mission, and were referred to her when
the king was busy; they were enraptured, and carried back wonderful
reports of Marguerite.

The world of art was opened to the French by a bevy of such painters
and sculptors as Leonardo da Vinci, Rosso, Primaticcio, Benvenuto
Cellini, and Bramante, and they were encouraged and feted by
Marguerite especially. In those days a new picture from Italy by
Raphael was received with as much pomp and ceremony as, in olden
times, were accorded the holiest relics from the East.

Men of letters gathered about the sister of the king, forming what
might be termed a court of sentimental metaphysics; for the questions
discussed were those of love. This refined gallantry, empty and vapid,
formed the foundation of the seventeenth-century salon, where the
language and fine points of sentiment were considered and cultivated
until sentiment acquired poise, grandeur, and an air of dignity and
reserve.

The period was one in which, during times of trial and misfortune, the
presence of an underlying religious sentiment became unmistakable. In
such an atmosphere, the propensity toward mysticism, which Marguerite
had manifested as a child, grew more and more apparent. When Francis
I. was captured at the battle of Pavia, his sister immediately sought
consolation in devotion, the nature of which is well illustrated in a
letter to the captive king:

"Monseigneur, the further they remove you from us, the greater becomes
my firm hope of your deliverance and speedy return, for the hour
when men's minds are most troubled is the hour when God achieves His
masterstroke ... and if He now gives you, on one hand, a share in the
pains which He has borne for you, and, on the other hand, the grace
to bear them patiently, I entreat you, Monseigneur, to believe
unfalteringly that it is only to try how much you love Him and to give
you leisure to think how much He loves you. For He desires to have
your heart entirely, as, for love, He has given you His own; He has
permitted this trial, in order, after having united you to Him by
tribulation, to deliver you for His own glory--so that, through you,
His name may be known and sanctified, not in your kingdom alone, but
in all Christendom and even to the conversion of the infidels. Oh, how
blessed will be your brief captivity by which God will deliver so many
souls from that infidelity and eternal damnation! Alas, Monseigneur!
I know that you understand all this far better t