The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-01
saw the shores Of Albion again her son
Charles II. was on the throne.

Her subse quent life in France may be
briefly summarized. Although during the
war Of the Fronde the French court itself
was sometimes in pecuniary straits, Hem
rietta Maria was treated with the respect
due q daughter Of Henri ~. and q sister,
in-law Of Anne Of Austria. In the autumn
OF 1880, at her country home, Colombes,
she died in the sixty-frst year OF her age.
Her body was conveyed to st. Denis, there
to rest amidst the remains Of the Kings
OF France, until, at the time Of the Revolu
ton, 1t was elected. All honor was paid
to her memory. In England, little as she
had there been loved living. the mourning
at her death was deep and prolonged, and
in France her funeral was conducted with
eplendor and magnihoence. 1t was at
a great memorial service, caused by
Henriette-Anne, Duchess OF Orleans, to
be performed at Chaillot in the following
November. that, in the presence OF the
daughter who loved her 80 well and with
the waxen ef1gy Of the dead Henrietta
lying before the altar, Bossuet pronounced
bis celebrated panegyrio upon the queen,
the wife and the mother. In u authors
opinion Henrietta was not one OF those
who need a Snowman to exhibit their merits
and apologize for their defects. Suoh as
she was she displayed herself to the whole
world, natural, spontaneous, with a total
absence OF pose or pretenoe, and-like her
father and like her daughter-very human.
On the background Of a past OF shadows
her figure, painted by her own actions and
words, stands out, vivid and lifelike.
Her b~iographer comedies that, in spite
Of her descent, and Notwithstanding her
possession Of the blood Of Henri of Navarro,
she was cast in no heroic mould. Hal q
happier destiny been hers, she might have
passed through life leaving little mark.
loving God and man, gay, tho ughtless,
self willed and winning. Grief and disaster
printed another stamp upon her, and mis-
fortune called forth the power OF resistance,
a courage and a %buoyancy which might,
under other circumstances. have remained
unsupported. The same circumstance
caused her blunders to take on the COM
plexion OF crimes. United by nature
and training to cope with a crisis OF al
most ~unexampled difficulty, she was forced
into a position she was unqualified to fill,
and her errors Of judgment, while almost
inevitable, invited the condemnation not
only Of her enemies but Of those OF the
Kings adherents who suffered for them.
The measure dealt out to her by contem-
poraries was hard, but perhaps posterity
has been even more unrelenting. Living.
II the meddler in affairs Of state, the blum
dering politician. was hated and reviled,
the woman was loved. Dead. the woman
has not seldom been forgotten, and the
politician alone, with the disastrous oonse-
quences Of her mistaken ~statecraft, re-
membered.
Mr.. Taylor recognizes that the apologist
who should endeavor to justify the public
actions Of Henrietta Maria would have q
difficult task. He suggests, however, that
Elm order to apportion with fairness the
degree Of blame attaching to her unwise
e~ndeavors to arrest the tide Of revolution
it should be borne in mind that, unlike
many who, sharing her responsibility,
nave incurred a less amount OF blame,
she was a foreigner whose period Of natur-
alization had been wholly passed In the
artificial atmosphere Of a court; b any
true and servioeable appreciation on her
part Of the forces arrayed against the
English monarchy would have come near
to a miracle, and, finally, that she was a
woman, spirited and fearless, but with q
woman's happiness for a grasp Of the
broader issues at stake and the general
trend of events" The suggestion seems
a Just one and it Is also true that a revo-
luton inevitably appears to kings some
thing so out of the common, 30 abnormal,
that they find a difficulty In realizing the
conditions Of the struggle sufficiently to
meet 1t with wisdom. A measure Of in
diligence, therefore, should be granted
not only to Charles in his weakness and
vacillation, but also to Henrietta, striving
rashly and with unpractised hands to build
a dyke against a deluge. NJ. w. h.
Mrs. Brookneld and Her Circle.
The two volumes, Mrs. Rronkpeld and