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« pss of purpose with generosity of heart . Her S ties flowed both freely to the needy , the desolate and the oppressed . « She loved the luxury of Xiriff good / The candour of her disposition was « o srreat that it soon prepared her to admit con vie-Sons adverse to many a , long-revered dogma , whilst it rendered her accessible to the influences of real and ancient truths . ¦ . As for her deportment , it was asxxrarteous aV ( despite her personal deformity ) it W majestic ; she knew how to preserve the respect due to her rank , whilst she won all . hearts bv the oraciousness- of her address , the modesty of her bearing , and the charm of her conversational
powers . " [ The biographer then goes on to relate , in eloquent language , the numerous acts of pious cnarity by which the new duchess endeared herself to her huSband ' s subjects . She soon became famous for her encouragement of literature and the fine arts , and in her men of genius found a faithful friend and liberal patroness . But the stream of light , which , at this progressive period was fast dispelling the mental darkness which for ages had enveloped the doctrines of the Church of liome , had penetrated deeply into the heart of this remarkable woman ; and Renee was soon suspected
of cherishing in secret the tenets of the " reformed faith . " She , in fact , received at her court . Ferrara that world-renowned and indefatigable reformer , John Calvin , who , under an assumed name , enjoyed for a time both ease and tranquillity in the palace of the sympathising Duchess . One of the chief protegees of this princess was Olympia Morata , so celebrated afterwards for her high literary aspirations and patriotic adherence to the Protestant religion . By permission of the " Duchess she shared and assisted the studies of her daughter Anna d'Jjjjste . A short extract here might be interesting to the reader .
" This bright genius who adorned an age that yet wanted not ornaments—this true woman , whose history may be pondered in silent compassion , yet in profound admiration ~ this saint so tried in life , so blessed in death s has formed a favourite subject for the pen of the biographer . She was five years older than the young princess whose studies she lightened and whose recreation she shared . But notwithstanding the difference of age , a friendship soon sprung up between them , with the harmony of which there is no ground for supposing that any intellectual jealousies ever interfered . Olympia was
daughter to Fulvio Peregrino Morata , whose name was one of mark in the celebrated universities of Northern Italy , and she had enjoyed from her childood the rarest advantages of education in her refined though humble home . The learning of her father , the piety of her mother , the society of the gifted friends of both , and the affectionate interest which she awakened in all around her , left ¦• the marvellous child' nothing to wish for under the parental roof , except leisure to pursue the taste for
study with which these favourable circumstances had naturally imbued her . To cultivate her mental powers to thsir full extent seemed impossible as long as the narrow means of her family required the young Olympia to share with her mother the distasteful labours of the household , * and we can easily imagine the reluctance with which the book was laid aside for the spinning-wheel with perhaps the indignant murmur— 'My time for this—and this ?»
" The Estense Palace was a very temple of the Muses , and it was a welcome refuge to Olympia from the uncongenial occupations which had retarded her progress in knowledge hitherto . The kind-hdarted duchess filled a mother ' s place to the child whom she had almost adopted as her own . From her father , Olympia was not separated . Fulvio retained the privilege of instructing his daughter even in the ducal palace , f and there , in the society of Anna d'Este , she advanced rapidly in classical learning $ whilst her native talents of improvisation , composition and recitation were likewise developed . It followed , as a matter of course ,
that one so richly endowed by nature and education became an object of great attraction to the learned who thronged the court of Ferrara , and that they aid not conceal their admiration . Olympia ' s example failed not to supply the required excitement to the Princess Anna , who followed in her friend ' s eteps- <~ though , it may be , far behind . ^ A dangerous illness interrupted the young enthusiast ' s enjoyments for a time , and banished her to the quiet of her own home , from whence she returned , as soon as she recovered , to the palace , amidst the exultation of Its inmates , and to those scenes of intellectual display which still enthralled her heart with their fascinations . . For as yet Olympia knew
not that the highest aspirations of an immortal being are spiritual rather than intellectual . To her mind the bright lights of . classic literature had not yet * paled their ineffectual fires ? before the true light of an assured Christian faith . In her ardent pursuit of studies purely secular , she had hitherto neglected that knowledge which 'it is not good for the soul to be without . ' She was applauded as ' the . pride of Eerrara , ' and was not yet alive to the superior excellence of ' the honour which cometh from God only . ' »
The subsequent disgrace of this " bright particular star" that shone so brightly even in ^ the midst of so many surrounding luminaries is a lasting dishonour to the memory of Renee of France . Olympia afterwards married Andrew Grunthler , a German medical student , " who admired her genius and appreciated her virtues , and also shared her faith . " She soon afterwards retired to Germany with her husband , Italy being no longer a safe asy lum for one whose opinions were known to be so inimical to the doctrines of the Church of Rome . In another part of the book , the author thus records the death of this highminded and heroic girl .
" During the short remainder of Olympia Morata ' s earthly existence the literary character of her life was almost entirely merged in the moral and the spiritual . As one wha was well aware of her precarious state of health , she gave more earnest heed than ever to preparation for eternity . Not that her household duties , once so irksome , . were neglected under the clear sense of a still higher feminine obligation to which she had been awakened . ; not that she ceased to instruct her young brother , Emilio in those classical studies which once were her sole delight : but the word of God was now the subject
of her mediation . All her own aspirations were heavenward . And as to things temporal , she had learned that it was ' far better to endure all with Jesus Christ than to possess the whole world without Him / Though she still loved with faithful affection-those friends who , amidst the storm of persecution / liad never forsaken her , her letters to them reveal the gradual weaning of her soul from all human ties , and her ever-growing ' desire to depart , and to be with Christ . ' A little while , and her desire was granted . The mortal disease under which she laboured increased during the summer of 1555 ,
and claimed Olympia as its prey on the 7 th of November following . When ' all but expiring , having awoke from sleep a little while before , she appeared to me , ' wrote her bereaved husband to Curione , ' under the influence of some joyful sensation , to be laughing as it were by stealth . I approached her , and asked what she saw that was so sweet . ' I saw , ' said , * in my sleep just now , a spot full of the most beautiful and the brightest light . ' More she could not utter through her weakness . * Well , utiful
my wife , ' I said , « thou wilt dwell in that bea light . ' Smiling again , she nodded with her head , and soon after said , ' I am all gladness . ' Nor did see speak again , except that just .. as her eyes were growing dim , she said , ' I scarcely distinguish you any longer , but all beside seems full of the loveliest flowers . ' These were her very last words . Eor not long afterward , as one sinking into a sweet sleep , she breathed her last . ' She was in her twenty-ninth year when she died . "
But to return to the Duchess ^ whose words , and actions form the principal topic of the present memoir . It was not to be supposed that the Catholic powers of Europe would long allow a " heretic " of such illustrious station to enjoy her new faith without remonstrance and disturbance . The consequence was that her husband , a bigoted Catholic , after seeking in yain , hy mild means to change the tenoiar of his wife ' s opinions , at length forced her , by bitter and unrelenting persecution , to make a false recantation , and return once more into the body of the Romish faith . Upon the death of her spouse , however , Ren 6 e , trusting in her maternal influence over the mind of the young Duke , at once threw off the mask , and boldly declared her continued adherence to the Calvin
istic creed . Alas ! she knew not that m that bigotted and persecuting age , tolerance in religious matters was not to bo obtained even from those nearest and dearest to our hearts ; and she soon received from her son the " stern alternative " to renounce her religious opinions or withdraw from Ferrara . She clxose the latter . Thus , after an absence of thirty-two years , the soil of France again became the home of its native princess . She retired to her little dependency of Montargis , which , together -with other ' places had formed a portion of her marriage dowry . Here she was soon made to acknowledge in bitterness of spirit that the struggle between the contending «*«»
? was i-agiiig as ^ violently in -France as in Italy ; an instance of this may be deduced from the following account of the conspiracy of Amboise : — " The plan proposed by La Renaudie waa as follows . A large number of Huguenots were to present themselves unarmed before the . king at Blois , with a petition imploring him to withdraw the persecuting edicts , and to grant the Reformed the free exercise of their religion . And , since their secret assemblies by night had afforded to their enemies a pretext for calumniating their conduct , they were to beseech the king to grant permission for their
assemblin « - in temples open to the public , and under the eye of authority . Meanwhile , when the royal attention was attracted to this crowd of unarmed petitioners at the foot of the throne , five hundred horsemen , and a thousand infantry , chosen from amongst gentlemen , the most devoted to the cause of the Huguenots and Bourbons , were to meet from the different provinces , to advance in silence , surprise the town of Biois , seize the persons of the bruises , bring them to trial , engage Francis II . to follow froin henceforth the counsels of the Bourbon princes , and to convoke the States-General . * _ ¦¦ ¦
" The conspiracy failed—being divulged , through terror or remorse , by a partisan named Avenelles , in whose house La Renaudie lodged , whilst waiting in Paris the time for its execution . The Guises being forewarned , were of course forearmed . Measures were craftily taken to lull the Huguenots into a false security , and thus to insure their after-destruction . The court removed from Blois to Amboise . It was known that the secret had transpired , ' but La Renaudie , judging that matters had gone too far to admit of a retreat , pushed the affair to extremity . The precautions of the Guises were , however , too
well taken . La Renaudie , at the head of his troop , being encountered by a royal force in the forest of Chateau Renaud , was slain in the combat . Another of the leaders , Castelneau , had previously ^ rendered himself to . the Duke of Nemours at Noizai ; Mazere and Raunai were also prisoners . Jnen be ^ an those executions which have blackened ^ for ever the names of those who ordered them , " and of those who witnessed them . Not less than twelve hundred victims perished to glut the vengeance of
the brothers of Guise . * The executions proceeded , says L * Planche . ' with the greatest diligence , for not a day nor night passed in which a great number were not put to death , and all of them personages of distinction . Some were drowned , others hanged , others beheaded . But what was strange to see , and a tiling that had never happened under any form of government , was their being led to execution without any sentence publicly pronounced upon them , or any declaration made of the reason of their deaths , or even of their names .... One thing
observed . . . was that the executions were reserved until after dinner , contrary to custoni , but the Guises did this expressly to afford some pastime for the ladies , who had become weary of being so long in this place . And in truth they both ( eux et elles ) took station at the windows of the castle , as if there had been some mameries to be played before them , being moved neither with pity nor compassion—at least there was no appearance of any in
, them . And what is worse , the king and his young brothers appeared at these spectacles , and the sufferers were pointed out to them hy tho . cardinal , with the signs of a man who rejoiced greatly to animate the prince against his own subjects ; for when they died with the greatest constancy , he would say , ¦ ' Behold , sire , these audacious infuriates ! The fear of death cannot abate their pride and malice : what would they then do if they had you m
their hands ? ' "f The subsequent life of Ren < 5 e was composed of various acts of charity towards her oppressed brethren . Endeavouring by every means in her power to alleviate their wretched lot , she drew down upon herself much vexation and turmoil from the ° ft ° wo ^ ffoccupy too much space . . enumerate the many conspiracies , and court intrigues , both roltaiouflT and political , which make up the history of tf s dark per iod ; suffice it , that n the midst of Jhe horrible massacre of St Bartho omew , and the viL «™ nl horror with which intelligence of that
, event was received bv the whole Pro > stan , t . world the princess Bonee , daughter of Louis X ™ >™ Duchess of Ferrara , breathed her last , deeply lamented by her own family , and tho , remnants oi K bleeXg ! persecuted sect with which her name is so nobly associated . The reader will find much information and considerable amusement from the perusal of thi » welldigested , and elegantly-written volume .
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• Via 4 'Olympic iMproty . pp . 21 ,. S 3 . t Ibid , pp . 83 , m . X Vie 4 'OlynxpTit Morata , p . 29 .
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• For all tho p / wrticttiara of this conspiracy , so © Slwwwdl , ** rfenfe / aolJipianohtf , p . 814 . QuotoOl by ammonal , fc x vllCpp . H 8 , IW .
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afa . 435 . ^ bpt . J % 1 . 859 . ] TiHfE LEADEBv 1 Q 6 S
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1859, page 1063, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2312/page/19/
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