Cristina and Monal des chi

( Jocoseria , 1883.)—I am indebted to the valuable paper which Mrs. Alexander Ireland contributed to the Browning Society on Feb. 27th, 1891, for the facts relating to the subject of this poem. Queen Cristina of Sweden was the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus. She was born in 1626, and came to the throne on the death of her father, in 1632. She was highly educated and brilliantly accomplished. She was perfectly acquainted with Greek, Latin, French, German, English, Italian, and Spanish. In due time she had batches of royal suitors, but she refused to bind herself by the marriage tie; rather than marry, she decided to abdicate, choosing as her succe or her cousin Charles Gustavus. The formal and unusual ceremony of abdication took place in the cathedral of Upsala, in June 1654. Proceeding to Rome, she renounced the Protestant religion, and publicly embraced that of the Catholic Church. The officers of her household were exclusively Italian. Among these was the Marquis Monal des chi, nominated “Master of the Horse,” described by Cristina in her own memoirs as “a gentleman of most handsome person and fine manners, who from the first moment reigned exclusively over my heart.” Cristina abandoned herself to this man, who proved a traitor and a scoundrel. He took every advantage of his position as favourite, and having reaped honour and riches, Monal des chi wearied of his royal mistre and sought new attractions. The closing scene of Queen Cristina’s liaison with the Grand Equerry inspired Mr. Browning’s poem. He has chosen the moment when all the treachery of Monal des chi has revealed itself to the Queen. The scene is at Fontainebleau, whither Cristina has removed from Rome; here the letters came into her hands which broke her life. A Cardinal Azzolino had obtained po e ion of a wretched and dangerous correspondence. The packet included the Queen’s own letters to her lover—letters written in the fulne of perfect trust, telling much that the unhappy lady could have told to no other living being. Monal des chi’s letters to his young Roman beauty made a jest, a mockery of the Queen’s exceeding fondne for him. They were letters of unsparing and wounding ridicule; and, while acting thus, Monal des chi had steadily adhered to the show of unaltered attachment to the Queen and deep respect for his royal mistre . Cristina’s emotions on seeing the whole hateful, cowardly treachery laid bare were doubtle maddening. She arranged an interview with the Marquis in the picture gallery in the Palace of Fontainebleau. She was accompanied by an official of her Court, and had at hand a priest from the neighbouring convent of the Maturins, armed with copies of the letters which were to serve as the death-warrant of the Marquis. They had been placed by Cardinal Azzolino in Cristina’s hands through the medium of her “Major-Domo,” with the knowledge that the Cardinal had already seen their infamous contents. The originals she had on her own person. Added to this, she had in the background her Captain of the Guard, Sent in ell i, with two other officers. In the Galerie des Cerfs hung a picture of François I. and Diane de Poictiers. To this picture the Queen now led the Marquis, pointing out the motto on the frame—“Quis sep arab it?” The Queen reminds her lover how they were vowed to each other. The Marquis had vowed, at a tomb in the park of Fontainebleau, that, as the grave kept a silence over the corpse beneath, so would his love and trust hold fast the secret of Cristina’s love to all eternity. Now the woman’s spirit was wounded to death. She was scorned, her pride outraged; but she was a queen, and the man a subject, and she felt she must a ert her dignity at least once more. The Marquis doubtle tottered as he stood. “Kneel,” she says. This was the final scene of the tragedy. Cristina now calls forth the priest and the a a ins, having granted herself the bitter pleasure of such personal revenge as was po ible for her, poor woman! “Friends, my four! You, Priest, confe him! I have judged the culprit there: my sentence! Care For no mail such cowards wear! Done, Priest? Then, absolve and ble him! Now—you three, stab thick and fast, Deep and deeper! Dead at last?” In October 1657 Cristina already felt suspicious of Monal des chi. Keenly watching his actions, she had found him guilty of a double perfidy, and had led him on to a conversation touching a similar unfaithfulne . “What,” the Queen had said, “does the man deserve who should so have betrayed a woman?” “Instant death,” said Monal des chi; “’twould be an act of justice.” “It is well,” said she; “I will remember your words.” As to the right of the Queen to execute Monal des chi, it must be remembered that, by a special clause in the Act of Abdication, she retained absolute and sovereign jurisdiction over her servants of all kinds. The only objection made by the French Court was, that she ought not to have permitted the murder to take place at Fontainebleau. After this crime Cristina was compelled to leave France, and finally retired to Rome, giving herself up to her artistic tastes, science, chemistry and idlene . She died on April 19th, 1689; her epitaph on her tomb in St. Peter’s at Rome was chosen by herself—“Cristina lived sixty-three years.” Notes. —“ Quis sep arab it? ” who shall separate? King Francis —François I. The gallery of this king is the most striking one in the palace. Diane , the gallery of Diana, the godde . Primatice == Primatic cio, who designed some of the decorations of the Galerie de François I. Salamander sign : the emblem of Francis I., often repeated in the decorations. Florentine Le Roux == Ro i, the Florentine artist. Fontainebleau : its Château Royal is very famous. “ Juno strikes Ixion ,” who attempted to seduce her. Avon , a village near Fontainebleau.