With sanctimonious resignation Sir E. Warner wrote to Cecil: "The loss of Newhaven so suddenly and in such sort, as it seemeth, I am sorry for to the bottom of my heart. But against God's ordinance no man can stand." The garrison had suffered terribly from the plague, which they brought with them to England, where it is computed to have killed 20,000 persons in London and the out-parishes.

Condé, who had fought valiantly at Havre, hoped that his services to the monarchy would be repaid by promotion to the office of Lieutenant-General of France, vacant by the death of his elder brother, Anthony of Navarre. Catherine had held this out as a lure without the remotest intention of keeping her promise. She probably found that the throne would be weakened by being kept longer in tutelage, and therefore, with L'Hopital's concurrence, anticipated the young king's majority by twelve months, ordering it to be declared as soon as he entered his fourteenth year, and thus obviated the necessity of appointing a new lieutenant-general. The ceremony took place at Rouen, it being feared that the Parliament of Paris, in which Condé had friends, would refuse to register the edict of majority. .On the 17th August, 1563, Charles went down to the courts of law in great state, and after announcing the close of his minority, he declared that he would not permit the repetition of such acts of insubordination as he had witnessed during the recent hostilities, and that he desired the Edict of Pacification should be kept in all its provisions.

Charles appears at this time to have been an amiable youth: he possessed good natural qualities, and his attempts in poetry (if they are his own) are not entirely unworthy of Marot, to whom they are addressed. He had in early days a fair taste for literature, and had he continued under the training of Amyot and Cipierre, he might have been worthy of the throne. With such a mother as Catherine, and such tutors as she gave him, he could hardly fail to become treacherous and cruel. We shall see at times his better nature breaking

through, but the evil spirit within him was never thoroughly conquered.

There exists a curious letter written about this time by Catherine to her son, giving him instructions as to the conduct of his life.* He is exhorted to rise early, to go to mass with his four secretaries, to dine not later than eleven o'clock, to ride or walk for three hours, to hunt, to read his letters every day and see that they are punctually answered, and to have the keys of the palace brought to him each night and placed under his pillow. There are other exhortations of a similar nature-such as would make him "the first gentleman of the day," but would not tend to make him a good Christian. Had she wished to see her son a good man, Catherine would have given him proper tutors, and not such as Gondi, whom Brantome describes as "cunning, corrupt, false, and blasphemous."

The termination of the sittings of the Council of Trent (December, 1563), imported another element of confusion into the religious differences of the age. The council, although summoned in 1541, did not actually meet until December, 1545. It had been hoped that some means would be found of healing the divisions in the Church, but one after another every form of Protestant opinion was eliminated from the new creed, and reconciliation became impossible. The articles of the council were made compulsory in every Catholic state; but the Church of France was so far independent that the solemn consent of the crown was required to make the decrees valid. They might, indeed, be received as articles of faith, but could not be pleaded in a court of law until ratified by the sovereign. To procure that ratification, the King of Spain dispatched an embassador, accompanied by a deputation from the Dukes of Tuscany and Lorraine, inviting Charles to send commissioners to Nancy, where an assembly of princes was

* This letter was partly the composition of L'Hopital, and was written by Montaigne, the essayist, at that time one of the royal secretaries.

to meet to consult on the best measures to be adopted for the extirpation of heresy. L'Hopital, foreseeing the deadly consequences of such a step, advised the queen-mother to receive the embassy and deputation very politely, detain them at court as long as possible, and dismiss them at last with an evasive answer. "The government," says Languet, "have no idea of taking away the liberty granted by the late edict; for (to omit other reasons) they see that it can not be done without a disturbance, as our churches are more crowded than they have ever been."* Independently of this consideration, we find Santa Croce writing to Cardinal Borromeo (12th Oct., 1564) an account of an interview with the queen. After listening patiently to his message from the Holy Father relative to the introduction of the Tridentine decrees, she replied: "No one can feel a more ardent desire for the observance of the council than myself; but affairs are in such a state that I am compelled to handle them very delicately, and it is impossible to issue any fresh edicts just now. Whenever circumstances permit, I will do as his Holiness desires." This was no new language. In the instructions to his embassadors at the council, the king declared that considering the number of the heretics, he could not attempt to put down the new religion by force, without endangering both crown and state.†

*Langueti Epist. ii. 281, (20th January, 1564): "Se enim satis expertum quantum malorum . . . Reginam nihil jam minus cogitare quam. . . + Instructions dated 1562, in Le Plat, v. pp. 151, 155.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE MEETING AT BAYONNE AND THE SECOND WAR.

[June, 1565-March, 1569.]

The Royal progress-Bayonne in June-Identical note-Amusements-Political Deliberations-The Queen of Navarre Excommunicated-Catherine's Remonstrance-The Pope yields-State of Gascony-Assembly of Notables at Moulins-Feud between Guise and Coligny-Montmorency and the Cardinal-Disturbed state of Maine-Montluc pacifies GasconyEmbassy from Germany-Rebellion in Flanders-March of Alva-Condé leaves the Court-Rumored Plot-Huguenot Meeting at Chatillon-War resolved upon-Attempt to seize Charles-Huguenot Rising-Battle of St. Denis-Death of the Constable-German Auxiliaries-Michelade of Nismes-Siege of Chartres-Peace of Longjumeau-Death of Coligny's Wife.

In order to test the state of public feeling and apply a remedy to the great disorders of the realm, the queen-mother decided upon an extensive tour through the south and west of France, which would give her an opportunity of showing the king to his subjects and strengthening him in their affections. It is not necessary to trace the progress of the court step by step; a few incidents, however, may be quoted to show the intolerant temper of the Catholic party. In many of the towns of Burgundy, Charles was received with shouts of "Long live the King!" and "The Mass forever!" At Chalons a medal was struck, representing the monarch trampling on Heresy, depicted as a Fury pouring out torrents of fire. At Lyons the foundations were laid of a citadel intended to crush the heretical tendencies of the inhabitants. The walls of several Protestant towns were demolished, and numerous addresses were presented to the young monarch, praying him to interdict the exercise of any form of religion but the Romish.

In the middle of June, 1565, the court reached the city of Bayonne, near the Spanish frontier, where the famous meeting took place at which it was generally supposed the extirpation of Protestantism was arranged. As early as April, 1561, Catherine had suggested a similar meeting, when she was agitated by the fear of a marriage between the widowed Mary Stuart and Don Carlos. She pretended a great desire to discuss with Philip II. the religious condition of France and the affairs of the King of Navarre, hoping by such an interview to thwart the Scottish matrimonial project.*

The ostensible cause of the meeting four years later was the queen's desire to see her daughter, who had just recovered from a severe illness. Political motives were not forgotten, and among other matters to be considered between the sovereigns of France and Spain-for Catherine hoped that Philip would accompany his wife-was undoubtedly the repression of heresy. There exists among the state papers at Simancas what is called by diplomatists an "identical note" of the subjects to be discussed at Bayonne. In it we read that the two powers engaged not to tolerate the Reformed worship in their respective states, that the canons of the Council of Trent should be enforced, that all nonconformists should be incapacitated for any public office, civil or military, and that heretics should quit the realm within a month, permission being accorded them to sell their property. Although Catherine gave her assent to these declarations, so far as the discussion of them was concerned, we have indisputable evidence that she did not intend to adopt them in the same sense as Philip of Spain, for at this very time she was corresponding with the Bishop of Rennes, the French embassador to the imperial court, on the propriety of making concessions to the Huguenots. A long and tedious negotiation ensued between the two courts of France and Spain-a fencing-match of deceit which ended in an arrangement

* See a remarkable dispatch on this subject in the Rouen Library, Leber, Bundle D, No. 5725.