Agnes Strickland's Queens of England (16 page)

a favorite in France that after much trouble and many privations she finally succeeded in restoring order.

[A.D. 1648.] But the Christmas of 1648, before this was accomplished, Cardinal de Retz, who was one of the principal leaders of the Fronde, but a good friend to Queen Henrietta, found her shut up in an apartment of the Louvre with little Henrietta, without any fire, although it was a cold, snowy day. The sorrowing mother had kept the four-year old princess in bed lest she should suffer from the cold, but both were without food. The cardinal supplied the necessary comforts forthwith, and on the same day represented to the parliament of Paris the distress in which he had discovered the daughter of their former king. His eloquence was the outpouring of a kind heart, and met with an immediate response, for a subsidy of twenty thousand livres was instantly voted for the destitute queen.

Then she wrote to Lord Fairfax in England, asking his assistance, that she might see her husband once more. This letter was delivered to the house of commons, and contemptuously thrown aside, with the remark "that the writer had been voted guilty of high treason in 1643."

Thus ended all hope ot being reunited to the husband whose afflictions she shared and for whose sake she would willingly have died. Added to this was the suspense the queen endured while the civil strife in Paris and its neighborhood rendered the passage of couriers impossible.

King Charles might well have escaped from England and joined his wife, but nothing could induce him to enter France as a supplicant sovereign. He preferred to suffer and struggle alone, through four long years of insult and abuse, — most shocking to us of the present day to read about.

The Roundheads grew so powerful that, with Oliver

Cromwell ior their leader, they became a body of ruffians, who either thrust into a dungeon or expelled any of their band who evinced the least mark of favor towards the king.

Through treachery Charles I. had fallen a prisoner m their hands. They showed him no mercy ; they granted him no justice. A handful of self-appointed judges went through the mockery of a trial, and condemned their un-' fortunate sovereign to the block.

On the day before the execution Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester, the only royal children who remained in England, were admitted to their father's prison to bid him farewell. They both sobbed passionately. King Charles drew them to his bosom with words of consolation, and solemnly blessed them.

He told the princess not to grieve for him, for his was a glorious death,—for the laws and religion of the land; advised her what books to read ; bade her to forgive his enemies, as he hoped God would, and charged her to be obedient to her mother, and to tell her that his love for her would be the same to the last.

Then taking little Gloucester on his knee, he said: *' Sweetheart, now will they cut off thy father's head. Heed, my chid, what I say: they will cut off my head, and perhaps make thee king; but, mark what I say, you must not be a king so long as your brothers Charles and James live; therefore, I charge you, do not be made a king by them."

Earnestly looking up into his father's face, the boy replied J " I will be torn in pieces first." This unexpected answer pleased his majesty, who with a few more words of advice fervently kissed his children, and ordered them to be taken away. They sobbed aloud, and the king turned away as they passed out, and leaned his head against the window trying to repress his tears.

While this painful interview was taking place Cromwell and his gang of ruffians sat in secret conclave to determine upon the hour of their victim's death; and some of them swore later that it was only violent threats on the part of their leader that forced them to place their signatures to the fatal warrant.

The noble and dignified bearing of the king as he ascended the scaffold was noticed by all who saw him, and the populace, who were kept at a distance by a dense mass of soldiers, wept amidst their blessings and prayers for the martyr king.

Charles made a short speech, saying that " if he had been a despot he might have remained their sovereign; but he died to preserve the liberties of the people of England." Some one touched the axe while he was speaking. " Have a care of the axe!" he exclaimed," " if the edge be spoiled it will be the worse for me."

Then his executioner kneeled before him and asked forgiveness. Charles drew himself up with proud dignity and replied: —

" No ! I forgive no subject of mine who comes deliberately to shed my blood."

He then said a short prayer, raised his eyes to heaven, then placed his head upon the block. It was severed with one blow, as a cry of agony arose from the horrified multitude.

Queen Henrietta did not hear of the dreadful fate that had overtaken her husband for several days; and when at last it was communicated to her, she stood motionless as a statue, without words or tears.

The visit of the Duchess de Vendome, whom the queen tenderly loved, produced a change in the afflicted widow, who burst into a passionate fit of weeping at the tender words of sympathy expressed by her friend. She called

herself the most miserable woman on the face of the earth, and resolved to retire with a few of her ladies to the Carmelite Convent in Paris. She well knew that for the future life could contain nothing but bitterness for her, and said : " I have lost a crown, but that I had long ceased to regret; it is my husband for whom I grieve, — the good, just, wise, virtuous man, so worthy of my love and that of his subjects."

She named herself La malheureuse reine, and mourned for King Charles to the day of her death.

[A.D. 1649.] Queen Henrietta was notlong permitted to enjoy the peaceful retirement of the convent; for her son, the Prince of Wales, determined to return to England, and desired to consult his mother about it. She therefore met him at St. Germains in the summer of 1649, and afterwards returned with him to her former apartments at the Louvre.

In the following autumn, accompanied by his brother James, Duke of York, Charles went to the Isle of Jerse}', where he was proclaimed King of Great Britain. Scotland acknowledged him next, and then followed the scenes of blood in Ireland, under the leadership of Cromwell, more horrible than any that had ever been witnessed in the world before.

Charles was absent more than two years; and while he was contesting for his hereditary rights his young brother and sister, who were still prisoners in England, were treated very harshly by the republicans.

[A.D. 1650.] In the September of 1650 Princess Elizabeth died of a malignant fever.

Cromwell had established a strong military despotism in the British Islands ; and when Queen Henrietta demanded of him the payment of her dower, he replied : " That she had never been recognized as Queen-Consort of Great

Britain by the people, consequently she had no right to a dower."

This was because she had refused, on account of her religious bigotry, to be crowned with the king.

But the usurper did her a great favor when he allowed the young Duke of Gloucester to return to her. The permit said : " That Henry Stuart, third son of the late Charles I., had leave to transport himself beyond seas,"

Queen Henrietta treated her sons most harshly because they refused to become Catholics, and adhered to the Episcopal church ; in consequence a great deal of ill-feeling and enmity had grown up between her and them, which at last drove them from her.

The young Duke of Gloucester went to Holland to live with his sister, the Princess of Orange, whose husband had died of small-pox a short time before she offered her brother an asylum.

Queen Henrietta remained at the Palais Royal with her youngest child as a guest of the queen-regent.

[A.D. 1658.] At last, in 1658, Cromwell died, and two years later Charles II. was restored to the throne of England, without the shedding of a single drop of blood. His brother, the young Duke of Gloucester, had accompanied Charles to England, where four months after the Restoration he died of small-pox.

[A.D. 1660.] In October of 1660 the Duke of York met Queen Henrietta and his youngest sister at Calais, where they embarked for England in grand state. The vessels were all decked with gay flags, and as each one discharged her cannon in regular order the noise was so great that it could be distinctly heard at Dover. The channel was so calm that its surface looked like a mirror. Not a breath of wind was stirring, and it was two days before the English fleet could accomplish the passage that

usually took three or tour hours. Fortunately the Duke of York had provided a sumptuous banquet for his mother, sister, and their whole retinue, which passed a few hours pleasantly, and saved the travellers from hunger.

When the queen reached Dover, Charles II. went on board the vessel to welcome her, and conducted her to Dover Castle, where a pleasant surprise awaited her.

Not only was a magnificent supper spread, but every member of the royal family of Stuart had assembled to receive Queen Henrietta, who once more had the satisfaction of embracing each of her children iri turn.

For the moment she was happy, surrounded by those she loved; but after she reached London she was overcome by the deepest sorrow. The sight of the apartments once occupied by her husband agonized her, and it wrung her heart to look upon the spot where he had suffered and died. She sank into the deepest melancholy, and would shut herself up for hours at a time, denying admittance to any of her ladies.

Life in England became insupportable to the afflicted queen, and she determined to return to France.

[A.D. 1661.] In the evening of New Year's Day she gave an audience to those who desired to bid her farewell, and then retired to Hampton Court.

As tiie Princess Henrietta was engaged to be married to Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, parliament settled on her a liberal marriage-portion, and by the middle of January she sailed, with her mother, for France.

Two months later the marriage between Princess Henrietta and the Duke of Orleans was solemnized at the Palais Royal; and when the young couple went to pass the summer at Fontainebleau, Queen Henrietta retired to her favorite chateau of Colombe, a few miles from Paris. The following year the Duke and Duchess of Orleans made her

a long visit, then accompanied her to Calais, where she embarked to return to England once more.

[A.D. 1662.] Charles II. had married Catharine of Braganza during his mother's absence, and the royal couple received Queen Henrietta affectionately, and welcomed her to Greenwich Palace. She remained with them until the summer, when Somerset House having been handsomely renovated, she set up her court there; but her health began to decline, and she sent for her son, the king, and told him that she could only regain strength in her native land. He urged her to repair to the Bourbon baths, ihough it grieved him sorely to part from his mother again.

[A.D. 1665.] She went first to her chateau of Colombe, where the King and Queen of France met and welcomed her, and after a short season of repose she proceeded to the baths of Bourbon.

[A.D. 1669.] But her health declined from year to year, and although her daughter and son-in-law were indefatigable in their loving attentions, and summoned the most celebrated physicians of Paris to her bedside, she expired suddenly and painlessly at midnight of August 31, 1669.

Charles II. and the Duke of York received the news with deep grief, and retired to Hampton Court, where they remained until all the mourning ceremonies were completed at Whitehall.

Louis XIV. ordered a general mourning to be observed throughout France for his aunt, — not because she was a queen of England so much as because she was the last child of Henry IV. of France,

CHAPTER VII.

CATHA.RINE OF BRAGANZA, QUEEN OF CHARLES II., KING OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. (A.D. 1638-1705.)

It was on St. Catharine's day that this princess was bom, in the year 1638, and it was in honor of that saint that she was named. When she came into the world, Portugal was under the rule of Spain, and had been so for sixty years, not because the Portuguese were contented with the despotic laws that governed them, but because they did not feel strong enough to fight for liberty.

When a nation considers itself oppressed by tyrannical laws, secret organizations are sure to be formed for the purpose of shaking off the yoke in one way or another.

In all the principal towns of Portugal these patriotic associations were formed at the time we speak of, for the purpose of throwing off the Spanish yoke; and the period was rapidly approaching when their efforts were to be crowned with success.

It was to the Duke of Braganza, Catharine's father, the last of the old royal line, that the larger party looked with hope and confidence. Meanwhile, with a desire to keep clear of the watchful eye of his foes and the dangerous intrigues of his friends, the duke removed to his Palace of Villa Vicosa with his beloved wife, the Donna Luiza, and his two little sons. While living at that most charming spot, that has been justly named a terrestrial paradise, the »76

duchess added a daughter to her family circle, — the little Catharine, of whom we have spoken. She was baptized at the parish chapel during the following month, and her godfather was a Spanish grandee of high rank and enormous wealth. The ceremony v/as performed with great pomp, and gifts of considerable value were bestowed upon the little girL She was such a pet in her family, that each birthday was the occasion of a sumptuous fHe. On the second anniversary of her birth an incident occurred which connected the celebration of it with no less important c matter than the emancipation of Portugal from the Spanish yoke. On that day Don Caspar Cortigno arrived at the Villa Vicosa, and requested an immediate interview with the duke. Thi---. being granted, he presented an appeal from his countrymen, urging the duke to declare himself their leader, and to accept the crown to which he was justly entitled.

[A.D. 1640.] The nobleman listened attentively to all that his visitor said; but he was at a loss for a reply, while he thoughtfully considered his position. On the one hand was the Portuguese crown, which was his by inheritance -on the other the blessings of a happy home, with a charm ing, affectionate family, and the peaceful possession oi estates, comprising not less than a third of the realm, Should he risk everything to embark upon an enterj. ..iiie fraught with danger, perhaps ruin ? He could not decide; but, like a dutiful husband, consulted Donna Luiza. Without a moment's hesitation, she replied : ' This day our friends are assembled around us to celebrate the anniversar\ of the birth of our little Catharine; and who knows bu: this new guest may hr e been sent to certify to you that it is the will of Heaven, through especial grace, to invest you with that crown of which you have long been unjustly deprived by Spain. For my part I regara it as a happy