CATHARINE DE' MEDICI, the queen of Henri II. of France, was the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, duke of Urbino, and was h. at Florence in 1519. In her 14th year she was brought to France, and married to Ilenri, the second son of Francis I. The marriage was a part of the political schemes of her uncle, pope Clement VII., but as. he died soon after, she found herself friendless and neglected at the French court. In these circumstances, she conducted herself with a submission which seemed even to indicate a want of proper spirit, but which gained her the favor of the old king, and is some measure also of her husband. It was not till the accession of her eldest son, Francis II., in 1559, that her love of power began to display itself. The Guises at this time possessed a power which seemed dangerous to that of the throne, and C. entered into a secret alliance with the Huguenots to oppose them. On the death of Francis II. in 1560, and accession of Charles IX., the government fell entirely into her hands. Caring little for religion in itself, although she was very prone to superstition, she dis liked the Protestants, chiefly because their principles were opposed to the absolute despotism which she desired to maintain. Vet she sought, to rally the Protestant leaders around the throne, in order to remove the Guises. This attempt having failed, and the civil war which ensued having ended in the peace of Amboise, highly favorable to the Protestants, she became alarmed at the increase of their power, and entered into a secret treaty with Spain for the extirpation of heretics; and subsequently into a plot 'with the Guises, in which at first only the murder of the Protestant leaders was con templated, but which resulted in the fearful massacre of St. Bartholomew's day. This
event brought the whole power of the state into the bands of the queen-mother, who boasted of the deed to Roman Catholic governments, and excused it to Protestant ones, for she now managed all the correspondence of the court. About this time she suc ceeded, by gold and intricrues, in getting her third son, afterwards Henri III., elected to the Polish throne. But her arbitrary and tyrannical administration roused the oppo sition of a Roman Catholic party, at the head of whom was her own fourth son, the duke of Alencon, who allied themselves with the Protestants. It was very generally believed that she was privy to the machinations that led to his death. \\lien, after the death of Charles IX., Henri III. returned from Poland to be king of France, his mother still ruled the court, and had the principal share in all the intrigues,treacheries, and political transactions of that woful period. Having betrayed all who trusted them, she and her son found themselves at last forsaken and abhorred by all. The league and the Guises had no more confidence in them, than had the Protestants and Henri of Navarre. Vexation on this account prayed on the proud heart of the queen-mother in her last days; and, amidst the confusion and strife of parties, she died at Blois, on 5th Jan., 1589, unheeded and unlamented. Her ruling passion was ambition, and to this she was ready to saeri tice everything. Her unprincipled policy had almost subverted the French monarchy.; her extravagance and luxury exhausted the finances of the country. Her influence was powerful in increasing the demoralization of the court and of society. She unscrupu lously employed beauties of her train to corrupt men from whose power she apprehended danger.