The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-28 00:00:00

some difficulty in making room for the following strik-

ing passage :
" On arriving at the palace of Fontainebleau, Monaldeschi
was shown at once into the Queen's presence, who, with quick
steps, was pacing the apartment, holding in her hand a packet
of letters, which she had only just refolded. The Count
dropped on his knee; when, hastily turning towards him, she
bade him go to the galerie aux ceril. He obeyed, and there
he found the Chevalier di Sentinelli, the chief captain of her
guards. Sentinelli is a man who never changed feature of
colour in his life ; and now, with the utmost coolness, he bade
the unfortunate Count address himself to the priest in atten-
dance ; and,' added he, make your confession short, for my
orders for your execution are immediate.'
" Monaldeschi staggered against the wall, and remained for
a few minutes in a state of almost insensibility, when the Che-
valier, drawing his sword, pointed to the Father, who stood
nearly as pale and aghast as the man whose confession he was
called upon so suddenly to receive. The prisoner sprung for-
wards, and throwing himself at the Confessor's feet, implored
him piteously to hasten to Christina, and intercede for his
life. At first, the Captain Sentinelli objected to Alantuony
leaving the room with his penitent unshriven ; but respect for
the holy man at last induced him to allow his proceeding on
what he warned him would be a fruitless mission.
" The priest found Christina in the same apartment, ap-
parently entirely occupied with a volume of Swedish history.
You come,' said she, rising from her seat, to announce
that my orders have been obeyed.' I come,' replied the
Father, on a more fitting errand for the minister of our Sa-
viour; I come in his name to entreat your pity and pardon for
yonder miserable offender. Please your Grace to think, that
you may take life away, but cannot give it !" You will leave
your penitent to die unconfessed,' was her only answer ; ' I
would not destroy both soul and body ; but on your own heads
be the sin, if yuu waste the time allowed to prepare for eter-
nity.' Lady, for your own soul's sake,' cried the agitated
old man, be merciful ! remember, his blood will rise to the
skies, and cry aloud for judgment, even at the last day !'
Between me and Heaven be the reckoning,' exclaimed she,
resuming her seat. For the love of our Lady, be pitiful !
Only see him ; you cannot order a fellow-creature from your
own presence into eternity !' The Queen started from her
chair. I have,' said she, white with anger, which yet af-
fected not her calm and measured words,—' I have laid down
most of the possessions of my ancestor; but once a Queen
always a Queen ; and treason shall not pass in my household
unpunished, whileil retain but one faithful follower to avenge
the cause of his Queen and of his mistress. Aye, by my own
hand ;' continued she, in a louder tone, half drawing a sabre
that lay on the table, and returning the glittering blade to the
scabbard with a force that made it ring again,--' by my own
hand should the traitor perish, rather than his daring treachery
should go unpunished ! Now, will you back, and shrive the
coward ? or must he die with his guilt on his bead ? Yon-
der clock wants five minutes of the hour,—when that hour
strikes, it will sound the knell of a traitor—as it strikes,
he dies !'

The Father left the room, and found the Count in a state
of stupefaction. In vain he adjured him to turn his thoughts
to prayer ; in vain he offered to him the cross, and implored
Lim to think on Him who died to save ; but the agony of his
fear was too great for prayer. The clock struck, and Senti-
nelli drew his sword ; the noise roused Monaldeschi, who,
springing up, rushed to the window, and endeavoured to
throw himself out—it was fastened. Sentinelli followed,
and tried to stab him. The first blow only resounded against
the chain armour which he wore under his clothes ; but at the
second the blood rushed in torrents from his side ; the third
brought him to his knee, and then Sentinelli passed his sword
through him. The miserable man dropped on the floor,
which was died crimson with his struggles, for still he
writhed ; when the executioner. pressing him down with his
foot, extricated the blade ; and as he drew it forth, Monal-
deschi sunk back--dead !

" The corpse was immediately put into a coach, and buried
in the church-yard with all possible speed ; and, but for the
horror in men's minds, there would not be a trace left of the
unfortunate, even if guilty, Monaldeschi. I hear, however,
that one horrible trace does remain : the floor was so satu-
rated with the blood shed in his dying struggles, that no efforts
can efface the stain ; in vain buckets upon buckets of water
have been poured upon the place,—the crimson is there fresh
and red as ever.

" It was some time before any one broke the silence that fol-
lowed upon the gloomy narrative.
" And what do his Grace and the Queen say ? for I believe
you come from their presence,' asked Madame de Morcceur,
at last.

Why, the Queen proposed that it should be notified to
Christina, that her presence was no longer desired in France ;
but to this Louis objected. The power,' said he, of life
and death is in the hands of the Sovereign. Christina is still
Queen in her own household. It only behoves us, by some
sign of coldness, to show that we resent the indignity of having
our palace made a slaughter-house.'
" Settled with his Majesty's usual sense of the Royal dig-
nity—wonderful in such a youth 1' said an officer of the house-
hold ; one of those elderly courtiers, whose whole life had
been an adulation.

But Francesco, unaccustomed from her childhood to the

ideal reverence with which the Royal person and power were

then regarded in France, could think o? the ex- Qtieen's act as
a murder only, not as a judgment. Was it possible, then,
that such an offence against the laws of humanity—a human
being's life sacrificed with such vindictive cruelty—that this
crime against nature and womanhood, was held as' light in
the balance when weighed with a want of respect to one of
the royal residences ! Well, custom is a surprising 'thing.;
and when we think how, from earliest infancy, we are sur-
rounded by false impressions, undue rights, privileges, and
prejudices, we may well marvel that there is such a thing as
truth in the world. That it should be concealed, is far less
wonderful than that it should ever he discovered. After all,
the great error in human judgment is not so much wilful per-
version, as that we judge according to situation, and always
make that situation our own ; while the chances are, that
we really have not one thought, feeling, or habit, in com-
mon with those on whom we yet think ourselves qualified to
decide." _ _ _

We cannot close this notice without remarking that
no writer of the present day seems to cnterLain sounder
notions of liberty, and more creditable opinions of the

mutual "relation which ought to exist between the

sexes, than Miss Landon. 'We are glad to find a young
lady of her good sense in most things exposing the
absurd follies of the female emancipationists, and other
noisy babblers, for the political equality of men and
women in society. On this head her volumes merit
great praise.