. Historical portraits ... the lives of Fletcher .. . were far from happy. Shedisliked Buckingham, who tried to poison the Kings mind against religion and her French attendants were unpopular, and, when thelatter were dismissed by Charles, she felt forlorn and ill at ease amidher English surroundings. Yet this feeling slowly gave way beforethe strength of habit, and after a reconciliation with her husband hadtaken place, she led a careless and innocent life, devoted only topleasure and troubled only by the need of money, in which her ex-travagance continually involved her. Her l
. Historical portraits ... the lives of Fletcher .. . were far from happy. Shedisliked Buckingham, who tried to poison the Kings mind against religion and her French attendants were unpopular, and, when thelatter were dismissed by Charles, she felt forlorn and ill at ease amidher English surroundings. Yet this feeling slowly gave way beforethe strength of habit, and after a reconciliation with her husband hadtaken place, she led a careless and innocent life, devoted only topleasure and troubled only by the need of money, in which her ex-travagance continually involved her. Her love of acting and dancingdeeply shocked the Puritans, while both her frivolity and her religiousactivities brought her into collision with Laud, but she had no premoni-tion of the storm that was about to burst. Apart from a few waywardintrigues, she played no part in politics; yet, like Marie Antoinette,she was preparing for her husbands overthrow bj her heedlessnessand ignorance of public opinion. When the struggle began, she threw herself into it impetu-. HENRIKTTA MARIA From tlie portrait by Sir Anthony Van Dyck belonging to tin Earl of Radnor at Longford Castle Fact p. 86 HENRIETTA MARIA 87 ously and courageousl}. She became the leader of the moreheadstrong Royalists, whose wild and ill-calculated schemes did somuch to ruin their cause. Henrietta herself was full of energy andresolution, but her ignorance of English feeling and prejudice ren-dered her plans fruitless and her influence on the King Arm} Plot and the attempt to seize the five members werelargely due to her belief that the popular party could be crushed byforce, as the French Protestants had been. Her choice of adviserswas likewise perverse. She preferred men like Digby and Hamil-ton to sane counsellors like Hyde or Montrose, who might haveshown her the danger of seeking foreign assistance, which shemade the chief aim of her endeavours. Having failed in her over-tures to the Pope and Richelieu, s
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectportraitpainting
