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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4689-h.zip b/4689-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..05016a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/4689-h.zip diff --git a/4689-h/4689-h.htm b/4689-h/4689-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c8e402 --- /dev/null +++ b/4689-h/4689-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4942 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Famous Affinities of History, Vol 1, +by Lyndon Orr +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: medium ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Famous Affinities of History V1, by Lyndon Orr + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Famous Affinities of History V1 + The Romance of Devotion + +Author: Lyndon Orr + +Posting Date: August 24, 2009 [EBook #4689] +Release Date: November, 2003 +First Posted: March 3, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY V1 *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE ROMANCE OF DEVOTION +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LYNDON ORR +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VOLUME I OF IV. +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<H4> + <A HREF="#cleopatra">THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA</A><BR> + <A HREF="#abelard">ABELARD AND HELOISE</A><BR> + <A HREF="#elizabeth">QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER</A><BR> + <A HREF="#mary">MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL</A><BR> + <A HREF="#christina">QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS MONALDESCHI</A><BR> + <A HREF="#charles">KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN</A><BR> + <A HREF="#maurice">MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR</A><BR> + <A HREF="#stuart">THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART</A><BR> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="cleopatra"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA +</H3> + +<P> +Of all love stories that are known to human history, the love story of +Antony and Cleopatra has been for nineteen centuries the most +remarkable. It has tasked the resources of the plastic and the graphic +arts. It has been made the theme of poets and of prose narrators. It +has appeared and reappeared in a thousand forms, and it appeals as much +to the imagination to-day as it did when Antony deserted his almost +victorious troops and hastened in a swift galley from Actium in pursuit +of Cleopatra. +</P> + +<P> +The wonder of the story is explained by its extraordinary nature. Many +men in private life have lost fortune and fame for the love of woman. +Kings have incurred the odium of their people, and have cared nothing +for it in comparison with the joys of sense that come from the +lingering caresses and clinging kisses. Cold-blooded statesmen, such as +Parnell, have lost the leadership of their party and have gone down in +history with a clouded name because of the fascination exercised upon +them by some woman, often far from beautiful, and yet possessing the +mysterious power which makes the triumphs of statesmanship seem slight +in comparison with the swiftly flying hours of pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +But in the case of Antony and Cleopatra alone do we find a man flinging +away not merely the triumphs of civic honors or the headship of a +state, but much more than these—the mastery of what was practically +the world—in answer to the promptings of a woman's will. Hence the +story of the Roman triumvir and the Egyptian queen is not like any +other story that has yet been told. The sacrifice involved in it was so +overwhelming, so instantaneous, and so complete as to set this +narrative above all others. Shakespeare's genius has touched it with +the glory of a great imagination. Dryden, using it in the finest of his +plays, expressed its nature in the title "All for Love." +</P> + +<P> +The distinguished Italian historian, Signor Ferrero, the author of many +books, has tried hard to eliminate nearly all the romantic elements +from the tale, and to have us see in it not the triumph of love, but +the blindness of ambition. Under his handling it becomes almost a +sordid drama of man's pursuit of power and of woman's selfishness. Let +us review the story as it remains, even after we have taken full +account of Ferrero's criticism. Has the world for nineteen hundred +years been blinded by a show of sentiment? Has it so absolutely been +misled by those who lived and wrote in the days which followed closely +on the events that make up this extraordinary narrative? +</P> + +<P> +In answering these questions we must consider, in the first place, the +scene, and, in the second place, the psychology of the two central +characters who for so long a time have been regarded as the very +embodiment of unchecked passion. +</P> + +<P> +As to the scene, it must be remembered that the Egypt of those days was +not Egyptian as we understand the word, but rather Greek. Cleopatra +herself was of Greek descent. The kingdom of Egypt had been created by +a general of Alexander the Great after that splendid warrior's death. +Its capital, the most brilliant city of the Greco-Roman world, had been +founded by Alexander himself, who gave to it his name. With his own +hands he traced out the limits of the city and issued the most +peremptory orders that it should be made the metropolis of the entire +world. The orders of a king cannot give enduring greatness to a city; +but Alexander's keen eye and marvelous brain saw at once that the site +of Alexandria was such that a great commercial community planted there +would live and flourish throughout out succeeding ages. He was right; +for within a century this new capital of Egypt leaped to the forefront +among the exchanges of the world's commerce, while everything that art +could do was lavished on its embellishment. +</P> + +<P> +Alexandria lay upon a projecting tongue of land so situated that the +whole trade of the Mediterranean centered there. Down the Nile there +floated to its gates the barbaric wealth of Africa. To it came the +treasures of the East, brought from afar by caravans—silks from China, +spices and pearls from India, and enormous masses of gold and silver +from lands scarcely known. In its harbor were the vessels of every +country, from Asia in the East to Spain and Gaul and even Britain in +the West. +</P> + +<P> +When Cleopatra, a young girl of seventeen, succeeded to the throne of +Egypt the population of Alexandria amounted to a million souls. The +customs duties collected at the port would, in terms of modern money, +amount each year to more than thirty million dollars, even though the +imposts were not heavy. The people, who may be described as Greek at +the top and Oriental at the bottom, were boisterous and +pleasure-loving, devoted to splendid spectacles, with horse-racing, +gambling, and dissipation; yet at the same time they were an artistic +people, loving music passionately, and by no means idle, since one part +of the city was devoted to large and prosperous manufactories of linen, +paper, glass, and muslin. +</P> + +<P> +To the outward eye Alexandria was extremely beautiful. Through its +entire length ran two great boulevards, shaded and diversified by +mighty trees and parterres of multicolored flowers, amid which +fountains plashed and costly marbles gleamed. One-fifth of the whole +city was known as the Royal Residence. In it were the palaces of the +reigning family, the great museum, and the famous library which the +Arabs later burned. There were parks and gardens brilliant with +tropical foliage and adorned with the masterpieces of Grecian +sculpture, while sphinxes and obelisks gave a suggestion of Oriental +strangeness. As one looked seaward his eye beheld over the blue water +the snow-white rocks of the sheltering island, Pharos, on which was +reared a lighthouse four hundred feet in height and justly numbered +among the seven wonders of the world. Altogether, Alexandria was a city +of wealth, of beauty, of stirring life, of excitement, and of pleasure. +Ferrero has aptly likened it to Paris—not so much the Paris of to-day +as the Paris of forty years ago, when the Second Empire flourished in +all its splendor as the home of joy and strange delights. +</P> + +<P> +Over the country of which Alexandria was the capital Cleopatra came to +reign at seventeen. Following the odd custom which the Greek dynasty of +the Ptolemies had inherited from their Egyptian predecessors, she was +betrothed to her own brother. He, however, was a mere child of less +than twelve, and was under the control of evil counselors, who, in his +name, gained control of the capital and drove Cleopatra into exile. +Until then she had been a mere girl; but now the spirit of a woman who +was wronged blazed up in her and called out all her latent powers. +Hastening to Syria, she gathered about herself an army and led it +against her foes. +</P> + +<P> +But meanwhile Julius Caesar, the greatest man of ancient times, had +arrived at Alexandria backed by an army of his veterans. Against him no +resistance would avail. Then came a brief moment during which the +Egyptian king and the Egyptian queen each strove to win the favor of +the Roman imperator. The king and his advisers had many arts, and so +had Cleopatra. One thing, however, she possessed which struck the +balance in her favor, and this was a woman's fascination. +</P> + +<P> +According to the story, Caesar was unwilling to receive her. There came +into his presence, as he sat in the palace, a group of slaves bearing a +long roll of matting, bound carefully and seeming to contain some +precious work of art. The slaves made signs that they were bearing a +gift to Caesar. The master of Egypt bade them unwrap the gift that he +might see it. They did so, and out of the wrapping came Cleopatra—a +radiant vision, appealing, irresistible. Next morning it became known +everywhere that Cleopatra had remained in Caesar's quarters through the +night and that her enemies were now his enemies. In desperation they +rushed upon his legions, casting aside all pretense of amity. There +ensued a fierce contest, but the revolt was quenched in blood. +</P> + +<P> +This was a crucial moment in Cleopatra's life. She had sacrificed all +that a woman has to give; but she had not done so from any love of +pleasure or from wantonness. She was queen of Egypt, and she had +redeemed her kingdom and kept it by her sacrifice. One should not +condemn her too severely. In a sense, her act was one of heroism like +that of Judith in the tent of Holofernes. But beyond all question it +changed her character. It taught her the secret of her own great power. +Henceforth she was no longer a mere girl, nor a woman of the ordinary +type. Her contact with so great a mind as Caesar's quickened her +intellect. Her knowledge that, by the charms of sense, she had mastered +even him transformed her into a strange and wonderful creature. She +learned to study the weaknesses of men, to play on their emotions, to +appeal to every subtle taste and fancy. In her were blended mental +power and that illusive, indefinable gift which is called charm. +</P> + +<P> +For Cleopatra was never beautiful. Signor Ferrero seems to think this +fact to be discovery of his own, but it was set down by Plutarch in a +very striking passage written less than a century after Cleopatra and +Antony died. We may quote here what the Greek historian said of her: +</P> + +<P> +Her actual beauty was far from being so remarkable that none could be +compared with her, nor was it such that it would strike your fancy when +you saw her first. Yet the influence of her presence, if you lingered +near her, was irresistible. Her attractive personality, joined with the +charm of her conversation, and the individual touch that she gave to +everything she said or did, were utterly bewitching. It was delightful +merely to hear the music of her voice, with which, like an instrument +of many strings, she could pass from one language to another. +</P> + +<P> +Caesar had left Cleopatra firmly seated on the throne of Egypt. For six +years she reigned with great intelligence, keeping order in her +dominions, and patronizing with discrimination both arts and letters. +But ere long the convulsions of the Roman state once more caused her +extreme anxiety. Caesar had been assassinated, and there ensued a +period of civil war. Out of it emerged two striking figures which were +absolutely contrasted in their character. One was Octavian, the adopted +son of Caesar, a man who, though still quite young and possessed of +great ability, was cunning, cold-blooded, and deceitful. The other was +Antony, a soldier by training, and with all a soldier's bluntness, +courage, and lawlessness. +</P> + +<P> +The Roman world was divided for the time between these two men, Antony +receiving the government of the East, Octavian that of the West. In the +year which had preceded this division Cleopatra had wavered between the +two opposite factions at Rome. In so doing she had excited the +suspicion of Antony, and he now demanded of her an explanation. +</P> + +<P> +One must have some conception of Antony himself in order to understand +the events that followed. He was essentially a soldier, of excellent +family, being related to Caesar himself. As a very young man he was +exceedingly handsome, and bad companions led him into the pursuit of +vicious pleasure. He had scarcely come of age when he found that he +owed the enormous sum of two hundred and fifty talents, equivalent to +half a million dollars in the money of to-day. But he was much more +than a mere man of pleasure, given over to drinking and to dissipation. +Men might tell of his escapades, as when he drove about the streets of +Rome in a common cab, dangling his legs out of the window while he +shouted forth drunken songs of revelry. This was not the whole of +Antony. Joining the Roman army in Syria, he showed himself to be a +soldier of great personal bravery, a clever strategist, and also humane +and merciful in the hour of victory. +</P> + +<P> +Unlike most Romans, Antony wore a full beard. His forehead was large, +and his nose was of the distinctive Roman type. His look was so bold +and masculine that people likened him to Hercules. His democratic +manners endeared him to the army. He wore a plain tunic covered with a +large, coarse mantle, and carried a huge sword at his side, despising +ostentation. Even his faults and follies added to his popularity. He +would sit down at the common soldiers' mess and drink with them, +telling them stories and clapping them on the back. He spent money like +water, quickly recognizing any daring deed which his legionaries +performed. In this respect he was like Napoleon; and, like Napoleon, he +had a vein of florid eloquence which was criticized by literary men, +but which went straight to the heart of the private soldier. In a word, +he was a powerful, virile, passionate, able man, rough, as were nearly +all his countrymen, but strong and true. +</P> + +<P> +It was to this general that Cleopatra was to answer, and with a firm +reliance on the charms which had subdued Antony's great commander, +Caesar, she set out in person for Cilicia, in Asia Minor, sailing up +the river Cydnus to the place where Antony was encamped with his army. +Making all allowance for the exaggeration of historians, there can be +no doubt that she appeared to him like some dreamy vision. Her barge +was gilded, and was wafted on its way by swelling sails of Tyrian +purple. The oars which smote the water were of shining silver. As she +drew near the Roman general's camp the languorous music of flutes and +harps breathed forth a strain of invitation. +</P> + +<P> +Cleopatra herself lay upon a divan set upon the deck of the barge +beneath a canopy of woven gold. She was dressed to resemble Venus, +while girls about her personated nymphs and Graces. Delicate perfumes +diffused themselves from the vessel; and at last, as she drew near the +shore, all the people for miles about were gathered there, leaving +Antony to sit alone in the tribunal where he was dispensing justice. +</P> + +<P> +Word was brought to him that Venus had come to feast with Bacchus. +Antony, though still suspicious of Cleopatra, sent her an invitation to +dine with him in state. With graceful tact she sent him a +counter-invitation, and he came. The magnificence of his reception +dazzled the man who had so long known only a soldier's fare, or at most +the crude entertainments which he had enjoyed in Rome. A marvelous +display of lights was made. Thousands upon thousands of candles shone +brilliantly, arranged in squares and circles; while the banquet itself +was one that symbolized the studied luxury of the East. +</P> + +<P> +At this time Cleopatra was twenty-seven years of age—a period of life +which modern physiologists have called the crisis in a woman's growth. +She had never really loved before, since she had given herself to +Caesar, not because she cared for him, but to save her kingdom. She now +came into the presence of one whose manly beauty and strong passions +were matched by her own subtlety and appealing charm. +</P> + +<P> +When Antony addressed her he felt himself a rustic in her presence. +Almost resentful, he betook himself to the coarse language of the camp. +Cleopatra, with marvelous adaptability, took her tone from his, and +thus in a moment put him at his ease. Ferrero, who takes a most +unfavorable view of her character and personality, nevertheless +explains the secret of her fascination: +</P> + +<P> +Herself utterly cold and callous, insensitive by nature to the flame of +true devotion, Cleopatra was one of those women gifted with an unerring +instinct for all the various roads to men's affections. She could be +the shrinking, modest girl, too shy to reveal her half-unconscious +emotions of jealousy and depression and self-abandonment, or a woman +carried away by the sweep of a fiery and uncontrollable passion. She +could tickle the esthetic sensibilities of her victims by rich and +gorgeous festivals, by the fantastic adornment of her own person and +her palace, or by brilliant discussions on literature and art; she +could conjure up all their grossest instincts with the vilest +obscenities of conversation, with the free and easy jocularity of a +woman of the camps. +</P> + +<P> +These last words are far too strong, and they represent only Ferrero's +personal opinion; yet there is no doubt that she met every mood of +Antony's so that he became enthralled with her at once. No such woman +as this had ever cast her eyes on him before. He had a wife at home—a +most disreputable wife—so that he cared little for domestic ties. +Later, out of policy, he made another marriage with the sister of his +rival, Octavian, but this wife he never cared for. His heart and soul +were given up to Cleopatra, the woman who could be a comrade in the +camp and a fount of tenderness in their hours of dalliance, and who +possessed the keen intellect of a man joined to the arts and +fascinations of a woman. +</P> + +<P> +On her side she found in Antony an ardent lover, a man of vigorous +masculinity, and, moreover, a soldier whose armies might well sustain +her on the throne of Egypt. That there was calculation mingled with her +love, no one can doubt. That some calculation also entered into +Antony's affection is likewise certain. Yet this does not affect the +truth that each was wholly given to the other. Why should it have +lessened her love for him to feel that he could protect her and defend +her? Why should it have lessened his love for her to know that she was +queen of the richest country in the world—one that could supply his +needs, sustain his armies, and gild his triumphs with magnificence? +</P> + +<P> +There are many instances in history of regnant queens who loved and yet +whose love was not dissociated from the policy of state. Such were Anne +of Austria, Elizabeth of England, and the unfortunate Mary Stuart. +Such, too, we cannot fail to think, was Cleopatra. +</P> + +<P> +The two remained together for ten years. In this time Antony was +separated from her only during a campaign in the East. In Alexandria he +ceased to seem a Roman citizen and gave himself up wholly to the charms +of this enticing woman. Many stories are told of their good fellowship +and close intimacy. Plutarch quotes Plato as saying that there are four +kinds of flattery, but he adds that Cleopatra had a thousand. She was +the supreme mistress of the art of pleasing. +</P> + +<P> +Whether Antony were serious or mirthful, she had at the instant some +new delight or some new charm to meet his wishes. At every turn she was +with him both day and night. With him she threw dice; with him she +drank; with him she hunted; and when he exercised himself in arms she +was there to admire and applaud. +</P> + +<P> +At night the pair would disguise themselves as servants and wander +about the streets of Alexandria. In fact, more than once they were set +upon in the slums and treated roughly by the rabble who did not +recognize them. Cleopatra was always alluring, always tactful, often +humorous, and full of frolic. +</P> + +<P> +Then came the shock of Antony's final breach with Octavian. Either +Antony or his rival must rule the world. Cleopatra's lover once more +became the Roman general, and with a great fleet proceeded to the coast +of Greece, where his enemy was encamped. Antony had raised a hundred +and twelve thousand troops and five hundred ships—a force far superior +to that commanded by Octavian. Cleopatra was there with sixty ships. +</P> + +<P> +In the days that preceded the final battle much took place which still +remains obscure. It seems likely that Antony desired to become again +the Roman, while Cleopatra wished him to thrust Rome aside and return +to Egypt with her, to reign there as an independent king. To her Rome +was almost a barbarian city. In it she could not hold sway as she could +in her beautiful Alexandria, with its blue skies and velvet turf and +tropical flowers. At Rome Antony would be distracted by the cares of +state, and she would lose her lover. At Alexandria she would have him +for her very own. +</P> + +<P> +The clash came when the hostile fleets met off the promontory of +Actium. At its crisis Cleopatra, prematurely concluding that the battle +was lost, of a sudden gave the signal for retreat and put out to sea +with her fleet. This was the crucial moment. Antony, mastered by his +love, forgot all else, and in a swift ship started in pursuit of her, +abandoning his fleet and army to win or lose as fortune might decide. +For him the world was nothing; the dark-browed Queen of Egypt, +imperious and yet caressing, was everything. Never was such a prize and +never were such great hopes thrown carelessly away. After waiting seven +days Antony's troops, still undefeated, finding that their commander +would not return to them, surrendered to Octavian, who thus became the +master of an empire. +</P> + +<P> +Later his legions assaulted Alexandria, and there Antony was twice +defeated. At last Cleopatra saw her great mistake. She had made her +lover give up the hope of being Rome's dictator, but in so doing she +had also lost the chance of ruling with him tranquilly in Egypt. She +shut herself behind the barred doors of the royal sepulcher; and, lest +she should be molested there, she sent forth word that she had died. +Her proud spirit could not brook the thought that she might be seized +and carried as a prisoner to Rome. She was too much a queen in soul to +be led in triumph up the Sacred Way to the Capitol with golden chains +clanking on her slender wrists. +</P> + +<P> +Antony, believing the report that she was dead, fell upon his sword; +but in his dying moments he was carried into the presence of the woman +for whom he had given all. With her arms about him, his spirit passed +away; and soon after she, too, met death, whether by a poisoned draught +or by the storied asp no one can say. +</P> + +<P> +Cleopatra had lived the mistress of a splendid kingdom. She had +successively captivated two of the greatest men whom Rome had ever +seen. She died, like a queen, to escape disgrace. Whatever modern +critics may have to say concerning small details, this story still +remains the strangest love story of which the world has any record. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="abelard"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ABELARD AND HELOISE +</H3> + +<P> +Many a woman, amid the transports of passionate and languishing love, +has cried out in a sort of ecstasy: +</P> + +<P> +"I love you as no woman ever loved a man before!" +</P> + +<P> +When she says this she believes it. Her whole soul is aflame with the +ardor of emotion. It really seems to her that no one ever could have +loved so much as she. +</P> + +<P> +This cry—spontaneous, untaught, sincere—has become almost one of +those conventionalities of amorous expression which belong to the +vocabulary of self-abandonment. Every woman who utters it, when torn by +the almost terrible extravagance of a great love, believes that no one +before her has ever said it, and that in her own case it is absolutely +true. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, how many women are really faithful to the end? Very many, indeed, +if circumstances admit of easy faithfulness. A high-souled, generous, +ardent nature will endure an infinity of disillusionment, of +misfortune, of neglect, and even of ill treatment. Even so, the flame, +though it may sink low, can be revived again to burn as brightly as +before. But in order that this may be so it is necessary that the +object of such a wonderful devotion be alive, that he be present and +visible; or, if he be absent, that there should still exist some hope +of renewing the exquisite intimacy of the past. +</P> + +<P> +A man who is sincerely loved may be compelled to take long journeys +which will separate him for an indefinite time from the woman who has +given her heart to him, and she will still be constant. He may be +imprisoned, perhaps for life, yet there is always the hope of his +release or of his escape; and some women will be faithful to him and +will watch for his return. But, given a situation which absolutely bars +out hope, which sunders two souls in such a way that they can never be +united in this world, and there we have a test so terribly severe that +few even of the most loyal and intensely clinging lovers can endure it. +</P> + +<P> +Not that such a situation would lead a woman to turn to any other man +than the one to whom she had given her very life; but we might expect +that at least her strong desire would cool and weaken. She might +cherish his memory among the precious souvenirs of her love life; but +that she should still pour out the same rapturous, unstinted passion as +before seems almost too much to believe. The annals of emotion record +only one such instance; and so this instance has become known to all, +and has been cherished for nearly a thousand years. It involves the +story of a woman who did love, perhaps, as no one ever loved before or +since; for she was subjected to this cruel test, and she met the test +not alone completely, but triumphantly and almost fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +The story is, of course, the story of Abelard and Heloise. It has many +times been falsely told. Portions of it have been omitted, and other +portions of it have been garbled. A whole literature has grown up +around the subject. It may well be worth our while to clear away the +ambiguities and the doubtful points, and once more to tell it simply, +without bias, and with a strict adherence to what seems to be the truth +attested by authentic records. +</P> + +<P> +There is one circumstance connected with the story which we must +specially note. The narrative does something more than set forth the +one quite unimpeachable instance of unconquered constancy. It shows +how, in the last analysis, that which touches the human heart has more +vitality and more enduring interest than what concerns the intellect or +those achievements of the human mind which are external to our +emotional nature. +</P> + +<P> +Pierre Abelard was undoubtedly the boldest and most creative reasoner +of his time. As a wandering teacher he drew after him thousands of +enthusiastic students. He gave a strong impetus to learning. He was a +marvelous logician and an accomplished orator. Among his pupils were +men who afterward became prelates of the church and distinguished +scholars. In the Dark Age, when the dictates of reason were almost +wholly disregarded, he fought fearlessly for intellectual freedom. He +was practically the founder of the University of Paris, which in turn +became the mother of medieval and modern universities. +</P> + +<P> +He was, therefore, a great and striking figure in the history of +civilization. Nevertheless he would to-day be remembered only by +scholars and students of the Middle Ages were it not for the fact that +he inspired the most enduring love that history records. If Heloise had +never loved him, and if their story had not been so tragic and so +poignant, he would be to-day only a name known to but a few. His final +resting-place, in the cemetery of Pere Lachaise, in Paris, would not be +sought out by thousands every year and kept bright with flowers, the +gift of those who have themselves both loved and suffered. +</P> + +<P> +Pierre Abelard—or, more fully, Pierre Abelard de Palais—was a native +of Brittany, born in the year 1079. His father was a knight, the lord +of the manor; but Abelard cared little for the life of a petty noble; +and so he gave up his seigniorial rights to his brothers and went forth +to become, first of all a student, and then a public lecturer and +teacher. +</P> + +<P> +His student days ended abruptly in Paris, where he had enrolled himself +as the pupil of a distinguished philosopher, Guillaume de Champeaux; +but one day Abelard engaged in a disputation with his master. His +wonderful combination of eloquence, logic, and originality utterly +routed Champeaux, who was thus humiliated in the presence of his +disciples. He was the first of many enemies that Abelard was destined +to make in his long and stormy career. From that moment the young +Breton himself set up as a teacher of philosophy, and the brilliancy of +his discourses soon drew to him throngs of students from all over +Europe. +</P> + +<P> +Before proceeding with the story of Abelard it is well to reconstruct, +however slightly, a picture of the times in which he lived. It was an +age when Western Europe was but partly civilized. Pedantry and learning +of the most minute sort existed side by side with the most violent +excesses of medieval barbarism. The Church had undertaken the gigantic +task of subduing and enlightening the semi-pagan peoples of France and +Germany and England. +</P> + +<P> +When we look back at that period some will unjustly censure Rome for +not controlling more completely the savagery of the medievals. More +fairly should we wonder at the great measure of success which had +already been achieved. The leaven of a true Christianity was working in +the half-pagan populations. It had not yet completely reached the +nobles and the knights, or even all the ecclesiastics who served it and +who were consecrated to its mission. Thus, amid a sort of political +chaos were seen the glaring evils of feudalism. Kings and princes and +their followers lived the lives of swine. Private blood-feuds were +regarded lightly. There was as yet no single central power. Every man +carried his life in his hand, trusting to sword and dagger for +protection. +</P> + +<P> +The cities were still mere hamlets clustered around great castles or +fortified cathedrals. In Paris itself the network of dark lanes, ill +lighted and unguarded, was the scene of midnight murder and +assassination. In the winter-time wolves infested the town by night. +Men-at-arms, with torches and spears, often had to march out from their +barracks to assail the snarling, yelping packs of savage animals that +hunger drove from the surrounding forests. +</P> + +<P> +Paris of the twelfth century was typical of France itself, which was +harried by human wolves intent on rapine and wanton plunder. There were +great schools of theology, but the students who attended them fought +and slashed one another. If a man's life was threatened he must protect +it by his own strength or by gathering about him a band of friends. No +one was safe. No one was tolerant. Very few were free from the grosser +vices. Even in some of the religious houses the brothers would meet at +night for unseemly revels, splashing the stone floors with wine and +shrieking in a delirium of drunkenness. The rules of the Church +enjoined temperance, continence, and celibacy; but the decrees of Leo +IX. and Nicholas II. and Alexander II. and Gregory were only partially +observed. +</P> + +<P> +In fact, Europe was in a state of chaos—political and moral and +social. Only very slowly was order emerging from sheer anarchy. We must +remember this when we recall some facts which meet us in the story of +Abelard and Heloise. +</P> + +<P> +The jealousy of Champeaux drove Abelard for a time from Paris. He +taught and lectured at several other centers of learning, always +admired, and yet at the same time denounced by many for his advocacy of +reason as against blind faith. During the years of his wandering he +came to have a wide knowledge of the world and of human nature. If we +try to imagine him as he was in his thirty-fifth year we shall find in +him a remarkable combination of attractive qualities. +</P> + +<P> +It must be remembered that though, in a sense, he was an ecclesiastic, +he had not yet been ordained to the priesthood, but was rather a +canon—a person who did not belong to any religious order, though he +was supposed to live according to a definite set of religious rules and +as a member of a religious community. Abelard, however, made rather +light of his churchly associations. He was at once an accomplished man +of the world and a profound scholar. There was nothing of the recluse +about him. He mingled with his fellow men, whom he dominated by the +charm of his personality. He was eloquent, ardent, and persuasive. He +could turn a delicate compliment as skilfully as he could elaborate a +syllogism. His rich voice had in it a seductive quality which was never +without its effect. +</P> + +<P> +Handsome and well formed, he possessed as much vigor of body as of +mind. Nor were his accomplishments entirely those of the scholar. He +wrote dainty verses, which he also set to music, and which he sang +himself with a rare skill. Some have called him "the first of the +troubadours," and many who cared nothing for his skill in logic admired +him for his gifts as a musician and a poet. Altogether, he was one to +attract attention wherever he went, for none could fail to recognize +his power. +</P> + +<P> +It was soon after his thirty-fifth year that he returned to Paris, +where he was welcomed by thousands. With much tact he reconciled +himself to his enemies, so that his life now seemed to be full of +promise and of sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this time that he became acquainted with a very beautiful +young girl named Heloise. She was only eighteen years of age, yet +already she possessed not only beauty, but many accomplishments which +were then quite rare in women, since she both wrote and spoke a number +of languages, and, like Abelard, was a lover of music and poetry. +Heloise was the illegitimate daughter of a canon of patrician blood; so +that she is said to have been a worthy representative of the noble +house of the Montmorencys—famous throughout French history for +chivalry and charm. +</P> + +<P> +Up to this time we do not know precisely what sort of life Abelard had +lived in private. His enemies declared that he had squandered his +substance in vicious ways. His friends denied this, and represented him +as strict and chaste. The truth probably lies between these two +assertions. He was naturally a pleasure-loving man of the world, who +may very possibly have relieved his severer studies by occasional +revelry and light love. It is not at all likely that he was addicted to +gross passions and low practices. +</P> + +<P> +But such as he was, when he first saw Heloise he conceived for her a +violent attachment. Carefully guarded in the house of her uncle, +Fulbert, it was difficult at first for Abelard to meet her save in the +most casual way; yet every time that he heard her exquisite voice and +watched her graceful manners he became more and more infatuated. His +studies suddenly seemed tame and colorless beside the fierce scarlet +flame which blazed up in his heart. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, it was because of these studies and of his great +reputation as a scholar that he managed to obtain access to Heloise. He +flattered her uncle and made a chance proposal that he should himself +become an inmate of Fulbert's household in order that he might teach +this girl of so much promise. Such an offer coming from so brilliant a +man was joyfully accepted. +</P> + +<P> +From that time Abelard could visit Heloise without restraint. He was +her teacher, and the two spent hours together, nominally in the study +of Greek and Hebrew; but doubtless very little was said between them +upon such unattractive subjects. On the contrary, with all his wide +experience of life, his eloquence, his perfect manners, and his +fascination, Abelard put forth his power to captivate the senses of a +girl still in her teens and quite ignorant of the world. As Remusat +says, he employed to win her the genius which had overwhelmed all the +great centers of learning in the Western world. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that the pleasures of knowledge, the joys of thought, the +emotions of eloquence, were all called into play to charm and move and +plunge into a profound and strange intoxication this noble and tender +heart which had never known either love or sorrow. ... One can imagine +that everything helped on the inevitable end. Their studies gave them +opportunities to see each other freely, and also permitted them to be +alone together. Then their books lay open between them; but either long +periods of silence stilled their reading, or else words of deepening +intimacy made them forget their studies altogether. The eyes of the two +lovers turned from the book to mingle their glances, and then to turn +away in a confusion that was conscious. +</P> + +<P> +Hand would touch hand, apparently by accident; and when conversation +ceased, Abelard would often hear the long, quivering sigh which showed +the strange, half-frightened, and yet exquisite joy which Heloise +experienced. +</P> + +<P> +It was not long before the girl's heart had been wholly won. +Transported by her emotion, she met the caresses of her lover with +those as unrestrained as his. Her very innocence deprived her of the +protection which older women would have had. All was given freely, and +even wildly, by Heloise; and all was taken by Abelard, who afterward +himself declared: +</P> + +<P> +"The pleasure of teaching her to love surpassed the delightful +fragrance of all the perfumes in the world." +</P> + +<P> +Yet these two could not always live in a paradise which was entirely +their own. The world of Paris took notice of their close association. +Some poems written to Heloise by Abelard, as if in letters of fire, +were found and shown to Fulbert, who, until this time, had suspected +nothing. Angrily he ordered Abelard to leave his house. He forbade his +niece to see her lover any more. +</P> + +<P> +But the two could not be separated; and, indeed, there was good reason +why they should still cling together. Secretly Heloise left her uncle's +house and fled through the narrow lanes of Paris to the dwelling of +Abelard's sister, Denyse, where Abelard himself was living. There, +presently, the young girl gave birth to a son, who was named Astrolabe, +after an instrument used by astronomers, since both the father and the +mother felt that the offspring of so great a love should have no +ordinary name. +</P> + +<P> +Fulbert was furious, and rightly so. His hospitality had been outraged +and his niece dishonored. He insisted that the pair should at once be +married. Here was revealed a certain weakness in the character of +Abelard. He consented to the marriage, but insisted that it should be +kept an utter secret. +</P> + +<P> +Oddly enough, it was Heloise herself who objected to becoming the wife +of the man she loved. Unselfishness could go no farther. She saw that, +were he to marry her, his advancement in the Church would be almost +impossible; for, while the very minor clergy sometimes married in spite +of the papal bulls, matrimony was becoming a fatal bar to +ecclesiastical promotion. And so Heloise pleaded pitifully, both with +her uncle and with Abelard, that there should be no marriage. She would +rather bear all manner of disgrace than stand in the way of Abelard's +advancement. +</P> + +<P> +He has himself given some of the words in which she pleaded with him: +</P> + +<P> +What glory shall I win from you, when I have made you quite inglorious +and have humbled both of us? What vengeance will the world inflict on +me if I deprive it of one so brilliant? What curses will follow such a +marriage? How outrageous would it be that you, whom nature created for +the universal good, should be devoted to one woman and plunged into +such disgrace? I loathe the thought of a marriage which would humiliate +you. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, every possible effort which another woman in her place would +employ to make him marry her she used in order to dissuade him. +Finally, her sweet face streaming with tears, she uttered that +tremendous sentence which makes one really think that she loved him as +no other woman ever loved a man. She cried out, in an agony of +self-sacrifice: +</P> + +<P> +"I would rather be your mistress than the wife even of an emperor!" +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, the two were married, and Abelard returned to his +lecture-room and to his studies. For months they met but seldom. +Meanwhile, however, the taunts and innuendos directed against Heloise +so irritated Fulbert that he broke his promise of secrecy, and told his +friends that Abelard and Heloise were man and wife. They went to +Heloise for confirmation. Once more she showed in an extraordinary way +the depth of her devotion. +</P> + +<P> +"I am no wife," she said. "It is not true that Abelard has married me. +My uncle merely tells you this to save my reputation." +</P> + +<P> +They asked her whether she would swear to this; and, without a moment's +hesitation, this pure and noble woman took an oath upon the Scriptures +that there had been no marriage. +</P> + +<P> +Fulbert was enraged by this. He ill-treated Heloise, and, furthermore, +he forbade Abelard to visit her. The girl, therefore, again left her +uncle's house and betook herself to a convent just outside of Paris, +where she assumed the habit of a nun as a disguise. There Abelard +continued from time to time to meet her. +</P> + +<P> +When Fulbert heard of this he put his own interpretation on it. He +believed that Abelard intended to ignore the marriage altogether, and +that possibly he might even marry some other woman. In any case, he now +hated Abelard with all his heart; and he resolved to take a fearful and +unnatural vengeance which would at once prevent his enemy from making +any other marriage, while at the same time it would debar him from +ecclesiastical preferment. +</P> + +<P> +To carry out his plot Fulbert first bribed a man who was the +body-servant of Abelard, watching at the door of his room each night. +Then he hired the services of four ruffians. After Abelard had retired +and was deep in slumber the treacherous valet unbarred the door. The +hirelings of Fulbert entered and fell upon the sleeping man. Three of +them bound him fast, while the fourth, with a razor, inflicted on him +the most shameful mutilation that is possible. Then, extinguishing the +lights, the wretches slunk away and were lost in darkness, leaving +behind their victim bound to his couch, uttering cries of torment and +bathed in his own blood. +</P> + +<P> +It is a shocking story, and yet it is intensely characteristic of the +lawless and barbarous era in which it happened. Early the next morning +the news flew rapidly through Paris. The city hummed like a bee-hive. +Citizens and students and ecclesiastics poured into the street and +surrounded the house of Abelard. +</P> + +<P> +"Almost the entire city," says Fulques, as quoted by McCabe, "went +clamoring toward his house. Women wept as if each one had lost her +husband." +</P> + +<P> +Unmanned though he was, Abelard still retained enough of the spirit of +his time to seek vengeance. He, in his turn, employed ruffians whom he +set upon the track of those who had assaulted him. The treacherous +valet and one of Fulbert's hirelings were run down, seized, and +mutilated precisely as Abelard had been; and their eyes were blinded. A +third was lodged in prison. Fulbert himself was accused before one of +the Church courts, which alone had power to punish an ecclesiastic, and +all his goods were confiscated. +</P> + +<P> +But, meantime, how did it fare with Heloise? Her grief was greater than +his own, while her love and her devotion were absolutely undiminished. +But Abelard now showed a selfishness—and indeed, a meanness—far +beyond any that he had before exhibited. Heloise could no more be his +wife. He made it plain that he put no trust in her fidelity. He was +unwilling that she should live in the world while he could not; and so +he told her sternly that she must take the veil and bury herself for +ever in a nunnery. +</P> + +<P> +The pain and shame which she experienced at this came wholly from the +fact that evidently Abelard did not trust her. Long afterward she wrote: +</P> + +<P> +God knows I should not have hesitated, at your command, to precede or +to follow you to hell itself! +</P> + +<P> +It was his distrust that cut her to the heart. Still, her love for him +was so intense that she obeyed his order. Soon after she took the vows; +and in the convent chapel, shaken with sobs, she knelt before the altar +and assumed the veil of a cloistered nun. Abelard himself put on the +black tunic of a Benedictine monk and entered the Abbey of St. Denis. +</P> + +<P> +It is unnecessary here to follow out all the details of the lives of +Abelard and Heloise after this heart-rendering scene. Abelard passed +through many years of strife and disappointment, and even of +humiliation; for on one occasion, just as he had silenced Guillaume de +Champeaux, so he himself was silenced and put to rout by Bernard of +Clairvaux—"a frail, tense, absorbed, dominant little man, whose face +was white and worn with suffering," but in whose eyes there was a light +of supreme strength. Bernard represented pure faith, as Abelard +represented pure reason; and the two men met before a great council to +match their respective powers. +</P> + +<P> +Bernard, with fiery eloquence, brought a charge of heresy against +Abelard in an oration which was like a charge of cavalry. When he had +concluded Abelard rose with an ashen face, stammered out a few words, +and sat down. He was condemned by the council, and his works were +ordered to be burned. +</P> + +<P> +All his later life was one of misfortune, of humiliation, and even of +personal danger. The reckless monks whom he tried to rule rose fiercely +against him. His life was threatened. He betook himself to a desolate +and lonely place, where he built for himself a hut of reeds and rushes, +hoping to spend his final years in meditation. But there were many who +had not forgotten his ability as a teacher. These flocked by hundreds +to the desert place where he abode. His hut was surrounded by tents and +rude hovels, built by his scholars for their shelter. +</P> + +<P> +Thus Abelard resumed his teaching, though in a very different frame of +mind. In time he built a structure of wood and stone, which he called +the Paraclete, some remains of which can still be seen. +</P> + +<P> +All this time no word had passed between him and Heloise. But presently +Abelard wrote and gave to the world a curious and exceedingly frank +book, which he called The Story of My Misfortunes. A copy of it reached +the hands of Heloise, and she at once sent to Abelard the first of a +series of letters which have remained unique in the literature of love. +</P> + +<P> +Ten years had passed, and yet the woman's heart was as faithful and as +full of yearning as on the day when the two had parted. It has been +said that the letters are not genuine, and they must be read with this +assertion in mind; yet it is difficult to believe that any one save +Heloise herself could have flung a human soul into such frankly +passionate utterances, or that any imitator could have done the work. +</P> + +<P> +In her first letter, which was sent to Abelard written upon parchment, +she said: +</P> + +<P> +At thy command I would change, not merely my costume, but my very soul, +so entirely art thou the sole possessor of my body and my spirit. +Never, God is my witness, never have I sought anything in thee but +thyself; I have sought thee, and not thy gifts. I have not looked to +the marriage-bond or dowry. +</P> + +<P> +She begged him to write to her, and to lead her to God, as once he had +led her into the mysteries of pleasure. Abelard answered in a letter, +friendly to be sure, but formal—the letter of a priest to a cloistered +nun. The opening words of it are characteristic of the whole: +</P> + +<P> +To Heloise, his sister in Christ, from Abelard, her brother in Him. +</P> + +<P> +The letter was a long one, but throughout the whole of it the writer's +tone was cold and prudent. Its very coldness roused her soul to a +passionate revolt. Her second letter bursts forth in a sort of anguish: +</P> + +<P> +How hast thou been able to frame such thoughts, dearest? How hast thou +found words to convey them? Oh, if I dared but call God cruel to me! +Oh, most wretched of all creatures that I am! So sweet did I find the +pleasures of our loving days that I cannot bring myself to reject them +or to banish them from my memory. Wheresoever I go, they thrust +themselves upon my vision, and rekindle the old desire. +</P> + +<P> +But Abelard knew only too well that not in this life could there be +anything save spiritual love between himself and Heloise. He wrote to +her again and again, always in the same remote and unimpassioned way. +He tells her about the history of monasticism, and discusses with her +matters of theology and ethics; but he never writes one word to feed +the flame that is consuming her. The woman understood at last; and by +degrees her letters became as calm as his—suffused, however, with a +tenderness and feeling which showed that in her heart of hearts she was +still entirely given to him. +</P> + +<P> +After some years Abelard left his dwelling at the Paraclete, and there +was founded there a religious house of which Heloise became the abbess. +All the world respected her for her sweetness, her wisdom, and the +purity of her character. She made friends as easily as Abelard made +enemies. Even Bernard, who had overthrown her husband, sought out +Heloise to ask for her advice and counsel. +</P> + +<P> +Abelard died while on his way to Rome, whither he was journeying in +order to undergo a penalty; and his body was brought back to the +Paraclete, where it was entombed. Over it for twenty-two years Heloise +watched with tender care; and when she died, her body was laid beside +that of her lover. +</P> + +<P> +To-day their bones are mingled as she would have desired them to be +mingled. The stones of their tomb in the great cemetery of Pere +Lachaise were brought from the ruins of the Paraclete, and above the +sarcophagus are two recumbent figures, the whole being the work of the +artist Alexandra Lenoir, who died in 1836. The figure representing +Heloise is not, however, an authentic likeness. The model for it was a +lady belonging to a noble family of France, and the figure itself was +brought to Pere Lachaise from the ancient College de Beauvais. +</P> + +<P> +The letters of Heloise have been read and imitated throughout the whole +of the last nine centuries. Some have found in them the utterances of a +woman whose love of love was greater than her love of God and whose +intensity of passion nothing could subdue; and so these have condemned +her. But others, like Chateaubriand, have more truly seen in them a +pure and noble spirit to whom fate had been very cruel; and who was, +after all, writing to the man who had been her lawful husband. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the most famous imitations of her letters are those in the +ancient poem entitled, "The Romance of the Rose," written by Jean de +Meung, in the thirteenth century; and in modern times her first letter +was paraphrased by Alexander Pope, and in French by Colardeau. There +exist in English half a dozen translations of them, with Abelard's +replies. It is interesting to remember that practically all the other +writings of Abelard remained unpublished and unedited until a very +recent period. He was a remarkable figure as a philosopher and scholar; +but the world cares for him only because he was loved by Heloise. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="elizabeth"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER +</H3> + +<P> +History has many romantic stories to tell of the part which women have +played in determining the destinies of nations. Sometimes it is a +woman's beauty that causes the shifting of a province. Again it is +another woman's rich possessions that incite invasion and lead to +bloody wars. Marriages or dowries, or the refusal of marriages and the +lack of dowries, inheritance through an heiress, the failure of a male +succession—in these and in many other ways women have set their mark +indelibly upon the trend of history. +</P> + +<P> +However, if we look over these different events we shall find that it +is not so much the mere longing for a woman—the desire to have her as +a queen—that has seriously affected the annals of any nation. Kings, +like ordinary men, have paid their suit and then have ridden away +repulsed, yet not seriously dejected. Most royal marriages are made +either to secure the succession to a throne by a legitimate line of +heirs or else to unite adjoining states and make a powerful kingdom out +of two that are less powerful. But, as a rule, kings have found greater +delight in some sheltered bower remote from courts than in the castled +halls and well-cared-for nooks where their own wives and children have +been reared with all the appurtenances of legitimacy. +</P> + +<P> +There are not many stories that hang persistently about the love-making +of a single woman. In the case of one or another we may find an episode +or two—something dashing, something spirited or striking, something +brilliant and exhilarating, or something sad. But for a woman's whole +life to be spent in courtship that meant nothing and that was only a +clever aid to diplomacy—this is surely an unusual and really wonderful +thing. +</P> + +<P> +It is the more unusual because the woman herself was not intended by +nature to be wasted upon the cold and cheerless sport of chancellors +and counselors and men who had no thought of her except to use her as a +pawn. She was hot-blooded, descended from a fiery race, and one whose +temper was quick to leap into the passion of a man. +</P> + +<P> +In studying this phase of the long and interesting life of Elizabeth of +England we must notice several important facts. In the first place, she +gave herself, above all else, to the maintenance of England—not an +England that would be half Spanish or half French, or even partly Dutch +and Flemish, but the Merry England of tradition—the England that was +one and undivided, with its growing freedom of thought, its bows and +bills, its nut-brown ale, its sturdy yeomen, and its loyalty to crown +and Parliament. She once said, almost as in an agony: +</P> + +<P> +"I love England more than anything!" +</P> + +<P> +And one may really hold that this was true. +</P> + +<P> +For England she schemed and planned. For England she gave up many of +her royal rights. For England she descended into depths of treachery. +For England she left herself on record as an arrant liar, false, +perjured, yet successful; and because of her success for England's sake +her countrymen will hold her in high remembrance, since her scheming +and her falsehood are the offenses that one pardons most readily in a +woman. +</P> + +<P> +In the second place, it must be remembered that Elizabeth's courtships +and pretended love-makings were almost always a part of her diplomacy. +When not a part of her diplomacy they were a mere appendage to her +vanity. To seem to be the flower of the English people, and to be +surrounded by the noblest, the bravest, and the most handsome +cavaliers, not only of her own kingdom, but of others—this was, +indeed, a choice morsel of which she was fond of tasting, even though +it meant nothing beyond the moment. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, though at times she could be very cold, and though she made +herself still colder in order that she might play fast and loose with +foreign suitors who played fast and loose with her—the King of Spain, +the Duc d'Alencon, brother of the French king, with an Austrian +archduke, with a magnificent barbarian prince of Muscovy, with Eric of +Sweden, or any other Scandinavian suitor—she felt a woman's need for +some nearer and more tender association to which she might give freer +play and in which she might feel those deeper emotions without the +danger that arises when love is mingled with diplomacy. +</P> + +<P> +Let us first consider a picture of the woman as she really was in order +that we may understand her triple nature—consummate mistress of every +art that statesmen know, and using at every moment her person as a +lure; a vain-glorious queen who seemed to be the prey of boundless +vanity; and, lastly, a woman who had all a woman's passion, and who +could cast suddenly aside the check and balance which restrained her +before the public gaze and could allow herself to give full play to the +emotion that she inherited from the king, her father, who was himself a +marvel of fire and impetuosity. That the daughter of Henry VIII. and +Anne Boleyn should be a gentle, timid maiden would be to make heredity +a farce. +</P> + +<P> +Elizabeth was about twenty-five years of age when she ascended the +throne of England. It is odd that the date of her birth cannot be given +with precision. The intrigues and disturbances of the English court, +and the fact that she was a princess, made her birth a matter of less +account than if there had been no male heir to the throne. At any rate, +when she ascended it, after the deaths of her brother, King Edward VI., +and her sister, Queen Mary, she was a woman well trained both in +intellect and in physical development. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Martin Hume, who loves to dwell upon the later years of Queen +Elizabeth, speaks rather bitterly of her as a "painted old harridan"; +and such she may well have seemed when, at nearly seventy years of age, +she leered and grinned a sort of skeleton smile at the handsome young +courtiers who pretended to see in her the queen of beauty and to be +dying for love of her. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, in her earlier years, when she was young and strong and impetuous, +she deserved far different words than these. The portrait of her by +Zucchero, which now hangs in Hampton Court, depicts her when she must +have been of more than middle age; and still the face is one of beauty, +though it be a strange and almost artificial beauty—one that draws, +attracts, and, perhaps, lures you on against your will. +</P> + +<P> +It is interesting to compare this painting with the frank word-picture +of a certain German agent who was sent to England by his emperor, and +who seems to have been greatly fascinated by Queen Elizabeth. She was +at that time in the prime of her beauty and her power. Her complexion +was of that peculiar transparency which is seen only in the face of +golden blondes. Her figure was fine and graceful, and her wit an +accomplishment that would have made a woman of any rank or time +remarkable. The German envoy says: +</P> + +<P> +She lives a life of such magnificence and feasting as can hardly be +imagined, and occupies a great portion of her time with balls, +banquets, hunting, and similar amusements, with the utmost possible +display, but nevertheless she insists upon far greater respect being +shown her than was exacted by Queen Mary. She summons Parliament, but +lets them know that her orders must be obeyed in any case. +</P> + +<P> +If any one will look at the painting by Zucchero he will see how much +is made of Elizabeth's hands—a distinctive feature quite as noble with +the Tudors as is the "Hapsburg lip" among the descendants of the house +of Austria. These were ungloved, and were very long and white, and she +looked at them and played with them a great deal; and, indeed, they +justified the admiration with which they were regarded by her +flatterers. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the personal appearance of Elizabeth. When a young girl, we +have still more favorable opinions of her that were written by those +who had occasion to be near her. Not only do they record swift glimpses +of her person, but sometimes in a word or two they give an insight into +certain traits of mind which came out prominently in her later years. +</P> + +<P> +It may, perhaps, be well to view her as a woman before we regard her +more fully as a queen. It has been said that Elizabeth inherited many +of the traits of her father—the boldness of spirit, the rapidity of +decision, and, at the same time, the fox-like craft which often showed +itself when it was least expected. +</P> + +<P> +Henry had also, as is well known, a love of the other sex, which has +made his reign memorable. And yet it must be noted that while he loved +much, it was not loose love. Many a king of England, from Henry II. to +Charles II., has offended far more than Henry VIII. Where Henry loved, +he married; and it was the unfortunate result of these royal marriages +that has made him seem unduly fond of women. If, however, we examine +each one of the separate espousals we shall find that he did not enter +into it lightly, and that he broke it off unwillingly. His ardent +temperament, therefore, was checked by a certain rational or +conventional propriety, so that he was by no means a loose liver, as +many would make him out to be. +</P> + +<P> +We must remember this when we recall the charges that have been made +against Elizabeth, and the strange stories that were told of her +tricks—by no means seemly tricks—which she used to play with her +guardian, Lord Thomas Seymour. The antics she performed with him in her +dressing-room were made the subject of an official inquiry; yet it came +out that while Elizabeth was less than sixteen, and Lord Thomas was +very much her senior, his wife was with him on his visits to the +chamber of the princess. +</P> + +<P> +Sir Robert Tyrwhitt and his wife were also sent to question her, +Tyrwhitt had a keen mind and one well trained to cope with any other's +wit in this sort of cross-examination. Elizabeth was only a girl of +fifteen, yet she was a match for the accomplished courtier in diplomacy +and quick retort. He was sent down to worm out of her everything that +she knew. Threats and flattery and forged letters and false confessions +were tried on her; but they were tried in vain. She would tell nothing +of importance. She denied everything. She sulked, she cried, she +availed herself of a woman's favorite defense in suddenly attacking +those who had attacked her. She brought counter charges against +Tyrwhitt, and put her enemies on their own defense. Not a compromising +word could they wring out of her. +</P> + +<P> +She bitterly complained of the imprisonment of her governess, Mrs. +Ashley, and cried out: +</P> + +<P> +"I have not so behaved that you need put more mistresses upon me!" +</P> + +<P> +Altogether, she was too much for Sir Robert, and he was wise enough to +recognize her cleverness. +</P> + +<P> +"She hath a very good wit," said he, shrewdly; "and nothing is to be +gotten of her except by great policy." And he added: "If I had to say +my fancy, I think it more meet that she should have two governesses +than one." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hume notes the fact that after the two servants of the princess had +been examined and had told nothing very serious they found that they +had been wise in remaining friends of the royal girl. No sooner had +Elizabeth become queen than she knighted the man Parry and made him +treasurer of the household, while Mrs. Ashley, the governess, was +treated with great consideration. Thus, very naturally, Mr. Hume says: +"They had probably kept back far more than they told." +</P> + +<P> +Even Tyrwhitt believed that there was a secret compact between them, +for he said, quaintly: "They all sing one song, and she hath set the +note for them." +</P> + +<P> +Soon after this her brother Edward's death brought to the throne her +elder sister, Mary, who has harshly become known as Bloody Mary. During +this time Elizabeth put aside her boldness, and became apparently a shy +and simple-minded virgin. Surrounded on every side by those who sought +to trap her, there was nothing in her bearing to make her seem the head +of a party or the young chief of a faction. Nothing could exceed her in +meekness. She spoke of her sister in the humblest terms. She exhibited +no signs of the Tudor animation that was in reality so strong a part of +her character. +</P> + +<P> +But, coming to the throne, she threw away her modesty and brawled and +rioted with very little self-restraint. The people as a whole found +little fault with her. She reminded them of her father, the bluff King +Hal; and even those who criticized her did so only partially. They +thought much better of her than they had of her saturnine sister, the +first Queen Mary. +</P> + +<P> +The life of Elizabeth has been very oddly misunderstood, not so much +for the facts in it as for the manner in which these have been arranged +and the relation which they have to one another. We ought to recollect +that this woman did not live in a restricted sphere, that her life was +not a short one, and that it was crowded with incidents and full of +vivid color. Some think of her as living for a short period of time and +speak of the great historical characters who surrounded her as +belonging to a single epoch. To them she has one set of suitors all the +time—the Duc d'Alencon, the King of Denmark's brother, the Prince of +Sweden, the russian potentate, the archduke sending her sweet messages +from Austria, the melancholy King of Spain, together with a number of +her own brilliant Englishmen—Sir William Pickering, Sir Robert Dudley, +Lord Darnley, the Earl of Essex, Sir Philip Sidney, and Sir Walter +Raleigh. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, as a matter of fact, Elizabeth lived for nearly seventy +years—almost three-quarters of a century—and in that long time there +came and went both men and women, those whom she had used and cast +aside, with others whom she had also treated with gratitude, and who +had died gladly serving her. But through it all there was a continual +change in her environment, though not in her. The young soldier went to +the battle-field and died; the wise counselor gave her his advice, and +she either took it or cared nothing for it. She herself was a curious +blending of forwardness and folly, of wisdom and wantonness, of +frivolity and unbridled fancy. But through it all she loved her people, +even though she often cheated them and made them pay her taxes in the +harsh old way that prevailed before there was any right save the king's +will. +</P> + +<P> +At the same time, this was only by fits and starts, and on the whole +she served them well. Therefore, to most of them she was always the +good Queen Bess. What mattered it to the ditcher and yeoman, far from +the court, that the queen was said to dance in her nightdress and to +swear like a trooper? +</P> + +<P> +It was, indeed, largely from these rustic sources that such stories +were scattered throughout England. Peasants thought them picturesque. +More to the point with them were peace and prosperity throughout the +country, the fact that law was administered with honesty and justice, +and that England was safe from her deadly enemies—the swarthy +Spaniards and the scheming French. +</P> + +<P> +But, as I said, we must remember always that the Elizabeth of one +period was not the Elizabeth of another, and that the England of one +period was not the England of another. As one thinks of it, there is +something wonderful in the almost star-like way in which this girl +flitted unharmed through a thousand perils. Her own countrymen were at +first divided against her; a score of greedy, avaricious suitors sought +her destruction, or at least her hand to lead her to destruction; all +the great powers of the Continent were either demanding an alliance +with England or threatening to dash England down amid their own +dissensions. +</P> + +<P> +What had this girl to play off against such dangers? Only an undaunted +spirit, a scheming mind that knew no scruples, and finally her own +person and the fact that she was a woman, and, therefore, might give +herself in marriage and become the mother of a race of kings. +</P> + +<P> +It was this last weapon, the weapon of her sex, that proved, perhaps, +the most powerful of all. By promising a marriage or by denying it, or +by neither promising nor denying but withholding it, she gave forth a +thousand wily intimations which kept those who surrounded her at bay +until she had made still another deft and skilful combination, escaping +like some startled creature to a new place of safety. +</P> + +<P> +In 1583, when she was fifty years of age, she had reached a point when +her courtships and her pretended love-making were no longer necessary. +She had played Sweden against Denmark, and France against Spain, and +the Austrian archduke against the others, and many suitors in her own +land against the different factions which they headed. She might have +sat herself down to rest; for she could feel that her wisdom had led +her up into a high place, whence she might look down in peace and with +assurance of the tranquillity that she had won. Not yet had the great +Armada rolled and thundered toward the English shores. But she was +certain that her land was secure, compact, and safe. +</P> + +<P> +It remains to see what were those amatory relations which she may be +said to have sincerely held. She had played at love-making with foreign +princes, because it was wise and, for the moment, best. She had played +with Englishmen of rank who aspired to her hand, because in that way +she might conciliate, at one time her Catholic and at another her +Protestant subjects. But what of the real and inward feeling of her +heart, when she was not thinking of political problems or the +necessities of state! +</P> + +<P> +This is an interesting question. One may at least seek the answer, +hoping thereby to solve one of the most interesting phases of this +perplexing and most remarkable woman. +</P> + +<P> +It must be remembered that it was not a question of whether Elizabeth +desired marriage. She may have done so as involving a brilliant stroke +of policy. In this sense she may have wished to marry one of the two +French princes who were among her suitors. But even here she hesitated, +and her Parliament disapproved; for by this time England had become +largely Protestant. Again, had she married a French prince and had +children, England might have become an appanage of France. +</P> + +<P> +There is no particular evidence that she had any feeling at all for her +Flemish, Austrian, or Russian suitors, while the Swede's pretensions +were the laughing-stock of the English court. So we may set aside this +question of marriage as having nothing to do with her emotional life. +She did desire a son, as was shown by her passionate outcry when she +compared herself with Mary of Scotland. +</P> + +<P> +"The Queen of Scots has a bonny son, while I am but a barren stock!" +</P> + +<P> +She was too wise to wed a subject; though, had she married at all, her +choice would doubtless have been an Englishman. In this respect, as in +so many others, she was like her father, who chose his numerous wives, +with the exception of the first, from among the English ladies of the +court; just as the showy Edward IV. was happy in marrying "Dame +Elizabeth Woodville." But what a king may do is by no means so easy for +a queen; and a husband is almost certain to assume an authority which +makes him unpopular with the subjects of his wife. +</P> + +<P> +Hence, as said above, we must consider not so much whom she would have +liked to marry, but rather to whom her love went out spontaneously, and +not as a part of that amatory play which amused her from the time when +she frisked with Seymour down to the very last days, when she could no +longer move about, but when she still dabbled her cheeks with rouge and +powder and set her skeleton face amid a forest of ruffs. +</P> + +<P> +There were many whom she cared for after a fashion. She would not let +Sir Walter Raleigh visit her American colonies, because she could not +bear to have him so long away from her. She had great moments of +passion for the Earl of Essex, though in the end she signed his +death-warrant because he was as dominant in spirit as the queen herself. +</P> + +<P> +Readers of Sir Walter Scott's wonderfully picturesque novel, +Kenilworth, will note how he throws the strongest light upon +Elizabeth's affection for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Scott's +historical instinct is united here with a vein of psychology which goes +deeper than is usual with him. We see Elizabeth trying hard to share +her favor equally between two nobles; but the Earl of Essex fails to +please her because he lacked those exquisite manners which made +Leicester so great a favorite with the fastidious queen. +</P> + +<P> +Then, too, the story of Leicester's marriage with Amy Robsart is +something more than a myth, based upon an obscure legend and an ancient +ballad. The earl had had such a wife, and there were sinister stories +about the manner of her death. But it is Scott who invents the +villainous Varney and the bulldog Anthony Foster; just as he brought +the whole episode into the foreground and made it occur at a period +much later than was historically true. Still, Scott felt—and he was +imbued with the spirit and knowledge of that time—a strong conviction +that Elizabeth loved Leicester as she really loved no one else. +</P> + +<P> +There is one interesting fact which goes far to convince us. Just as +her father was, in a way, polygamous, so Elizabeth was even more truly +polyandrous. It was inevitable that she should surround herself with +attractive men, whose love-locks she would caress and whose flatteries +she would greedily accept. To the outward eye there was very little +difference in her treatment of the handsome and daring nobles of her +court; yet a historian of her time makes one very shrewd remark when he +says: "To every one she gave some power at times—to all save +Leicester." +</P> + +<P> +Cecil and Walsingham in counsel and Essex and Raleigh in the field +might have their own way at times, and even share the sovereign's +power, but to Leicester she intrusted no high commands and no important +mission. Why so? Simply because she loved him more than any of the +rest; and, knowing this, she knew that if besides her love she granted +him any measure of control or power, then she would be but half a queen +and would be led either to marry him or else to let him sway her as he +would. +</P> + +<P> +For the reason given, one may say with confidence that, while +Elizabeth's light loves were fleeting, she gave a deep affection to +this handsome, bold, and brilliant Englishman and cherished him in a +far different way from any of the others. This was as near as she ever +came to marriage, and it was this love at least which makes +Shakespeare's famous line as false as it is beautiful, when he +describes "the imperial votaress" as passing by "in maiden meditation, +fancy free." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="mary"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL +</H3> + +<P> +Mary Stuart and Cleopatra are the two women who have most attracted the +fancy of poets, dramatists, novelists, and painters, from their own +time down to the present day. +</P> + +<P> +In some respects there is a certain likeness in their careers. Each was +queen of a nation whose affairs were entangled with those of a much +greater one. Each sought for her own ideal of love until she found it. +Each won that love recklessly, almost madly. Each, in its attainment, +fell from power and fortune. Each died before her natural life was +ended. One caused the man she loved to cast away the sovereignty of a +mighty state. The other lost her own crown in order that she might +achieve the whole desire of her heart. +</P> + +<P> +There is still another parallel which may be found. Each of these women +was reputed to be exquisitely beautiful; yet each fell short of +beauty's highest standards. They are alike remembered in song and story +because of qualities that are far more powerful than any physical charm +can be. They impressed the imagination of their own contemporaries just +as they had impressed the imagination of all succeeding ages, by reason +of a strange and irresistible fascination which no one could explain, +but which very few could experience and resist. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Stuart was born six days before her father's death, and when the +kingdom which was her heritage seemed to be almost in its death-throes. +James V. of Scotland, half Stuart and half Tudor, was no ordinary +monarch. As a mere boy he had burst the bonds with which a regency had +bound him, and he had ruled the wild Scotland of the sixteenth century. +He was brave and crafty, keen in statesmanship, and dissolute in +pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +His first wife had given him no heirs; so at her death he sought out a +princess whom he pursued all the more ardently because she was also +courted by the burly Henry VIII. of England. This girl was Marie of +Lorraine, daughter of the Duc de Guise. She was fit to be the mother of +a lion's brood, for she was above six feet in height and of proportions +so ample as to excite the admiration of the royal voluptuary who sat +upon the throne of England. +</P> + +<P> +"I am big," said he, "and I want a wife who is as big as I am." +</P> + +<P> +But James of Scotland wooed in person, and not by embassies, and he +triumphantly carried off his strapping princess. Henry of England +gnawed his beard in vain; and, though in time he found consolation in +another woman's arms, he viewed James not only as a public but as a +private enemy. +</P> + +<P> +There was war between the two countries. First the Scots repelled an +English army; but soon they were themselves disgracefully defeated at +Solway Moss by a force much their inferior in numbers. The shame of it +broke King James's heart. As he was galloping from the battle-field the +news was brought him that his wife had given birth to a daughter. He +took little notice of the message; and in a few days he had died, +moaning with his last breath the mysterious words: +</P> + +<P> +"It came with a lass—with a lass it will go!" +</P> + +<P> +The child who was born at this ill-omened crisis was Mary Stuart, who +within a week became, in her own right, Queen of Scotland. Her mother +acted as regent of the kingdom. Henry of England demanded that the +infant girl should be betrothed to his young son, Prince Edward, who +afterward reigned as Edward VI., though he died while still a boy. The +proposal was rejected, and the war between England and Scotland went on +its bloody course; but meanwhile the little queen was sent to France, +her mother's home, so that she might be trained in accomplishments +which were rare in Scotland. +</P> + +<P> +In France she grew up at the court of Catherine de' Medici, that +imperious intriguer whose splendid surroundings were tainted with the +corruption which she had brought from her native Italy. It was, indeed, +a singular training-school for a girl of Mary Stuart's character. She +saw about her a superficial chivalry and a most profound depravity. +Poets like Ronsard graced the life of the court with exquisite verse. +Troubadours and minstrels sang sweet music there. There were fetes and +tournaments and gallantry of bearing; yet, on the other hand, there was +every possible refinement and variety of vice. Men were slain before +the eyes of the queen herself. The talk of the court was of intrigue +and lust and evil things which often verged on crime. Catherine de' +Medici herself kept her nominal husband at arm's-length; and in order +to maintain her grasp on France she connived at the corruption of her +own children, three of whom were destined in their turn to sit upon the +throne. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Stuart grew up in these surroundings until she was sixteen, eating +the fruit which gave a knowledge of both good and evil. Her +intelligence was very great. She quickly learned Italian, French, and +Latin. She was a daring horsewoman. She was a poet and an artist even +in her teens. She was also a keen judge of human motives, for those +early years of hers had forced her into a womanhood that was premature +but wonderful. It had been proposed that she should marry the eldest +son of Catherine, so that in time the kingdom of Scotland and that of +France might be united, while if Elizabeth of England were to die +unmarried her realm also would fall to this pair of children. +</P> + +<P> +And so Mary, at sixteen, wedded the Dauphin Francis, who was a year her +junior. The prince was a wretched, whimpering little creature, with a +cankered body and a blighted soul. Marriage with such a husband seemed +absurd. It never was a marriage in reality. The sickly child would cry +all night, for he suffered from abscesses in his ears, and his manhood +had been prematurely taken from him. Nevertheless, within a twelvemonth +the French king died and Mary Stuart was Queen of France as well as of +Scotland, hampered only by her nominal obedience to the sick boy whom +she openly despised. At seventeen she showed herself a master spirit. +She held her own against the ambitious Catherine de' Medici, whom she +contemptuously nicknamed "the apothecary's daughter." For the brief +period of a year she was actually the ruler of France; but then her +husband died and she was left a widow, restless, ambitious, and yet no +longer having any of the power she loved. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Stuart at this time had become a woman whose fascination was +exerted over all who knew her. She was very tall and very slim, with +chestnut hair, "like a flower of the heat, both lax and delicate." Her +skin was fair and pale, so clear and so transparent as to make the +story plausible that when she drank from a flask of wine, the red +liquid could be seen passing down her slender throat. +</P> + +<P> +Yet with all this she was not fine in texture, but hardy as a man. She +could endure immense fatigue without yielding to it. Her supple form +had the strength of steel. There was a gleam in her hazel eyes that +showed her to be brimful of an almost fierce vitality. Young as she +was, she was the mistress of a thousand arts, and she exhaled a sort of +atmosphere that turned the heads of men. The Stuart blood made her +impatient of control, careless of state, and easy-mannered. The French +and the Tudor strain gave her vivacity. She could be submissive in +appearance while still persisting in her aims. She could be languorous +and seductive while cold within. Again, she could assume the +haughtiness which belonged to one who was twice a queen. +</P> + +<P> +Two motives swayed her, and they fought together for supremacy. One was +the love of power, and the other was the love of love. The first was +natural to a girl who was a sovereign in her own right. The second was +inherited, and was then forced into a rank luxuriance by the sort of +life that she had seen about her. At eighteen she was a strangely +amorous creature, given to fondling and kissing every one about her, +with slight discrimination. From her sense of touch she received +emotions that were almost necessary to her existence. With her slender, +graceful hands she was always stroking the face of some favorite—it +might be only the face of a child, or it might be the face of some +courtier or poet, or one of the four Marys whose names are linked with +hers—Mary Livingstone, Mary Fleming, Mary Beaton, and Mary Seton, the +last of whom remained with her royal mistress until her death. +</P> + +<P> +But one must not be too censorious in thinking of Mary Stuart. She was +surrounded everywhere by enemies. During her stay in France she was +hated by the faction of Catherine de' Medici. When she returned to +Scotland she was hated because of her religion by the Protestant lords. +Her every action was set forth in the worst possible light. The most +sinister meaning was given to everything she said or did. In truth, we +must reject almost all the stories which accuse her of anything more +than a certain levity of conduct. +</P> + +<P> +She was not a woman to yield herself in love's last surrender unless +her intellect and heart alike had been made captive. She would listen +to the passionate outpourings of poets and courtiers, and she would +plunge her eyes into theirs, and let her hair just touch their faces, +and give them her white hands to kiss—but that was all. Even in this +she was only following the fashion of the court where she was bred, and +she was not unlike her royal relative, Elizabeth of England, who had +the same external amorousness coupled with the same internal +self-control. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Stuart's love life makes a piteous story, for it is the life of +one who was ever seeking—seeking for the man to whom she could look +up, who could be strong and brave and ardent like herself, and at the +same time be more powerful and more steadfast even than she herself in +mind and thought. Whatever may be said of her, and howsoever the facts +may be colored by partisans, this royal girl, stung though she was by +passion and goaded by desire, cared nothing for any man who could not +match her in body and mind and spirit all at once. +</P> + +<P> +It was in her early widowhood that she first met the man, and when +their union came it brought ruin on them both. In France there came to +her one day one of her own subjects, the Earl of Bothwell. He was but a +few years older than she, and in his presence for the first time she +felt, in her own despite, that profoundly moving, indescribable, and +never-to-be-forgotten thrill which shakes a woman to the very center of +her being, since it is the recognition of a complete affinity. +</P> + +<P> +Lord Bothwell, like Queen Mary, has been terribly maligned. Unlike her, +he has found only a few defenders. Maurice Hewlett has drawn a picture +of him more favorable than many, and yet it is a picture that repels. +Bothwell, says he, was of a type esteemed by those who pronounce vice +to be their virtue. He was "a galliard, flushed with rich blood, +broad-shouldered, square-jawed, with a laugh so happy and so prompt +that the world, rejoicing to hear it, thought all must be well wherever +he might be. He wore brave clothes, sat a brave horse, and kept brave +company bravely. His high color, while it betokened high feeding, got +him the credit of good health. His little eyes twinkled so merrily that +you did not see they were like a pig's, sly and greedy at once, and +bloodshot. His tawny beard concealed a jaw underhung, a chin jutting +and dangerous. His mouth had a cruel twist; but his laughing hid that +too. The bridge of his nose had been broken; few observed it, or +guessed at the brawl which must have given it to him. Frankness was his +great charm, careless ease in high places." +</P> + +<P> +And so, when Mary Stuart first met him in her eighteenth year, Lord +Bothwell made her think as she had never thought of any other man, and +as she was not to think of any other man again. She grew to look +eagerly for the frank mockery "in those twinkling eyes, in that quick +mouth"; and to wonder whether it was with him always—asleep, at +prayers, fighting, furious, or in love. +</P> + +<P> +Something more, however, must be said of Bothwell. He was undoubtedly a +roisterer, but he was very much a man. He made easy love to women. His +sword leaped quickly from its sheath. He could fight, and he could also +think. He was no brawling ruffian, no ordinary rake. Remembering what +Scotland was in those days, Bothwell might well seem in reality a +princely figure. He knew Italian; he was at home in French; he could +write fluent Latin. He was a collector of books and a reader of them +also. He was perhaps the only Scottish noble of his time who had a +book-plate of his own. Here is something more than a mere reveler. Here +is a man of varied accomplishments and of a complex character. +</P> + +<P> +Though he stayed but a short time near the queen in France, he kindled +her imagination, so that when she seriously thought of men she thought +of Bothwell. And yet all the time she was fondling the young pages in +her retinue and kissing her maids of honor with her scarlet lips, and +lying on their knees, while poets like Ronsard and Chastelard wrote +ardent love sonnets to her and sighed and pined for something more than +the privilege of kissing her two dainty hands. +</P> + +<P> +In 1561, less than a year after her widowhood, Mary set sail for +Scotland, never to return. The great high-decked ships which escorted +her sailed into the harbor of Leith, and she pressed on to Edinburgh. A +depressing change indeed from the sunny terraces and fields of France! +In her own realm were fog and rain and only a hut to shelter her upon +her landing. When she reached her capital there were few welcoming +cheers; but as she rode over the cobblestones to Holyrood, the squalid +wynds vomited forth great mobs of hard-featured, grim-visaged men and +women who stared with curiosity and a half-contempt at the girl queen +and her retinue of foreigners. +</P> + +<P> +The Scots were Protestants of the most dour sort, and they distrusted +their new ruler because of her religion and because she loved to +surround herself with dainty things and bright colors and exotic +elegance. They feared lest she should try to repeal the law of +Scotland's Parliament which had made the country Protestant. +</P> + +<P> +The very indifference of her subjects stirred up the nobler part of +Mary's nature. For a time she was indeed a queen. She governed wisely. +She respected the religious rights of her Protestant subjects. She +strove to bring order out of the chaos into which her country had +fallen. And she met with some success. The time came when her people +cheered her as she rode among them. Her subtle fascination was her +greatest source of strength. Even John Knox, that iron-visaged, +stentorian preacher, fell for a time under the charm of her presence. +She met him frankly and pleaded with him as a woman, instead of +commanding him as a queen. The surly ranter became softened for a time, +and, though he spoke of her to others as "Honeypot," he ruled his +tongue in public. She had offers of marriage from Austrian and Spanish +princes. The new King of France, her brother-in-law, would perhaps have +wedded her. It mattered little to Mary that Elizabeth of England was +hostile. She felt that she was strong enough to hold her own and govern +Scotland. +</P> + +<P> +But who could govern a country such as Scotland was? It was a land of +broils and feuds, of clan enmities and fierce vendettas. Its nobles +were half barbarous, and they fought and slashed at one another with +drawn dirks almost in the presence of the queen herself. No matter whom +she favored, there rose up a swarm of enemies. Here was a Corsica of +the north, more savage and untamed than even the other Corsica. +</P> + +<P> +In her perplexity Mary felt a woman's need of some man on whom she +would have the right to lean, and whom she could make king consort. She +thought that she had found him in the person of her cousin, Lord +Darnley, a Catholic, and by his upbringing half an Englishman. Darnley +came to Scotland, and for the moment Mary fancied that she had +forgotten Bothwell. Here again she was in love with love, and she +idealized the man who came to give it to her. Darnley seemed, indeed, +well worthy to be loved, for he was tall and handsome, appearing well +on horseback and having some of the accomplishments which Mary valued. +</P> + +<P> +It was a hasty wooing, and the queen herself was first of all the +wooer. Her quick imagination saw in Darnley traits and gifts of which +he really had no share. Therefore, the marriage was soon concluded, and +Scotland had two sovereigns, King Henry and Queen Mary. So sure was +Mary of her indifference to Bothwell that she urged the earl to marry, +and he did marry a girl of the great house of Gordon. +</P> + +<P> +Mary's self-suggested love for Darnley was extinguished almost on her +wedding-night. The man was a drunkard who came into her presence +befuddled and almost bestial. He had no brains. His vanity was +enormous. He loved no one but himself, and least of all this queen, +whom he regarded as having thrown herself at his empty head. +</P> + +<P> +The first-fruits of the marriage were uprisings among the Protestant +lords. Mary then showed herself a heroic queen. At the head of a motley +band of soldiery who came at her call—half-clad, uncouth, and +savage—she rode into the west, sleeping at night upon the bare ground, +sharing the camp food, dressed in plain tartan, but swift and fierce as +any eagle. Her spirit ran like fire through the veins of those who +followed her. She crushed the insurrection, scattered its leaders, and +returned in triumph to her capital. +</P> + +<P> +Now she was really queen, but here came in the other motive which was +interwoven in her character. She had shown herself a man in courage. +Should she not have the pleasures of a woman? To her court in Holyrood +came Bothwell once again, and this time Mary knew that he was all the +world to her. Darnley had shrunk from the hardships of battle. He was +steeped in low intrigues. He roused the constant irritation of the +queen by his folly and utter lack of sense and decency. Mary felt she +owed him nothing, but she forgot that she owed much to herself. +</P> + +<P> +Her old amorous ways came back to her, and she relapsed into the joys +of sense. The scandal-mongers of the capital saw a lover in every man +with whom she talked. She did, in fact, set convention at defiance. She +dressed in men's clothing. She showed what the unemotional Scots +thought to be unseemly levity. The French poet, Chastelard, misled by +her external signs of favor, believed himself to be her choice. At the +end of one mad revel he was found secreted beneath her bed, and was +driven out by force. A second time he ventured to secrete himself +within the covers of the bed. Then he was dragged forth, imprisoned, +and condemned to death. He met his fate without a murmur, save at the +last when he stood upon the scaffold and, gazing toward the palace, +cried in French: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, cruel queen! I die for you!" +</P> + +<P> +Another favorite, the Italian, David Rizzio, or Riccio, in like manner +wrote love verses to the queen, and she replied to them in kind; but +there is no evidence that she valued him save for his ability, which +was very great. She made him her foreign secretary, and the man whom he +supplanted worked on the jealousy of Darnley; so that one night, while +Mary and Rizzio were at dinner in a small private chamber, Darnley and +the others broke in upon her. Darnley held her by the waist while +Rizzio was stabbed before her eyes with a cruelty the greater because +the queen was soon to become a mother. +</P> + +<P> +From that moment she hated Darnley as one would hate a snake. She +tolerated him only that he might acknowledge her child as his son. This +child was the future James VI. of Scotland and James I. of England. It +is recorded of him that never throughout his life could he bear to look +upon drawn steel. +</P> + +<P> +After this Mary summoned Bothwell again and again. It was revealed to +her as in a blaze of light that, after all, he was the one and only man +who could be everything to her. His frankness, his cynicism, his +mockery, his carelessness, his courage, and the power of his mind +matched her moods completely. She threw away all semblance of +concealment. She ignored the fact that he had married at her wish. She +was queen. She desired him. She must have him at any cost. +</P> + +<P> +"Though I lose Scotland and England both," she cried in a passion of +abandonment, "I shall have him for my own!" +</P> + +<P> +Bothwell, in his turn, was nothing loath, and they leaped at each other +like two flames. +</P> + +<P> +It was then that Mary wrote those letters which were afterward +discovered in a casket and which were used against her when she was on +trial for her life. These so-called Casket Letters, though we have not +now the originals, are among the most extraordinary letters ever +written. All shame, all hesitation, all innocence, are flung away in +them. The writer is so fired with passion that each sentence is like a +cry to a lover in the dark. As De Peyster says: "In them the animal +instincts override and spur and lash the pen." Mary was committing to +paper the frenzied madness of a woman consumed to her very marrow by +the scorching blaze of unendurable desire. +</P> + +<P> +Events moved quickly. Darnley, convalescent from an attack of smallpox, +was mysteriously destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder. Bothwell was +divorced from his young wife on curious grounds. A dispensation allowed +Mary to wed a Protestant, and she married Bothwell three months after +Darnley's death. +</P> + +<P> +Here one sees the consummation of what had begun many years before in +France. From the moment that she and Bothwell met, their union was +inevitable. Seas could not sunder them. Other loves and other fancies +were as nothing to them. Even the bonds of marriage were burst asunder +so that these two fiery, panting souls could meet. +</P> + +<P> +It was the irony of fate that when they had so met it was only to be +parted. Mary's subjects, outraged by her conduct, rose against her. As +she passed through the streets of Edinburgh the women hurled after her +indecent names. Great banners were raised with execrable daubs +representing the murdered Darnley. The short and dreadful monosyllable +which is familiar to us in the pages of the Bible was hurled after her +wherever she went. +</P> + +<P> +With Bothwell by her side she led a wild and ragged horde of followers +against the rebellious nobles, whose forces met her at Carberry Hill. +Her motley followers melted away, and Mary surrendered to the hostile +chieftains, who took her to the castle at Lochleven. There she became +the mother of twins—a fact that is seldom mentioned by historians. +These children were the fruit of her union with Bothwell. From this +time forth she cared but little for herself, and she signed, without +great reluctance, a document by which she abdicated in favor of her +infant son. +</P> + +<P> +Even in this place of imprisonment, however, her fascination had power +to charm. Among those who guarded her, two of the Douglas +family—George Douglas and William Douglas—for love of her, effected +her escape. The first attempt failed. Mary, disguised as a laundress, +was betrayed by the delicacy of her hands. But a second attempt was +successful. The queen passed through a postern gate and made her way to +the lake, where George Douglas met her with a boat. Crossing the lake, +fifty horsemen under Lord Claude Hamilton gave her their escort and +bore her away in safety. +</P> + +<P> +But Mary was sick of Scotland, for Bothwell could not be there. She had +tasted all the bitterness of life, and for a few months all the +sweetness; but she would have no more of this rough and barbarous +country. Of her own free will she crossed the Solway into England, to +find herself at once a prisoner. +</P> + +<P> +Never again did she set eyes on Bothwell. After the battle of Carberry +Hill he escaped to the north, gathered some ships together, and preyed +upon English merchantmen, very much as a pirate might have done. Ere +long, however, when he had learned of Mary's fate, he set sail for +Norway. King Frederick of Denmark made him a prisoner of state. He was +not confined within prison walls, however, but was allowed to hunt and +ride in the vicinity of Malmo Castle and of Dragsholm. It is probably +in Malmo Castle that he died. In 1858 a coffin which was thought to be +the coffin of the earl was opened, and a Danish artist sketched the +head—which corresponds quite well with the other portraits of the +ill-fated Scottish noble. +</P> + +<P> +It is a sad story. Had Mary been less ambitious when she first met +Bothwell, or had he been a little bolder, they might have reigned +together and lived out their lives in the plenitude of that great love +which held them both in thrall. But a queen is not as other women; and +she found too late that the teaching of her heart was, after all, the +truest teaching. She went to her death as Bothwell went to his, alone, +in a strange, unfriendly land. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, even this, perhaps, was better so. It has at least touched both +their lives with pathos and has made the name of Mary Stuart one to be +remembered throughout all the ages. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="christina"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS MONALDESCHI +</H3> + +<P> +Sweden to-day is one of the peaceful kingdoms of the world, whose +people are prosperous, well governed, and somewhat apart from the clash +and turmoil of other states and nations. Even the secession of Norway, +a few years ago, was accomplished without bloodshed, and now the two +kingdoms exist side by side as free from strife as they are with +Denmark, which once domineered and tyrannized over both. +</P> + +<P> +It is difficult to believe that long ago, in the Middle Ages, the +cities of southern Sweden were among the great commercial centers of +the world. Stockholm and Lund ranked with London and Paris. They +absorbed the commerce of the northern seas, and were the admiration of +thousands of travelers and merchants who passed through them and +trafficked with them. +</P> + +<P> +Much nearer to our own time, Sweden was the great military power of +northern Europe. The ambassadors of the Swedish kings were received +with the utmost deference in every court. Her soldiers won great +battles and ended mighty wars. The England of Cromwell and Charles II. +was unimportant and isolated in comparison with this northern kingdom, +which could pour forth armies of gigantic blond warriors, headed by +generals astute as well as brave. +</P> + +<P> +It was no small matter, then, in 1626, that the loyal Swedes were +hoping that their queen would give birth to a male heir to succeed his +splendid father, Gustavus Adolphus, ranked by military historians as +one of the six great generals whom the world had so far produced. The +queen, a German princess of Brandenburg, had already borne two +daughters, who died in infancy. The expectation was wide-spread and +intense that she should now become the mother of a son; and the king +himself was no less anxious. +</P> + +<P> +When the event occurred, the child was seen to be completely covered +with hair, and for this reason the attendants at first believed that it +was the desired boy. When their mistake was discovered they were afraid +to tell the king, who was waiting in his study for the announcement to +be made. At last, when no one else would go to him, his sister, the +Princess Caroline, volunteered to break the news. +</P> + +<P> +Gustavus was in truth a chivalrous, high-bred monarch. Though he must +have been disappointed at the advent of a daughter, he showed no sign +of dissatisfaction or even of surprise; but, rising, he embraced his +sister, saying: +</P> + +<P> +"Let us thank God. I hope this girl will be as good as a boy to me. May +God preserve her now that He has sent her!" +</P> + +<P> +It is customary at almost all courts to pay less attention to the birth +of a princess than to that of a prince; but Gustavus displayed his +chivalry toward this little daughter, whom he named Christina. He +ordered that the full royal salute should be fired in every fortress of +his kingdom and that displays of fireworks, balls of honor, and court +functions should take place; "for," as he said, "this is the heir to my +throne." And so from the first he took his child under his own keeping +and treated her as if she were a much-loved son as well as a successor. +</P> + +<P> +He joked about her looks when she was born, when she was mistaken for a +boy. +</P> + +<P> +"She will be clever," he said, "for she has taken us all in!" +</P> + +<P> +The Swedish people were as delighted with their little princess as were +the people of Holland when the present Queen Wilhelmina was born, to +carry on the succession of the House of Orange. On one occasion the +king and the small Christina, who were inseparable companions, happened +to approach a fortress where they expected to spend the night. The +commander of the castle was bound to fire a royal salute of fifty +cannon in honor of his sovereign; yet he dreaded the effect upon the +princess of such a roaring and bellowing of artillery. He therefore +sent a swift horseman to meet the royal party at a distance and explain +his perplexity. Should he fire these guns or not? Would the king give +an order? +</P> + +<P> +Gustavus thought for a moment, and then replied: +</P> + +<P> +"My daughter is the daughter of a soldier, and she must learn to lead a +soldier's life. Let the guns be fired!" +</P> + +<P> +The procession moved on. Presently fire spurted from the embrasures of +the fort, and its batteries thundered in one great roar. The king +looked down at Christina. Her face was aglow with pleasure and +excitement; she clapped her hands and laughed, and cried out: +</P> + +<P> +"More bang! More! More! More!" +</P> + +<P> +This is only one of a score of stories that were circulated about the +princess, and the Swedes were more and more delighted with the girl who +was to be their queen. +</P> + +<P> +Somewhat curiously, Christina's mother, Queen Maria, cared little for +the child, and, in fact, came at last to detest her almost as much as +the king loved her. It is hard to explain this dislike. Perhaps she had +a morbid desire for a son and begrudged the honors given to a daughter. +Perhaps she was a little jealous of her own child, who took so much of +the king's attention. Afterward, in writing of her mother, Christina +excuses her, and says quite frankly: +</P> + +<P> +She could not bear to see me, because I was a girl, and an ugly girl at +that. And she was right enough, for I was as tawny as a little Turk. +</P> + +<P> +This candid description of herself is hardly just. Christina was never +beautiful, and she had a harsh voice. She was apt to be overbearing +even as a little girl. Yet she was a most interesting child, with an +expressive face, large eyes, an aquiline nose, and the blond hair of +her people. There was nothing in this to account for her mother's +intense dislike for her. +</P> + +<P> +It was currently reported at the time that attempts were made to maim +or seriously injure the little princess. By what was made to seem an +accident, she would be dropped upon the floor, and heavy articles of +furniture would somehow manage to strike her. More than once a great +beam fell mysteriously close to her, either in the palace or while she +was passing through the streets. None of these things did her serious +harm, however. Most of them she luckily escaped; but when she had grown +to be a woman one of her shoulders was permanently higher than the +other. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose," said Christina, "that I could be straightened if I would +let the surgeons attend to it; but it isn't worth while to take the +trouble." +</P> + +<P> +When Christina was four, Sweden became involved in the great war that +had been raging for a dozen years between the Protestant and the +Catholic states of Germany. Gradually the neighboring powers had been +drawn into the struggle, either to serve their own ends or to support +the faith to which they adhered. Gustavus Adolphus took up the sword +with mixed motives, for he was full of enthusiasm for the imperiled +cause of the Reformation, and at the same time he deemed it a favorable +opportunity to assert his control over the shores of the Baltic. +</P> + +<P> +The warrior king summoned his army and prepared to invade Germany. +Before departing he took his little daughter by the hand and led her +among the assembled nobles and councilors of state. To them he +intrusted the princess, making them kneel and vow that they would +regard her as his heir, and, if aught should happen to him, as his +successor. Amid the clashing of swords and the clang of armor this vow +was taken, and the king went forth to war. +</P> + +<P> +He met the ablest generals of his enemies, and the fortunes of battle +swayed hither and thither; but the climax came when his soldiers +encountered those of Wallenstein—that strange, overbearing, arrogant, +mysterious creature whom many regarded with a sort of awe. The clash +came at Lutzen, in Saxony. The Swedish king fought long and hard, and +so did his mighty opponent; but at last, in the very midst of a +tremendous onset that swept all before him, Gustavus received a mortal +wound and died, even while Wallenstein was fleeing from the field of +battle. +</P> + +<P> +The battle of Lutzen made Christina Queen of Sweden at the age of six. +Of course, she could not yet be crowned, but a council of able +ministers continued the policy of the late king and taught the young +queen her first lessons in statecraft. Her intellect soon showed itself +as more than that of a child. She understood all that was taking place, +and all that was planned and arranged. Her tact was unusual. Her +discretion was admired by every one; and after a while she had the +advice and training of the great Swedish chancellor, Oxenstierna, whose +wisdom she shared to a remarkable degree. +</P> + +<P> +Before she was sixteen she had so approved herself to her counselors, +and especially to the people at large, that there was a wide-spread +clamor that she should take the throne and govern in her own person. To +this she gave no heed, but said: +</P> + +<P> +"I am not yet ready." +</P> + +<P> +All this time she bore herself like a king. There was nothing +distinctly feminine about her. She took but slight interest in her +appearance. She wore sword and armor in the presence of her troops, and +often she dressed entirely in men's clothes. She would take long, +lonely gallops through the forests, brooding over problems of state and +feeling no fatigue or fear. And indeed why should she fear, who was +beloved by all her subjects? +</P> + +<P> +When her eighteenth year arrived, the demand for her coronation was +impossible to resist. All Sweden wished to see a ruling queen, who +might marry and have children to succeed her through the royal line of +her great father. Christina consented to be crowned, but she absolutely +refused all thought of marriage. She had more suitors from all parts of +Europe than even Elizabeth of England; but, unlike Elizabeth, she did +not dally with them, give them false hopes, or use them for the +political advantage of her kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +At that time Sweden was stronger than England, and was so situated as +to be independent of alliances. So Christina said, in her harsh, +peremptory voice: +</P> + +<P> +"I shall never marry; and why should you speak of my having children! I +am just as likely to give birth to a Nero as to an Augustus." +</P> + +<P> +Having assumed the throne, she ruled with a strictness of government +such as Sweden had not known before. She took the reins of state into +her own hands and carried out a foreign policy of her own, over the +heads of her ministers, and even against the wishes of her people. The +fighting upon the Continent had dragged out to a weary length, but the +Swedes, on the whole, had scored a marked advantage. For this reason +the war was popular, and every one wished it to go on; but Christina, +of her own will, decided that it must stop, that mere glory was not to +be considered against material advantages. Sweden had had enough of +glory; she must now look to her enrichment and prosperity through the +channels of peace. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore, in 1648, against Oxenstierna, against her generals, and +against her people, she exercised her royal power and brought the +Thirty Years' War to an end by the so-called Peace of Westphalia. At +this time she was twenty-two, and by her personal influence she had +ended one of the greatest struggles of history. Nor had she done it to +her country's loss. Denmark yielded up rich provinces, while Germany +was compelled to grant Sweden membership in the German diet. +</P> + +<P> +Then came a period of immense prosperity through commerce, through +economies in government, through the improvement of agriculture and the +opening of mines. This girl queen, without intrigue, without descending +from her native nobility to peep and whisper with shady diplomats, +showed herself in reality a great monarch, a true Semiramis of the +north, more worthy of respect and reverence than Elizabeth of England. +She was highly trained in many arts. She was fond of study, spoke Latin +fluently, and could argue with Salmasius, Descartes, and other +accomplished scholars without showing any inferiority to them. +</P> + +<P> +She gathered at her court distinguished persons from all countries. She +repelled those who sought her hand, and she was pure and truthful and +worthy of all men's admiration. Had she died at this time history would +rank her with the greatest of women sovereigns. Naude, the librarian of +Cardinal Mazarin, wrote of her to the scientist Gassendi in these words: +</P> + +<P> +To say truth, I am sometimes afraid lest the common saying should be +verified in her, that short is the life and rare the old age of those +who surpass the common limits. Do not imagine that she is learned only +in books, for she is equally so in painting, architecture, sculpture, +medals, antiquities, and all curiosities. There is not a cunning +workman in these arts but she has him fetched. There are as good +workers in wax and in enamel, engravers, singers, players, dancers here +as will be found anywhere. +</P> + +<P> +She has a gallery of statues, bronze and marble, medals of gold, +silver, and bronze, pieces of ivory, amber, coral, worked crystal, +steel mirrors, clocks and tables, bas-reliefs and other things of the +kind; richer I have never seen even in Italy; finally, a great quantity +of pictures. In short, her mind is open to all impressions. +</P> + +<P> +But after she began to make her court a sort of home for art and +letters it ceased to be the sort of court that Sweden was prepared for. +Christina's subjects were still rude and lacking in accomplishments; +therefore she had to summon men of genius from other countries, +especially from France and Italy. Many of these were illustrious +artists or scholars, but among them were also some who used their +mental gifts for harm. +</P> + +<P> +Among these latter was a French physician named Bourdelot—a man of +keen intellect, of winning manners, and of a profound cynicism, which +was not apparent on the surface, but the effect of which last lasting. +To Bourdelot we must chiefly ascribe the mysterious change which +gradually came over Queen Christina. With his associates he taught her +a distaste for the simple and healthy life that she had been accustomed +to lead. She ceased to think of the welfare of the state and began to +look down with scorn upon her unsophisticated Swedes. Foreign luxury +displayed itself at Stockholm, and her palaces overflowed with +beautiful things. +</P> + +<P> +By subtle means Bourdelot undermined her principles. Having been a +Stoic, she now became an Epicurean. She was by nature devoid of +sentiment. She would not spend her time in the niceties of love-making, +as did Elizabeth; but beneath the surface she had a sort of tigerish, +passionate nature, which would break forth at intervals, and which +demanded satisfaction from a series of favorites. It is probable that +Bourdelot was her first lover, but there were many others whose names +are recorded in the annals of the time. +</P> + +<P> +When she threw aside her virtue Christina ceased to care about +appearances. She squandered her revenues upon her favorites. What she +retained of her former self was a carelessness that braved the opinion +of her subjects. She dressed almost without thought, and it is said +that she combed her hair not more than twice a month. She caroused with +male companions to the scandal of her people, and she swore like a +trooper when displeased. +</P> + +<P> +Christina's philosophy of life appears to have been compounded of an +almost brutal licentiousness, a strong love of power, and a strange, +freakish longing for something new. Her political ambitions were +checked by the rising discontent of her people, who began to look down +upon her and to feel ashamed of her shame. Knowing herself as she did, +she did not care to marry. +</P> + +<P> +Yet Sweden must have an heir. Therefore she chose out her cousin +Charles, declared that he was to be her successor, and finally caused +him to be proclaimed as such before the assembled estates of the realm. +She even had him crowned; and finally, in her twenty-eighth year, she +abdicated altogether and prepared to leave Sweden. When asked whither +she would go, she replied in a Latin quotation: +</P> + +<P> +"The Fates will show the way." +</P> + +<P> +In her act of abdication she reserved to herself the revenues of some +of the richest provinces in Sweden and absolute power over such of her +subjects as should accompany her. They were to be her subjects until +the end. +</P> + +<P> +The Swedes remembered that Christina was the daughter of their greatest +king, and that, apart from personal scandals, she had ruled them well; +and so they let her go regretfully and accepted her cousin as their +king. Christina, on her side, went joyfully and in the spirit of a +grand adventuress. With a numerous suite she entered Germany, and then +stayed for a year at Brussels, where she renounced Lutheranism. After +this she traveled slowly into Italy, where she entered Borne on +horseback, and was received by the Pope, Alexander VII., who lodged her +in a magnificent palace, accepted her conversion, and baptized her, +giving her a new name, Alexandra. +</P> + +<P> +In Rome she was a brilliant but erratic personage, living sumptuously, +even though her revenues from Sweden came in slowly, partly because the +Swedes disliked her change of religion. She was surrounded by men of +letters, with whom she amused herself, and she took to herself a lover, +the Marquis Monaldeschi. She thought that at last she had really found +her true affinity, while Monaldeschi believed that he could count on +the queen's fidelity. +</P> + +<P> +He was in attendance upon her daily, and they were almost inseparable. +He swore allegiance to her and thereby made himself one of the subjects +over whom she had absolute power. For a time he was the master of those +intense emotions which, in her, alternated with moods of coldness and +even cruelty. +</P> + +<P> +Monaldeschi was a handsome Italian, who bore himself with a fine air of +breeding. He understood the art of charming, but he did not know that +beyond a certain time no one could hold the affections of Christina. +</P> + +<P> +However, after she had quarreled with various cardinals and decided to +leave Rome for a while, Monaldeschi accompanied her to France, where +she had an immense vogue at the court of Louis XIV. She attracted wide +attention because of her eccentricity and utter lack of manners. It +gave her the greatest delight to criticize the ladies of the French +court—their looks, their gowns, and their jewels. They, in return, +would speak of Christina's deformed shoulder and skinny frame; but the +king was very gracious to her and invited her to his hunting-palace at +Fontainebleau. +</P> + +<P> +While she had been winning triumphs of sarcasm the infatuated +Monaldeschi had gradually come to suspect, and then to know, that his +royal mistress was no longer true to him. He had been supplanted in her +favor by another Italian, one Sentanelli, who was the captain of her +guard. +</P> + +<P> +Monaldeschi took a tortuous and roundabout revenge. He did not let the +queen know of his discovery; nor did he, like a man, send a challenge +to Sentanelli. Instead he began by betraying her secrets to Oliver +Cromwell, with whom she had tried to establish a correspondence. Again, +imitating the hand and seal of Sentanelli, he set in circulation a +series of the most scandalous and insulting letters about Christina. By +this treacherous trick he hoped to end the relations between his rival +and the queen; but when the letters were carried to Christina she +instantly recognized their true source. She saw that she was betrayed +by her former favorite and that he had taken a revenge which might +seriously compromise her. +</P> + +<P> +This led to a tragedy, of which the facts were long obscure. They were +carefully recorded, however, by the queen's household chaplain, Father +Le Bel; and there is also a narrative written by one Marco Antonio +Conti, which confirms the story. Both were published privately in 1865, +with notes by Louis Lacour. +</P> + +<P> +The narration of the priest is dreadful in its simplicity and +minuteness of detail. It may be summed up briefly here, because it is +the testimony of an eye-witness who knew Christina. +</P> + +<P> +Christina, with the marquis and a large retinue, was at Fontainebleau +in November, 1657. A little after midnight, when all was still, the +priest, Father Le Bel, was aroused and ordered to go at once to the +Galerie des Cerfs, or Hall of Stags, in another part of the palace. +When he asked why, he was told: +</P> + +<P> +"It is by the order of her majesty the Swedish queen." +</P> + +<P> +The priest, wondering, hurried on his garments. On reaching the gloomy +hall he saw the Marquis Monaldeschi, evidently in great agitation, and +at the end of the corridor the queen in somber robes. Beside the queen, +as if awaiting orders, stood three figures, who could with some +difficulty be made out as three soldiers of her guard. +</P> + +<P> +The queen motioned to Father Le Bel and asked him for a packet which +she had given him for safe-keeping some little time before. He gave it +to her, and she opened it. In it were letters and other documents, +which, with a steely glance, she displayed to Monaldeschi. He was +confused by the sight of them and by the incisive words in which +Christina showed how he had both insulted her and had tried to shift +the blame upon Sentanelli. +</P> + +<P> +Monaldeschi broke down completely. He fell at the queen's feet and wept +piteously, begging for pardon, only to be met by the cold answer: +</P> + +<P> +"You are my subject and a traitor to me. Marquis, you must prepare to +die!" +</P> + +<P> +Then she turned away and left the hall, in spite of the cries of +Monaldeschi, to whom she merely added the advice that he should make +his peace with God by confessing to Father Le Bel. +</P> + +<P> +After she had gone the marquis fell into a torrent of self-exculpation +and cried for mercy. The three armed men drew near and urged him to +confess for the good of his soul. They seemed to have no malice against +him, but to feel that they must obey the orders given them. At the +frantic urging of the marquis their leader even went to the queen to +ask whether she would relent; but he returned shaking his head, and +said: +</P> + +<P> +"Marquis, you must die." +</P> + +<P> +Father Le Bel undertook a like mission, but returned with the message +that there was no hope. So the marquis made his confession in French +and Latin, but even then he hoped; for he did not wait to receive +absolution, but begged still further for delay or pardon. +</P> + +<P> +Then the three armed men approached, having drawn their swords. The +absolution was pronounced; and, following it, one of the guards slashed +the marquis across the forehead. He stumbled and fell forward, making +signs as if to ask that he might have his throat cut. But his throat +was partly protected by a coat of mail, so that three or four strokes +delivered there had slight effect. Finally, however, a long, narrow +sword was thrust into his side, after which the marquis made no sound. +</P> + +<P> +Father Le Bel at once left the Galerie des Cerfs and went into the +queen's apartment, with the smell of blood in his nostrils. He found +her calm and ready to justify herself. Was she not still queen over all +who had voluntarily become members of her suite? This had been agreed +to in her act of abdication. Wherever she set her foot, there, over her +own, she was still a monarch, with full power to punish traitors at her +will. This power she had exercised, and with justice. What mattered it +that she was in France? She was queen as truly as Louis XIV. was king. +</P> + +<P> +The story was not long in getting out, but the truth was not wholly +known until a much later day. It was said that Sentanelli had slapped +the marquis in a fit of jealousy, though some added that it was done +with the connivance of the queen. King Louis, the incarnation of +absolutism, knew the truth, but he was slow to act. He sympathized with +the theory of Christina's sovereignty. It was only after a time that +word was sent to Christina that she must leave Fontainebleau. She took +no notice of the order until it suited her convenience, and then she +went forth with all the honors of a reigning monarch. +</P> + +<P> +This was the most striking episode in all the strange story of her +private life. When her cousin Charles, whom she had made king, died +without an heir she sought to recover her crown; but the estates of the +realm refused her claim, reduced her income, and imposed restraints +upon her power. She then sought the vacant throne of Poland; but the +Polish nobles, who desired a weak ruler for their own purposes, made +another choice. So at last she returned to Rome, where the Pope +received her with a splendid procession and granted her twelve thousand +crowns a year to make up for her lessened Swedish revenue. +</P> + +<P> +From this time she lived a life which she made interesting by her +patronage of learning and exciting by her rather unseemly quarrels with +cardinals and even with the Pope. Her armed retinue marched through the +streets with drawn swords and gave open protection to criminals who had +taken refuge with her. She dared to criticize the pontiff, who merely +smiled and said: +</P> + +<P> +"She is a woman!" +</P> + +<P> +On the whole, the end of her life was pleasant. She was much admired +for her sagacity in politics. Her words were listened to at every court +in Europe. She annotated the classics, she made beautiful collections, +and she was regarded as a privileged person whose acts no one took +amiss. She died at fifty-three, and was buried in St. Peter's. +</P> + +<P> +She was bred a man, she was almost a son to her great father; and yet, +instead of the sonorous epitaph that is inscribed beside her tomb, +perhaps a truer one would be the words of the vexed Pope: +</P> + +<P> +"E DONNA!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="charles"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN +</H3> + +<P> +One might classify the kings of England in many ways. John was +undoubtedly the most unpopular. The impetuous yet far-seeing Henry II., +with the other two great warriors, Edward I. and Edward III., and +William of Orange, did most for the foundation and development of +England's constitutional law. Some monarchs, such as Edward II. and the +womanish Henry VI., have been contemptible. Hard-working, useful kings +have been Henry VII., the Georges, William IV., and especially the last +Edward. +</P> + +<P> +If we consider those monarchs who have in some curious way touched the +popular fancy without reference to their virtues we must go back to +Richard of the Lion Heart, who saw but little of England, yet was the +best essentially English king, and to Henry V., gallant soldier and +conqueror of France. Even Henry VIII. had a warm place in the affection +of his countrymen, few of whom saw him near at hand, but most of whom +made him a sort of regal incarnation of John Bull—wrestling and +tilting and boxing, eating great joints of beef, and staying his thirst +with flagons of ale—a big, healthy, masterful animal, in fact, who +gratified the national love of splendor and stood up manfully in his +struggle with the Pope. +</P> + +<P> +But if you look for something more than ordinary popularity—something +that belongs to sentiment and makes men willing to become martyrs for a +royal cause—we must find these among the Stuart kings. It is odd, +indeed, that even at this day there are Englishmen and Englishwomen who +believe their lawful sovereign to be a minor Bavarian princess in whose +veins there runs the Stuart blood. Prayers are said for her at English +shrines, and toasts are drunk to her in rare old wine. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, to-day this cult of the Stuarts is nothing but a fad. No one +ever expects to see a Stuart on the English throne. But it is +significant of the deep strain of romance which the six Stuarts who +reigned in England have implanted in the English heart. The old +Jacobite ballads still have power to thrill. Queen Victoria herself +used to have the pipers file out before her at Balmoral to the +"skirling" of "Bonnie Dundee," "Over the Water to Charlie," and "Wha'll +Be King but Charlie!" It is a sentiment that has never died. Her late +majesty used to say that when she heard these tunes she became for the +moment a Jacobite; just as the Empress Eugenie at the height of her +power used pertly to remark that she herself was the only Legitimist +left in France. +</P> + +<P> +It may be suggested that the Stuarts are still loved by many Englishmen +because they were unfortunate; yet this is hardly true, after all. Many +of them were fortunate enough. The first of them, King James, an absurd +creature, speaking broad Scotch, timid, foolishly fond of favorites, +and having none of the dignity of a monarch, lived out a lengthy reign. +The two royal women of the family—Anne and Mary—had no misfortunes of +a public nature. Charles II. reigned for more than a quarter of a +century, lapped in every kind of luxury, and died a king. +</P> + +<P> +The first Charles was beheaded and afterward styled a "saint"; yet the +majority of the English people were against his arrogance, or else he +would have won his great struggle against Parliament. The second James +was not popular at all. Nevertheless, no sooner had he been expelled, +and been succeeded by a Dutchman gnawing asparagus and reeking of +cheeses, than there was already a Stuart legend. Even had there been no +pretenders to carry on the cult, the Stuarts would still have passed +into history as much loved by the people. +</P> + +<P> +It only shows how very little in former days the people expected of a +regnant king. Many monarchs have had just a few popular traits, and +these have stood out brilliantly against the darkness of the background. +</P> + +<P> +No one could have cared greatly for the first James, but Charles I. was +indeed a kingly personage when viewed afar. He was handsome, as a man, +fully equaling the French princess who became his wife. He had no +personal vices. He was brave, and good to look upon, and had a kingly +mien. Hence, although he sought to make his rule over England a +tyranny, there were many fine old cavaliers to ride afield for him when +he raised his standard, and who, when he died, mourned for him as a +"martyr." +</P> + +<P> +Many hardships they underwent while Cromwell ruled with his iron hand; +and when that iron hand was relaxed in death, and poor, feeble Richard +Cromwell slunk away to his country-seat, what wonder is it that young +Charles came back to England and caracoled through the streets of +London with a smile for every one and a happy laugh upon his lips? What +wonder is it that the cannon in the Tower thundered a loud welcome, and +that all over England, at one season or another, maypoles rose and +Christmas fires blazed? For Englishmen at heart are not only +monarchists, but they are lovers of good cheer and merrymaking and all +sorts of mirth. +</P> + +<P> +Charles II. might well at first have seemed a worthier and wiser +successor to his splendid father. As a child, even, he had shown +himself to be no faint-hearted creature. When the great Civil War broke +out he had joined his father's army. It met with disaster at Edgehill, +and was finally shattered by the crushing defeat of Naseby, which +afterward inspired Macaulay's most stirring ballad. +</P> + +<P> +Charles was then only a child of twelve, and so his followers did +wisely in hurrying him out of England, through the Scilly isles and +Jersey to his mother's place of exile. Of course, a child so very young +could be of no value as a leader, though his presence might prove an +inspiration. +</P> + +<P> +In 1648, however, when he was eighteen years of age, he gathered a +fleet of eighteen ships and cruised along the English coast, taking +prizes, which he carried to the Dutch ports. When he was at Holland's +capital, during his father's trial, he wrote many messages to the +Parliamentarians, and even sent them a blank charter, which they might +fill in with any stipulations they desired if only they would save and +restore their king. +</P> + +<P> +When the head of Charles rolled from the velvet-covered block his son +showed himself to be no loiterer or lover of an easy life. He hastened +to Scotland, skilfully escaping an English force, and was proclaimed as +king and crowned at Scone, in 1651. With ten thousand men he dashed +into England, where he knew there were many who would rally at his +call. But it was then that Cromwell put forth his supreme military +genius and with his Ironsides crushed the royal troops at Worcester. +</P> + +<P> +Charles knew that for the present all was lost. He showed courage and +address in covering the flight of his beaten soldiers; but he soon +afterward went to France, remaining there and in the Netherlands for +eight years as a pensioner of Louis XIV. He knew that time would fight +for him far more surely than infantry and horse. England had not been +called "Merry England" for nothing; and Cromwell's tyranny was likely +to be far more resented than the heavy hand of one who was born a king. +So Charles at Paris and Liege, though he had little money at the time, +managed to maintain a royal court, such as it was. +</P> + +<P> +Here there came out another side of his nature. As a child he had borne +hardship and privation and had seen the red blood flow upon the +battlefield. Now, as it were, he allowed a certain sensuous, +pleasure-loving ease to envelop him. The red blood should become the +rich red burgundy; the sound of trumpets and kettledrums should give +way to the melody of lutes and viols. He would be a king of pleasure if +he were to be king at all. And therefore his court, even in exile, was +a court of gallantry and ease. The Pope refused to lend him money, and +the King of France would not increase his pension, but there were many +who foresaw that Charles would not long remain in exile; and so they +gave him what he wanted and waited until he could give them what they +would ask for in their turn. +</P> + +<P> +Charles at this time was not handsome, like his father. His complexion +was swarthy, his figure by no means imposing, though always graceful. +When he chose he could bear himself with all the dignity of a monarch. +He had a singularly pleasant manner, and a word from him could win over +the harshest opponent. +</P> + +<P> +The old cavaliers who accompanied their master in exile were like +Napoleon's veterans in Elba. With their tall, powerful forms they +stalked about the courtyards, sniffing their disapproval at these +foreign ways and longing grimly for the time when they could once more +smell the pungent powder of the battle-field. But, as Charles had +hoped, the change was coming. Not merely were his own subjects +beginning to long for him and to pray in secret for the king, but +continental monarchs who maintained spies in England began to know of +this. To them Charles was no longer a penniless exile. He was a king +who before long would take possession of his kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +A very wise woman—the Queen Regent of Portugal—was the first to act +on this information. Portugal was then very far from being a petty +state. It had wealth at home and rich colonies abroad, while its flag +was seen on every sea. The queen regent, being at odds with Spain, and +wishing to secure an ally against that power, made overtures to +Charles, asking him whether a match might not be made between him and +the Princess Catharine of Braganza. It was not merely her daughter's +hand that she offered, but a splendid dowry. She would pay Charles a +million pounds in gold and cede to England two valuable ports. +</P> + +<P> +The match was not yet made, but by 1659 it had been arranged. The +Spaniards were furious, for Charles's cause began to appear successful. +</P> + +<P> +She was a quaint and rather piteous little figure, she who was destined +to be the wife of the Merry Monarch. Catharine was dark, petite, and by +no means beautiful; yet she had a very sweet expression and a heart of +utter innocence. She had been wholly convent-bred. She knew nothing of +the world. She was told that in marriage she must obey in all things, +and that the chief duty of a wife was to make her husband happy. +</P> + +<P> +Poor child! It was a too gracious preparation for a very graceless +husband. Charles, in exile, had already made more than one +discreditable connection and he was already the father of more than one +growing son. +</P> + +<P> +First of all, he had been smitten by the bold ways of one Lucy Walters. +Her impudence amused the exiled monarch. She was not particularly +beautiful, and when she spoke as others did she was rather tiresome; +but her pertness and the inexperience of the king when he went into +exile made her seem attractive. She bore him a son, in the person of +that brilliant adventurer whom Charles afterward created Duke of +Monmouth. Many persons believe that Charles had married Lucy Walters, +just as George IV. may have married Mrs. Fitzherbert; yet there is not +the slightest proof of it, and it must be classed with popular legends. +</P> + +<P> +There was also one Catherine Peg, or Kep, whose son was afterward made +Earl of Plymouth. It must be confessed that in his attachments to +English women Charles showed little care for rank or station. Lucy +Walters and Catherine Peg were very illiterate creatures. +</P> + +<P> +In a way it was precisely this sort of preference that made Charles so +popular among the people. He seemed to make rank of no account, but +would chat in the most familiar and friendly way with any one whom he +happened to meet. His easy, democratic manner, coupled with the grace +and prestige of royalty, made friends for him all over England. The +treasury might be nearly bankrupt; the navy might be routed by the +Dutch; the king himself might be too much given to dissipation; but his +people forgave him all, because everybody knew that Charles would clap +an honest citizen on the back and joke with all who came to see him +feed the swans in Regent's Park. +</P> + +<P> +The popular name for him was "Rowley," or "Old Rowley"—a nickname of +mysterious origin, though it is said to have been given him from a +fancied resemblance to a famous hunter in his stables. Perhaps it is +the very final test of popularity that a ruler should have a nickname +known to every one. +</P> + +<P> +Cromwell's death roused all England to a frenzy of king-worship. The +Roundhead, General Monk, and his soldiers proclaimed Charles King of +England and escorted him to London in splendid state. That was a day +when national feeling reached a point such as never has been before or +since. Oughtred, the famous mathematician, died of joy when the royal +emblems were restored. Urquhart, the translator of Rabelais, died, it +is said, of laughter at the people's wild delight—a truly Rabelaisian +end. +</P> + +<P> +There was the king once more; and England, breaking through its long +period of Puritanism, laughed and danced with more vivacity than ever +the French had shown. All the pipers and the players and panderers to +vice, the mountebanks, the sensual men, and the lawless women poured +into the presence of the king, who had been too long deprived of the +pleasure that his nature craved. Parliament voted seventy thousand +pounds for a memorial to Charles's father, but the irresponsible king +spent the whole sum on the women who surrounded him. His severest +counselor, Lord Clarendon, sent him a remonstrance. +</P> + +<P> +"How can I build such a memorial," asked Charles, "when I don't know +where my father's remains are buried!" +</P> + +<P> +He took money from the King of France to make war against the Dutch, +who had befriended him. It was the French king, too, who sent him that +insidious, subtle daughter of Brittany, Louise de Keroualle—Duchess of +Portsmouth—a diplomat in petticoats, who won the king's wayward +affections, and spied on what he did and said, and faithfully reported +all of it to Paris. She became the mother of the Duke of Lenox, and she +was feared and hated by the English more than any other of his +mistresses. They called her "Madam Carwell," and they seemed to have an +instinct that she was no mere plaything of his idle hours, but was like +some strange exotic serpent, whose poison might in the end sting the +honor of England. +</P> + +<P> +There is a pitiful little episode in the marriage of Charles with his +Portuguese bride, Catharine of Braganza. The royal girl came to him +fresh from the cloisters of her convent. There was something about her +grace and innocence that touched the dissolute monarch, who was by no +means without a heart. For a time he treated her with great respect, +and she was happy. At last she began to notice about her strange +faces—faces that were evil, wanton, or overbold. The court became more +and more a seat of reckless revelry. +</P> + +<P> +Finally Catharine was told that the Duchess of Cleveland—that splendid +termagant, Barbara Villiers—had been appointed lady of the bedchamber. +She was told at the same time who this vixen was—that she was no fit +attendant for a virtuous woman, and that her three sons, the Dukes of +Southampton, Grafton, and Northumberland, were also the sons of Charles. +</P> + +<P> +Fluttered and frightened and dismayed, the queen hastened to her +husband and begged him not to put this slight upon her. A year or two +before, she had never dreamed that life contained such things as these; +but now it seemed to contain nothing else. Charles spoke sternly to her +until she burst into tears, and then he petted her and told her that +her duty as a queen compelled her to submit to many things which a lady +in private life need not endure. +</P> + +<P> +After a long and poignant struggle with her own emotions the little +Portuguese yielded to the wishes of her lord. She never again +reproached him. She even spoke with kindness to his favorites and made +him feel that she studied his happiness alone. Her gentleness affected +him so that he always spoke to her with courtesy and real friendship. +When the Protestant mobs sought to drive her out of England he showed +his courage and manliness by standing by her and refusing to allow her +to be molested. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, had Charles been always at his best he would have had a very +different name in history. He could be in every sense a king. He had a +keen knowledge of human nature. Though he governed England very badly, +he never governed it so badly as to lose his popularity. +</P> + +<P> +The epigram of Rochester, written at the king's own request, was +singularly true of Charles. No man relied upon his word, yet men loved +him. He never said anything that was foolish, and he very seldom did +anything that was wise; yet his easy manners and gracious ways endeared +him to those who met him. +</P> + +<P> +One can find no better picture of his court than that which Sir Walter +Scott has drawn so vividly in Peveril of the Peak; or, if one wishes +first-hand evidence, it can be found in the diaries of Evelyn and of +Samuel Pepys. In them we find the rakes and dicers, full of strange +oaths, deep drunkards, vile women and still viler men, all striving for +the royal favor and offering the filthiest lures, amid routs and balls +and noisy entertainments, of which it is recorded that more than once +some woman gave birth to a child among the crowd of dancers. +</P> + +<P> +No wonder that the little Portuguese queen kept to herself and did not +let herself be drawn into this swirling, roaring, roistering +saturnalia. She had less influence even than Moll Davis, whom Charles +picked out of a coffee-house, and far less than "Madam Carwell," to +whom it is reported that a great English nobleman once presented pearls +to the value of eight thousand pounds in order to secure her influence +in a single stroke of political business. +</P> + +<P> +Of all the women who surrounded Charles there was only one who cared +anything for him or for England. The rest were all either selfish or +treacherous or base. This one exception has been so greatly written of, +both in fiction and in history, as to make it seem almost unnecessary +to add another word; yet it may well be worth while to separate the +fiction from the fact and to see how much of the legend of Eleanor Gwyn +is true. +</P> + +<P> +The fanciful story of her birthplace is most surely quite unfounded. +She was not the daughter of a Welsh officer, but of two petty hucksters +who had their booth in the lowest precincts of London. In those days +the Strand was partly open country, and as it neared the city it showed +the mansions of the gentry set in their green-walled parks. At one end +of the Strand, however, was Drury Lane, then the haunt of criminals and +every kind of wretch, while nearer still was the notorious Coal Yard, +where no citizen dared go unarmed. +</P> + +<P> +Within this dreadful place children were kidnapped and trained to +various forms of vice. It was a school for murderers and robbers and +prostitutes; and every night when the torches flared it vomited forth +its deadly spawn. Here was the earliest home of Eleanor Gwyn, and out +of this den of iniquity she came at night to sell oranges at the +entrance to the theaters. She was stage-struck, and endeavored to get +even a minor part in a play; but Betterton, the famous actor, thrust +her aside when she ventured to apply to him. +</P> + +<P> +It must be said that in everything that was external, except her +beauty, she fell short of a fastidious taste. She was intensely +ignorant even for that time. She spoke in a broad Cockney dialect. She +had lived the life of the Coal Yard, and, like Zola's Nana, she could +never remember the time when she had known the meaning of chastity. +</P> + +<P> +Nell Gwyn was, in fact, a product of the vilest slums of London; and +precisely because she was this we must set her down as intrinsically a +good woman—one of the truest, frankest, and most right-minded of whom +the history of such women has anything to tell. All that external +circumstances could do to push her down into the mire was done; yet she +was not pushed down, but emerged as one of those rare souls who have in +their natures an uncontaminated spring of goodness and honesty. Unlike +Barbara Villiers or Lucy Walters or Louise de Keroualle, she was +neither a harpy nor a foe to England. +</P> + +<P> +Charles is said first to have met her when he, incognito, with another +friend, was making the rounds of the theaters at night. The king spied +her glowing, nut-brown face in one of the boxes, and, forgetting his +incognito, went up and joined her. She was with her protector of the +time, Lord Buckhurst, who, of course, recognized his majesty. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the whole party went out to a neighboring coffee-house, where +they drank and ate together. When it came time to pay the reckoning the +king found that he had no money, nor had his friend. Lord Buckhurst, +therefore, paid the bill, while Mistress Nell jeered at the other two, +saying that this was the most poverty-stricken party that she had ever +met. +</P> + +<P> +Charles did not lose sight of her. Her frankness and honest manner +pleased him. There came a time when she was known to be a mistress of +the king, and she bore a son, who was ennobled as the Duke of St. +Albans, but who did not live to middle age. Nell Gwyn was much with +Charles; and after his tempestuous scenes with Barbara Villiers, and +the feeling of dishonor which the Duchess of Portsmouth made him +experience, the girl's good English bluntness was a pleasure far more +rare than sentiment. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow, just as the people had come to mistrust "Madam Carwell," so +they came to like Nell Gwyn. She saw enough of Charles, and she liked +him well enough, to wish that he might do his duty by his people; and +she alone had the boldness to speak out what she thought. One day she +found him lolling in an arm-chair and complaining that the people were +not satisfied. +</P> + +<P> +"You can very easily satisfy them," said Nell Gwyn. "Dismiss your women +and attend to the proper business of a king." +</P> + +<P> +Again, her heart was touched at the misfortunes of the old soldiers who +had fought for Charles and for his father during the Civil War, and who +were now neglected, while the treasury was emptied for French +favorites, and while the policy of England itself was bought and sold +in France. Many and many a time, when other women of her kind used +their lures to get jewels or titles or estates or actual heaps of +money, Nell Gwyn besought the king to aid these needy veterans. Because +of her efforts Chelsea Hospital was founded. Such money as she had she +shared with the poor and with those who had fought for her royal lover. +</P> + +<P> +As I have said, she is a historical type of the woman who loses her +physical purity, yet who retains a sense of honor and of honesty which +nothing can take from her. There are not many such examples, and +therefore this one is worth remembering. +</P> + +<P> +Of anecdotes concerning her there are many, but not often has their +real import been detected. If she could twine her arms about the +monarch's neck and transport him in a delirium of passion, this was +only part of what she did. She tried to keep him right and true and +worthy of his rank; and after he had ceased to care much for her as a +lover he remembered that she had been faithful in many other things. +</P> + +<P> +Then there came the death-bed scene, when Charles, in his inimitable +manner, apologized to those about him because he was so long in dying. +A far sincerer sentence was that which came from his heart, as he cried +out, in the very pangs of death: +</P> + +<P> +"Do not let poor Nelly starve!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="maurice"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR +</H3> + +<P> +It is an old saying that to every womanly woman self-sacrifice is +almost a necessity of her nature. To make herself of small account as +compared with the one she loves; to give freely of herself, even though +she may receive nothing in return; to suffer, and yet to feel an inner +poignant joy in all this suffering—here is a most wonderful trait of +womanhood. Perhaps it is akin to the maternal instinct; for to the +mother, after she has felt the throb of a new life within her, there is +no sacrifice so great and no anguish so keen that she will not welcome +it as the outward sign and evidence of her illimitable love. +</P> + +<P> +In most women this spirit of self-sacrifice is checked and kept within +ordinary bounds by the circumstances of their lives. In many small +things they do yield and they do suffer; yet it is not in yielding and +in suffering that they find their deepest joy. +</P> + +<P> +There are some, however, who seem to have been born with an abnormal +capacity for enduring hardship and mental anguish; so that by a sort of +contradiction they find their happiness in sorrow. Such women are +endowed with a remarkable degree of sensibility. They feel intensely. +In moments of grief and disappointment, and even of despair, there +steals over them a sort of melancholy pleasure. It is as if they loved +dim lights and mournful music and scenes full of sad suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +If everything goes well with them, they are unwilling to believe that +such good fortune will last. If anything goes wrong with them, they are +sure that this is only the beginning of something even worse. The music +of their lives is written in a minor key. +</P> + +<P> +Now, for such women as these, the world at large has very little +charity. It speaks slightingly of them as "agonizers." It believes that +they are "fond of making scenes." It regards as an affectation +something that is really instinctive and inevitable. Unless such women +are beautiful and young and charming they are treated badly; and this +is often true in spite of all their natural attractiveness, for they +seem to court ill usage as if they were saying frankly: +</P> + +<P> +"Come, take us! We will give you everything and ask for nothing. We do +not expect true and enduring love. Do not be constant or generous or +even kind. We know that we shall suffer. But, none the less, in our +sorrow there will be sweetness, and even in our abasement we shall feel +a sort of triumph." +</P> + +<P> +In history there is one woman who stands out conspicuously as a type of +her melancholy sisterhood, one whose life was full of disappointment +even when she was most successful, and of indignity even when she was +most sought after and admired. This woman was Adrienne Lecouvreur, +famous in the annals of the stage, and still more famous in the annals +of unrequited—or, at any rate, unhappy—love. +</P> + +<P> +Her story is linked with that of a man no less remarkable than herself, +a hero of chivalry, a marvel of courage, of fascination, and of +irresponsibility. +</P> + +<P> +Adrienne Lecouvreur—her name was originally Couvreur—was born toward +the end of the seventeenth century in the little French village of +Damery, not far from Rheims, where her aunt was a laundress and her +father a hatter in a small way. Of her mother, who died in childbirth, +we know nothing; but her father was a man of gloomy and ungovernable +temper, breaking out into violent fits of passion, in one of which, +long afterward, he died, raving and yelling like a maniac. +</P> + +<P> +Adrienne was brought up at the wash-tub, and became accustomed to a +wandering life, in which she went from one town to another. What she +had inherited from her mother is, of course, not known; but she had all +her father's strangely pessimistic temper, softened only by the fact +that she was a girl. From her earliest years she was unhappy; yet her +unhappiness was largely of her own choosing. Other girls of her own +station met life cheerfully, worked away from dawn till dusk, and then +had their moments of amusement, and even jollity, with their +companions, after the fashion of all children. But Adrienne Lecouvreur +was unhappy because she chose to be. It was not the wash-tub that made +her so, for she had been born to it; nor was it the half-mad outbreaks +of her father, because to her, at least, he was not unkind. Her +discontent sprang from her excessive sensibility. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, for a peasant child she had reason to think herself far more +fortunate than her associates. Her intelligence was great. Ambition was +awakened in her before she was ten years of age, when she began to +learn and to recite poems—learning them, as has been said, "between +the wash-tub and the ironing-board," and reciting them to the +admiration of older and wiser people than she. Even at ten she was a +very beautiful child, with great lambent eyes, an exquisite complexion, +and a lovely form, while she had the further gift of a voice that +thrilled the listener and, when she chose, brought tears to every eye. +She was, indeed, a natural elocutionist, knowing by instinct all those +modulations of tone and varied cadences which go to the hearer's heart. +</P> + +<P> +It was very like Adrienne Lecouvreur to memorize only such poems as +were mournful, just as in after life she could win success upon the +stage only in tragic parts. She would repeat with a sort of ecstasy the +pathetic poems that were then admired; and she was soon able to give up +her menial work, because many people asked her to their houses so that +they could listen to the divinely beautiful voice charged with the +emotion which was always at her command. +</P> + +<P> +When she was thirteen her father moved to Paris, where she was placed +at school—a very humble school in a very humble quarter of the city. +Yet even there her genius showed itself at that early age. A number of +children and young people, probably influenced by Adrienne, formed +themselves into a theatrical company from the pure love of acting. A +friendly grocer let them have an empty store-room for their +performances, and in this store-room Adrienne Lecouvreur first acted in +a tragedy by Corneille, assuming the part of leading woman. +</P> + +<P> +Her genius for the stage was like the genius of Napoleon for war. She +had had no teaching. She had never been inside of any theater; and yet +she delivered the magnificent lines with all the power and fire and +effectiveness of a most accomplished actress. People thronged to see +her and to feel the tempest of emotion which shook her as she sustained +her part, which for the moment was as real to her as life itself. +</P> + +<P> +At first only the people of the neighborhood knew anything about these +amateur performances; but presently a lady of rank, one Mme. du Gue, +came out of curiosity and was fascinated by the little actress. Mme. du +Gue offered the spacious courtyard of her own house, and fitted it with +some of the appurtenances of a theater. From that moment the fame of +Adrienne spread throughout all Paris. The courtyard was crowded by +gentlemen and ladies, by people of distinction from the court, and at +last even by actors and actresses from the Comedie Franchise. +</P> + +<P> +It is, in fact, a remarkable tribute to Adrienne that in her thirteenth +year she excited so much jealousy among the actors of the Comedie that +they evoked the law against her. Theaters required a royal license, and +of course poor little Adrienne's company had none. Hence legal +proceedings were begun, and the most famous actresses in Paris talked +of having these clever children imprisoned! Upon this the company +sought the precincts of the Temple, where no legal warrant could be +served without the express order of the king himself. +</P> + +<P> +There for a time the performances still went on. Finally, as the other +children were not geniuses, but merely boys and girls in search of fun, +the little company broke up. Its success, however, had determined for +ever the career of Adrienne. With her beautiful face, her lithe and +exquisite figure, her golden voice, and her instinctive art, it was +plain enough that her future lay upon the stage; and so at fourteen or +fifteen she began where most actresses leave off—accomplished and +attractive, and having had a practical training in her profession. +</P> + +<P> +Diderot, in that same century, observed that the truest actor is one +who does not feel his part at all, but produces his effects by +intellectual effort and intelligent observation. Behind the figure on +the stage, torn with passion or rollicking with mirth, there must +always be the cool and unemotional mind which directs and governs and +controls. This same theory was both held and practised by the late +Benoit Constant Coquelin. To some extent it was the theory of Garrick +and Fechter and Edwin Booth; though it was rejected by the two Keans, +and by Edwin Forrest, who entered so throughly into the character which +he assumed, and who let loose such tremendous bursts of passion that +other actors dreaded to support him on the stage in such parts as +Spartacus and Metamora. +</P> + +<P> +It is needless to say that a girl like Adrienne Lecouvreur flung +herself with all the intensity of her nature into every role she +played. This was the greatest secret of her success; for, with her, +nature rose superior to art. On the other hand, it fixed her dramatic +limitations, for it barred her out of comedy. Her melancholy, morbid +disposition was in the fullest sympathy with tragic heroines; but she +failed when she tried to represent the lighter moods and the merry +moments of those who welcome mirth. She could counterfeit despair, and +unforced tears would fill her eyes; but she could not laugh and romp +and simulate a gaiety that was never hers. +</P> + +<P> +Adrienne would have been delighted to act at one of the theaters in +Paris; but they were closed to her through jealousy. She went into the +provinces, in the eastern part of France, and for ten years she was a +leading lady there in many companies and in many towns. As she +blossomed into womanhood there came into her life the love which was to +be at once a source of the most profound interest and of the most +intense agony. +</P> + +<P> +It is odd that all her professional success never gave her any +happiness. The life of the actress who traveled from town to town, the +crude and coarse experiences which she had to undergo, the disorder and +the unsettled mode of living, all produced in her a profound disgust. +She was of too exquisite a fiber to live in such a way, especially in a +century when the refinements of existence were for the very few. +</P> + +<P> +She speaks herself of "obligatory amusements, the insistence of men, +and of love affairs." Yet how could such a woman as Adrienne Lecouvreur +keep herself from love affairs? The motion of the stage and its mimic +griefs satisfied her only while she was actually upon the boards. Love +offered her an emotional excitement that endured and that was always +changing. It was "the profoundest instinct of her being"; and she once +wrote: "What could one do in the world without loving?" +</P> + +<P> +Still, through these ten years she seems to have loved only that she +might be unhappy. There was a strange twist in her mind. Men who were +honorable and who loved her with sincerity she treated very badly. Men +who were indifferent or ungrateful or actually base she seemed to +choose by a sort of perverse instinct. Perhaps the explanation of it is +that during those ten years, though she had many lovers, she never +really loved. She sought excitement, passion, and after that the +mournfulness which comes when passion dies. Thus, one man after another +came into her life—some of them promising marriage—and she bore two +children, whose fathers were unknown, or at least uncertain. But, after +all, one can scarcely pity her, since she had not yet in reality known +that great passion which comes but once in life. So far she had learned +only a sort of feeble cynicism, which she expressed in letters and in +such sayings as these: +</P> + +<P> +"There are sweet errors which I would not venture to commit again. My +experiences, all too sad, have served to illumine my reason." +</P> + +<P> +"I am utterly weary of love and prodigiously tempted to have no more of +it for the rest of my life; because, after all, I don't wish either to +die or to go mad." +</P> + +<P> +Yet she also said: "I know too well that no one dies of grief." +</P> + +<P> +She had had, indeed, some very unfortunate experiences. Men of rank had +loved her and had then cast her off. An actor, one Clavel, would have +married her, but she would not accept his offer. A magistrate in +Strasburg promised marriage; and then, when she was about to accept +him, he wrote to her that he was going to yield to the wishes of his +family and make a more advantageous alliance. And so she was +alternately caressed and repulsed—a mere plaything; and yet this was +probably all that she really needed at the time—something to stir her, +something to make her mournful or indignant or ashamed. +</P> + +<P> +It was inevitable that at last Adrienne Lecouvreur should appear in +Paris. She had won such renown throughout the provinces that even those +who were intensely jealous of her were obliged to give her due +consideration. In 1717, when she was in her twenty-fifth year, she +became a member of the Comedie Franchise. There she made an immediate +and most brilliant impression. She easily took the leading place. She +was one of the glories of Paris, for she became the fashion outside the +theater. For the first time the great classic plays were given, not in +the monotonous singsong which had become a sort of theatrical +convention, but with all the fire and naturalness of life. +</P> + +<P> +Being the fashion, Mlle. Lecouvreur elevated the social rank of actors +and of actresses. Her salon was thronged by men and women of rank. +Voltaire wrote poems in her honor. To be invited to her dinners was +almost like receiving a decoration from the king. She ought to have +been happy, for she had reached the summit of her profession and +something more. +</P> + +<P> +Yet still she was unhappy. In all her letters one finds a plaintive +tone, a little moaning sound that shows how slightly her nature had +been changed. No longer, however, did she throw herself away upon +dullards or brutes. An English peer—Lord Peterborough—not realizing +that she was different from other actresses of that loose-lived age, +said to her coarsely at his first introduction: +</P> + +<P> +"Come now! Show me lots of wit and lots of love." +</P> + +<P> +The remark was characteristic of the time. Yet Adrienne had learned at +least one thing, and that was the discontent which came from light +affairs. She had thrown herself away too often. If she could not love +with her entire being, if she could not give all that was in her to be +given, whether of her heart or mind or soul, then she would love no +more at all. +</P> + +<P> +At this time there came to Paris a man remarkable in his own century, +and one who afterward became almost a hero of romance. This was +Maurice, Comte de Saxe, as the French called him, his German name and +title being Moritz, Graf von Sachsen, while we usually term him, in +English, Marshal Saxe. Maurice de Saxe was now, in 1721, entering his +twenty-fifth year. Already, though so young, his career had been a +strange one; and it was destined to be still more remarkable. He was +the natural son of Duke Augustus II. of Saxony, who later became King +of Poland, and who is known in history as Augustus the Strong. +</P> + +<P> +Augustus was a giant in stature and in strength, handsome, daring, +unscrupulous, and yet extremely fascinating. His life was one of +revelry and fighting and display. When in his cups he would often call +for a horseshoe and twist it into a knot with his powerful fingers. +Many were his mistresses; but the one for whom he cared the most was a +beautiful and high-spirited Swedish girl of rank, Aurora von +Konigsmarck. She was descended from a rough old field-marshal who in +the Thirty Years' War had slashed and sacked and pillaged and plundered +to his heart's content. From him Aurora von Konigsmarck seemed to have +inherited a high spirit and a sort of lawlessness which charmed the +stalwart Augustus of Poland. +</P> + +<P> +Their son, Maurice de Saxe, inherited everything that was good in his +parents, and a great deal that was less commendable. As a mere child of +twelve he had insisted on joining the army of Prince Eugene, and had +seen rough service in a very strenuous campaign. Two years later he +showed such daring on the battle-field that Prince Eugene summoned him +and paid him a compliment under the form of a rebuke. +</P> + +<P> +"Young man," he said, "you must not mistake mere recklessness for +valor." +</P> + +<P> +Before he was twenty he had attained the stature and strength of his +royal father; and, to prove it, he in his turn called for a horseshoe, +which he twisted and broke in his fingers. He fought on the side of the +Russians and Poles, and again against the Turks, everywhere displaying +high courage and also genius as a commander; for he never lost his +self-possession amid the very blackest danger, but possessed, as +Carlyle says, "vigilance, foresight, and sagacious precaution." +</P> + +<P> +Exceedingly handsome, Maurice was a master of all the arts that +pleased, with just a touch of roughness, which seemed not unfitting in +so gallant a soldier. His troops adored him and would follow wherever +he might choose to lead them; for he exercised over these rude men a +magnetic power resembling that of Napoleon in after years. In private +life he was a hard drinker and fond of every form of pleasure. Having +no fortune of his own, a marriage was arranged for him with the +Countess von Loben, who was immensely wealthy; but in three years he +had squandered all her money upon his pleasures, and had, moreover, got +himself heavily in debt. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this time that he first came to Paris to study military +tactics. He had fought hard against the French in the wars that were +now ended; but his chivalrous bearing, his handsome person, and his +reckless joviality made him at once a universal favorite in Paris. To +the perfumed courtiers, with their laces and lovelocks and mincing +ways, Maurice de Saxe came as a sort of knight of old—jovial, daring, +pleasure-loving. Even his broken French was held to be quite charming; +and to see him break a horseshoe with his fingers threw every one into +raptures. +</P> + +<P> +No wonder, then, that he was welcomed in the very highest circles. +Almost at once he attracted the notice of the Princesse de Conti, a +beautiful woman of the blood royal. Of her it has been said that she +was "the personification of a kiss, the incarnation of an embrace, the +ideal of a dream of love." Her chestnut hair was tinted with little +gleams of gold. Her eyes were violet black. Her complexion was +dazzling. But by the king's orders she had been forced to marry a +hunchback—a man whose very limbs were so weakened by disease and evil +living that they would often fail to support him, and he would fall to +the ground, a writhing, screaming mass of ill-looking flesh. +</P> + +<P> +It is not surprising that his lovely wife should have shuddered much at +his abuse of her and still more at his grotesque endearments. When her +eyes fell on Maurice de Saxe she saw in him one who could free her from +her bondage. By a skilful trick he led the Prince de Conti to invade +the sleeping-room of the princess, with servants, declaring that she +was not alone. The charge proved quite untrue, and so she left her +husband, having won the sympathy of her own world, which held that she +had been insulted. But it was not she who was destined to win and hold +the love of Maurice de Saxe. +</P> + +<P> +Not long after his appearance in the French capital he was invited to +dine with the "Queen of Paris," Adrienne Lecouvreur. Saxe had seen her +on the stage. He knew her previous history. He knew that she was very +much of a soiled dove; but when he met her these two natures, so +utterly dissimilar, leaped together, as it were, through the +indescribable attraction of opposites. He was big and powerful; she was +small and fragile. He was merry, and full of quips and jests; she was +reserved and melancholy. Each felt in the other a need supplied. +</P> + +<P> +At one of their earliest meetings the climax came. Saxe was not the man +to hesitate; while she already, in her thoughts, had made a full +surrender. In one great sweep he gathered her into his arms. It +appeared to her as if no man had ever laid his hand upon her until that +moment. She cried out: +</P> + +<P> +"Now, for the first time in my life, I seem to live!" +</P> + +<P> +It was, indeed, the very first love which in her checkered career was +really worthy of the name. She had supposed that all such things were +passed and gone, that her heart was closed for ever, that she was +invulnerable; and yet here she found herself clinging about the neck of +this impetuous soldier and showing him all the shy fondness and the +unselfish devotion of a young girl. From this instant Adrienne +Lecouvreur never loved another man and never even looked at any other +man with the slightest interest. For nine long years the two were bound +together, though there were strange events to ruffle the surface of +their love. +</P> + +<P> +Maurice de Saxe had been sired by a king. He had the lofty ambition to +be a king himself, and he felt the stirrings of that genius which in +after years was to make him a great soldier, and to win the brilliant +victory of Fontenoy, which to this very day the French are never tired +of recalling. Already Louis XV. had made him a marshal of France; and a +certain restlessness came over him. He loved Adrienne; yet he felt that +to remain in the enjoyment of her witcheries ought not to be the whole +of a man's career. +</P> + +<P> +Then the Grand Duchy of Courland—at that time a vassal state of +Poland, now part of Russia—sought a ruler. Maurice de Saxe was eager +to secure its throne, which would make him at least semi-royal and the +chief of a principality. He hastened thither and found that money was +needed to carry out his plans. The widow of the late duke—the Grand +Duchess Anna, niece of Peter the Great, and later Empress of Russia—as +soon as she had met this dazzling genius, offered to help him to +acquire the duchy if he would only marry her. He did not utterly +refuse. Still another woman of high rank, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth +of Russia, Peter the Great's daughter, made him very much the same +proposal. +</P> + +<P> +Both of these imperial women might well have attracted a man like +Maurice de Saxe, had he been wholly fancy-free, for the second of them +inherited the high spirit and the genius of the great Peter, while the +first was a pleasure-seeking princess, resembling some of those Roman +empresses who loved to stoop that they might conquer. She is described +as indolent and sensual, and she once declared that the chief good in +the world was love. Yet, though she neglected affairs of state and gave +them over to favorites, she won and kept the affections of her people. +She was unquestionably endowed with the magnetic gift of winning hearts. +</P> + +<P> +Adrienne, who was left behind in Paris, knew very little of what was +going on. Only two things were absolutely clear to her. One was that if +her lover secured the duchy he must be parted from her. The other was +that without money his ambition must be thwarted, and that he would +then return to her. Here was a test to try the soul of any woman. It +proved the height and the depth of her devotion. Come what might, +Maurice should be Duke of Courland, even though she lost him. She +gathered together her whole fortune, sold every jewel that she +possessed, and sent her lover the sum of nearly a million francs. +</P> + +<P> +This incident shows how absolutely she was his. But in fact, because of +various intrigues, he failed of election to the ducal throne of +Courland, and he returned to Adrienne with all her money spent, and +without even the grace, at first, to show his gratitude. He stormed and +raged over his ill luck. She merely soothed and petted him, though she +had heard that he had thought of marrying another woman to secure the +dukedom. In one of her letters she bursts out with the pitiful +exclamation: +</P> + +<P> +I am distracted with rage and anguish. Is it not natural to cry out +against such treachery? This man surely ought to know me—he ought to +love me. Oh, my God! What are we—what ARE we? +</P> + +<P> +But still she could not give him up, nor could he give her up, though +there were frightful scenes between them—times when he cruelly +reproached her and when her native melancholy deepened into outbursts +of despair. Finally there occurred an incident which is more or less +obscure in parts. The Duchesse de Bouillon, a great lady of the +court—facile, feline, licentious, and eager for delights—resolved +that she would win the love of Maurice de Saxe. She set herself to win +it openly and without any sense of shame. Maurice himself at times, +when the tears of Adrienne proved wearisome, flirted with the duchess. +</P> + +<P> +Yet, even so, Adrienne held the first place in his heart, and her rival +knew it. Therefore she resolved to humiliate Adrienne, and to do so in +the place where the actress had always reigned supreme. There was to be +a gala performance of Racine's great tragedy, "Phedre," with Adrienne, +of course, in the title-role. The Duchesse de Bouillon sent a large +number of her lackeys with orders to hiss and jeer, and, if possible, +to break off the play. Malignantly delighted with her plan, the duchess +arrayed herself in jewels and took her seat in a conspicuous stage-box, +where she could watch the coming storm and gloat over the discomfiture +of her rival. +</P> + +<P> +When the curtain rose, and when Adrienne appeared as Phedre, an uproar +began. It was clear to the great actress that a plot had been devised +against her. In an instant her whole soul was afire. The queen-like +majesty of her bearing compelled silence throughout the house. Even the +hired lackeys were overawed by it. Then Adrienne moved swiftly across +the stage and fronted her enemy, speaking into her very face the three +insulting lines which came to her at that moment of the play: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> + I am not of those women void of shame,<BR> + Who, savoring in crime the joys of peace,<BR> + Harden their faces till they cannot blush!<BR> +</P> + +<P> +The whole house rose and burst forth into tremendous applause. Adrienne +had won, for the woman who had tried to shame her rose in trepidation +and hurried from the theater. +</P> + +<P> +But the end was not yet. Those were evil times, when dark deeds were +committed by the great almost with impunity. Secret poisoning was a +common trade. To remove a rival was as usual a thing in the eighteenth +century as to snub a rival is usual in the twentieth. +</P> + +<P> +Not long afterward, on the night of March 15, 1730, Adrienne Lecouvreur +was acting in one of Voltaire's plays with all her power and +instinctive art when suddenly she was seized with the most frightful +pains. Her anguish was obvious to every one who saw her, and yet she +had the courage to go through her part. Then she fainted and was +carried home. +</P> + +<P> +Four days later she died, and her death was no less dramatic than her +life had been. Her lover and two friends of his were with her, and also +a Jesuit priest. He declined to administer extreme unction unless she +would declare that she repented of her theatrical career. She +stubbornly refused, since she believed that to be the greatest actress +of her time was not a sin. Yet still the priest insisted. +</P> + +<P> +Then came the final moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Weary and revolting against this death, this destiny, she stretched +her arms with one of the old lovely gestures toward a bust which stood +near by and cried—her last cry of passion: +</P> + +<P> +"'There is my world, my hope—yes, and my God!'" +</P> + +<P> +The bust was one of Maurice de Saxe. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="stuart"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART +</H3> + +<P> +The royal families of Europe are widely known, yet not all of them are +equally renowned. Thus, the house of Romanoff, although comparatively +young, stands out to the mind with a sort of barbaric power, more +vividly than the Austrian house of Hapsburg, which is the oldest +reigning family in Europe, tracing its beginnings backward until they +are lost in the Dark Ages. The Hohenzollerns of Prussia are +comparatively modern, so far as concerns their royalty. The offshoots +of the Bourbons carry on a very proud tradition in the person of the +King of Spain, although France, which has been ruled by so many members +of the family, will probably never again behold a Bourbon king. The +deposed Braganzas bear a name which is ancient, but which has a +somewhat tinsel sound. +</P> + +<P> +The Bonapartes, of course, are merely parvenus, and they have had the +good taste to pretend to no antiquity of birth. The first Napoleon, +dining at a table full of monarchs, when he heard one of them +deferentially alluding to the Bonaparte family as being very old and +noble, exclaimed: +</P> + +<P> +"Pish! My nobility dates from the day of Marengo!" +</P> + +<P> +And the third Napoleon, in announcing his coming marriage with Mlle. de +Montijo, used the very word "parvenu" in speaking of himself and of his +family. His frankness won the hearts of the French people and helped to +reconcile them to a marriage in which the bride was barely noble. +</P> + +<P> +In English history there are two great names to conjure by, at least to +the imaginative. One is Plantagenet, which seems to contain within +itself the very essence of all that is patrician, magnificent, and +royal. It calls to memory at once the lion-hearted Richard, whose short +reign was replete with romance in England and France and Austria and +the Holy Land. +</P> + +<P> +But perhaps a name of greater influence is that which links the royal +family of Britain today with the traditions of the past, and which +summons up legend and story and great deeds of history. This is the +name of Stuart, about which a whole volume might be written to recall +its suggestions and its reminiscences. +</P> + +<P> +The first Stuart (then Stewart) of whom anything is known got his name +from the title of "Steward of Scotland," which remained in the family +for generations, until the sixth of the line, by marriage with Princess +Marjory Bruce, acquired the Scottish crown. That was in the early years +of the fourteenth century; and finally, after the death of Elizabeth of +England, her rival's son, James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, +united under one crown two kingdoms that had so long been at almost +constant war. +</P> + +<P> +It is almost characteristic of the Scot that, having small territory, +little wealth, and a seat among his peers that is almost ostentatiously +humble, he should bit by bit absorb the possessions of all the rest and +become their master. Surely, the proud Tudors, whose line ended with +Elizabeth, must have despised the "Stewards," whose kingdom was small +and bleak and cold, and who could not control their own vassals. +</P> + +<P> +One can imagine also, with Sir Walter Scott, the haughty nobles of the +English court sneering covertly at the awkward, shambling James, pedant +and bookworm. Nevertheless, his diplomacy was almost as good as that of +Elizabeth herself; and, though he did some foolish things, he was very +far from being a fool. +</P> + +<P> +In his appearance James was not unlike Abraham Lincoln—an unkingly +figure; and yet, like Lincoln, when occasion required it he could rise +to the dignity which makes one feel the presence of a king. He was the +only Stuart who lacked anything in form or feature or external grace. +His son, Charles I., was perhaps one of the worst rulers that England +has ever had; yet his uprightness of life, his melancholy yet handsome +face, his graceful bearing, and the strong religious element in his +character, together with the fact that he was put to death after being +treacherously surrendered to his enemies—all these have combined to +make almost a saint of him. There are Englishmen to-day who speak of +him as "the martyr king," and who, on certain days of the year, say +prayers that beg the Lord's forgiveness because of Charles's execution. +</P> + +<P> +The members of the so-called League of the White Rose, founded to +perpetuate English allegiance to the direct line of Stuarts, do many +things that are quite absurd. They refuse to pray for the present King +of England and profess to think that the Princess Mary of Bavaria is +the true ruler of Great Britain. All this represents that trace of +sentiment which lingers among the English to-day. They feel that the +Stuarts were the last kings of England to rule by the grace of God +rather than by the grace of Parliament. As a matter of fact, the +present reigning family in England is glad to derive its ancient strain +of royal blood through a Stuart—descended on the distaff side from +James I., and winding its way through Hanover. +</P> + +<P> +This sentiment for the Stuarts is a thing entirely apart from reason +and belongs to the realm of poetry and romance; yet so strong is it +that it has shown itself in the most inconsistent fashion. For +instance, Sir Walter Scott was a devoted adherent of the house of +Hanover. When George IV. visited Edinburgh, Scott was completely +carried away by his loyal enthusiasm. He could not see that the man +before him was a drunkard and braggart. He viewed him as an incarnation +of all the noble traits that ought to hedge about a king. He snatched +up a wine-glass from which George had just been drinking and carried it +away to be an object of reverence for ever after. Nevertheless, in his +heart, and often in his speech, Scott seemed to be a high Tory, and +even a Jacobite. +</P> + +<P> +There are precedents for this. The Empress Eugenie used often to say +with a laugh that she was the only true royalist at the imperial court +of France. That was well enough for her in her days of flightiness and +frivolity. No one, however, accused Queen Victoria of being frivolous, +and she was not supposed to have a strong sense of humor. None the +less, after listening to the skirling of the bagpipes and to the +romantic ballads which were sung in Scotland she is said to have +remarked with a sort of sigh: +</P> + +<P> +"Whenever I hear those ballads I feel that England belongs really to +the Stuarts!" +</P> + +<P> +Before Queen Victoria was born, when all the sons of George III. were +childless, the Duke of Kent was urged to marry, so that he might have a +family to continue the succession. In resenting the suggestion he said +many things, and among them this was the most striking: +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you call the Stuarts back to England? They couldn't possibly +make a worse mess of it than our fellows have!" +</P> + +<P> +But he yielded to persuasion and married. From this marriage came +Victoria, who had the sacred drop of Stuart blood which gave England to +the Hanoverians; and she was to redeem the blunders and tyrannies of +both houses. +</P> + +<P> +The fascination of the Stuarts, which has been carried overseas to +America and the British dominions, probably began with the striking +history of Mary Queen of Scots. Her brilliancy and boldness and beauty, +and especially the pathos of her end, have made us see only her intense +womanliness, which in her own day was the first thing that any one +observed in her. So, too, with Charles I., romantic figure and knightly +gentleman. One regrets his death upon the scaffold, even though his +execution was necessary to the growth of freedom. +</P> + +<P> +Many people are no less fascinated by Charles II., that very different +type, with his gaiety, his good-fellowship, and his easy-going ways. It +is not surprising that his people, most of whom never saw him, were +very fond of him, and did not know that he was selfish, a loose liver, +and almost a vassal of the king of France. +</P> + +<P> +So it is not strange that the Stuarts, with all their arts and graces, +were very hard to displace. James II., with the aid of the French, +fought hard before the British troops in Ireland broke the backs of +both his armies and sent him into exile. Again in 1715—an episode +perpetuated in Thackeray's dramatic story of Henry Esmond—came the son +of James to take advantage of the vacancy caused by the death of Queen +Anne. But it is perhaps to this claimant's son, the last of the +militant Stuarts, that more chivalrous feeling has been given than to +any other. +</P> + +<P> +To his followers he was the Young Chevalier, the true Prince of Wales; +to his enemies, the Whigs and the Hanoverians, he was "the Pretender." +One of the most romantic chapters of history is the one which tells of +that last brilliant dash which he made upon the coast of Scotland, +landing with but a few attendants and rejecting the support of a French +army. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not with foreigners," he said, "but with my own loyal subjects, +that I wish to regain the kingdom for my father." +</P> + +<P> +It was a daring deed, and the spectacular side of it has been often +commemorated, especially in Sir Walter Scott's Waverley. There we see +the gallant prince moving through a sort of military panorama. Most of +the British troops were absent in Flanders, and the few regiments that +could be mustered to meet him were appalled by the ferocity and +reckless courage of the Highlanders, who leaped down like wildcats from +their hills and flung themselves with dirk and sword upon the British +cannon. +</P> + +<P> +We see Sir John Cope retiring at Falkirk, and the astonishing victory +of Prestonpans, where disciplined British troops fled in dismay through +the morning mist, leaving artillery and supplies behind them. It is +Scott again who shows us the prince, master of Edinburgh for a time, +while the white rose of Stuart royalty held once more the ancient keep +above the Scottish capital. Then we see the Chevalier pressing +southward into England, where he hoped to raise an English army to +support his own. But his Highlanders cared nothing for England, and the +English—even the Catholic gentry—would not rise to support his cause. +</P> + +<P> +Personally, he had every gift that could win allegiance. Handsome, +high-tempered, and brave, he could also control his fiery spirit and +listen to advice, however unpalatable it might be. +</P> + +<P> +The time was favorable. The British troops had been defeated on the +Continent by Marshal Saxe, of whom I have already written, and by +Marshal d'Estrees. George II. was a king whom few respected. He could +scarcely speak anything but German. He grossly ill-treated his wife. It +is said that on one occasion, in a fit of temper, he actually kicked +the prime minister. Not many felt any personal loyalty to him, and he +spent most of his time away from England in his other domain of Hanover. +</P> + +<P> +But precisely here was a reason why Englishmen were willing to put up +with him. As between him and the brilliant Stuart there would have been +no hesitation had the choice been merely one of men; but it was +believed that the return of the Stuarts meant the return of something +like absolute government, of taxation without sanction of law, and of +religious persecution. Under the Hanoverian George the English people +had begun to exercise a considerable measure of self-government. Sharp +opposition in Parliament compelled him time and again to yield; and +when he was in Hanover the English were left to work out the problem of +free government. +</P> + +<P> +Hence, although Prince Charles Edward fascinated all who met him, and +although a small army was raised for his support, still the unromantic, +common-sense Englishmen felt that things were better than in the days +gone by, and most of them refused to take up arms for the cause which +sentimentally they favored. Therefore, although the Chevalier stirred +all England and sent a thrill through the officers of state in London, +his soldiers gradually deserted, and the Scots insisted on returning to +their own country. Although the Stuart troops reached a point as far +south as Derby, they were soon pushed backward into Scotland, pursued +by an army of about nine thousand men under the Duke of Cumberland, son +of George II. +</P> + +<P> +Cumberland was no soldier; he had been soundly beaten by the French on +the famous field of Fontenoy. Yet he had firmness and a sort of +overmastering brutality, which, with disciplined troops and abundant +artillery, were sufficient to win a victory over the untrained +Highlanders. +</P> + +<P> +When the battle came five thousand of these mountaineers went roaring +along the English lines, with the Chevalier himself at their head. For +a moment there was surprise. The Duke of Cumberland had been drinking +so heavily that he could give no verbal orders. One of his officers, +however, is said to have come to him in his tent, where he was trying +to play cards. +</P> + +<P> +"What disposition shall we make of the prisoners?" asked the officer. +</P> + +<P> +The duke tried to reply, but his utterance was very thick. +</P> + +<P> +"No quarter!" he was believed to say. +</P> + +<P> +The officer objected and begged that such an order as that should be +given in writing. The duke rolled over and seized a sheaf of +playing-cards. Pulling one out, he scrawled the necessary order, and +that was taken to the commanders in the field. +</P> + +<P> +The Highlanders could not stand the cannon fire, and the English won. +Then the fury of the common soldiery broke loose upon the country. +</P> + +<P> +There was a reign of fantastic and fiendish brutality. One provost of +the town was violently kicked for a mild remonstrance about the +destruction of the Episcopalian meeting-house; another was condemned to +clean out dirty stables. Men and women were whipped and tortured on +slight suspicion or to extract information. Cumberland frankly +professed his contempt and hatred of the people among whom he found +himself, but he savagely punished robberies committed by private +soldiers for their own profit. +</P> + +<P> +"Mild measures will not do," he wrote to Newcastle. +</P> + +<P> +When leaving the North in July, he said: +</P> + +<P> +"All the good we have done is but a little blood-letting, which has +only weakened the madness, but not at all cured it; and I tremble to +fear that this vile spot may still be the ruin of this island and of +our family." +</P> + +<P> +Such was the famous battle of Culloden, fought in 1746, and putting a +final end to the hopes of all the Stuarts. As to Cumberland's order for +"No quarter," if any apology can be made for such brutality, it must be +found in the fact that the Highland chiefs had on their side agreed to +spare no captured enemy. +</P> + +<P> +The battle has also left a name commonly given to the nine of diamonds, +which is called "the curse of Scotland," because it is said that on +that card Cumberland wrote his bloodthirsty order. +</P> + +<P> +Such, in brief, was the story of Prince Charlie's gallant attempt to +restore the kingdom of his ancestors. Even when defeated, he would not +at once leave Scotland. A French squadron appeared off the coast near +Edinburgh. It had been sent to bring him troops and a large supply of +money, but he turned his back upon it and made his way into the +Highlands on foot, closely pursued by English soldiers and Lowland +spies. +</P> + +<P> +This part of his career is in reality the most romantic of all. He was +hunted closely, almost as by hounds. For weeks he had only such sleep +as he could snatch during short periods of safety, and there were times +when his pursuers came within an inch of capturing him. But never in +his life were his spirits so high. +</P> + +<P> +It was a sort of life that he had never seen before, climbing the +mighty rocks, and listening to the thunder of the cataracts, among +which he often slept, with only one faithful follower to guard him. The +story of his escape is almost incredible, but he laughed and drank and +rolled upon the grass when he was free from care. He hobnobbed with the +most suspicious-looking caterans, with whom he drank the smoky brew of +the North, and lived as he might on fish and onions and bacon and wild +fowl, with an appetite such as he had never known at the luxurious +court of Versailles or St.-Germain. +</P> + +<P> +After the battle of Culloden the prince would have been captured had +not a Scottish girl named Flora Macdonald met him, caused him to be +dressed in the clothes of her waiting-maid, and thus got him off to the +Isle of Skye. +</P> + +<P> +There for a time it was impossible to follow him; and there the two +lived almost alone together. Such a proximity could not fail to stir +the romantic feeling of one who was both a youth and a prince. On the +other hand, no thought of love-making seems to have entered Flora's +mind. If, however, we read Campbell's narrative very closely we can see +that Prince Charles made every advance consistent with a delicate +remembrance of her sex and services. +</P> + +<P> +It seems to have been his thought that if she cared for him, then the +two might well love; and he gave her every chance to show him favor. +The youth of twenty-five and the girl of twenty-four roamed together in +the long, tufted grass or lay in the sunshine and looked out over the +sea. The prince would rest his head in her lap, and she would tumble +his golden hair with her slender fingers and sometimes clip off tresses +which she preserved to give to friends of hers as love-locks. But to +the last he was either too high or too low for her, according to her +own modest thought. He was a royal prince, the heir to a throne, or +else he was a boy with whom she might play quite fancy-free. A lover he +could not be—so pure and beautiful was her thought of him. +</P> + +<P> +These were perhaps the most delightful days of all his life, as they +were a beautiful memory in hers. In time he returned to France and +resumed his place amid the intrigues that surrounded that other Stuart +prince who styled himself James III., and still kept up the appearance +of a king in exile. As he watched the artifice and the plotting of +these make-believe courtiers he may well have thought of his innocent +companion of the Highland wilds. +</P> + +<P> +As for Flora, she was arrested and imprisoned for five months on +English vessels of war. After her release she was married, in 1750; and +she and her husband sailed for the American colonies just before the +Revolution. In that war Macdonald became a British officer and served +against his adopted countrymen. Perhaps because of this reason Flora +returned alone to Scotland, where she died at the age of sixty-eight. +</P> + +<P> +The royal prince who would have given her his easy love lived a life of +far less dignity in the years that followed his return to France. There +was no more hope of recovering the English throne. For him there were +left only the idle and licentious diversions of such a court as that in +which his father lived. +</P> + +<P> +At the death of James III., even this court was disintegrated, and +Prince Charles led a roving life under the title of Earl of Albany. In +his wanderings he met Louise Marie, the daughter of a German prince, +Gustavus Adolphus of Stolberg. She was only nineteen years of age when +she first felt the fascination that he still possessed; but it was an +unhappy marriage for the girl when she discovered that her husband was +a confirmed drunkard. +</P> + +<P> +Not long after, in fact, she found her life with him so utterly +intolerable that she persuaded the Pope to allow her a formal +separation. The pontiff intrusted her to her husband's brother, +Cardinal York, who placed her in a convent and presently removed her to +his own residence in Rome. +</P> + +<P> +Here begins another romance. She was often visited by Vittorio Alfieri, +the great Italian poet and dramatist. Alfieri was a man of wealth. In +early years he divided his time into alternate periods during which he +either studied hard in civil and canonical law, or was a constant +attendant upon the race-course, or rushed aimlessly all over Europe +without any object except to wear out the post-horses which he used in +relays over hundreds of miles of road. His life, indeed, was eccentric +almost to insanity; but when he had met the beautiful and lonely +Countess of Albany there came over him a striking change. She +influenced him for all that was good, and he used to say that he owed +her all that was best in his dramatic works. +</P> + +<P> +Sixteen years after her marriage her royal husband died, a worn-out, +bloated wreck of one who had been as a youth a model of knightliness +and manhood. During his final years he had fallen to utter destitution, +and there was either a touch of half contempt or a feeling of remote +kinship in the act of George III., who bestowed upon the prince an +annual pension of four thousand pounds. It showed most plainly that +England was now consolidated under Hanoverian rule. +</P> + +<P> +When Cardinal York died, in 1807, there was no Stuart left in the male +line; and the countess was the last to bear the royal Scottish name of +Albany. +</P> + +<P> +After the prince's death his widow is said to have been married to +Alfieri, and for the rest of her life she lived in Florence, though +Alfieri died nearly twenty-one years before her. +</P> + +<P> +Here we have seen a part of the romance which attaches itself to the +name of Stuart—in the chivalrous young prince, leading his Highlanders +against the bayonets of the British, lolling idly among the Hebrides, +or fallen, at the last, to be a drunkard and the husband of an +unwilling consort, who in her turn loved a famous poet. But it is this +Stuart, after all, of whom we think when we hear the bagpipes skirling +"Over the Water to Charlie" or "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Famous Affinities of History V1, by Lyndon Orr + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY V1 *** + +***** This file should be named 4689-h.htm or 4689-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/8/4689/ + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Famous Affinities of History V1 + The Romance of Devotion + +Author: Lyndon Orr + +Posting Date: August 24, 2009 [EBook #4689] +Release Date: November, 2003 +First Posted: March 3, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY V1 *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +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 unendurable desire. + +Events moved quickly. Darnley, convalescent from an attack of smallpox, +was mysteriously destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder. Bothwell was +divorced from his young wife on curious grounds. A dispensation allowed +Mary to wed a Protestant, and she married Bothwell three months after +Darnley's death. + +Here one sees the consummation of what had begun many years before in +France. From the moment that she and Bothwell met, their union was +inevitable. Seas could not sunder them. Other loves and other fancies +were as nothing to them. Even the bonds of marriage were burst asunder +so that these two fiery, panting souls could meet. + +It was the irony of fate that when they had so met it was only to be +parted. Mary's subjects, outraged by her conduct, rose against her. As +she passed through the streets of Edinburgh the women hurled after her +indecent names. Great banners were raised with execrable daubs +representing the murdered Darnley. The short and dreadful monosyllable +which is familiar to us in the pages of the Bible was hurled after her +wherever she went. + +With Bothwell by her side she led a wild and ragged horde of followers +against the rebellious nobles, whose forces met her at Carberry Hill. +Her motley followers melted away, and Mary surrendered to the hostile +chieftains, who took her to the castle at Lochleven. There she became +the mother of twins--a fact that is seldom mentioned by historians. +These children were the fruit of her union with Bothwell. From this +time forth she cared but little for herself, and she signed, without +great reluctance, a document by which she abdicated in favor of her +infant son. + +Even in this place of imprisonment, however, her fascination had power +to charm. Among those who guarded her, two of the Douglas +family--George Douglas and William Douglas--for love of her, effected +her escape. The first attempt failed. Mary, disguised as a laundress, +was betrayed by the delicacy of her hands. But a second attempt was +successful. The queen passed through a postern gate and made her way to +the lake, where George Douglas met her with a boat. Crossing the lake, +fifty horsemen under Lord Claude Hamilton gave her their escort and +bore her away in safety. + +But Mary was sick of Scotland, for Bothwell could not be there. She had +tasted all the bitterness of life, and for a few months all the +sweetness; but she would have no more of this rough and barbarous +country. Of her own free will she crossed the Solway into England, to +find herself at once a prisoner. + +Never again did she set eyes on Bothwell. After the battle of Carberry +Hill he escaped to the north, gathered some ships together, and preyed +upon English merchantmen, very much as a pirate might have done. Ere +long, however, when he had learned of Mary's fate, he set sail for +Norway. King Frederick of Denmark made him a prisoner of state. He was +not confined within prison walls, however, but was allowed to hunt and +ride in the vicinity of Malmo Castle and of Dragsholm. It is probably +in Malmo Castle that he died. In 1858 a coffin which was thought to be +the coffin of the earl was opened, and a Danish artist sketched the +head--which corresponds quite well with the other portraits of the +ill-fated Scottish noble. + +It is a sad story. Had Mary been less ambitious when she first met +Bothwell, or had he been a little bolder, they might have reigned +together and lived out their lives in the plenitude of that great love +which held them both in thrall. But a queen is not as other women; and +she found too late that the teaching of her heart was, after all, the +truest teaching. She went to her death as Bothwell went to his, alone, +in a strange, unfriendly land. + +Yet, even this, perhaps, was better so. It has at least touched both +their lives with pathos and has made the name of Mary Stuart one to be +remembered throughout all the ages. + + + + +QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS MONALDESCHI + + +Sweden to-day is one of the peaceful kingdoms of the world, whose +people are prosperous, well governed, and somewhat apart from the clash +and turmoil of other states and nations. Even the secession of Norway, +a few years ago, was accomplished without bloodshed, and now the two +kingdoms exist side by side as free from strife as they are with +Denmark, which once domineered and tyrannized over both. + +It is difficult to believe that long ago, in the Middle Ages, the +cities of southern Sweden were among the great commercial centers of +the world. Stockholm and Lund ranked with London and Paris. They +absorbed the commerce of the northern seas, and were the admiration of +thousands of travelers and merchants who passed through them and +trafficked with them. + +Much nearer to our own time, Sweden was the great military power of +northern Europe. The ambassadors of the Swedish kings were received +with the utmost deference in every court. Her soldiers won great +battles and ended mighty wars. The England of Cromwell and Charles II. +was unimportant and isolated in comparison with this northern kingdom, +which could pour forth armies of gigantic blond warriors, headed by +generals astute as well as brave. + +It was no small matter, then, in 1626, that the loyal Swedes were +hoping that their queen would give birth to a male heir to succeed his +splendid father, Gustavus Adolphus, ranked by military historians as +one of the six great generals whom the world had so far produced. The +queen, a German princess of Brandenburg, had already borne two +daughters, who died in infancy. The expectation was wide-spread and +intense that she should now become the mother of a son; and the king +himself was no less anxious. + +When the event occurred, the child was seen to be completely covered +with hair, and for this reason the attendants at first believed that it +was the desired boy. When their mistake was discovered they were afraid +to tell the king, who was waiting in his study for the announcement to +be made. At last, when no one else would go to him, his sister, the +Princess Caroline, volunteered to break the news. + +Gustavus was in truth a chivalrous, high-bred monarch. Though he must +have been disappointed at the advent of a daughter, he showed no sign +of dissatisfaction or even of surprise; but, rising, he embraced his +sister, saying: + +"Let us thank God. I hope this girl will be as good as a boy to me. May +God preserve her now that He has sent her!" + +It is customary at almost all courts to pay less attention to the birth +of a princess than to that of a prince; but Gustavus displayed his +chivalry toward this little daughter, whom he named Christina. He +ordered that the full royal salute should be fired in every fortress of +his kingdom and that displays of fireworks, balls of honor, and court +functions should take place; "for," as he said, "this is the heir to my +throne." And so from the first he took his child under his own keeping +and treated her as if she were a much-loved son as well as a successor. + +He joked about her looks when she was born, when she was mistaken for a +boy. + +"She will be clever," he said, "for she has taken us all in!" + +The Swedish people were as delighted with their little princess as were +the people of Holland when the present Queen Wilhelmina was born, to +carry on the succession of the House of Orange. On one occasion the +king and the small Christina, who were inseparable companions, happened +to approach a fortress where they expected to spend the night. The +commander of the castle was bound to fire a royal salute of fifty +cannon in honor of his sovereign; yet he dreaded the effect upon the +princess of such a roaring and bellowing of artillery. He therefore +sent a swift horseman to meet the royal party at a distance and explain +his perplexity. Should he fire these guns or not? Would the king give +an order? + +Gustavus thought for a moment, and then replied: + +"My daughter is the daughter of a soldier, and she must learn to lead a +soldier's life. Let the guns be fired!" + +The procession moved on. Presently fire spurted from the embrasures of +the fort, and its batteries thundered in one great roar. The king +looked down at Christina. Her face was aglow with pleasure and +excitement; she clapped her hands and laughed, and cried out: + +"More bang! More! More! More!" + +This is only one of a score of stories that were circulated about the +princess, and the Swedes were more and more delighted with the girl who +was to be their queen. + +Somewhat curiously, Christina's mother, Queen Maria, cared little for +the child, and, in fact, came at last to detest her almost as much as +the king loved her. It is hard to explain this dislike. Perhaps she had +a morbid desire for a son and begrudged the honors given to a daughter. +Perhaps she was a little jealous of her own child, who took so much of +the king's attention. Afterward, in writing of her mother, Christina +excuses her, and says quite frankly: + +She could not bear to see me, because I was a girl, and an ugly girl at +that. And she was right enough, for I was as tawny as a little Turk. + +This candid description of herself is hardly just. Christina was never +beautiful, and she had a harsh voice. She was apt to be overbearing +even as a little girl. Yet she was a most interesting child, with an +expressive face, large eyes, an aquiline nose, and the blond hair of +her people. There was nothing in this to account for her mother's +intense dislike for her. + +It was currently reported at the time that attempts were made to maim +or seriously injure the little princess. By what was made to seem an +accident, she would be dropped upon the floor, and heavy articles of +furniture would somehow manage to strike her. More than once a great +beam fell mysteriously close to her, either in the palace or while she +was passing through the streets. None of these things did her serious +harm, however. Most of them she luckily escaped; but when she had grown +to be a woman one of her shoulders was permanently higher than the +other. + +"I suppose," said Christina, "that I could be straightened if I would +let the surgeons attend to it; but it isn't worth while to take the +trouble." + +When Christina was four, Sweden became involved in the great war that +had been raging for a dozen years between the Protestant and the +Catholic states of Germany. Gradually the neighboring powers had been +drawn into the struggle, either to serve their own ends or to support +the faith to which they adhered. Gustavus Adolphus took up the sword +with mixed motives, for he was full of enthusiasm for the imperiled +cause of the Reformation, and at the same time he deemed it a favorable +opportunity to assert his control over the shores of the Baltic. + +The warrior king summoned his army and prepared to invade Germany. +Before departing he took his little daughter by the hand and led her +among the assembled nobles and councilors of state. To them he +intrusted the princess, making them kneel and vow that they would +regard her as his heir, and, if aught should happen to him, as his +successor. Amid the clashing of swords and the clang of armor this vow +was taken, and the king went forth to war. + +He met the ablest generals of his enemies, and the fortunes of battle +swayed hither and thither; but the climax came when his soldiers +encountered those of Wallenstein--that strange, overbearing, arrogant, +mysterious creature whom many regarded with a sort of awe. The clash +came at Lutzen, in Saxony. The Swedish king fought long and hard, and +so did his mighty opponent; but at last, in the very midst of a +tremendous onset that swept all before him, Gustavus received a mortal +wound and died, even while Wallenstein was fleeing from the field of +battle. + +The battle of Lutzen made Christina Queen of Sweden at the age of six. +Of course, she could not yet be crowned, but a council of able +ministers continued the policy of the late king and taught the young +queen her first lessons in statecraft. Her intellect soon showed itself +as more than that of a child. She understood all that was taking place, +and all that was planned and arranged. Her tact was unusual. Her +discretion was admired by every one; and after a while she had the +advice and training of the great Swedish chancellor, Oxenstierna, whose +wisdom she shared to a remarkable degree. + +Before she was sixteen she had so approved herself to her counselors, +and especially to the people at large, that there was a wide-spread +clamor that she should take the throne and govern in her own person. To +this she gave no heed, but said: + +"I am not yet ready." + +All this time she bore herself like a king. There was nothing +distinctly feminine about her. She took but slight interest in her +appearance. She wore sword and armor in the presence of her troops, and +often she dressed entirely in men's clothes. She would take long, +lonely gallops through the forests, brooding over problems of state and +feeling no fatigue or fear. And indeed why should she fear, who was +beloved by all her subjects? + +When her eighteenth year arrived, the demand for her coronation was +impossible to resist. All Sweden wished to see a ruling queen, who +might marry and have children to succeed her through the royal line of +her great father. Christina consented to be crowned, but she absolutely +refused all thought of marriage. She had more suitors from all parts of +Europe than even Elizabeth of England; but, unlike Elizabeth, she did +not dally with them, give them false hopes, or use them for the +political advantage of her kingdom. + +At that time Sweden was stronger than England, and was so situated as +to be independent of alliances. So Christina said, in her harsh, +peremptory voice: + +"I shall never marry; and why should you speak of my having children! I +am just as likely to give birth to a Nero as to an Augustus." + +Having assumed the throne, she ruled with a strictness of government +such as Sweden had not known before. She took the reins of state into +her own hands and carried out a foreign policy of her own, over the +heads of her ministers, and even against the wishes of her people. The +fighting upon the Continent had dragged out to a weary length, but the +Swedes, on the whole, had scored a marked advantage. For this reason +the war was popular, and every one wished it to go on; but Christina, +of her own will, decided that it must stop, that mere glory was not to +be considered against material advantages. Sweden had had enough of +glory; she must now look to her enrichment and prosperity through the +channels of peace. + +Therefore, in 1648, against Oxenstierna, against her generals, and +against her people, she exercised her royal power and brought the +Thirty Years' War to an end by the so-called Peace of Westphalia. At +this time she was twenty-two, and by her personal influence she had +ended one of the greatest struggles of history. Nor had she done it to +her country's loss. Denmark yielded up rich provinces, while Germany +was compelled to grant Sweden membership in the German diet. + +Then came a period of immense prosperity through commerce, through +economies in government, through the improvement of agriculture and the +opening of mines. This girl queen, without intrigue, without descending +from her native nobility to peep and whisper with shady diplomats, +showed herself in reality a great monarch, a true Semiramis of the +north, more worthy of respect and reverence than Elizabeth of England. +She was highly trained in many arts. She was fond of study, spoke Latin +fluently, and could argue with Salmasius, Descartes, and other +accomplished scholars without showing any inferiority to them. + +She gathered at her court distinguished persons from all countries. She +repelled those who sought her hand, and she was pure and truthful and +worthy of all men's admiration. Had she died at this time history would +rank her with the greatest of women sovereigns. Naude, the librarian of +Cardinal Mazarin, wrote of her to the scientist Gassendi in these words: + +To say truth, I am sometimes afraid lest the common saying should be +verified in her, that short is the life and rare the old age of those +who surpass the common limits. Do not imagine that she is learned only +in books, for she is equally so in painting, architecture, sculpture, +medals, antiquities, and all curiosities. There is not a cunning +workman in these arts but she has him fetched. There are as good +workers in wax and in enamel, engravers, singers, players, dancers here +as will be found anywhere. + +She has a gallery of statues, bronze and marble, medals of gold, +silver, and bronze, pieces of ivory, amber, coral, worked crystal, +steel mirrors, clocks and tables, bas-reliefs and other things of the +kind; richer I have never seen even in Italy; finally, a great quantity +of pictures. In short, her mind is open to all impressions. + +But after she began to make her court a sort of home for art and +letters it ceased to be the sort of court that Sweden was prepared for. +Christina's subjects were still rude and lacking in accomplishments; +therefore she had to summon men of genius from other countries, +especially from France and Italy. Many of these were illustrious +artists or scholars, but among them were also some who used their +mental gifts for harm. + +Among these latter was a French physician named Bourdelot--a man of +keen intellect, of winning manners, and of a profound cynicism, which +was not apparent on the surface, but the effect of which last lasting. +To Bourdelot we must chiefly ascribe the mysterious change which +gradually came over Queen Christina. With his associates he taught her +a distaste for the simple and healthy life that she had been accustomed +to lead. She ceased to think of the welfare of the state and began to +look down with scorn upon her unsophisticated Swedes. Foreign luxury +displayed itself at Stockholm, and her palaces overflowed with +beautiful things. + +By subtle means Bourdelot undermined her principles. Having been a +Stoic, she now became an Epicurean. She was by nature devoid of +sentiment. She would not spend her time in the niceties of love-making, +as did Elizabeth; but beneath the surface she had a sort of tigerish, +passionate nature, which would break forth at intervals, and which +demanded satisfaction from a series of favorites. It is probable that +Bourdelot was her first lover, but there were many others whose names +are recorded in the annals of the time. + +When she threw aside her virtue Christina ceased to care about +appearances. She squandered her revenues upon her favorites. What she +retained of her former self was a carelessness that braved the opinion +of her subjects. She dressed almost without thought, and it is said +that she combed her hair not more than twice a month. She caroused with +male companions to the scandal of her people, and she swore like a +trooper when displeased. + +Christina's philosophy of life appears to have been compounded of an +almost brutal licentiousness, a strong love of power, and a strange, +freakish longing for something new. Her political ambitions were +checked by the rising discontent of her people, who began to look down +upon her and to feel ashamed of her shame. Knowing herself as she did, +she did not care to marry. + +Yet Sweden must have an heir. Therefore she chose out her cousin +Charles, declared that he was to be her successor, and finally caused +him to be proclaimed as such before the assembled estates of the realm. +She even had him crowned; and finally, in her twenty-eighth year, she +abdicated altogether and prepared to leave Sweden. When asked whither +she would go, she replied in a Latin quotation: + +"The Fates will show the way." + +In her act of abdication she reserved to herself the revenues of some +of the richest provinces in Sweden and absolute power over such of her +subjects as should accompany her. They were to be her subjects until +the end. + +The Swedes remembered that Christina was the daughter of their greatest +king, and that, apart from personal scandals, she had ruled them well; +and so they let her go regretfully and accepted her cousin as their +king. Christina, on her side, went joyfully and in the spirit of a +grand adventuress. With a numerous suite she entered Germany, and then +stayed for a year at Brussels, where she renounced Lutheranism. After +this she traveled slowly into Italy, where she entered Borne on +horseback, and was received by the Pope, Alexander VII., who lodged her +in a magnificent palace, accepted her conversion, and baptized her, +giving her a new name, Alexandra. + +In Rome she was a brilliant but erratic personage, living sumptuously, +even though her revenues from Sweden came in slowly, partly because the +Swedes disliked her change of religion. She was surrounded by men of +letters, with whom she amused herself, and she took to herself a lover, +the Marquis Monaldeschi. She thought that at last she had really found +her true affinity, while Monaldeschi believed that he could count on +the queen's fidelity. + +He was in attendance upon her daily, and they were almost inseparable. +He swore allegiance to her and thereby made himself one of the subjects +over whom she had absolute power. For a time he was the master of those +intense emotions which, in her, alternated with moods of coldness and +even cruelty. + +Monaldeschi was a handsome Italian, who bore himself with a fine air of +breeding. He understood the art of charming, but he did not know that +beyond a certain time no one could hold the affections of Christina. + +However, after she had quarreled with various cardinals and decided to +leave Rome for a while, Monaldeschi accompanied her to France, where +she had an immense vogue at the court of Louis XIV. She attracted wide +attention because of her eccentricity and utter lack of manners. It +gave her the greatest delight to criticize the ladies of the French +court--their looks, their gowns, and their jewels. They, in return, +would speak of Christina's deformed shoulder and skinny frame; but the +king was very gracious to her and invited her to his hunting-palace at +Fontainebleau. + +While she had been winning triumphs of sarcasm the infatuated +Monaldeschi had gradually come to suspect, and then to know, that his +royal mistress was no longer true to him. He had been supplanted in her +favor by another Italian, one Sentanelli, who was the captain of her +guard. + +Monaldeschi took a tortuous and roundabout revenge. He did not let the +queen know of his discovery; nor did he, like a man, send a challenge +to Sentanelli. Instead he began by betraying her secrets to Oliver +Cromwell, with whom she had tried to establish a correspondence. Again, +imitating the hand and seal of Sentanelli, he set in circulation a +series of the most scandalous and insulting letters about Christina. By +this treacherous trick he hoped to end the relations between his rival +and the queen; but when the letters were carried to Christina she +instantly recognized their true source. She saw that she was betrayed +by her former favorite and that he had taken a revenge which might +seriously compromise her. + +This led to a tragedy, of which the facts were long obscure. They were +carefully recorded, however, by the queen's household chaplain, Father +Le Bel; and there is also a narrative written by one Marco Antonio +Conti, which confirms the story. Both were published privately in 1865, +with notes by Louis Lacour. + +The narration of the priest is dreadful in its simplicity and +minuteness of detail. It may be summed up briefly here, because it is +the testimony of an eye-witness who knew Christina. + +Christina, with the marquis and a large retinue, was at Fontainebleau +in November, 1657. A little after midnight, when all was still, the +priest, Father Le Bel, was aroused and ordered to go at once to the +Galerie des Cerfs, or Hall of Stags, in another part of the palace. +When he asked why, he was told: + +"It is by the order of her majesty the Swedish queen." + +The priest, wondering, hurried on his garments. On reaching the gloomy +hall he saw the Marquis Monaldeschi, evidently in great agitation, and +at the end of the corridor the queen in somber robes. Beside the queen, +as if awaiting orders, stood three figures, who could with some +difficulty be made out as three soldiers of her guard. + +The queen motioned to Father Le Bel and asked him for a packet which +she had given him for safe-keeping some little time before. He gave it +to her, and she opened it. In it were letters and other documents, +which, with a steely glance, she displayed to Monaldeschi. He was +confused by the sight of them and by the incisive words in which +Christina showed how he had both insulted her and had tried to shift +the blame upon Sentanelli. + +Monaldeschi broke down completely. He fell at the queen's feet and wept +piteously, begging for pardon, only to be met by the cold answer: + +"You are my subject and a traitor to me. Marquis, you must prepare to +die!" + +Then she turned away and left the hall, in spite of the cries of +Monaldeschi, to whom she merely added the advice that he should make +his peace with God by confessing to Father Le Bel. + +After she had gone the marquis fell into a torrent of self-exculpation +and cried for mercy. The three armed men drew near and urged him to +confess for the good of his soul. They seemed to have no malice against +him, but to feel that they must obey the orders given them. At the +frantic urging of the marquis their leader even went to the queen to +ask whether she would relent; but he returned shaking his head, and +said: + +"Marquis, you must die." + +Father Le Bel undertook a like mission, but returned with the message +that there was no hope. So the marquis made his confession in French +and Latin, but even then he hoped; for he did not wait to receive +absolution, but begged still further for delay or pardon. + +Then the three armed men approached, having drawn their swords. The +absolution was pronounced; and, following it, one of the guards slashed +the marquis across the forehead. He stumbled and fell forward, making +signs as if to ask that he might have his throat cut. But his throat +was partly protected by a coat of mail, so that three or four strokes +delivered there had slight effect. Finally, however, a long, narrow +sword was thrust into his side, after which the marquis made no sound. + +Father Le Bel at once left the Galerie des Cerfs and went into the +queen's apartment, with the smell of blood in his nostrils. He found +her calm and ready to justify herself. Was she not still queen over all +who had voluntarily become members of her suite? This had been agreed +to in her act of abdication. Wherever she set her foot, there, over her +own, she was still a monarch, with full power to punish traitors at her +will. This power she had exercised, and with justice. What mattered it +that she was in France? She was queen as truly as Louis XIV. was king. + +The story was not long in getting out, but the truth was not wholly +known until a much later day. It was said that Sentanelli had slapped +the marquis in a fit of jealousy, though some added that it was done +with the connivance of the queen. King Louis, the incarnation of +absolutism, knew the truth, but he was slow to act. He sympathized with +the theory of Christina's sovereignty. It was only after a time that +word was sent to Christina that she must leave Fontainebleau. She took +no notice of the order until it suited her convenience, and then she +went forth with all the honors of a reigning monarch. + +This was the most striking episode in all the strange story of her +private life. When her cousin Charles, whom she had made king, died +without an heir she sought to recover her crown; but the estates of the +realm refused her claim, reduced her income, and imposed restraints +upon her power. She then sought the vacant throne of Poland; but the +Polish nobles, who desired a weak ruler for their own purposes, made +another choice. So at last she returned to Rome, where the Pope +received her with a splendid procession and granted her twelve thousand +crowns a year to make up for her lessened Swedish revenue. + +From this time she lived a life which she made interesting by her +patronage of learning and exciting by her rather unseemly quarrels with +cardinals and even with the Pope. Her armed retinue marched through the +streets with drawn swords and gave open protection to criminals who had +taken refuge with her. She dared to criticize the pontiff, who merely +smiled and said: + +"She is a woman!" + +On the whole, the end of her life was pleasant. She was much admired +for her sagacity in politics. Her words were listened to at every court +in Europe. She annotated the classics, she made beautiful collections, +and she was regarded as a privileged person whose acts no one took +amiss. She died at fifty-three, and was buried in St. Peter's. + +She was bred a man, she was almost a son to her great father; and yet, +instead of the sonorous epitaph that is inscribed beside her tomb, +perhaps a truer one would be the words of the vexed Pope: + +"E DONNA!" + + + + +KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN + + +One might classify the kings of England in many ways. John was +undoubtedly the most unpopular. The impetuous yet far-seeing Henry II., +with the other two great warriors, Edward I. and Edward III., and +William of Orange, did most for the foundation and development of +England's constitutional law. Some monarchs, such as Edward II. and the +womanish Henry VI., have been contemptible. Hard-working, useful kings +have been Henry VII., the Georges, William IV., and especially the last +Edward. + +If we consider those monarchs who have in some curious way touched the +popular fancy without reference to their virtues we must go back to +Richard of the Lion Heart, who saw but little of England, yet was the +best essentially English king, and to Henry V., gallant soldier and +conqueror of France. Even Henry VIII. had a warm place in the affection +of his countrymen, few of whom saw him near at hand, but most of whom +made him a sort of regal incarnation of John Bull--wrestling and +tilting and boxing, eating great joints of beef, and staying his thirst +with flagons of ale--a big, healthy, masterful animal, in fact, who +gratified the national love of splendor and stood up manfully in his +struggle with the Pope. + +But if you look for something more than ordinary popularity--something +that belongs to sentiment and makes men willing to become martyrs for a +royal cause--we must find these among the Stuart kings. It is odd, +indeed, that even at this day there are Englishmen and Englishwomen who +believe their lawful sovereign to be a minor Bavarian princess in whose +veins there runs the Stuart blood. Prayers are said for her at English +shrines, and toasts are drunk to her in rare old wine. + +Of course, to-day this cult of the Stuarts is nothing but a fad. No one +ever expects to see a Stuart on the English throne. But it is +significant of the deep strain of romance which the six Stuarts who +reigned in England have implanted in the English heart. The old +Jacobite ballads still have power to thrill. Queen Victoria herself +used to have the pipers file out before her at Balmoral to the +"skirling" of "Bonnie Dundee," "Over the Water to Charlie," and "Wha'll +Be King but Charlie!" It is a sentiment that has never died. Her late +majesty used to say that when she heard these tunes she became for the +moment a Jacobite; just as the Empress Eugenie at the height of her +power used pertly to remark that she herself was the only Legitimist +left in France. + +It may be suggested that the Stuarts are still loved by many Englishmen +because they were unfortunate; yet this is hardly true, after all. Many +of them were fortunate enough. The first of them, King James, an absurd +creature, speaking broad Scotch, timid, foolishly fond of favorites, +and having none of the dignity of a monarch, lived out a lengthy reign. +The two royal women of the family--Anne and Mary--had no misfortunes of +a public nature. Charles II. reigned for more than a quarter of a +century, lapped in every kind of luxury, and died a king. + +The first Charles was beheaded and afterward styled a "saint"; yet the +majority of the English people were against his arrogance, or else he +would have won his great struggle against Parliament. The second James +was not popular at all. Nevertheless, no sooner had he been expelled, +and been succeeded by a Dutchman gnawing asparagus and reeking of +cheeses, than there was already a Stuart legend. Even had there been no +pretenders to carry on the cult, the Stuarts would still have passed +into history as much loved by the people. + +It only shows how very little in former days the people expected of a +regnant king. Many monarchs have had just a few popular traits, and +these have stood out brilliantly against the darkness of the background. + +No one could have cared greatly for the first James, but Charles I. was +indeed a kingly personage when viewed afar. He was handsome, as a man, +fully equaling the French princess who became his wife. He had no +personal vices. He was brave, and good to look upon, and had a kingly +mien. Hence, although he sought to make his rule over England a +tyranny, there were many fine old cavaliers to ride afield for him when +he raised his standard, and who, when he died, mourned for him as a +"martyr." + +Many hardships they underwent while Cromwell ruled with his iron hand; +and when that iron hand was relaxed in death, and poor, feeble Richard +Cromwell slunk away to his country-seat, what wonder is it that young +Charles came back to England and caracoled through the streets of +London with a smile for every one and a happy laugh upon his lips? What +wonder is it that the cannon in the Tower thundered a loud welcome, and +that all over England, at one season or another, maypoles rose and +Christmas fires blazed? For Englishmen at heart are not only +monarchists, but they are lovers of good cheer and merrymaking and all +sorts of mirth. + +Charles II. might well at first have seemed a worthier and wiser +successor to his splendid father. As a child, even, he had shown +himself to be no faint-hearted creature. When the great Civil War broke +out he had joined his father's army. It met with disaster at Edgehill, +and was finally shattered by the crushing defeat of Naseby, which +afterward inspired Macaulay's most stirring ballad. + +Charles was then only a child of twelve, and so his followers did +wisely in hurrying him out of England, through the Scilly isles and +Jersey to his mother's place of exile. Of course, a child so very young +could be of no value as a leader, though his presence might prove an +inspiration. + +In 1648, however, when he was eighteen years of age, he gathered a +fleet of eighteen ships and cruised along the English coast, taking +prizes, which he carried to the Dutch ports. When he was at Holland's +capital, during his father's trial, he wrote many messages to the +Parliamentarians, and even sent them a blank charter, which they might +fill in with any stipulations they desired if only they would save and +restore their king. + +When the head of Charles rolled from the velvet-covered block his son +showed himself to be no loiterer or lover of an easy life. He hastened +to Scotland, skilfully escaping an English force, and was proclaimed as +king and crowned at Scone, in 1651. With ten thousand men he dashed +into England, where he knew there were many who would rally at his +call. But it was then that Cromwell put forth his supreme military +genius and with his Ironsides crushed the royal troops at Worcester. + +Charles knew that for the present all was lost. He showed courage and +address in covering the flight of his beaten soldiers; but he soon +afterward went to France, remaining there and in the Netherlands for +eight years as a pensioner of Louis XIV. He knew that time would fight +for him far more surely than infantry and horse. England had not been +called "Merry England" for nothing; and Cromwell's tyranny was likely +to be far more resented than the heavy hand of one who was born a king. +So Charles at Paris and Liege, though he had little money at the time, +managed to maintain a royal court, such as it was. + +Here there came out another side of his nature. As a child he had borne +hardship and privation and had seen the red blood flow upon the +battlefield. Now, as it were, he allowed a certain sensuous, +pleasure-loving ease to envelop him. The red blood should become the +rich red burgundy; the sound of trumpets and kettledrums should give +way to the melody of lutes and viols. He would be a king of pleasure if +he were to be king at all. And therefore his court, even in exile, was +a court of gallantry and ease. The Pope refused to lend him money, and +the King of France would not increase his pension, but there were many +who foresaw that Charles would not long remain in exile; and so they +gave him what he wanted and waited until he could give them what they +would ask for in their turn. + +Charles at this time was not handsome, like his father. His complexion +was swarthy, his figure by no means imposing, though always graceful. +When he chose he could bear himself with all the dignity of a monarch. +He had a singularly pleasant manner, and a word from him could win over +the harshest opponent. + +The old cavaliers who accompanied their master in exile were like +Napoleon's veterans in Elba. With their tall, powerful forms they +stalked about the courtyards, sniffing their disapproval at these +foreign ways and longing grimly for the time when they could once more +smell the pungent powder of the battle-field. But, as Charles had +hoped, the change was coming. Not merely were his own subjects +beginning to long for him and to pray in secret for the king, but +continental monarchs who maintained spies in England began to know of +this. To them Charles was no longer a penniless exile. He was a king +who before long would take possession of his kingdom. + +A very wise woman--the Queen Regent of Portugal--was the first to act +on this information. Portugal was then very far from being a petty +state. It had wealth at home and rich colonies abroad, while its flag +was seen on every sea. The queen regent, being at odds with Spain, and +wishing to secure an ally against that power, made overtures to +Charles, asking him whether a match might not be made between him and +the Princess Catharine of Braganza. It was not merely her daughter's +hand that she offered, but a splendid dowry. She would pay Charles a +million pounds in gold and cede to England two valuable ports. + +The match was not yet made, but by 1659 it had been arranged. The +Spaniards were furious, for Charles's cause began to appear successful. + +She was a quaint and rather piteous little figure, she who was destined +to be the wife of the Merry Monarch. Catharine was dark, petite, and by +no means beautiful; yet she had a very sweet expression and a heart of +utter innocence. She had been wholly convent-bred. She knew nothing of +the world. She was told that in marriage she must obey in all things, +and that the chief duty of a wife was to make her husband happy. + +Poor child! It was a too gracious preparation for a very graceless +husband. Charles, in exile, had already made more than one +discreditable connection and he was already the father of more than one +growing son. + +First of all, he had been smitten by the bold ways of one Lucy Walters. +Her impudence amused the exiled monarch. She was not particularly +beautiful, and when she spoke as others did she was rather tiresome; +but her pertness and the inexperience of the king when he went into +exile made her seem attractive. She bore him a son, in the person of +that brilliant adventurer whom Charles afterward created Duke of +Monmouth. Many persons believe that Charles had married Lucy Walters, +just as George IV. may have married Mrs. Fitzherbert; yet there is not +the slightest proof of it, and it must be classed with popular legends. + +There was also one Catherine Peg, or Kep, whose son was afterward made +Earl of Plymouth. It must be confessed that in his attachments to +English women Charles showed little care for rank or station. Lucy +Walters and Catherine Peg were very illiterate creatures. + +In a way it was precisely this sort of preference that made Charles so +popular among the people. He seemed to make rank of no account, but +would chat in the most familiar and friendly way with any one whom he +happened to meet. His easy, democratic manner, coupled with the grace +and prestige of royalty, made friends for him all over England. The +treasury might be nearly bankrupt; the navy might be routed by the +Dutch; the king himself might be too much given to dissipation; but his +people forgave him all, because everybody knew that Charles would clap +an honest citizen on the back and joke with all who came to see him +feed the swans in Regent's Park. + +The popular name for him was "Rowley," or "Old Rowley"--a nickname of +mysterious origin, though it is said to have been given him from a +fancied resemblance to a famous hunter in his stables. Perhaps it is +the very final test of popularity that a ruler should have a nickname +known to every one. + +Cromwell's death roused all England to a frenzy of king-worship. The +Roundhead, General Monk, and his soldiers proclaimed Charles King of +England and escorted him to London in splendid state. That was a day +when national feeling reached a point such as never has been before or +since. Oughtred, the famous mathematician, died of joy when the royal +emblems were restored. Urquhart, the translator of Rabelais, died, it +is said, of laughter at the people's wild delight--a truly Rabelaisian +end. + +There was the king once more; and England, breaking through its long +period of Puritanism, laughed and danced with more vivacity than ever +the French had shown. All the pipers and the players and panderers to +vice, the mountebanks, the sensual men, and the lawless women poured +into the presence of the king, who had been too long deprived of the +pleasure that his nature craved. Parliament voted seventy thousand +pounds for a memorial to Charles's father, but the irresponsible king +spent the whole sum on the women who surrounded him. His severest +counselor, Lord Clarendon, sent him a remonstrance. + +"How can I build such a memorial," asked Charles, "when I don't know +where my father's remains are buried!" + +He took money from the King of France to make war against the Dutch, +who had befriended him. It was the French king, too, who sent him that +insidious, subtle daughter of Brittany, Louise de Keroualle--Duchess of +Portsmouth--a diplomat in petticoats, who won the king's wayward +affections, and spied on what he did and said, and faithfully reported +all of it to Paris. She became the mother of the Duke of Lenox, and she +was feared and hated by the English more than any other of his +mistresses. They called her "Madam Carwell," and they seemed to have an +instinct that she was no mere plaything of his idle hours, but was like +some strange exotic serpent, whose poison might in the end sting the +honor of England. + +There is a pitiful little episode in the marriage of Charles with his +Portuguese bride, Catharine of Braganza. The royal girl came to him +fresh from the cloisters of her convent. There was something about her +grace and innocence that touched the dissolute monarch, who was by no +means without a heart. For a time he treated her with great respect, +and she was happy. At last she began to notice about her strange +faces--faces that were evil, wanton, or overbold. The court became more +and more a seat of reckless revelry. + +Finally Catharine was told that the Duchess of Cleveland--that splendid +termagant, Barbara Villiers--had been appointed lady of the bedchamber. +She was told at the same time who this vixen was--that she was no fit +attendant for a virtuous woman, and that her three sons, the Dukes of +Southampton, Grafton, and Northumberland, were also the sons of Charles. + +Fluttered and frightened and dismayed, the queen hastened to her +husband and begged him not to put this slight upon her. A year or two +before, she had never dreamed that life contained such things as these; +but now it seemed to contain nothing else. Charles spoke sternly to her +until she burst into tears, and then he petted her and told her that +her duty as a queen compelled her to submit to many things which a lady +in private life need not endure. + +After a long and poignant struggle with her own emotions the little +Portuguese yielded to the wishes of her lord. She never again +reproached him. She even spoke with kindness to his favorites and made +him feel that she studied his happiness alone. Her gentleness affected +him so that he always spoke to her with courtesy and real friendship. +When the Protestant mobs sought to drive her out of England he showed +his courage and manliness by standing by her and refusing to allow her +to be molested. + +Indeed, had Charles been always at his best he would have had a very +different name in history. He could be in every sense a king. He had a +keen knowledge of human nature. Though he governed England very badly, +he never governed it so badly as to lose his popularity. + +The epigram of Rochester, written at the king's own request, was +singularly true of Charles. No man relied upon his word, yet men loved +him. He never said anything that was foolish, and he very seldom did +anything that was wise; yet his easy manners and gracious ways endeared +him to those who met him. + +One can find no better picture of his court than that which Sir Walter +Scott has drawn so vividly in Peveril of the Peak; or, if one wishes +first-hand evidence, it can be found in the diaries of Evelyn and of +Samuel Pepys. In them we find the rakes and dicers, full of strange +oaths, deep drunkards, vile women and still viler men, all striving for +the royal favor and offering the filthiest lures, amid routs and balls +and noisy entertainments, of which it is recorded that more than once +some woman gave birth to a child among the crowd of dancers. + +No wonder that the little Portuguese queen kept to herself and did not +let herself be drawn into this swirling, roaring, roistering +saturnalia. She had less influence even than Moll Davis, whom Charles +picked out of a coffee-house, and far less than "Madam Carwell," to +whom it is reported that a great English nobleman once presented pearls +to the value of eight thousand pounds in order to secure her influence +in a single stroke of political business. + +Of all the women who surrounded Charles there was only one who cared +anything for him or for England. The rest were all either selfish or +treacherous or base. This one exception has been so greatly written of, +both in fiction and in history, as to make it seem almost unnecessary +to add another word; yet it may well be worth while to separate the +fiction from the fact and to see how much of the legend of Eleanor Gwyn +is true. + +The fanciful story of her birthplace is most surely quite unfounded. +She was not the daughter of a Welsh officer, but of two petty hucksters +who had their booth in the lowest precincts of London. In those days +the Strand was partly open country, and as it neared the city it showed +the mansions of the gentry set in their green-walled parks. At one end +of the Strand, however, was Drury Lane, then the haunt of criminals and +every kind of wretch, while nearer still was the notorious Coal Yard, +where no citizen dared go unarmed. + +Within this dreadful place children were kidnapped and trained to +various forms of vice. It was a school for murderers and robbers and +prostitutes; and every night when the torches flared it vomited forth +its deadly spawn. Here was the earliest home of Eleanor Gwyn, and out +of this den of iniquity she came at night to sell oranges at the +entrance to the theaters. She was stage-struck, and endeavored to get +even a minor part in a play; but Betterton, the famous actor, thrust +her aside when she ventured to apply to him. + +It must be said that in everything that was external, except her +beauty, she fell short of a fastidious taste. She was intensely +ignorant even for that time. She spoke in a broad Cockney dialect. She +had lived the life of the Coal Yard, and, like Zola's Nana, she could +never remember the time when she had known the meaning of chastity. + +Nell Gwyn was, in fact, a product of the vilest slums of London; and +precisely because she was this we must set her down as intrinsically a +good woman--one of the truest, frankest, and most right-minded of whom +the history of such women has anything to tell. All that external +circumstances could do to push her down into the mire was done; yet she +was not pushed down, but emerged as one of those rare souls who have in +their natures an uncontaminated spring of goodness and honesty. Unlike +Barbara Villiers or Lucy Walters or Louise de Keroualle, she was +neither a harpy nor a foe to England. + +Charles is said first to have met her when he, incognito, with another +friend, was making the rounds of the theaters at night. The king spied +her glowing, nut-brown face in one of the boxes, and, forgetting his +incognito, went up and joined her. She was with her protector of the +time, Lord Buckhurst, who, of course, recognized his majesty. + +Presently the whole party went out to a neighboring coffee-house, where +they drank and ate together. When it came time to pay the reckoning the +king found that he had no money, nor had his friend. Lord Buckhurst, +therefore, paid the bill, while Mistress Nell jeered at the other two, +saying that this was the most poverty-stricken party that she had ever +met. + +Charles did not lose sight of her. Her frankness and honest manner +pleased him. There came a time when she was known to be a mistress of +the king, and she bore a son, who was ennobled as the Duke of St. +Albans, but who did not live to middle age. Nell Gwyn was much with +Charles; and after his tempestuous scenes with Barbara Villiers, and +the feeling of dishonor which the Duchess of Portsmouth made him +experience, the girl's good English bluntness was a pleasure far more +rare than sentiment. + +Somehow, just as the people had come to mistrust "Madam Carwell," so +they came to like Nell Gwyn. She saw enough of Charles, and she liked +him well enough, to wish that he might do his duty by his people; and +she alone had the boldness to speak out what she thought. One day she +found him lolling in an arm-chair and complaining that the people were +not satisfied. + +"You can very easily satisfy them," said Nell Gwyn. "Dismiss your women +and attend to the proper business of a king." + +Again, her heart was touched at the misfortunes of the old soldiers who +had fought for Charles and for his father during the Civil War, and who +were now neglected, while the treasury was emptied for French +favorites, and while the policy of England itself was bought and sold +in France. Many and many a time, when other women of her kind used +their lures to get jewels or titles or estates or actual heaps of +money, Nell Gwyn besought the king to aid these needy veterans. Because +of her efforts Chelsea Hospital was founded. Such money as she had she +shared with the poor and with those who had fought for her royal lover. + +As I have said, she is a historical type of the woman who loses her +physical purity, yet who retains a sense of honor and of honesty which +nothing can take from her. There are not many such examples, and +therefore this one is worth remembering. + +Of anecdotes concerning her there are many, but not often has their +real import been detected. If she could twine her arms about the +monarch's neck and transport him in a delirium of passion, this was +only part of what she did. She tried to keep him right and true and +worthy of his rank; and after he had ceased to care much for her as a +lover he remembered that she had been faithful in many other things. + +Then there came the death-bed scene, when Charles, in his inimitable +manner, apologized to those about him because he was so long in dying. +A far sincerer sentence was that which came from his heart, as he cried +out, in the very pangs of death: + +"Do not let poor Nelly starve!" + + + + +MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR + + +It is an old saying that to every womanly woman self-sacrifice is +almost a necessity of her nature. To make herself of small account as +compared with the one she loves; to give freely of herself, even though +she may receive nothing in return; to suffer, and yet to feel an inner +poignant joy in all this suffering--here is a most wonderful trait of +womanhood. Perhaps it is akin to the maternal instinct; for to the +mother, after she has felt the throb of a new life within her, there is +no sacrifice so great and no anguish so keen that she will not welcome +it as the outward sign and evidence of her illimitable love. + +In most women this spirit of self-sacrifice is checked and kept within +ordinary bounds by the circumstances of their lives. In many small +things they do yield and they do suffer; yet it is not in yielding and +in suffering that they find their deepest joy. + +There are some, however, who seem to have been born with an abnormal +capacity for enduring hardship and mental anguish; so that by a sort of +contradiction they find their happiness in sorrow. Such women are +endowed with a remarkable degree of sensibility. They feel intensely. +In moments of grief and disappointment, and even of despair, there +steals over them a sort of melancholy pleasure. It is as if they loved +dim lights and mournful music and scenes full of sad suggestion. + +If everything goes well with them, they are unwilling to believe that +such good fortune will last. If anything goes wrong with them, they are +sure that this is only the beginning of something even worse. The music +of their lives is written in a minor key. + +Now, for such women as these, the world at large has very little +charity. It speaks slightingly of them as "agonizers." It believes that +they are "fond of making scenes." It regards as an affectation +something that is really instinctive and inevitable. Unless such women +are beautiful and young and charming they are treated badly; and this +is often true in spite of all their natural attractiveness, for they +seem to court ill usage as if they were saying frankly: + +"Come, take us! We will give you everything and ask for nothing. We do +not expect true and enduring love. Do not be constant or generous or +even kind. We know that we shall suffer. But, none the less, in our +sorrow there will be sweetness, and even in our abasement we shall feel +a sort of triumph." + +In history there is one woman who stands out conspicuously as a type of +her melancholy sisterhood, one whose life was full of disappointment +even when she was most successful, and of indignity even when she was +most sought after and admired. This woman was Adrienne Lecouvreur, +famous in the annals of the stage, and still more famous in the annals +of unrequited--or, at any rate, unhappy--love. + +Her story is linked with that of a man no less remarkable than herself, +a hero of chivalry, a marvel of courage, of fascination, and of +irresponsibility. + +Adrienne Lecouvreur--her name was originally Couvreur--was born toward +the end of the seventeenth century in the little French village of +Damery, not far from Rheims, where her aunt was a laundress and her +father a hatter in a small way. Of her mother, who died in childbirth, +we know nothing; but her father was a man of gloomy and ungovernable +temper, breaking out into violent fits of passion, in one of which, +long afterward, he died, raving and yelling like a maniac. + +Adrienne was brought up at the wash-tub, and became accustomed to a +wandering life, in which she went from one town to another. What she +had inherited from her mother is, of course, not known; but she had all +her father's strangely pessimistic temper, softened only by the fact +that she was a girl. From her earliest years she was unhappy; yet her +unhappiness was largely of her own choosing. Other girls of her own +station met life cheerfully, worked away from dawn till dusk, and then +had their moments of amusement, and even jollity, with their +companions, after the fashion of all children. But Adrienne Lecouvreur +was unhappy because she chose to be. It was not the wash-tub that made +her so, for she had been born to it; nor was it the half-mad outbreaks +of her father, because to her, at least, he was not unkind. Her +discontent sprang from her excessive sensibility. + +Indeed, for a peasant child she had reason to think herself far more +fortunate than her associates. Her intelligence was great. Ambition was +awakened in her before she was ten years of age, when she began to +learn and to recite poems--learning them, as has been said, "between +the wash-tub and the ironing-board," and reciting them to the +admiration of older and wiser people than she. Even at ten she was a +very beautiful child, with great lambent eyes, an exquisite complexion, +and a lovely form, while she had the further gift of a voice that +thrilled the listener and, when she chose, brought tears to every eye. +She was, indeed, a natural elocutionist, knowing by instinct all those +modulations of tone and varied cadences which go to the hearer's heart. + +It was very like Adrienne Lecouvreur to memorize only such poems as +were mournful, just as in after life she could win success upon the +stage only in tragic parts. She would repeat with a sort of ecstasy the +pathetic poems that were then admired; and she was soon able to give up +her menial work, because many people asked her to their houses so that +they could listen to the divinely beautiful voice charged with the +emotion which was always at her command. + +When she was thirteen her father moved to Paris, where she was placed +at school--a very humble school in a very humble quarter of the city. +Yet even there her genius showed itself at that early age. A number of +children and young people, probably influenced by Adrienne, formed +themselves into a theatrical company from the pure love of acting. A +friendly grocer let them have an empty store-room for their +performances, and in this store-room Adrienne Lecouvreur first acted in +a tragedy by Corneille, assuming the part of leading woman. + +Her genius for the stage was like the genius of Napoleon for war. She +had had no teaching. She had never been inside of any theater; and yet +she delivered the magnificent lines with all the power and fire and +effectiveness of a most accomplished actress. People thronged to see +her and to feel the tempest of emotion which shook her as she sustained +her part, which for the moment was as real to her as life itself. + +At first only the people of the neighborhood knew anything about these +amateur performances; but presently a lady of rank, one Mme. du Gue, +came out of curiosity and was fascinated by the little actress. Mme. du +Gue offered the spacious courtyard of her own house, and fitted it with +some of the appurtenances of a theater. From that moment the fame of +Adrienne spread throughout all Paris. The courtyard was crowded by +gentlemen and ladies, by people of distinction from the court, and at +last even by actors and actresses from the Comedie Franchise. + +It is, in fact, a remarkable tribute to Adrienne that in her thirteenth +year she excited so much jealousy among the actors of the Comedie that +they evoked the law against her. Theaters required a royal license, and +of course poor little Adrienne's company had none. Hence legal +proceedings were begun, and the most famous actresses in Paris talked +of having these clever children imprisoned! Upon this the company +sought the precincts of the Temple, where no legal warrant could be +served without the express order of the king himself. + +There for a time the performances still went on. Finally, as the other +children were not geniuses, but merely boys and girls in search of fun, +the little company broke up. Its success, however, had determined for +ever the career of Adrienne. With her beautiful face, her lithe and +exquisite figure, her golden voice, and her instinctive art, it was +plain enough that her future lay upon the stage; and so at fourteen or +fifteen she began where most actresses leave off--accomplished and +attractive, and having had a practical training in her profession. + +Diderot, in that same century, observed that the truest actor is one +who does not feel his part at all, but produces his effects by +intellectual effort and intelligent observation. Behind the figure on +the stage, torn with passion or rollicking with mirth, there must +always be the cool and unemotional mind which directs and governs and +controls. This same theory was both held and practised by the late +Benoit Constant Coquelin. To some extent it was the theory of Garrick +and Fechter and Edwin Booth; though it was rejected by the two Keans, +and by Edwin Forrest, who entered so throughly into the character which +he assumed, and who let loose such tremendous bursts of passion that +other actors dreaded to support him on the stage in such parts as +Spartacus and Metamora. + +It is needless to say that a girl like Adrienne Lecouvreur flung +herself with all the intensity of her nature into every role she +played. This was the greatest secret of her success; for, with her, +nature rose superior to art. On the other hand, it fixed her dramatic +limitations, for it barred her out of comedy. Her melancholy, morbid +disposition was in the fullest sympathy with tragic heroines; but she +failed when she tried to represent the lighter moods and the merry +moments of those who welcome mirth. She could counterfeit despair, and +unforced tears would fill her eyes; but she could not laugh and romp +and simulate a gaiety that was never hers. + +Adrienne would have been delighted to act at one of the theaters in +Paris; but they were closed to her through jealousy. She went into the +provinces, in the eastern part of France, and for ten years she was a +leading lady there in many companies and in many towns. As she +blossomed into womanhood there came into her life the love which was to +be at once a source of the most profound interest and of the most +intense agony. + +It is odd that all her professional success never gave her any +happiness. The life of the actress who traveled from town to town, the +crude and coarse experiences which she had to undergo, the disorder and +the unsettled mode of living, all produced in her a profound disgust. +She was of too exquisite a fiber to live in such a way, especially in a +century when the refinements of existence were for the very few. + +She speaks herself of "obligatory amusements, the insistence of men, +and of love affairs." Yet how could such a woman as Adrienne Lecouvreur +keep herself from love affairs? The motion of the stage and its mimic +griefs satisfied her only while she was actually upon the boards. Love +offered her an emotional excitement that endured and that was always +changing. It was "the profoundest instinct of her being"; and she once +wrote: "What could one do in the world without loving?" + +Still, through these ten years she seems to have loved only that she +might be unhappy. There was a strange twist in her mind. Men who were +honorable and who loved her with sincerity she treated very badly. Men +who were indifferent or ungrateful or actually base she seemed to +choose by a sort of perverse instinct. Perhaps the explanation of it is +that during those ten years, though she had many lovers, she never +really loved. She sought excitement, passion, and after that the +mournfulness which comes when passion dies. Thus, one man after another +came into her life--some of them promising marriage--and she bore two +children, whose fathers were unknown, or at least uncertain. But, after +all, one can scarcely pity her, since she had not yet in reality known +that great passion which comes but once in life. So far she had learned +only a sort of feeble cynicism, which she expressed in letters and in +such sayings as these: + +"There are sweet errors which I would not venture to commit again. My +experiences, all too sad, have served to illumine my reason." + +"I am utterly weary of love and prodigiously tempted to have no more of +it for the rest of my life; because, after all, I don't wish either to +die or to go mad." + +Yet she also said: "I know too well that no one dies of grief." + +She had had, indeed, some very unfortunate experiences. Men of rank had +loved her and had then cast her off. An actor, one Clavel, would have +married her, but she would not accept his offer. A magistrate in +Strasburg promised marriage; and then, when she was about to accept +him, he wrote to her that he was going to yield to the wishes of his +family and make a more advantageous alliance. And so she was +alternately caressed and repulsed--a mere plaything; and yet this was +probably all that she really needed at the time--something to stir her, +something to make her mournful or indignant or ashamed. + +It was inevitable that at last Adrienne Lecouvreur should appear in +Paris. She had won such renown throughout the provinces that even those +who were intensely jealous of her were obliged to give her due +consideration. In 1717, when she was in her twenty-fifth year, she +became a member of the Comedie Franchise. There she made an immediate +and most brilliant impression. She easily took the leading place. She +was one of the glories of Paris, for she became the fashion outside the +theater. For the first time the great classic plays were given, not in +the monotonous singsong which had become a sort of theatrical +convention, but with all the fire and naturalness of life. + +Being the fashion, Mlle. Lecouvreur elevated the social rank of actors +and of actresses. Her salon was thronged by men and women of rank. +Voltaire wrote poems in her honor. To be invited to her dinners was +almost like receiving a decoration from the king. She ought to have +been happy, for she had reached the summit of her profession and +something more. + +Yet still she was unhappy. In all her letters one finds a plaintive +tone, a little moaning sound that shows how slightly her nature had +been changed. No longer, however, did she throw herself away upon +dullards or brutes. An English peer--Lord Peterborough--not realizing +that she was different from other actresses of that loose-lived age, +said to her coarsely at his first introduction: + +"Come now! Show me lots of wit and lots of love." + +The remark was characteristic of the time. Yet Adrienne had learned at +least one thing, and that was the discontent which came from light +affairs. She had thrown herself away too often. If she could not love +with her entire being, if she could not give all that was in her to be +given, whether of her heart or mind or soul, then she would love no +more at all. + +At this time there came to Paris a man remarkable in his own century, +and one who afterward became almost a hero of romance. This was +Maurice, Comte de Saxe, as the French called him, his German name and +title being Moritz, Graf von Sachsen, while we usually term him, in +English, Marshal Saxe. Maurice de Saxe was now, in 1721, entering his +twenty-fifth year. Already, though so young, his career had been a +strange one; and it was destined to be still more remarkable. He was +the natural son of Duke Augustus II. of Saxony, who later became King +of Poland, and who is known in history as Augustus the Strong. + +Augustus was a giant in stature and in strength, handsome, daring, +unscrupulous, and yet extremely fascinating. His life was one of +revelry and fighting and display. When in his cups he would often call +for a horseshoe and twist it into a knot with his powerful fingers. +Many were his mistresses; but the one for whom he cared the most was a +beautiful and high-spirited Swedish girl of rank, Aurora von +Konigsmarck. She was descended from a rough old field-marshal who in +the Thirty Years' War had slashed and sacked and pillaged and plundered +to his heart's content. From him Aurora von Konigsmarck seemed to have +inherited a high spirit and a sort of lawlessness which charmed the +stalwart Augustus of Poland. + +Their son, Maurice de Saxe, inherited everything that was good in his +parents, and a great deal that was less commendable. As a mere child of +twelve he had insisted on joining the army of Prince Eugene, and had +seen rough service in a very strenuous campaign. Two years later he +showed such daring on the battle-field that Prince Eugene summoned him +and paid him a compliment under the form of a rebuke. + +"Young man," he said, "you must not mistake mere recklessness for +valor." + +Before he was twenty he had attained the stature and strength of his +royal father; and, to prove it, he in his turn called for a horseshoe, +which he twisted and broke in his fingers. He fought on the side of the +Russians and Poles, and again against the Turks, everywhere displaying +high courage and also genius as a commander; for he never lost his +self-possession amid the very blackest danger, but possessed, as +Carlyle says, "vigilance, foresight, and sagacious precaution." + +Exceedingly handsome, Maurice was a master of all the arts that +pleased, with just a touch of roughness, which seemed not unfitting in +so gallant a soldier. His troops adored him and would follow wherever +he might choose to lead them; for he exercised over these rude men a +magnetic power resembling that of Napoleon in after years. In private +life he was a hard drinker and fond of every form of pleasure. Having +no fortune of his own, a marriage was arranged for him with the +Countess von Loben, who was immensely wealthy; but in three years he +had squandered all her money upon his pleasures, and had, moreover, got +himself heavily in debt. + +It was at this time that he first came to Paris to study military +tactics. He had fought hard against the French in the wars that were +now ended; but his chivalrous bearing, his handsome person, and his +reckless joviality made him at once a universal favorite in Paris. To +the perfumed courtiers, with their laces and lovelocks and mincing +ways, Maurice de Saxe came as a sort of knight of old--jovial, daring, +pleasure-loving. Even his broken French was held to be quite charming; +and to see him break a horseshoe with his fingers threw every one into +raptures. + +No wonder, then, that he was welcomed in the very highest circles. +Almost at once he attracted the notice of the Princesse de Conti, a +beautiful woman of the blood royal. Of her it has been said that she +was "the personification of a kiss, the incarnation of an embrace, the +ideal of a dream of love." Her chestnut hair was tinted with little +gleams of gold. Her eyes were violet black. Her complexion was +dazzling. But by the king's orders she had been forced to marry a +hunchback--a man whose very limbs were so weakened by disease and evil +living that they would often fail to support him, and he would fall to +the ground, a writhing, screaming mass of ill-looking flesh. + +It is not surprising that his lovely wife should have shuddered much at +his abuse of her and still more at his grotesque endearments. When her +eyes fell on Maurice de Saxe she saw in him one who could free her from +her bondage. By a skilful trick he led the Prince de Conti to invade +the sleeping-room of the princess, with servants, declaring that she +was not alone. The charge proved quite untrue, and so she left her +husband, having won the sympathy of her own world, which held that she +had been insulted. But it was not she who was destined to win and hold +the love of Maurice de Saxe. + +Not long after his appearance in the French capital he was invited to +dine with the "Queen of Paris," Adrienne Lecouvreur. Saxe had seen her +on the stage. He knew her previous history. He knew that she was very +much of a soiled dove; but when he met her these two natures, so +utterly dissimilar, leaped together, as it were, through the +indescribable attraction of opposites. He was big and powerful; she was +small and fragile. He was merry, and full of quips and jests; she was +reserved and melancholy. Each felt in the other a need supplied. + +At one of their earliest meetings the climax came. Saxe was not the man +to hesitate; while she already, in her thoughts, had made a full +surrender. In one great sweep he gathered her into his arms. It +appeared to her as if no man had ever laid his hand upon her until that +moment. She cried out: + +"Now, for the first time in my life, I seem to live!" + +It was, indeed, the very first love which in her checkered career was +really worthy of the name. She had supposed that all such things were +passed and gone, that her heart was closed for ever, that she was +invulnerable; and yet here she found herself clinging about the neck of +this impetuous soldier and showing him all the shy fondness and the +unselfish devotion of a young girl. From this instant Adrienne +Lecouvreur never loved another man and never even looked at any other +man with the slightest interest. For nine long years the two were bound +together, though there were strange events to ruffle the surface of +their love. + +Maurice de Saxe had been sired by a king. He had the lofty ambition to +be a king himself, and he felt the stirrings of that genius which in +after years was to make him a great soldier, and to win the brilliant +victory of Fontenoy, which to this very day the French are never tired +of recalling. Already Louis XV. had made him a marshal of France; and a +certain restlessness came over him. He loved Adrienne; yet he felt that +to remain in the enjoyment of her witcheries ought not to be the whole +of a man's career. + +Then the Grand Duchy of Courland--at that time a vassal state of +Poland, now part of Russia--sought a ruler. Maurice de Saxe was eager +to secure its throne, which would make him at least semi-royal and the +chief of a principality. He hastened thither and found that money was +needed to carry out his plans. The widow of the late duke--the Grand +Duchess Anna, niece of Peter the Great, and later Empress of Russia--as +soon as she had met this dazzling genius, offered to help him to +acquire the duchy if he would only marry her. He did not utterly +refuse. Still another woman of high rank, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth +of Russia, Peter the Great's daughter, made him very much the same +proposal. + +Both of these imperial women might well have attracted a man like +Maurice de Saxe, had he been wholly fancy-free, for the second of them +inherited the high spirit and the genius of the great Peter, while the +first was a pleasure-seeking princess, resembling some of those Roman +empresses who loved to stoop that they might conquer. She is described +as indolent and sensual, and she once declared that the chief good in +the world was love. Yet, though she neglected affairs of state and gave +them over to favorites, she won and kept the affections of her people. +She was unquestionably endowed with the magnetic gift of winning hearts. + +Adrienne, who was left behind in Paris, knew very little of what was +going on. Only two things were absolutely clear to her. One was that if +her lover secured the duchy he must be parted from her. The other was +that without money his ambition must be thwarted, and that he would +then return to her. Here was a test to try the soul of any woman. It +proved the height and the depth of her devotion. Come what might, +Maurice should be Duke of Courland, even though she lost him. She +gathered together her whole fortune, sold every jewel that she +possessed, and sent her lover the sum of nearly a million francs. + +This incident shows how absolutely she was his. But in fact, because of +various intrigues, he failed of election to the ducal throne of +Courland, and he returned to Adrienne with all her money spent, and +without even the grace, at first, to show his gratitude. He stormed and +raged over his ill luck. She merely soothed and petted him, though she +had heard that he had thought of marrying another woman to secure the +dukedom. In one of her letters she bursts out with the pitiful +exclamation: + +I am distracted with rage and anguish. Is it not natural to cry out +against such treachery? This man surely ought to know me--he ought to +love me. Oh, my God! What are we--what ARE we? + +But still she could not give him up, nor could he give her up, though +there were frightful scenes between them--times when he cruelly +reproached her and when her native melancholy deepened into outbursts +of despair. Finally there occurred an incident which is more or less +obscure in parts. The Duchesse de Bouillon, a great lady of the +court--facile, feline, licentious, and eager for delights--resolved +that she would win the love of Maurice de Saxe. She set herself to win +it openly and without any sense of shame. Maurice himself at times, +when the tears of Adrienne proved wearisome, flirted with the duchess. + +Yet, even so, Adrienne held the first place in his heart, and her rival +knew it. Therefore she resolved to humiliate Adrienne, and to do so in +the place where the actress had always reigned supreme. There was to be +a gala performance of Racine's great tragedy, "Phedre," with Adrienne, +of course, in the title-role. The Duchesse de Bouillon sent a large +number of her lackeys with orders to hiss and jeer, and, if possible, +to break off the play. Malignantly delighted with her plan, the duchess +arrayed herself in jewels and took her seat in a conspicuous stage-box, +where she could watch the coming storm and gloat over the discomfiture +of her rival. + +When the curtain rose, and when Adrienne appeared as Phedre, an uproar +began. It was clear to the great actress that a plot had been devised +against her. In an instant her whole soul was afire. The queen-like +majesty of her bearing compelled silence throughout the house. Even the +hired lackeys were overawed by it. Then Adrienne moved swiftly across +the stage and fronted her enemy, speaking into her very face the three +insulting lines which came to her at that moment of the play: + + I am not of those women void of shame, + Who, savoring in crime the joys of peace, + Harden their faces till they cannot blush! + +The whole house rose and burst forth into tremendous applause. Adrienne +had won, for the woman who had tried to shame her rose in trepidation +and hurried from the theater. + +But the end was not yet. Those were evil times, when dark deeds were +committed by the great almost with impunity. Secret poisoning was a +common trade. To remove a rival was as usual a thing in the eighteenth +century as to snub a rival is usual in the twentieth. + +Not long afterward, on the night of March 15, 1730, Adrienne Lecouvreur +was acting in one of Voltaire's plays with all her power and +instinctive art when suddenly she was seized with the most frightful +pains. Her anguish was obvious to every one who saw her, and yet she +had the courage to go through her part. Then she fainted and was +carried home. + +Four days later she died, and her death was no less dramatic than her +life had been. Her lover and two friends of his were with her, and also +a Jesuit priest. He declined to administer extreme unction unless she +would declare that she repented of her theatrical career. She +stubbornly refused, since she believed that to be the greatest actress +of her time was not a sin. Yet still the priest insisted. + +Then came the final moment. + +"Weary and revolting against this death, this destiny, she stretched +her arms with one of the old lovely gestures toward a bust which stood +near by and cried--her last cry of passion: + +"'There is my world, my hope--yes, and my God!'" + +The bust was one of Maurice de Saxe. + + + + +THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART + + +The royal families of Europe are widely known, yet not all of them are +equally renowned. Thus, the house of Romanoff, although comparatively +young, stands out to the mind with a sort of barbaric power, more +vividly than the Austrian house of Hapsburg, which is the oldest +reigning family in Europe, tracing its beginnings backward until they +are lost in the Dark Ages. The Hohenzollerns of Prussia are +comparatively modern, so far as concerns their royalty. The offshoots +of the Bourbons carry on a very proud tradition in the person of the +King of Spain, although France, which has been ruled by so many members +of the family, will probably never again behold a Bourbon king. The +deposed Braganzas bear a name which is ancient, but which has a +somewhat tinsel sound. + +The Bonapartes, of course, are merely parvenus, and they have had the +good taste to pretend to no antiquity of birth. The first Napoleon, +dining at a table full of monarchs, when he heard one of them +deferentially alluding to the Bonaparte family as being very old and +noble, exclaimed: + +"Pish! My nobility dates from the day of Marengo!" + +And the third Napoleon, in announcing his coming marriage with Mlle. de +Montijo, used the very word "parvenu" in speaking of himself and of his +family. His frankness won the hearts of the French people and helped to +reconcile them to a marriage in which the bride was barely noble. + +In English history there are two great names to conjure by, at least to +the imaginative. One is Plantagenet, which seems to contain within +itself the very essence of all that is patrician, magnificent, and +royal. It calls to memory at once the lion-hearted Richard, whose short +reign was replete with romance in England and France and Austria and +the Holy Land. + +But perhaps a name of greater influence is that which links the royal +family of Britain today with the traditions of the past, and which +summons up legend and story and great deeds of history. This is the +name of Stuart, about which a whole volume might be written to recall +its suggestions and its reminiscences. + +The first Stuart (then Stewart) of whom anything is known got his name +from the title of "Steward of Scotland," which remained in the family +for generations, until the sixth of the line, by marriage with Princess +Marjory Bruce, acquired the Scottish crown. That was in the early years +of the fourteenth century; and finally, after the death of Elizabeth of +England, her rival's son, James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, +united under one crown two kingdoms that had so long been at almost +constant war. + +It is almost characteristic of the Scot that, having small territory, +little wealth, and a seat among his peers that is almost ostentatiously +humble, he should bit by bit absorb the possessions of all the rest and +become their master. Surely, the proud Tudors, whose line ended with +Elizabeth, must have despised the "Stewards," whose kingdom was small +and bleak and cold, and who could not control their own vassals. + +One can imagine also, with Sir Walter Scott, the haughty nobles of the +English court sneering covertly at the awkward, shambling James, pedant +and bookworm. Nevertheless, his diplomacy was almost as good as that of +Elizabeth herself; and, though he did some foolish things, he was very +far from being a fool. + +In his appearance James was not unlike Abraham Lincoln--an unkingly +figure; and yet, like Lincoln, when occasion required it he could rise +to the dignity which makes one feel the presence of a king. He was the +only Stuart who lacked anything in form or feature or external grace. +His son, Charles I., was perhaps one of the worst rulers that England +has ever had; yet his uprightness of life, his melancholy yet handsome +face, his graceful bearing, and the strong religious element in his +character, together with the fact that he was put to death after being +treacherously surrendered to his enemies--all these have combined to +make almost a saint of him. There are Englishmen to-day who speak of +him as "the martyr king," and who, on certain days of the year, say +prayers that beg the Lord's forgiveness because of Charles's execution. + +The members of the so-called League of the White Rose, founded to +perpetuate English allegiance to the direct line of Stuarts, do many +things that are quite absurd. They refuse to pray for the present King +of England and profess to think that the Princess Mary of Bavaria is +the true ruler of Great Britain. All this represents that trace of +sentiment which lingers among the English to-day. They feel that the +Stuarts were the last kings of England to rule by the grace of God +rather than by the grace of Parliament. As a matter of fact, the +present reigning family in England is glad to derive its ancient strain +of royal blood through a Stuart--descended on the distaff side from +James I., and winding its way through Hanover. + +This sentiment for the Stuarts is a thing entirely apart from reason +and belongs to the realm of poetry and romance; yet so strong is it +that it has shown itself in the most inconsistent fashion. For +instance, Sir Walter Scott was a devoted adherent of the house of +Hanover. When George IV. visited Edinburgh, Scott was completely +carried away by his loyal enthusiasm. He could not see that the man +before him was a drunkard and braggart. He viewed him as an incarnation +of all the noble traits that ought to hedge about a king. He snatched +up a wine-glass from which George had just been drinking and carried it +away to be an object of reverence for ever after. Nevertheless, in his +heart, and often in his speech, Scott seemed to be a high Tory, and +even a Jacobite. + +There are precedents for this. The Empress Eugenie used often to say +with a laugh that she was the only true royalist at the imperial court +of France. That was well enough for her in her days of flightiness and +frivolity. No one, however, accused Queen Victoria of being frivolous, +and she was not supposed to have a strong sense of humor. None the +less, after listening to the skirling of the bagpipes and to the +romantic ballads which were sung in Scotland she is said to have +remarked with a sort of sigh: + +"Whenever I hear those ballads I feel that England belongs really to +the Stuarts!" + +Before Queen Victoria was born, when all the sons of George III. were +childless, the Duke of Kent was urged to marry, so that he might have a +family to continue the succession. In resenting the suggestion he said +many things, and among them this was the most striking: + +"Why don't you call the Stuarts back to England? They couldn't possibly +make a worse mess of it than our fellows have!" + +But he yielded to persuasion and married. From this marriage came +Victoria, who had the sacred drop of Stuart blood which gave England to +the Hanoverians; and she was to redeem the blunders and tyrannies of +both houses. + +The fascination of the Stuarts, which has been carried overseas to +America and the British dominions, probably began with the striking +history of Mary Queen of Scots. Her brilliancy and boldness and beauty, +and especially the pathos of her end, have made us see only her intense +womanliness, which in her own day was the first thing that any one +observed in her. So, too, with Charles I., romantic figure and knightly +gentleman. One regrets his death upon the scaffold, even though his +execution was necessary to the growth of freedom. + +Many people are no less fascinated by Charles II., that very different +type, with his gaiety, his good-fellowship, and his easy-going ways. It +is not surprising that his people, most of whom never saw him, were +very fond of him, and did not know that he was selfish, a loose liver, +and almost a vassal of the king of France. + +So it is not strange that the Stuarts, with all their arts and graces, +were very hard to displace. James II., with the aid of the French, +fought hard before the British troops in Ireland broke the backs of +both his armies and sent him into exile. Again in 1715--an episode +perpetuated in Thackeray's dramatic story of Henry Esmond--came the son +of James to take advantage of the vacancy caused by the death of Queen +Anne. But it is perhaps to this claimant's son, the last of the +militant Stuarts, that more chivalrous feeling has been given than to +any other. + +To his followers he was the Young Chevalier, the true Prince of Wales; +to his enemies, the Whigs and the Hanoverians, he was "the Pretender." +One of the most romantic chapters of history is the one which tells of +that last brilliant dash which he made upon the coast of Scotland, +landing with but a few attendants and rejecting the support of a French +army. + +"It is not with foreigners," he said, "but with my own loyal subjects, +that I wish to regain the kingdom for my father." + +It was a daring deed, and the spectacular side of it has been often +commemorated, especially in Sir Walter Scott's Waverley. There we see +the gallant prince moving through a sort of military panorama. Most of +the British troops were absent in Flanders, and the few regiments that +could be mustered to meet him were appalled by the ferocity and +reckless courage of the Highlanders, who leaped down like wildcats from +their hills and flung themselves with dirk and sword upon the British +cannon. + +We see Sir John Cope retiring at Falkirk, and the astonishing victory +of Prestonpans, where disciplined British troops fled in dismay through +the morning mist, leaving artillery and supplies behind them. It is +Scott again who shows us the prince, master of Edinburgh for a time, +while the white rose of Stuart royalty held once more the ancient keep +above the Scottish capital. Then we see the Chevalier pressing +southward into England, where he hoped to raise an English army to +support his own. But his Highlanders cared nothing for England, and the +English--even the Catholic gentry--would not rise to support his cause. + +Personally, he had every gift that could win allegiance. Handsome, +high-tempered, and brave, he could also control his fiery spirit and +listen to advice, however unpalatable it might be. + +The time was favorable. The British troops had been defeated on the +Continent by Marshal Saxe, of whom I have already written, and by +Marshal d'Estrees. George II. was a king whom few respected. He could +scarcely speak anything but German. He grossly ill-treated his wife. It +is said that on one occasion, in a fit of temper, he actually kicked +the prime minister. Not many felt any personal loyalty to him, and he +spent most of his time away from England in his other domain of Hanover. + +But precisely here was a reason why Englishmen were willing to put up +with him. As between him and the brilliant Stuart there would have been +no hesitation had the choice been merely one of men; but it was +believed that the return of the Stuarts meant the return of something +like absolute government, of taxation without sanction of law, and of +religious persecution. Under the Hanoverian George the English people +had begun to exercise a considerable measure of self-government. Sharp +opposition in Parliament compelled him time and again to yield; and +when he was in Hanover the English were left to work out the problem of +free government. + +Hence, although Prince Charles Edward fascinated all who met him, and +although a small army was raised for his support, still the unromantic, +common-sense Englishmen felt that things were better than in the days +gone by, and most of them refused to take up arms for the cause which +sentimentally they favored. Therefore, although the Chevalier stirred +all England and sent a thrill through the officers of state in London, +his soldiers gradually deserted, and the Scots insisted on returning to +their own country. Although the Stuart troops reached a point as far +south as Derby, they were soon pushed backward into Scotland, pursued +by an army of about nine thousand men under the Duke of Cumberland, son +of George II. + +Cumberland was no soldier; he had been soundly beaten by the French on +the famous field of Fontenoy. Yet he had firmness and a sort of +overmastering brutality, which, with disciplined troops and abundant +artillery, were sufficient to win a victory over the untrained +Highlanders. + +When the battle came five thousand of these mountaineers went roaring +along the English lines, with the Chevalier himself at their head. For +a moment there was surprise. The Duke of Cumberland had been drinking +so heavily that he could give no verbal orders. One of his officers, +however, is said to have come to him in his tent, where he was trying +to play cards. + +"What disposition shall we make of the prisoners?" asked the officer. + +The duke tried to reply, but his utterance was very thick. + +"No quarter!" he was believed to say. + +The officer objected and begged that such an order as that should be +given in writing. The duke rolled over and seized a sheaf of +playing-cards. Pulling one out, he scrawled the necessary order, and +that was taken to the commanders in the field. + +The Highlanders could not stand the cannon fire, and the English won. +Then the fury of the common soldiery broke loose upon the country. + +There was a reign of fantastic and fiendish brutality. One provost of +the town was violently kicked for a mild remonstrance about the +destruction of the Episcopalian meeting-house; another was condemned to +clean out dirty stables. Men and women were whipped and tortured on +slight suspicion or to extract information. Cumberland frankly +professed his contempt and hatred of the people among whom he found +himself, but he savagely punished robberies committed by private +soldiers for their own profit. + +"Mild measures will not do," he wrote to Newcastle. + +When leaving the North in July, he said: + +"All the good we have done is but a little blood-letting, which has +only weakened the madness, but not at all cured it; and I tremble to +fear that this vile spot may still be the ruin of this island and of +our family." + +Such was the famous battle of Culloden, fought in 1746, and putting a +final end to the hopes of all the Stuarts. As to Cumberland's order for +"No quarter," if any apology can be made for such brutality, it must be +found in the fact that the Highland chiefs had on their side agreed to +spare no captured enemy. + +The battle has also left a name commonly given to the nine of diamonds, +which is called "the curse of Scotland," because it is said that on +that card Cumberland wrote his bloodthirsty order. + +Such, in brief, was the story of Prince Charlie's gallant attempt to +restore the kingdom of his ancestors. Even when defeated, he would not +at once leave Scotland. A French squadron appeared off the coast near +Edinburgh. It had been sent to bring him troops and a large supply of +money, but he turned his back upon it and made his way into the +Highlands on foot, closely pursued by English soldiers and Lowland +spies. + +This part of his career is in reality the most romantic of all. He was +hunted closely, almost as by hounds. For weeks he had only such sleep +as he could snatch during short periods of safety, and there were times +when his pursuers came within an inch of capturing him. But never in +his life were his spirits so high. + +It was a sort of life that he had never seen before, climbing the +mighty rocks, and listening to the thunder of the cataracts, among +which he often slept, with only one faithful follower to guard him. The +story of his escape is almost incredible, but he laughed and drank and +rolled upon the grass when he was free from care. He hobnobbed with the +most suspicious-looking caterans, with whom he drank the smoky brew of +the North, and lived as he might on fish and onions and bacon and wild +fowl, with an appetite such as he had never known at the luxurious +court of Versailles or St.-Germain. + +After the battle of Culloden the prince would have been captured had +not a Scottish girl named Flora Macdonald met him, caused him to be +dressed in the clothes of her waiting-maid, and thus got him off to the +Isle of Skye. + +There for a time it was impossible to follow him; and there the two +lived almost alone together. Such a proximity could not fail to stir +the romantic feeling of one who was both a youth and a prince. On the +other hand, no thought of love-making seems to have entered Flora's +mind. If, however, we read Campbell's narrative very closely we can see +that Prince Charles made every advance consistent with a delicate +remembrance of her sex and services. + +It seems to have been his thought that if she cared for him, then the +two might well love; and he gave her every chance to show him favor. +The youth of twenty-five and the girl of twenty-four roamed together in +the long, tufted grass or lay in the sunshine and looked out over the +sea. The prince would rest his head in her lap, and she would tumble +his golden hair with her slender fingers and sometimes clip off tresses +which she preserved to give to friends of hers as love-locks. But to +the last he was either too high or too low for her, according to her +own modest thought. He was a royal prince, the heir to a throne, or +else he was a boy with whom she might play quite fancy-free. A lover he +could not be--so pure and beautiful was her thought of him. + +These were perhaps the most delightful days of all his life, as they +were a beautiful memory in hers. In time he returned to France and +resumed his place amid the intrigues that surrounded that other Stuart +prince who styled himself James III., and still kept up the appearance +of a king in exile. As he watched the artifice and the plotting of +these make-believe courtiers he may well have thought of his innocent +companion of the Highland wilds. + +As for Flora, she was arrested and imprisoned for five months on +English vessels of war. After her release she was married, in 1750; and +she and her husband sailed for the American colonies just before the +Revolution. In that war Macdonald became a British officer and served +against his adopted countrymen. Perhaps because of this reason Flora +returned alone to Scotland, where she died at the age of sixty-eight. + +The royal prince who would have given her his easy love lived a life of +far less dignity in the years that followed his return to France. There +was no more hope of recovering the English throne. For him there were +left only the idle and licentious diversions of such a court as that in +which his father lived. + +At the death of James III., even this court was disintegrated, and +Prince Charles led a roving life under the title of Earl of Albany. In +his wanderings he met Louise Marie, the daughter of a German prince, +Gustavus Adolphus of Stolberg. She was only nineteen years of age when +she first felt the fascination that he still possessed; but it was an +unhappy marriage for the girl when she discovered that her husband was +a confirmed drunkard. + +Not long after, in fact, she found her life with him so utterly +intolerable that she persuaded the Pope to allow her a formal +separation. The pontiff intrusted her to her husband's brother, +Cardinal York, who placed her in a convent and presently removed her to +his own residence in Rome. + +Here begins another romance. She was often visited by Vittorio Alfieri, +the great Italian poet and dramatist. Alfieri was a man of wealth. In +early years he divided his time into alternate periods during which he +either studied hard in civil and canonical law, or was a constant +attendant upon the race-course, or rushed aimlessly all over Europe +without any object except to wear out the post-horses which he used in +relays over hundreds of miles of road. His life, indeed, was eccentric +almost to insanity; but when he had met the beautiful and lonely +Countess of Albany there came over him a striking change. She +influenced him for all that was good, and he used to say that he owed +her all that was best in his dramatic works. + +Sixteen years after her marriage her royal husband died, a worn-out, +bloated wreck of one who had been as a youth a model of knightliness +and manhood. During his final years he had fallen to utter destitution, +and there was either a touch of half contempt or a feeling of remote +kinship in the act of George III., who bestowed upon the prince an +annual pension of four thousand pounds. It showed most plainly that +England was now consolidated under Hanoverian rule. + +When Cardinal York died, in 1807, there was no Stuart left in the male +line; and the countess was the last to bear the royal Scottish name of +Albany. + +After the prince's death his widow is said to have been married to +Alfieri, and for the rest of her life she lived in Florence, though +Alfieri died nearly twenty-one years before her. + +Here we have seen a part of the romance which attaches itself to the +name of Stuart--in the chivalrous young prince, leading his Highlanders +against the bayonets of the British, lolling idly among the Hebrides, +or fallen, at the last, to be a drunkard and the husband of an +unwilling consort, who in her turn loved a famous poet. But it is this +Stuart, after all, of whom we think when we hear the bagpipes skirling +"Over the Water to Charlie" or "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Famous Affinities of History V1, by Lyndon Orr + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY V1 *** + +***** This file should be named 4689.txt or 4689.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/8/4689/ + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 V1 + The Romance of Devotion +ŒFú‰^øëeÄ^ø&€uN&Ä_ &ƒ +Author: Lyndon Orr + +Release Date: November, 2003 [Etext #4689] +[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 + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Famous Affinities of History V1, by Lyndon Orr +This file should be named ffnt110.txt or ffnt110.zip + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, ffnt111.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ffnt110a.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?" + +THE END + + + + + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Famous Affinities of History V1, by Lyndon Orr +This file should be named ffnt110.txt or ffnt110.zip + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, ffnt111.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ffnt110a.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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