The King's Henchman. By William H. Johnson. (Gay and Bird.)
— Although Mr. Johnson professes to have merely "brought to light and edited" this "chronicle of the sixteenth century," it may be safely assumed that the sad story of Jean Fourcade, the henchman of the gay Henry of Navarre, is entirely fictitious. If it be regarded as a novel it is a distinct success. As a picture of the Court of Navarre, and of the soldierings and gal- lantries of the nowise impeccable champion of French Pro- testanism, nothing better has been recently published, at least in this country. One is rather sorry that the pretty idyll of Jean Fourcade and Sophie Roberval is not crowned by their happy marriage, and that the life which Jean was beginning to turn to good account should be ruined by his unhappy and vicious past, personified by Marie Roseau. But such things were and perhaps are, and Mr. Johnson is doubtless more faithful to sixteenth- century history, as well as to ordinary humanity in giving his story a tragic rather than a pretty ending. He is a deft artist, his work is delicately finished, and his portraits, both of Henry and Catharine, are excellent.
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