The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-20


Balzac says that the massacres Of the
Revolution answer the m~assacres Of the
st. Bartholomew. 4The people having
become King treated the King and the
nobility precisely al the King and the
nobility treated the rebels OF the sixteenth
century. So that the popular writers.
who know very well that under similar
circumstances the French people would
do the same thing again, are entirely
inexcusable when they blame Catherine
do Medicis aud Charles TX
Nv.
IL is Balzac's conviction that Catherine.
like Philip H.. and the Duke Of Ava, like
tho 0uises and Cardinal Granville. fore
saw tho effect Of the Reformation on the
future Of Europe. They saw monarchies.
religion. the royal authority. raoked TO
their foundation. Catherine, from the
closet Of the Kings of France, wrote the
death warrant Of that spirit Of investiga-
ton which threatened the framework
OF modern society-a warrant which Louis
XIV. was eventually to execute. Why
deny now, asks Balzac. to the majestic
feminine adversary Of the most resultless
Of heresies the grandeur which h de-
rived from her titanic struggle against
II? The C~alvinists have written a great
deal against the stratagem to which
Charles TX. had recourse at the st. Barr
tholomsw; but says Balzao, east your
eye over France; and, as you gaze upon
the ruins Of innumerable demolished
churches. as you probe the deep wounds
inflicted by the Huguenot reformers on
the fabric Of society, as you realiae how
pitilessly they revenged themselves. as
you deplore the evils Of individualism.
whose seeds were planted In the agitation
Of the question Of liberty Of conscience.
ask yourself on which side were the exsou-
TONERS" t;.-'r, I ,
Thus we see that from the point Of view
OF Balzac Catherine de Mediois was very
great woman, who was abba to foresee
the future and who struggled against II
o~ourageously. As We have said. the
House Of Bourbon owed It to Catherine de
Medicis that It was able to succeed the
Houss Of vaiois: that 1t found q crown to
wear. Suppose that the second Balsfre
Henri. Duo do Guise) had been alive on
the death Of Henri ILL.,. 1t is doubtful.
powerful as the Bearnais was. whether
the latter would have obtained the throne
when We consider how dearly the Due de
Mayenne and the remnant of, the Guise
faction sold IL to him as 1t was.
Balzao invites us to notice also that
the methods Of self defence resorted to
by Catherine-who had every reason to
reproaoh herself for the deaths Of her
two eldest sons. Francis II. and Charles
TX, both of whom died just In time to
save her from a total loss Of influence,
did not subject her to the r~eproaches OF
contemporary Calvinist writers. Yet even
II there was no poisoning, 1t 10 beyond
question that Catherine prevented the
surgeon Pare from saving her eldest
son, Francis. and that she inflicted q
prolonged moral assassination on her
next son, Charles. The sudden death Of
Francois H.. however, the shrewd and
crafty man1uvring which brought about
the death OF Charles TX. inflicted 40 in
Jury on the Calvinistio interests; the
causes Of these two events lay in the more
exalted spheres. and were suspected
neither by the writer's nor by the people
Of the time; they were OWNED only by the
De Thous and the L'Hobitals. by the
most enlightened minds. Or by the leaders
OF the two parties which coveted or de-
tended the Crown and acknowledged such
means to be necessary, = -" -.
Balzac tells us that before undertaking
10 write the history Of morals in action
he investigated patiently and infinitely
the principal reigns Of French history,
the quarrel between the BourguignonA
and the Armagnaos. and that between
the Guises and the Valois. each OF which
occupies a century. 1t was his purpose,
he a to write a history Of picturesque
de Bavieres, Catherine de Medicis and
Marie de Medicis fill an enormous space
therein, dominate the fifteenth and six
tenth centuries. and Lead to the age ioi
Louis XIV. or these . three Queens
Catherine is the most interesting and the
most beautiful. Hers was q virile doni-
nation, dishonored neither by Imbellehs
terrible love intrigues' nor by the still
more terrible although less known In
trigues Of Marie de Medicis. Isabelle
invited the English into France against
her son. loved the Duo d'Orleans. her
brother-in-law, and Boisbourdon. The
account Of Marie dc Medicis ID even
heavier. Neither Of them had any po-
litioal genius. On the other hand. In
the course Of his historical studies and
comparisons, Balzao became thoroughly
convinced Of GATHERINGS grandeur Of
character. As he became more and more
familiar with the 9 increasing diff
culties of her position he realized how
u~njustly historians, writing n and ali
under the influence Of the H~uguenots, had
treated the F~lorentine Queen. The result
was three sketches wherein some erro-
neous opinions concerning her. con-
corning the persons who surrounded
her and concerning the occurrences Of
her time are combatted. 1t Is these
sketches which were included by their
author among the philosophical studies
OF the Human Comedy"
v.
Returning to Edith Siohel's book. We
should say that while the whole Of It ID
exceedingly readable the chapter allotted
to -La Refine Margot' IL on the whole
the most satisfactory. The author OF.
hibits a remarkable comprehension OF
her subject. She makes the enchanting
daughter of Catherine de Medicis live
upon the printed page. The extan'