The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Last Decade of a Glorious Reign. fly Martha
Waik,r, Freer, Author of " ['ne Lite of M .rgue-
rite D'Angouleme," "Jeanne D'Albret," &e. 2
vols. Hurst and Brackett.

Miss Freer has now arrived at the conclusion of
her arduous undertaking, by presenting us with the
two lest volumes of her History of Henri Quatre.
A history extending through six goodly sized tomes
is not often undertaken by a feminine hand, and
the attempt appears the bolder when we call to mind
that the reign she so chronicles was one of the most
important as well as one of the most warlike in mo-
dern French history. Tee troubled state of France
when Henry of Navarre inherited the throne; the
dark and disgraceful reigns that had preceded
him, when a wily and cruel woman influenced the
weak and savage minds of her sons till theit de ds
of blood had made history shudder—the war of the
League, and the still powerful faction of the Guises
—the fierce animosities between the rival creeds—
all these discordant elements combine to render the
opening of Henry the Fourth's career one of the
most stirring on record. Then came the long
struggle with the League, the victories of Argues,
Contras, and Ivry ; the siege of Paris, when the
generous heart of Henry could not endure the self-
inflicted sufferings of his people, but frequently sup-
plied the women and children with bread in secret;
the thousand difficulties that beset his path, from
the intrigues of Spain to the unwilling adherence
of his own great Catholic lieges; the triumphal
entry into Paris ; the change of faith, and Henry's
final establiehment on the throne and in the hearts
of his subjects. He had cot quered France as well
as inherited her, and reigned, as Voltaire says, by ft
double right—
"Et par droit de conquete et par droit de naissance."
Then followed the tong and brilliant reign, when
the influence of Henry's ability was felt in every
Cabinet in Europe, when his dreaded sword made
the enemies of France shrink from contention, and
his wise toleration secured her internal peace. That
reign was chequered, indeed, by the plots and
treachery which seemed fated to pursue a prince
whose generosity and frankness deserved them so
little ; and it was harassed, too, by those
pitiful jealousies and quarrels between the Queen
and her rivals, that so greatly embittered Henry's
peace, but which were the natural reward of his
own lollies. Still in spite of domestic discord, long
and prosperous years seemed to stretch out betor9
the King and the people, who were enjoying the
last wise and beneficent reign which France should.
see for many dreary years, when the dagger of
Raraillac cut short all expectations, and lett the
country to a long minority under the weak hand
of Marie de Medicis, followed by the iron rule of
Richelieu. Ail the histories of these eventful times
Miss Freer has studied with care, and the continual
marginal references to the works of the day evi-
dence the time and labour she has bestowed upon
tier task. The reign of Henry IV. is rich in con-
temporary illustration—the memoirs of Sully alone
forming a most valuable guide to the historian.
Neverti class, though our authoress has brought to
the work assiduous labour, unquestionab:e
and considerable historical knowledge, we prefer
her works of feminine biography as it affected his-
tory, to her histories themselves. Thirty years like
the years discussed in these memoirs need, to be
rightly chronicled, the grasp of a vigorous and ori-
ginal mind, the views of one familiar with politics
and statecraft. Though thoroughly trustworthy
and carefully written, Miss Freer's work is rather
a narrative than a history, rather a faithful chroni-
cle than a luminous survey of the age and its men.
She is occupied chiefly with details. We hear little
of the internal adminiatration of the country ; we
are simply ts.ld that Sully was all-powerful as
Minister, but one of the volumes before usis nearly
full of the disgraceful transactions with Medeme de
Verneuil. Uuntortunately for the great Henry's
memory, similar prominence has to be given in the
second volume to his pursuit of the Princess de
Conde, for whose sake he was ready to plunge
France into w.r, when 'the hand of the assassin ar-
rested his projects. Miss Freer has divided her
work into three parts, as her readers wul easily re-
call. She had aireacty sketched the early days of
the young Prince of Navarre in her life of
his mother, Jeanne D'Athret, and in her re-
cord of the short and disgraceful reign of his
predecessor, Henry 111. The close of that history
lett Henry IV. stanuteg by the bedside of tne
victim of Jecqu. a Clement, little knowing that his
own end should cou.e years alter by the same
means. The fist ten years of the reign now tetnoi-
itatud chronicled the wars of the League, crowned
by the entry into Paris; the second narrated the
events that followed upon Henry's settlement on
he throne, ending with the treason and death of
Biro's ; the third and concluding portion is now
betote us, leaving the Et.genc3 just established,
Su ty oepriveu of his lung authority, and clown-
ing tor his hero, at.d France plunged into SortoW
for the ions ‘.f her valiant king. It is very proba-
ble that Miss Freer will follow up her labours by
tracing the history of the regency of Marie de
Meuiei—a tusk already tried by au authoress ot
experience and ability, Miss Perdue. She is :Attila}
in the cedueution of character, I ad the pourirayai of
those weaknesses which so mien mar the di, el of
great capacities and atroug deteralinntion,and
therefore find empie scope for her powers in the
pic,ure of the influence gained over Queen Wills
oy her unworthy favourites, the Cuucini. Miss
Freer deserves great praise for the aseiouity and
completeness ot her labours, and her work will be
a valuable and trustworthy reference for the student
or the historical writer. The work is handsomely
illustrated with portraits of the two ladies whose

Coalll3B plOoUeed so couch commotion—Hennette
Bualc and Chsrioite de Montmorency. 'lle
style is, as is usual with this writer, entirely devoid
of affectation or pretence of any kind, and the
work, in addition to its standard value, will afford
some interesting reading to those who like to step
aside awhile from the pages o fiction to the record
of the vivid and dramatic incidents of an earlier
and more stirring age.

Mr. MORLEY PUNSLION is better educated than
Mr. Spurgeon, never a bLfioun, never vulgar, much
less familiar, more ornate, holds the reins tighter, sees his
own way clearer, and calculates his points with a distincter
knowledge of the perspective of his subject. But in sym-
pathies and intellectual range he is scarcely at all more the
superior of his audience than Mr. Spurgeon; and, though
in a Lomely and vulgar fashion, Mr. S:purgeon seems to
have more reality of conscience than Mr Puushon. There
is the artificial burnish of a divinity academy still visible on
Mr. Punkhon's mind, though it must be lung since he left
it; be handles religious truths with a gloved hand, while,
as an able writer says, Mr. Spurgeon hanoles religious
truths as a grazier handles an ox—/.6 ,we suppose coarselYt
almost grosAy as regards the motive, but with a direct
sense of hard and soft, bone and outline, which diviniti
lecturers generally succeed in spoiling. Mr. Punshon'e
strength is clearly greatest where he is not touching raj'
gious truths or formula at all, He has a large catholic
reuse of humour—a suppressed it ony ot manner which, at
his best, half reminds us of Mr. Bright ; as when he said of
Romaine, that he " was actually guilty ot the coarsa
crime of overcrowding St. George's, Hanover-square, and
persuading patricians that they had souls ;" or when he
remarked that " Wesley was abruptly warned off from New'
gate, lest he should make men wicked, and from Beelate,
lest he should drive wen mad." Mr. Punsnou's lace
and %%hole manner expre,s this kind of res rained humour.
With a tact that is caricrourd, in the common print pre-
aenteii to you at the door ot Exeter-hall, into a kind of
compound bet ween Sykes and thadhand—greasy sensuous-
'less dominated b) unsciupulous terocuy—there is really
tti
basis of much fundamental human breauth u der artificial
and apparently sacerdotal control—the eyes far back in the
head, and t
ur widep of, open,
aLd an expression of usrioW
concentrate
agnivlthirg o 61: y
of will—the deep !Mee
round the heavy mouth end chin c,rrying a halt-qui2,aical
v
dTect, that semetinies takes the torte of bit tein.ss, .11c1
always gives an impression of driving tore, —and a h"d
set warner ab out the whole telling ot a titan who 1.4-bt
mould his views accerditig to his peiception of their
power as instruments of action. There is a striking expit b'
sion even in hi, masaiv buck, when it is turned to it'‘
audience—a ore brad .h.,uldered fl ,xihle Weft
ot vibratng, nut "1"wly and pottderttur:y turning on it.
central axis. But he u. telly tails in the celestial effeel
When that strung and heavy face was cast up to the r"/
of Exeter-hall in t would-be seraphic extacs —an exweY 0.0
set purpose—,he undimmed glasses through which a.
watched him presented to us a spectacle anything but
e
,The gas light lay upon as opaque a t.ce as n,
strove in vain for the irradiati,,s of a Stephen : nrirbet
vision nor in re lit; was that gelid roof open( d above biT:
it was as if Mt. ',retie, ics Peel should peewee ho"! 1,7,
xiotic over a Treasury tnii.ute. Mr Punshon
press much; but let us Waal as a friend who
watched him cksety, not to my again. the angelic !so'''.
Iparency line.—,Spectator.