BOOKS.
HENRY ILAND THE LEAGUE.* MISS Diana, already favourably known by her historical or bio- graphical chronicles of sovereigns of the houses of Valois and Navarre, in continuing her interesting labours, has, in the first part of her new History of the 2?eig12 of Henry IY., furnished a kind of sequel to her portraiture of the Court and Times of Henry III. The present instalment of the new work, which consists of two volumes, describes the conflict and triumph of the gallant 1Cing,of Navarre over the associates of the League. The ma- terials of this history are derived, we are informed, from numerous unpublished sources, including MS. in the Bibliotheque Imperiale and the Archives du Royaume de France, &o. Miss Freer makes no pretensions to the character of a philosophical historian. Her aim is to reproduce incidents ; not to interpret events. Her nar- rative is clear and pleasant ; and her style simple lively, and pic- turesque.
The History ef Henry IV. finds a natural exordium in a brief notice of his position at the death of his predecessor. Henry ILL, tinkle, prodigal, dissipated, who "passed his time in arranging the collars of the queen and in curling his own hair," had in- curred the hostility of the Catholic party, ever since the religious concessions granted to the Calvinists by the treaty of 1576. The Duke of Aleneon, the king's brother, had also alienated them by his Protestant demonstrations. They determined, therefore, " to seek a chief out of the royal family.' Accordingly in 1577 the League was formed, its object being the restoration in the pro- vinces in which Calvinism was tolerated, of the old laws and liberties of the time of Clovis. In 1584 the king's brother died; Henry III, had no children.; and the heretic heir to the throne, who subsequently succeeded, was necessarily regarded with aversion by the Catholic Interest. The League was presided over by Henry of Guise; who, aided by Philip of Spain, the King's brother-in-law, aspired to dethrone the reigning sovereign. The war which resulted was called the war of the three Henries ; Henry III, of course heading the so-called King's party ; Henry of Guise the party of the League ; and Henry of Navarre the Huguenot party. The League chose the metropolis for its head- quarters, and when Paris revolted in favour of the Guises, Henry had recourse to assassination, and the Duke of Guise, and the Cardinal his brother were both murdered at his instigation. Prance was indignant at the conduct of the king ; the Parliament of Paris insisted on his trial; and the Pope excommunicated him. It was then in his sore need and desertion that he applied for succour to Henry of Navarre. Henry of Navarre was born at Tan in the Beam on the 15th of December 1553. He was a lineal descendant of the saint-king of France, Louis IX. His Lather, Antoine de Bourbon, in .1535 be- came King of Navarre, in right of his wife Jeanne d'Albret. He was educated as a Calvinist, and in 1569 was acknowledged at is Rochelle as the leader of the religious Reformers. In the same year, he took part in the battles of Jamie and Moncontour, in which King Henry also, then Duke of Anjou' fought gallantly in defence of the Catholic cause. The result of these battles was the concession of a third peace to the Protestants. On the death of his mother in 1572, Henry sneoeded to the throne of Navarre. Two years before, he had married Margaret, sister of Charles IX.., now famous for "her scandalous liaison with the Marquis de Canillac." At the massacre of St. Bartholomew, Henry was still residing in Paris. His life, however, was spared ; this act of clemency being accompanied by a condition—conversion to the CatholicReligion. Suspecting the reality of an enforced adhesion to the true Faith, the Court kept him a state prisoner for about three years. In 1576 he contrived to effect his escape ; placed himself at the head of the Hugnenots, began a series of campaigns, - successfully resisted the entire Catholic force, and findly won the splendid victory of Contras. It was within two years after this victory that Henry M. ap- plied, as we have seen, to his magnanimous opponent for assist- ance. The King of Navarre brought an army to his aid, defeated the Duke of Mayenne, the new Chief of the League, and pro- ceeded withlis royal ally to lay siege to Paris. "The rebel city trembled; the lawless factions quailed before impending retribu- tion." It was then while the armies of the two Kings were en- camped at Bt. Clon.d. that "the hand of Madame de Montperwier placed the poniard in the grasp of the regicide monk," Jacques Clement. Thus was the murder of the Guises avenged and the Holy League preserved ! Henry III, died on August 2d 1589, having first named Henry of Navarre his successor. Henry's position was precarious. As a heretic he was not acceptable to the orthodox part of the nation. Jocund, buoyant, and restless, "hating perfume and frippery" he was disliked by the silken nobles of the Court: "he had also," con- tinues Miss Freer, "the inconvenient propensity of attending to his own affairs;" and what was most to be apprehended, Henry ",had shown himself to be a statesman and a warrior." The new King however by his affability and dexterous management con- ciliated and satisfied the great nobles, and having accepted the articles presented for his ratification was solemnly recognized in the had de Tillet by the magnates of the land, and proclaimed in the camp "amidst the cheers of the soldiers, both Huguenot and orthodox."
Hirtary of the Reign of Henry IT.,Eing of Frame end Hatrarre,-80. .131 Martha Walker Freer. Part I. Henry IV. and the League. In two volumes. Published by Hurst and Inackett.
Meanwhile the intelligence of Henry the Third's assassination was received in Paris with frantic rejoicings. The League party revived. Green scarfs replaced the black badges of mourning which had been worn after the death of the Duke of Guise. Ma- dame de Montpensier with her mother and the Duchess of Nemours traversed the streets of Paris in an open oar drawn by six horses. Two of the ladies harangued the people, one in the streets, one from the steps of the high altar in the chapel of St. Esprit. The Duchess'a_proposal that a deputation should wait on the mother of the regicide and invite her to visit Paris, was received with accla- mation, and a subscription was actually announcedfor her benefit. Weakened by defections, and as yet refusing to abjure the Protestant religion, Henry raised the siege of Paris, divided his army, and retired into Normandy. He awaited Mayenne at Arqu.es, and there, according to l!dichelet, fought with three thousand men against thirty thousand, till, after a shameful re- pulse, the King rallied his forces and, supported by Coligny with two regiments, renewed the conflict, and amid. the " sonorous notes of the famed battle chant of the Huguenot troopers—the heroes of Contras--struch dismay into the ranks of the enemy."
Two days after the battle of Argues the English flotilla arrived in port with a queenly present from Elizabeth of England, and fifty English gentlemen, followed shortly by six thousand British troops under Peregrine Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, sent, as the valiant Queen wrote to her brother of Navarre, "to fight for you, and not to preach." Joyous, confident, enthusiastic, Henry marched upon Paris, victoriously assaulted the faubourgs, but suspending the combat, with the intention of renewing it the next day, was in the end compelled to withdraw. The following year was fought the battle celebrated in the classical verse of Voltaire and the stirring rhyme of Macaulay, that of Ivry. The soldiers of the royal army wore neither scarf nor decoration. "The army of the Duke de Mayenne on the contrary was mag- nificent in equipment; the officers wore bright-coloured scads, while gold glittered on their helmets and lances." The white plume of the King floated high over the surge of death as he led his soldiers "along the path of honour to victory." "To you alone," said the Marshal de Biron, "we owe this glorious and noble victory. Your foes have lied. Viva le Rd ! " " Marechal, mon arai," responded Henry, "give thanks and praises to Al- mighty God. Victory and glory are alone attributes of the Lord of Hosts." From Ivry Henry advanced to Paris. "A prey to the fury of the Seize, a fanatical league, and the tyranny of the Spanish soldiers," it was reduced, says a French historian, to the last extremity of hunger. "I would rather not have Paris than have it torn in pieces," said Henry, and on the arrival of the Duke of Parma he raised the siege, coerced by his antagonist's strategy, and returned to the Netherlands. The e, meantime, strong through its hatred to the, mur- dered king, gradually became weaker after his assassination. It was, in reality, broken up into two principal factions. There was that of the 0' uists, the nobility, the Parliament ; and that of Spain and the demagogues. The Guise faction, repressed by yenne, withdrew from the League its "democratic energy." In 1593, Henry began to negotiate with the chiefs of the League, and secured their submission by his public acceptance of the Catholic faith. In March of the ensuing year, the King entered the capital. Rouen and other cities followed the example of Paris. In 1596, Charles de Guise and the Duke of Mayenne sub- mitted. The Pope, too, acknowledged Henry ; and in 1598 all France received him as her sovereign. We must not, however, anticipate. Miss Freer's .history concludes with Henry's trium- phant entry into Paris, in 1594. "The streets of the capital were magnificently decorated. Arcades of green boughs spanned the streets, and the balconies were draped with rich tapestries." Soldiers preceded the king with flags. "Next came a band of musicians. Then followed the municipality of Paris, the various guilds of the capital, and deputations from the Universities and the various high courts of the realm. The king rode a white charger, magnificently accoutred. His Majesty wore a habit of grey velvet, embroidered with gold and emeralds. His cap was of grey velvet, adorned by a white plume, fastened by a cluster of diamonds. The collar and star of the order of St. Esprit glittered on the king's breast. A small cloak of dark green velvet, orna- mented with tassels and passementerie of gold completed the royal costume."
The beautiful Gabrielle d'Estrees was permitted to share the pa- geant of the King's entry into Paris. Her robe of black satin was covered with brilliant, coruscating diamonds. The spectators gazed with wonder on her "exquisite and attractive" beauty. The story of her life, thus far, is told with considerable grace and delicacy by Miss Freer. The king had seen, admired, loved her ; forbidden her marriage with the Duke de Bellegarde ; al- lowed her union with the illiterate, feeble, repulsive de Liancour ; compelled him to join the camp at Chauny and to bring his wife, and finally exiled the husband to his own castle in Limousin. Not kingly, not knightly conduct in our brave Henry of Navarre ! His abjuration of the religion in which Henry was brought up has been a subject of dubious debate. The present historian ap- pears to be of opinion that at an earlier period the support of the reformed faith was the necessary condition of his political exis- tence. She points out that Henry, when very young, had been instructed by Catherine de Medici, under whose guardianship he lived for seven or eight years, in the tenets of the Roman Cathohc religion, that the droning prosiness and severe simplicity of the Calvinistic worship and the puritan austerity of his mother's court were distasteful to Henry, who declared that "damsels withlugubrious visages and sad-coloured vestments" were neither edifying nor amusing. " The result of this injudicious coercion, continues Mies Freer ." was that at the age of eighteen, Henry's
secret liaison -with the beautiful young Countess de Gunthe commenced; while no religions feelings whatever influenced his heart." Moreover bad Bearn, the stronghold of Calvinism, he- . came-Catholic under Henry's dictation, at an earlier period, there would have been imminent risk of its annexation to the crown of France. We may suppose then that Henry IV. had no deep-rooted theological convictions ; that he had ,even certain educational impressions favourable to Catholicism ; that he re- garded the rival creeds as essentially the same ; and that his ab- juration was dictated by a not ignoble sense of its political expe- diency. He could now profess Catholicism to the advancement of the national welfare and without prejudice to the interests of his native Beam. With -stern reasons of state were probably combined motives that drew their inspiration from the "beautiful bright moniing star " that -shed sweet influence on Henry's life ; and the legalization of his marriage with Mademoiselle d'Estrees would-scarcely have been accorded by the Roman Pontiff, until the new Clovis had adopted the same faith as that which was held by the new St. Clotilde.
Miss Freer's history concludes with the prostration of the Holy League. It shows that its chieftains were proscribed, it con- federation dissolved, and its influence entinguished. To attain this result, Henry had been bold .and enterprising in battle, and inventive in -diplomacy. "He had indited love-letters to Queen Elisabeth.; passionate appeals to the dope; remonstrances to King Philip ; exordiums to the Sultan Amurath, and practical homilies to the Seignory of Venice and to the Italian potentates." The after-triumphs of Henry IV. in arms, arts, commerce, and government, are reserved as the topics of the second part of Miss Freer'e history. On its appearance, we shall endeavour to com- plete our review of this splendid monarch's career and character.
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