Source:
Some Historic Women; or, Biographical Studies of Women Who Have Made History, pages 283 to 285, by William Henry Davenport Adams, 1890-1899; original at the University of Toronto - Robarts Library
Above: Kristina.
The biography:
She still continued to draw around her the literati of Europe. Among those who availed themselves of her liberal hospitality was the learned Salmasius, a man of ability and scholarship, who is best known to English readers as the author of the "Defensio Regis", published in 1649, a panegyric on Charles I., and a diatribe against the Commonwealth. Milton was commissioned to refute it, and produced his "Defensio pro Populo Anglicano", a work which, in spite of some violence of language, is full of learning and eloquence, and inspired by an ardent love of freedom. Salmasius began a reply, but died before it was finished, and the report ran that his death was accelerated by the severe treatment he had received at the hands of his great adversary. Christina, it is said, praised Milton's work to Salmasius himself, a refinement of cruelty of which we decline to believe her to have been guilty! But she could not fail to be pleased with the warm and poetical compliment which, at a later period, the grave austere Republican addressed to her (In his "Defensio Secunda", written in reply to the "Clamor Sanguinis."). Of such a compliment, from such a man, any Queen might well have been proud.
"How happy am I beyond my utmost expectations (for to the praise of eloquence, except in so far as eloquence consists in the force of truth, I lay no claim), that, when the critical exigences of my country compelled me to undertake the difficult and invidious task of impugning the rights of kings, I should meet with so illustrious, so truly royal a witness to my integrity, and to the truth that I had not written a word against kings, but only against tyrants, the spots and the pests of royalty. That you, O Augusta, possessed not only so much magnanimity, but were so irradiated by the glorious beams of wisdom and virtue, that you read not alone with patience, with incredible impartiality, with a serene complacency of countenance, what might seem to be attacks upon your rights and dignity, but expressed such an opinion of Salmasius, their defender, as might well be considered an adjudication of the palm of victory to his opponent.
"You, O Queen, will for ever be the object of my homage, my veneration, and my love: for it was your greatness of soul, so honourable to yourself, and so auspicious to me, which served to efface the unfavourable impression against me at other courts, and to rescue me from the evil surmises of other sovereigns. ... It was not in vain that you made such huge collections of books and so many monuments of learning; not, indeed, that they could contribute much to your instruction, but because they so well teach your subjects to appreciate the merits of your reign, and the rare excellence of your virtue and your wisdom. For the Divinity Himself seems to have inspired you with a love of wisdom and a thirst for improvement beyond what any books could ever have produced. It excites no astonishment to see a force of intellect so truly divine, a particle of celestial flame so resplendently pure, in a region so remote; of which an atmosphere, so darkened with clouds, and so chilled with frosts, could not extinguish the light nor repress the operations. The rocky and barren soil, which is often as unfavourable to the growth of genius as of plants, has not impeded the maturation of your faculties; that country so rich in metallic ore, which appears like a cruel step-mother to others, seems to have been a fostering parent to you; and after the most strenuous attempts to have produced at last a progeny of pure gold.
"I would invoke you, Christina, as the only child of the renowned and victorious Adolphus, if your merit did not as much eclipse his, as wisdom excels strength, and the arts of peace surpass the havoc of war. Henceforth, the Queen of the South will not be alone renowned in history; for there is a Queen of the North, who would not only be worthy to appear in the court of the wise King of the Jews, or any king of equal wisdom, but to whose court others from all parts may repair, to behold so fair a heroine, so bright a pattern of all the royal virtues; and to the crown of whose praise this may well be added, that neither in her conduct nor her appearance, is there any of the forbidding reserve or the ostentatious parade of royalty. She herself seems the least conscious of her own attributes of sovereignty; and her thoughts are always fixed on something greater and more sublime than the glitter of a crown. In this respect, her example may well make innumerable kings hide their diminished heads. She may, if such is the ill future of the Swedish nation, abdicate the sovereignty, but she can never lay aside the Queen; for her reign has proved that she is fit to govern, not only Sweden, but the world.
"This tribute of praise to so highly meritorious a Queen there is, I trust, no one who will not applaud; if others did not pay it, I could not have withheld it without the imputation of the most heinous ingratitude. For, whether it be owing to the benign aspects of the planets, or to the secret sympathies and affinities of things, I cannot too much extol my good fortune in having found, in a region so remote, a patron so impartial and so kind, whom of all I least expected, but of all the most desired."
It must be owned that if Milton could attack with unmeasured bitterness, he could applaud with noble liberality.
Notes: the Queen of the South = the Queen of Sheba.
The wise King of the Jews = King Solomon.
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