Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1803 edition. Excerpt: ... mained unimpaired to an advanced period of life. Her hands and arms were remarkable for their beauty; her shape, faultless in her youth, became afterwards injured by corpulency; her head also was disproportionably large, nor could she walk any distance without being subject to dizziness: this disorder was probably occasioned by a severe blow on the head, which she had received in hunting, and which subjected her to the operation of the trepan: she also once broke her leg in the same exercise, of which she was peculiarly fond, and which she continued till her sixtieth year. She piqued herself on her skill and boldness in managing a horse. When Henry lay expiring, the mind of Catherine, though apparently overwhelmed with grief, was intent on the conduct it would be proper for her to pursue. She dreaded the power of the Guises: Montmorenci the constable, who had united himself with her rival, was yet more obnoxious to her. He had dared to suggest suspicions injurious to her honour, by hinting, that of all the children of Henry, one only, a natural daughter, bore any resemblance to him: he had beside uniformly persecuted the Florentines who followed Catherine into France, or who had sought promotion in the court. These mortifications were submitted to by the queen during the life of her husband, but, when released from the necessity of dissimulation, they were remembered by her and resented. Thus was Catherine induced to lend an ear to the princes of Lorrain, who, as a cement of their union, promised to sacrifice to her the mistress of her husband. Diana, abandoned by the crowd of parasites and courtiers, sunk, in her turn, into neglect and humiliation. Some magnanimity must be allowed on this occasion to Catherine, who, tempted to a bloody...
