The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-16
H..

AnhA NoS SNiy hJ
Another question much discussed by
contemporaries and by French historians
is whether Anne Of Austria's u~ndisputed
affection for Mazarin was or was not pla-
tonic. On the surface OF things there could
be no more conclusive proof OF the Queen
Regents devotion to the Cardinal than the
solicitous way in which she occupied herself
with his Young nieces, three OF whom ar
rived from Italy in September, ie47, at
Fon~tainebleau, where the court was so
journing. This striking demonstration OF
the feeling with which nj Of Austria, now
in the fifth year Of her widowhood, re-
sarded Mazarin, leads the author Of this
book to allot some little space to a question
TO which comparatively little attention has
been given by English and American his
torical students, the question, namely, OF
the precise character OF the relations be-
tween the Queen mother and the Cardinal.
When her husband, Louis Kill, died in
Nav. is43. the ardent Spaniard. Anne of
Austria, had Just passed her fortieth year.
Like most Spanish women she was very
devout, but also very coauettish, in a ro-
ma0llC dIu WI IVY NVNDACN
ing great Importance to highfown Oompli-
ments. lanRuishing looks and delicate little
attentions. Mr. Williams suggests that
had Richelieu oondesoended TO such means
to conciliate her he might have gained as
much influence over her as Mazarin SUISSE
o,ently enioyed. But the great Cardinal
was speddnt en- amour" to borrow the
phrase used by Anne's confdante, Nine. de
- R..IN understandable in hnH
Maiesty's eyes. Mazarin, whose position
in France in May and June, i649. was most
precarious, profted by what he must have
known to be the Of his predecessors
failure to please the Queen. He pretended
to be madly in love and at the same time
! overwhelmed by the sense Of his own I'M
worthiness. He had nothing, ne said, but
his devotion TO plead for him; he was more
Iowly than the grass before his goddess.
His handsome face, his charming manners,
the superiority Of his intellect, his unswerv-
ing devotion to her interests and those OF
her infant son all combined to hatter the
amour propre OF h Queen.
There IL no doubt that he succeeded
beyond his most sanguine expectations
His success was not immediate, however.
He seems to have had to overcome not only
initial Indifference but a feeling we'll nigh
amounting to positive aversion on the part
of Anne, who had long regarded him merely
a. the creature OF Richie lieu. For some
weeks his fate trembled In the balance,
His cdrnets, OF private memoranda, which
reveal to us the Utmost workings OF his
subtitle mind, show that as late as the sum-
mer Of the year above m he himself
was doubtful as to the issue OF his courtship
for he complains Of Anne's DISSEMINATION
and OF her Withholding from him her full
confidence. BY September, 1913, never
theless, the distrust was entirely dispelled
Il could no longer doubt, he writes, since
the Queen, in an excess of goodness, has
odd me that nothing can take from me the
part which she has graciously given me.
Just HI that part was has Teen, as we
have said, much debated. According &c
an anecdote related ty Brienne in his Me
moires" Anne herself protested that II
her eyes the Cardinals attraction was o
a purely intellectual order. IL appear
that one day when Nine. de Brienne thu
wife Of the secretary Of that name. was IL
the Queens oratOry, Ann entered, he
beads in her hand. plunged in a profounC
revcry. ~Let us prey together said she
I'VE shall he the better heard" As they
rose from their devotiOns Nine. de Brienn'
craved permission TO speak to the Queel
in regard to her Majesty's relations will
the Cardinal. Anne consented and wa
accordingly informed OF all that maliciou
tongues were saying. The Queen blushe'
and tears filed her eyes. Why have 20
not told me this hefore?" she said. =
confess that | am attached to him-I ca
even say tenderly; but my affection doe
not 20 so far as love, or, II IL does, l am no
aware OF it.. My senses have no part in tn
feeling; only my mind is charmed by tn
beauty Of his intellect. II this Ia wronI
[ will renounce him before God and tn
saints. / will speak to him no more, saw
Of the affairs Of State, and check him whe
he speaks Of anything else" Nine. d
Brienne then asked the Queen TO swes
on some relics Of the saints. which were !
the oratory, that she would never abando
what she had promised God" a reques
with which her Majesty complied. God
= goodness, I" said the pious ~confidante, wi
soon make your innocence known" Mas
1 rims American biographer, however, M
j.. B. Perkins, points out that Anne ha
takcn oaths be fore which she forgot I
D keep and expresses a grave doubt whethe
. nipple admiration for beauty Of mind ooul
! have enabled the Queens heart to with
stand the shock Of circumstance and tn
lapse OF years.
The author Of the book before us, for h
mart, points out that the tone Of the Queen
letters to the Cardinal is strangely incor
sistent with her platonic protestations
1 Nine. de Brienne. During Mazarin's se
= ond exile. in 1852. one Of Anne's letters