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

LITERATURE.

The Last Decade of a Glorious Reign F Mart
r Freer, Au, 1.0, of " 1 or Ltie ot M :roe-
rite D'Angouleme," "Jeanne I) Albret," &c. 2
vols. Hurst and Blackett.
Miss Freer has now arrived at the conclusion of
her arduous undertaking, by presenting us with the
two last volumes of her History of Henri Quatre.
A history extending through six goody 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_ The 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 their de. de
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 nut 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 establishment on the throne and in the hearts
of his subjects. He had conquered France as well
as inherited her, and reigned, as Voltaire says, by a
double right—
"Et par droit de conquete et par droit de naissance."
Then followed the long 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 se
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 follies. Still in spite of domestic discord, long
and prosperous years seemed to stretch out before
the King and the people, who were enjoying the
last wise and beneficent reign which France should
see for many dreary years, when the nagger of
Reraillac cut shot t all expectations, and lett the
country to a long minority umier the wcak hand
of Marie de Medicis, tollowed by the iron rule of
Richelieu. All 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
her 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.
Nevertheless, though our authoress has brought to
the work assiduous labour, unquestionable ability,
end considerable historical knowledge, we prefer
her works of feminine biography as it affected his-
tory, to her histories themselves. Thirty years line
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
aed statecraft. Though thoroughly trustworthy
and carefully written, Miss Freer's work is rattier
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 tad that Sully was alt-power tut as
Minister, but one of the volumes before usis nearly
full of the disgraceful transactions with Madame de
Verneuil. Uuntortunatety 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 war, when the hand of the assassin ar-
rested his projec-s. Miss Freer has divided her
work into three parts, us her readers will easily re-
call. She had eireaoy sketched the early days of
the young Prince of Navarre in her life of
his =Auer, Jeanne D'Albret, and in her re'
cord of the short and disgraceful reign of his
predecessor, Henry 111. Tne close of that history
,ett Henry IV. standing by the bedside of the
victim of Jacqu.s Clement, little knowing that his
owb end strouid cone }ears alter by the same
means. The first ten years of the reign now terms'
ilatbd entonieleo the wars ot the League, crowned
ny the entry into Parrs; the second narrated the
events that fulloweu upon Henry's settlement On
tie throne, ending with the treason and death of
Bizon ; the third and concluding portion is noW
before us, leaving the Regency just established.
Su 13 deprived of his long authority, and mourn-
ing for his hero, aid France plunged into sorrow
for the loss t her valiant king. It is very probs'
nie that Miss Freer will follow up her labours by

the htatoty of the regency of Marie de
Medici—a task all ency tried by an Bullion-..4i 01
experience and ability, Miss Purdue. btle is Attila'
to the delineation of character, end the pouring& of
+[loBe weaknesses which SO otten mar the t fftcl °f
great capacities and aTrung deterwination,and
therefore find ample scope for her powers in the
picture of the influence gained over Queen Mari°
by her unworthy favour yes, the Cuuclui. ltiltse
Freer deserves great praise for the asSiduity and
completeness of her labours, and her work will be
a valuable and trustworthy reference fur the student
or the historical writer. The work is handsomely
illukrated with portraits of the two ladies whose
charms produced so much commotion—Henrietta
de Buiz,c and Cnariotte de Montmorency. Tbe
style is, as is usual with this writer, entirely devoid
ut affectation or pretence of any kind, and the
work, in addition to its standard value, wilt 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 .PUDISHON is better educated 'Le°
Mr. Spurgeon, never a bt.ffoon, never vulgar, much
less familiar, more ornate, holds the reins tighter, tees hie
own way clearer, and calculates his points with a diameter
knowledge of the perspective of his subject. But in ttylu"
pathies and intellectual range he is scarcely at all more the
superior of his audience Wan Mr. Spurgeon ; and, though
in a homely and vulgar fashion, Mr. Spurgeon seems I°
have more reality of conscience than Mr Puusnon. Thee.
is the artificial burnish of a divinity academy still visible
Mr. Punshon's mind, though it must be long since he le°
it; he bandits religious truths with a gloved hand, while'
as an able writer says, Mr. Spurgeon handles religious
truths as a grazier handles an ox—i.s.,we suppose coarsely,
almost grossly as regards the motive, but with a direct
sense of hard and son, bone and outline, which divinity
lecturers generady succeed in spoiling. Mr. PunshovS
strength is clearly greatest where he is not touching relfr
gious truths or formula at all. He has a large cabal°
sense of humour—a suppressed irony of manner which,
at
his best, half reminds us of Mr. Bright ; as when he said of
itotnaine, that re "was actually guilty of the eesrso
crime of oveicrowchi,g St. George's, Hanover-square, and
persuading patricians that they hadsuuls;:ft iootrwwheNne,b:
remarked that " Wesley a as abruptly warned
gate, lest he should make luau wicked, and from liedlartit
lest he should drive men mad." Mr. Puustien'n faoo
and whole manner express this kind of res rained humour'
With a face that is caricatured, in the common print pre-
sented to you at the door of Exeter-hall, into a kind 0'
compound between Sykes and Chadband—greasy sensuous
ness dominated by unsotupulous ferocity.—there is really e
basis of mush fundamental human breadth u der artificisl
and apparently sacerdotal control—the eyes tar back in the
bead, end not wide open, givii,g an expr,ssi .n of narivw
conceutrateo put pose and atoll osi:y of will--,he deep
round the heavy rbou,h ant thud c riyina a hali•quik.ziea
g
effect, that sometimessiutmsetoi
nntap:tcalreseocesr,wosgrisfi
vlbvdityaohari
connkoatagbtini
:iodmeittk.pteohthtl:}lTen:i
uunhidhvi
renricerrogi,pti
,s aoc.rit ille:esztaibi
perception
rxna.
sapm,
juoelooo:dtnuaitrlveel yderinabsveraregehsanni—ti
instruments
manner
ssn:
bi:baehi
ungowitmu,s,
a their
u.d to
central axis. But he utterly tails in the celesflat ate' f
When that strong and heavy face was cast up to tbo
of Exeter-hall in a would-be seraphic extac) —an extacYv°o
set purpose—the undimmed glasses through which
ov,
watched him presented to us a spectacle anything but raver
ing• The gas light lay upon as opaque a face as
in
strove in vain tor iof a Stephen ; neithff,,l;
vision nor in reality was that solid roof opent.d above
bvilY
ir, was as if Mr. Frederick Peel should Decome Ilea has
press over a Treasury minute. Mr. Puushon can
bo
press much; but let us warn him, aa -a friend who _O,
watched him closely, not to try again the angelic t,.
parency line,--,Spectator.