[ [399]Dante: Paradiso, XVII.
[ [400]Green: Letters of Queen Henrietta Maria, p. 388. Madame de Motteville: Mémoires (1783), V, p. 276.
[ [401]Loret: La Muse Historique (1857), t. I, p. 174.
CHAPTER XI
THE FOUNDRESS OF CHAILLOT
No cruell guard of diligent cares, that keep Crown'd woes awake; as things too wise for sleep. But reverent discipline, and religious fear, And soft obedience, find sweet biding here; Silence, and sacred rest; peace and pure joyes; Kind loves keep house, ly close, make no noise, And room enough for Monarchs, where none swells Beyond the kingdomes of contentfull Cells. R. Crashaw (out of Barclay)
There is a portion of Henrietta's life which stands apart from its general current, which seems, indeed, rather an acted commentary on her career than an integral portion of it: when she retires from the schemes, the passions, the loves, and the hates of the world, and, laying aside the trappings of her rank, appears as a humble and sorrowful woman, striving to read, by the light of prayer and meditation, the lesson of her stormy days. The Queen of England is gone, and in her stead is seen the foundress of Chaillot.
The temper which produced this fruit must long have been growing up, but it became active and apparent when the great blow of her life came upon her. While she was a wife, even a wife separated by evil fortune from her husband, she continued to live, as far as her straitened means permitted, in a manner suitable to her rank, and she did not refuse to take part in the splendid amusements of Paris, which were congenial to her gay disposition. She was seen at lotteries and dances; she accepted the feasts and dinners which the French royal family offered in her honour. Her attendance was as brilliant as her fallen fortunes would allow of, and her faded beauty was set off to the best advantage by the beautiful dress which was then worn by ladies of rank.
But with the death of Charles all this was changed. She ceased to accept invitations, and she rarely went abroad into the streets of Paris, except to visit some religious house. In her own house the strictest simplicity was used. Most of the maids of honour were dismissed, and the Queen exchanged her silks and jewels for a mourning robe, which she wore to the end of her life.