Chapter XV: The Closing Scene (4)

[600] The Neustadt letter says it was cut off for the sake of the reward: “damit noch 2000 Kronen zu gewinnen.” Alva says: “la mettant au bout de son épée, la portait par la ville, criant, Voilà la tête d’un méchant.” _Bulletin_, p. 563. He adds the body was torn in pieces by the mob, so that “jamais on n’en sût recouvrer pièce.” At the time Gomicourt wrote to Alva, it was not known what had become of it.

[601] Malgaigne, the latest biographer of Paré, does not believe the tradition that the great surgeon was specially saved from massacre, and denies that he was a Huguenot.

[602] Some writers make him two or three years younger.

[603] _De Civilibus Galliæ dissentionibus_, lib. 2, Nos. 39 and 52, apud Martene, _Veter. Script._ tom. v. 1459. Jacques Coppier, in a versified pamphlet on the massacre, called the _Déluge des Huguenots_, calls the admiral “Ce grand Caspar au curedent.”

[604] Harleian MSS. No. 1625. In the _Complainte et Regretz du G. de C._ (Paris, 1572) the dead admiral is supposed to express his regret: “J’ai honni ma maison en trahissant la France--Et ruiné les miens par mon outrecuidance.” See also another abusive pamphlet: _Le Discours sur la Mort du G. de C._, Paris.

[605] Coryat (p. 16) describes it as “the fairest gallows” he ever saw. It was on a hill, and consisted of fourteen pillars of freestone, and was “made in the time of the Guisian massacre to hang the admiral.” In this he is wrong; other authorities reckon sixteen pillars on a stone platform, tied together by two rows of beams. The bodies were left a prey to beasts and birds; and the bones fell into a charnel where the filth of the streets was shot. _Le Gibet de M._ by Firmin-Maillard, 18mo. Paris, 1863; _Des Anciennes fourches patibulaires de M._, by M. de la Villegille, Paris, 1836.

[606] “After the massacre his body was exposed with the eternal _tooth-pick in his mouth_.” _Edinb. Review_, cxxiv. 1866, p. 369. This is a mistake, the body was headless.

[607] “Graveolentiam scilicet hostilium cadaverum, quibusvis odoribus et pigmentis esse sibi fragrantiorem.”

[608] Even Brantome is disgusted: he says the smell is certainly not sweet; “point bonne, et la parole aussi mauvaise.”

[609] The Neustadt letter says that Teligny offered to ransom his life for 1000 crowns, which the captain agreed to accept if Guise would permit him. “I am a poor fellow, and 1000 will be of great use to me.”--“You are a fool,” answered the duke; “don’t you think the king will reward you better?” Teligny and his wife were poniarded. Teligny’s wife was _not_ killed; she afterward married William of Orange.

[610]

At furiis agitata novis regina superba
Signa cani properat, venturæ nuncia cædis,
Ne regis mutata loco sententia cedat.

_Tragica historia de miseranda laniena_, by R. Fresner, Emdæ, 1583.

[611] The tower on the Quai de l’Horloge, pointed out to strangers as that from which the signal was given, is of later date.

[612] “Á las iij horas de la mañana.” Olaegui. Beza’s account would place it a little later. “C’était au point du jour.” _Mém. de l’État de France_, i. 217.

[613] Jean de Gorris, years after his conversion, was so terrified at seeing his litter surrounded by soldiers, whom he imagined about to repeat the heresies of the Saint Bartholomew, that he was struck with paralysis.

[614] The sun rose at 5h. 6m. on August 24.

[615] There are great difficulties in fixing the time of this murderous scene. Davila and the Neustadt letter (p. 272) place it _before_ the ringing of the tocsin, that is to say, before day-light; while it is hard to believe that Margaret could be mistaken, or that the murders were committed _after_ the tocsin. Probably it was a little after four o’clock, as from an experiment made last 24th August, it would not have been possible to distinguish the king’s features earlier.

[616] The Neustadt letter says the night was far advanced (folgentz spädt in der Nacht) when the king sent for Henry, after which the Duke of Bouillon posted the soldiers told off to murder the Huguenot gentlemen.

[617] Margaret says thirty or forty, which is more probable.

[618] French history has an unfortunate habit of repeating itself in its worst characteristics:--“He is at the outer gate, conducted into a howling sea; forth under an arch of wild sabres, axes, and pikes; and sinks hewn asunder. And another sinks, and another, and there forms a piled heap of corpses, and the kennels were red.” Carlyle: _French Revolution_ (September 4–6, 1792), pt. 3, bk. 1.

[619] _Etat de Fr._ i. 209 _b_; at ii. 25. Henry of Navarre is said to have witnessed the murders.

[620] _Discours simple et véritable_, p. 36. Only two days before this, Charles and De Pilles had bathed together in the Seine, the latter holding the king’s chin and teaching him how to swim. Brantome: _Hom. Ill._ x. p. 193.

[621] _De Furoribus Gallicis_; _Réveille-Matin, etc._

[622] “Non sine magno et effuso risu.” Serranus.

[623] The name of this individual is not of importance; but he is called _Lerac_ by Brantome, and _Teyran_ by Mongez. _Hist. Marg. de Valois._ He was probably Gabriel de Levis, Viscount of Léran, the “Leiranus” of De Thou, and Leyran of Laval and Piguerre.

[624] Some accounts place this scene on the 26th, after Charles returned from the _lit de justice_. Did he threaten them twice? A similar threat is recorded on September 9, when Elizabeth his queen intervened with tears.

[625] The same figure is used by the author of the _Illustre Orbandole, où Hist. de Châlons-sur-Saone_. Lyon, 1672, b. 1, pt. 2, p. 10. “Une saignée fut si sagement ordonnée pour éteindre la chaleur d’une fièvre que des remèdes plus doux n’avait (_sic_) fait qu’irriter.”

[626] Cimber, _Arch. Cur._ vii. 217, Registres. _Réveille-Matin_, 64. Mezeray, iii. p. 258. _Mém. État de France_, i. 216.

[627] _Comptes de l’Hotel-de-Ville_, Félibien, ii. 1121.

[628] Bussy thus effectually gained his suit about the earldom of Renel. “Hérite-t-on, Seigneur, de ceux qu’on assassine?”

[629]

Comme les autres Pluviaut
A, faute de vin, bu de l’eau.

[630] It is written Odet Petit in Duplessis-Mornay’s _Memoirs_.

[631] Supra, p. 343.

[632] Pasquier, _Lettres_, p. 363. Some Englishmen are reported to have defended themselves successfully.

[633] In a receipt for his stipend (_penes auct._) dated 1563, he is called “Seigneur de la Ramée,” and a “noble et scientifique personne.”

[634] There is a picture by Robert Fleury, exhibited about 1840, in which Ramus is represented sitting up in a bed on the floor, while his servant listens anxiously at the door.

[635] _Chronographia_, p. 776, fol. Paris, 1600.

[636] “Nobis vel potius reip. satis pœnarum dedit.” In the dedication of his “Comparison between Plato and Aristotle,” published in January, 1573, Charpentier compliments the Cardinal of Lorraine on the “brilliant and sweet day that shone over France in the month of August last.” Dorat says of Ramus punningly: “Maximum _ramum_ maxima furca decet.”

[637] Claude Haton says he was killed “more than a week after the declaration,” as he was riding to his court.

[638] Now the Quai de la Mégisserie, between the Pont Neuf and the Pont au Change.

[639] Jacques Coppier jests on the bodies “envoyés à Rouen sans bateau.” Another writer thus plays on the memorable _mot_ of Charles IX.:

Cumque tuæ passim submersa cadavera plebis
Volvat in æquoreas Sequana tristis aquas,
Tu pisces illis vesci, qui mandere pisces
Noluerint, Roma præcipiente, refers.

_Illustr. aliquot Germ. Carm. lib. de immani laniena._ Vilnæ, 1573,
p. 8.

A pamphleteer declares:

Ha! vous serez ingrats, poissons, vous auriez tort,
Si ne les recevez, du moins, après la mort,
Puisque tant ils vous ont donné de courtoisie,
De ne vouloir jamais vous manger en leur vie.

_Discours sur les Guerres intestines_; par I. T., Paris, 1572.

[640] Agrippa d’Aubigné gives us the sequel of this man’s history. He assumed a hermit’s frock, and murdered the passengers he lured to his hermitage, “so unquenchable was his thirst for blood.” He met his tardy reward on the gibbet.

[641] _Journ. de Henri III._, i. p. 32 (anno 1574).

[642] _Le Tocsain_, p. 145 (Rheims, 1579).

[643] Fronde says hastily, that the story rests only on the “worthless authority of Brantome.” _Hist. Engl._ x. 406. Now Brantome was a terrible gossip, but what could induce him to coin such a detestable story? Smedley (_Prot. Ref. France_, ii. 367) also says, “the fact is not mentioned by D’Aubigné,” which a subsequent note will show to be a mistake. Mezeray (_Abrégé_, 1665) says: “Le roy ... tâchait de les canarder;” Bossuet: “Le roi qui les tirait par les fenêtres.” The _Réveille-Matin_, published in 1574, mentions it: so that the story was at least contemporaneous.

[644] _Mém. État de France_, i. 1579 (2d ed.), 212 _b_.

[645] “De laquelle ce prince _giboyait_ de la fenêtre,” ed. 1626, p. 548. In his poem of _Les Tragiques_ he refers to the same report, using the same characteristic expression:

Ce roy, non juste roy, mais juste harquebusier,
Giboyait aux passans trop tardif à noyer,
Vantant ses coups heureux.

_Les Fers_, p. 240.

This paints the king firing on the yet living bodies as they floated down the river. Agrippa is not an authority for the fact; but it is something to show that the report existed so early. I am told that a plate of the time represents this window as walled up. If this be true, why was it closed?

[646] Du Cerceau farther tells us that, at the time when the first part of his work appeared, the great gallery intended to unite the Louvre with the Tuileries had been begun.

[647] The time was about five, which gave him two hours’ start of Guise.

[648] _Memoirs of Sully_ (transl.), 4to. London, 1761, p. 27.

[649] _Mém. et Corresp. de Duplessis-Mornay_ (8vo. Paris, 1824–34), i. p. 45. He escaped to Rye, which, after suffering from a severe pestilence, had been “replenished by the French, who sheltered themselves here from the great massacre ...; so that, in 1582, were found inhabiting here 1534 persons of that nation.” Jeake (Sam.): _Charters of the Cinque Ports_ (Lond. 1728), p. 108.

[650] Granvelle, hearing that L’Hopital and his wife were murdered, writes exultingly, and hopes that Catherine will soon be disposed of. See Michelet: _La Ligue_, p. 475.

[651] _Mém. authentiques de Jacques Nompar de Caumont_: ed. by Marquis de la Grange, 8vo. Paris, 1843. Voltaire in his poetry adopts Mezeray’s account, that the father and his two sons lay in the same bed; that two were killed, and the third saved as by a miracle: but in his notes to the _Henriade_ accepts the true version. De Thou and Sismondi also adopt the erroneous story.

[652] Mezeray says that he saved “more than 100 Huguenots.” _Abrégé_, v. 157.

[653] Burghley to Walsingham in Digges, September 9, 1572.

[654] To them of the Castle of Edinburgh, August 25, at noon. _MSS. Mary Q. of Scots_, Record Office.

[655] Ad Annam Æstensem.

[656] Mezeray, who half believes in the miracle, tries to account for it on natural causes: “On pourrait dire que la cause qui avait excité dans les esprits ce violent et extraordinaire accès de fureur, était aussi celle qui avait échauffé cet arbre, soit qu’elle procédât de la terre, soit qu’elle vînt de quelque influence des astres.” _Abrégé_, iii. 1085. Favyn (_Hist. Navarre_), then a boy six years old, was taken to see the thorn. His memory must have been very strong to retain the circumstances he records.

[657] Henault, _Abrégé_, p. 443.

[658] Sully, _Mém._ i. p. 30.

[659] Charles reminds us of Nero after his mother’s murder: “modo per silentium defixus, sæpius pavore exsurgens, et mentis inops lucem opperiens tanquam exitium allaturam.” Tacitus, _Annal._ xiv. 10.

[660] Agr. d’Aubigné (_Hist. Univ_.) heard the story from Henry himself.

[661] _De Statu Religionis_, iv. 33. Guise also said “qu’on avait fait plus qu’il ne voulait ... qu’il n’en voulait qu’à l’amiral.” _Mélanges: Journ. de Leipsic_ (June, 1693), p. 293. This is confirmed by a sort of newsletter from Paris, preserved in the Record Office (_MSS. France_, September, 1572.) “For the admiral’s death he was glad; but he thought for the rest that the king had put such to death as, if it pleased him, might have done good service.”

[662] The Catholics condemned “non tanto il fatto quanto il modo e la maniera del fare ... chiamano questa via di procedere con assoluta potestà, senza via di giudizio, via di tirannide, _attribuendolo alla regina come Italiana_.” Baschet: _Relazioni_, p. 295.

[663] _Corresp. de Charles IX. et de Mandelot_, p. 39. _Mém. de l’État de France_, f. 215. _Recueil de Lettres, etc._, ed. by Merlet.

[664] “Lasché la main à MM. de Guise.” _Fénelon Corresp._ See also _Revue Rétrosp._ v. 1834, p. 358, Charles to Matignon, August 26.

[665] “Nous préservant de leurs mains.” Cath. to Philip, August 25. _Simancas Papers_ (_Bibl. Nat._), B, No. 144.

[666] See the “Official Declaration.”

[667] “_Ces grimaces_ n’imposèrent à personne,” says Bossuet. Montluc disbelieved the story; “Je sais bien ce que j’en crus.”

[668] _Discours sur les Causes de l’Exécution, etc._ Rouen, 1572.

[669] In a circular to the churches dispatched in his name on the 23d, Coligny really used this phrase, but it was to quiet, not to excite them.

[670] This was the meeting at which Bouchavannes played the spy.

[671] Eytzinger got his information from a pamphlet, probably the royal justification, published at Paris, “cui lector tantum fidei tribuat quantum volet,” which is pretty plain, considering he was a Catholic. _Leo Belg._ p. 127.

[672] Félibien, a Benedictine monk, evidently disapproves of the “discours sur lequel il ne nous appartient pas de porter notre jugement” (ii. 1122).

[673] It is said in the _Mém. de l’État de France_, that one Rouillard was killed “at the instigation of the first president,” a statement we gladly believe unfounded.

[674] Statius: _Silv._ v. 2, l. 88.

[675] Others call him Bishop of Orleans.

[676] An account of this violation of asylum must have been reported by Walsingham, but I have sought for it in vain. Sir Philip Sydney was then in Paris: Charles had appointed him one of his gentlemen of the bed-chamber only a few days before.

[677] Tacitus: _Agricola_. _Choisnin_ in his _Mémoires_ describes the king and Anjou as “marris de ce que les exécuteurs n’étaient assez cruels.”

[678] Walsingham to Smith, November 1, 1572. Digges, p. 278.

[679] The cost of this banquet is given by Sauvai, iii. 368.

[680] The Bull (6 Kal. November, 1572) was never registered in Parliament. I may add that Sureau, unable to stifle his conscience, fled to Germany, recanted, and died neglected by all.

[681] Digges, p. 267. Letter to Smith, October 8. On September 7 he had written, “that there is a compact to destroy all persons that be of the religion.” _Archæologia_, xxii. 1829, p. 325.

[682] See _Martyrologue_, respecting Orleans, p. 712 _recto_; respecting Bourges, 724 _recto_; respecting Bordeaux, “il n’entendait pas que cette exécution passât outre et s’étendît plus avant que Paris,” p. 730 _recto_.

[683] It is given in Olagharray, p. 628, and the _Réveille-Matin_.

[684] _Vita di C. de’ Medici_, p. 155.

[685] Tom. vi. lib. 52, p. 421.

[686] Paris: _Cabinet Hist._ ii. 258.

[687] Raumer, i. 282.

[688] _Revue rétrospect._ v. (1834) p. 359.

[689] Raumer: _Hist. 16th and 17th Cent._, Letter 31.

[690] When the Duke of Alençon revolted against Henry III., and the city rose in arms, Matignon was sent to reduce it, and as soon as the Protestants saw his banners, they opened the gates to him. Odolant Desnos: _Mém. Hist. d’Alençon_, ii. p. 285 (8vo. Alençon, 1787).

[691] The account in the _État de France_ varies from that in the text.

[692] There is a curious story of an apothecary who discovered that the fat of the bodies was valuable and would fetch a high price, and of a general scramble for the bodies in the river, which were dragged out, that the fat might be extracted and sold. _Mém. État de France_, i. 263 _b_.

[693] “In one day,” says one account, which is not probable. A contemporary _brochure_ more moderately sets down the total at 1800. _Massacre de ceux de la Rel._ 1572: _Mém. État de France_.

[694] De Thou says that the Huguenots who fled to the Celestine monastery were killed; but Golnitz affirms the contrary: “In hanc evangelicorum truculentam necem noluisse etiam consentire dicuntur canonici in æde Cœlestinorum.” _Ulysses_, p. 331. So also _Mém. État de France_, i. 260 _b_.

[695] Ten leaves, probably containing an account of the massacre, are suspiciously torn out of the _Actes Consulaires_ of the city. The Catholic historian says briefly: “Huit jours après, le même massacre fut fait à Lyon; je n’ai rien à dire là-dessus.” An expressive silence! Montfalcon, _Hist. Lyon_, ii. p. 685.

[696] The order for the massacre was transmitted by Sorbin, the king’s preacher. The author of the _Martyrologue_ says the murders began without orders. P. 712, _recto_.

[697] See Martin: _Hist. France_, t. ix. p. 337, _note_.

[698] “Ne voulait que aulcune chose fust attentée ni innovée contre l’édict de la paix.” _Registre des Conseils_, iv. p. 137. See also the _Registre du Parlement_ for 1572. “Questi ordini (says Homero Tortora) non giunsero a tempo in molti luoghi per che la fama che vola per tutto il reame di quanto era avvenuto a Parigi invita cattolici di molte città a fare il medesimo.” _Ist. di Francia_, 4to. Venezia, 1619.

[699] _Memoirs of Latomy, MSS._ The autograph copy differs materially from the printed text, which is of little value. Jacques Gâches, a Huguenot, has left memoirs, portions of which would repay publication.

[700] Félice in a paragraph of a few lines manages to include almost as many mistakes. The arrests did not take place on August 31; the number of victims was not 300, and d’Affis gave no order for their execution. The magistrates, having no regular police or armed force at their disposal, were unable to resist the mob and the soldiers. _Archives of Toulouse_, ad ann.

[701] This curious story will be found in the Dulaure MSS., preserved in the public library of Clermont-Ferrand. This (to say nothing of the instances already given) disposes of Capefigue’s “inability to find any proof of orders issued by the king to massacre in the provinces.” _Hist. de la Réforme_, iii. p. 229, _note_.

[702] Capefigue says the letter is a forgery of the age of Louis XIV.; but it is published by Agrippa d’Aubigné in 1618. Adiram d’Aspremonte, Vicomte d’Orte (as he is sometimes called), was a cruel man, cruel to both parties. Even Charles IX. was forced to write to him in 1574, and tell him to be more moderate.

[703] The bishop is said to have been in Paris at this time with the court as almoner. This, if true, is fatal to the correctness of the anecdote. I do not lay much stress upon the language of his epitaph: “Contre lesquels [the Huguenots] il ne faisait pas faute de se montrer.”

[704] De Thou, tom. vi. p. 432 (4to ed.). See also, La Virotte: _Annales d’Arnay_, 8vo. 1837.

[705] Journal of Mallet and Vautier, _Esprit de la Ligue_, ii. p. 51 (Paris, 1808).

[706] Long: _Guerres de Religion dans le Dauphiné_. De Thou (vi. 428) says Gordes excused himself on the ground that the Huguenots were too strong.

[707] Chorier: _Hist. Dauphiné_, fol. ii. p. 647.

[708] Long. The historian gives a circular (December 6, 1572), in which Gordes exhorts the Huguenots to return to the Romish religion, “parceque le roi s’est résolu à n’en endurer autre.”

[709] Borrel: _Hist. Église Réf. de Nimes_, 8vo. Toulouse, 1856.

[710] To them of the Castle. Record Office, _MS. Queen of Scots_. He writes at noon on the 25th.

[711] “Seint pleiben bey 1000 Personen und sonst gemeiner Personen über 5000 welche meisten theills ebendig, theils todt ins Wasser geworffen, theils heuffig in Campo Clericorum vergraben worden.”

[712] “Plus de 7000 personnes _bien connues_, sans autres jetées dans la rivière qui ne furent connues.” P. 679.

[713] See note to M. Ath. Coquerel’s monograph, “La St.-Barthélemy,” in the _Nouvelle Revue de Théologie_.

[714] In the _Mém. État de France_ (vol. i.) the names of nearly eight hundred victims all over the kingdom are given. See also ii. 20 and 25.

[715] Bonanni: _Numism. Pontif._ i. 336. Mezeray, iii. 256. _Abrégé_, iii. 1082.

[716] “Fu il sacco e la preda grandissima per due milioni d’oro.” Baschet, p. 549. It is evident that these are mere guesses.

[717] “Il faut juger un temps d’après son esprit, ses émotions et ses mœurs.” Gachard.

[718] “Ut porci cecidere proci.” Exulting over Coligny, he says, with a coarse play upon words:

Parte sacerdotes solitus mutare pudenda,
Cuncta pudenda gerens, nulla pudenda gerit.

[719] The year before (1572) he published a _Chant d’Allégresse sur la Mort de Coligny_, with the motto of Judas: “He went to his own.”

[720] He charges Beza with giving orders “qu’on coupast τὰ αἰδοῖα aux prestres et aux moynes, ajoutant qu’il en vouloit remplir un puy.” From the date of the letter (September 15), some are of opinion that it must have been written before the massacre. Portès’s answer is given in vol. ii. of the _Mém. État de France_.

[721] Sorbin was chaplain to Charles IX., and wrote a eulogistic account of his life, in which he skips over the massacre thus: “Le jour de la St.-B. se passe, où les principaux chefs furent châtiés selon leurs mérites, au grand regret de ce bon roy.”

[722] See vignette on title-page.

[723] Ellis: _Letters_ (sec. ser.) iii. p. 23.

[724] Rommel: _Corresp. inéd. de Henri IV._ Paris, 1840.

[725] Bruxelles, _Bulletin_, ix. 1841 (pt. 1), p. 560.

[726] March, 1573; _Revue rétrospect._ iii. 1835, p. 195. Sir Henry Ellis (_Archæologia_, xxii. 1829, p. 323) held it to be “a strong proof of a deliberate plot,” that the documents on this subject had disappeared from the Public Records in France; but we have given ample evidence that such is not the case.

[727] Mezeray and De Sancy call the pope, Innocent XIII.; Brantome and Sully, Pius V.; but the latter died on 1st May, 1572.

[728] Twelve months after the massacre, the cardinal publicly applauded Charles to his face for his “holy dissimulation.” Dale’s dispatch: Macintosh, _Hist. Engl._ iii. 226, _note_.

[729] The genuineness of this medal has been disputed on very insufficient grounds. It is engraved in Bonanni’s _Numismata Pontificum_ (2 vols. fol. Romæ, 1689) tom. i. p. 336. It is No. 27 of the series of Gregory XIII. L’Estoile mentions it, under “Lundi, 30 juin, 1618,” as the “pièce que le pape Grégoire XIII. fit faire à Rome l’an 1572.”

[730] “In Constantini quæ nunc et visitur aula.” Thuanus Posteritati. The outline of one of these frescoes in the frontispiece to this volume is taken from De Potter’s _Lettres de Pie V._

[731] See _Dublin Review_ for October, 1865.

[732] Lucan, iv. 192.

[733] In Gregory’s instructions to Cardinal des Ursins (Fabio Orsini), he is to exhort Charles “ut cœptis insistat fortiter, neque curam asperis remediis inchoatam prospere, perdat leniora miscendo.” Bonanni, i. p. 323, 336, No. xxvii. _Ann. Eccles._ ad ann. 1572, in Potter. _Hist. du Christ._ vii. p. 330.

[734] “Who otherwise never laughed.” St. Goar to Queen; Raumer, i. p. 199.

[735] “Deconcertaron todos los planes del gabinete de Isabel [Elizabeth of England] é impedieron que se realizase su famosa liga con Francia.” _Mem. Acad. Madrid_, vii. p. 374.

[736] Juan de Cuniga, embassador at Rome, writes to Philip II. that “the French _here_ declare that the king meditated this stroke since the day he made peace;” but in another place he adds, that “he was credibly informed, if the assault on the admiral was projected a few days before, and authorized by the king, all the rest was inspired by circumstances.” _Bulletin Acad. Sci. Bruxelles_, xvi. (1849) p. 250.

[737] “Uno de los mayores contentamientos que he recibido en mi vida.”

[738] Letter of August 25. _Simancas Archives._

[739] “La mejor y mas alegre nueve que al presente me pudiera venir.” Gachard: _Simancas Archives_.

[740] Burghley to Walsingham, September 9, 1572, in Digges, p. 247.

[741] M’Crie: _Life of Knox_ (1841), p. 337.

[742] Brandt: _Hist. Ref. of Low Countries_ (Chamberlayne’s transl.), fol. Lond. 1720, vol. i. p. 329.

[743] Walsingham to Smith, 16th and 24th September.

[744] Ranke: _Franz. Gesch._ t. iv. ch. 4. This is said in one account to have occurred on the eve of the massacre, when he was playing with Henry of Navarre. St. Foix: _Essais hist. sur Paris_, i. 74.

[745] Agrippa d’Aubigné, unless he refers to another story, says the child was “disinterred and then devoured” by its parents, who were condemned, the man to be burned alive, and the woman to be hanged. See also _Mém. État de France_, ii. 224. Jean de Leri: _Hist. Siége de R._; Paris: _Cab. Hist._ vii. There is a Latin version, Heidelbg. 1576.

[746] _Discours de l’extrême Famine, etc._ par Jean Leri: _Archives curieuses_, viii. p. 19. _Mém. État de France_, ii. 219 _b_ (ed. 1578).

[747] Among other charges, La Mole was accused of endeavoring to destroy the king’s life by witchcraft; by means of a waxen image having a needle pierced through the heart, which an Italian astrologer, Cosmo Ruggieri, had prepared for him.

[748] “Mollis vita, mollior interitus.” Punning epitaph on La Mole.

[749] His defense was written by his wife Margaret, “God giving her the grace to compose it.” _Mémoires._

[750] This bloody sweat is an ordinary though rare pathological phenomenon. Dr. Bourdin describes the case of a farm-servant, thirty-three years old, from whose forehead blood suddenly began to issue and continued to flow for half an hour (April, 1859). In No. 40 of the _Gazette Hebdomadaire_ (1859), Dr. Jules Parrot gives the case of a lady who had suffered from these hemorrhages from six years of age, and which continued after her marriage. Chemical analysis and microscopic examination combine to prove that the liquid thus secreted is truly blood.

[751] _Journal de L’Estoile._ I am afraid the authority is not very good. See also Peleus: _Vie de Henri IV._ ii. pp. 385–390.

[752] Better known as the translator of Plutarch than as Grand Almoner of France.

[753] The nuncio wrote to the pope that Charles was killing himself with the chase; that he had nearly killed 5000 dogs and broken the wind of all his horses, valued at 30,000 francs. Salviati Cavalli writes to the same effect: “mal modo di vivere,” etc. See Drelincourt: _Libitinæ Trophæa_. Lugd. Bat. 1680. He broke out in large pustules and buboes all over his body: Villegomblain. His stomach was covered with livid spots: De Thou.

[754] There is an old prophecy: “Væ et iterum væ! quando puer sedebit in sede lilii.”

[755] His first tutors were the virtuous Carnavalet, the learned Amyot, and M. de Cipierre, a man of antique type and probity. The latter was succeeded by Gondi, “fin, corrompu, menteur,” who taught Charles to swear and blaspheme, “et le pervertit du tout.” Brantome. “Princeps præclara indole et magnis virtutibus, nisi....” De Thou.

[756] Among others Claude Haton: “fut une grâce de Dieu comment le roi sut si bien dissimuler.”

Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.

2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.

3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.

4. Italics are shown as _xxx_.

5. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.