Source:
Memoirs of celebrated female sovereigns, volume 1, pages 47 to 50, by Anna Brownell Jameson, 1831
The biography:
The style of learning and philosophy which prevailed in Christina's court seems to have been precisely that which Molière has so happily ridiculed in the "femmes savantes", and which is now out of date, — a mixture of scholastic pedantry and elaborate trifling.
On looking over the list of "savans" who were entertained in the Swedish Court, we find few of any real merit or celebrity; there are two or three, however, who deserve to be more particularly noticed; of these, one of the most remarkable was De Saumaise, better known by his Latin appellation, Salmasius, as the political and literary antagonist of Milton: the erudition of this man was wonderful, almost, says Johnson, "exceeding all hope of human attainment;" and since the death of Grotius had left him without a rival, he had reigned not only the monarch, but the tyrant of literature. He was a proof, were any proof wanted, that the true value of all human knowledge consists in its application; instead of being numbered among those "great and good men whose published labours have advanced the good of posterity", he has sunk into a mere name, which is only interesting as associated with that of Milton; while the one blot upon the pure and transcendent fame of the poet, is connected with the name of Salmasius. Isaac Vossius, a very celebrated theologian, antiquarian, and critic of that time was another whom Christina particularly distinguished. The private character of both these men was hateful, and they are supposed to have exercises a most mischievous influence on the mind of the young queen. It appears that they first unsettled her religious opinions, and blunted her moral feelings, by continually occupying her with idle metaphysical disputes, under pretence of studying philosophy.
Descartes, who had often declared that he valued his liberty at so high a rate, that no monarch of Europe could buy it from him, was at length induced, by the flattering and earnest entreaties of Christina, to visit her capital. He fondly believed that he had insured his independence, by stipulating that he should be exempted from all court-ceremonial. The queen consented; but she required his attendance in her library every morning at five o'clock. The unhappy philosopher, whose health was extremely delicate, was obliged to comply with his despotic patroness. These early hours, and the extreme coldness of the climate, threw him into a consumptive disorder: his malady was increased by the haughtiness and negligence with which Christina resented his admiration of the Princess Palatine (The eldest daughter of Elizabeth of Bohemia.), and at the end of four months he died at Stockholm.
The want of judgment which Christina displayed in the choice of some of her literary favourites, her capricious treatment of others (She made Naudé and Meibom, two famous Greek scholars, execute a Greek dance for her amusement; and Bochart, one of the gravest and most profound scholars of the time, play at battledore and shuttlecock. — Vide Bayle.), the immense sums she lavished upon them, either to purchase or to reward their venal flattery, — their mutual hatred and envy, — their disputes, which often embroiled her court, — instead of introducing among the Swedes, who were a plain, rough, straightforward people, any taste or reverence for literature, tended to degrade it in their eyes, dissipated the treasures of the state, and lowered Christina both in their estimation and their love.
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Above: Kristina.
Above: Anna Brownell Jameson.
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