The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-20
SOME NEW ,0OKS.
A Study Of Catherine do Medlcis.

H - eah~J SSN
an Engliah parson should attempt to
refrsveres O Gold which has been explored
bE BalEao and redescribe m historical
fi2pre 10 which the great french novel;
.sE has devoted q volume Of i've hundred
pkzes. : The attsmpt 10 made, however.
irS THE book entitled The Later Yedrs Of
CdEhsrsns de Medicis. by EDITH SIcHBL
(H p. Dutton q Coz. In order to APP
p~feciate the measure of success attained
by the author in her difficult task n
should read the present work in n
ten with it's predecessor. Catherine
ID. Medicis and the French Reforms
,idn," which brought the story Of the
FIofontino wife Of Henri II. down to
i570-two years before the 81. Barthol-
omew. It should be understood that
the author Of this work makes no claim
I'd be an epoch making or even an ex-
part historian. Sho does not profess
I'd have detected any error in accepted
d4tea TO have made any discovery
Of AN actual important fact. She a
limited herself to the hope that q research
into personal character may shed fresh
1i&htupon knownevents. may ~accountfor
what has seemed unaooountable and
hArmonize what hos scomed discordant.
Her aim has been simply to paint por-
trkitsf4to, draw tho central figure OF
y C&th6AhS h she is visible through the
eyes Of contemporaries and to delin-
eate also such other persons in the French
drassa OF the second half Of the sixteenth
cehfiry. q were interviewer with her
d9btiny. We purpose to outline the
c~ddSHisi6ps ut which the author arrives
cdnoefning the character and career OF
Catherine do Medicis and then to contrast
tidsyatth a summary OF Balzao's comments
on The came subject.
u /. TO- s7ia-" -
Bsfsae is the only champion. or at all
events the only effective champion. that
Catherine de Medicis has had. The
adthor Of the book before us tries hard to
b equitable. but she cannot manage to
bS sympathetic. She admits that al
Though three centuries have gone by
sitce Catherine died "she still affects us,
whuran see her more clearly. just as she
afeet6d her generation" 1t Is well known
that she was hated and necessarily vilified
{ by contemporary Frenchmen. whose
prejudice against her as a Florentine. a
foreigner, sharpened public abuse, 1t ia
strange, when we think Of 1t. that the lapse
OF 30 many generations should not have
brought In the case OF Catherine a read
justspsnt. of Judgment and a gush OF
synypafi$.' Tie author of this book
acknowledges that there was much in her
life to elicit pity. The nursing Of schem-
ing Popes and their relations. the centre
OF -heartlees ambitions. she never knew
what genuine affection meant. The fervor
Of self-interest was the warmest feel
ing that she got from the people about
her In her childhood and political feuds
polluted the air around her very cradle.
That she would have responded to some
thing more human is shown by her un-
forgetting gratitude to the Nuns Of the
Nitrate in Florence. among whom as a
little girl she found shelter from outer
storms for the happiest W years Of her
life. During the rest Of it she never
ceased to write to them, and she helped
them not only by large gifts but by taking
the trouble TO beg for them when they
were in atfme of deep distress. After
shslSftstiem'iIl luck followed.
Atparently the only true friend Cathe-
rine eyef" chad at the court Of France
was hsf father-in-law, Francois l., and
to him she showed a grateful attachment.
She remained faithful to his memory
When hsgdied she was more alone than
ever. SIZE really loved but twice In her
life: sarst, the husband who had never
cared for her, apd secondly, that one OF
her ssons, Henri Ill, who repaid her de-
votion with cold Indifference. Sorrows
49, l.l M kAr tnn nhn-
dren by an unloving husband one after
another passed away, and none OF the
SONS lived to survive her moro than a few
months on the throne. Il am 30 much
accustomed never to possess an un-
spoiled JOY" she wrote some five years
before her decease, that 1t does not
seem go strange to me as 1t would do to
another. God will be pitiful to me. who
have lost 80 many. He will not let me
SEQ more OF them die. That ia what
pray OF His mercy-and that he will allow
me to depart as BELTS my age She
died weary, weak. deserted, deep in
d~Abt-every aim that sho had kept in
view defeated, every feeling that she had
cherished crossed-the most intensely
hated woman in Europe. Even In death
men refused her hospitality, and only
many years later did Paris consent to
allow her bones to be buried in the tomb
that she had built for them. The Catho-
Hos, TO whom she sacrificed 80 much, long
recalled her with detestation, and 1t was
lett for Henri w., whom she oonscien-
/ tiousiy had persecuted for his adoption
Of the Protestant faith. to speak Of her
IA retrospect q considerable word. what, =
said he to a critic of Catherine. could O
poor woman have done with her husband
dead and FIVE little children on her hands,
while two families were striving to seize
tho Bf1ne, our own 1.-THE Bourbonsl and
. the Guisesf I am astonished that she
did notsdo even worse" Correrro, q
contemporary Venetian envoy, was also
disposed to think that something might
ba raid on her behalf. Il do not say.
be wrote, that she Is Q py thoness or an
infaliibis woman. I will over confess
that At times she trusts too much to her
own good sense. But what prince,
however ~ise and valiant. would no:
hays. lost his head when he found himself
inths midst Of such religious wars, unable
sven to distinguish his friends from his
enemies, Obliged to make use Of such
people AZ were at hand-all Of them self
Interested and some Of them but little