BOOKS.
HENRY OF NAVARRE.* .
ON February 27th, 1594, in the Cathedral of Chartres, Henry of Navarre was solemnly crowned King of France. It is impossible even now to say what might have been the probable result of further delays in making the "perilous leap,"—of hearing instruction, and with important reserva- tions, submitting himself and his country to the discipline of Rome,—of July, 1593. Ever since the death of Henry III. in 1589, he bad been playing an uphill game in his own country and in European politics. With his personal gifts, he might have fought himself into something like the position of his good cousin of England, who had again raised the nation into the position of a first-class power. But his enemies were too many, the French and Navarrese Kingdoms were exhausted, and all popular pretext for religious warfare was removed by the conformity of the King. It was a sacrifice of such con- victions as he had which some men might not have made, but not one at which the "small heart" of Henry quailed in view of the immense advantages to be gained by the great head, that felt itself able to reorganise France, and perhaps Europe. As to conversion, the Pope never believed in it, nor did Henry affect its existence. The Holy See was obliged to concede that the quondam heretic did not need temporal rehabilitation, and that, only so far as possible, the settlement of the Council of Trent was to be enforced on the nation. The same mistake was not to be made about France as in the case of England. Henry also stipulated for much of his personal liberty, and refused to sign any but a general confession of adherence. But Rome no longer accounted him officially unworthy of the Chrism of Charles the Great (or at least of one as like that as monks could produce), and Henry was able in four years' time to give the minority the protection of the Edict of Nantes.
The " conversion " of Henry IV. was entirely a matter of circumstance, not an indication of a changed creed. In nothing need we less look for his personal depth of character. The motto he adopted, A cur vaillant rien d'impossible, was with him fairly translated into "All's fair in love and war." Into love and war he put all his heart, or his energy, but both love and war crowned their successes with religious accommo. datingness ; that is, in this case, with his desire to please and glorify Gabrielle d'Estrees, and to reign over a nation in which he had played every part likely to make him desire peace for it and power for himself. It is impossible to take seriously into account motives which four wise heads, those of the Pope, Elizabeth of England, Henry himself, and, with no disrespect to them, Henry's admirable professional fool Chicot—never contemplated as at all worth thinking about. Henry had had the fullest opportunities for observing the defective professions and the many varieties of hypocrisies of adherents of the different parties. Morally, they were alike corrupt. The Huguenots were, externally, duller than the Medi- cian or Guise followers, that was all, taken at the worst; but where, with the best on both sides, the true spirit of Christian discipline and love was kept alive, by Jesuit or by Huguenot,
* Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots in Prance. By P. F. Willert, M.41. New York and London : G. P. Putnam'e Bons. 1693
Henry might not understand,—that was impossible to his nature. It was not wholly animal, however. Just as it is pointed out that his devotion to the more remarkable women who successively—and occasionally simultaneously—ruled his life seemed to show that he might have made a good husband to a good woman, so also it is possible that his attention to preachers, and his love of brief religious readings in times of sore need, would indicate that he might have been a fairly devout layman in a pdrified communion with little organisation or ritual. But his first wife was Marguerite of Valois, and the Galilean branch of the Church in the sixteenth century was very much like her,—with some charms for which he did not care, and with vices which were not only discreditable to her, but inconvenient to him. It is impossible therefore to follow the example of some writers and to discuss Henry as a religious man. He was primarily a Soldier and a King, but it is interesting in every way to dwell upon European history before and after he con- formed as a Churchman, and to trace the influence of his character and position upon the making of the modern European nations and the evolution of the new divisions of the Western Church.
In this volume of the "Heroes of the Nation" series, Mr. Willed gives us a most painstaking study of the course of events and of the main currents of politics in the sixteenth century. He contrives also to recall what is scarcely suited for the purposes of his series, but is essential for those who would form any judgment on the period. He has put a great deal into his space, and in contrasting it with almost the only other English work on the subject, Miss Freer's work of some thirty years previously, we can see that there is a distinct gain in the modern method of historical monograph. But, in detail, the introductory chapters especially are more dull and heavy than they need be. In one word, the study is not masterly,—and masterly should be all studies of Men's Masters, of whom Henry IV. was one.
It is somewhat ungracious to regret that a writer has not sufficient genius to be interesting as well as accurate, and yet there is some disappointment in taking up a volume which might have given a far more vivid impression of a most striking personality. We never lose sight of dates and records in that to which those most indispensable adjuncts should minister,—a reader's translation into the times thereby fixed and the facts thus proved. Many striking incidents are to be found in the book. The complex character is duly summed up. But we never feel as if we were eye-witnesses of the scenes which it needs no exaggeration to portray, or can penetrate into the strong character which overcame every obstacle, and acted like that of a hero of romance in all striking situations. Mr. Willed is a lecturer rather than a littgrateur. If we can forgive this, then his judgments will seem judicious utterances, well backed up by reasonable proofs, and the heavy mannerisms of the first portion of the work are much reduced in number when he nears the conclusion of his study.
If his book is to be the standard monograph for the public, in the next edition he might rewrite the first part.
Mr. Willert concludes with words which show him to be aware of the danger which he has not quite escaped :—
" We must beware lest in the endeavour to enumerate and to balance the failings and frailties, the merits and virtues of such a man, we lose all appreciation of him as a whole, and so form a judgment less just than that embodied in the traditional view of his character. There was that about him which, whatever he did, prevented him from appearing mean or hateful There have been many better men than Henry IV.—greater statesmen, more consummate generals—but few have appeared on the stage of history better equipped for their allotted part."
Mr. Willed further compares the lives of great men to Greek tragedies ; but "the life of Henry of Bourbon may rather be likened to an Elizabethan drama, interspersed with incon- gruities, with scenes of comedy and even of low buffoonery, but perhaps for that very reason touching more nearly our human sympathies." It is a character, indeed, worth study in many ways ; but one of the most possible of its aspects within our limits, both of space and of subject, is that gift which made him and makes any such man, a hero of the nation,—the im- possibility of being weighed down. He had power to impress.
himself on others at his own valuation, no matter what might be the practical circumstances, or the moral accusations against him. As Mr. Willed quotes :—" He was not, he boasted, one of those princes who had not sufficient virtue to be relieved from the necessity of concealing their faults." Like all popular characters, he used his openness as an effective means of concealment ; and as a study in human character, one most, interesting point to notice, in estimating his ability, is that the means by which such men deceive and lead their fellows is their mere rapidity of movement. The born King of this kind -knows that at any moment he is capable of a surprise move —he has only to move at a pace at which the ordinary man -does not move—and that he will have power to execute it -before slower wits have divined his plan. It will not always be a wise one—and he must be rash, be must sacrifice friends without scruple—but none will have found out the weakness of the attacking force until it has done its work. It is thus that such men gain their ends, in public or private, when not trammelled by legal forms or conventional situations. But it is absolutely necessary for them to have about them those on whom they can rely to the death at a moment's notice. They therefore habitually employ many arts of courtship, whilst apparently they themselves feel nothing of affection. By no means the least amusing aspect of a very serious subject is the diplomatic history of the complex negotiations between Henry and Elizabeth of England,—each so abso- lutely able to see through the other, but recognising each others' powers and unique abilities in difficult situations. Nor was it merely a coincidence that both of them, by their own warrants, practically gave a most intimate friend to the scaffold. Henry had a sense of humour, always lacking in Elizabeth where she herself was concerned ; he could take any rebuke, whilst she was in an instant offended. But both had powers of reorganising a nation in a time of chaos. What Elizabeth had done, Henry began to do. Moreover, both were greatly assisted in their task of making all parties conform to their compromises by the fact that they them- selves were the last to feel one of the strongest influences which divided their nations,—religious zeal. The reduction • of political grievances, the reconstruction of national institu- tions, the perpetual playing-off of diplomatic interests, could never in those days have been accomplished by zealots ; neither Henry nor Elizabeth were at all religious, and further, they both had had the advantage of knowing what men and women were like to those whose chances of a throne simply made life not only more difficult, but more dangerous. Henry, as a lover, as a writer, as a friend, as a General, has been often studied ; but we doubt whether any one has developed for its human interest the personality of Elizabeth as a successful Queen brought into relation with Henry as a rising King, whom she cajoled and scolded, cheated and admired, as it seemed to her good, but whose position and relations to English interests she thoroughly grasped. On his side he -used the arts which she knew as arts, and yet appreciated as compliments.
In himself, perhaps, Henry appreciated as well as any the men who would not bend to him, and certainly one woman acquired her power over him by never treating him with the least civility, and plainly informing him that his kingship was the only consideration which weighed with her. He sympathised gaily with any jest against himself, he valued any form of public spirit, and knew how to play on both the popular feeling and the instinct of generous natures. It was this flexible strength which enabled him to come to the front.
In some old English churches we see the scallop-shell on tombs of soldiers, once heroes to their comrades. There are two explanations of this symbol,—that of pilgrimage and that
• of leadership. The following passage occurs in Prince's Worthies of Devon :—"Seallops," he says, referring to Guil- laume's Display of Heralds-j, "are an emblem of that stead- fast amity and constant fidelity that ought to be between brethren and companions of one society. For take one of -those fishes and divide the shells and endeavour to sort 'them, not with hundreds but with millions of the same kind, -and you shall never match them throughout and the bearing of the escalope in arms signifies the first bearer of such arms to have been a commander, who by his valour had gained the heart of his soldiers, and made a reciprocation of truest love between them." Those by nature entitled to bear the scallop-shell badge may do what they will so ,fax as their fellows are concerned. They know in their heart of hearts that—whatever they be—men will live and die for them.
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