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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4693-h.zip b/4693-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..253a82d --- /dev/null +++ b/4693-h.zip diff --git a/4693-h/4693-h.htm b/4693-h/4693-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9912c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/4693-h/4693-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,16181 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Famous Affinities of History, by Lyndon Orr + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Famous Affinities of History, Vol 1-4, +Complete, by Lyndon Orr + +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: Famous Affinities of History, Vol 1-4, Complete + The Romance of Devotion + +Author: Lyndon Orr + +Release Date: December 12, 2009 [EBook #4693] +Last Updated: February 4, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS AFFINITIES *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks, David Widger and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY + </h1> + <h2> + THE ROMANCE OF DEVOTION + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Volumes 1-4, Complete + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Lyndon Orr + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> ABELARD AND HELOISE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS + MONALDESCHI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> THE EMPRESS CATHARINE AND PRINCE POTEMKIN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> MARIE ANTOINETTE AND COUNT FERSEN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> THE STORY OF AARON BURR </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> GEORGE IV. AND MRS. FITZHERBERT </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> CHARLOTTE CORDAY AND ADAM LUX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> NAPOLEON AND MARIE WALEWSKA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> THE STORY OF PAULINE BONAPARTE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> THE STORY OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE AND + COUNT NEIPPERG </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> THE WIVES OF GENERAL HOUSTON </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> LOLA MONTEZ AND KING LUDWIG OF BAVARIA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> LEON GAMBETTA AND LEONIE LEON </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> LADY BLESSINGTON AND COUNT D'ORSAY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> BYRON AND THE COUNTESS GUICCIOLI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> THE STORY OF MME. DE STAEL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> THE STORY OF KARL MARX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> FERDINAND LASSALLE AND HELENE VON DONNIGES + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> THE STORY OF RACHEL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> DEAN SWIFT AND THE TWO ESTHERS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AND MARY GODWIN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0029"> THE STORY OF THE CARLYLES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> THE STORY OF THE HUGOS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> THE STORY OF GEORGE SAND </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0032"> THE MYSTERY OF CHARLES DICKENS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0033"> HONORE DE BALZAC AND EVELINA HANSKA </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0034"> CHARLES READE AND LAURA SEYMOUR </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA + </h2> + <p> + Of all love stories that are known to human history, the love story of + Antony and Cleopatra has been for nineteen centuries the most remarkable. + It has tasked the resources of the plastic and the graphic arts. It has + been made the theme of poets and of prose narrators. It has appeared and + reappeared in a thousand forms, and it appeals as much to the imagination + to-day as it did when Antony deserted his almost victorious troops and + hastened in a swift galley from Actium in pursuit of Cleopatra. + </p> + <p> + The wonder of the story is explained by its extraordinary nature. Many men + in private life have lost fortune and fame for the love of woman. Kings + have incurred the odium of their people, and have cared nothing for it in + comparison with the joys of sense that come from the lingering caresses + and clinging kisses. Cold-blooded statesmen, such as Parnell, have lost + the leadership of their party and have gone down in history with a clouded + name because of the fascination exercised upon them by some woman, often + far from beautiful, and yet possessing the mysterious power which makes + the triumphs of statesmanship seem slight in comparison with the swiftly + flying hours of pleasure. + </p> + <p> + But in the case of Antony and Cleopatra alone do we find a man flinging + away not merely the triumphs of civic honors or the headship of a state, + but much more than these—the mastery of what was practically the + world—in answer to the promptings of a woman's will. Hence the story + of the Roman triumvir and the Egyptian queen is not like any other story + that has yet been told. The sacrifice involved in it was so overwhelming, + so instantaneous, and so complete as to set this narrative above all + others. Shakespeare's genius has touched it with the glory of a great + imagination. Dryden, using it in the finest of his plays, expressed its + nature in the title "All for Love." + </p> + <p> + The distinguished Italian historian, Signor Ferrero, the author of many + books, has tried hard to eliminate nearly all the romantic elements from + the tale, and to have us see in it not the triumph of love, but the + blindness of ambition. Under his handling it becomes almost a sordid drama + of man's pursuit of power and of woman's selfishness. Let us review the + story as it remains, even after we have taken full account of Ferrero's + criticism. Has the world for nineteen hundred years been blinded by a show + of sentiment? Has it so absolutely been misled by those who lived and + wrote in the days which followed closely on the events that make up this + extraordinary narrative? + </p> + <p> + In answering these questions we must consider, in the first place, the + scene, and, in the second place, the psychology of the two central + characters who for so long a time have been regarded as the very + embodiment of unchecked passion. + </p> + <p> + As to the scene, it must be remembered that the Egypt of those days was + not Egyptian as we understand the word, but rather Greek. Cleopatra + herself was of Greek descent. The kingdom of Egypt had been created by a + general of Alexander the Great after that splendid warrior's death. Its + capital, the most brilliant city of the Greco-Roman world, had been + founded by Alexander himself, who gave to it his name. With his own hands + he traced out the limits of the city and issued the most peremptory orders + that it should be made the metropolis of the entire world. The orders of a + king cannot give enduring greatness to a city; but Alexander's keen eye + and marvelous brain saw at once that the site of Alexandria was such that + a great commercial community planted there would live and flourish + throughout out succeeding ages. He was right; for within a century this + new capital of Egypt leaped to the forefront among the exchanges of the + world's commerce, while everything that art could do was lavished on its + embellishment. + </p> + <p> + Alexandria lay upon a projecting tongue of land so situated that the whole + trade of the Mediterranean centered there. Down the Nile there floated to + its gates the barbaric wealth of Africa. To it came the treasures of the + East, brought from afar by caravans—silks from China, spices and + pearls from India, and enormous masses of gold and silver from lands + scarcely known. In its harbor were the vessels of every country, from Asia + in the East to Spain and Gaul and even Britain in the West. + </p> + <p> + When Cleopatra, a young girl of seventeen, succeeded to the throne of + Egypt the population of Alexandria amounted to a million souls. The + customs duties collected at the port would, in terms of modern money, + amount each year to more than thirty million dollars, even though the + imposts were not heavy. The people, who may be described as Greek at the + top and Oriental at the bottom, were boisterous and pleasure-loving, + devoted to splendid spectacles, with horse-racing, gambling, and + dissipation; yet at the same time they were an artistic people, loving + music passionately, and by no means idle, since one part of the city was + devoted to large and prosperous manufactories of linen, paper, glass, and + muslin. + </p> + <p> + To the outward eye Alexandria was extremely beautiful. Through its entire + length ran two great boulevards, shaded and diversified by mighty trees + and parterres of multicolored flowers, amid which fountains plashed and + costly marbles gleamed. One-fifth of the whole city was known as the Royal + Residence. In it were the palaces of the reigning family, the great + museum, and the famous library which the Arabs later burned. There were + parks and gardens brilliant with tropical foliage and adorned with the + masterpieces of Grecian sculpture, while sphinxes and obelisks gave a + suggestion of Oriental strangeness. As one looked seaward his eye beheld + over the blue water the snow-white rocks of the sheltering island, Pharos, + on which was reared a lighthouse four hundred feet in height and justly + numbered among the seven wonders of the world. Altogether, Alexandria was + a city of wealth, of beauty, of stirring life, of excitement, and of + pleasure. Ferrero has aptly likened it to Paris—not so much the + Paris of to-day as the Paris of forty years ago, when the Second Empire + flourished in all its splendor as the home of joy and strange delights. + </p> + <p> + Over the country of which Alexandria was the capital Cleopatra came to + reign at seventeen. Following the odd custom which the Greek dynasty of + the Ptolemies had inherited from their Egyptian predecessors, she was + betrothed to her own brother. He, however, was a mere child of less than + twelve, and was under the control of evil counselors, who, in his name, + gained control of the capital and drove Cleopatra into exile. Until then + she had been a mere girl; but now the spirit of a woman who was wronged + blazed up in her and called out all her latent powers. Hastening to Syria, + she gathered about herself an army and led it against her foes. + </p> + <p> + But meanwhile Julius Caesar, the greatest man of ancient times, had + arrived at Alexandria backed by an army of his veterans. Against him no + resistance would avail. Then came a brief moment during which the Egyptian + king and the Egyptian queen each strove to win the favor of the Roman + imperator. The king and his advisers had many arts, and so had Cleopatra. + One thing, however, she possessed which struck the balance in her favor, + and this was a woman's fascination. + </p> + <p> + According to the story, Caesar was unwilling to receive her. There came + into his presence, as he sat in the palace, a group of slaves bearing a + long roll of matting, bound carefully and seeming to contain some precious + work of art. The slaves made signs that they were bearing a gift to + Caesar. The master of Egypt bade them unwrap the gift that he might see + it. They did so, and out of the wrapping came Cleopatra—a radiant + vision, appealing, irresistible. Next morning it became known everywhere + that Cleopatra had remained in Caesar's quarters through the night and + that her enemies were now his enemies. In desperation they rushed upon his + legions, casting aside all pretense of amity. There ensued a fierce + contest, but the revolt was quenched in blood. + </p> + <p> + This was a crucial moment in Cleopatra's life. She had sacrificed all that + a woman has to give; but she had not done so from any love of pleasure or + from wantonness. She was queen of Egypt, and she had redeemed her kingdom + and kept it by her sacrifice. One should not condemn her too severely. In + a sense, her act was one of heroism like that of Judith in the tent of + Holofernes. But beyond all question it changed her character. It taught + her the secret of her own great power. Henceforth she was no longer a mere + girl, nor a woman of the ordinary type. Her contact with so great a mind + as Caesar's quickened her intellect. Her knowledge that, by the charms of + sense, she had mastered even him transformed her into a strange and + wonderful creature. She learned to study the weaknesses of men, to play on + their emotions, to appeal to every subtle taste and fancy. In her were + blended mental power and that illusive, indefinable gift which is called + charm. + </p> + <p> + For Cleopatra was never beautiful. Signor Ferrero seems to think this fact + to be discovery of his own, but it was set down by Plutarch in a very + striking passage written less than a century after Cleopatra and Antony + died. We may quote here what the Greek historian said of her: + </p> + <p> + Her actual beauty was far from being so remarkable that none could be + compared with her, nor was it such that it would strike your fancy when + you saw her first. Yet the influence of her presence, if you lingered near + her, was irresistible. Her attractive personality, joined with the charm + of her conversation, and the individual touch that she gave to everything + she said or did, were utterly bewitching. It was delightful merely to hear + the music of her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, + she could pass from one language to another. + </p> + <p> + Caesar had left Cleopatra firmly seated on the throne of Egypt. For six + years she reigned with great intelligence, keeping order in her dominions, + and patronizing with discrimination both arts and letters. But ere long + the convulsions of the Roman state once more caused her extreme anxiety. + Caesar had been assassinated, and there ensued a period of civil war. Out + of it emerged two striking figures which were absolutely contrasted in + their character. One was Octavian, the adopted son of Caesar, a man who, + though still quite young and possessed of great ability, was cunning, + cold-blooded, and deceitful. The other was Antony, a soldier by training, + and with all a soldier's bluntness, courage, and lawlessness. + </p> + <p> + The Roman world was divided for the time between these two men, Antony + receiving the government of the East, Octavian that of the West. In the + year which had preceded this division Cleopatra had wavered between the + two opposite factions at Rome. In so doing she had excited the suspicion + of Antony, and he now demanded of her an explanation. + </p> + <p> + One must have some conception of Antony himself in order to understand the + events that followed. He was essentially a soldier, of excellent family, + being related to Caesar himself. As a very young man he was exceedingly + handsome, and bad companions led him into the pursuit of vicious pleasure. + He had scarcely come of age when he found that he owed the enormous sum of + two hundred and fifty talents, equivalent to half a million dollars in the + money of to-day. But he was much more than a mere man of pleasure, given + over to drinking and to dissipation. Men might tell of his escapades, as + when he drove about the streets of Rome in a common cab, dangling his legs + out of the window while he shouted forth drunken songs of revelry. This + was not the whole of Antony. Joining the Roman army in Syria, he showed + himself to be a soldier of great personal bravery, a clever strategist, + and also humane and merciful in the hour of victory. + </p> + <p> + Unlike most Romans, Antony wore a full beard. His forehead was large, and + his nose was of the distinctive Roman type. His look was so bold and + masculine that people likened him to Hercules. His democratic manners + endeared him to the army. He wore a plain tunic covered with a large, + coarse mantle, and carried a huge sword at his side, despising + ostentation. Even his faults and follies added to his popularity. He would + sit down at the common soldiers' mess and drink with them, telling them + stories and clapping them on the back. He spent money like water, quickly + recognizing any daring deed which his legionaries performed. In this + respect he was like Napoleon; and, like Napoleon, he had a vein of florid + eloquence which was criticized by literary men, but which went straight to + the heart of the private soldier. In a word, he was a powerful, virile, + passionate, able man, rough, as were nearly all his countrymen, but strong + and true. + </p> + <p> + It was to this general that Cleopatra was to answer, and with a firm + reliance on the charms which had subdued Antony's great commander, Caesar, + she set out in person for Cilicia, in Asia Minor, sailing up the river + Cydnus to the place where Antony was encamped with his army. Making all + allowance for the exaggeration of historians, there can be no doubt that + she appeared to him like some dreamy vision. Her barge was gilded, and was + wafted on its way by swelling sails of Tyrian purple. The oars which smote + the water were of shining silver. As she drew near the Roman general's + camp the languorous music of flutes and harps breathed forth a strain of + invitation. + </p> + <p> + Cleopatra herself lay upon a divan set upon the deck of the barge beneath + a canopy of woven gold. She was dressed to resemble Venus, while girls + about her personated nymphs and Graces. Delicate perfumes diffused + themselves from the vessel; and at last, as she drew near the shore, all + the people for miles about were gathered there, leaving Antony to sit + alone in the tribunal where he was dispensing justice. + </p> + <p> + Word was brought to him that Venus had come to feast with Bacchus. Antony, + though still suspicious of Cleopatra, sent her an invitation to dine with + him in state. With graceful tact she sent him a counter-invitation, and he + came. The magnificence of his reception dazzled the man who had so long + known only a soldier's fare, or at most the crude entertainments which he + had enjoyed in Rome. A marvelous display of lights was made. Thousands + upon thousands of candles shone brilliantly, arranged in squares and + circles; while the banquet itself was one that symbolized the studied + luxury of the East. + </p> + <p> + At this time Cleopatra was twenty-seven years of age—a period of + life which modern physiologists have called the crisis in a woman's + growth. She had never really loved before, since she had given herself to + Caesar, not because she cared for him, but to save her kingdom. She now + came into the presence of one whose manly beauty and strong passions were + matched by her own subtlety and appealing charm. + </p> + <p> + When Antony addressed her he felt himself a rustic in her presence. Almost + resentful, he betook himself to the coarse language of the camp. + Cleopatra, with marvelous adaptability, took her tone from his, and thus + in a moment put him at his ease. Ferrero, who takes a most unfavorable + view of her character and personality, nevertheless explains the secret of + her fascination: + </p> + <p> + Herself utterly cold and callous, insensitive by nature to the flame of + true devotion, Cleopatra was one of those women gifted with an unerring + instinct for all the various roads to men's affections. She could be the + shrinking, modest girl, too shy to reveal her half-unconscious emotions of + jealousy and depression and self-abandonment, or a woman carried away by + the sweep of a fiery and uncontrollable passion. She could tickle the + esthetic sensibilities of her victims by rich and gorgeous festivals, by + the fantastic adornment of her own person and her palace, or by brilliant + discussions on literature and art; she could conjure up all their grossest + instincts with the vilest obscenities of conversation, with the free and + easy jocularity of a woman of the camps. + </p> + <p> + These last words are far too strong, and they represent only Ferrero's + personal opinion; yet there is no doubt that she met every mood of + Antony's so that he became enthralled with her at once. No such woman as + this had ever cast her eyes on him before. He had a wife at home—a + most disreputable wife—so that he cared little for domestic ties. + Later, out of policy, he made another marriage with the sister of his + rival, Octavian, but this wife he never cared for. His heart and soul were + given up to Cleopatra, the woman who could be a comrade in the camp and a + fount of tenderness in their hours of dalliance, and who possessed the + keen intellect of a man joined to the arts and fascinations of a woman. + </p> + <p> + On her side she found in Antony an ardent lover, a man of vigorous + masculinity, and, moreover, a soldier whose armies might well sustain her + on the throne of Egypt. That there was calculation mingled with her love, + no one can doubt. That some calculation also entered into Antony's + affection is likewise certain. Yet this does not affect the truth that + each was wholly given to the other. Why should it have lessened her love + for him to feel that he could protect her and defend her? Why should it + have lessened his love for her to know that she was queen of the richest + country in the world—one that could supply his needs, sustain his + armies, and gild his triumphs with magnificence? + </p> + <p> + There are many instances in history of regnant queens who loved and yet + whose love was not dissociated from the policy of state. Such were Anne of + Austria, Elizabeth of England, and the unfortunate Mary Stuart. Such, too, + we cannot fail to think, was Cleopatra. + </p> + <p> + The two remained together for ten years. In this time Antony was separated + from her only during a campaign in the East. In Alexandria he ceased to + seem a Roman citizen and gave himself up wholly to the charms of this + enticing woman. Many stories are told of their good fellowship and close + intimacy. Plutarch quotes Plato as saying that there are four kinds of + flattery, but he adds that Cleopatra had a thousand. She was the supreme + mistress of the art of pleasing. + </p> + <p> + Whether Antony were serious or mirthful, she had at the instant some new + delight or some new charm to meet his wishes. At every turn she was with + him both day and night. With him she threw dice; with him she drank; with + him she hunted; and when he exercised himself in arms she was there to + admire and applaud. + </p> + <p> + At night the pair would disguise themselves as servants and wander about + the streets of Alexandria. In fact, more than once they were set upon in + the slums and treated roughly by the rabble who did not recognize them. + Cleopatra was always alluring, always tactful, often humorous, and full of + frolic. + </p> + <p> + Then came the shock of Antony's final breach with Octavian. Either Antony + or his rival must rule the world. Cleopatra's lover once more became the + Roman general, and with a great fleet proceeded to the coast of Greece, + where his enemy was encamped. Antony had raised a hundred and twelve + thousand troops and five hundred ships—a force far superior to that + commanded by Octavian. Cleopatra was there with sixty ships. + </p> + <p> + In the days that preceded the final battle much took place which still + remains obscure. It seems likely that Antony desired to become again the + Roman, while Cleopatra wished him to thrust Rome aside and return to Egypt + with her, to reign there as an independent king. To her Rome was almost a + barbarian city. In it she could not hold sway as she could in her + beautiful Alexandria, with its blue skies and velvet turf and tropical + flowers. At Rome Antony would be distracted by the cares of state, and she + would lose her lover. At Alexandria she would have him for her very own. + </p> + <p> + The clash came when the hostile fleets met off the promontory of Actium. + At its crisis Cleopatra, prematurely concluding that the battle was lost, + of a sudden gave the signal for retreat and put out to sea with her fleet. + This was the crucial moment. Antony, mastered by his love, forgot all + else, and in a swift ship started in pursuit of her, abandoning his fleet + and army to win or lose as fortune might decide. For him the world was + nothing; the dark-browed Queen of Egypt, imperious and yet caressing, was + everything. Never was such a prize and never were such great hopes thrown + carelessly away. After waiting seven days Antony's troops, still + undefeated, finding that their commander would not return to them, + surrendered to Octavian, who thus became the master of an empire. + </p> + <p> + Later his legions assaulted Alexandria, and there Antony was twice + defeated. At last Cleopatra saw her great mistake. She had made her lover + give up the hope of being Rome's dictator, but in so doing she had also + lost the chance of ruling with him tranquilly in Egypt. She shut herself + behind the barred doors of the royal sepulcher; and, lest she should be + molested there, she sent forth word that she had died. Her proud spirit + could not brook the thought that she might be seized and carried as a + prisoner to Rome. She was too much a queen in soul to be led in triumph up + the Sacred Way to the Capitol with golden chains clanking on her slender + wrists. + </p> + <p> + Antony, believing the report that she was dead, fell upon his sword; but + in his dying moments he was carried into the presence of the woman for + whom he had given all. With her arms about him, his spirit passed away; + and soon after she, too, met death, whether by a poisoned draught or by + the storied asp no one can say. + </p> + <p> + Cleopatra had lived the mistress of a splendid kingdom. She had + successively captivated two of the greatest men whom Rome had ever seen. + She died, like a queen, to escape disgrace. Whatever modern critics may + have to say concerning small details, this story still remains the + strangest love story of which the world has any record. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ABELARD AND HELOISE + </h2> + <p> + Many a woman, amid the transports of passionate and languishing love, has + cried out in a sort of ecstasy: + </p> + <p> + "I love you as no woman ever loved a man before!" + </p> + <p> + When she says this she believes it. Her whole soul is aflame with the + ardor of emotion. It really seems to her that no one ever could have loved + so much as she. + </p> + <p> + This cry—spontaneous, untaught, sincere—has become almost one + of those conventionalities of amorous expression which belong to the + vocabulary of self-abandonment. Every woman who utters it, when torn by + the almost terrible extravagance of a great love, believes that no one + before her has ever said it, and that in her own case it is absolutely + true. + </p> + <p> + Yet, how many women are really faithful to the end? Very many, indeed, if + circumstances admit of easy faithfulness. A high-souled, generous, ardent + nature will endure an infinity of disillusionment, of misfortune, of + neglect, and even of ill treatment. Even so, the flame, though it may sink + low, can be revived again to burn as brightly as before. But in order that + this may be so it is necessary that the object of such a wonderful + devotion be alive, that he be present and visible; or, if he be absent, + that there should still exist some hope of renewing the exquisite intimacy + of the past. + </p> + <p> + A man who is sincerely loved may be compelled to take long journeys which + will separate him for an indefinite time from the woman who has given her + heart to him, and she will still be constant. He may be imprisoned, + perhaps for life, yet there is always the hope of his release or of his + escape; and some women will be faithful to him and will watch for his + return. But, given a situation which absolutely bars out hope, which + sunders two souls in such a way that they can never be united in this + world, and there we have a test so terribly severe that few even of the + most loyal and intensely clinging lovers can endure it. + </p> + <p> + Not that such a situation would lead a woman to turn to any other man than + the one to whom she had given her very life; but we might expect that at + least her strong desire would cool and weaken. She might cherish his + memory among the precious souvenirs of her love life; but that she should + still pour out the same rapturous, unstinted passion as before seems + almost too much to believe. The annals of emotion record only one such + instance; and so this instance has become known to all, and has been + cherished for nearly a thousand years. It involves the story of a woman + who did love, perhaps, as no one ever loved before or since; for she was + subjected to this cruel test, and she met the test not alone completely, + but triumphantly and almost fiercely. + </p> + <p> + The story is, of course, the story of Abelard and Heloise. It has many + times been falsely told. Portions of it have been omitted, and other + portions of it have been garbled. A whole literature has grown up around + the subject. It may well be worth our while to clear away the ambiguities + and the doubtful points, and once more to tell it simply, without bias, + and with a strict adherence to what seems to be the truth attested by + authentic records. + </p> + <p> + There is one circumstance connected with the story which we must specially + note. The narrative does something more than set forth the one quite + unimpeachable instance of unconquered constancy. It shows how, in the last + analysis, that which touches the human heart has more vitality and more + enduring interest than what concerns the intellect or those achievements + of the human mind which are external to our emotional nature. + </p> + <p> + Pierre Abelard was undoubtedly the boldest and most creative reasoner of + his time. As a wandering teacher he drew after him thousands of + enthusiastic students. He gave a strong impetus to learning. He was a + marvelous logician and an accomplished orator. Among his pupils were men + who afterward became prelates of the church and distinguished scholars. In + the Dark Age, when the dictates of reason were almost wholly disregarded, + he fought fearlessly for intellectual freedom. He was practically the + founder of the University of Paris, which in turn became the mother of + medieval and modern universities. + </p> + <p> + He was, therefore, a great and striking figure in the history of + civilization. Nevertheless he would to-day be remembered only by scholars + and students of the Middle Ages were it not for the fact that he inspired + the most enduring love that history records. If Heloise had never loved + him, and if their story had not been so tragic and so poignant, he would + be to-day only a name known to but a few. His final resting-place, in the + cemetery of Pere Lachaise, in Paris, would not be sought out by thousands + every year and kept bright with flowers, the gift of those who have + themselves both loved and suffered. + </p> + <p> + Pierre Abelard—or, more fully, Pierre Abelard de Palais—was a + native of Brittany, born in the year 1079. His father was a knight, the + lord of the manor; but Abelard cared little for the life of a petty noble; + and so he gave up his seigniorial rights to his brothers and went forth to + become, first of all a student, and then a public lecturer and teacher. + </p> + <p> + His student days ended abruptly in Paris, where he had enrolled himself as + the pupil of a distinguished philosopher, Guillaume de Champeaux; but one + day Abelard engaged in a disputation with his master. His wonderful + combination of eloquence, logic, and originality utterly routed Champeaux, + who was thus humiliated in the presence of his disciples. He was the first + of many enemies that Abelard was destined to make in his long and stormy + career. From that moment the young Breton himself set up as a teacher of + philosophy, and the brilliancy of his discourses soon drew to him throngs + of students from all over Europe. + </p> + <p> + Before proceeding with the story of Abelard it is well to reconstruct, + however slightly, a picture of the times in which he lived. It was an age + when Western Europe was but partly civilized. Pedantry and learning of the + most minute sort existed side by side with the most violent excesses of + medieval barbarism. The Church had undertaken the gigantic task of + subduing and enlightening the semi-pagan peoples of France and Germany and + England. + </p> + <p> + When we look back at that period some will unjustly censure Rome for not + controlling more completely the savagery of the medievals. More fairly + should we wonder at the great measure of success which had already been + achieved. The leaven of a true Christianity was working in the half-pagan + populations. It had not yet completely reached the nobles and the knights, + or even all the ecclesiastics who served it and who were consecrated to + its mission. Thus, amid a sort of political chaos were seen the glaring + evils of feudalism. Kings and princes and their followers lived the lives + of swine. Private blood-feuds were regarded lightly. There was as yet no + single central power. Every man carried his life in his hand, trusting to + sword and dagger for protection. + </p> + <p> + The cities were still mere hamlets clustered around great castles or + fortified cathedrals. In Paris itself the network of dark lanes, ill + lighted and unguarded, was the scene of midnight murder and assassination. + In the winter-time wolves infested the town by night. Men-at-arms, with + torches and spears, often had to march out from their barracks to assail + the snarling, yelping packs of savage animals that hunger drove from the + surrounding forests. + </p> + <p> + Paris of the twelfth century was typical of France itself, which was + harried by human wolves intent on rapine and wanton plunder. There were + great schools of theology, but the students who attended them fought and + slashed one another. If a man's life was threatened he must protect it by + his own strength or by gathering about him a band of friends. No one was + safe. No one was tolerant. Very few were free from the grosser vices. Even + in some of the religious houses the brothers would meet at night for + unseemly revels, splashing the stone floors with wine and shrieking in a + delirium of drunkenness. The rules of the Church enjoined temperance, + continence, and celibacy; but the decrees of Leo IX. and Nicholas II. and + Alexander II. and Gregory were only partially observed. + </p> + <p> + In fact, Europe was in a state of chaos—political and moral and + social. Only very slowly was order emerging from sheer anarchy. We must + remember this when we recall some facts which meet us in the story of + Abelard and Heloise. + </p> + <p> + The jealousy of Champeaux drove Abelard for a time from Paris. He taught + and lectured at several other centers of learning, always admired, and yet + at the same time denounced by many for his advocacy of reason as against + blind faith. During the years of his wandering he came to have a wide + knowledge of the world and of human nature. If we try to imagine him as he + was in his thirty-fifth year we shall find in him a remarkable combination + of attractive qualities. + </p> + <p> + It must be remembered that though, in a sense, he was an ecclesiastic, he + had not yet been ordained to the priesthood, but was rather a canon—a + person who did not belong to any religious order, though he was supposed + to live according to a definite set of religious rules and as a member of + a religious community. Abelard, however, made rather light of his churchly + associations. He was at once an accomplished man of the world and a + profound scholar. There was nothing of the recluse about him. He mingled + with his fellow men, whom he dominated by the charm of his personality. He + was eloquent, ardent, and persuasive. He could turn a delicate compliment + as skilfully as he could elaborate a syllogism. His rich voice had in it a + seductive quality which was never without its effect. + </p> + <p> + Handsome and well formed, he possessed as much vigor of body as of mind. + Nor were his accomplishments entirely those of the scholar. He wrote + dainty verses, which he also set to music, and which he sang himself with + a rare skill. Some have called him "the first of the troubadours," and + many who cared nothing for his skill in logic admired him for his gifts as + a musician and a poet. Altogether, he was one to attract attention + wherever he went, for none could fail to recognize his power. + </p> + <p> + It was soon after his thirty-fifth year that he returned to Paris, where + he was welcomed by thousands. With much tact he reconciled himself to his + enemies, so that his life now seemed to be full of promise and of + sunshine. + </p> + <p> + It was at this time that he became acquainted with a very beautiful young + girl named Heloise. She was only eighteen years of age, yet already she + possessed not only beauty, but many accomplishments which were then quite + rare in women, since she both wrote and spoke a number of languages, and, + like Abelard, was a lover of music and poetry. Heloise was the + illegitimate daughter of a canon of patrician blood; so that she is said + to have been a worthy representative of the noble house of the + Montmorencys—famous throughout French history for chivalry and + charm. + </p> + <p> + Up to this time we do not know precisely what sort of life Abelard had + lived in private. His enemies declared that he had squandered his + substance in vicious ways. His friends denied this, and represented him as + strict and chaste. The truth probably lies between these two assertions. + He was naturally a pleasure-loving man of the world, who may very possibly + have relieved his severer studies by occasional revelry and light love. It + is not at all likely that he was addicted to gross passions and low + practices. + </p> + <p> + But such as he was, when he first saw Heloise he conceived for her a + violent attachment. Carefully guarded in the house of her uncle, Fulbert, + it was difficult at first for Abelard to meet her save in the most casual + way; yet every time that he heard her exquisite voice and watched her + graceful manners he became more and more infatuated. His studies suddenly + seemed tame and colorless beside the fierce scarlet flame which blazed up + in his heart. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, it was because of these studies and of his great reputation + as a scholar that he managed to obtain access to Heloise. He flattered her + uncle and made a chance proposal that he should himself become an inmate + of Fulbert's household in order that he might teach this girl of so much + promise. Such an offer coming from so brilliant a man was joyfully + accepted. + </p> + <p> + From that time Abelard could visit Heloise without restraint. He was her + teacher, and the two spent hours together, nominally in the study of Greek + and Hebrew; but doubtless very little was said between them upon such + unattractive subjects. On the contrary, with all his wide experience of + life, his eloquence, his perfect manners, and his fascination, Abelard put + forth his power to captivate the senses of a girl still in her teens and + quite ignorant of the world. As Remusat says, he employed to win her the + genius which had overwhelmed all the great centers of learning in the + Western world. + </p> + <p> + It was then that the pleasures of knowledge, the joys of thought, the + emotions of eloquence, were all called into play to charm and move and + plunge into a profound and strange intoxication this noble and tender + heart which had never known either love or sorrow.... One can imagine that + everything helped on the inevitable end. Their studies gave them + opportunities to see each other freely, and also permitted them to be + alone together. Then their books lay open between them; but either long + periods of silence stilled their reading, or else words of deepening + intimacy made them forget their studies altogether. The eyes of the two + lovers turned from the book to mingle their glances, and then to turn away + in a confusion that was conscious. + </p> + <p> + Hand would touch hand, apparently by accident; and when conversation + ceased, Abelard would often hear the long, quivering sigh which showed the + strange, half-frightened, and yet exquisite joy which Heloise experienced. + </p> + <p> + It was not long before the girl's heart had been wholly won. Transported + by her emotion, she met the caresses of her lover with those as + unrestrained as his. Her very innocence deprived her of the protection + which older women would have had. All was given freely, and even wildly, + by Heloise; and all was taken by Abelard, who afterward himself declared: + </p> + <p> + "The pleasure of teaching her to love surpassed the delightful fragrance + of all the perfumes in the world." + </p> + <p> + Yet these two could not always live in a paradise which was entirely their + own. The world of Paris took notice of their close association. Some poems + written to Heloise by Abelard, as if in letters of fire, were found and + shown to Fulbert, who, until this time, had suspected nothing. Angrily he + ordered Abelard to leave his house. He forbade his niece to see her lover + any more. + </p> + <p> + But the two could not be separated; and, indeed, there was good reason why + they should still cling together. Secretly Heloise left her uncle's house + and fled through the narrow lanes of Paris to the dwelling of Abelard's + sister, Denyse, where Abelard himself was living. There, presently, the + young girl gave birth to a son, who was named Astrolabe, after an + instrument used by astronomers, since both the father and the mother felt + that the offspring of so great a love should have no ordinary name. + </p> + <p> + Fulbert was furious, and rightly so. His hospitality had been outraged and + his niece dishonored. He insisted that the pair should at once be married. + Here was revealed a certain weakness in the character of Abelard. He + consented to the marriage, but insisted that it should be kept an utter + secret. + </p> + <p> + Oddly enough, it was Heloise herself who objected to becoming the wife of + the man she loved. Unselfishness could go no farther. She saw that, were + he to marry her, his advancement in the Church would be almost impossible; + for, while the very minor clergy sometimes married in spite of the papal + bulls, matrimony was becoming a fatal bar to ecclesiastical promotion. And + so Heloise pleaded pitifully, both with her uncle and with Abelard, that + there should be no marriage. She would rather bear all manner of disgrace + than stand in the way of Abelard's advancement. + </p> + <p> + He has himself given some of the words in which she pleaded with him: + </p> + <p> + What glory shall I win from you, when I have made you quite inglorious and + have humbled both of us? What vengeance will the world inflict on me if I + deprive it of one so brilliant? What curses will follow such a marriage? + How outrageous would it be that you, whom nature created for the universal + good, should be devoted to one woman and plunged into such disgrace? I + loathe the thought of a marriage which would humiliate you. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, every possible effort which another woman in her place would + employ to make him marry her she used in order to dissuade him. Finally, + her sweet face streaming with tears, she uttered that tremendous sentence + which makes one really think that she loved him as no other woman ever + loved a man. She cried out, in an agony of self-sacrifice: + </p> + <p> + "I would rather be your mistress than the wife even of an emperor!" + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, the two were married, and Abelard returned to his + lecture-room and to his studies. For months they met but seldom. + Meanwhile, however, the taunts and innuendos directed against Heloise so + irritated Fulbert that he broke his promise of secrecy, and told his + friends that Abelard and Heloise were man and wife. They went to Heloise + for confirmation. Once more she showed in an extraordinary way the depth + of her devotion. + </p> + <p> + "I am no wife," she said. "It is not true that Abelard has married me. My + uncle merely tells you this to save my reputation." + </p> + <p> + They asked her whether she would swear to this; and, without a moment's + hesitation, this pure and noble woman took an oath upon the Scriptures + that there had been no marriage. + </p> + <p> + Fulbert was enraged by this. He ill-treated Heloise, and, furthermore, he + forbade Abelard to visit her. The girl, therefore, again left her uncle's + house and betook herself to a convent just outside of Paris, where she + assumed the habit of a nun as a disguise. There Abelard continued from + time to time to meet her. + </p> + <p> + When Fulbert heard of this he put his own interpretation on it. He + believed that Abelard intended to ignore the marriage altogether, and that + possibly he might even marry some other woman. In any case, he now hated + Abelard with all his heart; and he resolved to take a fearful and + unnatural vengeance which would at once prevent his enemy from making any + other marriage, while at the same time it would debar him from + ecclesiastical preferment. + </p> + <p> + To carry out his plot Fulbert first bribed a man who was the body-servant + of Abelard, watching at the door of his room each night. Then he hired the + services of four ruffians. After Abelard had retired and was deep in + slumber the treacherous valet unbarred the door. The hirelings of Fulbert + entered and fell upon the sleeping man. Three of them bound him fast, + while the fourth, with a razor, inflicted on him the most shameful + mutilation that is possible. Then, extinguishing the lights, the wretches + slunk away and were lost in darkness, leaving behind their victim bound to + his couch, uttering cries of torment and bathed in his own blood. + </p> + <p> + It is a shocking story, and yet it is intensely characteristic of the + lawless and barbarous era in which it happened. Early the next morning the + news flew rapidly through Paris. The city hummed like a bee-hive. Citizens + and students and ecclesiastics poured into the street and surrounded the + house of Abelard. + </p> + <p> + "Almost the entire city," says Fulques, as quoted by McCabe, "went + clamoring toward his house. Women wept as if each one had lost her + husband." + </p> + <p> + Unmanned though he was, Abelard still retained enough of the spirit of his + time to seek vengeance. He, in his turn, employed ruffians whom he set + upon the track of those who had assaulted him. The treacherous valet and + one of Fulbert's hirelings were run down, seized, and mutilated precisely + as Abelard had been; and their eyes were blinded. A third was lodged in + prison. Fulbert himself was accused before one of the Church courts, which + alone had power to punish an ecclesiastic, and all his goods were + confiscated. + </p> + <p> + But, meantime, how did it fare with Heloise? Her grief was greater than + his own, while her love and her devotion were absolutely undiminished. But + Abelard now showed a selfishness—and indeed, a meanness—far + beyond any that he had before exhibited. Heloise could no more be his + wife. He made it plain that he put no trust in her fidelity. He was + unwilling that she should live in the world while he could not; and so he + told her sternly that she must take the veil and bury herself for ever in + a nunnery. + </p> + <p> + The pain and shame which she experienced at this came wholly from the fact + that evidently Abelard did not trust her. Long afterward she wrote: + </p> + <p> + God knows I should not have hesitated, at your command, to precede or to + follow you to hell itself! + </p> + <p> + It was his distrust that cut her to the heart. Still, her love for him was + so intense that she obeyed his order. Soon after she took the vows; and in + the convent chapel, shaken with sobs, she knelt before the altar and + assumed the veil of a cloistered nun. Abelard himself put on the black + tunic of a Benedictine monk and entered the Abbey of St. Denis. + </p> + <p> + It is unnecessary here to follow out all the details of the lives of + Abelard and Heloise after this heart-rendering scene. Abelard passed + through many years of strife and disappointment, and even of humiliation; + for on one occasion, just as he had silenced Guillaume de Champeaux, so he + himself was silenced and put to rout by Bernard of Clairvaux—"a + frail, tense, absorbed, dominant little man, whose face was white and worn + with suffering," but in whose eyes there was a light of supreme strength. + Bernard represented pure faith, as Abelard represented pure reason; and + the two men met before a great council to match their respective powers. + </p> + <p> + Bernard, with fiery eloquence, brought a charge of heresy against Abelard + in an oration which was like a charge of cavalry. When he had concluded + Abelard rose with an ashen face, stammered out a few words, and sat down. + He was condemned by the council, and his works were ordered to be burned. + </p> + <p> + All his later life was one of misfortune, of humiliation, and even of + personal danger. The reckless monks whom he tried to rule rose fiercely + against him. His life was threatened. He betook himself to a desolate and + lonely place, where he built for himself a hut of reeds and rushes, hoping + to spend his final years in meditation. But there were many who had not + forgotten his ability as a teacher. These flocked by hundreds to the + desert place where he abode. His hut was surrounded by tents and rude + hovels, built by his scholars for their shelter. + </p> + <p> + Thus Abelard resumed his teaching, though in a very different frame of + mind. In time he built a structure of wood and stone, which he called the + Paraclete, some remains of which can still be seen. + </p> + <p> + All this time no word had passed between him and Heloise. But presently + Abelard wrote and gave to the world a curious and exceedingly frank book, + which he called The Story of My Misfortunes. A copy of it reached the + hands of Heloise, and she at once sent to Abelard the first of a series of + letters which have remained unique in the literature of love. + </p> + <p> + Ten years had passed, and yet the woman's heart was as faithful and as + full of yearning as on the day when the two had parted. It has been said + that the letters are not genuine, and they must be read with this + assertion in mind; yet it is difficult to believe that any one save + Heloise herself could have flung a human soul into such frankly passionate + utterances, or that any imitator could have done the work. + </p> + <p> + In her first letter, which was sent to Abelard written upon parchment, she + said: + </p> + <p> + At thy command I would change, not merely my costume, but my very soul, so + entirely art thou the sole possessor of my body and my spirit. Never, God + is my witness, never have I sought anything in thee but thyself; I have + sought thee, and not thy gifts. I have not looked to the marriage-bond or + dowry. + </p> + <p> + She begged him to write to her, and to lead her to God, as once he had led + her into the mysteries of pleasure. Abelard answered in a letter, friendly + to be sure, but formal—the letter of a priest to a cloistered nun. + The opening words of it are characteristic of the whole: + </p> + <p> + To Heloise, his sister in Christ, from Abelard, her brother in Him. + </p> + <p> + The letter was a long one, but throughout the whole of it the writer's + tone was cold and prudent. Its very coldness roused her soul to a + passionate revolt. Her second letter bursts forth in a sort of anguish: + </p> + <p> + How hast thou been able to frame such thoughts, dearest? How hast thou + found words to convey them? Oh, if I dared but call God cruel to me! Oh, + most wretched of all creatures that I am! So sweet did I find the + pleasures of our loving days that I cannot bring myself to reject them or + to banish them from my memory. Wheresoever I go, they thrust themselves + upon my vision, and rekindle the old desire. + </p> + <p> + But Abelard knew only too well that not in this life could there be + anything save spiritual love between himself and Heloise. He wrote to her + again and again, always in the same remote and unimpassioned way. He tells + her about the history of monasticism, and discusses with her matters of + theology and ethics; but he never writes one word to feed the flame that + is consuming her. The woman understood at last; and by degrees her letters + became as calm as his—suffused, however, with a tenderness and + feeling which showed that in her heart of hearts she was still entirely + given to him. + </p> + <p> + After some years Abelard left his dwelling at the Paraclete, and there was + founded there a religious house of which Heloise became the abbess. All + the world respected her for her sweetness, her wisdom, and the purity of + her character. She made friends as easily as Abelard made enemies. Even + Bernard, who had overthrown her husband, sought out Heloise to ask for her + advice and counsel. + </p> + <p> + Abelard died while on his way to Rome, whither he was journeying in order + to undergo a penalty; and his body was brought back to the Paraclete, + where it was entombed. Over it for twenty-two years Heloise watched with + tender care; and when she died, her body was laid beside that of her + lover. + </p> + <p> + To-day their bones are mingled as she would have desired them to be + mingled. The stones of their tomb in the great cemetery of Pere Lachaise + were brought from the ruins of the Paraclete, and above the sarcophagus + are two recumbent figures, the whole being the work of the artist + Alexandra Lenoir, who died in 1836. The figure representing Heloise is + not, however, an authentic likeness. The model for it was a lady belonging + to a noble family of France, and the figure itself was brought to Pere + Lachaise from the ancient College de Beauvais. + </p> + <p> + The letters of Heloise have been read and imitated throughout the whole of + the last nine centuries. Some have found in them the utterances of a woman + whose love of love was greater than her love of God and whose intensity of + passion nothing could subdue; and so these have condemned her. But others, + like Chateaubriand, have more truly seen in them a pure and noble spirit + to whom fate had been very cruel; and who was, after all, writing to the + man who had been her lawful husband. + </p> + <p> + Some of the most famous imitations of her letters are those in the ancient + poem entitled, "The Romance of the Rose," written by Jean de Meung, in the + thirteenth century; and in modern times her first letter was paraphrased + by Alexander Pope, and in French by Colardeau. There exist in English half + a dozen translations of them, with Abelard's replies. It is interesting to + remember that practically all the other writings of Abelard remained + unpublished and unedited until a very recent period. He was a remarkable + figure as a philosopher and scholar; but the world cares for him only + because he was loved by Heloise. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER + </h2> + <p> + History has many romantic stories to tell of the part which women have + played in determining the destinies of nations. Sometimes it is a woman's + beauty that causes the shifting of a province. Again it is another woman's + rich possessions that incite invasion and lead to bloody wars. Marriages + or dowries, or the refusal of marriages and the lack of dowries, + inheritance through an heiress, the failure of a male succession—in + these and in many other ways women have set their mark indelibly upon the + trend of history. + </p> + <p> + However, if we look over these different events we shall find that it is + not so much the mere longing for a woman—the desire to have her as a + queen—that has seriously affected the annals of any nation. Kings, + like ordinary men, have paid their suit and then have ridden away + repulsed, yet not seriously dejected. Most royal marriages are made either + to secure the succession to a throne by a legitimate line of heirs or else + to unite adjoining states and make a powerful kingdom out of two that are + less powerful. But, as a rule, kings have found greater delight in some + sheltered bower remote from courts than in the castled halls and + well-cared-for nooks where their own wives and children have been reared + with all the appurtenances of legitimacy. + </p> + <p> + There are not many stories that hang persistently about the love-making of + a single woman. In the case of one or another we may find an episode or + two—something dashing, something spirited or striking, something + brilliant and exhilarating, or something sad. But for a woman's whole life + to be spent in courtship that meant nothing and that was only a clever aid + to diplomacy—this is surely an unusual and really wonderful thing. + </p> + <p> + It is the more unusual because the woman herself was not intended by + nature to be wasted upon the cold and cheerless sport of chancellors and + counselors and men who had no thought of her except to use her as a pawn. + She was hot-blooded, descended from a fiery race, and one whose temper was + quick to leap into the passion of a man. + </p> + <p> + In studying this phase of the long and interesting life of Elizabeth of + England we must notice several important facts. In the first place, she + gave herself, above all else, to the maintenance of England—not an + England that would be half Spanish or half French, or even partly Dutch + and Flemish, but the Merry England of tradition—the England that was + one and undivided, with its growing freedom of thought, its bows and + bills, its nut-brown ale, its sturdy yeomen, and its loyalty to crown and + Parliament. She once said, almost as in an agony: + </p> + <p> + "I love England more than anything!" + </p> + <p> + And one may really hold that this was true. + </p> + <p> + For England she schemed and planned. For England she gave up many of her + royal rights. For England she descended into depths of treachery. For + England she left herself on record as an arrant liar, false, perjured, yet + successful; and because of her success for England's sake her countrymen + will hold her in high remembrance, since her scheming and her falsehood + are the offenses that one pardons most readily in a woman. + </p> + <p> + In the second place, it must be remembered that Elizabeth's courtships and + pretended love-makings were almost always a part of her diplomacy. When + not a part of her diplomacy they were a mere appendage to her vanity. To + seem to be the flower of the English people, and to be surrounded by the + noblest, the bravest, and the most handsome cavaliers, not only of her own + kingdom, but of others—this was, indeed, a choice morsel of which + she was fond of tasting, even though it meant nothing beyond the moment. + </p> + <p> + Finally, though at times she could be very cold, and though she made + herself still colder in order that she might play fast and loose with + foreign suitors who played fast and loose with her—the King of + Spain, the Duc d'Alencon, brother of the French king, with an Austrian + archduke, with a magnificent barbarian prince of Muscovy, with Eric of + Sweden, or any other Scandinavian suitor—she felt a woman's need for + some nearer and more tender association to which she might give freer play + and in which she might feel those deeper emotions without the danger that + arises when love is mingled with diplomacy. + </p> + <p> + Let us first consider a picture of the woman as she really was in order + that we may understand her triple nature—consummate mistress of + every art that statesmen know, and using at every moment her person as a + lure; a vain-glorious queen who seemed to be the prey of boundless vanity; + and, lastly, a woman who had all a woman's passion, and who could cast + suddenly aside the check and balance which restrained her before the + public gaze and could allow herself to give full play to the emotion that + she inherited from the king, her father, who was himself a marvel of fire + and impetuosity. That the daughter of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn should + be a gentle, timid maiden would be to make heredity a farce. + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth was about twenty-five years of age when she ascended the throne + of England. It is odd that the date of her birth cannot be given with + precision. The intrigues and disturbances of the English court, and the + fact that she was a princess, made her birth a matter of less account than + if there had been no male heir to the throne. At any rate, when she + ascended it, after the deaths of her brother, King Edward VI., and her + sister, Queen Mary, she was a woman well trained both in intellect and in + physical development. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Martin Hume, who loves to dwell upon the later years of Queen + Elizabeth, speaks rather bitterly of her as a "painted old harridan"; and + such she may well have seemed when, at nearly seventy years of age, she + leered and grinned a sort of skeleton smile at the handsome young + courtiers who pretended to see in her the queen of beauty and to be dying + for love of her. + </p> + <p> + Yet, in her earlier years, when she was young and strong and impetuous, + she deserved far different words than these. The portrait of her by + Zucchero, which now hangs in Hampton Court, depicts her when she must have + been of more than middle age; and still the face is one of beauty, though + it be a strange and almost artificial beauty—one that draws, + attracts, and, perhaps, lures you on against your will. + </p> + <p> + It is interesting to compare this painting with the frank word-picture of + a certain German agent who was sent to England by his emperor, and who + seems to have been greatly fascinated by Queen Elizabeth. She was at that + time in the prime of her beauty and her power. Her complexion was of that + peculiar transparency which is seen only in the face of golden blondes. + Her figure was fine and graceful, and her wit an accomplishment that would + have made a woman of any rank or time remarkable. The German envoy says: + </p> + <p> + She lives a life of such magnificence and feasting as can hardly be + imagined, and occupies a great portion of her time with balls, banquets, + hunting, and similar amusements, with the utmost possible display, but + nevertheless she insists upon far greater respect being shown her than was + exacted by Queen Mary. She summons Parliament, but lets them know that her + orders must be obeyed in any case. + </p> + <p> + If any one will look at the painting by Zucchero he will see how much is + made of Elizabeth's hands—a distinctive feature quite as noble with + the Tudors as is the "Hapsburg lip" among the descendants of the house of + Austria. These were ungloved, and were very long and white, and she looked + at them and played with them a great deal; and, indeed, they justified the + admiration with which they were regarded by her flatterers. + </p> + <p> + Such was the personal appearance of Elizabeth. When a young girl, we have + still more favorable opinions of her that were written by those who had + occasion to be near her. Not only do they record swift glimpses of her + person, but sometimes in a word or two they give an insight into certain + traits of mind which came out prominently in her later years. + </p> + <p> + It may, perhaps, be well to view her as a woman before we regard her more + fully as a queen. It has been said that Elizabeth inherited many of the + traits of her father—the boldness of spirit, the rapidity of + decision, and, at the same time, the fox-like craft which often showed + itself when it was least expected. + </p> + <p> + Henry had also, as is well known, a love of the other sex, which has made + his reign memorable. And yet it must be noted that while he loved much, it + was not loose love. Many a king of England, from Henry II. to Charles II., + has offended far more than Henry VIII. Where Henry loved, he married; and + it was the unfortunate result of these royal marriages that has made him + seem unduly fond of women. If, however, we examine each one of the + separate espousals we shall find that he did not enter into it lightly, + and that he broke it off unwillingly. His ardent temperament, therefore, + was checked by a certain rational or conventional propriety, so that he + was by no means a loose liver, as many would make him out to be. + </p> + <p> + We must remember this when we recall the charges that have been made + against Elizabeth, and the strange stories that were told of her tricks—by + no means seemly tricks—which she used to play with her guardian, + Lord Thomas Seymour. The antics she performed with him in her + dressing-room were made the subject of an official inquiry; yet it came + out that while Elizabeth was less than sixteen, and Lord Thomas was very + much her senior, his wife was with him on his visits to the chamber of the + princess. + </p> + <p> + Sir Robert Tyrwhitt and his wife were also sent to question her, Tyrwhitt + had a keen mind and one well trained to cope with any other's wit in this + sort of cross-examination. Elizabeth was only a girl of fifteen, yet she + was a match for the accomplished courtier in diplomacy and quick retort. + He was sent down to worm out of her everything that she knew. Threats and + flattery and forged letters and false confessions were tried on her; but + they were tried in vain. She would tell nothing of importance. She denied + everything. She sulked, she cried, she availed herself of a woman's + favorite defense in suddenly attacking those who had attacked her. She + brought counter charges against Tyrwhitt, and put her enemies on their own + defense. Not a compromising word could they wring out of her. + </p> + <p> + She bitterly complained of the imprisonment of her governess, Mrs. Ashley, + and cried out: + </p> + <p> + "I have not so behaved that you need put more mistresses upon me!" + </p> + <p> + Altogether, she was too much for Sir Robert, and he was wise enough to + recognize her cleverness. + </p> + <p> + "She hath a very good wit," said he, shrewdly; "and nothing is to be + gotten of her except by great policy." And he added: "If I had to say my + fancy, I think it more meet that she should have two governesses than + one." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hume notes the fact that after the two servants of the princess had + been examined and had told nothing very serious they found that they had + been wise in remaining friends of the royal girl. No sooner had Elizabeth + become queen than she knighted the man Parry and made him treasurer of the + household, while Mrs. Ashley, the governess, was treated with great + consideration. Thus, very naturally, Mr. Hume says: "They had probably + kept back far more than they told." + </p> + <p> + Even Tyrwhitt believed that there was a secret compact between them, for + he said, quaintly: "They all sing one song, and she hath set the note for + them." + </p> + <p> + Soon after this her brother Edward's death brought to the throne her elder + sister, Mary, who has harshly become known as Bloody Mary. During this + time Elizabeth put aside her boldness, and became apparently a shy and + simple-minded virgin. Surrounded on every side by those who sought to trap + her, there was nothing in her bearing to make her seem the head of a party + or the young chief of a faction. Nothing could exceed her in meekness. She + spoke of her sister in the humblest terms. She exhibited no signs of the + Tudor animation that was in reality so strong a part of her character. + </p> + <p> + But, coming to the throne, she threw away her modesty and brawled and + rioted with very little self-restraint. The people as a whole found little + fault with her. She reminded them of her father, the bluff King Hal; and + even those who criticized her did so only partially. They thought much + better of her than they had of her saturnine sister, the first Queen Mary. + </p> + <p> + The life of Elizabeth has been very oddly misunderstood, not so much for + the facts in it as for the manner in which these have been arranged and + the relation which they have to one another. We ought to recollect that + this woman did not live in a restricted sphere, that her life was not a + short one, and that it was crowded with incidents and full of vivid color. + Some think of her as living for a short period of time and speak of the + great historical characters who surrounded her as belonging to a single + epoch. To them she has one set of suitors all the time—the Duc + d'Alencon, the King of Denmark's brother, the Prince of Sweden, the + russian potentate, the archduke sending her sweet messages from Austria, + the melancholy King of Spain, together with a number of her own brilliant + Englishmen—Sir William Pickering, Sir Robert Dudley, Lord Darnley, + the Earl of Essex, Sir Philip Sidney, and Sir Walter Raleigh. + </p> + <p> + Of course, as a matter of fact, Elizabeth lived for nearly seventy years—almost + three-quarters of a century—and in that long time there came and + went both men and women, those whom she had used and cast aside, with + others whom she had also treated with gratitude, and who had died gladly + serving her. But through it all there was a continual change in her + environment, though not in her. The young soldier went to the battle-field + and died; the wise counselor gave her his advice, and she either took it + or cared nothing for it. She herself was a curious blending of forwardness + and folly, of wisdom and wantonness, of frivolity and unbridled fancy. But + through it all she loved her people, even though she often cheated them + and made them pay her taxes in the harsh old way that prevailed before + there was any right save the king's will. + </p> + <p> + At the same time, this was only by fits and starts, and on the whole she + served them well. Therefore, to most of them she was always the good Queen + Bess. What mattered it to the ditcher and yeoman, far from the court, that + the queen was said to dance in her nightdress and to swear like a trooper? + </p> + <p> + It was, indeed, largely from these rustic sources that such stories were + scattered throughout England. Peasants thought them picturesque. More to + the point with them were peace and prosperity throughout the country, the + fact that law was administered with honesty and justice, and that England + was safe from her deadly enemies—the swarthy Spaniards and the + scheming French. + </p> + <p> + But, as I said, we must remember always that the Elizabeth of one period + was not the Elizabeth of another, and that the England of one period was + not the England of another. As one thinks of it, there is something + wonderful in the almost star-like way in which this girl flitted unharmed + through a thousand perils. Her own countrymen were at first divided + against her; a score of greedy, avaricious suitors sought her destruction, + or at least her hand to lead her to destruction; all the great powers of + the Continent were either demanding an alliance with England or + threatening to dash England down amid their own dissensions. + </p> + <p> + What had this girl to play off against such dangers? Only an undaunted + spirit, a scheming mind that knew no scruples, and finally her own person + and the fact that she was a woman, and, therefore, might give herself in + marriage and become the mother of a race of kings. + </p> + <p> + It was this last weapon, the weapon of her sex, that proved, perhaps, the + most powerful of all. By promising a marriage or by denying it, or by + neither promising nor denying but withholding it, she gave forth a + thousand wily intimations which kept those who surrounded her at bay until + she had made still another deft and skilful combination, escaping like + some startled creature to a new place of safety. + </p> + <p> + In 1583, when she was fifty years of age, she had reached a point when her + courtships and her pretended love-making were no longer necessary. She had + played Sweden against Denmark, and France against Spain, and the Austrian + archduke against the others, and many suitors in her own land against the + different factions which they headed. She might have sat herself down to + rest; for she could feel that her wisdom had led her up into a high place, + whence she might look down in peace and with assurance of the tranquillity + that she had won. Not yet had the great Armada rolled and thundered toward + the English shores. But she was certain that her land was secure, compact, + and safe. + </p> + <p> + It remains to see what were those amatory relations which she may be said + to have sincerely held. She had played at love-making with foreign + princes, because it was wise and, for the moment, best. She had played + with Englishmen of rank who aspired to her hand, because in that way she + might conciliate, at one time her Catholic and at another her Protestant + subjects. But what of the real and inward feeling of her heart, when she + was not thinking of political problems or the necessities of state! + </p> + <p> + This is an interesting question. One may at least seek the answer, hoping + thereby to solve one of the most interesting phases of this perplexing and + most remarkable woman. + </p> + <p> + It must be remembered that it was not a question of whether Elizabeth + desired marriage. She may have done so as involving a brilliant stroke of + policy. In this sense she may have wished to marry one of the two French + princes who were among her suitors. But even here she hesitated, and her + Parliament disapproved; for by this time England had become largely + Protestant. Again, had she married a French prince and had children, + England might have become an appanage of France. + </p> + <p> + There is no particular evidence that she had any feeling at all for her + Flemish, Austrian, or Russian suitors, while the Swede's pretensions were + the laughing-stock of the English court. So we may set aside this question + of marriage as having nothing to do with her emotional life. She did + desire a son, as was shown by her passionate outcry when she compared + herself with Mary of Scotland. + </p> + <p> + "The Queen of Scots has a bonny son, while I am but a barren stock!" + </p> + <p> + She was too wise to wed a subject; though, had she married at all, her + choice would doubtless have been an Englishman. In this respect, as in so + many others, she was like her father, who chose his numerous wives, with + the exception of the first, from among the English ladies of the court; + just as the showy Edward IV. was happy in marrying "Dame Elizabeth + Woodville." But what a king may do is by no means so easy for a queen; and + a husband is almost certain to assume an authority which makes him + unpopular with the subjects of his wife. + </p> + <p> + Hence, as said above, we must consider not so much whom she would have + liked to marry, but rather to whom her love went out spontaneously, and + not as a part of that amatory play which amused her from the time when she + frisked with Seymour down to the very last days, when she could no longer + move about, but when she still dabbled her cheeks with rouge and powder + and set her skeleton face amid a forest of ruffs. + </p> + <p> + There were many whom she cared for after a fashion. She would not let Sir + Walter Raleigh visit her American colonies, because she could not bear to + have him so long away from her. She had great moments of passion for the + Earl of Essex, though in the end she signed his death-warrant because he + was as dominant in spirit as the queen herself. + </p> + <p> + Readers of Sir Walter Scott's wonderfully picturesque novel, Kenilworth, + will note how he throws the strongest light upon Elizabeth's affection for + Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Scott's historical instinct is united + here with a vein of psychology which goes deeper than is usual with him. + We see Elizabeth trying hard to share her favor equally between two + nobles; but the Earl of Essex fails to please her because he lacked those + exquisite manners which made Leicester so great a favorite with the + fastidious queen. + </p> + <p> + Then, too, the story of Leicester's marriage with Amy Robsart is something + more than a myth, based upon an obscure legend and an ancient ballad. The + earl had had such a wife, and there were sinister stories about the manner + of her death. But it is Scott who invents the villainous Varney and the + bulldog Anthony Foster; just as he brought the whole episode into the + foreground and made it occur at a period much later than was historically + true. Still, Scott felt—and he was imbued with the spirit and + knowledge of that time—a strong conviction that Elizabeth loved + Leicester as she really loved no one else. + </p> + <p> + There is one interesting fact which goes far to convince us. Just as her + father was, in a way, polygamous, so Elizabeth was even more truly + polyandrous. It was inevitable that she should surround herself with + attractive men, whose love-locks she would caress and whose flatteries she + would greedily accept. To the outward eye there was very little difference + in her treatment of the handsome and daring nobles of her court; yet a + historian of her time makes one very shrewd remark when he says: "To every + one she gave some power at times—to all save Leicester." + </p> + <p> + Cecil and Walsingham in counsel and Essex and Raleigh in the field might + have their own way at times, and even share the sovereign's power, but to + Leicester she intrusted no high commands and no important mission. Why so? + Simply because she loved him more than any of the rest; and, knowing this, + she knew that if besides her love she granted him any measure of control + or power, then she would be but half a queen and would be led either to + marry him or else to let him sway her as he would. + </p> + <p> + For the reason given, one may say with confidence that, while Elizabeth's + light loves were fleeting, she gave a deep affection to this handsome, + bold, and brilliant Englishman and cherished him in a far different way + from any of the others. This was as near as she ever came to marriage, and + it was this love at least which makes Shakespeare's famous line as false + as it is beautiful, when he describes "the imperial votaress" as passing + by "in maiden meditation, fancy free." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL + </h2> + <p> + Mary Stuart and Cleopatra are the two women who have most attracted the + fancy of poets, dramatists, novelists, and painters, from their own time + down to the present day. + </p> + <p> + In some respects there is a certain likeness in their careers. Each was + queen of a nation whose affairs were entangled with those of a much + greater one. Each sought for her own ideal of love until she found it. + Each won that love recklessly, almost madly. Each, in its attainment, fell + from power and fortune. Each died before her natural life was ended. One + caused the man she loved to cast away the sovereignty of a mighty state. + The other lost her own crown in order that she might achieve the whole + desire of her heart. + </p> + <p> + There is still another parallel which may be found. Each of these women + was reputed to be exquisitely beautiful; yet each fell short of beauty's + highest standards. They are alike remembered in song and story because of + qualities that are far more powerful than any physical charm can be. They + impressed the imagination of their own contemporaries just as they had + impressed the imagination of all succeeding ages, by reason of a strange + and irresistible fascination which no one could explain, but which very + few could experience and resist. + </p> + <p> + Mary Stuart was born six days before her father's death, and when the + kingdom which was her heritage seemed to be almost in its death-throes. + James V. of Scotland, half Stuart and half Tudor, was no ordinary monarch. + As a mere boy he had burst the bonds with which a regency had bound him, + and he had ruled the wild Scotland of the sixteenth century. He was brave + and crafty, keen in statesmanship, and dissolute in pleasure. + </p> + <p> + His first wife had given him no heirs; so at her death he sought out a + princess whom he pursued all the more ardently because she was also + courted by the burly Henry VIII. of England. This girl was Marie of + Lorraine, daughter of the Duc de Guise. She was fit to be the mother of a + lion's brood, for she was above six feet in height and of proportions so + ample as to excite the admiration of the royal voluptuary who sat upon the + throne of England. + </p> + <p> + "I am big," said he, "and I want a wife who is as big as I am." + </p> + <p> + But James of Scotland wooed in person, and not by embassies, and he + triumphantly carried off his strapping princess. Henry of England gnawed + his beard in vain; and, though in time he found consolation in another + woman's arms, he viewed James not only as a public but as a private enemy. + </p> + <p> + There was war between the two countries. First the Scots repelled an + English army; but soon they were themselves disgracefully defeated at + Solway Moss by a force much their inferior in numbers. The shame of it + broke King James's heart. As he was galloping from the battle-field the + news was brought him that his wife had given birth to a daughter. He took + little notice of the message; and in a few days he had died, moaning with + his last breath the mysterious words: + </p> + <p> + "It came with a lass—with a lass it will go!" + </p> + <p> + The child who was born at this ill-omened crisis was Mary Stuart, who + within a week became, in her own right, Queen of Scotland. Her mother + acted as regent of the kingdom. Henry of England demanded that the infant + girl should be betrothed to his young son, Prince Edward, who afterward + reigned as Edward VI., though he died while still a boy. The proposal was + rejected, and the war between England and Scotland went on its bloody + course; but meanwhile the little queen was sent to France, her mother's + home, so that she might be trained in accomplishments which were rare in + Scotland. + </p> + <p> + In France she grew up at the court of Catherine de' Medici, that imperious + intriguer whose splendid surroundings were tainted with the corruption + which she had brought from her native Italy. It was, indeed, a singular + training-school for a girl of Mary Stuart's character. She saw about her a + superficial chivalry and a most profound depravity. Poets like Ronsard + graced the life of the court with exquisite verse. Troubadours and + minstrels sang sweet music there. There were fetes and tournaments and + gallantry of bearing; yet, on the other hand, there was every possible + refinement and variety of vice. Men were slain before the eyes of the + queen herself. The talk of the court was of intrigue and lust and evil + things which often verged on crime. Catherine de' Medici herself kept her + nominal husband at arm's-length; and in order to maintain her grasp on + France she connived at the corruption of her own children, three of whom + were destined in their turn to sit upon the throne. + </p> + <p> + Mary Stuart grew up in these surroundings until she was sixteen, eating + the fruit which gave a knowledge of both good and evil. Her intelligence + was very great. She quickly learned Italian, French, and Latin. She was a + daring horsewoman. She was a poet and an artist even in her teens. She was + also a keen judge of human motives, for those early years of hers had + forced her into a womanhood that was premature but wonderful. It had been + proposed that she should marry the eldest son of Catherine, so that in + time the kingdom of Scotland and that of France might be united, while if + Elizabeth of England were to die unmarried her realm also would fall to + this pair of children. + </p> + <p> + And so Mary, at sixteen, wedded the Dauphin Francis, who was a year her + junior. The prince was a wretched, whimpering little creature, with a + cankered body and a blighted soul. Marriage with such a husband seemed + absurd. It never was a marriage in reality. The sickly child would cry all + night, for he suffered from abscesses in his ears, and his manhood had + been prematurely taken from him. Nevertheless, within a twelvemonth the + French king died and Mary Stuart was Queen of France as well as of + Scotland, hampered only by her nominal obedience to the sick boy whom she + openly despised. At seventeen she showed herself a master spirit. She held + her own against the ambitious Catherine de' Medici, whom she + contemptuously nicknamed "the apothecary's daughter." For the brief period + of a year she was actually the ruler of France; but then her husband died + and she was left a widow, restless, ambitious, and yet no longer having + any of the power she loved. + </p> + <p> + Mary Stuart at this time had become a woman whose fascination was exerted + over all who knew her. She was very tall and very slim, with chestnut + hair, "like a flower of the heat, both lax and delicate." Her skin was + fair and pale, so clear and so transparent as to make the story plausible + that when she drank from a flask of wine, the red liquid could be seen + passing down her slender throat. + </p> + <p> + Yet with all this she was not fine in texture, but hardy as a man. She + could endure immense fatigue without yielding to it. Her supple form had + the strength of steel. There was a gleam in her hazel eyes that showed her + to be brimful of an almost fierce vitality. Young as she was, she was the + mistress of a thousand arts, and she exhaled a sort of atmosphere that + turned the heads of men. The Stuart blood made her impatient of control, + careless of state, and easy-mannered. The French and the Tudor strain gave + her vivacity. She could be submissive in appearance while still persisting + in her aims. She could be languorous and seductive while cold within. + Again, she could assume the haughtiness which belonged to one who was + twice a queen. + </p> + <p> + Two motives swayed her, and they fought together for supremacy. One was + the love of power, and the other was the love of love. The first was + natural to a girl who was a sovereign in her own right. The second was + inherited, and was then forced into a rank luxuriance by the sort of life + that she had seen about her. At eighteen she was a strangely amorous + creature, given to fondling and kissing every one about her, with slight + discrimination. From her sense of touch she received emotions that were + almost necessary to her existence. With her slender, graceful hands she + was always stroking the face of some favorite—it might be only the + face of a child, or it might be the face of some courtier or poet, or one + of the four Marys whose names are linked with hers—Mary Livingstone, + Mary Fleming, Mary Beaton, and Mary Seton, the last of whom remained with + her royal mistress until her death. + </p> + <p> + But one must not be too censorious in thinking of Mary Stuart. She was + surrounded everywhere by enemies. During her stay in France she was hated + by the faction of Catherine de' Medici. When she returned to Scotland she + was hated because of her religion by the Protestant lords. Her every + action was set forth in the worst possible light. The most sinister + meaning was given to everything she said or did. In truth, we must reject + almost all the stories which accuse her of anything more than a certain + levity of conduct. + </p> + <p> + She was not a woman to yield herself in love's last surrender unless her + intellect and heart alike had been made captive. She would listen to the + passionate outpourings of poets and courtiers, and she would plunge her + eyes into theirs, and let her hair just touch their faces, and give them + her white hands to kiss—but that was all. Even in this she was only + following the fashion of the court where she was bred, and she was not + unlike her royal relative, Elizabeth of England, who had the same external + amorousness coupled with the same internal self-control. + </p> + <p> + Mary Stuart's love life makes a piteous story, for it is the life of one + who was ever seeking—seeking for the man to whom she could look up, + who could be strong and brave and ardent like herself, and at the same + time be more powerful and more steadfast even than she herself in mind and + thought. Whatever may be said of her, and howsoever the facts may be + colored by partisans, this royal girl, stung though she was by passion and + goaded by desire, cared nothing for any man who could not match her in + body and mind and spirit all at once. + </p> + <p> + It was in her early widowhood that she first met the man, and when their + union came it brought ruin on them both. In France there came to her one + day one of her own subjects, the Earl of Bothwell. He was but a few years + older than she, and in his presence for the first time she felt, in her + own despite, that profoundly moving, indescribable, and + never-to-be-forgotten thrill which shakes a woman to the very center of + her being, since it is the recognition of a complete affinity. + </p> + <p> + Lord Bothwell, like Queen Mary, has been terribly maligned. Unlike her, he + has found only a few defenders. Maurice Hewlett has drawn a picture of him + more favorable than many, and yet it is a picture that repels. Bothwell, + says he, was of a type esteemed by those who pronounce vice to be their + virtue. He was "a galliard, flushed with rich blood, broad-shouldered, + square-jawed, with a laugh so happy and so prompt that the world, + rejoicing to hear it, thought all must be well wherever he might be. He + wore brave clothes, sat a brave horse, and kept brave company bravely. His + high color, while it betokened high feeding, got him the credit of good + health. His little eyes twinkled so merrily that you did not see they were + like a pig's, sly and greedy at once, and bloodshot. His tawny beard + concealed a jaw underhung, a chin jutting and dangerous. His mouth had a + cruel twist; but his laughing hid that too. The bridge of his nose had + been broken; few observed it, or guessed at the brawl which must have + given it to him. Frankness was his great charm, careless ease in high + places." + </p> + <p> + And so, when Mary Stuart first met him in her eighteenth year, Lord + Bothwell made her think as she had never thought of any other man, and as + she was not to think of any other man again. She grew to look eagerly for + the frank mockery "in those twinkling eyes, in that quick mouth"; and to + wonder whether it was with him always—asleep, at prayers, fighting, + furious, or in love. + </p> + <p> + Something more, however, must be said of Bothwell. He was undoubtedly a + roisterer, but he was very much a man. He made easy love to women. His + sword leaped quickly from its sheath. He could fight, and he could also + think. He was no brawling ruffian, no ordinary rake. Remembering what + Scotland was in those days, Bothwell might well seem in reality a princely + figure. He knew Italian; he was at home in French; he could write fluent + Latin. He was a collector of books and a reader of them also. He was + perhaps the only Scottish noble of his time who had a book-plate of his + own. Here is something more than a mere reveler. Here is a man of varied + accomplishments and of a complex character. + </p> + <p> + Though he stayed but a short time near the queen in France, he kindled her + imagination, so that when she seriously thought of men she thought of + Bothwell. And yet all the time she was fondling the young pages in her + retinue and kissing her maids of honor with her scarlet lips, and lying on + their knees, while poets like Ronsard and Chastelard wrote ardent love + sonnets to her and sighed and pined for something more than the privilege + of kissing her two dainty hands. + </p> + <p> + In 1561, less than a year after her widowhood, Mary set sail for Scotland, + never to return. The great high-decked ships which escorted her sailed + into the harbor of Leith, and she pressed on to Edinburgh. A depressing + change indeed from the sunny terraces and fields of France! In her own + realm were fog and rain and only a hut to shelter her upon her landing. + When she reached her capital there were few welcoming cheers; but as she + rode over the cobblestones to Holyrood, the squalid wynds vomited forth + great mobs of hard-featured, grim-visaged men and women who stared with + curiosity and a half-contempt at the girl queen and her retinue of + foreigners. + </p> + <p> + The Scots were Protestants of the most dour sort, and they distrusted + their new ruler because of her religion and because she loved to surround + herself with dainty things and bright colors and exotic elegance. They + feared lest she should try to repeal the law of Scotland's Parliament + which had made the country Protestant. + </p> + <p> + The very indifference of her subjects stirred up the nobler part of Mary's + nature. For a time she was indeed a queen. She governed wisely. She + respected the religious rights of her Protestant subjects. She strove to + bring order out of the chaos into which her country had fallen. And she + met with some success. The time came when her people cheered her as she + rode among them. Her subtle fascination was her greatest source of + strength. Even John Knox, that iron-visaged, stentorian preacher, fell for + a time under the charm of her presence. She met him frankly and pleaded + with him as a woman, instead of commanding him as a queen. The surly + ranter became softened for a time, and, though he spoke of her to others + as "Honeypot," he ruled his tongue in public. She had offers of marriage + from Austrian and Spanish princes. The new King of France, her + brother-in-law, would perhaps have wedded her. It mattered little to Mary + that Elizabeth of England was hostile. She felt that she was strong enough + to hold her own and govern Scotland. + </p> + <p> + But who could govern a country such as Scotland was? It was a land of + broils and feuds, of clan enmities and fierce vendettas. Its nobles were + half barbarous, and they fought and slashed at one another with drawn + dirks almost in the presence of the queen herself. No matter whom she + favored, there rose up a swarm of enemies. Here was a Corsica of the + north, more savage and untamed than even the other Corsica. + </p> + <p> + In her perplexity Mary felt a woman's need of some man on whom she would + have the right to lean, and whom she could make king consort. She thought + that she had found him in the person of her cousin, Lord Darnley, a + Catholic, and by his upbringing half an Englishman. Darnley came to + Scotland, and for the moment Mary fancied that she had forgotten Bothwell. + Here again she was in love with love, and she idealized the man who came + to give it to her. Darnley seemed, indeed, well worthy to be loved, for he + was tall and handsome, appearing well on horseback and having some of the + accomplishments which Mary valued. + </p> + <p> + It was a hasty wooing, and the queen herself was first of all the wooer. + Her quick imagination saw in Darnley traits and gifts of which he really + had no share. Therefore, the marriage was soon concluded, and Scotland had + two sovereigns, King Henry and Queen Mary. So sure was Mary of her + indifference to Bothwell that she urged the earl to marry, and he did + marry a girl of the great house of Gordon. + </p> + <p> + Mary's self-suggested love for Darnley was extinguished almost on her + wedding-night. The man was a drunkard who came into her presence befuddled + and almost bestial. He had no brains. His vanity was enormous. He loved no + one but himself, and least of all this queen, whom he regarded as having + thrown herself at his empty head. + </p> + <p> + The first-fruits of the marriage were uprisings among the Protestant + lords. Mary then showed herself a heroic queen. At the head of a motley + band of soldiery who came at her call—half-clad, uncouth, and savage—she + rode into the west, sleeping at night upon the bare ground, sharing the + camp food, dressed in plain tartan, but swift and fierce as any eagle. Her + spirit ran like fire through the veins of those who followed her. She + crushed the insurrection, scattered its leaders, and returned in triumph + to her capital. + </p> + <p> + Now she was really queen, but here came in the other motive which was + interwoven in her character. She had shown herself a man in courage. + Should she not have the pleasures of a woman? To her court in Holyrood + came Bothwell once again, and this time Mary knew that he was all the + world to her. Darnley had shrunk from the hardships of battle. He was + steeped in low intrigues. He roused the constant irritation of the queen + by his folly and utter lack of sense and decency. Mary felt she owed him + nothing, but she forgot that she owed much to herself. + </p> + <p> + Her old amorous ways came back to her, and she relapsed into the joys of + sense. The scandal-mongers of the capital saw a lover in every man with + whom she talked. She did, in fact, set convention at defiance. She dressed + in men's clothing. She showed what the unemotional Scots thought to be + unseemly levity. The French poet, Chastelard, misled by her external signs + of favor, believed himself to be her choice. At the end of one mad revel + he was found secreted beneath her bed, and was driven out by force. A + second time he ventured to secrete himself within the covers of the bed. + Then he was dragged forth, imprisoned, and condemned to death. He met his + fate without a murmur, save at the last when he stood upon the scaffold + and, gazing toward the palace, cried in French: + </p> + <p> + "Oh, cruel queen! I die for you!" + </p> + <p> + Another favorite, the Italian, David Rizzio, or Riccio, in like manner + wrote love verses to the queen, and she replied to them in kind; but there + is no evidence that she valued him save for his ability, which was very + great. She made him her foreign secretary, and the man whom he supplanted + worked on the jealousy of Darnley; so that one night, while Mary and + Rizzio were at dinner in a small private chamber, Darnley and the others + broke in upon her. Darnley held her by the waist while Rizzio was stabbed + before her eyes with a cruelty the greater because the queen was soon to + become a mother. + </p> + <p> + From that moment she hated Darnley as one would hate a snake. She + tolerated him only that he might acknowledge her child as his son. This + child was the future James VI. of Scotland and James I. of England. It is + recorded of him that never throughout his life could he bear to look upon + drawn steel. + </p> + <p> + After this Mary summoned Bothwell again and again. It was revealed to her + as in a blaze of light that, after all, he was the one and only man who + could be everything to her. His frankness, his cynicism, his mockery, his + carelessness, his courage, and the power of his mind matched her moods + completely. She threw away all semblance of concealment. She ignored the + fact that he had married at her wish. She was queen. She desired him. She + must have him at any cost. + </p> + <p> + "Though I lose Scotland and England both," she cried in a passion of + abandonment, "I shall have him for my own!" + </p> + <p> + Bothwell, in his turn, was nothing loath, and they leaped at each other + like two flames. + </p> + <p> + It was then that Mary wrote those letters which were afterward discovered + in a casket and which were used against her when she was on trial for her + life. These so-called Casket Letters, though we have not now the + originals, are among the most extraordinary letters ever written. All + shame, all hesitation, all innocence, are flung away in them. The writer + is so fired with passion that each sentence is like a cry to a lover in + the dark. As De Peyster says: "In them the animal instincts override and + spur and lash the pen." Mary was committing to paper the frenzied madness + of a woman consumed to her very marrow by the scorching blaze of + unendurable desire. + </p> + <p> + Events moved quickly. Darnley, convalescent from an attack of smallpox, + was mysteriously destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder. Bothwell was + divorced from his young wife on curious grounds. A dispensation allowed + Mary to wed a Protestant, and she married Bothwell three months after + Darnley's death. + </p> + <p> + Here one sees the consummation of what had begun many years before in + France. From the moment that she and Bothwell met, their union was + inevitable. Seas could not sunder them. Other loves and other fancies were + as nothing to them. Even the bonds of marriage were burst asunder so that + these two fiery, panting souls could meet. + </p> + <p> + It was the irony of fate that when they had so met it was only to be + parted. Mary's subjects, outraged by her conduct, rose against her. As she + passed through the streets of Edinburgh the women hurled after her + indecent names. Great banners were raised with execrable daubs + representing the murdered Darnley. The short and dreadful monosyllable + which is familiar to us in the pages of the Bible was hurled after her + wherever she went. + </p> + <p> + With Bothwell by her side she led a wild and ragged horde of followers + against the rebellious nobles, whose forces met her at Carberry Hill. Her + motley followers melted away, and Mary surrendered to the hostile + chieftains, who took her to the castle at Lochleven. There she became the + mother of twins—a fact that is seldom mentioned by historians. These + children were the fruit of her union with Bothwell. From this time forth + she cared but little for herself, and she signed, without great + reluctance, a document by which she abdicated in favor of her infant son. + </p> + <p> + Even in this place of imprisonment, however, her fascination had power to + charm. Among those who guarded her, two of the Douglas family—George + Douglas and William Douglas—for love of her, effected her escape. + The first attempt failed. Mary, disguised as a laundress, was betrayed by + the delicacy of her hands. But a second attempt was successful. The queen + passed through a postern gate and made her way to the lake, where George + Douglas met her with a boat. Crossing the lake, fifty horsemen under Lord + Claude Hamilton gave her their escort and bore her away in safety. + </p> + <p> + But Mary was sick of Scotland, for Bothwell could not be there. She had + tasted all the bitterness of life, and for a few months all the sweetness; + but she would have no more of this rough and barbarous country. Of her own + free will she crossed the Solway into England, to find herself at once a + prisoner. + </p> + <p> + Never again did she set eyes on Bothwell. After the battle of Carberry + Hill he escaped to the north, gathered some ships together, and preyed + upon English merchantmen, very much as a pirate might have done. Ere long, + however, when he had learned of Mary's fate, he set sail for Norway. King + Frederick of Denmark made him a prisoner of state. He was not confined + within prison walls, however, but was allowed to hunt and ride in the + vicinity of Malmo Castle and of Dragsholm. It is probably in Malmo Castle + that he died. In 1858 a coffin which was thought to be the coffin of the + earl was opened, and a Danish artist sketched the head—which + corresponds quite well with the other portraits of the ill-fated Scottish + noble. + </p> + <p> + It is a sad story. Had Mary been less ambitious when she first met + Bothwell, or had he been a little bolder, they might have reigned together + and lived out their lives in the plenitude of that great love which held + them both in thrall. But a queen is not as other women; and she found too + late that the teaching of her heart was, after all, the truest teaching. + She went to her death as Bothwell went to his, alone, in a strange, + unfriendly land. + </p> + <p> + Yet, even this, perhaps, was better so. It has at least touched both their + lives with pathos and has made the name of Mary Stuart one to be + remembered throughout all the ages. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS MONALDESCHI + </h2> + <p> + Sweden to-day is one of the peaceful kingdoms of the world, whose people + are prosperous, well governed, and somewhat apart from the clash and + turmoil of other states and nations. Even the secession of Norway, a few + years ago, was accomplished without bloodshed, and now the two kingdoms + exist side by side as free from strife as they are with Denmark, which + once domineered and tyrannized over both. + </p> + <p> + It is difficult to believe that long ago, in the Middle Ages, the cities + of southern Sweden were among the great commercial centers of the world. + Stockholm and Lund ranked with London and Paris. They absorbed the + commerce of the northern seas, and were the admiration of thousands of + travelers and merchants who passed through them and trafficked with them. + </p> + <p> + Much nearer to our own time, Sweden was the great military power of + northern Europe. The ambassadors of the Swedish kings were received with + the utmost deference in every court. Her soldiers won great battles and + ended mighty wars. The England of Cromwell and Charles II. was unimportant + and isolated in comparison with this northern kingdom, which could pour + forth armies of gigantic blond warriors, headed by generals astute as well + as brave. + </p> + <p> + It was no small matter, then, in 1626, that the loyal Swedes were hoping + that their queen would give birth to a male heir to succeed his splendid + father, Gustavus Adolphus, ranked by military historians as one of the six + great generals whom the world had so far produced. The queen, a German + princess of Brandenburg, had already borne two daughters, who died in + infancy. The expectation was wide-spread and intense that she should now + become the mother of a son; and the king himself was no less anxious. + </p> + <p> + When the event occurred, the child was seen to be completely covered with + hair, and for this reason the attendants at first believed that it was the + desired boy. When their mistake was discovered they were afraid to tell + the king, who was waiting in his study for the announcement to be made. At + last, when no one else would go to him, his sister, the Princess Caroline, + volunteered to break the news. + </p> + <p> + Gustavus was in truth a chivalrous, high-bred monarch. Though he must have + been disappointed at the advent of a daughter, he showed no sign of + dissatisfaction or even of surprise; but, rising, he embraced his sister, + saying: + </p> + <p> + "Let us thank God. I hope this girl will be as good as a boy to me. May + God preserve her now that He has sent her!" + </p> + <p> + It is customary at almost all courts to pay less attention to the birth of + a princess than to that of a prince; but Gustavus displayed his chivalry + toward this little daughter, whom he named Christina. He ordered that the + full royal salute should be fired in every fortress of his kingdom and + that displays of fireworks, balls of honor, and court functions should + take place; "for," as he said, "this is the heir to my throne." And so + from the first he took his child under his own keeping and treated her as + if she were a much-loved son as well as a successor. + </p> + <p> + He joked about her looks when she was born, when she was mistaken for a + boy. + </p> + <p> + "She will be clever," he said, "for she has taken us all in!" + </p> + <p> + The Swedish people were as delighted with their little princess as were + the people of Holland when the present Queen Wilhelmina was born, to carry + on the succession of the House of Orange. On one occasion the king and the + small Christina, who were inseparable companions, happened to approach a + fortress where they expected to spend the night. The commander of the + castle was bound to fire a royal salute of fifty cannon in honor of his + sovereign; yet he dreaded the effect upon the princess of such a roaring + and bellowing of artillery. He therefore sent a swift horseman to meet the + royal party at a distance and explain his perplexity. Should he fire these + guns or not? Would the king give an order? + </p> + <p> + Gustavus thought for a moment, and then replied: + </p> + <p> + "My daughter is the daughter of a soldier, and she must learn to lead a + soldier's life. Let the guns be fired!" + </p> + <p> + The procession moved on. Presently fire spurted from the embrasures of the + fort, and its batteries thundered in one great roar. The king looked down + at Christina. Her face was aglow with pleasure and excitement; she clapped + her hands and laughed, and cried out: + </p> + <p> + "More bang! More! More! More!" + </p> + <p> + This is only one of a score of stories that were circulated about the + princess, and the Swedes were more and more delighted with the girl who + was to be their queen. + </p> + <p> + Somewhat curiously, Christina's mother, Queen Maria, cared little for the + child, and, in fact, came at last to detest her almost as much as the king + loved her. It is hard to explain this dislike. Perhaps she had a morbid + desire for a son and begrudged the honors given to a daughter. Perhaps she + was a little jealous of her own child, who took so much of the king's + attention. Afterward, in writing of her mother, Christina excuses her, and + says quite frankly: + </p> + <p> + She could not bear to see me, because I was a girl, and an ugly girl at + that. And she was right enough, for I was as tawny as a little Turk. + </p> + <p> + This candid description of herself is hardly just. Christina was never + beautiful, and she had a harsh voice. She was apt to be overbearing even + as a little girl. Yet she was a most interesting child, with an expressive + face, large eyes, an aquiline nose, and the blond hair of her people. + There was nothing in this to account for her mother's intense dislike for + her. + </p> + <p> + It was currently reported at the time that attempts were made to maim or + seriously injure the little princess. By what was made to seem an + accident, she would be dropped upon the floor, and heavy articles of + furniture would somehow manage to strike her. More than once a great beam + fell mysteriously close to her, either in the palace or while she was + passing through the streets. None of these things did her serious harm, + however. Most of them she luckily escaped; but when she had grown to be a + woman one of her shoulders was permanently higher than the other. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose," said Christina, "that I could be straightened if I would let + the surgeons attend to it; but it isn't worth while to take the trouble." + </p> + <p> + When Christina was four, Sweden became involved in the great war that had + been raging for a dozen years between the Protestant and the Catholic + states of Germany. Gradually the neighboring powers had been drawn into + the struggle, either to serve their own ends or to support the faith to + which they adhered. Gustavus Adolphus took up the sword with mixed + motives, for he was full of enthusiasm for the imperiled cause of the + Reformation, and at the same time he deemed it a favorable opportunity to + assert his control over the shores of the Baltic. + </p> + <p> + The warrior king summoned his army and prepared to invade Germany. Before + departing he took his little daughter by the hand and led her among the + assembled nobles and councilors of state. To them he intrusted the + princess, making them kneel and vow that they would regard her as his + heir, and, if aught should happen to him, as his successor. Amid the + clashing of swords and the clang of armor this vow was taken, and the king + went forth to war. + </p> + <p> + He met the ablest generals of his enemies, and the fortunes of battle + swayed hither and thither; but the climax came when his soldiers + encountered those of Wallenstein—that strange, overbearing, + arrogant, mysterious creature whom many regarded with a sort of awe. The + clash came at Lutzen, in Saxony. The Swedish king fought long and hard, + and so did his mighty opponent; but at last, in the very midst of a + tremendous onset that swept all before him, Gustavus received a mortal + wound and died, even while Wallenstein was fleeing from the field of + battle. + </p> + <p> + The battle of Lutzen made Christina Queen of Sweden at the age of six. Of + course, she could not yet be crowned, but a council of able ministers + continued the policy of the late king and taught the young queen her first + lessons in statecraft. Her intellect soon showed itself as more than that + of a child. She understood all that was taking place, and all that was + planned and arranged. Her tact was unusual. Her discretion was admired by + every one; and after a while she had the advice and training of the great + Swedish chancellor, Oxenstierna, whose wisdom she shared to a remarkable + degree. + </p> + <p> + Before she was sixteen she had so approved herself to her counselors, and + especially to the people at large, that there was a wide-spread clamor + that she should take the throne and govern in her own person. To this she + gave no heed, but said: + </p> + <p> + "I am not yet ready." + </p> + <p> + All this time she bore herself like a king. There was nothing distinctly + feminine about her. She took but slight interest in her appearance. She + wore sword and armor in the presence of her troops, and often she dressed + entirely in men's clothes. She would take long, lonely gallops through the + forests, brooding over problems of state and feeling no fatigue or fear. + And indeed why should she fear, who was beloved by all her subjects? + </p> + <p> + When her eighteenth year arrived, the demand for her coronation was + impossible to resist. All Sweden wished to see a ruling queen, who might + marry and have children to succeed her through the royal line of her great + father. Christina consented to be crowned, but she absolutely refused all + thought of marriage. She had more suitors from all parts of Europe than + even Elizabeth of England; but, unlike Elizabeth, she did not dally with + them, give them false hopes, or use them for the political advantage of + her kingdom. + </p> + <p> + At that time Sweden was stronger than England, and was so situated as to + be independent of alliances. So Christina said, in her harsh, peremptory + voice: + </p> + <p> + "I shall never marry; and why should you speak of my having children! I am + just as likely to give birth to a Nero as to an Augustus." + </p> + <p> + Having assumed the throne, she ruled with a strictness of government such + as Sweden had not known before. She took the reins of state into her own + hands and carried out a foreign policy of her own, over the heads of her + ministers, and even against the wishes of her people. The fighting upon + the Continent had dragged out to a weary length, but the Swedes, on the + whole, had scored a marked advantage. For this reason the war was popular, + and every one wished it to go on; but Christina, of her own will, decided + that it must stop, that mere glory was not to be considered against + material advantages. Sweden had had enough of glory; she must now look to + her enrichment and prosperity through the channels of peace. + </p> + <p> + Therefore, in 1648, against Oxenstierna, against her generals, and against + her people, she exercised her royal power and brought the Thirty Years' + War to an end by the so-called Peace of Westphalia. At this time she was + twenty-two, and by her personal influence she had ended one of the + greatest struggles of history. Nor had she done it to her country's loss. + Denmark yielded up rich provinces, while Germany was compelled to grant + Sweden membership in the German diet. + </p> + <p> + Then came a period of immense prosperity through commerce, through + economies in government, through the improvement of agriculture and the + opening of mines. This girl queen, without intrigue, without descending + from her native nobility to peep and whisper with shady diplomats, showed + herself in reality a great monarch, a true Semiramis of the north, more + worthy of respect and reverence than Elizabeth of England. She was highly + trained in many arts. She was fond of study, spoke Latin fluently, and + could argue with Salmasius, Descartes, and other accomplished scholars + without showing any inferiority to them. + </p> + <p> + She gathered at her court distinguished persons from all countries. She + repelled those who sought her hand, and she was pure and truthful and + worthy of all men's admiration. Had she died at this time history would + rank her with the greatest of women sovereigns. Naude, the librarian of + Cardinal Mazarin, wrote of her to the scientist Gassendi in these words: + </p> + <p> + To say truth, I am sometimes afraid lest the common saying should be + verified in her, that short is the life and rare the old age of those who + surpass the common limits. Do not imagine that she is learned only in + books, for she is equally so in painting, architecture, sculpture, medals, + antiquities, and all curiosities. There is not a cunning workman in these + arts but she has him fetched. There are as good workers in wax and in + enamel, engravers, singers, players, dancers here as will be found + anywhere. + </p> + <p> + She has a gallery of statues, bronze and marble, medals of gold, silver, + and bronze, pieces of ivory, amber, coral, worked crystal, steel mirrors, + clocks and tables, bas-reliefs and other things of the kind; richer I have + never seen even in Italy; finally, a great quantity of pictures. In short, + her mind is open to all impressions. + </p> + <p> + But after she began to make her court a sort of home for art and letters + it ceased to be the sort of court that Sweden was prepared for. + Christina's subjects were still rude and lacking in accomplishments; + therefore she had to summon men of genius from other countries, especially + from France and Italy. Many of these were illustrious artists or scholars, + but among them were also some who used their mental gifts for harm. + </p> + <p> + Among these latter was a French physician named Bourdelot—a man of + keen intellect, of winning manners, and of a profound cynicism, which was + not apparent on the surface, but the effect of which last lasting. To + Bourdelot we must chiefly ascribe the mysterious change which gradually + came over Queen Christina. With his associates he taught her a distaste + for the simple and healthy life that she had been accustomed to lead. She + ceased to think of the welfare of the state and began to look down with + scorn upon her unsophisticated Swedes. Foreign luxury displayed itself at + Stockholm, and her palaces overflowed with beautiful things. + </p> + <p> + By subtle means Bourdelot undermined her principles. Having been a Stoic, + she now became an Epicurean. She was by nature devoid of sentiment. She + would not spend her time in the niceties of love-making, as did Elizabeth; + but beneath the surface she had a sort of tigerish, passionate nature, + which would break forth at intervals, and which demanded satisfaction from + a series of favorites. It is probable that Bourdelot was her first lover, + but there were many others whose names are recorded in the annals of the + time. + </p> + <p> + When she threw aside her virtue Christina ceased to care about + appearances. She squandered her revenues upon her favorites. What she + retained of her former self was a carelessness that braved the opinion of + her subjects. She dressed almost without thought, and it is said that she + combed her hair not more than twice a month. She caroused with male + companions to the scandal of her people, and she swore like a trooper when + displeased. + </p> + <p> + Christina's philosophy of life appears to have been compounded of an + almost brutal licentiousness, a strong love of power, and a strange, + freakish longing for something new. Her political ambitions were checked + by the rising discontent of her people, who began to look down upon her + and to feel ashamed of her shame. Knowing herself as she did, she did not + care to marry. + </p> + <p> + Yet Sweden must have an heir. Therefore she chose out her cousin Charles, + declared that he was to be her successor, and finally caused him to be + proclaimed as such before the assembled estates of the realm. She even had + him crowned; and finally, in her twenty-eighth year, she abdicated + altogether and prepared to leave Sweden. When asked whither she would go, + she replied in a Latin quotation: + </p> + <p> + "The Fates will show the way." + </p> + <p> + In her act of abdication she reserved to herself the revenues of some of + the richest provinces in Sweden and absolute power over such of her + subjects as should accompany her. They were to be her subjects until the + end. + </p> + <p> + The Swedes remembered that Christina was the daughter of their greatest + king, and that, apart from personal scandals, she had ruled them well; and + so they let her go regretfully and accepted her cousin as their king. + Christina, on her side, went joyfully and in the spirit of a grand + adventuress. With a numerous suite she entered Germany, and then stayed + for a year at Brussels, where she renounced Lutheranism. After this she + traveled slowly into Italy, where she entered Borne on horseback, and was + received by the Pope, Alexander VII., who lodged her in a magnificent + palace, accepted her conversion, and baptized her, giving her a new name, + Alexandra. + </p> + <p> + In Rome she was a brilliant but erratic personage, living sumptuously, + even though her revenues from Sweden came in slowly, partly because the + Swedes disliked her change of religion. She was surrounded by men of + letters, with whom she amused herself, and she took to herself a lover, + the Marquis Monaldeschi. She thought that at last she had really found her + true affinity, while Monaldeschi believed that he could count on the + queen's fidelity. + </p> + <p> + He was in attendance upon her daily, and they were almost inseparable. He + swore allegiance to her and thereby made himself one of the subjects over + whom she had absolute power. For a time he was the master of those intense + emotions which, in her, alternated with moods of coldness and even + cruelty. + </p> + <p> + Monaldeschi was a handsome Italian, who bore himself with a fine air of + breeding. He understood the art of charming, but he did not know that + beyond a certain time no one could hold the affections of Christina. + </p> + <p> + However, after she had quarreled with various cardinals and decided to + leave Rome for a while, Monaldeschi accompanied her to France, where she + had an immense vogue at the court of Louis XIV. She attracted wide + attention because of her eccentricity and utter lack of manners. It gave + her the greatest delight to criticize the ladies of the French court—their + looks, their gowns, and their jewels. They, in return, would speak of + Christina's deformed shoulder and skinny frame; but the king was very + gracious to her and invited her to his hunting-palace at Fontainebleau. + </p> + <p> + While she had been winning triumphs of sarcasm the infatuated Monaldeschi + had gradually come to suspect, and then to know, that his royal mistress + was no longer true to him. He had been supplanted in her favor by another + Italian, one Sentanelli, who was the captain of her guard. + </p> + <p> + Monaldeschi took a tortuous and roundabout revenge. He did not let the + queen know of his discovery; nor did he, like a man, send a challenge to + Sentanelli. Instead he began by betraying her secrets to Oliver Cromwell, + with whom she had tried to establish a correspondence. Again, imitating + the hand and seal of Sentanelli, he set in circulation a series of the + most scandalous and insulting letters about Christina. By this treacherous + trick he hoped to end the relations between his rival and the queen; but + when the letters were carried to Christina she instantly recognized their + true source. She saw that she was betrayed by her former favorite and that + he had taken a revenge which might seriously compromise her. + </p> + <p> + This led to a tragedy, of which the facts were long obscure. They were + carefully recorded, however, by the queen's household chaplain, Father Le + Bel; and there is also a narrative written by one Marco Antonio Conti, + which confirms the story. Both were published privately in 1865, with + notes by Louis Lacour. + </p> + <p> + The narration of the priest is dreadful in its simplicity and minuteness + of detail. It may be summed up briefly here, because it is the testimony + of an eye-witness who knew Christina. + </p> + <p> + Christina, with the marquis and a large retinue, was at Fontainebleau in + November, 1657. A little after midnight, when all was still, the priest, + Father Le Bel, was aroused and ordered to go at once to the Galerie des + Cerfs, or Hall of Stags, in another part of the palace. When he asked why, + he was told: + </p> + <p> + "It is by the order of her majesty the Swedish queen." + </p> + <p> + The priest, wondering, hurried on his garments. On reaching the gloomy + hall he saw the Marquis Monaldeschi, evidently in great agitation, and at + the end of the corridor the queen in somber robes. Beside the queen, as if + awaiting orders, stood three figures, who could with some difficulty be + made out as three soldiers of her guard. + </p> + <p> + The queen motioned to Father Le Bel and asked him for a packet which she + had given him for safe-keeping some little time before. He gave it to her, + and she opened it. In it were letters and other documents, which, with a + steely glance, she displayed to Monaldeschi. He was confused by the sight + of them and by the incisive words in which Christina showed how he had + both insulted her and had tried to shift the blame upon Sentanelli. + </p> + <p> + Monaldeschi broke down completely. He fell at the queen's feet and wept + piteously, begging for pardon, only to be met by the cold answer: + </p> + <p> + "You are my subject and a traitor to me. Marquis, you must prepare to + die!" + </p> + <p> + Then she turned away and left the hall, in spite of the cries of + Monaldeschi, to whom she merely added the advice that he should make his + peace with God by confessing to Father Le Bel. + </p> + <p> + After she had gone the marquis fell into a torrent of self-exculpation and + cried for mercy. The three armed men drew near and urged him to confess + for the good of his soul. They seemed to have no malice against him, but + to feel that they must obey the orders given them. At the frantic urging + of the marquis their leader even went to the queen to ask whether she + would relent; but he returned shaking his head, and said: + </p> + <p> + "Marquis, you must die." + </p> + <p> + Father Le Bel undertook a like mission, but returned with the message that + there was no hope. So the marquis made his confession in French and Latin, + but even then he hoped; for he did not wait to receive absolution, but + begged still further for delay or pardon. + </p> + <p> + Then the three armed men approached, having drawn their swords. The + absolution was pronounced; and, following it, one of the guards slashed + the marquis across the forehead. He stumbled and fell forward, making + signs as if to ask that he might have his throat cut. But his throat was + partly protected by a coat of mail, so that three or four strokes + delivered there had slight effect. Finally, however, a long, narrow sword + was thrust into his side, after which the marquis made no sound. + </p> + <p> + Father Le Bel at once left the Galerie des Cerfs and went into the queen's + apartment, with the smell of blood in his nostrils. He found her calm and + ready to justify herself. Was she not still queen over all who had + voluntarily become members of her suite? This had been agreed to in her + act of abdication. Wherever she set her foot, there, over her own, she was + still a monarch, with full power to punish traitors at her will. This + power she had exercised, and with justice. What mattered it that she was + in France? She was queen as truly as Louis XIV. was king. + </p> + <p> + The story was not long in getting out, but the truth was not wholly known + until a much later day. It was said that Sentanelli had slapped the + marquis in a fit of jealousy, though some added that it was done with the + connivance of the queen. King Louis, the incarnation of absolutism, knew + the truth, but he was slow to act. He sympathized with the theory of + Christina's sovereignty. It was only after a time that word was sent to + Christina that she must leave Fontainebleau. She took no notice of the + order until it suited her convenience, and then she went forth with all + the honors of a reigning monarch. + </p> + <p> + This was the most striking episode in all the strange story of her private + life. When her cousin Charles, whom she had made king, died without an + heir she sought to recover her crown; but the estates of the realm refused + her claim, reduced her income, and imposed restraints upon her power. She + then sought the vacant throne of Poland; but the Polish nobles, who + desired a weak ruler for their own purposes, made another choice. So at + last she returned to Rome, where the Pope received her with a splendid + procession and granted her twelve thousand crowns a year to make up for + her lessened Swedish revenue. + </p> + <p> + From this time she lived a life which she made interesting by her + patronage of learning and exciting by her rather unseemly quarrels with + cardinals and even with the Pope. Her armed retinue marched through the + streets with drawn swords and gave open protection to criminals who had + taken refuge with her. She dared to criticize the pontiff, who merely + smiled and said: + </p> + <p> + "She is a woman!" + </p> + <p> + On the whole, the end of her life was pleasant. She was much admired for + her sagacity in politics. Her words were listened to at every court in + Europe. She annotated the classics, she made beautiful collections, and + she was regarded as a privileged person whose acts no one took amiss. She + died at fifty-three, and was buried in St. Peter's. + </p> + <p> + She was bred a man, she was almost a son to her great father; and yet, + instead of the sonorous epitaph that is inscribed beside her tomb, perhaps + a truer one would be the words of the vexed Pope: + </p> + <p> + "E DONNA!" <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN + </h2> + <p> + One might classify the kings of England in many ways. John was undoubtedly + the most unpopular. The impetuous yet far-seeing Henry II., with the other + two great warriors, Edward I. and Edward III., and William of Orange, did + most for the foundation and development of England's constitutional law. + Some monarchs, such as Edward II. and the womanish Henry VI., have been + contemptible. Hard-working, useful kings have been Henry VII., the + Georges, William IV., and especially the last Edward. + </p> + <p> + If we consider those monarchs who have in some curious way touched the + popular fancy without reference to their virtues we must go back to + Richard of the Lion Heart, who saw but little of England, yet was the best + essentially English king, and to Henry V., gallant soldier and conqueror + of France. Even Henry VIII. had a warm place in the affection of his + countrymen, few of whom saw him near at hand, but most of whom made him a + sort of regal incarnation of John Bull—wrestling and tilting and + boxing, eating great joints of beef, and staying his thirst with flagons + of ale—a big, healthy, masterful animal, in fact, who gratified the + national love of splendor and stood up manfully in his struggle with the + Pope. + </p> + <p> + But if you look for something more than ordinary popularity—something + that belongs to sentiment and makes men willing to become martyrs for a + royal cause—we must find these among the Stuart kings. It is odd, + indeed, that even at this day there are Englishmen and Englishwomen who + believe their lawful sovereign to be a minor Bavarian princess in whose + veins there runs the Stuart blood. Prayers are said for her at English + shrines, and toasts are drunk to her in rare old wine. + </p> + <p> + Of course, to-day this cult of the Stuarts is nothing but a fad. No one + ever expects to see a Stuart on the English throne. But it is significant + of the deep strain of romance which the six Stuarts who reigned in England + have implanted in the English heart. The old Jacobite ballads still have + power to thrill. Queen Victoria herself used to have the pipers file out + before her at Balmoral to the "skirling" of "Bonnie Dundee," "Over the + Water to Charlie," and "Wha'll Be King but Charlie!" It is a sentiment + that has never died. Her late majesty used to say that when she heard + these tunes she became for the moment a Jacobite; just as the Empress + Eugenie at the height of her power used pertly to remark that she herself + was the only Legitimist left in France. + </p> + <p> + It may be suggested that the Stuarts are still loved by many Englishmen + because they were unfortunate; yet this is hardly true, after all. Many of + them were fortunate enough. The first of them, King James, an absurd + creature, speaking broad Scotch, timid, foolishly fond of favorites, and + having none of the dignity of a monarch, lived out a lengthy reign. The + two royal women of the family—Anne and Mary—had no misfortunes + of a public nature. Charles II. reigned for more than a quarter of a + century, lapped in every kind of luxury, and died a king. + </p> + <p> + The first Charles was beheaded and afterward styled a "saint"; yet the + majority of the English people were against his arrogance, or else he + would have won his great struggle against Parliament. The second James was + not popular at all. Nevertheless, no sooner had he been expelled, and been + succeeded by a Dutchman gnawing asparagus and reeking of cheeses, than + there was already a Stuart legend. Even had there been no pretenders to + carry on the cult, the Stuarts would still have passed into history as + much loved by the people. + </p> + <p> + It only shows how very little in former days the people expected of a + regnant king. Many monarchs have had just a few popular traits, and these + have stood out brilliantly against the darkness of the background. + </p> + <p> + No one could have cared greatly for the first James, but Charles I. was + indeed a kingly personage when viewed afar. He was handsome, as a man, + fully equaling the French princess who became his wife. He had no personal + vices. He was brave, and good to look upon, and had a kingly mien. Hence, + although he sought to make his rule over England a tyranny, there were + many fine old cavaliers to ride afield for him when he raised his + standard, and who, when he died, mourned for him as a "martyr." + </p> + <p> + Many hardships they underwent while Cromwell ruled with his iron hand; and + when that iron hand was relaxed in death, and poor, feeble Richard + Cromwell slunk away to his country-seat, what wonder is it that young + Charles came back to England and caracoled through the streets of London + with a smile for every one and a happy laugh upon his lips? What wonder is + it that the cannon in the Tower thundered a loud welcome, and that all + over England, at one season or another, maypoles rose and Christmas fires + blazed? For Englishmen at heart are not only monarchists, but they are + lovers of good cheer and merrymaking and all sorts of mirth. + </p> + <p> + Charles II. might well at first have seemed a worthier and wiser successor + to his splendid father. As a child, even, he had shown himself to be no + faint-hearted creature. When the great Civil War broke out he had joined + his father's army. It met with disaster at Edgehill, and was finally + shattered by the crushing defeat of Naseby, which afterward inspired + Macaulay's most stirring ballad. + </p> + <p> + Charles was then only a child of twelve, and so his followers did wisely + in hurrying him out of England, through the Scilly isles and Jersey to his + mother's place of exile. Of course, a child so very young could be of no + value as a leader, though his presence might prove an inspiration. + </p> + <p> + In 1648, however, when he was eighteen years of age, he gathered a fleet + of eighteen ships and cruised along the English coast, taking prizes, + which he carried to the Dutch ports. When he was at Holland's capital, + during his father's trial, he wrote many messages to the Parliamentarians, + and even sent them a blank charter, which they might fill in with any + stipulations they desired if only they would save and restore their king. + </p> + <p> + When the head of Charles rolled from the velvet-covered block his son + showed himself to be no loiterer or lover of an easy life. He hastened to + Scotland, skilfully escaping an English force, and was proclaimed as king + and crowned at Scone, in 1651. With ten thousand men he dashed into + England, where he knew there were many who would rally at his call. But it + was then that Cromwell put forth his supreme military genius and with his + Ironsides crushed the royal troops at Worcester. + </p> + <p> + Charles knew that for the present all was lost. He showed courage and + address in covering the flight of his beaten soldiers; but he soon + afterward went to France, remaining there and in the Netherlands for eight + years as a pensioner of Louis XIV. He knew that time would fight for him + far more surely than infantry and horse. England had not been called + "Merry England" for nothing; and Cromwell's tyranny was likely to be far + more resented than the heavy hand of one who was born a king. So Charles + at Paris and Liege, though he had little money at the time, managed to + maintain a royal court, such as it was. + </p> + <p> + Here there came out another side of his nature. As a child he had borne + hardship and privation and had seen the red blood flow upon the + battlefield. Now, as it were, he allowed a certain sensuous, + pleasure-loving ease to envelop him. The red blood should become the rich + red burgundy; the sound of trumpets and kettledrums should give way to the + melody of lutes and viols. He would be a king of pleasure if he were to be + king at all. And therefore his court, even in exile, was a court of + gallantry and ease. The Pope refused to lend him money, and the King of + France would not increase his pension, but there were many who foresaw + that Charles would not long remain in exile; and so they gave him what he + wanted and waited until he could give them what they would ask for in + their turn. + </p> + <p> + Charles at this time was not handsome, like his father. His complexion was + swarthy, his figure by no means imposing, though always graceful. When he + chose he could bear himself with all the dignity of a monarch. He had a + singularly pleasant manner, and a word from him could win over the + harshest opponent. + </p> + <p> + The old cavaliers who accompanied their master in exile were like + Napoleon's veterans in Elba. With their tall, powerful forms they stalked + about the courtyards, sniffing their disapproval at these foreign ways and + longing grimly for the time when they could once more smell the pungent + powder of the battle-field. But, as Charles had hoped, the change was + coming. Not merely were his own subjects beginning to long for him and to + pray in secret for the king, but continental monarchs who maintained spies + in England began to know of this. To them Charles was no longer a + penniless exile. He was a king who before long would take possession of + his kingdom. + </p> + <p> + A very wise woman—the Queen Regent of Portugal—was the first + to act on this information. Portugal was then very far from being a petty + state. It had wealth at home and rich colonies abroad, while its flag was + seen on every sea. The queen regent, being at odds with Spain, and wishing + to secure an ally against that power, made overtures to Charles, asking + him whether a match might not be made between him and the Princess + Catharine of Braganza. It was not merely her daughter's hand that she + offered, but a splendid dowry. She would pay Charles a million pounds in + gold and cede to England two valuable ports. + </p> + <p> + The match was not yet made, but by 1659 it had been arranged. The + Spaniards were furious, for Charles's cause began to appear successful. + </p> + <p> + She was a quaint and rather piteous little figure, she who was destined to + be the wife of the Merry Monarch. Catharine was dark, petite, and by no + means beautiful; yet she had a very sweet expression and a heart of utter + innocence. She had been wholly convent-bred. She knew nothing of the + world. She was told that in marriage she must obey in all things, and that + the chief duty of a wife was to make her husband happy. + </p> + <p> + Poor child! It was a too gracious preparation for a very graceless + husband. Charles, in exile, had already made more than one discreditable + connection and he was already the father of more than one growing son. + </p> + <p> + First of all, he had been smitten by the bold ways of one Lucy Walters. + Her impudence amused the exiled monarch. She was not particularly + beautiful, and when she spoke as others did she was rather tiresome; but + her pertness and the inexperience of the king when he went into exile made + her seem attractive. She bore him a son, in the person of that brilliant + adventurer whom Charles afterward created Duke of Monmouth. Many persons + believe that Charles had married Lucy Walters, just as George IV. may have + married Mrs. Fitzherbert; yet there is not the slightest proof of it, and + it must be classed with popular legends. + </p> + <p> + There was also one Catherine Peg, or Kep, whose son was afterward made + Earl of Plymouth. It must be confessed that in his attachments to English + women Charles showed little care for rank or station. Lucy Walters and + Catherine Peg were very illiterate creatures. + </p> + <p> + In a way it was precisely this sort of preference that made Charles so + popular among the people. He seemed to make rank of no account, but would + chat in the most familiar and friendly way with any one whom he happened + to meet. His easy, democratic manner, coupled with the grace and prestige + of royalty, made friends for him all over England. The treasury might be + nearly bankrupt; the navy might be routed by the Dutch; the king himself + might be too much given to dissipation; but his people forgave him all, + because everybody knew that Charles would clap an honest citizen on the + back and joke with all who came to see him feed the swans in Regent's + Park. + </p> + <p> + The popular name for him was "Rowley," or "Old Rowley"—a nickname of + mysterious origin, though it is said to have been given him from a fancied + resemblance to a famous hunter in his stables. Perhaps it is the very + final test of popularity that a ruler should have a nickname known to + every one. + </p> + <p> + Cromwell's death roused all England to a frenzy of king-worship. The + Roundhead, General Monk, and his soldiers proclaimed Charles King of + England and escorted him to London in splendid state. That was a day when + national feeling reached a point such as never has been before or since. + Oughtred, the famous mathematician, died of joy when the royal emblems + were restored. Urquhart, the translator of Rabelais, died, it is said, of + laughter at the people's wild delight—a truly Rabelaisian end. + </p> + <p> + There was the king once more; and England, breaking through its long + period of Puritanism, laughed and danced with more vivacity than ever the + French had shown. All the pipers and the players and panderers to vice, + the mountebanks, the sensual men, and the lawless women poured into the + presence of the king, who had been too long deprived of the pleasure that + his nature craved. Parliament voted seventy thousand pounds for a memorial + to Charles's father, but the irresponsible king spent the whole sum on the + women who surrounded him. His severest counselor, Lord Clarendon, sent him + a remonstrance. + </p> + <p> + "How can I build such a memorial," asked Charles, "when I don't know where + my father's remains are buried!" + </p> + <p> + He took money from the King of France to make war against the Dutch, who + had befriended him. It was the French king, too, who sent him that + insidious, subtle daughter of Brittany, Louise de Keroualle—Duchess + of Portsmouth—a diplomat in petticoats, who won the king's wayward + affections, and spied on what he did and said, and faithfully reported all + of it to Paris. She became the mother of the Duke of Lenox, and she was + feared and hated by the English more than any other of his mistresses. + They called her "Madam Carwell," and they seemed to have an instinct that + she was no mere plaything of his idle hours, but was like some strange + exotic serpent, whose poison might in the end sting the honor of England. + </p> + <p> + There is a pitiful little episode in the marriage of Charles with his + Portuguese bride, Catharine of Braganza. The royal girl came to him fresh + from the cloisters of her convent. There was something about her grace and + innocence that touched the dissolute monarch, who was by no means without + a heart. For a time he treated her with great respect, and she was happy. + At last she began to notice about her strange faces—faces that were + evil, wanton, or overbold. The court became more and more a seat of + reckless revelry. + </p> + <p> + Finally Catharine was told that the Duchess of Cleveland—that + splendid termagant, Barbara Villiers—had been appointed lady of the + bedchamber. She was told at the same time who this vixen was—that + she was no fit attendant for a virtuous woman, and that her three sons, + the Dukes of Southampton, Grafton, and Northumberland, were also the sons + of Charles. + </p> + <p> + Fluttered and frightened and dismayed, the queen hastened to her husband + and begged him not to put this slight upon her. A year or two before, she + had never dreamed that life contained such things as these; but now it + seemed to contain nothing else. Charles spoke sternly to her until she + burst into tears, and then he petted her and told her that her duty as a + queen compelled her to submit to many things which a lady in private life + need not endure. + </p> + <p> + After a long and poignant struggle with her own emotions the little + Portuguese yielded to the wishes of her lord. She never again reproached + him. She even spoke with kindness to his favorites and made him feel that + she studied his happiness alone. Her gentleness affected him so that he + always spoke to her with courtesy and real friendship. When the Protestant + mobs sought to drive her out of England he showed his courage and + manliness by standing by her and refusing to allow her to be molested. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, had Charles been always at his best he would have had a very + different name in history. He could be in every sense a king. He had a + keen knowledge of human nature. Though he governed England very badly, he + never governed it so badly as to lose his popularity. + </p> + <p> + The epigram of Rochester, written at the king's own request, was + singularly true of Charles. No man relied upon his word, yet men loved + him. He never said anything that was foolish, and he very seldom did + anything that was wise; yet his easy manners and gracious ways endeared + him to those who met him. + </p> + <p> + One can find no better picture of his court than that which Sir Walter + Scott has drawn so vividly in Peveril of the Peak; or, if one wishes + first-hand evidence, it can be found in the diaries of Evelyn and of + Samuel Pepys. In them we find the rakes and dicers, full of strange oaths, + deep drunkards, vile women and still viler men, all striving for the royal + favor and offering the filthiest lures, amid routs and balls and noisy + entertainments, of which it is recorded that more than once some woman + gave birth to a child among the crowd of dancers. + </p> + <p> + No wonder that the little Portuguese queen kept to herself and did not let + herself be drawn into this swirling, roaring, roistering saturnalia. She + had less influence even than Moll Davis, whom Charles picked out of a + coffee-house, and far less than "Madam Carwell," to whom it is reported + that a great English nobleman once presented pearls to the value of eight + thousand pounds in order to secure her influence in a single stroke of + political business. + </p> + <p> + Of all the women who surrounded Charles there was only one who cared + anything for him or for England. The rest were all either selfish or + treacherous or base. This one exception has been so greatly written of, + both in fiction and in history, as to make it seem almost unnecessary to + add another word; yet it may well be worth while to separate the fiction + from the fact and to see how much of the legend of Eleanor Gwyn is true. + </p> + <p> + The fanciful story of her birthplace is most surely quite unfounded. She + was not the daughter of a Welsh officer, but of two petty hucksters who + had their booth in the lowest precincts of London. In those days the + Strand was partly open country, and as it neared the city it showed the + mansions of the gentry set in their green-walled parks. At one end of the + Strand, however, was Drury Lane, then the haunt of criminals and every + kind of wretch, while nearer still was the notorious Coal Yard, where no + citizen dared go unarmed. + </p> + <p> + Within this dreadful place children were kidnapped and trained to various + forms of vice. It was a school for murderers and robbers and prostitutes; + and every night when the torches flared it vomited forth its deadly spawn. + Here was the earliest home of Eleanor Gwyn, and out of this den of + iniquity she came at night to sell oranges at the entrance to the + theaters. She was stage-struck, and endeavored to get even a minor part in + a play; but Betterton, the famous actor, thrust her aside when she + ventured to apply to him. + </p> + <p> + It must be said that in everything that was external, except her beauty, + she fell short of a fastidious taste. She was intensely ignorant even for + that time. She spoke in a broad Cockney dialect. She had lived the life of + the Coal Yard, and, like Zola's Nana, she could never remember the time + when she had known the meaning of chastity. + </p> + <p> + Nell Gwyn was, in fact, a product of the vilest slums of London; and + precisely because she was this we must set her down as intrinsically a + good woman—one of the truest, frankest, and most right-minded of + whom the history of such women has anything to tell. All that external + circumstances could do to push her down into the mire was done; yet she + was not pushed down, but emerged as one of those rare souls who have in + their natures an uncontaminated spring of goodness and honesty. Unlike + Barbara Villiers or Lucy Walters or Louise de Keroualle, she was neither a + harpy nor a foe to England. + </p> + <p> + Charles is said first to have met her when he, incognito, with another + friend, was making the rounds of the theaters at night. The king spied her + glowing, nut-brown face in one of the boxes, and, forgetting his + incognito, went up and joined her. She was with her protector of the time, + Lord Buckhurst, who, of course, recognized his majesty. + </p> + <p> + Presently the whole party went out to a neighboring coffee-house, where + they drank and ate together. When it came time to pay the reckoning the + king found that he had no money, nor had his friend. Lord Buckhurst, + therefore, paid the bill, while Mistress Nell jeered at the other two, + saying that this was the most poverty-stricken party that she had ever + met. + </p> + <p> + Charles did not lose sight of her. Her frankness and honest manner pleased + him. There came a time when she was known to be a mistress of the king, + and she bore a son, who was ennobled as the Duke of St. Albans, but who + did not live to middle age. Nell Gwyn was much with Charles; and after his + tempestuous scenes with Barbara Villiers, and the feeling of dishonor + which the Duchess of Portsmouth made him experience, the girl's good + English bluntness was a pleasure far more rare than sentiment. + </p> + <p> + Somehow, just as the people had come to mistrust "Madam Carwell," so they + came to like Nell Gwyn. She saw enough of Charles, and she liked him well + enough, to wish that he might do his duty by his people; and she alone had + the boldness to speak out what she thought. One day she found him lolling + in an arm-chair and complaining that the people were not satisfied. + </p> + <p> + "You can very easily satisfy them," said Nell Gwyn. "Dismiss your women + and attend to the proper business of a king." + </p> + <p> + Again, her heart was touched at the misfortunes of the old soldiers who + had fought for Charles and for his father during the Civil War, and who + were now neglected, while the treasury was emptied for French favorites, + and while the policy of England itself was bought and sold in France. Many + and many a time, when other women of her kind used their lures to get + jewels or titles or estates or actual heaps of money, Nell Gwyn besought + the king to aid these needy veterans. Because of her efforts Chelsea + Hospital was founded. Such money as she had she shared with the poor and + with those who had fought for her royal lover. + </p> + <p> + As I have said, she is a historical type of the woman who loses her + physical purity, yet who retains a sense of honor and of honesty which + nothing can take from her. There are not many such examples, and therefore + this one is worth remembering. + </p> + <p> + Of anecdotes concerning her there are many, but not often has their real + import been detected. If she could twine her arms about the monarch's neck + and transport him in a delirium of passion, this was only part of what she + did. She tried to keep him right and true and worthy of his rank; and + after he had ceased to care much for her as a lover he remembered that she + had been faithful in many other things. + </p> + <p> + Then there came the death-bed scene, when Charles, in his inimitable + manner, apologized to those about him because he was so long in dying. A + far sincerer sentence was that which came from his heart, as he cried out, + in the very pangs of death: + </p> + <p> + "Do not let poor Nelly starve!" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR + </h2> + <p> + It is an old saying that to every womanly woman self-sacrifice is almost a + necessity of her nature. To make herself of small account as compared with + the one she loves; to give freely of herself, even though she may receive + nothing in return; to suffer, and yet to feel an inner poignant joy in all + this suffering—here is a most wonderful trait of womanhood. Perhaps + it is akin to the maternal instinct; for to the mother, after she has felt + the throb of a new life within her, there is no sacrifice so great and no + anguish so keen that she will not welcome it as the outward sign and + evidence of her illimitable love. + </p> + <p> + In most women this spirit of self-sacrifice is checked and kept within + ordinary bounds by the circumstances of their lives. In many small things + they do yield and they do suffer; yet it is not in yielding and in + suffering that they find their deepest joy. + </p> + <p> + There are some, however, who seem to have been born with an abnormal + capacity for enduring hardship and mental anguish; so that by a sort of + contradiction they find their happiness in sorrow. Such women are endowed + with a remarkable degree of sensibility. They feel intensely. In moments + of grief and disappointment, and even of despair, there steals over them a + sort of melancholy pleasure. It is as if they loved dim lights and + mournful music and scenes full of sad suggestion. + </p> + <p> + If everything goes well with them, they are unwilling to believe that such + good fortune will last. If anything goes wrong with them, they are sure + that this is only the beginning of something even worse. The music of + their lives is written in a minor key. + </p> + <p> + Now, for such women as these, the world at large has very little charity. + It speaks slightingly of them as "agonizers." It believes that they are + "fond of making scenes." It regards as an affectation something that is + really instinctive and inevitable. Unless such women are beautiful and + young and charming they are treated badly; and this is often true in spite + of all their natural attractiveness, for they seem to court ill usage as + if they were saying frankly: + </p> + <p> + "Come, take us! We will give you everything and ask for nothing. We do not + expect true and enduring love. Do not be constant or generous or even + kind. We know that we shall suffer. But, none the less, in our sorrow + there will be sweetness, and even in our abasement we shall feel a sort of + triumph." + </p> + <p> + In history there is one woman who stands out conspicuously as a type of + her melancholy sisterhood, one whose life was full of disappointment even + when she was most successful, and of indignity even when she was most + sought after and admired. This woman was Adrienne Lecouvreur, famous in + the annals of the stage, and still more famous in the annals of unrequited—or, + at any rate, unhappy—love. + </p> + <p> + Her story is linked with that of a man no less remarkable than herself, a + hero of chivalry, a marvel of courage, of fascination, and of + irresponsibility. + </p> + <p> + Adrienne Lecouvreur—her name was originally Couvreur—was born + toward the end of the seventeenth century in the little French village of + Damery, not far from Rheims, where her aunt was a laundress and her father + a hatter in a small way. Of her mother, who died in childbirth, we know + nothing; but her father was a man of gloomy and ungovernable temper, + breaking out into violent fits of passion, in one of which, long + afterward, he died, raving and yelling like a maniac. + </p> + <p> + Adrienne was brought up at the wash-tub, and became accustomed to a + wandering life, in which she went from one town to another. What she had + inherited from her mother is, of course, not known; but she had all her + father's strangely pessimistic temper, softened only by the fact that she + was a girl. From her earliest years she was unhappy; yet her unhappiness + was largely of her own choosing. Other girls of her own station met life + cheerfully, worked away from dawn till dusk, and then had their moments of + amusement, and even jollity, with their companions, after the fashion of + all children. But Adrienne Lecouvreur was unhappy because she chose to be. + It was not the wash-tub that made her so, for she had been born to it; nor + was it the half-mad outbreaks of her father, because to her, at least, he + was not unkind. Her discontent sprang from her excessive sensibility. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, for a peasant child she had reason to think herself far more + fortunate than her associates. Her intelligence was great. Ambition was + awakened in her before she was ten years of age, when she began to learn + and to recite poems—learning them, as has been said, "between the + wash-tub and the ironing-board," and reciting them to the admiration of + older and wiser people than she. Even at ten she was a very beautiful + child, with great lambent eyes, an exquisite complexion, and a lovely + form, while she had the further gift of a voice that thrilled the listener + and, when she chose, brought tears to every eye. She was, indeed, a + natural elocutionist, knowing by instinct all those modulations of tone + and varied cadences which go to the hearer's heart. + </p> + <p> + It was very like Adrienne Lecouvreur to memorize only such poems as were + mournful, just as in after life she could win success upon the stage only + in tragic parts. She would repeat with a sort of ecstasy the pathetic + poems that were then admired; and she was soon able to give up her menial + work, because many people asked her to their houses so that they could + listen to the divinely beautiful voice charged with the emotion which was + always at her command. + </p> + <p> + When she was thirteen her father moved to Paris, where she was placed at + school—a very humble school in a very humble quarter of the city. + Yet even there her genius showed itself at that early age. A number of + children and young people, probably influenced by Adrienne, formed + themselves into a theatrical company from the pure love of acting. A + friendly grocer let them have an empty store-room for their performances, + and in this store-room Adrienne Lecouvreur first acted in a tragedy by + Corneille, assuming the part of leading woman. + </p> + <p> + Her genius for the stage was like the genius of Napoleon for war. She had + had no teaching. She had never been inside of any theater; and yet she + delivered the magnificent lines with all the power and fire and + effectiveness of a most accomplished actress. People thronged to see her + and to feel the tempest of emotion which shook her as she sustained her + part, which for the moment was as real to her as life itself. + </p> + <p> + At first only the people of the neighborhood knew anything about these + amateur performances; but presently a lady of rank, one Mme. du Gue, came + out of curiosity and was fascinated by the little actress. Mme. du Gue + offered the spacious courtyard of her own house, and fitted it with some + of the appurtenances of a theater. From that moment the fame of Adrienne + spread throughout all Paris. The courtyard was crowded by gentlemen and + ladies, by people of distinction from the court, and at last even by + actors and actresses from the Comedie Franchise. + </p> + <p> + It is, in fact, a remarkable tribute to Adrienne that in her thirteenth + year she excited so much jealousy among the actors of the Comedie that + they evoked the law against her. Theaters required a royal license, and of + course poor little Adrienne's company had none. Hence legal proceedings + were begun, and the most famous actresses in Paris talked of having these + clever children imprisoned! Upon this the company sought the precincts of + the Temple, where no legal warrant could be served without the express + order of the king himself. + </p> + <p> + There for a time the performances still went on. Finally, as the other + children were not geniuses, but merely boys and girls in search of fun, + the little company broke up. Its success, however, had determined for ever + the career of Adrienne. With her beautiful face, her lithe and exquisite + figure, her golden voice, and her instinctive art, it was plain enough + that her future lay upon the stage; and so at fourteen or fifteen she + began where most actresses leave off—accomplished and attractive, + and having had a practical training in her profession. + </p> + <p> + Diderot, in that same century, observed that the truest actor is one who + does not feel his part at all, but produces his effects by intellectual + effort and intelligent observation. Behind the figure on the stage, torn + with passion or rollicking with mirth, there must always be the cool and + unemotional mind which directs and governs and controls. This same theory + was both held and practised by the late Benoit Constant Coquelin. To some + extent it was the theory of Garrick and Fechter and Edwin Booth; though it + was rejected by the two Keans, and by Edwin Forrest, who entered so + throughly into the character which he assumed, and who let loose such + tremendous bursts of passion that other actors dreaded to support him on + the stage in such parts as Spartacus and Metamora. + </p> + <p> + It is needless to say that a girl like Adrienne Lecouvreur flung herself + with all the intensity of her nature into every role she played. This was + the greatest secret of her success; for, with her, nature rose superior to + art. On the other hand, it fixed her dramatic limitations, for it barred + her out of comedy. Her melancholy, morbid disposition was in the fullest + sympathy with tragic heroines; but she failed when she tried to represent + the lighter moods and the merry moments of those who welcome mirth. She + could counterfeit despair, and unforced tears would fill her eyes; but she + could not laugh and romp and simulate a gaiety that was never hers. + </p> + <p> + Adrienne would have been delighted to act at one of the theaters in Paris; + but they were closed to her through jealousy. She went into the provinces, + in the eastern part of France, and for ten years she was a leading lady + there in many companies and in many towns. As she blossomed into womanhood + there came into her life the love which was to be at once a source of the + most profound interest and of the most intense agony. + </p> + <p> + It is odd that all her professional success never gave her any happiness. + The life of the actress who traveled from town to town, the crude and + coarse experiences which she had to undergo, the disorder and the + unsettled mode of living, all produced in her a profound disgust. She was + of too exquisite a fiber to live in such a way, especially in a century + when the refinements of existence were for the very few. + </p> + <p> + She speaks herself of "obligatory amusements, the insistence of men, and + of love affairs." Yet how could such a woman as Adrienne Lecouvreur keep + herself from love affairs? The motion of the stage and its mimic griefs + satisfied her only while she was actually upon the boards. Love offered + her an emotional excitement that endured and that was always changing. It + was "the profoundest instinct of her being"; and she once wrote: "What + could one do in the world without loving?" + </p> + <p> + Still, through these ten years she seems to have loved only that she might + be unhappy. There was a strange twist in her mind. Men who were honorable + and who loved her with sincerity she treated very badly. Men who were + indifferent or ungrateful or actually base she seemed to choose by a sort + of perverse instinct. Perhaps the explanation of it is that during those + ten years, though she had many lovers, she never really loved. She sought + excitement, passion, and after that the mournfulness which comes when + passion dies. Thus, one man after another came into her life—some of + them promising marriage—and she bore two children, whose fathers + were unknown, or at least uncertain. But, after all, one can scarcely pity + her, since she had not yet in reality known that great passion which comes + but once in life. So far she had learned only a sort of feeble cynicism, + which she expressed in letters and in such sayings as these: + </p> + <p> + "There are sweet errors which I would not venture to commit again. My + experiences, all too sad, have served to illumine my reason." + </p> + <p> + "I am utterly weary of love and prodigiously tempted to have no more of it + for the rest of my life; because, after all, I don't wish either to die or + to go mad." + </p> + <p> + Yet she also said: "I know too well that no one dies of grief." + </p> + <p> + She had had, indeed, some very unfortunate experiences. Men of rank had + loved her and had then cast her off. An actor, one Clavel, would have + married her, but she would not accept his offer. A magistrate in Strasburg + promised marriage; and then, when she was about to accept him, he wrote to + her that he was going to yield to the wishes of his family and make a more + advantageous alliance. And so she was alternately caressed and repulsed—a + mere plaything; and yet this was probably all that she really needed at + the time—something to stir her, something to make her mournful or + indignant or ashamed. + </p> + <p> + It was inevitable that at last Adrienne Lecouvreur should appear in Paris. + She had won such renown throughout the provinces that even those who were + intensely jealous of her were obliged to give her due consideration. In + 1717, when she was in her twenty-fifth year, she became a member of the + Comedie Franchise. There she made an immediate and most brilliant + impression. She easily took the leading place. She was one of the glories + of Paris, for she became the fashion outside the theater. For the first + time the great classic plays were given, not in the monotonous singsong + which had become a sort of theatrical convention, but with all the fire + and naturalness of life. + </p> + <p> + Being the fashion, Mlle. Lecouvreur elevated the social rank of actors and + of actresses. Her salon was thronged by men and women of rank. Voltaire + wrote poems in her honor. To be invited to her dinners was almost like + receiving a decoration from the king. She ought to have been happy, for + she had reached the summit of her profession and something more. + </p> + <p> + Yet still she was unhappy. In all her letters one finds a plaintive tone, + a little moaning sound that shows how slightly her nature had been + changed. No longer, however, did she throw herself away upon dullards or + brutes. An English peer—Lord Peterborough—not realizing that + she was different from other actresses of that loose-lived age, said to + her coarsely at his first introduction: + </p> + <p> + "Come now! Show me lots of wit and lots of love." + </p> + <p> + The remark was characteristic of the time. Yet Adrienne had learned at + least one thing, and that was the discontent which came from light + affairs. She had thrown herself away too often. If she could not love with + her entire being, if she could not give all that was in her to be given, + whether of her heart or mind or soul, then she would love no more at all. + </p> + <p> + At this time there came to Paris a man remarkable in his own century, and + one who afterward became almost a hero of romance. This was Maurice, Comte + de Saxe, as the French called him, his German name and title being Moritz, + Graf von Sachsen, while we usually term him, in English, Marshal Saxe. + Maurice de Saxe was now, in 1721, entering his twenty-fifth year. Already, + though so young, his career had been a strange one; and it was destined to + be still more remarkable. He was the natural son of Duke Augustus II. of + Saxony, who later became King of Poland, and who is known in history as + Augustus the Strong. + </p> + <p> + Augustus was a giant in stature and in strength, handsome, daring, + unscrupulous, and yet extremely fascinating. His life was one of revelry + and fighting and display. When in his cups he would often call for a + horseshoe and twist it into a knot with his powerful fingers. Many were + his mistresses; but the one for whom he cared the most was a beautiful and + high-spirited Swedish girl of rank, Aurora von Konigsmarck. She was + descended from a rough old field-marshal who in the Thirty Years' War had + slashed and sacked and pillaged and plundered to his heart's content. From + him Aurora von Konigsmarck seemed to have inherited a high spirit and a + sort of lawlessness which charmed the stalwart Augustus of Poland. + </p> + <p> + Their son, Maurice de Saxe, inherited everything that was good in his + parents, and a great deal that was less commendable. As a mere child of + twelve he had insisted on joining the army of Prince Eugene, and had seen + rough service in a very strenuous campaign. Two years later he showed such + daring on the battle-field that Prince Eugene summoned him and paid him a + compliment under the form of a rebuke. + </p> + <p> + "Young man," he said, "you must not mistake mere recklessness for valor." + </p> + <p> + Before he was twenty he had attained the stature and strength of his royal + father; and, to prove it, he in his turn called for a horseshoe, which he + twisted and broke in his fingers. He fought on the side of the Russians + and Poles, and again against the Turks, everywhere displaying high courage + and also genius as a commander; for he never lost his self-possession amid + the very blackest danger, but possessed, as Carlyle says, "vigilance, + foresight, and sagacious precaution." + </p> + <p> + Exceedingly handsome, Maurice was a master of all the arts that pleased, + with just a touch of roughness, which seemed not unfitting in so gallant a + soldier. His troops adored him and would follow wherever he might choose + to lead them; for he exercised over these rude men a magnetic power + resembling that of Napoleon in after years. In private life he was a hard + drinker and fond of every form of pleasure. Having no fortune of his own, + a marriage was arranged for him with the Countess von Loben, who was + immensely wealthy; but in three years he had squandered all her money upon + his pleasures, and had, moreover, got himself heavily in debt. + </p> + <p> + It was at this time that he first came to Paris to study military tactics. + He had fought hard against the French in the wars that were now ended; but + his chivalrous bearing, his handsome person, and his reckless joviality + made him at once a universal favorite in Paris. To the perfumed courtiers, + with their laces and lovelocks and mincing ways, Maurice de Saxe came as a + sort of knight of old—jovial, daring, pleasure-loving. Even his + broken French was held to be quite charming; and to see him break a + horseshoe with his fingers threw every one into raptures. + </p> + <p> + No wonder, then, that he was welcomed in the very highest circles. Almost + at once he attracted the notice of the Princesse de Conti, a beautiful + woman of the blood royal. Of her it has been said that she was "the + personification of a kiss, the incarnation of an embrace, the ideal of a + dream of love." Her chestnut hair was tinted with little gleams of gold. + Her eyes were violet black. Her complexion was dazzling. But by the king's + orders she had been forced to marry a hunchback—a man whose very + limbs were so weakened by disease and evil living that they would often + fail to support him, and he would fall to the ground, a writhing, + screaming mass of ill-looking flesh. + </p> + <p> + It is not surprising that his lovely wife should have shuddered much at + his abuse of her and still more at his grotesque endearments. When her + eyes fell on Maurice de Saxe she saw in him one who could free her from + her bondage. By a skilful trick he led the Prince de Conti to invade the + sleeping-room of the princess, with servants, declaring that she was not + alone. The charge proved quite untrue, and so she left her husband, having + won the sympathy of her own world, which held that she had been insulted. + But it was not she who was destined to win and hold the love of Maurice de + Saxe. + </p> + <p> + Not long after his appearance in the French capital he was invited to dine + with the "Queen of Paris," Adrienne Lecouvreur. Saxe had seen her on the + stage. He knew her previous history. He knew that she was very much of a + soiled dove; but when he met her these two natures, so utterly dissimilar, + leaped together, as it were, through the indescribable attraction of + opposites. He was big and powerful; she was small and fragile. He was + merry, and full of quips and jests; she was reserved and melancholy. Each + felt in the other a need supplied. + </p> + <p> + At one of their earliest meetings the climax came. Saxe was not the man to + hesitate; while she already, in her thoughts, had made a full surrender. + In one great sweep he gathered her into his arms. It appeared to her as if + no man had ever laid his hand upon her until that moment. She cried out: + </p> + <p> + "Now, for the first time in my life, I seem to live!" + </p> + <p> + It was, indeed, the very first love which in her checkered career was + really worthy of the name. She had supposed that all such things were + passed and gone, that her heart was closed for ever, that she was + invulnerable; and yet here she found herself clinging about the neck of + this impetuous soldier and showing him all the shy fondness and the + unselfish devotion of a young girl. From this instant Adrienne Lecouvreur + never loved another man and never even looked at any other man with the + slightest interest. For nine long years the two were bound together, + though there were strange events to ruffle the surface of their love. + </p> + <p> + Maurice de Saxe had been sired by a king. He had the lofty ambition to be + a king himself, and he felt the stirrings of that genius which in after + years was to make him a great soldier, and to win the brilliant victory of + Fontenoy, which to this very day the French are never tired of recalling. + Already Louis XV. had made him a marshal of France; and a certain + restlessness came over him. He loved Adrienne; yet he felt that to remain + in the enjoyment of her witcheries ought not to be the whole of a man's + career. + </p> + <p> + Then the Grand Duchy of Courland—at that time a vassal state of + Poland, now part of Russia—sought a ruler. Maurice de Saxe was eager + to secure its throne, which would make him at least semi-royal and the + chief of a principality. He hastened thither and found that money was + needed to carry out his plans. The widow of the late duke—the Grand + Duchess Anna, niece of Peter the Great, and later Empress of Russia—as + soon as she had met this dazzling genius, offered to help him to acquire + the duchy if he would only marry her. He did not utterly refuse. Still + another woman of high rank, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, Peter + the Great's daughter, made him very much the same proposal. + </p> + <p> + Both of these imperial women might well have attracted a man like Maurice + de Saxe, had he been wholly fancy-free, for the second of them inherited + the high spirit and the genius of the great Peter, while the first was a + pleasure-seeking princess, resembling some of those Roman empresses who + loved to stoop that they might conquer. She is described as indolent and + sensual, and she once declared that the chief good in the world was love. + Yet, though she neglected affairs of state and gave them over to + favorites, she won and kept the affections of her people. She was + unquestionably endowed with the magnetic gift of winning hearts. + </p> + <p> + Adrienne, who was left behind in Paris, knew very little of what was going + on. Only two things were absolutely clear to her. One was that if her + lover secured the duchy he must be parted from her. The other was that + without money his ambition must be thwarted, and that he would then return + to her. Here was a test to try the soul of any woman. It proved the height + and the depth of her devotion. Come what might, Maurice should be Duke of + Courland, even though she lost him. She gathered together her whole + fortune, sold every jewel that she possessed, and sent her lover the sum + of nearly a million francs. + </p> + <p> + This incident shows how absolutely she was his. But in fact, because of + various intrigues, he failed of election to the ducal throne of Courland, + and he returned to Adrienne with all her money spent, and without even the + grace, at first, to show his gratitude. He stormed and raged over his ill + luck. She merely soothed and petted him, though she had heard that he had + thought of marrying another woman to secure the dukedom. In one of her + letters she bursts out with the pitiful exclamation: + </p> + <p> + I am distracted with rage and anguish. Is it not natural to cry out + against such treachery? This man surely ought to know me—he ought to + love me. Oh, my God! What are we—what ARE we? + </p> + <p> + But still she could not give him up, nor could he give her up, though + there were frightful scenes between them—times when he cruelly + reproached her and when her native melancholy deepened into outbursts of + despair. Finally there occurred an incident which is more or less obscure + in parts. The Duchesse de Bouillon, a great lady of the court—facile, + feline, licentious, and eager for delights—resolved that she would + win the love of Maurice de Saxe. She set herself to win it openly and + without any sense of shame. Maurice himself at times, when the tears of + Adrienne proved wearisome, flirted with the duchess. + </p> + <p> + Yet, even so, Adrienne held the first place in his heart, and her rival + knew it. Therefore she resolved to humiliate Adrienne, and to do so in the + place where the actress had always reigned supreme. There was to be a gala + performance of Racine's great tragedy, "Phedre," with Adrienne, of course, + in the title-role. The Duchesse de Bouillon sent a large number of her + lackeys with orders to hiss and jeer, and, if possible, to break off the + play. Malignantly delighted with her plan, the duchess arrayed herself in + jewels and took her seat in a conspicuous stage-box, where she could watch + the coming storm and gloat over the discomfiture of her rival. + </p> + <p> + When the curtain rose, and when Adrienne appeared as Phedre, an uproar + began. It was clear to the great actress that a plot had been devised + against her. In an instant her whole soul was afire. The queen-like + majesty of her bearing compelled silence throughout the house. Even the + hired lackeys were overawed by it. Then Adrienne moved swiftly across the + stage and fronted her enemy, speaking into her very face the three + insulting lines which came to her at that moment of the play: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + I am not of those women void of shame, + Who, savoring in crime the joys of peace, + Harden their faces till they cannot blush! +</pre> + <p> + The whole house rose and burst forth into tremendous applause. Adrienne + had won, for the woman who had tried to shame her rose in trepidation and + hurried from the theater. + </p> + <p> + But the end was not yet. Those were evil times, when dark deeds were + committed by the great almost with impunity. Secret poisoning was a common + trade. To remove a rival was as usual a thing in the eighteenth century as + to snub a rival is usual in the twentieth. + </p> + <p> + Not long afterward, on the night of March 15, 1730, Adrienne Lecouvreur + was acting in one of Voltaire's plays with all her power and instinctive + art when suddenly she was seized with the most frightful pains. Her + anguish was obvious to every one who saw her, and yet she had the courage + to go through her part. Then she fainted and was carried home. + </p> + <p> + Four days later she died, and her death was no less dramatic than her life + had been. Her lover and two friends of his were with her, and also a + Jesuit priest. He declined to administer extreme unction unless she would + declare that she repented of her theatrical career. She stubbornly + refused, since she believed that to be the greatest actress of her time + was not a sin. Yet still the priest insisted. + </p> + <p> + Then came the final moment. + </p> + <p> + "Weary and revolting against this death, this destiny, she stretched her + arms with one of the old lovely gestures toward a bust which stood near by + and cried—her last cry of passion: + </p> + <p> + "'There is my world, my hope—yes, and my God!'" + </p> + <p> + The bust was one of Maurice de Saxe. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART + </h2> + <p> + The royal families of Europe are widely known, yet not all of them are + equally renowned. Thus, the house of Romanoff, although comparatively + young, stands out to the mind with a sort of barbaric power, more vividly + than the Austrian house of Hapsburg, which is the oldest reigning family + in Europe, tracing its beginnings backward until they are lost in the Dark + Ages. The Hohenzollerns of Prussia are comparatively modern, so far as + concerns their royalty. The offshoots of the Bourbons carry on a very + proud tradition in the person of the King of Spain, although France, which + has been ruled by so many members of the family, will probably never again + behold a Bourbon king. The deposed Braganzas bear a name which is ancient, + but which has a somewhat tinsel sound. + </p> + <p> + The Bonapartes, of course, are merely parvenus, and they have had the good + taste to pretend to no antiquity of birth. The first Napoleon, dining at a + table full of monarchs, when he heard one of them deferentially alluding + to the Bonaparte family as being very old and noble, exclaimed: + </p> + <p> + "Pish! My nobility dates from the day of Marengo!" + </p> + <p> + And the third Napoleon, in announcing his coming marriage with Mlle. de + Montijo, used the very word "parvenu" in speaking of himself and of his + family. His frankness won the hearts of the French people and helped to + reconcile them to a marriage in which the bride was barely noble. + </p> + <p> + In English history there are two great names to conjure by, at least to + the imaginative. One is Plantagenet, which seems to contain within itself + the very essence of all that is patrician, magnificent, and royal. It + calls to memory at once the lion-hearted Richard, whose short reign was + replete with romance in England and France and Austria and the Holy Land. + </p> + <p> + But perhaps a name of greater influence is that which links the royal + family of Britain today with the traditions of the past, and which summons + up legend and story and great deeds of history. This is the name of + Stuart, about which a whole volume might be written to recall its + suggestions and its reminiscences. + </p> + <p> + The first Stuart (then Stewart) of whom anything is known got his name + from the title of "Steward of Scotland," which remained in the family for + generations, until the sixth of the line, by marriage with Princess + Marjory Bruce, acquired the Scottish crown. That was in the early years of + the fourteenth century; and finally, after the death of Elizabeth of + England, her rival's son, James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, united + under one crown two kingdoms that had so long been at almost constant war. + </p> + <p> + It is almost characteristic of the Scot that, having small territory, + little wealth, and a seat among his peers that is almost ostentatiously + humble, he should bit by bit absorb the possessions of all the rest and + become their master. Surely, the proud Tudors, whose line ended with + Elizabeth, must have despised the "Stewards," whose kingdom was small and + bleak and cold, and who could not control their own vassals. + </p> + <p> + One can imagine also, with Sir Walter Scott, the haughty nobles of the + English court sneering covertly at the awkward, shambling James, pedant + and bookworm. Nevertheless, his diplomacy was almost as good as that of + Elizabeth herself; and, though he did some foolish things, he was very far + from being a fool. + </p> + <p> + In his appearance James was not unlike Abraham Lincoln—an unkingly + figure; and yet, like Lincoln, when occasion required it he could rise to + the dignity which makes one feel the presence of a king. He was the only + Stuart who lacked anything in form or feature or external grace. His son, + Charles I., was perhaps one of the worst rulers that England has ever had; + yet his uprightness of life, his melancholy yet handsome face, his + graceful bearing, and the strong religious element in his character, + together with the fact that he was put to death after being treacherously + surrendered to his enemies—all these have combined to make almost a + saint of him. There are Englishmen to-day who speak of him as "the martyr + king," and who, on certain days of the year, say prayers that beg the + Lord's forgiveness because of Charles's execution. + </p> + <p> + The members of the so-called League of the White Rose, founded to + perpetuate English allegiance to the direct line of Stuarts, do many + things that are quite absurd. They refuse to pray for the present King of + England and profess to think that the Princess Mary of Bavaria is the true + ruler of Great Britain. All this represents that trace of sentiment which + lingers among the English to-day. They feel that the Stuarts were the last + kings of England to rule by the grace of God rather than by the grace of + Parliament. As a matter of fact, the present reigning family in England is + glad to derive its ancient strain of royal blood through a Stuart—descended + on the distaff side from James I., and winding its way through Hanover. + </p> + <p> + This sentiment for the Stuarts is a thing entirely apart from reason and + belongs to the realm of poetry and romance; yet so strong is it that it + has shown itself in the most inconsistent fashion. For instance, Sir + Walter Scott was a devoted adherent of the house of Hanover. When George + IV. visited Edinburgh, Scott was completely carried away by his loyal + enthusiasm. He could not see that the man before him was a drunkard and + braggart. He viewed him as an incarnation of all the noble traits that + ought to hedge about a king. He snatched up a wine-glass from which George + had just been drinking and carried it away to be an object of reverence + for ever after. Nevertheless, in his heart, and often in his speech, Scott + seemed to be a high Tory, and even a Jacobite. + </p> + <p> + There are precedents for this. The Empress Eugenie used often to say with + a laugh that she was the only true royalist at the imperial court of + France. That was well enough for her in her days of flightiness and + frivolity. No one, however, accused Queen Victoria of being frivolous, and + she was not supposed to have a strong sense of humor. None the less, after + listening to the skirling of the bagpipes and to the romantic ballads + which were sung in Scotland she is said to have remarked with a sort of + sigh: + </p> + <p> + "Whenever I hear those ballads I feel that England belongs really to the + Stuarts!" + </p> + <p> + Before Queen Victoria was born, when all the sons of George III. were + childless, the Duke of Kent was urged to marry, so that he might have a + family to continue the succession. In resenting the suggestion he said + many things, and among them this was the most striking: + </p> + <p> + "Why don't you call the Stuarts back to England? They couldn't possibly + make a worse mess of it than our fellows have!" + </p> + <p> + But he yielded to persuasion and married. From this marriage came + Victoria, who had the sacred drop of Stuart blood which gave England to + the Hanoverians; and she was to redeem the blunders and tyrannies of both + houses. + </p> + <p> + The fascination of the Stuarts, which has been carried overseas to America + and the British dominions, probably began with the striking history of + Mary Queen of Scots. Her brilliancy and boldness and beauty, and + especially the pathos of her end, have made us see only her intense + womanliness, which in her own day was the first thing that any one + observed in her. So, too, with Charles I., romantic figure and knightly + gentleman. One regrets his death upon the scaffold, even though his + execution was necessary to the growth of freedom. + </p> + <p> + Many people are no less fascinated by Charles II., that very different + type, with his gaiety, his good-fellowship, and his easy-going ways. It is + not surprising that his people, most of whom never saw him, were very fond + of him, and did not know that he was selfish, a loose liver, and almost a + vassal of the king of France. + </p> + <p> + So it is not strange that the Stuarts, with all their arts and graces, + were very hard to displace. James II., with the aid of the French, fought + hard before the British troops in Ireland broke the backs of both his + armies and sent him into exile. Again in 1715—an episode perpetuated + in Thackeray's dramatic story of Henry Esmond—came the son of James + to take advantage of the vacancy caused by the death of Queen Anne. But it + is perhaps to this claimant's son, the last of the militant Stuarts, that + more chivalrous feeling has been given than to any other. + </p> + <p> + To his followers he was the Young Chevalier, the true Prince of Wales; to + his enemies, the Whigs and the Hanoverians, he was "the Pretender." One of + the most romantic chapters of history is the one which tells of that last + brilliant dash which he made upon the coast of Scotland, landing with but + a few attendants and rejecting the support of a French army. + </p> + <p> + "It is not with foreigners," he said, "but with my own loyal subjects, + that I wish to regain the kingdom for my father." + </p> + <p> + It was a daring deed, and the spectacular side of it has been often + commemorated, especially in Sir Walter Scott's Waverley. There we see the + gallant prince moving through a sort of military panorama. Most of the + British troops were absent in Flanders, and the few regiments that could + be mustered to meet him were appalled by the ferocity and reckless courage + of the Highlanders, who leaped down like wildcats from their hills and + flung themselves with dirk and sword upon the British cannon. + </p> + <p> + We see Sir John Cope retiring at Falkirk, and the astonishing victory of + Prestonpans, where disciplined British troops fled in dismay through the + morning mist, leaving artillery and supplies behind them. It is Scott + again who shows us the prince, master of Edinburgh for a time, while the + white rose of Stuart royalty held once more the ancient keep above the + Scottish capital. Then we see the Chevalier pressing southward into + England, where he hoped to raise an English army to support his own. But + his Highlanders cared nothing for England, and the English—even the + Catholic gentry—would not rise to support his cause. + </p> + <p> + Personally, he had every gift that could win allegiance. Handsome, + high-tempered, and brave, he could also control his fiery spirit and + listen to advice, however unpalatable it might be. + </p> + <p> + The time was favorable. The British troops had been defeated on the + Continent by Marshal Saxe, of whom I have already written, and by Marshal + d'Estrees. George II. was a king whom few respected. He could scarcely + speak anything but German. He grossly ill-treated his wife. It is said + that on one occasion, in a fit of temper, he actually kicked the prime + minister. Not many felt any personal loyalty to him, and he spent most of + his time away from England in his other domain of Hanover. + </p> + <p> + But precisely here was a reason why Englishmen were willing to put up with + him. As between him and the brilliant Stuart there would have been no + hesitation had the choice been merely one of men; but it was believed that + the return of the Stuarts meant the return of something like absolute + government, of taxation without sanction of law, and of religious + persecution. Under the Hanoverian George the English people had begun to + exercise a considerable measure of self-government. Sharp opposition in + Parliament compelled him time and again to yield; and when he was in + Hanover the English were left to work out the problem of free government. + </p> + <p> + Hence, although Prince Charles Edward fascinated all who met him, and + although a small army was raised for his support, still the unromantic, + common-sense Englishmen felt that things were better than in the days gone + by, and most of them refused to take up arms for the cause which + sentimentally they favored. Therefore, although the Chevalier stirred all + England and sent a thrill through the officers of state in London, his + soldiers gradually deserted, and the Scots insisted on returning to their + own country. Although the Stuart troops reached a point as far south as + Derby, they were soon pushed backward into Scotland, pursued by an army of + about nine thousand men under the Duke of Cumberland, son of George II. + </p> + <p> + Cumberland was no soldier; he had been soundly beaten by the French on the + famous field of Fontenoy. Yet he had firmness and a sort of overmastering + brutality, which, with disciplined troops and abundant artillery, were + sufficient to win a victory over the untrained Highlanders. + </p> + <p> + When the battle came five thousand of these mountaineers went roaring + along the English lines, with the Chevalier himself at their head. For a + moment there was surprise. The Duke of Cumberland had been drinking so + heavily that he could give no verbal orders. One of his officers, however, + is said to have come to him in his tent, where he was trying to play + cards. + </p> + <p> + "What disposition shall we make of the prisoners?" asked the officer. + </p> + <p> + The duke tried to reply, but his utterance was very thick. + </p> + <p> + "No quarter!" he was believed to say. + </p> + <p> + The officer objected and begged that such an order as that should be given + in writing. The duke rolled over and seized a sheaf of playing-cards. + Pulling one out, he scrawled the necessary order, and that was taken to + the commanders in the field. + </p> + <p> + The Highlanders could not stand the cannon fire, and the English won. Then + the fury of the common soldiery broke loose upon the country. + </p> + <p> + There was a reign of fantastic and fiendish brutality. One provost of the + town was violently kicked for a mild remonstrance about the destruction of + the Episcopalian meeting-house; another was condemned to clean out dirty + stables. Men and women were whipped and tortured on slight suspicion or to + extract information. Cumberland frankly professed his contempt and hatred + of the people among whom he found himself, but he savagely punished + robberies committed by private soldiers for their own profit. + </p> + <p> + "Mild measures will not do," he wrote to Newcastle. + </p> + <p> + When leaving the North in July, he said: + </p> + <p> + "All the good we have done is but a little blood-letting, which has only + weakened the madness, but not at all cured it; and I tremble to fear that + this vile spot may still be the ruin of this island and of our family." + </p> + <p> + Such was the famous battle of Culloden, fought in 1746, and putting a + final end to the hopes of all the Stuarts. As to Cumberland's order for + "No quarter," if any apology can be made for such brutality, it must be + found in the fact that the Highland chiefs had on their side agreed to + spare no captured enemy. + </p> + <p> + The battle has also left a name commonly given to the nine of diamonds, + which is called "the curse of Scotland," because it is said that on that + card Cumberland wrote his bloodthirsty order. + </p> + <p> + Such, in brief, was the story of Prince Charlie's gallant attempt to + restore the kingdom of his ancestors. Even when defeated, he would not at + once leave Scotland. A French squadron appeared off the coast near + Edinburgh. It had been sent to bring him troops and a large supply of + money, but he turned his back upon it and made his way into the Highlands + on foot, closely pursued by English soldiers and Lowland spies. + </p> + <p> + This part of his career is in reality the most romantic of all. He was + hunted closely, almost as by hounds. For weeks he had only such sleep as + he could snatch during short periods of safety, and there were times when + his pursuers came within an inch of capturing him. But never in his life + were his spirits so high. + </p> + <p> + It was a sort of life that he had never seen before, climbing the mighty + rocks, and listening to the thunder of the cataracts, among which he often + slept, with only one faithful follower to guard him. The story of his + escape is almost incredible, but he laughed and drank and rolled upon the + grass when he was free from care. He hobnobbed with the most + suspicious-looking caterans, with whom he drank the smoky brew of the + North, and lived as he might on fish and onions and bacon and wild fowl, + with an appetite such as he had never known at the luxurious court of + Versailles or St.-Germain. + </p> + <p> + After the battle of Culloden the prince would have been captured had not a + Scottish girl named Flora Macdonald met him, caused him to be dressed in + the clothes of her waiting-maid, and thus got him off to the Isle of Skye. + </p> + <p> + There for a time it was impossible to follow him; and there the two lived + almost alone together. Such a proximity could not fail to stir the + romantic feeling of one who was both a youth and a prince. On the other + hand, no thought of love-making seems to have entered Flora's mind. If, + however, we read Campbell's narrative very closely we can see that Prince + Charles made every advance consistent with a delicate remembrance of her + sex and services. + </p> + <p> + It seems to have been his thought that if she cared for him, then the two + might well love; and he gave her every chance to show him favor. The youth + of twenty-five and the girl of twenty-four roamed together in the long, + tufted grass or lay in the sunshine and looked out over the sea. The + prince would rest his head in her lap, and she would tumble his golden + hair with her slender fingers and sometimes clip off tresses which she + preserved to give to friends of hers as love-locks. But to the last he was + either too high or too low for her, according to her own modest thought. + He was a royal prince, the heir to a throne, or else he was a boy with + whom she might play quite fancy-free. A lover he could not be—so + pure and beautiful was her thought of him. + </p> + <p> + These were perhaps the most delightful days of all his life, as they were + a beautiful memory in hers. In time he returned to France and resumed his + place amid the intrigues that surrounded that other Stuart prince who + styled himself James III., and still kept up the appearance of a king in + exile. As he watched the artifice and the plotting of these make-believe + courtiers he may well have thought of his innocent companion of the + Highland wilds. + </p> + <p> + As for Flora, she was arrested and imprisoned for five months on English + vessels of war. After her release she was married, in 1750; and she and + her husband sailed for the American colonies just before the Revolution. + In that war Macdonald became a British officer and served against his + adopted countrymen. Perhaps because of this reason Flora returned alone to + Scotland, where she died at the age of sixty-eight. + </p> + <p> + The royal prince who would have given her his easy love lived a life of + far less dignity in the years that followed his return to France. There + was no more hope of recovering the English throne. For him there were left + only the idle and licentious diversions of such a court as that in which + his father lived. + </p> + <p> + At the death of James III., even this court was disintegrated, and Prince + Charles led a roving life under the title of Earl of Albany. In his + wanderings he met Louise Marie, the daughter of a German prince, Gustavus + Adolphus of Stolberg. She was only nineteen years of age when she first + felt the fascination that he still possessed; but it was an unhappy + marriage for the girl when she discovered that her husband was a confirmed + drunkard. + </p> + <p> + Not long after, in fact, she found her life with him so utterly + intolerable that she persuaded the Pope to allow her a formal separation. + The pontiff intrusted her to her husband's brother, Cardinal York, who + placed her in a convent and presently removed her to his own residence in + Rome. + </p> + <p> + Here begins another romance. She was often visited by Vittorio Alfieri, + the great Italian poet and dramatist. Alfieri was a man of wealth. In + early years he divided his time into alternate periods during which he + either studied hard in civil and canonical law, or was a constant + attendant upon the race-course, or rushed aimlessly all over Europe + without any object except to wear out the post-horses which he used in + relays over hundreds of miles of road. His life, indeed, was eccentric + almost to insanity; but when he had met the beautiful and lonely Countess + of Albany there came over him a striking change. She influenced him for + all that was good, and he used to say that he owed her all that was best + in his dramatic works. + </p> + <p> + Sixteen years after her marriage her royal husband died, a worn-out, + bloated wreck of one who had been as a youth a model of knightliness and + manhood. During his final years he had fallen to utter destitution, and + there was either a touch of half contempt or a feeling of remote kinship + in the act of George III., who bestowed upon the prince an annual pension + of four thousand pounds. It showed most plainly that England was now + consolidated under Hanoverian rule. + </p> + <p> + When Cardinal York died, in 1807, there was no Stuart left in the male + line; and the countess was the last to bear the royal Scottish name of + Albany. + </p> + <p> + After the prince's death his widow is said to have been married to + Alfieri, and for the rest of her life she lived in Florence, though + Alfieri died nearly twenty-one years before her. + </p> + <p> + Here we have seen a part of the romance which attaches itself to the name + of Stuart—in the chivalrous young prince, leading his Highlanders + against the bayonets of the British, lolling idly among the Hebrides, or + fallen, at the last, to be a drunkard and the husband of an unwilling + consort, who in her turn loved a famous poet. But it is this Stuart, after + all, of whom we think when we hear the bagpipes skirling "Over the Water + to Charlie" or "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" + </p> + <p> + END OF VOLUME ONE <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE EMPRESS CATHARINE AND PRINCE POTEMKIN + </h2> + <p> + It has often been said that the greatest Frenchman who ever lived was in + reality an Italian. It might with equal truth be asserted that the + greatest Russian woman who ever lived was in reality a German. But the + Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Catharine II. resemble each other in + something else. Napoleon, though Italian in blood and lineage, made + himself so French in sympathy and understanding as to be able to play upon + the imagination of all France as a great musician plays upon a splendid + instrument, with absolute sureness of touch and an ability to extract from + it every one of its varied harmonies. So the Empress Catharine of Russia—perhaps + the greatest woman who ever ruled a nation—though born of German + parents, became Russian to the core and made herself the embodiment of + Russian feeling and Russian aspiration. + </p> + <p> + At the middle of the eighteenth century Russia was governed by the Empress + Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great. In her own time, and for a long + while afterward, her real capacity was obscured by her apparent indolence, + her fondness for display, and her seeming vacillation; but now a very high + place is accorded her in the history of Russian rulers. She softened the + brutality that had reigned supreme in Russia. She patronized the arts. Her + armies twice defeated Frederick the Great and raided his capital, Berlin. + Had Elizabeth lived, she would probably have crushed him. + </p> + <p> + In her early years this imperial woman had been betrothed to Louis XV. of + France, but the match was broken off. Subsequently she entered into a + morganatic marriage and bore a son who, of course, could not be her heir. + In 1742, therefore, she looked about for a suitable successor, and chose + her nephew, Prince Peter of Holstein-Gottorp. + </p> + <p> + Peter, then a mere youth of seventeen, was delighted with so splendid a + future, and came at once to St. Petersburg. The empress next sought for a + girl who might marry the young prince and thus become the future Czarina. + She thought first of Frederick the Great's sister; but Frederick shrank + from this alliance, though it would have been of much advantage to him. He + loved his sister—indeed, she was one of the few persons for whom he + ever really cared. So he declined the offer and suggested instead the + young Princess Sophia of the tiny duchy of Anhalt-Zerbst. + </p> + <p> + The reason for Frederick's refusal was his knowledge of the semi-barbarous + conditions that prevailed at the Russian court. + </p> + <p> + The Russian capital, at that time, was a bizarre, half-civilized, + half-oriental place, where, among the very highest-born, a thin veneer of + French elegance covered every form of brutality and savagery and lust. It + is not surprising, therefore, that Frederick the Great was unwilling to + have his sister plunged into such a life. + </p> + <p> + But when the Empress Elizabeth asked the Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst + to marry the heir to the Russian throne the young girl willingly accepted, + the more so as her mother practically commanded it. This mother of hers + was a grim, harsh German woman who had reared her daughter in the + strictest fashion, depriving her of all pleasure with a truly puritanical + severity. In the case of a different sort of girl this training would have + crushed her spirit; but the Princess Sophia, though gentle and refined in + manner, had a power of endurance which was toughened and strengthened by + the discipline she underwent. + </p> + <p> + And so in 1744, when she was but sixteen years of age, she was taken by + her mother to St. Petersburg. There she renounced the Lutheran faith and + was received into the Greek Church, changing her name to Catharine. Soon + after, with great magnificence, she was married to Prince Peter, and from + that moment began a career which was to make her the most powerful woman + in the world. + </p> + <p> + At this time a lady of the Russian court wrote down a description of + Catharine's appearance. She was fair-haired, with dark-blue eyes; and her + face, though never beautiful, was made piquant and striking by the fact + that her brows were very dark in contrast with her golden hair. Her + complexion was not clear, yet her look was a very pleasing one. She had a + certain diffidence of manner at first; but later she bore herself with + such instinctive dignity as to make her seem majestic, though in fact she + was beneath the middle size. At the time of her marriage her figure was + slight and graceful; only in after years did she become stout. Altogether, + she came to St. Petersburg an attractive, pure-minded German maiden, with + a character well disciplined, and possessing reserves of power which had + not yet been drawn upon. + </p> + <p> + Frederick the Great's forebodings, which had led him to withhold his + sister's hand, were almost immediately justified in the case of Catharine. + Her Russian husband revealed to her a mode of life which must have tried + her very soul. This youth was only seventeen—a mere boy in age, and + yet a full-grown man in the rank luxuriance of his vices. Moreover, he had + eccentricities which sometimes verged upon insanity. Too young to be + admitted to the councils of his imperial aunt, he occupied his time in + ways that were either ridiculous or vile. + </p> + <p> + Next to the sleeping-room of his wife he kept a set of kennels, with a + number of dogs, which he spent hours in drilling as if they had been + soldiers. He had a troop of rats which he also drilled. It was his delight + to summon a court martial of his dogs to try the rats for various military + offenses, and then to have the culprits executed, leaving their bleeding + carcasses upon the floor. At any hour of the day or night Catharine, + hidden in her chamber, could hear the yapping of the curs, the squeak of + rats, and the word of command given by her half-idiot husband. + </p> + <p> + When wearied of this diversion Peter would summon a troop of favorites, + both men and women, and with them he would drink deep of beer and vodka, + since from his early childhood he had been both a drunkard and a + debauchee. The whoops and howls and vile songs of his creatures could be + heard by Catharine; and sometimes he would stagger into her rooms, + accompanied by his drunken minions. With a sort of psychopathic perversity + he would insist on giving Catharine the most minute and repulsive + narratives of his amours, until she shrank from him with horror at his + depravity and came to loathe the sight of his bloated face, with its + little, twinkling, porcine eyes, his upturned nose and distended nostrils, + and his loose-hung, lascivious mouth. She was scarcely less repelled when + a wholly different mood would seize upon him and he would declare himself + her slave, attending her at court functions in the garb of a servant and + professing an unbounded devotion for his bride. + </p> + <p> + Catharine's early training and her womanly nature led her for a long time + to submit to the caprices of her husband. In his saner moments she would + plead with him and strive to interest him in something better than his + dogs and rats and venal mistresses; but Peter was incorrigible. Though he + had moments of sense and even of good feeling, these never lasted, and + after them he would plunge headlong into the most frantic excesses that + his half-crazed imagination could devise. + </p> + <p> + It is not strange that in course of time Catharine's strong good sense + showed her that she could do nothing with this creature. She therefore + gradually became estranged from him and set herself to the task of doing + those things which Peter was incapable of carrying out. + </p> + <p> + She saw that ever since the first awakening of Russia under Peter the + Great none of its rulers had been genuinely Russian, but had tried to + force upon the Russian people various forms of western civilization which + were alien to the national spirit. Peter the Great had striven to make his + people Dutch. Elizabeth had tried to make them French. Catharine, with a + sure instinct, resolved that they should remain Russian, borrowing what + they needed from other peoples, but stirred always by the Slavic spirit + and swayed by a patriotism that was their own. To this end she set herself + to become Russian. She acquired the Russian language patiently and + accurately. She adopted the Russian costume, appearing, except on state + occasions, in a simple gown of green, covering her fair hair, however, + with a cap powdered with diamonds. Furthermore, she made friends of such + native Russians as were gifted with talent, winning their favor, and, + through them, the favor of the common people. + </p> + <p> + It would have been strange, however, had Catharine, the woman, escaped the + tainting influences that surrounded her on every side. The infidelities of + Peter gradually made her feel that she owed him nothing as his wife. Among + the nobles there were men whose force of character and of mind attracted + her inevitably. Chastity was a thing of which the average Russian had no + conception; and therefore it is not strange that Catharine, with her + intense and sensitive nature, should have turned to some of these for the + love which she had sought in vain from the half imbecile to whom she had + been married. + </p> + <p> + Much has been written of this side of her earlier and later life; yet, + though it is impossible to deny that she had favorites, one should judge + very gently the conduct of a girl so young and thrust into a life whence + all the virtues seemed to be excluded. She bore several children before + her thirtieth year, and it is very certain that a grave doubt exists as to + their paternity. Among the nobles of the court were two whose courage and + virility specially attracted her. The one with whom her name has been most + often coupled was Gregory Orloff. He and his brother, Alexis Orloff, were + Russians of the older type—powerful in frame, suave in manner except + when roused, yet with a tigerish ferocity slumbering underneath. Their + power fascinated Catharine, and it was currently declared that Gregory + Orloff was her lover. + </p> + <p> + When she was in her thirty-second year her husband was proclaimed Czar, + after the death of the Empress Elizabeth. At first in some ways his + elevation seemed to sober him; but this period of sanity, like those which + had come to him before, lasted only a few weeks. Historians have given him + much credit for two great reforms that are connected with his name; and + yet the manner in which they were actually brought about is rather + ludicrous. He had shut himself up with his favorite revelers, and had + remained for several days drinking and carousing until he scarcely knew + enough to speak. At this moment a young officer named Gudovitch, who was + really loyal to the newly created Czar, burst into the banquet-hall, + booted and spurred and his eyes aflame with indignation. Standing before + Peter, his voice rang out with the tone of a battle trumpet, so that the + sounds of revelry were hushed. + </p> + <p> + "Peter Feodorovitch," he cried, "do you prefer these swine to those who + really wish to serve you? Is it in this way that you imitate the glories + of your ancestor, that illustrious Peter whom you have sworn to take as + your model? It will not be long before your people's love will be changed + to hatred. Rise up, my Czar! Shake off this lethargy and sloth. Prove that + you are worthy of the faith which I and others have given you so loyally!" + </p> + <p> + With these words Gudovitch thrust into Peter's trembling hand two + proclamations, one abolishing the secret bureau of police, which had + become an instrument of tyrannous oppression, and the other restoring to + the nobility many rights of which they had been deprived. + </p> + <p> + The earnestness and intensity of Gudovitch temporarily cleared the brain + of the drunken Czar. He seized the papers, and, without reading them, + hastened at once to his great council, where he declared that they + expressed his wishes. Great was the rejoicing in St. Petersburg, and great + was the praise bestowed on Peter; yet, in fact, he had acted only as any + drunkard might act under the compulsion of a stronger will than his. + </p> + <p> + As before, his brief period of good sense was succeeded by another of the + wildest folly. It was not merely that he reversed the wise policy of his + aunt, but that he reverted to his early fondness for everything that was + German. His bodyguard was made up of German troops—thus exciting the + jealousy of the Russian soldiers. He introduced German fashions. He + boasted that his father had been an officer in the Prussian army. His + crazy admiration for Frederick the Great reached the utmost verge of + sycophancy. + </p> + <p> + As to Catharine, he turned on her with something like ferocity. He + declared in public that his eldest son, the Czarevitch Paul, was really + fathered by Catharine's lovers. At a state banquet he turned to Catharine + and hurled at her a name which no woman could possibly forgive—and + least of all a woman such as Catharine, with her high spirit and imperial + pride. He thrust his mistresses upon her; and at last he ordered her, with + her own hand, to decorate the Countess Vorontzoff, who was known to be his + maitresse en titre. + </p> + <p> + It was not these gross insults, however, so much as a concern for her + personal safety that led Catharine to take measures for her own defense. + She was accustomed to Peter's ordinary eccentricities. On the ground of + his unfaithfulness to her she now had hardly any right to make complaint. + But she might reasonably fear lest he was becoming mad. If he questioned + the paternity of their eldest son he might take measures to imprison + Catharine or even to destroy her. Therefore she conferred with the Orloffs + and other gentlemen, and their conference rapidly developed into a + conspiracy. + </p> + <p> + The soldiery, as a whole, was loyal to the empress. It hated Peter's + Holstein guards. What she planned was probably the deposition of Peter. + She would have liked to place him under guard in some distant palace. But + while the matter was still under discussion she was awakened early one + morning by Alexis Orloff. He grasped her arm with scant ceremony. + </p> + <p> + "We must act at once," said he. "We have been betrayed!" + </p> + <p> + Catharine was not a woman to waste time. She went immediately to the + barracks in St. Petersburg, mounted upon a charger, and, calling out the + Russian guards, appealed to them for their support. To a man they clashed + their weapons and roared forth a thunderous cheer. Immediately afterward + the priests anointed her as regent in the name of her son; but as she left + the church she was saluted by the people, as well as by the soldiers, as + empress in her own right. + </p> + <p> + It was a bold stroke, and it succeeded down to the last detail. The + wretched Peter, who was drilling his German guards at a distance from the + capital, heard of the revolt, found that his sailors at Kronstadt would + not acknowledge him, and then finally submitted. He was taken to Ropsha + and confined within a single room. To him came the Orloffs, quite of their + own accord. Gregory Orloff endeavored to force a corrosive poison into + Peter's mouth. Peter, who was powerful of build and now quite desperate, + hurled himself upon his enemies. Alexis Orloff seized him by the throat + with a tremendous clutch and strangled him till the blood gushed from his + ears. In a few moments the unfortunate man was dead. + </p> + <p> + Catharine was shocked by the intelligence, but she had no choice save to + accept the result of excessive zeal. She issued a note to the foreign + ambassadors informing them that Peter had died of a violent colic. When + his body was laid out for burial the extravasated blood is said to have + oozed out even through his hands, staining the gloves that had been placed + upon them. No one believed the story of the colic; and some six years + later Alexis Orloff told the truth with the utmost composure. The whole + incident was characteristically Russian. + </p> + <p> + It is not within the limits of our space to describe the reign of + Catharine the Great—the exploits of her armies, the acuteness of her + statecraft, the vast additions which she made to the Russian Empire, and + the impulse which she gave to science and art and literature. Yet these + things ought to be remembered first of all when one thinks of the woman + whom Voltaire once styled "the Semiramis of the North." Because she was so + powerful, because no one could gainsay her, she led in private a life + which has been almost more exploited than her great imperial achievements. + And yet, though she had lovers whose names have been carefully recorded, + even she fulfilled the law of womanhood—which is to love deeply and + intensely only once. + </p> + <p> + One should not place all her lovers in the same category. As a girl, and + when repelled by the imbecility of Peter, she gave herself to Gregory + Orloff. She admired his strength, his daring, and his unscrupulousness. + But to a woman of her fine intelligence he came to seem almost more brute + than man. She could not turn to him for any of those delicate attentions + which a woman loves so much, nor for that larger sympathy which wins the + heart as well as captivates the senses. A writer of the time has said that + Orloff would hasten with equal readiness from the arms of Catharine to the + embraces of any flat-nosed Finn or filthy Calmuck or to the lowest + creature whom he might encounter in the streets. + </p> + <p> + It happened that at the time of Catharine's appeal to the imperial guards + there came to her notice another man who—as he proved in a trifling + and yet most significant manner—had those traits which Orloff + lacked. Catharine had mounted, man—fashion, a cavalry horse, and, + with a helmet on her head, had reined up her steed before the barracks. At + that moment One of the minor nobles, who was also favorable to her, + observed that her helmet had no plume. In a moment his horse was at her + side. Bowing low over his saddle, he took his own plume from his helmet + and fastened it to hers. This man was Prince Gregory Potemkin, and this + slight act gives a clue to the influence which he afterward exercised over + his imperial mistress! + </p> + <p> + When Catharine grew weary of the Orloffs, and when she had enriched them + with lands and treasures, she turned to Potemkin; and from then until the + day of his death he was more to her than any other man had ever been. With + others she might flirt and might go even further than flirtation; but she + allowed no other favorite to share her confidence, to give advice, or to + direct her policies. + </p> + <p> + To other men she made munificent gifts, either because they pleased her + for the moment or because they served her on one occasion or another; but + to Potemkin she opened wide the whole treasury of her vast realm. There + was no limit to what she would do for him. When he first knew her he was a + man of very moderate fortune. Within two years after their intimate + acquaintance had begun she had given him nine million rubles, while + afterward he accepted almost limitless estates in Poland and in every + province of Greater Russia. + </p> + <p> + He was a man of sumptuous tastes, and yet he cared but little for mere + wealth. What he had, he used to please or gratify or surprise the woman + whom he loved. He built himself a great palace in St. Petersburg, usually + known as the Taurian Palace, and there he gave the most sumptuous + entertainments, reversing the story of Antony and Cleopatra. + </p> + <p> + In a superb library there stood one case containing volumes bound with + unusual richness. When the empress, attracted by the bindings, drew forth + a book she found to her surprise that its pages were English bank-notes. + The pages of another proved to be Dutch bank-notes, and, of another, notes + on the Bank of Venice. Of the remaining volumes some were of solid gold, + while others had pages of fine leather in which were set emeralds and + rubies and diamonds and other gems. The story reads like a bit of fiction + from the Arabian Nights. Yet, after all, this was only a small affair + compared with other undertakings with which Potemkin sought to please her. + </p> + <p> + Thus, after Taurida and the Crimea had been added to the empire by + Potemkin's agency, Catharine set out with him to view her new possessions. + A great fleet of magnificently decorated galleys bore her down the river + Dnieper. The country through which she passed had been a year before an + unoccupied waste. Now, by Potemkin's extraordinary efforts, the empress + found it dotted thick with towns and cities which had been erected for the + occasion, filled with a busy population which swarmed along the riverside + to greet the sovereign with applause. It was only a chain of fantom towns + and cities, made of painted wood and canvas; but while Catharine was there + they were very real, seeming to have solid buildings, magnificent arches, + bustling industries, and beautiful stretches of fertile country. No human + being ever wrought on so great a scale so marvelous a miracle of + stage-management. + </p> + <p> + Potemkin was, in fact, the one man who could appeal with unfailing success + to so versatile and powerful a spirit as Catharine's. He was handsome of + person, graceful of manner, and with an intellect which matched her own. + He never tried to force her inclination, and, on the other hand, he never + strove to thwart it. To him, as to no other man, she could turn at any + moment and feel that, no matter what her mood, he could understand her + fully. And this, according to Balzac, is the thing that woman yearns for + most—a kindred spirit that can understand without the slightest need + of explanation. + </p> + <p> + Thus it was that Gregory Potemkin held a place in the soul of this great + woman such as no one else attained. He might be absent, heading armies or + ruling provinces, and on his return he would be greeted with even greater + fondness than before. And it was this rather than his victories over Turk + and other oriental enemies that made Catharine trust him absolutely. + </p> + <p> + When he died, he died as the supreme master of her foreign policy and at a + time when her word was powerful throughout all Europe. Death came upon him + after he had fought against it with singular tenacity of purpose. + Catharine had given him a magnificent triumph, and he had entertained her + in his Taurian Palace with a splendor such as even Russia had never known + before. Then he fell ill, though with high spirit he would not yield to + illness. He ate rich meats and drank rich wines and bore himself as + gallantly as ever. Yet all at once death came upon him while he was + traveling in the south of Russia. His carriage was stopped, a rug was + spread beneath a tree by the roadside, and there he died, in the country + which he had added to the realms of Russia. + </p> + <p> + The great empress who loved him mourned him deeply during the five years + of life that still remained to her. The names of other men for whom she + had imagined that she cared were nothing to her. But this one man lived in + her heart in death as he had done in life. + </p> + <p> + Many have written of Catharine as a great ruler, a wise diplomat, a + creature of heroic mold. Others have depicted her as a royal wanton and + have gathered together a mass of vicious tales, the gossip of the palace + kitchens, of the clubs, and of the barrack-rooms. But perhaps one finds + the chief interest of her story to lie in this—that besides being + empress and diplomat and a lover of pleasure she was, beyond all else, at + heart a woman. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + MARIE ANTOINETTE AND COUNT FERSEN + </h2> + <p> + The English-speaking world long ago accepted a conventional view of Marie + Antoinette. The eloquence of Edmund Burke in one brilliant passage has + fixed, probably for all time, an enduring picture of this unhappy queen. + </p> + <p> + When we speak or think of her we speak and think first of all of a + dazzling and beautiful woman surrounded by the chivalry of France and + gleaming like a star in the most splendid court of Europe. And then there + comes to us the reverse of the picture. We see her despised, insulted, and + made the butt of brutal men and still more fiendish women; until at last + the hideous tumbrel conveys her to the guillotine, where her head is + severed from her body and her corpse is cast down into a bloody pool. + </p> + <p> + In these two pictures our emotions are played upon in turn—admiration, + reverence, devotion, and then pity, indignation, and the shudderings of + horror. + </p> + <p> + Probably in our own country and in England this will remain the historic + Marie Antoinette. Whatever the impartial historian may write, he can never + induce the people at large to understand that this queen was far from + queenly, that the popular idea of her is almost wholly false, and that + both in her domestic life and as the greatest lady in France she did much + to bring on the terrors of that revolution which swept her to the + guillotine. + </p> + <p> + In the first place, it is mere fiction that represents Maria Antoinette as + having been physically beautiful. The painters and engravers have so + idealized her face as in most cases to have produced a purely imaginary + portrait. + </p> + <p> + She was born in Vienna, in 1755, the daughter of the Emperor Francis and + of that warrior-queen, Maria Theresa. She was a very German-looking child. + Lady Jackson describes her as having a long, thin face, small, pig-like + eyes, a pinched-up mouth, with the heavy Hapsburg lip, and with a somewhat + misshapen form, so that for years she had to be bandaged tightly to give + her a more natural figure. + </p> + <p> + At fourteen, when she was betrothed to the heir to the French throne, she + was a dumpy, mean-looking little creature, with no distinction whatever, + and with only her bright golden hair to make amends for her many + blemishes. At fifteen she was married and joined the Dauphin in French + territory. + </p> + <p> + We must recall for a moment the conditions which prevailed in France. King + Louis XV. was nearing his end. He was a man of the most shameless life; + yet he had concealed or gilded his infamies by an external dignity and + magnificence which, were very pleasing to his people. The French, liked to + think that their king was the most splendid monarch and the greatest + gentleman in Europe. The courtiers about him might be vile beneath the + surface, yet they were compelled to deport themselves with the form and + the etiquette that had become traditional in France. They might be + panders, or stock-jobbers, or sellers of political offices; yet they must + none the less have wit and grace and outward nobility of manner. + </p> + <p> + There was also a tradition regarding the French queen. However loose in + character the other women of the court might be, she alone, like Caesar's + wife, must remain above suspicion. She must be purer than the pure. No + breath, of scandal must reach her or be directed against her. + </p> + <p> + In this way the French court, even under so dissolute a monarch as Louis + XV., maintained its hold upon the loyalty of the people. Crowds came every + morning to view the king in his bed before he arose; the same crowds + watched him as he was dressed by the gentlemen of the bedchamber, and as + he breakfasted and went through all the functions which are usually + private. The King of France must be a great actor. He must appear to his + people as in reality a king-stately, dignified, and beyond all other human + beings in his remarkable presence. + </p> + <p> + When the Dauphin and Marie Antoinette came to the French court King Louis + XV. kept up in the case the same semblance of austerity. He forbade these + children to have their sleeping-apartments together. He tried to teach + them that if they were to govern as well as to reign they must conform to + the rigid etiquette of Paris and Versailles. + </p> + <p> + It proved a difficult task, however. The little German princess had no + natural dignity, though she came from a court where the very strictest + imperial discipline prevailed. Marie Antoinette found that she could have + her own way in many things, and she chose to enjoy life without regard to + ceremony. Her escapades at first would have been thought mild enough had + she not been a "daughter of France"; but they served to shock the old + French king, and likewise, perhaps even more, her own imperial mother, + Maria Theresa. + </p> + <p> + When a report of the young girl's conduct was brought to her the empress + was at first mute with indignation. Then she cried out: + </p> + <p> + "Can this girl be a child of mine? She surely must be a changeling!" + </p> + <p> + The Austrian ambassador to France was instructed to warn the Dauphiness to + be more discreet. + </p> + <p> + "Tell her," said Maria Theresa, "that she will lose her throne, and even + her life, unless she shows more prudence." + </p> + <p> + But advice and remonstrance were of no avail. Perhaps they might have been + had her husband possessed a stronger character; but the young Louis was + little more fitted to be a king than was his wife to be a queen. Dull of + perception and indifferent to affairs of state, he had only two interests + that absorbed him. One was the love of hunting, and the other was his + desire to shut himself up in a sort of blacksmith shop, where he could + hammer away at the anvil, blow the bellows, and manufacture small trifles + of mechanical inventions. From this smudgy den he would emerge, sooty and + greasy, an object of distaste to his frivolous princess, with her foamy + laces and perfumes and pervasive daintiness. + </p> + <p> + It was hinted in many quarters, and it has been many times repeated, that + Louis was lacking in virility. Certainly he had no interest in the society + of women and was wholly continent. But this charge of physical incapacity + seems to have had no real foundation. It had been made against some of his + predecessors. It was afterward hurled at Napoleon the Great, and also + Napoleon the Little. In France, unless a royal personage was openly + licentious, he was almost sure to be jeered at by the people as a + weakling. + </p> + <p> + And so poor Louis XVI., as he came to be, was treated with a mixture of + pity and contempt because he loved to hammer and mend locks in his smithy + or shoot game when he might have been caressing ladies who would have been + proud to have him choose them out. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, because of this opinion regarding Louis, people were + the more suspicious of Marie Antoinette. Some of them, in coarse language, + criticized her assumed infidelities; others, with a polite sneer, affected + to defend her. But the result of it all was dangerous to both, especially + as France was already verging toward the deluge which Louis XV. had + cynically predicted would follow after him. + </p> + <p> + In fact, the end came sooner than any one had guessed. Louis XV., who had + become hopelessly and helplessly infatuated with the low-born Jeanne du + Barry, was stricken down with smallpox of the most virulent type. For many + days he lay in his gorgeous bed. Courtiers crowded his sick-room and the + adjacent hall, longing for the moment when the breath would leave his + body. He had lived an evil life, and he was to die a loathsome death; yet + he had borne himself before men as a stately monarch. Though his people + had suffered in a thousand ways from his misgovernment, he was still Louis + the Well Beloved, and they blamed his ministers of state for all the + shocking wrongs that France had felt. + </p> + <p> + The abler men, and some of the leaders of the people, however, looked + forward to the accession of Louis XVI. He at least was frugal in his + habits and almost plebeian in his tastes, and seemed to be one who would + reduce the enormous taxes that had been levied upon France. + </p> + <p> + The moment came when the Well Beloved died. His death-room was fetid with + disease, and even the long corridors of the palace reeked with infection, + while the motley mob of men and women, clad in silks and satins and + glittering with jewels, hurried from the spot to pay their homage to the + new Louis, who was spoken of as "the Desired." The body of the late + monarch was hastily thrown into a mass of quick-lime, and was driven away + in a humble wagon, without guards and with no salute, save from a single + veteran, who remembered the glories of Fontenoy and discharged his musket + as the royal corpse was carried through the palace gates. + </p> + <p> + This was a critical moment in the history of France; but we have to + consider it only as a critical moment in the history of Marie Antoinette. + She was now queen. She had it in her power to restore to the French court + its old-time grandeur, and, so far as the queen was concerned, its purity. + Above all, being a foreigner, she should have kept herself free from + reproach and above every shadow of suspicion. + </p> + <p> + But here again the indifference of the king undoubtedly played a strange + part in her life. Had he borne himself as her lord and master she might + have respected him. Had he shown her the affection of a husband she might + have loved him. But he was neither imposing, nor, on the other hand, was + he alluring. She wrote very frankly about him in a letter to the Count + Orsini: + </p> + <p> + My tastes are not the same as those of the king, who cares only for + hunting and blacksmith work. You will admit that I should not show to + advantage in a forge. I could not appear there as Vulcan, and the part of + Venus might displease him even more than my tastes. + </p> + <p> + Thus on the one side is a woman in the first bloom of youth, ardent, eager—and + neglected. On the other side is her husband, whose sluggishness may be + judged by quoting from a diary which he kept during the month in which he + was married. Here is a part of it: + </p> + <p> + Sunday, 13—Left Versailles. Supper and slept at Compignee, at the + house of M. de Saint-Florentin. + </p> + <p> + Monday, 14—Interview with Mme. la Dauphine. + </p> + <p> + Tuesday, 15—Supped at La Muette. Slept at Versailles. + </p> + <p> + Wednesday, 16—My marriage. Apartment in the gallery. Royal banquet + in the Salle d'Opera. + </p> + <p> + Thursday, 17—Opera of "Perseus." + </p> + <p> + Friday, 18—Stag-hunt. Met at La Belle Image. Took one. + </p> + <p> + Saturday, 19—Dress-ball in the Salle d'Opera. Fireworks. + </p> + <p> + Thursday, 31—I had an indigestion. + </p> + <p> + What might have been expected from a young girl placed as this queen was + placed? She was indeed an earlier Eugenie. The first was of royal blood, + the second was almost a plebeian; but each was headstrong, + pleasure-loving, and with no real domestic ties. As Mr. Kipling expresses + it— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + The colonel's lady and Judy O'Grady + Are sisters under their skins; +</pre> + <p> + and so the Austrian woman of 1776 and the Spanish woman of 1856 found + amusement in very similar ways. They plunged into a sea of strange + frivolity, such as one finds to-day at the centers of high fashion. Marie + Antoinette bedecked herself with eccentric garments. On her head she wore + a hat styled a "what-is-it," towering many feet in height and flaunting + parti-colored plumes. Worse than all this, she refused to wear corsets, + and at some great functions she would appear in what looked exactly like a + bedroom gown. + </p> + <p> + She would even neglect the ordinary niceties of life. Her hands were not + well cared for. It was very difficult for the ladies in attendance to + persuade her to brush her teeth with regularity. Again, she would persist + in wearing her frilled and lace-trimmed petticoats long after their dainty + edges had been smirched and blackened. + </p> + <p> + Yet these things might have been counteracted had she gone no further. + Unfortunately, she did go further. She loved to dress at night like a + shop-girl and venture out into the world of Paris, where she was + frequently followed and recognized. Think of it—the Queen of France, + elbowed in dense crowds and seeking to attract the attention of common + soldiers! + </p> + <p> + Of course, almost every one put the worst construction upon this, and + after a time upon everything she did. When she took a fancy for + constructing labyrinths and secret passages in the palace, all Paris vowed + that she was planning means by which her various lovers might enter + without observation. The hidden printing-presses of Paris swarmed with + gross lampoons about this reckless girl; and, although there was little + truth in what they said, there was enough to cloud her reputation. When + she fell ill with the measles she was attended in her sick-chamber by four + gentlemen of the court. The king was forbidden to enter lest he might + catch the childish disorder. + </p> + <p> + The apathy of the king, indeed, drove her into many a folly. After four + years of marriage, as Mrs. Mayne records, he had only reached the point of + giving her a chilly kiss. The fact that she had no children became a + serious matter. Her brother, the Emperor Joseph of Austria, when he + visited Paris, ventured to speak to the king upon the subject. Even the + Austrian ambassador had thrown out hints that the house of Bourbon needed + direct heirs. Louis grunted and said little, but he must have known how + good was the advice. + </p> + <p> + It was at about this time when there came to the French court a young + Swede named Axel de Fersen, who bore the title of count, but who was + received less for his rank than for his winning manner, his knightly + bearing, and his handsome, sympathetic face. Romantic in spirit, he threw + himself at once into a silent inner worship of Marie Antoinette, who had + for him a singular attraction. Wherever he could meet her they met. To her + growing cynicism this breath of pure yet ardent affection was very + grateful. It came as something fresh and sweet into the feverish life she + led. + </p> + <p> + Other men had had the audacity to woo her—among them Duc de Lauzun, + whose complicity in the famous affair of the diamond necklace afterward + cast her, though innocent, into ruin; the Duc de Biron; and the Baron de + Besenval, who had obtained much influence over her, which he used for the + most evil purposes. Besenval tainted her mind by persuading her to read + indecent books, in the hope that at last she would become his prey. + </p> + <p> + But none of these men ever meant to Marie Antoinette what Fersen meant. + Though less than twenty years of age, he maintained the reserve of a great + gentleman, and never forced himself upon her notice. Yet their first + acquaintance had occurred in such a way as to give to it a touch of + intimacy. He had gone to a masked ball, and there had chosen for his + partner a lady whose face was quite concealed. Something drew the two + together. The gaiety of the woman and the chivalry of the man blended most + harmoniously. It was only afterward that he discovered that his chance + partner was the first lady in France. She kept his memory in her mind; for + some time later, when he was at a royal drawing-room and she heard his + voice, she exclaimed: + </p> + <p> + "Ah, an old acquaintance!" + </p> + <p> + From this time Fersen was among those who were most intimately favored by + the queen. He had the privilege of attending her private receptions at the + palace of the Trianon, and was a conspicuous figure at the feasts given in + the queen's honor by the Princess de Lamballe, a beautiful girl whose head + was destined afterward to be severed from her body and borne upon a bloody + pike through the streets of Paris. But as yet the deluge had not arrived + and the great and noble still danced upon the brink of a volcano. + </p> + <p> + Fersen grew more and more infatuated, nor could he quite conceal his + feelings. The queen, in her turn, was neither frightened nor indignant. + His passion, so profound and yet so respectful, deeply moved her. Then + came a time when the truth was made clear to both of them. Fersen was near + her while she was singing to the harpsichord, and "she was betrayed by her + own music into an avowal which song made easy." She forgot that she was + Queen of France. She only felt that her womanhood had been starved and + slighted, and that here was a noble-minded lover of whom she could be + proud. + </p> + <p> + Some time after this announcement was officially made of the approaching + accouchement of the queen. It was impossible that malicious tongues should + be silent. The king's brother, the Comte de Provence, who hated the queen, + just as the Bonapartes afterward hated Josephine, did his best to besmirch + her reputation. He had, indeed, the extraordinary insolence to do so at a + time when one would suppose that the vilest of men would remain silent. + The child proved to be a princess, and she afterward received the title of + Duchesse d'Angouleme. The King of Spain asked to be her godfather at the + christening, which was to be held in the cathedral of Notre Dame. The + Spanish king was not present in person, but asked the Comte de Provence to + act as his proxy. + </p> + <p> + On the appointed day the royal party proceeded to the cathedral, and the + Comte de Provence presented the little child at the baptismal font. The + grand almoner, who presided, asked; + </p> + <p> + "What name shall be given to this child?" + </p> + <p> + The Comte de Provence answered in a sneering tone: + </p> + <p> + "Oh, we don't begin with that. The first thing to find out is who the + father and the mother are!" + </p> + <p> + These words, spoken at such a place and such a time, and with a strongly + sardonic ring, set all Paris gossiping. It was a thinly veiled innuendo + that the father of the child was not the King of France. Those about the + court immediately began to look at Fersen with significant smiles. The + queen would gladly have kept him near her; but Fersen cared even more for + her good name than for his love of her. It would have been so easy to + remain in the full enjoyment of his conquest; but he was too chivalrous + for that, or, rather, he knew that the various ambassadors in Paris had + told their respective governments of the rising scandal. In fact, the + following secret despatch was sent to the King of Sweden by his envoy: + </p> + <p> + I must confide to your majesty that the young Count Fersen has been so + well received by the queen that various persons have taken it amiss. I own + that I am sure that she has a liking for him. I have seen proofs of it too + certain to be doubted. During the last few days the queen has not taken + her eyes off him, and as she gazed they were full of tears. I beg your + majesty to keep their secret to yourself. + </p> + <p> + The queen wept because Fersen had resolved to leave her lest she should be + exposed to further gossip. If he left her without any apparent reason, the + gossip would only be the more intense. Therefore he decided to join the + French troops who were going to America to fight under Lafayette. A + brilliant but dissolute duchess taunted him when the news became known. + </p> + <p> + "How is this?" said she. "Do you forsake your conquest?" + </p> + <p> + But, "lying like a gentleman," Fersen answered, quietly: + </p> + <p> + "Had I made a conquest I should not forsake it. I go away free, and, + unfortunately, without leaving any regret." + </p> + <p> + Nothing could have been more chivalrous than the pains which Fersen took + to shield the reputation of the queen. He even allowed it to be supposed + that he was planning a marriage with a rich young Swedish woman who had + been naturalized in England. As a matter of fact, he departed for America, + and not very long afterward the young woman in question married an + Englishman. + </p> + <p> + Fersen served in America for a time, returning, however, at the end of + three years. He was one of the original Cincinnati, being admitted to the + order by Washington himself. When he returned to France he was received + with high honors and was made colonel of the royal Swedish regiment. + </p> + <p> + The dangers threatening Louis and his court, which were now gigantic and + appalling, forbade him to forsake the queen. By her side he did what he + could to check the revolution; and, failing this, he helped her to + maintain an imperial dignity of manner which she might otherwise have + lacked. He faced the bellowing mob which surrounded the Tuileries. + Lafayette tried to make the National Guard obey his orders, but he was + jeered at for his pains. Violent epithets were hurled at the king. The + least insulting name which they could give him was "a fat pig." As for the + queen, the most filthy phrases were showered upon her by the men, and even + more so by the women, who swarmed out of the slums and sought her life. + </p> + <p> + At last, in 1791, it was decided that the king and the queen and their + children, of whom they now had three, should endeavor to escape from + Paris. Fersen planned their flight, but it proved to be a failure. Every + one remembers how they were discovered and halted at Varennes. The royal + party was escorted back to Paris by the mob, which chanted with insolent + additions: + </p> + <p> + "We've brought back the baker, the baker's wife, and the baker's boy! Now + we shall have bread!" + </p> + <p> + Against the savage fury which soon animated the French a foreigner like + Fersen could do very little; but he seems to have endeavored, night and + day, to serve the woman whom he loved. His efforts have been described by + Grandat; but they were of no avail. The king and queen were practically + made prisoners. Their eldest son died. They went through horrors that were + stimulated by the wretch Hebert, at the head of his so-called Madmen + (Enrages). The king was executed in January, 1792. The queen dragged out a + brief existence in a prison where she was for ever under the eyes of human + brutes, who guarded her and watched her and jeered at her at times when + even men would be sensitive. Then, at last, she mounted the scaffold, and + her head, with its shining hair, fell into the bloody basket. + </p> + <p> + Marie Antoinette shows many contradictions in her character. As a young + girl she was petulant and silly and almost unseemly in her actions. As a + queen, with waning power, she took on a dignity which recalled the dignity + of her imperial mother. At first a flirt, she fell deeply in love when she + met a man who was worthy of that love. She lived for most part like a mere + cocotte. She died every inch a queen. + </p> + <p> + One finds a curious resemblance between the fate of Marie Antoinette and + that of her gallant lover, who outlived her for nearly twenty years. She + died amid the shrieks and execrations of a maddened populace in Paris; he + was practically torn in pieces by a mob in the streets of Stockholm. The + day of his death was the anniversary of the flight to Varennes. To the + last moment of his existence he remained faithful to the memory of the + royal woman who had given herself so utterly to him. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF AARON BURR + </h2> + <p> + There will come a time when the name of Aaron Burr will be cleared from + the prejudice which now surrounds it, when he will stand in the public + estimation side by side with Alexander Hamilton, whom he shot in a duel in + 1804, but whom in many respects he curiously resembled. When the white + light of history shall have searched them both they will appear as two + remarkable men, each having his own undoubted faults and at the same time + his equally undoubted virtues. + </p> + <p> + Burr and Hamilton were born within a year of each other—Burr being a + grandson of Jonathan Edwards, and Alexander Hamilton being the + illegitimate son of a Scottish merchant in the West Indies. Each of them + was short in stature, keen of intellect, of great physical endurance, + courage, and impressive personality. Each as a young man served on the + staff of Washington during the Revolutionary War, and each of them + quarreled with him, though in a different way. + </p> + <p> + On one occasion Burr was quite unjustly suspected by Washington of looking + over the latter's shoulder while he was writing. "Washington leaped to his + feet with the exclamation: + </p> + <p> + "How dare you, Colonel Burr?" + </p> + <p> + Burr's eyes flashed fire at the question, and he retorted, haughtily: + </p> + <p> + "Colonel Burr DARE do anything." + </p> + <p> + This, however, was the end of their altercation The cause of Hamilton's + difference with his chief is not known, but it was a much more serious + quarrel; so that the young officer left his staff position in a fury and + took no part in the war until the end, when he was present at the battle + of Yorktown. + </p> + <p> + Burr, on the other hand, helped Montgomery to storm the heights of Quebec, + and nearly reached the upper citadel when his commander was shot dead and + the Americans retreated. In all this confusion Burr showed himself a man + of mettle. The slain Montgomery was six feet high, but Burr carried his + body away with wonderful strength amid a shower of musket-balls and + grape-shot. + </p> + <p> + Hamilton had no belief in the American Constitution, which he called "a + shattered, feeble thing." He could never obtain an elective office, and he + would have preferred to see the United States transformed into a kingdom. + Washington's magnanimity and clear-sightedness made Hamilton Secretary of + the Treasury. Burr, on the other hand, continued his military service + until the war was ended, routing the enemy at Hackensack, enduring the + horrors of Valley Forge, commanding a brigade at the battle of Monmouth, + and heading the defense of the city of New Haven. He was also + attorney-general of New York, was elected to the United States Senate, was + tied with Jefferson for the Presidency, and then became Vice-President. + </p> + <p> + Both Hamilton and Burr were effective speakers; but, while Hamilton was + wordy and diffuse, Burr spoke always to the point, with clear and cogent + reasoning. Both were lavish spenders of money, and both were engaged in + duels before the fatal one in which Hamilton fell. Both believed in + dueling as the only way of settling an affair of honor. Neither of them + was averse to love affairs, though it may be said that Hamilton sought + women, while Burr was rather sought by women. When Secretary of the + Treasury, Hamilton was obliged to confess an adulterous amour in order to + save himself from the charge of corrupt practices in public office. So + long as Burr's wife lived he was a devoted, faithful husband to her. + Hamilton was obliged to confess his illicit acts while his wife, formerly + Miss Elizabeth Schuyler, was living. She spent her later years in buying + and destroying the compromising documents which her husband had published + for his countrymen to read. + </p> + <p> + The most extraordinary thing about Aaron Burr was the magnetic quality + that was felt by every one who approached him. The roots of this + penetrated down into a deep vitality. He was always young, always alert, + polished in manner, courageous with that sort of courage which does not + even recognize the presence of danger, charming in conversation, and able + to adapt it to men or women of any age whatever. His hair was still dark + in his eightieth year. His step was still elastic, his motions were still + as spontaneous and energetic, as those of a youth. + </p> + <p> + So it was that every one who knew him experienced his fascination. The + rough troops whom he led through the Canadian swamps felt the iron hand of + his discipline; yet they were devoted to him, since he shared all their + toils, faced all their dangers, and ate with them the scraps of hide which + they gnawed to keep the breath of life in their shrunken bodies. + </p> + <p> + Burr's discipline was indeed very strict, so that at first raw recruits + rebelled against it. On one occasion the men of an untrained company + resented it so bitterly that they decided to shoot Colonel Burr as he + paraded them for roll-call that evening. Burr somehow got word of it and + contrived to have all the cartridges drawn from their muskets. When the + time for the roll-call came one of the malcontents leaped from the front + line and leveled his weapon at Burr. + </p> + <p> + "Now is the time, boys!" he shouted. + </p> + <p> + Like lightning Burr's sword flashed from its scabbard with such a vigorous + stroke as to cut the man's arm completely off and partly to cleave the + musket. + </p> + <p> + "Take your place in the ranks," said Burr. + </p> + <p> + The mutineer obeyed, dripping with blood. A month later every man in that + company was devoted to his commander. They had learned that discipline was + the surest source of safety. + </p> + <p> + But with this high spirit and readiness to fight Burr had a most pleasing + way of meeting every one who came to him. When he was arrested in the + Western forests, charged with high treason, the sound of his voice won + from jury after jury verdicts of acquittal. Often the sheriffs would not + arrest him. One grand jury not merely exonerated him from all public + misdemeanors, but brought in a strong presentment against the officers of + the government for molesting him. + </p> + <p> + It was the same everywhere. Burr made friends and devoted allies among all + sorts of men. During his stay in France, England, Germany, and Sweden he + interested such men as Charles Lamb, Jeremy Bentham, Sir Walter Scott, + Goethe, and Heeren. They found his mind able to meet with theirs on equal + terms. Burr, indeed, had graduated as a youth with honors from Princeton, + and had continued his studies there after graduation, which was then a + most unusual thing to do. But, of course, he learned most from his contact + with men and women of the world. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, in The Minister's Wooing, has given what is + probably an exact likeness of Aaron Burr, with his brilliant gifts and + some of his defects. It is strong testimony to the character of Burr that + Mrs. Stowe set out to paint him as a villain; but before she had written + long she felt his fascination and made her readers, in their own despite, + admirers of this remarkable man. There are many parallels, indeed, between + him and Napoleon—in the quickness of his intellect, the ready use of + his resources, and his power over men, while he was more than Napoleon in + his delightful gift of conversation and the easy play of his cultured + mind. + </p> + <p> + Those who are full of charm are willing also to be charmed. All his life + Burr was abstemious in food and drink. His tastes were most refined. It is + difficult to believe that such a man could have been an unmitigated + profligate. + </p> + <p> + In his twentieth year there seems to have begun the first of the romances + that run through the story of his long career. Perhaps one ought not to + call it the first romance, for at eighteen, while he was studying law at + Litchfield, a girl, whose name has been suppressed, made an open avowal of + love for him. Almost at the same time an heiress with a large fortune + would have married him had he been willing to accept her hand. But at this + period he was only a boy and did not take such things seriously. + </p> + <p> + Two years later, after Burr had seen hard service at Quebec and on + Manhattan Island, his name was associated with that of a very beautiful + girl named Margaret Moncrieffe. She was the daughter of a British major, + but in some way she had been captured while within the American lines. Her + captivity was regarded as little more than a joke; but while she was thus + a prisoner she saw a great deal of Burr. For several months they were + comrades, after which General Putnam sent her with his compliments to her + father. + </p> + <p> + Margaret Moncrieffe had a most emotional nature. There can be no doubt + that she deeply loved the handsome young American officer, whom she never + saw again. It is doubtful how far their intimacy was carried. Later she + married a Mr. Coghlan. After reaching middle life she wrote of Burr in a + way which shows that neither years nor the obligations of marriage could + make her forget that young soldier, whom she speaks of as "the conqueror + of her soul." In the rather florid style of those days the once youthful + Margaret Moncrieffe expresses herself as follows: + </p> + <p> + Oh, may these pages one day meet the eye of him who subdued my virgin + heart, whom the immutable, unerring laws of nature had pointed out for my + husband, but whose sacred decree the barbarous customs of society fatally + violated! + </p> + <p> + Commenting on this paragraph, Mr. H. C. Merwin justly remarks that, + whatever may have been Burr's conduct toward Margaret Moncrieffe, the lady + herself, who was the person chiefly concerned, had no complaint to make of + it. It certainly was no very serious affair, since in the following year + Burr met a lady who, while she lived, was the only woman for whom he ever + really cared. + </p> + <p> + This was Theodosia Prevost, the wife of a major in the British army. Burr + met her first in 1777, while she was living with her sister in Westchester + County. Burr's command was fifteen miles across the river, but distance + and danger made no difference to him. He used to mount a swift horse, + inspect his sentinels and outposts, and then gallop to the Hudson, where a + barge rowed by six soldiers awaited him. The barge was well supplied with + buffalo-skins, upon which the horse was thrown with his legs bound, and + then half an hour's rowing brought them to the other side. There Burr + resumed his horse, galloped to the house of Mrs. Prevost, and, after + spending a few hours with her, returned in the same way. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Prevost was by no means beautiful, but she had an attractiveness of + her own. She was well educated and possessed charming manners, with a + disposition both gentle and affectionate. Her husband died soon after the + beginning of the war, and then Burr married her. No more ideal family life + could be conceived than his, and the letters which passed between the two + are full of adoration. Thus she wrote to him: + </p> + <p> + Tell me, why do I grow every day more tenacious of your regard? Is it + because each revolving day proves you more deserving? + </p> + <p> + And thus Burr answered her: + </p> + <p> + Continue to multiply your letters to me. They are all my solace. The last + six are constantly within my reach. I read them once a day at least. Write + me all that I have asked, and a hundred things which I have not. + </p> + <p> + When it is remembered that these letters were written after nine years of + marriage it is hard to believe all the evil things that have been said of + Burr. + </p> + <p> + His wife died in 1794, and he then gave a double affection to his daughter + Theodosia, whose beauty and accomplishments were known throughout the + country. Burr took the greatest pains in her education, and believed that + she should be trained, as he had been, to be brave, industrious, and + patient. He himself, who has been described as a voluptuary, delighted in + the endurance of cold and heat and of severe labor. + </p> + <p> + After his death one of his younger admirers was asked what Burr had done + for him. The reply was characteristic. + </p> + <p> + "He made me iron," was the answer. + </p> + <p> + No father ever gave more attention to his daughter's welfare. As to + Theodosia's studies he was very strict, making her read Greek and Latin + every day, with drawing and music and history, in addition to French. Not + long before her marriage to Joseph Allston, of South Carolina, Burr wrote + to her: + </p> + <p> + I really think, my dear Theo, that you will be very soon beyond all verbal + criticism, and that my whole attention will be presently directed to the + improvement of your style. + </p> + <p> + Theodosia Burr married into a family of good old English stock, where + riches were abundant, and high character was regarded as the best of all + possessions. Every one has heard of the mysterious tragedy which is + associated with her history. In 1812, when her husband had been elected + Governor of his state, her only child—a sturdy boy of eleven—died, + and Theodosia's health was shattered by her sorrow. In the same year Burr + returned from a sojourn in Europe, and his loving daughter embarked from + Charleston on a schooner, the Patriot, to meet her father in New York. + When Burr arrived he was met by a letter which told him that his grandson + was dead and that Theodosia was coming to him. + </p> + <p> + Weeks sped by, and no news was heard of the ill-fated Patriot. At last it + became evident that she must have gone down or in some other way have been + lost. Burr and Governor Allston wrote to each other letter after letter, + of which each one seems to surpass the agony of the other. At last all + hope was given up. Governor Allston died soon after of a broken heart; but + Burr, as became a Stoic, acted otherwise. + </p> + <p> + He concealed everything that reminded him of Theodosia. He never spoke of + his lost daughter. His grief was too deep-seated and too terrible for + speech. Only once did he ever allude to her, and this was in a letter + written to an afflicted friend, which contained the words: + </p> + <p> + Ever since the event which separated me from mankind I have been able + neither to give nor to receive consolation. + </p> + <p> + In time the crew of a pirate vessel was captured and sentenced to be + hanged. One of the men, who seemed to be less brutal than the rest, told + how, in 1812, they had captured a schooner, and, after their usual + practice, had compelled the passengers to walk the plank. All hesitated + and showed cowardice, except only one—a beautiful woman whose eyes + were as bright and whose bearing was as unconcerned as if she were safe on + shore. She quickly led the way, and, mounting the plank with a certain + scorn of death, said to the others: + </p> + <p> + "Come, I will show you how to die." + </p> + <p> + It has always been supposed that this intrepid girl may have been + Theodosia Allston. If so, she only acted as her father would have done and + in strict accordance with his teachings. + </p> + <p> + This resolute courage, this stern joy in danger, this perfect equanimity, + made Burr especially attractive to women, who love courage, the more so + when it is coupled with gentleness and generosity. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps no man in our country has been so vehemently accused regarding his + relations with the other sex. The most improbable stories were told about + him, even by his friends. As to his enemies, they took boundless pains to + paint him in the blackest colors. According to them, no woman was safe + from his intrigues. He was a perfect devil in leading them astray and then + casting them aside. + </p> + <p> + Thus one Matthew L. Davis, in whom Burr had confided as a friend, wrote of + him long afterward a most unjust account—unjust because we have + proofs that it was false in the intensity of its abuse. Davis wrote: + </p> + <p> + It is truly surprising how any individual could become so eminent as a + soldier, as a statesman, and as a professional man who devoted so much + time to the other sex as was devoted by Colonel Burr. For more than half a + century of his life they seemed to absorb his whole thought. His intrigues + were without number; the sacred bonds of friendship were unhesitatingly + violated when they operated as barriers to the indulgence of his passions. + In this particular Burr appears to have been unfeeling and heartless. + </p> + <p> + It is impossible to believe that the Spartan Burr, whose life was one of + incessant labor and whose kindliness toward every one was so well known, + should have deserved a commentary like this. The charge of immorality is + so easily made and so difficult of disproof that it has been flung + promiscuously at all the great men of history, including, in our own + country, Washington and Jefferson as well as Burr. In England, when + Gladstone was more than seventy years of age, he once stopped to ask a + question of a woman in the street. Within twenty-four hours the London + clubs were humming with a sort of demoniac glee over the story that this + aged and austere old gentleman was not above seeking common street amours. + </p> + <p> + And so with Aaron Burr to a great extent. That he was a man of strict + morality it would be absurd to maintain. That he was a reckless and + licentious profligate would be almost equally untrue. Mr. H. O. Merwin has + very truly said: + </p> + <p> + Part of Burr's reputation for profligacy was due, no doubt, to that vanity + respecting women of which Davis himself speaks. He never refused to accept + the parentage of a child. + </p> + <p> + "Why do you allow this woman to saddle you with her child when you KNOW + you are not the father of it?" said a friend to him a few months before + his death. + </p> + <p> + "Sir," he replied, "when a lady does me the honor to name me the father of + her child I trust I shall always be too gallant to show myself ungrateful + for the favor." + </p> + <p> + There are two curious legends relating to Aaron Burr. They serve to show + that his reputation became such that he could not enjoy the society of a + woman without having her regarded as his mistress. + </p> + <p> + When he was United States Senator from New York he lived in Philadelphia + at the lodging-house of a Mrs. Payne, whose daughter, Dorothy Todd, was + the very youthful widow of an officer. This young woman was rather free in + her manners, and Burr was very responsive in his. At the time, however, + nothing was thought of it; but presently Burr brought to the house the + serious and somewhat pedantic James Madison and introduced him to the + hoyden. + </p> + <p> + Madison was then forty-seven years of age, a stranger to society, but + gradually rising to a prominent position in politics—"the great + little Madison," as Burr rather lightly called him. Before very long he + had proposed marriage to the young widow. She hesitated, and some one + referred the matter to President Washington. The Father of his Country + answered in what was perhaps the only opinion that he ever gave on the + subject of matrimony. It is worth preserving because it shows that he had + a sense of humor: + </p> + <p> + For my own part, I never did nor do I believe I ever shall give advice to + a woman who is setting out on a matrimonial voyage... A woman very rarely + asks an opinion or seeks advice on such an occasion till her mind is + wholly made up, and then it is with the hope and expectation of obtaining + a sanction, and not that she means to be governed by your disapproval. + </p> + <p> + Afterward when Dolly Madison with, her yellow turban and kittenish ways + was making a sensation in Washington society some one recalled her old + association with Burr. At once the story sprang to light that Burr had + been her lover and that he had brought about the match with Madison as an + easy way of getting rid of her. + </p> + <p> + There is another curious story which makes Martin Van Buren, eighth + President of the United States, to have been the illegitimate son of Aaron + Burr. There is no earthly reason for believing this, except that Burr + sometimes stopped overnight at the tavern in Kinderhook which was kept by + Van Buren's putative father, and that Van Buren in later life showed an + astuteness equal to that of Aaron Burr himself, so that he was called by + his opponents "the fox of Kinderhook." But, as Van Buren was born in + December of the same year (1782) in which Burr was married to Theodosia + Prevost, the story is utterly improbable when we remember, as we must, the + ardent affection which Burr showed his wife, not only before their + marriage, but afterward until her death. + </p> + <p> + Putting aside these purely spurious instances, as well as others cited by + Mr. Parton, the fact remains that Aaron Burr, like Daniel Webster, found a + great attraction in the society of women; that he could please them and + fascinate them to an extraordinary degree; and that during his later life + he must be held quite culpable in this respect. His love-making was ardent + and rapid, as we shall afterward see in the case of his second marriage. + </p> + <p> + Many other stories are told of him. For instance, it is said that he once + took a stage-coach from Jersey City to Philadelphia. The only other + occupant was a woman of high standing and one whose family deeply hated + Aaron Burr. Nevertheless, so the story goes, before they had reached + Newark she was absolutely swayed by his charm of manner; and when the + coach made its last stop before Philadelphia she voluntarily became his + mistress. + </p> + <p> + It must also be said that, unlike those of Webster and Hamilton, his + intrigues were never carried on with women of the lower sort. This may be + held by some to deepen the charge against him; but more truly does it + exonerate him, since it really means that in many cases these women of the + world threw themselves at him and sought him as a lover, when otherwise he + might never have thought of them. + </p> + <p> + That he was not heartless and indifferent to those who had loved him may + be shown by the great care which he took to protect their names and + reputations. Thus, on the day before his duel with Hamilton, he made a + will in which he constituted his son-in-law as his executor. At the same + time he wrote a sealed letter to Governor Allston in which he said: + </p> + <p> + If you can pardon and indulge a folly, I would suggest that Mme. ——, + too well known under the name of Leonora, has claims on my recollection. + She is now with her husband at Santiago, in Cuba. + </p> + <p> + Another fact has been turned to his discredit. From many women, in the + course of his long life, he had received a great quantity of letters + written by aristocratic hands on scented paper, and these letters he had + never burned. Here again, perhaps, was shown the vanity of the man who + loved love for its own sake. He kept all these papers in a huge + iron-clamped chest, and he instructed Theodosia in case he should die to + burn every letter which might injure any one. + </p> + <p> + After Theodosia's death Burr gave the same instructions to Matthew L. + Davis, who did, indeed, burn them, though he made their existence a means + of blackening the character of Burr. He should have destroyed them + unopened, and should never have mentioned them in his memoirs of the man + who trusted him as a friend. + </p> + <p> + Such was Aaron Burr throughout a life which lasted for eighty years. His + last romance, at the age of seventy-eight, is worth narrating because it + has often been misunderstood. + </p> + <p> + Mme. Jumel was a Rhode Island girl who at seventeen years of age eloped + with an English officer, Colonel Peter Croix. Her first husband died while + she was still quite young, and she then married a French wine-merchant, + Stephen Jumel, some twenty years her senior, but a man of much vigor and + intelligence. M. Jumel made a considerable fortune in New York, owning a + small merchant fleet; and after Napoleon's downfall he and his wife went + to Paris, where she made a great impression in the salons by her vivacity + and wit and by her lavish expenditures. + </p> + <p> + Losing, however, part of what she and her husband possessed, Mme. Jumel + returned to New York, bringing with her a great amount of furniture and + paintings, with which she decorated the historic house still standing in + the upper part of Manhattan Island—a mansion held by her in her own + right. She managed her estate with much ability; and in 1828 M. Jumel + returned to live with her in what was in those days a splendid villa. + </p> + <p> + Four years later, however, M. Jumel suffered an accident from which he + died in a few days, leaving his wife still an attractive woman and not + very much past her prime. Soon after she had occasion to seek for legal + advice, and for this purpose visited the law-office of Aaron Burr. She had + known him a good many years before; and, though he was now seventy-eight + years of age, there was no perceptible change in him. He was still courtly + in manner, tactful, and deferential, while physically he was straight, + active, and vigorous. + </p> + <p> + A little later she invited him to a formal banquet, where he displayed all + his charms and shone to great advantage. When he was about to lead her in + to dinner, he said: + </p> + <p> + "I give my hand, madam; my heart has long been yours." + </p> + <p> + These attentions he followed up with several other visits, and finally + proposed that she should marry him. Much fluttered and no less flattered, + she uttered a sort of "No" which was not likely to discourage a man like + Aaron Burr. + </p> + <p> + "I shall come to you before very long," he said, "accompanied by a + clergyman; and then you will give me your hand because I want it." + </p> + <p> + This rapid sort of wooing was pleasantly embarrassing. The lady rather + liked it; and so, on an afternoon when the sun was shining and the leaves + were rustling in the breeze, Burr drove up to Mme. Jumel's mansion + accompanied by Dr. Bogart—the very clergyman who had married him to + his first wife fifty years before. + </p> + <p> + Mme. Jumel was now seriously disturbed, but her refusal was not a strong + one. There were reasons why she should accept the offer. The great house + was lonely. The management of her estate required a man's advice. + Moreover, she was under the spell of Burr's fascination. Therefore she + arrayed herself in one of her most magnificent Paris gowns; the members of + her household and eight servants were called in and the ceremony was duly + performed by Dr. Bogart. A banquet followed. A dozen cobwebbed bottles of + wine were brought up from the cellar, and the marriage feast went on + merrily until after midnight. + </p> + <p> + This marriage was a singular one from many points of view. It was strange + that a man of seventy-eight should take by storm the affections of a woman + so much younger than he—a woman of wealth and knowledge of the + world. In the second place, it is odd that there was still another woman—a + mere girl—who was so infatuated with Burr that when she was told of + his marriage it nearly broke her heart. Finally, in the early part of that + same year he had been accused of being the father of a new-born child, and + in spite of his age every one believed the charge to be true. Here is a + case that it would be hard to parallel. + </p> + <p> + The happiness of the newly married pair did not, however, last very long. + They made a wedding journey into Connecticut, of which state Burr's nephew + was then Governor, and there Burr saw a monster bridge over the + Connecticut River, in which his wife had shares, though they brought her + little income. He suggested that she should transfer the investment, + which, after all, was not a very large one, and place it in a venture in + Texas which looked promising. The speculation turned out to be a loss, + however, and this made Mrs. Burr extremely angry, the more so as she had + reason to think that her ever-youthful husband had been engaged in + flirting with the country girls near the Jumel mansion. + </p> + <p> + She was a woman of high spirit and had at times a violent temper. One day + the post-master at what was then the village of Harlem was surprised to + see Mrs. Burr drive up before the post-office in an open carriage. He came + out to ask what she desired, and was surprised to find her in a violent + temper and with an enormous horse-pistol on each cushion at her side. + </p> + <p> + "What do you wish, madam?" said he, rather mildly. + </p> + <p> + "What do I wish?" she cried. "Let me get at that villain Aaron Burr!" + </p> + <p> + Presently Burr seems to have succeeded in pacifying her; but in the end + they separated, though she afterward always spoke most kindly of him. When + he died, only about a year later, she is said to have burst into a flood + of tears—another tribute to the fascination which Aaron Burr + exercised through all his checkered life. + </p> + <p> + It is difficult to come to any fixed opinion regarding the moral character + of Aaron Burr. As a soldier he was brave to the point of recklessness. As + a political leader he was almost the equal of Jefferson and quite superior + to Hamilton. As a man of the world he was highly accomplished, polished in + manner, charming in conversation. He made friends easily, and he forgave + his enemies with a broadmindedness that is unusual. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, in his political career there was a touch of + insincerity, and it can scarcely be denied that he used his charm too + often to the injury of those women who could not resist his insinuating + ways and the caressing notes of his rich voice. But as a husband, in his + youth, he was devoted, affectionate, and loyal; while as a father he was + little less than worshiped by the daughter whom he reared so carefully. + </p> + <p> + One of his biographers very truly says that no such wretch as Burr has + been declared to be could have won and held the love of such a wife and + such a daughter as Burr had. + </p> + <p> + When all the other witnesses have been heard, let the two Theodosias be + summoned, and especially that daughter who showed toward him an + affectionate veneration unsurpassed by any recorded in history or romance. + Such an advocate as Theodosia the younger must avail in some degree, even + though the culprit were brought before the bar of Heaven itself. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + GEORGE IV. AND MRS. FITZHERBERT + </h2> + <p> + In the last decade of the eighteenth century England was perhaps the most + brilliant nation of the world. Other countries had been humbled by the + splendid armies of France and were destined to be still further humbled by + the emperor who came from Corsica. France had begun to seize the scepter + of power; yet to this picture there was another side—fearful want + and grievous poverty and the horrors of the Revolution. Russia was too far + away, and was still considered too barbarous, for a brilliant court to + flourish there. Prussia had the prestige that Frederick the Great won for + her, but she was still a comparatively small state. Italy was in a + condition of political chaos; the banks of the Rhine were running blood + where the Austrian armies faced the gallant Frenchmen under the leadership + of Moreau. But England, in spite of the loss of her American colonies, was + rich and prosperous, and her invincible fleets were extending her empire + over the seven seas. + </p> + <p> + At no time in modern England has the court at London seen so much real + splendor or such fine manners. The royalist emigres who fled from France + brought with them names and pedigrees that were older than the Crusades, + and many of them were received with the frankest, freest English + hospitality. If here and there some marquis or baron of ancient blood was + perforce content to teach music to the daughters of tradesmen in suburban + schools, nevertheless they were better off than they had been in France, + harried by the savage gaze-hounds of the guillotine. Afterward, in the + days of the Restoration, when they came back to their estates, they had + probably learned more than one lesson from the bouledogues of Merry + England, who had little tact, perhaps, but who were at any rate kindly and + willing to share their goods with pinched and poverty-stricken foreigners. + </p> + <p> + The court, then, as has been said, was brilliant with notables from + Continental countries, and with the historic wealth of the peerage of + England. Only one cloud overspread it; and that was the mental condition + of the king. We have become accustomed to think of George III as a dull + creature, almost always hovering on the verge of that insanity which + finally swept him into a dark obscurity; but Thackeray's picture of him is + absurdly untrue to the actual facts. George III. was by no means a + dullard, nor was he a sort of beefy country squire who roved about the + palace gardens with his unattractive spouse. + </p> + <p> + Obstinate enough he was, and ready for a combat with the rulers of the + Continent or with his self-willed sons; but he was a man of brains and + power, and Lord Rosebery has rightly described him as the most striking + constitutional figure of his time. Had he retained his reason, and had his + erratic and self-seeking son not succeeded him during his own lifetime, + Great Britain might very possibly have entered upon other ways than those + which opened to her after the downfall of Napoleon. + </p> + <p> + The real center of fashionable England, however, was not George III., but + rather his son, subsequently George IV., who was made Prince of Wales + three days after his birth, and who became prince regent during the + insanity of the king. He was the leader of the social world, the fit + companion of Beau Brummel and of a choice circle of rakes and fox-hunters + who drank pottle-deep. Some called him "the first gentleman of Europe." + Others, who knew him better, described him as one who never kept his word + to man or woman and who lacked the most elementary virtues. + </p> + <p> + Yet it was his good luck during the first years of his regency to be + popular as few English kings have ever been. To his people he typified old + England against revolutionary France; and his youth and gaiety made many + like him. He drank and gambled; he kept packs of hounds and strings of + horses; he ran deeply into debt that he might patronize the sports of that + uproarious day. He was a gallant "Corinthian," a haunter of dens where + there were prize-fights and cock-fights, and there was hardly a doubtful + resort in London where his face was not familiar. + </p> + <p> + He was much given to gallantry—not so much, as it seemed, for + wantonness, but from sheer love of mirth and chivalry. For a time, with + his chosen friends, such as Fox and Sheridan, he ventured into reckless + intrigues that recalled the amours of his predecessor, Charles II. He had + by no means the wit and courage of Charles; and, indeed, the house of + Hanover lacked the outward show of chivalry which made the Stuarts shine + with external splendor. But he was good-looking and stalwart, and when he + had half a dozen robust comrades by his side he could assume a very manly + appearance. Such was George IV. in his regency and in his prime. He made + that period famous for its card-playing, its deep drinking, and for the + dissolute conduct of its courtiers and noblemen no less than for the + gallantry of its soldiers and its momentous victories on sea and land. It + came, however, to be seen that his true achievements were in reality only + escapades, that his wit was only folly, and his so-called "sensibility" + was but sham. He invented buckles, striped waistcoats, and flamboyant + collars, but he knew nothing of the principles of kingship or the laws by + which a state is governed. + </p> + <p> + The fact that he had promiscuous affairs with women appealed at first to + the popular sense of the romantic. It was not long, however, before these + episodes were trampled down into the mire of vulgar scandal. + </p> + <p> + One of the first of them began when he sent a letter, signed "Florizel," + to a young actress, "Perdita" Robinson. Mrs. Robinson, whose maiden name + was Mary Darby, and who was the original of famous portraits by + Gainsborough and Reynolds, was a woman of beauty, talent, and temperament. + George, wishing in every way to be "romantic," insisted upon clandestine + meetings on the Thames at Kew, with all the stage trappings of the popular + novels—cloaks, veils, faces hidden, and armed watchers to warn her + of approaching danger. Poor Perdita took this nonsense so seriously that + she gave up her natural vocation for the stage, and forsook her husband, + believing that the prince would never weary of her. + </p> + <p> + He did weary of her very soon, and, with the brutality of a man of such a + type, turned her away with the promise of some money; after which he cut + her in the Park and refused to speak to her again. As for the money, he + may have meant to pay it, but Perdita had a long struggle before she + succeeded in getting it. It may be assumed that the prince had to borrow + it and that this obligation formed part of the debts which Parliament paid + for him. + </p> + <p> + It is not necessary to number the other women whose heads he turned. They + are too many for remembrance here, and they have no special significance, + save one who, as is generally believed, became his wife so far as the + church could make her so. An act of 1772 had made it illegal for any + member of the English royal family to marry without the permission of the + king. A marriage contracted without the king's consent might be lawful in + the eyes of the church, but the children born of it could not inherit any + claim to the throne. + </p> + <p> + It may be remarked here that this withholding of permission was strictly + enforced. Thus William IV., who succeeded George IV., was married, before + his accession to the throne, to Mrs. Jordan (Dorothy Bland). Afterward he + lawfully married a woman of royal birth who was known as Queen Adelaide. + </p> + <p> + There is an interesting story which tells how Queen Victoria came to be + born because her father, the Duke of Kent, was practically forced to give + up a morganatic union which he greatly preferred to a marriage arranged + for him by Parliament. Except the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Kent was + the only royal duke who was likely to have children in the regular line. + The only daughter of George IV. had died in childhood. The Duke of + Cumberland was for various reasons ineligible; the Duke of Clarence, later + King William IV., was almost too old; and therefore, to insure the + succession, the Duke of Kent was begged to marry a young and attractive + woman, a princess of the house of Saxe-Coburg, who was ready for the + honor. It was greatly to the Duke's credit that he showed deep and sincere + feeling in this matter. As he said himself in effect: + </p> + <p> + "This French lady has stood by me in hard times and in good times, too—why + should I cast her off? She has been more than a wife to me. And what do I + care for your plans in Parliament? Send over for one of the Stuarts—they + are better men than the last lot of our fellows that you have had!" + </p> + <p> + In the end, however, he was wearied out and was persuaded to marry, but he + insisted that a generous sum should be settled on the lady who had been so + long his true companion, and to whom, no doubt, he gave many a wistful + thought in his new but unfamiliar quarters in Kensington Palace, which was + assigned as his residence. + </p> + <p> + Again, the second Duke of Cambridge, who died only a few years ago, + greatly desired to marry a lady who was not of royal rank, though of fine + breeding and of good birth. He besought his young cousin, as head of the + family, to grant him this privilege of marriage; but Queen Victoria + stubbornly refused. The duke was married according to the rites of the + church, but he could not make his wife a duchess. The queen never quite + forgave him for his partial defiance of her wishes, though the duke's wife—she + was usually spoken of as Mrs. FitzGeorge—was received almost + everywhere, and two of her sons hold high rank in the British army and + navy, respectively. + </p> + <p> + The one real love story in the life of George IV. is that which tells of + his marriage with a lady who might well have been the wife of any king. + This was Maria Anne Smythe, better known as Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was six + years older than the young prince when she first met him in company with a + body of gentlemen and ladies in 1784. + </p> + <p> + Maria Fitzherbert's face was one which always displayed its best + advantages. Her eyes were peculiarly languishing, and, as she had already + been twice a widow, and was six years his senior, she had the advantage + over a less experienced lover. Likewise, she was a Catholic, and so by + another act of Parliament any marriage with her would be illegal. Yet just + because of all these different objections the prince was doubly drawn to + her, and was willing to sacrifice even the throne if he could but win her. + </p> + <p> + His father, the king, called him into the royal presence and said: + </p> + <p> + "George, it is time that you should settle down and insure the succession + to the throne." + </p> + <p> + "Sir," replied the prince, "I prefer to resign the succession and let my + brother have it, and that I should live as a private English gentleman." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Fitzherbert was not the sort of woman to give herself up readily to a + morganatic connection. Moreover, she soon came to love Prince George too + well to entangle him in a doubtful alliance with one of another faith than + his. Not long after he first met her the prince, who was always given to + private theatricals, sent messengers riding in hot haste to her house to + tell her that he had stabbed himself, that he begged to see her, and that + unless she came he would repeat the act. The lady yielded, and hurried to + Carlton House, the prince's residence; but she was prudent enough to take + with her the Duchess of Devonshire, who was a reigning beauty of the + court. + </p> + <p> + The scene which followed was theatrical rather than impressive.—The + prince was found in his sleeping-chamber, pale and with his ruffles + blood-stained. He played the part of a youthful and love-stricken wooer, + vowing that he would marry the woman of his heart or stab himself again. + In the presence of his messengers, who, with the duchess, were witnesses, + he formally took the lady as his wife, while Lady Devonshire's + wedding-ring sealed the troth. The prince also acknowledged it in a + document. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Fitzherbert was, in fact, a woman of sound sense. Shortly after this + scene of melodramatic intensity her wits came back to her, and she + recognized that she had merely gone through a meaningless farce. So she + sent back the prince's document and the ring and hastened to the + Continent, where he could not reach her, although his detectives followed + her steps for a year. + </p> + <p> + At the last she yielded, however, and came home to marry the prince in + such fashion as she could—a marriage of love, and surely one of + morality, though not of parliamentary law. The ceremony was performed "in + her own drawing-room in her house in London, in the presence of the + officiating Protestant clergyman and two of her own nearest relatives." + </p> + <p> + Such is the serious statement of Lord Stourton, who was Mrs. Fitzherbert's + cousin and confidant. The truth of it was never denied, and Mrs. + Fitzherbert was always treated with respect, and even regarded as a person + of great distinction. Nevertheless, on more than one occasion the prince + had his friends in Parliament deny the marriage in order that his debts + might be paid and new allowances issued to him by the Treasury. + </p> + <p> + George certainly felt himself a husband. Like any other married prince, he + set himself to build a palace for his country home. While in search of + some suitable spot he chanced to visit the "pretty fishing-village" of + Brighton to see his uncle, the Duke of Cumberland. Doubtless he found it + an attractive place, yet this may have been not so much because of its + view of the sea as for the reason that Mrs. Fitzherbert had previously + lived there. + </p> + <p> + However, in 1784 the prince sent down his chief cook to make arrangements + for the next royal visit. The cook engaged a house on the spot where the + Pavilion now stands, and from that time Brighton began to be an extremely + fashionable place. The court doctors, giving advice that was agreeable, + recommended their royal patient to take sea-bathing at Brighton. At once + the place sprang into popularity. + </p> + <p> + At first the gentry were crowded into lodging-houses and the + accommodations were primitive to a degree. But soon handsome villas arose + on every side; hotels appeared; places of amusement were opened. The + prince himself began to build a tasteless but showy structure, partly + Chinese and partly Indian in style, on the fashionable promenade of the + Steyne. + </p> + <p> + During his life with Mrs. Fitzherbert at Brighton the prince held what was + practically a court. Hundreds of the aristocracy came down from London and + made their temporary dwellings there; while thousands who were by no means + of the court made the place what is now popularly called "London by the + Sea." There were the Duc de Chartres, of France; statesmen and rakes, like + Fox, Sheridan, and the Earl of Barrymore; a very beautiful woman, named + Mrs. Couch, a favorite singer at the opera, to whom the prince gave at one + time jewels worth ten thousand pounds; and a sister of the Earl of + Barrymore, who was as notorious as her brother. She often took the + president's chair at a club which George's friends had organized and which + she had christened the Hell Fire Club. + </p> + <p> + Such persons were not the only visitors at Brighton. Men of much more + serious demeanor came down to visit the prince and brought with them + quieter society. Nevertheless, for a considerable time the place was most + noted for its wild scenes of revelry, into which George frequently + entered, though his home life with Mrs. Fitzherbert at the Pavilion was a + decorous one. + </p> + <p> + No one felt any doubt as to the marriage of the two persons, who seemed so + much like a prince and a princess. Some of the people of the place + addressed Mrs. Fitzherbert as "Mrs. Prince." The old king and his wife, + however, much deplored their son's relation with her. This was partly due + to the fact that Mrs. Fitzherbert was a Catholic and that she had received + a number of French nuns who had been driven out of France at the time of + the Revolution. But no less displeasure was caused by the prince's racing + and dicing, which swelled his debts to almost a million pounds, so that + Parliament and, indeed, the sober part of England were set against him. + </p> + <p> + Of course, his marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert had no legal status; nor is + there any reason for believing that she ever became a mother. She had no + children by her former two husbands, and Lord Stourton testified + positively that she never had either son or daughter by Prince George. + Nevertheless, more than one American claimant has risen to advance some + utterly visionary claim to the English throne by reason of alleged descent + from Prince George and Mrs. Fitzherbert. + </p> + <p> + Neither William IV. nor Queen Victoria ever spent much time at Brighton. + In King William's case it was explained that the dampness of the Pavilion + did not suit him; and as to Queen Victoria, it was said that she disliked + the fact that buildings had been erected so as to cut off the view of the + sea. It is quite likely, however, that the queen objected to the + associations of the place, and did not care to be reminded of the time + when her uncle had lived there so long in a morganatic state of marriage. + </p> + <p> + At length the time came when the king, Parliament, and the people at large + insisted that the Prince of Wales should make a legal marriage, and a wife + was selected for him in the person of Caroline, daughter of the Duke of + Brunswick. This marriage took place exactly ten years after his wedding + with the beautiful and gentle-mannered Mrs. Fitzherbert. With the latter + he had known many days and hours of happiness. With Princess Caroline he + had no happiness at all. + </p> + <p> + Prince George met her at the pier to greet her. It is said that as he took + her hand he kissed her, and then, suddenly recoiling, he whispered to one + of his friends: + </p> + <p> + "For God's sake, George, give me a glass of brandy!" + </p> + <p> + Such an utterance was more brutal and barbaric than anything his bride + could have conceived of, though it is probable, fortunately, that she did + not understand him by reason of her ignorance of English. + </p> + <p> + We need not go through the unhappy story of this unsympathetic, neglected, + rebellious wife. Her life with the prince soon became one of open warfare; + but instead of leaving England she remained to set the kingdom in an + uproar. As soon as his father died and he became king, George sued her for + divorce. Half the people sided with the queen, while the rest regarded her + as a vulgar creature who made love to her attendants and brought dishonor + on the English throne. It was a sorry, sordid contrast between the young + Prince George who had posed as a sort of cavalier and this now furious + gray old man wrangling with his furious German wife. + </p> + <p> + Well might he look back to the time when he met Perdita in the moonlight + on the Thames, or when he played the part of Florizel, or, better still, + when he enjoyed the sincere and disinterested love of the gentle woman who + was his wife in all but legal status. Caroline of Brunswick was thrust + away from the king's coronation. She took a house within sight of + Westminster Abbey, so that she might make hag-like screeches to the mob + and to the king as he passed by. Presently, in August, 1821, only a month + after the coronation, she died, and her body was taken back to Brunswick + for burial. + </p> + <p> + George himself reigned for nine years longer. When he died in 1830 his + executor was the Duke of Wellington. The duke, in examining the late + king's private papers, found that he had kept with the greatest care every + letter written to him by his morganatic wife. During his last illness she + had sent him an affectionate missive which it is said George "read + eagerly." Mrs. Fitzherbert wished the duke to give up her letters; but he + would do so only in return for those which he had written to her. + </p> + <p> + It was finally decided that it would be best to burn both his and hers. + This work was carried out in Mrs. Fitzherbert's own house by the lady, the + duke, and the Earl of Albemarle. + </p> + <p> + Of George it may be said that he has left as memories behind him only + three things that will be remembered. The first is the Pavilion at + Brighton, with its absurdly oriental decorations, its minarets and flimsy + towers. The second is the buckle which he invented and which Thackeray has + immortalized with his biting satire. The last is the story of his marriage + to Maria Fitzherbert, and of the influence exercised upon him by the + affection of a good woman. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHARLOTTE CORDAY AND ADAM LUX + </h2> + <p> + Perhaps some readers will consider this story inconsistent with those that + have preceded it. Yet, as it is little known to most readers and as it is + perhaps unique in the history of romantic love, I cannot forbear relating + it; for I believe that it is full of curious interest and pathetic power. + </p> + <p> + All those who have written of the French Revolution have paused in their + chronicle of blood and flame to tell the episode of the peasant Royalist, + Charlotte Corday; but in telling it they have often omitted the one part + of the story that is personal and not political. The tragic record of this + French girl and her self-sacrifice has been told a thousand times by + writers in many languages; yet almost all of them have neglected the brief + romance which followed her daring deed and which was consummated after her + death upon the guillotine. It is worth our while to speak first of + Charlotte herself and of the man she slew, and then to tell that other + tale which ought always to be entwined with her great deed of daring. + </p> + <p> + Charlotte Corday—Marie Anne Charlotte Corday d'Armand—was a + native of Normandy, and was descended, as her name implies, from noble + ancestors. Her forefathers, indeed, had been statesmen, civil rulers, and + soldiers, and among them was numbered the famous poet Corneille, whom the + French rank with Shakespeare. But a century or more of vicissitudes had + reduced her branch of the family almost to the position of peasants—a + fact which partly justifies the name that some give her when they call her + "the Jeanne d'Arc of the Revolution." + </p> + <p> + She did not, however, spend her girlish years amid the fields and woods + tending her sheep, as did the other Jeanne d'Arc; but she was placed in + charge of the sisters in a convent, and from them she received such + education as she had. She was a lonely child, and her thoughts turned + inward, brooding over many things. + </p> + <p> + After she had left the convent she was sent to live with an aunt. Here she + devoted herself to reading over and over the few books which the house + contained. These consisted largely of the deistic writers, especially + Voltaire, and to some extent they destroyed her convent faith, though it + is not likely that she understood them very fully. + </p> + <p> + More to her taste was a copy of Plutarch's Lives. These famous stories + fascinated her. They told her of battle and siege, of intrigue and + heroism, and of that romantic love of country which led men to throw away + their lives for the sake of a whole people. Brutus and Regulus were her + heroes. To die for the many seemed to her the most glorious end that any + one could seek. When she thought of it she thrilled with a sort of + ecstasy, and longed with all the passion of her nature that such a + glorious fate might be her own. + </p> + <p> + Charlotte had nearly come to womanhood at the time when the French + Revolution first broke out. Royalist though she had been in her + sympathies, she felt the justice of the people's cause. She had seen the + suffering of the peasantry, the brutality of the tax-gatherers, and all + the oppression of the old regime. But what she hoped for was a democracy + of order and equality and peace. Could the king reign as a constitutional + monarch rather than as a despot, this was all for which she cared. + </p> + <p> + In Normandy, where she lived, were many of those moderate republicans + known as Girondists, who felt as she did and who hoped for the same + peaceful end to the great outbreak. On the other hand, in Paris, the party + of the Mountain, as it was called, ruled with a savage violence that soon + was to culminate in the Reign of Terror. Already the guillotine ran red + with noble blood. Already the king had bowed his head to the fatal knife. + Already the threat had gone forth that a mere breath of suspicion or a + pointed finger might be enough to lead men and women to a gory death. + </p> + <p> + In her quiet home near Caen Charlotte Corday heard as from afar the story + of this dreadful saturnalia of assassination which was making Paris a city + of bloody mist. Men and women of the Girondist party came to tell her of + the hideous deeds that were perpetrated there. All these horrors gradually + wove themselves in the young girl's imagination around the sinister and + repulsive figure of Jean Paul Marat. She knew nothing of his associates, + Danton and Robespierre. It was in Marat alone that she saw the monster who + sent innocent thousands to their graves, and who reveled like some + arch-fiend in murder and gruesome death. + </p> + <p> + In his earlier years Marat had been a very different figure—an + accomplished physician, the friend of nobles, a man of science and + original thought, so that he was nearly elected to the Academy of + Sciences. His studies in electricity gained for him the admiration of + Benjamin Franklin and the praise of Goethe. But when he turned to politics + he left all this career behind him. He plunged into the very mire of red + republicanism, and even there he was for a time so much hated that he + sought refuge in London to save his life. + </p> + <p> + On his return he was hunted by his enemies, so that his only place of + refuge was in the sewers and drains of Paris. A woman, one Simonne Evrard, + helped him to escape his pursuers. In the sewers, however, he contracted a + dreadful skin-disease from which he never afterward recovered, and which + was extremely painful as well as shocking to behold. + </p> + <p> + It is small wonder that the stories about Marat circulated through the + provinces made him seem more a devil than a man. His vindictiveness + against the Girondists brought all of this straight home to Charlotte + Corday and led her to dream of acting the part of Brutus, so that she + might free her country from this hideous tyrant. + </p> + <p> + In January, 1793, King Louis XVI. met his death upon the scaffold; and the + queen was thrust into a foul prison. This was a signal for activity among + the Girondists in Normandy, and especially at Caen, where Charlotte was + present at their meetings and heard their fervid oratory. There was a plot + to march on Paris, yet in some instinctive way she felt that such a scheme + must fail. It was then that she definitely formed the plan of going + herself, alone, to the French capital to seek out the hideous Marat and to + kill him with her own hands. + </p> + <p> + To this end she made application for a passport allowing her to visit + Paris. This passport still exists, and it gives us an official description + of the girl. It reads: + </p> + <p> + Allow citizen Marie Corday to pass. She is twenty-four years of age, five + feet and one inch in height, hair and eyebrows chestnut color, eyes gray, + forehead high, mouth medium size, chin dimpled, and an oval face. + </p> + <p> + Apart from this verbal description we have two portraits painted while she + was in prison. Both of them make the description of the passport seem + faint and pale. The real Charlotte had a wealth of chestnut hair which + fell about her face and neck in glorious abundance. Her great gray eyes + spoke eloquently of truth and courage. Her mouth was firm yet winsome, and + her form combined both strength and grace. Such is the girl who, on + reaching Paris, wrote to Marat in these words: + </p> + <p> + Citizen, I have just arrived from Caen. Your love for your native place + doubtless makes you wish to learn the events which have occurred in that + part of the republic. I shall call at your residence in about an hour. Be + so good as to receive me and give me a brief interview. I will put you in + such condition as to render great service to France. + </p> + <p> + This letter failed to gain her admission, and so did another which she + wrote soon after. The fact is that Marat was grievously ill. His disease + had reached a point where the pain could be assuaged only by hot water; + and he spent the greater part of his time wrapped in a blanket and lying + in a large tub. + </p> + <p> + A third time, however, the persistent girl called at his house and + insisted that she must see him, saying that she was herself in danger from + the enemies of the Republic. Through an open door Marat heard her mellow + voice and gave orders that she should be admitted. + </p> + <p> + As she entered she gazed for a moment upon the lank figure rolling in the + tub, the rat-like face, and the shifting eyes. Then she approached him, + concealing in the bosom of her dress a long carving-knife which she had + purchased for two francs. In answer to Marat's questioning look she told + him that there was much excitement at Caen and that the Girondists were + plotting there. + </p> + <p> + To this Marat answered, in his harsh voice: + </p> + <p> + "All these men you mention shall be guillotined in the next few days!" + </p> + <p> + As he spoke Charlotte flashed out the terrible knife and with all her + strength she plunged it into his left side, where it pierced a lung and a + portion of his heart. + </p> + <p> + Marat, with the blood gushing from his mouth, cried out: + </p> + <p> + "Help, darling!" + </p> + <p> + His cry was meant for one of the two women in the house. Both heard it, + for they were in the next room; and both of them rushed in and succeeded + in pinioning Charlotte Corday, who, indeed, made only a slight effort to + escape. Troops were summoned, she was taken to the Prison de l'Abbaye, and + soon after she was arraigned before the revolutionary tribunal. + </p> + <p> + Placed in the dock, she glanced about her with an air of pride, as of one + who gloried in the act which she had just performed. A written charge was + read. She was asked what she had to say. Lifting her head with a look of + infinite satisfaction, she answered in a ringing voice: + </p> + <p> + "Nothing—except that I succeeded!" + </p> + <p> + A lawyer was assigned for her defense. He pleaded for her earnestly, + declaring that she must he regarded as insane; but those clear, calm eyes + and that gentle face made her sanity a matter of little doubt. She showed + her quick wit in the answers which she gave to the rough prosecutor, + Fouquier-Tinville, who tried to make her confess that she had accomplices. + </p> + <p> + "Who prompted you to do this deed?" roared Tinville. + </p> + <p> + "I needed no prompting. My own heart was sufficient." + </p> + <p> + "In what, then, had Marat wronged you?" + </p> + <p> + "He was a savage beast who was going to destroy the remains of France in + the fires of civil war." + </p> + <p> + "But whom did you expect to benefit?" insinuated the prosecutor. + </p> + <p> + "I have killed one man to save a hundred thousand." + </p> + <p> + "What? Did you imagine that you had murdered all the Marats?" + </p> + <p> + "No, but, this one being dead, the rest will perhaps take warning." + </p> + <p> + Thus her directness baffled all the efforts of the prosecution to trap her + into betraying any of her friends. The court, however, sentenced her to + death. She was then immured in the Conciergerie. + </p> + <p> + This dramatic court scene was the beginning of that strange, brief romance + to which one can scarcely find a parallel. At the time there lived in + Paris a young German named Adam Lux. The continual talk about Charlotte + Corday had filled him with curiosity regarding this young girl who had + been so daring and so patriotic. She was denounced on every hand as a + murderess with the face of a Medusa and the muscles of a Vulcan. Street + songs about her were dinned into the ears of Adam Lux. + </p> + <p> + As a student of human nature he was anxious to see this terrible creature. + He forced his way to the front of the crowded benches in the court-room + and took his stand behind a young artist who was finishing a beautiful + sketch. From that moment until the end of the trial the eyes of Adam Lux + were fastened on the prisoner. What a contrast to the picture he had + imagined! + </p> + <p> + A mass of regal chestnut hair crowned with the white cap of a Norman + peasant girl; gray eyes, very sad and serious, but looking serenely forth + from under long, dark lashes; lips slightly curved with an expression of + quiet humor; a face the color of the sun and wind, a bust indicative of + perfect health, the chin of a Caesar, and the whole expression one of + almost divine self-sacrifice. Such were the features that the painter was + swiftly putting upon his canvas; but behind them Adam Lux discerned the + soul for which he gladly sacrificed both his liberty and his life. + </p> + <p> + He forgot his surroundings and seemed to see only that beautiful, pure + face and to hear only the exquisite cadences of the wonderful voice. When + Charlotte was led forth by a file of soldiers Adam staggered from the + scene and made his way as best he might to his lodgings. There he lay + prostrate, his whole soul filled with the love of her who had in an + instant won the adoration of his heart. + </p> + <p> + Once, and only once again, when the last scene opened on the tragedy, did + he behold the heroine of his dreams. + </p> + <p> + On the 17th of July Charlotte Corday was taken from her prison to the + gloomy guillotine. It was toward evening, and nature had given a setting + fit for such an end. Blue-black thunder-clouds rolled in huge masses + across the sky until their base appeared to rest on the very summit of the + guillotine. Distant thunder rolled and grumbled beyond the river. Great + drops of rain fell upon the soldiers' drums. Young, beautiful, unconscious + of any wrong, Charlotte Corday stood beneath the shadow of the knife. + </p> + <p> + At the supreme moment a sudden ray from the setting sun broke through the + cloud-wrack and fell upon her slender figure until she glowed in the eyes + of the startled spectators like a statue cut in burnished bronze. Thus + illumined, as it were, by a light from heaven itself, she bowed herself + beneath the knife and paid the penalty of a noble, if misdirected, + impulse. As the blade fell her lips quivered with her last and only plea: + </p> + <p> + "My duty is enough—the rest is nothing!" + </p> + <p> + Adam Lux rushed from the scene a man transformed. He bore graven upon his + heart neither the mob of tossing red caps nor the glare of the sunset nor + the blood-stained guillotine, but that last look from those brilliant + eyes. The sight almost deprived him of his reason. The self-sacrifice of + the only woman he had ever loved, even though she had never so much as + seen him, impelled him with a sort of fury to his own destruction. + </p> + <p> + He wrote a bitter denunciation of the judges, of the officers, and of all + who had been followers of Marat. This document he printed, and scattered + copies of it through every quarter in Paris. The last sentences are as + follows: + </p> + <p> + The guillotine is no longer a disgrace. It has become a sacred altar, from + which every taint has been removed by the innocent blood shed there on the + 17th of July. Forgive me, my divine Charlotte, if I find it impossible at + the last moment to show the courage and the gentleness that were yours! I + glory because you are superior to me, for it is right that she who is + adored should be higher and more glorious than her adorer! + </p> + <p> + This pamphlet, spread broadcast among the people, was soon reported to the + leaders of the rabble. Adam Lux was arrested for treason against the + Republic; but even these men had no desire to make a martyr of this + hot-headed youth. They would stop his mouth without taking his life. + Therefore he was tried and speedily found guilty, but an offer was made + him that he might have passports that would allow him to return to Germany + if only he would sign a retraction of his printed words. + </p> + <p> + Little did the judges understand the fiery heart of the man they had to + deal with. To die on the same scaffold as the woman whom he had idealized + was to him the crowning triumph of his romantic love. He gave a prompt and + insolent refusal to their offer. He swore that if released he would + denounce his darling's murderers with a still greater passion. + </p> + <p> + In anger the tribunal sentenced him to death. Only then he smiled and + thanked his judges courteously, and soon after went blithely to the + guillotine like a bridegroom to his marriage feast. + </p> + <p> + Adam Lux! Spirit courtship had been carried on silently all through that + terrible cross-examination of Charlotte Corday. His heart was betrothed to + hers in that single gleam of the setting sun when she bowed beneath the + knife. One may believe that these two souls were finally united when the + same knife fell sullenly upon his neck and when his life-blood sprinkled + the altar that was still stained with hers. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NAPOLEON AND MARIE WALEWSKA + </h2> + <p> + There are four women who may be said to have deeply influenced the life of + Napoleon. These four are the only ones who need to be taken into account + by the student of his imperial career. The great emperor was susceptible + to feminine charms at all times; but just as it used to be said of him + that "his smile never rose above his eyes," so it might as truly be said + that in most instances the throbbing of his heart did not affect his + actions. + </p> + <p> + Women to him were the creatures of the moment, although he might seem to + care for them and to show his affection in extravagant ways, as in his + affair with Mlle. Georges, the beautiful but rather tiresome actress. As + for Mme. de Stael, she bored him to distraction by her assumption of + wisdom. That was not the kind of woman that Napoleon cared for. He + preferred that a woman should be womanly, and not a sort of owl to sit and + talk with him about the theory of government. + </p> + <p> + When it came to married women they interested him only because of the + children they might bear to grow up as recruits for his insatiate armies. + At the public balls given at the Tuileries he would walk about the + gorgeous drawing-rooms, and when a lady was presented to him he would snap + out, sharply: + </p> + <p> + "How many children have you?" + </p> + <p> + If she were able to answer that she had several the emperor would look + pleased and would pay her some compliment; but if she said that she had + none he would turn upon her sharply and say: + </p> + <p> + "Then go home and have some!" + </p> + <p> + Of the four women who influenced his life, first must come Josephine, + because she secured him his earliest chance of advancement. She met him + through Barras, with whom she was said to be rather intimate. The young + soldier was fascinated by her—the more because she was older than he + and possessed all the practised arts of the creole and the woman of the + world. When she married him she brought him as her dowry the command of + the army of Italy, where in a few months he made the tri-color, borne by + ragged troops, triumphant over the splendidly equipped hosts of Austria. + </p> + <p> + She was his first love, and his knowledge of her perfidy gave him the + greatest shock and horror of his whole life; yet she might have held him + to the end if she had borne an heir to the imperial throne. It was her + failure to do so that led Napoleon to divorce Josephine and marry the + thick-lipped Marie Louise of Austria. There were times later when he + showed signs of regret and said: + </p> + <p> + "I have had no luck since I gave up Josephine!" + </p> + <p> + Marie Louise was of importance for a time—the short time when she + entertained her husband and delighted him by giving birth to the little + King of Rome. Yet in the end she was but an episode; fleeing from her + husband in his misfortune, becoming the mistress of Count Neipperg, and + letting her son—l'Aiglon—die in a land that was far from + France. + </p> + <p> + Napoleon's sister, Pauline Bonaparte, was the third woman who comes to + mind when we contemplate the great Corsican's career. She, too, is an + episode. During the period of his ascendancy she plagued him with her + wanton ways, her sauciness and trickery. It was amusing to throw him into + one of his violent rages; but Pauline was true at heart, and when her + great brother was sent to Elba she followed him devotedly and gave him all + her store of jewels, including the famous Borghese diamonds, perhaps the + most superb of all gems known to the western world. She would gladly have + followed him, also, to St. Helena had she been permitted. Remaining + behind, she did everything possible in conspiring to secure his freedom. + </p> + <p> + But, after all, Pauline and Marie Louise count for comparatively little. + Josephine's fate was interwoven with Napoleon's; and, with his Corsican + superstition, he often said so. The fourth woman, of whom I am writing + here, may be said to have almost equaled Josephine in her influence on the + emperor as well as in the pathos of her life-story. + </p> + <p> + On New-Year's Day of 1807 Napoleon, who was then almost Emperor of Europe, + passed through the little town of Bronia, in Poland. Riding with his + cavalry to Warsaw, the ancient capital of the Polish kingdom, he seemed a + very demigod of battle. + </p> + <p> + True, he had had to abandon his long-cherished design of invading and + overrunning England, and Nelson had shattered his fleets and practically + driven his flag from the sea; but the naval disaster of Trafalgar had + speedily been followed by the triumph of Austerlitz, the greatest and most + brilliant of all Napoleon's victories, which left Austria and Russia + humbled to the very ground before him. + </p> + <p> + Then Prussia had dared to defy the over-bearing conqueror and had put into + the field against him her armies trained by Frederick the Great; but these + he had shattered almost at a stroke, winning in one day the decisive + battles of Jena and Auerstadt. He had stabled his horses in the royal + palace of the Hohenzollerns and had pursued the remnant of the Prussian + forces to the Russian border. + </p> + <p> + As he marched into the Polish provinces the people swarmed by thousands to + meet him and hail him as their country's savior. They believed down to the + very last that Bonaparte would make the Poles once more a free and + independent nation and rescue them from the tyranny of Russia. + </p> + <p> + Napoleon played upon this feeling in every manner known to his artful + mind. He used it to alarm the Czar. He used it to intimidate the Emperor + of Austria; but more especially did he use it among the Poles themselves + to win for his armies thousands upon thousands of gallant soldiers, who + believed that in fighting for Napoleon they were fighting for the final + independence of their native land. + </p> + <p> + Therefore, with the intensity of patriotism which is a passion among the + Poles, every man and every woman gazed at Napoleon with something like + adoration; for was not he the mighty warrior who had in his gift what all + desired? Soldiers of every rank swarmed to his standards. Princes and + nobles flocked about him. Those who stayed at home repeated wonderful + stories of his victories and prayed for him and fed the flame which spread + through all the country. It was felt that no sacrifice was too great to + win his favor; that to him, as to a deity, everything that he desired + should be yielded up, since he was to restore the liberty of Poland. + </p> + <p> + And hence, when the carriage of the emperor dashed into Bronia, surrounded + by Polish lancers and French cuirassiers, the enormous crowd surged + forward and blocked the way so that their hero could not pass because of + their cheers and cries and supplications. + </p> + <p> + In the midst of it all there came a voice of peculiar sweetness from the + thickest portion of the crowd. + </p> + <p> + "Please let me pass!" said the voice. "Let me see him, if only for a + moment!" + </p> + <p> + The populace rolled backward, and through the lane which they made a + beautiful girl with dark blue eyes that flamed and streaming hair that had + become loosened about her radiant face was confronting the emperor. + Carried away by her enthusiasm, she cried: + </p> + <p> + "Thrice welcome to Poland! We can do or say nothing to express our joy in + the country which you will surely deliver from its tyrant." + </p> + <p> + The emperor bowed and, with a smile, handed a great bouquet of roses to + the girl, for her beauty and her enthusiasm had made a deep impression on + him. + </p> + <p> + "Take it," said he, "as a proof of my admiration. I trust that I may have + the pleasure of meeting you at Warsaw and of hearing your thanks from + those beautiful lips." + </p> + <p> + In a moment more the trumpets rang out shrilly, the horsemen closed up + beside the imperial carriage, and it rolled away amid the tumultuous + shouting of the populace. + </p> + <p> + The girl who had so attracted Napoleon's attention was Marie Walewska, + descended from an ancient though impoverished family in Poland. When she + was only fifteen she was courted by one of the wealthiest men in Poland, + the Count Walewska. He was three or four times her age, yet her dark blue + eyes, her massive golden hair, and the exquisite grace of her figure led + him to plead that she might become his wife. She had accepted him, but the + marriage was that of a mere child, and her interest still centered upon + her country and took the form of patriotism rather than that of wifehood + and maternity. + </p> + <p> + It was for this reason that the young Countess had visited Bronia. She was + now eighteen years of age and still had the sort of romantic feeling which + led her to think that she would keep in some secret hiding-place the + bouquet which the greatest man alive had given her. + </p> + <p> + But Napoleon was not the sort of man to forget anything that had given him + either pleasure or the reverse. He who, at the height of his cares, could + recall instantly how many cannon were in each seaport of France and could + make out an accurate list of all his military stores; he who could call by + name every soldier in his guard, with a full remembrance of the battles + each man had fought in and the honors that he had won—he was not + likely to forget so lovely a face as the one which had gleamed with + peculiar radiance through the crowd at Bronia. + </p> + <p> + On reaching Warsaw he asked one or two well-informed persons about this + beautiful stranger. Only a few hours had passed before Prince Poniatowski, + accompanied by other nobles, called upon her at her home. + </p> + <p> + "I am directed, madam," said he, "by order of the Emperor of France, to + bid you to be present at a ball that is to be given in his honor to-morrow + evening." + </p> + <p> + Mme. Walewska was startled, and her face grew hot with blushes. Did the + emperor remember her escapade at Bronia? If so, how had he discovered her? + Why should he seek her out and do her such an honor? + </p> + <p> + "That, madam, is his imperial majesty's affair," Poniatowski told her. "I + merely obey his instructions and ask your presence at the ball. Perhaps + Heaven has marked you out to be the means of saving our unhappy country." + </p> + <p> + In this way, by playing on her patriotism, Poniatowski almost persuaded + her, and yet something held her back. She trembled, though she was greatly + fascinated; and finally she refused to go. + </p> + <p> + Scarcely had the envoy left her, however, when a great company of nobles + entered in groups and begged her to humor the emperor. Finally her own + husband joined in their entreaties and actually commanded her to go; so at + last she was compelled to yield. + </p> + <p> + It was by no means the frank and radiant girl who was now preparing again + to meet the emperor. She knew not why, and yet her heart was full of + trepidation and nervous fright, the cause of which she could not guess, + yet which made her task a severe ordeal. She dressed herself in white + satin, with no adornment save a wreath of foliage in her hair. + </p> + <p> + As she entered the ballroom she was welcomed by hundreds whom she had + never seen before, but who were of the highest nobility of Poland. Murmurs + of admiration followed her, and finally Poniatowski came to her and + complimented her, besides bringing her a message that the emperor desired + her to dance with him. + </p> + <p> + "I am very sorry," she said, with a quiver of the lips, "but I really + cannot dance. Be kind enough to ask the emperor to excuse me." + </p> + <p> + But at that very moment she felt some strange magnetic influence; and + without looking up she could feel that Napoleon himself was standing by + her as she sat with blanched face and downcast eyes, not daring to look up + at him. + </p> + <p> + "White upon white is a mistake, madam," said the emperor, in his gentlest + tones. Then, stooping low, he whispered, "I had expected a far different + reception." + </p> + <p> + She neither smiled nor met his eyes. He stood there for a moment and then + passed on, leaving her to return to her home with a heavy heart. The young + countess felt that she had acted wrongly, and yet there was an instinct—an + instinct that she could not conquer. + </p> + <p> + In the gray of the morning, while she was still tossing feverishly, her + maid knocked at the door and brought her a hastily scribbled note. It ran + as follows: + </p> + <p> + I saw none but you, I admired none but you; I desire only you. Answer at + once, and calm the impatient ardor of—N. + </p> + <p> + These passionate words burned from her eyes the veil that had hidden the + truth from her. What before had been mere blind instinct became an actual + verity. Why had she at first rushed forth into the very streets to hail + the possible deliverer of her country, and then why had she shrunk from + him when he sought to honor her! It was all clear enough now. This bedside + missive meant that he had intended her dishonor and that he had looked + upon her simply as a possible mistress. + </p> + <p> + At once she crushed the note angrily in her hand. + </p> + <p> + "There is no answer at all," said she, bursting into bitter tears at the + very thought that he should dare to treat her in this way. + </p> + <p> + But on the following morning when she awoke her maid was standing beside + her with a second letter from Napoleon. She refused to open it and placed + it in a packet with the first letter, and ordered that both of them should + be returned to the emperor. + </p> + <p> + She shrank from speaking to her husband of what had happened, and there + was no one else in whom she dared confide. All through that day there came + hundreds of visitors, either of princely rank or men who had won fame by + their gallantry and courage. They all begged to see her, but to them all + she sent one answer—that she was ill and could see no one. + </p> + <p> + After a time her husband burst into her room, and insisted that she should + see them. + </p> + <p> + "Why," exclaimed he, "you are insulting the greatest men and the noblest + women of Poland! More than that, there are some of the most distinguished + Frenchmen sitting at your doorstep, as it were. There is Duroc, grand + marshal of France, and in refusing to see him you are insulting the great + emperor on whom depends everything that our country longs for. Napoleon + has invited you to a state dinner and you have given him no answer + whatever. I order you to rise at once and receive these ladies and + gentlemen who have done you so much honor!" + </p> + <p> + She could not refuse. Presently she appeared in her drawing-room, where + she was at once surrounded by an immense throng of her own countrymen and + countrywomen, who made no pretense of misunderstanding the situation. To + them, what was one woman's honor when compared with the freedom and + independence of their nation? She was overwhelmed by arguments and + entreaties. She was even accused of being disloyal to the cause of Poland + if she refused her consent. + </p> + <p> + One of the strangest documents of that period was a letter sent to her and + signed by the noblest men in Poland. It contained a powerful appeal to her + patriotism. One remarkable passage even quotes the Bible to point out her + line of duty. A portion of this letter ran as follows: + </p> + <p> + Did Esther, think you, give herself to Ahasuerus out of the fulness of her + love for him? So great was the terror with which he inspired her that she + fainted at the sight of him. We may therefore conclude that affection had + but little to do with her resolve. She sacrificed her own inclinations to + the salvation of her country, and that salvation it was her glory to + achieve. May we be enabled to say the same of you, to your glory and our + own happiness! + </p> + <p> + After this letter came others from Napoleon himself, full of the most + humble pleading. It was not wholly distasteful thus to have the conqueror + of the world seek her out and offer her his adoration any more than it was + distasteful to think that the revival of her own nation depended on her + single will. M. Frederic Masson, whose minute studies regarding everything + relating to Napoleon have won him a seat in the French Academy, writes of + Marie Walewska at this time: Every force was now brought into play against + her. Her country, her friends, her religion, the Old and the New + Testaments, all urged her to yield; they all combined for the ruin of a + simple and inexperienced girl of eighteen who had no parents, whose + husband even thrust her into temptation, and whose friends thought that + her downfall would be her glory. + </p> + <p> + Amid all these powerful influences she consented to attend the dinner. To + her gratification Napoleon treated her with distant courtesy, and, in + fact, with a certain coldness. + </p> + <p> + "I heard that Mme. Walewska was indisposed. I trust that she has + recovered," was all the greeting that he gave her when they met. + </p> + <p> + Every one else with whom she spoke overwhelmed her with flattery and with + continued urging; but the emperor himself for a time acted as if she had + displeased him. This was consummate art; for as soon as she was relieved + of her fears she began to regret that she had thrown her power away. + </p> + <p> + During the dinner she let her eyes wander to those of the emperor almost + in supplication. He, the subtlest of men, knew that he had won. His + marvelous eyes met hers and drew her attention to him as by an electric + current; and when the ladies left the great dining-room Napoleon sought + her out and whispered in her ear a few words of ardent love. + </p> + <p> + It was too little to alarm her seriously now. It was enough to make her + feel that magnetism which Napoleon knew so well how to evoke and exercise. + Again every one crowded about her with congratulations. Some said: + </p> + <p> + "He never even saw any of US. His eyes were all for YOU! They flashed fire + as he looked at you." + </p> + <p> + "You have conquered his heart," others said, "and you can do what you like + with him. The salvation of Poland is in your hands." + </p> + <p> + The company broke up at an early hour, but Mme. Walewska was asked to + remain. When she was alone General Duroc—one of the emperor's + favorite officers and most trusted lieutenants—entered and placed a + letter from Napoleon in her lap. He tried to tell her as tactfully as + possible how much harm she was doing by refusing the imperial request. She + was deeply affected, and presently, when Duroc left her, she opened the + letter which he had given her and read it. It was worded thus: + </p> + <p> + There are times when all splendors become oppressive, as I feel but too + deeply at the present moment. How can I satisfy the desires of a heart + that yearns to cast itself at your feet, when its impulses are checked at + every point by considerations of the highest moment? Oh, if you would, you + alone might overcome the obstacles that keep us apart. MY FRIEND DUROC + WILL MAKE ALL EASY FOR YOU. Oh, come, come! Your every wish shall be + gratified! Your country will be dearer to me when you take pity on my poor + heart. N. + </p> + <p> + Every chance of escape seemed to be closed. She had Napoleon's own word + that he would free Poland in return for her self-sacrifice. Moreover, her + powers of resistance had been so weakened that, like many women, she + temporized. She decided that she would meet the emperor alone. She would + tell him that she did not love him, and yet would plead with him to save + her beloved country. + </p> + <p> + As she sat there every tick of the clock stirred her to a new excitement. + At last there came a knock upon the door, a cloak was thrown about her + from behind, a heavy veil was drooped about her golden hair, and she was + led, by whom she knew not, to the street, where a finely appointed + carriage was waiting for her. + </p> + <p> + No sooner had she entered it than she was driven rapidly through the + darkness to the beautifully carved entrance of a palace. Half led, half + carried, she was taken up the steps to a door which was eagerly opened by + some one within. There were warmth and light and color and the scent of + flowers as she was placed in a comfortable arm-chair. Her wrappings were + taken from her, the door was closed behind her; and then, as she looked + up, she found herself in the presence of Napoleon, who was kneeling at her + feet and uttering soothing words. + </p> + <p> + Wisely, the emperor used no violence. He merely argued with her; he told + her over and over his love for her; and finally he declared that for her + sake he would make Poland once again a strong and splendid kingdom. + </p> + <p> + Several hours passed. In the early morning, before daylight, there came a + knock at the door. + </p> + <p> + "Already?" said Napoleon. "Well, my plaintive dove, go home and rest. You + must not fear the eagle. In time you will come to love him, and in all + things you shall command him." + </p> + <p> + Then he led her to the door, but said that he would not open it unless she + promised to see him the next day—a promise which she gave the more + readily because he had treated her with such respect. + </p> + <p> + On the following morning her faithful maid came to her bedside with a + cluster of beautiful violets, a letter, and several daintily made morocco + cases. When these were opened there leaped out strings and necklaces of + exquisite diamonds, blazing in the morning sunlight. Mme. Walewska seized + the jewels and flung them across the room with an order that they should + be taken back at once to the imperial giver; but the letter, which was in + the same romantic strain as the others, she retained. + </p> + <p> + On that same evening there was another dinner, given to the emperor by the + nobles, and Marie Walewska attended it, but of course without the + diamonds, which she had returned. Nor did she wear the flowers which had + accompanied the diamonds. + </p> + <p> + When Napoleon met her he frowned upon her and made her tremble with the + cold glances that shot from his eyes of steel. He scarcely spoke to her + throughout the meal, but those who sat beside her were earnest in their + pleading. + </p> + <p> + Again she waited until the guests had gone away, and with a lighter heart, + since she felt that she had nothing to fear. But when she met Napoleon in + his private cabinet, alone, his mood was very different from that which he + had shown before. Instead of gentleness and consideration he was the + Napoleon of camps, and not of courts. He greeted her bruskly. + </p> + <p> + "I scarcely expected to see you again," said he. "Why did you refuse my + diamonds and my flowers? Why did you avoid my eyes at dinner? Your + coldness is an insult which I shall not brook." Then he raised his voice + to that rasping, almost blood-curdling tone which even his hardiest + soldiers dreaded: "I will have you know that I mean to conquer you. You + SHALL—yes, I repeat it, you SHALL love me! I have restored the name + of your country. It owes its very existence to me." + </p> + <p> + Then he resorted to a trick which he had played years before in dealing + with the Austrians at Campo Formio. + </p> + <p> + "See this watch which I am holding in my hand. Just as I dash it to + fragments before you, so will I shatter Poland if you drive me to + desperation by rejecting my heart and refusing me your own." + </p> + <p> + As he spoke he hurled the watch against the opposite wall with terrific + force, dashing it to pieces. In terror, Mme. Walewska fainted. When she + resumed consciousness there was Napoleon wiping away her tears with the + tenderness of a woman and with words of self-reproach. + </p> + <p> + The long siege was over. Napoleon had conquered, and this girl of eighteen + gave herself up to his caresses and endearments, thinking that, after all, + her love of country was more than her own honor. + </p> + <p> + Her husband, as a matter of form, put her away from him, though at heart + he approved what she had done, while the Polish people regarded her as + nothing less than a national heroine. To them she was no minister to the + vices of an emperor, but rather one who would make him love Poland for her + sake and restore its greatness. + </p> + <p> + So far as concerned his love for her, it was, indeed, almost idolatry. He + honored her in every way and spent all the time at his disposal in her + company. But his promise to restore Poland he never kept, and gradually + she found that he had never meant to keep it. + </p> + <p> + "I love your country," he would say, "and I am willing to aid in the + attempt to uphold its rights, but my first duty is to France. I cannot + shed French blood in a foreign cause." + </p> + <p> + By this time, however, Marie Walewska had learned to love Napoleon for his + own sake. She could not resist his ardor, which matched the ardor of the + Poles themselves. Moreover, it flattered her to see the greatest soldier + in the world a suppliant for her smiles. + </p> + <p> + For some years she was Napoleon's close companion, spending long hours + with him and finally accompanying him to Paris. She was the mother of + Napoleon's only son who lived to manhood. This son, who bore the name of + Alexandre Florian de Walewski, was born in Poland in 1810, and later was + created a count and duke of the second French Empire. It may be said + parenthetically that he was a man of great ability. Living down to 1868, + he was made much of by Napoleon III., who placed him in high offices of + state, which he filled with distinction. In contrast with the Duc de + Morny, who was Napoleon's illegitimate half-brother, Alexandre de Walewski + stood out in brilliant contrast. He would have nothing to do with + stock-jobbing and unseemly speculation. + </p> + <p> + "I may be poor," he said—though he was not poor—"but at least + I remember the glory of my father and what is due to his great name." + </p> + <p> + As for Mme. Walewska, she was loyal to the emperor, and lacked the greed + of many women whom he had made his favorites. Even at Elba, when he was in + exile and disgrace, she visited him that she might endeavor to console + him. She was his counselor and friend as well as his earnestly loved mate. + When she died in Paris in 1817, while the dethroned emperor was a prisoner + at St. Helena, the word "Napoleon" was the last upon her lips. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF PAULINE BONAPARTE + </h2> + <p> + It was said of Napoleon long ago that he could govern emperors and kings, + but that not even he could rule his relatives. He himself once declared: + </p> + <p> + "My family have done me far more harm than I have been able to do them + good." + </p> + <p> + It would be an interesting historical study to determine just how far the + great soldier's family aided in his downfall by their selfishness, their + jealousy, their meanness, and their ingratitude. + </p> + <p> + There is something piquant in thinking of Napoleon as a domestic sort of + person. Indeed, it is rather difficult to do so. When we speak his name we + think of the stern warrior hurling his armies up bloody slopes and on to + bloody victory. He is the man whose steely eyes made his haughtiest + marshals tremble, or else the wise, far-seeing statesman and lawgiver; but + decidedly he is not a household model. We read of his sharp speech to + women, of his outrageous manners at the dinner-table, and of the thousand + and one details which Mme. de Remusat has chronicled—and perhaps in + part invented, for there has always existed the suspicion that her animus + was that of a woman who had herself sought the imperial favor and had + failed to win it. + </p> + <p> + But, in fact, all these stories relate to the Napoleon of courts and + palaces, and not to the Napoleon of home. In his private life this great + man was not merely affectionate and indulgent, but he even showed a + certain weakness where his relatives were concerned, so that he let them + prey upon him almost without end. + </p> + <p> + He had a great deal of the Italian largeness and lavishness of character + with his family. When a petty officer he nearly starved himself in order + to give his younger brother, Louis, a military education. He was devotedly + fond of children, and they were fond of him, as many anecdotes attest. His + passionate love for Josephine before he learned of her infidelity is + almost painful to read of; and even afterward, when he had been + disillusioned, and when she was paying Fouche a thousand francs a day to + spy upon Napoleon's every action, he still treated her with friendliness + and allowed her extravagance to embarrass him. + </p> + <p> + He made his eldest brother, Joseph, King of Spain, and Spain proved almost + as deadly to him as did Russia. He made his youngest brother, Jerome, King + of Westphalia, and Jerome turned the palace into a pigsty and brought + discredit on the very name of Bonaparte. His brother Louis, for whom he + had starved himself, he placed upon the throne of Holland, and Louis + promptly devoted himself to his own interests, conniving at many things + which were inimical to France. He was planning high advancement for his + brother Lucien, and Lucien suddenly married a disreputable actress and + fled with her to England, where he was received with pleasure by the most + persistent of all Napoleon's enemies. + </p> + <p> + So much for his brothers—incompetent, ungrateful, or openly his + foes. But his three sisters were no less remarkable in the relations which + they bore to him. They have been styled "the three crowned courtesans," + and they have been condemned together as being utterly void of principle + and monsters of ingratitude. + </p> + <p> + Much of this censure was well deserved by all of them—by Caroline + and Elise and Pauline. But when we look at the facts impartially we shall + find something which makes Pauline stand out alone as infinitely superior + to her sisters. Of all the Bonapartes she was the only one who showed + fidelity and gratitude to the great emperor, her brother. Even Mme. Mere, + Napoleon's mother, who beyond all question transmitted to him his great + mental and physical power, did nothing for him. At the height of his + splendor she hoarded sous and francs and grumblingly remarked: + </p> + <p> + "All this is for a time. It isn't going to last!" + </p> + <p> + Pauline, however, was in one respect different from all her kindred. + Napoleon made Elise a princess in her own right and gave her the Grand + Duchy of Tuscany. He married Caroline to Marshal Murat, and they became + respectively King and Queen of Naples. For Pauline he did very little—less, + in fact, than for any other member of his family—and yet she alone + stood by him to the end. + </p> + <p> + This feather-headed, languishing, beautiful, distracting morsel of + frivolity, who had the manners of a kitten and the morals of a cat, + nevertheless was not wholly unworthy to be Napoleon's sister. One has to + tell many hard things of her; and yet one almost pardons her because of + her underlying devotion to the man who made the name of Bonaparte + illustrious for ever. Caroline, Queen of Naples, urged her husband to turn + against his former chief. Elise, sour and greedy, threw in her fortunes + with the Murats. Pauline, as we shall see, had the one redeeming trait of + gratitude. + </p> + <p> + To those who knew her she was from girlhood an incarnation of what used to + be called "femininity." We have to-day another and a higher definition of + womanhood, but to her contemporaries, and to many modern writers, she has + seemed to be first of all woman—"woman to the tips of her rosy + finger-nails," says Levy. Those who saw her were distracted by her + loveliness. They say that no one can form any idea of her beauty from her + pictures. "A veritable masterpiece of creation," she had been called. + Frederic Masson declares: + </p> + <p> + She was so much more the typical woman that with her the defects common to + women reached their highest development, while her beauty attained a + perfection which may justly be called unique. + </p> + <p> + No one speaks of Pauline Bonaparte's character or of her intellect, but + wholly of her loveliness and charm, and, it must be added, of her utter + lack of anything like a moral sense. + </p> + <p> + Even as a child of thirteen, when the Bonapartes left Corsica and took up + their abode in Marseilles, she attracted universal attention by her + wonderful eyes, her grace, and also by the utter lack of decorum which she + showed. The Bonaparte girls at this time lived almost on charity. The + future emperor was then a captain of artillery and could give them but + little out of his scanty pay. + </p> + <p> + Pauline—or, as they called her in those days, Paulette—wore + unbecoming hats and shabby gowns, and shoes that were full of holes. None + the less, she was sought out by several men of note, among them Freron, a + commissioner of the Convention. He visited Pauline so often as to cause + unfavorable comment; but he was in love with her, and she fell in love + with him to the extent of her capacity. She used to write him love letters + in Italian, which were certainly not lacking in ardor. Here is the end of + one of them: + </p> + <p> + I love you always and most passionately. I love you for ever, my beautiful + idol, my heart, my appealing lover. I love you, love you, love you, the + most loved of lovers, and I swear never to love any one else! + </p> + <p> + This was interesting in view of the fact that soon afterward she fell in + love with Junot, who became a famous marshal. But her love affairs never + gave her any serious trouble; and the three sisters, who now began to feel + the influence of Napoleon's rise to power, enjoyed themselves as they had + never done before. At Antibes they had a beautiful villa, and later a + mansion at Milan. + </p> + <p> + By this time Napoleon had routed the Austrians in Italy, and all France + was ringing with his name. What was Pauline like in her maidenhood? + Arnault says: + </p> + <p> + She was an extraordinary combination of perfect physical beauty and the + strangest moral laxity. She was as pretty as you please, but utterly + unreasonable. She had no more manners than a school-girl—talking + incoherently, giggling at everything and nothing, and mimicking the most + serious persons of rank. + </p> + <p> + General de Ricard, who knew her then, tells in his monograph of the + private theatricals in which Pauline took part, and of the sport which + they had behind the scenes. He says: + </p> + <p> + The Bonaparte girls used literally to dress us. They pulled our ears and + slapped us, but they always kissed and made up later. We used to stay in + the girls' room all the time when they were dressing. + </p> + <p> + Napoleon was anxious to see his sisters in some way settled. He proposed + to General Marmont to marry Pauline. The girl was then only seventeen, and + one might have had some faith in her character. But Marmont was shrewd and + knew her far too well. The words in which he declined the honor are + interesting: + </p> + <p> + "I know that she is charming and exquisitely beautiful; yet I have dreams + of domestic happiness, of fidelity, and of virtue. Such dreams are seldom + realized, I know. Still, in the hope of winning them—" + </p> + <p> + And then he paused, coughed, and completed what he had to say in a sort of + mumble, but his meaning was wholly clear. He would not accept the offer of + Pauline in marriage, even though she was the sister of his mighty chief. + </p> + <p> + Then Napoleon turned to General Leclerc, with whom Pauline had for some + time flirted, as she had flirted with almost all the officers of + Napoleon's staff. Leclerc was only twenty-six. He was rich and of good + manners, but rather serious and in poor health. This was not precisely the + sort of husband for Pauline, if we look at it in the conventional way; but + it served Napoleon's purpose and did not in the least interfere with his + sister's intrigues. + </p> + <p> + Poor Leclerc, who really loved Pauline, grew thin, and graver still in + manner. He was sent to Spain and Portugal, and finally was made + commander-in-chief of the French expedition to Haiti, where the famous + black rebel, Toussaint l'Ouverture, was heading an uprising of the + negroes. + </p> + <p> + Napoleon ordered Pauline to accompany her husband. Pauline flatly refused, + although she made this an occasion for ordering "mountains of pretty + clothes and pyramids of hats." But still she refused to go on board the + flag-ship. Leclerc expostulated and pleaded, but the lovely witch laughed + in his face and still persisted that she would never go. + </p> + <p> + Word was brought to Napoleon. He made short work of her resistance. + </p> + <p> + "Bring a litter," he said, with one of his steely glances. "Order six + grenadiers to thrust her into it, and see that she goes on board + forthwith." + </p> + <p> + And so, screeching like an angry cat, she was carried on board, and set + sail with her husband and one of her former lovers. She found Haiti and + Santo Domingo more agreeable than she had supposed. She was there a sort + of queen who could do as she pleased and have her orders implicitly + obeyed. Her dissipation was something frightful. Her folly and her vanity + were beyond belief. + </p> + <p> + But at the end of two years both she and her husband fell ill. He was + stricken down by the yellow fever, which was decimating the French army. + Pauline was suffering from the results of her life in a tropical climate. + Leclerc died, the expedition was abandoned, and Pauline brought the + general's body back to France. When he was buried she, still recovering + from her fever, had him interred in a costly coffin and paid him the + tribute of cutting off her beautiful hair and burying it with him. + </p> + <p> + "What a touching tribute to her dead husband!" said some one to Napoleon. + </p> + <p> + The emperor smiled cynically as he remarked: + </p> + <p> + "H'm! Of course she knows that her hair is bound to fall out after her + fever, and that it will come in longer and thicker for being cropped." + </p> + <p> + Napoleon, in fact, though he loved Pauline better than his other sisters—or + perhaps because he loved her better—was very strict with her. He + obliged her to wear mourning, and to observe some of the proprieties; but + it was hard to keep her within bounds. + </p> + <p> + Presently it became noised about that Prince Camillo Borghese was + exceedingly intimate with her. The prince was an excellent specimen of the + fashionable Italian. He was immensely rich. His palace at Rome was crammed + with pictures, statues, and every sort of artistic treasure. He was the + owner, moreover, of the famous Borghese jewels, the finest collection of + diamonds in the world. + </p> + <p> + Napoleon rather sternly insisted upon her marrying Borghese. Fortunately, + the prince was very willing to be connected with Napoleon; while Pauline + was delighted at the idea of having diamonds that would eclipse all the + gems which Josephine possessed; for, like all of the Bonapartes, she + detested her brother's wife. So she would be married and show her diamonds + to Josephine. It was a bit of feminine malice which she could not resist. + </p> + <p> + The marriage took place very quietly at Joseph Bonaparte's house, because + of the absence of Napoleon; but the newly made princess was invited to + visit Josephine at the palace of Saint-Cloud. Here was to be the triumph + of her life. She spent many days in planning a toilet that should be + absolutely crushing to Josephine. Whatever she wore must be a background + for the famous diamonds. Finally she decided on green velvet. + </p> + <p> + When the day came Pauline stood before a mirror and gazed at herself with + diamonds glistening in her hair, shimmering around her neck, and fastened + so thickly on her green velvet gown as to remind one of a moving + jewel-casket. She actually shed tears for joy. Then she entered her + carriage and drove out to Saint-Cloud. + </p> + <p> + But the Creole Josephine, though no longer young, was a woman of great + subtlety as well as charm. Stories had been told to her of the green + velvet, and therefore she had her drawing-room redecorated in the most + uncompromising blue. It killed the green velvet completely. As for the + diamonds, she met that maneuver by wearing not a single gem of any kind. + Her dress was an Indian muslin with a broad hem of gold. + </p> + <p> + Her exquisite simplicity, coupled with her dignity of bearing, made the + Princess Pauline, with her shower of diamonds, and her green velvet + displayed against the blue, seem absolutely vulgar. Josephine was most + generous in her admiration of the Borghese gems, and she kissed Pauline on + parting. The victory was hers. + </p> + <p> + There is another story of a defeat which Pauline met from another lady, + one Mme. de Coutades. This was at a magnificent ball given to the most + fashionable world of Paris. Pauline decided upon going, and intended, in + her own phrase, to blot out every woman there. She kept the secret of her + toilet absolutely, and she entered the ballroom at the psychological + moment, when all the guests had just assembled. + </p> + <p> + She appeared; and at sight of her the music stopped, silence fell upon the + assemblage, and a sort of quiver went through every one. Her costume was + of the finest muslin bordered with golden palm-leaves. Four bands, spotted + like a leopard's skin, were wound about her head, while these in turn were + supported by little clusters of golden grapes. She had copied the + head-dress of a Bacchante in the Louvre. All over her person were cameos, + and just beneath her breasts she wore a golden band held in place by an + engraved gem. Her beautiful wrists, arms, and hands were bare. She had, in + fact, blotted out her rivals. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, Mme. de Coutades took her revenge. She went up to Pauline, + who was lying on a divan to set off her loveliness, and began gazing at + the princess through a double eye-glass. Pauline felt flattered for a + moment, and then became uneasy. The lady who was looking at her said to a + companion, in a tone of compassion: + </p> + <p> + "What a pity! She really would be lovely if it weren't for THAT!" + </p> + <p> + "For what?" returned her escort. + </p> + <p> + "Why, are you blind? It's so remarkable that you SURELY must see it." + </p> + <p> + Pauline was beginning to lose her self-composure. She flushed and looked + wildly about, wondering what was meant. Then she heard Mme. Coutades say: + </p> + <p> + "Why, her ears. If I had such ears as those I would cut them off!" + </p> + <p> + Pauline gave one great gasp and fainted dead away. As a matter of fact, + her ears were not so bad. They were simply very flat and colorless, + forming a contrast with the rosy tints of her face. But from that moment + no one could see anything but these ears; and thereafter the princess wore + her hair low enough to cover them. + </p> + <p> + This may be seen in the statue of her by Canova. It was considered a very + daring thing for her to pose for him in the nude, for only a bit of + drapery is thrown over her lower limbs. Yet it is true that this statue is + absolutely classical in its conception and execution, and its interest is + heightened by the fact that its model was what she afterward styled + herself, with true Napoleonic pride—"a sister of Bonaparte." + </p> + <p> + Pauline detested Josephine and was pleased when Napoleon divorced her; but + she also disliked the Austrian archduchess, Marie Louise, who was + Josephine's successor. On one occasion, at a great court function, she got + behind the empress and ran out her tongue at her, in full view of all the + nobles and distinguished persons present. Napoleon's eagle eye flashed + upon Pauline and blazed like fire upon ice. She actually took to her + heels, rushed out of the ball, and never visited the court again. + </p> + <p> + It would require much time to tell of her other eccentricities, of her + intrigues, which were innumerable, of her quarrel with her husband, and of + the minor breaches of decorum with which she startled Paris. One of these + was her choice of a huge negro to bathe her every morning. When some one + ventured to protest, she answered, naively: + </p> + <p> + "What! Do you call that thing a MAN?" + </p> + <p> + And she compromised by compelling her black servitor to go out and marry + some one at once, so that he might continue his ministrations with + propriety! + </p> + <p> + To her Napoleon showed himself far more severe than with either Caroline + or Elise. He gave her a marriage dowry of half a million francs when she + became the Princess Borghese, but after that he was continually checking + her extravagances. Yet in 1814, when the downfall came and Napoleon was + sent into exile at Elba, Pauline was the only one of all his relatives to + visit him and spend her time with him. His wife fell away and went back to + her Austrian relatives. Of all the Bonapartes only Pauline and Mme. Mere + remained faithful to the emperor. + </p> + <p> + Even then Napoleon refused to pay a bill of hers for sixty-two francs, + while he allowed her only two hundred and forty francs for the maintenance + of her horses. But she, with a generosity of which one would have thought + her quite incapable, gave to her brother a great part of her fortune. When + he escaped from Elba and began the campaign of 1815 she presented him with + all the Borghese diamonds. In fact, he had them with him in his carriage + at Waterloo, where they were captured by the English. Contrast this with + the meanness and ingratitude of her sisters and her brothers, and one may + well believe that she was sincerely proud of what it meant to be la soeur + de Bonaparte. + </p> + <p> + When he was sent to St. Helena she was ill in bed and could not accompany + him. Nevertheless, she tried to sell all her trinkets, of which she was so + proud, in order that she might give him help. When he died she received + the news with bitter tears "on hearing all the particulars of that long + agony." + </p> + <p> + As for herself, she did not long survive. At the age of forty-four her + last moments came. Knowing that she was to die, she sent for Prince + Borghese and sought a reconciliation. But, after all, she died as she had + lived—"the queen of trinkets" (la reine des colifichets). She asked + the servant to bring a mirror. She gazed into it with her dying eyes; and + then, as she sank back, it was with a smile of deep content. + </p> + <p> + "I am not afraid to die," she said. "I am still beautiful!" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE AND COUNT NEIPPERG + </h2> + <p> + There is one famous woman whom history condemns while at the same time it + partly hides the facts which might mitigate the harshness of the judgment + that is passed upon her. This woman is Marie Louise, Empress of France, + consort of the great Napoleon, and archduchess of imperial Austria. When + the most brilliant figure in all history, after his overthrow in 1814, was + in tawdry exile on the petty island of Elba, the empress was already about + to become a mother; and the father of her unborn child was not Napoleon, + but another man. This is almost all that is usually remembered of her—that + she was unfaithful to Napoleon, that she abandoned him in the hour of his + defeat, and that she gave herself with readiness to one inferior in rank, + yet with whom she lived for years, and to whom she bore what a French + writer styled "a brood of bastards." + </p> + <p> + Naturally enough, the Austrian and German historians do not have much to + say of Marie Louise, because in her own disgrace she also brought disgrace + upon the proudest reigning family in Europe. Naturally, also, French + writers, even those who are hostile to Napoleon, do not care to dwell upon + the story; since France itself was humiliated when its greatest genius and + most splendid soldier was deceived by his Austrian wife. Therefore there + are still many who know little beyond the bare fact that the Empress Marie + Louise threw away her pride as a princess, her reputation as a wife, and + her honor as a woman. Her figure seems to crouch in a sort of murky byway, + and those who pass over the highroad of history ignore it with averted + eyes. + </p> + <p> + In reality the story of Napoleon and Marie Louise and of the Count von + Neipperg is one which, when you search it to the very core, leads you + straight to a sex problem of a very curious nature. Nowhere else does it + occur in the relations of the great personages of history; but in + literature Balzac, that master of psychology, has touched upon the theme + in the early chapters of his famous novel called "A Woman of Thirty." + </p> + <p> + As to the Napoleonic story, let us first recall the facts of the case, + giving them in such order that their full significance may be understood. + </p> + <p> + In 1809 Napoleon, then at the plenitude of his power, shook himself free + from the clinging clasp of Josephine and procured the annulment of his + marriage to her. He really owed her nothing. Before he knew her she had + been the mistress of another. In the first years of their life together + she had been notoriously unfaithful to him. He had held to her from habit + which was in part a superstition; but the remembrance of the wrong which + she had done him made her faded charms at times almost repulsive. And then + Josephine had never borne him any children; and without a son to + perpetuate his dynasty, the gigantic achievements which he had wrought + seemed futile in his eyes, and likely to crumble into nothingness when he + should die. + </p> + <p> + No sooner had the marriage been annulled than his titanic ambition leaped, + as it always did, to a tremendous pinnacle. He would wed. He would have + children. But he would wed no petty princess. This man who in his early + youth had felt honored by a marriage with the almost declassee widow of a + creole planter now stretched out his hand that he might take to himself a + woman not merely royal but imperial. + </p> + <p> + At first he sought the sister of the Czar of Russia; but Alexander + entertained a profound distrust of the French emperor, and managed to + evade the tentative demand. There was, however, a reigning family far more + ancient than the Romanoffs—a family which had held the imperial + dignity for nearly six centuries—the oldest and the noblest blood in + Europe. This was the Austrian house of Hapsburg. Its head, the Emperor + Francis, had thirteen children, of whom the eldest, the Archduchess Marie + Louise, was then in her nineteenth year. + </p> + <p> + Napoleon had resented the rebuff which the Czar had given him. He turned, + therefore, the more eagerly to the other project. Yet there were many + reasons why an Austrian marriage might be dangerous, or, at any rate, + ill-omened. Only sixteen years before, an Austrian arch-duchess, Marie + Antionette, married to the ruler of France, had met her death upon the + scaffold, hated and cursed by the French people, who had always blamed + "the Austrian" for the evil days which had ended in the flames of + revolution. Again, the father of the girl to whom Napoleon's fancy turned + had been the bitter enemy of the new regime in France. His troops had been + beaten by the French in five wars and had been crushed at Austerlitz and + at Wagram. Bonaparte had twice entered Vienna at the head of a conquering + army, and thrice he had slept in the imperial palace at Schonbrunn, while + Francis was fleeing through the dark, a beaten fugitive pursued by the + swift squadrons of French cavalry. + </p> + <p> + The feeling of Francis of Austria was not merely that of the vanquished + toward the victor. It was a deep hatred almost religious in its fervor. He + was the head and front of the old-time feudalism of birth and blood; + Napoleon was the incarnation of the modern spirit which demolished thrones + and set an iron heel upon crowned heads, giving the sacred titles of king + and prince to soldiers who, even in palaces, still showed the swaggering + brutality of the camp and the stable whence they sprang. Yet, just because + an alliance with the Austrian house seemed in so many ways impossible, the + thought of it inflamed the ardor of Napoleon all the more. + </p> + <p> + "Impossible?" he had once said, contemptuously. "The word 'impossible' is + not French." + </p> + <p> + The Austrian alliance, unnatural though it seemed, was certainly quite + possible. In the year 1809 Napoleon had finished his fifth war with + Austria by the terrific battle of Wagram, which brought the empire of the + Hapsburgs to the very dust. The conqueror's rude hand had stripped from + Francis province after province. He had even let fall hints that the + Hapsburgs might be dethroned and that Austria might disappear from the map + of Europe, to be divided between himself and the Russian Czar, who was + still his ally. It was at this psychological moment that the Czar wounded + Napoleon's pride by refusing to give the hand of his sister Anne. + </p> + <p> + The subtle diplomats of Vienna immediately saw their chance. Prince + Metternich, with the caution of one who enters the cage of a + man-eating-tiger, suggested that the Austrian archduchess would be a + fitting bride for the French conqueror. The notion soothed the wounded + vanity of Napoleon. From that moment events moved swiftly; and before long + it was understood that there was to be a new empress in France, and that + she was to be none other than the daughter of the man who had been + Napoleon's most persistent foe upon the Continent. The girl was to be + given—sacrificed, if you like—to appease an imperial + adventurer. After such a marriage, Austria would be safe from spoliation. + The reigning dynasty would remain firmly seated upon its historic throne. + </p> + <p> + But how about the girl herself? She had always heard Napoleon spoken of as + a sort of ogre—a man of low ancestry, a brutal and faithless enemy + of her people. She knew that this bold, rough-spoken soldier less than a + year before had added insult to the injury which he had inflicted on her + father. In public proclamations he had called the Emperor Francis a coward + and a liar. Up to the latter part of the year Napoleon was to her + imagination a blood-stained, sordid, and yet all-powerful monster, outside + the pale of human liking and respect. What must have been her thoughts + when her father first told her with averted face that she was to become + the bride of such a being? + </p> + <p> + Marie Louise had been brought up, as all German girls of rank were then + brought up, in quiet simplicity and utter innocence. In person she was a + tall blonde, with a wealth of light brown hair tumbling about a face which + might be called attractive because it was so youthful and so gentle, but + in which only poets and courtiers could see beauty. Her complexion was + rosy, with that peculiar tinge which means that in the course of time it + will become red and mottled. Her blue eyes were clear and childish. Her + figure was good, though already too full for a girl who was younger than + her years. + </p> + <p> + She had a large and generous mouth with full lips, the lower one being the + true "Hapsburg lip," slightly pendulous—a feature which has remained + for generation after generation as a sure sign of Hapsburg blood. One sees + it in the present emperor of Austria, in the late Queen Regent of Spain, + and in the present King of Spain, Alfonso. All the artists who made + miniatures or paintings of Marie Louise softened down this racial mark so + that no likeness of her shows it as it really was. But take her all in + all, she was a simple, childlike, German madchen who knew nothing of the + outside world except what she had heard from her discreet and watchful + governess, and what had been told her of Napoleon by her uncles, the + archdukes whom he had beaten down in battle. + </p> + <p> + When she learned that she was to be given to the French emperor her + girlish soul experienced a shudder; but her father told her how vital was + this union to her country and to him. With a sort of piteous dread she + questioned the archdukes who had called Napoleon an ogre. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, that was when Napoleon was an enemy," they replied. "Now he is our + friend." + </p> + <p> + Marie Louise listened to all this, and, like the obedient German girl she + was, yielded her own will. + </p> + <p> + Events moved with a rush, for Napoleon was not the man to dally. Josephine + had retired to her residence at Malmaison, and Paris was already astir + with preparations for the new empress who was to assure the continuation + of the Napoleonic glory by giving children to her husband. Napoleon had + said to his ambassador with his usual bluntness: + </p> + <p> + "This is the first and most important thing—she must have children." + </p> + <p> + To the girl whom he was to marry he sent the following letter—an odd + letter, combining the formality of a negotiator with the veiled ardor of a + lover: + </p> + <p> + MY COUSIN: The brilliant qualities which adorn your person have inspired + in me a desire to serve you and to pay you homage. In making my request to + the emperor, your father, and praying him to intrust to me the happiness + of your imperial highness, may I hope that you will understand the + sentiments which lead me to this act? May I flatter myself that it will + not be decided solely by the duty of parental obedience? However slightly + the feelings of your imperial highness may incline to me, I wish to + cultivate them with so great care, and to endeavor so constantly to please + you in everything, that I flatter myself that some day I shall prove + attractive to you. This is the end at which I desire to arrive, and for + which I pray your highness to be favorable to me. + </p> + <p> + Immediately everything was done to dazzle the imagination of the girl. She + had dressed always in the simplicity of the school-room. Her only + ornaments had been a few colored stones which she sometimes wore as a + necklace or a bracelet. Now the resources of all France were drawn upon. + Precious laces foamed about her. Cascades of diamonds flashed before her + eyes. The costliest and most exquisite creations of the Parisian shops + were spread around her to make up a trousseau fit for the princess who was + soon to become the bride of the man who had mastered continental Europe. + </p> + <p> + The archives of Vienna were ransacked for musty documents which would show + exactly what had been done for other Austrian princesses who had married + rulers of France. Everything was duplicated down to the last detail. + Ladies-in-waiting thronged about the young archduchess; and presently + there came to her Queen Caroline of Naples, Napoleon's sister, of whom + Napoleon himself once said: "She is the only man among my sisters, as + Joseph is the only woman among my brothers." Caroline, by virtue of her + rank as queen, could have free access to her husband's future bride. Also, + there came presently Napoleon's famous marshal, Berthier, Prince of + Neuchatel, the chief of the Old Guard, who had just been created Prince of + Wagram—a title which, very naturally, he did not use in Austria. He + was to act as proxy for Napoleon in the preliminary marriage service at + Vienna. + </p> + <p> + All was excitement. Vienna had never been so gay. Money was lavished under + the direction of Caroline and Berthier. There were illuminations and + balls. The young girl found herself the center of the world's interest; + and the excitement made her dizzy. She could not but be flattered, and yet + there were many hours when her heart misgave her. More than once she was + found in tears. Her father, an affectionate though narrow soul, spent an + entire day with her consoling and reassuring her. One thought she always + kept in mind—what she had said to Metternich at the very first: "I + want only what my duty bids me want." At last came the official marriage, + by proxy, in the presence of a splendid gathering. The various documents + were signed, the dowry was arranged for. Gifts were scattered right and + left. At the opera there were gala performances. Then Marie Louise bade + her father a sad farewell. Almost suffocated by sobs and with her eyes + streaming with tears, she was led between two hedges of bayonets to her + carriage, while cannon thundered and all the church-bells of Vienna rang a + joyful peal. + </p> + <p> + She set out for France accompanied by a long train of carriages filled + with noblemen and noblewomen, with ladies-in-waiting and scores of + attendant menials. The young bride—the wife of a man whom she had + never seen—was almost dead with excitement and fatigue. At a station + in the outskirts of Vienna she scribbled a few lines to her father, which + are a commentary upon her state of mind: + </p> + <p> + I think of you always, and I always shall. God has given me power to + endure this final shock, and in Him alone I have put all my trust. He will + help me and give me courage, and I shall find support in doing my duty + toward you, since it is all for you that I have sacrificed myself. + </p> + <p> + There is something piteous in this little note of a frightened girl going + to encounter she knew not what, and clinging almost frantically to the one + thought—that whatever might befall her, she was doing as her father + wished. + </p> + <p> + One need not recount the long and tedious journey of many days over + wretched roads, in carriages that jolted and lurched and swayed. She was + surrounded by unfamiliar faces and was compelled to meet at every town the + chief men of the place, all of whom paid her honor, but stared at her with + irrepressible curiosity. Day after day she went on and on. Each morning a + courier on a foaming horse presented her with a great cluster of fresh + flowers and a few lines scrawled by the unknown husband who was to meet + her at her journey's end. + </p> + <p> + There lay the point upon which her wandering thoughts were focused—the + journey's end! The man whose strange, mysterious power had forced her from + her school-room, had driven her through a nightmare of strange happenings, + and who was waiting for her somewhere to take her to himself, to master + her as he had mastered generals and armies! + </p> + <p> + What was marriage? What did it mean? What experience still lay before her! + These were the questions which she must have asked herself throughout that + long, exhausting journey. When she thought of the past she was homesick. + When she thought of the immediate future she was fearful with a shuddering + fear. + </p> + <p> + At last she reached the frontier of France, and her carriage passed into a + sort of triple structure, the first pavilion of which was Austrian, while + the middle pavilion was neutral, and the farther one was French. Here she + was received by those who were afterward to surround her—the + representatives of the Napoleonic court. They were not all plebeians and + children of the Revolution, ex-stable boys, ex-laundresses. By this time + Napoleon had gathered around himself some of the noblest families of + France, who had rallied to the empire. The assemblage was a brilliant one. + There were Montmorencys and Beaumonts and Audenardes in abundance. But to + Marie Louise, as to her Austrian attendants, they were all alike. They + were French, they were strangers, and she shrank from them. + </p> + <p> + Yet here her Austrians must leave her. All who had accompanied her thus + far were now turned back. Napoleon had been insistent on this point. Even + her governess, who had been with her since her childhood, was not allowed + to cross the French frontier. So fixed was Napoleon's purpose to have + nothing Austrian about her, that even her pet dog, to which she clung as a + girl would cling, was taken from her. Thereafter she was surrounded only + by French faces, by French guards, and was greeted only by salvos of + French artillery. + </p> + <p> + In the mean time what was Napoleon doing at Paris. Since the annulment of + his marriage with Josephine he had gone into a sort of retirement. Matters + of state, war, internal reforms, no longer interested him; but that + restless brain could not sink into repose. Inflamed with the ardor of a + new passion, that passion was all the greater because he had never yet set + eyes upon its object. Marriage with an imperial princess flattered his + ambition. The youth and innocence of the bride stirred his whole being + with a thrill of novelty. The painted charms of Josephine, the mercenary + favors of actresses, the calculated ecstasies of the women of the court + who gave themselves to him from vanity, had long since palled upon him. + Therefore the impatience with which he awaited the coming of Marie Louise + became every day more tense. + </p> + <p> + For a time he amused himself with planning down to the very last details + the demonstrations that were to be given in her honor. He organized them + as minutely as he had ever organized a conquering army. He showed himself + as wonderful in these petty things as he had in those great strategic + combinations which had baffled the ablest generals of Europe. But after + all had been arranged—even to the illuminations, the cheering, the + salutes, and the etiquette of the court—he fell into a fever of + impatience which gave him sleepless nights and frantic days. He paced up + and down the Tuileries, almost beside himself. He hurried off courier + after courier with orders that the postilions should lash their horses to + bring the hour of meeting nearer still. He scribbled love letters. He + gazed continually on the diamond-studded portrait of the woman who was + hurrying toward him. + </p> + <p> + At last as the time approached he entered a swift traveling-carriage and + hastened to Compiegne, about fifty miles from Paris, where it had been + arranged that he should meet his consort and whence he was to escort her + to the capital, so that they might be married in the great gallery of the + Louvre. At Compiegne the chancellerie had been set apart for Napoleon's + convenience, while the chateau had been assigned to Marie Louise and her + attendants. When Napoleon's carriage dashed into the place, drawn by + horses that had traveled at a gallop, the emperor could not restrain + himself. It was raining torrents and night was coming on, yet, none the + less, he shouted for fresh horses and pushed on to Soissons, where the new + empress was to stop and dine. When he reached there and she had not + arrived, new relays of horses were demanded, and he hurried off once more + into the dark. + </p> + <p> + At the little village of Courcelles he met the courier who was riding in + advance of the empress's cortege. + </p> + <p> + "She will be here in a few moments!" cried Napoleon; and he leaped from + his carriage into the highway. + </p> + <p> + The rain descended harder than ever, and he took refuge in the arched + doorway of the village church, his boots already bemired, his great coat + reeking with the downpour. As he crouched before the church he heard the + sound of carriages; and before long there came toiling through the mud the + one in which was seated the girl for whom he had so long been waiting. It + was stopped at an order given by an officer. Within it, half-fainting with + fatigue and fear, Marie Louise sat in the dark, alone. + </p> + <p> + Here, if ever, was the chance for Napoleon to win his bride. Could he have + restrained himself, could he have shown the delicate consideration which + was demanded of him, could he have remembered at least that he was an + emperor and that the girl—timid and shuddering—was a princess, + her future story might have been far different. But long ago he had ceased + to think of anything except his own desires. + </p> + <p> + He approached the carriage. An obsequious chamberlain drew aside the + leathern covering and opened the door, exclaiming as he did so, "The + emperor!" And then there leaped in the rain-soaked, mud-bespattered being + whose excesses had always been as unbridled as his genius. The door was + closed, the leathern curtain again drawn, and the horses set out at a + gallop for Soissons. Within, the shrinking bride was at the mercy of pure + animal passion, feeling upon her hot face a torrent of rough kisses, and + yielding herself in terror to the caresses of wanton hands. + </p> + <p> + At Soissons Napoleon allowed no halt, but the carriage plunged on, still + in the rain, to Compiegne. There all the arrangements made with so much + care were thrust aside. Though the actual marriage had not yet taken + place, Napoleon claimed all the rights which afterward were given in the + ceremonial at Paris. He took the girl to the chancellerie, and not to the + chateau. In an anteroom dinner was served with haste to the imperial pair + and Queen Caroline. Then the latter was dismissed with little ceremony, + the lights were extinguished, and this daughter of a line of emperors was + left to the tender mercies of one who always had about him something of + the common soldier—the man who lives for loot and lust.... At eleven + the next morning she was unable to rise and was served in bed by the + ladies of her household. + </p> + <p> + These facts, repellent as they are, must be remembered when we call to + mind what happened in the next five years. The horror of that night could + not be obliterated by splendid ceremonies, by studious attention, or by + all the pomp and gaiety of the court. Napoleon was then forty-one—practically + the same age as his new wife's father, the Austrian emperor; Marie Louise + was barely nineteen and younger than her years. Her master must have + seemed to be the brutal ogre whom her uncles had described. + </p> + <p> + Installed in the Tuileries, she taught herself compliance. On their + marriage night Napoleon had asked her briefly: "What did your parents tell + you?" And she had answered, meekly: "To be yours altogether and to obey + you in everything." But, though she gave compliance, and though her + freshness seemed enchanting to Napoleon, there was something concealed + within her thoughts to which he could not penetrate. He gaily said to a + member of the court: + </p> + <p> + "Marry a German, my dear fellow. They are the best women in the world—gentle, + good, artless, and as fresh as roses." + </p> + <p> + Yet, at the same time, Napoleon felt a deep anxiety lest in her very heart + of hearts this German girl might either fear or hate him secretly. + Somewhat later Prince Metternich came from the Austrian court to Paris. + </p> + <p> + "I give you leave," said Napoleon, "to have a private interview with the + empress. Let her tell you what she likes, and I shall ask no questions. + Even should I do so, I now forbid your answering me." + </p> + <p> + Metternich was closeted with the empress for a long while. When he + returned to the ante-room he found Napoleon fidgeting about, his eyes a + pair of interrogation-points. + </p> + <p> + "I am sure," he said, "that the empress told you that I was kind to her?" + </p> + <p> + Metternich bowed and made no answer. + </p> + <p> + "Well," said Napoleon, somewhat impatiently, "at least I am sure that she + is happy. Tell me, did she not say so?" + </p> + <p> + The Austrian diplomat remained unsmiling. + </p> + <p> + "Your majesty himself has forbidden me to answer," he returned with + another bow. + </p> + <p> + We may fairly draw the inference that Marie Louise, though she adapted + herself to her surroundings, was never really happy. Napoleon became + infatuated with her. He surrounded her with every possible mark of honor. + He abandoned public business to walk or drive with her. But the memory of + his own brutality must have vaguely haunted him throughout it all. He was + jealous of her as he had never been jealous of the fickle Josephine. + Constant has recorded that the greatest precautions were taken to prevent + any person whatsoever, and especially any man, from approaching the + empress save in the presence of witnesses. + </p> + <p> + Napoleon himself underwent a complete change of habits and demeanor. Where + he had been rough and coarse he became attentive and refined. His shabby + uniforms were all discarded, and he spent hours in trying on new costumes. + He even attempted to learn to waltz, but this he gave up in despair. + Whereas before he ate hastily and at irregular intervals, he now sat at + dinner with unusual patience, and the court took on a character which it + had never had. Never before had he sacrificed either his public duty or + his private pleasure for any woman. Even in the first ardor of his + marriage with Josephine, when he used to pour out his heart to her in + letters from Italian battle-fields, he did so only after he had made the + disposition of his troops and had planned his movements for the following + day. Now, however, he was not merely devoted, but uxorious; and in 1811, + after the birth of the little King of Rome, he ceased to be the earlier + Napoleon altogether. He had founded a dynasty. He was the head of a + reigning house. He forgot the principles of the Revolution, and he ruled, + as he thought, like other monarchs, by the grace of God. + </p> + <p> + As for Marie Louise, she played her part extremely well. Somewhat haughty + and unapproachable to others, she nevertheless studied Napoleon's every + wish. She seemed even to be loving; but one can scarcely doubt that her + obedience sprang ultimately from fear and that her devotion was the + devotion of a dog which has been beaten into subjection. + </p> + <p> + Her vanity was flattered in many ways, and most of all by her appointment + as regent of the empire during Napoleon's absence in the disastrous + Russian campaign which began in 1812. It was in June of that year that the + French emperor held court at Dresden, where he played, as was said, to "a + parterre of kings." This was the climax of his magnificence, for there + were gathered all the sovereigns and princes who were his allies and who + furnished the levies that swelled his Grand Army to six hundred thousand + men. Here Marie Louise, like her husband, felt to the full the + intoxication of supreme power. By a sinister coincidence it was here that + she first met the other man, then unnoticed and little heeded, who was to + cast upon her a fascination which in the end proved irresistible. + </p> + <p> + This man was Adam Albrecht, Count von Neipperg. There is something + mysterious about his early years, and something baleful about his silent + warfare with Napoleon. As a very young soldier he had been an Austrian + officer in 1793. His command served in Belgium; and there, in a skirmish, + he was overpowered by the French in superior numbers, but resisted + desperately. In the melee a saber slashed him across the right side of his + face, and he was made prisoner. The wound deprived him of his right eye, + so that for the rest of his life he was compelled to wear a black bandage + to conceal the mutilation. + </p> + <p> + From that moment he conceived an undying hatred of the French, serving + against them in the Tyrol and in Italy. He always claimed that had the + Archduke Charles followed his advice, the Austrians would have forced + Napoleon's army to capitulate at Marengo, thus bringing early eclipse to + the rising star of Bonaparte. However this may be, Napoleon's success + enraged Neipperg and made his hatred almost the hatred of a fiend. + </p> + <p> + Hitherto he had detested the French as a nation. Afterward he concentrated + his malignity upon the person of Napoleon. In every way he tried to cross + the path of that great soldier, and, though Neipperg was comparatively an + unknown man, his indomitable purpose and his continued intrigues at last + attracted the notice of the emperor; for in 1808 Napoleon wrote this + significant sentence: + </p> + <p> + The Count von Neipperg is openly known to have been the enemy of the + French. + </p> + <p> + Little did the great conqueror dream how deadly was the blow which this + Austrian count was destined finally to deal him! + </p> + <p> + Neipperg, though his title was not a high one, belonged to the old + nobility of Austria. He had proved his bravery in war and as a duelist, + and he was a diplomat as well as a soldier. Despite his mutilation, he was + a handsome and accomplished courtier, a man of wide experience, and one + who bore himself in a manner which suggested the spirit of romance. + According to Masson, he was an Austrian Don Juan, and had won the hearts + of many women. At thirty he had formed a connection with an Italian woman + named Teresa Pola, whom he had carried away from her husband. She had + borne him five children; and in 1813 he had married her in order that + these children might be made legitimate. + </p> + <p> + In his own sphere the activity of Neipperg was almost as remarkable as + Napoleon's in a greater one. Apart from his exploits on the field of + battle he had been attached to the Austrian embassy in Paris, and, + strangely enough, had been decorated by Napoleon himself with, the golden + eagle of the Legion of Honor. Four months later we find him minister of + Austria at the court of Sweden, where he helped to lay the train of + intrigue which was to detach Bernadotte from Napoleon's cause. In 1812, as + has just been said, he was with Marie Louise for a short time at Dresden, + hovering about her, already forming schemes. Two years after this he + overthrew Murat at Naples; and then hurried on post-haste to urge Prince + Eugene to abandon Bonaparte. + </p> + <p> + When the great struggle of 1814 neared its close, and Napoleon, fighting + with his back to the wall, was about to succumb to the united armies of + Europe, it was evident that the Austrian emperor would soon be able to + separate his daughter from her husband. In fact, when Napoleon was sent to + Elba, Marie Louise returned to Vienna. The cynical Austrian diplomats + resolved that she should never again meet her imperial husband. She was + made Duchess of Parma in Italy, and set out for her new possessions; and + the man with the black band across his sightless eye was chosen to be her + escort and companion. + </p> + <p> + When Neipperg received this commission he was with Teresa Pola at Milan. A + strange smile flitted across his face; and presently he remarked, with + cynical frankness: + </p> + <p> + "Before six months I shall be her lover, and, later on, her husband." + </p> + <p> + He took up his post as chief escort of Marie Louise, and they journeyed + slowly to Munich and Baden and Geneva, loitering on the way. Amid the + great events which were shaking Europe this couple attracted slight + attention. Napoleon, in Elba, longed for his wife and for his little son, + the King of Rome. He sent countless messages and many couriers; but every + message was intercepted, and no courier reached his destination. Meanwhile + Marie Louise was lingering agreeably in Switzerland. She was happy to have + escaped from the whirlpool of politics and war. Amid the romantic scenery + through which she passed Neipperg was always by her side, attentive, + devoted, trying in everything to please her. With him she passed + delightful evenings. He sang to her in his rich barytone songs of love. He + seemed romantic with a touch of mystery, a gallant soldier whose soul was + also touched by sentiment. + </p> + <p> + One would have said that Marie Louise, the daughter of an imperial line, + would have been proof against the fascinations of a person so far inferior + to herself in rank, and who, beside the great emperor, was less than + nothing. Even granting that she had never really loved Napoleon, she might + still have preferred to maintain her dignity, to share his fate, and to go + down in history as the empress of the greatest man whom modern times have + known. + </p> + <p> + But Marie Louise was, after all, a woman, and she followed the guidance of + her heart. To her Napoleon was still the man who had met her amid the + rain-storm at Courcelles, and had from the first moment when he touched + her violated all the instincts of a virgin. Later he had in his way tried + to make amends; but the horror of that first night had never wholly left + her memory. Napoleon had unrolled before her the drama of sensuality, but + her heart had not been given to him. She had been his empress. In a sense + it might be more true to say that she had been his mistress. But she had + never been duly wooed and won and made his wife—an experience which + is the right of every woman. And so this Neipperg, with his deferential + manners, his soothing voice, his magnetic touch, his ardor, and his + devotion, appeased that craving which the master of a hundred legions + could not satisfy. + </p> + <p> + In less than the six months of which Neipperg had spoken the psychological + moment had arrived. In the dim twilight she listened to his words of love; + and then, drawn by that irresistible power which masters pride and woman's + will, she sank into her lover's arms, yielding to his caresses, and + knowing that she would be parted from him no more except by death. + </p> + <p> + From that moment he was bound to her by the closest ties and lived with + her at the petty court of Parma. His prediction came true to the very + letter. Teresa Pola died, and then Napoleon died, and after this Marie + Louise and Neipperg were united in a morganatic marriage. Three children + were born to them before his death in 1829. + </p> + <p> + It is interesting to note how much of an impression was made upon her by + the final exile of her imperial husband to St. Helena. When the news was + brought her she observed, casually: + </p> + <p> + "Thanks. By the way, I should like to ride this morning to Markenstein. Do + you think the weather is good enough to risk it?" + </p> + <p> + Napoleon, on his side, passed through agonies of doubt and longing when no + letters came to him from Marie Louise. She was constantly in his thoughts + during his exile at St. Helena. "When his faithful friend and constant + companion at St. Helena, the Count Las Casas, was ordered by Sir Hudson + Lowe to depart from St. Helena, Napoleon wrote to him: + </p> + <p> + "Should you see, some day, my wife and son, embrace them. For two years I + have, neither directly nor indirectly, heard from them. There has been on + this island for six months a German botanist, who has seen them in the + garden of Schoenbrunn a few months before his departure. The barbarians + (meaning the English authorities at St. Helena) have carefully prevented + him from coming to give me any news respecting them." + </p> + <p> + At last the truth was told him, and he received it with that high + magnanimity, or it may be fatalism, which at times he was capable of + showing. Never in all his days of exile did he say one word against her. + Possibly in searching his own soul he found excuses such as we may find. + In his will he spoke of her with great affection, and shortly before his + death he said to his physician, Antommarchi: + </p> + <p> + "After my death, I desire that you will take my heart, put it in the + spirits of wine, and that you carry it to Parma to my dear Marie Louise. + You will please tell her that I tenderly loved her—that I never + ceased to love her. You will relate to her all that you have seen, and + every particular respecting my situation and death." + </p> + <p> + The story of Marie Louise is pathetic, almost tragic. There is the taint + of grossness about it; and yet, after all, there is a lesson in it—the + lesson that true love cannot be forced or summoned at command, that it is + destroyed before its birth by outrage, and that it goes out only when + evoked by sympathy, by tenderness, and by devotion. + </p> + <p> + END OF VOLUME TWO <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE WIVES OF GENERAL HOUSTON + </h2> + <p> + Sixty or seventy years ago it was considered a great joke to chalk up on + any man's house-door, or on his trunk at a coaching-station, the + conspicuous letters "G. T. T." The laugh went round, and every one who saw + the inscription chuckled and said: "They've got it on you, old hoss!" The + three letters meant "gone to Texas"; and for any man to go to Texas in + those days meant his moral, mental, and financial dilapidation. Either he + had plunged into bankruptcy and wished to begin life over again in a new + world, or the sheriff had a warrant for his arrest. + </p> + <p> + The very task of reaching Texas was a fearful one. Rivers that overran + their banks, fever-stricken lowlands where gaunt faces peered out from + moldering cabins, bottomless swamps where the mud oozed greasily and where + the alligator could be seen slowly moving his repulsive form—all + this stretched on for hundreds of miles to horrify and sicken the + emigrants who came toiling on foot or struggling upon emaciated horses. + Other daring pioneers came by boat, running all manner of risks upon the + swollen rivers. Still others descended from the mountains of Tennessee and + passed through a more open country and with a greater certainty of + self-protection, because they were trained from childhood to wield the + rifle and the long sheath-knife. + </p> + <p> + It is odd enough to read, in the chronicles of those days, that amid all + this suffering and squalor there was drawn a strict line between "the + quality" and those who had no claim to be patricians. "The quality" was + made up of such emigrants as came from the more civilized East, or who had + slaves, or who dragged with them some rickety vehicle with carriage-horses—however + gaunt the animals might be. All others—those who had no slaves or + horses, and no traditions of the older states—were classed as "poor + whites"; and they accepted their mediocrity without a murmur. + </p> + <p> + Because he was born in Lexington, Virginia, and moved thence with his + family to Tennessee, young Sam Houston—a truly eponymous American + hero—was numbered with "the quality" when, after long wandering, he + reached his boyhood home. His further claim to distinction as a boy came + from the fact that he could read and write, and was even familiar with + some of the classics in translation. + </p> + <p> + When less than eighteen years of age he had reached a height of more than + six feet. He was skilful with the rifle, a remarkable rough-and-tumble + fighter, and as quick with his long knife as any Indian. This made him a + notable figure—the more so as he never abused his strength and + courage. He was never known as anything but "Sam." In his own sphere he + passed for a gentleman and a scholar, thanks to his Virginian birth and to + the fact that he could repeat a great part of Pope's translation of the + "Iliad." + </p> + <p> + His learning led him to teach school a few months in the year to the + children of the white settlers. Indeed, Houston was so much taken with the + pursuit of scholarship that he made up his mind to learn Greek and Latin. + Naturally, this seemed mere foolishness to his mother, his six strapping + brothers, and his three stalwart sisters, who cared little for study. So + sharp was the difference between Sam and the rest of the family that he + gave up his yearning after the classics and went to the other extreme by + leaving home and plunging into the heart of the forest beyond sight of any + white man or woman or any thought of Hellas and ancient Rome. + </p> + <p> + Here in the dimly lighted glades he was most happy. The Indians admired + him for his woodcraft and for the skill with which he chased the wild game + amid the forests. From his copy of the "Iliad" he would read to them the + thoughts of the world's greatest poet. + </p> + <p> + It is told that nearly forty years after, when Houston had long led a + different life and had made his home in Washington, a deputation of more + than forty untamed Indians from Texas arrived there under the charge of + several army officers. They chanced to meet Sam Houston. + </p> + <p> + One and all ran to him, clasped him in their brawny arms, hugged him like + bears to their naked breasts, and called him "father." Beneath the copper + skin and thick paint the blood rushed, and their faces changed, and the + lips of many a warrior trembled, although the Indian may not weep. + </p> + <p> + In the gigantic form of Houston, on whose ample brow the beneficent love + of a father was struggling with the sternness of the patriarch and + warrior, we saw civilization awing the savage at his feet. We needed no + interpreter to tell us that this impressive supremacy was gained in the + forest. + </p> + <p> + His family had been at first alarmed by his stay among the Indians; but + when after a time he returned for a new outfit they saw that he was + entirely safe and left him to wander among the red men. Later he came + forth and resumed the pursuits of civilization. He took up his studies; he + learned the rudiments of law and entered upon its active practice. When + barely thirty-six he had won every office that was open to him, ending + with his election to the Governorship of Tennessee in 1827. + </p> + <p> + Then came a strange episode which changed the whole course of his life. + Until then the love of woman had never stirred his veins. His physical + activities in the forests, his unique intimacy with Indian life, had kept + him away from the social intercourse of towns and cities. In Nashville + Houston came to know for the first time the fascination of feminine + society. As a lawyer, a politician, and the holder of important offices he + could not keep aloof from that gentler and more winning influence which + had hitherto been unknown to him. + </p> + <p> + In 1828 Governor Houston was obliged to visit different portions of the + state, stopping, as was the custom, to visit at the homes of "the + quality," and to be introduced to wives and daughters as well as to their + sportsman sons. On one of his official journeys he met Miss Eliza Allen, a + daughter of one of the "influential families" of Sumner County, on the + northern border of Tennessee. He found her responsive, charming, and + greatly to be admired. She was a slender type of Southern beauty, well + calculated to gain the affection of a lover, and especially of one whose + associations had been chiefly with the women of frontier communities. + </p> + <p> + To meet a girl who had refined tastes and wide reading, and who was at the + same time graceful and full of humor, must have come as a pleasant + experience to Houston. He and Miss Allen saw much of each other, and few + of their friends were surprised when the word went forth that they were + engaged to be married. + </p> + <p> + The marriage occurred in January, 1829. They were surrounded with friends + of all classes and ranks, for Houston was the associate of Jackson and was + immensely popular in his own state. He seemed to have before him a + brilliant career. He had won a lovely bride to make a home for him; so + that no man seemed to have more attractive prospects. What was there which + at this time interposed in some malignant way to blight his future? + </p> + <p> + It was a little more than a month after his marriage when he met a friend, + and, taking him out into a strip of quiet woodland, said to him: + </p> + <p> + "I have something to tell you, but you must not ask me anything about it. + My wife and I will separate before long. She will return to her father's, + while I must make my way alone." + </p> + <p> + Houston's friend seized him by the arm and gazed at him with horror. + </p> + <p> + "Governor," said he, "you're going to ruin your whole life! What reason + have you for treating this young lady in such a way? What has she done + that you should leave her? Or what have you done that she should leave + you? Every one will fall away from you." + </p> + <p> + Houston grimly replied: + </p> + <p> + "I have no explanation to give you. My wife has none to give you. She will + not complain of me, nor shall I complain of her. It is no one's business + in the world except our own. Any interference will be impertinent, and I + shall punish it with my own hand." + </p> + <p> + "But," said his friend, "think of it. The people at large will not allow + such action. They will believe that you, who have been their idol, have + descended to insult a woman. Your political career is ended. It will not + be safe for you to walk the streets!" + </p> + <p> + "What difference does it make to me?" said Houston, gloomily. "What must + be, must be. I tell you, as a friend, in advance, so that you may be + prepared; but the parting will take place very soon." + </p> + <p> + Little was heard for another month or two, and then came the announcement + that the Governor's wife had left him and had returned to her parents' + home. The news flew like wildfire, and was the theme of every tongue. + Friends of Mrs. Houston begged her to tell them the meaning of the whole + affair. Adherents of Houston, on the other hand, set afloat stories of his + wife's coldness and of her peevishness. The state was divided into + factions; and what really concerned a very few was, as usual, made + everybody's business. + </p> + <p> + There were times when, if Houston had appeared near the dwelling of his + former wife, he would have been lynched or riddled with bullets. Again, + there were enemies and slanderers of his who, had they shown themselves in + Nashville, would have been torn to pieces by men who hailed Houston as a + hero and who believed that he could not possibly have done wrong. + </p> + <p> + However his friends might rage, and however her people might wonder and + seek to pry into the secret, no satisfaction was given on either side. The + abandoned wife never uttered a word of explanation. Houston was equally + reticent and self-controlled. In later years he sometimes drank deeply and + was loose-tongued; but never, even in his cups, could he be persuaded to + say a single word about his wife. + </p> + <p> + The whole thing is a mystery and cannot be solved by any evidence that we + have. Almost every one who has written of it seems to have indulged in + mere guesswork. One popular theory is that Miss Allen was in love with + some one else; that her parents forced her into a brilliant marriage with + Houston, which, however, she could not afterward endure; and that Houston, + learning the facts, left her because he knew that her heart was not really + his. + </p> + <p> + But the evidence is all against this. Had it been so she would surely have + secured a divorce and would then have married the man whom she truly + loved. As a matter of fact, although she did divorce Houston, it was only + after several years, and the man whom she subsequently married was not + acquainted with her at the time of the separation. + </p> + <p> + Another theory suggests that Houston was harsh in his treatment of his + wife, and offended her by his untaught manners and extreme self-conceit. + But it is not likely that she objected to his manners, since she had + become familiar with them before she gave him her hand; and as to his + conceit, there is no evidence that it was as yet unduly developed. After + his Texan campaign he sometimes showed a rather lofty idea of his own + achievements; but he does not seem to have done so in these early days. + </p> + <p> + Some have ascribed the separation to his passion for drink; but here again + we must discriminate. Later in life he became very fond of spirits and + drank whisky with the Indians, but during his earlier years he was most + abstemious. It scarcely seems possible that his wife left him because he + was intemperate. + </p> + <p> + If one wishes to construct a reasonable hypothesis on a subject where the + facts are either wanting or conflicting, it is not impossible to suggest a + solution of this puzzle about Houston. Although his abandoned wife never + spoke of him and shut her lips tightly when she was questioned about him, + Houston, on his part, was not so taciturn. He never consciously gave any + direct clue to his matrimonial mystery; but he never forgot this girl who + was his bride and whom he seems always to have loved. In what he said he + never ceased to let a vein of self-reproach run through his words. + </p> + <p> + I should choose this one paragraph as the most significant. It was written + immediately after they had parted: + </p> + <p> + Eliza stands acquitted by me. I have received her as a virtuous, chaste + wife, and as such I pray God I may ever regard her, and I trust I ever + shall. She was cold to me, and I thought she did not love me. + </p> + <p> + And again he said to an old and valued friend at about the same time: + </p> + <p> + "I can make no explanation. I exonerate the lady fully and do not justify + myself." + </p> + <p> + Miss Allen seems to have been a woman of the sensitive American type which + was so common in the early and the middle part of the last century. Mrs. + Trollope has described it for us with very little exaggeration. Dickens + has drawn it with a touch of malice, and yet not without truth. Miss + Martineau described it during her visit to this country, and her account + quite coincides with those of her two contemporaries. + </p> + <p> + Indeed, American women of that time unconsciously described themselves in + a thousand different ways. They were, after all, only a less striking type + of the sentimental Englishwomen who read L. E. L. and the earlier novels + of Bulwer-Lytton. On both sides of the Atlantic there was a reign of + sentiment and a prevalence of what was then called "delicacy." It was a + die-away, unwholesome attitude toward life and was morbid to the last + degree. + </p> + <p> + In circles where these ideas prevailed, to eat a hearty dinner was + considered unwomanly. To talk of anything except some gilded "annual," or + "book of beauty," or the gossip of the neighborhood was wholly to be + condemned. The typical girl of such a community was thin and slender and + given to a mild starvation, though she might eat quantities of jam and + pickles and saleratus biscuit. She had the strangest views of life and an + almost unnatural shrinking from any usual converse with men. + </p> + <p> + Houston, on his side, was a thoroughly natural and healthful man, having + lived an outdoor life, hunting and camping in the forest and displaying + the unaffected manner of the pioneer. Having lived the solitary life of + the woods, it was a strange thing for him to meet a girl who had been bred + in an entirely different way, who had learned a thousand little + reservations and dainty graces, and whose very breath was coyness and + reserve. Their mating was the mating of the man of the forest with the + woman of the sheltered life. + </p> + <p> + Houston assumed everything; his bride shrank from everything. There was a + mutual shock amounting almost to repulsion. She, on her side, probably + thought she had found in him only the brute which lurks in man. He, on the + other, repelled and checked, at once grasped the belief that his wife + cared nothing for him because she would not meet his ardors with like + ardors of her own. It is the mistake that has been made by thousands of + men and women at the beginning of their married lives—the mistake on + one side of too great sensitiveness, and on the other side of too great + warmth of passion. + </p> + <p> + This episode may seem trivial, and yet it is one that explains many things + in human life. So far as concerns Houston it has a direct bearing on the + history of our country. A proud man, he could not endure the slights and + gossip of his associates. He resigned the governorship of Tennessee, and + left by night, in such a way as to surround his departure with mystery. + </p> + <p> + There had come over him the old longing for Indian life; and when he was + next visible he was in the land of the Cherokees, who had long before + adopted him as a son. He was clad in buckskin and armed with knife and + rifle, and served under the old chief Oolooteka. He was a gallant defender + of the Indians. + </p> + <p> + When he found how some of the Indian agents had abused his adopted + brothers he went to Washington to protest, still wearing his frontier + garb. One William Stansberry, a Congressman from Ohio, insulted Houston, + who leaped upon him like a panther, dragged him about the Hall of + Representatives, and beat him within an inch of his life. He was arrested, + imprisoned, and fined; but his old friend, President Jackson, remitted his + imprisonment and gruffly advised him not to pay the fine. + </p> + <p> + Returning to his Indians, he made his way to a new field which promised + much adventure. This was Texas, of whose condition in those early days + something has already been said. Houston found a rough American + settlement, composed of scattered villages extending along the disputed + frontier of Mexico. Already, in the true Anglo-Saxon spirit, the settlers + had formed a rudimentary state, and as they increased and multiplied they + framed a simple code of laws. + </p> + <p> + Then, quite naturally, there came a clash between them and the Mexicans. + The Texans, headed by Moses Austin, had set up a republic and asked for + admission to the United States. Mexico regarded them as rebels and + despised them because they made no military display and had no very + accurate military drill. They were dressed in buckskin and ragged + clothing; but their knives were very bright and their rifles carried + surely. Furthermore, they laughed at odds, and if only a dozen of them + were gathered together they would "take on" almost any number of Mexican + regulars. + </p> + <p> + In February, 1836, the acute and able Mexican, Santa Anna, led across the + Rio Grande a force of several thousand Mexicans showily uniformed and + completely armed. Every one remembers how they fell upon the little + garrison at the Alamo, now within the city limits of San Antonio, but then + an isolated mission building surrounded by a thick adobe wall. The + Americans numbered less than three hundred men. + </p> + <p> + A sharp attack was made with these overwhelming odds. The Americans drove + the assailants back with their rifle fire, but they had nothing to oppose + to the Mexican artillery. The contest continued for several days, and + finally the Mexicans breached the wall and fell upon the garrison, who + were now reduced by more than half. There was an hour of blood, and every + one of the Alamo's defenders, including the wounded, was put to death. The + only survivors of the slaughter were two negro slaves, a woman, and a baby + girl. + </p> + <p> + When the news of this bloody affair reached Houston he leaped forth to the + combat like a lion. He was made commander-in-chief of the scanty Texan + forces. He managed to rally about seven hundred men, and set out against + Santa Anna with little in the way of equipment, and with nothing but the + flame of frenzy to stimulate his followers. By march and countermarch the + hostile forces came face to face near the shore of San Jacinto Bay, not + far from the present city of Houston. Slowly they moved upon each other, + when Houston halted, and his sharpshooters raked the Mexican battle-line + with terrible effect. Then Houston uttered the cry: + </p> + <p> + "Remember the Alamo!" + </p> + <p> + With deadly swiftness he led his men in a charge upon Santa Anna's lines. + The Mexicans were scattered as by a mighty wind, their commander was taken + prisoner, and Mexico was forced to give its recognition to Texas as a free + republic, of which General Houston became the first president. + </p> + <p> + This was the climax of Houston's life, but the end of it leaves us with + something still to say. Long after his marriage with Miss Allen he took an + Indian girl to wife and lived with her quite happily. She was a very + beautiful woman, a half-breed, with the English name of Tyania Rodgers. + Very little, however, is known of her life with Houston. Later still—in + 1840—he married a lady from Marion, Alabama, named Margaret Moffette + Lea. He was then in his forty-seventh year, while she was only twenty-one; + but again, as with his Indian wife, he knew nothing but domestic + tranquillity. These later experiences go far to prove the truth of what + has already been given as the probable cause of his first mysterious + failure to make a woman happy. + </p> + <p> + After Texas entered the Union, in 1845, Houston was elected to the United + States Senate, in which he served for thirteen years. In 1852, 1856, and + 1860, as a Southerner who opposed any movement looking toward secession, + he was regarded as a possible presidential candidate; but his career was + now almost over, and in 1863, while the Civil War—which he had + striven to prevent—was at its height, he died. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + LOLA MONTEZ AND KING LUDWIG OF BAVARIA + </h2> + <p> + Lola Montez! The name suggests dark eyes and abundant hair, lithe limbs + and a sinuous body, with twining hands and great eyes that gleam with a + sort of ebon splendor. One thinks of Spanish beauty as one hears the name; + and in truth Lola Montez justified the mental picture. + </p> + <p> + She was not altogether Spanish, yet the other elements that entered into + her mercurial nature heightened and vivified her Castilian traits. Her + mother was a Spaniard—partly Moorish, however. Her father was an + Irishman. There you have it—the dreamy romance of Spain, the exotic + touch of the Orient, and the daring, unreasoning vivacity of the Celt. + </p> + <p> + This woman during the forty-three years of her life had adventures + innumerable, was widely known in Europe and America, and actually lost one + king his throne. Her maiden name was Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert. + Her father was a British officer, the son of an Irish knight, Sir Edward + Gilbert. Her mother had been a danseuse named Lola Oliver. "Lola" is a + diminutive of Dolores, and as "Lola" she became known to the world. + </p> + <p> + She lived at one time or another in nearly all the countries of Europe, + and likewise in India, America, and Australia. It would be impossible to + set down here all the sensations that she achieved. Let us select the + climax of her career and show how she overturned a kingdom, passing but + lightly over her early and her later years. + </p> + <p> + She was born in Limerick in 1818, but her father's parents cast off their + son and his young wife, the Spanish dancer. They went to India, and in + 1825 the father died, leaving his young widow without a rupee; but she was + quickly married again, this time to an officer of importance. + </p> + <p> + The former danseuse became a very conventional person, a fit match for her + highly conventional husband; but the small daughter did not take kindly to + the proprieties of life. The Hindu servants taught her more things than + she should have known; and at one time her stepfather found her performing + the danse du ventre. It was the Moorish strain inherited from her mother. + </p> + <p> + She was sent back to Europe, however, and had a sort of education in + Scotland and England, and finally in Paris, where she was detected in an + incipient flirtation with her music-master. There were other persons + hanging about her from her fifteenth year, at which time her stepfather, + in India, had arranged a marriage between her and a rich but uninteresting + old judge. One of her numerous admirers told her this. + </p> + <p> + "What on earth am I to do?" asked little Lola, most naively. + </p> + <p> + "Why, marry me," said the artful adviser, who was Captain Thomas James; + and so the very next day they fled to Dublin and were speedily married at + Meath. + </p> + <p> + Lola's husband was violently in love with her, but, unfortunately, others + were no less susceptible to her charms. She was presented at the + vice-regal court, and everybody there became her victim. Even the viceroy, + Lord Normanby, was greatly taken with her. This nobleman's position was + such that Captain James could not object to his attentions, though they + made the husband angry to a degree. The viceroy would draw her into + alcoves and engage her in flattering conversation, while poor James could + only gnaw his nails and let green-eyed jealousy prey upon his heart. His + only recourse was to take her into the country, where she speedily became + bored; and boredom is the death of love. + </p> + <p> + Later she went with Captain James to India. She endured a campaign in + Afghanistan, in which she thoroughly enjoyed herself because of the + attentions of the officers. On her return to London in 1842, one Captain + Lennox was a fellow passenger; and their association resulted in an action + for divorce, by which she was freed from her husband, and yet by a + technicality was not able to marry Lennox, whose family in any case would + probably have prevented the wedding. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Mayne says, in writing on this point: + </p> + <p> + Even Lola never quite succeeded in being allowed to commit bigamy + unmolested, though in later years she did commit it and took refuge in + Spain to escape punishment. + </p> + <p> + The same writer has given a vivid picture of what happened soon after the + divorce. Lola tried to forget her past and to create a new and brighter + future. Here is the narrative: + </p> + <p> + Her Majesty's Theater was crowded on the night of June 10,1843. A new + Spanish dancer was announced—"Dona Lola Montez." It was her debut, + and Lumley, the manager, had been puffing her beforehand, as he alone knew + how. To Lord Ranelagh, the leader of the dilettante group of fashionable + young men, he had whispered, mysteriously: + </p> + <p> + "I have a surprise in store. You shall see." + </p> + <p> + So Ranelagh and a party of his friends filled the omnibus boxes, those + tribunes at the side of the stage whence success or failure was + pronounced. Things had been done with Lumley's consummate art; the packed + house was murmurous with excitement. She was a raving beauty, said report—and + then, those intoxicating Spanish dances! Taglioni, Cerito, Fanny Elssler, + all were to be eclipsed. + </p> + <p> + Ranelagh's glasses were steadily leveled on the stage from the moment her + entrance was imminent. She came on. There was a murmur of admiration—but + Ranelagh made no sign. And then she began to dance. A sense of + disappointment, perhaps? But she was very lovely, very graceful, "like a + flower swept by the wind, she floated round the stage"—not a dancer, + but, by George, a beauty! And still Ranelagh made no sign. + </p> + <p> + Yet, no. What low, sibilant sound is that? And then what confused, angry + words from the tribunal? He turns to his friends, his eyes ablaze with + anger, opera-glass in hand. And now again the terrible "Hiss-s-s!" taken + up by the other box, and the words repeated loudly and more angrily even + than before—the historic words which sealed Lola's doom at Her + Majesty's Theater: "WHY, IT'S BETTY JAMES!" + </p> + <p> + She was, indeed, Betty James, and London would not accept her as Lola + Montez. She left England and appeared upon the Continent as a beautiful + virago, making a sensation—as the French would say, a succes de + scandale—by boxing the ears of people who offended her, and even on + one occasion horsewhipping a policeman who was in attendance on the King + of Prussia. In Paris she tried once more to be a dancer, but Paris would + not have her. She betook herself to Dresden and Warsaw, where she sought + to attract attention by her eccentricities, making mouths at the + spectators, flinging her garters in their faces, and one time removing her + skirts and still more necessary garments, whereupon her manager broke off + his engagement with her. + </p> + <p> + An English writer who heard a great deal of her and who saw her often + about this time writes that there was nothing wonderful about her except + "her beauty and her impudence." She had no talent nor any of the graces + which make women attractive; yet many men of talent raved about her. The + clever young journalist, Dujarrier, who assisted Emile Girardin, was her + lover in Paris. He was killed in a duel and left Lola twenty thousand + francs and some securities, so that she no longer had to sing in the + streets as she did in Warsaw. + </p> + <p> + She now betook herself to Munich, the capital of Bavaria. That country was + then governed by Ludwig I., a king as eccentric as Lola herself. He was a + curious compound of kindliness, ideality, and peculiar ways. For instance, + he would never use a carriage even on state occasions. He prowled around + the streets, knocking off the hats of those whom he chanced to meet. Like + his unfortunate descendant, Ludwig II., he wrote poetry, and he had a + picture-gallery devoted to portraits of the beautiful women whom he had + met. + </p> + <p> + He dressed like an English fox-hunter, with a most extraordinary hat, and + what was odd and peculiar in others pleased him because he was odd and + peculiar himself. Therefore when Lola made her first appearance at the + Court Theater he was enchanted with her. He summoned her at once to the + palace, and within five days he presented her to the court, saying as he + did so: + </p> + <p> + "Meine Herren, I present you to my best friend." + </p> + <p> + In less than a month this curious monarch had given Lola the title of + Countess of Landsfeld. A handsome house was built for her, and a pension + of twenty thousand florins was granted her. This was in 1847. With the + people of Munich she was unpopular. They did not mind the eccentricities + of the king, since these amused them and did the country no perceptible + harm; but they were enraged by this beautiful woman, who had no softness + such as a woman ought to have. Her swearing, her readiness to box the ears + of every one whom she disliked, the huge bulldog which accompanied her + everywhere—all these things were beyond endurance. + </p> + <p> + She was discourteous to the queen, besides meddling with the politics of + the kingdom. Either of these things would have been sufficient to make her + hated. Together, they were more than the city of Munich could endure. + Finally the countess tried to establish a new corps in the university. + This was the last touch of all. A student who ventured to wear her colors + was beaten and arrested. Lola came to his aid with all her wonted + boldness; but the city was in commotion. + </p> + <p> + Daggers were drawn; Lola was hustled and insulted. The foolish king rushed + out to protect her; and on his arm she was led in safety to the palace. As + she entered the gates she turned and fired a pistol into the mob. No one + was hurt, but a great rage took possession of the people. The king issued + a decree closing the university for a year. By this time, however, Munich + was in possession of a mob, and the Bavarians demanded that she should + leave the country. + </p> + <p> + Ludwig faced the chamber of peers, where the demand of the populace was + placed before him. + </p> + <p> + "I would rather lose my crown!" he replied. + </p> + <p> + The lords of Bavaria regarded him with grim silence; and in their eyes he + read the determination of his people. On the following day a royal decree + revoked Lola's rights as a subject of Bavaria, and still another decree + ordered her to be expelled. The mob yelled with joy and burned her house. + Poor Ludwig watched the tumult by the light of the leaping flames. + </p> + <p> + He was still in love with her and tried to keep her in the kingdom; but + the result was that Ludwig himself was forced to abdicate. He had given + his throne for the light love of this beautiful but half-crazy woman. She + would have no more to do with him; and as for him, he had to give place to + his son Maximilian. Ludwig had lost a kingdom merely because this strange, + outrageous creature had piqued him and made him think that she was unique + among women. + </p> + <p> + The rest of her career was adventurous. In England she contracted a + bigamous marriage with a youthful officer, and within two weeks they fled + to Spain for safety from the law. Her husband was drowned, and she made + still another marriage. She visited Australia, and at Melbourne she had a + fight with a strapping woman, who clawed her face until Lola fell fainting + to the ground. It is a squalid record of horse-whippings, face-scratchings—in + short, a rowdy life. + </p> + <p> + Her end was like that of Becky Sharp. In America she delivered lectures + which were written for her by a clergyman and which dealt with the art of + beauty. She had a temporary success; but soon she became quite poor, and + took to piety, professing to be a sort of piteous, penitent Magdalen. In + this role she made effective use of her beautiful dark hair, her pallor, + and her wonderful eyes. But the violence of her disposition had wrecked + her physically; and she died of paralysis in Astoria, on Long Island, in + 1861. Upon her grave in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, there is a tablet to + her memory, bearing the inscription: "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert, born 1818, died + 1861." + </p> + <p> + What can one say of a woman such as this? She had no morals, and her + manners were outrageous. The love she felt was the love of a she-wolf. + Fourteen biographies of her have been written, besides her own + autobiography, which was called The Story of a Penitent, and which tells + less about her than any of the other books. Her beauty was undeniable. Her + courage was the blended courage of the Celt, the Spaniard, and the Moor. + Yet all that one can say of her was said by the elder Dumas when he + declared that she was born to be the evil genius of every one who cared + for her. Her greatest fame comes from the fact that in less than three + years she overturned a kingdom and lost a king his throne. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + LEON GAMBETTA AND LEONIE LEON + </h2> + <p> + The present French Republic has endured for over forty years. Within that + time it has produced just one man of extraordinary power and parts. This + was Leon Gambetta. Other men as remarkable as he were conspicuous in + French political life during the first few years of the republic; but they + belonged to an earlier generation, while Gambetta leaped into prominence + only when the empire fell, crashing down in ruin and disaster. + </p> + <p> + It is still too early to form an accurate estimate of him as a statesman. + His friends praise him extravagantly. His enemies still revile him + bitterly. The period of his political career lasted for little more than a + decade, yet in that time it may be said that he lived almost a life of + fifty years. Only a short time ago did the French government cause his + body to be placed within the great Pantheon, which contains memorials of + the heroes and heroines of France. But, though we may not fairly judge of + his political motives, we can readily reconstruct a picture of him as a + man, and in doing so recall his one romance, which many will remember + after they have forgotten his oratorical triumphs and his statecraft. + </p> + <p> + Leon Gambetta was the true type of the southern Frenchman—what his + countrymen call a meridional. The Frenchman of the south is different from + the Frenchman of the north, for the latter has in his veins a touch of the + viking blood, so that he is very apt to be fair-haired and blue-eyed, + temperate in speech, and self-controlled. He is different, again, from the + Frenchman of central France, who is almost purely Celtic. The meridional + has a marked vein of the Italian in him, derived from the conquerors of + ancient Gaul. He is impulsive, ardent, fiery in speech, hot-tempered, and + vivacious to an extraordinary degree. + </p> + <p> + Gambetta, who was born at Cahors, was French only on his mother's side, + since his father was of Italian birth. It is said also that somewhere in + his ancestry there was a touch of the Oriental. At any rate, he was one of + the most southern of the sons of southern France, and he showed the + precocious maturity which belongs to a certain type of Italian. At + twenty-one he had already been admitted to the French bar, and had drifted + to Paris, where his audacity, his pushing nature, and his red-hot + un-restraint of speech gave him a certain notoriety from the very first. + </p> + <p> + It was toward the end of the reign of Napoleon III. that Gambetta saw his + opportunity. The emperor, weakened by disease and yielding to a sort of + feeble idealism, gave to France a greater freedom of speech than it had + enjoyed while he was more virile. This relaxation of control merely gave + to his opponents more courage to attack him and his empire. Demagogues + harangued the crowds in words which would once have led to their + imprisonment. In the National Assembly the opposition did all within its + power to hamper and defeat the policy of the government. + </p> + <p> + In short, republicanism began to rise in an ominous and threatening way; + and at the head of republicanism in Paris stood forth Gambetta, with his + impassioned eloquence, his stinging phrases, and his youthful boldness. He + became the idol of that part of Paris known as Belleville, where artisans + and laborers united with the rabble of the streets in hating the empire + and in crying out for a republic. + </p> + <p> + Gambetta was precisely the man to voice the feelings of these people. + Whatever polish he acquired in after years was then quite lacking; and the + crudity of his manners actually helped him with the men whom he harangued. + A recent book by M. Francis Laur, an ardent admirer of Gambetta, gives a + picture of the man which may be nearly true of him in his later life, but + which is certainly too flattering when applied to Gambetta in 1868, at the + age of thirty. + </p> + <p> + How do we see Gambetta as he was at thirty? A man of powerful frame and of + intense vitality, with thick, clustering hair, which he shook as a lion + shakes its mane; olive-skinned, with eyes that darted fire, a resonant, + sonorous voice, and a personal magnetism which was instantly felt by all + who met him or who heard him speak. His manners were not refined. He was + fond of oil and garlic. His gestures were often more frantic than + impressive, so that his enemies called him "the furious fool." He had a + trick of spitting while he spoke. He was by no means the sort of man whose + habits had been formed in drawing-rooms or among people of good breeding. + Yet his oratory was, of its kind, superb. + </p> + <p> + In 1869 Gambetta was elected by the Red Republicans to the Corps + Legislatif. From the very first his vehemence and fire gained him a ready + hearing. The chamber itself was arranged like a great theater, the members + occupying the floor and the public the galleries. Each orator in + addressing the house mounted a sort of rostrum and from it faced the whole + assemblage, not noticing, as with us, the presiding officer at all. The + very nature of this arrangement stimulated parliamentary speaking into + eloquence and flamboyant oratory. + </p> + <p> + After Gambetta had spoken a few times he noticed in the gallery a tall, + graceful woman, dressed in some neutral color and wearing long black + gloves, which accentuated the beauty of her hands and arms. No one in the + whole assembly paid such close attention to the orator as did this woman, + whom he had never seen before and who appeared to be entirely alone. + </p> + <p> + When it came to him to speak on another day he saw sitting in the same + place the same stately and yet lithe and sinuous figure. This was repeated + again and again, until at last whenever he came to a peculiarly fervid + burst of oratory he turned to this woman's face and saw it lighted up by + the same enthusiasm which was stirring him. + </p> + <p> + Finally, in the early part of 1870, there came a day when Gambetta + surpassed himself in eloquence. His theme was the grandeur of republican + government. Never in his life had he spoken so boldly as then, or with + such fervor. The ministers of the emperor shrank back in dismay as this + big-voiced, strong-limbed man hurled forth sentence after sentence like + successive peals of irresistible artillery. + </p> + <p> + As Gambetta rolled forth his sentences, superb in their rhetoric and all + ablaze with that sort of intense feeling which masters an orator in the + moment of his triumph, the face of the lady in the gallery responded to + him with wonderful appreciation. She was no longer calm, unmoved, and + almost severe. She flushed, and her eyes as they met his seemed to sparkle + with living fire. When he finished and descended from the rostrum he + looked at her, and their eyes cried out as significantly as if the two had + spoken to each other. + </p> + <p> + Then Gambetta did what a person of finer breeding would not have done. He + hastily scribbled a note, sealed it, and called to his side one of the + official pages. In the presence of the great assemblage, where he was for + the moment the center of attention, he pointed to the lady in the gallery + and ordered the page to take the note to her. + </p> + <p> + One may excuse this only on the ground that he was completely carried away + by his emotion, so that to him there was no one present save this + enigmatically fascinating woman and himself. But the lady on her side was + wiser; or perhaps a slight delay gave her time to recover her discretion. + When Gambetta's note was brought to her she took it quietly and tore it + into little pieces without reading it; and then, rising, she glided + through the crowd and disappeared. + </p> + <p> + Gambetta in his excitement had acted as if she were a mere adventuress. + With perfect dignity she had shown him that she was a woman who retained + her self-respect. + </p> + <p> + Immediately upon the heels of this curious incident came the outbreak of + the war with Germany. In the war the empire was shattered at Sedan. The + republic was proclaimed in Paris. The French capital was besieged by a + vast German army. Gambetta was made minister of the interior, and remained + for a while in Paris even after it had been blockaded. But his fiery + spirit chafed under such conditions. He longed to go forth into the south + of France and arouse his countrymen with a cry to arms against the + invaders. + </p> + <p> + Escaping in a balloon, he safely reached the city of Tours; and there he + established what was practically a dictatorship. He flung himself with + tremendous energy into the task of organizing armies, of equipping them, + and of directing their movements for the relief of Paris. He did, in fact, + accomplish wonders. He kept the spirit of the nation still alive. Three + new armies were launched against the Germans. Gambetta was everywhere and + took part in everything that was done. His inexperience in military + affairs, coupled with his impatience of advice, led him to make serious + mistakes. Nevertheless, one of his armies practically defeated the Germans + at Orleans; and could he have had his own way, even the fall of Paris + would not have ended the war. + </p> + <p> + "Never," said Gambetta, "shall I consent to peace so long as France still + has two hundred thousand men under arms and more than a thousand cannon to + direct against the enemy!" + </p> + <p> + But he was overruled by other and less fiery statesmen. Peace was made, + and Gambetta retired for a moment into private life. If he had not + succeeded in expelling the German hosts he had, at any rate, made Bismarck + hate him, and he had saved the honor of France. + </p> + <p> + It was while the National Assembly at Versailles was debating the terms of + peace with Germany that Gambetta once more delivered a noble and patriotic + speech. As he concluded he felt a strange magnetic attraction; and, + sweeping the audience with a glance, he saw before him, not very far away, + the same woman with the long black gloves, having about her still an air + of mystery, but again meeting his eyes with her own, suffused with + feeling. + </p> + <p> + Gambetta hurried to an anteroom and hastily scribbled the following note: + </p> + <p> + At last I see you once more. Is it really you? + </p> + <p> + The scrawl was taken to her by a discreet official, and this time she + received the letter, pressed it to her heart, and then slipped it into the + bodice of her gown. But this time, as before, she left without making a + reply. + </p> + <p> + It was an encouragement, yet it gave no opening to Gambetta—for she + returned to the National Assembly no more. But now his heart was full of + hope, for he was convinced with a very deep conviction that somewhere, + soon, and in some way he would meet this woman, who had become to him one + of the intense realities of his life. He did not know her name. They had + never exchanged a word. Yet he was sure that time would bring them close + together. + </p> + <p> + His intuition was unerring. What we call chance often seems to know what + it is doing. Within a year after the occurrence that has just been + narrated an old friend of Gambetta's met with an accident which confined + him to his house. The statesman strolled to his friend's residence. The + accident was a trifling one, and the mistress of the house was holding a + sort of informal reception, answering questions that were asked her by the + numerous acquaintances who called. + </p> + <p> + As Gambetta was speaking, of a sudden he saw before him, at the extremity + of the room, the lady of his dreams, the sphinx of his waking hours, the + woman who four years earlier had torn up the note which he addressed to + her, but who more recently had kept his written words. Both of them were + deeply agitated, yet both of them carried off the situation without + betraying themselves to others, Gambetta approached, and they exchanged a + few casual commonplaces. But now, close together, eye and voice spoke of + what was in their hearts. + </p> + <p> + Presently the lady took her leave. Gambetta followed closely. In the + street he turned to her and said in pleading tones: + </p> + <p> + "Why did you destroy my letter? You knew I loved you, and yet all these + years you have kept away from me in silence." + </p> + <p> + Then the girl—for she was little more than a girl—hesitated + for a moment. As he looked upon her face he saw that her eyes were full of + tears. At last she spoke with emotion: + </p> + <p> + "You cannot love me, for I am unworthy of you. Do not urge me. Do not make + promises. Let us say good-by. At least I must first tell you of my story, + for I am one of those women whom no one ever marries." + </p> + <p> + Gambetta brushed aside her pleadings. He begged that he might see her + soon. Little by little she consented; but she would not see him at her + house. She knew that his enemies were many and that everything he did + would be used against him. In the end she agreed to meet him in the park + at Versailles, near the Petit Trianon, at eight o'clock in the morning. + </p> + <p> + When she had made this promise he left her. Already a new inspiration had + come to him, and he felt that with this woman by his side he could + accomplish anything. + </p> + <p> + At the appointed hour, in the silence of the park and amid the sunshine of + the beautiful morning, the two met once again. Gambetta seized her hands + with eagerness and cried out in an exultant tone: + </p> + <p> + "At last! At last! At last!" + </p> + <p> + But the woman's eyes were heavy with sorrow, and upon her face there was a + settled melancholy. She trembled at his touch and almost shrank from him. + Here was seen the impetuosity of the meridional. He had first spoken to + this woman only two days before. He knew nothing of her station, of her + surroundings, of her character. He did not even know her name. Yet one + thing he knew absolutely—that she was made for him and that he must + have her for his own. He spoke at once of marriage; but at this she drew + away from him still farther. + </p> + <p> + "No," she said. "I told you that you must not speak to me until you have + heard my story." + </p> + <p> + He led her to a great stone bench near by; and, passing his arm about her + waist, he drew her head down to his shoulder as he said: + </p> + <p> + "Well, tell me. I will listen." + </p> + <p> + Then this girl of twenty-four, with perfect frankness, because she was + absolutely loyal, told him why she felt that they must never see each + other any more-much less marry and be happy. She was the daughter of a + colonel in the French army. The sudden death of her father had left her + penniless and alone. Coming to Paris at the age of eighteen, she had given + lessons in the household of a high officer of the empire. This man had + been attracted by her beauty, and had seduced her. + </p> + <p> + Later she had secured the means of living modestly, realizing more deeply + each month how dreadful had been her fate and how she had been cut off + from the lot of other girls. She felt that her life must be a perpetual + penance for what had befallen her through her ignorance and inexperience. + She told Gambetta that her name was Leonie Leon. As is the custom of + Frenchwomen who live alone, she styled herself madame. It is doubtful + whether the name by which she passed was that which had been given to her + at baptism; but, if so, her true name has never been disclosed. + </p> + <p> + When she had told the whole of her sad story to Gambetta he made nothing + of it. She said to him again: + </p> + <p> + "You cannot love me. I should only dim your fame. You can have nothing in + common with a dishonored, ruined girl. That is what I came here to explain + to you. Let us part, and let us for all time forget each other." + </p> + <p> + But Gambetta took no heed of what she said. Now that he had found her, he + would not consent to lose her. He seized her slender hands and covered + them with kisses. Again he urged that she should marry him. + </p> + <p> + Her answer was a curious one. She was a devoted Catholic and would not + regard any marriage as valid save a religious marriage. On the other hand, + Gambetta, though not absolutely irreligious, was leading the opposition to + the Catholic party in France. The Church to him was not so much a + religious body as a political one, and to it he was unalterably opposed. + Personally, he would have no objections to being married by a priest; but + as a leader of the anti-clerical party he felt that he must not recognize + the Church's claim in any way. A religious marriage would destroy his + influence with his followers and might even imperil the future of the + republic. + </p> + <p> + They pleaded long and earnestly both then and afterward. He urged a civil + marriage, but she declared that only a marriage according to the rites of + the Church could ever purify her past and give her back her self-respect. + In this she was absolutely stubborn, yet she did not urge upon Gambetta + that he should destroy his influence by marrying her in church. + </p> + <p> + Through all this interplay of argument and pleading and emotion the two + grew every moment more hopelessly in love. Then the woman, with a woman's + curious subtlety and indirectness, reached a somewhat singular conclusion. + She would hear nothing of a civil marriage, because a civil marriage was + no marriage in the eyes of Pope and prelate. On the other hand, she did + not wish Gambetta to mar his political career by going through a religious + ceremony. She had heard from a priest that the Church recognized two forms + of betrothal. The usual one looked to a marriage in the future and gave no + marriage privileges until after the formal ceremony. But there was another + kind of betrothal known to the theologians as sponsalia de praesente. + According to this, if there were an actual betrothal, the pair might have + the privileges and rights of marriage immediately, if only they sincerely + meant to be married in the future. + </p> + <p> + The eager mind of Leonie Leon caught at this bit of ecclesiastical law and + used it with great ingenuity. + </p> + <p> + "Let us," she said, "be formally betrothed by the interchange of a ring, + and let us promise each other to marry in the future. After such a + betrothal as this we shall be the same as married; for we shall be acting + according to the laws of the Church." + </p> + <p> + Gambetta gladly gave his promise. A betrothal ring was purchased; and + then, her conscience being appeased, she gave herself completely to her + lover. Gambetta was sincere. He said to her: + </p> + <p> + "If the time should ever come when I shall lose my political station, when + I am beaten in the struggle, when I am deserted and alone, will you not + then marry me when I ask you?" + </p> + <p> + And Leonie, with her arms about his neck, promised that she would. Yet + neither of them specified what sort of marriage this should be, nor did it + seem at the moment as if the question could arise. + </p> + <p> + For Gambetta was very powerful. He led his party to success in the + election of 1877. Again and again his triumphant oratory mastered the + National Assembly of France. In 1879 he was chosen to be president of the + Chamber of Deputies. He towered far above the president of the republic—Jules + Grevy, that hard-headed, close-fisted old peasant—and his star had + reached its zenith. + </p> + <p> + All this time he and Leonie Leon maintained their intimacy, though it was + carefully concealed save from a very few. She lived in a plain but pretty + house on the Avenue Perrichont in the quiet quarter of Auteuil; but + Gambetta never came there. Where and when they met was a secret guarded + very carefully by the few who were his close associates. But meet they did + continually, and their affection grew stronger every year. Leonie thrilled + at the victories of the man she loved; and he found joy in the hours that + he spent with her. + </p> + <p> + Gambetta's need of rest was very great, for he worked at the highest + tension, like an engine which is using every pound of steam. Bismarck, + whose spies kept him well informed of everything that was happening in + Paris, and who had no liking for Gambetta, since the latter always spoke + of him as "the Ogre," once said to a Frenchman named Cheberry: + </p> + <p> + "He is the only one among you who thinks of revenge, and who is any sort + of a menace to Germany. But, fortunately, he won't last much longer. I am + not speaking thoughtlessly. I know from secret reports what sort of a life + your great man leads, and I know his habits. Why, his life is a life of + continual overwork. He rests neither night nor day. All politicians who + have led the same life have died young. To be able to serve one's country + for a long time a statesman must marry an ugly woman, have children like + the rest of the world, and a country place or a house to one's self like + any common peasant, where he can go and rest." + </p> + <p> + The Iron Chancellor chuckled as he said this, and he was right. And yet + Gambetta's end came not so much through overwork as by an accident. + </p> + <p> + It may be that the ambition of Mme. Leon stimulated him beyond his powers. + However this may be, early in 1882, when he was defeated in Parliament on + a question which he considered vital, he immediately resigned and turned + his back on public life. His fickle friends soon deserted him. His enemies + jeered and hooted the mention of his name. + </p> + <p> + He had reached the time which with a sort of prophetic instinct he had + foreseen nearly ten years before. So he turned to the woman who had been + faithful and loving to him; and he turned to her with a feeling of + infinite peace. + </p> + <p> + "You promised me," he said, "that if ever I was defeated and alone you + would marry me. The time is now." + </p> + <p> + Then this man, who had exercised the powers of a dictator, who had levied + armies and shaken governments, and through whose hands there had passed + thousands of millions of francs, sought for a country home. He found for + sale a small estate which had once belonged to Balzac, and which is known + as Les Jardies. It was in wretched repair; yet the small sum which it cost + Gambetta—twelve thousand francs—was practically all that he + possessed. Worn and weary as he was, it seemed to him a haven of + delightful peace; for here he might live in the quiet country with the + still beautiful woman who was soon to become his wife. + </p> + <p> + It is not known what form of marriage they at last agreed upon. She may + have consented to a civil ceremony; or he, being now out of public life, + may have felt that he could be married by the Church. The day for their + wedding had been set, and Gambetta was already at Les Jardies. But there + came a rumor that he had been shot. Still further tidings bore the news + that he was dying. Paris, fond as it was of scandals, immediately spread + the tale that he had been shot by a jealous woman. + </p> + <p> + The truth is quite the contrary. Gambetta, in arranging his effects in his + new home, took it upon himself to clean a pair of dueling-pistols; for + every French politician of importance must fight duels, and Gambetta had + already done so. Unfortunately, one cartridge remained unnoticed in the + pistol which Gambetta cleaned. As he held the pistol-barrel against the + soft part of his hand the cartridge exploded, and the ball passed through + the base of the thumb with a rending, spluttering noise. + </p> + <p> + The wound was not in itself serious, but now the prophecy of Bismarck was + fulfilled. Gambetta had exhausted his vitality; a fever set in, and before + long he died of internal ulceration. + </p> + <p> + This was the end of a great career and of a great romance of love. Leonie + Leon was half distraught at the death of the lover who was so soon to be + her husband. She wandered for hours in the forest until she reached a + convent, where she was received. Afterward she came to Paris and hid + herself away in a garret of the slums. All the light of her life had gone + out. She wished that she had died with him whose glory had been her life. + Friends of Gambetta, however, discovered her and cared for her until her + death, long afterward, in 1906. + </p> + <p> + She lived upon the memories of the past, of the swift love that had come + at first sight, but which had lasted unbrokenly; which had given her the + pride of conquest, and which had brought her lover both happiness and + inspiration and a refining touch which had smoothed away his roughness and + made him fit to stand in palaces with dignity and distinction. + </p> + <p> + As for him, he left a few lines which have been carefully preserved, and + which sum up his thought of her. They read: + </p> + <p> + To the light of my soul; to the star, of my life—Leonie Leon. For + ever! For ever! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + LADY BLESSINGTON AND COUNT D'ORSAY + </h2> + <p> + Often there has arisen some man who, either by his natural gifts or by his + impudence or by the combination of both, has made himself a recognized + leader in the English fashionable world. One of the first of these men was + Richard Nash, usually known as "Beau Nash," who flourished in the + eighteenth century. Nash was a man of doubtful origin; nor was he + attractive in his looks, for he was a huge, clumsy creature with features + that were both irregular and harsh. Nevertheless, for nearly fifty years + Beau Nash was an arbiter of fashion. Goldsmith, who wrote his life, + declared that his supremacy was due to his pleasing manners, "his + assiduity, flattery, fine clothes, and as much wit as the ladies had whom + he addressed." He converted the town of Bath from a rude little hamlet + into an English Newport, of which he was the social autocrat. He actually + drew up a set of written rules which some of the best-born and best-bred + people follow slavishly. + </p> + <p> + Even better known to us is George Bryan Brummel, commonly called "Beau + Brummel," who by his friendship with George IV.—then Prince Regent—was + an oracle at court on everything that related to dress and etiquette and + the proper mode of living. His memory has been kept alive most of all by + Richard Mansfield's famous impersonation of him. The play is based upon + the actual facts; for after Brummel had lost the royal favor he died an + insane pauper in the French town of Caen. He, too, had a distinguished + biographer, since Bulwer-Lytton's novel Pelham is really the narrative of + Brummel's curious career. + </p> + <p> + Long after Brummel, Lord Banelagh led the gilded youth of London, and it + was at this time that the notorious Lola Montez made her first appearance + in the British capital. + </p> + <p> + These three men—Nash, Brummel, and Ranelagh—had the advantage + of being Englishmen, and, therefore, of not incurring the old-time English + suspicion of foreigners. A much higher type of social arbiter was a + Frenchman who for twenty years during the early part of Queen Victoria's + reign gave law to the great world of fashion, besides exercising a + definite influence upon English art and literature. + </p> + <p> + This was Count Albert Guillaume d'Orsay, the son of one of Napoleon's + generals, and descended by a morganatic marriage from the King of + Wurttemburg. The old general, his father, was a man of high courage, + impressive appearance, and keen intellect, all of which qualities he + transmitted to his son. The young Count d'Orsay, when he came of age, + found the Napoleonic era ended and France governed by Louis XVIII. The + king gave Count d'Orsay a commission in the army in a regiment stationed + at Valence in the southeastern part of France. He had already visited + England and learned the English language, and he had made some + distinguished friends there, among whom were Lord Byron and Thomas Moore. + </p> + <p> + On his return to France he began his garrison life at Valence, where he + showed some of the finer qualities of his character. It is not merely that + he was handsome and accomplished and that he had the gift of winning the + affections of those about him. Unlike Nash and Brummel, he was a gentleman + in every sense, and his courtesy was of the highest kind. At the balls + given by his regiment, although he was more courted than any other + officer, he always sought out the plainest girls and showed them the most + flattering attentions. No "wallflowers" were left neglected when D'Orsay + was present. + </p> + <p> + It is strange how completely human beings are in the hands of fate. Here + was a young French officer quartered in a provincial town in the valley of + the Rhone. Who would have supposed that he was destined to become not only + a Londoner, but a favorite at the British court, a model of fashion, a + dictator of etiquette, widely known for his accomplishments, the patron of + literary men and of distinguished artists? But all these things were to + come to pass by a mere accident of fortune. + </p> + <p> + During his firsts visit to London, which has already been mentioned, Count + d'Orsay was invited once or twice to receptions given by the Earl and + Countess of Blessington, where he was well received, though this was only + an incident of his English sojourn. Before the story proceeds any further + it is necessary to give an account of the Earl and of Lady Blessington, + since both of their careers had been, to say the least, unusual. + </p> + <p> + Lord Blessington was an Irish peer for whom an ancient title had been + revived. He was remotely descended from the Stuarts of Scotland, and + therefore had royal blood to boast of. He had been well educated, and in + many ways was a man of pleasing manner. On the other hand, he had early + inherited a very large property which yielded him an income of about + thirty thousand pounds a year. He had estates in Ireland, and he owned + nearly the whole of a fashionable street in London, with the buildings + erected on it. + </p> + <p> + This fortune and the absence of any one who could control him had made him + wilful and extravagant and had wrought in him a curious love of personal + display. Even as a child he would clamor to be dressed in the most + gorgeous uniforms; and when he got possession of his property his love of + display became almost a monomania. He built a theater as an adjunct to his + country house in Ireland and imported players from London and elsewhere to + act in it. He loved to mingle with the mummers, to try on their various + costumes, and to parade up and down, now as an oriental prince and now as + a Roman emperor. + </p> + <p> + In London he hung about the green-rooms, and was a well-known figure + wherever actors or actresses were collected. Such was his love of the + stage that he sought to marry into the profession and set his heart on a + girl named Mary Campbell Browne, who was very beautiful to look at, but + who was not conspicuous either for her mind or for her morals. When Lord + Blessington proposed marriage to her she was obliged to tell him that she + already had one husband still alive, but she was perfectly willing to live + with him and dispense with the marriage ceremony. So for several years she + did live with him and bore him two children. + </p> + <p> + It speaks well for the earl that when the inconvenient husband died a + marriage at once took place and Mrs. Browne became a countess. Then, after + other children had been born, the lady died, leaving the earl a widower at + about the age of forty. The only legitimate son born of this marriage + followed his mother to the grave; and so for the third time the earldom of + Blessington seemed likely to become extinct. The death of his wife, + however, gave the earl a special opportunity to display his extravagant + tastes. He spent more than four thousand pounds on the funeral ceremonies, + importing from France a huge black velvet catafalque which had shortly + before been used at the public funeral of Napoleon's marshal, Duroc, while + the house blazed with enormous wax tapers and glittered with cloth of + gold. + </p> + <p> + Lord Blessington soon plunged again into the busy life of London. Having + now no heir, there was no restraint on his expenditures, and he borrowed + large sums of money in order to buy additional estates and houses and to + experience the exquisite joy of spending lavishly. At this time he had his + lands in Ireland, a town house in St. James's Square, another in Seymour + Place, and still another which was afterward to become famous as Gore + House, in Kensington. + </p> + <p> + Some years before he had met in Ireland a lady called Mrs. Maurice Farmer; + and it happened that she now came to London. The earlier story of her + still young life must here be told, because her name afterward became + famous, and because the tale illustrates wonderfully well the raw, crude, + lawless period of the Regency, when England was fighting her long war with + Napoleon, when the Prince Regent was imitating all the vices of the old + French kings, when prize-fighting, deep drinking, dueling, and dicing were + practised without restraint in all the large cities and towns of the + United Kingdom. It was, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has said, "an age of + folly and of heroism"; for, while it produced some of the greatest + black-guards known to history, it produced also such men as Wellington and + Nelson, the two Pitts, Sheridan, Byron, Shelley, and Sir Walter Scott. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Maurice Farmer was the daughter of a small Irish landowner named + Robert Power—himself the incarnation of all the vices of the time. + There was little law in Ireland, not even that which comes from public + opinion; and Robert Power rode hard to hounds, gambled recklessly, and + assembled in his house all sorts of reprobates, with whom he held + frightful orgies that lasted from sunset until dawn. His wife and his + young daughters viewed him with terror, and the life they led was a + perpetual nightmare because of the bestial carousings in which their + father engaged, wasting his money and mortgaging his estates until the end + of his wild career was in plain sight. + </p> + <p> + There happened to be stationed at Clonmel a regiment of infantry in which + there served a captain named Maurice St. Leger Farmer. He was a man of + some means, but eccentric to a degree. His temper was so utterly + uncontrolled that even his fellow officers could scarcely live with him, + and he was given to strange caprices. It happened that at a ball in + Clonmel he met the young daughter of Robert Power, then a mere child of + fourteen years. Captain Farmer was seized with an infatuation for the + girl, and he went almost at once to her father, asking for her hand in + marriage and proposing to settle a sum of money upon her if she married + him. + </p> + <p> + The hard-riding squireen jumped at the offer. His own estate was being + stripped bare. Here was a chance to provide for one of his daughters, or, + rather, to get rid of her, and he agreed that she should be married out of + hand. Going home, he roughly informed the girl that she was to be the wife + of Captain Farmer. He so bullied his wife that she was compelled to join + him in this command. + </p> + <p> + What was poor little Margaret Power to do? She was only a child. She knew + nothing of the world. She was accustomed to obey her father as she would + have obeyed some evil genius who had her in his power. There were tears + and lamentations. She was frightened half to death; yet for her there was + no help. Therefore, while not yet fifteen her marriage took place, and she + was the unhappy slave of a half-crazy tyrant. She had then no beauty + whatsoever. She was wholly undeveloped—thin and pale, and with rough + hair that fell over her frightened eyes; yet Farmer wanted her, and he + settled his money on her, just as he would have spent the same amount to + gratify any other sudden whim. + </p> + <p> + The life she led with him for a few months showed him to be more of a + devil than a man. He took a peculiar delight in terrifying her, in + subjecting her to every sort of outrage; nor did he refrain even from + beating her with his fists. The girl could stand a great deal, but this + was too much. She returned to her father's house, where she was received + with the bitterest reproaches, but where, at least, she was safe from + harm, since her possession of a dowry made her a person of some small + importance. + </p> + <p> + Not long afterward Captain Farmer fell into a dispute with his colonel, + Lord Caledon, and in the course of it he drew his sword on his commanding + officer. The court-martial which was convened to try him would probably + have had him shot were it not for the very general belief that he was + insane. So he was simply cashiered and obliged to leave the service and + betake himself elsewhere. Thus the girl whom, he had married was quite + free—free to leave her wretched home and even to leave Ireland. + </p> + <p> + She did leave Ireland and establish herself in London, where she had some + acquaintances, among them the Earl of Blessington. As already said, he had + met her in Ireland while she was living with her husband; and now from + time to time he saw her in a friendly way. After the death of his wife he + became infatuated with Margaret Farmer. She was a good deal alone, and his + attentions gave her entertainment. Her past experience led her to have no + real belief in love. She had become, however, in a small way interested in + literature and art, with an eager ambition to be known as a writer. As it + happened, Captain Farmer, whose name she bore, had died some months before + Lord Blessington had decided to make a new marriage. The earl proposed to + Margaret Farmer, and the two were married by special license. + </p> + <p> + The Countess of Blessington—to give the lady her new title—was + now twenty-eight years of age and had developed into a woman of great + beauty. She was noted for the peculiarly vivacious and radiant expression + which was always on her face. She had a kind of vivid loveliness + accompanied by grace, simplicity, and a form of exquisite proportions. The + ugly duckling had become a swan, for now there was no trace of her former + plainness to be seen. + </p> + <p> + Not yet in her life had love come to her. Her first husband had been + thrust upon her and had treated her outrageously. Her second husband was + much older than she; and, though she was not without a certain kindly + feeling for one who had been kind to her, she married him, first of all, + for his title and position. + </p> + <p> + Having been reared in poverty, she had no conception of the value of + money; and, though the earl was remarkably extravagant, the new countess + was even more so. One after another their London houses were opened and + decorated with the utmost lavishness. They gave innumerable + entertainments, not only to the nobility and to men of rank, but—because + this was Lady Blessington's peculiar fad—to artists and actors and + writers of all degrees. The American, N. P. Willis, in his Pencilings by + the Way, has given an interesting sketch of the countess and her + surroundings, while the younger Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield) has depicted + D'Orsay as Count Mirabel in Henrietta Temple. Willis says: + </p> + <p> + In a long library, lined alternately with splendidly bound books and + mirrors, and with a deep window of the breadth of the room opening upon + Hyde Park, I found Lady Blessington alone. The picture, to my eye, as the + door opened, was a very lovely one—a woman of remarkable beauty, + half buried in a fauteuil of yellow satin, reading by a magnificent lamp + suspended from the center of the arched ceiling. Sofas, couches, ottomans, + and busts, arranged in rather a crowded sumptuousness through the room; + enameled tables, covered with expensive and elegant trifles in every + corner, and a delicate white hand in relief on the back of a book, to + which the eye was attracted by the blaze of diamond rings. + </p> + <p> + All this "crowded sumptuousness" was due to the taste of Lady Blessington. + Amid it she received royal dukes, statesmen such as Palmerston, Canning, + Castlereagh, Russell, and Brougham, actors such as Kemble and Matthews, + artists such as Lawrence and Wilkie, and men of letters such as Moore, + Bulwer-Lytton, and the two Disraelis. To maintain this sort of life Lord + Blessington raised large amounts of money, totaling about half a million + pounds sterling, by mortgaging his different estates and giving his + promissory notes to money-lenders. Of course, he did not spend this vast + sum immediately. He might have lived in comparative luxury upon his + income; but he was a restless, eager, improvident nobleman, and his + extravagances were prompted by the urgings of his wife. + </p> + <p> + In all this display, which Lady Blessington both stimulated and shared, + there is to be found a psychological basis. She was now verging upon the + thirties—a time which is a very critical period in a woman's + emotional life, if she has not already given herself over to love and been + loved in return. During Lady Blessington's earlier years she had suffered + in many ways, and it is probable that no thought of love had entered her + mind. She was only too glad if she could escape from the harshness of her + father and the cruelty of her first husband. Then came her development + into a beautiful woman, content for the time to be languorously stagnant + and to enjoy the rest and peace which had come to her. + </p> + <p> + When she married Lord Blessington her love life had not yet commenced; + and, in fact, there could be no love life in such a marriage—a + marriage with a man much older than herself, scatter-brained, showy, and + having no intellectual gifts. So for a time she sought satisfaction in + social triumphs, in capturing political and literary lions in order to + exhibit them in her salon, and in spending money right and left with a + lavish hand. But, after all, in a woman of her temperament none of these + things could satisfy her inner longings. Beautiful, full of Celtic + vivacity, imaginative and eager, such a nature as hers would in the end be + starved unless her heart should be deeply touched and unless all her + pent-up emotion could give itself up entirely in the great surrender. + </p> + <p> + After a few years of London she grew restless and dissatisfied. Her + surroundings wearied her. There was a call within her for something more + than she had yet experienced. The earl, her husband, was by nature no less + restless; and so, without knowing the reason—which, indeed, she + herself did not understand—he readily assented to a journey on the + Continent. + </p> + <p> + As they traveled southward they reached at length the town of Valence, + where Count d'Orsay was still quartered with his regiment. A vague, + indefinable feeling of attraction swept over this woman, who was now a + woman of the world and yet quite inexperienced in affairs relating to the + heart. The mere sound of the French officer's voice, the mere sight of his + face, the mere knowledge of his presence, stirred her as nothing had ever + stirred her until that time. Yet neither he nor she appears to have been + conscious at once of the secret of their liking. It was enough that they + were soothed and satisfied with each other's company. + </p> + <p> + Oddly enough, the Earl of Blessington became as devoted to D'Orsay as did + his wife. The two urged the count to secure a leave of absence and to + accompany them to Italy. This he was easily persuaded to do; and the three + passed weeks and months of a languorous and alluring intercourse among the + lakes and the seductive influence of romantic Italy. Just what passed + between Count d'Orsay and Margaret Blessington at this time cannot be + known, for the secret of it has perished with them; but it is certain that + before very long they came to know that each was indispensable to the + other. + </p> + <p> + The situation was complicated by the Earl of Blessington, who, entirely + unsuspicious, proposed that the Count should marry Lady Harriet Gardiner, + his eldest legitimate daughter by his first wife. He pressed the match + upon the embarrassed D'Orsay, and offered to settle the sum of forty + thousand pounds upon the bride. The girl was less than fifteen years of + age. She had no gifts either of beauty or of intelligence; and, in + addition, D'Orsay was now deeply in love with her stepmother. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, his position with the Blessingtons was daily growing + more difficult. People had begun to talk of the almost open relations + between Count d'Orsay and Lady Blessington. Lord Byron, in a letter + written to the countess, spoke to her openly and in a playful way of "YOUR + D'Orsay." The manners and morals of the time were decidedly irregular; yet + sooner or later the earl was sure to gain some hint of what every one was + saying. Therefore, much against his real desire, yet in order to shelter + his relations with Lady Blessington, D'Orsay agreed to the marriage with + Lady Harriet, who was only fifteen years of age. + </p> + <p> + This made the intimacy between D'Orsay and the Blessingtons appear to be + not unusual; but, as a matter of fact, the marriage was no marriage. The + unattractive girl who had become a bride merely to hide the indiscretions + of her stepmother was left entirely to herself; while the whole family, + returning to London, made their home together in Seymour Place. + </p> + <p> + Could D'Orsay have foreseen the future he would never have done what must + always seem an act so utterly unworthy of him. For within two years Lord + Blessington fell ill and died. Had not D'Orsay been married he would now + have been free to marry Lady Blessington. As it was, he was bound fast to + her stepdaughter; and since at that time there was no divorce court in + England, and since he had no reason for seeking a divorce, he was obliged + to live on through many years in a most ambiguous situation. He did, + however, separate himself from his childish bride; and, having done so, he + openly took up his residence with Lady Blessington at Gore House. By this + time, however, the companionship of the two had received a sort of general + sanction, and in that easy-going age most people took it as a matter of + course. + </p> + <p> + The two were now quite free to live precisely as they would. Lady + Blessington became extravagantly happy, and Count d'Orsay was accepted in + London as an oracle of fashion. Every one was eager to visit Gore House, + and there they received all the notable men of the time. The improvidence + of Lady Blessington, however, was in no respect diminished. She lived upon + her jointure, recklessly spending capital as well as interest, and + gathering under her roof a rare museum of artistic works, from jewels and + curios up to magnificent pictures and beautiful statuary. + </p> + <p> + D'Orsay had sufficient self-respect not to live upon the money that had + come to Lady Blessington from her husband. He was a skilful painter, and + he practised his art in a professional way. His portrait of the Duke of + Wellington was preferred by that famous soldier to any other that had been + made of him. The Iron Duke was, in fact, a frequent visitor at Gore House, + and he had a very high opinion of Count d'Orsay. Lady Blessington herself + engaged in writing novels of "high life," some of which were very popular + in their day. But of all that she wrote there remains only one book which + is of permanent value—her Conversations with Lord Byron, a very + valuable contribution to our knowledge of the brilliant poet. + </p> + <p> + But a nemesis was destined to overtake the pair. Money flowed through Lady + Blessington's hands like water, and she could never be brought to + understand that what she had might not last for ever. Finally, it was all + gone, yet her extravagance continued. Debts were heaped up mountain-high. + She signed notes of hand without even reading them. She incurred + obligations of every sort without a moment's hesitation. + </p> + <p> + For a long time her creditors held aloof, not believing that her resources + were in reality exhausted; but in the end there came a crash as sudden as + it was ruinous. As if moved by a single impulse, those to whom she owed + money took out judgments against her and descended upon Gore House in a + swarm. This was in the spring of 1849, when Lady Blessington was in her + sixtieth year and D'Orsay fifty-one. + </p> + <p> + It is a curious coincidence that her earliest novel had portrayed the + wreck of a great establishment such as her own. Of the scene in Gore House + Mr. Madden, Lady Blessington's literary biographer, has written: + </p> + <p> + Numerous creditors, bill-discounters, money-lenders, jewelers, + lace-venders, tax-collectors, gas-company agents, all persons having + claims to urge pressed them at this period simultaneously. An execution + for a debt of four thousand pounds was at length put in by a house largely + engaged in the silk, lace, India-shawl, and fancy-jewelry business. + </p> + <p> + This sum of four thousand pounds was only a nominal claim, but it opened + the flood-gates for all of Lady Blessington's creditors. Mr. Madden writes + still further: + </p> + <p> + On the 10th of May, 1849, I visited Gore House for the last time. The + auction was going on. There was a large assemblage of people of fashion. + Every room was thronged; the well-known library-salon, in which the + conversaziones took place, was crowded, but not with guests. The arm-chair + in which the lady of the mansion was wont to sit was occupied by a stout, + coarse gentleman of the Jewish persuasion, busily engaged in examining a + marble hand extended on a book, the fingers of which were modeled from a + cast of those of the absent mistress of the establishment. People, as they + passed through the room, poked the furniture, pulled about the precious + objects of art and ornaments of various kinds that lay on the table; and + some made jests and ribald jokes on the scene they witnessed. + </p> + <p> + At this compulsory sale things went for less than half their value. + Pictures by Lawrence and Landseer, a library consisting of thousands of + volumes, vases of exquisite workmanship, chandeliers of ormolu, and + precious porcelains—all were knocked down relentlessly at farcical + prices. Lady Blessington reserved nothing for herself. She knew that the + hour had struck, and very soon she was on her way to Paris, whither Count + d'Orsay had already gone, having been threatened with arrest by a + boot-maker to whom he owed five hundred pounds. + </p> + <p> + D'Orsay very naturally went to Paris, for, like his father, he had always + been an ardent Bonapartist, and now Prince Louis Bonaparte had been chosen + president of the Second French Republic. During the prince's long period + of exile he had been the guest of Count d'Orsay, who had helped him both + with money and with influence. D'Orsay now expected some return for his + former generosity. It came, but it came too late. In 1852, shortly after + Prince Louis assumed the title of emperor, the count was appointed + director of fine arts; but when the news was brought to him he was already + dying. Lady Blessington died soon after coming to Paris, before the end of + the year 1849. + </p> + <p> + Comment upon this tangled story is scarcely needed. Yet one may quote some + sayings from a sort of diary which Lady Blessington called her "Night + Book." They seem to show that her supreme happiness lasted only for a + little while, and that deep down in her heart she had condemned herself. + </p> + <p> + A woman's head is always influenced by her heart; but a man's heart is + always influenced by his head. + </p> + <p> + The separation of friends by death is less terrible than the divorce of + two hearts that have loved, but have ceased to sympathize, while memory + still recalls what they once were to each other. + </p> + <p> + People are seldom tired of the world until the world is tired of them. + </p> + <p> + A woman should not paint sentiment until she has ceased to inspire it. + </p> + <p> + It is less difficult for a woman to obtain celebrity by her genius than to + be pardoned for it. + </p> + <p> + Memory seldom fails when its office is to show us the tombs of our buried + hopes. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BYRON AND THE COUNTESS GUICCIOLI + </h2> + <p> + In 1812, when he was in his twenty-fourth year, Lord Byron was more talked + of than any other man in London. He was in the first flush of his + brilliant career, having published the early cantos of "Childe Harold." + Moreover, he was a peer of the realm, handsome, ardent, and possessing a + personal fascination which few men and still fewer women could resist. + </p> + <p> + Byron's childhood had been one to excite in him strong feelings of revolt, + and he had inherited a profligate and passionate nature. His father was a + gambler and a spendthrift. His mother was eccentric to a degree. Byron + himself, throughout his boyish years, had been morbidly sensitive because + of a physical deformity—a lame, misshapen foot. This and the strange + treatment which his mother accorded him left him headstrong, wilful, + almost from the first an enemy to whatever was established and + conventional. + </p> + <p> + As a boy, he was remarkable for the sentimental attachments which he + formed. At eight years of age he was violently in love with a young girl + named Mary Duff. At ten his cousin, Margaret Parker, excited in him a + strange, un-childish passion. At fifteen came one of the greatest crises + of his life, when he became enamored of Mary Chaworth, whose grand-father + had been killed in a duel by Byron's great-uncle. Young as he was, he + would have married her immediately; but Miss Chaworth was two years older + than he, and absolutely refused to take seriously the devotion of a + school-boy. + </p> + <p> + Byron felt the disappointment keenly; and after a short stay at Cambridge, + he left England, visited Portugal and Spain, and traveled eastward as far + as Greece and Turkey. At Athens he wrote the pretty little poem to the + "maid of Athens"—Miss Theresa Macri, daughter of the British + vice-consul. He returned to London to become at one leap the most admired + poet of the day and the greatest social favorite. He was possessed of + striking personal beauty. Sir Walter Scott said of him: "His countenance + was a thing to dream of." His glorious eyes, his mobile, eloquent face, + fascinated all; and he was, besides, a genius of the first rank. + </p> + <p> + With these endowments, he plunged into the social whirlpool, denying + himself nothing, and receiving everything-adulation, friendship, and + unstinted love. Darkly mysterious stories of his adventures in the East + made many think that he was the hero of some of his own poems, such as + "The Giaour" and "The Corsair." A German wrote of him that "he was + positively besieged by women." From the humblest maid-servants up to + ladies of high rank, he had only to throw his handkerchief to make a + conquest. Some women did not even wait for the handkerchief to be thrown. + No wonder that he was sated with so much adoration and that he wrote of + women: + </p> + <p> + I regard them as very pretty but inferior creatures. I look on them as + grown-up children; but, like a foolish mother, I am constantly the slave + of one of them. Give a woman a looking-glass and burnt almonds, and she + will be content. + </p> + <p> + The liaison which attracted the most attention at this time was that + between Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb. Byron has been greatly blamed for + his share in it; but there is much to be said on the other side. Lady + Caroline was happily married to the Right Hon. William Lamb, afterward + Lord Melbourne, and destined to be the first prime minister of Queen + Victoria. He was an easy-going, genial man of the world who placed too + much confidence in the honor of his wife. She, on the other hand, was a + sentimental fool, always restless, always in search of some new + excitement. She thought herself a poet, and scribbled verses, which her + friends politely admired, and from which they escaped as soon as possible. + When she first met Byron, she cried out: "That pale face is my fate!" And + she afterward added: "Mad, bad, and dangerous to know!" + </p> + <p> + It was not long before the intimacy of the two came very near the point of + open scandal; but Byron was the wooed and not the wooer. This woman, older + than he, flung herself directly at his head. Naturally enough, it was not + very long before she bored him thoroughly. Her romantic impetuosity became + tiresome, and very soon she fell to talking always of herself, thrusting + her poems upon him, and growing vexed and peevish when he would not praise + them. As was well said, "he grew moody and she fretful when their mutual + egotisms jarred." + </p> + <p> + In a burst of resentment she left him, but when she returned, she was + worse than ever. She insisted on seeing him. On one occasion she made her + way into his rooms disguised as a boy. At another time, when she thought + he had slighted her, she tried to stab herself with a pair of scissors. + Still later, she offered her favors to any one who would kill him. Byron + himself wrote of her: + </p> + <p> + You can have no idea of the horrible and absurd things that she has said + and done. + </p> + <p> + Her story has been utilized by Mrs. Humphry Ward in her novel, "The + Marriage of William Ashe." + </p> + <p> + Perhaps this trying experience led Byron to end his life of dissipation. + At any rate, in 1813, he proposed marriage to Miss Anne Millbanke, who at + first refused him; but he persisted, and in 1815 the two were married. + Byron seems to have had a premonition that he was making a terrible + mistake. During the wedding ceremony he trembled like a leaf, and made the + wrong responses to the clergyman. After the wedding was over, in handing + his bride into the carriage which awaited them, he said to her: + </p> + <p> + "Miss Millbanke, are you ready?" + </p> + <p> + It was a strange blunder for a bridegroom, and one which many regarded at + the time as ominous for the future. In truth, no two persons could have + been more thoroughly mismated—Byron, the human volcano, and his + wife, a prim, narrow-minded, and peevish woman. Their incompatibility was + evident enough from the very first, so that when they returned from their + wedding-journey, and some one asked Byron about his honeymoon, he + answered: + </p> + <p> + "Call it rather a treacle moon!" + </p> + <p> + It is hardly necessary here to tell over the story of their domestic + troubles. Only five weeks after their daughter's birth, they parted. Lady + Byron declared that her husband was insane; while after trying many times + to win from her something more than a tepid affection, he gave up the task + in a sort of despairing anger. It should be mentioned here, for the + benefit of those who recall the hideous charges made many decades + afterward by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe on the authority of Lady Byron, + that the latter remained on terms of friendly intimacy with Augusta Leigh, + Lord Byron's sister, and that even on her death-bed she sent an amicable + message to Mrs. Leigh. + </p> + <p> + Byron, however, stung by the bitter attacks that were made upon him, left + England, and after traveling down the Rhine through Switzerland, he took + up his abode in Venice. His joy at leaving England and ridding himself of + the annoyances which had clustered thick about him, he expressed in these + lines: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Once more upon the waters! yet once more! + And the waves bound beneath me as a steed + That knows his rider. Welcome to the roar! +</pre> + <p> + Meanwhile he enjoyed himself in reckless fashion. Money poured in upon him + from his English publisher. For two cantos of "Childe Harold" and + "Manfred," Murray paid him twenty thousand dollars. For the fourth canto, + Byron demanded and received more than twelve thousand dollars. In Italy he + lived on friendly terms with Shelley and Thomas Moore; but eventually he + parted from them both, for he was about to enter upon a new phase of his + curious career. + </p> + <p> + He was no longer the Byron of 1815. Four years of high living and much + brandy-and-water had robbed his features of their refinement. His look was + no longer spiritual. He was beginning to grow stout. Yet the change had + not been altogether unfortunate. He had lost something of his wild + impetuosity, and his sense of humor had developed. In his thirtieth year, + in fact, he had at last become a man. + </p> + <p> + It was soon after this that he met a woman who was to be to him for the + rest of his life what a well-known writer has called "a star on the stormy + horizon of the poet." This woman was Teresa, Countess Guiccioli, whom he + first came to know in Venice. She was then only nineteen years of age, and + she was married to a man who was more than forty years her senior. Unlike + the typical Italian woman, she was blonde, with dreamy eyes and an + abundance of golden hair, and her manner was at once modest and graceful. + She had known Byron but a very short time when she found herself thrilling + with a passion of which until then she had never dreamed. It was written + of her: + </p> + <p> + She had thought of love but as an amusement; yet she now became its slave. + </p> + <p> + To this love Byron gave an immediate response, and from that time until + his death he cared for no other woman. The two were absolutely mated. + Nevertheless, there were difficulties which might have been expected. + Count Guiccioli, while he seemed to admire Byron, watched him with Italian + subtlety. The English poet and the Italian countess met frequently. When + Byron was prostrated by an attack of fever, the countess remained beside + him, and he was just recovering when Count Guiccioli appeared upon the + scene and carried off his wife. Byron was in despair. He exchanged the + most ardent letters with the countess, yet he dreaded assassins whom he + believed to have been hired by her husband. Whenever he rode out, he went + armed with sword and pistols. + </p> + <p> + Amid all this storm and stress, Byron's literary activity was remarkable. + He wrote some of his most famous poems at this time, and he hoped for the + day when he and the woman whom he loved might be united once for all. This + came about in the end through the persistence of the pair. The Countess + Guiccioli openly took up her abode with him, not to be separated until the + poet sailed for Greece to aid the Greeks in their struggle for + independence. This was in 1822, when Byron was in his thirty-fifth year. + He never returned to Italy, but died in the historic land for which he + gave his life as truly as if he had fallen upon the field of battle. + </p> + <p> + Teresa Guiccioli had been, in all but name, his wife for just three years. + Much, has been said in condemnation of this love-affair; but in many ways + it is less censurable than almost anything in his career. It was an + instance of genuine love, a love which purified and exalted this man of + dark and moody moments. It saved him from those fitful passions and orgies + of self-indulgence which had exhausted him. It proved to be an inspiration + which at last led him to die for a cause approved by all the world. + </p> + <p> + As for the woman, what shall we say of her? She came to him unspotted by + the world. A demand for divorce which her husband made was rejected. A + pontifical brief pronounced a formal separation between the two. The + countess gladly left behind "her palaces, her equipages, society, and + riches, for the love of the poet who had won her heart." + </p> + <p> + Unlike the other women who had cared for him, she was unselfish in her + devotion. She thought more of his fame than did he himself. Emilio + Castelar has written: + </p> + <p> + She restored him and elevated him. She drew him from the mire and set the + crown of purity upon his brow. Then, when she had recovered this great + heart, instead of keeping it as her own possession, she gave it to + humanity. + </p> + <p> + For twenty-seven years after Byron's death, she remained, as it were, + widowed and alone. Then, in her old age, she married the Marquis de + Boissy; but the marriage was purely one of convenience. Her heart was + always Byron's, whom she defended with vivacity. In 1868, she published + her memoirs of the poet, filled with interesting and affecting + recollections. She died as late as 1873. + </p> + <p> + Some time between the year 1866 and that of her death, she is said to have + visited Newstead Abbey, which had once been Byron's home. She was very + old, a widow, and alone; but her affection for the poet-lover of her youth + was still as strong as ever. + </p> + <p> + Byron's life was short, if measured by years only. Measured by + achievement, it was filled to the very full. His genius blazes like a + meteor in the records of English poetry; and some of that splendor gleams + about the lovely woman who turned him away from vice and folly and made + him worthy of his historic ancestry, of his country, and of himself. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF MME. DE STAEL + </h2> + <p> + Each century, or sometimes each generation, is distinguished by some + especial interest among those who are given to fancies—not to call + them fads. Thus, at the present time, the cultivated few are taken up with + what they choose to term the "new thought," or the "new criticism," or, on + the other hand, with socialistic theories and projects. Thirty years ago, + when Oscar Wilde was regarded seriously by some people, there were many + who made a cult of estheticism. It was just as interesting when their + leader— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Walked down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily + In his medieval hand, +</pre> + <p> + or when Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan guyed him as Bunthorne + in "Patience." + </p> + <p> + When Charles Kingsley was a great expounder of British common sense, + "muscular Christianity" was a phrase which was taken up by many followers. + A little earlier, Puseyism and a primitive form of socialism were in vogue + with the intellectuals. There are just as many different fashions in + thought as in garments, and they come and go without any particular + reason. To-day, they are discussed and practised everywhere. To-morrow, + they are almost forgotten in the rapid pursuit of something new. + </p> + <p> + Forty years before the French Revolution burst forth with all its + thunderings, France and Germany were affected by what was generally styled + "sensibility." Sensibility was the sister of sentimentality and the + half-sister of sentiment. Sentiment is a fine thing in itself. It is + consistent with strength and humor and manliness; but sentimentality and + sensibility are poor cheeping creatures that run scuttering along the + ground, quivering and whimpering and asking for perpetual sympathy, which + they do not at all deserve. + </p> + <p> + No one need be ashamed of sentiment. It simply gives temper to the blade, + and mellowness to the intellect. Sensibility, on the other hand, is full + of shivers and shakes and falsetto notes and squeaks. It is, in fact, all + humbug, just as sentiment is often all truth. + </p> + <p> + Therefore, to find an interesting phase of human folly, we may look back + to the years which lie between 1756 and 1793 as the era of sensibility. + The great prophets of this false god, or goddess, were Rousseau in France + and Goethe with Schiller in Germany, together with a host of midgets who + shook and shivered in imitation of their masters. It is not for us to + catalogue these persons. Some of them were great figures in literature and + philosophy, and strong enough to shake aside the silliness of sensibility; + but others, while they professed to be great as writers or philosophers, + are now remembered only because their devotion to sensibility made them + conspicuous in their own time. They dabbled in one thing and another; they + "cribbed" from every popular writer of the day. The only thing that + actually belonged to them was a high degree of sensibility. + </p> + <p> + And what, one may ask, was this precious thing—this sensibility? + </p> + <p> + It was really a sort of St. Vitus's dance of the mind, and almost of the + body. When two persons, in any way interested in each other, were brought + into the same room, one of them appeared to be seized with a rotary + movement. The voice rose to a higher pitch than usual, and assumed a + tremolo. Then, if the other person was also endowed with sensibility, he + or she would rotate and quake in somewhat the same manner. Their cups of + tea would be considerably agitated. They would move about in as unnatural + a manner as possible; and when they left the room, they would do so with + gaspings and much waste of breath. + </p> + <p> + This was not an exhibition of love—or, at least, not necessarily so. + You might exhibit sensibility before a famous poet, or a gallant soldier, + or a celebrated traveler—or, for that matter, before a remarkable + buffoon, like Cagliostro, or a freak, like Kaspar Hauser. + </p> + <p> + It is plain enough that sensibility was entirely an abnormal thing, and + denoted an abnormal state of mind. Only among people like the Germans and + French of that period, who were forbidden to take part in public affairs, + could it have flourished so long, and have put forth such rank and fetid + outgrowths. From it sprang the "elective affinities" of Goethe, and the + loose morality of the French royalists, which rushed on into the roaring + sea of infidelity, blasphemy, and anarchy of the Revolution. + </p> + <p> + Of all the historic figures of that time, there is just one which to-day + stands forth as representing sensibility. In her own time she was thought + to be something of a philosopher, and something more of a novelist. She + consorted with all the clever men and women of her age. But now she holds + a minute niche in history because of the fact that Napoleon stooped to + hate her, and because she personifies sensibility. + </p> + <p> + Criticism has stripped from her the rags and tatters of the philosophy + which was not her own. It is seen that she was indebted to the brains of + others for such imaginative bits of fiction as she put forth in Delphine + and Corinne; but as the exponent of sensibility she remains unique. This + woman was Anne Louise Germaine Necker, usually known as Mme. de Stael. + </p> + <p> + There was much about Mile. Necker's parentage that made her interesting. + Her father was the Genevese banker and minister of Louis XVI, who failed + wretchedly in his attempts to save the finances of France. Her mother, + Suzanne Curchod, as a young girl, had won the love of the famous English + historian, Edward Gibbon. She had first refused him, and then almost + frantically tried to get him back; but by this time Gibbon was more + comfortable in single life and less infatuated with Mlle. Curchod, who + presently married Jacques Necker. + </p> + <p> + M. Necker's money made his daughter a very celebrated "catch." Her mother + brought her to Paris when the French capital was brilliant beyond + description, and yet was tottering to its fall. The rumblings of the + Revolution could be heard by almost every ear; and yet society and the + court, refusing to listen, plunged into the wildest revelry under the + leadership of the giddy Marie Antoinette. + </p> + <p> + It was here that the young girl was initiated into the most elegant forms + of luxury, and met the cleverest men of that time—Voltaire, + Rousseau, Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Volney. She set herself to be the most + accomplished woman of her day, not merely in belles lettres, but in the + natural and political sciences. Thus, when her father was drawing up his + monograph on the French finances, Germaine labored hard over a + supplementary report, studying documents, records, and the most + complicated statistics, so that she might obtain a mastery of the subject. + </p> + <p> + "I mean to know everything that anybody knows," she said, with an + arrogance which was rather admired in so young a woman. + </p> + <p> + But, unfortunately, her mind was not great enough to fulfil her + aspiration. The most she ever achieved was a fair knowledge of many things—a + knowledge which seemed surprising to the average man, but which was + superficial enough to the accomplished specialist. + </p> + <p> + In her twentieth year (1786) it was thought best that she should marry. + Her revels, as well as her hard studies, had told upon her health, and her + mother believed that she could not be at once a blue-stocking and a woman + of the world. + </p> + <p> + There was something very odd about the relation that existed between the + young girl and this mother of hers. In the Swiss province where they had + both been born, the mother had been considered rather bold and forward. + Her penchant for Gibbon was only one of a number of adventures that have + been told about her. She was by no means coy with the gallants of Geneva. + Yet, after her marriage, and when she came to Paris, she seemed to be + transformed into a sort of Swiss Puritan. + </p> + <p> + As such, she undertook her daughter's bringing up, and was extremely + careful about everything that Germaine did and about the company she kept. + On the other hand, the daughter, who in the city of Calvin had been rather + dull and quiet in her ways, launched out into a gaiety such as she had + never known in Switzerland. Mother and daughter, in fact, changed parts. + The country beauty of Geneva became the prude of Paris, while the quiet, + unemotional young Genevese became the light of all the Parisian salons, + whether social or intellectual. + </p> + <p> + The mother was a very beautiful woman. The daughter, who was to become so + famous, is best described by those two very uncomplimentary English words, + "dumpy" and "frumpy." She had bulging eyes—which are not emphasized + in the flattering portrait by Gerard—and her hair was unbecomingly + dressed. There are reasons for thinking that Germaine bitterly hated her + mother, and was intensely jealous of her charm of person. It may be also + that Mme. Necker envied the daughter's cleverness, even though that + cleverness was little more, in the end, than the borrowing of brilliant + things from other persons. At any rate, the two never cared for each + other, and Germaine gave to her father the affection which her mother + neither received nor sought. + </p> + <p> + It was perhaps to tame the daughter's exuberance that a marriage was + arranged for Mlle. Necker with the Baron de Stael-Holstein, who then + represented the court of Sweden at Paris. Many eyebrows were lifted when + this match was announced. Baron de Stael had no personal charm, nor any + reputation for wit. His standing in the diplomatic corps was not very + high. His favorite occupations were playing cards and drinking enormous + quantities of punch. Could he be considered a match for the extremely + clever Mlle. Necker, whose father had an enormous fortune, and who was + herself considered a gem of wit and mental power, ready to discuss + political economy, or the romantic movement of socialism, or platonic + love? + </p> + <p> + Many differed about this. Mlle. Necker was, to be sure, rich and clever; + but the Baron de Stael was of an old family, and had a title. Moreover, + his easy-going ways—even his punch-drinking and his card-playing—made + him a desirable husband at that time of French social history, when the + aristocracy wished to act exactly as it pleased, with wanton license, and + when an embassy was a very convenient place into which an indiscreet + ambassadress might retire when the mob grew dangerous. For Paris was now + approaching the time of revolution, and all "aristocrats" were more or + less in danger. + </p> + <p> + At first Mme. de Stael rather sympathized with the outbreak of the people; + but later their excesses drove her back into sympathy with the royalists. + It was then that she became indiscreet and abused the privilege of the + embassy in giving shelter to her friends. She was obliged to make a sudden + flight across the frontier, whence she did not return until Napoleon + loomed up, a political giant on the horizon—victorious general, + consul, and emperor. + </p> + <p> + Mme. de Stael's relations with Napoleon have, as I remarked above, been + among her few titles to serious remembrance. The Corsican eagle and the + dumpy little Genevese make, indeed, a peculiar pair; and for this reason + writers have enhanced the oddities of the picture. + </p> + <p> + "Napoleon," says one, "did not wish any one to be near him who was as + clever as himself." + </p> + <p> + "No," adds another, "Mme. de Stael made a dead set at Napoleon, because + she wished to conquer and achieve the admiration of everybody, even of the + greatest man who ever lived." + </p> + <p> + "Napoleon found her to be a good deal of a nuisance," observes a third. + "She knew too much, and was always trying to force her knowledge upon + others." + </p> + <p> + The legend has sprung up that Mme. de Stael was too wise and witty to be + acceptable to Napoleon; and many women repeated with unction that the + conqueror of Europe was no match for this frowsy little woman. It is, + perhaps, worth while to look into the facts, and to decide whether + Napoleon was really of so petty a nature as to feel himself inferior to + this rather comic creature, even though at the time many people thought + her a remarkable genius. + </p> + <p> + In the first place, knowing Napoleon, as we have come to know him through + the pages of Mme. de Remusat, Frederic Masson, and others, we can readily + imagine the impatience with which the great soldier would sit at dinner, + hastening to finish his meal, crowding the whole ceremony into twenty + minutes, gulping a glass or two of wine and a cup of coffee, and then + being interrupted by a fussy little female who wanted to talk about the + ethics of history, or the possibility of a new form of government. + Napoleon, himself, was making history, and writing it in fire and flame; + and as for governments, he invented governments all over Europe as suited + his imperial will. What patience could he have with one whom an English + writer has rather unkindly described as "an ugly coquette, an old woman + who made a ridiculous marriage, a blue-stocking, who spent much of her + time in pestering men of genius, and drawing from them sarcastic comment + behind their backs?" + </p> + <p> + Napoleon was not the sort of a man to be routed in discussion, but he was + most decidedly the sort of man to be bored and irritated by pedantry. + Consequently, he found Mme. de Stael a good deal of a nuisance in the + salons of Paris and its vicinity. He cared not the least for her epigrams. + She might go somewhere else and write all the epigrams she pleased. When + he banished her, in 1803, she merely crossed the Rhine into Germany, and + established herself at Weimar. + </p> + <p> + The emperor received her son, Auguste de Stael-Holstein, with much good + humor, though he refused the boy's appeal on behalf of his mother. + </p> + <p> + "My dear baron," said Napoleon, "if your mother were to be in Paris for + two months, I should really be obliged to lock her up in one of the + castles, which would be most unpleasant treatment for me to show a lady. + No, let her go anywhere else and we can get along perfectly. All Europe is + open to her—Rome, Vienna, St. Petersburg; and if she wishes to write + libels on me, England is a convenient and inexpensive place. Only Paris is + just a little too near!" + </p> + <p> + Thus the emperor gibed the boy—he was only fifteen or sixteen—and + made fun of the exiled blue-stocking; but there was not a sign of malice + in what he said, nor, indeed, of any serious feeling at all. The legend + about Napoleon and Mme. de Stael must, therefore, go into the + waste-basket, except in so far as it is true that she succeeded in boring + him. + </p> + <p> + For the rest, she was an earlier George Sand—unattractive in person, + yet able to attract; loving love for love's sake, though seldom receiving + it in return; throwing herself at the head of every distinguished man, and + generally finding that he regarded her overtures with mockery. To + enumerate the men for whom she professed to care would be tedious, since + the record of her passions has no reality about it, save, perhaps, with + two exceptions. + </p> + <p> + She did care deeply and sincerely for Henri Benjamin Constant, the + brilliant politician and novelist. He was one of her coterie in Paris, and + their common political sentiments formed a bond of friendship between + them. Constant was banished by Napoleon in 1802, and when Mme. de Stael + followed him into exile a year later he joined her in Germany. + </p> + <p> + The story of their relations was told by Constant in Adolphe, while Mme. + de Stael based Delphine on her experiences with him. It seems that he was + puzzled by her ardor; she was infatuated by his genius. Together they went + through all the phases of the tender passion; and yet, at intervals, they + would tire of each other and separate for a while, and she would amuse + herself with other men. At last she really believed that her love for him + was entirely worn out. + </p> + <p> + "I always loved my lovers more than they loved me," she said once, and it + was true. + </p> + <p> + Yet, on the other hand, she was frankly false to all of them, and hence + arose these intervals. In one of them she fell in with a young Italian + named Rocca, and by way of a change she not only amused herself with him, + but even married him. At this time—1811—she was forty-five, + while Rocca was only twenty-three—a young soldier who had fought in + Spain, and who made eager love to the she-philosopher when he was + invalided at Geneva. + </p> + <p> + The marriage was made on terms imposed by the middle-aged woman who became + his bride. In the first place, it was to be kept secret; and second, she + would not take her husband's name, but he must pass himself off as her + lover, even though she bore him children. The reason she gave for this + extraordinary exhibition of her vanity was that a change of name on her + part would put everybody out. + </p> + <p> + "In fact," she said, "if Mme. de Stael were to change her name, it would + unsettle the heads of all Europe!" + </p> + <p> + And so she married Rocca, who was faithful to her to the end, though she + grew extremely plain and querulous, while he became deaf and soon lost his + former charm. Her life was the life of a woman who had, in her own phrase, + "attempted everything"; and yet she had accomplished nothing that would + last. She was loved by a man of genius, but he did not love her to the + end. She was loved by a man of action, and she tired of him very soon. She + had a wonderful reputation for her knowledge of history and philosophy, + and yet what she knew of those subjects is now seen to be merely the + scraps and borrowings of others. + </p> + <p> + Something she did when she introduced the romantic literature into France; + and there are passages from her writings which seem worthy of + preservation. For instance, we may quote her outburst with regard to + unhappy marriages. "It was the subject," says Mr. Gribble, "on which she + had begun to think before she was married, and which continued to haunt + her long after she was left a widow; though one suspects that the word + 'marriage' became a form of speech employed to describe her relations, not + with her husband, but with her lovers." The passage to which I refer is as + follows: + </p> + <p> + In an unhappy marriage, there is a violence of distress surpassing all + other sufferings in the world. A woman's whole soul depends upon the + conjugal tie. To struggle against fate alone, to journey to the grave + without a friend to support you or to regret you, is an isolation of which + the deserts of Arabia give but a faint and feeble idea. When all the + treasure of your youth has been given in vain, when you can no longer hope + that the reflection of these first rays will shine upon the end of your + life, when there is nothing in the dusk to remind you of the dawn, and + when the twilight is pale and colorless as a livid specter that precedes + the night, your heart revolts, and you feel that you have been robbed of + the gifts of God upon earth. + </p> + <p> + Equally striking is another prose passage of hers, which seems less the + careful thought of a philosopher than the screeching of a termagant. It is + odd that the first two sentences recall two famous lines of Byron: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Man's love is of man's life a thing apart; + 'Tis woman's whole existence. +</pre> + <p> + The passage by Mme. de Stael is longer and less piquant: + </p> + <p> + Love is woman's whole existence. It is only an episode in the lives of + men. Reputation, honor, esteem, everything depends upon how a woman + conducts herself in this regard; whereas, according to the rules of an + unjust world, the laws of morality itself are suspended in men's relations + with women. They may pass as good men, though they have caused women the + most terrible suffering which it is in the power of one human being to + inflict upon another. They may be regarded as loyal, though they have + betrayed them. They may have received from a woman marks of a devotion + which would so link two friends, two fellow soldiers, that either would + feel dishonored if he forgot them, and they may consider themselves free + of all obligations by attributing the services to love—as if this + additional gift of love detracted from the value of the rest! + </p> + <p> + One cannot help noticing how lacking in neatness of expression is this + woman who wrote so much. It is because she wrote so much that she wrote in + such a muffled manner. It is because she thought so much that her + reflections were either not her own, or were never clear. It is because + she loved so much, and had so many lovers—Benjamin Constant; + Vincenzo Monti, the Italian poet; M. de Narbonne, and others, as well as + young Rocca—that she found both love and lovers tedious. + </p> + <p> + She talked so much that her conversation was almost always mere personal + opinion. Thus she told Goethe that he never was really brilliant until + after he had got through a bottle of champagne. Schiller said that to talk + with her was to have a "rough time," and that after she left him, he + always felt like a man who was just getting over a serious illness. She + never had time to do anything very well. + </p> + <p> + There is an interesting glimpse of her in the recollections of Dr. + Bollmann, at the period when Mme. de Stael was in her prime. The worthy + doctor set her down as a genius—an extraordinary, eccentric woman in + all that she did. She slept but a few hours out of the twenty-four, and + was uninterruptedly and fearfully busy all the rest of the time. While her + hair was being dressed, and even while she breakfasted, she used to keep + on writing, nor did she ever rest sufficiently to examine what she had + written. + </p> + <p> + Such then was Mme. de Stael, a type of the time in which she lived, so far + as concerns her worship of sensibility—of sensibility, and not of + love; for love is too great to be so scattered and made a thing to prattle + of, to cheapen, and thus destroy. So we find at the last that Germaine de + Stael, though she was much read and much feted and much followed, came + finally to that last halting-place where confessedly she was merely an old + woman, eccentric, and unattractive. She sued her former lovers for the + money she had lent them, she scolded and found fault—as perhaps + befits her age. + </p> + <p> + But such is the natural end of sensibility, and of the woman who typifies + it for succeeding generations. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF KARL MARX + </h2> + <p> + Some time ago I entered a fairly large library—one of more than two + hundred thousand volumes—to seek the little brochure on Karl Marx + written by his old friend and genial comrade Wilhelm Liebknecht. It was in + the card catalogue. As I made a note of its number, my friend the + librarian came up to me, and I asked him whether it was not strange that a + man like Marx should have so many books devoted to him, for I had roughly + reckoned the number at several hundred. + </p> + <p> + "Not at all," said he; "and we have here only a feeble nucleus of the Marx + literature—just enough, in fact, to give you a glimpse of what that + literature really is. These are merely the books written by Marx himself, + and the translations of them, with a few expository monographs. Anything + like a real Marx collection would take up a special room in this library, + and would have to have its own separate catalogue. You see that even these + two or three hundred books contain large volumes of small pamphlets in + many languages—German, English, French, Italian, Russian, Polish, + Yiddish, Swedish, Hungarian, Spanish; and here," he concluded, pointing to + a recently numbered card, "is one in Japanese." + </p> + <p> + My curiosity was sufficiently excited to look into the matter somewhat + further. I visited another library, which was appreciably larger, and + whose managers were evidently less guided by their prejudices. Here were + several thousand books on Marx, and I spent the best part of the day in + looking them over. + </p> + <p> + What struck me as most singular was the fact that there was scarcely a + volume about Marx himself. Practically all the books dealt with his theory + of capital and his other socialistic views. The man himself, his + personality, and the facts of his life were dismissed in the most meager + fashion, while his economic theories were discussed with something that + verged upon fury. Even such standard works as those of Mehring and Spargo, + which profess to be partly biographical, sum up the personal side of Marx + in a few pages. In fact, in the latter's preface he seems conscious of + this defect, and says: + </p> + <p> + Whether socialism proves, in the long span of centuries, to be good or + evil, a blessing to men or a curse, Karl Marx must always be an object of + interest as one of the great world-figures of immortal memory. As the + years go by, thoughtful men and women will find the same interest in + studying the life and work of Marx that they do in studying the life and + work of Cromwell, of Wesley, or of Darwin, to name three immortal + world-figures of vastly divergent types. + </p> + <p> + Singularly little is known of Karl Marx, even by his most ardent + followers. They know his work, having studied his Das Kapital with the + devotion and earnestness with which an older generation of Christians + studied the Bible, but they are very generally unacquainted with the man + himself. Although more than twenty-six years have elapsed since the death + of Marx, there is no adequate biography of him in any language. + </p> + <p> + Doubtless some better-equipped German writer, such as Franz Mehring or + Eduard Bernstein, will some day give us the adequate and full biography + for which the world now waits. + </p> + <p> + Here is an admission that there exists no adequate biography of Karl Marx, + and here is also an intimation that simply as a man, and not merely as a + great firebrand of socialism, Marx is well worth studying. And so it has + occurred to me to give in these pages one episode of his career that seems + to me quite curious, together with some significant touches concerning the + man as apart from the socialist. Let the thousands of volumes already in + existence suffice for the latter. The motto of this paper is not the + Vergilian "Arms and the man I sing," but simply "The man I sing"—and + the woman. Karl Marx was born nearly ninety-four years ago—May 5, + 1818—in the city which the French call Treves and the Germans Trier, + among the vine-clad hills of the Moselle. Today, the town is commonplace + enough when you pass through it, but when you look into its history, and + seek out that history's evidences, you will find that it was not always a + rather sleepy little place. It was one of the chosen abodes of the + Emperors of the West, after Rome began to be governed by Gauls and + Spaniards, rather than by Romans and Italians. The traveler often pauses + there to see the Porta Nigra, that immense gate once strongly fortified, + and he will doubtless visit also what is left of the fine baths and + amphitheater. + </p> + <p> + Treves, therefore, has a right to be termed imperial, and it was the + birthplace of one whose sway over the minds of men has been both imperial + and imperious. + </p> + <p> + Karl Marx was one of those whose intellectual achievements were so great + as to dwarf his individuality and his private life. What he taught with + almost terrific vigor made his very presence in the Continental monarchies + a source of eminent danger. He was driven from country to country. Kings + and emperors were leagued together against him. Soldiers were called + forth, and blood was shed because of him. But, little by little, his + teaching seems to have leavened the thought of the whole civilized world, + so that to-day thousands who barely know his name are deeply affected by + his ideas, and believe that the state should control and manage everything + for the good of all. + </p> + <p> + Marx seems to have inherited little from either of his parents. His + father, Heinrich Marx, was a provincial Jewish lawyer who had adopted + Christianity, probably because it was expedient, and because it enabled + him to hold local offices and gain some social consequence. He had changed + his name from Mordecai to Marx. + </p> + <p> + The elder Marx was very shrewd and tactful, and achieved a fair position + among the professional men and small officials in the city of Treves. He + had seen the horrors of the French Revolution, and was philosopher enough + to understand the meaning of that mighty upheaval, and of the Napoleonic + era which followed. + </p> + <p> + Napoleon, indeed, had done much to relieve his race from petty oppression. + France made the Jews in every respect the equals of the Gentiles. One of + its ablest marshals—Massena—was a Jew, and therefore, when the + imperial eagle was at the zenith of its flight, the Jews in every city and + town of Europe were enthusiastic admirers of Napoleon, some even calling + him the Messiah. + </p> + <p> + Karl Marx's mother, it is certain, endowed him with none of his gifts. She + was a Netherlandish Jewess of the strictly domestic and conservative type, + fond of her children and her home, and detesting any talk that looked to + revolutionary ideas or to a change in the social order. She became a + Christian with her husband, but the word meant little to her. It was + sufficient that she believed in God; and for this she was teased by some + of her skeptical friends. Replying to them, she uttered the only epigram + that has ever been ascribed to her. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," she said, "I believe in God, not for God's sake, but for my own." + </p> + <p> + She was so little affected by change of scene that to the day of her death + she never mastered German, but spoke almost wholly in her native Dutch. + Had we time, we might dwell upon the unhappy paradox of her life. In her + son Karl she found an especial joy, as did her husband. Had the father + lived beyond Karl's early youth, he would doubtless have been greatly + pained by the radicalism of his gifted son, as well as by his personal + privations. But the mother lived until 1863, while Karl was everywhere + stirring the fires of revolution, driven from land to land, both feared + and persecuted, and often half famished. As Mr. Spargo says: + </p> + <p> + It was the irony of life that the son, who kindled a mighty hope in the + hearts of unnumbered thousands of his fellow human beings, a hope that is + today inspiring millions of those who speak his name with reverence and + love, should be able to do that only by destroying his mother's hope and + happiness in her son, and that every step he took should fill her heart + with a great agony. + </p> + <p> + When young Marx grew out of boyhood into youth, he was attractive to all + those who met him. Tall, lithe, and graceful, he was so extremely dark + that his intimates called him "der neger"—"the negro." His loosely + tossing hair gave to him a still more exotic appearance; but his eyes were + true and frank, his nose denoted strength and character, and his mouth was + full of kindliness in its expression. His lineaments were not those of the + Jewish type. + </p> + <p> + Very late in life—he died in 1883—his hair and beard turned + white, but to the last his great mustache was drawn like a bar across his + face, remaining still as black as ink, and making his appearance very + striking. He was full of fun and gaiety. As was only natural, there soon + came into his life some one who learned to love him, and to whom, in his + turn, he gave a deep and unbroken affection. + </p> + <p> + There had come to Treves—which passed from France to Prussia with + the downfall of Napoleon—a Prussian nobleman, the Baron Ludwig von + Westphalen, holding the official title of "national adviser." The baron + was of Scottish extraction on his mother's side, being connected with the + ducal family of Argyll. He was a man of genuine rank, and might have shown + all the arrogance and superciliousness of the average Prussian official; + but when he became associated with Heinrich Marx he evinced none of that + condescending manner. The two men became firm friends, and the baron + treated the provincial lawyer as an equal. + </p> + <p> + The two families were on friendly terms. Von Westphalen's infant daughter, + who had the formidable name of Johanna Bertha Julie Jenny von Westphalen, + but who was usually spoken of as Jenny, became, in time, an intimate of + Sophie Marx. She was four years older than Karl, but the two grew up + together—he a high-spirited, manly boy, and she a lovely and + romantic girl. + </p> + <p> + The baron treated Karl as if the lad were a child of his own. He + influenced him to love romantic literature and poetry by interpreting to + him the great masterpieces, from Homer and Shakespeare to Goethe and + Lessing. He made a special study of Dante, whose mysticism appealed to his + somewhat dreamy nature, and to the religious instinct that always lived in + him, in spite of his dislike for creeds and churches. + </p> + <p> + The lore that he imbibed in early childhood stood Karl in good stead when + he began his school life, and his preparation for the university. He had + an absolute genius for study, and was no less fond of the sports and games + of his companions, so that he seemed to be marked out for success. At + sixteen years of age he showed a precocious ability for planning and + carrying out his work with thoroughness. His mind was evidently a creative + mind, one that was able to think out difficult problems without fatigue. + His taste was shown in his fondness for the classics, in studying which he + noted subtle distinctions of meaning that usually escape even the mature + scholar. Penetration, thoroughness, creativeness, and a capacity for labor + were the boy's chief characteristics. + </p> + <p> + With such gifts, and such a nature, he left home for the university of + Bonn. Here he disappointed all his friends. His studies were neglected; he + was morose, restless, and dissatisfied. He fell into a number of scrapes, + and ran into debt through sundry small extravagances. All the reports that + reached his home were most unsatisfactory. What had come over the boy who + had worked so hard in the gymnasium at Treves? + </p> + <p> + The simple fact was that he had became love-sick. His separation from + Jenny von Westphalen had made him conscious of a feeling which he had long + entertained without knowing it. They had been close companions. He had + looked into her beautiful face and seen the luminous response of her + lovely eyes, but its meaning had not flashed upon his mind. He was not old + enough to have a great consuming passion, he was merely conscious of her + charm. As he could see her every day, he did not realize how much he + wanted her, and how much a separation from her would mean. + </p> + <p> + As "absence makes the heart grow fonder," so it may suddenly draw aside + the veil behind which the truth is hidden. At Bonn young Marx felt as if a + blaze of light had flashed before him; and from that moment his studies, + his companions, and the ambitions that he had hitherto cherished all + seemed flat and stale. At night and in the daytime there was just one + thing which filled his mind and heart—the beautiful vision of Jenny + von Westphalen. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile his family, and especially his father, had become anxious at the + reports which reached them. Karl was sent for, and his stay at Bonn was + ended. + </p> + <p> + Now that he was once more in the presence of the girl who charmed him so, + he recovered all his old-time spirits. He wooed her ardently, and though + she was more coy, now that she saw his passion, she did not discourage + him, but merely prolonged the ecstasy of this wonderful love-making. As he + pressed her more and more, and no one guessed the story, there came a time + when she was urged to let herself become engaged to him. + </p> + <p> + Here was seen the difference in their ages—a difference that had an + effect upon their future. It means much that a girl should be four years + older than the man who seeks her hand. She is four years wiser; and a girl + of twenty is, in fact, a match for a youth of twenty-five. Brought up as + she had been, in an aristocratic home, with the blood of two noble + families in her veins, and being wont to hear the easy and somewhat + cynical talk of worldly people, she knew better than poor Karl the + un-wisdom of what she was about to do. + </p> + <p> + She was noble, the daughter of one high official and the sister of + another. Those whom she knew were persons of rank and station. On the + other hand, young Marx, though he had accepted Christianity, was the son + of a provincial Jewish lawyer, with no fortune, and with a bad record at + the university. When she thought of all these things, she may well have + hesitated; but the earnest pleading and intense ardor of Karl Marx broke + down all barriers between them, and they became engaged, without informing + Jenny's father of their compact. Then they parted for a while, and Karl + returned to his home, filled with romantic thoughts. + </p> + <p> + He was also full of ambition and of desire for achievement. He had won the + loveliest girl in Treves, and now he must go forth into the world and + conquer it for her sake. He begged his father to send him to Berlin, and + showed how much more advantageous was that new and splendid university, + where Hegel's fame was still in the ascendent. + </p> + <p> + In answer to his father's questions, the younger Marx replied: + </p> + <p> + "I have something to tell you that will explain all; but first you must + give me your word that you will tell no one." + </p> + <p> + "I trust you wholly," said the father. "I will not reveal what you may say + to me." + </p> + <p> + "Well," returned the son, "I am engaged to marry Jenny von Westphalen. She + wishes it kept a secret from her father, but I am at liberty to tell you + of it." + </p> + <p> + The elder Marx was at once shocked and seriously disturbed. Baron von + Westphalen was his old and intimate friend. No thought of romance between + their children had ever come into his mind. It seemed disloyal to keep the + verlobung of Karl and Jenny a secret; for should it be revealed, what + would the baron think of Marx? Their disparity of rank and fortune would + make the whole affair stand out as something wrong and underhand. + </p> + <p> + The father endeavored to make his son see all this. He begged him to go + and tell the baron, but young Marx was not to be persuaded. + </p> + <p> + "Send me to Berlin," he said, "and we shall again be separated; but I + shall work and make a name for myself, so that when I return neither Jenny + nor her father will have occasion to be disturbed by our engagement." + </p> + <p> + With these words he half satisfied his father, and before long he was sent + to Berlin, where he fell manfully upon his studies. His father had + insisted that he should study law; but his own tastes were for philosophy + and history. He attended lectures in jurisprudence "as a necessary evil," + but he read omnivorously in subjects that were nearer to his heart. The + result was that his official record was not much better than it had been + at Bonn. + </p> + <p> + The same sort of restlessness, too, took possession of him when he found + that Jenny would not answer his letters. No matter how eagerly and + tenderly he wrote to her, there came no reply. Even the most passionate + pleadings left her silent and unresponsive. Karl could not complain, for + she had warned him that she would not write to him. She felt that their + engagement, being secret, was anomalous, and that until her family knew of + it she was not free to act as she might wish. + </p> + <p> + Here again was seen the wisdom of her maturer years; but Karl could not be + equally reasonable. He showered her with letters, which still she would + not answer. He wrote to his father in words of fire. At last, driven to + despair, he said that he was going to write to the Baron von Westphalen, + reveal the secret, and ask for the baron's fatherly consent. + </p> + <p> + It seemed a reckless thing to do, and yet it turned out to be the wisest. + The baron knew that such an engagement meant a social sacrifice, and that, + apart from the matter of rank, young Marx was without any fortune to give + the girl the luxuries to which she had been accustomed. Other and more + eligible suitors were always within view. But here Jenny herself spoke out + more strongly than she had ever done to Karl. She was willing to accept + him with what he was able to give her. She cared nothing for any other + man, and she begged her father to make both of them completely happy. + </p> + <p> + Thus it seemed that all was well, yet for some reason or other Jenny would + not write to Karl, and once more he was almost driven to distraction. He + wrote bitter letters to his father, who tried to comfort him. The baron + himself sent messages of friendly advice, but what young man in his teens + was ever reasonable? So violent was Karl that at last his father wrote to + him: + </p> + <p> + I am disgusted with your letters. Their unreasonable tone is loathsome to + me. I should never had expected it of you. Haven't you been lucky from + your cradle up? + </p> + <p> + Finally Karl received one letter from his betrothed—a letter that + transfused him with ecstatic joy for about a day, and then sent him back + to his old unrest. This, however, may be taken as a part of Marx's curious + nature, which was never satisfied, but was always reaching after something + which could not be had. + </p> + <p> + He fell to writing poetry, of which he sent three volumes to Jenny—which + must have been rather trying to her, since the verse was very poor. He + studied the higher mathematics, English and Italian, some Latin, and a + miscellaneous collection of works on history and literature. But poetry + almost turned his mind. In later years he wrote: + </p> + <p> + Everything was centered on poetry, as if I were bewitched by some uncanny + power. + </p> + <p> + Luckily, he was wise enough, after a time, to recognize how halting were + his poems when compared with those of the great masters; and so he resumed + his restless, desultory work. He still sent his father letters that were + like wild cries. They evoked, in reply, a very natural burst of anger: + </p> + <p> + Complete disorder, silly wandering through all branches of science, silly + brooding at the burning oil-lamp! In your wildness you see with four eyes—a + horrible setback and disregard for everything decent. And in the pursuit + of this senseless and purposeless learning you think to raise the fruits + which are to unite you with your beloved one! What harvest do you expect + to gather from them which will enable you to fulfil your duty toward her? + </p> + <p> + Writing to him again, his father speaks of something that Karl had written + as "a mad composition, which denotes clearly how you waste your ability + and spend nights in order to create such monstrosities." The young man was + even forbidden to return home for the Easter holidays. This meant giving + up the sight of Jenny, whom he had not seen for a whole year. But fortune + arranged it otherwise; for not many weeks later death removed the parent + who had loved him and whom he had loved, though neither of them could + understand the other. The father represented the old order of things; the + son was born to discontent and to look forward to a new heaven and a new + earth. + </p> + <p> + Returning to Berlin, Karl resumed his studies; but as before, they were + very desultory in their character, and began to run upon social questions, + which were indeed setting Germany into a ferment. He took his degree, and + thought of becoming an instructor at the university of Jena; but his + radicalism prevented this, and he became the editor of a liberal + newspaper, which soon, however, became so very radical as to lead to his + withdrawal. + </p> + <p> + It now seemed best that Marx should seek other fields of activity. To + remain in Germany was dangerous to himself and discreditable to Jenny's + relatives, with their status as Prussian officials. In the summer of 1843, + he went forth into the world—at last an "international." Jenny, who + had grown to believe in him as against her own family, asked for nothing + better than to wander with him, if only they might be married. And they + were married in this same summer, and spent a short honeymoon at Bingen on + the Rhine—made famous by Mrs. Norton's poem. It was the brief + glimpse of sunshine that was to precede year after year of anxiety and + want. + </p> + <p> + Leaving Germany, Marx and Jenny went to Paris, where he became known to + some of the intellectual lights of the French capital, such as Bakunin, + the great Russian anarchist, Proudhon, Cabet, and Saint-Simon. Most + important of all was his intimacy with the poet Heine, that marvelous + creature whose fascination took on a thousand forms, and whom no one could + approach without feeling his strange allurement. + </p> + <p> + Since Goethe's death, down to the present time, there has been no figure + in German literature comparable to Heine. His prose was exquisite. His + poetry ran through the whole gamut of humanity and of the sensations that + come to us from the outer world. In his poems are sweet melodies and + passionate cries of revolt, stirring ballads of the sea and tender + love-songs—strange as these last seem when coming from this cynic. + </p> + <p> + For cynic he was, deep down in his heart, though his face, when in repose, + was like the conventional pictures of Christ. His fascinations destroyed + the peace of many a woman; and it was only after many years of + self-indulgence that he married the faithful Mathilde Mirat in what he + termed a "conscience marriage." Soon after he went to his + "mattress-grave," as he called it, a hopeless paralytic. + </p> + <p> + To Heine came Marx and his beautiful bride. One may speculate as to + Jenny's estimate of her husband. Since his boyhood, she had not seen him + very much. At that time he was a merry, light-hearted youth, a jovial + comrade, and one of whom any girl would be proud. But since his long stay + in Berlin, and his absorption in the theories of men like Engels and + Bauer, he had become a very different sort of man, at least to her. + </p> + <p> + Groping, lost in brown studies, dreamy, at times morose, he was by no + means a sympathetic and congenial husband for a high-bred, spirited girl, + such as Jenny von Westphalen. His natural drift was toward a beer-garden, + a group of frowsy followers, the reek of vile tobacco, and the smell of + sour beer. One cannot but think that his beautiful wife must have been + repelled by this, though with her constant nature she still loved him. + </p> + <p> + In Heinrich Heine she found a spirit that seemed akin to hers. Mr. Spargo + says—and in what he says one must read a great deal between the + lines: + </p> + <p> + The admiration of Jenny Marx for the poet was even more ardent than that + of her husband. He fascinated her because, as she said, he was "so + modern," while Heine was drawn to her because she was "so sympathetic." + </p> + <p> + It must be that Heine held the heart of this beautiful woman in his hand. + He knew so well the art of fascination; he knew just how to supply the + void which Marx had left. The two were indeed affinities in heart and + soul; yet for once the cynical poet stayed his hand, and said no word that + would have been disloyal to his friend. Jenny loved him with a love that + might have blazed into a lasting flame; but fortunately there appeared a + special providence to save her from herself. The French government, at the + request of the King of Prussia, banished Marx from its dominions; and from + that day until he had become an old man he was a wanderer and an exile, + with few friends and little money, sustained by nothing but Jenny's + fidelity and by his infinite faith in a cause that crushed him to the + earth. + </p> + <p> + There is a curious parallel between the life of Marx and that of Richard + Wagner down to the time when the latter discovered a royal patron. Both of + them were hounded from country to country; both of them worked laboriously + for so scanty a living as to verge, at times, upon starvation. Both of + them were victims to a cause in which they earnestly believed—an + economic cause in the one case, an artistic cause in the other. Wagner's + triumph came before his death, and the world has accepted his theory of + the music-drama. The cause of Marx is far greater and more tremendous, + because it strikes at the base of human life and social well-being. + </p> + <p> + The clash between Wagner and his critics was a matter of poetry and + dramatic music. It was not vital to the human race. The cause of Marx is + one that is only now beginning to be understood and recognized by millions + of men and women in all the countries of the earth. In his lifetime he + issued a manifesto that has become a classic among economists. He + organized the great International Association of Workmen, which set all + Europe in a blaze and extended even to America. His great book, "Capital"—Das + Kapital—which was not completed until the last years of his life, is + read to-day by thousands as an almost sacred work. + </p> + <p> + Like Wagner and his Minna, the wife of Marx's youth clung to him through + his utmost vicissitudes, denying herself the necessities of life so that + he might not starve. In London, where he spent his latest days, he was + secure from danger, yet still a sort of persecution seemed to follow him. + For some time, nothing that he wrote could find a printer. Wherever he + went, people looked at him askance. He and his six children lived upon the + sum of five dollars a week, which was paid him by the New York Tribune, + through the influence of the late Charles A. Dana. When his last child was + born, and the mother's life was in serious danger, Marx complained that + there was no cradle for the baby, and a little later that there was no + coffin for its burial. + </p> + <p> + Marx had ceased to believe in marriage, despised the church, and cared + nothing for government. Yet, unlike Wagner, he was true to the woman who + had given up so much for him. He never sank to an artistic degeneracy. + Though he rejected creeds, he was nevertheless a man of genuine religious + feeling. Though he believed all present government to be an evil, he hoped + to make it better, or rather he hoped to substitute for it a system by + which all men might get an equal share of what it is right and just for + them to have. + </p> + <p> + Such was Marx, and thus he lived and died. His wife, who had long been cut + off from her relatives, died about a year before him. When she was buried, + he stumbled and fell into her grave, and from that time until his own + death he had no further interest in life. + </p> + <p> + He had been faithful to a woman and to a cause. That cause was so + tremendous as to overwhelm him. In sixty years only the first great + stirrings of it could be felt. Its teachings may end in nothing, but only + a century or more of effort and of earnest striving can make it plain + whether Karl Marx was a world-mover or a martyr to a cause that was + destined to be lost. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FERDINAND LASSALLE AND HELENE VON DONNIGES + </h2> + <p> + The middle part of the nineteenth century is a period which has become + more or less obscure to most Americans and Englishmen. At one end the + thunderous campaigns of Napoleon are dying away. In the latter part of the + century we remember the gorgeousness of the Tuileries, the four years' + strife of our own Civil War, and then the golden drift of peace with which + the century ended. Between these two extremes there is a stretch of + history which seems to lack interest for the average student of to-day. + </p> + <p> + In America, that was a period when we took little interest in the movement + of affairs on the continent of Europe. It would not be easy, for instance, + to imagine an American of 1840 cogitating on problems of socialism, or + trying to invent some new form of arbeiterverein. General Choke was still + swindling English emigrants. The Young Columbian was still darting out + from behind a table to declare how thoroughly he defied the British lion. + But neither of these patriots, any more than their English compeers, was + seriously disturbed about the interests of the rest of the world. The + Englishman was contentedly singing "God Save the Queen!" The American, was + apostrophizing the bird of freedom with the floridity of rhetoric that + reached its climax in the "Pogram Defiance." What the Dutchies and + Frenchies were doing was little more to an Englishman than to an American. + </p> + <p> + Continental Europe was a mystery to English-speaking people. Those who + traveled abroad took their own servants with them, spoke only English, and + went through the whole European maze with absolute indifference. To them + the socialist, who had scarcely received a name, was an imaginary being. + If he existed, he was only a sort of offspring of the Napoleonic wars—a + creature who had not yet fitted into the ordinary course of things. He was + an anomaly, a person who howled in beer-houses, and who would presently be + regulated, either by the statesmen or by the police. + </p> + <p> + When our old friend, Mark Tapley, was making with his master a homeward + voyage to Britain, what did he know or even care about the politics of + France, or Germany, or Austria, or Russia? Not the slightest, you may be + sure. Mark and his master represented the complete indifference of the + Englishman or American—not necessarily a well-bred indifference, but + an indifference that was insular on the one hand and republican on the + other. If either of them had heard of a gentleman who pillaged an + unmarried lady's luggage in order to secure a valuable paper for another + lady, who was married, they would both have looked severely at this + abnormal person, and the American would doubtless have added a remark + which had something to do with the matchless purity of Columbia's + daughters. + </p> + <p> + If, again, they had been told that Ferdinand Lassalle had joined in the + great movement initiated by Karl Marx, it is absolutely certain that + neither the Englishman nor the American could have given you the slightest + notion as to who these individuals were. Thrones might be tottering all + over Europe; the red flag might wave in a score of cities—what would + all this signify, so long as Britannia ruled the waves, while Columbia's + feathered emblem shrieked defiance three thousand miles away? + </p> + <p> + And yet few more momentous events have happened in a century than the + union which led one man to give his eloquence to the social cause, and the + other to suffer for that cause until his death. Marx had the higher + thought, but his disciple Lassalle had the more attractive way of + presenting it. It is odd that Marx, today, should lie in a squalid + cemetery, while the whole western world echoes with his praises, and that + Lassalle—brilliant, clear-sighted, and remarkable for his + penetrating genius—should have lived in luxury, but should now know + nothing but oblivion, even among those who shouted at his eloquence and + ran beside him in the glory of his triumph. + </p> + <p> + Ferdinand Lassalle was a native of Breslau, the son of a wealthy Jewish + silk-merchant. Heymann Lassal—for thus the father spelled his name—stroked + his hands at young Ferdinand's cleverness, but he meant it to be a + commercial cleverness. He gave the boy a thorough education at the + University of Breslau, and later at Berlin. He was an affectionate parent, + and at the same time tyrannical to a degree. + </p> + <p> + It was the old story where the father wishes to direct every step that his + son takes, and where the son, bursting out into youthful manhood, feels + that he has the right to freedom. The father thinks how he has toiled for + the son; the son thinks that if this toil were given for love, it should + not be turned into a fetter and restraint. Young Lassalle, instead of + becoming a clever silk-merchant, insisted on a university career, where he + studied earnestly, and was admitted to the most cultured circles. + </p> + <p> + Though his birth was Jewish, he encountered little prejudice against his + race. Napoleon had changed the old anti-Semitic feeling of fifty years + before to a liberalism that was just beginning to be strongly felt in + Germany, as it had already been in France. This was true in general, but + especially true of Lassalle, whose features were not of a Semitic type, + who made friends with every one, and who was a favorite in many salons. + His portraits make him seem a high-bred and high-spirited Prussian, with + an intellectual and clean-cut forehead; a face that has a sense of humor, + and yet one capable of swift and cogent thought. + </p> + <p> + No man of ordinary talents could have won the admiration of so many + compeers. It is not likely that such a keen and cynical observer as + Heinrich Heine would have written as he did concerning Lassalle, had not + the latter been a brilliant and magnetic youth. Heine wrote to Varnhagen + von Ense, the German historian: + </p> + <p> + My friend, Herr Lassalle, who brings you this letter, is a young man of + remarkable intellectual gifts. With the most thorough erudition, with the + widest learning, with the greatest penetration that I have ever known, and + with the richest gift of exposition, he combines an energy of will and a + capacity for action which astonish me. In no one have I found united so + much enthusiasm and practical intelligence. + </p> + <p> + No better proof of Lassalle's enthusiasm can be found than a few lines + from his own writings: + </p> + <p> + I love Heine. He is my second self. What audacity! What overpowering + eloquence! He knows how to whisper like a zephyr when it kisses + rose-blooms, how to breathe like fire when it rages and destroys; he calls + forth all that is tenderest and softest, and then all that is fiercest and + most daring. He has the sweep of the whole lyre! + </p> + <p> + Lassalle's sympathy with Heine was like his sympathy with every one whom + he knew. This was often misunderstood. It was misunderstood in his + relations with women, and especially in the celebrated affair of the + Countess von Hatzfeldt, which began in the year 1846—that is to say, + in the twenty-first year of Lassalle's age. + </p> + <p> + In truth, there was no real scandal in the matter, for the countess was + twice the age of Lassalle. It was precisely because he was so young that + he let his eagerness to defend a woman in distress make him forget the + ordinary usage of society, and expose himself to mean and unworthy + criticism which lasted all his life. It began by his introduction to the + Countess von Hatzfeldt, a lady who was grossly ill-treated by her husband. + She had suffered insult and imprisonment in the family castles; the count + had deprived her of medicine when she was ill, and had forcibly taken away + her children. Besides this, he was infatuated with another woman, a + baroness, and wasted his substance upon her even contrary to the law which + protected his children's rights. + </p> + <p> + The countess had a son named Paul, of whom Lassalle was extremely fond. + There came to the boy a letter from the Count von Hatzfeldt ordering him + to leave his mother. The countess at once sent for Lassalle, who brought + with him two wealthy and influential friends—one of them a judge of + a high Prussian court—and together they read the letter which Paul + had just received. They were deeply moved by the despair of the countess, + and by the cruelty of her dissolute husband in seeking to separate the + mother from her son. + </p> + <p> + In his chivalrous ardor Lassalle swore to help the countess, and promised + that he would carry on the struggle with her husband to the bitter end. He + took his two friends with him to Berlin, and then to Dusseldorf, for they + discovered that the Count von Hatzfeldt was not far away. He was, in fact, + at Aix-la-Chapelle with the baroness. + </p> + <p> + Lassalle, who had the scent of a greyhound, pried about until he + discovered that the count had given his mistress a legal document, + assigning to her a valuable piece of property which, in the ordinary + course of law, should be entailed on the boy, Paul. The countess at once + hastened to the place, broke into her husband's room, and secured a + promise that the deed would be destroyed. + </p> + <p> + No sooner, however, had she left him than he returned to the baroness, and + presently it was learned that the woman had set out for Cologne. + </p> + <p> + Lassalle and his two friends followed, to ascertain whether the document + had really been destroyed. The three reached a hotel at Cologne, where the + baroness had just arrived. Her luggage, in fact, was being carried + upstairs. One of Lassalle's friends opened a trunk, and, finding a casket + there, slipped it out to his companion, the judge. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, the latter had no means of hiding it, and when the + baroness's servant shouted for help, the casket was found in the + possession of the judge, who could give no plausible account of it. He + was, therefore, arrested, as were the other two. There was no evidence + against Lassalle; but his friends fared badly at the trial, one of them + being imprisoned for a year and the other for five years. + </p> + <p> + From this time Lassalle, with an almost quixotic devotion, gave himself up + to fighting the Countess von Hatzfeldt's battle against her husband in the + law-courts. The ablest advocates were pitted against him. The most + eloquent legal orators thundered at him and at his client, but he met them + all with a skill, an audacity, and a brilliant wit that won for him + verdict after verdict. The case went from the lower to the higher + tribunals, until, after nine years, it reached the last court of appeal, + where Lassalle wrested from his opponents a magnificently conclusive + victory—one that made the children of the countess absolutely safe. + It was a battle fought with the determination of a soldier, with the + gallantry of a knight errant, and the intellectual acumen of a learned + lawyer. + </p> + <p> + It is not surprising that many refuse to believe that Lassalle's feeling + toward the Countess von Hatzfeldt was a disinterested one. A scandalous + pamphlet, which was published in French, German, and Russian, and written + by one who styled herself "Sophie Solutzeff," did much to spread the evil + report concerning Lassalle. But the very openness and frankness of the + service which he did for the countess ought to make it clear that his was + the devotion of a youth drawn by an impulse into a strife where there was + nothing for him to gain, but everything to lose. He denounced the + brutality of her husband, but her letters to him always addressed him as + "my dear child." In writing to her he confides small love-secrets and + ephemeral flirtations—which he would scarcely have done, had the + countess viewed him with the eye of passion. + </p> + <p> + Lassalle was undoubtedly a man of impressionable heart, and had many + affairs such as Heine had; but they were not deep or lasting. That he + should have made a favorable impression on the women whom he met is not + surprising, because of his social standing, his chivalry, his fine + manners, and his handsome face. Mr. Clement Shorter has quoted an official + document which describes him as he was in his earlier years: + </p> + <p> + Ferdinand Lassalle, aged twenty-three, a civilian born at Breslau and + dwelling recently at Berlin. He stands five feet six inches in height, has + brown, curly hair, open forehead, brown eyebrows, dark blue eyes, well + proportioned nose and mouth, and rounded chin. + </p> + <p> + We ought not to be surprised, then, if he was a favorite in drawing-rooms; + if both men and women admired him; if Alexander von Humboldt cried out + with enthusiasm that he was a wunderkind, and if there were more than + Sophie Solutzeff to be jealous. But the rather ungrateful remark of the + Countess von Hatzfeldt certainly does not represent him as he really was. + </p> + <p> + "You are without reason and judgment where women are concerned," she + snarled at him; but the sneer only shows that the woman who uttered it was + neither in love with him nor grateful to him. + </p> + <p> + In this paper we are not discussing Lassalle as a public agitator or as a + Socialist, but simply in his relations with the two women who most + seriously affected his life. The first was the Countess von Hatzfeldt, + who, as we have seen, occupied—or rather wasted—nine of the + best years of his life. Then came that profound and thrilling passion + which ended the career of a man who at thirty-nine had only just begun to + be famous. + </p> + <p> + Lassalle had joined his intellectual forces with those of Heine and Marx. + He had obtained so great an influence over the masses of the people as to + alarm many a monarch, and at the same time to attract many a statesman. + Prince Bismarck, for example, cared nothing for Lassalle's championship of + popular rights, but sought his aid on finding that he was an earnest + advocate of German unity. + </p> + <p> + Furthermore, he was very far from resembling what in those early days was + regarded as the typical picture of a Socialist. There was nothing frowzy + about him; in his appearance he was elegance itself; his manners were + those of a prince, and his clothing was of the best. Seeing him in a + drawing-room, no one would mistake him for anything but a gentleman and a + man of parts. Hence it is not surprising that his second love was one of + the nobility, although her own people hated Lassalle as a bearer of the + red flag. + </p> + <p> + This girl was Helene von Donniges, the daughter of a Bavarian diplomat. As + a child she had traveled much, especially in Italy and in Switzerland. She + was very precocious, and lived her own life without asking the direction + of any one. At twelve years of age she had been betrothed to an Italian of + forty; but this dark and pedantic person always displeased her, and soon + afterward, when she met a young Wallachian nobleman, one Yanko Racowitza, + she was ready at once to dismiss her Italian lover. Racowitza—young, + a student, far from home, and lacking friends—appealed at once to + the girl's sympathy. + </p> + <p> + At that very time, in Berlin, where Helene was visiting her grandmother, + she was asked by a Prussian baron: + </p> + <p> + "Do you know Ferdinand Lassalle?" + </p> + <p> + The question came to her with a peculiar shock. She had never heard the + name, and yet the sound of it gave her a strange emotion. Baron Korff, who + perhaps took liberties because she was so young, went on to say: + </p> + <p> + "My dear lady, have you really never seen Lassalle? Why, you and he were + meant for each other!" + </p> + <p> + She felt ashamed to ask about him, but shortly after a gentleman who knew + her said: + </p> + <p> + "It is evident that you have a surprising degree of intellectual kinship + with Ferdinand Lassalle." + </p> + <p> + This so excited her curiosity that she asked her grandmother: + </p> + <p> + "Who is this person of whom they talk so much—this Ferdinand + Lassalle?" + </p> + <p> + "Do not speak of him," replied her grandmother. "He is a shameless + demagogue!" + </p> + <p> + A little questioning brought to Helene all sorts of stories about Lassalle—the + Countess von Hatzfeldt, the stolen casket, the mysterious pamphlet, the + long battle in the courts—all of which excited her still more. A + friend offered to introduce her to the "shameless demagogue." This + introduction happened at a party, and it must have been an extraordinary + meeting. Seldom, it seemed, was there a better instance of love at first + sight, or of the true affinity of which Baron Korff had spoken. In the + midst of the public gathering they almost rushed into each other's arms; + they talked the free talk of acknowledged lovers; and when she left, he + called her love-names as he offered her his arm. + </p> + <p> + "Somehow it did not appear at all remarkable," she afterward declared. "We + seemed to be perfectly fitted to each other." + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, nine months passed before they met again at a soiree. At + this time Lassaller gazing upon her, said: + </p> + <p> + "What would you do if I were sentenced to death?" + </p> + <p> + "I should wait until your head was severed," was her answer, "in order + that you might look upon your beloved to the last, and then—I should + take poison!" + </p> + <p> + Her answer delighted him, but he said that there was no danger. He was + greeted on every hand with great consideration; and it seemed not unlikely + that, in recognition of his influence with the people, he might rise to + some high position. The King of Prussia sympathized with him. Heine called + him the Messiah of the nineteenth century. When he passed from city to + city, the whole population turned out to do him honor. Houses were + wreathed; flowers were thrown in masses upon him, while the streets were + spanned with triumphal arches. + </p> + <p> + Worn out with the work and excitement attending the birth of the Deutscher + Arbeiterverein, or workmen's union, which he founded in 1863, Lassalle + fled for a time to Switzerland for rest. Helene heard of his whereabouts, + and hurried to him, with several friends. They met again on July 25,1864, + and discussed long and intensely the possibilities of their marriage and + the opposition of her parents, who would never permit her to marry a man + who was at once a Socialist and a Jew. + </p> + <p> + Then comes a pitiful story of the strife between Lassalle and the Donniges + family. Helene's father and mother indulged in vulgar words; they spoke of + Lassalle with contempt; they recalled all the scandals that had been + current ten years before, and forbade Helene ever to mention the man's + name again. + </p> + <p> + The next scene in the drama took place in Geneva, where the family of Herr + von Donniges had arrived, and where Helene's sister had been betrothed to + Count von Keyserling—a match which filled her mother with intense + joy. Her momentary friendliness tempted Helene to speak of her unalterable + love for Lassalle. Scarcely had the words been spoken when her father and + mother burst into abuse and denounced Lassalle as well as herself. + </p> + <p> + She sent word of this to Lassalle, who was in a hotel near by. Scarcely + had he received her letter, when Helene herself appeared upon the scene, + and with all the intensity of which she was possessed, she begged him to + take her wherever he chose. She would go with him to France, to Italy—to + the ends of the earth! + </p> + <p> + What a situation, and yet how simple a one for a man of spirit! It is + strange to have to record that to Lassalle it seemed most difficult. He + felt that he or she, or both of them, had been compromised. Had she a lady + with her? Did she know any one in the neighborhood? + </p> + <p> + What an extraordinary answer! If she were compromised, all the more ought + he to have taken her in his arms and married her at once, instead of + quibbling and showing himself a prig. + </p> + <p> + Presently, her maid came in to tell them that a carriage was ready to take + them to the station, whence a train would start for Paris in a quarter of + an hour. Helene begged him with a feeling that was beginning to be one of + shame. Lassalle repelled her in words that were to stamp him with a + peculiar kind of cowardice. + </p> + <p> + Why should he have stopped to think of anything except the beautiful woman + who was at his feet, and to whom he had pledged his love? What did he care + for the petty diplomat who was her father, or the vulgar-tongued woman who + was her mother? He should have hurried her and the maid into the train for + Paris, and have forgotten everything in the world but his Helene, glorious + among women, who had left everything for him. + </p> + <p> + What was the sudden failure, the curious weakness, the paltriness of + spirit that came at the supreme moment into the heart of this hitherto + strong man? Here was the girl whom he loved, driven from her parents, + putting aside all question of appearances, and clinging to him with a wild + and glorious desire to give herself to him and to be all his own! That was + a thing worthy of a true woman. And he? He shrinks from her and cowers and + acts like a simpleton. His courage seems to have dribbled through his + finger-tips; he is no longer a man—he is a thing. + </p> + <p> + Out of all the multitude of Lassalle's former admirers, there is scarcely + one who has ventured to defend him, much less to laud him; and when they + have done so, their voices have had a sound of mockery that dies away in + their own throats. + </p> + <p> + Helene, on her side, had compromised herself, and even from the view-point + of her parents it was obvious that she ought to be married immediately. + Her father, however, confined her to her room until it was understood that + Lassalle had left Geneva. Then her family's supplications, the statement + that her sister's marriage and even her father's position were in danger, + led her to say that she would give up Lassalle. + </p> + <p> + It mattered very little, in one way, for whatever he might have done, + Lassalle had killed, or at least had chilled, her love. His failure at the + moment of her great self-sacrifice had shown him to her as he really was—no + bold and gallant spirit, but a cringing, spiritless self-seeker. She wrote + him a formal letter to the effect that she had become reconciled to her + "betrothed bridegroom"; and they never met again. + </p> + <p> + Too late, Lassalle gave himself up to a great regret. He went about trying + to explain his action to his friends, but he could say nothing that would + ease his feeling and reinstate him in the eyes of the romantic girl. In a + frenzy, he sought out the Wallachian student, Yanko von Racowitza, and + challenged him to a mortal duel. He also challenged Helene's father. Years + before, he had on principle declined to fight a duel; but now he went + raving about as if he sought the death of every one who knew him. + </p> + <p> + The duel was fought on August 28, 1864. There was some trouble about + pistols, and also about seconds; but finally the combatants left a small + hotel in a village near Geneva, and reached the dueling-grounds. Lassalle + was almost joyous in his manner. His old confidence had come back to him; + he meant to kill his man. + </p> + <p> + They took their stations high up among the hills. A few spectators saw + their figures outlined against the sky. The command to fire rang out, and + from both pistols gushed the flame and smoke. + </p> + <p> + A moment later, Lassalle was seen to sway and fall. A chance shot, + glancing from a wall, had struck him to the ground. He suffered terribly, + and nothing but opium in great doses could relieve his pain. His wound was + mortal, and three days later he died. + </p> + <p> + Long after, Helene admitted that she still loved Lassalle, and believed + that he would win the duel; but after the tragedy, the tenderness and + patience of Racowitza won her heart. She married him, but within a year he + died of consumption. Helene, being disowned by her relations, prepared + herself for the stage. She married a third husband named Shevitch, who was + then living in the United States, but who has since made his home in + Russia. + </p> + <p> + Let us say nothing of Lassalle's political career. Except for his work as + one of the early leaders of the liberal movement in Germany, it has + perished, and his name has been almost forgotten. As a lover, his story + stands out forever as a warning to the timid and the recreant. Let men do + what they will; but there is just one thing which no man is permitted to + do with safety in the sight of woman—and that is to play the craven. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF RACHEL + </h2> + <p> + Outside of the English-speaking peoples the nineteenth century witnessed + the rise and triumphant progress of three great tragic actresses. The + first two of these—Rachel Felix and Sarah Bernhardt—were of + Jewish extraction; the third, Eleanor Duse, is Italian. All of them made + their way from pauperism to fame; but perhaps the rise of Rachel was the + most striking. + </p> + <p> + In the winter of 1821 a wretched peddler named Abraham—or Jacob—Felix + sought shelter at a dilapidated inn at Mumpf, a village in Switzerland, + not far from Basel. It was at the close of a stormy day, and his small + family had been toiling through the snow and sleet. The inn was the lowest + sort of hovel, and yet its proprietor felt that it was too good for these + vagabonds. He consented to receive them only when he learned that the + peddler's wife was to be delivered of a child. That very night she became + the mother of a girl, who was at first called Elise. So unimportant was + the advent of this little waif into the world that the burgomaster of + Mumpf thought it necessary to make an entry only of the fact that a + peddler's wife had given birth to a female child. There was no mention of + family or religion, nor was the record anything more than a memorandum. + </p> + <p> + Under such circumstances was born a child who was destined to excite the + wonder of European courts—to startle and thrill and utterly amaze + great audiences by her dramatic genius. But for ten years the family—which + grew until it consisted of one son and five daughters—kept on its + wanderings through Switzerland and Germany. Finally, they settled down in + Lyons, where the mother opened a little shop for the sale of second-hand + clothing. The husband gave lessons in German whenever he could find a + pupil. The eldest daughter went about the cafes in the evening, singing + the songs that were then popular, while her small sister, Rachel, + collected coppers from those who had coppers to spare. + </p> + <p> + Although the family was barely able to sustain existence, the father and + mother were by no means as ignorant as their squalor would imply. The + peddler Felix had studied Hebrew theology in the hope of becoming a rabbi. + Failing this, he was always much interested in declamation, public + reading, and the recitation of poetry. He was, in his way, no mean critic + of actors and actresses. Long before she was ten years of age little + Rachel—who had changed her name from Elise—could render with + much feeling and neatness of eloquence bits from the best-known French + plays of the classic stage. + </p> + <p> + The children's mother, on her side, was sharp and practical to a high + degree. She saved and scrimped all through her period of adversity. Later + she was the banker of her family, and would never lend any of her children + a sou except on excellent security. However, this was all to happen in + after years. + </p> + <p> + When the child who was destined to be famous had reached her tenth year + she and her sisters made their way to Paris. For four years the + second-hand clothing-shop was continued; the father still taught German; + and the elder sister, Sarah, who had a golden voice, made the rounds of + the cafes in the lowest quarters of the capital, while Rachel passed the + wooden plate for coppers. + </p> + <p> + One evening in the year 1834 a gentleman named Morin, having been taken + out of his usual course by a matter of business, entered a BRASSERIE for a + cup of coffee. There he noted two girls, one of them singing with + remarkable sweetness, and the other silently following with the wooden + plate. M. Morin called to him the girl who sang and asked her why she did + not make her voice more profitable than by haunting the cafes at night, + where she was sure to meet with insults of the grossest kind. + </p> + <p> + "Why," said Sarah, "I haven't anybody to advise me what to do." + </p> + <p> + M. Morin gave her his address and said that he would arrange to have her + meet a friend who would be of great service to her. On the following day + he sent the two girls to a M. Choron, who was the head of the Conservatory + of Sacred Music. Choron had Sarah sing, and instantly admitted her as a + pupil, which meant that she would soon be enrolled among the regular + choristers. The beauty of her voice made a deep impression on him. + </p> + <p> + Then he happened to notice the puny, meager child who was standing near + her sister. Turning to her, he said: + </p> + <p> + "And what can you do, little one?" + </p> + <p> + "I can recite poetry," was the reply. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, can you?" said he. "Please let me hear you." + </p> + <p> + Rachel readily consented. She had a peculiarly harsh, grating voice, so + that any but a very competent judge would have turned her away. But M. + Choron, whose experience was great, noted the correctness of her accent + and the feeling which made itself felt in every line. He accepted her as + well as her sister, but urged her to study elocution rather than music. + </p> + <p> + She must, indeed, have had an extraordinary power even at the age of + fourteen, since not merely her voice but her whole appearance was against + her. She was dressed in a short calico frock of a pattern in which red was + spotted with white. Her shoes were of coarse black leather. Her hair was + parted at the back of her head and hung down her shoulders in two braids, + framing the long, childish, and yet gnome-like face, which was unusual in + its gravity. + </p> + <p> + At first she was little thought of; but there came a time when she + astonished both her teachers and her companions by a recital which she + gave in public. The part was the narrative of Salema in the "Abufar" of + Ducis. It describes the agony of a mother who gives birth to a child while + dying of thirst amid the desert sands. Mme. de Barviera has left a + description of this recital, which it is worth while to quote: + </p> + <p> + While uttering the thrilling tale the thin face seemed to lengthen with + horror, the small, deep-set black eyes dilated with a fixed stare as + though she witnessed the harrowing scene; and the deep, guttural tones, + despite a slight Jewish accent, awoke a nameless terror in every one who + listened, carrying him through the imaginary woe with a strange feeling of + reality, not to be shaken, off as long as the sounds lasted. + </p> + <p> + Even yet, however, the time had not come for any conspicuous success. The + girl was still so puny in form, so monkey-like in face, and so gratingly + unpleasant in her tones that it needed time for her to attain her full + growth and to smooth away some of the discords in her peculiar voice. + </p> + <p> + Three years later she appeared at the Gymnase in a regular debut; yet even + then only the experienced few appreciated her greatness. Among these, + however, were the well-known critic Jules Janin, the poet and novelist + Gauthier, and the actress Mlle. Mars. They saw that this lean, raucous + gutter-girl had within her gifts which would increase until she would be + first of all actresses on the French stage. Janin wrote some lines which + explain the secret of her greatness: + </p> + <p> + All the talent in the world, especially when continually applied to the + same dramatic works, will not satisfy continually the hearer. What pleases + in a great actor, as in all arts that appeal to the imagination, is the + unforeseen. When I am utterly ignorant of what is to happen, when I do not + know, when you yourself do not know what will be your next gesture, your + next look, what passion will possess your heart, what outcry will burst + from your terror-stricken soul, then, indeed, I am willing to see you + daily, for each day you will be new to me. To-day I may blame, to-morrow + praise. Yesterday you were all-powerful; to-morrow, perhaps, you may + hardly win from me a word of admiration. So much the better, then, if you + draw from me unexpected tears, if in my heart you strike an unknown fiber; + but tell me not of hearing night after night great artists who every time + present the exact counterpart of what they were on the preceding one. + </p> + <p> + It was at the Theatre Francais that she won her final acceptance as the + greatest of all tragedians of her time. This was in her appearance in + Corneille's famous play of "Horace." She had now, in 1838, blazed forth + with a power that shook her no, less than it stirred the emotions and the + passions of her hearers. The princes of the royal blood came in succession + to see her. King Louis Philippe himself was at last tempted by curiosity + to be present. Gifts of money and jewels were showered on her, and through + sheer natural genius rather than through artifice she was able to master a + great audience and bend it to her will. + </p> + <p> + She had no easy life, this girl of eighteen years, for other actresses + carped at her, and she had had but little training. The sordid ways of her + old father excited a bitterness which was vented on the daughter. She was + still under age, and therefore was treated as a gold-mine by her exacting + parents. At the most she could play but twice a week. Her form was frail + and reed-like. She was threatened with a complaint of the lungs; yet all + this served to excite rather than to diminish public interest in her. The + newspapers published daily bulletins of her health, and her door was + besieged by anxious callers who wished to know her condition. As for the + greed of her parents, every one said she was not to blame for that. And so + she passed from poverty to riches, from squalor to something like + splendor, and from obscurity to fame. + </p> + <p> + Much has been written about her that is quite incorrect. She has been + credited with virtues which she never possessed; and, indeed, it may be + said with only too much truth that she possessed no virtues whatsoever. On + the stage while the inspiration lasted she was magnificent. Off the stage + she was sly, treacherous, capricious, greedy, ungrateful, ignorant, and + unchaste. With such an ancestry as she had, with such an early childhood + as had been hers, what else could one expect from her? + </p> + <p> + She and her old mother wrangled over money like two pickpockets. Some of + her best friends she treated shamefully. Her avarice was without bounds. + Some one said that it was not really avarice, but only a reaction from + generosity; but this seems an exceedingly subtle theory. It is possible to + give illustrations of it, however. She did, indeed, make many presents + with a lavish hand; yet, having made a present, she could not rest until + she got it back. The fact was so well known that her associates took it + for granted. The younger Dumas once received a ring from her. Immediately + he bowed low and returned it to her finger, saying: + </p> + <p> + "Permit me, mademoiselle, to present it to you in my turn so as to save + you the embarrassment of asking for it." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Vandam relates among other anecdotes about her that one evening she + dined at the house of Comte Duchatel. The table was loaded with the most + magnificent flowers; but Rachel's keen eyes presently spied out the great + silver centerpiece. Immediately she began to admire the latter; and the + count, fascinated by her manners, said that he would be glad to present it + to her. She accepted it at once, but was rather fearful lest he should + change his mind. She had come to dinner in a cab, and mentioned the fact. + The count offered to send her home in his carriage. + </p> + <p> + "Yes, that will do admirably," said she. "There will be no danger of my + being robbed of your present, which I had better take with me." + </p> + <p> + "With pleasure, mademoiselle," replied the count. "But you will send me + back my carriage, won't you?" + </p> + <p> + Rachel had a curious way of asking every one she met for presents and + knickknacks, whether they were valuable or not. She knew how to make them + valuable. + </p> + <p> + Once in a studio she noticed a guitar hanging on the wall. She begged for + it very earnestly. As it was an old and almost worthless instrument, it + was given her. A little later it was reported that the dilapidated guitar + had been purchased by a well-known gentleman for a thousand francs. The + explanation soon followed. Rachel had declared that it was the very guitar + with which she used to earn her living as a child in the streets of Paris. + As a memento its value sprang from twenty francs to a thousand. + </p> + <p> + It has always been a mystery what Rachel did with the great sums of money + which she made in various ways. She never was well dressed; and as for her + costumes on the stage, they were furnished by the theater. When her + effects were sold at public auction after her death her furniture was + worse than commonplace, and her pictures and ornaments were worthless, + except such as had been given her. She must have made millions of francs, + and yet she had very little to leave behind her. + </p> + <p> + Some say that her brother Raphael, who acted as her personal manager, was + a spendthrift; but if so, there are many reasons for thinking that it was + not his sister's money that he spent. Others say that Rachel gambled in + stocks, but there is no evidence of it. The only thing that is certain is + the fact that she was almost always in want of money. Her mother, in all + probability, managed to get hold of most of her earnings. + </p> + <p> + Much may have been lost through her caprices. One instance may be cited. + She had received an offer of three hundred thousand francs to act at St. + Petersburg, and was on her way there when she passed through Potsdam, near + Berlin. The King of Prussia was entertaining the Russian Czar. An + invitation was sent to her in the shape of a royal command to appear + before these monarchs and their guests. For some reason or other Rachel + absolutely refused. She would listen to no arguments. She would go on to + St. Petersburg without delay. + </p> + <p> + "But," it was said to her, "if you refuse to appear before the Czar at + Potsdam all the theaters in St. Petersburg will be closed against you, + because you will have insulted the emperor. In this way you will be out + the expenses of your journey and also the three hundred thousand francs." + </p> + <p> + Rachel remained stubborn as before; but in about half an hour she suddenly + declared that she would recite before the two monarchs, which she + subsequently did, to the satisfaction of everybody. Some one said to her + not long after: + </p> + <p> + "I knew that you would do it. You weren't going to give up the three + hundred thousand francs and all your travelling expenses." + </p> + <p> + "You are quite wrong," returned Rachel, "though of course you will not + believe me. I did not care at all about the money and was going back to + France. It was something that I heard which made me change my mind. Do you + want to know what it was? Well, after all the arguments were over some one + informed me that the Czar Nicholas was the handsomest man in Europe; and + so I made up my mind that I would stay in Potsdam long enough to see him." + </p> + <p> + This brings us to one phase of Rachel's nature which is rather sinister. + She was absolutely hard. She seemed to have no emotions except those which + she exhibited on the stage or the impish perversity which irritated so + many of those about her. She was in reality a product of the gutter, able + to assume a demure and modest air, but within coarse, vulgar, and careless + of decency. Yet the words of Jules Janin, which have been quoted above, + explain how she could be personally very fascinating. + </p> + <p> + In all Rachel's career one can detect just a single strand of real + romance. It is one that makes us sorry for her, because it tells us that + her love was given where it never could be openly requited. + </p> + <p> + During the reign of Louis Philippe the Comte Alexandre Walewski held many + posts in the government. He was a son of the great Napoleon. His mother + was that Polish countess who had accepted Napoleon's love because she + hoped that he might set Poland free at her desire. But Napoleon was never + swerved from his well-calculated plans by the wish of any woman, and after + a time the Countess Walewska came to love him for himself. It was she to + whom he confided secrets which he would not reveal to his own brothers. It + was she who followed him to Elba in disguise. It was her son who was + Napoleon's son, and who afterward, under the Second Empire, was made + minister of fine arts, minister of foreign affairs, and, finally, an + imperial duke. Unlike the third Napoleon's natural half-brother, the Duc + de Moray, Walewski was a gentleman of honor and fine feeling. He never + used his relationship to secure advantages for himself. He tried to live + in a manner worthy of the great warrior who was his father. + </p> + <p> + As minister of fine arts he had much to do with the subsidized theaters; + and in time he came to know Rachel. He was the son of one of the greatest + men who ever lived. She was the child of roving peddlers whose early + training had been in the slums of cities and amid the smoke of bar-rooms + and cafes. She was tainted in a thousand ways, while he was a man of + breeding and right principle. She was a wandering actress; he was a great + minister of state. What could there be between these two? + </p> + <p> + George Sand gave the explanation in an epigram which, like most epigrams, + is only partly true. She said: + </p> + <p> + "The count's company must prove very restful to Rachel." + </p> + <p> + What she meant was, of course, that Walewski's breeding, his dignity and + uprightness, might be regarded only as a temporary repose for the impish, + harsh-voiced, infinitely clever actress. Of course, it was all this, but + we should not take it in a mocking sense. Rachel looked up out of her + depths and gave her heart to this high-minded nobleman. He looked down and + lifted her, as it were, so that she could forget for the time all the + baseness and the brutality that she had known, that she might put aside + her forced vivacity and the self that was not in reality her own. + </p> + <p> + It is pitiful to think of these two, separated by a great abyss which + could not be passed except at times and hours when each was free. But + theirs was, none the less, a meeting of two souls, strangely different in + many ways, and yet appealing to each other with a sincerity and truth + which neither could show elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + The end of poor Rachel was one of disappointment. Tempted by the fact that + Jenny Lind had made nearly two million francs by her visit to the United + States, Rachel followed her, but with slight success, as was to be + expected. Music is enjoyed by human beings everywhere, while French + classical plays, even though acted by a genius like Rachel, could be + rightly understood only by a French-speaking people. Thus it came about + that her visit to America was only moderately successful. + </p> + <p> + She returned to France, where the rising fame of Adelaide Ristori was very + bitter to Rachel, who had passed the zenith of her power. She went to + Egypt, but received no benefit, and in 1858 she died near Cannes. The man + who loved her, and whom she had loved in turn, heard of her death with + great emotion. He himself lived ten years longer, and died a little while + before the fall of the Second Empire. + </p> + <p> + END OF VOLUME THREE <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DEAN SWIFT AND THE TWO ESTHERS + </h2> + <p> + The story of Jonathan Swift and of the two women who gave their lives for + love of him is familiar to every student of English literature. Swift + himself, both in letters and in politics, stands out a conspicuous figure + in the reigns of King William III and Queen Anne. By writing Gulliver's + Travels he made himself immortal. The external facts of his singular + relations with two charming women are sufficiently well known; but a + definite explanation of these facts has never yet been given. Swift held + his tongue with a repellent taciturnity. No one ever dared to question + him. Whether the true solution belongs to the sphere of psychology or of + physiology is a question that remains unanswered. + </p> + <p> + But, as the case is one of the most puzzling in the annals of love, it may + be well to set forth the circumstances very briefly, to weigh the theories + that have already been advanced, and to suggest another. + </p> + <p> + Jonathan Swift was of Yorkshire stock, though he happened to be born in + Dublin, and thus is often spoken of as "the great Irish satirist," or "the + Irish dean." It was, in truth, his fate to spend much of his life in + Ireland, and to die there, near the cathedral where his remains now rest; + but in truth he hated Ireland and everything connected with it, just as he + hated Scotland and everything that was Scottish. He was an Englishman to + the core. + </p> + <p> + High-stomached, proud, obstinate, and over-mastering, independence was the + dream of his life. He would accept no favors, lest he should put himself + under obligation; and although he could give generously, and even + lavishly, he lived for the most part a miser's life, hoarding every penny + and halfpenny that he could. Whatever one may think of him, there is no + doubt that he was a very manly man. Too many of his portraits give the + impression of a sour, supercilious pedant; but the finest of them all—that + by Jervas—shows him as he must have been at his very prime, with a + face that was almost handsome, and a look of attractive humor which + strengthens rather than lessens the power of his brows and of the large, + lambent eyes beneath them. + </p> + <p> + At fifteen he entered Trinity College, in Dublin, where he read widely but + studied little, so that his degree was finally granted him only as a + special favor. At twenty-one he first visited England, and became + secretary to Sir William Temple, at Moor Park. Temple, after a + distinguished career in diplomacy, had retired to his fine country estate + in Surrey. He is remembered now for several things—for having + entertained Peter the Great of Russia; for having, while young, won the + affections of Dorothy Osborne, whose letters to him are charming in their + grace and archness; for having been the patron of Jonathan Swift; and for + fathering the young girl named Esther Johnson, a waif, born out of + wedlock, to whom Temple gave a place in his household. + </p> + <p> + When Swift first met her, Esther Johnson was only eight years old; and + part of his duties at Moor Park consisted in giving her what was then an + unusual education for a girl. She was, however, still a child, and nothing + serious could have passed between the raw youth and this little girl who + learned the lessons that he imposed upon her. + </p> + <p> + Such acquaintance as they had was rudely broken off. Temple, a man of high + position, treated Swift with an urbane condescension which drove the young + man's independent soul into a frenzy. He returned to Ireland, where he was + ordained a clergyman, and received a small parish at Kilroot, near + Belfast. + </p> + <p> + It was here that the love-note was first seriously heard in the discordant + music of Swift's career. A college friend of his named Waring had a sister + who was about the age of Swift, and whom he met quite frequently at + Kilroot. Not very much is known of this episode, but there is evidence + that Swift fell in love with the girl, whom he rather romantically called + "Varina." + </p> + <p> + This cannot be called a serious love-affair. Swift was lonely, and Jane + Waring was probably the only girl of refinement who lived near Kilroot. + Furthermore, she had inherited a small fortune, while Swift was miserably + poor, and had nothing to offer except the shadowy prospect of future + advancement in England. He was definitely refused by her; and it was this, + perhaps, that led him to resolve on going back to England and making his + peace with Sir William Temple. + </p> + <p> + On leaving, Swift wrote a passionate letter to Miss Waring—the only + true love-letter that remains to us of their correspondence. He protests + that he does not want Varina's fortune, and that he will wait until he is + in a position to marry her on equal terms. There is a smoldering flame of + jealousy running through the letter. Swift charges her with being cold, + affected, and willing to flirt with persons who are quite beneath her. + </p> + <p> + Varina played no important part in Swift's larger life thereafter; but + something must be said of this affair in order to show, first of all, that + Swift's love for her was due only to proximity, and that when he ceased to + feel it he could be not only hard, but harsh. His fiery spirit must have + made a deep impression on Miss Waring; for though she at the time refused + him, she afterward remembered him, and tried to renew their old relations. + Indeed, no sooner had Swift been made rector of a larger parish, than + Varina let him know that she had changed her mind, and was ready to marry + him; but by this time Swift had lost all interest in her. He wrote an + answer which even his truest admirers have called brutal. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," he said in substance, "I will marry you, though you have treated me + vilely, and though you are living in a sort of social sink. I am still + poor, though you probably think otherwise. However, I will marry you on + certain conditions. First, you must be educated, so that you can entertain + me. Next, you must put up with all my whims and likes and dislikes. Then + you must live wherever I please. On these terms I will take you, without + reference to your looks or to your income. As to the first, cleanliness is + all that I require; as to the second, I only ask that it be enough." + </p> + <p> + Such a letter as this was like a blow from a bludgeon. The insolence, the + contempt, and the hardness of it were such as no self-respecting woman + could endure. It put an end to their acquaintance, as Swift undoubtedly + intended it should do. He would have been less censurable had he struck + Varina with his fist or kicked her. + </p> + <p> + The true reason for Swift's utter change of heart is found, no doubt, in + the beginning of what was destined to be his long intimacy with Esther + Johnson. When Swift left Sir William Temple's in a huff, Esther had been a + mere schoolgirl. Now, on his return, she was fifteen years of age, and + seemed older. She had blossomed out into a very comely girl, vivacious, + clever, and physically well developed, with dark hair, sparkling eyes, and + features that were unusually regular and lovely. + </p> + <p> + For three years the two were close friends and intimate associates, though + it cannot be said that Swift ever made open love to her. To the outward + eye they were no more than fellow workers. Yet love does not need the + spoken word and the formal declaration to give it life and make it deep + and strong. Esther Johnson, to whom Swift gave the pet name of "Stella," + grew into the existence of this fiery, hold, and independent genius. All + that he did she knew. She was his confidante. As to his writings, his + hopes, and his enmities, she was the mistress of all his secrets. For her, + at last, no other man existed. + </p> + <p> + On Sir William Temple's death, Esther John son came into a small fortune, + though she now lost her home at Moor Park. Swift returned to Ireland, and + soon afterward he invited Stella to join him there. + </p> + <p> + Swift was now thirty-four years of age, and Stella a very attractive girl + of twenty. One might have expected that the two would marry, and yet they + did not do so. Every precaution was taken to avoid anything like scandal. + Stella was accompanied by a friend—a widow named Mrs. Dingley—without + whose presence, or that of some third person, Swift never saw Esther + Johnson. When Swift was absent, how ever, the two ladies occupied his + apartments; and Stella became more than ever essential to his happiness. + </p> + <p> + When they were separated for any length of time Swift wrote to Stella in a + sort of baby-talk, which they called "the little language." It was made up + of curious abbreviations and childish words, growing more and more + complicated as the years went on. It is interesting to think of this stern + and often savage genius, who loved to hate, and whose hate was almost less + terrible than his love, babbling and prattling in little half caressing + sentences, as a mother might babble over her first child. Pedantic writers + have professed to find in Swift's use of this "little language" the coming + shadow of that insanity which struck him down in his old age. + </p> + <p> + As it is, these letters are among the curiosities of amatory + correspondence. When Swift writes "oo" for "you," and "deelest" for + "dearest," and "vely" for "very," there is no need of an interpreter; but + "rettle" for "let ter," "dallars" for "girls," and "givar" for "devil," + are at first rather difficult to guess. Then there is a system of + abbreviating. "Md" means "my dear," "Ppt" means "poppet," and "Pdfr," with + which Swift sometimes signed his epistles, "poor, dear, foolish rogue." + </p> + <p> + The letters reveal how very closely the two were bound together, yet still + there was no talk of marriage. On one occasion, after they had been + together for three years in Ireland, Stella might have married another + man. This was a friend of Swift's, one Dr. Tisdall, who made energetic + love to the sweet-faced English girl. Tisdall accused Swift of poisoning + Stella's mind against him. Swift replied that such was not the case. He + said that no feelings of his own would ever lead him to influence the girl + if she preferred another. + </p> + <p> + It is quite sure, then, that Stella clung wholly to Swift, and cared + nothing for the proffered love of any other man. Thus through the years + the relations of the two remained unchanged, until in 1710 Swift left + Ireland and appeared as a very brilliant figure in the London + drawing-rooms of the great Tory leaders of the day. + </p> + <p> + He was now a man of mark, because of his ability as a controversialist. He + had learned the manners of the world, and he carried him self with an air + of power which impressed all those who met him. Among these persons was a + Miss Hester—or Esther—Vanhomrigh, the daughter of a rather + wealthy widow who was living in London at that time. Miss Vanhomrigh—a + name which she and her mother pronounced "Vanmeury"—was then + seventeen years of age, or twelve years younger than the patient Stella. + </p> + <p> + Esther Johnson, through her long acquaintance with Swift, and from his + confidence in her, had come to treat him almost as an intellectual equal. + She knew all his moods, some of which were very difficult, and she bore + them all; though when he was most tyrannous she became only passive, + waiting, with a woman's wisdom, for the tempest to blow over. + </p> + <p> + Miss Vanhomrigh, on the other hand, was one of those girls who, though + they have high spirit, take an almost voluptuous delight in yielding to a + spirit that is stronger still. This beautiful creature felt a positive + fascination in Swift's presence and his imperious manner. When his eyes + flashed, and his voice thundered out words of anger, she looked at him + with adoration, and bowed in a sort of ecstasy before him. If he chose to + accost a great lady with "Well, madam, are you as ill-natured and + disagreeable as when I met you last?" Esther Vanhomrigh thrilled at the + insolent audacity of the man. Her evident fondness for him exercised a + seductive influence over Swift. + </p> + <p> + As the two were thrown more and more together, the girl lost all her + self-control. Swift did not in any sense make love to her, though he gave + her the somewhat fanciful name of "Vanessa"; but she, driven on by a + high-strung, unbridled temperament, made open love to him. When he was + about to return to Ireland, there came one startling moment when Vanessa + flung herself into the arms of Swift, and amazed him by pouring out a + torrent of passionate endearments. + </p> + <p> + Swift seems to have been surprised. He did what he could to quiet her. He + told her that they were too unequal in years and fortune for anything but + friendship, and he offered to give her as much friendship as she desired. + </p> + <p> + Doubtless he thought that, after returning to Ireland, he would not see + Vanessa any more. In this, however, he was mistaken. An ardent girl, with + a fortune of her own, was not to be kept from the man whom absence only + made her love the more. In addition, Swift carried on his correspondence + with her, which served to fan the flame and to increase the sway that + Swift had already acquired. + </p> + <p> + Vanessa wrote, and with every letter she burned and pined. Swift replied, + and each reply enhanced her yearning for him. Ere long, Vanessa's mother + died, and Vanessa herself hastened to Ireland and took up her residence + near Dublin. There, for years, was enacted this tragic comedy—Esther + Johnson was near Swift, and had all his confidence; Esther Vanhomrigh was + kept apart from him, while still receiving missives from him, and, later, + even visits. + </p> + <p> + It was at this time, after he had become dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, + in Dublin, that Swift was married to Esther Johnson—for it seems + probable that the ceremony took place, though it was nothing more than a + form. They still saw each other only in the presence of a third person. + Nevertheless, some knowledge of their close relationship leaked out. + Stella had been jealous of her rival during the years that Swift spent in + London. Vanessa was now told that Swift was married to the other woman, or + that she was his mistress. Writhing with jealousy, she wrote directly to + Stella, and asked whether she was Dean Swift's wife. In answer Stella + replied that she was, and then she sent Vanessa's letter to Swift himself. + </p> + <p> + All the fury of his nature was roused in him; and he was a man who could + be very terrible when angry. He might have remembered the intense love + which Vanessa bore for him, the humility with which she had accepted his + conditions, and, finally, the loneliness of this girl. + </p> + <p> + But Swift was utterly unsparing. No gleam of pity entered his heart as he + leaped upon a horse and galloped out to Marley Abbey, where she was living—"his + prominent eyes arched by jet-black brows and glaring with the green fury + of a cat's." Reaching the house, he dashed into it, with something awful + in his looks, made his way to Vanessa, threw her letter down upon the + table and, after giving her one frightful glare, turned on his heel, and + in a moment more was galloping back to Dublin. + </p> + <p> + The girl fell to the floor in an agony of terror and remorse. She was + taken to her room, and only three weeks afterward was carried forth, + having died literally of a broken heart. + </p> + <p> + Five years later, Stella also died, withering away a sacrifice to what the + world has called Swift's cruel heartlessness and egotism. His greatest + public triumphs came to him in his final years of melancholy isolation; + but in spite of the applause that greeted The Drapier Letters and + Gulliver's Travels, he brooded morbidly over his past life. At last his + powerful mind gave way, so that he died a victim to senile dementia. By + his directions his body was interred in the same coffin with Stella's, in + the cathedral of which he had been dean. + </p> + <p> + Such is the story of Dean Swift, and it has always suggested several + curious questions. Why, if he loved Stella, did he not marry her long + before? Why, when he married her, did he treat her still as if she were + not his wife? Why did he allow Vanessa's love to run like a scarlet thread + across the fabric of the other affection, which must have been so strong? + </p> + <p> + Many answers have been given to these questions. That which was formulated + by Sir Walter Scott is a simple one, and has been generally accepted. + Scott believed that Swift was physically incapacitated for marriage, and + that he needed feminine sympathy, which he took where he could get it, + without feeling bound to give anything in return. + </p> + <p> + If Scott's explanation be the true one, it still leaves Swift exposed to + ignominy as a monster of ingratitude. Therefore, many of his biographers + have sought other explanations. No one can palliate his conduct toward + Vanessa; but Sir Leslie Stephen makes a plea for him with reference to + Stella. Sir Leslie points out that until Swift became dean of St. + Patrick's his income was far too small to marry on, and that after his + brilliant but disappointing three years in London, when his prospects of + advancement were ruined, he felt himself a broken man. + </p> + <p> + Furthermore, his health was always precarious, since he suffered from a + distressing illness which attacked him at intervals, rendering him both + deaf and giddy. The disease is now known as Meniere's disease, from its + classification by the French physician, Meniere, in 1861. Swift felt that + he lived in constant danger of some sudden stroke that would deprive him + either of life or reason; and his ultimate insanity makes it appear that + his forebodings were not wholly futile. Therefore, though he married + Stella, he kept the marriage secret, thus leaving her free, in case of his + demise, to marry as a maiden, and not to be regarded as a widow. + </p> + <p> + Sir Leslie offers the further plea that, after all, Stella's life was what + she chose to make it. She enjoyed Swift's friendship, which she preferred + to the love of any other man. + </p> + <p> + Another view is that of Dr. Richard Garnett, who has discussed the + question with some subtlety. "Swift," says Dr. Garnett, "was by nature + devoid of passion. He was fully capable of friendship, but not of love. + The spiritual realm, whether of divine or earthly things, was a region + closed to him, where he never set foot." On the side of friendship he must + greatly have preferred Stella to Vanessa, and yet the latter assailed him + on his weakest side—on the side of his love of imperious domination. + </p> + <p> + Vanessa hugged the fetters to which Stella merely submitted. Flattered to + excess by her surrender, yet conscious of his obligations and his real + preference, he could neither discard the one beauty nor desert the other. + </p> + <p> + Therefore, he temporized with both of them, and when the choice was forced + upon him he madly struck down the woman for whom he cared the less. + </p> + <p> + One may accept Dr. Garnett's theory with a somewhat altered conclusion. It + is not true, as a matter of recorded fact, that Swift was incapable of + passion, for when a boy at college he was sought out by various young + women, and he sought them out in turn. His fiery letter to Miss Waring + points to the same conclusion. When Esther Johnson began to love him he + was heart-free, yet unable, because of his straitened means, to marry. But + Esther Johnson always appealed more to his reason, his friendship, and his + comfort, than to his love, using the word in its material, physical sense. + This love was stirred in him by Vanessa. Yet when he met Vanessa he had + already gone too far with Esther Johnson to break the bond which had so + long united them, nor could he think of a life without her, for she was to + him his other self. + </p> + <p> + At the same time, his more romantic association with Vanessa roused those + instincts which he had scarcely known himself to be possessed of. His + position was, therefore, most embarrassing. He hoped to end it when he + left London and returned to Ireland; but fate was unkind to him in this, + because Vanessa followed him. He lacked the will to be frank with her, and + thus he stood a wretched, halting victim of his own dual nature. + </p> + <p> + He was a clergyman, and at heart religious. He had also a sense of honor, + and both of these traits compelled him to remain true to Esther Johnson. + The terrible outbreak which brought about Vanessa's death was probably the + wild frenzy of a tortured soul. It recalls the picture of some fierce + animal brought at last to bay, and venting its own anguish upon any object + that is within reach of its fangs and claws. + </p> + <p> + No matter how the story may be told, it makes one shiver, for it is a + tragedy in which the three participants all meet their doom—one + crushed by a lightning-bolt of unreasoning anger, the other wasting away + through hope deferred; while the man whom the world will always hold + responsible was himself destined to end his years blind and sleepless, + bequeathing his fortune to a madhouse, and saying, with his last muttered + breath: + </p> + <p> + "I am a fool!" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AND MARY GODWIN + </h2> + <p> + A great deal has been said and written in favor of early marriage; and, in + a general way, early marriage may be an admirable thing. Young men and + young women who have no special gift of imagination, and who have + practically reached their full mental development at twenty-one or + twenty-two—or earlier, even in their teens—may marry safely; + because they are already what they will be. They are not going to + experience any growth upward and outward. Passing years simply bring them + more closely together, until they have settled down into a sort of + domestic unity, by which they think alike, act alike, and even gradually + come to look alike. + </p> + <p> + But early wedlock spells tragedy to the man or the woman of genius. In + their teens they have only begun to grow. What they will be ten years + hence, no one can prophesy. Therefore, to mate so early in life is to + insure almost certain storm and stress, and, in the end, domestic + wreckage. + </p> + <p> + As a rule, it is the man, and not the woman, who makes the false step; + because it is the man who elects to marry when he is still very young. If + he choose some ill-fitting, commonplace, and unresponsive nature to match + his own, it is he who is bound in the course of time to learn his great + mistake. When the splendid eagle shall have got his growth, and shall + begin to soar up into the vault of heaven, the poor little barn-yard fowl + that he once believed to be his equal seems very far away in everything. + He discovers that she is quite unable to follow him in his towering + flights. + </p> + <p> + The story of Percy Bysshe Shelley is a singular one. The circumstances of + his early marriage were strange. The breaking of his marriage-bond was + also strange. Shelley himself was an extraordinary creature. He was blamed + a great deal in his lifetime for what he did, and since then some have + echoed the reproach. Yet it would seem as if, at the very beginning of his + life, he was put into a false position against his will. Because of this + he was misunderstood until the end of his brief and brilliant and erratic + career. + </p> + <p> + SHELLEY AND MARY GODWIN + </p> + <p> + In 1792 the French Revolution burst into flame, the mob of Paris stormed + the Tuileries, the King of France was cast into a dungeon to await his + execution, and the wild sons of anarchy flung their gauntlet of defiance + into the face of Europe. In this tremendous year was born young Shelley; + and perhaps his nature represented the spirit of the time. + </p> + <p> + Certainly, neither from his father nor from his mother did he derive that + perpetual unrest and that frantic fondness for revolt which blazed out in + the poet when he was still a boy. His father, Mr. Timothy Shelley, was a + very usual, thick-headed, unromantic English squire. His mother—a + woman of much beauty, but of no exceptional traits—was the daughter + of another squire, and at the time of her marriage was simply one of ten + thousand fresh-faced, pleasant-spoken English country girls. If we look + for a strain of the romantic in Shelley's ancestry, we shall have to find + it in the person of his grandfather, who was a very remarkable and + powerful character. + </p> + <p> + This person, Bysshe Shelley by name, had in his youth been associated with + some mystery. He was not born in England, but in America—and in + those days the name "America" meant almost anything indefinite and + peculiar. However this might be, Bysshe Shelley, though a scion of a good + old English family, had wandered in strange lands, and it was whispered + that he had seen strange sights and done strange things. According to one + legend, he had been married in America, though no one knew whether his + wife was white or black, or how he had got rid of her. + </p> + <p> + He might have remained in America all his life, had not a small + inheritance fallen to his share. This brought him back to England, and he + soon found that England was in reality the place to make his fortune. He + was a man of magnificent physique. His rovings had given him ease and + grace, and the power which comes from a wide experience of life. He could + be extremely pleasing when he chose; and he soon won his way into the good + graces of a rich heiress, whom he married. + </p> + <p> + With her wealth he became an important personage, and consorted with + gentlemen and statesmen of influence, attaching himself particularly to + the Duke of Northumberland, by whose influence he was made a baronet. When + his rich wife died, Shelley married a still richer bride; and so this man, + who started out as a mere adventurer without a shilling to his name, died + in 1813, leaving more than a million dollars in cash, with lands whose + rent-roll yielded a hundred thousand dollars every year. + </p> + <p> + If any touch of the romantic which we find in Shelley is a matter of + heredity, we must trace it to this able, daring, restless, and magnificent + old grandfather, who was the beau ideal of an English squire—the + sort of squire who had added foreign graces to native sturdiness. But + young Shelley, the future poet, seemed scarcely to be English at all. As a + young boy he cared nothing for athletic sports. He was given to much + reading. He thought a good deal about abstractions with which most + schoolboys never concern themselves at all. + </p> + <p> + Consequently, both in private schools and afterward at Eton, he became a + sort of rebel against authority. He resisted the fagging-system. He spoke + contemptuously of physical prowess. He disliked anything that he was + obliged to do, and he rushed eagerly into whatever was forbidden. + </p> + <p> + Finally, when he was sent to University College, Oxford, he broke all + bounds. At a time when Tory England was aghast over the French Revolution + and its results, Shelley talked of liberty and equality on all occasions. + He made friends with an uncouth but able fellow student, who bore the + remarkable name of Thomas Jefferson Hogg—a name that seems rampant + with republicanism—and very soon he got himself expelled from the + university for publishing a little tract of an infidel character called "A + Defense of Atheism." + </p> + <p> + His expulsion for such a cause naturally shocked his father. It probably + disturbed Shelley himself; but, after all, it gave him some satisfaction + to be a martyr for the cause of free speech. He went to London with his + friend Hogg, and took lodgings there. He read omnivorously—Hogg says + as much as sixteen hours a day. He would walk through the most crowded + streets poring over a volume, while holding another under one arm. + </p> + <p> + His mind was full of fancies. He had begun what was afterward called "his + passion for reforming everything." He despised most of the laws of + England. He thought its Parliament ridiculous. He hated its religion. He + was particularly opposed to marriage. This last fact gives some point to + the circumstances which almost immediately confronted him. + </p> + <p> + Shelley was now about nineteen years old—an age at which most + English boys are emerging from the public schools, and are still in the + hobbledehoy stage of their formation. In a way, he was quite far from + boyish; yet in his knowledge of life he was little more than a mere child. + He knew nothing thoroughly—much less the ways of men and women. He + had no visible means of existence except a small allowance from his + father. His four sisters, who were at a boarding-school on Clapham Common, + used to save their pin-money and send it to their gifted brother so that + he might not actually starve. These sisters he used to call upon from time + to time, and through them he made the acquaintance of a sixteen-year-old + girl named Harriet Westbrook. + </p> + <p> + Harriet Westbrook was the daughter of a black-visaged keeper of a + coffee-house in Mount Street, called "Jew Westbrook," partly because of + his complexion, and partly because of his ability to retain what he had + made. He was, indeed, fairly well off, and had sent his younger daughter, + Harriet, to the school where Shelley's sisters studied. + </p> + <p> + Harriet Westbrook seems to have been a most precocious person. Any girl of + sixteen is, of course, a great deal older and more mature than a youth of + nineteen. In the present instance Harriet might have been Shelley's senior + by five years. There is no doubt that she fell in love with him; but, + having done so, she by no means acted in the shy and timid way that would + have been most natural to a very young girl in her first love-affair. + Having decided that she wanted him, she made up her mind to get Mm at any + cost, and her audacity was equaled only by his simplicity. She was rather + attractive in appearance, with abundant hair, a plump figure, and a + pink-and-white complexion. This description makes of her a rather + doll-like girl; but doll-like girls are just the sort to attract an + inexperienced young man who has yet to learn that beauty and charm are + quite distinct from prettiness, and infinitely superior to it. + </p> + <p> + In addition to her prettiness, Harriet Westbrook had a vivacious manner + and talked quite pleasingly. She was likewise not a bad listener; and she + would listen by the hour to Shelley in his rhapsodies about chemistry, + poetry, the failure of Christianity, the national debt, and human liberty, + all of which he jumbled up without much knowledge, but in a lyric strain + of impassioned eagerness which would probably have made the + multiplication-table thrilling. + </p> + <p> + For Shelley himself was a creature of extraordinary fascination, both then + and afterward. There are no likenesses of him that do him justice, because + they cannot convey that singular appeal which the man himself made to + almost every one who met him. + </p> + <p> + The eminent painter, Mulready, once said that Shelley was too beautiful + for portraiture; and yet the descriptions of him hardly seem to bear this + out. He was quite tall and slender, but he stooped so much as to make him + appear undersized. His head was very small-quite disproportionately so; + but this was counteracted to the eye by his long and tumbled hair which, + when excited, he would rub and twist in a thousand different directions + until it was actually bushy. His eyes and mouth were his best features. + The former were of a deep violet blue, and when Shelley felt deeply moved + they seemed luminous with a wonderful and almost unearthly light. His + mouth was finely chiseled, and might be regarded as representing + perfection. + </p> + <p> + One great defect he had, and this might well have overbalanced his + attractive face. The defect in question was his voice. One would have + expected to hear from him melodious sounds, and vocal tones both rich and + penetrating; but, as a matter of fact, his voice was shrill at the very + best, and became actually discordant and peacock-like in moments of + emotion. + </p> + <p> + Such, then, was Shelley, star-eyed, with the delicate complexion of a + girl, wonderfully mobile in his features, yet speaking in a voice high + pitched and almost raucous. For the rest, he arrayed himself with care and + in expensive clothing, even though he took no thought of neatness, so that + his garments were almost always rumpled and wrinkled from his frequent + writhings on couches and on the floor. Shelley had a strange and almost + primitive habit of rolling on the earth, and another of thrusting his + tousled head close up to the hottest fire in the house, or of lying in the + glaring sun when out of doors. It is related that he composed one of his + finest poems—"The Cenci"—in Italy, while stretched out with + face upturned to an almost tropical sun. + </p> + <p> + But such as he was, and though he was not yet famous, Harriet Westbrook, + the rosy-faced schoolgirl, fell in love with him, and rather plainly let + him know that she had done so. There are a thousand ways in which a woman + can convey this information without doing anything un-maidenly; and of all + these little arts Miss Westbrook was instinctively a mistress. + </p> + <p> + She played upon Shelley's feelings by telling him that her father was + cruel to her, and that he contemplated actions still more cruel. There is + something absurdly comical about the grievance which she brought to + Shelley; but it is much more comical to note the tremendous seriousness + with which he took it. He wrote to his friend Hogg: + </p> + <p> + Her father has persecuted her in a most horrible way, by endeavoring to + compel her to go to school. She asked my advice; resistance was the + answer. At the same time I essayed to mollify Mr. Westbrook, in vain! I + advised her to resist. She wrote to say that resistance was useless, but + that she would fly with me and throw herself on my protection. + </p> + <p> + Some letters that have recently come to light show that there was a + dramatic scene between Harriet Westbrook and Shelley—a scene in the + course of which she threw her arms about his neck and wept upon his + shoulder. Here was a curious situation. Shelley was not at all in love + with her. He had explicitly declared this only a short time before. Yet + here was a pretty girl about to suffer the "horrible persecution" of being + sent to school, and finding no alternative save to "throw herself on his + protection"—in other words, to let him treat her as he would, and to + become his mistress. + </p> + <p> + The absurdity of the situation makes one smile. Common sense should have + led some one to box Harriet's ears and send her off to school without a + moment's hesitation; while as for Shelley, he should have been told how + ludicrous was the whole affair. But he was only nineteen, and she was only + sixteen, and the crisis seemed portentous. Nothing could be more + flattering to a young man's vanity than to have this girl cast herself + upon him for protection. It did not really matter that he had not loved + her hitherto, and that he was already half engaged to another Harriet—his + cousin, Miss Grove. He could not stop and reason with himself. He must + like a true knight rescue lovely girlhood from the horrors of a school! + </p> + <p> + It is not unlikely that this whole affair was partly managed or + manipulated by the girl's father. Jew Westbrook knew that Shelley was + related to rich and titled people, and that he was certain, if he lived, + to become Sir Percy, and to be the heir of his grandfather's estates. + Hence it may be that Harriet's queer conduct was not wholly of her own + prompting. + </p> + <p> + In any case, however, it proved to be successful. Shelley's ardent and + impulsive nature could not bear to see a girl in tears and appealing for + his help. Hence, though in his heart she was very little to him, his + romantic nature gave up for her sake the affection that he had felt for + his cousin, his own disbelief in marriage, and finally the common sense + which ought to have told him not to marry any one on two hundred pounds a + year. + </p> + <p> + So the pair set off for Edinburgh by stagecoach. It was a weary and most + uncomfortable journey. When they reached the Scottish capital, they were + married by the Scottish law. Their money was all gone; but their landlord, + with a jovial sympathy for romance, let them have a room, and treated them + to a rather promiscuous wedding-banquet, in which every one in the house + participated. + </p> + <p> + Such is the story of Shelley's marriage, contracted at nineteen with a + girl of sixteen who most certainly lured him on against his own better + judgment and in the absence of any actual love. + </p> + <p> + The girl whom he had taken to himself was a well-meaning little thing. She + tried for a time to meet her husband's moods and to be a real companion to + him. But what could one expect from such a union? Shelley's father + withdrew the income which he had previously given. Jew Westbrook refused + to contribute anything, hoping, probably, that this course would bring the + Shelleys to the rescue. But as it was, the young pair drifted about from + place to place, getting very precarious supplies, running deeper into debt + each day, and finding less and less to admire in each other. + </p> + <p> + Shelley took to laudanum. Harriet dropped her abstruse studies, which she + had taken up to please her husband, but which could only puzzle her small + brain. She soon developed some of the unpleasant traits of the class to + which she belonged. In this her sister Eliza—a hard and grasping + middle-aged woman—had her share. She set Harriet against her + husband, and made life less endurable for both. She was so much older than + the pair that she came in and ruled their household like a typical + stepmother. + </p> + <p> + A child was born, and Shelley very generously went through a second form + of marriage, so as to comply with the English law; but by this time there + was little hope of righting things again. Shelley was much offended + because Harriet would not nurse the child. He believed her hard because + she saw without emotion an operation performed upon the infant. + </p> + <p> + Finally, when Shelley at last came into a considerable sum of money, + Harriet and Eliza made no pretense of caring for anything except the + spending of it in "bonnet-shops" and on carriages and display. In time—that + is to say, in three years after their marriage—Harriet left her + husband and went to London and to Bath, prompted by her elder sister. + </p> + <p> + This proved to be the end of an unfortunate marriage. Word was brought to + Shelley that his wife was no longer faithful to him. He, on his side, had + carried on a semi-sentimental platonic correspondence with a + schoolmistress, one Miss Hitchener. But until now his life had been one + great mistake—a life of restlessness, of unsatisfied longing, of a + desire that had no name. Then came the perhaps inevitable meeting with the + one whom he should have met before. + </p> + <p> + Shelley had taken a great interest in William Godwin, the writer and + radical philosopher. Godwin's household was a strange one. There was Fanny + Imlay, a child born out of wedlock, the offspring of Gilbert Imlay, an + American merchant, and of Mary Wollstonecraft, whom Godwin had + subsequently married. There was also a singularly striking girl who then + styled herself Mary Jane Clairmont, and who was afterward known as Claire + Clairmont, she and her brother being the early children of Godwin's second + wife. + </p> + <p> + One day in 1814, Shelley called on Godwin, and found there a beautiful + young girl in her seventeenth year, "with shapely golden head, a face very + pale and pure, a great forehead, earnest hazel eyes, and an expression at + once of sensibility and firmness about her delicately curved lips." This + was Mary Godwin—one who had inherited her mother's power of mind and + likewise her grace and sweetness. + </p> + <p> + From the very moment of their meeting Shelley and this girl were fated to + be joined together, and both of them were well aware of it. Each felt the + other's presence exert a magnetic thrill. Each listened eagerly to what + the other said. Each thought of nothing, and each cared for nothing, in + the other's absence. It was a great compelling elemental force which drove + the two together and bound them fast. Beside this marvelous experience, + how pale and pitiful and paltry seemed the affectations of Harriet + Westbrook! + </p> + <p> + In little more than a month from the time of their first meeting, Shelley + and Mary Godwin and Miss Clairmont left Godwin's house at four o 'clock in + the morning, and hurried across the Channel to Calais. They wandered + almost like vagabonds across France, eating black bread and the coarsest + fare, walking on the highways when they could not afford to ride, and + putting up with every possible inconvenience. Yet it is worth noting that + neither then nor at any other time did either Shelley or Mary regret what + they had done. To the very end of the poet's brief career they were + inseparable. + </p> + <p> + Later he was able to pension Harriet, who, being of a morbid disposition, + ended her life by drowning—not, it may be said, because of grief for + Shelley. It has been told that Fanny Imlay, Mary's sister, likewise + committed suicide because Shelley did not care for her, but this has also + been disproved. There was really nothing to mar the inner happiness of the + poet and the woman who, at the very end, became his wife. Living, as they + did, in Italy and Switzerland, they saw much of their own countrymen, such + as Landor and Leigh Hunt and Byron, to whose fascinations poor Miss + Clairmont yielded, and became the mother of the little girl Allegra. + </p> + <p> + But there could have been no truer union than this of Shelley's with the + woman whom nature had intended for him. It was in his love-life, far more + than in his poetry, that he attained completeness. When he died by + drowning, in 1822, and his body was burned in the presence of Lord Byron, + he was truly mourned by the one whom he had only lately made his wife. As + a poet he never reached the same perfection; for his genius was fitful and + uncertain, rare in its flights, and mingled always with that which + disappoints. + </p> + <p> + As the lover and husband of Mary Godwin, there was nothing left to wish. + In his verse, however, the truest word concerning him will always be that + exquisite sentence of Matthew Arnold: + </p> + <p> + "A beautiful and ineffectual angel beating his luminous wings against the + void in vain." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0029" id="link2H_4_0029"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF THE CARLYLES + </h2> + <p> + To most persons, Tennyson was a remote and romantic figure. His homes in + the Isle of Wight and at Aldworth had a dignified seclusion about them + which was very appropriate to so great a poet, and invested him with a + certain awe through which the multitude rarely penetrated. As a matter of + fact, however, he was an excellent companion, a ready talker, and gifted + with so much wit that it is a pity that more of his sayings have not been + preserved to us. + </p> + <p> + One of the best known is that which was drawn from him after he and a + number of friends had been spending an hour in company with Mr. and Mrs. + Carlyle. The two Carlyles were unfortunately at their worst, and gave a + superb specimen of domestic "nagging." Each caught up whatever the other + said, and either turned it into ridicule, or tried to make the author of + it an object of contempt. + </p> + <p> + This was, of course, exceedingly uncomfortable for such strangers as were + present, and it certainly gave no pleasure to their friends. On leaving + the house, some one said to Tennyson: + </p> + <p> + "Isn't it a pity that such a couple ever married?" + </p> + <p> + "No, no," said Tennyson, with a sort of smile under his rough beard. "It's + much better that two people should be made unhappy than four." + </p> + <p> + The world has pretty nearly come around to the verdict of the poet + laureate. It is not probable that Thomas Carlyle would have made any woman + happy as his wife, or that Jane Baillie Welsh would have made any man + happy as her husband. + </p> + <p> + This sort of speculation would never have occurred had not Mr. Froude, in + the early eighties, given his story about the Carlyles to the world. + Carlyle went to his grave, an old man, highly honored, and with no trail + of gossip behind him. His wife had died some sixteen years before, leaving + a brilliant memory. The books of Mr. Froude seemed for a moment to have + desecrated the grave, and to have shed a sudden and sinister light upon + those who could not make the least defense for themselves. + </p> + <p> + For a moment, Carlyle seemed to have been a monster of harshness, cruelty, + and almost brutish feeling. On the other side, his wife took on the color + of an evil-speaking, evil-thinking shrew, who tormented the life of her + husband, and allowed herself to be possessed by some demon of unrest and + discontent, such as few women of her station are ever known to suffer + from. + </p> + <p> + Nor was it merely that the two were apparently ill-mated and unhappy with + each other. There were hints and innuendos which looked toward some hidden + cause for this unhappiness, and which aroused the curiosity of every one. + That they might be clearer, Froude afterward wrote a book, bringing out + more plainly—indeed, too plainly—his explanation of the + Carlyle family skeleton. A multitude of documents then came from every + quarter, and from almost every one who had known either of the Carlyles. + Perhaps the result to-day has been more injurious to Froude than to the + two Carlyles. + </p> + <p> + Many persons unjustly speak of Froude as having violated the confidence of + his friends in publishing the letters of Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle. They take + no heed of the fact that in doing this he was obeying Carlyle's express + wishes, left behind in writing, and often urged on Froude while Carlyle + was still alive. Whether or not Froude ought to have accepted such a + trust, one may perhaps hesitate to decide. That he did so is probably + because he felt that if he refused, Carlyle might commit the same duty to + another, who would discharge it with less delicacy and less discretion. + </p> + <p> + As it is, the blame, if it rests upon any one, should rest upon Carlyle. + He collected the letters. He wrote the lines which burn and scorch with + self-reproach. It is he who pressed upon the reluctant Froude the duty of + printing and publishing a series of documents which, for the most part, + should never have been published at all, and which have done equal harm to + Carlyle, to his wife, and to Froude himself. + </p> + <p> + Now that everything has been written that is likely to be written by those + claiming to possess personal knowledge of the subject, let us take up the + volumes, and likewise the scattered fragments, and seek to penetrate the + mystery of the most ill-assorted couple known to modern literature. + </p> + <p> + It is not necessary to bring to light, and in regular order, the external + history of Thomas Carlyle, or of Jane Baillie Welsh, who married him. + There is an extraordinary amount of rather fanciful gossip about this + marriage, and about the three persons who had to do with it. + </p> + <p> + Take first the principal figure, Thomas Carlyle. His life until that time + had been a good deal more than the life of an ordinary country-man. Many + persons represent him as a peasant; but he was descended from the ancient + lords of a Scottish manor. There was something in his eye, and in the + dominance of his nature, that made his lordly nature felt. Mr. Froude + notes that Carlyle's hand was very small and unusually well shaped. Nor + had his earliest appearance as a young man been commonplace, in spite of + the fact that his parents were illiterate, so that his mother learned to + read only after her sons had gone away to Edinburgh, in order that she + might be able to enjoy their letters. + </p> + <p> + At that time in Scotland, as in Puritan New England, in each family the + son who had the most notable "pairts" was sent to the university that he + might become a clergyman. If there were a second son, he became an + advocate or a doctor of medicine, while the sons of less distinction + seldom went beyond the parish school, but settled down as farmers, + horse-dealers, or whatever might happen to come their way. + </p> + <p> + In the case of Thomas Carlyle, nature marked him out for something + brilliant, whatever that might be. His quick sensibility, the way in which + he acquired every sort of learning, his command of logic, and, withal, his + swift, unerring gift of language, made it certain from the very first that + he must be sent to the university as soon as he had finished school, and + could afford to go. + </p> + <p> + At Edinburgh, where he matriculated in his fourteenth year, he astonished + every one by the enormous extent of his reading, and by the firm hold he + kept upon it. One hesitates to credit these so-called reminiscences which + tell how he absorbed mountains of Greek and immense quantities of + political economy and history and sociology and various forms of + metaphysics, as every Scotsman is bound to do. That he read all night is a + common story told of many a Scottish lad at college. We may believe, + however, that Carlyle studied and read as most of his fellow students did, + but far beyond them, in extent. + </p> + <p> + When he had completed about half of his divinity course, he assured + himself that he was not intended for the life of a clergyman. One who + reads his mocking sayings, or what seemed to be a clever string of jeers + directed against religion, might well think that Carlyle was throughout + his life an atheist, or an agnostic. He confessed to Irving that he did + not believe in the Christian religion, and it was vain to hope that he + ever would so believe. + </p> + <p> + Moreover, Carlyle had done something which was unusual at that time. He + had taught in several local schools; but presently he came back to + Edinburgh and openly made literature his profession. It was a daring thing + to do; but Carlyle had unbounded confidence in himself—the + confidence of a giant, striding forth into a forest, certain that he can + make his way by sheer strength through the tangled meshes and the knotty + branches that he knows will meet him and try to beat him back. + Furthermore, he knew how to live on very little; he was unmarried; and he + felt a certain ardor which beseemed his age and gifts. + </p> + <p> + Through the kindness of friends, he received some commissions to write in + various books of reference; and in 1824, when he was twenty-nine years of + age, he published a translation of Legendre's Geometry. In the same year + he published, in the London Magazine, his Life of Schiller, and also his + translation of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister. This successful attack upon the + London periodicals and reviews led to a certain complication with the + other two characters in this story. It takes us to Jane Welsh, and also to + Edward Irving. + </p> + <p> + Irving was three years older than Carlyle. The two men were friends, and + both of them had been teaching in country schools, where both of them had + come to know Miss Welsh. Irving's seniority gave him a certain prestige + with the younger men, and naturally with Miss Welsh. He had won honors at + the university, and now, as assistant to the famous Dr. Chalmers, he + carried his silk robes in the jaunty fashion of one who has just ceased to + be an undergraduate. While studying, he met Miss Welsh at Haddington, and + there became her private instructor. + </p> + <p> + This girl was regarded in her native town as something of a personage. To + read what has been written of her, one might suppose that she was almost a + miracle of birth and breeding, and of intellect as well. As a matter of + fact, in the little town of Haddington she was simply prima inter pares. + Her father was the local doctor, and while she had a comfortable home, and + doubtless a chaise at her disposal, she was very far from the "opulence" + which Carlyle, looking up at her from his lowlier surroundings, was + accustomed to ascribe to her. She was, no doubt, a very clever girl; and, + judging from the portraits taken of her at about this time, she was an + exceedingly pretty one, with beautiful eyes and an abundance of dark + glossy hair. + </p> + <p> + Even then, however, Miss Welsh had traits which might have made it certain + that she would be much more agreeable as a friend than as a wife. She had + become an intellectuelle quite prematurely—at an age, in fact, when + she might better have been thinking of other things than the inwardness of + her soul, or the folly of religious belief. + </p> + <p> + Even as a young girl, she was beset by a desire to criticize and to + ridicule almost everything and every one that she encountered. It was only + when she met with something that she could not understand, or some one who + could do what she could not, that she became comparatively humble. + Unconsciously, her chief ambition was to be herself distinguished, and to + marry some one who could be more distinguished still. + </p> + <p> + When she first met Edward Irving, she looked up to him as her superior in + many ways. He was a striking figure in her small world. He was known in + Edinburgh as likely to be a man of mark; and, of course, he had had a + careful training in many subjects of which she, as yet, knew very little. + Therefore, insensibly, she fell into a sort of admiration for Irving—an + admiration which might have been transmuted into love. Irving, on his + side, was taken by the young girl's beauty, her vivacity, and the keenness + of her intellect. That he did not at once become her suitor is probably + due to the fact that he had already engaged himself to a Miss Martin, of + whom not much is known. + </p> + <p> + It was about this time, however, that Carlyle became acquainted with Miss + Welsh. His abundant knowledge, his original and striking manner of + commenting on it, his almost gigantic intellectual power, came to her as a + revelation. Her studies with Irving were now interwoven with her + admiration for Carlyle. + </p> + <p> + Since Irving was a clergyman, and Miss Welsh had not the slightest belief + in any form of theology, there was comparatively little that they had in + common. On the other hand, when she saw the profundities of Carlyle, she + at once half feared, and was half fascinated. Let her speak to him on any + subject, and he would at once thunder forth some striking truth, or it + might be some puzzling paradox; but what he said could never fail to + interest her and to make her think. He had, too, an infinite sense of + humor, often whimsical and shot through with sarcasm. + </p> + <p> + It is no wonder that Miss Welsh was more and more infatuated with the + nature of Carlyle. If it was her conscious wish to marry a man whom she + could reverence as a master, where should she find him—in Irving or + in Carlyle? + </p> + <p> + Irving was a dreamer, a man who, she came to see, was thoroughly + one-sided, and whose interests lay in a different sphere from hers. + Carlyle, on the other hand, had already reached out beyond the little + Scottish capital, and had made his mark in the great world of London, + where men like De Quincey and Jeffrey thought it worth their while to run + a tilt with him. Then, too, there was the fascination of his talk, in + which Jane Welsh found a perpetual source of interest: + </p> + <p> + The English have never had an artist, except in poetry; no musician; no + painter. Purcell and Hogarth are not exceptions, or only such as confirm + the rule. + </p> + <p> + Is the true Scotchman the peasant and yeoman—chiefly the former? + </p> + <p> + Every living man is a visible mystery; he walks between two eternities and + two infinitudes. Were we not blind as molea we should value our humanity + at infinity, and our rank, influence and so forth—the trappings of + our humanity—at nothing. Say I am a man, and you say all. Whether + king or tinker is a mere appendix. + </p> + <p> + Understanding is to reason as the talent of a beaver—which can build + houses, and uses its tail for a trowel—to the genius of a prophet + and poet. Reason is all but extinct in this age; it can never be + altogether extinguished. + </p> + <p> + The devil has his elect. + </p> + <p> + Is anything more wonderful than another, if you consider it maturely? I + have seen no men rise from the dead; I have seen some thousands rise from + nothing. I have not force to fly into the sun, but I have force to lift my + hand, which is equally strange. + </p> + <p> + Is not every thought properly an inspiration? Or how is one thing more + inspired than another? + </p> + <p> + Examine by logic the import of thy life, and of all lives. What is it? A + making of meal into manure, and of manure into meal. To the cui bono there + is no answer from logic. + </p> + <p> + In many ways Jane Welsh found the difference of range between Carlyle and + Irving. At one time, she asked Irving about some German works, and he was + obliged to send her to Carlyle to solve her difficulties. Carlyle knew + German almost as well as if he had been born in Dresden; and the full and + almost overflowing way in which he answered her gave her another + impression of his potency. Thus she weighed the two men who might become + her lovers, and little by little she came to think of Irving as partly + shallow and partly narrow-minded, while Carlyle loomed up more of a giant + than before. + </p> + <p> + It is not probable that she was a woman who could love profoundly. She + thought too much about herself. She was too critical. She had too intense + an ambition for "showing off." I can imagine that in the end she made her + choice quite coolly. She was flattered by Carlyle's strong preference for + her. She was perhaps repelled by Irving's engagement to another woman; yet + at the time few persons thought that she had chosen well. + </p> + <p> + Irving had now gone to London, and had become the pastor of the Caledonian + chapel in Hatton Garden. Within a year, by the extraordinary power of his + eloquence, which, was in a style peculiar to himself, he had transformed + an obscure little chapel into one which was crowded by the rich and + fashionable. His congregation built for him a handsome edifice on Regent + Square, and he became the leader of a new cult, which looked to a second + personal advent of Christ. He cared nothing for the charges of heresy + which were brought against him; and when he was deposed his congregation + followed him, and developed a new Christian order, known as Irvingism. + </p> + <p> + Jane Welsh, in her musings, might rightfully have compared the two men and + the future which each could give her. Did she marry Irving, she was + certain of a life of ease in London, and an association with men and women + of fashion and celebrity, among whom she could show herself to be the + gifted woman that she was. Did she marry Carlyle, she must go with him to + a desolate, wind-beaten cottage, far away from any of the things she cared + for, working almost as a housemaid, having no company save that of her + husband, who was already a dyspeptic, and who was wont to speak of feeling + as if a rat were tearing out his stomach. + </p> + <p> + Who would have said that in going with Carlyle she had made the better + choice? Any one would have said it who knew the three—Irving, + Carlyle, and Jane Welsh. + </p> + <p> + She had the penetration to be certain that whatever Irving might possess + at present, it would be nothing in comparison to what Carlyle would have + in the coming future. She understood the limitations of Irving, but to her + keen mind the genius of Carlyle was unlimited; and she foresaw that, after + he had toiled and striven, he would come into his great reward, which she + would share. Irving might be the leader of a petty sect, but Carlyle would + be a man whose name must become known throughout the world. + </p> + <p> + And so, in 1826, she had made her choice, and had become the bride of the + rough-spoken, domineering Scotsman who had to face the world with nothing + but his creative brain and his stubborn independence. She had put aside + all immediate thought of London and its lures; she was going to cast in + her lot with Carlyle's, largely as a matter of calculation, and believing + that she had made the better choice. + </p> + <p> + She was twenty-six and Carlyle was thirty-two when, after a brief + residence in Edinburgh, they went down to Craigenputtock. Froude has + described this place as the dreariest spot in the British dominions: + </p> + <p> + The nearest cottage is more than a mile from it; the elevation, seven + hundred feet above the sea, stunts the trees and limits the garden + produce; the house is gaunt and hungry-looking. It stands, with the scanty + fields attached, as an island in a sea of morass. The landscape is + unredeemed by grace or grandeur—mere undulating hills of grass and + heather, with peat bogs in the hollows between them. + </p> + <p> + Froude's grim description has been questioned by some; yet the actual + pictures that have been drawn of the place in later years make it look + bare, desolate, and uninviting. Mrs. Carlyle, who owned it as an + inheritance from her father, saw the place for the first time in March, + 1828. She settled there in May; but May, in the Scottish hills, is almost + as repellent as winter. She herself shrank from the adventure which she + had proposed. It was her husband's notion, and her own, that they should + live there in practical solitude. He was to think and write, and make for + himself a beginning of real fame; while she was to hover over him and + watch his minor comforts. + </p> + <p> + It seemed to many of their friends that the project was quixotic to a + degree. Mrs. Carlyle delicate health, her weak chest, and the beginning of + a nervous disorder, made them think that she was unfit to dwell in so wild + and bleak a solitude. They felt, too, that Carlyle was too much absorbed + with his own thought to be trusted with the charge of a high-spirited + woman. + </p> + <p> + However, the decision had been made, and the newly married couple went to + Craigenputtock, with wagons that carried their household goods and those + of Carlyle's brother, Alexander, who lived in a cottage near by. These + were the two redeeming features of their lonely home—the presence of + Alexander Carlyle, and the fact that, although they had no servants in the + ordinary sense, there were several farmhands and a dairy-maid. + </p> + <p> + Before long there came a period of trouble, which is easily explained by + what has been already said. Carlyle, thinking and writing some of the most + beautiful things that he ever thought or wrote, could not make allowance + for his wife's high spirit and physical weakness. She, on her side—nervous, + fitful, and hard to please—thought herself a slave, the servant of a + harsh and brutal master. She screamed at him when her nerves were too + unstrung; and then, with a natural reaction, she called herself "a devil + who could never be good enough for him." But most of her letters were + harsh and filled with bitterness, and, no doubt, his conduct to her was at + times no better than her own. + </p> + <p> + But it was at Craigenputtock that he really did lay fast and firm the road + to fame. His wife's sharp tongue, and the gnawings of his own dyspepsia, + were lived down with true Scottish grimness. It was here that he wrote + some of his most penetrating and sympathetic essays, which were published + by the leading reviews of England and Scotland. Here, too, he began to + teach his countrymen the value of German literature. + </p> + <p> + The most remarkable of his productions was that strange work entitled + Sartor Resartus (1834), an extraordinary mixture of the sublime and the + grotesque. The book quivers and shakes with tragic pathos, with inward + agonies, with solemn aspirations, and with riotous humor. + </p> + <p> + In 1834, after six years at Craigenputtock, the Carlyles moved to London, + and took up their home in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, a far from fashionable + retreat, but one in which the comforts of life could be more readily + secured. It was there that Thomas Carlyle wrote what must seem to us the + most vivid of all his books, the History of the French Revolution. For + this he had read and thought for many years; parts of it he had written in + essays, and parts of it he had jotted down in journals. But now it came + forth, as some one has said, "a truth clad in hell-fire," swirling amid + clouds and flames and mist, a most wonderful picture of the accumulated + social and political falsehoods which preceded the revolution, and which + were swept away by a nemesis that was the righteous judgment of God. + </p> + <p> + Carlyle never wrote so great a book as this. He had reached his middle + style, having passed the clarity of his early writings, and not having yet + reached the thunderous, strange-mouthed German expletives which marred his + later work. In the French Revolution he bursts forth, here and there, into + furious Gallic oaths and Gargantuan epithets; yet this apocalypse of + France seems more true than his hero-worshiping of old Frederick of + Prussia, or even of English Cromwell. + </p> + <p> + All these days Thomas Carlyle lived a life which was partly one of + seclusion and partly one of pleasure. At all times he and his dark-haired + wife had their own sets, and mingled with their own friends. Jane had no + means of discovering just whether she would have been happier with Irving; + for Irving died while she was still digging potatoes and complaining of + her lot at Craigenputtock. + </p> + <p> + However this may be, the Carlyles, man and wife, lived an existence that + was full of unhappiness and rancor. Jane Carlyle became an invalid, and + sought to allay her nervous sufferings with strong tea and tobacco and + morphin. When a nervous woman takes to morphin, it almost always means + that she becomes intensely jealous; and so it was with Jane Carlyle. + </p> + <p> + A shivering, palpitating, fiercely loyal bit of humanity, she took it into + her head that her husband was infatuated with Lady Ashburton, or that Lady + Ashburton was infatuated with him. She took to spying on them, and at + times, when her nerves were all a jangle, she would lie back in her + armchair and yell with paroxysms of anger. On the other hand, Carlyle, + eager to enjoy the world, sought relief from his household cares, and + sometimes stole away after a fashion that was hardly guileless. He would + leave false addresses at his house, and would dine at other places than he + had announced. + </p> + <p> + In 1866 Jane Carlyle suddenly died; and somehow, then, the conscience of + Thomas Carlyle became convinced that he had wronged the woman whom he had + really loved. His last fifteen years were spent in wretchedness and + despair. He felt that he had committed the unpardonable sin. He recalled + with anguish every moment of their early life at Craigenputtock—how + she had toiled for him, and waited upon him, and made herself a slave; and + how, later, she had given herself up entirely to him, while he had + thoughtlessly received the sacrifice, and trampled on it as on a bed of + flowers. + </p> + <p> + Of course, in all this he was intensely morbid, and the diary which he + wrote was no more sane and wholesome than the screamings with which his + wife had horrified her friends. But when he had grown to be a very old + man, he came to feel that this was all a sort of penance, and that the + selfishness of his past must be expiated in the future. Therefore, he gave + his diary to his friend, the historian, Froude, and urged him to publish + the letters and memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle. Mr. Froude, with an eye + to the reading world, readily did so, furnishing them with abundant + footnotes, which made Carlyle appear to the world as more or less of a + monster. + </p> + <p> + First, there was set forth the almost continual unhappiness of the pair. + In the second place, by hint, by innuendo, and sometimes by explicit + statement, there were given reasons to show why Carlyle made his wife + unhappy. Of course, his gnawing dyspepsia, which she strove with all her + might to drive away, was one of the first and greatest causes. But again + another cause of discontent was stated in the implication that Carlyle, in + his bursts of temper, actually abused his wife. In one passage there is a + hint that certain blue marks upon her arm were bruises, the result of + blows. + </p> + <p> + Most remarkable of all these accusations is that which has to do with the + relations of Carlyle and Lady Ashburton. There is no doubt that Jane + Carlyle disliked this brilliant woman, and came to have dark suspicions + concerning her. At first, it was only a sort of social jealousy. Lady + Ashburton was quite as clever a talker as Mrs. Carlyle, and she had a + prestige which brought her more admiration. + </p> + <p> + Then, by degrees, as Jane Carlyle's mind began to wane, she transferred + her jealousy to her husband himself. She hated to be out-shone, and now, + in some misguided fashion, it came into her head that Carlyle had + surrendered to Lady Ashburton his own attention to his wife, and had + fallen in love with her brilliant rival. + </p> + <p> + On one occasion, she declared that Lady Ashburton had thrown herself at + Carlyle's feet, but that Carlyle had acted like a man of honor, while Lord + Ashburton, knowing all the facts, had passed them over, and had retained + his friendship with Carlyle. + </p> + <p> + Now, when Froude came to write My Relations with Carlyle, there were those + who were very eager to furnish him with every sort of gossip. The greatest + source of scandal upon which he drew was a woman named Geraldine Jewsbury, + a curious neurotic creature, who had seen much of the late Mrs. Carlyle, + but who had an almost morbid love of offensive tattle. Froude describes + himself as a witness for six years, at Cheyne Row, "of the enactment of a + tragedy as stern and real as the story of Oedipus." According to his own + account: + </p> + <p> + I stood by, consenting to the slow martyrdom of a woman whom I have + described as bright and sparkling and tender, and I uttered no word of + remonstrance. I saw her involved in a perpetual blizzard, and did nothing + to shelter her. + </p> + <p> + But it is not upon his own observations that Froude relies for his most + sinister evidence against his friend. To him comes Miss Jewsbury with a + lengthy tale to tell. It is well to know what Mrs. Carlyle thought of this + lady. She wrote: + </p> + <p> + It is her besetting sin, and her trade of novelist has aggravated it—the + desire of feeling and producing violent emotions.... Geraldine has one + besetting weakness; she is never happy unless she has a grande passion on + hand. + </p> + <p> + There were strange manifestations on the part of Miss Jewsbury toward Mrs. + Carlyle. At one time, when Mrs. Carlyle had shown some preference for + another woman, it led to a wild outburst of what Miss Jewsbury herself + called "tiger jealousy." There are many other instances of violent + emotions in her letters to Mrs. Carlyle. They are often highly charged and + erotic. It is unusual for a woman of thirty-two to write to a woman + friend, who is forty-three years of age, in these words, which Miss + Jewsbury used in writing to Mrs. Carlyle: + </p> + <p> + You are never out of my thoughts one hour together. I think of you much + more than if you were my lover. I cannot express my feelings, even to you—vague, + undefined yearnings to be yours in some way. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Carlyle was accustomed, in private, to speak of Miss Jewsbury as + "Miss Gooseberry," while Carlyle himself said that she was simply "a + flimsy tatter of a creature." But it is on the testimony of this one + woman, who was so morbid and excitable, that the most serious accusations + against Carlyle rest. She knew that Froude was writing a volume about Mrs. + Carlyle, and she rushed to him, eager to furnish any narratives, however + strange, improbable, or salacious they might be. + </p> + <p> + Thus she is the sponsor of the Ashburton story, in which there is nothing + whatsoever. Some of the letters which Lady Ashburton wrote Carlyle have + been destroyed, but not before her husband had perused them. Another set + of letters had never been read by Lord Ashburton at all, and they are + still preserved—friendly, harmless, usual letters. Lord Ashburton + always invited Carlyle to his house, and there is no reason to think that + the Scottish philosopher wronged him. + </p> + <p> + There is much more to be said about the charge that Mrs. Carlyle suffered + from personal abuse; yet when we examine the facts, the evidence resolves + itself into practically nothing. That, in his self-absorption, he allowed + her to Sending Completed Page, Please Wait... overflowed toward a man who + must have been a manly, loving lover. She calls him by the name by which + he called her—a homely Scottish name. + </p> + <p> + GOODY, GOODY, DEAR GOODY: + </p> + <p> + You said you would weary, and I do hope in my heart you are wearying. It + will be so sweet to make it all up to you in kisses when I return. You + will take me and hear all my bits of experiences, and your heart will beat + when you find how I have longed to return to you. Darling, dearest, + loveliest, the Lord bless you! I think of you every hour, every moment. I + love you and admire you, like—like anything. Oh, if I was there, I + could put my arms so close about your neck, and hush you into the softest + sleep you have had since I went away. Good night. Dream of me. I am ever + YOUR OWN GOODY. + </p> + <p> + It seems most fitting to remember Thomas Carlyle as a man of strength, of + honor, and of intellect; and his wife as one who was sorely tried, but who + came out of her suffering into the arms of death, purified and calm and + worthy to be remembered by her husband's side. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF THE HUGOS + </h2> + <p> + Victor Hugo, after all criticisms have been made, stands as a literary + colossus. He had imaginative power which makes his finest passages fairly + crash upon the reader's brain like blasting thunderbolts. His novels, even + when translated, are read and reread by people of every degree of + education. There is something vast, something almost Titanic, about the + grandeur and gorgeousness of his fancy. His prose resembles the sonorous + blare of an immense military band. Readers of English care less for his + poetry; yet in his verse one can find another phase of his intellect. He + could write charmingly, in exquisite cadences, poems for lovers and for + little children. His gifts were varied, and he knew thoroughly the life + and thought of his own countrymen; and, therefore, in his later days he + was almost deified by them. + </p> + <p> + At the same time, there were defects in his intellect and character which + are perceptible in what he wrote, as well as in what he did. He had the + Gallic wit in great measure, but he was absolutely devoid of any sense of + humor. This is why, in both his prose and his poetry, his most tremendous + pages often come perilously near to bombast; and this is why, again, as a + man, his vanity was almost as great as his genius. He had good reason to + be vain, and yet, if he had possessed a gleam of humor, he would never + have allowed his egoism to make him arrogant. As it was, he felt himself + exalted above other mortals. Whatever he did or said or wrote was right + because he did it or said it or wrote it. + </p> + <p> + This often showed itself in rather whimsical ways. Thus, after he had + published the first edition of his novel, The Man Who Laughs, an English + gentleman called upon him, and, after some courteous compliments, + suggested that in subsequent editions the name of an English peer who + figures in the book should be changed from Tom Jim-Jack. + </p> + <p> + "For," said the Englishman, "Tom Jim-Jack is a name that could not + possibly belong to an English noble, or, indeed, to any Englishman. The + presence of it in your powerful story makes it seem to English readers a + little grotesque." + </p> + <p> + Victor Hugo drew himself up with an air of high disdain. + </p> + <p> + "Who are you?" asked he. + </p> + <p> + "I am an Englishman," was the answer, "and naturally I know what names are + possible in English." + </p> + <p> + Hugo drew himself up still higher, and on his face there was a smile of + utter contempt. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," said he. "You are an Englishman; but I—I am Victor Hugo." + </p> + <p> + In another book Hugo had spoken of the Scottish bagpipes as "bugpipes." + This gave some offense to his Scottish admirers. A great many persons told + him that the word was "bagpipes," and not "bugpipes." But he replied with + irritable obstinacy: + </p> + <p> + "I am Victor Hugo; and if I choose to write it 'bugpipes,' it IS + 'bugpipes.' It is anything that I prefer to make it. It is so, because I + call it so!" + </p> + <p> + So, Victor Hugo became a violent republican, because he did not wish + France to be an empire or a kingdom, in which an emperor or a king would + be his superior in rank. He always spoke of Napoleon III as "M. + Bonaparte." He refused to call upon the gentle-mannered Emperor of Brazil, + because he was an emperor; although Dom Pedro expressed an earnest desire + to meet the poet. + </p> + <p> + When the German army was besieging Paris, Hugo proposed to fight a duel + with the King of Prussia, and to have the result of it settle the war; + "for," said he, "the King of Prussia is a great king, but I am Victor + Hugo, the great poet. We are, therefore, equal." + </p> + <p> + In spite, however, of his ardent republicanism, he was very fond of + speaking of his own noble descent. Again and again he styled himself "a + peer of France;" and he and his family made frequent allusions to the + knights and bishops and counselors of state with whom he claimed an + ancestral relation. This was more than inconsistent. It was somewhat + ludicrous; because Victor Hugo's ancestry was by no means noble. The Hugos + of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were not in any way related to + the poet's family, which was eminently honest and respectable, but by no + means one of distinction. His grandfather was a carpenter. One of his + aunts was the wife of a baker, another of a barber, while the third earned + her living as a provincial dressmaker. + </p> + <p> + If the poet had been less vain and more sincerely democratic, he would + have been proud to think that he sprang from good, sound, sturdy stock, + and would have laughed at titles. As it was, he jeered at all pretensions + of rank in other men, while he claimed for himself distinctions that were + not really his. His father was a soldier who rose from the ranks until, + under Napoleon, he reached the grade of general. His mother was the + daughter of a ship owner in Nantes. + </p> + <p> + Victor Hugo was born in February, 1802, during the Napoleonic wars, and + his early years were spent among the camps and within the sound of the + cannon-thunder. It was fitting that he should have been born and reared in + an age of upheaval, revolt, and battle. He was essentially the laureate of + revolt; and in some of his novels—as in Ninety-Three—the drum + and the trumpet roll and ring through every chapter. + </p> + <p> + The present paper has, of course, nothing to do with Hugo's public life; + yet it is necessary to remember the complicated nature of the man—all + his power, all his sweetness of disposition, and likewise all his vanity + and his eccentricities. We must remember, also, that he was French, so + that his story may be interpreted in the light of the French character. + </p> + <p> + At the age of fifteen he was domiciled in Paris, and though still a + schoolboy and destined for the study of law, he dreamed only of poetry and + of literature. He received honorable mention from the French Academy in + 1817, and in the following year took prizes in a poetical competition. At + seventeen he began the publication of a literary journal, which survived + until 1821. His astonishing energy became evident in the many publications + which he put forth in these boyish days. He began to become known. + Although poetry, then as now, was not very profitable even when it was + admired, one of his slender volumes brought him the sum of seven hundred + francs, which seemed to him not only a fortune in itself, but the + forerunner of still greater prosperity. + </p> + <p> + It was at this time, while still only twenty years of age, that he met a + young girl of eighteen with whom he fell rather tempestuously in love. Her + name was Adele Foucher, and she was the daughter of a clerk in the War + Office. When one is very young and also a poet, it takes very little to + feed the flame of passion. Victor Hugo was often a guest at the apartments + of M. Foucher, where he was received by that gentleman and his family. + French etiquette, of course, forbade any direct communication between the + visitor and Adele. She was still a very young girl, and was supposed to + take no share in the conversation. Therefore, while the others talked, she + sat demurely by the fireside and sewed. + </p> + <p> + Her dark eyes and abundant hair, her grace of manner, and the picture + which she made as the firelight played about her, kindled a flame in the + susceptible heart of Victor Hugo. Though he could not speak to her, he at + least could look at her; and, before long, his share in the conversation + was very slight. This was set down, at first, to his absent-mindedness; + but looks can be as eloquent as spoken words. Mme. Foucher, with a woman's + keen intelligence, noted the adoring gaze of Victor Hugo as he silently + watched her daughter. The young Adele herself was no less intuitive than + her mother. It was very well understood, in the course of a few months, + that Victor Hugo was in love with Adele Foucher. + </p> + <p> + Her father and mother took counsel about the matter, and Hugo himself, in + a burst of lyrical eloquence, confessed that he adored Adele and wished to + marry her. Her parents naturally objected. The girl was but a child. She + had no dowry, nor had Victor Hugo any settled income. They were not to + think of marriage. But when did a common-sense decision, such as this, + ever separate a man and a woman who have felt the thrill of first love! + Victor Hugo was insistent. With his supreme self-confidence, he declared + that he was bound to be successful, and that in a very short time he would + be illustrious. Adele, on her side, created "an atmosphere" at home by + weeping frequently, and by going about with hollow eyes and wistful looks. + </p> + <p> + The Foucher family removed from Paris to a country town. Victor Hugo + immediately followed them. Fortunately for him, his poems had attracted + the attention of Louis XVIII, who was flattered by some of the verses. He + sent Hugo five hundred francs for an ode, and soon afterward settled upon + him a pension of a thousand francs. Here at least was an income—a + very small one, to be sure, but still an income. Perhaps Adele's father + was impressed not so much by the actual money as by the evidence of the + royal favor. At any rate, he withdrew his opposition, and the two young + people were married in October, 1822—both of them being under age, + unformed, and immature. + </p> + <p> + Their story is another warning against too early marriage. It is true that + they lived together until Mme. Hugo's death—a married life of + forty-six years—yet their story presents phases which would have + made this impossible had they not been French. + </p> + <p> + For a time, Hugo devoted all his energies to work. The record of his + steady upward progress is a part of the history of literature, and need + not be repeated here. The poet and his wife were soon able to leave the + latter's family abode, and to set up their own household god in a home + which was their own. Around them there were gathered, in a sort of salon, + all the best-known writers of the day—dramatists, critics, poets, + and romancers. The Hugos knew everybody. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, one of their visitors cast into their new life a drop of + corroding bitterness. This intruder was Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, a + man two years younger than Victor Hugo, and one who blended learning, + imagination, and a gift of critical analysis. Sainte-Beuve is to-day best + remembered as a critic, and he was perhaps the greatest critic ever known + in France. But in 1830 he was a slender, insinuating youth who cultivated + a gift for sensuous and somewhat morbid poetry. + </p> + <p> + He had won Victor Hugo's friendship by writing an enthusiastic notice of + Hugo's dramatic works. Hugo, in turn, styled Sainte-Beuve "an eagle," "a + blazing star," and paid him other compliments no less gorgeous and + Hugoesque. But in truth, if Sainte-Beuve frequented the Hugo salon, it was + less because of his admiration for the poet than from his desire to win + the love of the poet's wife. + </p> + <p> + It is quite impossible to say how far he attracted the serious attention + of Adele Hugo. Sainte-Beuve represents a curious type, which is far more + common in France and Italy than in the countries of the north. Human + nature is not very different in cultivated circles anywhere. Man loves, + and seeks to win the object of his love; or, as the old English proverb + has it: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + It's a man's part to try, + And a woman's to deny. +</pre> + <p> + But only in the Latin countries do men who have tried make their attempts + public, and seek to produce an impression that they have been successful, + and that the woman has not denied. This sort of man, in English-speaking + lands, is set down simply as a cad, and is excluded from people's houses; + but in some other countries the thing is regarded with a certain amount of + toleration. We see it in the two books written respectively by Alfred de + Musset and George Sand. We have seen it still later in our own times, in + that strange and half-repulsive story in which the Italian novelist and + poet, Gabriele d'Annunzio, under a very thin disguise, revealed his + relations with the famous actress, Eleanora Duse. Anglo-Saxons thrust such + books aside with a feeling of disgust for the man who could so betray a + sacred confidence and perhaps exaggerate a simple indiscretion into actual + guilt. But it is not so in France and Italy. And this is precisely what + Sainte-Beuve attempted. + </p> + <p> + Dr. George McLean Harper, in his lately published study of Sainte-Beuve, + has summed the matter up admirably, in speaking of The Book of Love: + </p> + <p> + He had the vein of emotional self-disclosure, the vein of romantic or + sentimental confession. This last was not a rich lode, and so he was at + pains to charge it secretly with ore which he exhumed gloatingly, but + which was really base metal. The impulse that led him along this false + route was partly ambition, partly sensuality. Many a worse man would have + been restrained by self-respect and good taste. And no man with a sense of + honor would have permitted The Book of Love to see the light—a small + collection of verses recording his passion for Mme. Hugo, and designed to + implicate her. + </p> + <p> + He left two hundred and five printed copies of this book to be distributed + after his death. A virulent enemy of Sainte-Beuve was not too expressive + when he declared that its purpose was "to leave on the life of this woman + the gleaming and slimy trace which the passage of a snail leaves on a + rose." Abominable in either case, whether or not the implication was + unfounded, Sainte-Beuve's numerous innuendoes in regard to Mme. Hugo are + an indelible stain on his memory, and his infamy not only cost him his + most precious friendships, but crippled him in every high endeavor. + </p> + <p> + How monstrous was this violation of both friendship and love may be seen + in the following quotation from his writings: + </p> + <p> + In that inevitable hour, when the gloomy tempest and the jealous gulf + shall roll over our heads, a sealed bottle, belched forth from the abyss, + will render immortal our two names, their close alliance, and our double + memory aspiring after union. + </p> + <p> + Whether or not Mme. Hugo's relations with Sainte-Beuve justified the + latter even in thinking such thoughts as these, one need not inquire too + minutely. Evidently, though, Victor Hugo could no longer be the friend of + the man who almost openly boasted that he had dishonored him. There exist + some sharp letters which passed between Hugo and Sainte-Beuve. Their + intimacy was ended. + </p> + <p> + But there was something more serious than this. Sainte-Beuve had in fact + succeeded in leaving a taint upon the name of Victor Hugo's wife. That + Hugo did not repudiate her makes it fairly plain that she was innocent; + yet a high-spirited, sensitive soul like Hugo's could never forget that in + the world's eye she was compromised. The two still lived together as + before; but now the poet felt himself released from the strict obligations + of the marriage-bond. + </p> + <p> + It may perhaps be doubted whether he would in any case have remained + faithful all his life. He was, as Mr. H.W. Wack well says, "a man of + powerful sensations, physically as well as mentally. Hugo pursued every + opportunity for new work, new sensations, fresh emotion. He desired to + absorb as much on life's eager forward way as his great nature craved. His + range in all things—mental, physical, and spiritual—was so far + beyond the ordinary that the gage of average cannot be applied to him. The + cavil of the moralist did not disturb him." + </p> + <p> + Hence, it is not improbable that Victor Hugo might have broken through the + bonds of marital fidelity, even had Sainte-Beuve never written his + abnormal poems; but certainly these poems hastened a result which may or + may not have been otherwise inevitable. Hugo no longer turned wholly to + the dark-haired, dark-eyed Adele as summing up for him the whole of + womanhood. A veil was drawn, as it were, from before his eyes, and he + looked on other women and found them beautiful. + </p> + <p> + It was in 1833, soon after Hugo's play "Lucrece Borgia" had been accepted + for production, that a lady called one morning at Hugo's house in the + Place Royale. She was then between twenty and thirty years of age, slight + of figure, winsome in her bearing, and one who knew the arts which appeal + to men. For she was no inexperienced ingenue. The name upon her + visiting-card was "Mme. Drouet"; and by this name she had been known in + Paris as a clever and somewhat gifted actress. Theophile Gautier, whose + cult was the worship of physical beauty, wrote in almost lyric prose of + her seductive charm. + </p> + <p> + At nineteen, after she had been cast upon the world, dowered with that + terrible combination, poverty and beauty, she had lived openly with a + sculptor named Pradier. This has a certain importance in the history of + French art. Pradier had received a commission to execute a statue + representing Strasburg—the statue which stands to-day in the Place + de la Concorde, and which patriotic Frenchmen and Frenchwomen drape in + mourning and half bury in immortelles, in memory of that city of Alsace + which so long was French, but which to-day is German—one of + Germany's great prizes taken in the war of 1870. + </p> + <p> + Five years before her meeting with Hugo, Pradier had rather brutally + severed his connection with her, and she had accepted the protection of a + Russian nobleman. At this time she was known by her real name—Julienne + Josephine Gauvin; but having gone upon the stage, she assumed the + appellation by which she was thereafter known, that of Juliette Drouet. + </p> + <p> + Her visit to Hugo was for the purpose of asking him to secure for her a + part in his forth-coming play. The dramatist was willing, but + unfortunately all the major characters had been provided for, and he was + able to offer her only the minor one of the Princesse Negroni. The + charming deference with which she accepted the offered part attracted + Hugo's attention. Such amiability is very rare in actresses who have had + engagements at the best theaters. He resolved to see her again; and he did + so, time after time, until he was thoroughly captivated by her. + </p> + <p> + She knew her value, and as yet was by no means infatuated with him. At + first he was to her simply a means of getting on in her profession—simply + another influential acquaintance. Yet she brought to bear upon him the + arts at her command, her beauty and her sympathy, and, last of all, her + passionate abandonment. + </p> + <p> + Hugo was overwhelmed by her. He found that she was in debt, and he managed + to see that her debts were paid. He secured her other engagements at the + theater, though she was less successful as an actress after she knew him. + There came, for a time, a short break in their relations; for, partly out + of need, she returned to her Russian nobleman, or at least admitted him to + a menage a trois. Hugo underwent for a second time a great + disillusionment. Nevertheless, he was not too proud to return to her and + to beg her not to be unfaithful any more. Touched by his tears, and + perhaps foreseeing his future fame, she gave her promise, and she kept it + until her death, nearly half a century later. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps because she had deceived him once, Hugo never completely lost his + prudence in his association with her. He was by no means lavish with + money, and he installed her in a rather simple apartment only a short + distance from his own home. He gave her an allowance that was relatively + small, though later he provided for her amply in his will. But it was to + her that he brought all his confidences, to her he entrusted all his + interests. She became to him, thenceforth, much more than she appeared to + the world at large; for she was his friend, and, as he said, his + inspiration. + </p> + <p> + The fact of their intimate connection became gradually known through + Paris. It was known even to Mme. Hugo; but she, remembering the affair of + Sainte-Beuve, or knowing how difficult it is to check the will of a man + like Hugo, made no sign, and even received Juliette Drouet in her own + house and visited her in turn. When the poet's sons grew up to manhood, + they, too, spent many hours with their father in the little salon of the + former actress. It was a strange and, to an Anglo-Saxon mind, an almost + impossible position; yet France forgives much to genius, and in time no + one thought of commenting on Hugo's manner of life. + </p> + <p> + In 1851, when Napoleon III seized upon the government, and when Hugo was + in danger of arrest, she assisted him to escape in disguise, and with a + forged passport, across the Belgian frontier. During his long exile in + Guernsey she lived in the same close relationship to him and to his + family. Mme. Hugo died in 1868, having known for thirty-three years that + she was only second in her husband's thoughts. Was she doing penance, or + was she merely accepting the inevitable? In any case, her position was + most pathetic, though she uttered no complaint. + </p> + <p> + A very curious and poignant picture of her just before her death has been + given by the pen of a visitor in Guernsey. He had met Hugo and his sons; + he had seen the great novelist eating enormous slices of roast beef and + drinking great goblets of red wine at dinner, and he had also watched him + early each morning, divested of all his clothing and splashing about in a + bath-tub on the top of his house, in view of all the town. One evening he + called and found only Mme. Hugo. She was reclining on a couch, and was + evidently suffering great pain. Surprised, he asked where were her husband + and her sons. + </p> + <p> + "Oh," she replied, "they've all gone to Mme. Drouet's to spend the evening + and enjoy themselves. Go also; you'll not find it amusing here." + </p> + <p> + One ponders over this sad scene with conflicting thoughts. Was there + really any truth in the story at which Sainte-Beuve more than hinted? If + so, Adele Hugo was more than punished. The other woman had sinned far + more; and yet she had never been Hugo's wife; and hence perhaps it was + right that she should suffer less. Suffer she did; for after her devotion + to Hugo had become sincere and deep, he betrayed her confidence by an + intrigue with a girl who is spoken of as "Claire." The knowledge of it + caused her infinite anguish, but it all came to an end; and she lived past + her eightieth year, long after the death of Mme. Hugo. She died only a + short time before the poet himself was laid to rest in Paris with + magnificent obsequies which an emperor might have envied. In her old age, + Juliette Drouet became very white and very wan; yet she never quite lost + the charm with which, as a girl, she had won the heart of Hugo. + </p> + <p> + The story has many aspects. One may see in it a retribution, or one may + see in it only the cruelty of life. Perhaps it is best regarded simply as + a chapter in the strange life-histories of men of genius. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE STORY OF GEORGE SAND + </h2> + <p> + To the student of feminine psychology there is no more curious and complex + problem than the one that meets us in the life of the gifted French writer + best known to the world as George Sand. + </p> + <p> + To analyze this woman simply as a writer would in itself be a long, + difficult task. She wrote voluminously, with a fluid rather than a fluent + pen. She scandalized her contemporaries by her theories, and by the way in + which she applied them in her novels. Her fiction made her, in the history + of French literature, second only to Victor Hugo. She might even challenge + Hugo, because where he depicts strange and monstrous figures, exaggerated + beyond the limits of actual life, George Sand portrays living men and + women, whose instincts and desires she understands, and whom she makes us + see precisely as if we were admitted to their intimacy. + </p> + <p> + But George Sand puzzles us most by peculiarities which it is difficult for + us to reconcile. She seemed to have no sense of chastity whatever; yet, on + the other hand, she was not grossly sensual. She possessed the maternal + instinct to a high degree, and liked better to be a mother than a mistress + to the men whose love she sought. For she did seek men's love, frankly and + shamelessly, only to tire of it. In many cases she seems to have been + swayed by vanity, and by a love of conquest, rather than by passion. She + had also a spiritual, imaginative side to her nature, and she could be a + far better comrade than anything more intimate. + </p> + <p> + The name given to this strange genius at birth was Amantine Lucile Aurore + Dupin. The circumstances of her ancestry and birth were quite unusual. Her + father was a lieutenant in the French army. His grandmother had been the + natural daughter of Marshal Saxe, who was himself the illegitimate son of + Augustus the Strong of Poland and of the bewitching Countess of + Konigsmarck. This was a curious pedigree. It meant strength of character, + eroticism, stubbornness, imagination, courage, and recklessness. + </p> + <p> + Her father complicated the matter by marrying suddenly a Parisian of the + lower classes, a bird-fancier named Sophie Delaborde. His daughter, who + was born in 1804, used afterward to boast that on one side she was sprung + from kings and nobles, while on the other she was a daughter of the + people, able, therefore, to understand the sentiments of the aristocracy + and of the children of the soil, or even of the gutter. + </p> + <p> + She was fond of telling, also, of the omen which attended on her birth. + Her father and mother were at a country dance in the house of a fellow + officer of Dupin's. Suddenly Mme. Dupin left the room. Nothing was thought + of this, and the dance went on. In less than an hour, Dupin was called + aside and told that his wife had just given birth to a child. It was the + child's aunt who brought the news, with the joyous comment: + </p> + <p> + "She will be lucky, for she was born among the roses and to the sound of + music." + </p> + <p> + This was at the time of the Napoleonic wars. Lieutenant Dupin was on the + staff of Prince Murat, and little Aurore, as she was called, at the age of + three accompanied the army, as did her mother. The child was adopted by + one of those hard-fighting, veteran regiments. The rough old sergeants + nursed her and petted her. Even the prince took notice of her; and to + please him she wore the green uniform of a hussar. + </p> + <p> + But all this soon passed, and she was presently sent to live with her + grandmother at the estate now intimately associated with her name—Nohant, + in the valley of the Indre, in the midst of a rich country, a love for + which she then drank in so deeply that nothing in her later life could + lessen it. She was always the friend of the peasant and of the + country-folk in general. + </p> + <p> + At Nohant she was given over to her grand-mother, to be reared in a + strangely desultory sort of fashion, doing and reading and studying those + things which could best develop her native gifts. Her father had great + influence over her, teaching her a thousand things without seeming to + teach her anything. Of him George Sand herself has written: + </p> + <p> + Character is a matter of heredity. If any one desires to know me, he must + know my father. + </p> + <p> + Her father, however, was killed by a fall from a horse; and then the child + grew up almost without any formal education. A tutor, who also managed the + estate; believed with Rousseau that the young should be reared according + to their own preferences. Therefore, Aurore read poems and childish + stories; she gained a smattering of Latin, and she was devoted to music + and the elements of natural science. For the rest of the time she rambled + with the country children, learned their games, and became a sort of + leader in everything they did. + </p> + <p> + Her only sorrow was the fact that her mother was excluded from Nohant. The + aristocratic old grandmother would not allow under her roof her son's + low-born wife; but she was devoted to her little grandchild. The girl + showed a wonderful degree of sensibility. + </p> + <p> + This life was adapted to her nature. She fed her imagination in a + perfectly healthy fashion; and, living so much out of doors, she acquired + that sound physique which she retained all through her life. + </p> + <p> + When she was thirteen, her grandmother sent the girl to a convent school + in Paris. One might suppose that the sudden change from the open woods and + fields to the primness of a religious home would have been a great shock + to her, and that with her disposition she might have broken out into wild + ways that would have shocked the nuns. But, here, as elsewhere, she showed + her wonderful adaptability. It even seemed as if she were likely to become + what the French call a devote. She gave herself up to mythical thoughts, + and expressed a desire of taking the veil. Her confessor, however, was a + keen student of human nature, and he perceived that she was too young to + decide upon the renunciation of earthly things. Moreover, her grandmother, + who had no intention that Aurore should become a nun, hastened to Paris + and carried her back to Nohant. + </p> + <p> + The girl was now sixteen, and her complicated nature began to make itself + apparent. There was no one to control her, because her grandmother was + confined to her own room. And so Aurore Dupin, now in superb health, + rushed into every sort of diversion with all the zest of youth. She read + voraciously—religion, poetry, philosophy. She was an excellent + musician, playing the piano and the harp. Once, in a spirit of unconscious + egotism, she wrote to her confessor: + </p> + <p> + Do you think that my philosophical studies are compatible with Christian + humility? + </p> + <p> + The shrewd ecclesiastic answered, with a touch of wholesome irony: + </p> + <p> + I doubt, my daughter, whether your philosophical studies are profound + enough to warrant intellectual pride. + </p> + <p> + This stung the girl, and led her to think a little less of her own + abilities; but perhaps it made her books distasteful to her. For a while + she seems to have almost forgotten her sex. She began to dress as a boy, + and took to smoking large quantities of tobacco. Her natural brother, who + was an officer in the army, came down to Nohant and taught her to ride—to + ride like a boy, seated astride. She went about without any chaperon, and + flirted with the young men of the neighborhood. The prim manners of the + place made her subject to a certain amount of scandal, and the village + priest chided her in language that was far from tactful. In return she + refused any longer to attend his church. + </p> + <p> + Thus she was living when her grandmother died, in 1821, leaving to Aurore + her entire fortune of five hundred thousand francs. As the girl was still + but seventeen, she was placed under the guardianship of the nearest + relative on her father's side—a gentleman of rank. When the will was + read, Aurore's mother made a violent protest, and caused a most unpleasant + scene. + </p> + <p> + "I am the natural guardian of my child," she cried. "No one can take away + my rights!" + </p> + <p> + The young girl well understood that this was really the parting of the + ways. If she turned toward her uncle, she would be forever classed among + the aristocracy. If she chose her mother, who, though married, was + essentially a grisette, then she must live with grisettes, and find her + friends among the friends who visited her mother. She could not belong to + both worlds. She must decide once for all whether she would be a woman of + rank or a woman entirely separated from the circle that had been her + father's. + </p> + <p> + One must respect the girl for making the choice she did. Understanding the + situation absolutely, she chose her mother; and perhaps one would not have + had her do otherwise. Yet in the long run it was bound to be a mistake. + Aurore was clever, refined, well read, and had had the training of a + fashionable convent school. The mother was ignorant and coarse, as was + inevitable, with one who before her marriage had been half shop-girl and + half courtesan. The two could not live long together, and hence it was not + unnatural that Aurore Dupin should marry, to enter upon a new career. + </p> + <p> + Her fortune was a fairly large one for the times, and yet not large enough + to attract men who were quite her equals. Presently, however, it brought + to her a sort of country squire, named Casimir Dudevant. He was the + illegitimate son of the Baron Dudevant. He had been in the army, and had + studied law; but he possessed no intellectual tastes. He was outwardly + eligible; but he was of a coarse type—a man who, with passing years, + would be likely to take to drink and vicious amusements, and in serious + life cared only for his cattle, his horses, and his hunting. He had, + however, a sort of jollity about him which appealed to this girl of + eighteen; and so a marriage was arranged. Aurore Dupin became his wife in + 1822, and he secured the control of her fortune. + </p> + <p> + The first few years after her marriage were not unhappy. She had a son, + Maurice Dudevant, and a daughter, Solange, and she loved them both. But it + was impossible that she should continue vegetating mentally upon a farm + with a husband who was a fool, a drunkard, and a miser. He deteriorated; + his wife grew more and more clever. Dudevant resented this. It made him + uncomfortable. Other persons spoke of her talk as brilliant. He bluntly + told her that it was silly, and that she must stop it. When she did not + stop it, he boxed her ears. This caused a breach between the pair which + was never healed. Dudevant drank more and more heavily, and jeered at his + wife because she was "always looking for noon at fourteen o'clock." He had + always flirted with the country girls; but now he openly consorted with + his wife's chambermaid. + </p> + <p> + Mme. Dudevant, on her side, would have nothing more to do with this rustic + rake. She formed what she called a platonic friendship—and it was + really so—with a certain M. de Seze, who was advocate-general at + Bordeaux. With him this clever woman could talk without being called + silly, and he took sincere pleasure in her company. He might, in fact, + have gone much further, had not both of them been in an impossible + situation. + </p> + <p> + Aurore Dudevant really believed that she was swayed by a pure and mystic + passion. De Seze, on the other hand, believed this mystic passion to be + genuine love. Coming to visit her at Nohant, he was revolted by the + clownish husband with whom she lived. It gave him an esthetic shock to see + that she had borne children to this boor. Therefore he shrank back from + her, and in time their relation faded into nothingness. + </p> + <p> + It happened, soon after, that she found a packet in her husband's desk, + marked "Not to be opened until after my death." She wrote of this in her + correspondence: + </p> + <p> + I had not the patience to wait till widowhood. No one can be sure of + surviving anybody. I assumed that my husband had died, and I was very glad + to learn what he thought of me while he was alive. Since the package was + addressed to me, it was not dishonorable for me to open it. + </p> + <p> + And so she opened it. It proved to be his will, but containing, as a + preamble, his curses on her, expressions of contempt, and all the vulgar + outpouring of an evil temper and angry passion. She went to her husband as + he was opening a bottle, and flung the document upon the table. He cowered + at her glance, at her firmness, and at her cold hatred. He grumbled and + argued and entreated; but all that his wife would say in answer was: + </p> + <p> + "I must have an allowance. I am going to Paris, and my children are to + remain here." + </p> + <p> + At last he yielded, and she went at once to Paris, taking her daughter + with her, and having the promise of fifteen hundred francs a year out of + the half-million that was hers by right. + </p> + <p> + In Paris she developed into a thorough-paced Bohemian. She tried to make a + living in sundry hopeless ways, and at last she took to literature. She + was living in a garret, with little to eat, and sometimes without a fire + in winter. She had some friends who helped her as well as they could, but + though she was attached to the Figaro, her earnings for the first month + amounted to only fifteen francs. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, she would not despair. The editors and publishers might turn + the cold shoulder to her, but she would not give up her ambitions. She + went down into the Latin Quarter, and there shook off the proprieties of + life. She assumed the garb of a man, and with her quick perception she + came to know the left bank of the Seine just as she had known the + country-side at Nohant or the little world at her convent school. She + never expected again to see any woman of her own rank in life. Her + mother's influence became strong in her. She wrote: + </p> + <p> + The proprieties are the guiding principle of people without soul and + virtue. The good opinion of the world is a prostitute who gives herself to + the highest bidder. + </p> + <p> + She still pursued her trade of journalism, calling herself a "newspaper + mechanic," sitting all day in the office of the Figaro and writing + whatever was demanded, while at night she would prowl in the streets + haunting the cafes, continuing to dress like a man, drinking sour wine, + and smoking cheap cigars. + </p> + <p> + One of her companions in this sort of hand-to-mouth journalism was a young + student and writer named Jules Sandeau, a man seven years younger than his + comrade. He was at that time as indigent as she, and their hardships, + shared in common, brought them very close together. He was clever, boyish, + and sensitive, and it was not long before he had fallen at her feet and + kissed her knees, begging that she would requite the love he felt for her. + According to herself, she resisted him for six months, and then at last + she yielded. The two made their home together, and for a while were + wonderfully happy. Their work and their diversions they enjoyed in common, + and now for the first time she experienced emotions which in all + probability she had never known before. + </p> + <p> + Probably not very much importance is to be given to the earlier + flirtations of George Sand, though she herself never tried to stop the + mouth of scandal. Even before she left her husband, she was credited with + having four lovers; but all she said, when the report was brought to her, + was this: "Four lovers are none too many for one with such lively passions + as mine." + </p> + <p> + This very frankness makes it likely that she enjoyed shocking her prim + neighbors at Nohant. But if she only played at love-making then, she now + gave herself up to it with entire abandonment, intoxicated, fascinated, + satisfied. She herself wrote: + </p> + <p> + How I wish I could impart to you this sense of the intensity and + joyousness of life that I have in my veins. To live! How sweet it is, and + how good, in spite of annoyances, husbands, debts, relations, + scandal-mongers, sufferings, and irritations! To live! It is intoxicating! + To love, and to be loved! It is happiness! It is heaven! + </p> + <p> + In collaboration with Jules Sandeau, she wrote a novel called Rose et + Blanche. The two lovers were uncertain what name to place upon the + title-page, but finally they hit upon the pseudonym of Jules Sand. The + book succeeded; but thereafter each of them wrote separately, Jules + Sandeau using his own name, and Mme. Dudevant styling herself George Sand, + a name by which she was to be illustrious ever after. + </p> + <p> + As a novelist, she had found her real vocation. She was not yet well + known, but she was on the verge of fame. As soon as she had written + Indiana and Valentine, George Sand had secured a place in the world of + letters. The magazine which still exists as the Revue des Deux Mondes gave + her a retaining fee of four thousand francs a year, and many other + publications begged her to write serial stories for them. + </p> + <p> + The vein which ran through all her stories was new and piquant. As was + said of her: + </p> + <p> + In George Sand, whenever a lady wishes to change her lover, God is always + there to make the transfer easy. + </p> + <p> + In other words, she preached free love in the name of religion. This was + not a new doctrine with her. After the first break with her husband, she + had made up her mind about certain matters, and wrote: + </p> + <p> + One is no more justified in claiming the ownership of a soul than in + claiming the ownership of a slave. + </p> + <p> + According to her, the ties between a man and a woman are sacred only when + they are sanctified by love; and she distinguished between love and + passion in this epigram: + </p> + <p> + Love seeks to give, while passion seeks to take. + </p> + <p> + At this time, George Sand was in her twenty-seventh year. She was not + beautiful, though there was something about her which attracted + observation. Of middle height, she was fairly slender. Her eyes were + somewhat projecting, and her mouth was almost sullen when in repose. Her + manners were peculiar, combining boldness with timidity. Her address was + almost as familiar as a man's, so that it was easy to be acquainted with + her; yet a certain haughtiness and a touch of aristocratic pride made it + plain that she had drawn a line which none must pass without her wish. + When she was deeply stirred, however, she burst forth into an + extraordinary vivacity, showing a nature richly endowed and eager to yield + its treasures. + </p> + <p> + The existence which she now led was a curious one. She still visited her + husband at Nohant, so that she might see her son, and sometimes, when M. + Dudevant came to town, he called upon her in the apartments which she + shared with Jules Sandeau. He had accepted the situation, and with his + crudeness and lack of feeling he seemed to think it, if not natural, at + least diverting. At any rate, so long as he could retain her half-million + francs, he was not the man to make trouble about his former wife's + arrangements. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, there began to be perceptible the very slightest rift within + the lute of her romance. Was her love for Sandeau really love, or was it + only passion? In his absence, at any rate, the old obsession still + continued. Here we see, first of all, intense pleasure shading off into a + sort of maternal fondness. She sends Sandeau adoring letters. She is + afraid that his delicate appetite is not properly satisfied. + </p> + <p> + Yet, again, there are times when she feels that he is irritating and ill. + Those who knew them said that her nature was too passionate and her love + was too exacting for him. One of her letters seems to make this plain. She + writes that she feels uneasy, and even frightfully remorseful, at seeing + Sandeau "pine away." She knows, she avows, that she is killing him, that + her caresses are a poison, and her love a consuming fire. + </p> + <p> + It is an appalling thought, and Jules will not understand it. He laughs at + it; and when, in the midst of his transports of delight, the idea comes to + me and makes my blood run cold, he tells me that here is the death that he + would like to die. At such moments he promises whatever I make him + promise. + </p> + <p> + This letter throws a clear light upon the nature of George Sand's + temperament. It will be found all through her career, not only that she + sought to inspire passion, but that she strove to gratify it after + fashions of her own. One little passage from a description of her written + by the younger Dumas will perhaps make this phase of her character more + intelligible, without going further than is strictly necessary: + </p> + <p> + Mme. Sand has little hands without any bones, soft and plump. She is by + destiny a woman of excessive curiosity, always disappointed, always + deceived in her incessant investigation, but she is not fundamentally + ardent. In vain would she like to be so, but she does not find it + possible. Her physical nature utterly refuses. + </p> + <p> + The reader will find in all that has now been said the true explanation of + George Sand. Abounding with life, but incapable of long stretches of + ardent love, she became a woman who sought conquests everywhere without + giving in return more than her temperament made it possible for her to do. + She loved Sandeau as much as she ever loved any man; and yet she left him + with a sense that she had never become wholly his. Perhaps this is the + reason why their romance came to an end abruptly, and not altogether + fittingly. + </p> + <p> + She had been spending a short time at Nohant, and came to Paris without + announcement. She intended to surprise her lover, and she surely did so. + She found him in the apartment that had been theirs, with his arms about + an attractive laundry-girl. Thus closed what was probably the only true + romance in the life of George Sand. Afterward she had many lovers, but to + no one did she so nearly become a true mate. + </p> + <p> + As it was, she ended her association with Sandeau, and each pursued a + separate path to fame. Sandeau afterward became a well-known novelist and + dramatist. He was, in fact, the first writer of fiction who was admitted + to the French Academy. The woman to whom he had been unfaithful became + greater still, because her fame was not only national, but cosmopolitan. + </p> + <p> + For a time after her deception by Sandeau, she felt absolutely devoid of + all emotions. She shunned men, and sought the friendship of Marie Dorval, + a clever actress who was destined afterward to break the heart of Alfred + de Vigny. The two went down into the country; and there George Sand wrote + hour after hour, sitting by her fireside, and showing herself a tender + mother to her little daughter Solange. + </p> + <p> + This life lasted for a while, but it was not the sort of life that would + now content her. She had many visitors from Paris, among them + Sainte-Beuve, the critic, who brought with him Prosper Merimee, then + unknown, but later famous as master of revels to the third Napoleon and as + the author of Carmen. Merimee had a certain fascination of manner, and the + predatory instincts of George Sand were again aroused. One day, when she + felt bored and desperate, Merimee paid his court to her, and she listened + to him. This is one of the most remarkable of her intimacies, since it + began, continued, and ended all in the space of a single week. When + Merimee left Nohant, he was destined never again to see George Sand, + except long afterward at a dinner-party, where the two stared at each + other sharply, but did not speak. This affair, however, made it plain that + she could not long remain at Nohant, and that she pined for Paris. + </p> + <p> + Returning thither, she is said to have set her cap at Victor Hugo, who + was, however, too much in love with himself to care for any one, + especially a woman who was his literary rival. She is said for a time to + have been allied with Gustave Planche, a dramatic critic; but she always + denied this, and her denial may be taken as quite truthful. Soon, however, + she was to begin an episode which has been more famous than any other in + her curious history, for she met Alfred de Musset, then a youth of + twenty-three, but already well known for his poems and his plays. + </p> + <p> + Musset was of noble birth. He would probably have been better for a + plebeian strain, since there was in him a touch of the degenerate. His + mother's father had published a humanitarian poem on cats. His great-uncle + had written a peculiar novel. Young Alfred was nervous, delicate, slightly + epileptic, and it is certain that he was given to dissipation, which so + far had affected his health only by making him hysterical. He was an + exceedingly handsome youth, with exquisite manners, "dreamy rather than + dazzling eyes, dilated nostrils, and vermilion lips half opened." Such was + he when George Sand, then seven years his senior, met him. + </p> + <p> + There is something which, to the Anglo-Saxon mind, seems far more absurd + than pathetic about the events which presently took place. A woman like + George Sand at thirty was practically twice the age of this nervous boy of + twenty-three, who had as yet seen little of the world. At first she seemed + to realize the fact herself; but her vanity led her to begin an intrigue, + which must have been almost wholly without excitement on her part, but + which to him, for a time, was everything in the world. + </p> + <p> + Experimenting, as usual, after the fashion described by Dumas, she went + with De Musset for a "honeymoon" to Fontainebleau. But they could not stay + there forever, and presently they decided upon a journey to Italy. Before + they went, however, they thought it necessary to get formal permission + from Alfred's mother! + </p> + <p> + Naturally enough, Mme. de Musset refused consent. She had read George + Sand's romances, and had asked scornfully: + </p> + <p> + "Has the woman never in her life met a gentleman?" + </p> + <p> + She accepted the relations between them, but that she should be asked to + sanction this sort of affair was rather too much, even for a French mother + who has become accustomed to many strange things. Then there was a curious + happening. At nine o'clock at night, George Sand took a cab and drove to + the house of Mme. de Musset, to whom she sent up a message that a lady + wished to see her. Mme. de Musset came down, and, finding a woman alone in + a carriage, she entered it. Then George Sand burst forth in a torrent of + sentimental eloquence. She overpowered her lover's mother, promised to + take great care of the delicate youth, and finally drove away to meet + Alfred at the coach-yard. + </p> + <p> + They started off in the mist, their coach being the thirteenth to leave + the yard; but the two lovers were in a merry mood, and enjoyed themselves + all the way from Paris to Marseilles. By steamer they went to Leghorn; and + finally, in January, 1834, they took an apartment in a hotel at Venice. + What had happened that their arrival in Venice should be the beginning of + a quarrel, no one knows. George Sand has told the story, and Paul de + Musset—Alfred's brother—has told the story, but each of them + has doubtless omitted a large part of the truth. + </p> + <p> + It is likely that on their long journey each had learned too much of the + other. Thus, Paul de Musset says that George Sand made herself outrageous + by her conversation, telling every one of her mother's adventures in the + army of Italy, including her relations with the general-in-chief. She also + declared that she herself was born within a month of her parents' + wedding-day. Very likely she did say all these things, whether they were + true or not. She had set herself to wage war against conventional society, + and she did everything to shock it. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, Alfred de Musset fell ill after having lost ten + thousand francs in a gambling-house. George Sand was not fond of persons + who were ill. She herself was working like a horse, writing from eight to + thirteen hours a day. When Musset collapsed she sent for a handsome young + Italian doctor named Pagello, with whom she had struck up a casual + acquaintance. He finally cured Musset, but he also cured George Sand of + any love for Musset. + </p> + <p> + Before long she and Pagello were on their way back to Paris, leaving the + poor, fevered, whimpering poet to bite his nails and think unutterable + things. But he ought to have known George Sand. After that, everybody knew + her. They knew just how much she cared when she professed to care, and + when she acted as she acted with Pagello no earlier lover had any one but + himself to blame. + </p> + <p> + Only sentimentalists can take this story seriously. To them it has a sort + of morbid interest. They like to picture Musset raving and shouting in his + delirium, and then, to read how George Sand sat on Pagello's knees, + kissing him and drinking out of the same cup. But to the healthy mind the + whole story is repulsive—from George Sand's appeal to Mme. de Musset + down to the very end, when Pagello came to Paris, where his broken French + excited a polite ridicule. + </p> + <p> + There was a touch of genuine sentiment about the affair with Jules + Sandeau; but after that, one can only see in George Sand a half-libidinous + grisette, such as her mother was before her, with a perfect willingness to + experiment in every form of lawless love. As for Musset, whose heart she + was supposed to have broken, within a year he was dangling after the + famous singer, Mme. Malibran, and writing poems to her which advertised + their intrigue. + </p> + <p> + After this episode with Pagello, it cannot be said that the life of George + Sand was edifying in any respect, because no one can assume that she was + sincere. She had loved Jules Sandeau as much as she could love any one, + but all the rest of her intrigues and affinities were in the nature of + experiments. She even took back Alfred de Musset, although they could + never again regard each other without suspicion. George Sand cut off all + her hair and gave it to Musset, so eager was she to keep him as a matter + of conquest; but he was tired of her, and even this theatrical trick was + of no avail. + </p> + <p> + She proceeded to other less known and less humiliating adventures. She + tried to fascinate the artist Delacroix. She set her cap at Franz Liszt, + who rather astonished her by saying that only God was worthy to be loved. + She expressed a yearning for the affections of the elder Dumas; but that + good-natured giant laughed at her, and in fact gave her some sound advice, + and let her smoke unsentimentally in his study. She was a good deal taken + with a noisy demagogue named Michel, a lawyer at Bourges, who on one + occasion shut her up in her room and harangued her on sociology until she + was as weary of his talk as of his wooden shoes, his shapeless greatcoat, + his spectacles, and his skull-cap, Balzac felt her fascination, but cared + nothing for her, since his love was given to Mme. Hanska. + </p> + <p> + In the meanwhile, she was paying visits to her husband at Nohant, where + she wrangled with him over money matters, and where he would once have + shot her had the guests present not interfered. She secured her dowry by + litigation, so that she was well off, even without her literary earnings. + These were by no means so large as one would think from her popularity and + from the number of books she wrote. It is estimated that her whole gains + amounted to about a million francs, extending over a period of forty-five + years. It is just half the amount that Trollope earned in about the same + period, and justifies his remark—"adequate, but not splendid." + </p> + <p> + One of those brief and strange intimacies that marked the career of George + Sand came about in a curious way. Octave Feuillet, a man of aristocratic + birth, had set himself to write novels which portrayed the cynicism and + hardness of the upper classes in France. One of these novels, Sibylle, + excited the anger of George Sand. She had not known Feuillet before; yet + now she sought him out, at first in order to berate him for his book, but + in the end to add him to her variegated string of lovers. + </p> + <p> + It has been said of Feuillet that he was a sort of "domesticated Musset." + At any rate, he was far less sensitive than Musset, and George Sand was + about seventeen years his senior. They parted after a short time, she + going her way as a writer of novels that were very different from her + earlier ones, while Feuillet grew more and more cynical and even stern, as + he lashed the abnormal, neuropathic men and women about him. + </p> + <p> + The last great emotional crisis in George Sand's life was that which + centers around her relations with Frederic Chopin. Chopin was the greatest + genius who ever loved her. It is rather odd that he loved her. She had + known him for two years, and had not seriously thought of him, though + there is a story that when she first met him she kissed him before he had + even been presented to her. She waited two years, and in those two years + she had three lovers. Then at last she once more met Chopin, when he was + in a state of melancholy, because a Polish girl had proved unfaithful to + him. + </p> + <p> + It was the psychological moment; for this other woman, who was a devourer + of hearts, found him at a piano, improvising a lamentation. George Sand + stood beside him, listening. When he finished and looked up at her, their + eyes met. She bent down without a word and kissed him on the lips. + </p> + <p> + What was she like when he saw her then? Grenier has described her in these + words: + </p> + <p> + She was short and stout, but her face attracted all my attention, the eyes + especially. They were wonderful eyes—a little too close together, it + may be, large, with full eyelids, and black, very black, but by no means + lustrous; they reminded me of unpolished marble, or rather of velvet, and + this gave a strange, dull, even cold expression to her countenance. Her + fine eyebrows and these great placid eyes gave her an air of strength and + dignity which was not borne out by the lower part of her face. Her nose + was rather thick and not over shapely. Her mouth was also rather coarse, + and her chin small. She spoke with great simplicity, and her manners were + very quiet. + </p> + <p> + Such as she was, she attached herself to Chopin for eight years. At first + they traveled together very quietly to Majorca; and there, just as Musset + had fallen ill at Venice, Chopin became feverish and an invalid. "Chopin + coughs most gracefully," George Sand wrote of him, and again: + </p> + <p> + Chopin is the most inconstant of men. There is nothing permanent about him + but his cough. + </p> + <p> + It is not surprising if her nerves sometimes gave way. Acting as sick + nurse, writing herself with rheumatic fingers, robbed by every one about + her, and viewed with suspicion by the peasants because she did not go to + church, she may be perhaps excused for her sharp words when, in fact, her + deeds were kind. + </p> + <p> + Afterward, with Chopin, she returned to Paris, and the two lived openly + together for seven years longer. An immense literature has grown around + the subject of their relations. To this literature George Sand herself + contributed very largely. Chopin never wrote a word; but what he failed to + do, his friends and pupils did unsparingly. + </p> + <p> + Probably the truth is somewhat as one might expect. During the first + period of fascination, George Sand was to Chopin what she had been to + Sandeau and to Musset; and with her strange and subtle ways, she had + undermined his health. But afterward that sort of love died out, and was + succeeded by something like friendship. At any rate, this woman showed, as + she had shown to others, a vast maternal kindness. She writes to him + finally as "your old woman," and she does wonders in the way of nursing + and care. + </p> + <p> + But in 1847 came a break between the two. Whatever the mystery of it may + be, it turns upon what Chopin said of Sand: + </p> + <p> + "I have never cursed any one, but now I am so weary of life that I am near + cursing her. Yet she suffers, too, and more, because she grows older as + she grows more wicked." + </p> + <p> + In 1848, Chopin gave his last concert in Paris, and in 1849 he died. + According to some, he was the victim of a Messalina. According to others, + it was only "Messalina" that had kept him alive so long. + </p> + <p> + However, with his death came a change in the nature of George Sand. + Emotionally, she was an extinct volcano. Intellectually, she was at her + very best. She no longer tore passions into tatters, but wrote naturally, + simply, stories of country life and tales for children. In one of her + books she has given an enduring picture of the Franco-Prussian War. There + are many rather pleasant descriptions of her then, living at Nohant, where + she made a curious figure, bustling about in ill-fitting costumes, and + smoking interminable cigarettes. + </p> + <p> + She had lived much, and she had drunk deep of life, when she died in 1876. + One might believe her to have been only a woman of perpetual liaisons. + Externally she was this, and yet what did Balzac, that great master of + human psychology, write of her in the intimacy of a private + correspondence? + </p> + <p> + She is a female bachelor. She is an artist. She is generous. She is + devoted. She is chaste. Her dominant characteristics are those of a man, + and therefore, she is not to be regarded as a woman. She is an excellent + mother, adored by her children. Morally, she is like a lad of twenty; for + in her heart of hearts, she is more than chaste—she is a prude. It + is only in externals that she comports herself as a Bohemian. All her + follies are titles to glory in the eyes of those whose souls are noble. + </p> + <p> + A curious verdict this! Her love-life seems almost that of neither man nor + woman, but of an animal. Yet whether she was in reality responsible for + what she did, when we consider her strange heredity, her wretched + marriage, the disillusions of her early life—who shall sit in + judgment on her, since who knows all? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0032" id="link2H_4_0032"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE MYSTERY OF CHARLES DICKENS + </h2> + <p> + Perhaps no public man in the English-speaking world, in the last century, + was so widely and intimately known as Charles Dickens. From his eighteenth + year, when he won his first success in journalism, down through his series + of brilliant triumphs in fiction, he was more and more a conspicuous + figure, living in the blaze of an intense publicity. He met every one and + knew every one, and was the companion of every kind of man and woman. He + loved to frequent the "caves of harmony" which Thackeray has immortalized, + and he was a member of all the best Bohemian clubs of London. Actors, + authors, good fellows generally, were his intimate friends, and his + acquaintance extended far beyond into the homes of merchants and lawyers + and the mansions of the proudest nobles. Indeed, he seemed to be almost a + universal friend. + </p> + <p> + One remembers, for instance, how he was called in to arbitrate between + Thackeray and George Augustus Sala, who had quarreled. One remembers how + Lord Byron's daughter, Lady Lovelace, when upon her sick-bed, used to send + for Dickens because there was something in his genial, sympathetic manner + that soothed her. Crushing pieces of ice between her teeth in agony, she + would speak to him and he would answer her in his rich, manly tones until + she was comforted and felt able to endure more hours of pain without + complaint. + </p> + <p> + Dickens was a jovial soul. His books fairly steam with Christmas cheer and + hot punch and the savor of plum puddings, very much as do his letters to + his intimate friends. Everybody knew Dickens. He could not dine in public + without attracting attention. When he left the dining-room, his admirers + would descend upon his table and carry off egg-shells, orange-peels, and + other things that remained behind, so that they might have memorials of + this much-loved writer. Those who knew him only by sight would often stop + him in the streets and ask the privilege of shaking hands with him; so + different was he from—let us say—Tennyson, who was as great an + Englishman in his way as Dickens, but who kept himself aloof and saw few + strangers. + </p> + <p> + It is hard to associate anything like mystery with Dickens, though he was + fond of mystery as an intellectual diversion, and his last unfinished + novel was The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Moreover, no one admired more than + he those complex plots which Wilkie Collins used to weave under the + influence of laudanum. But as for his own life, it seemed so normal, so + free from anything approaching mystery, that we can scarcely believe it to + have been tinged with darker colors than those which appeared upon the + surface. + </p> + <p> + A part of this mystery is plain enough. The other part is still obscure—or + of such a character that one does not care to bring it wholly to the + light. It had to do with his various relations with women. + </p> + <p> + The world at large thinks that it knows this chapter in the life of + Dickens, and that it refers wholly to his unfortunate disagreement with + his wife. To be sure, this is a chapter that is writ large in all of his + biographies, and yet it is nowhere correctly told. His chosen biographer + was John Forster, whose Life of Charles Dickens, in three volumes, must + remain a standard work; but even Forster—we may assume through tact—has + not set down all that he could, although he gives a clue. + </p> + <p> + As is well known, Dickens married Miss Catherine Hogarth when he was only + twenty-four. He had just published his Sketches by Boz, the copyright of + which he sold for one hundred pounds, and was beginning the Pickwick + Papers. About this time his publisher brought N. P. Willis down to + Furnival's Inn to see the man whom Willis called "a young paragraphist for + the Morning Chronicle." Willis thus sketches Dickens and his surroundings: + </p> + <p> + In the most crowded part of Holborn, within a door or two of the Bull and + Mouth Inn, we pulled up at the entrance of a large building used for + lawyers' chambers. I followed by a long flight of stairs to an upper + story, and was ushered into an uncarpeted and bleak-looking room, with a + deal table, two or three chairs and a few books, a small boy and Mr. + Dickens for the contents. + </p> + <p> + I was only struck at first with one thing—and I made a memorandum of + it that evening as the strongest instance I had seen of English + obsequiousness to employers—the degree to which the poor author was + overpowered with the honor of his publisher's visit! I remember saying to + myself, as I sat down on a rickety chair: + </p> + <p> + "My good fellow, if you were in America with that fine face and your ready + quill, you would have no need to be condescended to by a publisher." + </p> + <p> + Dickens was dressed very much as he has since described Dick Swiveller, + minus the swell look. His hair was cropped close to his head, his clothes + scant, though jauntily cut, and, after changing a ragged office-coat for a + shabby blue, he stood by the door, collarless and buttoned up, the very + personification of a close sailer to the wind. + </p> + <p> + Before this interview with Willis, which Dickens always repudiated, he had + become something of a celebrity among the newspaper men with whom he + worked as a stenographer. As every one knows, he had had a hard time in + his early years, working in a blacking-shop, and feeling too keenly the + ignominious position of which a less sensitive boy would probably have + thought nothing. Then he became a shorthand reporter, and was busy at his + work, so that he had little time for amusements. + </p> + <p> + It has been generally supposed that no love-affair entered his life until + he met Catherine Hogarth, whom he married soon after making her + acquaintance. People who are eager at ferreting out unimportant facts + about important men had unanimously come to the conclusion that up to the + age of twenty Dickens was entirely fancy-free. It was left to an American + to disclose the fact that this was not the case, but that even in his + teens he had been captivated by a girl of about his own age. + </p> + <p> + Inasmuch as the only reproach that was ever made against Dickens was based + upon his love-affairs, let us go back and trace them from this early one + to the very last, which must yet for some years, at least, remain a + mystery. + </p> + <p> + Everything that is known about his first affair is contained in a book + very beautifully printed, but inaccessible to most readers. Some years ago + Mr. William K. Bixby, of St. Louis, found in London a collector of curios. + This man had in his stock a number of letters which had passed between a + Miss Maria Beadnell and Charles Dickens when the two were about nineteen + and a second package of letters representing a later acquaintance, about + 1855, at which time Miss Beadnell had been married for a long time to a + Mr. Henry Louis Winter, of 12 Artillery Place, London. + </p> + <p> + The copyright laws of Great Britain would not allow Mr. Bixby to publish + the letters in that country, and he did not care to give them to the + public here. Therefore, he presented them to the Bibliophile Society, with + the understanding that four hundred and ninety-three copies, with the + Bibliophile book-plate, were to be printed and distributed among the + members of the society. A few additional copies were struck off, but these + did not bear the Bibliophile book-plate. Only two copies are available for + other readers, and to peruse these it is necessary to visit the + Congressional Library in Washington, where they were placed on July 24, + 1908. + </p> + <p> + These letters form two series—the first written to Miss Beadnell in + or about 1829, and the second written to Mrs. Winter, formerly Miss + Beadnell, in 1855. + </p> + <p> + The book also contains an introduction by Henry H. Harper, who sets forth + some theories which the facts, in my opinion, do not support; and there + are a number of interesting portraits, especially one of Miss Beadnell in + 1829—a lovely girl with dark curls. Another shows her in 1855, when + she writes of herself as "old and fat"—thereby doing herself a great + deal of injustice; for although she had lost her youthful beauty, she was + a very presentable woman of middle age, but one who would not be + particularly noticed in any company. + </p> + <p> + Summing up briefly these different letters, it may be said that in the + first set Dickens wrote to the lady ardently, but by no means + passionately. From what he says it is plain enough that she did not + respond to his feeling, and that presently she left London and went to + Paris, for her family was well-to-do, while Dickens was living from hand + to mouth. + </p> + <p> + In the second set of letters, written long afterward, Mrs. Winter seems to + have "set her cap" at the now famous author; but at that time he was + courted by every one, and had long ago forgotten the lady who had so + easily dismissed him in his younger days. In 1855, Mrs. Winter seems to + have reproached him for not having been more constant in the past; but he + replied: + </p> + <p> + You answered me coldly and reproachfully, and so I went my way. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Harper, in his introduction, tries very hard to prove that in writing + David Copperfield Dickens drew the character of Dora from Miss Beadnell. + It is a dangerous thing to say from whom any character in a novel is + drawn. An author takes whatever suits his purpose in circumstance and + fancy, and blends them all into one consistent whole, which is not to be + identified with any individual. There is little reason to think that the + most intimate friends of Dickens and of his family were mistaken through + all the years when they were certain that the boy husband and the girl + wife of David Copperfield were suggested by any one save Dickens himself + and Catherine Hogarth. + </p> + <p> + Why should he have gone back to a mere passing fancy, to a girl who did + not care for him, and who had no influence on his life, instead of + picturing, as David's first wife, one whom he deeply loved, whom he + married, who was the mother of his children, and who made a great part of + his career, even that part which was inwardly half tragic and wholly + mournful? + </p> + <p> + Miss Beadnell may have been the original of Flora in Little Dorrit, though + even this is doubtful. The character was at the time ascribed to a Miss + Anna Maria Leigh, whom Dickens sometimes flirted with and sometimes + caricatured. + </p> + <p> + When Dickens came to know George Hogarth, who was one of his colleagues on + the staff of the Morning Chronicle, he met Hogarth's daughters—Catherine, + Georgina, and Mary—and at once fell ardently in love with Catherine, + the eldest and prettiest of the three. He himself was almost girlish, with + his fair complexion and light, wavy hair, so that the famous sketch by + Maclise has a remarkable charm; yet nobody could really say with truth + that any one of the three girls was beautiful. Georgina Hogarth, however, + was sweet-tempered and of a motherly disposition. It may be that in a + fashion she loved Dickens all her life, as she remained with him after he + parted from her sister, taking the utmost care of his children, and + looking out with unselfish fidelity for his many needs. + </p> + <p> + It was Mary, however, the youngest of the Hogarths, who lived with the + Dickenses during the first twelvemonth of their married life. To Dickens + she was like a favorite sister, and when she died very suddenly, in her + eighteenth year, her loss was a great shock to him. + </p> + <p> + It was believed for a long time—in fact, until their separation—that + Dickens and his wife were extremely happy in their home life. His writings + glorified all that was domestic, and paid many tender tributes to the joys + of family affection. When the separation came the whole world was shocked. + And yet rather early in Dickens's married life there was more or less + infelicity. In his Retrospections of an Active Life, Mr. John Bigelow + writes a few sentences which are interesting for their frankness, and + which give us certain hints: + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Dickens was not a handsome woman, though stout, hearty, and matronly; + there was something a little doubtful about her eye, and I thought her + endowed with a temper that might be very violent when roused, though not + easily rousable. Mrs. Caulfield told me that a Miss Teman—I think + that is the name—was the source of the difficulty between Mrs. + Dickens and her husband. She played in private theatricals with Dickens, + and he sent her a portrait in a brooch, which met with an accident + requiring it to be sent to the jeweler's to be mended. The jeweler, + noticing Mr. Dickens's initials, sent it to his house. Mrs. Dickens's + sister, who had always been in love with him and was jealous of Miss + Teman, told Mrs. Dickens of the brooch, and she mounted her husband with + comb and brush. This, no doubt, was Mrs. Dickens's version, in the main. + </p> + <p> + A few evenings later I saw Miss Teman at the Haymarket Theatre, playing + with Buckstone and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mathews. She seemed rather a small + cause for such a serious result—passably pretty, and not much of an + actress. + </p> + <p> + Here in one passage we have an intimation that Mrs. Dickens had a temper + that was easily roused, that Dickens himself was interested in an actress, + and that Miss Hogarth "had always been in love with him, and was jealous + of Miss Teman." + </p> + <p> + Some years before this time, however, there had been growing in the mind + of Dickens a certain formless discontent—something to which he could + not give a name, yet which, cast over him the shadow of disappointment. He + expressed the same feeling in David Copperfield, when he spoke of David's + life with Dora. It seemed to come from the fact that he had grown to be a + man, while his wife had still remained a child. + </p> + <p> + A passage or two may be quoted from the novel, so that we may set them + beside passages in Dickens's own life, which we know to have referred to + his own wife, and not to any such nebulous person as Mrs. Winter. + </p> + <p> + The shadow I have mentioned that was not to be between us any more, but + was to rest wholly on my heart—how did that fall? The old unhappy + feeling pervaded my life. It was deepened, if it were changed at all; but + it was as undefined as ever, and addressed me like a strain of sorrowful + music faintly heard in the night. I loved my wife dearly; but the + happiness I had vaguely anticipated, once, was not the happiness I + enjoyed, AND THERE WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING WANTING. + </p> + <p> + What I missed I still regarded as something that had been a dream of my + youthful fancy; that was incapable of realization; that I was now + discovering to be so, with some natural pain, as all men did. But that it + would have been better for me if my wife could have helped me more, and + shared the many thoughts in which I had no partner, and that this might + have been I knew. + </p> + <p> + What I am describing slumbered and half awoke and slept again in the + innermost recesses of my mind. There was no evidence of it to me; I knew + of no influence it had in anything I said or did. I bore the weight of all + our little cares and all my projects. + </p> + <p> + "There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and + purpose." These words I remembered. I had endeavored to adapt Dora to + myself, and found it impracticable. It remained for me to adapt myself to + Dora; to share with her what I could, and be happy; to bear on my own + shoulders what I must, and be still happy. + </p> + <p> + Thus wrote Dickens in his fictitious character, and of his fictitious + wife. Let us see how he wrote and how he acted in his own person, and of + his real wife. + </p> + <p> + As early as 1856, he showed a curious and restless activity, as of one who + was trying to rid himself of unpleasant thoughts. Mr. Forster says that he + began to feel a strain upon his invention, a certain disquietude, and a + necessity for jotting down memoranda in note-books, so as to assist his + memory and his imagination. He began to long for solitude. He would take + long, aimless rambles into the country, returning at no particular time or + season. He once wrote to Forster: + </p> + <p> + I have had dreadful thoughts of getting away somewhere altogether by + myself. If I could have managed it, I think I might have gone to the + Pyrenees for six months. I have visions of living for half a year or so in + all sorts of inaccessible places, and of opening a new book therein. A + floating idea of going up above the snow-line, and living in some + astonishing convent, hovers over me. + </p> + <p> + What do these cryptic utterances mean? At first, both in his novel and in + his letters, they are obscure; but before long, in each, they become very + definite. In 1856, we find these sentences among his letters: + </p> + <p> + The old days—the old days! Shall I ever, I wonder, get the frame of + mind back as it used to be then? Something of it, perhaps, but never quite + as it used to be. + </p> + <p> + I find that the skeleton in my domestic closet is becoming a pretty big + one. + </p> + <p> + His next letter draws the veil and shows plainly what he means: + </p> + <p> + Poor Catherine and I are not made for each other, and there is no help for + it. It is not only that she makes me uneasy and unhappy, but that I make + her so, too—and much more so. We are strangely ill-assorted for the + bond that exists between us. + </p> + <p> + Then he goes on to say that she would have been a thousand times happier + if she had been married to another man. He speaks of "incompatibility," + and a "difference of temperaments." In fact, it is the same old story with + which we have become so familiar, and which is both as old as the hills + and as new as this morning's newspaper. + </p> + <p> + Naturally, also, things grow worse, rather than better. Dickens comes to + speak half jocularly of "the plunge," and calculates as to what effect it + will have on his public readings. He kept back the announcement of "the + plunge" until after he had given several readings; then, on April 29, + 1858, Mrs. Dickens left his home. His eldest son went to live with the + mother, but the rest of the children remained with their father, while his + daughter Mary nominally presided over the house. In the background, + however, Georgina Hogarth, who seemed all through her life to have cared + for Dickens more than for her sister, remained as a sort of guide and + guardian for his children. + </p> + <p> + This arrangement was a private matter, and should not have been brought to + public attention; but it was impossible to suppress all gossip about so + prominent a man. Much of the gossip was exaggerated; and when it came to + the notice of Dickens it stung him so severely as to lead him into issuing + a public justification of his course. He published a statement in + Household Words, which led to many other letters in other periodicals, and + finally a long one from him, which was printed in the New York Tribune, + addressed to his friend Mr. Arthur Smith. + </p> + <p> + Dickens afterward declared that he had written this letter as a strictly + personal and private one, in order to correct false rumors and scandals. + Mr. Smith naturally thought that the statement was intended for + publication, but Dickens always spoke of it as "the violated letter." + </p> + <p> + By his allusions to a difference of temperament and to incompatibility, + Dickens no doubt meant that his wife had ceased to be to him the same + companion that she had been in days gone by. As in so many cases, she had + not changed, while he had. He had grown out of the sphere in which he had + been born, "associated with blacking-boys and quilt-printers," and had + become one of the great men of his time, whose genius was universally + admired. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Bigelow saw Mrs. Dickens as she really was—a commonplace woman + endowed with the temper of a vixen, and disposed to outbursts of actual + violence when her jealousy was roused. + </p> + <p> + It was impossible that the two could have remained together, when in + intellect and sympathy they were so far apart. There is nothing strange + about their separation, except the exceedingly bad taste with which + Dickens made it a public affair. It is safe to assume that he felt the + need of a different mate; and that he found one is evident enough from the + hints and bits of innuendo that are found in the writings of his + contemporaries. + </p> + <p> + He became a pleasure-lover; but more than that, he needed one who could + understand his moods and match them, one who could please his tastes, and + one who could give him that admiration which he felt to be his due; for he + was always anxious to be praised, and his letters are full of anecdotes + relating to his love of praise. + </p> + <p> + One does not wish to follow out these clues too closely. It is certain + that neither Miss Beadnell as a girl nor Mrs. Winter as a matron made any + serious appeal to him. The actresses who have been often mentioned in + connection with his name were, for the most part, mere passing favorites. + The woman who in life was Dora made him feel the same incompleteness that + he has described in his best-known book. The companion to whom he clung in + his later years was neither a light-minded creature like Miss Beadnell, + nor an undeveloped, high-tempered woman like the one he married, nor a + mere domestic, friendly creature like Georgina Hogarth. + </p> + <p> + Ought we to venture upon a quest which shall solve this mystery in the + life of Charles Dickens! In his last will and testament, drawn up and + signed by him about a year before his death, the first paragraph reads as + follows: + </p> + <p> + I, Charles Dickens, of Gadshill Place, Higham, in the county of Kent, + hereby revoke all my former wills and codicils and declare this to be my + last will and testament. I give the sum of one thousand pounds, free of + legacy duty, to Miss Ellen Lawless Ternan, late of Houghton Place, + Ampthill Square, in the county of Middlesex. + </p> + <p> + In connection with this, read Mr. John Bigelow's careless jottings made + some fifteen years before. Remember the Miss "Teman," about whose name he + was not quite certain; the Hogarth sisters' dislike of her; and the + mysterious figure in the background of the novelist's later life. Then + consider the first bequest in his will, which leaves a substantial sum to + one who was neither a relative nor a subordinate, but—may we assume—more + than an ordinary friend? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0033" id="link2H_4_0033"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + HONORE DE BALZAC AND EVELINA HANSKA + </h2> + <p> + I remember once, when editing an elaborate work on literature, that the + publisher called me into his private office. After the door was closed, he + spoke in tones of suppressed emotion. + </p> + <p> + "Why is it," said he, "that you have such a lack of proportion? In the + selection you have made I find that only two pages are given to George P. + Morris, while you haven't given E. P. Roe any space at all! Yet, look here—you've + blocked out fifty pages for Balzac, who was nothing but an immoral + Frenchman!" + </p> + <p> + I adjusted this difficulty, somehow or other—I do not just remember + how—and began to think that, after all, this publisher's view of + things was probably that of the English and American public. It is strange + that so many biographies and so many appreciations of the greatest + novelist who ever lived should still have left him, in the eyes of the + reading public, little more than "an immoral Frenchman." + </p> + <p> + "In Balzac," said Taine, "there was a money-broker, an archeologist, an + architect, an upholsterer, a tailor, an old-clothes dealer, a journeyman + apprentice, a physician, and a notary." Balzac was also a mystic, a + supernaturalist, and, above all, a consummate artist. No one who is all + these things in high measure, and who has raised himself by his genius + above his countrymen, deserves the censure of my former publisher. + </p> + <p> + Still less is Balzac to be dismissed as "immoral," for his life was one of + singular self-sacrifice in spite of much temptation. His face was strongly + sensual, his look and bearing denoted almost savage power; he led a free + life in a country which allowed much freedom; and yet his story is almost + mystic in its fineness of thought, and in its detachment, which was often + that of another world. + </p> + <p> + Balzac was born in 1799, at Tours, with all the traits of the people of + his native province—fond of eating and drinking, and with plenty of + humor. His father was fairly well off. Of four children, our Balzac was + the eldest. The third was his sister Laure, who throughout his life was + the most intimate friend he had, and to whom we owe his rescue from much + scandalous and untrue gossip. From her we learn that their father was a + combination of Montaigne, Rabelais, and "Uncle Toby." + </p> + <p> + Young Balzac went to a clerical school at seven, and stayed there for + seven years. Then he was brought home, apparently much prostrated, + although the good fathers could find nothing physically amiss with him, + and nothing in his studies to account for his agitation. No one ever did + discover just what was the matter, for he seemed well enough in the next + few years, basking on the riverside, watching the activities of his native + town, and thoroughly studying the rustic types that he was afterward to + make familiar to the world. In fact, in Louis Lambert he has set before us + a picture of his own boyish life, very much as Dickens did of his in David + Copperfield. + </p> + <p> + For some reason, when these years were over, the boy began to have what is + so often known as "a call"—a sort of instinct that he was to attain + renown. Unfortunately it happened that about this time (1814) he and his + parents removed to Paris, which was his home by choice, until his death in + 1850. He studied here under famous teachers, and gave three years to the + pursuit of law, of which he was very fond as literary material, though he + refused to practise. + </p> + <p> + This was the more grievous, since a great part of the family property had + been lost. The Balzacs were afflicted by actual poverty, and Honore + endeavored, with his pen, to beat the wolf back from the door. He earned a + little money with pamphlets and occasional stories, but his thirst for + fame was far from satisfied. He was sure that he was called to literature, + and yet he was not sure that he had the power to succeed. In one of his + letters to his sister, he wrote: + </p> + <p> + I am young and hungry, and there is nothing on my plate. Oh, Laure, Laure, + my two boundless desires, my only ones—to be famous, and to be loved—they + ever be satisfied? + </p> + <p> + For the next ten years he was learning his trade, and the artistic use of + the fiction writer's tools. What is more to the point, is the fact that he + began to dream of a series of great novels, which should give a true and + panoramic picture of the whole of human life. This was the first + intimation of his "Human Comedy," which was so daringly undertaken and so + nearly completed in his after years. In his early days of obscurity, he + said to his readers: + </p> + <p> + Note well the characters that I introduce, since you will have to follow + their fortunes through thirty novels that are to come. + </p> + <p> + Here we see how little he had been daunted by ill success, and how his + prodigious imagination had not been overcome by sorrow and evil fortune. + Meantime, writing almost savagely, and with a feeling combined of ambition + and despair, he had begun, very slowly indeed, to create a public. These + ten years, however, had loaded him with debts; and his struggle to keep + himself afloat only plunged him deeper in the mire. His thirty unsigned + novels began to pay him a few hundred francs, not in cash, but in + promissory notes; so that he had to go still deeper into debt. + </p> + <p> + In 1827 he was toiling on his first successful novel, and indeed one of + the best historic novels in French literature—The Chouans. He speaks + of his labor as "done with a tired brain and an anxious mind," and of the + eight or ten business letters that he had to write each day before he + could begin his literary work. + </p> + <p> + "Postage and an omnibus are extravagances that I cannot allow myself," he + writes. "I stay at home so as not to wear out my clothes. Is that clear to + you?" + </p> + <p> + At the end of the next year, though he was already popular as a novelist, + and much sought out by people of distinction, he was at the very climax of + his poverty. He had written thirty-five books, and was in debt to the + amount of a hundred and twenty-four thousand francs. He was saved from + bankruptcy only by the aid of Mme. de Berny, a woman of high character, + and one whose moral influence was very strong with Balzac until her early + death. + </p> + <p> + The relation between these two has a sweetness and a purity which are + seldom found. Mme. de Berny gave Balzac money as she would have given it + to a son, and thereby she saved a great soul for literature. But there was + no sickly sentiment between them, and Balzac regarded her with a noble + love which he has expressed in the character of Mme. Firmiani. + </p> + <p> + It was immediately after she had lightened his burdens that the real + Balzac comes before us in certain stories which have no equal, and which + are among the most famous that he ever wrote. What could be more wonderful + than his El Verdugo, which gives us a brief horror while compelling our + admiration? What, outside of Balzac himself, could be more terrible than + Gobseck, a frightful study of avarice, containing a deathbed scene which + surpasses in dreadfulness almost anything in literature? Add to these A + Passion in the Desert, The Girl with the Golden Eyes, The Droll Stories, + The Red Inn, and The Magic Skin, and you have a cluster of masterpieces + not to be surpassed. + </p> + <p> + In the year 1829, when he was just beginning to attain a slight success, + Balzac received a long letter written in a woman's hand. As he read it, + there came to him something very like an inspiration, so full of + understanding were the written words, so full of appreciation and of + sympathy with the best that he had done. This anonymous note pointed out + here and there such defects as are apt to become chronic with a young + author. Balzac was greatly stirred by its keen and sympathetic criticism. + No one before had read his soul so clearly. No one—not even his + devoted sister, Laure de Surville—had judged his work so wisely, had + come so closely to his deepest feeling. + </p> + <p> + He read the letter over and over, and presently another came, full of + critical appreciation, and of wholesome, tonic, frank, friendly words of + cheer. It was very largely the effect of these letters that roused + Balzac's full powers and made him sure of winning the two great objects of + his first ambition—love and fame—the ideals of the chivalrous, + romantic Frenchman from Caesar's time down to the present day. + </p> + <p> + Other letters followed, and after a while their authorship was made known + to Balzac. He learned that they had been written by a young Polish lady, + Mme. Evelina Hanska, the wife of a Polish count, whose health was feeble, + and who spent much time in Switzerland because the climate there agreed + with him. + </p> + <p> + He met her first at Neuchatel, and found her all that he had imagined. It + is said that she had no sooner raised her face, and looked him fully in + the eyes, than she fell fainting to the floor, overcome by her emotion. + Balzac himself was deeply moved. From that day until their final meeting + he wrote to her daily. + </p> + <p> + The woman who had become his second soul was not beautiful. Nevertheless, + her face was intensely spiritual, and there was a mystic quality about it + which made a strong appeal to Balzac's innermost nature. Those who saw him + in Paris knocking about the streets at night with his boon companions, + hobnobbing with the elder Dumas, or rejecting the frank advances of George + Sand, would never have dreamed of this mysticism. + </p> + <p> + Balzac was heavy and broad of figure. His face was suggestive only of what + was sensuous and sensual. At the same time, those few who looked into his + heart and mind found there many a sign of the fine inner strain which + purified the grosser elements of his nature. He who wrote the roaring + Rabelaisian Contes Drolatiques was likewise the author of Seraphita. + </p> + <p> + This mysticism showed itself in many things that Balzac did. One little + incident will perhaps be sufficiently characteristic of many others. He + had a belief that names had a sort of esoteric appropriateness. So, in + selecting them for his novels, he gathered them with infinite pains from + many sources, and then weighed them anxiously in the balance. A writer on + the subject of names and their significance has given the following + account of this trait: + </p> + <p> + The great novelist once spent an entire day tramping about in the remotest + quarters of Paris in search of a fitting name for a character just + conceived by him. Every sign-board, every door-plate, every affiche upon + the walls, was scrutinized. Thousands of names were considered and + rejected, and it was only after his companion, utterly worn out by + fatigue, had flatly refused to drag his weary limbs through more than one + additional street, that Balzac suddenly saw upon a sign the name "Marcas," + and gave a shout of joy at having finally secured what he was seeking. + </p> + <p> + Marcas it was, from that moment; and Balzac gradually evolved a Christian + name for him. First he considered what initial was most appropriate; and + then, having decided upon Z, he went on to expand this into Zepherin, + explaining minutely just why the whole name Zepherin Marcas, was the only + possible one for the character in the novel. + </p> + <p> + In many ways Balzac and Evelina Hanska were mated by nature. Whether they + were fully mated the facts of their lives must demonstrate. For the + present, the novelist plunged into a whirl of literary labor, toiling as + few ever toiled—constructing several novels at the same time, + visiting all the haunts of the French capital, so that he might observe + and understand every type of human being, and then hurling himself like a + giant at his work. + </p> + <p> + He had a curious practise of reading proofs. These would come to him in + enormous sheets, printed on special paper, and with wide margins for his + corrections. An immense table stood in the midst of his study, and upon + the top he would spread out the proofs as if they were vast maps. Then, + removing most of his outer garments, he would lie, face down, upon the + proof-sheets, with a gigantic pencil, such as Bismarck subsequently used + to wield. Thus disposed, he would go over the proofs. + </p> + <p> + Hardly anything that he had written seemed to suit him when he saw it in + print. He changed and kept changing, obliterating what he disliked, + writing in new sentences, revising others, and adding whole pages in the + margins, until perhaps he had practically made a new book. This process + was repeated several times; and how expensive it was may be judged from + the fact that his bill for "author's proof corrections" was sometimes more + than the publishers had agreed to pay him for the completed volume. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes, again, he would begin writing in the afternoon, and continue + until dawn. Then, weary, aching in every bone, and with throbbing head, he + would rise and turn to fall upon his couch after his eighteen hours of + steady toil. But the memory of Evelina Hanska always came to him; and with + half-numbed fingers he would seize his pen, and forget his weariness in + the pleasure of writing to the dark-eyed woman who drew him to her like a + magnet. + </p> + <p> + These are very curious letters that Balzac wrote to Mme. Hanska. He + literally told her everything about himself. Not only were there long + passages instinct with tenderness, and with his love for her; but he also + gave her the most minute account of everything that occurred, and that + might interest her. Thus he detailed at length his mode of living, the + clothes he wore, the people whom he met, his trouble with his creditors, + the accounts of his income and outgo. One might think that this was + egotism on his part; but it was more than that. It was a strong belief + that everything which concerned him must concern her; and he begged her in + turn to write as freely and as fully. + </p> + <p> + Mme. Hanska was not the only woman who became his friend and comrade, and + to whom he often wrote. He made many acquaintances in the fashionable + world through the good offices of the Duchesse de Castries. By her favor, + he studied with his microscopic gaze the beau monde of Louis Philippe's + rather unimpressive court. + </p> + <p> + In a dozen books he scourged the court of the citizen king—its + pretensions, its commonness, and its assemblage of nouveaux riches. Yet in + it he found many friends—Victor Hugo, the Girardins—and among + them women who were of the world. George Sand he knew very well, and she + made ardent love to him; but he laughed her off very much as the elder + Dumas did. + </p> + <p> + Then there was the pretty, dainty Mme. Carraud, who read and revised his + manuscripts, and who perhaps took a more intimate interest in him than did + the other ladies whom he came to know so well. Besides Mme. Hanska, he had + another correspondent who signed herself "Louise," but who never let him + know her name, though she wrote him many piquant, sunny letters, which he + so sadly needed. + </p> + <p> + For though Honore de Balzac was now one of the most famous writers of his + time, his home was still a den of suffering. His debts kept pressing on + him, loading him down, and almost quenching hope. He acted toward his + creditors like a man of honor, and his physical strength was still that of + a giant. To Mme. Carraud he once wrote the half pathetic, half humorous + plaint: + </p> + <p> + Poor pen! It must be diamond, not because one would wish to wear it, but + because it has had so much use! + </p> + <p> + And again: + </p> + <p> + Here I am, owing a hundred thousand francs. And I am forty! + </p> + <p> + Balzac and Mme. Hanska met many times after that first eventful episode at + Neuchatel. It was at this time that he gave utterance to the poignant cry: + </p> + <p> + Love for me is life, and to-day I feel it more than ever! + </p> + <p> + In like manner he wrote, on leaving her, that famous epigram: + </p> + <p> + It is only the last love of a woman that can satisfy the first love of a + man. + </p> + <p> + In 1842 Mme. Hanska's husband died. Balzac naturally expected that an + immediate marriage with the countess would take place; but the woman who + had loved him mystically for twelve years, and with a touch of the + physical for nine, suddenly draws back. She will not promise anything. She + talks of delays, owing to the legal arrangements for her children. She + seems almost a prude. An American critic has contrasted her attitude with + his: + </p> + <p> + Every one knows how utterly and absolutely Balzac devoted to this one + woman all his genius, his aspiration, the thought of his every moment; how + every day, after he had labored like a slave for eighteen hours, he would + take his pen and pour out to her the most intimate details of his daily + life; how at her call he would leave everything and rush across the + continent to Poland or to Italy, being radiantly happy if he could but see + her face and be for a few days by her side. The very thought of meeting + her thrilled him to the very depths of his nature, and made him, for weeks + and even months beforehand, restless, uneasy, and agitated, with an almost + painful happiness. + </p> + <p> + It is the most startling proof of his immense vitality, both physical and + mental, that so tremendous an emotional strain could be endured by him for + years without exhausting his fecundity or blighting his creativeness. + </p> + <p> + With Balzac, however, it was the period of his most brilliant work; and + this was true in spite of the anguish of long separations, and the + complaints excited by what appears to be caprice or boldness or a faint + indifference. Even in Balzac one notices toward the last a certain sense + of strain underlying what he wrote, a certain lack of elasticity and + facility, if of nothing more; yet on the whole it is likely that without + this friendship Balzac would have been less great than he actually became, + as it is certain that had it been broken off he would have ceased to write + or to care for anything whatever in the world. + </p> + <p> + And yet, when they were free to marry, Mme. Hanska shrank away. Not until + 1846, four years after her husband's death, did she finally give her + promise to the eager Balzac. Then, in the overflow of his happiness, his + creative genius blazed up into a most wonderful flame; but he soon + discovered that the promise was not to be at once fulfilled. The shock + impaired that marvelous vitality which had carried him through debt, and + want, and endless labor. + </p> + <p> + It was at this moment, by the irony of fate, that his country hailed him + as one of the greatest of its men of genius. A golden stream poured into + his lap. His debts were not all extinguished, but his income was so large + that they burdened him no longer. + </p> + <p> + But his one long dream was the only thing for which he cared; and though + in an exoteric sense this dream came true, its truth was but a mockery. + Evelina Hanska summoned him to Poland, and Balzac went to her at once. + There was another long delay, and for more than a year he lived as a guest + in the countess's mansion at Wierzchownia; but finally, in March, 1850, + the two were married. A few weeks later they came back to France together, + and occupied the little country house, Les Jardies, in which, some decades + later, occurred Gambetta's mysterious death. + </p> + <p> + What is the secret of this strange love, which in the woman seems to be + not precisely love, but something else? Balzac was always eager for her + presence. She, on the other hand, seems to have been mentally more at ease + when he was absent. Perhaps the explanation, if we may venture upon one, + is based upon a well-known physiological fact. + </p> + <p> + Love in its completeness is made up of two great elements—first, the + element that is wholly spiritual, that is capable of sympathy, and + tenderness, and deep emotion. The other element is the physical, the + source of passion, of creative energy, and of the truly virile qualities, + whether it be in man or woman. Now, let either of these elements be + lacking, and love itself cannot fully and utterly exist. The spiritual + nature in one may find its mate in the spiritual nature of another; and + the physical nature of one may find its mate in the physical nature of + another. But into unions such as these, love does not enter in its + completeness. If there is any element lacking in either of those who think + that they can mate, their mating will be a sad and pitiful failure. + </p> + <p> + It is evident enough that Mme. Hanska was almost wholly spiritual, and her + long years of waiting had made her understand the difference between + Balzac and herself. Therefore, she shrank from his proximity, and from his + physical contact, and it was perhaps better for them both that their union + was so quickly broken off by death; for the great novelist died of heart + disease only five months after the marriage. + </p> + <p> + If we wish to understand the mystery of Balzac's life—or, more + truly, the mystery of the life of the woman whom he married—take up + and read once more the pages of Seraphita, one of his poorest novels and + yet a singularly illuminating story, shedding light upon a secret of the + soul. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0034" id="link2H_4_0034"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHARLES READE AND LAURA SEYMOUR + </h2> + <p> + The instances of distinguished men, or of notable women, who have broken + through convention in order to find a fitting mate, are very numerous. A + few of these instances may, perhaps, represent what is usually called a + Platonic union. But the evidence is always doubtful. The world is not + possessed of abundant charity, nor does human experience lead one to + believe that intimate relations between a man and a woman are compatible + with Platonic friendship. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps no case is more puzzling than that which is found in the + life-history of Charles Reade and Laura Seymour. + </p> + <p> + Charles Reade belongs to that brilliant group of English writers and + artists which included Dickens, Bulwer-Lytton, Wilkie Collins, Tom Taylor, + George Eliot, Swinburne, Sir Walter Besant, Maclise, and Goldwin Smith. In + my opinion, he ranks next to Dickens in originality and power. His books + are little read to-day; yet he gave to the English stage the comedy "Masks + and Faces," which is now as much a classic as Goldsmith's "She Stoops to + Conquer" or Sheridan's "School for Scandal." His power as a novelist was + marvelous. Who can forget the madhouse episodes in Hard Cash, or the great + trial scene in Griffith Gaunt, or that wonderful picture, in The Cloister + and the Hearth, of Germany and Rome at the end of the Middle Ages? Here + genius has touched the dead past and made it glow again with an intense + reality. + </p> + <p> + He was the son of a country gentleman, the lord of a manor which had been + held by his family before the Wars of the Boses. His ancestors had been + noted for their services in warfare, in Parliament, and upon the bench. + Reade, therefore, was in feeling very much of an aristocrat. Sometimes he + pushed his ancestral pride to a whimsical excess, very much as did his own + creation, Squire Raby, in Put Yourself in His Place. + </p> + <p> + At the same time he might very well have been called a Tory democrat. His + grandfather had married the daughter of a village blacksmith, and Reade + was quite as proud of this as he was of the fact that another ancestor had + been lord chief justice of England. From the sturdy strain which came to + him from the blacksmith he, perhaps, derived that sledge-hammer power with + which he wrote many of his most famous chapters, and which he used in + newspaper controversies with his critics. From his legal ancestors there + may have come to him the love of litigation, which kept him often in hot + water. From those who had figured in the life of royal courts, he + inherited a romantic nature, a love of art, and a very delicate perception + of the niceties of cultivated usage. Such was Charles Reade—keen + observer, scholar, Bohemian—a man who could be both rough and + tender, and whose boisterous ways never concealed his warm heart. + </p> + <p> + Reade's school-days were Spartan in their severity. A teacher with the + appropriate name of Slatter set him hard tasks and caned him unmercifully + for every shortcoming. A weaker nature would have been crushed. Reade's + was toughened, and he learned to resist pain and to resent wrong, so that + hatred of injustice has been called his dominating trait. + </p> + <p> + In preparing himself for college he was singularly fortunate in his + tutors. One of them was Samuel Wilberforce, afterward Bishop of Oxford, + nicknamed, from his suavity of manner, "Soapy Sam"; and afterward, when + Reade was studying law, his instructor was Samuel Warren, the author of + that once famous novel, Ten Thousand a Year, and the creator of "Tittlebat + Titmouse." + </p> + <p> + For his college at Oxford, Reade selected one of the most beautiful and + ancient—Magdalen—which he entered, securing what is known as a + demyship. Reade won his demyship by an extraordinary accident. Always an + original youth, his reading was varied and valuable; but in his studies he + had never tried to be minutely accurate in small matters. At that time + every candidate was supposed to be able to repeat, by heart, the + "Thirty-Nine Articles." Reade had no taste for memorizing; and out of the + whole thirty-nine he had learned but three. His general examination was + good, though not brilliant. When he came to be questioned orally, the + examiner, by a chance that would not occur once in a million times, asked + the candidate to repeat these very articles. Reade rattled them off with + the greatest glibness, and produced so favorable an impression that he was + let go without any further questioning. + </p> + <p> + It must be added that his English essay was original, and this also helped + him; but had it not been for the other great piece of luck he would, in + Oxford phrase, have been "completely gulfed." As it was, however, he was + placed as highly as the young men who were afterward known as Cardinal + Newman and Sir Robert Lowe (Lord Sherbrooke). + </p> + <p> + At the age of twenty-one, Reade obtained a fellowship, which entitled him + to an income so long as he remained unmarried. It is necessary to consider + the significance of this when we look at his subsequent career. The + fellowship at Magdalen was worth, at the outset, about twelve hundred + dollars annually, and it gave him possession of a suite of rooms free of + any charge. He likewise secured a Vinerian fellowship in law, to which was + attached an income of four hundred dollars. As time went on, the value of + the first fellowship increased until it was worth twenty-five hundred + dollars. Therefore, as with many Oxford men of his time, Charles Reade, + who had no other fortune, was placed in this position—if he + refrained from marrying, he had a home and a moderate income for life, + without any duties whatsoever. If he married, he must give up his income + and his comfortable apartments, and go out into the world and struggle for + existence. + </p> + <p> + There was the further temptation that the possession of his fellowship did + not even necessitate his living at Oxford. He might spend his time in + London, or even outside of England, knowing that his chambers at Magdalen + were kept in order for him, as a resting-place to which he might return + whenever he chose. + </p> + <p> + Reade remained a while at Oxford, studying books and men—especially + the latter. He was a great favorite with the undergraduates, though less + so with the dons. He loved the boat-races on the river; he was a + prodigious cricket-player, and one of the best bowlers of his time. He + utterly refused to put on any of the academic dignity which his associates + affected. He wore loud clothes. His flaring scarfs were viewed as being + almost scandalous, very much as Longfellow's parti-colored waistcoats were + regarded when he first came to Harvard as a professor. + </p> + <p> + Charles Reade pushed originality to eccentricity. He had a passion for + violins, and ran himself into debt because he bought so many and such good + ones. Once, when visiting his father's house at Ipsden, he shocked the + punctilious old gentleman by dancing on the dining-table to the + accompaniment of a fiddle, which he scraped delightedly. Dancing, indeed, + was another of his diversions, and, in spite of the fact that he was a + fellow of Magdalen and a D.C.L. of Oxford, he was always ready to caper + and to display the new steps. + </p> + <p> + In the course of time, he went up to London; and at once plunged into the + seething tide of the metropolis. He made friends far and wide, and in + every class and station—among authors and politicians, bishops and + bargees, artists and musicians. Charles Reade learned much from all of + them, and all of them were fond of him. + </p> + <p> + But it was the theater that interested him most. Nothing else seemed to + him quite so fine as to be a successful writer for the stage. He viewed + the drama with all the reverence of an ancient Greek. On his tombstone he + caused himself to be described as "Dramatist, novelist, journalist." + </p> + <p> + "Dramatist" he put first of all, even after long experience had shown him + that his greatest power lay in writing novels. But in this early period he + still hoped for fame upon the stage. + </p> + <p> + It was not a fortunate moment for dramatic writers. Plays were bought + outright by the managers, who were afraid to risk any considerable sum, + and were very shy about risking anything at all. The system had not yet + been established according to which an author receives a share of the + money taken at the box-office. Consequently, Reade had little or no + financial success. He adapted several pieces from the French, for which he + was paid a few bank-notes. "Masks and Faces" got a hearing, and drew large + audiences, but Reade had sold it for a paltry sum; and he shared the + honors of its authorship with Tom Taylor, who was then much better known. + </p> + <p> + Such was the situation. Reade was personally liked, but his plays were + almost all rejected. He lived somewhat extravagantly and ran into debt, + though not very deeply. He had a play entitled "Christie Johnstone," which + he believed to be a great one, though no manager would venture to produce + it. Reade, brooding, grew thin and melancholy. Finally, he decided that he + would go to a leading actress at one of the principal theaters and try to + interest her in his rejected play. The actress he had in mind was Laura + Seymour, then appearing at the Haymarket under the management of + Buckstone; and this visit proved to be the turning-point in Reade's whole + life. + </p> + <p> + Laura Seymour was the daughter of a surgeon at Bath—a man in large + practise and with a good income, every penny of which he spent. His family + lived in lavish style; but one morning, after he had sat up all night + playing cards, his little daughter found him in the dining-room, stone + dead. After his funeral it appeared that he had left no provision for his + family. A friend of his—a Jewish gentleman of Portuguese extraction—showed + much kindness to the children, settling their affairs and leaving them + with some money in the bank; but, of course, something must be done. + </p> + <p> + The two daughters removed to London, and at a very early age Laura had + made for herself a place in the dramatic world, taking small parts at + first, but rising so rapidly that in her fifteenth year she was cast for + the part of Juliet. As an actress she led a life of strange vicissitudes. + At one time she would be pinched by poverty, and at another time she would + be well supplied with money, which slipped through her fingers like water. + She was a true Bohemian, a happy-go-lucky type of the actors of her time. + </p> + <p> + From all accounts, she was never very beautiful; but she had an instinct + for strange, yet effective, costumes, which attracted much attention. She + has been described as "a fluttering, buoyant, gorgeous little butterfly." + Many were drawn to her. She was careless of what she did, and her name was + not untouched with scandal. But she lived through it all, and emerged a + clever, sympathetic woman of wide experience, both on the stage and off + it. + </p> + <p> + One of her admirers—an elderly gentleman named Seymour—came to + her one day when she was in much need of money, and told her that he had + just deposited a thousand pounds to her credit at the bank. Having said + this, he left the room precipitately. It was the beginning of a sort of + courtship; and after a while she married him. Her feeling toward him was + one of gratitude. There was no sentiment about it; but she made him a good + wife, and gave no further cause for gossip. + </p> + <p> + Such was the woman whom Charles Reade now approached with the request that + she would let him read to her a portion of his play. He had seen her act, + and he honestly believed her to be a dramatic genius of the first order. + Few others shared this belief; but she was generally thought of as a + competent, though by no means brilliant, actress. Reade admired her + extremely, so that at the very thought of speaking with her his emotions + almost choked him. + </p> + <p> + In answer to a note, she sent word that he might call at her house. He was + at this time (1849) in his thirty-eighth year. The lady was a little + older, and had lost something of her youthful charm; yet, when Reade was + ushered into her drawing-room, she seemed to him the most graceful and + accomplished woman whom he had ever met. + </p> + <p> + She took his measure, or she thought she took it, at a glance. Here was + one of those would-be playwrights who live only to torment managers and + actresses. His face was thin, from which she inferred that he was probably + half starved. His bashfulness led her to suppose that he was an + inexperienced youth. Little did she imagine that he was the son of a + landed proprietor, a fellow of one of Oxford's noblest colleges, and one + with friends far higher in the world than herself. Though she thought so + little of him, and quite expected to be bored, she settled herself in a + soft armchair to listen. The unsuccessful playwright read to her a scene + or two from his still unfinished drama. She heard him patiently, noting + the cultivated accent of his voice, which proved to her that he was at + least a gentleman. When he had finished, she said: + </p> + <p> + "Yes, that's good! The plot is excellent." Then she laughed a sort of + stage laugh, and remarked lightly: "Why don't you turn it into a novel?" + </p> + <p> + Reade was stung to the quick. Nothing that she could have said would have + hurt him more. Novels he despised; and here was this woman, the queen of + the English stage, as he regarded her, laughing at his drama and telling + him to make a novel of it. He rose and bowed. + </p> + <p> + "I am trespassing on your time," he said; and, after barely touching the + fingers of her outstretched hand, he left the room abruptly. + </p> + <p> + The woman knew men very well, though she scarcely knew Charles Reade. + Something in his melancholy and something in his manner stirred her heart. + It was not a heart that responded to emotions readily, but it was a very + good-natured heart. Her explanation of Reade's appearance led her to think + that he was very poor. If she had not much tact, she had an abundant store + of sympathy; and so she sat down and wrote a very blundering but kindly + letter, in which she enclosed a five-pound note. + </p> + <p> + Reade subsequently described his feelings on receiving this letter with + its bank-note. He said: + </p> + <p> + "I, who had been vice-president of Magdalen—I, who flattered myself + I was coming to the fore as a dramatist—to have a five-pound note + flung at my head, like a ticket for soup to a pauper, or a bone to a dog, + and by an actress, too! Yet she said my reading was admirable; and, after + all, there is much virtue in a five-pound note. Anyhow, it showed the + writer had a good heart." + </p> + <p> + The more he thought of her and of the incident, the more comforted he was. + He called on her the next day without making an appointment; and when she + received him, he had the five-pound note fluttering in his hand. + </p> + <p> + She started to speak, but he interrupted her. + </p> + <p> + "No," he said, "that is not what I wanted from you. I wanted sympathy, and + you have unintentionally supplied it." + </p> + <p> + Then this man, whom she had regarded as half starved, presented her with + an enormous bunch of hothouse grapes, and the two sat down and ate them + together, thus beginning a friendship which ended only with Laura + Seymour's death. + </p> + <p> + Oddly enough, Mrs. Seymour's suggestion that Reade should make a story of + his play was a suggestion which he actually followed. It was to her + guidance and sympathy that the world owes the great novels which he + afterward composed. If he succeeded on the stage at all, it was not merely + in "Masks and Faces," but in his powerful dramatization of Zola's novel, + L'Assommoir, under the title "Drink," in which the late Charles Warner + thrilled and horrified great audiences all over the English-speaking + world. Had Reade never known Laura Seymour, he might never have written so + strong a drama. + </p> + <p> + The mystery of Reade's relations with this woman can never be definitely + cleared up. Her husband, Mr. Seymour, died not long after she and Reade + became acquainted. Then Reade and several friends, both men and women, + took a house together; and Laura Seymour, now a clever manager and amiable + hostess, looked after all the practical affairs of the establishment. One + by one, the others fell away, through death or by removal, until at last + these two were left alone. Then Reade, unable to give up the companionship + which meant so much to him, vowed that she must still remain and care for + him. He leased a house in Sloane Street, which he has himself described in + his novel A Terrible Temptation. It is the chapter wherein Reade also + draws his own portrait in the character of Francis Bolfe: + </p> + <p> + The room was rather long, low, and nondescript; scarlet flock paper; + curtains and sofas, green Utrecht velvet; woodwork and pillars, white and + gold; two windows looking on the street; at the other end folding-doors, + with scarcely any woodwork, all plate glass, but partly hidden by heavy + curtains of the same color and material as the others. + </p> + <p> + At last a bell rang; the maid came in and invited Lady Bassett to follow + her. She opened the glass folding-doors and took them into a small + conservatory, walled like a grotto, with ferns sprouting out of rocky + fissures, and spars sparkling, water dripping. Then she opened two more + glass folding-doors, and ushered them into an empty room, the like of + which Lady Bassett had never seen; it was large in itself, and multiplied + tenfold by great mirrors from floor to ceiling, with no frames but a + narrow oak beading; opposite her, on entering, was a bay window, all plate + glass, the central panes of which opened, like doors, upon a pretty little + garden that glowed with color, and was backed by fine trees belonging to + the nation; for this garden ran up to the wall of Hyde Park. + </p> + <p> + The numerous and large mirrors all down to the ground laid hold of the + garden and the flowers, and by double and treble reflection filled the + room with delightful nooks of verdure and color. + </p> + <p> + Here are the words in which Reade describes himself as he looked when + between fifty and sixty years of age: + </p> + <p> + He looked neither like a poet nor a drudge, but a great fat country + farmer. He was rather tall, very portly, smallish head, commonplace + features, mild brown eye not very bright, short beard, and wore a suit of + tweed all one color. + </p> + <p> + Such was the house and such was the man over both of which Laura Seymour + held sway until her death in 1879. What must be thought of their + relations? She herself once said to Mr. John Coleman: + </p> + <p> + "As for our positions—his and mine—we are partners, nothing + more. He has his bank-account, and I have mine. He is master of his + fellowship and his rooms at Oxford, and I am mistress of this house, but + not his mistress! Oh, dear, no!" + </p> + <p> + At another time, long after Mr. Seymour's death, she said to an intimate + friend: + </p> + <p> + "I hope Mr. Reade will never ask me to marry him, for I should certainly + refuse the offer." + </p> + <p> + There was no reason why he should not have made this offer, because his + Oxford fellowship ceased to be important to him after he had won fame as a + novelist. Publishers paid him large sums for everything he wrote. His + debts were all paid off, and his income was assured. Yet he never spoke of + marriage, and he always introduced his friend as "the lady who keeps my + house for me." + </p> + <p> + As such, he invited his friends to meet her, and as such, she even + accompanied him to Oxford. There was no concealment, and apparently there + was nothing to conceal. Their manner toward each other was that of + congenial friends. Mrs. Seymour, in fact, might well have been described + as "a good fellow." Sometimes she referred to him as "the doctor," and + sometimes by the nickname "Charlie." He, on his side, often spoke of her + by her last name as "Seymour," precisely as if she had been a man. One of + his relatives rather acutely remarked about her that she was not a woman + of sentiment at all, but had a genius for friendship; and that she + probably could not have really loved any man at all. + </p> + <p> + This is, perhaps, the explanation of their intimacy. If so, it is a very + remarkable instance of Platonic friendship. It is certain that, after she + met Reade, Mrs. Seymour never cared for any other man. It is no less + certain that he never cared for any other woman. When she died, five years + before his death, his life became a burden to him. It was then that he + used to speak of her as "my lost darling" and "my dove." He directed that + they should be buried side by side in Willesden churchyard. Over the + monument which commemorates them both, he caused to be inscribed, in + addition to an epitaph for himself, the following tribute to his friend. + One should read it and accept the touching words as answering every + question that may be asked: + </p> + <p> + Here lies the great heart of Laura Seymour, a brilliant artist, a humble + Christian, a charitable woman, a loving daughter, sister, and friend, who + lived for others from her childhood. Tenderly pitiful to all God's + creatures—even to some that are frequently destroyed or neglected—she + wiped away the tears from many faces, helping the poor with her savings + and the sorrowful with her earnest pity. When the eye saw her it blessed + her, for her face was sunshine, her voice was melody, and her heart was + sympathy. + </p> + <p> + This grave was made for her and for himself by Charles Reade, whose wise + counselor, loyal ally, and bosom friend she was for twenty-four years, and + who mourns her all his days. + </p> + <p> + END OF VOLUME FOUR <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Famous Affinities of History, Vol +1-4, Complete, by Lyndon Orr + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS AFFINITIES *** + +***** This file should be named 4693-h.htm or 4693-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/9/4693/ + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks, David Widger and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +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: Famous Affinities of History, Vol 1-4, Complete + The Romance of Devotion + +Author: Lyndon Orr + +Release Date: November, 2003 [Etext #4693] +Posting Date: December 12, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS AFFINITIES *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY + +THE ROMANCE OF DEVOTION + +Volumes 1-4, Complete + + +By Lyndon Orr + + + +Contents + + THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA + + ABELARD AND HELOISE + + QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER + + MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL + + QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS MONALDESCHI + + KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN + + MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR + + THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART + + THE EMPRESS CATHARINE AND PRINCE POTEMKIN + + MARIE ANTOINETTE AND COUNT FERSEN + + THE STORY OF AARON BURR + + GEORGE IV. AND MRS. FITZHERBERT + + CHARLOTTE CORDAY AND ADAM LUX + + NAPOLEON AND MARIE WALEWSKA + + THE STORY OF PAULINE BONAPARTE + + THE STORY OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE AND COUNT NEIPPERG + + THE WIVES OF GENERAL HOUSTON + + LOLA MONTEZ AND KING LUDWIG OF BAVARIA + + LEON GAMBETTA AND LEONIE LEON + + LADY BLESSINGTON AND COUNT D'ORSAY + + BYRON AND THE COUNTESS GUICCIOLI + + THE STORY OF MME. DE STAEL + + THE STORY OF KARL MARX + + FERDINAND LASSALLE AND HELENE VON DONNIGES + + THE STORY OF RACHEL + + DEAN SWIFT AND THE TWO ESTHERS + + PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AND MARY GODWIN + + THE STORY OF THE CARLYLES + + THE STORY OF THE HUGOS + + THE STORY OF GEORGE SAND + + THE MYSTERY OF CHARLES DICKENS + + HONORE DE BALZAC AND EVELINA HANSKA + + CHARLES READE AND LAURA SEYMOUR + + + + + +THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA + + +Of all love stories that are known to human history, the love story +of Antony and Cleopatra has been for nineteen centuries the most +remarkable. It has tasked the resources of the plastic and the graphic +arts. It has been made the theme of poets and of prose narrators. It has +appeared and reappeared in a thousand forms, and it appeals as much +to the imagination to-day as it did when Antony deserted his almost +victorious troops and hastened in a swift galley from Actium in pursuit +of Cleopatra. + +The wonder of the story is explained by its extraordinary nature. Many +men in private life have lost fortune and fame for the love of woman. +Kings have incurred the odium of their people, and have cared nothing +for it in comparison with the joys of sense that come from the lingering +caresses and clinging kisses. Cold-blooded statesmen, such as Parnell, +have lost the leadership of their party and have gone down in history +with a clouded name because of the fascination exercised upon them by +some woman, often far from beautiful, and yet possessing the mysterious +power which makes the triumphs of statesmanship seem slight in +comparison with the swiftly flying hours of pleasure. + +But in the case of Antony and Cleopatra alone do we find a man flinging +away not merely the triumphs of civic honors or the headship of a +state, but much more than these--the mastery of what was practically the +world--in answer to the promptings of a woman's will. Hence the story +of the Roman triumvir and the Egyptian queen is not like any other +story that has yet been told. The sacrifice involved in it was so +overwhelming, so instantaneous, and so complete as to set this narrative +above all others. Shakespeare's genius has touched it with the glory +of a great imagination. Dryden, using it in the finest of his plays, +expressed its nature in the title "All for Love." + +The distinguished Italian historian, Signor Ferrero, the author of many +books, has tried hard to eliminate nearly all the romantic elements +from the tale, and to have us see in it not the triumph of love, but +the blindness of ambition. Under his handling it becomes almost a sordid +drama of man's pursuit of power and of woman's selfishness. Let us +review the story as it remains, even after we have taken full account +of Ferrero's criticism. Has the world for nineteen hundred years been +blinded by a show of sentiment? Has it so absolutely been misled by +those who lived and wrote in the days which followed closely on the +events that make up this extraordinary narrative? + +In answering these questions we must consider, in the first place, +the scene, and, in the second place, the psychology of the two central +characters who for so long a time have been regarded as the very +embodiment of unchecked passion. + +As to the scene, it must be remembered that the Egypt of those days +was not Egyptian as we understand the word, but rather Greek. Cleopatra +herself was of Greek descent. The kingdom of Egypt had been created by a +general of Alexander the Great after that splendid warrior's death. +Its capital, the most brilliant city of the Greco-Roman world, had been +founded by Alexander himself, who gave to it his name. With his +own hands he traced out the limits of the city and issued the most +peremptory orders that it should be made the metropolis of the entire +world. The orders of a king cannot give enduring greatness to a city; +but Alexander's keen eye and marvelous brain saw at once that the site +of Alexandria was such that a great commercial community planted there +would live and flourish throughout out succeeding ages. He was right; +for within a century this new capital of Egypt leaped to the forefront +among the exchanges of the world's commerce, while everything that art +could do was lavished on its embellishment. + +Alexandria lay upon a projecting tongue of land so situated that the +whole trade of the Mediterranean centered there. Down the Nile there +floated to its gates the barbaric wealth of Africa. To it came the +treasures of the East, brought from afar by caravans--silks from China, +spices and pearls from India, and enormous masses of gold and silver +from lands scarcely known. In its harbor were the vessels of every +country, from Asia in the East to Spain and Gaul and even Britain in the +West. + +When Cleopatra, a young girl of seventeen, succeeded to the throne of +Egypt the population of Alexandria amounted to a million souls. The +customs duties collected at the port would, in terms of modern money, +amount each year to more than thirty million dollars, even though the +imposts were not heavy. The people, who may be described as Greek at +the top and Oriental at the bottom, were boisterous and pleasure-loving, +devoted to splendid spectacles, with horse-racing, gambling, and +dissipation; yet at the same time they were an artistic people, loving +music passionately, and by no means idle, since one part of the city was +devoted to large and prosperous manufactories of linen, paper, glass, +and muslin. + +To the outward eye Alexandria was extremely beautiful. Through its +entire length ran two great boulevards, shaded and diversified by +mighty trees and parterres of multicolored flowers, amid which fountains +plashed and costly marbles gleamed. One-fifth of the whole city was +known as the Royal Residence. In it were the palaces of the reigning +family, the great museum, and the famous library which the Arabs later +burned. There were parks and gardens brilliant with tropical foliage and +adorned with the masterpieces of Grecian sculpture, while sphinxes +and obelisks gave a suggestion of Oriental strangeness. As one looked +seaward his eye beheld over the blue water the snow-white rocks of the +sheltering island, Pharos, on which was reared a lighthouse four hundred +feet in height and justly numbered among the seven wonders of the world. +Altogether, Alexandria was a city of wealth, of beauty, of stirring +life, of excitement, and of pleasure. Ferrero has aptly likened it to +Paris--not so much the Paris of to-day as the Paris of forty years ago, +when the Second Empire flourished in all its splendor as the home of joy +and strange delights. + +Over the country of which Alexandria was the capital Cleopatra came to +reign at seventeen. Following the odd custom which the Greek dynasty of +the Ptolemies had inherited from their Egyptian predecessors, she was +betrothed to her own brother. He, however, was a mere child of less than +twelve, and was under the control of evil counselors, who, in his name, +gained control of the capital and drove Cleopatra into exile. Until then +she had been a mere girl; but now the spirit of a woman who was wronged +blazed up in her and called out all her latent powers. Hastening to +Syria, she gathered about herself an army and led it against her foes. + +But meanwhile Julius Caesar, the greatest man of ancient times, had +arrived at Alexandria backed by an army of his veterans. Against him +no resistance would avail. Then came a brief moment during which the +Egyptian king and the Egyptian queen each strove to win the favor of +the Roman imperator. The king and his advisers had many arts, and so had +Cleopatra. One thing, however, she possessed which struck the balance in +her favor, and this was a woman's fascination. + +According to the story, Caesar was unwilling to receive her. There came +into his presence, as he sat in the palace, a group of slaves bearing +a long roll of matting, bound carefully and seeming to contain some +precious work of art. The slaves made signs that they were bearing a +gift to Caesar. The master of Egypt bade them unwrap the gift that he +might see it. They did so, and out of the wrapping came Cleopatra--a +radiant vision, appealing, irresistible. Next morning it became known +everywhere that Cleopatra had remained in Caesar's quarters through the +night and that her enemies were now his enemies. In desperation they +rushed upon his legions, casting aside all pretense of amity. There +ensued a fierce contest, but the revolt was quenched in blood. + +This was a crucial moment in Cleopatra's life. She had sacrificed all +that a woman has to give; but she had not done so from any love of +pleasure or from wantonness. She was queen of Egypt, and she had +redeemed her kingdom and kept it by her sacrifice. One should not +condemn her too severely. In a sense, her act was one of heroism like +that of Judith in the tent of Holofernes. But beyond all question it +changed her character. It taught her the secret of her own great power. +Henceforth she was no longer a mere girl, nor a woman of the ordinary +type. Her contact with so great a mind as Caesar's quickened her +intellect. Her knowledge that, by the charms of sense, she had mastered +even him transformed her into a strange and wonderful creature. She +learned to study the weaknesses of men, to play on their emotions, to +appeal to every subtle taste and fancy. In her were blended mental power +and that illusive, indefinable gift which is called charm. + +For Cleopatra was never beautiful. Signor Ferrero seems to think this +fact to be discovery of his own, but it was set down by Plutarch in a +very striking passage written less than a century after Cleopatra and +Antony died. We may quote here what the Greek historian said of her: + +Her actual beauty was far from being so remarkable that none could be +compared with her, nor was it such that it would strike your fancy when +you saw her first. Yet the influence of her presence, if you lingered +near her, was irresistible. Her attractive personality, joined with the +charm of her conversation, and the individual touch that she gave to +everything she said or did, were utterly bewitching. It was delightful +merely to hear the music of her voice, with which, like an instrument of +many strings, she could pass from one language to another. + +Caesar had left Cleopatra firmly seated on the throne of Egypt. For +six years she reigned with great intelligence, keeping order in her +dominions, and patronizing with discrimination both arts and letters. +But ere long the convulsions of the Roman state once more caused her +extreme anxiety. Caesar had been assassinated, and there ensued a +period of civil war. Out of it emerged two striking figures which were +absolutely contrasted in their character. One was Octavian, the adopted +son of Caesar, a man who, though still quite young and possessed of +great ability, was cunning, cold-blooded, and deceitful. The other +was Antony, a soldier by training, and with all a soldier's bluntness, +courage, and lawlessness. + +The Roman world was divided for the time between these two men, Antony +receiving the government of the East, Octavian that of the West. In the +year which had preceded this division Cleopatra had wavered between the +two opposite factions at Rome. In so doing she had excited the suspicion +of Antony, and he now demanded of her an explanation. + +One must have some conception of Antony himself in order to understand +the events that followed. He was essentially a soldier, of excellent +family, being related to Caesar himself. As a very young man he was +exceedingly handsome, and bad companions led him into the pursuit of +vicious pleasure. He had scarcely come of age when he found that he owed +the enormous sum of two hundred and fifty talents, equivalent to half a +million dollars in the money of to-day. But he was much more than a mere +man of pleasure, given over to drinking and to dissipation. Men might +tell of his escapades, as when he drove about the streets of Rome in a +common cab, dangling his legs out of the window while he shouted forth +drunken songs of revelry. This was not the whole of Antony. Joining the +Roman army in Syria, he showed himself to be a soldier of great personal +bravery, a clever strategist, and also humane and merciful in the hour +of victory. + +Unlike most Romans, Antony wore a full beard. His forehead was large, +and his nose was of the distinctive Roman type. His look was so bold and +masculine that people likened him to Hercules. His democratic manners +endeared him to the army. He wore a plain tunic covered with a +large, coarse mantle, and carried a huge sword at his side, despising +ostentation. Even his faults and follies added to his popularity. He +would sit down at the common soldiers' mess and drink with them, telling +them stories and clapping them on the back. He spent money like water, +quickly recognizing any daring deed which his legionaries performed. In +this respect he was like Napoleon; and, like Napoleon, he had a vein of +florid eloquence which was criticized by literary men, but which went +straight to the heart of the private soldier. In a word, he was a +powerful, virile, passionate, able man, rough, as were nearly all his +countrymen, but strong and true. + +It was to this general that Cleopatra was to answer, and with a firm +reliance on the charms which had subdued Antony's great commander, +Caesar, she set out in person for Cilicia, in Asia Minor, sailing up +the river Cydnus to the place where Antony was encamped with his army. +Making all allowance for the exaggeration of historians, there can be +no doubt that she appeared to him like some dreamy vision. Her barge was +gilded, and was wafted on its way by swelling sails of Tyrian purple. +The oars which smote the water were of shining silver. As she drew +near the Roman general's camp the languorous music of flutes and harps +breathed forth a strain of invitation. + +Cleopatra herself lay upon a divan set upon the deck of the barge +beneath a canopy of woven gold. She was dressed to resemble Venus, while +girls about her personated nymphs and Graces. Delicate perfumes diffused +themselves from the vessel; and at last, as she drew near the shore, all +the people for miles about were gathered there, leaving Antony to sit +alone in the tribunal where he was dispensing justice. + +Word was brought to him that Venus had come to feast with Bacchus. +Antony, though still suspicious of Cleopatra, sent her an invitation +to dine with him in state. With graceful tact she sent him a +counter-invitation, and he came. The magnificence of his reception +dazzled the man who had so long known only a soldier's fare, or at +most the crude entertainments which he had enjoyed in Rome. A marvelous +display of lights was made. Thousands upon thousands of candles shone +brilliantly, arranged in squares and circles; while the banquet itself +was one that symbolized the studied luxury of the East. + +At this time Cleopatra was twenty-seven years of age--a period of life +which modern physiologists have called the crisis in a woman's growth. +She had never really loved before, since she had given herself to +Caesar, not because she cared for him, but to save her kingdom. She now +came into the presence of one whose manly beauty and strong passions +were matched by her own subtlety and appealing charm. + +When Antony addressed her he felt himself a rustic in her presence. +Almost resentful, he betook himself to the coarse language of the camp. +Cleopatra, with marvelous adaptability, took her tone from his, and thus +in a moment put him at his ease. Ferrero, who takes a most unfavorable +view of her character and personality, nevertheless explains the secret +of her fascination: + +Herself utterly cold and callous, insensitive by nature to the flame of +true devotion, Cleopatra was one of those women gifted with an unerring +instinct for all the various roads to men's affections. She could be the +shrinking, modest girl, too shy to reveal her half-unconscious emotions +of jealousy and depression and self-abandonment, or a woman carried away +by the sweep of a fiery and uncontrollable passion. She could tickle the +esthetic sensibilities of her victims by rich and gorgeous festivals, +by the fantastic adornment of her own person and her palace, or by +brilliant discussions on literature and art; she could conjure up all +their grossest instincts with the vilest obscenities of conversation, +with the free and easy jocularity of a woman of the camps. + +These last words are far too strong, and they represent only Ferrero's +personal opinion; yet there is no doubt that she met every mood of +Antony's so that he became enthralled with her at once. No such woman as +this had ever cast her eyes on him before. He had a wife at home--a most +disreputable wife--so that he cared little for domestic ties. Later, +out of policy, he made another marriage with the sister of his rival, +Octavian, but this wife he never cared for. His heart and soul were +given up to Cleopatra, the woman who could be a comrade in the camp and +a fount of tenderness in their hours of dalliance, and who possessed the +keen intellect of a man joined to the arts and fascinations of a woman. + +On her side she found in Antony an ardent lover, a man of vigorous +masculinity, and, moreover, a soldier whose armies might well sustain +her on the throne of Egypt. That there was calculation mingled with her +love, no one can doubt. That some calculation also entered into Antony's +affection is likewise certain. Yet this does not affect the truth that +each was wholly given to the other. Why should it have lessened her love +for him to feel that he could protect her and defend her? Why should it +have lessened his love for her to know that she was queen of the richest +country in the world--one that could supply his needs, sustain his +armies, and gild his triumphs with magnificence? + +There are many instances in history of regnant queens who loved and yet +whose love was not dissociated from the policy of state. Such were Anne +of Austria, Elizabeth of England, and the unfortunate Mary Stuart. Such, +too, we cannot fail to think, was Cleopatra. + +The two remained together for ten years. In this time Antony was +separated from her only during a campaign in the East. In Alexandria he +ceased to seem a Roman citizen and gave himself up wholly to the charms +of this enticing woman. Many stories are told of their good fellowship +and close intimacy. Plutarch quotes Plato as saying that there are four +kinds of flattery, but he adds that Cleopatra had a thousand. She was +the supreme mistress of the art of pleasing. + +Whether Antony were serious or mirthful, she had at the instant some new +delight or some new charm to meet his wishes. At every turn she was with +him both day and night. With him she threw dice; with him she drank; +with him she hunted; and when he exercised himself in arms she was there +to admire and applaud. + +At night the pair would disguise themselves as servants and wander about +the streets of Alexandria. In fact, more than once they were set upon in +the slums and treated roughly by the rabble who did not recognize them. +Cleopatra was always alluring, always tactful, often humorous, and full +of frolic. + +Then came the shock of Antony's final breach with Octavian. Either +Antony or his rival must rule the world. Cleopatra's lover once more +became the Roman general, and with a great fleet proceeded to the coast +of Greece, where his enemy was encamped. Antony had raised a hundred and +twelve thousand troops and five hundred ships--a force far superior to +that commanded by Octavian. Cleopatra was there with sixty ships. + +In the days that preceded the final battle much took place which still +remains obscure. It seems likely that Antony desired to become again +the Roman, while Cleopatra wished him to thrust Rome aside and return to +Egypt with her, to reign there as an independent king. To her Rome was +almost a barbarian city. In it she could not hold sway as she could +in her beautiful Alexandria, with its blue skies and velvet turf and +tropical flowers. At Rome Antony would be distracted by the cares of +state, and she would lose her lover. At Alexandria she would have him +for her very own. + +The clash came when the hostile fleets met off the promontory of Actium. +At its crisis Cleopatra, prematurely concluding that the battle was +lost, of a sudden gave the signal for retreat and put out to sea with +her fleet. This was the crucial moment. Antony, mastered by his +love, forgot all else, and in a swift ship started in pursuit of her, +abandoning his fleet and army to win or lose as fortune might decide. +For him the world was nothing; the dark-browed Queen of Egypt, imperious +and yet caressing, was everything. Never was such a prize and never +were such great hopes thrown carelessly away. After waiting seven days +Antony's troops, still undefeated, finding that their commander would +not return to them, surrendered to Octavian, who thus became the master +of an empire. + +Later his legions assaulted Alexandria, and there Antony was twice +defeated. At last Cleopatra saw her great mistake. She had made her +lover give up the hope of being Rome's dictator, but in so doing she had +also lost the chance of ruling with him tranquilly in Egypt. She shut +herself behind the barred doors of the royal sepulcher; and, lest she +should be molested there, she sent forth word that she had died. Her +proud spirit could not brook the thought that she might be seized and +carried as a prisoner to Rome. She was too much a queen in soul to +be led in triumph up the Sacred Way to the Capitol with golden chains +clanking on her slender wrists. + +Antony, believing the report that she was dead, fell upon his sword; but +in his dying moments he was carried into the presence of the woman for +whom he had given all. With her arms about him, his spirit passed away; +and soon after she, too, met death, whether by a poisoned draught or by +the storied asp no one can say. + +Cleopatra had lived the mistress of a splendid kingdom. She had +successively captivated two of the greatest men whom Rome had ever seen. +She died, like a queen, to escape disgrace. Whatever modern critics +may have to say concerning small details, this story still remains the +strangest love story of which the world has any record. + + + + + +ABELARD AND HELOISE + +Many a woman, amid the transports of passionate and languishing love, +has cried out in a sort of ecstasy: + +"I love you as no woman ever loved a man before!" + +When she says this she believes it. Her whole soul is aflame with the +ardor of emotion. It really seems to her that no one ever could have +loved so much as she. + +This cry--spontaneous, untaught, sincere--has become almost one of those +conventionalities of amorous expression which belong to the vocabulary +of self-abandonment. Every woman who utters it, when torn by the almost +terrible extravagance of a great love, believes that no one before her +has ever said it, and that in her own case it is absolutely true. + +Yet, how many women are really faithful to the end? Very many, indeed, +if circumstances admit of easy faithfulness. A high-souled, generous, +ardent nature will endure an infinity of disillusionment, of misfortune, +of neglect, and even of ill treatment. Even so, the flame, though it +may sink low, can be revived again to burn as brightly as before. But +in order that this may be so it is necessary that the object of such a +wonderful devotion be alive, that he be present and visible; or, if +he be absent, that there should still exist some hope of renewing the +exquisite intimacy of the past. + +A man who is sincerely loved may be compelled to take long journeys +which will separate him for an indefinite time from the woman who +has given her heart to him, and she will still be constant. He may +be imprisoned, perhaps for life, yet there is always the hope of his +release or of his escape; and some women will be faithful to him and +will watch for his return. But, given a situation which absolutely bars +out hope, which sunders two souls in such a way that they can never be +united in this world, and there we have a test so terribly severe that +few even of the most loyal and intensely clinging lovers can endure it. + +Not that such a situation would lead a woman to turn to any other man +than the one to whom she had given her very life; but we might expect +that at least her strong desire would cool and weaken. She might cherish +his memory among the precious souvenirs of her love life; but that she +should still pour out the same rapturous, unstinted passion as before +seems almost too much to believe. The annals of emotion record only one +such instance; and so this instance has become known to all, and has +been cherished for nearly a thousand years. It involves the story of a +woman who did love, perhaps, as no one ever loved before or since; for +she was subjected to this cruel test, and she met the test not alone +completely, but triumphantly and almost fiercely. + +The story is, of course, the story of Abelard and Heloise. It has many +times been falsely told. Portions of it have been omitted, and other +portions of it have been garbled. A whole literature has grown up +around the subject. It may well be worth our while to clear away the +ambiguities and the doubtful points, and once more to tell it simply, +without bias, and with a strict adherence to what seems to be the truth +attested by authentic records. + +There is one circumstance connected with the story which we must +specially note. The narrative does something more than set forth the one +quite unimpeachable instance of unconquered constancy. It shows how, in +the last analysis, that which touches the human heart has more vitality +and more enduring interest than what concerns the intellect or those +achievements of the human mind which are external to our emotional +nature. + +Pierre Abelard was undoubtedly the boldest and most creative reasoner +of his time. As a wandering teacher he drew after him thousands of +enthusiastic students. He gave a strong impetus to learning. He was a +marvelous logician and an accomplished orator. Among his pupils were men +who afterward became prelates of the church and distinguished scholars. +In the Dark Age, when the dictates of reason were almost wholly +disregarded, he fought fearlessly for intellectual freedom. He was +practically the founder of the University of Paris, which in turn became +the mother of medieval and modern universities. + +He was, therefore, a great and striking figure in the history of +civilization. Nevertheless he would to-day be remembered only by +scholars and students of the Middle Ages were it not for the fact that +he inspired the most enduring love that history records. If Heloise +had never loved him, and if their story had not been so tragic and so +poignant, he would be to-day only a name known to but a few. His final +resting-place, in the cemetery of Pere Lachaise, in Paris, would not +be sought out by thousands every year and kept bright with flowers, the +gift of those who have themselves both loved and suffered. + +Pierre Abelard--or, more fully, Pierre Abelard de Palais--was a native +of Brittany, born in the year 1079. His father was a knight, the lord of +the manor; but Abelard cared little for the life of a petty noble; and +so he gave up his seigniorial rights to his brothers and went forth to +become, first of all a student, and then a public lecturer and teacher. + +His student days ended abruptly in Paris, where he had enrolled himself +as the pupil of a distinguished philosopher, Guillaume de Champeaux; but +one day Abelard engaged in a disputation with his master. His wonderful +combination of eloquence, logic, and originality utterly routed +Champeaux, who was thus humiliated in the presence of his disciples. He +was the first of many enemies that Abelard was destined to make in his +long and stormy career. From that moment the young Breton himself set +up as a teacher of philosophy, and the brilliancy of his discourses soon +drew to him throngs of students from all over Europe. + +Before proceeding with the story of Abelard it is well to reconstruct, +however slightly, a picture of the times in which he lived. It was an +age when Western Europe was but partly civilized. Pedantry and learning +of the most minute sort existed side by side with the most violent +excesses of medieval barbarism. The Church had undertaken the gigantic +task of subduing and enlightening the semi-pagan peoples of France and +Germany and England. + +When we look back at that period some will unjustly censure Rome for not +controlling more completely the savagery of the medievals. More fairly +should we wonder at the great measure of success which had already +been achieved. The leaven of a true Christianity was working in the +half-pagan populations. It had not yet completely reached the nobles and +the knights, or even all the ecclesiastics who served it and who were +consecrated to its mission. Thus, amid a sort of political chaos +were seen the glaring evils of feudalism. Kings and princes and their +followers lived the lives of swine. Private blood-feuds were regarded +lightly. There was as yet no single central power. Every man carried his +life in his hand, trusting to sword and dagger for protection. + +The cities were still mere hamlets clustered around great castles or +fortified cathedrals. In Paris itself the network of dark lanes, +ill lighted and unguarded, was the scene of midnight murder and +assassination. In the winter-time wolves infested the town by night. +Men-at-arms, with torches and spears, often had to march out from their +barracks to assail the snarling, yelping packs of savage animals that +hunger drove from the surrounding forests. + +Paris of the twelfth century was typical of France itself, which was +harried by human wolves intent on rapine and wanton plunder. There were +great schools of theology, but the students who attended them fought and +slashed one another. If a man's life was threatened he must protect it +by his own strength or by gathering about him a band of friends. No +one was safe. No one was tolerant. Very few were free from the grosser +vices. Even in some of the religious houses the brothers would meet +at night for unseemly revels, splashing the stone floors with wine and +shrieking in a delirium of drunkenness. The rules of the Church enjoined +temperance, continence, and celibacy; but the decrees of Leo IX. and +Nicholas II. and Alexander II. and Gregory were only partially observed. + +In fact, Europe was in a state of chaos--political and moral and social. +Only very slowly was order emerging from sheer anarchy. We must remember +this when we recall some facts which meet us in the story of Abelard and +Heloise. + +The jealousy of Champeaux drove Abelard for a time from Paris. He taught +and lectured at several other centers of learning, always admired, and +yet at the same time denounced by many for his advocacy of reason as +against blind faith. During the years of his wandering he came to have +a wide knowledge of the world and of human nature. If we try to imagine +him as he was in his thirty-fifth year we shall find in him a remarkable +combination of attractive qualities. + +It must be remembered that though, in a sense, he was an ecclesiastic, +he had not yet been ordained to the priesthood, but was rather a +canon--a person who did not belong to any religious order, though he was +supposed to live according to a definite set of religious rules and as a +member of a religious community. Abelard, however, made rather light +of his churchly associations. He was at once an accomplished man of the +world and a profound scholar. There was nothing of the recluse about +him. He mingled with his fellow men, whom he dominated by the charm of +his personality. He was eloquent, ardent, and persuasive. He could turn +a delicate compliment as skilfully as he could elaborate a syllogism. +His rich voice had in it a seductive quality which was never without its +effect. + +Handsome and well formed, he possessed as much vigor of body as of mind. +Nor were his accomplishments entirely those of the scholar. He wrote +dainty verses, which he also set to music, and which he sang himself +with a rare skill. Some have called him "the first of the troubadours," +and many who cared nothing for his skill in logic admired him for +his gifts as a musician and a poet. Altogether, he was one to attract +attention wherever he went, for none could fail to recognize his power. + +It was soon after his thirty-fifth year that he returned to Paris, where +he was welcomed by thousands. With much tact he reconciled himself to +his enemies, so that his life now seemed to be full of promise and of +sunshine. + +It was at this time that he became acquainted with a very beautiful +young girl named Heloise. She was only eighteen years of age, yet +already she possessed not only beauty, but many accomplishments which +were then quite rare in women, since she both wrote and spoke a number +of languages, and, like Abelard, was a lover of music and poetry. +Heloise was the illegitimate daughter of a canon of patrician blood; so +that she is said to have been a worthy representative of the noble house +of the Montmorencys--famous throughout French history for chivalry and +charm. + +Up to this time we do not know precisely what sort of life Abelard +had lived in private. His enemies declared that he had squandered his +substance in vicious ways. His friends denied this, and represented +him as strict and chaste. The truth probably lies between these two +assertions. He was naturally a pleasure-loving man of the world, who may +very possibly have relieved his severer studies by occasional revelry +and light love. It is not at all likely that he was addicted to gross +passions and low practices. + +But such as he was, when he first saw Heloise he conceived for her +a violent attachment. Carefully guarded in the house of her uncle, +Fulbert, it was difficult at first for Abelard to meet her save in the +most casual way; yet every time that he heard her exquisite voice and +watched her graceful manners he became more and more infatuated. His +studies suddenly seemed tame and colorless beside the fierce scarlet +flame which blazed up in his heart. + +Nevertheless, it was because of these studies and of his great +reputation as a scholar that he managed to obtain access to Heloise. He +flattered her uncle and made a chance proposal that he should himself +become an inmate of Fulbert's household in order that he might teach +this girl of so much promise. Such an offer coming from so brilliant a +man was joyfully accepted. + +From that time Abelard could visit Heloise without restraint. He was +her teacher, and the two spent hours together, nominally in the study of +Greek and Hebrew; but doubtless very little was said between them +upon such unattractive subjects. On the contrary, with all his wide +experience of life, his eloquence, his perfect manners, and his +fascination, Abelard put forth his power to captivate the senses of +a girl still in her teens and quite ignorant of the world. As Remusat +says, he employed to win her the genius which had overwhelmed all the +great centers of learning in the Western world. + +It was then that the pleasures of knowledge, the joys of thought, the +emotions of eloquence, were all called into play to charm and move and +plunge into a profound and strange intoxication this noble and tender +heart which had never known either love or sorrow.... One can imagine +that everything helped on the inevitable end. Their studies gave them +opportunities to see each other freely, and also permitted them to be +alone together. Then their books lay open between them; but either long +periods of silence stilled their reading, or else words of deepening +intimacy made them forget their studies altogether. The eyes of the two +lovers turned from the book to mingle their glances, and then to turn +away in a confusion that was conscious. + +Hand would touch hand, apparently by accident; and when conversation +ceased, Abelard would often hear the long, quivering sigh which showed +the strange, half-frightened, and yet exquisite joy which Heloise +experienced. + +It was not long before the girl's heart had been wholly won. Transported +by her emotion, she met the caresses of her lover with those as +unrestrained as his. Her very innocence deprived her of the protection +which older women would have had. All was given freely, and even +wildly, by Heloise; and all was taken by Abelard, who afterward himself +declared: + +"The pleasure of teaching her to love surpassed the delightful fragrance +of all the perfumes in the world." + +Yet these two could not always live in a paradise which was entirely +their own. The world of Paris took notice of their close association. +Some poems written to Heloise by Abelard, as if in letters of fire, were +found and shown to Fulbert, who, until this time, had suspected nothing. +Angrily he ordered Abelard to leave his house. He forbade his niece to +see her lover any more. + +But the two could not be separated; and, indeed, there was good reason +why they should still cling together. Secretly Heloise left her uncle's +house and fled through the narrow lanes of Paris to the dwelling of +Abelard's sister, Denyse, where Abelard himself was living. There, +presently, the young girl gave birth to a son, who was named Astrolabe, +after an instrument used by astronomers, since both the father and +the mother felt that the offspring of so great a love should have no +ordinary name. + +Fulbert was furious, and rightly so. His hospitality had been outraged +and his niece dishonored. He insisted that the pair should at once +be married. Here was revealed a certain weakness in the character of +Abelard. He consented to the marriage, but insisted that it should be +kept an utter secret. + +Oddly enough, it was Heloise herself who objected to becoming the wife +of the man she loved. Unselfishness could go no farther. She saw that, +were he to marry her, his advancement in the Church would be almost +impossible; for, while the very minor clergy sometimes married in spite +of the papal bulls, matrimony was becoming a fatal bar to ecclesiastical +promotion. And so Heloise pleaded pitifully, both with her uncle and +with Abelard, that there should be no marriage. She would rather bear +all manner of disgrace than stand in the way of Abelard's advancement. + +He has himself given some of the words in which she pleaded with him: + +What glory shall I win from you, when I have made you quite inglorious +and have humbled both of us? What vengeance will the world inflict on +me if I deprive it of one so brilliant? What curses will follow such a +marriage? How outrageous would it be that you, whom nature created for +the universal good, should be devoted to one woman and plunged into such +disgrace? I loathe the thought of a marriage which would humiliate you. + +Indeed, every possible effort which another woman in her place would +employ to make him marry her she used in order to dissuade him. Finally, +her sweet face streaming with tears, she uttered that tremendous +sentence which makes one really think that she loved him as no other +woman ever loved a man. She cried out, in an agony of self-sacrifice: + +"I would rather be your mistress than the wife even of an emperor!" + +Nevertheless, the two were married, and Abelard returned to his +lecture-room and to his studies. For months they met but seldom. +Meanwhile, however, the taunts and innuendos directed against Heloise +so irritated Fulbert that he broke his promise of secrecy, and told his +friends that Abelard and Heloise were man and wife. They went to Heloise +for confirmation. Once more she showed in an extraordinary way the depth +of her devotion. + +"I am no wife," she said. "It is not true that Abelard has married me. +My uncle merely tells you this to save my reputation." + +They asked her whether she would swear to this; and, without a moment's +hesitation, this pure and noble woman took an oath upon the Scriptures +that there had been no marriage. + +Fulbert was enraged by this. He ill-treated Heloise, and, furthermore, +he forbade Abelard to visit her. The girl, therefore, again left her +uncle's house and betook herself to a convent just outside of Paris, +where she assumed the habit of a nun as a disguise. There Abelard +continued from time to time to meet her. + +When Fulbert heard of this he put his own interpretation on it. He +believed that Abelard intended to ignore the marriage altogether, and +that possibly he might even marry some other woman. In any case, he now +hated Abelard with all his heart; and he resolved to take a fearful and +unnatural vengeance which would at once prevent his enemy from making +any other marriage, while at the same time it would debar him from +ecclesiastical preferment. + +To carry out his plot Fulbert first bribed a man who was the +body-servant of Abelard, watching at the door of his room each night. +Then he hired the services of four ruffians. After Abelard had retired +and was deep in slumber the treacherous valet unbarred the door. The +hirelings of Fulbert entered and fell upon the sleeping man. Three of +them bound him fast, while the fourth, with a razor, inflicted on him +the most shameful mutilation that is possible. Then, extinguishing +the lights, the wretches slunk away and were lost in darkness, leaving +behind their victim bound to his couch, uttering cries of torment and +bathed in his own blood. + +It is a shocking story, and yet it is intensely characteristic of the +lawless and barbarous era in which it happened. Early the next morning +the news flew rapidly through Paris. The city hummed like a bee-hive. +Citizens and students and ecclesiastics poured into the street and +surrounded the house of Abelard. + +"Almost the entire city," says Fulques, as quoted by McCabe, "went +clamoring toward his house. Women wept as if each one had lost her +husband." + +Unmanned though he was, Abelard still retained enough of the spirit of +his time to seek vengeance. He, in his turn, employed ruffians whom he +set upon the track of those who had assaulted him. The treacherous valet +and one of Fulbert's hirelings were run down, seized, and mutilated +precisely as Abelard had been; and their eyes were blinded. A third was +lodged in prison. Fulbert himself was accused before one of the Church +courts, which alone had power to punish an ecclesiastic, and all his +goods were confiscated. + +But, meantime, how did it fare with Heloise? Her grief was greater than +his own, while her love and her devotion were absolutely undiminished. +But Abelard now showed a selfishness--and indeed, a meanness--far beyond +any that he had before exhibited. Heloise could no more be his wife. +He made it plain that he put no trust in her fidelity. He was unwilling +that she should live in the world while he could not; and so he told +her sternly that she must take the veil and bury herself for ever in a +nunnery. + +The pain and shame which she experienced at this came wholly from the +fact that evidently Abelard did not trust her. Long afterward she wrote: + +God knows I should not have hesitated, at your command, to precede or to +follow you to hell itself! + +It was his distrust that cut her to the heart. Still, her love for him +was so intense that she obeyed his order. Soon after she took the vows; +and in the convent chapel, shaken with sobs, she knelt before the altar +and assumed the veil of a cloistered nun. Abelard himself put on the +black tunic of a Benedictine monk and entered the Abbey of St. Denis. + +It is unnecessary here to follow out all the details of the lives of +Abelard and Heloise after this heart-rendering scene. Abelard +passed through many years of strife and disappointment, and even of +humiliation; for on one occasion, just as he had silenced Guillaume +de Champeaux, so he himself was silenced and put to rout by Bernard of +Clairvaux--"a frail, tense, absorbed, dominant little man, whose face +was white and worn with suffering," but in whose eyes there was a +light of supreme strength. Bernard represented pure faith, as Abelard +represented pure reason; and the two men met before a great council to +match their respective powers. + +Bernard, with fiery eloquence, brought a charge of heresy against +Abelard in an oration which was like a charge of cavalry. When he had +concluded Abelard rose with an ashen face, stammered out a few words, +and sat down. He was condemned by the council, and his works were +ordered to be burned. + +All his later life was one of misfortune, of humiliation, and even of +personal danger. The reckless monks whom he tried to rule rose fiercely +against him. His life was threatened. He betook himself to a desolate +and lonely place, where he built for himself a hut of reeds and rushes, +hoping to spend his final years in meditation. But there were many who +had not forgotten his ability as a teacher. These flocked by hundreds +to the desert place where he abode. His hut was surrounded by tents and +rude hovels, built by his scholars for their shelter. + +Thus Abelard resumed his teaching, though in a very different frame of +mind. In time he built a structure of wood and stone, which he called +the Paraclete, some remains of which can still be seen. + +All this time no word had passed between him and Heloise. But presently +Abelard wrote and gave to the world a curious and exceedingly frank +book, which he called The Story of My Misfortunes. A copy of it reached +the hands of Heloise, and she at once sent to Abelard the first of a +series of letters which have remained unique in the literature of love. + +Ten years had passed, and yet the woman's heart was as faithful and as +full of yearning as on the day when the two had parted. It has been +said that the letters are not genuine, and they must be read with this +assertion in mind; yet it is difficult to believe that any one save +Heloise herself could have flung a human soul into such frankly +passionate utterances, or that any imitator could have done the work. + +In her first letter, which was sent to Abelard written upon parchment, +she said: + +At thy command I would change, not merely my costume, but my very soul, +so entirely art thou the sole possessor of my body and my spirit. Never, +God is my witness, never have I sought anything in thee but thyself; +I have sought thee, and not thy gifts. I have not looked to the +marriage-bond or dowry. + +She begged him to write to her, and to lead her to God, as once he had +led her into the mysteries of pleasure. Abelard answered in a letter, +friendly to be sure, but formal--the letter of a priest to a cloistered +nun. The opening words of it are characteristic of the whole: + +To Heloise, his sister in Christ, from Abelard, her brother in Him. + +The letter was a long one, but throughout the whole of it the writer's +tone was cold and prudent. Its very coldness roused her soul to a +passionate revolt. Her second letter bursts forth in a sort of anguish: + +How hast thou been able to frame such thoughts, dearest? How hast thou +found words to convey them? Oh, if I dared but call God cruel to me! +Oh, most wretched of all creatures that I am! So sweet did I find the +pleasures of our loving days that I cannot bring myself to reject +them or to banish them from my memory. Wheresoever I go, they thrust +themselves upon my vision, and rekindle the old desire. + +But Abelard knew only too well that not in this life could there be +anything save spiritual love between himself and Heloise. He wrote to +her again and again, always in the same remote and unimpassioned way. +He tells her about the history of monasticism, and discusses with her +matters of theology and ethics; but he never writes one word to feed +the flame that is consuming her. The woman understood at last; and by +degrees her letters became as calm as his--suffused, however, with a +tenderness and feeling which showed that in her heart of hearts she was +still entirely given to him. + +After some years Abelard left his dwelling at the Paraclete, and there +was founded there a religious house of which Heloise became the abbess. +All the world respected her for her sweetness, her wisdom, and the +purity of her character. She made friends as easily as Abelard made +enemies. Even Bernard, who had overthrown her husband, sought out +Heloise to ask for her advice and counsel. + +Abelard died while on his way to Rome, whither he was journeying +in order to undergo a penalty; and his body was brought back to the +Paraclete, where it was entombed. Over it for twenty-two years Heloise +watched with tender care; and when she died, her body was laid beside +that of her lover. + +To-day their bones are mingled as she would have desired them to be +mingled. The stones of their tomb in the great cemetery of Pere Lachaise +were brought from the ruins of the Paraclete, and above the sarcophagus +are two recumbent figures, the whole being the work of the artist +Alexandra Lenoir, who died in 1836. The figure representing Heloise +is not, however, an authentic likeness. The model for it was a lady +belonging to a noble family of France, and the figure itself was brought +to Pere Lachaise from the ancient College de Beauvais. + +The letters of Heloise have been read and imitated throughout the whole +of the last nine centuries. Some have found in them the utterances of +a woman whose love of love was greater than her love of God and whose +intensity of passion nothing could subdue; and so these have condemned +her. But others, like Chateaubriand, have more truly seen in them a pure +and noble spirit to whom fate had been very cruel; and who was, after +all, writing to the man who had been her lawful husband. + +Some of the most famous imitations of her letters are those in the +ancient poem entitled, "The Romance of the Rose," written by Jean de +Meung, in the thirteenth century; and in modern times her first letter +was paraphrased by Alexander Pope, and in French by Colardeau. There +exist in English half a dozen translations of them, with Abelard's +replies. It is interesting to remember that practically all the other +writings of Abelard remained unpublished and unedited until a very +recent period. He was a remarkable figure as a philosopher and scholar; +but the world cares for him only because he was loved by Heloise. + + + + + +QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER + + +History has many romantic stories to tell of the part which women +have played in determining the destinies of nations. Sometimes it is +a woman's beauty that causes the shifting of a province. Again it is +another woman's rich possessions that incite invasion and lead to bloody +wars. Marriages or dowries, or the refusal of marriages and the lack +of dowries, inheritance through an heiress, the failure of a male +succession--in these and in many other ways women have set their mark +indelibly upon the trend of history. + +However, if we look over these different events we shall find that it +is not so much the mere longing for a woman--the desire to have her as a +queen--that has seriously affected the annals of any nation. Kings, like +ordinary men, have paid their suit and then have ridden away repulsed, +yet not seriously dejected. Most royal marriages are made either to +secure the succession to a throne by a legitimate line of heirs or else +to unite adjoining states and make a powerful kingdom out of two that +are less powerful. But, as a rule, kings have found greater delight in +some sheltered bower remote from courts than in the castled halls and +well-cared-for nooks where their own wives and children have been reared +with all the appurtenances of legitimacy. + +There are not many stories that hang persistently about the love-making +of a single woman. In the case of one or another we may find an episode +or two--something dashing, something spirited or striking, something +brilliant and exhilarating, or something sad. But for a woman's whole +life to be spent in courtship that meant nothing and that was only a +clever aid to diplomacy--this is surely an unusual and really wonderful +thing. + +It is the more unusual because the woman herself was not intended by +nature to be wasted upon the cold and cheerless sport of chancellors +and counselors and men who had no thought of her except to use her as +a pawn. She was hot-blooded, descended from a fiery race, and one whose +temper was quick to leap into the passion of a man. + +In studying this phase of the long and interesting life of Elizabeth of +England we must notice several important facts. In the first place, +she gave herself, above all else, to the maintenance of England--not an +England that would be half Spanish or half French, or even partly Dutch +and Flemish, but the Merry England of tradition--the England that was +one and undivided, with its growing freedom of thought, its bows and +bills, its nut-brown ale, its sturdy yeomen, and its loyalty to crown +and Parliament. She once said, almost as in an agony: + +"I love England more than anything!" + +And one may really hold that this was true. + +For England she schemed and planned. For England she gave up many of her +royal rights. For England she descended into depths of treachery. For +England she left herself on record as an arrant liar, false, perjured, +yet successful; and because of her success for England's sake her +countrymen will hold her in high remembrance, since her scheming and her +falsehood are the offenses that one pardons most readily in a woman. + +In the second place, it must be remembered that Elizabeth's courtships +and pretended love-makings were almost always a part of her diplomacy. +When not a part of her diplomacy they were a mere appendage to her +vanity. To seem to be the flower of the English people, and to be +surrounded by the noblest, the bravest, and the most handsome cavaliers, +not only of her own kingdom, but of others--this was, indeed, a choice +morsel of which she was fond of tasting, even though it meant nothing +beyond the moment. + +Finally, though at times she could be very cold, and though she made +herself still colder in order that she might play fast and loose with +foreign suitors who played fast and loose with her--the King of +Spain, the Duc d'Alencon, brother of the French king, with an Austrian +archduke, with a magnificent barbarian prince of Muscovy, with Eric of +Sweden, or any other Scandinavian suitor--she felt a woman's need for +some nearer and more tender association to which she might give freer +play and in which she might feel those deeper emotions without the +danger that arises when love is mingled with diplomacy. + +Let us first consider a picture of the woman as she really was in order +that we may understand her triple nature--consummate mistress of every +art that statesmen know, and using at every moment her person as a lure; +a vain-glorious queen who seemed to be the prey of boundless vanity; +and, lastly, a woman who had all a woman's passion, and who could cast +suddenly aside the check and balance which restrained her before the +public gaze and could allow herself to give full play to the emotion +that she inherited from the king, her father, who was himself a marvel +of fire and impetuosity. That the daughter of Henry VIII. and Anne +Boleyn should be a gentle, timid maiden would be to make heredity a +farce. + +Elizabeth was about twenty-five years of age when she ascended the +throne of England. It is odd that the date of her birth cannot be given +with precision. The intrigues and disturbances of the English court, +and the fact that she was a princess, made her birth a matter of less +account than if there had been no male heir to the throne. At any rate, +when she ascended it, after the deaths of her brother, King Edward +VI., and her sister, Queen Mary, she was a woman well trained both in +intellect and in physical development. + +Mr. Martin Hume, who loves to dwell upon the later years of Queen +Elizabeth, speaks rather bitterly of her as a "painted old harridan"; +and such she may well have seemed when, at nearly seventy years of age, +she leered and grinned a sort of skeleton smile at the handsome young +courtiers who pretended to see in her the queen of beauty and to be +dying for love of her. + +Yet, in her earlier years, when she was young and strong and impetuous, +she deserved far different words than these. The portrait of her by +Zucchero, which now hangs in Hampton Court, depicts her when she must +have been of more than middle age; and still the face is one of beauty, +though it be a strange and almost artificial beauty--one that draws, +attracts, and, perhaps, lures you on against your will. + +It is interesting to compare this painting with the frank word-picture +of a certain German agent who was sent to England by his emperor, and +who seems to have been greatly fascinated by Queen Elizabeth. She was at +that time in the prime of her beauty and her power. Her complexion was +of that peculiar transparency which is seen only in the face of golden +blondes. Her figure was fine and graceful, and her wit an accomplishment +that would have made a woman of any rank or time remarkable. The German +envoy says: + +She lives a life of such magnificence and feasting as can hardly be +imagined, and occupies a great portion of her time with balls, banquets, +hunting, and similar amusements, with the utmost possible display, but +nevertheless she insists upon far greater respect being shown her than +was exacted by Queen Mary. She summons Parliament, but lets them know +that her orders must be obeyed in any case. + +If any one will look at the painting by Zucchero he will see how much is +made of Elizabeth's hands--a distinctive feature quite as noble with the +Tudors as is the "Hapsburg lip" among the descendants of the house of +Austria. These were ungloved, and were very long and white, and she +looked at them and played with them a great deal; and, indeed, +they justified the admiration with which they were regarded by her +flatterers. + +Such was the personal appearance of Elizabeth. When a young girl, we +have still more favorable opinions of her that were written by those who +had occasion to be near her. Not only do they record swift glimpses of +her person, but sometimes in a word or two they give an insight into +certain traits of mind which came out prominently in her later years. + +It may, perhaps, be well to view her as a woman before we regard her +more fully as a queen. It has been said that Elizabeth inherited many +of the traits of her father--the boldness of spirit, the rapidity of +decision, and, at the same time, the fox-like craft which often showed +itself when it was least expected. + +Henry had also, as is well known, a love of the other sex, which has +made his reign memorable. And yet it must be noted that while he loved +much, it was not loose love. Many a king of England, from Henry II. to +Charles II., has offended far more than Henry VIII. Where Henry loved, +he married; and it was the unfortunate result of these royal marriages +that has made him seem unduly fond of women. If, however, we examine +each one of the separate espousals we shall find that he did not enter +into it lightly, and that he broke it off unwillingly. His ardent +temperament, therefore, was checked by a certain rational or +conventional propriety, so that he was by no means a loose liver, as +many would make him out to be. + +We must remember this when we recall the charges that have been made +against Elizabeth, and the strange stories that were told of her +tricks--by no means seemly tricks--which she used to play with her +guardian, Lord Thomas Seymour. The antics she performed with him in her +dressing-room were made the subject of an official inquiry; yet it came +out that while Elizabeth was less than sixteen, and Lord Thomas was very +much her senior, his wife was with him on his visits to the chamber of +the princess. + +Sir Robert Tyrwhitt and his wife were also sent to question her, +Tyrwhitt had a keen mind and one well trained to cope with any other's +wit in this sort of cross-examination. Elizabeth was only a girl of +fifteen, yet she was a match for the accomplished courtier in diplomacy +and quick retort. He was sent down to worm out of her everything that +she knew. Threats and flattery and forged letters and false confessions +were tried on her; but they were tried in vain. She would tell nothing +of importance. She denied everything. She sulked, she cried, she availed +herself of a woman's favorite defense in suddenly attacking those who +had attacked her. She brought counter charges against Tyrwhitt, and put +her enemies on their own defense. Not a compromising word could they +wring out of her. + +She bitterly complained of the imprisonment of her governess, Mrs. +Ashley, and cried out: + +"I have not so behaved that you need put more mistresses upon me!" + +Altogether, she was too much for Sir Robert, and he was wise enough to +recognize her cleverness. + +"She hath a very good wit," said he, shrewdly; "and nothing is to be +gotten of her except by great policy." And he added: "If I had to say +my fancy, I think it more meet that she should have two governesses than +one." + +Mr. Hume notes the fact that after the two servants of the princess had +been examined and had told nothing very serious they found that they +had been wise in remaining friends of the royal girl. No sooner had +Elizabeth become queen than she knighted the man Parry and made him +treasurer of the household, while Mrs. Ashley, the governess, was +treated with great consideration. Thus, very naturally, Mr. Hume says: +"They had probably kept back far more than they told." + +Even Tyrwhitt believed that there was a secret compact between them, for +he said, quaintly: "They all sing one song, and she hath set the note +for them." + +Soon after this her brother Edward's death brought to the throne her +elder sister, Mary, who has harshly become known as Bloody Mary. During +this time Elizabeth put aside her boldness, and became apparently a shy +and simple-minded virgin. Surrounded on every side by those who sought +to trap her, there was nothing in her bearing to make her seem the head +of a party or the young chief of a faction. Nothing could exceed her in +meekness. She spoke of her sister in the humblest terms. She exhibited +no signs of the Tudor animation that was in reality so strong a part of +her character. + +But, coming to the throne, she threw away her modesty and brawled and +rioted with very little self-restraint. The people as a whole found +little fault with her. She reminded them of her father, the bluff King +Hal; and even those who criticized her did so only partially. They +thought much better of her than they had of her saturnine sister, the +first Queen Mary. + +The life of Elizabeth has been very oddly misunderstood, not so much for +the facts in it as for the manner in which these have been arranged and +the relation which they have to one another. We ought to recollect that +this woman did not live in a restricted sphere, that her life was not +a short one, and that it was crowded with incidents and full of vivid +color. Some think of her as living for a short period of time and speak +of the great historical characters who surrounded her as belonging to a +single epoch. To them she has one set of suitors all the time--the Duc +d'Alencon, the King of Denmark's brother, the Prince of Sweden, the +russian potentate, the archduke sending her sweet messages from +Austria, the melancholy King of Spain, together with a number of her +own brilliant Englishmen--Sir William Pickering, Sir Robert Dudley, Lord +Darnley, the Earl of Essex, Sir Philip Sidney, and Sir Walter Raleigh. + +Of course, as a matter of fact, Elizabeth lived for nearly seventy +years--almost three-quarters of a century--and in that long time there +came and went both men and women, those whom she had used and cast +aside, with others whom she had also treated with gratitude, and who had +died gladly serving her. But through it all there was a continual change +in her environment, though not in her. The young soldier went to the +battle-field and died; the wise counselor gave her his advice, and +she either took it or cared nothing for it. She herself was a curious +blending of forwardness and folly, of wisdom and wantonness, of +frivolity and unbridled fancy. But through it all she loved her people, +even though she often cheated them and made them pay her taxes in the +harsh old way that prevailed before there was any right save the king's +will. + +At the same time, this was only by fits and starts, and on the whole +she served them well. Therefore, to most of them she was always the good +Queen Bess. What mattered it to the ditcher and yeoman, far from the +court, that the queen was said to dance in her nightdress and to swear +like a trooper? + +It was, indeed, largely from these rustic sources that such stories were +scattered throughout England. Peasants thought them picturesque. More +to the point with them were peace and prosperity throughout the country, +the fact that law was administered with honesty and justice, and that +England was safe from her deadly enemies--the swarthy Spaniards and the +scheming French. + +But, as I said, we must remember always that the Elizabeth of one period +was not the Elizabeth of another, and that the England of one period +was not the England of another. As one thinks of it, there is something +wonderful in the almost star-like way in which this girl flitted +unharmed through a thousand perils. Her own countrymen were at first +divided against her; a score of greedy, avaricious suitors sought her +destruction, or at least her hand to lead her to destruction; all the +great powers of the Continent were either demanding an alliance with +England or threatening to dash England down amid their own dissensions. + +What had this girl to play off against such dangers? Only an undaunted +spirit, a scheming mind that knew no scruples, and finally her own +person and the fact that she was a woman, and, therefore, might give +herself in marriage and become the mother of a race of kings. + +It was this last weapon, the weapon of her sex, that proved, perhaps, +the most powerful of all. By promising a marriage or by denying it, or +by neither promising nor denying but withholding it, she gave forth a +thousand wily intimations which kept those who surrounded her at bay +until she had made still another deft and skilful combination, escaping +like some startled creature to a new place of safety. + +In 1583, when she was fifty years of age, she had reached a point when +her courtships and her pretended love-making were no longer necessary. +She had played Sweden against Denmark, and France against Spain, and the +Austrian archduke against the others, and many suitors in her own land +against the different factions which they headed. She might have sat +herself down to rest; for she could feel that her wisdom had led her +up into a high place, whence she might look down in peace and with +assurance of the tranquillity that she had won. Not yet had the great +Armada rolled and thundered toward the English shores. But she was +certain that her land was secure, compact, and safe. + +It remains to see what were those amatory relations which she may be +said to have sincerely held. She had played at love-making with foreign +princes, because it was wise and, for the moment, best. She had played +with Englishmen of rank who aspired to her hand, because in that way she +might conciliate, at one time her Catholic and at another her Protestant +subjects. But what of the real and inward feeling of her heart, when she +was not thinking of political problems or the necessities of state! + +This is an interesting question. One may at least seek the answer, +hoping thereby to solve one of the most interesting phases of this +perplexing and most remarkable woman. + +It must be remembered that it was not a question of whether Elizabeth +desired marriage. She may have done so as involving a brilliant stroke +of policy. In this sense she may have wished to marry one of the two +French princes who were among her suitors. But even here she hesitated, +and her Parliament disapproved; for by this time England had become +largely Protestant. Again, had she married a French prince and had +children, England might have become an appanage of France. + +There is no particular evidence that she had any feeling at all for her +Flemish, Austrian, or Russian suitors, while the Swede's pretensions +were the laughing-stock of the English court. So we may set aside this +question of marriage as having nothing to do with her emotional life. +She did desire a son, as was shown by her passionate outcry when she +compared herself with Mary of Scotland. + +"The Queen of Scots has a bonny son, while I am but a barren stock!" + +She was too wise to wed a subject; though, had she married at all, her +choice would doubtless have been an Englishman. In this respect, as in +so many others, she was like her father, who chose his numerous wives, +with the exception of the first, from among the English ladies of +the court; just as the showy Edward IV. was happy in marrying "Dame +Elizabeth Woodville." But what a king may do is by no means so easy for +a queen; and a husband is almost certain to assume an authority which +makes him unpopular with the subjects of his wife. + +Hence, as said above, we must consider not so much whom she would have +liked to marry, but rather to whom her love went out spontaneously, and +not as a part of that amatory play which amused her from the time when +she frisked with Seymour down to the very last days, when she could no +longer move about, but when she still dabbled her cheeks with rouge and +powder and set her skeleton face amid a forest of ruffs. + +There were many whom she cared for after a fashion. She would not let +Sir Walter Raleigh visit her American colonies, because she could not +bear to have him so long away from her. She had great moments of passion +for the Earl of Essex, though in the end she signed his death-warrant +because he was as dominant in spirit as the queen herself. + +Readers of Sir Walter Scott's wonderfully picturesque novel, Kenilworth, +will note how he throws the strongest light upon Elizabeth's affection +for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Scott's historical instinct is +united here with a vein of psychology which goes deeper than is usual +with him. We see Elizabeth trying hard to share her favor equally +between two nobles; but the Earl of Essex fails to please her because he +lacked those exquisite manners which made Leicester so great a favorite +with the fastidious queen. + +Then, too, the story of Leicester's marriage with Amy Robsart is +something more than a myth, based upon an obscure legend and an ancient +ballad. The earl had had such a wife, and there were sinister stories +about the manner of her death. But it is Scott who invents the +villainous Varney and the bulldog Anthony Foster; just as he brought +the whole episode into the foreground and made it occur at a period much +later than was historically true. Still, Scott felt--and he was imbued +with the spirit and knowledge of that time--a strong conviction that +Elizabeth loved Leicester as she really loved no one else. + +There is one interesting fact which goes far to convince us. Just as +her father was, in a way, polygamous, so Elizabeth was even more truly +polyandrous. It was inevitable that she should surround herself with +attractive men, whose love-locks she would caress and whose flatteries +she would greedily accept. To the outward eye there was very little +difference in her treatment of the handsome and daring nobles of her +court; yet a historian of her time makes one very shrewd remark when +he says: "To every one she gave some power at times--to all save +Leicester." + +Cecil and Walsingham in counsel and Essex and Raleigh in the field might +have their own way at times, and even share the sovereign's power, but +to Leicester she intrusted no high commands and no important mission. +Why so? Simply because she loved him more than any of the rest; and, +knowing this, she knew that if besides her love she granted him any +measure of control or power, then she would be but half a queen and +would be led either to marry him or else to let him sway her as he +would. + +For the reason given, one may say with confidence that, while +Elizabeth's light loves were fleeting, she gave a deep affection to +this handsome, bold, and brilliant Englishman and cherished him in a far +different way from any of the others. This was as near as she ever came +to marriage, and it was this love at least which makes Shakespeare's +famous line as false as it is beautiful, when he describes "the imperial +votaress" as passing by "in maiden meditation, fancy free." + + + + + +MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL + + +Mary Stuart and Cleopatra are the two women who have most attracted the +fancy of poets, dramatists, novelists, and painters, from their own time +down to the present day. + +In some respects there is a certain likeness in their careers. Each +was queen of a nation whose affairs were entangled with those of a much +greater one. Each sought for her own ideal of love until she found it. +Each won that love recklessly, almost madly. Each, in its attainment, +fell from power and fortune. Each died before her natural life was +ended. One caused the man she loved to cast away the sovereignty of +a mighty state. The other lost her own crown in order that she might +achieve the whole desire of her heart. + +There is still another parallel which may be found. Each of these women +was reputed to be exquisitely beautiful; yet each fell short of beauty's +highest standards. They are alike remembered in song and story because +of qualities that are far more powerful than any physical charm can be. +They impressed the imagination of their own contemporaries just as they +had impressed the imagination of all succeeding ages, by reason of a +strange and irresistible fascination which no one could explain, but +which very few could experience and resist. + +Mary Stuart was born six days before her father's death, and when the +kingdom which was her heritage seemed to be almost in its death-throes. +James V. of Scotland, half Stuart and half Tudor, was no ordinary +monarch. As a mere boy he had burst the bonds with which a regency had +bound him, and he had ruled the wild Scotland of the sixteenth century. +He was brave and crafty, keen in statesmanship, and dissolute in +pleasure. + +His first wife had given him no heirs; so at her death he sought out +a princess whom he pursued all the more ardently because she was also +courted by the burly Henry VIII. of England. This girl was Marie of +Lorraine, daughter of the Duc de Guise. She was fit to be the mother of +a lion's brood, for she was above six feet in height and of proportions +so ample as to excite the admiration of the royal voluptuary who sat +upon the throne of England. + +"I am big," said he, "and I want a wife who is as big as I am." + +But James of Scotland wooed in person, and not by embassies, and he +triumphantly carried off his strapping princess. Henry of England gnawed +his beard in vain; and, though in time he found consolation in another +woman's arms, he viewed James not only as a public but as a private +enemy. + +There was war between the two countries. First the Scots repelled an +English army; but soon they were themselves disgracefully defeated at +Solway Moss by a force much their inferior in numbers. The shame of it +broke King James's heart. As he was galloping from the battle-field the +news was brought him that his wife had given birth to a daughter. +He took little notice of the message; and in a few days he had died, +moaning with his last breath the mysterious words: + +"It came with a lass--with a lass it will go!" + +The child who was born at this ill-omened crisis was Mary Stuart, who +within a week became, in her own right, Queen of Scotland. Her mother +acted as regent of the kingdom. Henry of England demanded that the +infant girl should be betrothed to his young son, Prince Edward, who +afterward reigned as Edward VI., though he died while still a boy. The +proposal was rejected, and the war between England and Scotland went on +its bloody course; but meanwhile the little queen was sent to France, +her mother's home, so that she might be trained in accomplishments which +were rare in Scotland. + +In France she grew up at the court of Catherine de' Medici, that +imperious intriguer whose splendid surroundings were tainted with the +corruption which she had brought from her native Italy. It was, indeed, +a singular training-school for a girl of Mary Stuart's character. She +saw about her a superficial chivalry and a most profound depravity. +Poets like Ronsard graced the life of the court with exquisite verse. +Troubadours and minstrels sang sweet music there. There were fetes and +tournaments and gallantry of bearing; yet, on the other hand, there was +every possible refinement and variety of vice. Men were slain before +the eyes of the queen herself. The talk of the court was of intrigue and +lust and evil things which often verged on crime. Catherine de' Medici +herself kept her nominal husband at arm's-length; and in order to +maintain her grasp on France she connived at the corruption of her own +children, three of whom were destined in their turn to sit upon the +throne. + +Mary Stuart grew up in these surroundings until she was sixteen, eating +the fruit which gave a knowledge of both good and evil. Her intelligence +was very great. She quickly learned Italian, French, and Latin. She was +a daring horsewoman. She was a poet and an artist even in her teens. She +was also a keen judge of human motives, for those early years of hers +had forced her into a womanhood that was premature but wonderful. It had +been proposed that she should marry the eldest son of Catherine, so +that in time the kingdom of Scotland and that of France might be united, +while if Elizabeth of England were to die unmarried her realm also would +fall to this pair of children. + +And so Mary, at sixteen, wedded the Dauphin Francis, who was a year her +junior. The prince was a wretched, whimpering little creature, with a +cankered body and a blighted soul. Marriage with such a husband seemed +absurd. It never was a marriage in reality. The sickly child would cry +all night, for he suffered from abscesses in his ears, and his manhood +had been prematurely taken from him. Nevertheless, within a twelvemonth +the French king died and Mary Stuart was Queen of France as well as of +Scotland, hampered only by her nominal obedience to the sick boy whom +she openly despised. At seventeen she showed herself a master spirit. +She held her own against the ambitious Catherine de' Medici, whom she +contemptuously nicknamed "the apothecary's daughter." For the brief +period of a year she was actually the ruler of France; but then her +husband died and she was left a widow, restless, ambitious, and yet no +longer having any of the power she loved. + +Mary Stuart at this time had become a woman whose fascination was +exerted over all who knew her. She was very tall and very slim, with +chestnut hair, "like a flower of the heat, both lax and delicate." Her +skin was fair and pale, so clear and so transparent as to make the story +plausible that when she drank from a flask of wine, the red liquid could +be seen passing down her slender throat. + +Yet with all this she was not fine in texture, but hardy as a man. She +could endure immense fatigue without yielding to it. Her supple form had +the strength of steel. There was a gleam in her hazel eyes that showed +her to be brimful of an almost fierce vitality. Young as she was, +she was the mistress of a thousand arts, and she exhaled a sort of +atmosphere that turned the heads of men. The Stuart blood made her +impatient of control, careless of state, and easy-mannered. The French +and the Tudor strain gave her vivacity. She could be submissive in +appearance while still persisting in her aims. She could be languorous +and seductive while cold within. Again, she could assume the haughtiness +which belonged to one who was twice a queen. + +Two motives swayed her, and they fought together for supremacy. One was +the love of power, and the other was the love of love. The first was +natural to a girl who was a sovereign in her own right. The second was +inherited, and was then forced into a rank luxuriance by the sort +of life that she had seen about her. At eighteen she was a strangely +amorous creature, given to fondling and kissing every one about her, +with slight discrimination. From her sense of touch she received +emotions that were almost necessary to her existence. With her slender, +graceful hands she was always stroking the face of some favorite--it +might be only the face of a child, or it might be the face of some +courtier or poet, or one of the four Marys whose names are linked with +hers--Mary Livingstone, Mary Fleming, Mary Beaton, and Mary Seton, the +last of whom remained with her royal mistress until her death. + +But one must not be too censorious in thinking of Mary Stuart. She was +surrounded everywhere by enemies. During her stay in France she was +hated by the faction of Catherine de' Medici. When she returned to +Scotland she was hated because of her religion by the Protestant lords. +Her every action was set forth in the worst possible light. The most +sinister meaning was given to everything she said or did. In truth, we +must reject almost all the stories which accuse her of anything more +than a certain levity of conduct. + +She was not a woman to yield herself in love's last surrender unless her +intellect and heart alike had been made captive. She would listen to the +passionate outpourings of poets and courtiers, and she would plunge her +eyes into theirs, and let her hair just touch their faces, and give them +her white hands to kiss--but that was all. Even in this she was only +following the fashion of the court where she was bred, and she was +not unlike her royal relative, Elizabeth of England, who had the same +external amorousness coupled with the same internal self-control. + +Mary Stuart's love life makes a piteous story, for it is the life of one +who was ever seeking--seeking for the man to whom she could look up, who +could be strong and brave and ardent like herself, and at the same time +be more powerful and more steadfast even than she herself in mind and +thought. Whatever may be said of her, and howsoever the facts may be +colored by partisans, this royal girl, stung though she was by passion +and goaded by desire, cared nothing for any man who could not match her +in body and mind and spirit all at once. + +It was in her early widowhood that she first met the man, and when their +union came it brought ruin on them both. In France there came to her +one day one of her own subjects, the Earl of Bothwell. He was but a few +years older than she, and in his presence for the first time she +felt, in her own despite, that profoundly moving, indescribable, and +never-to-be-forgotten thrill which shakes a woman to the very center of +her being, since it is the recognition of a complete affinity. + +Lord Bothwell, like Queen Mary, has been terribly maligned. Unlike her, +he has found only a few defenders. Maurice Hewlett has drawn a picture +of him more favorable than many, and yet it is a picture that repels. +Bothwell, says he, was of a type esteemed by those who pronounce vice +to be their virtue. He was "a galliard, flushed with rich blood, +broad-shouldered, square-jawed, with a laugh so happy and so prompt that +the world, rejoicing to hear it, thought all must be well wherever +he might be. He wore brave clothes, sat a brave horse, and kept brave +company bravely. His high color, while it betokened high feeding, got +him the credit of good health. His little eyes twinkled so merrily that +you did not see they were like a pig's, sly and greedy at once, and +bloodshot. His tawny beard concealed a jaw underhung, a chin jutting and +dangerous. His mouth had a cruel twist; but his laughing hid that too. +The bridge of his nose had been broken; few observed it, or guessed +at the brawl which must have given it to him. Frankness was his great +charm, careless ease in high places." + +And so, when Mary Stuart first met him in her eighteenth year, Lord +Bothwell made her think as she had never thought of any other man, and +as she was not to think of any other man again. She grew to look eagerly +for the frank mockery "in those twinkling eyes, in that quick mouth"; +and to wonder whether it was with him always--asleep, at prayers, +fighting, furious, or in love. + +Something more, however, must be said of Bothwell. He was undoubtedly a +roisterer, but he was very much a man. He made easy love to women. His +sword leaped quickly from its sheath. He could fight, and he could also +think. He was no brawling ruffian, no ordinary rake. Remembering what +Scotland was in those days, Bothwell might well seem in reality a +princely figure. He knew Italian; he was at home in French; he could +write fluent Latin. He was a collector of books and a reader of them +also. He was perhaps the only Scottish noble of his time who had a +book-plate of his own. Here is something more than a mere reveler. Here +is a man of varied accomplishments and of a complex character. + +Though he stayed but a short time near the queen in France, he kindled +her imagination, so that when she seriously thought of men she thought +of Bothwell. And yet all the time she was fondling the young pages in +her retinue and kissing her maids of honor with her scarlet lips, and +lying on their knees, while poets like Ronsard and Chastelard wrote +ardent love sonnets to her and sighed and pined for something more than +the privilege of kissing her two dainty hands. + +In 1561, less than a year after her widowhood, Mary set sail for +Scotland, never to return. The great high-decked ships which escorted +her sailed into the harbor of Leith, and she pressed on to Edinburgh. A +depressing change indeed from the sunny terraces and fields of France! +In her own realm were fog and rain and only a hut to shelter her upon +her landing. When she reached her capital there were few welcoming +cheers; but as she rode over the cobblestones to Holyrood, the squalid +wynds vomited forth great mobs of hard-featured, grim-visaged men and +women who stared with curiosity and a half-contempt at the girl queen +and her retinue of foreigners. + +The Scots were Protestants of the most dour sort, and they distrusted +their new ruler because of her religion and because she loved to +surround herself with dainty things and bright colors and exotic +elegance. They feared lest she should try to repeal the law of +Scotland's Parliament which had made the country Protestant. + +The very indifference of her subjects stirred up the nobler part of +Mary's nature. For a time she was indeed a queen. She governed wisely. +She respected the religious rights of her Protestant subjects. She +strove to bring order out of the chaos into which her country had +fallen. And she met with some success. The time came when her people +cheered her as she rode among them. Her subtle fascination was her +greatest source of strength. Even John Knox, that iron-visaged, +stentorian preacher, fell for a time under the charm of her presence. +She met him frankly and pleaded with him as a woman, instead of +commanding him as a queen. The surly ranter became softened for a time, +and, though he spoke of her to others as "Honeypot," he ruled his tongue +in public. She had offers of marriage from Austrian and Spanish princes. +The new King of France, her brother-in-law, would perhaps have wedded +her. It mattered little to Mary that Elizabeth of England was hostile. +She felt that she was strong enough to hold her own and govern Scotland. + +But who could govern a country such as Scotland was? It was a land of +broils and feuds, of clan enmities and fierce vendettas. Its nobles were +half barbarous, and they fought and slashed at one another with drawn +dirks almost in the presence of the queen herself. No matter whom she +favored, there rose up a swarm of enemies. Here was a Corsica of the +north, more savage and untamed than even the other Corsica. + +In her perplexity Mary felt a woman's need of some man on whom she +would have the right to lean, and whom she could make king consort. +She thought that she had found him in the person of her cousin, Lord +Darnley, a Catholic, and by his upbringing half an Englishman. Darnley +came to Scotland, and for the moment Mary fancied that she had forgotten +Bothwell. Here again she was in love with love, and she idealized the +man who came to give it to her. Darnley seemed, indeed, well worthy to +be loved, for he was tall and handsome, appearing well on horseback and +having some of the accomplishments which Mary valued. + +It was a hasty wooing, and the queen herself was first of all the wooer. +Her quick imagination saw in Darnley traits and gifts of which he really +had no share. Therefore, the marriage was soon concluded, and Scotland +had two sovereigns, King Henry and Queen Mary. So sure was Mary of her +indifference to Bothwell that she urged the earl to marry, and he did +marry a girl of the great house of Gordon. + +Mary's self-suggested love for Darnley was extinguished almost on +her wedding-night. The man was a drunkard who came into her presence +befuddled and almost bestial. He had no brains. His vanity was enormous. +He loved no one but himself, and least of all this queen, whom he +regarded as having thrown herself at his empty head. + +The first-fruits of the marriage were uprisings among the Protestant +lords. Mary then showed herself a heroic queen. At the head of a +motley band of soldiery who came at her call--half-clad, uncouth, and +savage--she rode into the west, sleeping at night upon the bare ground, +sharing the camp food, dressed in plain tartan, but swift and fierce +as any eagle. Her spirit ran like fire through the veins of those who +followed her. She crushed the insurrection, scattered its leaders, and +returned in triumph to her capital. + +Now she was really queen, but here came in the other motive which was +interwoven in her character. She had shown herself a man in courage. +Should she not have the pleasures of a woman? To her court in Holyrood +came Bothwell once again, and this time Mary knew that he was all the +world to her. Darnley had shrunk from the hardships of battle. He was +steeped in low intrigues. He roused the constant irritation of the queen +by his folly and utter lack of sense and decency. Mary felt she owed him +nothing, but she forgot that she owed much to herself. + +Her old amorous ways came back to her, and she relapsed into the joys of +sense. The scandal-mongers of the capital saw a lover in every man +with whom she talked. She did, in fact, set convention at defiance. She +dressed in men's clothing. She showed what the unemotional Scots thought +to be unseemly levity. The French poet, Chastelard, misled by her +external signs of favor, believed himself to be her choice. At the end +of one mad revel he was found secreted beneath her bed, and was driven +out by force. A second time he ventured to secrete himself within the +covers of the bed. Then he was dragged forth, imprisoned, and condemned +to death. He met his fate without a murmur, save at the last when he +stood upon the scaffold and, gazing toward the palace, cried in French: + +"Oh, cruel queen! I die for you!" + +Another favorite, the Italian, David Rizzio, or Riccio, in like manner +wrote love verses to the queen, and she replied to them in kind; but +there is no evidence that she valued him save for his ability, which +was very great. She made him her foreign secretary, and the man whom he +supplanted worked on the jealousy of Darnley; so that one night, while +Mary and Rizzio were at dinner in a small private chamber, Darnley and +the others broke in upon her. Darnley held her by the waist while Rizzio +was stabbed before her eyes with a cruelty the greater because the queen +was soon to become a mother. + +From that moment she hated Darnley as one would hate a snake. She +tolerated him only that he might acknowledge her child as his son. This +child was the future James VI. of Scotland and James I. of England. It +is recorded of him that never throughout his life could he bear to look +upon drawn steel. + +After this Mary summoned Bothwell again and again. It was revealed to +her as in a blaze of light that, after all, he was the one and only +man who could be everything to her. His frankness, his cynicism, his +mockery, his carelessness, his courage, and the power of his mind +matched her moods completely. She threw away all semblance of +concealment. She ignored the fact that he had married at her wish. She +was queen. She desired him. She must have him at any cost. + +"Though I lose Scotland and England both," she cried in a passion of +abandonment, "I shall have him for my own!" + +Bothwell, in his turn, was nothing loath, and they leaped at each other +like two flames. + +It was then that Mary wrote those letters which were afterward +discovered in a casket and which were used against her when she was on +trial for her life. These so-called Casket Letters, though we have +not now the originals, are among the most extraordinary letters ever +written. All shame, all hesitation, all innocence, are flung away in +them. The writer is so fired with passion that each sentence is like +a cry to a lover in the dark. As De Peyster says: "In them the animal +instincts override and spur and lash the pen." Mary was committing to +paper the frenzied madness of a woman consumed to her very marrow by the +scorching blaze of unendurable desire. + +Events moved quickly. Darnley, convalescent from an attack of smallpox, +was mysteriously destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder. Bothwell was +divorced from his young wife on curious grounds. A dispensation allowed +Mary to wed a Protestant, and she married Bothwell three months after +Darnley's death. + +Here one sees the consummation of what had begun many years before +in France. From the moment that she and Bothwell met, their union was +inevitable. Seas could not sunder them. Other loves and other fancies +were as nothing to them. Even the bonds of marriage were burst asunder +so that these two fiery, panting souls could meet. + +It was the irony of fate that when they had so met it was only to be +parted. Mary's subjects, outraged by her conduct, rose against her. As +she passed through the streets of Edinburgh the women hurled after +her indecent names. Great banners were raised with execrable daubs +representing the murdered Darnley. The short and dreadful monosyllable +which is familiar to us in the pages of the Bible was hurled after her +wherever she went. + +With Bothwell by her side she led a wild and ragged horde of followers +against the rebellious nobles, whose forces met her at Carberry Hill. +Her motley followers melted away, and Mary surrendered to the hostile +chieftains, who took her to the castle at Lochleven. There she became +the mother of twins--a fact that is seldom mentioned by historians. +These children were the fruit of her union with Bothwell. From this time +forth she cared but little for herself, and she signed, without great +reluctance, a document by which she abdicated in favor of her infant +son. + +Even in this place of imprisonment, however, her fascination had power +to charm. Among those who guarded her, two of the Douglas family--George +Douglas and William Douglas--for love of her, effected her escape. The +first attempt failed. Mary, disguised as a laundress, was betrayed by +the delicacy of her hands. But a second attempt was successful. The +queen passed through a postern gate and made her way to the lake, where +George Douglas met her with a boat. Crossing the lake, fifty horsemen +under Lord Claude Hamilton gave her their escort and bore her away in +safety. + +But Mary was sick of Scotland, for Bothwell could not be there. She +had tasted all the bitterness of life, and for a few months all the +sweetness; but she would have no more of this rough and barbarous +country. Of her own free will she crossed the Solway into England, to +find herself at once a prisoner. + +Never again did she set eyes on Bothwell. After the battle of Carberry +Hill he escaped to the north, gathered some ships together, and preyed +upon English merchantmen, very much as a pirate might have done. Ere +long, however, when he had learned of Mary's fate, he set sail for +Norway. King Frederick of Denmark made him a prisoner of state. He was +not confined within prison walls, however, but was allowed to hunt and +ride in the vicinity of Malmo Castle and of Dragsholm. It is probably in +Malmo Castle that he died. In 1858 a coffin which was thought to be +the coffin of the earl was opened, and a Danish artist sketched the +head--which corresponds quite well with the other portraits of the +ill-fated Scottish noble. + +It is a sad story. Had Mary been less ambitious when she first met +Bothwell, or had he been a little bolder, they might have reigned +together and lived out their lives in the plenitude of that great love +which held them both in thrall. But a queen is not as other women; and +she found too late that the teaching of her heart was, after all, the +truest teaching. She went to her death as Bothwell went to his, alone, +in a strange, unfriendly land. + +Yet, even this, perhaps, was better so. It has at least touched both +their lives with pathos and has made the name of Mary Stuart one to be +remembered throughout all the ages. + + + + + +QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS MONALDESCHI + + +Sweden to-day is one of the peaceful kingdoms of the world, whose people +are prosperous, well governed, and somewhat apart from the clash and +turmoil of other states and nations. Even the secession of Norway, a few +years ago, was accomplished without bloodshed, and now the two kingdoms +exist side by side as free from strife as they are with Denmark, which +once domineered and tyrannized over both. + +It is difficult to believe that long ago, in the Middle Ages, the cities +of southern Sweden were among the great commercial centers of the world. +Stockholm and Lund ranked with London and Paris. They absorbed the +commerce of the northern seas, and were the admiration of thousands +of travelers and merchants who passed through them and trafficked with +them. + +Much nearer to our own time, Sweden was the great military power of +northern Europe. The ambassadors of the Swedish kings were received with +the utmost deference in every court. Her soldiers won great battles +and ended mighty wars. The England of Cromwell and Charles II. was +unimportant and isolated in comparison with this northern kingdom, which +could pour forth armies of gigantic blond warriors, headed by generals +astute as well as brave. + +It was no small matter, then, in 1626, that the loyal Swedes were hoping +that their queen would give birth to a male heir to succeed his splendid +father, Gustavus Adolphus, ranked by military historians as one of the +six great generals whom the world had so far produced. The queen, a +German princess of Brandenburg, had already borne two daughters, who +died in infancy. The expectation was wide-spread and intense that she +should now become the mother of a son; and the king himself was no less +anxious. + +When the event occurred, the child was seen to be completely covered +with hair, and for this reason the attendants at first believed that it +was the desired boy. When their mistake was discovered they were afraid +to tell the king, who was waiting in his study for the announcement +to be made. At last, when no one else would go to him, his sister, the +Princess Caroline, volunteered to break the news. + +Gustavus was in truth a chivalrous, high-bred monarch. Though he must +have been disappointed at the advent of a daughter, he showed no sign +of dissatisfaction or even of surprise; but, rising, he embraced his +sister, saying: + +"Let us thank God. I hope this girl will be as good as a boy to me. May +God preserve her now that He has sent her!" + +It is customary at almost all courts to pay less attention to the birth +of a princess than to that of a prince; but Gustavus displayed his +chivalry toward this little daughter, whom he named Christina. He +ordered that the full royal salute should be fired in every fortress of +his kingdom and that displays of fireworks, balls of honor, and court +functions should take place; "for," as he said, "this is the heir to my +throne." And so from the first he took his child under his own keeping +and treated her as if she were a much-loved son as well as a successor. + +He joked about her looks when she was born, when she was mistaken for a +boy. + +"She will be clever," he said, "for she has taken us all in!" + +The Swedish people were as delighted with their little princess as were +the people of Holland when the present Queen Wilhelmina was born, to +carry on the succession of the House of Orange. On one occasion the king +and the small Christina, who were inseparable companions, happened +to approach a fortress where they expected to spend the night. The +commander of the castle was bound to fire a royal salute of fifty cannon +in honor of his sovereign; yet he dreaded the effect upon the princess +of such a roaring and bellowing of artillery. He therefore sent a +swift horseman to meet the royal party at a distance and explain his +perplexity. Should he fire these guns or not? Would the king give an +order? + +Gustavus thought for a moment, and then replied: + +"My daughter is the daughter of a soldier, and she must learn to lead a +soldier's life. Let the guns be fired!" + +The procession moved on. Presently fire spurted from the embrasures of +the fort, and its batteries thundered in one great roar. The king looked +down at Christina. Her face was aglow with pleasure and excitement; she +clapped her hands and laughed, and cried out: + +"More bang! More! More! More!" + +This is only one of a score of stories that were circulated about the +princess, and the Swedes were more and more delighted with the girl who +was to be their queen. + +Somewhat curiously, Christina's mother, Queen Maria, cared little for +the child, and, in fact, came at last to detest her almost as much as +the king loved her. It is hard to explain this dislike. Perhaps she had +a morbid desire for a son and begrudged the honors given to a daughter. +Perhaps she was a little jealous of her own child, who took so much of +the king's attention. Afterward, in writing of her mother, Christina +excuses her, and says quite frankly: + +She could not bear to see me, because I was a girl, and an ugly girl at +that. And she was right enough, for I was as tawny as a little Turk. + +This candid description of herself is hardly just. Christina was never +beautiful, and she had a harsh voice. She was apt to be overbearing +even as a little girl. Yet she was a most interesting child, with an +expressive face, large eyes, an aquiline nose, and the blond hair of her +people. There was nothing in this to account for her mother's intense +dislike for her. + +It was currently reported at the time that attempts were made to maim +or seriously injure the little princess. By what was made to seem an +accident, she would be dropped upon the floor, and heavy articles of +furniture would somehow manage to strike her. More than once a great +beam fell mysteriously close to her, either in the palace or while she +was passing through the streets. None of these things did her serious +harm, however. Most of them she luckily escaped; but when she had grown +to be a woman one of her shoulders was permanently higher than the +other. + +"I suppose," said Christina, "that I could be straightened if I would +let the surgeons attend to it; but it isn't worth while to take the +trouble." + +When Christina was four, Sweden became involved in the great war +that had been raging for a dozen years between the Protestant and the +Catholic states of Germany. Gradually the neighboring powers had been +drawn into the struggle, either to serve their own ends or to support +the faith to which they adhered. Gustavus Adolphus took up the sword +with mixed motives, for he was full of enthusiasm for the imperiled +cause of the Reformation, and at the same time he deemed it a favorable +opportunity to assert his control over the shores of the Baltic. + +The warrior king summoned his army and prepared to invade Germany. +Before departing he took his little daughter by the hand and led her +among the assembled nobles and councilors of state. To them he intrusted +the princess, making them kneel and vow that they would regard her as +his heir, and, if aught should happen to him, as his successor. Amid the +clashing of swords and the clang of armor this vow was taken, and the +king went forth to war. + +He met the ablest generals of his enemies, and the fortunes of battle +swayed hither and thither; but the climax came when his soldiers +encountered those of Wallenstein--that strange, overbearing, arrogant, +mysterious creature whom many regarded with a sort of awe. The clash +came at Lutzen, in Saxony. The Swedish king fought long and hard, and so +did his mighty opponent; but at last, in the very midst of a tremendous +onset that swept all before him, Gustavus received a mortal wound and +died, even while Wallenstein was fleeing from the field of battle. + +The battle of Lutzen made Christina Queen of Sweden at the age of six. +Of course, she could not yet be crowned, but a council of able ministers +continued the policy of the late king and taught the young queen her +first lessons in statecraft. Her intellect soon showed itself as more +than that of a child. She understood all that was taking place, and all +that was planned and arranged. Her tact was unusual. Her discretion was +admired by every one; and after a while she had the advice and training +of the great Swedish chancellor, Oxenstierna, whose wisdom she shared to +a remarkable degree. + +Before she was sixteen she had so approved herself to her counselors, +and especially to the people at large, that there was a wide-spread +clamor that she should take the throne and govern in her own person. To +this she gave no heed, but said: + +"I am not yet ready." + +All this time she bore herself like a king. There was nothing distinctly +feminine about her. She took but slight interest in her appearance. +She wore sword and armor in the presence of her troops, and often she +dressed entirely in men's clothes. She would take long, lonely gallops +through the forests, brooding over problems of state and feeling no +fatigue or fear. And indeed why should she fear, who was beloved by all +her subjects? + +When her eighteenth year arrived, the demand for her coronation was +impossible to resist. All Sweden wished to see a ruling queen, who might +marry and have children to succeed her through the royal line of her +great father. Christina consented to be crowned, but she absolutely +refused all thought of marriage. She had more suitors from all parts of +Europe than even Elizabeth of England; but, unlike Elizabeth, she +did not dally with them, give them false hopes, or use them for the +political advantage of her kingdom. + +At that time Sweden was stronger than England, and was so situated as to +be independent of alliances. So Christina said, in her harsh, peremptory +voice: + +"I shall never marry; and why should you speak of my having children! I +am just as likely to give birth to a Nero as to an Augustus." + +Having assumed the throne, she ruled with a strictness of government +such as Sweden had not known before. She took the reins of state into +her own hands and carried out a foreign policy of her own, over the +heads of her ministers, and even against the wishes of her people. The +fighting upon the Continent had dragged out to a weary length, but the +Swedes, on the whole, had scored a marked advantage. For this reason the +war was popular, and every one wished it to go on; but Christina, of +her own will, decided that it must stop, that mere glory was not to be +considered against material advantages. Sweden had had enough of glory; +she must now look to her enrichment and prosperity through the channels +of peace. + +Therefore, in 1648, against Oxenstierna, against her generals, and +against her people, she exercised her royal power and brought the Thirty +Years' War to an end by the so-called Peace of Westphalia. At this time +she was twenty-two, and by her personal influence she had ended one of +the greatest struggles of history. Nor had she done it to her country's +loss. Denmark yielded up rich provinces, while Germany was compelled to +grant Sweden membership in the German diet. + +Then came a period of immense prosperity through commerce, through +economies in government, through the improvement of agriculture and the +opening of mines. This girl queen, without intrigue, without descending +from her native nobility to peep and whisper with shady diplomats, +showed herself in reality a great monarch, a true Semiramis of the +north, more worthy of respect and reverence than Elizabeth of England. +She was highly trained in many arts. She was fond of study, spoke +Latin fluently, and could argue with Salmasius, Descartes, and other +accomplished scholars without showing any inferiority to them. + +She gathered at her court distinguished persons from all countries. She +repelled those who sought her hand, and she was pure and truthful and +worthy of all men's admiration. Had she died at this time history would +rank her with the greatest of women sovereigns. Naude, the librarian of +Cardinal Mazarin, wrote of her to the scientist Gassendi in these words: + +To say truth, I am sometimes afraid lest the common saying should be +verified in her, that short is the life and rare the old age of those +who surpass the common limits. Do not imagine that she is learned only +in books, for she is equally so in painting, architecture, sculpture, +medals, antiquities, and all curiosities. There is not a cunning workman +in these arts but she has him fetched. There are as good workers in +wax and in enamel, engravers, singers, players, dancers here as will be +found anywhere. + +She has a gallery of statues, bronze and marble, medals of gold, +silver, and bronze, pieces of ivory, amber, coral, worked crystal, steel +mirrors, clocks and tables, bas-reliefs and other things of the kind; +richer I have never seen even in Italy; finally, a great quantity of +pictures. In short, her mind is open to all impressions. + +But after she began to make her court a sort of home for art and +letters it ceased to be the sort of court that Sweden was prepared for. +Christina's subjects were still rude and lacking in accomplishments; +therefore she had to summon men of genius from other countries, +especially from France and Italy. Many of these were illustrious artists +or scholars, but among them were also some who used their mental gifts +for harm. + +Among these latter was a French physician named Bourdelot--a man of keen +intellect, of winning manners, and of a profound cynicism, which was +not apparent on the surface, but the effect of which last lasting. To +Bourdelot we must chiefly ascribe the mysterious change which gradually +came over Queen Christina. With his associates he taught her a distaste +for the simple and healthy life that she had been accustomed to lead. +She ceased to think of the welfare of the state and began to look down +with scorn upon her unsophisticated Swedes. Foreign luxury displayed +itself at Stockholm, and her palaces overflowed with beautiful things. + +By subtle means Bourdelot undermined her principles. Having been +a Stoic, she now became an Epicurean. She was by nature devoid of +sentiment. She would not spend her time in the niceties of love-making, +as did Elizabeth; but beneath the surface she had a sort of tigerish, +passionate nature, which would break forth at intervals, and which +demanded satisfaction from a series of favorites. It is probable that +Bourdelot was her first lover, but there were many others whose names +are recorded in the annals of the time. + +When she threw aside her virtue Christina ceased to care about +appearances. She squandered her revenues upon her favorites. What she +retained of her former self was a carelessness that braved the opinion +of her subjects. She dressed almost without thought, and it is said that +she combed her hair not more than twice a month. She caroused with male +companions to the scandal of her people, and she swore like a trooper +when displeased. + +Christina's philosophy of life appears to have been compounded of an +almost brutal licentiousness, a strong love of power, and a strange, +freakish longing for something new. Her political ambitions were checked +by the rising discontent of her people, who began to look down upon her +and to feel ashamed of her shame. Knowing herself as she did, she did +not care to marry. + +Yet Sweden must have an heir. Therefore she chose out her cousin +Charles, declared that he was to be her successor, and finally caused +him to be proclaimed as such before the assembled estates of the realm. +She even had him crowned; and finally, in her twenty-eighth year, she +abdicated altogether and prepared to leave Sweden. When asked whither +she would go, she replied in a Latin quotation: + +"The Fates will show the way." + +In her act of abdication she reserved to herself the revenues of some +of the richest provinces in Sweden and absolute power over such of her +subjects as should accompany her. They were to be her subjects until the +end. + +The Swedes remembered that Christina was the daughter of their greatest +king, and that, apart from personal scandals, she had ruled them well; +and so they let her go regretfully and accepted her cousin as their +king. Christina, on her side, went joyfully and in the spirit of a grand +adventuress. With a numerous suite she entered Germany, and then stayed +for a year at Brussels, where she renounced Lutheranism. After this she +traveled slowly into Italy, where she entered Borne on horseback, +and was received by the Pope, Alexander VII., who lodged her in a +magnificent palace, accepted her conversion, and baptized her, giving +her a new name, Alexandra. + +In Rome she was a brilliant but erratic personage, living sumptuously, +even though her revenues from Sweden came in slowly, partly because the +Swedes disliked her change of religion. She was surrounded by men of +letters, with whom she amused herself, and she took to herself a lover, +the Marquis Monaldeschi. She thought that at last she had really found +her true affinity, while Monaldeschi believed that he could count on the +queen's fidelity. + +He was in attendance upon her daily, and they were almost inseparable. +He swore allegiance to her and thereby made himself one of the subjects +over whom she had absolute power. For a time he was the master of those +intense emotions which, in her, alternated with moods of coldness and +even cruelty. + +Monaldeschi was a handsome Italian, who bore himself with a fine air of +breeding. He understood the art of charming, but he did not know that +beyond a certain time no one could hold the affections of Christina. + +However, after she had quarreled with various cardinals and decided to +leave Rome for a while, Monaldeschi accompanied her to France, where +she had an immense vogue at the court of Louis XIV. She attracted wide +attention because of her eccentricity and utter lack of manners. It +gave her the greatest delight to criticize the ladies of the French +court--their looks, their gowns, and their jewels. They, in return, +would speak of Christina's deformed shoulder and skinny frame; but the +king was very gracious to her and invited her to his hunting-palace at +Fontainebleau. + +While she had been winning triumphs of sarcasm the infatuated +Monaldeschi had gradually come to suspect, and then to know, that his +royal mistress was no longer true to him. He had been supplanted in her +favor by another Italian, one Sentanelli, who was the captain of her +guard. + +Monaldeschi took a tortuous and roundabout revenge. He did not let the +queen know of his discovery; nor did he, like a man, send a challenge +to Sentanelli. Instead he began by betraying her secrets to Oliver +Cromwell, with whom she had tried to establish a correspondence. Again, +imitating the hand and seal of Sentanelli, he set in circulation a +series of the most scandalous and insulting letters about Christina. By +this treacherous trick he hoped to end the relations between his rival +and the queen; but when the letters were carried to Christina she +instantly recognized their true source. She saw that she was betrayed +by her former favorite and that he had taken a revenge which might +seriously compromise her. + +This led to a tragedy, of which the facts were long obscure. They were +carefully recorded, however, by the queen's household chaplain, Father +Le Bel; and there is also a narrative written by one Marco Antonio +Conti, which confirms the story. Both were published privately in 1865, +with notes by Louis Lacour. + +The narration of the priest is dreadful in its simplicity and minuteness +of detail. It may be summed up briefly here, because it is the testimony +of an eye-witness who knew Christina. + +Christina, with the marquis and a large retinue, was at Fontainebleau in +November, 1657. A little after midnight, when all was still, the priest, +Father Le Bel, was aroused and ordered to go at once to the Galerie des +Cerfs, or Hall of Stags, in another part of the palace. When he asked +why, he was told: + +"It is by the order of her majesty the Swedish queen." + +The priest, wondering, hurried on his garments. On reaching the gloomy +hall he saw the Marquis Monaldeschi, evidently in great agitation, and +at the end of the corridor the queen in somber robes. Beside the +queen, as if awaiting orders, stood three figures, who could with some +difficulty be made out as three soldiers of her guard. + +The queen motioned to Father Le Bel and asked him for a packet which she +had given him for safe-keeping some little time before. He gave it to +her, and she opened it. In it were letters and other documents, which, +with a steely glance, she displayed to Monaldeschi. He was confused by +the sight of them and by the incisive words in which Christina showed +how he had both insulted her and had tried to shift the blame upon +Sentanelli. + +Monaldeschi broke down completely. He fell at the queen's feet and wept +piteously, begging for pardon, only to be met by the cold answer: + +"You are my subject and a traitor to me. Marquis, you must prepare to +die!" + +Then she turned away and left the hall, in spite of the cries of +Monaldeschi, to whom she merely added the advice that he should make his +peace with God by confessing to Father Le Bel. + +After she had gone the marquis fell into a torrent of self-exculpation +and cried for mercy. The three armed men drew near and urged him to +confess for the good of his soul. They seemed to have no malice against +him, but to feel that they must obey the orders given them. At the +frantic urging of the marquis their leader even went to the queen to ask +whether she would relent; but he returned shaking his head, and said: + +"Marquis, you must die." + +Father Le Bel undertook a like mission, but returned with the message +that there was no hope. So the marquis made his confession in French +and Latin, but even then he hoped; for he did not wait to receive +absolution, but begged still further for delay or pardon. + +Then the three armed men approached, having drawn their swords. The +absolution was pronounced; and, following it, one of the guards slashed +the marquis across the forehead. He stumbled and fell forward, making +signs as if to ask that he might have his throat cut. But his throat +was partly protected by a coat of mail, so that three or four strokes +delivered there had slight effect. Finally, however, a long, narrow +sword was thrust into his side, after which the marquis made no sound. + +Father Le Bel at once left the Galerie des Cerfs and went into the +queen's apartment, with the smell of blood in his nostrils. He found her +calm and ready to justify herself. Was she not still queen over all who +had voluntarily become members of her suite? This had been agreed to in +her act of abdication. Wherever she set her foot, there, over her own, +she was still a monarch, with full power to punish traitors at her will. +This power she had exercised, and with justice. What mattered it that +she was in France? She was queen as truly as Louis XIV. was king. + +The story was not long in getting out, but the truth was not wholly +known until a much later day. It was said that Sentanelli had slapped +the marquis in a fit of jealousy, though some added that it was done +with the connivance of the queen. King Louis, the incarnation of +absolutism, knew the truth, but he was slow to act. He sympathized with +the theory of Christina's sovereignty. It was only after a time that +word was sent to Christina that she must leave Fontainebleau. She took +no notice of the order until it suited her convenience, and then she +went forth with all the honors of a reigning monarch. + +This was the most striking episode in all the strange story of her +private life. When her cousin Charles, whom she had made king, died +without an heir she sought to recover her crown; but the estates of the +realm refused her claim, reduced her income, and imposed restraints upon +her power. She then sought the vacant throne of Poland; but the Polish +nobles, who desired a weak ruler for their own purposes, made another +choice. So at last she returned to Rome, where the Pope received her +with a splendid procession and granted her twelve thousand crowns a year +to make up for her lessened Swedish revenue. + +From this time she lived a life which she made interesting by her +patronage of learning and exciting by her rather unseemly quarrels with +cardinals and even with the Pope. Her armed retinue marched through the +streets with drawn swords and gave open protection to criminals who had +taken refuge with her. She dared to criticize the pontiff, who merely +smiled and said: + +"She is a woman!" + +On the whole, the end of her life was pleasant. She was much admired for +her sagacity in politics. Her words were listened to at every court in +Europe. She annotated the classics, she made beautiful collections, and +she was regarded as a privileged person whose acts no one took amiss. +She died at fifty-three, and was buried in St. Peter's. + +She was bred a man, she was almost a son to her great father; and yet, +instead of the sonorous epitaph that is inscribed beside her tomb, +perhaps a truer one would be the words of the vexed Pope: + +"E DONNA!" + + + + + +KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN + + +One might classify the kings of England in many ways. John was +undoubtedly the most unpopular. The impetuous yet far-seeing Henry +II., with the other two great warriors, Edward I. and Edward III., +and William of Orange, did most for the foundation and development of +England's constitutional law. Some monarchs, such as Edward II. and the +womanish Henry VI., have been contemptible. Hard-working, useful kings +have been Henry VII., the Georges, William IV., and especially the last +Edward. + +If we consider those monarchs who have in some curious way touched the +popular fancy without reference to their virtues we must go back to +Richard of the Lion Heart, who saw but little of England, yet was the +best essentially English king, and to Henry V., gallant soldier and +conqueror of France. Even Henry VIII. had a warm place in the affection +of his countrymen, few of whom saw him near at hand, but most of whom +made him a sort of regal incarnation of John Bull--wrestling and tilting +and boxing, eating great joints of beef, and staying his thirst with +flagons of ale--a big, healthy, masterful animal, in fact, who gratified +the national love of splendor and stood up manfully in his struggle with +the Pope. + +But if you look for something more than ordinary popularity--something +that belongs to sentiment and makes men willing to become martyrs for +a royal cause--we must find these among the Stuart kings. It is odd, +indeed, that even at this day there are Englishmen and Englishwomen who +believe their lawful sovereign to be a minor Bavarian princess in whose +veins there runs the Stuart blood. Prayers are said for her at English +shrines, and toasts are drunk to her in rare old wine. + +Of course, to-day this cult of the Stuarts is nothing but a fad. No +one ever expects to see a Stuart on the English throne. But it is +significant of the deep strain of romance which the six Stuarts who +reigned in England have implanted in the English heart. The old Jacobite +ballads still have power to thrill. Queen Victoria herself used to have +the pipers file out before her at Balmoral to the "skirling" of "Bonnie +Dundee," "Over the Water to Charlie," and "Wha'll Be King but Charlie!" +It is a sentiment that has never died. Her late majesty used to say that +when she heard these tunes she became for the moment a Jacobite; just +as the Empress Eugenie at the height of her power used pertly to remark +that she herself was the only Legitimist left in France. + +It may be suggested that the Stuarts are still loved by many Englishmen +because they were unfortunate; yet this is hardly true, after all. Many +of them were fortunate enough. The first of them, King James, an absurd +creature, speaking broad Scotch, timid, foolishly fond of favorites, and +having none of the dignity of a monarch, lived out a lengthy reign. The +two royal women of the family--Anne and Mary--had no misfortunes of a +public nature. Charles II. reigned for more than a quarter of a century, +lapped in every kind of luxury, and died a king. + +The first Charles was beheaded and afterward styled a "saint"; yet the +majority of the English people were against his arrogance, or else he +would have won his great struggle against Parliament. The second James +was not popular at all. Nevertheless, no sooner had he been expelled, +and been succeeded by a Dutchman gnawing asparagus and reeking of +cheeses, than there was already a Stuart legend. Even had there been +no pretenders to carry on the cult, the Stuarts would still have passed +into history as much loved by the people. + +It only shows how very little in former days the people expected of +a regnant king. Many monarchs have had just a few popular traits, and +these have stood out brilliantly against the darkness of the background. + +No one could have cared greatly for the first James, but Charles I. was +indeed a kingly personage when viewed afar. He was handsome, as a +man, fully equaling the French princess who became his wife. He had no +personal vices. He was brave, and good to look upon, and had a kingly +mien. Hence, although he sought to make his rule over England a tyranny, +there were many fine old cavaliers to ride afield for him when he raised +his standard, and who, when he died, mourned for him as a "martyr." + +Many hardships they underwent while Cromwell ruled with his iron hand; +and when that iron hand was relaxed in death, and poor, feeble Richard +Cromwell slunk away to his country-seat, what wonder is it that young +Charles came back to England and caracoled through the streets of London +with a smile for every one and a happy laugh upon his lips? What wonder +is it that the cannon in the Tower thundered a loud welcome, and that +all over England, at one season or another, maypoles rose and Christmas +fires blazed? For Englishmen at heart are not only monarchists, but they +are lovers of good cheer and merrymaking and all sorts of mirth. + +Charles II. might well at first have seemed a worthier and wiser +successor to his splendid father. As a child, even, he had shown himself +to be no faint-hearted creature. When the great Civil War broke out he +had joined his father's army. It met with disaster at Edgehill, and +was finally shattered by the crushing defeat of Naseby, which afterward +inspired Macaulay's most stirring ballad. + +Charles was then only a child of twelve, and so his followers did wisely +in hurrying him out of England, through the Scilly isles and Jersey to +his mother's place of exile. Of course, a child so very young could be +of no value as a leader, though his presence might prove an inspiration. + +In 1648, however, when he was eighteen years of age, he gathered a fleet +of eighteen ships and cruised along the English coast, taking prizes, +which he carried to the Dutch ports. When he was at Holland's +capital, during his father's trial, he wrote many messages to the +Parliamentarians, and even sent them a blank charter, which they might +fill in with any stipulations they desired if only they would save and +restore their king. + +When the head of Charles rolled from the velvet-covered block his son +showed himself to be no loiterer or lover of an easy life. He hastened +to Scotland, skilfully escaping an English force, and was proclaimed as +king and crowned at Scone, in 1651. With ten thousand men he dashed into +England, where he knew there were many who would rally at his call. But +it was then that Cromwell put forth his supreme military genius and with +his Ironsides crushed the royal troops at Worcester. + +Charles knew that for the present all was lost. He showed courage and +address in covering the flight of his beaten soldiers; but he soon +afterward went to France, remaining there and in the Netherlands for +eight years as a pensioner of Louis XIV. He knew that time would fight +for him far more surely than infantry and horse. England had not been +called "Merry England" for nothing; and Cromwell's tyranny was likely to +be far more resented than the heavy hand of one who was born a king. +So Charles at Paris and Liege, though he had little money at the time, +managed to maintain a royal court, such as it was. + +Here there came out another side of his nature. As a child he had +borne hardship and privation and had seen the red blood flow upon +the battlefield. Now, as it were, he allowed a certain sensuous, +pleasure-loving ease to envelop him. The red blood should become the +rich red burgundy; the sound of trumpets and kettledrums should give way +to the melody of lutes and viols. He would be a king of pleasure if he +were to be king at all. And therefore his court, even in exile, was a +court of gallantry and ease. The Pope refused to lend him money, and the +King of France would not increase his pension, but there were many who +foresaw that Charles would not long remain in exile; and so they gave +him what he wanted and waited until he could give them what they would +ask for in their turn. + +Charles at this time was not handsome, like his father. His complexion +was swarthy, his figure by no means imposing, though always graceful. +When he chose he could bear himself with all the dignity of a monarch. +He had a singularly pleasant manner, and a word from him could win over +the harshest opponent. + +The old cavaliers who accompanied their master in exile were like +Napoleon's veterans in Elba. With their tall, powerful forms they +stalked about the courtyards, sniffing their disapproval at these +foreign ways and longing grimly for the time when they could once more +smell the pungent powder of the battle-field. But, as Charles had hoped, +the change was coming. Not merely were his own subjects beginning +to long for him and to pray in secret for the king, but continental +monarchs who maintained spies in England began to know of this. To them +Charles was no longer a penniless exile. He was a king who before long +would take possession of his kingdom. + +A very wise woman--the Queen Regent of Portugal--was the first to act on +this information. Portugal was then very far from being a petty state. +It had wealth at home and rich colonies abroad, while its flag was seen +on every sea. The queen regent, being at odds with Spain, and wishing to +secure an ally against that power, made overtures to Charles, asking him +whether a match might not be made between him and the Princess Catharine +of Braganza. It was not merely her daughter's hand that she offered, +but a splendid dowry. She would pay Charles a million pounds in gold and +cede to England two valuable ports. + +The match was not yet made, but by 1659 it had been arranged. The +Spaniards were furious, for Charles's cause began to appear successful. + +She was a quaint and rather piteous little figure, she who was destined +to be the wife of the Merry Monarch. Catharine was dark, petite, and by +no means beautiful; yet she had a very sweet expression and a heart of +utter innocence. She had been wholly convent-bred. She knew nothing of +the world. She was told that in marriage she must obey in all things, +and that the chief duty of a wife was to make her husband happy. + +Poor child! It was a too gracious preparation for a very graceless +husband. Charles, in exile, had already made more than one discreditable +connection and he was already the father of more than one growing son. + +First of all, he had been smitten by the bold ways of one Lucy Walters. +Her impudence amused the exiled monarch. She was not particularly +beautiful, and when she spoke as others did she was rather tiresome; but +her pertness and the inexperience of the king when he went into exile +made her seem attractive. She bore him a son, in the person of that +brilliant adventurer whom Charles afterward created Duke of Monmouth. +Many persons believe that Charles had married Lucy Walters, just as +George IV. may have married Mrs. Fitzherbert; yet there is not the +slightest proof of it, and it must be classed with popular legends. + +There was also one Catherine Peg, or Kep, whose son was afterward +made Earl of Plymouth. It must be confessed that in his attachments +to English women Charles showed little care for rank or station. Lucy +Walters and Catherine Peg were very illiterate creatures. + +In a way it was precisely this sort of preference that made Charles +so popular among the people. He seemed to make rank of no account, but +would chat in the most familiar and friendly way with any one whom he +happened to meet. His easy, democratic manner, coupled with the grace +and prestige of royalty, made friends for him all over England. The +treasury might be nearly bankrupt; the navy might be routed by the +Dutch; the king himself might be too much given to dissipation; but his +people forgave him all, because everybody knew that Charles would clap +an honest citizen on the back and joke with all who came to see him feed +the swans in Regent's Park. + +The popular name for him was "Rowley," or "Old Rowley"--a nickname +of mysterious origin, though it is said to have been given him from a +fancied resemblance to a famous hunter in his stables. Perhaps it is the +very final test of popularity that a ruler should have a nickname known +to every one. + +Cromwell's death roused all England to a frenzy of king-worship. The +Roundhead, General Monk, and his soldiers proclaimed Charles King of +England and escorted him to London in splendid state. That was a day +when national feeling reached a point such as never has been before or +since. Oughtred, the famous mathematician, died of joy when the royal +emblems were restored. Urquhart, the translator of Rabelais, died, it is +said, of laughter at the people's wild delight--a truly Rabelaisian end. + +There was the king once more; and England, breaking through its long +period of Puritanism, laughed and danced with more vivacity than ever +the French had shown. All the pipers and the players and panderers to +vice, the mountebanks, the sensual men, and the lawless women poured +into the presence of the king, who had been too long deprived of the +pleasure that his nature craved. Parliament voted seventy thousand +pounds for a memorial to Charles's father, but the irresponsible king +spent the whole sum on the women who surrounded him. His severest +counselor, Lord Clarendon, sent him a remonstrance. + +"How can I build such a memorial," asked Charles, "when I don't know +where my father's remains are buried!" + +He took money from the King of France to make war against the Dutch, +who had befriended him. It was the French king, too, who sent him that +insidious, subtle daughter of Brittany, Louise de Keroualle--Duchess +of Portsmouth--a diplomat in petticoats, who won the king's wayward +affections, and spied on what he did and said, and faithfully reported +all of it to Paris. She became the mother of the Duke of Lenox, and +she was feared and hated by the English more than any other of his +mistresses. They called her "Madam Carwell," and they seemed to have an +instinct that she was no mere plaything of his idle hours, but was like +some strange exotic serpent, whose poison might in the end sting the +honor of England. + +There is a pitiful little episode in the marriage of Charles with his +Portuguese bride, Catharine of Braganza. The royal girl came to him +fresh from the cloisters of her convent. There was something about her +grace and innocence that touched the dissolute monarch, who was by no +means without a heart. For a time he treated her with great respect, +and she was happy. At last she began to notice about her strange +faces--faces that were evil, wanton, or overbold. The court became more +and more a seat of reckless revelry. + +Finally Catharine was told that the Duchess of Cleveland--that splendid +termagant, Barbara Villiers--had been appointed lady of the bedchamber. +She was told at the same time who this vixen was--that she was no fit +attendant for a virtuous woman, and that her three sons, the Dukes of +Southampton, Grafton, and Northumberland, were also the sons of Charles. + +Fluttered and frightened and dismayed, the queen hastened to her husband +and begged him not to put this slight upon her. A year or two before, +she had never dreamed that life contained such things as these; but now +it seemed to contain nothing else. Charles spoke sternly to her until +she burst into tears, and then he petted her and told her that her +duty as a queen compelled her to submit to many things which a lady in +private life need not endure. + +After a long and poignant struggle with her own emotions the little +Portuguese yielded to the wishes of her lord. She never again reproached +him. She even spoke with kindness to his favorites and made him feel +that she studied his happiness alone. Her gentleness affected him so +that he always spoke to her with courtesy and real friendship. When the +Protestant mobs sought to drive her out of England he showed his +courage and manliness by standing by her and refusing to allow her to be +molested. + +Indeed, had Charles been always at his best he would have had a very +different name in history. He could be in every sense a king. He had a +keen knowledge of human nature. Though he governed England very badly, +he never governed it so badly as to lose his popularity. + +The epigram of Rochester, written at the king's own request, was +singularly true of Charles. No man relied upon his word, yet men loved +him. He never said anything that was foolish, and he very seldom did +anything that was wise; yet his easy manners and gracious ways endeared +him to those who met him. + +One can find no better picture of his court than that which Sir Walter +Scott has drawn so vividly in Peveril of the Peak; or, if one wishes +first-hand evidence, it can be found in the diaries of Evelyn and of +Samuel Pepys. In them we find the rakes and dicers, full of strange +oaths, deep drunkards, vile women and still viler men, all striving for +the royal favor and offering the filthiest lures, amid routs and balls +and noisy entertainments, of which it is recorded that more than once +some woman gave birth to a child among the crowd of dancers. + +No wonder that the little Portuguese queen kept to herself and did not +let herself be drawn into this swirling, roaring, roistering saturnalia. +She had less influence even than Moll Davis, whom Charles picked out +of a coffee-house, and far less than "Madam Carwell," to whom it is +reported that a great English nobleman once presented pearls to the +value of eight thousand pounds in order to secure her influence in a +single stroke of political business. + +Of all the women who surrounded Charles there was only one who cared +anything for him or for England. The rest were all either selfish or +treacherous or base. This one exception has been so greatly written of, +both in fiction and in history, as to make it seem almost unnecessary to +add another word; yet it may well be worth while to separate the fiction +from the fact and to see how much of the legend of Eleanor Gwyn is true. + +The fanciful story of her birthplace is most surely quite unfounded. She +was not the daughter of a Welsh officer, but of two petty hucksters who +had their booth in the lowest precincts of London. In those days the +Strand was partly open country, and as it neared the city it showed the +mansions of the gentry set in their green-walled parks. At one end of +the Strand, however, was Drury Lane, then the haunt of criminals and +every kind of wretch, while nearer still was the notorious Coal Yard, +where no citizen dared go unarmed. + +Within this dreadful place children were kidnapped and trained to +various forms of vice. It was a school for murderers and robbers and +prostitutes; and every night when the torches flared it vomited forth +its deadly spawn. Here was the earliest home of Eleanor Gwyn, and out of +this den of iniquity she came at night to sell oranges at the entrance +to the theaters. She was stage-struck, and endeavored to get even a +minor part in a play; but Betterton, the famous actor, thrust her aside +when she ventured to apply to him. + +It must be said that in everything that was external, except her beauty, +she fell short of a fastidious taste. She was intensely ignorant even +for that time. She spoke in a broad Cockney dialect. She had lived the +life of the Coal Yard, and, like Zola's Nana, she could never remember +the time when she had known the meaning of chastity. + +Nell Gwyn was, in fact, a product of the vilest slums of London; and +precisely because she was this we must set her down as intrinsically a +good woman--one of the truest, frankest, and most right-minded of +whom the history of such women has anything to tell. All that external +circumstances could do to push her down into the mire was done; yet she +was not pushed down, but emerged as one of those rare souls who have in +their natures an uncontaminated spring of goodness and honesty. Unlike +Barbara Villiers or Lucy Walters or Louise de Keroualle, she was neither +a harpy nor a foe to England. + +Charles is said first to have met her when he, incognito, with another +friend, was making the rounds of the theaters at night. The king spied +her glowing, nut-brown face in one of the boxes, and, forgetting his +incognito, went up and joined her. She was with her protector of the +time, Lord Buckhurst, who, of course, recognized his majesty. + +Presently the whole party went out to a neighboring coffee-house, where +they drank and ate together. When it came time to pay the reckoning the +king found that he had no money, nor had his friend. Lord Buckhurst, +therefore, paid the bill, while Mistress Nell jeered at the other two, +saying that this was the most poverty-stricken party that she had ever +met. + +Charles did not lose sight of her. Her frankness and honest manner +pleased him. There came a time when she was known to be a mistress +of the king, and she bore a son, who was ennobled as the Duke of St. +Albans, but who did not live to middle age. Nell Gwyn was much with +Charles; and after his tempestuous scenes with Barbara Villiers, and the +feeling of dishonor which the Duchess of Portsmouth made him experience, +the girl's good English bluntness was a pleasure far more rare than +sentiment. + +Somehow, just as the people had come to mistrust "Madam Carwell," so +they came to like Nell Gwyn. She saw enough of Charles, and she liked +him well enough, to wish that he might do his duty by his people; and +she alone had the boldness to speak out what she thought. One day she +found him lolling in an arm-chair and complaining that the people were +not satisfied. + +"You can very easily satisfy them," said Nell Gwyn. "Dismiss your women +and attend to the proper business of a king." + +Again, her heart was touched at the misfortunes of the old soldiers who +had fought for Charles and for his father during the Civil War, and who +were now neglected, while the treasury was emptied for French favorites, +and while the policy of England itself was bought and sold in France. +Many and many a time, when other women of her kind used their lures +to get jewels or titles or estates or actual heaps of money, Nell Gwyn +besought the king to aid these needy veterans. Because of her efforts +Chelsea Hospital was founded. Such money as she had she shared with the +poor and with those who had fought for her royal lover. + +As I have said, she is a historical type of the woman who loses her +physical purity, yet who retains a sense of honor and of honesty +which nothing can take from her. There are not many such examples, and +therefore this one is worth remembering. + +Of anecdotes concerning her there are many, but not often has their real +import been detected. If she could twine her arms about the monarch's +neck and transport him in a delirium of passion, this was only part of +what she did. She tried to keep him right and true and worthy of +his rank; and after he had ceased to care much for her as a lover he +remembered that she had been faithful in many other things. + +Then there came the death-bed scene, when Charles, in his inimitable +manner, apologized to those about him because he was so long in dying. +A far sincerer sentence was that which came from his heart, as he cried +out, in the very pangs of death: + +"Do not let poor Nelly starve!" + + + + + +MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR + + +It is an old saying that to every womanly woman self-sacrifice is almost +a necessity of her nature. To make herself of small account as compared +with the one she loves; to give freely of herself, even though she may +receive nothing in return; to suffer, and yet to feel an inner poignant +joy in all this suffering--here is a most wonderful trait of womanhood. +Perhaps it is akin to the maternal instinct; for to the mother, after +she has felt the throb of a new life within her, there is no sacrifice +so great and no anguish so keen that she will not welcome it as the +outward sign and evidence of her illimitable love. + +In most women this spirit of self-sacrifice is checked and kept within +ordinary bounds by the circumstances of their lives. In many small +things they do yield and they do suffer; yet it is not in yielding and +in suffering that they find their deepest joy. + +There are some, however, who seem to have been born with an abnormal +capacity for enduring hardship and mental anguish; so that by a sort +of contradiction they find their happiness in sorrow. Such women are +endowed with a remarkable degree of sensibility. They feel intensely. In +moments of grief and disappointment, and even of despair, there steals +over them a sort of melancholy pleasure. It is as if they loved dim +lights and mournful music and scenes full of sad suggestion. + +If everything goes well with them, they are unwilling to believe that +such good fortune will last. If anything goes wrong with them, they are +sure that this is only the beginning of something even worse. The music +of their lives is written in a minor key. + +Now, for such women as these, the world at large has very little +charity. It speaks slightingly of them as "agonizers." It believes that +they are "fond of making scenes." It regards as an affectation something +that is really instinctive and inevitable. Unless such women are +beautiful and young and charming they are treated badly; and this is +often true in spite of all their natural attractiveness, for they seem +to court ill usage as if they were saying frankly: + +"Come, take us! We will give you everything and ask for nothing. We do +not expect true and enduring love. Do not be constant or generous or +even kind. We know that we shall suffer. But, none the less, in our +sorrow there will be sweetness, and even in our abasement we shall feel +a sort of triumph." + +In history there is one woman who stands out conspicuously as a type +of her melancholy sisterhood, one whose life was full of disappointment +even when she was most successful, and of indignity even when she was +most sought after and admired. This woman was Adrienne Lecouvreur, +famous in the annals of the stage, and still more famous in the annals +of unrequited--or, at any rate, unhappy--love. + +Her story is linked with that of a man no less remarkable than herself, +a hero of chivalry, a marvel of courage, of fascination, and of +irresponsibility. + +Adrienne Lecouvreur--her name was originally Couvreur--was born toward +the end of the seventeenth century in the little French village of +Damery, not far from Rheims, where her aunt was a laundress and her +father a hatter in a small way. Of her mother, who died in childbirth, +we know nothing; but her father was a man of gloomy and ungovernable +temper, breaking out into violent fits of passion, in one of which, long +afterward, he died, raving and yelling like a maniac. + +Adrienne was brought up at the wash-tub, and became accustomed to a +wandering life, in which she went from one town to another. What she had +inherited from her mother is, of course, not known; but she had all her +father's strangely pessimistic temper, softened only by the fact +that she was a girl. From her earliest years she was unhappy; yet her +unhappiness was largely of her own choosing. Other girls of her own +station met life cheerfully, worked away from dawn till dusk, and then +had their moments of amusement, and even jollity, with their companions, +after the fashion of all children. But Adrienne Lecouvreur was unhappy +because she chose to be. It was not the wash-tub that made her so, +for she had been born to it; nor was it the half-mad outbreaks of her +father, because to her, at least, he was not unkind. Her discontent +sprang from her excessive sensibility. + +Indeed, for a peasant child she had reason to think herself far more +fortunate than her associates. Her intelligence was great. Ambition was +awakened in her before she was ten years of age, when she began to +learn and to recite poems--learning them, as has been said, "between the +wash-tub and the ironing-board," and reciting them to the admiration of +older and wiser people than she. Even at ten she was a very beautiful +child, with great lambent eyes, an exquisite complexion, and a lovely +form, while she had the further gift of a voice that thrilled the +listener and, when she chose, brought tears to every eye. She +was, indeed, a natural elocutionist, knowing by instinct all those +modulations of tone and varied cadences which go to the hearer's heart. + +It was very like Adrienne Lecouvreur to memorize only such poems as were +mournful, just as in after life she could win success upon the stage +only in tragic parts. She would repeat with a sort of ecstasy the +pathetic poems that were then admired; and she was soon able to give up +her menial work, because many people asked her to their houses so that +they could listen to the divinely beautiful voice charged with the +emotion which was always at her command. + +When she was thirteen her father moved to Paris, where she was placed at +school--a very humble school in a very humble quarter of the city. +Yet even there her genius showed itself at that early age. A number +of children and young people, probably influenced by Adrienne, formed +themselves into a theatrical company from the pure love of acting. +A friendly grocer let them have an empty store-room for their +performances, and in this store-room Adrienne Lecouvreur first acted in +a tragedy by Corneille, assuming the part of leading woman. + +Her genius for the stage was like the genius of Napoleon for war. She +had had no teaching. She had never been inside of any theater; and yet +she delivered the magnificent lines with all the power and fire and +effectiveness of a most accomplished actress. People thronged to see her +and to feel the tempest of emotion which shook her as she sustained her +part, which for the moment was as real to her as life itself. + +At first only the people of the neighborhood knew anything about these +amateur performances; but presently a lady of rank, one Mme. du Gue, +came out of curiosity and was fascinated by the little actress. Mme. du +Gue offered the spacious courtyard of her own house, and fitted it with +some of the appurtenances of a theater. From that moment the fame of +Adrienne spread throughout all Paris. The courtyard was crowded by +gentlemen and ladies, by people of distinction from the court, and at +last even by actors and actresses from the Comedie Franchise. + +It is, in fact, a remarkable tribute to Adrienne that in her thirteenth +year she excited so much jealousy among the actors of the Comedie that +they evoked the law against her. Theaters required a royal license, +and of course poor little Adrienne's company had none. Hence legal +proceedings were begun, and the most famous actresses in Paris talked +of having these clever children imprisoned! Upon this the company sought +the precincts of the Temple, where no legal warrant could be served +without the express order of the king himself. + +There for a time the performances still went on. Finally, as the other +children were not geniuses, but merely boys and girls in search of fun, +the little company broke up. Its success, however, had determined for +ever the career of Adrienne. With her beautiful face, her lithe and +exquisite figure, her golden voice, and her instinctive art, it was +plain enough that her future lay upon the stage; and so at fourteen +or fifteen she began where most actresses leave off--accomplished and +attractive, and having had a practical training in her profession. + +Diderot, in that same century, observed that the truest actor is one who +does not feel his part at all, but produces his effects by intellectual +effort and intelligent observation. Behind the figure on the stage, torn +with passion or rollicking with mirth, there must always be the cool +and unemotional mind which directs and governs and controls. This same +theory was both held and practised by the late Benoit Constant Coquelin. +To some extent it was the theory of Garrick and Fechter and Edwin Booth; +though it was rejected by the two Keans, and by Edwin Forrest, who +entered so throughly into the character which he assumed, and who let +loose such tremendous bursts of passion that other actors dreaded to +support him on the stage in such parts as Spartacus and Metamora. + +It is needless to say that a girl like Adrienne Lecouvreur flung herself +with all the intensity of her nature into every role she played. This +was the greatest secret of her success; for, with her, nature rose +superior to art. On the other hand, it fixed her dramatic limitations, +for it barred her out of comedy. Her melancholy, morbid disposition was +in the fullest sympathy with tragic heroines; but she failed when she +tried to represent the lighter moods and the merry moments of those who +welcome mirth. She could counterfeit despair, and unforced tears would +fill her eyes; but she could not laugh and romp and simulate a gaiety +that was never hers. + +Adrienne would have been delighted to act at one of the theaters in +Paris; but they were closed to her through jealousy. She went into the +provinces, in the eastern part of France, and for ten years she was a +leading lady there in many companies and in many towns. As she blossomed +into womanhood there came into her life the love which was to be at once +a source of the most profound interest and of the most intense agony. + +It is odd that all her professional success never gave her any +happiness. The life of the actress who traveled from town to town, the +crude and coarse experiences which she had to undergo, the disorder and +the unsettled mode of living, all produced in her a profound disgust. +She was of too exquisite a fiber to live in such a way, especially in a +century when the refinements of existence were for the very few. + +She speaks herself of "obligatory amusements, the insistence of men, and +of love affairs." Yet how could such a woman as Adrienne Lecouvreur keep +herself from love affairs? The motion of the stage and its mimic griefs +satisfied her only while she was actually upon the boards. Love offered +her an emotional excitement that endured and that was always changing. +It was "the profoundest instinct of her being"; and she once wrote: +"What could one do in the world without loving?" + +Still, through these ten years she seems to have loved only that she +might be unhappy. There was a strange twist in her mind. Men who were +honorable and who loved her with sincerity she treated very badly. Men +who were indifferent or ungrateful or actually base she seemed to choose +by a sort of perverse instinct. Perhaps the explanation of it is that +during those ten years, though she had many lovers, she never really +loved. She sought excitement, passion, and after that the mournfulness +which comes when passion dies. Thus, one man after another came into her +life--some of them promising marriage--and she bore two children, whose +fathers were unknown, or at least uncertain. But, after all, one can +scarcely pity her, since she had not yet in reality known that great +passion which comes but once in life. So far she had learned only a sort +of feeble cynicism, which she expressed in letters and in such sayings +as these: + +"There are sweet errors which I would not venture to commit again. My +experiences, all too sad, have served to illumine my reason." + +"I am utterly weary of love and prodigiously tempted to have no more of +it for the rest of my life; because, after all, I don't wish either to +die or to go mad." + +Yet she also said: "I know too well that no one dies of grief." + +She had had, indeed, some very unfortunate experiences. Men of rank had +loved her and had then cast her off. An actor, one Clavel, would +have married her, but she would not accept his offer. A magistrate in +Strasburg promised marriage; and then, when she was about to accept him, +he wrote to her that he was going to yield to the wishes of his family +and make a more advantageous alliance. And so she was alternately +caressed and repulsed--a mere plaything; and yet this was probably all +that she really needed at the time--something to stir her, something to +make her mournful or indignant or ashamed. + +It was inevitable that at last Adrienne Lecouvreur should appear in +Paris. She had won such renown throughout the provinces that even +those who were intensely jealous of her were obliged to give her due +consideration. In 1717, when she was in her twenty-fifth year, she +became a member of the Comedie Franchise. There she made an immediate +and most brilliant impression. She easily took the leading place. She +was one of the glories of Paris, for she became the fashion outside the +theater. For the first time the great classic plays were given, not +in the monotonous singsong which had become a sort of theatrical +convention, but with all the fire and naturalness of life. + +Being the fashion, Mlle. Lecouvreur elevated the social rank of actors +and of actresses. Her salon was thronged by men and women of rank. +Voltaire wrote poems in her honor. To be invited to her dinners was +almost like receiving a decoration from the king. She ought to have been +happy, for she had reached the summit of her profession and something +more. + +Yet still she was unhappy. In all her letters one finds a plaintive +tone, a little moaning sound that shows how slightly her nature had been +changed. No longer, however, did she throw herself away upon dullards or +brutes. An English peer--Lord Peterborough--not realizing that she was +different from other actresses of that loose-lived age, said to her +coarsely at his first introduction: + +"Come now! Show me lots of wit and lots of love." + +The remark was characteristic of the time. Yet Adrienne had learned +at least one thing, and that was the discontent which came from light +affairs. She had thrown herself away too often. If she could not love +with her entire being, if she could not give all that was in her to be +given, whether of her heart or mind or soul, then she would love no more +at all. + +At this time there came to Paris a man remarkable in his own century, +and one who afterward became almost a hero of romance. This was Maurice, +Comte de Saxe, as the French called him, his German name and title being +Moritz, Graf von Sachsen, while we usually term him, in English, Marshal +Saxe. Maurice de Saxe was now, in 1721, entering his twenty-fifth year. +Already, though so young, his career had been a strange one; and it was +destined to be still more remarkable. He was the natural son of Duke +Augustus II. of Saxony, who later became King of Poland, and who is +known in history as Augustus the Strong. + +Augustus was a giant in stature and in strength, handsome, daring, +unscrupulous, and yet extremely fascinating. His life was one of revelry +and fighting and display. When in his cups he would often call for a +horseshoe and twist it into a knot with his powerful fingers. Many were +his mistresses; but the one for whom he cared the most was a beautiful +and high-spirited Swedish girl of rank, Aurora von Konigsmarck. She was +descended from a rough old field-marshal who in the Thirty Years' +War had slashed and sacked and pillaged and plundered to his heart's +content. From him Aurora von Konigsmarck seemed to have inherited a high +spirit and a sort of lawlessness which charmed the stalwart Augustus of +Poland. + +Their son, Maurice de Saxe, inherited everything that was good in his +parents, and a great deal that was less commendable. As a mere child +of twelve he had insisted on joining the army of Prince Eugene, and +had seen rough service in a very strenuous campaign. Two years later he +showed such daring on the battle-field that Prince Eugene summoned him +and paid him a compliment under the form of a rebuke. + +"Young man," he said, "you must not mistake mere recklessness for +valor." + +Before he was twenty he had attained the stature and strength of his +royal father; and, to prove it, he in his turn called for a horseshoe, +which he twisted and broke in his fingers. He fought on the side of the +Russians and Poles, and again against the Turks, everywhere displaying +high courage and also genius as a commander; for he never lost his +self-possession amid the very blackest danger, but possessed, as Carlyle +says, "vigilance, foresight, and sagacious precaution." + +Exceedingly handsome, Maurice was a master of all the arts that pleased, +with just a touch of roughness, which seemed not unfitting in so gallant +a soldier. His troops adored him and would follow wherever he might +choose to lead them; for he exercised over these rude men a magnetic +power resembling that of Napoleon in after years. In private life he was +a hard drinker and fond of every form of pleasure. Having no fortune of +his own, a marriage was arranged for him with the Countess von Loben, +who was immensely wealthy; but in three years he had squandered all +her money upon his pleasures, and had, moreover, got himself heavily in +debt. + +It was at this time that he first came to Paris to study military +tactics. He had fought hard against the French in the wars that were now +ended; but his chivalrous bearing, his handsome person, and his reckless +joviality made him at once a universal favorite in Paris. To the +perfumed courtiers, with their laces and lovelocks and mincing ways, +Maurice de Saxe came as a sort of knight of old--jovial, daring, +pleasure-loving. Even his broken French was held to be quite charming; +and to see him break a horseshoe with his fingers threw every one into +raptures. + +No wonder, then, that he was welcomed in the very highest circles. +Almost at once he attracted the notice of the Princesse de Conti, a +beautiful woman of the blood royal. Of her it has been said that she was +"the personification of a kiss, the incarnation of an embrace, the ideal +of a dream of love." Her chestnut hair was tinted with little gleams of +gold. Her eyes were violet black. Her complexion was dazzling. But by +the king's orders she had been forced to marry a hunchback--a man whose +very limbs were so weakened by disease and evil living that they would +often fail to support him, and he would fall to the ground, a writhing, +screaming mass of ill-looking flesh. + +It is not surprising that his lovely wife should have shuddered much at +his abuse of her and still more at his grotesque endearments. When her +eyes fell on Maurice de Saxe she saw in him one who could free her from +her bondage. By a skilful trick he led the Prince de Conti to invade the +sleeping-room of the princess, with servants, declaring that she was +not alone. The charge proved quite untrue, and so she left her husband, +having won the sympathy of her own world, which held that she had been +insulted. But it was not she who was destined to win and hold the love +of Maurice de Saxe. + +Not long after his appearance in the French capital he was invited to +dine with the "Queen of Paris," Adrienne Lecouvreur. Saxe had seen her +on the stage. He knew her previous history. He knew that she was very +much of a soiled dove; but when he met her these two natures, so utterly +dissimilar, leaped together, as it were, through the indescribable +attraction of opposites. He was big and powerful; she was small and +fragile. He was merry, and full of quips and jests; she was reserved and +melancholy. Each felt in the other a need supplied. + +At one of their earliest meetings the climax came. Saxe was not the +man to hesitate; while she already, in her thoughts, had made a full +surrender. In one great sweep he gathered her into his arms. It appeared +to her as if no man had ever laid his hand upon her until that moment. +She cried out: + +"Now, for the first time in my life, I seem to live!" + +It was, indeed, the very first love which in her checkered career was +really worthy of the name. She had supposed that all such things were +passed and gone, that her heart was closed for ever, that she was +invulnerable; and yet here she found herself clinging about the neck +of this impetuous soldier and showing him all the shy fondness and +the unselfish devotion of a young girl. From this instant Adrienne +Lecouvreur never loved another man and never even looked at any other +man with the slightest interest. For nine long years the two were bound +together, though there were strange events to ruffle the surface of +their love. + +Maurice de Saxe had been sired by a king. He had the lofty ambition to +be a king himself, and he felt the stirrings of that genius which in +after years was to make him a great soldier, and to win the brilliant +victory of Fontenoy, which to this very day the French are never tired +of recalling. Already Louis XV. had made him a marshal of France; and a +certain restlessness came over him. He loved Adrienne; yet he felt that +to remain in the enjoyment of her witcheries ought not to be the whole +of a man's career. + +Then the Grand Duchy of Courland--at that time a vassal state of Poland, +now part of Russia--sought a ruler. Maurice de Saxe was eager to secure +its throne, which would make him at least semi-royal and the chief of +a principality. He hastened thither and found that money was needed to +carry out his plans. The widow of the late duke--the Grand Duchess Anna, +niece of Peter the Great, and later Empress of Russia--as soon as she +had met this dazzling genius, offered to help him to acquire the duchy +if he would only marry her. He did not utterly refuse. Still another +woman of high rank, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, Peter the +Great's daughter, made him very much the same proposal. + +Both of these imperial women might well have attracted a man like +Maurice de Saxe, had he been wholly fancy-free, for the second of them +inherited the high spirit and the genius of the great Peter, while the +first was a pleasure-seeking princess, resembling some of those Roman +empresses who loved to stoop that they might conquer. She is described +as indolent and sensual, and she once declared that the chief good in +the world was love. Yet, though she neglected affairs of state and gave +them over to favorites, she won and kept the affections of her people. +She was unquestionably endowed with the magnetic gift of winning hearts. + +Adrienne, who was left behind in Paris, knew very little of what was +going on. Only two things were absolutely clear to her. One was that if +her lover secured the duchy he must be parted from her. The other was +that without money his ambition must be thwarted, and that he would then +return to her. Here was a test to try the soul of any woman. It proved +the height and the depth of her devotion. Come what might, Maurice +should be Duke of Courland, even though she lost him. She gathered +together her whole fortune, sold every jewel that she possessed, and +sent her lover the sum of nearly a million francs. + +This incident shows how absolutely she was his. But in fact, because +of various intrigues, he failed of election to the ducal throne of +Courland, and he returned to Adrienne with all her money spent, and +without even the grace, at first, to show his gratitude. He stormed and +raged over his ill luck. She merely soothed and petted him, though she +had heard that he had thought of marrying another woman to secure +the dukedom. In one of her letters she bursts out with the pitiful +exclamation: + +I am distracted with rage and anguish. Is it not natural to cry out +against such treachery? This man surely ought to know me--he ought to +love me. Oh, my God! What are we--what ARE we? + +But still she could not give him up, nor could he give her up, though +there were frightful scenes between them--times when he cruelly +reproached her and when her native melancholy deepened into outbursts +of despair. Finally there occurred an incident which is more or +less obscure in parts. The Duchesse de Bouillon, a great lady of the +court--facile, feline, licentious, and eager for delights--resolved that +she would win the love of Maurice de Saxe. She set herself to win it +openly and without any sense of shame. Maurice himself at times, when +the tears of Adrienne proved wearisome, flirted with the duchess. + +Yet, even so, Adrienne held the first place in his heart, and her rival +knew it. Therefore she resolved to humiliate Adrienne, and to do so in +the place where the actress had always reigned supreme. There was to be +a gala performance of Racine's great tragedy, "Phedre," with Adrienne, +of course, in the title-role. The Duchesse de Bouillon sent a large +number of her lackeys with orders to hiss and jeer, and, if possible, +to break off the play. Malignantly delighted with her plan, the duchess +arrayed herself in jewels and took her seat in a conspicuous stage-box, +where she could watch the coming storm and gloat over the discomfiture +of her rival. + +When the curtain rose, and when Adrienne appeared as Phedre, an uproar +began. It was clear to the great actress that a plot had been devised +against her. In an instant her whole soul was afire. The queen-like +majesty of her bearing compelled silence throughout the house. Even the +hired lackeys were overawed by it. Then Adrienne moved swiftly across +the stage and fronted her enemy, speaking into her very face the three +insulting lines which came to her at that moment of the play: + + I am not of those women void of shame, + Who, savoring in crime the joys of peace, + Harden their faces till they cannot blush! + +The whole house rose and burst forth into tremendous applause. Adrienne +had won, for the woman who had tried to shame her rose in trepidation +and hurried from the theater. + +But the end was not yet. Those were evil times, when dark deeds were +committed by the great almost with impunity. Secret poisoning was a +common trade. To remove a rival was as usual a thing in the eighteenth +century as to snub a rival is usual in the twentieth. + +Not long afterward, on the night of March 15, 1730, Adrienne Lecouvreur +was acting in one of Voltaire's plays with all her power and instinctive +art when suddenly she was seized with the most frightful pains. Her +anguish was obvious to every one who saw her, and yet she had the +courage to go through her part. Then she fainted and was carried home. + +Four days later she died, and her death was no less dramatic than her +life had been. Her lover and two friends of his were with her, and also +a Jesuit priest. He declined to administer extreme unction unless she +would declare that she repented of her theatrical career. She stubbornly +refused, since she believed that to be the greatest actress of her time +was not a sin. Yet still the priest insisted. + +Then came the final moment. + +"Weary and revolting against this death, this destiny, she stretched her +arms with one of the old lovely gestures toward a bust which stood near +by and cried--her last cry of passion: + +"'There is my world, my hope--yes, and my God!'" + +The bust was one of Maurice de Saxe. + + + + + +THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART + + +The royal families of Europe are widely known, yet not all of them are +equally renowned. Thus, the house of Romanoff, although comparatively +young, stands out to the mind with a sort of barbaric power, more +vividly than the Austrian house of Hapsburg, which is the oldest +reigning family in Europe, tracing its beginnings backward until +they are lost in the Dark Ages. The Hohenzollerns of Prussia are +comparatively modern, so far as concerns their royalty. The offshoots of +the Bourbons carry on a very proud tradition in the person of the King +of Spain, although France, which has been ruled by so many members of +the family, will probably never again behold a Bourbon king. The deposed +Braganzas bear a name which is ancient, but which has a somewhat tinsel +sound. + +The Bonapartes, of course, are merely parvenus, and they have had the +good taste to pretend to no antiquity of birth. The first Napoleon, +dining at a table full of monarchs, when he heard one of them +deferentially alluding to the Bonaparte family as being very old and +noble, exclaimed: + +"Pish! My nobility dates from the day of Marengo!" + +And the third Napoleon, in announcing his coming marriage with Mlle. de +Montijo, used the very word "parvenu" in speaking of himself and of his +family. His frankness won the hearts of the French people and helped to +reconcile them to a marriage in which the bride was barely noble. + +In English history there are two great names to conjure by, at least +to the imaginative. One is Plantagenet, which seems to contain within +itself the very essence of all that is patrician, magnificent, and +royal. It calls to memory at once the lion-hearted Richard, whose short +reign was replete with romance in England and France and Austria and the +Holy Land. + +But perhaps a name of greater influence is that which links the royal +family of Britain today with the traditions of the past, and which +summons up legend and story and great deeds of history. This is the name +of Stuart, about which a whole volume might be written to recall its +suggestions and its reminiscences. + +The first Stuart (then Stewart) of whom anything is known got his name +from the title of "Steward of Scotland," which remained in the family +for generations, until the sixth of the line, by marriage with Princess +Marjory Bruce, acquired the Scottish crown. That was in the early years +of the fourteenth century; and finally, after the death of Elizabeth +of England, her rival's son, James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, +united under one crown two kingdoms that had so long been at almost +constant war. + +It is almost characteristic of the Scot that, having small territory, +little wealth, and a seat among his peers that is almost ostentatiously +humble, he should bit by bit absorb the possessions of all the rest and +become their master. Surely, the proud Tudors, whose line ended with +Elizabeth, must have despised the "Stewards," whose kingdom was small +and bleak and cold, and who could not control their own vassals. + +One can imagine also, with Sir Walter Scott, the haughty nobles of the +English court sneering covertly at the awkward, shambling James, pedant +and bookworm. Nevertheless, his diplomacy was almost as good as that of +Elizabeth herself; and, though he did some foolish things, he was very +far from being a fool. + +In his appearance James was not unlike Abraham Lincoln--an unkingly +figure; and yet, like Lincoln, when occasion required it he could rise +to the dignity which makes one feel the presence of a king. He was the +only Stuart who lacked anything in form or feature or external grace. +His son, Charles I., was perhaps one of the worst rulers that England +has ever had; yet his uprightness of life, his melancholy yet handsome +face, his graceful bearing, and the strong religious element in his +character, together with the fact that he was put to death after being +treacherously surrendered to his enemies--all these have combined to +make almost a saint of him. There are Englishmen to-day who speak of him +as "the martyr king," and who, on certain days of the year, say prayers +that beg the Lord's forgiveness because of Charles's execution. + +The members of the so-called League of the White Rose, founded to +perpetuate English allegiance to the direct line of Stuarts, do many +things that are quite absurd. They refuse to pray for the present King +of England and profess to think that the Princess Mary of Bavaria is the +true ruler of Great Britain. All this represents that trace of sentiment +which lingers among the English to-day. They feel that the Stuarts were +the last kings of England to rule by the grace of God rather than by the +grace of Parliament. As a matter of fact, the present reigning family +in England is glad to derive its ancient strain of royal blood through a +Stuart--descended on the distaff side from James I., and winding its way +through Hanover. + +This sentiment for the Stuarts is a thing entirely apart from reason and +belongs to the realm of poetry and romance; yet so strong is it that +it has shown itself in the most inconsistent fashion. For instance, Sir +Walter Scott was a devoted adherent of the house of Hanover. When George +IV. visited Edinburgh, Scott was completely carried away by his loyal +enthusiasm. He could not see that the man before him was a drunkard and +braggart. He viewed him as an incarnation of all the noble traits that +ought to hedge about a king. He snatched up a wine-glass from which +George had just been drinking and carried it away to be an object of +reverence for ever after. Nevertheless, in his heart, and often in his +speech, Scott seemed to be a high Tory, and even a Jacobite. + +There are precedents for this. The Empress Eugenie used often to say +with a laugh that she was the only true royalist at the imperial court +of France. That was well enough for her in her days of flightiness and +frivolity. No one, however, accused Queen Victoria of being frivolous, +and she was not supposed to have a strong sense of humor. None the less, +after listening to the skirling of the bagpipes and to the romantic +ballads which were sung in Scotland she is said to have remarked with a +sort of sigh: + +"Whenever I hear those ballads I feel that England belongs really to the +Stuarts!" + +Before Queen Victoria was born, when all the sons of George III. were +childless, the Duke of Kent was urged to marry, so that he might have a +family to continue the succession. In resenting the suggestion he said +many things, and among them this was the most striking: + +"Why don't you call the Stuarts back to England? They couldn't possibly +make a worse mess of it than our fellows have!" + +But he yielded to persuasion and married. From this marriage came +Victoria, who had the sacred drop of Stuart blood which gave England +to the Hanoverians; and she was to redeem the blunders and tyrannies of +both houses. + +The fascination of the Stuarts, which has been carried overseas to +America and the British dominions, probably began with the striking +history of Mary Queen of Scots. Her brilliancy and boldness and beauty, +and especially the pathos of her end, have made us see only her intense +womanliness, which in her own day was the first thing that any one +observed in her. So, too, with Charles I., romantic figure and knightly +gentleman. One regrets his death upon the scaffold, even though his +execution was necessary to the growth of freedom. + +Many people are no less fascinated by Charles II., that very different +type, with his gaiety, his good-fellowship, and his easy-going ways. It +is not surprising that his people, most of whom never saw him, were very +fond of him, and did not know that he was selfish, a loose liver, and +almost a vassal of the king of France. + +So it is not strange that the Stuarts, with all their arts and graces, +were very hard to displace. James II., with the aid of the French, +fought hard before the British troops in Ireland broke the backs of +both his armies and sent him into exile. Again in 1715--an episode +perpetuated in Thackeray's dramatic story of Henry Esmond--came the son +of James to take advantage of the vacancy caused by the death of Queen +Anne. But it is perhaps to this claimant's son, the last of the militant +Stuarts, that more chivalrous feeling has been given than to any other. + +To his followers he was the Young Chevalier, the true Prince of Wales; +to his enemies, the Whigs and the Hanoverians, he was "the Pretender." +One of the most romantic chapters of history is the one which tells +of that last brilliant dash which he made upon the coast of Scotland, +landing with but a few attendants and rejecting the support of a French +army. + +"It is not with foreigners," he said, "but with my own loyal subjects, +that I wish to regain the kingdom for my father." + +It was a daring deed, and the spectacular side of it has been often +commemorated, especially in Sir Walter Scott's Waverley. There we see +the gallant prince moving through a sort of military panorama. Most of +the British troops were absent in Flanders, and the few regiments that +could be mustered to meet him were appalled by the ferocity and reckless +courage of the Highlanders, who leaped down like wildcats from their +hills and flung themselves with dirk and sword upon the British cannon. + +We see Sir John Cope retiring at Falkirk, and the astonishing victory of +Prestonpans, where disciplined British troops fled in dismay through the +morning mist, leaving artillery and supplies behind them. It is Scott +again who shows us the prince, master of Edinburgh for a time, while the +white rose of Stuart royalty held once more the ancient keep above the +Scottish capital. Then we see the Chevalier pressing southward into +England, where he hoped to raise an English army to support his own. +But his Highlanders cared nothing for England, and the English--even the +Catholic gentry--would not rise to support his cause. + +Personally, he had every gift that could win allegiance. Handsome, +high-tempered, and brave, he could also control his fiery spirit and +listen to advice, however unpalatable it might be. + +The time was favorable. The British troops had been defeated on the +Continent by Marshal Saxe, of whom I have already written, and by +Marshal d'Estrees. George II. was a king whom few respected. He could +scarcely speak anything but German. He grossly ill-treated his wife. It +is said that on one occasion, in a fit of temper, he actually kicked the +prime minister. Not many felt any personal loyalty to him, and he spent +most of his time away from England in his other domain of Hanover. + +But precisely here was a reason why Englishmen were willing to put up +with him. As between him and the brilliant Stuart there would have been +no hesitation had the choice been merely one of men; but it was believed +that the return of the Stuarts meant the return of something like +absolute government, of taxation without sanction of law, and of +religious persecution. Under the Hanoverian George the English people +had begun to exercise a considerable measure of self-government. Sharp +opposition in Parliament compelled him time and again to yield; and when +he was in Hanover the English were left to work out the problem of free +government. + +Hence, although Prince Charles Edward fascinated all who met him, and +although a small army was raised for his support, still the unromantic, +common-sense Englishmen felt that things were better than in the days +gone by, and most of them refused to take up arms for the cause which +sentimentally they favored. Therefore, although the Chevalier stirred +all England and sent a thrill through the officers of state in London, +his soldiers gradually deserted, and the Scots insisted on returning +to their own country. Although the Stuart troops reached a point as far +south as Derby, they were soon pushed backward into Scotland, pursued by +an army of about nine thousand men under the Duke of Cumberland, son of +George II. + +Cumberland was no soldier; he had been soundly beaten by the French +on the famous field of Fontenoy. Yet he had firmness and a sort of +overmastering brutality, which, with disciplined troops and abundant +artillery, were sufficient to win a victory over the untrained +Highlanders. + +When the battle came five thousand of these mountaineers went roaring +along the English lines, with the Chevalier himself at their head. For +a moment there was surprise. The Duke of Cumberland had been drinking +so heavily that he could give no verbal orders. One of his officers, +however, is said to have come to him in his tent, where he was trying to +play cards. + +"What disposition shall we make of the prisoners?" asked the officer. + +The duke tried to reply, but his utterance was very thick. + +"No quarter!" he was believed to say. + +The officer objected and begged that such an order as that should +be given in writing. The duke rolled over and seized a sheaf of +playing-cards. Pulling one out, he scrawled the necessary order, and +that was taken to the commanders in the field. + +The Highlanders could not stand the cannon fire, and the English won. +Then the fury of the common soldiery broke loose upon the country. + +There was a reign of fantastic and fiendish brutality. One provost +of the town was violently kicked for a mild remonstrance about the +destruction of the Episcopalian meeting-house; another was condemned +to clean out dirty stables. Men and women were whipped and tortured on +slight suspicion or to extract information. Cumberland frankly professed +his contempt and hatred of the people among whom he found himself, but +he savagely punished robberies committed by private soldiers for their +own profit. + +"Mild measures will not do," he wrote to Newcastle. + +When leaving the North in July, he said: + +"All the good we have done is but a little blood-letting, which has only +weakened the madness, but not at all cured it; and I tremble to fear +that this vile spot may still be the ruin of this island and of our +family." + +Such was the famous battle of Culloden, fought in 1746, and putting a +final end to the hopes of all the Stuarts. As to Cumberland's order for +"No quarter," if any apology can be made for such brutality, it must be +found in the fact that the Highland chiefs had on their side agreed to +spare no captured enemy. + +The battle has also left a name commonly given to the nine of diamonds, +which is called "the curse of Scotland," because it is said that on that +card Cumberland wrote his bloodthirsty order. + +Such, in brief, was the story of Prince Charlie's gallant attempt to +restore the kingdom of his ancestors. Even when defeated, he would not +at once leave Scotland. A French squadron appeared off the coast near +Edinburgh. It had been sent to bring him troops and a large supply +of money, but he turned his back upon it and made his way into the +Highlands on foot, closely pursued by English soldiers and Lowland +spies. + +This part of his career is in reality the most romantic of all. He was +hunted closely, almost as by hounds. For weeks he had only such sleep +as he could snatch during short periods of safety, and there were times +when his pursuers came within an inch of capturing him. But never in his +life were his spirits so high. + +It was a sort of life that he had never seen before, climbing the mighty +rocks, and listening to the thunder of the cataracts, among which he +often slept, with only one faithful follower to guard him. The story +of his escape is almost incredible, but he laughed and drank and rolled +upon the grass when he was free from care. He hobnobbed with the most +suspicious-looking caterans, with whom he drank the smoky brew of the +North, and lived as he might on fish and onions and bacon and wild fowl, +with an appetite such as he had never known at the luxurious court of +Versailles or St.-Germain. + +After the battle of Culloden the prince would have been captured had not +a Scottish girl named Flora Macdonald met him, caused him to be dressed +in the clothes of her waiting-maid, and thus got him off to the Isle of +Skye. + +There for a time it was impossible to follow him; and there the two +lived almost alone together. Such a proximity could not fail to stir the +romantic feeling of one who was both a youth and a prince. On the other +hand, no thought of love-making seems to have entered Flora's mind. +If, however, we read Campbell's narrative very closely we can see that +Prince Charles made every advance consistent with a delicate remembrance +of her sex and services. + +It seems to have been his thought that if she cared for him, then the +two might well love; and he gave her every chance to show him favor. The +youth of twenty-five and the girl of twenty-four roamed together in the +long, tufted grass or lay in the sunshine and looked out over the sea. +The prince would rest his head in her lap, and she would tumble his +golden hair with her slender fingers and sometimes clip off tresses +which she preserved to give to friends of hers as love-locks. But to +the last he was either too high or too low for her, according to her own +modest thought. He was a royal prince, the heir to a throne, or else he +was a boy with whom she might play quite fancy-free. A lover he could +not be--so pure and beautiful was her thought of him. + +These were perhaps the most delightful days of all his life, as they +were a beautiful memory in hers. In time he returned to France and +resumed his place amid the intrigues that surrounded that other Stuart +prince who styled himself James III., and still kept up the appearance +of a king in exile. As he watched the artifice and the plotting of +these make-believe courtiers he may well have thought of his innocent +companion of the Highland wilds. + +As for Flora, she was arrested and imprisoned for five months on English +vessels of war. After her release she was married, in 1750; and she and +her husband sailed for the American colonies just before the Revolution. +In that war Macdonald became a British officer and served against his +adopted countrymen. Perhaps because of this reason Flora returned alone +to Scotland, where she died at the age of sixty-eight. + +The royal prince who would have given her his easy love lived a life of +far less dignity in the years that followed his return to France. There +was no more hope of recovering the English throne. For him there were +left only the idle and licentious diversions of such a court as that in +which his father lived. + +At the death of James III., even this court was disintegrated, and +Prince Charles led a roving life under the title of Earl of Albany. In +his wanderings he met Louise Marie, the daughter of a German prince, +Gustavus Adolphus of Stolberg. She was only nineteen years of age when +she first felt the fascination that he still possessed; but it was an +unhappy marriage for the girl when she discovered that her husband was a +confirmed drunkard. + +Not long after, in fact, she found her life with him so utterly +intolerable that she persuaded the Pope to allow her a formal +separation. The pontiff intrusted her to her husband's brother, Cardinal +York, who placed her in a convent and presently removed her to his own +residence in Rome. + +Here begins another romance. She was often visited by Vittorio Alfieri, +the great Italian poet and dramatist. Alfieri was a man of wealth. In +early years he divided his time into alternate periods during which +he either studied hard in civil and canonical law, or was a constant +attendant upon the race-course, or rushed aimlessly all over Europe +without any object except to wear out the post-horses which he used in +relays over hundreds of miles of road. His life, indeed, was eccentric +almost to insanity; but when he had met the beautiful and lonely +Countess of Albany there came over him a striking change. She influenced +him for all that was good, and he used to say that he owed her all that +was best in his dramatic works. + +Sixteen years after her marriage her royal husband died, a worn-out, +bloated wreck of one who had been as a youth a model of knightliness and +manhood. During his final years he had fallen to utter destitution, and +there was either a touch of half contempt or a feeling of remote kinship +in the act of George III., who bestowed upon the prince an annual +pension of four thousand pounds. It showed most plainly that England was +now consolidated under Hanoverian rule. + +When Cardinal York died, in 1807, there was no Stuart left in the male +line; and the countess was the last to bear the royal Scottish name of +Albany. + +After the prince's death his widow is said to have been married to +Alfieri, and for the rest of her life she lived in Florence, though +Alfieri died nearly twenty-one years before her. + +Here we have seen a part of the romance which attaches itself to the +name of Stuart--in the chivalrous young prince, leading his Highlanders +against the bayonets of the British, lolling idly among the Hebrides, +or fallen, at the last, to be a drunkard and the husband of an unwilling +consort, who in her turn loved a famous poet. But it is this Stuart, +after all, of whom we think when we hear the bagpipes skirling "Over the +Water to Charlie" or "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" + +END OF VOLUME ONE + + + + + +THE EMPRESS CATHARINE AND PRINCE POTEMKIN + + +It has often been said that the greatest Frenchman who ever lived was +in reality an Italian. It might with equal truth be asserted that the +greatest Russian woman who ever lived was in reality a German. But the +Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Catharine II. resemble each other in +something else. Napoleon, though Italian in blood and lineage, made +himself so French in sympathy and understanding as to be able to play +upon the imagination of all France as a great musician plays upon a +splendid instrument, with absolute sureness of touch and an ability +to extract from it every one of its varied harmonies. So the Empress +Catharine of Russia--perhaps the greatest woman who ever ruled a +nation--though born of German parents, became Russian to the core and +made herself the embodiment of Russian feeling and Russian aspiration. + +At the middle of the eighteenth century Russia was governed by the +Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great. In her own time, and for +a long while afterward, her real capacity was obscured by her apparent +indolence, her fondness for display, and her seeming vacillation; but +now a very high place is accorded her in the history of Russian rulers. +She softened the brutality that had reigned supreme in Russia. She +patronized the arts. Her armies twice defeated Frederick the Great and +raided his capital, Berlin. Had Elizabeth lived, she would probably have +crushed him. + +In her early years this imperial woman had been betrothed to Louis XV. +of France, but the match was broken off. Subsequently she entered into +a morganatic marriage and bore a son who, of course, could not be her +heir. In 1742, therefore, she looked about for a suitable successor, and +chose her nephew, Prince Peter of Holstein-Gottorp. + +Peter, then a mere youth of seventeen, was delighted with so splendid a +future, and came at once to St. Petersburg. The empress next sought +for a girl who might marry the young prince and thus become the +future Czarina. She thought first of Frederick the Great's sister; but +Frederick shrank from this alliance, though it would have been of much +advantage to him. He loved his sister--indeed, she was one of the few +persons for whom he ever really cared. So he declined the offer and +suggested instead the young Princess Sophia of the tiny duchy of +Anhalt-Zerbst. + +The reason for Frederick's refusal was his knowledge of the +semi-barbarous conditions that prevailed at the Russian court. + +The Russian capital, at that time, was a bizarre, half-civilized, +half-oriental place, where, among the very highest-born, a thin veneer +of French elegance covered every form of brutality and savagery and +lust. It is not surprising, therefore, that Frederick the Great was +unwilling to have his sister plunged into such a life. + +But when the Empress Elizabeth asked the Princess Sophia of +Anhalt-Zerbst to marry the heir to the Russian throne the young girl +willingly accepted, the more so as her mother practically commanded it. +This mother of hers was a grim, harsh German woman who had reared her +daughter in the strictest fashion, depriving her of all pleasure with a +truly puritanical severity. In the case of a different sort of girl this +training would have crushed her spirit; but the Princess Sophia, +though gentle and refined in manner, had a power of endurance which was +toughened and strengthened by the discipline she underwent. + +And so in 1744, when she was but sixteen years of age, she was taken by +her mother to St. Petersburg. There she renounced the Lutheran faith and +was received into the Greek Church, changing her name to Catharine. Soon +after, with great magnificence, she was married to Prince Peter, and +from that moment began a career which was to make her the most powerful +woman in the world. + +At this time a lady of the Russian court wrote down a description of +Catharine's appearance. She was fair-haired, with dark-blue eyes; and +her face, though never beautiful, was made piquant and striking by the +fact that her brows were very dark in contrast with her golden hair. Her +complexion was not clear, yet her look was a very pleasing one. She had +a certain diffidence of manner at first; but later she bore herself with +such instinctive dignity as to make her seem majestic, though in fact +she was beneath the middle size. At the time of her marriage her figure +was slight and graceful; only in after years did she become stout. +Altogether, she came to St. Petersburg an attractive, pure-minded German +maiden, with a character well disciplined, and possessing reserves of +power which had not yet been drawn upon. + +Frederick the Great's forebodings, which had led him to withhold +his sister's hand, were almost immediately justified in the case of +Catharine. Her Russian husband revealed to her a mode of life which must +have tried her very soul. This youth was only seventeen--a mere boy +in age, and yet a full-grown man in the rank luxuriance of his vices. +Moreover, he had eccentricities which sometimes verged upon insanity. +Too young to be admitted to the councils of his imperial aunt, he +occupied his time in ways that were either ridiculous or vile. + +Next to the sleeping-room of his wife he kept a set of kennels, with +a number of dogs, which he spent hours in drilling as if they had been +soldiers. He had a troop of rats which he also drilled. It was his +delight to summon a court martial of his dogs to try the rats for +various military offenses, and then to have the culprits executed, +leaving their bleeding carcasses upon the floor. At any hour of the day +or night Catharine, hidden in her chamber, could hear the yapping of +the curs, the squeak of rats, and the word of command given by her +half-idiot husband. + +When wearied of this diversion Peter would summon a troop of favorites, +both men and women, and with them he would drink deep of beer and +vodka, since from his early childhood he had been both a drunkard and a +debauchee. The whoops and howls and vile songs of his creatures could +be heard by Catharine; and sometimes he would stagger into her rooms, +accompanied by his drunken minions. With a sort of psychopathic +perversity he would insist on giving Catharine the most minute and +repulsive narratives of his amours, until she shrank from him with +horror at his depravity and came to loathe the sight of his bloated +face, with its little, twinkling, porcine eyes, his upturned nose +and distended nostrils, and his loose-hung, lascivious mouth. She was +scarcely less repelled when a wholly different mood would seize upon him +and he would declare himself her slave, attending her at court functions +in the garb of a servant and professing an unbounded devotion for his +bride. + +Catharine's early training and her womanly nature led her for a long +time to submit to the caprices of her husband. In his saner moments she +would plead with him and strive to interest him in something better +than his dogs and rats and venal mistresses; but Peter was incorrigible. +Though he had moments of sense and even of good feeling, these never +lasted, and after them he would plunge headlong into the most frantic +excesses that his half-crazed imagination could devise. + +It is not strange that in course of time Catharine's strong good sense +showed her that she could do nothing with this creature. She therefore +gradually became estranged from him and set herself to the task of doing +those things which Peter was incapable of carrying out. + +She saw that ever since the first awakening of Russia under Peter the +Great none of its rulers had been genuinely Russian, but had tried to +force upon the Russian people various forms of western civilization +which were alien to the national spirit. Peter the Great had striven +to make his people Dutch. Elizabeth had tried to make them French. +Catharine, with a sure instinct, resolved that they should remain +Russian, borrowing what they needed from other peoples, but stirred +always by the Slavic spirit and swayed by a patriotism that was their +own. To this end she set herself to become Russian. She acquired the +Russian language patiently and accurately. She adopted the Russian +costume, appearing, except on state occasions, in a simple gown of +green, covering her fair hair, however, with a cap powdered with +diamonds. Furthermore, she made friends of such native Russians as were +gifted with talent, winning their favor, and, through them, the favor of +the common people. + +It would have been strange, however, had Catharine, the woman, +escaped the tainting influences that surrounded her on every side. The +infidelities of Peter gradually made her feel that she owed him nothing +as his wife. Among the nobles there were men whose force of character +and of mind attracted her inevitably. Chastity was a thing of which the +average Russian had no conception; and therefore it is not strange that +Catharine, with her intense and sensitive nature, should have turned to +some of these for the love which she had sought in vain from the half +imbecile to whom she had been married. + +Much has been written of this side of her earlier and later life; yet, +though it is impossible to deny that she had favorites, one should judge +very gently the conduct of a girl so young and thrust into a life whence +all the virtues seemed to be excluded. She bore several children before +her thirtieth year, and it is very certain that a grave doubt exists as +to their paternity. Among the nobles of the court were two whose courage +and virility specially attracted her. The one with whom her name has +been most often coupled was Gregory Orloff. He and his brother, Alexis +Orloff, were Russians of the older type--powerful in frame, suave in +manner except when roused, yet with a tigerish ferocity slumbering +underneath. Their power fascinated Catharine, and it was currently +declared that Gregory Orloff was her lover. + +When she was in her thirty-second year her husband was proclaimed Czar, +after the death of the Empress Elizabeth. At first in some ways his +elevation seemed to sober him; but this period of sanity, like those +which had come to him before, lasted only a few weeks. Historians have +given him much credit for two great reforms that are connected with his +name; and yet the manner in which they were actually brought about is +rather ludicrous. He had shut himself up with his favorite revelers, and +had remained for several days drinking and carousing until he scarcely +knew enough to speak. At this moment a young officer named Gudovitch, +who was really loyal to the newly created Czar, burst into the +banquet-hall, booted and spurred and his eyes aflame with indignation. +Standing before Peter, his voice rang out with the tone of a battle +trumpet, so that the sounds of revelry were hushed. + +"Peter Feodorovitch," he cried, "do you prefer these swine to those who +really wish to serve you? Is it in this way that you imitate the glories +of your ancestor, that illustrious Peter whom you have sworn to take +as your model? It will not be long before your people's love will be +changed to hatred. Rise up, my Czar! Shake off this lethargy and sloth. +Prove that you are worthy of the faith which I and others have given you +so loyally!" + +With these words Gudovitch thrust into Peter's trembling hand two +proclamations, one abolishing the secret bureau of police, which had +become an instrument of tyrannous oppression, and the other restoring to +the nobility many rights of which they had been deprived. + +The earnestness and intensity of Gudovitch temporarily cleared the brain +of the drunken Czar. He seized the papers, and, without reading them, +hastened at once to his great council, where he declared that they +expressed his wishes. Great was the rejoicing in St. Petersburg, and +great was the praise bestowed on Peter; yet, in fact, he had acted only +as any drunkard might act under the compulsion of a stronger will than +his. + +As before, his brief period of good sense was succeeded by another of +the wildest folly. It was not merely that he reversed the wise policy of +his aunt, but that he reverted to his early fondness for everything that +was German. His bodyguard was made up of German troops--thus exciting +the jealousy of the Russian soldiers. He introduced German fashions. He +boasted that his father had been an officer in the Prussian army. His +crazy admiration for Frederick the Great reached the utmost verge of +sycophancy. + +As to Catharine, he turned on her with something like ferocity. He +declared in public that his eldest son, the Czarevitch Paul, was +really fathered by Catharine's lovers. At a state banquet he turned +to Catharine and hurled at her a name which no woman could possibly +forgive--and least of all a woman such as Catharine, with her high +spirit and imperial pride. He thrust his mistresses upon her; and +at last he ordered her, with her own hand, to decorate the Countess +Vorontzoff, who was known to be his maitresse en titre. + +It was not these gross insults, however, so much as a concern for her +personal safety that led Catharine to take measures for her own defense. +She was accustomed to Peter's ordinary eccentricities. On the ground +of his unfaithfulness to her she now had hardly any right to make +complaint. But she might reasonably fear lest he was becoming mad. If he +questioned the paternity of their eldest son he might take measures to +imprison Catharine or even to destroy her. Therefore she conferred with +the Orloffs and other gentlemen, and their conference rapidly developed +into a conspiracy. + +The soldiery, as a whole, was loyal to the empress. It hated Peter's +Holstein guards. What she planned was probably the deposition of Peter. +She would have liked to place him under guard in some distant palace. +But while the matter was still under discussion she was awakened early +one morning by Alexis Orloff. He grasped her arm with scant ceremony. + +"We must act at once," said he. "We have been betrayed!" + +Catharine was not a woman to waste time. She went immediately to the +barracks in St. Petersburg, mounted upon a charger, and, calling out +the Russian guards, appealed to them for their support. To a man they +clashed their weapons and roared forth a thunderous cheer. Immediately +afterward the priests anointed her as regent in the name of her son; but +as she left the church she was saluted by the people, as well as by the +soldiers, as empress in her own right. + +It was a bold stroke, and it succeeded down to the last detail. The +wretched Peter, who was drilling his German guards at a distance from +the capital, heard of the revolt, found that his sailors at Kronstadt +would not acknowledge him, and then finally submitted. He was taken to +Ropsha and confined within a single room. To him came the Orloffs, quite +of their own accord. Gregory Orloff endeavored to force a corrosive +poison into Peter's mouth. Peter, who was powerful of build and now +quite desperate, hurled himself upon his enemies. Alexis Orloff seized +him by the throat with a tremendous clutch and strangled him till the +blood gushed from his ears. In a few moments the unfortunate man was +dead. + +Catharine was shocked by the intelligence, but she had no choice save +to accept the result of excessive zeal. She issued a note to the foreign +ambassadors informing them that Peter had died of a violent colic. When +his body was laid out for burial the extravasated blood is said to have +oozed out even through his hands, staining the gloves that had been +placed upon them. No one believed the story of the colic; and some six +years later Alexis Orloff told the truth with the utmost composure. The +whole incident was characteristically Russian. + +It is not within the limits of our space to describe the reign of +Catharine the Great--the exploits of her armies, the acuteness of her +statecraft, the vast additions which she made to the Russian Empire, and +the impulse which she gave to science and art and literature. Yet these +things ought to be remembered first of all when one thinks of the woman +whom Voltaire once styled "the Semiramis of the North." Because she was +so powerful, because no one could gainsay her, she led in private a +life which has been almost more exploited than her great imperial +achievements. And yet, though she had lovers whose names have been +carefully recorded, even she fulfilled the law of womanhood--which is to +love deeply and intensely only once. + +One should not place all her lovers in the same category. As a girl, and +when repelled by the imbecility of Peter, she gave herself to Gregory +Orloff. She admired his strength, his daring, and his unscrupulousness. +But to a woman of her fine intelligence he came to seem almost more +brute than man. She could not turn to him for any of those delicate +attentions which a woman loves so much, nor for that larger sympathy +which wins the heart as well as captivates the senses. A writer of the +time has said that Orloff would hasten with equal readiness from the +arms of Catharine to the embraces of any flat-nosed Finn or filthy +Calmuck or to the lowest creature whom he might encounter in the +streets. + +It happened that at the time of Catharine's appeal to the imperial +guards there came to her notice another man who--as he proved in a +trifling and yet most significant manner--had those traits which Orloff +lacked. Catharine had mounted, man--fashion, a cavalry horse, and, with +a helmet on her head, had reined up her steed before the barracks. At +that moment One of the minor nobles, who was also favorable to her, +observed that her helmet had no plume. In a moment his horse was at her +side. Bowing low over his saddle, he took his own plume from his helmet +and fastened it to hers. This man was Prince Gregory Potemkin, and this +slight act gives a clue to the influence which he afterward exercised +over his imperial mistress! + +When Catharine grew weary of the Orloffs, and when she had enriched them +with lands and treasures, she turned to Potemkin; and from then until +the day of his death he was more to her than any other man had ever +been. With others she might flirt and might go even further than +flirtation; but she allowed no other favorite to share her confidence, +to give advice, or to direct her policies. + +To other men she made munificent gifts, either because they pleased her +for the moment or because they served her on one occasion or another; +but to Potemkin she opened wide the whole treasury of her vast realm. +There was no limit to what she would do for him. When he first knew +her he was a man of very moderate fortune. Within two years after their +intimate acquaintance had begun she had given him nine million rubles, +while afterward he accepted almost limitless estates in Poland and in +every province of Greater Russia. + +He was a man of sumptuous tastes, and yet he cared but little for mere +wealth. What he had, he used to please or gratify or surprise the +woman whom he loved. He built himself a great palace in St. Petersburg, +usually known as the Taurian Palace, and there he gave the most +sumptuous entertainments, reversing the story of Antony and Cleopatra. + +In a superb library there stood one case containing volumes bound with +unusual richness. When the empress, attracted by the bindings, drew +forth a book she found to her surprise that its pages were English +bank-notes. The pages of another proved to be Dutch bank-notes, and, of +another, notes on the Bank of Venice. Of the remaining volumes some were +of solid gold, while others had pages of fine leather in which were set +emeralds and rubies and diamonds and other gems. The story reads like a +bit of fiction from the Arabian Nights. Yet, after all, this was only a +small affair compared with other undertakings with which Potemkin sought +to please her. + +Thus, after Taurida and the Crimea had been added to the empire +by Potemkin's agency, Catharine set out with him to view her new +possessions. A great fleet of magnificently decorated galleys bore her +down the river Dnieper. The country through which she passed had been +a year before an unoccupied waste. Now, by Potemkin's extraordinary +efforts, the empress found it dotted thick with towns and cities which +had been erected for the occasion, filled with a busy population which +swarmed along the riverside to greet the sovereign with applause. It +was only a chain of fantom towns and cities, made of painted wood and +canvas; but while Catharine was there they were very real, seeming +to have solid buildings, magnificent arches, bustling industries, and +beautiful stretches of fertile country. No human being ever wrought on +so great a scale so marvelous a miracle of stage-management. + +Potemkin was, in fact, the one man who could appeal with unfailing +success to so versatile and powerful a spirit as Catharine's. He was +handsome of person, graceful of manner, and with an intellect which +matched her own. He never tried to force her inclination, and, on the +other hand, he never strove to thwart it. To him, as to no other man, +she could turn at any moment and feel that, no matter what her mood, he +could understand her fully. And this, according to Balzac, is the thing +that woman yearns for most--a kindred spirit that can understand without +the slightest need of explanation. + +Thus it was that Gregory Potemkin held a place in the soul of this great +woman such as no one else attained. He might be absent, heading armies +or ruling provinces, and on his return he would be greeted with even +greater fondness than before. And it was this rather than his victories +over Turk and other oriental enemies that made Catharine trust him +absolutely. + +When he died, he died as the supreme master of her foreign policy and at +a time when her word was powerful throughout all Europe. Death came upon +him after he had fought against it with singular tenacity of purpose. +Catharine had given him a magnificent triumph, and he had entertained +her in his Taurian Palace with a splendor such as even Russia had never +known before. Then he fell ill, though with high spirit he would not +yield to illness. He ate rich meats and drank rich wines and bore +himself as gallantly as ever. Yet all at once death came upon him while +he was traveling in the south of Russia. His carriage was stopped, a +rug was spread beneath a tree by the roadside, and there he died, in the +country which he had added to the realms of Russia. + +The great empress who loved him mourned him deeply during the five years +of life that still remained to her. The names of other men for whom she +had imagined that she cared were nothing to her. But this one man lived +in her heart in death as he had done in life. + +Many have written of Catharine as a great ruler, a wise diplomat, a +creature of heroic mold. Others have depicted her as a royal wanton and +have gathered together a mass of vicious tales, the gossip of the palace +kitchens, of the clubs, and of the barrack-rooms. But perhaps one finds +the chief interest of her story to lie in this--that besides being +empress and diplomat and a lover of pleasure she was, beyond all else, +at heart a woman. + + + + + +MARIE ANTOINETTE AND COUNT FERSEN + + +The English-speaking world long ago accepted a conventional view of +Marie Antoinette. The eloquence of Edmund Burke in one brilliant passage +has fixed, probably for all time, an enduring picture of this unhappy +queen. + +When we speak or think of her we speak and think first of all of a +dazzling and beautiful woman surrounded by the chivalry of France and +gleaming like a star in the most splendid court of Europe. And then +there comes to us the reverse of the picture. We see her despised, +insulted, and made the butt of brutal men and still more fiendish women; +until at last the hideous tumbrel conveys her to the guillotine, where +her head is severed from her body and her corpse is cast down into a +bloody pool. + +In these two pictures our emotions are played upon in turn--admiration, +reverence, devotion, and then pity, indignation, and the shudderings of +horror. + +Probably in our own country and in England this will remain the historic +Marie Antoinette. Whatever the impartial historian may write, he can +never induce the people at large to understand that this queen was far +from queenly, that the popular idea of her is almost wholly false, and +that both in her domestic life and as the greatest lady in France she +did much to bring on the terrors of that revolution which swept her to +the guillotine. + +In the first place, it is mere fiction that represents Maria Antoinette +as having been physically beautiful. The painters and engravers have so +idealized her face as in most cases to have produced a purely imaginary +portrait. + +She was born in Vienna, in 1755, the daughter of the Emperor Francis +and of that warrior-queen, Maria Theresa. She was a very German-looking +child. Lady Jackson describes her as having a long, thin face, small, +pig-like eyes, a pinched-up mouth, with the heavy Hapsburg lip, and +with a somewhat misshapen form, so that for years she had to be bandaged +tightly to give her a more natural figure. + +At fourteen, when she was betrothed to the heir to the French throne, +she was a dumpy, mean-looking little creature, with no distinction +whatever, and with only her bright golden hair to make amends for her +many blemishes. At fifteen she was married and joined the Dauphin in +French territory. + +We must recall for a moment the conditions which prevailed in France. +King Louis XV. was nearing his end. He was a man of the most shameless +life; yet he had concealed or gilded his infamies by an external dignity +and magnificence which, were very pleasing to his people. The French, +liked to think that their king was the most splendid monarch and the +greatest gentleman in Europe. The courtiers about him might be vile +beneath the surface, yet they were compelled to deport themselves with +the form and the etiquette that had become traditional in France. They +might be panders, or stock-jobbers, or sellers of political offices; +yet they must none the less have wit and grace and outward nobility of +manner. + +There was also a tradition regarding the French queen. However loose +in character the other women of the court might be, she alone, like +Caesar's wife, must remain above suspicion. She must be purer than the +pure. No breath, of scandal must reach her or be directed against her. + +In this way the French court, even under so dissolute a monarch as Louis +XV., maintained its hold upon the loyalty of the people. Crowds came +every morning to view the king in his bed before he arose; the same +crowds watched him as he was dressed by the gentlemen of the bedchamber, +and as he breakfasted and went through all the functions which are +usually private. The King of France must be a great actor. He must +appear to his people as in reality a king-stately, dignified, and beyond +all other human beings in his remarkable presence. + +When the Dauphin and Marie Antoinette came to the French court King +Louis XV. kept up in the case the same semblance of austerity. He +forbade these children to have their sleeping-apartments together. He +tried to teach them that if they were to govern as well as to reign they +must conform to the rigid etiquette of Paris and Versailles. + +It proved a difficult task, however. The little German princess had no +natural dignity, though she came from a court where the very strictest +imperial discipline prevailed. Marie Antoinette found that she could +have her own way in many things, and she chose to enjoy life without +regard to ceremony. Her escapades at first would have been thought mild +enough had she not been a "daughter of France"; but they served to shock +the old French king, and likewise, perhaps even more, her own imperial +mother, Maria Theresa. + +When a report of the young girl's conduct was brought to her the empress +was at first mute with indignation. Then she cried out: + +"Can this girl be a child of mine? She surely must be a changeling!" + +The Austrian ambassador to France was instructed to warn the Dauphiness +to be more discreet. + +"Tell her," said Maria Theresa, "that she will lose her throne, and even +her life, unless she shows more prudence." + +But advice and remonstrance were of no avail. Perhaps they might have +been had her husband possessed a stronger character; but the young Louis +was little more fitted to be a king than was his wife to be a queen. +Dull of perception and indifferent to affairs of state, he had only two +interests that absorbed him. One was the love of hunting, and the other +was his desire to shut himself up in a sort of blacksmith shop, where he +could hammer away at the anvil, blow the bellows, and manufacture small +trifles of mechanical inventions. From this smudgy den he would emerge, +sooty and greasy, an object of distaste to his frivolous princess, with +her foamy laces and perfumes and pervasive daintiness. + +It was hinted in many quarters, and it has been many times repeated, +that Louis was lacking in virility. Certainly he had no interest in the +society of women and was wholly continent. But this charge of physical +incapacity seems to have had no real foundation. It had been made +against some of his predecessors. It was afterward hurled at Napoleon +the Great, and also Napoleon the Little. In France, unless a royal +personage was openly licentious, he was almost sure to be jeered at by +the people as a weakling. + +And so poor Louis XVI., as he came to be, was treated with a mixture +of pity and contempt because he loved to hammer and mend locks in his +smithy or shoot game when he might have been caressing ladies who would +have been proud to have him choose them out. + +On the other hand, because of this opinion regarding Louis, people +were the more suspicious of Marie Antoinette. Some of them, in coarse +language, criticized her assumed infidelities; others, with a polite +sneer, affected to defend her. But the result of it all was dangerous to +both, especially as France was already verging toward the deluge which +Louis XV. had cynically predicted would follow after him. + +In fact, the end came sooner than any one had guessed. Louis XV., who +had become hopelessly and helplessly infatuated with the low-born Jeanne +du Barry, was stricken down with smallpox of the most virulent type. For +many days he lay in his gorgeous bed. Courtiers crowded his sick-room +and the adjacent hall, longing for the moment when the breath would +leave his body. He had lived an evil life, and he was to die a loathsome +death; yet he had borne himself before men as a stately monarch. Though +his people had suffered in a thousand ways from his misgovernment, he +was still Louis the Well Beloved, and they blamed his ministers of state +for all the shocking wrongs that France had felt. + +The abler men, and some of the leaders of the people, however, looked +forward to the accession of Louis XVI. He at least was frugal in his +habits and almost plebeian in his tastes, and seemed to be one who would +reduce the enormous taxes that had been levied upon France. + +The moment came when the Well Beloved died. His death-room was fetid +with disease, and even the long corridors of the palace reeked with +infection, while the motley mob of men and women, clad in silks and +satins and glittering with jewels, hurried from the spot to pay their +homage to the new Louis, who was spoken of as "the Desired." The body of +the late monarch was hastily thrown into a mass of quick-lime, and was +driven away in a humble wagon, without guards and with no salute, +save from a single veteran, who remembered the glories of Fontenoy and +discharged his musket as the royal corpse was carried through the palace +gates. + +This was a critical moment in the history of France; but we have +to consider it only as a critical moment in the history of Marie +Antoinette. She was now queen. She had it in her power to restore to +the French court its old-time grandeur, and, so far as the queen was +concerned, its purity. Above all, being a foreigner, she should have +kept herself free from reproach and above every shadow of suspicion. + +But here again the indifference of the king undoubtedly played a strange +part in her life. Had he borne himself as her lord and master she might +have respected him. Had he shown her the affection of a husband she +might have loved him. But he was neither imposing, nor, on the other +hand, was he alluring. She wrote very frankly about him in a letter to +the Count Orsini: + +My tastes are not the same as those of the king, who cares only for +hunting and blacksmith work. You will admit that I should not show to +advantage in a forge. I could not appear there as Vulcan, and the part +of Venus might displease him even more than my tastes. + +Thus on the one side is a woman in the first bloom of youth, ardent, +eager--and neglected. On the other side is her husband, whose +sluggishness may be judged by quoting from a diary which he kept during +the month in which he was married. Here is a part of it: + +Sunday, 13--Left Versailles. Supper and slept at Compignee, at the house +of M. de Saint-Florentin. + +Monday, 14--Interview with Mme. la Dauphine. + +Tuesday, 15--Supped at La Muette. Slept at Versailles. + +Wednesday, 16--My marriage. Apartment in the gallery. Royal banquet in +the Salle d'Opera. + +Thursday, 17--Opera of "Perseus." + +Friday, 18--Stag-hunt. Met at La Belle Image. Took one. + +Saturday, 19--Dress-ball in the Salle d'Opera. Fireworks. + +Thursday, 31--I had an indigestion. + +What might have been expected from a young girl placed as this queen was +placed? She was indeed an earlier Eugenie. The first was of royal +blood, the second was almost a plebeian; but each was headstrong, +pleasure-loving, and with no real domestic ties. As Mr. Kipling +expresses it-- + + The colonel's lady and Judy O'Grady + Are sisters under their skins; + +and so the Austrian woman of 1776 and the Spanish woman of 1856 found +amusement in very similar ways. They plunged into a sea of strange +frivolity, such as one finds to-day at the centers of high fashion. +Marie Antoinette bedecked herself with eccentric garments. On her head +she wore a hat styled a "what-is-it," towering many feet in height and +flaunting parti-colored plumes. Worse than all this, she refused to wear +corsets, and at some great functions she would appear in what looked +exactly like a bedroom gown. + +She would even neglect the ordinary niceties of life. Her hands were not +well cared for. It was very difficult for the ladies in attendance +to persuade her to brush her teeth with regularity. Again, she would +persist in wearing her frilled and lace-trimmed petticoats long after +their dainty edges had been smirched and blackened. + +Yet these things might have been counteracted had she gone no further. +Unfortunately, she did go further. She loved to dress at night like +a shop-girl and venture out into the world of Paris, where she was +frequently followed and recognized. Think of it--the Queen of France, +elbowed in dense crowds and seeking to attract the attention of common +soldiers! + +Of course, almost every one put the worst construction upon this, +and after a time upon everything she did. When she took a fancy for +constructing labyrinths and secret passages in the palace, all Paris +vowed that she was planning means by which her various lovers might +enter without observation. The hidden printing-presses of Paris swarmed +with gross lampoons about this reckless girl; and, although there +was little truth in what they said, there was enough to cloud her +reputation. When she fell ill with the measles she was attended in her +sick-chamber by four gentlemen of the court. The king was forbidden to +enter lest he might catch the childish disorder. + +The apathy of the king, indeed, drove her into many a folly. After four +years of marriage, as Mrs. Mayne records, he had only reached the point +of giving her a chilly kiss. The fact that she had no children became +a serious matter. Her brother, the Emperor Joseph of Austria, when he +visited Paris, ventured to speak to the king upon the subject. Even +the Austrian ambassador had thrown out hints that the house of Bourbon +needed direct heirs. Louis grunted and said little, but he must have +known how good was the advice. + +It was at about this time when there came to the French court a young +Swede named Axel de Fersen, who bore the title of count, but who was +received less for his rank than for his winning manner, his knightly +bearing, and his handsome, sympathetic face. Romantic in spirit, he +threw himself at once into a silent inner worship of Marie Antoinette, +who had for him a singular attraction. Wherever he could meet her they +met. To her growing cynicism this breath of pure yet ardent affection +was very grateful. It came as something fresh and sweet into the +feverish life she led. + +Other men had had the audacity to woo her--among them Duc de Lauzun, +whose complicity in the famous affair of the diamond necklace afterward +cast her, though innocent, into ruin; the Duc de Biron; and the Baron +de Besenval, who had obtained much influence over her, which he used for +the most evil purposes. Besenval tainted her mind by persuading her to +read indecent books, in the hope that at last she would become his prey. + +But none of these men ever meant to Marie Antoinette what Fersen meant. +Though less than twenty years of age, he maintained the reserve of a +great gentleman, and never forced himself upon her notice. Yet their +first acquaintance had occurred in such a way as to give to it a touch +of intimacy. He had gone to a masked ball, and there had chosen for his +partner a lady whose face was quite concealed. Something drew the two +together. The gaiety of the woman and the chivalry of the man blended +most harmoniously. It was only afterward that he discovered that his +chance partner was the first lady in France. She kept his memory in her +mind; for some time later, when he was at a royal drawing-room and she +heard his voice, she exclaimed: + +"Ah, an old acquaintance!" + +From this time Fersen was among those who were most intimately favored +by the queen. He had the privilege of attending her private receptions +at the palace of the Trianon, and was a conspicuous figure at the feasts +given in the queen's honor by the Princess de Lamballe, a beautiful girl +whose head was destined afterward to be severed from her body and borne +upon a bloody pike through the streets of Paris. But as yet the deluge +had not arrived and the great and noble still danced upon the brink of a +volcano. + +Fersen grew more and more infatuated, nor could he quite conceal his +feelings. The queen, in her turn, was neither frightened nor indignant. +His passion, so profound and yet so respectful, deeply moved her. Then +came a time when the truth was made clear to both of them. Fersen was +near her while she was singing to the harpsichord, and "she was betrayed +by her own music into an avowal which song made easy." She forgot that +she was Queen of France. She only felt that her womanhood had been +starved and slighted, and that here was a noble-minded lover of whom she +could be proud. + +Some time after this announcement was officially made of the approaching +accouchement of the queen. It was impossible that malicious tongues +should be silent. The king's brother, the Comte de Provence, who hated +the queen, just as the Bonapartes afterward hated Josephine, did his +best to besmirch her reputation. He had, indeed, the extraordinary +insolence to do so at a time when one would suppose that the vilest +of men would remain silent. The child proved to be a princess, and she +afterward received the title of Duchesse d'Angouleme. The King of Spain +asked to be her godfather at the christening, which was to be held in +the cathedral of Notre Dame. The Spanish king was not present in person, +but asked the Comte de Provence to act as his proxy. + +On the appointed day the royal party proceeded to the cathedral, and the +Comte de Provence presented the little child at the baptismal font. The +grand almoner, who presided, asked; + +"What name shall be given to this child?" + +The Comte de Provence answered in a sneering tone: + +"Oh, we don't begin with that. The first thing to find out is who the +father and the mother are!" + +These words, spoken at such a place and such a time, and with a strongly +sardonic ring, set all Paris gossiping. It was a thinly veiled innuendo +that the father of the child was not the King of France. Those about the +court immediately began to look at Fersen with significant smiles. The +queen would gladly have kept him near her; but Fersen cared even more +for her good name than for his love of her. It would have been so +easy to remain in the full enjoyment of his conquest; but he was too +chivalrous for that, or, rather, he knew that the various ambassadors +in Paris had told their respective governments of the rising scandal. +In fact, the following secret despatch was sent to the King of Sweden by +his envoy: + +I must confide to your majesty that the young Count Fersen has been so +well received by the queen that various persons have taken it amiss. I +own that I am sure that she has a liking for him. I have seen proofs of +it too certain to be doubted. During the last few days the queen has not +taken her eyes off him, and as she gazed they were full of tears. I beg +your majesty to keep their secret to yourself. + +The queen wept because Fersen had resolved to leave her lest she should +be exposed to further gossip. If he left her without any apparent +reason, the gossip would only be the more intense. Therefore he decided +to join the French troops who were going to America to fight under +Lafayette. A brilliant but dissolute duchess taunted him when the news +became known. + +"How is this?" said she. "Do you forsake your conquest?" + +But, "lying like a gentleman," Fersen answered, quietly: + +"Had I made a conquest I should not forsake it. I go away free, and, +unfortunately, without leaving any regret." + +Nothing could have been more chivalrous than the pains which Fersen took +to shield the reputation of the queen. He even allowed it to be supposed +that he was planning a marriage with a rich young Swedish woman who +had been naturalized in England. As a matter of fact, he departed for +America, and not very long afterward the young woman in question married +an Englishman. + +Fersen served in America for a time, returning, however, at the end of +three years. He was one of the original Cincinnati, being admitted +to the order by Washington himself. When he returned to France he was +received with high honors and was made colonel of the royal Swedish +regiment. + +The dangers threatening Louis and his court, which were now gigantic and +appalling, forbade him to forsake the queen. By her side he did what +he could to check the revolution; and, failing this, he helped her to +maintain an imperial dignity of manner which she might otherwise have +lacked. He faced the bellowing mob which surrounded the Tuileries. +Lafayette tried to make the National Guard obey his orders, but he was +jeered at for his pains. Violent epithets were hurled at the king. The +least insulting name which they could give him was "a fat pig." As for +the queen, the most filthy phrases were showered upon her by the men, +and even more so by the women, who swarmed out of the slums and sought +her life. + +At last, in 1791, it was decided that the king and the queen and their +children, of whom they now had three, should endeavor to escape from +Paris. Fersen planned their flight, but it proved to be a failure. Every +one remembers how they were discovered and halted at Varennes. The royal +party was escorted back to Paris by the mob, which chanted with insolent +additions: + +"We've brought back the baker, the baker's wife, and the baker's boy! +Now we shall have bread!" + +Against the savage fury which soon animated the French a foreigner like +Fersen could do very little; but he seems to have endeavored, night and +day, to serve the woman whom he loved. His efforts have been described +by Grandat; but they were of no avail. The king and queen were +practically made prisoners. Their eldest son died. They went through +horrors that were stimulated by the wretch Hebert, at the head of his +so-called Madmen (Enrages). The king was executed in January, 1792. The +queen dragged out a brief existence in a prison where she was for ever +under the eyes of human brutes, who guarded her and watched her and +jeered at her at times when even men would be sensitive. Then, at last, +she mounted the scaffold, and her head, with its shining hair, fell into +the bloody basket. + +Marie Antoinette shows many contradictions in her character. As a young +girl she was petulant and silly and almost unseemly in her actions. As +a queen, with waning power, she took on a dignity which recalled the +dignity of her imperial mother. At first a flirt, she fell deeply in +love when she met a man who was worthy of that love. She lived for most +part like a mere cocotte. She died every inch a queen. + +One finds a curious resemblance between the fate of Marie Antoinette and +that of her gallant lover, who outlived her for nearly twenty years. She +died amid the shrieks and execrations of a maddened populace in Paris; +he was practically torn in pieces by a mob in the streets of Stockholm. +The day of his death was the anniversary of the flight to Varennes. To +the last moment of his existence he remained faithful to the memory of +the royal woman who had given herself so utterly to him. + + + + + +THE STORY OF AARON BURR + + +There will come a time when the name of Aaron Burr will be cleared from +the prejudice which now surrounds it, when he will stand in the public +estimation side by side with Alexander Hamilton, whom he shot in a duel +in 1804, but whom in many respects he curiously resembled. When the +white light of history shall have searched them both they will appear as +two remarkable men, each having his own undoubted faults and at the same +time his equally undoubted virtues. + +Burr and Hamilton were born within a year of each other--Burr being +a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, and Alexander Hamilton being the +illegitimate son of a Scottish merchant in the West Indies. Each of them +was short in stature, keen of intellect, of great physical endurance, +courage, and impressive personality. Each as a young man served on +the staff of Washington during the Revolutionary War, and each of them +quarreled with him, though in a different way. + +On one occasion Burr was quite unjustly suspected by Washington of +looking over the latter's shoulder while he was writing. "Washington +leaped to his feet with the exclamation: + +"How dare you, Colonel Burr?" + +Burr's eyes flashed fire at the question, and he retorted, haughtily: + +"Colonel Burr DARE do anything." + +This, however, was the end of their altercation The cause of Hamilton's +difference with his chief is not known, but it was a much more serious +quarrel; so that the young officer left his staff position in a fury and +took no part in the war until the end, when he was present at the battle +of Yorktown. + +Burr, on the other hand, helped Montgomery to storm the heights of +Quebec, and nearly reached the upper citadel when his commander was +shot dead and the Americans retreated. In all this confusion Burr showed +himself a man of mettle. The slain Montgomery was six feet high, but +Burr carried his body away with wonderful strength amid a shower of +musket-balls and grape-shot. + +Hamilton had no belief in the American Constitution, which he called "a +shattered, feeble thing." He could never obtain an elective office, +and he would have preferred to see the United States transformed into +a kingdom. Washington's magnanimity and clear-sightedness made Hamilton +Secretary of the Treasury. Burr, on the other hand, continued his +military service until the war was ended, routing the enemy at +Hackensack, enduring the horrors of Valley Forge, commanding a brigade +at the battle of Monmouth, and heading the defense of the city of New +Haven. He was also attorney-general of New York, was elected to the +United States Senate, was tied with Jefferson for the Presidency, and +then became Vice-President. + +Both Hamilton and Burr were effective speakers; but, while Hamilton was +wordy and diffuse, Burr spoke always to the point, with clear and cogent +reasoning. Both were lavish spenders of money, and both were engaged +in duels before the fatal one in which Hamilton fell. Both believed in +dueling as the only way of settling an affair of honor. Neither of them +was averse to love affairs, though it may be said that Hamilton sought +women, while Burr was rather sought by women. When Secretary of the +Treasury, Hamilton was obliged to confess an adulterous amour in order +to save himself from the charge of corrupt practices in public office. +So long as Burr's wife lived he was a devoted, faithful husband to +her. Hamilton was obliged to confess his illicit acts while his wife, +formerly Miss Elizabeth Schuyler, was living. She spent her later years +in buying and destroying the compromising documents which her husband +had published for his countrymen to read. + +The most extraordinary thing about Aaron Burr was the magnetic quality +that was felt by every one who approached him. The roots of this +penetrated down into a deep vitality. He was always young, always alert, +polished in manner, courageous with that sort of courage which does not +even recognize the presence of danger, charming in conversation, and +able to adapt it to men or women of any age whatever. His hair was still +dark in his eightieth year. His step was still elastic, his motions were +still as spontaneous and energetic, as those of a youth. + +So it was that every one who knew him experienced his fascination. The +rough troops whom he led through the Canadian swamps felt the iron hand +of his discipline; yet they were devoted to him, since he shared all +their toils, faced all their dangers, and ate with them the scraps of +hide which they gnawed to keep the breath of life in their shrunken +bodies. + +Burr's discipline was indeed very strict, so that at first raw recruits +rebelled against it. On one occasion the men of an untrained company +resented it so bitterly that they decided to shoot Colonel Burr as he +paraded them for roll-call that evening. Burr somehow got word of it and +contrived to have all the cartridges drawn from their muskets. When the +time for the roll-call came one of the malcontents leaped from the front +line and leveled his weapon at Burr. + +"Now is the time, boys!" he shouted. + +Like lightning Burr's sword flashed from its scabbard with such a +vigorous stroke as to cut the man's arm completely off and partly to +cleave the musket. + +"Take your place in the ranks," said Burr. + +The mutineer obeyed, dripping with blood. A month later every man +in that company was devoted to his commander. They had learned that +discipline was the surest source of safety. + +But with this high spirit and readiness to fight Burr had a most +pleasing way of meeting every one who came to him. When he was arrested +in the Western forests, charged with high treason, the sound of his +voice won from jury after jury verdicts of acquittal. Often the sheriffs +would not arrest him. One grand jury not merely exonerated him from all +public misdemeanors, but brought in a strong presentment against the +officers of the government for molesting him. + +It was the same everywhere. Burr made friends and devoted allies among +all sorts of men. During his stay in France, England, Germany, and +Sweden he interested such men as Charles Lamb, Jeremy Bentham, Sir +Walter Scott, Goethe, and Heeren. They found his mind able to meet +with theirs on equal terms. Burr, indeed, had graduated as a youth +with honors from Princeton, and had continued his studies there after +graduation, which was then a most unusual thing to do. But, of course, +he learned most from his contact with men and women of the world. + +Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, in The Minister's Wooing, has given what is +probably an exact likeness of Aaron Burr, with his brilliant gifts and +some of his defects. It is strong testimony to the character of Burr +that Mrs. Stowe set out to paint him as a villain; but before she had +written long she felt his fascination and made her readers, in their +own despite, admirers of this remarkable man. There are many parallels, +indeed, between him and Napoleon--in the quickness of his intellect, the +ready use of his resources, and his power over men, while he was more +than Napoleon in his delightful gift of conversation and the easy play +of his cultured mind. + +Those who are full of charm are willing also to be charmed. All his life +Burr was abstemious in food and drink. His tastes were most refined. It +is difficult to believe that such a man could have been an unmitigated +profligate. + +In his twentieth year there seems to have begun the first of the +romances that run through the story of his long career. Perhaps one +ought not to call it the first romance, for at eighteen, while he was +studying law at Litchfield, a girl, whose name has been suppressed, made +an open avowal of love for him. Almost at the same time an heiress with +a large fortune would have married him had he been willing to accept her +hand. But at this period he was only a boy and did not take such things +seriously. + +Two years later, after Burr had seen hard service at Quebec and on +Manhattan Island, his name was associated with that of a very beautiful +girl named Margaret Moncrieffe. She was the daughter of a British major, +but in some way she had been captured while within the American lines. +Her captivity was regarded as little more than a joke; but while she was +thus a prisoner she saw a great deal of Burr. For several months they +were comrades, after which General Putnam sent her with his compliments +to her father. + +Margaret Moncrieffe had a most emotional nature. There can be no doubt +that she deeply loved the handsome young American officer, whom she +never saw again. It is doubtful how far their intimacy was carried. +Later she married a Mr. Coghlan. After reaching middle life she wrote +of Burr in a way which shows that neither years nor the obligations of +marriage could make her forget that young soldier, whom she speaks of +as "the conqueror of her soul." In the rather florid style of those days +the once youthful Margaret Moncrieffe expresses herself as follows: + +Oh, may these pages one day meet the eye of him who subdued my virgin +heart, whom the immutable, unerring laws of nature had pointed out for +my husband, but whose sacred decree the barbarous customs of society +fatally violated! + +Commenting on this paragraph, Mr. H. C. Merwin justly remarks that, +whatever may have been Burr's conduct toward Margaret Moncrieffe, the +lady herself, who was the person chiefly concerned, had no complaint +to make of it. It certainly was no very serious affair, since in the +following year Burr met a lady who, while she lived, was the only woman +for whom he ever really cared. + +This was Theodosia Prevost, the wife of a major in the British army. +Burr met her first in 1777, while she was living with her sister in +Westchester County. Burr's command was fifteen miles across the river, +but distance and danger made no difference to him. He used to mount a +swift horse, inspect his sentinels and outposts, and then gallop to the +Hudson, where a barge rowed by six soldiers awaited him. The barge was +well supplied with buffalo-skins, upon which the horse was thrown with +his legs bound, and then half an hour's rowing brought them to the +other side. There Burr resumed his horse, galloped to the house of Mrs. +Prevost, and, after spending a few hours with her, returned in the same +way. + +Mrs. Prevost was by no means beautiful, but she had an attractiveness +of her own. She was well educated and possessed charming manners, with +a disposition both gentle and affectionate. Her husband died soon after +the beginning of the war, and then Burr married her. No more ideal +family life could be conceived than his, and the letters which passed +between the two are full of adoration. Thus she wrote to him: + +Tell me, why do I grow every day more tenacious of your regard? Is it +because each revolving day proves you more deserving? + +And thus Burr answered her: + +Continue to multiply your letters to me. They are all my solace. The +last six are constantly within my reach. I read them once a day at +least. Write me all that I have asked, and a hundred things which I have +not. + +When it is remembered that these letters were written after nine years +of marriage it is hard to believe all the evil things that have been +said of Burr. + +His wife died in 1794, and he then gave a double affection to his +daughter Theodosia, whose beauty and accomplishments were known +throughout the country. Burr took the greatest pains in her education, +and believed that she should be trained, as he had been, to be brave, +industrious, and patient. He himself, who has been described as a +voluptuary, delighted in the endurance of cold and heat and of severe +labor. + +After his death one of his younger admirers was asked what Burr had done +for him. The reply was characteristic. + +"He made me iron," was the answer. + +No father ever gave more attention to his daughter's welfare. As to +Theodosia's studies he was very strict, making her read Greek and Latin +every day, with drawing and music and history, in addition to French. +Not long before her marriage to Joseph Allston, of South Carolina, Burr +wrote to her: + +I really think, my dear Theo, that you will be very soon beyond all +verbal criticism, and that my whole attention will be presently directed +to the improvement of your style. + +Theodosia Burr married into a family of good old English stock, where +riches were abundant, and high character was regarded as the best of +all possessions. Every one has heard of the mysterious tragedy which is +associated with her history. In 1812, when her husband had been elected +Governor of his state, her only child--a sturdy boy of eleven--died, and +Theodosia's health was shattered by her sorrow. In the same year Burr +returned from a sojourn in Europe, and his loving daughter embarked from +Charleston on a schooner, the Patriot, to meet her father in New +York. When Burr arrived he was met by a letter which told him that his +grandson was dead and that Theodosia was coming to him. + +Weeks sped by, and no news was heard of the ill-fated Patriot. At last +it became evident that she must have gone down or in some other way have +been lost. Burr and Governor Allston wrote to each other letter after +letter, of which each one seems to surpass the agony of the other. At +last all hope was given up. Governor Allston died soon after of a broken +heart; but Burr, as became a Stoic, acted otherwise. + +He concealed everything that reminded him of Theodosia. He never spoke +of his lost daughter. His grief was too deep-seated and too terrible for +speech. Only once did he ever allude to her, and this was in a letter +written to an afflicted friend, which contained the words: + +Ever since the event which separated me from mankind I have been able +neither to give nor to receive consolation. + +In time the crew of a pirate vessel was captured and sentenced to be +hanged. One of the men, who seemed to be less brutal than the rest, +told how, in 1812, they had captured a schooner, and, after their usual +practice, had compelled the passengers to walk the plank. All hesitated +and showed cowardice, except only one--a beautiful woman whose eyes were +as bright and whose bearing was as unconcerned as if she were safe on +shore. She quickly led the way, and, mounting the plank with a certain +scorn of death, said to the others: + +"Come, I will show you how to die." + +It has always been supposed that this intrepid girl may have been +Theodosia Allston. If so, she only acted as her father would have done +and in strict accordance with his teachings. + +This resolute courage, this stern joy in danger, this perfect +equanimity, made Burr especially attractive to women, who love courage, +the more so when it is coupled with gentleness and generosity. + +Perhaps no man in our country has been so vehemently accused regarding +his relations with the other sex. The most improbable stories were told +about him, even by his friends. As to his enemies, they took boundless +pains to paint him in the blackest colors. According to them, no woman +was safe from his intrigues. He was a perfect devil in leading them +astray and then casting them aside. + +Thus one Matthew L. Davis, in whom Burr had confided as a friend, wrote +of him long afterward a most unjust account--unjust because we have +proofs that it was false in the intensity of its abuse. Davis wrote: + +It is truly surprising how any individual could become so eminent as a +soldier, as a statesman, and as a professional man who devoted so much +time to the other sex as was devoted by Colonel Burr. For more than +half a century of his life they seemed to absorb his whole thought. +His intrigues were without number; the sacred bonds of friendship were +unhesitatingly violated when they operated as barriers to the indulgence +of his passions. In this particular Burr appears to have been unfeeling +and heartless. + +It is impossible to believe that the Spartan Burr, whose life was one of +incessant labor and whose kindliness toward every one was so well known, +should have deserved a commentary like this. The charge of immorality +is so easily made and so difficult of disproof that it has been flung +promiscuously at all the great men of history, including, in our own +country, Washington and Jefferson as well as Burr. In England, when +Gladstone was more than seventy years of age, he once stopped to ask a +question of a woman in the street. Within twenty-four hours the London +clubs were humming with a sort of demoniac glee over the story that +this aged and austere old gentleman was not above seeking common street +amours. + +And so with Aaron Burr to a great extent. That he was a man of strict +morality it would be absurd to maintain. That he was a reckless and +licentious profligate would be almost equally untrue. Mr. H. O. Merwin +has very truly said: + +Part of Burr's reputation for profligacy was due, no doubt, to that +vanity respecting women of which Davis himself speaks. He never refused +to accept the parentage of a child. + +"Why do you allow this woman to saddle you with her child when you KNOW +you are not the father of it?" said a friend to him a few months before +his death. + +"Sir," he replied, "when a lady does me the honor to name me the father +of her child I trust I shall always be too gallant to show myself +ungrateful for the favor." + +There are two curious legends relating to Aaron Burr. They serve to show +that his reputation became such that he could not enjoy the society of a +woman without having her regarded as his mistress. + +When he was United States Senator from New York he lived in Philadelphia +at the lodging-house of a Mrs. Payne, whose daughter, Dorothy Todd, was +the very youthful widow of an officer. This young woman was rather +free in her manners, and Burr was very responsive in his. At the time, +however, nothing was thought of it; but presently Burr brought to the +house the serious and somewhat pedantic James Madison and introduced him +to the hoyden. + +Madison was then forty-seven years of age, a stranger to society, but +gradually rising to a prominent position in politics--"the great little +Madison," as Burr rather lightly called him. Before very long he had +proposed marriage to the young widow. She hesitated, and some one +referred the matter to President Washington. The Father of his Country +answered in what was perhaps the only opinion that he ever gave on the +subject of matrimony. It is worth preserving because it shows that he +had a sense of humor: + +For my own part, I never did nor do I believe I ever shall give advice +to a woman who is setting out on a matrimonial voyage... A woman very +rarely asks an opinion or seeks advice on such an occasion till her +mind is wholly made up, and then it is with the hope and expectation +of obtaining a sanction, and not that she means to be governed by your +disapproval. + +Afterward when Dolly Madison with, her yellow turban and kittenish ways +was making a sensation in Washington society some one recalled her old +association with Burr. At once the story sprang to light that Burr had +been her lover and that he had brought about the match with Madison as +an easy way of getting rid of her. + +There is another curious story which makes Martin Van Buren, eighth +President of the United States, to have been the illegitimate son of +Aaron Burr. There is no earthly reason for believing this, except that +Burr sometimes stopped overnight at the tavern in Kinderhook which was +kept by Van Buren's putative father, and that Van Buren in later life +showed an astuteness equal to that of Aaron Burr himself, so that he was +called by his opponents "the fox of Kinderhook." But, as Van Buren was +born in December of the same year (1782) in which Burr was married to +Theodosia Prevost, the story is utterly improbable when we remember, +as we must, the ardent affection which Burr showed his wife, not only +before their marriage, but afterward until her death. + +Putting aside these purely spurious instances, as well as others cited +by Mr. Parton, the fact remains that Aaron Burr, like Daniel Webster, +found a great attraction in the society of women; that he could please +them and fascinate them to an extraordinary degree; and that during +his later life he must be held quite culpable in this respect. His +love-making was ardent and rapid, as we shall afterward see in the case +of his second marriage. + +Many other stories are told of him. For instance, it is said that he +once took a stage-coach from Jersey City to Philadelphia. The only other +occupant was a woman of high standing and one whose family deeply hated +Aaron Burr. Nevertheless, so the story goes, before they had reached +Newark she was absolutely swayed by his charm of manner; and when the +coach made its last stop before Philadelphia she voluntarily became his +mistress. + +It must also be said that, unlike those of Webster and Hamilton, his +intrigues were never carried on with women of the lower sort. This may +be held by some to deepen the charge against him; but more truly does it +exonerate him, since it really means that in many cases these women +of the world threw themselves at him and sought him as a lover, when +otherwise he might never have thought of them. + +That he was not heartless and indifferent to those who had loved him +may be shown by the great care which he took to protect their names and +reputations. Thus, on the day before his duel with Hamilton, he made a +will in which he constituted his son-in-law as his executor. At the same +time he wrote a sealed letter to Governor Allston in which he said: + +If you can pardon and indulge a folly, I would suggest that Mme. ----, +too well known under the name of Leonora, has claims on my recollection. +She is now with her husband at Santiago, in Cuba. + +Another fact has been turned to his discredit. From many women, in the +course of his long life, he had received a great quantity of letters +written by aristocratic hands on scented paper, and these letters he had +never burned. Here again, perhaps, was shown the vanity of the man +who loved love for its own sake. He kept all these papers in a huge +iron-clamped chest, and he instructed Theodosia in case he should die to +burn every letter which might injure any one. + +After Theodosia's death Burr gave the same instructions to Matthew L. +Davis, who did, indeed, burn them, though he made their existence a +means of blackening the character of Burr. He should have destroyed them +unopened, and should never have mentioned them in his memoirs of the man +who trusted him as a friend. + +Such was Aaron Burr throughout a life which lasted for eighty years. His +last romance, at the age of seventy-eight, is worth narrating because it +has often been misunderstood. + +Mme. Jumel was a Rhode Island girl who at seventeen years of age eloped +with an English officer, Colonel Peter Croix. Her first husband +died while she was still quite young, and she then married a French +wine-merchant, Stephen Jumel, some twenty years her senior, but a man of +much vigor and intelligence. M. Jumel made a considerable fortune in New +York, owning a small merchant fleet; and after Napoleon's downfall he +and his wife went to Paris, where she made a great impression in the +salons by her vivacity and wit and by her lavish expenditures. + +Losing, however, part of what she and her husband possessed, Mme. Jumel +returned to New York, bringing with her a great amount of furniture and +paintings, with which she decorated the historic house still standing +in the upper part of Manhattan Island--a mansion held by her in her own +right. She managed her estate with much ability; and in 1828 M. Jumel +returned to live with her in what was in those days a splendid villa. + +Four years later, however, M. Jumel suffered an accident from which he +died in a few days, leaving his wife still an attractive woman and not +very much past her prime. Soon after she had occasion to seek for legal +advice, and for this purpose visited the law-office of Aaron Burr. +She had known him a good many years before; and, though he was now +seventy-eight years of age, there was no perceptible change in him. He +was still courtly in manner, tactful, and deferential, while physically +he was straight, active, and vigorous. + +A little later she invited him to a formal banquet, where he displayed +all his charms and shone to great advantage. When he was about to lead +her in to dinner, he said: + +"I give my hand, madam; my heart has long been yours." + +These attentions he followed up with several other visits, and +finally proposed that she should marry him. Much fluttered and no less +flattered, she uttered a sort of "No" which was not likely to discourage +a man like Aaron Burr. + +"I shall come to you before very long," he said, "accompanied by a +clergyman; and then you will give me your hand because I want it." + +This rapid sort of wooing was pleasantly embarrassing. The lady rather +liked it; and so, on an afternoon when the sun was shining and the +leaves were rustling in the breeze, Burr drove up to Mme. Jumel's +mansion accompanied by Dr. Bogart--the very clergyman who had married +him to his first wife fifty years before. + +Mme. Jumel was now seriously disturbed, but her refusal was not a strong +one. There were reasons why she should accept the offer. The great +house was lonely. The management of her estate required a man's advice. +Moreover, she was under the spell of Burr's fascination. Therefore she +arrayed herself in one of her most magnificent Paris gowns; the members +of her household and eight servants were called in and the ceremony +was duly performed by Dr. Bogart. A banquet followed. A dozen cobwebbed +bottles of wine were brought up from the cellar, and the marriage feast +went on merrily until after midnight. + +This marriage was a singular one from many points of view. It was +strange that a man of seventy-eight should take by storm the affections +of a woman so much younger than he--a woman of wealth and knowledge of +the world. In the second place, it is odd that there was still another +woman--a mere girl--who was so infatuated with Burr that when she was +told of his marriage it nearly broke her heart. Finally, in the early +part of that same year he had been accused of being the father of a +new-born child, and in spite of his age every one believed the charge to +be true. Here is a case that it would be hard to parallel. + +The happiness of the newly married pair did not, however, last very +long. They made a wedding journey into Connecticut, of which state +Burr's nephew was then Governor, and there Burr saw a monster bridge +over the Connecticut River, in which his wife had shares, though they +brought her little income. He suggested that she should transfer the +investment, which, after all, was not a very large one, and place it in +a venture in Texas which looked promising. The speculation turned out to +be a loss, however, and this made Mrs. Burr extremely angry, the more +so as she had reason to think that her ever-youthful husband had been +engaged in flirting with the country girls near the Jumel mansion. + +She was a woman of high spirit and had at times a violent temper. One +day the post-master at what was then the village of Harlem was surprised +to see Mrs. Burr drive up before the post-office in an open carriage. +He came out to ask what she desired, and was surprised to find her in a +violent temper and with an enormous horse-pistol on each cushion at her +side. + +"What do you wish, madam?" said he, rather mildly. + +"What do I wish?" she cried. "Let me get at that villain Aaron Burr!" + +Presently Burr seems to have succeeded in pacifying her; but in the end +they separated, though she afterward always spoke most kindly of him. +When he died, only about a year later, she is said to have burst into +a flood of tears--another tribute to the fascination which Aaron Burr +exercised through all his checkered life. + +It is difficult to come to any fixed opinion regarding the moral +character of Aaron Burr. As a soldier he was brave to the point of +recklessness. As a political leader he was almost the equal of Jefferson +and quite superior to Hamilton. As a man of the world he was highly +accomplished, polished in manner, charming in conversation. He made +friends easily, and he forgave his enemies with a broadmindedness that +is unusual. + +On the other hand, in his political career there was a touch of +insincerity, and it can scarcely be denied that he used his charm too +often to the injury of those women who could not resist his insinuating +ways and the caressing notes of his rich voice. But as a husband, in his +youth, he was devoted, affectionate, and loyal; while as a father he was +little less than worshiped by the daughter whom he reared so carefully. + +One of his biographers very truly says that no such wretch as Burr has +been declared to be could have won and held the love of such a wife and +such a daughter as Burr had. + +When all the other witnesses have been heard, let the two Theodosias +be summoned, and especially that daughter who showed toward him an +affectionate veneration unsurpassed by any recorded in history or +romance. Such an advocate as Theodosia the younger must avail in some +degree, even though the culprit were brought before the bar of Heaven +itself. + + + + + +GEORGE IV. AND MRS. FITZHERBERT + + +In the last decade of the eighteenth century England was perhaps the +most brilliant nation of the world. Other countries had been humbled +by the splendid armies of France and were destined to be still further +humbled by the emperor who came from Corsica. France had begun to +seize the scepter of power; yet to this picture there was another +side--fearful want and grievous poverty and the horrors of the +Revolution. Russia was too far away, and was still considered too +barbarous, for a brilliant court to flourish there. Prussia had the +prestige that Frederick the Great won for her, but she was still a +comparatively small state. Italy was in a condition of political chaos; +the banks of the Rhine were running blood where the Austrian armies +faced the gallant Frenchmen under the leadership of Moreau. But England, +in spite of the loss of her American colonies, was rich and prosperous, +and her invincible fleets were extending her empire over the seven seas. + +At no time in modern England has the court at London seen so much real +splendor or such fine manners. The royalist emigres who fled from France +brought with them names and pedigrees that were older than the Crusades, +and many of them were received with the frankest, freest English +hospitality. If here and there some marquis or baron of ancient blood +was perforce content to teach music to the daughters of tradesmen in +suburban schools, nevertheless they were better off than they had +been in France, harried by the savage gaze-hounds of the guillotine. +Afterward, in the days of the Restoration, when they came back to +their estates, they had probably learned more than one lesson from the +bouledogues of Merry England, who had little tact, perhaps, but who were +at any rate kindly and willing to share their goods with pinched and +poverty-stricken foreigners. + +The court, then, as has been said, was brilliant with notables from +Continental countries, and with the historic wealth of the peerage of +England. Only one cloud overspread it; and that was the mental condition +of the king. We have become accustomed to think of George III as a dull +creature, almost always hovering on the verge of that insanity which +finally swept him into a dark obscurity; but Thackeray's picture of him +is absurdly untrue to the actual facts. George III. was by no means a +dullard, nor was he a sort of beefy country squire who roved about the +palace gardens with his unattractive spouse. + +Obstinate enough he was, and ready for a combat with the rulers of the +Continent or with his self-willed sons; but he was a man of brains and +power, and Lord Rosebery has rightly described him as the most striking +constitutional figure of his time. Had he retained his reason, and +had his erratic and self-seeking son not succeeded him during his own +lifetime, Great Britain might very possibly have entered upon other ways +than those which opened to her after the downfall of Napoleon. + +The real center of fashionable England, however, was not George III., +but rather his son, subsequently George IV., who was made Prince of +Wales three days after his birth, and who became prince regent during +the insanity of the king. He was the leader of the social world, the +fit companion of Beau Brummel and of a choice circle of rakes and +fox-hunters who drank pottle-deep. Some called him "the first gentleman +of Europe." Others, who knew him better, described him as one who +never kept his word to man or woman and who lacked the most elementary +virtues. + +Yet it was his good luck during the first years of his regency to be +popular as few English kings have ever been. To his people he typified +old England against revolutionary France; and his youth and gaiety made +many like him. He drank and gambled; he kept packs of hounds and strings +of horses; he ran deeply into debt that he might patronize the sports +of that uproarious day. He was a gallant "Corinthian," a haunter of dens +where there were prize-fights and cock-fights, and there was hardly a +doubtful resort in London where his face was not familiar. + +He was much given to gallantry--not so much, as it seemed, for +wantonness, but from sheer love of mirth and chivalry. For a time, with +his chosen friends, such as Fox and Sheridan, he ventured into reckless +intrigues that recalled the amours of his predecessor, Charles II. He +had by no means the wit and courage of Charles; and, indeed, the house +of Hanover lacked the outward show of chivalry which made the Stuarts +shine with external splendor. But he was good-looking and stalwart, and +when he had half a dozen robust comrades by his side he could assume +a very manly appearance. Such was George IV. in his regency and in +his prime. He made that period famous for its card-playing, its deep +drinking, and for the dissolute conduct of its courtiers and noblemen no +less than for the gallantry of its soldiers and its momentous victories +on sea and land. It came, however, to be seen that his true achievements +were in reality only escapades, that his wit was only folly, and his +so-called "sensibility" was but sham. He invented buckles, striped +waistcoats, and flamboyant collars, but he knew nothing of the +principles of kingship or the laws by which a state is governed. + +The fact that he had promiscuous affairs with women appealed at first +to the popular sense of the romantic. It was not long, however, before +these episodes were trampled down into the mire of vulgar scandal. + +One of the first of them began when he sent a letter, signed "Florizel," +to a young actress, "Perdita" Robinson. Mrs. Robinson, whose maiden +name was Mary Darby, and who was the original of famous portraits +by Gainsborough and Reynolds, was a woman of beauty, talent, and +temperament. George, wishing in every way to be "romantic," insisted +upon clandestine meetings on the Thames at Kew, with all the stage +trappings of the popular novels--cloaks, veils, faces hidden, and armed +watchers to warn her of approaching danger. Poor Perdita took this +nonsense so seriously that she gave up her natural vocation for the +stage, and forsook her husband, believing that the prince would never +weary of her. + +He did weary of her very soon, and, with the brutality of a man of such +a type, turned her away with the promise of some money; after which he +cut her in the Park and refused to speak to her again. As for the money, +he may have meant to pay it, but Perdita had a long struggle before she +succeeded in getting it. It may be assumed that the prince had to borrow +it and that this obligation formed part of the debts which Parliament +paid for him. + +It is not necessary to number the other women whose heads he turned. +They are too many for remembrance here, and they have no special +significance, save one who, as is generally believed, became his wife so +far as the church could make her so. An act of 1772 had made it +illegal for any member of the English royal family to marry without the +permission of the king. A marriage contracted without the king's consent +might be lawful in the eyes of the church, but the children born of it +could not inherit any claim to the throne. + +It may be remarked here that this withholding of permission was strictly +enforced. Thus William IV., who succeeded George IV., was married, +before his accession to the throne, to Mrs. Jordan (Dorothy Bland). +Afterward he lawfully married a woman of royal birth who was known as +Queen Adelaide. + +There is an interesting story which tells how Queen Victoria came to +be born because her father, the Duke of Kent, was practically forced +to give up a morganatic union which he greatly preferred to a marriage +arranged for him by Parliament. Except the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke +of Kent was the only royal duke who was likely to have children in the +regular line. The only daughter of George IV. had died in childhood. +The Duke of Cumberland was for various reasons ineligible; the Duke of +Clarence, later King William IV., was almost too old; and therefore, to +insure the succession, the Duke of Kent was begged to marry a young and +attractive woman, a princess of the house of Saxe-Coburg, who was ready +for the honor. It was greatly to the Duke's credit that he showed deep +and sincere feeling in this matter. As he said himself in effect: + +"This French lady has stood by me in hard times and in good times, +too--why should I cast her off? She has been more than a wife to me. And +what do I care for your plans in Parliament? Send over for one of the +Stuarts--they are better men than the last lot of our fellows that you +have had!" + +In the end, however, he was wearied out and was persuaded to marry, but +he insisted that a generous sum should be settled on the lady who had +been so long his true companion, and to whom, no doubt, he gave many a +wistful thought in his new but unfamiliar quarters in Kensington Palace, +which was assigned as his residence. + +Again, the second Duke of Cambridge, who died only a few years ago, +greatly desired to marry a lady who was not of royal rank, though of +fine breeding and of good birth. He besought his young cousin, as +head of the family, to grant him this privilege of marriage; but Queen +Victoria stubbornly refused. The duke was married according to the rites +of the church, but he could not make his wife a duchess. The queen never +quite forgave him for his partial defiance of her wishes, though the +duke's wife--she was usually spoken of as Mrs. FitzGeorge--was received +almost everywhere, and two of her sons hold high rank in the British +army and navy, respectively. + +The one real love story in the life of George IV. is that which tells of +his marriage with a lady who might well have been the wife of any king. +This was Maria Anne Smythe, better known as Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was +six years older than the young prince when she first met him in company +with a body of gentlemen and ladies in 1784. + +Maria Fitzherbert's face was one which always displayed its best +advantages. Her eyes were peculiarly languishing, and, as she had +already been twice a widow, and was six years his senior, she had the +advantage over a less experienced lover. Likewise, she was a Catholic, +and so by another act of Parliament any marriage with her would be +illegal. Yet just because of all these different objections the prince +was doubly drawn to her, and was willing to sacrifice even the throne if +he could but win her. + +His father, the king, called him into the royal presence and said: + +"George, it is time that you should settle down and insure the +succession to the throne." + +"Sir," replied the prince, "I prefer to resign the succession and let my +brother have it, and that I should live as a private English gentleman." + +Mrs. Fitzherbert was not the sort of woman to give herself up readily to +a morganatic connection. Moreover, she soon came to love Prince George +too well to entangle him in a doubtful alliance with one of another +faith than his. Not long after he first met her the prince, who was +always given to private theatricals, sent messengers riding in hot haste +to her house to tell her that he had stabbed himself, that he begged +to see her, and that unless she came he would repeat the act. The lady +yielded, and hurried to Carlton House, the prince's residence; but she +was prudent enough to take with her the Duchess of Devonshire, who was a +reigning beauty of the court. + +The scene which followed was theatrical rather than impressive.--The +prince was found in his sleeping-chamber, pale and with his ruffles +blood-stained. He played the part of a youthful and love-stricken wooer, +vowing that he would marry the woman of his heart or stab himself +again. In the presence of his messengers, who, with the duchess, +were witnesses, he formally took the lady as his wife, while Lady +Devonshire's wedding-ring sealed the troth. The prince also acknowledged +it in a document. + +Mrs. Fitzherbert was, in fact, a woman of sound sense. Shortly after +this scene of melodramatic intensity her wits came back to her, and she +recognized that she had merely gone through a meaningless farce. So +she sent back the prince's document and the ring and hastened to +the Continent, where he could not reach her, although his detectives +followed her steps for a year. + +At the last she yielded, however, and came home to marry the prince +in such fashion as she could--a marriage of love, and surely one of +morality, though not of parliamentary law. The ceremony was performed +"in her own drawing-room in her house in London, in the presence of the +officiating Protestant clergyman and two of her own nearest relatives." + +Such is the serious statement of Lord Stourton, who was Mrs. +Fitzherbert's cousin and confidant. The truth of it was never denied, +and Mrs. Fitzherbert was always treated with respect, and even regarded +as a person of great distinction. Nevertheless, on more than one +occasion the prince had his friends in Parliament deny the marriage in +order that his debts might be paid and new allowances issued to him by +the Treasury. + +George certainly felt himself a husband. Like any other married prince, +he set himself to build a palace for his country home. While in search +of some suitable spot he chanced to visit the "pretty fishing-village" +of Brighton to see his uncle, the Duke of Cumberland. Doubtless he found +it an attractive place, yet this may have been not so much because +of its view of the sea as for the reason that Mrs. Fitzherbert had +previously lived there. + +However, in 1784 the prince sent down his chief cook to make +arrangements for the next royal visit. The cook engaged a house on the +spot where the Pavilion now stands, and from that time Brighton began to +be an extremely fashionable place. The court doctors, giving advice that +was agreeable, recommended their royal patient to take sea-bathing at +Brighton. At once the place sprang into popularity. + +At first the gentry were crowded into lodging-houses and the +accommodations were primitive to a degree. But soon handsome villas +arose on every side; hotels appeared; places of amusement were opened. +The prince himself began to build a tasteless but showy structure, +partly Chinese and partly Indian in style, on the fashionable promenade +of the Steyne. + +During his life with Mrs. Fitzherbert at Brighton the prince held what +was practically a court. Hundreds of the aristocracy came down from +London and made their temporary dwellings there; while thousands who +were by no means of the court made the place what is now popularly +called "London by the Sea." There were the Duc de Chartres, of France; +statesmen and rakes, like Fox, Sheridan, and the Earl of Barrymore; a +very beautiful woman, named Mrs. Couch, a favorite singer at the opera, +to whom the prince gave at one time jewels worth ten thousand pounds; +and a sister of the Earl of Barrymore, who was as notorious as her +brother. She often took the president's chair at a club which George's +friends had organized and which she had christened the Hell Fire Club. + +Such persons were not the only visitors at Brighton. Men of much more +serious demeanor came down to visit the prince and brought with them +quieter society. Nevertheless, for a considerable time the place was +most noted for its wild scenes of revelry, into which George frequently +entered, though his home life with Mrs. Fitzherbert at the Pavilion was +a decorous one. + +No one felt any doubt as to the marriage of the two persons, who seemed +so much like a prince and a princess. Some of the people of the place +addressed Mrs. Fitzherbert as "Mrs. Prince." The old king and his wife, +however, much deplored their son's relation with her. This was partly +due to the fact that Mrs. Fitzherbert was a Catholic and that she had +received a number of French nuns who had been driven out of France at +the time of the Revolution. But no less displeasure was caused by the +prince's racing and dicing, which swelled his debts to almost a million +pounds, so that Parliament and, indeed, the sober part of England were +set against him. + +Of course, his marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert had no legal status; nor is +there any reason for believing that she ever became a mother. She had +no children by her former two husbands, and Lord Stourton testified +positively that she never had either son or daughter by Prince George. +Nevertheless, more than one American claimant has risen to advance +some utterly visionary claim to the English throne by reason of alleged +descent from Prince George and Mrs. Fitzherbert. + +Neither William IV. nor Queen Victoria ever spent much time at Brighton. +In King William's case it was explained that the dampness of the +Pavilion did not suit him; and as to Queen Victoria, it was said that +she disliked the fact that buildings had been erected so as to cut +off the view of the sea. It is quite likely, however, that the queen +objected to the associations of the place, and did not care to be +reminded of the time when her uncle had lived there so long in a +morganatic state of marriage. + +At length the time came when the king, Parliament, and the people at +large insisted that the Prince of Wales should make a legal marriage, +and a wife was selected for him in the person of Caroline, daughter of +the Duke of Brunswick. This marriage took place exactly ten years after +his wedding with the beautiful and gentle-mannered Mrs. Fitzherbert. +With the latter he had known many days and hours of happiness. With +Princess Caroline he had no happiness at all. + +Prince George met her at the pier to greet her. It is said that as he +took her hand he kissed her, and then, suddenly recoiling, he whispered +to one of his friends: + +"For God's sake, George, give me a glass of brandy!" + +Such an utterance was more brutal and barbaric than anything his bride +could have conceived of, though it is probable, fortunately, that she +did not understand him by reason of her ignorance of English. + +We need not go through the unhappy story of this unsympathetic, +neglected, rebellious wife. Her life with the prince soon became one +of open warfare; but instead of leaving England she remained to set the +kingdom in an uproar. As soon as his father died and he became king, +George sued her for divorce. Half the people sided with the queen, +while the rest regarded her as a vulgar creature who made love to her +attendants and brought dishonor on the English throne. It was a sorry, +sordid contrast between the young Prince George who had posed as a sort +of cavalier and this now furious gray old man wrangling with his furious +German wife. + +Well might he look back to the time when he met Perdita in the moonlight +on the Thames, or when he played the part of Florizel, or, better still, +when he enjoyed the sincere and disinterested love of the gentle woman +who was his wife in all but legal status. Caroline of Brunswick was +thrust away from the king's coronation. She took a house within sight of +Westminster Abbey, so that she might make hag-like screeches to the +mob and to the king as he passed by. Presently, in August, 1821, only +a month after the coronation, she died, and her body was taken back to +Brunswick for burial. + +George himself reigned for nine years longer. When he died in 1830 his +executor was the Duke of Wellington. The duke, in examining the late +king's private papers, found that he had kept with the greatest care +every letter written to him by his morganatic wife. During his last +illness she had sent him an affectionate missive which it is said George +"read eagerly." Mrs. Fitzherbert wished the duke to give up her letters; +but he would do so only in return for those which he had written to her. + +It was finally decided that it would be best to burn both his and hers. +This work was carried out in Mrs. Fitzherbert's own house by the lady, +the duke, and the Earl of Albemarle. + +Of George it may be said that he has left as memories behind him only +three things that will be remembered. The first is the Pavilion at +Brighton, with its absurdly oriental decorations, its minarets and +flimsy towers. The second is the buckle which he invented and which +Thackeray has immortalized with his biting satire. The last is the story +of his marriage to Maria Fitzherbert, and of the influence exercised +upon him by the affection of a good woman. + + + + + +CHARLOTTE CORDAY AND ADAM LUX + + +Perhaps some readers will consider this story inconsistent with those +that have preceded it. Yet, as it is little known to most readers and as +it is perhaps unique in the history of romantic love, I cannot forbear +relating it; for I believe that it is full of curious interest and +pathetic power. + +All those who have written of the French Revolution have paused in +their chronicle of blood and flame to tell the episode of the peasant +Royalist, Charlotte Corday; but in telling it they have often omitted +the one part of the story that is personal and not political. The +tragic record of this French girl and her self-sacrifice has been told a +thousand times by writers in many languages; yet almost all of them have +neglected the brief romance which followed her daring deed and which was +consummated after her death upon the guillotine. It is worth our while +to speak first of Charlotte herself and of the man she slew, and then +to tell that other tale which ought always to be entwined with her great +deed of daring. + +Charlotte Corday--Marie Anne Charlotte Corday d'Armand--was a native of +Normandy, and was descended, as her name implies, from noble ancestors. +Her forefathers, indeed, had been statesmen, civil rulers, and soldiers, +and among them was numbered the famous poet Corneille, whom the French +rank with Shakespeare. But a century or more of vicissitudes had reduced +her branch of the family almost to the position of peasants--a fact +which partly justifies the name that some give her when they call her +"the Jeanne d'Arc of the Revolution." + +She did not, however, spend her girlish years amid the fields and woods +tending her sheep, as did the other Jeanne d'Arc; but she was placed +in charge of the sisters in a convent, and from them she received such +education as she had. She was a lonely child, and her thoughts turned +inward, brooding over many things. + +After she had left the convent she was sent to live with an aunt. Here +she devoted herself to reading over and over the few books which +the house contained. These consisted largely of the deistic writers, +especially Voltaire, and to some extent they destroyed her convent +faith, though it is not likely that she understood them very fully. + +More to her taste was a copy of Plutarch's Lives. These famous stories +fascinated her. They told her of battle and siege, of intrigue and +heroism, and of that romantic love of country which led men to throw +away their lives for the sake of a whole people. Brutus and Regulus were +her heroes. To die for the many seemed to her the most glorious end that +any one could seek. When she thought of it she thrilled with a sort +of ecstasy, and longed with all the passion of her nature that such a +glorious fate might be her own. + +Charlotte had nearly come to womanhood at the time when the French +Revolution first broke out. Royalist though she had been in her +sympathies, she felt the justice of the people's cause. She had seen the +suffering of the peasantry, the brutality of the tax-gatherers, and all +the oppression of the old regime. But what she hoped for was a +democracy of order and equality and peace. Could the king reign as a +constitutional monarch rather than as a despot, this was all for which +she cared. + +In Normandy, where she lived, were many of those moderate republicans +known as Girondists, who felt as she did and who hoped for the same +peaceful end to the great outbreak. On the other hand, in Paris, the +party of the Mountain, as it was called, ruled with a savage violence +that soon was to culminate in the Reign of Terror. Already the +guillotine ran red with noble blood. Already the king had bowed his head +to the fatal knife. Already the threat had gone forth that a mere breath +of suspicion or a pointed finger might be enough to lead men and women +to a gory death. + +In her quiet home near Caen Charlotte Corday heard as from afar the +story of this dreadful saturnalia of assassination which was making +Paris a city of bloody mist. Men and women of the Girondist party came +to tell her of the hideous deeds that were perpetrated there. All these +horrors gradually wove themselves in the young girl's imagination around +the sinister and repulsive figure of Jean Paul Marat. She knew nothing +of his associates, Danton and Robespierre. It was in Marat alone that +she saw the monster who sent innocent thousands to their graves, and who +reveled like some arch-fiend in murder and gruesome death. + +In his earlier years Marat had been a very different figure--an +accomplished physician, the friend of nobles, a man of science and +original thought, so that he was nearly elected to the Academy of +Sciences. His studies in electricity gained for him the admiration +of Benjamin Franklin and the praise of Goethe. But when he turned to +politics he left all this career behind him. He plunged into the very +mire of red republicanism, and even there he was for a time so much +hated that he sought refuge in London to save his life. + +On his return he was hunted by his enemies, so that his only place +of refuge was in the sewers and drains of Paris. A woman, one Simonne +Evrard, helped him to escape his pursuers. In the sewers, however, +he contracted a dreadful skin-disease from which he never afterward +recovered, and which was extremely painful as well as shocking to +behold. + +It is small wonder that the stories about Marat circulated through the +provinces made him seem more a devil than a man. His vindictiveness +against the Girondists brought all of this straight home to Charlotte +Corday and led her to dream of acting the part of Brutus, so that she +might free her country from this hideous tyrant. + +In January, 1793, King Louis XVI. met his death upon the scaffold; and +the queen was thrust into a foul prison. This was a signal for activity +among the Girondists in Normandy, and especially at Caen, where +Charlotte was present at their meetings and heard their fervid oratory. +There was a plot to march on Paris, yet in some instinctive way she felt +that such a scheme must fail. It was then that she definitely formed +the plan of going herself, alone, to the French capital to seek out the +hideous Marat and to kill him with her own hands. + +To this end she made application for a passport allowing her to +visit Paris. This passport still exists, and it gives us an official +description of the girl. It reads: + +Allow citizen Marie Corday to pass. She is twenty-four years of age, +five feet and one inch in height, hair and eyebrows chestnut color, eyes +gray, forehead high, mouth medium size, chin dimpled, and an oval face. + +Apart from this verbal description we have two portraits painted while +she was in prison. Both of them make the description of the passport +seem faint and pale. The real Charlotte had a wealth of chestnut hair +which fell about her face and neck in glorious abundance. Her great +gray eyes spoke eloquently of truth and courage. Her mouth was firm yet +winsome, and her form combined both strength and grace. Such is the girl +who, on reaching Paris, wrote to Marat in these words: + +Citizen, I have just arrived from Caen. Your love for your native place +doubtless makes you wish to learn the events which have occurred in that +part of the republic. I shall call at your residence in about an hour. +Be so good as to receive me and give me a brief interview. I will put +you in such condition as to render great service to France. + +This letter failed to gain her admission, and so did another which she +wrote soon after. The fact is that Marat was grievously ill. His disease +had reached a point where the pain could be assuaged only by hot water; +and he spent the greater part of his time wrapped in a blanket and lying +in a large tub. + +A third time, however, the persistent girl called at his house and +insisted that she must see him, saying that she was herself in danger +from the enemies of the Republic. Through an open door Marat heard her +mellow voice and gave orders that she should be admitted. + +As she entered she gazed for a moment upon the lank figure rolling in +the tub, the rat-like face, and the shifting eyes. Then she approached +him, concealing in the bosom of her dress a long carving-knife which she +had purchased for two francs. In answer to Marat's questioning look she +told him that there was much excitement at Caen and that the Girondists +were plotting there. + +To this Marat answered, in his harsh voice: + +"All these men you mention shall be guillotined in the next few days!" + +As he spoke Charlotte flashed out the terrible knife and with all her +strength she plunged it into his left side, where it pierced a lung and +a portion of his heart. + +Marat, with the blood gushing from his mouth, cried out: + +"Help, darling!" + +His cry was meant for one of the two women in the house. Both heard it, +for they were in the next room; and both of them rushed in and succeeded +in pinioning Charlotte Corday, who, indeed, made only a slight effort to +escape. Troops were summoned, she was taken to the Prison de l'Abbaye, +and soon after she was arraigned before the revolutionary tribunal. + +Placed in the dock, she glanced about her with an air of pride, as +of one who gloried in the act which she had just performed. A written +charge was read. She was asked what she had to say. Lifting her head +with a look of infinite satisfaction, she answered in a ringing voice: + +"Nothing--except that I succeeded!" + +A lawyer was assigned for her defense. He pleaded for her earnestly, +declaring that she must he regarded as insane; but those clear, calm +eyes and that gentle face made her sanity a matter of little doubt. +She showed her quick wit in the answers which she gave to the rough +prosecutor, Fouquier-Tinville, who tried to make her confess that she +had accomplices. + +"Who prompted you to do this deed?" roared Tinville. + +"I needed no prompting. My own heart was sufficient." + +"In what, then, had Marat wronged you?" + +"He was a savage beast who was going to destroy the remains of France in +the fires of civil war." + +"But whom did you expect to benefit?" insinuated the prosecutor. + +"I have killed one man to save a hundred thousand." + +"What? Did you imagine that you had murdered all the Marats?" + +"No, but, this one being dead, the rest will perhaps take warning." + +Thus her directness baffled all the efforts of the prosecution to trap +her into betraying any of her friends. The court, however, sentenced her +to death. She was then immured in the Conciergerie. + +This dramatic court scene was the beginning of that strange, brief +romance to which one can scarcely find a parallel. At the time there +lived in Paris a young German named Adam Lux. The continual talk about +Charlotte Corday had filled him with curiosity regarding this young girl +who had been so daring and so patriotic. She was denounced on every hand +as a murderess with the face of a Medusa and the muscles of a Vulcan. +Street songs about her were dinned into the ears of Adam Lux. + +As a student of human nature he was anxious to see this terrible +creature. He forced his way to the front of the crowded benches in the +court-room and took his stand behind a young artist who was finishing a +beautiful sketch. From that moment until the end of the trial the +eyes of Adam Lux were fastened on the prisoner. What a contrast to the +picture he had imagined! + +A mass of regal chestnut hair crowned with the white cap of a Norman +peasant girl; gray eyes, very sad and serious, but looking serenely +forth from under long, dark lashes; lips slightly curved with an +expression of quiet humor; a face the color of the sun and wind, a +bust indicative of perfect health, the chin of a Caesar, and the whole +expression one of almost divine self-sacrifice. Such were the features +that the painter was swiftly putting upon his canvas; but behind them +Adam Lux discerned the soul for which he gladly sacrificed both his +liberty and his life. + +He forgot his surroundings and seemed to see only that beautiful, pure +face and to hear only the exquisite cadences of the wonderful voice. +When Charlotte was led forth by a file of soldiers Adam staggered from +the scene and made his way as best he might to his lodgings. There he +lay prostrate, his whole soul filled with the love of her who had in an +instant won the adoration of his heart. + +Once, and only once again, when the last scene opened on the tragedy, +did he behold the heroine of his dreams. + +On the 17th of July Charlotte Corday was taken from her prison to the +gloomy guillotine. It was toward evening, and nature had given a setting +fit for such an end. Blue-black thunder-clouds rolled in huge masses +across the sky until their base appeared to rest on the very summit of +the guillotine. Distant thunder rolled and grumbled beyond the river. +Great drops of rain fell upon the soldiers' drums. Young, beautiful, +unconscious of any wrong, Charlotte Corday stood beneath the shadow of +the knife. + +At the supreme moment a sudden ray from the setting sun broke through +the cloud-wrack and fell upon her slender figure until she glowed in the +eyes of the startled spectators like a statue cut in burnished bronze. +Thus illumined, as it were, by a light from heaven itself, she +bowed herself beneath the knife and paid the penalty of a noble, if +misdirected, impulse. As the blade fell her lips quivered with her last +and only plea: + +"My duty is enough--the rest is nothing!" + +Adam Lux rushed from the scene a man transformed. He bore graven upon +his heart neither the mob of tossing red caps nor the glare of the +sunset nor the blood-stained guillotine, but that last look from +those brilliant eyes. The sight almost deprived him of his reason. The +self-sacrifice of the only woman he had ever loved, even though she had +never so much as seen him, impelled him with a sort of fury to his own +destruction. + +He wrote a bitter denunciation of the judges, of the officers, and +of all who had been followers of Marat. This document he printed, +and scattered copies of it through every quarter in Paris. The last +sentences are as follows: + +The guillotine is no longer a disgrace. It has become a sacred altar, +from which every taint has been removed by the innocent blood shed +there on the 17th of July. Forgive me, my divine Charlotte, if I find +it impossible at the last moment to show the courage and the gentleness +that were yours! I glory because you are superior to me, for it is +right that she who is adored should be higher and more glorious than her +adorer! + +This pamphlet, spread broadcast among the people, was soon reported to +the leaders of the rabble. Adam Lux was arrested for treason against +the Republic; but even these men had no desire to make a martyr of this +hot-headed youth. They would stop his mouth without taking his life. +Therefore he was tried and speedily found guilty, but an offer was +made him that he might have passports that would allow him to return to +Germany if only he would sign a retraction of his printed words. + +Little did the judges understand the fiery heart of the man they had +to deal with. To die on the same scaffold as the woman whom he had +idealized was to him the crowning triumph of his romantic love. He gave +a prompt and insolent refusal to their offer. He swore that if released +he would denounce his darling's murderers with a still greater passion. + +In anger the tribunal sentenced him to death. Only then he smiled and +thanked his judges courteously, and soon after went blithely to the +guillotine like a bridegroom to his marriage feast. + +Adam Lux! Spirit courtship had been carried on silently all through that +terrible cross-examination of Charlotte Corday. His heart was betrothed +to hers in that single gleam of the setting sun when she bowed beneath +the knife. One may believe that these two souls were finally united +when the same knife fell sullenly upon his neck and when his life-blood +sprinkled the altar that was still stained with hers. + + + + + +NAPOLEON AND MARIE WALEWSKA + + +There are four women who may be said to have deeply influenced the life +of Napoleon. These four are the only ones who need to be taken into +account by the student of his imperial career. The great emperor was +susceptible to feminine charms at all times; but just as it used to be +said of him that "his smile never rose above his eyes," so it might as +truly be said that in most instances the throbbing of his heart did not +affect his actions. + +Women to him were the creatures of the moment, although he might seem to +care for them and to show his affection in extravagant ways, as in his +affair with Mlle. Georges, the beautiful but rather tiresome actress. +As for Mme. de Stael, she bored him to distraction by her assumption +of wisdom. That was not the kind of woman that Napoleon cared for. He +preferred that a woman should be womanly, and not a sort of owl to sit +and talk with him about the theory of government. + +When it came to married women they interested him only because of +the children they might bear to grow up as recruits for his insatiate +armies. At the public balls given at the Tuileries he would walk about +the gorgeous drawing-rooms, and when a lady was presented to him he +would snap out, sharply: + +"How many children have you?" + +If she were able to answer that she had several the emperor would look +pleased and would pay her some compliment; but if she said that she had +none he would turn upon her sharply and say: + +"Then go home and have some!" + +Of the four women who influenced his life, first must come Josephine, +because she secured him his earliest chance of advancement. She met him +through Barras, with whom she was said to be rather intimate. The young +soldier was fascinated by her--the more because she was older than he +and possessed all the practised arts of the creole and the woman of the +world. When she married him she brought him as her dowry the command of +the army of Italy, where in a few months he made the tri-color, borne by +ragged troops, triumphant over the splendidly equipped hosts of Austria. + +She was his first love, and his knowledge of her perfidy gave him the +greatest shock and horror of his whole life; yet she might have held him +to the end if she had borne an heir to the imperial throne. It was her +failure to do so that led Napoleon to divorce Josephine and marry the +thick-lipped Marie Louise of Austria. There were times later when he +showed signs of regret and said: + +"I have had no luck since I gave up Josephine!" + +Marie Louise was of importance for a time--the short time when she +entertained her husband and delighted him by giving birth to the little +King of Rome. Yet in the end she was but an episode; fleeing from her +husband in his misfortune, becoming the mistress of Count Neipperg, and +letting her son--l'Aiglon--die in a land that was far from France. + +Napoleon's sister, Pauline Bonaparte, was the third woman who comes to +mind when we contemplate the great Corsican's career. She, too, is an +episode. During the period of his ascendancy she plagued him with her +wanton ways, her sauciness and trickery. It was amusing to throw him +into one of his violent rages; but Pauline was true at heart, and when +her great brother was sent to Elba she followed him devotedly and gave +him all her store of jewels, including the famous Borghese diamonds, +perhaps the most superb of all gems known to the western world. She +would gladly have followed him, also, to St. Helena had she been +permitted. Remaining behind, she did everything possible in conspiring +to secure his freedom. + +But, after all, Pauline and Marie Louise count for comparatively little. +Josephine's fate was interwoven with Napoleon's; and, with his Corsican +superstition, he often said so. The fourth woman, of whom I am writing +here, may be said to have almost equaled Josephine in her influence on +the emperor as well as in the pathos of her life-story. + +On New-Year's Day of 1807 Napoleon, who was then almost Emperor of +Europe, passed through the little town of Bronia, in Poland. Riding with +his cavalry to Warsaw, the ancient capital of the Polish kingdom, he +seemed a very demigod of battle. + +True, he had had to abandon his long-cherished design of invading and +overrunning England, and Nelson had shattered his fleets and practically +driven his flag from the sea; but the naval disaster of Trafalgar had +speedily been followed by the triumph of Austerlitz, the greatest and +most brilliant of all Napoleon's victories, which left Austria and +Russia humbled to the very ground before him. + +Then Prussia had dared to defy the over-bearing conqueror and had put +into the field against him her armies trained by Frederick the Great; +but these he had shattered almost at a stroke, winning in one day the +decisive battles of Jena and Auerstadt. He had stabled his horses in +the royal palace of the Hohenzollerns and had pursued the remnant of the +Prussian forces to the Russian border. + +As he marched into the Polish provinces the people swarmed by thousands +to meet him and hail him as their country's savior. They believed down +to the very last that Bonaparte would make the Poles once more a free +and independent nation and rescue them from the tyranny of Russia. + +Napoleon played upon this feeling in every manner known to his artful +mind. He used it to alarm the Czar. He used it to intimidate the Emperor +of Austria; but more especially did he use it among the Poles themselves +to win for his armies thousands upon thousands of gallant soldiers, who +believed that in fighting for Napoleon they were fighting for the final +independence of their native land. + +Therefore, with the intensity of patriotism which is a passion among the +Poles, every man and every woman gazed at Napoleon with something like +adoration; for was not he the mighty warrior who had in his gift what +all desired? Soldiers of every rank swarmed to his standards. Princes +and nobles flocked about him. Those who stayed at home repeated +wonderful stories of his victories and prayed for him and fed the flame +which spread through all the country. It was felt that no sacrifice was +too great to win his favor; that to him, as to a deity, everything that +he desired should be yielded up, since he was to restore the liberty of +Poland. + +And hence, when the carriage of the emperor dashed into Bronia, +surrounded by Polish lancers and French cuirassiers, the enormous crowd +surged forward and blocked the way so that their hero could not pass +because of their cheers and cries and supplications. + +In the midst of it all there came a voice of peculiar sweetness from the +thickest portion of the crowd. + +"Please let me pass!" said the voice. "Let me see him, if only for a +moment!" + +The populace rolled backward, and through the lane which they made a +beautiful girl with dark blue eyes that flamed and streaming hair that +had become loosened about her radiant face was confronting the emperor. +Carried away by her enthusiasm, she cried: + +"Thrice welcome to Poland! We can do or say nothing to express our joy +in the country which you will surely deliver from its tyrant." + +The emperor bowed and, with a smile, handed a great bouquet of roses to +the girl, for her beauty and her enthusiasm had made a deep impression +on him. + +"Take it," said he, "as a proof of my admiration. I trust that I may +have the pleasure of meeting you at Warsaw and of hearing your thanks +from those beautiful lips." + +In a moment more the trumpets rang out shrilly, the horsemen closed up +beside the imperial carriage, and it rolled away amid the tumultuous +shouting of the populace. + +The girl who had so attracted Napoleon's attention was Marie Walewska, +descended from an ancient though impoverished family in Poland. When she +was only fifteen she was courted by one of the wealthiest men in Poland, +the Count Walewska. He was three or four times her age, yet her dark +blue eyes, her massive golden hair, and the exquisite grace of her +figure led him to plead that she might become his wife. She had accepted +him, but the marriage was that of a mere child, and her interest still +centered upon her country and took the form of patriotism rather than +that of wifehood and maternity. + +It was for this reason that the young Countess had visited Bronia. She +was now eighteen years of age and still had the sort of romantic feeling +which led her to think that she would keep in some secret hiding-place +the bouquet which the greatest man alive had given her. + +But Napoleon was not the sort of man to forget anything that had given +him either pleasure or the reverse. He who, at the height of his cares, +could recall instantly how many cannon were in each seaport of France +and could make out an accurate list of all his military stores; he who +could call by name every soldier in his guard, with a full remembrance +of the battles each man had fought in and the honors that he had won--he +was not likely to forget so lovely a face as the one which had gleamed +with peculiar radiance through the crowd at Bronia. + +On reaching Warsaw he asked one or two well-informed persons about +this beautiful stranger. Only a few hours had passed before Prince +Poniatowski, accompanied by other nobles, called upon her at her home. + +"I am directed, madam," said he, "by order of the Emperor of France, +to bid you to be present at a ball that is to be given in his honor +to-morrow evening." + +Mme. Walewska was startled, and her face grew hot with blushes. Did the +emperor remember her escapade at Bronia? If so, how had he discovered +her? Why should he seek her out and do her such an honor? + +"That, madam, is his imperial majesty's affair," Poniatowski told her. +"I merely obey his instructions and ask your presence at the ball. +Perhaps Heaven has marked you out to be the means of saving our unhappy +country." + +In this way, by playing on her patriotism, Poniatowski almost persuaded +her, and yet something held her back. She trembled, though she was +greatly fascinated; and finally she refused to go. + +Scarcely had the envoy left her, however, when a great company of nobles +entered in groups and begged her to humor the emperor. Finally her own +husband joined in their entreaties and actually commanded her to go; so +at last she was compelled to yield. + +It was by no means the frank and radiant girl who was now preparing +again to meet the emperor. She knew not why, and yet her heart was full +of trepidation and nervous fright, the cause of which she could not +guess, yet which made her task a severe ordeal. She dressed herself in +white satin, with no adornment save a wreath of foliage in her hair. + +As she entered the ballroom she was welcomed by hundreds whom she had +never seen before, but who were of the highest nobility of Poland. +Murmurs of admiration followed her, and finally Poniatowski came to her +and complimented her, besides bringing her a message that the emperor +desired her to dance with him. + +"I am very sorry," she said, with a quiver of the lips, "but I really +cannot dance. Be kind enough to ask the emperor to excuse me." + +But at that very moment she felt some strange magnetic influence; and +without looking up she could feel that Napoleon himself was standing by +her as she sat with blanched face and downcast eyes, not daring to look +up at him. + +"White upon white is a mistake, madam," said the emperor, in his +gentlest tones. Then, stooping low, he whispered, "I had expected a far +different reception." + +She neither smiled nor met his eyes. He stood there for a moment and +then passed on, leaving her to return to her home with a heavy heart. +The young countess felt that she had acted wrongly, and yet there was an +instinct--an instinct that she could not conquer. + +In the gray of the morning, while she was still tossing feverishly, her +maid knocked at the door and brought her a hastily scribbled note. It +ran as follows: + +I saw none but you, I admired none but you; I desire only you. Answer at +once, and calm the impatient ardor of--N. + +These passionate words burned from her eyes the veil that had hidden +the truth from her. What before had been mere blind instinct became an +actual verity. Why had she at first rushed forth into the very streets +to hail the possible deliverer of her country, and then why had she +shrunk from him when he sought to honor her! It was all clear enough +now. This bedside missive meant that he had intended her dishonor and +that he had looked upon her simply as a possible mistress. + +At once she crushed the note angrily in her hand. + +"There is no answer at all," said she, bursting into bitter tears at the +very thought that he should dare to treat her in this way. + +But on the following morning when she awoke her maid was standing beside +her with a second letter from Napoleon. She refused to open it and +placed it in a packet with the first letter, and ordered that both of +them should be returned to the emperor. + +She shrank from speaking to her husband of what had happened, and there +was no one else in whom she dared confide. All through that day there +came hundreds of visitors, either of princely rank or men who had won +fame by their gallantry and courage. They all begged to see her, but to +them all she sent one answer--that she was ill and could see no one. + +After a time her husband burst into her room, and insisted that she +should see them. + +"Why," exclaimed he, "you are insulting the greatest men and the +noblest women of Poland! More than that, there are some of the most +distinguished Frenchmen sitting at your doorstep, as it were. There +is Duroc, grand marshal of France, and in refusing to see him you are +insulting the great emperor on whom depends everything that our country +longs for. Napoleon has invited you to a state dinner and you have given +him no answer whatever. I order you to rise at once and receive these +ladies and gentlemen who have done you so much honor!" + +She could not refuse. Presently she appeared in her drawing-room, where +she was at once surrounded by an immense throng of her own countrymen +and countrywomen, who made no pretense of misunderstanding the +situation. To them, what was one woman's honor when compared with +the freedom and independence of their nation? She was overwhelmed by +arguments and entreaties. She was even accused of being disloyal to the +cause of Poland if she refused her consent. + +One of the strangest documents of that period was a letter sent to her +and signed by the noblest men in Poland. It contained a powerful appeal +to her patriotism. One remarkable passage even quotes the Bible to point +out her line of duty. A portion of this letter ran as follows: + +Did Esther, think you, give herself to Ahasuerus out of the fulness of +her love for him? So great was the terror with which he inspired her +that she fainted at the sight of him. We may therefore conclude that +affection had but little to do with her resolve. She sacrificed her own +inclinations to the salvation of her country, and that salvation it was +her glory to achieve. May we be enabled to say the same of you, to your +glory and our own happiness! + +After this letter came others from Napoleon himself, full of the +most humble pleading. It was not wholly distasteful thus to have the +conqueror of the world seek her out and offer her his adoration any +more than it was distasteful to think that the revival of her own nation +depended on her single will. M. Frederic Masson, whose minute studies +regarding everything relating to Napoleon have won him a seat in the +French Academy, writes of Marie Walewska at this time: Every force +was now brought into play against her. Her country, her friends, her +religion, the Old and the New Testaments, all urged her to yield; they +all combined for the ruin of a simple and inexperienced girl of eighteen +who had no parents, whose husband even thrust her into temptation, and +whose friends thought that her downfall would be her glory. + +Amid all these powerful influences she consented to attend the dinner. +To her gratification Napoleon treated her with distant courtesy, and, in +fact, with a certain coldness. + +"I heard that Mme. Walewska was indisposed. I trust that she has +recovered," was all the greeting that he gave her when they met. + +Every one else with whom she spoke overwhelmed her with flattery and +with continued urging; but the emperor himself for a time acted as if +she had displeased him. This was consummate art; for as soon as she was +relieved of her fears she began to regret that she had thrown her power +away. + +During the dinner she let her eyes wander to those of the emperor almost +in supplication. He, the subtlest of men, knew that he had won. His +marvelous eyes met hers and drew her attention to him as by an electric +current; and when the ladies left the great dining-room Napoleon sought +her out and whispered in her ear a few words of ardent love. + +It was too little to alarm her seriously now. It was enough to make +her feel that magnetism which Napoleon knew so well how to evoke and +exercise. Again every one crowded about her with congratulations. Some +said: + +"He never even saw any of US. His eyes were all for YOU! They flashed +fire as he looked at you." + +"You have conquered his heart," others said, "and you can do what you +like with him. The salvation of Poland is in your hands." + +The company broke up at an early hour, but Mme. Walewska was asked to +remain. When she was alone General Duroc--one of the emperor's favorite +officers and most trusted lieutenants--entered and placed a letter from +Napoleon in her lap. He tried to tell her as tactfully as possible how +much harm she was doing by refusing the imperial request. She was deeply +affected, and presently, when Duroc left her, she opened the letter +which he had given her and read it. It was worded thus: + +There are times when all splendors become oppressive, as I feel but too +deeply at the present moment. How can I satisfy the desires of a heart +that yearns to cast itself at your feet, when its impulses are checked +at every point by considerations of the highest moment? Oh, if you +would, you alone might overcome the obstacles that keep us apart. MY +FRIEND DUROC WILL MAKE ALL EASY FOR YOU. Oh, come, come! Your every wish +shall be gratified! Your country will be dearer to me when you take pity +on my poor heart. N. + +Every chance of escape seemed to be closed. She had Napoleon's own word +that he would free Poland in return for her self-sacrifice. Moreover, +her powers of resistance had been so weakened that, like many women, she +temporized. She decided that she would meet the emperor alone. She would +tell him that she did not love him, and yet would plead with him to save +her beloved country. + +As she sat there every tick of the clock stirred her to a new +excitement. At last there came a knock upon the door, a cloak was thrown +about her from behind, a heavy veil was drooped about her golden hair, +and she was led, by whom she knew not, to the street, where a finely +appointed carriage was waiting for her. + +No sooner had she entered it than she was driven rapidly through the +darkness to the beautifully carved entrance of a palace. Half led, half +carried, she was taken up the steps to a door which was eagerly opened +by some one within. There were warmth and light and color and the scent +of flowers as she was placed in a comfortable arm-chair. Her wrappings +were taken from her, the door was closed behind her; and then, as +she looked up, she found herself in the presence of Napoleon, who was +kneeling at her feet and uttering soothing words. + +Wisely, the emperor used no violence. He merely argued with her; he told +her over and over his love for her; and finally he declared that for her +sake he would make Poland once again a strong and splendid kingdom. + +Several hours passed. In the early morning, before daylight, there came +a knock at the door. + +"Already?" said Napoleon. "Well, my plaintive dove, go home and rest. +You must not fear the eagle. In time you will come to love him, and in +all things you shall command him." + +Then he led her to the door, but said that he would not open it unless +she promised to see him the next day--a promise which she gave the more +readily because he had treated her with such respect. + +On the following morning her faithful maid came to her bedside with +a cluster of beautiful violets, a letter, and several daintily made +morocco cases. When these were opened there leaped out strings and +necklaces of exquisite diamonds, blazing in the morning sunlight. Mme. +Walewska seized the jewels and flung them across the room with an order +that they should be taken back at once to the imperial giver; but +the letter, which was in the same romantic strain as the others, she +retained. + +On that same evening there was another dinner, given to the emperor by +the nobles, and Marie Walewska attended it, but of course without the +diamonds, which she had returned. Nor did she wear the flowers which had +accompanied the diamonds. + +When Napoleon met her he frowned upon her and made her tremble with the +cold glances that shot from his eyes of steel. He scarcely spoke to her +throughout the meal, but those who sat beside her were earnest in their +pleading. + +Again she waited until the guests had gone away, and with a lighter +heart, since she felt that she had nothing to fear. But when she met +Napoleon in his private cabinet, alone, his mood was very different from +that which he had shown before. Instead of gentleness and consideration +he was the Napoleon of camps, and not of courts. He greeted her bruskly. + +"I scarcely expected to see you again," said he. "Why did you refuse +my diamonds and my flowers? Why did you avoid my eyes at dinner? Your +coldness is an insult which I shall not brook." Then he raised his voice +to that rasping, almost blood-curdling tone which even his hardiest +soldiers dreaded: "I will have you know that I mean to conquer you. You +SHALL--yes, I repeat it, you SHALL love me! I have restored the name of +your country. It owes its very existence to me." + +Then he resorted to a trick which he had played years before in dealing +with the Austrians at Campo Formio. + +"See this watch which I am holding in my hand. Just as I dash it to +fragments before you, so will I shatter Poland if you drive me to +desperation by rejecting my heart and refusing me your own." + +As he spoke he hurled the watch against the opposite wall with terrific +force, dashing it to pieces. In terror, Mme. Walewska fainted. When she +resumed consciousness there was Napoleon wiping away her tears with the +tenderness of a woman and with words of self-reproach. + +The long siege was over. Napoleon had conquered, and this girl of +eighteen gave herself up to his caresses and endearments, thinking that, +after all, her love of country was more than her own honor. + +Her husband, as a matter of form, put her away from him, though at heart +he approved what she had done, while the Polish people regarded her as +nothing less than a national heroine. To them she was no minister to the +vices of an emperor, but rather one who would make him love Poland for +her sake and restore its greatness. + +So far as concerned his love for her, it was, indeed, almost idolatry. +He honored her in every way and spent all the time at his disposal +in her company. But his promise to restore Poland he never kept, and +gradually she found that he had never meant to keep it. + +"I love your country," he would say, "and I am willing to aid in the +attempt to uphold its rights, but my first duty is to France. I cannot +shed French blood in a foreign cause." + +By this time, however, Marie Walewska had learned to love Napoleon for +his own sake. She could not resist his ardor, which matched the ardor +of the Poles themselves. Moreover, it flattered her to see the greatest +soldier in the world a suppliant for her smiles. + +For some years she was Napoleon's close companion, spending long hours +with him and finally accompanying him to Paris. She was the mother of +Napoleon's only son who lived to manhood. This son, who bore the name of +Alexandre Florian de Walewski, was born in Poland in 1810, and later +was created a count and duke of the second French Empire. It may be said +parenthetically that he was a man of great ability. Living down to 1868, +he was made much of by Napoleon III., who placed him in high offices +of state, which he filled with distinction. In contrast with the Duc +de Morny, who was Napoleon's illegitimate half-brother, Alexandre de +Walewski stood out in brilliant contrast. He would have nothing to do +with stock-jobbing and unseemly speculation. + +"I may be poor," he said--though he was not poor--"but at least I +remember the glory of my father and what is due to his great name." + +As for Mme. Walewska, she was loyal to the emperor, and lacked the greed +of many women whom he had made his favorites. Even at Elba, when he +was in exile and disgrace, she visited him that she might endeavor to +console him. She was his counselor and friend as well as his earnestly +loved mate. When she died in Paris in 1817, while the dethroned emperor +was a prisoner at St. Helena, the word "Napoleon" was the last upon her +lips. + + + + + +THE STORY OF PAULINE BONAPARTE + + +It was said of Napoleon long ago that he could govern emperors and +kings, but that not even he could rule his relatives. He himself once +declared: + +"My family have done me far more harm than I have been able to do them +good." + +It would be an interesting historical study to determine just how far +the great soldier's family aided in his downfall by their selfishness, +their jealousy, their meanness, and their ingratitude. + +There is something piquant in thinking of Napoleon as a domestic sort of +person. Indeed, it is rather difficult to do so. When we speak his name +we think of the stern warrior hurling his armies up bloody slopes and on +to bloody victory. He is the man whose steely eyes made his haughtiest +marshals tremble, or else the wise, far-seeing statesman and lawgiver; +but decidedly he is not a household model. We read of his sharp speech +to women, of his outrageous manners at the dinner-table, and of the +thousand and one details which Mme. de Remusat has chronicled--and +perhaps in part invented, for there has always existed the suspicion +that her animus was that of a woman who had herself sought the imperial +favor and had failed to win it. + +But, in fact, all these stories relate to the Napoleon of courts and +palaces, and not to the Napoleon of home. In his private life this great +man was not merely affectionate and indulgent, but he even showed a +certain weakness where his relatives were concerned, so that he let them +prey upon him almost without end. + +He had a great deal of the Italian largeness and lavishness of character +with his family. When a petty officer he nearly starved himself in +order to give his younger brother, Louis, a military education. He was +devotedly fond of children, and they were fond of him, as many anecdotes +attest. His passionate love for Josephine before he learned of her +infidelity is almost painful to read of; and even afterward, when he had +been disillusioned, and when she was paying Fouche a thousand francs +a day to spy upon Napoleon's every action, he still treated her with +friendliness and allowed her extravagance to embarrass him. + +He made his eldest brother, Joseph, King of Spain, and Spain proved +almost as deadly to him as did Russia. He made his youngest brother, +Jerome, King of Westphalia, and Jerome turned the palace into a pigsty +and brought discredit on the very name of Bonaparte. His brother Louis, +for whom he had starved himself, he placed upon the throne of Holland, +and Louis promptly devoted himself to his own interests, conniving +at many things which were inimical to France. He was planning high +advancement for his brother Lucien, and Lucien suddenly married a +disreputable actress and fled with her to England, where he was received +with pleasure by the most persistent of all Napoleon's enemies. + +So much for his brothers--incompetent, ungrateful, or openly his foes. +But his three sisters were no less remarkable in the relations which +they bore to him. They have been styled "the three crowned courtesans," +and they have been condemned together as being utterly void of principle +and monsters of ingratitude. + +Much of this censure was well deserved by all of them--by Caroline and +Elise and Pauline. But when we look at the facts impartially we shall +find something which makes Pauline stand out alone as infinitely +superior to her sisters. Of all the Bonapartes she was the only one who +showed fidelity and gratitude to the great emperor, her brother. Even +Mme. Mere, Napoleon's mother, who beyond all question transmitted to him +his great mental and physical power, did nothing for him. At the height +of his splendor she hoarded sous and francs and grumblingly remarked: + +"All this is for a time. It isn't going to last!" + +Pauline, however, was in one respect different from all her kindred. +Napoleon made Elise a princess in her own right and gave her the Grand +Duchy of Tuscany. He married Caroline to Marshal Murat, and they +became respectively King and Queen of Naples. For Pauline he did very +little--less, in fact, than for any other member of his family--and yet +she alone stood by him to the end. + +This feather-headed, languishing, beautiful, distracting morsel of +frivolity, who had the manners of a kitten and the morals of a cat, +nevertheless was not wholly unworthy to be Napoleon's sister. One has to +tell many hard things of her; and yet one almost pardons her because +of her underlying devotion to the man who made the name of Bonaparte +illustrious for ever. Caroline, Queen of Naples, urged her husband to +turn against his former chief. Elise, sour and greedy, threw in +her fortunes with the Murats. Pauline, as we shall see, had the one +redeeming trait of gratitude. + +To those who knew her she was from girlhood an incarnation of what +used to be called "femininity." We have to-day another and a higher +definition of womanhood, but to her contemporaries, and to many modern +writers, she has seemed to be first of all woman--"woman to the tips of +her rosy finger-nails," says Levy. Those who saw her were distracted +by her loveliness. They say that no one can form any idea of her beauty +from her pictures. "A veritable masterpiece of creation," she had been +called. Frederic Masson declares: + +She was so much more the typical woman that with her the defects common +to women reached their highest development, while her beauty attained a +perfection which may justly be called unique. + +No one speaks of Pauline Bonaparte's character or of her intellect, but +wholly of her loveliness and charm, and, it must be added, of her utter +lack of anything like a moral sense. + +Even as a child of thirteen, when the Bonapartes left Corsica and took +up their abode in Marseilles, she attracted universal attention by her +wonderful eyes, her grace, and also by the utter lack of decorum which +she showed. The Bonaparte girls at this time lived almost on charity. +The future emperor was then a captain of artillery and could give them +but little out of his scanty pay. + +Pauline--or, as they called her in those days, Paulette--wore unbecoming +hats and shabby gowns, and shoes that were full of holes. None the +less, she was sought out by several men of note, among them Freron, a +commissioner of the Convention. He visited Pauline so often as to cause +unfavorable comment; but he was in love with her, and she fell in love +with him to the extent of her capacity. She used to write him love +letters in Italian, which were certainly not lacking in ardor. Here is +the end of one of them: + +I love you always and most passionately. I love you for ever, my +beautiful idol, my heart, my appealing lover. I love you, love you, love +you, the most loved of lovers, and I swear never to love any one else! + +This was interesting in view of the fact that soon afterward she fell in +love with Junot, who became a famous marshal. But her love affairs never +gave her any serious trouble; and the three sisters, who now began to +feel the influence of Napoleon's rise to power, enjoyed themselves as +they had never done before. At Antibes they had a beautiful villa, and +later a mansion at Milan. + +By this time Napoleon had routed the Austrians in Italy, and all France +was ringing with his name. What was Pauline like in her maidenhood? +Arnault says: + +She was an extraordinary combination of perfect physical beauty and the +strangest moral laxity. She was as pretty as you please, but utterly +unreasonable. She had no more manners than a school-girl--talking +incoherently, giggling at everything and nothing, and mimicking the most +serious persons of rank. + +General de Ricard, who knew her then, tells in his monograph of the +private theatricals in which Pauline took part, and of the sport which +they had behind the scenes. He says: + +The Bonaparte girls used literally to dress us. They pulled our ears and +slapped us, but they always kissed and made up later. We used to stay in +the girls' room all the time when they were dressing. + +Napoleon was anxious to see his sisters in some way settled. He proposed +to General Marmont to marry Pauline. The girl was then only seventeen, +and one might have had some faith in her character. But Marmont was +shrewd and knew her far too well. The words in which he declined the +honor are interesting: + +"I know that she is charming and exquisitely beautiful; yet I have +dreams of domestic happiness, of fidelity, and of virtue. Such dreams +are seldom realized, I know. Still, in the hope of winning them--" + +And then he paused, coughed, and completed what he had to say in a sort +of mumble, but his meaning was wholly clear. He would not accept the +offer of Pauline in marriage, even though she was the sister of his +mighty chief. + +Then Napoleon turned to General Leclerc, with whom Pauline had for +some time flirted, as she had flirted with almost all the officers of +Napoleon's staff. Leclerc was only twenty-six. He was rich and of good +manners, but rather serious and in poor health. This was not precisely +the sort of husband for Pauline, if we look at it in the conventional +way; but it served Napoleon's purpose and did not in the least interfere +with his sister's intrigues. + +Poor Leclerc, who really loved Pauline, grew thin, and graver still +in manner. He was sent to Spain and Portugal, and finally was made +commander-in-chief of the French expedition to Haiti, where the famous +black rebel, Toussaint l'Ouverture, was heading an uprising of the +negroes. + +Napoleon ordered Pauline to accompany her husband. Pauline flatly +refused, although she made this an occasion for ordering "mountains of +pretty clothes and pyramids of hats." But still she refused to go on +board the flag-ship. Leclerc expostulated and pleaded, but the lovely +witch laughed in his face and still persisted that she would never go. + +Word was brought to Napoleon. He made short work of her resistance. + +"Bring a litter," he said, with one of his steely glances. "Order +six grenadiers to thrust her into it, and see that she goes on board +forthwith." + +And so, screeching like an angry cat, she was carried on board, and set +sail with her husband and one of her former lovers. She found Haiti and +Santo Domingo more agreeable than she had supposed. She was there a +sort of queen who could do as she pleased and have her orders implicitly +obeyed. Her dissipation was something frightful. Her folly and her +vanity were beyond belief. + +But at the end of two years both she and her husband fell ill. He was +stricken down by the yellow fever, which was decimating the French +army. Pauline was suffering from the results of her life in a tropical +climate. Leclerc died, the expedition was abandoned, and Pauline +brought the general's body back to France. When he was buried she, still +recovering from her fever, had him interred in a costly coffin and paid +him the tribute of cutting off her beautiful hair and burying it with +him. + +"What a touching tribute to her dead husband!" said some one to +Napoleon. + +The emperor smiled cynically as he remarked: + +"H'm! Of course she knows that her hair is bound to fall out after her +fever, and that it will come in longer and thicker for being cropped." + +Napoleon, in fact, though he loved Pauline better than his other +sisters--or perhaps because he loved her better--was very strict +with her. He obliged her to wear mourning, and to observe some of the +proprieties; but it was hard to keep her within bounds. + +Presently it became noised about that Prince Camillo Borghese was +exceedingly intimate with her. The prince was an excellent specimen of +the fashionable Italian. He was immensely rich. His palace at Rome was +crammed with pictures, statues, and every sort of artistic treasure. +He was the owner, moreover, of the famous Borghese jewels, the finest +collection of diamonds in the world. + +Napoleon rather sternly insisted upon her marrying Borghese. +Fortunately, the prince was very willing to be connected with Napoleon; +while Pauline was delighted at the idea of having diamonds that would +eclipse all the gems which Josephine possessed; for, like all of the +Bonapartes, she detested her brother's wife. So she would be married and +show her diamonds to Josephine. It was a bit of feminine malice which +she could not resist. + +The marriage took place very quietly at Joseph Bonaparte's house, +because of the absence of Napoleon; but the newly made princess was +invited to visit Josephine at the palace of Saint-Cloud. Here was to be +the triumph of her life. She spent many days in planning a toilet that +should be absolutely crushing to Josephine. Whatever she wore must be a +background for the famous diamonds. Finally she decided on green velvet. + +When the day came Pauline stood before a mirror and gazed at herself +with diamonds glistening in her hair, shimmering around her neck, and +fastened so thickly on her green velvet gown as to remind one of a +moving jewel-casket. She actually shed tears for joy. Then she entered +her carriage and drove out to Saint-Cloud. + +But the Creole Josephine, though no longer young, was a woman of great +subtlety as well as charm. Stories had been told to her of the green +velvet, and therefore she had her drawing-room redecorated in the most +uncompromising blue. It killed the green velvet completely. As for the +diamonds, she met that maneuver by wearing not a single gem of any kind. +Her dress was an Indian muslin with a broad hem of gold. + +Her exquisite simplicity, coupled with her dignity of bearing, made +the Princess Pauline, with her shower of diamonds, and her green velvet +displayed against the blue, seem absolutely vulgar. Josephine was most +generous in her admiration of the Borghese gems, and she kissed Pauline +on parting. The victory was hers. + +There is another story of a defeat which Pauline met from another lady, +one Mme. de Coutades. This was at a magnificent ball given to the most +fashionable world of Paris. Pauline decided upon going, and intended, +in her own phrase, to blot out every woman there. She kept the secret of +her toilet absolutely, and she entered the ballroom at the psychological +moment, when all the guests had just assembled. + +She appeared; and at sight of her the music stopped, silence fell upon +the assemblage, and a sort of quiver went through every one. Her costume +was of the finest muslin bordered with golden palm-leaves. Four bands, +spotted like a leopard's skin, were wound about her head, while these in +turn were supported by little clusters of golden grapes. She had copied +the head-dress of a Bacchante in the Louvre. All over her person were +cameos, and just beneath her breasts she wore a golden band held in +place by an engraved gem. Her beautiful wrists, arms, and hands were +bare. She had, in fact, blotted out her rivals. + +Nevertheless, Mme. de Coutades took her revenge. She went up to Pauline, +who was lying on a divan to set off her loveliness, and began gazing at +the princess through a double eye-glass. Pauline felt flattered for a +moment, and then became uneasy. The lady who was looking at her said to +a companion, in a tone of compassion: + +"What a pity! She really would be lovely if it weren't for THAT!" + +"For what?" returned her escort. + +"Why, are you blind? It's so remarkable that you SURELY must see it." + +Pauline was beginning to lose her self-composure. She flushed and looked +wildly about, wondering what was meant. Then she heard Mme. Coutades +say: + +"Why, her ears. If I had such ears as those I would cut them off!" + +Pauline gave one great gasp and fainted dead away. As a matter of fact, +her ears were not so bad. They were simply very flat and colorless, +forming a contrast with the rosy tints of her face. But from that moment +no one could see anything but these ears; and thereafter the princess +wore her hair low enough to cover them. + +This may be seen in the statue of her by Canova. It was considered a +very daring thing for her to pose for him in the nude, for only a bit of +drapery is thrown over her lower limbs. Yet it is true that this +statue is absolutely classical in its conception and execution, and its +interest is heightened by the fact that its model was what she afterward +styled herself, with true Napoleonic pride--"a sister of Bonaparte." + +Pauline detested Josephine and was pleased when Napoleon divorced her; +but she also disliked the Austrian archduchess, Marie Louise, who was +Josephine's successor. On one occasion, at a great court function, she +got behind the empress and ran out her tongue at her, in full view of +all the nobles and distinguished persons present. Napoleon's eagle eye +flashed upon Pauline and blazed like fire upon ice. She actually took to +her heels, rushed out of the ball, and never visited the court again. + +It would require much time to tell of her other eccentricities, of her +intrigues, which were innumerable, of her quarrel with her husband, and +of the minor breaches of decorum with which she startled Paris. One of +these was her choice of a huge negro to bathe her every morning. When +some one ventured to protest, she answered, naively: + +"What! Do you call that thing a MAN?" + +And she compromised by compelling her black servitor to go out and +marry some one at once, so that he might continue his ministrations with +propriety! + +To her Napoleon showed himself far more severe than with either Caroline +or Elise. He gave her a marriage dowry of half a million francs when she +became the Princess Borghese, but after that he was continually checking +her extravagances. Yet in 1814, when the downfall came and Napoleon was +sent into exile at Elba, Pauline was the only one of all his relatives +to visit him and spend her time with him. His wife fell away and went +back to her Austrian relatives. Of all the Bonapartes only Pauline and +Mme. Mere remained faithful to the emperor. + +Even then Napoleon refused to pay a bill of hers for sixty-two +francs, while he allowed her only two hundred and forty francs for the +maintenance of her horses. But she, with a generosity of which one would +have thought her quite incapable, gave to her brother a great part of +her fortune. When he escaped from Elba and began the campaign of 1815 +she presented him with all the Borghese diamonds. In fact, he had them +with him in his carriage at Waterloo, where they were captured by the +English. Contrast this with the meanness and ingratitude of her sisters +and her brothers, and one may well believe that she was sincerely proud +of what it meant to be la soeur de Bonaparte. + +When he was sent to St. Helena she was ill in bed and could not +accompany him. Nevertheless, she tried to sell all her trinkets, of +which she was so proud, in order that she might give him help. When +he died she received the news with bitter tears "on hearing all the +particulars of that long agony." + +As for herself, she did not long survive. At the age of forty-four her +last moments came. Knowing that she was to die, she sent for Prince +Borghese and sought a reconciliation. But, after all, she died as she +had lived--"the queen of trinkets" (la reine des colifichets). She asked +the servant to bring a mirror. She gazed into it with her dying eyes; +and then, as she sank back, it was with a smile of deep content. + +"I am not afraid to die," she said. "I am still beautiful!" + + + + + +THE STORY OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE AND COUNT NEIPPERG + + +There is one famous woman whom history condemns while at the same time +it partly hides the facts which might mitigate the harshness of the +judgment that is passed upon her. This woman is Marie Louise, Empress +of France, consort of the great Napoleon, and archduchess of imperial +Austria. When the most brilliant figure in all history, after his +overthrow in 1814, was in tawdry exile on the petty island of Elba, +the empress was already about to become a mother; and the father of her +unborn child was not Napoleon, but another man. This is almost all that +is usually remembered of her--that she was unfaithful to Napoleon, that +she abandoned him in the hour of his defeat, and that she gave herself +with readiness to one inferior in rank, yet with whom she lived for +years, and to whom she bore what a French writer styled "a brood of +bastards." + +Naturally enough, the Austrian and German historians do not have much +to say of Marie Louise, because in her own disgrace she also brought +disgrace upon the proudest reigning family in Europe. Naturally, also, +French writers, even those who are hostile to Napoleon, do not care +to dwell upon the story; since France itself was humiliated when its +greatest genius and most splendid soldier was deceived by his Austrian +wife. Therefore there are still many who know little beyond the bare +fact that the Empress Marie Louise threw away her pride as a princess, +her reputation as a wife, and her honor as a woman. Her figure seems to +crouch in a sort of murky byway, and those who pass over the highroad of +history ignore it with averted eyes. + +In reality the story of Napoleon and Marie Louise and of the Count von +Neipperg is one which, when you search it to the very core, leads you +straight to a sex problem of a very curious nature. Nowhere else does +it occur in the relations of the great personages of history; but in +literature Balzac, that master of psychology, has touched upon the theme +in the early chapters of his famous novel called "A Woman of Thirty." + +As to the Napoleonic story, let us first recall the facts of the +case, giving them in such order that their full significance may be +understood. + +In 1809 Napoleon, then at the plenitude of his power, shook himself free +from the clinging clasp of Josephine and procured the annulment of his +marriage to her. He really owed her nothing. Before he knew her she had +been the mistress of another. In the first years of their life together +she had been notoriously unfaithful to him. He had held to her from +habit which was in part a superstition; but the remembrance of the wrong +which she had done him made her faded charms at times almost repulsive. +And then Josephine had never borne him any children; and without a +son to perpetuate his dynasty, the gigantic achievements which he +had wrought seemed futile in his eyes, and likely to crumble into +nothingness when he should die. + +No sooner had the marriage been annulled than his titanic ambition +leaped, as it always did, to a tremendous pinnacle. He would wed. He +would have children. But he would wed no petty princess. This man who in +his early youth had felt honored by a marriage with the almost declassee +widow of a creole planter now stretched out his hand that he might take +to himself a woman not merely royal but imperial. + +At first he sought the sister of the Czar of Russia; but Alexander +entertained a profound distrust of the French emperor, and managed to +evade the tentative demand. There was, however, a reigning family far +more ancient than the Romanoffs--a family which had held the imperial +dignity for nearly six centuries--the oldest and the noblest blood in +Europe. This was the Austrian house of Hapsburg. Its head, the Emperor +Francis, had thirteen children, of whom the eldest, the Archduchess +Marie Louise, was then in her nineteenth year. + +Napoleon had resented the rebuff which the Czar had given him. He +turned, therefore, the more eagerly to the other project. Yet there were +many reasons why an Austrian marriage might be dangerous, or, at any +rate, ill-omened. Only sixteen years before, an Austrian arch-duchess, +Marie Antionette, married to the ruler of France, had met her death +upon the scaffold, hated and cursed by the French people, who had always +blamed "the Austrian" for the evil days which had ended in the flames +of revolution. Again, the father of the girl to whom Napoleon's fancy +turned had been the bitter enemy of the new regime in France. His troops +had been beaten by the French in five wars and had been crushed at +Austerlitz and at Wagram. Bonaparte had twice entered Vienna at the head +of a conquering army, and thrice he had slept in the imperial palace +at Schonbrunn, while Francis was fleeing through the dark, a beaten +fugitive pursued by the swift squadrons of French cavalry. + +The feeling of Francis of Austria was not merely that of the vanquished +toward the victor. It was a deep hatred almost religious in its fervor. +He was the head and front of the old-time feudalism of birth and blood; +Napoleon was the incarnation of the modern spirit which demolished +thrones and set an iron heel upon crowned heads, giving the sacred +titles of king and prince to soldiers who, even in palaces, still showed +the swaggering brutality of the camp and the stable whence they sprang. +Yet, just because an alliance with the Austrian house seemed in so many +ways impossible, the thought of it inflamed the ardor of Napoleon all +the more. + +"Impossible?" he had once said, contemptuously. "The word 'impossible' +is not French." + +The Austrian alliance, unnatural though it seemed, was certainly quite +possible. In the year 1809 Napoleon had finished his fifth war with +Austria by the terrific battle of Wagram, which brought the empire of +the Hapsburgs to the very dust. The conqueror's rude hand had stripped +from Francis province after province. He had even let fall hints that +the Hapsburgs might be dethroned and that Austria might disappear from +the map of Europe, to be divided between himself and the Russian Czar, +who was still his ally. It was at this psychological moment that the +Czar wounded Napoleon's pride by refusing to give the hand of his sister +Anne. + +The subtle diplomats of Vienna immediately saw their chance. +Prince Metternich, with the caution of one who enters the cage of a +man-eating-tiger, suggested that the Austrian archduchess would be a +fitting bride for the French conqueror. The notion soothed the wounded +vanity of Napoleon. From that moment events moved swiftly; and before +long it was understood that there was to be a new empress in France, and +that she was to be none other than the daughter of the man who had been +Napoleon's most persistent foe upon the Continent. The girl was to be +given--sacrificed, if you like--to appease an imperial adventurer. After +such a marriage, Austria would be safe from spoliation. The reigning +dynasty would remain firmly seated upon its historic throne. + +But how about the girl herself? She had always heard Napoleon spoken of +as a sort of ogre--a man of low ancestry, a brutal and faithless enemy +of her people. She knew that this bold, rough-spoken soldier less than a +year before had added insult to the injury which he had inflicted on +her father. In public proclamations he had called the Emperor Francis a +coward and a liar. Up to the latter part of the year Napoleon was to +her imagination a blood-stained, sordid, and yet all-powerful monster, +outside the pale of human liking and respect. What must have been her +thoughts when her father first told her with averted face that she was +to become the bride of such a being? + +Marie Louise had been brought up, as all German girls of rank were then +brought up, in quiet simplicity and utter innocence. In person she was +a tall blonde, with a wealth of light brown hair tumbling about a face +which might be called attractive because it was so youthful and so +gentle, but in which only poets and courtiers could see beauty. Her +complexion was rosy, with that peculiar tinge which means that in the +course of time it will become red and mottled. Her blue eyes were clear +and childish. Her figure was good, though already too full for a girl +who was younger than her years. + +She had a large and generous mouth with full lips, the lower one +being the true "Hapsburg lip," slightly pendulous--a feature which has +remained for generation after generation as a sure sign of Hapsburg +blood. One sees it in the present emperor of Austria, in the late Queen +Regent of Spain, and in the present King of Spain, Alfonso. All the +artists who made miniatures or paintings of Marie Louise softened down +this racial mark so that no likeness of her shows it as it really was. +But take her all in all, she was a simple, childlike, German madchen +who knew nothing of the outside world except what she had heard from her +discreet and watchful governess, and what had been told her of Napoleon +by her uncles, the archdukes whom he had beaten down in battle. + +When she learned that she was to be given to the French emperor her +girlish soul experienced a shudder; but her father told her how vital +was this union to her country and to him. With a sort of piteous dread +she questioned the archdukes who had called Napoleon an ogre. + +"Oh, that was when Napoleon was an enemy," they replied. "Now he is our +friend." + +Marie Louise listened to all this, and, like the obedient German girl +she was, yielded her own will. + +Events moved with a rush, for Napoleon was not the man to dally. +Josephine had retired to her residence at Malmaison, and Paris was +already astir with preparations for the new empress who was to assure +the continuation of the Napoleonic glory by giving children to her +husband. Napoleon had said to his ambassador with his usual bluntness: + +"This is the first and most important thing--she must have children." + +To the girl whom he was to marry he sent the following letter--an odd +letter, combining the formality of a negotiator with the veiled ardor of +a lover: + +MY COUSIN: The brilliant qualities which adorn your person have inspired +in me a desire to serve you and to pay you homage. In making my request +to the emperor, your father, and praying him to intrust to me the +happiness of your imperial highness, may I hope that you will understand +the sentiments which lead me to this act? May I flatter myself that it +will not be decided solely by the duty of parental obedience? However +slightly the feelings of your imperial highness may incline to me, I +wish to cultivate them with so great care, and to endeavor so constantly +to please you in everything, that I flatter myself that some day I shall +prove attractive to you. This is the end at which I desire to arrive, +and for which I pray your highness to be favorable to me. + +Immediately everything was done to dazzle the imagination of the girl. +She had dressed always in the simplicity of the school-room. Her only +ornaments had been a few colored stones which she sometimes wore as a +necklace or a bracelet. Now the resources of all France were drawn upon. +Precious laces foamed about her. Cascades of diamonds flashed before her +eyes. The costliest and most exquisite creations of the Parisian shops +were spread around her to make up a trousseau fit for the princess who +was soon to become the bride of the man who had mastered continental +Europe. + +The archives of Vienna were ransacked for musty documents which would +show exactly what had been done for other Austrian princesses who had +married rulers of France. Everything was duplicated down to the last +detail. Ladies-in-waiting thronged about the young archduchess; and +presently there came to her Queen Caroline of Naples, Napoleon's sister, +of whom Napoleon himself once said: "She is the only man among my +sisters, as Joseph is the only woman among my brothers." Caroline, by +virtue of her rank as queen, could have free access to her husband's +future bride. Also, there came presently Napoleon's famous marshal, +Berthier, Prince of Neuchatel, the chief of the Old Guard, who had just +been created Prince of Wagram--a title which, very naturally, he did not +use in Austria. He was to act as proxy for Napoleon in the preliminary +marriage service at Vienna. + +All was excitement. Vienna had never been so gay. Money was lavished +under the direction of Caroline and Berthier. There were illuminations +and balls. The young girl found herself the center of the world's +interest; and the excitement made her dizzy. She could not but be +flattered, and yet there were many hours when her heart misgave her. +More than once she was found in tears. Her father, an affectionate +though narrow soul, spent an entire day with her consoling and +reassuring her. One thought she always kept in mind--what she had said +to Metternich at the very first: "I want only what my duty bids me +want." At last came the official marriage, by proxy, in the presence of +a splendid gathering. The various documents were signed, the dowry was +arranged for. Gifts were scattered right and left. At the opera +there were gala performances. Then Marie Louise bade her father a sad +farewell. Almost suffocated by sobs and with her eyes streaming with +tears, she was led between two hedges of bayonets to her carriage, while +cannon thundered and all the church-bells of Vienna rang a joyful peal. + +She set out for France accompanied by a long train of carriages filled +with noblemen and noblewomen, with ladies-in-waiting and scores of +attendant menials. The young bride--the wife of a man whom she had never +seen--was almost dead with excitement and fatigue. At a station in the +outskirts of Vienna she scribbled a few lines to her father, which are a +commentary upon her state of mind: + +I think of you always, and I always shall. God has given me power to +endure this final shock, and in Him alone I have put all my trust. He +will help me and give me courage, and I shall find support in doing my +duty toward you, since it is all for you that I have sacrificed myself. + +There is something piteous in this little note of a frightened girl +going to encounter she knew not what, and clinging almost frantically +to the one thought--that whatever might befall her, she was doing as her +father wished. + +One need not recount the long and tedious journey of many days over +wretched roads, in carriages that jolted and lurched and swayed. She was +surrounded by unfamiliar faces and was compelled to meet at every town +the chief men of the place, all of whom paid her honor, but stared at +her with irrepressible curiosity. Day after day she went on and on. Each +morning a courier on a foaming horse presented her with a great cluster +of fresh flowers and a few lines scrawled by the unknown husband who was +to meet her at her journey's end. + +There lay the point upon which her wandering thoughts were focused--the +journey's end! The man whose strange, mysterious power had forced her +from her school-room, had driven her through a nightmare of strange +happenings, and who was waiting for her somewhere to take her to +himself, to master her as he had mastered generals and armies! + +What was marriage? What did it mean? What experience still lay before +her! These were the questions which she must have asked herself +throughout that long, exhausting journey. When she thought of the past +she was homesick. When she thought of the immediate future she was +fearful with a shuddering fear. + +At last she reached the frontier of France, and her carriage passed into +a sort of triple structure, the first pavilion of which was Austrian, +while the middle pavilion was neutral, and the farther one was French. +Here she was received by those who were afterward to surround her--the +representatives of the Napoleonic court. They were not all plebeians and +children of the Revolution, ex-stable boys, ex-laundresses. By this time +Napoleon had gathered around himself some of the noblest families of +France, who had rallied to the empire. The assemblage was a brilliant +one. There were Montmorencys and Beaumonts and Audenardes in abundance. +But to Marie Louise, as to her Austrian attendants, they were all alike. +They were French, they were strangers, and she shrank from them. + +Yet here her Austrians must leave her. All who had accompanied her thus +far were now turned back. Napoleon had been insistent on this point. +Even her governess, who had been with her since her childhood, was not +allowed to cross the French frontier. So fixed was Napoleon's purpose +to have nothing Austrian about her, that even her pet dog, to which +she clung as a girl would cling, was taken from her. Thereafter she was +surrounded only by French faces, by French guards, and was greeted only +by salvos of French artillery. + +In the mean time what was Napoleon doing at Paris. Since the annulment +of his marriage with Josephine he had gone into a sort of retirement. +Matters of state, war, internal reforms, no longer interested him; but +that restless brain could not sink into repose. Inflamed with the ardor +of a new passion, that passion was all the greater because he had +never yet set eyes upon its object. Marriage with an imperial princess +flattered his ambition. The youth and innocence of the bride stirred his +whole being with a thrill of novelty. The painted charms of Josephine, +the mercenary favors of actresses, the calculated ecstasies of the women +of the court who gave themselves to him from vanity, had long since +palled upon him. Therefore the impatience with which he awaited the +coming of Marie Louise became every day more tense. + +For a time he amused himself with planning down to the very last details +the demonstrations that were to be given in her honor. He organized +them as minutely as he had ever organized a conquering army. He showed +himself as wonderful in these petty things as he had in those great +strategic combinations which had baffled the ablest generals of +Europe. But after all had been arranged--even to the illuminations, the +cheering, the salutes, and the etiquette of the court--he fell into a +fever of impatience which gave him sleepless nights and frantic days. He +paced up and down the Tuileries, almost beside himself. He hurried off +courier after courier with orders that the postilions should lash their +horses to bring the hour of meeting nearer still. He scribbled love +letters. He gazed continually on the diamond-studded portrait of the +woman who was hurrying toward him. + +At last as the time approached he entered a swift traveling-carriage and +hastened to Compiegne, about fifty miles from Paris, where it had been +arranged that he should meet his consort and whence he was to escort her +to the capital, so that they might be married in the great gallery +of the Louvre. At Compiegne the chancellerie had been set apart for +Napoleon's convenience, while the chateau had been assigned to Marie +Louise and her attendants. When Napoleon's carriage dashed into the +place, drawn by horses that had traveled at a gallop, the emperor could +not restrain himself. It was raining torrents and night was coming +on, yet, none the less, he shouted for fresh horses and pushed on to +Soissons, where the new empress was to stop and dine. When he reached +there and she had not arrived, new relays of horses were demanded, and +he hurried off once more into the dark. + +At the little village of Courcelles he met the courier who was riding in +advance of the empress's cortege. + +"She will be here in a few moments!" cried Napoleon; and he leaped from +his carriage into the highway. + +The rain descended harder than ever, and he took refuge in the arched +doorway of the village church, his boots already bemired, his great coat +reeking with the downpour. As he crouched before the church he heard the +sound of carriages; and before long there came toiling through the +mud the one in which was seated the girl for whom he had so long been +waiting. It was stopped at an order given by an officer. Within it, +half-fainting with fatigue and fear, Marie Louise sat in the dark, +alone. + +Here, if ever, was the chance for Napoleon to win his bride. Could he +have restrained himself, could he have shown the delicate consideration +which was demanded of him, could he have remembered at least that he was +an emperor and that the girl--timid and shuddering--was a princess, her +future story might have been far different. But long ago he had ceased +to think of anything except his own desires. + +He approached the carriage. An obsequious chamberlain drew aside the +leathern covering and opened the door, exclaiming as he did so, "The +emperor!" And then there leaped in the rain-soaked, mud-bespattered +being whose excesses had always been as unbridled as his genius. The +door was closed, the leathern curtain again drawn, and the horses set +out at a gallop for Soissons. Within, the shrinking bride was at the +mercy of pure animal passion, feeling upon her hot face a torrent of +rough kisses, and yielding herself in terror to the caresses of wanton +hands. + +At Soissons Napoleon allowed no halt, but the carriage plunged on, still +in the rain, to Compiegne. There all the arrangements made with so much +care were thrust aside. Though the actual marriage had not yet taken +place, Napoleon claimed all the rights which afterward were given in the +ceremonial at Paris. He took the girl to the chancellerie, and not to +the chateau. In an anteroom dinner was served with haste to the imperial +pair and Queen Caroline. Then the latter was dismissed with little +ceremony, the lights were extinguished, and this daughter of a line of +emperors was left to the tender mercies of one who always had about him +something of the common soldier--the man who lives for loot and lust.... +At eleven the next morning she was unable to rise and was served in bed +by the ladies of her household. + +These facts, repellent as they are, must be remembered when we call +to mind what happened in the next five years. The horror of that night +could not be obliterated by splendid ceremonies, by studious attention, +or by all the pomp and gaiety of the court. Napoleon was then +forty-one--practically the same age as his new wife's father, the +Austrian emperor; Marie Louise was barely nineteen and younger than her +years. Her master must have seemed to be the brutal ogre whom her uncles +had described. + +Installed in the Tuileries, she taught herself compliance. On their +marriage night Napoleon had asked her briefly: "What did your parents +tell you?" And she had answered, meekly: "To be yours altogether and to +obey you in everything." But, though she gave compliance, and though her +freshness seemed enchanting to Napoleon, there was something concealed +within her thoughts to which he could not penetrate. He gaily said to a +member of the court: + +"Marry a German, my dear fellow. They are the best women in the +world--gentle, good, artless, and as fresh as roses." + +Yet, at the same time, Napoleon felt a deep anxiety lest in her very +heart of hearts this German girl might either fear or hate him secretly. +Somewhat later Prince Metternich came from the Austrian court to Paris. + +"I give you leave," said Napoleon, "to have a private interview with the +empress. Let her tell you what she likes, and I shall ask no questions. +Even should I do so, I now forbid your answering me." + +Metternich was closeted with the empress for a long while. When he +returned to the ante-room he found Napoleon fidgeting about, his eyes a +pair of interrogation-points. + +"I am sure," he said, "that the empress told you that I was kind to +her?" + +Metternich bowed and made no answer. + +"Well," said Napoleon, somewhat impatiently, "at least I am sure that +she is happy. Tell me, did she not say so?" + +The Austrian diplomat remained unsmiling. + +"Your majesty himself has forbidden me to answer," he returned with +another bow. + +We may fairly draw the inference that Marie Louise, though she adapted +herself to her surroundings, was never really happy. Napoleon became +infatuated with her. He surrounded her with every possible mark of +honor. He abandoned public business to walk or drive with her. But the +memory of his own brutality must have vaguely haunted him throughout it +all. He was jealous of her as he had never been jealous of the fickle +Josephine. Constant has recorded that the greatest precautions were +taken to prevent any person whatsoever, and especially any man, from +approaching the empress save in the presence of witnesses. + +Napoleon himself underwent a complete change of habits and demeanor. +Where he had been rough and coarse he became attentive and refined. His +shabby uniforms were all discarded, and he spent hours in trying on new +costumes. He even attempted to learn to waltz, but this he gave up in +despair. Whereas before he ate hastily and at irregular intervals, +he now sat at dinner with unusual patience, and the court took on a +character which it had never had. Never before had he sacrificed either +his public duty or his private pleasure for any woman. Even in the first +ardor of his marriage with Josephine, when he used to pour out his heart +to her in letters from Italian battle-fields, he did so only after he +had made the disposition of his troops and had planned his movements +for the following day. Now, however, he was not merely devoted, but +uxorious; and in 1811, after the birth of the little King of Rome, he +ceased to be the earlier Napoleon altogether. He had founded a dynasty. +He was the head of a reigning house. He forgot the principles of the +Revolution, and he ruled, as he thought, like other monarchs, by the +grace of God. + +As for Marie Louise, she played her part extremely well. Somewhat +haughty and unapproachable to others, she nevertheless studied +Napoleon's every wish. She seemed even to be loving; but one can +scarcely doubt that her obedience sprang ultimately from fear and +that her devotion was the devotion of a dog which has been beaten into +subjection. + +Her vanity was flattered in many ways, and most of all by her +appointment as regent of the empire during Napoleon's absence in the +disastrous Russian campaign which began in 1812. It was in June of that +year that the French emperor held court at Dresden, where he played, +as was said, to "a parterre of kings." This was the climax of his +magnificence, for there were gathered all the sovereigns and princes who +were his allies and who furnished the levies that swelled his Grand Army +to six hundred thousand men. Here Marie Louise, like her husband, felt +to the full the intoxication of supreme power. By a sinister coincidence +it was here that she first met the other man, then unnoticed and little +heeded, who was to cast upon her a fascination which in the end proved +irresistible. + +This man was Adam Albrecht, Count von Neipperg. There is something +mysterious about his early years, and something baleful about his silent +warfare with Napoleon. As a very young soldier he had been an Austrian +officer in 1793. His command served in Belgium; and there, in a +skirmish, he was overpowered by the French in superior numbers, but +resisted desperately. In the melee a saber slashed him across the right +side of his face, and he was made prisoner. The wound deprived him of +his right eye, so that for the rest of his life he was compelled to wear +a black bandage to conceal the mutilation. + +From that moment he conceived an undying hatred of the French, serving +against them in the Tyrol and in Italy. He always claimed that had the +Archduke Charles followed his advice, the Austrians would have forced +Napoleon's army to capitulate at Marengo, thus bringing early eclipse +to the rising star of Bonaparte. However this may be, Napoleon's success +enraged Neipperg and made his hatred almost the hatred of a fiend. + +Hitherto he had detested the French as a nation. Afterward he +concentrated his malignity upon the person of Napoleon. In every way he +tried to cross the path of that great soldier, and, though Neipperg was +comparatively an unknown man, his indomitable purpose and his continued +intrigues at last attracted the notice of the emperor; for in 1808 +Napoleon wrote this significant sentence: + +The Count von Neipperg is openly known to have been the enemy of the +French. + +Little did the great conqueror dream how deadly was the blow which this +Austrian count was destined finally to deal him! + +Neipperg, though his title was not a high one, belonged to the old +nobility of Austria. He had proved his bravery in war and as a duelist, +and he was a diplomat as well as a soldier. Despite his mutilation, he +was a handsome and accomplished courtier, a man of wide experience, and +one who bore himself in a manner which suggested the spirit of romance. +According to Masson, he was an Austrian Don Juan, and had won the hearts +of many women. At thirty he had formed a connection with an Italian +woman named Teresa Pola, whom he had carried away from her husband. She +had borne him five children; and in 1813 he had married her in order +that these children might be made legitimate. + +In his own sphere the activity of Neipperg was almost as remarkable as +Napoleon's in a greater one. Apart from his exploits on the field of +battle he had been attached to the Austrian embassy in Paris, and, +strangely enough, had been decorated by Napoleon himself with, the +golden eagle of the Legion of Honor. Four months later we find him +minister of Austria at the court of Sweden, where he helped to lay the +train of intrigue which was to detach Bernadotte from Napoleon's cause. +In 1812, as has just been said, he was with Marie Louise for a short +time at Dresden, hovering about her, already forming schemes. Two years +after this he overthrew Murat at Naples; and then hurried on post-haste +to urge Prince Eugene to abandon Bonaparte. + +When the great struggle of 1814 neared its close, and Napoleon, fighting +with his back to the wall, was about to succumb to the united armies of +Europe, it was evident that the Austrian emperor would soon be able to +separate his daughter from her husband. In fact, when Napoleon was sent +to Elba, Marie Louise returned to Vienna. The cynical Austrian diplomats +resolved that she should never again meet her imperial husband. She was +made Duchess of Parma in Italy, and set out for her new possessions; and +the man with the black band across his sightless eye was chosen to be +her escort and companion. + +When Neipperg received this commission he was with Teresa Pola at Milan. +A strange smile flitted across his face; and presently he remarked, with +cynical frankness: + +"Before six months I shall be her lover, and, later on, her husband." + +He took up his post as chief escort of Marie Louise, and they journeyed +slowly to Munich and Baden and Geneva, loitering on the way. Amid the +great events which were shaking Europe this couple attracted slight +attention. Napoleon, in Elba, longed for his wife and for his little +son, the King of Rome. He sent countless messages and many couriers; but +every message was intercepted, and no courier reached his destination. +Meanwhile Marie Louise was lingering agreeably in Switzerland. She was +happy to have escaped from the whirlpool of politics and war. Amid the +romantic scenery through which she passed Neipperg was always by her +side, attentive, devoted, trying in everything to please her. With him +she passed delightful evenings. He sang to her in his rich barytone +songs of love. He seemed romantic with a touch of mystery, a gallant +soldier whose soul was also touched by sentiment. + +One would have said that Marie Louise, the daughter of an imperial +line, would have been proof against the fascinations of a person so far +inferior to herself in rank, and who, beside the great emperor, was less +than nothing. Even granting that she had never really loved Napoleon, +she might still have preferred to maintain her dignity, to share his +fate, and to go down in history as the empress of the greatest man whom +modern times have known. + +But Marie Louise was, after all, a woman, and she followed the guidance +of her heart. To her Napoleon was still the man who had met her amid the +rain-storm at Courcelles, and had from the first moment when he touched +her violated all the instincts of a virgin. Later he had in his way +tried to make amends; but the horror of that first night had never +wholly left her memory. Napoleon had unrolled before her the drama of +sensuality, but her heart had not been given to him. She had been his +empress. In a sense it might be more true to say that she had been +his mistress. But she had never been duly wooed and won and made his +wife--an experience which is the right of every woman. And so this +Neipperg, with his deferential manners, his soothing voice, his magnetic +touch, his ardor, and his devotion, appeased that craving which the +master of a hundred legions could not satisfy. + +In less than the six months of which Neipperg had spoken the +psychological moment had arrived. In the dim twilight she listened to +his words of love; and then, drawn by that irresistible power which +masters pride and woman's will, she sank into her lover's arms, yielding +to his caresses, and knowing that she would be parted from him no more +except by death. + +From that moment he was bound to her by the closest ties and lived with +her at the petty court of Parma. His prediction came true to the very +letter. Teresa Pola died, and then Napoleon died, and after this Marie +Louise and Neipperg were united in a morganatic marriage. Three children +were born to them before his death in 1829. + +It is interesting to note how much of an impression was made upon her by +the final exile of her imperial husband to St. Helena. When the news was +brought her she observed, casually: + +"Thanks. By the way, I should like to ride this morning to Markenstein. +Do you think the weather is good enough to risk it?" + +Napoleon, on his side, passed through agonies of doubt and longing when +no letters came to him from Marie Louise. She was constantly in his +thoughts during his exile at St. Helena. "When his faithful friend and +constant companion at St. Helena, the Count Las Casas, was ordered by +Sir Hudson Lowe to depart from St. Helena, Napoleon wrote to him: + +"Should you see, some day, my wife and son, embrace them. For two years +I have, neither directly nor indirectly, heard from them. There has been +on this island for six months a German botanist, who has seen them +in the garden of Schoenbrunn a few months before his departure. +The barbarians (meaning the English authorities at St. Helena) have +carefully prevented him from coming to give me any news respecting +them." + +At last the truth was told him, and he received it with that high +magnanimity, or it may be fatalism, which at times he was capable of +showing. Never in all his days of exile did he say one word against her. +Possibly in searching his own soul he found excuses such as we may find. +In his will he spoke of her with great affection, and shortly before his +death he said to his physician, Antommarchi: + +"After my death, I desire that you will take my heart, put it in the +spirits of wine, and that you carry it to Parma to my dear Marie Louise. +You will please tell her that I tenderly loved her--that I never ceased +to love her. You will relate to her all that you have seen, and every +particular respecting my situation and death." + +The story of Marie Louise is pathetic, almost tragic. There is the taint +of grossness about it; and yet, after all, there is a lesson in it--the +lesson that true love cannot be forced or summoned at command, that it +is destroyed before its birth by outrage, and that it goes out only when +evoked by sympathy, by tenderness, and by devotion. + + +END OF VOLUME TWO + + + + + +THE WIVES OF GENERAL HOUSTON + + +Sixty or seventy years ago it was considered a great joke to chalk up +on any man's house-door, or on his trunk at a coaching-station, the +conspicuous letters "G. T. T." The laugh went round, and every one +who saw the inscription chuckled and said: "They've got it on you, old +hoss!" The three letters meant "gone to Texas"; and for any man to go to +Texas in those days meant his moral, mental, and financial dilapidation. +Either he had plunged into bankruptcy and wished to begin life over +again in a new world, or the sheriff had a warrant for his arrest. + +The very task of reaching Texas was a fearful one. Rivers that overran +their banks, fever-stricken lowlands where gaunt faces peered out from +moldering cabins, bottomless swamps where the mud oozed greasily and +where the alligator could be seen slowly moving his repulsive form--all +this stretched on for hundreds of miles to horrify and sicken the +emigrants who came toiling on foot or struggling upon emaciated horses. +Other daring pioneers came by boat, running all manner of risks upon the +swollen rivers. Still others descended from the mountains of Tennessee +and passed through a more open country and with a greater certainty of +self-protection, because they were trained from childhood to wield the +rifle and the long sheath-knife. + +It is odd enough to read, in the chronicles of those days, that amid all +this suffering and squalor there was drawn a strict line between "the +quality" and those who had no claim to be patricians. "The quality" was +made up of such emigrants as came from the more civilized East, or +who had slaves, or who dragged with them some rickety vehicle with +carriage-horses--however gaunt the animals might be. All others--those +who had no slaves or horses, and no traditions of the older states--were +classed as "poor whites"; and they accepted their mediocrity without a +murmur. + +Because he was born in Lexington, Virginia, and moved thence with his +family to Tennessee, young Sam Houston--a truly eponymous American +hero--was numbered with "the quality" when, after long wandering, he +reached his boyhood home. His further claim to distinction as a boy came +from the fact that he could read and write, and was even familiar with +some of the classics in translation. + +When less than eighteen years of age he had reached a height of +more than six feet. He was skilful with the rifle, a remarkable +rough-and-tumble fighter, and as quick with his long knife as any +Indian. This made him a notable figure--the more so as he never abused +his strength and courage. He was never known as anything but "Sam." In +his own sphere he passed for a gentleman and a scholar, thanks to his +Virginian birth and to the fact that he could repeat a great part of +Pope's translation of the "Iliad." + +His learning led him to teach school a few months in the year to the +children of the white settlers. Indeed, Houston was so much taken with +the pursuit of scholarship that he made up his mind to learn Greek and +Latin. Naturally, this seemed mere foolishness to his mother, his six +strapping brothers, and his three stalwart sisters, who cared little +for study. So sharp was the difference between Sam and the rest of the +family that he gave up his yearning after the classics and went to the +other extreme by leaving home and plunging into the heart of the forest +beyond sight of any white man or woman or any thought of Hellas and +ancient Rome. + +Here in the dimly lighted glades he was most happy. The Indians admired +him for his woodcraft and for the skill with which he chased the wild +game amid the forests. From his copy of the "Iliad" he would read to +them the thoughts of the world's greatest poet. + +It is told that nearly forty years after, when Houston had long led a +different life and had made his home in Washington, a deputation of more +than forty untamed Indians from Texas arrived there under the charge of +several army officers. They chanced to meet Sam Houston. + +One and all ran to him, clasped him in their brawny arms, hugged him +like bears to their naked breasts, and called him "father." Beneath the +copper skin and thick paint the blood rushed, and their faces changed, +and the lips of many a warrior trembled, although the Indian may not +weep. + +In the gigantic form of Houston, on whose ample brow the beneficent +love of a father was struggling with the sternness of the patriarch and +warrior, we saw civilization awing the savage at his feet. We needed no +interpreter to tell us that this impressive supremacy was gained in the +forest. + +His family had been at first alarmed by his stay among the Indians; +but when after a time he returned for a new outfit they saw that he was +entirely safe and left him to wander among the red men. Later he came +forth and resumed the pursuits of civilization. He took up his studies; +he learned the rudiments of law and entered upon its active practice. +When barely thirty-six he had won every office that was open to him, +ending with his election to the Governorship of Tennessee in 1827. + +Then came a strange episode which changed the whole course of his life. +Until then the love of woman had never stirred his veins. His physical +activities in the forests, his unique intimacy with Indian life, had +kept him away from the social intercourse of towns and cities. In +Nashville Houston came to know for the first time the fascination of +feminine society. As a lawyer, a politician, and the holder of important +offices he could not keep aloof from that gentler and more winning +influence which had hitherto been unknown to him. + +In 1828 Governor Houston was obliged to visit different portions of +the state, stopping, as was the custom, to visit at the homes of "the +quality," and to be introduced to wives and daughters as well as to +their sportsman sons. On one of his official journeys he met Miss Eliza +Allen, a daughter of one of the "influential families" of Sumner County, +on the northern border of Tennessee. He found her responsive, charming, +and greatly to be admired. She was a slender type of Southern beauty, +well calculated to gain the affection of a lover, and especially of +one whose associations had been chiefly with the women of frontier +communities. + +To meet a girl who had refined tastes and wide reading, and who was at +the same time graceful and full of humor, must have come as a pleasant +experience to Houston. He and Miss Allen saw much of each other, and few +of their friends were surprised when the word went forth that they were +engaged to be married. + +The marriage occurred in January, 1829. They were surrounded with +friends of all classes and ranks, for Houston was the associate of +Jackson and was immensely popular in his own state. He seemed to have +before him a brilliant career. He had won a lovely bride to make a home +for him; so that no man seemed to have more attractive prospects. What +was there which at this time interposed in some malignant way to blight +his future? + +It was a little more than a month after his marriage when he met a +friend, and, taking him out into a strip of quiet woodland, said to him: + +"I have something to tell you, but you must not ask me anything about +it. My wife and I will separate before long. She will return to her +father's, while I must make my way alone." + +Houston's friend seized him by the arm and gazed at him with horror. + +"Governor," said he, "you're going to ruin your whole life! What reason +have you for treating this young lady in such a way? What has she done +that you should leave her? Or what have you done that she should leave +you? Every one will fall away from you." + +Houston grimly replied: + +"I have no explanation to give you. My wife has none to give you. She +will not complain of me, nor shall I complain of her. It is no +one's business in the world except our own. Any interference will be +impertinent, and I shall punish it with my own hand." + +"But," said his friend, "think of it. The people at large will not allow +such action. They will believe that you, who have been their idol, have +descended to insult a woman. Your political career is ended. It will not +be safe for you to walk the streets!" + +"What difference does it make to me?" said Houston, gloomily. "What must +be, must be. I tell you, as a friend, in advance, so that you may be +prepared; but the parting will take place very soon." + +Little was heard for another month or two, and then came the +announcement that the Governor's wife had left him and had returned to +her parents' home. The news flew like wildfire, and was the theme +of every tongue. Friends of Mrs. Houston begged her to tell them the +meaning of the whole affair. Adherents of Houston, on the other hand, +set afloat stories of his wife's coldness and of her peevishness. The +state was divided into factions; and what really concerned a very few +was, as usual, made everybody's business. + +There were times when, if Houston had appeared near the dwelling of his +former wife, he would have been lynched or riddled with bullets. Again, +there were enemies and slanderers of his who, had they shown themselves +in Nashville, would have been torn to pieces by men who hailed Houston +as a hero and who believed that he could not possibly have done wrong. + +However his friends might rage, and however her people might wonder and +seek to pry into the secret, no satisfaction was given on either side. +The abandoned wife never uttered a word of explanation. Houston was +equally reticent and self-controlled. In later years he sometimes drank +deeply and was loose-tongued; but never, even in his cups, could he be +persuaded to say a single word about his wife. + +The whole thing is a mystery and cannot be solved by any evidence that +we have. Almost every one who has written of it seems to have indulged +in mere guesswork. One popular theory is that Miss Allen was in love +with some one else; that her parents forced her into a brilliant +marriage with Houston, which, however, she could not afterward endure; +and that Houston, learning the facts, left her because he knew that her +heart was not really his. + +But the evidence is all against this. Had it been so she would surely +have secured a divorce and would then have married the man whom she +truly loved. As a matter of fact, although she did divorce Houston, it +was only after several years, and the man whom she subsequently married +was not acquainted with her at the time of the separation. + +Another theory suggests that Houston was harsh in his treatment of his +wife, and offended her by his untaught manners and extreme self-conceit. +But it is not likely that she objected to his manners, since she had +become familiar with them before she gave him her hand; and as to his +conceit, there is no evidence that it was as yet unduly developed. After +his Texan campaign he sometimes showed a rather lofty idea of his own +achievements; but he does not seem to have done so in these early days. + +Some have ascribed the separation to his passion for drink; but here +again we must discriminate. Later in life he became very fond of spirits +and drank whisky with the Indians, but during his earlier years he +was most abstemious. It scarcely seems possible that his wife left him +because he was intemperate. + +If one wishes to construct a reasonable hypothesis on a subject where +the facts are either wanting or conflicting, it is not impossible to +suggest a solution of this puzzle about Houston. Although his abandoned +wife never spoke of him and shut her lips tightly when she was +questioned about him, Houston, on his part, was not so taciturn. He +never consciously gave any direct clue to his matrimonial mystery; but +he never forgot this girl who was his bride and whom he seems always +to have loved. In what he said he never ceased to let a vein of +self-reproach run through his words. + +I should choose this one paragraph as the most significant. It was +written immediately after they had parted: + +Eliza stands acquitted by me. I have received her as a virtuous, chaste +wife, and as such I pray God I may ever regard her, and I trust I ever +shall. She was cold to me, and I thought she did not love me. + +And again he said to an old and valued friend at about the same time: + +"I can make no explanation. I exonerate the lady fully and do not +justify myself." + +Miss Allen seems to have been a woman of the sensitive American type +which was so common in the early and the middle part of the last +century. Mrs. Trollope has described it for us with very little +exaggeration. Dickens has drawn it with a touch of malice, and yet not +without truth. Miss Martineau described it during her visit to +this country, and her account quite coincides with those of her two +contemporaries. + +Indeed, American women of that time unconsciously described themselves +in a thousand different ways. They were, after all, only a less striking +type of the sentimental Englishwomen who read L. E. L. and the earlier +novels of Bulwer-Lytton. On both sides of the Atlantic there was a reign +of sentiment and a prevalence of what was then called "delicacy." It was +a die-away, unwholesome attitude toward life and was morbid to the last +degree. + +In circles where these ideas prevailed, to eat a hearty dinner was +considered unwomanly. To talk of anything except some gilded "annual," +or "book of beauty," or the gossip of the neighborhood was wholly to be +condemned. The typical girl of such a community was thin and slender and +given to a mild starvation, though she might eat quantities of jam and +pickles and saleratus biscuit. She had the strangest views of life and +an almost unnatural shrinking from any usual converse with men. + +Houston, on his side, was a thoroughly natural and healthful man, having +lived an outdoor life, hunting and camping in the forest and displaying +the unaffected manner of the pioneer. Having lived the solitary life of +the woods, it was a strange thing for him to meet a girl who had been +bred in an entirely different way, who had learned a thousand little +reservations and dainty graces, and whose very breath was coyness and +reserve. Their mating was the mating of the man of the forest with the +woman of the sheltered life. + +Houston assumed everything; his bride shrank from everything. There was +a mutual shock amounting almost to repulsion. She, on her side, probably +thought she had found in him only the brute which lurks in man. He, on +the other, repelled and checked, at once grasped the belief that his +wife cared nothing for him because she would not meet his ardors +with like ardors of her own. It is the mistake that has been made by +thousands of men and women at the beginning of their married lives--the +mistake on one side of too great sensitiveness, and on the other side of +too great warmth of passion. + +This episode may seem trivial, and yet it is one that explains many +things in human life. So far as concerns Houston it has a direct bearing +on the history of our country. A proud man, he could not endure the +slights and gossip of his associates. He resigned the governorship of +Tennessee, and left by night, in such a way as to surround his departure +with mystery. + +There had come over him the old longing for Indian life; and when he was +next visible he was in the land of the Cherokees, who had long before +adopted him as a son. He was clad in buckskin and armed with knife +and rifle, and served under the old chief Oolooteka. He was a gallant +defender of the Indians. + +When he found how some of the Indian agents had abused his adopted +brothers he went to Washington to protest, still wearing his frontier +garb. One William Stansberry, a Congressman from Ohio, insulted Houston, +who leaped upon him like a panther, dragged him about the Hall of +Representatives, and beat him within an inch of his life. He was +arrested, imprisoned, and fined; but his old friend, President Jackson, +remitted his imprisonment and gruffly advised him not to pay the fine. + +Returning to his Indians, he made his way to a new field which promised +much adventure. This was Texas, of whose condition in those early +days something has already been said. Houston found a rough American +settlement, composed of scattered villages extending along the disputed +frontier of Mexico. Already, in the true Anglo-Saxon spirit, the +settlers had formed a rudimentary state, and as they increased and +multiplied they framed a simple code of laws. + +Then, quite naturally, there came a clash between them and the Mexicans. +The Texans, headed by Moses Austin, had set up a republic and asked +for admission to the United States. Mexico regarded them as rebels and +despised them because they made no military display and had no very +accurate military drill. They were dressed in buckskin and ragged +clothing; but their knives were very bright and their rifles carried +surely. Furthermore, they laughed at odds, and if only a dozen of them +were gathered together they would "take on" almost any number of Mexican +regulars. + +In February, 1836, the acute and able Mexican, Santa Anna, led across +the Rio Grande a force of several thousand Mexicans showily uniformed +and completely armed. Every one remembers how they fell upon the little +garrison at the Alamo, now within the city limits of San Antonio, but +then an isolated mission building surrounded by a thick adobe wall. The +Americans numbered less than three hundred men. + +A sharp attack was made with these overwhelming odds. The Americans +drove the assailants back with their rifle fire, but they had nothing to +oppose to the Mexican artillery. The contest continued for several days, +and finally the Mexicans breached the wall and fell upon the garrison, +who were now reduced by more than half. There was an hour of blood, and +every one of the Alamo's defenders, including the wounded, was put to +death. The only survivors of the slaughter were two negro slaves, a +woman, and a baby girl. + +When the news of this bloody affair reached Houston he leaped forth to +the combat like a lion. He was made commander-in-chief of the scanty +Texan forces. He managed to rally about seven hundred men, and set out +against Santa Anna with little in the way of equipment, and with +nothing but the flame of frenzy to stimulate his followers. By march and +countermarch the hostile forces came face to face near the shore of San +Jacinto Bay, not far from the present city of Houston. Slowly they moved +upon each other, when Houston halted, and his sharpshooters raked the +Mexican battle-line with terrible effect. Then Houston uttered the cry: + +"Remember the Alamo!" + +With deadly swiftness he led his men in a charge upon Santa Anna's +lines. The Mexicans were scattered as by a mighty wind, their commander +was taken prisoner, and Mexico was forced to give its recognition to +Texas as a free republic, of which General Houston became the first +president. + +This was the climax of Houston's life, but the end of it leaves us with +something still to say. Long after his marriage with Miss Allen he took +an Indian girl to wife and lived with her quite happily. She was a very +beautiful woman, a half-breed, with the English name of Tyania Rodgers. +Very little, however, is known of her life with Houston. Later still--in +1840--he married a lady from Marion, Alabama, named Margaret Moffette +Lea. He was then in his forty-seventh year, while she was only +twenty-one; but again, as with his Indian wife, he knew nothing but +domestic tranquillity. These later experiences go far to prove the +truth of what has already been given as the probable cause of his first +mysterious failure to make a woman happy. + +After Texas entered the Union, in 1845, Houston was elected to the +United States Senate, in which he served for thirteen years. In 1852, +1856, and 1860, as a Southerner who opposed any movement looking toward +secession, he was regarded as a possible presidential candidate; but his +career was now almost over, and in 1863, while the Civil War--which he +had striven to prevent--was at its height, he died. + + + + + +LOLA MONTEZ AND KING LUDWIG OF BAVARIA + + +Lola Montez! The name suggests dark eyes and abundant hair, lithe limbs +and a sinuous body, with twining hands and great eyes that gleam with +a sort of ebon splendor. One thinks of Spanish beauty as one hears the +name; and in truth Lola Montez justified the mental picture. + +She was not altogether Spanish, yet the other elements that entered into +her mercurial nature heightened and vivified her Castilian traits. +Her mother was a Spaniard--partly Moorish, however. Her father was an +Irishman. There you have it--the dreamy romance of Spain, the exotic +touch of the Orient, and the daring, unreasoning vivacity of the Celt. + +This woman during the forty-three years of her life had adventures +innumerable, was widely known in Europe and America, and actually lost +one king his throne. Her maiden name was Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna +Gilbert. Her father was a British officer, the son of an Irish knight, +Sir Edward Gilbert. Her mother had been a danseuse named Lola Oliver. +"Lola" is a diminutive of Dolores, and as "Lola" she became known to the +world. + +She lived at one time or another in nearly all the countries of Europe, +and likewise in India, America, and Australia. It would be impossible +to set down here all the sensations that she achieved. Let us select the +climax of her career and show how she overturned a kingdom, passing but +lightly over her early and her later years. + +She was born in Limerick in 1818, but her father's parents cast off +their son and his young wife, the Spanish dancer. They went to India, +and in 1825 the father died, leaving his young widow without a +rupee; but she was quickly married again, this time to an officer of +importance. + +The former danseuse became a very conventional person, a fit match for +her highly conventional husband; but the small daughter did not take +kindly to the proprieties of life. The Hindu servants taught her more +things than she should have known; and at one time her stepfather found +her performing the danse du ventre. It was the Moorish strain inherited +from her mother. + +She was sent back to Europe, however, and had a sort of education in +Scotland and England, and finally in Paris, where she was detected in +an incipient flirtation with her music-master. There were other persons +hanging about her from her fifteenth year, at which time her +stepfather, in India, had arranged a marriage between her and a rich but +uninteresting old judge. One of her numerous admirers told her this. + +"What on earth am I to do?" asked little Lola, most naively. + +"Why, marry me," said the artful adviser, who was Captain Thomas James; +and so the very next day they fled to Dublin and were speedily married +at Meath. + +Lola's husband was violently in love with her, but, unfortunately, +others were no less susceptible to her charms. She was presented at +the vice-regal court, and everybody there became her victim. Even the +viceroy, Lord Normanby, was greatly taken with her. This nobleman's +position was such that Captain James could not object to his attentions, +though they made the husband angry to a degree. The viceroy would draw +her into alcoves and engage her in flattering conversation, while poor +James could only gnaw his nails and let green-eyed jealousy prey upon +his heart. His only recourse was to take her into the country, where she +speedily became bored; and boredom is the death of love. + +Later she went with Captain James to India. She endured a campaign in +Afghanistan, in which she thoroughly enjoyed herself because of the +attentions of the officers. On her return to London in 1842, one Captain +Lennox was a fellow passenger; and their association resulted in an +action for divorce, by which she was freed from her husband, and yet by +a technicality was not able to marry Lennox, whose family in any case +would probably have prevented the wedding. + +Mrs. Mayne says, in writing on this point: + +Even Lola never quite succeeded in being allowed to commit bigamy +unmolested, though in later years she did commit it and took refuge in +Spain to escape punishment. + +The same writer has given a vivid picture of what happened soon after +the divorce. Lola tried to forget her past and to create a new and +brighter future. Here is the narrative: + +Her Majesty's Theater was crowded on the night of June 10,1843. A new +Spanish dancer was announced--"Dona Lola Montez." It was her debut, and +Lumley, the manager, had been puffing her beforehand, as he alone knew +how. To Lord Ranelagh, the leader of the dilettante group of fashionable +young men, he had whispered, mysteriously: + +"I have a surprise in store. You shall see." + +So Ranelagh and a party of his friends filled the omnibus boxes, +those tribunes at the side of the stage whence success or failure was +pronounced. Things had been done with Lumley's consummate art; the +packed house was murmurous with excitement. She was a raving beauty, +said report--and then, those intoxicating Spanish dances! Taglioni, +Cerito, Fanny Elssler, all were to be eclipsed. + +Ranelagh's glasses were steadily leveled on the stage from the +moment her entrance was imminent. She came on. There was a murmur of +admiration--but Ranelagh made no sign. And then she began to dance. +A sense of disappointment, perhaps? But she was very lovely, very +graceful, "like a flower swept by the wind, she floated round the +stage"--not a dancer, but, by George, a beauty! And still Ranelagh made +no sign. + +Yet, no. What low, sibilant sound is that? And then what confused, angry +words from the tribunal? He turns to his friends, his eyes ablaze with +anger, opera-glass in hand. And now again the terrible "Hiss-s-s!" taken +up by the other box, and the words repeated loudly and more angrily +even than before--the historic words which sealed Lola's doom at Her +Majesty's Theater: "WHY, IT'S BETTY JAMES!" + +She was, indeed, Betty James, and London would not accept her as Lola +Montez. She left England and appeared upon the Continent as a beautiful +virago, making a sensation--as the French would say, a succes de +scandale--by boxing the ears of people who offended her, and even on one +occasion horsewhipping a policeman who was in attendance on the King of +Prussia. In Paris she tried once more to be a dancer, but Paris would +not have her. She betook herself to Dresden and Warsaw, where she +sought to attract attention by her eccentricities, making mouths at the +spectators, flinging her garters in their faces, and one time removing +her skirts and still more necessary garments, whereupon her manager +broke off his engagement with her. + +An English writer who heard a great deal of her and who saw her often +about this time writes that there was nothing wonderful about her except +"her beauty and her impudence." She had no talent nor any of the graces +which make women attractive; yet many men of talent raved about her. The +clever young journalist, Dujarrier, who assisted Emile Girardin, was her +lover in Paris. He was killed in a duel and left Lola twenty thousand +francs and some securities, so that she no longer had to sing in the +streets as she did in Warsaw. + +She now betook herself to Munich, the capital of Bavaria. That country +was then governed by Ludwig I., a king as eccentric as Lola herself. He +was a curious compound of kindliness, ideality, and peculiar ways. For +instance, he would never use a carriage even on state occasions. He +prowled around the streets, knocking off the hats of those whom he +chanced to meet. Like his unfortunate descendant, Ludwig II., he +wrote poetry, and he had a picture-gallery devoted to portraits of the +beautiful women whom he had met. + +He dressed like an English fox-hunter, with a most extraordinary hat, +and what was odd and peculiar in others pleased him because he was odd +and peculiar himself. Therefore when Lola made her first appearance at +the Court Theater he was enchanted with her. He summoned her at once to +the palace, and within five days he presented her to the court, saying +as he did so: + +"Meine Herren, I present you to my best friend." + +In less than a month this curious monarch had given Lola the title of +Countess of Landsfeld. A handsome house was built for her, and a pension +of twenty thousand florins was granted her. This was in 1847. With the +people of Munich she was unpopular. They did not mind the eccentricities +of the king, since these amused them and did the country no perceptible +harm; but they were enraged by this beautiful woman, who had no softness +such as a woman ought to have. Her swearing, her readiness to box the +ears of every one whom she disliked, the huge bulldog which accompanied +her everywhere--all these things were beyond endurance. + +She was discourteous to the queen, besides meddling with the politics of +the kingdom. Either of these things would have been sufficient to +make her hated. Together, they were more than the city of Munich could +endure. Finally the countess tried to establish a new corps in the +university. This was the last touch of all. A student who ventured to +wear her colors was beaten and arrested. Lola came to his aid with all +her wonted boldness; but the city was in commotion. + +Daggers were drawn; Lola was hustled and insulted. The foolish king +rushed out to protect her; and on his arm she was led in safety to the +palace. As she entered the gates she turned and fired a pistol into the +mob. No one was hurt, but a great rage took possession of the people. +The king issued a decree closing the university for a year. By this +time, however, Munich was in possession of a mob, and the Bavarians +demanded that she should leave the country. + +Ludwig faced the chamber of peers, where the demand of the populace was +placed before him. + +"I would rather lose my crown!" he replied. + +The lords of Bavaria regarded him with grim silence; and in their eyes +he read the determination of his people. On the following day a royal +decree revoked Lola's rights as a subject of Bavaria, and still another +decree ordered her to be expelled. The mob yelled with joy and burned +her house. Poor Ludwig watched the tumult by the light of the leaping +flames. + +He was still in love with her and tried to keep her in the kingdom; but +the result was that Ludwig himself was forced to abdicate. He had given +his throne for the light love of this beautiful but half-crazy woman. +She would have no more to do with him; and as for him, he had to give +place to his son Maximilian. Ludwig had lost a kingdom merely because +this strange, outrageous creature had piqued him and made him think that +she was unique among women. + +The rest of her career was adventurous. In England she contracted a +bigamous marriage with a youthful officer, and within two weeks they +fled to Spain for safety from the law. Her husband was drowned, and she +made still another marriage. She visited Australia, and at Melbourne she +had a fight with a strapping woman, who clawed her face until Lola +fell fainting to the ground. It is a squalid record of horse-whippings, +face-scratchings--in short, a rowdy life. + +Her end was like that of Becky Sharp. In America she delivered lectures +which were written for her by a clergyman and which dealt with the art +of beauty. She had a temporary success; but soon she became quite +poor, and took to piety, professing to be a sort of piteous, penitent +Magdalen. In this role she made effective use of her beautiful dark +hair, her pallor, and her wonderful eyes. But the violence of her +disposition had wrecked her physically; and she died of paralysis in +Astoria, on Long Island, in 1861. Upon her grave in Greenwood Cemetery, +Brooklyn, there is a tablet to her memory, bearing the inscription: +"Mrs. Eliza Gilbert, born 1818, died 1861." + +What can one say of a woman such as this? She had no morals, and her +manners were outrageous. The love she felt was the love of a she-wolf. +Fourteen biographies of her have been written, besides her own +autobiography, which was called The Story of a Penitent, and which tells +less about her than any of the other books. Her beauty was undeniable. +Her courage was the blended courage of the Celt, the Spaniard, and the +Moor. Yet all that one can say of her was said by the elder Dumas when +he declared that she was born to be the evil genius of every one who +cared for her. Her greatest fame comes from the fact that in less than +three years she overturned a kingdom and lost a king his throne. + + + + + +LEON GAMBETTA AND LEONIE LEON + + +The present French Republic has endured for over forty years. Within +that time it has produced just one man of extraordinary power and parts. +This was Leon Gambetta. Other men as remarkable as he were conspicuous +in French political life during the first few years of the republic; +but they belonged to an earlier generation, while Gambetta leaped +into prominence only when the empire fell, crashing down in ruin and +disaster. + +It is still too early to form an accurate estimate of him as a +statesman. His friends praise him extravagantly. His enemies still +revile him bitterly. The period of his political career lasted for +little more than a decade, yet in that time it may be said that he +lived almost a life of fifty years. Only a short time ago did the French +government cause his body to be placed within the great Pantheon, which +contains memorials of the heroes and heroines of France. But, though +we may not fairly judge of his political motives, we can readily +reconstruct a picture of him as a man, and in doing so recall his +one romance, which many will remember after they have forgotten his +oratorical triumphs and his statecraft. + +Leon Gambetta was the true type of the southern Frenchman--what his +countrymen call a meridional. The Frenchman of the south is different +from the Frenchman of the north, for the latter has in his veins a +touch of the viking blood, so that he is very apt to be fair-haired and +blue-eyed, temperate in speech, and self-controlled. He is different, +again, from the Frenchman of central France, who is almost purely +Celtic. The meridional has a marked vein of the Italian in him, derived +from the conquerors of ancient Gaul. He is impulsive, ardent, fiery in +speech, hot-tempered, and vivacious to an extraordinary degree. + +Gambetta, who was born at Cahors, was French only on his mother's side, +since his father was of Italian birth. It is said also that somewhere in +his ancestry there was a touch of the Oriental. At any rate, he was one +of the most southern of the sons of southern France, and he showed +the precocious maturity which belongs to a certain type of Italian. +At twenty-one he had already been admitted to the French bar, and +had drifted to Paris, where his audacity, his pushing nature, and his +red-hot un-restraint of speech gave him a certain notoriety from the +very first. + +It was toward the end of the reign of Napoleon III. that Gambetta saw +his opportunity. The emperor, weakened by disease and yielding to a sort +of feeble idealism, gave to France a greater freedom of speech than it +had enjoyed while he was more virile. This relaxation of control +merely gave to his opponents more courage to attack him and his empire. +Demagogues harangued the crowds in words which would once have led to +their imprisonment. In the National Assembly the opposition did all +within its power to hamper and defeat the policy of the government. + +In short, republicanism began to rise in an ominous and threatening way; +and at the head of republicanism in Paris stood forth Gambetta, with his +impassioned eloquence, his stinging phrases, and his youthful boldness. +He became the idol of that part of Paris known as Belleville, where +artisans and laborers united with the rabble of the streets in hating +the empire and in crying out for a republic. + +Gambetta was precisely the man to voice the feelings of these people. +Whatever polish he acquired in after years was then quite lacking; and +the crudity of his manners actually helped him with the men whom he +harangued. A recent book by M. Francis Laur, an ardent admirer of +Gambetta, gives a picture of the man which may be nearly true of him in +his later life, but which is certainly too flattering when applied to +Gambetta in 1868, at the age of thirty. + +How do we see Gambetta as he was at thirty? A man of powerful frame and +of intense vitality, with thick, clustering hair, which he shook as +a lion shakes its mane; olive-skinned, with eyes that darted fire, a +resonant, sonorous voice, and a personal magnetism which was instantly +felt by all who met him or who heard him speak. His manners were not +refined. He was fond of oil and garlic. His gestures were often more +frantic than impressive, so that his enemies called him "the furious +fool." He had a trick of spitting while he spoke. He was by no means +the sort of man whose habits had been formed in drawing-rooms or among +people of good breeding. Yet his oratory was, of its kind, superb. + +In 1869 Gambetta was elected by the Red Republicans to the Corps +Legislatif. From the very first his vehemence and fire gained him a +ready hearing. The chamber itself was arranged like a great theater, the +members occupying the floor and the public the galleries. Each orator +in addressing the house mounted a sort of rostrum and from it faced the +whole assemblage, not noticing, as with us, the presiding officer +at all. The very nature of this arrangement stimulated parliamentary +speaking into eloquence and flamboyant oratory. + +After Gambetta had spoken a few times he noticed in the gallery a tall, +graceful woman, dressed in some neutral color and wearing long black +gloves, which accentuated the beauty of her hands and arms. No one in +the whole assembly paid such close attention to the orator as did this +woman, whom he had never seen before and who appeared to be entirely +alone. + +When it came to him to speak on another day he saw sitting in the +same place the same stately and yet lithe and sinuous figure. This was +repeated again and again, until at last whenever he came to a peculiarly +fervid burst of oratory he turned to this woman's face and saw it +lighted up by the same enthusiasm which was stirring him. + +Finally, in the early part of 1870, there came a day when Gambetta +surpassed himself in eloquence. His theme was the grandeur of republican +government. Never in his life had he spoken so boldly as then, or with +such fervor. The ministers of the emperor shrank back in dismay as this +big-voiced, strong-limbed man hurled forth sentence after sentence like +successive peals of irresistible artillery. + +As Gambetta rolled forth his sentences, superb in their rhetoric and all +ablaze with that sort of intense feeling which masters an orator in the +moment of his triumph, the face of the lady in the gallery responded to +him with wonderful appreciation. She was no longer calm, unmoved, and +almost severe. She flushed, and her eyes as they met his seemed to +sparkle with living fire. When he finished and descended from the +rostrum he looked at her, and their eyes cried out as significantly as +if the two had spoken to each other. + +Then Gambetta did what a person of finer breeding would not have done. +He hastily scribbled a note, sealed it, and called to his side one of +the official pages. In the presence of the great assemblage, where he +was for the moment the center of attention, he pointed to the lady in +the gallery and ordered the page to take the note to her. + +One may excuse this only on the ground that he was completely carried +away by his emotion, so that to him there was no one present save this +enigmatically fascinating woman and himself. But the lady on her side +was wiser; or perhaps a slight delay gave her time to recover her +discretion. When Gambetta's note was brought to her she took it quietly +and tore it into little pieces without reading it; and then, rising, she +glided through the crowd and disappeared. + +Gambetta in his excitement had acted as if she were a mere adventuress. +With perfect dignity she had shown him that she was a woman who retained +her self-respect. + +Immediately upon the heels of this curious incident came the outbreak of +the war with Germany. In the war the empire was shattered at Sedan. The +republic was proclaimed in Paris. The French capital was besieged by +a vast German army. Gambetta was made minister of the interior, and +remained for a while in Paris even after it had been blockaded. But his +fiery spirit chafed under such conditions. He longed to go forth into +the south of France and arouse his countrymen with a cry to arms against +the invaders. + +Escaping in a balloon, he safely reached the city of Tours; and there he +established what was practically a dictatorship. He flung himself with +tremendous energy into the task of organizing armies, of equipping them, +and of directing their movements for the relief of Paris. He did, in +fact, accomplish wonders. He kept the spirit of the nation still +alive. Three new armies were launched against the Germans. Gambetta was +everywhere and took part in everything that was done. His inexperience +in military affairs, coupled with his impatience of advice, led him +to make serious mistakes. Nevertheless, one of his armies practically +defeated the Germans at Orleans; and could he have had his own way, even +the fall of Paris would not have ended the war. + +"Never," said Gambetta, "shall I consent to peace so long as France +still has two hundred thousand men under arms and more than a thousand +cannon to direct against the enemy!" + +But he was overruled by other and less fiery statesmen. Peace was made, +and Gambetta retired for a moment into private life. If he had not +succeeded in expelling the German hosts he had, at any rate, made +Bismarck hate him, and he had saved the honor of France. + +It was while the National Assembly at Versailles was debating the terms +of peace with Germany that Gambetta once more delivered a noble and +patriotic speech. As he concluded he felt a strange magnetic attraction; +and, sweeping the audience with a glance, he saw before him, not very +far away, the same woman with the long black gloves, having about +her still an air of mystery, but again meeting his eyes with her own, +suffused with feeling. + +Gambetta hurried to an anteroom and hastily scribbled the following +note: + +At last I see you once more. Is it really you? + +The scrawl was taken to her by a discreet official, and this time she +received the letter, pressed it to her heart, and then slipped it into +the bodice of her gown. But this time, as before, she left without +making a reply. + +It was an encouragement, yet it gave no opening to Gambetta--for she +returned to the National Assembly no more. But now his heart was full of +hope, for he was convinced with a very deep conviction that somewhere, +soon, and in some way he would meet this woman, who had become to him +one of the intense realities of his life. He did not know her name. They +had never exchanged a word. Yet he was sure that time would bring them +close together. + +His intuition was unerring. What we call chance often seems to know +what it is doing. Within a year after the occurrence that has just been +narrated an old friend of Gambetta's met with an accident which confined +him to his house. The statesman strolled to his friend's residence. The +accident was a trifling one, and the mistress of the house was holding +a sort of informal reception, answering questions that were asked her by +the numerous acquaintances who called. + +As Gambetta was speaking, of a sudden he saw before him, at the +extremity of the room, the lady of his dreams, the sphinx of his waking +hours, the woman who four years earlier had torn up the note which he +addressed to her, but who more recently had kept his written words. Both +of them were deeply agitated, yet both of them carried off the situation +without betraying themselves to others, Gambetta approached, and they +exchanged a few casual commonplaces. But now, close together, eye and +voice spoke of what was in their hearts. + +Presently the lady took her leave. Gambetta followed closely. In the +street he turned to her and said in pleading tones: + +"Why did you destroy my letter? You knew I loved you, and yet all these +years you have kept away from me in silence." + +Then the girl--for she was little more than a girl--hesitated for a +moment. As he looked upon her face he saw that her eyes were full of +tears. At last she spoke with emotion: + +"You cannot love me, for I am unworthy of you. Do not urge me. Do not +make promises. Let us say good-by. At least I must first tell you of my +story, for I am one of those women whom no one ever marries." + +Gambetta brushed aside her pleadings. He begged that he might see her +soon. Little by little she consented; but she would not see him at her +house. She knew that his enemies were many and that everything he did +would be used against him. In the end she agreed to meet him in the park +at Versailles, near the Petit Trianon, at eight o'clock in the morning. + +When she had made this promise he left her. Already a new inspiration +had come to him, and he felt that with this woman by his side he could +accomplish anything. + +At the appointed hour, in the silence of the park and amid the sunshine +of the beautiful morning, the two met once again. Gambetta seized her +hands with eagerness and cried out in an exultant tone: + +"At last! At last! At last!" + +But the woman's eyes were heavy with sorrow, and upon her face there was +a settled melancholy. She trembled at his touch and almost shrank from +him. Here was seen the impetuosity of the meridional. He had first +spoken to this woman only two days before. He knew nothing of her +station, of her surroundings, of her character. He did not even know her +name. Yet one thing he knew absolutely--that she was made for him and +that he must have her for his own. He spoke at once of marriage; but at +this she drew away from him still farther. + +"No," she said. "I told you that you must not speak to me until you have +heard my story." + +He led her to a great stone bench near by; and, passing his arm about +her waist, he drew her head down to his shoulder as he said: + +"Well, tell me. I will listen." + +Then this girl of twenty-four, with perfect frankness, because she was +absolutely loyal, told him why she felt that they must never see each +other any more-much less marry and be happy. She was the daughter of a +colonel in the French army. The sudden death of her father had left her +penniless and alone. Coming to Paris at the age of eighteen, she had +given lessons in the household of a high officer of the empire. This man +had been attracted by her beauty, and had seduced her. + +Later she had secured the means of living modestly, realizing more +deeply each month how dreadful had been her fate and how she had been +cut off from the lot of other girls. She felt that her life must be a +perpetual penance for what had befallen her through her ignorance and +inexperience. She told Gambetta that her name was Leonie Leon. As is the +custom of Frenchwomen who live alone, she styled herself madame. It is +doubtful whether the name by which she passed was that which had been +given to her at baptism; but, if so, her true name has never been +disclosed. + +When she had told the whole of her sad story to Gambetta he made nothing +of it. She said to him again: + +"You cannot love me. I should only dim your fame. You can have nothing +in common with a dishonored, ruined girl. That is what I came here to +explain to you. Let us part, and let us for all time forget each other." + +But Gambetta took no heed of what she said. Now that he had found +her, he would not consent to lose her. He seized her slender hands and +covered them with kisses. Again he urged that she should marry him. + +Her answer was a curious one. She was a devoted Catholic and would not +regard any marriage as valid save a religious marriage. On the other +hand, Gambetta, though not absolutely irreligious, was leading the +opposition to the Catholic party in France. The Church to him was not so +much a religious body as a political one, and to it he was unalterably +opposed. Personally, he would have no objections to being married by a +priest; but as a leader of the anti-clerical party he felt that he must +not recognize the Church's claim in any way. A religious marriage would +destroy his influence with his followers and might even imperil the +future of the republic. + +They pleaded long and earnestly both then and afterward. He urged a +civil marriage, but she declared that only a marriage according to the +rites of the Church could ever purify her past and give her back her +self-respect. In this she was absolutely stubborn, yet she did not urge +upon Gambetta that he should destroy his influence by marrying her in +church. + +Through all this interplay of argument and pleading and emotion the +two grew every moment more hopelessly in love. Then the woman, with a +woman's curious subtlety and indirectness, reached a somewhat singular +conclusion. She would hear nothing of a civil marriage, because a civil +marriage was no marriage in the eyes of Pope and prelate. On the other +hand, she did not wish Gambetta to mar his political career by going +through a religious ceremony. She had heard from a priest that the +Church recognized two forms of betrothal. The usual one looked to a +marriage in the future and gave no marriage privileges until after the +formal ceremony. But there was another kind of betrothal known to the +theologians as sponsalia de praesente. According to this, if there were +an actual betrothal, the pair might have the privileges and rights of +marriage immediately, if only they sincerely meant to be married in the +future. + +The eager mind of Leonie Leon caught at this bit of ecclesiastical law +and used it with great ingenuity. + +"Let us," she said, "be formally betrothed by the interchange of a +ring, and let us promise each other to marry in the future. After such +a betrothal as this we shall be the same as married; for we shall be +acting according to the laws of the Church." + +Gambetta gladly gave his promise. A betrothal ring was purchased; and +then, her conscience being appeased, she gave herself completely to her +lover. Gambetta was sincere. He said to her: + +"If the time should ever come when I shall lose my political station, +when I am beaten in the struggle, when I am deserted and alone, will you +not then marry me when I ask you?" + +And Leonie, with her arms about his neck, promised that she would. Yet +neither of them specified what sort of marriage this should be, nor did +it seem at the moment as if the question could arise. + +For Gambetta was very powerful. He led his party to success in the +election of 1877. Again and again his triumphant oratory mastered the +National Assembly of France. In 1879 he was chosen to be president +of the Chamber of Deputies. He towered far above the president of the +republic--Jules Grevy, that hard-headed, close-fisted old peasant--and +his star had reached its zenith. + +All this time he and Leonie Leon maintained their intimacy, though it +was carefully concealed save from a very few. She lived in a plain but +pretty house on the Avenue Perrichont in the quiet quarter of Auteuil; +but Gambetta never came there. Where and when they met was a secret +guarded very carefully by the few who were his close associates. But +meet they did continually, and their affection grew stronger every year. +Leonie thrilled at the victories of the man she loved; and he found joy +in the hours that he spent with her. + +Gambetta's need of rest was very great, for he worked at the highest +tension, like an engine which is using every pound of steam. Bismarck, +whose spies kept him well informed of everything that was happening in +Paris, and who had no liking for Gambetta, since the latter always spoke +of him as "the Ogre," once said to a Frenchman named Cheberry: + +"He is the only one among you who thinks of revenge, and who is any sort +of a menace to Germany. But, fortunately, he won't last much longer. I +am not speaking thoughtlessly. I know from secret reports what sort of +a life your great man leads, and I know his habits. Why, his life is +a life of continual overwork. He rests neither night nor day. All +politicians who have led the same life have died young. To be able +to serve one's country for a long time a statesman must marry an ugly +woman, have children like the rest of the world, and a country place +or a house to one's self like any common peasant, where he can go and +rest." + +The Iron Chancellor chuckled as he said this, and he was right. And yet +Gambetta's end came not so much through overwork as by an accident. + +It may be that the ambition of Mme. Leon stimulated him beyond his +powers. However this may be, early in 1882, when he was defeated in +Parliament on a question which he considered vital, he immediately +resigned and turned his back on public life. His fickle friends soon +deserted him. His enemies jeered and hooted the mention of his name. + +He had reached the time which with a sort of prophetic instinct he had +foreseen nearly ten years before. So he turned to the woman who had +been faithful and loving to him; and he turned to her with a feeling of +infinite peace. + +"You promised me," he said, "that if ever I was defeated and alone you +would marry me. The time is now." + +Then this man, who had exercised the powers of a dictator, who had +levied armies and shaken governments, and through whose hands there had +passed thousands of millions of francs, sought for a country home. He +found for sale a small estate which had once belonged to Balzac, and +which is known as Les Jardies. It was in wretched repair; yet the small +sum which it cost Gambetta--twelve thousand francs--was practically all +that he possessed. Worn and weary as he was, it seemed to him a haven of +delightful peace; for here he might live in the quiet country with the +still beautiful woman who was soon to become his wife. + +It is not known what form of marriage they at last agreed upon. She may +have consented to a civil ceremony; or he, being now out of public life, +may have felt that he could be married by the Church. The day for their +wedding had been set, and Gambetta was already at Les Jardies. But there +came a rumor that he had been shot. Still further tidings bore the news +that he was dying. Paris, fond as it was of scandals, immediately spread +the tale that he had been shot by a jealous woman. + +The truth is quite the contrary. Gambetta, in arranging his effects in +his new home, took it upon himself to clean a pair of dueling-pistols; +for every French politician of importance must fight duels, and Gambetta +had already done so. Unfortunately, one cartridge remained unnoticed in +the pistol which Gambetta cleaned. As he held the pistol-barrel against +the soft part of his hand the cartridge exploded, and the ball passed +through the base of the thumb with a rending, spluttering noise. + +The wound was not in itself serious, but now the prophecy of Bismarck +was fulfilled. Gambetta had exhausted his vitality; a fever set in, and +before long he died of internal ulceration. + +This was the end of a great career and of a great romance of love. +Leonie Leon was half distraught at the death of the lover who was so +soon to be her husband. She wandered for hours in the forest until she +reached a convent, where she was received. Afterward she came to Paris +and hid herself away in a garret of the slums. All the light of her life +had gone out. She wished that she had died with him whose glory had been +her life. Friends of Gambetta, however, discovered her and cared for her +until her death, long afterward, in 1906. + +She lived upon the memories of the past, of the swift love that had come +at first sight, but which had lasted unbrokenly; which had given her the +pride of conquest, and which had brought her lover both happiness and +inspiration and a refining touch which had smoothed away his roughness +and made him fit to stand in palaces with dignity and distinction. + +As for him, he left a few lines which have been carefully preserved, and +which sum up his thought of her. They read: + +To the light of my soul; to the star, of my life--Leonie Leon. For ever! +For ever! + + + + + +LADY BLESSINGTON AND COUNT D'ORSAY + + +Often there has arisen some man who, either by his natural gifts or +by his impudence or by the combination of both, has made himself a +recognized leader in the English fashionable world. One of the first of +these men was Richard Nash, usually known as "Beau Nash," who flourished +in the eighteenth century. Nash was a man of doubtful origin; nor was +he attractive in his looks, for he was a huge, clumsy creature with +features that were both irregular and harsh. Nevertheless, for nearly +fifty years Beau Nash was an arbiter of fashion. Goldsmith, who wrote +his life, declared that his supremacy was due to his pleasing manners, +"his assiduity, flattery, fine clothes, and as much wit as the ladies +had whom he addressed." He converted the town of Bath from a rude little +hamlet into an English Newport, of which he was the social autocrat. He +actually drew up a set of written rules which some of the best-born and +best-bred people follow slavishly. + +Even better known to us is George Bryan Brummel, commonly called "Beau +Brummel," who by his friendship with George IV.--then Prince Regent--was +an oracle at court on everything that related to dress and etiquette and +the proper mode of living. His memory has been kept alive most of all by +Richard Mansfield's famous impersonation of him. The play is based upon +the actual facts; for after Brummel had lost the royal favor he died an +insane pauper in the French town of Caen. He, too, had a distinguished +biographer, since Bulwer-Lytton's novel Pelham is really the narrative +of Brummel's curious career. + +Long after Brummel, Lord Banelagh led the gilded youth of London, and +it was at this time that the notorious Lola Montez made her first +appearance in the British capital. + +These three men--Nash, Brummel, and Ranelagh--had the advantage of +being Englishmen, and, therefore, of not incurring the old-time English +suspicion of foreigners. A much higher type of social arbiter was a +Frenchman who for twenty years during the early part of Queen Victoria's +reign gave law to the great world of fashion, besides exercising a +definite influence upon English art and literature. + +This was Count Albert Guillaume d'Orsay, the son of one of Napoleon's +generals, and descended by a morganatic marriage from the King of +Wurttemburg. The old general, his father, was a man of high courage, +impressive appearance, and keen intellect, all of which qualities he +transmitted to his son. The young Count d'Orsay, when he came of age, +found the Napoleonic era ended and France governed by Louis XVIII. The +king gave Count d'Orsay a commission in the army in a regiment stationed +at Valence in the southeastern part of France. He had already visited +England and learned the English language, and he had made some +distinguished friends there, among whom were Lord Byron and Thomas +Moore. + +On his return to France he began his garrison life at Valence, where he +showed some of the finer qualities of his character. It is not merely +that he was handsome and accomplished and that he had the gift of +winning the affections of those about him. Unlike Nash and Brummel, +he was a gentleman in every sense, and his courtesy was of the highest +kind. At the balls given by his regiment, although he was more courted +than any other officer, he always sought out the plainest girls and +showed them the most flattering attentions. No "wallflowers" were left +neglected when D'Orsay was present. + +It is strange how completely human beings are in the hands of fate. Here +was a young French officer quartered in a provincial town in the valley +of the Rhone. Who would have supposed that he was destined to become +not only a Londoner, but a favorite at the British court, a model of +fashion, a dictator of etiquette, widely known for his accomplishments, +the patron of literary men and of distinguished artists? But all these +things were to come to pass by a mere accident of fortune. + +During his firsts visit to London, which has already been mentioned, +Count d'Orsay was invited once or twice to receptions given by the Earl +and Countess of Blessington, where he was well received, though this was +only an incident of his English sojourn. Before the story proceeds +any further it is necessary to give an account of the Earl and of Lady +Blessington, since both of their careers had been, to say the least, +unusual. + +Lord Blessington was an Irish peer for whom an ancient title had been +revived. He was remotely descended from the Stuarts of Scotland, and +therefore had royal blood to boast of. He had been well educated, and in +many ways was a man of pleasing manner. On the other hand, he had early +inherited a very large property which yielded him an income of about +thirty thousand pounds a year. He had estates in Ireland, and he owned +nearly the whole of a fashionable street in London, with the buildings +erected on it. + +This fortune and the absence of any one who could control him had made +him wilful and extravagant and had wrought in him a curious love of +personal display. Even as a child he would clamor to be dressed in the +most gorgeous uniforms; and when he got possession of his property his +love of display became almost a monomania. He built a theater as an +adjunct to his country house in Ireland and imported players from London +and elsewhere to act in it. He loved to mingle with the mummers, to try +on their various costumes, and to parade up and down, now as an oriental +prince and now as a Roman emperor. + +In London he hung about the green-rooms, and was a well-known figure +wherever actors or actresses were collected. Such was his love of the +stage that he sought to marry into the profession and set his heart on a +girl named Mary Campbell Browne, who was very beautiful to look at, but +who was not conspicuous either for her mind or for her morals. When Lord +Blessington proposed marriage to her she was obliged to tell him that +she already had one husband still alive, but she was perfectly willing +to live with him and dispense with the marriage ceremony. So for several +years she did live with him and bore him two children. + +It speaks well for the earl that when the inconvenient husband died a +marriage at once took place and Mrs. Browne became a countess. Then, +after other children had been born, the lady died, leaving the earl a +widower at about the age of forty. The only legitimate son born of this +marriage followed his mother to the grave; and so for the third time the +earldom of Blessington seemed likely to become extinct. The death of +his wife, however, gave the earl a special opportunity to display his +extravagant tastes. He spent more than four thousand pounds on the +funeral ceremonies, importing from France a huge black velvet catafalque +which had shortly before been used at the public funeral of Napoleon's +marshal, Duroc, while the house blazed with enormous wax tapers and +glittered with cloth of gold. + +Lord Blessington soon plunged again into the busy life of London. Having +now no heir, there was no restraint on his expenditures, and he borrowed +large sums of money in order to buy additional estates and houses and to +experience the exquisite joy of spending lavishly. At this time he had +his lands in Ireland, a town house in St. James's Square, another in +Seymour Place, and still another which was afterward to become famous as +Gore House, in Kensington. + +Some years before he had met in Ireland a lady called Mrs. Maurice +Farmer; and it happened that she now came to London. The earlier story +of her still young life must here be told, because her name afterward +became famous, and because the tale illustrates wonderfully well the +raw, crude, lawless period of the Regency, when England was fighting +her long war with Napoleon, when the Prince Regent was imitating all +the vices of the old French kings, when prize-fighting, deep drinking, +dueling, and dicing were practised without restraint in all the large +cities and towns of the United Kingdom. It was, as Sir Arthur Conan +Doyle has said, "an age of folly and of heroism"; for, while it produced +some of the greatest black-guards known to history, it produced also +such men as Wellington and Nelson, the two Pitts, Sheridan, Byron, +Shelley, and Sir Walter Scott. + +Mrs. Maurice Farmer was the daughter of a small Irish landowner named +Robert Power--himself the incarnation of all the vices of the time. +There was little law in Ireland, not even that which comes from public +opinion; and Robert Power rode hard to hounds, gambled recklessly, +and assembled in his house all sorts of reprobates, with whom he held +frightful orgies that lasted from sunset until dawn. His wife and his +young daughters viewed him with terror, and the life they led was a +perpetual nightmare because of the bestial carousings in which their +father engaged, wasting his money and mortgaging his estates until the +end of his wild career was in plain sight. + +There happened to be stationed at Clonmel a regiment of infantry in +which there served a captain named Maurice St. Leger Farmer. He was a +man of some means, but eccentric to a degree. His temper was so utterly +uncontrolled that even his fellow officers could scarcely live with +him, and he was given to strange caprices. It happened that at a ball in +Clonmel he met the young daughter of Robert Power, then a mere child of +fourteen years. Captain Farmer was seized with an infatuation for the +girl, and he went almost at once to her father, asking for her hand in +marriage and proposing to settle a sum of money upon her if she married +him. + +The hard-riding squireen jumped at the offer. His own estate was being +stripped bare. Here was a chance to provide for one of his daughters, +or, rather, to get rid of her, and he agreed that she should be married +out of hand. Going home, he roughly informed the girl that she was to +be the wife of Captain Farmer. He so bullied his wife that she was +compelled to join him in this command. + +What was poor little Margaret Power to do? She was only a child. She +knew nothing of the world. She was accustomed to obey her father as she +would have obeyed some evil genius who had her in his power. There were +tears and lamentations. She was frightened half to death; yet for her +there was no help. Therefore, while not yet fifteen her marriage took +place, and she was the unhappy slave of a half-crazy tyrant. She had +then no beauty whatsoever. She was wholly undeveloped--thin and pale, +and with rough hair that fell over her frightened eyes; yet Farmer +wanted her, and he settled his money on her, just as he would have spent +the same amount to gratify any other sudden whim. + +The life she led with him for a few months showed him to be more of +a devil than a man. He took a peculiar delight in terrifying her, in +subjecting her to every sort of outrage; nor did he refrain even from +beating her with his fists. The girl could stand a great deal, but this +was too much. She returned to her father's house, where she was received +with the bitterest reproaches, but where, at least, she was safe from +harm, since her possession of a dowry made her a person of some small +importance. + +Not long afterward Captain Farmer fell into a dispute with his +colonel, Lord Caledon, and in the course of it he drew his sword on +his commanding officer. The court-martial which was convened to try him +would probably have had him shot were it not for the very general belief +that he was insane. So he was simply cashiered and obliged to leave the +service and betake himself elsewhere. Thus the girl whom, he had married +was quite free--free to leave her wretched home and even to leave +Ireland. + +She did leave Ireland and establish herself in London, where she had +some acquaintances, among them the Earl of Blessington. As already said, +he had met her in Ireland while she was living with her husband; and now +from time to time he saw her in a friendly way. After the death of his +wife he became infatuated with Margaret Farmer. She was a good deal +alone, and his attentions gave her entertainment. Her past experience +led her to have no real belief in love. She had become, however, in a +small way interested in literature and art, with an eager ambition to be +known as a writer. As it happened, Captain Farmer, whose name she bore, +had died some months before Lord Blessington had decided to make a new +marriage. The earl proposed to Margaret Farmer, and the two were married +by special license. + +The Countess of Blessington--to give the lady her new title--was now +twenty-eight years of age and had developed into a woman of great +beauty. She was noted for the peculiarly vivacious and radiant +expression which was always on her face. She had a kind of vivid +loveliness accompanied by grace, simplicity, and a form of exquisite +proportions. The ugly duckling had become a swan, for now there was no +trace of her former plainness to be seen. + +Not yet in her life had love come to her. Her first husband had been +thrust upon her and had treated her outrageously. Her second husband was +much older than she; and, though she was not without a certain kindly +feeling for one who had been kind to her, she married him, first of all, +for his title and position. + +Having been reared in poverty, she had no conception of the value of +money; and, though the earl was remarkably extravagant, the new countess +was even more so. One after another their London houses were opened +and decorated with the utmost lavishness. They gave innumerable +entertainments, not only to the nobility and to men of rank, +but--because this was Lady Blessington's peculiar fad--to artists and +actors and writers of all degrees. The American, N. P. Willis, in his +Pencilings by the Way, has given an interesting sketch of the countess +and her surroundings, while the younger Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield) has +depicted D'Orsay as Count Mirabel in Henrietta Temple. Willis says: + +In a long library, lined alternately with splendidly bound books and +mirrors, and with a deep window of the breadth of the room opening upon +Hyde Park, I found Lady Blessington alone. The picture, to my eye, as +the door opened, was a very lovely one--a woman of remarkable beauty, +half buried in a fauteuil of yellow satin, reading by a magnificent +lamp suspended from the center of the arched ceiling. Sofas, couches, +ottomans, and busts, arranged in rather a crowded sumptuousness through +the room; enameled tables, covered with expensive and elegant trifles in +every corner, and a delicate white hand in relief on the back of a book, +to which the eye was attracted by the blaze of diamond rings. + +All this "crowded sumptuousness" was due to the taste of Lady +Blessington. Amid it she received royal dukes, statesmen such as +Palmerston, Canning, Castlereagh, Russell, and Brougham, actors such +as Kemble and Matthews, artists such as Lawrence and Wilkie, and men of +letters such as Moore, Bulwer-Lytton, and the two Disraelis. To maintain +this sort of life Lord Blessington raised large amounts of money, +totaling about half a million pounds sterling, by mortgaging his +different estates and giving his promissory notes to money-lenders. Of +course, he did not spend this vast sum immediately. He might have lived +in comparative luxury upon his income; but he was a restless, eager, +improvident nobleman, and his extravagances were prompted by the urgings +of his wife. + +In all this display, which Lady Blessington both stimulated and shared, +there is to be found a psychological basis. She was now verging upon the +thirties--a time which is a very critical period in a woman's emotional +life, if she has not already given herself over to love and been loved +in return. During Lady Blessington's earlier years she had suffered in +many ways, and it is probable that no thought of love had entered her +mind. She was only too glad if she could escape from the harshness +of her father and the cruelty of her first husband. Then came her +development into a beautiful woman, content for the time to be +languorously stagnant and to enjoy the rest and peace which had come to +her. + +When she married Lord Blessington her love life had not yet commenced; +and, in fact, there could be no love life in such a marriage--a marriage +with a man much older than herself, scatter-brained, showy, and having +no intellectual gifts. So for a time she sought satisfaction in social +triumphs, in capturing political and literary lions in order to exhibit +them in her salon, and in spending money right and left with a lavish +hand. But, after all, in a woman of her temperament none of these things +could satisfy her inner longings. Beautiful, full of Celtic vivacity, +imaginative and eager, such a nature as hers would in the end be starved +unless her heart should be deeply touched and unless all her pent-up +emotion could give itself up entirely in the great surrender. + +After a few years of London she grew restless and dissatisfied. Her +surroundings wearied her. There was a call within her for something more +than she had yet experienced. The earl, her husband, was by nature no +less restless; and so, without knowing the reason--which, indeed, she +herself did not understand--he readily assented to a journey on the +Continent. + +As they traveled southward they reached at length the town of Valence, +where Count d'Orsay was still quartered with his regiment. A vague, +indefinable feeling of attraction swept over this woman, who was now a +woman of the world and yet quite inexperienced in affairs relating to +the heart. The mere sound of the French officer's voice, the mere sight +of his face, the mere knowledge of his presence, stirred her as nothing +had ever stirred her until that time. Yet neither he nor she appears to +have been conscious at once of the secret of their liking. It was enough +that they were soothed and satisfied with each other's company. + +Oddly enough, the Earl of Blessington became as devoted to D'Orsay as +did his wife. The two urged the count to secure a leave of absence and +to accompany them to Italy. This he was easily persuaded to do; and the +three passed weeks and months of a languorous and alluring intercourse +among the lakes and the seductive influence of romantic Italy. Just +what passed between Count d'Orsay and Margaret Blessington at this time +cannot be known, for the secret of it has perished with them; but it +is certain that before very long they came to know that each was +indispensable to the other. + +The situation was complicated by the Earl of Blessington, who, entirely +unsuspicious, proposed that the Count should marry Lady Harriet +Gardiner, his eldest legitimate daughter by his first wife. He pressed +the match upon the embarrassed D'Orsay, and offered to settle the sum +of forty thousand pounds upon the bride. The girl was less than fifteen +years of age. She had no gifts either of beauty or of intelligence; and, +in addition, D'Orsay was now deeply in love with her stepmother. + +On the other hand, his position with the Blessingtons was daily growing +more difficult. People had begun to talk of the almost open relations +between Count d'Orsay and Lady Blessington. Lord Byron, in a letter +written to the countess, spoke to her openly and in a playful way +of "YOUR D'Orsay." The manners and morals of the time were decidedly +irregular; yet sooner or later the earl was sure to gain some hint of +what every one was saying. Therefore, much against his real desire, yet +in order to shelter his relations with Lady Blessington, D'Orsay agreed +to the marriage with Lady Harriet, who was only fifteen years of age. + +This made the intimacy between D'Orsay and the Blessingtons appear to be +not unusual; but, as a matter of fact, the marriage was no marriage. +The unattractive girl who had become a bride merely to hide the +indiscretions of her stepmother was left entirely to herself; while the +whole family, returning to London, made their home together in Seymour +Place. + +Could D'Orsay have foreseen the future he would never have done what +must always seem an act so utterly unworthy of him. For within two years +Lord Blessington fell ill and died. Had not D'Orsay been married he +would now have been free to marry Lady Blessington. As it was, he was +bound fast to her stepdaughter; and since at that time there was no +divorce court in England, and since he had no reason for seeking +a divorce, he was obliged to live on through many years in a most +ambiguous situation. He did, however, separate himself from his childish +bride; and, having done so, he openly took up his residence with Lady +Blessington at Gore House. By this time, however, the companionship of +the two had received a sort of general sanction, and in that easy-going +age most people took it as a matter of course. + +The two were now quite free to live precisely as they would. Lady +Blessington became extravagantly happy, and Count d'Orsay was accepted +in London as an oracle of fashion. Every one was eager to visit Gore +House, and there they received all the notable men of the time. The +improvidence of Lady Blessington, however, was in no respect diminished. +She lived upon her jointure, recklessly spending capital as well as +interest, and gathering under her roof a rare museum of artistic +works, from jewels and curios up to magnificent pictures and beautiful +statuary. + +D'Orsay had sufficient self-respect not to live upon the money that had +come to Lady Blessington from her husband. He was a skilful painter, and +he practised his art in a professional way. His portrait of the Duke of +Wellington was preferred by that famous soldier to any other that had +been made of him. The Iron Duke was, in fact, a frequent visitor at Gore +House, and he had a very high opinion of Count d'Orsay. Lady Blessington +herself engaged in writing novels of "high life," some of which were +very popular in their day. But of all that she wrote there remains only +one book which is of permanent value--her Conversations with Lord Byron, +a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of the brilliant poet. + +But a nemesis was destined to overtake the pair. Money flowed through +Lady Blessington's hands like water, and she could never be brought to +understand that what she had might not last for ever. Finally, it +was all gone, yet her extravagance continued. Debts were heaped up +mountain-high. She signed notes of hand without even reading them. She +incurred obligations of every sort without a moment's hesitation. + +For a long time her creditors held aloof, not believing that her +resources were in reality exhausted; but in the end there came a crash +as sudden as it was ruinous. As if moved by a single impulse, those to +whom she owed money took out judgments against her and descended +upon Gore House in a swarm. This was in the spring of 1849, when Lady +Blessington was in her sixtieth year and D'Orsay fifty-one. + +It is a curious coincidence that her earliest novel had portrayed the +wreck of a great establishment such as her own. Of the scene in Gore +House Mr. Madden, Lady Blessington's literary biographer, has written: + +Numerous creditors, bill-discounters, money-lenders, jewelers, +lace-venders, tax-collectors, gas-company agents, all persons having +claims to urge pressed them at this period simultaneously. An execution +for a debt of four thousand pounds was at length put in by a house +largely engaged in the silk, lace, India-shawl, and fancy-jewelry +business. + +This sum of four thousand pounds was only a nominal claim, but it opened +the flood-gates for all of Lady Blessington's creditors. Mr. Madden +writes still further: + +On the 10th of May, 1849, I visited Gore House for the last time. The +auction was going on. There was a large assemblage of people of fashion. +Every room was thronged; the well-known library-salon, in which the +conversaziones took place, was crowded, but not with guests. The +arm-chair in which the lady of the mansion was wont to sit was occupied +by a stout, coarse gentleman of the Jewish persuasion, busily engaged +in examining a marble hand extended on a book, the fingers of which +were modeled from a cast of those of the absent mistress of the +establishment. People, as they passed through the room, poked the +furniture, pulled about the precious objects of art and ornaments of +various kinds that lay on the table; and some made jests and ribald +jokes on the scene they witnessed. + +At this compulsory sale things went for less than half their value. +Pictures by Lawrence and Landseer, a library consisting of thousands +of volumes, vases of exquisite workmanship, chandeliers of ormolu, and +precious porcelains--all were knocked down relentlessly at farcical +prices. Lady Blessington reserved nothing for herself. She knew that +the hour had struck, and very soon she was on her way to Paris, whither +Count d'Orsay had already gone, having been threatened with arrest by a +boot-maker to whom he owed five hundred pounds. + +D'Orsay very naturally went to Paris, for, like his father, he had +always been an ardent Bonapartist, and now Prince Louis Bonaparte had +been chosen president of the Second French Republic. During the prince's +long period of exile he had been the guest of Count d'Orsay, who had +helped him both with money and with influence. D'Orsay now expected +some return for his former generosity. It came, but it came too late. In +1852, shortly after Prince Louis assumed the title of emperor, the count +was appointed director of fine arts; but when the news was brought to +him he was already dying. Lady Blessington died soon after coming to +Paris, before the end of the year 1849. + +Comment upon this tangled story is scarcely needed. Yet one may quote +some sayings from a sort of diary which Lady Blessington called her +"Night Book." They seem to show that her supreme happiness lasted only +for a little while, and that deep down in her heart she had condemned +herself. + +A woman's head is always influenced by her heart; but a man's heart is +always influenced by his head. + +The separation of friends by death is less terrible than the divorce of +two hearts that have loved, but have ceased to sympathize, while memory +still recalls what they once were to each other. + +People are seldom tired of the world until the world is tired of them. + +A woman should not paint sentiment until she has ceased to inspire it. + +It is less difficult for a woman to obtain celebrity by her genius than +to be pardoned for it. + +Memory seldom fails when its office is to show us the tombs of our +buried hopes. + + + + + +BYRON AND THE COUNTESS GUICCIOLI + + +In 1812, when he was in his twenty-fourth year, Lord Byron was more +talked of than any other man in London. He was in the first flush of his +brilliant career, having published the early cantos of "Childe Harold." +Moreover, he was a peer of the realm, handsome, ardent, and possessing a +personal fascination which few men and still fewer women could resist. + +Byron's childhood had been one to excite in him strong feelings of +revolt, and he had inherited a profligate and passionate nature. His +father was a gambler and a spendthrift. His mother was eccentric to a +degree. Byron himself, throughout his boyish years, had been morbidly +sensitive because of a physical deformity--a lame, misshapen foot. +This and the strange treatment which his mother accorded him left him +headstrong, wilful, almost from the first an enemy to whatever was +established and conventional. + +As a boy, he was remarkable for the sentimental attachments which he +formed. At eight years of age he was violently in love with a young girl +named Mary Duff. At ten his cousin, Margaret Parker, excited in him a +strange, un-childish passion. At fifteen came one of the greatest +crises of his life, when he became enamored of Mary Chaworth, whose +grand-father had been killed in a duel by Byron's great-uncle. Young as +he was, he would have married her immediately; but Miss Chaworth was +two years older than he, and absolutely refused to take seriously the +devotion of a school-boy. + +Byron felt the disappointment keenly; and after a short stay at +Cambridge, he left England, visited Portugal and Spain, and traveled +eastward as far as Greece and Turkey. At Athens he wrote the pretty +little poem to the "maid of Athens"--Miss Theresa Macri, daughter of +the British vice-consul. He returned to London to become at one leap the +most admired poet of the day and the greatest social favorite. He was +possessed of striking personal beauty. Sir Walter Scott said of him: +"His countenance was a thing to dream of." His glorious eyes, his +mobile, eloquent face, fascinated all; and he was, besides, a genius of +the first rank. + +With these endowments, he plunged into the social whirlpool, denying +himself nothing, and receiving everything-adulation, friendship, and +unstinted love. Darkly mysterious stories of his adventures in the East +made many think that he was the hero of some of his own poems, such +as "The Giaour" and "The Corsair." A German wrote of him that "he was +positively besieged by women." From the humblest maid-servants up to +ladies of high rank, he had only to throw his handkerchief to make +a conquest. Some women did not even wait for the handkerchief to be +thrown. No wonder that he was sated with so much adoration and that he +wrote of women: + +I regard them as very pretty but inferior creatures. I look on them as +grown-up children; but, like a foolish mother, I am constantly the slave +of one of them. Give a woman a looking-glass and burnt almonds, and she +will be content. + +The liaison which attracted the most attention at this time was that +between Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb. Byron has been greatly blamed for +his share in it; but there is much to be said on the other side. Lady +Caroline was happily married to the Right Hon. William Lamb, afterward +Lord Melbourne, and destined to be the first prime minister of Queen +Victoria. He was an easy-going, genial man of the world who placed too +much confidence in the honor of his wife. She, on the other hand, was +a sentimental fool, always restless, always in search of some new +excitement. She thought herself a poet, and scribbled verses, which +her friends politely admired, and from which they escaped as soon as +possible. When she first met Byron, she cried out: "That pale face is my +fate!" And she afterward added: "Mad, bad, and dangerous to know!" + +It was not long before the intimacy of the two came very near the point +of open scandal; but Byron was the wooed and not the wooer. This woman, +older than he, flung herself directly at his head. Naturally enough, +it was not very long before she bored him thoroughly. Her romantic +impetuosity became tiresome, and very soon she fell to talking always +of herself, thrusting her poems upon him, and growing vexed and peevish +when he would not praise them. As was well said, "he grew moody and she +fretful when their mutual egotisms jarred." + +In a burst of resentment she left him, but when she returned, she was +worse than ever. She insisted on seeing him. On one occasion she made +her way into his rooms disguised as a boy. At another time, when she +thought he had slighted her, she tried to stab herself with a pair of +scissors. Still later, she offered her favors to any one who would kill +him. Byron himself wrote of her: + +You can have no idea of the horrible and absurd things that she has said +and done. + +Her story has been utilized by Mrs. Humphry Ward in her novel, "The +Marriage of William Ashe." + +Perhaps this trying experience led Byron to end his life of dissipation. +At any rate, in 1813, he proposed marriage to Miss Anne Millbanke, +who at first refused him; but he persisted, and in 1815 the two were +married. Byron seems to have had a premonition that he was making a +terrible mistake. During the wedding ceremony he trembled like a leaf, +and made the wrong responses to the clergyman. After the wedding was +over, in handing his bride into the carriage which awaited them, he said +to her: + +"Miss Millbanke, are you ready?" + +It was a strange blunder for a bridegroom, and one which many regarded +at the time as ominous for the future. In truth, no two persons could +have been more thoroughly mismated--Byron, the human volcano, and his +wife, a prim, narrow-minded, and peevish woman. Their incompatibility +was evident enough from the very first, so that when they returned from +their wedding-journey, and some one asked Byron about his honeymoon, he +answered: + +"Call it rather a treacle moon!" + +It is hardly necessary here to tell over the story of their domestic +troubles. Only five weeks after their daughter's birth, they parted. +Lady Byron declared that her husband was insane; while after trying many +times to win from her something more than a tepid affection, he gave up +the task in a sort of despairing anger. It should be mentioned here, for +the benefit of those who recall the hideous charges made many decades +afterward by Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe on the authority of Lady Byron, +that the latter remained on terms of friendly intimacy with Augusta +Leigh, Lord Byron's sister, and that even on her death-bed she sent an +amicable message to Mrs. Leigh. + +Byron, however, stung by the bitter attacks that were made upon him, +left England, and after traveling down the Rhine through Switzerland, +he took up his abode in Venice. His joy at leaving England and ridding +himself of the annoyances which had clustered thick about him, he +expressed in these lines: + + Once more upon the waters! yet once more! + And the waves bound beneath me as a steed + That knows his rider. Welcome to the roar! + +Meanwhile he enjoyed himself in reckless fashion. Money poured in upon +him from his English publisher. For two cantos of "Childe Harold" and +"Manfred," Murray paid him twenty thousand dollars. For the fourth +canto, Byron demanded and received more than twelve thousand dollars. +In Italy he lived on friendly terms with Shelley and Thomas Moore; but +eventually he parted from them both, for he was about to enter upon a +new phase of his curious career. + +He was no longer the Byron of 1815. Four years of high living and much +brandy-and-water had robbed his features of their refinement. His look +was no longer spiritual. He was beginning to grow stout. Yet the change +had not been altogether unfortunate. He had lost something of his wild +impetuosity, and his sense of humor had developed. In his thirtieth +year, in fact, he had at last become a man. + +It was soon after this that he met a woman who was to be to him for +the rest of his life what a well-known writer has called "a star on the +stormy horizon of the poet." This woman was Teresa, Countess Guiccioli, +whom he first came to know in Venice. She was then only nineteen years +of age, and she was married to a man who was more than forty years her +senior. Unlike the typical Italian woman, she was blonde, with dreamy +eyes and an abundance of golden hair, and her manner was at once modest +and graceful. She had known Byron but a very short time when she found +herself thrilling with a passion of which until then she had never +dreamed. It was written of her: + +She had thought of love but as an amusement; yet she now became its +slave. + +To this love Byron gave an immediate response, and from that time until +his death he cared for no other woman. The two were absolutely mated. +Nevertheless, there were difficulties which might have been expected. +Count Guiccioli, while he seemed to admire Byron, watched him with +Italian subtlety. The English poet and the Italian countess met +frequently. When Byron was prostrated by an attack of fever, the +countess remained beside him, and he was just recovering when Count +Guiccioli appeared upon the scene and carried off his wife. Byron was in +despair. He exchanged the most ardent letters with the countess, yet he +dreaded assassins whom he believed to have been hired by her husband. +Whenever he rode out, he went armed with sword and pistols. + +Amid all this storm and stress, Byron's literary activity was +remarkable. He wrote some of his most famous poems at this time, and he +hoped for the day when he and the woman whom he loved might be united +once for all. This came about in the end through the persistence of the +pair. The Countess Guiccioli openly took up her abode with him, not to +be separated until the poet sailed for Greece to aid the Greeks in +their struggle for independence. This was in 1822, when Byron was in his +thirty-fifth year. He never returned to Italy, but died in the historic +land for which he gave his life as truly as if he had fallen upon the +field of battle. + +Teresa Guiccioli had been, in all but name, his wife for just three +years. Much, has been said in condemnation of this love-affair; but in +many ways it is less censurable than almost anything in his career. It +was an instance of genuine love, a love which purified and exalted this +man of dark and moody moments. It saved him from those fitful passions +and orgies of self-indulgence which had exhausted him. It proved to be +an inspiration which at last led him to die for a cause approved by all +the world. + +As for the woman, what shall we say of her? She came to him unspotted by +the world. A demand for divorce which her husband made was rejected. +A pontifical brief pronounced a formal separation between the two. The +countess gladly left behind "her palaces, her equipages, society, and +riches, for the love of the poet who had won her heart." + +Unlike the other women who had cared for him, she was unselfish in +her devotion. She thought more of his fame than did he himself. Emilio +Castelar has written: + +She restored him and elevated him. She drew him from the mire and set +the crown of purity upon his brow. Then, when she had recovered this +great heart, instead of keeping it as her own possession, she gave it to +humanity. + +For twenty-seven years after Byron's death, she remained, as it were, +widowed and alone. Then, in her old age, she married the Marquis de +Boissy; but the marriage was purely one of convenience. Her heart was +always Byron's, whom she defended with vivacity. In 1868, she published +her memoirs of the poet, filled with interesting and affecting +recollections. She died as late as 1873. + +Some time between the year 1866 and that of her death, she is said to +have visited Newstead Abbey, which had once been Byron's home. She was +very old, a widow, and alone; but her affection for the poet-lover of +her youth was still as strong as ever. + +Byron's life was short, if measured by years only. Measured by +achievement, it was filled to the very full. His genius blazes like +a meteor in the records of English poetry; and some of that splendor +gleams about the lovely woman who turned him away from vice and folly +and made him worthy of his historic ancestry, of his country, and of +himself. + + + + + +THE STORY OF MME. DE STAEL + + +Each century, or sometimes each generation, is distinguished by some +especial interest among those who are given to fancies--not to call them +fads. Thus, at the present time, the cultivated few are taken up with +what they choose to term the "new thought," or the "new criticism," or, +on the other hand, with socialistic theories and projects. Thirty years +ago, when Oscar Wilde was regarded seriously by some people, there were +many who made a cult of estheticism. It was just as interesting when +their leader-- + + Walked down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily + In his medieval hand, + +or when Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan guyed him as +Bunthorne in "Patience." + +When Charles Kingsley was a great expounder of British common sense, +"muscular Christianity" was a phrase which was taken up by many +followers. A little earlier, Puseyism and a primitive form of socialism +were in vogue with the intellectuals. There are just as many different +fashions in thought as in garments, and they come and go without any +particular reason. To-day, they are discussed and practised everywhere. +To-morrow, they are almost forgotten in the rapid pursuit of something +new. + +Forty years before the French Revolution burst forth with all its +thunderings, France and Germany were affected by what was generally +styled "sensibility." Sensibility was the sister of sentimentality and +the half-sister of sentiment. Sentiment is a fine thing in itself. It is +consistent with strength and humor and manliness; but sentimentality and +sensibility are poor cheeping creatures that run scuttering along the +ground, quivering and whimpering and asking for perpetual sympathy, +which they do not at all deserve. + +No one need be ashamed of sentiment. It simply gives temper to the +blade, and mellowness to the intellect. Sensibility, on the other hand, +is full of shivers and shakes and falsetto notes and squeaks. It is, in +fact, all humbug, just as sentiment is often all truth. + +Therefore, to find an interesting phase of human folly, we may look back +to the years which lie between 1756 and 1793 as the era of sensibility. +The great prophets of this false god, or goddess, were Rousseau in +France and Goethe with Schiller in Germany, together with a host of +midgets who shook and shivered in imitation of their masters. It is not +for us to catalogue these persons. Some of them were great figures +in literature and philosophy, and strong enough to shake aside the +silliness of sensibility; but others, while they professed to be great +as writers or philosophers, are now remembered only because their +devotion to sensibility made them conspicuous in their own time. They +dabbled in one thing and another; they "cribbed" from every popular +writer of the day. The only thing that actually belonged to them was a +high degree of sensibility. + +And what, one may ask, was this precious thing--this sensibility? + +It was really a sort of St. Vitus's dance of the mind, and almost of +the body. When two persons, in any way interested in each other, were +brought into the same room, one of them appeared to be seized with +a rotary movement. The voice rose to a higher pitch than usual, and +assumed a tremolo. Then, if the other person was also endowed with +sensibility, he or she would rotate and quake in somewhat the same +manner. Their cups of tea would be considerably agitated. They would +move about in as unnatural a manner as possible; and when they left the +room, they would do so with gaspings and much waste of breath. + +This was not an exhibition of love--or, at least, not necessarily +so. You might exhibit sensibility before a famous poet, or a gallant +soldier, or a celebrated traveler--or, for that matter, before a +remarkable buffoon, like Cagliostro, or a freak, like Kaspar Hauser. + +It is plain enough that sensibility was entirely an abnormal thing, and +denoted an abnormal state of mind. Only among people like the Germans +and French of that period, who were forbidden to take part in public +affairs, could it have flourished so long, and have put forth such +rank and fetid outgrowths. From it sprang the "elective affinities" of +Goethe, and the loose morality of the French royalists, which rushed +on into the roaring sea of infidelity, blasphemy, and anarchy of the +Revolution. + +Of all the historic figures of that time, there is just one which +to-day stands forth as representing sensibility. In her own time she +was thought to be something of a philosopher, and something more of a +novelist. She consorted with all the clever men and women of her age. +But now she holds a minute niche in history because of the fact that +Napoleon stooped to hate her, and because she personifies sensibility. + +Criticism has stripped from her the rags and tatters of the philosophy +which was not her own. It is seen that she was indebted to the brains of +others for such imaginative bits of fiction as she put forth in Delphine +and Corinne; but as the exponent of sensibility she remains unique. This +woman was Anne Louise Germaine Necker, usually known as Mme. de Stael. + +There was much about Mile. Necker's parentage that made her interesting. +Her father was the Genevese banker and minister of Louis XVI, who failed +wretchedly in his attempts to save the finances of France. Her mother, +Suzanne Curchod, as a young girl, had won the love of the famous English +historian, Edward Gibbon. She had first refused him, and then almost +frantically tried to get him back; but by this time Gibbon was more +comfortable in single life and less infatuated with Mlle. Curchod, who +presently married Jacques Necker. + +M. Necker's money made his daughter a very celebrated "catch." Her +mother brought her to Paris when the French capital was brilliant beyond +description, and yet was tottering to its fall. The rumblings of the +Revolution could be heard by almost every ear; and yet society and the +court, refusing to listen, plunged into the wildest revelry under the +leadership of the giddy Marie Antoinette. + +It was here that the young girl was initiated into the most elegant +forms of luxury, and met the cleverest men of that time--Voltaire, +Rousseau, Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Volney. She set herself to be the +most accomplished woman of her day, not merely in belles lettres, but in +the natural and political sciences. Thus, when her father was drawing +up his monograph on the French finances, Germaine labored hard over +a supplementary report, studying documents, records, and the most +complicated statistics, so that she might obtain a mastery of the +subject. + +"I mean to know everything that anybody knows," she said, with an +arrogance which was rather admired in so young a woman. + +But, unfortunately, her mind was not great enough to fulfil her +aspiration. The most she ever achieved was a fair knowledge of many +things--a knowledge which seemed surprising to the average man, but +which was superficial enough to the accomplished specialist. + +In her twentieth year (1786) it was thought best that she should marry. +Her revels, as well as her hard studies, had told upon her health, and +her mother believed that she could not be at once a blue-stocking and a +woman of the world. + +There was something very odd about the relation that existed between the +young girl and this mother of hers. In the Swiss province where they had +both been born, the mother had been considered rather bold and forward. +Her penchant for Gibbon was only one of a number of adventures that +have been told about her. She was by no means coy with the gallants of +Geneva. Yet, after her marriage, and when she came to Paris, she seemed +to be transformed into a sort of Swiss Puritan. + +As such, she undertook her daughter's bringing up, and was extremely +careful about everything that Germaine did and about the company she +kept. On the other hand, the daughter, who in the city of Calvin had +been rather dull and quiet in her ways, launched out into a gaiety such +as she had never known in Switzerland. Mother and daughter, in fact, +changed parts. The country beauty of Geneva became the prude of Paris, +while the quiet, unemotional young Genevese became the light of all the +Parisian salons, whether social or intellectual. + +The mother was a very beautiful woman. The daughter, who was to become +so famous, is best described by those two very uncomplimentary English +words, "dumpy" and "frumpy." She had bulging eyes--which are not +emphasized in the flattering portrait by Gerard--and her hair was +unbecomingly dressed. There are reasons for thinking that Germaine +bitterly hated her mother, and was intensely jealous of her charm +of person. It may be also that Mme. Necker envied the daughter's +cleverness, even though that cleverness was little more, in the end, +than the borrowing of brilliant things from other persons. At any rate, +the two never cared for each other, and Germaine gave to her father the +affection which her mother neither received nor sought. + +It was perhaps to tame the daughter's exuberance that a marriage was +arranged for Mlle. Necker with the Baron de Stael-Holstein, who then +represented the court of Sweden at Paris. Many eyebrows were lifted when +this match was announced. Baron de Stael had no personal charm, nor any +reputation for wit. His standing in the diplomatic corps was not very +high. His favorite occupations were playing cards and drinking enormous +quantities of punch. Could he be considered a match for the extremely +clever Mlle. Necker, whose father had an enormous fortune, and who +was herself considered a gem of wit and mental power, ready to discuss +political economy, or the romantic movement of socialism, or platonic +love? + +Many differed about this. Mlle. Necker was, to be sure, rich and clever; +but the Baron de Stael was of an old family, and had a title. Moreover, +his easy-going ways--even his punch-drinking and his card-playing--made +him a desirable husband at that time of French social history, when the +aristocracy wished to act exactly as it pleased, with wanton license, +and when an embassy was a very convenient place into which an indiscreet +ambassadress might retire when the mob grew dangerous. For Paris was now +approaching the time of revolution, and all "aristocrats" were more or +less in danger. + +At first Mme. de Stael rather sympathized with the outbreak of the +people; but later their excesses drove her back into sympathy with +the royalists. It was then that she became indiscreet and abused the +privilege of the embassy in giving shelter to her friends. She was +obliged to make a sudden flight across the frontier, whence she did +not return until Napoleon loomed up, a political giant on the +horizon--victorious general, consul, and emperor. + +Mme. de Stael's relations with Napoleon have, as I remarked above, been +among her few titles to serious remembrance. The Corsican eagle and the +dumpy little Genevese make, indeed, a peculiar pair; and for this reason +writers have enhanced the oddities of the picture. + +"Napoleon," says one, "did not wish any one to be near him who was as +clever as himself." + +"No," adds another, "Mme. de Stael made a dead set at Napoleon, because +she wished to conquer and achieve the admiration of everybody, even of +the greatest man who ever lived." + +"Napoleon found her to be a good deal of a nuisance," observes a third. +"She knew too much, and was always trying to force her knowledge upon +others." + +The legend has sprung up that Mme. de Stael was too wise and witty to +be acceptable to Napoleon; and many women repeated with unction that the +conqueror of Europe was no match for this frowsy little woman. It is, +perhaps, worth while to look into the facts, and to decide whether +Napoleon was really of so petty a nature as to feel himself inferior to +this rather comic creature, even though at the time many people thought +her a remarkable genius. + +In the first place, knowing Napoleon, as we have come to know him +through the pages of Mme. de Remusat, Frederic Masson, and others, we +can readily imagine the impatience with which the great soldier would +sit at dinner, hastening to finish his meal, crowding the whole ceremony +into twenty minutes, gulping a glass or two of wine and a cup of coffee, +and then being interrupted by a fussy little female who wanted to +talk about the ethics of history, or the possibility of a new form of +government. Napoleon, himself, was making history, and writing it in +fire and flame; and as for governments, he invented governments all over +Europe as suited his imperial will. What patience could he have with +one whom an English writer has rather unkindly described as "an ugly +coquette, an old woman who made a ridiculous marriage, a blue-stocking, +who spent much of her time in pestering men of genius, and drawing from +them sarcastic comment behind their backs?" + +Napoleon was not the sort of a man to be routed in discussion, but +he was most decidedly the sort of man to be bored and irritated by +pedantry. Consequently, he found Mme. de Stael a good deal of a nuisance +in the salons of Paris and its vicinity. He cared not the least for her +epigrams. She might go somewhere else and write all the epigrams she +pleased. When he banished her, in 1803, she merely crossed the Rhine +into Germany, and established herself at Weimar. + +The emperor received her son, Auguste de Stael-Holstein, with much good +humor, though he refused the boy's appeal on behalf of his mother. + +"My dear baron," said Napoleon, "if your mother were to be in Paris +for two months, I should really be obliged to lock her up in one of the +castles, which would be most unpleasant treatment for me to show a lady. +No, let her go anywhere else and we can get along perfectly. All Europe +is open to her--Rome, Vienna, St. Petersburg; and if she wishes to write +libels on me, England is a convenient and inexpensive place. Only Paris +is just a little too near!" + +Thus the emperor gibed the boy--he was only fifteen or sixteen--and made +fun of the exiled blue-stocking; but there was not a sign of malice in +what he said, nor, indeed, of any serious feeling at all. The +legend about Napoleon and Mme. de Stael must, therefore, go into the +waste-basket, except in so far as it is true that she succeeded in +boring him. + +For the rest, she was an earlier George Sand--unattractive in person, +yet able to attract; loving love for love's sake, though seldom +receiving it in return; throwing herself at the head of every +distinguished man, and generally finding that he regarded her overtures +with mockery. To enumerate the men for whom she professed to care would +be tedious, since the record of her passions has no reality about it, +save, perhaps, with two exceptions. + +She did care deeply and sincerely for Henri Benjamin Constant, the +brilliant politician and novelist. He was one of her coterie in Paris, +and their common political sentiments formed a bond of friendship +between them. Constant was banished by Napoleon in 1802, and when Mme. +de Stael followed him into exile a year later he joined her in Germany. + +The story of their relations was told by Constant in Adolphe, while Mme. +de Stael based Delphine on her experiences with him. It seems that he +was puzzled by her ardor; she was infatuated by his genius. Together +they went through all the phases of the tender passion; and yet, at +intervals, they would tire of each other and separate for a while, and +she would amuse herself with other men. At last she really believed that +her love for him was entirely worn out. + +"I always loved my lovers more than they loved me," she said once, and +it was true. + +Yet, on the other hand, she was frankly false to all of them, and hence +arose these intervals. In one of them she fell in with a young Italian +named Rocca, and by way of a change she not only amused herself with +him, but even married him. At this time--1811--she was forty-five, while +Rocca was only twenty-three--a young soldier who had fought in Spain, +and who made eager love to the she-philosopher when he was invalided at +Geneva. + +The marriage was made on terms imposed by the middle-aged woman who +became his bride. In the first place, it was to be kept secret; and +second, she would not take her husband's name, but he must pass himself +off as her lover, even though she bore him children. The reason she gave +for this extraordinary exhibition of her vanity was that a change of +name on her part would put everybody out. + +"In fact," she said, "if Mme. de Stael were to change her name, it would +unsettle the heads of all Europe!" + +And so she married Rocca, who was faithful to her to the end, though she +grew extremely plain and querulous, while he became deaf and soon lost +his former charm. Her life was the life of a woman who had, in her own +phrase, "attempted everything"; and yet she had accomplished nothing +that would last. She was loved by a man of genius, but he did not love +her to the end. She was loved by a man of action, and she tired of him +very soon. She had a wonderful reputation for her knowledge of history +and philosophy, and yet what she knew of those subjects is now seen to +be merely the scraps and borrowings of others. + +Something she did when she introduced the romantic literature into +France; and there are passages from her writings which seem worthy of +preservation. For instance, we may quote her outburst with regard to +unhappy marriages. "It was the subject," says Mr. Gribble, "on which she +had begun to think before she was married, and which continued to haunt +her long after she was left a widow; though one suspects that the word +'marriage' became a form of speech employed to describe her relations, +not with her husband, but with her lovers." The passage to which I refer +is as follows: + +In an unhappy marriage, there is a violence of distress surpassing all +other sufferings in the world. A woman's whole soul depends upon the +conjugal tie. To struggle against fate alone, to journey to the grave +without a friend to support you or to regret you, is an isolation of +which the deserts of Arabia give but a faint and feeble idea. When +all the treasure of your youth has been given in vain, when you can no +longer hope that the reflection of these first rays will shine upon the +end of your life, when there is nothing in the dusk to remind you of +the dawn, and when the twilight is pale and colorless as a livid specter +that precedes the night, your heart revolts, and you feel that you have +been robbed of the gifts of God upon earth. + +Equally striking is another prose passage of hers, which seems less the +careful thought of a philosopher than the screeching of a termagant. It +is odd that the first two sentences recall two famous lines of Byron: + + Man's love is of man's life a thing apart; + 'Tis woman's whole existence. + +The passage by Mme. de Stael is longer and less piquant: + +Love is woman's whole existence. It is only an episode in the lives +of men. Reputation, honor, esteem, everything depends upon how a woman +conducts herself in this regard; whereas, according to the rules of +an unjust world, the laws of morality itself are suspended in men's +relations with women. They may pass as good men, though they have caused +women the most terrible suffering which it is in the power of one human +being to inflict upon another. They may be regarded as loyal, though +they have betrayed them. They may have received from a woman marks of +a devotion which would so link two friends, two fellow soldiers, that +either would feel dishonored if he forgot them, and they may consider +themselves free of all obligations by attributing the services to +love--as if this additional gift of love detracted from the value of the +rest! + +One cannot help noticing how lacking in neatness of expression is this +woman who wrote so much. It is because she wrote so much that she wrote +in such a muffled manner. It is because she thought so much that her +reflections were either not her own, or were never clear. It is because +she loved so much, and had so many lovers--Benjamin Constant; Vincenzo +Monti, the Italian poet; M. de Narbonne, and others, as well as young +Rocca--that she found both love and lovers tedious. + +She talked so much that her conversation was almost always mere personal +opinion. Thus she told Goethe that he never was really brilliant until +after he had got through a bottle of champagne. Schiller said that to +talk with her was to have a "rough time," and that after she left him, +he always felt like a man who was just getting over a serious illness. +She never had time to do anything very well. + +There is an interesting glimpse of her in the recollections of Dr. +Bollmann, at the period when Mme. de Stael was in her prime. The worthy +doctor set her down as a genius--an extraordinary, eccentric woman in +all that she did. She slept but a few hours out of the twenty-four, and +was uninterruptedly and fearfully busy all the rest of the time. While +her hair was being dressed, and even while she breakfasted, she used to +keep on writing, nor did she ever rest sufficiently to examine what she +had written. + +Such then was Mme. de Stael, a type of the time in which she lived, so +far as concerns her worship of sensibility--of sensibility, and not +of love; for love is too great to be so scattered and made a thing to +prattle of, to cheapen, and thus destroy. So we find at the last that +Germaine de Stael, though she was much read and much feted and much +followed, came finally to that last halting-place where confessedly +she was merely an old woman, eccentric, and unattractive. She sued her +former lovers for the money she had lent them, she scolded and found +fault--as perhaps befits her age. + +But such is the natural end of sensibility, and of the woman who +typifies it for succeeding generations. + + + + + +THE STORY OF KARL MARX + + +Some time ago I entered a fairly large library--one of more than two +hundred thousand volumes--to seek the little brochure on Karl Marx +written by his old friend and genial comrade Wilhelm Liebknecht. It was +in the card catalogue. As I made a note of its number, my friend the +librarian came up to me, and I asked him whether it was not strange +that a man like Marx should have so many books devoted to him, for I had +roughly reckoned the number at several hundred. + +"Not at all," said he; "and we have here only a feeble nucleus of the +Marx literature--just enough, in fact, to give you a glimpse of what +that literature really is. These are merely the books written by Marx +himself, and the translations of them, with a few expository monographs. +Anything like a real Marx collection would take up a special room in +this library, and would have to have its own separate catalogue. You +see that even these two or three hundred books contain large volumes +of small pamphlets in many languages--German, English, French, Italian, +Russian, Polish, Yiddish, Swedish, Hungarian, Spanish; and here," he +concluded, pointing to a recently numbered card, "is one in Japanese." + +My curiosity was sufficiently excited to look into the matter somewhat +further. I visited another library, which was appreciably larger, and +whose managers were evidently less guided by their prejudices. Here were +several thousand books on Marx, and I spent the best part of the day in +looking them over. + +What struck me as most singular was the fact that there was scarcely +a volume about Marx himself. Practically all the books dealt with his +theory of capital and his other socialistic views. The man himself, his +personality, and the facts of his life were dismissed in the most meager +fashion, while his economic theories were discussed with something +that verged upon fury. Even such standard works as those of Mehring and +Spargo, which profess to be partly biographical, sum up the personal +side of Marx in a few pages. In fact, in the latter's preface he seems +conscious of this defect, and says: + +Whether socialism proves, in the long span of centuries, to be good or +evil, a blessing to men or a curse, Karl Marx must always be an object +of interest as one of the great world-figures of immortal memory. As +the years go by, thoughtful men and women will find the same interest in +studying the life and work of Marx that they do in studying the life +and work of Cromwell, of Wesley, or of Darwin, to name three immortal +world-figures of vastly divergent types. + +Singularly little is known of Karl Marx, even by his most ardent +followers. They know his work, having studied his Das Kapital with the +devotion and earnestness with which an older generation of Christians +studied the Bible, but they are very generally unacquainted with the +man himself. Although more than twenty-six years have elapsed since the +death of Marx, there is no adequate biography of him in any language. + +Doubtless some better-equipped German writer, such as Franz Mehring or +Eduard Bernstein, will some day give us the adequate and full biography +for which the world now waits. + +Here is an admission that there exists no adequate biography of Karl +Marx, and here is also an intimation that simply as a man, and not +merely as a great firebrand of socialism, Marx is well worth studying. +And so it has occurred to me to give in these pages one episode of his +career that seems to me quite curious, together with some significant +touches concerning the man as apart from the socialist. Let the +thousands of volumes already in existence suffice for the latter. The +motto of this paper is not the Vergilian "Arms and the man I sing," +but simply "The man I sing"--and the woman. Karl Marx was born nearly +ninety-four years ago--May 5, 1818--in the city which the French call +Treves and the Germans Trier, among the vine-clad hills of the Moselle. +Today, the town is commonplace enough when you pass through it, but when +you look into its history, and seek out that history's evidences, you +will find that it was not always a rather sleepy little place. It was +one of the chosen abodes of the Emperors of the West, after Rome +began to be governed by Gauls and Spaniards, rather than by Romans and +Italians. The traveler often pauses there to see the Porta Nigra, that +immense gate once strongly fortified, and he will doubtless visit also +what is left of the fine baths and amphitheater. + +Treves, therefore, has a right to be termed imperial, and it was +the birthplace of one whose sway over the minds of men has been both +imperial and imperious. + +Karl Marx was one of those whose intellectual achievements were so great +as to dwarf his individuality and his private life. What he taught +with almost terrific vigor made his very presence in the Continental +monarchies a source of eminent danger. He was driven from country to +country. Kings and emperors were leagued together against him. Soldiers +were called forth, and blood was shed because of him. But, little by +little, his teaching seems to have leavened the thought of the whole +civilized world, so that to-day thousands who barely know his name are +deeply affected by his ideas, and believe that the state should control +and manage everything for the good of all. + +Marx seems to have inherited little from either of his parents. His +father, Heinrich Marx, was a provincial Jewish lawyer who had adopted +Christianity, probably because it was expedient, and because it enabled +him to hold local offices and gain some social consequence. He had +changed his name from Mordecai to Marx. + +The elder Marx was very shrewd and tactful, and achieved a fair position +among the professional men and small officials in the city of Treves. +He had seen the horrors of the French Revolution, and was philosopher +enough to understand the meaning of that mighty upheaval, and of the +Napoleonic era which followed. + +Napoleon, indeed, had done much to relieve his race from petty +oppression. France made the Jews in every respect the equals of the +Gentiles. One of its ablest marshals--Massena--was a Jew, and therefore, +when the imperial eagle was at the zenith of its flight, the Jews in +every city and town of Europe were enthusiastic admirers of Napoleon, +some even calling him the Messiah. + +Karl Marx's mother, it is certain, endowed him with none of his gifts. +She was a Netherlandish Jewess of the strictly domestic and conservative +type, fond of her children and her home, and detesting any talk that +looked to revolutionary ideas or to a change in the social order. She +became a Christian with her husband, but the word meant little to her. +It was sufficient that she believed in God; and for this she was teased +by some of her skeptical friends. Replying to them, she uttered the only +epigram that has ever been ascribed to her. + +"Yes," she said, "I believe in God, not for God's sake, but for my own." + +She was so little affected by change of scene that to the day of her +death she never mastered German, but spoke almost wholly in her native +Dutch. Had we time, we might dwell upon the unhappy paradox of her life. +In her son Karl she found an especial joy, as did her husband. Had the +father lived beyond Karl's early youth, he would doubtless have been +greatly pained by the radicalism of his gifted son, as well as by his +personal privations. But the mother lived until 1863, while Karl was +everywhere stirring the fires of revolution, driven from land to land, +both feared and persecuted, and often half famished. As Mr. Spargo says: + +It was the irony of life that the son, who kindled a mighty hope in the +hearts of unnumbered thousands of his fellow human beings, a hope that +is today inspiring millions of those who speak his name with reverence +and love, should be able to do that only by destroying his mother's hope +and happiness in her son, and that every step he took should fill her +heart with a great agony. + +When young Marx grew out of boyhood into youth, he was attractive to all +those who met him. Tall, lithe, and graceful, he was so extremely dark +that his intimates called him "der neger"--"the negro." His loosely +tossing hair gave to him a still more exotic appearance; but his eyes +were true and frank, his nose denoted strength and character, and his +mouth was full of kindliness in its expression. His lineaments were not +those of the Jewish type. + +Very late in life--he died in 1883--his hair and beard turned white, +but to the last his great mustache was drawn like a bar across his +face, remaining still as black as ink, and making his appearance very +striking. He was full of fun and gaiety. As was only natural, there soon +came into his life some one who learned to love him, and to whom, in his +turn, he gave a deep and unbroken affection. + +There had come to Treves--which passed from France to Prussia with +the downfall of Napoleon--a Prussian nobleman, the Baron Ludwig von +Westphalen, holding the official title of "national adviser." The baron +was of Scottish extraction on his mother's side, being connected with +the ducal family of Argyll. He was a man of genuine rank, and might have +shown all the arrogance and superciliousness of the average Prussian +official; but when he became associated with Heinrich Marx he evinced +none of that condescending manner. The two men became firm friends, and +the baron treated the provincial lawyer as an equal. + +The two families were on friendly terms. Von Westphalen's infant +daughter, who had the formidable name of Johanna Bertha Julie Jenny von +Westphalen, but who was usually spoken of as Jenny, became, in time, an +intimate of Sophie Marx. She was four years older than Karl, but the two +grew up together--he a high-spirited, manly boy, and she a lovely and +romantic girl. + +The baron treated Karl as if the lad were a child of his own. He +influenced him to love romantic literature and poetry by interpreting +to him the great masterpieces, from Homer and Shakespeare to Goethe and +Lessing. He made a special study of Dante, whose mysticism appealed to +his somewhat dreamy nature, and to the religious instinct that always +lived in him, in spite of his dislike for creeds and churches. + +The lore that he imbibed in early childhood stood Karl in good stead +when he began his school life, and his preparation for the university. +He had an absolute genius for study, and was no less fond of the sports +and games of his companions, so that he seemed to be marked out for +success. At sixteen years of age he showed a precocious ability for +planning and carrying out his work with thoroughness. His mind was +evidently a creative mind, one that was able to think out difficult +problems without fatigue. His taste was shown in his fondness for the +classics, in studying which he noted subtle distinctions of meaning +that usually escape even the mature scholar. Penetration, thoroughness, +creativeness, and a capacity for labor were the boy's chief +characteristics. + +With such gifts, and such a nature, he left home for the university of +Bonn. Here he disappointed all his friends. His studies were neglected; +he was morose, restless, and dissatisfied. He fell into a number of +scrapes, and ran into debt through sundry small extravagances. All the +reports that reached his home were most unsatisfactory. What had come +over the boy who had worked so hard in the gymnasium at Treves? + +The simple fact was that he had became love-sick. His separation from +Jenny von Westphalen had made him conscious of a feeling which he had +long entertained without knowing it. They had been close companions. He +had looked into her beautiful face and seen the luminous response of her +lovely eyes, but its meaning had not flashed upon his mind. He was not +old enough to have a great consuming passion, he was merely conscious of +her charm. As he could see her every day, he did not realize how much he +wanted her, and how much a separation from her would mean. + +As "absence makes the heart grow fonder," so it may suddenly draw aside +the veil behind which the truth is hidden. At Bonn young Marx felt as +if a blaze of light had flashed before him; and from that moment +his studies, his companions, and the ambitions that he had hitherto +cherished all seemed flat and stale. At night and in the daytime there +was just one thing which filled his mind and heart--the beautiful vision +of Jenny von Westphalen. + +Meanwhile his family, and especially his father, had become anxious at +the reports which reached them. Karl was sent for, and his stay at Bonn +was ended. + +Now that he was once more in the presence of the girl who charmed him +so, he recovered all his old-time spirits. He wooed her ardently, and +though she was more coy, now that she saw his passion, she did not +discourage him, but merely prolonged the ecstasy of this wonderful +love-making. As he pressed her more and more, and no one guessed the +story, there came a time when she was urged to let herself become +engaged to him. + +Here was seen the difference in their ages--a difference that had an +effect upon their future. It means much that a girl should be four years +older than the man who seeks her hand. She is four years wiser; and a +girl of twenty is, in fact, a match for a youth of twenty-five. Brought +up as she had been, in an aristocratic home, with the blood of two noble +families in her veins, and being wont to hear the easy and somewhat +cynical talk of worldly people, she knew better than poor Karl the +un-wisdom of what she was about to do. + +She was noble, the daughter of one high official and the sister of +another. Those whom she knew were persons of rank and station. On the +other hand, young Marx, though he had accepted Christianity, was the son +of a provincial Jewish lawyer, with no fortune, and with a bad record at +the university. When she thought of all these things, she may well have +hesitated; but the earnest pleading and intense ardor of Karl Marx +broke down all barriers between them, and they became engaged, without +informing Jenny's father of their compact. Then they parted for a while, +and Karl returned to his home, filled with romantic thoughts. + +He was also full of ambition and of desire for achievement. He had won +the loveliest girl in Treves, and now he must go forth into the world +and conquer it for her sake. He begged his father to send him to +Berlin, and showed how much more advantageous was that new and splendid +university, where Hegel's fame was still in the ascendent. + +In answer to his father's questions, the younger Marx replied: + +"I have something to tell you that will explain all; but first you must +give me your word that you will tell no one." + +"I trust you wholly," said the father. "I will not reveal what you may +say to me." + +"Well," returned the son, "I am engaged to marry Jenny von Westphalen. +She wishes it kept a secret from her father, but I am at liberty to tell +you of it." + +The elder Marx was at once shocked and seriously disturbed. Baron +von Westphalen was his old and intimate friend. No thought of romance +between their children had ever come into his mind. It seemed disloyal +to keep the verlobung of Karl and Jenny a secret; for should it be +revealed, what would the baron think of Marx? Their disparity of rank +and fortune would make the whole affair stand out as something wrong and +underhand. + +The father endeavored to make his son see all this. He begged him to go +and tell the baron, but young Marx was not to be persuaded. + +"Send me to Berlin," he said, "and we shall again be separated; but I +shall work and make a name for myself, so that when I return neither +Jenny nor her father will have occasion to be disturbed by our +engagement." + +With these words he half satisfied his father, and before long he was +sent to Berlin, where he fell manfully upon his studies. His father +had insisted that he should study law; but his own tastes were for +philosophy and history. He attended lectures in jurisprudence "as a +necessary evil," but he read omnivorously in subjects that were nearer +to his heart. The result was that his official record was not much +better than it had been at Bonn. + +The same sort of restlessness, too, took possession of him when he +found that Jenny would not answer his letters. No matter how eagerly and +tenderly he wrote to her, there came no reply. Even the most passionate +pleadings left her silent and unresponsive. Karl could not complain, for +she had warned him that she would not write to him. She felt that their +engagement, being secret, was anomalous, and that until her family knew +of it she was not free to act as she might wish. + +Here again was seen the wisdom of her maturer years; but Karl could not +be equally reasonable. He showered her with letters, which still she +would not answer. He wrote to his father in words of fire. At last, +driven to despair, he said that he was going to write to the Baron von +Westphalen, reveal the secret, and ask for the baron's fatherly consent. + +It seemed a reckless thing to do, and yet it turned out to be the +wisest. The baron knew that such an engagement meant a social sacrifice, +and that, apart from the matter of rank, young Marx was without any +fortune to give the girl the luxuries to which she had been accustomed. +Other and more eligible suitors were always within view. But here Jenny +herself spoke out more strongly than she had ever done to Karl. She +was willing to accept him with what he was able to give her. She cared +nothing for any other man, and she begged her father to make both of +them completely happy. + +Thus it seemed that all was well, yet for some reason or other +Jenny would not write to Karl, and once more he was almost driven to +distraction. He wrote bitter letters to his father, who tried to comfort +him. The baron himself sent messages of friendly advice, but what young +man in his teens was ever reasonable? So violent was Karl that at last +his father wrote to him: + +I am disgusted with your letters. Their unreasonable tone is loathsome +to me. I should never had expected it of you. Haven't you been lucky +from your cradle up? + +Finally Karl received one letter from his betrothed--a letter that +transfused him with ecstatic joy for about a day, and then sent him +back to his old unrest. This, however, may be taken as a part of Marx's +curious nature, which was never satisfied, but was always reaching after +something which could not be had. + +He fell to writing poetry, of which he sent three volumes to +Jenny--which must have been rather trying to her, since the verse was +very poor. He studied the higher mathematics, English and Italian, +some Latin, and a miscellaneous collection of works on history and +literature. But poetry almost turned his mind. In later years he wrote: + +Everything was centered on poetry, as if I were bewitched by some +uncanny power. + +Luckily, he was wise enough, after a time, to recognize how halting +were his poems when compared with those of the great masters; and so he +resumed his restless, desultory work. He still sent his father letters +that were like wild cries. They evoked, in reply, a very natural burst +of anger: + +Complete disorder, silly wandering through all branches of science, +silly brooding at the burning oil-lamp! In your wildness you see with +four eyes--a horrible setback and disregard for everything decent. And +in the pursuit of this senseless and purposeless learning you think +to raise the fruits which are to unite you with your beloved one! What +harvest do you expect to gather from them which will enable you to +fulfil your duty toward her? + +Writing to him again, his father speaks of something that Karl had +written as "a mad composition, which denotes clearly how you waste your +ability and spend nights in order to create such monstrosities." The +young man was even forbidden to return home for the Easter holidays. +This meant giving up the sight of Jenny, whom he had not seen for a +whole year. But fortune arranged it otherwise; for not many weeks later +death removed the parent who had loved him and whom he had loved, though +neither of them could understand the other. The father represented the +old order of things; the son was born to discontent and to look forward +to a new heaven and a new earth. + +Returning to Berlin, Karl resumed his studies; but as before, they +were very desultory in their character, and began to run upon social +questions, which were indeed setting Germany into a ferment. He took his +degree, and thought of becoming an instructor at the university of Jena; +but his radicalism prevented this, and he became the editor of a liberal +newspaper, which soon, however, became so very radical as to lead to his +withdrawal. + +It now seemed best that Marx should seek other fields of activity. To +remain in Germany was dangerous to himself and discreditable to Jenny's +relatives, with their status as Prussian officials. In the summer of +1843, he went forth into the world--at last an "international." Jenny, +who had grown to believe in him as against her own family, asked for +nothing better than to wander with him, if only they might be married. +And they were married in this same summer, and spent a short honeymoon +at Bingen on the Rhine--made famous by Mrs. Norton's poem. It was the +brief glimpse of sunshine that was to precede year after year of anxiety +and want. + +Leaving Germany, Marx and Jenny went to Paris, where he became known to +some of the intellectual lights of the French capital, such as Bakunin, +the great Russian anarchist, Proudhon, Cabet, and Saint-Simon. Most +important of all was his intimacy with the poet Heine, that marvelous +creature whose fascination took on a thousand forms, and whom no one +could approach without feeling his strange allurement. + +Since Goethe's death, down to the present time, there has been no figure +in German literature comparable to Heine. His prose was exquisite. His +poetry ran through the whole gamut of humanity and of the sensations +that come to us from the outer world. In his poems are sweet melodies +and passionate cries of revolt, stirring ballads of the sea and tender +love-songs--strange as these last seem when coming from this cynic. + +For cynic he was, deep down in his heart, though his face, when in +repose, was like the conventional pictures of Christ. His fascinations +destroyed the peace of many a woman; and it was only after many years of +self-indulgence that he married the faithful Mathilde Mirat in what +he termed a "conscience marriage." Soon after he went to his +"mattress-grave," as he called it, a hopeless paralytic. + +To Heine came Marx and his beautiful bride. One may speculate as to +Jenny's estimate of her husband. Since his boyhood, she had not seen him +very much. At that time he was a merry, light-hearted youth, a jovial +comrade, and one of whom any girl would be proud. But since his long +stay in Berlin, and his absorption in the theories of men like Engels +and Bauer, he had become a very different sort of man, at least to her. + +Groping, lost in brown studies, dreamy, at times morose, he was by no +means a sympathetic and congenial husband for a high-bred, spirited +girl, such as Jenny von Westphalen. His natural drift was toward a +beer-garden, a group of frowsy followers, the reek of vile tobacco, and +the smell of sour beer. One cannot but think that his beautiful wife +must have been repelled by this, though with her constant nature she +still loved him. + +In Heinrich Heine she found a spirit that seemed akin to hers. Mr. +Spargo says--and in what he says one must read a great deal between the +lines: + +The admiration of Jenny Marx for the poet was even more ardent than +that of her husband. He fascinated her because, as she said, he was "so +modern," while Heine was drawn to her because she was "so sympathetic." + +It must be that Heine held the heart of this beautiful woman in his +hand. He knew so well the art of fascination; he knew just how to supply +the void which Marx had left. The two were indeed affinities in heart +and soul; yet for once the cynical poet stayed his hand, and said no +word that would have been disloyal to his friend. Jenny loved him with a +love that might have blazed into a lasting flame; but fortunately there +appeared a special providence to save her from herself. The French +government, at the request of the King of Prussia, banished Marx from +its dominions; and from that day until he had become an old man he was +a wanderer and an exile, with few friends and little money, sustained by +nothing but Jenny's fidelity and by his infinite faith in a cause that +crushed him to the earth. + +There is a curious parallel between the life of Marx and that of Richard +Wagner down to the time when the latter discovered a royal patron. +Both of them were hounded from country to country; both of them +worked laboriously for so scanty a living as to verge, at times, upon +starvation. Both of them were victims to a cause in which they earnestly +believed--an economic cause in the one case, an artistic cause in +the other. Wagner's triumph came before his death, and the world has +accepted his theory of the music-drama. The cause of Marx is far greater +and more tremendous, because it strikes at the base of human life and +social well-being. + +The clash between Wagner and his critics was a matter of poetry and +dramatic music. It was not vital to the human race. The cause of Marx +is one that is only now beginning to be understood and recognized by +millions of men and women in all the countries of the earth. In +his lifetime he issued a manifesto that has become a classic among +economists. He organized the great International Association of Workmen, +which set all Europe in a blaze and extended even to America. His great +book, "Capital"--Das Kapital--which was not completed until the last +years of his life, is read to-day by thousands as an almost sacred work. + +Like Wagner and his Minna, the wife of Marx's youth clung to him through +his utmost vicissitudes, denying herself the necessities of life so that +he might not starve. In London, where he spent his latest days, he was +secure from danger, yet still a sort of persecution seemed to follow +him. For some time, nothing that he wrote could find a printer. Wherever +he went, people looked at him askance. He and his six children lived +upon the sum of five dollars a week, which was paid him by the New York +Tribune, through the influence of the late Charles A. Dana. When his +last child was born, and the mother's life was in serious danger, Marx +complained that there was no cradle for the baby, and a little later +that there was no coffin for its burial. + +Marx had ceased to believe in marriage, despised the church, and cared +nothing for government. Yet, unlike Wagner, he was true to the woman who +had given up so much for him. He never sank to an artistic degeneracy. +Though he rejected creeds, he was nevertheless a man of genuine +religious feeling. Though he believed all present government to be an +evil, he hoped to make it better, or rather he hoped to substitute for +it a system by which all men might get an equal share of what it is +right and just for them to have. + +Such was Marx, and thus he lived and died. His wife, who had long been +cut off from her relatives, died about a year before him. When she was +buried, he stumbled and fell into her grave, and from that time until +his own death he had no further interest in life. + +He had been faithful to a woman and to a cause. That cause was so +tremendous as to overwhelm him. In sixty years only the first great +stirrings of it could be felt. Its teachings may end in nothing, but +only a century or more of effort and of earnest striving can make it +plain whether Karl Marx was a world-mover or a martyr to a cause that +was destined to be lost. + + + + + +FERDINAND LASSALLE AND HELENE VON DONNIGES + + +The middle part of the nineteenth century is a period which has become +more or less obscure to most Americans and Englishmen. At one end the +thunderous campaigns of Napoleon are dying away. In the latter part +of the century we remember the gorgeousness of the Tuileries, the four +years' strife of our own Civil War, and then the golden drift of peace +with which the century ended. Between these two extremes there is a +stretch of history which seems to lack interest for the average student +of to-day. + +In America, that was a period when we took little interest in the +movement of affairs on the continent of Europe. It would not be easy, +for instance, to imagine an American of 1840 cogitating on problems of +socialism, or trying to invent some new form of arbeiterverein. General +Choke was still swindling English emigrants. The Young Columbian was +still darting out from behind a table to declare how thoroughly he +defied the British lion. But neither of these patriots, any more than +their English compeers, was seriously disturbed about the interests of +the rest of the world. The Englishman was contentedly singing "God Save +the Queen!" The American, was apostrophizing the bird of freedom +with the floridity of rhetoric that reached its climax in the "Pogram +Defiance." What the Dutchies and Frenchies were doing was little more to +an Englishman than to an American. + +Continental Europe was a mystery to English-speaking people. Those who +traveled abroad took their own servants with them, spoke only English, +and went through the whole European maze with absolute indifference. To +them the socialist, who had scarcely received a name, was an imaginary +being. If he existed, he was only a sort of offspring of the Napoleonic +wars--a creature who had not yet fitted into the ordinary course of +things. He was an anomaly, a person who howled in beer-houses, and who +would presently be regulated, either by the statesmen or by the police. + +When our old friend, Mark Tapley, was making with his master a homeward +voyage to Britain, what did he know or even care about the politics of +France, or Germany, or Austria, or Russia? Not the slightest, you may be +sure. Mark and his master represented the complete indifference of the +Englishman or American--not necessarily a well-bred indifference, but +an indifference that was insular on the one hand and republican on +the other. If either of them had heard of a gentleman who pillaged an +unmarried lady's luggage in order to secure a valuable paper for another +lady, who was married, they would both have looked severely at this +abnormal person, and the American would doubtless have added a remark +which had something to do with the matchless purity of Columbia's +daughters. + +If, again, they had been told that Ferdinand Lassalle had joined in the +great movement initiated by Karl Marx, it is absolutely certain that +neither the Englishman nor the American could have given you the +slightest notion as to who these individuals were. Thrones might +be tottering all over Europe; the red flag might wave in a score of +cities--what would all this signify, so long as Britannia ruled the +waves, while Columbia's feathered emblem shrieked defiance three +thousand miles away? + +And yet few more momentous events have happened in a century than the +union which led one man to give his eloquence to the social cause, and +the other to suffer for that cause until his death. Marx had the higher +thought, but his disciple Lassalle had the more attractive way of +presenting it. It is odd that Marx, today, should lie in a squalid +cemetery, while the whole western world echoes with his praises, +and that Lassalle--brilliant, clear-sighted, and remarkable for his +penetrating genius--should have lived in luxury, but should now know +nothing but oblivion, even among those who shouted at his eloquence and +ran beside him in the glory of his triumph. + +Ferdinand Lassalle was a native of Breslau, the son of a wealthy +Jewish silk-merchant. Heymann Lassal--for thus the father spelled his +name--stroked his hands at young Ferdinand's cleverness, but he meant it +to be a commercial cleverness. He gave the boy a thorough education at +the University of Breslau, and later at Berlin. He was an affectionate +parent, and at the same time tyrannical to a degree. + +It was the old story where the father wishes to direct every step that +his son takes, and where the son, bursting out into youthful manhood, +feels that he has the right to freedom. The father thinks how he has +toiled for the son; the son thinks that if this toil were given for +love, it should not be turned into a fetter and restraint. Young +Lassalle, instead of becoming a clever silk-merchant, insisted on a +university career, where he studied earnestly, and was admitted to the +most cultured circles. + +Though his birth was Jewish, he encountered little prejudice against his +race. Napoleon had changed the old anti-Semitic feeling of fifty years +before to a liberalism that was just beginning to be strongly felt in +Germany, as it had already been in France. This was true in general, but +especially true of Lassalle, whose features were not of a Semitic type, +who made friends with every one, and who was a favorite in many salons. +His portraits make him seem a high-bred and high-spirited Prussian, +with an intellectual and clean-cut forehead; a face that has a sense of +humor, and yet one capable of swift and cogent thought. + +No man of ordinary talents could have won the admiration of so many +compeers. It is not likely that such a keen and cynical observer as +Heinrich Heine would have written as he did concerning Lassalle, had not +the latter been a brilliant and magnetic youth. Heine wrote to Varnhagen +von Ense, the German historian: + +My friend, Herr Lassalle, who brings you this letter, is a young man of +remarkable intellectual gifts. With the most thorough erudition, with +the widest learning, with the greatest penetration that I have ever +known, and with the richest gift of exposition, he combines an energy of +will and a capacity for action which astonish me. In no one have I found +united so much enthusiasm and practical intelligence. + +No better proof of Lassalle's enthusiasm can be found than a few lines +from his own writings: + +I love Heine. He is my second self. What audacity! What overpowering +eloquence! He knows how to whisper like a zephyr when it kisses +rose-blooms, how to breathe like fire when it rages and destroys; he +calls forth all that is tenderest and softest, and then all that is +fiercest and most daring. He has the sweep of the whole lyre! + +Lassalle's sympathy with Heine was like his sympathy with every one +whom he knew. This was often misunderstood. It was misunderstood in his +relations with women, and especially in the celebrated affair of the +Countess von Hatzfeldt, which began in the year 1846--that is to say, in +the twenty-first year of Lassalle's age. + +In truth, there was no real scandal in the matter, for the countess was +twice the age of Lassalle. It was precisely because he was so young that +he let his eagerness to defend a woman in distress make him forget +the ordinary usage of society, and expose himself to mean and unworthy +criticism which lasted all his life. It began by his introduction to +the Countess von Hatzfeldt, a lady who was grossly ill-treated by her +husband. She had suffered insult and imprisonment in the family castles; +the count had deprived her of medicine when she was ill, and had +forcibly taken away her children. Besides this, he was infatuated +with another woman, a baroness, and wasted his substance upon her even +contrary to the law which protected his children's rights. + +The countess had a son named Paul, of whom Lassalle was extremely fond. +There came to the boy a letter from the Count von Hatzfeldt ordering him +to leave his mother. The countess at once sent for Lassalle, who brought +with him two wealthy and influential friends--one of them a judge of a +high Prussian court--and together they read the letter which Paul had +just received. They were deeply moved by the despair of the countess, +and by the cruelty of her dissolute husband in seeking to separate the +mother from her son. + +In his chivalrous ardor Lassalle swore to help the countess, and +promised that he would carry on the struggle with her husband to the +bitter end. He took his two friends with him to Berlin, and then to +Dusseldorf, for they discovered that the Count von Hatzfeldt was not far +away. He was, in fact, at Aix-la-Chapelle with the baroness. + +Lassalle, who had the scent of a greyhound, pried about until he +discovered that the count had given his mistress a legal document, +assigning to her a valuable piece of property which, in the ordinary +course of law, should be entailed on the boy, Paul. The countess at +once hastened to the place, broke into her husband's room, and secured a +promise that the deed would be destroyed. + +No sooner, however, had she left him than he returned to the baroness, +and presently it was learned that the woman had set out for Cologne. + +Lassalle and his two friends followed, to ascertain whether the document +had really been destroyed. The three reached a hotel at Cologne, where +the baroness had just arrived. Her luggage, in fact, was being carried +upstairs. One of Lassalle's friends opened a trunk, and, finding a +casket there, slipped it out to his companion, the judge. + +Unfortunately, the latter had no means of hiding it, and when the +baroness's servant shouted for help, the casket was found in the +possession of the judge, who could give no plausible account of it. He +was, therefore, arrested, as were the other two. There was no evidence +against Lassalle; but his friends fared badly at the trial, one of them +being imprisoned for a year and the other for five years. + +From this time Lassalle, with an almost quixotic devotion, gave himself +up to fighting the Countess von Hatzfeldt's battle against her husband +in the law-courts. The ablest advocates were pitted against him. The +most eloquent legal orators thundered at him and at his client, but he +met them all with a skill, an audacity, and a brilliant wit that won for +him verdict after verdict. The case went from the lower to the higher +tribunals, until, after nine years, it reached the last court of appeal, +where Lassalle wrested from his opponents a magnificently conclusive +victory--one that made the children of the countess absolutely safe. +It was a battle fought with the determination of a soldier, with the +gallantry of a knight errant, and the intellectual acumen of a learned +lawyer. + +It is not surprising that many refuse to believe that Lassalle's feeling +toward the Countess von Hatzfeldt was a disinterested one. A scandalous +pamphlet, which was published in French, German, and Russian, and +written by one who styled herself "Sophie Solutzeff," did much to spread +the evil report concerning Lassalle. But the very openness and frankness +of the service which he did for the countess ought to make it clear that +his was the devotion of a youth drawn by an impulse into a strife where +there was nothing for him to gain, but everything to lose. He denounced +the brutality of her husband, but her letters to him always addressed +him as "my dear child." In writing to her he confides small love-secrets +and ephemeral flirtations--which he would scarcely have done, had the +countess viewed him with the eye of passion. + +Lassalle was undoubtedly a man of impressionable heart, and had many +affairs such as Heine had; but they were not deep or lasting. That he +should have made a favorable impression on the women whom he met is +not surprising, because of his social standing, his chivalry, his +fine manners, and his handsome face. Mr. Clement Shorter has quoted an +official document which describes him as he was in his earlier years: + +Ferdinand Lassalle, aged twenty-three, a civilian born at Breslau and +dwelling recently at Berlin. He stands five feet six inches in height, +has brown, curly hair, open forehead, brown eyebrows, dark blue eyes, +well proportioned nose and mouth, and rounded chin. + +We ought not to be surprised, then, if he was a favorite in +drawing-rooms; if both men and women admired him; if Alexander von +Humboldt cried out with enthusiasm that he was a wunderkind, and if +there were more than Sophie Solutzeff to be jealous. But the rather +ungrateful remark of the Countess von Hatzfeldt certainly does not +represent him as he really was. + +"You are without reason and judgment where women are concerned," she +snarled at him; but the sneer only shows that the woman who uttered it +was neither in love with him nor grateful to him. + +In this paper we are not discussing Lassalle as a public agitator or +as a Socialist, but simply in his relations with the two women who most +seriously affected his life. The first was the Countess von Hatzfeldt, +who, as we have seen, occupied--or rather wasted--nine of the best years +of his life. Then came that profound and thrilling passion which ended +the career of a man who at thirty-nine had only just begun to be famous. + +Lassalle had joined his intellectual forces with those of Heine and +Marx. He had obtained so great an influence over the masses of the +people as to alarm many a monarch, and at the same time to attract many +a statesman. Prince Bismarck, for example, cared nothing for Lassalle's +championship of popular rights, but sought his aid on finding that he +was an earnest advocate of German unity. + +Furthermore, he was very far from resembling what in those early days +was regarded as the typical picture of a Socialist. There was nothing +frowzy about him; in his appearance he was elegance itself; his manners +were those of a prince, and his clothing was of the best. Seeing him in +a drawing-room, no one would mistake him for anything but a gentleman +and a man of parts. Hence it is not surprising that his second love was +one of the nobility, although her own people hated Lassalle as a bearer +of the red flag. + +This girl was Helene von Donniges, the daughter of a Bavarian +diplomat. As a child she had traveled much, especially in Italy and in +Switzerland. She was very precocious, and lived her own life without +asking the direction of any one. At twelve years of age she had been +betrothed to an Italian of forty; but this dark and pedantic person +always displeased her, and soon afterward, when she met a young +Wallachian nobleman, one Yanko Racowitza, she was ready at once to +dismiss her Italian lover. Racowitza--young, a student, far from home, +and lacking friends--appealed at once to the girl's sympathy. + +At that very time, in Berlin, where Helene was visiting her grandmother, +she was asked by a Prussian baron: + +"Do you know Ferdinand Lassalle?" + +The question came to her with a peculiar shock. She had never heard the +name, and yet the sound of it gave her a strange emotion. Baron Korff, +who perhaps took liberties because she was so young, went on to say: + +"My dear lady, have you really never seen Lassalle? Why, you and he were +meant for each other!" + +She felt ashamed to ask about him, but shortly after a gentleman who +knew her said: + +"It is evident that you have a surprising degree of intellectual kinship +with Ferdinand Lassalle." + +This so excited her curiosity that she asked her grandmother: + +"Who is this person of whom they talk so much--this Ferdinand Lassalle?" + +"Do not speak of him," replied her grandmother. "He is a shameless +demagogue!" + +A little questioning brought to Helene all sorts of stories about +Lassalle--the Countess von Hatzfeldt, the stolen casket, the mysterious +pamphlet, the long battle in the courts--all of which excited her still +more. A friend offered to introduce her to the "shameless demagogue." +This introduction happened at a party, and it must have been an +extraordinary meeting. Seldom, it seemed, was there a better instance +of love at first sight, or of the true affinity of which Baron Korff +had spoken. In the midst of the public gathering they almost rushed into +each other's arms; they talked the free talk of acknowledged lovers; and +when she left, he called her love-names as he offered her his arm. + +"Somehow it did not appear at all remarkable," she afterward declared. +"We seemed to be perfectly fitted to each other." + +Nevertheless, nine months passed before they met again at a soiree. At +this time Lassaller gazing upon her, said: + +"What would you do if I were sentenced to death?" + +"I should wait until your head was severed," was her answer, "in order +that you might look upon your beloved to the last, and then--I should +take poison!" + +Her answer delighted him, but he said that there was no danger. He +was greeted on every hand with great consideration; and it seemed not +unlikely that, in recognition of his influence with the people, he might +rise to some high position. The King of Prussia sympathized with him. +Heine called him the Messiah of the nineteenth century. When he passed +from city to city, the whole population turned out to do him honor. +Houses were wreathed; flowers were thrown in masses upon him, while the +streets were spanned with triumphal arches. + +Worn out with the work and excitement attending the birth of the +Deutscher Arbeiterverein, or workmen's union, which he founded in 1863, +Lassalle fled for a time to Switzerland for rest. Helene heard of his +whereabouts, and hurried to him, with several friends. They met again +on July 25,1864, and discussed long and intensely the possibilities of +their marriage and the opposition of her parents, who would never permit +her to marry a man who was at once a Socialist and a Jew. + +Then comes a pitiful story of the strife between Lassalle and the +Donniges family. Helene's father and mother indulged in vulgar words; +they spoke of Lassalle with contempt; they recalled all the scandals +that had been current ten years before, and forbade Helene ever to +mention the man's name again. + +The next scene in the drama took place in Geneva, where the family +of Herr von Donniges had arrived, and where Helene's sister had been +betrothed to Count von Keyserling--a match which filled her mother with +intense joy. Her momentary friendliness tempted Helene to speak of her +unalterable love for Lassalle. Scarcely had the words been spoken when +her father and mother burst into abuse and denounced Lassalle as well as +herself. + +She sent word of this to Lassalle, who was in a hotel near by. Scarcely +had he received her letter, when Helene herself appeared upon the scene, +and with all the intensity of which she was possessed, she begged him +to take her wherever he chose. She would go with him to France, to +Italy--to the ends of the earth! + +What a situation, and yet how simple a one for a man of spirit! It is +strange to have to record that to Lassalle it seemed most difficult. He +felt that he or she, or both of them, had been compromised. Had she a +lady with her? Did she know any one in the neighborhood? + +What an extraordinary answer! If she were compromised, all the more +ought he to have taken her in his arms and married her at once, instead +of quibbling and showing himself a prig. + +Presently, her maid came in to tell them that a carriage was ready to +take them to the station, whence a train would start for Paris in a +quarter of an hour. Helene begged him with a feeling that was beginning +to be one of shame. Lassalle repelled her in words that were to stamp +him with a peculiar kind of cowardice. + +Why should he have stopped to think of anything except the beautiful +woman who was at his feet, and to whom he had pledged his love? What did +he care for the petty diplomat who was her father, or the vulgar-tongued +woman who was her mother? He should have hurried her and the maid into +the train for Paris, and have forgotten everything in the world but his +Helene, glorious among women, who had left everything for him. + +What was the sudden failure, the curious weakness, the paltriness of +spirit that came at the supreme moment into the heart of this hitherto +strong man? Here was the girl whom he loved, driven from her parents, +putting aside all question of appearances, and clinging to him with a +wild and glorious desire to give herself to him and to be all his own! +That was a thing worthy of a true woman. And he? He shrinks from her +and cowers and acts like a simpleton. His courage seems to have dribbled +through his finger-tips; he is no longer a man--he is a thing. + +Out of all the multitude of Lassalle's former admirers, there is +scarcely one who has ventured to defend him, much less to laud him; and +when they have done so, their voices have had a sound of mockery that +dies away in their own throats. + +Helene, on her side, had compromised herself, and even from the +view-point of her parents it was obvious that she ought to be married +immediately. Her father, however, confined her to her room until it +was understood that Lassalle had left Geneva. Then her family's +supplications, the statement that her sister's marriage and even her +father's position were in danger, led her to say that she would give up +Lassalle. + +It mattered very little, in one way, for whatever he might have done, +Lassalle had killed, or at least had chilled, her love. His failure at +the moment of her great self-sacrifice had shown him to her as he really +was--no bold and gallant spirit, but a cringing, spiritless self-seeker. +She wrote him a formal letter to the effect that she had become +reconciled to her "betrothed bridegroom"; and they never met again. + +Too late, Lassalle gave himself up to a great regret. He went about +trying to explain his action to his friends, but he could say nothing +that would ease his feeling and reinstate him in the eyes of the +romantic girl. In a frenzy, he sought out the Wallachian student, Yanko +von Racowitza, and challenged him to a mortal duel. He also challenged +Helene's father. Years before, he had on principle declined to fight a +duel; but now he went raving about as if he sought the death of every +one who knew him. + +The duel was fought on August 28, 1864. There was some trouble about +pistols, and also about seconds; but finally the combatants left a +small hotel in a village near Geneva, and reached the dueling-grounds. +Lassalle was almost joyous in his manner. His old confidence had come +back to him; he meant to kill his man. + +They took their stations high up among the hills. A few spectators saw +their figures outlined against the sky. The command to fire rang out, +and from both pistols gushed the flame and smoke. + +A moment later, Lassalle was seen to sway and fall. A chance shot, +glancing from a wall, had struck him to the ground. He suffered +terribly, and nothing but opium in great doses could relieve his pain. +His wound was mortal, and three days later he died. + +Long after, Helene admitted that she still loved Lassalle, and believed +that he would win the duel; but after the tragedy, the tenderness and +patience of Racowitza won her heart. She married him, but within a +year he died of consumption. Helene, being disowned by her relations, +prepared herself for the stage. She married a third husband named +Shevitch, who was then living in the United States, but who has since +made his home in Russia. + +Let us say nothing of Lassalle's political career. Except for his work +as one of the early leaders of the liberal movement in Germany, it has +perished, and his name has been almost forgotten. As a lover, his story +stands out forever as a warning to the timid and the recreant. Let men +do what they will; but there is just one thing which no man is permitted +to do with safety in the sight of woman--and that is to play the craven. + + + + + +THE STORY OF RACHEL + + +Outside of the English-speaking peoples the nineteenth century witnessed +the rise and triumphant progress of three great tragic actresses. The +first two of these--Rachel Felix and Sarah Bernhardt--were of Jewish +extraction; the third, Eleanor Duse, is Italian. All of them made their +way from pauperism to fame; but perhaps the rise of Rachel was the most +striking. + +In the winter of 1821 a wretched peddler named Abraham--or Jacob--Felix +sought shelter at a dilapidated inn at Mumpf, a village in Switzerland, +not far from Basel. It was at the close of a stormy day, and his small +family had been toiling through the snow and sleet. The inn was the +lowest sort of hovel, and yet its proprietor felt that it was too good +for these vagabonds. He consented to receive them only when he learned +that the peddler's wife was to be delivered of a child. That very night +she became the mother of a girl, who was at first called Elise. So +unimportant was the advent of this little waif into the world that the +burgomaster of Mumpf thought it necessary to make an entry only of the +fact that a peddler's wife had given birth to a female child. There was +no mention of family or religion, nor was the record anything more than +a memorandum. + +Under such circumstances was born a child who was destined to excite the +wonder of European courts--to startle and thrill and utterly amaze great +audiences by her dramatic genius. But for ten years the family--which +grew until it consisted of one son and five daughters--kept on its +wanderings through Switzerland and Germany. Finally, they settled +down in Lyons, where the mother opened a little shop for the sale of +second-hand clothing. The husband gave lessons in German whenever he +could find a pupil. The eldest daughter went about the cafes in the +evening, singing the songs that were then popular, while her small +sister, Rachel, collected coppers from those who had coppers to spare. + +Although the family was barely able to sustain existence, the father and +mother were by no means as ignorant as their squalor would imply. The +peddler Felix had studied Hebrew theology in the hope of becoming a +rabbi. Failing this, he was always much interested in declamation, +public reading, and the recitation of poetry. He was, in his way, no +mean critic of actors and actresses. Long before she was ten years of +age little Rachel--who had changed her name from Elise--could render +with much feeling and neatness of eloquence bits from the best-known +French plays of the classic stage. + +The children's mother, on her side, was sharp and practical to a high +degree. She saved and scrimped all through her period of adversity. +Later she was the banker of her family, and would never lend any of her +children a sou except on excellent security. However, this was all to +happen in after years. + +When the child who was destined to be famous had reached her tenth +year she and her sisters made their way to Paris. For four years the +second-hand clothing-shop was continued; the father still taught German; +and the elder sister, Sarah, who had a golden voice, made the rounds of +the cafes in the lowest quarters of the capital, while Rachel passed the +wooden plate for coppers. + +One evening in the year 1834 a gentleman named Morin, having been taken +out of his usual course by a matter of business, entered a BRASSERIE +for a cup of coffee. There he noted two girls, one of them singing with +remarkable sweetness, and the other silently following with the wooden +plate. M. Morin called to him the girl who sang and asked her why she +did not make her voice more profitable than by haunting the cafes at +night, where she was sure to meet with insults of the grossest kind. + +"Why," said Sarah, "I haven't anybody to advise me what to do." + +M. Morin gave her his address and said that he would arrange to have her +meet a friend who would be of great service to her. On the following +day he sent the two girls to a M. Choron, who was the head of the +Conservatory of Sacred Music. Choron had Sarah sing, and instantly +admitted her as a pupil, which meant that she would soon be enrolled +among the regular choristers. The beauty of her voice made a deep +impression on him. + +Then he happened to notice the puny, meager child who was standing near +her sister. Turning to her, he said: + +"And what can you do, little one?" + +"I can recite poetry," was the reply. + +"Oh, can you?" said he. "Please let me hear you." + +Rachel readily consented. She had a peculiarly harsh, grating voice, so +that any but a very competent judge would have turned her away. But M. +Choron, whose experience was great, noted the correctness of her accent +and the feeling which made itself felt in every line. He accepted her as +well as her sister, but urged her to study elocution rather than music. + +She must, indeed, have had an extraordinary power even at the age +of fourteen, since not merely her voice but her whole appearance was +against her. She was dressed in a short calico frock of a pattern +in which red was spotted with white. Her shoes were of coarse black +leather. Her hair was parted at the back of her head and hung down her +shoulders in two braids, framing the long, childish, and yet gnome-like +face, which was unusual in its gravity. + +At first she was little thought of; but there came a time when she +astonished both her teachers and her companions by a recital which she +gave in public. The part was the narrative of Salema in the "Abufar" +of Ducis. It describes the agony of a mother who gives birth to a child +while dying of thirst amid the desert sands. Mme. de Barviera has left a +description of this recital, which it is worth while to quote: + +While uttering the thrilling tale the thin face seemed to lengthen with +horror, the small, deep-set black eyes dilated with a fixed stare as +though she witnessed the harrowing scene; and the deep, guttural tones, +despite a slight Jewish accent, awoke a nameless terror in every one who +listened, carrying him through the imaginary woe with a strange feeling +of reality, not to be shaken, off as long as the sounds lasted. + +Even yet, however, the time had not come for any conspicuous success. +The girl was still so puny in form, so monkey-like in face, and so +gratingly unpleasant in her tones that it needed time for her to attain +her full growth and to smooth away some of the discords in her peculiar +voice. + +Three years later she appeared at the Gymnase in a regular debut; yet +even then only the experienced few appreciated her greatness. Among +these, however, were the well-known critic Jules Janin, the poet and +novelist Gauthier, and the actress Mlle. Mars. They saw that this lean, +raucous gutter-girl had within her gifts which would increase until she +would be first of all actresses on the French stage. Janin wrote some +lines which explain the secret of her greatness: + +All the talent in the world, especially when continually applied to +the same dramatic works, will not satisfy continually the hearer. What +pleases in a great actor, as in all arts that appeal to the imagination, +is the unforeseen. When I am utterly ignorant of what is to happen, +when I do not know, when you yourself do not know what will be your +next gesture, your next look, what passion will possess your heart, what +outcry will burst from your terror-stricken soul, then, indeed, I am +willing to see you daily, for each day you will be new to me. To-day I +may blame, to-morrow praise. Yesterday you were all-powerful; to-morrow, +perhaps, you may hardly win from me a word of admiration. So much the +better, then, if you draw from me unexpected tears, if in my heart you +strike an unknown fiber; but tell me not of hearing night after night +great artists who every time present the exact counterpart of what they +were on the preceding one. + +It was at the Theatre Francais that she won her final acceptance as the +greatest of all tragedians of her time. This was in her appearance in +Corneille's famous play of "Horace." She had now, in 1838, blazed forth +with a power that shook her no, less than it stirred the emotions and +the passions of her hearers. The princes of the royal blood came in +succession to see her. King Louis Philippe himself was at last tempted +by curiosity to be present. Gifts of money and jewels were showered on +her, and through sheer natural genius rather than through artifice she +was able to master a great audience and bend it to her will. + +She had no easy life, this girl of eighteen years, for other actresses +carped at her, and she had had but little training. The sordid ways of +her old father excited a bitterness which was vented on the daughter. +She was still under age, and therefore was treated as a gold-mine by her +exacting parents. At the most she could play but twice a week. Her form +was frail and reed-like. She was threatened with a complaint of the +lungs; yet all this served to excite rather than to diminish public +interest in her. The newspapers published daily bulletins of her health, +and her door was besieged by anxious callers who wished to know her +condition. As for the greed of her parents, every one said she was +not to blame for that. And so she passed from poverty to riches, from +squalor to something like splendor, and from obscurity to fame. + +Much has been written about her that is quite incorrect. She has been +credited with virtues which she never possessed; and, indeed, it may be +said with only too much truth that she possessed no virtues whatsoever. +On the stage while the inspiration lasted she was magnificent. Off +the stage she was sly, treacherous, capricious, greedy, ungrateful, +ignorant, and unchaste. With such an ancestry as she had, with such an +early childhood as had been hers, what else could one expect from her? + +She and her old mother wrangled over money like two pickpockets. Some of +her best friends she treated shamefully. Her avarice was without bounds. +Some one said that it was not really avarice, but only a reaction from +generosity; but this seems an exceedingly subtle theory. It is possible +to give illustrations of it, however. She did, indeed, make many +presents with a lavish hand; yet, having made a present, she could +not rest until she got it back. The fact was so well known that her +associates took it for granted. The younger Dumas once received a +ring from her. Immediately he bowed low and returned it to her finger, +saying: + +"Permit me, mademoiselle, to present it to you in my turn so as to save +you the embarrassment of asking for it." + +Mr. Vandam relates among other anecdotes about her that one evening she +dined at the house of Comte Duchatel. The table was loaded with the +most magnificent flowers; but Rachel's keen eyes presently spied out the +great silver centerpiece. Immediately she began to admire the latter; +and the count, fascinated by her manners, said that he would be glad to +present it to her. She accepted it at once, but was rather fearful +lest he should change his mind. She had come to dinner in a cab, and +mentioned the fact. The count offered to send her home in his carriage. + +"Yes, that will do admirably," said she. "There will be no danger of my +being robbed of your present, which I had better take with me." + +"With pleasure, mademoiselle," replied the count. "But you will send me +back my carriage, won't you?" + +Rachel had a curious way of asking every one she met for presents and +knickknacks, whether they were valuable or not. She knew how to make +them valuable. + +Once in a studio she noticed a guitar hanging on the wall. She begged +for it very earnestly. As it was an old and almost worthless instrument, +it was given her. A little later it was reported that the dilapidated +guitar had been purchased by a well-known gentleman for a thousand +francs. The explanation soon followed. Rachel had declared that it was +the very guitar with which she used to earn her living as a child in the +streets of Paris. As a memento its value sprang from twenty francs to a +thousand. + +It has always been a mystery what Rachel did with the great sums of +money which she made in various ways. She never was well dressed; and as +for her costumes on the stage, they were furnished by the theater. When +her effects were sold at public auction after her death her furniture +was worse than commonplace, and her pictures and ornaments were +worthless, except such as had been given her. She must have made +millions of francs, and yet she had very little to leave behind her. + +Some say that her brother Raphael, who acted as her personal manager, +was a spendthrift; but if so, there are many reasons for thinking that +it was not his sister's money that he spent. Others say that Rachel +gambled in stocks, but there is no evidence of it. The only thing that +is certain is the fact that she was almost always in want of money. Her +mother, in all probability, managed to get hold of most of her earnings. + +Much may have been lost through her caprices. One instance may be cited. +She had received an offer of three hundred thousand francs to act at St. +Petersburg, and was on her way there when she passed through Potsdam, +near Berlin. The King of Prussia was entertaining the Russian Czar. An +invitation was sent to her in the shape of a royal command to appear +before these monarchs and their guests. For some reason or other Rachel +absolutely refused. She would listen to no arguments. She would go on to +St. Petersburg without delay. + +"But," it was said to her, "if you refuse to appear before the Czar at +Potsdam all the theaters in St. Petersburg will be closed against you, +because you will have insulted the emperor. In this way you will be +out the expenses of your journey and also the three hundred thousand +francs." + +Rachel remained stubborn as before; but in about half an hour she +suddenly declared that she would recite before the two monarchs, which +she subsequently did, to the satisfaction of everybody. Some one said to +her not long after: + +"I knew that you would do it. You weren't going to give up the three +hundred thousand francs and all your travelling expenses." + +"You are quite wrong," returned Rachel, "though of course you will not +believe me. I did not care at all about the money and was going back to +France. It was something that I heard which made me change my mind. Do +you want to know what it was? Well, after all the arguments were over +some one informed me that the Czar Nicholas was the handsomest man +in Europe; and so I made up my mind that I would stay in Potsdam long +enough to see him." + +This brings us to one phase of Rachel's nature which is rather sinister. +She was absolutely hard. She seemed to have no emotions except those +which she exhibited on the stage or the impish perversity which +irritated so many of those about her. She was in reality a product of +the gutter, able to assume a demure and modest air, but within coarse, +vulgar, and careless of decency. Yet the words of Jules Janin, which +have been quoted above, explain how she could be personally very +fascinating. + +In all Rachel's career one can detect just a single strand of real +romance. It is one that makes us sorry for her, because it tells us that +her love was given where it never could be openly requited. + +During the reign of Louis Philippe the Comte Alexandre Walewski held +many posts in the government. He was a son of the great Napoleon. His +mother was that Polish countess who had accepted Napoleon's love because +she hoped that he might set Poland free at her desire. But Napoleon was +never swerved from his well-calculated plans by the wish of any woman, +and after a time the Countess Walewska came to love him for himself. It +was she to whom he confided secrets which he would not reveal to his own +brothers. It was she who followed him to Elba in disguise. It was her +son who was Napoleon's son, and who afterward, under the Second Empire, +was made minister of fine arts, minister of foreign affairs, and, +finally, an imperial duke. Unlike the third Napoleon's natural +half-brother, the Duc de Moray, Walewski was a gentleman of honor and +fine feeling. He never used his relationship to secure advantages for +himself. He tried to live in a manner worthy of the great warrior who +was his father. + +As minister of fine arts he had much to do with the subsidized theaters; +and in time he came to know Rachel. He was the son of one of the +greatest men who ever lived. She was the child of roving peddlers whose +early training had been in the slums of cities and amid the smoke of +bar-rooms and cafes. She was tainted in a thousand ways, while he was a +man of breeding and right principle. She was a wandering actress; he was +a great minister of state. What could there be between these two? + +George Sand gave the explanation in an epigram which, like most +epigrams, is only partly true. She said: + +"The count's company must prove very restful to Rachel." + +What she meant was, of course, that Walewski's breeding, his dignity +and uprightness, might be regarded only as a temporary repose for the +impish, harsh-voiced, infinitely clever actress. Of course, it was all +this, but we should not take it in a mocking sense. Rachel looked up out +of her depths and gave her heart to this high-minded nobleman. He looked +down and lifted her, as it were, so that she could forget for the time +all the baseness and the brutality that she had known, that she might +put aside her forced vivacity and the self that was not in reality her +own. + +It is pitiful to think of these two, separated by a great abyss which +could not be passed except at times and hours when each was free. But +theirs was, none the less, a meeting of two souls, strangely different +in many ways, and yet appealing to each other with a sincerity and truth +which neither could show elsewhere. + +The end of poor Rachel was one of disappointment. Tempted by the fact +that Jenny Lind had made nearly two million francs by her visit to the +United States, Rachel followed her, but with slight success, as was to +be expected. Music is enjoyed by human beings everywhere, while French +classical plays, even though acted by a genius like Rachel, could be +rightly understood only by a French-speaking people. Thus it came about +that her visit to America was only moderately successful. + +She returned to France, where the rising fame of Adelaide Ristori was +very bitter to Rachel, who had passed the zenith of her power. She went +to Egypt, but received no benefit, and in 1858 she died near Cannes. The +man who loved her, and whom she had loved in turn, heard of her death +with great emotion. He himself lived ten years longer, and died a little +while before the fall of the Second Empire. + + +END OF VOLUME THREE + + + + + +DEAN SWIFT AND THE TWO ESTHERS + + +The story of Jonathan Swift and of the two women who gave their lives +for love of him is familiar to every student of English literature. +Swift himself, both in letters and in politics, stands out a conspicuous +figure in the reigns of King William III and Queen Anne. By writing +Gulliver's Travels he made himself immortal. The external facts of his +singular relations with two charming women are sufficiently well known; +but a definite explanation of these facts has never yet been given. +Swift held his tongue with a repellent taciturnity. No one ever dared +to question him. Whether the true solution belongs to the sphere of +psychology or of physiology is a question that remains unanswered. + +But, as the case is one of the most puzzling in the annals of love, it +may be well to set forth the circumstances very briefly, to weigh the +theories that have already been advanced, and to suggest another. + +Jonathan Swift was of Yorkshire stock, though he happened to be born in +Dublin, and thus is often spoken of as "the great Irish satirist," or +"the Irish dean." It was, in truth, his fate to spend much of his life +in Ireland, and to die there, near the cathedral where his remains now +rest; but in truth he hated Ireland and everything connected with it, +just as he hated Scotland and everything that was Scottish. He was an +Englishman to the core. + +High-stomached, proud, obstinate, and over-mastering, independence was +the dream of his life. He would accept no favors, lest he should put +himself under obligation; and although he could give generously, and +even lavishly, he lived for the most part a miser's life, hoarding every +penny and halfpenny that he could. Whatever one may think of him, there +is no doubt that he was a very manly man. Too many of his portraits give +the impression of a sour, supercilious pedant; but the finest of them +all--that by Jervas--shows him as he must have been at his very prime, +with a face that was almost handsome, and a look of attractive humor +which strengthens rather than lessens the power of his brows and of the +large, lambent eyes beneath them. + +At fifteen he entered Trinity College, in Dublin, where he read widely +but studied little, so that his degree was finally granted him only as +a special favor. At twenty-one he first visited England, and became +secretary to Sir William Temple, at Moor Park. Temple, after a +distinguished career in diplomacy, had retired to his fine country +estate in Surrey. He is remembered now for several things--for having +entertained Peter the Great of Russia; for having, while young, won +the affections of Dorothy Osborne, whose letters to him are charming in +their grace and archness; for having been the patron of Jonathan Swift; +and for fathering the young girl named Esther Johnson, a waif, born out +of wedlock, to whom Temple gave a place in his household. + +When Swift first met her, Esther Johnson was only eight years old; and +part of his duties at Moor Park consisted in giving her what was then +an unusual education for a girl. She was, however, still a child, and +nothing serious could have passed between the raw youth and this little +girl who learned the lessons that he imposed upon her. + +Such acquaintance as they had was rudely broken off. Temple, a man of +high position, treated Swift with an urbane condescension which drove +the young man's independent soul into a frenzy. He returned to Ireland, +where he was ordained a clergyman, and received a small parish at +Kilroot, near Belfast. + +It was here that the love-note was first seriously heard in the +discordant music of Swift's career. A college friend of his named Waring +had a sister who was about the age of Swift, and whom he met quite +frequently at Kilroot. Not very much is known of this episode, but +there is evidence that Swift fell in love with the girl, whom he rather +romantically called "Varina." + +This cannot be called a serious love-affair. Swift was lonely, and Jane +Waring was probably the only girl of refinement who lived near Kilroot. +Furthermore, she had inherited a small fortune, while Swift was +miserably poor, and had nothing to offer except the shadowy prospect of +future advancement in England. He was definitely refused by her; and it +was this, perhaps, that led him to resolve on going back to England and +making his peace with Sir William Temple. + +On leaving, Swift wrote a passionate letter to Miss Waring--the only +true love-letter that remains to us of their correspondence. He protests +that he does not want Varina's fortune, and that he will wait until +he is in a position to marry her on equal terms. There is a smoldering +flame of jealousy running through the letter. Swift charges her with +being cold, affected, and willing to flirt with persons who are quite +beneath her. + +Varina played no important part in Swift's larger life thereafter; but +something must be said of this affair in order to show, first of all, +that Swift's love for her was due only to proximity, and that when he +ceased to feel it he could be not only hard, but harsh. His fiery spirit +must have made a deep impression on Miss Waring; for though she at the +time refused him, she afterward remembered him, and tried to renew their +old relations. Indeed, no sooner had Swift been made rector of a larger +parish, than Varina let him know that she had changed her mind, and was +ready to marry him; but by this time Swift had lost all interest in her. +He wrote an answer which even his truest admirers have called brutal. + +"Yes," he said in substance, "I will marry you, though you have treated +me vilely, and though you are living in a sort of social sink. I am +still poor, though you probably think otherwise. However, I will marry +you on certain conditions. First, you must be educated, so that you +can entertain me. Next, you must put up with all my whims and likes and +dislikes. Then you must live wherever I please. On these terms I will +take you, without reference to your looks or to your income. As to the +first, cleanliness is all that I require; as to the second, I only ask +that it be enough." + +Such a letter as this was like a blow from a bludgeon. The insolence, +the contempt, and the hardness of it were such as no self-respecting +woman could endure. It put an end to their acquaintance, as Swift +undoubtedly intended it should do. He would have been less censurable +had he struck Varina with his fist or kicked her. + +The true reason for Swift's utter change of heart is found, no doubt, in +the beginning of what was destined to be his long intimacy with Esther +Johnson. When Swift left Sir William Temple's in a huff, Esther had been +a mere schoolgirl. Now, on his return, she was fifteen years of age, and +seemed older. She had blossomed out into a very comely girl, vivacious, +clever, and physically well developed, with dark hair, sparkling eyes, +and features that were unusually regular and lovely. + +For three years the two were close friends and intimate associates, +though it cannot be said that Swift ever made open love to her. To the +outward eye they were no more than fellow workers. Yet love does not +need the spoken word and the formal declaration to give it life and make +it deep and strong. Esther Johnson, to whom Swift gave the pet name of +"Stella," grew into the existence of this fiery, hold, and independent +genius. All that he did she knew. She was his confidante. As to his +writings, his hopes, and his enmities, she was the mistress of all his +secrets. For her, at last, no other man existed. + +On Sir William Temple's death, Esther John son came into a small +fortune, though she now lost her home at Moor Park. Swift returned to +Ireland, and soon afterward he invited Stella to join him there. + +Swift was now thirty-four years of age, and Stella a very attractive +girl of twenty. One might have expected that the two would marry, and +yet they did not do so. Every precaution was taken to avoid anything +like scandal. Stella was accompanied by a friend--a widow named Mrs. +Dingley--without whose presence, or that of some third person, Swift +never saw Esther Johnson. When Swift was absent, how ever, the two +ladies occupied his apartments; and Stella became more than ever +essential to his happiness. + +When they were separated for any length of time Swift wrote to Stella +in a sort of baby-talk, which they called "the little language." It was +made up of curious abbreviations and childish words, growing more and +more complicated as the years went on. It is interesting to think of +this stern and often savage genius, who loved to hate, and whose hate +was almost less terrible than his love, babbling and prattling in little +half caressing sentences, as a mother might babble over her first child. +Pedantic writers have professed to find in Swift's use of this "little +language" the coming shadow of that insanity which struck him down in +his old age. + +As it is, these letters are among the curiosities of amatory +correspondence. When Swift writes "oo" for "you," and "deelest" for +"dearest," and "vely" for "very," there is no need of an interpreter; +but "rettle" for "let ter," "dallars" for "girls," and "givar" for +"devil," are at first rather difficult to guess. Then there is a system +of abbreviating. "Md" means "my dear," "Ppt" means "poppet," and "Pdfr," +with which Swift sometimes signed his epistles, "poor, dear, foolish +rogue." + +The letters reveal how very closely the two were bound together, yet +still there was no talk of marriage. On one occasion, after they had +been together for three years in Ireland, Stella might have married +another man. This was a friend of Swift's, one Dr. Tisdall, who made +energetic love to the sweet-faced English girl. Tisdall accused Swift of +poisoning Stella's mind against him. Swift replied that such was not +the case. He said that no feelings of his own would ever lead him to +influence the girl if she preferred another. + +It is quite sure, then, that Stella clung wholly to Swift, and cared +nothing for the proffered love of any other man. Thus through the years +the relations of the two remained unchanged, until in 1710 Swift +left Ireland and appeared as a very brilliant figure in the London +drawing-rooms of the great Tory leaders of the day. + +He was now a man of mark, because of his ability as a controversialist. +He had learned the manners of the world, and he carried him self with an +air of power which impressed all those who met him. Among these persons +was a Miss Hester--or Esther--Vanhomrigh, the daughter of a rather +wealthy widow who was living in London at that time. Miss Vanhomrigh--a +name which she and her mother pronounced "Vanmeury"--was then seventeen +years of age, or twelve years younger than the patient Stella. + +Esther Johnson, through her long acquaintance with Swift, and from +his confidence in her, had come to treat him almost as an intellectual +equal. She knew all his moods, some of which were very difficult, and +she bore them all; though when he was most tyrannous she became only +passive, waiting, with a woman's wisdom, for the tempest to blow over. + +Miss Vanhomrigh, on the other hand, was one of those girls who, though +they have high spirit, take an almost voluptuous delight in yielding to +a spirit that is stronger still. This beautiful creature felt a positive +fascination in Swift's presence and his imperious manner. When his eyes +flashed, and his voice thundered out words of anger, she looked at him +with adoration, and bowed in a sort of ecstasy before him. If he chose +to accost a great lady with "Well, madam, are you as ill-natured and +disagreeable as when I met you last?" Esther Vanhomrigh thrilled at the +insolent audacity of the man. Her evident fondness for him exercised a +seductive influence over Swift. + +As the two were thrown more and more together, the girl lost all her +self-control. Swift did not in any sense make love to her, though he +gave her the somewhat fanciful name of "Vanessa"; but she, driven on by +a high-strung, unbridled temperament, made open love to him. When he was +about to return to Ireland, there came one startling moment when Vanessa +flung herself into the arms of Swift, and amazed him by pouring out a +torrent of passionate endearments. + +Swift seems to have been surprised. He did what he could to quiet her. +He told her that they were too unequal in years and fortune for anything +but friendship, and he offered to give her as much friendship as she +desired. + +Doubtless he thought that, after returning to Ireland, he would not see +Vanessa any more. In this, however, he was mistaken. An ardent girl, +with a fortune of her own, was not to be kept from the man whom +absence only made her love the more. In addition, Swift carried on his +correspondence with her, which served to fan the flame and to increase +the sway that Swift had already acquired. + +Vanessa wrote, and with every letter she burned and pined. Swift +replied, and each reply enhanced her yearning for him. Ere long, +Vanessa's mother died, and Vanessa herself hastened to Ireland and took +up her residence near Dublin. There, for years, was enacted this tragic +comedy--Esther Johnson was near Swift, and had all his confidence; +Esther Vanhomrigh was kept apart from him, while still receiving +missives from him, and, later, even visits. + +It was at this time, after he had become dean of St. Patrick's +Cathedral, in Dublin, that Swift was married to Esther Johnson--for it +seems probable that the ceremony took place, though it was nothing more +than a form. They still saw each other only in the presence of a third +person. Nevertheless, some knowledge of their close relationship leaked +out. Stella had been jealous of her rival during the years that Swift +spent in London. Vanessa was now told that Swift was married to the +other woman, or that she was his mistress. Writhing with jealousy, she +wrote directly to Stella, and asked whether she was Dean Swift's wife. +In answer Stella replied that she was, and then she sent Vanessa's +letter to Swift himself. + +All the fury of his nature was roused in him; and he was a man who could +be very terrible when angry. He might have remembered the intense love +which Vanessa bore for him, the humility with which she had accepted his +conditions, and, finally, the loneliness of this girl. + +But Swift was utterly unsparing. No gleam of pity entered his heart as +he leaped upon a horse and galloped out to Marley Abbey, where she was +living--"his prominent eyes arched by jet-black brows and glaring with +the green fury of a cat's." Reaching the house, he dashed into it, with +something awful in his looks, made his way to Vanessa, threw her letter +down upon the table and, after giving her one frightful glare, turned on +his heel, and in a moment more was galloping back to Dublin. + +The girl fell to the floor in an agony of terror and remorse. She was +taken to her room, and only three weeks afterward was carried forth, +having died literally of a broken heart. + +Five years later, Stella also died, withering away a sacrifice to +what the world has called Swift's cruel heartlessness and egotism. His +greatest public triumphs came to him in his final years of melancholy +isolation; but in spite of the applause that greeted The Drapier Letters +and Gulliver's Travels, he brooded morbidly over his past life. At last +his powerful mind gave way, so that he died a victim to senile dementia. +By his directions his body was interred in the same coffin with +Stella's, in the cathedral of which he had been dean. + +Such is the story of Dean Swift, and it has always suggested several +curious questions. Why, if he loved Stella, did he not marry her long +before? Why, when he married her, did he treat her still as if she were +not his wife? Why did he allow Vanessa's love to run like a scarlet +thread across the fabric of the other affection, which must have been so +strong? + +Many answers have been given to these questions. That which was +formulated by Sir Walter Scott is a simple one, and has been generally +accepted. Scott believed that Swift was physically incapacitated for +marriage, and that he needed feminine sympathy, which he took where he +could get it, without feeling bound to give anything in return. + +If Scott's explanation be the true one, it still leaves Swift exposed to +ignominy as a monster of ingratitude. Therefore, many of his biographers +have sought other explanations. No one can palliate his conduct toward +Vanessa; but Sir Leslie Stephen makes a plea for him with reference +to Stella. Sir Leslie points out that until Swift became dean of St. +Patrick's his income was far too small to marry on, and that after his +brilliant but disappointing three years in London, when his prospects of +advancement were ruined, he felt himself a broken man. + +Furthermore, his health was always precarious, since he suffered from a +distressing illness which attacked him at intervals, rendering him both +deaf and giddy. The disease is now known as Meniere's disease, from its +classification by the French physician, Meniere, in 1861. Swift felt +that he lived in constant danger of some sudden stroke that would +deprive him either of life or reason; and his ultimate insanity makes it +appear that his forebodings were not wholly futile. Therefore, though he +married Stella, he kept the marriage secret, thus leaving her free, in +case of his demise, to marry as a maiden, and not to be regarded as a +widow. + +Sir Leslie offers the further plea that, after all, Stella's life was +what she chose to make it. She enjoyed Swift's friendship, which she +preferred to the love of any other man. + +Another view is that of Dr. Richard Garnett, who has discussed the +question with some subtlety. "Swift," says Dr. Garnett, "was by nature +devoid of passion. He was fully capable of friendship, but not of love. +The spiritual realm, whether of divine or earthly things, was a region +closed to him, where he never set foot." On the side of friendship +he must greatly have preferred Stella to Vanessa, and yet the latter +assailed him on his weakest side--on the side of his love of imperious +domination. + +Vanessa hugged the fetters to which Stella merely submitted. Flattered +to excess by her surrender, yet conscious of his obligations and his +real preference, he could neither discard the one beauty nor desert the +other. + +Therefore, he temporized with both of them, and when the choice was +forced upon him he madly struck down the woman for whom he cared the +less. + +One may accept Dr. Garnett's theory with a somewhat altered conclusion. +It is not true, as a matter of recorded fact, that Swift was incapable +of passion, for when a boy at college he was sought out by various young +women, and he sought them out in turn. His fiery letter to Miss Waring +points to the same conclusion. When Esther Johnson began to love him he +was heart-free, yet unable, because of his straitened means, to marry. +But Esther Johnson always appealed more to his reason, his friendship, +and his comfort, than to his love, using the word in its material, +physical sense. This love was stirred in him by Vanessa. Yet when he +met Vanessa he had already gone too far with Esther Johnson to break the +bond which had so long united them, nor could he think of a life without +her, for she was to him his other self. + +At the same time, his more romantic association with Vanessa roused +those instincts which he had scarcely known himself to be possessed of. +His position was, therefore, most embarrassing. He hoped to end it when +he left London and returned to Ireland; but fate was unkind to him in +this, because Vanessa followed him. He lacked the will to be frank +with her, and thus he stood a wretched, halting victim of his own dual +nature. + +He was a clergyman, and at heart religious. He had also a sense of +honor, and both of these traits compelled him to remain true to Esther +Johnson. The terrible outbreak which brought about Vanessa's death was +probably the wild frenzy of a tortured soul. It recalls the picture of +some fierce animal brought at last to bay, and venting its own anguish +upon any object that is within reach of its fangs and claws. + +No matter how the story may be told, it makes one shiver, for it is a +tragedy in which the three participants all meet their doom--one crushed +by a lightning-bolt of unreasoning anger, the other wasting away through +hope deferred; while the man whom the world will always hold responsible +was himself destined to end his years blind and sleepless, bequeathing +his fortune to a madhouse, and saying, with his last muttered breath: + +"I am a fool!" + + + + + +PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AND MARY GODWIN + + +A great deal has been said and written in favor of early marriage; and, +in a general way, early marriage may be an admirable thing. Young men +and young women who have no special gift of imagination, and who have +practically reached their full mental development at twenty-one or +twenty-two--or earlier, even in their teens--may marry safely; because +they are already what they will be. They are not going to experience any +growth upward and outward. Passing years simply bring them more closely +together, until they have settled down into a sort of domestic unity, +by which they think alike, act alike, and even gradually come to look +alike. + +But early wedlock spells tragedy to the man or the woman of genius. In +their teens they have only begun to grow. What they will be ten years +hence, no one can prophesy. Therefore, to mate so early in life is +to insure almost certain storm and stress, and, in the end, domestic +wreckage. + +As a rule, it is the man, and not the woman, who makes the false step; +because it is the man who elects to marry when he is still very young. +If he choose some ill-fitting, commonplace, and unresponsive nature to +match his own, it is he who is bound in the course of time to learn his +great mistake. When the splendid eagle shall have got his growth, +and shall begin to soar up into the vault of heaven, the poor little +barn-yard fowl that he once believed to be his equal seems very far away +in everything. He discovers that she is quite unable to follow him in +his towering flights. + +The story of Percy Bysshe Shelley is a singular one. The circumstances +of his early marriage were strange. The breaking of his marriage-bond +was also strange. Shelley himself was an extraordinary creature. He was +blamed a great deal in his lifetime for what he did, and since then some +have echoed the reproach. Yet it would seem as if, at the very beginning +of his life, he was put into a false position against his will. Because +of this he was misunderstood until the end of his brief and brilliant +and erratic career. + +SHELLEY AND MARY GODWIN + +In 1792 the French Revolution burst into flame, the mob of Paris stormed +the Tuileries, the King of France was cast into a dungeon to await his +execution, and the wild sons of anarchy flung their gauntlet of defiance +into the face of Europe. In this tremendous year was born young Shelley; +and perhaps his nature represented the spirit of the time. + +Certainly, neither from his father nor from his mother did he derive +that perpetual unrest and that frantic fondness for revolt which +blazed out in the poet when he was still a boy. His father, Mr. Timothy +Shelley, was a very usual, thick-headed, unromantic English squire. His +mother--a woman of much beauty, but of no exceptional traits--was the +daughter of another squire, and at the time of her marriage was simply +one of ten thousand fresh-faced, pleasant-spoken English country girls. +If we look for a strain of the romantic in Shelley's ancestry, we +shall have to find it in the person of his grandfather, who was a very +remarkable and powerful character. + +This person, Bysshe Shelley by name, had in his youth been associated +with some mystery. He was not born in England, but in America--and +in those days the name "America" meant almost anything indefinite and +peculiar. However this might be, Bysshe Shelley, though a scion of +a good old English family, had wandered in strange lands, and it was +whispered that he had seen strange sights and done strange things. +According to one legend, he had been married in America, though no one +knew whether his wife was white or black, or how he had got rid of her. + +He might have remained in America all his life, had not a small +inheritance fallen to his share. This brought him back to England, and +he soon found that England was in reality the place to make his fortune. +He was a man of magnificent physique. His rovings had given him ease +and grace, and the power which comes from a wide experience of life. He +could be extremely pleasing when he chose; and he soon won his way into +the good graces of a rich heiress, whom he married. + +With her wealth he became an important personage, and consorted with +gentlemen and statesmen of influence, attaching himself particularly to +the Duke of Northumberland, by whose influence he was made a baronet. +When his rich wife died, Shelley married a still richer bride; and so +this man, who started out as a mere adventurer without a shilling to his +name, died in 1813, leaving more than a million dollars in cash, with +lands whose rent-roll yielded a hundred thousand dollars every year. + +If any touch of the romantic which we find in Shelley is a matter +of heredity, we must trace it to this able, daring, restless, and +magnificent old grandfather, who was the beau ideal of an English +squire--the sort of squire who had added foreign graces to native +sturdiness. But young Shelley, the future poet, seemed scarcely to be +English at all. As a young boy he cared nothing for athletic sports. +He was given to much reading. He thought a good deal about abstractions +with which most schoolboys never concern themselves at all. + +Consequently, both in private schools and afterward at Eton, he became +a sort of rebel against authority. He resisted the fagging-system. He +spoke contemptuously of physical prowess. He disliked anything that he +was obliged to do, and he rushed eagerly into whatever was forbidden. + +Finally, when he was sent to University College, Oxford, he broke +all bounds. At a time when Tory England was aghast over the French +Revolution and its results, Shelley talked of liberty and equality on +all occasions. He made friends with an uncouth but able fellow student, +who bore the remarkable name of Thomas Jefferson Hogg--a name that seems +rampant with republicanism--and very soon he got himself expelled from +the university for publishing a little tract of an infidel character +called "A Defense of Atheism." + +His expulsion for such a cause naturally shocked his father. It probably +disturbed Shelley himself; but, after all, it gave him some satisfaction +to be a martyr for the cause of free speech. He went to London with his +friend Hogg, and took lodgings there. He read omnivorously--Hogg says +as much as sixteen hours a day. He would walk through the most crowded +streets poring over a volume, while holding another under one arm. + +His mind was full of fancies. He had begun what was afterward called +"his passion for reforming everything." He despised most of the laws of +England. He thought its Parliament ridiculous. He hated its religion. He +was particularly opposed to marriage. This last fact gives some point to +the circumstances which almost immediately confronted him. + +Shelley was now about nineteen years old--an age at which most English +boys are emerging from the public schools, and are still in the +hobbledehoy stage of their formation. In a way, he was quite far from +boyish; yet in his knowledge of life he was little more than a mere +child. He knew nothing thoroughly--much less the ways of men and women. +He had no visible means of existence except a small allowance from +his father. His four sisters, who were at a boarding-school on Clapham +Common, used to save their pin-money and send it to their gifted brother +so that he might not actually starve. These sisters he used to call +upon from time to time, and through them he made the acquaintance of a +sixteen-year-old girl named Harriet Westbrook. + +Harriet Westbrook was the daughter of a black-visaged keeper of a +coffee-house in Mount Street, called "Jew Westbrook," partly because of +his complexion, and partly because of his ability to retain what he +had made. He was, indeed, fairly well off, and had sent his younger +daughter, Harriet, to the school where Shelley's sisters studied. + +Harriet Westbrook seems to have been a most precocious person. Any girl +of sixteen is, of course, a great deal older and more mature than a +youth of nineteen. In the present instance Harriet might have been +Shelley's senior by five years. There is no doubt that she fell in love +with him; but, having done so, she by no means acted in the shy and +timid way that would have been most natural to a very young girl in her +first love-affair. Having decided that she wanted him, she made up her +mind to get Mm at any cost, and her audacity was equaled only by his +simplicity. She was rather attractive in appearance, with abundant hair, +a plump figure, and a pink-and-white complexion. This description makes +of her a rather doll-like girl; but doll-like girls are just the sort to +attract an inexperienced young man who has yet to learn that beauty and +charm are quite distinct from prettiness, and infinitely superior to it. + +In addition to her prettiness, Harriet Westbrook had a vivacious manner +and talked quite pleasingly. She was likewise not a bad listener; +and she would listen by the hour to Shelley in his rhapsodies about +chemistry, poetry, the failure of Christianity, the national debt, and +human liberty, all of which he jumbled up without much knowledge, but in +a lyric strain of impassioned eagerness which would probably have made +the multiplication-table thrilling. + +For Shelley himself was a creature of extraordinary fascination, both +then and afterward. There are no likenesses of him that do him justice, +because they cannot convey that singular appeal which the man himself +made to almost every one who met him. + +The eminent painter, Mulready, once said that Shelley was too beautiful +for portraiture; and yet the descriptions of him hardly seem to bear +this out. He was quite tall and slender, but he stooped so much as +to make him appear undersized. His head was very small-quite +disproportionately so; but this was counteracted to the eye by his +long and tumbled hair which, when excited, he would rub and twist in a +thousand different directions until it was actually bushy. His eyes and +mouth were his best features. The former were of a deep violet blue, and +when Shelley felt deeply moved they seemed luminous with a wonderful +and almost unearthly light. His mouth was finely chiseled, and might be +regarded as representing perfection. + +One great defect he had, and this might well have overbalanced his +attractive face. The defect in question was his voice. One would have +expected to hear from him melodious sounds, and vocal tones both rich +and penetrating; but, as a matter of fact, his voice was shrill at the +very best, and became actually discordant and peacock-like in moments of +emotion. + +Such, then, was Shelley, star-eyed, with the delicate complexion of a +girl, wonderfully mobile in his features, yet speaking in a voice high +pitched and almost raucous. For the rest, he arrayed himself with care +and in expensive clothing, even though he took no thought of neatness, +so that his garments were almost always rumpled and wrinkled from his +frequent writhings on couches and on the floor. Shelley had a strange +and almost primitive habit of rolling on the earth, and another of +thrusting his tousled head close up to the hottest fire in the house, +or of lying in the glaring sun when out of doors. It is related that he +composed one of his finest poems--"The Cenci"--in Italy, while stretched +out with face upturned to an almost tropical sun. + +But such as he was, and though he was not yet famous, Harriet Westbrook, +the rosy-faced schoolgirl, fell in love with him, and rather plainly +let him know that she had done so. There are a thousand ways in which +a woman can convey this information without doing anything un-maidenly; +and of all these little arts Miss Westbrook was instinctively a +mistress. + +She played upon Shelley's feelings by telling him that her father was +cruel to her, and that he contemplated actions still more cruel. There +is something absurdly comical about the grievance which she brought to +Shelley; but it is much more comical to note the tremendous seriousness +with which he took it. He wrote to his friend Hogg: + +Her father has persecuted her in a most horrible way, by endeavoring +to compel her to go to school. She asked my advice; resistance was the +answer. At the same time I essayed to mollify Mr. Westbrook, in vain! I +advised her to resist. She wrote to say that resistance was useless, but +that she would fly with me and throw herself on my protection. + +Some letters that have recently come to light show that there was a +dramatic scene between Harriet Westbrook and Shelley--a scene in the +course of which she threw her arms about his neck and wept upon his +shoulder. Here was a curious situation. Shelley was not at all in love +with her. He had explicitly declared this only a short time before. Yet +here was a pretty girl about to suffer the "horrible persecution" of +being sent to school, and finding no alternative save to "throw herself +on his protection"--in other words, to let him treat her as he would, +and to become his mistress. + +The absurdity of the situation makes one smile. Common sense should have +led some one to box Harriet's ears and send her off to school without a +moment's hesitation; while as for Shelley, he should have been told how +ludicrous was the whole affair. But he was only nineteen, and she was +only sixteen, and the crisis seemed portentous. Nothing could be more +flattering to a young man's vanity than to have this girl cast herself +upon him for protection. It did not really matter that he had not +loved her hitherto, and that he was already half engaged to another +Harriet--his cousin, Miss Grove. He could not stop and reason with +himself. He must like a true knight rescue lovely girlhood from the +horrors of a school! + +It is not unlikely that this whole affair was partly managed or +manipulated by the girl's father. Jew Westbrook knew that Shelley was +related to rich and titled people, and that he was certain, if he lived, +to become Sir Percy, and to be the heir of his grandfather's estates. +Hence it may be that Harriet's queer conduct was not wholly of her own +prompting. + +In any case, however, it proved to be successful. Shelley's ardent and +impulsive nature could not bear to see a girl in tears and appealing +for his help. Hence, though in his heart she was very little to him, his +romantic nature gave up for her sake the affection that he had felt for +his cousin, his own disbelief in marriage, and finally the common sense +which ought to have told him not to marry any one on two hundred pounds +a year. + +So the pair set off for Edinburgh by stagecoach. It was a weary and most +uncomfortable journey. When they reached the Scottish capital, they +were married by the Scottish law. Their money was all gone; but their +landlord, with a jovial sympathy for romance, let them have a room, and +treated them to a rather promiscuous wedding-banquet, in which every one +in the house participated. + +Such is the story of Shelley's marriage, contracted at nineteen with a +girl of sixteen who most certainly lured him on against his own better +judgment and in the absence of any actual love. + +The girl whom he had taken to himself was a well-meaning little thing. +She tried for a time to meet her husband's moods and to be a real +companion to him. But what could one expect from such a union? Shelley's +father withdrew the income which he had previously given. Jew Westbrook +refused to contribute anything, hoping, probably, that this course would +bring the Shelleys to the rescue. But as it was, the young pair drifted +about from place to place, getting very precarious supplies, running +deeper into debt each day, and finding less and less to admire in each +other. + +Shelley took to laudanum. Harriet dropped her abstruse studies, which +she had taken up to please her husband, but which could only puzzle her +small brain. She soon developed some of the unpleasant traits of the +class to which she belonged. In this her sister Eliza--a hard and +grasping middle-aged woman--had her share. She set Harriet against her +husband, and made life less endurable for both. She was so much older +than the pair that she came in and ruled their household like a typical +stepmother. + +A child was born, and Shelley very generously went through a second +form of marriage, so as to comply with the English law; but by this +time there was little hope of righting things again. Shelley was much +offended because Harriet would not nurse the child. He believed her hard +because she saw without emotion an operation performed upon the infant. + +Finally, when Shelley at last came into a considerable sum of money, +Harriet and Eliza made no pretense of caring for anything except the +spending of it in "bonnet-shops" and on carriages and display. In +time--that is to say, in three years after their marriage--Harriet +left her husband and went to London and to Bath, prompted by her elder +sister. + +This proved to be the end of an unfortunate marriage. Word was brought +to Shelley that his wife was no longer faithful to him. He, on his +side, had carried on a semi-sentimental platonic correspondence with a +schoolmistress, one Miss Hitchener. But until now his life had been +one great mistake--a life of restlessness, of unsatisfied longing, of a +desire that had no name. Then came the perhaps inevitable meeting with +the one whom he should have met before. + +Shelley had taken a great interest in William Godwin, the writer and +radical philosopher. Godwin's household was a strange one. There was +Fanny Imlay, a child born out of wedlock, the offspring of Gilbert +Imlay, an American merchant, and of Mary Wollstonecraft, whom Godwin had +subsequently married. There was also a singularly striking girl who +then styled herself Mary Jane Clairmont, and who was afterward known +as Claire Clairmont, she and her brother being the early children of +Godwin's second wife. + +One day in 1814, Shelley called on Godwin, and found there a beautiful +young girl in her seventeenth year, "with shapely golden head, a +face very pale and pure, a great forehead, earnest hazel eyes, and an +expression at once of sensibility and firmness about her delicately +curved lips." This was Mary Godwin--one who had inherited her mother's +power of mind and likewise her grace and sweetness. + +From the very moment of their meeting Shelley and this girl were fated +to be joined together, and both of them were well aware of it. Each felt +the other's presence exert a magnetic thrill. Each listened eagerly +to what the other said. Each thought of nothing, and each cared for +nothing, in the other's absence. It was a great compelling elemental +force which drove the two together and bound them fast. Beside this +marvelous experience, how pale and pitiful and paltry seemed the +affectations of Harriet Westbrook! + +In little more than a month from the time of their first meeting, +Shelley and Mary Godwin and Miss Clairmont left Godwin's house at four +o 'clock in the morning, and hurried across the Channel to Calais. They +wandered almost like vagabonds across France, eating black bread and +the coarsest fare, walking on the highways when they could not afford to +ride, and putting up with every possible inconvenience. Yet it is worth +noting that neither then nor at any other time did either Shelley or +Mary regret what they had done. To the very end of the poet's brief +career they were inseparable. + +Later he was able to pension Harriet, who, being of a morbid +disposition, ended her life by drowning--not, it may be said, because +of grief for Shelley. It has been told that Fanny Imlay, Mary's sister, +likewise committed suicide because Shelley did not care for her, but +this has also been disproved. There was really nothing to mar the inner +happiness of the poet and the woman who, at the very end, became his +wife. Living, as they did, in Italy and Switzerland, they saw much of +their own countrymen, such as Landor and Leigh Hunt and Byron, to whose +fascinations poor Miss Clairmont yielded, and became the mother of the +little girl Allegra. + +But there could have been no truer union than this of Shelley's with +the woman whom nature had intended for him. It was in his love-life, far +more than in his poetry, that he attained completeness. When he died +by drowning, in 1822, and his body was burned in the presence of Lord +Byron, he was truly mourned by the one whom he had only lately made his +wife. As a poet he never reached the same perfection; for his genius was +fitful and uncertain, rare in its flights, and mingled always with that +which disappoints. + +As the lover and husband of Mary Godwin, there was nothing left to wish. +In his verse, however, the truest word concerning him will always be +that exquisite sentence of Matthew Arnold: + +"A beautiful and ineffectual angel beating his luminous wings against +the void in vain." + + + + + +THE STORY OF THE CARLYLES + + +To most persons, Tennyson was a remote and romantic figure. His homes in +the Isle of Wight and at Aldworth had a dignified seclusion about them +which was very appropriate to so great a poet, and invested him with a +certain awe through which the multitude rarely penetrated. As a matter +of fact, however, he was an excellent companion, a ready talker, and +gifted with so much wit that it is a pity that more of his sayings have +not been preserved to us. + +One of the best known is that which was drawn from him after he and a +number of friends had been spending an hour in company with Mr. and Mrs. +Carlyle. The two Carlyles were unfortunately at their worst, and gave a +superb specimen of domestic "nagging." Each caught up whatever the other +said, and either turned it into ridicule, or tried to make the author of +it an object of contempt. + +This was, of course, exceedingly uncomfortable for such strangers as +were present, and it certainly gave no pleasure to their friends. On +leaving the house, some one said to Tennyson: + +"Isn't it a pity that such a couple ever married?" + +"No, no," said Tennyson, with a sort of smile under his rough beard. +"It's much better that two people should be made unhappy than four." + +The world has pretty nearly come around to the verdict of the poet +laureate. It is not probable that Thomas Carlyle would have made any +woman happy as his wife, or that Jane Baillie Welsh would have made any +man happy as her husband. + +This sort of speculation would never have occurred had not Mr. Froude, +in the early eighties, given his story about the Carlyles to the world. +Carlyle went to his grave, an old man, highly honored, and with no +trail of gossip behind him. His wife had died some sixteen years before, +leaving a brilliant memory. The books of Mr. Froude seemed for a moment +to have desecrated the grave, and to have shed a sudden and sinister +light upon those who could not make the least defense for themselves. + +For a moment, Carlyle seemed to have been a monster of harshness, +cruelty, and almost brutish feeling. On the other side, his wife took +on the color of an evil-speaking, evil-thinking shrew, who tormented the +life of her husband, and allowed herself to be possessed by some demon +of unrest and discontent, such as few women of her station are ever +known to suffer from. + +Nor was it merely that the two were apparently ill-mated and unhappy +with each other. There were hints and innuendos which looked toward some +hidden cause for this unhappiness, and which aroused the curiosity of +every one. That they might be clearer, Froude afterward wrote a book, +bringing out more plainly--indeed, too plainly--his explanation of the +Carlyle family skeleton. A multitude of documents then came from every +quarter, and from almost every one who had known either of the Carlyles. +Perhaps the result to-day has been more injurious to Froude than to the +two Carlyles. + +Many persons unjustly speak of Froude as having violated the confidence +of his friends in publishing the letters of Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle. They +take no heed of the fact that in doing this he was obeying Carlyle's +express wishes, left behind in writing, and often urged on Froude while +Carlyle was still alive. Whether or not Froude ought to have accepted +such a trust, one may perhaps hesitate to decide. That he did so is +probably because he felt that if he refused, Carlyle might commit the +same duty to another, who would discharge it with less delicacy and less +discretion. + +As it is, the blame, if it rests upon any one, should rest upon Carlyle. +He collected the letters. He wrote the lines which burn and scorch with +self-reproach. It is he who pressed upon the reluctant Froude the duty +of printing and publishing a series of documents which, for the most +part, should never have been published at all, and which have done equal +harm to Carlyle, to his wife, and to Froude himself. + +Now that everything has been written that is likely to be written by +those claiming to possess personal knowledge of the subject, let us +take up the volumes, and likewise the scattered fragments, and seek to +penetrate the mystery of the most ill-assorted couple known to modern +literature. + +It is not necessary to bring to light, and in regular order, the +external history of Thomas Carlyle, or of Jane Baillie Welsh, who +married him. There is an extraordinary amount of rather fanciful gossip +about this marriage, and about the three persons who had to do with it. + +Take first the principal figure, Thomas Carlyle. His life until that +time had been a good deal more than the life of an ordinary country-man. +Many persons represent him as a peasant; but he was descended from the +ancient lords of a Scottish manor. There was something in his eye, and +in the dominance of his nature, that made his lordly nature felt. Mr. +Froude notes that Carlyle's hand was very small and unusually well +shaped. Nor had his earliest appearance as a young man been commonplace, +in spite of the fact that his parents were illiterate, so that his +mother learned to read only after her sons had gone away to Edinburgh, +in order that she might be able to enjoy their letters. + +At that time in Scotland, as in Puritan New England, in each family the +son who had the most notable "pairts" was sent to the university that +he might become a clergyman. If there were a second son, he became an +advocate or a doctor of medicine, while the sons of less distinction +seldom went beyond the parish school, but settled down as farmers, +horse-dealers, or whatever might happen to come their way. + +In the case of Thomas Carlyle, nature marked him out for something +brilliant, whatever that might be. His quick sensibility, the way in +which he acquired every sort of learning, his command of logic, and, +withal, his swift, unerring gift of language, made it certain from the +very first that he must be sent to the university as soon as he had +finished school, and could afford to go. + +At Edinburgh, where he matriculated in his fourteenth year, he +astonished every one by the enormous extent of his reading, and by +the firm hold he kept upon it. One hesitates to credit these so-called +reminiscences which tell how he absorbed mountains of Greek and immense +quantities of political economy and history and sociology and various +forms of metaphysics, as every Scotsman is bound to do. That he read all +night is a common story told of many a Scottish lad at college. We may +believe, however, that Carlyle studied and read as most of his fellow +students did, but far beyond them, in extent. + +When he had completed about half of his divinity course, he assured +himself that he was not intended for the life of a clergyman. One who +reads his mocking sayings, or what seemed to be a clever string of jeers +directed against religion, might well think that Carlyle was throughout +his life an atheist, or an agnostic. He confessed to Irving that he did +not believe in the Christian religion, and it was vain to hope that he +ever would so believe. + +Moreover, Carlyle had done something which was unusual at that time. +He had taught in several local schools; but presently he came back to +Edinburgh and openly made literature his profession. It was a daring +thing to do; but Carlyle had unbounded confidence in himself--the +confidence of a giant, striding forth into a forest, certain that he can +make his way by sheer strength through the tangled meshes and the +knotty branches that he knows will meet him and try to beat him back. +Furthermore, he knew how to live on very little; he was unmarried; and +he felt a certain ardor which beseemed his age and gifts. + +Through the kindness of friends, he received some commissions to write +in various books of reference; and in 1824, when he was twenty-nine +years of age, he published a translation of Legendre's Geometry. In the +same year he published, in the London Magazine, his Life of Schiller, +and also his translation of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister. This successful +attack upon the London periodicals and reviews led to a certain +complication with the other two characters in this story. It takes us to +Jane Welsh, and also to Edward Irving. + +Irving was three years older than Carlyle. The two men were friends, and +both of them had been teaching in country schools, where both of them +had come to know Miss Welsh. Irving's seniority gave him a certain +prestige with the younger men, and naturally with Miss Welsh. He had +won honors at the university, and now, as assistant to the famous Dr. +Chalmers, he carried his silk robes in the jaunty fashion of one who has +just ceased to be an undergraduate. While studying, he met Miss Welsh at +Haddington, and there became her private instructor. + +This girl was regarded in her native town as something of a personage. +To read what has been written of her, one might suppose that she was +almost a miracle of birth and breeding, and of intellect as well. As a +matter of fact, in the little town of Haddington she was simply prima +inter pares. Her father was the local doctor, and while she had a +comfortable home, and doubtless a chaise at her disposal, she was +very far from the "opulence" which Carlyle, looking up at her from his +lowlier surroundings, was accustomed to ascribe to her. She was, no +doubt, a very clever girl; and, judging from the portraits taken of her +at about this time, she was an exceedingly pretty one, with beautiful +eyes and an abundance of dark glossy hair. + +Even then, however, Miss Welsh had traits which might have made it +certain that she would be much more agreeable as a friend than as a +wife. She had become an intellectuelle quite prematurely--at an age, in +fact, when she might better have been thinking of other things than the +inwardness of her soul, or the folly of religious belief. + +Even as a young girl, she was beset by a desire to criticize and to +ridicule almost everything and every one that she encountered. It was +only when she met with something that she could not understand, or +some one who could do what she could not, that she became comparatively +humble. Unconsciously, her chief ambition was to be herself +distinguished, and to marry some one who could be more distinguished +still. + +When she first met Edward Irving, she looked up to him as her superior +in many ways. He was a striking figure in her small world. He was known +in Edinburgh as likely to be a man of mark; and, of course, he had had +a careful training in many subjects of which she, as yet, knew very +little. Therefore, insensibly, she fell into a sort of admiration +for Irving--an admiration which might have been transmuted into love. +Irving, on his side, was taken by the young girl's beauty, her vivacity, +and the keenness of her intellect. That he did not at once become her +suitor is probably due to the fact that he had already engaged himself +to a Miss Martin, of whom not much is known. + +It was about this time, however, that Carlyle became acquainted with +Miss Welsh. His abundant knowledge, his original and striking manner of +commenting on it, his almost gigantic intellectual power, came to her +as a revelation. Her studies with Irving were now interwoven with her +admiration for Carlyle. + +Since Irving was a clergyman, and Miss Welsh had not the slightest +belief in any form of theology, there was comparatively little that +they had in common. On the other hand, when she saw the profundities of +Carlyle, she at once half feared, and was half fascinated. Let her speak +to him on any subject, and he would at once thunder forth some striking +truth, or it might be some puzzling paradox; but what he said could +never fail to interest her and to make her think. He had, too, an +infinite sense of humor, often whimsical and shot through with sarcasm. + +It is no wonder that Miss Welsh was more and more infatuated with the +nature of Carlyle. If it was her conscious wish to marry a man whom she +could reverence as a master, where should she find him--in Irving or in +Carlyle? + +Irving was a dreamer, a man who, she came to see, was thoroughly +one-sided, and whose interests lay in a different sphere from hers. +Carlyle, on the other hand, had already reached out beyond the little +Scottish capital, and had made his mark in the great world of London, +where men like De Quincey and Jeffrey thought it worth their while to +run a tilt with him. Then, too, there was the fascination of his talk, +in which Jane Welsh found a perpetual source of interest: + +The English have never had an artist, except in poetry; no musician; no +painter. Purcell and Hogarth are not exceptions, or only such as confirm +the rule. + +Is the true Scotchman the peasant and yeoman--chiefly the former? + +Every living man is a visible mystery; he walks between two eternities +and two infinitudes. Were we not blind as molea we should value +our humanity at infinity, and our rank, influence and so forth--the +trappings of our humanity--at nothing. Say I am a man, and you say all. +Whether king or tinker is a mere appendix. + +Understanding is to reason as the talent of a beaver--which can build +houses, and uses its tail for a trowel--to the genius of a prophet and +poet. Reason is all but extinct in this age; it can never be altogether +extinguished. + +The devil has his elect. + +Is anything more wonderful than another, if you consider it maturely? +I have seen no men rise from the dead; I have seen some thousands rise +from nothing. I have not force to fly into the sun, but I have force to +lift my hand, which is equally strange. + +Is not every thought properly an inspiration? Or how is one thing more +inspired than another? + +Examine by logic the import of thy life, and of all lives. What is it? +A making of meal into manure, and of manure into meal. To the cui bono +there is no answer from logic. + +In many ways Jane Welsh found the difference of range between Carlyle +and Irving. At one time, she asked Irving about some German works, and +he was obliged to send her to Carlyle to solve her difficulties. Carlyle +knew German almost as well as if he had been born in Dresden; and +the full and almost overflowing way in which he answered her gave her +another impression of his potency. Thus she weighed the two men who +might become her lovers, and little by little she came to think of +Irving as partly shallow and partly narrow-minded, while Carlyle loomed +up more of a giant than before. + +It is not probable that she was a woman who could love profoundly. +She thought too much about herself. She was too critical. She had too +intense an ambition for "showing off." I can imagine that in the end +she made her choice quite coolly. She was flattered by Carlyle's strong +preference for her. She was perhaps repelled by Irving's engagement to +another woman; yet at the time few persons thought that she had chosen +well. + +Irving had now gone to London, and had become the pastor of the +Caledonian chapel in Hatton Garden. Within a year, by the extraordinary +power of his eloquence, which, was in a style peculiar to himself, he +had transformed an obscure little chapel into one which was crowded +by the rich and fashionable. His congregation built for him a handsome +edifice on Regent Square, and he became the leader of a new cult, which +looked to a second personal advent of Christ. He cared nothing for +the charges of heresy which were brought against him; and when he was +deposed his congregation followed him, and developed a new Christian +order, known as Irvingism. + +Jane Welsh, in her musings, might rightfully have compared the two men +and the future which each could give her. Did she marry Irving, she was +certain of a life of ease in London, and an association with men and +women of fashion and celebrity, among whom she could show herself to be +the gifted woman that she was. Did she marry Carlyle, she must go with +him to a desolate, wind-beaten cottage, far away from any of the things +she cared for, working almost as a housemaid, having no company save +that of her husband, who was already a dyspeptic, and who was wont to +speak of feeling as if a rat were tearing out his stomach. + +Who would have said that in going with Carlyle she had made the better +choice? Any one would have said it who knew the three--Irving, Carlyle, +and Jane Welsh. + +She had the penetration to be certain that whatever Irving might possess +at present, it would be nothing in comparison to what Carlyle would have +in the coming future. She understood the limitations of Irving, but to +her keen mind the genius of Carlyle was unlimited; and she foresaw that, +after he had toiled and striven, he would come into his great reward, +which she would share. Irving might be the leader of a petty sect, +but Carlyle would be a man whose name must become known throughout the +world. + +And so, in 1826, she had made her choice, and had become the bride of +the rough-spoken, domineering Scotsman who had to face the world with +nothing but his creative brain and his stubborn independence. She had +put aside all immediate thought of London and its lures; she was going +to cast in her lot with Carlyle's, largely as a matter of calculation, +and believing that she had made the better choice. + +She was twenty-six and Carlyle was thirty-two when, after a brief +residence in Edinburgh, they went down to Craigenputtock. Froude has +described this place as the dreariest spot in the British dominions: + +The nearest cottage is more than a mile from it; the elevation, seven +hundred feet above the sea, stunts the trees and limits the garden +produce; the house is gaunt and hungry-looking. It stands, with the +scanty fields attached, as an island in a sea of morass. The landscape +is unredeemed by grace or grandeur--mere undulating hills of grass and +heather, with peat bogs in the hollows between them. + +Froude's grim description has been questioned by some; yet the actual +pictures that have been drawn of the place in later years make it +look bare, desolate, and uninviting. Mrs. Carlyle, who owned it as an +inheritance from her father, saw the place for the first time in March, +1828. She settled there in May; but May, in the Scottish hills, is +almost as repellent as winter. She herself shrank from the adventure +which she had proposed. It was her husband's notion, and her own, that +they should live there in practical solitude. He was to think and write, +and make for himself a beginning of real fame; while she was to hover +over him and watch his minor comforts. + +It seemed to many of their friends that the project was quixotic to a +degree. Mrs. Carlyle delicate health, her weak chest, and the beginning +of a nervous disorder, made them think that she was unfit to dwell in +so wild and bleak a solitude. They felt, too, that Carlyle was too +much absorbed with his own thought to be trusted with the charge of a +high-spirited woman. + +However, the decision had been made, and the newly married couple went +to Craigenputtock, with wagons that carried their household goods and +those of Carlyle's brother, Alexander, who lived in a cottage near by. +These were the two redeeming features of their lonely home--the presence +of Alexander Carlyle, and the fact that, although they had no servants +in the ordinary sense, there were several farmhands and a dairy-maid. + +Before long there came a period of trouble, which is easily explained +by what has been already said. Carlyle, thinking and writing some of +the most beautiful things that he ever thought or wrote, could not make +allowance for his wife's high spirit and physical weakness. She, on her +side--nervous, fitful, and hard to please--thought herself a slave, +the servant of a harsh and brutal master. She screamed at him when her +nerves were too unstrung; and then, with a natural reaction, she called +herself "a devil who could never be good enough for him." But most of +her letters were harsh and filled with bitterness, and, no doubt, his +conduct to her was at times no better than her own. + +But it was at Craigenputtock that he really did lay fast and firm the +road to fame. His wife's sharp tongue, and the gnawings of his own +dyspepsia, were lived down with true Scottish grimness. It was here that +he wrote some of his most penetrating and sympathetic essays, which were +published by the leading reviews of England and Scotland. Here, too, he +began to teach his countrymen the value of German literature. + +The most remarkable of his productions was that strange work entitled +Sartor Resartus (1834), an extraordinary mixture of the sublime and the +grotesque. The book quivers and shakes with tragic pathos, with inward +agonies, with solemn aspirations, and with riotous humor. + +In 1834, after six years at Craigenputtock, the Carlyles moved to +London, and took up their home in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, a far from +fashionable retreat, but one in which the comforts of life could be more +readily secured. It was there that Thomas Carlyle wrote what must +seem to us the most vivid of all his books, the History of the French +Revolution. For this he had read and thought for many years; parts of +it he had written in essays, and parts of it he had jotted down in +journals. But now it came forth, as some one has said, "a truth clad in +hell-fire," swirling amid clouds and flames and mist, a most wonderful +picture of the accumulated social and political falsehoods which +preceded the revolution, and which were swept away by a nemesis that was +the righteous judgment of God. + +Carlyle never wrote so great a book as this. He had reached his middle +style, having passed the clarity of his early writings, and not having +yet reached the thunderous, strange-mouthed German expletives which +marred his later work. In the French Revolution he bursts forth, here +and there, into furious Gallic oaths and Gargantuan epithets; yet this +apocalypse of France seems more true than his hero-worshiping of old +Frederick of Prussia, or even of English Cromwell. + +All these days Thomas Carlyle lived a life which was partly one +of seclusion and partly one of pleasure. At all times he and his +dark-haired wife had their own sets, and mingled with their own friends. +Jane had no means of discovering just whether she would have been +happier with Irving; for Irving died while she was still digging +potatoes and complaining of her lot at Craigenputtock. + +However this may be, the Carlyles, man and wife, lived an existence that +was full of unhappiness and rancor. Jane Carlyle became an invalid, and +sought to allay her nervous sufferings with strong tea and tobacco and +morphin. When a nervous woman takes to morphin, it almost always means +that she becomes intensely jealous; and so it was with Jane Carlyle. + +A shivering, palpitating, fiercely loyal bit of humanity, she took it +into her head that her husband was infatuated with Lady Ashburton, or +that Lady Ashburton was infatuated with him. She took to spying on them, +and at times, when her nerves were all a jangle, she would lie back +in her armchair and yell with paroxysms of anger. On the other hand, +Carlyle, eager to enjoy the world, sought relief from his household +cares, and sometimes stole away after a fashion that was hardly +guileless. He would leave false addresses at his house, and would dine +at other places than he had announced. + +In 1866 Jane Carlyle suddenly died; and somehow, then, the conscience +of Thomas Carlyle became convinced that he had wronged the woman whom he +had really loved. His last fifteen years were spent in wretchedness and +despair. He felt that he had committed the unpardonable sin. He recalled +with anguish every moment of their early life at Craigenputtock--how she +had toiled for him, and waited upon him, and made herself a slave; +and how, later, she had given herself up entirely to him, while he had +thoughtlessly received the sacrifice, and trampled on it as on a bed of +flowers. + +Of course, in all this he was intensely morbid, and the diary which he +wrote was no more sane and wholesome than the screamings with which his +wife had horrified her friends. But when he had grown to be a very old +man, he came to feel that this was all a sort of penance, and that the +selfishness of his past must be expiated in the future. Therefore, he +gave his diary to his friend, the historian, Froude, and urged him to +publish the letters and memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle. Mr. Froude, +with an eye to the reading world, readily did so, furnishing them with +abundant footnotes, which made Carlyle appear to the world as more or +less of a monster. + +First, there was set forth the almost continual unhappiness of the pair. +In the second place, by hint, by innuendo, and sometimes by explicit +statement, there were given reasons to show why Carlyle made his wife +unhappy. Of course, his gnawing dyspepsia, which she strove with all her +might to drive away, was one of the first and greatest causes. But again +another cause of discontent was stated in the implication that Carlyle, +in his bursts of temper, actually abused his wife. In one passage there +is a hint that certain blue marks upon her arm were bruises, the result +of blows. + +Most remarkable of all these accusations is that which has to do with +the relations of Carlyle and Lady Ashburton. There is no doubt that Jane +Carlyle disliked this brilliant woman, and came to have dark suspicions +concerning her. At first, it was only a sort of social jealousy. Lady +Ashburton was quite as clever a talker as Mrs. Carlyle, and she had a +prestige which brought her more admiration. + +Then, by degrees, as Jane Carlyle's mind began to wane, she transferred +her jealousy to her husband himself. She hated to be out-shone, and +now, in some misguided fashion, it came into her head that Carlyle had +surrendered to Lady Ashburton his own attention to his wife, and had +fallen in love with her brilliant rival. + +On one occasion, she declared that Lady Ashburton had thrown herself at +Carlyle's feet, but that Carlyle had acted like a man of honor, while +Lord Ashburton, knowing all the facts, had passed them over, and had +retained his friendship with Carlyle. + +Now, when Froude came to write My Relations with Carlyle, there were +those who were very eager to furnish him with every sort of gossip. +The greatest source of scandal upon which he drew was a woman named +Geraldine Jewsbury, a curious neurotic creature, who had seen much of +the late Mrs. Carlyle, but who had an almost morbid love of offensive +tattle. Froude describes himself as a witness for six years, at Cheyne +Row, "of the enactment of a tragedy as stern and real as the story of +Oedipus." According to his own account: + +I stood by, consenting to the slow martyrdom of a woman whom I have +described as bright and sparkling and tender, and I uttered no word +of remonstrance. I saw her involved in a perpetual blizzard, and did +nothing to shelter her. + +But it is not upon his own observations that Froude relies for his most +sinister evidence against his friend. To him comes Miss Jewsbury with +a lengthy tale to tell. It is well to know what Mrs. Carlyle thought of +this lady. She wrote: + +It is her besetting sin, and her trade of novelist has aggravated +it--the desire of feeling and producing violent emotions.... Geraldine +has one besetting weakness; she is never happy unless she has a grande +passion on hand. + +There were strange manifestations on the part of Miss Jewsbury toward +Mrs. Carlyle. At one time, when Mrs. Carlyle had shown some preference +for another woman, it led to a wild outburst of what Miss Jewsbury +herself called "tiger jealousy." There are many other instances of +violent emotions in her letters to Mrs. Carlyle. They are often highly +charged and erotic. It is unusual for a woman of thirty-two to write to +a woman friend, who is forty-three years of age, in these words, which +Miss Jewsbury used in writing to Mrs. Carlyle: + +You are never out of my thoughts one hour together. I think of you much +more than if you were my lover. I cannot express my feelings, even to +you--vague, undefined yearnings to be yours in some way. + +Mrs. Carlyle was accustomed, in private, to speak of Miss Jewsbury as +"Miss Gooseberry," while Carlyle himself said that she was simply "a +flimsy tatter of a creature." But it is on the testimony of this +one woman, who was so morbid and excitable, that the most serious +accusations against Carlyle rest. She knew that Froude was writing a +volume about Mrs. Carlyle, and she rushed to him, eager to furnish any +narratives, however strange, improbable, or salacious they might be. + +Thus she is the sponsor of the Ashburton story, in which there is +nothing whatsoever. Some of the letters which Lady Ashburton wrote +Carlyle have been destroyed, but not before her husband had perused +them. Another set of letters had never been read by Lord Ashburton at +all, and they are still preserved--friendly, harmless, usual letters. +Lord Ashburton always invited Carlyle to his house, and there is no +reason to think that the Scottish philosopher wronged him. + +There is much more to be said about the charge that Mrs. Carlyle +suffered from personal abuse; yet when we examine the facts, the +evidence resolves itself into practically nothing. That, in his +self-absorption, he allowed her to Sending Completed Page, Please +Wait... overflowed toward a man who must have been a manly, loving +lover. She calls him by the name by which he called her--a homely +Scottish name. + +GOODY, GOODY, DEAR GOODY: + +You said you would weary, and I do hope in my heart you are wearying. It +will be so sweet to make it all up to you in kisses when I return. You +will take me and hear all my bits of experiences, and your heart will +beat when you find how I have longed to return to you. Darling, dearest, +loveliest, the Lord bless you! I think of you every hour, every moment. +I love you and admire you, like--like anything. Oh, if I was there, +I could put my arms so close about your neck, and hush you into the +softest sleep you have had since I went away. Good night. Dream of me. I +am ever YOUR OWN GOODY. + +It seems most fitting to remember Thomas Carlyle as a man of strength, +of honor, and of intellect; and his wife as one who was sorely tried, +but who came out of her suffering into the arms of death, purified and +calm and worthy to be remembered by her husband's side. + + + + + +THE STORY OF THE HUGOS + + +Victor Hugo, after all criticisms have been made, stands as a literary +colossus. He had imaginative power which makes his finest passages +fairly crash upon the reader's brain like blasting thunderbolts. His +novels, even when translated, are read and reread by people of every +degree of education. There is something vast, something almost Titanic, +about the grandeur and gorgeousness of his fancy. His prose resembles +the sonorous blare of an immense military band. Readers of English care +less for his poetry; yet in his verse one can find another phase of his +intellect. He could write charmingly, in exquisite cadences, poems +for lovers and for little children. His gifts were varied, and he knew +thoroughly the life and thought of his own countrymen; and, therefore, +in his later days he was almost deified by them. + +At the same time, there were defects in his intellect and character +which are perceptible in what he wrote, as well as in what he did. He +had the Gallic wit in great measure, but he was absolutely devoid of any +sense of humor. This is why, in both his prose and his poetry, his most +tremendous pages often come perilously near to bombast; and this is why, +again, as a man, his vanity was almost as great as his genius. He had +good reason to be vain, and yet, if he had possessed a gleam of humor, +he would never have allowed his egoism to make him arrogant. As it was, +he felt himself exalted above other mortals. Whatever he did or said or +wrote was right because he did it or said it or wrote it. + +This often showed itself in rather whimsical ways. Thus, after he had +published the first edition of his novel, The Man Who Laughs, an English +gentleman called upon him, and, after some courteous compliments, +suggested that in subsequent editions the name of an English peer who +figures in the book should be changed from Tom Jim-Jack. + +"For," said the Englishman, "Tom Jim-Jack is a name that could not +possibly belong to an English noble, or, indeed, to any Englishman. The +presence of it in your powerful story makes it seem to English readers a +little grotesque." + +Victor Hugo drew himself up with an air of high disdain. + +"Who are you?" asked he. + +"I am an Englishman," was the answer, "and naturally I know what names +are possible in English." + +Hugo drew himself up still higher, and on his face there was a smile of +utter contempt. + +"Yes," said he. "You are an Englishman; but I--I am Victor Hugo." + +In another book Hugo had spoken of the Scottish bagpipes as "bugpipes." +This gave some offense to his Scottish admirers. A great many persons +told him that the word was "bagpipes," and not "bugpipes." But he +replied with irritable obstinacy: + +"I am Victor Hugo; and if I choose to write it 'bugpipes,' it IS +'bugpipes.' It is anything that I prefer to make it. It is so, because I +call it so!" + +So, Victor Hugo became a violent republican, because he did not wish +France to be an empire or a kingdom, in which an emperor or a king +would be his superior in rank. He always spoke of Napoleon III as "M. +Bonaparte." He refused to call upon the gentle-mannered Emperor of +Brazil, because he was an emperor; although Dom Pedro expressed an +earnest desire to meet the poet. + +When the German army was besieging Paris, Hugo proposed to fight a duel +with the King of Prussia, and to have the result of it settle the war; +"for," said he, "the King of Prussia is a great king, but I am Victor +Hugo, the great poet. We are, therefore, equal." + +In spite, however, of his ardent republicanism, he was very fond of +speaking of his own noble descent. Again and again he styled himself "a +peer of France;" and he and his family made frequent allusions to the +knights and bishops and counselors of state with whom he claimed an +ancestral relation. This was more than inconsistent. It was somewhat +ludicrous; because Victor Hugo's ancestry was by no means noble. The +Hugos of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were not in any +way related to the poet's family, which was eminently honest and +respectable, but by no means one of distinction. His grandfather was +a carpenter. One of his aunts was the wife of a baker, another of a +barber, while the third earned her living as a provincial dressmaker. + +If the poet had been less vain and more sincerely democratic, he would +have been proud to think that he sprang from good, sound, sturdy +stock, and would have laughed at titles. As it was, he jeered at +all pretensions of rank in other men, while he claimed for himself +distinctions that were not really his. His father was a soldier who rose +from the ranks until, under Napoleon, he reached the grade of general. +His mother was the daughter of a ship owner in Nantes. + +Victor Hugo was born in February, 1802, during the Napoleonic wars, and +his early years were spent among the camps and within the sound of the +cannon-thunder. It was fitting that he should have been born and reared +in an age of upheaval, revolt, and battle. He was essentially the +laureate of revolt; and in some of his novels--as in Ninety-Three--the +drum and the trumpet roll and ring through every chapter. + +The present paper has, of course, nothing to do with Hugo's public life; +yet it is necessary to remember the complicated nature of the man--all +his power, all his sweetness of disposition, and likewise all his vanity +and his eccentricities. We must remember, also, that he was French, so +that his story may be interpreted in the light of the French character. + +At the age of fifteen he was domiciled in Paris, and though still a +schoolboy and destined for the study of law, he dreamed only of poetry +and of literature. He received honorable mention from the French +Academy in 1817, and in the following year took prizes in a poetical +competition. At seventeen he began the publication of a literary +journal, which survived until 1821. His astonishing energy became +evident in the many publications which he put forth in these boyish +days. He began to become known. Although poetry, then as now, was not +very profitable even when it was admired, one of his slender volumes +brought him the sum of seven hundred francs, which seemed to him +not only a fortune in itself, but the forerunner of still greater +prosperity. + +It was at this time, while still only twenty years of age, that he met +a young girl of eighteen with whom he fell rather tempestuously in love. +Her name was Adele Foucher, and she was the daughter of a clerk in the +War Office. When one is very young and also a poet, it takes very little +to feed the flame of passion. Victor Hugo was often a guest at the +apartments of M. Foucher, where he was received by that gentleman +and his family. French etiquette, of course, forbade any direct +communication between the visitor and Adele. She was still a very young +girl, and was supposed to take no share in the conversation. Therefore, +while the others talked, she sat demurely by the fireside and sewed. + +Her dark eyes and abundant hair, her grace of manner, and the picture +which she made as the firelight played about her, kindled a flame in the +susceptible heart of Victor Hugo. Though he could not speak to her, +he at least could look at her; and, before long, his share in the +conversation was very slight. This was set down, at first, to his +absent-mindedness; but looks can be as eloquent as spoken words. Mme. +Foucher, with a woman's keen intelligence, noted the adoring gaze of +Victor Hugo as he silently watched her daughter. The young Adele herself +was no less intuitive than her mother. It was very well understood, +in the course of a few months, that Victor Hugo was in love with Adele +Foucher. + +Her father and mother took counsel about the matter, and Hugo himself, +in a burst of lyrical eloquence, confessed that he adored Adele and +wished to marry her. Her parents naturally objected. The girl was but +a child. She had no dowry, nor had Victor Hugo any settled income. They +were not to think of marriage. But when did a common-sense decision, +such as this, ever separate a man and a woman who have felt the +thrill of first love! Victor Hugo was insistent. With his supreme +self-confidence, he declared that he was bound to be successful, and +that in a very short time he would be illustrious. Adele, on her side, +created "an atmosphere" at home by weeping frequently, and by going +about with hollow eyes and wistful looks. + +The Foucher family removed from Paris to a country town. Victor Hugo +immediately followed them. Fortunately for him, his poems had attracted +the attention of Louis XVIII, who was flattered by some of the verses. +He sent Hugo five hundred francs for an ode, and soon afterward settled +upon him a pension of a thousand francs. Here at least was an income--a +very small one, to be sure, but still an income. Perhaps Adele's father +was impressed not so much by the actual money as by the evidence of the +royal favor. At any rate, he withdrew his opposition, and the two young +people were married in October, 1822--both of them being under age, +unformed, and immature. + +Their story is another warning against too early marriage. It is true +that they lived together until Mme. Hugo's death--a married life of +forty-six years--yet their story presents phases which would have made +this impossible had they not been French. + +For a time, Hugo devoted all his energies to work. The record of his +steady upward progress is a part of the history of literature, and need +not be repeated here. The poet and his wife were soon able to leave the +latter's family abode, and to set up their own household god in a home +which was their own. Around them there were gathered, in a sort of +salon, all the best-known writers of the day--dramatists, critics, +poets, and romancers. The Hugos knew everybody. + +Unfortunately, one of their visitors cast into their new life a drop of +corroding bitterness. This intruder was Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, +a man two years younger than Victor Hugo, and one who blended learning, +imagination, and a gift of critical analysis. Sainte-Beuve is to-day +best remembered as a critic, and he was perhaps the greatest critic ever +known in France. But in 1830 he was a slender, insinuating youth who +cultivated a gift for sensuous and somewhat morbid poetry. + +He had won Victor Hugo's friendship by writing an enthusiastic notice of +Hugo's dramatic works. Hugo, in turn, styled Sainte-Beuve "an eagle," +"a blazing star," and paid him other compliments no less gorgeous and +Hugoesque. But in truth, if Sainte-Beuve frequented the Hugo salon, it +was less because of his admiration for the poet than from his desire to +win the love of the poet's wife. + +It is quite impossible to say how far he attracted the serious attention +of Adele Hugo. Sainte-Beuve represents a curious type, which is far more +common in France and Italy than in the countries of the north. Human +nature is not very different in cultivated circles anywhere. Man loves, +and seeks to win the object of his love; or, as the old English proverb +has it: + + It's a man's part to try, + And a woman's to deny. + +But only in the Latin countries do men who have tried make their +attempts public, and seek to produce an impression that they have been +successful, and that the woman has not denied. This sort of man, in +English-speaking lands, is set down simply as a cad, and is excluded +from people's houses; but in some other countries the thing is regarded +with a certain amount of toleration. We see it in the two books written +respectively by Alfred de Musset and George Sand. We have seen it still +later in our own times, in that strange and half-repulsive story in +which the Italian novelist and poet, Gabriele d'Annunzio, under a very +thin disguise, revealed his relations with the famous actress, Eleanora +Duse. Anglo-Saxons thrust such books aside with a feeling of disgust for +the man who could so betray a sacred confidence and perhaps exaggerate +a simple indiscretion into actual guilt. But it is not so in France and +Italy. And this is precisely what Sainte-Beuve attempted. + +Dr. George McLean Harper, in his lately published study of Sainte-Beuve, +has summed the matter up admirably, in speaking of The Book of Love: + +He had the vein of emotional self-disclosure, the vein of romantic or +sentimental confession. This last was not a rich lode, and so he was at +pains to charge it secretly with ore which he exhumed gloatingly, but +which was really base metal. The impulse that led him along this false +route was partly ambition, partly sensuality. Many a worse man would +have been restrained by self-respect and good taste. And no man with a +sense of honor would have permitted The Book of Love to see the light--a +small collection of verses recording his passion for Mme. Hugo, and +designed to implicate her. + +He left two hundred and five printed copies of this book to be +distributed after his death. A virulent enemy of Sainte-Beuve was not +too expressive when he declared that its purpose was "to leave on the +life of this woman the gleaming and slimy trace which the passage of a +snail leaves on a rose." Abominable in either case, whether or not the +implication was unfounded, Sainte-Beuve's numerous innuendoes in regard +to Mme. Hugo are an indelible stain on his memory, and his infamy not +only cost him his most precious friendships, but crippled him in every +high endeavor. + +How monstrous was this violation of both friendship and love may be seen +in the following quotation from his writings: + +In that inevitable hour, when the gloomy tempest and the jealous gulf +shall roll over our heads, a sealed bottle, belched forth from the +abyss, will render immortal our two names, their close alliance, and our +double memory aspiring after union. + +Whether or not Mme. Hugo's relations with Sainte-Beuve justified the +latter even in thinking such thoughts as these, one need not inquire too +minutely. Evidently, though, Victor Hugo could no longer be the friend +of the man who almost openly boasted that he had dishonored him. There +exist some sharp letters which passed between Hugo and Sainte-Beuve. +Their intimacy was ended. + +But there was something more serious than this. Sainte-Beuve had in fact +succeeded in leaving a taint upon the name of Victor Hugo's wife. That +Hugo did not repudiate her makes it fairly plain that she was innocent; +yet a high-spirited, sensitive soul like Hugo's could never forget that +in the world's eye she was compromised. The two still lived together +as before; but now the poet felt himself released from the strict +obligations of the marriage-bond. + +It may perhaps be doubted whether he would in any case have remained +faithful all his life. He was, as Mr. H.W. Wack well says, "a man of +powerful sensations, physically as well as mentally. Hugo pursued every +opportunity for new work, new sensations, fresh emotion. He desired to +absorb as much on life's eager forward way as his great nature craved. +His range in all things--mental, physical, and spiritual--was so far +beyond the ordinary that the gage of average cannot be applied to him. +The cavil of the moralist did not disturb him." + +Hence, it is not improbable that Victor Hugo might have broken through +the bonds of marital fidelity, even had Sainte-Beuve never written his +abnormal poems; but certainly these poems hastened a result which may or +may not have been otherwise inevitable. Hugo no longer turned wholly +to the dark-haired, dark-eyed Adele as summing up for him the whole of +womanhood. A veil was drawn, as it were, from before his eyes, and he +looked on other women and found them beautiful. + +It was in 1833, soon after Hugo's play "Lucrece Borgia" had been +accepted for production, that a lady called one morning at Hugo's house +in the Place Royale. She was then between twenty and thirty years of +age, slight of figure, winsome in her bearing, and one who knew the arts +which appeal to men. For she was no inexperienced ingenue. The name upon +her visiting-card was "Mme. Drouet"; and by this name she had been known +in Paris as a clever and somewhat gifted actress. Theophile Gautier, +whose cult was the worship of physical beauty, wrote in almost lyric +prose of her seductive charm. + +At nineteen, after she had been cast upon the world, dowered with that +terrible combination, poverty and beauty, she had lived openly with a +sculptor named Pradier. This has a certain importance in the history +of French art. Pradier had received a commission to execute a statue +representing Strasburg--the statue which stands to-day in the Place +de la Concorde, and which patriotic Frenchmen and Frenchwomen drape in +mourning and half bury in immortelles, in memory of that city of Alsace +which so long was French, but which to-day is German--one of Germany's +great prizes taken in the war of 1870. + +Five years before her meeting with Hugo, Pradier had rather brutally +severed his connection with her, and she had accepted the protection +of a Russian nobleman. At this time she was known by her real +name--Julienne Josephine Gauvin; but having gone upon the stage, she +assumed the appellation by which she was thereafter known, that of +Juliette Drouet. + +Her visit to Hugo was for the purpose of asking him to secure for her +a part in his forth-coming play. The dramatist was willing, but +unfortunately all the major characters had been provided for, and he +was able to offer her only the minor one of the Princesse Negroni. The +charming deference with which she accepted the offered part attracted +Hugo's attention. Such amiability is very rare in actresses who have had +engagements at the best theaters. He resolved to see her again; and he +did so, time after time, until he was thoroughly captivated by her. + +She knew her value, and as yet was by no means infatuated with him. +At first he was to her simply a means of getting on in her +profession--simply another influential acquaintance. Yet she brought to +bear upon him the arts at her command, her beauty and her sympathy, and, +last of all, her passionate abandonment. + +Hugo was overwhelmed by her. He found that she was in debt, and +he managed to see that her debts were paid. He secured her other +engagements at the theater, though she was less successful as an actress +after she knew him. There came, for a time, a short break in their +relations; for, partly out of need, she returned to her Russian +nobleman, or at least admitted him to a menage a trois. Hugo underwent +for a second time a great disillusionment. Nevertheless, he was not too +proud to return to her and to beg her not to be unfaithful any more. +Touched by his tears, and perhaps foreseeing his future fame, she gave +her promise, and she kept it until her death, nearly half a century +later. + +Perhaps because she had deceived him once, Hugo never completely lost +his prudence in his association with her. He was by no means lavish with +money, and he installed her in a rather simple apartment only a short +distance from his own home. He gave her an allowance that was relatively +small, though later he provided for her amply in his will. But it was +to her that he brought all his confidences, to her he entrusted all his +interests. She became to him, thenceforth, much more than she appeared +to the world at large; for she was his friend, and, as he said, his +inspiration. + +The fact of their intimate connection became gradually known through +Paris. It was known even to Mme. Hugo; but she, remembering the affair +of Sainte-Beuve, or knowing how difficult it is to check the will of a +man like Hugo, made no sign, and even received Juliette Drouet in her +own house and visited her in turn. When the poet's sons grew up to +manhood, they, too, spent many hours with their father in the little +salon of the former actress. It was a strange and, to an Anglo-Saxon +mind, an almost impossible position; yet France forgives much to genius, +and in time no one thought of commenting on Hugo's manner of life. + +In 1851, when Napoleon III seized upon the government, and when Hugo was +in danger of arrest, she assisted him to escape in disguise, and with a +forged passport, across the Belgian frontier. During his long exile +in Guernsey she lived in the same close relationship to him and to his +family. Mme. Hugo died in 1868, having known for thirty-three years that +she was only second in her husband's thoughts. Was she doing penance, or +was she merely accepting the inevitable? In any case, her position was +most pathetic, though she uttered no complaint. + +A very curious and poignant picture of her just before her death has +been given by the pen of a visitor in Guernsey. He had met Hugo and his +sons; he had seen the great novelist eating enormous slices of roast +beef and drinking great goblets of red wine at dinner, and he had +also watched him early each morning, divested of all his clothing and +splashing about in a bath-tub on the top of his house, in view of +all the town. One evening he called and found only Mme. Hugo. She was +reclining on a couch, and was evidently suffering great pain. Surprised, +he asked where were her husband and her sons. + +"Oh," she replied, "they've all gone to Mme. Drouet's to spend the +evening and enjoy themselves. Go also; you'll not find it amusing here." + +One ponders over this sad scene with conflicting thoughts. Was there +really any truth in the story at which Sainte-Beuve more than hinted? +If so, Adele Hugo was more than punished. The other woman had sinned far +more; and yet she had never been Hugo's wife; and hence perhaps it +was right that she should suffer less. Suffer she did; for after her +devotion to Hugo had become sincere and deep, he betrayed her confidence +by an intrigue with a girl who is spoken of as "Claire." The knowledge +of it caused her infinite anguish, but it all came to an end; and she +lived past her eightieth year, long after the death of Mme. Hugo. She +died only a short time before the poet himself was laid to rest in Paris +with magnificent obsequies which an emperor might have envied. In her +old age, Juliette Drouet became very white and very wan; yet she never +quite lost the charm with which, as a girl, she had won the heart of +Hugo. + +The story has many aspects. One may see in it a retribution, or one may +see in it only the cruelty of life. Perhaps it is best regarded simply +as a chapter in the strange life-histories of men of genius. + + + + + +THE STORY OF GEORGE SAND + + +To the student of feminine psychology there is no more curious and +complex problem than the one that meets us in the life of the gifted +French writer best known to the world as George Sand. + +To analyze this woman simply as a writer would in itself be a long, +difficult task. She wrote voluminously, with a fluid rather than a +fluent pen. She scandalized her contemporaries by her theories, and by +the way in which she applied them in her novels. Her fiction made her, +in the history of French literature, second only to Victor Hugo. +She might even challenge Hugo, because where he depicts strange and +monstrous figures, exaggerated beyond the limits of actual life, George +Sand portrays living men and women, whose instincts and desires she +understands, and whom she makes us see precisely as if we were admitted +to their intimacy. + +But George Sand puzzles us most by peculiarities which it is difficult +for us to reconcile. She seemed to have no sense of chastity whatever; +yet, on the other hand, she was not grossly sensual. She possessed the +maternal instinct to a high degree, and liked better to be a mother +than a mistress to the men whose love she sought. For she did seek men's +love, frankly and shamelessly, only to tire of it. In many cases she +seems to have been swayed by vanity, and by a love of conquest, rather +than by passion. She had also a spiritual, imaginative side to her +nature, and she could be a far better comrade than anything more +intimate. + +The name given to this strange genius at birth was Amantine Lucile +Aurore Dupin. The circumstances of her ancestry and birth were quite +unusual. Her father was a lieutenant in the French army. His grandmother +had been the natural daughter of Marshal Saxe, who was himself the +illegitimate son of Augustus the Strong of Poland and of the bewitching +Countess of Konigsmarck. This was a curious pedigree. It meant strength +of character, eroticism, stubbornness, imagination, courage, and +recklessness. + +Her father complicated the matter by marrying suddenly a Parisian of the +lower classes, a bird-fancier named Sophie Delaborde. His daughter, +who was born in 1804, used afterward to boast that on one side she was +sprung from kings and nobles, while on the other she was a daughter +of the people, able, therefore, to understand the sentiments of the +aristocracy and of the children of the soil, or even of the gutter. + +She was fond of telling, also, of the omen which attended on her birth. +Her father and mother were at a country dance in the house of a fellow +officer of Dupin's. Suddenly Mme. Dupin left the room. Nothing was +thought of this, and the dance went on. In less than an hour, Dupin was +called aside and told that his wife had just given birth to a child. It +was the child's aunt who brought the news, with the joyous comment: + +"She will be lucky, for she was born among the roses and to the sound of +music." + +This was at the time of the Napoleonic wars. Lieutenant Dupin was on the +staff of Prince Murat, and little Aurore, as she was called, at the age +of three accompanied the army, as did her mother. The child was +adopted by one of those hard-fighting, veteran regiments. The rough old +sergeants nursed her and petted her. Even the prince took notice of her; +and to please him she wore the green uniform of a hussar. + +But all this soon passed, and she was presently sent to live with +her grandmother at the estate now intimately associated with her +name--Nohant, in the valley of the Indre, in the midst of a rich +country, a love for which she then drank in so deeply that nothing in +her later life could lessen it. She was always the friend of the peasant +and of the country-folk in general. + +At Nohant she was given over to her grand-mother, to be reared in a +strangely desultory sort of fashion, doing and reading and studying +those things which could best develop her native gifts. Her father had +great influence over her, teaching her a thousand things without seeming +to teach her anything. Of him George Sand herself has written: + +Character is a matter of heredity. If any one desires to know me, he +must know my father. + +Her father, however, was killed by a fall from a horse; and then the +child grew up almost without any formal education. A tutor, who also +managed the estate; believed with Rousseau that the young should be +reared according to their own preferences. Therefore, Aurore read poems +and childish stories; she gained a smattering of Latin, and she was +devoted to music and the elements of natural science. For the rest of +the time she rambled with the country children, learned their games, and +became a sort of leader in everything they did. + +Her only sorrow was the fact that her mother was excluded from Nohant. +The aristocratic old grandmother would not allow under her roof her +son's low-born wife; but she was devoted to her little grandchild. The +girl showed a wonderful degree of sensibility. + +This life was adapted to her nature. She fed her imagination in a +perfectly healthy fashion; and, living so much out of doors, she +acquired that sound physique which she retained all through her life. + +When she was thirteen, her grandmother sent the girl to a convent school +in Paris. One might suppose that the sudden change from the open woods +and fields to the primness of a religious home would have been a great +shock to her, and that with her disposition she might have broken +out into wild ways that would have shocked the nuns. But, here, as +elsewhere, she showed her wonderful adaptability. It even seemed as +if she were likely to become what the French call a devote. She gave +herself up to mythical thoughts, and expressed a desire of taking the +veil. Her confessor, however, was a keen student of human nature, and +he perceived that she was too young to decide upon the renunciation of +earthly things. Moreover, her grandmother, who had no intention that +Aurore should become a nun, hastened to Paris and carried her back to +Nohant. + +The girl was now sixteen, and her complicated nature began to +make itself apparent. There was no one to control her, because her +grandmother was confined to her own room. And so Aurore Dupin, now in +superb health, rushed into every sort of diversion with all the zest of +youth. She read voraciously--religion, poetry, philosophy. She was an +excellent musician, playing the piano and the harp. Once, in a spirit of +unconscious egotism, she wrote to her confessor: + +Do you think that my philosophical studies are compatible with Christian +humility? + +The shrewd ecclesiastic answered, with a touch of wholesome irony: + +I doubt, my daughter, whether your philosophical studies are profound +enough to warrant intellectual pride. + +This stung the girl, and led her to think a little less of her own +abilities; but perhaps it made her books distasteful to her. For a while +she seems to have almost forgotten her sex. She began to dress as a boy, +and took to smoking large quantities of tobacco. Her natural brother, +who was an officer in the army, came down to Nohant and taught her to +ride--to ride like a boy, seated astride. She went about without any +chaperon, and flirted with the young men of the neighborhood. The prim +manners of the place made her subject to a certain amount of scandal, +and the village priest chided her in language that was far from tactful. +In return she refused any longer to attend his church. + +Thus she was living when her grandmother died, in 1821, leaving to +Aurore her entire fortune of five hundred thousand francs. As the girl +was still but seventeen, she was placed under the guardianship of the +nearest relative on her father's side--a gentleman of rank. When the +will was read, Aurore's mother made a violent protest, and caused a most +unpleasant scene. + +"I am the natural guardian of my child," she cried. "No one can take +away my rights!" + +The young girl well understood that this was really the parting of the +ways. If she turned toward her uncle, she would be forever classed +among the aristocracy. If she chose her mother, who, though married, was +essentially a grisette, then she must live with grisettes, and find her +friends among the friends who visited her mother. She could not belong +to both worlds. She must decide once for all whether she would be a +woman of rank or a woman entirely separated from the circle that had +been her father's. + +One must respect the girl for making the choice she did. Understanding +the situation absolutely, she chose her mother; and perhaps one would +not have had her do otherwise. Yet in the long run it was bound to be a +mistake. Aurore was clever, refined, well read, and had had the training +of a fashionable convent school. The mother was ignorant and coarse, as +was inevitable, with one who before her marriage had been half shop-girl +and half courtesan. The two could not live long together, and hence it +was not unnatural that Aurore Dupin should marry, to enter upon a new +career. + +Her fortune was a fairly large one for the times, and yet not large +enough to attract men who were quite her equals. Presently, however, it +brought to her a sort of country squire, named Casimir Dudevant. He was +the illegitimate son of the Baron Dudevant. He had been in the army, +and had studied law; but he possessed no intellectual tastes. He was +outwardly eligible; but he was of a coarse type--a man who, with passing +years, would be likely to take to drink and vicious amusements, and in +serious life cared only for his cattle, his horses, and his hunting. He +had, however, a sort of jollity about him which appealed to this girl of +eighteen; and so a marriage was arranged. Aurore Dupin became his wife +in 1822, and he secured the control of her fortune. + +The first few years after her marriage were not unhappy. She had a son, +Maurice Dudevant, and a daughter, Solange, and she loved them both. But +it was impossible that she should continue vegetating mentally upon +a farm with a husband who was a fool, a drunkard, and a miser. He +deteriorated; his wife grew more and more clever. Dudevant resented +this. It made him uncomfortable. Other persons spoke of her talk as +brilliant. He bluntly told her that it was silly, and that she must stop +it. When she did not stop it, he boxed her ears. This caused a breach +between the pair which was never healed. Dudevant drank more and more +heavily, and jeered at his wife because she was "always looking for noon +at fourteen o'clock." He had always flirted with the country girls; but +now he openly consorted with his wife's chambermaid. + +Mme. Dudevant, on her side, would have nothing more to do with this +rustic rake. She formed what she called a platonic friendship--and it +was really so--with a certain M. de Seze, who was advocate-general at +Bordeaux. With him this clever woman could talk without being called +silly, and he took sincere pleasure in her company. He might, in fact, +have gone much further, had not both of them been in an impossible +situation. + +Aurore Dudevant really believed that she was swayed by a pure and mystic +passion. De Seze, on the other hand, believed this mystic passion to +be genuine love. Coming to visit her at Nohant, he was revolted by the +clownish husband with whom she lived. It gave him an esthetic shock to +see that she had borne children to this boor. Therefore he shrank back +from her, and in time their relation faded into nothingness. + +It happened, soon after, that she found a packet in her husband's desk, +marked "Not to be opened until after my death." She wrote of this in her +correspondence: + +I had not the patience to wait till widowhood. No one can be sure of +surviving anybody. I assumed that my husband had died, and I was very +glad to learn what he thought of me while he was alive. Since the +package was addressed to me, it was not dishonorable for me to open it. + +And so she opened it. It proved to be his will, but containing, as a +preamble, his curses on her, expressions of contempt, and all the vulgar +outpouring of an evil temper and angry passion. She went to her husband +as he was opening a bottle, and flung the document upon the table. +He cowered at her glance, at her firmness, and at her cold hatred. He +grumbled and argued and entreated; but all that his wife would say in +answer was: + +"I must have an allowance. I am going to Paris, and my children are to +remain here." + +At last he yielded, and she went at once to Paris, taking her daughter +with her, and having the promise of fifteen hundred francs a year out of +the half-million that was hers by right. + +In Paris she developed into a thorough-paced Bohemian. She tried to make +a living in sundry hopeless ways, and at last she took to literature. +She was living in a garret, with little to eat, and sometimes without +a fire in winter. She had some friends who helped her as well as they +could, but though she was attached to the Figaro, her earnings for the +first month amounted to only fifteen francs. + +Nevertheless, she would not despair. The editors and publishers might +turn the cold shoulder to her, but she would not give up her ambitions. +She went down into the Latin Quarter, and there shook off the +proprieties of life. She assumed the garb of a man, and with her quick +perception she came to know the left bank of the Seine just as she had +known the country-side at Nohant or the little world at her convent +school. She never expected again to see any woman of her own rank in +life. Her mother's influence became strong in her. She wrote: + +The proprieties are the guiding principle of people without soul and +virtue. The good opinion of the world is a prostitute who gives herself +to the highest bidder. + +She still pursued her trade of journalism, calling herself a "newspaper +mechanic," sitting all day in the office of the Figaro and writing +whatever was demanded, while at night she would prowl in the streets +haunting the cafes, continuing to dress like a man, drinking sour wine, +and smoking cheap cigars. + +One of her companions in this sort of hand-to-mouth journalism was a +young student and writer named Jules Sandeau, a man seven years younger +than his comrade. He was at that time as indigent as she, and their +hardships, shared in common, brought them very close together. He was +clever, boyish, and sensitive, and it was not long before he had fallen +at her feet and kissed her knees, begging that she would requite the +love he felt for her. According to herself, she resisted him for six +months, and then at last she yielded. The two made their home together, +and for a while were wonderfully happy. Their work and their diversions +they enjoyed in common, and now for the first time she experienced +emotions which in all probability she had never known before. + +Probably not very much importance is to be given to the earlier +flirtations of George Sand, though she herself never tried to stop the +mouth of scandal. Even before she left her husband, she was credited +with having four lovers; but all she said, when the report was brought +to her, was this: "Four lovers are none too many for one with such +lively passions as mine." + +This very frankness makes it likely that she enjoyed shocking her prim +neighbors at Nohant. But if she only played at love-making then, she now +gave herself up to it with entire abandonment, intoxicated, fascinated, +satisfied. She herself wrote: + +How I wish I could impart to you this sense of the intensity and +joyousness of life that I have in my veins. To live! How sweet it +is, and how good, in spite of annoyances, husbands, debts, relations, +scandal-mongers, sufferings, and irritations! To live! It is +intoxicating! To love, and to be loved! It is happiness! It is heaven! + +In collaboration with Jules Sandeau, she wrote a novel called Rose +et Blanche. The two lovers were uncertain what name to place upon the +title-page, but finally they hit upon the pseudonym of Jules Sand. The +book succeeded; but thereafter each of them wrote separately, Jules +Sandeau using his own name, and Mme. Dudevant styling herself George +Sand, a name by which she was to be illustrious ever after. + +As a novelist, she had found her real vocation. She was not yet well +known, but she was on the verge of fame. As soon as she had written +Indiana and Valentine, George Sand had secured a place in the world of +letters. The magazine which still exists as the Revue des Deux Mondes +gave her a retaining fee of four thousand francs a year, and many other +publications begged her to write serial stories for them. + +The vein which ran through all her stories was new and piquant. As was +said of her: + +In George Sand, whenever a lady wishes to change her lover, God is +always there to make the transfer easy. + +In other words, she preached free love in the name of religion. This was +not a new doctrine with her. After the first break with her husband, she +had made up her mind about certain matters, and wrote: + +One is no more justified in claiming the ownership of a soul than in +claiming the ownership of a slave. + +According to her, the ties between a man and a woman are sacred only +when they are sanctified by love; and she distinguished between love and +passion in this epigram: + +Love seeks to give, while passion seeks to take. + +At this time, George Sand was in her twenty-seventh year. She was +not beautiful, though there was something about her which attracted +observation. Of middle height, she was fairly slender. Her eyes were +somewhat projecting, and her mouth was almost sullen when in repose. Her +manners were peculiar, combining boldness with timidity. Her address was +almost as familiar as a man's, so that it was easy to be acquainted with +her; yet a certain haughtiness and a touch of aristocratic pride made it +plain that she had drawn a line which none must pass without her +wish. When she was deeply stirred, however, she burst forth into an +extraordinary vivacity, showing a nature richly endowed and eager to +yield its treasures. + +The existence which she now led was a curious one. She still visited her +husband at Nohant, so that she might see her son, and sometimes, when +M. Dudevant came to town, he called upon her in the apartments which she +shared with Jules Sandeau. He had accepted the situation, and with his +crudeness and lack of feeling he seemed to think it, if not natural, +at least diverting. At any rate, so long as he could retain her +half-million francs, he was not the man to make trouble about his former +wife's arrangements. + +Meanwhile, there began to be perceptible the very slightest rift within +the lute of her romance. Was her love for Sandeau really love, or was +it only passion? In his absence, at any rate, the old obsession still +continued. Here we see, first of all, intense pleasure shading off into +a sort of maternal fondness. She sends Sandeau adoring letters. She is +afraid that his delicate appetite is not properly satisfied. + +Yet, again, there are times when she feels that he is irritating and +ill. Those who knew them said that her nature was too passionate and +her love was too exacting for him. One of her letters seems to make +this plain. She writes that she feels uneasy, and even frightfully +remorseful, at seeing Sandeau "pine away." She knows, she avows, that +she is killing him, that her caresses are a poison, and her love a +consuming fire. + +It is an appalling thought, and Jules will not understand it. He laughs +at it; and when, in the midst of his transports of delight, the idea +comes to me and makes my blood run cold, he tells me that here is the +death that he would like to die. At such moments he promises whatever I +make him promise. + +This letter throws a clear light upon the nature of George Sand's +temperament. It will be found all through her career, not only that +she sought to inspire passion, but that she strove to gratify it after +fashions of her own. One little passage from a description of her +written by the younger Dumas will perhaps make this phase of her +character more intelligible, without going further than is strictly +necessary: + +Mme. Sand has little hands without any bones, soft and plump. She is +by destiny a woman of excessive curiosity, always disappointed, always +deceived in her incessant investigation, but she is not fundamentally +ardent. In vain would she like to be so, but she does not find it +possible. Her physical nature utterly refuses. + +The reader will find in all that has now been said the true explanation +of George Sand. Abounding with life, but incapable of long stretches of +ardent love, she became a woman who sought conquests everywhere without +giving in return more than her temperament made it possible for her to +do. She loved Sandeau as much as she ever loved any man; and yet she +left him with a sense that she had never become wholly his. Perhaps +this is the reason why their romance came to an end abruptly, and not +altogether fittingly. + +She had been spending a short time at Nohant, and came to Paris without +announcement. She intended to surprise her lover, and she surely did so. +She found him in the apartment that had been theirs, with his arms about +an attractive laundry-girl. Thus closed what was probably the only true +romance in the life of George Sand. Afterward she had many lovers, but +to no one did she so nearly become a true mate. + +As it was, she ended her association with Sandeau, and each pursued a +separate path to fame. Sandeau afterward became a well-known novelist +and dramatist. He was, in fact, the first writer of fiction who was +admitted to the French Academy. The woman to whom he had been unfaithful +became greater still, because her fame was not only national, but +cosmopolitan. + +For a time after her deception by Sandeau, she felt absolutely devoid +of all emotions. She shunned men, and sought the friendship of Marie +Dorval, a clever actress who was destined afterward to break the heart +of Alfred de Vigny. The two went down into the country; and there George +Sand wrote hour after hour, sitting by her fireside, and showing herself +a tender mother to her little daughter Solange. + +This life lasted for a while, but it was not the sort of life that +would now content her. She had many visitors from Paris, among them +Sainte-Beuve, the critic, who brought with him Prosper Merimee, then +unknown, but later famous as master of revels to the third Napoleon and +as the author of Carmen. Merimee had a certain fascination of manner, +and the predatory instincts of George Sand were again aroused. One day, +when she felt bored and desperate, Merimee paid his court to her, +and she listened to him. This is one of the most remarkable of her +intimacies, since it began, continued, and ended all in the space of a +single week. When Merimee left Nohant, he was destined never again to +see George Sand, except long afterward at a dinner-party, where the two +stared at each other sharply, but did not speak. This affair, however, +made it plain that she could not long remain at Nohant, and that she +pined for Paris. + +Returning thither, she is said to have set her cap at Victor Hugo, +who was, however, too much in love with himself to care for any one, +especially a woman who was his literary rival. She is said for a time to +have been allied with Gustave Planche, a dramatic critic; but she +always denied this, and her denial may be taken as quite truthful. Soon, +however, she was to begin an episode which has been more famous than any +other in her curious history, for she met Alfred de Musset, then a youth +of twenty-three, but already well known for his poems and his plays. + +Musset was of noble birth. He would probably have been better for a +plebeian strain, since there was in him a touch of the degenerate. +His mother's father had published a humanitarian poem on cats. His +great-uncle had written a peculiar novel. Young Alfred was nervous, +delicate, slightly epileptic, and it is certain that he was given to +dissipation, which so far had affected his health only by making +him hysterical. He was an exceedingly handsome youth, with exquisite +manners, "dreamy rather than dazzling eyes, dilated nostrils, and +vermilion lips half opened." Such was he when George Sand, then seven +years his senior, met him. + +There is something which, to the Anglo-Saxon mind, seems far more absurd +than pathetic about the events which presently took place. A woman like +George Sand at thirty was practically twice the age of this nervous boy +of twenty-three, who had as yet seen little of the world. At first she +seemed to realize the fact herself; but her vanity led her to begin an +intrigue, which must have been almost wholly without excitement on her +part, but which to him, for a time, was everything in the world. + +Experimenting, as usual, after the fashion described by Dumas, she went +with De Musset for a "honeymoon" to Fontainebleau. But they could not +stay there forever, and presently they decided upon a journey to Italy. +Before they went, however, they thought it necessary to get formal +permission from Alfred's mother! + +Naturally enough, Mme. de Musset refused consent. She had read George +Sand's romances, and had asked scornfully: + +"Has the woman never in her life met a gentleman?" + +She accepted the relations between them, but that she should be asked +to sanction this sort of affair was rather too much, even for a French +mother who has become accustomed to many strange things. Then there was +a curious happening. At nine o'clock at night, George Sand took a cab +and drove to the house of Mme. de Musset, to whom she sent up a message +that a lady wished to see her. Mme. de Musset came down, and, finding a +woman alone in a carriage, she entered it. Then George Sand burst forth +in a torrent of sentimental eloquence. She overpowered her lover's +mother, promised to take great care of the delicate youth, and finally +drove away to meet Alfred at the coach-yard. + +They started off in the mist, their coach being the thirteenth to +leave the yard; but the two lovers were in a merry mood, and enjoyed +themselves all the way from Paris to Marseilles. By steamer they went +to Leghorn; and finally, in January, 1834, they took an apartment in a +hotel at Venice. What had happened that their arrival in Venice should +be the beginning of a quarrel, no one knows. George Sand has told the +story, and Paul de Musset--Alfred's brother--has told the story, but +each of them has doubtless omitted a large part of the truth. + +It is likely that on their long journey each had learned too much of +the other. Thus, Paul de Musset says that George Sand made herself +outrageous by her conversation, telling every one of her mother's +adventures in the army of Italy, including her relations with the +general-in-chief. She also declared that she herself was born within +a month of her parents' wedding-day. Very likely she did say all these +things, whether they were true or not. She had set herself to wage war +against conventional society, and she did everything to shock it. + +On the other hand, Alfred de Musset fell ill after having lost ten +thousand francs in a gambling-house. George Sand was not fond of persons +who were ill. She herself was working like a horse, writing from eight +to thirteen hours a day. When Musset collapsed she sent for a handsome +young Italian doctor named Pagello, with whom she had struck up a casual +acquaintance. He finally cured Musset, but he also cured George Sand of +any love for Musset. + +Before long she and Pagello were on their way back to Paris, leaving the +poor, fevered, whimpering poet to bite his nails and think unutterable +things. But he ought to have known George Sand. After that, everybody +knew her. They knew just how much she cared when she professed to care, +and when she acted as she acted with Pagello no earlier lover had any +one but himself to blame. + +Only sentimentalists can take this story seriously. To them it has a +sort of morbid interest. They like to picture Musset raving and shouting +in his delirium, and then, to read how George Sand sat on Pagello's +knees, kissing him and drinking out of the same cup. But to the healthy +mind the whole story is repulsive--from George Sand's appeal to Mme. +de Musset down to the very end, when Pagello came to Paris, where his +broken French excited a polite ridicule. + +There was a touch of genuine sentiment about the affair with +Jules Sandeau; but after that, one can only see in George Sand a +half-libidinous grisette, such as her mother was before her, with a +perfect willingness to experiment in every form of lawless love. As for +Musset, whose heart she was supposed to have broken, within a year he +was dangling after the famous singer, Mme. Malibran, and writing poems +to her which advertised their intrigue. + +After this episode with Pagello, it cannot be said that the life of +George Sand was edifying in any respect, because no one can assume that +she was sincere. She had loved Jules Sandeau as much as she could love +any one, but all the rest of her intrigues and affinities were in the +nature of experiments. She even took back Alfred de Musset, although +they could never again regard each other without suspicion. George Sand +cut off all her hair and gave it to Musset, so eager was she to keep +him as a matter of conquest; but he was tired of her, and even this +theatrical trick was of no avail. + +She proceeded to other less known and less humiliating adventures. She +tried to fascinate the artist Delacroix. She set her cap at Franz Liszt, +who rather astonished her by saying that only God was worthy to be +loved. She expressed a yearning for the affections of the elder Dumas; +but that good-natured giant laughed at her, and in fact gave her some +sound advice, and let her smoke unsentimentally in his study. She was +a good deal taken with a noisy demagogue named Michel, a lawyer at +Bourges, who on one occasion shut her up in her room and harangued her +on sociology until she was as weary of his talk as of his wooden shoes, +his shapeless greatcoat, his spectacles, and his skull-cap, Balzac felt +her fascination, but cared nothing for her, since his love was given to +Mme. Hanska. + +In the meanwhile, she was paying visits to her husband at Nohant, where +she wrangled with him over money matters, and where he would once have +shot her had the guests present not interfered. She secured her dowry +by litigation, so that she was well off, even without her literary +earnings. These were by no means so large as one would think from her +popularity and from the number of books she wrote. It is estimated that +her whole gains amounted to about a million francs, extending over a +period of forty-five years. It is just half the amount that Trollope +earned in about the same period, and justifies his remark--"adequate, +but not splendid." + +One of those brief and strange intimacies that marked the career of +George Sand came about in a curious way. Octave Feuillet, a man of +aristocratic birth, had set himself to write novels which portrayed +the cynicism and hardness of the upper classes in France. One of these +novels, Sibylle, excited the anger of George Sand. She had not known +Feuillet before; yet now she sought him out, at first in order to berate +him for his book, but in the end to add him to her variegated string of +lovers. + +It has been said of Feuillet that he was a sort of "domesticated +Musset." At any rate, he was far less sensitive than Musset, and George +Sand was about seventeen years his senior. They parted after a short +time, she going her way as a writer of novels that were very different +from her earlier ones, while Feuillet grew more and more cynical and +even stern, as he lashed the abnormal, neuropathic men and women about +him. + +The last great emotional crisis in George Sand's life was that which +centers around her relations with Frederic Chopin. Chopin was the +greatest genius who ever loved her. It is rather odd that he loved her. +She had known him for two years, and had not seriously thought of him, +though there is a story that when she first met him she kissed him +before he had even been presented to her. She waited two years, and in +those two years she had three lovers. Then at last she once more met +Chopin, when he was in a state of melancholy, because a Polish girl had +proved unfaithful to him. + +It was the psychological moment; for this other woman, who was a +devourer of hearts, found him at a piano, improvising a lamentation. +George Sand stood beside him, listening. When he finished and looked up +at her, their eyes met. She bent down without a word and kissed him on +the lips. + +What was she like when he saw her then? Grenier has described her in +these words: + +She was short and stout, but her face attracted all my attention, the +eyes especially. They were wonderful eyes--a little too close together, +it may be, large, with full eyelids, and black, very black, but by no +means lustrous; they reminded me of unpolished marble, or rather of +velvet, and this gave a strange, dull, even cold expression to her +countenance. Her fine eyebrows and these great placid eyes gave her an +air of strength and dignity which was not borne out by the lower part of +her face. Her nose was rather thick and not over shapely. Her mouth was +also rather coarse, and her chin small. She spoke with great simplicity, +and her manners were very quiet. + +Such as she was, she attached herself to Chopin for eight years. At +first they traveled together very quietly to Majorca; and there, just as +Musset had fallen ill at Venice, Chopin became feverish and an invalid. +"Chopin coughs most gracefully," George Sand wrote of him, and again: + +Chopin is the most inconstant of men. There is nothing permanent about +him but his cough. + +It is not surprising if her nerves sometimes gave way. Acting as sick +nurse, writing herself with rheumatic fingers, robbed by every one about +her, and viewed with suspicion by the peasants because she did not go +to church, she may be perhaps excused for her sharp words when, in fact, +her deeds were kind. + +Afterward, with Chopin, she returned to Paris, and the two lived openly +together for seven years longer. An immense literature has grown around +the subject of their relations. To this literature George Sand herself +contributed very largely. Chopin never wrote a word; but what he failed +to do, his friends and pupils did unsparingly. + +Probably the truth is somewhat as one might expect. During the first +period of fascination, George Sand was to Chopin what she had been to +Sandeau and to Musset; and with her strange and subtle ways, she had +undermined his health. But afterward that sort of love died out, and was +succeeded by something like friendship. At any rate, this woman showed, +as she had shown to others, a vast maternal kindness. She writes to him +finally as "your old woman," and she does wonders in the way of nursing +and care. + +But in 1847 came a break between the two. Whatever the mystery of it may +be, it turns upon what Chopin said of Sand: + +"I have never cursed any one, but now I am so weary of life that I am +near cursing her. Yet she suffers, too, and more, because she grows +older as she grows more wicked." + +In 1848, Chopin gave his last concert in Paris, and in 1849 he died. +According to some, he was the victim of a Messalina. According to +others, it was only "Messalina" that had kept him alive so long. + +However, with his death came a change in the nature of George Sand. +Emotionally, she was an extinct volcano. Intellectually, she was at +her very best. She no longer tore passions into tatters, but wrote +naturally, simply, stories of country life and tales for children. +In one of her books she has given an enduring picture of the +Franco-Prussian War. There are many rather pleasant descriptions of her +then, living at Nohant, where she made a curious figure, bustling about +in ill-fitting costumes, and smoking interminable cigarettes. + +She had lived much, and she had drunk deep of life, when she died in +1876. One might believe her to have been only a woman of perpetual +liaisons. Externally she was this, and yet what did Balzac, that great +master of human psychology, write of her in the intimacy of a private +correspondence? + +She is a female bachelor. She is an artist. She is generous. She is +devoted. She is chaste. Her dominant characteristics are those of a man, +and therefore, she is not to be regarded as a woman. She is an excellent +mother, adored by her children. Morally, she is like a lad of twenty; +for in her heart of hearts, she is more than chaste--she is a prude. It +is only in externals that she comports herself as a Bohemian. All her +follies are titles to glory in the eyes of those whose souls are noble. + +A curious verdict this! Her love-life seems almost that of neither man +nor woman, but of an animal. Yet whether she was in reality responsible +for what she did, when we consider her strange heredity, her wretched +marriage, the disillusions of her early life--who shall sit in judgment +on her, since who knows all? + + + + + +THE MYSTERY OF CHARLES DICKENS + + +Perhaps no public man in the English-speaking world, in the last +century, was so widely and intimately known as Charles Dickens. From +his eighteenth year, when he won his first success in journalism, down +through his series of brilliant triumphs in fiction, he was more and +more a conspicuous figure, living in the blaze of an intense publicity. +He met every one and knew every one, and was the companion of every +kind of man and woman. He loved to frequent the "caves of harmony" which +Thackeray has immortalized, and he was a member of all the best Bohemian +clubs of London. Actors, authors, good fellows generally, were his +intimate friends, and his acquaintance extended far beyond into the +homes of merchants and lawyers and the mansions of the proudest nobles. +Indeed, he seemed to be almost a universal friend. + +One remembers, for instance, how he was called in to arbitrate between +Thackeray and George Augustus Sala, who had quarreled. One remembers how +Lord Byron's daughter, Lady Lovelace, when upon her sick-bed, used to +send for Dickens because there was something in his genial, sympathetic +manner that soothed her. Crushing pieces of ice between her teeth in +agony, she would speak to him and he would answer her in his rich, manly +tones until she was comforted and felt able to endure more hours of pain +without complaint. + +Dickens was a jovial soul. His books fairly steam with Christmas cheer +and hot punch and the savor of plum puddings, very much as do his +letters to his intimate friends. Everybody knew Dickens. He could +not dine in public without attracting attention. When he left the +dining-room, his admirers would descend upon his table and carry off +egg-shells, orange-peels, and other things that remained behind, so that +they might have memorials of this much-loved writer. Those who knew him +only by sight would often stop him in the streets and ask the +privilege of shaking hands with him; so different was he from--let us +say--Tennyson, who was as great an Englishman in his way as Dickens, but +who kept himself aloof and saw few strangers. + +It is hard to associate anything like mystery with Dickens, though +he was fond of mystery as an intellectual diversion, and his last +unfinished novel was The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Moreover, no one +admired more than he those complex plots which Wilkie Collins used +to weave under the influence of laudanum. But as for his own life, it +seemed so normal, so free from anything approaching mystery, that we can +scarcely believe it to have been tinged with darker colors than those +which appeared upon the surface. + +A part of this mystery is plain enough. The other part is still +obscure--or of such a character that one does not care to bring it +wholly to the light. It had to do with his various relations with women. + +The world at large thinks that it knows this chapter in the life of +Dickens, and that it refers wholly to his unfortunate disagreement with +his wife. To be sure, this is a chapter that is writ large in all of his +biographies, and yet it is nowhere correctly told. His chosen biographer +was John Forster, whose Life of Charles Dickens, in three volumes, +must remain a standard work; but even Forster--we may assume through +tact--has not set down all that he could, although he gives a clue. + +As is well known, Dickens married Miss Catherine Hogarth when he +was only twenty-four. He had just published his Sketches by Boz, the +copyright of which he sold for one hundred pounds, and was beginning the +Pickwick Papers. About this time his publisher brought N. P. Willis +down to Furnival's Inn to see the man whom Willis called "a young +paragraphist for the Morning Chronicle." Willis thus sketches Dickens +and his surroundings: + +In the most crowded part of Holborn, within a door or two of the Bull +and Mouth Inn, we pulled up at the entrance of a large building used +for lawyers' chambers. I followed by a long flight of stairs to an upper +story, and was ushered into an uncarpeted and bleak-looking room, with +a deal table, two or three chairs and a few books, a small boy and Mr. +Dickens for the contents. + +I was only struck at first with one thing--and I made a memorandum of +it that evening as the strongest instance I had seen of English +obsequiousness to employers--the degree to which the poor author was +overpowered with the honor of his publisher's visit! I remember saying +to myself, as I sat down on a rickety chair: + +"My good fellow, if you were in America with that fine face and +your ready quill, you would have no need to be condescended to by a +publisher." + +Dickens was dressed very much as he has since described Dick Swiveller, +minus the swell look. His hair was cropped close to his head, his +clothes scant, though jauntily cut, and, after changing a ragged +office-coat for a shabby blue, he stood by the door, collarless and +buttoned up, the very personification of a close sailer to the wind. + +Before this interview with Willis, which Dickens always repudiated, he +had become something of a celebrity among the newspaper men with whom he +worked as a stenographer. As every one knows, he had had a hard time in +his early years, working in a blacking-shop, and feeling too keenly the +ignominious position of which a less sensitive boy would probably have +thought nothing. Then he became a shorthand reporter, and was busy at +his work, so that he had little time for amusements. + +It has been generally supposed that no love-affair entered his life +until he met Catherine Hogarth, whom he married soon after making her +acquaintance. People who are eager at ferreting out unimportant facts +about important men had unanimously come to the conclusion that up to +the age of twenty Dickens was entirely fancy-free. It was left to an +American to disclose the fact that this was not the case, but that even +in his teens he had been captivated by a girl of about his own age. + +Inasmuch as the only reproach that was ever made against Dickens was +based upon his love-affairs, let us go back and trace them from this +early one to the very last, which must yet for some years, at least, +remain a mystery. + +Everything that is known about his first affair is contained in a book +very beautifully printed, but inaccessible to most readers. Some years +ago Mr. William K. Bixby, of St. Louis, found in London a collector of +curios. This man had in his stock a number of letters which had passed +between a Miss Maria Beadnell and Charles Dickens when the two were +about nineteen and a second package of letters representing a later +acquaintance, about 1855, at which time Miss Beadnell had been married +for a long time to a Mr. Henry Louis Winter, of 12 Artillery Place, +London. + +The copyright laws of Great Britain would not allow Mr. Bixby to publish +the letters in that country, and he did not care to give them to the +public here. Therefore, he presented them to the Bibliophile Society, +with the understanding that four hundred and ninety-three copies, with +the Bibliophile book-plate, were to be printed and distributed among +the members of the society. A few additional copies were struck off, +but these did not bear the Bibliophile book-plate. Only two copies are +available for other readers, and to peruse these it is necessary to +visit the Congressional Library in Washington, where they were placed on +July 24, 1908. + +These letters form two series--the first written to Miss Beadnell in +or about 1829, and the second written to Mrs. Winter, formerly Miss +Beadnell, in 1855. + +The book also contains an introduction by Henry H. Harper, who sets +forth some theories which the facts, in my opinion, do not support; +and there are a number of interesting portraits, especially one of Miss +Beadnell in 1829--a lovely girl with dark curls. Another shows her in +1855, when she writes of herself as "old and fat"--thereby doing herself +a great deal of injustice; for although she had lost her youthful +beauty, she was a very presentable woman of middle age, but one who +would not be particularly noticed in any company. + +Summing up briefly these different letters, it may be said that in +the first set Dickens wrote to the lady ardently, but by no means +passionately. From what he says it is plain enough that she did not +respond to his feeling, and that presently she left London and went to +Paris, for her family was well-to-do, while Dickens was living from hand +to mouth. + +In the second set of letters, written long afterward, Mrs. Winter seems +to have "set her cap" at the now famous author; but at that time he was +courted by every one, and had long ago forgotten the lady who had so +easily dismissed him in his younger days. In 1855, Mrs. Winter seems to +have reproached him for not having been more constant in the past; but +he replied: + +You answered me coldly and reproachfully, and so I went my way. + +Mr. Harper, in his introduction, tries very hard to prove that in +writing David Copperfield Dickens drew the character of Dora from Miss +Beadnell. It is a dangerous thing to say from whom any character in +a novel is drawn. An author takes whatever suits his purpose in +circumstance and fancy, and blends them all into one consistent whole, +which is not to be identified with any individual. There is little +reason to think that the most intimate friends of Dickens and of his +family were mistaken through all the years when they were certain that +the boy husband and the girl wife of David Copperfield were suggested by +any one save Dickens himself and Catherine Hogarth. + +Why should he have gone back to a mere passing fancy, to a girl who +did not care for him, and who had no influence on his life, instead +of picturing, as David's first wife, one whom he deeply loved, whom he +married, who was the mother of his children, and who made a great part +of his career, even that part which was inwardly half tragic and wholly +mournful? + +Miss Beadnell may have been the original of Flora in Little Dorrit, +though even this is doubtful. The character was at the time ascribed +to a Miss Anna Maria Leigh, whom Dickens sometimes flirted with and +sometimes caricatured. + +When Dickens came to know George Hogarth, who was one of his +colleagues on the staff of the Morning Chronicle, he met Hogarth's +daughters--Catherine, Georgina, and Mary--and at once fell ardently in +love with Catherine, the eldest and prettiest of the three. He himself +was almost girlish, with his fair complexion and light, wavy hair, so +that the famous sketch by Maclise has a remarkable charm; yet nobody +could really say with truth that any one of the three girls was +beautiful. Georgina Hogarth, however, was sweet-tempered and of a +motherly disposition. It may be that in a fashion she loved Dickens +all her life, as she remained with him after he parted from her sister, +taking the utmost care of his children, and looking out with unselfish +fidelity for his many needs. + +It was Mary, however, the youngest of the Hogarths, who lived with the +Dickenses during the first twelvemonth of their married life. To Dickens +she was like a favorite sister, and when she died very suddenly, in her +eighteenth year, her loss was a great shock to him. + +It was believed for a long time--in fact, until their separation--that +Dickens and his wife were extremely happy in their home life. His +writings glorified all that was domestic, and paid many tender tributes +to the joys of family affection. When the separation came the whole +world was shocked. And yet rather early in Dickens's married life there +was more or less infelicity. In his Retrospections of an Active Life, +Mr. John Bigelow writes a few sentences which are interesting for their +frankness, and which give us certain hints: + +Mrs. Dickens was not a handsome woman, though stout, hearty, and +matronly; there was something a little doubtful about her eye, and +I thought her endowed with a temper that might be very violent when +roused, though not easily rousable. Mrs. Caulfield told me that a +Miss Teman--I think that is the name--was the source of the difficulty +between Mrs. Dickens and her husband. She played in private theatricals +with Dickens, and he sent her a portrait in a brooch, which met with +an accident requiring it to be sent to the jeweler's to be mended. The +jeweler, noticing Mr. Dickens's initials, sent it to his house. Mrs. +Dickens's sister, who had always been in love with him and was jealous +of Miss Teman, told Mrs. Dickens of the brooch, and she mounted her +husband with comb and brush. This, no doubt, was Mrs. Dickens's version, +in the main. + +A few evenings later I saw Miss Teman at the Haymarket Theatre, playing +with Buckstone and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mathews. She seemed rather a +small cause for such a serious result--passably pretty, and not much of +an actress. + +Here in one passage we have an intimation that Mrs. Dickens had a +temper that was easily roused, that Dickens himself was interested in +an actress, and that Miss Hogarth "had always been in love with him, and +was jealous of Miss Teman." + +Some years before this time, however, there had been growing in the mind +of Dickens a certain formless discontent--something to which he could +not give a name, yet which, cast over him the shadow of disappointment. +He expressed the same feeling in David Copperfield, when he spoke of +David's life with Dora. It seemed to come from the fact that he had +grown to be a man, while his wife had still remained a child. + +A passage or two may be quoted from the novel, so that we may set them +beside passages in Dickens's own life, which we know to have referred to +his own wife, and not to any such nebulous person as Mrs. Winter. + +The shadow I have mentioned that was not to be between us any more, +but was to rest wholly on my heart--how did that fall? The old unhappy +feeling pervaded my life. It was deepened, if it were changed at all; +but it was as undefined as ever, and addressed me like a strain of +sorrowful music faintly heard in the night. I loved my wife dearly; but +the happiness I had vaguely anticipated, once, was not the happiness I +enjoyed, AND THERE WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING WANTING. + +What I missed I still regarded as something that had been a dream of +my youthful fancy; that was incapable of realization; that I was now +discovering to be so, with some natural pain, as all men did. But that +it would have been better for me if my wife could have helped me more, +and shared the many thoughts in which I had no partner, and that this +might have been I knew. + +What I am describing slumbered and half awoke and slept again in the +innermost recesses of my mind. There was no evidence of it to me; I knew +of no influence it had in anything I said or did. I bore the weight of +all our little cares and all my projects. + +"There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and +purpose." These words I remembered. I had endeavored to adapt Dora to +myself, and found it impracticable. It remained for me to adapt myself +to Dora; to share with her what I could, and be happy; to bear on my own +shoulders what I must, and be still happy. + +Thus wrote Dickens in his fictitious character, and of his fictitious +wife. Let us see how he wrote and how he acted in his own person, and of +his real wife. + +As early as 1856, he showed a curious and restless activity, as of one +who was trying to rid himself of unpleasant thoughts. Mr. Forster +says that he began to feel a strain upon his invention, a certain +disquietude, and a necessity for jotting down memoranda in note-books, +so as to assist his memory and his imagination. He began to long +for solitude. He would take long, aimless rambles into the country, +returning at no particular time or season. He once wrote to Forster: + +I have had dreadful thoughts of getting away somewhere altogether by +myself. If I could have managed it, I think I might have gone to the +Pyrenees for six months. I have visions of living for half a year or so +in all sorts of inaccessible places, and of opening a new book therein. +A floating idea of going up above the snow-line, and living in some +astonishing convent, hovers over me. + +What do these cryptic utterances mean? At first, both in his novel and +in his letters, they are obscure; but before long, in each, they become +very definite. In 1856, we find these sentences among his letters: + +The old days--the old days! Shall I ever, I wonder, get the frame of +mind back as it used to be then? Something of it, perhaps, but never +quite as it used to be. + +I find that the skeleton in my domestic closet is becoming a pretty big +one. + +His next letter draws the veil and shows plainly what he means: + +Poor Catherine and I are not made for each other, and there is no help +for it. It is not only that she makes me uneasy and unhappy, but that +I make her so, too--and much more so. We are strangely ill-assorted for +the bond that exists between us. + +Then he goes on to say that she would have been a thousand times happier +if she had been married to another man. He speaks of "incompatibility," +and a "difference of temperaments." In fact, it is the same old story +with which we have become so familiar, and which is both as old as the +hills and as new as this morning's newspaper. + +Naturally, also, things grow worse, rather than better. Dickens comes to +speak half jocularly of "the plunge," and calculates as to what effect +it will have on his public readings. He kept back the announcement of +"the plunge" until after he had given several readings; then, on April +29, 1858, Mrs. Dickens left his home. His eldest son went to live with +the mother, but the rest of the children remained with their father, +while his daughter Mary nominally presided over the house. In the +background, however, Georgina Hogarth, who seemed all through her life +to have cared for Dickens more than for her sister, remained as a sort +of guide and guardian for his children. + +This arrangement was a private matter, and should not have been brought +to public attention; but it was impossible to suppress all gossip about +so prominent a man. Much of the gossip was exaggerated; and when it came +to the notice of Dickens it stung him so severely as to lead him into +issuing a public justification of his course. He published a +statement in Household Words, which led to many other letters in other +periodicals, and finally a long one from him, which was printed in the +New York Tribune, addressed to his friend Mr. Arthur Smith. + +Dickens afterward declared that he had written this letter as a strictly +personal and private one, in order to correct false rumors and scandals. +Mr. Smith naturally thought that the statement was intended for +publication, but Dickens always spoke of it as "the violated letter." + +By his allusions to a difference of temperament and to incompatibility, +Dickens no doubt meant that his wife had ceased to be to him the same +companion that she had been in days gone by. As in so many cases, she +had not changed, while he had. He had grown out of the sphere in which +he had been born, "associated with blacking-boys and quilt-printers," +and had become one of the great men of his time, whose genius was +universally admired. + +Mr. Bigelow saw Mrs. Dickens as she really was--a commonplace woman +endowed with the temper of a vixen, and disposed to outbursts of actual +violence when her jealousy was roused. + +It was impossible that the two could have remained together, when in +intellect and sympathy they were so far apart. There is nothing strange +about their separation, except the exceedingly bad taste with which +Dickens made it a public affair. It is safe to assume that he felt the +need of a different mate; and that he found one is evident enough from +the hints and bits of innuendo that are found in the writings of his +contemporaries. + +He became a pleasure-lover; but more than that, he needed one who could +understand his moods and match them, one who could please his tastes, +and one who could give him that admiration which he felt to be his due; +for he was always anxious to be praised, and his letters are full of +anecdotes relating to his love of praise. + +One does not wish to follow out these clues too closely. It is certain +that neither Miss Beadnell as a girl nor Mrs. Winter as a matron made +any serious appeal to him. The actresses who have been often mentioned +in connection with his name were, for the most part, mere passing +favorites. The woman who in life was Dora made him feel the same +incompleteness that he has described in his best-known book. The +companion to whom he clung in his later years was neither a light-minded +creature like Miss Beadnell, nor an undeveloped, high-tempered woman +like the one he married, nor a mere domestic, friendly creature like +Georgina Hogarth. + +Ought we to venture upon a quest which shall solve this mystery in the +life of Charles Dickens! In his last will and testament, drawn up and +signed by him about a year before his death, the first paragraph reads +as follows: + +I, Charles Dickens, of Gadshill Place, Higham, in the county of Kent, +hereby revoke all my former wills and codicils and declare this to be my +last will and testament. I give the sum of one thousand pounds, free +of legacy duty, to Miss Ellen Lawless Ternan, late of Houghton Place, +Ampthill Square, in the county of Middlesex. + +In connection with this, read Mr. John Bigelow's careless jottings made +some fifteen years before. Remember the Miss "Teman," about whose name +he was not quite certain; the Hogarth sisters' dislike of her; and the +mysterious figure in the background of the novelist's later life. Then +consider the first bequest in his will, which leaves a substantial +sum to one who was neither a relative nor a subordinate, but--may we +assume--more than an ordinary friend? + + + + + +HONORE DE BALZAC AND EVELINA HANSKA + + +I remember once, when editing an elaborate work on literature, that the +publisher called me into his private office. After the door was closed, +he spoke in tones of suppressed emotion. + +"Why is it," said he, "that you have such a lack of proportion? In the +selection you have made I find that only two pages are given to George +P. Morris, while you haven't given E. P. Roe any space at all! Yet, look +here--you've blocked out fifty pages for Balzac, who was nothing but an +immoral Frenchman!" + +I adjusted this difficulty, somehow or other--I do not just remember +how--and began to think that, after all, this publisher's view of things +was probably that of the English and American public. It is strange that +so many biographies and so many appreciations of the greatest novelist +who ever lived should still have left him, in the eyes of the reading +public, little more than "an immoral Frenchman." + +"In Balzac," said Taine, "there was a money-broker, an archeologist, an +architect, an upholsterer, a tailor, an old-clothes dealer, a journeyman +apprentice, a physician, and a notary." Balzac was also a mystic, a +supernaturalist, and, above all, a consummate artist. No one who is all +these things in high measure, and who has raised himself by his genius +above his countrymen, deserves the censure of my former publisher. + +Still less is Balzac to be dismissed as "immoral," for his life was one +of singular self-sacrifice in spite of much temptation. His face was +strongly sensual, his look and bearing denoted almost savage power; he +led a free life in a country which allowed much freedom; and yet +his story is almost mystic in its fineness of thought, and in its +detachment, which was often that of another world. + +Balzac was born in 1799, at Tours, with all the traits of the people +of his native province--fond of eating and drinking, and with plenty of +humor. His father was fairly well off. Of four children, our Balzac was +the eldest. The third was his sister Laure, who throughout his life was +the most intimate friend he had, and to whom we owe his rescue from much +scandalous and untrue gossip. From her we learn that their father was a +combination of Montaigne, Rabelais, and "Uncle Toby." + +Young Balzac went to a clerical school at seven, and stayed there for +seven years. Then he was brought home, apparently much prostrated, +although the good fathers could find nothing physically amiss with him, +and nothing in his studies to account for his agitation. No one ever did +discover just what was the matter, for he seemed well enough in the +next few years, basking on the riverside, watching the activities of +his native town, and thoroughly studying the rustic types that he was +afterward to make familiar to the world. In fact, in Louis Lambert he +has set before us a picture of his own boyish life, very much as Dickens +did of his in David Copperfield. + +For some reason, when these years were over, the boy began to have what +is so often known as "a call"--a sort of instinct that he was to attain +renown. Unfortunately it happened that about this time (1814) he and his +parents removed to Paris, which was his home by choice, until his death +in 1850. He studied here under famous teachers, and gave three years +to the pursuit of law, of which he was very fond as literary material, +though he refused to practise. + +This was the more grievous, since a great part of the family property +had been lost. The Balzacs were afflicted by actual poverty, and Honore +endeavored, with his pen, to beat the wolf back from the door. He earned +a little money with pamphlets and occasional stories, but his thirst +for fame was far from satisfied. He was sure that he was called to +literature, and yet he was not sure that he had the power to succeed. In +one of his letters to his sister, he wrote: + +I am young and hungry, and there is nothing on my plate. Oh, Laure, +Laure, my two boundless desires, my only ones--to be famous, and to be +loved--they ever be satisfied? + +For the next ten years he was learning his trade, and the artistic use +of the fiction writer's tools. What is more to the point, is the fact +that he began to dream of a series of great novels, which should give +a true and panoramic picture of the whole of human life. This was the +first intimation of his "Human Comedy," which was so daringly undertaken +and so nearly completed in his after years. In his early days of +obscurity, he said to his readers: + +Note well the characters that I introduce, since you will have to follow +their fortunes through thirty novels that are to come. + +Here we see how little he had been daunted by ill success, and how his +prodigious imagination had not been overcome by sorrow and evil fortune. +Meantime, writing almost savagely, and with a feeling combined of +ambition and despair, he had begun, very slowly indeed, to create a +public. These ten years, however, had loaded him with debts; and his +struggle to keep himself afloat only plunged him deeper in the mire. +His thirty unsigned novels began to pay him a few hundred francs, not +in cash, but in promissory notes; so that he had to go still deeper into +debt. + +In 1827 he was toiling on his first successful novel, and indeed one of +the best historic novels in French literature--The Chouans. He speaks of +his labor as "done with a tired brain and an anxious mind," and of the +eight or ten business letters that he had to write each day before he +could begin his literary work. + +"Postage and an omnibus are extravagances that I cannot allow myself," +he writes. "I stay at home so as not to wear out my clothes. Is that +clear to you?" + +At the end of the next year, though he was already popular as a +novelist, and much sought out by people of distinction, he was at the +very climax of his poverty. He had written thirty-five books, and was in +debt to the amount of a hundred and twenty-four thousand francs. He was +saved from bankruptcy only by the aid of Mme. de Berny, a woman of high +character, and one whose moral influence was very strong with Balzac +until her early death. + +The relation between these two has a sweetness and a purity which are +seldom found. Mme. de Berny gave Balzac money as she would have given it +to a son, and thereby she saved a great soul for literature. But there +was no sickly sentiment between them, and Balzac regarded her with a +noble love which he has expressed in the character of Mme. Firmiani. + +It was immediately after she had lightened his burdens that the real +Balzac comes before us in certain stories which have no equal, and +which are among the most famous that he ever wrote. What could be more +wonderful than his El Verdugo, which gives us a brief horror while +compelling our admiration? What, outside of Balzac himself, could be +more terrible than Gobseck, a frightful study of avarice, containing +a deathbed scene which surpasses in dreadfulness almost anything in +literature? Add to these A Passion in the Desert, The Girl with the +Golden Eyes, The Droll Stories, The Red Inn, and The Magic Skin, and you +have a cluster of masterpieces not to be surpassed. + +In the year 1829, when he was just beginning to attain a slight success, +Balzac received a long letter written in a woman's hand. As he read +it, there came to him something very like an inspiration, so full of +understanding were the written words, so full of appreciation and of +sympathy with the best that he had done. This anonymous note pointed out +here and there such defects as are apt to become chronic with a +young author. Balzac was greatly stirred by its keen and sympathetic +criticism. No one before had read his soul so clearly. No one--not even +his devoted sister, Laure de Surville--had judged his work so wisely, +had come so closely to his deepest feeling. + +He read the letter over and over, and presently another came, full of +critical appreciation, and of wholesome, tonic, frank, friendly words +of cheer. It was very largely the effect of these letters that roused +Balzac's full powers and made him sure of winning the two great objects +of his first ambition--love and fame--the ideals of the chivalrous, +romantic Frenchman from Caesar's time down to the present day. + +Other letters followed, and after a while their authorship was made +known to Balzac. He learned that they had been written by a young Polish +lady, Mme. Evelina Hanska, the wife of a Polish count, whose health was +feeble, and who spent much time in Switzerland because the climate there +agreed with him. + +He met her first at Neuchatel, and found her all that he had imagined. +It is said that she had no sooner raised her face, and looked him +fully in the eyes, than she fell fainting to the floor, overcome by +her emotion. Balzac himself was deeply moved. From that day until their +final meeting he wrote to her daily. + +The woman who had become his second soul was not beautiful. +Nevertheless, her face was intensely spiritual, and there was a mystic +quality about it which made a strong appeal to Balzac's innermost +nature. Those who saw him in Paris knocking about the streets at night +with his boon companions, hobnobbing with the elder Dumas, or rejecting +the frank advances of George Sand, would never have dreamed of this +mysticism. + +Balzac was heavy and broad of figure. His face was suggestive only of +what was sensuous and sensual. At the same time, those few who looked +into his heart and mind found there many a sign of the fine inner strain +which purified the grosser elements of his nature. He who wrote the +roaring Rabelaisian Contes Drolatiques was likewise the author of +Seraphita. + +This mysticism showed itself in many things that Balzac did. One little +incident will perhaps be sufficiently characteristic of many others. He +had a belief that names had a sort of esoteric appropriateness. So, in +selecting them for his novels, he gathered them with infinite pains from +many sources, and then weighed them anxiously in the balance. A writer +on the subject of names and their significance has given the following +account of this trait: + +The great novelist once spent an entire day tramping about in the +remotest quarters of Paris in search of a fitting name for a character +just conceived by him. Every sign-board, every door-plate, every affiche +upon the walls, was scrutinized. Thousands of names were considered +and rejected, and it was only after his companion, utterly worn out by +fatigue, had flatly refused to drag his weary limbs through more than +one additional street, that Balzac suddenly saw upon a sign the name +"Marcas," and gave a shout of joy at having finally secured what he was +seeking. + +Marcas it was, from that moment; and Balzac gradually evolved a +Christian name for him. First he considered what initial was most +appropriate; and then, having decided upon Z, he went on to expand this +into Zepherin, explaining minutely just why the whole name Zepherin +Marcas, was the only possible one for the character in the novel. + +In many ways Balzac and Evelina Hanska were mated by nature. Whether +they were fully mated the facts of their lives must demonstrate. For the +present, the novelist plunged into a whirl of literary labor, toiling as +few ever toiled--constructing several novels at the same time, visiting +all the haunts of the French capital, so that he might observe and +understand every type of human being, and then hurling himself like a +giant at his work. + +He had a curious practise of reading proofs. These would come to him in +enormous sheets, printed on special paper, and with wide margins for his +corrections. An immense table stood in the midst of his study, and upon +the top he would spread out the proofs as if they were vast maps. Then, +removing most of his outer garments, he would lie, face down, upon the +proof-sheets, with a gigantic pencil, such as Bismarck subsequently used +to wield. Thus disposed, he would go over the proofs. + +Hardly anything that he had written seemed to suit him when he saw it +in print. He changed and kept changing, obliterating what he disliked, +writing in new sentences, revising others, and adding whole pages in the +margins, until perhaps he had practically made a new book. This process +was repeated several times; and how expensive it was may be judged from +the fact that his bill for "author's proof corrections" was sometimes +more than the publishers had agreed to pay him for the completed volume. + +Sometimes, again, he would begin writing in the afternoon, and continue +until dawn. Then, weary, aching in every bone, and with throbbing head, +he would rise and turn to fall upon his couch after his eighteen hours +of steady toil. But the memory of Evelina Hanska always came to him; +and with half-numbed fingers he would seize his pen, and forget his +weariness in the pleasure of writing to the dark-eyed woman who drew him +to her like a magnet. + +These are very curious letters that Balzac wrote to Mme. Hanska. He +literally told her everything about himself. Not only were there long +passages instinct with tenderness, and with his love for her; but he +also gave her the most minute account of everything that occurred, and +that might interest her. Thus he detailed at length his mode of living, +the clothes he wore, the people whom he met, his trouble with his +creditors, the accounts of his income and outgo. One might think that +this was egotism on his part; but it was more than that. It was a strong +belief that everything which concerned him must concern her; and he +begged her in turn to write as freely and as fully. + +Mme. Hanska was not the only woman who became his friend and comrade, +and to whom he often wrote. He made many acquaintances in the +fashionable world through the good offices of the Duchesse de Castries. +By her favor, he studied with his microscopic gaze the beau monde of +Louis Philippe's rather unimpressive court. + +In a dozen books he scourged the court of the citizen king--its +pretensions, its commonness, and its assemblage of nouveaux riches. Yet +in it he found many friends--Victor Hugo, the Girardins--and among them +women who were of the world. George Sand he knew very well, and she made +ardent love to him; but he laughed her off very much as the elder Dumas +did. + +Then there was the pretty, dainty Mme. Carraud, who read and revised his +manuscripts, and who perhaps took a more intimate interest in him than +did the other ladies whom he came to know so well. Besides Mme. Hanska, +he had another correspondent who signed herself "Louise," but who never +let him know her name, though she wrote him many piquant, sunny letters, +which he so sadly needed. + +For though Honore de Balzac was now one of the most famous writers of +his time, his home was still a den of suffering. His debts kept pressing +on him, loading him down, and almost quenching hope. He acted toward his +creditors like a man of honor, and his physical strength was still +that of a giant. To Mme. Carraud he once wrote the half pathetic, half +humorous plaint: + +Poor pen! It must be diamond, not because one would wish to wear it, but +because it has had so much use! + +And again: + +Here I am, owing a hundred thousand francs. And I am forty! + +Balzac and Mme. Hanska met many times after that first eventful episode +at Neuchatel. It was at this time that he gave utterance to the poignant +cry: + +Love for me is life, and to-day I feel it more than ever! + +In like manner he wrote, on leaving her, that famous epigram: + +It is only the last love of a woman that can satisfy the first love of a +man. + +In 1842 Mme. Hanska's husband died. Balzac naturally expected that an +immediate marriage with the countess would take place; but the woman +who had loved him mystically for twelve years, and with a touch of the +physical for nine, suddenly draws back. She will not promise anything. +She talks of delays, owing to the legal arrangements for her children. +She seems almost a prude. An American critic has contrasted her attitude +with his: + +Every one knows how utterly and absolutely Balzac devoted to this one +woman all his genius, his aspiration, the thought of his every moment; +how every day, after he had labored like a slave for eighteen hours, he +would take his pen and pour out to her the most intimate details of his +daily life; how at her call he would leave everything and rush across +the continent to Poland or to Italy, being radiantly happy if he could +but see her face and be for a few days by her side. The very thought of +meeting her thrilled him to the very depths of his nature, and made him, +for weeks and even months beforehand, restless, uneasy, and agitated, +with an almost painful happiness. + +It is the most startling proof of his immense vitality, both physical +and mental, that so tremendous an emotional strain could be endured +by him for years without exhausting his fecundity or blighting his +creativeness. + +With Balzac, however, it was the period of his most brilliant work; +and this was true in spite of the anguish of long separations, and the +complaints excited by what appears to be caprice or boldness or a faint +indifference. Even in Balzac one notices toward the last a certain sense +of strain underlying what he wrote, a certain lack of elasticity and +facility, if of nothing more; yet on the whole it is likely that without +this friendship Balzac would have been less great than he actually +became, as it is certain that had it been broken off he would have +ceased to write or to care for anything whatever in the world. + +And yet, when they were free to marry, Mme. Hanska shrank away. Not +until 1846, four years after her husband's death, did she finally give +her promise to the eager Balzac. Then, in the overflow of his happiness, +his creative genius blazed up into a most wonderful flame; but he soon +discovered that the promise was not to be at once fulfilled. The shock +impaired that marvelous vitality which had carried him through debt, and +want, and endless labor. + +It was at this moment, by the irony of fate, that his country hailed him +as one of the greatest of its men of genius. A golden stream poured +into his lap. His debts were not all extinguished, but his income was so +large that they burdened him no longer. + +But his one long dream was the only thing for which he cared; and though +in an exoteric sense this dream came true, its truth was but a mockery. +Evelina Hanska summoned him to Poland, and Balzac went to her at once. +There was another long delay, and for more than a year he lived as a +guest in the countess's mansion at Wierzchownia; but finally, in March, +1850, the two were married. A few weeks later they came back to France +together, and occupied the little country house, Les Jardies, in which, +some decades later, occurred Gambetta's mysterious death. + +What is the secret of this strange love, which in the woman seems to be +not precisely love, but something else? Balzac was always eager for her +presence. She, on the other hand, seems to have been mentally more at +ease when he was absent. Perhaps the explanation, if we may venture upon +one, is based upon a well-known physiological fact. + +Love in its completeness is made up of two great elements--first, the +element that is wholly spiritual, that is capable of sympathy, and +tenderness, and deep emotion. The other element is the physical, +the source of passion, of creative energy, and of the truly virile +qualities, whether it be in man or woman. Now, let either of these +elements be lacking, and love itself cannot fully and utterly exist. +The spiritual nature in one may find its mate in the spiritual nature +of another; and the physical nature of one may find its mate in the +physical nature of another. But into unions such as these, love does not +enter in its completeness. If there is any element lacking in either +of those who think that they can mate, their mating will be a sad and +pitiful failure. + +It is evident enough that Mme. Hanska was almost wholly spiritual, and +her long years of waiting had made her understand the difference between +Balzac and herself. Therefore, she shrank from his proximity, and from +his physical contact, and it was perhaps better for them both that their +union was so quickly broken off by death; for the great novelist died of +heart disease only five months after the marriage. + +If we wish to understand the mystery of Balzac's life--or, more truly, +the mystery of the life of the woman whom he married--take up and read +once more the pages of Seraphita, one of his poorest novels and yet a +singularly illuminating story, shedding light upon a secret of the soul. + + + + + +CHARLES READE AND LAURA SEYMOUR + + +The instances of distinguished men, or of notable women, who have broken +through convention in order to find a fitting mate, are very numerous. A +few of these instances may, perhaps, represent what is usually called +a Platonic union. But the evidence is always doubtful. The world is not +possessed of abundant charity, nor does human experience lead one to +believe that intimate relations between a man and a woman are compatible +with Platonic friendship. + +Perhaps no case is more puzzling than that which is found in the +life-history of Charles Reade and Laura Seymour. + +Charles Reade belongs to that brilliant group of English writers and +artists which included Dickens, Bulwer-Lytton, Wilkie Collins, Tom +Taylor, George Eliot, Swinburne, Sir Walter Besant, Maclise, and Goldwin +Smith. In my opinion, he ranks next to Dickens in originality and power. +His books are little read to-day; yet he gave to the English stage the +comedy "Masks and Faces," which is now as much a classic as Goldsmith's +"She Stoops to Conquer" or Sheridan's "School for Scandal." His power as +a novelist was marvelous. Who can forget the madhouse episodes in Hard +Cash, or the great trial scene in Griffith Gaunt, or that wonderful +picture, in The Cloister and the Hearth, of Germany and Rome at the end +of the Middle Ages? Here genius has touched the dead past and made it +glow again with an intense reality. + +He was the son of a country gentleman, the lord of a manor which had +been held by his family before the Wars of the Boses. His ancestors had +been noted for their services in warfare, in Parliament, and upon the +bench. Reade, therefore, was in feeling very much of an aristocrat. +Sometimes he pushed his ancestral pride to a whimsical excess, very much +as did his own creation, Squire Raby, in Put Yourself in His Place. + +At the same time he might very well have been called a Tory democrat. +His grandfather had married the daughter of a village blacksmith, and +Reade was quite as proud of this as he was of the fact that another +ancestor had been lord chief justice of England. From the sturdy +strain which came to him from the blacksmith he, perhaps, derived +that sledge-hammer power with which he wrote many of his most famous +chapters, and which he used in newspaper controversies with his +critics. From his legal ancestors there may have come to him the love +of litigation, which kept him often in hot water. From those who had +figured in the life of royal courts, he inherited a romantic nature, +a love of art, and a very delicate perception of the niceties of +cultivated usage. Such was Charles Reade--keen observer, scholar, +Bohemian--a man who could be both rough and tender, and whose boisterous +ways never concealed his warm heart. + +Reade's school-days were Spartan in their severity. A teacher with +the appropriate name of Slatter set him hard tasks and caned him +unmercifully for every shortcoming. A weaker nature would have been +crushed. Reade's was toughened, and he learned to resist pain and to +resent wrong, so that hatred of injustice has been called his dominating +trait. + +In preparing himself for college he was singularly fortunate in his +tutors. One of them was Samuel Wilberforce, afterward Bishop of Oxford, +nicknamed, from his suavity of manner, "Soapy Sam"; and afterward, when +Reade was studying law, his instructor was Samuel Warren, the author +of that once famous novel, Ten Thousand a Year, and the creator of +"Tittlebat Titmouse." + +For his college at Oxford, Reade selected one of the most beautiful +and ancient--Magdalen--which he entered, securing what is known as a +demyship. Reade won his demyship by an extraordinary accident. Always an +original youth, his reading was varied and valuable; but in his studies +he had never tried to be minutely accurate in small matters. At that +time every candidate was supposed to be able to repeat, by heart, the +"Thirty-Nine Articles." Reade had no taste for memorizing; and out of +the whole thirty-nine he had learned but three. His general examination +was good, though not brilliant. When he came to be questioned orally, +the examiner, by a chance that would not occur once in a million times, +asked the candidate to repeat these very articles. Reade rattled them +off with the greatest glibness, and produced so favorable an impression +that he was let go without any further questioning. + +It must be added that his English essay was original, and this also +helped him; but had it not been for the other great piece of luck he +would, in Oxford phrase, have been "completely gulfed." As it was, +however, he was placed as highly as the young men who were afterward +known as Cardinal Newman and Sir Robert Lowe (Lord Sherbrooke). + +At the age of twenty-one, Reade obtained a fellowship, which entitled +him to an income so long as he remained unmarried. It is necessary to +consider the significance of this when we look at his subsequent career. +The fellowship at Magdalen was worth, at the outset, about twelve +hundred dollars annually, and it gave him possession of a suite of rooms +free of any charge. He likewise secured a Vinerian fellowship in law, to +which was attached an income of four hundred dollars. As time went +on, the value of the first fellowship increased until it was worth +twenty-five hundred dollars. Therefore, as with many Oxford men of +his time, Charles Reade, who had no other fortune, was placed in this +position--if he refrained from marrying, he had a home and a moderate +income for life, without any duties whatsoever. If he married, he must +give up his income and his comfortable apartments, and go out into the +world and struggle for existence. + +There was the further temptation that the possession of his fellowship +did not even necessitate his living at Oxford. He might spend his time +in London, or even outside of England, knowing that his chambers at +Magdalen were kept in order for him, as a resting-place to which he +might return whenever he chose. + +Reade remained a while at Oxford, studying books and men--especially the +latter. He was a great favorite with the undergraduates, though less so +with the dons. He loved the boat-races on the river; he was a prodigious +cricket-player, and one of the best bowlers of his time. He utterly +refused to put on any of the academic dignity which his associates +affected. He wore loud clothes. His flaring scarfs were viewed as being +almost scandalous, very much as Longfellow's parti-colored waistcoats +were regarded when he first came to Harvard as a professor. + +Charles Reade pushed originality to eccentricity. He had a passion for +violins, and ran himself into debt because he bought so many and such +good ones. Once, when visiting his father's house at Ipsden, he shocked +the punctilious old gentleman by dancing on the dining-table to the +accompaniment of a fiddle, which he scraped delightedly. Dancing, +indeed, was another of his diversions, and, in spite of the fact that he +was a fellow of Magdalen and a D.C.L. of Oxford, he was always ready to +caper and to display the new steps. + +In the course of time, he went up to London; and at once plunged into +the seething tide of the metropolis. He made friends far and wide, and +in every class and station--among authors and politicians, bishops and +bargees, artists and musicians. Charles Reade learned much from all of +them, and all of them were fond of him. + +But it was the theater that interested him most. Nothing else seemed to +him quite so fine as to be a successful writer for the stage. He viewed +the drama with all the reverence of an ancient Greek. On his tombstone +he caused himself to be described as "Dramatist, novelist, journalist." + +"Dramatist" he put first of all, even after long experience had shown +him that his greatest power lay in writing novels. But in this early +period he still hoped for fame upon the stage. + +It was not a fortunate moment for dramatic writers. Plays were bought +outright by the managers, who were afraid to risk any considerable sum, +and were very shy about risking anything at all. The system had not yet +been established according to which an author receives a share of the +money taken at the box-office. Consequently, Reade had little or no +financial success. He adapted several pieces from the French, for which +he was paid a few bank-notes. "Masks and Faces" got a hearing, and drew +large audiences, but Reade had sold it for a paltry sum; and he shared +the honors of its authorship with Tom Taylor, who was then much better +known. + +Such was the situation. Reade was personally liked, but his plays were +almost all rejected. He lived somewhat extravagantly and ran into debt, +though not very deeply. He had a play entitled "Christie Johnstone," +which he believed to be a great one, though no manager would venture +to produce it. Reade, brooding, grew thin and melancholy. Finally, he +decided that he would go to a leading actress at one of the principal +theaters and try to interest her in his rejected play. The actress he +had in mind was Laura Seymour, then appearing at the Haymarket under the +management of Buckstone; and this visit proved to be the turning-point +in Reade's whole life. + +Laura Seymour was the daughter of a surgeon at Bath--a man in large +practise and with a good income, every penny of which he spent. His +family lived in lavish style; but one morning, after he had sat up all +night playing cards, his little daughter found him in the dining-room, +stone dead. After his funeral it appeared that he had left no provision +for his family. A friend of his--a Jewish gentleman of Portuguese +extraction--showed much kindness to the children, settling their affairs +and leaving them with some money in the bank; but, of course, something +must be done. + +The two daughters removed to London, and at a very early age Laura had +made for herself a place in the dramatic world, taking small parts at +first, but rising so rapidly that in her fifteenth year she was cast +for the part of Juliet. As an actress she led a life of strange +vicissitudes. At one time she would be pinched by poverty, and at +another time she would be well supplied with money, which slipped +through her fingers like water. She was a true Bohemian, a +happy-go-lucky type of the actors of her time. + +From all accounts, she was never very beautiful; but she had an instinct +for strange, yet effective, costumes, which attracted much attention. +She has been described as "a fluttering, buoyant, gorgeous little +butterfly." Many were drawn to her. She was careless of what she did, +and her name was not untouched with scandal. But she lived through it +all, and emerged a clever, sympathetic woman of wide experience, both on +the stage and off it. + +One of her admirers--an elderly gentleman named Seymour--came to her one +day when she was in much need of money, and told her that he had just +deposited a thousand pounds to her credit at the bank. Having said +this, he left the room precipitately. It was the beginning of a sort of +courtship; and after a while she married him. Her feeling toward him was +one of gratitude. There was no sentiment about it; but she made him a +good wife, and gave no further cause for gossip. + +Such was the woman whom Charles Reade now approached with the request +that she would let him read to her a portion of his play. He had seen +her act, and he honestly believed her to be a dramatic genius of the +first order. Few others shared this belief; but she was generally +thought of as a competent, though by no means brilliant, actress. Reade +admired her extremely, so that at the very thought of speaking with her +his emotions almost choked him. + +In answer to a note, she sent word that he might call at her house. He +was at this time (1849) in his thirty-eighth year. The lady was a little +older, and had lost something of her youthful charm; yet, when Reade was +ushered into her drawing-room, she seemed to him the most graceful and +accomplished woman whom he had ever met. + +She took his measure, or she thought she took it, at a glance. Here was +one of those would-be playwrights who live only to torment managers +and actresses. His face was thin, from which she inferred that he was +probably half starved. His bashfulness led her to suppose that he was +an inexperienced youth. Little did she imagine that he was the son of a +landed proprietor, a fellow of one of Oxford's noblest colleges, and one +with friends far higher in the world than herself. Though she thought so +little of him, and quite expected to be bored, she settled herself in a +soft armchair to listen. The unsuccessful playwright read to her a scene +or two from his still unfinished drama. She heard him patiently, noting +the cultivated accent of his voice, which proved to her that he was at +least a gentleman. When he had finished, she said: + +"Yes, that's good! The plot is excellent." Then she laughed a sort of +stage laugh, and remarked lightly: "Why don't you turn it into a novel?" + +Reade was stung to the quick. Nothing that she could have said would +have hurt him more. Novels he despised; and here was this woman, the +queen of the English stage, as he regarded her, laughing at his drama +and telling him to make a novel of it. He rose and bowed. + +"I am trespassing on your time," he said; and, after barely touching the +fingers of her outstretched hand, he left the room abruptly. + +The woman knew men very well, though she scarcely knew Charles Reade. +Something in his melancholy and something in his manner stirred her +heart. It was not a heart that responded to emotions readily, but it was +a very good-natured heart. Her explanation of Reade's appearance led +her to think that he was very poor. If she had not much tact, she had +an abundant store of sympathy; and so she sat down and wrote a very +blundering but kindly letter, in which she enclosed a five-pound note. + +Reade subsequently described his feelings on receiving this letter with +its bank-note. He said: + +"I, who had been vice-president of Magdalen--I, who flattered myself I +was coming to the fore as a dramatist--to have a five-pound note flung +at my head, like a ticket for soup to a pauper, or a bone to a dog, and +by an actress, too! Yet she said my reading was admirable; and, after +all, there is much virtue in a five-pound note. Anyhow, it showed the +writer had a good heart." + +The more he thought of her and of the incident, the more comforted he +was. He called on her the next day without making an appointment; and +when she received him, he had the five-pound note fluttering in his +hand. + +She started to speak, but he interrupted her. + +"No," he said, "that is not what I wanted from you. I wanted sympathy, +and you have unintentionally supplied it." + +Then this man, whom she had regarded as half starved, presented her with +an enormous bunch of hothouse grapes, and the two sat down and ate +them together, thus beginning a friendship which ended only with Laura +Seymour's death. + +Oddly enough, Mrs. Seymour's suggestion that Reade should make a story +of his play was a suggestion which he actually followed. It was to her +guidance and sympathy that the world owes the great novels which he +afterward composed. If he succeeded on the stage at all, it was not +merely in "Masks and Faces," but in his powerful dramatization of Zola's +novel, L'Assommoir, under the title "Drink," in which the late +Charles Warner thrilled and horrified great audiences all over the +English-speaking world. Had Reade never known Laura Seymour, he might +never have written so strong a drama. + +The mystery of Reade's relations with this woman can never be definitely +cleared up. Her husband, Mr. Seymour, died not long after she and Reade +became acquainted. Then Reade and several friends, both men and women, +took a house together; and Laura Seymour, now a clever manager +and amiable hostess, looked after all the practical affairs of the +establishment. One by one, the others fell away, through death or by +removal, until at last these two were left alone. Then Reade, unable +to give up the companionship which meant so much to him, vowed that she +must still remain and care for him. He leased a house in Sloane Street, +which he has himself described in his novel A Terrible Temptation. It is +the chapter wherein Reade also draws his own portrait in the character +of Francis Bolfe: + +The room was rather long, low, and nondescript; scarlet flock paper; +curtains and sofas, green Utrecht velvet; woodwork and pillars, +white and gold; two windows looking on the street; at the other end +folding-doors, with scarcely any woodwork, all plate glass, but partly +hidden by heavy curtains of the same color and material as the others. + +At last a bell rang; the maid came in and invited Lady Bassett to follow +her. She opened the glass folding-doors and took them into a small +conservatory, walled like a grotto, with ferns sprouting out of rocky +fissures, and spars sparkling, water dripping. Then she opened two more +glass folding-doors, and ushered them into an empty room, the like +of which Lady Bassett had never seen; it was large in itself, and +multiplied tenfold by great mirrors from floor to ceiling, with no +frames but a narrow oak beading; opposite her, on entering, was a bay +window, all plate glass, the central panes of which opened, like doors, +upon a pretty little garden that glowed with color, and was backed by +fine trees belonging to the nation; for this garden ran up to the wall +of Hyde Park. + +The numerous and large mirrors all down to the ground laid hold of the +garden and the flowers, and by double and treble reflection filled the +room with delightful nooks of verdure and color. + +Here are the words in which Reade describes himself as he looked when +between fifty and sixty years of age: + +He looked neither like a poet nor a drudge, but a great fat country +farmer. He was rather tall, very portly, smallish head, commonplace +features, mild brown eye not very bright, short beard, and wore a suit +of tweed all one color. + +Such was the house and such was the man over both of which Laura +Seymour held sway until her death in 1879. What must be thought of their +relations? She herself once said to Mr. John Coleman: + +"As for our positions--his and mine--we are partners, nothing more. He +has his bank-account, and I have mine. He is master of his fellowship +and his rooms at Oxford, and I am mistress of this house, but not his +mistress! Oh, dear, no!" + +At another time, long after Mr. Seymour's death, she said to an intimate +friend: + +"I hope Mr. Reade will never ask me to marry him, for I should certainly +refuse the offer." + +There was no reason why he should not have made this offer, because his +Oxford fellowship ceased to be important to him after he had won fame as +a novelist. Publishers paid him large sums for everything he wrote. His +debts were all paid off, and his income was assured. Yet he never spoke +of marriage, and he always introduced his friend as "the lady who keeps +my house for me." + +As such, he invited his friends to meet her, and as such, she even +accompanied him to Oxford. There was no concealment, and apparently +there was nothing to conceal. Their manner toward each other was that of +congenial friends. Mrs. Seymour, in fact, might well have been described +as "a good fellow." Sometimes she referred to him as "the doctor," and +sometimes by the nickname "Charlie." He, on his side, often spoke of her +by her last name as "Seymour," precisely as if she had been a man. One +of his relatives rather acutely remarked about her that she was not a +woman of sentiment at all, but had a genius for friendship; and that she +probably could not have really loved any man at all. + +This is, perhaps, the explanation of their intimacy. If so, it is a very +remarkable instance of Platonic friendship. It is certain that, after +she met Reade, Mrs. Seymour never cared for any other man. It is no less +certain that he never cared for any other woman. When she died, five +years before his death, his life became a burden to him. It was then +that he used to speak of her as "my lost darling" and "my dove." +He directed that they should be buried side by side in Willesden +churchyard. Over the monument which commemorates them both, he caused +to be inscribed, in addition to an epitaph for himself, the following +tribute to his friend. One should read it and accept the touching words +as answering every question that may be asked: + +Here lies the great heart of Laura Seymour, a brilliant artist, a humble +Christian, a charitable woman, a loving daughter, sister, and friend, +who lived for others from her childhood. Tenderly pitiful to all God's +creatures--even to some that are frequently destroyed or neglected--she +wiped away the tears from many faces, helping the poor with her savings +and the sorrowful with her earnest pity. When the eye saw her it blessed +her, for her face was sunshine, her voice was melody, and her heart was +sympathy. + +This grave was made for her and for himself by Charles Reade, whose wise +counselor, loyal ally, and bosom friend she was for twenty-four years, +and who mourns her all his days. + + +END OF VOLUME FOUR + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Famous Affinities of History, Vol +1-4, Complete, by Lyndon Orr + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS AFFINITIES *** + +***** This file should be named 4693.txt or 4693.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/9/4693/ + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +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 usually do not +keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +The "legal small print" and other information about this book +may now be found at the end of this file. Please read this +important information, as it gives you specific rights and +tells you about restrictions in how the file may be used. + + + + + + + + + + +FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY + +THE ROMANCE OF DEVOTION + +BY LYNDON ORR + +VOLUME I OF IV. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA +ABELARD AND HELOISE +QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER +MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL +QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS MONALDESCHI +KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN +MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR +THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART + + + + + +THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA + + +Of all love stories that are known to human history, the love +story of Antony and Cleopatra has been for nineteen centuries the +most remarkable. It has tasked the resources of the plastic and +the graphic arts. It has been made the theme of poets and of prose +narrators. It has appeared and reappeared in a thousand forms, and +it appeals as much to the imagination to-day as it did when Antony +deserted his almost victorious troops and hastened in a swift +galley from Actium in pursuit of Cleopatra. + +The wonder of the story is explained by its extraordinary nature. +Many men in private life have lost fortune and fame for the love +of woman. Kings have incurred the odium of their people, and have +cared nothing for it in comparison with the joys of sense that +come from the lingering caresses and clinging kisses. Cold-blooded +statesmen, such as Parnell, have lost the leadership of their +party and have gone down in history with a clouded name because of +the fascination exercised upon them by some woman, often far from +beautiful, and yet possessing the mysterious power which makes the +triumphs of statesmanship seem slight in comparison with the +swiftly flying hours of pleasure. + +But in the case of Antony and Cleopatra alone do we find a man +flinging away not merely the triumphs of civic honors or the +headship of a state, but much more than these--the mastery of what +was practically the world--in answer to the promptings of a +woman's will. Hence the story of the Roman triumvir and the +Egyptian queen is not like any other story that has yet been told. +The sacrifice involved in it was so overwhelming, so +instantaneous, and so complete as to set this narrative above all +others. Shakespeare's genius has touched it with the glory of a +great imagination. Dryden, using it in the finest of his plays, +expressed its nature in the title "All for Love." + +The distinguished Italian historian, Signor Ferrero, the author of +many books, has tried hard to eliminate nearly all the romantic +elements from the tale, and to have us see in it not the triumph +of love, but the blindness of ambition. Under his handling it +becomes almost a sordid drama of man's pursuit of power and of +woman's selfishness. Let us review the story as it remains, even +after we have taken full account of Ferrero's criticism. Has the +world for nineteen hundred years been blinded by a show of +sentiment? Has it so absolutely been misled by those who lived and +wrote in the days which followed closely on the events that make +up this extraordinary narrative? + +In answering these questions we must consider, in the first place, +the scene, and, in the second place, the psychology of the two +central characters who for so long a time have been regarded as +the very embodiment of unchecked passion. + +As to the scene, it must be remembered that the Egypt of those +days was not Egyptian as we understand the word, but rather Greek. +Cleopatra herself was of Greek descent. The kingdom of Egypt had +been created by a general of Alexander the Great after that +splendid warrior's death. Its capital, the most brilliant city of +the Greco-Roman world, had been founded by Alexander himself, who +gave to it his name. With his own hands he traced out the limits +of the city and issued the most peremptory orders that it should +be made the metropolis of the entire world. The orders of a king +cannot give enduring greatness to a city; but Alexander's keen eye +and marvelous brain saw at once that the site of Alexandria was +such that a great commercial community planted there would live +and flourish throughout out succeeding ages. He was right; for +within a century this new capital of Egypt leaped to the forefront +among the exchanges of the world's commerce, while everything that +art could do was lavished on its embellishment. + +Alexandria lay upon a projecting tongue of land so situated that +the whole trade of the Mediterranean centered there. Down the Nile +there floated to its gates the barbaric wealth of Africa. To it +came the treasures of the East, brought from afar by caravans-- +silks from China, spices and pearls from India, and enormous +masses of gold and silver from lands scarcely known. In its harbor +were the vessels of every country, from Asia in the East to Spain +and Gaul and even Britain in the West. + +When Cleopatra, a young girl of seventeen, succeeded to the throne +of Egypt the population of Alexandria amounted to a million souls. +The customs duties collected at the port would, in terms of modern +money, amount each year to more than thirty million dollars, even +though the imposts were not heavy. The people, who may be +described as Greek at the top and Oriental at the bottom, were +boisterous and pleasure-loving, devoted to splendid spectacles, +with horse-racing, gambling, and dissipation; yet at the same time +they were an artistic people, loving music passionately, and by no +means idle, since one part of the city was devoted to large and +prosperous manufactories of linen, paper, glass, and muslin. + +To the outward eye Alexandria was extremely beautiful. Through its +entire length ran two great boulevards, shaded and diversified by +mighty trees and parterres of multicolored flowers, amid which +fountains plashed and costly marbles gleamed. One-fifth of the +whole city was known as the Royal Residence. In it were the +palaces of the reigning family, the great museum, and the famous +library which the Arabs later burned. There were parks and gardens +brilliant with tropical foliage and adorned with the masterpieces +of Grecian sculpture, while sphinxes and obelisks gave a +suggestion of Oriental strangeness. As one looked seaward his eye +beheld over the blue water the snow-white rocks of the sheltering +island, Pharos, on which was reared a lighthouse four hundred feet +in height and justly numbered among the seven wonders of the +world. Altogether, Alexandria was a city of wealth, of beauty, of +stirring life, of excitement, and of pleasure. Ferrero has aptly +likened it to Paris--not so much the Paris of to-day as the Paris +of forty years ago, when the Second Empire flourished in all its +splendor as the home of joy and strange delights. + +Over the country of which Alexandria was the capital Cleopatra +came to reign at seventeen. Following the odd custom which the +Greek dynasty of the Ptolemies had inherited from their Egyptian +predecessors, she was betrothed to her own brother. He, however, +was a mere child of less than twelve, and was under the control of +evil counselors, who, in his name, gained control of the capital +and drove Cleopatra into exile. Until then she had been a mere +girl; but now the spirit of a woman who was wronged blazed up in +her and called out all her latent powers. Hastening to Syria, she +gathered about herself an army and led it against her foes. + +But meanwhile Julius Caesar, the greatest man of ancient times, +had arrived at Alexandria backed by an army of his veterans. +Against him no resistance would avail. Then came a brief moment +during which the Egyptian king and the Egyptian queen each strove +to win the favor of the Roman imperator. The king and his advisers +had many arts, and so had Cleopatra. One thing, however, she +possessed which struck the balance in her favor, and this was a +woman's fascination. + +According to the story, Caesar was unwilling to receive her. There +came into his presence, as he sat in the palace, a group of slaves +bearing a long roll of matting, bound carefully and seeming to +contain some precious work of art. The slaves made signs that they +were bearing a gift to Caesar. The master of Egypt bade them +unwrap the gift that he might see it. They did so, and out of the +wrapping came Cleopatra--a radiant vision, appealing, +irresistible. Next morning it became known everywhere that +Cleopatra had remained in Caesar's quarters through the night and +that her enemies were now his enemies. In desperation they rushed +upon his legions, casting aside all pretense of amity. There +ensued a fierce contest, but the revolt was quenched in blood. + +This was a crucial moment in Cleopatra's life. She had sacrificed +all that a woman has to give; but she had not done so from any +love of pleasure or from wantonness. She was queen of Egypt, and +she had redeemed her kingdom and kept it by her sacrifice. One +should not condemn her too severely. In a sense, her act was one +of heroism like that of Judith in the tent of Holofernes. But +beyond all question it changed her character. It taught her the +secret of her own great power. Henceforth she was no longer a mere +girl, nor a woman of the ordinary type. Her contact with so great +a mind as Caesar's quickened her intellect. Her knowledge that, by +the charms of sense, she had mastered even him transformed her +into a strange and wonderful creature. She learned to study the +weaknesses of men, to play on their emotions, to appeal to every +subtle taste and fancy. In her were blended mental power and that +illusive, indefinable gift which is called charm. + +For Cleopatra was never beautiful. Signor Ferrero seems to think +this fact to be discovery of his own, but it was set down by +Plutarch in a very striking passage written less than a century +after Cleopatra and Antony died. We may quote here what the Greek +historian said of her: + +Her actual beauty was far from being so remarkable that none could +be compared with her, nor was it such that it would strike your +fancy when you saw her first. Yet the influence of her presence, +if you lingered near her, was irresistible. Her attractive +personality, joined with the charm of her conversation, and the +individual touch that she gave to everything she said or did, were +utterly bewitching. It was delightful merely to hear the music of +her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she +could pass from one language to another. + +Caesar had left Cleopatra firmly seated on the throne of Egypt. +For six years she reigned with great intelligence, keeping order +in her dominions, and patronizing with discrimination both arts +and letters. But ere long the convulsions of the Roman state once +more caused her extreme anxiety. Caesar had been assassinated, and +there ensued a period of civil war. Out of it emerged two striking +figures which were absolutely contrasted in their character. One +was Octavian, the adopted son of Caesar, a man who, though still +quite young and possessed of great ability, was cunning, cold- +blooded, and deceitful. The other was Antony, a soldier by +training, and with all a soldier's bluntness, courage, and +lawlessness. + +The Roman world was divided for the time between these two men, +Antony receiving the government of the East, Octavian that of the +West. In the year which had preceded this division Cleopatra had +wavered between the two opposite factions at Rome. In so doing she +had excited the suspicion of Antony, and he now demanded of her an +explanation. + +One must have some conception of Antony himself in order to +understand the events that followed. He was essentially a soldier, +of excellent family, being related to Caesar himself. As a very +young man he was exceedingly handsome, and bad companions led him +into the pursuit of vicious pleasure. He had scarcely come of age +when he found that he owed the enormous sum of two hundred and +fifty talents, equivalent to half a million dollars in the money +of to-day. But he was much more than a mere man of pleasure, given +over to drinking and to dissipation. Men might tell of his +escapades, as when he drove about the streets of Rome in a common +cab, dangling his legs out of the window while he shouted forth +drunken songs of revelry. This was not the whole of Antony. +Joining the Roman army in Syria, he showed himself to be a soldier +of great personal bravery, a clever strategist, and also humane +and merciful in the hour of victory. + +Unlike most Romans, Antony wore a full beard. His forehead was +large, and his nose was of the distinctive Roman type. His look +was so bold and masculine that people likened him to Hercules. His +democratic manners endeared him to the army. He wore a plain tunic +covered with a large, coarse mantle, and carried a huge sword at +his side, despising ostentation. Even his faults and follies added +to his popularity. He would sit down at the common soldiers' mess +and drink with them, telling them stories and clapping them on the +back. He spent money like water, quickly recognizing any daring +deed which his legionaries performed. In this respect he was like +Napoleon; and, like Napoleon, he had a vein of florid eloquence +which was criticized by literary men, but which went straight to +the heart of the private soldier. In a word, he was a powerful, +virile, passionate, able man, rough, as were nearly all his +countrymen, but strong and true. + +It was to this general that Cleopatra was to answer, and with a +firm reliance on the charms which had subdued Antony's great +commander, Caesar, she set out in person for Cilicia, in Asia +Minor, sailing up the river Cydnus to the place where Antony was +encamped with his army. Making all allowance for the exaggeration +of historians, there can be no doubt that she appeared to him like +some dreamy vision. Her barge was gilded, and was wafted on its +way by swelling sails of Tyrian purple. The oars which smote the +water were of shining silver. As she drew near the Roman general's +camp the languorous music of flutes and harps breathed forth a +strain of invitation. + +Cleopatra herself lay upon a divan set upon the deck of the barge +beneath a canopy of woven gold. She was dressed to resemble Venus, +while girls about her personated nymphs and Graces. Delicate +perfumes diffused themselves from the vessel; and at last, as she +drew near the shore, all the people for miles about were gathered +there, leaving Antony to sit alone in the tribunal where he was +dispensing justice. + +Word was brought to him that Venus had come to feast with Bacchus. +Antony, though still suspicious of Cleopatra, sent her an +invitation to dine with him in state. With graceful tact she sent +him a counter-invitation, and he came. The magnificence of his +reception dazzled the man who had so long known only a soldier's +fare, or at most the crude entertainments which he had enjoyed in +Rome. A marvelous display of lights was made. Thousands upon +thousands of candles shone brilliantly, arranged in squares and +circles; while the banquet itself was one that symbolized the +studied luxury of the East. + +At this time Cleopatra was twenty-seven years of age--a period of +life which modern physiologists have called the crisis in a +woman's growth. She had never really loved before, since she had +given herself to Caesar, not because she cared for him, but to +save her kingdom. She now came into the presence of one whose +manly beauty and strong passions were matched by her own subtlety +and appealing charm. + +When Antony addressed her he felt himself a rustic in her +presence. Almost resentful, he betook himself to the coarse +language of the camp. Cleopatra, with marvelous adaptability, took +her tone from his, and thus in a moment put him at his ease. +Ferrero, who takes a most unfavorable view of her character and +personality, nevertheless explains the secret of her fascination: + +Herself utterly cold and callous, insensitive by nature to the +flame of true devotion, Cleopatra was one of those women gifted +with an unerring instinct for all the various roads to men's +affections. She could be the shrinking, modest girl, too shy to +reveal her half-unconscious emotions of jealousy and depression +and self-abandonment, or a woman carried away by the sweep of a +fiery and uncontrollable passion. She could tickle the esthetic +sensibilities of her victims by rich and gorgeous festivals, by +the fantastic adornment of her own person and her palace, or by +brilliant discussions on literature and art; she could conjure up +all their grossest instincts with the vilest obscenities of +conversation, with the free and easy jocularity of a woman of the +camps. + +These last words are far too strong, and they represent only +Ferrero's personal opinion; yet there is no doubt that she met +every mood of Antony's so that he became enthralled with her at +once. No such woman as this had ever cast her eyes on him before. +He had a wife at home--a most disreputable wife--so that he cared +little for domestic ties. Later, out of policy, he made another +marriage with the sister of his rival, Octavian, but this wife he +never cared for. His heart and soul were given up to Cleopatra, +the woman who could be a comrade in the camp and a fount of +tenderness in their hours of dalliance, and who possessed the keen +intellect of a man joined to the arts and fascinations of a woman. + +On her side she found in Antony an ardent lover, a man of vigorous +masculinity, and, moreover, a soldier whose armies might well +sustain her on the throne of Egypt. That there was calculation +mingled with her love, no one can doubt. That some calculation +also entered into Antony's affection is likewise certain. Yet this +does not affect the truth that each was wholly given to the other. +Why should it have lessened her love for him to feel that he could +protect her and defend her? Why should it have lessened his love +for her to know that she was queen of the richest country in the +world--one that could supply his needs, sustain his armies, and +gild his triumphs with magnificence? + +There are many instances in history of regnant queens who loved +and yet whose love was not dissociated from the policy of state. +Such were Anne of Austria, Elizabeth of England, and the +unfortunate Mary Stuart. Such, too, we cannot fail to think, was +Cleopatra. + +The two remained together for ten years. In this time Antony was +separated from her only during a campaign in the East. In +Alexandria he ceased to seem a Roman citizen and gave himself up +wholly to the charms of this enticing woman. Many stories are told +of their good fellowship and close intimacy. Plutarch quotes Plato +as saying that there are four kinds of flattery, but he adds that +Cleopatra had a thousand. She was the supreme mistress of the art +of pleasing. + +Whether Antony were serious or mirthful, she had at the instant +some new delight or some new charm to meet his wishes. At every +turn she was with him both day and night. With him she threw dice; +with him she drank; with him she hunted; and when he exercised +himself in arms she was there to admire and applaud. + +At night the pair would disguise themselves as servants and wander +about the streets of Alexandria. In fact, more than once they were +set upon in the slums and treated roughly by the rabble who did +not recognize them. Cleopatra was always alluring, always tactful, +often humorous, and full of frolic. + +Then came the shock of Antony's final breach with Octavian. Either +Antony or his rival must rule the world. Cleopatra's lover once +more became the Roman general, and with a great fleet proceeded to +the coast of Greece, where his enemy was encamped. Antony had +raised a hundred and twelve thousand troops and five hundred +ships--a force far superior to that commanded by Octavian. +Cleopatra was there with sixty ships. + +In the days that preceded the final battle much took place which +still remains obscure. It seems likely that Antony desired to +become again the Roman, while Cleopatra wished him to thrust Rome +aside and return to Egypt with her, to reign there as an +independent king. To her Rome was almost a barbarian city. In it +she could not hold sway as she could in her beautiful Alexandria, +with its blue skies and velvet turf and tropical flowers. At Rome +Antony would be distracted by the cares of state, and she would +lose her lover. At Alexandria she would have him for her very own. + +The clash came when the hostile fleets met off the promontory of +Actium. At its crisis Cleopatra, prematurely concluding that the +battle was lost, of a sudden gave the signal for retreat and put +out to sea with her fleet. This was the crucial moment. Antony, +mastered by his love, forgot all else, and in a swift ship started +in pursuit of her, abandoning his fleet and army to win or lose as +fortune might decide. For him the world was nothing; the dark- +browed Queen of Egypt, imperious and yet caressing, was +everything. Never was such a prize and never were such great hopes +thrown carelessly away. After waiting seven days Antony's troops, +still undefeated, finding that their commander would not return to +them, surrendered to Octavian, who thus became the master of an +empire. + +Later his legions assaulted Alexandria, and there Antony was twice +defeated. At last Cleopatra saw her great mistake. She had made +her lover give up the hope of being Rome's dictator, but in so +doing she had also lost the chance of ruling with him tranquilly +in Egypt. She shut herself behind the barred doors of the royal +sepulcher; and, lest she should be molested there, she sent forth +word that she had died. Her proud spirit could not brook the +thought that she might be seized and carried as a prisoner to +Rome. She was too much a queen in soul to be led in triumph up the +Sacred Way to the Capitol with golden chains clanking on her +slender wrists. + +Antony, believing the report that she was dead, fell upon his +sword; but in his dying moments he was carried into the presence +of the woman for whom he had given all. With her arms about him, +his spirit passed away; and soon after she, too, met death, +whether by a poisoned draught or by the storied asp no one can +say. + +Cleopatra had lived the mistress of a splendid kingdom. She had +successively captivated two of the greatest men whom Rome had ever +seen. She died, like a queen, to escape disgrace. Whatever modern +critics may have to say concerning small details, this story still +remains the strangest love story of which the world has any +record. + + + + + +ABELARD AND HELOISE + +Many a woman, amid the transports of passionate and languishing +love, has cried out in a sort of ecstasy: + +"I love you as no woman ever loved a man before!" + +When she says this she believes it. Her whole soul is aflame with +the ardor of emotion. It really seems to her that no one ever +could have loved so much as she. + +This cry--spontaneous, untaught, sincere--has become almost one +of those conventionalities of amorous expression which belong to +the vocabulary of self-abandonment. Every woman who utters it, +when torn by the almost terrible extravagance of a great love, +believes that no one before her has ever said it, and that in her +own case it is absolutely true. + +Yet, how many women are really faithful to the end? Very many, +indeed, if circumstances admit of easy faithfulness. A high- +souled, generous, ardent nature will endure an infinity of +disillusionment, of misfortune, of neglect, and even of ill +treatment. Even so, the flame, though it may sink low, can be +revived again to burn as brightly as before. But in order that +this may be so it is necessary that the object of such a wonderful +devotion be alive, that he be present and visible; or, if he be +absent, that there should still exist some hope of renewing the +exquisite intimacy of the past. + +A man who is sincerely loved may be compelled to take long +journeys which will separate him for an indefinite time from the +woman who has given her heart to him, and she will still be +constant. He may be imprisoned, perhaps for life, yet there is +always the hope of his release or of his escape; and some women +will be faithful to him and will watch for his return. But, given +a situation which absolutely bars out hope, which sunders two +souls in such a way that they can never be united in this world, +and there we have a test so terribly severe that few even of the +most loyal and intensely clinging lovers can endure it. + +Not that such a situation would lead a woman to turn to any other +man than the one to whom she had given her very life; but we might +expect that at least her strong desire would cool and weaken. She +might cherish his memory among the precious souvenirs of her love +life; but that she should still pour out the same rapturous, +unstinted passion as before seems almost too much to believe. The +annals of emotion record only one such instance; and so this +instance has become known to all, and has been cherished for +nearly a thousand years. It involves the story of a woman who did +love, perhaps, as no one ever loved before or since; for she was +subjected to this cruel test, and she met the test not alone +completely, but triumphantly and almost fiercely. + +The story is, of course, the story of Abelard and Heloise. It has +many times been falsely told. Portions of it have been omitted, +and other portions of it have been garbled. A whole literature has +grown up around the subject. It may well be worth our while to +clear away the ambiguities and the doubtful points, and once more +to tell it simply, without bias, and with a strict adherence to +what seems to be the truth attested by authentic records. + +There is one circumstance connected with the story which we must +specially note. The narrative does something more than set forth +the one quite unimpeachable instance of unconquered constancy. It +shows how, in the last analysis, that which touches the human +heart has more vitality and more enduring interest than what +concerns the intellect or those achievements of the human mind +which are external to our emotional nature. + +Pierre Abelard was undoubtedly the boldest and most creative +reasoner of his time. As a wandering teacher he drew after him +thousands of enthusiastic students. He gave a strong impetus to +learning. He was a marvelous logician and an accomplished orator. +Among his pupils were men who afterward became prelates of the +church and distinguished scholars. In the Dark Age, when the +dictates of reason were almost wholly disregarded, he fought +fearlessly for intellectual freedom. He was practically the +founder of the University of Paris, which in turn became the +mother of medieval and modern universities. + +He was, therefore, a great and striking figure in the history of +civilization. Nevertheless he would to-day be remembered only by +scholars and students of the Middle Ages were it not for the fact +that he inspired the most enduring love that history records. If +Heloise had never loved him, and if their story had not been so +tragic and so poignant, he would be to-day only a name known to +but a few. His final resting-place, in the cemetery of Pere +Lachaise, in Paris, would not be sought out by thousands every +year and kept bright with flowers, the gift of those who have +themselves both loved and suffered. + +Pierre Abelard--or, more fully, Pierre Abelard de Palais--was a +native of Brittany, born in the year 1079. His father was a +knight, the lord of the manor; but Abelard cared little for the +life of a petty noble; and so he gave up his seigniorial rights to +his brothers and went forth to become, first of all a student, and +then a public lecturer and teacher. + +His student days ended abruptly in Paris, where he had enrolled +himself as the pupil of a distinguished philosopher, Guillaume de +Champeaux; but one day Abelard engaged in a disputation with his +master. His wonderful combination of eloquence, logic, and +originality utterly routed Champeaux, who was thus humiliated in +the presence of his disciples. He was the first of many enemies +that Abelard was destined to make in his long and stormy career. +From that moment the young Breton himself set up as a teacher of +philosophy, and the brilliancy of his discourses soon drew to him +throngs of students from all over Europe. + +Before proceeding with the story of Abelard it is well to +reconstruct, however slightly, a picture of the times in which he +lived. It was an age when Western Europe was but partly civilized. +Pedantry and learning of the most minute sort existed side by side +with the most violent excesses of medieval barbarism. The Church +had undertaken the gigantic task of subduing and enlightening the +semi-pagan peoples of France and Germany and England. + +When we look back at that period some will unjustly censure Rome +for not controlling more completely the savagery of the medievals. +More fairly should we wonder at the great measure of success which +had already been achieved. The leaven of a true Christianity was +working in the half-pagan populations. It had not yet completely +reached the nobles and the knights, or even all the ecclesiastics +who served it and who were consecrated to its mission. Thus, amid +a sort of political chaos were seen the glaring evils of +feudalism. Kings and princes and their followers lived the lives +of swine. Private blood-feuds were regarded lightly. There was as +yet no single central power. Every man carried his life in his +hand, trusting to sword and dagger for protection. + +The cities were still mere hamlets clustered around great castles +or fortified cathedrals. In Paris itself the network of dark +lanes, ill lighted and unguarded, was the scene of midnight murder +and assassination. In the winter-time wolves infested the town by +night. Men-at-arms, with torches and spears, often had to march +out from their barracks to assail the snarling, yelping packs of +savage animals that hunger drove from the surrounding forests. + +Paris of the twelfth century was typical of France itself, which +was harried by human wolves intent on rapine and wanton plunder. +There were great schools of theology, but the students who +attended them fought and slashed one another. If a man's life was +threatened he must protect it by his own strength or by gathering +about him a band of friends. No one was safe. No one was tolerant. +Very few were free from the grosser vices. Even in some of the +religious houses the brothers would meet at night for unseemly +revels, splashing the stone floors with wine and shrieking in a +delirium of drunkenness. The rules of the Church enjoined +temperance, continence, and celibacy; but the decrees of Leo IX. +and Nicholas II. and Alexander II. and Gregory were only partially +observed. + +In fact, Europe was in a state of chaos--political and moral and +social. Only very slowly was order emerging from sheer anarchy. We +must remember this when we recall some facts which meet us in the +story of Abelard and Heloise. + +The jealousy of Champeaux drove Abelard for a time from Paris. He +taught and lectured at several other centers of learning, always +admired, and yet at the same time denounced by many for his +advocacy of reason as against blind faith. During the years of his +wandering he came to have a wide knowledge of the world and of +human nature. If we try to imagine him as he was in his thirty- +fifth year we shall find in him a remarkable combination of +attractive qualities. + +It must be remembered that though, in a sense, he was an +ecclesiastic, he had not yet been ordained to the priesthood, but +was rather a canon--a person who did not belong to any religious +order, though he was supposed to live according to a definite set +of religious rules and as a member of a religious community. +Abelard, however, made rather light of his churchly associations. +He was at once an accomplished man of the world and a profound +scholar. There was nothing of the recluse about him. He mingled +with his fellow men, whom he dominated by the charm of his +personality. He was eloquent, ardent, and persuasive. He could +turn a delicate compliment as skilfully as he could elaborate a +syllogism. His rich voice had in it a seductive quality which was +never without its effect. + +Handsome and well formed, he possessed as much vigor of body as of +mind. Nor were his accomplishments entirely those of the scholar. +He wrote dainty verses, which he also set to music, and which he +sang himself with a rare skill. Some have called him "the first of +the troubadours," and many who cared nothing for his skill in +logic admired him for his gifts as a musician and a poet. +Altogether, he was one to attract attention wherever he went, for +none could fail to recognize his power. + +It was soon after his thirty-fifth year that he returned to Paris, +where he was welcomed by thousands. With much tact he reconciled +himself to his enemies, so that his life now seemed to be full of +promise and of sunshine. + +It was at this time that he became acquainted with a very +beautiful young girl named Heloise. She was only eighteen years of +age, yet already she possessed not only beauty, but many +accomplishments which were then quite rare in women, since she +both wrote and spoke a number of languages, and, like Abelard, was +a lover of music and poetry. Heloise was the illegitimate daughter +of a canon of patrician blood; so that she is said to have been a +worthy representative of the noble house of the Montmorencys-- +famous throughout French history for chivalry and charm. + +Up to this time we do not know precisely what sort of life Abelard +had lived in private. His enemies declared that he had squandered +his substance in vicious ways. His friends denied this, and +represented him as strict and chaste. The truth probably lies +between these two assertions. He was naturally a pleasure-loving +man of the world, who may very possibly have relieved his severer +studies by occasional revelry and light love. It is not at all +likely that he was addicted to gross passions and low practices. + +But such as he was, when he first saw Heloise he conceived for her +a violent attachment. Carefully guarded in the house of her uncle, +Fulbert, it was difficult at first for Abelard to meet her save in +the most casual way; yet every time that he heard her exquisite +voice and watched her graceful manners he became more and more +infatuated. His studies suddenly seemed tame and colorless beside +the fierce scarlet flame which blazed up in his heart. + +Nevertheless, it was because of these studies and of his great +reputation as a scholar that he managed to obtain access to +Heloise. He flattered her uncle and made a chance proposal that he +should himself become an inmate of Fulbert's household in order +that he might teach this girl of so much promise. Such an offer +coming from so brilliant a man was joyfully accepted. + +From that time Abelard could visit Heloise without restraint. He +was her teacher, and the two spent hours together, nominally in +the study of Greek and Hebrew; but doubtless very little was said +between them upon such unattractive subjects. On the contrary, +with all his wide experience of life, his eloquence, his perfect +manners, and his fascination, Abelard put forth his power to +captivate the senses of a girl still in her teens and quite +ignorant of the world. As Remusat says, he employed to win her the +genius which had overwhelmed all the great centers of learning in +the Western world. + +It was then that the pleasures of knowledge, the joys of thought, +the emotions of eloquence, were all called into play to charm and +move and plunge into a profound and strange intoxication this +noble and tender heart which had never known either love or +sorrow. ... One can imagine that everything helped on the +inevitable end. Their studies gave them opportunities to see each +other freely, and also permitted them to be alone together. Then +their books lay open between them; but either long periods of +silence stilled their reading, or else words of deepening intimacy +made them forget their studies altogether. The eyes of the two +lovers turned from the book to mingle their glances, and then to +turn away in a confusion that was conscious. + +Hand would touch hand, apparently by accident; and when +conversation ceased, Abelard would often hear the long, quivering +sigh which showed the strange, half-frightened, and yet exquisite +joy which Heloise experienced. + +It was not long before the girl's heart had been wholly won. +Transported by her emotion, she met the caresses of her lover with +those as unrestrained as his. Her very innocence deprived her of +the protection which older women would have had. All was given +freely, and even wildly, by Heloise; and all was taken by Abelard, +who afterward himself declared: + +"The pleasure of teaching her to love surpassed the delightful +fragrance of all the perfumes in the world." + +Yet these two could not always live in a paradise which was +entirely their own. The world of Paris took notice of their close +association. Some poems written to Heloise by Abelard, as if in +letters of fire, were found and shown to Fulbert, who, until this +time, had suspected nothing. Angrily he ordered Abelard to leave +his house. He forbade his niece to see her lover any more. + +But the two could not be separated; and, indeed, there was good +reason why they should still cling together. Secretly Heloise left +her uncle's house and fled through the narrow lanes of Paris to +the dwelling of Abelard's sister, Denyse, where Abelard himself +was living. There, presently, the young girl gave birth to a son, +who was named Astrolabe, after an instrument used by astronomers, +since both the father and the mother felt that the offspring of so +great a love should have no ordinary name. + +Fulbert was furious, and rightly so. His hospitality had been +outraged and his niece dishonored. He insisted that the pair +should at once be married. Here was revealed a certain weakness in +the character of Abelard. He consented to the marriage, but +insisted that it should be kept an utter secret. + +Oddly enough, it was Heloise herself who objected to becoming the +wife of the man she loved. Unselfishness could go no farther. She +saw that, were he to marry her, his advancement in the Church +would be almost impossible; for, while the very minor clergy +sometimes married in spite of the papal bulls, matrimony was +becoming a fatal bar to ecclesiastical promotion. And so Heloise +pleaded pitifully, both with her uncle and with Abelard, that +there should be no marriage. She would rather bear all manner of +disgrace than stand in the way of Abelard's advancement. + +He has himself given some of the words in which she pleaded with +him: + +What glory shall I win from you, when I have made you quite +inglorious and have humbled both of us? What vengeance will the +world inflict on me if I deprive it of one so brilliant? What +curses will follow such a marriage? How outrageous would it be +that you, whom nature created for the universal good, should be +devoted to one woman and plunged into such disgrace? I loathe the +thought of a marriage which would humiliate you. + +Indeed, every possible effort which another woman in her place +would employ to make him marry her she used in order to dissuade +him. Finally, her sweet face streaming with tears, she uttered +that tremendous sentence which makes one really think that she +loved him as no other woman ever loved a man. She cried out, in an +agony of self-sacrifice: + +"I would rather be your mistress than the wife even of an +emperor!" + +Nevertheless, the two were married, and Abelard returned to his +lecture-room and to his studies. For months they met but seldom. +Meanwhile, however, the taunts and innuendos directed against +Heloise so irritated Fulbert that he broke his promise of secrecy, +and told his friends that Abelard and Heloise were man and wife. +They went to Heloise for confirmation. Once more she showed in an +extraordinary way the depth of her devotion. + +"I am no wife," she said. "It is not true that Abelard has married +me. My uncle merely tells you this to save my reputation." + +They asked her whether she would swear to this; and, without a +moment's hesitation, this pure and noble woman took an oath upon +the Scriptures that there had been no marriage. + +Fulbert was enraged by this. He ill-treated Heloise, and, +furthermore, he forbade Abelard to visit her. The girl, therefore, +again left her uncle's house and betook herself to a convent just +outside of Paris, where she assumed the habit of a nun as a +disguise. There Abelard continued from time to time to meet her. + +When Fulbert heard of this he put his own interpretation on it. He +believed that Abelard intended to ignore the marriage altogether, +and that possibly he might even marry some other woman. In any +case, he now hated Abelard with all his heart; and he resolved to +take a fearful and unnatural vengeance which would at once prevent +his enemy from making any other marriage, while at the same time +it would debar him from ecclesiastical preferment. + +To carry out his plot Fulbert first bribed a man who was the body- +servant of Abelard, watching at the door of his room each night. +Then he hired the services of four ruffians. After Abelard had +retired and was deep in slumber the treacherous valet unbarred the +door. The hirelings of Fulbert entered and fell upon the sleeping +man. Three of them bound him fast, while the fourth, with a razor, +inflicted on him the most shameful mutilation that is possible. +Then, extinguishing the lights, the wretches slunk away and were +lost in darkness, leaving behind their victim bound to his couch, +uttering cries of torment and bathed in his own blood. + +It is a shocking story, and yet it is intensely characteristic of +the lawless and barbarous era in which it happened. Early the next +morning the news flew rapidly through Paris. The city hummed like +a bee-hive. Citizens and students and ecclesiastics poured into +the street and surrounded the house of Abelard. + +"Almost the entire city," says Fulques, as quoted by McCabe, "went +clamoring toward his house. Women wept as if each one had lost her +husband." + +Unmanned though he was, Abelard still retained enough of the +spirit of his time to seek vengeance. He, in his turn, employed +ruffians whom he set upon the track of those who had assaulted +him. The treacherous valet and one of Fulbert's hirelings were run +down, seized, and mutilated precisely as Abelard had been; and +their eyes were blinded. A third was lodged in prison. Fulbert +himself was accused before one of the Church courts, which alone +had power to punish an ecclesiastic, and all his goods were +confiscated. + +But, meantime, how did it fare with Heloise? Her grief was greater +than his own, while her love and her devotion were absolutely +undiminished. But Abelard now showed a selfishness--and indeed, a +meanness--far beyond any that he had before exhibited. Heloise +could no more be his wife. He made it plain that he put no trust +in her fidelity. He was unwilling that she should live in the +world while he could not; and so he told her sternly that she must +take the veil and bury herself for ever in a nunnery. + +The pain and shame which she experienced at this came wholly from +the fact that evidently Abelard did not trust her. Long afterward +she wrote: + +God knows I should not have hesitated, at your command, to precede +or to follow you to hell itself! + +It was his distrust that cut her to the heart. Still, her love for +him was so intense that she obeyed his order. Soon after she took +the vows; and in the convent chapel, shaken with sobs, she knelt +before the altar and assumed the veil of a cloistered nun. Abelard +himself put on the black tunic of a Benedictine monk and entered +the Abbey of St. Denis. + +It is unnecessary here to follow out all the details of the lives +of Abelard and Heloise after this heart-rendering scene. Abelard +passed through many years of strife and disappointment, and even +of humiliation; for on one occasion, just as he had silenced +Guillaume de Champeaux, so he himself was silenced and put to rout +by Bernard of Clairvaux--"a frail, tense, absorbed, dominant +little man, whose face was white and worn with suffering," but in +whose eyes there was a light of supreme strength. Bernard +represented pure faith, as Abelard represented pure reason; and +the two men met before a great council to match their respective +powers. + +Bernard, with fiery eloquence, brought a charge of heresy against +Abelard in an oration which was like a charge of cavalry. When he +had concluded Abelard rose with an ashen face, stammered out a few +words, and sat down. He was condemned by the council, and his +works were ordered to be burned. + +All his later life was one of misfortune, of humiliation, and even +of personal danger. The reckless monks whom he tried to rule rose +fiercely against him. His life was threatened. He betook himself +to a desolate and lonely place, where he built for himself a hut +of reeds and rushes, hoping to spend his final years in +meditation. But there were many who had not forgotten his ability +as a teacher. These flocked by hundreds to the desert place where +he abode. His hut was surrounded by tents and rude hovels, built +by his scholars for their shelter. + +Thus Abelard resumed his teaching, though in a very different +frame of mind. In time he built a structure of wood and stone, +which he called the Paraclete, some remains of which can still be +seen. + +All this time no word had passed between him and Heloise. But +presently Abelard wrote and gave to the world a curious and +exceedingly frank book, which he called The Story of My +Misfortunes. A copy of it reached the hands of Heloise, and she at +once sent to Abelard the first of a series of letters which have +remained unique in the literature of love. + +Ten years had passed, and yet the woman's heart was as faithful +and as full of yearning as on the day when the two had parted. It +has been said that the letters are not genuine, and they must be +read with this assertion in mind; yet it is difficult to believe +that any one save Heloise herself could have flung a human soul +into such frankly passionate utterances, or that any imitator +could have done the work. + +In her first letter, which was sent to Abelard written upon +parchment, she said: + +At thy command I would change, not merely my costume, but my very +soul, so entirely art thou the sole possessor of my body and my +spirit. Never, God is my witness, never have I sought anything in +thee but thyself; I have sought thee, and not thy gifts. I have +not looked to the marriage-bond or dowry. + +She begged him to write to her, and to lead her to God, as once he +had led her into the mysteries of pleasure. Abelard answered in a +letter, friendly to be sure, but formal--the letter of a priest to +a cloistered nun. The opening words of it are characteristic of +the whole: + +To Heloise, his sister in Christ, from Abelard, her brother in +Him. + +The letter was a long one, but throughout the whole of it the +writer's tone was cold and prudent. Its very coldness roused her +soul to a passionate revolt. Her second letter bursts forth in a +sort of anguish: + +How hast thou been able to frame such thoughts, dearest? How hast +thou found words to convey them? Oh, if I dared but call God cruel +to me! Oh, most wretched of all creatures that I am! So sweet did +I find the pleasures of our loving days that I cannot bring myself +to reject them or to banish them from my memory. Wheresoever I go, +they thrust themselves upon my vision, and rekindle the old +desire. + +But Abelard knew only too well that not in this life could there +be anything save spiritual love between himself and Heloise. He +wrote to her again and again, always in the same remote and +unimpassioned way. He tells her about the history of monasticism, +and discusses with her matters of theology and ethics; but he +never writes one word to feed the flame that is consuming her. The +woman understood at last; and by degrees her letters became as +calm as his--suffused, however, with a tenderness and feeling +which showed that in her heart of hearts she was still entirely +given to him. + +After some years Abelard left his dwelling at the Paraclete, and +there was founded there a religious house of which Heloise became +the abbess. All the world respected her for her sweetness, her +wisdom, and the purity of her character. She made friends as +easily as Abelard made enemies. Even Bernard, who had overthrown +her husband, sought out Heloise to ask for her advice and counsel. + +Abelard died while on his way to Rome, whither he was journeying +in order to undergo a penalty; and his body was brought back to +the Paraclete, where it was entombed. Over it for twenty-two years +Heloise watched with tender care; and when she died, her body was +laid beside that of her lover. + +To-day their bones are mingled as she would have desired them to +be mingled. The stones of their tomb in the great cemetery of Pere +Lachaise were brought from the ruins of the Paraclete, and above +the sarcophagus are two recumbent figures, the whole being the +work of the artist Alexandra Lenoir, who died in 1836. The figure +representing Heloise is not, however, an authentic likeness. The +model for it was a lady belonging to a noble family of France, and +the figure itself was brought to Pere Lachaise from the ancient +College de Beauvais. + +The letters of Heloise have been read and imitated throughout the +whole of the last nine centuries. Some have found in them the +utterances of a woman whose love of love was greater than her love +of God and whose intensity of passion nothing could subdue; and so +these have condemned her. But others, like Chateaubriand, have +more truly seen in them a pure and noble spirit to whom fate had +been very cruel; and who was, after all, writing to the man who +had been her lawful husband. + +Some of the most famous imitations of her letters are those in the +ancient poem entitled, "The Romance of the Rose," written by Jean +de Meung, in the thirteenth century; and in modern times her first +letter was paraphrased by Alexander Pope, and in French by +Colardeau. There exist in English half a dozen translations of +them, with Abelard's replies. It is interesting to remember that +practically all the other writings of Abelard remained unpublished +and unedited until a very recent period. He was a remarkable +figure as a philosopher and scholar; but the world cares for him +only because he was loved by Heloise. + + + + + +QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER + + +History has many romantic stories to tell of the part which women +have played in determining the destinies of nations. Sometimes it +is a woman's beauty that causes the shifting of a province. Again +it is another woman's rich possessions that incite invasion and +lead to bloody wars. Marriages or dowries, or the refusal of +marriages and the lack of dowries, inheritance through an heiress, +the failure of a male succession--in these and in many other ways +women have set their mark indelibly upon the trend of history. + +However, if we look over these different events we shall find that +it is not so much the mere longing for a woman--the desire to have +her as a queen--that has seriously affected the annals of any +nation. Kings, like ordinary men, have paid their suit and then +have ridden away repulsed, yet not seriously dejected. Most royal +marriages are made either to secure the succession to a throne by +a legitimate line of heirs or else to unite adjoining states and +make a powerful kingdom out of two that are less powerful. But, as +a rule, kings have found greater delight in some sheltered bower +remote from courts than in the castled halls and well-cared-for +nooks where their own wives and children have been reared with all +the appurtenances of legitimacy. + +There are not many stories that hang persistently about the love- +making of a single woman. In the case of one or another we may +find an episode or two--something dashing, something spirited or +striking, something brilliant and exhilarating, or something sad. +But for a woman's whole life to be spent in courtship that meant +nothing and that was only a clever aid to diplomacy--this is +surely an unusual and really wonderful thing. + +It is the more unusual because the woman herself was not intended +by nature to be wasted upon the cold and cheerless sport of +chancellors and counselors and men who had no thought of her +except to use her as a pawn. She was hot-blooded, descended from a +fiery race, and one whose temper was quick to leap into the +passion of a man. + +In studying this phase of the long and interesting life of +Elizabeth of England we must notice several important facts. In +the first place, she gave herself, above all else, to the +maintenance of England--not an England that would be half Spanish +or half French, or even partly Dutch and Flemish, but the Merry +England of tradition--the England that was one and undivided, with +its growing freedom of thought, its bows and bills, its nut-brown +ale, its sturdy yeomen, and its loyalty to crown and Parliament. +She once said, almost as in an agony: + +"I love England more than anything!" + +And one may really hold that this was true. + +For England she schemed and planned. For England she gave up many +of her royal rights. For England she descended into depths of +treachery. For England she left herself on record as an arrant +liar, false, perjured, yet successful; and because of her success +for England's sake her countrymen will hold her in high +remembrance, since her scheming and her falsehood are the offenses +that one pardons most readily in a woman. + +In the second place, it must be remembered that Elizabeth's +courtships and pretended love-makings were almost always a part of +her diplomacy. When not a part of her diplomacy they were a mere +appendage to her vanity. To seem to be the flower of the English +people, and to be surrounded by the noblest, the bravest, and the +most handsome cavaliers, not only of her own kingdom, but of +others--this was, indeed, a choice morsel of which she was fond of +tasting, even though it meant nothing beyond the moment. + +Finally, though at times she could be very cold, and though she +made herself still colder in order that she might play fast and +loose with foreign suitors who played fast and loose with her--the +King of Spain, the Duc d'Alencon, brother of the French king, with +an Austrian archduke, with a magnificent barbarian prince of +Muscovy, with Eric of Sweden, or any other Scandinavian suitor-- +she felt a woman's need for some nearer and more tender +association to which she might give freer play and in which she +might feel those deeper emotions without the danger that arises +when love is mingled with diplomacy. + +Let us first consider a picture of the woman as she really was in +order that we may understand her triple nature--consummate +mistress of every art that statesmen know, and using at every +moment her person as a lure; a vain-glorious queen who seemed to +be the prey of boundless vanity; and, lastly, a woman who had all +a woman's passion, and who could cast suddenly aside the check and +balance which restrained her before the public gaze and could +allow herself to give full play to the emotion that she inherited +from the king, her father, who was himself a marvel of fire and +impetuosity. That the daughter of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn +should be a gentle, timid maiden would be to make heredity a +farce. + +Elizabeth was about twenty-five years of age when she ascended the +throne of England. It is odd that the date of her birth cannot be +given with precision. The intrigues and disturbances of the +English court, and the fact that she was a princess, made her +birth a matter of less account than if there had been no male heir +to the throne. At any rate, when she ascended it, after the deaths +of her brother, King Edward VI., and her sister, Queen Mary, she +was a woman well trained both in intellect and in physical +development. + +Mr. Martin Hume, who loves to dwell upon the later years of Queen +Elizabeth, speaks rather bitterly of her as a "painted old +harridan"; and such she may well have seemed when, at nearly +seventy years of age, she leered and grinned a sort of skeleton +smile at the handsome young courtiers who pretended to see in her +the queen of beauty and to be dying for love of her. + +Yet, in her earlier years, when she was young and strong and +impetuous, she deserved far different words than these. The +portrait of her by Zucchero, which now hangs in Hampton Court, +depicts her when she must have been of more than middle age; and +still the face is one of beauty, though it be a strange and almost +artificial beauty--one that draws, attracts, and, perhaps, lures +you on against your will. + +It is interesting to compare this painting with the frank word- +picture of a certain German agent who was sent to England by his +emperor, and who seems to have been greatly fascinated by Queen +Elizabeth. She was at that time in the prime of her beauty and her +power. Her complexion was of that peculiar transparency which is +seen only in the face of golden blondes. Her figure was fine and +graceful, and her wit an accomplishment that would have made a +woman of any rank or time remarkable. The German envoy says: + +She lives a life of such magnificence and feasting as can hardly +be imagined, and occupies a great portion of her time with balls, +banquets, hunting, and similar amusements, with the utmost +possible display, but nevertheless she insists upon far greater +respect being shown her than was exacted by Queen Mary. She +summons Parliament, but lets them know that her orders must be +obeyed in any case. + +If any one will look at the painting by Zucchero he will see how +much is made of Elizabeth's hands--a distinctive feature quite as +noble with the Tudors as is the "Hapsburg lip" among the +descendants of the house of Austria. These were ungloved, and were +very long and white, and she looked at them and played with them a +great deal; and, indeed, they justified the admiration with which +they were regarded by her flatterers. + +Such was the personal appearance of Elizabeth. When a young girl, +we have still more favorable opinions of her that were written by +those who had occasion to be near her. Not only do they record +swift glimpses of her person, but sometimes in a word or two they +give an insight into certain traits of mind which came out +prominently in her later years. + +It may, perhaps, be well to view her as a woman before we regard +her more fully as a queen. It has been said that Elizabeth +inherited many of the traits of her father--the boldness of +spirit, the rapidity of decision, and, at the same time, the fox- +like craft which often showed itself when it was least expected. + +Henry had also, as is well known, a love of the other sex, which +has made his reign memorable. And yet it must be noted that while +he loved much, it was not loose love. Many a king of England, from +Henry II. to Charles II., has offended far more than Henry VIII. +Where Henry loved, he married; and it was the unfortunate result +of these royal marriages that has made him seem unduly fond of +women. If, however, we examine each one of the separate espousals +we shall find that he did not enter into it lightly, and that he +broke it off unwillingly. His ardent temperament, therefore, was +checked by a certain rational or conventional propriety, so that +he was by no means a loose liver, as many would make him out to +be. + +We must remember this when we recall the charges that have been +made against Elizabeth, and the strange stories that were told of +her tricks--by no means seemly tricks--which she used to play with +her guardian, Lord Thomas Seymour. The antics she performed with +him in her dressing-room were made the subject of an official +inquiry; yet it came out that while Elizabeth was less than +sixteen, and Lord Thomas was very much her senior, his wife was +with him on his visits to the chamber of the princess. + +Sir Robert Tyrwhitt and his wife were also sent to question her, +Tyrwhitt had a keen mind and one well trained to cope with any +other's wit in this sort of cross-examination. Elizabeth was only +a girl of fifteen, yet she was a match for the accomplished +courtier in diplomacy and quick retort. He was sent down to worm +out of her everything that she knew. Threats and flattery and +forged letters and false confessions were tried on her; but they +were tried in vain. She would tell nothing of importance. She +denied everything. She sulked, she cried, she availed herself of a +woman's favorite defense in suddenly attacking those who had +attacked her. She brought counter charges against Tyrwhitt, and +put her enemies on their own defense. Not a compromising word +could they wring out of her. + +She bitterly complained of the imprisonment of her governess, Mrs. +Ashley, and cried out: + +"I have not so behaved that you need put more mistresses upon me!" + +Altogether, she was too much for Sir Robert, and he was wise +enough to recognize her cleverness. + +"She hath a very good wit," said he, shrewdly; "and nothing is to +be gotten of her except by great policy." And he added: "If I had +to say my fancy, I think it more meet that she should have two +governesses than one." + +Mr. Hume notes the fact that after the two servants of the +princess had been examined and had told nothing very serious they +found that they had been wise in remaining friends of the royal +girl. No sooner had Elizabeth become queen than she knighted the +man Parry and made him treasurer of the household, while Mrs. +Ashley, the governess, was treated with great consideration. Thus, +very naturally, Mr. Hume says: "They had probably kept back far +more than they told." + +Even Tyrwhitt believed that there was a secret compact between +them, for he said, quaintly: "They all sing one song, and she hath +set the note for them." + +Soon after this her brother Edward's death brought to the throne +her elder sister, Mary, who has harshly become known as Bloody +Mary. During this time Elizabeth put aside her boldness, and +became apparently a shy and simple-minded virgin. Surrounded on +every side by those who sought to trap her, there was nothing in +her bearing to make her seem the head of a party or the young +chief of a faction. Nothing could exceed her in meekness. She +spoke of her sister in the humblest terms. She exhibited no signs +of the Tudor animation that was in reality so strong a part of her +character. + +But, coming to the throne, she threw away her modesty and brawled +and rioted with very little self-restraint. The people as a whole +found little fault with her. She reminded them of her father, the +bluff King Hal; and even those who criticized her did so only +partially. They thought much better of her than they had of her +saturnine sister, the first Queen Mary. + +The life of Elizabeth has been very oddly misunderstood, not so +much for the facts in it as for the manner in which these have +been arranged and the relation which they have to one another. We +ought to recollect that this woman did not live in a restricted +sphere, that her life was not a short one, and that it was crowded +with incidents and full of vivid color. Some think of her as +living for a short period of time and speak of the great +historical characters who surrounded her as belonging to a single +epoch. To them she has one set of suitors all the time--the Duc +d'Alencon, the King of Denmark's brother, the Prince of Sweden, +the russian potentate, the archduke sending her sweet messages +from Austria, the melancholy King of Spain, together with a number +of her own brilliant Englishmen--Sir William Pickering, Sir Robert +Dudley, Lord Darnley, the Earl of Essex, Sir Philip Sidney, and +Sir Walter Raleigh. + +Of course, as a matter of fact, Elizabeth lived for nearly seventy +years--almost three-quarters of a century--and in that long time +there came and went both men and women, those whom she had used +and cast aside, with others whom she had also treated with +gratitude, and who had died gladly serving her. But through it all +there was a continual change in her environment, though not in +her. The young soldier went to the battle-field and died; the wise +counselor gave her his advice, and she either took it or cared +nothing for it. She herself was a curious blending of forwardness +and folly, of wisdom and wantonness, of frivolity and unbridled +fancy. But through it all she loved her people, even though she +often cheated them and made them pay her taxes in the harsh old +way that prevailed before there was any right save the king's +will. + +At the same time, this was only by fits and starts, and on the +whole she served them well. Therefore, to most of them she was +always the good Queen Bess. What mattered it to the ditcher and +yeoman, far from the court, that the queen was said to dance in +her nightdress and to swear like a trooper? + +It was, indeed, largely from these rustic sources that such +stories were scattered throughout England. Peasants thought them +picturesque. More to the point with them were peace and prosperity +throughout the country, the fact that law was administered with +honesty and justice, and that England was safe from her deadly +enemies--the swarthy Spaniards and the scheming French. + +But, as I said, we must remember always that the Elizabeth of one +period was not the Elizabeth of another, and that the England of +one period was not the England of another. As one thinks of it, +there is something wonderful in the almost star-like way in which +this girl flitted unharmed through a thousand perils. Her own +countrymen were at first divided against her; a score of greedy, +avaricious suitors sought her destruction, or at least her hand to +lead her to destruction; all the great powers of the Continent +were either demanding an alliance with England or threatening to +dash England down amid their own dissensions. + +What had this girl to play off against such dangers? Only an +undaunted spirit, a scheming mind that knew no scruples, and +finally her own person and the fact that she was a woman, and, +therefore, might give herself in marriage and become the mother of +a race of kings. + +It was this last weapon, the weapon of her sex, that proved, +perhaps, the most powerful of all. By promising a marriage or by +denying it, or by neither promising nor denying but withholding +it, she gave forth a thousand wily intimations which kept those +who surrounded her at bay until she had made still another deft +and skilful combination, escaping like some startled creature to a +new place of safety. + +In 1583, when she was fifty years of age, she had reached a point +when her courtships and her pretended love-making were no longer +necessary. She had played Sweden against Denmark, and France +against Spain, and the Austrian archduke against the others, and +many suitors in her own land against the different factions which +they headed. She might have sat herself down to rest; for she +could feel that her wisdom had led her up into a high place, +whence she might look down in peace and with assurance of the +tranquillity that she had won. Not yet had the great Armada rolled +and thundered toward the English shores. But she was certain that +her land was secure, compact, and safe. + +It remains to see what were those amatory relations which she may +be said to have sincerely held. She had played at love-making with +foreign princes, because it was wise and, for the moment, best. +She had played with Englishmen of rank who aspired to her hand, +because in that way she might conciliate, at one time her Catholic +and at another her Protestant subjects. But what of the real and +inward feeling of her heart, when she was not thinking of +political problems or the necessities of state! + +This is an interesting question. One may at least seek the answer, +hoping thereby to solve one of the most interesting phases of this +perplexing and most remarkable woman. + +It must be remembered that it was not a question of whether +Elizabeth desired marriage. She may have done so as involving a +brilliant stroke of policy. In this sense she may have wished to +marry one of the two French princes who were among her suitors. +But even here she hesitated, and her Parliament disapproved; for +by this time England had become largely Protestant. Again, had she +married a French prince and had children, England might have +become an appanage of France. + +There is no particular evidence that she had any feeling at all +for her Flemish, Austrian, or Russian suitors, while the Swede's +pretensions were the laughing-stock of the English court. So we +may set aside this question of marriage as having nothing to do +with her emotional life. She did desire a son, as was shown by her +passionate outcry when she compared herself with Mary of Scotland. + +"The Queen of Scots has a bonny son, while I am but a barren +stock!" + +She was too wise to wed a subject; though. had she married at all, +her choice would doubtless have been an Englishman. In this +respect, as in so many others, she was like her father, who chose +his numerous wives, with the exception of the first, from among +the English ladies of the court; just as the showy Edward IV. was +happy in marrying "Dame Elizabeth Woodville." But what a king may +do is by no means so easy for a queen; and a husband is almost +certain to assume an authority which makes him unpopular with the +subjects of his wife. + +Hence, as said above, we must consider not so much whom she would +have liked to marry, but rather to whom her love went out +spontaneously, and not as a part of that amatory play which amused +her from the time when she frisked with Seymour down to the very +last days, when she could no longer move about, but when she still +dabbled her cheeks with rouge and powder and set her skeleton face +amid a forest of ruffs. + +There were many whom she cared for after a fashion. She would not +let Sir Walter Raleigh visit her American colonies, because she +could not bear to have him so long away from her. She had great +moments of passion for the Earl of Essex, though in the end she +signed his death-warrant because he was as dominant in spirit as +the queen herself. + +Readers of Sir Walter Scott's wonderfully picturesque novel, +Kenilworth, will note how he throws the strongest light upon +Elizabeth's affection for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. +Scott's historical instinct is united here with a vein of +psychology which goes deeper than is usual with him. We see +Elizabeth trying hard to share her favor equally between two +nobles; but the Earl of Essex fails to please her because he +lacked those exquisite manners which made Leicester so great a +favorite with the fastidious queen. + +Then, too, the story of Leicester's marriage with Amy Robsart is +something more than a myth, based upon an obscure legend and an +ancient ballad. The earl had had such a wife, and there were +sinister stories about the manner of her death. But it is Scott +who invents the villainous Varney and the bulldog Anthony Foster; +just as he brought the whole episode into the foreground and made +it occur at a period much later than was historically true. Still, +Scott felt--and he was imbued with the spirit and knowledge of +that time--a strong conviction that Elizabeth loved Leicester as +she really loved no one else. + +There is one interesting fact which goes far to convince us. Just +as her father was, in a way, polygamous, so Elizabeth was even +more truly polyandrous. It was inevitable that she should surround +herself with attractive men, whose love-locks she would caress and +whose flatteries she would greedily accept. To the outward eye +there was very little difference in her treatment of the handsome +and daring nobles of her court; yet a historian of her time makes +one very shrewd remark when he says: "To every one she gave some +power at times--to all save Leicester." + +Cecil and Walsingham in counsel and Essex and Raleigh in the field +might have their own way at times, and even share the sovereign's +power, but to Leicester she intrusted no high commands and no +important mission. Why so? Simply because she loved him more than +any of the rest; and, knowing this, she knew that if besides her +love she granted him any measure of control or power, then she +would be but half a queen and would be led either to marry him or +else to let him sway her as he would. + +For the reason given, one may say with confidence that, while +Elizabeth's light loves were fleeting, she gave a deep affection +to this handsome, bold, and brilliant Englishman and cherished him +in a far different way from any of the others. This was as near as +she ever came to marriage, and it was this love at least which +makes Shakespeare's famous line as false as it is beautiful, when +he describes "the imperial votaress" as passing by "in maiden +meditation, fancy free." + + + + + +MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL + + +Mary Stuart and Cleopatra are the two women who have most +attracted the fancy of poets, dramatists, novelists, and painters, +from their own time down to the present day. + +In some respects there is a certain likeness in their careers. +Each was queen of a nation whose affairs were entangled with those +of a much greater one. Each sought for her own ideal of love until +she found it. Each won that love recklessly, almost madly. Each, +in its attainment, fell from power and fortune. Each died before +her natural life was ended. One caused the man she loved to cast +away the sovereignty of a mighty state. The other lost her own +crown in order that she might achieve the whole desire of her +heart. + +There is still another parallel which may be found. Each of these +women was reputed to be exquisitely beautiful; yet each fell short +of beauty's highest standards. They are alike remembered in song +and story because of qualities that are far more powerful than any +physical charm can be. They impressed the imagination of their own +contemporaries just as they had impressed the imagination of all +succeeding ages, by reason of a strange and irresistible +fascination which no one could explain, but which very few could +experience and resist. + +Mary Stuart was born six days before her father's death, and when +the kingdom which was her heritage seemed to be almost in its +death-throes. James V. of Scotland, half Stuart and half Tudor, +was no ordinary monarch. As a mere boy he had burst the bonds with +which a regency had bound him, and he had ruled the wild Scotland +of the sixteenth century. He was brave and crafty, keen in +statesmanship, and dissolute in pleasure. + +His first wife had given him no heirs; so at her death he sought +out a princess whom he pursued all the more ardently because she +was also courted by the burly Henry VIII. of England. This girl +was Marie of Lorraine, daughter of the Duc de Guise. She was fit +to be the mother of a lion's brood, for she was above six feet in +height and of proportions so ample as to excite the admiration of +the royal voluptuary who sat upon the throne of England. + +"I am big," said he, "and I want a wife who is as big as I am." + +But James of Scotland wooed in person, and not by embassies, and +he triumphantly carried off his strapping princess. Henry of +England gnawed his beard in vain; and, though in time he found +consolation in another woman's arms, he viewed James not only as a +public but as a private enemy. + +There was war between the two countries. First the Scots repelled +an English army; but soon they were themselves disgracefully +defeated at Solway Moss by a force much their inferior in numbers. +The shame of it broke King James's heart. As he was galloping from +the battle-field the news was brought him that his wife had given +birth to a daughter. He took little notice of the message; and in +a few days he had died, moaning with his last breath the +mysterious words: + +"It came with a lass--with a lass it will go!" + +The child who was born at this ill-omened crisis was Mary Stuart, +who within a week became, in her own right, Queen of Scotland. Her +mother acted as regent of the kingdom. Henry of England demanded +that the infant girl should be betrothed to his young son, Prince +Edward, who afterward reigned as Edward VI., though he died while +still a boy. The proposal was rejected, and the war between +England and Scotland went on its bloody course; but meanwhile the +little queen was sent to France, her mother's home, so that she +might be trained in accomplishments which were rare in Scotland. + +In France she grew up at the court of Catherine de' Medici, that +imperious intriguer whose splendid surroundings were tainted with +the corruption which she had brought from her native Italy. It +was, indeed, a singular training-school for a girl of Mary +Stuart's character. She saw about her a superficial chivalry and a +most profound depravity. Poets like Ronsard graced the life of the +court with exquisite verse. Troubadours and minstrels sang sweet +music there. There were fetes and tournaments and gallantry of +bearing; yet, on the other hand, there was every possible +refinement and variety of vice. Men were slain before the eyes of +the queen herself. The talk of the court was of intrigue and lust +and evil things which often verged on crime. Catherine de' Medici +herself kept her nominal husband at arm's-length; and in order to +maintain her grasp on France she connived at the corruption of her +own children, three of whom were destined in their turn to sit +upon the throne. + +Mary Stuart grew up in these surroundings until she was sixteen, +eating the fruit which gave a knowledge of both good and evil. Her +intelligence was very great. She quickly learned Italian, French, +and Latin. She was a daring horsewoman. She was a poet and an +artist even in her teens. She was also a keen judge of human +motives, for those early years of hers had forced her into a +womanhood that was premature but wonderful. It had been proposed +that she should marry the eldest son of Catherine, so that in time +the kingdom of Scotland and that of France might be united, while +if Elizabeth of England were to die unmarried her realm also would +fall to this pair of children. + +And so Mary, at sixteen, wedded the Dauphin Francis, who was a +year her junior. The prince was a wretched, whimpering little +creature, with a cankered body and a blighted soul. Marriage with +such a husband seemed absurd. It never was a marriage in reality. +The sickly child would cry all night, for he suffered from +abscesses in his ears, and his manhood had been prematurely taken +from him. Nevertheless, within a twelvemonth the French king died +and Mary Stuart was Queen of France as well as of Scotland, +hampered only by her nominal obedience to the sick boy whom she +openly despised. At seventeen she showed herself a master spirit. +She held her own against the ambitious Catherine de' Medici, whom +she contemptuously nicknamed "the apothecary's daughter." For the +brief period of a year she was actually the ruler of France; but +then her husband died and she was left a widow, restless, +ambitious, and yet no longer having any of the power she loved. + +Mary Stuart at this time had become a woman whose fascination was +exerted over all who knew her. She was very tall and very slim, +with chestnut hair, "like a flower of the heat, both lax and +delicate." Her skin was fair and pale, so clear and so transparent +as to make the story plausible that when she drank from a flask of +wine, the red liquid could be seen passing down her slender +throat. + +Yet with all this she was not fine in texture, but hardy as a man. +She could endure immense fatigue without yielding to it. Her +supple form had the strength of steel. There was a gleam in her +hazel eyes that showed her to be brimful of an almost fierce +vitality. Young as she was, she was the mistress of a thousand +arts, and she exhaled a sort of atmosphere that turned the heads +of men. The Stuart blood made her impatient of control, careless +of state, and easy-mannered. The French and the Tudor strain gave +her vivacity. She could be submissive in appearance while still +persisting in her aims. She could be languorous and seductive +while cold within. Again, she could assume the haughtiness which +belonged to one who was twice a queen. + +Two motives swayed her, and they fought together for supremacy. +One was the love of power, and the other was the love of love. The +first was natural to a girl who was a sovereign in her own right. +The second was inherited, and was then forced into a rank +luxuriance by the sort of life that she had seen about her. At +eighteen she was a strangely amorous creature, given to fondling +and kissing every one about her, with slight discrimination. From +her sense of touch she received emotions that were almost +necessary to her existence. With her slender, graceful hands she +was always stroking the face of some favorite--it might be only +the face of a child, or it might be the face of some courtier or +poet, or one of the four Marys whose names are linked with hers-- +Mary Livingstone, Mary Fleming, Mary Beaton, and Mary Seton, the +last of whom remained with her royal mistress until her death. + +But one must not be too censorious in thinking of Mary Stuart. She +was surrounded everywhere by enemies. During her stay in France +she was hated by the faction of Catherine de' Medici. When she +returned to Scotland she was hated because of her religion by the +Protestant lords. Her every action was set forth in the worst +possible light. The most sinister meaning was given to everything +she said or did. In truth, we must reject almost all the stories +which accuse her of anything more than a certain levity of +conduct. + +She was not a woman to yield herself in love's last surrender +unless her intellect and heart alike had been made captive. She +would listen to the passionate outpourings of poets and courtiers, +and she would plunge her eyes into theirs, and let her hair just +touch their faces, and give them her white hands to kiss--but +that was all. Even in this she was only following the fashion of +the court where she was bred, and she was not unlike her royal +relative, Elizabeth of England, who had the same external +amorousness coupled with the same internal self-control. + +Mary Stuart's love life makes a piteous story, for it is the life +of one who was ever seeking--seeking for the man to whom she +could look up, who could be strong and brave and ardent like +herself, and at the same time be more powerful and more steadfast +even than she herself in mind and thought. Whatever may be said of +her, and howsoever the facts may be colored by partisans, this +royal girl, stung though she was by passion and goaded by desire, +cared nothing for any man who could not match her in body and mind +and spirit all at once. + +It was in her early widowhood that she first met the man, and when +their union came it brought ruin on them both. In France there +came to her one day one of her own subjects, the Earl of Bothwell. +He was but a few years older than she, and in his presence for the +first time she felt, in her own despite, that profoundly moving, +indescribable, and never-to-be-forgotten thrill which shakes a +woman to the very center of her being, since it is the recognition +of a complete affinity. + +Lord Bothwell, like Queen Mary, has been terribly maligned. Unlike +her, he has found only a few defenders. Maurice Hewlett has drawn +a picture of him more favorable than many, and yet it is a picture +that repels. Bothwell, says he, was of a type esteemed by those +who pronounce vice to be their virtue. He was "a galliard, flushed +with rich blood, broad-shouldered, square-jawed, with a laugh so +happy and so prompt that the world, rejoicing to hear it, thought +all must be well wherever he might be. He wore brave clothes, sat +a brave horse, and kept brave company bravely. His high color, +while it betokened high feeding, got him the credit of good +health. His little eyes twinkled so merrily that you did not see +they were like a pig's, sly and greedy at once, and bloodshot. His +tawny beard concealed a jaw underhung, a chin jutting and +dangerous. His mouth had a cruel twist; but his laughing hid that +too. The bridge of his nose had been broken; few observed it, or +guessed at the brawl which must have given it to him. Frankness +was his great charm, careless ease in high places." + +And so, when Mary Stuart first met him in her eighteenth year, +Lord Bothwell made her think as she had never thought of any other +man, and as she was not to think of any other man again. She grew +to look eagerly for the frank mockery "in those twinkling eyes, in +that quick mouth"; and to wonder whether it was with him always-- +asleep, at prayers, fighting, furious, or in love. + +Something more, however, must be said of Bothwell. He was +undoubtedly a roisterer, but he was very much a man. He made easy +love to women. His sword leaped quickly from its sheath. He could +fight, and he could also think. He was no brawling ruffian, no +ordinary rake. Remembering what Scotland was in those days, +Bothwell might well seem in reality a princely figure. He knew +Italian; he was at home in French; he could write fluent Latin. He +was a collector of books and a reader of them also. He was perhaps +the only Scottish noble of his time who had a book-plate of his +own. Here is something more than a mere reveler. Here is a man of +varied accomplishments and of a complex character. + +Though he stayed but a short time near the queen in France, he +kindled her imagination, so that when she seriously thought of men +she thought of Bothwell. And yet all the time she was fondling the +young pages in her retinue and kissing her maids of honor with her +scarlet lips, and lying on their knees, while poets like Ronsard +and Chastelard wrote ardent love sonnets to her and sighed and +pined for something more than the privilege of kissing her two +dainty hands. + +In 1561, less than a year after her widowhood, Mary set sail for +Scotland, never to return. The great high-decked ships which +escorted her sailed into the harbor of Leith, and she pressed on +to Edinburgh. A depressing change indeed from the sunny terraces +and fields of France! In her own realm were fog and rain and only +a hut to shelter her upon her landing. When she reached her +capital there were few welcoming cheers; but as she rode over the +cobblestones to Holyrood, the squalid wynds vomited forth great +mobs of hard-featured, grim-visaged men and women who stared with +curiosity and a half-contempt at the girl queen and her retinue of +foreigners. + +The Scots were Protestants of the most dour sort, and they +distrusted their new ruler because of her religion and because she +loved to surround herself with dainty things and bright colors and +exotic elegance. They feared lest she should try to repeal the law +of Scotland's Parliament which had made the country Protestant. + +The very indifference of her subjects stirred up the nobler part +of Mary's nature. For a time she was indeed a queen. She governed +wisely. She respected the religious rights of her Protestant +subjects. She strove to bring order out of the chaos into which +her country had fallen. And she met with some success. The time +came when her people cheered her as she rode among them. Her +subtle fascination was her greatest source of strength. Even John +Knox, that iron-visaged, stentorian preacher, fell for a time +under the charm of her presence. She met him frankly and pleaded +with him as a woman, instead of commanding him as a queen. The +surly ranter became softened for a time, and, though he spoke of +her to others as "Honeypot," he ruled his tongue in public. She +had offers of marriage from Austrian and Spanish princes. The new +King of France, her brother-in-law, would perhaps have wedded her. +It mattered little to Mary that Elizabeth of England was hostile. +She felt that she was strong enough to hold her own and govern +Scotland. + +But who could govern a country such as Scotland was? It was a land +of broils and feuds, of clan enmities and fierce vendettas. Its +nobles were half barbarous, and they fought and slashed at one +another with drawn dirks almost in the presence of the queen +herself. No matter whom she favored, there rose up a swarm of +enemies. Here was a Corsica of the north, more savage and untamed +than even the other Corsica. + +In her perplexity Mary felt a woman's need of some man on whom she +would have the right to lean, and whom she could make king +consort. She thought that she had found him in the person of her +cousin, Lord Darnley, a Catholic, and by his upbringing half an +Englishman. Darnley came to Scotland, and for the moment Mary +fancied that she had forgotten Bothwell. Here again she was in +love with love, and she idealized the man who came to give it to +her. Darnley seemed, indeed, well worthy to be loved, for he was +tall and handsome, appearing well on horseback and having some of +the accomplishments which Mary valued. + +It was a hasty wooing, and the queen herself was first of all the +wooer. Her quick imagination saw in Darnley traits and gifts of +which he really had no share. Therefore, the marriage was soon +concluded, and Scotland had two sovereigns, King Henry and Queen +Mary. So sure was Mary of her indifference to Bothwell that she +urged the earl to marry, and he did marry a girl of the great +house of Gordon. + +Mary's self-suggested love for Darnley was extinguished almost on +her wedding-night. The man was a drunkard who came into her +presence befuddled and almost bestial. He had no brains. His +vanity was enormous. He loved no one but himself, and least of all +this queen, whom he regarded as having thrown herself at his empty +head. + +The first-fruits of the marriage were uprisings among the +Protestant lords. Mary then showed herself a heroic queen. At the +head of a motley band of soldiery who came at her call--half- +clad, uncouth, and savage--she rode into the west, sleeping at +night upon the bare ground, sharing the camp food, dressed in +plain tartan, but swift and fierce as any eagle. Her spirit ran +like fire through the veins of those who followed her. She crushed +the insurrection, scattered its leaders, and returned in triumph +to her capital. + +Now she was really queen, but here came in the other motive which +was interwoven in her character. She had shown herself a man in +courage. Should she not have the pleasures of a woman? To her +court in Holyrood came Bothwell once again, and this time Mary +knew that he was all the world to her. Darnley had shrunk from the +hardships of battle. He was steeped in low intrigues. He roused +the constant irritation of the queen by his folly and utter lack +of sense and decency. Mary felt she owed him nothing, but she +forgot that she owed much to herself. + +Her old amorous ways came back to her, and she relapsed into the +joys of sense. The scandal-mongers of the capital saw a lover in +every man with whom she talked. She did, in fact, set convention +at defiance. She dressed in men's clothing. She showed what the +unemotional Scots thought to be unseemly levity. The French poet, +Chastelard, misled by her external signs of favor, believed +himself to be her choice. At the end of one mad revel he was found +secreted beneath her bed, and was driven out by force. A second +time he ventured to secrete himself within the covers of the bed. +Then he was dragged forth, imprisoned, and condemned to death. He +met his fate without a murmur, save at the last when he stood upon +the scaffold and, gazing toward the palace, cried in French: + +"Oh, cruel queen! I die for you!" + +Another favorite, the Italian, David Rizzio, or Riccio, in like +manner wrote love verses to the queen, and she replied to them in +kind; but there is no evidence that she valued him save for his +ability, which was very great. She made him her foreign secretary, +and the man whom he supplanted worked on the jealousy of Darnley; +so that one night, while Mary and Rizzio were at dinner in a small +private chamber, Darnley and the others broke in upon her. Darnley +held her by the waist while Rizzio was stabbed before her eyes +with a cruelty the greater because the queen was soon to become a +mother. + +From that moment she hated Darnley as one would hate a snake. She +tolerated him only that he might acknowledge her child as his son. +This child was the future James VI. of Scotland and James I. of +England. It is recorded of him that never throughout his life +could he bear to look upon drawn steel. + +After this Mary summoned Bothwell again and again. It was revealed +to her as in a blaze of light that, after all, he was the one and +only man who could be everything to her. His frankness, his +cynicism, his mockery, his carelessness, his courage, and the +power of his mind matched her moods completely. She threw away all +semblance of concealment. She ignored the fact that he had married +at her wish. She was queen. She desired him. She must have him at +any cost. + +"Though I lose Scotland and England both," she cried in a passion +of abandonment, "I shall have him for my own!" + +Bothwell, in his turn, was nothing loath, and they leaped at each +other like two flames. + +It was then that Mary wrote those letters which were afterward +discovered in a casket and which were used against her when she +was on trial for her life. These so-called Casket Letters, though +we have not now the originals, are among the most extraordinary +letters ever written. All shame, all hesitation, all innocence, +are flung away in them. The writer is so fired with passion that +each sentence is like a cry to a lover in the dark. As De Peyster +says: "In them the animal instincts override and spur and lash the +pen." Mary was committing to paper the frenzied madness of a woman +consumed to her very marrow by the scorching blaze of unedurable +desire. + +Events moved quickly. Darnley, convalescent from an attack of +smallpox, was mysteriously destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder. +Bothwell was divorced from his young wife on curious grounds. A +dispensation allowed Mary to wed a Protestant, and she married +Bothwell three months after Darnley's death. + +Here one sees the consummation of what had begun many years before +in France. From the moment that she and Bothwell met, their union +was inevitable. Seas could not sunder them. Other loves and other +fancies were as nothing to them. Even the bonds of marriage were +burst asunder so that these two fiery, panting souls could meet. + +It was the irony of fate that when they had so met it was only to +be parted. Mary's subjects, outraged by her conduct, rose against +her. As she passed through the streets of Edinburgh the women +hurled after her indecent names. Great banners were raised with +execrable daubs representing the murdered Darnley. The short and +dreadful monosyllable which is familiar to us in the pages of the +Bible was hurled after her wherever she went. + +With Bothwell by her side she led a wild and ragged horde of +followers against the rebellious nobles, whose forces met her at +Carberry Hill. Her motley followers melted away, and Mary +surrendered to the hostile chieftains, who took her to the castle +at Lochleven. There she became the mother of twins--a fact that is +seldom mentioned by historians. These children were the fruit of +her union with Bothwell. From this time forth she cared but little +for herself, and she signed, without great reluctance, a document +by which she abdicated in favor of her infant son. + +Even in this place of imprisonment, however, her fascination had +power to charm. Among those who guarded her, two of the Douglas +family--George Douglas and William Douglas--for love of her, +effected her escape. The first attempt failed. Mary, disguised as +a laundress, was betrayed by the delicacy of her hands. But a +second attempt was successful. The queen passed through a postern +gate and made her way to the lake, where George Douglas met her +with a boat. Crossing the lake, fifty horsemen under Lord Claude +Hamilton gave her their escort and bore her away in safety. + +But Mary was sick of Scotland, for Bothwell could not be there. +She had tasted all the bitterness of life, and for a few months +all the sweetness; but she would have no more of this rough and +barbarous country. Of her own free will she crossed the Solway +into England, to find herself at once a prisoner. + +Never again did she set eyes on Bothwell. After the battle of +Carberry Hill he escaped to the north, gathered some ships +together, and preyed upon English merchantmen, very much as a +pirate might have done. Ere long, however, when he had learned of +Mary's fate, he set sail for Norway. King Frederick of Denmark +made him a prisoner of state. He was not confined within prison +walls, however, but was allowed to hunt and ride in the vicinity +of Malmo Castle and of Dragsholm. It is probably in Malmo Castle +that he died. In 1858 a coffin which was thought to be the coffin +of the earl was opened, and a Danish artist sketched the head-- +which corresponds quite well with the other portraits of the ill- +fated Scottish noble. + +It is a sad story. Had Mary been less ambitious when she first met +Bothwell, or had he been a little bolder, they might have reigned +together and lived out their lives in the plenitude of that great +love which held them both in thrall. But a queen is not as other +women; and she found too late that the teaching of her heart was, +after all, the truest teaching. She went to her death as Bothwell +went to his, alone, in a strange, unfriendly land. + +Yet, even this, perhaps, was better so. It has at least touched +both their lives with pathos and has made the name of Mary Stuart +one to be remembered throughout all the ages. + + + + + +QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS MONALDESCHI + + +Sweden to-day is one of the peaceful kingdoms of the world, whose +people are prosperous, well governed, and somewhat apart from the +clash and turmoil of other states and nations. Even the secession +of Norway, a few years ago, was accomplished without bloodshed, +and now the two kingdoms exist side by side as free from strife as +they are with Denmark, which once domineered and tyrannized over +both. + +It is difficult to believe that long ago, in the Middle Ages, the +cities of southern Sweden were among the great commercial centers +of the world. Stockholm and Lund ranked with London and Paris. +They absorbed the commerce of the northern seas, and were the +admiration of thousands of travelers and merchants who passed +through them and trafficked with them. + +Much nearer to our own time, Sweden was the great military power +of northern Europe. The ambassadors of the Swedish kings were +received with the utmost deference in every court. Her soldiers +won great battles and ended mighty wars. The England of Cromwell +and Charles II. was unimportant and isolated in comparison with +this northern kingdom, which could pour forth armies of gigantic +blond warriors, headed by generals astute as well as brave. + +It was no small matter, then, in 1626, that the loyal Swedes were +hoping that their queen would give birth to a male heir to succeed +his splendid father, Gustavus Adolphus, ranked by military +historians as one of the six great generals whom the world had so +far produced. The queen, a German princess of Brandenburg, had +already borne two daughters, who died in infancy. The expectation +was wide-spread and intense that she should now become the mother +of a son; and the king himself was no less anxious. + +When the event occurred, the child was seen to be completely +covered with hair, and for this reason the attendants at first +believed that it was the desired boy. When their mistake was +discovered they were afraid to tell the king, who was waiting in +his study for the announcement to be made. At last, when no one +else would go to him, his sister, the Princess Caroline, +volunteered to break the news. + +Gustavus was in truth a chivalrous, high-bred monarch. Though he +must have been disappointed at the advent of a daughter, he showed +no sign of dissatisfaction or even of surprise; but, rising, he +embraced his sister, saying: + +"Let us thank God. I hope this girl will be as good as a boy to +me. May God preserve her now that He has sent her!" + +It is customary at almost all courts to pay less attention to the +birth of a princess than to that of a prince; but Gustavus +displayed his chivalry toward this little daughter, whom he named +Christina. He ordered that the full royal salute should be fired +in every fortress of his kingdom and that displays of fireworks, +balls of honor, and court functions should take place; "for," as +he said, "this is the heir to my throne." And so from the first he +took his child under his own keeping and treated her as if she +were a much-loved son as well as a successor. + +He joked about her looks when she was born, when she was mistaken +for a boy. + +"She will be clever," he said, "for she has taken us all in!" + +The Swedish people were as delighted with their little princess as +were the people of Holland when the present Queen Wilhelmina was +born, to carry on the succession of the House of Orange. On one +occasion the king and the small Christina, who were inseparable +companions, happened to approach a fortress where they expected to +spend the night. The commander of the castle was bound to fire a +royal salute of fifty cannon in honor of his sovereign; yet he +dreaded the effect upon the princess of such a roaring and +bellowing of artillery. He therefore sent a swift horseman to meet +the royal party at a distance and explain his perplexity. Should +he fire these guns or not? Would the king give an order? + +Gustavus thought for a moment, and then replied: + +"My daughter is the daughter of a soldier, and she must learn to +lead a soldier's life. Let the guns be fired!" + +The procession moved on. Presently fire spurted from the +embrasures of the fort, and its batteries thundered in one great +roar. The king looked down at Christina. Her face was aglow with +pleasure and excitement; she clapped her hands and laughed, and +cried out: + +"More bang! More! More! More!" + +This is only one of a score of stories that were circulated about +the princess, and the Swedes were more and more delighted with the +girl who was to be their queen. + +Somewhat curiously, Christina's mother, Queen Maria, cared little +for the child, and, in fact, came at last to detest her almost as +much as the king loved her. It is hard to explain this dislike. +Perhaps she had a morbid desire for a son and begrudged the honors +given to a daughter. Perhaps she was a little jealous of her own +child, who took so much of the king's attention. Afterward, in +writing of her mother, Christina excuses her, and says quite +frankly: + +She could not bear to see me, because I was a girl, and an ugly +girl at that. And she was right enough, for I was as tawny as a +little Turk. + +This candid description of herself is hardly just. Christina was +never beautiful, and she had a harsh voice. She was apt to be +overbearing even as a little girl. Yet she was a most interesting +child, with an expressive face, large eyes, an aquiline nose, and +the blond hair of her people. There was nothing in this to account +for her mother's intense dislike for her. + +It was currently reported at the time that attempts were made to +maim or seriously injure the little princess. By what was made to +seem an accident, she would be dropped upon the floor, and heavy +articles of furniture would somehow manage to strike her. More +than once a great beam fell mysteriously close to her, either in +the palace or while she was passing through the streets. None of +these things did her serious harm, however. Most of them she +luckily escaped; but when she had grown to be a woman one of her +shoulders was permanently higher than the other. + +"I suppose," said Christina, "that I could be straightened if I +would let the surgeons attend to it; but it isn't worth while to +take the trouble." + +When Christina was four, Sweden became involved in the great war +that had been raging for a dozen years between the Protestant and +the Catholic states of Germany. Gradually the neighboring powers +had been drawn into the struggle, either to serve their own ends +or to support the faith to which they adhered. Gustavus Adolphus +took up the sword with mixed motives, for he was full of +enthusiasm for the imperiled cause of the Reformation, and at the +same time he deemed it a favorable opportunity to assert his +control over the shores of the Baltic. + +The warrior king summoned his army and prepared to invade Germany. +Before departing he took his little daughter by the hand and led +her among the assembled nobles and councilors of state. To them he +intrusted the princess, making them kneel and vow that they would +regard her as his heir, and, if aught should happen to him, as his +successor. Amid the clashing of swords and the clang of armor this +vow was taken, and the king went forth to war. + +He met the ablest generals of his enemies, and the fortunes of +battle swayed hither and thither; but the climax came when his +soldiers encountered those of Wallenstein--that strange, +overbearing, arrogant, mysterious creature whom many regarded with +a sort of awe. The clash came at Lutzen, in Saxony. The Swedish +king fought long and hard, and so did his mighty opponent; but at +last, in the very midst of a tremendous onset that swept all +before him, Gustavus received a mortal wound and died, even while +Wallenstein was fleeing from the field of battle. + +The battle of Lutzen made Christina Queen of Sweden at the age of +six. Of course, she could not yet be crowned, but a council of +able ministers continued the policy of the late king and taught +the young queen her first lessons in statecraft. Her intellect +soon showed itself as more than that of a child. She understood +all that was taking place, and all that was planned and arranged. +Her tact was unusual. Her discretion was admired by every one; and +after a while she had the advice and training of the great Swedish +chancellor, Oxenstierna, whose wisdom she shared to a remarkable +degree. + +Before she was sixteen she had so approved herself to her +counselors, and especially to the people at large, that there was +a wide-spread clamor that she should take the throne and govern in +her own person. To this she gave no heed, but said: + +"I am not yet ready." + +All this time she bore herself like a king. There was nothing +distinctly feminine about her. She took but slight interest in her +appearance. She wore sword and armor in the presence of her +troops, and often she dressed entirely in men's clothes. She would +take long, lonely gallops through the forests, brooding over +problems of state and feeling no fatigue or fear. And indeed why +should she fear, who was beloved by all her subjects? + +When her eighteenth year arrived, the demand for her coronation +was impossible to resist. All Sweden wished to see a ruling queen, +who might marry and have children to succeed her through the royal +line of her great father. Christina consented to be crowned, but +she absolutely refused all thought of marriage. She had more +suitors from all parts of Europe than even Elizabeth of England; +but, unlike Elizabeth, she did not dally with them, give them +false hopes, or use them for the political advantage of her +kingdom. + +At that time Sweden was stronger than England, and was so situated +as to be independent of alliances. So Christina said, in her +harsh, peremptory voice: + +"I shall never marry; and why should you speak of my having +children! I am just as likely to give birth to a Nero as to an +Augustus." + +Having assumed the throne, she ruled with a strictness of +government such as Sweden had not known before. She took the reins +of state into her own hands and carried out a foreign policy of +her own, over the heads of her ministers, and even against the +wishes of her people. The fighting upon the Continent had dragged +out to a weary length, but the Swedes, on the whole, had scored a +marked advantage. For this reason the war was popular, and every +one wished it to go on; but Christina, of her own will, decided +that it must stop, that mere glory was not to be considered +against material advantages. Sweden had had enough of glory; she +must now look to her enrichment and prosperity through the +channels of peace. + +Therefore, in 1648, against Oxenstierna, against her generals, and +against her people, she exercised her royal power and brought the +Thirty Years' War to an end by the so-called Peace of Westphalia. +At this time she was twenty-two, and by her personal influence she +had ended one of the greatest struggles of history. Nor had she +done it to her country's loss. Denmark yielded up rich provinces, +while Germany was compelled to grant Sweden membership in the +German diet. + +Then came a period of immense prosperity through commerce, through +economies in government, through the improvement of agriculture +and the opening of mines. This girl queen, without intrigue, +without descending from her native nobility to peep and whisper +with shady diplomats, showed herself in reality a great monarch, a +true Semiramis of the north, more worthy of respect and reverence +than Elizabeth of England. She was highly trained in many arts. +She was fond of study, spoke Latin fluently, and could argue with +Salmasius, Descartes, and other accomplished scholars without +showing any inferiority to them. + +She gathered at her court distinguished persons from all +countries. She repelled those who sought her hand, and she was +pure and truthful and worthy of all men's admiration. Had she died +at this time history would rank her with the greatest of women +sovereigns. Naude, the librarian of Cardinal Mazarin, wrote of her +to the scientist Gassendi in these words: + +To say truth, I am sometimes afraid lest the common saying should +be verified in her, that short is the life and rare the old age of +those who surpass the common limits. Do not imagine that she is +learned only in books, for she is equally so in painting, +architecture, sculpture, medals, antiquities, and all curiosities. +There is not a cunning workman in these arts but she has him +fetched. There are as good workers in wax and in enamel, +engravers, singers, players, dancers here as will be found +anywhere. + +She has a gallery of statues, bronze and marble, medals of gold, +silver, and bronze, pieces of ivory, amber, coral, worked crystal, +steel mirrors, clocks and tables, bas-reliefs and other things of +the kind; richer I have never seen even in Italy; finally, a great +quantity of pictures. In short, her mind is open to all +impressions. + +But after she began to make her court a sort of home for art and +letters it ceased to be the sort of court that Sweden was prepared +for. Christina's subjects were still rude and lacking in +accomplishments; therefore she had to summon men of genius from +other countries, especially from France and Italy. Many of these +were illustrious artists or scholars, but among them were also +some who used their mental gifts for harm. + +Among these latter was a French physician named Bourdelot--a man +of keen intellect, of winning manners, and of a profound cynicism, +which was not apparent on the surface, but the effect of which +last lasting. To Bourdelot we must chiefly ascribe the mysterious +change which gradually came over Queen Christina. With his +associates he taught her a distaste for the simple and healthy +life that she had been accustomed to lead. She ceased to think of +the welfare of the state and began to look down with scorn upon +her unsophisticated Swedes. Foreign luxury displayed itself at +Stockholm, and her palaces overflowed with beautiful things. + +By subtle means Bourdelot undermined her principles. Having been a +Stoic, she now became an Epicurean. She was by nature devoid of +sentiment. She would not spend her time in the niceties of love- +making, as did Elizabeth; but beneath the surface she had a sort +of tigerish, passionate nature, which would break forth at +intervals, and which demanded satisfaction from a series of +favorites. It is probable that Bourdelot was her first lover, but +there were many others whose names are recorded in the annals of +the time. + +When she threw aside her virtue Christina ceased to care about +appearances. She squandered her revenues upon her favorites. What +she retained of her former self was a carelessness that braved the +opinion of her subjects. She dressed almost without thought, and +it is said that she combed her hair not more than twice a month. +She caroused with male companions to the scandal of her people, +and she swore like a trooper when displeased. + +Christina's philosophy of life appears to have been compounded of +an almost brutal licentiousness, a strong love of power, and a +strange, freakish longing for something new. Her political +ambitions were checked by the rising discontent of her people, who +began to look down upon her and to feel ashamed of her shame. +Knowing herself as she did, she did not care to marry. + +Yet Sweden must have an heir. Therefore she chose out her cousin +Charles, declared that he was to be her successor, and finally +caused him to be proclaimed as such before the assembled estates +of the realm. She even had him crowned; and finally, in her +twenty-eighth year, she abdicated altogether and prepared to leave +Sweden. When asked whither she would go, she replied in a Latin +quotation: + +"The Fates will show the way." + +In her act of abdication she reserved to herself the revenues of +some of the richest provinces in Sweden and absolute power over +such of her subjects as should accompany her. They were to be her +subjects until the end. + +The Swedes remembered that Christina was the daughter of their +greatest king, and that, apart from personal scandals, she had +ruled them well; and so they let her go regretfully and accepted +her cousin as their king. Christina, on her side, went joyfully +and in the spirit of a grand adventuress. With a numerous suite +she entered Germany, and then stayed for a year at Brussels, where +she renounced Lutheranism. After this she traveled slowly into +Italy, where she entered Borne on horseback, and was received by +the Pope, Alexander VII., who lodged her in a magnificent palace, +accepted her conversion, and baptized her, giving her a new name, +Alexandra. + +In Rome she was a brilliant but erratic personage, living +sumptuously, even though her revenues from Sweden came in slowly, +partly because the Swedes disliked her change of religion. She was +surrounded by men of letters, with whom she amused herself, and +she took to herself a lover, the Marquis Monaldeschi. She thought +that at last she had really found her true affinity, while +Monaldeschi believed that he could count on the queen's fidelity. + +He was in attendance upon her daily, and they were almost +inseparable. He swore allegiance to her and thereby made himself +one of the subjects over whom she had absolute power. For a time +he was the master of those intense emotions which, in her, +alternated with moods of coldness and even cruelty. + +Monaldeschi was a handsome Italian, who bore himself with a fine +air of breeding. He understood the art of charming, but he did not +know that beyond a certain time no one could hold the affections +of Christina. + +However, after she had quarreled with various cardinals and +decided to leave Rome for a while, Monaldeschi accompanied her to +France, where she had an immense vogue at the court of Louis XIV. +She attracted wide attention because of her eccentricity and utter +lack of manners. It gave her the greatest delight to criticize the +ladies of the French court--their looks, their gowns, and their +jewels. They, in return, would speak of Christina's deformed +shoulder and skinny frame; but the king was very gracious to her +and invited her to his hunting-palace at Fontainebleau. + +While she had been winning triumphs of sarcasm the infatuated +Monaldeschi had gradually come to suspect, and then to know, that +his royal mistress was no longer true to him. He had been +supplanted in her favor by another Italian, one Sentanelli, who +was the captain of her guard. + +Monaldeschi took a tortuous and roundabout revenge. He did not let +the queen know of his discovery; nor did he, like a man, send a +challenge to Sentanelli. Instead he began by betraying her secrets +to Oliver Cromwell, with whom she had tried to establish a +correspondence. Again, imitating the hand and seal of Sentanelli, +he set in circulation a series of the most scandalous and +insulting letters about Christina. By this treacherous trick he +hoped to end the relations between his rival and the queen; but +when the letters were carried to Christina she instantly +recognized their true source. She saw that she was betrayed by her +former favorite and that he had taken a revenge which might +seriously compromise her. + +This led to a tragedy, of which the facts were long obscure. They +were carefully recorded, however, by the queen's household +chaplain, Father Le Bel; and there is also a narrative written by +one Marco Antonio Conti, which confirms the story. Both were +published privately in 1865, with notes by Louis Lacour. + +The narration of the priest is dreadful in its simplicity and +minuteness of detail. It may be summed up briefly here, because it +is the testimony of an eye-witness who knew Christina. + +Christina, with the marquis and a large retinue, was at +Fontainebleau in November, 1657. A little after midnight, when all +was still, the priest, Father Le Bel, was aroused and ordered to +go at once to the Galerie des Cerfs, or Hall of Stags, in another +part of the palace. When he asked why, he was told: + +"It is by the order of her majesty the Swedish queen." + +The priest, wondering, hurried on his garments. On reaching the +gloomy hall he saw the Marquis Monaldeschi, evidently in great +agitation, and at the end of the corridor the queen in somber +robes. Beside the queen, as if awaiting orders, stood three +figures, who could with some difficulty be made out as three +soldiers of her guard. + +The queen motioned to Father Le Bel and asked him for a packet +which she had given him for safe-keeping some little time before. +He gave it to her, and she opened it. In it were letters and other +documents, which, with a steely glance, she displayed to +Monaldeschi. He was confused by the sight of them and by the +incisive words in which Christina showed how he had both insulted +her and had tried to shift the blame upon Sentanelli. + +Monaldeschi broke down completely. He fell at the queen's feet and +wept piteously, begging for pardon, only to be met by the cold +answer: + +"You are my subject and a traitor to me. Marquis, you must prepare +to die!" + +Then she turned away and left the hall, in spite of the cries of +Monaldeschi, to whom she merely added the advice that he should +make his peace with God by confessing to Father Le Bel. + +After she had gone the marquis fell into a torrent of self- +exculpation and cried for mercy. The three armed men drew near and +urged him to confess for the good of his soul. They seemed to have +no malice against him, but to feel that they must obey the orders +given them. At the frantic urging of the marquis their leader even +went to the queen to ask whether she would relent; but he returned +shaking his head, and said: + +"Marquis, you must die." + +Father Le Bel undertook a like mission, but returned with the +message that there was no hope. So the marquis made his confession +in French and Latin, but even then he hoped; for he did not wait +to receive absolution, but begged still further for delay or +pardon. + +Then the three armed men approached, having drawn their swords. +The absolution was pronounced; and, following it, one of the +guards slashed the marquis across the forehead. He stumbled and +fell forward, making signs as if to ask that he might have his +throat cut. But his throat was partly protected by a coat of mail, +so that three or four strokes delivered there had slight effect. +Finally, however, a long, narrow sword was thrust into his side, +after which the marquis made no sound. + +Father Le Bel at once left the Galerie des Cerfs and went into the +queen's apartment, with the smell of blood in his nostrils. He +found her calm and ready to justify herself. Was she not still +queen over all who had voluntarily become members of her suite? +This had been agreed to in her act of abdication. Wherever she set +her foot, there, over her own, she was still a monarch, with full +power to punish traitors at her will. This power she had +exercised, and with justice. What mattered it that she was in +France? She was queen as truly as Louis XIV. was king. + +The story was not long in getting out, but the truth was not +wholly known until a much later day. It was said that Sentanelli +had slapped the marquis in a fit of jealousy, though some added +that it was done with the connivance of the queen. King Louis, the +incarnation of absolutism, knew the truth, but he was slow to act. +He sympathized with the theory of Christina's sovereignty. It was +only after a time that word was sent to Christina that she must +leave Fontainebleau. She took no notice of the order until it +suited her convenience, and then she went forth with all the +honors of a reigning monarch. + +This was the most striking episode in all the strange story of her +private life. When her cousin Charles, whom she had made king, +died without an heir she sought to recover her crown; but the +estates of the realm refused her claim, reduced her income, and +imposed restraints upon her power. She then sought the vacant +throne of Poland; but the Polish nobles, who desired a weak ruler +for their own purposes, made another choice. So at last she +returned to Rome, where the Pope received her with a splendid +procession and granted her twelve thousand crowns a year to make +up for her lessened Swedish revenue. + +From this time she lived a life which she made interesting by her +patronage of learning and exciting by her rather unseemly quarrels +with cardinals and even with the Pope. Her armed retinue marched +through the streets with drawn swords and gave open protection to +criminals who had taken refuge with her. She dared to criticize +the pontiff, who merely smiled and said: + +"She is a woman!" + +On the whole, the end of her life was pleasant. She was much +admired for her sagacity in politics. Her words were listened to +at every court in Europe. She annotated the classics, she made +beautiful collections, and she was regarded as a privileged person +whose acts no one took amiss. She died at fifty-three, and was +buried in St. Peter's. + +She was bred a man, she was almost a son to her great father; and +yet, instead of the sonorous epitaph that is inscribed beside her +tomb, perhaps a truer one would be the words of the vexed Pope: + +"E DONNA!" + + + + + +KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN + + +One might classify the kings of England in many ways. John was +undoubtedly the most unpopular. The impetuous yet far-seeing Henry +II., with the other two great warriors, Edward I. and Edward III., +and William of Orange, did most for the foundation and development +of England's constitutional law. Some monarchs, such as Edward II. +and the womanish Henry VI., have been contemptible. Hard-working, +useful kings have been Henry VII., the Georges, William IV., and +especially the last Edward. + +If we consider those monarchs who have in some curious way touched +the popular fancy without reference to their virtues we must go +back to Richard of the Lion Heart, who saw but little of England, +yet was the best essentially English king, and to Henry V., +gallant soldier and conqueror of France. Even Henry VIII. had a +warm place in the affection of his countrymen, few of whom saw him +near at hand, but most of whom made him a sort of regal +incarnation of John Bull--wrestling and tilting and boxing, eating +great joints of beef, and staying his thirst with flagons of ale-- +a big, healthy, masterful animal, in fact, who gratified the +national love of splendor and stood up manfully in his struggle +with the Pope. + +But if you look for something more than ordinary popularity-- +something that belongs to sentiment and makes men willing to +become martyrs for a royal cause--we must find these among the +Stuart kings. It is odd, indeed, that even at this day there are +Englishmen and Englishwomen who believe their lawful sovereign to +be a minor Bavarian princess in whose veins there runs the Stuart +blood. Prayers are said for her at English shrines, and toasts are +drunk to her in rare old wine. + +Of course, to-day this cult of the Stuarts is nothing but a fad. +No one ever expects to see a Stuart on the English throne. But it +is significant of the deep strain of romance which the six Stuarts +who reigned in England have implanted in the English heart. The +old Jacobite ballads still have power to thrill. Queen Victoria +herself used to have the pipers file out before her at Balmoral to +the "skirling" of "Bonnie Dundee," "Over the Water to Charlie," +and "Wha'll Be King but Charlie!" It is a sentiment that has never +died. Her late majesty used to say that when she heard these tunes +she became for the moment a Jacobite; just as the Empress Eugenie +at the height of her power used pertly to remark that she herself +was the only Legitimist left in France. + +It may be suggested that the Stuarts are still loved by many +Englishmen because they were unfortunate; yet this is hardly true, +after all. Many of them were fortunate enough. The first of them, +King James, an absurd creature, speaking broad Scotch, timid, +foolishly fond of favorites, and having none of the dignity of a +monarch, lived out a lengthy reign. The two royal women of the +family--Anne and Mary--had no misfortunes of a public nature. +Charles II. reigned for more than a quarter of a century, lapped +in every kind of luxury, and died a king. + +The first Charles was beheaded and afterward styled a "saint"; yet +the majority of the English people were against his arrogance, or +else he would have won his great struggle against Parliament. The +second James was not popular at all. Nevertheless, no sooner had +he been expelled, and been succeeded by a Dutchman gnawing +asparagus and reeking of cheeses, than there was already a Stuart +legend. Even had there been no pretenders to carry on the cult, +the Stuarts would still have passed into history as much loved by +the people. + +It only shows how very little in former days the people expected +of a regnant king. Many monarchs have had just a few popular +traits, and these have stood out brilliantly against the darkness +of the background. + +No one could have cared greatly for the first James, but Charles +I. was indeed a kingly personage when viewed afar. He was +handsome, as a man, fully equaling the French princess who became +his wife. He had no personal vices. He was brave, and good to look +upon, and had a kingly mien. Hence, although he sought to make his +rule over England a tyranny, there were many fine old cavaliers to +ride afield for him when he raised his standard, and who, when he +died, mourned for him as a "martyr." + +Many hardships they underwent while Cromwell ruled with his iron +hand; and when that iron hand was relaxed in death, and poor, +feeble Richard Cromwell slunk away to his country-seat, what +wonder is it that young Charles came back to England and caracoled +through the streets of London with a smile for every one and a +happy laugh upon his lips? What wonder is it that the cannon in +the Tower thundered a loud welcome, and that all over England, at +one season or another, maypoles rose and Christmas fires blazed? +For Englishmen at heart are not only monarchists, but they are +lovers of good cheer and merrymaking and all sorts of mirth. + +Charles II. might well at first have seemed a worthier and wiser +successor to his splendid father. As a child, even, he had shown +himself to be no faint-hearted creature. When the great Civil War +broke out he had joined his father's army. It met with disaster at +Edgehill, and was finally shattered by the crushing defeat of +Naseby, which afterward inspired Macaulay's most stirring ballad. + +Charles was then only a child of twelve, and so his followers did +wisely in hurrying him out of England, through the Scilly isles +and Jersey to his mother's place of exile. Of course, a child so +very young could be of no value as a leader, though his presence +might prove an inspiration. + +In 1648, however, when he was eighteen years of age, he gathered a +fleet of eighteen ships and cruised along the English coast, +taking prizes, which he carried to the Dutch ports. When he was at +Holland's capital, during his father's trial, he wrote many +messages to the Parliamentarians, and even sent them a blank +charter, which they might fill in with any stipulations they +desired if only they would save and restore their king. + +When the head of Charles rolled from the velvet-covered block his +son showed himself to be no loiterer or lover of an easy life. He +hastened to Scotland, skilfully escaping an English force, and was +proclaimed as king and crowned at Scone, in 1651. With ten +thousand men he dashed into England, where he knew there were many +who would rally at his call. But it was then that Cromwell put +forth his supreme military genius and with his Ironsides crushed +the royal troops at Worcester. + +Charles knew that for the present all was lost. He showed courage +and address in covering the flight of his beaten soldiers; but he +soon afterward went to France, remaining there and in the +Netherlands for eight years as a pensioner of Louis XIV. He knew +that time would fight for him far more surely than infantry and +horse. England had not been called "Merry England" for nothing; +and Cromwell's tyranny was likely to be far more resented than the +heavy hand of one who was born a king. So Charles at Paris and +Liege, though he had little money at the time, managed to maintain +a royal court, such as it was. + +Here there came out another side of his nature. As a child he had +borne hardship and privation and had seen the red blood flow upon +the battlefield. Now, as it were, he allowed a certain sensuous, +pleasure-loving ease to envelop him. The red blood should become +the rich red burgundy; the sound of trumpets and kettledrums +should give way to the melody of lutes and viols. He would be a +king of pleasure if he were to be king at all. And therefore his +court, even in exile, was a court of gallantry and ease. The Pope +refused to lend him money, and the King of France would not +increase his pension, but there were many who foresaw that Charles +would not long remain in exile; and so they gave him what he +wanted and waited until he could give them what they would ask for +in their turn. + +Charles at this time was not handsome, like his father. His +complexion was swarthy, his figure by no means imposing, though +always graceful. When he chose he could bear himself with all the +dignity of a monarch. He had a singularly pleasant manner, and a +word from him could win over the harshest opponent. + +The old cavaliers who accompanied their master in exile were like +Napoleon's veterans in Elba. With their tall, powerful forms they +stalked about the courtyards, sniffing their disapproval at these +foreign ways and longing grimly for the time when they could once +more smell the pungent powder of the battle-field. But, as Charles +had hoped, the change was coming. Not merely were his own subjects +beginning to long for him and to pray in secret for the king, but +continental monarchs who maintained spies in England began to know +of this. To them Charles was no longer a penniless exile. He was a +king who before long would take possession of his kingdom. + +A very wise woman--the Queen Regent of Portugal--was the first to +act on this information. Portugal was then very far from being a +petty state. It had wealth at home and rich colonies abroad, while +its flag was seen on every sea. The queen regent, being at odds +with Spain, and wishing to secure an ally against that power, made +overtures to Charles, asking him whether a match might not be made +between him and the Princess Catharine of Braganza. It was not +merely her daughter's hand that she offered, but a splendid dowry. +She would pay Charles a million pounds in gold and cede to England +two valuable ports. + +The match was not yet made, but by 1659 it had been arranged. The +Spaniards were furious, for Charles's cause began to appear +successful. + +She was a quaint and rather piteous little figure, she who was +destined to be the wife of the Merry Monarch. Catharine was dark, +petite, and by no means beautiful; yet she had a very sweet +expression and a heart of utter innocence. She had been wholly +convent-bred. She knew nothing of the world. She was told that in +marriage she must obey in all things, and that the chief duty of a +wife was to make her husband happy. + +Poor child! It was a too gracious preparation for a very graceless +husband. Charles, in exile, had already made more than one +discreditable connection and he was already the father of more +than one growing son. + +First of all, he had been smitten by the bold ways of one Lucy +Walters. Her impudence amused the exiled monarch. She was not +particularly beautiful, and when she spoke as others did she was +rather tiresome; but her pertness and the inexperience of the king +when he went into exile made her seem attractive. She bore him a +son, in the person of that brilliant adventurer whom Charles +afterward created Duke of Monmouth. Many persons believe that +Charles had married Lucy Walters, just as George IV. may have +married Mrs. Fitzherbert; yet there is not the slightest proof of +it, and it must be classed with popular legends. + +There was also one Catherine Peg, or Kep, whose son was afterward +made Earl of Plymouth. It must be confessed that in his +attachments to English women Charles showed little care for rank +or station. Lucy Walters and Catherine Peg were very illiterate +creatures. + +In a way it was precisely this sort of preference that made +Charles so popular among the people. He seemed to make rank of no +account, but would chat in the most familiar and friendly way with +any one whom he happened to meet. His easy, democratic manner, +coupled with the grace and prestige of royalty, made friends for +him all over England. The treasury might be nearly bankrupt; the +navy might be routed by the Dutch; the king himself might be too +much given to dissipation; but his people forgave him all, because +everybody knew that Charles would clap an honest citizen on the +back and joke with all who came to see him feed the swans in +Regent's Park. + +The popular name for him was "Rowley," or "Old Rowley"--a nickname +of mysterious origin, though it is said to have been given him +from a fancied resemblance to a famous hunter in his stables. +Perhaps it is the very final test of popularity that a ruler +should have a nickname known to every one. + +Cromwell's death roused all England to a frenzy of king-worship. +The Roundhead, General Monk, and his soldiers proclaimed Charles +King of England and escorted him to London in splendid state. That +was a day when national feeling reached a point such as never has +been before or since. Oughtred, the famous mathematician, died of +joy when the royal emblems were restored. Urquhart, the translator +of Rabelais, died, it is said, of laughter at the people's wild +delight--a truly Rabelaisian end. + +There was the king once more; and England, breaking through its +long period of Puritanism, laughed and danced with more vivacity +than ever the French had shown. All the pipers and the players and +panderers to vice, the mountebanks, the sensual men, and the +lawless women poured into the presence of the king, who had been +too long deprived of the pleasure that his nature craved. +Parliament voted seventy thousand pounds for a memorial to +Charles's father, but the irresponsible king spent the whole sum +on the women who surrounded him. His severest counselor, Lord +Clarendon, sent him a remonstrance. + +"How can I build such a memorial," asked Charles, "when I don't +know where my father's remains are buried!" + +He took money from the King of France to make war against the +Dutch, who had befriended him. It was the French king, too, who +sent him that insidious, subtle daughter of Brittany, Louise de +Keroualle--Duchess of Portsmouth--a diplomat in petticoats, who +won the king's wayward affections, and spied on what he did and +said, and faithfully reported all of it to Paris. She became the +mother of the Duke of Lenox, and she was feared and hated by the +English more than any other of his mistresses. They called her +"Madam Carwell," and they seemed to have an instinct that she was +no mere plaything of his idle hours, but was like some strange +exotic serpent, whose poison might in the end sting the honor of +England. + +There is a pitiful little episode in the marriage of Charles with +his Portuguese bride, Catharine of Braganza. The royal girl came +to him fresh from the cloisters of her convent. There was +something about her grace and innocence that touched the dissolute +monarch, who was by no means without a heart. For a time he +treated her with great respect, and she was happy. At last she +began to notice about her strange faces--faces that were evil, +wanton, or overbold. The court became more and more a seat of +reckless revelry. + +Finally Catharine was told that the Duchess of Cleveland--that +splendid termagant, Barbara Villiers--had been appointed lady of +the bedchamber. She was told at the same time who this vixen was-- +that she was no fit attendant for a virtuous woman, and that her +three sons, the Dukes of Southampton, Grafton, and Northumberland, +were also the sons of Charles. + +Fluttered and frightened and dismayed, the queen hastened to her +husband and begged him not to put this slight upon her. A year or +two before, she had never dreamed that life contained such things +as these; but now it seemed to contain nothing else. Charles spoke +sternly to her until she burst into tears, and then he petted her +and told her that her duty as a queen compelled her to submit to +many things which a lady in private life need not endure. + +After a long and poignant struggle with her own emotions the +little Portuguese yielded to the wishes of her lord. She never +again reproached him. She even spoke with kindness to his +favorites and made him feel that she studied his happiness alone. +Her gentleness affected him so that he always spoke to her with +courtesy and real friendship. When the Protestant mobs sought to +drive her out of England he showed his courage and manliness by +standing by her and refusing to allow her to be molested. + +Indeed, had Charles been always at his best he would have had a +very different name in history. He could be in every sense a king. +He had a keen knowledge of human nature. Though he governed +England very badly, he never governed it so badly as to lose his +popularity. + +The epigram of Rochester, written at the king's own request, was +singularly true of Charles. No man relied upon his word, yet men +loved him. He never said anything that was foolish, and he very +seldom did anything that was wise; yet his easy manners and +gracious ways endeared him to those who met him. + +One can find no better picture of his court than that which Sir +Walter Scott has drawn so vividly in Peveril of the Peak; or, if +one wishes first-hand evidence, it can be found in the diaries of +Evelyn and of Samuel Pepys. In them we find the rakes and dicers, +full of strange oaths, deep drunkards, vile women and still viler +men, all striving for the royal favor and offering the filthiest +lures, amid routs and balls and noisy entertainments, of which it +is recorded that more than once some woman gave birth to a child +among the crowd of dancers. + +No wonder that the little Portuguese queen kept to herself and did +not let herself be drawn into this swirling, roaring, roistering +saturnalia. She had less influence even than Moll Davis, whom +Charles picked out of a coffee-house, and far less than "Madam +Carwell," to whom it is reported that a great English nobleman +once presented pearls to the value of eight thousand pounds in +order to secure her influence in a single stroke of political +business. + +Of all the women who surrounded Charles there was only one who +cared anything for him or for England. The rest were all either +selfish or treacherous or base. This one exception has been so +greatly written of, both in fiction and in history, as to make it +seem almost unnecessary to add another word; yet it may well be +worth while to separate the fiction from the fact and to see how +much of the legend of Eleanor Gwyn is true. + +The fanciful story of her birthplace is most surely quite +unfounded. She was not the daughter of a Welsh officer, but of two +petty hucksters who had their booth in the lowest precincts of +London. In those days the Strand was partly open country, and as +it neared the city it showed the mansions of the gentry set in +their green-walled parks. At one end of the Strand, however, was +Drury Lane, then the haunt of criminals and every kind of wretch, +while nearer still was the notorious Coal Yard, where no citizen +dared go unarmed. + +Within this dreadful place children were kidnapped and trained to +various forms of vice. It was a school for murderers and robbers +and prostitutes; and every night when the torches flared it +vomited forth its deadly spawn. Here was the earliest home of +Eleanor Gwyn, and out of this den of iniquity she came at night to +sell oranges at the entrance to the theaters. She was stage- +struck, and endeavored to get even a minor part in a play; but +Betterton, the famous actor, thrust her aside when she ventured to +apply to him. + +It must be said that in everything that was external, except her +beauty, she fell short of a fastidious taste. She was intensely +ignorant even for that time. She spoke in a broad Cockney dialect. +She had lived the life of the Coal Yard, and, like Zola's Nana, +she could never remember the time when she had known the meaning +of chastity. + +Nell Gwyn was, in fact, a product of the vilest slums of London; +and precisely because she was this we must set her down as +intrinsically a good woman--one of the truest, frankest, and most +right-minded of whom the history of such women has anything to +tell. All that external circumstances could do to push her down +into the mire was done; yet she was not pushed down, but emerged +as one of those rare souls who have in their natures an +uncontaminated spring of goodness and honesty. Unlike Barbara +Villiers or Lucy Walters or Louise de Keroualle, she was neither a +harpy nor a foe to England. + +Charles is said first to have met her when he, incognito, with +another friend, was making the rounds of the theaters at night. +The king spied her glowing, nut-brown face in one of the boxes, +and, forgetting his incognito, went up and joined her. She was +with her protector of the time, Lord Buckhurst, who, of course, +recognized his majesty. + +Presently the whole party went out to a neighboring coffee-house, +where they drank and ate together. When it came time to pay the +reckoning the king found that he had no money, nor had his friend. +Lord Buckhurst, therefore, paid the bill, while Mistress Nell +jeered at the other two, saying that this was the most poverty- +stricken party that she had ever met. + +Charles did not lose sight of her. Her frankness and honest manner +pleased him. There came a time when she was known to be a mistress +of the king, and she bore a son, who was ennobled as the Duke of +St. Albans, but who did not live to middle age. Nell Gwyn was much +with Charles; and after his tempestuous scenes with Barbara +Villiers, and the feeling of dishonor which the Duchess of +Portsmouth made him experience, the girl's good English bluntness +was a pleasure far more rare than sentiment. + +Somehow, just as the people had come to mistrust "Madam Carwell," +so they came to like Nell Gwyn. She saw enough of Charles, and she +liked him well enough, to wish that he might do his duty by his +people; and she alone had the boldness to speak out what she +thought. One day she found him lolling in an arm-chair and +complaining that the people were not satisfied. + +"You can very easily satisfy them," said Nell Gwyn. "Dismiss your +women and attend to the proper business of a king." + +Again, her heart was touched at the misfortunes of the old +soldiers who had fought for Charles and for his father during the +Civil War, and who were now neglected, while the treasury was +emptied for French favorites, and while the policy of England +itself was bought and sold in France. Many and many a time, when +other women of her kind used their lures to get jewels or titles +or estates or actual heaps of money, Nell Gwyn besought the king +to aid these needy veterans. Because of her efforts Chelsea +Hospital was founded. Such money as she had she shared with the +poor and with those who had fought for her royal lover. + +As I have said, she is a historical type of the woman who loses +her physical purity, yet who retains a sense of honor and of +honesty which nothing can take from her. There are not many such +examples, and therefore this one is worth remembering. + +Of anecdotes concerning her there are many, but not often has +their real import been detected. If she could twine her arms about +the monarch's neck and transport him in a delirium of passion, +this was only part of what she did. She tried to keep him right +and true and worthy of his rank; and after he had ceased to care +much for her as a lover he remembered that she had been faithful +in many other things. + +Then there came the death-bed scene, when Charles, in his +inimitable manner, apologized to those about him because he was so +long in dying. A far sincerer sentence was that which came from +his heart, as he cried out, in the very pangs of death: + +"Do not let poor Nelly starve!" + + + + + +MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR + + +It is an old saying that to every womanly woman self-sacrifice is +almost a necessity of her nature. To make herself of small account +as compared with the one she loves; to give freely of herself, +even though she may receive nothing in return; to suffer, and yet +to feel an inner poignant joy in all this suffering--here is a +most wonderful trait of womanhood. Perhaps it is akin to the +maternal instinct; for to the mother, after she has felt the throb +of a new life within her, there is no sacrifice so great and no +anguish so keen that she will not welcome it as the outward sign +and evidence of her illimitable love. + +In most women this spirit of self-sacrifice is checked and kept +within ordinary bounds by the circumstances of their lives. In +many small things they do yield and they do suffer; yet it is not +in yielding and in suffering that they find their deepest joy. + +There are some, however, who seem to have been born with an +abnormal capacity for enduring hardship and mental anguish; so +that by a sort of contradiction they find their happiness in +sorrow. Such women are endowed with a remarkable degree of +sensibility. They feel intensely. In moments of grief and +disappointment, and even of despair, there steals over them a sort +of melancholy pleasure. It is as if they loved dim lights and +mournful music and scenes full of sad suggestion. + +If everything goes well with them, they are unwilling to believe +that such good fortune will last. If anything goes wrong with +them, they are sure that this is only the beginning of something +even worse. The music of their lives is written in a minor key. + +Now, for such women as these, the world at large has very little +charity. It speaks slightingly of them as "agonizers." It believes +that they are "fond of making scenes." It regards as an +affectation something that is really instinctive and inevitable. +Unless such women are beautiful and young and charming they are +treated badly; and this is often true in spite of all their +natural attractiveness, for they seem to court ill usage as if +they were saying frankly: + +"Come, take us! We will give you everything and ask for nothing. +We do not expect true and enduring love. Do not be constant or +generous or even kind. We know that we shall suffer. But, none the +less, in our sorrow there will be sweetness, and even in our +abasement we shall feel a sort of triumph." + +In history there is one woman who stands out conspicuously as a +type of her melancholy sisterhood, one whose life was full of +disappointment even when she was most successful, and of indignity +even when she was most sought after and admired. This woman was +Adrienne Lecouvreur, famous in the annals of the stage, and still +more famous in the annals of unrequited--or, at any rate, unhappy +--love. + +Her story is linked with that of a man no less remarkable than +herself, a hero of chivalry, a marvel of courage, of fascination, +and of irresponsibility. + +Adrienne Lecouvreur--her name was originally Couvreur--was born +toward the end of the seventeenth century in the little French +village of Damery, not far from Rheims, where her aunt was a +laundress and her father a hatter in a small way. Of her mother, +who died in childbirth, we know nothing; but her father was a man +of gloomy and ungovernable temper, breaking out into violent fits +of passion, in one of which, long afterward, he died, raving and +yelling like a maniac. + +Adrienne was brought up at the wash-tub, and became accustomed to +a wandering life, in which she went from one town to another. What +she had inherited from her mother is, of course, not known; but +she had all her father's strangely pessimistic temper, softened +only by the fact that she was a girl. From her earliest years she +was unhappy; yet her unhappiness was largely of her own choosing. +Other girls of her own station met life cheerfully, worked away +from dawn till dusk, and then had their moments of amusement, and +even jollity, with their companions, after the fashion of all +children. But Adrienne Lecouvreur was unhappy because she chose to +be. It was not the wash-tub that made her so, for she had been +born to it; nor was it the half-mad outbreaks of her father, +because to her, at least, he was not unkind. Her discontent sprang +from her excessive sensibility. + +Indeed, for a peasant child she had reason to think herself far +more fortunate than her associates. Her intelligence was great. +Ambition was awakened in her before she was ten years of age, when +she began to learn and to recite poems--learning them, as has been +said, "between the wash-tub and the ironing-board," and reciting +them to the admiration of older and wiser people than she. Even at +ten she was a very beautiful child, with great lambent eyes, an +exquisite complexion, and a lovely form, while she had the further +gift of a voice that thrilled the listener and, when she chose, +brought tears to every eye. She was, indeed, a natural +elocutionist, knowing by instinct all those modulations of tone +and varied cadences which go to the hearer's heart. + +It was very like Adrienne Lecouvreur to memorize only such poems +as were mournful, just as in after life she could win success upon +the stage only in tragic parts. She would repeat with a sort of +ecstasy the pathetic poems that were then admired; and she was +soon able to give up her menial work, because many people asked +her to their houses so that they could listen to the divinely +beautiful voice charged with the emotion which was always at her +command. + +When she was thirteen her father moved to Paris, where she was +placed at school--a very humble school in a very humble quarter of +the city. Yet even there her genius showed itself at that early +age. A number of children and young people, probably influenced by +Adrienne, formed themselves into a theatrical company from the +pure love of acting. A friendly grocer let them have an empty +store-room for their performances, and in this store-room Adrienne +Lecouvreur first acted in a tragedy by Corneille, assuming the +part of leading woman. + +Her genius for the stage was like the genius of Napoleon for war. +She had had no teaching. She had never been inside of any theater; +and yet she delivered the magnificent lines with all the power and +fire and effectiveness of a most accomplished actress. People +thronged to see her and to feel the tempest of emotion which shook +her as she sustained her part, which for the moment was as real to +her as life itself. + +At first only the people of the neighborhood knew anything about +these amateur performances; but presently a lady of rank, one Mme. +du Gue, came out of curiosity and was fascinated by the little +actress. Mme. du Gue offered the spacious courtyard of her own +house, and fitted it with some of the appurtenances of a theater. +From that moment the fame of Adrienne spread throughout all Paris. +The courtyard was crowded by gentlemen and ladies, by people of +distinction from the court, and at last even by actors and +actresses from the Comedie Franchise. + +It is, in fact, a remarkable tribute to Adrienne that in her +thirteenth year she excited so much jealousy among the actors of +the Comedie that they evoked the law against her. Theaters +required a royal license, and of course poor little Adrienne's +company had none. Hence legal proceedings were begun, and the most +famous actresses in Paris talked of having these clever children +imprisoned! Upon this the company sought the precincts of the +Temple, where no legal warrant could be served without the express +order of the king himself. + +There for a time the performances still went on. Finally, as the +other children were not geniuses, but merely boys and girls in +search of fun, the little company broke up. Its success, however, +had determined for ever the career of Adrienne. With her beautiful +face, her lithe and exquisite figure, her golden voice, and her +instinctive art, it was plain enough that her future lay upon the +stage; and so at fourteen or fifteen she began where most +actresses leave off--accomplished and attractive, and having had a +practical training in her profession. + +Diderot, in that same century, observed that the truest actor is +one who does not feel his part at all, but produces his effects by +intellectual effort and intelligent observation. Behind the figure +on the stage, torn with passion or rollicking with mirth, there +must always be the cool and unemotional mind which directs and +governs and controls. This same theory was both held and practised +by the late Benoit Constant Coquelin. To some extent it was the +theory of Garrick and Fechter and Edwin Booth; though it was +rejected by the two Keans, and by Edwin Forrest, who entered so +throughly into the character which he assumed, and who let loose +such tremendous bursts of passion that other actors dreaded to +support him on the stage in such parts as Spartacus and Metamora. + +It is needless to say that a girl like Adrienne Lecouvreur flung +herself with all the intensity of her nature into every role she +played. This was the greatest secret of her success; for, with +her, nature rose superior to art. On the other hand, it fixed her +dramatic limitations, for it barred her out of comedy. Her +melancholy, morbid disposition was in the fullest sympathy with +tragic heroines; but she failed when she tried to represent the +lighter moods and the merry moments of those who welcome mirth. +She could counterfeit despair, and unforced tears would fill her +eyes; but she could not laugh and romp and simulate a gaiety that +was never hers. + +Adrienne would have been delighted to act at one of the theaters +in Paris; but they were closed to her through jealousy. She went +into the provinces, in the eastern part of France, and for ten +years she was a leading lady there in many companies and in many +towns. As she blossomed into womanhood there came into her life +the love which was to be at once a source of the most profound +interest and of the most intense agony. + +It is odd that all her professional success never gave her any +happiness. The life of the actress who traveled from town to town, +the crude and coarse experiences which she had to undergo, the +disorder and the unsettled mode of living, all produced in her a +profound disgust. She was of too exquisite a fiber to live in such +a way, especially in a century when the refinements of existence +were for the very few. + +She speaks herself of "obligatory amusements, the insistence of +men, and of love affairs." Yet how could such a woman as Adrienne +Lecouvreur keep herself from love affairs? The motion of the stage +and its mimic griefs satisfied her only while she was actually +upon the boards. Love offered her an emotional excitement that +endured and that was always changing. It was "the profoundest +instinct of her being"; and she once wrote: "What could one do in +the world without loving?" + +Still, through these ten years she seems to have loved only that +she might be unhappy. There was a strange twist in her mind. Men +who were honorable and who loved her with sincerity she treated +very badly. Men who were indifferent or ungrateful or actually +base she seemed to choose by a sort of perverse instinct. Perhaps +the explanation of it is that during those ten years, though she +had many lovers, she never really loved. She sought excitement, +passion, and after that the mournfulness which comes when passion +dies. Thus, one man after another came into her life--some of them +promising marriage--and she bore two children, whose fathers were +unknown, or at least uncertain. But, after all, one can scarcely +pity her, since she had not yet in reality known that great +passion which comes but once in life. So far she had learned only +a sort of feeble cynicism, which she expressed in letters and in +such sayings as these: + +"There are sweet errors which I would not venture to commit again. +My experiences, all too sad, have served to illumine my reason." + +"I am utterly weary of love and prodigiously tempted to have no +more of it for the rest of my life; because, after all, I don't +wish either to die or to go mad." + +Yet she also said: "I know too well that no one dies of grief." + +She had had, indeed, some very unfortunate experiences. Men of +rank had loved her and had then cast her off. An actor, one +Clavel, would have married her, but she would not accept his +offer. A magistrate in Strasburg promised marriage; and then, when +she was about to accept him, he wrote to her that he was going to +yield to the wishes of his family and make a more advantageous +alliance. And so she was alternately caressed and repulsed--a +mere plaything; and yet this was probably all that she really +needed at the time--something to stir her, something to make her +mournful or indignant or ashamed. + +It was inevitable that at last Adrienne Lecouvreur should appear +in Paris. She had won such renown throughout the provinces that +even those who were intensely jealous of her were obliged to give +her due consideration. In 1717, when she was in her twenty-fifth +year, she became a member of the Comedie Franchise. There she made +an immediate and most brilliant impression. She easily took the +leading place. She was one of the glories of Paris, for she became +the fashion outside the theater. For the first time the great +classic plays were given, not in the monotonous singsong which had +become a sort of theatrical convention, but with all the fire and +naturalness of life. + +Being the fashion, Mlle. Lecouvreur elevated the social rank of +actors and of actresses. Her salon was thronged by men and women +of rank. Voltaire wrote poems in her honor. To be invited to her +dinners was almost like receiving a decoration from the king. She +ought to have been happy, for she had reached the summit of her +profession and something more. + +Yet still she was unhappy. In all her letters one finds a +plaintive tone, a little moaning sound that shows how slightly her +nature had been changed. No longer, however, did she throw herself +away upon dullards or brutes. An English peer--Lord Peterborough-- +not realizing that she was different from other actresses of that +loose-lived age, said to her coarsely at his first introduction: + +"Come now! Show me lots of wit and lots of love." + +The remark was characteristic of the time. Yet Adrienne had +learned at least one thing, and that was the discontent which came +from light affairs. She had thrown herself away too often. If she +could not love with her entire being, if she could not give all +that was in her to be given, whether of her heart or mind or soul, +then she would love no more at all. + +At this time there came to Paris a man remarkable in his own +century, and one who afterward became almost a hero of romance. +This was Maurice, Comte de Saxe, as the French called him, his +German name and title being Moritz, Graf von Sachsen, while we +usually term him, in English, Marshal Saxe. Maurice de Saxe was +now, in 1721, entering his twenty-fifth year. Already, though so +young, his career had been a strange one; and it was destined to +be still more remarkable. He was the natural son of Duke Augustus +II. of Saxony, who later became King of Poland, and who is known +in history as Augustus the Strong. + +Augustus was a giant in stature and in strength, handsome, daring, +unscrupulous, and yet extremely fascinating. His life was one of +revelry and fighting and display. When in his cups he would often +call for a horseshoe and twist it into a knot with his powerful +fingers. Many were his mistresses; but the one for whom he cared +the most was a beautiful and high-spirited Swedish girl of rank, +Aurora von Konigsmarck. She was descended from a rough old field- +marshal who in the Thirty Years' War had slashed and sacked and +pillaged and plundered to his heart's content. From him Aurora von +Konigsmarck seemed to have inherited a high spirit and a sort of +lawlessness which charmed the stalwart Augustus of Poland. + +Their son, Maurice de Saxe, inherited everything that was good in +his parents, and a great deal that was less commendable. As a mere +child of twelve he had insisted on joining the army of Prince +Eugene, and had seen rough service in a very strenuous campaign. +Two years later he showed such daring on the battle-field that +Prince Eugene summoned him and paid him a compliment under the +form of a rebuke. + +"Young man," he said, "you must not mistake mere recklessness for +valor." + +Before he was twenty he had attained the stature and strength of +his royal father; and, to prove it, he in his turn called for a +horseshoe, which he twisted and broke in his fingers. He fought on +the side of the Russians and Poles, and again against the Turks, +everywhere displaying high courage and also genius as a commander; +for he never lost his self-possession amid the very blackest +danger, but possessed, as Carlyle says, "vigilance, foresight, and +sagacious precaution." + +Exceedingly handsome, Maurice was a master of all the arts that +pleased, with just a touch of roughness, which seemed not +unfitting in so gallant a soldier. His troops adored him and would +follow wherever he might choose to lead them; for he exercised +over these rude men a magnetic power resembling that of Napoleon +in after years. In private life he was a hard drinker and fond of +every form of pleasure. Having no fortune of his own, a marriage +was arranged for him with the Countess von Loben, who was +immensely wealthy; but in three years he had squandered all her +money upon his pleasures, and had, moreover, got himself heavily +in debt. + +It was at this time that he first came to Paris to study military +tactics. He had fought hard against the French in the wars that +were now ended; but his chivalrous bearing, his handsome person, +and his reckless joviality made him at once a universal favorite +in Paris. To the perfumed courtiers, with their laces and +lovelocks and mincing ways, Maurice de Saxe came as a sort of +knight of old--jovial, daring, pleasure-loving. Even his broken +French was held to be quite charming; and to see him break a +horseshoe with his fingers threw every one into raptures. + +No wonder, then, that he was welcomed in the very highest circles. +Almost at once he attracted the notice of the Princesse de Conti, +a beautiful woman of the blood royal. Of her it has been said that +she was "the personification of a kiss, the incarnation of an +embrace, the ideal of a dream of love." Her chestnut hair was +tinted with little gleams of gold. Her eyes were violet black. Her +complexion was dazzling. But by the king's orders she had been +forced to marry a hunchback--a man whose very limbs were so +weakened by disease and evil living that they would often fail to +support him, and he would fall to the ground, a writhing, +screaming mass of ill-looking flesh. + +It is not surprising that his lovely wife should have shuddered +much at his abuse of her and still more at his grotesque +endearments. When her eyes fell on Maurice de Saxe she saw in him +one who could free her from her bondage. By a skilful trick he led +the Prince de Conti to invade the sleeping-room of the princess, +with servants, declaring that she was not alone. The charge proved +quite untrue, and so she left her husband, having won the sympathy +of her own world, which held that she had been insulted. But it +was not she who was destined to win and hold the love of Maurice +de Saxe. + +Not long after his appearance in the French capital he was invited +to dine with the "Queen of Paris," Adrienne Lecouvreur. Saxe had +seen her on the stage. He knew her previous history. He knew that +she was very much of a soiled dove; but when he met her these two +natures, so utterly dissimilar, leaped together, as it were, +through the indescribable attraction of opposites. He was big and +powerful; she was small and fragile. He was merry, and full of +quips and jests; she was reserved and melancholy. Each felt in the +other a need supplied. + +At one of their earliest meetings the climax came. Saxe was not +the man to hesitate; while she already, in her thoughts, had made +a full surrender. In one great sweep he gathered her into his +arms. It appeared to her as if no man had ever laid his hand upon +her until that moment. She cried out: + +"Now, for the first time in my life, I seem to live!" + +It was, indeed, the very first love which in her checkered career +was really worthy of the name. She had supposed that all such +things were passed and gone, that her heart was closed for ever, +that she was invulnerable; and yet here she found herself clinging +about the neck of this impetuous soldier and showing him all the +shy fondness and the unselfish devotion of a young girl. From this +instant Adrienne Lecouvreur never loved another man and never even +looked at any other man with the slightest interest. For nine long +years the two were bound together, though there were strange +events to ruffle the surface of their love. + +Maurice de Saxe had been sired by a king. He had the lofty +ambition to be a king himself, and he felt the stirrings of that +genius which in after years was to make him a great soldier, and +to win the brilliant victory of Fontenoy, which to this very day +the French are never tired of recalling. Already Louis XV. had +made him a marshal of France; and a certain restlessness came over +him. He loved Adrienne; yet he felt that to remain in the +enjoyment of her witcheries ought not to be the whole of a man's +career. + +Then the Grand Duchy of Courland--at that time a vassal state of +Poland, now part of Russia--sought a ruler. Maurice de Saxe was +eager to secure its throne, which would make him at least semi- +royal and the chief of a principality. He hastened thither and +found that money was needed to carry out his plans. The widow of +the late duke--the Grand Duchess Anna, niece of Peter the Great, +and later Empress of Russia--as soon as she had met this dazzling +genius, offered to help him to acquire the duchy if he would only +marry her. He did not utterly refuse. Still another woman of high +rank, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia, Peter the Great's +daughter, made him very much the same proposal. + +Both of these imperial women might well have attracted a man like +Maurice de Saxe, had he been wholly fancy-free, for the second of +them inherited the high spirit and the genius of the great Peter, +while the first was a pleasure-seeking princess, resembling some +of those Roman empresses who loved to stoop that they might +conquer. She is described as indolent and sensual, and she once +declared that the chief good in the world was love. Yet, though +she neglected affairs of state and gave them over to favorites, +she won and kept the affections of her people. She was +unquestionably endowed with the magnetic gift of winning hearts. + +Adrienne, who was left behind in Paris, knew very little of what +was going on. Only two things were absolutely clear to her. One +was that if her lover secured the duchy he must be parted from +her. The other was that without money his ambition must be +thwarted, and that he would then return to her. Here was a test to +try the soul of any woman. It proved the height and the depth of +her devotion. Come what might, Maurice should be Duke of Courland, +even though she lost him. She gathered together her whole fortune, +sold every jewel that she possessed, and sent her lover the sum of +nearly a million francs. + +This incident shows how absolutely she was his. But in fact, +because of various intrigues, he failed of election to the ducal +throne of Courland, and he returned to Adrienne with all her money +spent, and without even the grace, at first, to show his +gratitude. He stormed and raged over his ill luck. She merely +soothed and petted him, though she had heard that he had thought +of marrying another woman to secure the dukedom. In one of her +letters she bursts out with the pitiful exclamation: + +I am distracted with rage and anguish. Is it not natural to cry +out against such treachery? This man surely ought to know me--he +ought to love me. Oh, my God! What are we--what ARE we? + +But still she could not give him up, nor could he give her up, +though there were frightful scenes between them--times when he +cruelly reproached her and when her native melancholy deepened +into outbursts of despair. Finally there occurred an incident +which is more or less obscure in parts. The Duchesse de Bouillon, +a great lady of the court--facile, feline, licentious, and eager +for delights--resolved that she would win the love of Maurice de +Saxe. She set herself to win it openly and without any sense of +shame. Maurice himself at times, when the tears of Adrienne proved +wearisome, flirted with the duchess. + +Yet, even so, Adrienne held the first place in his heart, and her +rival knew it. Therefore she resolved to humiliate Adrienne, and +to do so in the place where the actress had always reigned +supreme. There was to be a gala performance of Racine's great +tragedy, "Phedre," with Adrienne, of course, in the title-role. +The Duchesse de Bouillon sent a large number of her lackeys with +orders to hiss and jeer, and, if possible, to break off the play. +Malignantly delighted with her plan, the duchess arrayed herself +in jewels and took her seat in a conspicuous stage-box, where she +could watch the coming storm and gloat over the discomfiture of +her rival. + +When the curtain rose, and when Adrienne appeared as Phedre, an +uproar began. It was clear to the great actress that a plot had +been devised against her. In an instant her whole soul was afire. +The queen-like majesty of her bearing compelled silence throughout +the house. Even the hired lackeys were overawed by it. Then +Adrienne moved swiftly across the stage and fronted her enemy, +speaking into her very face the three insulting lines which came +to her at that moment of the play: + + I am not of those women void of shame, + Who, savoring in crime the joys of peace, + Harden their faces till they cannot blush! + +The whole house rose and burst forth into tremendous applause. +Adrienne had won, for the woman who had tried to shame her rose in +trepidation and hurried from the theater. + +But the end was not yet. Those were evil times, when dark deeds +were committed by the great almost with impunity. Secret poisoning +was a common trade. To remove a rival was as usual a thing in the +eighteenth century as to snub a rival is usual in the twentieth. + +Not long afterward, on the night of March 15, 1730, Adrienne +Lecouvreur was acting in one of Voltaire's plays with all her +power and instinctive art when suddenly she was seized with the +most frightful pains. Her anguish was obvious to every one who saw +her, and yet she had the courage to go through her part. Then she +fainted and was carried home. + +Four days later she died, and her death was no less dramatic than +her life had been. Her lover and two friends of his were with her, +and also a Jesuit priest. He declined to administer extreme +unction unless she would declare that she repented of her +theatrical career. She stubbornly refused, since she believed that +to be the greatest actress of her time was not a sin. Yet still +the priest insisted. + +Then came the final moment. + +"Weary and revolting against this death, this destiny, she +stretched her arms with one of the old lovely gestures toward a +bust which stood near by and cried--her last cry of passion: + +"'There is my world, my hope--yes, and my God!'" + +The bust was one of Maurice de Saxe. + + + + + +THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART + + +The royal families of Europe are widely known, yet not all of them +are equally renowned. Thus, the house of Romanoff, although +comparatively young, stands out to the mind with a sort of +barbaric power, more vividly than the Austrian house of Hapsburg, +which is the oldest reigning family in Europe, tracing its +beginnings backward until they are lost in the Dark Ages. The +Hohenzollerns of Prussia are comparatively modern, so far as +concerns their royalty. The offshoots of the Bourbons carry on a +very proud tradition in the person of the King of Spain, although +France, which has been ruled by so many members of the family, +will probably never again behold a Bourbon king. The deposed +Braganzas bear a name which is ancient, but which has a somewhat +tinsel sound. + +The Bonapartes, of course, are merely parvenus, and they have had +the good taste to pretend to no antiquity of birth. The first +Napoleon, dining at a table full of monarchs, when he heard one of +them deferentially alluding to the Bonaparte family as being very +old and noble, exclaimed: + +"Pish! My nobility dates from the day of Marengo!" + +And the third Napoleon, in announcing his coming marriage with +Mlle. de Montijo, used the very word "parvenu" in speaking of +himself and of his family. His frankness won the hearts of the +French people and helped to reconcile them to a marriage in which +the bride was barely noble. + +In English history there are two great names to conjure by, at +least to the imaginative. One is Plantagenet, which seems to +contain within itself the very essence of all that is patrician, +magnificent, and royal. It calls to memory at once the lion- +hearted Richard, whose short reign was replete with romance in +England and France and Austria and the Holy Land. + +But perhaps a name of greater influence is that which links the +royal family of Britain today with the traditions of the past, and +which summons up legend and story and great deeds of history. This +is the name of Stuart, about which a whole volume might be written +to recall its suggestions and its reminiscences. + +The first Stuart (then Stewart) of whom anything is known got his +name from the title of "Steward of Scotland," which remained in +the family for generations, until the sixth of the line, by +marriage with Princess Marjory Bruce, acquired the Scottish crown. +That was in the early years of the fourteenth century; and +finally, after the death of Elizabeth of England, her rival's son, +James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, united under one crown +two kingdoms that had so long been at almost constant war. + +It is almost characteristic of the Scot that, having small +territory, little wealth, and a seat among his peers that is +almost ostentatiously humble, he should bit by bit absorb the +possessions of all the rest and become their master. Surely, the +proud Tudors, whose line ended with Elizabeth, must have despised +the "Stewards," whose kingdom was small and bleak and cold, and +who could not control their own vassals. + +One can imagine also, with Sir Walter Scott, the haughty nobles of +the English court sneering covertly at the awkward, shambling +James, pedant and bookworm. Nevertheless, his diplomacy was almost +as good as that of Elizabeth herself; and, though he did some +foolish things, he was very far from being a fool. + +In his appearance James was not unlike Abraham Lincoln--an +unkingly figure; and yet, like Lincoln, when occasion required it +he could rise to the dignity which makes one feel the presence of +a king. He was the only Stuart who lacked anything in form or +feature or external grace. His son, Charles I., was perhaps one of +the worst rulers that England has ever had; yet his uprightness of +life, his melancholy yet handsome face, his graceful bearing, and +the strong religious element in his character, together with the +fact that he was put to death after being treacherously +surrendered to his enemies--all these have combined to make almost +a saint of him. There are Englishmen to-day who speak of him as +"the martyr king," and who, on certain days of the year, say +prayers that beg the Lord's forgiveness because of Charles's +execution. + +The members of the so-called League of the White Rose, founded to +perpetuate English allegiance to the direct line of Stuarts, do +many things that are quite absurd. They refuse to pray for the +present King of England and profess to think that the Princess +Mary of Bavaria is the true ruler of Great Britain. All this +represents that trace of sentiment which lingers among the English +to-day. They feel that the Stuarts were the last kings of England +to rule by the grace of God rather than by the grace of +Parliament. As a matter of fact, the present reigning family in +England is glad to derive its ancient strain of royal blood +through a Stuart--descended on the distaff side from James I., +and winding its way through Hanover. + +This sentiment for the Stuarts is a thing entirely apart from +reason and belongs to the realm of poetry and romance; yet so +strong is it that it has shown itself in the most inconsistent +fashion. For instance, Sir Walter Scott was a devoted adherent of +the house of Hanover. When George IV. visited Edinburgh, Scott was +completely carried away by his loyal enthusiasm. He could not see +that the man before him was a drunkard and braggart. He viewed him +as an incarnation of all the noble traits that ought to hedge +about a king. He snatched up a wine-glass from which George had +just been drinking and carried it away to be an object of +reverence for ever after. Nevertheless, in his heart, and often in +his speech, Scott seemed to be a high Tory, and even a Jacobite. + +There are precedents for this. The Empress Eugenie used often to +say with a laugh that she was the only true royalist at the +imperial court of France. That was well enough for her in her days +of flightiness and frivolity. No one, however, accused Queen +Victoria of being frivolous, and she was not supposed to have a +strong sense of humor. None the less, after listening to the +skirling of the bagpipes and to the romantic ballads which were +sung in Scotland she is said to have remarked with a sort of sigh: + +"Whenever I hear those ballads I feel that England belongs really +to the Stuarts!" + +Before Queen Victoria was born, when all the sons of George III. +were childless, the Duke of Kent was urged to marry, so that he +might have a family to continue the succession. In resenting the +suggestion he said many things, and among them this was the most +striking: + +"Why don't you call the Stuarts back to England? They couldn't +possibly make a worse mess of it than our fellows have!" + +But he yielded to persuasion and married. From this marriage came +Victoria, who had the sacred drop of Stuart blood which gave +England to the Hanoverians; and she was to redeem the blunders and +tyrannies of both houses. + +The fascination of the Stuarts, which has been carried overseas to +America and the British dominions, probably began with the +striking history of Mary Queen of Scots. Her brilliancy and +boldness and beauty, and especially the pathos of her end, have +made us see only her intense womanliness, which in her own day was +the first thing that any one observed in her. So, too, with +Charles I., romantic figure and knightly gentleman. One regrets +his death upon the scaffold, even though his execution was +necessary to the growth of freedom. + +Many people are no less fascinated by Charles II., that very +different type, with his gaiety, his good-fellowship, and his +easy-going ways. It is not surprising that his people, most of +whom never saw him, were very fond of him, and did not know that +he was selfish, a loose liver, and almost a vassal of the king of +France. + +So it is not strange that the Stuarts, with all their arts and +graces, were very hard to displace. James II., with the aid of the +French, fought hard before the British troops in Ireland broke the +backs of both his armies and sent him into exile. Again in 1715--an +episode perpetuated in Thackeray's dramatic story of Henry Esmond +--came the son of James to take advantage of the vacancy caused by +the death of Queen Anne. But it is perhaps to this claimant's son, +the last of the militant Stuarts, that more chivalrous feeling has +been given than to any other. + +To his followers he was the Young Chevalier, the true Prince of +Wales; to his enemies, the Whigs and the Hanoverians, he was "the +Pretender." One of the most romantic chapters of history is the +one which tells of that last brilliant dash which he made upon the +coast of Scotland, landing with but a few attendants and rejecting +the support of a French army. + +"It is not with foreigners," he said, "but with my own loyal +subjects, that I wish to regain the kingdom for my father." + +It was a daring deed, and the spectacular side of it has been +often commemorated, especially in Sir Walter Scott's Waverley. +There we see the gallant prince moving through a sort of military +panorama. Most of the British troops were absent in Flanders, and +the few regiments that could be mustered to meet him were appalled +by the ferocity and reckless courage of the Highlanders, who +leaped down like wildcats from their hills and flung themselves +with dirk and sword upon the British cannon. + +We see Sir John Cope retiring at Falkirk, and the astonishing +victory of Prestonpans, where disciplined British troops fled in +dismay through the morning mist, leaving artillery and supplies +behind them. It is Scott again who shows us the prince, master of +Edinburgh for a time, while the white rose of Stuart royalty held +once more the ancient keep above the Scottish capital. Then we see +the Chevalier pressing southward into England, where he hoped to +raise an English army to support his own. But his Highlanders +cared nothing for England, and the English--even the Catholic +gentry--would not rise to support his cause. + +Personally, he had every gift that could win allegiance. Handsome, +high-tempered, and brave, he could also control his fiery spirit +and listen to advice, however unpalatable it might be. + +The time was favorable. The British troops had been defeated on +the Continent by Marshal Saxe, of whom I have already written, and +by Marshal d'Estrees. George II. was a king whom few respected. He +could scarcely speak anything but German. He grossly ill-treated +his wife. It is said that on one occasion, in a fit of temper, he +actually kicked the prime minister. Not many felt any personal +loyalty to him, and he spent most of his time away from England in +his other domain of Hanover. + +But precisely here was a reason why Englishmen were willing to put +up with him. As between him and the brilliant Stuart there would +have been no hesitation had the choice been merely one of men; but +it was believed that the return of the Stuarts meant the return of +something like absolute government, of taxation without sanction +of law, and of religious persecution. Under the Hanoverian George +the English people had begun to exercise a considerable measure of +self-government. Sharp opposition in Parliament compelled him time +and again to yield; and when he was in Hanover the English were +left to work out the problem of free government. + +Hence, although Prince Charles Edward fascinated all who met him, +and although a small army was raised for his support, still the +unromantic, common-sense Englishmen felt that things were better +than in the days gone by, and most of them refused to take up arms +for the cause which sentimentally they favored. Therefore, +although the Chevalier stirred all England and sent a thrill +through the officers of state in London, his soldiers gradually +deserted, and the Scots insisted on returning to their own +country. Although the Stuart troops reached a point as far south +as Derby, they were soon pushed backward into Scotland, pursued by +an army of about nine thousand men under the Duke of Cumberland, +son of George II. + +Cumberland was no soldier; he had been soundly beaten by the +French on the famous field of Fontenoy. Yet he had firmness and a +sort of overmastering brutality, which, with disciplined troops +and abundant artillery, were sufficient to win a victory over the +untrained Highlanders. + +When the battle came five thousand of these mountaineers went +roaring along the English lines, with the Chevalier himself at +their head. For a moment there was surprise. The Duke of +Cumberland had been drinking so heavily that he could give no +verbal orders. One of his officers, however, is said to have come +to him in his tent, where he was trying to play cards. + +"What disposition shall we make of the prisoners?" asked the +officer. + +The duke tried to reply, but his utterance was very thick. + +"No quarter!" he was believed to say. + +The officer objected and begged that such an order as that should +be given in writing. The duke rolled over and seized a sheaf of +playing-cards. Pulling one out, he scrawled the necessary order, +and that was taken to the commanders in the field. + +The Highlanders could not stand the cannon fire, and the English +won. Then the fury of the common soldiery broke loose upon the +country. + +There was a reign of fantastic and fiendish brutality. One provost +of the town was violently kicked for a mild remonstrance about the +destruction of the Episcopalian meeting-house; another was +condemned to clean out dirty stables. Men and women were whipped +and tortured on slight suspicion or to extract information. +Cumberland frankly professed his contempt and hatred of the people +among whom he found himself, but he savagely punished robberies +committed by private soldiers for their own profit. + +"Mild measures will not do," he wrote to Newcastle. + +When leaving the North in July, he said: + +"All the good we have done is but a little blood-letting, which +has only weakened the madness, but not at all cured it; and I +tremble to fear that this vile spot may still be the ruin of this +island and of our family." + +Such was the famous battle of Culloden, fought in 1746, and +putting a final end to the hopes of all the Stuarts. As to +Cumberland's order for "No quarter," if any apology can be made +for such brutality, it must be found in the fact that the Highland +chiefs had on their side agreed to spare no captured enemy. + +The battle has also left a name commonly given to the nine of +diamonds, which is called "the curse of Scotland," because it is +said that on that card Cumberland wrote his bloodthirsty order. + +Such, in brief, was the story of Prince Charlie's gallant attempt +to restore the kingdom of his ancestors. Even when defeated, he +would not at once leave Scotland. A French squadron appeared off +the coast near Edinburgh. It had been sent to bring him troops and +a large supply of money, but he turned his back upon it and made +his way into the Highlands on foot, closely pursued by English +soldiers and Lowland spies. + +This part of his career is in reality the most romantic of all. He +was hunted closely, almost as by hounds. For weeks he had only +such sleep as he could snatch during short periods of safety, and +there were times when his pursuers came within an inch of +capturing him. But never in his life were his spirits so high. + +It was a sort of life that he had never seen before, climbing the +mighty rocks, and listening to the thunder of the cataracts, among +which he often slept, with only one faithful follower to guard +him. The story of his escape is almost incredible, but he laughed +and drank and rolled upon the grass when he was free from care. He +hobnobbed with the most suspicious-looking caterans, with whom he +drank the smoky brew of the North, and lived as he might on fish +and onions and bacon and wild fowl, with an appetite such as he +had never known at the luxurious court of Versailles or St.-Germain. + +After the battle of Culloden the prince would have been captured +had not a Scottish girl named Flora Macdonald met him, caused him +to be dressed in the clothes of her waiting-maid, and thus got +him off to the Isle of Skye. + +There for a time it was impossible to follow him; and there the +two lived almost alone together. Such a proximity could not fail +to stir the romantic feeling of one who was both a youth and a +prince. On the other hand, no thought of love-making seems to have +entered Flora's mind. If, however, we read Campbell's narrative +very closely we can see that Prince Charles made every advance +consistent with a delicate remembrance of her sex and services. + +It seems to have been his thought that if she cared for him, then +the two might well love; and he gave her every chance to show him +favor. The youth of twenty-five and the girl of twenty-four +roamed together in the long, tufted grass or lay in the sunshine +and looked out over the sea. The prince would rest his head in her +lap, and she would tumble his golden hair with her slender fingers +and sometimes clip off tresses which she preserved to give to +friends of hers as love-locks. But to the last he was either too +high or too low for her, according to her own modest thought. He +was a royal prince, the heir to a throne, or else he was a boy +with whom she might play quite fancy-free. A lover he could not +be--so pure and beautiful was her thought of him. + +These were perhaps the most delightful days of all his life, as +they were a beautiful memory in hers. In time he returned to +France and resumed his place amid the intrigues that surrounded +that other Stuart prince who styled himself James III., and still +kept up the appearance of a king in exile. As he watched the +artifice and the plotting of these make-believe courtiers he may +well have thought of his innocent companion of the Highland wilds. + +As for Flora, she was arrested and imprisoned for five months on +English vessels of war. After her release she was married, in +1750; and she and her husband sailed for the American colonies +just before the Revolution. In that war Macdonald became a British +officer and served against his adopted countrymen. Perhaps because +of this reason Flora returned alone to Scotland, where she died at +the age of sixty-eight. + +The royal prince who would have given her his easy love lived a +life of far less dignity in the years that followed his return to +France. There was no more hope of recovering the English throne. +For him there were left only the idle and licentious diversions of +such a court as that in which his father lived. + +At the death of James III., even this court was disintegrated, and +Prince Charles led a roving life under the title of Earl of +Albany. In his wanderings he met Louise Marie, the daughter of a +German prince, Gustavus Adolphus of Stolberg. She was only +nineteen years of age when she first felt the fascination that he +still possessed; but it was an unhappy marriage for the girl when +she discovered that her husband was a confirmed drunkard. + +Not long after, in fact, she found her life with him so utterly +intolerable that she persuaded the Pope to allow her a formal +separation. The pontiff intrusted her to her husband's brother, +Cardinal York, who placed her in a convent and presently removed +her to his own residence in Rome. + +Here begins another romance. She was often visited by Vittorio +Alfieri, the great Italian poet and dramatist. Alfieri was a man +of wealth. In early years he divided his time into alternate +periods during which he either studied hard in civil and canonical +law, or was a constant attendant upon the race-course, or rushed +aimlessly all over Europe without any object except to wear out +the post-horses which he used in relays over hundreds of miles of +road. His life, indeed, was eccentric almost to insanity; but when +he had met the beautiful and lonely Countess of Albany there came +over him a striking change. She influenced him for all that was +good, and he used to say that he owed her all that was best in his +dramatic works. + +Sixteen years after her marriage her royal husband died, a worn- +out, bloated wreck of one who had been as a youth a model of +knightliness and manhood. During his final years he had fallen to +utter destitution, and there was either a touch of half contempt +or a feeling of remote kinship in the act of George III., who +bestowed upon the prince an annual pension of four thousand +pounds. It showed most plainly that England was now consolidated +under Hanoverian rule. + +When Cardinal York died, in 1807, there was no Stuart left in the +male line; and the countess was the last to bear the royal +Scottish name of Albany. + +After the prince's death his widow is said to have been married to +Alfieri, and for the rest of her life she lived in Florence, +though Alfieri died nearly twenty-one years before her. + +Here we have seen a part of the romance which attaches itself to +the name of Stuart--in the chivalrous young prince, leading his +Highlanders against the bayonets of the British, lolling idly +among the Hebrides, or fallen, at the last, to be a drunkard and +the husband of an unwilling consort, who in her turn loved a +famous poet. But it is this Stuart, after all, of whom we think +when we hear the bagpipes skirling "Over the Water to Charlie" or +"Wha'll be King but Charlie?" + + + + + + +FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY + +THE ROMANCE OF DEVOTION + +BY LYNDON ORR + +VOLUME II of IV. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE EMPRESS CATHARINE AND PRINCE POTEMKIN +MARIE ANTOINETTE AND COUNT FERSEN +THE STORY OF AARON BURR +GEORGE IV. AND MRS. FITZHERBERT +CHARLOTTE CORDAY AND ADAM LUX +NAPOLEON AND MARIE WALEWSKA +THE STORY OF PAULINE BONAPARTE +THE STORY OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE AND COUNT NEIPPERG + + + + + +THE EMPRESS CATHARINE AND PRINCE POTEMKIN + + +It has often been said that the greatest Frenchman who ever lived +was in reality an Italian. It might with equal truth be asserted +that the greatest Russian woman who ever lived was in reality a +German. But the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Catharine II. +resemble each other in something else. Napoleon, though Italian in +blood and lineage, made himself so French in sympathy and +understanding as to be able to play upon the imagination of all +France as a great musician plays upon a splendid instrument, with +absolute sureness of touch and an ability to extract from it every +one of its varied harmonies. So the Empress Catharine of Russia-- +perhaps the greatest woman who ever ruled a nation--though born of +German parents, became Russian to the core and made herself the +embodiment of Russian feeling and Russian aspiration. + +At the middle of the eighteenth century Russia was governed by the +Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great. In her own time, +and for a long while afterward, her real capacity was obscured by +her apparent indolence, her fondness for display, and her seeming +vacillation; but now a very high place is accorded her in the +history of Russian rulers. She softened the brutality that had +reigned supreme in Russia. She patronized the arts. Her armies +twice defeated Frederick the Great and raided his capital, Berlin. +Had Elizabeth lived, she would probably have crushed him. + +In her early years this imperial woman had been betrothed to Louis +XV. of France, but the match was broken off. Subsequently she +entered into a morganatic marriage and bore a son who, of course, +could not be her heir. In 1742, therefore, she looked about for a +suitable successor, and chose her nephew, Prince Peter of +Holstein-Gottorp. + +Peter, then a mere youth of seventeen, was delighted with so +splendid a future, and came at once to St. Petersburg. The empress +next sought for a girl who might marry the young prince and thus +become the future Czarina. She thought first of Frederick the +Great's sister; but Frederick shrank from this alliance, though it +would have been of much advantage to him. He loved his sister-- +indeed, she was one of the few persons for whom he ever really +cared. So he declined the offer and suggested instead the young +Princess Sophia of the tiny duchy of Anhalt-Zerbst. + +The reason for Frederick's refusal was his knowledge of the semi- +barbarous conditions that prevailed at the Russian court. + +The Russian capital, at that time, was a bizarre, half-civilized, +half-oriental place, where, among the very highest-born, a thin +veneer of French elegance covered every form of brutality and +savagery and lust. It is not surprising, therefore, that Frederick +the Great was unwilling to have his sister plunged into such a +life. + +But when the Empress Elizabeth asked the Princess Sophia of +Anhalt-Zerbst to marry the heir to the Russian throne the young +girl willingly accepted, the more so as her mother practically +commanded it. This mother of hers was a grim, harsh German woman +who had reared her daughter in the strictest fashion, depriving +her of all pleasure with a truly puritanical severity. In the case +of a different sort of girl this training would have crushed her +spirit; but the Princess Sophia, though gentle and refined in +manner, had a power of endurance which was toughened and +strengthened by the discipline she underwent. + +And so in 1744, when she was but sixteen years of age, she was +taken by her mother to St. Petersburg. There she renounced the +Lutheran faith and was received into the Greek Church, changing +her name to Catharine. Soon after, with great magnificence, she +was married to Prince Peter, and from that moment began a career +which was to make her the most powerful woman in the world. + +At this time a lady of the Russian court wrote down a description +of Catharine's appearance. She was fair-haired, with dark-blue +eyes; and her face, though never beautiful, was made piquant and +striking by the fact that her brows were very dark in contrast +with her golden hair. Her complexion was not clear, yet her look +was a very pleasing one. She had a certain diffidence of manner at +first; but later she bore herself with such instinctive dignity as +to make her seem majestic, though in fact she was beneath the +middle size. At the time of her marriage her figure was slight and +graceful; only in after years did she become stout. Altogether, +she came to St. Petersburg an attractive, pure-minded German +maiden, with a character well disciplined, and possessing reserves +of power which had not yet been drawn upon. + +Frederick the Great's forebodings, which had led him to withhold +his sister's hand, were almost immediately justified in the case +of Catharine. Her Russian husband revealed to her a mode of life +which must have tried her very soul. This youth was only +seventeen--a mere boy in age, and yet a full-grown man in the rank +luxuriance of his vices. Moreover, he had eccentricities which +sometimes verged upon insanity. Too young to be admitted to the +councils of his imperial aunt, he occupied his time in ways that +were either ridiculous or vile. + +Next to the sleeping-room of his wife he kept a set of kennels, +with a number of dogs, which he spent hours in drilling as if they +had been soldiers. He had a troop of rats which he also drilled. +It was his delight to summon a court martial of his dogs to try +the rats for various military offenses, and then to have the +culprits executed, leaving their bleeding carcasses upon the +floor. At any hour of the day or night Catharine, hidden in her +chamber, could hear the yapping of the curs, the squeak of rats, +and the word of command given by her half-idiot husband. + +When wearied of this diversion Peter would summon a troop of +favorites, both men and women, and with them he would drink deep +of beer and vodka, since from his early childhood he had been both +a drunkard and a debauchee. The whoops and howls and vile songs of +his creatures could be heard by Catharine; and sometimes he would +stagger into her rooms, accompanied by his drunken minions. With a +sort of psychopathic perversity he would insist on giving +Catharine the most minute and repulsive narratives of his amours, +until she shrank from him with horror at his depravity and came to +loathe the sight of his bloated face, with its little, twinkling, +porcine eyes, his upturned nose and distended nostrils, and his +loose-hung, lascivious mouth. She was scarcely less repelled when +a wholly different mood would seize upon him and he would declare +himself her slave, attending her at court functions in the garb of +a servant and professing an unbounded devotion for his bride. + +Catharine's early training and her womanly nature led her for a +long time to submit to the caprices of her husband. In his saner +moments she would plead with him and strive to interest him in +something better than his dogs and rats and venal mistresses; but +Peter was incorrigible. Though he had moments of sense and even of +good feeling, these never lasted, and after them he would plunge +headlong into the most frantic excesses that his half-crazed +imagination could devise. + +It is not strange that in course of time Catharine's strong good +sense showed her that she could do nothing with this creature. She +therefore gradually became estranged from him and set herself to +the task of doing those things which Peter was incapable of +carrying out. + +She saw that ever since the first awakening of Russia under Peter +the Great none of its rulers had been genuinely Russian, but had +tried to force upon the Russian people various forms of western +civilization which were alien to the national spirit. Peter the +Great had striven to make his people Dutch. Elizabeth had tried to +make them French. Catharine, with a sure instinct, resolved that +they should remain Russian, borrowing what they needed from other +peoples, but stirred always by the Slavic spirit and swayed by a +patriotism that was their own. To this end she set herself to +become Russian. She acquired the Russian language patiently and +accurately. She adopted the Russian costume, appearing, except on +state occasions, in a simple gown of green, covering her fair +hair, however, with a cap powdered with diamonds. Furthermore, she +made friends of such native Russians as were gifted with talent, +winning their favor, and, through them, the favor of the common +people. + +It would have been strange, however, had Catharine, the woman, +escaped the tainting influences that surrounded her on every side. +The infidelities of Peter gradually made her feel that she owed +him nothing as his wife. Among the nobles there were men whose +force of character and of mind attracted her inevitably. Chastity +was a thing of which the average Russian had no conception; and +therefore it is not strange that Catharine, with her intense and +sensitive nature, should have turned to some of these for the love +which she had sought in vain from the half imbecile to whom she +had been married. + +Much has been written of this side of her earlier and later life; +yet, though it is impossible to deny that she had favorites, one +should judge very gently the conduct of a girl so young and thrust +into a life whence all the virtues seemed to be excluded. She bore +several children before her thirtieth year, and it is very certain +that a grave doubt exists as to their paternity. Among the nobles +of the court were two whose courage and virility specially +attracted her. The one with whom her name has been most often +coupled was Gregory Orloff. He and his brother, Alexis Orloff, +were Russians of the older type--powerful in frame, suave in +manner except when roused, yet with a tigerish ferocity slumbering +underneath. Their power fascinated Catharine, and it was currently +declared that Gregory Orloff was her lover. + +When she was in her thirty-second year her husband was proclaimed +Czar, after the death of the Empress Elizabeth. At first in some +ways his elevation seemed to sober him; but this period of sanity, +like those which had come to him before, lasted only a few weeks. +Historians have given him much credit for two great reforms that +are connected with his name; and yet the manner in which they were +actually brought about is rather ludicrous. He had shut himself up +with his favorite revelers, and had remained for several days +drinking and carousing until he scarcely knew enough to speak. At +this moment a young officer named Gudovitch, who was really loyal +to the newly created Czar, burst into the banquet-hall, booted and +spurred and his eyes aflame with indignation. Standing before +Peter, his voice rang out with the tone of a battle trumpet, so +that the sounds of revelry were hushed. + +"Peter Feodorovitch," he cried, "do you prefer these swine to +those who really wish to serve you? Is it in this way that you +imitate the glories of your ancestor, that illustrious Peter whom +you have sworn to take as your model? It will not be long before +your people's love will be changed to hatred. Rise up, my Czar! +Shake off this lethargy and sloth. Prove that you are worthy of +the faith which I and others have given you so loyally!" + +With these words Gudovitch thrust into Peter's trembling hand two +proclamations, one abolishing the secret bureau of police, which +had become an instrument of tyrannous oppression, and the other +restoring to the nobility many rights of which they had been +deprived. + +The earnestness and intensity of Gudovitch temporarily cleared the +brain of the drunken Czar. He seized the papers, and, without +reading them, hastened at once to his great council, where he +declared that they expressed his wishes. Great was the rejoicing +in St. Petersburg, and great was the praise bestowed on Peter; +yet, in fact, he had acted only as any drunkard might act under +the compulsion of a stronger will than his. + +As before, his brief period of good sense was succeeded by another +of the wildest folly. It was not merely that he reversed the wise +policy of his aunt, but that he reverted to his early fondness for +everything that was German. His bodyguard was made up of German +troops--thus exciting the jealousy of the Russian soldiers. He +introduced German fashions. He boasted that his father had been an +officer in the Prussian army. His crazy admiration for Frederick +the Great reached the utmost verge of sycophancy. + +As to Catharine, he turned on her with something like ferocity. He +declared in public that his eldest son, the Czarevitch Paul, was +really fathered by Catharine's lovers. At a state banquet he +turned to Catharine and hurled at her a name which no woman could +possibly forgive--and least of all a woman such as Catharine, +with her high spirit and imperial pride. He thrust his mistresses +upon her; and at last he ordered her, with her own hand, to +decorate the Countess Vorontzoff, who was known to be his +maitresse en titre. + +It was not these gross insults, however, so much as a concern for +her personal safety that led Catharine to take measures for her +own defense. She was accustomed to Peter's ordinary +eccentricities. On the ground of his unfaithfulness to her she now +had hardly any right to make complaint. But she might reasonably +fear lest he was becoming mad. If he questioned the paternity of +their eldest son he might take measures to imprison Catharine or +even to destroy her. Therefore she conferred with the Orloffs and +other gentlemen, and their conference rapidly developed into a +conspiracy. + +The soldiery, as a whole, was loyal to the empress. It hated +Peter's Holstein guards. What she planned was probably the +deposition of Peter. She would have liked to place him under guard +in some distant palace. But while the matter was still under +discussion she was awakened early one morning by Alexis Orloff. He +grasped her arm with scant ceremony. + +"We must act at once," said he. "We have been betrayed!" + +Catharine was not a woman to waste time. She went immediately to +the barracks in St. Petersburg, mounted upon a charger, and, +calling out the Russian guards, appealed to them for their +support. To a man they clashed their weapons and roared forth a +thunderous cheer. Immediately afterward the priests anointed her +as regent in the name of her son; but as she left the church she +was saluted by the people, as well as by the soldiers, as empress +in her own right. + +It was a bold stroke, and it succeeded down to the last detail. +The wretched Peter, who was drilling his German guards at a +distance from the capital, heard of the revolt, found that his +sailors at Kronstadt would not acknowledge him, and then finally +submitted. He was taken to Ropsha and confined within a single +room. To him came the Orloffs, quite of their own accord. Gregory +Orloff endeavored to force a corrosive poison into Peter's mouth. +Peter, who was powerful of build and now quite desperate, hurled +himself upon his enemies. Alexis Orloff seized him by the throat +with a tremendous clutch and strangled him till the blood gushed +from his ears. In a few moments the unfortunate man was dead. + +Catharine was shocked by the intelligence, but she had no choice +save to accept the result of excessive zeal. She issued a note to +the foreign ambassadors informing them that Peter had died of a +violent colic. When his body was laid out for burial the +extravasated blood is said to have oozed out even through his +hands, staining the gloves that had been placed upon them. No one +believed the story of the colic; and some six years later Alexis +Orloff told the truth with the utmost composure. The whole +incident was characteristically Russian. + +It is not within the limits of our space to describe the reign of +Catharine the Great--the exploits of her armies, the acuteness of +her statecraft, the vast additions which she made to the Russian +Empire, and the impulse which she gave to science and art and +literature. Yet these things ought to be remembered first of all +when one thinks of the woman whom Voltaire once styled "the +Semiramis of the North." Because she was so powerful, because no +one could gainsay her, she led in private a life which has been +almost more exploited than her great imperial achievements. And +yet, though she had lovers whose names have been carefully +recorded, even she fulfilled the law of womanhood--which is to +love deeply and intensely only once, + +One should not place all her lovers in the same category. As a +girl, and when repelled by the imbecility of Peter, she gave +herself to Gregory Orloff. She admired his strength, his daring, +and his unscrupulousness. But to a woman of her fine intelligence +he came to seem almost more brute than man. She could not turn to +him for any of those delicate attentions which a woman loves so +much, nor for that larger sympathy which wins the heart as well as +captivates the senses. A writer of the time has said that Orloff +would hasten with equal readiness from the arms of Catharine to +the embraces of any flat-nosed Finn or filthy Calmuck or to the +lowest creature whom he might encounter in the streets. + +It happened that at the time of Catharine's appeal to the imperial +guards there came to her notice another man who--as he proved in a +trifling and yet most significant manner--had those traits which +Orloff lacked. Catharine had mounted, man--fashion, a cavalry +horse, and, with a helmet on her head, had reined up her steed +before the barracks. At that moment One of the minor nobles, who +was also favorable to her, observed that her helmet had no plume. +In a moment his horse was at her side. Bowing low over his saddle, +he took his own plume from his helmet and fastened it to hers. +This man was Prince Gregory Potemkin, and this slight act gives a +clue to the influence which he afterward exercised over his +imperial mistress! + +When Catharine grew weary of the Orloffs, and when she had +enriched them with lands and treasures, she turned to Potemkin; +and from then until the day of his death he was more to her than +any other man had ever been. With others she might flirt and might +go even further than flirtation; but she allowed no other favorite +to share her confidence, to give advice, or to direct her +policies. + +To other men she made munificent gifts, either because they +pleased her for the moment or because they served her on one +occasion or another; but to Potemkin she opened wide the whole +treasury of her vast realm. There was no limit to what she would +do for him. When he first knew her he was a man of very moderate +fortune. Within two years after their intimate acquaintance had +begun she had given him nine million rubles, while afterward he +accepted almost limitless estates in Poland and in every province +of Greater Russia. + +He was a man of sumptuous tastes, and yet he cared but little for +mere wealth. What he had, he used to please or gratify or surprise +the woman whom he loved. He built himself a great palace in St. +Petersburg, usually known as the Taurian Palace, and there he gave +the most sumptuous entertainments, reversing the story of Antony +and Cleopatra. + +In a superb library there stood one case containing volumes bound +with unusual richness. When the empress, attracted by the +bindings, drew forth a book she found to her surprise that its +pages were English bank-notes. The pages of another proved to be +Dutch bank-notes, and, of another, notes on the Bank of Venice. Of +the remaining volumes some were of solid gold, while others had +pages of fine leather in which were set emeralds and rubies and +diamonds and other gems. The story reads like a bit of fiction +from the Arabian Nights. Yet, after all, this was only a small +affair compared with other undertakings with which Potemkin sought +to please her. + +Thus, after Taurida and the Crimea had been added to the empire by +Potemkin's agency, Catharine set out with him to view her new +possessions. A great fleet of magnificently decorated galleys bore +her down the river Dnieper. The country through which she passed +had been a year before an unoccupied waste. Now, by Potemkin's +extraordinary efforts, the empress found it dotted thick with +towns and cities which had been erected for the occasion, filled +with a busy population which swarmed along the riverside to greet +the sovereign with applause. It was only a chain of fantom towns +and cities, made of painted wood and canvas; but while Catharine +was there they were very real, seeming to have solid buildings, +magnificent arches, bustling industries, and beautiful stretches +of fertile country. No human being ever wrought on so great a +scale so marvelous a miracle of stage-management. + +Potemkin was, in fact, the one man who could appeal with unfailing +success to so versatile and powerful a spirit as Catharine's. He +was handsome of person, graceful of manner, and with an intellect +which matched her own. He never tried to force her inclination, +and, on the other hand, he never strove to thwart it. To him, as +to no other man, she could turn at any moment and feel that, no +matter what her mood, he could understand her fully. And this, +according to Balzac, is the thing that woman yearns for most--a +kindred spirit that can understand without the slightest need of +explanation. + +Thus it was that Gregory Potemkin held a place in the soul of this +great woman such as no one else attained. He might be absent, +heading armies or ruling provinces, and on his return he would be +greeted with even greater fondness than before. And it was this +rather than his victories over Turk and other oriental enemies +that made Catharine trust him absolutely. + +When he died, he died as the supreme master of her foreign policy +and at a time when her word was powerful throughout all Europe. +Death came upon him after he had fought against it with singular +tenacity of purpose. Catharine had given him a magnificent +triumph, and he had entertained her in his Taurian Palace with a +splendor such as even Russia had never known before. Then he fell +ill, though with high spirit he would not yield to illness. He ate +rich meats and drank rich wines and bore himself as gallantly as +ever. Yet all at once death came upon him while he was traveling +in the south of Russia. His carriage was stopped, a rug was spread +beneath a tree by the roadside, and there he died, in the country +which he had added to the realms of Russia, + +The great empress who loved him mourned him deeply during the five +years of life that still remained to her. The names of other men +for whom she had imagined that she cared were nothing to her. But +this one man lived in her heart in death as he had done in life. + +Many have written of Catharine as a great ruler, a wise diplomat, +a creature of heroic mold. Others have depicted her as a royal +wanton and have gathered together a mass of vicious tales, the +gossip of the palace kitchens, of the clubs, and of the barrack- +rooms. But perhaps one finds the chief interest of her story to +lie in this--that besides being empress and diplomat and a lover +of pleasure she was, beyond all else, at heart a woman. + + + + + +MARIE ANTOINETTE AND COUNT FERSEN + + +The English-speaking world long ago accepted a conventional view +of Marie Antoinette. The eloquence of Edmund Burke in one +brilliant passage has fixed, probably for all time, an enduring +picture of this unhappy queen. + +When we speak or think of her we speak and think first of all of a +dazzling and beautiful woman surrounded by the chivalry of France +and gleaming like a star in the most splendid court of Europe. And +then there comes to us the reverse of the picture. We see her +despised, insulted, and made the butt of brutal men and still more +fiendish women; until at last the hideous tumbrel conveys her to +the guillotine, where her head is severed from her body and her +corpse is cast down into a bloody pool. + +In these two pictures our emotions are played upon in turn-- +admiration, reverence, devotion, and then pity, indignation, and +the shudderings of horror. + +Probably in our own country and in England this will remain the +historic Marie Antoinette. Whatever the impartial historian may +write, he can never induce the people at large to understand that +this queen was far from queenly, that the popular idea of her is +almost wholly false, and that both in her domestic life and as the +greatest lady in France she did much to bring on the terrors of +that revolution which swept her to the guillotine. + +In the first place, it is mere fiction that represents Maria +Antoinette as having been physically beautiful. The painters and +engravers have so idealized her face as in most cases to have +produced a purely imaginary portrait. + +She was born in Vienna, in 1755, the daughter of the Emperor +Francis and of that warrior-queen, Maria Theresa. She was a very +German-looking child. Lady Jackson describes her as having a +long, thin face, small, pig-like eyes, a pinched-up mouth, with +the heavy Hapsburg lip, and with a somewhat misshapen form, so +that for years she had to be bandaged tightly to give her a more +natural figure. + +At fourteen, when she was betrothed to the heir to the French +throne, she was a dumpy, mean-looking little creature, with no +distinction whatever, and with only her bright golden hair to make +amends for her many blemishes. At fifteen she was married and +joined the Dauphin in French territory. + +We must recall for a moment the conditions which prevailed in +France. King Louis XV. was nearing his end. He was a man of the +most shameless life; yet he had concealed or gilded his infamies +by an external dignity and magnificence which, were very pleasing +to his people. The French, liked to think that their king was the +most splendid monarch and the greatest gentleman in Europe. The +courtiers about him might be vile beneath the surface, yet they +were compelled to deport themselves with the form and the +etiquette that had become traditional in France. They might be +panders, or stock-jobbers, or sellers of political offices; yet +they must none the less have wit and grace and outward nobility of +manner. + +There was also a tradition regarding the French queen. However +loose in character the other women of the court might be, she +alone, like Caesar's wife, must remain above suspicion. She must +be purer than the pure. No breath, of scandal must reach her or be +directed against her. + +In this way the French court, even under so dissolute a monarch as +Louis XV., maintained its hold upon the loyalty of the people. +Crowds came every morning to view the king in his bed before he +arose; the same crowds watched him as he was dressed by the +gentlemen of the bedchamber, and as he breakfasted and went +through all the functions which are usually private. The King of +France must be a great actor. He must appear to his people as in +reality a king-stately, dignified, and beyond all other human +beings in his remarkable presence. + +When the Dauphin and Marie Antoinette came to the French court +King Louis XV. kept up in the case the same semblance of +austerity. He forbade these children to have their sleeping- +apartments together. He tried to teach them that if they were to +govern as well as to reign they must conform to the rigid +etiquette of Paris and Versailles. + +It proved a difficult task, however. The little German princess +had no natural dignity, though she came from a court where the +very strictest imperial discipline prevailed. Marie Antoinette +found that she could have her own way in many things, and she +chose to enjoy life without regard to ceremony. Her escapades at +first would have been thought mild enough had she not been a +"daughter of France"; but they served to shock the old French +king, and likewise, perhaps even more, her own imperial mother, +Maria Theresa. + +When a report of the young girl's conduct was brought to her the +empress was at first mute with indignation. Then she cried out: + +"Can this girl be a child of mine? She surely must be a +changeling!" + +The Austrian ambassador to France was instructed to warn the +Dauphiness to be more discreet. + +"Tell her," said Maria Theresa, "that she will lose her throne, +and even her life, unless she shows more prudence." + +But advice and remonstrance were of no avail. Perhaps they might +have been had her husband possessed a stronger character; but the +young Louis was little more fitted to be a king than was his wife +to be a queen. Dull of perception and indifferent to affairs of +state, he had only two interests that absorbed him. One was the +love of hunting, and the other was his desire to shut himself up +in a sort of blacksmith shop, where he could hammer away at the +anvil, blow the bellows, and manufacture small trifles of +mechanical inventions. From this smudgy den he would emerge, sooty +and greasy, an object of distaste to his frivolous princess, with +her foamy laces and perfumes and pervasive daintiness. + +It was hinted in many quarters, and it has been many times +repeated, that Louis was lacking in virility. Certainly he had no +interest in the society of women and was wholly continent. But +this charge of physical incapacity seems to have had no real +foundation. It had been made against some of his predecessors. It +was afterward hurled at Napoleon the Great, and also Napoleon the +Little. In France, unless a royal personage was openly licentious, +he was almost sure to be jeered at by the people as a weakling. + +And so poor Louis XVI., as he came to be, was treated with a +mixture of pity and contempt because he loved to hammer and mend +locks in his smithy or shoot game when he might have been +caressing ladies who would have been proud to have him choose them +out. + +On the other hand, because of this opinion regarding Louis, people +were the more suspicious of Marie Antoinette. Some of them, in +coarse language, criticized her assumed infidelities; others, with +a polite sneer, affected to defend her. But the result of it all +was dangerous to both, especially as France was already verging +toward the deluge which Louis XV. had cynically predicted would +follow after him. + +In fact, the end came sooner than any one had guessed. Louis XV., +who had become hopelessly and helplessly infatuated with the low- +born Jeanne du Barry, was stricken down with smallpox of the most +virulent type. For many days he lay in his gorgeous bed. Courtiers +crowded his sick-room and the adjacent hall, longing for the +moment when the breath would leave his body. He had lived an evil +life, and he was to die a loathsome death; yet he had borne +himself before men as a stately monarch. Though his people had +suffered in a thousand ways from his misgovernment, he was still +Louis the Well Beloved, and they blamed his ministers of state for +all the shocking wrongs that France had felt. + +The abler men, and some of the leaders of the people, however, +looked forward to the accession of Louis XVI. He at least was +frugal in his habits and almost plebeian in his tastes, and seemed +to be one who would reduce the enormous taxes that had been levied +upon France. + +The moment came when the Well Beloved died. His death-room was +fetid with disease, and even the long corridors of the palace +reeked with infection, while the motley mob of men and women, clad +in silks and satins and glittering with jewels, hurried from the +spot to pay their homage to the new Louis, who was spoken of as +"the Desired." The body of the late monarch was hastily thrown +into a mass of quick-lime, and was driven away in a humble wagon, +without guards and with no salute, save from a single veteran, who +remembered the glories of Fontenoy and discharged his musket as +the royal corpse was carried through the palace gates. + +This was a critical moment in the history of France; but we have +to consider it only as a critical moment in the history of Marie +Antoinette. She was now queen. She had it in her power to restore +to the French court its old-time grandeur, and, so far as the +queen was concerned, its purity. Above all, being a foreigner, she +should have kept herself free from reproach and above every shadow +of suspicion. + +But here again the indifference of the king undoubtedly played a +strange part in her life. Had he borne himself as her lord and +master she might have respected him. Had he shown her the +affection of a husband she might have loved him. But he was +neither imposing, nor, on the other hand, was he alluring. She +wrote very frankly about him in a letter to the Count Orsini: + +My tastes are not the same as those of the king, who cares only +for hunting and blacksmith work. You will admit that I should not +show to advantage in a forge. I could not appear there as Vulcan, +and the part of Venus might displease him even more than my +tastes. + +Thus on the one side is a woman in the first bloom of youth, +ardent, eager--and neglected. On the other side is her husband, +whose sluggishness may be judged by quoting from a diary which he +kept during the month in which he was married. Here is a part of +it: + +Sunday, 13--Left Versailles. Supper and slept at Compignee, at the +house of M. de Saint-Florentin. + +Monday, 14--Interview with Mme. la Dauphine. + +Tuesday, 15--Supped at La Muette. Slept at Versailles. + +Wednesday, 16--My marriage. Apartment in the gallery. Royal +banquet in the Salle d'Opera. + +Thursday, 17--Opera of "Perseus." + +Friday, 18--Stag-hunt. Met at La Belle Image. Took one. + +Saturday, 19--Dress-ball in the Salle d'Opera. Fireworks. + +Thursday, 31--I had an indigestion. + +What might have been expected from a young girl placed as this +queen was placed? She was indeed an earlier Eugenie. The first was +of royal blood, the second was almost a plebeian; but each was +headstrong, pleasure-loving, and with no real domestic ties. As +Mr. Kipling expresses it-- + + The colonel's lady and Judy O'Grady + Are sisters under their skins; + +and so the Austrian woman of 1776 and the Spanish woman of 1856 +found amusement in very similar ways. They plunged into a sea of +strange frivolity, such as one finds to-day at the centers of high +fashion. Marie Antoinette bedecked herself with eccentric +garments. On her head she wore a hat styled a "what-is-it," +towering many feet in height and flaunting parti-colored plumes. +Worse than all this, she refused to wear corsets, and at some +great functions she would appear in what looked exactly like a +bedroom gown. + +She would even neglect the ordinary niceties of life. Her hands +were not well cared for. It was very difficult for the ladies in +attendance to persuade her to brush her teeth with regularity. +Again, she would persist in wearing her frilled and lace-trimmed +petticoats long after their dainty edges had been smirched and +blackened. + +Yet these things might have been counteracted had she gone no +further. Unfortunately, she did go further. She loved to dress at +night like a shop-girl and venture out into the world of Paris, +where she was frequently followed and recognized. Think of it--the +Queen of France, elbowed in dense crowds and seeking to attract +the attention of common soldiers! + +Of course, almost every one put the worst construction upon this, +and after a time upon everything she did. When she took a fancy +for constructing labyrinths and secret passages in the palace, all +Paris vowed that she was planning means by which her various +lovers might enter without observation. The hidden printing- +presses of Paris swarmed with gross lampoons about this reckless +girl; and, although there was little truth in what they said, +there was enough to cloud her reputation. When she fell ill with +the measles she was attended in her sick-chamber by four gentlemen +of the court. The king was forbidden to enter lest he might catch +the childish disorder. + +The apathy of the king, indeed, drove her into many a folly. After +four years of marriage, as Mrs. Mayne records, he had only reached +the point of giving her a chilly kiss. The fact that she had no +children became a serious matter. Her brother, the Emperor Joseph +of Austria, when he visited Paris, ventured to speak to the king +upon the subject. Even the Austrian ambassador had thrown out +hints that the house of Bourbon needed direct heirs. Louis grunted +and said little, but he must have known how good was the advice. + +It was at about this time when there came to the French court a +young Swede named Axel de Fersen, who bore the title of count, but +who was received less for his rank than for his winning manner, +his knightly bearing, and his handsome, sympathetic face. Romantic +in spirit, he threw himself at once into a silent inner worship of +Marie Antoinette, who had for him a singular attraction. Wherever +he could meet her they met. To her growing cynicism this breath of +pure yet ardent affection was very grateful. It came as something +fresh and sweet into the feverish life she led. + +Other men had had the audacity to woo her--among them Duc de +Lauzun, whose complicity in the famous affair of the diamond +necklace afterward cast her, though innocent, into ruin; the Duc +de Biron; and the Baron de Besenval, who had obtained much +influence over her, which he used for the most evil purposes. +Besenval tainted her mind by persuading her to read indecent +books, in the hope that at last she would become his prey. + +But none of these men ever meant to Marie Antoinette what Fersen +meant. Though less than twenty years of age, he maintained the +reserve of a great gentleman, and never forced himself upon her +notice. Yet their first acquaintance had occurred in such a way as +to give to it a touch of intimacy. He had gone to a masked ball, +and there had chosen for his partner a lady whose face was quite +concealed. Something drew the two together. The gaiety of the +woman and the chivalry of the man blended most harmoniously. It +was only afterward that he discovered that his chance partner was +the first lady in France. She kept his memory in her mind; for +some time later, when he was at a royal drawing-room and she heard +his voice, she exclaimed: + +"Ah, an old acquaintance!" + +From this time Fersen was among those who were most intimately +favored by the queen. He had the privilege of attending her +private receptions at the palace of the Trianon, and was a +conspicuous figure at the feasts given in the queen's honor by the +Princess de Lamballe, a beautiful girl whose head was destined +afterward to be severed from her body and borne upon a bloody pike +through the streets of Paris. But as yet the deluge had not +arrived and the great and noble still danced upon the brink of a +volcano. + +Fersen grew more and more infatuated, nor could he quite conceal +his feelings. The queen, in her turn, was neither frightened nor +indignant. His passion, so profound and yet so respectful, deeply +moved her. Then came a time when the truth was made clear to both +of them. Fersen was near her while she was singing to the +harpsichord, and "she was betrayed by her own music into an avowal +which song made easy." She forgot that she was Queen of France. +She only felt that her womanhood had been starved and slighted, +and that here was a noble-minded lover of whom she could be proud. + +Some time after this announcement was officially made of the +approaching accouchement of the queen. It was impossible that +malicious tongues should be silent. The king's brother, the Comte +de Provence, who hated the queen, just as the Bonapartes afterward +hated Josephine, did his best to besmirch her reputation. He had, +indeed, the extraordinary insolence to do so at a time when one +would suppose that the vilest of men would remain silent. The +child proved to be a princess, and she afterward received the +title of Duchesse d'Angouleme. The King of Spain asked to be her +godfather at the christening, which was to be held in the +cathedral of Notre Dame. The Spanish king was not present in +person, but asked the Comte de Provence to act as his proxy. + +On the appointed day the royal party proceeded to the cathedral, +and the Comte de Provence presented the little child at the +baptismal font. The grand almoner, who presided, asked; + +"What name shall be given to this child?" + +The Comte de Provence answered in a sneering tone: + +"Oh, we don't begin with that. The first thing to find out is who +the father and the mother are!" + +These words, spoken at such a place and such a time, and with a +strongly sardonic ring, set all Paris gossiping. It was a thinly +veiled innuendo that the father of the child was not the King of +France. Those about the court immediately began to look at Fersen +with significant smiles. The queen would gladly have kept him near +her; but Fersen cared even more for her good name than for his +love of her. It would have been so easy to remain in the full +enjoyment of his conquest; but he was too chivalrous for that, or, +rather, he knew that the various ambassadors in Paris had told +their respective governments of the rising scandal. In fact, the +following secret despatch was sent to the King of Sweden by his +envoy: + +I must confide to your majesty that the young Count Fersen has +been so well received by the queen that various persons have taken +it amiss. I own that I am sure that she has a liking for him. I +have seen proofs of it too certain to be doubted. During the last +few days the queen has not taken her eyes off him, and as she +gazed they were full of tears. I beg your majesty to keep their +secret to yourself. + +The queen wept because Fersen had resolved to leave her lest she +should be exposed to further gossip. If he left her without any +apparent reason, the gossip would only be the more intense. +Therefore he decided to join the French troops who were going to +America to fight under Lafayette. A brilliant but dissolute +duchess taunted him when the news became known. + +"How is this?" said she. "Do you forsake your conquest?" + +But, "lying like a gentleman," Fersen answered, quietly: + +"Had I made a conquest I should not forsake it. I go away free, +and, unfortunately, without leaving any regret." + +Nothing could have been more chivalrous than the pains which +Fersen took to shield the reputation of the queen. He even allowed +it to be supposed that he was planning a marriage with a rich +young Swedish woman who had been naturalized in England. As a +matter of fact, he departed for America, and not very long +afterward the young woman in question married an Englishman. + +Fersen served in America for a time, returning, however, at the +end of three years. He was one of the original Cincinnati, being +admitted to the order by Washington himself. When he returned to +France he was received with high honors and was made colonel of +the royal Swedish regiment. + +The dangers threatening Louis and his court, which were now +gigantic and appalling, forbade him to forsake the queen. By her +side he did what he could to check the revolution; and, failing +this, he helped her to maintain an imperial dignity of manner +which she might otherwise have lacked. He faced the bellowing mob +which surrounded the Tuileries. Lafayette tried to make the +National Guard obey his orders, but he was jeered at for his +pains. Violent epithets were hurled at the king. The least +insulting name which they could give him was "a fat pig." As for +the queen, the most filthy phrases were showered upon her by the +men, and even more so by the women, who swarmed out of the slums +and sought her life. + +At last, in 1791, it was decided that the king and the queen and +their children, of whom they now had three, should endeavor to +escape from Paris. Fersen planned their flight, but it proved to +be a failure. Every one remembers how they were discovered and +halted at Varennes. The royal party was escorted back to Paris by +the mob, which chanted with insolent additions: + +"We've brought back the baker, the baker's wife, and the baker's +boy! Now we shall have bread!" + +Against the savage fury which soon animated the French a foreigner +like Fersen could do very little; but he seems to have endeavored, +night and day, to serve the woman whom he loved. His efforts have +been described by Grandat; but they were of no avail. The king and +queen were practically made prisoners. Their eldest son died. They +went through horrors that were stimulated by the wretch Hebert, at +the head of his so-called Madmen (Enrages). The king was executed +in January, 1792. The queen dragged out a brief existence in a +prison where she was for ever under the eyes of human brutes, who +guarded her and watched her and jeered at her at times when even +men would be sensitive. Then, at last, she mounted the scaffold, +and her head, with its shining hair, fell into the bloody basket. + +Marie Antoinette shows many contradictions in her character. As a +young girl she was petulant and silly and almost unseemly in her +actions. As a queen, with waning power, she took on a dignity +which recalled the dignity of her imperial mother. At first a +flirt, she fell deeply in love when she met a man who was worthy +of that love. She lived for most part like a mere cocotte. She +died every inch a queen. + +One finds a curious resemblance between the fate of Marie +Antoinette and that of her gallant lover, who outlived her for +nearly twenty years. She died amid the shrieks and execrations of +a maddened populace in Paris; he was practically torn in pieces by +a mob in the streets of Stockholm. The day of his death was the +anniversary of the flight to Varennes. To the last moment of his +existence he remained faithful to the memory of the royal woman +who had given herself so utterly to him. + + + + + +THE STORY OF AARON BURR + + +There will come a time when the name of Aaron Burr will be cleared +from the prejudice which now surrounds it, when he will stand in +the public estimation side by side with Alexander Hamilton, whom +he shot in a duel in 1804, but whom in many respects he curiously +resembled. When the white light of history shall have searched +them both they will appear as two remarkable men, each having his +own undoubted faults and at the same time his equally undoubted +virtues. + +Burr and Hamilton were born within a year of each other--Burr +being a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, and Alexander Hamilton being +the illegitimate son of a Scottish merchant in the West Indies. +Each of them was short in stature, keen of intellect, of great +physical endurance, courage, and impressive personality. Each as a +young man served on the staff of Washington during the +Revolutionary War, and each of them quarreled with him, though in +a different way. + +On one occasion Burr was quite unjustly suspected by Washington of +looking over the latter's shoulder while he was writing. +"Washington leaped to his feet with the exclamation: + +"How dare you, Colonel Burr?" + +Burr's eyes flashed fire at the question, and he retorted, +haughtily: + +"Colonel Burr DARE do anything." + +This, however, was the end of their altercation The cause of +Hamilton's difference with his chief is not known, but it was a +much more serious quarrel; so that the young officer left his +staff position in a fury and took no part in the war until the +end, when he was present at the battle of Yorktown. + +Burr, on the other hand, helped Montgomery to storm the heights of +Quebec, and nearly reached the upper citadel when his commander +was shot dead and the Americans retreated. In all this confusion +Burr showed himself a man of mettle. The slain Montgomery was six +feet high, but Burr carried his body away with wonderful strength +amid a shower of musket-balls and grape-shot. + +Hamilton had no belief in the American Constitution, which he +called "a shattered, feeble thing." He could never obtain an +elective office, and he would have preferred to see the United +States transformed into a kingdom. Washington's magnanimity and +clear-sightedness made Hamilton Secretary of the Treasury. Burr, +on the other hand, continued his military service until the war +was ended, routing the enemy at Hackensack, enduring the horrors +of Valley Forge, commanding a brigade at the battle of Monmouth, +and heading the defense of the city of New Haven. He was also +attorney-general of New York, was elected to the United States +Senate, was tied with Jefferson for the Presidency, and then +became Vice-President. + +Both Hamilton and Burr were effective speakers; but, while +Hamilton was wordy and diffuse, Burr spoke always to the point, +with clear and cogent reasoning. Both were lavish spenders of +money, and both were engaged in duels before the fatal one in +which Hamilton fell. Both believed in dueling as the only way of +settling an affair of honor. Neither of them was averse to love +affairs, though it may be said that Hamilton sought women, while +Burr was rather sought by women. When Secretary of the Treasury, +Hamilton was obliged to confess an adulterous amour in order to +save himself from the charge of corrupt practices in public +office. So long as Burr's wife lived he was a devoted, faithful +husband to her. Hamilton was obliged to confess his illicit acts +while his wife, formerly Miss Elizabeth Schuyler, was living. She +spent her later years in buying and destroying the compromising +documents which her husband had published for his countrymen to +read. + +The most extraordinary thing about Aaron Burr was the magnetic +quality that was felt by every one who approached him. The roots +of this penetrated down into a deep vitality. He was always young, +always alert, polished in manner, courageous with that sort of +courage which does not even recognize the presence of danger, +charming in conversation, and able to adapt it to men or women of +any age whatever. His hair was still dark in his eightieth year. +His step was still elastic, his motions were still as spontaneous +and energetic, as those of a youth. + +So it was that every one who knew him experienced his fascination. +The rough troops whom he led through the Canadian swamps felt the +iron hand of his discipline; yet they were devoted to him, since +he shared all their toils, faced all their dangers, and ate with +them the scraps of hide which they gnawed to keep the breath of +life in their shrunken bodies. + +Burr's discipline was indeed very strict, so that at first raw +recruits rebelled against it. On one occasion the men of an +untrained company resented it so bitterly that they decided to +shoot Colonel Burr as he paraded them for roll-call that evening. +Burr somehow got word of it and contrived to have all the +cartridges drawn from their muskets. When the time for the roll- +call came one of the malcontents leaped from the front line and +leveled his weapon at Burr. + +"Now is the time, boys!" he shouted. + +Like lightning Burr's sword flashed from its scabbard with such a +vigorous stroke as to cut the man's arm completely off and partly +to cleave the musket. + +"Take your place in the ranks," said Burr. + +The mutineer obeyed, dripping with blood. A month later every man +in that company was devoted to his commander. They had learned +that discipline was the surest source of safety. + +But with this high spirit and readiness to fight Burr had a most +pleasing way of meeting every one who came to him. When he was +arrested in the Western forests, charged with high treason, the +sound of his voice won from jury after jury verdicts of acquittal. +Often the sheriffs would not arrest him. One grand jury not merely +exonerated him from all public misdemeanors, but brought in a +strong presentment against the officers of the government for +molesting him. + +It was the same everywhere. Burr made friends and devoted allies +among all sorts of men. During his stay in France, England, +Germany, and Sweden he interested such men as Charles Lamb, Jeremy +Bentham, Sir Walter Scott, Goethe, and Heeren. They found his mind +able to meet with theirs on equal terms. Burr, indeed, had +graduated as a youth with honors from Princeton, and had continued +his studies there after graduation, which was then a most unusual +thing to do. But, of course, he learned most from his contact with +men and women of the world. + +Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, in The Minister's Wooing, has given +what is probably an exact likeness of Aaron Burr, with his +brilliant gifts and some of his defects. It is strong testimony to +the character of Burr that Mrs. Stowe set out to paint him as a +villain; but before she had written long she felt his fascination +and made her readers, in their own despite, admirers of this +remarkable man. There are many parallels, indeed, between him and +Napoleon--in the quickness of his intellect, the ready use of his +resources, and his power over men, while he was more than Napoleon +in his delightful gift of conversation and the easy play of his +cultured mind. + +Those who are full of charm are willing also to be charmed. All +his life Burr was abstemious in food and drink. His tastes were +most refined. It is difficult to believe that such a man could +have been an unmitigated profligate. + +In his twentieth year there seems to have begun the first of the +romances that run through the story of his long career. Perhaps +one ought not to call it the first romance, for at eighteen, while +he was studying law at Litchfield, a girl, whose name has been +suppressed, made an open avowal of love for him. Almost at the +same time an heiress with a large fortune would have married him +had he been willing to accept her hand. But at this period he was +only a boy and did not take such things seriously. + +Two years later, after Burr had seen hard service at Quebec and on +Manhattan Island, his name was associated with that of a very +beautiful girl named Margaret Moncrieffe. She was the daughter of +a British major, but in some way she had been captured while +within the American lines. Her captivity was regarded as little +more than a joke; but while she was thus a prisoner she saw a +great deal of Burr. For several months they were comrades, after +which General Putnam sent her with his compliments to her father. + +Margaret Moncrieffe had a most emotional nature. There can be no +doubt that she deeply loved the handsome young American officer, +whom she never saw again. It is doubtful how far their intimacy +was carried. Later she married a Mr. Coghlan. After reaching +middle life she wrote of Burr in a way which shows that neither +years nor the obligations of marriage could make her forget that +young soldier, whom she speaks of as "the conqueror of her soul." +In the rather florid style of those days the once youthful +Margaret Moncrieffe expresses herself as follows: + +Oh, may these pages one day meet the eye of him who subdued my +virgin heart, whom the immutable, unerring laws of nature had +pointed out for my husband, but whose sacred decree the barbarous +customs of society fatally violated! + +Commenting on this paragraph, Mr. H. C. Merwin justly remarks +that, whatever may have been Burr's conduct toward Margaret +Moncrieffe, the lady herself, who was the person chiefly +concerned, had no complaint to make of it. It certainly was no +very serious affair, since in the following year Burr met a lady +who, while she lived, was the only woman for whom he ever really +cared. + +This was Theodosia Prevost, the wife of a major in the British +army. Burr met her first in 1777, while she was living with her +sister in Westchester County. Burr's command was fifteen miles +across the river, but distance and danger made no difference to +him. He used to mount a swift horse, inspect his sentinels and +outposts, and then gallop to the Hudson, where a barge rowed by +six soldiers awaited him. The barge was well supplied with +buffalo-skins, upon which the horse was thrown with his legs +bound, and then half an hour's rowing brought them to the other +side. There Burr resumed his horse, galloped to the house of Mrs. +Prevost, and, after spending a few hours with her, returned in the +same way. + +Mrs. Prevost was by no means beautiful, but she had an +attractiveness of her own. She was well educated and possessed +charming manners, with a disposition both gentle and affectionate. +Her husband died soon after the beginning of the war, and then +Burr married her. No more ideal family life could be conceived +than his, and the letters which passed between the two are full of +adoration. Thus she wrote to him: + +Tell me, why do I grow every day more tenacious of your regard? Is +it because each revolving day proves you more deserving? + +And thus Burr answered her: + +Continue to multiply your letters to me. They are all my solace. +The last six are constantly within my reach. I read them once a +day at least. Write me all that I have asked, and a hundred things +which I have not. + +When it is remembered that these letters were written after nine +years of marriage it is hard to believe all the evil things that +have been said of Burr. + +His wife died in 1794, and he then gave a double affection to his +daughter Theodosia, whose beauty and accomplishments were known +throughout the country. Burr took the greatest pains in her +education, and believed that she should be trained, as he had +been, to be brave, industrious, and patient. He himself, who has +been described as a voluptuary, delighted in the endurance of cold +and heat and of severe labor. + +After his death one of his younger admirers was asked what Burr +had done for him. The reply was characteristic. + +"He made me iron," was the answer. + +No father ever gave more attention to his daughter's welfare. As +to Theodosia's studies he was very strict, making her read Greek +and Latin every day, with drawing and music and history, in +addition to French. Not long before her marriage to Joseph +Allston, of South Carolina, Burr wrote to her: + +I really think, my dear Theo, that you will be very soon beyond +all verbal criticism, and that my whole attention will be +presently directed to the improvement of your style. + +Theodosia Burr married into a family of good old English stock, +where riches were abundant, and high character was regarded as the +best of all possessions. Every one has heard of the mysterious +tragedy which is associated with her history. In 1812, when her +husband had been elected Governor of his state, her only child--a +sturdy boy of eleven--died, and Theodosia's health was shattered +by her sorrow. In the same year Burr returned from a sojourn in +Europe, and his loving daughter embarked from Charleston on a +schooner, the Patriot, to meet her father in New York. When Burr +arrived he was met by a letter which told him that his grandson +was dead and that Theodosia was coming to him. + +Weeks sped by, and no news was heard of the ill-fated Patriot. At +last it became evident that she must have gone down or in some +other way have been lost. Burr and Governor Allston wrote to each +other letter after letter, of which each one seems to surpass the +agony of the other. At last all hope was given up. Governor +Allston died soon after of a broken heart; but Burr, as became a +Stoic, acted otherwise. + +He concealed everything that reminded him of Theodosia. He never +spoke of his lost daughter. His grief was too deep-seated and too +terrible for speech. Only once did he ever allude to her, and this +was in a letter written to an afflicted friend, which contained +the words: + +Ever since the event which separated me from mankind I have been +able neither to give nor to receive consolation. + +In time the crew of a pirate vessel was captured and sentenced to +be hanged. One of the men, who seemed to be less brutal than the +rest, told how, in 1812, they had captured a schooner, and, after +their usual practice, had compelled the passengers to walk the +plank. All hesitated and showed cowardice, except only one--a +beautiful woman whose eyes were as bright and whose bearing was as +unconcerned as if she were safe on shore. She quickly led the way, +and, mounting the plank with a certain scorn of death, said to the +others: + +"Come, I will show you how to die." + +It has always been supposed that this intrepid girl may have been +Theodosia Allston. If so, she only acted as her father would have +done and in strict accordance with his teachings. + +This resolute courage, this stern joy in danger, this perfect +equanimity, made Burr especially attractive to women, who love +courage, the more so when it is coupled with gentleness and +generosity. + +Perhaps no man in our country has been so vehemently accused +regarding his relations with the other sex. The most improbable +stories were told about him, even by his friends. As to his +enemies, they took boundless pains to paint him in the blackest +colors. According to them, no woman was safe from his intrigues. +He was a perfect devil in leading them astray and then casting +them aside. + +Thus one Matthew L. Davis, in whom Burr had confided as a friend, +wrote of him long afterward a most unjust account--unjust because +we have proofs that it was false in the intensity of its abuse. +Davis wrote: + +It is truly surprising how any individual could become so eminent +as a soldier, as a statesman, and as a professional man who +devoted so much time to the other sex as was devoted by Colonel +Burr. For more than half a century of his life they seemed to +absorb his whole thought. His intrigues were without number; the +sacred bonds of friendship were unhesitatingly violated when they +operated as barriers to the indulgence of his passions. In this +particular Burr appears to have been unfeeling and heartless. + +It is impossible to believe that the Spartan Burr, whose life was +one of incessant labor and whose kindliness toward every one was +so well known, should have deserved a commentary like this. The +charge of immorality is so easily made and so difficult of +disproof that it has been flung promiscuously at all the great men +of history, including, in our own country, + +Washington and Jefferson as well as Burr. In England, when +Gladstone was more than seventy years of age, he once stopped to +ask a question of a woman in the street. Within twenty-four hours +the London clubs were humming with a sort of demoniac glee over +the story that this aged and austere old gentleman was not above +seeking common street amours. + +And so with Aaron Burr to a great extent. That he was a man of +strict morality it would be absurd to maintain. That he was a +reckless and licentious profligate would be almost equally untrue. +Mr. H. O. Merwin has very truly said: + +Part of Burr's reputation for profligacy was due, no doubt, to +that vanity respecting women of which Davis himself speaks. He +never refused to accept the parentage of a child. + +"Why do you allow this woman to saddle you with her child when you +KNOW you are not the father of it?" said a friend to him a few +months before his death. + +"Sir," he replied, "when a lady does me the honor to name me the +father of her child I trust I shall always be too gallant to show +myself ungrateful for the favor." + +There are two curious legends relating to Aaron Burr. They serve +to show that his reputation became such that he could not enjoy +the society of a woman without having her regarded as his +mistress. + +When he was United States Senator from New York he lived in +Philadelphia at the lodging-house of a Mrs. Payne, whose daughter, +Dorothy Todd, was the very youthful widow of an officer. This +young woman was rather free in her manners, and Burr was very +responsive in his. At the time, however, nothing was thought of +it; hut presently Burr brought to the house the serious and +somewhat pedantic James Madison and introduced him to the hoyden. + +Madison was then forty-seven years of age, a stranger to society, +but gradually rising to a prominent position in politics--"the +great little Madison," as Burr rather lightly called him. Before +very long he had proposed marriage to the young widow. She +hesitated, and some one referred the matter to President +Washington. The Father of his Country answered in what was perhaps +the only opinion that he ever gave on the subject of matrimony. It +is worth preserving because it shows that he had a sense of +humor: + +For my own part, I never did nor do I believe I ever shall give +advice to a woman who is setting out on a matrimonial voyage ... A +woman very rarely asks an opinion or seeks advice on such an +occasion till her mind is wholly made up, and then it is with the +hope and expectation of obtaining a sanction, and not that she +means to be governed by your disapproval. + +Afterward when Dolly Madison with, her yellow turban and kittenish +ways was making a sensation in Washington society some one +recalled her old association with Burr. At once the story sprang +to light that Burr had been her lover and that he had brought +about the match with Madison as an easy way of getting rid of her. + +There is another curious story which makes Martin Van Buren, +eighth President of the United States, to have been the +illegitimate son of Aaron Burr. There is no earthly reason for +believing this, except that Burr sometimes stopped overnight at +the tavern in Kinderhook which was kept by Van Buren's putative +father, and that Van Buren in later life showed an astuteness +equal to that of Aaron Burr himself, so that he was called by his +opponents "the fox of Kinderhook." But, as Van Buren was born in +December of the same year (1782) in which Burr was married to +Theodosia Prevost, the story is utterly improbable when we +remember, as we must, the ardent affection which Burr showed his +wife, not only before their marriage, but afterward until her +death. + +Putting aside these purely spurious instances, as well as others +cited by Mr. Parton, the fact remains that Aaron Burr, like Daniel +Webster, found a great attraction in the society of women; that he +could please them and fascinate them to an extraordinary degree; +and that during his later life he must be held quite culpable in +this respect. His love-making was ardent and rapid, as we shall +afterward see in the case of his second marriage. + +Many other stories are told of him. For instance, it is said that +he once took a stage-coach from Jersey City to Philadelphia. The +only other occupant was a woman of high standing and one whose +family deeply hated Aaron Burr. Nevertheless, so the story goes, +before they had reached Newark she was absolutely swayed by his +charm of manner; and when the coach made its last stop before +Philadelphia she voluntarily became his mistress. + +It must also be said that, unlike those of Webster and Hamilton, +his intrigues were never carried on with women of the lower sort. +This may be held by some to deepen the charge against him; but +more truly does it exonerate him, since it really means that in +many cases these women of the world threw themselves at him and +sought him as a lover, when otherwise he might never have thought +of them. + +That he was not heartless and indifferent to those who had loved +him may be shown by the great care which he took to protect their +names and reputations. Thus, on the day before his duel with +Hamilton, he made a will in which he constituted his son-in-law as +his executor. At the same time he wrote a sealed letter to +Governor Allston in which he said: + +If you can pardon and indulge a folly, I would suggest that Mme. ----, +too well known under the name of Leonora, has claims on my +recollection. She is now with her husband at Santiago, in Cuba. + +Another fact has been turned to his discredit. From many women, in +the course of his long life, he had received a great quantity of +letters written by aristocratic hands on scented paper, and these +letters he had never burned. Here again, perhaps, was shown the +vanity of the man who loved love for its own sake. He kept all +these papers in a huge iron-clamped chest, and he instructed +Theodosia in case he should die to burn every letter which might +injure any one. + +After Theodosia's death Burr gave the same instructions to Matthew +L. Davis, who did, indeed, burn them, though he made their +existence a means of blackening the character of Burr. He should +have destroyed them unopened, and should never have mentioned them +in his memoirs of the man who trusted him as a friend. + +Such was Aaron Burr throughout a life which lasted for eighty +years. His last romance, at the age of seventy-eight, is worth +narrating because it has often been misunderstood. + +Mme. Jumel was a Rhode Island girl who at seventeen years of age +eloped with an English officer, Colonel Peter Croix. Her first +husband died while she was still quite young, and she then married +a French wine-merchant, Stephen Jumel, some twenty years her +senior, but a man of much vigor and intelligence. M. Jumel made a +considerable fortune in New York, owning a small merchant fleet; +and after Napoleon's downfall he and his wife went to Paris, where +she made a great impression in the salons by her vivacity and wit +and by her lavish expenditures. + +Losing, however, part of what she and her husband possessed, Mme. +Jumel returned to New York, bringing with her a great amount of +furniture and paintings, with which she decorated the historic +house still standing in the upper part of Manhattan Island--a +mansion held by her in her own right. She managed her estate with +much ability; and in 1828 M. Jumel returned to live with her in +what was in those days a splendid villa. + +Four years later, however, M. Jumel suffered an accident from +which he died in a few days, leaving his wife still an attractive +woman and not very much past her prime. Soon after she had +occasion to seek for legal advice, and for this purpose visited +the law-office of Aaron Burr. She had known him a good many years +before; and, though he was now seventy-eight years of age, there +was no perceptible change in him. He was still courtly in manner, +tactful, and deferential, while physically he was straight, +active, and vigorous. + +A little later she invited him to a formal banquet, where he +displayed all his charms and shone to great advantage. When he was +about to lead her in to dinner, he said: + +"I give my hand, madam; my heart has long been yours." + +These attentions he followed up with several other visits, and +finally proposed that she should marry him. Much fluttered and no +less flattered, she uttered a sort of "No" which was not likely to +discourage a man like Aaron Burr. + +"I shall come to you before very long," he said, "accompanied by a +clergyman; and then you will give me your hand because I want it." + +This rapid sort of wooing was pleasantly embarrassing. The lady +rather liked it; and so, on an afternoon when the sun was shining +and the leaves were rustling in the breeze, Burr drove up to Mme. +Jumel's mansion accompanied by Dr. Bogart--the very clergyman who +had married him to his first wife fifty years before. + +Mme. Jumel was now seriously disturbed, but her refusal was not a +strong one. There were reasons why she should accept the offer. +The great house was lonely. The management of her estate required +a man's advice. Moreover, she was under the spell of Burr's +fascination. Therefore she arrayed herself in one of her most +magnificent Paris gowns; the members of her household and eight +servants were called in and the ceremony was duly performed by Dr. +Bogart. A banquet followed. A dozen cobwebbed bottles of wine were +brought up from the cellar, and the marriage feast went on merrily +until after midnight. + +This marriage was a singular one from many points of view. It was +strange that a man of seventy-eight should take by storm the +affections of a woman so much younger than he--a woman of wealth +and knowledge of the world. In the second place, it is odd that +there was still another woman--a mere girl--who was so infatuated +with Burr that when she was told of his marriage it nearly broke +her heart. Finally, in the early part of that same year he had +been accused of being the father of a new-born child, and in spite +of his age every one believed the charge to be true. Here is a +case that it would be hard to parallel. + +The happiness of the newly married pair did not, however, last +very long. They made a wedding journey into Connecticut, of which +state Burr's nephew was then Governor, and there Burr saw a +monster bridge over the Connecticut River, in which his wife had +shares, though they brought her little income. He suggested that +she should transfer the investment, which, after all, was not a +very large one, and place it in a venture in Texas which looked +promising. The speculation turned out to be a loss, however, and +this made Mrs. Burr extremely angry, the more so as she had reason +to think that her ever-youthful husband had been engaged in +flirting with the country girls near the Jumel mansion. + +She was a woman of high spirit and had at times a violent temper. +One day the post-master at what was then the village of Harlem +was surprised to see Mrs. Burr drive up before the post-office in +an open carriage. He came out to ask what she desired, and was +surprised to find her in a violent temper and with an enormous +horse-pistol on each cushion at her side. + +"What do you wish, madam?" said he, rather mildly. + +"What do I wish?" she cried. "Let me get at that villain Aaron +Burr!" + +Presently Burr seems to have succeeded in pacifying her; but in +the end they separated, though she afterward always spoke most +kindly of him. When he died, only about a year later, she is said +to have burst into a flood of tears--another tribute to the +fascination which Aaron Burr exercised through all his checkered +life. + +It is difficult to come to any fixed opinion regarding the moral +character of Aaron Burr. As a soldier he was brave to the point of +recklessness. As a political leader he was almost the equal of +Jefferson and quite superior to Hamilton. As a man of the world he +was highly accomplished, polished in manner, charming in +conversation. He made friends easily, and he forgave his enemies +with a broadmindedness that is unusual. + +On the other hand, in his political career there was a touch of +insincerity, and it can scarcely be denied that he used his charm +too often to the injury of those women who could not resist his +insinuating ways and the caressing notes of his rich voice. But as +a husband, in his youth, he was devoted, affectionate, and loyal; +while as a father he was little less than worshiped by the +daughter whom he reared so carefully. + +One of his biographers very truly says that no such wretch as Burr +has been declared to be could have won and held the love of such a +wife and such a daughter as Burr had. + +When all the other witnesses have been heard, let the two +Theodosias be summoned, and especially that daughter who showed +toward him an affectionate veneration unsurpassed by any recorded +in history or romance. Such an advocate as Theodosia the younger +must avail in some degree, even though the culprit were brought +before the bar of Heaven itself. + + + + + +GEORGE IV. AND MRS. FITZHERBERT + + +In the last decade of the eighteenth century England was perhaps +the most brilliant nation of the world. Other countries had been +humbled by the splendid armies of France and were destined to be +still further humbled by the emperor who came from Corsica. France +had begun to seize the scepter of power; yet to this picture there +was another side--fearful want and grievous poverty and the +horrors of the Revolution. Russia was too far away, and was still +considered too barbarous, for a brilliant court to flourish there. +Prussia had the prestige that Frederick the Great won for her, but +she was still a comparatively small state. Italy was in a +condition of political chaos; the banks of the Rhine were running +blood where the Austrian armies faced the gallant Frenchmen under +the leadership of Moreau. But England, in spite of the loss of her +American colonies, was rich and prosperous, and her invincible +fleets were extending her empire over the seven seas. + +At no time in modern England has the court at London seen so much +real splendor or such fine manners. The royalist emigres who fled +from France brought with them names and pedigrees that were older +than the Crusades, and many of them were received with the +frankest, freest English hospitality. If here and there some +marquis or baron of ancient blood was perforce content to teach +music to the daughters of tradesmen in suburban schools, +nevertheless they were better off than they had been in France, +harried by the savage gaze-hounds of the guillotine. Afterward, +in the days of the Restoration, when they came back to their +estates, they had probably learned more than one lesson from the +bouledogues of Merry England, who had little tact, perhaps, but +who were at any rate kindly and willing to share their goods with +pinched and poverty-stricken foreigners. + +The court, then, as has been said, was brilliant with notables +from Continental countries, and with the historic wealth of the +peerage of England. Only one cloud overspread it; and that was the +mental condition of the king. We have become accustomed to think +of George III as a dull creature, almost always hovering on the +verge of that insanity which finally swept him into a dark +obscurity; but Thackeray's picture of him is absurdly untrue to +the actual facts. George III. was by no means a dullard, nor was +he a sort of beefy country squire who roved about the palace +gardens with his unattractive spouse. + +Obstinate enough he was, and ready for a combat with the rulers of +the Continent or with his self-willed sons; but he was a man of +brains and power, and Lord Rosebery has rightly described him as +the most striking constitutional figure of his time. Had he +retained his reason, and had his erratic and self-seeking son not +succeeded him during his own lifetime, Great Britain might very +possibly have entered upon other ways than those which opened to +her after the downfall of Napoleon. + +The real center of fashionable England, however, was not George +III., but rather his son, subsequently George IV., who was made +Prince of Wales three days after his birth, and who became prince +regent during the insanity of the king. He was the leader of the +social world, the fit companion of Beau Brummel and of a choice +circle of rakes and fox-hunters who drank pottle-deep. Some called +him "the first gentleman of Europe." Others, who knew him better, +described him as one who never kept his word to man or woman and +who lacked the most elementary virtues. + +Yet it was his good luck during the first years of his regency to +be popular as few English kings have ever been. To his people he +typified old England against revolutionary France; and his youth +and gaiety made many like him. He drank and gambled; he kept packs +of hounds and strings of horses; he ran deeply into debt that he +might patronize the sports of that uproarious day. He was a +gallant "Corinthian," a haunter of dens where there were prize- +fights and cock-fights, and there was hardly a doubtful resort in +London where his face was not familiar. + +He was much given to gallantry--not so much, as it seemed, for +wantonness, but from sheer love of mirth and chivalry. For a time, +with his chosen friends, such as Fox and Sheridan, he ventured +into reckless intrigues that recalled the amours of his +predecessor, Charles II. He had by no means the wit and courage of +Charles; and, indeed, the house of Hanover lacked the outward show +of chivalry which made the Stuarts shine with external splendor. +But he was good-looking and stalwart, and when he had half a dozen +robust comrades by his side he could assume a very manly +appearance. Such was George IV. in his regency and in his prime. +He made that period famous for its card-playing, its deep +drinking, and for the dissolute conduct of its courtiers and +noblemen no less than for the gallantry of its soldiers and its +momentous victories on sea and land. It came, however, to be seen +that his true achievements were in reality only escapades, that +his wit was only folly, and his so-called "sensibility" was but +sham. He invented buckles, striped waistcoats, and flamboyant +collars, but he knew nothing of the principles of kingship or the +laws by which a state is governed. + +The fact that he had promiscuous affairs with women appealed at +first to the popular sense of the romantic. It was not long, +however, before these episodes were trampled down into the mire of +vulgar scandal. + +One of the first of them began when he sent a letter, signed +"Florizel," to a young actress, "Perdita" Robinson. Mrs. Robinson, +whose maiden name was Mary Darby, and who was the original of +famous portraits by Gainsborough and Reynolds, was a woman of +beauty, talent, and temperament. George, wishing in every way to +be "romantic," insisted upon clandestine meetings on the Thames at +Kew, with all the stage trappings of the popular novels--cloaks, +veils, faces hidden, and armed watchers to warn her of approaching +danger. Poor Perdita took this nonsense so seriously that she gave +up her natural vocation for the stage, and forsook her husband, +believing that the prince would never weary of her. + +He did weary of her very soon, and, with the brutality of a man of +such a type, turned her away with the promise of some money; after +which he cut her in the Park and refused to speak to her again. As +for the money, he may have meant to pay it, but Perdita had a long +struggle before she succeeded in getting it. It may be assumed +that the prince had to borrow it and that this obligation formed +part of the debts which Parliament paid for him. + +It is not necessary to number the other women whose heads he +turned. They are too many for remembrance here, and they have no +special significance, save one who, as is generally believed, +became his wife so far as the church could make her so. An act of +1772 had made it illegal for any member of the English royal +family to marry without the permission of the king. A marriage +contracted without the king's consent might be lawful in the eyes +of the church, but the children born of it could not inherit any +claim to the throne. + +It may be remarked here that this withholding of permission was +strictly enforced. Thus William IV., who succeeded George IV., was +married, before his accession to the throne, to Mrs. Jordan +(Dorothy Bland). Afterward he lawfully married a woman of royal +birth who was known as Queen Adelaide. + +There is an interesting story which tells how Queen Victoria came +to be born because her father, the Duke of Kent, was practically +forced to give up a morganatic union which he greatly preferred to +a marriage arranged for him by Parliament. Except the Duke of +Cambridge, the Duke of Kent was the only royal duke who was likely +to have children in the regular line. The only daughter of George +IV. had died in childhood. The Duke of Cumberland was for various +reasons ineligible; the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV., +was almost too old; and therefore, to insure the succession, the +Duke of Kent was begged to marry a young and attractive woman, a +princess of the house of Saxe-Coburg, who was ready for the honor. +It was greatly to the Duke's credit that he showed deep and +sincere feeling in this matter. As he said himself in effect: + +"This French lady has stood by me in hard times and in good times, +too--why should I cast her off? She has been more than a wife to +me. And what do I care for your plans in Parliament? Send over for +one of the Stuarts--they are better men than the last lot of our +fellows that you have had!" + +In the end, however, he was wearied out and was persuaded to +marry, but he insisted that a generous sum should be settled on +the lady who had been so long his true companion, and to whom, no +doubt, he gave many a wistful thought in his new but unfamiliar +quarters in Kensington Palace, which was assigned as his +residence. + +Again, the second Duke of Cambridge, who died only a few years +ago, greatly desired to marry a lady who was not of royal rank, +though of fine breeding and of good birth. He besought his young +cousin, as head of the family, to grant him this privilege of +marriage; but Queen Victoria stubbornly refused. The duke was +married according to the rites of the church, but he could not +make his wife a duchess. The queen never quite forgave him for his +partial defiance of her wishes, though the duke's wife--she was +usually spoken of as Mrs. FitzGeorge--was received almost +everywhere, and two of her sons hold high rank in the British army +and navy, respectively. + +The one real love story in the life of George IV. is that which +tells of his marriage with a lady who might well have been the +wife of any king. This was Maria Anne Smythe, better known as Mrs. +Fitzherbert, who was six years older than the young prince when +she first met him in company with a body of gentlemen and ladies +in 1784. + +Maria Fitzherbert's face was one which always displayed its best +advantages. Her eyes were peculiarly languishing, and, as she had +already been twice a widow, and was six years his senior, she had +the advantage over a less experienced lover. Likewise, she was a +Catholic, and so by another act of Parliament any marriage with +her would be illegal. Yet just because of all these different +objections the prince was doubly drawn to her, and was willing to +sacrifice even the throne if he could but win her. + +His father, the king, called him into the royal presence and said: + +"George, it is time that you should settle down and insure the +succession to the throne." + +"Sir," replied the prince, "I prefer to resign the succession and +let my brother have it, and that I should live as a private +English gentleman." + +Mrs. Fitzherbert was not the sort of woman to give herself up +readily to a morganatic connection. Moreover, she soon came to +love Prince George too well to entangle him in a doubtful alliance +with one of another faith than his. Not long after he first met +her the prince, who was always given to private theatricals, sent +messengers riding in hot haste to her house to tell her that he +had stabbed himself, that he begged to see her, and that unless +she came he would repeat the act. The lady yielded, and hurried to +Carlton House, the prince's residence; but she was prudent enough +to take with her the Duchess of Devonshire, who was a reigning +beauty of the court. + +The scene which followed was theatrical rather than impressive.-- +The prince was found in his sleeping-chamber, pale and with his +ruffles blood-stained. He played the part of a youthful and love- +stricken wooer, vowing that he would marry the woman of his heart +or stab himself again. In the presence of his messengers, who, +with the duchess, were witnesses, he formally took the lady as his +wife, while Lady Devonshire's wedding-ring sealed the troth. The +prince also acknowledged it in a document. + +Mrs. Fitzherbert was, in fact, a woman of sound sense. Shortly +after this scene of melodramatic intensity her wits came back to +her, and she recognized that she had merely gone through a +meaningless farce. So she sent back the prince's document and the +ring and hastened to the Continent, where he could not reach her, +although his detectives followed her steps for a year. + +At the last she yielded, however, and came home to marry the +prince in such fashion as she could--a marriage of love, and +surely one of morality, though not of parliamentary law. The +ceremony was performed "in her own drawing-room in her house in +London, in the presence of the officiating Protestant clergyman +and two of her own nearest relatives." + +Such is the serious statement of Lord Stourton, who was Mrs. +Fitzherbert's cousin and confidant. The truth of it was never +denied, and Mrs. Fitzherbert was always treated with respect, and +even regarded as a person of great distinction. Nevertheless, on +more than one occasion the prince had his friends in Parliament +deny the marriage in order that his debts might be paid and new +allowances issued to him by the Treasury. + +George certainly felt himself a husband. Like any other married +prince, he set himself to build a palace for his country home. +While in search of some suitable spot he chanced to visit the +"pretty fishing-village" of Brighton to see his uncle, the Duke of +Cumberland. Doubtless he found it an attractive place, yet this +may have been not so much because of its view of the sea as for +the reason that Mrs. Fitzherbert had previously lived there. + +However, in 1784 the prince sent down his chief cook to make +arrangements for the next royal visit. The cook engaged a house on +the spot where the Pavilion now stands, and from that time +Brighton began to be an extremely fashionable place. The court +doctors, giving advice that was agreeable, recommended their royal +patient to take sea-bathing at Brighton. At once the place sprang +into popularity. + +At first the gentry were crowded into lodging-houses and the +accommodations were primitive to a degree. But soon handsome +villas arose on every side; hotels appeared; places of amusement +were opened. The prince himself began to build a tasteless but +showy structure, partly Chinese and partly Indian in style, on the +fashionable promenade of the Steyne. + +During his life with Mrs. Fitzherbert at Brighton the prince held +what was practically a court. Hundreds of the aristocracy came +down from London and made their temporary dwellings there; while +thousands who were by no means of the court made the place what is +now popularly called "London by the Sea." There were the Duc de +Chartres, of France; statesmen and rakes, like Fox, Sheridan, and +the Earl of Barrymore; a very beautiful woman, named Mrs. Couch, a +favorite singer at the opera, to whom the prince gave at one time +jewels worth ten thousand pounds; and a sister of the Earl of +Barrymore, who was as notorious as her brother. She often took the +president's chair at a club which George's friends had organized +and which she had christened the Hell Fire Club. + +Such persons were not the only visitors at Brighton. Men of much +more serious demeanor came down to visit the prince and brought +with them quieter society. Nevertheless, for a considerable time +the place was most noted for its wild scenes of revelry, into +which George frequently entered, though his home life with Mrs. +Fitzherbert at the Pavilion was a decorous one. + +No one felt any doubt as to the marriage of the two persons, who +seemed so much like a prince and a princess. Some of the people of +the place addressed Mrs. Fitzherbert as "Mrs. Prince." The old +king and his wife, however, much deplored their son's relation +with her. This was partly due to the fact that Mrs. Fitzherbert +was a Catholic and that she had received a number of French nuns +who had been driven out of France at the time of the Revolution. +But no less displeasure was caused by the prince's racing and +dicing, which swelled his debts to almost a million pounds, so +that Parliament and, indeed, the sober part of England were set +against him. + +Of course, his marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert had no legal status; +nor is there any reason for believing that she ever became a +mother. She had no children by her former two husbands, and Lord +Stourton testified positively that she never had either son or +daughter by Prince George. Nevertheless, more than one American +claimant has risen to advance some utterly visionary claim to the +English throne by reason of alleged descent from Prince George and +Mrs. Fitzherbert. + +Neither William IV. nor Queen Victoria ever spent much time at +Brighton. In King William's case it was explained that the +dampness of the Pavilion did not suit him; and as to Queen +Victoria, it was said that she disliked the fact that buildings +had been erected so as to cut off the view of the sea. It is quite +likely, however, that the queen objected to the associations of +the place, and did not care to be reminded of the time when her +uncle had lived there so long in a morganatic state of marriage. + +At length the time came when the king, Parliament, and the people +at large insisted that the Prince of Wales should make a legal +marriage, and a wife was selected for him in the person of +Caroline, daughter of the Duke of Brunswick. This marriage took +place exactly ten years after his wedding with the beautiful and +gentle-mannered Mrs. Fitzherbert. With the latter he had known +many days and hours of happiness. With Princess Caroline he had no +happiness at all. + +Prince George met her at the pier to greet her. It is said that as +he took her hand he kissed her, and then, suddenly recoiling, he +whispered to one of his friends: + +"For God's sake, George, give me a glass of brandy!" + +Such an utterance was more brutal and barbaric than anything his +bride could have conceived of, though it is probable, fortunately, +that she did not understand him by reason of her ignorance of +English. + +We need not go through the unhappy story of this unsympathetic, +neglected, rebellious wife. Her life with the prince soon became +one of open warfare; but instead of leaving England she remained +to set the kingdom in an uproar. As soon as his father died and he +became king, George sued her for divorce. Half the people sided +with the queen, while the rest regarded her as a vulgar creature +who made love to her attendants and brought dishonor on the +English throne. It was a sorry, sordid contrast between the young +Prince George who had posed as a sort of cavalier and this now +furious gray old man wrangling with his furious German wife. + +Well might he look back to the time when he met Perdita in the +moonlight on the Thames, or when he played the part of Florizel, +or, better still, when he enjoyed the sincere and disinterested +love of the gentle woman who was his wife in all but legal status. +Caroline of Brunswick was thrust away from the king's coronation. +She took a house within sight of Westminster Abbey, so that she +might make hag-like screeches to the mob and to the king as he +passed by. Presently, in August, 1821, only a month after the +coronation, she died, and her body was taken back to Brunswick for +burial. + +George himself reigned for nine years longer. When he died in 1830 +his executor was the Duke of Wellington. The duke, in examining +the late king's private papers, found that he had kept with the +greatest care every letter written to him by his morganatic wife. +During his last illness she had sent him an affectionate missive +which it is said George "read eagerly." Mrs. Fitzherbert wished +the duke to give up her letters; but he would do so only in return +for those which he had written to her. + +It was finally decided that it would be best to burn both his and +hers. This work was carried out in Mrs. Fitzherbert's own house by +the lady, the duke, and the Earl of Albemarle. + +Of George it may be said that he has left as memories behind him +only three things that will be remembered. The first is the +Pavilion at Brighton, with its absurdly oriental decorations, its +minarets and flimsy towers. The second is the buckle which he +invented and which Thackeray has immortalized with his biting +satire. The last is the story of his marriage to Maria +Fitzherbert, and of the influence exercised upon him by the +affection of a good woman. + + + + + +CHARLOTTE CORDAY AND ADAM LUX + + +Perhaps some readers will consider this story inconsistent with +those that have preceded it. Yet, as it is little known to most +readers and as it is perhaps unique in the history of romantic +love, I cannot forbear relating it; for I believe that it is full +of curious interest and pathetic power. + +All those who have written of the French Revolution have paused in +their chronicle of blood and flame to tell the episode of the +peasant Royalist, Charlotte Corday; but in telling it they have +often omitted the one part of the story that is personal and not +political. The tragic record of this French girl and her self- +sacrifice has been told a thousand times by writers in many +languages; yet almost all of them have neglected the brief romance +which followed her daring deed and which was consummated after her +death upon the guillotine. It is worth our while to speak first of +Charlotte herself and of the man she slew, and then to tell that +other tale which ought always to be entwined with her great deed +of daring. + +Charlotte Corday--Marie Anne Charlotte Corday d'Armand--was a +native of Normandy, and was descended, as her name implies, from +noble ancestors. Her forefathers, indeed, had been statesmen, +civil rulers, and soldiers, and among them was numbered the famous +poet Corneille, whom the French rank with Shakespeare. But a +century or more of vicissitudes had reduced her branch of the +family almost to the position of peasants--a fact which partly +justifies the name that some give her when they call her "the +Jeanne d'Arc of the Revolution." + +She did not, however, spend her girlish years amid the fields and +woods tending her sheep, as did the other Jeanne d'Arc; but she +was placed in charge of the sisters in a convent, and from them +she received such education as she had. She was a lonely child, +and her thoughts turned inward, brooding over many things. + +After she had left the convent she was sent to live with an aunt. +Here she devoted herself to reading over and over the few books +which the house contained. These consisted largely of the deistic +writers, especially Voltaire, and to some extent they destroyed +her convent faith, though it is not likely that she understood +them very fully. + +More to her taste was a copy of Plutarch's Lives. These famous +stories fascinated her. They told her of battle and siege, of +intrigue and heroism, and of that romantic love of country which +led men to throw away their lives for the sake of a whole people. +Brutus and Regulus were her heroes. To die for the many seemed to +her the most glorious end that any one could seek. When she +thought of it she thrilled with a sort of ecstasy, and longed with +all the passion of her nature that such a glorious fate might be +her own. + +Charlotte had nearly come to womanhood at the time when the French +Revolution first broke out. Royalist though she had been in her +sympathies, she felt the justice of the people's cause. She had +seen the suffering of the peasantry, the brutality of the tax- +gatherers, and all the oppression of the old regime. But what she +hoped for was a democracy of order and equality and peace. Could +the king reign as a constitutional monarch rather than as a +despot, this was all for which she cared. + +In Normandy, where she lived, were many of those moderate +republicans known as Girondists, who felt as she did and who hoped +for the same peaceful end to the great outbreak. On the other +hand, in Paris, the party of the Mountain, as it was called, ruled +with a savage violence that soon was to culminate in the Reign of +Terror. Already the guillotine ran red with noble blood. Already +the king had bowed his head to the fatal knife. Already the threat +had gone forth that a mere breath of suspicion or a pointed finger +might be enough to lead men and women to a gory death. + +In her quiet home near Caen Charlotte Corday heard as from afar +the story of this dreadful saturnalia of assassination which was +making Paris a city of bloody mist. Men and women of the Girondist +party came to tell her of the hideous deeds that were perpetrated +there. All these horrors gradually wove themselves in the young +girl's imagination around the sinister and repulsive figure of +Jean Paul Marat. She knew nothing of his associates, Danton and +Robespierre. It was in Marat alone that she saw the monster who +sent innocent thousands to their graves, and who reveled like some +arch-fiend in murder and gruesome death. + +In his earlier years Marat had been a very different figure--an +accomplished physician, the friend of nobles, a man of science and +original thought, so that he was nearly elected to the Academy of +Sciences. His studies in electricity gained for him the admiration +of Benjamin Franklin and the praise of Goethe. But when he turned +to politics he left all this career behind him. He plunged into +the very mire of red republicanism, and even there he was for a +time so much hated that he sought refuge in London to save his +life. + +On his return he was hunted by his enemies, so that his only place +of refuge was in the sewers and drains of Paris. A woman, one +Simonne Evrard, helped him to escape his pursuers. In the sewers, +however, he contracted a dreadful skin-disease from which he never +afterward recovered, and which was extremely painful as well as +shocking to behold. + +It is small wonder that the stories about Marat circulated through +the provinces made him seem more a devil than a man. His +vindictiveness against the Girondists brought all of this straight +home to Charlotte Corday and led her to dream of acting the part +of Brutus, so that she might free her country from this hideous +tyrant. + +In January, 1793, King Louis XVI. met his death upon the scaffold; +and the queen was thrust into a foul prison. This was a signal for +activity among the Girondists in Normandy, and especially at Caen, +where Charlotte was present at their meetings and heard their +fervid oratory. There was a plot to march on Paris, yet in some +instinctive way she felt that such a scheme must fail. It was then +that she definitely formed the plan of going herself, alone, to +the French capital to seek out the hideous Marat and to kill him +with her own hands. + +To this end she made application for a passport allowing her to +visit Paris. This passport still exists, and it gives us an +official description of the girl. It reads: + +Allow citizen Marie Corday to pass. She is twenty-four years of +age, five feet and one inch in height, hair and eyebrows chestnut +color, eyes gray, forehead high, mouth medium size, chin dimpled, +and an oval face. + +Apart from this verbal description we have two portraits painted +while she was in prison. Both of them make the description of the +passport seem faint and pale. The real Charlotte had a wealth of +chestnut hair which fell about her face and neck in glorious +abundance. Her great gray eyes spoke eloquently of truth and +courage. Her mouth was firm yet winsome, and her form combined +both strength and grace. Such is the girl who, on reaching Paris, +wrote to Marat in these words: + +Citizen, I have just arrived from Caen. Your love for your native +place doubtless makes you wish to learn the events which have +occurred in that part of the republic. I shall call at your +residence in about an hour. Be so good as to receive me and give +me a brief interview. I will put you in such condition as to +render great service to France. + +This letter failed to gain her admission, and so did another which +she wrote soon after. The fact is that Marat was grievously ill. +His disease had reached a point where the pain could be assuaged +only by hot water; and he spent the greater part of his time +wrapped in a blanket and lying in a large tub. + +A third time, however, the persistent girl called at his house and +insisted that she must see him, saying that she was herself in +danger from the enemies of the Republic. Through an open door +Marat heard her mellow voice and gave orders that she should be +admitted. + +As she entered she gazed for a moment upon the lank figure rolling +in the tub, the rat-like face, and the shifting eyes. Then she +approached him, concealing in the bosom of her dress a long +carving-knife which she had purchased for two francs. In answer to +Marat's questioning look she told him that there was much +excitement at Caen and that the Girondists were plotting there. + +To this Marat answered, in his harsh voice: + +"All these men you mention shall be guillotined in the next few +days!" + +As he spoke Charlotte flashed out the terrible knife and with all +her strength she plunged it into his left side, where it pierced a +lung and a portion of his heart. + +Marat, with the blood gushing from his mouth, cried out: + +"Help, darling!" + +His cry was meant for one of the two women in the house. Both +heard it, for they were in the next room; and both of them rushed +in and succeeded in pinioning Charlotte Corday, who, indeed, made +only a slight effort to escape. Troops were summoned, she was +taken to the Prison de l'Abbaye, and soon after she was arraigned +before the revolutionary tribunal. + +Placed in the dock, she glanced about her with an air of pride, as +of one who gloried in the act which she had just performed. A +written charge was read. She was asked what she had to say. +Lifting her head with a look of infinite satisfaction, she +answered in a ringing voice: + +"Nothing--except that I succeeded!" + +A lawyer was assigned for her defense. He pleaded for her +earnestly, declaring that she must he regarded as insane; but +those clear, calm eyes and that gentle face made her sanity a +matter of little doubt. She showed her quick wit in the answers +which she gave to the rough prosecutor, Fouquier-Tinville, who +tried to make her confess that she had accomplices. + +"Who prompted you to do this deed?" roared Tinville. + +"I needed no prompting. My own heart was sufficient." + +"In what, then, had Marat wronged you?" + +"He was a savage beast who was going to destroy the remains of +France in the fires of civil war." + +"But whom did you expect to benefit?" insinuated the prosecutor. + +"I have killed one man to save a hundred thousand." + +"What? Did you imagine that you had murdered all the Marats?" + +"No, but, this one being dead, the rest will perhaps take +warning." + +Thus her directness baffled all the efforts of the prosecution to +trap her into betraying any of her friends. The court, however, +sentenced her to death. She was then immured in the Conciergerie. + +This dramatic court scene was the beginning of that strange, brief +romance to which one can scarcely find a parallel. At the time +there lived in Paris a young German named Adam Lux. The continual +talk about Charlotte Corday had filled him with curiosity +regarding this young girl who had been so daring and so patriotic. +She was denounced on every hand as a murderess with the face of a +Medusa and the muscles of a Vulcan. Street songs about her were +dinned into the ears of Adam Lux. + +As a student of human nature he was anxious to see this terrible +creature. He forced his way to the front of the crowded benches in +the court-room and took his stand behind a young artist who was +finishing a beautiful sketch. From that moment until the end of +the trial the eyes of Adam Lux were fastened on the prisoner. What +a contrast to the picture he had imagined! + +A mass of regal chestnut hair crowned with the white cap of a +Norman peasant girl; gray eyes, very sad and serious, but looking +serenely forth from under long, dark lashes; lips slightly curved +with an expression of quiet humor; a face the color of the sun and +wind, a bust indicative of perfect health, the chin of a Caesar, +and the whole expression one of almost divine self-sacrifice. Such +were the features that the painter was swiftly putting upon his +canvas; but behind them Adam Lux discerned the soul for which he +gladly sacrificed both his liberty and his life. + +He forgot his surroundings and seemed to see only that beautiful, +pure face and to hear only the exquisite cadences of the wonderful +voice. When Charlotte was led forth by a file of soldiers Adam +staggered from the scene and made his way as best he might to his +lodgings. There he lay prostrate, his whole soul filled with the +love of her who had in an instant won the adoration of his heart. + +Once, and only once again, when the last scene opened on the +tragedy, did he behold the heroine of his dreams. + +On the 17th of July Charlotte Corday was taken from her prison to +the gloomy guillotine. It was toward evening, and nature had given +a setting fit for such an end. Blue-black thunder-clouds rolled in +huge masses across the sky until their base appeared to rest on +the very summit of the guillotine. Distant thunder rolled and +grumbled beyond the river. Great drops of rain fell upon the +soldiers' drums. Young, beautiful, unconscious of any wrong, +Charlotte Corday stood beneath the shadow of the knife. + +At the supreme moment a sudden ray from the setting sun broke +through the cloud-wrack and fell upon her slender figure until she +glowed in the eyes of the startled spectators like a statue cut in +burnished bronze. Thus illumined, as it were, by a light from +heaven itself, she bowed herself beneath the knife and paid the +penalty of a noble, if misdirected, impulse. As the blade fell her +lips quivered with her last and only plea: + +"My duty is enough--the rest is nothing!" + +Adam Lux rushed from the scene a man transformed. He bore graven +upon his heart neither the mob of tossing red caps nor the glare +of the sunset nor the blood-stained guillotine, but that last look +from those brilliant eyes. The sight almost deprived him of his +reason. The self-sacrifice of the only woman he had ever loved, +even though she had never so much as seen him, impelled him with a +sort of fury to his own destruction. + +He wrote a bitter denunciation of the judges, of the officers, and +of all who had been followers of Marat. This document he printed, +and scattered copies of it through every quarter in Paris. The +last sentences are as follows: + +The guillotine is no longer a disgrace. It has become a sacred +altar, from which every taint has been removed by the innocent +blood shed there on the 17th of July. Forgive me, my divine +Charlotte, if I find it impossible at the last moment to show the +courage and the gentleness that were yours! I glory because you +are superior to me, for it is right that she who is adored should +be higher and more glorious than her adorer! + +This pamphlet, spread broadcast among the people, was soon +reported to the leaders of the rabble. Adam Lux was arrested for +treason against the Republic; but even these men had no desire to +make a martyr of this hot-headed youth. They would stop his mouth +without taking his life. Therefore he was tried and speedily found +guilty, but an offer was made him that he might have passports +that would allow him to return to Germany if only he would sign a +retraction of his printed words. + +Little did the judges understand the fiery heart of the man they +had to deal with. To die on the same scaffold as the woman whom he +had idealized was to him the crowning triumph of his romantic +love. He gave a prompt and insolent refusal to their offer. He +swore that if released he would denounce his darling's murderers +with a still greater passion. + +In anger the tribunal sentenced him to death. Only then he smiled +and thanked his judges courteously, and soon after went blithely +to the guillotine like a bridegroom to his marriage feast. + +Adam Lux! Spirit courtship had been carried on silently all +through that terrible cross-examination of Charlotte Corday. His +heart was betrothed to hers in that single gleam of the setting +sun when she bowed beneath the knife. One may believe that these +two souls were finally united when the same knife fell sullenly +upon his neck and when his life-blood sprinkled the altar that was +still stained with hers. + + + + + +NAPOLEON AND MARIE WALEWSKA + + +There are four women who may be said to have deeply influenced the +life of Napoleon. These four are the only ones who need to be +taken into account by the student of his imperial career. The +great emperor was susceptible to feminine charms at all times; but +just as it used to be said of him that "his smile never rose above +his eyes," so it might as truly be said that in most instances the +throbbing of his heart did not affect his actions. + +Women to him were the creatures of the moment, although he might +seem to care for them and to show his affection in extravagant +ways, as in his affair with Mlle. Georges, the beautiful but +rather tiresome actress. As for Mme. de Stael, she bored him to +distraction by her assumption of wisdom. That was not the kind of +woman that Napoleon cared for. He preferred that a woman should be +womanly, and not a sort of owl to sit and talk with him about the +theory of government. + +When it came to married women they interested him only because of +the children they might bear to grow up as recruits for his +insatiate armies. At the public balls given at the Tuileries he +would walk about the gorgeous drawing-rooms, and when a lady was +presented to him he would snap out, sharply: + +"How many children have you?" + +If she were able to answer that she had several the emperor would +look pleased and would pay her some compliment; but if she said +that she had none he would turn upon her sharply and say: + +"Then go home and have some!" + +Of the four women who influenced his life, first must come +Josephine, because she secured him his earliest chance of +advancement. She met him through Barras, with whom she was said to +be rather intimate. The young soldier was fascinated by her--the +more because she was older than he and possessed all the practised +arts of the creole and the woman of the world. When she married +him she brought him as her dowry the command of the army of Italy, +where in a few months he made the tri-color, borne by ragged +troops, triumphant over the splendidly equipped hosts of Austria. + +She was his first love, and his knowledge of her perfidy gave him +the greatest shock and horror of his whole life; yet she might +have held him to the end if she had borne an heir to the imperial +throne. It was her failure to do so that led Napoleon to divorce +Josephine and marry the thick-lipped Marie Louise of Austria. +There were times later when he showed signs of regret and said: + +"I have had no luck since I gave up Josephine!" + +Marie Louise was of importance for a time--the short time when +she entertained her husband and delighted him by giving birth to +the little King of Rome. Yet in the end she was but an episode; +fleeing from her husband in his misfortune, becoming the mistress +of Count Neipperg, and letting her son--l'Aiglon--die in a land +that was far from France. + +Napoleon's sister, Pauline Bonaparte, was the third woman who +comes to mind when we contemplate the great Corsican's career. +She, too, is an episode. During the period of his ascendancy she +plagued him with her wanton ways, her sauciness and trickery. It +was amusing to throw him into one of his violent rages; but +Pauline was true at heart, and when her great brother was sent to +Elba she followed him devotedly and gave him all her store of +jewels, including the famous Borghese diamonds, perhaps the most +superb of all gems known to the western world. She would gladly +have followed him, also, to St. Helena had she been permitted. +Remaining behind, she did everything possible in conspiring to +secure his freedom. + +But, after all, Pauline and Marie Louise count for comparatively +little. Josephine's fate was interwoven with Napoleon's; and, with +his Corsican superstition, he often said so. The fourth woman, of +whom I am writing here, may be said to have almost equaled +Josephine in her influence on the emperor as well as in the pathos +of her life-story. + +On New-Year's Day of 1807 Napoleon, who was then almost Emperor of +Europe, passed through the little town of Bronia, in Poland. +Riding with his cavalry to Warsaw, the ancient capital of the +Polish kingdom, he seemed a very demigod of battle. + +True, he had had to abandon his long-cherished design of invading +and overrunning England, and Nelson had shattered his fleets and +practically driven his flag from the sea; but the naval disaster +of Trafalgar had speedily been followed by the triumph of +Austerlitz, the greatest and most brilliant of all Napoleon's +victories, which left Austria and Russia humbled to the very +ground before him. + +Then Prussia had dared to defy the over-bearing conqueror and had +put into the field against him her armies trained by Frederick the +Great; but these he had shattered almost at a stroke, winning in +one day the decisive battles of Jena and Auerstadt. He had stabled +his horses in the royal palace of the Hohenzollerns and had +pursued the remnant of the Prussian forces to the Russian border. + +As he marched into the Polish provinces the people swarmed by +thousands to meet him and hail him as their country's savior. They +believed down to the very last that Bonaparte would make the Poles +once more a free and independent nation and rescue them from the +tyranny of Russia. + +Napoleon played upon this feeling in every manner known to his +artful mind. He used it to alarm the Czar. He used it to +intimidate the Emperor of Austria; but more especially did he use +it among the Poles themselves to win for his armies thousands upon +thousands of gallant soldiers, who believed that in fighting for +Napoleon they were fighting for the final independence of their +native land. + +Therefore, with the intensity of patriotism which is a passion +among the Poles, every man and every woman gazed at Napoleon with +something like adoration; for was not he the mighty warrior who +had in his gift what all desired? Soldiers of every rank swarmed +to his standards. Princes and nobles flocked about him. Those who +stayed at home repeated wonderful stories of his victories and +prayed for him and fed the flame which spread through all the +country. It was felt that no sacrifice was too great to win his +favor; that to him, as to a deity, everything that he desired +should be yielded up, since he was to restore the liberty of +Poland. + +And hence, when the carriage of the emperor dashed into Bronia, +surrounded by Polish lancers and French cuirassiers, the enormous +crowd surged forward and blocked the way so that their hero could +not pass because of their cheers and cries and supplications. + +In the midst of it all there came a voice of peculiar sweetness +from the thickest portion of the crowd. + +"Please let me pass!" said the voice. "Let me see him, if only for +a moment!" + +The populace rolled backward, and through the lane which they made +a beautiful girl with dark blue eyes that flamed and streaming +hair that had become loosened about her radiant face was +confronting the emperor. Carried away by her enthusiasm, she +cried: + +"Thrice welcome to Poland! We can do or say nothing to express our +joy in the country which you will surely deliver from its tyrant." + +The emperor bowed and, with a smile, handed a great bouquet of +roses to the girl, for her beauty and her enthusiasm had made a +deep impression on him. + +"Take it," said he, "as a proof of my admiration. I trust that I +may have the pleasure of meeting you at Warsaw and of hearing your +thanks from those beautiful lips." + +In a moment more the trumpets rang out shrilly, the horsemen +closed up beside the imperial carriage, and it rolled away amid +the tumultuous shouting of the populace. + +The girl who had so attracted Napoleon's attention was Marie +Walewska, descended from an ancient though impoverished family in +Poland. When she was only fifteen she was courted by one of the +wealthiest men in Poland, the Count Walewska. He was three or four +times her age, yet her dark blue eyes, her massive golden hair, +and the exquisite grace of her figure led him to plead that she +might become his wife. She had accepted him, but the marriage was +that of a mere child, and her interest still centered upon her +country and took the form of patriotism rather than that of +wifehood and maternity. + +It was for this reason that the young Countess had visited Bronia. +She was now eighteen years of age and still had the sort of +romantic feeling which led her to think that she would keep in +some secret hiding-place the bouquet which the greatest man alive +had given her. + +But Napoleon was not the sort of man to forget anything that had +given him either pleasure or the reverse. He who, at the height of +his cares, could recall instantly how many cannon were in each +seaport of France and could make out an accurate list of all his +military stores; he who could call by name every soldier in his +guard, with a full remembrance of the battles each man had fought +in and the honors that he had won--he was not likely to forget so +lovely a face as the one which had gleamed with peculiar radiance +through the crowd at Bronia. + +On reaching Warsaw he asked one or two well-informed persons about +this beautiful stranger. Only a few hours had passed before Prince +Poniatowski, accompanied by other nobles, called upon her at her +home. + +"I am directed, madam," said he, "by order of the Emperor of +France, to bid you to be present at a ball that is to be given in +his honor to-morrow evening." + +Mme. Walewska was startled, and her face grew hot with blushes. +Did the emperor remember her escapade at Bronia? If so, how had he +discovered her? Why should he seek her out and do her such an +honor? + +"That, madam, is his imperial majesty's affair," Poniatowski told +her. "I merely obey his instructions and ask your presence at the +ball. Perhaps Heaven has marked you out to be the means of saving +our unhappy country." + +In this way, by playing on her patriotism, Poniatowski almost +persuaded her, and yet something held her back. She trembled, +though she was greatly fascinated; and finally she refused to go. + +Scarcely had the envoy left her, however, when a great company of +nobles entered in groups and begged her to humor the emperor. +Finally her own husband joined in their entreaties and actually +commanded her to go; so at last she was compelled to yield. + +It was by no means the frank and radiant girl who was now +preparing again to meet the emperor. She knew not why, and yet her +heart was full of trepidation and nervous fright, the cause of +which she could not guess, yet which made her task a severe +ordeal. She dressed herself in white satin, with no adornment save +a wreath of foliage in her hair. + +As she entered the ballroom she was welcomed by hundreds whom she +had never seen before, but who were of the highest nobility of +Poland. Murmurs of admiration followed her, and finally +Poniatowski came to her and complimented her, besides bringing her +a message that the emperor desired her to dance with him. + +"I am very sorry," she said, with a quiver of the lips, "but I +really cannot dance. Be kind enough to ask the emperor to excuse +me." + +But at that very moment she felt some strange magnetic influence; +and without looking up she could feel that Napoleon himself was +standing by her as she sat with blanched face and downcast eyes, +not daring to look up at him. + +"White upon white is a mistake, madam," said the emperor, in his +gentlest tones. Then, stooping low, he whispered, "I had expected +a far different reception." + +She neither smiled nor met his eyes. He stood there for a moment +and then passed on, leaving her to return to her home with a heavy +heart. The young countess felt that she had acted wrongly, and yet +there was an instinct--an instinct that she could not conquer. + +In the gray of the morning, while she was still tossing +feverishly, her maid knocked at the door and brought her a hastily +scribbled note. It ran as follows: + +I saw none but you, I admired none but you; I desire only you. +Answer at once, and calm the impatient ardor of--N. + +These passionate words burned from her eyes the veil that had +hidden the truth from her. What before had been mere blind +instinct became an actual verity. Why had she at first rushed +forth into the very streets to hail the possible deliverer of her +country, and then why had she shrunk from him when he sought to +honor her! It was all clear enough now. This bedside missive meant +that he had intended her dishonor and that he had looked upon her +simply as a possible mistress. + +At once she crushed the note angrily in her hand. + +"There is no answer at all," said she, bursting into bitter tears +at the very thought that he should dare to treat her in this way. + +But on the following morning when she awoke her maid was standing +beside her with a second letter from Napoleon. She refused to open +it and placed it in a packet with the first letter, and ordered +that both of them should be returned to the emperor. + +She shrank from speaking to her husband of what had happened, and +there was no one else in whom she dared confide. All through that +day there came hundreds of visitors, either of princely rank or +men who had won fame by their gallantry and courage. They all +begged to see her, but to them all she sent one answer--that she +was ill and could see no one. + +After a time her husband burst into her room, and insisted that +she should see them. + +"Why," exclaimed he, "you are insulting the greatest men and the +noblest women of Poland! More than that, there are some of the +most distinguished Frenchmen sitting at your doorstep, as it were. +There is Duroc, grand marshal of France, and in refusing to see +him you are insulting the great emperor on whom depends everything +that our country longs for. Napoleon has invited you to a state +dinner and you have given him no answer whatever. I order you to +rise at once and receive these ladies and gentlemen who have done +you so much honor!" + +She could not refuse. Presently she appeared in her drawing-room, +where she was at once surrounded by an immense throng of her own +countrymen and countrywomen, who made no pretense of +misunderstanding the situation. To them, what was one woman's +honor when compared with the freedom and independence of their +nation? She was overwhelmed by arguments and entreaties. She was +even accused of being disloyal to the cause of Poland if she +refused her consent. + +One of the strangest documents of that period was a letter sent to +her and signed by the noblest men in Poland. It contained a +powerful appeal to her patriotism. One remarkable passage even +quotes the Bible to point out her line of duty. A portion of this +letter ran as follows: + +Did Esther, think you, give herself to Ahasuerus out of the +fulness of her love for him? So great was the terror with which he +inspired her that she fainted at the sight of him. We may +therefore conclude that affection had but little to do with her +resolve. She sacrificed her own inclinations to the salvation of +her country, and that salvation it was her glory to achieve. May +we be enabled to say the same of you, to your glory and our own +happiness! + +After this letter came others from Napoleon himself, full of the +most humble pleading. It was not wholly distasteful thus to have +the conqueror of the world seek her out and offer her his +adoration any more than it was distasteful to think that the +revival of her own nation depended on her single will. M. Frederic +Masson, whose minute studies regarding everything relating to +Napoleon have won him a seat in the French Academy, writes of +Marie Walewska at this time: Every force was now brought into play +against her. Her country, her friends, her religion, the Old and +the New Testaments, all urged her to yield; they all combined for +the ruin of a simple and inexperienced girl of eighteen who had no +parents, whose husband even thrust her into temptation, and whose +friends thought that her downfall would be her glory. + +Amid all these powerful influences she consented to attend the +dinner. To her gratification Napoleon treated her with distant +courtesy, and, in fact, with a certain coldness. + +"I heard that Mme. Walewska was indisposed. I trust that she has +recovered," was all the greeting that he gave her when they met. + +Every one else with whom she spoke overwhelmed her with flattery +and with continued urging; but the emperor himself for a time +acted as if she had displeased him. This was consummate art; for +as soon as she was relieved of her fears she began to regret that +she had thrown her power away. + +During the dinner she let her eyes wander to those of the emperor +almost in supplication. He, the subtlest of men, knew that he had +won. His marvelous eyes met hers and drew her attention to him as +by an electric current; and when the ladies left the great dining- +room Napoleon sought her out and whispered in her ear a few words +of ardent love. + +It was too little to alarm her seriously now. It was enough to +make her feel that magnetism which Napoleon knew so well how to +evoke and exercise. Again every one crowded about her with +congratulations. Some said: + +"He never even saw any of US. His eyes were all for YOU! They +flashed fire as he looked at you." + +"You have conquered his heart," others said, "and you can do what +you like with him. The salvation of Poland is in your hands." + +The company broke up at an early hour, but Mme. Walewska was asked +to remain. When she was alone General Duroc--one of the emperor's +favorite officers and most trusted lieutenants--entered and placed +a letter from Napoleon in her lap. He tried to tell her as +tactfully as possible how much harm she was doing by refusing the +imperial request. She was deeply affected, and presently, when +Duroc left her, she opened the letter which he had given her and +read it. It was worded thus: + +There are times when all splendors become oppressive, as I feel +but too deeply at the present moment. How can I satisfy the +desires of a heart that yearns to cast itself at your feet, when +its impulses are checked at every point by considerations of the +highest moment? Oh, if you would, you alone might overcome the +obstacles that keep us apart. MY FRIEND DUROC WILL MAKE ALL EASY +FOR YOU. Oh, come, come! Your every wish shall be gratified! Your +country will be dearer to me when you take pity on my poor heart. +N. + +Every chance of escape seemed to be closed. She had Napoleon's own +word that he would free Poland in return for her self-sacrifice. +Moreover, her powers of resistance had been so weakened that, like +many women, she temporized. She decided that she would meet the +emperor alone. She would tell him that she did not love him, and +yet would plead with him to save her beloved country. + +As she sat there every tick of the clock stirred her to a new +excitement. At last there came a knock upon the door, a cloak was +thrown about her from behind, a heavy veil was drooped about her +golden hair, and she was led, by whom she knew not, to the street, +where a finely appointed carriage was waiting for her. + +No sooner had she entered it than she was driven rapidly through +the darkness to the beautifully carved entrance of a palace. Half +led, half carried, she was taken up the steps to a door which was +eagerly opened by some one within. There were warmth and light and +color and the scent of flowers as she was placed in a comfortable +arm-chair. Her wrappings were taken from her, the door was closed +behind her; and then, as she looked up, she found herself in the +presence of Napoleon, who was kneeling at her feet and uttering +soothing words. + +Wisely, the emperor used no violence. He merely argued with her; +he told her over and over his love for her; and finally he +declared that for her sake he would make Poland once again a +strong and splendid kingdom. + +Several hours passed. In the early morning, before daylight, there +came a knock at the door. + +"Already?" said Napoleon. "Well, my plaintive dove, go home and +rest. You must not fear the eagle. In time you will come to love +him, and in all things you shall command him." + +Then he led her to the door, but said that he would not open it +unless she promised to see him the next day--a promise which she +gave the more readily because he had treated her with such +respect. + +On the following morning her faithful maid came to her bedside +with a cluster of beautiful violets, a letter, and several +daintily made morocco cases. When these were opened there leaped +out strings and necklaces of exquisite diamonds, blazing in the +morning sunlight. Mme. Walewska seized the jewels and flung them +across the room with an order that they should be taken back at +once to the imperial giver; but the letter, which was in the same +romantic strain as the others, she retained. + +On that same evening there was another dinner, given to the +emperor by the nobles, and Marie Walewska attended it, but of +course without the diamonds, which she had returned. Nor did she +wear the flowers which had accompanied the diamonds. + +When Napoleon met her he frowned upon her and made her tremble +with the cold glances that shot from his eyes of steel. He +scarcely spoke to her throughout the meal, but those who sat +beside her were earnest in their pleading. + +Again she waited until the guests had gone away, and with a +lighter heart, since she felt that she had nothing to fear. But +when she met Napoleon in his private cabinet, alone, his mood was +very different from that which he had shown before. Instead of +gentleness and consideration he was the Napoleon of camps, and not +of courts. He greeted her bruskly. + +"I scarcely expected to see you again," said he. "Why did you +refuse my diamonds and my flowers? Why did you avoid my eyes at +dinner? Your coldness is an insult which I shall not brook." Then +he raised his voice to that rasping, almost blood-curdling tone +which even his hardiest soldiers dreaded: "I will have you know +that I mean to conquer you. You SHALL--yes, I repeat it, you +SHALL love me! I have restored the name of your country. It owes +its very existence to me." + +Then he resorted to a trick which he had played years before in +dealing with the Austrians at Campo Formio. + +"See this watch which I am holding in my hand. Just as I dash it +to fragments before you, so will I shatter Poland if you drive me +to desperation by rejecting my heart and refusing me your own." + +As he spoke he hurled the watch against the opposite wall with +terrific force, dashing it to pieces. In terror, Mme. Walewska +fainted. When she resumed consciousness there was Napoleon wiping +away her tears with the tenderness of a woman and with words of +self-reproach. + +The long siege was over. Napoleon had conquered, and this girl of +eighteen gave herself up to his caresses and endearments, thinking +that, after all, her love of country was more than her own honor. + +Her husband, as a matter of form, put her away from him, though at +heart he approved what she had done, while the Polish people +regarded her as nothing less than a national heroine. To them she +was no minister to the vices of an emperor, but rather one who +would make him love Poland for her sake and restore its greatness. + +So far as concerned his love for her, it was, indeed, almost +idolatry. He honored her in every way and spent all the time at +his disposal in her company. But his promise to restore Poland he +never kept, and gradually she found that he had never meant to +keep it. + +"I love your country," he would say, "and I am willing to aid in +the attempt to uphold its rights, but my first duty is to France. +I cannot shed French blood in a foreign cause." + +By this time, however, Marie Walewska had learned to love Napoleon +for his own sake. She could not resist his ardor, which matched +the ardor of the Poles themselves. Moreover, it flattered her to +see the greatest soldier in the world a suppliant for her smiles. + +For some years she was Napoleon's close companion, spending long +hours with him and finally accompanying him to Paris. She was the +mother of Napoleon's only son who lived to manhood. This son, who +bore the name of Alexandre Florian de Walewski, was born in Poland +in 1810, and later was created a count and duke of the second +French Empire. It may be said parenthetically that he was a man of +great ability. Living down to 1868, he was made much of by +Napoleon III., who placed him in high offices of state, which he +filled with distinction. In contrast with the Duc de Morny, who +was Napoleon's illegitimate half-brother, Alexandre de Walewski +stood out in brilliant contrast. He would have nothing to do with +stock-jobbing and unseemly speculation. + +"I may be poor," he said--though he was not poor--"but at least I +remember the glory of my father and what is due to his great +name." + +As for Mme. Walewska, she was loyal to the emperor, and lacked the +greed of many women whom he had made his favorites. Even at Elba, +when he was in exile and disgrace, she visited him that she might +endeavor to console him. She was his counselor and friend as well +as his earnestly loved mate. When she died in Paris in 1817, while +the dethroned emperor was a prisoner at St. Helena, the word +"Napoleon" was the last upon her lips. + + + + + +THE STORY OF PAULINE BONAPARTE + + +It was said of Napoleon long ago that he could govern emperors and +kings, but that not even he could rule his relatives. He himself +once declared: + +"My family have done me far more harm than I have been able to do +them good." + +It would be an interesting historical study to determine just how +far the great soldier's family aided in his downfall by their +selfishness, their jealousy, their meanness, and their +ingratitude. + +There is something piquant in thinking of Napoleon as a domestic +sort of person. Indeed, it is rather difficult to do so. When we +speak his name we think of the stern warrior hurling his armies up +bloody slopes and on to bloody victory. He is the man whose steely +eyes made his haughtiest marshals tremble, or else the wise, far- +seeing statesman and lawgiver; but decidedly he is not a household +model. We read of his sharp speech to women, of his outrageous +manners at the dinner-table, and of the thousand and one details +which Mme. de Remusat has chronicled--and perhaps in part +invented, for there has always existed the suspicion that her +animus was that of a woman who had herself sought the imperial +favor and had failed to win it. + +But, in fact, all these stories relate to the Napoleon of courts +and palaces, and not to the Napoleon of home. In his private life +this great man was not merely affectionate and indulgent, but he +even showed a certain weakness where his relatives were concerned, +so that he let them prey upon him almost without end. + +He had a great deal of the Italian largeness and lavishness of +character with his family. When a petty officer he nearly starved +himself in order to give his younger brother, Louis, a military +education. He was devotedly fond of children, and they were fond +of him, as many anecdotes attest. His passionate love for +Josephine before he learned of her infidelity is almost painful to +read of; and even afterward, when he had been disillusioned, and +when she was paying Fouche a thousand francs a day to spy upon +Napoleon's every action, he still treated her with friendliness +and allowed her extravagance to embarrass him. + +He made his eldest brother, Joseph, King of Spain, and Spain +proved almost as deadly to him as did Russia. He made his youngest +brother, Jerome, King of Westphalia, and Jerome turned the palace +into a pigsty and brought discredit on the very name of Bonaparte. +His brother Louis, for whom he had starved himself, he placed upon +the throne of Holland, and Louis promptly devoted himself to his +own interests, conniving at many things which were inimical to +France. He was planning high advancement for his brother Lucien, +and Lucien suddenly married a disreputable actress and fled with +her to England, where he was received with pleasure by the most +persistent of all Napoleon's enemies. + +So much for his brothers--incompetent, ungrateful, or openly his +foes. But his three sisters were no less remarkable in the +relations which they bore to him. They have been styled "the three +crowned courtesans," and they have been condemned together as +being utterly void of principle and monsters of ingratitude. + +Much of this censure was well deserved by all of them--by Caroline +and Elise and Pauline. But when we look at the facts impartially +we shall find something which makes Pauline stand out alone as +infinitely superior to her sisters. Of all the Bonapartes she was +the only one who showed fidelity and gratitude to the great +emperor, her brother. Even Mme. Mere, Napoleon's mother, who +beyond all question transmitted to him his great mental and +physical power, did nothing for him. At the height of his splendor +she hoarded sous and francs and grumblingly remarked: + +"All this is for a time. It isn't going to last!" + +Pauline, however, was in one respect different from all her +kindred. Napoleon made Elise a princess in her own right and gave +her the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He married Caroline to Marshal +Murat, and they became respectively King and Queen of Naples. For +Pauline he did very little--less, in fact, than for any other +member of his family--and yet she alone stood by him to the end. + +This feather-headed, languishing, beautiful, distracting morsel of +frivolity, who had the manners of a kitten and the morals of a +cat, nevertheless was not wholly unworthy to be Napoleon's sister. +One has to tell many hard things of her; and yet one almost +pardons her because of her underlying devotion to the man who made +the name of Bonaparte illustrious for ever. Caroline, Queen of +Naples, urged her husband to turn against his former chief. Elise, +sour and greedy, threw in her fortunes with the Murats. Pauline, +as we shall see, had the one redeeming trait of gratitude. + +To those who knew her she was from girlhood an incarnation of what +used to be called "femininity." We have to-day another and a +higher definition of womanhood, but to her contemporaries, and to +many modern writers, she has seemed to be first of all woman-- +"woman to the tips of her rosy finger-nails," says Levy. Those who +saw her were distracted by her loveliness. They say that no one +can form any idea of her beauty from her pictures. "A veritable +masterpiece of creation," she had been called. Frederic Masson +declares: + + She was so much more the typical woman that with her the defects +common to women reached their highest development, while her +beauty attained a perfection which may justly be called unique. + + No one speaks of Pauline Bonaparte's character or of her +intellect, but wholly of her loveliness and charm, and, it must be +added, of her utter lack of anything like a moral sense. + +Even as a child of thirteen, when the Bonapartes left Corsica and +took up their abode in Marseilles, she attracted universal +attention by her wonderful eyes, her grace, and also by the utter +lack of decorum which she showed. The Bonaparte girls at this time +lived almost on charity. The future emperor was then a captain of +artillery and could give them but little out of his scanty pay. + +Pauline--or, as they called her in those days, Paulette--wore +unbecoming hats and shabby gowns, and shoes that were full of +holes. None the less, she was sought out by several men of note, +among them Freron, a commissioner of the Convention. He visited +Pauline so often as to cause unfavorable comment; but he was in +love with her, and she fell in love with him to the extent of her +capacity. She used to write him love letters in Italian, which +were certainly not lacking in ardor. Here is the end of one of +them: + +I love you always and most passionately. I love you for ever, my +beautiful idol, my heart, my appealing lover. I love you, love +you, love you, the most loved of lovers, and I swear never to love +any one else! + +This was interesting in view of the fact that soon afterward she +fell in love with Junot, who became a famous marshal. But her love +affairs never gave her any serious trouble; and the three sisters, +who now began to feel the influence of Napoleon's rise to power, +enjoyed themselves as they had never done before. At Antibes they +had a beautiful villa, and later a mansion at Milan. + +By this time Napoleon had routed the Austrians in Italy, and all +France was ringing with his name. What was Pauline like in her +maidenhood? Arnault says: + +She was an extraordinary combination of perfect physical beauty +and the strangest moral laxity. She was as pretty as you please, +but utterly unreasonable. She had no more manners than a school- +girl--talking incoherently, giggling at everything and nothing, +and mimicking the most serious persons of rank. + +General de Ricard, who knew her then, tells in his monograph of +the private theatricals in which Pauline took part, and of the +sport which they had behind the scenes. He says: + +The Bonaparte girls used literally to dress us. They pulled our +ears and slapped us, but they always kissed and made up later. We +used to stay in the girls' room all the time when they were +dressing. + +Napoleon was anxious to see his sisters in some way settled. He +proposed to General Marmont to marry Pauline. The girl was then +only seventeen, and one might have had some faith in her +character. But Marmont was shrewd and knew her far too well. The +words in which he declined the honor are interesting: + +"I know that she is charming and exquisitely beautiful; yet I have +dreams of domestic happiness, of fidelity, and of virtue. Such +dreams are seldom realized, I know. Still, in the hope of winning +them--" + +And then he paused, coughed, and completed what he had to say in a +sort of mumble, but his meaning was wholly clear. He would not +accept the offer of Pauline in marriage, even though she was the +sister of his mighty chief. + +Then Napoleon turned to General Leclerc, with whom Pauline had for +some time flirted, as she had flirted with almost all the officers +of Napoleon's staff. Leclerc was only twenty-six. He was rich and +of good manners, but rather serious and in poor health. This was +not precisely the sort of husband for Pauline, if we look at it in +the conventional way; but it served Napoleon's purpose and did not +in the least interfere with his sister's intrigues. + +Poor Leclerc, who really loved Pauline, grew thin, and graver +still in manner. He was sent to Spain and Portugal, and finally +was made commander-in-chief of the French expedition to Haiti, +where the famous black rebel, Toussaint l'Ouverture, was heading +an uprising of the negroes. + +Napoleon ordered Pauline to accompany her husband. Pauline flatly +refused, although she made this an occasion for ordering +"mountains of pretty clothes and pyramids of hats." But still she +refused to go on board the flag-ship. Leclerc expostulated and +pleaded, but the lovely witch laughed in his face and still +persisted that she would never go. + +Word was brought to Napoleon. He made short work of her +resistance. + +"Bring a litter," he said, with one of his steely glances. "Order +six grenadiers to thrust her into it, and see that she goes on +board forthwith." + +And so, screeching like an angry cat, she was carried on board, +and set sail with her husband and one of her former lovers. She +found Haiti and Santo Domingo more agreeable than she had +supposed. She was there a sort of queen who could do as she +pleased and have her orders implicitly obeyed. Her dissipation was +something frightful. Her folly and her vanity were beyond belief. + +But at the end of two years both she and her husband fell ill. He +was stricken down by the yellow fever, which was decimating the +French army. Pauline was suffering from the results of her life in +a tropical climate. Leclerc died, the expedition was abandoned, +and Pauline brought the general's body back to France. When he was +buried she, still recovering from her fever, had him interred in a +costly coffin and paid him the tribute of cutting off her +beautiful hair and burying it with him. + +"What a touching tribute to her dead husband!" said some one to +Napoleon. + +The emperor smiled cynically as he remarked: + +"H'm! Of course she knows that her hair is bound to fall out after +her fever, and that it will come in longer and thicker for being +cropped." + +Napoleon, in fact, though he loved Pauline better than his other +sisters--or perhaps because he loved her better--was very strict +with her. He obliged her to wear mourning, and to observe some of +the proprieties; but it was hard to keep her within bounds. + +Presently it became noised about that Prince Camillo Borghese was +exceedingly intimate with her. The prince was an excellent +specimen of the fashionable Italian. He was immensely rich. His +palace at Rome was crammed with pictures, statues, and every sort +of artistic treasure. He was the owner, moreover, of the famous +Borghese jewels, the finest collection of diamonds in the world. + +Napoleon rather sternly insisted upon her marrying Borghese. +Fortunately, the prince was very willing to be connected with +Napoleon; while Pauline was delighted at the idea of having +diamonds that would eclipse all the gems which Josephine +possessed; for, like all of the Bonapartes, she detested her +brother's wife. So she would be married and show her diamonds to +Josephine. It was a bit of feminine malice which she could not +resist. + +The marriage took place very quietly at Joseph Bonaparte's house, +because of the absence of Napoleon; but the newly made princess +was invited to visit Josephine at the palace of Saint-Cloud. Here +was to be the triumph of her life. She spent many days in planning +a toilet that should be absolutely crushing to Josephine. Whatever +she wore must be a background for the famous diamonds. Finally she +decided on green velvet. + +When the day came Pauline stood before a mirror and gazed at +herself with diamonds glistening in her hair, shimmering around +her neck, and fastened so thickly on her green velvet gown as to +remind one of a moving jewel-casket. She actually shed tears for +joy. Then she entered her carriage and drove out to Saint-Cloud. + +But the Creole Josephine, though no longer young, was a woman of +great subtlety as well as charm. Stories had been told to her of +the green velvet, and therefore she had her drawing-room +redecorated in the most uncompromising blue. It killed the green +velvet completely. As for the diamonds, she met that maneuver by +wearing not a single gem of any kind. Her dress was an Indian +muslin with a broad hem of gold. + +Her exquisite simplicity, coupled with her dignity of bearing, +made the Princess Pauline, with her shower of diamonds, and her +green velvet displayed against the blue, seem absolutely vulgar. +Josephine was most generous in her admiration of the Borghese +gems, and she kissed Pauline on parting. The victory was hers. + +There is another story of a defeat which Pauline met from another +lady, one Mme. de Coutades. This was at a magnificent ball given +to the most fashionable world of Paris. Pauline decided upon +going, and intended, in her own phrase, to blot out every woman +there. She kept the secret of her toilet absolutely, and she +entered the ballroom at the psychological moment, when all the +guests had just assembled. + +She appeared; and at sight of her the music stopped, silence fell +upon the assemblage, and a sort of quiver went through every one. +Her costume was of the finest muslin bordered with golden palm- +leaves. Four bands, spotted like a leopard's skin, were wound +about her head, while these in turn were supported by little +clusters of golden grapes. She had copied the head-dress of a +Bacchante in the Louvre. All over her person were cameos, and just +beneath her breasts she wore a golden band held in place by an +engraved gem. Her beautiful wrists, arms, and hands were bare. She +had, in fact, blotted out her rivals. + +Nevertheless, Mme. de Coutades took her revenge. She went up to +Pauline, who was lying on a divan to set off her loveliness, and +began gazing at the princess through a double eye-glass. Pauline +felt flattered for a moment, and then became uneasy. The lady who +was looking at her said to a companion, in a tone of compassion: + +"What a pity! She really would be lovely if it weren't for THAT!" + +"For what?" returned her escort. + +"Why, are you blind? It's so remarkable that you SURELY must see +it." + +Pauline was beginning to lose her self-composure. She flushed and +looked wildly about, wondering what was meant. Then she heard Mme. +Coutades say: + +"Why, her ears. If I had such ears as those I would cut them off!" + +Pauline gave one great gasp and fainted dead away. As a matter of +fact, her ears were not so bad. They were simply very flat and +colorless, forming a contrast with the rosy tints of her face. But +from that moment no one could see anything but these ears; and +thereafter the princess wore her hair low enough to cover them. + +This may be seen in the statue of her by Canova. It was considered +a very daring thing for her to pose for him in the nude, for only +a bit of drapery is thrown over her lower limbs. Yet it is true +that this statue is absolutely classical in its conception and +execution, and its interest is heightened by the fact that its +model was what she afterward styled herself, with true Napoleonic +pride--"a sister of Bonaparte." + +Pauline detested Josephine and was pleased when Napoleon divorced +her; but she also disliked the Austrian archduchess, Marie Louise, +who was Josephine's successor. On one occasion, at a great court +function, she got behind the empress and ran out her tongue at +her, in full view of all the nobles and distinguished persons +present. Napoleon's eagle eye flashed upon Pauline and blazed like +fire upon ice. She actually took to her heels, rushed out of the +ball, and never visited the court again. + +It would require much time to tell of her other eccentricities, of +her intrigues, which were innumerable, of her quarrel with her +husband, and of the minor breaches of decorum with which she +startled Paris. One of these was her choice of a huge negro to +bathe her every morning. When some one ventured to protest, she +answered, naively: + +"What! Do you call that thing a MAN?" + +And she compromised by compelling her black servitor to go out and +marry some one at once, so that he might continue his +ministrations with propriety! + +To her Napoleon showed himself far more severe than with either +Caroline or Elise. He gave her a marriage dowry of half a million +francs when she became the Princess Borghese, but after that he +was continually checking her extravagances. Yet in 1814, when the +downfall came and Napoleon was sent into exile at Elba, Pauline +was the only one of all his relatives to visit him and spend her +time with him. His wife fell away and went back to her Austrian +relatives. Of all the Bonapartes only Pauline and Mme. Mere +remained faithful to the emperor. + +Even then Napoleon refused to pay a bill of hers for sixty-two +francs, while he allowed her only two hundred and forty francs for +the maintenance of her horses. But she, with a generosity of which +one would have thought her quite incapable, gave to her brother a +great part of her fortune. When he escaped from Elba and began the +campaign of 1815 she presented him with all the Borghese diamonds. +In fact, he had them with him in his carriage at Waterloo, where +they were captured by the English. Contrast this with the meanness +and ingratitude of her sisters and her brothers, and one may well +believe that she was sincerely proud of what it meant to be la +soeur de Bonaparte. + +When he was sent to St. Helena she was ill in bed and could not +accompany him. Nevertheless, she tried to sell all her trinkets, +of which she was so proud, in order that she might give him help. +When he died she received the news with bitter tears "on hearing +all the particulars of that long agony." + +As for herself, she did not long survive. At the age of forty-four +her last moments came. Knowing that she was to die, she sent for +Prince Borghese and sought a reconciliation. But, after all, she +died as she had lived--"the queen of trinkets" (la reine des +colifichets). She asked the servant to bring a mirror. She gazed +into it with her dying eyes; and then, as she sank back, it was +with a smile of deep content. + +"I am not afraid to die," she said. "I am still beautiful!" + + + + + +THE STORY OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE AND COUNT NEIPPERG + + +There is one famous woman whom history condems while at the same +time it partly hides the facts which might mitigate the harshness +of the judgment that is passed upon her. This woman is Marie +Louise, Empress of France, consort of the great Napoleon, and +archduchess of imperial Austria. When the most brilliant figure in +all history, after his overthrow in 1814, was in tawdry exile on +the petty island of Elba, the empress was already about to become +a mother; and the father of her unborn child was not Napoleon, but +another man. This is almost all that is usually remembered of her +--that she was unfaithful to Napoleon, that she abandoned him in +the hour of his defeat, and that she gave herself with readiness +to one inferior in rank, yet with whom she lived for years, and to +whom she bore what a French writer styled "a brood of bastards." + +Naturally enough, the Austrian and German historians do not have +much to say of Marie Louise, because in her own disgrace she also +brought disgrace upon the proudest reigning family in Europe. +Naturally, also, French writers, even those who are hostile to +Napoleon, do not care to dwell upon the story; since France itself +was humiliated when its greatest genius and most splendid soldier +was deceived by his Austrian wife. Therefore there are still many +who know little beyond the bare fact that the Empress Marie Louise +threw away her pride as a princess, her reputation as a wife, and +her honor as a woman. Her figure seems to crouch in a sort of +murky byway, and those who pass over the highroad of history +ignore it with averted eyes. + +In reality the story of Napoleon and Marie Louise and of the Count +von Neipperg is one which, when you search it to the very core, +leads you straight to a sex problem of a very curious nature. +Nowhere else does it occur in the relations of the great +personages of history; but in literature Balzac, that master of +psychology, has touched upon the theme in the early chapters of +his famous novel called "A Woman of Thirty." + +As to the Napoleonic story, let us first recall the facts of the +case, giving them in such order that their full significance may +be understood. + +In 1809 Napoleon, then at the plenitude of his power, shook +himself free from the clinging clasp of Josephine and procured the +annulment of his marriage to her. He really owed her nothing. +Before he knew her she had been the mistress of another. In the +first years of their life together she had been notoriously +unfaithful to him. He had held to her from habit which was in part +a superstition; but the remembrance of the wrong which she had +done him made her faded charms at times almost repulsive. And then +Josephine had never borne him any children; and without a son to +perpetuate his dynasty, the gigantic achievements which he had +wrought seemed futile in his eyes, and likely to crumble into +nothingness when he should die. + +No sooner had the marriage been annulled than his titanic ambition +leaped, as it always did, to a tremendous pinnacle. He would wed. +He would have children. But he would wed no petty princess. This +man who in his early youth had felt honored by a marriage with the +almost declassee widow of a creole planter now stretched out his +hand that he might take to himself a woman not merely royal but +imperial. + +At first he sought the sister of the Czar of Russia; but Alexander +entertained a profound distrust of the French emperor, and managed +to evade the tentative demand. There was, however, a reigning +family far more ancient than the Romanoffs--a family which had +held the imperial dignity for nearly six centuries--the oldest and +the noblest blood in Europe. This was the Austrian house of +Hapsburg. Its head, the Emperor Francis, had thirteen children, of +whom the eldest, the Archduchess Marie Louise, was then in her +nineteenth year. + +Napoleon had resented the rebuff which the Czar had given him. He +turned, therefore, the more eagerly to the other project. Yet +there were many reasons why an Austrian marriage might be +dangerous, or, at any rate, ill-omened. Only sixteen years before, +an Austrian arch-duchess, Marie Antionette, married to the ruler +of France, had met her death upon the scaffold, hated and cursed +by the French people, who had always blamed "the Austrian" for the +evil days which had ended in the flames of revolution. Again, the +father of the girl to whom Napoleon's fancy turned had been the +bitter enemy of the new regime in France. His troops had been +beaten by the French in five wars and had been crushed at +Austerlitz and at Wagram. Bonaparte had twice entered Vienna at +the head of a conquering army, and thrice he had slept in the +imperial palace at Schonbrunn, while Francis was fleeing through +the dark, a beaten fugitive pursued by the swift squadrons of +French cavalry. + +The feeling of Francis of Austria was not merely that of the +vanquished toward the victor. It was a deep hatred almost +religious in its fervor. He was the head and front of the old-time +feudalism of birth and blood; Napoleon was the incarnation of the +modern spirit which demolished thrones and set an iron heel upon +crowned heads, giving the sacred titles of king and prince to +soldiers who, even in palaces, still showed the swaggering +brutality of the camp and the stable whence they sprang. Yet, just +because an alliance with the Austrian house seemed in so many ways +impossible, the thought of it inflamed the ardor of Napoleon all +the more. + +"Impossible?" he had once said, contemptuously. "The word +'impossible' is not French." + +The Austrian alliance, unnatural though it seemed, was certainly +quite possible. In the year 1809 Napoleon had finished his fifth +war with Austria by the terrific battle of Wagram, which brought +the empire of the Hapsburgs to the very dust. The conqueror's rude +hand had stripped from Francis province after province. He had +even let fall hints that the Hapsburgs might be dethroned and that +Austria might disappear from the map of Europe, to be divided +between himself and the Russian Czar, who was still his ally. It +was at this psychological moment that the Czar wounded Napoleon's +pride by refusing to give the hand of his sister Anne. + +The subtle diplomats of Vienna immediately saw their chance. +Prince Metternich, with the caution of one who enters the cage of +a man-eating-tiger, suggested that the Austrian archduchess would +be a fitting bride for the French conqueror. The notion soothed +the wounded vanity of Napoleon. From that moment events moved +swiftly; and before long it was understood that there was to be a +new empress in France, and that she was to be none other than the +daughter of the man who had been Napoleon's most persistent foe +upon the Continent. The girl was to be given--sacrificed, if you +like--to appease an imperial adventurer. After such a marriage, +Austria would be safe from spoliation. The reigning dynasty would +remain firmly seated upon its historic throne. + +But how about the girl herself? She had always heard Napoleon +spoken of as a sort of ogre--a man of low ancestry, a brutal and +faithless enemy of her people. She knew that this bold, rough- +spoken soldier less than a year before had added insult to the +injury which he had inflicted on her father. In public +proclamations he had called the Emperor Francis a coward and a +liar. Up to the latter part of the year Napoleon was to her +imagination a blood-stained, sordid, and yet all-powerful monster, +outside the pale of human liking and respect. What must have been +her thoughts when her father first told her with averted face that +she was to become the bride of such a being? + +Marie Louise had been brought up, as all German girls of rank were +then brought up, in quiet simplicity and utter innocence. In +person she was a tall blonde, with a wealth of light brown hair +tumbling about a face which might be called attractive because it +was so youthful and so gentle, but in which only poets and +courtiers could see beauty. Her complexion was rosy, with that +peculiar tinge which means that in the course of time it will +become red and mottled. Her blue eyes were clear and childish. Her +figure was good, though already too full for a girl who was +younger than her years. + +She had a large and generous mouth with full lips, the lower one +being the true "Hapsburg lip," slightly pendulous--a feature which +has remained for generation after generation as a sure sign of +Hapsburg blood. One sees it in the present emperor of Austria, in +the late Queen Regent of Spain, and in the present King of Spain, +Alfonso. All the artists who made miniatures or paintings of Marie +Louise softened down this racial mark so that no likeness of her +shows it as it really was. But take her all in all, she was a +simple, childlike, German madchen who knew nothing of the outside +world except what she had heard from her discreet and watchful +governess, and what had been told her of Napoleon by her uncles, +the archdukes whom he had beaten down in battle. + +When she learned that she was to be given to the French emperor +her girlish soul experienced a shudder; but her father told her +how vital was this union to her country and to him. With a sort of +piteous dread she questioned the archdukes who had called Napoleon +an ogre. + +"Oh, that was when Napoleon was an enemy," they replied. "Now he +is our friend." + +Marie Louise listened to all this, and, like the obedient German +girl she was, yielded her own will. + +Events moved with a rush, for Napoleon was not the man to dally. +Josephine had retired to her residence at Malmaison, and Paris was +already astir with preparations for the new empress who was to +assure the continuation of the Napoleonic glory by giving children +to her husband. Napoleon had said to his ambassador with his usual +bluntness: + +"This is the first and most important thing--she must have +children." + +To the girl whom he was to marry he sent the following letter--an +odd letter, combining the formality of a negotiator with the +veiled ardor of a lover: + +MY COUSIN: The brilliant qualities which adorn your person have +inspired in me a desire to serve you and to pay you homage. In +making my request to the emperor, your father, and praying him to +intrust to me the happiness of your imperial highness, may I hope +that you will understand the sentiments which lead me to this act? +May I flatter myself that it will not be decided solely by the +duty of parental obedience? However slightly the feelings of your +imperial highness may incline to me, I wish to cultivate them with +so great care, and to endeavor so constantly to please you in +everything, that I flatter myself that some day I shall prove +attractive to you. This is the end at which I desire to arrive, +and for which I pray your highness to be favorable to me. + +Immediately everything was done to dazzle the imagination of the +girl. She had dressed always in the simplicity of the school-room. +Her only ornaments had been a few colored stones which she +sometimes wore as a necklace or a bracelet. Now the resources of +all France were drawn upon. Precious laces foamed about her. +Cascades of diamonds flashed before her eyes. The costliest and +most exquisite creations of the Parisian shops were spread around +her to make up a trousseau fit for the princess who was soon to +become the bride of the man who had mastered continental Europe. + +The archives of Vienna were ransacked for musty documents which +would show exactly what had been done for other Austrian +princesses who had married rulers of France. Everything was +duplicated down to the last detail. Ladies-in-waiting thronged +about the young archduchess; and presently there came to her Queen +Caroline of Naples, Napoleon's sister, of whom Napoleon himself +once said: "She is the only man among my sisters, as Joseph is the +only woman among my brothers." Caroline, by virtue of her rank as +queen, could have free access to her husband's future bride. Also, +there came presently Napoleon's famous marshal, Berthier, Prince +of Neuchatel, the chief of the Old Guard, who had just been +created Prince of Wagram--a title which, very naturally, he did +not use in Austria. He was to act as proxy for Napoleon in the +preliminary marriage service at Vienna. + +All was excitement. Vienna had never been so gay. Money was +lavished under the direction of Caroline and Berthier. There were +illuminations and balls. The young girl found herself the center +of the world's interest; and the excitement made her dizzy. She +could not but be flattered, and yet there were many hours when her +heart misgave her. More than once she was found in tears. Her +father, an affectionate though narrow soul, spent an entire day +with her consoling and reassuring her. One thought she always kept +in mind--what she had said to Metternich at the very first: "I +want only what my duty bids me want." At last came the official +marriage, by proxy, in the presence of a splendid gathering. The +various documents were signed, the dowry was arranged for. Gifts +were scattered right and left. At the opera there were gala +performances. Then Marie Louise bade her father a sad farewell. +Almost suffocated by sobs and with her eyes streaming with tears, +she was led between two hedges of bayonets to her carriage, while +cannon thundered and all the church-bells of Vienna rang a joyful +peal. + +She set out for France accompanied by a long train of carriages +filled with noblemen and noblewomen, with ladies-in-waiting and +scores of attendant menials. The young bride--the wife of a man +whom she had never seen--was almost dead with excitement and +fatigue. At a station in the outskirts of Vienna she scribbled a +few lines to her father, which are a commentary upon her state of +mind: + +I think of you always, and I always shall. God has given me power +to endure this final shock, and in Him alone I have put all my +trust. He will help me and give me courage, and I shall find +support in doing my duty toward you, since it is all for you that +I have sacrificed myself. + +There is something piteous in this little note of a frightened +girl going to encounter she knew not what, and clinging almost +frantically to the one thought--that whatever might befall her, +she was doing as her father wished. + +One need not recount the long and tedious journey of many days +over wretched roads, in carriages that jolted and lurched and +swayed. She was surrounded by unfamiliar faces and was compelled +to meet at every town the chief men of the place, all of whom paid +her honor, but stared at her with irrepressible curiosity. Day +after day she went on and on. Each morning a courier on a foaming +horse presented her with a great cluster of fresh flowers and a +few lines scrawled by the unknown husband who was to meet her at +her journey's end. + +There lay the point upon which her wandering thoughts were +focused--the journey's end! The man whose strange, mysterious +power had forced her from her school-room, had driven her through +a nightmare of strange happenings, and who was waiting for her +somewhere to take her to himself, to master her as he had mastered +generals and armies! + +What was marriage? What did it mean? What experience still lay +before her! These were the questions which she must have asked +herself throughout that long, exhausting journey. When she thought +of the past she was homesick. When she thought of the immediate +future she was fearful with a shuddering fear. + +At last she reached the frontier of France, and her carriage +passed into a sort of triple structure, the first pavilion of +which was Austrian, while the middle pavilion was neutral, and the +farther one was French. Here she was received by those who were +afterward to surround her--the representatives of the Napoleonic +court. They were not all plebeians and children of the Revolution, +ex-stable boys, ex-laundresses. By this time Napoleon had gathered +around himself some of the noblest families of France, who had +rallied to the empire. The assemblage was a brilliant one. There +were Montmorencys and Beaumonts and Audenardes in abundance. But +to Marie Louise, as to her Austrian attendants, they were all +alike. They were French, they were strangers, and she shrank from +them. + +Yet here her Austrians must leave her. All who had accompanied her +thus far were now turned back. Napoleon had been insistent on this +point. Even her governess, who had been with her since her +childhood, was not allowed to cross the French frontier. So fixed +was Napoleon's purpose to have nothing Austrian about her, that +even her pet dog, to which she clung as a girl would cling, was +taken from her. Thereafter she was surrounded only by French +faces, by French guards, and was greeted only by salvos of French +artillery. + +In the mean time what was Napoleon doing at Paris. Since the +annulment of his marriage with Josephine he had gone into a sort +of retirement. Matters of state, war, internal reforms, no longer +interested him; but that restless brain could not sink into +repose. Inflamed with the ardor of a new passion, that passion was +all the greater because he had never yet set eyes upon its object. +Marriage with an imperial princess flattered his ambition. The +youth and innocence of the bride stirred his whole being with a +thrill of novelty. The painted charms of Josephine, the mercenary +favors of actresses, the calculated ecstasies of the women of the +court who gave themselves to him from vanity, had long since +palled upon him. Therefore the impatience with which he awaited +the coming of Marie Louise became every day more tense. + +For a time he amused himself with planning down to the very last +details the demonstrations that were to be given in her honor. He +organized them as minutely as he had ever organized a conquering +army. He showed himself as wonderful in these petty things as he +had in those great strategic combinations which had baffled the +ablest generals of Europe. But after all had been arranged--even +to the illuminations, the cheering, the salutes, and the etiquette +of the court--he fell into a fever of impatience which gave him +sleepless nights and frantic days. He paced up and down the +Tuileries, almost beside himself. He hurried off courier after +courier with orders that the postilions should lash their horses +to bring the hour of meeting nearer still. He scribbled love +letters. He gazed continually on the diamond-studded portrait of +the woman who was hurrying toward him. + +At last as the time approached he entered a swift traveling- +carriage and hastened to Compiegne, about fifty miles from Paris, +where it had been arranged that he should meet his consort and +whence he was to escort her to the capital, so that they might be +married in the great gallery of the Louvre. At Compiegne the +chancellerie had been set apart for Napoleon's convenience, while +the chateau had been assigned to Marie Louise and her attendants. +When Napoleon's carriage dashed into the place, drawn by horses +that had traveled at a gallop, the emperor could not restrain +himself. It was raining torrents and night was coming on, yet, +none the less, he shouted for fresh horses and pushed on to +Soissons, where the new empress was to stop and dine. When he +reached there and she had not arrived, new relays of horses were +demanded, and he hurried off once more into the dark. + +At the little village of Courcelles he met the courier who was +riding in advance of the empress's cortege. + +"She will be here in a few moments!" cried Napoleon; and he leaped +from his carriage into the highway. + +The rain descended harder than ever, and he took refuge in the +arched doorway of the village church, his boots already bemired, +his great coat reeking with the downpour. As he crouched before +the church he heard the sound of carriages; and before long there +came toiling through the mud the one in which was seated the girl +for whom he had so long been waiting. It was stopped at an order +given by an officer. Within it, half-fainting with fatigue and +fear, Marie Louise sat in the dark, alone. + +Here, if ever, was the chance for Napoleon to win his bride. Could +he have restrained himself, could he have shown the delicate +consideration which was demanded of him, could he have remembered +at least that he was an emperor and that the girl--timid and +shuddering--was a princess, her future story might have been far +different. But long ago he had ceased to think of anything except +his own desires. + +He approached the carriage. An obsequious chamberlain drew aside +the leathern covering and opened the door, exclaiming as he did +so, "The emperor!" And then there leaped in the rain-soaked, mud- +bespattered being whose excesses had always been as unbridled as +his genius. The door was closed, the leathern curtain again drawn, +and the horses set out at a gallop for Soissons. Within, the +shrinking bride was at the mercy of pure animal passion, feeling +upon her hot face a torrent of rough kisses, and yielding herself +in terror to the caresses of wanton hands. + +At Soissons Napoleon allowed no halt, but the carriage plunged on, +still in the rain, to Compiegne. There all the arrangements made +with so much care were thrust aside. Though the actual marriage +had not yet taken place, Napoleon claimed all the rights which +afterward were given in the ceremonial at Paris. He took the girl +to the chancellerie, and not to the chateau. In an anteroom dinner +was served with haste to the imperial pair and Queen Caroline. +Then the latter was dismissed with little ceremony, the lights +were extinguished, and this daughter of a line of emperors was +left to the tender mercies of one who always had about him +something of the common soldier--the man who lives for loot and +lust. ... At eleven the next morning she was unable to rise and +was served in bed by the ladies of her household. + +These facts, repellent as they are, must be remembered when we +call to mind what happened in the next five years. The horror of +that night could not be obliterated by splendid ceremonies, by +studious attention, or by all the pomp and gaiety of the court. +Napoleon was then forty-one--practically the same age as his new +wife's father, the Austrian emperor; Marie Louise was barely +nineteen and younger than her years. Her master must have seemed +to be the brutal ogre whom her uncles had described. + +Installed in the Tuileries, she taught herself compliance. On +their marriage night Napoleon had asked her briefly: "What did +your parents tell you?" And she had answered, meekly: "To be yours +altogether and to obey you in everything." But, though she gave +compliance, and though her freshness seemed enchanting to +Napoleon, there was something concealed within her thoughts to +which he could not penetrate. He gaily said to a member of the +court: + +"Marry a German, my dear fellow. They are the best women in the +world--gentle, good, artless, and as fresh as roses." + +Yet, at the same time, Napoleon felt a deep anxiety lest in her +very heart of hearts this German girl might either fear or hate +him secretly. Somewhat later Prince Metternich came from the +Austrian court to Paris. + +"I give you leave," said Napoleon, "to have a private interview +with the empress. Let her tell you what she likes, and I shall ask +no questions. Even should I do so, I now forbid your answering +me." + +Metternich was closeted with the empress for a long while. When he +returned to the ante-room he found Napoleon fidgeting about, his +eyes a pair of interrogation-points. + +"I am sure," he said, "that the empress told you that I was kind +to her?" + +Metternich bowed and made no answer. + +"Well," said Napoleon, somewhat impatiently, "at least I am sure +that she is happy. Tell me, did she not say so?" + +The Austrian diplomat remained unsmiling. + +"Your majesty himself has forbidden me to answer," he returned +with another bow. + +We may fairly draw the inference that Marie Louise, though she +adapted herself to her surroundings, was never really happy. +Napoleon became infatuated with her. He surrounded her with every +possible mark of honor. He abandoned public business to walk or +drive with her. But the memory of his own brutality must have +vaguely haunted him throughout it all. He was jealous of her as he +had never been jealous of the fickle Josephine. Constant has +recorded that the greatest precautions were taken to prevent any +person whatsoever, and especially any man, from approaching the +empress save in the presence of witnesses. + +Napoleon himself underwent a complete change of habits and +demeanor. Where he had been rough and coarse he became attentive +and refined. His shabby uniforms were all discarded, and he spent +hours in trying on new costumes. He even attempted to learn to +waltz, but this he gave up in despair. Whereas before he ate +hastily and at irregular intervals, he now sat at dinner with +unusual patience, and the court took on a character which it had +never had. Never before had he sacrificed either his public duty +or his private pleasure for any woman. Even in the first ardor of +his marriage with Josephine, when he used to pour out his heart to +her in letters from Italian battle-fields, he did so only after he +had made the disposition of his troops and had planned his +movements for the following day. Now, however, he was not merely +devoted, but uxorious; and in 1811, after the birth of the little +King of Rome, he ceased to be the earlier Napoleon altogether. He +had founded a dynasty. He was the head of a reigning house. He +forgot the principles of the Revolution, and he ruled, as he +thought, like other monarchs, by the grace of God. + +As for Marie Louise, she played her part extremely well. Somewhat +haughty and unapproachable to others, she nevertheless studied +Napoleon's every wish. She seemed even to be loving; but one can +scarcely doubt that her obedience sprang ultimately from fear and +that her devotion was the devotion of a dog which has been beaten +into subjection. + +Her vanity was flattered in many ways, and most of all by her +appointment as regent of the empire during Napoleon's absence in +the disastrous Russian campaign which began in 1812. It was in +June of that year that the French emperor held court at Dresden, +where he played, as was said, to "a parterre of kings." This was +the climax of his magnificence, for there were gathered all the +sovereigns and princes who were his allies and who furnished the +levies that swelled his Grand Army to six hundred thousand men. +Here Marie Louise, like her husband, felt to the full the +intoxication of supreme power. By a sinister coincidence it was +here that she first met the other man, then unnoticed and little +heeded, who was to cast upon her a fascination which in the end +proved irresistible. + +This man was Adam Albrecht, Count von Neipperg. There is something +mysterious about his early years, and something baleful about his +silent warfare with Napoleon. As a very young soldier he had been +an Austrian officer in 1793. His command served in Belgium; and +there, in a skirmish, he was overpowered by the French in superior +numbers, but resisted desperately. In the melee a saber slashed +him across the right side of his face, and he was made prisoner. +The wound deprived him of his right eye, so that for the rest of +his life he was compelled to wear a black bandage to conceal the +mutilation. + +From that moment he conceived an undying hatred of the French, +serving against them in the Tyrol and in Italy. He always claimed +that had the Archduke Charles followed his advice, the Austrians +would have forced Napoleon's army to capitulate at Marengo, thus +bringing early eclipse to the rising star of Bonaparte. However +this may be, Napoleon's success enraged Neipperg and made his +hatred almost the hatred of a fiend. + +Hitherto he had detested the French as a nation. Afterward he +concentrated his malignity upon the person of Napoleon. In every +way he tried to cross the path of that great soldier, and, though +Neipperg was comparatively an unknown man, his indomitable purpose +and his continued intrigues at last attracted the notice of the +emperor; for in 1808 Napoleon wrote this significant sentence: + +The Count von Neipperg is openly known to have been the enemy of +the French. + +Little did the great conqueror dream how deadly was the blow which +this Austrian count was destined finally to deal him! + +Neipperg, though his title was not a high one, belonged to the old +nobility of Austria. He had proved his bravery in war and as a +duelist, and he was a diplomat as well as a soldier. Despite his +mutilation, he was a handsome and accomplished courtier, a man of +wide experience, and one who bore himself in a manner which +suggested the spirit of romance. According to Masson, he was an +Austrian Don Juan, and had won the hearts of many women. At thirty +he had formed a connection with an Italian woman named Teresa +Pola, whom he had carried away from her husband. She had borne him +five children; and in 1813 he had married her in order that these +children might be made legitimate. + +In his own sphere the activity of Neipperg was almost as +remarkable as Napoleon's in a greater one. Apart from his exploits +on the field of battle he had been attached to the Austrian +embassy in Paris, and, strangely enough, had been decorated by +Napoleon himself with, the golden eagle of the Legion of Honor. +Four months later we find him minister of Austria at the court of +Sweden, where he helped to lay the train of intrigue which was to +detach Bernadotte from Napoleon's cause. In 1812, as has just been +said, he was with Marie Louise for a short time at Dresden, +hovering about her, already forming schemes. Two years after this +he overthrew Murat at Naples; and then hurried on post-haste to +urge Prince Eugene to abandon Bonaparte. + +When the great struggle of 1814 neared its close, and Napoleon, +fighting with his back to the wall, was about to succumb to the +united armies of Europe, it was evident that the Austrian emperor +would soon be able to separate his daughter from her husband. In +fact, when Napoleon was sent to Elba, Marie Louise returned to +Vienna. The cynical Austrian diplomats resolved that she should +never again meet her imperial husband. She was made Duchess of +Parma in Italy, and set out for her new possessions; and the man +with the black band across his sightless eye was chosen to be her +escort and companion. + +When Neipperg received this commission he was with Teresa Pola at +Milan. A strange smile flitted across his face; and presently he +remarked, with cynical frankness: + +"Before six months I shall be her lover, and, later on, her +husband." + +He took up his post as chief escort of Marie Louise, and they +journeyed slowly to Munich and Baden and Geneva, loitering on the +way. Amid the great events which were shaking Europe this couple +attracted slight attention. Napoleon, in Elba, longed for his wife +and for his little son, the King of Rome. He sent countless +messages and many couriers; but every message was intercepted, and +no courier reached his destination. Meanwhile Marie Louise was +lingering agreeably in Switzerland. She was happy to have escaped +from the whirlpool of politics and war. Amid the romantic scenery +through which she passed Neipperg was always by her side, +attentive, devoted, trying in everything to please her. With him +she passed delightful evenings. He sang to her in his rich +barytone songs of love. He seemed romantic with a touch of +mystery, a gallant soldier whose soul was also touched by +sentiment. + +One would have said that Marie Louise, the daughter of an imperial +line, would have been proof against the fascinations of a person +so far inferior to herself in rank, and who, beside the great +emperor, was less than nothing. Even granting that she had never +really loved Napoleon, she might still have preferred to maintain +her dignity, to share his fate, and to go down in history as the +empress of the greatest man whom modern times have known. + +But Marie Louise was, after all, a woman, and she followed the +guidance of her heart. To her Napoleon was still the man who had +met her amid the rain-storm at Courcelles, and had from the first +moment when he touched her violated all the instincts of a virgin. +Later he had in his way tried to make amends; but the horror of +that first night had never wholly left her memory. Napoleon had +unrolled before her the drama of sensuality, but her heart had not +been given to him. She had been his empress. In a sense it might +be more true to say that she had been his mistress. But she had +never been duly wooed and won and made his wife--an experience +which is the right of every woman. And so this Neipperg, with his +deferential manners, his soothing voice, his magnetic touch, his +ardor, and his devotion, appeased that craving which the master of +a hundred legions could not satisfy. + +In less than the six months of which Neipperg had spoken the +psychological moment had arrived. In the dim twilight she listened +to his words of love; and then, drawn by that irresistible power +which masters pride and woman's will, she sank into her lover's +arms, yielding to his caresses, and knowing that she would be +parted from him no more except by death. + +From that moment he was bound to her by the closest ties and lived +with her at the petty court of Parma. His prediction came true to +the very letter. Teresa Pola died, and then Napoleon died, and +after this Marie Louise and Neipperg were united in a morganatic +marriage. Three children were born to them before his death in +1829. + +It is interesting to note how much of an impression was made upon +her by the final exile of her imperial husband to St. Helena. When +the news was brought her she observed, casually: + +"Thanks. By the way, I should like to ride this morning to +Markenstein. Do you think the weather is good enough to risk it?" + +Napoleon, on his side, passed through agonies of doubt and longing +when no letters came to him from Marie Louise. She was constantly +in his thoughts during his exile at St. Helena. "When his faithful +friend and constant companion at St. Helena, the Count Las Casas, +was ordered by Sir Hudson Lowe to depart from St. Helena, Napoleon +wrote to him: + +"Should you see, some day, my wife and son, embrace them. For two +years I have, neither directly nor indirectly, heard from them. +There has been on this island for six months a German botanist, +who has seen them in the garden of Schoenbrunn a few months before +his departure. The barbarians (meaning the English authorities at +St. Helena) have carefully prevented him from coming to give me +any news respecting them." + +At last the truth was told him, and he received it with that high +magnanimity, or it may be fatalism, which at times he was capable +of showing. Never in all his days of exile did he say one word +against her. Possibly in searching his own soul he found excuses +such as we may find. In his will he spoke of her with great +affection, and shortly before his death he said to his physician, +Antommarchi: + +"After my death, I desire that you will take my heart, put it in +the spirits of wine, and that you carry it to Parma to my dear +Marie Louise. You will please tell her that I tenderly loved her-- +that I never ceased to love her. You will relate to her all that +you have seen, and every particular respecting my situation and +death." + +The story of Marie Louise is pathetic, almost tragic. There is the +taint of grossness about it; and yet, after all, there is a lesson +in it--the lesson that true love cannot be forced or summoned at +command, that it is destroyed before its birth by outrage, and +that it goes out only when evoked by sympathy, by tenderness, and +by devotion. + + + + + + +FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY + +THE ROMANCE OF DEVOTION + +BY LYNDON ORR + +VOLUME III OF IV. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE WIVES OF GENERAL HOUSTON +LOLA MONTEZ AND KING LUDWIG OF BAVARIA +LEON GAMBETTA AND LEONIE LEON +LADY BLESSINGTON AND COUNT D'ORSAY +BYRON AND THE COUNTESS GUICCIOLI +THE STORY OF MME. DE STAEL +THE STORY OF KARL MARX +FERDINAND LASSALLE AND HELENE VON DONNIGES +THE STORY OF RACHEL + + + + + +THE WIVES OF GENERAL HOUSTON + + +Sixty or seventy years ago it was considered a great joke to chalk +up on any man's house-door, or on his trunk at a coaching-station, +the conspicuous letters "G. T. T." The laugh went round, and every +one who saw the inscription chuckled and said: "They've got it on +you, old hoss!" The three letters meant "gone to Texas"; and for +any man to go to Texas in those days meant his moral, mental, and +financial dilapidation. Either he had plunged into bankruptcy and +wished to begin life over again in a new world, or the sheriff had +a warrant for his arrest. + +The very task of reaching Texas was a fearful one. Rivers that +overran their banks, fever-stricken lowlands where gaunt faces +peered out from moldering cabins, bottomless swamps where the mud +oozed greasily and where the alligator could be seen slowly moving +his repulsive form--all this stretched on for hundreds of miles to +horrify and sicken the emigrants who came toiling on foot or +struggling upon emaciated horses. Other daring pioneers came by +boat, running all manner of risks upon the swollen rivers. Still +others descended from the mountains of Tennessee and passed +through a more open country and with a greater certainty of self- +protection, because they were trained from childhood to wield the +rifle and the long sheath-knife. + +It is odd enough to read, in the chronicles of those days, that +amid all this suffering and squalor there was drawn a strict line +between "the quality" and those who had no claim to be patricians. +"The quality" was made up of such emigrants as came from the more +civilized East, or who had slaves, or who dragged with them some +rickety vehicle with carriage-horses--however gaunt the animals +might be. All others--those who had no slaves or horses, and no +traditions of the older states--were classed as "poor whites"; and +they accepted their mediocrity without a murmur. + +Because he was born in Lexington, Virginia, and moved thence with +his family to Tennessee, young Sam Houston--a truly eponymous +American hero--was numbered with "the quality" when, after long +wandering, he reached his boyhood home. His further claim to +distinction as a boy came from the fact that he could read and +write, and was even familiar with some of the classics in +translation. + +When less than eighteen years of age he had reached a height of +more than six feet. He was skilful with the rifle, a remarkable +rough-and-tumble fighter, and as quick with his long knife as any +Indian. This made him a notable figure--the more so as he never +abused his strength and courage. He was never known as anything +but "Sam." In his own sphere he passed for a gentleman and a +scholar, thanks to his Virginian birth and to the fact that he +could repeat a great part of Pope's translation of the "Iliad." + +His learning led him to teach school a few months in the year to +the children of the white settlers. Indeed, Houston was so much +taken with the pursuit of scholarship that he made up his mind to +learn Greek and Latin. Naturally, this seemed mere foolishness to +his mother, his six strapping brothers, and his three stalwart +sisters, who cared little for study. So sharp was the difference +between Sam and the rest of the family that he gave up his +yearning after the classics and went to the other extreme by +leaving home and plunging into the heart of the forest beyond +sight of any white man or woman or any thought of Hellas and +ancient Rome. + +Here in the dimly lighted glades he was most happy. The Indians +admired him for his woodcraft and for the skill with which he +chased the wild game amid the forests. From his copy of the +"Iliad" he would read to them the thoughts of the world's greatest +poet. + +It is told that nearly forty years after, when Houston had long +led a different life and had made his home in Washington, a +deputation of more than forty untamed Indians from Texas arrived +there under the charge of several army officers. They chanced to +meet Sam Houston. + +One and all ran to him, clasped him in their brawny arms, hugged +him like bears to their naked breasts, and called him "father." +Beneath the copper skin and thick paint the blood rushed, and +their faces changed, and the lips of many a warrior trembled, +although the Indian may not weep. + +In the gigantic form of Houston, on whose ample brow the +beneficent love of a father was struggling with the sternness of +the patriarch and warrior, we saw civilization awing the savage at +his feet. We needed no interpreter to tell us that this impressive +supremacy was gained in the forest. + +His family had been at first alarmed by his stay among the +Indians; but when after a time he returned for a new outfit they +saw that he was entirely safe and left him to wander among the red +men. Later he came forth and resumed the pursuits of civilization. +He took up his studies; he learned the rudiments of law and +entered upon its active practice. When barely thirty-six he had +won every office that was open to him, ending with his election to +the Governorship of Tennessee in 1827. + +Then came a strange episode which changed the whole course of his +life. Until then the love of woman had never stirred his veins. +His physical activities in the forests, his unique intimacy with +Indian life, had kept him away from the social intercourse of +towns and cities. In Nashville Houston came to know for the first +time the fascination of feminine society. As a lawyer, a +politician, and the holder of important offices he could not keep +aloof from that gentler and more winning influence which had +hitherto been unknown to him. + +In 1828 Governor Houston was obliged to visit different portions +of the state, stopping, as was the custom, to visit at the homes +of "the quality," and to be introduced to wives and daughters as +well as to their sportsman sons. On one of his official journeys +he met Miss Eliza Allen, a daughter of one of the "influential +families" of Sumner County, on the northern border of Tennessee. +He found her responsive, charming, and greatly to be admired. She +was a slender type of Southern beauty, well calculated to gain the +affection of a lover, and especially of one whose associations had +been chiefly with the women of frontier communities. + +To meet a girl who had refined tastes and wide reading, and who +was at the same time graceful and full of humor, must have come as +a pleasant experience to Houston. He and Miss Allen saw much of +each other, and few of their friends were surprised when the word +went forth that they were engaged to be married. + +The marriage occurred in January, 1829. They were surrounded with +friends of all classes and ranks, for Houston was the associate of +Jackson and was immensely popular in his own state. He seemed to +have before him a brilliant career. He had won a lovely bride to +make a home for him; so that no man seemed to have more attractive +prospects. What was there which at this time interposed in some +malignant way to blight his future? + +It was a little more than a month after his marriage when he met a +friend, and, taking him out into a strip of quiet woodland, said +to him: + +"I have something to tell you, but you must not ask me anything +about it. My wife and I will separate before long. She will return +to her father's, while I must make my way alone." + +Houston's friend seized him by the arm and gazed at him with +horror. + +"Governor," said he, "you're going to ruin your whole life! What +reason have you for treating this young lady in such a way? What +has she done that you should leave her? Or what have you done that +she should leave you? Every one will fall away from you." + +Houston grimly replied: + +"I have no explanation to give you. My wife has none to give you. +She will not complain of me, nor shall I complain of her. It is no +one's business in the world except our own. Any interference will +be impertinent, and I shall punish it with my own hand." + +"But," said his friend, "think of it. The people at large will not +allow such action. They will believe that you, who have been their +idol, have descended to insult a woman. Your political career is +ended. It will not be safe for you to walk the streets!" + +"What difference does it make to me?" said Houston, gloomily. +"What must be, must be. I tell you, as a friend, in advance, so +that you may be prepared; but the parting will take place very +soon." + +Little was heard for another month or two, and then came the +announcement that the Governor's wife had left him and had +returned to her parents' home. The news flew like wildfire, and +was the theme of every tongue. Friends of Mrs. Houston begged her +to tell them the meaning of the whole affair. Adherents of +Houston, on the other hand, set afloat stories of his wife's +coldness and of her peevishness. The state was divided into +factions; and what really concerned a very few was, as usual, made +everybody's business. + +There were times when, if Houston had appeared near the dwelling +of his former wife, he would have been lynched or riddled with +bullets. Again, there were enemies and slanderers of his who, had +they shown themselves in Nashville, would have been torn to pieces +by men who hailed Houston as a hero and who believed that he could +not possibly have done wrong. + +However his friends might rage, and however her people might +wonder and seek to pry into the secret, no satisfaction was given +on either side. The abandoned wife never uttered a word of +explanation. Houston was equally reticent and self-controlled. In +later years he sometimes drank deeply and was loose-tongued; but +never, even in his cups, could he be persuaded to say a single +word about his wife. + +The whole thing is a mystery and cannot be solved by any evidence +that we have. Almost every one who has written of it seems to have +indulged in mere guesswork. One popular theory is that Miss Allen +was in love with some one else; that her parents forced her into a +brilliant marriage with Houston, which, however, she could not +afterward endure; and that Houston, learning the facts, left her +because he knew that her heart was not really his. + +But the evidence is all against this. Had it been so she would +surely have secured a divorce and would then have married the man +whom she truly loved. As a matter of fact, although she did +divorce Houston, it was only after several years, and the man whom +she subsequently married was not acquainted with her at the time +of the separation. + +Another theory suggests that Houston was harsh in his treatment of +his wife, and offended her by his untaught manners and extreme +self-conceit. But it is not likely that she objected to his +manners, since she had become familiar with them before she gave +him her hand; and as to his conceit, there is no evidence that it +was as yet unduly developed. After his Texan campaign he sometimes +showed a rather lofty idea of his own achievements; but he does +not seem to have done so in these early days. + +Some have ascribed the separation to his passion for drink; but +here again we must discriminate. Later in life he became very fond +of spirits and drank whisky with the Indians, but during his +earlier years he was most abstemious. It scarcely seems possible +that his wife left him because he was intemperate. + +If one wishes to construct a reasonable hypothesis on a subject +where the facts are either wanting or conflicting, it is not +impossible to suggest a solution of this puzzle about Houston. +Although his abandoned wife never spoke of him and shut her lips +tightly when she was questioned about him, Houston, on his part, +was not so taciturn. He never consciously gave any direct clue to +his matrimonial mystery; but he never forgot this girl who was his +bride and whom he seems always to have loved. In what he said he +never ceased to let a vein of self-reproach run through his words. + +I should choose this one paragraph as the most significant. It was +written immediately after they had parted: + +Eliza stands acquitted by me. I have received her as a virtuous, +chaste wife, and as such I pray God I may ever regard her, and I +trust I ever shall. She was cold to me, and I thought she did not +love me. + +And again he said to an old and valued friend at about the same +time: + +"I can make no explanation. I exonerate the lady fully and do not +justify myself." + +Miss Allen seems to have been a woman of the sensitive American +type which was so common in the early and the middle part of the +last century. Mrs. Trollope has described it for us with very +little exaggeration. Dickens has drawn it with a touch of malice, +and yet not without truth. Miss Martineau described it during her +visit to this country, and her account quite coincides with those +of her two contemporaries. + +Indeed, American women of that time unconsciously described +themselves in a thousand different ways. They were, after all, +only a less striking type of the sentimental Englishwomen who read +L. E. L. and the earlier novels of Bulwer-Lytton. On both sides of +the Atlantic there was a reign of sentiment and a prevalence of +what was then called "delicacy." It was a die-away, unwholesome +attitude toward life and was morbid to the last degree. + +In circles where these ideas prevailed, to eat a hearty dinner was +considered unwomanly. To talk of anything except some gilded +"annual," or "book of beauty," or the gossip of the neighborhood +was wholly to be condemned. The typical girl of such a community +was thin and slender and given to a mild starvation, though she +might eat quantities of jam and pickles and saleratus biscuit. She +had the strangest views of life and an almost unnatural shrinking +from any usual converse with men. + +Houston, on his side, was a thoroughly natural and healthful man, +having lived an outdoor life, hunting and camping in the forest +and displaying the unaffected manner of the pioneer. Having lived +the solitary life of the woods, it was a strange thing for him to +meet a girl who had been bred in an entirely different way, who +had learned a thousand little reservations and dainty graces, and +whose very breath was coyness and reserve. Their mating was the +mating of the man of the forest with the woman of the sheltered +life. + +Houston assumed everything; his bride shrank from everything. +There was a mutual shock amounting almost to repulsion. She, on +her side, probably thought she had found in him only the brute +which lurks in man. He, on the other, repelled and checked, at +once grasped the belief that his wife cared nothing for him +because she would not meet his ardors with like ardors of her own. +It is the mistake that has been made by thousands of men and women +at the beginning of their married lives--the mistake on one side +of too great sensitiveness, and on the other side of too great +warmth of passion. + +This episode may seem trivial, and yet it is one that explains +many things in human life. So far as concerns Houston it has a +direct bearing on the history of our country. A proud man, he +could not endure the slights and gossip of his associates. He +resigned the governorship of Tennessee, and left by night, in such +a way as to surround his departure with mystery. + +There had come over him the old longing for Indian life; and when +he was next visible he was in the land of the Cherokees, who had +long before adopted him as a son. He was clad in buckskin and +armed with knife and rifle, and served under the old chief +Oolooteka. He was a gallant defender of the Indians. + +When he found how some of the Indian agents had abused his adopted +brothers he went to Washington to protest, still wearing his +frontier garb. One William Stansberry, a Congressman from Ohio, +insulted Houston, who leaped upon him like a panther, dragged him +about the Hall of Representatives, and beat him within an inch of +his life. He was arrested, imprisoned, and fined; but his old +friend, President Jackson, remitted his imprisonment and gruffly +advised him not to pay the fine. + +Returning to his Indians, he made his way to a new field which +promised much adventure. This was Texas, of whose condition in +those early days something has already been said. Houston found a +rough American settlement, composed of scattered villages +extending along the disputed frontier of Mexico. Already, in the +true Anglo-Saxon spirit, the settlers had formed a rudimentary +state, and as they increased and multiplied they framed a simple +code of laws. + +Then, quite naturally, there came a clash between them and the +Mexicans. The Texans, headed by Moses Austin, had set up a +republic and asked for admission to the United States. Mexico +regarded them as rebels and despised them because they made no +military display and had no very accurate military drill. They +were dressed in buckskin and ragged clothing; but their knives +were very bright and their rifles carried surely. Furthermore, +they laughed at odds, and if only a dozen of them were gathered +together they would "take on" almost any number of Mexican +regulars. + +In February, 1836, the acute and able Mexican, Santa Anna, led +across the Rio Grande a force of several thousand Mexicans showily +uniformed and completely armed. Every one remembers how they fell +upon the little garrison at the Alamo, now within the city limits +of San Antonio, but then an isolated mission building surrounded +by a thick adobe wall. The Americans numbered less than three +hundred men. + +A sharp attack was made with these overwhelming odds. The +Americans drove the assailants back with their rifle fire, but +they had nothing to oppose to the Mexican artillery. The contest +continued for several days, and finally the Mexicans breached the +wall and fell upon the garrison, who were now reduced by more than +half. There was an hour of blood, and every one of the Alamo's +defenders, including the wounded, was put to death. The only +survivors of the slaughter were two negro slaves, a woman, and a +baby girl. + +When the news of this bloody affair reached Houston he leaped +forth to the combat like a lion. He was made commander-in-chief of +the scanty Texan forces. He managed to rally about seven hundred +men, and set out against Santa Anna with little in the way of +equipment, and with nothing but the flame of frenzy to stimulate +his followers. By march and countermarch the hostile forces came +face to face near the shore of San Jacinto Bay, not far from the +present city of Houston. Slowly they moved upon each other, when +Houston halted, and his sharpshooters raked the Mexican battle- +line with terrible effect. Then Houston uttered the cry: + +"Remember the Alamo!" + +With deadly swiftness he led his men in a charge upon Santa Anna's +lines. The Mexicans were scattered as by a mighty wind, their +commander was taken prisoner, and Mexico was forced to give its +recognition to Texas as a free republic, of which General Houston +became the first president. + +This was the climax of Houston's life, but the end of it leaves us +with something still to say. Long after his marriage with Miss +Allen he took an Indian girl to wife and lived with her quite +happily. She was a very beautiful woman, a half-breed, with the +English name of Tyania Rodgers. Very little, however, is known of +her life with Houston. Later still--in 1840--he married a lady +from Marion, Alabama, named Margaret Moffette Lea. He was then in +his forty-seventh year, while she was only twenty-one; but again, +as with his Indian wife, he knew nothing but domestic +tranquillity. These later experiences go far to prove the truth of +what has already been given as the probable cause of his first +mysterious failure to make a woman happy. + +After Texas entered the Union, in 1845, Houston was elected to the +United States Senate, in which he served for thirteen years. In +1852, 1856, and 1860, as a Southerner who opposed any movement +looking toward secession, he was regarded as a possible +presidential candidate; but his career was now almost over, and in +1863, while the Civil War--which he had striven to prevent--was at +its height, he died. + + + + + +LOLA MONTEZ AND KING LUDWIG OF BAVARIA + + +Lola Montez! The name suggests dark eyes and abundant hair, lithe +limbs and a sinuous body, with twining hands and great eyes that +gleam with a sort of ebon splendor. One thinks of Spanish beauty +as one hears the name; and in truth Lola Montez justified the +mental picture. + +She was not altogether Spanish, yet the other elements that +entered into her mercurial nature heightened and vivified her +Castilian traits. Her mother was a Spaniard--partly Moorish, +however. Her father was an Irishman. There you have it--the dreamy +romance of Spain, the exotic touch of the Orient, and the daring, +unreasoning vivacity of the Celt. + +This woman during the forty-three years of her life had adventures +innumerable, was widely known in Europe and America, and actually +lost one king his throne. Her maiden name was Marie Dolores Eliza +Rosanna Gilbert. Her father was a British officer, the son of an +Irish knight, Sir Edward Gilbert. Her mother had been a danseuse +named Lola Oliver. "Lola" is a diminutive of Dolores, and as +"Lola" she became known to the world. + +She lived at one time or another in nearly all the countries of +Europe, and likewise in India, America, and Australia. It would be +impossible to set down here all the sensations that she achieved. +Let us select the climax of her career and show how she overturned +a kingdom, passing but lightly over her early and her later years. + +She was born in Limerick in 1818, but her father's parents cast +off their son and his young wife, the Spanish dancer. They went to +India, and in 1825 the father died, leaving his young widow +without a rupee; but she was quickly married again, this time to +an officer of importance. + +The former danseuse became a very conventional person, a fit match +for her highly conventional husband; but the small daughter did +not take kindly to the proprieties of life. The Hindu servants +taught her more things than she should have known; and at one time +her stepfather found her performing the danse du ventre. It was +the Moorish strain inherited from her mother. + +She was sent back to Europe, however, and had a sort of education +in Scotland and England, and finally in Paris, where she was +detected in an incipient flirtation with her music-master. There +were other persons hanging about her from her fifteenth year, at +which time her stepfather, in India, had arranged a marriage +between her and a rich but uninteresting old judge. One of her +numerous admirers told her this. + +"What on earth am I to do?" asked little Lola, most naively. + +"Why, marry me," said the artful adviser, who was Captain Thomas +James; and so the very next day they fled to Dublin and were +speedily married at Meath. + +Lola's husband was violently in love with her, but, unfortunately, +others were no less susceptible to her charms. She was presented +at the vice-regal court, and everybody there became her victim. +Even the viceroy, Lord Normanby, was greatly taken with her. This +nobleman's position was such that Captain James could not object +to his attentions, though they made the husband angry to a degree. +The viceroy would draw her into alcoves and engage her in +flattering conversation, while poor James could only gnaw his +nails and let green-eyed jealousy prey upon his heart. His only +recourse was to take her into the country, where she speedily +became bored; and boredom is the death of love. + +Later she went with Captain James to India. She endured a campaign +in Afghanistan, in which she thoroughly enjoyed herself because of +the attentions of the officers. On her return to London in 1842, +one Captain Lennox was a fellow passenger; and their association +resulted in an action for divorce, by which she was freed from her +husband, and yet by a technicality was not able to marry Lennox, +whose family in any case would probably have prevented the +wedding. + +Mrs. Mayne says, in writing on this point: + +Even Lola never quite succeeded in being allowed to commit bigamy +unmolested, though in later years she did commit it and took +refuge in Spain to escape punishment. + +The same writer has given a vivid picture of what happened soon +after the divorce. Lola tried to forget her past and to create a +new and brighter future. Here is the narrative: + +Her Majesty's Theater was crowded on the night of June 10,1843. A +new Spanish dancer was announced--"Dona Lola Montez." It was her +debut, and Lumley, the manager, had been puffing her beforehand, +as he alone knew how. To Lord Ranelagh, the leader of the +dilettante group of fashionable young men, he had whispered, +mysteriously: + +"I have a surprise in store. You shall see." + +So Ranelagh and a party of his friends filled the omnibus boxes, +those tribunes at the side of the stage whence success or failure +was pronounced. Things had been done with Lumley's consummate art; +the packed house was murmurous with excitement. She was a raving +beauty, said report--and then, those intoxicating Spanish dances! +Taglioni, Cerito, Fanny Elssler, all were to be eclipsed. + +Ranelagh's glasses were steadily leveled on the stage from the +moment her entrance was imminent. She came on. There was a murmur +of admiration--but Ranelagh made no sign. And then she began to +dance. A sense of disappointment, perhaps? But she was very +lovely, very graceful, "like a flower swept by the wind, she +floated round the stage"--not a dancer, but, by George, a beauty! +And still Ranelagh made no sign. + +Yet, no. What low, sibilant sound is that? And then what confused, +angry words from the tribunal? He turns to his friends, his eyes +ablaze with anger, opera-glass in hand. And now again the terrible +"Hiss-s-s!" taken up by the other box, and the words repeated +loudly and more angrily even than before--the historic words which +sealed Lola's doom at Her Majesty's Theater: "WHY, IT'S BETTY +JAMES!" + +She was, indeed, Betty James, and London would not accept her as +Lola Montez. She left England and appeared upon the Continent as a +beautiful virago, making a sensation--as the French would say, a +succes de scandale--by boxing the ears of people who offended her, +and even on one occasion horsewhipping a policeman who was in +attendance on the King of Prussia. In Paris she tried once more to +be a dancer, but Paris would not have her. She betook herself to +Dresden and Warsaw, where she sought to attract attention by her +eccentricities, making mouths at the spectators, flinging her +garters in their faces, and one time removing her skirts and still +more necessary garments, whereupon her manager broke off his +engagement with her. + +An English writer who heard a great deal of her and who saw her +often about this time writes that there was nothing wonderful +about her except "her beauty and her impudence." She had no talent +nor any of the graces which make women attractive; yet many men of +talent raved about her. The clever young journalist, Dujarrier, +who assisted Emile Girardin, was her lover in Paris. He was killed +in a duel and left Lola twenty thousand francs and some +securities, so that she no longer had to sing in the streets as +she did in Warsaw. + +She now betook herself to Munich, the capital of Bavaria. That +country was then governed by Ludwig I., a king as eccentric as +Lola herself. He was a curious compound of kindliness, ideality, +and peculiar ways. For instance, he would never use a carriage +even on state occasions. He prowled around the streets, knocking +off the hats of those whom he chanced to meet. Like his +unfortunate descendant, Ludwig II., he wrote poetry, and he had a +picture-gallery devoted to portraits of the beautiful women whom +he had met. + +He dressed like an English fox-hunter, with a most extraordinary +hat, and what was odd and peculiar in others pleased him because +he was odd and peculiar himself. Therefore when Lola made her +first appearance at the Court Theater he was enchanted with her. +He summoned her at once to the palace, and within five days he +presented her to the court, saying as he did so: + +"Meine Herren, I present you to my best friend." + +In less than a month this curious monarch had given Lola the title +of Countess of Landsfeld. A handsome house was built for her, and +a pension of twenty thousand florins was granted her. This was in +1847. With the people of Munich she was unpopular. They did not +mind the eccentricities of the king, since these amused them and +did the country no perceptible harm; but they were enraged by this +beautiful woman, who had no softness such as a woman ought to +have. Her swearing, her readiness to box the ears of every one +whom she disliked, the huge bulldog which accompanied her +everywhere--all these things were beyond endurance. + +She was discourteous to the queen, besides meddling with the +politics of the kingdom. Either of these things would have been +sufficient to make her hated. Together, they were more than the +city of Munich could endure. Finally the countess tried to +establish a new corps in the university. This was the last touch +of all. A student who ventured to wear her colors was beaten and +arrested. Lola came to his aid with all her wonted boldness; but +the city was in commotion. + +Daggers were drawn; Lola was hustled and insulted. The foolish +king rushed out to protect her; and on his arm she was led in +safety to the palace. As she entered the gates she turned and +fired a pistol into the mob. No one was hurt, but a great rage +took possession of the people. The king issued a decree closing +the university for a year. By this time, however, Munich was in +possession of a mob, and the Bavarians demanded that she should +leave the country. + +Ludwig faced the chamber of peers, where the demand of the +populace was placed before him. + +"I would rather lose my crown!" he replied. + +The lords of Bavaria regarded him with grim silence; and in their +eyes he read the determination of his people. On the following day +a royal decree revoked Lola's rights as a subject of Bavaria, and +still another decree ordered her to be expelled. The mob yelled +with joy and burned her house. Poor Ludwig watched the tumult by +the light of the leaping flames. + +He was still in love with her and tried to keep her in the +kingdom; but the result was that Ludwig himself was forced to +abdicate. He had given his throne for the light love of this +beautiful but half-crazy woman. She would have no more to do with +him; and as for him, he had to give place to his son Maximilian. +Ludwig had lost a kingdom merely because this strange, outrageous +creature had piqued him and made him think that she was unique +among women. + +The rest of her career was adventurous. In England she contracted +a bigamous marriage with a youthful officer, and within two weeks +they fled to Spain for safety from the law. Her husband was +drowned, and she made still another marriage. She visited +Australia, and at Melbourne she had a fight with a strapping +woman, who clawed her face until Lola fell fainting to the ground. +It is a squalid record of horse-whippings, face-scratchings--in +short, a rowdy life. + +Her end was like that of Becky Sharp. In America she delivered +lectures which were written for her by a clergyman and which dealt +with the art of beauty. She had a temporary success; but soon she +became quite poor, and took to piety, professing to be a sort of +piteous, penitent Magdalen. In this role she made effective use of +her beautiful dark hair, her pallor, and her wonderful eyes. But +the violence of her disposition had wrecked her physically; and +she died of paralysis in Astoria, on Long Island, in 1861. Upon +her grave in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, there is a tablet to +her memory, bearing the inscription: "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert, born +1818, died 1861." + +What can one say of a woman such as this? She had no morals, and +her manners were outrageous. The love she felt was the love of a +she-wolf. Fourteen biographies of her have been written, besides +her own autobiography, which was called The Story of a Penitent, +and which tells less about her than any of the other books. Her +beauty was undeniable. Her courage was the blended courage of the +Celt, the Spaniard, and the Moor. Yet all that one can say of her +was said by the elder Dumas when he declared that she was born to +be the evil genius of every one who cared for her. Her greatest +fame comes from the fact that in less than three years she +overturned a kingdom and lost a king his throne. + + + + + +LEON GAMBETTA AND LEONIE LEON + + +The present French Republic has endured for over forty years. +Within that time it has produced just one man of extraordinary +power and parts. This was Leon Gambetta. Other men as remarkable +as he were conspicuous in French political life during the first +few years of the republic; but they belonged to an earlier +generation, while Gambetta leaped into prominence only when the +empire fell, crashing down in ruin and disaster. + +It is still too early to form an accurate estimate of him as a +statesman. His friends praise him extravagantly. His enemies still +revile him bitterly. The period of his political career lasted for +little more than a decade, yet in that time it may be said that he +lived almost a life of fifty years. Only a short time ago did the +French government cause his body to be placed within the great +Pantheon, which contains memorials of the heroes and heroines of +France. But, though we may not fairly judge of his political +motives, we can readily reconstruct a picture of him as a man, and +in doing so recall his one romance, which many will remember after +they have forgotten his oratorical triumphs and his statecraft. + +Leon Gambetta was the true type of the southern Frenchman--what +his countrymen call a meridional. The Frenchman of the south is +different from the Frenchman of the north, for the latter has in +his veins a touch of the viking blood, so that he is very apt to +be fair-haired and blue-eyed, temperate in speech, and self- +controlled. He is different, again, from the Frenchman of central +France, who is almost purely Celtic. The meridional has a marked +vein of the Italian in him, derived from the conquerors of ancient +Gaul. He is impulsive, ardent, fiery in speech, hot-tempered, and +vivacious to an extraordinary degree. + +Gambetta, who was born at Cahors, was French only on his mother's +side, since his father was of Italian birth. It is said also that +somewhere in his ancestry there was a touch of the Oriental. At +any rate, he was one of the most southern of the sons of southern +France, and he showed the precocious maturity which belongs to a +certain type of Italian. At twenty-one he had already been +admitted to the French bar, and had drifted to Paris, where his +audacity, his pushing nature, and his red-hot un-restraint of +speech gave him a certain notoriety from the very first. + +It was toward the end of the reign of Napoleon III. that Gambetta +saw his opportunity. The emperor, weakened by disease and yielding +to a sort of feeble idealism, gave to France a greater freedom of +speech than it had enjoyed while he was more virile. This +relaxation of control merely gave to his opponents more courage to +attack him and his empire. Demagogues harangued the crowds in +words which would once have led to their imprisonment. In the +National Assembly the opposition did all within its power to +hamper and defeat the policy of the government. + +In short, republicanism began to rise in an ominous and +threatening way; and at the head of republicanism in Paris stood +forth Gambetta, with his impassioned eloquence, his stinging +phrases, and his youthful boldness. He became the idol of that +part of Paris known as Belleville, where artisans and laborers +united with the rabble of the streets in hating the empire and in +crying out for a republic. + +Gambetta was precisely the man to voice the feelings of these +people. Whatever polish he acquired in after years was then quite +lacking; and the crudity of his manners actually helped him with +the men whom he harangued. A recent book by M. Francis Laur, an +ardent admirer of Gambetta, gives a picture of the man which may +be nearly true of him in his later life, but which is certainly +too flattering when applied to Gambetta in 1868, at the age of +thirty. + +How do we see Gambetta as he was at thirty? A man of powerful +frame and of intense vitality, with thick, clustering hair, which +he shook as a lion shakes its mane; olive-skinned, with eyes that +darted fire, a resonant, sonorous voice, and a personal magnetism +which was instantly felt by all who met him or who heard him +speak. His manners were not refined. He was fond of oil and +garlic. His gestures were often more frantic than impressive, so +that his enemies called him "the furious fool." He had a trick of +spitting while he spoke. He was by no means the sort of man whose +habits had been formed in drawing-rooms or among people of good +breeding. Yet his oratory was, of its kind, superb. + +In 1869 Gambetta was elected by the Red Republicans to the Corps +Legislatif. From the very first his vehemence and fire gained him +a ready hearing. The chamber itself was arranged like a great +theater, the members occupying the floor and the public the +galleries. Each orator in addressing the house mounted a sort of +rostrum and from it faced the whole assemblage, not noticing, as +with us, the presiding officer at all. The very nature of this +arrangement stimulated parliamentary speaking into eloquence and +flamboyant oratory. + +After Gambetta had spoken a few times he noticed in the gallery a +tall, graceful woman, dressed in some neutral color and wearing +long black gloves, which accentuated the beauty of her hands and +arms. No one in the whole assembly paid such close attention to +the orator as did this woman, whom he had never seen before and +who appeared to be entirely alone. + +When it came to him to speak on another day he saw sitting in the +same place the same stately and yet lithe and sinuous figure. This +was repeated again and again, until at last whenever he came to a +peculiarly fervid burst of oratory he turned to this woman's face +and saw it lighted up by the same enthusiasm which was stirring +him. + +Finally, in the early part of 1870, there came a day when Gambetta +surpassed himself in eloquence. His theme was the grandeur of +republican government. Never in his life had he spoken so boldly +as then, or with such fervor. The ministers of the emperor shrank +back in dismay as this big-voiced, strong-limbed man hurled forth +sentence after sentence like successive peals of irresistible +artillery. + +As Gambetta rolled forth his sentences, superb in their rhetoric +and all ablaze with that sort of intense feeling which masters an +orator in the moment of his triumph, the face of the lady in the +gallery responded to him with wonderful appreciation. She was no +longer calm, unmoved, and almost severe. She flushed, and her eyes +as they met his seemed to sparkle with living fire. When he +finished and descended from the rostrum he looked at her, and +their eyes cried out as significantly as if the two had spoken to +each other. + +Then Gambetta did what a person of finer breeding would not have +done. He hastily scribbled a note, sealed it, and called to his +side one of the official pages. In the presence of the great +assemblage, where he was for the moment the center of attention, +he pointed to the lady in the gallery and ordered the page to take +the note to her. + +One may excuse this only on the ground that he was completely +carried away by his emotion, so that to him there was no one +present save this enigmatically fascinating woman and himself. But +the lady on her side was wiser; or perhaps a slight delay gave her +time to recover her discretion. When Gambetta's note was brought +to her she took it quietly and tore it into little pieces without +reading it; and then, rising, she glided through the crowd and +disappeared. + +Gambetta in his excitement had acted as if she were a mere +adventuress. With perfect dignity she had shown him that she was a +woman who retained her self-respect. + +Immediately upon the heels of this curious incident came the +outbreak of the war with Germany. In the war the empire was +shattered at Sedan. The republic was proclaimed in Paris. The +French capital was besieged by a vast German army. Gambetta was +made minister of the interior, and remained for a while in Paris +even after it had been blockaded. But his fiery spirit chafed +under such conditions. He longed to go forth into the south of +France and arouse his countrymen with a cry to arms against the +invaders. + +Escaping in a balloon, he safely reached the city of Tours; and +there he established what was practically a dictatorship. He flung +himself with tremendous energy into the task of organizing armies, +of equipping them, and of directing their movements for the relief +of Paris. He did, in fact, accomplish wonders. He kept the spirit +of the nation still alive. Three new armies were launched against +the Germans. Gambetta was everywhere and took part in everything +that was done. His inexperience in military affairs, coupled with +his impatience of advice, led him to make serious mistakes. +Nevertheless, one of his armies practically defeated the Germans +at Orleans; and could he have had his own way, even the fall of +Paris would not have ended the war. + +"Never," said Gambetta, "shall I consent to peace so long as +France still has two hundred thousand men under arms and more than +a thousand cannon to direct against the enemy!" + +But he was overruled by other and less fiery statesmen. Peace was +made, and Gambetta retired for a moment into private life. If he +had not succeeded in expelling the German hosts he had, at any +rate, made Bismarck hate him, and he had saved the honor of +France. + +It was while the National Assembly at Versailles was debating the +terms of peace with Germany that Gambetta once more delivered a +noble and patriotic speech. As he concluded he felt a strange +magnetic attraction; and, sweeping the audience with a glance, he +saw before him, not very far away, the same woman with the long +black gloves, having about her still an air of mystery, but again +meeting his eyes with her own, suffused with feeling. + +Gambetta hurried to an anteroom and hastily scribbled the +following note: + +At last I see you once more. Is it really you? + +The scrawl was taken to her by a discreet official, and this time +she received the letter, pressed it to her heart, and then slipped +it into the bodice of her gown. But this time, as before, she left +without making a reply. + +It was an encouragement, yet it gave no opening to Gambetta--for +she returned to the National Assembly no more. But now his heart +was full of hope, for he was convinced with a very deep conviction +that somewhere, soon, and in some way he would meet this woman, +who had become to him one of the intense realities of his life. He +did not know her name. They had never exchanged a word. Yet he was +sure that time would bring them close together. + +His intuition was unerring. What we call chance often seems to +know what it is doing. Within a year after the occurrence that has +just been narrated an old friend of Gambetta's met with an +accident which confined him to his house. The statesman strolled +to his friend's residence. The accident was a trifling one, and +the mistress of the house was holding a sort of informal +reception, answering questions that were asked her by the numerous +acquaintances who called. + +As Gambetta was speaking, of a sudden he saw before him, at the +extremity of the room, the lady of his dreams, the sphinx of his +waking hours, the woman who four years earlier had torn up the +note which he addressed to her, but who more recently had kept his +written words. Both of them were deeply agitated, yet both of them +carried off the situation without betraying themselves to others, +Gambetta approached, and they exchanged a few casual commonplaces. +But now, close together, eye and voice spoke of what was in their +hearts. + +Presently the lady took her leave. Gambetta followed closely. In +the street he turned to her and said in pleading tones: + +"Why did you destroy my letter? You knew I loved you, and yet all +these years you have kept away from me in silence." + +Then the girl--for she was little more than a girl--hesitated for +a moment. As he looked upon her face he saw that her eyes were +full of tears. At last she spoke with emotion: + +"You cannot love me, for I am unworthy of you. Do not urge me. Do +not make promises. Let us say good-by. At least I must first tell +you of my story, for I am one of those women whom no one ever +marries." + +Gambetta brushed aside her pleadings. He begged that he might see +her soon. Little by little she consented; but she would not see +him at her house. She knew that his enemies were many and that +everything he did would be used against him. In the end she agreed +to meet him in the park at Versailles, near the Petit Trianon, at +eight o'clock in the morning. + +When she had made this promise he left her. Already a new +inspiration had come to him, and he felt that with this woman by +his side he could accomplish anything. + +At the appointed hour, in the silence of the park and amid the +sunshine of the beautiful morning, the two met once again. +Gambetta seized her hands with eagerness and cried out in an +exultant tone: + +"At last! At last! At last!" + +But the woman's eyes were heavy with sorrow, and upon her face +there was a settled melancholy. She trembled at his touch and +almost shrank from him. Here was seen the impetuosity of the +meridional. He had first spoken to this woman only two days +before. He knew nothing of her station, of her surroundings, of +her character. He did not even know her name. Yet one thing he +knew absolutely--that she was made for him and that he must have +her for his own. He spoke at once of marriage; but at this she +drew away from him still farther. + +"No," she said. "I told you that you must not speak to me until +you have heard my story." + +He led her to a great stone bench near by; and, passing his arm +about her waist, he drew her head down to his shoulder as he said: + +"Well, tell me. I will listen." + +Then this girl of twenty-four, with perfect frankness, because she +was absolutely loyal, told him why she felt that they must never +see each other any more-much less marry and be happy. She was the +daughter of a colonel in the French army. The sudden death of her +father had left her penniless and alone. Coming to Paris at the +age of eighteen, she had given lessons in the household of a high +officer of the empire. This man had been attracted by her beauty, +and had seduced her. + +Later she had secured the means of living modestly, realizing more +deeply each month how dreadful had been her fate and how she had +been cut off from the lot of other girls. She felt that her life +must be a perpetual penance for what had befallen her through her +ignorance and inexperience. She told Gambetta that her name was +Leonie Leon. As is the custom of Frenchwomen who live alone, she +styled herself madame. It is doubtful whether the name by which +she passed was that which had been given to her at baptism; but, +if so, her true name has never been disclosed. + +When she had told the whole of her sad story to Gambetta he made +nothing of it. She said to him again: + +"You cannot love me. I should only dim your fame. You can have +nothing in common with a dishonored, ruined girl. That is what I +came here to explain to you. Let us part, and let us for all time +forget each other." + +But Gambetta took no heed of what she said. Now that he had found +her, he would not consent to lose her. He seized her slender hands +and covered them with kisses. Again he urged that she should marry +him. + +Her answer was a curious one. She was a devoted Catholic and would +not regard any marriage as valid save a religious marriage. On the +other hand, Gambetta, though not absolutely irreligious, was +leading the opposition to the Catholic party in France. The Church +to him was not so much a religious body as a political one, and to +it he was unalterably opposed. Personally, he would have no +objections to being married by a priest; but as a leader of the +anti-clerical party he felt that he must not recognize the +Church's claim in any way. A religious marriage would destroy his +influence with his followers and might even imperil the future of +the republic. + +They pleaded long and earnestly both then and afterward. He urged +a civil marriage, but she declared that only a marriage according +to the rites of the Church could ever purify her past and give her +back her self-respect. In this she was absolutely stubborn, yet +she did not urge upon Gambetta that he should destroy his +influence by marrying her in church. + +Through all this interplay of argument and pleading and emotion +the two grew every moment more hopelessly in love. Then the woman, +with a woman's curious subtlety and indirectness, reached a +somewhat singular conclusion. She would hear nothing of a civil +marriage, because a civil marriage was no marriage in the eyes of +Pope and prelate. On the other hand, she did not wish Gambetta to +mar his political career by going through a religious ceremony. +She had heard from a priest that the Church recognized two forms +of betrothal. The usual one looked to a marriage in the future and +gave no marriage privileges until after the formal ceremony. But +there was another kind of betrothal known to the theologians as +sponsalia de praesente. According to this, if there were an actual +betrothal, the pair might have the privileges and rights of +marriage immediately, if only they sincerely meant to be married +in the future. + +The eager mind of Leonie Leon caught at this bit of ecclesiastical +law and used it with great ingenuity. + +"Let us," she said, "be formally betrothed by the interchange of a +ring, and let us promise each other to marry in the future. After +such a betrothal as this we shall be the same as married; for we +shall be acting according to the laws of the Church." + +Gambetta gladly gave his promise. A betrothal ring was purchased; +and then, her conscience being appeased, she gave herself +completely to her lover. Gambetta was sincere. He said to her: + +"If the time should ever come when I shall lose my political +station, when I am beaten in the struggle, when I am deserted and +alone, will you not then marry me when I ask you?" + +And Leonie, with her arms about his neck, promised that she would. +Yet neither of them specified what sort of marriage this should +be, nor did it seem at the moment as if the question could arise. + +For Gambetta was very powerful. He led his party to success in the +election of 1877. Again and again his triumphant oratory mastered +the National Assembly of France. In 1879 he was chosen to be +president of the Chamber of Deputies. He towered far above the +president of the republic--Jules Grevy, that hard-headed, close- +fisted old peasant--and his star had reached its zenith. + +All this time he and Leonie Leon maintained their intimacy, though +it was carefully concealed save from a very few. She lived in a +plain but pretty house on the Avenue Perrichont in the quiet +quarter of Auteuil; but Gambetta never came there. Where and when +they met was a secret guarded very carefully by the few who were +his close associates. But meet they did continually, and their +affection grew stronger every year. Leonie thrilled at the +victories of the man she loved; and he found joy in the hours that +he spent with her. + +Gambetta's need of rest was very great, for he worked at the +highest tension, like an engine which is using every pound of +steam. Bismarck, whose spies kept him well informed of everything +that was happening in Paris, and who had no liking for Gambetta, +since the latter always spoke of him as "the Ogre," once said to a +Frenchman named Cheberry: + +"He is the only one among you who thinks of revenge, and who is +any sort of a menace to Germany. But, fortunately, he won't last +much longer. I am not speaking thoughtlessly. I know from secret +reports what sort of a life your great man leads, and I know his +habits. Why, his life is a life of continual overwork. He rests +neither night nor day. All politicians who have led the same life +have died young. To he able to serve one's country for a long time +a statesman must marry an ugly woman, have children like the rest +of the world, and a country place or a house to one's self like +any common peasant, where he can go and rest." + +The Iron Chancellor chuckled as he said this, and he was right. +And yet Gambetta's end came not so much through overwork as by an +accident. + +It may be that the ambition of Mme. Leon stimulated him beyond his +powers. However this may be, early in 1882, when he was defeated +in Parliament on a question which he considered vital, he +immediately resigned and turned his back on public life. His +fickle friends soon deserted him. His enemies jeered and hooted +the mention of his name. + +He had reached the time which with a sort of prophetic instinct he +had foreseen nearly ten years before. So he turned to the woman +who had been faithful and loving to him; and he turned to her with +a feeling of infinite peace. + +"You promised me," he said, "that if ever I was defeated and alone +you would marry me. The time is now." + +Then this man, who had exercised the powers of a dictator, who had +levied armies and shaken governments, and through whose hands +there had passed thousands of millions of francs, sought for a +country home. He found for sale a small estate which had once +belonged to Balzac, and which is known as Les Jardies. It was in +wretched repair; yet the small sum which it cost Gambetta--twelve +thousand francs--was practically all that he possessed. Worn and +weary as he was, it seemed to him a haven of delightful peace; for +here he might live in the quiet country with the still beautiful +woman who was soon to become his wife. + +It is not known what form of marriage they at last agreed upon. +She may have consented to a civil ceremony; or he, being now out +of public life, may have felt that he could be married by the +Church. The day for their wedding had been set, and Gambetta was +already at Les Jardies. But there came a rumor that he had been +shot. Still further tidings bore the news that he was dying. +Paris, fond as it was of scandals, immediately spread the tale +that he had been shot by a jealous woman. + +The truth is quite the contrary. Gambetta, in arranging his +effects in his new home, took it upon himself to clean a pair of +dueling-pistols; for every French politician of importance must +fight duels, and Gambetta had already done so. Unfortunately, one +cartridge remained unnoticed in the pistol which Gambetta cleaned. +As he held the pistol-barrel against the soft part of his hand the +cartridge exploded, and the ball passed through the base of the +thumb with a rending, spluttering noise. + +The wound was not in itself serious, but now the prophecy of +Bismarck was fulfilled. Gambetta had exhausted his vitality; a +fever set in, and before long he died of internal ulceration. + +This was the end of a great career and of a great romance of love. +Leonie Leon was half distraught at the death of the lover who was +so soon to be her husband. She wandered for hours in the forest +until she reached a convent, where she was received. Afterward she +came to Paris and hid herself away in a garret of the slums. All +the light of her life had gone out. She wished that she had died +with him whose glory had been her life. Friends of Gambetta, +however, discovered her and cared for her until her death, long +afterward, in 1906. + +She lived upon the memories of the past, of the swift love that +had come at first sight, but which had lasted unbrokenly; which +had given her the pride of conquest, and which had brought her +lover both happiness and inspiration and a refining touch which +had smoothed away his roughness and made him fit to stand in +palaces with dignity and distinction. + +As for him, he left a few lines which have been carefully +preserved, and which sum up his thought of her. They read: + +To the light of my soul; to the star, of my life--Leonie Leon. For +ever! For ever! + + + + + +LADY BLESSINGTON AND COUNT D'ORSAY + + +Often there has arisen some man who, either by his natural gifts +or by his impudence or by the combination of both, has made +himself a recognized leader in the English fashionable world. One +of the first of these men was Richard Nash, usually known as "Beau +Nash," who flourished in the eighteenth century. Nash was a man of +doubtful origin; nor was he attractive in his looks, for he was a +huge, clumsy creature with features that were both irregular and +harsh. Nevertheless, for nearly fifty years Beau Nash was an +arbiter of fashion. Goldsmith, who wrote his life, declared that +his supremacy was due to his pleasing manners, "his assiduity, +flattery, fine clothes, and as much wit as the ladies had whom he +addressed." He converted the town of Bath from a rude little +hamlet into an English Newport, of which he was the social +autocrat. He actually drew up a set of written rules which some of +the best-born and best-bred people follow slavishly. + +Even better known to us is George Bryan Brummel, commonly called +"Beau Brummel," who by his friendship with George IV.--then Prince +Regent--was an oracle at court on everything that related to dress +and etiquette and the proper mode of living. His memory has been +kept alive most of all by Richard Mansfield's famous impersonation +of him. The play is based upon the actual facts; for after Brummel +had lost the royal favor he died an insane pauper in the French +town of Caen. He, too, had a distinguished biographer, since +Bulwer-Lytton's novel Pelham is really the narrative of Brummel's +curious career. + +Long after Brummel, Lord Banelagh led the gilded youth of London, +and it was at this time that the notorious Lola Montez made her +first appearance in the British capital. + +These three men--Nash, Brummel, and Ranelagh--had the advantage of +being Englishmen, and, therefore, of not incurring the old-time +English suspicion of foreigners. A much higher type of social +arbiter was a Frenchman who for twenty years during the early part +of Queen Victoria's reign gave law to the great world of fashion, +besides exercising a definite influence upon English art and +literature. + +This was Count Albert Guillaume d'Orsay, the son of one of +Napoleon's generals, and descended by a morganatic marriage from +the King of Wurttemburg. The old general, his father, was a man of +high courage, impressive appearance, and keen intellect, all of +which qualities he transmitted to his son. The young Count +d'Orsay, when he came of age, found the Napoleonic era ended and +France governed by Louis XVIII. The king gave Count d'Orsay a +commission in the army in a regiment stationed at Valence in the +southeastern part of France. He had already visited England and +learned the English language, and he had made some distinguished +friends there, among whom were Lord Byron and Thomas Moore. + +On his return to France he began his garrison life at Valence, +where he showed some of the finer qualities of his character. It +is not merely that he was handsome and accomplished and that he +had the gift of winning the affections of those about him. Unlike +Nash and Brummel, he was a gentleman in every sense, and his +courtesy was of the highest kind. At the balls given by his +regiment, although he was more courted than any other officer, he +always sought out the plainest girls and showed them the most +flattering attentions. No "wallflowers" were left neglected when +D'Orsay was present. + +It is strange how completely human beings are in the hands of +fate. Here was a young French officer quartered in a provincial +town in the valley of the Rhone. Who would have supposed that he +was destined to become not only a Londoner, but a favorite at the +British court, a model of fashion, a dictator of etiquette, widely +known for his accomplishments, the patron of literary men and of +distinguished artists? But all these things were to come to pass +by a mere accident of fortune. + +During his firsts visit to London, which has already been +mentioned, Count d'Orsay was invited once or twice to receptions +given by the Earl and Countess of Blessington, where he was well +received, though this was only an incident of his English sojourn. +Before the story proceeds any further it is necessary to give an +account of the Earl and of Lady Blessington, since both of their +careers had been, to say the least, unusual. + +Lord Blessington was an Irish peer for whom an ancient title had +been revived. He was remotely descended from the Stuarts of +Scotland, and therefore had royal blood to boast of. He had been +well educated, and in many ways was a man of pleasing manner. On +the other hand, he had early inherited a very large property which +yielded him an income of about thirty thousand pounds a year. He +had estates in Ireland, and he owned nearly the whole of a +fashionable street in London, with the buildings erected on it. + +This fortune and the absence of any one who could control him had +made him wilful and extravagant and had wrought in him a curious +love of personal display. Even as a child he would clamor to be +dressed in the most gorgeous uniforms; and when he got possession +of his property his love of display became almost a monomania. He +built a theater as an adjunct to his country house in Ireland and +imported players from London and elsewhere to act in it. He loved +to mingle with the mummers, to try on their various costumes, and +to parade up and down, now as an oriental prince and now as a +Roman emperor. + +In London he hung about the green-rooms, and was a well-known +figure wherever actors or actresses were collected. Such was his +love of the stage that he sought to marry into the profession and +set his heart on a girl named Mary Campbell Browne, who was very +beautiful to look at, but who was not conspicuous either for her +mind or for her morals. When Lord Blessington proposed marriage to +her she was obliged to tell him that she already had one husband +still alive, but she was perfectly willing to live with him and +dispense with the marriage ceremony. So for several years she did +live with him and bore him two children. + +It speaks well for the earl that when the inconvenient husband +died a marriage at once took place and Mrs. Browne became a +countess. Then, after other children had been born, the lady died, +leaving the earl a widower at about the age of forty. The only +legitimate son born of this marriage followed his mother to the +grave; and so for the third time the earldom of Blessington seemed +likely to become extinct. The death of his wife, however, gave the +earl a special opportunity to display his extravagant tastes. He +spent more than four thousand pounds on the funeral ceremonies, +importing from France a huge black velvet catafalque which had +shortly before been used at the public funeral of Napoleon's +marshal, Duroc, while the house blazed with enormous wax tapers +and glittered with cloth of gold. + +Lord Blessington soon plunged again into the busy life of London. +Having now no heir, there was no restraint on his expenditures, +and he borrowed large sums of money in order to buy additional +estates and houses and to experience the exquisite joy of spending +lavishly. At this time he had his lands in Ireland, a town house +in St. James's Square, another in Seymour Place, and still another +which was afterward to become famous as Gore House, in Kensington. + +Some years before he had met in Ireland a lady called Mrs. Maurice +Farmer; and it happened that she now came to London. The earlier +story of her still young life must here be told, because her name +afterward became famous, and because the tale illustrates +wonderfully well the raw, crude, lawless period of the Regency, +when England was fighting her long war with Napoleon, when the +Prince Regent was imitating all the vices of the old French kings, +when prize-fighting, deep drinking, dueling, and dicing were +practised without restraint in all the large cities and towns of +the United Kingdom. It was, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has said, +"an age of folly and of heroism"; for, while it produced some of +the greatest black-guards known to history, it produced also such +men as Wellington and Nelson, the two Pitts, Sheridan, Byron, +Shelley, and Sir Walter Scott. + +Mrs. Maurice Farmer was the daughter of a small Irish landowner +named Robert Power--himself the incarnation of all the vices of +the time. There was little law in Ireland, not even that which +comes from public opinion; and Robert Power rode hard to hounds, +gambled recklessly, and assembled in his house all sorts of +reprobates, with whom he held frightful orgies that lasted from +sunset until dawn. His wife and his young daughters viewed him +with terror, and the life they led was a perpetual nightmare +because of the bestial carousings in which their father engaged, +wasting his money and mortgaging his estates until the end of his +wild career was in plain sight. + +There happened to be stationed at Clonmel a regiment of infantry +in which there served a captain named Maurice St. Leger Farmer. He +was a man of some means, but eccentric to a degree. His temper was +so utterly uncontrolled that even his fellow officers could +scarcely live with him, and he was given to strange caprices. It +happened that at a ball in Clonmel he met the young daughter of +Robert Power, then a mere child of fourteen years. Captain Farmer +was seized with an infatuation for the girl, and he went almost at +once to her father, asking for her hand in marriage and proposing +to settle a sum of money upon her if she married him. + +The hard-riding squireen jumped at the offer. His own estate was +being stripped bare. Here was a chance to provide for one of his +daughters, or, rather, to get rid of her, and he agreed that she +should be married out of hand. Going home, he roughly informed the +girl that she was to be the wife of Captain Farmer. He so bullied +his wife that she was compelled to join him in this command. + +What was poor little Margaret Power to do? She was only a child. +She knew nothing of the world. She was accustomed to obey her +father as she would have obeyed some evil genius who had her in +his power. There were tears and lamentations. She was frightened +half to death; yet for her there was no help. Therefore, while not +yet fifteen her marriage took place, and she was the unhappy slave +of a half-crazy tyrant. She had then no beauty whatsoever. She was +wholly undeveloped--thin and pale, and with rough hair that fell +over her frightened eyes; yet Farmer wanted her, and he settled +his money on her, just as he would have spent the same amount to +gratify any other sudden whim. + +The life she led with him for a few months showed him to be more +of a devil than a man. He took a peculiar delight in terrifying +her, in subjecting her to every sort of outrage; nor did he +refrain even from beating her with his fists. The girl could stand +a great deal, but this was too much. She returned to her father's +house, where she was received with the bitterest reproaches, but +where, at least, she was safe from harm, since her possession of a +dowry made her a person of some small importance. + +Not long afterward Captain Farmer fell into a dispute with his +colonel, Lord Caledon, and in the course of it he drew his sword +on his commanding officer. The court-martial which was convened to +try him would probably have had him shot were it not for the very +general belief that he was insane. So he was simply cashiered and +obliged to leave the service and betake himself elsewhere. Thus +the girl whom, he had married was quite free--free to leave her +wretched home and even to leave Ireland. + +She did leave Ireland and establish herself in London, where she +had some acquaintances, among them the Earl of Blessington. As +already said, he had met her in Ireland while she was living with +her husband; and now from time to time he saw her in a friendly +way. After the death of his wife he became infatuated with +Margaret Farmer. She was a good deal alone, and his attentions +gave her entertainment. Her past experience led her to have no +real belief in love. She had become, however, in a small way +interested in literature and art, with an eager ambition to be +known as a writer. As it happened, Captain Farmer, whose name she +bore, had died some months before Lord Blessington had decided to +make a new marriage. The earl proposed to Margaret Farmer, and the +two were married by special license. + +The Countess of Blessington--to give the lady her new title--was +now twenty-eight years of age and had developed into a woman of +great beauty. She was noted for the peculiarly vivacious and +radiant expression which was always on her face. She had a kind of +vivid loveliness accompanied by grace, simplicity, and a form of +exquisite proportions. The ugly duckling had become a swan, for +now there was no trace of her former plainness to be seen. + +Not yet in her life had love come to her. Her first husband had +been thrust upon her and had treated her outrageously. Her second +husband was much older than she; and, though she was not without a +certain kindly feeling for one who had been kind to her, she +married him, first of all, for his title and position. + +Having been reared in poverty, she had no conception of the value +of money; and, though the earl was remarkably extravagant, the new +countess was even more so. One after another their London houses +were opened and decorated with the utmost lavishness. They gave +innumerable entertainments, not only to the nobility and to men of +rank, but--because this was Lady Blessington's peculiar fad--to +artists and actors and writers of all degrees. The American, N. P. +Willis, in his Pencilings by the Way, has given an interesting +sketch of the countess and her surroundings, while the younger +Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield) has depicted D'Orsay as Count Mirabel +in Henrietta Temple. Willis says: + +In a long library, lined alternately with splendidly bound books +and mirrors, and with a deep window of the breadth of the room +opening upon Hyde Park, I found Lady Blessington alone. The +picture, to my eye, as the door opened, was a very lovely one--a +woman of remarkable beauty, half buried in a fauteuil of yellow +satin, reading by a magnificent lamp suspended from the center of +the arched ceiling. Sofas, couches, ottomans, and busts, arranged +in rather a crowded sumptuousness through the room; enameled +tables, covered with expensive and elegant trifles in every +corner, and a delicate white hand in relief on the back of a book, +to which the eye was attracted by the blaze of diamond rings. + +All this "crowded sumptuousness" was due to the taste of Lady +Blessington. Amid it she received royal dukes, statesmen such as +Palmerston, Canning, Castlereagh, Russell, and Brougham, actors +such as Kemble and Matthews, artists such as Lawrence and Wilkie, +and men of letters such as Moore, Bulwer-Lytton, and the two +Disraelis. To maintain this sort of life Lord Blessington raised +large amounts of money, totaling about half a million pounds +sterling, by mortgaging his different estates and giving his +promissory notes to money-lenders. Of course, he did not spend +this vast sum immediately. He might have lived in comparative +luxury upon his income; but he was a restless, eager, improvident +nobleman, and his extravagances were prompted by the urgings of +his wife. + +In all this display, which Lady Blessington both stimulated and +shared, there is to be found a psychological basis. She was now +verging upon the thirties--a time which is a very critical period +in a woman's emotional life, if she has not already given herself +over to love and been loved in return. During Lady Blessington's +earlier years she had suffered in many ways, and it is probable +that no thought of love had entered her mind. She was only too +glad if she could escape from the harshness of her father and the +cruelty of her first husband. Then came her development into a +beautiful woman, content for the time to be languorously stagnant +and to enjoy the rest and peace which had come to her. + +When she married Lord Blessington her love life had not yet +commenced; and, in fact, there could be no love life in such a +marriage--a marriage with a man much older than herself, scatter- +brained, showy, and having no intellectual gifts. So for a time +she sought satisfaction in social triumphs, in capturing political +and literary lions in order to exhibit them in her salon, and in +spending money right and left with a lavish hand. But, after all, +in a woman of her temperament none of these things could satisfy +her inner longings. Beautiful, full of Celtic vivacity, +imaginative and eager, such a nature as hers would in the end be +starved unless her heart should be deeply touched and unless all +her pent-up emotion could give itself up entirely in the great +surrender. + +After a few years of London she grew restless and dissatisfied. +Her surroundings wearied her. There was a call within her for +something more than she had yet experienced. The earl, her +husband, was by nature no less restless; and so, without knowing +the reason--which, indeed, she herself did not understand--he +readily assented to a journey on the Continent. + +As they traveled southward they reached at length the town of +Valence, where Count d'Orsay was still quartered with his +regiment. A vague, indefinable feeling of attraction swept over +this woman, who was now a woman of the world and yet quite +inexperienced in affairs relating to the heart. The mere sound of +the French officer's voice, the mere sight of his face, the mere +knowledge of his presence, stirred her as nothing had ever stirred +her until that time. Yet neither he nor she appears to have been +conscious at once of the secret of their liking. It was enough +that they were soothed and satisfied with each other's company. + +Oddly enough, the Earl of Blessington became as devoted to D'Orsay +as did his wife. The two urged the count to secure a leave of +absence and to accompany them to Italy. This he was easily +persuaded to do; and the three passed weeks and months of a +languorous and alluring intercourse among the lakes and the +seductive influence of romantic Italy. Just what passed between +Count d'Orsay and Margaret Blessington at this time cannot be +known, for the secret of it has perished with them; but it is +certain that before very long they came to know that each was +indispensable to the other. + +The situation was complicated by the Earl of Blessington, who, +entirely unsuspicious, proposed that the Count should marry Lady +Harriet Gardiner, his eldest legitimate daughter by his first +wife. He pressed the match upon the embarrassed D'Orsay, and +offered to settle the sum of forty thousand pounds upon the bride. +The girl was less than fifteen years of age. She had no gifts +either of beauty or of intelligence; and, in addition, D'Orsay was +now deeply in love with her stepmother. + +On the other hand, his position with the Blessingtons was daily +growing more difficult. People had begun to talk of the almost +open relations between Count d'Orsay and Lady Blessington. Lord +Byron, in a letter written to the countess, spoke to her openly +and in a playful way of "YOUR D'Orsay." The manners and morals of +the time were decidedly irregular; yet sooner or later the earl +was sure to gain some hint of what every one was saying. +Therefore, much against his real desire, yet in order to shelter +his relations with Lady Blessington, D'Orsay agreed to the +marriage with Lady Harriet, who was only fifteen years of age. + +This made the intimacy between D'Orsay and the Blessingtons appear +to be not unusual; but, as a matter of fact, the marriage was no +marriage. The unattractive girl who had become a bride merely to +hide the indiscretions of her stepmother was left entirely to +herself; while the whole family, returning to London, made their +home together in Seymour Place. + +Could D'Orsay have foreseen the future he would never have done +what must always seem an act so utterly unworthy of him. For +within two years Lord Blessington fell ill and died. Had not +D'Orsay been married he would now have been free to marry Lady +Blessington. As it was, he was bound fast to her stepdaughter; and +since at that time there was no divorce court in England, and +since he had no reason for seeking a divorce, he was obliged to +live on through many years in a most ambiguous situation. He did, +however, separate himself from his childish bride; and, having +done so, he openly took up his residence with Lady Blessington at +Gore House. By this time, however, the companionship of the two +had received a sort of general sanction, and in that easy-going +age most people took it as a matter of course. + +The two were now quite free to live precisely as they would. Lady +Blessington became extravagantly happy, and Count d'Orsay was +accepted in London as an oracle of fashion. Every one was eager to +visit Gore House, and there they received all the notable men of +the time. The improvidence of Lady Blessington, however, was in no +respect diminished. She lived upon her jointure, recklessly +spending capital as well as interest, and gathering under her roof +a rare museum of artistic works, from jewels and curios up to +magnificent pictures and beautiful statuary. + +D'Orsay had sufficient self-respect not to live upon the money +that had come to Lady Blessington from her husband. He was a +skilful painter, and he practised his art in a professional way. +His portrait of the Duke of Wellington was preferred by that +famous soldier to any other that had been made of him. The Iron +Duke was, in fact, a frequent visitor at Gore House, and he had a +very high opinion of Count d'Orsay. Lady Blessington herself +engaged in writing novels of "high life," some of which were very +popular in their day. But of all that she wrote there remains only +one book which is of permanent value--her Conversations with Lord +Byron, a very valuable contribution to our knowledge of the +brilliant poet. + +But a nemesis was destined to overtake the pair. Money flowed +through Lady Blessington's hands like water, and she could never +be brought to understand that what she had might not last for +ever. Finally, it was all gone, yet her extravagance continued. +Debts were heaped up mountain-high. She signed notes of hand +without even reading them. She incurred obligations of every sort +without a moment's hesitation. + +For a long time her creditors held aloof, not believing that her +resources were in reality exhausted; but in the end there came a +crash as sudden as it was ruinous. As if moved by a single +impulse, those to whom she owed money took out judgments against +her and descended upon Gore House in a swarm. This was in the +spring of 1849, when Lady Blessington was in her sixtieth year and +D'Orsay fifty-one. + +It is a curious coincidence that her earliest novel had portrayed +the wreck of a great establishment such as her own. Of the scene +in Gore House Mr. Madden, Lady Blessington's literary biographer, +has written: + +Numerous creditors, bill-discounters, money-lenders, jewelers, +lace-venders, tax-collectors, gas-company agents, all persons +having claims to urge pressed them at this period simultaneously. +An execution for a debt of four thousand pounds was at length put +in by a house largely engaged in the silk, lace, India-shawl, and +fancy-jewelry business. + +This sum of four thousand pounds was only a nominal claim, but it +opened the flood-gates for all of Lady Blessington's creditors. +Mr. Madden writes still further: + +On the 10th of May, 1849, I visited Gore House for the last time. +The auction was going on. There was a large assemblage of people +of fashion. Every room was thronged; the well-known library-salon, +in which the conversaziones took place, was crowded, but not with +guests. The arm-chair in which the lady of the mansion was wont to +sit was occupied by a stout, coarse gentleman of the Jewish +persuasion, busily engaged in examining a marble hand extended on +a book, the fingers of which were modeled from a cast of those of +the absent mistress of the establishment. People, as they passed +through the room, poked the furniture, pulled about the precious +objects of art and ornaments of various kinds that lay on the +table; and some made jests and ribald jokes on the scene they +witnessed. + +At this compulsory sale things went for less than half their +value. Pictures by Lawrence and Landseer, a library consisting of +thousands of volumes, vases of exquisite workmanship, chandeliers +of ormolu, and precious porcelains--all were knocked down +relentlessly at farcical prices. Lady Blessington reserved nothing +for herself. She knew that the hour had struck, and very soon she +was on her way to Paris, whither Count d'Orsay had already gone, +having been threatened with arrest by a boot-maker to whom he owed +five hundred pounds. + +D'Orsay very naturally went to Paris, for, like his father, he had +always been an ardent Bonapartist, and now Prince Louis Bonaparte +had been chosen president of the Second French Republic. During +the prince's long period of exile he had been the guest of Count +d'Orsay, who had helped him both with money and with influence. +D'Orsay now expected some return for his former generosity. It +came, but it came too late. In 1852, shortly after Prince Louis +assumed the title of emperor, the count was appointed director of +fine arts; but when the news was brought to him he was already +dying. Lady Blessington died soon after coming to Paris, before +the end of the year 1849. + +Comment upon this tangled story is scarcely needed. Yet one may +quote some sayings from a sort of diary which Lady Blessington +called her "Night Book." They seem to show that her supreme +happiness lasted only for a little while, and that deep down in +her heart she had condemned herself. + +A woman's head is always influenced by her heart; but a man's +heart is always influenced by his head. + +The separation of friends by death is less terrible than the +divorce of two hearts that have loved, but have ceased to +sympathize, while memory still recalls what they once were to each +other. + +People are seldom tired of the world until the world is tired of +them. + +A woman should not paint sentiment until she has ceased to inspire +it. + +It is less difficult for a woman to obtain celebrity by her genius +than to be pardoned for it. + +Memory seldom fails when its office is to show us the tombs of our +buried hopes. + + + + + +BYRON AND THE COUNTESS GUICCIOLI + + +In 1812, when he was in his twenty-fourth year, Lord Byron was +more talked of than any other man in London. He was in the first +flush of his brilliant career, having published the early cantos +of "Childe Harold." Moreover, he was a peer of the realm, +handsome, ardent, and possessing a personal fascination which few +men and still fewer women could resist. + +Byron's childhood had been one to excite in him strong feelings of +revolt, and he had inherited a profligate and passionate nature. +His father was a gambler and a spendthrift. His mother was +eccentric to a degree. Byron himself, throughout his boyish years, +had been morbidly sensitive because of a physical deformity--a +lame, misshapen foot. This and the strange treatment which his +mother accorded him left him headstrong, wilful, almost from the +first an enemy to whatever was established and conventional. + +As a boy, he was remarkable for the sentimental attachments which +he formed. At eight years of age he was violently in love with a +young girl named Mary Duff. At ten his cousin, Margaret Parker, +excited in him a strange, un-childish passion. At fifteen came one +of the greatest crises of his life, when he became enamored of +Mary Chaworth, whose grand-father had been killed in a duel by +Byron's great-uncle. Young as he was, he would have married her +immediately; but Miss Chaworth was two years older than he, and +absolutely refused to take seriously the devotion of a school-boy. + +Byron felt the disappointment keenly; and after a short stay at +Cambridge, he left England, visited Portugal and Spain, and +traveled eastward as far as Greece and Turkey. At Athens he wrote +the pretty little poem to the "maid of Athens"--Miss Theresa +Macri, daughter of the British vice-consul. He returned to London +to become at one leap the most admired poet of the day and the +greatest social favorite. He was possessed of striking personal +beauty. Sir Walter Scott said of him: "His countenance was a thing +to dream of." His glorious eyes, his mobile, eloquent face, +fascinated all; and he was, besides, a genius of the first rank. + +With these endowments, he plunged into the social whirlpool, +denying himself nothing, and receiving everything-adulation, +friendship, and unstinted love. Darkly mysterious stories of his +adventures in the East made many think that he was the hero of +some of his own poems, such as "The Giaour" and "The Corsair." A +German wrote of him that "he was positively besieged by women." +From the humblest maid-servants up to ladies of high rank, he had +only to throw his handkerchief to make a conquest. Some women did +not even wait for the handkerchief to be thrown. No wonder that he +was sated with so much adoration and that he wrote of women: + +I regard them as very pretty but inferior creatures. I look on +them as grown-up children; but, like a foolish mother, I am +constantly the slave of one of them. Give a woman a looking-glass +and burnt almonds, and she will be content. + +The liaison which attracted the most attention at this time was +that between Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb. Byron has been greatly +blamed for his share in it; but there is much to be said on the +other side. Lady Caroline was happily married to the Right Hon. +William Lamb, afterward Lord Melbourne, and destined to be the +first prime minister of Queen Victoria. He was an easy-going, +genial man of the world who placed too much confidence in the +honor of his wife. She, on the other hand, was a sentimental fool, +always restless, always in search of some new excitement. She +thought herself a poet, and scribbled verses, which her friends +politely admired, and from which they escaped as soon as possible. +When she first met Byron, she cried out: "That pale face is my +fate!" And she afterward added: "Mad, bad, and dangerous to know!" + +It was not long before the intimacy of the two came very near the +point of open scandal; but Byron was the wooed and not the wooer. +This woman, older than he, flung herself directly at his head. +Naturally enough, it was not very long before she bored him +thoroughly. Her romantic impetuosity became tiresome, and very +soon she fell to talking always of herself, thrusting her poems +upon him, and growing vexed and peevish when he would not praise +them. As was well said, "he grew moody and she fretful when their +mutual egotisms jarred." + +In a burst of resentment she left him, but when she returned, she +was worse than ever. She insisted on seeing him. On one occasion +she made her way into his rooms disguised as a boy. At another +time, when she thought he had slighted her, she tried to stab +herself with a pair of scissors. Still later, she offered her +favors to any one who would kill him. Byron himself wrote of her: + +You can have no idea of the horrible and absurd things that she +has said and done. + +Her story has been utilized by Mrs. Humphry Ward in her novel, +"The Marriage of William Ashe." + +Perhaps this trying experience led Byron to end his life of +dissipation. At any rate, in 1813, he proposed marriage to Miss +Anne Millbanke, who at first refused him; but he persisted, and in +1815 the two were married. Byron seems to have had a premonition +that he was making a terrible mistake. During the wedding ceremony +he trembled like a leaf, and made the wrong responses to the +clergyman. After the wedding was over, in handing his bride into +the carriage which awaited them, he said to her: + +"Miss Millbanke, are you ready?" + +It was a strange blunder for a bridegroom, and one which many +regarded at the time as ominous for the future. In truth, no two +persons could have been more thoroughly mismated--Byron, the human +volcano, and his wife, a prim, narrow-minded, and peevish woman. +Their incompatibility was evident enough from the very first, so +that when they returned from their wedding-journey, and some one +asked Byron about his honeymoon, he answered: + +"Call it rather a treacle moon!" + +It is hardly necessary here to tell over the story of their +domestic troubles. Only five weeks after their daughter's birth, +they parted. Lady Byron declared that her husband was insane; +while after trying many times to win from her something more than +a tepid affection, he gave up the task in a sort of despairing +anger. It should be mentioned here, for the benefit of those who +recall the hideous charges made many decades afterward by Mrs. +Harriet Beecher Stowe on the authority of Lady Byron, that the +latter remained on terms of friendly intimacy with Augusta Leigh, +Lord Byron's sister, and that even on her death-bed she sent an +amicable message to Mrs. Leigh. + +Byron, however, stung by the bitter attacks that were made upon +him, left England, and after traveling down the Rhine through +Switzerland, he took up his abode in Venice. His joy at leaving +England and ridding himself of the annoyances which had clustered +thick about him, he expressed in these lines: + + Once more upon the waters! yet once more! + And the waves bound beneath me as a steed + That knows his rider. Welcome to the roar! + +Meanwhile he enjoyed himself in reckless fashion. Money poured in +upon him from his English publisher. For two cantos of "Childe +Harold" and "Manfred," Murray paid him twenty thousand dollars. +For the fourth canto, Byron demanded and received more than twelve +thousand dollars. In Italy he lived on friendly terms with Shelley +and Thomas Moore; but eventually he parted from them both, for he +was about to enter upon a new phase of his curious career. + +He was no longer the Byron of 1815. Four years of high living and +much brandy-and-water had robbed his features of their refinement. +His look was no longer spiritual. He was beginning to grow stout. +Yet the change had not been altogether unfortunate. He had lost +something of his wild impetuosity, and his sense of humor had +developed. In his thirtieth year, in fact, he had at last become a +man. + +It was soon after this that he met a woman who was to be to him +for the rest of his life what a well-known writer has called "a +star on the stormy horizon of the poet." This woman was Teresa, +Countess Guiccioli, whom he first came to know in Venice. She was +then only nineteen years of age, and she was married to a man who +was more than forty years her senior. Unlike the typical Italian +woman, she was blonde, with dreamy eyes and an abundance of golden +hair, and her manner was at once modest and graceful. She had +known Byron but a very short time when she found herself thrilling +with a passion of which until then she had never dreamed. It was +written of her: + +She had thought of love but as an amusement; yet she now became +its slave. + +To this love Byron gave an immediate response, and from that time +until his death he cared for no other woman. The two were +absolutely mated. Nevertheless, there were difficulties which +might have been expected. Count Guiccioli, while he seemed to +admire Byron, watched him with Italian subtlety. The English poet +and the Italian countess met frequently. When Byron was prostrated +by an attack of fever, the countess remained beside him, and he +was just recovering when Count Guiccioli appeared upon the scene +and carried off his wife. Byron was in despair. He exchanged the +most ardent letters with the countess, yet he dreaded assassins +whom he believed to have been hired by her husband. Whenever he +rode out, he went armed with sword and pistols. + +Amid all this storm and stress, Byron's literary activity was +remarkable. He wrote some of his most famous poems at this time, +and he hoped for the day when he and the woman whom he loved might +be united once for all. This came about in the end through the +persistence of the pair. The Countess Guiccioli openly took up her +abode with him, not to be separated until the poet sailed for +Greece to aid the Greeks in their struggle for independence. This +was in 1822, when Byron was in his thirty-fifth year. He never +returned to Italy, but died in the historic land for which he gave +his life as truly as if he had fallen upon the field of battle. + +Teresa Guiccioli had been, in all but name, his wife for just +three years. Much, has been said in condemnation of this love- +affair; but in many ways it is less censurable than almost +anything in his career. It was an instance of genuine love, a love +which purified and exalted this man of dark and moody moments. It +saved him from those fitful passions and orgies of self-indulgence +which had exhausted him. It proved to be an inspiration which at +last led him to die for a cause approved by all the world. + +As for the woman, what shall we say of her? She came to him +unspotted by the world. A demand for divorce which her husband +made was rejected. A pontifical brief pronounced a formal +separation between the two. The countess gladly left behind "her +palaces, her equipages, society, and riches, for the love of the +poet who had won her heart." + +Unlike the other women who had cared for him, she was unselfish in +her devotion. She thought more of his fame than did he himself. +Emilio Castelar has written: + +She restored him and elevated him. She drew him from the mire and +set the crown of purity upon his brow. Then, when she had +recovered this great heart, instead of keeping it as her own +possession, she gave it to humanity. + +For twenty-seven years after Byron's death, she remained, as it +were, widowed and alone. Then, in her old age, she married the +Marquis de Boissy; but the marriage was purely one of convenience. +Her heart was always Byron's, whom she defended with vivacity. In +1868, she published her memoirs of the poet, filled with +interesting and affecting recollections. She died as late as 1873. + +Some time between the year 1866 and that of her death, she is said +to have visited Newstead Abbey, which had once been Byron's home. +She was very old, a widow, and alone; but her affection for the +poet-lover of her youth was still as strong as ever. + +Byron's life was short, if measured by years only. Measured by +achievement, it was filled to the very full. His genius blazes +like a meteor in the records of English poetry; and some of that +splendor gleams about the lovely woman who turned him away from +vice and folly and made him worthy of his historic ancestry, of +his country, and of himself. + + + + + +THE STORY OF MME. DE STAEL + + +Each century, or sometimes each generation, is distinguished by +some especial interest among those who are given to fancies--not +to call them fads. Thus, at the present time, the cultivated few +are taken up with what they choose to term the "new thought," or +the "new criticism," or, on the other hand, with socialistic +theories and projects. Thirty years ago, when Oscar Wilde was +regarded seriously by some people, there were many who made a cult +of estheticism. It was just as interesting when their leader-- + + Walked down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily + In his medieval hand, + +or when Sir William Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan guyed him as +Bunthorne in "Patience." + +When Charles Kingsley was a great expounder of British common +sense, "muscular Christianity" was a phrase which was taken up by +many followers. A little earlier, Puseyism and a primitive form of +socialism were in vogue with the intellectuals. There are just as +many different fashions in thought as in garments, and they come +and go without any particular reason. To-day, they are discussed +and practised everywhere. To-morrow, they are almost forgotten in +the rapid pursuit of something new. + +Forty years before the French Revolution burst forth with all its +thunderings, France and Germany were affected by what was +generally styled "sensibility." Sensibility was the sister of +sentimentality and the half-sister of sentiment. Sentiment is a +fine thing in itself. It is consistent with strength and humor and +manliness; but sentimentality and sensibility are poor cheeping +creatures that run scuttering along the ground, quivering and +whimpering and asking for perpetual sympathy, which they do not at +all deserve. + +No one need be ashamed of sentiment. It simply gives temper to the +blade, and mellowness to the intellect. Sensibility, on the other +hand, is full of shivers and shakes and falsetto notes and +squeaks. It is, in fact, all humbug, just as sentiment is often +all truth. + +Therefore, to find an interesting phase of human folly, we may +look back to the years which lie between 1756 and 1793 as the era +of sensibility. The great prophets of this false god, or goddess, +were Rousseau in France and Goethe with Schiller in Germany, +together with a host of midgets who shook and shivered in +imitation of their masters. It is not for us to catalogue these +persons. Some of them were great figures in literature and +philosophy, and strong enough to shake aside the silliness of +sensibility; but others, while they professed to be great as +writers or philosophers, are now remembered only because their +devotion to sensibility made them conspicuous in their own time. +They dabbled in one thing and another; they "cribbed" from every +popular writer of the day. The only thing that actually belonged +to them was a high degree of sensibility. + +And what, one may ask, was this precious thing--this sensibility? + +It was really a sort of St. Vitus's dance of the mind, and almost +of the body. When two persons, in any way interested in each +other, were brought into the same room, one of them appeared to be +seized with a rotary movement. The voice rose to a higher pitch +than usual, and assumed a tremolo. Then, if the other person was +also endowed with sensibility, he or she would rotate and quake in +somewhat the same manner. Their cups of tea would be considerably +agitated. They would move about in as unnatural a manner as +possible; and when they left the room, they would do so with +gaspings and much waste of breath. + +This was not an exhibition of love--or, at least, not necessarily +so. You might exhibit sensibility before a famous poet, or a +gallant soldier, or a celebrated traveler--or, for that matter, +before a remarkable buffoon, like Cagliostro, or a freak, like +Kaspar Hauser. + +It is plain enough that sensibility was entirely an abnormal +thing, and denoted an abnormal state of mind. Only among people +like the Germans and French of that period, who were forbidden to +take part in public affairs, could it have flourished so long, and +have put forth such rank and fetid outgrowths. From it sprang the +"elective affinities" of Goethe, and the loose morality of the +French royalists, which rushed on into the roaring sea of +infidelity, blasphemy, and anarchy of the Revolution. + +Of all the historic figures of that time, there is just one which +to-day stands forth as representing sensibility. In her own time +she was thought to be something of a philosopher, and something +more of a novelist. She consorted with all the clever men and +women of her age. But now she holds a minute niche in history +because of the fact that Napoleon stooped to hate her, and because +she personifies sensibility. + +Criticism has stripped from her the rags and tatters of the +philosophy which was not her own. It is seen that she was indebted +to the brains of others for such imaginative bits of fiction as +she put forth in Delphine and Corinne; but as the exponent of +sensibility she remains unique. This woman was Anne Louise +Germaine Necker, usually known as Mme. de Stael. + +There was much about Mile. Necker's parentage that made her +interesting. Her father was the Genevese banker and minister of +Louis XVI, who failed wretchedly in his attempts to save the +finances of France. Her mother, Suzanne Curchod, as a young girl, +had won the love of the famous English historian, Edward Gibbon. +She had first refused him, and then almost frantically tried to +get him back; but by this time Gibbon was more comfortable in +single life and less infatuated with Mlle. Curchod, who presently +married Jacques Necker. + +M. Necker's money made his daughter a very celebrated "catch." Her +mother brought her to Paris when the French capital was brilliant +beyond description, and yet was tottering to its fall. The +rumblings of the Revolution could be heard by almost every ear; +and yet society and the court, refusing to listen, plunged into +the wildest revelry under the leadership of the giddy Marie +Antoinette. + +It was here that the young girl was initiated into the most +elegant forms of luxury, and met the cleverest men of that time-- +Voltaire, Rousseau, Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Volney. She set +herself to be the most accomplished woman of her day, not merely +in belles lettres, but in the natural and political sciences. +Thus, when her father was drawing up his monograph on the French +finances, Germaine labored hard over a supplementary report, +studying documents, records, and the most complicated statistics, +so that she might obtain a mastery of the subject. + +"I mean to know everything that anybody knows," she said, with an +arrogance which was rather admired in so young a woman. + +But, unfortunately, her mind was not great enough to fulfil her +aspiration. The most she ever achieved was a fair knowledge of +many things--a knowledge which seemed surprising to the average +man, but which was superficial enough to the accomplished +specialist. + +In her twentieth year (1786) it was thought best that she should +marry. Her revels, as well as her hard studies, had told upon her +health, and her mother believed that she could not be at once a +blue-stocking and a woman of the world. + +There was something very odd about the relation that existed +between the young girl and this mother of hers. In the Swiss +province where they had both been born, the mother had been +considered rather bold and forward. Her penchant for Gibbon was +only one of a number of adventures that have been told about her. +She was by no means coy with the gallants of Geneva. Yet, after +her marriage, and when she came to Paris, she seemed to be +transformed into a sort of Swiss Puritan. + +As such, she undertook her daughter's bringing up, and was +extremely careful about everything that Germaine did and about the +company she kept. On the other hand, the daughter, who in the city +of Calvin had been rather dull and quiet in her ways, launched out +into a gaiety such as she had never known in Switzerland. Mother +and daughter, in fact, changed parts. The country beauty of Geneva +became the prude of Paris, while the quiet, unemotional young +Genevese became the light of all the Parisian salons, whether +social or intellectual. + +The mother was a very beautiful woman. The daughter, who was to +become so famous, is best described by those two very +uncomplimentary English words, "dumpy" and "frumpy." She had +bulging eyes--which are not emphasized in the flattering portrait +by Gerard--and her hair was unbecomingly dressed. There are +reasons for thinking that Germaine bitterly hated her mother, and +was intensely jealous of her charm of person. It may be also that +Mme. Necker envied the daughter's cleverness, even though that +cleverness was little more, in the end, than the borrowing of +brilliant things from other persons. At any rate, the two never +cared for each other, and Germaine gave to her father the +affection which her mother neither received nor sought. + +It was perhaps to tame the daughter's exuberance that a marriage +was arranged for Mlle. Necker with the Baron de Stael-Holstein, +who then represented the court of Sweden at Paris. Many eyebrows +were lifted when this match was announced. Baron de Stael had no +personal charm, nor any reputation for wit. His standing in the +diplomatic corps was not very high. His favorite occupations were +playing cards and drinking enormous quantities of punch. Could he +be considered a match for the extremely clever Mlle. Necker, whose +father had an enormous fortune, and who was herself considered a +gem of wit and mental power, ready to discuss political economy, +or the romantic movement of socialism, or platonic love? + +Many differed about this. Mlle. Necker was, to be sure, rich and +clever; but the Baron de Stael was of an old family, and had a +title. Moreover, his easy-going ways--even his punch-drinking and +his card-playing--made him a desirable husband at that time of +French social history, when the aristocracy wished to act exactly +as it pleased, with wanton license, and when an embassy was a very +convenient place into which an indiscreet ambassadress might +retire when the mob grew dangerous. For Paris was now approaching +the time of revolution, and all "aristocrats" were more or less in +danger. + +At first Mme. de Stael rather sympathized with the outbreak of the +people; but later their excesses drove her back into sympathy with +the royalists. It was then that she became indiscreet and abused +the privilege of the embassy in giving shelter to her friends. She +was obliged to make a sudden flight across the frontier, whence +she did not return until Napoleon loomed up, a political giant on +the horizon--victorious general, consul, and emperor. + +Mme. de Stael's relations with Napoleon have, as I remarked above, +been among her few titles to serious remembrance. The Corsican +eagle and the dumpy little Genevese make, indeed, a peculiar pair; +and for this reason writers have enhanced the oddities of the +picture. + +"Napoleon," says one, "did not wish any one to be near him who was +as clever as himself." + +"No," adds another, "Mme. de Stael made a dead set at Napoleon, +because she wished to conquer and achieve the admiration of +everybody, even of the greatest man who ever lived." + +"Napoleon found her to be a good deal of a nuisance," observes a +third. "She knew too much, and was always trying to force her +knowledge upon others." + +The legend has sprung up that Mme. de Stael was too wise and witty +to be acceptable to Napoleon; and many women repeated with unction +that the conqueror of Europe was no match for this frowsy little +woman. It is, perhaps, worth while to look into the facts, and to +decide whether Napoleon was really of so petty a nature as to feel +himself inferior to this rather comic creature, even though at the +time many people thought her a remarkable genius. + +In the first place, knowing Napoleon, as we have come to know him +through the pages of Mme. de Remusat, Frederic Masson, and others, +we can readily imagine the impatience with which the great soldier +would sit at dinner, hastening to finish his meal, crowding the +whole ceremony into twenty minutes, gulping a glass or two of wine +and a cup of coffee, and then being interrupted by a fussy little +female who wanted to talk about the ethics of history, or the +possibility of a new form of government. Napoleon, himself, was +making history, and writing it in fire and flame; and as for +governments, he invented governments all over Europe as suited his +imperial will. What patience could he have with one whom an +English writer has rather unkindly described as "an ugly coquette, +an old woman who made a ridiculous marriage, a blue-stocking, who +spent much of her time in pestering men of genius, and drawing +from them sarcastic comment behind their backs?" + +Napoleon was not the sort of a man to be routed in discussion, but +he was most decidedly the sort of man to be bored and irritated by +pedantry. Consequently, he found Mme. de Stael a good deal of a +nuisance in the salons of Paris and its vicinity. He cared not the +least for her epigrams. She might go somewhere else and write all +the epigrams she pleased. When he banished her, in 1803, she +merely crossed the Rhine into Germany, and established herself at +Weimar. + +The emperor received her son, Auguste de Stael-Holstein, with much +good humor, though he refused the boy's appeal on behalf of his +mother. + +"My dear baron," said Napoleon, "if your mother were to be in +Paris for two months, I should really be obliged to lock her up in +one of the castles, which would be most unpleasant treatment for +me to show a lady. No, let her go anywhere else and we can get +along perfectly. All Europe is open to her--Rome, Vienna, St. +Petersburg; and if she wishes to write libels on me, England is a +convenient and inexpensive place. Only Paris is just a little too +near!" + +Thus the emperor gibed the boy--he was only fifteen or sixteen-- +and made fun of the exiled blue-stocking; but there was not a sign +of malice in what he said, nor, indeed, of any serious feeling at +all. The legend about Napoleon and Mme. de Stael must, therefore, +go into the waste-basket, except in so far as it is true that she +succeeded in boring him. + +For the rest, she was an earlier George Sand--unattractive in +person, yet able to attract; loving love for love's sake, though +seldom receiving it in return; throwing herself at the head of +every distinguished man, and generally finding that he regarded +her overtures with mockery. To enumerate the men for whom she +professed to care would be tedious, since the record of her +passions has no reality about it, save, perhaps, with two +exceptions. + +She did care deeply and sincerely for Henri Benjamin Constant, the +brilliant politician and novelist. He was one of her coterie in +Paris, and their common political sentiments formed a bond of +friendship between them. Constant was banished by Napoleon in +1802, and when Mme. de Stael followed him into exile a year later +he joined her in Germany. + +The story of their relations was told by Constant in Adolphe, +while Mme. de Stael based Delphine on her experiences with him. It +seems that he was puzzled by her ardor; she was infatuated by his +genius. Together they went through all the phases of the tender +passion; and yet, at intervals, they would tire of each other and +separate for a while, and she would amuse herself with other men. +At last she really believed that her love for him was entirely +worn out. + +"I always loved my lovers more than they loved me," she said once, +and it was true. + +Yet, on the other hand, she was frankly false to all of them, and +hence arose these intervals. In one of them she fell in with a +young Italian named Rocca, and by way of a change she not only +amused herself with him, but even married him. At this time--1811 +--she was forty-five, while Rocca was only twenty-three--a young +soldier who had fought in Spain, and who made eager love to the +she-philosopher when he was invalided at Geneva. + +The marriage was made on terms imposed by the middle-aged woman +who became his bride. In the first place, it was to be kept +secret; and second, she would not take her husband's name, but he +must pass himself off as her lover, even though she bore him +children. The reason she gave for this extraordinary exhibition of +her vanity was that a change of name on her part would put +everybody out. + +"In fact," she said, "if Mme. de Stael were to change her name, it +would unsettle the heads of all Europe!" + +And so she married Rocca, who was faithful to her to the end, +though she grew extremely plain and querulous, while he became +deaf and soon lost his former charm. Her life was the life of a +woman who had, in her own phrase, "attempted everything"; and yet +she had accomplished nothing that would last. She was loved by a +man of genius, but he did not love her to the end. She was loved +by a man of action, and she tired of him very soon. She had a +wonderful reputation for her knowledge of history and philosophy, +and yet what she knew of those subjects is now seen to be merely +the scraps and borrowings of others. + +Something she did when she introduced the romantic literature into +France; and there are passages from her writings which seem worthy +of preservation. For instance, we may quote her outburst with +regard to unhappy marriages. "It was the subject," says Mr. +Gribble, "on which she had begun to think before she was married, +and which continued to haunt her long after she was left a widow; +though one suspects that the word 'marriage' became a form of +speech employed to describe her relations, not with her husband, +but with her lovers." The passage to which I refer is as follows: + +In an unhappy marriage, there is a violence of distress surpassing +all other sufferings in the world. A woman's whole soul depends +upon the conjugal tie. To struggle against fate alone, to journey +to the grave without a friend to support you or to regret you, is +an isolation of which the deserts of Arabia give but a faint and +feeble idea. When all the treasure of your youth has been given in +vain, when you can no longer hope that the reflection of these +first rays will shine upon the end of your life, when there is +nothing in the dusk to remind you of the dawn, and when the +twilight is pale and colorless as a livid specter that precedes +the night, your heart revolts, and you feel that you have been +robbed of the gifts of God upon earth. + +Equally striking is another prose passage of hers, which seems +less the careful thought of a philosopher than the screeching of a +termagant. It is odd that the first two sentences recall two +famous lines of Byron: + + Man's love is of man's life a thing apart; + 'Tis woman's whole existence. + +The passage by Mme. de Stael is longer and less piquant: + +Love is woman's whole existence. It is only an episode in the +lives of men. Reputation, honor, esteem, everything depends upon +how a woman conducts herself in this regard; whereas, according to +the rules of an unjust world, the laws of morality itself are +suspended in men's relations with women. They may pass as good +men, though they have caused women the most terrible suffering +which it is in the power of one human being to inflict upon +another. They may be regarded as loyal, though they have betrayed +them. They may have received from a woman marks of a devotion +which would so link two friends, two fellow soldiers, that either +would feel dishonored if he forgot them, and they may consider +themselves free of all obligations by attributing the services to +love--as if this additional gift of love detracted from the value +of the rest! + +One cannot help noticing how lacking in neatness of expression is +this woman who wrote so much. It is because she wrote so much that +she wrote in such a muffled manner. It is because she thought so +much that her reflections were either not her own, or were never +clear. It is because she loved so much, and had so many lovers-- +Benjamin Constant; Vincenzo Monti, the Italian poet; M. de +Narbonne, and others, as well as young Rocca--that she found both +love and lovers tedious. + +She talked so much that her conversation was almost always mere +personal opinion. Thus she told Goethe that he never was really +brilliant until after he had got through a bottle of champagne. +Schiller said that to talk with her was to have a "rough time," +and that after she left him, he always felt like a man who was +just getting over a serious illness. She never had time to do +anything very well. + +There is an interesting glimpse of her in the recollections of Dr. +Bollmann, at the period when Mme. de Stael was in her prime. The +worthy doctor set her down as a genius--an extraordinary, +eccentric woman in all that she did. She slept but a few hours out +of the twenty-four, and was uninterruptedly and fearfully busy all +the rest of the time. While her hair was being dressed, and even +while she breakfasted, she used to keep on writing, nor did she +ever rest sufficiently to examine what she had written. + +Such then was Mme. de Stael, a type of the time in which she +lived, so far as concerns her worship of sensibility--of +sensibility, and not of love; for love is too great to be so +scattered and made a thing to prattle of, to cheapen, and thus +destroy. So we find at the last that Germaine de Stael, though she +was much read and much feted and much followed, came finally to +that last halting-place where confessedly she was merely an old +woman, eccentric, and unattractive. She sued her former lovers for +the money she had lent them, she scolded and found fault--as +perhaps befits her age. + +But such is the natural end of sensibility, and of the woman who +typifies it for succeeding generations. + + + + + +THE STORY OF KARL MARX + + +Some time ago I entered a fairly large library--one of more than +two hundred thousand volumes--to seek the little brochure on Karl +Marx written by his old friend and genial comrade Wilhelm +Liebknecht. It was in the card catalogue. As I made a note of its +number, my friend the librarian came up to me, and I asked him +whether it was not strange that a man like Marx should have so +many books devoted to him, for I had roughly reckoned the number +at several hundred. + +"Not at all," said he; "and we have here only a feeble nucleus of +the Marx literature--just enough, in fact, to give you a glimpse +of what that literature really is. These are merely the books +written by Marx himself, and the translations of them, with a few +expository monographs. Anything like a real Marx collection would +take up a special room in this library, and would have to have its +own separate catalogue. You see that even these two or three +hundred books contain large volumes of small pamphlets in many +languages--German, English, French, Italian, Russian, Polish, +Yiddish, Swedish, Hungarian, Spanish; and here," he concluded, +pointing to a recently numbered card, "is one in Japanese." + +My curiosity was sufficiently excited to look into the matter +somewhat further. I visited another library, which was appreciably +larger, and whose managers were evidently less guided by their +prejudices. Here were several thousand books on Marx, and I spent +the best part of the day in looking them over. + +What struck me as most singular was the fact that there was +scarcely a volume about Marx himself. Practically all the books +dealt with his theory of capital and his other socialistic views. +The man himself, his personality, and the facts of his life were +dismissed in the most meager fashion, while his economic theories +were discussed with something that verged upon fury. Even such +standard works as those of Mehring and Spargo, which profess to be +partly biographical, sum up the personal side of Marx in a few +pages. In fact, in the latter's preface he seems conscious of this +defect, and says: + +Whether socialism proves, in the long span of centuries, to be +good or evil, a blessing to men or a curse, Karl Marx must always +be an object of interest as one of the great world-figures of +immortal memory. As the years go by, thoughtful men and women will +find the same interest in studying the life and work of Marx that +they do in studying the life and work of Cromwell, of Wesley, or +of Darwin, to name three immortal world-figures of vastly +divergent types. + +Singularly little is known of Karl Marx, even by his most ardent +followers. They know his work, having studied his Das Kapital with +the devotion and earnestness with which an older generation of +Christians studied the Bible, but they are very generally +unacquainted with the man himself. Although more than twenty-six +years have elapsed since the death of Marx, there is no adequate +biography of him in any language. + +Doubtless some better-equipped German writer, such as Franz +Mehring or Eduard Bernstein, will some day give us the adequate +and full biography for which the world now waits. + +Here is an admission that there exists no adequate biography of +Karl Marx, and here is also an intimation that simply as a man, +and not merely as a great firebrand of socialism, Marx is well +worth studying. And so it has occurred to me to give in these +pages one episode of his career that seems to me quite curious, +together with some significant touches concerning the man as apart +from the socialist. Let the thousands of volumes already in +existence suffice for the latter. The motto of this paper is not +the Vergilian "Arms and the man I sing," but simply "The man I +sing"--and the woman. Karl Marx was born nearly ninety-four years +ago--May 5, 1818--in the city which the French call Treves and the +Germans Trier, among the vine-clad hills of the Moselle. Today, +the town is commonplace enough when you pass through it, but when +you look into its history, and seek out that history's evidences, +you will find that it was not always a rather sleepy little place. +It was one of the chosen abodes of the Emperors of the West, after +Rome began to be governed by Gauls and Spaniards, rather than by +Romans and Italians. The traveler often pauses there to see the +Porta Nigra, that immense gate once strongly fortified, and he +will doubtless visit also what is left of the fine baths and +amphitheater. + +Treves, therefore, has a right to be termed imperial, and it was +the birthplace of one whose sway over the minds of men has been +both imperial and imperious. + +Karl Marx was one of those whose intellectual achievements were so +great as to dwarf his individuality and his private life. What he +taught with almost terrific vigor made his very presence in the +Continental monarchies a source of eminent danger. He was driven +from country to country. Kings and emperors were leagued together +against him. Soldiers were called forth, and blood was shed +because of him. But, little by little, his teaching seems to have +leavened the thought of the whole civilized world, so that to-day +thousands who barely know his name are deeply affected by his +ideas, and believe that the state should control and manage +everything for the good of all. + +Marx seems to have inherited little from either of his parents. +His father, Heinrich Marx, was a provincial Jewish lawyer who had +adopted Christianity, probably because it was expedient, and +because it enabled him to hold local offices and gain some social +consequence. He had changed his name from Mordecai to Marx. + +The elder Marx was very shrewd and tactful, and achieved a fair +position among the professional men and small officials in the +city of Treves. He had seen the horrors of the French Revolution, +and was philosopher enough to understand the meaning of that +mighty upheaval, and of the Napoleonic era which followed. + +Napoleon, indeed, had done much to relieve his race from petty +oppression. France made the Jews in every respect the equals of +the Gentiles. One of its ablest marshals--Massena--was a Jew, and +therefore, when the imperial eagle was at the zenith of its +flight, the Jews in every city and town of Europe were +enthusiastic admirers of Napoleon, some even calling him the +Messiah. + +Karl Marx's mother, it is certain, endowed him with none of his +gifts. She was a Netherlandish Jewess of the strictly domestic and +conservative type, fond of her children and her home, and +detesting any talk that looked to revolutionary ideas or to a +change in the social order. She became a Christian with her +husband, but the word meant little to her. It was sufficient that +she believed in God; and for this she was teased by some of her +skeptical friends. Replying to them, she uttered the only epigram +that has ever been ascribed to her. + +"Yes," she said, "I believe in God, not for God's sake, but for my +own." + +She was so little affected by change of scene that to the day of +her death she never mastered German, but spoke almost wholly in +her native Dutch. Had we time, we might dwell upon the unhappy +paradox of her life. In her son Karl she found an especial joy, as +did her husband. Had the father lived beyond Karl's early youth, +he would doubtless have been greatly pained by the radicalism of +his gifted son, as well as by his personal privations. But the +mother lived until 1863, while Karl was everywhere stirring the +fires of revolution, driven from land to land, both feared and +persecuted, and often half famished. As Mr. Spargo says: + +It was the irony of life that the son, who kindled a mighty hope +in the hearts of unnumbered thousands of his fellow human beings, +a hope that is today inspiring millions of those who speak his +name with reverence and love, should be able to do that only by +destroying his mother's hope and happiness in her son, and that +every step he took should fill her heart with a great agony. + +When young Marx grew out of boyhood into youth, he was attractive +to all those who met him. Tall, lithe, and graceful, he was so +extremely dark that his intimates called him "der neger"--"the +negro." His loosely tossing hair gave to him a still more exotic +appearance; but his eyes were true and frank, his nose denoted +strength and character, and his mouth was full of kindliness in +its expression. His lineaments were not those of the Jewish type. + +Very late in life--he died in 1883--his hair and beard turned +white, but to the last his great mustache was drawn like a bar +across his face, remaining still as black as ink, and making his +appearance very striking. He was full of fun and gaiety. As was +only natural, there soon came into his life some one who learned +to love him, and to whom, in his turn, he gave a deep and unbroken +affection. + +There had come to Treves--which passed from France to Prussia with +the downfall of Napoleon--a Prussian nobleman, the Baron Ludwig +von Westphalen, holding the official title of "national adviser." +The baron was of Scottish extraction on his mother's side, being +connected with the ducal family of Argyll. He was a man of genuine +rank, and might have shown all the arrogance and superciliousness +of the average Prussian official; but when he became associated +with Heinrich Marx he evinced none of that condescending manner. +The two men became firm friends, and the baron treated the +provincial lawyer as an equal. + +The two families were on friendly terms. Von Westphalen's infant +daughter, who had the formidable name of Johanna Bertha Julie +Jenny von Westphalen, but who was usually spoken of as Jenny, +became, in time, an intimate of Sophie Marx. She was four years +older than Karl, but the two grew up together--he a high-spirited, +manly boy, and she a lovely and romantic girl. + +The baron treated Karl as if the lad were a child of his own. He +influenced him to love romantic literature and poetry by +interpreting to him the great masterpieces, from Homer and +Shakespeare to Goethe and Lessing. He made a special study of +Dante, whose mysticism appealed to his somewhat dreamy nature, and +to the religious instinct that always lived in him, in spite of +his dislike for creeds and churches. + +The lore that he imbibed in early childhood stood Karl in good +stead when he began his school life, and his preparation for the +university. He had an absolute genius for study, and was no less +fond of the sports and games of his companions, so that he seemed +to be marked out for success. At sixteen years of age he showed a +precocious ability for planning and carrying out his work with +thoroughness. His mind was evidently a creative mind, one that was +able to think out difficult problems without fatigue. His taste +was shown in his fondness for the classics, in studying which he +noted subtle distinctions of meaning that usually escape even the +mature scholar. Penetration, thoroughness, creativeness, and a +capacity for labor were the boy's chief characteristics. + +With such gifts, and such a nature, he left home for the +university of Bonn. Here he disappointed all his friends. His +studies were neglected; he was morose, restless, and dissatisfied. +He fell into a number of scrapes, and ran into debt through sundry +small extravagances. All the reports that reached his home were +most unsatisfactory. What had come over the boy who had worked so +hard in the gymnasium at Treves? + +The simple fact was that he had became love-sick. His separation +from Jenny von Westphalen had made him conscious of a feeling +which he had long entertained without knowing it. They had been +close companions. He had looked into her beautiful face and seen +the luminous response of her lovely eyes, but its meaning had not +flashed upon his mind. He was not old enough to have a great +consuming passion, he was merely conscious of her charm. As he +could see her every day, he did not realize how much he wanted +her, and how much a separation from her would mean. + +As "absence makes the heart grow fonder," so it may suddenly draw +aside the veil behind which the truth is hidden. At Bonn young +Marx felt as if a blaze of light had flashed before him; and from +that moment his studies, his companions, and the ambitions that he +had hitherto cherished all seemed flat and stale. At night and in +the daytime there was just one thing which filled his mind and +heart--the beautiful vision of Jenny von Westphalen. + +Meanwhile his family, and especially his father, had become +anxious at the reports which reached them. Karl was sent for, and +his stay at Bonn was ended. + +Now that he was once more in the presence of the girl who charmed +him so, he recovered all his old-time spirits. He wooed her +ardently, and though she was more coy, now that she saw his +passion, she did not discourage him, but merely prolonged the +ecstasy of this wonderful love-making. As he pressed her more and +more, and no one guessed the story, there came a time when she was +urged to let herself become engaged to him. + +Here was seen the difference in their ages--a difference that had +an effect upon their future. It means much that a girl should be +four years older than the man who seeks her hand. She is four +years wiser; and a girl of twenty is, in fact, a match for a youth +of twenty-five. Brought up as she had been, in an aristocratic +home, with the blood of two noble families in her veins, and being +wont to hear the easy and somewhat cynical talk of worldly people, +she knew better than poor Karl the un-wisdom of what she was about +to do. + +She was noble, the daughter of one high official and the sister of +another. Those whom she knew were persons of rank and station. On +the other hand, young Marx, though he had accepted Christianity, +was the son of a provincial Jewish lawyer, with no fortune, and +with a bad record at the university. When she thought of all these +things, she may well have hesitated; but the earnest pleading and +intense ardor of Karl Marx broke down all barriers between them, +and they became engaged, without informing Jenny's father of their +compact. Then they parted for a while, and Karl returned to his +home, filled with romantic thoughts. + +He was also full of ambition and of desire for achievement. He had +won the loveliest girl in Treves, and now he must go forth into +the world and conquer it for her sake. He begged his father to +send him to Berlin, and showed how much more advantageous was that +new and splendid university, where Hegel's fame was still in the +ascendent. + +In answer to his father's questions, the younger Marx replied: + +"I have something to tell you that will explain all; but first you +must give me your word that you will tell no one." + +"I trust you wholly," said the father. "I will not reveal what you +may say to me." + +"Well," returned the son, "I am engaged to marry Jenny von +Westphalen. She wishes it kept a secret from her father, but I am +at liberty to tell you of it." + +The elder Marx was at once shocked and seriously disturbed. Baron +von Westphalen was his old and intimate friend. No thought of +romance between their children had ever come into his mind. It +seemed disloyal to keep the verlobung of Karl and Jenny a secret; +for should it be revealed, what would the baron think of Marx? +Their disparity of rank and fortune would make the whole affair +stand out as something wrong and underhand. + +The father endeavored to make his son see all this. He begged him +to go and tell the baron, but young Marx was not to be persuaded. + +"Send me to Berlin," he said, "and we shall again be separated; +but I shall work and make a name for myself, so that when I return +neither Jenny nor her father will have occasion to be disturbed by +our engagement." + +With these words he half satisfied his father, and before long he +was sent to Berlin, where he fell manfully upon his studies. His +father had insisted that he should study law; but his own tastes +were for philosophy and history. He attended lectures in +jurisprudence "as a necessary evil," but he read omnivorously in +subjects that were nearer to his heart. The result was that his +official record was not much better than it had been at Bonn. + +The same sort of restlessness, too, took possession of him when he +found that Jenny would not answer his letters. No matter how +eagerly and tenderly he wrote to her, there came no reply. Even +the most passionate pleadings left her silent and unresponsive. +Karl could not complain, for she had warned him that she would not +write to him. She felt that their engagement, being secret, was +anomalous, and that until her family knew of it she was not free +to act as she might wish. + +Here again was seen the wisdom of her maturer years; but Karl +could not be equally reasonable. He showered her with letters, +which still she would not answer. He wrote to his father in words +of fire. At last, driven to despair, he said that he was going to +write to the Baron von Westphalen, reveal the secret, and ask for +the baron's fatherly consent. + +It seemed a reckless thing to do, and yet it turned out to be the +wisest. The baron knew that such an engagement meant a social +sacrifice, and that, apart from the matter of rank, young Marx was +without any fortune to give the girl the luxuries to which she had +been accustomed. Other and more eligible suitors were always +within view. But here Jenny herself spoke out more strongly than +she had ever done to Karl. She was willing to accept him with what +he was able to give her. She cared nothing for any other man, and +she begged her father to make both of them completely happy. + +Thus it seemed that all was well, yet for some reason or other +Jenny would not write to Karl, and once more he was almost driven +to distraction. He wrote bitter letters to his father, who tried +to comfort him. The baron himself sent messages of friendly +advice, but what young man in his teens was ever reasonable? So +violent was Karl that at last his father wrote to him: + +I am disgusted with your letters. Their unreasonable tone is +loathsome to me. I should never had expected it of you. Haven't +you been lucky from your cradle up? + +Finally Karl received one letter from his betrothed--a letter that +transfused him with ecstatic joy for about a day, and then sent +him back to his old unrest. This, however, may be taken as a part +of Marx's curious nature, which was never satisfied, but was +always reaching after something which could not be had. + +He fell to writing poetry, of which he sent three volumes to +Jenny--which must have been rather trying to her, since the verse +was very poor. He studied the higher mathematics, English and +Italian, some Latin, and a miscellaneous collection of works on +history and literature. But poetry almost turned his mind. In +later years he wrote: + +Everything was centered on poetry, as if I were bewitched by some +uncanny power. + +Luckily, he was wise enough, after a time, to recognize how +halting were his poems when compared with those of the great +masters; and so he resumed his restless, desultory work. He still +sent his father letters that were like wild cries. They evoked, in +reply, a very natural burst of anger: + +Complete disorder, silly wandering through all branches of +science, silly brooding at the burning oil-lamp! In your wildness +you see with four eyes--a horrible setback and disregard for +everything decent. And in the pursuit of this senseless and +purposeless learning you think to raise the fruits which are to +unite you with your beloved one! What harvest do you expect to +gather from them which will enable you to fulfil your duty toward +her? + +Writing to him again, his father speaks of something that Karl had +written as "a mad composition, which denotes clearly how you waste +your ability and spend nights in order to create such +monstrosities." The young man was even forbidden to return home +for the Easter holidays. This meant giving up the sight of Jenny, +whom he had not seen for a whole year. But fortune arranged it +otherwise; for not many weeks later death removed the parent who +had loved him and whom he had loved, though neither of them could +understand the other. The father represented the old order of +things; the son was born to discontent and to look forward to a +new heaven and a new earth. + +Returning to Berlin, Karl resumed his studies; but as before, they +were very desultory in their character, and began to run upon +social questions, which were indeed setting Germany into a +ferment. He took his degree, and thought of becoming an instructor +at the university of Jena; but his radicalism prevented this, and +he became the editor of a liberal newspaper, which soon, however, +became so very radical as to lead to his withdrawal. + +It now seemed best that Marx should seek other fields of activity. +To remain in Germany was dangerous to himself and discreditable to +Jenny's relatives, with their status as Prussian officials. In the +summer of 1843, he went forth into the world--at last an +"international." Jenny, who had grown to believe in him as against +her own family, asked for nothing better than to wander with him, +if only they might be married. And they were married in this same +summer, and spent a short honeymoon at Bingen on the Rhine--made +famous by Mrs. Norton's poem. It was the brief glimpse of sunshine +that was to precede year after year of anxiety and want. + +Leaving Germany, Marx and Jenny went to Paris, where he became +known to some of the intellectual lights of the French capital, +such as Bakunin, the great Russian anarchist, Proudhon, Cabet, and +Saint-Simon. Most important of all was his intimacy with the poet +Heine, that marvelous creature whose fascination took on a +thousand forms, and whom no one could approach without feeling his +strange allurement. + +Since Goethe's death, down to the present time, there has been no +figure in German literature comparable to Heine. His prose was +exquisite. His poetry ran through the whole gamut of humanity and +of the sensations that come to us from the outer world. In his +poems are sweet melodies and passionate cries of revolt, stirring +ballads of the sea and tender love-songs--strange as these last +seem when coming from this cynic. + +For cynic he was, deep down in his heart, though his face, when in +repose, was like the conventional pictures of Christ. His +fascinations destroyed the peace of many a woman; and it was only +after many years of self-indulgence that he married the faithful +Mathilde Mirat in what he termed a "conscience marriage." Soon +after he went to his "mattress-grave," as he called it, a hopeless +paralytic. + +To Heine came Marx and his beautiful bride. One may speculate as +to Jenny's estimate of her husband. Since his boyhood, she had not +seen him very much. At that time he was a merry, light-hearted +youth, a jovial comrade, and one of whom any girl would be proud. +But since his long stay in Berlin, and his absorption in the +theories of men like Engels and Bauer, he had become a very +different sort of man, at least to her. + +Groping, lost in brown studies, dreamy, at times morose, he was by +no means a sympathetic and congenial husband for a high-bred, +spirited girl, such as Jenny von Westphalen. His natural drift was +toward a beer-garden, a group of frowsy followers, the reek of +vile tobacco, and the smell of sour beer. One cannot but think +that his beautiful wife must have been repelled by this, though +with her constant nature she still loved him. + +In Heinrich Heine she found a spirit that seemed akin to hers. Mr. +Spargo says--and in what he says one must read a great deal +between the lines: + +The admiration of Jenny Marx for the poet was even more ardent +than that of her husband. He fascinated her because, as she said, +he was "so modern," while Heine was drawn to her because she was +"so sympathetic." + +It must be that Heine held the heart of this beautiful woman in +his hand. He knew so well the art of fascination; he knew just how +to supply the void which Marx had left. The two were indeed +affinities in heart and soul; yet for once the cynical poet stayed +his hand, and said no word that would have been disloyal to his +friend. Jenny loved him with a love that might have blazed into a +lasting flame; but fortunately there appeared a special providence +to save her from herself. The French government, at the request of +the King of Prussia, banished Marx from its dominions; and from +that day until he had become an old man he was a wanderer and an +exile, with few friends and little money, sustained by nothing but +Jenny's fidelity and by his infinite faith in a cause that crushed +him to the earth. + +There is a curious parallel between the life of Marx and that of +Richard Wagner down to the time when the latter discovered a royal +patron. Both of them were hounded from country to country; both of +them worked laboriously for so scanty a living as to verge, at +times, upon starvation. Both of them were victims to a cause in +which they earnestly believed--an economic cause in the one case, +an artistic cause in the other. Wagner's triumph came before his +death, and the world has accepted his theory of the music-drama. +The cause of Marx is far greater and more tremendous, because it +strikes at the base of human life and social well-being. + +The clash between Wagner and his critics was a matter of poetry +and dramatic music. It was not vital to the human race. The cause +of Marx is one that is only now beginning to be understood and +recognized by millions of men and women in all the countries of +the earth. In his lifetime he issued a manifesto that has become a +classic among economists. He organized the great International +Association of Workmen, which set all Europe in a blaze and +extended even to America. His great book, "Capital"--Das Kapital-- +which was not completed until the last years of his life, is read +to-day by thousands as an almost sacred work. + +Like Wagner and his Minna, the wife of Marx's youth clung to him +through his utmost vicissitudes, denying herself the necessities +of life so that he might not starve. In London, where he spent his +latest days, he was secure from danger, yet still a sort of +persecution seemed to follow him. For some time, nothing that he +wrote could find a printer. Wherever he went, people looked at him +askance. He and his six children lived upon the sum of five +dollars a week, which was paid him by the New York Tribune, +through the influence of the late Charles A. Dana. When his last +child was born, and the mother's life was in serious danger, Marx +complained that there was no cradle for the baby, and a little +later that there was no coffin for its burial. + +Marx had ceased to believe in marriage, despised the church, and +cared nothing for government. Yet, unlike Wagner, he was true to +the woman who had given up so much for him. He never sank to an +artistic degeneracy. Though he rejected creeds, he was +nevertheless a man of genuine religious feeling. Though he +believed all present government to be an evil, he hoped to make it +better, or rather he hoped to substitute for it a system by which +all men might get an equal share of what it is right and just for +them to have. + +Such was Marx, and thus he lived and died. His wife, who had long +been cut off from her relatives, died about a year before him. +When she was buried, he stumbled and fell into her grave, and from +that time until his own death he had no further interest in life. + +He had been faithful to a woman and to a cause. That cause was so +tremendous as to overwhelm him. In sixty years only the first +great stirrings of it could be felt. Its teachings may end in +nothing, but only a century or more of effort and of earnest +striving can make it plain whether Karl Marx was a world-mover or +a martyr to a cause that was destined to be lost. + + + + + +FERDINAND LASSALLE AND HELENE VON DONNIGES + + +The middle part of the nineteenth century is a period which has +become more or less obscure to most Americans and Englishmen. At +one end the thunderous campaigns of Napoleon are dying away. In +the latter part of the century we remember the gorgeousness of the +Tuileries, the four years' strife of our own Civil War, and then +the golden drift of peace with which the century ended. Between +these two extremes there is a stretch of history which seems to +lack interest for the average student of to-day. + +In America, that was a period when we took little interest in the +movement of affairs on the continent of Europe. It would not be +easy, for instance, to imagine an American of 1840 cogitating on +problems of socialism, or trying to invent some new form of +arbeiterverein. General Choke was still swindling English +emigrants. The Young Columbian was still darting out from behind a +table to declare how thoroughly he defied the British lion. But +neither of these patriots, any more than their English compeers, +was seriously disturbed about the interests of the rest of the +world. The Englishman was contentedly singing "God Save the +Queen!" The American, was apostrophizing the bird of freedom with +the floridity of rhetoric that reached its climax in the "Pogram +Defiance." What the Dutchies and Frenchies were doing was little +more to an Englishman than to an American. + +Continental Europe was a mystery to English-speaking people. Those +who traveled abroad took their own servants with them, spoke only +English, and went through the whole European maze with absolute +indifference. To them the socialist, who had scarcely received a +name, was an imaginary being. If he existed, he was only a sort of +offspring of the Napoleonic wars--a creature who had not yet +fitted into the ordinary course of things. He was an anomaly, a +person who howled in beer-houses, and who would presently be +regulated, either by the statesmen or by the police. + +When our old friend, Mark Tapley, was making with his master a +homeward voyage to Britain, what did he know or even care about +the politics of France, or Germany, or Austria, or Russia? Not the +slightest, you may he sure. Mark and his master represented the +complete indifference of the Englishman or American--not +necessarily a well-bred indifference, but an indifference that was +insular on the one hand and republican on the other. If either of +them had heard of a gentleman who pillaged an unmarried lady's +luggage in order to secure a valuable paper for another lady, who +was married, they would both have looked severely at this abnormal +person, and the American would doubtless have added a remark which +had something to do with the matchless purity of Columbia's +daughters. + +If, again, they had been told that Ferdinand Lassalle had joined +in the great movement initiated by Karl Marx, it is absolutely +certain that neither the Englishman nor the American could have +given you the slightest notion as to who these individuals were. +Thrones might be tottering all over Europe; the red flag might +wave in a score of cities--what would all this signify, so long as +Britannia ruled the waves, while Columbia's feathered emblem +shrieked defiance three thousand miles away? + +And yet few more momentous events have happened in a century than +the union which led one man to give his eloquence to the social +cause, and the other to suffer for that cause until his death. +Marx had the higher thought, but his disciple Lassalle had the +more attractive way of presenting it. It is odd that Marx, today, +should lie in a squalid cemetery, while the whole western world +echoes with his praises, and that Lassalle--brilliant, clear- +sighted, and remarkable for his penetrating genius--should have +lived in luxury, but should now know nothing but oblivion, even +among those who shouted at his eloquence and ran beside him in the +glory of his triumph. + +Ferdinand Lassalle was a native of Breslau, the son of a wealthy +Jewish silk-merchant. Heymann Lassal--for thus the father spelled +his name--stroked his hands at young Ferdinand's cleverness, but +he meant it to be a commercial cleverness. He gave the boy a +thorough education at the University of Breslau, and later at +Berlin. He was an affectionate parent, and at the same time +tyrannical to a degree. + +It was the old story where the father wishes to direct every step +that his son takes, and where the son, bursting out into youthful +manhood, feels that he has the right to freedom. The father thinks +how he has toiled for the son; the son thinks that if this toil +were given for love, it should not be turned into a fetter and +restraint. Young Lassalle, instead of becoming a clever silk- +merchant, insisted on a university career, where he studied +earnestly, and was admitted to the most cultured circles. + +Though his birth was Jewish, he encountered little prejudice +against his race. Napoleon had changed the old anti-Semitic +feeling of fifty years before to a liberalism that was just +beginning to be strongly felt in Germany, as it had already been +in France. This was true in general, but especially true of +Lassalle, whose features were not of a Semitic type, who made +friends with every one, and who was a favorite in many salons. His +portraits make him seem a high-bred and high-spirited Prussian, +with an intellectual and clean-cut forehead; a face that has a +sense of humor, and yet one capable of swift and cogent thought. + +No man of ordinary talents could have won the admiration of so +many compeers. It is not likely that such a keen and cynical +observer as Heinrich Heine would have written as he did concerning +Lassalle, had not the latter been a brilliant and magnetic youth. +Heine wrote to Varnhagen von Ense, the German historian: + +My friend, Herr Lassalle, who brings you this letter, is a young +man of remarkable intellectual gifts. With the most thorough +erudition, with the widest learning, with the greatest penetration +that I have ever known, and with the richest gift of exposition, +he combines an energy of will and a capacity for action which +astonish me. In no one have I found united so much enthusiasm and +practical intelligence. + +No better proof of Lassalle's enthusiasm can be found than a few +lines from his own writings: + +I love Heine. He is my second self. What audacity! What +overpowering eloquence! He knows how to whisper like a zephyr when +it kisses rose-blooms, how to breathe like fire when it rages and +destroys; he calls forth all that is tenderest and softest, and +then all that is fiercest and most daring. He has the sweep of the +whole lyre! + +Lassalle's sympathy with Heine was like his sympathy with every +one whom he knew. This was often misunderstood. It was +misunderstood in his relations with women, and especially in the +celebrated affair of the Countess von Hatzfeldt, which began in +the year 1846--that is to say, in the twenty-first year of +Lassalle's age. + +In truth, there was no real scandal in the matter, for the +countess was twice the age of Lassalle. It was precisely because +he was so young that he let his eagerness to defend a woman in +distress make him forget the ordinary usage of society, and expose +himself to mean and unworthy criticism which lasted all his life. +It began by his introduction to the Countess von Hatzfeldt, a lady +who was grossly ill-treated by her husband. She had suffered +insult and imprisonment in the family castles; the count had +deprived her of medicine when she was ill, and had forcibly taken +away her children. Besides this, he was infatuated with another +woman, a baroness, and wasted his substance upon her even contrary +to the law which protected his children's rights. + +The countess had a son named Paul, of whom Lassalle was extremely +fond. There came to the boy a letter from the Count von Hatzfeldt +ordering him to leave his mother. The countess at once sent for +Lassalle, who brought with him two wealthy and influential +friends--one of them a judge of a high Prussian court--and +together they read the letter which Paul had just received. They +were deeply moved by the despair of the countess, and by the +cruelty of her dissolute husband in seeking to separate the mother +from her son. + +In his chivalrous ardor Lassalle swore to help the countess, and +promised that he would carry on the struggle with her husband to +the bitter end. He took his two friends with him to Berlin, and +then to Dusseldorf, for they discovered that the Count von +Hatzfeldt was not far away. He was, in fact, at Aix-la-Chapelle +with the baroness. + +Lassalle, who had the scent of a greyhound, pried about until he +discovered that the count had given his mistress a legal document, +assigning to her a valuable piece of property which, in the +ordinary course of law, should be entailed on the boy, Paul. The +countess at once hastened to the place, broke into her husband's +room, and secured a promise that the deed would be destroyed. + +No sooner, however, had she left him than he returned to the +baroness, and presently it was learned that the woman had set out +for Cologne. + +Lassalle and his two friends followed, to ascertain whether the +document had really been destroyed. The three reached a hotel at +Cologne, where the baroness had just arrived. Her luggage, in +fact, was being carried upstairs. One of Lassalle's friends opened +a trunk, and, finding a casket there, slipped it out to his +companion, the judge. + +Unfortunately, the latter had no means of hiding it, and when the +baroness's servant shouted for help, the casket was found in the +possession of the judge, who could give no plausible account of +it. He was, therefore, arrested, as were the other two. There was +no evidence against Lassalle; but his friends fared badly at the +trial, one of them being imprisoned for a year and the other for +five years. + +From this time Lassalle, with an almost quixotic devotion, gave +himself up to fighting the Countess von Hatzfeldt's battle against +her husband in the law-courts. The ablest advocates were pitted +against him. The most eloquent legal orators thundered at him and +at his client, but he met them all with a skill, an audacity, and +a brilliant wit that won for him verdict after verdict. The case +went from the lower to the higher tribunals, until, after nine +years, it reached the last court of appeal, where Lassalle wrested +from his opponents a magnificently conclusive victory--one that +made the children of the countess absolutely safe. It was a battle +fought with the determination of a soldier, with the gallantry of +a knight errant, and the intellectual acumen of a learned lawyer. + +It is not surprising that many refuse to believe that Lassalle's +feeling toward the Countess von Hatzfeldt was a disinterested one. +A scandalous pamphlet, which was published in French, German, and +Russian, and written by one who styled herself "Sophie Solutzeff," +did much to spread the evil report concerning Lassalle. But the +very openness and frankness of the service which he did for the +countess ought to make it clear that his was the devotion of a +youth drawn by an impulse into a strife where there was nothing +for him to gain, but everything to lose. He denounced the +brutality of her husband, but her letters to him always addressed +him as "my dear child." In writing to her he confides small love- +secrets and ephemeral flirtations--which he would scarcely have +done, had the countess viewed him with the eye of passion. + +Lassalle was undoubtedly a man of impressionable heart, and had +many affairs such as Heine had; but they were not deep or lasting. +That he should have made a favorable impression on the women whom +he met is not surprising, because of his social standing, his +chivalry, his fine manners, and his handsome face. Mr. Clement +Shorter has quoted an official document which describes him as he +was in his earlier years: + +Ferdinand Lassalle, aged twenty-three, a civilian born at Breslau +and dwelling recently at Berlin. He stands five feet six inches in +height, has brown, curly hair, open forehead, brown eyebrows, dark +blue eyes, well proportioned nose and mouth, and rounded chin. + +We ought not to be surprised, then, if he was a favorite in +drawing-rooms; if both men and women admired him; if Alexander von +Humboldt cried out with enthusiasm that he was a wunderkind, and +if there were more than Sophie Solutzeff to be jealous. But the +rather ungrateful remark of the Countess von Hatzfeldt certainly +does not represent him as he really was. + +"You are without reason and judgment where women are concerned," +she snarled at him; but the sneer only shows that the woman who +uttered it was neither in love with him nor grateful to him. + +In this paper we are not discussing Lassalle as a public agitator +or as a Socialist, but simply in his relations with the two women +who most seriously affected his life. The first was the Countess +von Hatzfeldt, who, as we have seen, occupied--or rather wasted-- +nine of the best years of his life. Then came that profound and +thrilling passion which ended the career of a man who at thirty- +nine had only just begun to be famous. + +Lassalle had joined his intellectual forces with those of Heine +and Marx. He had obtained so great an influence over the masses of +the people as to alarm many a monarch, and at the same time to +attract many a statesman. Prince Bismarck, for example, cared +nothing for Lassalle's championship of popular rights, but sought +his aid on finding that he was an earnest advocate of German +unity. + +Furthermore, he was very far from resembling what in those early +days was regarded as the typical picture of a Socialist. There was +nothing frowzy about him; in his appearance he was elegance +itself; his manners were those of a prince, and his clothing was +of the best. Seeing him in a drawing-room, no one would mistake +him for anything but a gentleman and a man of parts. Hence it is +not surprising that his second love was one of the nobility, +although her own people hated Lassalle as a bearer of the red +flag. + +This girl was Helene von Donniges, the daughter of a Bavarian +diplomat. As a child she had traveled much, especially in Italy +and in Switzerland. She was very precocious, and lived her own +life without asking the direction of any one. At twelve years of +age she had been betrothed to an Italian of forty; but this dark +and pedantic person always displeased her, and soon afterward, +when she met a young Wallachian nobleman, one Yanko Racowitza, she +was ready at once to dismiss her Italian lover. Racowitza--young, +a student, far from home, and lacking friends--appealed at once to +the girl's sympathy. + +At that very time, in Berlin, where Helene was visiting her +grandmother, she was asked by a Prussian baron: + +"Do you know Ferdinand Lassalle?" + +The question came to her with a peculiar shock. She had never +heard the name, and yet the sound of it gave her a strange +emotion. Baron Korff, who perhaps took liberties because she was +so young, went on to say: + +"My dear lady, have you really never seen Lassalle? Why, you and +he were meant for each other!" + +She felt ashamed to ask about him, but shortly after a gentleman +who knew her said: + +"It is evident that you have a surprising degree of intellectual +kinship with Ferdinand Lassalle." + +This so excited her curiosity that she asked her grandmother: + +"Who is this person of whom they talk so much--this Ferdinand +Lassalle?" + +"Do not speak of him," replied her grandmother. "He is a shameless +demagogue!" + +A little questioning brought to Helene all sorts of stories about +Lassalle--the Countess von Hatzfeldt, the stolen casket, the +mysterious pamphlet, the long battle in the courts--all of which +excited her still more. A friend offered to introduce her to the +"shameless demagogue." This introduction happened at a party, and +it must have been an extraordinary meeting. Seldom, it seemed, was +there a better instance of love at first sight, or of the true +affinity of which Baron Korff had spoken. In the midst of the +public gathering they almost rushed into each other's arms; they +talked the free talk of acknowledged lovers; and when she left, he +called her love-names as he offered her his arm. + +"Somehow it did not appear at all remarkable," she afterward +declared. "We seemed to be perfectly fitted to each other." + +Nevertheless, nine months passed before they met again at a +soiree. At this time Lassaller gazing upon her, said: + +"What would you do if I were sentenced to death?" + +"I should wait until your head was severed," was her answer, "in +order that you might look upon your beloved to the last, and then +--I should take poison!" + +Her answer delighted him, but he said that there was no danger. He +was greeted on every hand with great consideration; and it seemed +not unlikely that, in recognition of his influence with the +people, he might rise to some high position. The King of Prussia +sympathized with him. Heine called him the Messiah of the +nineteenth century. When he passed from city to city, the whole +population turned out to do him honor. Houses were wreathed; +flowers were thrown in masses upon him, while the streets were +spanned with triumphal arches. + +Worn out with the work and excitement attending the birth of the +Deutscher Arbeiterverein, or workmen's union, which he founded in +1863, Lassalle fled for a time to Switzerland for rest. Helene +heard of his whereabouts, and hurried to him, with several +friends. They met again on July 25,1864, and discussed long and +intensely the possibilities of their marriage and the opposition +of her parents, who would never permit her to marry a man who was +at once a Socialist and a Jew. + +Then comes a pitiful story of the strife between Lassalle and the +Donniges family. Helene's father and mother indulged in vulgar +words; they spoke of Lassalle with contempt; they recalled all the +scandals that had been current ten years before, and forbade +Helene ever to mention the man's name again. + +The next scene in the drama took place in Geneva, where the family +of Herr von Donniges had arrived, and where Helene's sister had +been betrothed to Count von Keyserling--a match which filled her +mother with intense joy. Her momentary friendliness tempted Helene +to speak of her unalterable love for Lassalle. Scarcely had the +words been spoken when her father and mother burst into abuse and +denounced Lassalle as well as herself. + +She sent word of this to Lassalle, who was in a hotel near by. +Scarcely had he received her letter, when Helene herself appeared +upon the scene, and with all the intensity of which she was +possessed, she begged him to take her wherever he chose. She would +go with him to France, to Italy--to the ends of the earth! + +What a situation, and yet how simple a one for a man of spirit! It +is strange to have to record that to Lassalle it seemed most +difficult. He felt that he or she, or both of them, had been +compromised. Had she a lady with her? Did she know any one in the +neighborhood? + +What an extraordinary answer! If she were compromised, all the +more ought he to have taken her in his arms and married her at +once, instead of quibbling and showing himself a prig. + +Presently, her maid came in to tell them that a carriage was ready +to take them to the station, whence a train would start for Paris +in a quarter of an hour. Helene begged him. with a feeling that +was beginning to be one of shame. Lassalle repelled her in words +that were to stamp him with a peculiar kind of cowardice. + +Why should he have stopped to think of anything except the +beautiful woman who was at his feet, and to whom he had pledged +his love? What did he care for the petty diplomat who was her +father, or the vulgar-tongued woman who was her mother? He should +have hurried her and the maid into the train for Paris, and have +forgotten everything in the world but his Helene, glorious among +women, who had left everything for him. + +What was the sudden failure, the curious weakness, the paltriness +of spirit that came at the supreme moment into the heart of this +hitherto strong man? Here was the girl whom he loved, driven from +her parents, putting aside all question of appearances, and +clinging to him with a wild and glorious desire to give herself to +him and to be all his own! That was a thing worthy of a true +woman. And he? He shrinks from her and cowers and acts like a +simpleton. His courage seems to have dribbled through his finger- +tips; he is no longer a man--he is a thing. + +Out of all the multitude of Lassalle's former admirers, there is +scarcely one who has ventured to defend him, much less to laud +him; and when they have done so, their voices have had a sound of +mockery that dies away in their own throats. + +Helene, on her side, had compromised herself, and even from the +view-point of her parents it was obvious that she ought to be +married immediately. Her father, however, confined her to her room +until it was understood that Lassalle had left Geneva. Then her +family's supplications, the statement that her sister's marriage +and even her father's position were in danger, led her to say that +she would give up Lassalle. + +It mattered very little, in one way, for whatever he might have +done, Lassalle had killed, or at least had chilled, her love. His +failure at the moment of her great self-sacrifice had shown him to +her as he really was--no bold and gallant spirit, but a cringing, +spiritless self-seeker. She wrote him a formal letter to the +effect that she had become reconciled to her "betrothed +bridegroom"; and they never met again. + +Too late, Lassalle gave himself up to a great regret. He went +about trying to explain his action to his friends, but he could +say nothing that would ease his feeling and reinstate him in the +eyes of the romantic girl. In a frenzy, he sought out the +Wallachian student, Yanko von Racowitza, and challenged him to a +mortal duel. He also challenged Helene's father. Years before, he +had on principle declined to fight a duel; but now he went raving +about as if he sought the death of every one who knew him. + +The duel was fought on August 28, 1864. There was some trouble +about pistols, and also about seconds; but finally the combatants +left a small hotel in a village near Geneva, and reached the +dueling-grounds. Lassalle was almost joyous in his manner. His old +confidence had come back to him; he meant to kill his man. + +They took their stations high up among the hills. A few spectators +saw their figures outlined against the sky. The command to fire +rang out, and from both pistols gushed the flame and smoke. + +A moment later, Lassalle was seen to sway and fall. A chance shot, +glancing from a wall, had struck him to the ground. He suffered +terribly, and nothing but opium in great doses could relieve his +pain. His wound was mortal, and three days later he died. + +Long after, Helene admitted that she still loved Lassalle, and +believed that he would win the duel; but after the tragedy, the +tenderness and patience of Racowitza won her heart. She married +him, but within a year he died of consumption. Helene, being +disowned by her relations, prepared herself for the stage. She +married a third husband named Shevitch, who was then living in the +United States, but who has since made his home in Russia. + +Let us say nothing of Lassalle's political career. Except for his +work as one of the early leaders of the liberal movement in +Germany, it has perished, and his name has been almost forgotten. +As a lover, his story stands out forever as a warning to the timid +and the recreant. Let men do what they will; but there is just one +thing which no man is permitted to do with safety in the sight of +woman--and that is to play the craven. + + + + + +THE STORY OF RACHEL + + +Outside of the English-speaking peoples the nineteenth century +witnessed the rise and triumphant progress of three great tragic +actresses. The first two of these--Rachel Felix and Sarah +Bernhardt--were of Jewish extraction; the third, Eleanor Duse, is +Italian. All of them made their way from pauperism to fame; but +perhaps the rise of Rachel was the most striking. + +In the winter of 1821 a wretched peddler named Abraham--or Jacob-- +Felix sought shelter at a dilapidated inn at Mumpf, a village in +Switzerland, not far from Basel. It was at the close of a stormy +day, and his small family had been toiling through the snow and +sleet. The inn was the lowest sort of hovel, and yet its +proprietor felt that it was too good for these vagabonds. He +consented to receive them only when he learned that the peddler's +wife was to be delivered of a child. That very night she became +the mother of a girl, who was at first called Elise. So +unimportant was the advent of this little waif into the world that +the burgomaster of Mumpf thought it necessary to make an entry +only of the fact that a peddler's wife had given birth to a female +child. There was no mention of family or religion, nor was the +record anything more than a memorandum. + +Under such circumstances was born a child who was destined to +excite the wonder of European courts--to startle and thrill and +utterly amaze great audiences by her dramatic genius. But for ten +years the family--which grew until it consisted of one son and +five daughters--kept on its wanderings through Switzerland and +Germany. Finally, they settled down in Lyons, where the mother +opened a little shop for the sale of second-hand clothing. The +husband gave lessons in German whenever he could find a pupil. The +eldest daughter went about the cafes in the evening, singing the +songs that were then popular, while her small sister, Rachel, +collected coppers from those who had coppers to spare. + +Although the family was barely able to sustain existence, the +father and mother were by no means as ignorant as their squalor +would imply. The peddler Felix had studied Hebrew theology in the +hope of becoming a rabbi. Failing this, he was always much +interested in declamation, public reading, and the recitation of +poetry. He was, in his way, no mean critic of actors and +actresses. Long before she was ten years of age little Rachel--who +had changed her name from Elise--could render with much feeling +and neatness of eloquence bits from the best-known French plays of +the classic stage. + +The children's mother, on her side, was sharp and practical to a +high degree. She saved and scrimped all through her period of +adversity. Later she was the banker of her family, and would never +lend any of her children a sou except on excellent security. +However, this was all to happen in after years. + +When the child who was destined to be famous had reached her tenth +year she and her sisters made their way to Paris. For four years +the second-hand clothing-shop was continued; the father still +taught German; and the elder sister, Sarah, who had a golden +voice, made the rounds of the cafes in the lowest quarters of the +capital, while Rachel passed the wooden plate for coppers. + +One evening in the year 1834 a gentleman named Morin, having been +taken out of his usual course by a matter of business, entered a +BRASSERIE for a cup of coffee. There he noted two girls, one of +them singing with remarkable sweetness, and the other silently +following with the wooden plate. M. Morin called to him the girl +who sang and asked her why she did not make her voice more +profitable than by haunting the cafes at night, where she was sure +to meet with insults of the grossest kind. + +"Why," said Sarah, "I haven't anybody to advise me what to do." + +M. Morin gave her his address and said that he would arrange to +have her meet a friend who would be of great service to her. On +the following day he sent the two girls to a M. Choron, who was +the head of the Conservatory of Sacred Music. Choron had Sarah +sing, and instantly admitted her as a pupil, which meant that she +would soon be enrolled among the regular choristers. The beauty of +her voice made a deep impression on him. + +Then he happened to notice the puny, meager child who was standing +near her sister. Turning to her, he said: + +"And what can you do, little one?" + +"I can recite poetry," was the reply. + +"Oh, can you?" said he. "Please let me hear you." + +Rachel readily consented. She had a peculiarly harsh, grating +voice, so that any but a very competent judge would have turned +her away. But M. Choron, whose experience was great, noted the +correctness of her accent and the feeling which made itself felt +in every line. He accepted her as well as her sister, but urged +her to study elocution rather than music. + +She must, indeed, have had an extraordinary power even at the age +of fourteen, since not merely her voice but her whole appearance +was against her. She was dressed in a short calico frock of a +pattern in which red was spotted with white. Her shoes were of +coarse black leather. Her hair was parted at the back of her head +and hung down her shoulders in two braids, framing the long, +childish, and yet gnome-like face, which was unusual in its +gravity. + +At first she was little thought of; but there came a time when she +astonished both her teachers and her companions by a recital which +she gave in public. The part was the narrative of Salema in the +"Abufar" of Ducis. It describes the agony of a mother who gives +birth to a child while dying of thirst amid the desert sands. Mme. +de Barviera has left a description of this recital, which it is +worth while to quote: + +While uttering the thrilling tale the thin face seemed to lengthen +with horror, the small, deep-set black eyes dilated with a fixed +stare as though she witnessed the harrowing scene; and the deep, +guttural tones, despite a slight Jewish accent, awoke a nameless +terror in every one who listened, carrying him through the +imaginary woe with a strange feeling of reality, not to be shaken, +off as long as the sounds lasted. + +Even yet, however, the time had not come for any conspicuous +success. The girl was still so puny in form, so monkey-like in +face, and so gratingly unpleasant in her tones that it needed time +for her to attain her full growth and to smooth away some of the +discords in her peculiar voice. + +Three years later she appeared at the Gymnase in a regular debut; +yet even then only the experienced few appreciated her greatness. +Among these, however, were the well-known critic Jules Janin, the +poet and novelist Gauthier, and the actress Mlle. Mars. They saw +that this lean, raucous gutter-girl had within her gifts which +would increase until she would he first of all actresses on the +French stage. Janin wrote some lines which explain the secret of +her greatness: + +All the talent in the world, especially when continually applied +to the same dramatic works, will not satisfy continually the +hearer. What pleases in a great actor, as in all arts that appeal +to the imagination, is the unforeseen. When I am utterly ignorant +of what is to happen, when I do not know, when you yourself do not +know what will be your next gesture, your next look, what passion +will possess your heart, what outcry will burst from your terror- +stricken soul, then, indeed, I am willing to see you daily, for +each day you will be new to me. To-day I may blame, to-morrow +praise. Yesterday you were all-powerful; to-morrow, perhaps, you +may hardly win from me a word of admiration. So much the better, +then, if you draw from me unexpected tears, if in my heart you +strike an unknown fiber; but tell me not of hearing night after +night great artists who every time present the exact counterpart +of what they were on the preceding one. + +It was at the Theatre Francais that she won her final acceptance +as the greatest of all tragedians of her time. This was in her +appearance in Corneille's famous play of "Horace." She had now, in +1838, blazed forth with a power that shook her no, less than it +stirred the emotions and the passions of her hearers. The princes +of the royal blood came in succession to see her. King Louis +Philippe himself was at last tempted by curiosity to be present. +Gifts of money and jewels were showered on her, and through sheer +natural genius rather than through artifice she was able to master +a great audience and bend it to her will. + +She had no easy life, this girl of eighteen years, for other +actresses carped at her, and she had had but little training. The +sordid ways of her old father excited a bitterness which was +vented on the daughter. She was still under age, and therefore was +treated as a gold-mine by her exacting parents. At the most she +could play but twice a week. Her form was frail and reed-like. She +was threatened with a complaint of the lungs; yet all this served +to excite rather than to diminish public interest in her. The +newspapers published daily bulletins of her health, and her door +was besieged by anxious callers who wished to know her condition. +As for the greed of her parents, every one said she was not to +blame for that. And so she passed from poverty to riches, from +squalor to something like splendor, and from obscurity to fame. + +Much has been written about her that is quite incorrect. She has +been credited with virtues which she never possessed; and, indeed, +it may be said with only too much truth that she possessed no +virtues whatsoever. On the stage while the inspiration lasted she +was magnificent. Off the stage she was sly, treacherous, +capricious, greedy, ungrateful, ignorant, and unchaste. With such +an ancestry as she had, with such an early childhood as had been +hers, what else could one expect from her? + +She and her old mother wrangled over money like two pickpockets. +Some of her best friends she treated shamefully. Her avarice was +without bounds. Some one said that it was not really avarice, but +only a reaction from generosity; but this seems an exceedingly +subtle theory. It is possible to give illustrations of it, +however. She did, indeed, make many presents with a lavish hand; +yet, having made a present, she could not rest until she got it +back. The fact was so well known that her associates took it for +granted. The younger Dumas once received a ring from her. +Immediately he bowed low and returned it to her finger, saying: + +"Permit me, mademoiselle, to present it to you in my turn so as to +save you the embarrassment of asking for it." + +Mr. Vandam relates among other anecdotes about her that one +evening she dined at the house of Comte Duchatel. The table was +loaded with the most magnificent flowers; but Rachel's keen eyes +presently spied out the great silver centerpiece. Immediately she +began to admire the latter; and the count, fascinated by her +manners, said that he would be glad to present it to her. She +accepted it at once, but was rather fearful lest he should change +his mind. She had come to dinner in a cab, and mentioned the fact. +The count offered to send her home in his carriage. + +"Yes, that will do admirably," said she. "There will be no danger +of my being robbed of your present, which I had better take with +me." + +"With pleasure, mademoiselle," replied the count. "But you will +send me back my carriage, won't you?" + +Rachel had a curious way of asking every one she met for presents +and knickknacks, whether they were valuable or not. She knew how +to make them valuable. + +Once in a studio she noticed a guitar hanging on the wall. She +begged for it very earnestly. As it was an old and almost +worthless instrument, it was given her. A little later it was +reported that the dilapidated guitar had been purchased by a well- +known gentleman for a thousand francs. The explanation soon +followed. Rachel had declared that it was the very guitar with +which she used to earn her living as a child in the streets of +Paris. As a memento its value sprang from twenty francs to a +thousand. + +It has always been a mystery what Rachel did with the great sums +of money which she made in various ways. She never was well +dressed; and as for her costumes on the stage, they were furnished +by the theater. When her effects were sold at public auction after +her death her furniture was worse than commonplace, and her +pictures and ornaments were worthless, except such as had been +given her. She must have made millions of francs, and yet she had +very little to leave behind her. + +Some say that her brother Raphael, who acted as her personal +manager, was a spendthrift; but if so, there are many reasons for +thinking that it was not his sister's money that he spent. Others +say that Rachel gambled in stocks, but there is no evidence of it. +The only thing that is certain is the fact that she was almost +always in want of money. Her mother, in all probability, managed +to get hold of most of her earnings. + +Much may have been lost through her caprices. One instance may be +cited. She had received an offer of three hundred thousand francs +to act at St. Petersburg, and was on her way there when she passed +through Potsdam, near Berlin. The King of Prussia was entertaining +the Russian Czar. An invitation was sent to her in the shape of a +royal command to appear before these monarchs and their guests. +For some reason or other Rachel absolutely refused. She would +listen to no arguments. She would go on to St. Petersburg without +delay. + +"But," it was said to her, "if you refuse to appear before the +Czar at Potsdam all the theaters in St. Petersburg will be closed +against you, because you will have insulted the emperor. In this +way you will be out the expenses of your journey and also the +three hundred thousand francs." + +Rachel remained stubborn as before; but in about half an hour she +suddenly declared that she would recite before the two monarchs, +which she subsequently did, to the satisfaction of everybody. Some +one said to her not long after: + +"I knew that you would do it. You weren't going to give up the +three hundred thousand francs and all your travelling expenses." + +"You are quite wrong," returned Rachel, "though of course you will +not believe me. I did not care at all about the money and was +going back to France. It was something that I heard which made me +change my mind. Do you want to know what it was? Well, after all +the arguments were over some one informed me that the Czar +Nicholas was the handsomest man in Europe; and so I made up my +mind that I would stay in Potsdam long enough to see him." + +This brings us to one phase of Rachel's nature which is rather +sinister. She was absolutely hard. She seemed to have no emotions +except those which she exhibited on the stage or the impish +perversity which irritated so many of those about her. She was in +reality a product of the gutter, able to assume a demure and +modest air, but within coarse, vulgar, and careless of decency. +Yet the words of Jules Janin, which have been quoted above, +explain how she could be personally very fascinating. + +In all Rachel's career one can detect just a single strand of real +romance. It is one that makes us sorry for her, because it tells +us that her love was given where it never could be openly +requited. + +During the reign of Louis Philippe the Comte Alexandre Walewski +held many posts in the government. He was a son of the great +Napoleon. His mother was that Polish countess who had accepted +Napoleon's love because she hoped that he might set Poland free at +her desire. But Napoleon was never swerved from his well- +calculated plans by the wish of any woman, and after a time the +Countess Walewska came to love him for himself. It was she to whom +he confided secrets which he would not reveal to his own brothers. +It was she who followed him to Elba in disguise. It was her son +who was Napoleon's son, and who afterward, under the Second +Empire, was made minister of fine arts, minister of foreign +affairs, and, finally, an imperial duke. Unlike the third +Napoleon's natural half-brother, the Duc de Moray, Walewski was a +gentleman of honor and fine feeling. He never used his +relationship to secure advantages for himself. He tried to live in +a manner worthy of the great warrior who was his father. + +As minister of fine arts he had much to do with the subsidized +theaters; and in time he came to know Rachel. He was the son of +one of the greatest men who ever lived. She was the child of +roving peddlers whose early training had been in the slums of +cities and amid the smoke of bar-rooms and cafes. She was tainted +in a thousand ways, while he was a man of breeding and right +principle. She was a wandering actress; he was a great minister of +state. What could there be between these two? + +George Sand gave the explanation in an epigram which, like most +epigrams, is only partly true. She said: + +"The count's company must prove very restful to Rachel." + +What she meant was, of course, that Walewski's breeding, his +dignity and uprightness, might be regarded only as a temporary +repose for the impish, harsh-voiced, infinitely clever actress. Of +course, it was all this, but we should not take it in a mocking +sense. Rachel looked up out of her depths and gave her heart to +this high-minded nobleman. He looked down and lifted her, as it +were, so that she could forget for the time all the baseness and +the brutality that she had known, that she might put aside her +forced vivacity and the self that was not in reality her own. + +It is pitiful to think of these two, separated by a great abyss +which could not be passed except at times and hours when each was +free. But theirs was, none the less, a meeting of two souls, +strangely different in many ways, and yet appealing to each other +with a sincerity and truth which neither could show elsewhere. + +The end of poor Rachel was one of disappointment. Tempted by the +fact that Jenny Lind had made nearly two million francs by her +visit to the United States, Rachel followed her, but with slight +success, as was to be expected. Music is enjoyed by human beings +everywhere, while French classical plays, even though acted by a +genius like Rachel, could be rightly understood only by a French- +speaking people. Thus it came about that her visit to America was +only moderately successful. + +She returned to France, where the rising fame of Adelaide Ristori +was very bitter to Rachel, who had passed the zenith of her power. +She went to Egypt, but received no benefit, and in 1858 she died +near Cannes. The man who loved her, and whom she had loved in +turn, heard of her death with great emotion. He himself lived ten +years longer, and died a little while before the fall of the +Second Empire. + + + + + + +FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY + +THE ROMANCE OF DEVOTION + +BY LYNDON ORR + +VOLUME IV OF IV. + +CONTENTS + + +DEAN SWIFT AND THE TWO ESTHERS +PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AND MARY GODWIN +THE STORY OF THE CARLYLES +THE STORY OF THE HUGOS +THE STORY OF GEORGE SAND +THE MYSTERY OF CHARLES DICKENS +HONORE DE BALZAC AND EVELINA HANSKA +CHARLES READE AND LAURA SEYMOUR + + + + + +DEAN SWIFT AND THE TWO ESTHERS + + +The story of Jonathan Swift and of the two women who gave their +lives for love of him is familiar to every student of English +literature. Swift himself, both in letters and in politics, stands +out a conspicuous figure in the reigns of King William III and +Queen Anne. By writing Gulliver's Travels he made himself +immortal. The external facts of his singular relations with two +charming women are sufficiently well known; but a definite +explanation of these facts has never yet been given. Swift held +his tongue with a repellent taciturnity. No one ever dared to +question him. Whether the true solution belongs to the sphere of +psychology or of physiology is a question that remains unanswered. + +But, as the case is one of the most puzzling in the annals of +love, it may be well to set forth the circumstances very briefly, +to weigh the theories that have already been advanced, and to +suggest another. + +Jonathan Swift was of Yorkshire stock, though he happened to be +born in Dublin, and thus is often spoken of as "the great Irish +satirist," or "the Irish dean." It was, in truth, his fate to +spend much of his life in Ireland, and to die there, near the +cathedral where his remains now rest; but in truth he hated +Ireland and everything connected with it, just as he hated +Scotland and everything that was Scottish. He was an Englishman to +the core. + +High-stomached, proud, obstinate, and over-mastering, independence +was the dream of his life. He would accept no favors, lest he +should put himself under obligation; and although he could give +generously, and even lavishly, he lived for the most part a +miser's life, hoarding every penny and halfpenny that he could. +Whatever one may think of him, there is no doubt that he was a +very manly man. Too many of his portraits give the impression of a +sour, supercilious pedant; but the finest of them all--that by +Jervas--shows him as he must have been at his very prime, with a +face that was almost handsome, and a look of attractive humor +which strengthens rather than lessens the power of his brows and +of the large, lambent eyes beneath them. + +At fifteen he entered Trinity College, in Dublin, where he read +widely but studied little, so that his degree was finally granted +him only as a special favor. At twenty-one he first visited +England, and became secretary to Sir William Temple, at Moor Park. +Temple, after a distinguished career in diplomacy, had retired to +his fine country estate in Surrey. He is remembered now for +several things--for having entertained Peter the Great of Russia; +for having, while young, won the affections of Dorothy Osborne, +whose letters to him are charming in their grace and archness; for +having been the patron of Jonathan Swift; and for fathering the +young girl named Esther Johnson, a waif, born out of wedlock, to +whom Temple gave a place in his household. + +When Swift first met her, Esther Johnson was only eight years old; +and part of his duties at Moor Park consisted in giving her what +was then an unusual education for a girl. She was, however, still +a child, and nothing serious could have passed between the raw +youth and this little girl who learned the lessons that he imposed +upon her. + +Such acquaintance as they had was rudely broken off. Temple, a man +of high position, treated Swift with an urbane condescension which +drove the young man's independent soul into a frenzy. He returned +to Ireland, where he was ordained a clergyman, and received a +small parish at Kilroot, near Belfast. + +It was here that the love-note was first seriously heard in the +discordant music of Swift's career. A college friend of his named +Waring had a sister who was about the age of Swift, and whom he +met quite frequently at Kilroot. Not very much is known of this +episode, but there is evidence that Swift fell in love with the +girl, whom he rather romantically called "Varina." + +This cannot be called a serious love-affair. Swift was lonely, and +Jane Waring was probably the only girl of refinement who lived +near Kilroot. Furthermore, she had inherited a small fortune, +while Swift was miserably poor, and had nothing to offer except +the shadowy prospect of future advancement in England. He was +definitely refused by her; and it was this, perhaps, that led him +to resolve on going back to England and making his peace with Sir +William Temple. + +On leaving, Swift wrote a passionate letter to Miss Waring--the +only true love-letter that remains to us of their correspondence. +He protests that he does not want Varina's fortune, and that he +will wait until he is in a position to marry her on equal terms. +There is a smoldering flame of jealousy running through the +letter. Swift charges her with being cold, affected, and willing +to flirt with persons who are quite beneath her. + +Varina played no important part in Swift's larger life thereafter; +but something must be said of this affair in order to show, first +of all, that Swift's love for her was due only to proximity, and +that when he ceased to feel it he could be not only hard, but +harsh. His fiery spirit must have made a deep impression on Miss +Waring; for though she at the time refused him, she afterward +remembered him, and tried to renew their old relations. Indeed, no +sooner had Swift been made rector of a larger parish, than Varina +let him know that she had changed her mind, and was ready to marry +him; but by this time Swift had lost all interest in her. He wrote +an answer which even his truest admirers have called brutal. + +"Yes," he said in substance, "I will marry you, though you have +treated me vilely, and though you are living in a sort of social +sink. I am still poor, though you probably think otherwise. +However, I will marry you on certain conditions. First, you must +be educated, so that you can entertain me. Next, you must put up +with all my whims and likes and dislikes. Then you must live +wherever I please. On these terms I will take you, without +reference to your looks or to your income. As to the first, +cleanliness is all that I require; as to the second, I only ask +that it be enough." + +Such a letter as this was like a blow from a bludgeon. The +insolence, the contempt, and the hardness of it were such as no +self-respecting woman could endure. It put an end to their +acquaintance, as Swift undoubtedly intended it should do. He would +have been less censurable had he struck Varina with his fist or +kicked her. + +The true reason for Swift's utter change of heart is found, no +doubt, in the beginning of what was destined to be his long +intimacy with Esther Johnson. When Swift left Sir William Temple's +in a huff, Esther had been a mere schoolgirl. Now, on his return, +she was fifteen years of age, and seemed older. She had blossomed +out into a very comely girl, vivacious, clever, and physically +well developed, with dark hair, sparkling eyes, and features that +were unusually regular and lovely. + +For three years the two were close friends and intimate +associates, though it cannot he said that Swift ever made open +love to her. To the outward eye they were no more than fellow +workers. Yet love does not need the spoken word and the formal +declaration to give it life and make it deep and strong. Esther +Johnson, to whom Swift gave the pet name of "Stella," grew into +the existence of this fiery, hold, and independent genius. All +that he did she knew. She was his confidante. As to his writings, +his hopes, and his enmities, she was the mistress of all his +secrets. For her, at last, no other man existed. + +On Sir William Temple's death, Esther John son came into a small +fortune, though she now lost her home at Moor Park. Swift returned +to Ireland, and soon afterward he invited Stella to join him +there. + +Swift was now thirty-four years of age, and Stella a very +attractive girl of twenty. One might have expected that the two +would marry, and yet they did not do so. Every precaution was +taken to avoid anything like scandal. Stella was accompanied by a +friend--a widow named Mrs. Dingley--without whose presence, or +that of some third person, Swift never saw Esther Johnson. When +Swift was absent, how ever, the two ladies occupied his +apartments; and Stella became more than ever essential to his +happiness. + +When they were separated for any length of time Swift wrote to +Stella in a sort of baby-talk, which they called "the little +language." It was made up of curious abbreviations and childish +words, growing more and more complicated as the years went on. It +is interesting to think of this stern and often savage genius, who +loved to hate, and whose hate was almost less terrible than his +love, babbling and prattling in little half caressing sentences, +as a mother might babble over her first child. Pedantic writers +have professed to find in Swift's use of this "little language" +the coming shadow of that insanity which struck him down in his +old age. + +As it is, these letters are among the curiosities of amatory +correspondence. When Swift writes "oo" for "you," and "deelest" +for "dearest," and "vely" for "very," there is no need of an +interpreter; but "rettle" for "let ter," "dallars" for "girls," +and "givar" for "devil," are at first rather difficult to guess. +Then there is a system of abbreviating. "Md" means "my dear," +"Ppt" means "poppet," and "Pdfr," with which Swift sometimes +signed his epistles, "poor, dear, foolish rogue." + +The letters reveal how very closely the two were bound together, +yet still there was no talk of marriage. On one occasion, after +they had been together for three years in Ireland, Stella might +have married another man. This was a friend of Swift's, one Dr. +Tisdall, who made energetic love to the sweet-faced English girl. +Tisdall accused Swift of poisoning Stella's mind against him. +Swift replied that such was not the case. He said that no feelings +of his own would ever lead him to influence the girl if she +preferred another. + +It is quite sure, then, that Stella clung wholly to Swift, and +cared nothing for the proffered love of any other man. Thus +through the years the relations of the two remained unchanged, +until in 1710 Swift left Ireland and appeared as a very brilliant +figure in the London drawing-rooms of the great Tory leaders of +the day. + +He was now a man of mark, because of his ability as a +controversialist. He had learned the manners of the world, and he +carried him self with an air of power which impressed all those +who met him. Among these persons was a Miss Hester--or Esther-- +Vanhomrigh, the daughter of a rather wealthy widow who was living +in London at that time. Miss Vanhomrigh--a name which she and her +mother pronounced "Vanmeury"--was then seventeen years of age, or +twelve years younger than the patient Stella. + +Esther Johnson, through her long acquaintance with Swift, and from +his confidence in her, had come to treat him almost as an +intellectual equal. She knew all his moods, some of which were +very difficult, and she bore them all; though when he was most +tyrannous she became only passive, waiting, with a woman's wisdom, +for the tempest to blow over. + +Miss Vanhomrigh, on the other hand, was one of those girls who, +though they have high spirit, take an almost voluptuous delight in +yielding to a spirit that is stronger still. This beautiful +creature felt a positive fascination in Swift's presence and his +imperious manner. When his eyes flashed, and his voice thundered +out words of anger, she looked at him with adoration, and bowed in +a sort of ecstasy before him. If he chose to accost a great lady +with "Well, madam, are you as ill-natured and disagreeable as when +I met you last?" Esther Vanhomrigh thrilled at the insolent +audacity of the man. Her evident fondness for him exercised a +seductive influence over Swift. + +As the two were thrown more and more together, the girl lost all +her self-control. Swift did not in any sense make love to her, +though he gave her the somewhat fanciful name of "Vanessa"; but +she, driven on by a high-strung, unbridled temperament, made open +love to him. When he was about to return to Ireland, there came +one startling moment when Vanessa flung herself into the arms of +Swift, and amazed him by pouring out a torrent of passionate +endearments. + +Swift seems to have been surprised. He did what he could to quiet +her. He told her that they were too unequal in years and fortune +for anything but friendship, and he offered to give her as much +friendship as she desired. + +Doubtless he thought that, after returning to Ireland, he would +not see Vanessa any more. In this, however, he was mistaken. An +ardent girl, with a fortune of her own, was not to be kept from +the man whom absence only made her love the more. In addition, +Swift carried on his correspondence with her, which served to fan +the flame and to increase the sway that Swift had already +acquired. + +Vanessa wrote, and with every letter she burned and pined. Swift +replied, and each reply enhanced her yearning for him. Ere long, +Vanessa's mother died, and Vanessa herself hastened to Ireland and +took up her residence near Dublin. There, for years, was enacted +this tragic comedy--Esther Johnson was near Swift, and had all his +confidence; Esther Vanhomrigh was kept apart from him, while still +receiving missives from him, and, later, even visits. + +It was at this time, after he had become dean of St. Patrick's +Cathedral, in Dublin, that Swift was married to Esther Johnson-- +for it seems probable that the ceremony took place, though it was +nothing more than a form. They still saw each other only in the +presence of a third person. Nevertheless, some knowledge of their +close relationship leaked out. Stella had been jealous of her +rival during the years that Swift spent in London. Vanessa was now +told that Swift was married to the other woman, or that she was +his mistress. Writhing with jealousy, she wrote directly to +Stella, and asked whether she was Dean Swift's wife. In answer +Stella replied that she was, and then she sent Vanessa's letter to +Swift himself. + +All the fury of his nature was roused in him; and he was a man who +could be very terrible when angry. He might have remembered the +intense love which Vanessa bore for him, the humility with which +she had accepted his conditions, and, finally, the loneliness of +this girl. + +But Swift was utterly unsparing. No gleam of pity entered his +heart as he leaped upon a horse and galloped out to Marley Abbey, +where she was living--"his prominent eyes arched by jet-black +brows and glaring with the green fury of a cat's." Reaching the +house, he dashed into it, with something awful in his looks, made +his way to Vanessa, threw her letter down upon the table and, +after giving her one frightful glare, turned on his heel, and in a +moment more was galloping back to Dublin. + +The girl fell to the floor in an agony of terror and remorse. She +was taken to her room, and only three weeks afterward was carried +forth, having died literally of a broken heart. + +Five years later, Stella also died, withering away a sacrifice to +what the world has called Swift's cruel heartlessness and egotism. +His greatest public triumphs came to him in his final years of +melancholy isolation; but in spite of the applause that greeted +The Drapier Letters and Gulliver's Travels, he brooded morbidly +over his past life. At last his powerful mind gave way, so that he +died a victim to senile dementia. By his directions his body was +interred in the same coffin with Stella's, in the cathedral of +which he had been dean. + +Such is the story of Dean Swift, and it has always suggested +several curious questions. Why, if he loved Stella, did he not +marry her long before? Why, when he married her, did he treat her +still as if she were not his wife? Why did he allow Vanessa's love +to run like a scarlet thread across the fabric of the other +affection, which must have been so strong? + +Many answers have been given to these questions. That which was +formulated by Sir Walter Scott is a simple one, and has been +generally accepted. Scott believed that Swift was physically +incapacitated for marriage, and that he needed feminine sympathy, +which he took where he could get it, without feeling bound to give +anything in return. + +If Scott's explanation be the true one, it still leaves Swift +exposed to ignominy as a monster of ingratitude. Therefore, many +of his biographers have sought other explanations. No one can +palliate his conduct toward Vanessa; but Sir Leslie Stephen makes +a plea for him with reference to Stella. Sir Leslie points out +that until Swift became dean of St. Patrick's his income was far +too small to marry on, and that after his brilliant but +disappointing three years in London, when his prospects of +advancement were ruined, he felt himself a broken man. + +Furthermore, his health was always precarious, since he suffered +from a distressing illness which attacked him at intervals, +rendering him both deaf and giddy. The disease is now known as +Meniere's disease, from its classification by the French +physician, Meniere, in 1861. Swift felt that he lived in constant +danger of some sudden stroke that would deprive him either of life +or reason; and his ultimate insanity makes it appear that his +forebodings were not wholly futile. Therefore, though he married +Stella, he kept the marriage secret, thus leaving her free, in +case of his demise, to marry as a maiden, and not to be regarded +as a widow. + +Sir Leslie offers the further plea that, after all, Stella's life +was what she chose to make it. She enjoyed Swift's friendship, +which she preferred to the love of any other man. + +Another view is that of Dr. Richard Garnett, who has discussed the +question with some subtlety. "Swift," says Dr. Garnett, "was by +nature devoid of passion. He was fully capable of friendship, but +not of love. The spiritual realm, whether of divine or earthly +things, was a region closed to him, where he never set foot." On +the side of friendship he must greatly have preferred Stella to +Vanessa, and yet the latter assailed him on his weakest side--on +the side of his love of imperious domination. + +Vanessa hugged the fetters to which Stella merely submitted. +Flattered to excess by her surrender, yet conscious of his +obligations and his real preference, he could neither discard the +one beauty nor desert the other. + +Therefore, he temporized with both of them, and when the choice +was forced upon him he madly struck down the woman for whom he +cared the less. + +One may accept Dr. Garnett's theory with a somewhat altered +conclusion. It is not true, as a matter of recorded fact, that +Swift was incapable of passion, for when a boy at college he was +sought out by various young women, and he sought them out in turn. +His fiery letter to Miss Waring points to the same conclusion. +When Esther Johnson began to love him he was heart-free, yet +unable, because of his straitened means, to marry. But Esther +Johnson always appealed more to his reason, his friendship, and +his comfort, than to his love, using the word in its material, +physical sense. This love was stirred in him by Vanessa. Yet when +he met Vanessa he had already gone too far with Esther Johnson to +break the bond which had so long united them, nor could he think +of a life without her, for she was to him his other self. + +At the same time, his more romantic association with Vanessa +roused those instincts which he had scarcely known himself to be +possessed of. His position was, therefore, most embarrassing. He +hoped to end it when he left London and returned to Ireland; but +fate was unkind to him in this, because Vanessa followed him. He +lacked the will to be frank with her, and thus he stood a +wretched, halting victim of his own dual nature. + +He was a clergyman, and at heart religious. He had also a sense of +honor, and both of these traits compelled him to remain true to +Esther Johnson. The terrible outbreak which brought about +Vanessa's death was probably the wild frenzy of a tortured soul. +It recalls the picture of some fierce animal brought at last to +bay, and venting its own anguish upon any object that is within +reach of its fangs and claws. + +No matter how the story may be told, it makes one shiver, for it +is a tragedy in which the three participants all meet their doom-- +one crushed by a lightning-bolt of unreasoning anger, the other +wasting away through hope deferred; while the man whom the world +will always hold responsible was himself destined to end his years +blind and sleepless, bequeathing his fortune to a madhouse, and +saying, with his last muttered breath: + +"I am a fool!" + + + + + +PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AND MARY GODWIN + + +A great deal has been said and written in favor of early marriage; +and, in a general way, early marriage may be an admirable thing. +Young men and young women who have no special gift of imagination, +and who have practically reached their full mental development at +twenty-one or twenty-two--or earlier, even in their teens--may +marry safely; because they are already what they will be. They are +not going to experience any growth upward and outward. Passing +years simply bring them more closely together, until they have +settled down into a sort of domestic unity, by which they think +alike, act alike, and even gradually come to look alike. + +But early wedlock spells tragedy to the man or the woman of +genius. In their teens they have only begun to grow. What they +will be ten years hence, no one can prophesy. Therefore, to mate +so early in life is to insure almost certain storm and stress, +and, in the end, domestic wreckage. + +As a rule, it is the man, and not the woman, who makes the false +step; because it is the man who elects to marry when he is still +very young. If he choose some ill-fitting, commonplace, and +unresponsive nature to match his own, it is he who is bound in the +course of time to learn his great mistake. When the splendid eagle +shall have got his growth, and shall begin to soar up into the +vault of heaven, the poor little barn-yard fowl that he once +believed to be his equal seems very far away in everything. He +discovers that she is quite unable to follow him in his towering +flights. + +The story of Percy Bysshe Shelley is a singular one. The +circumstances of his early marriage were strange. The breaking of +his marriage-bond was also strange. Shelley himself was an +extraordinary creature. He was blamed a great deal in his lifetime +for what he did, and since then some have echoed the reproach. Yet +it would seem as if, at the very beginning of his life, he was put +into a false position against his will. Because of this he was +misunderstood until the end of his brief and brilliant and erratic +career. + +SHELLEY AND MARY GODWIN + +In 1792 the French Revolution burst into flame, the mob of Paris +stormed the Tuileries, the King of France was cast into a dungeon +to await his execution, and the wild sons of anarchy flung their +gauntlet of defiance into the face of Europe. In this tremendous +year was born young Shelley; and perhaps his nature represented +the spirit of the time. + +Certainly, neither from his father nor from his mother did he +derive that perpetual unrest and that frantic fondness for revolt +which blazed out in the poet when he was still a boy. His father, +Mr. Timothy Shelley, was a very usual, thick-headed, unromantic +English squire. His mother--a woman of much beauty, but of no +exceptional traits--was the daughter of another squire, and at the +time of her marriage was simply one of ten thousand fresh-faced, +pleasant-spoken English country girls. If we look for a strain of +the romantic in Shelley's ancestry, we shall have to find it in +the person of his grandfather, who was a very remarkable and +powerful character. + +This person, Bysshe Shelley by name, had in his youth been +associated with some mystery. He was not born in England, but in +America--and in those days the name "America" meant almost +anything indefinite and peculiar. However this might be, Bysshe +Shelley, though a scion of a good old English family, had wandered +in strange lands, and it was whispered that he had seen strange +sights and done strange things. According to one legend, he had +been married in America, though no one knew whether his wife was +white or black, or how he had got rid of her. + +He might have remained in America all his life, had not a small +inheritance fallen to his share. This brought him back to England, +and he soon found that England was in reality the place to make +his fortune. He was a man of magnificent physique. His rovings had +given him ease and grace, and the power which comes from a wide +experience of life. He could be extremely pleasing when he chose; +and he soon won his way into the good graces of a rich heiress, +whom he married. + +With her wealth he became an important personage, and consorted +with gentlemen and statesmen of influence, attaching himself +particularly to the Duke of Northumberland, by whose influence he +was made a baronet. When his rich wife died, Shelley married a +still richer bride; and so this man, who started out as a mere +adventurer without a shilling to his name, died in 1813, leaving +more than a million dollars in cash, with lands whose rent-roll +yielded a hundred thousand dollars every year. + +If any touch of the romantic which we find in Shelley is a matter +of heredity, we must trace it to this able, daring, restless, and +magnificent old grandfather, who was the beau ideal of an English +squire--the sort of squire who had added foreign graces to native +sturdiness. But young Shelley, the future poet, seemed scarcely to +be English at all. As a young boy he cared nothing for athletic +sports. He was given to much reading. He thought a good deal about +abstractions with which most schoolboys never concern themselves +at all. + +Consequently, both in private schools and afterward at Eton, he +became a sort of rebel against authority. He resisted the fagging- +system. He spoke contemptuously of physical prowess. He disliked +anything that he was obliged to do, and he rushed eagerly into +whatever was forbidden. + +Finally, when he was sent to University College, Oxford, he broke +all bounds. At a time when Tory England was aghast over the French +Revolution and its results, Shelley talked of liberty and equality +on all occasions. He made friends with an uncouth but able fellow +student, who bore the remarkable name of Thomas Jefferson Hogg--a +name that seems rampant with republicanism--and very soon he got +himself expelled from the university for publishing a little tract +of an infidel character called "A Defense of Atheism." + +His expulsion for such a cause naturally shocked his father. It +probably disturbed Shelley himself; but, after all, it gave him +some satisfaction to be a martyr for the cause of free speech. He +went to London with his friend Hogg, and took lodgings there. He +read omnivorously--Hogg says as much as sixteen hours a day. He +would walk through the most crowded streets poring over a volume, +while holding another under one arm. + +His mind was full of fancies. He had begun what was afterward +called "his passion for reforming everything." He despised most of +the laws of England. He thought its Parliament ridiculous. He +hated its religion. He was particularly opposed to marriage. This +last fact gives some point to the circumstances which almost +immediately confronted him. + +Shelley was now about nineteen years old--an age at which most +English boys are emerging from the public schools, and are still +in the hobbledehoy stage of their formation. In a way, he was +quite far from boyish; yet in his knowledge of life he was little +more than a mere child. He knew nothing thoroughly--much less the +ways of men and women. He had no visible means of existence except +a small allowance from his father. His four sisters, who were at a +boarding-school on Clapham Common, used to save their pin-money +and send it to their gifted brother so that he might not actually +starve. These sisters he used to call upon from time to time, and +through them he made the acquaintance of a sixteen-year-old girl +named Harriet Westbrook. + +Harriet Westbrook was the daughter of a black-visaged keeper of a +coffee-house in Mount Street, called "Jew Westbrook," partly +because of his complexion, and partly because of his ability to +retain what he had made. He was, indeed, fairly well off, and had +sent his younger daughter, Harriet, to the school where Shelley's +sisters studied. + +Harriet Westbrook seems to have been a most precocious person. Any +girl of sixteen is, of course, a great deal older and more mature +than a youth of nineteen. In the present instance Harriet might +have been Shelley's senior by five years. There is no doubt that +she fell in love with him; but, having done so, she by no means +acted in the shy and timid way that would have been most natural +to a very young girl in her first love-affair. Having decided that +she wanted him, she made up her mind to get Mm at any cost, and +her audacity was equaled only by his simplicity. She was rather +attractive in appearance, with abundant hair, a plump figure, and +a pink-and-white complexion. This description makes of her a +rather doll-like girl; but doll-like girls are just the sort to +attract an inexperienced young man who has yet to learn that +beauty and charm are quite distinct from prettiness, and +infinitely superior to it. + +In addition to her prettiness, Harriet Westbrook had a vivacious +manner and talked quite pleasingly. She was likewise not a bad +listener; and she would listen by the hour to Shelley in his +rhapsodies about chemistry, poetry, the failure of Christianity, +the national debt, and human liberty, all of which he jumbled up +without much knowledge, but in a lyric strain of impassioned +eagerness which would probably have made the multiplication-table +thrilling. + +For Shelley himself was a creature of extraordinary fascination, +both then and afterward. There are no likenesses of him that do +him justice, because they cannot convey that singular appeal which +the man himself made to almost every one who met him. + +The eminent painter, Mulready, once said that Shelley was too +beautiful for portraiture; and yet the descriptions of him hardly +seem to bear this out. He was quite tall and slender, but he +stooped so much as to make him appear undersized. His head was +very small-quite disproportionately so; but this was counteracted +to the eye by his long and tumbled hair which, when excited, he +would rub and twist in a thousand different directions until it +was actually bushy. His eyes and mouth were his best features. The +former were of a deep violet blue, and when Shelley felt deeply +moved they seemed luminous with a wonderful and almost unearthly +light. His mouth was finely chiseled, and might be regarded as +representing perfection. + +One great defect he had, and this might well have overbalanced his +attractive face. The defect in question was his voice. One would +have expected to hear from him melodious sounds, and vocal tones +both rich and penetrating; but, as a matter of fact, his voice was +shrill at the very best, and became actually discordant and +peacock-like in moments of emotion. + +Such, then, was Shelley, star-eyed, with the delicate complexion +of a girl, wonderfully mobile in his features, yet speaking in a +voice high pitched and almost raucous. For the rest, he arrayed +himself with care and in expensive clothing, even though he took +no thought of neatness, so that his garments were almost always +rumpled and wrinkled from his frequent writhings on couches and on +the floor. Shelley had a strange and almost primitive habit of +rolling on the earth, and another of thrusting his tousled head +close up to the hottest fire in the house, or of lying in the +glaring sun when out of doors. It is related that he composed one +of his finest poems--"The Cenci"--in Italy, while stretched out +with face upturned to an almost tropical sun. + +But such as he was, and though he was not yet famous, Harriet +Westbrook, the rosy-faced schoolgirl, fell in love with him, and +rather plainly let him know that she had done so. There are a +thousand ways in which a woman can convey this information without +doing anything un-maidenly; and of all these little arts Miss +Westbrook was instinctively a mistress. + +She played upon Shelley's feelings by telling him that her father +was cruel to her, and that he contemplated actions still more +cruel. There is something absurdly comical about the grievance +which she brought to Shelley; but it is much more comical to note +the tremendous seriousness with which he took it. He wrote to his +friend Hogg: + +Her father has persecuted her in a most horrible way, by +endeavoring to compel her to go to school. She asked my advice; +resistance was the answer. At the same time I essayed to mollify +Mr. Westbrook, in vain! I advised her to resist. She wrote to say +that resistance was useless, but that she would fly with me and +throw herself on my protection. + +Some letters that have recently come to light show that there was +a dramatic scene between Harriet Westbrook and Shelley--a scene in +the course of which she threw her arms about his neck and wept +upon his shoulder. Here was a curious situation. Shelley was not +at all in love with her. He had explicitly declared this only a +short time before. Yet here was a pretty girl about to suffer the +"horrible persecution" of being sent to school, and finding no +alternative save to "throw herself on his protection"--in other +words, to let him treat her as he would, and to become his +mistress. + +The absurdity of the situation makes one smile. Common sense +should have led some one to box Harriet's ears and send her off to +school without a moment's hesitation; while as for Shelley, he +should have been told how ludicrous was the whole affair. But he +was only nineteen, and she was only sixteen, and the crisis seemed +portentous. Nothing could be more flattering to a young man's +vanity than to have this girl cast herself upon him for +protection. It did not really matter that he had not loved her +hitherto, and that he was already half engaged to another Harriet +--his cousin, Miss Grove. He could not stop and reason with +himself. He must like a true knight rescue lovely girlhood from +the horrors of a school! + +It is not unlikely that this whole affair was partly managed or +manipulated by the girl's father. Jew Westbrook knew that Shelley +was related to rich and titled people, and that he was certain, if +he lived, to become Sir Percy, and to be the heir of his +grandfather's estates. Hence it may be that Harriet's queer +conduct was not wholly of her own prompting. + +In any case, however, it proved to be successful. Shelley's ardent +and impulsive nature could not bear to see a girl in tears and +appealing for his help. Hence, though in his heart she was very +little to him, his romantic nature gave up for her sake the +affection that he had felt for his cousin, his own disbelief in +marriage, and finally the common sense which ought to have told +him not to marry any one on two hundred pounds a year. + +So the pair set off for Edinburgh by stagecoach. It was a weary +and most uncomfortable journey. When they reached the Scottish +capital, they were married by the Scottish law. Their money was +all gone; but their landlord, with a jovial sympathy for romance, +let them have a room, and treated them to a rather promiscuous +wedding-banquet, in which every one in the house participated. + +Such is the story of Shelley's marriage, contracted at nineteen +with a girl of sixteen who most certainly lured him on against his +own better judgment and in the absence of any actual love. + +The girl whom he had taken to himself was a well-meaning little +thing. She tried for a time to meet her husband's moods and to be +a real companion to him. But what could one expect from such a +union? Shelley's father withdrew the income which he had +previously given. Jew Westbrook refused to contribute anything, +hoping, probably, that this course would bring the Shelleys to the +rescue. But as it was, the young pair drifted about from place to +place, getting very precarious supplies, running deeper into debt +each day, and finding less and less to admire in each other. + +Shelley took to laudanum. Harriet dropped her abstruse studies, +which she had taken up to please her husband, but which could only +puzzle her small brain. She soon developed some of the unpleasant +traits of the class to which she belonged. In this her sister +Eliza--a hard and grasping middle-aged woman--had her share. She +set Harriet against her husband, and made life less endurable for +both. She was so much older than the pair that she came in and +ruled their household like a typical stepmother. + +A child was born, and Shelley very generously went through a +second form of marriage, so as to comply with the English law; but +by this time there was little hope of righting things again. +Shelley was much offended because Harriet would not nurse the +child. He believed her hard because she saw without emotion an +operation performed upon the infant. + +Finally, when Shelley at last came into a considerable sum of +money, Harriet and Eliza made no pretense of caring for anything +except the spending of it in "bonnet-shops" and on carriages and +display. In time--that is to say, in three years after their +marriage--Harriet left her husband and went to London and to Bath, +prompted by her elder sister. + +This proved to be the end of an unfortunate marriage. Word was +brought to Shelley that his wife was no longer faithful to him. +He, on his side, had carried on a semi-sentimental platonic +correspondence with a schoolmistress, one Miss Hitchener. But +until now his life had been one great mistake--a life of +restlessness, of unsatisfied longing, of a desire that had no +name. Then came the perhaps inevitable meeting with the one whom +he should have met before. + +Shelley had taken a great interest in William Godwin, the writer +and radical philosopher. Godwin's household was a strange one. +There was Fanny Imlay, a child born out of wedlock, the offspring +of Gilbert Imlay, an American merchant, and of Mary +Wollstonecraft, whom Godwin had subsequently married. There was +also a singularly striking girl who then styled herself Mary Jane +Clairmont, and who was afterward known as Claire Clairmont, she +and her brother being the early children of Godwin's second wife. + +One day in 1814, Shelley called on Godwin, and found there a +beautiful young girl in her seventeenth year, "with shapely golden +head, a face very pale and pure, a great forehead, earnest hazel +eyes, and an expression at once of sensibility and firmness about +her delicately curved lips." This was Mary Godwin--one who had +inherited her mother's power of mind and likewise her grace and +sweetness. + +From the very moment of their meeting Shelley and this girl were +fated to be joined together, and both of them were well aware of +it. Each felt the other's presence exert a magnetic thrill. Each +listened eagerly to what the other said. Each thought of nothing, +and each cared for nothing, in the other's absence. It was a great +compelling elemental force which drove the two together and bound +them fast. Beside this marvelous experience, how pale and pitiful +and paltry seemed the affectations of Harriet Westbrook! + +In little more than a month from the time of their first meeting, +Shelley and Mary Godwin and Miss Clairmont left Godwin's house at +four o 'clock in the morning, and hurried across the Channel to +Calais. They wandered almost like vagabonds across France, eating +black bread and the coarsest fare, walking on the highways when +they could not afford to ride, and putting up with every possible +inconvenience. Yet it is worth noting that neither then nor at any +other time did either Shelley or Mary regret what they had done. +To the very end of the poet's brief career they were inseparable. + +Later he was able to pension Harriet, who, being of a morbid +disposition, ended her life by drowning--not, it may be said, +because of grief for Shelley. It has been told that Fanny Imlay, +Mary's sister, likewise committed suicide because Shelley did not +care for her, but this has also been disproved. There was really +nothing to mar the inner happiness of the poet and the woman who, +at the very end, became his wife. Living, as they did, in Italy +and Switzerland, they saw much of their own countrymen, such as +Landor and Leigh Hunt and Byron, to whose fascinations poor Miss +Clairmont yielded, and became the mother of the little girl +Allegra. + +But there could have been no truer union than this of Shelley's +with the woman whom nature had intended for him. It was in his +love-life, far more than in his poetry, that he attained +completeness. When he died by drowning, in 1822, and his body was +burned in the presence of Lord Byron, he was truly mourned by the +one whom he had only lately made his wife. As a poet he never +reached the same perfection; for his genius was fitful and +uncertain, rare in its flights, and mingled always with that which +disappoints. + +As the lover and husband of Mary Godwin, there was nothing left to +wish. In his verse, however, the truest word concerning him will +always be that exquisite sentence of Matthew Arnold: + +"A beautiful and ineffectual angel beating his luminous wings +against the void in vain." + + + + + +THE STORY OF THE CARLYLES + + +To most persons, Tennyson was a remote and romantic figure. His +homes in the Isle of Wight and at Aldworth had a dignified +seclusion about them which was very appropriate to so great a +poet, and invested him with a certain awe through which the +multitude rarely penetrated. As a matter of fact, however, he was +an excellent companion, a ready talker, and gifted with so much +wit that it is a pity that more of his sayings have not been +preserved to us. + +One of the best known is that which was drawn from him after he +and a number of friends had been spending an hour in company with +Mr. and Mrs. Carlyle. The two Carlyles were unfortunately at their +worst, and gave a superb specimen of domestic "nagging." Each +caught up whatever the other said, and either turned it into +ridicule, or tried to make the author of it an object of contempt. + +This was, of course, exceedingly uncomfortable for such strangers +as were present, and it certainly gave no pleasure to their +friends. On leaving the house, some one said to Tennyson: + +"Isn't it a pity that such a couple ever married?" + +"No, no," said Tennyson, with a sort of smile under his rough +beard. "It's much better that two people should be made unhappy +than four." + +The world has pretty nearly come around to the verdict of the poet +laureate. It is not probable that Thomas Carlyle would have made +any woman happy as his wife, or that Jane Baillie Welsh would have +made any man happy as her husband. + +This sort of speculation would never have occurred had not Mr. +Froude, in the early eighties, given his story about the Carlyles +to the world. Carlyle went to his grave, an old man, highly +honored, and with no trail of gossip behind him. His wife had died +some sixteen years before, leaving a brilliant memory. The books +of Mr. Froude seemed for a moment to have desecrated the grave, +and to have shed a sudden and sinister light upon those who could +not make the least defense for themselves. + +For a moment, Carlyle seemed to have been a monster of harshness, +cruelty, and almost brutish feeling. On the other side, his wife +took on the color of an evil-speaking, evil-thinking shrew, who +tormented the life of her husband, and allowed herself to be +possessed by some demon of unrest and discontent, such as few +women of her station are ever known to suffer from. + +Nor was it merely that the two were apparently ill-mated and +unhappy with each other. There were hints and innuendos which +looked toward some hidden cause for this unhappiness, and which +aroused the curiosity of every one. That they might be clearer, +Froude afterward wrote a book, bringing out more plainly--indeed, +too plainly--his explanation of the Carlyle family skeleton. A +multitude of documents then came from every quarter, and from +almost every one who had known either of the Carlyles. Perhaps the +result to-day has been more injurious to Froude than to the two +Carlyles. + +Many persons unjustly speak of Froude as having violated the +confidence of his friends in publishing the letters of Mr. and +Mrs. Carlyle. They take no heed of the fact that in doing this he +was obeying Carlyle's express wishes, left behind in writing, and +often urged on Froude while Carlyle was still alive. Whether or +not Froude ought to have accepted such a trust, one may perhaps +hesitate to decide. That he did so is probably because he felt +that if he refused, Carlyle might commit the same duty to another, +who would discharge it with less delicacy and less discretion. + +As it is, the blame, if it rests upon any one, should rest upon +Carlyle. He collected the letters. He wrote the lines which burn +and scorch with self-reproach. It is he who pressed upon the +reluctant Froude the duty of printing and publishing a series of +documents which, for the most part, should never have been +published at all, and which have done equal harm to Carlyle, to +his wife, and to Froude himself. + +Now that everything has been written that is likely to be written +by those claiming to possess personal knowledge of the subject, +let us take up the volumes, and likewise the scattered fragments, +and seek to penetrate the mystery of the most ill-assorted couple +known to modern literature. + +It is not necessary to bring to light, and in regular order, the +external history of Thomas Carlyle, or of Jane Baillie Welsh, who +married him. There is an extraordinary amount of rather fanciful +gossip about this marriage, and about the three persons who had to +do with it. + +Take first the principal figure, Thomas Carlyle. His life until +that time had been a good deal more than the life of an ordinary +country-man. Many persons represent him as a peasant; but he was +descended from the ancient lords of a Scottish manor. There was +something in his eye, and in the dominance of his nature, that +made his lordly nature felt. Mr. Froude notes that Carlyle's hand +was very small and unusually well shaped. Nor had his earliest +appearance as a young man been commonplace, in spite of the fact +that his parents were illiterate, so that his mother learned to +read only after her sons had gone away to Edinburgh, in order that +she might be able to enjoy their letters. + +At that time in Scotland, as in Puritan New England, in each +family the son who had the most notable "pairts" was sent to the +university that he might become a clergyman. If there were a +second son, he became an advocate or a doctor of medicine, while +the sons of less distinction seldom went beyond the parish school, +but settled down as farmers, horse-dealers, or whatever might +happen to come their way. + +In the case of Thomas Carlyle, nature marked him out for something +brilliant, whatever that might be. His quick sensibility, the way +in which he acquired every sort of learning, his command of logic, +and, withal, his swift, unerring gift of language, made it certain +from the very first that he must be sent to the university as soon +as he had finished school, and could afford to go. + +At Edinburgh, where he matriculated in his fourteenth year, he +astonished every one by the enormous extent of his reading, and by +the firm hold he kept upon it. One hesitates to credit these so- +called reminiscences which tell how he absorbed mountains of Greek +and immense quantities of political economy and history and +sociology and various forms of metaphysics, as every Scotsman is +bound to do. That he read all night is a common story told of many +a Scottish lad at college. We may believe, however, that Carlyle +studied and read as most of his fellow students did, but far +beyond them, in extent. + +When he had completed about half of his divinity course, he +assured himself that he was not intended for the life of a +clergyman. One who reads his mocking sayings, or what seemed to be +a clever string of jeers directed against religion, might well +think that Carlyle was throughout his life an atheist, or an +agnostic. He confessed to Irving that he did not believe in the +Christian religion, and it was vain to hope that he ever would so +believe. + +Moreover, Carlyle had done something which was unusual at that +time. He had taught in several local schools; but presently he +came back to Edinburgh and openly made literature his profession. +It was a daring thing to do; but Carlyle had unbounded confidence +in himself--the confidence of a giant, striding forth into a +forest, certain that he can make his way by sheer strength through +the tangled meshes and the knotty branches that he knows will meet +him and try to beat him back. Furthermore, he knew how to live on +very little; he was unmarried; and he felt a certain ardor which +beseemed his age and gifts. + +Through the kindness of friends, he received some commissions to +write in various books of reference; and in 1824, when he was +twenty-nine years of age, he published a translation of Legendre's +Geometry. In the same year he published, in the London Magazine, +his Life of Schiller, and also his translation of Goethe's Wilhelm +Meister. This successful attack upon the London periodicals and +reviews led to a certain complication with the other two +characters in this story. It takes us to Jane Welsh, and also to +Edward Irving. + +Irving was three years older than Carlyle. The two men were +friends, and both of them had been teaching in country schools, +where both of them had come to know Miss Welsh. Irving's seniority +gave him a certain prestige with the younger men, and naturally +with Miss Welsh. He had won honors at the university, and now, as +assistant to the famous Dr. Chalmers, he carried his silk robes in +the jaunty fashion of one who has just ceased to be an +undergraduate. While studying, he met Miss Welsh at Haddington, +and there became her private instructor. + +This girl was regarded in her native town as something of a +personage. To read what has been written of her, one might suppose +that she was almost a miracle of birth and breeding, and of +intellect as well. As a matter of fact, in the little town of +Haddington she was simply prima inter pares. Her father was the +local doctor, and while she had a comfortable home, and doubtless +a chaise at her disposal, she was very far from the "opulence" +which Carlyle, looking up at her from his lowlier surroundings, +was accustomed to ascribe to her. She was, no doubt, a very clever +girl; and, judging from the portraits taken of her at about this +time, she was an exceedingly pretty one, with beautiful eyes and +an abundance of dark glossy hair. + +Even then, however, Miss Welsh had traits which might have made it +certain that she would be much more agreeable as a friend than as +a wife. She had become an intellectuelle quite prematurely--at an +age, in fact, when she might better have been thinking of other +things than the inwardness of her soul, or the folly of religious +belief. + +Even as a young girl, she was beset by a desire to criticize and +to ridicule almost everything and every one that she encountered. +It was only when she met with something that she could not +understand, or some one who could do what she could not, that she +became comparatively humble. Unconsciously, her chief ambition was +to be herself distinguished, and to marry some one who could be +more distinguished still. + +When she first met Edward Irving, she looked up to him as her +superior in many ways. He was a striking figure in her small +world. He was known in Edinburgh as likely to be a man of mark; +and, of course, he had had a careful training in many subjects of +which she, as yet, knew very little. Therefore, insensibly, she +fell into a sort of admiration for Irving--an admiration which +might have been transmuted into love. Irving, on his side, was +taken by the young girl's beauty, her vivacity, and the keenness +of her intellect. That he did not at once become her suitor is +probably due to the fact that he had already engaged himself to a +Miss Martin, of whom not much is known. + +It was about this time, however, that Carlyle became acquainted +with Miss Welsh. His abundant knowledge, his original and striking +manner of commenting on it, his almost gigantic intellectual +power, came to her as a revelation. Her studies with Irving were +now interwoven with her admiration for Carlyle. + +Since Irving was a clergyman, and Miss Welsh had not the slightest +belief in any form of theology, there was comparatively little +that they had in common. On the other hand, when she saw the +profundities of Carlyle, she at once half feared, and was half +fascinated. Let her speak to him on any subject, and he would at +once thunder forth some striking truth, or it might be some +puzzling paradox; but what he said could never fail to interest +her and to make her think. He had, too, an infinite sense of +humor, often whimsical and shot through with sarcasm. + +It is no wonder that Miss Welsh was more and more infatuated with +the nature of Carlyle. If it was her conscious wish to marry a man +whom she could reverence as a master, where should she find him-- +in Irving or in Carlyle? + +Irving was a dreamer, a man who, she came to see, was thoroughly +one-sided, and whose interests lay in a different sphere from +hers. Carlyle, on the other hand, had already reached out beyond +the little Scottish capital, and had made his mark in the great +world of London, where men like De Quincey and Jeffrey thought it +worth their while to run a tilt with him. Then, too, there was the +fascination of his talk, in which Jane Welsh found a perpetual +source of interest: + +The English have never had an artist, except in poetry; no +musician; no painter. Purcell and Hogarth are not exceptions, or +only such as confirm the rule. + +Is the true Scotchman the peasant and yeoman--chiefly the former? + +Every living man is a visible mystery; he walks between two +eternities and two infinitudes. Were we not blind as molea we +should value our humanity at infinity, and our rank, influence and +so forth--the trappings of our humanity--at nothing. Say I am a +man, and you say all. Whether king or tinker is a mere appendix. + +Understanding is to reason as the talent of a beaver--which can +build houses, and uses its tail for a trowel--to the genius of a +prophet and poet. Reason is all but extinct in this age; it can +never be altogether extinguished. + +The devil has his elect. + +Is anything more wonderful than another, if you consider it +maturely? I have seen no men rise from the dead; I have seen some +thousands rise from nothing. I have not force to fly into the sun, +but I have force to lift my hand, which is equally strange. + +Is not every thought properly an inspiration? Or how is one thing +more inspired than another? + +Examine by logic the import of thy life, and of all lives. What is +it? A making of meal into manure, and of manure into meal. To the +cui bono there is no answer from logic. + +In many ways Jane Welsh found the difference of range between +Carlyle and Irving. At one time, she asked Irving about some +German works, and he was obliged to send her to Carlyle to solve +her difficulties. Carlyle knew German almost as well as if he had +been born in Dresden; and the full and almost overflowing way in +which he answered her gave her another impression of his potency. +Thus she weighed the two men who might become her lovers, and +little by little she came to think of Irving as partly shallow and +partly narrow-minded, while Carlyle loomed up more of a giant than +before. + +It is not probable that she was a woman who could love profoundly. +She thought too much about herself. She was too critical. She had +too intense an ambition for "showing off." I can imagine that in +the end she made her choice quite coolly. She was flattered by +Carlyle's strong preference for her. She was perhaps repelled by +Irving's engagement to another woman; yet at the time few persons +thought that she had chosen well. + +Irving had now gone to London, and had become the pastor of the +Caledonian chapel in Hatton Garden. Within a year, by the +extraordinary power of his eloquence, which, was in a style +peculiar to himself, he had transformed an obscure little chapel +into one which was crowded by the rich and fashionable. His +congregation built for him a handsome edifice on Regent Square, +and he became the leader of a new cult, which looked to a second +personal advent of Christ. He cared nothing for the charges of +heresy which were brought against him; and when he was deposed his +congregation followed him, and developed a new Christian order, +known as Irvingism. + +Jane Welsh, in her musings, might rightfully have compared the two +men and the future which each could give her. Did she marry +Irving, she was certain of a life of ease in London, and an +association with men and women of fashion and celebrity, among +whom she could show herself to be the gifted woman that she was. +Did she marry Carlyle, she must go with him to a desolate, wind- +beaten cottage, far away from any of the things she cared for, +working almost as a housemaid, having no company save that of her +husband, who was already a dyspeptic, and who was wont to speak of +feeling as if a rat were tearing out his stomach. + +Who would have said that in going with Carlyle she had made the +better choice? Any one would have said it who knew the three-- +Irving, Carlyle, and Jane Welsh. + +She had the penetration to be certain that whatever Irving might +possess at present, it would be nothing in comparison to what +Carlyle would have in the coming future. She understood the +limitations of Irving, but to her keen mind the genius of Carlyle +was unlimited; and she foresaw that, after he had toiled and +striven, he would come into his great reward, which she would +share. Irving might be the leader of a petty sect, but Carlyle +would be a man whose name must become known throughout the world. + +And so, in 1826, she had made her choice, and had become the bride +of the rough-spoken, domineering Scotsman who had to face the +world with nothing but his creative brain and his stubborn +independence. She had put aside all immediate thought of London +and its lures; she was going to cast in her lot with Carlyle's, +largely as a matter of calculation, and believing that she had +made the better choice. + +She was twenty-six and Carlyle was thirty-two when, after a brief +residence in Edinburgh, they went down to Craigenputtock. Froude +has described this place as the dreariest spot in the British +dominions: + +The nearest cottage is more than a mile from it; the elevation, +seven hundred feet above the sea, stunts the trees and limits the +garden produce; the house is gaunt and hungry-looking. It stands, +with the scanty fields attached, as an island in a sea of morass. +The landscape is unredeemed by grace or grandeur--mere undulating +hills of grass and heather, with peat bogs in the hollows between +them. + +Froude's grim description has been questioned by some; yet the +actual pictures that have been drawn of the place in later years +make it look bare, desolate, and uninviting. Mrs. Carlyle, who +owned it as an inheritance from her father, saw the place for the +first time in March, 1828. She settled there in May; but May, in +the Scottish hills, is almost as repellent as winter. She herself +shrank from the adventure which she had proposed. It was her +husband's notion, and her own, that they should live there in +practical solitude. He was to think and write, and make for +himself a beginning of real fame; while she was to hover over him +and watch his minor comforts. + +It seemed to many of their friends that the project was quixotic +to a degree. Mrs. Carlyle delicate health, her weak chest, and the +beginning of a nervous disorder, made them think that she was +unfit to dwell in so wild and bleak a solitude. They felt, too, +that Carlyle was too much absorbed with his own thought to be +trusted with the charge of a high-spirited woman. + +However, the decision had been made, and the newly married couple +went to Craigenputtock, with wagons that carried their household +goods and those of Carlyle's brother, Alexander, who lived in a +cottage near by. These were the two redeeming features of their +lonely home--the presence of Alexander Carlyle, and the fact that, +although they had no servants in the ordinary sense, there were +several farmhands and a dairy-maid. + +Before long there came a period of trouble, which is easily +explained by what has been already said. Carlyle, thinking and +writing some of the most beautiful things that he ever thought or +wrote, could not make allowance for his wife's high spirit and +physical weakness. She, on her side--nervous, fitful, and hard to +please--thought herself a slave, the servant of a harsh and brutal +master. She screamed at him when her nerves were too unstrung; and +then, with a natural reaction, she called herself "a devil who +could never be good enough for him." But most of her letters were +harsh and filled with bitterness, and, no doubt, his conduct to +her was at times no better than her own. + +But it was at Craigenputtock that he really did lay fast and firm +the road to fame. His wife's sharp tongue, and the gnawings of his +own dyspepsia, were lived down with true Scottish grimness. It was +here that he wrote some of his most penetrating and sympathetic +essays, which were published by the leading reviews of England and +Scotland. Here, too, he began to teach his countrymen the value of +German literature. + +The most remarkable of his productions was that strange work +entitled Sartor Resartus (1834), an extraordinary mixture of the +sublime and the grotesque. The book quivers and shakes with tragic +pathos, with inward agonies, with solemn aspirations, and with +riotous humor. + +In 1834, after six years at Craigenputtock, the Carlyles moved to +London, and took up their home in Cheyne Row, Chelsea, a far from +fashionable retreat, but one in which the comforts of life could +be more readily secured. It was there that Thomas Carlyle wrote +what must seem to us the most vivid of all his books, the History +of the French Revolution. For this he had read and thought for +many years; parts of it he had written in essays, and parts of it +he had jotted down in journals. But now it came forth, as some one +has said, "a truth clad in hell-fire," swirling amid clouds and +flames and mist, a most wonderful picture of the accumulated +social and political falsehoods which preceded the revolution, and +which were swept away by a nemesis that was the righteous judgment +of God. + +Carlyle never wrote so great a book as this. He had reached his +middle style, having passed the clarity of his early writings, and +not having yet reached the thunderous, strange-mouthed German +expletives which marred his later work. In the French Revolution +he bursts forth, here and there, into furious Gallic oaths and +Gargantuan epithets; yet this apocalypse of France seems more true +than his hero-worshiping of old Frederick of Prussia, or even of +English Cromwell. + +All these days Thomas Carlyle lived a life which was partly one of +seclusion and partly one of pleasure. At all times he and his +dark-haired wife had their own sets, and mingled with their own +friends. Jane had no means of discovering just whether she would +have been happier with Irving; for Irving died while she was still +digging potatoes and complaining of her lot at Craigenputtock. + +However this may be, the Carlyles, man and wife, lived an +existence that was full of unhappiness and rancor. Jane Carlyle +became an invalid, and sought to allay her nervous sufferings with +strong tea and tobacco and morphin. When a nervous woman takes to +morphin, it almost always means that she becomes intensely +jealous; and so it was with Jane Carlyle. + +A shivering, palpitating, fiercely loyal bit of humanity, she took +it into her head that her husband was infatuated with Lady +Ashburton, or that Lady Ashburton was infatuated with him. She +took to spying on them, and at times, when her nerves were all a +jangle, she would lie back in her armchair and yell with paroxysms +of anger. On the other hand, Carlyle, eager to enjoy the world, +sought relief from his household cares, and sometimes stole away +after a fashion that was hardly guileless. He would leave false +addresses at his house, and would dine at other places than he had +announced. + +In 1866 Jane Carlyle suddenly died; and somehow, then, the +conscience of Thomas Carlyle became convinced that he had wronged +the woman whom he had really loved. His last fifteen years were +spent in wretchedness and despair. He felt that he had committed +the unpardonable sin. He recalled with anguish every moment of +their early life at Craigenputtock--how she had toiled for him, +and waited upon him, and made herself a slave; and how, later, she +had given herself up entirely to him, while he had thoughtlessly +received the sacrifice, and trampled on it as on a bed of flowers. + +Of course, in all this he was intensely morbid, and the diary +which he wrote was no more sane and wholesome than the screamings +with which his wife had horrified her friends. But when he had +grown to be a very old man, he came to feel that this was all a +sort of penance, and that the selfishness of his past must be +expiated in the future. Therefore, he gave his diary to his +friend, the historian, Froude, and urged him to publish the +letters and memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle. Mr. Froude, with an +eye to the reading world, readily did so, furnishing them with +abundant footnotes, which made Carlyle appear to the world as +more or less of a monster. + +First, there was set forth the almost continual unhappiness of the +pair. In the second place, by hint, by innuendo, and sometimes by +explicit statement, there were given reasons to show why Carlyle +made his wife unhappy. Of course, his gnawing dyspepsia, which she +strove with all her might to drive away, was one of the first and +greatest causes. But again another cause of discontent was stated +in the implication that Carlyle, in his bursts of temper, actually +abused his wife. In one passage there is a hint that certain blue +marks upon her arm were bruises, the result of blows. + +Most remarkable of all these accusations is that which has to do +with the relations of Carlyle and Lady Ashburton. There is no +doubt that Jane Carlyle disliked this brilliant woman, and came to +have dark suspicions concerning her. At first, it was only a sort +of social jealousy. Lady Ashburton was quite as clever a talker as +Mrs. Carlyle, and she had a prestige which brought her more +admiration. + +Then, by degrees, as Jane Carlyle's mind began to wane, she +transferred her jealousy to her husband himself. She hated to be +out-shone, and now, in some misguided fashion, it came into her +head that Carlyle had surrendered to Lady Ashburton his own +attention to his wife, and had fallen in love with her brilliant +rival. + +On one occasion, she declared that Lady Ashburton had thrown +herself at Carlyle's feet, but that Carlyle had acted like a man +of honor, while Lord Ashburton, knowing all the facts, had passed +them over, and had retained his friendship with Carlyle. + +Now, when Froude came to write My Relations with Carlyle, there +were those who were very eager to furnish him with every sort of +gossip. The greatest source of scandal upon which he drew was a +woman named Geraldine Jewsbury, a curious neurotic creature, who +had seen much of the late Mrs. Carlyle, but who had an almost +morbid love of offensive tattle. Froude describes himself as a +witness for six years, at Cheyne Row, "of the enactment of a +tragedy as stern and real as the story of Oedipus." According to +his own account: + +I stood by, consenting to the slow martyrdom of a woman whom I +have described as bright and sparkling and tender, and I uttered +no word of remonstrance. I saw her involved in a perpetual +blizzard, and did nothing to shelter her. + +But it is not upon his own observations that Froude relies for his +most sinister evidence against his friend. To him comes Miss +Jewsbury with a lengthy tale to tell. It is well to know what Mrs. +Carlyle thought of this lady. She wrote: + +It is her besetting sin, and her trade of novelist has aggravated +it--the desire of feeling and producing violent emotions. ... +Geraldine has one besetting weakness; she is never happy unless +she has a grande passion on hand. + +There were strange manifestations on the part of Miss Jewsbury +toward Mrs. Carlyle. At one time, when Mrs. Carlyle had shown some +preference for another woman, it led to a wild outburst of what +Miss Jewsbury herself called "tiger jealousy." There are many +other instances of violent emotions in her letters to Mrs. +Carlyle. They are often highly charged and erotic. It is unusual +for a woman of thirty-two to write to a woman friend, who is +forty-three years of age, in these words, which Miss Jewsbury used +in writing to Mrs. Carlyle: + +You are never out of my thoughts one hour together. I think of you +much more than if you were my lover. I cannot express my feelings, +even to you--vague, undefined yearnings to be yours in some way. + +Mrs. Carlyle was accustomed, in private, to speak of Miss Jewsbury +as "Miss Gooseberry," while Carlyle himself said that she was +simply "a flimsy tatter of a creature." But it is on the testimony +of this one woman, who was so morbid and excitable, that the most +serious accusations against Carlyle rest. She knew that Froude was +writing a volume about Mrs. Carlyle, and she rushed to him, eager +to furnish any narratives, however strange, improbable, or +salacious they might be. + +Thus she is the sponsor of the Ashburton story, in which there is +nothing whatsoever. Some of the letters which Lady Ashburton wrote +Carlyle have been destroyed, but not before her husband had +perused them. Another set of letters had never been read by Lord +Ashburton at all, and they are still preserved--friendly, +harmless, usual letters. Lord Ashburton always invited Carlyle to +his house, and there is no reason to think that the Scottish +philosopher wronged him. + +There is much more to be said about the charge that Mrs. Carlyle +suffered from personal abuse; yet when we examine the facts, the +evidence resolves itself into practically nothing. That, in his +self-absorption, he allowed her to Sending Completed Page, Please +Wait ... overflowed toward a man who must have been a manly, +loving lover. She calls him by the name by which he called her--a +homely Scottish name. + +GOODY, GOODY, DEAR GOODY: + +You said you would weary, and I do hope in my heart you are +wearying. It will be so sweet to make it all up to you in kisses +when I return. You will take me and hear all my bits of +experiences, and your heart will beat when you find how I have +longed to return to you. Darling, dearest, loveliest, the Lord +bless you! I think of you every hour, every moment. I love you and +admire you, like--like anything. Oh, if I was there, I could put +my arms so close about your neck, and hush you into the softest +sleep you have had since I went away. Good night. Dream of me. I +am ever YOUR OWN GOODY. + +It seems most fitting to remember Thomas Carlyle as a man of +strength, of honor, and of intellect; and his wife as one who was +sorely tried, but who came out of her suffering into the arms of +death, purified and calm and worthy to be remembered by her +husband's side. + + + + + +THE STORY OF THE HUGOS + + +Victor Hugo, after all criticisms have been made, stands as a +literary colossus. He had imaginative power which makes his finest +passages fairly crash upon the reader's brain like blasting +thunderbolts. His novels, even when translated, are read and +reread by people of every degree of education. There is something +vast, something almost Titanic, about the grandeur and +gorgeousness of his fancy. His prose resembles the sonorous blare +of an immense military band. Readers of English care less for his +poetry; yet in his verse one can find another phase of his +intellect. He could write charmingly, in exquisite cadences, poems +for lovers and for little children. His gifts were varied, and he +knew thoroughly the life and thought of his own countrymen; and, +therefore, in his later days he was almost deified by them. + +At the same time, there were defects in his intellect and +character which are perceptible in what he wrote, as well as in +what he did. He had the Gallic wit in great measure, but he was +absolutely devoid of any sense of humor. This is why, in both his +prose and his poetry, his most tremendous pages often come +perilously near to bombast; and this is why, again, as a man, his +vanity was almost as great as his genius. He had good reason to be +vain, and yet, if he had possessed a gleam of humor, he would +never have allowed his egoism to make him arrogant. As it was, he +felt himself exalted above other mortals. Whatever he did or said +or wrote was right because he did it or said it or wrote it. + +This often showed itself in rather whimsical ways. Thus, after he +had published the first edition of his novel, The Man Who Laughs, +an English gentleman called upon him, and, after some courteous +compliments, suggested that in subsequent editions the name of an +English peer who figures in the book should be changed from Tom +Jim-Jack. + +"For," said the Englishman, "Tom Jim-Jack is a name that could not +possibly belong to an English noble, or, indeed, to any +Englishman. The presence of it in your powerful story makes it +seem to English readers a little grotesque." + +Victor Hugo drew himself up with an air of high disdain. + +"Who are you?" asked he. + +"I am an Englishman," was the answer, "and naturally I know what +names are possible in English." + +Hugo drew himself up still higher, and on his face there was a +smile of utter contempt. + +"Yes," said he. "You are an Englishman; but I--I am Victor Hugo." + +In another book Hugo had spoken of the Scottish bagpipes as +"bugpipes." This gave some offense to his Scottish admirers. A +great many persons told him that the word was "bagpipes," and not +"bugpipes." But he replied with irritable obstinacy: + +"I am Victor Hugo; and if I choose to write it 'bugpipes,' it IS +'bugpipes.' It is anything that I prefer to make it. It is so, +because I call it so!" + +So, Victor Hugo became a violent republican, because he did not +wish France to be an empire or a kingdom, in which an emperor or a +king would be his superior in rank. He always spoke of Napoleon +III as "M. Bonaparte." He refused to call upon the gentle-mannered +Emperor of Brazil, because he was an emperor; although Dom Pedro +expressed an earnest desire to meet the poet. + +When the German army was besieging Paris, Hugo proposed to fight a +duel with the King of Prussia, and to have the result of it settle +the war; "for," said he, "the King of Prussia is a great king, but +I am Victor Hugo, the great poet. We are, therefore, equal." + +In spite, however, of his ardent republicanism, he was very fond +of speaking of his own noble descent. Again and again he styled +himself "a peer of France;" and he and his family made frequent +allusions to the knights and bishops and counselors of state with +whom he claimed an ancestral relation. This was more than +inconsistent. It was somewhat ludicrous; because Victor Hugo's +ancestry was by no means noble. The Hugos of the fifteenth and +sixteenth centuries were not in any way related to the poet's +family, which was eminently honest and respectable, but by no +means one of distinction. His grandfather was a carpenter. One of +his aunts was the wife of a baker, another of a barber, while the +third earned her living as a provincial dressmaker. + +If the poet had been less vain and more sincerely democratic, he +would have been proud to think that he sprang from good, sound, +sturdy stock, and would have laughed at titles. As it was, he +jeered at all pretensions of rank in other men, while he claimed +for himself distinctions that were not really his. His father was +a soldier who rose from the ranks until, under Napoleon, he +reached the grade of general. His mother was the daughter of a +ship owner in Nantes. + +Victor Hugo was born in February, 1802, during the Napoleonic +wars, and his early years were spent among the camps and within +the sound of the cannon-thunder. It was fitting that he should +have been born and reared in an age of upheaval, revolt, and +battle. He was essentially the laureate of revolt; and in some of +his novels--as in Ninety-Three--the drum and the trumpet roll and +ring through every chapter. + +The present paper has, of course, nothing to do with Hugo's public +life; yet it is necessary to remember the complicated nature of +the man--all his power, all his sweetness of disposition, and +likewise all his vanity and his eccentricities. We must remember, +also, that he was French, so that his story may be interpreted in +the light of the French character. + +At the age of fifteen he was domiciled in Paris, and though still +a schoolboy and destined for the study of law, he dreamed only of +poetry and of literature. He received honorable mention from the +French Academy in 1817, and in the following year took prizes in a +poetical competition. At seventeen he began the publication of a +literary journal, which survived until 1821. His astonishing +energy became evident in the many publications which he put forth +in these boyish days. He began to become known. Although poetry, +then as now, was not very profitable even when it was admired, one +of his slender volumes brought him the sum of seven hundred +francs, which seemed to him not only a fortune in itself, but the +forerunner of still greater prosperity. + +It was at this time, while still only twenty years of age, that he +met a young girl of eighteen with whom he fell rather +tempestuously in love. Her name was Adele Foucher, and she was the +daughter of a clerk in the War Office. When one is very young and +also a poet, it takes very little to feed the flame of passion. +Victor Hugo was often a guest at the apartments of M. Foucher, +where he was received by that gentleman and his family. French +etiquette, of course, forbade any direct communication between the +visitor and Adele. She was still a very young girl, and was +supposed to take no share in the conversation. Therefore, while +the others talked, she sat demurely by the fireside and sewed. + +Her dark eyes and abundant hair, her grace of manner, and the +picture which she made as the firelight played about her, kindled +a flame in the susceptible heart of Victor Hugo. Though he could +not speak to her, he at least could look at her; and, before long, +his share in the conversation was very slight. This was set down, +at first, to his absent-mindedness; but looks can be as eloquent +as spoken words. Mme. Foucher, with a woman's keen intelligence, +noted the adoring gaze of Victor Hugo as he silently watched her +daughter. The young Adele herself was no less intuitive than her +mother. It was very well understood, in the course of a few +months, that Victor Hugo was in love with Adele Foucher. + +Her father and mother took counsel about the matter, and Hugo +himself, in a burst of lyrical eloquence, confessed that he adored +Adele and wished to marry her. Her parents naturally objected. The +girl was but a child. She had no dowry, nor had Victor Hugo any +settled income. They were not to think of marriage. But when did a +common-sense decision, such as this, ever separate a man and a +woman who have felt the thrill of first love! Victor Hugo was +insistent. With his supreme self-confidence, he declared that he +was bound to be successful, and that in a very short time he would +be illustrious. Adele, on her side, created "an atmosphere" at +home by weeping frequently, and by going about with hollow eyes +and wistful looks. + +The Foucher family removed from Paris to a country town. Victor +Hugo immediately followed them. Fortunately for him, his poems had +attracted the attention of Louis XVIII, who was flattered by some +of the verses. He sent Hugo five hundred francs for an ode, and +soon afterward settled upon him a pension of a thousand francs. +Here at least was an income--a very small one, to be sure, but +still an income. Perhaps Adele's father was impressed not so much +by the actual money as by the evidence of the royal favor. At any +rate, he withdrew his opposition, and the two young people were +married in October, 1822--both of them being under age, unformed, +and immature. + +Their story is another warning against too early marriage. It is +true that they lived together until Mme. Hugo's death--a married +life of forty-six years--yet their story presents phases which +would have made this impossible had they not been French. + +For a time, Hugo devoted all his energies to work. The record of +his steady upward progress is a part of the history of literature, +and need not be repeated here. The poet and his wife were soon +able to leave the latter's family abode, and to set up their own +household god in a home which was their own. Around them there +were gathered, in a sort of salon, all the best-known writers of +the day--dramatists, critics, poets, and romancers. The Hugos knew +everybody. + +Unfortunately, one of their visitors cast into their new life a +drop of corroding bitterness. This intruder was Charles Augustin +Sainte-Beuve, a man two years younger than Victor Hugo, and one +who blended learning, imagination, and a gift of critical +analysis. Sainte-Beuve is to-day best remembered as a critic, and +he was perhaps the greatest critic ever known in France. But in +1830 he was a slender, insinuating youth who cultivated a gift for +sensuous and somewhat morbid poetry. + +He had won Victor Hugo's friendship by writing an enthusiastic +notice of Hugo's dramatic works. Hugo, in turn, styled Sainte- +Beuve "an eagle," "a blazing star," and paid him other compliments +no less gorgeous and Hugoesque. But in truth, if Sainte-Beuve +frequented the Hugo salon, it was less because of his admiration +for the poet than from his desire to win the love of the poet's +wife. + +It is quite impossible to say how far he attracted the serious +attention of Adele Hugo. Sainte-Beuve represents a curious type, +which is far more common in France and Italy than in the countries +of the north. Human nature is not very different in cultivated +circles anywhere. Man loves, and seeks to win the object of his +love; or, as the old English proverb has it: + + It's a man's part to try, + And a woman's to deny. + +But only in the Latin countries do men who have tried make their +attempts public, and seek to produce an impression that they have +been successful, and that the woman has not denied. This sort of +man, in English-speaking lands, is set down simply as a cad, and +is excluded from people's houses; but in some other countries the +thing is regarded with a certain amount of toleration. We see it +in the two books written respectively by Alfred de Musset and +George Sand. We have seen it still later in our own times, in that +strange and half-repulsive story in which the Italian novelist and +poet, Gabriele d'Annunzio, under a very thin disguise, revealed +his relations with the famous actress, Eleanora Duse. Anglo-Saxons +thrust such books aside with a feeling of disgust for the man who +could so betray a sacred confidence and perhaps exaggerate a +simple indiscretion into actual guilt. But it is not so in France +and Italy. And this is precisely what Sainte-Beuve attempted. + +Dr. George McLean Harper, in his lately published study of Sainte- +Beuve, has summed the matter up admirably, in speaking of The Book +of Love: + +He had the vein of emotional self-disclosure, the vein of romantic +or sentimental confession. This last was not a rich lode, and so +he was at pains to charge it secretly with ore which he exhumed +gloatingly, but which was really base metal. The impulse that led +him along this false route was partly ambition, partly sensuality. +Many a worse man would have been restrained by self-respect and +good taste. And no man with a sense of honor would have permitted +The Book of Love to see the light--a small collection of verses +recording his passion for Mme. Hugo, and designed to implicate +her. + +He left two hundred and five printed copies of this book to be +distributed after his death. A virulent enemy of Sainte-Beuve was +not too expressive when he declared that its purpose was "to leave +on the life of this woman the gleaming and slimy trace which the +passage of a snail leaves on a rose." Abominable in either case, +whether or not the implication was unfounded, Sainte-Beuve's +numerous innuendoes in regard to Mme. Hugo are an indelible stain +on his memory, and his infamy not only cost him his most precious +friendships, but crippled him in every high endeavor. + +How monstrous was this violation of both friendship and love may +be seen in the following quotation from his writings: + +In that inevitable hour, when the gloomy tempest and the jealous +gulf shall roll over our heads, a sealed bottle, belched forth +from the abyss, will render immortal our two names, their close +alliance, and our double memory aspiring after union. + +Whether or not Mme. Hugo's relations with Sainte-Beuve justified +the latter even in thinking such thoughts as these, one need not +inquire too minutely. Evidently, though, Victor Hugo could no +longer be the friend of the man who almost openly boasted that he +had dishonored him. There exist some sharp letters which passed +between Hugo and Sainte-Beuve. Their intimacy was ended. + +But there was something more serious than this. Sainte-Beuve had +in fact succeeded in leaving a taint upon the name of Victor +Hugo's wife. That Hugo did not repudiate her makes it fairly plain +that she was innocent; yet a high-spirited, sensitive soul like +Hugo's could never forget that in the world's eye she was +compromised. The two still lived together as before; but now the +poet felt himself released from the strict obligations of the +marriage-bond. + +It may perhaps be doubted whether he would in any case have +remained faithful all his life. He was, as Mr. H.W. Wack well +says, "a man of powerful sensations, physically as well as +mentally. Hugo pursued every opportunity for new work, new +sensations, fresh emotion. He desired to absorb as much on life's +eager forward way as his great nature craved. His range in all +things--mental, physical, and spiritual--was so far beyond the +ordinary that the gage of average cannot be applied to him. The +cavil of the moralist did not disturb him." + +Hence, it is not improbable that Victor Hugo might have broken +through the bonds of marital fidelity, even had Sainte-Beuve never +written his abnormal poems; but certainly these poems hastened a +result which may or may not have been otherwise inevitable. Hugo +no longer turned wholly to the dark-haired, dark-eyed Adele as +summing up for him the whole of womanhood. A veil was drawn, as it +were, from before his eyes, and he looked on other women and found +them beautiful. + +It was in 1833, soon after Hugo's play "Lucrece Borgia" had been +accepted for production, that a lady called one morning at Hugo's +house in the Place Royale. She was then between twenty and thirty +years of age, slight of figure, winsome in her bearing, and one +who knew the arts which appeal to men. For she was no +inexperienced ingenue. The name upon her visiting-card was "Mme. +Drouet"; and by this name she had been known in Paris as a clever +and somewhat gifted actress. Theophile Gautier, whose cult was the +worship of physical beauty, wrote in almost lyric prose of her +seductive charm. + +At nineteen, after she had been cast upon the world, dowered with +that terrible combination, poverty and beauty, she had lived +openly with a sculptor named Pradier. This has a certain +importance in the history of French art. Pradier had received a +commission to execute a statue representing Strasburg--the statue +which stands to-day in the Place de la Concorde, and which +patriotic Frenchmen and Frenchwomen drape in mourning and half +bury in immortelles, in memory of that city of Alsace which so +long was French, but which to-day is German--one of Germany's +great prizes taken in the war of 1870. + +Five years before her meeting with Hugo, Pradier had rather +brutally severed his connection with her, and she had accepted the +protection of a Russian nobleman. At this time she was known by +her real name--Julienne Josephine Gauvin; but having gone upon the +stage, she assumed the appellation by which she was thereafter +known, that of Juliette Drouet. + +Her visit to Hugo was for the purpose of asking him to secure for +her a part in his forth-coming play. The dramatist was willing, +but unfortunately all the major characters had been provided for, +and he was able to offer her only the minor one of the Princesse +Negroni. The charming deference with which she accepted the +offered part attracted Hugo's attention. Such amiability is very +rare in actresses who have had engagements at the best theaters. +He resolved to see her again; and he did so, time after time, +until he was thoroughly captivated by her. + +She knew her value, and as yet was by no means infatuated with +him. At first he was to her simply a means of getting on in her +profession--simply another influential acquaintance. Yet she +brought to bear upon him the arts at her command, her beauty and +her sympathy, and, last of all, her passionate abandonment. + +Hugo was overwhelmed by her. He found that she was in debt, and he +managed to see that her debts were paid. He secured her other +engagements at the theater, though she was less successful as an +actress after she knew him. There came, for a time, a short break +in their relations; for, partly out of need, she returned to her +Russian nobleman, or at least admitted him to a menage a trois. +Hugo underwent for a second time a great disillusionment. +Nevertheless, he was not too proud to return to her and to beg her +not to be unfaithful any more. Touched by his tears, and perhaps +foreseeing his future fame, she gave her promise, and she kept it +until her death, nearly half a century later. + +Perhaps because she had deceived him once, Hugo never completely +lost his prudence in his association with her. He was by no means +lavish with money, and he installed her in a rather simple +apartment only a short distance from his own home. He gave her an +allowance that was relatively small, though later he provided for +her amply in his will. But it was to her that he brought all his +confidences, to her he entrusted all his interests. She became to +him, thenceforth, much more than she appeared to the world at +large; for she was his friend, and, as he said, his inspiration. + +The fact of their intimate connection became gradually known +through Paris. It was known even to Mme. Hugo; but she, +remembering the affair of Sainte-Beuve, or knowing how difficult +it is to check the will of a man like Hugo, made no sign, and even +received Juliette Drouet in her own house and visited her in turn. +When the poet's sons grew up to manhood, they, too, spent many +hours with their father in the little salon of the former actress. +It was a strange and, to an Anglo-Saxon mind, an almost impossible +position; yet France forgives much to genius, and in time no one +thought of commenting on Hugo's manner of life. + +In 1851, when Napoleon III seized upon the government, and when +Hugo was in danger of arrest, she assisted him to escape in +disguise, and with a forged passport, across the Belgian frontier. +During his long exile in Guernsey she lived in the same close +relationship to him and to his family. Mme. Hugo died in 1868, +having known for thirty-three years that she was only second in +her husband's thoughts. Was she doing penance, or was she merely +accepting the inevitable? In any case, her position was most +pathetic, though she uttered no complaint. + +A very curious and poignant picture of her just before her death +has been given by the pen of a visitor in Guernsey. He had met +Hugo and his sons; he had seen the great novelist eating enormous +slices of roast beef and drinking great goblets of red wine at +dinner, and he had also watched him early each morning, divested +of all his clothing and splashing about in a bath-tub on the top +of his house, in view of all the town. One evening he called and +found only Mme. Hugo. She was reclining on a couch, and was +evidently suffering great pain. Surprised, he asked where were her +husband and her sons. + +"Oh," she replied, "they've all gone to Mme. Drouet's to spend the +evening and enjoy themselves. Go also; you'll not find it amusing +here." + +One ponders over this sad scene with conflicting thoughts. Was +there really any truth in the story at which Sainte-Beuve more +than hinted? If so, Adele Hugo was more than punished. The other +woman had sinned far more; and yet she had never been Hugo's wife; +and hence perhaps it was right that she should suffer less. Suffer +she did; for after her devotion to Hugo had become sincere and +deep, he betrayed her confidence by an intrigue with a girl who is +spoken of as "Claire." The knowledge of it caused her infinite +anguish, but it all came to an end; and she lived past her +eightieth year, long after the death of Mme. Hugo. She died only a +short time before the poet himself was laid to rest in Paris with +magnificent obsequies which an emperor might have envied. In her +old age, Juliette Drouet became very white and very wan; yet she +never quite lost the charm with which, as a girl, she had won the +heart of Hugo. + +The story has many aspects. One may see in it a retribution, or +one may see in it only the cruelty of life. Perhaps it is best +regarded simply as a chapter in the strange life-histories of men +of genius. + + + + + +THE STORY OF GEORGE SAND + + +To the student of feminine psychology there is no more curious and +complex problem than the one that meets us in the life of the +gifted French writer best known to the world as George Sand. + +To analyze this woman simply as a writer would in itself be a +long, difficult task. She wrote voluminously, with a fluid rather +than a fluent pen. She scandalized her contemporaries by her +theories, and by the way in which she applied them in her novels. +Her fiction made her, in the history of French literature, second +only to Victor Hugo. She might even challenge Hugo, because where +he depicts strange and monstrous figures, exaggerated beyond the +limits of actual life, George Sand portrays living men and women, +whose instincts and desires she understands, and whom she makes us +see precisely as if we were admitted to their intimacy. + +But George Sand puzzles us most by peculiarities which it is +difficult for us to reconcile. She seemed to have no sense of +chastity whatever; yet, on the other hand, she was not grossly +sensual. She possessed the maternal instinct to a high degree, and +liked better to be a mother than a mistress to the men whose love +she sought. For she did seek men's love, frankly and shamelessly, +only to tire of it. In many cases she seems to have been swayed by +vanity, and by a love of conquest, rather than by passion. She had +also a spiritual, imaginative side to her nature, and she could be +a far better comrade than anything more intimate. + +The name given to this strange genius at birth was Amantine Lucile +Aurore Dupin. The circumstances of her ancestry and birth were +quite unusual. Her father was a lieutenant in the French army. His +grandmother had been the natural daughter of Marshal Saxe, who was +himself the illegitimate son of Augustus the Strong of Poland and +of the bewitching Countess of Konigsmarck. This was a curious +pedigree. It meant strength of character, eroticism, stubbornness, +imagination, courage, and recklessness. + +Her father complicated the matter by marrying suddenly a Parisian +of the lower classes, a bird-fancier named Sophie Delaborde. His +daughter, who was born in 1804, used afterward to boast that on +one side she was sprung from kings and nobles, while on the other +she was a daughter of the people, able, therefore, to understand +the sentiments of the aristocracy and of the children of the soil, +or even of the gutter. + +She was fond of telling, also, of the omen which attended on her +birth. Her father and mother were at a country dance in the house +of a fellow officer of Dupin's. Suddenly Mme. Dupin left the room. +Nothing was thought of this, and the dance went on. In less than +an hour, Dupin was called aside and told that his wife had just +given birth to a child. It was the child's aunt who brought the +news, with the joyous comment: + +"She will be lucky, for she was born among the roses and to the +sound of music." + +This was at the time of the Napoleonic wars. Lieutenant Dupin was +on the staff of Prince Murat, and little Aurore, as she was +called, at the age of three accompanied the army, as did her +mother. The child was adopted by one of those hard-fighting, +veteran regiments. The rough old sergeants nursed her and petted +her. Even the prince took notice of her; and to please him she +wore the green uniform of a hussar. + +But all this soon passed, and she was presently sent to live with +her grandmother at the estate now intimately associated with her +name--Nohant, in the valley of the Indre, in the midst of a rich +country, a love for which she then drank in so deeply that nothing +in her later life could lessen it. She was always the friend of +the peasant and of the country-folk in general. + +At Nohant she was given over to her grand-mother, to be reared in +a strangely desultory sort of fashion, doing and reading and +studying those things which could best develop her native gifts. +Her father had great influence over her, teaching her a thousand +things without seeming to teach her anything. Of him George Sand +herself has written: + +Character is a matter of heredity. If any one desires to know me, +he must know my father. + +Her father, however, was killed by a fall from a horse; and then +the child grew up almost without any formal education. A tutor, +who also managed the estate; believed with Rousseau that the young +should be reared according to their own preferences. Therefore, +Aurore read poems and childish stories; she gained a smattering of +Latin, and she was devoted to music and the elements of natural +science. For the rest of the time she rambled with the country +children, learned their games, and became a sort of leader in +everything they did. + +Her only sorrow was the fact that her mother was excluded from +Nohant. The aristocratic old grandmother would not allow under her +roof her son's low-born wife; but she was devoted to her little +grandchild. The girl showed a wonderful degree of sensibility. + +This life was adapted to her nature. She fed her imagination in a +perfectly healthy fashion; and, living so much out of doors, she +acquired that sound physique which she retained all through her +life. + +When she was thirteen, her grandmother sent the girl to a convent +school in Paris. One might suppose that the sudden change from the +open woods and fields to the primness of a religious home would +have been a great shock to her, and that with her disposition she +might have broken out into wild ways that would have shocked the +nuns. But, here, as elsewhere, she showed her wonderful +adaptability. It even seemed as if she were likely to become what +the French call a devote. She gave herself up to mythical +thoughts, and expressed a desire of taking the veil. Her +confessor, however, was a keen student of human nature, and he +perceived that she was too young to decide upon the renunciation +of earthly things. Moreover, her grandmother, who had no intention +that Aurore should become a nun, hastened to Paris and carried her +back to Nohant. + +The girl was now sixteen, and her complicated nature began to make +itself apparent. There was no one to control her, because her +grandmother was confined to her own room. And so Aurore Dupin, now +in superb health, rushed into every sort of diversion with all the +zest of youth. She read voraciously--religion, poetry, philosophy. +She was an excellent musician, playing the piano and the harp. +Once, in a spirit of unconscious egotism, she wrote to her +confessor: + +Do you think that my philosophical studies are compatible with +Christian humility? + +The shrewd ecclesiastic answered, with a touch of wholesome irony: + +I doubt, my daughter, whether your philosophical studies are +profound enough to warrant intellectual pride. + +This stung the girl, and led her to think a little less of her own +abilities; but perhaps it made her books distasteful to her. For a +while she seems to have almost forgotten her sex. She began to +dress as a boy, and took to smoking large quantities of tobacco. +Her natural brother, who was an officer in the army, came down to +Nohant and taught her to ride--to ride like a boy, seated astride. +She went about without any chaperon, and flirted with the young +men of the neighborhood. The prim manners of the place made her +subject to a certain amount of scandal, and the village priest +chided her in language that was far from tactful. In return she +refused any longer to attend his church. + +Thus she was living when her grandmother died, in 1821, leaving to +Aurore her entire fortune of five hundred thousand francs. As the +girl was still but seventeen, she was placed under the +guardianship of the nearest relative on her father's side--a +gentleman of rank. When the will was read, Aurore's mother made a +violent protest, and caused a most unpleasant scene. + +"I am the natural guardian of my child," she cried. "No one can +take away my rights!" + +The young girl well understood that this was really the parting of +the ways. If she turned toward her uncle, she would be forever +classed among the aristocracy. If she chose her mother, who, +though married, was essentially a grisette, then she must live +with grisettes, and find her friends among the friends who visited +her mother. She could not belong to both worlds. She must decide +once for all whether she would be a woman of rank or a woman +entirely separated from the circle that had been her father's. + +One must respect the girl for making the choice she did. +Understanding the situation absolutely, she chose her mother; and +perhaps one would not have had her do otherwise. Yet in the long +run it was bound to be a mistake. Aurore was clever, refined, well +read, and had had the training of a fashionable convent school. +The mother was ignorant and coarse, as was inevitable, with one +who before her marriage had been half shop-girl and half +courtesan. The two could not live long together, and hence it was +not unnatural that Aurore Dupin should marry, to enter upon a new +career. + +Her fortune was a fairly large one for the times, and yet not +large enough to attract men who were quite her equals. Presently, +however, it brought to her a sort of country squire, named Casimir +Dudevant. He was the illegitimate son of the Baron Dudevant. He +had been in the army, and had studied law; but he possessed no +intellectual tastes. He was outwardly eligible; but he was of a +coarse type--a man who, with passing years, would be likely to +take to drink and vicious amusements, and in serious life cared +only for his cattle, his horses, and his hunting. He had, however, +a sort of jollity about him which appealed to this girl of +eighteen; and so a marriage was arranged. Aurore Dupin became his +wife in 1822, and he secured the control of her fortune. + +The first few years after her marriage were not unhappy. She had a +son, Maurice Dudevant, and a daughter, Solange, and she loved them +both. But it was impossible that she should continue vegetating +mentally upon a farm with a husband who was a fool, a drunkard, +and a miser. He deteriorated; his wife grew more and more clever. +Dudevant resented this. It made him uncomfortable. Other persons +spoke of her talk as brilliant. He bluntly told her that it was +silly, and that she must stop it. When she did not stop it, he +boxed her ears. This caused a breach between the pair which was +never healed. Dudevant drank more and more heavily, and jeered at +his wife because she was "always looking for noon at fourteen +o'clock." He had always flirted with the country girls; but now he +openly consorted with his wife's chambermaid. + +Mme. Dudevant, on her side, would have nothing more to do with +this rustic rake. She formed what she called a platonic +friendship--and it was really so--with a certain M. de Seze, who +was advocate-general at Bordeaux. With him this clever woman could +talk without being called silly, and he took sincere pleasure in +her company. He might, in fact, have gone much further, had not +both of them been in an impossible situation. + +Aurore Dudevant really believed that she was swayed by a pure and +mystic passion. De Seze, on the other hand, believed this mystic +passion to be genuine love. Coming to visit her at Nohant, he was +revolted by the clownish husband with whom she lived. It gave him +an esthetic shock to see that she had borne children to this boor. +Therefore he shrank back from her, and in time their relation +faded into nothingness. + +It happened, soon after, that she found a packet in her husband's +desk, marked "Not to be opened until after my death." She wrote of +this in her correspondence: + +I had not the patience to wait till widowhood. No one can be sure +of surviving anybody. I assumed that my husband had died, and I +was very glad to learn what he thought of me while he was alive. +Since the package was addressed to me, it was not dishonorable for +me to open it. + +And so she opened it. It proved to be his will, but containing, as +a preamble, his curses on her, expressions of contempt, and all +the vulgar outpouring of an evil temper and angry passion. She +went to her husband as he was opening a bottle, and flung the +document upon the table. He cowered at her glance, at her +firmness, and at her cold hatred. He grumbled and argued and +entreated; but all that his wife would say in answer was: + +"I must have an allowance. I am going to Paris, and my children +are to remain here." + +At last he yielded, and she went at once to Paris, taking her +daughter with her, and having the promise of fifteen hundred +francs a year out of the half-million that was hers by right. + +In Paris she developed into a thorough-paced Bohemian. She tried +to make a living in sundry hopeless ways, and at last she took to +literature. She was living in a garret, with little to eat, and +sometimes without a fire in winter. She had some friends who +helped her as well as they could, but though she was attached to +the Figaro, her earnings for the first month amounted to only +fifteen francs. + +Nevertheless, she would not despair. The editors and publishers +might turn the cold shoulder to her, but she would not give up her +ambitions. She went down into the Latin Quarter, and there shook +off the proprieties of life. She assumed the garb of a man, and +with her quick perception she came to know the left bank of the +Seine just as she had known the country-side at Nohant or the +little world at her convent school. She never expected again to +see any woman of her own rank in life. Her mother's influence +became strong in her. She wrote: + +The proprieties are the guiding principle of people without soul +and virtue. The good opinion of the world is a prostitute who +gives herself to the highest bidder. + +She still pursued her trade of journalism, calling herself a +"newspaper mechanic," sitting all day in the office of the Figaro +and writing whatever was demanded, while at night she would prowl +in the streets haunting the cafes, continuing to dress like a man, +drinking sour wine, and smoking cheap cigars. + +One of her companions in this sort of hand-to-mouth journalism was +a young student and writer named Jules Sandeau, a man seven years +younger than his comrade. He was at that time as indigent as she, +and their hardships, shared in common, brought them very close +together. He was clever, boyish, and sensitive, and it was not +long before he had fallen at her feet and kissed her knees, +begging that she would requite the love he felt for her. According +to herself, she resisted him for six months, and then at last she +yielded. The two made their home together, and for a while were +wonderfully happy. Their work and their diversions they enjoyed in +common, and now for the first time she experienced emotions which +in all probability she had never known before. + +Probably not very much importance is to be given to the earlier +flirtations of George Sand, though she herself never tried to stop +the mouth of scandal. Even before she left her husband, she was +credited with having four lovers; but all she said, when the +report was brought to her, was this: "Four lovers are none too +many for one with such lively passions as mine." + +This very frankness makes it likely that she enjoyed shocking her +prim neighbors at Nohant. But if she only played at love-making +then, she now gave herself up to it with entire abandonment, +intoxicated, fascinated, satisfied. She herself wrote: + +How I wish I could impart to you this sense of the intensity and +joyousness of life that I have in my veins. To live! How sweet it +is, and how good, in spite of annoyances, husbands, debts, +relations, scandal-mongers, sufferings, and irritations! To live! +It is intoxicating! To love, and to be loved! It is happiness! It +is heaven! + +In collaboration with Jules Sandeau, she wrote a novel called Rose +et Blanche. The two lovers were uncertain what name to place upon +the title-page, but finally they hit upon the pseudonym of Jules +Sand. The book succeeded; but thereafter each of them wrote +separately, Jules Sandeau using his own name, and Mme. Dudevant +styling herself George Sand, a name by which she was to be +illustrious ever after. + +As a novelist, she had found her real vocation. She was not yet +well known, but she was on the verge of fame. As soon as she had +written Indiana and Valentine, George Sand had secured a place in +the world of letters. The magazine which still exists as the Revue +des Deux Mondes gave her a retaining fee of four thousand francs a +year, and many other publications begged her to write serial +stories for them. + +The vein which ran through all her stories was new and piquant. As +was said of her: + +In George Sand, whenever a lady wishes to change her lover, God is +always there to make the transfer easy. + +In other words, she preached free love in the name of religion. +This was not a new doctrine with her. After the first break with +her husband, she had made up her mind about certain matters, and +wrote: + +One is no more justified in claiming the ownership of a soul than +in claiming the ownership of a slave. + +According to her, the ties between a man and a woman are sacred +only when they are sanctified by love; and she distinguished +between love and passion in this epigram: + +Love seeks to give, while passion seeks to take. + +At this time, George Sand was in her twenty-seventh year. She was +not beautiful, though there was something about her which +attracted observation. Of middle height, she was fairly slender. +Her eyes were somewhat projecting, and her mouth was almost sullen +when in repose. Her manners were peculiar, combining boldness with +timidity. Her address was almost as familiar as a man's, so that +it was easy to be acquainted with her; yet a certain haughtiness +and a touch of aristocratic pride made it plain that she had drawn +a line which none must pass without her wish. When she was deeply +stirred, however, she burst forth into an extraordinary vivacity, +showing a nature richly endowed and eager to yield its treasures. + +The existence which she now led was a curious one. She still +visited her husband at Nohant, so that she might see her son, and +sometimes, when M. Dudevant came to town, he called upon her in +the apartments which she shared with Jules Sandeau. He had +accepted the situation, and with his crudeness and lack of feeling +he seemed to think it, if not natural, at least diverting. At any +rate, so long as he could retain her half-million francs, he was +not the man to make trouble about his former wife's arrangements. + +Meanwhile, there began to be perceptible the very slightest rift +within the lute of her romance. Was her love for Sandeau really +love, or was it only passion? In his absence, at any rate, the old +obsession still continued. Here we see, first of all, intense +pleasure shading off into a sort of maternal fondness. She sends +Sandeau adoring letters. She is afraid that his delicate appetite +is not properly satisfied. + +Yet, again, there are times when she feels that he is irritating +and ill. Those who knew them said that her nature was too +passionate and her love was too exacting for him. One of her +letters seems to make this plain. She writes that she feels +uneasy, and even frightfully remorseful, at seeing Sandeau "pine +away." She knows, she avows, that she is killing him, that her +caresses are a poison, and her love a consuming fire. + +It is an appalling thought, and Jules will not understand it. He +laughs at it; and when, in the midst of his transports of delight, +the idea comes to me and makes my blood run cold, he tells me that +here is the death that he would like to die. At such moments he +promises whatever I make him promise. + +This letter throws a clear light upon the nature of George Sand's +temperament. It will be found all through her career, not only +that she sought to inspire passion, but that she strove to gratify +it after fashions of her own. One little passage from a +description of her written by the younger Dumas will perhaps make +this phase of her character more intelligible, without going +further than is strictly necessary: + +Mme. Sand has little hands without any bones, soft and plump. She +is by destiny a woman of excessive curiosity, always disappointed, +always deceived in her incessant investigation, but she is not +fundamentally ardent. In vain would she like to be so, but she +does not find it possible. Her physical nature utterly refuses. + +The reader will find in all that has now been said the true +explanation of George Sand. Abounding with life, but incapable of +long stretches of ardent love, she became a woman who sought +conquests everywhere without giving in return more than her +temperament made it possible for her to do. She loved Sandeau as +much as she ever loved any man; and yet she left him with a sense +that she had never become wholly his. Perhaps this is the reason +why their romance came to an end abruptly, and not altogether +fittingly. + +She had been spending a short time at Nohant, and came to Paris +without announcement. She intended to surprise her lover, and she +surely did so. She found him in the apartment that had been +theirs, with his arms about an attractive laundry-girl. Thus +closed what was probably the only true romance in the life of +George Sand. Afterward she had many lovers, but to no one did she +so nearly become a true mate. + +As it was, she ended her association with Sandeau, and each +pursued a separate path to fame. Sandeau afterward became a well- +known novelist and dramatist. He was, in fact, the first writer of +fiction who was admitted to the French Academy. The woman to whom +he had been unfaithful became greater still, because her fame was +not only national, but cosmopolitan. + +For a time after her deception by Sandeau, she felt absolutely +devoid of all emotions. She shunned men, and sought the friendship +of Marie Dorval, a clever actress who was destined afterward to +break the heart of Alfred de Vigny. The two went down into the +country; and there George Sand wrote hour after hour, sitting by +her fireside, and showing herself a tender mother to her little +daughter Solange. + +This life lasted for a while, but it was not the sort of life that +would now content her. She had many visitors from Paris, among +them Sainte-Beuve, the critic, who brought with him Prosper +Merimee, then unknown, but later famous as master of revels to the +third Napoleon and as the author of Carmen. Merimee had a certain +fascination of manner, and the predatory instincts of George Sand +were again aroused. One day, when she felt bored and desperate, +Merimee paid his court to her, and she listened to him. This is +one of the most remarkable of her intimacies, since it began, +continued, and ended all in the space of a single week. When +Merimee left Nohant, he was destined never again to see George +Sand, except long afterward at a dinner-party, where the two +stared at each other sharply, but did not speak. This affair, +however, made it plain that she could not long remain at Nohant, +and that she pined for Paris. + +Returning thither, she is said to have set her cap at Victor Hugo, +who was, however, too much in love with himself to care for any +one, especially a woman who was his literary rival. She is said +for a time to have been allied with Gustave Planche, a dramatic +critic; but she always denied this, and her denial may be taken as +quite truthful. Soon, however, she was to begin an episode which +has been more famous than any other in her curious history, for +she met Alfred de Musset, then a youth of twenty-three, but +already well known for his poems and his plays. + +Musset was of noble birth. He would probably have been better for +a plebeian strain, since there was in him a touch of the +degenerate. His mother's father had published a humanitarian poem +on cats. His great-uncle had written a peculiar novel. Young +Alfred was nervous, delicate, slightly epileptic, and it is +certain that he was given to dissipation, which so far had +affected his health only by making him hysterical. He was an +exceedingly handsome youth, with exquisite manners, "dreamy rather +than dazzling eyes, dilated nostrils, and vermilion lips half +opened." Such was he when George Sand, then seven years his +senior, met him. + +There is something which, to the Anglo-Saxon mind, seems far more +absurd than pathetic about the events which presently took place. +A woman like George Sand at thirty was practically twice the age +of this nervous boy of twenty-three, who had as yet seen little of +the world. At first she seemed to realize the fact herself; but +her vanity led her to begin an intrigue, which must have been +almost wholly without excitement on her part, but which to him, +for a time, was everything in the world. + +Experimenting, as usual, after the fashion described by Dumas, she +went with De Musset for a "honeymoon" to Fontainebleau. But they +could not stay there forever, and presently they decided upon a +journey to Italy. Before they went, however, they thought it +necessary to get formal permission from Alfred's mother! + +Naturally enough, Mme. de Musset refused consent. She had read +George Sand's romances, and had asked scornfully: + +"Has the woman never in her life met a gentleman?" + +She accepted the relations between them, but that she should be +asked to sanction this sort of affair was rather too much, even +for a French mother who has become accustomed to many strange +things. Then there was a curious happening. At nine o'clock at +night, George Sand took a cab and drove to the house of Mme. de +Musset, to whom she sent up a message that a lady wished to see +her. Mme. de Musset came down, and, finding a woman alone in a +carriage, she entered it. Then George Sand burst forth in a +torrent of sentimental eloquence. She overpowered her lover's +mother, promised to take great care of the delicate youth, and +finally drove away to meet Alfred at the coach-yard. + +They started off in the mist, their coach being the thirteenth to +leave the yard; but the two lovers were in a merry mood, and +enjoyed themselves all the way from Paris to Marseilles. By +steamer they went to Leghorn; and finally, in January, 1834, they +took an apartment in a hotel at Venice. What had happened that +their arrival in Venice should be the beginning of a quarrel, no +one knows. George Sand has told the story, and Paul de Musset-- +Alfred's brother--has told the story, but each of them has +doubtless omitted a large part of the truth. + +It is likely that on their long journey each had learned too much +of the other. Thus, Paul de Musset says that George Sand made +herself outrageous by her conversation, telling every one of her +mother's adventures in the army of Italy, including her relations +with the general-in-chief. She also declared that she herself was +born within a month of her parents' wedding-day. Very likely she +did say all these things, whether they were true or not. She had +set herself to wage war against conventional society, and she did +everything to shock it. + +On the other hand, Alfred de Musset fell ill after having lost ten +thousand francs in a gambling-house. George Sand was not fond of +persons who were ill. She herself was working like a horse, +writing from eight to thirteen hours a day. When Musset collapsed +she sent for a handsome young Italian doctor named Pagello, with +whom she had struck up a casual acquaintance. He finally cured +Musset, but he also cured George Sand of any love for Musset. + +Before long she and Pagello were on their way back to Paris, +leaving the poor, fevered, whimpering poet to bite his nails and +think unutterable things. But he ought to have known George Sand. +After that, everybody knew her. They knew just how much she cared +when she professed to care, and when she acted as she acted with +Pagello no earlier lover had any one but himself to blame. + +Only sentimentalists can take this story seriously. To them it has +a sort of morbid interest. They like to picture Musset raving and +shouting in his delirium, and then, to read how George Sand sat on +Pagello's knees, kissing him and drinking out of the same cup. But +to the healthy mind the whole story is repulsive--from George +Sand's appeal to Mme. de Musset down to the very end, when Pagello +came to Paris, where his broken French excited a polite ridicule. + +There was a touch of genuine sentiment about the affair with Jules +Sandeau; but after that, one can only see in George Sand a half- +libidinous grisette, such as her mother was before her, with a +perfect willingness to experiment in every form of lawless love. +As for Musset, whose heart she was supposed to have broken, within +a year he was dangling after the famous singer, Mme. Malibran, and +writing poems to her which advertised their intrigue. + +After this episode with Pagello, it cannot be said that the life +of George Sand was edifying in any respect, because no one can +assume that she was sincere. She had loved Jules Sandeau as much +as she could love any one, but all the rest of her intrigues and +affinities were in the nature of experiments. She even took back +Alfred de Musset, although they could never again regard each +other without suspicion. George Sand cut off all her hair and gave +it to Musset, so eager was she to keep him as a matter of +conquest; but he was tired of her, and even this theatrical trick +was of no avail. + +She proceeded to other less known and less humiliating adventures. +She tried to fascinate the artist Delacroix. She set her cap at +Franz Liszt, who rather astonished her by saying that only God was +worthy to be loved. She expressed a yearning for the affections of +the elder Dumas; but that good-natured giant laughed at her, and +in fact gave her some sound advice, and let her smoke +unsentimentally in his study. She was a good deal taken with a +noisy demagogue named Michel, a lawyer at Bourges, who on one +occasion shut her up in her room and harangued her on sociology +until she was as weary of his talk as of his wooden shoes, his +shapeless greatcoat, his spectacles, and his skull-cap, Balzac +felt her fascination, but cared nothing for her, since his love +was given to Mme. Hanska. + +In the meanwhile, she was paying visits to her husband at Nohant, +where she wrangled with him over money matters, and where he would +once have shot her had the guests present not interfered. She +secured her dowry by litigation, so that she was well off, even +without her literary earnings. These were by no means so large as +one would think from her popularity and from the number of books +she wrote. It is estimated that her whole gains amounted to about +a million francs, extending over a period of forty-five years. It +is just half the amount that Trollope earned in about the same +period, and justifies his remark--"adequate, but not splendid." + +One of those brief and strange intimacies that marked the career +of George Sand came about in a curious way. Octave Feuillet, a man +of aristocratic birth, had set himself to write novels which +portrayed the cynicism and hardness of the upper classes in +France. One of these novels, Sibylle, excited the anger of George +Sand. She had not known Feuillet before; yet now she sought him +out, at first in order to berate him for his book, but in the end +to add him to her variegated string of lovers. + +It has been said of Feuillet that he was a sort of "domesticated +Musset." At any rate, he was far less sensitive than Musset, and +George Sand was about seventeen years his senior. They parted +after a short time, she going her way as a writer of novels that +were very different from her earlier ones, while Feuillet grew +more and more cynical and even stern, as he lashed the abnormal, +neuropathic men and women about him. + +The last great emotional crisis in George Sand's life was that +which centers around her relations with Frederic Chopin. Chopin +was the greatest genius who ever loved her. It is rather odd that +he loved her. She had known him for two years, and had not +seriously thought of him, though there is a story that when she +first met him she kissed him before he had even been presented to +her. She waited two years, and in those two years she had three +lovers. Then at last she once more met Chopin, when he was in a +state of melancholy, because a Polish girl had proved unfaithful +to him. + +It was the psychological moment; for this other woman, who was a +devourer of hearts, found him at a piano, improvising a +lamentation. George Sand stood beside him, listening. When he +finished and looked up at her, their eyes met. She bent down +without a word and kissed him on the lips. + +What was she like when he saw her then? Grenier has described her +in these words: + +She was short and stout, but her face attracted all my attention, +the eyes especially. They were wonderful eyes--a little too close +together, it may be, large, with full eyelids, and black, very +black, but by no means lustrous; they reminded me of unpolished +marble, or rather of velvet, and this gave a strange, dull, even +cold expression to her countenance. Her fine eyebrows and these +great placid eyes gave her an air of strength and dignity which +was not borne out by the lower part of her face. Her nose was +rather thick and not over shapely. Her mouth was also rather +coarse, and her chin small. She spoke with great simplicity, and +her manners were very quiet. + +Such as she was, she attached herself to Chopin for eight years. +At first they traveled together very quietly to Majorca; and +there, just as Musset had fallen ill at Venice, Chopin became +feverish and an invalid. "Chopin coughs most gracefully," George +Sand wrote of him, and again: + +Chopin is the most inconstant of men. There is nothing permanent +about him but his cough. + +It is not surprising if her nerves sometimes gave way. Acting as +sick nurse, writing herself with rheumatic fingers, robbed by +every one about her, and viewed with suspicion by the peasants +because she did not go to church, she may be perhaps excused for +her sharp words when, in fact, her deeds were kind. + +Afterward, with Chopin, she returned to Paris, and the two lived +openly together for seven years longer. An immense literature has +grown around the subject of their relations. To this literature +George Sand herself contributed very largely. Chopin never wrote a +word; but what he failed to do, his friends and pupils did +unsparingly. + +Probably the truth is somewhat as one might expect. During the +first period of fascination, George Sand was to Chopin what she +had been to Sandeau and to Musset; and with her strange and subtle +ways, she had undermined his health. But afterward that sort of +love died out, and was succeeded by something like friendship. At +any rate, this woman showed, as she had shown to others, a vast +maternal kindness. She writes to him finally as "your old woman," +and she does wonders in the way of nursing and care. + +But in 1847 came a break between the two. Whatever the mystery of +it may be, it turns upon what Chopin said of Sand: + +"I have never cursed any one, but now I am so weary of life that I +am near cursing her. Yet she suffers, too, and more, because she +grows older as she grows more wicked." + +In 1848, Chopin gave his last concert in Paris, and in 1849 he +died. According to some, he was the victim of a Messalina. +According to others, it was only "Messalina" that had kept him +alive so long. + +However, with his death came a change in the nature of George +Sand. Emotionally, she was an extinct volcano. Intellectually, she +was at her very best. She no longer tore passions into tatters, +but wrote naturally, simply, stories of country life and tales for +children. In one of her books she has given an enduring picture of +the Franco-Prussian War. There are many rather pleasant +descriptions of her then, living at Nohant, where she made a +curious figure, bustling about in ill-fitting costumes, and +smoking interminable cigarettes. + +She had lived much, and she had drunk deep of life, when she died +in 1876. One might believe her to have been only a woman of +perpetual liaisons. Externally she was this, and yet what did +Balzac, that great master of human psychology, write of her in the +intimacy of a private correspondence? + +She is a female bachelor. She is an artist. She is generous. She +is devoted. She is chaste. Her dominant characteristics are those +of a man, and therefore, she is not to be regarded as a woman. She +is an excellent mother, adored by her children. Morally, she is +like a lad of twenty; for in her heart of hearts, she is more than +chaste--she is a prude. It is only in externals that she comports +herself as a Bohemian. All her follies are titles to glory in the +eyes of those whose souls are noble. + +A curious verdict this! Her love-life seems almost that of neither +man nor woman, but of an animal. Yet whether she was in reality +responsible for what she did, when we consider her strange +heredity, her wretched marriage, the disillusions of her early +life--who shall sit in judgment on her, since who knows all? + + + + + +THE MYSTERY OF CHARLES DICKENS + + +Perhaps no public man in the English-speaking world, in the last +century, was so widely and intimately known as Charles Dickens. +From his eighteenth year, when he won his first success in +journalism, down through his series of brilliant triumphs in +fiction, he was more and more a conspicuous figure, living in the +blaze of an intense publicity. He met every one and knew every +one, and was the companion of every kind of man and woman. He +loved to frequent the "caves of harmony" which Thackeray has +immortalized, and he was a member of all the best Bohemian clubs +of London. Actors, authors, good fellows generally, were his +intimate friends, and his acquaintance extended far beyond into +the homes of merchants and lawyers and the mansions of the +proudest nobles. Indeed, he seemed to be almost a universal +friend. + +One remembers, for instance, how he was called in to arbitrate +between Thackeray and George Augustus Sala, who had quarreled. One +remembers how Lord Byron's daughter, Lady Lovelace, when upon her +sick-bed, used to send for Dickens because there was something in +his genial, sympathetic manner that soothed her. Crushing pieces +of ice between her teeth in agony, she would speak to him and he +would answer her in his rich, manly tones until she was comforted +and felt able to endure more hours of pain without complaint. + +Dickens was a jovial soul. His books fairly steam with Christmas +cheer and hot punch and the savor of plum puddings, very much as +do his letters to his intimate friends. Everybody knew Dickens. He +could not dine in public without attracting attention. When he +left the dining-room, his admirers would descend upon his table +and carry off egg-shells, orange-peels, and other things that +remained behind, so that they might have memorials of this much- +loved writer. Those who knew him only by sight would often stop +him in the streets and ask the privilege of shaking hands with +him; so different was he from--let us say--Tennyson, who was as +great an Englishman in his way as Dickens, but who kept himself +aloof and saw few strangers. + +It is hard to associate anything like mystery with Dickens, though +he was fond of mystery as an intellectual diversion, and his last +unfinished novel was The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Moreover, no one +admired more than he those complex plots which Wilkie Collins used +to weave under the influence of laudanum. But as for his own life, +it seemed so normal, so free from anything approaching mystery, +that we can scarcely believe it to have been tinged with darker +colors than those which appeared upon the surface. + +A part of this mystery is plain enough. The other part is still +obscure--or of such a character that one does not care to bring it +wholly to the light. It had to do with his various relations with +women. + +The world at large thinks that it knows this chapter in the life +of Dickens, and that it refers wholly to his unfortunate +disagreement with his wife. To be sure, this is a chapter that is +writ large in all of his biographies, and yet it is nowhere +correctly told. His chosen biographer was John Forster, whose Life +of Charles Dickens, in three volumes, must remain a standard work; +but even Forster--we may assume through tact--has not set down all +that he could, although he gives a clue. + +As is well known, Dickens married Miss Catherine Hogarth when he +was only twenty-four. He had just published his Sketches by Boz, +the copyright of which he sold for one hundred pounds, and was +beginning the Pickwick Papers. About this time his publisher +brought N. P. Willis down to Furnival's Inn to see the man whom +Willis called "a young paragraphist for the Morning Chronicle." +Willis thus sketches Dickens and his surroundings: + +In the most crowded part of Holborn, within a door or two of the +Bull and Mouth Inn, we pulled up at the entrance of a large +building used for lawyers' chambers. I followed by a long flight +of stairs to an upper story, and was ushered into an uncarpeted +and bleak-looking room, with a deal table, two or three chairs and +a few books, a small boy and Mr. Dickens for the contents. + +I was only struck at first with one thing--and I made a memorandum +of it that evening as the strongest instance I had seen of English +obsequiousness to employers--the degree to which the poor author +was overpowered with the honor of his publisher's visit! I +remember saying to myself, as I sat down on a rickety chair: + +"My good fellow, if you were in America with that fine face and +your ready quill, you would have no need to be condescended to by +a publisher." + +Dickens was dressed very much as he has since described Dick +Swiveller, minus the swell look. His hair was cropped close to his +head, his clothes scant, though jauntily cut, and, after changing +a ragged office-coat for a shabby blue, he stood by the door, +collarless and buttoned up, the very personification of a close +sailer to the wind. + +Before this interview with Willis, which Dickens always +repudiated, he had become something of a celebrity among the +newspaper men with whom he worked as a stenographer. As every one +knows, he had had a hard time in his early years, working in a +blacking-shop, and feeling too keenly the ignominious position of +which a less sensitive boy would probably have thought nothing. +Then he became a shorthand reporter, and was busy at his work, so +that he had little time for amusements. + +It has been generally supposed that no love-affair entered his +life until he met Catherine Hogarth, whom he married soon after +making her acquaintance. People who are eager at ferreting out +unimportant facts about important men had unanimously come to the +conclusion that up to the age of twenty Dickens was entirely +fancy-free. It was left to an American to disclose the fact that +this was not the case, but that even in his teens he had been +captivated by a girl of about his own age. + +Inasmuch as the only reproach that was ever made against Dickens +was based upon his love-affairs, let us go back and trace them +from this early one to the very last, which must yet for some +years, at least, remain a mystery. + +Everything that is known about his first affair is contained in a +book very beautifully printed, but inaccessible to most readers. +Some years ago Mr. William K. Bixby, of St. Louis, found in London +a collector of curios. This man had in his stock a number of +letters which had passed between a Miss Maria Beadnell and Charles +Dickens when the two were about nineteen and a second package of +letters representing a later acquaintance, about 1855, at which +time Miss Beadnell had been married for a long time to a Mr. Henry +Louis Winter, of 12 Artillery Place, London. + +The copyright laws of Great Britain would not allow Mr. Bixby to +publish the letters in that country, and he did not care to give +them to the public here. Therefore, he presented them to the +Bibliophile Society, with the understanding that four hundred and +ninety-three copies, with the Bibliophile book-plate, were to be +printed and distributed among the members of the society. A few +additional copies were struck off, but these did not bear the +Bibliophile book-plate. Only two copies are available for other +readers, and to peruse these it is necessary to visit the +Congressional Library in Washington, where they were placed on +July 24, 1908. + +These letters form two series--the first written to Miss Beadnell +in or about 1829, and the second written to Mrs. Winter, formerly +Miss Beadnell, in 1855. + +The book also contains an introduction by Henry H. Harper, who +sets forth some theories which the facts, in my opinion, do not +support; and there are a number of interesting portraits, +especially one of Miss Beadnell in 1829--a lovely girl with dark +curls. Another shows her in 1855, when she writes of herself as +"old and fat"--thereby doing herself a great deal of injustice; +for although she had lost her youthful beauty, she was a very +presentable woman of middle age, but one who would not be +particularly noticed in any company. + +Summing up briefly these different letters, it may be said that in +the first set Dickens wrote to the lady ardently, but by no means +passionately. From what he says it is plain enough that she did +not respond to his feeling, and that presently she left London and +went to Paris, for her family was well-to-do, while Dickens was +living from hand to mouth. + +In the second set of letters, written long afterward, Mrs. Winter +seems to have "set her cap" at the now famous author; but at that +time he was courted by every one, and had long ago forgotten the +lady who had so easily dismissed him in his younger days. In 1855, +Mrs. Winter seems to have reproached him for not having been more +constant in the past; but he replied: + +You answered me coldly and reproachfully, and so I went my way. + +Mr. Harper, in his introduction, tries very hard to prove that in +writing David Copperfield Dickens drew the character of Dora from +Miss Beadnell. It is a dangerous thing to say from whom any +character in a novel is drawn. An author takes whatever suits his +purpose in circumstance and fancy, and blends them all into one +consistent whole, which is not to be identified with any +individual. There is little reason to think that the most intimate +friends of Dickens and of his family were mistaken through all the +years when they were certain that the boy husband and the girl +wife of David Copperfield were suggested by any one save Dickens +himself and Catherine Hogarth. + +Why should he have gone back to a mere passing fancy, to a girl +who did not care for him, and who had no influence on his life, +instead of picturing, as David's first wife, one whom he deeply +loved, whom he married, who was the mother of his children, and +who made a great part of his career, even that part which was +inwardly half tragic and wholly mournful? + +Miss Beadnell may have been the original of Flora in Little +Dorrit, though even this is doubtful. The character was at the +time ascribed to a Miss Anna Maria Leigh, whom Dickens sometimes +flirted with and sometimes caricatured. + +When Dickens came to know George Hogarth, who was one of his +colleagues on the staff of the Morning Chronicle, he met Hogarth's +daughters--Catherine, Georgina, and Mary--and at once fell +ardently in love with Catherine, the eldest and prettiest of the +three. He himself was almost girlish, with his fair complexion and +light, wavy hair, so that the famous sketch by Maclise has a +remarkable charm; yet nobody could really say with truth that any +one of the three girls was beautiful. Georgina Hogarth, however, +was sweet-tempered and of a motherly disposition. It may be that +in a fashion she loved Dickens all her life, as she remained with +him after he parted from her sister, taking the utmost care of his +children, and looking out with unselfish fidelity for his many +needs. + +It was Mary, however, the youngest of the Hogarths, who lived with +the Dickenses during the first twelvemonth of their married life. +To Dickens she was like a favorite sister, and when she died very +suddenly, in her eighteenth year, her loss was a great shock to +him. + +It was believed for a long time--in fact, until their separation-- +that Dickens and his wife were extremely happy in their home life. +His writings glorified all that was domestic, and paid many tender +tributes to the joys of family affection. When the separation came +the whole world was shocked. And yet rather early in Dickens's +married life there was more or less infelicity. In his +Retrospections of an Active Life, Mr. John Bigelow writes a few +sentences which are interesting for their frankness, and which +give us certain hints: + +Mrs. Dickens was not a handsome woman, though stout, hearty, and +matronly; there was something a little doubtful about her eye, and +I thought her endowed with a temper that might be very violent +when roused, though not easily rousable. Mrs. Caulfield told me +that a Miss Teman--I think that is the name--was the source of the +difficulty between Mrs. Dickens and her husband. She played in +private theatricals with Dickens, and he sent her a portrait in a +brooch, which met with an accident requiring it to be sent to the +jeweler's to be mended. The jeweler, noticing Mr. Dickens's +initials, sent it to his house. Mrs. Dickens's sister, who had +always been in love with him and was jealous of Miss Teman, told +Mrs. Dickens of the brooch, and she mounted her husband with comb +and brush. This, no doubt, was Mrs. Dickens's version, in the +main. + +A few evenings later I saw Miss Teman at the Haymarket Theatre, +playing with Buckstone and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mathews. She +seemed rather a small cause for such a serious result--passably +pretty, and not much of an actress. + +Here in one passage we have an intimation that Mrs. Dickens had a +temper that was easily roused, that Dickens himself was interested +in an actress, and that Miss Hogarth "had always been in love with +him, and was jealous of Miss Teman." + +Some years before this time, however, there had been growing in +the mind of Dickens a certain formless discontent--something to +which he could not give a name, yet which, cast over him the +shadow of disappointment. He expressed the same feeling in David +Copperfield, when he spoke of David's life with Dora. It seemed to +come from the fact that he had grown to be a man, while his wife +had still remained a child. + +A passage or two may be quoted from the novel, so that we may set +them beside passages in Dickens's own life, which we know to have +referred to his own wife, and not to any such nebulous person as +Mrs. Winter. + +The shadow I have mentioned that was not to be between us any +more, but was to rest wholly on my heart--how did that fall? The +old unhappy feeling pervaded my life. It was deepened, if it were +changed at all; but it was as undefined as ever, and addressed me +like a strain of sorrowful music faintly heard in the night. I +loved my wife dearly; but the happiness I had vaguely anticipated, +once, was not the happiness I enjoyed, AND THERE WAS ALWAYS +SOMETHING WANTING. + +What I missed I still regarded as something that had been a dream +of my youthful fancy; that was incapable of realization; that I +was now discovering to be so, with some natural pain, as all men +did. But that it would have been better for me if my wife could +have helped me more, and shared the many thoughts in which I had +no partner, and that this might have been I knew. + +What I am describing slumbered and half awoke and slept again in +the innermost recesses of my mind. There was no evidence of it to +me; I knew of no influence it had in anything I said or did. I +bore the weight of all our little cares and all my projects. + +"There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind +and purpose." These words I remembered. I had endeavored to adapt +Dora to myself, and found it impracticable. It remained for me to +adapt myself to Dora; to share with her what I could, and be +happy; to bear on my own shoulders what I must, and be still +happy. + +Thus wrote Dickens in his fictitious character, and of his +fictitious wife. Let us see how he wrote and how he acted in his +own person, and of his real wife. + +As early as 1856, he showed a curious and restless activity, as of +one who was trying to rid himself of unpleasant thoughts. Mr. +Forster says that he began to feel a strain upon his invention, a +certain disquietude, and a necessity for jotting down memoranda in +note-books, so as to assist his memory and his imagination. He +began to long for solitude. He would take long, aimless rambles +into the country, returning at no particular time or season. He +once wrote to Forster: + +I have had dreadful thoughts of getting away somewhere altogether +by myself. If I could have managed it, I think I might have gone +to the Pyrenees for six months. I have visions of living for half +a year or so in all sorts of inaccessible places, and of opening a +new book therein. A floating idea of going up above the snow-line, +and living in some astonishing convent, hovers over me. + +What do these cryptic utterances mean? At first, both in his novel +and in his letters, they are obscure; but before long, in each, +they become very definite. In 1856, we find these sentences among +his letters: + +The old days--the old days! Shall I ever, I wonder, get the frame +of mind back as it used to be then? Something of it, perhaps, but +never quite as it used to be. + +I find that the skeleton in my domestic closet is becoming a +pretty big one. + +His next letter draws the veil and shows plainly what he means: + +Poor Catherine and I are not made for each other, and there is no +help for it. It is not only that she makes me uneasy and unhappy, +but that I make her so, too--and much more so. We are strangely +ill-assorted for the bond that exists between us. + +Then he goes on to say that she would have been a thousand times +happier if she had been married to another man. He speaks of +"incompatibility," and a "difference of temperaments." In fact, it +is the same old story with which we have become so familiar, and +which is both as old as the hills and as new as this morning's +newspaper. + +Naturally, also, things grow worse, rather than better. Dickens +comes to speak half jocularly of "the plunge," and calculates as +to what effect it will have on his public readings. He kept back +the announcement of "the plunge" until after he had given several +readings; then, on April 29, 1858, Mrs. Dickens left his home. His +eldest son went to live with the mother, but the rest of the +children remained with their father, while his daughter Mary +nominally presided over the house. In the background, however, +Georgina Hogarth, who seemed all through her life to have cared +for Dickens more than for her sister, remained as a sort of guide +and guardian for his children. + +This arrangement was a private matter, and should not have been +brought to public attention; but it was impossible to suppress all +gossip about so prominent a man. Much of the gossip was +exaggerated; and when it came to the notice of Dickens it stung +him so severely as to lead him into issuing a public justification +of his course. He published a statement in Household Words, which +led to many other letters in other periodicals, and finally a long +one from him, which was printed in the New York Tribune, addressed +to his friend Mr. Arthur Smith. + +Dickens afterward declared that he had written this letter as a +strictly personal and private one, in order to correct false +rumors and scandals. Mr. Smith naturally thought that the +statement was intended for publication, but Dickens always spoke +of it as "the violated letter." + +By his allusions to a difference of temperament and to +incompatibility, Dickens no doubt meant that his wife had ceased +to be to him the same companion that she had been in days gone by. +As in so many cases, she had not changed, while he had. He had +grown out of the sphere in which he had been born, "associated +with blacking-boys and quilt-printers," and had become one of the +great men of his time, whose genius was universally admired. + +Mr. Bigelow saw Mrs. Dickens as she really was--a commonplace +woman endowed with the temper of a vixen, and disposed to +outbursts of actual violence when her jealousy was roused. + +It was impossible that the two could have remained together, when +in intellect and sympathy they were so far apart. There is nothing +strange about their separation, except the exceedingly bad taste +with which Dickens made it a public affair. It is safe to assume +that he felt the need of a different mate; and that he found one +is evident enough from the hints and bits of innuendo that are +found in the writings of his contemporaries. + +He became a pleasure-lover; but more than that, he needed one who +could understand his moods and match them, one who could please +his tastes, and one who could give him that admiration which he +felt to be his due; for he was always anxious to be praised, and +his letters are full of anecdotes relating to his love of praise. + +One does not wish to follow out these clues too closely. It is +certain that neither Miss Beadnell as a girl nor Mrs. Winter as a +matron made any serious appeal to him. The actresses who have been +often mentioned in connection with his name were, for the most +part, mere passing favorites. The woman who in life was Dora made +him feel the same incompleteness that he has described in his +best-known book. The companion to whom he clung in his later years +was neither a light-minded creature like Miss Beadnell, nor an +undeveloped, high-tempered woman like the one he married, nor a +mere domestic, friendly creature like Georgina Hogarth. + +Ought we to venture upon a quest which shall solve this mystery in +the life of Charles Dickens! In his last will and testament, drawn +up and signed by him about a year before his death, the first +paragraph reads as follows: + +I, Charles Dickens, of Gadshill Place, Higham, in the county of +Kent, hereby revoke all my former wills and codicils and declare +this to be my last will and testament. I give the sum of one +thousand pounds, free of legacy duty, to Miss Ellen Lawless +Ternan, late of Houghton Place, Ampthill Square, in the county of +Middlesex. + +In connection with this, read Mr. John Bigelow's careless jottings +made some fifteen years before. Remember the Miss "Teman," about +whose name he was not quite certain; the Hogarth sisters' dislike +of her; and the mysterious figure in the background of the +novelist's later life. Then consider the first bequest in his +will, which leaves a substantial sum to one who was neither a +relative nor a subordinate, but--may we assume--more than an +ordinary friend? + + + + + +HONORE DE BALZAC AND EVELINA HANSKA + + +I remember once, when editing an elaborate work on literature, +that the publisher called me into his private office. After the +door was closed, he spoke in tones of suppressed emotion. + +"Why is it," said he, "that you have such a lack of proportion? In +the selection you have made I find that only two pages are given +to George P. Morris, while you haven't given E. P. Roe any space +at all! Yet, look here--you've blocked out fifty pages for Balzac, +who was nothing but an immoral Frenchman!" + +I adjusted this difficulty, somehow or other--I do not just +remember how--and began to think that, after all, this publisher's +view of things was probably that of the English and American +public. It is strange that so many biographies and so many +appreciations of the greatest novelist who ever lived should still +have left him, in the eyes of the reading public, little more than +"an immoral Frenchman." + +"In Balzac," said Taine, "there was a money-broker, an +archeologist, an architect, an upholsterer, a tailor, an old- +clothes dealer, a journeyman apprentice, a physician, and a +notary." Balzac was also a mystic, a supernaturalist, and, above +all, a consummate artist. No one who is all these things in high +measure, and who has raised himself by his genius above his +countrymen, deserves the censure of my former publisher. + +Still less is Balzac to be dismissed as "immoral," for his life +was one of singular self-sacrifice in spite of much temptation. +His face was strongly sensual, his look and bearing denoted almost +savage power; he led a free life in a country which allowed much +freedom; and yet his story is almost mystic in its fineness of +thought, and in its detachment, which was often that of another +world. + +Balzac was born in 1799, at Tours, with all the traits of the +people of his native province--fond of eating and drinking, and +with plenty of humor. His father was fairly well off. Of four +children, our Balzac was the eldest. The third was his sister +Laure, who throughout his life was the most intimate friend he +had, and to whom we owe his rescue from much scandalous and untrue +gossip. From her we learn that their father was a combination of +Montaigne, Rabelais, and "Uncle Toby." + +Young Balzac went to a clerical school at seven, and stayed there +for seven years. Then he was brought home, apparently much +prostrated, although the good fathers could find nothing +physically amiss with him, and nothing in his studies to account +for his agitation. No one ever did discover just what was the +matter, for he seemed well enough in the next few years, basking +on the riverside, watching the activities of his native town, and +thoroughly studying the rustic types that he was afterward to make +familiar to the world. In fact, in Louis Lambert he has set before +us a picture of his own boyish life, very much as Dickens did of +his in David Copperfield. + +For some reason, when these years were over, the boy began to have +what is so often known as "a call"--a sort of instinct that he was +to attain renown. Unfortunately it happened that about this time +(1814) he and his parents removed to Paris, which was his home by +choice, until his death in 1850. He studied here under famous +teachers, and gave three years to the pursuit of law, of which he +was very fond as literary material, though he refused to practise. + +This was the more grievous, since a great part of the family +property had been lost. The Balzacs were afflicted by actual +poverty, and Honore endeavored, with his pen, to beat the wolf +back from the door. He earned a little money with pamphlets and +occasional stories, but his thirst for fame was far from +satisfied. He was sure that he was called to literature, and yet +he was not sure that he had the power to succeed. In one of his +letters to his sister, he wrote: + +I am young and hungry, and there is nothing on my plate. Oh, +Laure, Laure, my two boundless desires, my only ones--to be +famous, and to be loved--they ever be satisfied? + +For the next ten years he was learning his trade, and the artistic +use of the fiction writer's tools. What is more to the point, is +the fact that he began to dream of a series of great novels, which +should give a true and panoramic picture of the whole of human +life. This was the first intimation of his "Human Comedy," which +was so daringly undertaken and so nearly completed in his after +years. In his early days of obscurity, he said to his readers: + +Note well the characters that I introduce, since you will have to +follow their fortunes through thirty novels that are to come. + +Here we see how little he had been daunted by ill success, and how +his prodigious imagination had not been overcome by sorrow and +evil fortune. Meantime, writing almost savagely, and with a +feeling combined of ambition and despair, he had begun, very +slowly indeed, to create a public. These ten years, however, had +loaded him with debts; and his struggle to keep himself afloat +only plunged him deeper in the mire. His thirty unsigned novels +began to pay him a few hundred francs, not in cash, but in +promissory notes; so that he had to go still deeper into debt. + +In 1827 he was toiling on his first successful novel, and indeed +one of the best historic novels in French literature--The Chouans. +He speaks of his labor as "done with a tired brain and an anxious +mind," and of the eight or ten business letters that he had to +write each day before he could begin his literary work. + +"Postage and an omnibus are extravagances that I cannot allow +myself," he writes. "I stay at home so as not to wear out my +clothes. Is that clear to you?" + +At the end of the next year, though he was already popular as a +novelist, and much sought out by people of distinction, he was at +the very climax of his poverty. He had written thirty-five books, +and was in debt to the amount of a hundred and twenty-four +thousand francs. He was saved from bankruptcy only by the aid of +Mme. de Berny, a woman of high character, and one whose moral +influence was very strong with Balzac until her early death. + +The relation between these two has a sweetness and a purity which +are seldom found. Mme. de Berny gave Balzac money as she would +have given it to a son, and thereby she saved a great soul for +literature. But there was no sickly sentiment between them, and +Balzac regarded her with a noble love which he has expressed in +the character of Mme. Firmiani. + +It was immediately after she had lightened his burdens that the +real Balzac comes before us in certain stories which have no +equal, and which are among the most famous that he ever wrote. +What could be more wonderful than his El Verdugo, which gives us a +brief horror while compelling our admiration? What, outside of +Balzac himself, could be more terrible than Gobseck, a frightful +study of avarice, containing a deathbed scene which surpasses in +dreadfulness almost anything in literature? Add to these A Passion +in the Desert, The Girl with the Golden Eyes, The Droll Stories, +The Red Inn, and The Magic Skin, and you have a cluster of +masterpieces not to be surpassed. + +In the year 1829, when he was just beginning to attain a slight +success, Balzac received a long letter written in a woman's hand. +As he read it, there came to him something very like an +inspiration, so full of understanding were the written words, so +full of appreciation and of sympathy with the best that he had +done. This anonymous note pointed out here and there such defects +as are apt to become chronic with a young author. Balzac was +greatly stirred by its keen and sympathetic criticism. No one +before had read his soul so clearly. No one--not even his devoted +sister, Laure de Surville--had judged his work so wisely, had come +so closely to his deepest feeling. + +He read the letter over and over, and presently another came, full +of critical appreciation, and of wholesome, tonic, frank, friendly +words of cheer. It was very largely the effect of these letters +that roused Balzac's full powers and made him sure of winning the +two great objects of his first ambition--love and fame--the ideals +of the chivalrous, romantic Frenchman from Caesar's time down to +the present day. + +Other letters followed, and after a while their authorship was +made known to Balzac. He learned that they had been written by a +young Polish lady, Mme. Evelina Hanska, the wife of a Polish +count, whose health was feeble, and who spent much time in +Switzerland because the climate there agreed with him. + +He met her first at Neuchatel, and found her all that he had +imagined. It is said that she had no sooner raised her face, and +looked him fully in the eyes, than she fell fainting to the floor, +overcome by her emotion. Balzac himself was deeply moved. From +that day until their final meeting he wrote to her daily. + +The woman who had become his second soul was not beautiful. +Nevertheless, her face was intensely spiritual, and there was a +mystic quality about it which made a strong appeal to Balzac's +innermost nature. Those who saw him in Paris knocking about the +streets at night with his boon companions, hobnobbing with the +elder Dumas, or rejecting the frank advances of George Sand, would +never have dreamed of this mysticism. + +Balzac was heavy and broad of figure. His face was suggestive only +of what was sensuous and sensual. At the same time, those few who +looked into his heart and mind found there many a sign of the fine +inner strain which purified the grosser elements of his nature. He +who wrote the roaring Rabelaisian Contes Drolatiques was likewise +the author of Seraphita. + +This mysticism showed itself in many things that Balzac did. One +little incident will perhaps be sufficiently characteristic of +many others. He had a belief that names had a sort of esoteric +appropriateness. So, in selecting them for his novels, he gathered +them with infinite pains from many sources, and then weighed them +anxiously in the balance. A writer on the subject of names and +their significance has given the following account of this trait: + +The great novelist once spent an entire day tramping about in the +remotest quarters of Paris in search of a fitting name for a +character just conceived by him. Every sign-board, every door- +plate, every affiche upon the walls, was scrutinized. Thousands of +names were considered and rejected, and it was only after his +companion, utterly worn out by fatigue, had flatly refused to drag +his weary limbs through more than one additional street, that +Balzac suddenly saw upon a sign the name "Marcas," and gave a +shout of joy at having finally secured what he was seeking. + +Marcas it was, from that moment; and Balzac gradually evolved a +Christian name for him. First he considered what initial was most +appropriate; and then, having decided upon Z, he went on to expand +this into Zepherin, explaining minutely just why the whole name +Zepherin Marcas, was the only possible one for the character in +the novel. + +In many ways Balzac and Evelina Hanska were mated by nature. +Whether they were fully mated the facts of their lives must +demonstrate. For the present, the novelist plunged into a whirl of +literary labor, toiling as few ever toiled--constructing several +novels at the same time, visiting all the haunts of the French +capital, so that he might observe and understand every type of +human being, and then hurling himself like a giant at his work. + +He had a curious practise of reading proofs. These would come to +him in enormous sheets, printed on special paper, and with wide +margins for his corrections. An immense table stood in the midst +of his study, and upon the top he would spread out the proofs as +if they were vast maps. Then, removing most of his outer garments, +he would lie, face down, upon the proof-sheets, with a gigantic +pencil, such as Bismarck subsequently used to wield. Thus +disposed, he would go over the proofs. + +Hardly anything that he had written seemed to suit him when he saw +it in print. He changed and kept changing, obliterating what he +disliked, writing in new sentences, revising others, and adding +whole pages in the margins, until perhaps he had practically made +a new book. This process was repeated several times; and how +expensive it was may be judged from the fact that his bill for +"author's proof corrections" was sometimes more than the +publishers had agreed to pay him for the completed volume. + +Sometimes, again, he would begin writing in the afternoon, and +continue until dawn. Then, weary, aching in every bone, and with +throbbing head, he would rise and turn to fall upon his couch +after his eighteen hours of steady toil. But the memory of Evelina +Hanska always came to him; and with half-numbed fingers he would +seize his pen, and forget his weariness in the pleasure of writing +to the dark-eyed woman who drew him to her like a magnet. + +These are very curious letters that Balzac wrote to Mme. Hanska. +He literally told her everything about himself. Not only were +there long passages instinct with tenderness, and with his love +for her; but he also gave her the most minute account of +everything that occurred, and that might interest her. Thus he +detailed at length his mode of living, the clothes he wore, the +people whom he met, his trouble with his creditors, the accounts +of his income and outgo. One might think that this was egotism on +his part; but it was more than that. It was a strong belief that +everything which concerned him must concern her; and he begged her +in turn to write as freely and as fully. + +Mme. Hanska was not the only woman who became his friend and +comrade, and to whom he often wrote. He made many acquaintances in +the fashionable world through the good offices of the Duchesse de +Castries. By her favor, he studied with his microscopic gaze the +beau monde of Louis Philippe's rather unimpressive court. + +In a dozen books he scourged the court of the citizen king--its +pretensions, its commonness, and its assemblage of nouveaux +riches. Yet in it he found many friends--Victor Hugo, the +Girardins--and among them women who were of the world. George Sand +he knew very well, and she made ardent love to him; but he laughed +her off very much as the elder Dumas did. + +Then there was the pretty, dainty Mme. Carraud, who read and +revised his manuscripts, and who perhaps took a more intimate +interest in him than did the other ladies whom he came to know so +well. Besides Mme. Hanska, he had another correspondent who signed +herself "Louise," but who never let him know her name, though she +wrote him many piquant, sunny letters, which he so sadly needed. + +For though Honore de Balzac was now one of the most famous writers +of his time, his home was still a den of suffering. His debts kept +pressing on him, loading him down, and almost quenching hope. He +acted toward his creditors like a man of honor, and his physical +strength was still that of a giant. To Mme. Carraud he once wrote +the half pathetic, half humorous plaint: + +Poor pen! It must be diamond, not because one would wish to wear +it, but because it has had so much use! + +And again: + +Here I am, owing a hundred thousand francs. And I am forty! + +Balzac and Mme. Hanska met many times after that first eventful +episode at Neuchatel. It was at this time that he gave utterance +to the poignant cry: + +Love for me is life, and to-day I feel it more than ever! + +In like manner he wrote, on leaving her, that famous epigram: + +It is only the last love of a woman that can satisfy the first +love of a man. + +In 1842 Mme. Hanska's husband died. Balzac naturally expected that +an immediate marriage with the countess would take place; but the +woman who had loved him mystically for twelve years, and with a +touch of the physical for nine, suddenly draws back. She will not +promise anything. She talks of delays, owing to the legal +arrangements for her children. She seems almost a prude. An +American critic has contrasted her attitude with his: + +Every one knows how utterly and absolutely Balzac devoted to this +one woman all his genius, his aspiration, the thought of his every +moment; how every day, after he had labored like a slave for +eighteen hours, he would take his pen and pour out to her the most +intimate details of his daily life; how at her call he would leave +everything and rush across the continent to Poland or to Italy, +being radiantly happy if he could but see her face and be for a +few days by her side. The very thought of meeting her thrilled him +to the very depths of his nature, and made him, for weeks and even +months beforehand, restless, uneasy, and agitated, with an almost +painful happiness. + +It is the most startling proof of his immense vitality, both +physical and mental, that so tremendous an emotional strain could +be endured by him for years without exhausting his fecundity or +blighting his creativeness. + +With Balzac, however, it was the period of his most brilliant +work; and this was true in spite of the anguish of long +separations, and the complaints excited by what appears to be +caprice or boldness or a faint indifference. Even in Balzac one +notices toward the last a certain sense of strain underlying what +he wrote, a certain lack of elasticity and facility, if of nothing +more; yet on the whole it is likely that without this friendship +Balzac would have been less great than he actually became, as it +is certain that had it been broken off he would have ceased to +write or to care for anything whatever in the world. + +And yet, when they were free to marry, Mme. Hanska shrank away. +Not until 1846, four years after her husband's death, did she +finally give her promise to the eager Balzac. Then, in the +overflow of his happiness, his creative genius blazed up into a +most wonderful flame; but he soon discovered that the promise was +not to be at once fulfilled. The shock impaired that marvelous +vitality which had carried him through debt, and want, and endless +labor. + +It was at this moment, by the irony of fate, that his country +hailed him as one of the greatest of its men of genius. A golden +stream poured into his lap. His debts were not all extinguished, +but his income was so large that they burdened him no longer. + +But his one long dream was the only thing for which he cared; and +though in an exoteric sense this dream came true, its truth was +but a mockery. Evelina Hanska summoned him to Poland, and Balzac +went to her at once. There was another long delay, and for more +than a year he lived as a guest in the countess's mansion at +Wierzchownia; but finally, in March, 1850, the two were married. A +few weeks later they came back to France together, and occupied +the little country house, Les Jardies, in which, some decades +later, occurred Gambetta's mysterious death. + +What is the secret of this strange love, which in the woman seems +to be not precisely love, but something else? Balzac was always +eager for her presence. She, on the other hand, seems to have been +mentally more at ease when he was absent. Perhaps the explanation, +if we may venture upon one, is based upon a well-known +physiological fact. + +Love in its completeness is made up of two great elements--first, +the element that is wholly spiritual, that is capable of sympathy, +and tenderness, and deep emotion. The other element is the +physical, the source of passion, of creative energy, and of the +truly virile qualities, whether it be in man or woman. Now, let +either of these elements be lacking, and love itself cannot fully +and utterly exist. The spiritual nature in one may find its mate +in the spiritual nature of another; and the physical nature of one +may find its mate in the physical nature of another. But into +unions such as these, love does not enter in its completeness. If +there is any element lacking in either of those who think that +they can mate, their mating will be a sad and pitiful failure. + +It is evident enough that Mme. Hanska was almost wholly spiritual, +and her long years of waiting had made her understand the +difference between Balzac and herself. Therefore, she shrank from +his proximity, and from his physical contact, and it was perhaps +better for them both that their union was so quickly broken off by +death; for the great novelist died of heart disease only five +months after the marriage. + +If we wish to understand the mystery of Balzac's life--or, more +truly, the mystery of the life of the woman whom he married--take +up and read once more the pages of Seraphita, one of his poorest +novels and yet a singularly illuminating story, shedding light +upon a secret of the soul. + + + + + +CHARLES READE AND LAURA SEYMOUR + + +The instances of distinguished men, or of notable women, who have +broken through convention in order to find a fitting mate, are +very numerous. A few of these instances may, perhaps, represent +what is usually called a Platonic union. But the evidence is +always doubtful. The world is not possessed of abundant charity, +nor does human experience lead one to believe that intimate +relations between a man and a woman are compatible with Platonic +friendship. + +Perhaps no case is more puzzling than that which is found in the +life-history of Charles Reade and Laura Seymour. + +Charles Reade belongs to that brilliant group of English writers +and artists which included Dickens, Bulwer-Lytton, Wilkie Collins, +Tom Taylor, George Eliot, Swinburne, Sir Walter Besant, Maclise, +and Goldwin Smith. In my opinion, he ranks next to Dickens in +originality and power. His books are little read to-day; yet he +gave to the English stage the comedy "Masks and Faces," which is +now as much a classic as Goldsmith's "She Stoops to Conquer" or +Sheridan's "School for Scandal." His power as a novelist was +marvelous. Who can forget the madhouse episodes in Hard Cash, or +the great trial scene in Griffith Gaunt, or that wonderful +picture, in The Cloister and the Hearth, of Germany and Rome at +the end of the Middle Ages? Here genius has touched the dead past +and made it glow again with an intense reality. + +He was the son of a country gentleman, the lord of a manor which +had been held by his family before the Wars of the Boses. His +ancestors had been noted for their services in warfare, in +Parliament, and upon the bench. Reade, therefore, was in feeling +very much of an aristocrat. Sometimes he pushed his ancestral +pride to a whimsical excess, very much as did his own creation, +Squire Raby, in Put Yourself in His Place. + +At the same time he might very well have been called a Tory +democrat. His grandfather had married the daughter of a village +blacksmith, and Reade was quite as proud of this as he was of the +fact that another ancestor had been lord chief justice of England. +From the sturdy strain which came to him from the blacksmith he, +perhaps, derived that sledge-hammer power with which he wrote many +of his most famous chapters, and which he used in newspaper +controversies with his critics. From his legal ancestors there may +have come to him the love of litigation, which kept him often in +hot water. From those who had figured in the life of royal courts, +he inherited a romantic nature, a love of art, and a very delicate +perception of the niceties of cultivated usage. Such was Charles +Reade--keen observer, scholar, Bohemian--a man who could be both +rough and tender, and whose boisterous ways never concealed his +warm heart. + +Reade's school-days were Spartan in their severity. A teacher with +the appropriate name of Slatter set him hard tasks and caned him +unmercifully for every shortcoming. A weaker nature would have +been crushed. Reade's was toughened, and he learned to resist pain +and to resent wrong, so that hatred of injustice has been called +his dominating trait. + +In preparing himself for college he was singularly fortunate in +his tutors. One of them was Samuel Wilberforce, afterward Bishop +of Oxford, nicknamed, from his suavity of manner, "Soapy Sam"; and +afterward, when Reade was studying law, his instructor was Samuel +Warren, the author of that once famous novel, Ten Thousand a Year, +and the creator of "Tittlebat Titmouse." + +For his college at Oxford, Reade selected one of the most +beautiful and ancient--Magdalen--which he entered, securing what +is known as a demyship. Reade won his demyship by an extraordinary +accident. Always an original youth, his reading was varied and +valuable; but in his studies he had never tried to be minutely +accurate in small matters. At that time every candidate was +supposed to be able to repeat, by heart, the "Thirty-Nine +Articles." Reade had no taste for memorizing; and out of the whole +thirty-nine he had learned but three. His general examination was +good, though not brilliant. When he came to be questioned orally, +the examiner, by a chance that would not occur once in a million +times, asked the candidate to repeat these very articles. Reade +rattled them off with the greatest glibness, and produced so +favorable an impression that he was let go without any further +questioning. + +It must be added that his English essay was original, and this +also helped him; but had it not been for the other great piece of +luck he would, in Oxford phrase, have been "completely gulfed." As +it was, however, he was placed as highly as the young men who were +afterward known as Cardinal Newman and Sir Robert Lowe (Lord +Sherbrooke). + +At the age of twenty-one, Reade obtained a fellowship, which +entitled him to an income so long as he remained unmarried. It is +necessary to consider the significance of this when we look at his +subsequent career. The fellowship at Magdalen was worth, at the +outset, about twelve hundred dollars annually, and it gave him +possession of a suite of rooms free of any charge. He likewise +secured a Vinerian fellowship in law, to which was attached an +income of four hundred dollars. As time went on, the value of the +first fellowship increased until it was worth twenty-five hundred +dollars. Therefore, as with many Oxford men of his time, Charles +Reade, who had no other fortune, was placed in this position--if he +refrained from marrying, he had a home and a moderate income for +life, without any duties whatsoever. If he married, he must give +up his income and his comfortable apartments, and go out into the +world and struggle for existence. + +There was the further temptation that the possession of his +fellowship did not even necessitate his living at Oxford. He might +spend his time in London, or even outside of England, knowing that +his chambers at Magdalen were kept in order for him, as a resting- +place to which he might return whenever he chose. + +Reade remained a while at Oxford, studying books and men-- +especially the latter. He was a great favorite with the +undergraduates, though less so with the dons. He loved the boat- +races on the river; he was a prodigious cricket-player, and one of +the best bowlers of his time. He utterly refused to put on any of +the academic dignity which his associates affected. He wore loud +clothes. His flaring scarfs were viewed as being almost +scandalous, very much as Longfellow's parti-colored waistcoats +were regarded when he first came to Harvard as a professor. + +Charles Reade pushed originality to eccentricity. He had a passion +for violins, and ran himself into debt because he bought so many +and such good ones. Once, when visiting his father's house at +Ipsden, he shocked the punctilious old gentleman by dancing on the +dining-table to the accompaniment of a fiddle, which he scraped +delightedly. Dancing, indeed, was another of his diversions, and, +in spite of the fact that he was a fellow of Magdalen and a D.C.L. +of Oxford, he was always ready to caper and to display the new +steps. + +In the course of time, he went up to London; and at once plunged +into the seething tide of the metropolis. He made friends far and +wide, and in every class and station--among authors and +politicians, bishops and bargees, artists and musicians. Charles +Reade learned much from all of them, and all of them were fond of +him. + +But it was the theater that interested him most. Nothing else +seemed to him quite so fine as to be a successful writer for the +stage. He viewed the drama with all the reverence of an ancient +Greek. On his tombstone he caused himself to be described as +"Dramatist, novelist, journalist." + +"Dramatist" he put first of all, even after long experience had +shown him that his greatest power lay in writing novels. But in +this early period he still hoped for fame upon the stage. + +It was not a fortunate moment for dramatic writers. Plays were +bought outright by the managers, who were afraid to risk any +considerable sum, and were very shy about risking anything at all. +The system had not yet been established according to which an +author receives a share of the money taken at the box-office. +Consequently, Reade had little or no financial success. He adapted +several pieces from the French, for which he was paid a few bank- +notes. "Masks and Faces" got a hearing, and drew large audiences, +but Reade had sold it for a paltry sum; and he shared the honors +of its authorship with Tom Taylor, who was then much better known. + +Such was the situation. Reade was personally liked, but his plays +were almost all rejected. He lived somewhat extravagantly and ran +into debt, though not very deeply. He had a play entitled +"Christie Johnstone," which he believed to be a great one, though +no manager would venture to produce it. Reade, brooding, grew thin +and melancholy. Finally, he decided that he would go to a leading +actress at one of the principal theaters and try to interest her +in his rejected play. The actress he had in mind was Laura +Seymour, then appearing at the Haymarket under the management of +Buckstone; and this visit proved to be the turning-point in +Reade's whole life. + +Laura Seymour was the daughter of a surgeon at Bath--a man in +large practise and with a good income, every penny of which he +spent. His family lived in lavish style; but one morning, after he +had sat up all night playing cards, his little daughter found him +in the dining-room, stone dead. After his funeral it appeared that +he had left no provision for his family. A friend of his--a Jewish +gentleman of Portuguese extraction--showed much kindness to the +children, settling their affairs and leaving them with some money +in the bank; but, of course, something must be done. + +The two daughters removed to London, and at a very early age Laura +had made for herself a place in the dramatic world, taking small +parts at first, but rising so rapidly that in her fifteenth year +she was cast for the part of Juliet. As an actress she led a life +of strange vicissitudes. At one time she would be pinched by +poverty, and at another time she would be well supplied with +money, which slipped through her fingers like water. She was a +true Bohemian, a happy-go-lucky type of the actors of her time. + +From all accounts, she was never very beautiful; but she had an +instinct for strange, yet effective, costumes, which attracted +much attention. She has been described as "a fluttering, buoyant, +gorgeous little butterfly." Many were drawn to her. She was +careless of what she did, and her name was not untouched with +scandal. But she lived through it all, and emerged a clever, +sympathetic woman of wide experience, both on the stage and off +it. + +One of her admirers--an elderly gentleman named Seymour--came to +her one day when she was in much need of money, and told her that +he had just deposited a thousand pounds to her credit at the bank. +Having said this, he left the room precipitately. It was the +beginning of a sort of courtship; and after a while she married +him. Her feeling toward him was one of gratitude. There was no +sentiment about it; but she made him a good wife, and gave no +further cause for gossip. + +Such was the woman whom Charles Reade now approached with the +request that she would let him read to her a portion of his play. +He had seen her act, and he honestly believed her to be a dramatic +genius of the first order. Few others shared this belief; but she +was generally thought of as a competent, though by no means +brilliant, actress. Reade admired her extremely, so that at the +very thought of speaking with her his emotions almost choked him. + +In answer to a note, she sent word that he might call at her +house. He was at this time (1849) in his thirty-eighth year. The +lady was a little older, and had lost something of her youthful +charm; yet, when Reade was ushered into her drawing-room, she +seemed to him the most graceful and accomplished woman whom he had +ever met. + +She took his measure, or she thought she took it, at a glance. +Here was one of those would-be playwrights who live only to +torment managers and actresses. His face was thin, from which she +inferred that he was probably half starved. His bashfulness led +her to suppose that he was an inexperienced youth. Little did she +imagine that he was the son of a landed proprietor, a fellow of +one of Oxford's noblest colleges, and one with friends far higher +in the world than herself. Though she thought so little of him, +and quite expected to be bored, she settled herself in a soft +armchair to listen. The unsuccessful playwright read to her a +scene or two from his still unfinished drama. She heard him +patiently, noting the cultivated accent of his voice, which proved +to her that he was at least a gentleman. When he had finished, she +said: + +"Yes, that's good! The plot is excellent." Then she laughed a sort +of stage laugh, and remarked lightly: "Why don't you turn it into +a novel?" + +Reade was stung to the quick. Nothing that she could have said +would have hurt him more. Novels he despised; and here was this +woman, the queen of the English stage, as he regarded her, +laughing at his drama and telling him to make a novel of it. He +rose and bowed. + +"I am trespassing on your time," he said; and, after barely +touching the fingers of her outstretched hand, he left the room +abruptly. + +The woman knew men very well, though she scarcely knew Charles +Reade. Something in his melancholy and something in his manner +stirred her heart. It was not a heart that responded to emotions +readily, but it was a very good-natured heart. Her explanation of +Reade's appearance led her to think that he was very poor. If she +had not much tact, she had an abundant store of sympathy; and so +she sat down and wrote a very blundering but kindly letter, in +which she enclosed a five-pound note. + +Reade subsequently described his feelings on receiving this letter +with its bank-note. He said: + +"I, who had been vice-president of Magdalen--I, who flattered +myself I was coming to the fore as a dramatist--to have a five- +pound note flung at my head, like a ticket for soup to a pauper, +or a bone to a dog, and by an actress, too! Yet she said my +reading was admirable; and, after all, there is much virtue in a +five-pound note. Anyhow, it showed the writer had a good heart." + +The more he thought of her and of the incident, the more comforted +he was. He called on her the next day without making an +appointment; and when she received him, he had the five-pound note +fluttering in his hand. + +She started to speak, but he interrupted her. + +"No," he said, "that is not what I wanted from you. I wanted +sympathy, and you have unintentionally supplied it." + +Then this man, whom she had regarded as half starved, presented +her with an enormous bunch of hothouse grapes, and the two sat +down and ate them together, thus beginning a friendship which +ended only with Laura Seymour's death. + +Oddly enough, Mrs. Seymour's suggestion that Reade should make a +story of his play was a suggestion which he actually followed. It +was to her guidance and sympathy that the world owes the great +novels which he afterward composed. If he succeeded on the stage +at all, it was not merely in "Masks and Faces," but in his +powerful dramatization of Zola's novel, L'Assommoir, under the +title "Drink," in which the late Charles Warner thrilled and +horrified great audiences all over the English-speaking world. Had +Reade never known Laura Seymour, he might never have written so +strong a drama. + +The mystery of Reade's relations with this woman can never be +definitely cleared up. Her husband, Mr. Seymour, died not long +after she and Reade became acquainted. Then Reade and several +friends, both men and women, took a house together; and Laura +Seymour, now a clever manager and amiable hostess, looked after +all the practical affairs of the establishment. One by one, the +others fell away, through death or by removal, until at last these +two were left alone. Then Reade, unable to give up the +companionship which meant so much to him, vowed that she must +still remain and care for him. He leased a house in Sloane Street, +which he has himself described in his novel A Terrible Temptation. +It is the chapter wherein Reade also draws his own portrait in the +character of Francis Bolfe: + +The room was rather long, low, and nondescript; scarlet flock +paper; curtains and sofas, green Utrecht velvet; woodwork and +pillars, white and gold; two windows looking on the street; at the +other end folding-doors, with scarcely any woodwork, all plate +glass, but partly hidden by heavy curtains of the same color and +material as the others. + +At last a bell rang; the maid came in and invited Lady Bassett to +follow her. She opened the glass folding-doors and took them into +a small conservatory, walled like a grotto, with ferns sprouting +out of rocky fissures, and spars sparkling, water dripping. Then +she opened two more glass folding-doors, and ushered them into an +empty room, the like of which Lady Bassett had never seen; it was +large in itself, and multiplied tenfold by great mirrors from +floor to ceiling, with no frames but a narrow oak beading; +opposite her, on entering, was a bay window, all plate glass, the +central panes of which opened, like doors, upon a pretty little +garden that glowed with color, and was backed by fine trees +belonging to the nation; for this garden ran up to the wall of +Hyde Park. + +The numerous and large mirrors all down to the ground laid hold of +the garden and the flowers, and by double and treble reflection +filled the room with delightful nooks of verdure and color. + +Here are the words in which Reade describes himself as he looked +when between fifty and sixty years of age: + +He looked neither like a poet nor a drudge, but a great fat +country farmer. He was rather tall, very portly, smallish head, +commonplace features, mild brown eye not very bright, short beard, +and wore a suit of tweed all one color. + +Such was the house and such was the man over both of which Laura +Seymour held sway until her death in 1879. What must be thought of +their relations? She herself once said to Mr. John Coleman: + +"As for our positions--his and mine--we are partners, nothing +more. He has his bank-account, and I have mine. He is master of +his fellowship and his rooms at Oxford, and I am mistress of this +house, but not his mistress! Oh, dear, no!" + +At another time, long after Mr. Seymour's death, she said to an +intimate friend: + +"I hope Mr. Reade will never ask me to marry him, for I should +certainly refuse the offer." + +There was no reason why he should not have made this offer, +because his Oxford fellowship ceased to be important to him after +he had won fame as a novelist. Publishers paid him large sums for +everything he wrote. His debts were all paid off, and his income +was assured. Yet he never spoke of marriage, and he always +introduced his friend as "the lady who keeps my house for me." + +As such, he invited his friends to meet her, and as such, she even +accompanied him to Oxford. There was no concealment, and +apparently there was nothing to conceal. Their manner toward each +other was that of congenial friends. Mrs. Seymour, in fact, might +well have been described as "a good fellow." Sometimes she +referred to him as "the doctor," and sometimes by the nickname +"Charlie." He, on his side, often spoke of her by her last name as +"Seymour," precisely as if she had been a man. One of his +relatives rather acutely remarked about her that she was not a +woman of sentiment at all, but had a genius for friendship; and +that she probably could not have really loved any man at all. + +This is, perhaps, the explanation of their intimacy. If so, it is +a very remarkable instance of Platonic friendship. It is certain +that, after she met Reade, Mrs. Seymour never cared for any other +man. It is no less certain that he never cared for any other +woman. When she died, five years before his death, his life became +a burden to him. It was then that he used to speak of her as "my +lost darling" and "my dove." He directed that they should be +buried side by side in Willesden churchyard. Over the monument +which commemorates them both, he caused to be inscribed, in +addition to an epitaph for himself, the following tribute to his +friend. One should read it and accept the touching words as +answering every question that may be asked: + +Here lies the great heart of Laura Seymour, a brilliant artist, a +humble Christian, a charitable woman, a loving daughter, sister, +and friend, who lived for others from her childhood. Tenderly +pitiful to all God's creatures--even to some that are frequently +destroyed or neglected--she wiped away the tears from many faces, +helping the poor with her savings and the sorrowful with her +earnest pity. When the eye saw her it blessed her, for her face +was sunshine, her voice was melody, and her heart was sympathy. + +This grave was made for her and for himself by Charles Reade, +whose wise counselor, loyal ally, and bosom friend she was for +twenty-four years, and who mourns her all his days. + +THE END + + + + + + +Project Gutenberg's Famous Affinities of History (Complete), by Lyndon Orr +***********This file should be named ffntc10.txt or ffntc10.zip*********** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, ffntc11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ffntc10a.txt + +This text was produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +More information about this book is at the top of this file. + +We are now trying to release all our etexts one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. 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