Monthly Review of Literature. 427 



night have been a very potent astrologer, is a mere driveller. Esclairmonde 

 s as namby-pamby as heroines generally are, or are made to appear, and 

 seems to us to have little of the attractions so coveted by the free-and-easy 

 laughter-loving Henri III. Of the other characters, except Crichton and 

 Marguerite de Valois, we need scarcely say a word, unless it be in praise of 

 the episodical portrait of Blount and his bull-dog, which is excellent, and to 

 the life. 



r jThe character of Crichton, the bold, unflinching and highly principled 

 Scot, and of Marguerite, the lively, joyeuse, but inconstant consort of Henri 

 of Bourbon, are, we think, the best in the book ; but in these, even, a certain 

 inelasticity and wooden-ness is discoverable, that greatly diminishes the plea- 

 sure of perusal. We extract for our readers' perusal the first chapter in which 

 Marguerite de Valois appears with Crichton, whose favourable regards she is 

 represented as most anxious to obtain. 



' Marguerite de Valois, consort of Henri of Navarre, afterwards Henri IV. 

 of France, was, at the period of our narrative, in the full eclat of her almost 

 unrivalled beauty. Smitten by her nascent charms, Ronsard proclaimed her, 

 in her fifteenth spring, La belle Charite Pasithtfe. Nor was the appellation 

 unmerited. Chiselled by the Apollonian sculptor, Aglaia never rose upon the 

 view more surpassingly lovely. Some of her after- admirers (we will not 

 say flatterers, for with Marguerite truth itself took the language of flattery) 

 distinguished her by the title of Venus Urania; and we might have followed 

 in their steps, had we not been forewarned that such description high-flown 

 as it appears was wholly inadequate to her matchless attractions. 



' Of the grace and elegance of Marguerite de Valois in the dance, Bran tome 

 has left us the most rapturous particulars. With lover-like enthusiasm he 

 dilates upon her majestic carriage, and indescribable fascinations ; and the 

 vivid portrait he has taken of the lovely queen (sketched at some such scene 

 as that we are now attempting to describe) blooms, breathes, and stands before 

 us in all its original beauty and freshness a splendid " phantom of delight," 

 sparkling within that gallery of high-born dames and gallant cavaliers which 

 he has preserved for the gaze of the world. 



' With Crichton's supremacy in the somewhat trifling, but then highly esti- 

 mated art which 



Teachelh lavoltas high, and swift corantos, 



with his perfect mastership of all its difficulties (for in those days, when. 

 Italy, Spain, and Germany, and almost each province of France contributed 

 their quota of figures and national peculiarities, the dance had its difficulties) 

 with his unequalled possession of all its graces, the reader aware of the 

 universal scope of his accomplishments must be already acquainted. He 

 was accounted the most finished proficient in the dance at a court, each mem- 

 ber of which would probably have been considered in the same important 

 light in any other in Europe. Henry III. was passionately fond of the amuse- 

 ment, and largely indulged in it. In earlier days, Catherine de Medicis had 

 been no less partial to the dance, and Marguerite de Valois, as we know, held 

 it in high esteem. All the courtiers, therefore, emulous of distinction in their 

 sovereign's eyes, bestowed unremitting attention upon this accomplishment, 

 and it was no slight merit to eclipse in skill performers of such consummate 

 ability. As in the hall of arms as in the arena of learning -as in the tour- 

 ney, the chase, or other exercises in which strength or dexterity is concerned 

 so in the ball-room Crichton outstripped all competitors. From the inimi- 

 table " constitution of his leg," it would seem, " that he was born under the 

 star of a galliard." Terpsichore might have presided at his nativity. 



' It was Crichton's remarkable spirit, displayed in one of the wild and na- 

 tional dances of his own country, then little known, or regarded as semi-bar- 

 barian in the polite court of France, and perhaps seen there for the first time 

 when he undertook it, that first attracted the attention of the queen of Na- 

 varre towards him, and afterwards riveted her regards. With Crichton, it 



