sultingly declared, 'That good is always good, whether it proceed from love or force.'

No alternative remained to Condé, deceived as he apprehended by the queen, and the king in the hands of his enemies, but open war. Setting off therefore with the utmost expedition, he made himself, after a vigorous resistance, master of Orleans. Thus commenced the civil war, destined to deluge France with blood.

The taking of Orleans became the signal of revolt throughout the kingdom. The huguenots, excited by the example of their leader, expelled the catholics in various places; several cities fell into their hands; while they were driven by a furious zeal into the most sanguinary excesses. Catherine exerted all her powers to procure an accommodation: while beholding Condé already in possession of half the kingdom, she dreaded lest the adverse party should avail themselves of the precedent, and that the king, between the contending factions, should be ultimately left without revenue or dominions. Prompted by these fears, she sought to conciliate the rival princes, and by repeated and masterly manœuvres to detach Condé from the huguenots: with this view she allured him by the most seductive promises, and tempted him by flattering proposals. An interview took place between them at Toury near Orleans: the king of Navarre accompanied the regent, while each party was escorted by thirty-six horsemen. The two bands were stationed eight hundred paces from the place of rendezvous, and continued near an hour in their respective posts. At length, gradually approaching, they joined, embraced, and lamented the fate that armed them against each other. An instructive and affecting spectacle! A conference of two hours was, in the mean time, held between Catherine, the prince of Condé, and the king of Navarre. Catherine affected to lament her inability of complying with the demands of the prince, and the interview terminated without effect.

The queen, however unsuccessful, was not discouraged: by her sagacity and penetration, she was enabled to avail herself of the weaknesses of the human mind, to which, on this occasion, she failed not to apply. The prince was at length prevailed on, by her artifice and address, to give his word to quit the kingdom, on condition that the triumvirate should relinquish the administration, the promise of which had been previously obtained. Condé, summoned by Catherine to fulfil the terms of his agreement, made his feigned submissions to her and the king: but admiral

Coligny, distrusting the regent, persuaded the prince to break the treaty. The admiral's entreaties and remonstrances having prevailed, Condé suffered himself to be led back to his party. By this scene of mutual duplicity, the suspence which the negociation had occasioned was terminated, and the war renewed with all its terrors.

The royal army, in which was the queen and her son, after taking Blois, Tours, and Bourges, laid siege to Rouen, defended by Montgomery, famous in the annals of France for his fatal tournament with Henry II. The courage of Catherine on this occasion was truly heroic; every day during the siege she exposed herself to the most imminent personal dangers. The duke of Guise and the constable remonstrated with her in vain on this temerity. Why,' she nobly replied, 'should I spare myself more than you? Is it that I have less courage or less interest in the event? It is true that I have less personal force, but in resolution of mind I am not your inferior.' Of what had not Catherine been capable, had this grandeur of sentiment been directed by proper principles ! The soldiers, in imitation of the Romans, gave to her the title of 'Mater Castrorum.

Thrice was the duke of Guise prevented by the queen from storming the place; but the besieged, obstinately rejecting an accommodation, the city was at length carried by assault. The king of Navarre met his fate before Rouen.

While the royal arms prevailed at Rouen, the kingdom became a scene of desolation and blood : enflamed by civil discord and religious rage, the parties emulated each other in savage ferocity. In this situation of affairs, the prince of Condé, taking the field with twelve thousand men, determined on marching directly to Paris, in the hope of inducing by terror its inhabitants and the queen to form an accommodation. Catherine, skilled in subtlety and delay, while she amused the prince by fruitless conferences, and feduced from his party his bravest officers, gave the Parisians time to recover themselves, till, convinced of the futility of her offers, Condé, after vainly attempting the capital, wascompelled to decamp. The triumvirs following on his steps, an engagement became unavoidable. The huguenots, in the commencement of the battle, by the impetuosity of their charge, bore down all before them; but, imprudently dispersing to plunder, the duke of Guise, who watched his opportunity, fell upon them, and put them to flight. Condé, who disdained to retreat, was surrounded and made pri

Numbers of the royalists had, at the beginning of the engagement, when victory seemed to declare for the huguenots, fled to Paris, where they exclaimed-That all was lost.' Catherine, always self-possessed, indifferent to religious opinions, and viewing every object through a political medium, received the intelligence with great composure:-* 'Eh bien,' said she calmly, 'il foudra donc prier Dieu en Francois!' Intent only on retaining the possession of power, whether Condé or the Guises, the catholics or the huguenots, prevailed, was to her indifferent. The news of the succeeding day gave her greater mortification, foreseeing in the triumph of the Guises her future humiliation. But, dissembling her feelings, she ordered rejoicings to be made for the defeat of the huguenots, and conferred upon the duke the supreme command of the army, an honour with which the troops had already invested him.

It was not long after this triumph, that death blasted the laurels of the duke of Guise, and set bounds to his ambition. He fell at the siege of Orleans by the hand of an assassin. Catherine, who was present at the siege, alarmed lest this catastrophe should involve her in suspicions,

* Very well, we must then pray to God in French."