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diff --git a/old/ffntc10.txt b/old/ffntc10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e5e4ed --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ffntc10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15383 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Famous Affinities of History (Complete), by Lyndon Orr +#5 in our series by Lyndon Orr + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your own disk, +thereby keeping an electronic path open for future readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission. +The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the information +they need to understand what they may and may not do with the etext. +To encourage this, we have moved most of the information to the end, +rather than having it all here at the beginning. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and +further information, is included below. We need your donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 +Find out about how to make a donation at the bottom of this file. + + + +Title: Famous Affinities of History (Complete) + The Romance of Devotion +ŒFú‰^øëeÄ^ø&€uN&Ä_ &ƒ +Author: Lyndon Orr + +Release Date: November, 2003 [Etext #4693] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 3, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +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. + + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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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