77ie Last Decade of a Glorious Reign. By Martha Walker
Freer, Author of "The Life of Marguerite d'Angouleme," &c. Two Vols. (Hurst and Blackett.)—This work constitutes the third and concluding portion of Miss Freer's "History of the Reign of Henry IV., King of France and Navarre." Like its predecessors, it is compiled principally from unpublished sources, including various manuscript documents in the Bibliotheque Imperial, and the Archives du Royaume de France. The public events of Henry's reign are, comparatively speaking, slightly dwelt upon by Miss Freer, who reserves all her strength for the description of the numerous intrigues for which the French Court was, owing to the Ring's inveterate turn for gallantry, at that time famous. That Henry's reign was, in fact, a glorious one, we freely admit ; but there is but little in these volumes that can fairly be adduced in justification of its claim to that distinction. Those incidents to which Miss Freer devotes most of her attention are described in a style which is always clear and readable, and occasionally picturesque ; and the same praise may readily be extended to her account of the King's assassination. Her book is, on the whole, decidedly creditable to the industry and judgment of its author.
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