Henrietta Maria

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f the events of that momentous period of our history known as the Civil War. All that can

were different. As she had opposed an ignominious peace with the Scotch rebels, so now she was an advocate of no compromise. Throwing herself with all the energy of her nature-she could never do anything by halves, said one who knew her well[262]-into her husband's cause, she took her place among the most active members of the royalist party. Gone was the Queen of love and beauty, the gentle lady whose interests were those of the drawing-room, the nursery, and the chapel. Gone even was the Queen of tea

ars old, to her husband, the Prince of Orange. The real reason was to raise such sums of money and to collect such quantities of arms and

panied by one of his old rivals of the Capuchin Order. The storm-tossed exiles were met at the coast by Henry, Prince of Orange, who, anxious to give due honour to his son's bride and mother-in-law, welcomed the sorrowful Queen with a "brief and succinct speech," running to a length of three and a half closely printed

, besides, that just at this time parties in Holland reproduced in miniature those of England. The House of Orange clung to the alliance with the House of Stuart, but the wealthy burgesses of Amsterdam and The Hague, who were democratic and republican in their views, had more sympathy with those who were fighting the battle of liberty across the waters of the North Sea. They showed Henrietta little kindness and scant courtesy. They gave her hints, which she refused to take, that they would be glad to see the last of her. They treated

fully watched, both by her unwilling hosts and by spies of the Parliament; but, nevertheless, she managed to sell or pawn some of her store, though at exorbitant rates, for, as she wrote to her husband, no sooner was it known that the King of England was in need of money than the usurers and merchants "keep their foot on our throat." Parliament issued a proclamation forbidding

ady who combined the professions of a Carmelite nun and of a political intriguer, and to whom he probably owed an acquaintance with the rising Mazarin, which was rapidly ripening into friendship. But, in spite of the seductio

ch ambassador in London; but she thought, and thought justly, that Louis XIII, or rather the Cardinal, would not, for very shame, refuse her, a daughter of France, an asylum in the extremity to which her affairs had come. Her Grand Almoner, Du Perron, who had not felt it necessary to risk himself in England again, wrote from Paris that she would be given entertainment in France in case of need. He also gave the welcome news that he was coming to see her on behalf of her brother the King, on receiving which intelligence her elastic spirits rose high wi

hing to me."[268] How she entreated and almost commanded the King to make no accommodation which would abate by one jot or tittle his royal power,[269] and how she threatened, in case he did not take her advice, to go to France instead of returning to England, "for to die of consumption of royalty is a death which I cannot endure, having found by experience the malady to be too insupportable."[270] How she exhorted him to take good heed that their children did not fall into the hands of the enemy, and to be faithful to the few friends whom she really trusted. It is evident that she was no wise guide for her unhappy husband, whose vacillations, born of a glimmering perception of the position of a constitutional King, roused her to scorn and almost to fury. She cannot be ac

ray to God for me," she wrote in her pain to Madame S. Georges; "for be assured there is not a more wretched creature in this world than I, separated from the King my lord, from my children, out

rds the end of 1642 she had raised such sums of money as the amount of her resources and the caution of her customers permitted.[273] The state of affairs in England was not very promising, but nothing could keep her from her husband when she could be at his side with

DEPARTURE

AN EN

describable, and worse than bodily discomfort was the continual fear of death, which was so menacing that the Queen and the other Catholics on board, throwing aside their natural reticence on such matters, confessed their sins in a loud voice, which, perhaps, in the din of the storm, was necessary to the priest's hearing. It is said that the horror of the scene was so great that some of the sailors threw themselves into the sea. Henrietta believed that her

nesses what she can never lose,"[277] for indeed her courage, which seemed above that of her sex, won an admiration which was still further increased when it was found that she meant, against the advice of her friends, to put to sea again as soon as the weather permitted and her several ships which had been dispersed in the storm came up. "They that are delivered from shipwrack, bid an eternall adieu to the sea, and to the shipps; nay, they are not able to endure the sight thereof. These are Tertullian's words. Yet within eleauen days after, O admirable resolution! the Queen, being scarce yet escaped from a dreadfull storme, spurred on by the desire of seeing the King and of coming in to his ayde, adventures again

untries, for she had heard rumours of a plot to seize her on landing. They, as well as the escort sent by her husband, were needed, for at four o'clock on the dark February morning she was roused by the sound of firing. Four of the Parliament ships had arrived in the bay, and they were shelling the village, with special attention, it appeared, to the Queen's lodgings.[279] In a few moments Jermyn appeared and told her to flee for her life. She jumped up, and having hastily flung on some clothing was hurrying to a place of refuge when suddenly she stopped, remembering that lying asleep on her bed was her pet dog, Mitte-an ugly beast, says Madame de Motteville, who was evidently no lover of the canine race, i

nding herself again in England, and she had the satisfaction of knowing that she brought with her substantial help in the way of arms, ammunition, and money, which her gallant soldiers had guarded throu

but of her heroic Medici ancestor, Giovanni delle Bande Nere.[283] This delicately nurtured woman, who was, moreover, in bad health, lived among her soldiers, says the admiring Madame de Motteville, almost as imagination may picture Alexander living among his. Forgetting feebleness and fatigue, she was constantly in the saddle; setting aside all etiquette, she d

es of opinion, such as on the question of attacking Leeds, in which matter both she and the Earl of Newcastle, her general, followed a course which drew upon them a mild censure from the King. Perhaps the most notable success was the gain of Scarborough, which was delivered u

the Queen as the pledge and harbinger of peace.[284] At Carfax "the Major[285] and his brethren entertained Her Majesty with an English speech, delivered by Master Carter, the Town Clerk, in the name of the city, and presented her with a purse of gold."[286] She went on to Christ Church, where she was received by the Vice-Chancellor and the Heads of Houses, and thence to the Warden's lodgings[287] at Merton, which had been p

ad been idle for a moment, and each had to recount to the other the results of their lab

p from her native country of which she was already beginning to think. It was believed that now her enemy was gone she would hasten to Paris herself, but she judged otherwise, and contented herself with carrying on negotiations by means of Walter Montagu, on whose friendship with Mazarin she counted. That gentleman supplied the French Government with a curious paper on English affairs,[289] which he probably drew up at The Hague under the

iscontent could be heard, which became articulate a few years later in the rebellions of the Fronde. Such hopes were strengthened by the fact that Louis XIII was evidently following to the grave the

IV. The past career of this lady, her affection for Spain, her not uncalled for hatred of Richelieu, pointed to a complete reversal of the Cardinal's pol

e to the English nation or its Queen. Moreover, he owed much to Walter Montagu, whose influence with Queen Anne was greater than ever, and who had been instrumental in introducing the Cardinal to her favour. It is probable that when Henrietta heard the turn which affairs had taken in France she rejoiced. She had some cause to do so, but yet in the y

ce to Henrietta, and resulted in the removal from the French Cour

bered their common hatred of Richelieu. Mazarin did not fail in polite condolences, and he thought that it would be a good thing to send over an ambassador to England, to see at least that Henrietta

us openness in search of amusement, for at Rochester he was recognized. The sharp eyes of a Parliamentary officer spied him out, took him in charge and carried him off to London, where he was put in the Tower and there kept, in spite of the remonstrances of the French ambassador, the entreaties of the Queen-Regent of France, and the somewhat lukewarm representations of Mazarin, who perhaps saw in him a possi

d, the more so as this vexati

known as her friend, specially in London, where the Puritan hatred, of which she was the chief object, was beginning to attack the priceless memorials of the past. Stained-glass windows were smashed in the churches, and "Cheapside Crosse, which at her Majestie's first coming into England was beautified in a glorious and splendid manner ... as it dazzlled a many eyes to behold the gods, Popes, and saints thereon,"[293] and which was boasted of by the Catholics even in Rome as one of the chief relics of the ancient religion, was torn down, and it was decided that "the Lead about the Crosse" should "be cast into Bullets, and bestowed on the Papists in armes."[294] This was bad enough, but even more trying to the Queen's feelings were the piteous accounts which came of the sufferings of her poor Capuchins, who, after more than a year of terrified waiting, saw themselves and their property in the hands of a ruthless mob, which was none the better because it acted in the name of the House of Commons, and which was led by Henry Martin, a man of unusually violent character, who was afterwards one of the regicides. All the remonstrances of the French agent and the House

e is said to have specially excluded from pardon all those concerned in the riot. Again, just as the Queen entered Oxford, another trouble fell upon her, which was another proof of the remorseless hatred of the Puritans. Edmund Waller, who in happier days had made verses to her charms, raised a plot in Londo

rdly to be expected that she should like Rupert of the Rhine, the son of the Queen of Bohemia, who had great influence over his uncle in military matters. Never at any time during the war did the affairs of the King promise better than during Henrietta's stay at Oxford. She and her advisers, among whom were prominent the Earl of Bristol and his son, that same George Digby who had been with her in Holland, with

rinces her children."[299] After the troubles and dangers of her sojourn in Holland and her campaign in the north she was in peace and safety, though the city was strongly fortified and cannon were to be seen both at "Newparkes and S. Giles his fields." Nor, in spite of these warlike preparations, was

n Queen Elizabeth's daies on the street side, but if you go in you will find Henry the 8 his reformation in the Chappell."[300] It is probable that the Queen paid little attention to the flights of the Puritan fancy, but she took some pain

of seeing the horrors of a siege, it was time to be gone. She had, moreover, to care for another life, for she was about again to become a

he arrived in a condition so serious that it seemed likely her troubles would soon find their surest consolation. "Mayerne, for the love of me, go to my wife,"[301] wrote Charles, and Henrietta herself penned a short, piteous note to her old physician. "My disease will invite you more strongly, I hope, than many lines would do."[302] The faithful Swiss needed no further summons. He was at the Queen's side when, on June 16th, the child, whose short life and tragic death were to be in keeping with the circumstances of her birth, w

im by means of a French agent named Sabran who happened to be with her, he returned answers which in the circumstances were brutal. The Queen was no concern of his, he said. Henrietta, fearing above all things in her weak state the noise of firing which a siege would involve, dragged herself from her bed a few days after the birth of her baby, whose helpless life she confided to one of her attendants, the Countess of Morton. Accompanied by Jermyn and by her devoted confessor, Father Philip, she fled still farther into the western peninsula, down to that stra

fire the powder on board, and to let her die with her friends, rather than that those impious hands should touch her. When the danger was passed she reproached herself for having thought of suicide, and happily so desperate a remedy was not needed. She escaped her enemies once more, and after a long tossing on the Channel the travellers saw with joy the rocky coast of Brittany. At the little village of Conquest, near Brest, the landing was effected, and the daughter of France, returning to her native land, retired to a whitewashed cottage to rest from her fatigues. But the news soon spread that the daughter of Henry IV had arrived, and the nobility of the co

tagu. Aff. Etra

captivates the dazled beholder; your Cupidinean cheeks are clothed with intermixed Lillies and Roses; your purpureous lips (like a Nectarean current) do redound with expressed Oratory; your Murcurian tongue is gilded with such admirable Rhetorick that the Muses themselves seem to inhabit there and make it their Helicon: your Aromatic

eville: Mémoires

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bid.,

bill. If you have, I must think about retiring for the present, into a convent, fo

bid.,

may those who are the cause of your misfortunes, and those of your Kingdom, perish un

rs of Queen Henri

which were English. The pamphlet which describes these contributions is marked by just the slight inaccuracies of a forgery, an

rb'd by Heaven in the merciful preservation of the Quene, and that when God will help the Devill cannot hurt us."-A true relation of the Queens

Denbigh. Hist. MSS.

rs of Queen Henri

ly), February 9th, 1642. Aff. Etr

en of Great Britain (Bossuet), tran

that Charles did

he went to visit her, and she told him "many observable stories of the sagaci

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Francia che era qui, che da quella banda haverebbe havuto ogni assistenza per mantenimento della sua libertà e privilegii: certo è che l'Ambasciato

ed and without date, but it is in the handwriting of Montagu, and is among the documents of 1641; it speaks of

mportants, who disliked him as a friend of Mazarin and as

Diurnall, O

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ques en Angleterre (1646), from which the above account is chiefly ta

ius Aulicus

bien compris qu'elle mésprise autant qu'elle peut hayr le Comte de

si au lieu de diviser les armées royales et de les amener contre son avis aux siéges infortunés de Hull et de Gloucester, on

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is Caroli magnae Britanniae, etc., regis Ultramarinis

Queen Henriett

ow Fal

fe. Polwhele: Traditions and

Pragmaticus,