Source:
Eccentric Biography; or, Memoirs of Remarkable Female Characters, Ancient and Modern, pages 97 to 99, by anonymous author, 1803; original at The British Library
The biography:
... The inconstancy of Christina's temper appeared from her going perpetually from place to place; from Brussels she went to Rome; from Rome to France, and from France she returned to Rome again; after this she went to Sweden, where she was not very well received; from Sweden to Hamburg, where she continued a year, and then went again to Rome; from Rome she returned to Hamburg, and again to Sweden, where she was received still worse than before, upon which she went back to Hamburg, and from Hamburg again to Rome; she intended another journey to Sweden, but it did not take place any more than an expedition to England, where Cromwell did not seem well disposed to receive her; and after many wanderings, and many purposes of wandering still more, she at last died at Rome. It must be acknowledged, that her journeys to Sweden had a motive of necessity, for her appointments were very ill paid, though the States often confirmed them after her abdication; but to other places she was led merely by a roving disposition, and, what is more to her discredit, she always disturbed the quiet of every place she came into, by exacting greater deference to her rank, as queen, than she had a right to expect, by the total nonconformity to the customs of the place, and by continually exciting and fomenting intrigues of state. She was indeed always too busy, even when she was upon the throne, for there was no event in Europe in which she was not ambitious of acting a principle part. During the troubles in France, by the faction called the Fronde, she wrote with great eagerness to all the interested parties, officiously offering her mediation to reconcile their interests, and calm their passions, the secret springs of which it was impossible she should know; this was first thought a dangerous, and afterwards a ridiculous behaviour. During her residence in France, she gave universal disgust, not only by violating all the customs of the country, but by practising others directly opposite; she treated the ladies of the court with the greatest rudeness and contempt; when they came to embrace her, she being in a man's habit, cried out, 'What a strange eagerness have these women to kiss me! is it because I look like a man?' But, though she ridiculed the manners of the French court, she was very solicitous to enter into its intrigues. Lewis the XIVth, then very young, was enamoured of Mademoiselle de Mancini, niece to Cardinal Mazarine; Christina flattered their passion, and offered her service: 'I would fain be your confidant', said she; 'if you love, you must marry.' The expressions constantly used by Christina, in her letters, with respect to those with whom she was offended, were exceedingly harsh; for she scarce ever signified her displeasure without threat[e]ning the life of the offender. 'If you fail in your duty', said she to her secretary (whom she sent to Stockholm after her abdication) 'not all the powers of the king of Sweden shall save your life, though you should take shelter in his arms.' In the affair of the Franchises, the pretended rights of which she asserted with great haughtiness, she wrote thus to the pope's officers: 'Take my word, that those whom you have condemned to die, shall, if it please God, live some time longer, and, if it happens that they die a violent death, be assured they shall not die alone.' A musician having quitted her service for that of the duke of Savoy, she was so transported with rage as to disgrace herself by these words, in a letter written with her own hand: 'He lives only for me; and, if he does not sing for me, he shall not sing long for any body. — It is his duty to live only in my service; and, if he does not, he shall sorely repent it.' Bayle was also threatened very severely, for having said that the letter which Christina wrote, upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes, was a remain of protestantism: but he made his peace by apologies and submission. ...
Above: Kristina.
Note: embrace = kiss.
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