of Henry IV, was famous for her
beauty, talents and profligacy. The marriage was a political one, but
she lived with him, tolerating his infidelities, while he refused to
tolerate her religion. Henry had her imprisoned, and refused to liberate
her until she should renounce her rank, to which she acceded, and Henry
married Marie de Medici. Marguerite retained the title of queen, became
a social leader, although continuing her profligate habits._]

Marguerite d'Angouleme must first be considered as the real power
behind the supreme authority of her period, her brother the king;
secondly, as a furtherer of the development and encouragement of
good literature, good taste, high art, and pure morals; thirdly, as
a critic of importance. She is entitled to the first consideration by
the fact that as the confidential adviser of Francis I. she moulded
his opinions and checked his evil tendencies: the affairs of the
kingdom were therefore, to a large extent, in her hands. She collected
and partly organized the chaotic mass of material thrown upon the
sixteenth-century world, leaving its moulding into a classic
French form to the next century; and by her spirit of tolerance she
endeavored to further all moral development: thus is she entitled to
the second consideration. Gifted with rare delicacy of taste, solidity
of judgment, and the ability to select, discriminate, and adapt, she
set the standards of style and tone: therefore, she is entitled to the
third consideration.

The love of Marguerite for her brother, and her unselfish devotion to
his interests, is a precedent unparalleled in French history until
the time of Madame de Sevigne. In all her letters we find the same
tenderness, gentleness, passion, inexhaustible emotion, sympathy, and
compassion that distinguished her actions.

In her _Contes_ (the _Heptameron_) _de la Reine de Navarre_ we have
an accurate representation of society, its manners and style of
conversation; in it we find, also, remnants of the brutality and
grossness of the Middle Ages, as well as reflections of the higher
tendencies and aspirations of the later time. In having a thorough
knowledge of the tricks, deceits, and follies of the professional
lovers of the day, and of their object in courting women, Marguerite
was able to warn her contemporaries and thus guard them against
immorality and its dangers. In her works she upheld the purity of
ideal love, exposing the questionable and selfish designs