with her husband, held herself so high that -never would she notice a Frenchman, not even her brother Gaston de Foix, -Duc de Nemours, neither would she deign to speak or look at the greatest -persons of France who were present; for which she was much ridiculed. -But after the death of her husband she suffered for this, having fallen -from her high estate and being held in no great account,<a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a> whereat she -was miserable. They say there are none so vainglorious as persons of low -estate who rise to grandeur; not that I mean to say that princess was of -low estate, being of the house of Foix, a very illustrious and great -house; but from simple daughter of a count to be queen of so great a -kingdom was a rise which gave occasion to feel much glory, but not to -forget herself or abuse her station towards a King of France, her uncle, -and her nearest relations and others of the land of her birth. In this -she showed she lacked a great mind; or else that she was foolishly -vainglorious. For surely there is a difference between the house of Foix -and the house of France; not that I mean to say the house of Foix is not -great and very noble, but the house of France—hey!</p> - -<p>Our Queen Élisabeth never did like that. She was born great in herself, -great in mind and very able, so that a royal grandeur could not fail -her. She had, if she had wished it, double cause over Germaine de Foix -to be haughty and arrogant, for she was daughter of a great King of -France, and married to the greatest king in the world, he being not the -monarch of one kingdom, but of many, or, as one might say, of all the -Spains,—Jerusalem, the Two Sicilies, Majorca, Minorca, Sardinia, and -the Western Indies, which seem indeed a world, besides being lord of -infinitely more lands and greater seigneuries than Ferdinand ever had. -Therefore we should laud our princess for her gentleness, which is well -becoming in a great personage towards each and all; and likewise for the -affection she showed to Frenchmen, who, on arriving in Spain, were -welcomed by her with so benign a face, the least among them as well as -the greatest, that none ever left her without feeling honoured and -content. I can speak for myself, as to the honour she did me in talking -to me often during the time I stayed<a name="page_144" id="page_144"></a> there; asking me, at all hours, -news of the king, the queen her mother, messieurs her brothers, and -madame her sister, with others of the Court, not forgetting to name -them, each and all, and to inquire about them; so that I wondered much -how she could remember these things as if she had just left the Court of -France; and I often asked her how it was possible she could keep such -memories in the midst of her grandeur.</p> - -<p>When she came to Bayonne she showed herself just as familiar with the -ladies and maids of honour, neither more nor less, as she was when a -girl; and as for those who were absent or married since her departure, -she inquired with great interest about them all. She did the same to the -gentlemen of her acquaintance, and to those who were not, informing -herself as to who the latter were, and saying: “Such and such were at -Court in my day, I knew them well; but these were not, and I desire to -know them.” In short, she contented every one.</p> - -<p>When she made her entry into Bayonne she was mounted on an ambling -horse, most superbly and richly caparisoned with pearl embroideries -which had formerly been used by the deceased empress when she made her -entries into her towns, and were thought to be worth one hundred -thousand crowns, and some say more. She had a noble grace on horseback, -and it was fine to see her; she showed herself so beautiful and so -agreeable that every one was charmed with her.</p> - -<p>We all had commands to go to meet her, and accompany her on this entry, -as indeed it was our duty to do; and we were gratified when, having made -her our reverence, she did us the honour to thank us; and to me above -all she gave good greeting, because it was scarcely four months since I -had left her in Spain; which touched me much, receiving<a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a> such favour -above my companions and more honour than belonged to me.</p> - -<p>On my return from Portugal and from Pignon de Belis [Penon de Velez], a -fortress which was taken in Barbary, she welcomed me very warmly, asking -me news of the conquest and of the army. She presented me to Don Carlos, -who came into her room, together with the princess, and to Don Juan [of -Austria, Philip II.’s brother, the conqueror of Lepanto]. I was two days -without going to see her, on account of a toothache I had got upon the -sea. She asked Riberac, maid of honour, where I was and if I were ill, -and having heard what my trouble was she sent me her apothecary, who -brought me an herb very special for that ache, which, on merely being -held in the palm of the hand, cures the pain suddenly, as it did very -quickly for me.</p> - -<p>I can boast that I was the first to bring the queen-mother word of Queen -Élisabeth’s desire to come to France and see her, for which she thanked -me much both then and later; for the Queen of Spain was her good -daughter, whom she loved above the others, and who returned her the -like; for Queen Élisabeth so honoured, respected, and feared her that I -have heard her say she never received a letter from the queen, her -mother, without trembling and dreading lest she was angry with her and -had written some painful thing; though, God knows, she had never said -one to her since she was married, nor been angry with her; but the -daughter feared the mother so much that she always had that -apprehension.</p> - -<p>It was on this journey to Bayonne that Pompadour the elder having killed -Chambret at Bordeaux, wrongfully as some say, the queen-mother was so -angry that if she could have caught him she would have had him beheaded, -and no one dared speak to her of mercy.<a name="page_146" id="page_146"></a></p> - -<p>M. Strozzi, who was fond of the said Pompadour, bethought him of -employing his sister, Signora Clarice Strozzi, Comtesse de Tenda, whom -the Queen of Spain loved from her earliest years, they having studied -together. The said countess, who loved her brother, did not refuse him, -but begged the Queen of Spain to intercede; who answered that she would -do anything for her except that, because she dreaded to irritate and -annoy the queen, her mother, and displease her. But the countess -continuing to importune her, she employed a third person who sounded the -ford privately, telling the queen-mother that the queen, her daughter, -would have asked this pardon to gratify the said countess had she not -feared to displease her. To which the queen-mother replied that the -thing must be wholly impossible to make her refuse it. On which the -Queen of Spain made her little request, but still in fear; and suddenly -it was granted. Such was the kindness of this princess, and her virtue -in honouring and fearing the queen, her mother, she being herself so -great. Alas! the Christian proverb did not hold good in her case, -namely: “He that would live long years must love and honour and fear his -father and mother;” for, in spite of doing all that, she died in the -lovely and pleasant April of her days; for now, at the time I write, -[1591] she would have been, had she lived, forty-six years old. Alas! -that this fair sun disappeared so soon in a dark-some grave, when she -might have lighted this fine world for twenty good years without even -then being touched by age; for she was by nature and complexion fitted -to keep her beauty long, and even had old age attacked her, her beauty -was of a kind to be the stronger.</p> - -<p>Surely, if her death was hard to Spaniards, it was still more bitter to -us Frenchmen, for as long as she lived France was never invaded by those -quarrels which, since then,<a name="page_147" id="page_147"></a> Spain has put upon us; so well did she know -how to win and persuade the king, her husband, for our good and our -peace; the which should make us ever mourn her.</p> - -<p>She left two daughters, the most honourable and virtuous infantas in -Christendom. When they were large enough, that is to say, three or four -years old, she begged her husband to leave the eldest wholly to her that -she might bring her up in the French fashion. Which the king willingly -granted. So she took her in hand, and gave her a fine and noble training -in the style of her own country, so that to-day that infanta is as -French as her sister, the Duchesse de Savoie, is Spanish; she loves and -cherishes France as her mother taught her, and you may be sure that all -the influence and power that she has with the king, her father, she -employs for the help and succour of those poor Frenchmen whom she knows -are suffering in Spanish hands. I have heard it said that after the rout -of M. Strozzi, very many French soldiers and gentlemen having been put -in the galleys, she went, when at Lisbon, to visit all the galleys that -were then there; and all the Frenchmen whom she found on the chain, to -the number of six twenties, she caused to be released, giving them money -to reach their own land; so that the captains of the galleys were -obliged to hide those that remained.</p> - -<p>She was a very beautiful princess and very agreeable, of an extremely -graceful mind, who knew all the affairs of the kingdom of the king, her -father, and was well trained in them. I hope to speak of her hereafter -by herself, for she deserves all honour for the love she bears to -France; she says she can never part with it, having good right to it; -and we, if we have obligation to this princess for loving us, how much -more should we have to the queen, her mother, for having thus brought -her up and taught her.<a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a></p> - -<p>Would to God I were a good enough petrarchizer to exalt as I desire this -Élisabeth of France! for, if the beauty of her body gives me most ample -matter, that of her fine soul gives me still more, as these verses, -which were made upon her at Court at the time she was married, will -testify:</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Happy the prince whom Heaven ordains<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To Élisabeth’s sweet acquaintance:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">More precious far than crown or sceptre<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The glad enjoyment of so great a treasure.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Gifts most divine she had at birth,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The proof and the effect of which we see;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Her youthful years showed their appearance,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But now her virtues bear their perfect fruit.<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>When this queen was put into the hands of the Duc de l’Infantado and the -Cardinal de Burgos, who were commissioned by their king to receive her -at Roncevaux in a great hall, after the said deputies had made their -reverence, she rising from her chair to welcome them, Cardinal de Burgos -harangued her; to whom she made response so honourably, and in such fine -fashion and good grace that he was quite amazed; for she spoke in the -best manner, having been very well taught.</p> - -<p>After which the King of Navarre, who was there as her principal -conductor, and also leader of all the army which was with her, was -summoned to deliver her, according to the order, which was shown to the -Cardinal de Bourbon, to receive her. The king replied, for he spoke -well, and said: “I place in your hands this princess, whom I have -brought from the house of the greatest king in the world to be placed in -the hands of the most illustrious king on earth. Knowing you to be very -sufficient and chosen by the king your master to receive her, I make no -difficulty nor doubt that you will acquit yourselves worthily of this -trust, which<a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a> I now discharge upon you; begging you to have peculiar -care of her health and person, for she deserves it; and I wish you to -know that never did there enter Spain so great an ornament of all -virtues and chastities, as in time you will know well by results.”</p> - -<p>The Spaniards replied at once that already at first sight they had very -ample knowledge of this from her manner and grave majesty; and, in -truth, her virtues were rare.</p> - -<p>She had great knowledge, because the queen her mother had made her study -well under M. de Saint-Étienne, her preceptor, whom she always loved and -respected until her death. She loved poesy, and to read it. She spoke -well, in either French or Spanish, with a very noble air and much good -grace. Her Spanish language was beautiful, as dainty and attractive as -possible; she learned it in three or four months after coming to Spain.</p> - -<p>To Frenchmen she always spoke French; never being willing to discontinue -it, but reading it daily in the fine books they sent from France, which -she was very anxious to have brought to her. To Spaniards and all others -she spoke Spanish and very well. In short, she was perfect in all -things, and so magnificent and liberal that no one could be more so. She -never wore her gowns a second time, but gave them to her ladies and -maids; and God knows what gowns they were, so rich and so superb that -the least was reckoned at three or four hundred crowns; for the king, -her husband, kept her most superbly in such matters; so that every day -she had a new one, as I was told by her tailor, who from being a very -poor man became so rich that nothing exceeded him, as I saw myself.</p> - -<p>She dressed well, and very pompously, and her habiliments became her -much; among other things her sleeves were slashed, with scollops which -they call in Spanish <i>puntas<a name="page_150" id="page_150"></a></i>; her head-dress the same, where nothing -lacked. Those who see her thus in painting admire her; I therefore leave -you to think what pleasure they had who saw her face to face, with all -her gestures and good graces.</p> - -<p>As for pearls and jewels in great quantity, she never lacked them, for -the king, her husband, ordered a great estate for her and for her -household. Alas! what served her that for such an end? Her ladies and -maids of honour felt it. Those who, being French, could not constrain -themselves to live in a foreign land, she caused, by a prayer which she -made to the king, her husband, to receive each four thousand crowns on -their marriage; as was done to Mesdamoiselles Riberac, sisters, -otherwise called Guitignières, de Fumel, the two sisters de Thorigny, de -Noyau, d’Arne, de La Motte au Groin, Montal, and several others. Those -who were willing to remain were better off, like Mesdamoiselles de -Saint-Ana and de Saint-Legier, who had the honour to be governesses to -Mesdames the infantas, and were married very richly to two great -seigneurs; they were the wisest, for better is it to be great in a -foreign country than little in your own,—as Jesus said: “No one is a -prophet in his own land.”</p> - -<p>This is all, at this time, that I shall say of this good, wise and very -virtuous queen, though later I may speak of her. But I give this sonnet -which was written to her praise by an honourable gentleman, she being -still Madame, though promised in marriage:—</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Princess, to whom the skies give such advantage<br /></span> -<span class="i1">That, for the part you have in Heaven’s divinity,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">They grant you all the virtues of this earth,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And crown you with the gift of immortality:<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“And since it pleased them that in early years<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Your heavenly gifts of deity be seen,<a name="page_151" id="page_151"></a><br /></span> -<span class="i1">So that you temper with a humble gravity<br /></span> -<span class="i1">The royal grandeur of your sacred heritage:<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“And also since it pleases them to favour you,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And place in you the best of all their best,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">So that your name is cherished everywhere:<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Methinks that name should undergo a change,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And though we call you now Élisabeth of France,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">You should be named Élisabeth of Heaven.”<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>I know that I may be reproved for putting into this Discourse and others -preceding it too many little particulars which are quite superfluous. I -think so myself; but I know that if they displease some persons, they -will please others. Methinks it is not enough when we laud persons to -say that they are handsome, wise, virtuous, valorous, valiant, -magnanimous, liberal, splendid, and very perfect; those are general -descriptions and praises and commonplace sayings, borrowed from -everybody. We should specify such things and describe particularly all -perfections, so that one may, as it were, touch them with the finger. -Such is my opinion, and it pleases me to retain and rejoice my memory -with things that I have seen.</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i5"><span class="smcap">Epitaph On The Said Queen.</span><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Beneath this stone lies Élisabeth of France:<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Who was Queen of Spain and queen of peace,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Christian and Catholic. Her lovely presence<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Was useful to us all. Now that her noble bones<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Are dry and crumbling, lying under ground,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">We have nought but ills and wars and troubles.”<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p><a name="page_152" id="page_152"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="DISCOURSE_V" id="DISCOURSE_V"></a>DISCOURSE V.<br /><br /> -<small>MARGUERITE, QUEEN OF FRANCE AND OF NAVARRE, SOLE DAUGHTER NOW REMAINING OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF FRANCE.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></small></h2> - -<p>W<small>HEN</small> I consider the miseries and ill-adventures of that beautiful Queen -of Scotland of whom I have heretofore spoken, and of other princesses -and ladies whom I shall not name, fearing by such digression to impair -my discourse on the Queen of Navarre, of whom I now speak, not being as -yet Queen of France, I cannot think otherwise than that Fortune, -omnipotent goddess of weal and woe, is the opposing enemy of human -beauty; for if ever there was in the world a being of perfect beauty it -is the Queen of Navarre, and yet she has been little favoured by -Fortune, so far; so that one may indeed say that Fortune was so jealous -of Nature for having made this princess beautiful that she wished to run -counter in fate. However that may be, her beauty is such that the blows -of said Fortune have no ascendency upon her, for the generous courage -she drew at birth from so many brave and valorous kings, her father, -grandfather, great-grandfather, and their ancestors, has enabled her -hitherto to make a brave resistance.</p> - -<p>To speak now of the beauty of this rare princess: I think that all those -who are, will be, or ever have been beside it are plain, and cannot have -beauty; for the fire of hers so burns the wings of others that they dare -not hover, or even<a name="page_153" id="page_153"></a> appear, around it. If there be any unbeliever so -chary of faith as not to give credence to the miracles of God and -Nature, let him contemplate her fine face, so nobly formed, and become -converted, and say that Mother Nature, that perfect workwoman, has put -all her rarest and subtlest wits to the making of her. For whether she -shows herself smiling or grave, the sight of her serves to enkindle -every one; so beauteous are her features, so well defined her -lineaments, so transparent and agreeable her eyes that they pass -description; and, what is more, that beautiful face rests on a body -still more beautiful, superb, and rich,—of a port and majesty more like -to a goddess of heaven than a princess of earth; for it is believed, on -the word of several, that no goddess was ever seen more beautiful; so -that, in order to duly proclaim her beauty, virtues, and merit, God must -lengthen the earth and heighten the sky beyond where they now are, for -space in the airs and on the land is lacking for the flight of her -perfection and renown.</p> - -<p>Those are the beauties of body and mind in this fair princess, which I -at this time represent, like a good painter, after nature and without -art. I speak of those to be seen externally; for those that are secret -and hidden beneath white linen and rich accoutrements cannot be here -depicted or judged except as being very beautiful and rare; but this -must be by faith, presumption, and credence, for sight is interdicted. -Great hardship truly to be forced to see so beautiful a picture, made by -the hand of a divine workman, in the half only of its perfection; but -modesty and laudable shamefacedness thus ordain it—for they lodge among -princesses and great ladies as they do among commoner folk.</p> - -<p>To bring a few examples to show how the beauty of this queen was admired -and held for rare: I remember that when the Polish ambassadors came to -France, to announce to our<a name="page_154" id="page_154"></a> King Henri [then Duc d’Anjou] his election -to the kingdom of Poland, and to render him homage and obedience, after -they had made their reverence to King Charles, to the queen-mother, and -to their king, they made it, very particularly, and for several days, to -Monsieur, and to the King and Queen of Navarre; but the day when they -made it to the said Queen of Navarre she seemed to them so beautiful and -so superbly and richly accoutred and adorned, and with such great -majesty and grace that they were speechless at such beauty. Among -others, there was Lasqui, the chief of the embassy, whom I heard say, as -he retired, overcome by the sight: “No, never do I wish to see such -beauty again. Willingly would I do as do the Turks, pilgrims to Mecca, -where the sepulchre of their prophet Mahomet is, and where they stand -speechless, ravished, and so transfixed at the sight of that superb -mosque that they wish to see nothing more and burn their eyes out with -hot irons till they lose their sight, so subtly is it done; saying that -nothing more could be seen as fine, and therefore would they see -nothing.” Thus said that Pole about the beauty of our princess. And if -the Poles were won to admiration, so were others. I instance here Don -Juan of Austria, who (as I have said elsewhere), passing through France -as stilly as he could, and reaching Paris, knowing that that night a -solemn ball was given at the Louvre, went there disguised, as much to -see Queen Marguerite of Navarre as for any other purpose. He there had -means and leisure to see her at his ease, dancing, and led by the king, -her brother, as was usual. He gazed upon her long, admired her, and then -proclaimed her high above the beauties of Spain and Italy (two regions, -nevertheless, most fertile in beauty), saying these words in Spanish: -“Though the beauty of that queen is more divine than human, she is made -to damn and ruin men rather than to save them.<a name="page_155" id="page_155"></a>”</p> - -<p>Shortly after, he saw her again as she went to the baths of Liège, Don -Juan being then at Namur, where she had to pass; the which crowned all -his hopes to enjoy so fine a sight, and he went to meet her with great -and splendid Spanish magnificence, receiving her as though she were the -Queen Élisabeth, her sister, in the latter’s lifetime his queen, and -Queen of Spain. And though he was most enchanted with the beauty of her -body, he was the same with that of her mind, as I hope to show in its -proper place. But it was not Don Juan alone who praised and delighted to -praise her, but all his great and brave Spanish captains did the same, -and even the very soldiers of those far-famed bands, who went about -saying among themselves, in soldierly chorus, that “the conquest of such -beauty was better than that of a kingdom, and happy would be the -soldiers who, to serve her, would die beneath her banner.”</p> - -<p>It is not surprising that such people, well-born and noble, should think -this princess beautiful, but I have seen Turks coming on an embassy to -the king her brother, barbarians that they were, lose themselves in -gazing at her, and say that the pomp of their Grand Signior in going to -his mosque or marching with his army was not so fine to see as the -beauty of this queen.</p> - -<p>In short, I have seen an infinity of other strangers who have come to -France and to the Court expressly to behold her whose fame had gone from -end to end of Europe, so they said.</p> - -<p>I once saw a gallant Neapolitan knight, who, having come to Paris and -the Court, and not finding the said queen, delayed his return two months -in order to see her, and having seen her he said these words: “In other -days, the Princess of Salerno bore the like reputation for beauty in our -city of Naples, so that a foreigner who had gone there and had not<a name="page_156" id="page_156"></a> seen -her, when he returned and related his visit, and was asked had he seen -that princess, and answered no, was told that in that case he had not -seen Naples. Thus I, if on my return without seeing this beautiful -princess I were asked had I seen France and the Court, could scarcely -say I had, for she is its ornament and enrichment. But now, having seen -and contemplated her so well, I can say that I have seen the greatest -beauty in the world, and that our Princess of Salerno is as nothing to -her. Now I am well content to go, having enjoyed so fine a sight. I -leave you Frenchmen to think how happy you should be to see at your ease -and daily her fine face; and to approach that flame divine, which can -warm and kindle frigid hearts from afar more than the beauty of our most -beauteous dames near-by.” Such were the words said to me one day by that -charming Neapolitan knight.</p> - -<p>An honourable French gentleman, whom I could name, seeing her one -evening, in her finest lustre and most stately majesty in a ball-room, -said to me these words: “Ah! if the Sieur des Essarts, who, in his books -of ‘Amadis’ forced himself with such pains to well and richly describe -to the world the beautiful Nicquée and her glory, had seen this queen in -his day he would not have needed to borrow so many rich and noble words -to depict and set forth Nicquée’s beauty; ‘t would have sufficed him to -declare she was the semblance and image of the Queen of Navarre, unique -in this world; and thus the beauteous Nicquée would have been better -pictured than she has been, and without superfluity of words.”</p> - -<p>Therefore, M. de Ronsard had good reason to compose that glorious elegy -found among his works in honour of this beautiful Princess Marguerite of -France, then not married, in which he has introduced the goddess Venus -asking<a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a> her son whether in his rambles here below, seeing the ladies of -the Court of France, he had found a beauty that surpassed her own. “Yes, -mother,” Love replied, “I have found one on whom the glory of the finest -sky is shed since ever she was born.” Venus flushed red and would not -credit it, but sent a messenger, one of her Charites, to earth to -examine that beauty and make a just report. On which we read in the -elegy a rich and fine description of the charms of that accomplished -princess, in the mouth of the Charite Pasithea, the reading of which -cannot fail to please the world. But M. de Ronsard, as a very honourable -and able lady said to me, stopped short and lacked a little something, -in that he should have told how Pasithea returned to heaven, and there, -discharging her commission, said to Venus that her son had only told the -half; the which so saddened and provoked the goddess into jealousy, -making her blame Jupiter for the wrong he did to form on earth a beauty -that shamed those of heaven (and principally hers, the rarest of them -all), that henceforth she wore mourning and made abstinence from -pleasures and delights; for there is nothing so vexatious to a beautiful -and perfect lady as to tell her she has her equal, or that another can -surpass her.</p> - -<p>Now, we must note that if our queen was beauteous in herself and in her -nature, also she knew well how to array herself; and so carefully and -richly was she dressed, both for her body and her head, that nothing -lacked to give her full perfection.</p> - -<p>To the Queen Isabella of Bavaria, wife of King Charles VI., belongs the -praise of having brought to France the pomps and gorgeousness that -henceforth clothed most splendidly and gorgeously the ladies;<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> for in -the old tapestries of that<a name="page_158" id="page_158"></a> period in the houses of our kings we see -portrayed the ladies attired as they then were, in nought but -drolleries, slovenliness, and vulgarities, in place of the beautiful, -superb fashions, dainty headgear, inventions, and ornaments of our -queen; from which the ladies of the Court and France take pattern, so -that ever since, appearing in her modes, they are now great ladies -instead of simple madams, and so a hundredfold more charming and -desirable. It is to our Queen Marguerite that ladies owe this -obligation.</p> - -<p>I remember (for I was there) that when the queen-mother took this queen, -her daughter, to the King of Navarre, her husband, she passed through -Coignac and made some stay. While they were there, came various grand -and honourable ladies of the region to see them and do them reverence, -who were all amazed at the beauty of the princess, and could not surfeit -themselves in praising her to her mother, she being lost in joy. -Wherefore she begged her daughter to array herself one day most -gorgeously in the fine and superb apparel that she wore at Court for -great and magnificent pomps and festivals, in order to give pleasure to -these worthy dames. Which she did, to obey so good a mother; appearing -robed superbly in a gown of silver tissue and dove-colour, <i>à la -bolonnoise</i> [<i>bouillonnée</i>—with puffs?], and hanging sleeves, a rich -head-dress with a white veil, neither too large nor yet too small; the -whole accompanied with so noble a majesty and good grace that she seemed -more a goddess of heaven than a queen of earth. The queen-mother said to -her: “My daughter, you look well.” To which she answered: “Madame, I -begin early to wear and to wear out my gowns and the fashions I have -brought from Court, because when I return I shall bring nothing with me -only scissors and stuffs to dress me then according to current -fashions.” The queen-mother asked her: “What do you mean by that, my<a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a> -daughter? Is it not you yourself who invent and produce these fashions -of dress? Wherever you go the Court will take them from you, not you -from the Court.” Which was true; for after she returned she was always -in advance of the Court, so well did she know how to invent in her -dainty mind all sorts of charming things.</p> - -<p>But the beauteous queen in whatsoever fashion she dressed, were it <i>à la -française</i> with her tall head-dress, or in a simple coif, with her grand -veil, or merely in a cap, could never prove which of these fashions -became her most and made her most beautiful, admirable, and lovable; for -she well knew how to adapt herself to every mode, adjusting each new -device in a way not common and quite inimitable. So that if other ladies -took her pattern to form it for themselves they could not rival her, as -I have noticed a hundred times. I have seen her dressed in a robe of -white satin that shimmered much, a trifle of rose-colour mingling in it, -with a veil of tan crêpe or Roman gauze flung carelessly round her head; -yet nothing was ever more beautiful; and whatever may be said of the -goddesses of the olden time and the empresses as we see them on ancient -coins, they look, though splendidly accoutred, like chambermaids beside -her.</p> - -<p>I have often heard our courtiers dispute as to which attire became and -embellished her the most, about which each had his own opinion. For my -part, the most becoming array in which I ever saw her was, as I think, -and so did others, on the day when the queen-mother made a fête at the -Tuileries for the Poles. She was robed in a velvet gown of Spanish rose, -covered with spangles, with a cap of the same velvet, adorned with -plumes and jewels of such splendour as never was. She looked so -beautiful in this attire, as many told her, that she wore it often and -was painted in it; so that among her various portraits this one carries -the day over all<a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a> others, as the eyes of good judges will tell, for -there are plenty of her pictures to judge by.</p> - -<p>When she appeared, thus dressed, at the Tuileries, I said to M. de -Ronsard, who stood next to me: “Tell the truth, monsieur, do you not -think that beautiful queen thus apparelled is like Aurora, as she comes -at dawn with her fair white face surrounded with those rosy tints?—for -face and gown have much in sympathy and likeness.” M. de Ronsard avowed -that I was right; and on this my comparison, thinking it fine, he made a -sonnet, which I would fain have now, to insert it here.</p> - -<p>I also saw this our great queen at the first States-general at Blois on -the day the king, her brother, made his harangue. She was dressed in a -robe of orange and black (the ground being black with many spangles) and -her great veil of ceremony; and being seated according to her rank she -appeared so beautiful and admirable that I heard more than three hundred -persons in that assembly say they were better instructed and delighted -by the contemplation of such divine beauty than by listening to the -grave and noble words of the king, her brother, though he spoke and -harangued his best. I have also seen her dressed in her natural hair -without any artifice or peruke; and though her hair was very black -(having derived that from her father, King Henri), she knew so well how -to curl and twist and arrange it after the fashion of her sister, the -Queen of Spain, who wore none but her own hair, that such coiffure and -adornment became her as well as, or better than, any other. That is what -it is to have beauties by nature, which surpasses all artifice, no -matter what it may be. And yet she did not like the fashion much and -seldom used it, but preferred perukes most daintily fashioned.</p> - -<p>In short, I should never have done did I try to describe all her -adornments and forms of attire in which she was ever<a name="page_161" id="page_161"></a> more and more -beauteous; for she changed them often, and all were so becoming and -appropriate, as though Nature and Art were striving to outdo each other -in making her beautiful. But this is not all; for her fine accoutrements -and adornments never ventured to cover her beautiful throat or her -lovely bosom, fearing to wrong the eyes of all the world that roved upon -so fine an object; for never was there seen the like in form and -whiteness, and so full and plump that often the courtiers died with envy -when they saw the ladies, as I have seen them, those who were her -intimates, have license to kiss her with great delight.</p> - -<p>I remember that a worthy gentleman, newly arrived at Court, who had -never seen her, when he beheld her said to me these words: “I am not -surprised that all you gentlemen should like the Court; for if you had -no other pleasure than daily to see that princess, you have as much as -though you lived in a terrestrial paradise.”</p> - -<p>Roman emperors of the olden time, to please the people and give them -pleasure, exhibited games and combats in their theatres; but to give -pleasure to the people of France and gain their friendship, it was -enough to let them often see Queen Marguerite, and enjoy the -contemplation of so divine a face, which she never hid behind a mask -like other ladies of our Court, for nearly all the time she went -uncovered; and once, on a flowery Easter Day at Blois, still being -Madame, sister of the king (although her marriage was then being treated -of), I saw her appear in the procession more beautiful than ever, -because, besides the beauty of her face and form, she was most superbly -adorned and apparelled; her pure white face, resembling the skies in -their serenity, was adorned about the head with quantities of pearls and -jewels, especially brilliant diamonds, worn in the form of stars, so -that the calm of the face and the sparkling jewels made one<a name="page_162" id="page_162"></a> think of -the heavens when starry. Her beautiful body with its full, tall form was -robed in a gown of crinkled cloth of gold, the richest and most -beautiful ever seen in France. This stuff was a gift made by the Grand -Signior to M. de Grand-Champ, our ambassador, on his departure from -Constantinople,—it being the Grand Signior’s custom to present to those -who are sent to him a piece of the said stuff amounting to fifteen ells, -which, so Grand-Champ told me, cost one hundred crowns the ell; for it -was indeed a masterpiece. He, on coming to France and not knowing how to -employ more worthily the gift of so rich a stuff, gave it to Madame, the -sister of the king, who made a gown of it, and wore it first on the said -occasion, when it became her well—for from one grandeur to another -there is only a hand’s breadth. She wore it all that day, although its -weight was heavy; but her beautiful, rich, strong figure supported it -well and served it to advantage; for had she been a little shrimp of a -princess, or a dame only elbow-high (as I have seen some), she would -surely have died of the weight, or else have been forced to change her -gown and take another.</p> - -<p>That is not all: being in the precession and walking in her rank, her -visage uncovered, not to deprive the people of so good a feast, she -seemed more beautiful still by holding and bearing in her hand her palm -(as our queens of all time have done) with royal majesty and a grace -half proud half sweet, and a manner little common and so different from -all the rest that whoso had seen her would have said: “Here is a -princess who goes above the run of all things in the world.” And we -courtiers went about saying, with one voice boldly, that she did well to -bear a palm in her hand, for she bore it away from others; surpassing -them all in beauty, in grace, and in perfection. And I swear to you that -in that procession we forgot our devotions, and did not<a name="page_163" id="page_163"></a> make them while -contemplating and admiring that divine princess, who ravished us more -than divine service; and yet we thought we committed no sin; for whoso -contemplates divinity on earth does not offend the divinity of heaven; -inasmuch as He made her such.</p> - -<p>When the queen, her mother, took her from Court to meet her husband in -Gascoigne, I saw how all the courtiers grieved at her departure as -though a great calamity had fallen on their heads. Some said: “The Court -is widowed of her beauty;” others: “The Court is gloomy, it has lost its -sun;” others again: “How dark it is; we have no torch.” And some cried -out: “Why should Gascoigne come here gascoigning to steal our beauty, -destined to adorn all France and the Court, Fontainebleau, -Saint-Germain, the hôtel du Louvre, and all the other noble places of -our kings, to lodge her at Pau and Nérac, places so unlike the others?” -But many said: “The deed is done; the Court and France have lost the -loveliest flower of their garland.”</p> - -<p>In short, on all sides did we hear resound such little speeches upon -this departure,—half in vexed anger, half in sadness,—although Queen -Louise de Lorraine remained behind, who was a very handsome and wise -princess, and virtuous (of whom I hope to speak more worthily in her -place); but for so long the Court had been accustomed to that beauteous -sight it could not keep from grieving and proffering such words. Some -there were who would have liked to kill M. de Duras, who came from his -master the King of Navarre to obtain her; and this I know.</p> - -<p>Once there came news to Court that she was dead in Auvergne some eight -days. On which a person whom I met said to me: “That cannot be, for -since that time the sky is clear and fine; if she were dead we should -have<a name="page_164" id="page_164"></a> seen eclipse of sun, because of the great sympathy two suns must -have, and nothing could be seen but gloom and clouds.”</p> - -<p>Enough has now been said, methinks, upon the beauty of her body, though -the subject is so ample that it deserves a decade. I hope to speak of it -again, but at present I must say something of her noble soul, which is -lodged so well in that noble body. If it was born thus noble within her -she has known how to keep it and maintain it so; for she loves letters -much and reading. While young, she was, for her age, quite perfect in -them; so that we could say of her: This princess is truly the most -eloquent and best-speaking lady in the world, with the finest style of -speech and the most agreeable to be found. When the Poles, as I have -said before, came to do her reverence they brought with them the Bishop -of Cracovie, the chief and head of the embassy, who made the harangue in -Latin, he being a learned and accomplished prelate. The queen replied so -pertinently and eloquently without the help of an interpreter, having -well understood and comprehended the harangue, that all were struck with -admiration, calling her with one voice a second Minerva, goddess of -eloquence.</p> - -<p>When the queen her mother took her to the king her husband, as I have -said, she made her entry to Bordeaux, as was proper, being daughter and -sister of a king, and wife of the King of Navarre, first prince of the -blood, and governor of Guyenne. The queen her mother willed it so, for -she loved and esteemed her much. This entry was fine; not so much for -the sumptuous magnificence there made and displayed, as for the triumph -of this most beautiful and accomplished queen of the world, mounted on a -fine white horse superbly caparisoned; she herself dressed all in orange -and spangles, so sumptuously as never was; so that<a name="page_165" id="page_165"></a> none could get their -surfeit of looking at her, admiring and lauding her to the skies.</p> - -<p>Before she entered, the State assembly of the town came to do reverence -and offer their means and powers, and to harangue her at the Chartreux, -as is customary. M. de Bordeaux [the bishop] spoke for the clergy; M. le -Maréchal de Biron, as mayor, wearing his robes of office, for the town, -and for himself as lieutenant-general afterwards; also M. Largebaston, -chief president for the courts of law. She answered them all, one after -the other (for I heard her, being close beside her on the scaffold, by -her command), so eloquently, so wisely and promptly and with such grace -and majesty, even changing her words to each, without reiterating the -first or the second, although upon the same subject (which is a thing to -be remarked upon), that when I saw that evening the said president he -said to me, and to others in the queen’s chamber, that he had never in -his life heard better speech from any one; and that he understood such -matters, having had the honour to hear the two queens, Marguerite and -Jeanne, her predecessors, speak at the like ceremonies,—they having had -in their day the most golden-speaking lips in France (those were the -words he used to me); and yet they were but novices and apprentices -compared to her, who truly was her mother’s daughter.</p> - -<p>I repeated to the queen, her mother, this that the president had said to -me, of which she was glad as never was; and told me that he had reason -to think and say so, for, though she was her daughter, she could call -her, without falsehood, the most accomplished princess in the world, -able to say exactly what she wished to say the best. And in like manner -I have heard and seen ambassadors, and great foreign seigneurs, after -they had spoken with her, depart confounded by her noble speech.<a name="page_166" id="page_166"></a></p> - -<p>I have often heard her make such fine discourse, so grave and so -sententious, that could I put it clearly and correctly here in writing I -should delight and amaze the world; but it is not possible; nor could -any one transcribe her words, so inimitable are they.</p> - -<p>But if she is grave, and full of majesty and eloquence in her high and -serious discourses, she is just as full of charming grace in gay and -witty speech; jesting so prettily, with give and take, that her company -is most agreeable; for, though she pricks and banters others, ‘tis all -so <i>à propos</i> and excellently said that no one can be vexed, but only -glad of it.</p> - -<p>But further: if she knows how to speak, she knows also how to write; and -the beautiful letters we have seen from her attest it. They are the -finest, the best couched, whether they be serious or familiar, and such -that the greatest writers of the past and present may hide their heads -and not produce their own when hers appear; for theirs are trifles near -to hers. No one, having read them, would fail to laugh at Cicero with -his familiar letters. And whoso would collect Queen Marguerite’s -letters, together with her discourses, would make a school and training -for the world; and no one should feel surprised at this, for, in -herself, her mind is sound and quick, with great information, wise and -solid. She is a queen in all things, and deserves to rule a mighty -kingdom, even an empire,—about which I shall make the following -digression, all the more because it has to do with the present subject.</p> - -<p>When her marriage was granted at Blois to the King of Navarre, -difficulties were made by Queen Jeanne [d’Albret, Henri IV.’s mother], -very different then from what she wrote to my mother, who was her lady -of honour, and at this time sick in her own house. I have read the -letter, writ by her own hand, in the archives of our house; it says -thus:—<a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_henri_iv_166_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_henri_iv_166_sml.jpg" width="357" height="550" alt="Henry IV" -title="Henry IV" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Henry IV</span> -</p> - -<p>“I write you this, my great friend, to rejoice and give you health with -the good news my husband sends me. He having had the boldness to ask of -the king Madame, his young daughter, for our son, the king has done him -the honour to grant it; for which I cannot tell you the happiness I -have.”</p> - -<p>There is much to be said thereon. At this time there was at our Court a -lady whom I shall not name, as silly as she could be. Being with the -queen-mother one evening at her <i>coucher</i>, the queen inquired of her -ladies if they had seen her daughter, and whether she seemed joyful at -the granting of her marriage. This silly lady, who did not yet know her -Court, answered first and said: “How, madame, should she not be joyful -at such a marriage, inasmuch as it will lead to the crown and make her -some day Queen of France, when it falls to her future husband, as it -well may do in time.” The queen, hearing so strange a speech, replied: -“<i>Ma mie</i>, you are a great fool. I would rather die a thousand deaths -than see your foolish prophecy accomplished; for I hope and wish long -life and good prosperity to the king, my son, and all my other -children.” On which a very great lady, one of her intimates, inquired: -“But, madame, in case that great misfortune—from which God keep -us!—happens, would you not be very glad to see your daughter Queen of -France, inasmuch as the crown would fall to her by right through that of -her husband?” To which the queen made answer: “Much as I love this -daughter, I think, if that should happen, we should see France much -tried with evils and misfortunes. I would rather die (as she did in -fact) than see her in that position; for I do not believe that France -would obey the King of Navarre as it does my sons, for many reasons -which I do not tell.”</p> - -<p>Behold two prophecies accomplished: one, that of the foolish lady, the -other, but only till her death, that of the able<a name="page_168" id="page_168"></a> princess. The latter -prophecy has failed to-day, by the grace which God has given our king -[Henri IV.], and by the force of his good sword and the valour of his -brave heart, which have made him so great, so victorious, so feared, and -so absolute a king as he is to-day after too many toils and hindrances. -May God preserve him by His holy grace in such prosperity, for we need -him much, we his poor subjects.</p> - -<p>The queen said further: “If by the abolition of the Salic law, the -kingdom should come to my daughter in her own right, as other kingdoms -have fallen to the distaff, certainly my daughter is as capable of -reigning, or more so, as most men and kings whom I have known; and I -think that her reign would be a fine one, equal to that of the king her -grandfather and that of the king her father, for she has a great mind -and great virtues for doing that thing.” And thereupon she went on to -say how great an abuse was the Salic law, and that she had heard M. le -Cardinal de Lorraine say that when he arranged the peace between the two -kings with the other deputies in the abbey of Cercan, a dispute came up -on a point of the Salic law touching the succession of women to the -kingdom of France; and M. le Cardinal de Grandvelle, otherwise called -d’Arras, rebuked the said Cardinal de Lorraine, declaring that the Salic -law was a veritable abuse, which old dreamers and chroniclers had -written down, without knowing why, and so made it accepted; although, in -fact, it was never made or decreed in France, and was only a custom that -Frenchmen had given each other from hand to hand, and so introduced; -whereas it was not just, and, consequently, was violable.</p> - -<p>Thus said the queen-mother. And, when all is said, it was Pharamond, as -most people hold, who brought it from his own country and introduced it -in France; and we certainly ought not to observe it, because he was a -pagan; and<a name="page_169" id="page_169"></a> to keep so strictly among us Christians the laws of a pagan -is an offence against God. It is true that most of our laws come from -pagan emperors; but those which are holy, just, and equitable (and truly -there are many), we ourselves have ruled by them. But the Salic law of -Pharamond is unjust and contrary to the law of God, for it is written in -the Old Testament, in the twenty-seventh chapter of Numbers: “If a man -die and have no son ye shall cause his inheritance to pass to his -daughter.” This sacred law demands, therefore, that females shall -inherit after males. Besides, if Scripture were taken at its word on -this Salic law, there would be no such great harm done, as I have heard -great personages say, for they speak thus: “So long as there be males, -females can neither inherit nor reign. Consequently, in default of -males, females should do so. And, inasmuch as it is legal in Spain, -Navarre, England, Scotland, Hungary, Naples, and Sicily that females -should reign, why should it not be the same in France? For what is right -in one place is right everywhere and in all places; places do not make -the justice of the law.”</p> - -<p>In all the fiefs we have in France, duchies, counties, baronies, and -other honourable lordships, which are nearly and even greatly royal in -their rights and privileges, many women, married and unmarried, have -succeeded; as in Bourbon, Vendôme, Montpensier, Nevers, Rhétel, -Flandres, Eu, Bourgogne, Artois, Zellande, Bretaigne; and even like -Mathilde, who was Duchesse de Normandie; Eléonore, Duchesse de Guyenne, -who enriched Henry II., King of England; Béatrix, Comtesse de Provence, -who brought that province to King Louis, her husband; the only daughter -of Raimond, Comtesse de Thoulouse, who brought Thoulouse to Alfonse, -brother of Saint-Louis; also Anne, Duchesse de Bretaigne, and others. -Why, therefore, should not the kingdom<a name="page_170" id="page_170"></a> of France call to itself in like -manner the daughters of France?</p> - -<p>Did not the beautiful Galatea rule in Gaul when Hercules married her -after his conquest of Spain?—from which marriage issued our brave, -valiant, generous Gauls, who in the olden time made themselves laudable.</p> - -<p>Why should the daughters of dukes in this kingdom be more capable of -governing a duchy or a county and administering justice (which is the -duty of kings) than the daughters of kings to rule the kingdom of -France? As if the daughters of France were not as capable and fitted to -command and reign as those of other kingdoms and fiefs that I have -named!</p> - -<p>For still greater proof of the iniquity of the Salic law it is enough to -show that so many chroniclers, writers, and praters, who have all -written about it, have never yet agreed among themselves as to its -etymology and definition. Some, like Postel, consider that it takes its -ancient name and origin from the Gauls, and is only called Salic instead -of Gallic because of the proximity and likeness in old type between the -letter S and the letter G. But Postel is as visionary in that (as a -great personage said to me) as he is in other things.</p> - -<p>Jean Ceval, Bishop of Avranches, a great searcher into the antiquities -of Gaul and France, tried to trace it to the word <i>salle</i>, because this -law was ordained only for <i>salles</i> and royal palaces.</p> - -<p>Claude Seissel thinks, rather inappropriately, that it comes from the -word <i>sal</i> in Latin, as a law full of salt, that of sapience, wisdom, a -metaphor drawn from salt.</p> - -<p>A doctor of laws, named Ferrarius Montanus, will have it that Pharamond -was otherwise called Salicq. Others derive it from Sallogast, one of the -principal councillors of Pharamond.<a name="page_171" id="page_171"></a></p> - -<p>Others again, wishing to be still more subtle, say that the derivation -is taken from the frequent sections in the said law beginning with the -words: <i>si aliquis, si aliqua</i>. But some say it comes from François -Saliens; and it is so mentioned in Marcellin.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> - -<p>So here are many puzzles and musings; and it is not to be wondered at -that the Bishop of Arras disputed the matter with the Cardinal de -Lorraine: just as those of his nation in their jests and jugglings, -supposing that this law was a new invention, called Philippe de Valois -<i>le roi trouvé</i>, as if, by a new right never recognized before in -France, he had made himself king. On which was founded that, the county -of Flanders having fallen to a distaff, King Charles V. of France did -not claim any right or title to it; on the contrary, he portioned his -brother Philippe with Bourgogne in order to make his marriage with the -Countess of Flanders; not wishing to take her for himself, thinking her -less beautiful, though far more rich, than her of Bourbon. Which is a -great proof and assurance that the Salic law was not observed except as -to the crown. And it cannot be doubted that women, could they come to -the throne, beautiful, honourable, and virtuous as the one of whom I -here speak, would draw to them the hearts of their subjects by their -beauty and sweetness far more than men do by their strength.</p> - -<p>M. du Tillet says that Queen Clotilde made France accept the Christian -religion, and since then no queen has ever wandered from it; which is a -great honour to queens, for it was not so with the kings after Clovis; -Chilperic I. was stained with Arian error, and was checked only by<a name="page_172" id="page_172"></a> the -firm resistance of two prelates of the Gallican church, according to the -statement of Grégoire de Tours.</p> - -<p>Moreover, was not Catherine, daughter of Charles VI., ordained Queen of -France by the king, her father, and his council [in 1420]?</p> - -<p>Du Tillet further says that the daughters of France were held in such -honour that although they were married to less than kings they -nevertheless kept their royal titles and were called queens with their -proper names; an honour which was given them for life to demonstrate -forever that they were daughters of the kings of France. This ancient -custom shows dumbly that the daughters of France can be sovereigns as -well as the sons.</p> - -<p>In the days of the King Saint-Louis it is recorded of a court of peers -held by him that the Countess of Flanders was present, taking part with -the peers. This shows how the Salic law was not kept, except as to the -crown. Let us see still further what M. du Tillet says:—</p> - -<p>“By the Salic law, written for all subjects, where there were no sons -the daughters inherited the patrimony; and this should rule the crown -also, so that Mesdames the daughters of France, in default of sons, -should take it; nevertheless, they are perpetually excluded by custom -and the private law of the house of France, based on the arrogance of -Frenchmen, who cannot endure to be governed by women.” And elsewhere he -says: “One cannot help being amazed at the long ignorance that has -attributed this custom to the Salic law, which is quite the contrary of -it.”</p> - -<p>King Charles V., treating of the marriage of Queen Marie of France, his -daughter, with Guillaume, Count of Hainault, in the year 1374, -stipulated for the renunciation by the said count of all right to the -kingdom and to Dauphiné; which is a great point, for see the -contradictions!<a name="page_173" id="page_173"></a></p> - -<p>Certainly if women could handle arms like men they could make themselves -accredited; but by way of compensation, they have their beautiful faces; -which, however, are not recognized as they deserve; for surely it is -better to be governed by beautiful, lovely, and honourable women than by -tiresome, conceited, ugly, and sullen men such as I have seen in this -France of ours.</p> - -<p>I would like to know if this kingdom has found itself any better for an -infinitude of conceited, silly, tyrannical, foolish, do-nothing, -idiotic, and crazy kings—not meaning to accuse our brave Pharamond, -Clodion, Clovis, Pépin, Martel, Charles, Louis, Philippe, Jean, -François, Henri, for they are all brave and magnanimous, those kings, -and happy they who were under them—than it would have been with an -infinitude of the daughters of France, very able, very prudent, and very -worthy to govern. I appeal to the regency of the mothers of kings to -show this, to wit:—</p> - -<p>Frédégonde, how did she administer the affairs of France during the -minority of King Clothaire, her son, if not so wisely and dexterously -that he found himself before he died monarch of Gaul and of much of -Germany?</p> - -<p>The like did Mathilde, wife of Dagobert, as to Clovis II., her son; and, -long after, Blanche, mother of Saint-Louis, who behaved so wisely, as I -have read, that, just as the Roman emperors chose to call themselves -“Augustus” in commemoration of the luck and prosperity of Augustus, the -great emperor, so the former queen-mothers after the decease of the -kings, their husbands, desired each to be called “Reine Blanche,” in -honourable memory of the government of that wise princess. Though M. du -Tillet contradicts this a little, I have heard it from a very great -senator.</p> - -<p>And, to come lower down, Isabeau of Bavaria had the regency of her -husband, Charles VI. (who lost his good<a name="page_174" id="page_174"></a> sense), by the advice of the -Council; and so had Madame de Bourbon for little King Charles VIII. -during his minority; Madame Louise de Savoie for King François I.; and -our queen-mother for King Charles IX., her son.</p> - -<p>If, therefore, foreign ladies (except Madame de Bourbon, who was -daughter of France) were capable of governing France so well, why should -not our own ladies do as much, having good zeal and affection, they -being born here and suckled here, and the matter touching them so -closely?</p> - -<p>I should like to know in what our last kings have surpassed our last -three daughters of France, Élisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite; and -whether if the latter had come to be queens of France they would not -have governed it (I do not wish to accuse the regency, which was very -great and very wise) as well as their brothers. I have heard many great -personages, well-informed and far-seeing, say that possibly we should -not have had the evils we did have, now have, and shall have still; -adducing reasons too long to put here. But the common and vulgar fool -says: “Must observe the Salic law.” Poor idiot that he is! does he not -know that the Germans, from whose stock we issued, were wont to call -their women to affairs of State, as we learn from Tacitus? From that, we -can see how this Salic law has been corrupted. It is but mere custom; -and poor women, unable to enforce their rights by the point of the -sword, men have excluded, and driven them from everything. Ah! why have -we no more brave and valiant paladins of France,—a Roland, a Renaud, an -Ogier, a Deudon, an Olivier, a Graffon, an Yvon, and an infinity of -other braves, whose glory and profession it was to succour ladies and -support them in the troubles and adversities of their lives, their -honour, and their fortunes? Why are they here no longer to maintain the -rights of our Queen Marguerite, daughter of France, who barely enjoys<a name="page_175" id="page_175"></a> -an inch of land in France, which she quitted in noble state, though to -her, perhaps, the whole belongs by right divine and human? Queen -Marguerite, who does not even enjoy her county of Auvergne, which is -hers by law and equity as the sole heiress of the queen, her mother, is -now withdrawn into the castle of Usson, amid the deserts, rocks, and -mountains of Auvergne,—a different habitation, verily, from the great -city of Paris, where she ought now to be seated on her throne and place -of justice, which belongs to her in her own right as well as by that of -her husband. But the misfortune is that they are not there together. If -both were again united in body and soul and friendship, as they once -were, possibly all would go right once more, and together they would be -feared, respected, and known for what they are.</p> - -<p>(Since this was written God has willed that they be reconciled, which is -indeed great luck.)</p> - -<p>I heard M. de Pibrac say on one occasion that these Navarre marriages -are fatal, because husband and wife are always at variance,—as was the -case with Louis Hutin, King of France and of Navarre, and Marguerite de -Bourgogne, daughter of Duc Robert III.; also Philippe le Long, King of -France and Navarre, with Jeanne, daughter of Comte Othelin of Bourgogne, -who, being found innocent, was vindicated well; also Charles le Bel, -King of France and of Navarre, with Blanche, daughter of Othelin, -another Comte de Bourgogne; and further, King Henri d’Albret with -Marguerite de Valois, who, as I have heard on good authority, treated -her very ill, and would have done worse had not King François, her -brother, spoken sternly to him and threatened him for honouring his -sister so little, considering the rank she held.</p> - -<p>The last King Antoine of Navarre died also on ill terms with Queen -Jeanne, his wife; and our Queen Marguerite is<a name="page_176" id="page_176"></a> now in dispute and -separation from her husband; but God will some day happily unite them in -spite of these evil times.</p> - -<p>I have heard a princess say that Queen Marguerite saved her husband’s -life on the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew; for indubitably he was -proscribed and his name written on the “red paper,” as it was called, -because it was necessary, they said, to tear up the roots, namely, the -King of Navarre, the Prince de Condé, Amiral de Coligny, and other great -personages; but the said Queen Marguerite flung herself on her knees -before King Charles, to implore him for the life of her husband and -lord.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> King Charles would scarcely grant it to her, although she was -his good sister. I relate this for what it is worth, as I know it only -by hearsay. But she bore this massacre very impatiently and saved -several, among them a Gascon gentleman (I think his name was Léran), -who, wounded as he was, took refuge beneath her bed, she being in it, -and the murderers pursuing him to the door, from which she drove them; -for she was never cruel, but kind, like a daughter of France.</p> - -<p>They say that the quarrel between herself and her husband came more from -the difference in their religion than from anything else; for they each -loved his and her own, and supported it strongly. The queen having gone -to Pau, the chief town of Béarn, she caused the mass to be said there; -and a certain secretary of the king, her husband, named le Pin, who had -formerly belonged to M. l’Amiral, not being able to stomach it, put -several of the inhabitants of the town who had been present at the mass -into prison. The queen was much displeased; and he, wishing to -remonstrate, spoke to her much louder than he should, and very -indiscreetly, even<a name="page_177" id="page_177"></a> before the king, who gave him a good rebuke and -dismissed him; for King Henri knows well how to like and respect what he -ought; being as brave and generous as his fine and noble actions have -always manifested; of which I shall speak at length in his life.</p> - -<p>The said le Pin fell back upon the edict which is there made, and to be -observed under penalty, namely, that mass shall not be said. The queen, -feeling herself insulted, and God knows she was, vowed and declared she -would never again set foot in that country because she chose to be free -in the exercise of her religion; whereupon she departed, and has ever -since kept her oath very carefully.</p> - -<p>I have heard it said that nothing lay so heavily on her heart as this -indignity of being deprived of the exercise of her religion; for which -reason she begged the queen, her good mother, to come and fetch her and -take her to France to see the king and Monsieur, his brother, whom she -honoured and loved much. Having arrived, she was not received and seen -by the king, her brother, as she should have been. Seeing this great -change since she had left France, and the rise of many persons she would -never have thought of to grandeurs, it irked her much to be forced to -pay court to them, as others, her equals, were now doing; and far from -doing so herself, she despised them openly, as I well saw, so high was -her courage. Alas! too high, certainly, for it caused her misfortunes; -had she been willing to restrain herself and lower her courage the least -in the world she would not have been thwarted and vexed as she has been.</p> - -<p>As to which I shall relate this story: when the king, her brother, went -to Poland, he being there, she knew that M. du Gua, much favoured by her -brother, had made some remarks to her disadvantage, enough to set -brother and sister <a name="page_178" id="page_178"></a>at variance or enmity. At the end of a certain time -M. du Gua returned from Poland and arrived at Court, bearing letters -from the king to his sister, which he went to her apartment to give her -and kiss hands. This I saw myself. When she beheld him enter she was in -great wrath, and as he came to her to present the letter she said to -him, with an angry face: “Lucky for you, du Gua, that you come before me -with this letter from my brother, which serves you as a safeguard, for I -love him much and all who come from him are free from me; but without -it, I would teach you to speak about a princess like myself, the sister -of your kings, your masters and sovereigns.” M. du Gua answered very -humbly: “I should never, madame, have presented myself before you, -knowing that you wish me ill, without some good message from the king, -my master, who loves you, and whom you love also; or without feeling -assured, madame, that for love of him, and because you are good and -generous, you would hear me speak.” And then, after making her his -excuses and telling his reasons (as he knew well how to do), he denied -very positively that he had ever spoken against the sister of his kings -otherwise than very reverently. On which she dismissed him with an -assurance that she would ever be his cruel enemy,—a promise which she -kept until his death.</p> - -<p>After a while the king wrote to Mme. de Dampierre and begged her, for -the sake of giving him pleasure, to induce the Queen of Navarre to -pardon M. du Gua, which Mme. de Dampierre undertook with very great -regret, knowing well the nature of the said queen; but because the king -loved her and trusted her, she took the errand and went one day to see -the said queen in her room. Finding her in pretty good humour, she -opened the matter and made the appeal, namely: that to keep the good -graces, friendship, and favour of the king, her brother, who was now -about to become<a name="page_179" id="page_179"></a> King of France, she ought to pardon M. du Gua, forget -the past, and take him again into favour; for the king loved and -favoured him above his other friends; and by thus taking M. du Gua as a -friend she would gain through him many pleasures and good offices, -inasmuch as he quietly governed the king, his master, and it was much -better to have his help than to make him desperate and goad him against -her, because he could surely do her much harm; telling her how she had -seen in her time during the reign of François I., Mesdames Madeleine and -Marguerite, one Queen of Scotland later, the other Duchesse de Savoie, -her aunts, although their hearts were as high and lofty as her own, -bring down their pride so low as to pay court to M. de Sourdis, who was -only master of the wardrobe to the king, their father; yet they even -sought him, hoping by his means, to obtain the favour of the king; and -thus, taking example by her aunts, she ought to do the same herself in -relation to M. du Gua.</p> - -<p>The Queen of Navarre, having listened very attentively to Mme. de -Dampierre, answered her rather coldly, but with a smiling face, as her -manner was: “Madame de Dampierre, what you say to me may be good for -you; you need favours, pleasures, and benefits, and were I you the words -you say to me might be very suitable and proper to be received and put -in practice; but to me, who am the daughter of a king, the sister of -kings, and the wife of a king, they have no meaning; because with that -high and noble rank I cannot, for my honour’s sake, be a beggar of -favours and benefits from the king, my brother; and I hold him to be of -too good a nature and too well acquainted with his duty to deny me -anything unless I have the favour of a du Gua; if otherwise, he will do -great wrong to himself, his honour, and his royalty. And even if he be -so unnatural as to forget himself and what he<a name="page_180" id="page_180"></a> owes to me, I prefer, for -my honour’s sake and as my courage tells me, to be deprived of his good -graces, because I would not seek du Gua to gain his favours, or be even -suspected of gaining them by such means and intercession; and if the -king, my brother, feels himself worthy to be king, and to be loved by me -and by his people, I feel myself, as his sister, worthy to be queen and -loved, not only by him but by all the world. And if my aunts, as you -allege, degraded themselves as you say, let them do as they would if -such was their humour, but their example is no law to me, nor will I -imitate it, or form myself on any model if not my own.” On that she was -silent, and Mme. de Dampierre retired; not that the queen was angry with -her or showed her ill-will, for she loved her much.</p> - -<p>Another time, when M. d’Épernon went to Gascoigne after the death of -Monsieur (a journey made for various purposes, so they said), he saw the -King of Navarre at Pamiers, and they made great cheer and caresses to -each other. I speak thus because at that time M. d’Épernon was semi-king -of France because of the dissolute favour he had with his master, the -King of France. After having caressed and made good cheer together the -King of Navarre asked him to go and see him at Nérac when he had been to -Toulouse and was on his way back; which he promised to do. The King of -Navarre having gone there first to make preparations to feast him well, -the Queen of Navarre, who was then at Nérac, and who felt a deadly -hatred to M. d’Épernon, said to the king, her husband, that she would -leave the place so as not to disturb or hinder the fête, not being able -to endure the sight of M. d’Épernon without some scandal or venom of -anger which she might disgorge, and so give annoyance to the king, her -husband. On which the king begged her, by all the pleasures that she -could give<a name="page_181" id="page_181"></a> him, not to stir, but to help him to receive the said Sieur -d’Épernon and to put her rancour against him underfoot for love of him, -her husband, and all the more because it greatly concerned both of them -and their grandeur.</p> - -<p>“Well, monsieur,” replied the queen, “since you are pleased to command -it, I will remain and give him good cheer out of respect to you and the -obedience that I owe to you.” After which she said to some of her -ladies: “But I will answer for it that on the days that man is here I -will dress in habiliments I never yet have worn, namely: dissimulation -and hypocrisy; I will so mask my face with shams that the king shall see -there only good and honest welcome and all gentleness; and likewise I -will lay discretion on my lips, so that externally I will make him think -my heart internally is kind, which otherwise I would not answer for; I -do this being nowise in my own control, but wholly in his,—so lofty is -he and full of frankness, unable to bear vileness or the venom of -hypocrisy, or to abase himself in any way.”</p> - -<p>Therefore, to content the king, her husband, for she honoured him much, -as he did her, she disguised her feelings in such a way that, M. -d’Épernon being brought to her apartment, she received him in the same -manner the king had asked of her and she had promised; so that all -present, the chamber being full of persons eager to see the entrance and -the interview, marvelled much, while the king and M. d’Épernon were -quite content. But the most clear-sighted and those who knew the nature -of the queen misdoubted something hidden within; and she herself said -afterwards it was a comedy in which she played a part unwillingly.</p> - -<p>These are two tales by which to see the lofty courage of this queen, the -which was such, as I have heard the queen,<a name="page_182" id="page_182"></a> her mother, say (discoursing -of this topic), that she resembled in this her father; and that she, the -queen-mother, had no other child so like him, as much in ways, humours, -lineaments, and features of the face as in courage and generosity; -telling also how she had seen King Henri during King François’ lifetime -unable for a kingdom to pay his court and cringe to Cardinal de Tournon -or to Amiral d’Annebault, the favourites of King François, even though -he might often have had peace with Emperor Charles had he been willing -so to do; but his honour could not submit to such attentions. And so, -like father, like daughter. Nevertheless, all that injured her much. I -remember an infinite number of annoyances and indignities she received -at Court, which I shall not relate, they are too odious; until at last -she was sent away, with great affront and yet most innocent of what they -put upon her; the proofs of which were known to many, as I know myself; -also the king, her husband, was convinced of it, so that he brought King -Henri to account, which was very good of him, and henceforth there -resulted between the two brothers [-in-law] a certain hatred and -contention.</p> - -<p>The war of the League happened soon after; and because the Queen of -Navarre feared some evil at Court, being a strong Catholic, she retired -to Agen, which had been given to her with the region about it by her -brothers, as an appanage and gift for life. As the Catholic religion was -concerned, which it was necessary to maintain, and also to exterminate -the other, she wished to fortify her side as best she could and repress -the other side. But in this she was ill-served by means of Mme. de -Duras, who governed her much, and made, in her name, great exactions and -extortions. The people of the town were embittered, and covertly sought -their freedom and a means to drive away their lady<a name="page_183" id="page_183"></a> and her bailiffs. On -which disturbance the Maréchal de Matignon took occasion to make -enterprise against the town, as the king, having learned the state of -things, commanded him with great joy to do in order to aggravate his -sister, whom he did not love, to more and more displeasure. This -enterprise, which failed at first, was led the second time so -dexterously by the said marshal and the inhabitants, that the town was -taken by force with such rapidity and alarm that the poor queen, in -spite of all she could do, was forced to mount in pillion behind a -gentleman, and Mme. de Duras behind another, and escape as quickly as -they could, riding a dozen leagues without stopping, and the next day as -much more, to find safety in the strongest fortress of France, which is -Carlat. Being there, and thinking herself in safety, she was, by the -manœuvres of the king, her brother (who was a very clever and very -subtle king, if ever there was one), betrayed by persons of that country -and the fortress, so that when she fled she became a prisoner in the -hands of the Marquis de Canillac, governor of Auvergne, and was taken to -the castle of Usson, a very strong fortress also, almost impregnable, -which that good and sly fox Louis XI. had made such, in order to lodge -his prisoners in a hundred-fold more security than at Loches, Bois de -Vincennes, or Lusignan.</p> - -<p>Here, then, was this poor princess a prisoner, and treated not as a -daughter of France or the great princess that she was. But, at any rate, -if her body was captive, her brave heart was not, and it never failed -her, but helped her well and did not let her yield to her affliction. -See what a great heart can do, led by great beauty! For he who held her -prisoner became her prisoner in time, brave and valiant though he was. -Poor man! what else could he expect? Did he think to hold subject and -captive in his prison one<a name="page_184" id="page_184"></a> whose eyes and beauteous face could subject -the whole world to her bonds and chains like galley-slaves!</p> - -<p>So here was the marquis ravished and taken by her beauty; but she, not -dreaming of the delights of love, only of her honour and her liberty, -played her game so shrewdly that she soon became the stronger, seized -the fort, and drove away the marquis, much dumfounded at such surprise -and military tactics.</p> - -<p>There she has now been six or seven years,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> not, however, with all -the pleasures of life, being despoiled of the county of Auvergne by M. -le Grand Prieur de France, whom the king induced the queen-mother to -institute count and heir in her will; regretting much that she could not -leave the queen, her good daughter, anything of her own, so great was -the hatred that the king bore her. Alas! what mutation was this from the -time when, as I saw myself, they loved each other much, and were one in -body, soul, and will! Ah! how often was it fine to see them discourse -together; for, whether they were grave or gay, nothing could be finer -than to see and hear them, for both could say what they wished to say. -Ah! how changed the times are since we saw them in that great ball-room, -dancing together in such beautiful accord of dance and will! The king -always led her to the dance at the great balls. If one had a noble -majesty the other had none the less; the eyes of all were never -surfeited or delighted enough by so agreeable a sight; for the sets were -so well danced, the steps so correctly performed, the stops so finely -made that we knew not which to admire most, their beautiful fashion of -dancing or their majesty in pausing; representing now a gay demeanour -and next a noble, crave<a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a> disdain; for no one ever saw them in the -dance that did not say they had seen no dance so fine with grace and -majesty as this of the king-brother and the queen-sister. As for me, I -am of that opinion; and yet I have seen the Queen of Spain and the Queen -of Scotland dance most beautifully.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_elizabeth_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_elizabeth_sml.jpg" width="475" height="550" alt="Élisabeth de France Queen of Spain" -title="Élisabeth de France Queen of Spain" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Élisabeth de France Queen of Spain</span> -</p> - -<p>Also I have seen them dance the Italian <i>pazzemeno</i> [the minuet, <i>menu -pas</i>], now advancing with grave port and majesty, doing their steps so -gravely and so well; next gliding only; and anon making most fine and -dainty and grave passages, that none, princes or others, could approach, -nor ladies, because of the majesty that was not lacking. Wherefore this -queen took infinite pleasure in these grave dances on account of her -grace and dignity and majesty, which she displayed the better in these -than in others like <i>bransles</i>, and <i>volts</i>, and <i>courants</i>. The latter -she did not like, although she danced them well, because they were not -worthy of her majesty, though very proper for the common graces of other -ladies.</p> - -<p>I have seen her sometimes like to dance the <i>bransle</i> by torchlight. I -remember that once, being at Lyon, on the return of the king from -Poland, at the marriage of Besne (one of her maids of honour) she danced -the <i>bransle</i> before many foreigners from Savoie, Piedmont, Italy, and -elsewhere, who declared they had never seen anything so fine as this -queen, a grave and noble lady, as indeed she is. One of them there was -who went about declaring that she needed not, like other ladies, the -torch she carried in her hand; for the light within her eyes, which -could not be extinguished like the other, was sufficient; the which had -other virtue than leading men to dance, for it inflamed all those about -her, yet could not be put out like the one she had in hand, but lit the -night amid the darkness and the day beneath the sun.<a name="page_186" id="page_186"></a></p> - -<p>For this reason must we say that Fortune has been to us as great an -enemy as to her, in that we see no longer that bright torch, or rather -that fine sun which lighted us, now hidden among those hills and -mountains of Auvergne. If only that light had placed itself in some fine -port or haven near the sea, where passing mariners might be guided, safe -from wreck and peril, by its beacon, her dwelling would be nobler, more -profitable, more honourable for herself and us. Ah! people of Provence, -you ought to beg her to dwell upon your seacoasts or within your ports; -then would she make them more famous than they are, more inhabited and -richer; from all sides men in galleys, ships, and vessels would flock to -see this wonder of the world, as in old times to that of Rhodes, that -they might see its glorious and far-shining pharos. Instead of which, -begirt by barriers of mountains, she is hidden and unknown to all our -eyes, except that we have still her lovely memory. Ah! beautiful and -ancient town of Marseille, happy would you be if your port were honoured -by the flame and beacon of her splendid eyes! For the county of Provence -belongs to her, as do several other provinces in France. Cursèd be the -unhappy obstinacy of this kingdom which does not seek to bring her -hither with the king, her husband, to be received, honoured and welcomed -as they should be. (This I wrote at the very height of the Wars of the -League.)</p> - -<p>Were she a bad, malicious, miserly, or tyrannical princess (as there -have been a plenty in times past in France, and will be, possibly, -again), I should say nothing in her favour; but she is good, most -splendid, liberal, giving all to others, keeping little for herself, -most charitable, and giving freely to the poor. The great she made -ashamed with liberalities; for I have seen her make presents to all the -Court on New Year’s Day such as the kings, her brothers, could not -equal.<a name="page_187" id="page_187"></a> On one occasion she gave Queen Louise de Lorraine a fan made of -mother-of-pearl enriched with precious stones and pearls of price, so -beautiful and rich that it was called a masterpiece and valued at more -than fifteen thousand crowns. The other, to return the present, sent her -sister those long <i>aiguillettes</i> which Spaniards call <i>puntas</i>, enriched -with certain stones and pearls, that might have cost a hundred crowns; -and with these she paid for that fine New Year’s gift, which was, -certainly, most dissimilar.</p> - -<p>In short, this queen is in all things royal and liberal, honourable and -magnificent, and, let it not displease the empresses of long past days, -their splendours described by Suetonius, Pliny, and others, do not -approach her own in any way, either in Court or city, or in her journeys -through the open country; witness her gilded litters so superbly covered -and painted with fine devices, her coaches and carriages the same, and -her horses so fine and so richly caparisoned.</p> - -<p>Those who have seen, as I have, these splendid appurtenances know what I -say. And must she now be deprived of all this, so that for seven years -she has not stirred from that stern, unpleasant castle?—in which, -however, she takes patience; such virtue has she of self-command, one of -the greatest, as many wise philosophers have said!</p> - -<p>To speak once more of her kindness: it is such, so noble, so frank, -that, as I believe, it has done her harm; for though she has had great -grounds and great means to be revenged upon her enemies and injure them, -she has often withheld her hand when, had she employed those means or -caused them to be employed, and commanded others, who were ready enough, -to chastise those enemies with her consent, they would have done so -wisely and discreetly; but she resigned all vengeances to God.<a name="page_188" id="page_188"></a></p> - -<p>This is what M. du Gua said to her once when she threatened him: -“Madame, you are so kind and generous that I never heard it said you did -harm to any one; and I do not think you will begin with me, who am your -very humble servitor.” And, in fact, although he greatly injured her, -she never returned him the same in vengeance. It is true that when he -was killed and they came to tell her, she merely said, being ill: “I am -sorry I am not well enough to celebrate his death with joy.” She had -also this other kindness in her: that when others had humbled themselves -and asked her pardon and favour, she forgave and pardoned, with the -generosity of a lion which never does harm to those who are humble to -him.</p> - -<p>I remember that when M. le Maréchal de Biron was lieutenant of the king -in Guyenne, war having broken out around him (possibly with his -knowledge and intent), he went one day before Nérac, where the King and -Queen of Navarre were living at that time. The marshal prepared his -arquebusiers to attack, beginning with a skirmish. The King of Navarre -brought out his own in person, and, in a doublet like any captain of -adventurers, he held his ground so well that, having the best marksmen, -nothing could prevail against him. By way of bravado the marshal let fly -some cannon against the town, so that the queen, who had gone upon the -ramparts to see the pastime, came near having her share in it, for a -ball flew right beside her; which incensed her greatly, as much for the -little respect Maréchal de Biron showed in braving her to her face, as -because he had a special command from the king not to approach the war -nearer than five hundred leagues to the Queen of Navarre, wherever she -might be. The which command he did not observe on this occasion; for -which she felt resentment and revenge against the marshal.<a name="page_189" id="page_189"></a></p> - -<p>About a year and a half later she came to Court, where was the marshal, -whom the king had recalled from Guyenne, fearing further disturbance; -for the King of Navarre had threatened to make trouble if he were not -recalled. The Queen of Navarre, resentful to the said marshal, took no -notice of him, but disdained him, speaking everywhere very ill of him -and of the insult he had offered her. At last, the marshal, dreading the -hatred of the daughter and sister of his masters, and knowing the nature -of the princess, determined to seek her pardon by making excuses and -humbling himself; on which, generous as she was, she did not contradict -him, but took him into favour and friendship and forgot the past. I knew -a gentleman by acquaintance who came to Court about this time, and -seeing the good cheer the queen bestowed upon the marshal was much -astonished; and so, as he sometimes had the honour of being listened to -by the queen, he said to her that he was much amazed at the change and -at her good welcome, in which he could not have believed, in view of the -affront and injury. To which she answered that as the marshal had owned -his fault and made his excuses and sought her pardon humbly, she had -granted it for that reason, and did not desire further talk about his -bravado at Nérac. See how little vindictive this good princess is,—not -imitating in this respect her grandmother, Queen Anne, towards the -Maréchal de Gié, as I have heretofore related.</p> - -<p>I might give many other examples of her kindness in her reconciliations -and forgivenesses.</p> - -<p>Rebours, one of her maids of honour, who died at Chenonceaux, displeased -her on one occasion very much. She did not treat her harshly, but when -she was very ill she went to see her, and as she was about to die -admonished her, and then said: “This poor girl has done great harm, but -she has<a name="page_190" id="page_190"></a> suffered much. May God pardon her as I have pardoned her.” That -was the vengeance and the harm she did her. Through her generosity she -was slow to revenge, and in all things kind.</p> - -<p>Alfonso, the great King of Naples, who was subtle in loving the beauties -of women, used to say that beauty is the sign manual of kindness and -gentle goodness, as the beautiful flower is that of a good fruit. As to -that it cannot be doubted that if our queen had been ugly and not -composed of her great beauty, she would have been very bad in view of -the great causes to be so that were given her. Thus said the late Queen -Isabella of Castile, that wise and virtuous and very Catholic princess: -“The fruit of clemency in a queen of great beauty and lofty heart, -covetous of honour, is sweeter far than any vengeance whatever, even -though it be undertaken for just claims and reason.”</p> - -<p>This queen most sacredly observes that rule, striving to conform to the -commandments of her God, whom she has always loved and feared and served -devotedly. Now that the world has abandoned her and made war upon her, -she takes her sole resource in God, whom she serves daily, as I am told -by those who have seen her in her affliction; for never does she miss a -mass, taking the communion often and reading much in Holy Scripture, -finding there her peace and consolation.</p> - -<p>She is most eager to obtain the fine new books that are composed, as -much on sacred subjects as on human; and when she undertakes to read a -book, however large and long it be, she never stops or quits it until -she sees the end, and often loses sleep and food in doing so. She -herself composes, both in prose and verse. As to which no one can think -otherwise than that her compositions are learned, beautiful, and -pleasing, for she knows the art; and could we bring<a name="page_191" id="page_191"></a> them to the light, -the world would draw great pleasure and great profit from them. Often -she makes very beautiful verses and stanzas, that are sung to her by -choir-boys whom she keeps, and which she sings herself (for her voice is -beautiful and pleasant) to a lute, playing it charmingly. And thus she -spends her time and wears away her luckless days,—offending none, and -living that tranquil life she chooses as the best.</p> - -<p>She has done me the honour to write me often in her adversity, I being -so presumptuous as to send for news of her. But is she not the daughter -and sister of my kings, and must I not wish to know her health, and be -glad and happy when I hear ‘tis good? In her first letter she writes -thus:—</p> - -<p>“By the remembrance you have of me, which is not less new than pleasant -to me, I see that you have well preserved the affection you have always -shown to our family and to the few now left of its sad wreck, so that I, -in whatever state I be, shall ever be disposed to serve you; feeling -most happy that ill fortune has not effaced my name from the remembrance -of my oldest friends, of whom you are. I know that you have chosen, like -myself, a tranquil life; and I count those happy who can maintain it, as -God has given me the grace to do these five years, He having brought me -to an ark of safety, where the storms of all these troubles cannot, I -thank God, hurt me; so that if there remain to me some means to serve my -friends, and you particularly, you will find me wholly so disposed with -right good will.”</p> - -<p>Those are noble words; and such was the state and resolution of our -beautiful princess. That is what it is to be born of a noble house, the -greatest in the world, whence she drew her courage by inheritance from -many brave and valiant kings, her father, grandfather, -great-grandfather, and all their<a name="page_192" id="page_192"></a> ancestors. And be it, as she says, -that from so great a shipwreck she alone remains, not recognized and -reverenced as she should be by her people, I believe this people of -France has suffered much misery for that reason, and will suffer more -for this war of the League. But to-day this is not so;<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> for by the -valour and wisdom and fine government of our king never was France more -flourishing, or more pacific, or better ruled; which is the greatest -miracle ever seen, having issued from so vast an abyss of evils and -corruptions; by which it seems that God has loved our queen,—He being -good and merciful.</p> - -<p>Oh! how ill-advised is he who trusts in the people of to-day! Oh! how -differently did the Romans recognize the posterity of Augustus Cæsar, -who gave them wealth and grandeurs, from the people of France, who -received so much from their later kings these hundred years, and even -from François I. and Henri II., so that without them France would have -been tumbled topsy-turvy by her enemies watching for that chance, and -even by the Emperor Charles, that hungry and ambitious man. And thus it -is they are so ungrateful, these people, toward Marguerite, sole and -only remaining daughter and princess of France! It is easy to foresee -the wrath of God upon them, because nothing is to Him so odious as -ingratitude, especially to kings and queens, who here below fulfil the -place and state of God. And thou, disloyal Fortune, how plainly dost -thou show that there are none, however loved by heaven and blessed by -nature, who can be sure of thee and of thy favours a<a name="page_193" id="page_193"></a> single day! Art -thou not dishonoured in thus so cruelly affronting her who is all -beauty, sweetness, virtue, magnanimity and kindness?</p> - -<p>All this I wrote during those wars we had among us for ten years. To -make an end, did I not speak elsewhere of this great queen in other -discourses I would lengthen this still more and all I could, for on so -excellent a subject the longest words are never wearisome; but for a -time I now postpone them.</p> - -<p>Live, princess, live in spite of Fortune! Never can you be other than -immortal upon earth and in heaven, whither your noble virtues bear you -in their arms. If public voice and fame had not made common praise of -your great merits, or if I were of those of noble speech, I would say -further here; for never did there come into the world a figure so -celestial.</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">This queen who should by good right order us<br /></span> -<span class="i0">By laws and edicts and above us reign,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Till we behold a reign of pleasure under her,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As in her father’s days, a Star of France,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Fortune hath hindered. Ha! must rightful claim<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Be wrongly lost because of Fortune’s spite?<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Never did Nature make so fine a thing<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As this great unique princess of our France!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Yet Fortune chooses to undo her wholly.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Behold how evil balances with good!<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<hr class="spc" /> - -<p>In the sixteenth century there were three Marguerites: one, sister of -François I. and Queen of Navarre, celebrated for her intellect, her -Tales in the style of Boccaccio, and her verses, which are less -interesting; another, Marguerite, niece of the preceding, sister of -Henri II., who became Duchesse de Savoie, very witty, also a writer of -verses, and, in her youth, the patroness of the new poets at Court; and -lastly, the third Marguerite, niece and great-niece of the first two,<a name="page_194" id="page_194"></a> -daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, first wife of Henri IV., -and sister of the last Valois. It is of her that I speak to-day as -having left behind her most agreeable historical pages and opened in our -literature that graceful series of women’s Memoirs which henceforth -never ceases, but is continued in later years and lively vein by -Mesdames de La Fayette, de Caylus and others. All of these Memoirs are -books made without intending it, and the better for that. The following -is the reason why Queen Marguerite took the idea of writing those in -which she describes herself with so lightsome a pen.</p> - -<p>Brantôme, who was making a gallery of illustrious French and foreign -ladies, after bringing Marie Stuart into it, bethought him of placing -Marguerite beside her as another example of the injustice and cruelty of -Fortune. Marguerite, at the period when Brantôme indited his impulsive, -enthusiastic portrait of her, flinging upon his paper that eulogy which -may truly be called delirious, was confined at the castle of Usson in -Auvergne (1593), where she was not so much a prisoner as mistress. -Prisoner at first, she soon seduced the man who held her so and took -possession of the place, where she passed the period of the League -troubles, and beyond it, in an impenetrable haven. The castle of Usson -had been fortified by Louis XI., well-versed in precautions, who wanted -it as a sure place in which to lodge his prisoners. There Marguerite -felt herself safe, not only from sudden attack, but also from the trial -of a long siege and repeated assault. Writing to her husband, Henri IV., -in October, 1594, she says to him, jokingly, that if he could see the -fortress and the way in which she had protected herself within it he -would see that God alone could reduce it, and she has good reason to -believe that “this hermitage was built to be her ark of safety.<a name="page_195" id="page_195"></a>”</p> - -<p>The castle which she thus compares to Noah’s ark, and which some of her -panegyrists, convinced that she who lived there was given to celestial -contemplations, compare to Mount Tabor, was regarded as a Caprea and an -abominable lair by enemies, who, from afar, plunged eyes of hatred into -it. It is very certain, however, that Queen Marguerite lost nothing in -that retreat of the delicate nicety of her mind, for it was there that -she undertook to write her Memoirs in a few afternoons, in order to come -to Brantôme’s assistance and correct him on certain points. We will -follow her, using now and then some contemporary information, without -relying too much upon either, but endeavouring to draw with simple truth -a singular portrait in which there enters much that was enchanting and, -towards the end, fantastic.</p> - -<p>Marguerite, born at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, May 14, 1553, was six years -old when her father, Henri II., was killed at that fatal tournament -which ruined the fortunes of the house of Valois. She tells us several -anecdotes of herself and her childish repartees which prove a precocious -mind. She takes great pains to call attention to a matter which in her -is really a sign, a distinctive note through all excesses, namely: that -as a child and when it was the fashion at Court to be “Huguenot,” and -when all those who had intelligence, or wished to pass for having it, -had withdrawn from what they called “bigotry,” she resisted that -influence. In vain did her brother, d’Anjou, afterward Henri III., fling -her Hours into the fire and give her the Psalms and the Huguenot prayers -in place of it; she held firm and preserved herself from the mania of -Huguenotism, which at that date (1561) was a fancy at Court, a French -and mundane fashion, attractive for a time to even those who were soon -to turn against it and repress it. Marguerite, in the<a name="page_196" id="page_196"></a> midst of a life -that was little exemplary, will always be found to have kept with -sincerity this corner of good Catholicism which she derived from her -race, and which made her in this respect and to this degree more of an -Italian than a Frenchwoman; however, that which imports us to notice is -that she <i>had it</i>.</p> - -<p>Still a child when the first religious wars began, she was sent to -Amboise with her young brother, d’Alençon. There she found herself in -company with several of Brantôme’s female relations: Mme. de Dampierre, -his aunt, Mme. de Retz, his cousin; and she began with the elder of -these ladies a true friendship; with the younger, the cousin, the -affection came later. Marguerite gives the reason for this very -prettily:—</p> - -<p>“At that time the advanced age of your aunt and my childish youthfulness -had more agreement; for it is the nature of old people to love children; -and those who are in the perfection of their age, like your cousin, -despise and dislike their annoying simplicity.”</p> - -<p>Childhood passed, and the first awakening to serious things was given to -Marguerite about the time of the battle of Moncontour (1569). She was -then sixteen. The Duc d’Anjou, afterwards Henri III., aged eighteen, -handsome, brave, and giving promise of a virtue and a prudence he never -justified, took his sister aside one day in one of the alleys of the -park at Plessis-lez-Tours to tell her of his desire, on starting for the -army, to leave her as his confidant and support with their mother, -Catherine de’ Medici, during his absence at the wars. He made her a long -speech, which she reports in full with some complacency:—</p> - -<p>“Sister, the nourishment we have taken together obliges us, not less -than proximity, to love each other.... Until now we have naturally been -guided to this without design<a name="page_197" id="page_197"></a> and without the said union being of any -utility beyond the pleasure we have had in conversing together. That was -good for our childhood; but now it is time to no longer live like -children.”</p> - -<p>He then points out to her the great and noble duties to which God calls -him, in which the queen, their mother, brought him up, and which King -Charles IX., their brother, lays upon him. He fears that this king, -courageous as he is, may not always be satisfied with hunting, but will -become ambitious to put himself at the head of the armies, the command -of which has been hitherto left to him. It is this that he wishes to -prevent.</p> - -<p>“In this apprehension,” he continues, “thinking of some means of remedy, -I believe that it is necessary to leave some very faithful person behind -me who will maintain my side with the queen, my mother. I know no one as -suitable as you, whom I regard as a second myself. You have all the -qualities that can be desired,—intelligence, judgment, and fidelity.”</p> - -<p>The Duc d’Anjou then proposes to his sister to change her manner of -life, to be assiduous towards the queen, their mother, at all hours, at -her <i>lever</i>, in her cabinet during the day, at her <i>coucher</i>, and so act -that she be treated henceforth, not as a child, but as a person who -represents him during his absence. “This language,” she remarks, “was -very new to me, having lived until then without purpose, thinking of -nothing but dancing and hunting; and without much interest even in -dressing and in appearing beautiful, not having yet reached the age of -such ambitions.” The fear she always felt for the queen, her mother, and -the respectful silence she maintained in her presence, held her back -still further. “I came very near,” she says, “replying to him as Moses -did to God in the vision of the bush: ‘Who am I?<a name="page_198" id="page_198"></a> Send, I pray thee, by -him whom thou shouldest send.’” Nevertheless, she felt within her at her -brother’s words a new courage, and powers hitherto unknown to her, and -she soon consented to all, entering zealously into her brother’s design. -From that moment she felt herself “transformed.”</p> - -<p>This fraternal and politic union thus created by the Duc d’Anjou did not -last. On his return from the victory of Moncontour she found him -changed, distrustful, and ruled by a favourite, du Gua, who possessed -him as so many others possessed him later. Henceforth his sister was out -of favour with him, and it was with her younger brother, the Duc -d’Alençon, that Marguerite renewed and continued as long as she could a -union of the same kind, which gave room for all the feelings and all the -ambitious activities of youth.</p> - -<p>Did she at that time give some ground for the coolness of her brother -d’Anjou by her liaison with the young Duc de Guise? An historian who -knew Marguerite well and was not hostile to her, says: “She had long -loved Henri, Duc de Guise, who was killed at Blois, and had so fixed the -affections of her heart from her youth upon that prince of many -attractions that she never loved the King of Navarre, afterwards King of -France of happy memory, but hated him from the beginning, and was -married to him in spite of herself, and against canonical law.”<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> -However this may be, the<a name="page_199" id="page_199"></a> Duc d’Anjou seized the pretext of the Duc de -Guise to break with his sister, whose enemy he became insensibly, and he -succeeded in alienating her from her mother.</p> - -<p>Marguerite, in this flower of her youth, was, according to all -testimony, enchantingly beautiful. Her beauty was not so much in the -special features of her face as in the grace and charm of her whole -person, with its mingling of seduction and majesty. Her hair was dark, -which was not thought a beauty in those days; blond hair reigned. “I -have seen her sometimes wearing her natural hair without any peruke -artifice,” Brantôme tells us, “and though it was black (having inherited -that colour from King Henri, her father), she knew so well how to twist -and curl and arrange it, in imitation of her sister, the Queen of Spain, -who never wore any hair but her own, that such arrangement and coiffure -became her as well as, or better than, any other.” Toward the end of her -life Marguerite, becoming in her turn antiquated, with no brown hair to -dress, made great display of blond perukes. “For them she kept great, -fair-haired footmen, who were shaved from time to time;” but in her -youth, when she dared to be dark-haired as nature made her, it was not -unbecoming to her; for she had a most dazzling complexion and her -“beautiful fair face resembled the sky in its purest and greatest -serenity” with its “noble forehead of whitening ivory.” Nor must we -forget her art of adorning and dressing herself to advantage, and the -new inventions of that kind she gave to women, she being then the queen -of the modes and fashion. As such she appeared on all solemn occasions, -and notably on that day when, at the<a name="page_200" id="page_200"></a> Tuileries, the queen-mother fêted -the Polish seigneurs who came to offer the crown of Poland to the Duc -d’Anjou, and Ronsard, who was present, confesses that the beautiful -goddess Aurora was vanquished; but more notably still on that flowery -Easter at Blois, when we see her in procession, her dark hair starred -with diamonds and precious stones, wearing a gown of crinkled cloth of -gold from Constantinople, the weight of which would have crushed any -other woman, but which her beautiful, rich, strong figure supported -firmly, bearing the palm in her hand, her consecrated branch, “with -regal majesty, and a grace half proud, half tender.” Such was the -Marguerite of the lovely years before the disasters and the flights, -before the castle of Usson, where she aged and stiffened.</p> - -<p>This beauty, so real, so solid, which had so little need of borrowed -charms, had, like all her being, its fantasticalities and its -superstition. I have said already that she frequently disguised her -rich, brown hair, preferring a blond wig, “more or less charmingly -fashioned.” Her beautiful face was presented to view “all painted and -stained.” She took such care of her skin that she spoiled it with washes -and recipes of many kinds, which gave her erysipelas and pimples. In -fact, she was the model and eke the slave of the fashions of her time; -and as she survived those days she became in the end a species of -preserved idol and curiosity, such as may be seen in a show-case. The -great Sully, when he one day reappeared at the Court of Louis XIII. with -his ruff and his costume of the time of Henri IV., gave that crowd of -young courtiers something to laugh at; and so, when Queen Marguerite, -having returned from Usson to Paris, showed herself at the remodelled -Court of Henri IV. she produced the same effect on that young century, -which smiled at beholding this solemn survival of the Valois.<a name="page_201" id="page_201"></a></p> - -<p>Like all those Valois, a worthy granddaughter of François I., she was -learned. To the Poles who harangued in Latin she showed that she -understood them by replying on the spot, eloquently and pertinently, -without the help of an interpreter. She loved poetry and wrote it, and -had it written for her by salaried poets whom she treated as friends. -When she had once begun to read a book she could not leave it, or pause -till she came to the end, “and very often she would lose both her eating -and drinking.” But let us not forestall the time. She herself tells us -that this taste for study and reading came to her for the first time -during a previous imprisonment in which Henri III. held her for several -months in 1575, and we are still concerned with her cloudless years.</p> - -<p>She was married, in spite of her objections as a good Catholic, to -Henri, King of Navarre, six days before the Saint-Bartholomew (August, -1572). She relates with much naïveté and in a simple tone the scenes of -that night of horror, of which she was ignorant until the last moment. -We see in her narrative that wounded and bleeding gentleman pursued -through the corridors of the Louvre, and taking refuge in Marguerite’s -chamber, and flinging himself with the cry “Navarre! Navarre!” upon her; -shielding his own body from the murderers with that of his queen, she -not knowing whether she had to do with a madman or an assailant. When -she did know what the danger was she saved the poor man, keeping him in -bed and dressing his wounds in her cabinet until he was cured. Queen -Marguerite, so little scrupulous in morality, is better than her -brothers; of the vanishing Valois she has all the good qualities and -many of their defects, but not their cruelty.</p> - -<p>After this half-missed blow of the Saint-Bartholomew, which did not -touch the princes of the blood, an attempt<a name="page_202" id="page_202"></a> was made to unmarry her from -the King of Navarre. On a feast day when she was about to take the -sacrament, her mother asked her to tell her under oath, truly, whether -the king, her husband, had behaved to her as yet like a husband, a man, -and whether there was not still time to break the union. To this -Marguerite played the <i>ingénue</i>, so she asserts, apparently not -comprehending. “I begged her,” she says, “to believe that I knew nothing -of what she was speaking. I could then say with truth as the Roman lady -said, when her husband was angry because she had not warned him his -breath was bad, ‘that she had supposed all men were alike, never having -been near to any one but him.’”</p> - -<p>Here Marguerite wishes to have it understood that she had never, so far, -made comparison of any man with another man; she plays the innocent, and -by her quotation from the Roman lady she also plays the learned; which -is quite in the line of her intelligence.</p> - -<p>It would be a great error of literary judgment to consider these -graceful Memoirs as a work of nature and simplicity; it is rather one of -discrimination and subtlety. Wit sparkles throughout; but study and -learning are perceptible. In the third line we come upon a Greek word: -“I would praise your work more,” she writes to Brantôme, “if you had -praised me less; not wishing that the praise I give should be attributed -to <i>philautia</i> rather than to reason;” by <i>philautia</i> she means -self-love. Marguerite (she will remind us of it if we forget it) is by -education and taste of the school of Ronsard, and a little of that of Du -Bartas. During her imprisonment in 1575, giving herself up, as she tells -us, to reading and devotion, she shows us the study which led her back -to religion; she talks to us of the “universal page of Nature;” the -“ladder of knowledge;” the “chain of Homer;” and of “that agreeable -Encyclopædia which, starting from God,<a name="page_203" id="page_203"></a> returns to God, the principle -and the end of all things.” All that is learned, and even -transcendental.</p> - -<p>She was called in her family Venus-Urania. She loved fine discourses on -elevated topics of philosophy or sentiment. In her last years, during -her dinners and suppers, she usually had four learned men beside her, to -whom she propounded at the beginning of the meal some topic more or less -sublime or subtile, and when each had spoken for or against it and given -his reasons, she would intervene and renew the contest, provoking and -attracting to herself at will their contradiction. Here Marguerite was -essentially of her period, and she bears the seal of it on her style. -The language of her Memoirs is not an exception to be counted against -the mannerism and taste of her time; it is only a more happy employment -of it. She knows mythology and history; she cites readily Burrhus, -Pyrrhus, Timon, the centaur Chiron, and the rest. Her language is by -choice metaphorical and lively with poesy. When Catherine de’ Medici, -going to see her son, the Duc d’Anjou, travels from Paris to Tours in -three days and a half (very rapid in those times, and the journey put -that poor Cardinal de Bourbon, little accustomed to such discomfort, -entirely out of breath), it is because the queen-mother is “borne,” says -Marguerite, “on the wings of desire and maternal affection.”</p> - -<p>Marguerite likes and affects all comparisons borrowed from fabulous -natural history, and she varies them with reminiscences of ancient -history. When, in 1582, they recall her to the Court of France, taking -her from her husband and from Nérac, where she had then been three or -four years, she perceives a project of her enemies to blow up a quarrel -between herself and her husband during this absence. “They hoped,” she -says, “that separation would be like the breaking of the Macedonian -battalion.” When the<a name="page_204" id="page_204"></a> famous Phalanx was once broken entrance was easy. -This style, so ornate and figurative, usually delicate and graceful, has -also its outspokenness and firmness of tone. Speaking of the expedition -projected by her brother, the Duc d’Alençon, in Flanders, she explains -it in terms of energetic beauty, representing to the king that “it is -for the honour and aggrandizement of France; it will prove an invention -to prevent civil war, all restless spirits desirous of novelty having -means to pass into Flanders and blow off their smoke and surfeit -themselves with war. This enterprise will also serve, like Piedmont, as -a school for the nobility in the practice of arms; we shall there revive -the Montlucs and Brissacs, the Termes and the Bellegardes, and all those -great marshals who, trained to war in Piedmont, have since then so -gloriously and successfully served their king and their country.”</p> - -<p>One of the most agreeable parts of these Memoirs is the journey in -Flanders, Hainault, and the Liège country which Marguerite made in 1577; -a journey undertaken ostensibly to drink the waters of Spa, but in -reality to gain partisans for her brother d’Alençon, in his project of -wrenching the Low Countries from Spain. The details of her coquettish, -and ceremonial magnificence, so dear to ladies, are not omitted:—</p> - -<p>“I went,” says Marguerite, “in a litter with columns covered with -rose-coloured Spanish velvet, embroidered in gold and shaded silks with -a device; this litter was enclosed in glass, and each glass also bore a -device, there being, whether on the velvet or on the glass, forty -different devices about the sun and its effects, with the words in -Spanish and Italian.”</p> - -<p>Those forty devices and their explanation were an ever fresh subject of -gallant conversation in the towns through<a name="page_205" id="page_205"></a> which she passed. Amid it -all, Marguerite, then in the full bloom of her twenty-fourth year, went -her way, winning all hearts, seducing the governors of citadels, and -persuading them to useful treachery. On this journey she meets with -charming Flemish scenes which she pictures delightfully. Take, for -example, the gala festival at Mons, where the beautiful Comtesse de -Lalain (Marguerite, Princesse de Ligne), whose beauty and rich costume -are described most particularly, has her child brought to her in -swaddling-clothes and suckles it before the company; “which,” remarks -Marguerite, “would have been an incivility in any one else; but she did -it with such grace and simplicity, like all the rest of her actions, -that she received as much praise as the company did pleasure.”</p> - -<p>Leaving Namur, we have at Liège a touching and pathetic story of a poor -young girl, Mlle. de Tournon, who dies of grief for being slighted and -betrayed by her lover, to whom she was going in the utmost confidence; -and who himself, coming to a better mind too late, rushes to console -her, and finds her coffin on arrival. We have here from Queen -Marguerite’s pen the finished sketch of a tale in the style of Mme. de -La Fayette, just as above we had the drawing of a perfect little Flemish -picture. On her return from this journey, the scenes Marguerite passes -through at Dinant prove her coolness and presence of mind, and present -us with another Flemish picture, but not so graceful as that of Mons and -the beautiful nursing countess; this time it is a scene of public -drunkenness, grotesque burgher rioting, and burgomasters in their cups. -A painter need only transfer and copy the very lines which Marguerite -has so happily traced, to make a faithful picture.</p> - -<p>After these journeys, being now reunited at her house of La Fère in -Picardy with her dear brother d’Alençon, she<a name="page_206" id="page_206"></a> realizes there for nearly -two months, “which were to us” she says, “like two short days,” one of -those terrestrial paradises which were at all times the desire of her -imagination and of her heart. She loved beyond all things those spheres -of enchantment, those Fortunate Isles, alike of Urania and of Calypso, -and she was ever seeking to reproduce them in all places and under all -forms, whether at her Court at Nérac or amid the rocks of Usson, or, at -the last, in that beautiful garden on the banks of the Seine (which -to-day is the Rue des Petits-Augustins) where she strove to cheat old -age.</p> - -<p>“O my queen! how good it is to be with you!” exclaims continually her -brother d’Alençon, enchanted with the thousand graceful imaginations -with which she varied and embellished this sojourn at La Fère. And she -adds naïvely, mingling her Christian erudition with sentiment: “He would -gladly have said with Saint Peter: ‘Let us make our tabernacle here,’ if -the regal courage he possessed and the generosity of his soul had not -called him to greater things.” As for her, we can conceive that she -would gladly have remained there, prolonging without weariness the -enchantment; she would willingly have arranged her life like that -beautiful garden at Nérac of which she constantly speaks, “which has -such charming alleys of laurel and cypress,” or like the park she had -made there, “with paths three thousand paces long beside the river;” the -chapel being close at hand for morning mass, and the violins at her -orders for the evening ball.</p> - -<p>Whatever ability and shrewdness Queen Marguerite may have shown in -various political circumstances in the course of her life, we -nevertheless perceive plainly that she was not a political woman; she -was too essentially of her sex for that. There are very few women who, -like the Princess<a name="page_207" id="page_207"></a> Palatine [Anne de Gonzaga] or the illustrious -Catherine of Russia, know how to be libertine yet sure of themselves; -able to establish an impenetrable partition between the alcove and the -cabinet of public affairs. Nearly all the women who have mingled in the -intrigues of politics have introduced and confused with them their -intrigues of heart or senses. Consequently, whatever intelligence they -may have, they elude or escape at a certain moment, and unless there be -a man who holds the tiller and gives them with decision their course, we -find them unfaithful, treacherous, not to be relied on, and capable at -any moment of colloguing through a secret window with an emissary of the -opposite side. Marguerite, with infinite intelligence and grace, was one -of those women. Distinguished but not superior, and wholly influenced by -passions, she had wiles and artifices of a passing kind, but no views, -and still less stability.</p> - -<p>One of the remarkable features of her Memoirs is that she does not tell -all, nor even the half of all, and in the very midst of the odious and -extravagant accusations made against her she sits, pen in hand, a -delicate and most discreet woman. Nothing can be less like confession -than her Memoirs. “We find there,” says Bayle, “many sins of omission; -but could we expect that Queen Marguerite would acknowledge the things -that would blast her? Such avowals are reserved for the tribunal of -confession; they are not meant for history.” At the most, when -enlightened by history and by the pamphlets of the period, we can merely -guess at certain feelings of which she presents to us only the -superficial and specious side. When she speaks of Bussy d’Amboise she -scarcely restrains her admiration for that gallant cavalier, and we -fancy we can see in the abundance of that praise that her heart -overflows.</p> - -<p>Even the letters that we have from her say little more.<a name="page_208" id="page_208"></a> Among them are -love letters addressed to him whom at one time she loved the most, -Harlay de Chanvalon. Here we find no longer the charming, moderately -ornate, and naturally polished style of the Memoirs; this is all of the -highest metaphysics and purest fustian, nearly unintelligible and most -ridiculous. “Adieu, my beauteous sun! adieu, my noble angel! fine -miracle of nature!” those are the most commonplace and earthly of her -expressions; the rest mount ever higher till lost in the Empyrean. It -would really seem, from reading these letters, as if Marguerite had -never loved with heart-love, only with the head and the imagination; and -that, feeling truly no love but the physical, she felt herself bound to -refine it in expression and to <i>petrarchize</i> in words, she, who was so -practical in behaviour. She borrows from the false poetry of her day its -tinsel in order to persuade herself that the fancy of the moment is an -eternal worship. A practical observation is quoted of her which tells us -better than her own letters the secret of her life. “Would you cease to -love?” she said, “possess the thing beloved.” It is to escape this quick -disenchantment, this sad and rapid awakening, that she is so prodigal of -her figurative, mythological, impossible expressions; she is trying to -make herself a veil; the heart counts for nothing. She seems to be -saying to love: “Thy base is so trivial, so passing a thing, let us try -to support it by words, and so prolong its image and its play.”</p> - -<p>Her life well deduced and well related would make the subject of a -teeming and interesting volume. Having obtained, after the persecutions -and troubles, permission to rejoin her husband in Gascogne (1578), she -remained there three and a half years, enjoying her liberty and leaving -him his. She counts these days at Nérac, mingled, in spite of the -re-beginning wars, with balls, excursions, and “all sorts<a name="page_209" id="page_209"></a> of virtuous -pleasures,” as an epoch of happiness. Henri’s weaknesses and her own -harmonized remarkably, and never clashed. But Henri soon crossed the -limit of license, and she, on her side, equally. It is not for us to -hold the balance or enter here into details which would soon become -indelicate and shameful. Marguerite, who had gone to spend some time in -Paris at her brother’s Court (1582, 1583) did not return to her husband -until after an odious scandal had made public her frailty.</p> - -<p>From that time forth her life did not retain its early, smiling -joyfulness. She was now past thirty; civil wars were lighted, never to -be extinguished until after the desperate struggles and total defeat of -the League. Marguerite, becoming a queen-adventuress, changed her abode -from time to time, until she found herself in the castle of Usson, that -asylum of which I have spoken, where she passed no less than eighteen -years (1587-1605). What happened there? Doubtless many common frailties, -but less odious than are told by bitter and dishonourable chroniclers, -the only authorities for the tales they put forth.</p> - -<p>During this time Queen Marguerite did not entirely cease to correspond -with her husband, now become King of France. If the conduct of the royal -pair leaves much to be desired with regard to each other, and also with -regard to the public, let us at least recognize that their -correspondence is that of honourable persons, persons of good company, -whose hearts are much better than their morals. When reasons of State -determined Henri to <i>unmarry himself</i>, to break a union which was not -only sterile but scandalous, Marguerite agreed without -resistance,—seeming, however, to be fully conscious of what she was -losing. To accomplish the formalities of divorce, the pope delegated -certain bishops and cardinals to interrogate separately the husband and<a name="page_210" id="page_210"></a> -wife. Marguerite expresses the desire, inasmuch as she must be -questioned, that this may be done “by more private and familiar” -persons, her courage not being able to endure publicly so great a -<i>diminution</i>; “fearing that my tears,” she writes, “may make these -cardinals think I am acting from force or constraint, which would injure -the effect the king desires” (Oct. 21, 1599). King Henri was touched by -the feelings she showed throughout this long negotiation. “I am very -satisfied,” he writes, “at the ingenuousness and candour of your -procedure; and I hope that God will bless the remainder of our days with -fraternal affection, accompanied by the public good, which will render -them very happy.” He calls her henceforth his sister; and she herself -says to him: “You are father, brother, and king to me.” If their -marriage was one of the least noble and the most bourgeois, their -divorce, at any rate, was royal.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>[Here Sainte-Beuve does not keep strictly to history. Henri IV. had long -urged Marguerite to consent to a divorce; but she, aware that he was -taking steps to divorce Gabrielle d’Estrées from her husband, in order -to marry her, and feeling the indignity of such a marriage, firmly -refused, and continued to do so until the sudden death of Gabrielle in -Paris during Holy Week of 1599; on which Marguerite consented at once to -the divorce, and Henri married Marie de’ Medici, December 17 of the same -year.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_coronation_211_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_coronation_211_sml.jpg" width="550" height="352" alt="The Coronation of Marie de’ Medici" -title="The Coronation of Marie de’ Medici" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">The Coronation of Marie de’ Medici</span> -</p> - -<p>Five years later (1605) Marguerite returned from the castle of Usson and -held her Court in Paris at the hôtel de Sens (which still exists) and at -her various châteaux in Languedoc; no longer, alas! the Reine Margot of -our ill-regulated affections, and somewhat open to the malicious -comments of Tallemant des Reaux, but appearing at times with all her -wonted spirit and regal dignity. These were<a name="page_211" id="page_211"></a> the days when she kept -a brigade of golden-haired footmen who were shorn for the wigs; and the -story goes that her gowns were made with many pockets, in each of which -she kept the mummied heart of a lover. But such tales must be taken for -what they are worth, and a better chronicler than the satirists of the -Valois has given us ocular proof of her last majestic presence at a -public ceremony five years before her death.</p> - -<p>In 1610, Henri IV. preparing to leave France for the war in Germany, and -wishing to appoint Queen Marie de’ Medici regent, it became necessary to -have the latter crowned. This was done in the cathedral of Saint-Denis, -May 13, 1610. The Queen of Navarre, as Marguerite, daughter of France -and first princess of the blood, was required to be present at the -ceremony. Rubens’ splendid picture (reproduced in this volume) gives the -scene. Marie de’ Medici, kneeling before the altar, is being crowned by -Cardinal de Joyeuse, assisted by his clergy and two other cardinals; -beside the queen are the dauphin (Louis XIII.) and his sister, -Élisabeth, afterwards Queen of Spain. The Princesse de Conti and the -Duchesse de Montpensier carry the queen’s train; the Duc de Ventadour, -his back to the spectator, bears the sceptre, and the Chevalier de -Vendôme the sword of Justice. To the left, leading the cortège of -princesses and nobles, is the Queen of Navarre, easily recognized by her -small closed crown, all the other princesses wearing coronets. In the -background, to right, in a gallery, sits Henri IV. viewing the ceremony. -As he did so he turned with a shudder to the man behind him and said: “I -am thinking how this scene would appear if this were the Last Day and -the Judge were to summon us all before Him.” Henri IV. was killed by -Ravaillac the following morning, while his coach stood blocked in the -streets by the crowds who<a name="page_212" id="page_212"></a> were collecting for the public entry of Marie -de’ Medici into Paris.</p> - -<p>The young Élisabeth, eldest daughter of the king and Marie de’ Medici, -who appears at the coronation of her mother, was afterwards wife of -Philip IV. of Spain, and mother of the Infanta Maria Theresa, wife of -Louis XIV, also of Carlos II., at whose death Louis XIV. obtained the -crown of Spain for his grandson, the Duc d’Anjou, Philip V. This -Élisabeth of France, Queen of Spain, is the original of Rubens’ -magnificent portrait reproduced in this chapter.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span>]</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Queen Marguerite returned from Usson to Paris in 1605; and here we find -her in her last estate, turned slightly to ridicule by Tallemant, the -echo of the new century. Eighteen years of confinement and solitude had -given her singularities, and even manias; they now burst forth in open -day. She still had adventures both gallant and startling: an equerry -whom she loved was killed at her carriage door by a jealous servant, and -the poet Maynard, a young disciple of Malherbe, one of Marguerite’s -<i>beaux-esprits</i>, wrote stanzas and plaints about it. During the same -period Marguerite had many sincere thoughts that were more than fits of -devotion. With Maynard for secretary, she had also Vincent de Paul, -young in those days, for her chaplain. She founded and endowed convents, -all the while paying learned men to instruct her in philosophy, and -musicians to amuse her during divine service and at hours more profane. -She gave many alms and gratuities and did not pay her debts. It was not -precisely good sense that presided over her life. But amidst it all she -was loved. “On the 27th day of the month of March” (1615), says a -contemporary, “died in Paris Queen Marguerite, sole remains of the race -of Valois,—a princess full of kindness and of good intentions for the -good and the<a name="page_213" id="page_213"></a> peace of the State, <i>who did no harm to any but herself</i>. -She was greatly regretted. She died at the age of sixty-two.”</p> - -<p>Certain persons have attempted to compare her for beauty, for -misfortunes, for intellect, with Marie Stuart. Certainly, at a point of -departure there was much in common between the two queens, the two -sisters-in-law, but the comparison cannot be maintained historically. -Marie Stuart, who had in herself the wit, grace, and manners of the -Valois, who was scarcely more moral as a woman than Marguerite, and was -implicated in acts that were far more monstrous, had, or seemed to have, -a certain elevation of heart, which she acquired, or developed, in her -long captivity crowned by her sorrowful death. Of the two destinies, the -one represents definitely a great cause, and ends in a pathetic legend -of victim and martyr; the reputation of the other is spent and scattered -in tales and anecdotes half smutty, half devout, into which there enters -a grain of satire and of gayety. From the end of one comes many a -tearful tragedy; from that of the other nought can be made but a -<i>fabliau</i>.</p> - -<p>That which ought to be remembered to Marguerite’s honour is her -intelligence, her talent for saying the right word; in short, that which -is said of her in the Memoirs of Cardinal de Richelieu: “She was the -refuge of men of letters; she loved to hear them talk; her table was -always surrounded by them, and she learned so much from their -conversation that she talked better than any other woman of her time, -and wrote more elegantly than the ordinary condition of her sex would -warrant.” It is in that way, by certain exquisite pages which form a -date in our language, that she enters, in her turn, into literary -history, the noble refuge of so many wrecks, and that a last and a -lasting ray shines from her name.</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">C. A. Sainte-Beuve</span>, <i>Causeries du Lundi</i> (1852).<br /> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_214" id="page_214"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="DISCOURSE_VI" id="DISCOURSE_VI"></a>DISCOURSE VI.<br /><br /> -<small>MESDAMES, THE DAUGHTERS OF THE NOBLE HOUSE OF FRANCE.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></small></h2> - -<h3>1. <i>Madame Yoland de France.</i></h3> - -<p>’Tis a thing that I have heard great personages, both men and ladies of -the Court, remark, that usually the daughters of the house of France -have been good, or witty, or gracious, or generous, and in all things -accomplished; and to confirm this opinion they do not go back to the -olden time, but say it of those of whom they have knowledge themselves, -or have heard their fathers and grandfathers who have been at the Court -talk of.</p> - -<p>First, I shall name here Madame Yoland of France, daughter of Charles -VII., and wife of the Duc de Savoie and Prince of Piedmont.</p> - -<p>She was very clever; true sister to her brother, Louis XI. She leaned a -little to the party of Duc Charles de Bourgogne, her brother-in-law, he -having married her elder sister Catherine, who scarcely lived after -wedding her husband, so that her virtues do not appear. Yoland, seeing -that Duc Charles was her neighbour and might be feared, did what she -could to maintain his friendship, and he served her much in the business -of her State. But he dying, King Louis XI. came down upon her grandeur -and her means, and those of Savoie. But Madame la duchesse, clever lady! -found means of winning over her brother the king;, and went to see<a name="page_215" id="page_215"></a> him -at Plessis-lez-Tours to settle their affairs. She having arrived, the -king went down to meet her in the courtyard and welcome her; and having -bowed and kissed her and put his arm around her neck, half laughing, -half pinching her, he said: “Madame la Bourgognian, you are very -welcome.” She, making him a great curtsey, replied: “Monsieur, I am not -Bourgognian; you will pardon me if you please. I am a very good -Frenchwoman and your humble servant.” On which the king took her by the -arm and led her to her chamber with very good welcome; but Madame -Yoland, who was shrewd and knew the king’s nature, was determined not to -remain long with him, but to settle her affairs as fast as she could and -get away.</p> - -<p>The king, on the other hand, who knew the lady, did not press her to -stay very long; so that if one was displeased with the other, the other -was displeased with the first; wherefore without staying more than eight -days she returned, very little content with the king, her brother.</p> - -<p>Philippe de Commines has told about this meeting more at length; but the -old people of those days said that they thought this princess a very -able female, who owed nothing to the king, her brother, who twitted her -often about being a Bourgognian; but she tacked about as gently and -modestly as she could, for fear of affronting him, knowing full well, -and better than even her brother, how to dissimulate, being a hundred -times slyer than he in face, and speech, and ways, though always very -good and very wise.</p> - -<h3>2. <i>Madame Jeanne de France.</i></h3> - -<p>Jeanne de France, daughter of the aforesaid king, Louis XI., was very -witty, but so good that after her death she was counted a saint, and -even as doing miracles, because of the sanctity of the life she led -after her husband, Louis XII.,<a name="page_216" id="page_216"></a> repudiated her [to marry Anne de -Bretagne]; after which she retired to Bourges, which was given her as a -dowry for the term of her natural life; where all her time was spent in -prayer and orisons and in serving God and his poor, without giving any -sign of the wrong that was done her by such repudiation. But the king -protested that he had been forced to marry her fearing the wrath of her -father, Louis XI., a master-man, and declared positively that he had -never known her as his wife. Thus the matter was allowed to pass; in -which this princess showed her wisdom, not making the reply of Richarde -of Scotland, wife of Charles le Gros, King of France, when her husband -repudiated her, affirming that he had never lived with her as his wife. -“That is well,” she said, “since by the oath of my husband I am maid and -virgin.” By those words she scoffed at her husband’s oath and her own -virginity.</p> - -<p>But the king was seeking to recover his first loves, namely: Queen Anne -and her noble duchy, which gave great temptations to his soul; and that -was why he repudiated his wife. His oath was believed and accepted by -the pope, who sent him the dispensation, which was received by the -Sorbonne and the parliament of Paris. In all of which this princess was -wise and virtuous, and made no scandal, nor uproar, nor appeal to -justice, because a king can do much and just what he will; but feeling -herself strong to contain herself in continence and chastity, she -retired towards God and espoused herself to Him so truly that never -another husband nor a better could she have.</p> - -<h3>3. <i>Madame Anne de France.</i></h3> - -<p>After her comes her sister, Anne de France, a shrewd woman and a cunning -if ever there was one, and the true image of King Louis, her father. The -choice made of her<a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a> to be guardian and administrator of her brother, -King Charles [VIII.], proves this, for she governed him so wisely and -virtuously that he came to be one of the greatest of the kings of -France, who was proclaimed, by reason of his valour, Emperor of the -East. As to his kingdom she administered that in like manner. True it is -that because of her ambition she was rather mischief-making, on account -of the hatred she bore to M. d’Orléans, afterwards King Louis XII. I -have heard say, however, that in the beginning she loved him with love; -so that if M. d’Orléans had been willing to hear to her, he might have -had better luck, as I hold on good authority. But he could not constrain -himself, all the more because he saw her so ambitious, and he wished his -wife to depend upon him as first and nearest prince to the crown, and -not upon herself; while she desired the contrary, for she wanted to hold -the highest place and to govern in all things.</p> - -<p>She was very vindictive in temper like her father, and always a sly -dissembler, corrupt, full of deceit, and a great hypocrite, who, for the -sake of her ambition, could mask and disguise herself in any way. So -that the kingdom, beginning to be angry at her humours, although she was -wise and virtuous, bore with them so impatiently that when the king went -to Naples she no longer had the title of regent, but her husband, M. de -Bourbon, received it. It is true, however, that she made him do what she -had in her head, for she ruled him and knew how to guide him, all the -better because he was rather foolish,—indeed, very much so; but the -Council opposed and controlled her. She endeavoured to use her -prerogative and authority over Queen Anne, but there she found the boot -on the other foot, as they say, for Queen Anne was a shrewd Bretonne, as -I have told already, who was very superb and haughty towards her<a name="page_218" id="page_218"></a> -equals; so that Madame Anne was forced to lower her sails and leave the -queen, her sister-in-law, to keep her rank and maintain her grandeur and -majesty, as was reasonable; which made Madame Anne very angry; for she, -being virtually regent, held to her grandeur terribly.</p> - -<p>I have read many letters from her to our family in the days of her -greatness; but never did I see any of our kings (and I have seen many) -talk and write so bravely and imperiously as she did, as much to the -great as to the small. Of a surety, she was a <i>maîtresse-femme</i>, though -quarrelsome, and if M. d’Orléans had not been captured and his luck had -not served him ill, she would have thrown France into turmoil; and all -for her ambition, which so long as she lived she never could banish from -her soul,—not even when retired to her estates, where, nevertheless, -she pretended to be pleased and where she held her Court, which was -always, as I have heard my grandmother say, very fine and grand, she -being accompanied by great numbers of ladies and maids of honour, whom -she trained very wisely and virtuously. In fact she gave such fine -educations (as I know from my grandmother) that there were no ladies or -daughters of great houses in her time who did not receive lessons from -her, the house of Bourbon being one of the greatest and most splendid in -Christendom. And indeed it was she who made it so brilliant, for though -she was opulent in estates and riches of her own, she played her hand so -well in the regency that she gained a great deal more; all of which -served to make the house of Bourbon more dazzling. Besides being -splendid and magnificent by nature and unwilling to diminish by ever so -little her early grandeur, she also did many great kindnesses to those -whom she liked and took in hand. To end all, this Anne de France was -very clever and sufficiently good. I have now said enough about her.<a name="page_219" id="page_219"></a></p> - -<h3>4. <i>Madame Claude de France.</i></h3> - -<p>I must now speak of Madame Claude de France, who was very good, very -charitable, and very gentle to all, never doing any unkindness or harm -to any one either at her Court or in the kingdom. She was much beloved -by King Louis [XII.] and Queen Anne, her father and mother, being their -good and best-loved daughter, as they showed her plainly; for after the -king was peaceably Duke of Milan they declared and proclaimed her, in -the parliament of Paris with open doors, duchess of the two finest -duchies in Christendom, to wit, Milan and Bretagne, the one coming from -her father, the other from her mother. What an heiress, if you please! -These two duchies joined together made a noble kingdom.</p> - -<p>Queen Anne, her mother, desired to marry her to Charles of Austria, -afterwards emperor, and had she lived she would have done so, for in -that she influenced the king, her husband, wishing always to have the -sole charge and care of the marriage of her daughters. Never did she -call them otherwise than by their names: “My daughter Claude,” and “My -daughter Renée.” In these our days, estates and seigneuries must be -given to daughters of princesses, and even of ladies, by which to call -them! If Queen Anne had lived, never would Madame Claude have been -married to King François [I.] for she foresaw the evil treatment she was -certain to receive; the king, her husband, giving her a disease that -shortened her days. Also, Madame la regente treated her harshly. But she -strengthened her soul as much as she could, by her sound mind and gentle -patience and great wisdom, to endure these troubles, and in spite of -all, she bore the king, her husband, a fine and generous progeny, -namely: three sons, François, Henri, and Charles; and four daughters, -Louise, Charlotte, Magdelaine, and Marguerite.<a name="page_220" id="page_220"></a></p> - -<p>She was much beloved by her husband, King François [I.], and well -treated by him and by all France, and much regretted when she died for -her admirable virtues and goodness. I have read in the “Chronique -d’Anjou” that after her death her body worked miracles; for a great lady -of her family being tortured one day with a hot fever, and having made -her a vow, recovered her health suddenly.</p> - -<h3>5. <i>Madame Renée de France.</i></h3> - -<p>Madame Renée, her sister, was also a very good and able princess; for -she had as sound and subtle mind as could be. She had studied much, and -I have heard her discoursing learnedly and gravely of the sciences, even -astrology, and knowledge of the stars, about which I heard her talking -one day with the queen-mother, who said, after hearing her, that the -greatest philosopher in the world could not have spoken better.</p> - -<p>She was promised in marriage to the Emperor Charles, by King François; -but the war interrupting that marriage, she was given to the Duc de -Ferrara, who loved her much and treated her honourably as the daughter -of a king. True it is they were for a time rather ill together because -of the Lutheran religion he suspected her of liking. Possibly; for -resenting the ill-turns the popes had done to her father in every way, -she denied their power and refused obedience, not being able to do -worse, she being a woman. I hold on good authority that she said this -often. Her husband, nevertheless, having regard to her illustrious -blood, respected her always and honoured her much. Like her sister, -Queen Claude, she was fortunate in her issue, for she bore to her -husband the finest that was, I believe, in Italy, although she herself -was much weakened in body.</p> - -<p>She had the Duc de Ferrara, who is to-day one of the<a name="page_221" id="page_221"></a> handsomest princes -in Italy and very wise and generous; the late Cardinal d’Est, the -kindest, most magnificent and liberal man in the world (of whom I hope -to speak hereafter); and three daughters, the most beautiful women ever -born in Italy: Madame Anne d’Est, afterwards Mme. de Guise; Madame -Lucrezia, Duchesse d’Urbino; and Madame Leonora, who died unmarried. The -first two bore the names of their grandmothers: one from Anne de -Bretagne on her mother’s side; the other, on the father’s side, from -Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander [VI.], both very different -in manners as in character, although the said lady Lucrezia Borgia was a -charming princess of Spanish extraction, gifted with beauty and virtue -(see Guicciardini). Madame Leonora was named after Queen Leonora. These -daughters were very handsome, but their mother embellished them still -more by the noble education that she gave them, making them study -sciences and good letters, the which they learned and retained -perfectly, putting to shame the greatest scholars. So that if they had -beautiful bodies they had souls that were beautiful also. I shall speak -of them elsewhere.</p> - -<p>Now, if Madame Renée was clever, intelligent, wise, and virtuous, she -was also so kind and understood the subjects of her husband so well that -I never knew any one in Ferrara who was not content or failed to say all -the good in the world of her. They felt above all her charity, which she -had in great abundance and principally for Frenchmen; for she had this -good thing about her, that she never forgot her nation; and though she -was thrust far away from it, she always loved it deeply. No Frenchman -passing through Ferrara, being in necessity and addressing her, ever -left without an ample donation and good money to return to his country -and family; and if he were ill, and could<a name="page_222" id="page_222"></a> not travel, she had him -treated and cured carefully and then gave him money to return to France.</p> - -<p>I have heard persons who know it well, and an infinite number of -soldiers who had good experience of it say that after the journey of M. -de Guise into Italy, she saved the lives of at least ten thousand poor -Frenchmen, who would have died of starvation and want without her; and -among the number were many nobles of good family. I have heard some of -them say that never could they have reached France without her, so great -was her charity and liberality to those of her nation. And I have also -heard her <i>maître d’hôtel</i> assert that their food had cost her more than -ten thousand crowns; and when the stewards of her household remonstrated -and showed her this excessive expense, she only said: “How can I help -it? These are poor Frenchmen of my nation, who, if God had put a beard -on my chin and made me a man, would now be my subjects; and truly they -would be so now if that wicked Salic law did not hold me in check.”</p> - -<p>She is all the more to be praised because, without her, the old proverb -would be still more true, namely, that “Italy is the grave of -Frenchmen.”</p> - -<p>But if her charity was shown at that time in this direction, I can -assure you that in other places she did not fail to practise it. I have -heard several of her household say that on her return to France, having -retired to her town and house of Montargis about the time the civil wars -began to stir, she gave a refuge as long as she lived to a number of -persons of the Religion [Reformers] who were driven or banished from -their houses and estates; she aided, succoured, and fed as many as she -could.</p> - -<p>I myself, at the time of the second troubles, was with the forces in -Gascoigne, commanded by MM. de Terridès<a name="page_223" id="page_223"></a> and de Montsalès, amounting to -eight thousand men, then on their way to join the king. We passed -through Montargis and went, the leaders, chief captains, and gentlemen, -to pay our respects to Madame Renée, as our duty commanded. We saw in -the castle, as I believe, more than three hundred persons of the -Religion, who had taken refuge there from all parts of the country. An -old <i>maître d’hôtel</i>, a very honest man, whom I had known in Ferrara, -swore to me that she fed every day more than three hundred mouths of -these poor people.</p> - -<p>In short, this princess was a true daughter of France in kindness and -charity. She had also a great and lofty heart. I have seen her in Italy -and at Court, hold her state as well as possible; and though she did not -have an external appearance of grandeur, her body being weakened, there -was so much majesty in her royal face and speech that she showed plainly -enough she was daughter of a king and of France.</p> - -<h3>6. <i>Mesdames Charlotte, Louise, Magdelaine, and Marguerite de France.</i></h3> - -<p>I have said that Madame Claude [wife of François I.] was fortunate in -her fine progeny of daughters as well as of sons. First she had Mesdames -Charlotte and Louise, whom death did not allow to reach the perfect age -and noble fruit their tender youth had promised in sweet flowers. Had -they come to the perfection of their years they would have equalled -their sisters in mind and goodness, for their promise was great. Madame -Louise was betrothed to the Emperor when she died. Thus are lovely -rosebuds swept away by the wind, as well as full-blown flowers. Youth -thus ravished is more to be regretted than old age, which has had its -day and its loss is not great. Almost the same thing happened<a name="page_224" id="page_224"></a> to Madame -Magdelaine, their sister, who had no great time allowed her to enjoy the -thing in all the world she most desired; which was, to be a queen, so -proud and lofty was her heart.</p> - -<p>She was married to the King of Scotland; and when they wanted to -dissuade her—not, certainly, that he was not a brave and handsome -prince, but because she thus condemned herself to make her dwelling in a -barbarous land among a brutal people—she replied: “At least I shall be -queen so long as I live; that is what I have always wished for.” But -when she arrived in Scotland she found that country just what they had -told her, and very different from her sweet France. Still, without one -sign of repentance, she said nothing except these words: “Alas! I would -be queen,”—covering her sadness and the fire of her ambition with the -ashes of patience as best she could. M. de Ronsard, who went with her to -Scotland, told me all this; he had been a page of M. d’Orléans, who -allowed him to go with her, to see the world.</p> - -<p>She did not live long a queen before she died, regretted by the king and -all the country, for she was truly good, and made herself beloved, -having, moreover, a fine mind, and being wise and virtuous.</p> - -<p>Her sister, Madame Marguerite de France [the second of the three -Marguerites], afterwards Duchesse de Savoie, was so wise, virtuous, and -perfect in learning and knowledge that she was called the Minerva, or -the Pallas, of France, and for device she bore an olive branch with two -serpents entwining it, and the words: <i>Rerum Sapientia custos</i>: -signifying that all things are ruled, or should be, by wisdom—of which -she had much, and knowledge also; improving them ever by continual study -in the afternoons, and by lessons which she received from learned men, -whom she<a name="page_225" id="page_225"></a> loved above all other sorts of people. For which reason -they honoured her as their goddess and patron. The great quantity of -noble books which they wrote and dedicated to her show this, and as they -have said enough I shall say no more about her learning.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_francois_224_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_francois_224_sml.jpg" width="441" height="550" alt="François I" -title="François I" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">François I</span> -</p> - -<p>Her heart was grand and lofty. King Henri wished to marry her to M. de -Vendôme, first prince of the blood; but she made answer that never would -she marry a subject of the king, her brother. That is why she was so -long without a husband; until, peace being made between the two -Christian and Catholic kings, she was married to M. de Savoie, to whom -she had aspired for a long time, ever since the days of King François, -when Pope Paul III. and King François met at Nice, and the Queen of -Navarre went, by command of the king, to see the late Duc de Savoie in -the castle of Nice, taking with her Madame Marguerite, her niece, who -was thought most agreeable by M. de Savoie, and very suitable for his -son. But the affair dragged on, because of the great war, until the -peace, when the marriage was made and consummated at great cost to -France; for all that we had conquered and held in Piedmont and Savoie -for the space of thirty years, was given back in one hour; so much did -King Henri desire peace and love his sister, not sparing anything to -marry her well. But all the same, the greater part of France and -Piedmont murmured and said it was too much.</p> - -<p>Others thought it very strange, and others very incredible, until they -had seen her; and even foreigners mocked at us: and those who loved -France and her true good wept, and lamented, especially those in -Piedmont who did not wish to return to their former masters.</p> - -<p>As for the French soldiers, and the war companions who had so long -enjoyed the garrisons, charms, and fine living of<a name="page_226" id="page_226"></a> that beautiful -country, there is no need to ask what they said, nor how they grumbled -and were desperate and bemoaned themselves. Some, more Gascon than the -rest, said: “Hey! <i>cap de Diou!</i> for the little bit of flesh of that -woman, must we give back that large and noble piece of earth?” Others: -“A fine thing truly to call her Minerva, goddess of chastity, and send -her here to Piedmont to change her name at our expense!”</p> - -<p>I have heard great captains say that if Piedmont had been left to us, -and only Savoie and Bresse given up, the marriage would still have been -very rich and very fine; and if we could have stayed in Piedmont that -region would have served as a school and an amusement to the French -soldiers, who would have stayed there and not been so eager after civil -wars,—it being the nature of Frenchmen to busy themselves always with -the toils of Mars, and to hate idleness, rest, and peace.</p> - -<p>But such was now the unhappy fate of France. It was thus that peace was -bought, and Madame de Savoie could not help it; although she never -desired the ruin of France; on the contrary, she loved nothing so much -as the people of her nation; and if she received benefits from them she -was not ungrateful, but served them and succoured them all she could; -and as long as she lived she persuaded and won her husband, Monsieur de -Savoie, to keep the peace, and not combine, he being a Spaniard for -life, against France, which he did as soon as she was dead. For then he -stirred up, supported, and strengthened secretly M. le Maréchal de -Bellegarde to do what he did and to rebel against the king, and seize -upon the marquisate of Saluces (which I shall speak of elsewhere); in -which certainly his Highness did great wrong, and ill returned the -benefits received from the Kings of France his relatives, especially our -late King<a name="page_227" id="page_227"></a> Henri III., who, on his return from Poland, gave him so -liberally Pignerol and Savillan.</p> - -<p>Many well-advised persons believe that if Madame de Savoie had lived she -would have died sooner than allow that blow, so grateful did she feel to -the land of her birth. And I have heard a very great person say that he -thought that if Madame de Savoie were living and had seen her son seize -upon the marquisate of Saluces (as he did in the time of the late king), -she would have strangled him; indeed, the late king himself thought so -and said so. That king, Henri III., felt such wrath at that stroke that -the morning when the news reached him, as he was about to take the -sacrament, he put off that act and would not do it, so excited, angry, -and scrupulous was he, within as well as without; and he always said -that if his aunt had lived it would never have happened.</p> - -<p>Such was the good opinion this good princess left in the minds of the -king and of other persons. And to tell the truth, as I know from high -authority, if she had not been so good never would the king or his -council have portioned her with such great wealth, which, surely, she -never spared for France and Frenchmen. No Frenchman could complain, when -addressing her for his necessities in going or coming across the -mountains, that she did not succour and assist him and give him good -money to help him on his way. I know that when we returned from Malta, -she did great favours and gave much money to many Frenchmen who -addressed her and asked her for it; and also, without being asked, she -offered it. I can say that, as knowing it myself; for Mme. de -Pontcarlier, sister of M. de Retz, who was Madame de Savoie’s favourite -and lady of honour, asked me to supper one evening in her room, and gave -me, in a purse, five hundred crowns on behalf of the said Madame,<a name="page_228" id="page_228"></a> who -loved my aunt, Mme. de Dampierre, extremely and had also loved my -mother. But I can swear with truth and security that I did not take a -penny of it, for I had enough with me to take me back to Court; and had -I not, I would rather have gone on foot than be so shameless and -impudent as to beg of such a princess. I knew many who did not do like -that, but took very readily what they could get.</p> - -<p>I have heard one of her stewards say that every year she put away in a -coffer a third of her revenue to give to poor Frenchmen who passed -through Savoie. That is the good Frenchwoman that she was; and no one -should complain of the wealth she took from France; and it was all her -joy when she heard good news from there, and all her grief when it was -bad.</p> - -<p>When the first wars broke out she felt such woe she thought to die of -it; and when peace was made and she came to Lyon to meet the king and -the queen-mother, she could not rejoice enough, begging the queen to -tell her all; and showing anger to several Huguenots, telling them and -writing them that they stirred up strife, and urging them not to do so -again; for they honoured her much and had faith in her, because she gave -pleasure to many; indeed M. l’Amiral [Coligny] would not have enjoyed -his estates in Savoie had it not been for her.</p> - -<p>When the civil wars came on in Flanders she was the first to tell us on -our arrival from Malta; and you may be sure she was not sorry for them; -“for,” said she, “those Spaniards rejoiced and scoffed at us for our -discords, but now that they have their share they will scoff no longer.”</p> - -<p>She was so beloved in the lands and countries of her husband that when -she died tears flowed from the eyes of all, both great and small, so -that for long they did not dry nor cease. She spoke for every one to her -husband when they<a name="page_229" id="page_229"></a> were in trouble and adversity, in pain or in fault, -requesting favour or pardon, which without her intercessions they would -often not have had. Thus they called her their patron-saint.</p> - -<p>In short, she was the blessing of the world; in all ways, as I have -said, charitable, munificent, liberal, wise, virtuous, and so accessible -and gentle as never was, principally to those of her nation; for when -they went to do her reverence she received them with such welcome they -were shamed; the most unimportant gentlemen she honoured in the same -way, and often did not speak to them until they were covered. I know -what I say, for, speaking with her on one occasion, she did me this -honour, and urged and commanded me so much that I was constrained to -say: “Madame, I think you do not take me for a Frenchman, but for one -who is ignorant who you are and the rank you hold; but I must honour you -as belongs to me.” She never spoke to any one sitting down herself, but -always standing; unless they were principal personages, and those I saw -speaking to her she obliged to sit beside her.</p> - -<p>To conclude, one could never tell all the good of this princess as it -was; it would need a worthier writer than I to represent her virtues. I -shall be silent, therefore, till some future time, and begin to tell of -the daughters of our King Henri [II. and Catherine de’ Medici], Mesdames -Élisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite de France.</p> - -<h3>7. <i>Mesdames Élisabeth, Claude, and Marguerite de France.</i></h3> - -<p>I begin by the eldest, Madame Élisabeth de France, or rather I ought to -call her the beautiful Élisabeth of the world on account of her rare -virtues and perfections, the Queen of Spain, beloved and honoured by her -people in her lifetime, and deeply regretted and mourned by the same -after<a name="page_230" id="page_230"></a> death, as I have said already in the Discourse I made upon her. -Therefore I shall content myself for the present in writing no more, but -will speak of her sister, the second daughter of King Henri, Madame -Claude de France (the name of her grandmother), Duchesse de Lorraine, -who was a beautiful, wise, virtuous, good, and gentle princess. So that -every one at Court said that she resembled her mother and aunt and was -their real image. She had a certain gayety in her face which pleased all -those who looked at her. In her beauty she resembled her mother, in her -knowledge and kindness she resembled her aunt; and the people of -Lorraine found her ever kind as long as she lived, as I myself have seen -when I went to that country; and after her death they found much to say -of her. In fact, by her death that land was filled with regrets, and M. -de Lorraine mourned her so much that, though he was young when widowed -of her, he would not marry again, saying he could never find her like, -though could he do so he would remarry, not being disinclined.</p> - -<p>She left a noble progeny and died in childbed, through the appetite of -an old midwife of Paris, a drunkard, in whom she had more faith than in -any other.</p> - -<p>The news of her death reached Reims the day of the king’s coronation, -and all the Court were in mourning and extreme sadness, for her kindness -was shown to all when she came there. The last time she came, the king, -her brother, made her a gift of the ransoms of Guyenne, which came from -the confiscations that took place there; but the ransoms were made so -heavy that often they exceeded the value of the confiscations.</p> - -<p>Mme. de Dampierre asked her for one, one day when I was present, for a -gentleman whom I know. The princess made answer: “Mme. de Dampierre, I -give it to you with<a name="page_231" id="page_231"></a> all my heart, having merely accepted this gift from -the king, my brother, not having asked for it; he gave it to me of his -own good-will; not to injure France, for I am French and love all those -who are so like myself; they will have more courtesy from me than from -another who might have had that gift; therefore what they want of me and -ask of me I will give.” And truly, those who had to do with her found -her all courtesy, gentleness, and goodness.</p> - -<p>In short, she was a true daughter of France, having good mind and -ability, which she proved by seconding wisely and ably her husband, M. -de Lorraine, in the government of his seigneuries and principalities.</p> - -<p>After this Claude de France, comes that beautiful Marguerite de France, -Queen of Navarre, of whom I have already spoken; for which reason I am -silent here, awaiting another time; for I think that April in its -springtime never produced such lovely flowers and verdure as this -princess of ours produced blooming at all seasons in noble and diverse -ways, so that all the good in the world could be said of her.</p> - -<h3>8. <i>Madame Diane de France.</i></h3> - -<p>Nor must I forget Madame Diane de France; although she was bastard and a -natural child, we must place her in the rank of the daughters of France, -because she was acknowledged by the late King Henri [II.] and -legitimatized and afterwards dowered as daughter of France; for she was -given the duchy of Chastellerault, which she quitted to be Duchesse -d’Angoulême, a title and estate she retains at this day, with all the -privileges of a daughter of France, even to that of entering the -cabinets and state business of her brothers, King Charles and King Henri -III. (where I have often seen her), as though she were their own -sister.<a name="page_232" id="page_232"></a> Indeed, they loved her as such. She had much resemblance to -King Henri, her father, as much in features of the face as in habits and -actions. She loved all the exercises that he loved, whether arms, -hunting, or horses. I think it is not possible for any lady to look -better on horseback than she did, or to have better grace in riding.</p> - -<p>I have heard say (and read) from certain old persons, that little King -Charles VIII. being in his kingdom of Naples, Mme. la Princesse de -Melfi, coming to do him reverence, showed him her daughter, beautiful as -an angel, mounted on a noble courser, managing him so well, with all the -airs and paces of the ring, that no equerry could have done better, and -the king and all his Court were in great admiration and astonishment to -see such beauty so dexterous on horseback, yet without doing shame to -her sex.</p> - -<p>Those who have seen Madame d’Angoulême on horseback were as much -delighted and amazed; for she was so born to it and had such grace that -she resembled in that respect the beautiful Camilla, Queen of the -Volsci; she was so grand in body and shape and face that it was hard to -find any one at Court as superb and graceful at that exercise; nor did -she exceed in any way the proper modesty and gentleness; indeed, like -the Princesse Melfi, she outdid modesty; except when she rode through -the country, when she showed some pretty performances that were very -agreeable to those who beheld them.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_diane_232_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_diane_232_sml.jpg" width="388" height="550" alt="Diane de France" -title="Diane de France" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Diane de France</span> -</p> - -<p>I remember that M. le Maréchal d’Amville, her brother-in-law, gave her, -once upon a time, a very fine horse, which he named <i>le Docteur</i>, -because he stepped so daintily and advanced curveting with such -precision and nicety that a doctor could not have been wiser in his -actions; and that is why he called him so. I saw Madame d’Angoulême make -that horse go more than three hundred steps pacing<a name="page_233" id="page_233"></a> in that way; and -often the whole Court was amused to see it, and could not tell which to -admire most, her firm seat, or her beautiful grace. Always, to add to -her lustre, she was finely attired in a handsome and rich riding-dress, -not forgetting a hat well garnished with plumes, worn <i>à la</i> Guelfe. Ah! -what a pity it is when old age comes to spoil such beauties and blemish -such virtues; for now she has left all that, and quitted those -exercises, and also the hunting which became her so much; for nothing -was ever unbecoming to her in her gestures and manners, like the king, -her father,—she taking pains and pleasure in what she did, at a ball, -in dancing; indeed in whatever dance it was, whether grave or gay, she -was very accomplished.</p> - -<p>She sang well, and played well on the lute and other instruments. In -fact, she is her father’s daughter in that, as she is in kindness, for -indeed she is very kind, and never gives pain to any one, although she -has a grand and lofty heart, but her soul is generous, wise, and -virtuous, and she has been much beloved by both her husbands.</p> - -<p>She was first married to the Duc de Castro, of the house of Farnese, who -was killed at the assault at Hesdin; secondly, to M. de Montmorency, who -made some difficulty in the beginning, having promised to marry Mlle. de -Pienne, one of the queen’s maids of honour, a beautiful and virtuous -girl; but to obey a father who was angry and threatened to disinherit -him, he obtained his release from his first promise and married Madame -Diane. He lost nothing by the change, though the said Pienne came from -one of the greatest families in France, and was one of the most -beautiful, virtuous, and wise ladies of the Court, whom Madame Diane -loved, and has always loved without any jealousy of her past affections -with her husband. She knows how to control herself, for she is very -intelligent and of good understanding.<a name="page_234" id="page_234"></a> The kings, her brothers, and -Monsieur loved her much, and so did the queens and duchesses, her -sisters, for she never shamed them, being so perfect in all things.</p> - -<p>King Charles loved her, because she went with him to his hunts and other -joyous amusements, and was always gay and good-humoured.</p> - -<p>King Henri [III.] loved her, because he knew that she loved him and -liked to be with him. When war arose so cruelly on the death of M. de -Guise, knowing the king, her brother, to be in need, she started from -her house at Isle-Adam, in a diligence, not without running great risks, -being watched for on the road, and took him fifty thousand crowns, which -she had saved from her revenues, and gave them to him. They arrived most -<i>à propos</i> and, as I believe, are still owing to her; for which the king -felt such good-will that had he lived he would have done great things -for her, having tested her fine nature in his utmost need. And since his -death she has had no heart for joy or profit, so much did she regret and -still regrets him, and longs for vengeance, if her power were equal to -her will, on those who killed him. But never has our present king [Henri -IV.] consented to it, whatever prayer she makes, she holding Mme. de -Montpensier guilty of the death of the king, her brother, abhorring her -like the plague, and going so far as to tell her before Madame, the -king’s sister, that neither Madame nor the king had any honest reason to -love her, except that through this murder of the late king they held the -rank they did hold. What a hunt! I hope to say more of this elsewhere; -therefore am I silent now.</p> - -<h3>9. <i>Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre.</i></h3> - -<p>I must now speak somewhat of Marguerite, Queen of Navarre. Certainly she -was not born daughter of a king of<a name="page_235" id="page_235"></a> France, nor did she bear the name, -except that of Valois or d’Orléans, because, as M. du Tillet says in his -Memoirs, the surname of France does not belong to any but the daughters -of France; and if they are born before their fathers are kings they do -not take it until after their said fathers’ accession to the crown. -Nevertheless this Marguerite, as the greatest persons of those days have -said, was held to be daughter of France for her great virtues, although -there was some wrong in putting her in that rank. That is why we place -her here among the Daughters of France.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - -<p>She was a princess of very great mind and ability, both by nature and -power of acquisition, for she gave herself to letters in her early years -and continued to do so as long as she lived, liking and conversing with -the most learned men in her brother’s kingdom in the days of her -grandeur and usually at Court. They all so honoured her that they called -her their Mæcenas; and most of their books composed at that period were -dedicated either to her brother, the king, who was also learned, or to -her.</p> - -<p>She herself composed well, and made a book which she entitled “La -Marguerite des Marguerites” which is very fine and can still be found in -print.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> She often composed comedies and moralities, which were called -in those days pastorals, and had them played and represented by the -maids of honour at her Court.</p> - -<p>She was fond of composing spiritual songs, for her heart was much given -to God; and for that reason she bore as her device a marigold, which is -the flower that has the most affinity with the sun of any there is, -whether in similitude of its leaves to rays, or by reason of the fact -that usually it<a name="page_236" id="page_236"></a> turns to the sun wherever it goes from east to west, -opening and closing according to its rise and its setting. Also she -arranged this device with the words: <i>Non inferiora secutus</i>—“It stops -not for earthly things;” meaning that she aimed and directed all her -actions, thoughts, will, and affections to that great sun on high which -is God; and for that reason was she suspected of being of Luther’s -religion. But out of the respect and love she bore the king, her -brother, who loved her only and called her his darling [his <i>mignonne</i>] -she never made any profession or semblance of that religion; and if she -believed it she kept it in her soul very secretly, because the king -hated it much, saying that that, and all other new sects, tended more to -the destruction of kingdoms, monarchies, and civil dominions than to the -edification of souls.</p> - -<p>The great sultan, Solyman, said the same; declaring that however much it -upset many points of the Christian religion and the pope, he could not -like it, “because,” he said, “the monks of this new faith are only -seditious mischief-makers, who can never rest unless they are stirring -up trouble.” That is why King François, a wise prince if ever there was -one, foreseeing the miseries that would come in many ways to -Christianity, hated these people and was rather rigorous in burning -alive the heretics of his day. Nevertheless, he favoured the Protestant -princes of Germany against the emperor. That is how these great kings -govern as they please.</p> - -<p>I have heard a trustworthy person relate how the Connétable de -Montmorency, in the days of his greatest favour, discoursing of this -with the king, made no difficulty or scruple in telling him that if he -wanted to exterminate the heretics of his kingdom he would have to begin -with his Court and his nearest relations, naming the queen, his<a name="page_237" id="page_237"></a> sister. -To which the king replied: “Do not speak of her; she loves me too well. -She will never believe except as I believe, and never will she take any -religion prejudicial to my State.” After which, hearing of it, she never -liked M. le connétable, and helped much in his disfavour and banishment -from Court. Now it happened that the day on which her daughter, the -Princesse de Navarre, was married to the Duc de Clèves at -Chastellerault, the bride was so weighted with jewels and with her gown -of gold and silver stuff that her body was too weak to walk to church; -on which the king commanded the connétable to take his niece in his arms -and carry her to the church; which amazed the Court very much; a duty -like that being little suitable and honourable for a connétable, and -might have been given very well to another. But the Queen of Navarre was -in no wise displeased and said: “The man who tried to ruin me with my -brother now serves to carry my daughter to church.”</p> - -<p>I have this story from the person I mentioned, who added that M. le -connétable was much displeased at this duty and showed great vexation at -being made such a spectacle, saying: “It is all over with my favour, I -bid it farewell.” And so it proved; for after the <i>fête</i> and the wedding -dinner, he had his dismissal and departed immediately. I heard this from -my brother, who was then a page at Court and saw the whole mystery and -remembered it well, for he had a good memory. Possibly I am wearisome in -making this digression; but as it came to my remembrance, may I be -forgiven.</p> - -<p>To speak again of the learning of this queen: it was such that the -ambassadors who spoke with her were greatly delighted, and made reports -of it to their nations when they returned; in this she relieved the -king, her brother, for they always went to her after paying their chief -embassy<a name="page_238" id="page_238"></a> to him; and often when great affairs were concerned they -intrusted them to her. While they awaited the final and complete -decision of the king she knew well how to entertain and content them -with fine discourse, in which she was opulent, besides being very clever -in pumping them; so that the king often said she assisted him much and -relieved him a great deal. Therefore was it discussed, as I have heard -tell, which of the two sisters served their brothers best,—one the -Queen of Hungary, the emperor; the other, Marguerite, King François; the -one by the effects of war, the other by the efforts of her charming -spirit and gentleness.</p> - -<p>When King François was so ill in Spain, being a prisoner, she went to -him like a good sister and friend, under the safe-conduct of the -emperor; and finding her brother in so piteous a state that had she not -come he would surely have died, and knowing his nature and temperament -far better than all his physicians, she treated him and caused him to be -treated so well, according to her knowledge of him, that she cured him. -Therefore the king often said that without her he would have died, and -that forever would he recognize his obligation and love her for it; as -he did, until his death. She returned him the same love, so that I have -heard say how, hearing of his last illness, she said these words: -“Whoever comes to my door and announces the cure of the king, my -brother, whoever may be that messenger, be he lazy, ill-humoured, dirty -or unclean, I will kiss him as the neatest prince and gentleman of -France, and if he needs a bed to repose his laziness upon, I will give -him mine and lie myself on the hardest floor for the good news he brings -me.” But when she heard of his death her lamentations were so great, her -regrets so keen, that never after did she recover from them, nor was she -ever as before.<a name="page_239" id="page_239"></a></p> - -<p>When she was in Spain, as I have heard from my relations, she spoke to -the emperor so bravely and so honestly on the bad treatment he had given -to the king, her brother, that he was quite amazed; for she showed him -plainly the ingratitude and felony he had practised, he, a vassal, to -his seigneur in relation to Flanders; after which she reproached him for -his hardness of heart and want of pity to so great and good a king; -saying that to use him in this way would never win a heart so noble and -royal and so sovereign as that of her brother; and that if he died of -such treatment, his death would not remain unpunished; he having -children who would some day, when they grew up, take signal vengeance.</p> - -<p>Those words, pronounced so bravely and with such deep anger, gave the -emperor much to think of,—so much indeed that he softened and visited -the king and promised him many fine things, which he did not, -nevertheless, perform at this time.</p> - -<p>Now, if the queen spoke so well to the emperor, she spoke still more -strongly to his council, of whom she had audience. There she triumphed -in speaking and haranguing nobly with that good grace she never was -deprived of; and she did so well with her fine speech that she made -herself more pleasing than odious and vexatious,—all the more, withal, -that she was young, beautiful, the widow of M. d’Alençon, and in the -flower of her age; which is very suitable to move and bend such hard and -cruel persons. In short, she did so well that her reasons were thought -good and pertinent, and she was held in great esteem by the emperor, his -council, and the Court. Nevertheless he meant to play her a trick, -because, not reflecting on the expiration of her safe-conduct and -passport, she took no heed that the time was elapsing. But getting wind -that the emperor as<a name="page_240" id="page_240"></a> soon as her time had expired meant to arrest her, -she, always courageous, mounted her horse and rode in eight days a -distance that should have taken fifteen; which effort so well succeeded -that she reached the frontier of France very late on the evening of the -day her passport expired, circumventing thus his Imperial Majesty [<i>Sa -Cæsarée Majesté</i>] who would no doubt have kept her had she overstayed -her safe-conduct by a single day. She sent him word and wrote him this, -and quarrelled with him for it when he passed through France. I heard -this tale from Mme. la seneschale, my grandmother, who was with her at -that time as lady of honour.</p> - -<p>During the imprisonment of the king, her brother, she greatly assisted -Mme. la regente, her mother, in governing the kingdom, contenting the -princes, the grandees, and winning over the nobility; because she was -very accessible, and so won the hearts of many persons by the fine -qualities she had in her.</p> - -<p>In short, she was a princess worthy of a great empire; besides being -very kind, gentle, gracious, charitable, a great alms-giver and -disdaining none. Therefore was she, after her death, regretted and -bemoaned by everybody. The most learned persons vied with each other in -making her epitaph in Greek, Latin, French, Italian; so much so that -there is still a book of them extant, quite complete and very beautiful.</p> - -<p>This queen often said to this one and that one who discoursed of death, -and eternal happiness after it: “All that is true, but we shall stay a -long time under ground before we come to that.” I have heard my mother, -who was one of her ladies, and my grandmother, who was her lady of -honour, say that when they told her in the extremity of her illness that -she must die, she thought those words most<a name="page_241" id="page_241"></a> bitter, and repeated what I -have told above; adding that she was not so old but that she might live -on for many years, being only fifty-two or fifty-three years old. She -was born under the 10th degree of Aquarius, when Saturn was parted from -Venus by quaternary decumbiture, on the 10th of April, 1492, at ten in -the evening; having been conceived in the year 1491 at ten hours before -mid-day and seventeen minutes, on the 11th of July. Good astrologers can -make their computations upon that. She died in Béarn, at the castle of -Audaus [Odos] in the month of December, 1549. Her age can be reckoned -from that. She was older than the king, her brother, who was born at -Cognac, September 12th, year 1494, at nine in the evening, under the -21st degree of Gemini, having been conceived in the year 1493, December -10th, at ten o’clock in the morning, became king January 11th, 1514 -[1515 new style], and died in 1547.</p> - -<p>This queen took her illness by looking at a comet which appeared at the -death of Pope Paul III.; she herself thought this, but possibly it only -seemed so; for suddenly her mouth was drawn a little sideways; which her -physician, M. d’Escuranis, observing, he took her away, made her go to -bed, and treated her; for it was a chill [<i>caterre</i>], of which she died -in eight days, after having well prepared herself for death. She died a -good Christian and a Catholic, against the opinion of many; but as for -me, I can affirm, being a little boy at her Court with my mother and my -grandmother, that we never saw any act to contradict it; indeed, having -retired to a monastery of women in Angoumois, called Tusson, on the -death of the king, her brother, where she made her retreat and stayed -the whole summer, she built a fine house there, and was often seen to do -the office of abbess, and chant masses and vespers with the nuns in the -choir.<a name="page_242" id="page_242"></a></p> - -<p>I have heard tell of her that, one of her waiting-maids whom she liked -much being near to death, she wished to see her die; and when she was at -the last gasp and rattle of death, she never stirred from beside her, -gazing so fixedly upon her face that she never took her eyes away from -it until she died. Some of her most privileged ladies asked her why she -took such interest in seeing a human being pass away; to which she -answered that, having heard so many learned persons discourse and say -that the soul and spirit issued from the body at the moment of death, -she wished to see if any wind or noise could be perceived, or the -slightest resonance, but she had noticed nothing. She also gave a reason -she had heard from the same learned persons, when she asked them why the -swan sang so well before its death; to which they answered it was for -love of souls, that strove to issue through its long throat. In like -manner, she said, she had hoped to see issue or feel resound and hear -that soul or spirit as it departed; but she did not. And she added that -if she were not firm in her faith she should not know what to think of -this dislodgment and departure of the soul from the body; but she -believed in God and in what her Church commanded, without seeking -further in curiosity; for, in truth, she was one of those ladies as -devotional as could ever be seen; who had God upon her lips and feared -Him also.</p> - -<p>In her gay moments she wrote a book which is entitled <i>Les Nouvelles de -la Reine de Navarre</i>, in which we find a style so sweet and fluent, so -full of fine discourse and noble sentences that I have heard tell how -the queen-mother and Madame de Savoie, being young, wished to join in -writing tales themselves in imitation of the Queen of Navarre; for they -knew that she was writing them. But when they saw hers, they felt such -disgust that theirs could not approach<a name="page_243" id="page_243"></a> them that they put their -writings in the fire, and would not let them be seen; a great pity, -however, for both being very witty, nothing that was not good and -pleasant could have come from such great ladies, who knew many good -stories.</p> - -<p>Queen Marguerite composed these tales mostly in her litter travelling -through the country; for she had many other great occupations in her -retirement. I have heard this from my grandmother, who always went with -her in her litter as lady of honour, holding the inkstand while she -wrote, which she did most deftly and quickly, more quickly than if she -had dictated. There was no one in the world so clever at making devices -and mottoes in French, Latin, and other languages, of which we have a -quantity in our house, on the beds and tapestries, composed by her. I -have said enough about her at this time; elsewhere I shall speak of her -again.</p> - -<hr style="width:15%;" /> - -<p>The Queen of Navarre, sister of François I., has of late years -frequently occupied the minds of literary and learned men. Her Letters -have been published with much care; in the edition given of the Poems of -François I. she is almost as much concerned as her brother, for she -contributes a good share to the volume. At the present time [1853] the -Société des Bibliophiles, considering that there was no correct edition -of the tales and <i>Nouvelles</i> of this princess,—because, from the first, -the early editors have treated the royal author with great freedom, so -that it was difficult to find the true text of that curious work, more -famous than read,—have assumed the task of filling this literary -vacuum. The Society has trusted one of its most conscientious members, -M. Le Roux de Lincy, with compiling an edition from the original -manuscripts; and, moreover, wishing to give to<a name="page_244" id="page_244"></a> this publication a stamp -of solidity, that air of good old quality so pleasing to amateurs, they -have sought for old type, obtaining some from Nuremberg dating back to -the first half of the eighteenth century, and have caused to be cast the -necessary quantity, which has been used in printing the present work, -and will serve in future for other publications of this Society. The -<i>Nouvelles de la Reine de Navarre</i> are presented, with a portrait of the -author and a fac-simile of her signature, in a grave, neat, and elegant -manner. Let us therefore thank this Society, composed of lovers of fine -books, for having thus applied their good taste and munificence, and let -us come to the study of the personage whom they have aided us to know.</p> - -<p>Marguerite de Valois, the first of the three Marguerites of the -sixteenth century, does not altogether resemble the reputation made of -her from afar. Born at the castle of Angoulême, April 11, 1492, two -years before her brother, who will in future be François I., she -received from her mother, Louise de Savoie, early a widow, a virtuous -and severe education. She learned Spanish, Italian, Latin, and later, -Hebrew and Greek. All these studies were not made at once, nor in her -earliest youth. Contemporary of the great movement of the Renaissance, -she shared in it gradually; she endeavoured to comprehend it fully, and -to follow it in all its branches, as became a person of lofty and -serious spirit, with a full and facile understanding and more leisure -than if she had been born upon the throne. Brantôme presents her to us -as “a princess of very great mind and ability, both by nature and power -of acquisition.” She continued to acquire as long as she lived; she -protected with all her heart and with all her influence the learned and -literary men of all orders and kinds; profiting by them and their -intercourse for her own advantage,—a woman who could cope with<a name="page_245" id="page_245"></a> Marot -in the play of verses as well as she could answer Erasmus on nobler -studies.</p> - -<p>We must not exaggerate, however; and the writings of Marguerite are -sufficiently numerous to allow us to justly estimate in her the two -distinct parts of originality and simple intelligence. As poet and -writer her originality is of small account, or, to speak more precisely, -she has none at all. Her intelligence, on the contrary, is great, -active, eager, generous. There was in her day an immense movement of the -human spirit, a Cause essentially literary and liberal, which filled all -minds and hearts with enthusiasm as public policy did much later. -Marguerite, young, open to all good and noble sentiments, to <i>virtue</i> -under all its forms, grew passionate for this cause; and when her -brother François came to the throne she told herself that it was her -mission to be its good genius and interpreter beside him, and to show -herself openly the patron and protectress of men who were exciting -against themselves by their learned innovations much pedantic rancour -and ill-will. It was thus that she allowed herself to be caught and won -insensibly to the doctrines of the Reformers, which appealed to her, in -the first instance, under a learned and literary form. Translators of -Scripture, they only sought, it seemed to her, to propagate its spirit -and make it better understood by pious souls; she enjoyed and favoured -them in the light of learned men, and welcomed them as loving at the -same time “good letters and Christ;” never suspecting any factious -after-thought. And even after she appeared to be undeceived in the main, -she continued to the last to plead for individuals to the king, her -brother, with zeal and humanity.</p> - -<p>The passion that Marguerite had for that brother dominated all else. She -was his elder by two years and a half. Louise de Savoie, the young -widow, was only fifteen or sixteen<a name="page_246" id="page_246"></a> years older than her daughter. These -two women had, the one for her son the other for her brother, a love -that amounted to worship; they saw in him, who was really to be the -honour and crown of their house, a dauphin who would soon, when his -reign was inaugurated at Marignano, become a glorious and triumphant -Cæsar.</p> - -<p>“The day of the Conversion of Saint Paul, January 25, 1515,” says Madame -Louise in her Journal, “my son was anointed and crowned in the church at -Reims. For this I am very grateful to the Divine mercy, by which I am -amply compensated for all the adversities and annoyances which came to -me in my early years and in the flower of my youth. Humility has kept me -company, and Patience has never abandoned me.”</p> - -<p>And a few months later, noting down with pride the day of Marignano -[victory of François I. over the Swiss and the Duke of Milan, making the -French masters of Lombardy], she writes in the transport of her heart:—</p> - -<p>“September 13, which was Thursday, 1515, my son vanquished and destroyed -the Swiss near Milan; beginning the combat at five hours after mid-day, -which lasted all the night and the morrow till eleven o’clock before -mid-day; and that very day I started from Amboise to go on foot to -Notre-Dame-de-Fontaines, to commend to her what I love better than -myself, my son, glorious and triumphant Cæsar, subjugator of the -Helvetians.</p> - -<p>“<i>Item.</i> That same day, September 13, 1515, between seven and eight in -the evening, was seen in various parts of Flanders a flame of fire as -long as a lance, which seemed as though it would fall upon the houses, -but was so bright that a hundred torches could not have cast so great a -light.”</p> - -<p>Marguerite, learned and enlightened as she was, must have believed the -presage, for she writes the same words as<a name="page_247" id="page_247"></a> her mother. Married at -seventeen years of age to the Duc d’Alençon, an insignificant prince, -she gave all her devotion and all her soul to her brother; therefore -when, in the tenth year of his reign, the disaster of Pavia took place -(February 25, 1525), and Marguerite learned the destruction of the -French army and the captivity of their king, we can conceive the blow it -was to her and to her mother. While Madame Louise, appointed regent of -the kingdom, showed strength and courage in that position, we can follow -the thoughts of Marguerite in the series of letters she wrote to her -brother, which M. Genin has published. Her first word is written to -console the captive and reassure him: “Madame (Louise de Savoie) has -felt such doubling of strength that night and day there is not a moment -lost for your affairs; therefore you need have no anxiety or pain about -your kingdom or your children.” She congratulates herself on knowing -that he has fallen into the hands of so kind and generous a victor as -the Viceroy of Naples, Charles de Lannoy; she entreats him, for the sake -of his mother, to take care of his health: “I have heard that you mean -to do this Lent without eating flesh or eggs, and sometimes fast -altogether for the honour of God. Monseigneur, as much as a very humble -sister can implore you, I entreat you not to do this, but consider how -fish goes against you; also believe that if you do it Madame has sworn -to do so too; and I shall have the sorrow to see you both give way.”</p> - -<p>Marguerite, about this time, sees her husband, who escaped from Pavia, -die at Lyon. She mourns him; but after the first two days she surmounts -her grief and conceals it from her mother the regent, because, not being -able to render services herself, she should think she was most -unfortunate, she says, to hinder and shake the spirit of her who can do -such great things. When Marguerite is selected to<a name="page_248" id="page_248"></a> go to her brother in -Spain (September, 1525) and work for his deliverance, her joy is great. -At last she can be useful to this brother, whom she considers “as him -whom God has left her in this world; father, brother, and husband.” She -mingles and varies in many ways those names of master, brother, king, -which she accumulates upon him, without their sufficing to express her -affection, so full and sincere is it: “Whatever it may be, <i>even to -casting to the winds the ashes of my bones to do you service</i>, nothing -can seem to me strange, or difficult, or painful, but always -consolation, repose, honour.” Such expressions, exaggerated in others, -are true on Marguerite’s lips.</p> - -<p>She succeeded but little in her mission to Spain; there, where she -sought to move generous hearts and make their fibre of honour vibrate, -she found crafty dissimulation and policy. She was allowed to see her -brother for a short time only; he himself exacted that she should -shorten her stay, thinking her more useful to his interests in France. -She tears herself from him in grief, above all at leaving him ill, and -as low as possible in health. Oh! how she longed to return, to stay -beside him, and to take the “place of lacquey beside his cot.” It is her -opinion that he should buy his liberty at any price; let him return, no -matter on what conditions; no terms can be bad provided she sees him -back in France, and none can be good if he is still in Spain. As soon as -she sets foot in France she is received, she tells him, as a forerunner, -“as the Baptist of Jesus Christ.” Arriving at Béziers, she is surrounded -by crowds. “I assure you, Monseigneur,” she writes, “that when I tried -to speak of you to two or three, the moment I named the king everybody -pressed round to listen to me; in short, I am constrained to talk of -you, and I never close my speech without an accompaniment of tears from -persons of all classes.<a name="page_249" id="page_249"></a>” Such was at that time the true grief of France -for the loss of her king.</p> - -<p>As Marguerite advances farther into the country she observes more and -more the absence of the master; the kingdom is “like a body without a -head, living to recover you, dying in the sense that you are absent.” As -for herself, seeing this, she thinks that her toils in Spain were more -endurable than this stillness in France, “where fancies torment me more -than efforts.”</p> - -<p>In general, all Marguerite’s letters do the greatest honour to her soul, -to her generous, solid qualities, filled with affection and heartiness. -Romance and drama have many a time expended themselves, as was indeed -their right, on this captivity in Madrid and on those interviews of -François I. and his sister, which lend themselves to the imagination; -but the reading of these simple, devoted letters, laying bare their -feelings, tells more than all. Here is a charming passage in which she -smiles to him and tries, on her return, to brighten the captive with -news of his children. François I. at this date had five, all of whom, -with one exception, were recovering from the measles.</p> - -<p>“And now,” says Marguerite, “they are all entirely cured and very -healthy; M. le dauphin does marvels in studying, mingling with his -studies a hundred other exercises; and there is no question now of -temper, but of all the virtues. M. d’Orléans is nailed to his book and -says he wants to be wise; but M. d’Angoulême knows more than the others, -and does things that may be thought prophetic as well as childish; -which, Monseigneur, you would be amazed to hear of. Little Margot is -like me, and will not be ill; they tell me here she has very good grace, -and is growing much handsomer than Mademoiselle d’Angoulême ever was.<a name="page_250" id="page_250"></a>”</p> - -<p>Mademoiselle d’Angoulême is herself; and the little Margot who promises -to be prettier than her aunt and godmother, is the second of the -Marguerites, who is presently to be Duchesse de Savoie.</p> - -<p>As a word has now been said about the beauty of Marguerite de Navarre, -what are we to think about it? Her actual portrait lessens the -exaggerated idea we might form of it from the eulogies of that day. -Marguerite resembles her brother. She has his slightly aquiline and very -long nose, the long, soft, and shrewd eye, the lips equally long, -refined and smiling. The expression of her countenance is that of -shrewdness on a basis of kindness. Her dress is simple; her <i>cotte</i> or -gown is made rather high and flat, without any frippery, and is trimmed -with fur; her mob-cap, low upon her head, encircles the forehead and -upper part of the face, scarcely allowing any hair to be seen. She holds -a little dog in her arms. The last of the Marguerites, that other Queen -of Navarre, first wife of Henri IV., was the queen of modes and fashions -in her youth; she gave the tone. Our Marguerite did nothing of all that; -she left that rôle to the Duchesse d’Étampes and her like. Marot -himself, when praising her, insists particularly on her characteristic -of gentleness, “which effaces the beauty of the most beautiful,” on her -chaste glance and that <i>frank speech, without disguise, without -artifice</i>. She was sincere, “joyous, laughing readily,” fond of all -honest gayety, and when she wanted to say a lively word, too risky in -French, she said it in Italian or in Spanish. In other respects, full of -religion, morality, and sound training; justifying the magnificent -eulogy bestowed upon her by Erasmus. That wise monarch of literature, -that true emperor of the Latinity of his period, consoling Marguerite at -the moment when she was under the blow of the disaster of Pavia, writes -to her: “I have<a name="page_251" id="page_251"></a> long admired and loved in you many eminent gifts of -God: prudence worthy of a philosopher, chastity, moderation, piety, -invincible strength of soul, and a wonderful contempt for all perishable -things. Who would not consider with admiration, in the sister of a great -king, qualities which we can scarcely find in priests and monks?” In -this last stroke upon the monks we catch the slightly satirical tone of -the Voltaire of those times. Remark that in this letter addressed to -Marguerite in 1525, and in another letter which closely followed the -first, Erasmus thanks and congratulates her on the services she never -ceases to render to the common cause of literature and tolerance.</p> - -<p>These services rendered by Marguerite were real; but that which is a -subject of eulogy on the part of some is a source of blame on the part -of others. Her brother having married her for the second time, in 1527, -to Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre, she held her little Court at Pan -which thenceforth became the refuge and haven of all persecuted persons -and innovators. “She favoured Calvinism, which she abandoned in the -end,” says Président Hénault, “and was the cause of the rapid progress -of that dawning sect.” It is very true that Marguerite, open to all the -literary and generous sentiments of her time, behaved as, later, a -person on the verge of ‘89 might have favoured liberty with all her -strength without wishing or even perceiving the approaching revolution. -She did at this period as did the whole Court of France, which, merely -following fashion, the progress of Letters, the pleasure of -understanding Holy Scripture and of chanting the Psalms in French, came -near to being Lutheran or Calvinistic without knowing it. Their first -awakening was on a morning (October 19, 1534) when they read, affixed to -every wall in Paris, those bloody placards against the Catholic faith. -The imprudent ones<a name="page_252" id="page_252"></a> of the party had fired the train before the -appointed time. Marguerite, good and loyal, knowing nothing of parties -and judging only by honourable persons and the men of letters of her -acquaintance, leaned to the belief that those infamous placards were the -act, not of Protestants, but of those who sought a pretext to compromise -and persecute them. Charitable and humane, she never ceased to act upon -her brother in the direction of clemency.</p> - -<p>It was thus that on two or three occasions she tried to save the -unfortunate Berquin, who persisted in dogmatizing, and was, in spite of -all the princess’s efforts with the king, her brother, burned on the -Grève, April 24, 1529. To read the passages of the letters in which she -commends Berquin, one would think she espoused his opinions and his -beliefs; but we must not ask too much rigour and precision of Marguerite -in her ideas and their expression. There are moments, no doubt, in -reading her verse or her prose, when we might think that she had fully -accepted the Reformation; she reproduces its language, even its jargon. -Then, side by side, we see her become once more, or rather continue to -be, a believer after the manner of the best Catholics of her age, given -to all their practices, and not fearing to couple with them her -inconsistencies. Montaigne, who had great esteem for her, could not -prevent himself from noting, for example, her singular reflection about -a young and very great prince, whose history she relates in her -<i>Nouvelles</i>, and who has all the look of being François I.; she shows -him on his way to a rendezvous that is not edifying, and, to shorten his -way, he obtains permission of the porter of a monastery to cross its -enclosure. On his return, being no longer so hurried, the prince stops -to pray in the church of the cloister; “for,” she says, “although he led -the life of which I tell you, he was a prince who loved and feared -God.<a name="page_253" id="page_253"></a>” Montaigne takes up that remark, and asks what good she found at -such a moment in that idea of divine protection and favour. “This is not -the only proof to be adduced,” he adds, “that women are not fitted to -treat of matters of theology.”</p> - -<p>And, in truth, Marguerite was no theologian; she was a person of real -piety, heart, knowledge, and humanity, who mingled with her serious life -a happy, enjoying temperament, making a most sincere harmony of it all; -which surprises us a little in the present day. Brantôme relates (in his -“Lives of Illustrious Captains”) an anecdote of Marguerite which paints -her very well in this connection and measure. A brother of Brantôme, the -Capitaine de Bourdeille, had known at Ferrara in the household of the -duchess of that country (daughter of Louis XII.) a French lady, Mlle. de -La Roche, by whom he had made himself beloved. He brought her back with -him to France, and she went to the Court of the Queen of Navarre, where -she died, he no longer caring for her. One day, three months after this -death, Capitaine de Bourdeille passed through Pau, and having gone to -pay his respects to the Queen of Navarre as she returned from vespers, -was well received by her; and talking from topic to topic as they -walked, the princess led him quietly through the church to the spot -where the tomb of the lady he had loved and deserted was placed. -“Cousin,” she said, “do you not feel something moving beneath your -feet?” “No, madame,” he replied. “But reflect a moment, cousin,” she -said. “Madame, I do reflect,” he answered, “but I feel no movement, for -I am walking on solid stone.” “Then I inform you,” said the queen, -without keeping him further in suspense, “that you stand upon the grave -and body of that poor Mlle. de La Roche, who is buried beneath you, whom -you loved so much; and, since souls have feelings after death, it<a name="page_254" id="page_254"></a> -cannot be doubted that so honest a being, dying of coldness, felt your -step above her; and though you felt nothing, because of the thickness of -that stone, she was moved, and conscious of your presence. Now, inasmuch -as it is a pious deed to remember the dead, I request you to give her a -<i>Pater noster</i>, an <i>Ave Maria</i>, and a <i>De Profundis</i>, and to sprinkle -her with holy water; you will thus obtain the name of a faithful lover -and a good Christian.” She left him and went away, that he might fulfil -with a collected mind the pious ceremonies that were due to the dead. I -do not know why Brantôme adds the remark that, in his opinion, the -princess said and did all this more from good grace and by way of -conversation than from conviction; it seems to me, on the contrary, that -there was belief as well as grace, the conviction of a woman of delicacy -and a pious soul, and that all is there harmonized.</p> - -<p>In Marguerite’s own time there were not lacking those who blamed her for -the protection she gave to the lettered friends of the Reformation; she -found denunciators in the Sorbonne; she found them equally at Court. The -Connétable de Montmorency, speaking to the king of the necessity of -purging the kingdom of heretics, added that he must begin with the Court -and his nearest relations, naming the Queen of Navarre. “Do not speak of -her,” said the king, “she loves me too well; she will believe only what -I believe; she will never be of any religion prejudicial to my State.” -That saying sums up the truth: Marguerite could be of no other religion -than that of her brother; and Bayle has very well remarked, in a fine -page of his criticism, that the more we show that Marguerite was not -united in doctrine with the Protestants, the more we are forced to -recognize her generosity, her loftiness of soul, and her pure humanity. -By her womanly instinct she comprehended tolerance, like L’Hôpital,<a name="page_255" id="page_255"></a> -like Henri IV., like Bayle himself. From the point of view of the State -there may have been some danger in the direction of this tolerance, too -confiding and too complete; it so appeared, in Marguerite’s time, at -this critical moment when the religion of the State, and with it the -constitution of those days, was in danger of overthrow. Nevertheless, it -is good that there should be such souls,—in love, before all else, with -humanity; who insinuate, in the long run, gentleness into public morals -and into laws and justice hitherto cruel; it is good because later, in -epochs when severity begins again, repression, while it may be commanded -by reasons of policy, is still forced to reckon with that spirit of -humanity introduced into customs, and with acquired tolerance. Thus the -rigour of present ages, softened and tempered as it now is by general -manners and morals, would have been a blessing in past centuries; these -are points gained in civil life which are never lost afterwards.</p> - -<p>The <i>Contes et Nouvelles</i> of the Queen of Navarre have nothing, as we -can readily believe, that is much out of keeping or contradictory with -her life and the habitual character of her thoughts. M. Genin has -already made that judicious remark, and an attentive reading will only -justify it. Those Tales are neither the gayeties nor the sins of youth; -she wrote them at a ripe age, for the most part in her litter while -travelling, and by way of amusement—but the amusement had its serious -side. Death prevented her from concluding them; instead of the seven -Days which we actually have, she intended to make ten, like Boccaccio; -she wished to give, not an <i>Heptameron</i>, but a French <i>Decameron</i>. In -her prologue she supposes that several persons of condition, French and -Spanish, having met, in the month of September, at the baths of -Cauterets, in the Pyrenees, separate after a few weeks; the Spaniards -returning as best they can across<a name="page_256" id="page_256"></a> the mountains, the French delayed on -their way by floods caused by the heavy rains. A certain number of these -travellers, men and women, after divers adventures more extraordinary -than agreeable, find themselves again in company at the Abbey of -Notre-Dame-de-Serrance, and there, as the river Gave is not fordable, -they decide to build a bridge. “The abbé,” says the narrator, “who was -very glad they should make this outlay, because the number of pilgrims -would thus be increased, furnished the workmen, but not a penny to the -costs, such was his avarice. The workmen declaring that they could not -build the bridge under ten or a dozen days, the company, half men, half -women, began to get very weary.” It became necessary to find some -“pleasant and virtuous” occupation for those ten days, and for this they -consulted a certain Dame Oisille, the oldest of the company.</p> - -<p>Dame Oisille responded in a manner most edifying: “My children, you ask -me a thing that I find very difficult, namely: to teach you a pastime -which shall deliver you from ennui. Having searched for this remedy all -my life, I have found but one, and that is the reading of Holy Epistles, -in which will be found the true and perfect joy of the soul, from which -proceeds the repose and health of the body.” But the joyous company -cannot keep wholly to so austere a system, and it is agreed that the -time shall be divided between the sacred and the profane. Early in the -morning the company assembled in the chamber of Dame Oisille to share in -her moral readings, and from there they went to mass. They dined at ten -o’clock, after which, having retired each to his or her chamber for -private affairs, they met again about mid-day on the meadow: “And, if it -please you, every day, from mid-day till four o’clock, we went through -the beautiful meadow, on the banks of the river du Gave, where the -trees<a name="page_257" id="page_257"></a> are so leafy that the sun cannot pierce the shadows, or heat the -coolness; and there, seated at our ease, each told some story he had -known, or else heard from a trustworthy person.” For it was well -understood that nothing should be told that was not <i>true</i>; narrators -must be content to disguise, if necessary, the names of both persons and -places. The company numbered ten; as many men as women, and each told a -story daily; so it followed that in ten days the hundred tales would be -completed. Every afternoon, at four o’clock, a bell was rung, giving -notice that it was time to go to vespers; the company went,—not, -however, without sometimes obliging the monks to wait for them; to which -delay the latter lent themselves with very good grace. Thus rolled the -time away, no one believing that he or she had passed the limits of -sanctioned gayety or committed any sin.</p> - -<p>The Tales of the Queen of Navarre have nothing absolutely out of keeping -with this framework and design. Each story has a moral, a precept, -either well or ill deduced; each is related to support some maxim, some -theory, on the pre-eminence of one or other of the sexes, on the nature -and essence of love, with examples or proofs (often very contestable) of -what is advanced. Prudery apart, there is not much in these tales that -is really charming. The subjects are those of the time. At moments we -exclaim with Dame Oisille: “Good God! shall we never get out of these -stories of monks?” We are made aware that even the honourable men and -well-bred women of those days were contemporaries of Rabelais. However, -it all turns to a good end. There is wit and subtlety in the discussions -which serve as epilogue or prologue to the different tales. Most of the -histories, being true, are without art, composition, or <i>dénouement</i>. -The Queen of Navarre has been very little imitated in the tales and -verses made since her day; in<a name="page_258" id="page_258"></a> fact, she lends herself poorly to -imitation. Only once does La Fontaine put her under contribution, but -then in what is, as I think, the most piquant of her writings, namely: -the tale of <i>La Servante justifiée</i>. In Marguerite’s story a merchant, a -carpet-dealer, emancipates himself with another than his wife, and is -discovered by a female neighbour. Fearing that the latter will gabble, -the merchant, “who knew how to give any colour to carpets,” arranges -matters in such a way that his wife is induced of her own accord to walk -to the same place; so that when the gossiping neighbour comes to tell -the wife what she has seen, the latter replies, “Hey! my crony, but that -was I.” This “that was I” repeated many times and in varying tones, -becomes comical, like the sayings of the farce called <i>Patelin</i>, or a -scene of Regnard; there are, however, not many such sayings in -Marguerite’s Tales.</p> - -<p>A question which arises on the reading of these <i>Nouvelles</i>, the image -and faithful reproduction of the good society of that day, is on the -singularity that the tone of conversation should have varied so much -among honourable persons at different epochs before it settled down upon -the basis of true delicacy and decency. Elegant conversation dates much -farther back than we suppose; polished society began much earlier than -we think. The character of conversation as we now understand it in -society, and that which specially distinguishes it among moderns, is -that women are admitted to it; and this it was that led, during the -finest period of the middle ages, to charming conversations in certain -Courts of the South, and also in Normandy, in France, and in England. In -those castles of the South where troubadours disported, and whence the -echo of their sweet songs comes to us, where exquisite and ravishing -stories were composed (like that of <i>Aucassin et Nicolette</i>), there<a name="page_259" id="page_259"></a> -must have been all the delicacy, all the graces one could wish for in -conversation. But taking matters as they appear to us at the end of the -15th century, we notice a mixture, a very perceptible struggle between -purity and license, between coarseness and refinement. The pretty little -romance <i>Jehan de Saintré</i>, in which the chivalric ideal is pictured -from the start in the daintiest manner, and which assumes to give us a -little code in action of politeness, courtesy and gallantry,—in a word, -the complete education of a young equerry of the day,—this pretty -romance is also full of pedantic precepts, essays on minute ceremonial, -and towards the end it suddenly turns into gross sensuality and the -triumph of the monk, after Rabelais.</p> - -<p>The vein of license and wanton language never ceased its flow from the -time it originated, disguising itself in brilliant moments and noble -companies only to again unmask at the beginning of the sixteenth -century, when it seems to borrow still further audacity from the Latin -Renaissance. This was the time when virtuous women told and openly -discoursed of tales <i>à la</i> Roquelaure. Such is the tone of the society -which the <i>Nouvelles</i> of Marguerite of Navarre represent to us, all the -more naïvely because their intention is in no way indecent. Nearly a -century was needed to reform this vice of taste; it was necessary that -Mme. de Rambouillet and her daughter should come to reprimand and school -the Court, that professors of good taste and polite language, like Mlle. -de Scudéry and the Chevalier de Méré, should apply themselves for years -to preach decorum; and even then we shall find many backslidings and -vestiges of coarseness in the midst of even their refinement and -formalism.</p> - -<p>The noble moment is that when, by some sudden change of season, -intellects and minds are spread, all of a sudden,<a name="page_260" id="page_260"></a> in a richer and more -equal manner over a whole generation of vigorous souls who then return -eagerly to that which is natural, and give themselves up to it without -restraint. That noble moment came in the middle of the seventeenth -century, and nothing can be imagined comparable to the conversations of -the youth of the Condés, the La Rochefoucaulds, the Retzes, the -Saint-Evremonds, the Sévignés, the Turennes. What perfect hours were -those when Mme. de La Fayette talked with Madame Henriette, lying after -dinner on the cushions! Thus we come, across the greatest of centuries, -to Mme. de Caylus, the smiling niece of Mme. de Maintenon, to that airy -perfection where the mind without reflecting about it, denies itself -nothing and observes all.</p> - -<p>In the second half of the seventeenth century no one but Mme. Cornuel -was allowed to use coarse language and be forgiven because of the spicy -wit with which she seasoned it. At all times virtuous women must have -heard and listened to more than they repeated; but the decisive moment -(which needs to be noted) is that when they ceased to say unseemly -things and fix them in writing without perceiving that they themselves -were lacking in a virtue. This moment is what Queen Marguerite, as a -romance-writer and maker of <i>Nouvelles</i>, had not the art to divine.</p> - -<p>As a poet she has nothing more than facility. She imitates and -reproduces the various forms of poesy in use at that date. It is told -how she often employed two secretaries, one to write down the French -verses she composed impromptu, the other to transcribe her letters.</p> - -<p>Marguerite died at the Castle of Odos in Bigorre, December 21, 1549, in -her fifty-eighth year; in yielding her last breath she cried out three -times: “Jesus!” She was the mother of Jeanne d’Albret.</p> - -<p>Such as I have shown her as a whole, endeavouring not to<a name="page_261" id="page_261"></a> force her -features and to avoid all exaggeration, she deserves that name of -<i>gentil esprit</i> [charming spirit] which has been so universally awarded -to her; she was the worthy sister of François I., the worthy patron of -the Renaissance, the worthy grandmother of Henri IV., as much for her -mercy as for her joyousness, and one likes to address her, in the halo -that surrounds her, these verses which her memory calls forth and which -blend themselves so well with our thought of her:—</p> - -<p>“Spirits, charming and lightsome, who have been, from all time, the -grace and the honour of this land of France—ye who were born and played -in those iron ages issuing from barbaric horrors; who, passing through -cloisters, were welcomed there; the joyous soul of burgher vigils and -the gracious fêtes of castles; ye who have blossomed often beside the -throne, dispersing the weariness of pomps, giving to victory politeness, -and recovering your smiles on the morrow of reverses; ye who have taken -many forms, tricksome, mocking, elegant, or tender, facile ever; ye who -have never failed to be born again at the moment you were said to have -vanished—the ages for us have grown stern, reason is more and more -accredited, leisure has fled; even our pleasures eagerness has turned -into business, peace is without repose, so busy is she with the useful; -to days serene come afterthoughts and cares to many a soul;—’tis now -the hour, or nevermore, for awakening; the hour to once more grasp the -world and again delight it, as, throughout all time, ye have known the -way, eternally fresh and novel. Abandon not forever this land of France, -O spirits glad and lightsome!”</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Saint-Beuve</span>, <i>Causeries du Lundi</i> (1852).<br /> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_262" id="page_262"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="DISCOURSE_VII" id="DISCOURSE_VII"></a>DISCOURSE VII.<br /><br /> -<small>OF VARIOUS ILLUSTRIOUS LADIES.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></small></h2> - -<h3>1. <i>Isabelle d’Autriche, wife of Charles IX., King of France [daughter -of the Emperor Maximilian II.].</i></h3> - -<p>We have had our Queen of France, Isabelle d’Autriche, who was married to -King Charles IX., of whom it is everywhere said she was one of the best, -the gentlest, the wisest, and most virtuous queens who reigned since -kings and queens began to reign. I can say this, and every man who has -ever seen or heard of her will say it with me, and not do wrong to -others, but with the greatest truth. She was very beautiful, having the -complexion of her face as fine and delicate as any lady of her Court, -and very agreeable. Her figure was beautiful also, though it was of only -medium height. She was extremely wise, and very virtuous and kind, never -giving pain to others, no matter who, nor offending any by a single -word; and as to that, she was very sober, speaking little, and then in -Spanish.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_isabella_262_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_isabella_262_sml.jpg" width="409" height="550" alt="Isabella of Austria, Wife of Charles IX" -title="Isabella of Austria, Wife of Charles IX" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Isabella of Austria, Wife of Charles IX</span> -</p> - -<p>She was most devout, but in no way bigoted, not showing her devotion by -external acts too visible and too extreme, such as I have seen in some -of our paternosterers; but, without failing in her ordinary hours of -praying to God, she used them well, so that she did not need to borrow -extraordinary ones. It is true, as I have heard her ladies tell, that -when she was in bed and hidden, her curtains well-drawn, she would kneel -on her knees, in her shift, and pray to God<a name="page_263" id="page_263"></a> an hour and a half, -beating her breast and macerating it in her great devotion. Which they -did not see by her consent, and then not till her husband, King Charles, -was dead; at which time, she having gone to bed and all her women -withdrawn, one of them remained to sleep in her chamber; and this lady, -hearing her sigh one night, bethought her of looking through the -curtains and saw her in that state, and praying to God in that manner, -and so continuing every night; until at last the waiting-woman, who was -familiar with her, began to remonstrate, and told her she did harm to -her health. On which the queen was angry at being discovered and -advised, and wished to conceal what she did, commanding her to say no -word of it, and, for that night, desisted; but the night after she made -up for it, thinking that her women did not perceive what she did, -whereas they saw and perceived her by her shadow thrown by the -night-lamp filled with wax which she kept lighted on her bed to read and -pray to God; though other queens and princesses kept theirs upon their -sideboards. Such ways of prayer are not like those of hypocrites, who, -wishing to make an appearance before the world, say their prayers and -devotions publicly, mumbling them aloud, that others may think them -devout and saintly.</p> - -<p>Thus prayed our queen for the soul of the king, her husband, whom she -regretted deeply,—making her plaints and regrets, not as a crazed and -despairing woman, with loud outcries, wounding her face, tearing her -hair, and playing the woman who is praised for weeping; but mourning -gently, shedding her beautiful and precious tears so tenderly, sighing -so softly and lowly, that we knew she restrained her grief, not to make -pretence to the world of brave appearance (as I have seen some ladies -do), but keeping in her soul her greatest anguish. Thus a torrent of -water if<a name="page_264" id="page_264"></a> arrested is more violent than one that runs its ordinary -course.</p> - -<p>Here I am reminded to tell how, during the illness of the king, her lord -and husband, he dying on his bed, and she going to visit him; suddenly -she sat down beside him, not by his pillow as the custom is, but a -little apart and facing him where he lay; not speaking to him, as her -habit was, she held her eyes upon him so fixedly as she sat there you -would have said she brooded over him in her heart with the love she bore -him; and then she was seen to shed tears so quietly and tenderly that -those who did not look at her would not have known it, drying her eyes -while making semblance to blow her nose, causing pity to one (for I saw -her) in seeing her so tortured without yielding to her grief or her -love, and without the king perceiving it. Then she rose, and went to -pray God for his cure; for she loved and honoured him extremely, -although she knew his amorous complexion, and the mistresses that he had -both for honour and for pleasure. But she never for that gave him worse -welcome, nor said to him any harsh words; bearing patiently her little -jealousy, and the robbery he did to her. She was very proper and -dignified with him; indeed it was fire and water meeting together, for -as much as the king was quick, eager, fiery, she was cold and very -temperate.</p> - -<p>I have been told by those who know that after her widowhood, among her -most privileged ladies who tried to give her consolation, there was one -(for you know among a large number there is always a clumsy one) who, -thinking to gratify her said: “Ah, madame, if God instead of a daughter -had given you a son, you would now be queen-mother of the king, and your -grandeur would be increased and strengthened.” “Alas!” she replied, “do -not say to me such grievous things. As if France had not troubles -enough<a name="page_265" id="page_265"></a> without my producing her one which would complete her ruin! For, -had I a son, there would be more divisions, troubles, seditions to gain -the government during his minority; from that would come more wars than -ever; and each would be trying to get his profit in despoiling the poor -child, as they would have done to the late king, my husband, when he was -little, if the queen-mother and her good servitors had not opposed it. -If I had a son, I should be miserable to think I had conceived him and -so caused a thousand maledictions from the people, whose voice is that -of God. That is why I praise my God, and take with gratitude the fruit -he gives me, whether it be to me myself for better or for worse.”</p> - -<p>Such was the goodness of this good princess towards the country and -people to which she had been brought by marriage. I have heard related -how, at the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew, she, knowing nothing of it -nor even hearing the slightest breath of it, went to bed as usual, and -did not wake till morning, at which time they told her of the fine drama -that was playing [<i>le beau mystère qui se jouoit</i>]. “Alas!” she said -quickly, “the king, my husband, does he know of it?” “Yes, madame,” they -answered her; “it was he himself who ordered it.” “0 my God!” she cried, -“what is this? What counsellors are those who gave him such advice? My -God! I implore thee, I beg thee to pardon him; for if thou dost not pity -him, I fear that this offence is unforgivable.” Then she asked for her -prayer-book and began her orisons, imploring God with tears in her eyes.</p> - -<p>Consider, I beg of you, the goodness and wisdom of this queen in not -approving such a festival nor the deed then performed, although she had -reasons to desire the total extermination of M. l’amiral and those of -his religion, not only because they were contrary to hers, which she -adored<a name="page_266" id="page_266"></a> and honoured before all else in the world, but because she saw -how they troubled the States of the king, her husband; and also because -the emperor, her father, had said to her when she parted from him to -come to France: “My daughter, you will be queen of the finest, most -powerful and greatest kingdom in the world, and for that I hold you to -be very happy; but happier would you be if you could find that kingdom -as flourishing as it once was; but instead you will find it torn, -divided, weakened; for though the king, your husband, holds a good part -of it, the princes and seigneurs of the Religion hold on their side the -other part of it.” And as he said to her, so she found it.</p> - -<p>This queen having become a widow, many persons, men and women of the -Court, the most clear-sighted that I know, were of opinion that the -king, on his return from Poland, would marry her although she was his -sister-in-law; for he could have done so by dispensation of the pope, -who can do much in such matters, and above all for great personages -because of the public good that comes of it. There were many reasons why -this marriage should be made; I leave them to be deduced by high -discoursers, without alleging them myself. But among others was that of -recognizing by this marriage the great obligations the king had received -from the emperor on his return from Poland and departure thence; for it -cannot be doubted that if the emperor had placed the smallest obstacle -in his way, he could never have left Poland or reached France safely. -The Poles would have kept him had he not departed without bidding them -farewell; and the Germans lay in wait for him on all sides to catch him -(as they did that brave King Richard of England of whom we read in the -chronicles); they would surely have taken him prisoner and held him for -ransom, and perhaps worse; for they were bitter against him for the -Saint-Bartholomew; or, at least,<a name="page_267" id="page_267"></a> the Protestant princes were. But, -voluntarily and without ceremony, he threw himself in good faith upon -the emperor, who received him very graciously and amiably, and with much -honour and privilege as though they were brothers, and feasted him -nobly; then, after having kept him several days, he conducted him -himself for a day or two, giving him safe passage through his territory; -so that King Henri, by his favour, reached Carinthia, the land of the -Venetians, Venice, and then his own kingdom.</p> - -<p>This was the obligation the king was under to the emperor; so that many -persons, as I have said, were of opinion that King Henri III. would meet -it by drawing closer their alliance. But at the time he went to Poland -he saw at Blamont, in Lorraine, Mademoiselle de Vaudemont, Louise de -Lorraine, one of the handsomest, best, and most accomplished princesses -in Christendom, on whom he cast his eyes so ardently that he was soon in -love, and in such a manner that (nursing his flame during the whole of -his absence) on his return to France he despatched from Lyon M. du Gua, -one of his prime favourites, to Lorraine, where he arranged and -concluded the marriage between him and her very easily, and without -altercation, as I leave you to think; because by the father and the -daughter no such luck was expected, the one to be father-in-law of a -king of France, and the daughter to be queen. Of her I shall speak -elsewhere.</p> - -<p>To return now to our little queen, who, disliking to remain in France -for several reasons, especially because she was not recognized and -endowed as she should have been, resolved to go and finish the remainder -of her noble days with the emperor and empress, her father and mother. -When there, the Catholic king being widowed of Queen Anne of Austria, -own sister to Queen Isabelle, he desired to espouse the latter,<a name="page_268" id="page_268"></a> and -sent to beg the empress, his own sister, to lay his proposals before -her. But she would not listen to them, not the first, nor the second, -nor the third time her mother the empress spoke of them; excusing -herself on the honourable ashes of the king, her husband, which she -would not insult by a second marriage, and also on the ground of too -great consanguinity and close parentage between them, which might -greatly anger God; on which the empress and her brother the king urged -her to lay the matter before a very learned and eloquent Jesuit, who -exhorted and preached to her as much as he could, not forgetting to -quote all the passages of Holy and other Scripture, which might serve -his purpose. But the queen confounded him quickly by other quotations as -fine and more truthful, for, since her widowhood, she had given herself -to the study of God’s word; besides which, she told him her determined -resolution, which was her most sacred defence, namely, not to forget her -husband in a second marriage. On which the Jesuit was forced to leave -her without gaining anything. But, being urged to return by a letter -from the King of Spain, who would not accept the resolute answer of the -princess, he treated her with rigorous words and even threats, so that -she, not willing to lose her time contesting against him, cut him short -by saying that if he meddled with her again she would make him repent -it, and even went so far as to threaten to have him whipped in her -kitchen. I have also heard, but I do not know if it be true, that this -Jesuit having returned for the third time, she turned away and had him -chastised for his presumption. I do not believe this; for she loved -persons of holy lives, as those men are.</p> - -<p>Such was the great constancy and noble firmness of this virtuous queen, -which she kept to the end of her days, towards the venerated bones of -the king her husband, which she<a name="page_269" id="page_269"></a> honoured incessantly with regrets and -tears; and not being able to furnish more (for a fountain must in the -end dry up) she succumbed, and died so young that she was only -thirty-five years old at the time of her death. Loss most inestimable! -for she might long have served as a mirror of virtue to the honest -ladies of all Christendom.</p> - -<p>If, of a surety, she manifested love to the king her husband, by her -constancy, her virtuous continence, and her continual grief, she showed -it still more in her behaviour to the Queen of Navarre, her -sister-in-law; for, knowing her to be in a great extremity of famine in -the castle of Usson in Auvergne, abandoned by most of her relations and -by so many others whom she had obliged, she sent to her and offered her -all her means, and so provided that she gave her half the revenue she -received in France, sharing with her as if she had been her own sister; -and they say Queen Marguerite would indeed have suffered severely -without this great liberality of her good and beautiful sister. -Wherefore she deferred to her much, and honoured and loved her so that -scarcely could she bear her death patiently, as people do in the world, -but took to her bed for twenty days, weeping continually with constant -moans, and ever since has not ceased to regret and deplore her; -expending on her memory most beautiful words, which she needed not to -borrow from others, in order to praise her and to give her immortality. -I have been told that Queen Isabelle composed and printed a beautiful -book which touched on the word of God, and also another concerning -histories of what happened in France during the time she was there. I -know not if this be true, but I am assured of it, and also that persons -have seen that book in the hands of the Queen of Navarre, to whom she -sent it before she died, and who set great store by it, calling it a -fine thing; and if so divine an oracle said so, we must believe it.<a name="page_270" id="page_270"></a></p> - -<p>This is a summary of what I have to say of our good Queen Isabella, of -her goodness, her virtue, her continence, her constancy, and of her -loyal love to the king her husband. And were it not her nature to be -good and virtuous (I heard M. de Langeac, who was in Spain when she -died, tell how the empress said to him: “That which was best among us is -no more”), we might suppose that in all her actions Queen Isabelle -sought to imitate her mother and her aunts.</p> - -<p><i>2. Jeanne d’Autriche, wife of Jean, Infante of Portugal, and mother of -the king, Don Sebastian.</i></p> - -<p>This princess of Spain was of great beauty and very majestic, or she -would not have been a Spanish princess; for a fine carriage and good -grace always accompany the majesty of a Spanish woman. I had the honour -of seeing her and talking with her rather privately, being in Spain on -my way back from Portugal. I had gone to pay my respects to our Queen of -Spain, Élisabeth of France, and was talking with her, she asking news -both of France and Portugal, when they came to tell her that Madame la -Princesse Jeanne was arriving. On which the queen said to me, “Do not -stir, M. de Bourdeille. You will see a beautiful and honourable -princess. It will please you to see her, and she will be very glad to -see you and ask you news of the king her son, since you have lately seen -him.” Whereupon, the princess arrived, and I thought her very beautiful -according to my taste, very well attired, and wearing on her head a -Spanish toque of white crêpe coming low in a point upon her nose, and -dressed as a Spanish widow, who wears silk usually. I admired and gazed -upon her so fixedly that I was on the point of feeling ravished when the -queen called me and said that Madame la princesse wished to hear from me -news of her son the king; I had overheard her telling<a name="page_271" id="page_271"></a> the princess -that she was talking with a gentleman of her brother Court who had just -come from Portugal.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_charles_271_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_charles_271_sml.jpg" width="301" height="550" alt="Charles IX" -title="Charles IX" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Charles IX</span> -</p> - -<p>On which I approached the princess, and kissed her gown in the Spanish -manner. She received me very gently and intimately; and then began to -ask me news of the king, her son, his behaviour, and what I thought of -him; for at that time they were thinking to make a marriage between him -and Madame Marguerite de France, sister of the king, and in these days -Queen of Navarre. I told her everything; for at that time I spoke -Spanish as well as, or better than French. Among her other questions she -asked me this: “Was her son handsome, and whom did he resemble?” I told -her he was certainly one of the handsomest princes of Christendom and -resembled her in everything and was, in fact, the very image of her -beauty; at which she gave a little smile and the colour came into her -face, which showed much gladness at what I said. After talking with her -some time they came to call the queen to supper, and the two princesses -separated; the queen saying to me with a smile: “You have given her a -great pleasure in what you said of the resemblance of her son.”</p> - -<p>And afterwards she asked me what I thought of her; whether I did not -think her an honourable woman and such as she had described her to me, -adding: “I think she would like much to marry the king, my brother -[Charles IX.], and I should like it, too.” She knew I should repeat this -to the queen-mother on my return to Court, which was then at Arles in -Provence; and I did so; but she said she was too old for him, old enough -to be his mother. I told the queen-mother, however, what had been said -to me in Spain, on good authority, namely: that the princess had said -she was firmly resolved not to marry again unless with the King of -France, and failing that to retire from the world. In fact, she had<a name="page_272" id="page_272"></a> so -set her fancy on this high match and station, for her heart was very -lofty, that she fully believed in attaining her end and contentment; -otherwise she meant to end her days, as I have said, in a monastery, -where she was already building a house for her retreat. Accordingly she -kept this hope and belief very long in her mind, managing her widowhood -sagely, until she heard of the marriage of the king to her niece -[Isabelle], and then, all hope being lost, she said these words, or -something like them, as I have heard tell: “Though the niece be more in -her springtime and less weighed with years than the aunt, the beauty of -the aunt, now in its summer, all made and formed by charming years, and -bearing fruit, is worth far more than the fruit her youthful blooms give -promise of; for the slightest misadventure will undo them, make them -fall and perish, no more no less than the trees of spring, which with -their lovely blooms promise fine fruits in summer; but an evil wind may -blow and beat them down and nought be left but leaves. But let it be -done to the will of God, with whom I now shall marry for all time, and -not with others.”</p> - -<p>As she said, so she did, and led so good and holy a life apart from the -world that she left to ladies, both great and small, a noble example to -imitate. There may be some who have said: “Thank God she could not marry -King Charles, for if she had done so she would have left behind the hard -conditions of widowhood and resumed all the sweetness of marriage.” That -may be presumed. But may we not, on the other hand, presume that the -great desire she showed the world to marry that great king was a form -and manner of ostentation and Spanish pride, manifesting her lofty -aspirations which she would not lower?—for seeing her sister Marie -Empress of Austria and wishing to equal her she aspired to be Queen of -France which is worth an empire—or more.<a name="page_273" id="page_273"></a></p> - -<p>To conclude: she was, to my thinking, one of the most accomplished -foreign princesses I have ever seen, though she may be blamed for -retreating from the world more from vexation than devotion; but the fact -remains that she did it; and her good and saintly end has shown in her I -know not what of sanctity.</p> - -<h3>3. <i>Marie d’Autriche, wife of Louis, King of Hungary [sister of the -Emperor Charles V.].</i></h3> - -<p>Her aunt, Queen Marie of Hungary, did the same, although at a more -advanced age, as much to retire from the world as to help the emperor, -her brother, to serve God well in his retreat. This queen became a widow -early, having lost King Louis, her husband, who was killed, very young, -in a battle against the Turks, which he fought, not for good reason, but -by persuasion and pertinacity of a cardinal who governed him much, -assuring him that he must not distrust God and His just cause, for if -there were but ten thousand Hungarians, they, being good Christians and -fighting for God’s quarrel, could make an end of a hundred thousand -Turks; and that cardinal so urged and pushed him to the point that he -fought and lost the battle, and in trying to retreat he fell into a -marsh and was smothered. Such are the blunders of men who want to manage -armies and do not know the business.</p> - -<p>That was why the great Duc de Guise, after he was so greatly deceived on -his journey to Italy, said frequently: “I love the Church of God, but I -will never undertake an enterprise of war on the word or faith of a -priest,”—meaning by that to lay blame on Pope Paul IV., who had not -kept the promises he made him with great and solemn words, and also on -M. le Cardinal, his brother, who had sounded the ford as far as Rome, -and lightly pushed his brother into it.<a name="page_274" id="page_274"></a></p> - -<p>To return to our great Queen Marie; after this misfortune to her husband -she was left a widow very young, very beautiful, as I have heard said by -many persons who knew her, and as I judge myself from the portraits I -have seen, which represent her without anything ugly to find fault with, -unless it be her large, projecting mouth like that of the house of -Austria; though it does not really come from the house of Austria, but -from that of Bourgogne; for I have heard a lady of the Court of those -times relate as follows: once when Queen Éléonore, passing through -Dijon, went to make her devotions at the Chartreux monastery of that -town, she visited the venerable sepulchres of her ancestors, the Ducs de -Bourgogne, and was curious enough to have them opened, as many of our -kings have done with theirs. She found them so well preserved that she -recognized some by various signs, among others by their mouths, on which -she suddenly cried out: “Ha! I thought we got our mouths from Austria, -but I see we get them from Marie de Bourgogne and the Ducs de Bourgogne -our ancestors. If I see my brother the emperor again, I shall tell him -so, or else I shall send him word.” The lady who was present told me -that she heard this, and also that the queen spoke as if taking pleasure -in it; as indeed she had reason to do; for the house of Bourgogne was -fully worth that of Austria, since it came from a son of France, -Philippe the Bold, and had gained much property and great generosities -of valour and courage from him; for I believe there never were four -greater dukes coming one after the other than those four Ducs de -Bourgogne. People may blame me sometimes for exaggerating; but I ought -to be readily pardoned, because I do not know the art of writing.</p> - -<p>Our Queen Marie of Hungary was very beautiful and agreeable, though she -was always a trifle masculine; but in<a name="page_275" id="page_275"></a> love she was none the worse for -that, nor in war, which she took as her principal exercise. The emperor, -her brother, knowing how fitted for war and very able she was, sent for -her to come to him, and there invested her with the office which had -belonged to her Aunt Marguerite of Flanders, who had governed the Low -Countries with as much mildness as her successor now showed rigour. -Indeed, so long as Madame Marguerite lived King François never turned -his wars in that direction, though the King of England urged it on him; -for he said that he did not wish to annoy that honest princess, who had -shown herself so good to France and was so wise and virtuous, and yet so -unfortunate in her marriages; the first of which was with King Charles -VIII., by whom she was sent back very young to her father’s house; -another with the son of the King of Arragon named Jean, by whom she had -a posthumous child who died as soon as he was born, and the third was -with that handsome Duc Philibert of Savoie, by whom she had no issue; -and for this reason she bore for her device the words <i>Fortune -infortune, fors une</i>. She lies with her husband in that beautiful -convent at Brou, which is so sumptuous, near the town of Bourg in -Bresse, where I have seen it.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> - -<p>Queen Marie of Hungary was of great assistance to the emperor, for he -stood alone. It is true he had Ferdinand, king of the Romans, his -brother; but he was forced to show front against that great Sultan -Solyman; also he had upon his hands the affairs of Italy, which were -then in combustion; of Germany, which were little better because of the -Grand Turk; of Hungary; of Spain, which had revolted under M. de -Chièvres; besides the Indies, the Low<a name="page_276" id="page_276"></a> Countries, Barbary, and France, -the greatest burden of all. In short, I may say the whole world almost.</p> - -<p>He made this sister Marie, whom he loved above everything, -governor-general of all his Low Countries, where for the space of -twenty-two or three years she served him so well that I know not how he -could have done without her. For this he trusted her with all the -affairs of the government, so that he himself, being in Flanders, left -all to her, and the Council was held by her in her own house. It is true -that she, being very wise and clever, deferred to him, and reported to -him all that was done at the Council when he was not there, in which he -took much pleasure.</p> - -<p>She made great wars, sometimes by her lieutenants, sometimes in -person,—always on horseback like a generous amazon. She was the first -to light fires and conflagrations in France,—some in very noble houses -and châteaux like that of Follembray, a beautiful and charming house -built by our kings for their comfort and pleasure in hunting. The king -took this with such wrath and displeasure that before long he returned -her the change for it, and revenged it on her beautiful mansion of -Bains, held to be a miracle of the world, shaming (if I may say so from -what I have heard those say who saw it in its perfection) the seven -wonders of the world renowned in antiquity. She fêted there the Emperor -Charles and his whole Court, when his son, King Philip, came from Spain -to Flanders to see him; on which occasion its magnificences were seen in -such excellence and perfection that nothing was talked of at that time -but <i>las fiestas de Bains</i>, as the Spaniards say. I remember myself that -on the journey to Bayonne [where Catherine de’ Medici met her daughter -Élisabeth Queen of Spain], however great was the magnificence there -presented, in tourneys, combats, masquerades, and money <a name="page_277" id="page_277"></a>expended, -nothing came up to <i>las fiestas de Bains</i>; so said certain old Spanish -gentlemen who had seen them, and also as I saw it stated in a Spanish -book written expressly about them; so that one could well say that -nothing finer was ever seen, not even, begging pardon of Roman -magnificence, the games of ancient times, barring the combats of -gladiators and wild beasts. Except for them, the fêtes of Bains were -finer and more agreeable, more varied, more general.</p> - -<p>I would describe them here, according as I could borrow them from that -Spanish book and as I heard of them from some who were present, even -from Mme. de Fontaine, born Torcy, maid of honour at the time to Queen -Éléonore; but I might be blamed for being too digressive. I will keep it -for a <i>bonne bouche</i> another time, for the thing is worth it. Among some -of the finest magnificences was this: Queen Marie had a great fortress -built of brick, which was assaulted, defended, and succoured by six -thousand foot-soldiers; cannonaded by thirty pieces of cannon, whether -in the batteries or the defences, with the same ceremonies and doings as -in real war; which siege lasted three days, and never was anything seen -so fine, the emperor taking great pleasure in it.</p> - -<p>You may be sure that if this queen played the sumptuous it was because -she wanted to show her brother that if she held her States, pensions, -benefits, even her conquests, through him, all were devoted to his glory -and pleasure. In fact, the said emperor was greatly pleased and praised -her much; and reckoned the cost very high; especially that of his -chamber which was hung with tapestry of splendid warp, of silver and -gold and silk, on which were figured and represented, the size of life, -all his fine conquests, great enterprises, expeditions of war, and the -battles he had fought, given, and won, above all, not forgetting the -flight of Solyman before Vienna,<a name="page_278" id="page_278"></a> and the capture of King François. In -short, there was nothing in it that was not exquisite.</p> - -<p>But the noble house lost its lustre soon after, being totally pillaged, -ruined, and razed to the ground. I have heard say that its mistress, -when she heard of its ruin, fell into such distress, anger, and rage -that for long she could not be pacified. Passing near there some time -later she wished to see the ruins, and gazing at them very piteously -with tears in her eyes, she swore that all France should repent of the -deed, for never should she be at her ease until that fine Fontainebleau, -of which they thought so much, was razed to the ground with not one -stone left upon another. In fact, she vomited her rage upon poor -Picardy, which felt it in flames. And we may believe that if peace had -not intervened, her vengeance would have been greater still; for she had -a stern, hard heart, not easily appeased, and was thought to be, on her -side as much as on ours, too cruel. But such is the nature of women, -even the greatest, who are very quick to vengeance when offended. The -emperor, it was said, loved her the better for it.</p> - -<p>I have heard it related how, when at Brussels, the emperor, in the great -hall where he had called together the general Assembly, in order to give -up and despoil himself of his States, after making an harangue and -saying all he wished to say to the Assembly and to his son, humbly -thanked Queen Marie, his sister, who was seated beside him. On which she -rose from her seat and, with a grand curtsey made to her brother with -great and grave majesty and composed grace, she said, addressing her -speech to the people: “Messieurs, since for twenty-three years it has -pleased the emperor, my brother, to give me the charge and government of -all his Low Countries, I have employed and used therein all that God, -nature, and fortune have given me of means and<a name="page_279" id="page_279"></a> graces to acquit myself -as well as possible. And if in anything I have been in fault, I am -excusable, thinking I have never forgotten what I should remember, nor -spared what was proper. Nevertheless, if I have been lacking in any way -I beg you to pardon me. But if, in spite of this, some of you will not -do so, and remain discontented with me, it is the least thing I care -for, inasmuch as the emperor, my brother, is content; for to please him -alone has been my greatest desire and solicitude.” So saying, and having -made another grand curtsey to the emperor, she resumed her seat. I have -heard it said that this speech was thought too haughty and defiant, both -as relating to her office, and as bidding adieu to a people whom she -ought to have left with a good word and in grief at her departure. But -what did she care,—inasmuch as she had no other object than to please -and content her brother and, from that moment, to quit the world and -keep company with that brother in his retreat and his prayers [1556]?</p> - -<p>I heard all this related by a gentleman of my brother who was then in -Brussels, having gone there to negotiate the ransom of my said brother -who was taken prisoner at Hesdin and confined five years at Lisle in -Flanders. The said gentleman witnessed this Assembly and all these sad -acts of the emperor; and he told me that many persons were rather -scandalized under their breaths at this proud speech of the queen; -though they dared say nothing, nor let it be seen, for they knew they -had to do with a <i>maîtresse-femme</i> who would, if irritated, deal them -some blow as a parting gift. But here she was, relieved of her office, -so that she accompanied her brother to Spain and never left him again, -she, and her sister, Queen Éléonore, until he lay in his tomb; the three -surviving exactly a year one after the other. The emperor died first, -the Queen of France, being the elder, next,<a name="page_280" id="page_280"></a> and the Queen of Hungary -last,—both sisters having very virtuously governed their widowhood. It -is true that the Queen of Hungary was longer a widow than her sister -without remarrying; for her sister married twice, as much to be Queen of -France, which was a fine morsel, as by prayer and persuasion of the -emperor, in order that she might serve as a seal to secure peace and -public tranquillity; though, indeed, this seal did not last long, for -war broke out again soon after, more cruel than ever; but the poor -princess could not help that, for she had brought to France all she -could; though the king, her husband, treated her no better for that, but -cursed his marriage, as I have heard say.</p> - -<h3>4. <i>Louise de Lorraine, wife of Henri III., King of France.</i></h3> - -<p>We can and should praise this princess who, in her marriage, behaved to -the king, her husband, so wisely, chastely, and loyally that the tie -which bound her to him remained indissoluble and was never loosened or -undone, although the king her husband, loving change, went after others, -as the fashion is with these great persons, who have a liberty of their -own apart from other men. Moreover, within the first ten days of their -marriage he gave her cause for discontentment, for he took away her -waiting-maids and the ladies who had been with her and brought her up -from childhood, whom she regretted much; and more especially the sting -went deep into her heart on account of Mlle. de Changy, a beautiful and -very honourable young lady, who should never have been banished from the -company of her mistress, or from Court. It is a great vexation to lose a -good companion and a confidante.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_louise_280_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_louise_280_sml.jpg" width="440" height="550" alt="Louise de Lorraine wife of Henry III" -title="Louise de Lorraine wife of Henry III" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Louise de Lorraine<br /> -wife of Henry III</span> -</p> - -<p>I know that one of the said queen’s most intimate ladies was so -presumptuous as to say to her one day, laughing and joking, that since -she had no children by the king and could<a name="page_281" id="page_281"></a> never have them, for -reasons that were talked of in those days, she would do well to borrow a -third and secret means to have them, in order not to be left without -authority when the king should die, but rather be mother to a king and -hold the rank and grandeur of the present queen-mother, her -mother-in-law. But she rejected this bouffonesque advice, taking it in -very bad part and nevermore liking the good lady-counsellor. She -preferred to rest her grandeur on her chastity and virtue than upon a -lineage issuing from vice: counsel of the world! which, according to the -doctrine of Macchiavelli, ought not to be rejected.</p> - -<p>But our Queen Louise, so wise and chaste and virtuous, did not desire, -either by true or false means, to become queen-mother; though, had she -been willing to play such a game, things would have been other than they -are; for no one would have taken notice, and many would have been -confounded. For this reason the present king [Henri IV.] owes much to -her, and should have loved and honoured her; for had she played the -trick and produced the child, he would only have been regent of France, -and perhaps not that, and such weak title would not have guaranteed us -from more wars and evils than we have so far had. Still, I have heard -many, religious as well as worldly people, say and hold to this -conclusion, namely: that Queen Louise would have done better to play -that game, for then France would not have had the ruin and misery she -has had, and will have, and that Christianity would have been the better -for it. I make this question over to worthy and inquiring discoursers to -give their opinion on it; it is a brave subject and an ample one for the -State; but not for God, methinks, to whom our queen was so inclined, -loving and adoring Him so truly that to serve Him she forgot herself and -her high condition. For, being a very beautiful princess (in fact the -king took her for<a name="page_282" id="page_282"></a> her beauty and virtue), and young, delicate, and very -lovable, she devoted herself to no other purpose than serving God, going -to prayers, visiting the hospitals continually, nursing the sick, -burying the dead, and omitting nothing of all the good and saintly works -performed by saintly and devoted good women, princesses, and queens in -the times past of the primitive Church. After the death of the king, her -husband, she did the same, employing her time in mourning and regretting -him, and in praying to God for his soul; so that her widowed life was -much the same as her married life.</p> - -<p>She was suspected during the lifetime of her husband of leaning a little -to the party of the Union [League] because, good Christian and Catholic -that she was, she loved all who fought and combated for her faith and -her religion; but she never loved these and left them wholly after they -killed her husband; demanding no other vengeance or punishment than what -it pleased God to send them, asking the same of men and, above all, of -our present king; who should, however, have done justice on that -monstrous deed done to a sacred person.</p> - -<p>Thus lived this princess in marriage and died in widowhood. She died in -a reputation most beautiful and worthy of her, having lingered and -languished long, without taking care of herself and giving way too much -to her sadness. She made a noble and religious end. Before she died she -ordered her crown to be placed on the pillow beside her, and would not -have it moved as long as she lived; and after her death she was crowned -with it, and remained so.</p> - -<h3>5. <i>Marguerite de Lorraine, wife of Anne, Duc de Joyeuse.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></i></h3> - -<p>Queen Louise left a sister, Madame de Joyeuse, who has imitated her -modest and chaste life, having made great<a name="page_283" id="page_283"></a> mourning and lamentation for -her husband, a brave, valiant, and accomplished seigneur. And I have -heard say that when the present king was so tightly pressed in Brest, -where M. du Maine with forty thousand men held him besieged and tied up -in a sack, that if she had been in the place of the Duc de Chartres, who -commanded within, she would have revenged the death of her husband far -better than did the said duke, who on account of the obligations he owed -the Duc de Joyeuse, should have done better. Since when, she has never -liked him, but hated him more than the plague, not being able to excuse -such a fault; though there are some who say that he kept the faith and -loyalty he had promised.</p> - -<p>But a woman justly or unjustly offended does not listen to excuses; nor -did this one, who never again loved our present king; but she greatly -regretted the late one [Henri III.] although she belonged to the League; -but she always said that she and her husband were under extreme -obligations to him. To conclude: she was a good and virtuous princess, -who deserves honour for the grief she gave to the ashes of her husband -for some time, although she remarried in the end with M. de Luxembourg. -Being a woman, why should she languish?</p> - -<h3>6. <i>Christine of Denmark, niece of the Emperor Charles V. Duchesse de -Lorraine.</i></h3> - -<p>After the departure of the Queen of Hungary no great princess remained -near King Philip II. [to whom Charles V. resigned the Low Countries, -Naples, and Sicily 1555]<a name="page_284" id="page_284"></a> except the Duchesse de Lorraine, Christine of -Denmark, his cousin-german, since called her Highness, who kept him good -company so long as he stayed in Flanders, and made his Court shine; for -the Court of every king, prince, emperor, or monarch, however grand it -be, is of little account if it be not accompanied and made desirable by -the Court of queen, empress, or great princess with numerous ladies and -damoiselles; as I have well perceived myself and heard discoursed of and -said by the greatest personages.</p> - -<p>This princess, to my thinking, was one of the most beautiful and -accomplished princesses I have ever seen. Her face was very agreeable, -her figure tall, and her carriage fine; especially did she dress herself -well,—so well that, in her time, she gave to our ladies of France and -to her own a pattern and model for dressing the head with a coiffure and -veil, called <i>à la</i> Lorraine; and a fine sight it was on our Court -ladies, who wore it only for fêtes or great magnificences, in order to -adorn and display themselves, as did all Lorraine, in honour of her -Highness. Above all, she had one of the prettiest hands that were ever -seen; indeed I have heard our queen-mother praise it and compare it with -her own. She held herself finely on horseback with very good grace, and -always rode with stirrup and pommel, as she had learned from her aunt, -Queen Mary of Hungary. I have heard say that the queen-mother learned -this fashion from her, for up to that time she rode on the plank, which -certainly does not show the grace or the fine action with the stirrup. -She liked to imitate in riding the queen, her aunt, and never mounted -any but Spanish or Turkish horses, barbs, or very fine jennets which -went at an amble; I have known her have at one time a dozen very fine -ones, of which it would be hard to say which was the finest.</p> - -<p>Her aunt, the queen, loved her much, finding her suited to<a name="page_285" id="page_285"></a> her humour, -whether in the exercises, hunting and other, that she loved, or in the -virtues that she knew she possessed. While her husband lived she often -went to Flanders to see her aunt, as Mme. de Fontaine told me; but after -she became a widow, and especially after they took her son away from -her, she left Lorraine in anger, for her heart was very lofty, and made -her abode with the emperor her uncle, and the queens her aunts, who -gladly received her.</p> - -<p>She bore very impatiently the parting from this son, though King Henri -made every excuse to her, and declared he intended to adopt him as a -son. But not being pacified, and seeing that they were giving the old -fellow M. de la Brousse to her son as governor, taking away from him M. -de Montbardon, a very wise and honourable gentleman whom the emperor had -appointed, having known him for a very long time, this princess, finding -how desperate the matter was, came to see King Henri on a Holy Thursday -in the great gallery at Nancy, where the Court then was; and with very -composed grace and that great beauty which made her so admired, and -without being awed or abating in any way her grandeur, she made him a -great curtsey, entreating him, and explaining with tears in her eyes -(which only made her the more beautiful) the wrong he did in taking her -son from her,—an object so dear to her heart and all she had in the -world; also that she did not merit such treatment, in view of the great -family from which she came; besides which she believed she had never -done anything against his service. She said these things so well, with -such good grace and reasoning, and made her complaint so gently that the -king, who was always courteous to ladies, had great compassion for -her,—not only he, but all the princes and the great and the little -people who saw that sight.</p> - -<p>The king, who was the most respectful king to ladies<a name="page_286" id="page_286"></a> that was ever in -France, answered her most civilly; not with a flourish of words or a -great harangue, as Paradin in his History of France represents, for of -himself and by nature he was not at all prolix, nor copious in words nor -a great haranguer. Moreover, there is no need nor would it be becoming -that a king should imitate in his speech a philosopher or an orator; so -that the shortest words and briefest answers are best for a king; as I -have heard M. de Pibrac say, whose instruction was very sound on account -of the learning that was in him. Therefore, whoever reads that harangue -of Paradin, made, or presumed to be made by King Henri, should believe -none of it, for I have heard several great persons who were present -declare that he could not have heard that answer or that discourse as he -says he did. Very true it is that the king consoled her civilly and -modestly on the desolation she expressed, and told her she had no reason -to be troubled, because to secure his safety, and not from enmity, did -he wish to keep her son beside him, and put him with his own eldest son -to have the same education, same manner of life, same fortune; and since -he was of French extraction, and himself French, he could be better -brought up at the Court of France, among the French, where he had -relations and friends. Nor did he forget to remind her that the house of -Lorraine was more obliged to France than any house in Christendom, -reminding her of the obligation of the Duc de Lorraine in respect to Duc -Charles de Bourgogne, who was killed at Nancy.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_henri_iii_286_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_henri_iii_286_sml.jpg" width="477" height="550" alt="Henri III" -title="Henri III" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Henri III</span> -</p> - -<p>But all these fine words and reasons could not console her or make her -bear her sorrow patiently. So that, having made her curtsey, still -shedding many precious tears, she retired to her chamber, to the door of -which the king conducted her; and the next day, before his departure, -she went to see him in his chamber to take leave of him, but<a name="page_287" id="page_287"></a> could -not obtain her request. Therefore, seeing her dear son taken before her -eyes and departing for France, she resolved, on her side, to leave -Lorraine and retire to Flanders, to her uncle, the emperor (how fine a -word!), and to her cousin King Philip and the queens, her aunts (what -alliance! what titles!), which she did; and never stirred thence till -after the peace made between the two kings, when he of Spain crossed the -seas and went away.</p> - -<p>She did much for this peace, I might say all; for the deputies, as much -on one side as on the other, as I have heard tell, after much pains and -time consumed at Cercan [Cateau-Carabrésis] without doing or concluding -anything, were all at fault and off the scent, like huntsmen, when she, -being either instinct with the divine spirit, or moved by good Christian -zeal and her natural good sense, undertook this great negotiation and -conducted it so well that the end was fortunate throughout all -Christendom. Also it was said that no one could have been found more -proper to move and place that great rock; for she was a very clever and -judicious lady if ever there was one, and of fine and grand authority; -and certainly small and low persons are not so proper for that as the -great. On the other hand the king, her cousin [Philip II.], believed and -trusted her greatly, esteeming her much, and loving her with a great -affection and love; as indeed he should, for she gave his Court great -value and made it shine, when otherwise it would have been obscure. -Though afterwards, as I have been told, he did not treat her too well in -the matter of her estates which came to her as dowry in the duchy of -Milan; she having been married first to Duc Sforza, for, as I have heard -say, he took and curtailed her of some.</p> - -<p>I was told that after the death of her son she remained on very ill -terms with M. de Guise and his brother, the<a name="page_288" id="page_288"></a> Cardinal, accusing them of -having persuaded the king to keep her son on account of their ambition -to see and have their near cousin adopted son and married to the house -of France; besides which, she had refused some time before to take M. de -Guise in marriage, he having asked her to do so. She, who was haughty to -the very extreme, replied that she would never marry the younger of a -house whose eldest had been her husband; and for that refusal M. de -Guise bore her a grudge ever after,—though indeed he lost nothing by -the change to Madame his wife, whom he married soon after, for she was -of very illustrious birth and granddaughter of Louis XII., one of the -bravest and best kings that ever wore the crown of France; and, what is -more, she was the handsomest woman in Christendom.</p> - -<p>I have heard tell that the first time these two handsome princesses saw -each other, they were each so contemplative the one of the other, -turning their eyes sometimes crossways, sometimes sideways, that neither -could look enough, so fixed and attentive were they to watch each other. -I leave you to think what thoughts they were turning in their fine -souls; not more nor less than those we read of just before the great -battle in Africa between Scipio and Hannibal (which was the final -settlement of the war between Rome and Carthage), when those two great -captains met together during a truce of two hours, and, having -approached each other, they stood for a little space of time, lost in -contemplation the one of the other, each ravished by the valour of his -companion, both renowned for their noble deeds, so well represented in -their faces, their bodies, and their fine and warlike ways and gestures. -And then, having stood for some time thus wrapt in meditation of each -other, they began to negotiate in the manner that Titus Livius describes -so well. That is what virtue is, which<a name="page_289" id="page_289"></a> makes itself admired amid -hatreds and enmities, as beauty among jealousies, like that of the two -ladies and princesses I have just been speaking of.</p> - -<p>Certainly their beauty and grace may be reckoned equal, though Mme. de -Guise could slightly have carried the day; but she was content without -it,—being not at all vain or superb, but the sweetest, best, humblest, -and most affable princess that could ever be seen. In her way, however, -she was brave and proud, for nature had made her such, as much by beauty -and form as by her grave bearing and noble majesty; so much so that on -seeing her one feared to approach her; but having approached her one -found only sweetness, candour, gayety; getting it all from her -grandfather, that good father of his people, and the sweet air of -France. True it is, she knew well how to keep her grandeur and glory -when need was.</p> - -<p>Her Highness of Lorraine was, on the contrary, very vain-glorious, and -rather too presumptuous. I saw that sometimes in relation to Queen Marie -Stuart of Scotland, who, being a widow, made a journey to Lorraine, on -which I went; and you would have said that very often her said Highness -was determined to equal the majesty of the said queen. But the latter, -being very clever and of great courage, never let her pass the line, or -make any advance; although Queen Marie was always gentle, because her -uncle, the Cardinal, had warned and instructed her as to the temper of -her said Highness. Then she, being unable to be rid of her pride, -thought to soothe it a little on the queen-mother when they met. But -that indeed was pride to pride and a half; for the queen-mother was the -proudest woman on earth when she chose to be. I have heard her called so -by many great personages; for when it was necessary to repress the -vainglory of some one who wanted to seem of importance<a name="page_290" id="page_290"></a> she knew how to -abase him to the centre of the earth. However, she bore herself civilly -to her Highness, deferring to her much and honouring her; but always -holding the bridle in hand, sometimes high, sometimes low, for fear she -should get away; and I heard her myself say, two or three times: “That -is the most vainglorious woman I ever saw.”</p> - -<p>The same thing happened when her Highness came to the coronation of the -late King Charles IX. at Reims, to which she was invited. When she -arrived, she would not enter the town on horseback, fearing she could -not thus show her grandeur and high estate; but she put herself into a -most superb carriage, entirely covered with black velvet, on account of -her widowhood, which was drawn by four Turk horses, the finest that -could be chosen, and harnessed all four abreast after the manner of a -triumphal car. She sat by the door, very well dressed, but all in black, -in a gown of velvet; but her head was white and very handsomely and -superbly coiffed and adorned. At the other door of her carriage was one -of her daughters, afterwards Mme. la Duchesse de Bavière, and within was -the Princesse de Macédoine, her lady of honour.</p> - -<p>The queen-mother, wishing to see her enter the courtyard in this -triumphal manner, placed herself at a window and said, quite low, -“There’s a proud woman!” Then her Highness having descended from her -carriage and come upstairs, the queen advanced to receive her at the -middle of the room, not a step beyond, and rather nearer the door than -farther from it. There she received her very well; because at that time -she governed everything, King Charles being so young; and did all she -wished, which was certainly a great honour to her Highness. All the -Court, from the highest to the lowest, esteemed and admired her much and -thought her very handsome, although she was declining in years, being<a name="page_291" id="page_291"></a> -at that time rather more than forty; but nothing as yet showed it, her -autumn surpassing the summer of others.</p> - -<p>She died one year after hearing the news that she was Queen of Denmark, -from which she came, and that the kingdom had fallen to her; so that -before her death she was able to change the title of Highness, she had -borne so long, to that of Majesty. And yet, for all that, as I have -heard, she was resolved not to go to her kingdom, but to end her days in -her dower-house at Tortonia in Italy, where the countryside called her -only Madame de Tortonia; she having retired there some time before her -death, as much because of certain vows she had made to the saints of -those parts as to be near the baths of Tortonia, she being feeble in -health and very gouty.</p> - -<p>Her practices were fine, saintly, and honourable, to wit: praying God, -giving alms, and doing great charity to the poor, above all to widows. -This is a summary of what I have heard of this great princess, who, -though a widow and very beautiful, conducted herself virtuously. It is -true that one might say she was married twice: first with Duc Sforza, -but he died at once; they did not live a year together before she was a -widow at fifteen. Then her uncle, the Emperor Charles V., remarried her -to the Duc de Lorraine, to strengthen his alliance with him; but there -again she was a widow in the flower of her age, having enjoyed that fine -marriage but a very few years; and those that remained to her, which -were her finest and most precious in usefulness, she kept and consumed -in a chaste widowhood.</p> - -<h3>7. <i>Marie d’Autriche, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II.</i></h3> - -<p>This empress, though she was left a widow quite young and very -beautiful, would never marry again, but contained herself and continued -in widowhood very virtuously, having<a name="page_292" id="page_292"></a> left Austria and Germany, the -scene of her empire, after the death of her husband. She returned to her -brother, Philip II. in Spain; he having sent for her, and begged her to -come and assist him with the heavy burden of his affairs, which she did; -being a very wise and judicious princess. I have heard the late King -Henri III. say,—and he was a better judge of people than any man in his -kingdom,—that to his mind she was one of the ablest and most honourable -princesses in the world.</p> - -<p>On her way to Spain, after crossing the Germanys, she came to Italy and -Genoa, where she embarked; and as it was winter and the month of -December when she set sail, bad weather overtook her near Marseille, -where she was forced to put in and anchor. But still, for all that, she -would not enter the port, neither her own galley nor the others, for -fear of causing suspicion or offence. Only once did she enter the town, -just to see it. She remained there eight days awaiting fair weather. Her -best exercise was in the mornings, when she left her galley (where she -slept) and went to hear mass and service at the church of Saint-Victor, -with very ardent devotion. Then her dinner was brought and prepared in -the abbey, where she dined; and after dinner she talked with her women -or with certain gentlemen from Marseille, who paid her all the honour -and reverence that were due to so great a princess; for King Henri had -commanded them to receive her as they would himself, in return for the -good greeting and cheer she had given him in Vienna. So soon as she -perceived this she showed herself most friendly, and spoke to them very -freely both in German and in French; so that they were well content with -her and she with them, selecting twenty especially; among them M. -Castellan, called the Seigneur Altivity, captain of the galleys, who was -distinguished for having married<a name="page_293" id="page_293"></a> the beautiful Châteauneuf at Court, -and also for having killed the Grand-prior, as I shall relate elsewhere.</p> - -<p>It was his wife who told me all that I now relate, and discoursed to me -about the perfections of this great princess; and how she admired -Marseille, thinking it very fine, and went about with her on her -promenades. At night she returned to her galley, so that if the fine -weather and the good wind came, she might quickly set sail. I was at our -Court when news was brought to the king of this passing visit; and I saw -him very uneasy lest she should not be received as she ought to be, and -as he wished. This princess still lives, and continues in all her fine -virtues. She greatly helped and served her brother, as I have been told. -Since then she has retired to a convent of women called the -“bare-footed” [Carmelites], because they wear neither shoes nor -stockings. Her sister, the Princess of Spain, founded them.</p> - -<h3>8. <i>Blanche de Montferrat, Duchesse de Savoie.</i></h3> - -<p>While I am on this subject of noble widows I must say two words of one -of past times, namely: that honourable widow, Madame Blanche de -Montferrat, one of the most ancient houses in Italy, who was Duchesse de -Savoie and thought to be the handsomest and most perfect princess of her -time; also very virtuous and judicious, for she governed wisely the -minority of her son and his estates; she being left a widow at the age -of twenty-three.</p> - -<p>It was she who received so honourably our young King Charles VIII. when -he went to his kingdom of Naples, through all her lands and principally -her city of Turin, where she gave him a pompous entry, and met him in -person, very sumptuously accoutred. She showed she felt herself a great -lady; for she appeared that day in magnificent state, dressed in a grand -gown of crinkled cloth of<a name="page_294" id="page_294"></a> gold, edged with large diamonds, rubies, -sapphires, emeralds, and other precious stones. Round her throat she -wore a necklace of very large oriental pearls, the value of which none -could estimate, with bracelets of the same. She was mounted on a -beautiful white ambling mare, harnessed most superbly and led by six -lacqueys dressed in figured cloth of gold. A great band of damoiselles -followed her, very richly, daintily, and neatly dressed in the Piedmont -fashion, which was fine to see; and after them came a very long troop of -noblemen and knights of the country. Then there entered and marched King -Charles, beneath a rich canopy, and went to the castle, where he lodged, -and where Madame de Savoie presented to him her son, who was very young. -After which she made the king a fine harangue, offering her lands and -means, both hers and her son’s; which the king received with very good -heart, and thanked her much, feeling greatly obliged to her. Throughout -the town were everywhere seen the arms of France and those of Savoie -interlaced in a great lover’s-knot, which bound together the two -escutcheons and the two orders, with these words: <i>Sanguinis arctus -amor</i>; as may be read in the “Chronicles of Savoie.”</p> - -<p>I have heard several of our fathers and mothers, who got it from their -parents, and also Mademoiselle the Sénéchale de Poitou, my grandmother, -then a damoiselle at Court, affirm that nothing was talked of but the -beauty, wisdom, and wit of this princess, when the courtiers and -gallants returned from their journey; and, above all, by the king, who -seemed, from appearance, to be wounded in his heart.</p> - -<p>At any rate, even without her beauty, he had good reason to love her; -for she aided him with all the means in her power, and gave up her -jewels and pearls and precious stones to send them to him that he might -use them and pledge them as he pleased; which was indeed a very great -obligation,<a name="page_295" id="page_295"></a> for ladies bear a great affection to their precious stones -and rings and jewels, and would sooner give and pledge some precious -piece of their person than their wealth of jewels—I speak of some, not -all. Certainly this obligation was great; for without this courtesy, and -that also of the Marquise de Montferrat, a very virtuous lady and very -handsome, he would have met in the long run a short shame, and must have -returned from the semi-journey he had undertaken without money; having -done worse than that bishop of France who went to the Council of Trent -without money and without Latin. What an embarkation without biscuit! -However, there is a difference between the two; for what one did was out -of noble generosity and fine ambition, which closed his eyes to all -inconveniency, thinking nothing impossible to his brave heart; while as -for the other, he lacked wit and ability, sinning in that through -ignorance and stupidity—if it was not that he trusted to beg them when -he got there.</p> - -<p>In this discourse that I have made of that fine entry, there is to be -noted the superbness of the accoutrements of this princess, which seem -to be more those of a married woman than a widow. Upon which the ladies -said that for so great a king she could dispense with mourning; and also -that great people, men and women, gave the law to themselves; and -besides, that in those times the widows, so it was said, were not so -restricted nor so reformed in their clothes as they have been since for -the last forty years; like a certain lady whom I know, who, being in the -good graces and delights of a king [probably Diane de Poitiers] dressed -herself much <i>à la</i> modest (though always in silk), the better to cover -and hide her game; and in that respect, the widows of the Court, wishing -to imitate her, did the same. But this lady did not reform herself so -much, nor to such<a name="page_296" id="page_296"></a> austerity, that she ceased to dress prettily and -pompously, though always in black and white; indeed there seemed more of -worldliness than of widow’s reformation about it; for especially did she -always show her beautiful bosom. I have heard the queen, mother of King -Henri, say the same thing at the coronation and wedding of King Henri -III., namely: that the widows in times past did not have such great -regard to their clothes and to modesty of actions as they have to-day; -the which she said she saw in the times of King François, who wanted his -Court to be free in every way; and even the widows danced, and the -partners took them as readily as if they were girls or married women. -She said on this point that she commanded and begged M. de Vaudemont to -honour the fête by taking out Madame la Princesse de Condé, the dowager, -to dance; which he did to obey her; and he took the princess to the -grand ball; those who were at the coronation, like myself, saw it, and -remember it well. These were the liberties that widows had in the olden -time. To-day such things are forbidden them like sacrilege; and as for -colours, they dare not wear them, or dress in anything but black and -white; though their skirts and petticoats and also their stockings they -may wear of a tan-gray, violet, or blue. Some that I see emancipate -themselves in flesh-coloured red and chamois colour, as in times past, -when, as I have heard said, all colours could be worn in petticoats and -stockings, but not in gowns.</p> - -<p>So this duchess, about whom we have been speaking, could very well wear -this gown of cloth of gold, that being her ducal garment and her robe of -grandeur, the which was becoming and permissible in her to show her -sovereignty and dignity of duchess. Our widows of to-day dare not wear -precious stones, except on their fingers, on some mirrors, on some -“Hours,” and on their belts; but never on their heads<a name="page_297" id="page_297"></a> or bodies, unless -a few pearls on their neck and arms. But I swear to you I have seen -widows as dainty as could be in their black and white gowns, who -attracted quite as many and as much as the bedizened brides and maidens -of France. There is enough said now of this foreign widow.</p> - -<h3>9. <i>Catherine de Clèves, wife of Henri I. de Lorraine, Duc de Guise.</i></h3> - -<p>Madame de Guise, Catherine de Clèves, one of the three daughters of -Nevers (three princesses who cannot be lauded enough either for their -beauty or their virtues, and of whom I hope to make a chapter), has -celebrated and celebrates daily the eternal absence of her husband [Le -Balafré, killed at Blois 1588]. But oh! what a husband he was! The -none-such of the world! That is what she called him in several letters -which she wrote to certain ladies of her intimacy whom she held in -esteem, after her misfortune; manifesting in sad and grievous words the -regrets of her wounded soul.</p> - -<h3>10. <i>Madame de Bourdeille.</i></h3> - -<p>Madame de Bourdeille, issuing from the illustrious and ancient house of -Montbéron, and from the Comtes de Périgord and the Vicomtes d’Aunay, -became a widow at the age of thirty-seven or thirty-eight, very -beautiful (in Guyenne, where she lived, it was believed that none -surpassed her in her day for beauty, grace, and noble appearance); and -being thus in fine estate and widowed, she was sought in marriage and -pursued by three very great and rich seigneurs, to whom she answered:—</p> - -<p>“I shall not say as many ladies do, who declare they will never marry, -and give their word in such a way that they must be believed, after -which nothing comes of it; but I<a name="page_298" id="page_298"></a> do say that, if God and flesh do not -give me any other wishes than I have at present, it is a very certain -thing that I have bade farewell to marriage forever.”</p> - -<p>And then, as some one said to her, “But, madame, would you burn of love -in the flower of your age?” she answered: “I know not what you mean. For -up to this hour I have never been even warmed, but widowed and cold as -ice. Still, I do not say that, being in company with a second husband -and approaching his fire, I might not burn, as you think. But because -cold is easier to bear than heat, I am resolved to remain in my present -quality and to abstain from a second marriage.”</p> - -<p>And just as she said then, so she has remained to the present day, a -widow these twelve years, without the least losing her beauty, but -always nourishing it and taking care of it, so that it has not a single -spot. Which is a great respect to the ashes of her husband, and a proof -that she loved him well; also an injunction on her children to honour -her always. The late M. Strozzi was one of those who courted her and -asked her in marriage; but great as he was and allied to the -queen-mother, she refused him and excused herself kindly. But what a -humour was this! to be beautiful, virtuous, a very rich heiress, and yet -to end her days on a solitary feather-bed and blanket, desolate and cold -as ice, and thus to pass so many widowed nights! Oh! how many there be -unlike this lady—but some are like her, too.<a name="page_299" id="page_299"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h2> - -<h3>I.</h3> - -<p class="c">(See <a href="#page_030">page 30</a>.)</p> - -<p>U<small>NDER</small> Louis XII. the French fleet and the English fleet met, August 10, -1513, off the heights of Saint-Maché, in Lower Bretagne. The English -fleet, eighty vessels strong, attacked that of France, which had but -twenty. The French made up for numbers by courage and ability. They -seized the advantage of the wind, fouled the enemy’s ships and shattered -them, and sent more than half to the bottom. The Breton Primauguet was -captain of “La Cordelière;” the vessel constructed after the orders of -Queen Anne; it could carry twelve hundred soldiers besides the crew. He -was attacked by twelve English vessels, defended himself with a courage -that amounted to fury, sunk a number of the enemy’s vessels, and drove -off the rest. One captain alone dared approach him again, flinging -rockets on board of him, and so setting fire to the vessel. Primauguet -might have saved himself in the long-boat, as did some of the officers -and soldiers; but that valiant sailor would not survive the loss of his -ship; he only thought of selling his life dearly and taking from the -English the pleasure of enjoying the defeat of the French. Though all -a-fire, he sailed upon the flag-ship of the enemy, the “Regent of -England,” grappled her, set fire to her, and blew up with her an instant -later. More than three thousand men perished in this action by<a name="page_300" id="page_300"></a> cannon, -fire, and water. It is one of the most glorious pages in our maritime -annals.</p> - -<p class="r"> -French editor of “Vie des Dames Illustres,”<br /> -Garnier-Frères. Paris.<br /> -</p> - -<h3>II.</h3> - -<p class="c">(See <a href="#page_044">page 44</a>.)</p> - -<p>This is doubtless the <i>Discours merveilleux de la vie, actions, et -déportemens de la reine Catherine de Médicis</i>, attributed to Théodore de -Bèze, also to de Serres, but with more probability to Henri Étienne; -coming certainly from the hand of a master. It was printed and spread -about publicly in 1574 with the date of 1575; inserted soon after in the -<i>Mémoires d’État sous Charles IX.</i>, printed in 1577 in three volumes, -8vo, and subsequently in the various editions of the <i>Reccuil de -diverses pièces pour servir à l’histoire du règne de Henri III.</i></p> - -<p class="r"> -French editor.<br /> -</p> - -<h3>III.</h3> - -<p class="c">(See <a href="#page_091">page 91</a>.)</p> - -<p>M. de Maison-Fleur was a gentleman of the Bordeaux region, a Huguenot, -and a somewhat celebrated poet in his day, whose principal work, <i>Les -Divins Cantiques</i>, was printed for the first time at Antwerp in 1580, -and several times reprinted in succeeding years. For details on this -poet, see the <i>Bibliothèque Française</i> of the Abbé Goujet.</p> - -<p class="r"> -French editor.<br /> -</p> - -<h3>IV.</h3> - -<p class="c">(See <a href="#page_092">page 92</a>.)</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">We see, ’neath white attire,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In mourning great and sadness,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Passing, with many a charm<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of beauty, this fair goddess,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Holding the shaft in hand<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of her son, heartless.<a name="page_301" id="page_301"></a><br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">And Love, without his frontlet,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Fluttering round her,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Hiding his bandaged eyes<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With veil of mourning<br /></span> -<span class="i0">On which these words are writ:<br /></span> -<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Die or be captured.</span><br /></span> -</div></div> - -<h3>V.</h3> - -<p class="c">(See <a href="#page_094">page 94</a>.)</p> - -<p class="c"><i>Translation as nearly literal as possible.</i></p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">In my sad, sweet song,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In tones most lamentable<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I cast my cutting grief<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of loss incomparable;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And in poignant sighs<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I pass my best of years.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Was ever such an ill<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of hard destiny,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or so sad a sorrow<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of a happy lady,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">That my heart and eye<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Should gaze on bier and coffin?<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">That I, in my sweet springtide,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In the flower of youth,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">All these pains should feel<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of excessive sadness,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With naught to give me pleasure<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Except regret and yearning?<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">That which to me was pleasant<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Now is hard and painful;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The brightest light of day<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Is darkness black and dismal;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Nothing is now delight<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In that of me required.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">I have, in heart and eye,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">A portrait and an image<a name="page_302" id="page_302"></a><br /></span> -<span class="i0">That mark my mourning life<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And my pale visage<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With violet tones that are<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The tint of grieving lovers.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">For my restless sorrow<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I can rest nowhere;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Why should I change in place<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Since sorrow will not efface?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">My worst and yet my best<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Are in the loneliest places.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">When in some still sojourn<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In forest or in field,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Be it by dawn of day,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or in the vesper hour,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Unceasing feels my heart<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Regret for one departed.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">If sometimes toward the skies<br /></span> -<span class="i0">My glance uplifts itself,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The gentle iris of his eyes<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I see in clouds; or else<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I see it in the water,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As in a grave.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">If I lie at rest<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Slumbering on my couch,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I hear him speak to me,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">I feel his touch;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In labour, in repose,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">He is ever near me.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">I see no other object,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Though beauteous it may be<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In many a subject,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To which my heart consents,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Since its perfection lacks<br /></span> -<span class="i0">In this affection.<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">End here, my song,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thy sad complaint,<a name="page_303" id="page_303"></a><br /></span> -<span class="i0">Of which be this the burden:<br /></span> -<span class="i0">True love, not feigned,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Because of separation<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Shall have no diminution.<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<h3>VI.</h3> - -<p class="c">(See <a href="#page_235">page 235</a>.)</p> - -<p>This book, entitled <i>Les Marguerites de la Marguerite des princesses</i>, -is a collection of the poems of this princess, made by Simon de La Haie, -surnamed Sylvius, her <i>valet de chambre</i>, and printed at Lyon, by Jean -de Tournes, 1547, 8vo.</p> - -<p>The <i>Nouvelles</i> of the Queen of Navarre appeared for the first time -without the name of the author, under the title: <i>Histoire des Amants -fortunés, dediée à l’illustre princesse, Madame Marguerite de Bourbon, -Duchesse de Nivernois</i>, by Pierre Boaistuau, called Launay. Paris, 1558 -4to. This edition contains only sixty-seven tales, and the text has been -garbled by Boaistuau. The second edition is entitled: <i>Heptameron des -Nouvelles de très-illustre et très-excellente princesse Marguerite de -Valois, reine de Navarre, remis en son vrai ordre</i>, by Charles Gruget, -Paris, 1559, 4to.</p> - -<p class="r"> -<i>French editor.</i><br /> -</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>In 1841 M. Genin published a volume of Queen Marguerite’s letters, and -in the following year a volume of her letters addressed to François I.</p> - -<p>Since then Comte H. de La Ferrière-Percy has made her the subject of an -interesting “Study.” This careful investigator having discovered her -book of expenses, kept by Frotté, Marguerite’s secretary, has developed -from it a daily proof of the beneficent spirit and inexhaustible -liberality of the good queen. The title of the book is: <i>Marguerite -d’Angoulême, sœur de François I<sup>er</sup></i>. Aubry: Paris, 1862.<a name="page_304" id="page_304"></a></p> - -<p>The poems of François I., with other verses by his sister and mother, -were published in 1847 by M. Aimé Champollion.</p> - -<p class="r"> -Notes to Sainte-Beuve’s Essay.<br /> -</p> - -<hr style="width:15%;" /> - -<h3>VII</h3> - -<p class="c">(See <a href="#page_262">page 262</a>.)</p> - -<p>The Ladies given in Discourse VII. appear under the head of “The Widows” -in the volume of <i>Les Dames Galantes</i>, a very different book from the -<i>Livre des Dames</i>, which is their rightful place. As Brantôme placed -them under the title of Widows, he has naturally enlarged chiefly upon -the period of their widowhood.</p> - -<p class="r"> -French editor.<br /> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_305" id="page_305"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2> - -<p class="c"><a href="#A">A</a>, -<a href="#B">B</a>, -<a href="#C">C</a>, -<a href="#D">D</a>, -<a href="#E">É</a>, -<a href="#F">F</a>, -<a href="#G">G</a>, -<a href="#H">H</a>, -<a href="#I">I</a>, -<a href="#J">J</a>, -<a href="#L">L</a>, -<a href="#M">M</a>, -<a href="#N">N</a>, -<a href="#P">P</a>, -<a href="#R">R</a>, -<a href="#S">S</a>, -<a href="#T">T</a>, -<a href="#V">V</a>, -<a href="#Y">Y</a></p> - -<p class="nind"> -<span class="smcap"><a name="A" id="A"></a>Anne de Bretagne</span>, Queen of France, wife of Charles VIII. and of Louis XII., her inheritance, lovers, and first marriage, <a href="#page_025">25</a>, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her beauty, wisdom, and goodness, <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">spirit of revenge, <a href="#page_027">27</a>, <a href="#page_028">28</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">second marriage, <a href="#page_029">29</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the first queen to hold a great court, a noble school for ladies, <a href="#page_029">29</a>, <a href="#page_030">30</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">how King Louis honoured her, <a href="#page_030">30-32</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death and burial, <a href="#page_032">32-34</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her noble record, <a href="#page_034">34</a>, <a href="#page_035">35</a>, <a href="#page_037">37</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her tomb at Saint-Denis, <a href="#page_039">39</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the founder of a school of manners and perfection for her sex, <a href="#page_042">42</a>, <a href="#page_043">43</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sainte-Beuve’s remarks upon her, <a href="#page_040">40-43</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>.</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">Anne de France</span> (Madame), daughter of Louis XI., <a href="#page_216">216-218</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="B" id="B"></a>Blanche de Montferrat</span>, Duchesse de Savoie, <a href="#page_293">293-297</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Book of the Ladies</span> (The), Brantôme’s own name for this volume, <a href="#page_001">1</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Bourdeille</span> (Madame de), <a href="#page_297">297</a>, <a href="#page_298">298</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Bourdeille</span> (Pierre de), Abbé de Brantôme, his name for the present volume, <a href="#page_001">1</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin and arms of his family, <a href="#page_003">3</a>, <a href="#page_004">4</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general sketch of his life and career, <a href="#page_004">4-19</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his retirement, <a href="#page_020">20</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his books, his will, <a href="#page_021">21</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">titles of his books, when first printed, <a href="#page_022">22</a>, <a href="#page_023">23</a>.</span><br /> - -<span class="smcap"><a name="C" id="C"></a>Castelnaud</span> (Pierre de), his account of Brantôme, <a href="#page_001">1-3</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Catherine de Clèves</span>, wife of Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Guise, “le Balafré,” <a href="#page_297">297</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Catherine de’ Medici</span>, Queen of France, wife of Henri II., <a href="#page_044">44</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sketch</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Medici, <a href="#page_045">45-48</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her marriage to the dauphin, <a href="#page_048">48-50</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">personal appearance and tastes, <a href="#page_051">51-54</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her mind, <a href="#page_054">54</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conduct as regent and queen-mother, Brantôme’s defence of it, <a href="#page_057">57-72</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her liberality and public works, <a href="#page_074">74</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her accomplishments and majesty, <a href="#page_075">75-77</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her court, <a href="#page_077">77-80</a>, <a href="#page_081">81</a>, <a href="#page_082">82</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Henri IV.’s opinion of it, <a href="#page_083">83</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death at Blois, <a href="#page_083">83</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sainte-Beuve’s estimate of her, <a href="#page_085">85-88</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">H. de Balzac’s novel upon her, <a href="#page_086">86</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mézeray’s opinion of her, <a href="#page_085">85</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her daughter Élisabeth’s fear of her, <a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_146">146</a>; <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>, <a href="#page_290">290</a>, <a href="#page_300">300</a>.</span><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Charles IX.</span>, King of France, his funeral attended by Brantôme, <a href="#page_035">35-37</a>; <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_264">264</a>, <a href="#page_265">265</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Charlotte de France</span> (Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, died young, <a href="#page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Chastellard</span> (Seigneur de), his journey with Brantôme in attendance on Marie Stuart to Scotland, <a href="#page_099">99</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his story and death, <a href="#page_117">117-120</a>.</span><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Christine</span> of Denmark, wife of the Duc de Lorraine, <a href="#page_283">283-291</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Claude de France</span> (Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of François I., died young, <a href="#page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Claude de France</span> (Madame), daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, wife of the Duc de Lorraine, <a href="#page_229">229-231</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Cordelière</span> (La), man-o’-war built by Anne de Bretagne, which fought the “Regent of England,” both ships destroyed, <a href="#page_030">30</a>, <a href="#page_299">299</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="D" id="D"></a>Dargaud</span> (M.), his impulsive history of Marie Stuart, <a href="#page_122">122</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Diane de France</span> (Madame), Duchesse d’Angoulême, illegitimate daughter of Henri II., <a href="#page_231">231-234</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="E" id="E"></a>Élisabeth de France</span>, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, second wife of Philip II. of Spain, <a href="#page_137">137-151</a>, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Élisabeth de France</span>, Queen of Spain, daughter of Henri IV. and Marie de’ Medici, her portraits by Rubens, <a href="#page_212">212</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="F" id="F"></a>Fleur-de-lis</span>, how connected with the Florentine lily, <a href="#page_045">45</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">François I.</span>, King of France, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_220">220</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>, <a href="#page_241">241</a>, <a href="#page_245">245-249</a>, <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="G" id="G"></a>Germaine de Foix</span>, wife of King Ferdinand of Spain, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Guise</span> (Henri I., Duc de), le Balafré, <a href="#page_117">117</a>, <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_199">199</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>, <a href="#page_288">288</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Guise</span> (Catherine de Clèves, Duchesse de), <a href="#page_283">283</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="H" id="H"></a>Henri II.</span>, King of France, <a href="#page_231">231</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Henri III.</span>, King of France, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, <a href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>, <a href="#page_196">196-198</a>, <a href="#page_234">234</a>, <a href="#page_267">267</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>, <a href="#page_285">285</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a>, <a href="#page_292">292</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Henri IV.</span>, King of France, opinion of Catherine de’ Medici, <a href="#page_083">83</a>, <a href="#page_087">87</a>, <a href="#page_088">88</a>; <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a>, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_201">201</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remark at the coronation of Marie de’ Medici, <a href="#page_210">210</a>; <a href="#page_234">234</a>.</span><br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="I" id="I"></a>Isabelle d’Autriche</span>, Queen of France, daughter of Maximilian II., wife of Charles IX. of France, <a href="#page_262">262-270</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Isabella of Bavaria</span>, wife of Charles VI. of France, first brought the pomps and fashions of dress to France, <a href="#page_157">157</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="J" id="J"></a>Jeanne d’Autriche</span>, wife of Jean, Infante of Portugal, <a href="#page_270">270-273</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Jeanne de France</span> (Madame), daughter<br /> -of Louis XI., married to and divorced by Louis XII., <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="L" id="L"></a>Labanoff</span> (Prince Alexander), his careful research into the history of Marie Stuart, <a href="#page_121">121</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">L’Hôpital</span> (Michel de), chancellor of France, epithalamium on the marriage of Marie Stuart and François II., <a href="#page_124">124</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his changed feeling, <a href="#page_131">131</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>.</span><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Louis</span> XII., King of France, <a href="#page_025">25</a>, <a href="#page_029">29</a>, <a href="#page_030">30</a>, <a href="#page_031">31</a>, <a href="#page_032">32</a>, <a href="#page_039">39</a>, <a href="#page_041">41-43</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Louise de France</span> (Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, died young, <a href="#page_223">223</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Louise de Lorraine</span>, Queen of France, wife of Henri III., <a href="#page_280">280-282</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="M" id="M"></a>Magdelaine de France</span> (Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, wife of James V. of Scotland, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Maintenon</span> (Madame de), a pendant to Anne de Bretagne, <a href="#page_043">43</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Maison-Fleur</span> (M. de), <a href="#page_091">91</a>, <a href="#page_097">97</a>, <a href="#page_300">300</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Marguerite de Valois</span>, Queen of Navarre, sister of François I., wife of Henri d’Albret, King of Navarre, grandmother of Henri IV., <a href="#page_234">234</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her poems, <a href="#page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her devotion to her brother, <a href="#page_237">237-240</a>, <a href="#page_245">245</a>, <a href="#page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interest in the phenomenon of death, <a href="#page_242">242</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her “Nouvelles,” <a href="#page_242">242</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_244">244</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her, <a href="#page_243">243-261</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her learning and comprehension of the Renaissance, <a href="#page_244">244</a>, <a href="#page_245">245</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her letters, <a href="#page_249">249</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Erasmus’ opinion of her, <a href="#page_250">250</a>, <a href="#page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours, but does not belong</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to, the Religion, <a href="#page_251">251-255</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her writings, the Heptameron, <a href="#page_255">255-260</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the patron of the Renaissance, <a href="#page_261">261</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her works, <a href="#page_303">303</a>.</span><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Marguerite de France</span> (Madame), daughter of François I. and Queen Claude, wife of the Duc de Savoie, <a href="#page_224">224-229</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Marguerite</span>, Queen of France and of Navarre, daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici, wife of Henri<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">IV., Brantôme visits her at the Castle of Usson and dedicates his work to her, <a href="#page_019">19</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mention of her in his will, <a href="#page_022">22</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his discourse, <a href="#page_152">152-193</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her beauty and style of dress, <a href="#page_153">153-163</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her mind and education, <a href="#page_164">164-166</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage to Henri IV., <a href="#page_167">167</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brantôme’s argument in favour of the Salic law, <a href="#page_168">168-175</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulty of religion between herself and her husband, <a href="#page_176">176</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her dignity and sense of honour, <a href="#page_178">178-180</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retirement in the Castle of Usson, <a href="#page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on ill terms with her brother Henri III., <a href="#page_184">184</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her beautiful dancing, <a href="#page_185">185</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her liberality and generosity, <a href="#page_186">186-190</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">love of reading, <a href="#page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">corresponds with Brantôme, <a href="#page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her, <a href="#page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reasons why she began her Memoirs, <a href="#page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">faithfulness to the Catholic religion, <a href="#page_195">195</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intimacy with her brother d’Anjou, Henri III., <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her love for Henri Duc de Guise, le Balafré, her marriage to Henri IV., <a href="#page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Saint-Bartholomew, <a href="#page_201">201</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her Memoirs, <a href="#page_202">202</a>, etc.;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of a Princesse de Ligne, <a href="#page_205">205</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendship with her brother, Duc d’Alençon, <a href="#page_206">206</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her letters, <a href="#page_208">208</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her life at Usson, <a href="#page_209">209</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divorce from Henri IV., <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to Paris, eccentricities, appearance at the coronation of Marie de’ Medici, <a href="#page_210">210-212</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison with Marie Stuart, <a href="#page_213">213</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her real merit, <a href="#page_213">213</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>.</span><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Marguerite de Lorraine</span>, wife of the Duc de Joyeuse, <a href="#page_282">282</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Marie d’Autriche</span>, wife of the Emperor Maximilian II., <a href="#page_291">291-293</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Marie d’Autriche</span>, sister of the Emperor Charles V. and wife of Louis, King of Hungary, <a href="#page_273">273-280</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Marie Stuart</span>, Queen of France and Scotland, her parentage, <a href="#page_089">89</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">youthful accomplishments and beauty, <a href="#page_090">90-93</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage to François II., and widowhood, <a href="#page_093">93</a>, <a href="#page_094">94</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her poem on her widowhood, <a href="#page_094">94-96</a>, <a href="#page_294">294</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charles IX.’s love for her, <a href="#page_096">96</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Scotland,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brantôme accompanies her, <a href="#page_097">97-101</a>,</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage to Darnley, <a href="#page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brantôme’s defence of her, <a href="#page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her disasters, <a href="#page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her imprisonment in England, <a href="#page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, as related to Brantôme by one of her ladies there present, <a href="#page_105">105-115</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sainte-Beuve’s essay on Marie Stuart and summing up of her life, <a href="#page_121">121-136</a>, <a href="#page_289">289</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her poem on her widowhood, translation, <a href="#page_301">301</a>.</span><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Mézeray</span> (François Eudes de), his History of France, his picture of Catherine de’ Medici, <a href="#page_085">85</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Mignet</span> (François Auguste), his invaluable History of Marie Stuart, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_122">122</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Moland</span> (M. Henri), his essay on Brantôme used in the introduction to this volume, <a href="#page_001">1</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="N" id="N"></a>Niel</span> (M.), librarian to Ministry of the Interior, his collection of original portraits and crayons of celebrated persons of the 16th century, <a href="#page_086">86</a>, <a href="#page_087">87</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="P" id="P"></a>Patin</span> (Gui), his feelings in Saint-Denis before the tomb of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, <a href="#page_040">40</a>, <a href="#page_041">41</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Philip II.</span> of Spain, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_142">142</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="R" id="R"></a>Renée de France</span> (Madame), daughter of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, wife of the Duke of Ferrara, <a href="#page_220">220-223</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Rœderer</span> (Comte), his Memoirs on Polite Society, study of Louis XII. and Anne de Bretagne, <a href="#page_041">41-43</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Ronsard</span> (Pierre de), <a href="#page_091">91</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="S" id="S"></a>Sainte-Beuve</span> (Charles-Augustin), his remarks on Anne de Bretagne, <a href="#page_040">40-43</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his estimate of Catherine de’ Medici, <a href="#page_085">85-88</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his essay on Marie Stuart, <a href="#page_121">121-136</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Marguerite de Navarre, <a href="#page_193">193-213</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Marguerite de Valois, <a href="#page_243">243-261</a>.</span><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Salic Law</span> (the), Brantôme’s argument about it, <a href="#page_168">168-175</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="T" id="T"></a>Tavannes</span> (Vicomte de), Memoirs, <a href="#page_136">136</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="V" id="V"></a>Vignaud</span> (M. H.), his introduction to Brantôme’s “Vie des Dames Illustres” used in the introduction to this volume, <a href="#page_001">1</a>.<br /> - -<span class="smcap">Vincent de Paul</span> (Saint), chaplain to Queen Marguerite de Navarre, <a href="#page_212">212</a>.<br /> - -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="Y" id="Y"></a>Yoland de France</span> (Madame), daughter of Charles VII. and wife of the Duc de Savoie, <a href="#page_214">214</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>.<br /> -</p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" -style="padding:2%;border:3px dotted gray;"> -<tr><th align="center">Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:</th></tr> -<tr><td align="center">The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon <span class="errata">Regimé</span>=> The Reign and Amours of the Bourbon Régime {pg title}</td></tr> -<tr><td align="center">M. le <span class="errata">maréchal</span> answered=> M. le Maréchal answered {pg 83}</td></tr> -</table> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Taken chiefly from the Essays preceding the various -editions of Brantôme’s works published in the 18th and 19th centuries; -some of which are anonymous; the more recent being those of M. H. -Vignaud and M. Henri Moland.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Here follow the names of ninety-three ladies and sixty-six -damoiselles; among the latter are “Mesdamoiselles Flammin (Fleming?) -Veton (Seaton?) Beton (Beaton?) Leviston, escossoises.” The three -first-named on the above list are the daughters of Henri II. and -Catherine de’ Medici.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Henri III. convoked the States-General at Blois in 1588; -the Duc de Guise (Henri, le Balafré) was there assassinated, by the -king’s order, December 23, 1588; his brother, Cardinal de Bourbon, the -next day.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Honoré de Balzac’s volume, in the Philosophical Series of -his “Comedy of Human Life,” on Catherine de’ Medici, while called a -romance, is really an admirable and carefully drawn historical portrait, -and might be read to profit in connection with Brantôme’s account of -her.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> See Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> See Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> George Buchanan, historian and Scotch poet, who wrote -libels and calumnies against Marie Stuart in prison. (French editor.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> She was the daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ -Medici, married to Philip II., King of Spain, after the death of Queen -Mary of England.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Daughter of Henri II. and Catherine de’ Medici,—“La Reine -Margot.”—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Brantôme’s words are <i>gorgiasetés</i> and <i>gorgiasment</i>; do -they mark the introduction of ruffs around the neck, <i>gorge</i>?—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> The Salic law: so called from being derived from the laws -of the ancient Salian Franks,—according to Stormonth, Littré, and -Cassell’s Cyclopædia.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Marguerite was married to Henri, King of Navarre, six days -before the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew, August, 1572.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Marguerite lived eighteen years in the castle of Usson, -from 1587 to 1605. She died in Paris, March 27, 1615, at the age of -sixty-two, rather less than one year after Brantôme. (French editor.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> It is noticeable in the course of this “Discourse” that -Brantôme wrote it at one period, namely, about 1593 or 1594, and -reviewed it at another, when Henri IV. was in full possession of the -kingdom, but before the end of the century and before the divorce. -(French editor.) -</p><p> -The passage to which the foregoing is a note is evidently an addition to -the text.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> The story goes that she refused to answer at the marriage -ceremony; on which her brother, Charles IX., put his hand behind her -head and made her nod, which was taken for consent. In after years, the -ground given for her divorce was that of being married against her will. -The marriage took place on a stage erected before the west front of the -cathedral of Notre-Dame; the King of Navarre being a Protestant, the -service could not be performed in the church. It was here, in view of -the assembled multitude, that Marguerite’s nod was forcibly given when -she resolutely refused to answer. Following Brantôme’s delight in -describing fine clothes, the wedding gown should be mentioned here. It -was cloth of gold, the body so closely covered with pearls as to look -like a cuirass; over this was a blue velvet mantle embroidered with -<i>fleurs-de-lys</i>, nearly five yards long, which was borne by one hundred -and twenty of the handsomest women in France. Her dark hair was loose -and flowing, and was studded with diamond stars. The Duc de Guise, le -Balafré, with his family connections and all his retainers, left Paris -that morning, unable to bear the spectacle of the marriage.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Meaning the daughters of the kings of France only.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> She was daughter of Charles, Duc d’Angoulême, and Louise -do Savoie, great-granddaughter of Charles V., and sister of François -I.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> See Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> See Appendix.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> The tomb of Marguerite and Philibert is still to be seen -in the beautiful church, and the above motto, which is carved upon it, -has been the theme of much antiquarian discussion.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> The picture of the Ball at Court, under Henri III., -attributed to François Clouet (see chapter ii. of this volume), was -given in celebration of her marriage. She advances, with her sweet and -modest face (evidently a portrait) in the centre of the picture. Henri -III. is seated under a red dais; next him is Catherine de’ Medici, his -mother, and next to her is Louise de Lorraine, his wife; leaning on the -king’s chair is Henri Duc de Guise, le Balafré, murdered by Henri III. -at Blois in 1588.—<span class="smcap">Tr.</span></p></div> - -</div> -<hr class="full" /> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The book of the ladies, by -Pierre de Bourdeille Brantôme - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF THE LADIES *** - -***** This file should be named 42515-h.htm or 42515-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/5/1/42515/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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