SIDELIGHTS SIDELIGHTS BY CHARLOTTE, LADY BLENNERHASSETT Authorized Translation by EDITH GULCHER LONDON CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD 1913 CONTENTS PAGE THE SIEGE OF PARIS, 1590 . . . . .1 TAINES STUDY OF NAPOLEON ..... IO COUNT REINHARD, A GERMAN IN THE SERVICE OF THE FRENCH ....... 46 SPANISH STUDIES . . . . 79 SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS . . . . . loo MARCO MINGHETT1 AND THE RISORGIMENTO . . 126 OUR VICEREGAL LIFE . . . . . 157 MARIE BASHKIRTSEFF . . . . . 1 73 CLAUDE FAUtflELS CORRESPONDENCE WITH MARY CLARKE 2OI CHATEAUBRIAND . . . . . . .212 THE SIEGE OF PARIS, 1590 Two hundred and eighty-one years before the siege of Paris in 1870, an army under the command of the Bearnais, as Henry iv. was contemptuously called by the League, appeared at its gates. Shortly before that he had been victorious at Arques 1 and at Ivry, 2 where his white-crested helmet was seen ever in the forefront of battle. His small army of 12, 000 foot and 3000 horse was confronted at Paris, whither he had gone, as he laughingly said, to win his mistress, by 50, 000 troops of the League. The last holiday in Paris had been in celebration of the death of Henry HI. who fell by the hand of a monk, on the anniversary of the same day and hour, and in the same hall in which, eighteen years before, the Act had been signed for the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Jacques Clement was there and then stabbed to death by the Kings escort, but his followers summoned the people to a pilgrimage to St. Cloud, where his body was 1 Battle of Arques, 1589. 2 Battle of Ivry, 1590. And he has bound a snow-white plume upon his gallant crest. . . . Press where ye see my white plume shine, amidst the ranks of war, And be your oriflamme, to-day, the helmet of Navarre. Battle of Ivry. - MACAULAY. TR. A 2 SIDELIGHTS burnt. f The Duchess de Nemours, accompanied by her daughter, the Duchess de Montpensier, drove in an open carriage through Paris, congratulating the Parisians on the death of the tyrant. She even went so far as to address the crowd from the altar steps of the church of the Cordeliers, and thanked Heaven for her good fortune in the death of the Valois. 1 The League placed his bloody crown upon the head of the nominal king, the old Cardinal de Bourbon, to whom they gave the title of Charles x., a name already fraught with disaster in the annals of France. The Duke de Mayence commanded the so-called Catholic army, but many dignitaries of the Church and leaders of the Catholic royalists remained true to their allegiance to his cousin. The League fell under the influence of foreigners. The Duke de Nemours was but the nominal commander in Paris, the actual chief was Don Gaetani, the Cardinal Legate, afterwards Pope Sixtus v., who belonged to the family of which the Duke di Sermoneta was head. He was assisted with money, troops, and counsel, by the Spanish Ambassador, Don Bernardo Mendoza, and it was to him that the League pledged itself to exterminate the heretics, and to prevent Henry iv. from ascending the throne, even in the event of his conversion to Catholi cism. In his zeal, Gaetani went further than the Pope intended, and was merciless in the means he employed to attain his ends. Henrys first attack on the suburbs, St. Antoine and Montmartre, had been successful, for both fell after two hours fighting, and had he been efficiently supported, Paris would have been obliged to surrender, 1 Charles ix., 1550-74. TR. THE SIEGE OF PARIS, 1590 3 On 7th May it was badly provisioned for its 200, 000 inhabitants, and was cut off from obtaining supplies but the fanaticism which was waging war against the King, of Navarre determined his opponents to fight for the city to the uttermost. An army of priests was enrolled, who, in their endeavour to counteract the ill effects of the enemys victory, were liberal in their promises of bliss in the next world, in compensation for the sufferings in this. The Legate blessed the troops of armed monks and called them true Maccabees...