executions of his friends, and he departed at last intent upon revenge. Shortly afterwards, when the States-General were about to open at Orleans, the Protestants rose, and possessed themselves of several cities in the south. The princes of Bourbon were again accused of inciting these movements. On the invitation of the Guises, they repaired to Orleans, despite the warnings they received from all sides. Scarcely had they arrived, when they were seized; the king of Navarre was ordered to attend Francis in his chamber, where it had been planned that he should fall by the hand of an assassin; but the king recoiling at the crime, and not daring to give the agreed signal, Anthony de Bourbon escaped the threatened murder. The prince of Condé, who had been cast into prison, was tried before a commission as a rebel, and the process being hurried over, sentence of death was passed, and his execution fixed for the 10th December, 1560, the day of the opening the States-General. The prince prepared for his doom, when the death of Francis II., whose health had always been uncertain, intervened to save him. The widow of the king of France, Mary Stuart, so celebrated for her beauty and misfortunes, quitted the country on her husband's death to become queen of Scotland. She perished on the scaffold at Fotheringay in Northamptonshire, A. D. 1587, by order of Elizabeth queen of England, after a long and rigorous captivity of eighteen years. CHAP. XVIII. HENRY III. CONTINUED CHARLES IX. - CATHERINE DE MEDICIS.- MICHAEL DE A. D. 1560-1574. CHARLES IX. at the time of his accession was but ten years old, and the regency fell to his mother Catherine de Medicis; this ambitious woman, professing to hold the balance equally between all parties, ruled and deceived them by turns. The king of Navarre was appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom, the prince of Condé declared innocent and released from prison, and the constable de Montmorency, with the other disgraced nobles, recalled. But the Guises, though weakened by the death of Francis II., still remained powerful. On the other side the queen-mother affected to consult the admiral de Coligny with the greatest deference; but between these jealous rivals concord was impossible. One man only, the chancellor Michael de l'Hôpital, so celebrated for his knowledge and virtues, and one of the most eminent of the French magistracy, attempted to bring about a reconciliation, and animate them with sentiments of peace and good will. "Let us get rid," said he, "of these diabolical names of Lutherans, Huguenots, and Papists, fit only for the factious and seditious, and let us retain only that of Christians." At the conference of Poissy, with the aim of bringing about a better understanding, Michael de l'Hôpital proposed that theologians of both sects should be called upon to discuss and expound their doctrines in the presence of the king and court; but after sharp and useless controversies, the assembly was dissolved, the only result being an increase of enmity on both sides. Catherine de Medicis, whose principle was "to divide and rule," apprehensive of the power of the Guises, inclined to the opposite faction, and in 1562 issued the edict of January, which granted to the Calvinists liberty of worship outside the towns. The Catholics, irritated at such a concession, and determining to resist it, if necessary, by force, called to their assistance the duke de Guise, who had retired to his estate at Joinville. At the summons, he immediately set out with a numerous train of gentlemen, pages, and armed domestics; and as he passed Vassy, a small town of Champagne, some of his escort insulted a party of Protestants who were celebrating their public worship in a barn; this outrage led to blows, in which above sixty Huguenots were killed. The civil war immediately commenced, the prince of Condé observing that "Cæsar had passed the Rubicon." While the duke de Guise made a triumphant entry into Paris, the prince of Condé took possession of Orleans and some other towns, and there were partial encounters in various parts of the kingdom: but more important events were in progress; the duke de Guise, after a sanguinary battle on the plains of Dreux, obtained a complete victory, though the generals of each party were made prisoners. By this success the duke had reached his greatest power, when, at the siege of Orleans, the last hold of the Protestants, he was assassinated by Poltrôt, a gentleman of the Calvinist party. The treaties of Amboise and Lonjumeau were not of long duration, and various encounters happened between both armies, in one of which the constable Montmorency was killed; and at Jarnac the prince of Condé was made prisoner, and basely put to death after the battle by Montesquieu, captain of the duke's guard. Coligny did not allow himself to be depressed by these reverses; he appeared more formidable than ever, posting himself at Arnay-le-Duc, and threatening the capital. Catherine, despairing of crushing the Huguenots in the open field, concluded with them the peace of St. Germain, A.D. 1570, which, being favourable to the Protestants, gave hope of establishing a better order of things; but it was a snare, and masked the most perfidious designs. Under different pretexts, the leaders of the Protestant party were drawn to court. Charles gave his sister Margaret de Valois in marriage to the king of Navarre; but in the midst of these fêtes and rejoicings, a dreadful massacre was determined upon. On the 24th August, 1572, the day of St. Bartholomew, about two o'clock in the morning, the bell of Saint Germain l'Auxerrois gave the signal; the cry of "Death to the Huguenots," burst from all sides, and a frightful carnage commenced: all the Protestants were put to death, the admiral de Coligny, chief of the party, being one of the first victims; from Paris the murders spread over France; the king of Navarre, and the prince of Condé, son of the prince killed at Jarnac, were alone spared. The refusal of several governors of provinces to obey the savage orders of the court must not be omitted; and the letter of the viscount d'Orthez to the king cannot be too much admired: it ran thus: "Sire, I have communicated the commands of your majesty to the inhabitants and military men of the garrison of Bayonne, but I have only found good citizens and brave soldiers, and not a single executioner." Far from annihilating the Protestant party, this atrocious massacre infused new life into it, and war broke out with still greater fury. At this time the duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX., was elected king of Poland, but was scarcely seated on the throne when the king, a prey to remorse ever since the slaughter of St. Bartholomew, was attacked by an incurable malady, and died at the age of twenty-four, without leaving heirs, and declaring Catherine de Medicis regent till the return of his brother. In this reign a royal ordonnance fixed the 1st January as the commencement of the year, which had previously begun on Easter Eve. At this period it is worthy of remark, that amidst the rage of civil discords, which deluged France with blood, the wisest and most useful laws were established. They were due to the exertions of the chancellor Michael de l'Hôpital, than whom no man was more capable of perfecting so indispensable an |