The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-04
SOME NEW hooks.
Catherine de Metiici,


An alluring task that often before has
been essayed but never yet has been per-
fectly accomplished Is once more attempted
in a volume entitled Catherine de Medici
and the French Reformation by EDITH
s1cHEL E. P. Dutton d Coz. Not only
general historians OF sixteenth century
France, but such special investigators as
Bouchot and Capefgue, such essayists as
Sainte -Beuve and BrunetiAre and such
novelsts as the elder Dumas and balzac
have tried to fathom, decipher and transfer
to canvas the complex and elusive per-
sonality Of the Florentine wife OF the royal
lover OF Diane de Poitiers, OF the widow
and mother who for thirty years, from her
husbands death in 1859 to her own demise
in 1850, was to play great part in the re-
Hoious political, social and esthetic history
az France. The author OF this book makes
no kind Of pretenson to the discovery OF
new documents or the revelation OF facts
hitherto une rthed. As she justly re-
minds us in a preface, however, much IN
formation that exists in print is buried IN
the dust OF libra res. and Is therefore prac-
tically unknown. Even on the part OF the
CLEANER in fields supposed to have been
previously traversed an enormous amount
Of patience an d industry ia needed TO go
through tones inconceivably tedious for
the sake of solitary paragraph, perhaps
solitary sentence, that may throw coveted
raw of light and serve the occasion in view.
sTo gather together some old fragments,
TO prevent waste OF truth, TO rescue the rev
vivid facts and impressions embedded In
r,,nols remains-still more, II possible, TO
cast some illumination on the characters OF
nm age, and thus, indirectly, on its events
these seem aims not altogether incompah-
BILE with usefulness or with the modest
means at an ordinary chronicler's disposal.
Such has been the humble but worthy
purpose OF the indefatigable resea rches,
the winnowed outcome Of which Ii embodied
in the book before us nor will any canolo
reader personally conversant with the
story of sixteenth century France deny
chat the object has been attained to an
extent that reflects high credit on the author.
There is here ample proof of the absence OF
prejudice or preconception, and on many
q page is presented evidence OF sound Judg-
ment, of an equitable spirit. OF catholic
sympathies Of penetration into motives and
characters-in a word. of the possession OF
that rare gift, the historical Imagination, that
enables one to reproll ce remote and alien
point Of view and to appreciate the subtle
influence of a strange moral. social and in
tellectual atmosphere. We add that the
author has at her disposal rich vocabu-
larry, we'll adapted to nice determinations
and half tints, and Is able to indicate the
finer shades Of thought and sentiment by
means OF a fo xible, sensitive, translucent
and pictorial style.
We should say at once that this book
would more accurately have been described
as "The Youth of Catherine de Medicl.
for it carries us from the subjects birth in
1919 only to. 1852, when, as Regent, she con-
cluded with the Prince de Conde the So
called Peace OF Amboise, which practic lily
abolished the Protestants' liberty of worship
and gave away the Protestant cause. 1t
may be taken for granted. and it certainly
Is to be hoped that the present volume will
be supplemented with another dealing
with the second half OF GATHERINGS life.
1t Is true that the woman OF the next twenty
eeven years, lax by taste and inclination.
and bigot only by policy, Ia not pleasant
to read Of 1t is also true, however, as our
author says, that she is always interesting
considered as a human document. We
assume. then, that the story Of the Later
Catherine de Medici. the ooadjutor of Alva,
the Catherine of st. Barthlomew's Eve and
Of the Catholic League, will likewise in
due time be written, and that thus will be
completed the record of an enigmatic and
abnormal personality. Meanwhile we shall
erdeavor to indicate at once the usefulness
and the attractiveuess of the work before
Va by outlining what is here set down con-
corning the three figures in the foreground:
Catherine de Medici herself, Henri H.,
her beloved but unloving husband. and the
woman whom, of all others. she had most
cause to hate, Diane de Poitiers, Grande
Senechale Of Normandy and Duchess OF
Valentinois.
Catherine Maria Ronlola de- Medici was
born, as we have said. in 1919 at Florence.
Her father was Lorenzo of Urbino, the
great nephew OF Lorenzo the Magnificent:
her mother was Madeleine dc Latour
d'Auvergna. the child Of Jeanne dc Bourb on
and Of the Seigneur do Latour a descendant
I OF Geoffroy de Bouillon. Leo y. was her
great uncc and of another Medici Pope,
Clement VII, she was the second cou sin
once removed. Hippolyte, afterward the
! Cardinal de Medici. who was poisoned at
! the age of rs, was le. first cousin once re-
moved and Aessandro. who eventually
became the infamous Duke Of Florence,
was her half-Srother being the illegitlmate
son of her father by a Moorish woman.
It is thus evident that Medician craft and
Medician su:nptuousness, Bourbon AFRO
gance and Bourbon dignity were born in
her blood; the acuteness OF Italians, the
spractical genius Of the French were her
natal dover. Her mother died at her birth:
her father dccaclent and worn out, fol-
lowed his wife a few days later, and his
mother. Alfonsina Orsini. who assumed
charge Of her orphan grandchild, was her.
self to die in tho following year. The
child's condition was certainly desolate
and thenceforward her life was series Of
fittings from one nunnery to another,
until, at II years Of age, she was conveyed
to Rome, and there installed as the relation
OF Pope Clement VII. who was bent on
making splendid bargain of his kins-