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diff --git a/1854.txt b/1854.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4db907d --- /dev/null +++ b/1854.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12391 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Catherine de' Medici, by Honore de Balzac + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Catherine de' Medici + +Author: Honore de Balzac + +Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley + +Release Date: August, 1999 [Etext #1854] +Posting Date: March 3, 2010 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE DE' MEDICI *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +CATHERINE DE' MEDICI + + +By Honore de Balzac + + +Translated by Katherine Prescott Wormeley + + + + + DEDICATION + + To Monsieur le Marquis de Pastoret, Member of the Academie des + Beaux-Arts. + + When we think of the enormous number of volumes that have been + published on the question as to where Hannibal crossed the Alps, + without our being able to decide to-day whether it was (according + to Whittaker and Rivaz) by Lyon, Geneva, the Great Saint-Bernard, + and the valley of Aosta; or (according to Letronne, Follard, + Saint-Simon and Fortia d'Urbano) by the Isere, Grenoble, + Saint-Bonnet, Monte Genevra, Fenestrella, and the Susa passage; + or (according to Larauza) by the Mont Cenis and the Susa; or + (according to Strabo, Polybius and Lucanus) by the Rhone, Vienne, + Yenne, and the Dent du Chat; or (according to some intelligent + minds) by Genoa, La Bochetta, and La Scrivia,--an opinion which I + share and which Napoleon adopted,--not to speak of the verjuice + with which the Alpine rocks have been bespattered by other learned + men,--is it surprising, Monsieur le marquis, to see modern history + so bemuddled that many important points are still obscure, and the + most odious calumnies still rest on names that ought to be + respected? + + And let me remark, in passing, that Hannibal's crossing has been + made almost problematical by these very elucidations. For + instance, Pere Menestrier thinks that the Scoras mentioned by + Polybius is the Saona; Letronne, Larauza and Schweighauser think + it is the Isere; Cochard, a learned Lyonnais, calls it the Drome, + and for all who have eyes to see there are between Scoras and + Scrivia great geographical and linguistical resemblances,--to say + nothing of the probability, amounting almost to certainty, that + the Carthaginian fleet was moored in the Gulf of Spezzia or the + roadstead of Genoa. I could understand these patient researches if + there were any doubt as to the battle of Canna; but inasmuch as + the results of that great battle are known, why blacken paper with + all these suppositions (which are, as it were, the arabesques of + hypothesis) while the history most important to the present day, + that of the Reformation, is full of such obscurities that we are + ignorant of the real name of the man who navigated a vessel by + steam to Barcelona at the period when Luther and Calvin were + inaugurating the insurrection of thought.[*] + + You and I hold, I think, the same opinion, after having made, each + in his own way, close researches as to the grand and splendid + figure of Catherine de' Medici. Consequently, I have thought that + my historical studies upon that queen might properly be dedicated + to an author who has written so much on the history of the + Reformation; while at the same time I offer to the character and + fidelity of a monarchical writer a public homage which may, + perhaps, be valuable on account of its rarity. + + [*] The name of the man who tried this experiment at Barcelona + should be given as Salomon de Caux, not Caus. That great man + has always been unfortunate; even after his death his name is + mangled. Salomon, whose portrait taken at the age of forty-six + was discovered by the author of the "Comedy of Human Life" at + Heidelberg, was born at Caux in Normandy. He was the author of + a book entitled "The Causes of Moving Forces," in which he + gave the theory of the expansion and condensation of steam. + He died in 1635. + + + + +CATHERINE DE' MEDICI + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +There is a general cry of paradox when scholars, struck by some +historical error, attempt to correct it; but, for whoever studies modern +history to its depths, it is plain that historians are privileged liars, +who lend their pen to popular beliefs precisely as the newspapers of the +day, or most of them, express the opinions of their readers. + +Historical independence has shown itself much less among lay writers +than among those of the Church. It is from the Benedictines, one of the +glories of France, that the purest light has come to us in the matter +of history,--so long, of course, as the interests of the order were not +involved. About the middle of the eighteenth century great and learned +controversialists, struck by the necessity of correcting popular errors +endorsed by historians, made and published to the world very remarkable +works. Thus Monsieur de Launoy, nicknamed the "Expeller of Saints," made +cruel war upon the saints surreptitiously smuggled into the Church. Thus +the emulators of the Benedictines, the members (too little recognized) +of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, began on many +obscure historical points a series of monographs, which are admirable +for patience, erudition, and logical consistency. Thus Voltaire, for a +mistaken purpose and with ill-judged passion, frequently cast the +light of his mind on historical prejudices. Diderot undertook in this +direction a book (much too long) on the era of imperial Rome. If it had +not been for the French Revolution, _criticism_ applied to history might +then have prepared the elements of a good and true history of France, +the proofs for which had long been gathered by the Benedictines. Louis +XVI., a just mind, himself translated the English work in which Walpole +endeavored to explain Richard III.,--a work much talked of in the last +century. + +Why do personages so celebrated as kings and queens, so important as the +generals of armies, become objects of horror or derision? Half the world +hesitates between the famous song on Marlborough and the history of +England, and it also hesitates between history and popular tradition as +to Charles IX. At all epochs when great struggles take place between the +masses and authority, the populace creates for itself an _ogre-esque_ +personage--if it is allowable to coin a word to convey a just idea. +Thus, to take an example in our own time, if it had not been for the +"Memorial of Saint Helena," and the controversies between the Royalists +and the Bonapartists, there was every probability that the character of +Napoleon would have been misunderstood. A few more Abbe de Pradits, a +few more newspaper articles, and from being an emperor, Napoleon would +have turned into an ogre. + +How does error propagate itself? The mystery is accomplished under our +very eyes without our perceiving it. No one suspects how much solidity +the art of printing has given both to the envy which pursues greatness, +and to the popular ridicule which fastens a contrary sense on a grand +historical act. Thus, the name of the Prince de Polignac is given +throughout the length and breadth of France to all bad horses that +require whipping; and who knows how that will affect the opinion of the +future as to the _coup d'Etat_ of the Prince de Polignac himself? In +consequence of a whim of Shakespeare--or perhaps it may have been a +revenge, like that of Beaumarchais on Bergasse (Bergearss)--Falstaff is, +in England, a type of the ridiculous; his very name provokes laughter; +he is the king of clowns. Now, instead of being enormously pot-bellied, +absurdly amorous, vain, drunken, old, and corrupted, Falstaff was one of +the most distinguished men of his time, a Knight of the Garter, holding +a high command in the army. At the accession of Henry V. Sir John +Falstaff was only thirty-four years old. This general, who distinguished +himself at the battle of Agincourt, and there took prisoner the +Duc d'Alencon, captured, in 1420, the town of Montereau, which was +vigorously defended. Moreover, under Henry VI. he defeated ten thousand +French troops with fifteen hundred weary and famished men. + +So much for war. Now let us pass to literature, and see our own +Rabelais, a sober man who drank nothing but water, but is held to be, +nevertheless, an extravagant lover of good cheer and a resolute drinker. +A thousand ridiculous stories are told about the author of one of the +finest books in French literature,--"Pantagruel." Aretino, the friend of +Titian, and the Voltaire of his century, has, in our day, a reputation +the exact opposite of his works and of his character; a reputation which +he owes to a grossness of wit in keeping with the writings of his age, +when broad farce was held in honor, and queens and cardinals wrote +tales which would be called, in these days, licentious. One might go on +multiplying such instances indefinitely. + +In France, and that, too, during the most serious epoch of modern +history, no woman, unless it be Brunehaut or Fredegonde, has suffered +from popular error so much as Catherine de' Medici; whereas Marie de' +Medici, all of whose actions were prejudicial to France, has escaped the +shame which ought to cover her name. Marie de' Medici wasted the wealth +amassed by Henri IV.; she never purged herself of the charge of having +known of the king's assassination; her _intimate_ was d'Epernon, who +did not ward off Ravaillac's blow, and who was proved to have known the +murderer personally for a long time. Marie's conduct was such that she +forced her son to banish her from France, where she was encouraging her +other son, Gaston, to rebel; and the victory Richelieu at last won +over her (on the Day of the Dupes) was due solely to the discovery the +cardinal made, and imparted to Louis XIII., of secret documents relating +to the death of Henri IV. + +Catherine de' Medici, on the contrary, saved the crown of France; she +maintained the royal authority in the midst of circumstances under which +more than one great prince would have succumbed. Having to make head +against factions and ambitions like those of the Guises and the house +of Bourbon, against men such as the two Cardinals of Lorraine, the two +Balafres, and the two Condes, against the queen Jeanne d'Albret, Henri +IV., the Connetable de Montmorency, Calvin, the three Colignys, Theodore +de Beze, she needed to possess and to display the rare qualities and +precious gifts of a statesman under the mocking fire of the Calvinist +press. + +Those facts are incontestable. Therefore, to whosoever burrows into the +history of the sixteenth century in France, the figure of Catherine +de' Medici will seem like that of a great king. When calumny is +once dissipated by facts, recovered with difficulty from among the +contradictions of pamphlets and false anecdotes, all explains itself to +the fame of this extraordinary woman, who had none of the weaknesses of +her sex, who lived chaste amid the license of the most dissolute court +in Europe, and who, in spite of her lack of money, erected noble public +buildings, as if to repair the loss caused by the iconoclasms of the +Calvinists, who did as much harm to art as to the body politic. Hemmed +in between the Guises who claimed to be the heirs of Charlemagne and +the factious younger branch who sought to screen the treachery of the +Connetable de Bourbon behind the throne, Catherine, forced to combat +heresy which was seeking to annihilate the monarchy, without friends, +aware of treachery among the leaders of the Catholic party, foreseeing +a republic in the Calvinist party, Catherine employed the most dangerous +but the surest weapon of public policy,--craft. She resolved to trick +and so defeat, successively, the Guises who were seeking the ruin of the +house of Valois, the Bourbons who sought the crown, and the Reformers +(the Radicals of those days) who dreamed of an impossible republic--like +those of our time; who have, however, nothing to reform. Consequently, +so long as she lived, the Valois kept the throne of France. The great +historian of that time, de Thou, knew well the value of this woman +when, on hearing of her death, he exclaimed: "It is not a woman, it is +monarchy itself that has died!" + +Catherine had, in the highest degree, the sense of royalty, and she +defended it with admirable courage and persistency. The reproaches which +Calvinist writers have cast upon her are to her glory; she incurred them +by reason only of her triumphs. Could she, placed as she was, triumph +otherwise than by craft? The whole question lies there. + +As for violence, that means is one of the most disputed questions of +public policy; in our time it has been answered on the Place Louis +XV., where they have now set up an Egyptian stone, as if to obliterate +regicide and offer a symbol of the system of materialistic policy which +governs us; it was answered at the Carmes and at the Abbaye; answered +on the steps of Saint-Roch; answered once more by the people against +the king before the Louvre in 1830, as it has since been answered +by Lafayette's best of all possible republics against the republican +insurrection at Saint-Merri and the rue Transnonnain. All power, +legitimate or illegitimate, must defend itself when attacked; but the +strange thing is that where the people are held heroic in their victory +over the nobility, power is called murderous in its duel with the +people. If it succumbs after its appeal to force, power is then called +imbecile. The present government is attempting to save itself by two +laws from the same evil Charles X. tried to escape by two ordinances; +is it not a bitter derision? Is craft permissible in the hands of power +against craft? may it kill those who seek to kill it? The massacres of +the Revolution have replied to the massacres of Saint-Bartholomew. The +people, become king, have done against the king and the nobility what +the king and the nobility did against the insurgents of the sixteenth +century. Therefore the popular historians, who know very well that in a +like case the people will do the same thing over again, have no excuse +for blaming Catherine de' Medici and Charles IX. + +"All power," said Casimir Perier, on learning what power ought to be, +"is a permanent conspiracy." We admire the anti-social maxims put +forth by daring writers; why, then, this disapproval which, in France, +attaches to all social truths when boldly proclaimed? This question will +explain, in itself alone, historical errors. Apply the answer to +the destructive doctrines which flatter popular passions, and to the +conservative doctrines which repress the mad efforts of the people, and +you will find the reason of the unpopularity and also the popularity +of certain personages. Laubardemont and Laffemas were, like some men of +to-day, devoted to the defence of power in which they believed. Soldiers +or judges, they all obeyed royalty. In these days d'Orthez would be +dismissed for having misunderstood the orders of the ministry, but +Charles X. left him governor of a province. The power of the many is +accountable to no one; the power of one is compelled to render account +to its subjects, to the great as well as to the small. + +Catherine, like Philip the Second and the Duke of Alba, like the Guises +and Cardinal Granvelle, saw plainly the future that the Reformation was +bringing upon Europe. She and they saw monarchies, religion, authority +shaken. Catherine wrote, from the cabinet of the kings of France, a +sentence of death to that spirit of inquiry which then began to threaten +modern society; a sentence which Louis XIV. ended by executing. The +revocation of the Edict of Nantes was an unfortunate measure only so far +as it caused the irritation of all Europe against Louis XIV. At another +period England, Holland, and the Holy Roman Empire would not have +welcomed banished Frenchmen and encouraged revolt in France. + +Why refuse, in these days, to the majestic adversary of the most +barren of heresies the grandeur she derived from the struggle itself? +Calvinists have written much against the "craftiness" of Charles IX.; +but travel through France, see the ruins of noble churches, estimate the +fearful wounds given by the religionists to the social body, learn what +vengeance they inflicted, and you will ask yourself, as you deplore the +evils of individualism (the disease of our present France, the germ of +which was in the questions of liberty of conscience then agitated),--you +will ask yourself, I say, on which side were the executioners. There +are, unfortunately, as Catherine herself says in the third division of +this Study of her career, "in all ages hypocritical writers always ready +to weep over the fate of two hundred scoundrels killed necessarily." +Caesar, who tried to move the senate to pity the attempt of Catiline, +might perhaps have got the better of Cicero could he have had an +Opposition and its newspapers at his command. + +Another consideration explains the historical and popular disfavor +in which Catherine is held. The Opposition in France has always been +Protestant, because it has had no policy but that of _negation_; it +inherits the theories of Lutherans, Calvinists, and Protestants on the +terrible words "liberty," "tolerance," "progress," and "philosophy." Two +centuries have been employed by the opponents of power in establishing +the doubtful doctrine of the _libre arbitre_,--liberty of will. Two +other centuries were employed in developing the first corollary +of liberty of will, namely, liberty of conscience. Our century is +endeavoring to establish the second, namely, political liberty. + +Placed between the ground already lost and the ground still to be +defended, Catherine and the Church proclaimed the salutary principle of +modern societies, _una fides, unus dominus_, using their power of +life and death upon the innovators. Though Catherine was vanquished, +succeeding centuries have proved her justification. The product of +liberty of will, religious liberty, and political liberty (not, observe +this, to be confounded with civil liberty) is the France of to-day. +What is the France of 1840? A country occupied exclusively with material +interests,--without patriotism, without conscience; where power has +no vigor; where election, the fruit of liberty of will and political +liberty, lifts to the surface none but commonplace men; where brute +force has now become a necessity against popular violence; where +discussion, spreading into everything, stifles the action of legislative +bodies; where money rules all questions; where individualism--the +dreadful product of the division of property _ad infinitum_--will +suppress the family and devour all, even the nation, which egoism will +some day deliver over to invasion. Men will say, "Why not the Czar?" +just as they said, "Why not the Duc d'Orleans?" We don't cling to many +things even now; but fifty years hence we shall cling to nothing. + +Thus, according to Catherine de' Medici and according to all those who +believe in a well-ordered society, in _social man_, the subject cannot +have liberty of will, ought not to _teach_ the dogma of liberty of +conscience, or demand political liberty. But, as no society can exist +without guarantees granted to the subject against the sovereign, there +results for the subject _liberties_ subject to restriction. Liberty, no; +liberties, yes,--precise and well-defined liberties. That is in harmony +with the nature of things. + +It is, assuredly, beyond the reach of human power to prevent the +liberty of thought; and no sovereign can interfere with money. The +great statesmen who were vanquished in the long struggle (it lasted five +centuries) recognized the right of subjects to great liberties; but they +did not admit their right to publish anti-social thoughts, nor did they +admit the indefinite liberty of the subject. To them the words "subject" +and "liberty" were terms that contradicted each other; just as the +theory of citizens being all equal constitutes an absurdity which nature +contradicts at every moment. To recognize the necessity of a religion, +the necessity of authority, and then to leave to subjects the right +to deny religion, attack its worship, oppose the exercise of power +by public expression communicable and communicated by thought, was an +impossibility which the Catholics of the sixteenth century would not +hear of. + +Alas! the victory of Calvinism will cost France more in the future +than it has yet cost her; for religious sects and humanitarian, +equality-levelling politics are, to-day, the tail of Calvinism; +and, judging by the mistakes of the present power, its contempt for +intellect, its love for material interests, in which it seeks the basis +of its support (though material interests are the most treacherous of +all supports), we may predict that unless some providence intervenes, +the genius of destruction will again carry the day over the genius of +preservation. The assailants, who have nothing to lose and all to gain, +understand each other thoroughly; whereas their rich adversaries +will not make any sacrifice either of money or self-love to draw to +themselves supporters. + +The art of printing came to the aid of the opposition begun by the +Vaudois and the Albigenses. As soon as human thought, instead of +condensing itself, as it was formerly forced to do to remain in +communicable form, took on a multitude of garments and became, as +it were, the people itself, instead of remaining a sort of axiomatic +divinity, there were two multitudes to combat,--the multitude of ideas, +and the multitude of men. The royal power succumbed in that warfare, and +we are now assisting, in France, at its last combination with elements +which render its existence difficult, not to say impossible. Power is +action, and the elective principle is discussion. There is no policy, no +statesmanship possible where discussion is permanent. + +Therefore we ought to recognize the grandeur of the woman who had the +eyes to see this future and fought it bravely. That the house of Bourbon +was able to succeed to the house of Valois, that it found a crown +preserved to it, was due solely to Catherine de' Medici. Suppose the +second Balafre had lived? No matter how strong the Bearnais was, it is +doubtful whether he could have seized the crown, seeing how dearly the +Duc de Mayenne and the remains of the Guise party sold it to him. The +means employed by Catherine, who certainly had to reproach herself with +the deaths of Francois II. and Charles IX., whose lives might have +been saved in time, were never, it is observable, made the subject of +accusations by either the Calvinists or modern historians. Though there +was no poisoning, as some grave writers have said, there was other +conduct almost as criminal; there is no doubt she hindered Pare from +saving one, and allowed the other to accomplish his own doom by moral +assassination. But the sudden death of Francois II., and that of Charles +IX., were no injury to the Calvinists, and therefore the causes of these +two events remained in their secret sphere, and were never suspected +either by the writers of the people of that day; they were not divined +except by de Thou, l'Hopital, and minds of that calibre, or by the +leaders of the two parties who were coveting or defending the throne, +and believed such means necessary to their end. + +Popular songs attacked, strangely enough, Catherine's morals. Every +one knows the anecdote of the soldier who was roasting a goose in +the courtyard of the chateau de Tours during the conference between +Catherine and Henri IV., singing, as he did so, a song in which the +queen was grossly insulted. Henri IV. drew his sword to go out and kill +the man; but Catherine stopped him and contented herself with calling +from the window to her insulter:-- + +"Eh! but it was Catherine who gave you the goose." + +Though the executions at Amboise were attributed to Catherine, and +though the Calvinists made her responsible for all the inevitable evils +of that struggle, it was with her as it was, later, with Robespierre, +who is still waiting to be justly judged. Catherine was, moreover, +rightly punished for her preference for the Duc d'Anjou, to whose +interests the two elder brothers were sacrificed. Henri III., like all +spoilt children, ended in becoming absolutely indifferent to his mother, +and he plunged voluntarily into the life of debauchery which made of him +what his mother had made of Charles IX., a husband without sons, a king +without heirs. Unhappily the Duc d'Alencon, Catherine's last male child, +had already died, a natural death. + +The last words of the great queen were like a summing up of her lifelong +policy, which was, moreover, so plain in its common-sense that all +cabinets are seen under similar circumstances to put it in practice. + +"Enough cut off, my son," she said when Henri III. came to her death-bed +to tell her that the great enemy of the crown was dead, "_now piece +together_." + +By which she meant that the throne should at once reconcile itself +with the house of Lorraine and make use of it, as the only means of +preventing evil results from the hatred of the Guises,--by holding out +to them the hope of surrounding the king. But the persistent craft and +dissimulation of the woman and the Italian, which she had never +failed to employ, was incompatible with the debauched life of her son. +Catherine de' Medici once dead, the policy of the Valois died also. + +Before undertaking to write the history of the manners and morals +of this period in action, the author of this Study has patiently and +minutely examined the principal reigns in the history of France, the +quarrel of the Burgundians and the Armagnacs, that of the Guises and the +Valois, each of which covers a century. His first intention was to +write a picturesque history of France. Three women--Isabella of Bavaria, +Catharine and Marie de' Medici--hold an enormous place in it, their sway +reaching from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, ending in Louis +XIV. Of these three queens, Catherine is the finer and more interesting. +Hers was virile power, dishonored neither by the terrible amours of +Isabella nor by those, even more terrible, though less known, of Marie +de' Medici. Isabella summoned the English into France against her son, +and loved her brother-in-law, the Duc d'Orleans. The record of Marie de' +Medici is heavier still. Neither had political genius. + +It was in the course of these studies that the writer acquired the +conviction of Catherine's greatness; as he became initiated into the +constantly renewed difficulties of her position, he saw with what +injustice historians--all influenced by Protestants--had treated this +queen. Out of this conviction grew the three sketches which here follow; +in which some erroneous opinions formed upon Catherine, also upon the +persons who surrounded her, and on the events of her time, are refuted. +If this book is placed among the Philosophical Studies, it is because +it shows the Spirit of a Time, and because we may clearly see in it the +influence of thought. + +But before entering the political arena, where Catherine will be seen +facing the two great difficulties of her career, it is necessary to +give a succinct account of her preceding life, from the point of view +of impartial criticism, in order to take in as much as possible of this +vast and regal existence up to the moment when the first part of the +present Study begins. + +Never was there any period, in any land, in any sovereign family, a +greater contempt for legitimacy than in the famous house of the Medici. +On the subject of power they held the same doctrine now professed by +Russia, namely: to whichever head the crown goes, he is the true, the +legitimate sovereign. Mirabeau had reason to say: "There has been but +one mesalliance in my family,--that of the Medici"; for in spite of +the paid efforts of genealogists, it is certain that the Medici, before +Everardo de' Medici, _gonfaloniero_ of Florence in 1314, were simple +Florentine merchants who became very rich. The first personage in this +family who occupies an important place in the history of the famous +Tuscan republic is Silvestro de' Medici, _gonfaloniero_ in 1378. This +Silvestro had two sons, Cosmo and Lorenzo de' Medici. + +From Cosmo are descended Lorenzo the Magnificent, the Duc de Nemours, +the Duc d'Urbino, father of Catherine, Pope Leo X., Pope Clement VII., +and Alessandro, not Duke of Florence, as historians call him, but +Duke _della citta di Penna_, a title given by Pope Clement VII., as a +half-way station to that of Grand-duke of Tuscany. + +From Lorenzo are descended the Florentine Brutus Lorenzino, who killed +Alessandro, Cosmo, the first grand-duke, and all the sovereigns of +Tuscany till 1737, at which period the house became extinct. + +But neither of the two branches--the branch Cosmo and the branch +Lorenzo--reigned through their direct and legitimate lines until the +close of the sixteenth century, when the grand-dukes of Tuscany began +to succeed each other peacefully. Alessandro de' Medici, he to whom the +title of Duke _della citta di Penna_ was given, was the son of the +Duke d'Urbino, Catherine's father, by a Moorish slave. For this reason +Lorenzino claimed a double right to kill Alessandro,--as a usurper in +his house, as well as an oppressor of the city. Some historians believe +that Alessandro was the son of Clement VII. The fact that led to the +recognition of this bastard as chief of the republic and head of the +house of the Medici was his marriage with Margaret of Austria, natural +daughter of Charles V. + +Francesco de' Medici, husband of Bianca Capello, accepted as his son a +child of poor parents bought by the celebrated Venetian; and, strange +to say, Ferdinando, on succeeding Francesco, maintained the substituted +child in all his rights. That child, called Antonio de' Medici, was +considered during four reigns as belonging to the family; he won the +affection of everybody, rendered important services to the family, and +died universally regretted. + +Nearly all the first Medici had natural children, whose careers were +invariably brilliant. For instance, the Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, +afterwards Pope under the name of Clement VII., was the illegitimate son +of Giuliano I. Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici was also a bastard, and came +very near being Pope and the head of the family. + +Lorenzo II., the father of Catherine, married in 1518, for his second +wife, Madeleine de la Tour de Boulogne, in Auvergne, and died April 25, +1519, a few days after his wife, who died in giving birth to Catherine. +Catherine was therefore orphaned of father and mother as soon as she +drew breath. Hence the strange adventures of her childhood, mixed up as +they were with the bloody efforts of the Florentines, then seeking +to recover their liberty from the Medici. The latter, desirous of +continuing to reign in Florence, behaved with such circumspection that +Lorenzo, Catherine's father, had taken the name of Duke d'Urbino. + +At Lorenzo's death, the head of the house of the Medici was Pope Leo +X., who sent the illegitimate son of Giuliano, Giulio de' Medici, then +cardinal, to govern Florence. Leo X. was great-uncle to Catherine, and +this Cardinal Giulio, afterward Clement VII., was her uncle by the left +hand. + +It was during the siege of Florence, undertaken by the Medici to force +their return there, that the Republican party, not content with having +shut Catherine, then nine years old, into a convent, after robbing her +of all her property, actually proposed, on the suggestion of one named +Batista Cei, to expose her between two battlements on the walls to the +artillery of the Medici. Bernardo Castiglione went further in a council +held to determine how matters should be ended: he was of opinion that, +so far from returning her to the Pope as the latter requested, she ought +to be given to the soldiers for dishonor. This will show how all popular +revolutions resemble each other. Catherine's subsequent policy, which +upheld so firmly the royal power, may well have been instigated in +part by such scenes, of which an Italian girl of nine years of age was +assuredly not ignorant. + +The rise of Alessandro de' Medici, to which the bastard Pope Clement +VII. powerfully contributed, was no doubt chiefly caused by the +affection of Charles V. for his famous illegitimate daughter Margaret. +Thus Pope and emperor were prompted by the same sentiment. At this epoch +Venice had the commerce of the world; Rome had its moral government; +Italy still reigned supreme through the poets, the generals, the +statesmen born to her. At no period of the world's history, in any land, +was there ever seen so remarkable, so abundant a collection of men of +genius. There were so many, in fact, that even the lesser princes were +superior men. Italy was crammed with talent, enterprise, knowledge, +science, poesy, wealth, and gallantry, all the while torn by intestinal +warfare and overrun with conquerors struggling for possession of her +finest provinces. When men are so strong, they do not fear to admit +their weaknesses. Hence, no doubt, this golden age for bastards. We +must, moreover, do the illegitimate children of the house of the Medici +the justice to say that they were ardently devoted to the glory, power, +and increase of wealth of that famous family. Thus as soon as the _Duca +della citta di Penna_, son of the Moorish woman, was installed as tyrant +of Florence, he espoused the interest of Pope Clement VII., and gave a +home to the daughter of Lorenzo II., then eleven years of age. + +When we study the march of events and that of men in this curious +sixteenth century, we ought never to forget that public policy had for +its element a perpetual craftiness and a dissimulation which destroyed, +in all characters, the straightforward, upright bearing our imaginations +demand of eminent personages. In this, above all, is Catherine's +absolution. It disposes of the vulgar and foolish accusations of +treachery launched against her by the writers of the Reformation. This +was the great age of that statesmanship the code of which was written +by Macchiavelli as well as by Spinosa, by Hobbes as well as by +Montesquieu,--for the dialogue between Sylla and Eucrates contains +Montesquieu's true thought, which his connection with the Encyclopedists +did not permit him to develop otherwise than as he did. + +These principles are to-day the secret law of all cabinets in which +plans for the conquest and maintenance of great power are laid. In +France we blamed Napoleon when he made use of that Italian genius for +craft which was bred in his bone,--though in his case it did not always +succeed. But Charles V., Catherine, Philip II., and Pope Julius would +not have acted otherwise than as he did in the affair of Spain. History, +in the days when Catherine was born, if judged from the point of view of +honesty, would seem an impossible tale. Charles V., obliged to sustain +Catholicism against the attacks of Luther, who threatened the Throne in +threatening the Tiara, allowed the siege of Rome and held Pope Clement +VII. in prison! This same Clement, who had no bitterer enemy than +Charles V., courted him in order to make Alessandro de' Medici ruler of +Florence, and obtained his favorite daughter for that bastard. No +sooner was Alessandro established than he, conjointly with Clement VII., +endeavored to injure Charles V. by allying himself with Francois I., +king of France, by means of Catherine de' Medici; and both of them +promised to assist Francois in reconquering Italy. Lorenzino de' Medici +made himself the companion of Alessandro's debaucheries for the express +purpose of finding an opportunity to kill him. Filippo Strozzi, one of +the great minds of that day, held this murder in such respect that he +swore that his sons should each marry a daughter of the murderer; and +each son religiously fulfilled his father's oath when they might all +have made, under Catherine's protection, brilliant marriages; for one +was the rival of Doria, the other a marshal of France. Cosmo de' Medici, +successor of Alessandro, with whom he had no relationship, avenged the +death of that tyrant in the cruellest manner, with a persistency lasting +twelve years; during which time his hatred continued keen against +the persons who had, as a matter of fact, given him the power. He was +eighteen years old when called to the sovereignty; his first act was to +declare the rights of Alessandro's legitimate sons null and void,--all +the while avenging their father's death! Charles V. confirmed the +disinheriting of his grandsons, and recognized Cosmo instead of the son +of Alessandro and his daughter Margaret. Cosmo, placed on the throne by +Cardinal Cibo, instantly exiled the latter; and the cardinal revenged +himself by accusing Cosmo (who was the first grand-duke) of murdering +Alessandro's son. Cosmo, as jealous of his power as Charles V. was of +his, abdicated in favor of his son Francesco, after causing the death +of his other son, Garcia, to avenge the death of Cardinal Giovanni +de' Medici, whom Garcia had assassinated. Cosmo the First and his son +Francesco, who ought to have been devoted, body and soul, to the house +of France, the only power on which they might really have relied, +made themselves the lacqueys of Charles V. and Philip II., and were +consequently the secret, base, and perfidious enemies of Catherine de' +Medici, one of the glories of their house. + +Such were the leading contradictory and illogical traits, the treachery, +knavery, and black intrigues of a single house, that of the Medici. From +this sketch, we may judge of the other princes of Italy and Europe. +All the envoys of Cosmos I. to the court of France had, in their secret +instructions, an order to poison Strozzi, Catherine's relation, when he +arrived. Charles V. had already assassinated three of the ambassadors of +Francois I. + +It was early in the month of October, 1533, that the _Duca della citta +di Penna_ started from Florence for Livorno, accompanied by the sole +heiress of Lorenzo II., namely, Catherine de' Medici. The duke and the +Princess of Florence, for that was the title by which the young girl, +then fourteen years of age, was known, left the city surrounded by a +large retinue of servants, officers, and secretaries, preceded by armed +men, and followed by an escort of cavalry. The young princess knew +nothing as yet of what her fate was to be, except that the Pope was to +have an interview at Livorno with the Duke Alessandro; but her uncle, +Filippo Strozzi, very soon informed her of the future before her. + +Filippo Strozzi had married Clarice de' Medici, half-sister on +the father's side of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, father of +Catherine; but this marriage, which was brought about as much to convert +one of the firmest supporters of the popular party to the cause of the +Medici as to facilitate the recall of that family, then banished from +Florence, never shook the stern champion from his course, though he +was persecuted by his own party for making it. In spite of all apparent +changes in his conduct (for this alliance naturally affected it +somewhat) he remained faithful to the popular party, and declared +himself openly against the Medici as soon as he foresaw their intention +to enslave Florence. This great man even refused the offer of a +principality made to him by Leo X. + +At the time of which we are now writing Filippo Strozzi was a victim +to the policy of the Medici, so vacillating in its means, so fixed +and inflexible in its object. After sharing the misfortunes and the +captivity of Clement VII. when the latter, surprised by the Colonna, +took refuge in the Castle of Saint-Angelo, Strozzi was delivered up by +Clement as a hostage and taken to Naples. As the Pope, when he got his +liberty, turned savagely on his enemies, Strozzi came very near losing +his life, and was forced to pay an enormous sum to be released from a +prison where he was closely confined. When he found himself at liberty +he had, with an instinct of kindness natural to an honest man, the +simplicity to present himself before Clement VII., who had perhaps +congratulated himself on being well rid of him. The Pope had such good +cause to blush for his own conduct that he received Strozzi extremely +ill. + +Strozzi thus began, early in life, his apprenticeship in the misfortunes +of an honest man in politics,--a man whose conscience cannot lend itself +to the capriciousness of events; whose actions are acceptable only to +the virtuous; and who is therefore persecuted by the world,--by the +people, for opposing their blind passions; by power for opposing its +usurpations. The life of such great citizens is a martyrdom, in which +they are sustained only by the voice of their conscience and an heroic +sense of social duty, which dictates their course in all things. There +were many such men in the republic of Florence, all as great as Strozzi, +and as able as their adversaries the Medici, though vanquished by the +superior craft and wiliness of the latter. What could be more worthy of +admiration than the conduct of the chief of the Pazzi at the time of the +conspiracy of his house, when, his commerce being at that time enormous, +he settled all his accounts with Asia, the Levant, and Europe before +beginning that great attempt; so that, if it failed, his correspondents +should lose nothing. + +The history of the establishment of the house of the Medici in the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is a magnificent tale which still +remains to be written, though men of genius have already put their hands +to it. It is not the history of a republic, nor of a society, nor of +any special civilization; it is the history of _statesmen_, the eternal +history of Politics,--that of usurpers, that of conquerors. + +As soon as Filippo Strozzi returned to Florence he re-established the +preceding form of government and ousted Ippolito de' Medici, another +bastard, and the very Alessandro with whom, at the later period of which +we are now writing, he was travelling to Livorno. Having completed this +change of government, he became alarmed at the evident inconstancy of +the people of Florence, and, fearing the vengeance of Clement VII., he +went to Lyon to superintend a vast house of business he owned there, +which corresponded with other banking-houses of his own in Venice, Rome, +France, and Spain. Here we find a strange thing. These men who bore the +weight of public affairs and of such a struggle as that with the Medici +(not to speak of contentions with their own party) found time and +strength to bear the burden of a vast business and all its speculations, +also of banks and their complications, which the multiplicity of +coinages and their falsification rendered even more difficult than it is +in our day. The name "banker" comes from the _banc_ (Anglice, _bench_) +upon which the banker sat, and on which he rang the gold and silver +pieces to try their quality. After a time Filippo found in the death of +his wife, whom he adored, a pretext for renewing his relations with the +Republican party, whose secret police becomes the more terrible in +all republics, because every one makes himself a spy in the name of a +liberty which justifies everything. + +Filippo returned to Florence at the very moment when that city was +compelled to adopt the yoke of Alessandro; but he had previously gone +to Rome and seen Pope Clement VII., whose affairs were now so prosperous +that his disposition toward Strozzi was much changed. In the hour of +triumph the Medici were so much in need of a man like Filippo--were it +only to smooth the return of Alessandro--that Clement urged him to take +a seat at the Council of the bastard who was about to oppress the city; +and Strozzi consented to accept the diploma of a senator. + +But, for the last two years and more, he had seen, like Seneca and +Burrhus, the beginnings of tyranny in his Nero. He felt himself, at the +moment of which we write, an object of so much distrust on the part +of the people and so suspected by the Medici whom he was constantly +resisting, that he was confident of some impending catastrophe. +Consequently, as soon as he heard from Alessandro of the negotiation for +Catherine's marriage with the son of Francois I., the final arrangements +for which were to be made at Livorno, where the negotiators had +appointed to meet, he formed the plan of going to France, and attaching +himself to the fortunes of his niece, who needed a guardian. + +Alessandro, delighted to rid himself of a man so unaccommodating in the +affairs of Florence, furthered a plan which relieved him of one murder +at least, and advised Strozzi to put himself at the head of Catherine's +household. In order to dazzle the eyes of France the Medici had selected +a brilliant suite for her whom they styled, very unwarrantably, the +Princess of Florence, and who also went by the name of the little +Duchess d'Urbino. The cortege, at the head of which rode Alessandro, +Catherine, and Strozzi, was composed of more than a thousand persons, +not including the escort and servants. When the last of it issued from +the gates of Florence the head had passed that first village beyond the +city where they now braid the Tuscan straw hats. It was beginning to be +rumored among the people that Catherine was to marry a son of Francois +I.; but the rumor did not obtain much belief until the Tuscans beheld +with their own eyes this triumphal procession from Florence to Livorno. + +Catherine herself, judging by all the preparations she beheld, began to +suspect that her marriage was in question, and her uncle then revealed +to her the fact that the first ambitious project of his house had +aborted, and that the hand of the dauphin had been refused to her. +Alessandro still hoped that the Duke of Albany would succeed in changing +this decision of the king of France who, willing as he was to buy the +support of the Medici in Italy, would only grant them his second son, +the Duc d'Orleans. This petty blunder lost Italy to France, and did not +prevent Catherine from becoming queen. + +The Duke of Albany, son of Alexander Stuart, brother of James III., +king of Scotland, had married Anne de la Tour de Boulogne, sister of +Madeleine de la Tour de Boulogne, Catherine's mother; he was therefore +her maternal uncle. It was through her mother that Catherine was so rich +and allied to so many great families; for, strangely enough, her rival, +Diane de Poitiers, was also her cousin. Jean de Poitiers, father of +Diane, was son of Jeanne de Boulogne, aunt of the Duchess d'Urbino. +Catherine was also a cousin of Mary Stuart, her daughter-in-law. + +Catherine now learned that her dowry in money was a hundred thousand +ducats. A ducat was a gold piece of the size of an old French louis, +though less thick. (The old louis was worth twenty-four francs--the +present one is worth twenty). The Comtes of Auvergne and Lauraguais +were also made a part of the dowry, and Pope Clement added one hundred +thousand ducats in jewels, precious stones, and other wedding gifts; to +which Alessandro likewise contributed his share. + +On arriving at Livorno, Catherine, still so young, must have been +flattered by the extreme magnificence displayed by Pope Clement ("her +uncle in Notre-Dame," then head of the house of the Medici), in order to +outdo the court of France. He had already arrived at Livorno in one of +his galleys, which was lined with crimson satin fringed with gold, +and covered with a tent-like awning in cloth of gold. This galley, +the decoration of which cost twenty thousand ducats, contained several +apartments destined for the bride of Henri of France, all of which were +furnished with the richest treasures of art the Medici could collect. +The rowers, magnificently apparelled, and the crew were under the +command of a prior of the order of the Knights of Rhodes. The household +of the Pope were in three other galleys. The galleys of the Duke of +Albany, anchored near those of Clement VII., added to the size and +dignity of the flotilla. + +Duke Alessandro presented the officers of Catherine's household to the +Pope, with whom he had a secret conference, in which, it would appear, +he presented to his Holiness Count Sebastiano Montecuculi, who had just +left, somewhat abruptly, the service of Charles V. and that of his two +generals, Antonio di Leyva and Ferdinando di Gonzago. Was there between +the two bastards, Giulio and Alessandro, a premeditated intention of +making the Duc d'Orleans dauphin? What reward was promised to Sebastiano +Montecuculi, who, before entering the service of Charles V. had studied +medicine? History is silent on that point. We shall see presently what +clouds hang round that fact. The obscurity is so great that, quite +recently, grave and conscientious historians have admitted Montecuculi's +innocence. + +Catherine then heard officially from the Pope's own lips of the alliance +reserved for her. The Duke of Albany had been able to do no more than +hold the king of France, and that with difficulty, to his promise of +giving Catherine the hand of his second son, the Duc d'Orleans. The +Pope's impatience was so great, and he was so afraid that his plans +would be thwarted either by some intrigue of the emperor, or by the +refusal of France, or by the grandees of the kingdom looking with evil +eye upon the marriage, that he gave orders to embark at once, and sailed +for Marseille, where he arrived toward the end of October, 1533. + +Notwithstanding its wealth, the house of the Medici was eclipsed on this +occasion by the court of France. To show the lengths to which the Medici +pushed their magnificence, it is enough to say that the "dozen" put +into the bride's purse by the Pope were twelve gold medals of priceless +historical value, which were then unique. But Francois I., who loved +the display of festivals, distinguished himself on this occasion. The +wedding festivities of Henri de Valois and Catherine de' Medici lasted +thirty-four days. + +It is useless to repeat the details, which have been given in all the +histories of Provence and Marseille, as to this celebrated interview +between the Pope and the king of France, which was opened by a jest of +the Duke of Albany as to the duty of keeping fasts,--a jest mentioned +by Brantome and much enjoyed by the court, which shows the tone of the +manners of that day. + +Many conjectures have been made as to Catherine's barrenness, which +lasted ten years. Strange calumnies still rest upon this queen, all of +whose actions were fated to be misjudged. It is sufficient to say that +the cause was solely in Henri II. After the difficulty was removed, +Catherine had ten children. The delay was, in one respect, fortunate for +France. If Henri II. had had children by Diane de Poitiers the politics +of the kingdom would have been dangerously complicated. When the +difficulty was removed the Duchesse de Valentinois had reached the +period of a woman's second youth. This matter alone will show that the +true life of Catherine de' Medici is still to be written, and also--as +Napoleon said with profound wisdom--that the history of France should be +either in one volume only, or one thousand. + +Here is a contemporaneous and succinct account of the meeting of Clement +VII. and the king of France: + + "His Holiness the Pope, having been conducted to the palace, which + was, as I have said, prepared beyond the port, every one retired + to their own quarters till the morrow, when his Holiness was to + make his entry; the which was made with great sumptuousness and + magnificence, he being seated in a chair carried on the shoulders + of two men and wearing his pontifical robes, but not the tiara. + Pacing before him was a white hackney, bearing the sacrament of + the altar,--the said hackney being led by reins of white silk held + by two footmen finely equipped. Next came all the cardinals in + their robes, on pontifical mules, and Madame la Duchesse d'Urbino + in great magnificence, accompanied by a vast number of ladies and + gentlemen, both French and Italian. + + "The Holy Father having arrived in the midst of this company at + the place appointed for his lodging, every one retired; and all + this, being well-ordered, took place without disorder or tumult. + While the Pope was thus making his entry, the king crossed the + water in a frigate and went to the lodging the Pope had just + quitted, in order to go the next day and make obeisance to the + Holy Father as a Most Christian king. + + "The next day the king being prepared set forth for the palace + where was the Pope, accompanied by the princes of the blood, such + as Monseigneur le Duc de Vendomois (father of the Vidame de + Chartres), the Comte de Sainct-Pol, Messieurs de Montpensier and + la Roche-sur-Yon, the Duc de Nemours (brother of the Duc de + Savoie) who died in this said place, the Duke of Albany, and many + others, whether counts, barons, or seigneurs; nearest to the king + was the Seigneur de Montmorency, his Grand-master. + + "The king, being arrived at the palace, was received by the Pope + and all the college of cardinals, assembled in consistory, most + civilly. This done, each retired to the place ordained for him, + the king taking with him several cardinals to feast them,--among + them Cardinal de' Medici, nephew of the Pope, a very splendid man + with a fine retinue. + + "On the morrow those persons chosen by his Holiness and by the + king began to assemble to discuss the matters for which the + meeting was made. First, the matter of the Faith was treated of, + and a bull was put forth repressing heresy and preventing that + things come to greater combustion than they now are. + + "After this was concluded the marriage of the Duc d'Orleans, + second son of the king, with Catherine de' Medici, Duchesse + d'Urbino, niece of his Holiness, under the conditions such, or + like to those, as were proposed formerly by the Duke of Albany. + The said espousals were celebrated with great magnificence, and + our Holy Father himself wedded the pair. The marriage thus + consummated, the Holy Father held a consistory at which he created + four cardinals and devoted them to the king,--to wit: Cardinal Le + Veneur, formerly bishop of Lisieux and grand almoner; the Cardinal + de Boulogne of the family of la Chambre, brother on the mother's + side of the Duke of Albany; the Cardinal de Chatillon of the house + of Coligny, nephew of the Sire de Montmorency, and the Cardinal de + Givry." + +When Strozzi delivered the dowry in presence of the court he noticed +some surprise on the part of the French seigneurs; they even said aloud +that it was little enough for such a mesalliance (what would they have +said in these days?). Cardinal Ippolito replied, saying:-- + +"You must be ill-informed as to the secrets of your king. His Holiness +has bound himself to give to France three pearls of inestimable value, +namely: Genoa, Milan, and Naples." + +The Pope left Sebastiano Montecuculi to present himself to the court +of France, to which the count offered his services, complaining of +his treatment by Antonio di Leyva and Ferdinando di Gonzago, for which +reason his services were accepted. Montecuculi was not made a part +of Catherine's household, which was wholly composed of French men and +women, for, by a law of the monarchy, the execution of which the Pope +saw with great satisfaction, Catherine was naturalized by letters-patent +as a Frenchwoman before the marriage. Montecuculi was appointed in the +first instance to the household of the queen, the sister of Charles V. +After a while he passed into the service of the dauphin as cup-bearer. + +The new Duchesse d'Orleans soon found herself a nullity at the court of +Francois I. Her young husband was in love with Diane de Poitiers, who +certainly, in the matter of birth, could rival Catherine, and was far +more of a great lady than the little Florentine. The daughter of the +Medici was also outdone by Queen Eleonore, sister of Charles V., and by +Madame d'Etampes, whose marriage with the head of the house of Brosse +made her one of the most powerful and best titled women in France. +Catherine's aunt the Duchess of Albany, the Queen of Navarre, the +Duchesse de Guise, the Duchesse de Vendome, Madame la Connetable de +Montmorency, and other women of like importance, eclipsed by birth and +by their rights, as well as by their power at the most sumptuous court +of France (not excepting that of Louis XIV.), the daughter of the +Florentine grocers, who was richer and more illustrious through the +house of the Tour de Boulogne than by her own family of Medici. + +The position of his niece was so bad and difficult that the republican +Filippo Strozzi, wholly incapable of guiding her in the midst of such +conflicting interests, left her after the first year, being recalled to +Italy by the death of Clement VII. Catherine's conduct, when we remember +that she was scarcely fifteen years old, was a model of prudence. She +attached herself closely to the king, her father-in-law; she left him as +little as she could, following him on horseback both in hunting and in +war. Her idolatry for Francois I. saved the house of the Medici from all +suspicion when the dauphin was poisoned. Catherine was then, and so was +her husband, at the headquarters of the king in Provence; for Charles +V. had speedily invaded France and the late scene of the marriage +festivities had become the theatre of a cruel war. + +At the moment when Charles V. was put to flight, leaving the bones of +his army in Provence, the dauphin was returning to Lyon by the Rhone. +He stopped to sleep at Tournon, and, by way of pastime, practised some +violent physical exercises,--which were nearly all the education his +brother and he, in consequence of their detention as hostages, had ever +received. The prince had the imprudence--it being the month of +August, and the weather very hot--to ask for a glass of water, which +Montecuculi, as his cup-bearer, gave to him, with ice in it. The dauphin +died almost immediately. Francois I. adored his son. The dauphin was, +according to all accounts, a charming young man. His father, in despair, +gave the utmost publicity to the proceedings against Montecuculi, which +he placed in the hands of the most able magistrates of that day. The +count, after heroically enduring the first tortures without confessing +anything, finally made admissions by which he implicated Charles V. and +his two generals, Antonio di Leyva and Ferdinando di Gonzago. No affair +was ever more solemnly debated. Here is what the king did, in the words +of an ocular witness:-- + + "The king called an assembly at Lyon of all the princes of his + blood, all the knights of his order, and other great personages of + the kingdom; also the legal and papal nuncio, the cardinals who + were at his court, together with the ambassadors of England, + Scotland, Portugal, Venice, Ferrara, and others; also all the + princes and noble strangers, both Italian and German, who were + then residing at his court in great numbers. These all being + assembled, he caused to be read to them, in presence of each + other, from beginning to end, the trial of the unhappy man who + poisoned Monseigneur the late dauphin,--with all the + interrogatories, confessions, confrontings, and other ceremonies + usual in criminal trials; he, the king, not being willing that the + sentence should be executed until all present had given their + opinion on this heinous and miserable case." + +The fidelity, devotion, and cautious skill of the Comte de Montecuculi +may seem extraordinary in our time, when all the world, even ministers +of State, tell everything about the least little event with which they +have to do; but in those days princes could find devoted servants, or +knew how to choose them. Monarchical Moreys existed because in those +days there was _faith_. Never ask devotion of _self-interest_, because +such interest may change; but expect all from sentiments, religious +faith, monarchical faith, patriotic faith. Those three beliefs produced +such men as the Berthereaus of Geneva, the Sydneys and Straffords of +England, the murderers of Thomas a Becket, the Jacques Coeurs, the +Jeanne d'Arcs, the Richelieus, Dantons, Bonchamps, Talmonts, and also +the Clements, Chabots, and others. + +The dauphin was poisoned in the same manner, and possibly by the same +drug which afterwards served MADAME under Louis XIV. Pope Clement VII. +had been dead two years; Duke Alessandro, plunged in debauchery, seemed +to have no interest in the elevation of the Duc d'Orleans; Catherine, +then seventeen, and full of admiration for her father-in-law, was with +him at the time; Charles V. alone appeared to have an interest in his +death, for Francois I. was negotiating for his son an alliance which +would assuredly have aggrandized France. The count's confession was +therefore very skilfully based on the passions and politics of the +moment; Charles V. was then flying from France, leaving his armies +buried in Provence with his happiness, his reputation, and his hopes +of dominion. It is to be remarked that if torture had forced admissions +from an innocent man, Francois I. gave Montecuculi full liberty to speak +in presence of an imposing assembly, and before persons in whose eyes +innocence had some chance to triumph. The king, who wanted the truth, +sought it in good faith. + +In spite of her now brilliant future, Catherine's situation at court was +not changed by the death of the dauphin. Her barrenness gave reason to +fear a divorce in case her husband should ascend the throne. The dauphin +was under the spell of Diane de Poitiers, who assumed to rival Madame +d'Etampes, the king's mistress. Catherine redoubled in care and cajolery +of her father-in-law, being well aware that her sole support was in +him. The first ten years of Catherine's married life were years of +ever-renewed grief, caused by the failure, one by one, of her hopes of +pregnancy, and the vexations of her rivalry with Diane. Imagine what +must have been the life of a young princess, watched by a jealous +mistress who was supported by a powerful party,--the Catholic +party,--and by the two powerful alliances Diane had made in marrying one +daughter to Robert de la Mark, Duc de Bouillon, Prince of Sedan, and the +other to Claude de Lorraine, Duc d'Aumale. + +Catherine, helpless between the party of Madame d'Etampes and the party +of the Senechale (such was Diane's title during the reign of Francois +I.), which divided the court and politics into factions for these mortal +enemies, endeavored to make herself the friend of both Diane de Poitiers +and Madame d'Etampes. She, who was destined to become so great a queen, +played the part of a servant. Thus she served her apprenticeship in that +double-faced policy which was ever the secret motor of her life. Later, +the _queen_ was to stand between Catholics and Calvinists, just as the +_woman_ had stood for ten years between Madame d'Etampes and Madame de +Poitiers. She studied the contradictions of French politics; she saw +Francois I. sustaining Calvin and the Lutherans in order to embarrass +Charles V., and then, after secretly and patiently protecting the +Reformation in Germany, and tolerating the residence of Calvin at the +court of Navarre, he suddenly turned against it with excessive rigor. +Catherine beheld on the one hand the court, and the women of the court, +playing with the fire of heresy, and on the other, Diane at the head +of the Catholic party with the Guises, solely because the Duchesse +d'Etampes supported Calvin and the Protestants. + +Such was the political education of this queen, who saw in the cabinet +of the king of France the same errors committed as in the house of the +Medici. The dauphin opposed his father in everything; he was a bad +son. He forgot the cruel but most vital maxim of royalty, namely, that +thrones need solidarity; and that a son who creates opposition during +the lifetime of his father must follow that father's policy when he +mounts the throne. Spinosa, who was as great a statesman as he was +a philosopher, said--in the case of one king succeeding another by +insurrection or crime,-- + + "If the new king desires to secure the safety of his throne and of + his own life he must show such ardor in avenging the death of his + predecessor that no one shall feel a desire to commit the same + crime. But to avenge it _worthily_ it is not enough to shed the + blood of his subjects, he must approve the axioms of the king he + replaces, and take the same course in governing." + +It was the application of this maxim which gave Florence to the Medici. +Cosmo I. caused to be assassinated at Venice, after eleven years' sway, +the Florentine Brutus, and, as we have already said, persecuted the +Strozzi. It was forgetfulness of this maxim which ruined Louis XVI. +That king was false to every principle of royal government when he +re-established the parliaments suppressed by his grandfather. Louis +XV. saw the matter clearly. The parliaments, and notably that of +Paris, counted for fully half in the troubles which necessitated the +convocation of the States-general. The fault of Louis XV. was, that in +breaking down that barrier which separated the throne from the people he +did not erect a stronger; in other words, that he did not substitute for +parliament a strong constitution of the provinces. There lay the remedy +for the evils of the monarchy; thence should have come the voting on +taxes, the regulation of them, and a slow approval of reforms that were +necessary to the system of monarchy. + +The first act of Henri II. was to give his confidence to the Connetable +de Montmorency, whom his father had enjoined him to leave in disgrace. +The Connetable de Montmorency was, with Diane de Poitiers, to whom he +was closely bound, the master of the State. Catherine was therefore less +happy and less powerful after she became queen of France than while she +was dauphiness. From 1543 she had a child every year for ten years, and +was occupied with maternal cares during the period covered by the last +three years of the reign of Francois I. and nearly the whole of the +reign of Henri II. We may see in this recurring fecundity the influence +of a rival, who was able thus to rid herself of the legitimate wife,--a +barbarity of feminine policy which must have been one of Catherine's +grievances against Diane. + +Thus set aside from public life, this superior woman passed her time +in observing the self-interests of the court people and of the various +parties which were formed about her. All the Italians who had +followed her were objects of violent suspicion. After the execution +of Montecuculi the Connetable de Montmorency, Diane, and many of the +keenest politicians of the court were filled with suspicion of the +Medici; though Francois I. always repelled it. Consequently, the Gondi, +Strozzi, Ruggieri, Sardini, etc.,--in short, all those who were +called distinctively "the Italians,"--were compelled to employ greater +resources of mind, shrewd policy, and courage, to maintain themselves at +court against the weight of disfavor which pressed upon them. + +During her husband's reign Catherine's amiability to Diane de Poitiers +went to such great lengths that intelligent persons must regard it as +proof of that profound dissimulation which men, events, and the conduct +of Henri II. compelled Catherine de' Medici to employ. But they go too +far when they declare that she never claimed her rights as wife +and queen. In the first place, the sense of dignity which Catherine +possessed in the highest degree forbade her claiming what historians +call her rights as a wife. The ten children of the marriage explain +Henri's conduct; and his wife's maternal occupations left him free to +pass his time with Diane de Poitiers. But the king was never lacking in +anything that was due to himself; and he gave Catherine an "entry" into +Paris, to be crowned as queen, which was worthy of all such pageants +that had ever taken place. The archives of the Parliament, and those of +the Cour des Comptes, show that those two great bodies went to meet +her outside of Paris as far as Saint Lazare. Here is an extract from du +Tillet's account of it:-- + + "A platform had been erected at Saint-Lazare, on which was a + throne (du Tillet calls it a _chair de parement_). Catherine took + her seat upon it, wearing a surcoat, or species of ermine + short-cloak covered with precious stones, a bodice beneath it with + the royal mantle, and on her head a crown enriched with pearls and + diamonds, and held in place by the Marechale de la Mark, her lady + of honor. Around her _stood_ the princes of the blood, and other + princes and seigneurs, richly apparelled, also the chancellor of + France in a robe of gold damask on a background of crimson-red. + Before the queen, and on the same platform, were seated, in two + rows, twelve duchesses or countesses, wearing ermine surcoats, + bodices, robes, and circlets,--that is to say, the coronets of + duchesses and countesses. These were the Duchesses d'Estouteville, + Montpensier (elder and younger); the Princesses de la + Roche-sur-Yon; the Duchesses de Guise, de Nivernois, d'Aumale, de + Valentinois (Diane de Poitiers), Mademoiselle la batarde legitimee + de France (the title of the king's daughter, Diane, who was + Duchesse de Castro-Farnese and afterwards Duchesse de + Montmorency-Damville), Madame la Connetable, and Mademoiselle de + Nemours; without mentioning other demoiselles who were not seated. + The four presidents of the courts of justice, wearing their caps, + several other members of the court, and the clerk du Tillet, mounted + the platform, made reverent bows, and the chief judge, Lizet, + kneeling down, harangued the queen. The chancellor then knelt down + and answered. The queen made her entry at half-past three o'clock in + an open litter, having Madame Marguerite de France sitting + opposite to her, and on either side of the litter the Cardinals of + Amboise, Chatillon, Boulogne, and de Lenoncourt in their episcopal + robes. She left her litter at the church of Notre-Dame, where she + was received by the clergy. After offering her prayer, she was + conducted by the rue de la Calandre to the palace, where the royal + supper was served in the great hall. She there appeared, seated at + the middle of the marble table, beneath a velvet dais strewn with + golden fleur-de-lis." + +We may here put an end to one of those popular beliefs which are +repeated in many writers from Sauval down. It has been said that Henri +II. pushed his neglect of the proprieties so far as to put the initials +of his mistress on the buildings which Catherine advised him to continue +or to begin with so much magnificence. But the double monogram which can +be seen at the Louvre offers a daily denial to those who are so little +clear-sighted as to believe in silly nonsense which gratuitously insults +our kings and queens. The H or Henri and the two C's of Catherine which +back it, appear to represent the two D's of Diane. The coincidence may +have pleased Henri II., but it is none the less true that the royal +monogram contained officially the initial of the king and that of the +queen. This is so true that the monogram can still be seen on the column +of the Halle au Ble, which was built by Catherine alone. It can also be +seen in the crypt of Saint-Denis, on the tomb which Catherine erected +for herself in her lifetime beside that of Henri II., where her figure +is modelled from nature by the sculptor to whom she sat for it. + +On a solemn occasion, when he was starting, March 25, 1552, for his +expedition into Germany, Henri II. declared Catherine regent during his +absence, and also in case of his death. Catherine's most cruel enemy, +the author of "Marvellous Discourses on Catherine the Second's Behavior" +admits that she carried on the government with universal approval and +that the king was satisfied with her administration. Henri received both +money and men at the time he wanted them; and finally, after the fatal +day of Saint-Quentin, Catherine obtained considerable sums of money from +the people of Paris, which she sent to Compiegne, where the king then +was. + +In politics, Catherine made immense efforts to obtain a little +influence. She was clever enough to bring the Connetable de Montmorency, +all-powerful under Henri II., to her interests. We all know the terrible +answer that the king made, on being harassed by Montmorency in her +favor. This answer was the result of an attempt by Catherine to give the +king good advice, in the few moments she was ever alone with him, when +she explained the Florentine policy of pitting the grandees of the +kingdom one against another and establishing the royal authority on +their ruins. But Henri II., who saw things only through the eyes of +Diane and the Connetable, was a truly feudal king and the friend of all +the great families of his kingdom. + +After the futile attempt of the Connetable in her favor, which must have +been made in the year 1556, Catherine began to cajole the Guises for +the purpose of detaching them from Diane and opposing them to the +Connetable. Unfortunately, Diane and Montmorency were as vehement +against the Protestants as the Guises. There was therefore not the same +animosity in their struggle as there might have been had the religious +question entered it. Moreover, Diane boldly entered the lists against +the queen's project by coquetting with the Guises and giving her +daughter to the Duc d'Aumale. She even went so far that certain authors +declared she gave more than mere good-will to the gallant Cardinal de +Lorraine; and the lampooners of the time made the following quatrain on +Henri II: + + "Sire, if you're weak and let your will relax + Till Diane and Lorraine do govern you, + Pound, knead and mould, re-melt and model you, + Sire, you are nothing--nothing else than wax." + +It is impossible to regard as sincere the signs of grief and the +ostentation of mourning which Catherine showed on the death of Henri II. +The fact that the king was attached by an unalterable passion to Diane +de Poitiers naturally made Catherine play the part of a neglected wife +who adores her husband; but, like all women who act by their head, she +persisted in this dissimulation and never ceased to speak tenderly of +Henri II. In like manner Diane, as we know, wore mourning all her life +for her husband the Senechal de Breze. Her colors were black and white, +and the king was wearing them at the tournament when he was killed. +Catherine, no doubt in imitation of her rival, wore mourning for Henri +II. for the rest of her life. She showed a consummate perfidy toward +Diane de Poitiers, to which historians have not given due attention. At +the king's death the Duchesse de Valentinois was completely disgraced +and shamefully abandoned by the Connetable, a man who was always below +his reputation. Diane offered her estate and chateau of Chenonceaux to +the queen. Catherine then said, in presence of witnesses:-- + +"I can never forget that she made the happiness of my dear Henri. I am +ashamed to accept her gift; I wish to give her a domain in place of it, +and I shall offer her that of Chaumont-sur-Loire." + +Accordingly, the deed of exchange was signed at Blois in 1559. Diane, +whose sons-in-law were the Duc d'Aumale and the Duc de Bouillon (then a +sovereign prince), kept her wealth, and died in 1566 aged sixty-six. +She was therefore nineteen years older than Henri II. These dates, taken +from her epitaph which was copied from her tomb by the historian who +concerned himself so much about her at the close of the last century, +clear up quite a number of historical difficulties. Some historians have +declared she was forty, others that she was sixteen at the time of +her father's condemnation in 1523; in point of fact she was then +twenty-four. After reading everything for and against her conduct +towards Francois I. we are unable to affirm or to deny anything. This is +one of the passages of history that will ever remain obscure. We may +see by what happens in our own day how history is falsified at the very +moment when events happen. + +Catherine, who had founded great hopes on the age of her rival, tried +more than once to overthrow her. It was a dumb, underhand, terrible +struggle. The day came when Catherine believed herself for a moment on +the verge of success. In 1554, Diane, who was ill, begged the king to +go to Saint-Germain and leave her for a short time until she recovered. +This stately coquette did not choose to be seen in the midst of medical +appliances and without the splendors of apparel. Catherine arranged, as +a welcome to her husband, a magnificent ballet, in which six beautiful +young girls were to recite a poem in his honor. She chose for this +function Miss Fleming, a relation of her uncle the Duke of Albany, the +handsomest young woman, some say, that was ever seen, white and very +fair; also one of her own relations, Clarice Strozzi, a magnificent +Italian with superb black hair, and hands that were of rare beauty; +Miss Lewiston, maid of honor to Mary Stuart; Mary Stuart herself; +Madame Elizabeth of France (who was afterwards that unfortunate Queen +of Spain); and Madame Claude. Elizabeth and Claude were eight and nine +years old, Mary Stuart twelve; evidently the queen intended to bring +forward Miss Fleming and Clarice Strozzi and present them without rivals +to the king. The king fell in love with Miss Fleming, by whom he had a +natural son, Henri de Valois, Comte d'Angouleme, grand-prior of France. +But the power and influence of Diane were not shaken. Like Madame de +Pompadour with Louis XV., the Duchesse de Valentinois forgave all. But +what sort of love did this attempt show in Catherine? Was it love to her +husband or love of power? Women may decide. + +A great deal is said in these days of the license of the press; but it +is difficult to imagine the lengths to which it went when printing was +first invented. We know that Aretino, the Voltaire of his time, made +kings and emperors tremble, more especially Charles V.; but the world +does not know so well the audacity and license of pamphlets. The chateau +de Chenonceaux, which we have just mentioned, was given to Diane, or +rather not given, she was implored to accept it to make her forget one +of the most horrible publications ever levelled against a woman, and +which shows the violence of the warfare between herself and Madame +d'Etampes. In 1537, when she was thirty-eight years of age, a rhymester +of Champagne named Jean Voute, published a collection of Latin verses in +which were three epigrams upon her. It is to be supposed that the poet +was sure of protection in high places, for the pamphlet has a preface in +praise of itself, signed by Salmon Macrin, first valet-de-chambre to +the king. Only one passage is quotable from these epigrams, which are +entitled: IN PICTAVIAM, ANAM AULIGAM. + +"A painted trap catches no game," says the poet, after telling Diane +that she painted her face and bought her teeth and hair. "You may buy +all that superficially makes a woman, but you can't buy that your lover +wants; for he wants life, and you are dead." + +This collection, printed by Simon de Colines, is dedicated to a +bishop!--to Francois Bohier, the brother of the man who, to save +his credit at court and redeem his offence, offered to Diane, on the +accession of Henri II., the chateau de Chenonceaux, built by his father, +Thomas Bohier, a councillor of state under four kings: Louis XI., +Charles VIII., Louis XII., and Francois I. What were the pamphlets +published against Madame de Pompadour and against Marie-Antoinette +compared to these verses, which might have been written by Martial? +Voute must have made a bad end. The estate and chateau cost Diane +nothing more than the forgiveness enjoined by the gospel. After all, +the penalties inflicted on the press, though not decreed by juries, were +somewhat more severe than those of to-day. + +The queens of France, on becoming widows, were required to remain in the +king's chamber forty days without other light than that of wax tapers; +they did not leave the room until after the burial of the king. This +inviolable custom was a great annoyance to Catherine, who feared +cabals; and, by chance, she found a means to evade it, thus: Cardinal +de Lorraine, leaving, very early in the morning, the house of the _belle +Romaine_, a celebrated courtesan of the period, who lived in the rue +Culture-Sainte-Catherine, was set upon and maltreated by a party of +libertines. "On which his holiness, being much astonished" (says Henri +Estienne), "gave out that the heretics were preparing ambushes against +him." The court at once removed from Paris to Saint-Germain, and the +queen-mother, declaring that she would not abandon the king her son, +went with him. + +The accession of Francois II., the period at which Catherine confidently +believed she could get possession of the regal power, was a moment of +cruel disappointment, after the twenty-six years of misery she had lived +through at the court of France. The Guises laid hands on power with +incredible audacity. The Duc de Guise was placed in command of the army; +the Connetable was dismissed; the cardinal took charge of the treasury +and the clergy. + +Catherine now began her political career by a drama which, though it did +not have the dreadful fame of those of later years, was, nevertheless, +most horrible; and it must, undoubtedly, have accustomed her to the +terrible after emotions of her life. While appearing to be in harmony +with the Guises, she endeavored to pave the way for her ultimate triumph +by seeking a support in the house of Bourbon, and the means she took +were as follows: Whether it was that (before the death of Henri II.), +and after fruitlessly attempting violent measures, she wished to awaken +jealousy in order to bring the king back to her; or whether as she +approached middle-age it seemed to her cruel that she had never known +love, certain it is that she showed a strong interest in a seigneur of +the royal blood, Francois de Vendome, son of Louis de Vendome (the house +from which that of the Bourbons sprang), and Vidame de Chartres, +the name under which he is known in history. The secret hatred which +Catherine bore to Diane was revealed in many ways, to which historians, +preoccupied by political interests, have paid no attention. Catherine's +attachment to the vidame proceeded from the fact that the young man had +offered an insult to the favorite. Diane's greatest ambition was for the +honor of an alliance with the royal family of France. The hand of her +second daughter (afterwards Duchesse d'Aumale) was offered on her behalf +to the Vidame de Chartres, who was kept poor by the far-sighted policy +of Francois I. In fact, when the Vidame de Chartres and the Prince de +Conde first came to court, Francois I. gave them--what? The office of +chamberlain, with a paltry salary of twelve hundred crowns a year, the +same that he gave to the simplest gentlemen. Though Diane de Poitiers +offered an immense dowry, a fine office under the crown, and the favor +of the king, the vidame refused. After which, this Bourbon, already +factious, married Jeanne, daughter of the Baron d'Estissac, by whom he +had no children. This act of pride naturally commended him to Catherine, +who greeted him after that with marked favor and made a devoted friend +of him. + +Historians have compared the last Duc de Montmorency, beheaded at +Toulouse, to the Vidame de Chartres, in the art of pleasing, in +attainments, accomplishments, and talent. Henri II. showed no jealousy; +he seemed not even to suppose that a queen of France could fail in her +duty, or a Medici forget the honor done to her by a Valois. But during +this time when the queen was, it is said, coquetting with the Vidame +de Chartres, the king, after the birth of her last child, had virtually +abandoned her. This attempt at making him jealous was to no purpose, for +Henri died wearing the colors of Diane de Poitiers. + +At the time of the king's death Catherine was, therefore, on terms of +gallantry with the vidame,--a situation which was quite in conformity +with the manners and morals of a time when love was both so chivalrous +and so licentious that the noblest actions were as natural as the most +blamable; although historians, as usual, have committed the mistake in +this case of taking the exception for the rule. + +The four sons of Henri II. of course rendered null the position of the +Bourbons, who were all extremely poor and were now crushed down by the +contempt which the Connetable de Montmorency's treachery brought upon +them, in spite of the fact that the latter had thought best to fly the +kingdom. + +The Vidame de Chartres--who was to the first Prince de Conde what +Richelieu was to Mazarin, his father in policy, his model, and, above +all, his master in gallantry--concealed the excessive ambition of his +house beneath an external appearance of light-hearted gaiety. Unable +during the reign of Henri II. to make head against the Guises, the +Montmorencys, the Scottish princes, the cardinals, and the Bouillons, +he distinguished himself by his graceful bearing, his manners, his wit, +which won him the favor of many charming women and the heart of some +for whom he cared nothing. He was one of those privileged beings +whose seductions are irresistible, and who owe to love the power of +maintaining themselves according to their rank. The Bourbons would not +have resented, as did Jarnac, the slander of la Chataigneraie; they +were willing enough to accept the lands and castles of their +mistresses,--witness the Prince de Conde, who accepted the estate of +Saint-Valery from Madame la Marechale de Saint-Andre. + +During the first twenty days of mourning after the death of Henri II. +the situation of the vidame suddenly changed. As the object of the queen +mother's regard, and permitted to pay his court to her as court is paid +to a queen, very secretly, he seemed destined to play an important role, +and Catherine did, in fact, resolve to use him. The vidame received +letters from her for the Prince de Conde, in which she pointed out to +the latter the necessity of an alliance against the Guises. Informed of +this intrigue, the Guises entered the queen's chamber for the purpose of +compelling her to issue an order consigning the vidame to the Bastille, +and Catherine, to save herself, was under the hard necessity of obeying +them. After a captivity of some months, the vidame died on the very day +he left prison, which was shortly before the conspiracy of Amboise. Such +was the conclusion of the first and only amour of Catherine de' Medici. +Protestant historians have said that the queen caused the vidame to be +poisoned, to lay the secret of her gallantries in a tomb! + +We have now shown what was the apprenticeship of this woman for the +exercise of her royal power. + + + + +PART I. THE CALVINIST MARTYR + + + + +I. A HOUSE WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS + +AT THE CORNER OF A STREET WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS IN A PARIS WHICH NO +LONGER EXISTS + + +Few persons in the present day know how plain and unpretentious were +the dwellings of the burghers of Paris in the sixteenth century, and how +simple their lives. Perhaps this simplicity of habits and of thought was +the cause of the grandeur of that old bourgeoisie which was certainly +grand, free, and noble,--more so, perhaps, than the bourgeoisie of the +present day. Its history is still to be written; it requires and it +awaits a man of genius. This reflection will doubtless rise to the lips +of every one after reading the almost unknown incident which forms +the basis of this Study and is one of the most remarkable facts in the +history of that bourgeoisie. It will not be the first time in history +that conclusion has preceded facts. + +In 1560, the houses of the rue de la Vieille-Pelleterie skirted the left +bank of the Seine, between the pont Notre-Dame and the pont au Change. +A public footpath and the houses then occupied the space covered by the +present roadway. Each house, standing almost in the river, allowed its +dwellers to get down to the water by stone or wooden stairways, closed +and protected by strong iron railings or wooden gates, clamped with +iron. The houses, like those in Venice, had an entrance on _terra +firma_ and a water entrance. At the moment when the present sketch is +published, only one of these houses remains to recall the old Paris of +which we speak, and that is soon to disappear; it stands at the +corner of the Petit-Pont, directly opposite to the guard-house of the +Hotel-Dieu. + +Formerly each dwelling presented on the river-side the fantastic +appearance given either by the trade of its occupant and his habits, +or by the originality of the exterior constructions invented by the +proprietors to use or abuse the Seine. The bridges being encumbered with +more mills than the necessities of navigation could allow, the Seine +formed as many enclosed basins as there were bridges. Some of these +basins in the heart of old Paris would have offered precious scenes and +tones of color to painters. What a forest of crossbeams supported the +mills with their huge sails and their wheels! What strange effects were +produced by the piles or props driven into the water to project the +upper floors of the houses above the stream! Unfortunately, the art of +genre painting did not exist in those days, and that of engraving was +in its infancy. We have therefore lost that curious spectacle, still +offered, though in miniature, by certain provincial towns, where the +rivers are overhung with wooden houses, and where, as at Vendome, the +basins, full of water grasses, are enclosed by immense iron railings, to +isolate each proprietor's share of the stream, which extends from bank +to bank. + +The name of this street, which has now disappeared from the map, +sufficiently indicates the trade that was carried on in it. In those +days the merchants of each class of commerce, instead of dispersing +themselves about the city, kept together in the same neighborhood and +protected themselves mutually. Associated in corporations which limited +their number, they were still further united into guilds by the Church. +In this way prices were maintained. Also, the masters were not at the +mercy of their workmen, and did not obey their whims as they do to-day; +on the contrary, they made them their children, their apprentices, took +care of them, and taught them the intricacies of the trade. In order +to become a master, a workman had to produce a masterpiece, which was +always dedicated to the saint of his guild. Will any one dare to say +that the absence of competition destroyed the desire for perfection, or +lessened the beauty of products? What say you, you whose admiration +for the masterpieces of past ages has created the modern trade of the +sellers of bric-a-brac? + +In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the trade of the furrier was +one of the most flourishing industries. The difficulty of obtaining +furs, which, being all brought from the north, required long and +perilous journeys, gave a very high price and value to those products. +Then, as now, high prices led to consumption; for vanity likes to +override obstacles. In France, as in other kingdoms, not only did royal +ordinances restrict the use of furs to the nobility (proved by the part +which ermine plays in the old blazons), but also certain rare furs, such +as _vair_ (which was undoubtedly Siberian sable), could not be worn by +any but kings, dukes, and certain lords clothed with official powers. +A distinction was made between the greater and lesser _vair_. The very +name has been so long disused, that in a vast number of editions of +Perrault's famous tale, Cinderella's slipper, which was no doubt of +_vair_ (the fur), is said to have been made of _verre_ (glass). Lately +one of our most distinguished poets was obliged to establish the +true orthography of the word for the instruction of his +brother-feuilletonists in giving an account of the opera of the +"Cenerentola," where the symbolic slipper has been replaced by a ring, +which symbolizes nothing at all. + +Naturally the sumptuary laws about the wearing of fur were perpetually +infringed upon, to the great satisfaction of the furriers. The +costliness of stuffs and furs made a garment in those days a durable +thing,--as lasting as the furniture, the armor, and other items of that +strong life of the fifteenth century. A woman of rank, a seigneur, all +rich men, also all the burghers, possessed at the most two garments for +each season, which lasted their lifetime and beyond it. These garments +were bequeathed to their children. Consequently the clause in the +marriage-contract relating to arms and clothes, which in these days is +almost a dead letter because of the small value of wardrobes that need +constant renewing, was then of much importance. Great costs brought with +them solidity. The toilet of a woman constituted a large capital; it was +reckoned among the family possessions, and was kept in those enormous +chests which threaten to break through the floors of our modern houses. +The jewels of a woman of 1840 would have been the _undress_ ornaments of +a great lady in 1540. + +To-day, the discovery of America, the facilities of transportation, +the ruin of social distinctions which has paved the way for the ruin of +apparent distinctions, has reduced the trade of the furrier to what it +now is,--next to nothing. The article which a furrier sells to-day, as +in former days, for twenty _livres_ has followed the depreciation of +money: formerly the _livre_, which is now worth one franc and is usually +so called, was worth twenty francs. To-day, the lesser bourgeoisie and +the courtesans who edge their capes with sable, are ignorant than in +1440 an ill-disposed police-officer would have incontinently arrested +them and marched them before the justice at the Chatelet. Englishwomen, +who are so fond of ermine, do not know that in former times none but +queens, duchesses, and chancellors were allowed to wear that royal fur. +There are to-day in France several ennobled families whose true name is +Pelletier or Lepelletier, the origin of which is evidently derived from +some rich furrier's counter, for most of our burgher's names began in +some such way. + +This digression will explain, not only the long feud as to precedence +which the guild of drapers maintained for two centuries against the +guild of furriers and also of mercers (each claiming the right to walk +first, as being the most important guild in Paris), but it will also +serve to explain the importance of the Sieur Lecamus, a furrier honored +with the custom of two queens, Catherine de' Medici and Mary Stuart, +also the custom of the parliament,--a man who for twenty years was the +syndic of his corporation, and who lived in the street we have just +described. + +The house of Lecamus was one of three which formed the three angles +of the open space at the end of the pont au Change, where nothing now +remains but the tower of the Palais de Justice, which made the fourth +angle. On the corner of this house, which stood at the angle of the pont +au Change and the quai now called the quai aux Fleurs, the architect had +constructed a little shrine for a Madonna, which was always lighted by +wax-tapers and decked with real flowers in summer and artificial ones in +winter. On the side of the house toward the rue du Pont, as on the side +toward the rue de la Vieille-Pelleterie, the upper story of the house +was supported by wooden pillars. All the houses in this mercantile +quarter had an arcade behind these pillars, where the passers in the +street walked under cover on a ground of trodden mud which kept the +place always dirty. In all French towns these arcades or galleries are +called _les piliers_, a general term to which was added the name of +the business transacted under them,--as "piliers des Halles" (markets), +"piliers de la Boucherie" (butchers). + +These galleries, a necessity in the Parisian climate, which is so +changeable and so rainy, gave this part of the city a peculiar character +of its own; but they have now disappeared. Not a single house in the +river bank remains, and not more than about a hundred feet of the old +"piliers des Halles," the last that have resisted the action of time, +are left; and before long even that relic of the sombre labyrinth of old +Paris will be demolished. Certainly, the existence of such old ruins +of the middle-ages is incompatible with the grandeurs of modern Paris. +These observations are meant not so much to regret the destruction of +the old town, as to preserve in words, and by the history of those who +lived there, the memory of a place now turned to dust, and to excuse +the following description, which may be precious to a future age now +treading on the heels of our own. + +The walls of this house were of wood covered with slate. The spaces +between the uprights had been filled in, as we may still see in some +provincial towns, with brick, so placed, by reversing their thickness, +as to make a pattern called "Hungarian point." The window-casings and +lintels, also in wood, were richly carved, and so was the corner pillar +where it rose above the shrine of the Madonna, and all the other pillars +in front of the house. Each window, and each main beam which separated +the different storeys, was covered with arabesques of fantastic +personages and animals wreathed with conventional foliage. On the street +side, as on the river side, the house was capped with a roof looking as +if two cards were set up one against the other,--thus presenting a gable +to the street and a gable to the water. This roof, like the roof of +a Swiss chalet, overhung the building so far that on the second floor +there was an outside gallery with a balustrade, on which the owners of +the house could walk under cover and survey the street, also the river +basin between the bridges and the two lines of houses. + +These houses on the river bank were very valuable. In those days a +system of drains and fountains was still to be invented; nothing of the +kind as yet existed except the circuit sewer, constructed by Aubriot, +provost of Paris under Charles the Wise, who also built the Bastille, +the pont Saint-Michel and other bridges, and was the first man of +genius who ever thought of the sanitary improvement of Paris. The houses +situated like that of Lecamus took from the river the water necessary +for the purposes of life, and also made the river serve as a natural +drain for rain-water and household refuse. The great works that the +"merchants' provosts" did in this direction are fast disappearing. +Middle-aged persons alone can remember to have seen the great holes in +the rue Montmartre, rue du Temple, etc., down which the waters poured. +Those terrible open jaws were in the olden time of immense benefit to +Paris. Their place will probably be forever marked by the sudden rise +of the paved roadways at the spots where they opened,--another +archaeological detail which will be quite inexplicable to the historian +two centuries hence. One day, about 1816, a little girl who was carrying +a case of diamonds to an actress at the Ambigu, for her part as queen, +was overtaken by a shower and so nearly washed down the great drainhole +in the rue du Temple that she would have disappeared had it not been for +a passer who heard her cries. Unluckily, she had let go the diamonds, +which were, however, recovered later at a man-hole. This event made a +great noise, and gave rise to many petitions against these engulfers of +water and little girls. They were singular constructions about five feet +high, furnished with iron railings, more or less movable, which +often caused the inundation of the neighboring cellars, whenever the +artificial river produced by sudden rains was arrested in its course by +the filth and refuse collected about these railings, which the owners of +the abutting houses sometimes forgot to open. + +The front of this shop of the Sieur Lecamus was all window, formed of +sashes of leaded panes, which made the interior very dark. The furs were +taken for selection to the houses of rich customers. As for those who +came to the shop to buy, the goods were shown to them outside, between +the pillars,--the arcade being, let us remark, encumbered during the +day-time with tables, and clerks sitting on stools, such as we all +remember seeing some fifteen years ago under the "piliers des Halles." +From these outposts, the clerks and apprentices talked, questioned, +answered each other, and called to the passers,--customs which the great +Walter Scott has made use of in his "Fortunes of Nigel." + +The sign, which represented an ermine, hung outside, as we still see in +some village hostelries, from a rich bracket of gilded iron filagree. +Above the ermine, on one side of the sign, were the words:-- + + LECAMVS + + FURRIER + +TO MADAME LA ROYNE ET DU ROY NOSTRE SIRE. + +On the other side of the sign were the words:-- + + TO MADAME LA ROYNE-MERE + + AND MESSIEURS DV PARLEMENT. + +The words "Madame la Royne-mere" had been lately added. The gilding was +fresh. This addition showed the recent changes produced by the sudden +and violent death of Henri II., which overturned many fortunes at court +and began that of the Guises. + +The back-shop opened on the river. In this room usually sat the +respectable proprietor himself and Mademoiselle Lecamus. In those days +the wife of a man who was not noble had no right to the title of dame, +"madame"; but the wives of the burghers of Paris were allowed to use +that of "mademoiselle," in virtue of privileges granted and confirmed +to their husbands by the several kings to whom they had done +service. Between this back-shop and the main shop was the well of a +corkscrew-staircase which gave access to the upper story, where were +the great ware-room and the dwelling-rooms of the old couple, and +the garrets lighted by skylights, where slept the children, the +servant-woman, the apprentices, and the clerks. + +This crowding of families, servants, and apprentices, the little space +which each took up in the building where the apprentices all slept in +one large chamber under the roof, explains the enormous population of +Paris then agglomerated on one-tenth of the surface of the present city; +also the queer details of private life in the middle ages; also, the +contrivances of love which, with all due deference to historians, are +found only in the pages of the romance-writers, without whom they would +be lost to the world. At this period very great _seigneurs_, such, for +instance, as Admiral de Coligny, occupied three rooms, and their suites +lived at some neighboring inn. There were not, in those days, more than +fifty private mansions in Paris, and those were fifty palaces belonging +to sovereign princes, or to great vassals, whose way of living was +superior to that of the greatest German rulers, such as the Duke of +Bavaria and the Elector of Saxony. + +The kitchen of the Lecamus family was beneath the back-shop and looked +out upon the river. It had a glass door opening upon a sort of iron +balcony, from which the cook drew up water in a bucket, and where the +household washing was done. The back-shop was made the dining-room, +office, and salon of the merchant. In this important room (in all such +houses richly panelled and adorned with some special work of art, and +also a carved chest) the life of the merchant was passed; there the +joyous suppers after the work of the day was over, there the secret +conferences on the political interests of the burghers and of royalty +took place. The formidable corporations of Paris were at that time able +to arm a hundred thousand men. Therefore the opinions of the merchants +were backed by their servants, their clerks, their apprentices, their +workmen. The burghers had a chief in the "provost of the merchants" who +commanded them, and in the Hotel de Ville, a palace where they possessed +the right to assemble. In the famous "burghers' parlor" their solemn +deliberations took place. Had it not been for the continual sacrifices +which by that time made war intolerable to the corporations, who were +weary of their losses and of the famine, Henri IV., that factionist who +became king, might never perhaps have entered Paris. + +Every one can now picture to himself the appearance of this corner of +old Paris, where the bridge and quai still are, where the trees of the +quai aux Fleurs now stand, but where no trace remains of the period +of which we write except the tall and famous tower of the Palais de +Justice, from which the signal was given for the Saint Bartholomew. +Strange circumstance! one of the houses standing at the foot of that +tower then surrounded by wooden shops, that, namely, of Lecamus, was +about to witness the birth of facts which were destined to prepare for +that night of massacre, which was, unhappily, more favorable than fatal +to Calvinism. + +At the moment when our history begins, the audacity of the new religious +doctrines was putting all Paris in a ferment. A Scotchman named Stuart +had just assassinated President Minard, the member of the Parliament +to whom public opinion attributed the largest share in the execution of +Councillor Anne du Bourg; who was burned on the place de Greve after the +king's tailor--to whom Henri II. and Diane de Poitiers had caused the +torture of the "question" to be applied in their very presence. Paris +was so closely watched that the archers compelled all passers along +the street to pray before the shrines of the Madonna so as to discover +heretics by their unwillingness or even refusal to do an act contrary to +their beliefs. + +The two archers who were stationed at the corner of the Lecamus house +had departed, and Cristophe, son of the furrier, vehemently suspected of +deserting Catholicism, was able to leave the shop without fear of being +made to adore the Virgin. By seven in the evening, in April, 1560, +darkness was already falling, and the apprentices, seeing no signs of +customers on either side of the arcade, were beginning to take in the +merchandise exposed as samples beneath the pillars, in order to close +the shop. Christophe Lecamus, an ardent young man about twenty-two years +old, was standing on the sill of the shop-door, apparently watching the +apprentices. + +"Monsieur," said one of them, addressing Christophe and pointing to +a man who was walking to and fro under the gallery with an air of +indecision, "perhaps that's a thief or a spy; anyhow, the shabby wretch +can't be an honest man; if he wanted to speak to us he would come +over frankly, instead of sidling along as he does--and what a face!" +continued the apprentice, mimicking the man, "with his nose in his +cloak, his yellow eyes, and that famished look!" + +When the stranger thus described caught sight of Christophe alone on +the door-sill, he suddenly left the opposite gallery where he was then +walking, crossed the street rapidly, and came under the arcade in front +of the Lecamus house. There he passed slowly along in front of the shop, +and before the apprentices returned to close the outer shutters he said +to Christophe in a low voice:-- + +"I am Chaudieu." + +Hearing the name of one of the most illustrious ministers and devoted +actors in the terrible drama called "The Reformation," Christophe +quivered as a faithful peasant might have quivered on recognizing his +disguised king. + +"Perhaps you would like to see some furs? Though it is almost dark +I will show you some myself," said Christophe, wishing to throw the +apprentices, whom he heard behind him, off the scent. + +With a wave of his hand he invited the minister to enter the shop, but +the latter replied that he preferred to converse outside. Christophe +then fetched his cap and followed the disciple of Calvin. + +Though banished by an edict, Chaudieu, the secret envoy of Theodore de +Beze and Calvin (who were directing the French Reformation from Geneva), +went and came, risking the cruel punishment to which the Parliament, in +unison with the Church and Royalty, had condemned one of their number, +the celebrated Anne du Bourg, in order to make a terrible example. +Chaudieu, whose brother was a captain and one of Admiral Coligny's best +soldiers, was a powerful auxiliary by whose arm Calvin shook France at +the beginning of the twenty two years of religious warfare now on the +point of breaking out. This minister was one of the hidden wheels whose +movements can best exhibit the wide-spread action of the Reform. + +Chaudieu led Christophe to the water's edge through an underground +passage, which was like that of the Marion tunnel filled up by the +authorities about ten years ago. This passage, which was situated +between the Lecamus house and the one adjoining it, ran under the rue +de la Vieille-Pelleterie, and was called the Pont-aux-Fourreurs. It was +used by the dyers of the City to go to the river and wash their flax and +silks, and other stuffs. A little boat was at the entrance of it, rowed +by a single sailor. In the bow was a man unknown to Christophe, a man of +low stature and very simply dressed. Chaudieu and Christophe entered the +boat, which in a moment was in the middle of the Seine; the sailor then +directed its course beneath one of the wooden arches of the pont au +Change, where he tied up quickly to an iron ring. As yet, no one had +said a word. + +"Here we can speak without fear; there are no traitors or spies here," +said Chaudieu, looking at the two as yet unnamed men. Then, turning an +ardent face to Christophe, "Are you," he said, "full of that devotion +that should animate a martyr? Are you ready to endure all for our sacred +cause? Do you fear the tortures applied to the Councillor du Bourg, to +the king's tailor,--tortures which await the majority of us?" + +"I shall confess the gospel," replied Lecamus, simply, looking at the +windows of his father's back-shop. + +The family lamp, standing on the table where his father was making up +his books for the day, spoke to him, no doubt, of the joys of family and +the peaceful existence which he now renounced. The vision was rapid, but +complete. His mind took in, at a glance, the burgher quarter full of its +own harmonies, where his happy childhood had been spent, where lived his +promised bride, Babette Lallier, where all things promised him a +sweet and full existence; he saw the past; he saw the future, and he +sacrificed it, or, at any rate, he staked it all. Such were the men of +that day. + +"We need ask no more," said the impetuous sailor; "we know him for one +of our _saints_. If the Scotchman had not done the deed he would kill us +that infamous Minard." + +"Yes," said Lecamus, "my life belongs to the church; I shall give it +with joy for the triumph of the Reformation, on which I have seriously +reflected. I know that what we do is for the happiness of the peoples. +In two words: Popery drives to celibacy, the Reformation establishes the +family. It is time to rid France of her monks, to restore their lands to +the Crown, who will, sooner or later, sell them to the burghers. Let us +learn to die for our children, and make our families some day free and +prosperous." + +The face of the young enthusiast, that of Chaudieu, that of the sailor, +that of the stranger seated in the bow, lighted by the last gleams of +the twilight, formed a picture which ought the more to be described +because the description contains in itself the whole history of the +times--if it is, indeed, true that to certain men it is given to sum up +in their own persons the spirit of their age. + +The religious reform undertaken by Luther in Germany, John Knox in +Scotland, Calvin in France, took hold especially of those minds in +the lower classes into which thought had penetrated. The great lords +sustained the movement only to serve interests that were foreign to the +religious cause. To these two classes were added adventurers, ruined +noblemen, younger sons, to whom all troubles were equally acceptable. +But among the artisan and merchant classes the new faith was sincere and +based on calculation. The masses of the poorer people adhered at once +to a religion which gave the ecclesiastical property to the State, +and deprived the dignitaries of the Church of their enormous revenues. +Commerce everywhere reckoned up the profits of this religious operation, +and devoted itself body, soul, and purse, to the cause. + +But among the young men of the French bourgeoisie the Protestant +movement found that noble inclination to sacrifices of all kinds which +inspires youth, to which selfishness is, as yet, unknown. Eminent men, +sagacious minds, discerned the Republic in the Reformation; they desired +to establish throughout Europe the government of the United +Provinces, which ended by triumphing over the greatest Power of those +times,--Spain, under Philip the Second, represented in the Low Countries +by the Duke of Alba. Jean Hotoman was then meditating his famous book, +in which this project is put forth,--a book which spread throughout +France the leaven of these ideas, which were stirred up anew by the +Ligue, repressed by Richelieu, then by Louis XIV., always protected by +the younger branches, by the house of Orleans in 1789, as by the house +of Bourbon in 1589. Whoso says "Investigate" says "Revolt." All revolt +is either the cloak that hides a prince, or the swaddling-clothes of a +new mastery. The house of Bourbon, the younger sons of the Valois, were +at work beneath the surface of the Reformation. + +At the moment when the little boat floated beneath the arch of the pont +au Change the question was strangely complicated by the ambitions of the +Guises, who were rivalling the Bourbons. Thus the Crown, represented by +Catherine de' Medici, was able to sustain the struggle for thirty years +by pitting the one house against the other house; whereas later, the +Crown, instead of standing between various jealous ambitions, found +itself without a barrier, face to face with the people: Richelieu and +Louis XIV. had broken down the barrier of the Nobility; Louis XV. had +broken down that of the Parliaments. Alone before the people, as Louis +XVI. was, a king must inevitably succumb. + +Christophe Lecamus was a fine representative of the ardent and devoted +portion of the people. His wan face had the sharp hectic tones which +distinguish certain fair complexions; his hair was yellow, of a coppery +shade; his gray-blue eyes were sparkling. In them alone was his fine +soul visible; for his ill-proportioned face did not atone for its +triangular shape by the noble mien of an elevated mind, and his low +forehead indicated only extreme energy. Life seemed to centre in his +chest, which was rather hollow. More nervous than sanguine, Cristophe's +bodily appearance was thin and threadlike, but wiry. His pointed noise +expressed the shrewdness of the people, and his countenance revealed an +intelligence capable of conducting itself well on a single point of the +circumference, without having the faculty of seeing all around it. His +eyes, the arching brows of which, scarcely covered with a whitish down, +projected like an awning, were strongly circled by a pale-blue band, the +skin being white and shining at the spring of the nose,--a sign which +almost always denotes excessive enthusiasm. Christophe was of the +people,--the people who devote themselves, who fight for their +devotions, who let themselves be inveigled and betrayed; intelligent +enough to comprehend and serve an idea, too upright to turn it to his +own account, too noble to sell himself. + +Contrasting with this son of Lecamus, Chaudieu, the ardent minister, +with brown hair thinned by vigils, a yellow skin, an eloquent mouth, a +militant brow, with flaming brown eyes, and a short and prominent chin, +embodied well the Christian faith which brought to the Reformation so +many sincere and fanatical pastors, whose courage and spirit aroused the +populations. The aide-de-camp of Calvin and Theodore de Beze contrasted +admirably with the son of the furrier. He represented the fiery cause of +which the effect was seen in Christophe. + +The sailor, an impetuous being, tanned by the open air, accustomed to +dewy nights and burning days, with closed lips, hasty gestures, orange +eyes, ravenous as those of a vulture, and black, frizzled hair, was the +embodiment of an adventurer who risks all in a venture, as a gambler +stakes all on a card. His whole appearance revealed terrific passions, +and an audacity that flinched at nothing. His vigorous muscles were made +to be quiescent as well as to act. His manner was more audacious than +noble. His nose, though thin, turned up and snuffed battle. He seemed +agile and capable. You would have known him in all ages for the leader +of a party. If he were not of the Reformation, he might have been +Pizarro, Fernando Cortez, or Morgan the Exterminator,--a man of violent +action of some kind. + +The fourth man, sitting on a thwart wrapped in his cloak, belonged, +evidently, to the highest portion of society. The fineness of his linen, +its cut, the material and scent of his clothing, the style and skin of +his gloves, showed him to be a man of courts, just as his bearing, his +haughtiness, his composure and his all-embracing glance proved him to +be a man of war. The aspect of this personage made a spectator uneasy in +the first place, and then inclined him to respect. We respect a man +who respects himself. Though short and deformed, his manners instantly +redeemed the disadvantages of his figure. The ice once broken, he showed +a lively rapidity of decision, with an indefinable dash and fire which +made him seem affable and winning. He had the blue eyes and the curved +nose of the house of Navarre, and the Spanish cut of the marked features +which were in after days the type of the Bourbon kings. + +In a word, the scene now assumed a startling interest. + +"Well," said Chaudieu, as young Lecamus ended his speech, "this boatman +is La Renaudie. And here is Monsiegneur the Prince de Conde," he added, +motioning to the deformed little man. + +Thus these four men represented the faith of the people, the spirit +of the Scriptures, the mailed hand of the soldier, and royalty itself +hidden in that dark shadow of the bridge. + +"You shall now know what we expect of you," resumed the minister, after +allowing a short pause for Christophe's astonishment. "In order that +you may make no mistake, we feel obliged to initiate you into the most +important secrets of the Reformation." + +The prince and La Renaudie emphasized the minister's speech by a +gesture, the latter having paused to allow the prince to speak, if he +so wished. Like all great men engaged in plotting, whose system it is +to conceal their hand until the decisive moment, the prince kept +silence--but not from cowardice. In these crises he was always the soul +of the conspiracy; recoiling from no danger and ready to risk his own +head; but from a sort of royal dignity he left the explanation of the +enterprise to his minister, and contented himself with studying the new +instrument he was about to use. + +"My child," said Chaudieu, in the Huguenot style of address, "we are +about to do battle for the first time with the Roman prostitute. In a +few days either our legions will be dying on the scaffold, or the Guises +will be dead. This is the first call to arms on behalf of our religion +in France, and France will not lay down those arms till they have +conquered. The question, mark you this, concerns the nation, not the +kingdom. The majority of the nobles of the kingdom see plainly what +the Cardinal de Lorraine and his brother are seeking. Under pretext of +defending the Catholic religion, the house of Lorraine means to claim +the crown of France as its patrimony. Relying on the Church, it has made +the Church a formidable ally; the monks are its support, its acolytes, +its spies. It has assumed the post of guardian to the throne it is +seeking to usurp; it protects the house of Valois which it means to +destroy. We have decided to take up arms because the liberties of the +people and the interests of the nobles are equally threatened. Let us +smother at its birth a faction as odious as that of the Burgundians who +formerly put Paris and all France to fire and sword. It required a Louis +XI. to put a stop to the quarrel between the Burgundians and the Crown; +and to-day a prince de Conde is needed to prevent the house of Lorraine +from re-attempting that struggle. This is not a civil war; it is a duel +between the Guises and the Reformation,--a duel to the death! We will +make their heads fall, or they shall have ours." + +"Well said!" cried the prince. + +"In this crisis, Christophe," said La Renaudie, "we mean to neglect +nothing which shall strengthen our party,--for there is a party in the +Reformation, the party of thwarted interests, of nobles sacrificed to +the Lorrains, of old captains shamefully treated at Fontainebleau, from +which the cardinal has banished them by setting up gibbets on which to +hang those who ask the king for the cost of their equipment and their +back-pay." + +"This, my child," resumed Chaudieu, observing a sort of terror in +Christophe, "this it is which compels us to conquer by arms instead of +conquering by conviction and by martyrdom. The queen-mother is on the +point of entering into our views. Not that she means to abjure; she has +not reached that decision as yet; but she may be forced to it by our +triumph. However that may be, Queen Catherine, humiliated and in despair +at seeing the power she expected to wield on the death of the king +passing into the hands of the Guises, alarmed at the empire of the young +queen, Mary, niece of the Lorrains and their auxiliary, Queen Catherine +is doubtless inclined to lend her support to the princes and lords who +are now about to make an attempt which will deliver her from the Guises. +At this moment, devoted as she may seem to them, she hates them; she +desires their overthrow, and will try to make use of us against them; +but Monseigneur the Prince de Conde intends to make use of her against +all. The queen-mother will, undoubtedly, consent to all our plans. We +shall have the Connetable on our side; Monseigneur has just been to see +him at Chantilly; but he does not wish to move without an order from his +masters. Being the uncle of Monseigneur, he will not leave him in the +lurch; and this generous prince does not hesitate to fling himself into +danger to force Anne de Montmorency to a decision. All is prepared, +and we have cast our eyes on you as the means of communicating to Queen +Catherine our treaty of alliance, the drafts of edicts, and the bases of +the new government. The court is at Blois. Many of our friends are with +it; but they are to be our future chiefs, and, like Monseigneur," +he added, motioning to the prince, "they must not be suspected. +The queen-mother and our friends are so closely watched that it is +impossible to employ as intermediary any known person of importance; +they would instantly be suspected and kept from communicating with +Madame Catherine. God sends us at this crisis the shepherd David and his +sling to do battle with Goliath of Guise. Your father, unfortunately +for him a good Catholic, is furrier to the two queens. He is constantly +supplying them with garments. Get him to send you on some errand to the +court. You will excite no suspicion, and you cannot compromise Queen +Catherine in any way. All our leaders would lose their heads if a single +imprudent act allowed their connivance with the queen-mother to be seen. +Where a great lord, if discovered, would give the alarm and destroy our +chances, an insignificant man like you will pass unnoticed. See! The +Guises keep the town so full of spies that we have only the river where +we can talk without fear. You are now, my son, like a sentinel who must +die at his post. Remember this: if you are discovered, we shall all +abandon you; we shall even cast, if necessary, opprobrium and infamy +upon you. We shall say that you are a creature of the Guises, made to +play this part to ruin us. You see therefore that we ask of you a total +sacrifice." + +"If you perish," said the Prince de Conde, "I pledge my honor as a noble +that your family shall be sacred for the house of Navarre; I will bear +it on my heart and serve it in all things." + +"Those words, my prince, suffice," replied Christophe, without +reflecting that the conspirator was a Gascon. "We live in times when +each man, prince or burgher, must do his duty." + +"There speaks the true Huguenot. If all our men were like that," said +La Renaudie, laying his hand on Christophe's shoulder, "we should be +conquerors to-morrow." + +"Young man," resumed the prince, "I desire to show you that if Chaudieu +preaches, if the nobleman goes armed, the prince fights. Therefore, in +this hot game all stakes are played." + +"Now listen to me," said La Renaudie. "I will not give you the papers +until you reach Beaugency; for they must not be risked during the whole +of your journey. You will find me waiting for you there on the wharf; my +face, voice, and clothes will be so changed you cannot recognize me, but +I shall say to you, 'Are you a _guepin_?' and you will answer, 'Ready to +serve.' As to the performance of your mission, these are the means: +You will find a horse at the 'Pinte Fleurie,' close to Saint-Germain +l'Auxerrois. You will there ask for Jean le Breton, who will take you +to the stable and give you one of my ponies which is known to do thirty +leagues in eight hours. Leave by the gate of Bussy. Breton has a pass +for me; use it yourself, and make your way by skirting the towns. You +can thus reach Orleans by daybreak." + +"But the horse?" said young Lecamus. + +"He will not give out till you reach Orleans," replied La Renaudie. +"Leave him at the entrance of the faubourg Bannier; for the gates are +well guarded, and you must not excite suspicion. It is for you, friend, +to play your part intelligently. You must invent whatever fable seems +to you best to reach the third house to the left on entering Orleans; it +belongs to a certain Tourillon, glove-maker. Strike three blows on the +door, and call out: 'On service from Messieurs de Guise!' The man will +appear to be a rabid Guisist; no one knows but our four selves that he +is one of us. He will give you a faithful boatman,--another Guisist of +his own cut. Go down at once to the wharf, and embark in a boat painted +green and edged with white. You will doubtless land at Beaugency +to-morrow about mid-day. There I will arrange to find you a boat which +will take you to Blois without running any risk. Our enemies the Guises +do not watch the rivers, only the landings. Thus you will be able to see +the queen-mother to-morrow or the day after." + +"Your words are written there," said Christophe, touching his forehead. + +Chaudieu embraced his child with singular religious effusion; he was +proud of him. + +"God keep thee!" he said, pointing to the ruddy light of the sinking +sun, which was touching the old roofs covered with shingles and sending +its gleams slantwise through the forest of piles among which the water +was rippling. + +"You belong to the race of the Jacques Bonhomme," said La Renaudie, +pressing Christophe's hand. + +"We shall meet again, _monsieur_," said the prince, with a gesture +of infinite grace, in which there was something that seemed almost +friendship. + +With a stroke of his oars La Renaudie put the boat at the lower step +of the stairway which led to the house. Christophe landed, and the boat +disappeared instantly beneath the arches of the pont au Change. + + + + +II. THE BURGHERS + +Christophe shook the iron railing which closed the stairway on the +river, and called. His mother heard him, opened one of the windows of +the back shop, and asked what he was doing there. Christophe answered +that he was cold and wanted to get in. + +"Ha! my master," said the Burgundian maid, "you went out by the +street-door, and you return by the water-gate. Your father will be fine +and angry." + +Christophe, bewildered by a confidence which had just brought him into +communication with the Prince de Conde, La Renaudie, and Chaudieu, and +still more moved at the prospect of impending civil war, made no answer; +he ran hastily up from the kitchen to the back shop; but his mother, a +rabid Catholic, could not control her anger. + +"I'll wager those three men I saw you talking with are Ref--" + +"Hold your tongue, wife!" said the cautious old man with white hair who +was turning over a thick ledger. "You dawdling fellows," he went on, +addressing three journeymen, who had long finished their suppers, "why +don't you go to bed? It is eight o'clock, and you have to be up at +five; besides, you must carry home to-night President de Thou's cap +and mantle. All three of you had better go, and take your sticks and +rapiers; and then, if you meet scamps like yourselves, at least you'll +be in force." + +"Are we going to take the ermine surcoat the young queen has ordered to +be sent to the hotel des Soissons? there's an express going from there +to Blois for the queen-mother," said one of the clerks. + +"No," said his master, "the queen-mother's bill amounts to three +thousand crowns; it is time to get the money, and I am going to Blois +myself very soon." + +"Father, I do not think it right at your age and in these dangerous +times to expose yourself on the high-roads. I am twenty-two years old, +and you ought to employ me on such errands," said Christophe, eyeing the +box which he supposed contained the surcoat. + +"Are you glued to your seats?" cried the old man to his apprentices, +who at once jumped up and seized their rapiers, cloaks, and Monsieur de +Thou's furs. + +The next day the Parliament was to receive in state, as its president, +this illustrious judge, who, after signing the death warrant of +Councillor du Bourg, was destined before the close of the year to sit in +judgment on the Prince de Conde! + +"Here!" said the old man, calling to the maid, "go and ask friend +Lallier if he will come and sup with us and bring the wine; we'll +furnish the victuals. Tell him, above all, to bring his daughter." + +Lecamus, the syndic of the guild of furriers, was a handsome old man of +sixty, with white hair, and a broad, open brow. As court furrier for the +last forty years, he had witnessed all the revolutions of the reign of +Francois I. He had seen the arrival at the French court of the young +girl Catherine de' Medici, then scarcely fifteen years of age. He +had observed her giving way before the Duchesse d'Etampes, her +father-in-law's mistress; giving way before the Duchesse de Valentinois, +the mistress of her husband the late king. But the furrier had brought +himself safely through all the chances and changes by which court +merchants were often involved in the disgrace and overthrow of +mistresses. His caution led to his good luck. He maintained an attitude +of extreme humility. Pride had never caught him in its toils. He made +himself so small, so gentle, so compliant, of so little account at court +and before the queens and princesses and favorites, that this modesty, +combined with good-humor, had kept the royal sign above his door. + +Such a policy was, of course, indicative of a shrewd and perspicacious +mind. Humble as Lecamus seemed to the outer world, he was despotic in +his own home; there he was an autocrat. Most respected and honored by +his brother craftsmen, he owed to his long possession of the first place +in the trade much of the consideration that was shown to him. He was, +besides, very willing to do kindnesses to others, and among the many +services he had rendered, none was more striking than the assistance +he had long given to the greatest surgeon of the sixteenth century, +Ambroise Pare, who owed to him the possibility of studying for his +profession. In all the difficulties which came up among the merchants +Lecamus was always conciliating. Thus a general good opinion of +him consolidated his position among his equals; while his borrowed +characteristics kept him steadily in favor with the court. + +Not only this, but having intrigued for the honor of being on the vestry +of his parish church, he did what was necessary to bring him into the +odor of sanctity with the rector of Saint-Pierre aux Boeufs, who looked +upon him as one of the men most devoted to the Catholic religion +in Paris. Consequently, at the time of the convocation of the +States-General he was unanimously elected to represent the _tiers etat_ +through the influence of the clergy of Paris,--an influence which +at that period was immense. This old man was, in short, one of those +secretly ambitious souls who will bend for fifty years before all the +world, gliding from office to office, no one exactly knowing how it came +about that he was found securely and peacefully seated at last where no +man, even the boldest, would have had the ambition at the beginning of +life to fancy himself; so great was the distance, so many the gulfs +and the precipices to cross! Lecamus, who had immense concealed wealth, +would not run any risks, and was silently preparing a brilliant future +for his son. Instead of having the personal ambition which sacrifices +the future to the present, he had family ambition,--a lost sentiment +in our time, a sentiment suppressed by the folly of our laws of +inheritance. Lecamus saw himself first president of the Parliament of +Paris in the person of his grandson. + +Christophe, godson of the famous historian de Thou, was given a most +solid education; but it had led him to doubt and to the spirit of +examination which was then affecting both the Faculties and the students +of the universities. Christophe was, at the period of which we are now +writing, pursuing his studies for the bar, that first step toward the +magistracy. The old furrier was pretending to some hesitation as to his +son. Sometimes he seemed to wish to make Christophe his successor; then +again he spoke of him as a lawyer; but in his heart he was ambitious of +a place for this son as Councillor of the Parliament. He wanted to put +the Lecamus family on a level with those old and celebrated burgher +families from which came the Pasquiers, the Moles, the Mirons, the +Seguiers, Lamoignon, du Tillet, Lecoigneux, Lescalopier, Goix, Arnauld, +those famous sheriffs and grand-provosts of the merchants, among whom +the throne found such strong defenders. + +Therefore, in order that Christophe might in due course of time maintain +his rank, he wished to marry him to the daughter of the richest jeweller +in the city, his friend Lallier, whose nephew was destined to present to +Henri IV. the keys of Paris. The strongest desire rooted in the heart +of the worthy burgher was to use half of his fortune and half of that of +the jeweller in the purchase of a large and beautiful seignorial estate, +which, in those days, was a long and very difficult affair. But his +shrewd mind knew the age in which he lived too well to be ignorant of +the great movements which were now in preparation. He saw clearly, and +he saw justly, and knew that the kingdom was about to be divided into +two camps. The useless executions in the Place de l'Estrapade, that +of the king's tailor and the more recent one of the Councillor Anne +du Bourg, the actual connivance of the great lords, and that of the +favorite of Francois I. with the Reformers, were terrible indications. +The furrier resolved to remain, whatever happened, Catholic, royalist, +and parliamentarian; but it suited him, privately, that Christophe +should belong to the Reformation. He knew he was rich enough to ransom +his son if Christophe was too much compromised; and on the other hand +if France became Calvinist his son could save the family in the event of +one of those furious Parisian riots, the memory of which was ever-living +with the bourgeoisie,--riots they were destined to see renewed through +four reigns. + +But these thoughts the old furrier, like Louis XI., did not even say to +himself; his wariness went so far as to deceive his wife and son. This +grave personage had long been the chief man of the richest and most +populous quarter of Paris, that of the centre, under the title of +_quartenier_,--the title and office which became so celebrated some +fifteen months later. Clothed in cloth like all the prudent burghers who +obeyed the sumptuary laws, Sieur Lecamus (he was tenacious of that title +which Charles V. granted to the burghers of Paris, permitting them +also to buy baronial estates and call their wives by the fine name of +_demoiselle_, but not by that of madame) wore neither gold chains nor +silk, but always a good doublet with large tarnished silver buttons, +cloth gaiters mounting to the knee, and leather shoes with clasps. His +shirt, of fine linen, showed, according to the fashion of the time, in +great puffs between his half-opened jacket and his breeches. Though his +large and handsome face received the full light of the lamp standing on +the table, Christophe had no conception of the thoughts which lay buried +beneath the rich and florid Dutch skin of the old man; but he understood +well enough the advantage he himself had expected to obtain from his +affection for pretty Babette Lallier. So Christophe, with the air of +a man who had come to a decision, smiled bitterly as he heard of the +invitation to his promised bride. + +When the Burgundian cook and the apprentices had departed on their +several errands, old Lecamus looked at his wife with a glance which +showed the firmness and resolution of his character. + +"You will not be satisfied till you have got that boy hanged with your +damned tongue," he said, in a stern voice. + +"I would rather see him hanged and saved than living and a Huguenot," +she answered, gloomily. "To think that a child whom I carried nine +months in my womb should be a bad Catholic, and be doomed to hell for +all eternity!" + +She began to weep. + +"Old silly," said the furrier; "let him live, if only to convert him. +You said, before the apprentices, a word which may set fire to our +house, and roast us all, like fleas in a straw bed." + +The mother crossed herself, and sat down silently. + +"Now, then, you," said the old man, with a judicial glance at his son, +"explain to me what you were doing on the river with--come closer, that +I may speak to you," he added, grasping his son by the arm, and drawing +him to him--"with the Prince de Conde," he whispered. Christophe +trembled. "Do you suppose the court furrier does not know every face +that frequents the palace? Think you I am ignorant of what is going on? +Monseigneur the Grand Master has been giving orders to send troops to +Amboise. Withdrawing troops from Paris to send them to Amboise when the +king is at Blois, and making them march through Chartres and Vendome, +instead of going by Orleans--isn't the meaning of that clear enough? +There'll be troubles. If the queens want their surcoats, they must +send for them. The Prince de Conde has perhaps made up his mind to kill +Messieurs de Guise; who, on their side, expect to rid themselves of him. +The prince will use the Huguenots to protect himself. Why should the son +of a furrier get himself into that fray? When you are married, and when +you are councillor to the Parliament, you will be as prudent as your +father. Before belonging to the new religion, the son of a furrier ought +to wait until the rest of the world belongs to it. I don't condemn the +Reformers; it is not my business to do so; but the court is Catholic, +the two queens are Catholic, the Parliament is Catholic; we must supply +them with furs, and therefore we must be Catholic ourselves. You shall +not go out from here, Christophe; if you do, I will send you to your +godfather, President de Thou, who will keep you night and day blackening +paper, instead of blackening your soul in company with those damned +Genevese." + +"Father," said Christophe, leaning upon the back of the old man's chair, +"send me to Blois to carry that surcoat to Queen Mary and get our money +from the queen-mother. If you do not, I am lost; and you care for your +son." + +"Lost?" repeated the old man, without showing the least surprise. "If +you stay here you can't be lost; I shall have my eye on you all the +time." + +"They will kill me here." + +"Why?" + +"The most powerful among the Huguenots have cast their eyes on me +to serve them in a certain matter; if I fail to do what I have just +promised to do, they will kill me in open day, here in the street, as +they killed Minard. But if you send me to court on your affairs, perhaps +I can justify myself equally well to both sides. Either I shall succeed +without having run any danger at all, and shall then win a fine position +in the party; or, if the danger turns out very great, I shall be there +simply on your business." + +The father rose as if his chair was of red-hot iron. + +"Wife," he said, "leave us; and watch that we are left quite alone, +Christophe and I." + +When Mademoiselle Lecamus had left them the furrier took his son by a +button and led him to the corner of the room which made the angle of the +bridge. + +"Christophe," he said, whispering in his ear as he had done when he +mentioned the name of the Prince of Conde, "be a Huguenot, if you have +that vice; but be so cautiously, in the depths of your soul, and not +in a way to be pointed at as a heretic throughout the quarter. What you +have just confessed to me shows that the leaders have confidence in you. +What are you going to do for them at court?" + +"I cannot tell you that," replied Christophe; "for I do not know +myself." + +"Hum! hum!" muttered the old man, looking at his son, "the scamp means +to hoodwink his father; he'll go far. You are not going to court," he +went on in a low tone, "to carry remittances to Messieurs de Guise or +to the little king our master, or to the little Queen Marie. All those +hearts are Catholic; but I would take my oath the Italian woman has some +spite against the Scotch girl and against the Lorrains. I know her. She +has a desperate desire to put her hand into the dough. The late king +was so afraid of her that he did as the jewellers do, he cut diamond +by diamond, he pitted one woman against another. That caused Queen +Catherine's hatred to the poor Duchesse de Valentinois, from whom she +took the beautiful chateau of Chenonceaux. If it hadn't been for the +Connetable, the duchess might have been strangled. Back, back, my son; +don't put yourself in the hands of that Italian, who has no passion +except in her brain; and that's a bad kind of woman! Yes, what they are +sending you to do at court may give you a very bad headache," cried the +father, seeing that Christophe was about to reply. "My son, I have plans +for your future which you will not upset by making yourself useful to +Queen Catherine; but, heavens and earth! don't risk your head. Messieurs +de Guise would cut it off as easily as the Burgundian cuts a turnip, and +then those persons who are now employing you will disown you utterly." + +"I know that, father," said Christophe. + +"What! are you really so strong, my son? You know it, and are willing to +risk all?" + +"Yes, father." + +"By the powers above us!" cried the father, pressing his son in his +arms, "we can understand each other; you are worthy of your father. My +child, you'll be the honor of the family, and I see that your old father +can speak plainly with you. But do not be more Huguenot than Messieurs +de Coligny. Never draw your sword; be a pen man; keep to your future +role of lawyer. Now, then, tell me nothing until after you have +succeeded. If I do not hear from you by the fourth day after you reach +Blois, that silence will tell me that you are in some danger. The old +man will go to save the young one. I have not sold furs for thirty-two +years without a good knowledge of the wrong side of court robes. I have +the means of making my way through many doors." + +Christophe opened his eyes very wide as he heard his father talking +thus; but he thought there might be some parental trap in it, and he +made no reply further than to say:-- + +"Well, make out the bill, and write a letter to the queen; I must start +at once, or the greatest misfortunes may happen." + +"Start? How?" + +"I shall buy a horse. Write at once, in God's name." + +"Hey! mother! give your son some money," cried the furrier to his wife. + +The mother returned, went to her chest, took out a purse of gold, and +gave it to Christophe, who kissed her with emotion. + +"The bill was all ready," said his father; "here it is. I will write the +letter at once." + +Christophe took the bill and put it in his pocket. + +"But you will sup with us, at any rate," said the old man. "In such a +crisis you ought to exchange rings with Lallier's daughter." + +"Very well, I will go and fetch her," said Christophe. + +The young man was distrustful of his father's stability in the matter. +The old man's character was not yet fully known to him. He ran up to his +room, dressed himself, took a valise, came downstairs softly and laid it +on a counter in the shop, together with his rapier and cloak. + +"What the devil are you doing?" asked his father, hearing him. + +Christophe came up to the old man and kissed him on both cheeks. + +"I don't want any one to see my preparations for departure, and I have +put them on a counter in the shop," he whispered. + +"Here is the letter," said his father. + +Christophe took the paper and went out as if to fetch his young +neighbor. + +A few moments after his departure the goodman Lallier and his daughter +arrived, preceded by a servant-woman, bearing three bottles of old wine. + +"Well, where is Christophe?" said old Lecamus. + +"Christophe!" exclaimed Babette. "We have not seen him." + +"Ha! ha! my son is a bold scamp! He tricks me as if I had no beard. My +dear crony, what think you he will turn out to be? We live in days when +the children have more sense than their fathers." + +"Why, the quarter has long been saying he is in some mischief," said +Lallier. + +"Excuse him on that point, crony," said the furrier. "Youth is foolish; +it runs after new things; but Babette will keep him quiet; she is newer +than Calvin." + +Babette smiled; she loved Christophe, and was angry when anything was +said against him. She was one of those daughters of the old bourgeoisie +brought up under the eyes of a mother who never left her. Her bearing +was gentle and correct as her face; she always wore woollen stuffs of +gray, harmonious in tone; her chemisette, simply pleated, contrasted its +whiteness against the gown. Her cap of brown velvet was like an infant's +coif, but it was trimmed with a ruche and lappets of tanned gauze, that +is, of a tan color, which came down on each side of her face. Though +fair and white as a true blonde, she seemed to be shrewd and roguish, +all the while trying to hide her roguishness under the air and manner of +a well-trained girl. While the two servant-women went and came, laying +the cloth and placing the jugs, the great pewter dishes, and the knives +and forks, the jeweller and his daughter, the furrier and his wife, sat +before the tall chimney-piece draped with lambrequins of red serge and +black fringes, and were talking of trifles. Babette asked once or +twice where Christophe could be, and the father and mother of the young +Huguenot gave evasive answers; but when the two families were seated at +table, and the two servants had retired to the kitchen, Lecamus said to +his future daughter-in-law:-- + +"Christophe has gone to court." + +"To Blois! Such a journey as that without bidding me good-bye!" she +said. + +"The matter was pressing," said the old mother. + +"Crony," said the furrier, resuming a suspended conversation. "We are +going to have troublous times in France. The Reformers are bestirring +themselves." + +"If they triumph, it will only be after a long war, during which +business will be at a standstill," said Lallier, incapable of rising +higher than the commercial sphere. + +"My father, who saw the wars between the Burgundians and the Armagnacs +told me that our family would never have come out safely if one of his +grandfathers--his mother's father--had not been a Goix, one of those +famous butchers in the Market who stood by the Burgundians; whereas the +other, the Lecamus, was for the Armagnacs; they seemed ready to flay +each other alive before the world, but they were excellent friends in +the family. So, let us both try to save Christophe; perhaps the time may +come when he will save us." + +"You are a shrewd one," said the jeweller. + +"No," replied Lecamus. "The burghers ought to think of themselves; +the populace and the nobility are both against them. The Parisian +bourgeoisie alarms everybody except the king, who knows it is his +friend." + +"You who are so wise and have seen so many things," said Babette, +timidly, "explain to me what the Reformers really want." + +"Yes, tell us that, crony," cried the jeweller. "I knew the late king's +tailor, and I held him to be a man of simple life, without great talent; +he was something like you; a man to whom they'd give the sacrament +without confession; and behold! he plunged to the depths of this new +religion,--he! a man whose two ears were worth all of a hundred thousand +crowns apiece. He must have had secrets to reveal to induce the king and +the Duchesse de Valentinois to be present at his torture." + +"And terrible secrets, too!" said the furrier. "The Reformation, +my friends," he continued in a low voice, "will give back to the +bourgeoisie the estates of the Church. When the ecclesiastical +privileges are suppressed the Reformers intend to ask that the _vilain_ +shall be imposed on nobles as well as on burghers, and they mean to +insist that the king alone shall be above others--if indeed, they allow +the State to have a king." + +"Suppress the Throne!" ejaculated Lallier. + +"Hey! crony," said Lecamus, "in the Low Countries the burghers govern +themselves with burgomasters of their own, who elect their own temporary +head." + +"God bless me, crony; we ought to do these fine things and yet stay +Catholics," cried the jeweller. + +"We are too old, you and I, to see the triumph of the Parisian +bourgeoisie, but it will triumph, I tell you, in times to come as it did +of yore. Ha! the king must rest upon it in order to resist, and we have +always sold him our help dear. The last time, all the burghers were +ennobled, and he gave them permission to buy seignorial estates and take +titles from the land without special letters from the king. You and I, +grandsons of the Goix through our mothers, are not we as good as any +lord?" + +These words were so alarming to the jeweller and the two women that +they were followed by a dead silence. The ferments of 1789 were already +tingling in the veins of Lecamus, who was not yet so old but what he +could live to see the bold burghers of the Ligue. + +"Are you selling well in spite of these troubles?" said Lallier to +Mademoiselle Lecamus. + +"Troubles always do harm," she replied. + +"That's one reason why I am so set on making my son a lawyer," said +Lecamus; "for squabbles and law go on forever." + +The conversation then turned to commonplace topics, to the great +satisfaction of the jeweller, who was not fond of either political +troubles or audacity of thought. + + + + +III. THE CHATEAU DE BLOIS + +The banks of the Loire, from Blois to Angers, were the favorite resort +of the last two branches of the royal race which occupied the throne +before the house of Bourbon. That beautiful valley plain so well +deserves the honor bestowed upon it by kings that we must here repeat +what was said of it by one of our most eloquent writers:-- + + "There is one province in France which is never sufficiently + admired. Fragrant as Italy, flowery as the banks of the + Guadalquivir, beautiful especially in its own characteristics, + wholly French, having always been French,--unlike in that respect + to our northern provinces, which have degenerated by contact with + Germany, and to our southern provinces, which have lived in + concubinage with Moors, Spaniards, and all other nationalities + that adjoined them. This pure, chaste, brave, and loyal province + is Touraine. Historic France is there! Auvergne is Auvergne, + Languedoc is only Languedoc; but Touraine is France; the most + national river for Frenchmen is the Loire, which waters Touraine. + For this reason we ought not to be surprised at the great number + of historically noble buildings possessed by those departments + which have taken the name, or derivations of the name, of the + Loire. At every step we take in this land of enchantment we + discover a new picture, bordered, it may be, by a river, or a + tranquil lake reflecting in its liquid depths a castle with + towers, and woods and sparkling waterfalls. It is quite natural + that in a region chosen by Royalty for its sojourn, where the + court was long established, great families and fortunes and + distinguished men should have settled and built palaces as grand + as themselves." + +But is it not incomprehensible that Royalty did not follow the advice +indirectly given by Louis XI. to place the capital of the kingdom at +Tours? There, without great expense, the Loire might have been made +accessible for the merchant service, and also for vessels-of-war of +light draught. There, too, the seat of government would have been safe +from the dangers of invasion. Had this been done, the northern cities +would not have required such vast sums of money spent to fortify +them,--sums as vast as were those expended on the sumptuous glories of +Versailles. If Louis XIV. had listened to Vauban, who wished to build +his great palace at Mont Louis, between the Loire and the Cher, perhaps +the revolution of 1789 might never have taken place. + +These beautiful shores still bear the marks of royal tenderness. +The chateaus of Chambord, Amboise, Blois, Chenonceaux, Chaumont, +Plessis-les-Tours, all those which the mistresses of kings, financiers, +and nobles built at Veretz, Azay-le-Rideau, Usse, Villandri, Valencay, +Chanteloup, Duretal, some of which have disappeared, though most of them +still remain, are admirable relics which remind us of the marvels of +a period that is little understood by the literary sect of the +Middle-agists. + +Among all these chateaus, that of Blois, where the court was then +staying, is one on which the magnificence of the houses of Orleans and +of Valois has placed its brilliant sign-manual,--making it the most +interesting of all for historians, archaeologists, and Catholics. It was +at the time of which we write completely isolated. The town, enclosed +by massive walls supported by towers, lay below the fortress,--for the +chateau served, in fact, as fort and pleasure-house. Above the town, +with its blue-tiled, crowded roofs extending then, as now, from the +river to the crest of the hill which commands the right bank, lies a +triangular plateau, bounded to the west by a streamlet, which in these +days is of no importance, for it flows beneath the town; but in the +fifteenth century, so say historians, it formed quite a deep ravine, of +which there still remains a sunken road, almost an abyss, between the +suburbs of the town and the chateau. + +It was on this plateau, with a double exposure to the north and south, +that the counts of Blois built, in the architecture of the twelfth +century, a castle where the famous Thibault de Tircheur, Thibault +le Vieux, and others held a celebrated court. In those days of pure +fuedality, in which the king was merely _primus inter pares_ (to use +the fine expression of a king of Poland), the counts of Champagne, the +counts of Blois, those of Anjou, the simple barons of Normandie, the +dukes of Bretagne, lived with the splendor of sovereign princes and gave +kings to the proudest kingdoms. The Plantagenets of Anjou, the Lusignans +of Poitou, the Roberts of Normandie, maintained with a bold hand the +royal races, and sometimes simple knights like du Glaicquin refused the +purple, preferring the sword of a connetable. + +When the Crown annexed the county of Blois to its domain, Louis XII., +who had a liking for this residence (perhaps to escape Plessis of +sinister memory), built at the back of the first building another +building, facing east and west, which connected the chateau of the +counts of Blois with the rest of the old structures, of which nothing +now remains but the vast hall in which the States-general were held +under Henri III. + +Before he became enamoured of Chambord, Francois I. wished to complete +the chateau of Blois by adding two other wings, which would have made +the structure a perfect square. But Chambord weaned him from Blois, +where he built only one wing, which in his time and that of his +grandchildren was the only inhabited part of the chateau. This third +building erected by Francois I. is more vast and far more decorated than +the Louvre, the chateau of Henri II. It is in the style of architecture +now called Renaissance, and presents the most fantastic features of that +style. Therefore, at a period when a strict and jealous architecture +ruled construction, when the Middle Ages were not even considered, at a +time when literature was not as clearly welded to art as it is now, La +Fontaine said of the chateau de Blois, in his hearty, good-humored way: +"The part that Francois I. built, if looked at from the outside, pleased +me better than all the rest; there I saw numbers of little galleries, +little windows, little balconies, little ornamentations without order or +regularity, and they make up a grand whole which I like." + +The chateau of Blois had, therefore, the merit of representing three +orders of architecture, three epochs, three systems, three dominions. +Perhaps there is no other royal residence that can compare with it +in that respect. This immense structure presents to the eye in one +enclosure, round one courtyard, a complete and perfect image of that +grand presentation of the manners and customs and life of nations which +is called Architecture. At the moment when Christophe was to visit the +court, that part of the adjacent land which in our day is covered by +a fourth palace, built seventy years later (by Gaston, the rebellious +brother of Louis XIII., then exiled to Blois), was an open space +containing pleasure-grounds and hanging gardens, picturesquely placed +among the battlements and unfinished turrets of Francois I.'s chateau. + +These gardens communicated, by a bridge of a fine, bold construction +(which the old men of Blois may still remember to have seen demolished) +with a pleasure-ground on the other side of the chateau, which, by the +lay of the land, was on the same level. The nobles attached to the +Court of Anne de Bretagne, or those of that province who came to solicit +favors, or to confer with the queen as to the fate and condition +of Brittany, awaited in this pleasure-ground the opportunity for an +audience, either at the queen's rising, or at her coming out to walk. +Consequently, history has given the name of "Perchoir aux Bretons" to +this piece of ground, which, in our day, is the fruit-garden of a worthy +bourgeois, and forms a projection into the place des Jesuites. The +latter place was included in the gardens of this beautiful royal +residence, which had, as we have said, its upper and its lower gardens. +Not far from the place des Jesuites may still be seen a pavilion built +by Catherine de' Medici, where, according to the historians of Blois, +warm mineral baths were placed for her to use. This detail enables us +to trace the very irregular disposition of the gardens, which went up +or down according to the undulations of the ground, becoming extremely +intricate around the chateau,--a fact which helped to give it strength, +and caused, as we shall see, the discomfiture of the Duc de Guise. + +The gardens were reached from the chateau through external and internal +galleries, the most important of which was called the "Galerie des +Cerfs" on account of its decoration. This gallery led to the magnificent +staircase which, no doubt, inspired the famous double staircase of +Chambord. It led, from floor to floor, to all the apartments of the +castle. + +Though La Fontaine preferred the chateau of Francois I. to that of +Louis XII., perhaps the naivete of that of the good king will give +true artists more pleasure, while at the same time they admire the +magnificent structure of the knightly king. The elegance of the two +staircases which are placed at each end of the chateau of Louis XII., +the delicate carving and sculpture, so original in design, which abound +everywhere, the remains of which, though time has done its worst, still +charm the antiquary, all, even to the semi-cloistral distribution of +the apartments, reveals a great simplicity of manners. Evidently, +the _court_ did not yet exist; it had not developed, as it did under +Francois I. and Catherine de' Medici, to the great detriment of feudal +customs. As we admire the galleries, or most of them, the capitals +of the columns, and certain figurines of exquisite delicacy, it is +impossible not to imagine that Michel Columb, that great sculptor, the +Michel-Angelo of Brittany, passed that way for the pleasure of Queen +Anne, whom he afterwards immortalized on the tomb of her father, the +last duke of Brittany. + +Whatever La Fontaine may choose to say about the "little galleries" +and the "little ornamentations," nothing can be more grandiose than +the dwelling of the splendid Francois. Thanks to I know not what +indifference, to forgetfulness perhaps, the apartments occupied by +Catherine de' Medici and her son Francois II. present to us to-day +the leading features of that time. The historian can there restore the +tragic scenes of the drama of the Reformation,--a drama in which the +dual struggle of the Guises and of the Bourbons against the Valois was a +series of most complicated acts, the plot of which was here unravelled. + +The chateau of Francois I. completely crushes the artless habitation of +Louis XII. by its imposing masses. On the side of the gardens, that is, +toward the modern place des Jesuites, the castle presents an elevation +nearly double that which it shows on the side of the courtyard. The +ground-floor on this side forms the second floor on the side of the +gardens, where are placed the celebrated galleries. Thus the first floor +above the ground-floor toward the courtyard (where Queen Catherine was +lodged) is the third floor on the garden side, and the king's apartments +were four storeys above the garden, which at the time of which we write +was separated from the base of the castle by a deep moat. The chateau, +already colossal as viewed from the courtyard, appears gigantic when +seen from below, as La Fontaine saw it. He mentions particularly that +he did not enter either the courtyard or the apartments, and it is to +be remarked that from the place des Jesuites all the details seem +small. The balconies on which the courtiers promenaded; the galleries, +marvellously executed; the sculptured windows, whose embrasures are so +deep as to form boudoirs--for which indeed they served--resemble at that +great height the fantastic decorations which scene-painters give to a +fairy palace at the opera. + +But in the courtyard, although the three storeys above the ground-floor +rise as high as the clock-tower of the Tuileries, the infinite delicacy +of the architecture reveals itself to the rapture of our astonished +eyes. This wing of the great building, in which the two queens, +Catherine de' Medici and Mary Stuart, held their sumptuous court, is +divided in the centre by a hexagon tower, in the empty well of which +winds up a spiral staircase,--a Moorish caprice, designed by giants, +made by dwarfs, which gives to this wonderful facade the effect of a +dream. The baluster of this staircase forms a spiral connecting itself +by a square landing to five of the six sides of the tower, requiring +at each landing transversal corbels which are decorated with arabesque +carvings without and within. This bewildering creation of ingenious +and delicate details, of marvels which give speech to stones, can be +compared only to the deeply worked and crowded carving of the Chinese +ivories. Stone is made to look like lace-work. The flowers, the figures +of men and animals clinging to the structure of the stairway, are +multiplied, step by step, until they crown the tower with a key-stone +on which the chisels of the art of the sixteenth century have contended +against the naive cutters of images who fifty years earlier had carved +the key-stones of Louis XII.'s two stairways. + +However dazzled we may be by these recurring forms of indefatigable +labor, we cannot fail to see that money was lacking to Francois I. for +Blois, as it was to Louis XIV. for Versailles. More than one figurine +lifts its delicate head from a block of rough stone behind it; more than +one fantastic flower is merely indicated by chiselled touches on the +abandoned stone, though dampness has since laid its blossoms of mouldy +greenery upon it. On the facade, side by side with the tracery of one +window, another window presents its masses of jagged stone carved only +by the hand of time. Here, to the least artistic and the least trained +eye, is a ravishing contrast between this frontage, where marvels +throng, and the interior frontage of the chateau of Louis XII., which +is composed of a ground-floor of arcades of fairy lightness supported +by tiny columns resting at their base on a graceful platform, and of +two storeys above it, the windows of which are carved with delightful +sobriety. Beneath the arcade is a gallery, the walls of which are +painted in fresco, the ceiling also being painted; traces can still be +found of this magnificence, derived from Italy, and testifying to +the expeditions of our kings, to which the principality of Milan then +belonged. + +Opposite to Francois I.'s wing was the chapel of the counts of Blois, +the facade of which is almost in harmony with the architecture of the +later dwelling of Louis XII. No words can picture the majestic +solidity of these three distinct masses of building. In spite of their +nonconformity of style, Royalty, powerful and firm, demonstrating its +dangers by the greatness of its precautions, was a bond, uniting these +three edifices, so different in character, two of which rested against +the vast hall of the States-general, towering high like a church. + +Certainly, neither the simplicity nor the strength of the burgher +existence (which were depicted at the beginning of this history) in +which Art was always represented, were lacking to this royal habitation. +Blois was the fruitful and brilliant example to which the Bourgeoisie +and Feudality, Wealth and Nobility, gave such splendid replies in the +towns and in the rural regions. Imagination could not desire any other +sort of dwelling for the prince who reigned over France in the sixteenth +century. The richness of seignorial garments, the luxury of female +adornment, must have harmonized delightfully with the lace-work of these +stones so wonderfully manipulated. From floor to floor, as the king +of France went up the marvellous staircase of his chateau of Blois, he +could see the broad expanse of the beautiful Loire, which brought him +news of all his kingdom as it lay on either side of the great river, +two halves of a State facing each other, and semi-rivals. If, instead of +building Chambord in a barren, gloomy plain two leagues away, Francois +I. had placed it where, seventy years later, Gaston built his palace, +Versailles would never have existed, and Blois would have become, +necessarily, the capital of France. + +Four Valois and Catherine de' Medici lavished their wealth on the +wing built by Francois I. at Blois. Who can look at those massive +partition-walls, the spinal column of the castle, in which are sunken +deep alcoves, secret staircases, cabinets, while they themselves enclose +halls as vast as that great council-room, the guardroom, and the royal +chambers, in which, in our day, a regiment of infantry is comfortably +lodged--who can look at all this and not be aware of the prodigalities +of Crown and court? Even if a visitor does not at once understand how +the splendor within must have corresponded with the splendor without, +the remaining vestiges of Catherine de' Medici's cabinet, where +Christophe was about to be introduced, would bear sufficient testimony +to the elegances of Art which peopled these apartments with animated +designs in which salamanders sparkled among the wreaths, and the +palette of the sixteenth century illumined the darkest corners with its +brilliant coloring. In this cabinet an observer will still find traces +of that taste for gilding which Catherine brought with her from Italy; +for the princesses of her house loved, in the words of the author +already quoted, to veneer the castles of France with the gold earned by +their ancestors in commerce, and to hang out their wealth on the walls +of their apartments. + +The queen-mother occupied on the first upper floor of the apartments of +Queen Claude of France, wife of Francois I., in which may still be seen, +delicately carved, the double C accompanied by figures, purely white, of +swans and lilies, signifying _candidior candidis_--more white than +the whitest--the motto of the queen whose name began, like that of +Catherine, with a C, and which applied as well to the daughter of Louis +XII. as to the mother of the last Valois; for no suspicion, in spite +of the violence of Calvinist calumny, has tarnished the fidelity of +Catherine de' Medici to Henri II. + +The queen-mother, still charged with the care of two young children (him +who was afterward Duc d'Alencon, and Marguerite, the wife of Henri IV., +the sister whom Charles IX. called Margot), had need of the whole of the +first upper floor. + +The king, Francois II., and the queen, Mary Stuart, occupied, on the +second floor, the royal apartments which had formerly been those of +Francois I. and were, subsequently, those of Henri III. This floor, like +that taken by the queen-mother, is divided in two parts throughout its +whole length by the famous partition-wall, which is more than four feet +thick, against which rests the enormous walls which separate the +rooms from each other. Thus, on both floors, the apartments are in +two distinct halves. One half, to the south, looking to the courtyard, +served for public receptions and for the transaction of business; +whereas the private apartments were placed, partly to escape the heat, +to the north, overlooking the gardens, on which side is the splendid +facade with its balconies and galleries looking out upon the open +country of the Vendomois, and down upon the "Perchoir des Bretons" and +the moat, the only side of which La Fontaine speaks. + +The chateau of Francois I. was, in those days, terminated by an enormous +unfinished tower which was intended to mark the colossal angle of the +building when the succeeding wing was built. Later, Gaston took down one +side of it, in order to build his palace on to it; but he never finished +the work, and the tower remained in ruins. This royal stronghold served +as a prison or dungeon, according to popular tradition. + +As we wander to-day through the halls of this matchless chateau, so +precious to art and to history, what poet would not be haunted by +regrets, and grieved for France, at seeing the arabesques of Catherine's +boudoir _whitewashed_ and almost obliterated, by order of the +quartermaster of the barracks (this royal residence is now a barrack) at +the time of an outbreak of cholera. The panels of Catherine's boudoir, a +room of which we are about to speak, is the last remaining relic of +the rich decorations accumulated by five artistic kings. Making our way +through the labyrinth of chambers, halls, stairways, towers, we may +say to ourselves with solemn certitude: "Here Mary Stuart cajoled +her husband on behalf of the Guises." "There, the Guises insulted +Catherine." "Later, at that very spot the second Balafre fell beneath +the daggers of the avengers of the Crown." "A century earlier, from this +very window, Louis XII. made signs to his friend Cardinal d'Amboise +to come to him." "Here, on this balcony, d'Epernon, the accomplice of +Ravaillac, met Marie de' Medici, who knew, it was said, of the proposed +regicide, and allowed it to be committed." + +In the chapel, where the marriage of Henri IV. and Marguerite de Valois +took place, the sole remaining fragment of the chateau of the counts of +Blois, a regiment now makes it shoes. This wonderful structure, in +which so many styles may still be seen, so many great deeds have been +performed, is in a state of dilapidation which disgraces France. What +grief for those who love the great historic monuments of our country +to know that soon those eloquent stones will be lost to sight +and knowledge, like others at the corner of the rue de la +Vieille-Pelleterie; possibly, they will exist nowhere but in these +pages. + +It is necessary to remark that, in order to watch the royal court more +closely, the Guises, although they had a house of their own in the town, +which still exists, had obtained permission to occupy the upper floor +above the apartments of Louis XII., the same lodgings afterwards +occupied by the Duchesse de Nemours under the roof. + +The young king, Francois II., and his bride Mary Stuart, in love with +each other like the girl and boy of sixteen which they were, had been +abruptly transferred, in the depth of winter, from the chateau de +Saint-Germain, which the Duc de Guise thought liable to attack, to +the fortress which the chateau of Blois then was, being isolated and +protected on three sides by precipices, and admirably defended as to its +entrance. The Guises, uncles of Mary Stuart, had powerful reasons for +not residing in Paris and for keeping the king and court in a castle +the whole exterior surroundings of which could easily be watched and +defended. A struggle was now beginning around the throne, between the +house of Lorraine and the house of Valois, which was destined to end in +this very chateau, twenty-eight years later, namely in 1588, when +Henri III., under the very eyes of his mother, at that moment deeply +humiliated by the Lorrains, heard fall upon the floor of his own +cabinet, the head of the boldest of all the Guises, the second Balafre, +son of that first Balafre by whom Catherine de' Medici was now being +tricked, watched, threatened, and virtually imprisoned. + + + + +IV. THE QUEEN-MOTHER + +This noble chateau of Blois was to Catherine de' Medici the narrowest +of prisons. On the death of her husband, who had always held her in +subjection, she expected to reign; but, on the contrary, she found +herself crushed under the thraldom of strangers, whose polished manners +were really far more brutal than those of jailers. No action of hers +could be done secretly. The women who attended her either had lovers +among the Guises or were watched by Argus eyes. These were times when +passions notably exhibited the strange effects produced in all ages +by the strong antagonism of two powerful conflicting interests in the +State. Gallantry, which served Catherine so well, was also an auxiliary +of the Guises. The Prince de Conde, the first leader of the Reformation, +was a lover of the Marechale de Saint-Andre, whose husband was the tool +of the Grand Master. The cardinal, convinced by the affair of the Vidame +de Chartres, that Catherine was more unconquered than invulnerable as to +love, was paying court to her. The play of all these passions strangely +complicated those of politics,--making, as it were, a double game of +chess, in which both parties had to watch the head and heart of their +opponent, in order to know, when a crisis came, whether the one would +betray the other. + +Though she was constantly in presence of the Cardinal de Lorraine or of +Duc Francois de Guise, who both distrusted her, the closest and ablest +enemy of Catherine de' Medici was her daughter-in-law, Queen Mary, a +fair little creature, malicious as a waiting-maid, proud as a Stuart +wearing three crowns, learned as an old pedant, giddy as a school-girl, +as much in love with her husband as a courtesan is with her lover, +devoted to her uncles whom she admired, and delighted to see the king +share (at her instigation) the regard she had for them. A mother-in-law +is always a person whom the daughter-in-law is inclined not to like; +especially when she wears the crown and wishes to retain it, which +Catherine had imprudently made but too well known. Her former position, +when Diane de Poitiers had ruled Henri II., was more tolerable than +this; then at least she received the external honors that were due to a +queen, and the homage of the court. But now the duke and the cardinal, +who had none but their own minions about them, seemed to take pleasure +in abasing her. Catherine, hemmed in on all sides by their courtiers, +received, not only day by day but from hour to hour, terrible blows to +her pride and her self-love; for the Guises were determined to treat her +on the same system of repression which the late king, her husband, had +so long pursued. + +The thirty-six years of anguish which were now about to desolate France +may, perhaps, be said to have begun by the scene in which the son of the +furrier of the two queens was sent on the perilous errand which makes +him the chief figure of our present Study. The danger into which this +zealous Reformer was about to fall became imminent the very morning on +which he started from the port of Beaugency for the chateau de Blois, +bearing precious documents which compromised the highest heads of the +nobility, placed in his hands by that wily partisan, the indefatigable +La Renaudie, who met him, as agreed upon, at Beaugency, having reached +that port before him. + +While the tow-boat, in which Christophe now embarked floated, impelled +by a light east wind, down the river Loire the famous Cardinal de +Lorraine, and his brother the second Duc de Guise, one of the greatest +warriors of those days, were contemplating, like eagles perched on a +rocky summit, their present situation, and looking prudently about them +before striking the great blow by which they intended to kill the Reform +in France at Amboise,--an attempt renewed twelve years later in Paris, +August 24, 1572, on the feast of Saint-Bartholomew. + +During the night three _seigneurs_, who each played a great part in +the twelve years' drama which followed this double plot now laid by the +Guises and also by the Reformers, had arrived at Blois from different +directions, each riding at full speed, and leaving their horses +half-dead at the postern-gate of the chateau, which was guarded by +captains and soldiers absolutely devoted to the Duc de Guise, the idol +of all warriors. + +One word about that great man,--a word that must tell, in the first +instance, whence his fortunes took their rise. + +His mother was Antoinette de Bourbon, great-aunt of Henri IV. Of what +avail is consanguinity? He was, at this moment, aiming at the head of +his cousin the Prince de Conde. His niece was Mary Stuart. His wife +was Anne, daughter of the Duke of Ferrara. The Grand Connetable de +Montmorency called the Duc de Guise "Monseigneur" as he would the +king,--ending his letter with "Your very humble servant." Guise, Grand +Master of the king's household, replied "Monsieur le connetable," and +signed, as he did for the Parliament, "Your very good friend." + +As for the cardinal, called the transalpine pope, and his Holiness, by +Estienne, he had the whole monastic Church of France on his side, and +treated the Holy Father as an equal. Vain of his eloquence, and one +of the greatest theologians of his time, he kept incessant watch over +France and Italy by means of three religious orders who were absolutely +devoted to him, toiling day and night in his service and serving him as +spies and counsellors. + +These few words will explain to what heights of power the duke and +the cardinal had attained. In spite of their wealth and the +enormous revenues of their several offices, they were so personally +disinterested, so eagerly carried away on the current of their +statesmanship, and so generous at heart, that they were always in debt, +doubtless after the manner of Caesar. When Henri III. caused the death +of the second Balafre, whose life was a menace to him, the house of +Guise was necessarily ruined. The costs of endeavoring to seize the +crown during a whole century will explain the lowered position of this +great house during the reigns of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., when +the sudden death of MADAME told all Europe the infamous part which a +Chevalier de Lorraine had debased himself to play. + +Calling themselves the heirs of the dispossessed Carolovingians, the +duke and cardinal acted with the utmost insolence towards Catherine de' +Medici, the mother-in-law of their niece. The Duchesse de Guise spared +her no mortification. This duchesse was a d'Este, and Catherine was +a Medici, the daughter of upstart Florentine merchants, whom the +sovereigns of Europe had never yet admitted into their royal fraternity. +Francois I. himself has always considered his son's marriage with a +Medici as a mesalliance, and only consented to it under the expectation +that his second son would never be dauphin. Hence his fury when his +eldest son was poisoned by the Florentine Montecuculi. The d'Estes +refused to recognize the Medici as Italian princes. Those former +merchants were in fact trying to solve the impossible problem of +maintaining a throne in the midst of republican institutions. The title +of grand-duke was only granted very tardily by Philip the Second, king +of Spain, to reward those Medici who bought it by betraying France their +benefactress, and servilely attaching themselves to the court of Spain, +which was at the very time covertly counteracting them in Italy. + +"Flatter none but your enemies," the famous saying of Catherine de' +Medici, seems to have been the political rule of life with that family +of merchant princes, in which great men were never lacking until their +destinies became great, when they fell, before their time, into that +degeneracy in which royal races and noble families are wont to end. + +For three generations there had been a great Lorrain warrior and a great +Lorrain churchman; and, what is more singular, the churchmen all bore a +strong resemblance in the face to Ximenes, as did Cardinal Richelieu +in after days. These five great cardinals all had sly, mean, and yet +terrible faces; while the warriors, on the other hand, were of that type +of Basque mountaineer which we see in Henri IV. The two Balafres, father +and son, wounded and scarred in the same manner, lost something of this +type, but not the grace and affability by which, as much as by their +bravery, they won the hearts of the soldiery. + +It is not useless to relate how the present Grand Master received his +wound; for it was healed by the heroic measures of a personage of our +drama,--by Ambroise Pare, the man we have already mentioned as under +obligations to Lecamus, syndic of the guild of furriers. At the siege of +Calais the duke had his face pierced through and through by a lance, the +point of which, after entering the cheek just below the right eye, went +through to the neck, below the left eye, and remained, broken off, +in the face. The duke lay dying in his tent in the midst of universal +distress, and he would have died had it not been for the devotion and +prompt courage of Ambroise Pare. "The duke is not dead, gentlemen," +he said to the weeping attendants, "but he soon will die if I dare not +treat him as I would a dead man; and I shall risk doing so, no matter +what it may cost me in the end. See!" And with that he put his left foot +on the duke's breast, took the broken wooden end of the lance in his +fingers, shook and loosened it by degrees in the wound, and finally +succeeded in drawing out the iron head, as if he were handling a thing +and not a man. Though he saved the prince by this heroic treatment, he +could not prevent the horrible scar which gave the great soldier his +nickname,--Le Balafre, the Scarred. This name descended to the son, and +for a similar reason. + +Absolutely masters of Francois II., whom his wife ruled through their +mutual and excessive passion, these two great Lorrain princes, the duke +and the cardinal, were masters of France, and had no other enemy at +court than Catherine de' Medici. No great statesmen ever played a closer +or more watchful game. + +The mutual position of the ambitious widow of Henri II. and the +ambitious house of Lorraine was pictured, as it were, to the eye by a +scene which took place on the terrace of the chateau de Blois very early +in the morning of the day on which Christophe Lecamus was destined to +arrive there. The queen-mother, who feigned an extreme attachment to +the Guises, had asked to be informed of the news brought by the three +_seigneurs_ coming from three different parts of the kingdom; but she +had the mortification of being courteously dismissed by the cardinal. +She then walked to the parterres which overhung the Loire, where she +was building, under the superintendence of her astrologer, Ruggieri, an +observatory, which is still standing, and from which the eye may range +over the whole landscape of that delightful valley. The two Lorrain +princes were at the other end of the terrace, facing the Vendomois, +which overlooks the upper part of the town, the perch of the Bretons, +and the postern gate of the chateau. + +Catherine had deceived the two brothers by pretending to a slight +displeasure; for she was in reality very well pleased to have an +opportunity to speak to one of the three young men who had arrived in +such haste. This was a young nobleman named Chiverni, apparently a tool +of the cardinal, in reality a devoted servant of Catherine. Catherine +also counted among her devoted servants two Florentine nobles, the +Gondi; but they were so suspected by the Guises that she dared not send +them on any errand away from the court, where she kept them, watched, +it is true, in all their words and actions, but where at least they +were able to watch and study the Guises and counsel Catherine. These +two Florentines maintained in the interests of the queen-mother another +Italian, Birago,--a clever Piedmontese, who pretended, with Chiverni, +to have abandoned their mistress, and gone over to the Guises, who +encouraged their enterprises and employed them to watch Catherine. + +Chiverni had come from Paris and Ecouen. The last to arrive was +Saint-Andre, who was marshal of France and became so important that +the Guises, whose creature he was, made him the third person in the +triumvirate they formed the following year against Catherine. The other +_seigneur_ who had arrived during the night was Vieilleville, also a +creature of the Guises and a marshal of France, who was returning from +a secret mission known only to the Grand Master, who had entrusted it +to him. As for Saint-Andre, he was in charge of military measures taken +with the object of driving all Reformers under arms into Amboise; a +scheme which now formed the subject of a council held by the duke and +cardinal, Birago, Chiverni, Vieilleville, and Saint-Andre. As the two +Lorrains employed Birago, it is to be supposed that they relied upon +their own powers; for they knew of his attachment to the queen-mother. +At this singular epoch the double part played by many of the political +men of the day was well known to both parties; they were like cards in +the hands of gamblers,--the cleverest player won the game. During this +council the two brothers maintained the most impenetrable reserve. A +conversation which now took place between Catherine and certain of her +friends will explain the object of this council, held by the Guises in +the open air, in the hanging gardens, at break of day, as if they feared +to speak within the walls of the chateau de Blois. + +The queen-mother, under pretence of examining the observatory then in +process of construction, walked in that direction accompanied by the two +Gondis, glancing with a suspicious and inquisitive eye at the group of +enemies who were still standing at the farther end of the terrace, and +from whom Chiverni now detached himself to join the queen-mother. She +was then at the corner of the terrace which looks down upon the Church +of Saint-Nicholas; there, at least, there could be no danger of the +slightest overhearing. The wall of the terrace is on a level with the +towers of the church, and the Guises invariably held their council +at the farther corner of the same terrace at the base of the great +unfinished keep or dungeon,--going and returning between the Perchoir +des Bretons and the gallery by the bridge which joined them to the +gardens. No one was within sight. Chiverni raised the hand of the +queen-mother to kiss it, and as he did so he slipped a little note from +his hand to hers, without being observed by the two Italians. Catherine +turned to the angle of the parapet and read as follows:-- + + + You are powerful enough to hold the balance between the leaders + and to force them into a struggle as to who shall serve you; your + house is full of kings, and you have nothing to fear from the + Lorrains or the Bourbons provided you pit them one against the + other, for both are striving to snatch the crown from your + children. Be the mistress and not the servant of your counsellors; + support them, in turn, one against the other, or the kingdom will + go from bad to worse, and mighty wars may come of it. + +L'Hopital. + + +The queen put the letter in the hollow of her corset, resolving to burn +it as soon as she was alone. + +"When did you see him?" she asked Chiverni. + +"On my way back from visiting the Connetable, at Melun, where I met +him with the Duchesse de Berry, whom he was most impatient to convey to +Savoie, that he might return here and open the eyes of the chancellor +Olivier, who is now completely duped by the Lorrains. As soon as +Monsieur l'Hopital saw the true object of the Guises he determined to +support your interests. That is why he is so anxious to get here and +give you his vote at the councils." + +"Is he sincere?" asked Catherine. "You know very well that if the +Lorrains have put him in the council it is that he may help them to +reign." + +"L'Hopital is a Frenchman who comes of too good a stock not to be honest +and sincere," said Chiverni; "Besides, his note is a sufficiently strong +pledge." + +"What answer did the Connetable send to the Guises?" + +"He replied that he was the servant of the king and would await +his orders. On receiving that answer the cardinal, to suppress all +resistance, determined to propose the appointment of his brother as +lieutenant-general of the kingdom." + +"Have they got as far as that?" exclaimed Catherine, alarmed. "Well, did +Monsieur l'Hopital send me no other message?" + +"He told me to say to you, madame, that you alone could stand between +the Crown and the Guises." + +"Does he think that I ought to use the Huguenots as a weapon?" + +"Ah! madame," cried Chiverni, surprised at such astuteness, "we never +dreamed of casting you into such difficulties." + +"Does he know the position I am in?" asked the queen, calmly. + +"Very nearly. He thinks you were duped after the death of the king into +accepting that castle on Madame Diane's overthrow. The Guises consider +themselves released toward the queen by having satisfied the woman." + +"Yes," said the queen, looking at the two Gondi, "I made a blunder." + +"A blunder of the gods," replied Charles de Gondi. + +"Gentlemen," said Catherine, "if I go over openly to the Reformers I +shall become the slave of a party." + +"Madame," said Chiverni, eagerly, "I approve entirely of your meaning. +You must use them, but not serve them." + +"Though your support does, undoubtedly, for the time being lie there," +said Charles de Gondi, "we must not conceal from ourselves that success +and defeat are both equally perilous." + +"I know it," said the queen; "a single false step would be a pretext on +which the Guises would seize at once to get rid of me." + +"The niece of a Pope, the mother of four Valois, a queen of France, +the widow of the most ardent persecutor of the Huguenots, an Italian +Catholic, the aunt of Leo X.,--can _she_ ally herself with the +Reformation?" asked Charles de Gondi. + +"But," said his brother Albert, "if she seconds the Guises does she not +play into the hands of a usurpation? We have to do with men who see a +crown to seize in the coming struggle between Catholicism and Reform. It +is possible to support the Reformers without abjuring." + +"Reflect, madame, that your family, which ought to have been wholly +devoted to the king of France, is at this moment the servant of the +king of Spain; and to-morrow it will be that of the Reformation if the +Reformation could make a king of the Duke of Florence." + +"I am certainly disposed to lend a hand, for a time, to the Huguenots," +said Catherine, "if only to revenge myself on that soldier and that +priest and that woman!" As she spoke, she called attention with her +subtile Italian glance to the duke and cardinal, and then to the second +floor of the chateau on which were the apartments of her son and Mary +Stuart. "That trio has taken from my hands the reins of State, for which +I waited long while the old woman filled my place," she said gloomily, +glancing toward Chenonceaux, the chateau she had lately exchanged +with Diane de Poitiers against that of Chaumont. "_Ma_," she added in +Italian, "it seems that these reforming gentry in Geneva have not the +wit to address themselves to me; and, on my conscience, I cannot go to +them. Not one of you would dare to risk carrying them a message!" +She stamped her foot. "I did hope you would have met the cripple at +Ecouen--_he_ has sense," she said to Chiverni. + +"The Prince de Conde was there, madame," said Chiverni, "but he could +not persuade the Connetable to join him. Monsieur de Montmorency wants +to overthrow the Guises, who have sent him into exile, but he will not +encourage heresy." + +"What will ever break these individual wills which are forever thwarting +royalty? God's truth!" exclaimed the queen, "the great nobles must be +made to destroy each other, as Louis XI., the greatest of your kings, +did with those of his time. There are four or five parties now in this +kingdom, and the weakest of them is that of my children." + +"The Reformation is an _idea_," said Charles de Gondi; "the parties that +Louis XI. crushed were moved by self-interests only." + +"Ideas are behind selfish interests," replied Chiverni. "Under Louis XI. +the idea was the great Fiefs--" + +"Make heresy an axe," said Albert de Gondi, "and you will escape the +odium of executions." + +"Ah!" cried the queen, "but I am ignorant of the strength and also of +the plans of the Reformers; and I have no safe way of communicating with +them. If I were detected in any manoeuvre of that kind, either by +the queen, who watches me like an infant in a cradle, or by those two +jailers over there, I should be banished from France and sent back to +Florence with a terrible escort, commanded by Guise minions. Thank you, +no, my daughter-in-law!--but I wish _you_ the fate of being a prisoner +in your own home, that you may know what you have made me suffer." + +"Their plans!" exclaimed Chiverni; "the duke and the cardinal know what +they are, but those two foxes will not divulge them. If you could induce +them to do so, madame, I would sacrifice myself for your sake and come +to an understanding with the Prince de Conde." + +"How much of the Guises' own plans have they been forced to reveal to +you?" asked the queen, with a glance at the two brothers. + +"Monsieur de Vieilleville and Monsieur de Saint-Andre have just received +fresh orders, the nature of which is concealed from us; but I think +the duke is intending to concentrate his best troops on the left bank. +Within a few days you will all be moved to Amboise. The duke has been +studying the position from this terrace and decides that Blois is not a +propitious spot for his secret schemes. What can he want better?" added +Chiverni, pointing to the precipices which surrounded the chateau. +"There is no place in the world where the court is more secure from +attack than it is here." + +"Abdicate or reign," said Albert in a low voice to the queen, who stood +motionless and thoughtful. + +A terrible expression of inward rage passed over the fine ivory face of +Catherine de' Medici, who was not yet forty years old, though she had +lived for twenty-six years at the court of France,--without power, she, +who from the moment of her arrival intended to play a leading part! +Then, in her native language, the language of Dante, these terrible +words came slowly from her lips:-- + +"Nothing so long as that son lives!--His little wife bewitches him," she +added after a pause. + +Catherine's exclamation was inspired by a prophecy which had been made +to her a few days earlier at the chateau de Chaumont on the opposite +bank of the river; where she had been taken by Ruggieri, her astrologer, +to obtain information as to the lives of her four children from a +celebrated female seer, secretly brought there by Nostradamus (chief +among the physicians of that great sixteenth century) who practised, +like the Ruggieri, the Cardans, Paracelsus, and others, the occult +sciences. This woman, whose name and life have eluded history, foretold +one year as the length of Francois's reign. + +"Give me your opinion on all this," said Catherine to Chiverni. + +"We shall have a battle," replied the prudent courtier. "The king of +Navarre--" + +"Oh! say the queen," interrupted Catherine. + +"True, the queen," said Chiverni, smiling, "the queen has given the +Prince de Conde as leader to the Reformers, and he, in his position +of younger son, can venture all; consequently the cardinal talks of +ordering him here." + +"If he comes," cried the queen, "I am saved!" + +Thus the leaders of the great movement of the Reformation in France were +justified in hoping for an ally in Catherine de' Medici. + +"There is one thing to be considered," said the queen. "The Bourbons +may fool the Huguenots and the Sieurs Calvin and de Beze may fool the +Bourbons, but are we strong enough to fool Huguenots, Bourbons, and +Guises? In presence of three such enemies it is allowable to feel one's +pulse." + +"But they have not the king," said Albert de Gondi. "You will always +triumph, having the king on your side." + +"_Maladetta Maria_!" muttered Catherine between her teeth. + +"The Lorrains are, even now, endeavoring to turn the burghers against +you," remarked Birago. + + + + +V. THE COURT + +The hope of gaining the crown was not the result of a premeditated plan +in the minds of the restless Guises. Nothing warranted such a hope +or such a plan. Circumstances alone inspired their audacity. The two +cardinals and the two Balafres were four ambitious minds, superior in +talents to all the other politicians who surrounded them. This family +was never really brought low except by Henri IV.; a factionist himself, +trained in the great school of which Catherine and the Guises were +masters,--by whose lessons he had profited but too well. + +At this moment the two brothers, the duke and cardinal, were the +arbiters of the greatest revolution attempted in Europe since that +of Henry VIII. in England, which was the direct consequence of the +invention of printing. Adversaries to the Reformation, they meant to +stifle it, power being in their hands. But their opponent, Calvin, +though less famous than Luther, was far the stronger of the two. Calvin +saw government where Luther saw dogma only. While the stout beer-drinker +and amorous German fought with the devil and flung an inkbottle at his +head, the man from Picardy, a sickly celibate, made plans of campaign, +directed battles, armed princes, and roused whole peoples by sowing +republican doctrines in the hearts of the burghers--recouping his +continual defeats in the field by fresh progress in the mind of the +nations. + +The Cardinal de Lorraine and the Duc de Guise, like Philip the Second +and the Duke of Alba, knew where and when the monarchy was threatened, +and how close the alliance ought to be between Catholicism and Royalty. +Charles the Fifth, drunk with the wine of Charlemagne's cup, believing +too blindly in the strength of his monarchy, and confident of sharing +the world with Suleiman, did not at first feel the blow at his head; +but no sooner had Cardinal Granvelle made him aware of the extent of +the wound than he abdicated. The Guises had but one scheme,--that +of annihilating heresy at a single blow. This blow they were now to +attempt, for the first time, to strike at Amboise; failing there they +tried it again, twelve years later, at the Saint-Bartholomew,--on the +latter occasion in conjunction with Catherine de' Medici, enlightened by +that time by the flames of a twelve years' war, enlightened above all +by the significant word "republic," uttered later and printed by the +writers of the Reformation, but already foreseen (as we have said +before) by Lecamus, that type of the Parisian bourgeoisie. + +The two Guises, now on the point of striking a murderous blow at the +heart of the French nobility, in order to separate it once for all from +a religious party whose triumph would be its ruin, still stood together +on the terrace, concerting as to the best means of revealing their +coup-d'Etat to the king, while Catherine was talking with her +counsellors. + +"Jeanne d'Albret knew what she was about when she declared herself +protectress of the Huguenots! She has a battering-ram in the +Reformation, and she knows how to use it," said the duke, who fathomed +the deep designs of the Queen of Navarre, one of the great minds of the +century. + +"Theodore de Beze is now at Nerac," remarked the cardinal, "after first +going to Geneva to take Calvin's orders." + +"What men these burghers know how to find!" exclaimed the duke. + +"Ah! we have none on our side of the quality of La Renaudie!" cried the +cardinal. "He is a true Catiline." + +"Such men always act for their own interests," replied the duke. "Didn't +I fathom La Renaudie? I loaded him with favors; I helped him to escape +when he was condemned by the parliament of Bourgogne; I brought him back +from exile by obtaining a revision of his sentence; I intended to do far +more for him; and all the while he was plotting a diabolical conspiracy +against us! That rascal has united the Protestants of Germany with the +heretics of France by reconciling the differences that grew up +between the dogmas of Luther and those of Calvin. He has brought the +discontented great seigneurs into the party of the Reformation without +obliging them to abjure Catholicism openly. For the last year he has +had thirty captains under him! He is everywhere at once,--at Lyon, +in Languedoc, at Nantes! It was he who drew up those minutes of +a consultation which were hawked about all Germany, in which the +theologians declared that force might be resorted to in order to +withdraw the king from our rule and tutelage; the paper is now being +circulated from town to town. Wherever we look for him we never find +him! And yet I have never done him anything but good! It comes to this, +that we must now either thrash him like a dog, or try to throw him a +golden bridge by which he will cross into our camp." + +"Bretagne, Languedoc, in fact the whole kingdom is in league to deal us +a mortal blow," said the cardinal. "After the fete was over yesterday I +spent the rest of the night in reading the reports sent me by the monks; +in which I found that the only persons who have compromised themselves +are poor gentlemen, artisans, as to whom it doesn't signify whether you +hang them or let them live. The Colignys and Condes do not show their +hand as yet, though they hold the threads of the whole conspiracy." + +"Yes," replied the duke, "and, therefore, as soon as that lawyer +Avenelles sold the secret of the plot, I told Braguelonne to let the +conspirators carry it out. They have no suspicion that we know it; +they are so sure of surprising us that the leaders may possibly show +themselves then. My advice is to allow ourselves to be beaten for +forty-eight hours." + +"Half an hour would be too much," cried the cardinal, alarmed. + +"So this is your courage, is it?" retorted the Balafre. + +The cardinal, quite unmoved, replied: "Whether the Prince de Conde is +compromised or not, if we are certain that he is the leader, we should +strike him down at once and secure tranquillity. We need judges rather +than soldiers for this business--and judges are never lacking. Victory +is always more certain in the parliament than on the field, and it costs +less." + +"I consent, willingly," said the duke; "but do you think the Prince +de Conde is powerful enough to inspire, himself alone, the audacity +of those who are making this first attack upon us? Isn't there, behind +him--" + +"The king of Navarre," said the cardinal. + +"Pooh! a fool who speaks to me cap in hand!" replied the duke. "The +coquetries of that Florentine woman seem to blind your eyes--" + +"Oh! as for that," exclaimed the priest, "if I do play the gallant with +her it is only that I may read to the bottom of her heart." + +"She has no heart," said the duke, sharply; "she is even more ambitious +than you and I." + +"You are a brave soldier," said the cardinal; "but, believe me, I +distance you in this matter. I have had Catherine watched by Mary Stuart +long before you even suspected her. She has no more religion than my +shoe; if she is not the soul of this plot it is not for want of will. +But we shall now be able to test her on the scene itself, and find out +then how she stands by us. Up to this time, however, I am certain she +has held no communication whatever with the heretics." + +"Well, it is time now to reveal the whole plot to the king, and to the +queen-mother, who, you say, knows nothing of it,--that is the sole proof +of her innocence; perhaps the conspirators have waited till the last +moment, expecting to dazzle her with the probabilities of success. La +Renaudie must soon discover by my arrangements that we are warned. Last +night Nemours was to follow detachments of the Reformers who are pouring +in along the cross-roads, and the conspirators will be forced to attack +us at Amboise, which place I intend to let them enter. Here," added the +duke, pointing to three sides of the rock on which the chateau de Blois +is built; "we should have an assault without any result; the Huguenots +could come and go at will. Blois is an open hall with four entrances; +whereas Amboise is a sack with a single mouth." + +"I shall not leave Catherine's side," said the cardinal. + +"We have made a blunder," remarked the duke, who was playing with his +dagger, tossing it into the air and catching it by the hilt. "We ought +to have treated her as we did the Reformers,--given her complete freedom +of action and caught her in the act." + +The cardinal looked at his brother for an instant and shook his head. + +"What does Pardaillan want?" said the duke, observing the approach of +the young nobleman who was later to become celebrated by his encounter +with La Renaudie, in which they both lost their lives. + +"Monseigneur, a man sent by the queen's furrier is at the gate, and says +he has an ermine suit to convey to her. Am I to let him enter?" + +"Ah! yes,--the ermine coat she spoke of yesterday," returned the +cardinal; "let the shop-fellow pass; she will want the garment for the +voyage down the Loire." + +"How did he get here without being stopped until he reached the gate?" +asked the duke. + +"I do not know," replied Pardaillan. + +"I'll ask to see him when he is with the queen," thought the Balafre. +"Let him wait in the _salle des gardes_," he said aloud. "Is he young, +Pardaillan?" + +"Yes, monseigneur; he says he is a son of Lecamus the furrier." + +"Lecamus is a good Catholic," remarked the cardinal, who, like his +brother the duke, was endowed with Caesar's memory. "The rector of +Saint-Pierre-aux-Boeufs relies upon him; he is the provost of that +quarter." + +"Nevertheless," said the duke, "make the son talk with the captain of +the Scotch guard," laying an emphasis on the verb which was readily +understood. "Ambroise is in the chateau; he can tell us whether the +fellow is really the son of Lecamus, for the old man did him good +service in times past. Send for Ambroise Pare." + +It was at this moment that Queen Catherine went, unattended, toward the +two brothers, who hastened to meet her with their accustomed show of +respect, in which the Italian princess detected constant irony. + +"Messieurs," she said, "will you deign to inform me of what is about +to take place? Is the widow of your former master of less importance in +your esteem than the Sieurs Vieilleville, Birago, and Chiverni?" + +"Madame," replied the cardinal, in a tone of gallantry, "our duty as +men, taking precedence of that of statecraft, forbids us to alarm the +fair sex by false reports. But this morning there is indeed good reason +to confer with you on the affairs of the country. You must excuse +my brother for having already given orders to the gentlemen you +mention,--orders which were purely military, and therefore did not +concern you; the matters of real importance are still to be decided. If +you are willing, we will now go the _lever_ of the king and queen; it is +nearly time." + +"But what is all this, Monsieur le duc?" cried Catherine, pretending +alarm. "Is anything the matter?" + +"The Reformation, madame, is no longer a mere heresy; it is a party, +which has taken arms and is coming here to snatch the king away from +you." + +Catherine, the cardinal, the duke, and the three gentlemen made their +way to the staircase through the gallery, which was crowded with +courtiers who, being off duty, no longer had the right of entrance to +the royal apartments, and stood in two hedges on either side. Gondi, who +watched them while the queen-mother talked with the Lorraine princes, +whispered in her ear, in good Tuscan, two words which afterwards became +proverbs,--words which are the keynote to one aspect of her regal +character: "Odiate e aspettate"--"Hate and wait." + +Pardaillan, who had gone to order the officer of the guard at the gate +of the chateau to let the clerk of the queen's furrier enter, found +Christophe open-mouthed before the portal, staring at the facade built +by the good king Louis XII., on which there was at that time a +much greater number of grotesque carvings than we see there +to-day,--grotesque, that is to say, if we may judge by those that remain +to us. For instance, persons curious in such matters may remark the +figurine of a woman carved on the capital of one of the portal columns, +with her robe caught up to show to a stout monk crouching in the capital +of the corresponding column "that which Brunelle showed to Marphise"; +while above this portal stood, at the time of which we write, the statue +of Louis XII. Several of the window-casings of this facade, carved in +the same style, and now, unfortunately, destroyed, amused, or seemed +to amuse Christophe, on whom the arquebusiers of the guard were raining +jests. + +"He would like to live there," said the sub-corporal, playing with the +cartridges of his weapon, which were prepared for use in the shape of +little sugar-loaves, and slung to the baldricks of the men. + +"Hey, Parisian!" said another; "you never saw the like of that, did +you?" + +"He recognizes the good King Louis XII.," said a third. + +Christophe pretended not to hear, and tried to exaggerate his amazement, +the result being that his silly attitude and his behavior before the +guard proved an excellent passport to the eyes of Pardaillan. + +"The queen has not yet risen," said the young captain; "come and wait +for her in the _salle des gardes_." + +Christophe followed Pardaillan rather slowly. On the way he stopped to +admire the pretty gallery in the form of an arcade, where the courtiers +of Louis XII. awaited the reception-hour when it rained, and where, at +the present moment, were several seigneurs attached to the Guises; for +the staircase (so well preserved to the present day) which led to their +apartments is at the end of this gallery in a tower, the architecture of +which commends itself to the admiration of intelligent beholders. + +"Well, well! did you come here to study the carving of images?" cried +Pardaillan, as Christophe stopped before the charming sculptures of the +balustrade which unites, or, if you prefer it, separates the columns of +each arcade. + +Christophe followed the young officer to the grand staircase, not +without a glance of ecstasy at the semi-Moorish tower. The weather +was fine, and the court was crowded with staff-officers and seigneurs, +talking together in little groups,--their dazzling uniforms and +court-dresses brightening a spot which the marvels of architecture, then +fresh and new, had already made so brilliant. + +"Come in here," said Pardaillan, making Lecamus a sign to follow him +through a carved wooden door leading to the second floor, which the +door-keeper opened on recognizing the young officer. + +It is easy to imagine Christophe's amazement as he entered the great +_salle des gardes_, then so vast that military necessity has since +divided it by a partition into two chambers. It occupied on the second +floor (that of the king), as did the corresponding hall on the first +floor (that of the queen-mother), one third of the whole front of the +chateau facing the courtyard; and it was lighted by two windows to right +and two to left of the tower in which the famous staircase winds up. The +young captain went to the door of the royal chamber, which opened upon +this vast hall, and told one of the two pages on duty to inform Madame +Dayelles, the queen's bedchamber woman, that the furrier was in the hall +with her surcoat. + +On a sign from Pardaillan Christophe placed himself near an officer, +who was seated on a stool at the corner of a fireplace as large as his +father's whole shop, which was at the end of the great hall, opposite +to a precisely similar fireplace at the other end. While talking to this +officer, a lieutenant, he contrived to interest him with an account of +the stagnation of trade. Christophe seemed so thoroughly a shopkeeper +that the officer imparted that conviction to the captain of the Scotch +guard, who came in from the courtyard to question Lecamus, all the while +watching him covertly and narrowly. + +However much Christophe Lecamus had been warned, it was impossible for +him to really apprehend the cold ferocity of the interests between which +Chaudieu had slipped him. To an observer of this scene, who had known +the secrets of it as the historian understands it in the light of +to-day, there was indeed cause to tremble for this young man,--the hope +of two families,--thrust between those powerful and pitiless machines, +Catherine and the Guises. But do courageous beings, as a rule, measure +the full extent of their dangers? By the way in which the port of Blois, +the chateau, and the town were guarded, Christophe was prepared to find +spies and traps everywhere; and he therefore resolved to conceal +the importance of his mission and the tension of his mind under the +empty-headed and shopkeeping appearance with which he presented himself +to the eyes of young Pardaillan, the officer of the guard, and the +Scottish captain. + +The agitation which, in a royal castle, always attends the hour of the +king's rising, was beginning to show itself. The great lords, whose +horses, pages, or grooms remained in the outer courtyard,--for no +one, except the king and the queens, had the right to enter the inner +courtyard on horseback,--were mounting by groups the magnificent +staircase, and filling by degrees the vast hall, the beams of which are +now stripped of the decorations that then adorned them. Miserable little +red tiles have replaced the ingenious mosaics of the floors; and the +thick walls, then draped with the crown tapestries and glowing with all +the arts of that unique period of the splendors of humanity, are now +denuded and whitewashed! Reformers and Catholics were pressing in to +hear the news and to watch faces, quite as much as to pay their duty +to the king. Francois II.'s excessive love for Mary Stuart, to which +neither the queen-mother nor the Guises made any opposition, and the +politic compliance of Mary Stuart herself, deprived the king of all +regal power. At seventeen years of age he knew nothing of royalty but +its pleasures, or of marriage beyond the indulgence of first passion. As +a matter of fact, all present paid their court to Queen Mary and to her +uncles, the Cardinal de Lorraine and the Duc de Guise, rather than to +the king. + +This stir took place before Christophe, who watched the arrival of each +new personage with natural eagerness. A magnificent portiere, on either +side of which stood two pages and two soldiers of the Scotch guard, then +on duty, showed him the entrance to the royal chamber,--the chamber so +fatal to the son of the present Duc de Guise, the second Balafre, who +fell at the foot of the bed now occupied by Mary Stuart and Francois +II. The queen's maids of honor surrounded the fireplace opposite to that +where Christophe was being "talked with" by the captain of the guard. +This second fireplace was considered the _chimney of honor_. It was +built in the thick wall of the Salle de Conseil, between the door of the +royal chamber and that of the council-hall, so that the maids of honor +and the lords in waiting who had the right to be there were on the +direct passage of the king and queen. The courtiers were certain on this +occasion of seeing Catherine, for her maids of honor, dressed like +the rest of the court ladies, in black, came up the staircase from +the queen-mother's apartment, and took their places, marshalled by the +Comtesse de Fiesque, on the side toward the council-hall and opposite to +the maids of honor of the young queen, led by the Duchesse de Guise, +who occupied the other side of the fireplace on the side of the royal +bedroom. The courtiers left an open space between the ranks of these +young ladies (who all belonged to the first families of the kingdom), +which none but the greatest lords had the right to enter. The Comtesse +de Fiesque and the Duchesse de Guise were, in virtue of their office, +seated in the midst of these noble maids, who were all standing. + +The first gentleman who approached the dangerous ranks was the Duc +d'Orleans, the king's brother, who had come down from his apartment on +the third floor, accompanied by Monsieur de Cypierre, his governor. This +young prince, destined before the end of the year to reign under the +title of Charles IX., was only ten years old and extremely timid. +The Duc d'Anjou and the Duc d'Alencon, his younger brothers, also +the Princesse Marguerite, afterwards the wife of Henri IV. (la Reine +Margot), were too young to come to court, and were therefore kept by +their mother in her own apartments. The Duc d'Orleans, richly dressed +after the fashion of the times, in silken trunk-hose, a close-fitting +jacket of cloth of gold embroidered with black flowers, and a little +mantle of embroidered velvet, all black, for he still wore mourning for +his father, bowed to the two ladies of honor and took his place beside +his mother's maids. Already full of antipathy for the adherents of the +house of Guise, he replied coldly to the remarks of the duchess and +leaned his arm on the back of the chair of the Comtesse de Fiesque. His +governor, Monsieur de Cypierre, one of the noblest characters of that +day, stood beside him like a shield. Amyot (afterwards Bishop of Auxerre +and translator of Plutarch), in the simple soutane of an abbe, also +accompanied the young prince, being his tutor, as he was of the two +other princes, whose affection became so profitable to him. + +Between the "chimney of honor" and the other chimney at the end of +the hall, around which were grouped the guards, their captain, a few +courtiers, and Christophe carrying his box of furs, the Chancellor +Olivier, protector and predecessor of l'Hopital, in the robes which the +chancellors of France have always worn, was walking up and down with the +Cardinal de Tournon, who had recently returned from Rome. The pair were +exchanging a few whispered sentences in the midst of great attention +from the lords of the court, massed against the wall which separated the +_salle des gardes_ from the royal bedroom, like a living tapestry backed +by the rich tapestry of art crowded by a thousand personages. In spite +of the present grave events, the court presented the appearance of all +courts in all lands, at all epochs, and in the midst of the greatest +dangers. The courtiers talked of trivial matters, thinking of serious +ones; they jested as they studied faces, and apparently concerned +themselves about love and the marriage of rich heiresses amid the +bloodiest catastrophes. + +"What did you think of yesterday's fete?" asked Bourdeilles, seigneur of +Brantome, approaching Mademoiselle de Piennes, one of the queen-mother's +maids of honor. + +"Messieurs du Baif et du Bellay were inspired with delightful ideas," +she replied, indicating the organizers of the fete, who were standing +near. "I thought it all in the worst taste," she added in a low voice. + +"You had no part to play in it, I think?" remarked Mademoiselle de +Lewiston from the opposite ranks of Queen Mary's maids. + +"What are you reading there, madame?" asked Amyot of the Comtesse de +Fiesque. + +"'Amadis de Gaule,' by the Seigneur des Essarts, commissary in ordinary +to the king's artillery," she replied. + +"A charming work," remarked the beautiful girl who was afterwards so +celebrated under the name of Fosseuse when she was lady of honor to +Queen Marguerite of Navarre. + +"The style is a novelty in form," said Amyot. "Do you accept such +barbarisms?" he added, addressing Brantome. + +"They please the ladies, you know," said Brantome, crossing over to the +Duchesse de Guise, who held the "Decamerone" in her hand. "Some of the +women of your house must appear in the book, madame," he said. "It is +a pity that the Sieur Boccaccio did not live in our day; he would have +known plenty of ladies to swell his volume--" + +"How shrewd that Monsieur de Brantome is," said the beautiful +Mademoiselle de Limueil to the Comtesse de Fiesque; "he came to us +first, but he means to remain in the Guise quarters." + +"Hush!" said Madame de Fiesque glancing at the beautiful Limueil. +"Attend to what concerns yourself." + +The young girl turned her eyes to the door. She was expecting Sardini, +a noble Italian, with whom the queen-mother, her relative, married her +after an "accident" which happened in the dressing-room of Catherine de' +Medici herself; but which the young lady won the honor of having a queen +as midwife. + +"By the holy Alipantin! Mademoiselle Davila seems to me prettier and +prettier every morning," said Monsieur de Robertet, secretary of State, +bowing to the ladies of the queen-mother. + +The arrival of the secretary of State made no commotion whatever, though +his office was precisely what that of a minister is in these days. + +"If you really think so, monsieur," said the beauty, "lend me the squib +which was written against the Messieurs de Guise; I know it was lent to +you." + +"It is no longer in my possession," replied the secretary, turning round +to bow to the Duchesse de Guise. + +"I have it," said the Comte de Grammont to Mademoiselle Davila, "but I +will give it you on one condition only." + +"Condition! fie!" exclaimed Madame de Fiesque. + +"You don't know what it is," replied Grammont. + +"Oh! it is easy to guess," remarked la Limueil. + +The Italian custom of calling ladies, as peasants call their wives, +"_la_ Such-a-one" was then the fashion at the court of France. + +"You are mistaken," said the count, hastily, "the matter is simply to +give a letter from my cousin de Jarnac to one of the maids on the other +side, Mademoiselle de Matha." + +"You must not compromise my young ladies," said the Comtesse de Fiesque. +"I will deliver the letter myself.--Do you know what is happening in +Flanders?" she continued, turning to the Cardinal de Tournon. "It seems +that Monsieur d'Egmont is given to surprises." + +"He and the Prince of Orange," remarked Cypierre, with a significant +shrug of his shoulders. + +"The Duke of Alba and Cardinal Granvelle are going there, are they not, +monsieur?" said Amyot to the Cardinal de Tournon, who remained standing, +gloomy and anxious between the opposing groups after his conversation +with the chancellor. + +"Happily we are at peace; we need only conquer heresy on the stage," +remarked the young Duc d'Orleans, alluding to a part he had played the +night before,--that of a knight subduing a hydra which bore upon its +foreheads the word "Reformation." + +Catherine de' Medici, agreeing in this with her daughter-in-law, had +allowed a theatre to be made of the great hall (afterwards arranged for +the Parliament of Blois), which, as we have already said, connected the +chateau of Francois I. with that of Louis XII. + +The cardinal made no answer to Amyot's question, but resumed his walk +through the centre of the hall, talking in low tones with Monsieur +de Robertet and the chancellor. Many persons are ignorant of the +difficulties which secretaries of State (subsequently called ministers) +met with at the first establishment of their office, and how much +trouble the kings of France had in creating it. At this epoch a +secretary of State like Robertet was purely and simply a writer; he +counted for almost nothing among the princes and grandees who decided +the affairs of State. His functions were little more than those of the +superintendent of finances, the chancellor, and the keeper of the seals. +The kings granted seats at the council by letters-patent to those of +their subjects whose advice seemed to them useful in the management +of public affairs. Entrance to the council was given in this way to a +president of the Chamber of Parliament, to a bishop, or to an untitled +favorite. Once admitted to the council, the subject strengthened his +position there by obtaining various crown offices on which devolved such +prerogatives as the sword of a Constable, the government of provinces, +the grand-mastership of artillery, the baton of a marshal, a leading +rank in the army, or the admiralty, or a captaincy of the galleys, often +some office at court, like that of grand-master of the household, now +held, as we have already said, by the Duc de Guise. + +"Do you think that the Duc de Nemours will marry Francoise?" said Madame +de Guise to the tutor of the Duc d'Orleans. + +"Ah, madame," he replied, "I know nothing but Latin." + +This answer made all who were within hearing of it smile. The seduction +of Francoise de Rohan by the Duc de Nemours was the topic of all +conversations; but, as the duke was cousin to Francois II., and doubly +allied to the house of Valois through his mother, the Guises regarded +him more as the seduced than the seducer. Nevertheless, the power of the +house of Rohan was such that the Duc de Nemours was obliged, after the +death of Francois II., to leave France on consequence of suits brought +against him by the Rohans; which suits the Guises settled. The duke's +marriage with the Duchesse de Guise after Poltrot's assassination of +her husband in 1563, may explain the question which she put to Amyot, +by revealing the rivalry which must have existed between Mademoiselle de +Rohan and the duchess. + +"Do see that group of the discontented over there?" said the Comte de +Grammont, motioning toward the Messieurs de Coligny, the Cardinal de +Chatillon, Danville, Thore, Moret, and several other seigneurs suspected +of tampering with the Reformation, who were standing between two windows +on the other side of the fireplace. + +"The Huguenots are bestirring themselves," said Cypierre. "We know that +Theodore de Beze has gone to Nerac to induce the Queen of Navarre to +declare for the Reformers--by abjuring publicly," he added, looking at +the _bailli_ of Orleans, who held the office of chancellor to the Queen +of Navarre, and was watching the court attentively. + +"She will do it!" said the _bailli_, dryly. + +This personage, the Orleans Jacques Coeur, one of the richest burghers +of the day, was named Groslot, and had charge of Jeanne d'Albret's +business with the court of France. + +"Do you really think so?" said the chancellor of France, appreciating +the full importance of Groslot's declaration. + +"Are you not aware," said the burgher, "that the Queen of Navarre has +nothing of the woman in her except sex? She is wholly for things virile; +her powerful mind turns to the great affairs of State; her heart is +invincible under adversity." + +"Monsieur le cardinal," whispered the Chancellor Olivier to Monsieur +de Tournon, who had overheard Groslot, "what do you think of that +audacity?" + +"The Queen of Navarre did well in choosing for her chancellor a man from +whom the house of Lorraine borrows money, and who offers his house to +the king, if his Majesty visits Orleans," replied the cardinal. + +The chancellor and the cardinal looked at each other, without venturing +to further communicate their thoughts; but Robertet expressed them, for +he thought it necessary to show more devotion to the Guises than these +great personages, inasmuch as he was smaller than they. + +"It is a great misfortune that the house of Navarre, instead of abjuring +the religion of its fathers, does not abjure the spirit of vengeance +and rebellion which the Connetable de Bourbon breathed into it," he said +aloud. "We shall see the quarrels of the Armagnacs and the Bourguignons +revive in our day." + +"No," said Groslot, "there's another Louis XI. in the Cardinal de +Lorraine." + +"And also in Queen Catherine," replied Robertet. + +At this moment Madame Dayelle, the favorite bedchamber woman of Queen +Mary Stuart, crossed the hall, and went toward the royal chamber. Her +passage caused a general commotion. + +"We shall soon enter," said Madame de Fisque. + +"I don't think so," replied the Duchesse de Guise. "Their Majesties will +come out; a grand council is to be held." + + + + +VI. THE LITTLE LEVER OF FRANCOIS II. + +Madame Dayelle glided into the royal chamber after scratching on the +door,--a respectful custom, invented by Catherine de' Medici and adopted +by the court of France. + +"How is the weather, my dear Dayelle?" said Queen Mary, showing her +fresh young face out of the bed, and shaking the curtains. + +"Ah! madame--" + +"What's the matter, my Dayelle? You look as if the archers of the guard +were after you." + +"Oh! madame, is the king still asleep?" + +"Yes." + +"We are to leave the chateau; Monsieur le cardinal requests me to tell +you so, and to ask you to make the king agree to it. + +"Do you know why, my good Dayelle?" + +"The Reformers want to seize you and carry you off." + +"Ah! that new religion does not leave me a minute's peace! I dreamed +last night that I was in prison,--I, who will some day unite the crowns +of the three noblest kingdoms in the world!" + +"Therefore it could only be a dream, madame." + +"Carry me off! well, 'twould be rather pleasant; but on account of +religion, and by heretics--oh, that would be horrid." + +The queen sprang from the bed and placed herself in a large arm-chair +of red velvet before the fireplace, after Dayelle had given her a +dressing-gown of black velvet, which she fastened loosely round her +waist by a silken cord. Dayelle lit the fire, for the mornings are cool +on the banks of the Loire in the month of May. + +"My uncles must have received some news during the night?" said the +queen, inquiringly to Dayelle, whom she treated with great familiarity. + +"Messieurs de Guise have been walking together from early morning on the +terrace, so as not to be overheard by any one; and there they received +messengers, who came in hot haste from all the different points of the +kingdom where the Reformers are stirring. Madame la reine mere was there +too, with her Italians, hoping she would be consulted; but no, she was +not admitted to the council." + +"She must have been furious." + +"All the more because she was so angry yesterday," replied Dayelle. +"They say that when she saw your Majesty appear in that beautiful dress +of woven gold, with the charming veil of tan-colored crape, she was none +too pleased--" + +"Leave us, my good Dayelle, the king is waking up. Let no one, even +those who have the little _entrees_, disturb us; an affair of State is +in hand, and my uncles will not disturb us." + +"Why! my dear Mary, already out of bed? Is it daylight?" said the young +king, waking up. + +"My dear darling, while we were asleep the wicked waked, and now they +are forcing us to leave this delightful place." + +"What makes you think of wicked people, my treasure? I am sure we +enjoyed the prettiest fete in the world last night--if it were not for +the Latin words those gentlemen will put into our French." + +"Ah!" said Mary, "your language is really in very good taste, and +Rabelais exhibits it finely." + +"You are such a learned woman! I am so vexed that I can't sing your +praises in verse. If I were not the king, I would take my brother's +tutor, Amyot, and let him make me as accomplished as Charles." + +"You need not envy your brother, who writes verses and shows them to me, +asking for mine in return. You are the best of the four, and will make +as good a king as you are the dearest of lovers. Perhaps that is why +your mother does not like you! But never mind! I, dear heart, will love +you for all the world." + +"I have no great merit in loving such a perfect queen," said the little +king. "I don't know what prevented me from kissing you before the whole +court when you danced the _branle_ with the torches last night! I saw +plainly that all the other women were mere servants compared to you, my +beautiful Mary." + +"It may be only prose you speak, but it is ravishing speech, dear +darling, for it is love that says those words. And you--you know well, +my beloved, that were you only a poor little page, I should love you as +much as I do now. And yet, there is nothing so sweet as to whisper to +one's self: 'My lover is king!'" + +"Oh! the pretty arm! Why must we dress ourselves? I love to pass my +fingers through your silky hair and tangle its blond curls. Ah ca! +sweet one, don't let your women kiss that pretty throat and those white +shoulders any more; don't allow it, I say. It is too much that the fogs +of Scotland ever touched them!" + +"Won't you come with me to see my dear country? The Scotch love you; +there are no rebellions _there_!" + +"Who rebels in this our kingdom?" said Francois, crossing his +dressing-gown and taking Mary Stuart on his knee. + +"Oh! 'tis all very charming, I know that," she said, withdrawing her +cheek from the king; "but it is your business to reign, if you please, +my sweet sire." + +"Why talk of reigning? This morning I wish--" + +"Why say _wish_ when you have only to will all? That's not the speech of +a king, nor that of a lover.--But no more of love just now; let us drop +it! We have business more important to speak of." + +"Oh!" cried the king, "it is long since we have had any business. Is it +amusing?" + +"No," said Mary, "not at all; we are to move from Blois." + +"I'll wager, darling, you have seen your uncles, who manage so well that +I, at seventeen years of age, am no better than a _roi faineant_. In +fact, I don't know why I have attended any of the councils since the +first. They could manage matters just as well by putting the crown in my +chair; I see only through their eyes, and am forced to consent to things +blindly." + +"Oh! monsieur," said the queen, rising from the king's knee with a +little air of indignation, "you said you would never worry me again on +this subject, and that my uncles used the royal power only for the good +of your people. Your people!--they are so nice! They would gobble you +up like a strawberry if you tried to rule them yourself. You want +a warrior, a rough master with mailed hands; whereas you--you are a +darling whom I love as you are; whom I should never love otherwise,--do +you hear me, monsieur?" she added, kissing the forehead of the lad, who +seemed inclined to rebel at her speech, but softened at her kisses. + +"Oh! how I wish they were not your uncles!" cried Francois II. "I +particularly dislike the cardinal; and when he puts on his wheedling air +and his submissive manner and says to me, bowing: 'Sire, the honor of +the crown and the faith of your fathers forbid your Majesty to--this and +that,' I am sure he is working only for his cursed house of Lorraine." + +"Oh, how well you mimicked him!" cried the queen. "But why don't you +make the Guises inform you of what is going on, so that when you attain +your grand majority you may know how to reign yourself? I am your wife, +and your honor is mine. Trust me! we will reign together, my darling; +but it won't be a bed of roses for us until the day comes when we have +our own wills. There is nothing so difficult for a king as to reign. Am +I a queen, for example? Don't you know that your mother returns me evil +for all the good my uncles do to raise the splendor of your throne? Hey! +what difference between them! My uncles are great princes, nephews of +Charlemagne, filled with ardor and ready to die for you; whereas this +daughter of a doctor or a shopkeeper, queen of France by accident, +scolds like a burgher-woman who can't manage her own household. She is +discontented because she can't set every one by the ears; and then she +looks at me with a sour, pale face, and says from her pinched lips: 'My +daughter, you are a queen; I am only the second woman in the kingdom' +(she is really furious, you know, my darling), 'but if I were in +your place I should not wear crimson velvet while all the court is in +mourning; neither should I appear in public with my own hair and no +jewels, because what is not becoming in a simple lady is still less +becoming in a queen. Also I should not dance myself, I should content +myself with seeing others dance.'--that is what she says to me--" + +"Heavens!" cried the king, "I think I hear her coming. If she were to +know--" + +"Oh, how you tremble before her. She worries you. Only say so, and +we will send her away. Faith, she's Florentine and we can't help her +tricking you, but when it comes to worrying--" + +"For Heaven's sake, Mary, hold your tongue!" said Francois, frightened +and also pleased; "I don't want you to lose her good-will." + +"Don't be afraid that she will ever break with _me_, who will some day +wear the three noblest crowns in the world, my dearest little king," +cried Mary Stuart. "Though she hates me for a thousand reasons she is +always caressing me in the hope of turning me against my uncles." + +"Hates you!" + +"Yes, my angel; and if I had not proofs of that feeling such as women +only understand, for they alone know its malignity, I would forgive her +perpetual opposition to our dear love, my darling. Is it my fault that +your father could not endure Mademoiselle Medici or that his son loves +me? The truth is, she hates me so much that if you had not put +yourself into a rage, we should each have had our separate chamber at +Saint-Germain, and also here. She pretended it was the custom of the +kings and queens of France. Custom, indeed! it was your father's custom, +and that is easily understood. As for your grandfather, Francois, the +good man set up the custom for the convenience of his loves. Therefore, +I say, take care. And if we have to leave this place, be sure that we +are not separated." + +"Leave Blois! Mary, what do you mean? I don't wish to leave this +beautiful chateau, where we can see the Loire and the country all round +us, with a town at our feet and all these pretty gardens. If I go +away it will be to Italy with you, to see St. Peter's, and Raffaelle's +pictures." + +"And the orange-trees? Oh! my darling king, if you knew the longing your +Mary has to ramble among the orange-groves in fruit and flower!" + +"Let us go, then!" cried the king. + +"Go!" exclaimed the grand-master as he entered the room. "Yes, sire, +you must leave Blois. Pardon my boldness in entering your chamber; but +circumstances are stronger than etiquette, and I come to entreat you to +hold a council." + +Finding themselves thus surprised, Mary and Francois hastily separated, +and on their faces was the same expression of offended royal majesty. + +"You are too much of a grand-master, Monsieur de Guise," said the king, +though controlling his anger. + +"The devil take lovers," murmured the cardinal in Catherine's ear. + +"My son," said the queen-mother, appearing behind the cardinal; "it is a +matter concerning your safety and that of your kingdom." + +"Heresy wakes while you have slept, sire," said the cardinal. + +"Withdraw into the hall," cried the little king, "and then we will hold +a council." + +"Madame," said the grand-master to the young queen; "the son of your +furrier has brought some furs, which was just in time for the journey, +for it is probable we shall sail down the Loire. But," he added, turning +to the queen-mother, "he also wishes to speak to you, madame. While the +king dresses, you and Madame la reine had better see and dismiss him, so +that we may not be delayed and harassed by this trifle." + +"Certainly," said Catherine, thinking to herself, "If he expects to get +rid of me by any such trick he little knows me." + +The cardinal and the duke withdrew, leaving the two queens and the king +alone together. As they crossed the _salle des gardes_ to enter the +council-chamber, the grand-master told the usher to bring the queen's +furrier to him. When Christophe saw the usher approaching from the +farther end of the great hall, he took him, on account of his uniform, +for some great personage, and his heart sank within him. But that +sensation, natural as it was at the approach of the critical moment, +grew terrible when the usher, whose movement had attracted the eyes of +all that brilliant assembly upon Christophe, his homely face and his +bundles, said to him:-- + +"Messeigneurs the Cardinal de Lorraine and the Grand-master wish to +speak to you in the council chamber." + +"Can I have been betrayed?" thought the helpless ambassador of the +Reformers. + +Christophe followed the usher with lowered eyes, which he did not raise +till he stood in the great council-chamber, the size of which is almost +equal to that of the _salle des gardes_. The two Lorrain princes were +there alone, standing before the magnificent fireplace, which backs +against that in the _salle des gardes_ around which the ladies of the +two queens were grouped. + +"You have come from Paris; which route did you take?" said the cardinal. + +"I came by water, monseigneur," replied the reformer. + +"How did you enter Blois?" asked the grand-master. + +"By the docks, monseigneur." + +"Did no one question you?" exclaimed the duke, who was watching the +young man closely. + +"No, monseigneur. To the first soldier who looked as if he meant to +stop me I said I came on duty to the two queens, to whom my father was +furrier." + +"What is happening in Paris?" asked the cardinal. + +"They are still looking for the murderer of the President Minard." + +"Are you not the son of my surgeon's greatest friend?" said the Duc de +Guise, misled by the candor of Christophe's expression after his first +alarm had passed away. + +"Yes, monseigneur." + +The Grand-master turned aside, abruptly raised the portiere which +concealed the double door of the council-chamber, and showed his face to +the whole assembly, among whom he was searching for the king's surgeon. +Ambroise Pare, standing in a corner, caught a glance which the duke +cast upon him, and immediately advanced. Ambroise, who at this time +was inclined to the reformed religion, eventually adopted it; but the +friendship of the Guises and that of the kings of France guaranteed +him against the evils which overtook his co-religionists. The duke, +who considered himself under obligations for life to Ambroise Pare, had +lately caused him to be appointed chief-surgeon to the king. + +"What is it, monseigneur?" said Ambroise. "Is the king ill? I think it +likely." + +"Likely? Why?" + +"The queen is too pretty," replied the surgeon. + +"Ah!" exclaimed the duke in astonishment. "However, that is not the +matter now," he added after a pause. "Ambroise, I want you to see a +friend of yours." So saying he drew him to the door of the council-room, +and showed him Christophe. + +"Ha! true, monseigneur," cried the surgeon, extending his hand to the +young furrier. "How is your father, my lad?" + +"Very well, Maitre Ambroise," replied Christophe. + +"What are you doing at court?" asked the surgeon. "It is not your +business to carry parcels; your father intends you for the law. Do you +want the protection of these two great princes to make you a solicitor?" + +"Indeed I do!" said Christophe; "but I am here only in the interests of +my father; and if you could intercede for us, please do so," he added +in a piteous tone; "and ask the Grand Master for an order to pay certain +sums that are due to my father, for he is at his wit's end just now for +money." + +The cardinal and the duke glanced at each other and seemed satisfied. + +"Now leave us," said the duke to the surgeon, making him a sign. "And +you my friend," turning to Christophe; "do your errand quickly and +return to Paris. My secretary will give you a pass, for it is not safe, +_mordieu_, to be travelling on the high-roads!" + +Neither of the brothers formed the slightest suspicion of the grave +importance of Christophe's errand, convinced, as they now were, that he +was really the son of the good Catholic Lecamus, the court furrier, sent +to collect payment for their wares. + +"Take him close to the door of the queen's chamber; she will probably +ask for him soon," said the cardinal to the surgeon, motioning to +Christophe. + +While the son of the furrier was undergoing this brief examination in +the council-chamber, the king, leaving the queen in company with her +mother-in-law, had passed into his dressing-room, which was entered +through another small room next to the chamber. + +Standing in the wide recess of an immense window, Catherine looked at +the gardens, her mind a prey to painful thoughts. She saw that in all +probability one of the greatest captains of the age would be foisted +that very day into the place and power of her son, the king of France, +under the formidable title of lieutenant-general of the kingdom. Before +this peril she stood alone, without power of action, without defence. +She might have been likened to a phantom, as she stood there in her +mourning garments (which she had not quitted since the death of Henri +II.) so motionless was her pallid face in the grasp of her bitter +reflections. Her black eyes floated in that species of indecision for +which great statesmen are so often blamed, though it comes from the vast +extent of the glance with which they embrace all difficulties,--setting +one against the other, and adding up, as it were, all chances before +deciding on a course. Her ears rang, her blood tingled, and yet she +stood there calm and dignified, all the while measuring in her soul the +depths of the political abyss which lay before her, like the natural +depths which rolled away at her feet. This day was the second of those +terrible days (that of the arrest of the Vidame of Chartres being the +first) which she was destined to meet in so great numbers throughout her +regal life; it also witnessed her last blunder in the school of power. +Though the sceptre seemed escaping from her hands, she wished to seize +it; and she did seize it by a flash of that power of will which was +never relaxed by either the disdain of her father-in-law, Francois I., +and his court,--where, in spite of her rank of dauphiness, she had been +of no account,--or the constant repulses of her husband, Henri II., and +the terrible opposition of her rival, Diane de Poitiers. A man would +never have fathomed this thwarted queen; but the fair-haired Mary--so +subtle, so clever, so girlish, and already so well-trained--examined her +out of the corners of her eyes as she hummed an Italian air and assumed +a careless countenance. Without being able to guess the storms of +repressed ambition which sent the dew of a cold sweat to the forehead of +the Florentine, the pretty Scotch girl, with her wilful, piquant face, +knew very well that the advancement of her uncle the Duc de Guise to the +lieutenant-generalship of the kingdom was filling the queen-mother with +inward rage. Nothing amused her more than to watch her mother-in-law, +in whom she saw only an intriguing woman of low birth, always ready to +avenge herself. The face of the one was grave and gloomy, and somewhat +terrible, by reason of the livid tones which transform the skin of +Italian women to yellow ivory by daylight, though it recovers its +dazzling brilliancy under candlelight; the face of the other was fair +and fresh and gay. At sixteen, Mary Stuart's skin had that exquisite +blond whiteness which made her beauty so celebrated. Her fresh and +piquant face, with its pure lines, shone with the roguish mischief of +childhood, expressed in the regular eyebrows, the vivacious eyes, and +the archness of the pretty mouth. Already she displayed those feline +graces which nothing, not even captivity nor the sight of her dreadful +scaffold, could lessen. The two queens--one at the dawn, the other in +the midsummer of life--presented at this moment the utmost contrast. +Catherine was an imposing queen, an impenetrable widow, without other +passion than that of power. Mary was a light-hearted, careless +bride, making playthings of her triple crowns. One foreboded great +evils,--foreseeing the assassination of the Guises as the only means of +suppressing enemies who were resolved to rise above the Throne and the +Parliament; foreseeing also the bloodshed of a long and bitter struggle; +while the other little anticipated her own judicial murder. A sudden and +strange reflection calmed the mind of the Italian. + +"That sorceress and Ruggiero both declare this reign is coming to an +end; my difficulties will not last long," she thought. + +And so, strangely enough, an occult science forgotten in our day--that +of astrology--supported Catherine at this moment, as it did, in fact, +throughout her life; for, as she witnessed the minute fulfilment of the +prophecies of those who practised the art, her belief in it steadily +increased. + +"You are very gloomy, madame," said Mary Stuart, taking from the hands +of her waiting-woman, Dayelle, a little cap and placing the point of it +on the parting of her hair, while two wings of rich lace surrounded the +tufts of blond curls which clustered on her temples. + +The pencil of many painters have so frequently represented this +head-dress that it is thought to have belonged exclusively to Mary Queen +of Scots; whereas it was really invented by Catherine de' Medici, when +she put on mourning for Henri II. But she never knew how to wear it +with the grace of her daughter-in-law, to whom it was becoming. This +annoyance was not the least among the many which the queen-mother +cherished against the young queen. + +"Is the queen reproving me?" said Catherine, turning to Mary. + +"I owe you all respect, and should not dare to do so," said the Scottish +queen, maliciously, glancing at Dayelle. + +Placed between the rival queens, the favorite waiting-woman stood rigid +as an andiron; a smile of comprehension might have cost her her life. + +"Can I be as gay as you, after losing the late king, and now beholding +my son's kingdom about to burst into flames?" + +"Public affairs do not concern women," said Mary Stuart. "Besides, my +uncles are there." + +These words were, under the circumstances, like so many poisoned arrows. + +"Let us look at our furs, madame," replied the Italian, sarcastically; +"that will employ us on our legitimate female affairs while your uncles +decide those of the kingdom." + +"Oh! but we will go the Council, madame; we shall be more useful than +you think." + +"We!" said Catherine, with an air of astonishment. "But I do not +understand Latin, myself." + +"You think me very learned," cried Mary Stuart, laughing, "but I assure +you, madame, I study only to reach the level of the Medici, and learn +how to _cure_ the wounds of the kingdom." + +Catherine was silenced by this sharp thrust, which referred to the +origin of the Medici, who were descended, some said, from a doctor +of medicine, others from a rich druggist. She made no direct answer. +Dayelle colored as her mistress looked at her, asking for the applause +that even queens demand from their inferiors if there are no other +spectators. + +"Your charming speeches, madame, will unfortunately cure the wounds of +neither Church nor State," said Catherine at last, with her calm and +cold dignity. "The science of my fathers in that direction gave them +thrones; whereas if you continue to trifle in the midst of danger you +are liable to lose yours." + +It was at this moment that Ambroise Pare, the chief surgeon, scratched +softly on the door, and Madame Dayelle, opening it, admitted Christophe. + + + + +VII. A DRAMA IN A SURCOAT + +The young reformer intended to study Catherine's face, all the while +affecting a natural embarrassment at finding himself in such a place; +but his proceedings were much hastened by the eagerness with which the +younger queen darted to the cartons to see her surcoat. + +"Madame," said Christophe, addressing Catherine. + +He turned his back on the other queen and on Dayelle, instantly +profiting by the attention the two women were eager to bestow upon the +furs to play a bold stroke. + +"What do you want of me?" said Catherine giving him a searching look. + +Christophe had put the treaty proposed by the Prince de Conde, the plan +of the Reformers, and the detail of their forces in his bosom between +his shirt and his cloth jacket, folding them, however, within the bill +which Catherine owed to the furrier. + +"Madame," he said, "my father is in horrible need of money, and if you +will deign to cast your eyes over your bill," here he unfolded the paper +and put the treaty on the top of it, "you will see that your Majesty +owes him six thousand crowns. Have the goodness to take pity on us. See, +madame!" and he held the treaty out to her. "Read it; the account dates +from the time the late king came to the throne." + +Catherine was bewildered by the preamble of the treaty which met her +eye, but she did not lose her head. She folded the paper quickly, +admiring the audacity and presence of mind of the youth, and feeling +sure that after performing such a masterly stroke he would not fail to +understand her. She therefore tapped him on the head with the folded +paper, saying:-- + +"It is very clumsy of you, my little friend, to present your bill before +the furs. Learn to know women. You must never ask us to pay until the +moment when we are satisfied." + +"Is that traditional?" said the young queen, turning to her +mother-in-law, who made no reply. + +"Ah, mesdames, pray excuse my father," said Christophe. "If he had not +had such need of money you would not have had your furs at all. The +country is in arms, and there are so many dangers to run in getting here +that nothing but our great distress would have brought me. No one but me +was willing to risk them." + +"The lad is new to his business," said Mary Stuart, smiling. + +It may not be useless, for the understanding of this trifling, but very +important scene, to remark that a surcoat was, as the name implies (_sur +cotte_), a species of close-fitting spencer which women wore over their +bodies and down to their thighs, defining the figure. This garment +protected the back, chest, and throat from cold. These surcoats were +lined with fur, a band of which, wide or narrow as the case might be, +bordered the outer material. Mary Stuart, as she tried the garment on, +looked at herself in a large Venetian mirror to see the effect behind, +thus leaving her mother-in-law an opportunity to examine the papers, the +bulk of which might have excited the young queen's suspicions had she +noticed it. + +"Never tell women of the dangers you have run when you have come out of +them safe and sound," she said, turning to show herself to Christophe. + +"Ah! madame, I have your bill, too," he said, looking at her with +well-played simplicity. + +The young queen eyed him, but did not take the paper; and she noticed, +though without at the moment drawing any conclusions, that he had taken +her bill from his pocket, whereas he had carried Queen Catherine's +in his bosom. Neither did she find in the lad's eyes that glance of +admiration which her presence invariably excited in all beholders. But +she was so engrossed by her surcoat that, for the moment, she did not +ask herself the meaning of such indifference. + +"Take the bill, Dayelle," she said to her waiting-woman; "give it to +Monsieur de Versailles (Lomenie) and tell him from me to pay it." + +"Oh! madame," said Christophe, "if you do not ask the king or +monseigneur the grand-master to sign me an order your gracious word will +have no effect." + +"You are rather more eager than becomes a subject, my friend," said Mary +Stuart. "Do you not believe my royal word?" + +The king now appeared, in silk stockings and trunk-hose (the breeches +of that period), but without his doublet and mantle; he had, however, a +rich loose coat of velvet edged with minever. + +"Who is the wretch who dares to doubt your word?" he said, overhearing, +in spite of his distance, his wife's last words. + +The door of the dressing-room was hidden by the royal bed. This room +was afterwards called "the old cabinet," to distinguish it from the fine +cabinet of pictures which Henri III. constructed at the farther end of +the same suite of rooms, next to the hall of the States-general. It was +in the old cabinet that Henri III. hid the murderers when he sent for +the Duc de Guise, while he himself remained hidden in the new cabinet +during the murder, only emerging in time to see the overbearing subject +for whom there were no longer prisons, tribunals, judges, nor even laws, +draw his last breath. Were it not for these terrible circumstances the +historian of to-day could hardly trace the former occupation of these +cabinets, now filled with soldiers. A quartermaster writes to his +mistress on the very spot where the pensive Catherine once decided on +her course between the parties. + +"Come with me, my friend," said the queen-mother, "and I will see that +you are paid. Commerce must live, and money is its backbone." + +"Go, my lad," cried the young queen, laughing; "my august mother knows +more than I do about commerce." + +Catherine was about to leave the room without replying to this last +taunt; but she remembered that her indifference to it might provoke +suspicion, and she answered hastily:-- + +"But you, my dear, understand the business of love." + +Then she descended to her own apartments. + +"Put away these furs, Dayelle, and let us go to the Council, monsieur," +said Mary to the young king, enchanted with the opportunity of deciding +in the absence of the queen-mother so important a question as the +lieutenant-generalship of the kingdom. + +Mary Stuart took the king's arm. Dayelle went out before them, +whispering to the pages; one of whom (it was young Teligny, who +afterwards perished so miserably during the Saint-Bartholomew) cried +out:-- + +"The king!" + +Hearing the words, the two soldiers of the guard presented arms, and the +two pages went forward to the door of the Council-room through the lane +of courtiers and that of the maids of honor of the two queens. All the +members of the Council then grouped themselves about the door of their +chamber, which was not very far from the door to the staircase. The +grand-master, the cardinal, and the chancellor advanced to meet the +young sovereign, who smiled to several of the maids of honor and replied +to the remarks of a few courtiers more privileged than the rest. But +the queen, evidently impatient, drew Francois II. as quickly as possible +toward the Council-chamber. When the sound of arquebuses, dropping +heavily on the floor, had announced the entrance of the couple, the +pages replaced their caps upon their heads, and the private talk among +the courtiers on the gravity of the matters now about to be discussed +began again. + +"They sent Chiverni to fetch the Connetable, but he has not come," said +one. + +"There is not a single prince of the blood present," said another. + +"The chancellor and Monsieur de Tournon looked anxious," remarked a +third. + +"The grand-master sent word to the keeper of the seals to be sure not +to miss this Council; therefore you may be certain they will issue +letters-patent." + +"Why does the queen-mother stay in her own apartments at such a time?" + +"They'll cut out plenty of work for us," remarked Groslot to Cardinal de +Chatillon. + +In short, everybody had a word to say. Some went and came, in and out of +the great hall; others hovered about the maids of honor of both queens, +as if it might be possible to catch a few words through a wall three +feet thick or through the double doors draped on each side with heavy +curtains. + +Seated at the upper end of a long table covered with blue velvet, which +stood in the middle of the room, the king, near to whom the young +queen was seated in an arm-chair, waited for his mother. Robertet, the +secretary, was mending pens. The two cardinals, the grand-master, the +chancellor, the keeper of the seals, and all the rest of the council +looked at the little king, wondering why he did not give them the usual +order to sit down. + +The two Lorrain princes attributed the queen-mother's absence to some +trick of their niece. Incited presently by a significant glance, the +audacious cardinal said to his Majesty:-- + +"Is it the king's good pleasure to begin the council without waiting for +Madame la reine-mere?" + +Francois II., without daring to answer directly, said: "Messieurs, be +seated." + +The cardinal then explained succinctly the dangers of the situation. +This great political character, who showed extraordinary ability under +these pressing circumstances, led up to the question of the lieutenancy +of the kingdom in the midst of the deepest silence. The young king +doubtless felt the tyranny that was being exercised over him; he knew +that his mother had a deep sense of the rights of the Crown and was +fully aware of the danger that threatened his power; he therefore +replied to a positive question addressed to him by the cardinal by +saying:-- + +"We will wait for the queen, my mother." + +Suddenly enlightened by the queen-mother's delay, Mary Stuart recalled, +in a flash of thought, three circumstances which now struck her vividly; +first, the bulk of the papers presented to her mother-in-law, which she +had noticed, absorbed as she was,--for a woman who seems to see nothing +is often a lynx; next, the place where Christophe had carried them to +keep them separate from hers: "Why so?" she thought to herself; and +thirdly, she remembered the cold, indifferent glance of the young man, +which she suddenly attributed to the hatred of the Reformers to a niece +of the Guises. A voice cried to her, "He may have been an emissary of +the Huguenots!" Obeying, like all excitable natures, her first impulse, +she exclaimed:-- + +"I will go and fetch my mother myself!" + +Then she left the room hurriedly, ran down the staircase, to the +amazement of the courtiers and the ladies of honor, entered her +mother-in-law's apartments, crossed the guard-room, opened the door of +the chamber with the caution of a thief, glided like a shadow over the +carpet, saw no one, and bethought her that she should surely surprise +the queen-mother in that magnificent dressing-room which comes between +the bedroom and the oratory. The arrangement of this oratory, to which +the manners of that period gave a role in private life like that of the +boudoirs of our day, can still be traced. + +By an almost inexplicable chance, when we consider the state of +dilapidation into which the Crown has allowed the chateau of Blois to +fall, the admirable woodwork of Catherine's cabinet still exists; and +in those delicately carved panels, persons interested in such things +may still see traces of Italian splendor, and discover the secret +hiding-places employed by the queen-mother. An exact description +of these curious arrangements is necessary in order to give a clear +understanding of what was now to happen. The woodwork of the oratory +then consisted of about a hundred and eighty oblong panels, one hundred +of which still exist, all presenting arabesques of different designs, +evidently suggested by the most beautiful arabesques of Italy. The wood +is live-oak. The red tones, seen through the layer of whitewash put +on to avert cholera (useless precaution!), shows very plainly that the +ground of the panels was formerly gilt. Certain portions of the design, +visible where the wash has fallen away, seem to show that they once +detached themselves from the gilded ground in colors, either blue, or +red, or green. The multitude of these panels shows an evident intention +to foil a search; but even if this could be doubted, the concierge of +the chateau, while devoting the memory of Catherine to the execration of +the humanity of our day, shows at the base of these panels and close to +the floor a rather heavy foot-board, which can be lifted, and beneath +which still remain the ingenious springs which move the panels. By +pressing a knob thus hidden, the queen was able to open certain panels +known to her alone, behind which, sunk in the wall, were hiding-places, +oblong like the panels, and more or less deep. It is difficult, even in +these days of dilapidation, for the best-trained eye to detect which of +those panels is thus hinged; but when the eye was distracted by colors +and gilding, cleverly used to conceal the joints, we can readily +conceive that to find one or two such panels among two hundred was +almost an impossible thing. + +At the moment when Mary Stuart laid her hand on the somewhat complicated +lock of the door of this oratory, the queen-mother, who had just become +convinced of the greatness of the Prince de Conde's plans, had touched +the spring hidden beneath the foot-board, and one of the mysterious +panels had turned over on its hinges. Catherine was in the act of +lifting the papers from the table to hide them, intending after that to +secure the safety of the devoted messenger who had brought them to her, +when, hearing the sudden opening of the door, she at once knew that none +but Queen Mary herself would dare thus to enter without announcement. + +"You are lost!" she said to Christophe, perceiving that she could no +longer put away the papers, nor close with sufficient rapidity the open +panel, the secret of which was now betrayed. + +Christophe answered her with a glance that was sublime. + +"_Povero mio_!" said Catherine, before she looked at her +daughter-in-law. "Treason, madame! I hold the traitors at last," she +cried. "Send for the duke and the cardinal; and see that that man," +pointing to Christophe, "does not escape." + +In an instant the able woman had seen the necessity of sacrificing the +poor youth. She could not hide him; it was impossible to save him. Eight +days earlier it might have been done; but the Guises now knew of the +plot; they must already possess the lists she held in her hand, and were +evidently drawing the Reformers into a trap. Thus, rejoiced to find in +these adversaries the very spirit she desired them to have, her policy +now led her to make a merit of the discovery of their plot. These +horrible calculations were made during the rapid moment while the young +queen was opening the door. Mary Stuart stood dumb for an instant; the +gay look left her eyes, which took on the acuteness that suspicion +gives to the eyes of all, and which, in hers, became terrible from +the suddenness of the change. She glanced from Christophe to the +queen-mother and from the queen-mother back to Christophe,--her face +expressing malignant doubt. Then she seized a bell, at the sound of +which one of the queen-mother's maids of honor came running in. + +"Mademoiselle du Rouet, send for the captain of the guard," said Mary +Stuart to the maid of honor, contrary to all etiquette, which was +necessarily violated under the circumstances. + +While the young queen gave this order, Catherine looked intently at +Christophe, as if saying to him, "Courage!" + +The Reformer understood, and replied by another glance, which seemed to +say, "Sacrifice me, as _they_ have sacrificed me!" + +"Rely on me," said Catherine by a gesture. Then she absorbed herself in +the documents as her daughter-in-law turned to him. + +"You belong to the Reformed religion?" inquired Mary Stuart of +Christophe. + +"Yes, madame," he answered. + +"I was not mistaken," she murmured as she again noticed in the eyes +of the young Reformer the same cold glance in which dislike was hidden +beneath an expression of humility. + +Pardaillan suddenly appeared, sent by the two Lorrain princes and by the +king to escort the queens. The captain of the guard called for by Mary +Stuart followed the young officer, who was devoted to the Guises. + +"Go and tell the king and the grand-master and the cardinal, from me, to +come here at once, and say that I should not take the liberty of sending +for them if something of the utmost importance had not occurred. Go, +Pardaillan.--As for you, Lewiston, keep guard over that traitor of a +Reformer," she said to the Scotchman in his mother-tongue, pointing to +Christophe. + +The young queen and queen-mother maintained a total silence until the +arrival of the king and princes. The moments that elapsed were terrible. + +Mary Stuart had betrayed to her mother-in-law, in its fullest extent, +the part her uncles were inducing her to play; her constant and habitual +distrust and espionage were now revealed, and her young conscience told +her how dishonoring to a great queen was the work that she was doing. +Catherine, on the other hand, had yielded out of fear; she was still +afraid of being rightly understood, and she trembled for her future. +Both women, one ashamed and angry, the other filled with hatred and yet +calm, went to the embrasure of the window and leaned against the +casing, one to right, the other to left, silent; but their feelings were +expressed in such speaking glances that they averted their eyes and, +with mutual artfulness, gazed through the window at the sky. These two +great and superior women had, at this crisis, no greater art of +behavior than the vulgarest of their sex. Perhaps it is always thus +when circumstances arise which overwhelm the human being. There is, +inevitably, a moment when genius itself feels its littleness in presence +of great catastrophes. + +As for Christophe, he was like a man in the act of rolling down a +precipice. Lewiston, the Scotch captain, listened to this silence, +watching the son of the furrier and the two queens with soldierly +curiosity. The entrance of the king and Mary Stuart's two uncles put an +end to the painful situation. + + + + +VIII. MARTYRDOM + +The cardinal went straight to the queen-mother. + +"I hold the threads of the conspiracy of the heretics," said Catherine. +"They have sent me this treaty and these documents by the hands of that +child," she added. + +During the time that Catherine was explaining matters to the cardinal, +Queen Mary whispered a few words to the grand-master. + +"What is all this about?" asked the young king, who was left alone in +the midst of the violent clash of interests. + +"The proofs of what I was telling to your Majesty have not been long in +reaching us," said the cardinal, who had grasped the papers. + +The Duc de Guise drew his brother aside without caring that he +interrupted him, and said in his ear, "This makes me lieutenant-general +without opposition." + +A shrewd glance was the cardinal's only answer; showing his brother that +he fully understood the advantages to be gained from Catherine's false +position. + +"Who sent you here?" said the duke to Christophe. + +"Chaudieu, the minister," he replied. + +"Young man, you lie!" said the soldier, sharply; "it was the Prince de +Conde." + +"The Prince de Conde, monseigneur!" replied Christophe, with a puzzled +look. "I never met him. I am studying law with Monsieur de Thou; I +am his secretary, and he does not know that I belong to the Reformed +religion. I yielded only to the entreaties of the minister." + +"Enough!" exclaimed the cardinal. "Call Monsieur de Robertet," he said +to Lewiston, "for this young scamp is slyer than an old statesman; he +has managed to deceive my brother, and me too; an hour ago I would have +given him the sacrament without confession." + +"You are not a child, _morbleu_!" cried the duke, "and we'll treat you +as a man." + +"The heretics have attempted to beguile your august mother," said the +cardinal, addressing the king, and trying to draw him apart to win him +over to their ends. + +"Alas!" said the queen-mother to her son, assuming a reproachful look +and stopping the king at the moment when the cardinal was leading him +into the oratory to subject him to his dangerous eloquence, "you see the +result of the situation in which I am; they think me irritated by the +little influence that I have in public affairs,--I, the mother of four +princes of the house of Valois!" + +The young king listened attentively. Mary Stuart, seeing the frown upon +his brow, took his arm and led him away into the recess of the window, +where she cajoled him with sweet speeches in a low voice, no doubt like +those she had used that morning in their chamber. The two Guises read +the documents given up to them by Catherine. Finding that they contained +information which their spies, and Monsieur Braguelonne, the lieutenant +of the Chatelet, had not obtained, they were inclined to believe in the +sincerity of Catherine de' Medici. Robertet came and received certain +secret orders relative to Christophe. The youthful instrument of the +leaders of the Reformation was then led away by four soldiers of the +Scottish guard, who took him down the stairs and delivered him to +Monsieur de Montresor, provost of the chateau. That terrible personage +himself, accompanied by six of his men, conducted Christophe to the +prison in the vaulted cellar of the tower, now in ruins, which the +concierge of the chateau de Blois shows you with the information that +these were the dungeons. + +After such an event the Council could be only a formality. The king, the +young queen, the Grand-master, and the cardinal returned to it, taking +with them the vanquished Catherine, who said no word except to approve +the measures proposed by the Guises. In spite of a slight opposition +from the Chancelier Olivier (the only person present who said one word +that expressed the independence to which his office bound him), the +Duc de Guise was appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom. Robertet +brought the required documents, showing a devotion which might be called +collusion. The king, giving his arm to his mother, recrossed the _salle +des gardes_, announcing to the court as he passed along that on the +following day he should leave Blois for the chateau of Amboise. The +latter residence had been abandoned since the time when Charles VIII. +accidentally killed himself by striking his head against the casing of +a door on which he had ordered carvings, supposing that he could enter +without stooping below the scaffolding. Catherine, to mask the plans of +the Guises, remarked aloud that they intended to complete the chateau +of Amboise for the Crown at the same time that her own chateau of +Chemonceaux was finished. But no one was the dupe of that pretext, and +all present awaited great events. + +After spending about two hours endeavoring to see where he was in the +obscurity of the dungeon, Christophe ended by discovering that the place +was sheathed in rough woodwork, thick enough to make the square hole +into which he was put both healthy and habitable. The door, like that +of a pig-pen, was so low that he stooped almost double on entering +it. Beside this door was a heavy iron grating, opening upon a sort of +corridor, which gave a little light and a little air. This arrangement, +in all respects like that of the dungeons of Venice, showed plainly +that the architecture of the chateau of Blois belonged to the Venetian +school, which during the Middle Ages, sent so many builders into all +parts of Europe. By tapping this species of pit above the woodwork +Christophe discovered that the walls which separated his cell to right +and left from the adjoining ones were made of brick. Striking one of +them to get an idea of its thickness, he was somewhat surprised to hear +return blows given on the other side. + +"Who are you?" said his neighbor, speaking to him through the corridor. + +"I am Christophe Lecamus." + +"I," replied the voice, "am Captain Chaudieu, brother of the minister. I +was taken prisoner to-night at Beaugency; but, luckily, there is nothing +against me." + +"All is discovered," said Christophe; "you are fortunate to be saved +from the fray." + +"We have three thousand men at this moment in the forests of the +Vendomois, all determined men, who mean to abduct the king and the +queen-mother during their journey. Happily La Renaudie was cleverer than +I; he managed to escape. You had only just left us when the Guise men +surprised us--" + +"But I don't know La Renaudie." + +"Pooh! my brother has told me all about it," said the captain. + +Hearing that, Christophe sat down upon his bench and made no further +answer to the pretended captain, for he knew enough of the police to +be aware how necessary it was to act with prudence in a prison. In the +middle of the night he saw the pale light of a lantern in the corridor, +after hearing the ponderous locks of the iron door which closed the +cellar groan as they were turned. The provost himself had come to fetch +Christophe. This attention to a prisoner who had been left in his dark +dungeon for hours without food, struck the poor lad as singular. One of +the provost's men bound his hands with a rope and held him by the end +of it until they reached one of the lower halls of the chateau of Louis +XII., which was evidently the antechamber to the apartments of some +important personage. The provost and his men bade him sit upon a bench, +and the man then bound his feet as he had before bound his hands. On a +sign from Monsieur de Montresor the man left the room. + +"Now listen to me, my friend," said the provost-marshal, toying with the +collar of the Order; for, late as the hour was, he was in full uniform. + +This little circumstance gave the young man several thoughts; he saw +that all was not over; on the contrary, it was evidently neither to hang +nor yet to condemn him that he was brought here. + +"My friend, you may spare yourself cruel torture by telling me all you +know of the understanding between Monsieur le Prince de Conde and Queen +Catherine. Not only will no harm be done to you, but you shall enter the +service of Monseigneur the lieutenant-general of the kingdom, who +likes intelligent men and on whom your honest face has produced a good +impression. The queen-mother is about to be sent back to Florence, and +Monsieur de Conde will no doubt be brought to trial. Therefore, believe +me, humble folks ought to attach themselves to the great men who are in +power. Tell me all; and you will find your profit in it." + +"Alas, monsieur," replied Christophe; "I have nothing to tell. I told +all I know to Messieurs de Guise in the queen's chamber. Chaudieu +persuaded me to put those papers under the eyes of the queen-mother; +assuring me that they concerned the peace of the kingdom." + +"You have never seen the Prince de Conde?" + +"Never." + +Thereupon Monsieur de Montresor left Christophe and went into the +adjoining room; but the youth was not left long alone. The door through +which he had been brought opened and gave entrance to several men, who +did not close it. Sounds that were far from reassuring were heard from +the courtyard; men were bringing wood and machinery, evidently intended +for the punishment of the Reformer's messenger. Christophe's anxiety +soon had matter for reflection in the preparations which were made in +the hall before his eyes. + +Two coarse and ill-dressed serving-men obeyed the orders of a stout, +squat, vigorous man, who cast upon Christophe, as he entered, the +glance of a cannibal upon his victim; he looked him over and _estimated_ +him,--measuring, like a connoisseur, the strength of his nerves, their +power and their endurance. The man was the executioner of Blois. Coming +and going, his assistants brought in a mattress, several mallets and +wooden wedges, also planks and other articles, the use of which was +not plain, nor their look comforting to the poor boy concerned in these +preparations, whose blood now curdled in his veins from a vague but most +terrible apprehension. Two personages entered the hall at the moment +when Monsieur de Montresor reappeared. + +"Hey, nothing ready!" cried the provost-marshal, to whom the new-comers +bowed with great respect. "Don't you know," he said, addressing the +stout man and his two assistants, "that Monseigneur the cardinal thinks +you already at work? Doctor," added the provost, turning to one of the +new-comers, "this is the man"; and he pointed to Christophe. + +The doctor went straight to the prisoner, unbound his hands, and struck +him on the breast and back. Science now continued, in a serious manner, +the truculent examination of the executioner's eye. During this time +a servant in the livery of the house of Guise brought in several +arm-chairs, a table, and writing-materials. + +"Begin the _proces verbal_," said Monsieur de Montresor, motioning +to the table the second personage, who was dressed in black, and was +evidently a clerk. Then the provost went up to Christophe, and said to +him in a very gentle way: "My friend, the chancellor, having learned +that you refuse to answer me in a satisfactory manner, decrees that you +be put to the question, ordinary and extraordinary." + +"Is he in good health, and can he bear it?" said the clerk to the +doctor. + +"Yes," replied the latter, who was one of the physicians of the house of +Lorraine. + +"In that case, retire to the next room; we will send for you whenever we +require your advice." + +The physician left the hall. + +His first terror having passed, Christophe rallied his courage; the hour +of his martyrdom had come. Thenceforth he looked with cold curiosity at +the arrangements that were made by the executioner and his men. After +hastily preparing a bed, the two assistants got ready certain appliances +called _boots_; which consisted of several planks, between which each +leg of the victim was placed. The legs thus placed were brought close +together. The apparatus used by binders to press their volumes between +two boards, which they fasten by cords, will give an exact idea of the +manner in which each leg of the prisoner was bound. We can imagine the +effect produced by the insertion of wooden wedges, driven in by hammers +between the planks of the two bound legs,--the two sets of planks of +course not yielding, being themselves bound together by ropes. These +wedges were driven in on a line with the knees and the ankles. +The choice of these places where there is little flesh, and where, +consequently, the wedge could only be forced in by crushing the bones, +made this form of torture, called the "question," horribly painful. In +the "ordinary question" four wedges were driven in,--two at the knees, +two at the ankles; but in the "extraordinary question" the number was +increased to eight, provided the doctor certified that the prisoner's +vitality was not exhausted. At the time of which we write the "boots" +were also applied in the same manner to the hands and wrists; but, +being pressed for time, the cardinal, the lieutenant-general, and the +chancellor spared Christophe that additional suffering. + +The _proces verbal_ was begun; the provost dictated a few sentences as +he walked up and down with a meditative air, asking Christophe his name, +baptismal name, age, and profession; then he inquired the name of the +person from whom he had received the papers he had given to the queen. + +"From the minister Chaudieu," answered Christophe. + +"Where did he give them to you?" + +"In Paris." + +"In giving them to you he must have told you whether the queen-mother +would receive you with pleasure?" + +"He told me nothing of that kind," said Christophe. "He merely asked me +to give them to Queen Catherine secretly." + +"You must have seen Chaudieu frequently, or he would not have known that +you were going to Blois." + +"The minister did not know from me that in carrying furs to the queen +I was also to ask on my father's behalf for the money the queen-mother +owes him; and I did not have time to ask the minister who had told him +of it." + +"But these papers, which were given to you without being sealed or +enveloped, contained a treaty between the rebels and Queen Catherine. +You must have seen that they exposed you to the punishment of all those +who assist in a rebellion." + +"Yes." + +"The persons who persuaded you to this act of high treason must have +promised you rewards and the protection of the queen-mother." + +"I did it out of attachment to Chaudieu, the only person whom I saw in +the matter." + +"Do you persist in saying you did not see the Prince de Conde?" + +"Yes." + +"The Prince de Conde did not tell you that the queen-mother was inclined +to enter into his views against the Messieurs de Guise?" + +"I did not see him." + +"Take care! one of your accomplices, La Renaudie, has been arrested. +Strong as he is, he was not able to bear the 'question,' which will now +be put to you; he confessed at last that both he and the Prince de Conde +had an interview with you. If you wish to escape the torture of the +question, I exhort you to tell me the simple truth. Perhaps you will +thus obtain your full pardon." + +Christophe answered that he could not state a thing of which he had no +knowledge, or give himself accomplices when he had none. Hearing these +words, the provost-marshal signed to the executioner and retired himself +to the inner room. At that fatal sign Christophe's brows contracted, +his forehead worked with nervous convulsion, as he prepared himself to +suffer. His hands closed with such violence that the nails entered the +flesh without his feeling them. Three men seized him, took him to the +camp bed and laid him there, letting his legs hang down. While the +executioner fastened him to the rough bedstead with strong cords, the +assistants bound his legs into the "boots." Presently the cords were +tightened, by means of a wrench, without the pressure causing much pain +to the young Reformer. When each leg was thus held as it were in a vice, +the executioner grasped his hammer and picked up the wedges, looking +alternately at the victim and at the clerk. + +"Do you persist in your denial?" asked the clerk. + +"I have told the truth," replied Christophe. + +"Very well. Go on," said the clerk, closing his eyes. + +The cords were tightened with great force. This was perhaps the most +painful moment of the torture; the flesh being suddenly compressed, +the blood rushed violently toward the breast. The poor boy could not +restrain a dreadful cry and seemed about to faint. The doctor was called +in. After feeling Christophe's pulse, he told the executioner to wait a +quarter of an hour before driving the first wedge in, to let the +action of the blood subside and allow the victim to recover his full +sensitiveness. The clerk suggested, kindly, that if he could not bear +this beginning of sufferings which he could not escape, it would be +better to reveal all at once; but Christophe made no reply except to +say, "The king's tailor! the king's tailor!" + +"What do you mean by those words?" asked the clerk. + +"Seeing what torture I must bear," said Christophe, slowly, hoping to +gain time to rest, "I call up all my strength, and try to increase it by +thinking of the martyrdom borne by the king's tailor for the holy cause +of the Reformation, when the question was applied to him in presence of +Madame la Duchesse de Valentinois and the king. I shall try to be worthy +of him." + +While the physician exhorted the unfortunate lad not to force them +to have recourse to more violent measures, the cardinal and the duke, +impatient to know the result of the interrogations, entered the hall and +themselves asked Christophe to speak the truth, immediately. The young +man repeated the only confession he had allowed himself to make, which +implicated no one but Chaudieu. The princes made a sign, on which the +executioner and his assistant seized their hammers, taking each a wedge, +which then they drove in between the joints, standing one to right, the +other to left of their victim; the executioner's wedge was driven in at +the knees, his assistant's at the ankles. + +The eyes of all present fastened on those of Christophe, and he, no +doubt excited by the presence of those great personages, shot forth such +burning glances that they appeared to have all the brilliancy of flame. +As the third and fourth wedges were driven in, a dreadful groan +escaped him. When he saw the executioner take up the wedges for the +"extraordinary question" he said no word and made no sound, but his eyes +took on so terrible a fixity, and he cast upon the two great princes who +were watching him a glance so penetrating, that the duke and cardinal +were forced to drop their eyes. Philippe le Bel met with the same +resistance when the torture of the pendulum was applied in his presence +to the Templars. That punishment consisted in striking the victim on the +breast with one arm of the balance pole with which money is coined, +its end being covered with a pad of leather. One of the knights thus +tortured, looked so intently at the king that Philippe could not detach +his eyes from him. At the third blow the king left the chamber on +hearing the knight summon him to appear within a year before the +judgment-seat of God,--as, in fact, he did. At the fifth blow, the +first of the "extraordinary question," Christophe said to the cardinal: +"Monseigneur, put an end to my torture; it is useless." + +The cardinal and the duke re-entered the adjoining hall, and Christophe +distinctly heard the following words said by Queen Catherine: "Go on; +after all, he is only a heretic." + +She judged it prudent to be more stern to her accomplice than the +executioners themselves. + +The sixth and seventh wedges were driven in without a word of complaint +from Christophe. His face shone with extraordinary brilliancy, due, no +doubt, to the excess of strength which his fanatic devotion gave +him. Where else but in the feelings of the soul can we find the power +necessary to bear such sufferings? Finally, he smiled when he saw the +executioner lifting the eighth and last wedge. This horrible torture had +lasted by this time over an hour. + +The clerk now went to call the physician that he might decide whether +the eighth wedge could be driven in without endangering the life of the +victim. During this delay the duke returned to look at Christophe. + +"_Ventre-de-biche_! you are a fine fellow," he said to him, bending down +to whisper the words. "I love brave men. Enter my service, and you shall +be rich and happy; my favors shall heal those wounded limbs. I do not +propose to you any baseness; I will not ask you to return to your party +and betray its plans,--there are always traitors enough for that, and +the proof is in the prisons of Blois; tell me only on what terms are the +queen-mother and the Prince de Conde?" + +"I know nothing about it, monseigneur," replied Christophe Lecamus. + +The physician came, examined the victim, and said that he could bear the +eighth wedge. + +"Then insert it," said the cardinal. "After all, as the queen says, +he is only a heretic," he added, looking at Christophe with a dreadful +smile. + +At this moment Catherine came with slow steps from the adjoining +apartment and stood before Christophe, coldly observing him. Instantly +she was the object of the closest attention on the part of the two +brothers, who watched alternately the queen and her accomplice. On this +solemn test the whole future of that ambitious woman depended; she felt +the keenest admiration for Christophe, yet she gazed sternly at him; she +hated the Guises, and she smiled upon them! + +"Young man," said the queen, "confess that you have seen the Prince de +Conde, and you will be richly rewarded." + +"Ah! what a business this is for you, madame!" cried Christophe, pitying +her. + +The queen quivered. + +"He insults me!" she exclaimed. "Why do you not hang him?" she cried, +turning to the two brothers, who stood thoughtful. + +"What a woman!" said the duke in a glance at his brother, consulting him +by his eye, and leading him to the window. + +"I shall stay in France and be revenged upon them," thought the queen. +"Come, make him confess, or let him die!" she said aloud, addressing +Montresor. + +The provost-marshal turned away his eyes, the executioners were busy +with the wedges; Catherine was free to cast one glance upon the martyr, +unseen by others, which fell on Christophe like the dew. The eyes of the +great queen seemed to him moist; two tears were in them, but they +did not fall. The wedges were driven; a plank was broken by the blow. +Christophe gave one dreadful cry, after which he was silent; his face +shone,--he believed he was dying. + +"Let him die?" said the cardinal, echoing the queen's last words with +a sort of irony; "no, no! don't break that thread," he said to the +provost. + +The duke and the cardinal consulted together in a low voice. + +"What is to be done with him?" asked the executioner. + +"Send him to the prison at Orleans," said the duke, addressing Monsieur +de Montresor; "and don't hang him without my order." + +The extreme sensitiveness to which Christophe's internal organism had +been brought, increased by a resistance which called into play every +power of the human body, existed to the same degree, in his senses. He +alone heard the following words whispered by the Duc de Guise in the ear +of his brother the cardinal: + +"I don't give up all hope of getting the truth out of that little fellow +yet." + +When the princes had left the hall the executioners unbound the legs of +their victim roughly and without compassion. + +"Did any one ever see a criminal with such strength?" said the chief +executioner to his aids. "The rascal bore that last wedge when he ought +to have died; I've lost the price of his body." + +"Unbind me gently; don't make me suffer, friends," said poor Christophe. +"Some day I will reward you--" + +"Come, come, show some humanity," said the physician. "Monseigneur +esteems the young man, and told me to look after him." + +"I am going to Amboise with my assistants,--take care of him yourself," +said the executioner, brutally. "Besides, here comes the jailer." + +The executioner departed, leaving Christophe in the hands of the +soft-spoken doctor, who by the aid of Christophe's future jailer, +carried the poor boy to a bed, brought him some broth, helped him to +swallow it, sat down beside him, felt his pulse, and tried to comfort +him. + +"You won't die of this," he said. "You ought to feel great inward +comfort, knowing that you have done your duty.--The queen-mother bids me +take care of you," he added in a whisper. + +"The queen is very good," said Christophe, whose terrible sufferings had +developed an extraordinary lucidity in his mind, and who, after enduring +such unspeakable sufferings, was determined not to compromise the +results of his devotion. "But she might have spared me much agony be +telling my persecutors herself the secrets that I know nothing about, +instead of urging them on." + +Hearing that reply, the doctor took his cap and cloak and left +Christophe, rightly judging that he could worm nothing out of a man of +that stamp. The jailer of Blois now ordered the poor lad to be carried +away on a stretcher by four men, who took him to the prison in the town, +where Christophe immediately fell into the deep sleep which, they say, +comes to most mothers after the terrible pangs of childbirth. + + + + +IX. THE TUMULT AT AMBOISE + +By moving the court to the chateau of Amboise, the two Lorrain princes +intended to set a trap for the leader of the party of the Reformation, +the Prince de Conde, whom they had made the king summon to his presence. +As vassal of the Crown and prince of the blood, Conde was bound to obey +the summons of his sovereign. Not to come to Amboise would constitute +the crime of treason; but if he came, he put himself in the power of the +Crown. Now, at this moment, as we have seen, the Crown, the council, the +court, and all their powers were solely in the hands of the Duc de +Guise and the Cardinal de Lorraine. The Prince de Conde showed, at this +delicate crisis, a presence of mind and a decision and willingness which +made him the worthy exponent of Jeanne d'Albret and the valorous general +of the Reformers. He travelled at the rear of the conspirators as far +as Vendome, intending to support them in case of their success. When +the first uprising ended by a brief skirmish, in which the flower of +the nobility beguiled by Calvin perished, the prince arrived, with fifty +noblemen, at the chateau of Amboise on the very day after that fight, +which the politic Guises termed "the Tumult of Amboise." As soon as +the duke and cardinal heard of his coming they sent the Marechal de +Saint-Andre with an escort of a hundred men to meet him. When the prince +and his own escort reached the gates of the chateau the marechal refused +entrance to the latter. + +"You must enter alone, monseigneur," said the Chancellor Olivier, the +Cardinal de Tournon, and Birago, who were stationed outside of the +portcullis. + +"And why?" + +"You are suspected of treason," replied the chancellor. + +The prince, who saw that his suite were already surrounded by the troop +of the Duc de Nemours, replied tranquilly: "If that is so, I will go +alone to my cousin, and prove to him my innocence." + +He dismounted, talked with perfect freedom of mind to Birago, the +Cardinal de Tournon, the chancellor, and the Duc de Nemours, from whom +he asked for particulars of the "tumult." + +"Monseigneur," replied the duke, "the rebels had confederates in +Amboise. A captain, named Lanoue, had introduced armed men, who opened +the gate to them, through which they entered and made themselves masters +of the town--" + +"That is to say, you opened the mouth of a sack, and they ran into it," +replied the prince, looking at Birago. + +"If they had been supported by the attack which Captain Chaudieu, +the preacher's brother, was expected to make before the gate of the +Bon-Hommes, they would have been completely successful," replied the Duc +de Nemours. "But in consequence of the position which the Duc de Guise +ordered me to take up, Captain Chaudieu was obliged to turn my flank +to avoid a fight. So instead of arriving by night, like the rest, this +rebel and his men got there at daybreak, by which time the king's troops +had crushed the invaders of the town." + +"And you had a reserve force to recover the gate which had been opened +to them?" said the prince. + +"Monsieur le Marechal de Saint-Andre was there with five hundred +men-at-arms." + +The prince gave the highest praise to these military arrangements. + +"The lieutenant-general must have been fully aware of the plans of the +Reformers, to have acted as he did," he said in conclusion. "They were +no doubt betrayed." + +The prince was treated with increasing harshness. After separating him +from his escort at the gates, the cardinal and the chancellor barred +his way when he reached the staircase which led to the apartments of the +king. + +"We are directed by his Majesty, monseigneur, to take you to your own +apartments," they said. + +"Am I, then, a prisoner?" + +"If that were the king's intention you would not be accompanied by a +prince of the Church, nor by me," replied the chancellor. + +These two personages escorted the prince to an apartment, where guards +of honor--so-called--were given him. There he remained, without seeing +any one, for some hours. From his window he looked down upon the Loire +and the meadows of the beautiful valley stretching from Amboise to +Tours. He was reflecting on the situation, and asking himself whether +the Guises would really dare anything against his person, when the door +of his chamber opened and Chicot, the king's fool, formerly a dependent +of his own, entered the room. + +"They told me you were in disgrace," said the prince. + +"You'd never believe how virtuous the court has become since the death +of Henri II." + +"But the king loves a laugh." + +"Which king,--Francois II., or Francois de Lorraine?" + +"You are not afraid of the duke, if you talk in that way!" + +"He wouldn't punish me for it, monseigneur," replied Chicot, laughing. + +"To what do I owe the honor of this visit?" + +"Hey! Isn't it due to you on your return? I bring you my cap and bells." + +"Can I go out?" + +"Try." + +"Suppose I do go out, what then?" + +"I should say that you had won the game by playing against the rules." + +"Chicot, you alarm me. Are you sent here by some one who takes an +interest in me?" + +"Yes," said Chicot, nodding. He came nearer to the prince, and made him +understand that they were being watched and overheard. + +"What have you to say to me?" asked the Prince de Conde, in a low voice. + +"Boldness alone can pull you out of this scrape; the message comes from +the queen-mother," replied the fool, slipping his words into the ear of +the prince. + +"Tell those who sent you," replied Conde, "that I should not have +entered this chateau if I had anything to reproach myself with, or to +fear." + +"I rush to report that lofty answer!" cried the fool. + +Two hours later, that is, about one o'clock in the afternoon, before the +king's dinner, the chancellor and Cardinal de Tournon came to fetch +the prince and present him to Francois II. in the great gallery of the +chateau of Amboise, where the councils were held. There, before the +whole court, Conde pretended surprise at the coldness with which the +little king received him, and asked the reason of it. + +"You are accused, cousin," said the queen-mother, sternly, "of taking +part in the conspiracy of the Reformers; and you must prove yourself a +faithful subject and a good Catholic, if you do not desire to draw down +upon your house the anger of the king." + +Hearing these words said, in the midst of the most profound silence, by +Catherine de' Medici, on whose right arm the king was leaning, the Duc +d'Orleans being on her left side, the Prince de Conde recoiled three +steps, laid his hand on his sword with a proud motion, and looked at all +the persons who surrounded him. + +"Those who said that, madame," he cried in an angry voice, "lied in +their throats!" + +Then he flung his glove at the king's feet, saying: "Let him who +believes that calumny come forward!" + +The whole court trembled as the Duc de Guise was seen to leave his +place; but instead of picking up the glove, he advanced to the intrepid +hunchback. + +"If you desire a second in that duel, monseigneur, do me the honor to +accept my services," he said. "I will answer for you; I know that you +will show the Reformers how mistaken they are if they think to have you +for their leader." + +The prince was forced to take the hand of the lieutenant-general of +the kingdom. Chicot picked up the glove and returned it to Monsieur de +Conde. + +"Cousin," said the little king, "you must draw your sword only for the +defence of the kingdom. Come and dine." + +The Cardinal de Lorraine, surprised at his brother's action, drew him +away to his own apartments. The Prince de Conde, having escaped his +apparent danger, offered his hand to Mary Stuart to lead her to the +dining hall; but all the while that he made her flattering speeches he +pondered in his mind what trap the astute Balafre was setting for him. +In vain he worked his brains, for it was not until Queen Mary herself +betrayed it that he guessed the intention of the Guises. + +"'Twould have been a great pity," she said laughing, "if so clever a +head had fallen; you must admit that my uncle has been generous." + +"Yes, madame; for my head is only useful on my shoulders, though one +of them is notoriously higher than the other. But is this really your +uncle's generosity? Is he not getting the credit of it rather cheaply? +Do you think it would be so easy to take off the head of a prince of the +blood?" + +"All is not over yet," she said. "We shall see what your conduct will be +at the execution of the noblemen, your friends, at which the Council has +decided to make a great public display of severity." + +"I shall do," said the prince, "whatever the king does." + +"The king, the queen-mother, and myself will be present at the +execution, together with the whole court and the ambassadors--" + +"A fete!" said the prince, sarcastically. + +"Better than that," said the young queen, "an _act of faith_, an act of +the highest policy. 'Tis a question of forcing the noblemen of France +to submit themselves to the Crown, and compelling them to give up their +tastes for plots and factions--" + +"You will not break their belligerent tempers by the show of danger, +madame; you will risk the Crown itself in the attempt," replied the +prince. + +At the end of the dinner, which was gloomy enough, Queen Mary had the +cruel boldness to turn the conversation openly upon the trial of the +noblemen on the charge of being seized with arms in their hands, and to +speak of the necessity of making a great public show of their execution. + +"Madame," said Francois II., "is it not enough for the king of France to +know that so much brave blood is to flow? Must he make a triumph of it?" + +"No, sire; but an example," replied Catherine. + +"It was the custom of your father and your grandfather to be present at +the burning of heretics," said Mary Stuart. + +"The kings who reigned before me did as they thought best, and I choose +to do as I please," said the little king. + +"Philip the Second," remarked Catherine, "who is certainly a great king, +lately postponed an _auto da fe_ until he could return from the Low +Countries to Valladolid." + +"What do you think, cousin?" said the king to Prince de Conde. + +"Sire, you cannot avoid it, and the papal nuncio and all the ambassadors +should be present. I shall go willingly, as these ladies take part in +the fete." + +Thus the Prince de Conde, at a glance from Catherine de' Medici, bravely +chose his course. + + * * * * * + +At the moment when the Prince de Conde was entering the chateau +d'Amboise, Lecamus, the furrier of the two queens, was also arriving +from Paris, brought to Amboise by the anxiety into which the news of the +tumult had thrown both his family and that of Lallier. When the old man +presented himself at the gate of the chateau, the captain of the guard, +on hearing that he was the queens' furrier, said:-- + +"My good man, if you want to be hanged you have only to set foot in this +courtyard." + +Hearing these words, the father, in despair, sat down on a stone at a +little distance and waited until some retainer of the two queens or some +servant-woman might pass who would give him news of his son. But he sat +there all day without seeing any one whom he knew, and was forced +at last to go down into the town, where he found, not without some +difficulty, a lodging in a hostelry on the public square where the +executions took place. He was obliged to pay a pound a day to obtain +a room with a window looking on the square. The next day he had the +courage to watch, from his window, the execution of all the abettors of +the rebellion who were condemned to be broken on the wheel or hanged, as +persons of little importance. He was happy indeed not to see his own son +among the victims. + +When the execution was over he went into the square and put himself in +the way of the clerk of the court. After giving his name, and slipping +a purse full of crowns into the man's hand, he begged him to look on the +records and see if the name of Christophe Lecamus appeared in either of +the three preceding executions. The clerk, touched by the manner and +the tones of the despairing father, took him to his own house. After +a careful search he was able to give the old man an absolute assurance +that Christophe was not among the persons thus far executed, nor among +those who were to be put to death within a few days. + +"My dear man," said the clerk, "Parliament has taken charge of the +trial of the great lords implicated in the affair, and also that of the +principal leaders. Perhaps your son is detained in the prisons of the +chateau, and he may be brought forth for the magnificent execution which +their Excellencies the Duc de Guise and the Cardinal de Lorraine are now +preparing. The heads of twenty-seven barons, eleven counts, and seven +marquises,--in all, fifty noblemen or leaders of the Reformers,--are to +be cut off. As the justiciary of the county of Tourine is quite distinct +from that of the parliament of Paris, if you are determined to know +about your son, I advise you to go and see the Chancelier Olivier, +who has the management of this great trial under orders from the +lieutenant-general of the kingdom." + +The poor old man, acting on this advice, went three times to see the +chancellor, standing in a long queue of persons waiting to ask mercy +for their friends. But as the titled men were made to pass before +the burghers, he was obliged to give up the hope of speaking to the +chancellor, though he saw him several times leave the house to go either +to the chateau or to the committee appointed by the Parliament,--passing +each time between a double hedge of petitioners who were kept back by +the guards to allow him free passage. It was a horrible scene of anguish +and desolation; for among these petitioners were many women, wives, +mothers, daughters, whole families in distress. Old Lecamus gave much +gold to the footmen of the chateau, entreating them to put certain +letters which he wrote into the hand either of Dayelle, Queen Mary's +woman, or into that of the queen-mother; but the footmen took the poor +man's money and carried the letters, according to the general order +of the cardinal, to the provost-marshal. By displaying such unheard-of +cruelty the Guises knew that they incurred great dangers from revenge, +and never did they take such precautions for their safety as they did +while the court was at Amboise; consequently, neither the greatest of +all corrupters, gold, nor the incessant and active search which the old +furrier instituted gave him the slightest gleam of light on the fate of +his son. He went about the little town with a mournful air, watching the +great preparations made by order of the cardinal for the dreadful show +at which the Prince de Conde had agreed to be present. + +Public curiosity was stimulated from Paris to Nantes by the means +adopted on this occasion. The execution was announced from all pulpits +by the rectors of the churches, while at the same time they gave thanks +for the victory of the king over the heretics. Three handsome balconies, +the middle one more sumptuous than the other two, were built against the +terrace of the chateau of Amboise, at the foot of which the executions +were appointed to take place. Around the open square, stagings were +erected, and these were filled with an immense crowd of people attracted +by the wide-spread notoriety given to this "act of faith." Ten thousand +persons camped in the adjoining fields the night before the day on which +the horrible spectacle was appointed to take place. The roofs on the +houses were crowded with spectators, and windows were let at ten pounds +apiece,--an enormous sum in those days. The poor old father had engaged, +as we may well believe, one of the best places from which the eye could +take in the whole of the terrible scene, where so many men of noble +blood were to perish on a vast scaffold covered with black cloth, +erected in the middle of the open square. Thither, on the morning of the +fatal day, they brought the _chouquet_,--a name given to the block on +which the condemned man laid his head as he knelt before it. After +this they brought an arm-chair draped with black, for the clerk of the +Parliament, whose business it was to call up the condemned noblemen to +their death and read their sentences. The whole square was guarded from +early morning by the Scottish guard and the gendarmes of the king's +household, in order to keep back the crowd which threatened to fill it +before the hour of the execution. + +After a solemn mass said at the chateau and in the churches of the town, +the condemned lords, the last of the conspirators who were left alive, +were led out. These gentlemen, some of whom had been put to the torture, +were grouped at the foot of the scaffold and surrounded by monks, who +endeavored to make them abjure the doctrines of Calvin. But not a single +man listened to the words of the priests who had been appointed for +this duty by the Cardinal of Lorraine; among whom the gentlemen no doubt +feared to find spies of the Guises. In order to avoid the importunity of +these antagonists they chanted a psalm, put into French verse by Clement +Marot. Calvin, as we all know, had ordained that prayers to God should +be in the language of each country, as much from a principle of common +sense as in opposition to the Roman worship. To those in the crowd who +pitied these unfortunate gentlemen it was a moving incident to hear them +chant the following verse at the very moment when the king and court +arrived and took their places:-- + + "God be merciful unto us, + And bless us! + And show us the light of his countenance, + And be merciful unto us." + +The eyes of all the Reformers turned to their leader, the Prince de +Conde, who was placed intentionally between Queen Mary and the young Duc +d'Orleans. Catherine de' Medici was beside the king, and the rest of the +court were on her left. The papal nuncio stood behind Queen Mary; the +lieutenant-general of the kingdom, the Duc de Guise, was on horseback +below the balcony, with two of the marshals of France and his staff +captains. When the Prince de Conde appeared all the condemned noblemen +who knew him bowed to him, and the brave hunchback returned their +salutation. + +"It would be hard," he remarked to the Duc d'Orleans, "not to be civil +to those about to die." + +The two other balconies were filled by invited guests, courtiers, and +persons on duty about the court. In short, the whole company of the +chateau de Blois had come to Amboise to assist at this festival of +death, precisely as it passed, a little later, from the pleasures of +a court to the perils of war, with an easy facility, which will always +seem to foreigners one of the main supports of their policy toward +France. + +The poor syndic of the furriers of Paris was filled with the keenest joy +at not seeing his son among the fifty-seven gentlemen who were condemned +to die. + +At a sign from the Duc de Guise, the clerk seated on the scaffold cried +in a loud voice:-- + +"Jean-Louis-Alberic, Baron de Raunay, guilty of heresy, of the crime of +_lese-majeste_, and assault with armed hand against the person of the +king." + +A tall handsome man mounted the scaffold with a firm step, bowed to the +people and the court, and said: + +"That sentence lies. I took arms to deliver the king from his enemies, +the Guises." + +He placed his head on the block, and it fell. The Reformers chanted:-- + + "Thou, O God! hast proved us; + Thou hast tried us; + As silver is tried in the fire, + So hast thou purified us." + +"Robert-Jean-Rene Briquemart, Comte de Villemongis, guilty of the crime +of _lese-majeste_, and of attempts against the person of the king!" +called the clerk. + +The count dipped his hands in the blood of the Baron de Raunay, and +said:-- + +"May this blood recoil upon those who are really guilty of those +crimes." + +The Reformers chanted:-- + + "Thou broughtest us into the snare; + Thou laidest afflictions upon our loins; + Thou hast suffered our enemies + To ride over us." + +"You must admit, monseigneur," said the Prince de Conde to the papal +nuncio, "that if these French gentlemen know how to conspire, they also +know how to die." + +"What hatreds, brother!" whispered the Duchesse de Guise to the Cardinal +de Lorraine, "you are drawing down upon the heads of our children!" + +"The sight makes me sick," said the young king, turning pale at the flow +of blood. + +"Pooh! only rebels!" replied Catherine de' Medici. + +The chants went on; the axe still fell. The sublime spectacle of men +singing as they died, and, above all, the impression produced upon the +crowd by the progressive diminution of the chanting voices, superseded +the fear inspired by the Guises. + +"Mercy!" cried the people with one voice, when they heard the solitary +chant of the last and most important of the great lords, who was saved +to be the final victim. He alone remained at the foot of the steps by +which the others had mounted the scaffold, and he chanted:-- + + "Thou, O God, be merciful unto us, + And bless us, + And cause thy face to shine upon us. + Amen!" + +"Come, Duc de Nemours," said the Prince de Conde, weary of the part he +was playing; "you who have the credit of the skirmish, and who helped +to make these men prisoners, do you not feel under an obligation to ask +mercy for this one? It is Castelnau, who, they say, received your word +of honor that he should be courteously treated if he surrendered." + +"Do you think I waited till he was here before trying to save him?" said +the Duc de Nemours, stung by the stern reproach. + +The clerk called slowly--no doubt he was intentionally slow:-- + +"Michel-Jean-Louis, Baron de Castelnau-Chalosse, accused and convicted +of the crime of _lese-majeste_, and of attempts against the person of +the king." + +"No," said Castelnau, proudly, "it cannot be a crime to oppose the +tyranny and the projected usurpation of the Guises." + +The executioner, sick of his task, saw a movement in the king's gallery, +and fumbled with his axe. + +"Monsieur le baron," he said, "I do not want to execute you; a moment's +delay may save you." + +All the people again cried, "Mercy!" + +"Come!" said the king, "mercy for that poor Castelnau, who saved the +life of the Duc d'Orleans." + +The cardinal intentionally misunderstood the king's speech. + +"Go on," he motioned to the executioner, and the head of Castelnau fell +at the very moment when the king had pronounced his pardon. + +"That head, cardinal, goes to your account," said Catherine de' Medici. + +The day after this dreadful execution the Prince de Conde returned to +Navarre. + +The affair produced a great sensation in France and at all the foreign +courts. The torrents of noble blood then shed caused such anguish to the +chancellor Olivier that his honorable mind, perceiving at last the +real end and aim of the Guises disguised under a pretext of defending +religion and the monarchy, felt itself no longer able to make head +against them. Though he was their creature, he was not willing to +sacrifice his duty and the Throne to their ambition; and he withdrew +from his post, suggesting l'Hopital as his rightful successor. +Catherine, hearing of Olivier's suggestion, immediately proposed Birago, +and put much warmth into her request. The cardinal, knowing nothing of +the letter written by l'Hopital to the queen-mother, and supposing him +faithful to the house of Lorraine, pressed his appointment in opposition +to that of Birago, and Catherine allowed herself to seem vanquished. +From the moment that l'Hopital entered upon his duties he took measures +against the Inquisition, which the Cardinal de Lorraine was desirous +of introducing into France; and he thwarted so successfully all the +anti-gallican policy of the Guises, and proved himself so true a +Frenchmen, that in order to subdue him he was exiled, within three +months of his appointment, to his country-seat of Vignay, near Etampes. + +The worthy old Lecamus waited impatiently till the court left Amboise, +being unable to find an opportunity to speak to either of the queens, +and hoping to put himself in their way as the court advanced along the +river-bank on its return to Blois. He disguised himself as a pauper, +at the risk of being taken for a spy, and by means of this travesty, +he mingled with the crowd of beggars which lined the roadway. After the +departure of the Prince de Conde, and the execution of the leaders, the +duke and cardinal thought they had sufficiently silenced the Reformers +to allow the queen-mother a little more freedom. Lecamus knew that, +instead of travelling in a litter, Catherine intended to go on +horseback, _a la planchette_,--such was the name given to a sort of +stirrup invented for or by the queen-mother, who, having hurt her leg on +some occasion, ordered a velvet-covered saddle with a plank on which she +could place both feet by sitting sideways on the horse and passing one +leg through a depression in the saddle. As the queen-mother had very +handsome legs, she was accused of inventing this method of riding, in +order to show them. The old furrier fortunately found a moment when +he could present himself to her sight; but the instant that the queen +recognized him she gave signs of displeasure. + +"Go away, my good man, and let no one see you speak to me," she said +with anxiety. "Get yourself elected deputy to the States-general, by +the guild of your trade, and act for me when the Assembly convenes at +Orleans; you shall know whom to trust in the matter of your son." + +"Is he living?" asked the old man. + +"Alas!" said the queen, "I hope so." + +Lecamus was obliged to return to Paris with nothing better than those +doubtful words and the secret of the approaching convocation of the +States-general, thus confided to him by the queen-mother. + + + + +X. COSMO RUGGIERO + +The Cardinal de Lorraine obtained, within a few days of the events +just related, certain revelations as to the culpability of the court of +Navarre. At Lyon, and at Mouvans in Dauphine, a body of Reformers, under +command of the most enterprising prince of the house of Bourbon had +endeavored to incite the populace to rise. Such audacity, after the +bloody executions at Amboise, astonished the Guises, who (no doubt to +put an end to heresy by means known only to themselves) proposed the +convocation of the States-general at Orleans. Catherine de' Medici, +seeing a chance of support to her policy in a national representation, +joyfully agreed to it. The cardinal, bent on recovering his prey and +degrading the house of Bourbon, convoked the States for the sole purpose +of bringing the Prince de Conde and the king of Navarre (Antoine de +Bourbon, father of Henri IV.) to Orleans,--intending to make use of +Christophe to convict the prince of high treason if he succeeded in +again getting him within the power of the Crown. + +After two months had passed in the prison at Blois, Christophe was +removed on a litter to a tow-boat, which sailed up the Loire to Orleans, +helped by a westerly wind. He arrived there in the evening and was taken +at once to the celebrated tower of Saint-Aignan. The poor lad, who did +not know what to think of his removal, had plenty of time to reflect on +his conduct and on his future. He remained there two months, lying +on his pallet, unable to move his legs. The bones of his joints were +broken. When he asked for the help of a surgeon of the town, the jailer +replied that the orders were so strict about him that he dared not allow +any one but himself even to bring him food. This severity, which placed +him virtually in solitary confinement, amazed Christophe. To his +mind, he ought either to be hanged or released; for he was, of course, +entirely ignorant of the events at Amboise. + +In spite of certain secret advice sent to them by Catherine de' Medici, +the two chiefs of the house of Bourbon resolved to be present at the +States-general, so completely did the autograph letters they received +from the king reassure them; and no sooner had the court established +itself at Orleans than it learned, not without amazement, from Groslot, +chancellor of Navarre, that the Bourbon princes had arrived. + +Francois II. established himself in the house of the chancellor of +Navarre, who was also _bailli_, in other words, chief justice of the +law courts, at Orleans. This Groslot, whose dual position was one of +the singularities of this period--when Reformers themselves owned +abbeys--Groslot, the Jacques Coeur of Orleans, one of the richest +burghers of the day, did not bequeath his name to the house, for in +after years it was called Le Bailliage, having been, undoubtedly, +purchased either by the heirs of the Crown or by the provinces as the +proper place in which to hold the legal courts. This charming structure, +built by the bourgeoisie of the sixteenth century, which completes so +admirably the history of a period in which king, nobles, and burghers +rivalled each other in the grace, elegance, and richness of their +dwellings (witness Varangeville, the splendid manor-house of Ango, and +the mansion, called that of Hercules, in Paris), exists to this day, +though in a state to fill archaeologists and lovers of the Middle Ages +with despair. It would be difficult, however, to go to Orleans and not +take notice of the Hotel-de-Ville which stands on the place de l'Estape. +This hotel-de-ville, or town-hall, is the former Bailliage, the +mansion of Groslot, the most illustrious house in Orleans, and the most +neglected. + +The remains of this old building will still show, to the eyes of an +archaeologist, how magnificent it was at a period when the houses of the +burghers were commonly built of wood rather than stone, a period when +noblemen alone had the right to build _manors_,--a significant word. +Having served as the dwelling of the king at a period when the court +displayed much pomp and luxury, the hotel Groslot must have been the +most splendid house in Orleans. It was here, on the place de l'Estape, +that the Guises and the king reviewed the burgher guard, of which +Monsieur de Cypierre was made the commander during the sojourn of the +king. At this period the cathedral of Sainte-Croix, afterward completed +by Henri IV.,--who chose to give that proof of the sincerity of his +conversion,--was in process of erection, and its neighborhood, heaped +with stones and cumbered with piles of wood, was occupied by the Guises +and their retainers, who were quartered in the bishop's palace, now +destroyed. + +The town was under military discipline, and the measures taken by +the Guises proved how little liberty they intended to leave to the +States-general, the members of which flocked into the town, raising +the rents of the poorest lodgings. The court, the burgher militia, +the nobility, and the burghers themselves were all in a state of +expectation, awaiting some _coup-d'Etat_; and they found themselves not +mistaken when the princes of the blood arrived. As the Bourbon princes +entered the king's chamber, the court saw with terror the insolent +bearing of Cardinal de Lorraine. Determined to show his intentions +openly, he remained covered, while the king of Navarre stood before +him bare-headed. Catherine de' Medici lowered her eyes, not to show the +indignation that she felt. Then followed a solemn explanation between +the young king and the two chiefs of the younger branch. It was short, +for that the first words of the Prince de Conde Francois II. interrupted +him, with threatening looks: + +"Messieurs, my cousins, I had supposed the affair of Amboise over; I +find it is not so, and you are compelling us to regret the indulgence +which we showed." + +"It is not the king so much as the Messieurs de Guise who now address +us," replied the Prince de Conde. + +"Adieu, monsieur," cried the little king, crimson with anger. When he +left the king's presence the prince found his way barred in the great +hall by two officers of the Scottish guard. As the captain of the French +guard advanced, the prince drew a letter from his doublet, and said to +him in presence of the whole court:-- + +"Can you read that paper aloud to me, Monsieur de Maille-Breze?" + +"Willingly," said the French captain:-- + + "'My cousin, come in all security; I give you my royal word that + you can do so. If you have need of a safe conduct, this letter + will serve as one.'" + +"Signed?" said the shrewd and courageous hunchback. + +"Signed 'Francois,'" said Maille. + +"No, no!" exclaimed the prince, "it is signed: 'Your good cousin and +friend, Francois,'--Messieurs," he said to the Scotch guard, "I follow +you to the prison to which you are ordered, on behalf of the king, to +conduct me. There is enough nobility in this hall to understand the +matter!" + +The profound silence which followed these words ought to have +enlightened the Guises, but silence is that to which all princes listen +least. + +"Monseigneur," said the Cardinal de Tournon, who was following the +prince, "you know well that since the affair at Amboise you have made +certain attempts both at Lyon and at Mouvans in Dauphine against the +royal authority, of which the king had no knowledge when he wrote to you +in those terms." + +"Tricksters!" cried the prince, laughing. + +"You have made a public declaration against the Mass and in favor of +heresy." + +"We are masters in Navarre," said the prince. + +"You mean to say in Bearn. But you owe homage to the Crown," replied +President de Thou. + +"Ha! you here, president?" cried the prince, sarcastically. "Is the +whole Parliament with you?" + +So saying, he cast a look of contempt upon the cardinal and left the +hall. He saw plainly enough that they meant to have his head. The next +day, when Messieurs de Thou, de Viole, d'Espesse, the procureur-general +Bourdin, and the chief clerk of the court du Tillet, entered his +presence, he kept them standing, and expressed his regrets to see them +charged with a duty which did not belong to them. Then he said to the +clerk, "Write down what I say," and dictated as follows:-- + + "I, Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, peer of the kingdom, + Marquis de Conti, Comte de Soissons, prince of the blood of + France, do declare that I formally refuse to recognize any + commission appointed to try me, because, in my quality and in + virtue of the privilege appertaining to all members of the royal + house, I can only be accused, tried, and judged by the Parliament + of peers, both Chambers assembled, the king being seated on his + bed of justice." + +"You ought to know that, gentlemen, better than others," he added; "and +this reply is all that you will get from me. For the rest, I trust in +God and my right." + +The magistrates continued to address him notwithstanding his obstinate +silence. The king of Navarre was left at liberty, but closely watched; +his prison was larger than that of the prince, and this was the only +real difference in the position of the two brothers,--the intention +being that their heads should fall together. + +Christophe was therefore kept in the strictest solitary confinement by +order of the cardinal and the lieutenant-general of the kingdom, for no +other purpose than to give the judges proof of the culpability of the +Prince de Conde. The letters seized on Lasagne, the prince's secretary, +though intelligible to statesmen, where not sufficiently plain proof for +judges. The cardinal intended to confront the prince and Christophe by +accident; and it was not without intention that the young Reformer was +placed in one of the lower rooms in the tower of Saint-Aignan, with a +window looking on the prison yard. Each time that Christophe was +brought before the magistrates, and subjected to a close examination, +he sheltered himself behind a total and complete denial, which prolonged +his trial until after the opening of the States-general. + +Old Lecamus, who by that time had got himself elected deputy of the +_tiers-etat_ by the burghers of Paris, arrived at Orleans a few days +after the arrest of the Prince de Conde. This news, which reached him at +Etampes, redoubled his anxiety; for he fully understood--he, who alone +knew of Christophe's interview with the prince under the bridge near +his own house--that his son's fate was closely bound up with that of the +leader of the Reformed party. He therefore determined to study the dark +tangle of interests which were struggling together at court in order +to discover some means of rescuing his son. It was useless to think of +Queen Catherine, who refused to see her furrier. No one about the court +whom he was able to address could give him any satisfactory information +about Christophe; and he fell at last into a state of such utter despair +that he was on the verge of appealing to the cardinal himself, when he +learned that Monsieur de Thou (and this was the great stain upon that +good man's life) had consented to be one of the judges of the Prince de +Conde. The old furrier went at once to see him, and learned at last that +Christophe was still living, though a prisoner. + +Tourillon, the glover (to whom La Renaudie sent Christophe on his way +to Blois), had offered a room in his house to the Sieur Lecamus for +the whole time of his stay in Orleans during the sittings of the +States-general. The glover believed the furrier to be, like himself, +secretly attached to the Reformed religion; but he soon saw that a +father who fears for the life of his child pays no heed to shades +of religious opinion, but flings himself prone upon the bosom of God +without caring what insignia men give to Him. The poor old man, repulsed +in all his efforts, wandered like one bewildered through the streets. +Contrary to his expectations, his money availed him nothing; Monsieur de +Thou had warned him that if he bribed any servant of the house of +Guise he would merely lose his money, for the duke and cardinal allowed +nothing that related to Christophe to transpire. De Thou, whose fame is +somewhat tarnished by the part he played at this crisis, endeavored to +give some hope to the poor father; but he trembled so much himself for +the fate of his godson that his attempts at consolation only alarmed the +old man still more. Lecamus roamed the streets; in three months he had +shrunk visibly. His only hope now lay in the warm friendship which for +so many years had bound him to the Hippocrates of the sixteenth century. +Ambroise Pare tried to say a word to Queen Mary on leaving the chamber +of the king, who was then indisposed; but no sooner had he named +Christophe than the daughter of the Stuarts, nervous at the prospect +of her fate should any evil happen to the king, and believing that the +Reformers were attempting to poison him, cried out:-- + +"If my uncles had only listened to me, that fanatic would have been +hanged already." + +The evening on which this fatal answer was repeated to old Lecamus, by +his friend Pare on the place de l'Estape, he returned home half dead +to his own chamber, refusing to eat any supper. Tourillon, uneasy about +him, went up to his room and found him in tears; the aged eyes showed +the inflamed red lining of their lids, so that the glover fancied for a +moment that he was weeping tears of blood. + +"Comfort yourself, father," said the Reformer; "the burghers of Orleans +are furious to see their city treated as though it were taken by +assault, and guarded by the soldiers of Monsieur de Cypierre. If the +life of the Prince de Conde is in any real danger we will soon demolish +the tower of Saint-Aignan; the whole town is on the side of the +Reformers, and it will rise in rebellion; you may be sure of that!" + +"But, even if they hang the Guises, it will not give me back my son," +said the wretched father. + +At that instant some one rapped cautiously on Tourillon's outer door, +and the glover went downstairs to open it himself. The night was dark. +In these troublous times the masters of all households took minute +precautions. Tourillon looked through the peep-holes cut in the door, +and saw a stranger, whose accent indicated an Italian. The man, who was +dressed in black, asked to speak with Lecamus on matters of business, +and Tourillon admitted him. When the furrier caught sight of his visitor +he shuddered violently; but the stranger managed, unseen by Tourillon, +to lay his fingers on his lips. Lecamus, understanding the gesture, said +immediately:-- + +"You have come, I suppose, to offer furs?" + +"_Si_," said the Italian, discreetly. + +This personage was no other than the famous Ruggiero, astrologer to +the queen-mother. Tourillon went below to his own apartment, feeling +convinced that he was one too many in that of his guest. + +"Where can we talk without danger of being overheard?" said the cautious +Florentine. + +"We ought to be in the open fields for that," replied Lecamus. "But we +are not allowed to leave the town; you know the severity with which the +gates are guarded. No one can leave Orleans without a pass from +Monsieur de Cypierre," he added,--"not even I, who am a member of the +States-general. Complaint is to be made at to-morrow's session of this +restriction of liberty." + +"Work like a mole, but don't let your paws be seen in anything, no +matter what," said the wary Italian. "To-morrow will, no doubt, prove a +decisive day. Judging by my observations, you may, perhaps, recover your +son to-morrow, or the day after." + +"May God hear you--you who are thought to traffic with the devil!" + +"Come to my place," said the astrologer, smiling. "I live in the tower +of Sieur Touchet de Beauvais, the lieutenant of the Bailliage, whose +daughter the little Duc d'Orleans has taken such a fancy to; it is there +that I observe the planets. I have drawn the girl's horoscope, and it +says that she will become a great lady and be beloved by a king. The +lieutenant, her father, is a clever man; he loves science, and the queen +sent me to lodge with him. He has had the sense to be a rabid Guisist +while awaiting the reign of Charles IX." + +The furrier and the astrologer reached the house of the Sieur de +Beauvais without being met or even seen; but, in case Lecamus' visit +should be discovered, the Florentine intended to give a pretext of an +astrological consultation on his son's fate. When they were safely at +the top of the tower, where the astrologer did his work, Lecamus said to +him:-- + +"Is my son really living?" + +"Yes, he still lives," replied Ruggiero; "and the question now is how to +save him. Remember this, seller of skins, I would not give two farthings +for yours if ever in all your life a single syllable should escape you +of what I am about to say." + +"That is a useless caution, my friend; I have been furrier to the court +since the time of the late Louis XII.; this is the fourth reign that I +have seen." + +"And you may soon see the fifth," remarked Ruggiero. + +"What do you know about my son?" + +"He has been put to the question." + +"Poor boy!" said the old man, raising his eyes to heaven. + +"His knees and ankles were a bit injured, but he has won a royal +protection which will extend over his whole life," said the Florentine +hastily, seeing the terror of the poor father. "Your little Christophe +has done a service to our great queen, Catherine. If we manage to pull +him out of the claws of the Guises you will see him some day councillor +to the Parliament. Any man would gladly have his bones cracked +three times over to stand so high in the good graces of this dear +sovereign,--a grand and noble genius, who will triumph in the end over +all obstacles. I have drawn the horoscope of the Duc de Guise; he will +be killed within a year. Well, so Christophe saw the Prince de Conde--" + +"You who read the future ought to know the past," said the furrier. + +"My good man, I am not questioning you, I am telling you a fact. Now, if +your son, who will to-morrow be placed in the prince's way as he passes, +should recognize him, or if the prince should recognize your son, the +head of Monsieur de Conde will fall. God knows what will become of his +accomplice! However, don't be alarmed. Neither your son nor the prince +will die; I have drawn their horoscope,--they will live; but I do not +know in what way they will get out of this affair. Without distrusting +the certainty of my calculations, we must do something to bring +about results. To-morrow the prince will receive, from sure hands, a +prayer-book in which we convey the information to him. God grant +that your son be cautious, for him we cannot warn. A single glance +of recognition will cost the prince's life. Therefore, although the +queen-mother has every reason to trust in Christophe's faithfulness--" + +"They've put it to a cruel test!" cried the furrier. + +"Don't speak so! Do you think the queen-mother is on a bed of roses? She +is taking measures as if the Guises had already decided on the death of +the prince, and right she is, the wise and prudent queen! Now listen to +me; she counts on you to help her in all things. You have some influence +with the _tiers-etat_, where you represent the body of the guilds +of Paris, and though the Guisards may promise you to set your son at +liberty, try to fool them and maintain the independence of the guilds. +Demand the queen-mother as regent; the king of Navarre will publicly +accept the proposal at the session of the States-general." + +"But the king?" + +"The king will die," replied Ruggiero; "I have read his horoscope. What +the queen-mother requires you to do for her at the States-general is a +very simple thing; but there is a far greater service which she asks of +you. You helped Ambroise Pare in his studies, you are his friend--" + +"Ambroise now loves the Duc de Guise more than he loves me; and he is +right, for he owes his place to him. Besides, he is faithful to the +king. Though he inclines to the Reformed religion, he will never do +anything against his duty." + +"Curse these honest men!" cried the Florentine. "Ambroise boasted this +evening that he could bring the little king safely through his present +illness (for he is really ill). If the king recovers his health, the +Guises triumph, the princes die, the house of Bourbon becomes extinct, +we shall return to Florence, your son will be hanged, and the Lorrains +will easily get the better of the other sons of France--" + +"Great God!" exclaimed Lecamus. + +"Don't cry out in that way,--it is like a burgher who knows nothing of +the court,--but go at once to Ambroise and find out from him what he +intends to do to save the king's life. If there is anything decided on, +come back to me at once, and tell me the treatment in which he has such +faith." + +"But--" said Lecamus. + +"Obey blindly, my dear friend; otherwise you will get your mind +bewildered." + +"He is right," thought the furrier. "I had better not know more"; and he +went at once in search of the king's surgeon, who lived at a hostelry in +the place du Martroi. + +Catherine de' Medici was at this moment in a political extremity very +much like that in which poor Christophe had seen her at Blois. Though +she had been in a way trained by the struggle, though she had exercised +her lofty intellect by the lessons of that first defeat, her present +situation, while nearly the same, had become more critical, more +perilous than it was at Amboise. Events, like the woman herself, had +magnified. Though she seemed to be in full accordance with the Guises, +Catherine held in her hand the threads of a wisely planned conspiracy +against her terrible associates, and was only awaiting a propitious +moment to throw off the mask. The cardinal had just obtained the +positive certainty that Catherine was deceiving him. Her subtle Italian +spirit felt that the Younger branch was the best hindrance she could +offer to the ambition of the duke and the cardinal; and (in spite of the +advice of the two Gondis, who urged her to let the Guises wreak their +vengeance on the Bourbons) she defeated the scheme concocted by them +with Spain to seize the province of Bearn, by warning Jeanne d'Albret, +queen of Navarre, of that threatened danger. As this state secret was +known only to them and to the queen-mother, the Guises knew of course +who had betrayed it, and resolved to send her back to Florence. But in +order to make themselves perfectly sure of what they called her treason +against the State (the State being the house of Lorraine), the duke and +cardinal confided to her their intention of getting rid of the king of +Navarre. The precautions instantly taken by Antoine proved conclusively +to the two brothers that the secrets known only to them and the +queen-mother had been divulged by the latter. The cardinal instantly +taxed her with treachery, in presence of Francois II.,--threatening her +with an edict of banishment in case of future indiscretion, which might, +as they said, put the kingdom in danger. + +Catherine, who then felt herself in the utmost peril, acted in the +spirit of a great king, giving proof of her high capacity. It must be +added, however, that she was ably seconded by her friends. L'Hopital +managed to send her a note, written in the following terms:-- + + "Do not allow a prince of the blood to be put to death by a + committee; or you will yourself be carried off in some way." + +Catherine sent Birago to Vignay to tell the chancellor (l'Hopital) +to come to Orleans at once, in spite of his being in disgrace. Birago +returned the very night of which we are writing, and was now a few +miles from Orleans with l'Hopital, who heartily avowed himself for the +queen-mother. Chiverni, whose fidelity was very justly suspected by the +Guises, had escaped from Orleans and reached Ecouen in ten hours, by +a forced march which almost cost him his life. There he told the +Connetable de Montmorency of the peril of his nephew, the Prince de +Conde, and the audacious hopes of the Guises. The Connetable, furious +at the thought that the prince's life hung upon that of Francois II., +started for Orleans at once with a hundred noblemen and fifteen hundred +cavalry. In order to take the Messieurs de Guise by surprise he avoided +Paris, and came direct from Ecouen to Corbeil, and from Corbeil to +Pithiviers by the valley of the Essonne. + +"Soldier against soldier, we must leave no chances," he said on the +occasion of this bold march. + +Anne de Montmorency, who had saved France at the time of the invasion of +Provence by Charles V., and the Duc de Guise, who had stopped the second +invasion by the emperor at Metz, were, in truth, the two great warriors +of France at this period. Catherine had awaited this precise moment to +rouse the inextinguishable hatred of the Connetable, whose disgrace and +banishment were the work of the Guises. The Marquis de Simeuse, however, +who commanded at Gien, being made aware of the large force approaching +under command of the Connetable, jumped on his horse hoping to reach +Orleans in time to warn the duke and cardinal. + +Sure that the Connetable would come to the rescue of his nephew, and +full of confidence in the Chancelier l'Hopital's devotion to the royal +cause, the queen-mother revived the hopes and the boldness of the +Reformed party. The Colignys and the friends of the house of Bourbon, +aware of their danger, now made common cause with the adherents of the +queen-mother. A coalition between these opposing interests, attacked by +a common enemy, formed itself silently in the States-general, where it +soon became a question of appointing Catherine as regent in case the +king should die. Catherine, whose faith in astrology was much greater +than her faith in the Church, now dared all against her oppressors, +seeing that her son was ill and apparently dying at the expiration of +the time assigned to his life by the famous sorceress, whom Nostradamus +had brought to her at the chateau of Chaumont. + + + + +XI. AMBROISE PARE + +Some days before the terrible end of the reign of Francois II., the king +insisted on sailing down the Loire, wishing not to be in the town of +Orleans on the day when the Prince de Conde was executed. Having yielded +the head of the prince to the Cardinal de Lorraine, he was equally +in dread of a rebellion among the townspeople and of the prayers and +supplications of the Princesse de Conde. At the moment of embarkation, +one of the cold winds which sweep along the Loire at the beginning of +winter gave him so sharp an ear-ache that he was obliged to return to +his apartments; there he took to his bed, not leaving it again until +he died. In contradiction of the doctors, who, with the exception of +Chapelain, were his enemies, Ambroise Pare insisted that an abscess was +formed in the king's head, and that unless an issue were given to it, +the danger of death would increase daily. Notwithstanding the lateness +of the hour, and the curfew law, which was sternly enforced in Orleans, +at this time practically in a state of siege, Pare's lamp shone from his +window, and he was deep in study, when Lecamus called to him from below. +Recognizing the voice of his old friend, Pare ordered that he should be +admitted. + +"You take no rest, Ambroise; while saving the lives of others you +are wasting your own," said the furrier as he entered, looking at the +surgeon, who sat, with opened books and scattered instruments, before +the head of a dead man, lately buried and now disinterred, in which he +had cut an opening. + +"It is a matter of saving the king's life." + +"Are you sure of doing it, Ambroise?" cried the old man, trembling. + +"As sure as I am of my own existence. The king, my old friend, has a +morbid ulcer pressing on his brain, which will presently suffice it if +no vent is given to it, and the danger is imminent. But by boring the +skull I expect to release the pus and clear the head. I have already +performed this operation three times. It was invented by a Piedmontese; +but I have had the honor to perfect it. The first operation I performed +was at the siege of Metz, on Monsieur de Pienne, whom I cured, who was +afterwards all the more intelligent in consequence. His was an abscess +caused by the blow of an arquebuse. The second was on the head of a +pauper, on whom I wanted to prove the value of the audacious operation +Monsieur de Pienne had allowed me to perform. The third I did in Paris +on a gentleman who is now entirely recovered. Trepanning--that is the +name given to the operation--is very little known. Patients refuse it, +partly because of the imperfection of the instruments; but I have at +last improved them. I am practising now on this skull, that I may be +sure of not failing to-morrow, when I operate on the head of the king." + +"You ought indeed to be very sure you are right, for your own head would +be in danger in case--" + +"I'd wager my life I can cure him," replied Ambroise, with the +conviction of a man of genius. "Ah! my old friend, where's the danger of +boring into a skull with proper precautions? That is what soldiers do in +battle every day of their lives, without taking any precautions." + +"My son," said the burgher, boldly, "do you know that to save the king +is to ruin France? Do you know that this instrument of yours will place +the crown of the Valois on the head of the Lorrain who calls himself +the heir of Charlemagne? Do you know that surgery and policy are at this +moment sternly opposed to each other? Yes, the triumph of your genius +will be the death of your religion. If the Guises gain the regency, the +blood of the Reformers will flow like water. Be a greater citizen than +you are a surgeon; oversleep yourself to-morrow morning and leave a free +field to the other doctors who if they cannot cure the king will cure +France." + +"I!" exclaimed Pare. "I leave a man to die when I can cure him? No, no! +were I to hang as an abettor of Calvin I shall go early to court. Do you +not feel that the first and only reward I shall ask will be the life +of your Christophe? Surely at such a moment Queen Mary can deny me +nothing." + +"Alas! my friend," returned Lecamus, "the little king has refused the +pardon of the Prince de Conde to the princess. Do not kill your religion +by saving the life of a man who ought to die." + +"Do not you meddle with God's ordering of the future!" cried Pare. +"Honest men can have but one motto: _Fais ce que dois, advienne que +pourra_!--do thy duty, come what will. That is what I did at the siege +of Calais when I put my foot on the face of the Duc de Guise,--I ran the +risk of being strangled by his friends and his servants; but to-day I am +surgeon to the king; moreover I am of the Reformed religion; and yet the +Guises are my friends. I shall save the king," cried the surgeon, with +the sacred enthusiasm of a conviction bestowed by genius, "and God will +save France!" + +A knock was heard on the street door and presently one of Pare's +servants gave a paper to Lecamus, who read aloud these terrifying +words:-- + + "A scaffold is being erected at the convent of the Recollets: the + Prince de Conde will be beheaded there to-morrow." + +Ambroise and Lecamus looked at each other with an expression of the +deepest horror. + +"I will go and see it for myself," said the furrier. + +No sooner was he in the open street than Ruggiero took his arm and asked +by what means Ambroise Pare proposed to save the king. Fearing some +trickery, the old man, instead of answering, replied that he wished to +go and see the scaffold. The astrologer accompanied him to the place des +Recollets, and there, truly enough, they found the carpenters putting up +the horrible framework by torchlight. + +"Hey, my friend," said Lecamus to one of the men, "what are you doing +here at this time of night?" + +"We are preparing for the hanging of heretics, as the blood-letting at +Amboise didn't cure them," said a young Recollet who was superintending +the work. + +"Monseigneur the cardinal is very right," said Ruggiero, prudently; "but +in my country we do better." + +"What do you do?" said the young priest. + +"We burn them." + +Lecamus was forced to lean on the astrologer's arm, for his legs gave +way beneath him; he thought it probable that on the morrow his son would +hang from one of those gibbets. The poor old man was thrust between two +sciences, astrology and surgery, both of which promised him the life of +his son, for whom in all probability that scaffold was now erecting. In +the trouble and distress of his mind, the Florentine was able to knead +him like dough. + +"Well, my worthy dealer in minever, what do you say now to the Lorraine +jokes?" whispered Ruggiero. + +"Alas! you know I would give my skin if that of my son were safe and +sound." + +"That is talking like your trade," said the Italian; "but explain to +me the operation which Ambroise means to perform upon the king, and in +return I will promise you the life of your son." + +"Faithfully?" exclaimed the old furrier. + +"Shall I swear it to you?" said Ruggiero. + +Thereupon the poor old man repeated his conversation with Ambroise Pare +to the astrologer, who, the moment that the secret of the great surgeon +was divulged to him, left the poor father abruptly in the street in +utter despair. + +"What the devil does he mean, that miscreant?" cried Lecamus, as he +watched Ruggiero hurrying with rapid steps to the place de l'Estape. + +Lecamus was ignorant of the terrible scene that was taking place around +the royal bed, where the imminent danger of the king's death and the +consequent loss of power to the Guises had caused the hasty erection +of the scaffold for the Prince de Conde, whose sentence had been +pronounced, as it were by default,--the execution of it being delayed by +the king's illness. + +Absolutely no one but the persons on duty were in the halls, staircases, +and courtyard of the royal residence, Le Bailliage. The crowd of +courtiers were flocking to the house of the king of Navarre, on whom the +regency would devolve on the death of the king, according to the laws of +the kingdom. The French nobility, alarmed by the audacity of the Guises, +felt the need of rallying around the chief of the younger branch, when, +ignorant of the queen-mother's Italian policy, they saw her the apparent +slave of the duke and cardinal. Antoine de Bourbon, faithful to his +secret agreement with Catherine, was bound not to renounce the regency +in her favor until the States-general had declared for it. + +The solitude in which the king's house was left had a powerful effect +on the mind of the Duc de Guise when, on his return from an inspection, +made by way of precaution through the city, he found no one there but +the friends who were attached exclusively to his own fortunes. The +chamber in which was the king's bed adjoined the great hall of the +Bailliage. It was at that period panelled in oak. The ceiling, composed +of long, narrow boards carefully joined and painted, was covered with +blue arabesques on a gold ground, a part of which being torn down about +fifty years ago was instantly purchased by a lover of antiquities. This +room, hung with tapestry, the floor being covered with a carpet, was +so dark and gloomy that the torches threw scarcely any light. The vast +four-post bedstead with its silken curtains was like a tomb. Beside her +husband, close to his pillow, sat Mary Stuart, and near her the Cardinal +de Lorraine. Catherine was seated in a chair at a little distance. The +famous Jean Chapelain, the physician on duty (who was afterwards chief +physician to Charles IX.) was standing before the fireplace. The deepest +silence reigned. The young king, pale and shrunken, lay as if buried in +his sheets, his pinched little face scarcely showing on the pillow. The +Duchesse de Guise, sitting on a stool, attended Queen Mary, while on the +other side, near Catherine, in the recess of a window, Madame de Fiesque +stood watching the gestures and looks of the queen-mother; for she knew +the dangers of her position. + +In the hall, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, Monsieur de +Cypierre, governor of the Duc d'Orleans and now appointed governor of +the town, occupied one corner of the fireplace with the two Gondis. +Cardinal de Tournon, who in this crisis espoused the interests of the +queen-mother on finding himself treated as an inferior by the Cardinal +de Lorraine, of whom he was certainly the ecclesiastical equal, +talked in a low voice to the Gondis. The marshals de Vieilleville +and Saint-Andre and the keeper of the seals, who presided at the +States-general, were talking together in a whisper of the dangers to +which the Guises were exposed. + +The lieutenant-general of the kingdom crossed the room on his entrance, +casting a rapid glance about him, and bowed to the Duc d'Orleans whom he +saw there. + +"Monseigneur," he said, "this will teach you to know men. The Catholic +nobility of the kingdom have gone to pay court to a heretic prince, +believing that the States-general will give the regency to the heirs of +a traitor who long detained in prison your illustrious grandfather." + +Then having said these words, which were destined to plough a furrow +in the heart of the young prince, he passed into the bedroom, where the +king was not so much asleep as plunged in a heavy torpor. The Duc de +Guise was usually able to correct the sinister aspect of his scarred +face by an affable and pleasing manner, but on this occasion, when +he saw the instrument of his power breaking in his very hands, he was +unable to force a smile. The cardinal, whose civil courage was equal to +his brother's military daring, advanced a few steps to meet him. + +"Robertet thinks that little Pinard is sold to the queen-mother," he +whispered, leading the duke into the hall; "they are using him to work +upon the members of the States-general." + +"Well, what does it signify if we are betrayed by a secretary when all +else betrays us?" cried the lieutenant-general. "The town is for the +Reformation, and we are on the eve of a revolt. Yes! the _Wasps_ are +discontented"; he continued, giving the Orleans people their nickname; +"and if Pare does not save the king we shall have a terrible uprising. +Before long we shall be forced to besiege Orleans, which is nothing but +a bog of Huguenots." + +"I have been watching that Italian woman," said the cardinal, "as she +sits there with absolute insensibility. She is watching and waiting, +God forgive her! for the death of her son; and I ask myself whether we +should not do a wise thing to arrest her at once, and also the king of +Navarre." + +"It is already more than we want upon our hands to have the Prince de +Conde in prison," replied the duke. + +The sound of a horseman riding in haste to the gate of the Bailliage +echoed through the hall. The duke and cardinal went to the window, +and by the light of the torches which were in the portico the duke +recognized on the rider's hat the famous Lorraine cross, which the +cardinal had lately ordered his partisans to wear. He sent an officer of +the guard, who was stationed in the antechamber, to give entrance to the +new-comer; and went himself, followed by his brother, to meet him on the +landing. + +"What is it, my dear Simeuse?" asked the duke, with that charm of manner +which he always displayed to military men, as soon as he recognized the +governor of Gien. + +"The Connetable has reached Pithiviers; he left Ecouen with two thousand +cavalry and one hundred nobles." + +"With their suites?" + +"Yes, monseigneur," replied Simeuse; "in all, two thousand six hundred +men. Some say that Thore is behind them with a body of infantry. If +the Connetable delays awhile, expecting his son, you still have time to +repulse him." + +"Is that all you know? Are the reasons of this sudden call to arms made +known?" + +"Montmorency talks as little as he writes; go you and meet him, brother, +while I prepare to welcome him with the head of his nephew," said the +cardinal, giving orders that Robertet be sent to him at once. + +"Vieilleville!" cried the duke to the marechal, who came immediately. +"The Connetable has the audacity to come here under arms; if I go to +meet him will you be responsible to hold the town?" + +"As soon as you leave it the burghers will fly to arms; and who can +answer for the result of an affair between cavalry and citizens in these +narrow streets?" replied the marechal. + +"Monseigneur," said Robertet, rushing hastily up the stairs, "the +Chancelier de l'Hopital is at the gate and asks to enter; are we to let +him in?" + +"Yes, open the gate," answered the cardinal. "Connetable and chancelier +together would be dangerous; we must separate them. We have been boldly +tricked by the queen-mother into choosing l'Hopital as chancellor." + +Robertet nodded to a captain of the guard, who awaited an answer at +the foot of the staircase; then he turned round quickly to receive the +orders of the cardinal. + +"Monseigneur, I take the liberty," he said, making one last effort, "to +point out that the sentence should be approved by _the king in council_. +If you violate the law on a prince of the blood, it will not be +respected for either a cardinal or a Duc de Guise." + +"Pinard has upset your mind, Robertet," said the cardinal, sternly. "Do +you not know that the king signed the order of execution the day he was +about to leave Orleans, in order that the sentence might be carried out +in his absence?" + +The lieutenant-general listened to this discussion without a word, but +he took his brother by the arm and led him into a corner of the hall. + +"Undoubtedly," he said, "the heirs of Charlemagne have the right to +recover the crown which was usurped from their house by Hugh Capet; but +can they do it? The pear is not yet ripe. Our nephew is dying, and the +whole court has gone over to the king of Navarre." + +"The king's heart failed him, or the Bearnais would have been stabbed +before now," said the cardinal; "and we could easily have disposed of +the Valois children." + +"We are very ill-placed here," said the duke; "the rebellion of the town +will be supported by the States-general. L'Hopital, whom we protected +while the queen-mother opposed his appointment, is to-day against us, +and yet it is all-important that we should have the justiciary with us. +Catherine has too many supporters at the present time; we cannot send +her back to Italy. Besides, there are still three Valois princes--" + +"She is no longer a mother, she is all queen," said the cardinal. "In my +opinion, this is the moment to make an end of her. Vigor, and more and +more vigor! that's my prescription!" he cried. + +So saying, the cardinal returned to the king's chamber, followed by the +duke. The priest went straight to the queen-mother. + +"The papers of Lasagne, the secretary of the Prince de Conde, have been +communicated to you, and you now know that the Bourbons are endeavoring +to dethrone your son." + +"I know all that," said Catherine. + +"Well, then, will you give orders to arrest the king of Navarre?" + +"There is," she said with dignity, "a lieutenant-general of the +kingdom." + +At this instant Francois II. groaned piteously, complaining aloud of the +terrible pains in his ear. The physician left the fireplace where he was +warming himself, and went to the bedside to examine the king's head. + +"Well, monsieur?" said the Duc de Guise, interrogatively. + +"I dare not take upon myself to apply a blister to draw the abscess. +Maitre Ambroise has promised to save the king's life by an operation, +and I might thwart it." + +"Let us postpone the treatment till to-morrow morning," said Catherine, +coldly, "and order all the physicians to be present; for we all know the +calumnies to which the death of kings gives rise." + +She went to her son and kissed his hand; then she withdrew to her own +apartments. + +"With what composure that audacious daughter of a shop-keeper alluded +to the death of the dauphin, poisoned by Montecuculi, one of her own +Italian followers!" said Mary Stuart. + +"Mary!" cried the little king, "my grandfather never doubted her +innocence." + +"Can we prevent that woman from coming here to-morrow?" said the queen +to her uncles in a low voice. + +"What will become of us if the king dies?" returned the cardinal, in a +whisper. "Catherine will shovel us all into his grave." + +Thus the question was plainly put between Catherine de' Medici and the +house of Lorraine during that fatal night. The arrival of the Connetable +de Montmorency and the Chancelier de l'Hopital were distinct indications +of rebellion; the morning of the next day would therefore be decisive. + + + + +XII. DEATH OF FRANCOIS II + +On the morrow the queen-mother was the first to enter the king's +chamber. She found no one there but Mary Stuart, pale and weary, who +had passed the night in prayer beside the bed. The Duchesse de Guise +had kept her mistress company, and the maids of honor had taken turns +in relieving one another. The young king slept. Neither the duke nor the +cardinal had yet appeared. The priest, who was bolder than the soldier, +had, it was afterward said, put forth his utmost energy during the +night to induce his brother to make himself king. But, in face of the +assembled States-general, and threatened by a battle with Montmorency, +the Balafre declared the circumstances unfavorable; he refused, against +his brother's utmost urgency, to arrest the king of Navarre, the +queen-mother, l'Hopital, the Cardinal de Tournon, the Gondis, Ruggiero, +and Birago, objecting that such violent measures would bring on a +general rebellion. He postponed the cardinal's scheme until the fate of +Francois II. should be determined. + +The deepest silence reigned in the king's chamber. Catherine, +accompanied by Madame de Fiesque, went to the bedside and gazed at her +son with a semblance of grief that was admirably simulated. She put +her handkerchief to her eyes and walked to the window where Madame de +Fiesque brought her a seat. Thence she could see into the courtyard. + +It had been agreed between Catherine and the Cardinal de Tournon that +if the Connetable should successfully enter the town the cardinal would +come to the king's house with the two Gondis; if otherwise, he would +come alone. At nine in the morning the duke and cardinal, followed +by their gentlemen, who remained in the hall, entered the king's +bedroom,--the captain on duty having informed them that Ambroise Pare +had arrived, together with Chapelain and three other physicians, who +hated Pare and were all in the queen-mother's interests. + +A few moments later and the great hall of the Bailliage presented much +the same aspect as that of the Salle des gardes at Blois on the day when +Christophe was put to the torture and the Duc de Guise was proclaimed +lieutenant-governor of the kingdom,--with the single exception that +whereas love and joy overflowed the royal chamber and the Guises +triumphed, death and mourning now reigned within that darkened room, and +the Guises felt that power was slipping through their fingers. The maids +of honor of the two queens were again in their separate camps on either +side of the fireplace, in which glowed a monstrous fire. The hall was +filled with courtiers. The news--spread about, no one knew how--of some +daring operation contemplated by Ambroise Pare to save the king's life, +had brought back the lords and gentlemen who had deserted the house the +day before. The outer staircase and courtyard were filled by an anxious +crowd. The scaffold erected during the night for the Prince de Conde +opposite to the convent of the Recollets, had amazed and startled the +whole nobility. All present spoke in a low voice and the talk was the +same mixture as at Blois, of frivolous and serious, light and earnest +matters. The habit of expecting troubles, sudden revolutions, calls to +arms, rebellions, and great events, which marked the long period during +which the house of Valois was slowly being extinguished in spite of +Catherine de' Medici's great efforts to preserve it, took its rise at +this time. + +A deep silence prevailed for a certain distance beyond the door of the +king's chamber, which was guarded by two halberdiers, two pages, and by +the captain of the Scotch guard. Antoine de Bourbon, king of Navarre, +held a prisoner in his own house, learned by his present desertion the +hopes of the courtiers who had flocked to him the day before, and was +horrified by the news of the preparations made during the night for the +execution of his brother. + +Standing before the fireplace in the great hall of the Bailliage was +one of the greatest and noblest figures of that day,--the Chancelier de +l'Hopital, wearing his crimson robe lined and edged with ermine, and +his cap on his head according to the privilege of his office. This +courageous man, seeing that his benefactors were traitorous and +self-seeking, held firmly to the cause of the kings, represented by the +queen-mother; at the risk of losing his head, he had gone to Rouen to +consult with the Connetable de Montmorency. No one ventured to draw him +from the reverie in which he was plunged. Robertet, the secretary of +State, two marshals of France, Vieilleville, and Saint-Andre, and the +keeper of the seals, were collected in a group before the chancellor. +The courtiers present were not precisely jesting; but their talk was +malicious, especially among those who were not for the Guises. + +Presently voices were heard to rise in the king's chamber. The two +marshals, Robertet, and the chancellor went nearer to the door; for not +only was the life of the king in question, but, as the whole court knew +well, the chancellor, the queen-mother, and her adherents were in the +utmost danger. A deep silence fell on the whole assembly. + +Ambroise Pare had by this time examined the king's head; he thought the +moment propitious for his operation; if it was not performed suffusion +would take place, and Francois II. might die at any moment. As soon as +the duke and cardinal entered the chamber he explained to all present +that in so urgent a case it was necessary to trepan the head, and he now +waited till the king's physician ordered him to perform the operation. + +"Cut the head of my son as though it were a plank!--with that horrible +instrument!" cried Catherine de' Medici. "Maitre Ambroise, I will not +permit it." + +The physicians were consulting together; but Catherine spoke in so loud +a voice that her words reached, as she intended they should, beyond the +door. + +"But, madame, if there is no other way to save him?" said Mary Stuart, +weeping. + +"Ambroise," cried Catherine; "remember that your head will answer for +the king's life." + +"We are opposed to the treatment suggested by Maitre Ambroise," said the +three physicians. "The king can be saved by injecting through the ear +a remedy which will draw the contents of the abscess through that +passage." + +The Duc de Guise, who was watching Catherine's face, suddenly went up to +her and drew her into the recess of the window. + +"Madame," he said, "you wish the death of your son; you are in league +with our enemies, and have been since Blois. This morning the Counsellor +Viole told the son of your furrier that the Prince de Conde's head was +about to be cut off. That young man, who, when the question was applied, +persisted in denying all relations with the prince, made a sign of +farewell to him as he passed before the window of his dungeon. You saw +your unhappy accomplice tortured with royal insensibility. You are now +endeavoring to prevent the recovery of your eldest son. Your conduct +forces us to believe that the death of the dauphin, which placed the +crown on your husband's head was not a natural one, and that Montecuculi +was your--" + +"Monsieur le chancilier!" cried Catherine, at a sign from whom Madame de +Fiesque opened both sides of the bedroom door. + +The company in the hall then saw the scene that was taking place in +the royal chamber: the livid little king, his face half dead, his eyes +sightless, his lips stammering the word "Mary," as he held the hand +of the weeping queen; the Duchesse de Guise motionless, frightened by +Catherine's daring act; the duke and cardinal, also alarmed, keeping +close to the queen-mother and resolving to have her arrested on the spot +by Maille-Breze; lastly, the tall Ambroise Pare, assisted by the king's +physician, holding his instrument in his hand but not daring to begin +the operation, for which composure and total silence were as necessary +as the consent of the other surgeons. + +"Monsieur le chancelier," said Catherine, "the Messieurs de Guise wish +to authorize a strange operation upon the person of the king; Ambroise +Pare is preparing to cut open his head. I, as the king's mother and a +member of the council of the regency,--I protest against what appears to +me a crime of _lese-majeste_. The king's physicians advise an injection +through the ear, which seems to me as efficacious and less dangerous +than the brutal operation proposed by Pare." + +When the company in the hall heard these words a smothered murmur rose +from their midst; the cardinal allowed the chancellor to enter the +bedroom and then he closed the door. + +"I am lieutenant-general of the kingdom," said the Duc de Guise; "and I +would have you know, Monsieur le chancelier, that Ambroise, the king's +surgeon, answers for his life." + +"Ah! if this be the turn that things are taking!" exclaimed Ambroise +Pare. "I know my rights and how I should proceed." He stretched his arm +over the bed. "This bed and the king are mine. I claim to be sole master +of this case and solely responsible. I know the duties of my office; I +shall operate upon the king without the sanction of the physicians." + +"Save him!" said the cardinal, "and you shall be the richest man in +France." + +"Go on!" cried Mary Stuart, pressing the surgeon's hand. + +"I cannot prevent it," said the chancellor; "but I shall record the +protest of the queen-mother." + +"Robertet!" called the Duc de Guise. + +When Robertet entered, the lieutenant-general pointed to the chancellor. + +"I appoint you chancellor of France in the place of that traitor," he +said. "Monsieur de Maille, take Monsieur de l'Hopital and put him in the +prison of the Prince de Conde. As for you, madame," he added, turning +to Catherine; "your protest will not be received; you ought to be aware +that any such protest must be supported by sufficient force. I act as +the faithful subject and loyal servant of king Francois II., my master. +Go on, Antoine," he added, looking at the surgeon. + +"Monsieur de Guise," said l'Hopital; "if you employ violence either upon +the king or upon the chancellor of France, remember that enough of +the nobility of France are in that hall to rise and arrest you as a +traitor." + +"Oh! my lords," cried the great surgeon; "if you continue these +arguments you will soon proclaim Charles IX!--for king Francois is about +to die." + +Catherine de' Medici, absolutely impassive, gazed from the window. + +"Well, then, we shall employ force to make ourselves masters of this +room," said the cardinal, advancing to the door. + +But when he opened it even he was terrified; the whole house was +deserted! The courtiers, certain now of the death of the king, had gone +in a body to the king of Navarre. + +"Well, go on, perform your duty," cried Mary Stuart, vehemently, to +Ambroise. "I--and you, duchess," she said to Madame de Guise,--"will +protect you." + +"Madame," said Ambroise; "my zeal was carrying me away. The doctors, +with the exception of my friend Chapelain, prefer an injection, and it +is my duty to submit to their wishes. If I had been chief surgeon and +chief physician, which I am not, the king's life would probably have +been saved. Give that to me, gentlemen," he said, stretching out his +hand for the syringe, which he proceeded to fill. + +"Good God!" cried Mary Start, "but I order you to--" + +"Alas! madame," said Ambroise, "I am under the direction of these +gentlemen." + +The young queen placed herself between the surgeon, the doctors, and +the other persons present. The chief physician held the king's head, +and Ambroise made the injection into the ear. The duke and the cardinal +watched the proceeding attentively. Robertet and Monsieur de Maille +stood motionless. Madame de Fiesque, at a sign from Catherine, glided +unperceived from the room. A moment later l'Hopital boldly opened the +door of the king's chamber. + +"I arrive in good time," said the voice of a man whose hasty steps +echoed through the great hall, and who stood the next moment on the +threshold of the open door. "Ah, messieurs, so you meant to take off the +head of my good nephew, the Prince de Conde? Instead of that, you have +forced the lion from his lair and--here I am!" added the Connetable de +Montmorency. "Ambroise, you shall not plunge your knife into the head of +my king. The first prince of the blood, Antoine de Bourbon, the Prince +de Conde, the queen-mother, the Connetable, and the chancellor forbid +the operation." + +To Catherine's great satisfaction, the king of Navarre and the Prince de +Conde now entered the room. + +"What does this mean?" said the Duc de Guise, laying his hand on his +dagger. + +"It means that in my capacity as Connetable, I have dismissed the +sentinels of all your posts. _Tete Dieu_! you are not in an enemy's +country, methinks. The king, our master, is in the midst of his loyal +subjects, and the States-general must be suffered to deliberate at +liberty. I come, messieurs, from the States-general. I carried the +protest of my nephew de Conde before that assembly, and three hundred of +those gentlemen have released him. You wish to shed royal blood and to +decimate the nobility of the kingdom, do you? Ha! in future, I defy you, +and all your schemes, Messieurs de Lorraine. If you order the king's +head opened, by this sword which saved France from Charles V., I say it +shall not be done--" + +"All the more," said Ambroise Pare; "because it is now too late; the +suffusion has begun." + +"Your reign is over, messieurs," said Catherine to the Guises, seeing +from Pare's face that there was no longer any hope. + +"Ah! madame, you have killed your own son," cried Mary Stuart as +she bounded like a lioness from the bed to the window and seized the +queen-mother by the arm, gripping it violently. + +"My dear," replied Catherine, giving her daughter-in-law a cold, keen +glance in which she allowed her hatred, repressed for the last six +months, to overflow; "you, to whose inordinate love we owe this death, +you will now go to reign in your Scotland, and you will start to-morrow. +I am regent _de facto_." The three physicians having made her a sign, +"Messieurs," she added, addressing the Guises, "it is agreed between +Monsieur de Bourbon, appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom by the +States-general, and me that the conduct of the affairs of the State is +our business solely. Come, monsieur le chancelier." + +"The king is dead!" said the Duc de Guise, compelled to perform his +duties as Grand-master. + +"Long live King Charles IX.!" cried all the noblemen who had come with +the king of Navarre, the Prince de Conde, and the Connetable. + +The ceremonies which follow the death of a king of France were performed +in almost total solitude. When the king-at-arms proclaimed aloud three +times in the hall, "The king is dead!" there were very few persons +present to reply, "Vive le roi!" + +The queen-mother, to whom the Comtesse de Fiesque had brought the Duc +d'Orleans, now Charles IX., left the chamber, leading her son by the +hand, and all the remaining courtiers followed her. No one was left in +the house where Francois II. had drawn his last breath, but the duke and +the cardinal, the Duchesse de Guise, Mary Stuart, and Dayelle, together +with the sentries at the door, the pages of the Grand-master, those of +the cardinal, and their private secretaries. + +"Vive la France!" cried several Reformers in the street, sounding the +first cry of the opposition. + +Robertet, who owed all he was to the duke and cardinal, terrified +by their scheme and its present failure, went over secretly to the +queen-mother, whom the ambassadors of Spain, England, the Empire, and +Poland, hastened to meet on the staircase, brought thither by Cardinal +de Tournon, who had gone to notify them as soon as he had made Queen +Catherine a sign from the courtyard at the moment when she protested +against the operation of Ambroise Pare. + +"Well!" said the cardinal to the duke, "so the sons of Louis +d'Outre-mer, the heirs of Charles de Lorraine flinched and lacked +courage." + +"We should have been exiled to Lorraine," replied the duke. "I declare +to you, Charles, that if the crown lay there before me I would not +stretch out my hand to pick it up. That's for my son to do." + +"Will he have, as you have had, the army and Church on his side?" + +"He will have something better." + +"What?" + +"The people!" + +"Ah!" exclaimed Mary Stuart, clasping the stiffened hand of her first +husband, now dead, "there is none but me to weep for this poor boy who +loved me so!" + +"How can we patch up matters with the queen-mother?" said the cardinal. + +"Wait till she quarrels with the Huguenots," replied the duchess. + +The conflicting interests of the house of Bourbon, of Catherine, of the +Guises, and of the Reformed party produced such confusion in the town +of Orleans that, three days after the king's death, his body, completely +forgotten in the Bailliage and put into a coffin by the menials of the +house, was taken to Saint-Denis in a covered waggon, accompanied only +by the Bishop of Senlis and two gentlemen. When the pitiable procession +reached the little town of Etampes, a servant of the Chancelier +l'Hopital fastened to the waggon this severe inscription, which history +has preserved: "Tanneguy de Chastel, where art thou? and yet thou wert a +Frenchman!"--a stern reproach, which fell with equal force on Catherine +de' Medici, Mary Stuart, and the Guises. What Frenchman does not know +that Tanneguy de Chastel spent thirty thousand crowns of the coinage of +that day (one million of our francs) at the funeral of Charles VII., the +benefactor of his house? + +No sooner did the tolling of the bells announce to the town of Orleans +that Francois II. was dead, and the rumor spread that the Connetable de +Montmorency had ordered the flinging open of the gates of the town, than +Tourillon, the glover, rushed up into the garret of his house and went +to a secret hiding-place. + +"Good heavens! can he be dead?" he cried. + +Hearing the words, a man rose to his feet and answered, "Ready to +serve!"--the password of the Reformers who belonged to Calvin. + +This man was Chaudieu, to whom Tourillon now related the events of the +last eight days, during which time he had prudently left the minister +alone in his hiding-place with a twelve-pound loaf of bread for his sole +nourishment. + +"Go instantly to the Prince de Conde, brother: ask him to give me a +safe-conduct; and find me a horse," cried the minister. "I must start at +once." + +"Write me a line, or he will not receive me." + +"Here," said Chaudieu, after writing a few words, "ask for a pass from +the king of Navarre, for I must go to Geneva without a moment's loss of +time." + + + + +XIII. CALVIN + +Two hours later all was ready, and the ardent minister was on his way +to Switzerland, accompanied by a nobleman in the service of the king of +Navarre (of whom Chaudieu pretended to be the secretary), carrying with +him despatches from the Reformers in the Dauphine. This sudden departure +was chiefly in the interests of Catherine de' Medici, who, in order to +gain time to establish her power, had made a bold proposition to the +Reformers which was kept a profound secret. This strange proceeding +explains the understanding so suddenly apparent between herself and +the leaders of the Reform. The wily woman gave, as a pledge of her good +faith, an intimation of her desire to heal all differences between the +two churches by calling an assembly, which should be neither a council, +nor a conclave, nor a synod, but should be known by some new and +distinctive name, if Calvin consented to the project. When this secret +was afterwards divulged (be it remarked in passing) it led to an +alliance between the Duc de Guise and the Connetable de Montmorency +against Catherine and the king of Navarre,--a strange alliance! known in +history as the Triumvirate, the Marechal de Saint-Andre being the +third personage in the purely Catholic coalition to which this singular +proposition for a "colloquy" gave rise. The secret of Catherine's wily +policy was rightly understood by the Guises; they felt certain that +the queen cared nothing for this mysterious assembly, and was only +temporizing with her new allies in order to secure a period of peace +until the majority of Charles IX.; but none the less did they deceive +the Connetable into fearing a collusion of real interests between the +queen and the Bourbons,--whereas, in reality, Catherine was playing them +all one against another. + +The queen had become, as the reader will perceive, extremely powerful +in a very short time. The spirit of discussion and controversy which now +sprang up was singularly favorable to her position. The Catholics and +the Reformers were equally pleased to exhibit their brilliancy one after +another in this tournament of words; for that is what it actually was, +and no more. It is extraordinary that historians have mistaken one of +the wiliest schemes of the great queen for uncertainty and hesitation! +Catherine never went more directly to her own ends than in just such +schemes which appeared to thwart them. The king of Navarre, quite +incapable of understanding her motives, fell into her plan in all +sincerity, and despatched Chaudieu to Calvin, as we have seen. The +minister had risked his life to be secretly in Orleans and watch events; +for he was, while there, in hourly peril of being discovered and hung as +a man under sentence of banishment. + +According to the then fashion of travelling, Chaudieu could not reach +Geneva before the month of February, and the negotiations were not +likely to be concluded before the end of March; consequently the +assembly could certainly not take place before the month of May, +1561. Catherine, meantime, intended to amuse the court and the various +conflicting interests by the coronation of the king, and the ceremonies +of his first "lit de justice," at which l'Hopital and de Thou recorded +the letters-patent by which Charles IX. confided the administration to +his mother in common with the present lieutenant-general of the kingdom, +Antoine de Navarre, the weakest prince of those days. + +Is it not a strange spectacle this of the great kingdom of France +waiting in suspense for the "yes" or "no" of a French burgher, hitherto +an obscure man, living for many years past in Geneva? The transalpine +pope held in check by the pontiff of Geneva! The two Lorrain princes, +lately all-powerful, now paralyzed by the momentary coalition of the +queen-mother and the first prince of the blood with Calvin! Is not +this, I say, one of the most instructive lessons ever given to kings +by history,--a lesson which should teach them to study men, to seek out +genius, and employ it, as did Louis XIV., wherever God has placed it? + +Calvin, whose name was not Calvin but Cauvin, was the son of a cooper +at Noyon in Picardy. The region of his birth explains in some degree the +obstinacy combined with capricious eagerness which distinguished this +arbiter of the destinies of France in the sixteenth century. Nothing is +less known than the nature of this man, who gave birth to Geneva and to +the spirit that emanated from that city. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who had +very little historical knowledge, has completely ignored the influence +of Calvin on his republic. At first the embryo Reformer, who lived +in one of the humblest houses in the upper town, near the church of +Saint-Pierre, over a carpenter's shop (first resemblance between him and +Robespierre), had no great authority in Geneva. In fact for a long time +his power was malevolently checked by the Genevese. The town was the +residence in those days of a citizen whose fame, like that of several +others, remained unknown to the world at large and for a time to Geneva +itself. This man, Farel, about the year 1537, detained Calvin in Geneva, +pointing out to him that the place could be made the safe centre of +a reformation more active and thorough than that of Luther. Farel and +Calvin regarded Lutheranism as an incomplete work,--insufficient in +itself and without any real grip upon France. Geneva, midway between +France and Italy, and speaking the French language, was admirably +situated for ready communication with Germany, France, and Italy. Calvin +thereupon adopted Geneva as the site of his moral fortunes; he made it +thenceforth the citadel of his ideas. + +The Council of Geneva, at Farel's entreaty, authorized Calvin in +September, 1538, to give lectures on theology. Calvin left the duties of +the ministry to Farel, his first disciple, and gave himself up patiently +to the work of teaching his doctrine. His authority, which became so +absolute in the last years of his life, was obtained with difficulty and +very slowly. The great agitator met with such serious obstacles that he +was banished for a time from Geneva on account of the severity of his +reform. A party of honest citizens still clung to their old luxury and +their old customs. But, as usually happens, these good people, fearing +ridicule, would not admit the real object of their efforts, and kept up +their warfare against the new doctrines on points altogether foreign to +the real question. Calvin insisted that _leavened bread_ should be +used for the communion, and that all feasts should be abolished except +Sundays. These innovations were disapproved of at Berne and at +Lausanne. Notice was served on the Genevese to conform to the ritual of +Switzerland. Calvin and Farel resisted; their political opponents used +this disobedience to drive them from Geneva, whence they were, in fact, +banished for several years. Later Calvin returned triumphantly at the +demand of his flock. Such persecutions always become in the end the +consecration of a moral power; and, in this case, Calvin's return was +the beginning of his era as prophet. He then organized his religious +Terror, and the executions began. On his reappearance in the city he was +admitted into the ranks of the Genevese burghers; but even then, after +fourteen years' residence, he was not made a member of the Council. At +the time of which we write, when Catherine sent her envoy to him, this +king of ideas had no other title than that of "pastor of the Church of +Geneva." Moreover, Calvin never in his life received a salary of +more than one hundred and fifty francs in money yearly, fifteen +hundred-weight of wheat, and two barrels of wine. His brother, a tailor, +kept a shop close to the place Saint-Pierre, in a street now occupied +by one of the large printing establishments of Geneva. Such personal +disinterestedness, which was lacking in Voltaire, Newton, and Bacon, +but eminent in the lives of Rabelais, Spinosa, Loyola, Kant, and +Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is indeed a magnificent frame to those ardent and +sublime figures. + +The career of Robespierre can alone picture to the minds of the present +day that of Calvin, who, founding his power on the same bases, was as +despotic and as cruel as the lawyer of Arras. It is a noticeable fact +that Picardy (Arras and Noyon) furnished both these instruments of +reformation! Persons who wish to study the motives of the executions +ordered by Calvin will find, all relations considered, another 1793 in +Geneva. Calvin cut off the head of Jacques Gruet "for having written +impious letters, libertine verses, and for working to overthrow +ecclesiastical ordinances." Reflect upon that sentence, and ask +yourselves if the worst tyrants in their saturnalias ever gave more +horribly burlesque reasons for their cruelties. Valentin Gentilis, +condemned to death for "involuntary heresy," escaped execution only by +making a submission far more ignominious than was ever imposed by the +Catholic Church. Seven years before the conference which was now to take +place in Calvin's house on the proposals of the queen-mother, Michel +Servet, _a Frenchman_, travelling through Switzerland, was arrested at +Geneva, tried, condemned, and burned alive, on Calvin's accusation, +for having "attacked the mystery of the Trinity," in a book which +was neither written nor published in Geneva. Remember the eloquent +remonstrance of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose book, overthrowing the +Catholic religion, written in France and published in Holland, was +burned by the hangman, while the author, a foreigner, was merely +banished from the kingdom where he had endeavored to destroy the +fundamental proofs of religion and of authority. Compare the conduct +of our Parliament with that of the Genevese tyrant. Again: Bolsee +was brought to trial for "having other ideas than those of Calvin +on predestination." Consider these things, and ask yourselves if +Fourquier-Tinville did worse. The savage religious intolerance of +Calvin was, morally speaking, more implacable than the savage political +intolerance of Robespierre. On a larger stage than that of Geneva, +Calvin would have shed more blood than did the terrible apostle of +political equality as opposed to Catholic equality. Three centuries +earlier a monk of Picardy drove the whole West upon the East. Peter the +Hermit, Calvin, and Robespierre, each at an interval of three hundred +years and all three from the same region, were, politically speaking, +the Archimedean screws of their age,--at each epoch a Thought which +found its fulcrum in the self-interest of mankind. + +Calvin was undoubtedly the maker of that melancholy town called Geneva, +where, only ten years ago, a man said, pointing to a porte-cochere in +the upper town, the first ever built there: "By that door luxury has +invaded Geneva." Calvin gave birth, by the sternness of his doctrines +and his executions, to that form of hypocritical sentiment called +"cant."[*] According to those who practice it, good morals consist in +renouncing the arts and the charms of life, in eating richly but without +luxury, in silently amassing money without enjoying it otherwise than as +Calvin enjoyed power--by thought. Calvin imposed on all the citizens of +his adopted town the same gloomy pall which he spread over his own +life. He created in the Consistory a Calvinistic inquisition, absolutely +similar to the revolutionary tribunal of Robespierre. The Consistory +denounced the persons to be condemned to the Council, and Calvin ruled +the Council through the Consistory, just as Robespierre ruled the +Convention through the Club of the Jacobins. In this way an eminent +magistrate of Geneva was condemned to two months' imprisonment, the loss +of all his offices, and the right of ever obtaining others "because he +led a disorderly life and was intimate with Calvin's enemies." Calvin +thus became a legislator. He created the austere, sober, commonplace, +and hideously sad, but irreproachable manners and customs which +characterize Geneva to the present day,--customs preceding those of +England called Puritanism, which were due to the Cameronians, disciples +of Cameron (a Frenchman deriving his doctrine from Calvin), whom Sir +Walter Scott depicts so admirably. The poverty of a man, a sovereign +master, who negotiated, power to power, with kings, demanding armies and +subsidies, and plunging both hands into their savings laid aside for the +unfortunate, proves that thought, used solely as a means of domination, +gives birth to political misers,--men who enjoy by their brains only, +and, like the Jesuits, want power for power's sake. Pitt, Luther, +Calvin, Robespierre, all those Harpagons of power, died without a penny. +The inventory taken in Calvin's house after his death, which comprised +all his property, even his books, amounted in value, as history records, +to two hundred and fifty francs. That of Luther came to about the same +sum; his widow, the famous Catherine de Bora, was forced to petition for +a pension of five hundred francs, which as granted to her by an Elector +of Germany. Potemkin, Richelieu, Mazarin, those men of thought and +action, all three of whom made or laid the foundation of empires, each +left over three hundred millions behind them. They had hearts; they +loved women and the arts; they built, they conquered; whereas with the +exception of the wife of Luther, the Helen of that Iliad, all the others +had no tenderness, no beating of the heart for any woman with which to +reproach themselves. + + [*] _Momerie_. + +This brief digression was necessary in order to explain Calvin's +position in Geneva. + +During the first days of the month of February in the year 1561, on a +soft, warm evening such as we may sometimes find at that season on Lake +Leman, two horsemen arrived at the Pre-l'Eveque,--thus called because +it was the former country-place of the Bishop of Geneva, driven from +Switzerland about thirty years earlier. These horsemen, who no doubt +knew the laws of Geneva about the closing of the gates (then a necessity +and now very ridiculous) rode in the direction of the Porte de Rive; +but they stopped their horses suddenly on catching sight of a man, about +fifty years of age, leaning on the arm of a servant-woman, and walking +slowly toward the town. This man, who was rather stout, walked with +difficulty, putting one foot after the other with pain apparently, for +he wore round shoes of black velvet, laced in front. + +"It is he!" said Chaudieu to the other horseman, who immediately +dismounted, threw the reins to his companion, and went forward, opening +wide his arms to the man on foot. + +The man, who was Jean Calvin, drew back to avoid the embrace, casting +a stern look at his disciple. At fifty years of age Calvin looked as +though he were sixty. Stout and stocky in figure, he seemed shorter +still because the horrible sufferings of stone in the bladder obliged +him to bend almost double as he walked. These pains were complicated by +attacks of gout of the worst kind. Every one trembled before that face, +almost as broad as it was long, on which, in spite of its roundness, +there was as little human-kindness as on that of Henry the Eighth, whom +Calvin greatly resembled. Sufferings which gave him no respite were +manifest in the deep-cut lines starting from each side of the nose and +following the curve of the moustache till they were lost in the thick +gray beard. This face, though red and inflamed like that of a heavy +drinker, showed spots where the skin was yellow. In spite of the velvet +cap, which covered the huge square head, a vast forehead of noble shape +could be seen and admired; beneath it shone two dark eyes, which must +have flashed forth flame in moments of anger. Whether by reason of his +obesity, or because of his thick, short neck, or in consequence of his +vigils and his constant labors, Calvin's head was sunk between his +broad shoulders, which obliged him to wear a fluted ruff of very small +dimensions, on which his face seemed to lie like the head of John the +Baptist on a charger. Between his moustache and his beard could be seen, +like a rose, his small and fresh and eloquent little mouth, shaped in +perfection. The face was divided by a square nose, remarkable for the +flexibility of its entire length, the tip of which was significantly +flat, seeming the more in harmony with the prodigious power expressed by +the form of that imperial head. Though it might have been difficult +to discover on his features any trace of the weekly headaches which +tormented Calvin in the intervals of the slow fever that consumed him, +suffering, ceaselessly resisted by study and by will, gave to that mask, +superficially so florid, a certain something that was terrible. Perhaps +this impression was explainable by the color of a sort of greasy layer +on the skin, due to the sedentary habits of the toiler, showing evidence +of the perpetual struggle which went on between that valetudinarian +temperament and one of the strongest wills ever known in the history +of the human mind. The mouth, though charming, had an expression of +cruelty. Chastity, necessitated by vast designs, exacted by so many +sickly conditions, was written upon that face. Regrets were there, +notwithstanding the serenity of that all-powerful brow, together with +pain in the glance of those eyes, the calmness of which was terrifying. + +Calvin's costume brought into full relief this powerful head. He wore +the well-known cassock of black cloth, fastened round his waist by +a black cloth belt with a brass buckle, which became thenceforth the +distinctive dress of all Calvinist ministers, and was so uninteresting +to the eye that it forced the spectator's attention upon the wearer's +face. + +"I suffer too much, Theodore, to embrace you," said Calvin to the +elegant cavalier. + +Theodore de Beze, then forty-two years of age and lately admitted, at +Calvin's request, as a Genevese burgher, formed a violent contrast to +the terrible pastor whom he had chosen as his sovereign guide and ruler. +Calvin, like all burghers raised to moral sovereignty, and all +inventors of social systems, was eaten up with jealousy. He abhorred +his disciples; he wanted no equals; he could not bear the slightest +contradiction. Yet there was between him and this graceful cavalier +so marked a difference, Theodore de Beze was gifted with so charming a +personality enhanced by a politeness trained by court life, and Calvin +felt him to be so unlike his other surly janissaries, that the stern +reformer departed in de Beze's case from his usual habits. He never +loved him, for this harsh legislator totally ignored all friendship, +but, not fearing him in the light of a successor, he liked to play +with Theodore as Richelieu played with his cat; he found him supple and +agile. Seeing how admirably de Beze succeeded in all his missions, he +took a fancy to the polished instrument of which he knew himself the +mainspring and the manipulator; so true is it that the sternest of men +cannot do without some semblance of affection. Theodore was Calvin's +spoilt child; the harsh reformer never scolded him; he forgave him his +dissipations, his amours, his fine clothes and his elegance of language. +Perhaps Calvin was not unwilling to show that the Reformation had a few +men of the world to compare with the men of the court. Theodore de Beze +was anxious to introduce a taste for the arts, for literature, and for +poesy into Geneva, and Calvin listened to his plans without knitting his +thick gray eyebrows. Thus the contrast of character and person between +these two celebrated men was as complete and marked as the difference in +their minds. + +Calvin acknowledged Chaudieu's very humble salutation by a slight +inclination of the head. Chaudieu slipped the bridles of both horses +through his arms and followed the two great men of the Reformation, +walking to the left, behind de Beze, who was on Calvin's right. The +servant-woman hastened on in advance to prevent the closing of the Porte +de Rive, by informing the captain of the guard that Calvin had been +seized with sudden acute pains. + +Theodore de Beze was a native of the canton of Vezelay, which was +the first to enter the Confederation, the curious history of which +transaction has been written by one of the Thierrys. The burgher spirit +of resistance, endemic at Vezelay, no doubt, played its part in the +person of this man, in the great revolt of the Reformers; for de Beze +was undoubtedly one of the most singular personalities of the Heresy. + +"You suffer still?" said Theodore to Calvin. + +"A Catholic would say, 'like a lost soul,'" replied the Reformer, with +the bitterness he gave to his slightest remarks. "Ah! I shall not be +here long, my son. What will become of you without me?" + +"We shall fight by the light of your books," said Chaudieu. + +Calvin smiled; his red face changed to a pleased expression, and he +looked favorably at Chaudieu. + +"Well, have you brought me news? Have they massacred many of our +people?" he said smiling, and letting a sarcastic joy shine in his brown +eyes. + +"No," said Chaudieu, "all is peaceful." + +"So much the worse," cried Calvin; "so much the worse! All pacification +is an evil, if indeed it is not a trap. Our strength lies in +persecution. Where should we be if the Church accepted Reform?" + +"But," said Theodore, "that is precisely what the queen-mother appears +to wish." + +"She is capable of it," remarked Calvin. "I study that woman--" + +"What, at this distance?" cried Chaudieu. + +"Is there any distance for the mind?" replied Calvin, sternly, for he +thought the interruption irreverent. "Catherine seeks power, and women +with that in their eye have neither honor nor faith. But what is she +doing now?" + +"I bring you a proposal from her to call a species of council," replied +Theodore de Beze. + +"Near Paris?" asked Calvin, hastily. + +"Yes." + +"Ha! so much the better!" exclaimed the Reformer. + +"We are to try to understand each other and draw up some public +agreement which shall unite the two churches." + +"Ah! if she would only have the courage to separate the French Church +from the court of Rome, and create a patriarch for France as they did +in the Greek Church!" cried Calvin, his eyes glistening at the idea thus +presented to his mind of a possible throne. "But, my son, can the niece +of a Pope be sincere? She is only trying to gain time." + +"She has sent away the Queen of Scots," said Chaudieu. + +"One less!" remarked Calvin, as they passed through the Porte de Rive. +"Elizabeth of England will restrain that one for us. Two neighboring +queens will soon be at war with each other. One is handsome, the other +ugly,--a first cause for irritation; besides, there's the question of +illegitimacy--" + +He rubbed his hands, and the character of his joy was so evidently +ferocious that de Beze shuddered: he saw the sea of blood his master was +contemplating. + +"The Guises have irritated the house of Bourbon," said Theodore after a +pause. "They came to an open rupture at Orleans." + +"Ah!" said Calvin, "you would not believe me, my son, when I told you +the last time you started for Nerac that we should end by stirring up +war to the death between the two branches of the house of France? I +have, at least, one court, one king and royal family on my side. My +doctrine is producing its effect upon the masses. The burghers, too, +understand me; they regard as idolators all who go to Mass, who paint +the walls of their churches, and put pictures and statues within them. +Ha! it is far more easy for a people to demolish churches and palaces +than to argue the question of justification by faith, or the real +presence. Luther was an argufier, but I,--I am an army! He was a +reasoner, I am a system. In short, my sons, he was merely a skirmisher, +but I am Tarquin! Yes, _my_ faithful shall destroy pictures and pull +down churches; they shall make mill-stones of statues to grind the +flour of the peoples. There are guilds and corporations in the +States-general--I will have nothing there but individuals. Corporations +resist; they see clear where the masses are blind. We must join to +our doctrine political interests which will consolidate it, and keep +together the _materiel_ of my armies. I have satisfied the logic of +cautious souls and the minds of thinkers by this bared and naked worship +which carries religion into the world of ideas; I have made the peoples +understand the advantages of suppressing ceremony. It is for you, +Theodore, to enlist their interests; hold to that; go not beyond it. +All is said in the way of doctrine; let no one add one iota. Why does +Cameron, that little Gascon pastor, presume to write of it?" + +Calvin, de Beze, and Chaudieu were mounting the steep steps of the +upper town in the midst of a crowd, but the crowd paid not the slightest +attention to the men who were unchaining the mobs of other cities and +preparing them to ravage France. + +After this terrible tirade, the three marched on in silence till they +entered the little place Saint-Pierre and turned toward the pastor's +house. On the second story of that house (never noted, and of which in +these days no one is ever told in Geneva, where, it may be remarked, +Calvin has no statue) his lodging consisted of three chambers with +common pine floors and wainscots, at the end of which were the kitchen +and the bedroom of his woman-servant. The entrance, as usually happened +in most of the burgher households of Geneva, was through the kitchen, +which opened into a little room with two windows, serving as parlor, +salon, and dining-room. Calvin's study, where his thought had wrestled +with suffering for the last fourteen years, came next, with the bedroom +beyond it. Four oaken chairs covered with tapestry and placed around +a square table were the sole furniture of the parlor. A stove of white +porcelain, standing in one corner of the room, cast out a gentle heat. +Panels and a wainscot of pine wood left in its natural state without +decoration covered the walls. Thus the nakedness of the place was in +keeping with the sober and simple life of the Reformer. + +"Well?" said de Beze as they entered, profiting by a few moments when +Chaudieu left them to put up the horse at a neighboring inn, "what am I +to do? Will you agree to the colloquy?" + +"Of course," replied Calvin. "And it is you, my son, who will fight for +us there. Be peremptory, be arbitrary. No one, neither the queen nor the +Guises nor I, wants a pacification; it would not suit us at all. I have +confidence in Duplessis-Mornay; let him play the leading part. Are we +alone?" he added, with a glance of distrust into the kitchen, where two +shirts and a few collars were stretched on a line to dry. "Go and shut +all the doors. Well," he continued when Theodore had returned, "we +must drive the king of Navarre to join the Guises and the Connetable by +advising him to break with Queen Catherine de' Medici. Let us all get +the benefit of that poor creature's weakness. If he turns against +the Italian she will, when she sees herself deprived of that support, +necessarily unite with the Prince de Conde and Coligny. Perhaps this +manoeuvre will so compromise her that she will be forced to remain on +our side." + +Theodore de Beze caught the hem of Calvin's cassock and kissed it. + +"Oh! my master," he exclaimed, "how great you are!" + +"Unfortunately, my dear Theodore, I am dying. If I die without seeing +you again," he added, sinking his voice and speaking in the ear of his +minister of foreign affairs, "remember to strike a great blow by the +hand of some one of our martyrs." + +"Another Minard to be killed?" + +"Something better than a mere lawyer." + +"A king?" + +"Still better!--a man who wants to be a king." + +"The Duc de Guise!" exclaimed Theodore, with an involuntary gesture. + +"Well?" cried Calvin, who thought he saw disappointment or resistance +in the gesture, and did not see at the same moment the entrance of +Chaudieu. "Have we not the right to strike as we are struck?--yes, to +strike in silence and in darkness. May we not return them wound for +wound, and death for death? Would the Catholics hesitate to lay traps +for us and massacre us? Assuredly not. Let us burn their churches! +Forward, my children! And if you have devoted youths--" + +"I have," said Chaudieu. + +"Use them as engines of war! our cause justifies all means. Le Balafre, +that horrible soldier, is, like me, more than a man; he is a dynasty, +just as I am a system. He is able to annihilate us; therefore, I say, +Death to the Guise!" + +"I would rather have a peaceful victory, won by time and reason," said +de Beze. + +"Time!" exclaimed Calvin, dashing his chair to the ground, "reason! Are +you mad? Can reason achieve conquests? You know nothing of men, you who +deal with them, idiot! The thing that injures my doctrine, you triple +fool! is the reason that is in it. By the lightning of Saul, by the +sword of Vengeance, thou pumpkin-head, do you not see the vigor given +to my Reform by the massacre at Amboise? Ideas never grow till they +are watered with blood. The slaying of the Duc de Guise will lead to a +horrible persecution, and I pray for it with all my might. Our reverses +are preferable to success. The Reformation has an object to gain in +being attacked; do you hear me, dolt? It cannot hurt us to be defeated, +whereas Catholicism is at an end if we should win but a single +battle. Ha! what are my lieutenants?--rags, wet rags instead of men! +white-haired cravens! baptized apes! O God, grant me ten years more of +life! If I die too soon the cause of true religion is lost in the hands +of such boobies! You are as great a fool as Antoine de Navarre! Out of +my sight! Leave me; I want a better negotiator than you! You are an ass, +a popinjay, a poet! Go and make your elegies and your acrostics, you +trifler! Hence!" + +The pains of his body were absolutely overcome by the fire of his anger; +even the gout subsided under this horrible excitement of his mind. +Calvin's face flushed purple, like the sky before a storm. His vast brow +shone. His eyes flamed. He was no longer himself. He gave way utterly to +the species of epileptic motion, full of passion, which was common with +him. But in the very midst of it he was struck by the attitude of the +two witnesses; then, as he caught the words of Chaudieu saying to de +Beze, "The Burning Bush!" he sat down, was silent, and covered his face +with his two hands, the knotted veins of which were throbbing in spite +of their coarse texture. + +Some minutes later, still shaken by this storm raised within him by the +continence of his life, he said in a voice of emotion:-- + +"My sins, which are many, cost me less trouble to subdue, than my +impatience. Oh, savage beast! shall I never vanquish you?" he cried, +beating his breast. + +"My dear master," said de Beze, in a tender voice, taking Calvin's hand +and kissing it, "Jupiter thunders, but he knows how to smile." + +Calvin looked at his disciple with a softened eye and said:-- + +"Understand me, my friends." + +"I understand that the pastors of peoples bear great burdens," replied +Theodore. "You have a world upon your shoulders." + +"I have three martyrs," said Chaudieu, whom the master's outburst had +rendered thoughtful, "on whom we can rely. Stuart, who killed Minard, is +at liberty--" + +"You are mistaken," said Calvin, gently, smiling after the manner of +great men who bring fair weather into their faces as though they were +ashamed of the previous storm. "I know human nature; a man may kill one +president, but not two." + +"Is it absolutely necessary?" asked de Beze. + +"Again!" exclaimed Calvin, his nostrils swelling. "Come, leave me, you +will drive me to fury. Take my decision to the queen. You, Chaudieu, go +your way, and hold your flock together in Paris. God guide you! Dinah, +light my friends to the door." + +"Will you not permit me to embrace you?" said Theodore, much moved. "Who +knows what may happen to us on the morrow? We may be seized in spite of +our safe-conduct." + +"And yet you want to spare them!" cried Calvin, embracing de Beze. +Then he took Chaudieu's hand and said: "Above all, no Huguenots, no +Reformers, but _Calvinists_! Use no term but Calvinism. Alas! this is +not ambition, for I am dying,--but it is necessary to destroy the whole +of Luther, even to the name of Lutheran and Lutheranism." + +"Ah! man divine," cried Chaudieu, "you well deserve such honors." + +"Maintain the uniformity of the doctrine; let no one henceforth change +or remark it. We are lost if new sects issue from our bosom." + +We will here anticipate the events on which this Study is based, and +close the history of Theodore de Beze, who went to Paris with Chaudieu. +It is to be remarked that Poltrot, who fired at the Duc de Guise fifteen +months later, confessed under torture that he had been urged to the +crime by Theodore de Beze; though he retracted that avowal during +subsequent tortures; so that Bossuet, after weighing all historical +considerations, felt obliged to acquit Beze of instigating the crime. +Since Bossuet's time, however, an apparently futile dissertation, +apropos of a celebrated song, has led a compiler of the eighteenth +century to prove that the verses on the death of the Duc de Guise, sung +by the Huguenots from one end of France to the other, was the work of +Theodore de Beze; and it is also proved that the famous song on the +burial of Marlborough was a plagiarism on it.[*] + + [*] One of the most remarkable instances of the transmission + of songs is that of Marlborough. Written in the first + instance by a Huguenot on the death of the Duc de Guise in + 1563, it was preserved in the French army, and appears to + have been sung with variations, suppressions, and additions + at the death of all generals of importance. When the + intestine wars were over the song followed the soldiers into + civil life. It was never forgotten (though the habit of + singing it may have lessened), and in 1781, sixty years + after the death of Marlborough, the wet-nurse of the Dauphin + was heard to sing it as she suckled her nursling. When and + why the name of the Duke of Marlborough was substituted for + that of the Duc de Guise has never been ascertained. See + "Chansons Populaires," par Charles Nisard: Paris, Dentu, + 1867.--Tr. + + + + +XIV. CATHERINE IN POWER + +The day on which Theodore de Beze and Chaudieu arrived in Paris, +the court returned from Rheims, where Charles IX. was crowned. This +ceremony, which Catherine made magnificent with splendid fetes, enabled +her to gather about her the leaders of the various parties. Having +studied all interests and all factions, she found herself with two +alternatives from which to choose; either to rally them all to the +throne, or to pit them one against the other. The Connetable de +Montmorency, supremely Catholic, whose nephew, the Prince de Conde, +was leader of the Reformers, and whose sons were inclined to the new +religion, blamed the alliance of the queen-mother with the Reformation. +The Guises, on their side, were endeavoring to gain over Antoine de +Bourbon, king of Navarre, a weak prince; a manoeuvre which his wife, +Jeanne d'Albret, instructed by de Beze, allowed to succeed. The +difficulties were plain to Catherine, whose dawning power needed a +period of tranquillity. She therefore impatiently awaited Calvin's reply +to the message which the Prince de Conde, the king of Navarre, Coligny, +d'Andelot, and the Cardinal de Chatillon had sent him through de Beze +and Chaudieu. Meantime, however, she was faithful to her promises as +to the Prince de Conde. The chancellor put an end to the proceedings in +which Christophe was involved by referring the affair to the Parliament +of Paris, which at once set aside the judgment of the committee, +declaring it without power to try a prince of the blood. The Parliament +then reopened the trial, at the request of the Guises and the +queen-mother. Lasagne's papers had already been given to Catherine, who +burned them. The giving up of these papers was a first pledge, uselessly +made by the Guises to the queen-mother. The Parliament, no longer able +to take cognizance of those decisive proofs, reinstated the prince in +all his rights, property, and honors. Christophe, released during the +tumult at Orleans on the death of the king, was acquitted in the first +instance, and appointed, in compensation for his sufferings, solicitor +to the Parliament, at the request of his godfather Monsieur de Thou. + +The Triumvirate, that coming coalition of self-interests threatened by +Catherine's first acts, was now forming itself under her very eyes. +Just as in chemistry antagonistic substances separate at the first shock +which jars their enforced union, so in politics the alliance of opposing +interests never lasts. Catherine thoroughly understood that sooner or +later she should return to the Guises and combine with them and the +Connetable to do battle against the Huguenots. The proposed "colloquy" +which tempted the vanity of the orators of all parties, and offered an +imposing spectacle to succeed that of the coronation and enliven the +bloody ground of a religious war which, in point of fact, had already +begun, was as futile in the eyes of the Duc de Guise as in those +of Catherine. The Catholics would, in one sense be worsted; for the +Huguenots, under pretext of conferring, would be able to proclaim their +doctrine, with the sanction of the king and his mother, to the ears of +all France. The Cardinal de Lorraine, flattered by Catherine into the +idea of destroying the heresy by the eloquence of the Church, +persuaded his brother to consent; and thus the queen obtained what was +all-essential to her, six months of peace. + +A slight event, occurring at this time, came near compromising the +power which Catherine had so painfully built up. The following scene, +preserved in history, took place, on the very day the envoys returned +from Geneva, in the hotel de Coligny near the Louvre. At his coronation, +Charles IX., who was greatly attached to his tutor Amyot, appointed him +grand-almoner of France. This affection was shared by his brother the +Duc d'Anjou, afterwards Henri III., another of Anjou's pupils. Catherine +heard the news of this appointment from the two Gondis during the +journey from Rheims to Paris. She had counted on that office in the gift +of the Crown to gain a supporter in the Church with whom to oppose the +Cardinal de Lorraine. Her choice had fallen on the Cardinal de Tournon, +in whom she expected to find, as in l'Hopital, another _crutch_--the +word is her own. As soon as she reached the Louvre she sent for the +tutor, and her anger was such, on seeing the disaster to her policy +caused by the ambition of this son of a shoemaker, that she was betrayed +into using the following extraordinary language, which several memoirs +of the day have handed down to us:-- + +"What!" she cried, "am I, who compel the Guises, the Colignys, the +Connetables, the house of Navarre, the Prince de Conde, to serve my +ends, am I to be opposed by a priestling like you who are not satisfied +to be bishop of Auxerre?" + +Amyot excused himself. He assured the queen that he had asked nothing; +the king of his own will had given him the office of which he, the son +of a poor tailor, felt himself quite unworthy. + +"Be assured, _maitre_," replied Catherine (that being the name which the +two kings, Charles IX. and Henri III., gave to the great writer) "that +you will not stand on your feet twenty-four hours hence, unless you make +your pupil change his mind." + +Between the death thus threatened and the resignation of the highest +ecclesiastical office in the gift of the crown, the son of the +shoemaker, who had lately become extremely eager after honors, and may +even have coveted a cardinal's hat, thought it prudent to temporize. +He left the court and hid himself in the abbey of Saint-Germain. When +Charles IX. did not see him at his first dinner, he asked where he was. +Some Guisard doubtless told him of what had occurred between Amyot and +the queen-mother. + +"Has he been forced to disappear because I made him grand-almoner?" +cried the king. + +He thereupon rushed to his mother in the violent wrath of angry children +when their caprices are opposed. + +"Madame," he said on entering, "did I not kindly sign the letter you +asked me to send to Parliament, by means of which you govern my kingdom? +Did you not promise that if I did so my will should be yours? And +here, the first favor that I wish to bestow excites your jealousy! The +chancellor talks of declaring my majority at fourteen, three years from +now, and you wish to treat me as a child. By God, I will be king, and a +king as my father and grandfather were kings!" + +The tone and manner in which these words were said gave Catherine +a revelation of her son's true character; it was like a blow in the +breast. + +"He speaks to me thus, he whom I made a king!" she thought. "Monsieur," +she said aloud, "the office of a king, in times like these, is a very +difficult one; you do not yet know the shrewd men with whom you have +to deal. You will never have a safer and more sincere friend than your +mother, or better servants than those who have been so long attached +to her person, without whose services you might perhaps not even exist +to-day. The Guises want both your life and your throne, be sure of that. +If they could sew me into a sack and fling me into the river," she said, +pointing to the Seine, "it would be done to-night. They know that I am a +lioness defending her young, and that I alone prevent their daring hands +from seizing your crown. To whom--to whose party does your tutor belong? +Who are his allies? What authority has he? What services can he do you? +What weight do his words carry? Instead of finding a prop to sustain +your power, you have cut the ground from under it. The Cardinal de +Lorraine is a living threat to you; he plays the king; he keeps his hat +on his head before the princes of the blood; it was urgently necessary +to invest another cardinal with powers greater than his own. But what +have you done? Is Amyot, that shoemaker, fit only to tie the ribbons +of his shoes, is he capable of making head against the Guise ambition? +However, you love Amyot, you have appointed him; your will must now +be done, monsieur. But before you make such gifts again, I pray you to +consult me in affectionate good faith. Listen to reasons of state; and +your own good sense as a child may perhaps agree with my old experience, +when you really understand the difficulties that lie before you." + +"Then I can have my master back again?" cried the king, not listening to +his mother's words, which he considered to be mere reproaches. + +"Yes, you shall have him," she replied. "But it is not here, nor that +brutal Cypierre who will teach you how to reign." + +"It is for you to do so, my dear mother," said the boy, mollified by his +victory and relaxing the surly and threatening look stamped by nature +upon his countenance. + +Catherine sent Gondi to recall the new grand-almoner. When the Italian +discovered the place of Amyot's retreat, and the bishop heard that the +courtier was sent by the queen, he was seized with terror and refused to +leave the abbey. In this extremity Catherine was obliged to write to him +herself, in such terms that he returned to Paris and received from her +own lips the assurance of her protection,--on condition, however, that +he would blindly promote her wishes with Charles IX. + +This little domestic tempest over, the queen, now re-established in +the Louvre after an absence of more than a year, held council with her +closest friends as to the proper conduct to pursue with the young king +whom Cypierre had complimented on his firmness. + +"What is best to be done?" she said to the two Gondis, Ruggiero, Birago, +and Chiverni who had lately become governor and chancellor to the Duc +d'Anjou. + +"Before all else," replied Birago, "get rid of Cypierre. He is not a +courtier; he will never accommodate himself to your ideas, and will +think he does his duty in thwarting you." + +"Whom can I trust?" cried the queen. + +"One of us," said Birago. + +"On my honor!" exclaimed Gondi, "I'll promise you to make the king as +docile as the king of Navarre." + +"You allowed the late king to perish to save your other children," +said Albert de Gondi. "Do, then, as the great signors of Constantinople +do,--divert the anger and amuse the caprices of the present king. He +loves art and poetry and hunting, also a little girl he saw at Orleans; +_there's_ occupation enough for him." + +"Will you really be the king's governor?" said Catherine to the ablest +of the Gondis. + +"Yes, if you will give me the necessary authority; you may even be +obliged to make me marshal of France and a duke. Cypierre is altogether +too small a man to hold the office. In future, the governor of a king of +France should be of some great dignity, like that of duke and marshal." + +"He is right," said Birago. + +"Poet and huntsman," said Catherine in a dreamy tone. + +"We will hunt and make love!" cried Gondi. + +"Moreover," remarked Chiverni, "you are sure of Amyot, who will always +fear poison in case of disobedience; so that you and he and Gondi can +hold the king in leading-strings." + +"Amyot has deeply offended me," said Catherine. + +"He does not know what he owes to you; if he did know, you would be in +danger," replied Birago, gravely, emphasizing his words. + +"Then, it is agreed," exclaimed Catherine, on whom Birago's reply made a +powerful impression, "that you, Gondi, are to be the king's governor. My +son must consent to do for one of my friends a favor equal to the one +I have just permitted for his knave of a bishop. That fool has lost the +hat; for never, as long as I live, will I consent that the Pope shall +give it to him! How strong we might have been with Cardinal de Tournon! +What a trio with Tournon for grand-almoner, and l'Hopital, and de Thou! +As for the burghers of Paris, I intend to make my son cajole them; we +will get a support there." + +Accordingly, Albert de Gondi became a marshal of France and was created +Duc de Retz and governor of the king a few days later. + +At the moment when this little private council ended, Cardinal de +Tournon announced to the queen the arrival of the emissaries sent to +Calvin. Admiral Coligny accompanied the party in order that his presence +might ensure them due respect at the Louvre. The queen gathered the +formidable phalanx of her maids of honor about her, and passed into +the reception hall, built by her husband, which no longer exists in the +Louvre of to-day. + +At the period of which we write the staircase of the Louvre occupied +the clock tower. Catherine's apartments were in the old buildings which +still exist in the court of the Musee. The present staircase of the +museum was built in what was formerly the _salle des ballets_. The +ballet of those days was a sort of dramatic entertainment performed by +the whole court. + +Revolutionary passions gave rise to a most laughable error about Charles +IX., in connection with the Louvre. During the Revolution hostile +opinions as to this king, whose real character was masked, made a +monster of him. Joseph Cheniers tragedy was written under the influence +of certain words scratched on the window of the projecting wing of the +Louvre, looking toward the quay. The words were as follows: "It was from +this window that Charles IX., of execrable memory, fired upon French +citizens." It is well to inform future historians and all sensible +persons that this portion of the Louvre--called to-day the old +Louvre--which projects upon the quay and is connected with the Louvre by +the room called the Apollo gallery (while the great halls of the Museum +connect the Louvre with the Tuileries) did not exist in the time of +Charles IX. The greater part of the space where the frontage on the quay +now stands, and where the Garden of the Infanta is laid out, was +then occupied by the hotel de Bourbon, which belonged to and was +the residence of the house of Navarre. It was absolutely impossible, +therefore, for Charles IX. to fire from the Louvre of Henri II. upon +a boat full of Huguenots crossing the river, although _at the present +time_ the Seine can be seen from its windows. Even if learned men and +libraries did not possess maps of the Louvre made in the time of Charles +IX., on which its then position is clearly indicated, the building +itself refutes the error. All the kings who co-operated in the work +of erecting this enormous mass of buildings never failed to put their +initials or some special monogram on the parts they had severally built. +Now the part we speak of, the venerable and now blackened wing of +the Louvre, projecting on the quay and overlooking the garden of the +Infanta, bears the monograms of Henri III. and Henri IV., which are +totally different from that of Henri II., who invariably joined his H +to the two C's of Catherine, forming a D,--which, by the bye, has +constantly deceived superficial persons into fancying that the king put +the initial of his mistress, Diane, on great public buildings. Henri +IV. united the Louvre with his own hotel de Bourbon, its garden and +dependencies. He was the first to think of connecting Catherine de' +Medici's palace of the Tuileries with the Louvre by his unfinished +galleries, the precious sculptures of which have been so cruelly +neglected. Even if the map of Paris, and the monograms of Henri III. and +Henri IV. did not exist, the difference of architecture is refutation +enough to the calumny. The vermiculated stone copings of the hotel de la +Force mark the transition between what is called the architecture of +the Renaissance and that of Henri III., Henri IV., and Louis XIII. This +archaeological digression (continuing the sketches of old Paris with +which we began this history) enables us to picture to our minds the then +appearance of this other corner of the old city, of which nothing now +remains but Henri IV.'s addition to the Louvre, with its admirable +bas-reliefs, now being rapidly annihilated. + +When the court heard that the queen was about to give an audience to +Theodore de Beze and Chaudieu, presented by Admiral Coligny, all the +courtiers who had the right of entrance to the reception hall, hastened +thither to witness the interview. It was about six o'clock in the +evening; Coligny had just supped, and was using a toothpick as he came +up the staircase of the Louvre between the two Reformers. The practice +of using a toothpick was so inveterate a habit with the admiral that +he was seen to do it on the battle-field while planning a retreat. +"Distrust the admiral's toothpick, the _No_ of the Connetable, +and Catherine's _Yes_," was a court proverb of that day. After the +Saint-Bartholomew the populace made a horrible jest on the body of +Coligny, which hung for three days at Montfaucon, by putting a grotesque +toothpick into his mouth. History has recorded this atrocious levity. +So petty an act done in the midst of that great catastrophe pictures +the Parisian populace, which deserves the sarcastic jibe of Boileau: +"Frenchmen, born _malin_, created the guillotine." The Parisian of all +time cracks jokes and makes lampoons before, during, and after the most +horrible revolutions. + +Theodore de Beze wore the dress of a courtier, black silk stockings, +low shoes with straps across the instep, tight breeches, a black silk +doublet with slashed sleeves, and a small black velvet mantle, over +which lay an elegant white fluted ruff. His beard was trimmed to a +moustache and _virgule_ (now called imperial) and he carried a sword +at his side and a cane in his hand. Whosoever knows the galleries of +Versailles or the collections of Odieuvre, knows also his round, almost +jovial face and lively eyes, surmounted by the broad forehead which +characterized the writers and poets of that day. De Beze had, what +served him admirably, an agreeable air and manner. In this he was a +great contrast to Coligny, of austere countenance, and to the sour, +bilious Chaudieu, who chose to wear on this occasion the robe and bands +of a Calvinist minister. + +The scenes that happen in our day in the Chamber of Deputies, and which, +no doubt, happened in the Convention, will give an idea of how, at this +court, at this epoch, these men, who six months later were to fight to +the death in a war without quarter, could meet and talk to each other +with courtesy and even laughter. Birago, who was coldly to advise the +Saint-Bartholomew, and Cardinal de Lorraine, who charged his servant +Besme "not to miss the admiral," now advanced to meet Coligny; Birago +saying, with a smile:-- + +"Well, my dear admiral, so you have really taken upon yourself to +present these gentlemen from Geneva?" + +"Perhaps you will call it a crime in _me_," replied the admiral, +jesting, "whereas if you had done it yourself you would make a merit of +it." + +"They say that the Sieur Calvin is very ill," remarked the Cardinal de +Lorraine to Theodore de Beze. "I hope no one suspects us of giving him +his broth." + +"Ah! monseigneur; it would be too great a risk," replied de Beze, +maliciously. + +The Duc de Guise, who was watching Chaudieu, looked fixedly at his +brother and at Birago, who were both taken aback by de Beze's answer. + +"Good God!" remarked the cardinal, "heretics are not diplomatic!" + +To avoid embarrassment, the queen, who was announced at this moment, had +arranged to remain standing during the audience. She began by speaking +to the Connetable, who had previously remonstrated with her vehemently +on the scandal of receiving messengers from Calvin. + +"You see, my dear Connetable," she said, "that I receive them without +ceremony." + +"Madame," said the admiral, approaching the queen, "these are two +teachers of the new religion, who have come to an understanding with +Calvin, and who have his instructions as to a conference in which the +churches of France may be able to settle their differences." + +"This is Monsieur de Beze, to whom my wife is much attached," said the +king of Navarre, coming forward and taking de Beze by the hand. + +"And this is Chaudieu," said the Prince de Conde. "_My friend_ the Duc +de Guise knows the soldier," he added, looking at Le Balafre, "perhaps +he will now like to know the minister." + +This gasconade made the whole court laugh, even Catherine. + +"Faith!" replied the Duc de Guise, "I am enchanted to see a _gars_ who +knows so well how to choose his men and to employ them in their right +sphere. One of your agents," he said to Chaudieu, "actually endured the +extraordinary question without dying and without confessing a single +thing. I call myself brave; but I don't know that I could have endured +it as he did." + +"Hum!" muttered Ambroise, "you did not say a word when I pulled the +javelin out of your face at Calais." + +Catherine, standing at the centre of a semicircle of the courtiers +and maids of honor, kept silence. She was observing the two Reformers, +trying to penetrate their minds as, with the shrewd, intelligent glance +of her black eyes, she studied them. + +"One seems to be the scabbard, the other the blade," whispered Albert de +Gondi in her ear. + +"Well, gentlemen," said Catherine at last, unable to restrain a smile, +"has your master given you permission to unite in a public conference, +at which you will be converted by the arguments of the Fathers of the +Church who are the glory of our State?" + +"We have no master but the Lord," said Chaudieu. + +"But surely you will allow some little authority to the king of France?" +said Catherine, smiling. + +"And much to the queen," said de Beze, bowing low. + +"You will find," continued the queen, "that our most submissive subjects +are heretics." + +"Ah, madame!" cried Coligny, "we will indeed endeavor to make you a +noble and peaceful kingdom! Europe has profited, alas! by our internal +divisions. For the last fifty years she has had the advantage of +one-half of the French people being against the other half." + +"Are we here to sing anthems to the glory of heretics," said the +Connetable, brutally. + +"No, but to bring them to repentance," whispered the Cardinal de +Lorraine in his ear; "we want to coax them by a little sugar." + +"Do you know what I should have done under the late king?" said the +Connetable, angrily. "I'd have called in the provost and hung those two +knaves, then and there, on the gallows of the Louvre." + +"Well, gentlemen, who are the learned men whom you have selected as our +opponents?" inquired the queen, imposing silence on the Connetable by a +look. + +"Duplessis-Mornay and Theodore de Beze will speak on our side," replied +Chaudieu. + +"The court will doubtless go to Saint-Germain, and as it would be +improper that this _colloquy_ should take place in a royal residence, we +will have it in the little town of Poissy," said Catherine. + +"Shall we be safe there, madame?" asked Chaudieu. + +"Ah!" replied the queen, with a sort of naivete, "you will surely know +how to take precautions. The Admiral will arrange all that with my +cousins the Guises and de Montmorency." + +"The devil take them!" cried the Connetable, "I'll have nothing to do +with it." + +"How do you contrive to give such strength of character to your +converts?" said the queen, leading Chaudieu apart. "The son of my +furrier was actually sublime." + +"We have faith," replied Chaudieu. + +At this moment the hall presented a scene of animated groups, all +discussing the question of the proposed assembly, to which the few +words said by the queen had already given the name of the "Colloquy +of Poissy." Catherine glanced at Chaudieu and was able to say to him +unheard:-- + +"Yes, a new faith!" + +"Ah, madame, if you were not blinded by your alliance with the court of +Rome, you would see that we are returning to the true doctrines of Jesus +Christ, who, recognizing the equality of souls, bestows upon all men +equal rights on earth." + +"Do you think yourself the equal of Calvin?" asked the queen, shrewdly. +"No, no; we are equals only in church. What! would you unbind the tie of +the people to the throne?" she cried. "Then you are not only heretics, +you are revolutionists,--rebels against obedience to the king as you +are against that to the Pope!" So saying, she left Chaudieu abruptly and +returned to Theodore de Beze. "I count on you, monsieur," she said, "to +conduct this colloquy in good faith. Take all the time you need." + +"I had supposed," said Chaudieu to the Prince de Conde, the King of +Navarre, and Admiral Coligny, as they left the hall, "that a great State +matter would be treated more seriously." + +"Oh! we know very well what you want," exclaimed the Prince de Conde, +exchanging a sly look with Theodore de Beze. + +The prince now left his adherents to attend a rendezvous. This great +leader of a party was also one of the most favored gallants of the +court. The two choice beauties of that day were even then striving +with such desperate eagerness for his affections that one of them, the +Marechale de Saint-Andre, the wife of the future triumvir, gave him +her beautiful estate of Saint-Valery, hoping to win him away from the +Duchesse de Guise, the wife of the man who had tried to take his head on +the scaffold. The duchess, not being able to detach the Duc de Nemours +from Mademoiselle de Rohan, fell in love, _en attendant_, with the +leader of the Reformers. + +"What a contrast to Geneva!" said Chaudieu to Theodore de Beze, as they +crossed the little bridge of the Louvre. + +"The people here are certainly gayer than the Genevese. I don't see why +they should be so treacherous," replied de Beze. + +"To treachery oppose treachery," replied Chaudieu, whispering the words +in his companion's ear. "I have _saints_ in Paris on whom I can rely, +and I intend to make Calvin a prophet. Christophe Lecamus shall deliver +us from our most dangerous enemy." + +"The queen-mother, for whom the poor devil endured his torture, has +already, with a high hand, caused him to be appointed solicitor to the +Parliament; and solicitors make better prosecutors than murderers. Don't +you remember how Avenelles betrayed the secrets of our first uprising?" + +"I know Christophe," said Chaudieu, in a positive tone, as he turned to +leave the envoy from Geneva. + + + + +XV. COMPENSATION + +A few days after the reception of Calvin's emissaries by the queen, +that is to say, toward the close of the year (for the year then began at +Easter and the present calendar was not adopted until later in the reign +of Charles IX.), Christophe reclined in an easy chair beside the fire +in the large brown hall, dedicated to family life, that overlooked the +river in his father's house, where the present drama was begun. His feet +rested on a stool; his mother and Babette Lallier had just renewed the +compresses, saturated with a solution brought by Ambroise Pare, who +was charged by Catherine de' Medici to take care of the young man. Once +restored to his family, Christophe became the object of the most devoted +care. Babette, authorized by her father, came very morning and only +left the Lecamus household at night. Christophe, the admiration of the +apprentices, gave rise throughout the quarter to various tales, which +invested him with mysterious poesy. He had borne the worst torture; the +celebrated Ambroise Pare was employing all his skill to cure him. What +great deed had he done to be thus treated? Neither Christophe nor his +father said a word on the subject. Catherine, then all-powerful, was +concerned in their silence as well as the Prince de Conde. The constant +visits of Pare, now chief surgeon of both the king and the house of +Guise, whom the queen-mother and the Lorrains allowed to treat a youth +accused of heresy, strangely complicated an affair through which no +one saw clearly. Moreover, the rector of Saint-Pierre-aux-Boeufs came +several times to visit the son of his church-warden, and these +visits made the causes of Christophe's present condition still more +unintelligible to his neighbors. + +The old syndic, who had his plan, gave evasive answers to his +brother-furriers, the merchants of the neighborhood, and to all friends +who spoke to him of his son: "Yes, I am very thankful to have saved +him."--"Well, you know, it won't do to put your finger between the +bark and the tree."--"My son touched fire and came near burning up my +house."--"They took advantage of his youth; we burghers get nothing but +shame and evil by frequenting the grandees."--"This affair decides me to +make a lawyer of Christophe; the practice of law will teach him to weigh +his words and his acts."--"The young queen, who is now in Scotland, had +a great deal to do with it; but then, to be sure, my son may have been +imprudent."--"I have had cruel anxieties."--"All this may decide me to +give up my business; I do not wish ever to go to court again."--"My son +has had enough of the Reformation; it has cracked all his joints. If it +had not been for Ambroise, I don't know what would have become of me." + +Thanks to these ambiguous remarks and to the great discretion of such +conduct, it was generally averred in the neighborhood that Christophe +had seen the error of his ways; everybody thought it natural that the +old syndic should wish to get his son appointed to the Parliament, and +the rector's visits no longer seemed extraordinary. As the neighbors +reflected on the old man's anxieties they no longer thought, as they +would otherwise have done, that his ambition was inordinate. The young +lawyer, who had lain helpless for months on the bed which his family +made up for him in the old hall, was now, for the last week, able to +rise and move about by the aid of crutches. Babette's love and his +mother's tenderness had deeply touched his heart; and they, while they +had him helpless in their hands, lectured him severely on religion. +President de Thou paid his godson a visit during which he showed himself +most fatherly. Christophe, being now a solicitor of the Parliament, must +of course, he said, be Catholic; his oath would bind him to that; and +the president, who assumed not to doubt of his godson's orthodoxy, ended +his remarks by saying with great earnestness: + +"My son, you have been cruelly tried. I am myself ignorant of the +reasons which made the Messieurs de Guise treat you thus; but I advise +you in future to live peacefully, without entering into the troubles of +the times; for the favor of the king and queen will not be shown to the +makers of revolt. You are not important enough to play fast and loose +with the king as the Guises do. If you wish to be some day counsellor to +the Parliament remember that you cannot obtain that noble office unless +by a real and serious attachment to the royal cause." + +Nevertheless, neither President de Thou's visit, nor the seductions of +Babette, nor the urgency of his mother, were sufficient to shake the +constancy of the martyr of the Reformation. Christophe held to his +religion all the more because he had suffered for it. + +"My father will never let me marry a heretic," whispered Babette in his +ear. + +Christophe answered only by tears, which made the young girl silent and +thoughtful. + +Old Lecamus maintained his paternal and magisterial dignity; he observed +his son and said little. The stern old man, after recovering his dear +Christophe, was dissatisfied with himself; he repented the tenderness he +had shown for this only son; but he admired him secretly. At no period +of his life did the syndic pull more wires to reach his ends, for he +saw the field ripe for the harvest so painfully sown, and he wanted to +gather the whole of it. Some days before the morning of which we write, +he had had, being alone with Christophe, a long conversation with him +in which he endeavored to discover the secret reason of the young man's +resistance. Christophe, who was not without ambition, betrayed his faith +in the Prince de Conde. The generous promise of the prince, who, of +course, was only exercising his profession of prince, remained graven on +his heart; little did he think that Conde had sent him, mentally, to the +devil in Orleans, muttering, "A Gascon would have understood me better," +when Christophe called out a touching farewell as the prince passed the +window of his dungeon. + +But besides this sentiment of admiration for the prince, Christophe +had also conceived a profound reverence for the great queen, who had +explained to him by a single look the necessity which compelled her to +sacrifice him; and who during his agony had given him an illimitable +promise in a single tear. During the silent months of his weakness, as +he lay there waiting for recovery, he thought over each event at Blois +and at Orleans. He weighed, one might almost say in spite of himself, +the relative worth of these two protections. He floated between the +queen and the prince. He had certainly served Catherine more than he +had served the Reformation, and in a young man both heart and mind would +naturally incline toward the queen; less because she was a queen than +because she was a woman. Under such circumstances a man will always hope +more from a woman than from a man. + +"I sacrificed myself for her; what will she do for me?" + +This question Christophe put to himself almost involuntarily as he +remembered the tone in which she had said the words, _Povero mio_! It is +difficult to believe how egotistical a man can become when he lies on a +bed of sickness. Everything, even the exclusive devotion of which he is +the object, drives him to think only of himself. By exaggerating in his +own mind the obligation which the Prince de Conde was under to him he +had come to expect that some office would be given to him at the court +of Navarre. Still new to the world of political life, he forgot its +contending interests and the rapid march of events which control and +force the hand of all leaders of parties; he forgot it the more because +he was practically a prisoner in solitary confinement on his bed in +that old brown room. Each party is, necessarily, ungrateful while the +struggle lasts; when it triumphs it has too many persons to reward not +to be ungrateful still. Soldiers submit to this ingratitude; but their +leaders turn against the new master at whose side they have acted and +suffered like equals for so long. Christophe, who alone remembered his +sufferings, felt himself already among the leaders of the Reformation +by the fact of his martyrdom. His father, that old fox of commerce, so +shrewd, so perspicacious, ended by divining the secret thought of his +son; consequently, all his manoeuvres were now based on the natural +expectancy to which Christophe had yielded himself. + +"Wouldn't it be a fine thing," he had said to Babette, in presence of +the family a few days before his interview with his son, "to be the wife +of a counsellor of the Parliament? You would be called _madame_!" + +"You are crazy, _compere_," said Lallier. "Where would you get ten +thousand crowns' income from landed property, which a counsellor must +have, according to law; and from whom could you buy the office? No one +but the queen-mother and regent could help your son into Parliament, and +I'm afraid he's too tainted with the new opinions for that." + +"What would you pay to see your daughter the wife of a counsellor?" + +"Ah! you want to look into my purse, shrewd-head!" said Lallier. + +Counsellor to the Parliament! The words worked powerfully in +Christophe's brain. + +Sometime after this conversation, one morning when Christophe was gazing +at the river and thinking of the scene which began this history, of the +Prince de Conde, Chaudieu, La Renaudie, of his journey to Blois,--in +short, the whole story of his hopes,--his father came and sat down +beside him, scarcely concealing a joyful thought beneath a serious +manner. + +"My son," he said, "after what passed between you and the leaders of the +Tumult of Amboise, they owe you enough to make the care of your future +incumbent on the house of Navarre." + +"Yes," replied Christophe. + +"Well," continued his father, "I have asked their permission to buy a +legal practice for you in the province of Bearn. Our good friend Pare +undertook to present the letters which I wrote on your behalf to the +Prince de Conde and the queen of Navarre. Here, read the answer of +Monsieur de Pibrac, vice-chancellor of Navarre:-- + + To the Sieur Lecamus, _syndic of the guild of furriers_: + + Monseigneur le Prince de Conde desires me to express his regret + that he cannot do what you ask for his late companion in the tower + of Saint-Aignan, whom he perfectly remembers, and to whom, + meanwhile, he offers the place of gendarme in his company; which + will put your son in the way of making his mark as a man of + courage, which he is. + + The queen of Navarre awaits an opportunity to reward the Sieur + Christophe, and will not fail to take advantage of it. + + Upon which, Monsieur le syndic, we pray God to have you in His + keeping. + + Pibrac, + + At Nerac. + Chancellor of Navarre." + + +"Nerac, Pibrac, crack!" cried Babette. "There's no confidence to be +placed in Gascons; they think only of themselves." + +Old Lecamus looked at his son, smiling scornfully. + +"They propose to put on horseback a poor boy whose knees and ankles were +shattered for their sakes!" cried the mother. "What a wicked jest!" + +"I shall never see you a counsellor of Navarre," said his father. + +"I wish I knew what Queen Catherine would do for me, if I made a claim +upon her," said Christophe, cast down by the prince's answer. + +"She made you no promise," said the old man, "but I am certain that +_she_ will never mock you like these others; she will remember your +sufferings. Still, how can the queen make a counsellor of the Parliament +out of a protestant burgher?" + +"But Christophe has not abjured!" cried Babette. "He can very well keep +his private opinions secret." + +"The Prince de Conde would be less disdainful of a counsellor of the +Parliament," said Lallier. + +"Well, what say you, Christophe?" urged Babette. + +"You are counting without the queen," replied the young lawyer. + +A few days after this rather bitter disillusion, an apprentice brought +Christophe the following laconic little missive:-- + + Chaudieu wishes to see his son. + +"Let him come in!" cried Christophe. + +"Oh! my sacred martyr!" said the minister, embracing him; "have you +recovered from your sufferings?" + +"Yes, thanks to Pare." + +"Thanks rather to God, who gave you the strength to endure the torture. +But what is this I hear? Have you allowed them to make you a solicitor? +Have you taken the oath of fidelity? Surely you will not recognize that +prostitute, the Roman, Catholic, and apostolic Church?" + +"My father wished it." + +"But ought we not to leave fathers and mothers and wives and children, +all, all, for the sacred cause of Calvinism; nay, must we not suffer all +things? Ah! Christophe, Calvin, the great Calvin, the whole party, the +whole world, the Future counts upon your courage and the grandeur of +your soul. We want your life." + +It is a remarkable fact in the mind of man that the most devoted +spirits, even while devoting themselves, build romantic hopes upon their +perilous enterprises. When the prince, the soldier, and the minister had +asked Christophe, under the bridge, to convey to Catherine the treaty +which, if discovered, would in all probability cost him his life, the +lad had relied on his nerve, upon chance, upon the powers of his mind, +and confident in such hopes he bravely, nay, audaciously put himself +between those terrible adversaries, the Guises and Catherine. During the +torture he still kept saying to himself: "I shall come out of it! it is +only pain!" But when this second and brutal demand, "Die, we want your +life," was made upon a boy who was still almost helpless, scarcely +recovered from his late torture, and clinging all the more to life +because he had just seen death so near, it was impossible for him to +launch into further illusions. + +Christophe answered quietly:-- + +"What is it now?" + +"To fire a pistol courageously, as Stuart did on Minard." + +"On whom?" + +"The Duc de Guise." + +"A murder?" + +"A vengeance. Have you forgotten the hundred gentlemen massacred on the +scaffold at Amboise? A child who saw that butchery, the little d'Aubigne +cried out, 'They have slaughtered France!'" + +"You should receive the blows of others and give none; that is the +religion of the gospel," said Christophe. "If you imitate the Catholics +in their cruelty, of what good is it to reform the Church?" + +"Oh! Christophe, they have made you a lawyer, and now you argue!" said +Chaudieu. + +"No, my friend," replied the young man, "but parties are ungrateful; +and you will be, both you and yours, nothing more than puppets of the +Bourbons." + +"Christophe, if you could hear Calvin, you would know how we wear them +like gloves! The Bourbons are the gloves, we are the hand." + +"Read that," said Christophe, giving Chaudieu Pibrac's letter containing +the answer of the Prince de Conde. + +"Oh! my son; you are ambitious, you can no longer make the sacrifice of +yourself!--I pity you!" + +With those fine words Chaudieu turned and left him. + +Some days after that scene, the Lallier family and the Lecamus family +were gathered together in honor of the formal betrothal of Christophe +and Babette, in the old brown hall, from which Christophe's bed had been +removed; for he was now able to drag himself about and even mount the +stairs without his crutches. It was nine o'clock in the evening and +the company were awaiting Ambroise Pare. The family notary sat before a +table on which lay various contracts. The furrier was selling his house +and business to his head-clerk, who was to pay down forty thousand +francs for the house and then mortgage it as security for the payment +of the goods, for which, however, he paid twenty thousand francs on +account. + +Lecamus was also buying for his son a magnificent stone house, built by +Philibert de l'Orme in the rue Saint-Pierre-aux-Boeufs, which he gave +to Christophe as a marriage portion. He also took two hundred thousand +francs from his own fortune, and Lallier gave as much more, for the +purchase of a fine seignorial manor in Picardy, the price of which was +five hundred thousand francs. As this manor was a tenure from the +Crown it was necessary to obtain letters-patent (called _rescriptions_) +granted by the king, and also to make payment to the Crown of +considerable feudal dues. The marriage had been postponed until this +royal favor was obtained. Though the burghers of Paris had lately +acquired the right to purchase manors, the wisdom of the privy council +had been exercised in putting certain restrictions on the sale of those +estates which were dependencies of the Crown; and the one which old +Lecamus had had in his eye for the last dozen years was among them. +Ambroise was pledged to bring the royal ordinance that evening; and +the old furrier went and came from the hall to the door in a state of +impatience which showed how great his long-repressed ambition had been. +Ambroise at last appeared. + +"My old friend!" cried the surgeon, in an agitated manner, with a glance +at the supper table, "let me see your linen. Good. Oh! you must have wax +candles. Quick, quick! get out your best things!" + +"Why? what is it all about?" asked the rector of +Saint-Pierre-aux-Boeufs. + +"The queen-mother and the young king are coming to sup with you," +replied the surgeon. "They are only waiting for an old counsellor who +agreed to sell his place to Christophe, and with whom Monsieur de Thou +has concluded a bargain. Don't appear to know anything; I have escaped +from the Louvre to warn you." + +In a second the whole family were astir; Christophe's mother and +Babette's aunt bustled about with the celerity of housekeepers suddenly +surprised. But in spite of the apparent confusion into which the news +had thrown the entire family, the precautions were promptly made, with +an activity that was nothing short of marvellous. Christophe, amazed and +confounded by such a favor, was speechless, gazing mechanically at what +went on. + +"The queen and king here in our house!" said the old mother. + +"The queen!" repeated Babette. "What must we say and do?" + +In less than an hour all was changed; the hall was decorated; the +supper-table sparkled. Presently the noise of horses sounded in the +street. The light of torches carried by the horsemen of the escort +brought all the burghers of the neighborhood to their windows. The noise +soon subsided and the escort rode away, leaving the queen-mother and +her son, King Charles IX., Charles de Gondi, now Grand-master of the +wardrobe and governor of the king, Monsieur de Thou, Pinard, secretary +of State, the old counsellor, and two pages, under the arcade before the +door. + +"My worthy people," said the queen as she entered, "the king, my +son, and I have come to sign the marriage-contract of the son of my +furrier,--but only on condition that he remains a Catholic. A man must +be a Catholic to enter Parliament; he must be a Catholic to own land +which derives from the Crown; he must be a Catholic if he would sit at +the king's table. That is so, is it not, Pinard?" + +The secretary of State entered and showed the letters-patent. + +"If we are not all Catholics," said the little king, "Pinard will throw +those papers into the fire. But we are all Catholics here, I think," he +continued, casting his somewhat haughty eyes over the company. + +"Yes, sire," replied Christophe, bending his injured knees with +difficulty, and kissing the hand which the king held out to him. + +Queen Catherine stretched out her hand to Christophe and, raising him +hastily, drew him aside into a corner, saying in a low voice:-- + +"Ah ca! my lad, no evasions here. Are you playing above-board now?" + +"Yes, madame," he answered, won by the dazzling reward and the honor +done him by the grateful queen. + +"Very good. Monsieur Lecamus, the king, my son, and I permit you +to purchase the office of the goodman Groslay, counsellor of the +Parliament, here present. Young man, you will follow, I hope, in the +steps of your predecessor." + +De Thou advanced and said: "I will answer for him, madame." + +"Very well; draw up the deed, notary," said Pinard. + +"Inasmuch as the king our master does us the favor to sign my daughter's +marriage contract," cried Lallier, "I will pay the whole price of the +manor." + +"The ladies may sit down," said the young king, graciously: "As a +wedding present to the bride I remit, with my mother's consent, all my +dues and rights in the manor." + +Old Lecamus and Lallier fell on their knees and kissed the king's hand. + +"_Mordieu_! sire, what quantities of money these burghers have!" +whispered de Gondi in his ear. + +The young king laughed. + +"As their Highnesses are so kind," said old Lecamus, "will they permit +me to present to them my successor, and ask them to continue to him the +royal patent of furrier to their Majesties?" + +"Let us see him," said the king. + +Lecamus led forward his successor, who was livid with fear. + +"If my mother consents, we will now sit down to table," said the little +king. + +Old Lecamus had bethought himself of presenting to the king a silver +goblet which he had bought of Benvenuto Cellini when the latter stayed +in Paris at the hotel de Nesle. This treasure of art had cost the +furrier no less than two thousand crowns. + +"Oh! my dear mother, see this beautiful work!" cried the young king, +lifting the goblet by its stem. + +"It was made in Florence," replied Catherine. + +"Pardon me, madame," said Lecamus, "it was made in Paris by a +Florentine. All that is made in Florence would belong to your Majesty; +that which is made in France is the king's." + +"I accept it, my good man," cried Charles IX.; "and it shall henceforth +be my particular drinking cup." + +"It is beautiful enough," said the queen, examining the masterpiece, +"to be included among the crown-jewels. Well, Maitre Ambroise," she +whispered in the surgeon's ear, with a glance at Christophe, "have you +taken good care of him? Will he walk again?" + +"He will run," replied the surgeon, smiling. "Ah! you have cleverly made +him a renegade." + +"Ha!" said the queen, with the levity for which she has been blamed, +though it was only on the surface, "the Church won't stand still for +want of one monk!" + +The supper was gay; the queen thought Babette pretty, and, in the regal +manner which was natural to her, she slipped upon the girl's finger a +diamond ring which compensated in value for the goblet bestowed upon +the king. Charles IX., who afterwards became rather too fond of these +invasions of burgher homes, supped with a good appetite. Then, at a +word from his new governor (who, it is said, was instructed to make +him forget the virtuous teachings of Cypierre), he obliged all the men +present to drink so deeply that the queen, observing that the gaiety +was about to become too noisy, rose to leave the room. As she rose, +Christophe, his father, and the two women took torches and accompanied +her to the shop-door. There Christophe ventured to touch the queen's +wide sleeve and to make her a sign that he had something to say. +Catherine stopped, made a gesture to the father and the two women to +leave her, and said, turning to Christophe: + +"What is it?" + +"It may serve you to know, madame," replied Christophe, whispering in +her ear, "that the Duc de Guise is being followed by assassins." + +"You are a loyal subject," said Catherine, smiling, "and I shall never +forget you." + +She held out to him her hand, so celebrated for its beauty, first +ungloving it, which was indeed a mark of favor,--so much so that +Christophe, then and there, became altogether royalist as he kissed that +adorable hand. + +"So they mean to rid me of that bully without my having a finger in it," +thought she as she replaced her glove. + +Then she mounted her mule and returned to the Louvre, attended by her +two pages. + +Christophe went back to the supper-table, but was thoughtful and gloomy +even while he drank; the fine, austere face of Ambroise Pare seemed +to reproach him for his apostasy. But subsequent events justified +the manoeuvres of the old syndic. Christophe would certainly not have +escaped the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew; his wealth and his landed +estates would have made him a mark for the murderers. History has +recorded the cruel fate of the wife of Lallier's successor, a beautiful +woman, whose naked body hung by the hair for three days from one of the +buttresses of the Pont au Change. Babette trembled as she thought +that she, too, might have endured the same treatment if Christophe +had continued a Calvinist,--for such became the name of the Reformers. +Calvin's personal ambition was thus gratified, though not until after +his death. + +Such was the origin of the celebrated parliamentary house of Lecamus. +Tallemant des Reaux is in error when he states that they came originally +from Picardy. It is only true that the Lecamus family found it for their +interest in after days to date from the time the old furrier bought +their principal estate, which, as we have said, was situated in Picardy. +Christophe's son, who succeeded him under Louis XIII., was the father of +the rich president Lecamus who built, in the reign of Louis XIV., that +magnificent mansion which shares with the hotel Lambert the admiration +of Parisians and foreigners, and was assuredly one of the finest +buildings in Paris. It may still be seen in the rue Thorigny, though at +the beginning of the Revolution it was pillaged as having belonged to +Monsieur de Juigne, the archbishop of Paris. All the decorations were +then destroyed; and the tenants who lodge there have greatly damaged it; +nevertheless this palace, which is reached through the old house in the +rue de la Pelleterie, still shows the noble results obtained in +former days by the spirit of family. It may be doubted whether modern +individualism, brought about by the equal division of inheritances, will +ever raise such noble buildings. + + + + +PART II. THE SECRETS OF THE RUGGIERI + + + + +I. THE COURT UNDER CHARLES IX. + + +Between eleven o'clock and midnight toward the end of October, 1573, +two Italians, Florentines and brothers, Albert de Gondi, Duc de Retz +and marshal of France, and Charles de Gondi la Tour, Grand-master of +the robes of Charles IX., were sitting on the roof of a house in the +rue Saint-Honore, at the edge of a gutter. This gutter was one of those +stone channels which in former days were constructed below the roofs of +houses to receive the rain-water, discharging it at regular intervals +through those long gargoyles carved in the shape of fantastic animals +with gaping mouths. In spite of the zeal with which our present general +pulls down and demolishes venerable buildings, there still existed many +of these projecting gutters until, quite recently, an ordinance of the +police as to water-conduits compelled them to disappear. But even so, +a few of these carved gargoyles still remain, chiefly in the _quartier_ +Saint-Antoine, where low rents and values hinder the building of new +storeys under the eaves of the roofs. + +It certainly seems strange that two personages invested with such +important offices should be playing the part of cats. But whosoever +will burrow into the historic treasures of those days, when personal +interests jostled and thwarted each other around the throne till the +whole political centre of France was like a skein of tangled thread, +will readily understand that the two Florentines were cats indeed, and +very much in their places in a gutter. Their devotion to the person +of the queen-mother, Catherine de' Medici--who had brought them to the +court of France and foisted them into their high offices--compelled them +not to recoil before any of the consequences of their intrusion. But to +explain how and why these courtiers were thus perched, it is necessary +to relate a scene which had taken place an hour earlier not far from +this very gutter, in that beautiful brown room of the Louvre, all that +now remains to us of the apartments of Henri II., in which after supper +the courtiers had been paying court to the two queens, Catherine de' +Medici and Elizabeth of Austria, and to their son and husband King +Charles IX. + +In those days the majority of the burghers and great lords supped at +six, or at seven o'clock, but the more refined and elegant supped at +eight or even nine. This repast was the dinner of to-day. Many persons +erroneously believe that etiquette was invented by Louis XIV.; on the +contrary it was introduced into France by Catherine de' Medici, who made +it so severe that the Connetable de Montmorency had more difficulty in +obtaining permission to enter the court of the Louvre on horseback than +in winning his sword; moreover, that unheard-of distinction was granted +to him only on account of his great age. Etiquette, which was, it +is true, slightly relaxed under the first two Bourbon kings, took an +Oriental form under the Great Monarch, for it was introduced from the +Eastern Empire, which derived it from Persia. In 1573 few persons had +the right to enter the courtyard of the Louvre with their servants and +torches (under Louis XIV. the coaches of none but dukes and peers were +allowed to pass under the peristyle); moreover, the cost of obtaining +entrance after supper to the royal apartments was very heavy. The +Marechal de Retz, whom we have just seen, perched on a gutter, offered +on one occasion a thousand crowns of that day, six thousand francs of +our present money, to the usher of the king's cabinet to be allowed to +speak to Henri III. on a day when he was not on duty. To an historian +who knows the truth, it is laughable to see the well-known picture of +the courtyard at Blois, in which the artist has introduced a courtier on +horseback! + +On the present occasion, therefore, none but the most eminent personages +in the kingdom were in the royal apartments. The queen, Elizabeth +of Austria, and her mother-in-law, Catherine de' Medici, were seated +together on the left of the fireplace. On the other side sat the +king, buried in an arm-chair, affecting a lethargy consequent on +digestion,--for he had just supped like a prince returned from hunting; +possibly he was seeking to avoid conversation in presence of so many +persons who were spies upon his thoughts. The courtiers stood erect and +uncovered at the end of the room. Some talked in a low voice; +others watched the king, awaiting the bestowal of a look or a word. +Occasionally one was called up by the queen-mother, who talked with him +for a few moments; another risked saying a word to the king, who replied +with either a nod or a brief sentence. A German nobleman, the Comte de +Solern, stood at the corner of the fireplace behind the young queen, the +granddaughter of Charles V., whom he had accompanied into France. Near +to her on a stool sat her lady of honor, the Comtesse de Fiesque, a +Strozzi, and a relation of Catherine de' Medici. The beautiful Madame de +Sauves, a descendant of Jacques Coeur, mistress of the king of Navarre, +then of the king of Poland, and lastly of the Duc d'Alencon, had +been invited to supper; but she stood like the rest of the court, her +husband's rank (that of secretary of State) giving her no right to be +seated. Behind these two ladies stood the two Gondis, talking to them. +They alone of this dismal assembly were smiling. Albert Gondi, now Duc +de Retz, marshal of France, and gentleman of the bed-chamber, had been +deputed to marry the queen by proxy at Spire. In the first line of +courtiers nearest to the king stood the Marechal de Tavannes, who was +present on court business; Neufville de Villeroy, one of the ablest +bankers of the period, who laid the foundation of the great house of +that name; Birago and Chiverni, gentlemen of the queen-mother, who, +knowing her preference for her son Henri (the brother whom Charles +IX. regarded as an enemy), attached themselves especially to him; then +Strozzi, Catherine's cousin; and finally, a number of great lords, +among them the old Cardinal de Lorraine and his nephew, the young Duc de +Guise, who were held at a distance by the king and his mother. These +two leaders of the Holy Alliance, and later of the League (founded in +conjunction with Spain a few years earlier), affected the submission of +servants who are only waiting an opportunity to make themselves masters. +Catherine and Charles IX. watched each other with close attention. + +At this gloomy court, as gloomy as the room in which it was held, each +individual had his or her own reasons for being sad or thoughtful. The +young queen, Elizabeth, was a prey to the tortures of jealousy, and +could ill-disguise them, though she smiled upon her husband, whom she +passionately adored, good and pious woman that she was! Marie Touchet, +the only mistress Charles IX. ever had and to whom he was loyally +faithful, had lately returned from the chateau de Fayet in Dauphine, +whither she had gone to give birth to a child. She brought back +to Charles IX. a son, his only son, Charles de Valois, first Comte +d'Auvergne, and afterward Duc d'Angouleme. The poor queen, in addition +to the mortification of her abandonment, now endured the pang of knowing +that her rival had borne a son to her husband while she had brought him +only a daughter. And these were not her only troubles and disillusions, +for Catherine de' Medici, who had seemed her friend in the first +instance, now, out of policy, favored her betrayal, preferring to +serve the mistress rather than the wife of the king,--for the following +reason. + +When Charles IX. openly avowed his passion for Marie Touchet, Catherine +showed favor to the girl in the interests of her own desire for +domination. Marie Touchet, who was very young when brought to court, +came at an age when all the noblest sentiments are predominant. She +loved the king for himself alone. Frightened at the fate to which +ambition had led the Duchesse de Valentinois (better known as Diane +de Poitiers), she dreaded the queen-mother, and greatly preferred her +simple happiness to grandeur. Perhaps she thought that lovers as young +as the king and herself could never struggle successfully against the +queen-mother. As the daughter of Jean Touchet, Sieur de Beauvais and +Quillard, she was born between the burgher class and the lower +nobility; she had none of the inborn ambitions of the Pisseleus and +Saint-Valliers, girls of rank, who battled for their families with the +hidden weapons of love. Marie Touchet, without family or friends, +spared Catherine de' Medici all antagonism with her son's mistress; the +daughter of a great house would have been her rival. Jean Touchet, +the father, one of the finest wits of the time, a man to whom poets +dedicated their works, wanted nothing at court. Marie, a young girl +without connections, intelligent and well-educated, and also simple and +artless, whose desires would probably never be aggressive to the +royal power, suited the queen-mother admirably. In short, she made the +parliament recognize the son to whom Marie Touchet had just given birth +in the month of April, and she allowed him to take the title of Comte +d'Auvergne, assuring Charles IX. that she would leave the boy her +personal property, the counties of Auvergne and Laraguais. At a later +period, Marguerite de Valois, queen of Navarre, contested this legacy +after she was queen of France, and the parliament annulled it. But later +still, Louis XIII., out of respect for the Valois blood, indemnified the +Comte d'Auvergne by the gift of the duchy of Angouleme. + +Catherine had already given Marie Touchet, who asked nothing, the manor +of Belleville, an estate close to Vincennes which carried no title; and +thither she went whenever the king hunted and spent the night at the +castle. It was in this gloomy fortress that Charles IX. passed the +greater part of his last years, ending his life there, according to some +historians, as Louis XII. had ended his. + +The queen-mother kept close watch upon her son. All the occupations of +his personal life, outside of politics, were reported to her. The king +had begun to look upon his mother as an enemy, but the kind intentions +she expressed toward his son diverted his suspicions for a time. +Catherine's motives in this matter were never understood by Queen +Elizabeth, who, according to Brantome, was one of the gentlest queens +that ever reigned, who never did harm or even gave pain to any one, "and +was careful to read her prayer-book secretly." But this single-minded +princess began at last to see the precipices yawning around the +throne,--a dreadful discovery, which might indeed have made her quail; +it was some such remembrance, no doubt, that led her to say to one of +her ladies, after the death of the king, in reply to a condolence that +she had no son, and could not, therefore, be regent and queen-mother: + +"Ah! I thank God that I have no son. I know well what would have +happened. My poor son would have been despoiled and wronged like the +king, my husband, and I should have been the cause of it. God had mercy +on the State; he has done all for the best." + +This princess, whose portrait Brantome thinks he draws by saying that +her complexion was as beautiful and delicate as the ladies of her suite +were charming and agreeable, and that her figure was fine though rather +short, was of little account at her own court. Suffering from a double +grief, her saddened attitude added another gloomy tone to a scene which +most young queens, less cruelly injured, might have enlivened. The pious +Elizabeth proved at this crisis that the qualities which are the shining +glory of women in the ordinary ways of life can be fatal to a sovereign. +A princess able to occupy herself with other things besides her +prayer-book might have been a useful helper to Charles IX., who found no +prop to lean on, either in his wife or in his mistress. + +The queen-mother, as she sat there in that brown room, was closely +observing the king, who, during supper, had exhibited a boisterous +good-humor which she felt to be assumed in order to mask some intention +against her. This sudden gaiety contrasted too vividly with the struggle +of mind he endeavored to conceal by his eagerness in hunting, and by +an almost maniacal toil at his forge, where he spent many hours in +hammering iron; and Catherine was not deceived by it. Without being +able even to guess which of the statesmen about the king was employed +to prepare or negotiate it (for Charles IX. contrived to mislead his +mother's spies), Catherine felt no doubt whatever that some scheme for +her overthrow was being planned. The unlooked-for presence of Tavannes, +who arrived at the same time as Strozzi, whom she herself had summoned, +gave her food for thought. Strong in the strength of her political +combination, Catherine was above the reach of circumstances; but she was +powerless against some hidden violence. As many persons are ignorant of +the actual state of public affairs then so complicated by the various +parties that distracted France, the leaders of which had each their +private interests to carry out, it is necessary to describe, in a few +words, the perilous game in which the queen-mother was now engaged. To +show Catherine de' Medici in a new light is, in fact, the root and stock +of our present history. + +Two words explain this woman, so curiously interesting to study, a woman +whose influence has left such deep impressions upon France. Those words +are: Power and Astrology. Exclusively ambitious, Catherine de' Medici +had no other passion than that of power. Superstitious and fatalistic, +like so many superior men, she had no sincere belief except in occult +sciences. Unless this double mainspring is known, the conduct of +Catherine de' Medici will remain forever misunderstood. As we +picture her faith in judicial astrology, the light will fall upon two +personages, who are, in fact, the philosophical subjects of this Study. + +There lived a man for whom Catherine cared more than for any of her +children; his name was Cosmo Ruggiero. He lived in a house belonging to +her, the hotel de Soissons; she made him her supreme adviser. It was his +duty to tell her whether the stars ratified the advice and judgment of +her ordinary counsellors. Certain remarkable antecedents warranted the +power which Cosmo Ruggiero retained over his mistress to her last hour. +One of the most learned men of the sixteenth century was physician to +Lorenzo de' Medici, Duc d'Urbino, Catherine's father. This physician +was called Ruggiero the Elder (Vecchio Ruggier and Roger l'Ancien in the +French authors who have written on alchemy), to distinguish him from his +two sons, Lorenzo Ruggiero, called the Great by cabalistic writers, and +Cosmo Ruggiero, Catherine's astrologer, also called Roger by several +French historians. In France it was the custom to pronounce the name +in general as Ruggieri. Ruggiero the elder was so highly valued by the +Medici that the two dukes, Cosmo and Lorenzo, stood godfathers to his +two sons. He cast, in concert with the famous mathematician, Basilio, +the horoscope of Catherine's nativity, in his official capacity as +mathematicion, astrologer, and physician to the house of Medici; three +offices which are often confounded. + +At the period of which we write the occult sciences were studied with an +ardor that may surprise the incredulous minds of our own age, which is +supremely analytical. Perhaps such minds may find in this historical +sketch the dawn, or rather the germ, of the positive sciences which have +flowered in the nineteenth century, though without the poetic grandeur +given to them by the audacious Seekers of the sixteenth, who, instead +of using them solely for mechanical industries, magnified Art and +fertilized Thought by their means. The protection universally given +to occult science by the sovereigns of those days was justified by the +noble creations of many inventors, who, starting in quest of the Great +Work (the so-called philosophers' stone), attained to astonishing +results. At no period were the sovereigns of the world more eager for +the study of these mysteries. The Fuggers of Augsburg, in whom all +modern Luculluses will recognize their princes, and all bankers their +masters, were gifted with powers of calculation it would be difficult to +surpass. Well, those practical men, who loaned the funds of all Europe +to the sovereigns of the sixteenth century (as deeply in debt as the +kings of the present day), those illustrious guests of Charles V. were +sleeping partners in the crucibles of Paracelsus. At the beginning of +the sixteenth century, Ruggiero the elder was the head of that secret +university from which issued the Cardans, the Nostradamuses, and the +Agrippas (all in their turn physicians of the house of Valois); also the +astronomers, astrologers, and alchemists who surrounded the princes of +Christendom and were more especially welcomed and protected in France by +Catherine de' Medici. In the nativity drawn by Basilio and Ruggiero the +elder, the principal events of Catherine's life were foretold with a +correctness which is quite disheartening for those who deny the power +of occult science. This horoscope predicted the misfortunes which during +the siege of Florence imperilled the beginning of her life; also her +marriage with a son of the king of France, the unexpected succession +of that son to his father's throne, the birth of her children, +their number, and the fact that three of her sons would be kings in +succession, that two of her daughters would be queens, and that all +of them were destined to die without posterity. This prediction was so +fully realized that many historians have assumed that it was written +after the events. + +It is well known that Nostradamus took to the chateau de Chaumont, +whither Catherine went after the conspiracy of La Renaudie, a woman who +possessed the faculty of reading the future. Now, during the reign of +Francois II., while the queen had with her her four sons, all young and +in good health, and before the marriage of her daughter Elizabeth with +Philip II., king of Spain, or that of her daughter Marguerite with Henri +de Bourbon, king of Navarre (afterward Henri IV.), Nostradamus and this +woman reiterated the circumstances formerly predicted in the famous +nativity. This woman, who was no doubt gifted with second sight, and who +belonged to the great school of Seekers of the Great Work, though the +particulars of her life and name are lost to history, stated that the +last crowned child would be assassinated. Having placed the queen-mother +in front of a magic mirror, in which was reflected a wheel on the +several spokes of which were the faces of her children, the sorceress +set the wheel revolving, and Catherine counted the number of revolutions +which it made. Each revolution was for each son one year of his reign. +Henri IV. was also put upon the wheel, which then made twenty-four +rounds, and the woman (some historians have said it was a man) told the +frightened queen that Henri de Bourbon would be king of France and reign +that number of years. From that time forth Catherine de' Medici vowed +a mortal hatred to the man whom she knew would succeed the last of her +Valois sons, who was to die assassinated. Anxious to know what her own +death would be, she was warned to beware of Saint-Germain. Supposing, +therefore, that she would be either put to death or imprisoned in the +chateau de Saint-Germain, she would never so much as put her foot there, +although that residence was far more convenient for her political plans, +owing to its proximity to Paris, than the other castles to which she +retreated with the king during the troubles. When she was taken suddenly +ill, a few days after the murder of the Duc de Guise at Blois, she +asked the name of the bishop who came to assist her. Being told it was +Saint-Germain, she cried out, "I am dead!" and did actually die on the +morrow,--having, moreover, lived the exact number of years given to her +by all her horoscopes. + +These predictions, which were known to the Cardinal de Lorraine, +who regarded them as witchcraft, were now in process of realization. +Francois II. had reigned his two revolutions of the wheel, and Charles +IX. was now making his last turn. If Catherine said the strange words +which history has attributed to her when her son Henri started for +Poland,--"You will soon return,"--they must be set down to her faith in +occult science and not to the intention of poisoning Charles IX. + +Many other circumstances corroborated Catherine's faith in the occult +sciences. The night before the tournament at which Henri II. was killed, +Catherine saw the fatal blow in a dream. Her astrological council, then +composed of Nostradamus and the two Ruggieri, had already predicted +to her the death of the king. History has recorded the efforts made +by Catherine to persuade her husband not to enter the lists. The +prognostic, and the dream produced by the prognostic, were verified. The +memoirs of the day relate another fact that was no less singular. The +courier who announced the victory of Moncontour arrived in the +night, after riding with such speed that he killed three horses. The +queen-mother was awakened to receive the news, to which she replied, +"I knew it already." In fact, as Brantome relates, she had told of her +son's triumph the evening before, and narrated several circumstances of +the battle. The astrologer of the house of Bourbon predicted that the +youngest of all the princes descended from Saint-Louis (the son of +Antoine de Bourbon) would ascend the throne of France. This prediction, +related by Sully, was accomplished in the precise terms of the +horoscope; which led Henri IV. to say that by dint of lying these people +sometimes hit the truth. However that may be, if most of the great +minds of that epoch believed in this vast science,--called Magic by the +masters of judicial astrology, and Sorcery by the public,--they were +justified in doing so by the fulfilment of horoscopes. + +It was for the use of Cosmo Ruggiero, her mathematician, astronomer, and +astrologer, that Catherine de' Medici erected the tower behind the Halle +aux Bles,--all that now remains of the hotel de Soissons. Cosmo Ruggiero +possessed, like confessors, a mysterious influence, the possession of +which, like them again, sufficed him. He cherished an ambitious +thought superior to all vulgar ambitions. This man, whom dramatists and +romance-writers depict as a juggler, owned the rich abbey of Saint-Mahe +in Lower Brittany, and refused many high ecclesiastical dignities; the +gold which the superstitious passions of the age poured into his coffers +sufficed for his secret enterprise; and the queen's hand, stretched +above his head, preserved every hair of it from danger. + + + + +II. SCHEMES AGAINST SCHEMES + + +The thirst for power which consumed the queen-mother, her desire for +dominion, was so great that in order to retain it she had, as we have +seen, allied herself to the Guises, those enemies of the throne; to keep +the reins of power, now obtained, within her hands, she was using every +means, even to the sacrifice of her friends and that of her children. +This woman, of whom one of her enemies said at her death, "It is more +than a queen, it is monarchy itself that has died,"--this woman could +not exist without the intrigues of government, as a gambler can live +only by the emotions of play. Although she was an Italian of the +voluptuous race of the Medici, the Calvinists who calumniated her never +accused her of having a lover. A great admirer of the maxim, "Divide to +reign," she had learned the art of perpetually pitting one force against +another. No sooner had she grasped the reins of power than she was +forced to keep up dissensions in order to neutralize the strength of two +rival houses, and thus save the Crown. Catherine invented the game of +political see-saw (since imitated by all princes who find themselves +in a like situation), by instigating, first the Calvinists against the +Guises, and then the Guises against the Calvinists. Next, after pitting +the two religions against each other in the heart of the nation, +Catherine instigated the Duc d'Anjou against his brother Charles +IX. After neutralizing events by opposing them to one another, she +neutralized men, by holding the thread of all their interests in her +hands. But so fearful a game, which needs the head of a Louis XI. +to play it, draws down inevitably the hatred of all parties upon the +player, who condemns himself forever to the necessity of conquering; for +one lost game will turn every selfish interest into an enemy. + +The greater part of the reign of Charles IX. witnessed the triumph of +the domestic policy of this astonishing woman. What adroit persuasion +must Catherine have employed to have obtained the command of the armies +for the Duc d'Anjou under a young and brave king, thirsting for glory, +capable of military achievement, generous, and in presence, too, of the +Connetable de Montmorency. In the eyes of the statesmen of Europe the +Duc d'Anjou had all the honors of the Saint-Bartholomew, and Charles IX. +all the odium. After inspiring the king with a false and secret jealousy +of his brother, she used that passion to wear out by the intrigues of +fraternal jealousy the really noble qualities of Charles IX. Cypierre, +the king's first governor, and Amyot, his first tutor, had made him +so great a man, they had paved the way for so noble a reign, that the +queen-mother began to hate her son as soon as she found reason to fear +the loss of the power she had so slowly and so painfully obtained. On +these general grounds most historians have believed that Catherine de' +Medici felt a preference for Henri III.; but her conduct at the period +of which we are now writing, proves the absolute indifference of her +heart toward all her children. + +When the Duc d'Anjou went to reign in Poland Catherine was deprived +of the instrument by which she had worked to keep the king's passions +occupied in domestic intrigues, which neutralized his energy in other +directions. She then set up the conspiracy of La Mole and Coconnas, in +which her youngest son, the Duc d'Alencon (afterwards Duc d'Anjou, on +the accession of Henri III.) took part, lending himself very willingly +to his mother's wishes, and displaying an ambition much encouraged by +his sister Marguerite, then queen of Navarre. This secret conspiracy had +now reached the point to which Catherine sought to bring it. Its object +was to put the young duke and his brother-in-law, the king of Navarre, +at the head of the Calvinists, to seize the person of Charles IX., +and imprison that king without an heir,--leaving the throne to the Duc +d'Alencon, whose intention it was to establish Calvinism as the religion +of France. Calvin, as we have already said, had obtained, a few days +before his death, the reward he had so deeply coveted,--the Reformation +was now called Calvinism in his honor. + +If Le Laboureur and other sensible writers had not already proved that +La Mole and Coconnas,--arrested fifty nights after the day on which our +present history begins, and beheaded the following April,--even, we +say, if it had not been made historically clear that these men were the +victims of the queen-mother's policy, the part which Cosmo Ruggiero took +in this affair would go far to show that she secretly directed their +enterprise. Ruggiero, against whom the king had suspicions, and for whom +he cherished a hatred the motives of which we are about to explain, was +included in the prosecution. He admitted having given to La Mole a wax +figure representing the king, which was pierced through the heart by two +needles. This method of casting spells constituted a crime, which, in +those days, was punished by death. It presents one of the most startling +and infernal images of hatred that humanity could invent; it pictures +admirably the magnetic and terrible working in the occult world of a +constant malevolent desire surrounding the person doomed to death; the +effects of which on the person are exhibited by the figure of wax. The +law in those days thought, and thought justly, that a desire to which an +actual form was given should be regarded as a crime of _lese majeste_. +Charles IX. demanded the death of Ruggiero; Catherine, more powerful +than her son, obtained from the Parliament, through the young +counsellor, Lecamus, a commutation of the sentence, and Cosmo was sent +to the galleys. The following year, on the death of the king, he was +pardoned by a decree of Henri III., who restored his pension, and +received him at court. + +But, to return now to the moment of which we are writing, Catherine had, +by this time, struck so many blows on the heart of her son that he was +eagerly desirous of casting off her yoke. During the absence of Marie +Touchet, Charles IX., deprived of his usual occupation, had taken to +observing everything about him. He cleverly set traps for the persons in +whom he trusted most, in order to test their fidelity. He spied on +his mother's actions, concealing from her all knowledge of his own, +employing for this deception the evil qualities she had fostered in him. +Consumed by a desire to blot out the horror excited in France by the +Saint-Bartholomew, he busied himself actively in public affairs; he +presided at the Council, and tried to seize the reins of government by +well-laid schemes. Though the queen-mother endeavored to check these +attempts of her son by employing all the means of influence over his +mind which her maternal authority and a long habit of domineering gave +her, his rush into distrust was so vehement that he went too far at the +first bound ever to return from it. The day on which his mother's speech +to the king of Poland was reported to him, Charles IX., conscious of his +failing health, conceived the most horrible suspicions, and when such +thoughts take possession of the mind of a son and a king nothing can +remove them. In fact, on his deathbed, at the moment when he confided +his wife and daughter to Henri IV., he began to put the latter on his +guard against Catherine, so that she cried out passionately, endeavoring +to silence him, "Do not say that, monsieur!" + +Though Charles IX. never ceased to show her the outward respect of +which she was so tenacious that she would never call the kings her sons +anything but "Monsieur," the queen-mother had detected in her son's +manner during the last few months an ill-disguised purpose of vengeance. +But clever indeed must be the man who counted on taking Catherine +unawares. She held ready in her hand at this moment the conspiracy +of the Duke d'Alencon and La Mole, in order to counteract, by +another fraternal struggle, the efforts Charles IX. was making toward +emancipation. But, before employing this means, she wanted to remove +his distrust of her, which would render impossible their future +reconciliation; for was he likely to restore power to the hands of a +mother whom he thought capable of poisoning him? She felt herself at +this moment in such serious danger that she had sent for Strozzi, her +relation and a soldier noted for his promptitude of action. She took +counsel in secret with Birago and the two Gondis, and never did she so +frequently consult her oracle, Cosmo Ruggiero, as at the present crisis. + +Though the habit of dissimulation, together with advancing age, had +given the queen-mother that well-known abbess face, with its haughty +and macerated mask, expressionless yet full of depth, inscrutable yet +vigilant, remarked by all who have studied her portrait, the courtiers +now observed some clouds on her icy countenance. No sovereign was ever +so imposing as this woman from the day when she succeeded in restraining +the Guises after the death of Francois II. Her black velvet cap, made +with a point upon the forehead (for she never relinquished her widow's +mourning) seemed a species of feminine cowl around the cold, imperious +face, to which, however, she knew how to give, at the right moment, a +seductive Italian charm. Catherine de' Medici was so well made that she +was accused of inventing side-saddles to show the shape of her legs, +which were absolutely perfect. Women followed her example in this +respect throughout Europe, which even then took its fashions from +France. Those who desire to bring this grand figure before their minds +will find that the scene now taking place in the brown hall of the +Louvre presents it in a striking aspect. + +The two queens, different in spirit, in beauty, in dress, and now +estranged,--one naive and thoughtful, the other thoughtful and gravely +abstracted,--were far too preoccupied to think of giving the order +awaited by the courtiers for the amusements of the evening. The +carefully concealed drama, played for the last six months by the mother +and son was more than suspected by many of the courtiers; but the +Italians were watching it with special anxiety, for Catherine's failure +involved their ruin. + +During this evening Charles IX., weary with the day's hunting, looked +to be forty years old. He had reached the last stages of the malady +of which he died, the symptoms of which were such that many reflecting +persons were justified in thinking that he was poisoned. According to +de Thou (the Tacitus of the Valois) the surgeons found suspicious +spots--_ex causa incognita reperti livores_--on his body. Moreover, his +funeral was even more neglected than that of Francois II. The body was +conducted from Saint-Lazare to Saint-Denis by Brantome and a few archers +of the guard under command of the Comte de Solern. This circumstances, +coupled with the supposed hatred of the mother to the son, may or +may not give color to de Thou's supposition, but it proves how little +affection Catherine felt for any of her children,--a want of feeling +which may be explained by her implicit faith in the predictions of +judicial astrology. This woman was unable to feel affection for the +instruments which were destined to fail her. Henri III. was the last +king under whom her reign of power was to last; that was the sole +consideration of her heart and mind. + +In these days, however, we can readily believe that Charles IX. died a +natural death. His excesses, his manner of life, the sudden development +of his faculties, his last spasmodic attempt to recover the reins of +power, his desire to live, the abuse of his vital strength, his final +sufferings and last pleasures, all prove to an impartial mind that he +died of consumption, a disease scarcely studied at that time, and very +little understood, the symptoms of which might, not unnaturally, lead +Charles IX. to believe himself poisoned. The real poison which his +mother gave him was in the fatal counsels of the courtiers whom she +placed about him,--men who led him to waste his intellectual as well +as his physical vigor, thus bringing on a malady which was purely +fortuitous and not constitutional. Under these harrowing circumstances, +Charles IX. displayed a gloomy majesty of demeanor which was not +unbecoming to a king. The solemnity of his secret thoughts was reflected +on his face, the olive tones of which he inherited from his mother. This +ivory pallor, so fine by candlelight, so suited to the expression of +melancholy thought, brought out vigorously the fire of the blue-black +eyes, which gazed from their thick and heavy lids with the keen +perception our fancy lends to kings, their color being a cloak for +dissimulation. Those eyes were terrible,--especially from the movement +of their brows, which he could raise or lower at will on his bald, high +forehead. His nose was broad and long, thick at the end,--the nose of +a lion; his ears were large, his hair sandy, his lips blood-red, like +those of all consumptives, the upper lip thin and sarcastic, the lower +one firm, and full enough to give an impression of the noblest qualities +of the heart. The wrinkles of his brow, the youth of which was killed by +dreadful cares, inspired the strongest interest; remorse, caused by the +uselessness of the Saint-Bartholomew, accounted for some, but there were +two others on that face which would have been eloquent indeed to any +student whose premature genius had led him to divine the principles of +modern physiology. These wrinkles made a deeply indented furrow going +from each cheek-bone to each corner of the mouth, revealing the inward +efforts of an organization wearied by the toil of thought and the +violent excitements of the body. Charles IX. was worn-out. If policy did +not stifle remorse in the breasts of those who sit beneath the purple, +the queen-mother, looking at her own work, would surely have felt it. +Had Catherine foreseen the effect of her intrigues upon her son, would +she have recoiled from them? What a fearful spectacle was this! A king +born vigorous, and now so feeble; a mind powerfully tempered, shaken by +distrust; a man clothed with authority, conscious of no support; a firm +mind brought to the pass of having lost all confidence in itself! His +warlike valor had changed by degrees to ferocity; his discretion +to deceit; the refined and delicate love of a Valois was now a mere +quenchless thirst for pleasure. This perverted and misjudged great +man, with all the many facets of a noble soul worn-out,--a king without +power, a generous heart without a friend, dragged hither and thither by +a thousand conflicting intrigues,--presented the melancholy spectacle of +a youth, only twenty-four years old, disillusioned of life, distrusting +everybody and everything, now resolving to risk all, even his life, on +a last effort. For some time past he had fully understood his royal +mission, his power, his resources, and the obstacles which his mother +opposed to the pacification of the kingdom; but alas! this light now +burned in a shattered lantern. + +Two men, whom Charles IX. loved sufficiently to protect under +circumstances of great danger,--Jean Chapelain, his physician, whom he +saved from the Saint-Bartholomew, and Ambroise Pare, with whom he went +to dine when Pare's enemies were accusing him of intending to poison the +king,--had arrived this evening in haste from the provinces, recalled +by the queen-mother. Both were watching their master anxiously. A few +courtiers spoke to them in a low voice; but the men of science made +guarded answers, carefully concealing the fatal verdict which was in +their minds. Every now and then the king would raise his heavy eyelids +and give his mother a furtive look which he tried to conceal from those +about him. Suddenly he sprang up and stood before the fireplace. + +"Monsieur de Chiverni," he said abruptly, "why do you keep the title of +chancellor of Anjou and Poland? Are you in our service, or in that of +our brother?" + +"I am all yours, sire," replied Chiverni, bowing low. + +"Then come to me to-morrow; I intend to send you to Spain. Very strange +things are happening at the court of Madrid, gentlemen." + +The king looked at his wife and flung himself back into his chair. + +"Strange things are happening everywhere," said the Marechal de +Tavannes, one of the friends of the king's youth, in a low voice. + +The king rose again and led this companion of his youthful pleasures +apart into the embrasure of the window at the corner of the room, +saying, when they were out of hearing:-- + +"I want you. Remain here when the others go. I shall know to-night +whether you are for me or against me. Don't look astonished. I am about +to burst my bonds. My mother is the cause of all the evil about me. +Three months hence I shall be king indeed, or dead. Silence, if you +value your life! You will have my secret, you and Solern and Villeroy +only. If it is betrayed, it will be by one of you three. Don't keep near +me; go and pay your court to my mother. Tell her I am dying, and that +you don't regret it, for I am only a poor creature." + +The king was leaning on the shoulder of his old favorite, and pretending +to tell him of his ailments, in order to mislead the inquisitive eyes +about him; then, not wishing to make his aversion too visible, he went +up to his wife and mother and talked with them, calling Birago to their +side. + +Just then Pinard, one of the secretaries of State, glided like an eel +through the door and along the wall until he reached the queen-mother, +in whose ear he said a few words, to which she replied by an affirmative +sign. The king did not ask his mother the meaning of this conference, +but he returned to his seat and kept silence, darting terrible looks of +anger and suspicion all about him. + +This little circumstance seemed of enormous consequence in the eyes +of the courtiers; and, in truth, so marked an exercise of power by the +queen-mother, without reference to the king, was like a drop of water +overflowing the cup. Queen Elizabeth and the Comtesse de Fiesque now +retired, but the king paid no attention to their movements, though the +queen-mother rose and attended her daughter-in-law to the door; after +which the courtiers, understanding that their presence was unwelcome, +took their leave. By ten o'clock no one remained in the hall but a few +intimates,--the two Gondis, Tavannes, Solern, Birago, the king, and the +queen-mother. + +The king sat plunged in the blackest melancholy. The silence was +oppressive. Catherine seemed embarrassed. She wished to leave the +room, and waited for the king to escort her to the door; but he still +continued obstinately lost in thought. At last she rose to bid him +good-night, and Charles IX. was forced to do likewise. As she took +his arm and made a few steps toward the door, she bent to his ear and +whispered:-- + +"Monsieur, I have important things to say to you." + +Passing a mirror on her way, she glanced into it and made a sign with +her eyes to the two Gondis, which escaped the king's notice, for he was +at the moment exchanging looks of intelligence with the Comte de Solern +and Villeroy. Tavannes was thoughtful. + +"Sire," said the latter, coming out of his reverie, "I think you are +royally ennuyed; don't you ever amuse yourself now? _Vive Dieu_! have +you forgotten the times when we used to vagabondize about the streets at +night?" + +"Ah! those were the good old times!" said the king, with a sigh. + +"Why not bring them back?" said Birago, glancing significantly at the +Gondis as he took his leave. + +"Yes, I always think of those days with pleasure," said Albert de Gondi, +Duc de Retz. + +"I'd like to see you on the roofs once more, monsieur le duc," remarked +Tavannes. "Damned Italian cat! I wish he might break his neck!" he added +in a whisper to the king. + +"I don't know which of us two could climb the quickest in these days," +replied de Gondi; "but one thing I do know, that neither of us fears to +die." + +"Well, sire, will you start upon a frolic in the streets to-night, as +you did in the days of your youth?" said the other Gondi, master of the +Wardrobe. + +The days of his youth! so at twenty-four years of age the wretched king +seemed no longer young to any one, not even to his flatterers! + +Tavannes and his master now reminded each other, like two school-boys, +of certain pranks they had played in Paris, and the evening's amusement +was soon arranged. The two Italians, challenged to climb roofs, and jump +from one to another across alleys and streets, wagered that they would +follow the king wherever he went. They and Tavannes went off to change +their clothes. The Comte de Solern, left alone with the king, looked at +him in amazement. Though the worthy German, filled with compassion +for the hapless position of the king of France, was honor and fidelity +itself, he was certainly not quick of perception. Charles IX., +surrounded by hostile persons, unable to trust any one, not even his +wife (who had been guilty of some indiscretions, unaware as she was that +his mother and his servants were his enemies), had been fortunate enough +to find in Monsieur de Solern a faithful friend in whom he could place +entire confidence. Tavannes and Villeroy were trusted with only a part +of the king's secrets. The Comte de Solern alone knew the whole of the +plan which he was now about to carry out. This devoted friend was also +useful to his master, in possessing a body of discreet and affectionate +followers, who blindly obeyed his orders. He commanded a detachment of +the archers of the guards, and for the last few days he had been sifting +out the men who were faithfully attached to the king, in order to make +a company of tried men when the need came. The king took thought of +everything. + +"Why are you surprised, Solern?" he said. "You know very well I need a +pretext to be out to-night. It is true, I have Madame de Belleville, +but this is better; for who knows whether my mother does not hear of all +that goes on at Marie's?" + +Monsieur de Solern, who was to follow the king, asked if he might not +take a few of his Germans to patrol the streets, and Charles consented. +About eleven o'clock the king, who was now very gay, set forth with his +three courtiers,--namely, Tavannes and the two Gondis. + +"I'll go and take my little Marie by surprise," said Charles IX. to +Tavannes, "as we pass through the rue de l'Autruche." That street being +on the way to the rue Saint-Honore, it would have been strange indeed +for the king to pass the house of his love without stopping. + +Looking out for a chance of mischief,--a belated burgher to frighten, +or a watchman to thrash--the king went along with his nose in the air, +watching all the lighted windows to see what was happening, and striving +to hear the conversations. But alas! he found his good city of Paris in +a state of deplorable tranquillity. Suddenly, as he passed the house +of a perfumer named Rene, who supplied the court, the king, noticing +a strong light from a window in the roof, was seized by one of those +apparently hasty inspirations which, to some minds, suggest a previous +intention. + +This perfumer was strongly suspected of curing rich uncles who thought +themselves ill. The court laid at his door the famous "Elixir of +Inheritance," and even accused him of poisoning Jeanne d'Albret, mother +of Henri of Navarre, who was buried (in spite of Charles IX.'s positive +order) without her head being opened. For the last two months the king +had sought some way of sending a spy into Rene's laboratory, where, as +he was well aware, Cosmo Ruggiero spent much time. The king intended, +if anything suspicious were discovered, to proceed in the matter alone, +without the assistance of the police or law, with whom, as he well knew, +his mother would counteract him by means of either corruption or fear. + +It is certain that during the sixteenth century, and the years that +preceded and followed it, poisoning was brought to a perfection unknown +to modern chemistry, as history itself will prove. Italy, the cradle of +modern science, was, at this period, the inventor and mistress of these +secrets, many of which are now lost. Hence the reputation for that crime +which weighed for the two following centuries on Italy. Romance-writers +have so greatly abused it that wherever they have introduced Italians +into their tales they have almost always made them play the part of +assassins and poisoners.[*] If Italy then had the traffic in subtle +poisons which some historians attribute to her, we should remember her +supremacy in the art of toxicology, as we do her pre-eminence in all +other human knowledge and art in which she took the lead in Europe. +The crimes of that period were not her crimes specially. She served the +passions of the age, just as she built magnificent edifices, commanded +armies, painted noble frescos, sang romances, loved queens, delighted +kings, devised ballets and fetes, and ruled all policies. The horrible +art of poisoning reached to such a pitch in Florence that a woman, +dividing a peach with a duke, using a golden fruit-knife with one side +of its blade poisoned, ate one half of the peach herself and killed the +duke with the other half. A pair of perfumed gloves were known to have +infiltrated mortal illness through the pores of the skin. Poison +was instilled into bunches of natural roses, and the fragrance, when +inhaled, gave death. Don John of Austria was poisoned, it was said, by a +pair of boots. + + [*] Written sixty-six years ago.--Tr. + +Charles IX. had good reason to be curious in the matter; we know already +the dark suspicions and beliefs which now prompted him to surprise the +perfumer Rene at his work. + +The old fountain at the corner of the rue de l'Arbre-See, which has +since been rebuilt, offered every facility for the royal vagabonds to +climb upon the roof of a house not far from that of Rene, which the king +wished to visit. Charles, followed by his companions, began to ramble +over the roofs, to the great terror of the burghers awakened by the +tramp of these false thieves, who called to them in saucy language, +listened to their talk, and even pretended to force an entrance. When +the Italians saw the king and Tavannes threading their way among the +roofs of the house next to that of Rene, Albert de Gondi sat down, +declaring that he was tired, and his brother followed his example. + +"So much the better," thought the king, glad to leave his spies behind +him. + +Tavannes began to laugh at the two Florentines, left sitting alone in +the midst of deep silence, in a place where they had nought but the +skies above them, and the cats for auditors. But the brothers made use +of their position to exchange thoughts they would not dare to utter on +any other spot in the world,--thoughts inspired by the events of the +evening. + +"Albert," said the Grand-master to the marechal, "the king will get the +better of the queen-mother; we are doing a foolish thing for our own +interests to stay by those of Catherine. If we go over to the king now, +when he is searching everywhere for support against her and for able +men to serve him, we shall not be driven away like wild beasts when the +queen-mother is banished, imprisoned, or killed." + +"You wouldn't get far with such ideas, Charles," replied the marechal, +gravely. "You'd follow the king into the grave, and he won't live long; +he is ruined by excesses. Cosmo Ruggiero predicts his death within a +year." + +"The dying boar has often killed the huntsman," said Charles de Gondi. +"This conspiracy of the Duc d'Alencon, the king of Navarre, and the +Prince de Conde, with whom La Mole and Coconnas are negotiating, is more +dangerous than useful. In the first place, the king of Navarre, whom the +queen-mother hoped to catch in the very act, distrusts her, and declines +to run his head into the noose. He means to profit by the conspiracy +without taking any of its risks. Besides, the notion now is to put the +crown on the head of the Duc d'Alencon, who has turned Calvinist." + +"_Budelone_! but don't you see that this conspiracy enables the +queen-mother to find out what the Huguenots can do with the Duc +d'Alencon, and what the king can do with the Huguenots?--for the king is +even now negotiating with them; but he'll be finely pilloried to-morrow, +when Catherine reveals to him the counter-conspiracy which will +neutralize all his projects." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Charles de Gondi, "by dint of profiting by our advice +she's clever and stronger than we! Well, that's all right." + +"All right for the Duc d'Anjou, who prefers to be king of France rather +than king of Poland; I am going now to explain the matter to him." + +"When do you start, Albert?" + +"To-morrow. I am ordered to accompany the king of Poland; and I expect +to join him in Venice, where the patricians have taken upon themselves +to amuse and delay him." + +"You are prudence itself!" + +"_Che bestia_! I swear to you there is not the slightest danger for +either of us in remaining at court. If there were, do you think I would +go away? I should stay by the side of our kind mistress." + +"Kind!" exclaimed the Grand-master; "she is a woman to drop all her +instruments the moment she finds them heavy." + +"_O coglione_! you pretend to be a soldier, and you fear death! Every +business has its duties, and we have ours in making our fortune. By +attaching ourselves to kings, the source of all temporal power which +protects, elevates, and enriches families, we are forced to give them +as devoted a love as that which burns in the hearts of martyrs toward +heaven. We must suffer in their cause; when they sacrifice us to +the interests of their throne we may perish, for we die as much for +ourselves as for them, but our name and our families perish not. +_Ecco_!" + +"You are right as to yourself, Albert; for they have given you the +ancient title and duchy of de Retz." + +"Now listen to me," replied his brother. "The queen hopes much from the +cleverness of the Ruggieri; she expects them to bring the king once +more under her control. When Charles refused to use Rene's perfumes any +longer the wary woman knew at once on whom his suspicions really rested. +But who can tell the schemes that are in his mind? Perhaps he is only +hesitating as to what fate he shall give his mother; he hates her, you +know. He said a few words about it to his wife; she repeated them to +Madame de Fiesque, and Madame de Fiesque told the queen-mother. Since +then the king has kept away from his wife." + +"The time has come," said Charles de Gondi. + +"To do what?" asked the marechal. + +"To lay hold of the king's mind," replied the Grand-master, who, if +he was not so much in the queen's confidence as his brother, was by no +means less clear-sighted. + +"Charles, I have opened a great career to you," said his brother +gravely. "If you wish to be a duke also, be, as I am, the accomplice +and cat's-paw of our mistress; she is the strongest here, and she will +continue in power. Madame de Sauves is on her side, and the king of +Navarre and the Duc d'Alencon are still for Madame de Sauves. Catherine +holds the pair in a leash under Charles IX., and she will hold them in +future under Henri III. God grant that Henri may not prove ungrateful." + +"How so?" + +"His mother is doing too much for him." + +"Hush! what noise is that I hear in the rue Saint-Honore?" cried the +Grand-master. "Listen! there is some one at Rene's door! Don't you hear +the footsteps of many men. Can they have arrested the Ruggieri?" + +"Ah, _diavolo_! this is prudence indeed. The king has not shown his +usual impetuosity. But where will they imprison them? Let us go down +into the street and see." + +The two brothers reached the corner of the rue de l'Autruche just as the +king was entering the house of his mistress, Marie Touchet. By the light +of the torches which the concierge carried, they distinguished Tavannes +and the two Ruggieri. + +"Hey, Tavannes!" cried the grand-master, running after the king's +companion, who had turned and was making his way back to the Louvre, +"What happened to you?" + +"We fell into a nest of sorcerers and arrested two, compatriots of +yours, who may perhaps be able to explain to the minds of French +gentlemen how you, who are not Frenchmen, have managed to lay hands on +two of the chief offices of the Crown," replied Tavannes, half jesting, +half in earnest. + +"But the king?" inquired the Grand-master, who cared little for +Tavanne's enmity. + +"He stays with his mistress." + +"We reached our present distinction through an absolute devotion to our +masters,--a noble course, my dear Tavannes, which I see that you also +have adopted," replied Albert de Gondi. + +The three courtiers walked on in silence. At the moment when they +parted, on meeting their servants who then escorted them, two men glided +swiftly along the walls of the rue de l'Autruche. These men were the +king and the Comte de Solern, who soon reached the banks of the Seine, +at a point where a boat and two rowers, carefully selected by de Solern, +awaited them. In a very few moments they reached the other shore. + +"My mother has not gone to bed," cried the king. "She will see us; we +chose a bad place for the interview." + +"She will think it a duel," replied Solern; "and she cannot possibly +distinguish who we are at this distance." + +"Well, let her see me!" exclaimed Charles IX. "I am resolved now!" + +The king and his confidant sprang ashore and walked quickly in the +direction of the Pre-aux-Clercs. When they reached it the Comte de +Solern, preceding the king, met a man who was evidently on the watch, +and with whom he exchanged a few words; the man then retired to a +distance. Presently two other men, who seemed to be princes by the marks +of respect which the first man paid to them, left the place where they +were evidently hiding behind the broken fence of a field, and approached +the king, to whom they bent the knee. But Charles IX. raised them before +they touched the ground, saying:-- + +"No ceremony, we are all gentlemen here." + +A venerable old man, who might have been taken for the Chancelier de +l'Hopital, had the latter not died in the preceding year, now joined the +three gentlemen, all four walking rapidly so as to reach a spot where +their conference could not be overheard by their attendants. The Comte +de Solern followed at a slight distance to keep watch over the king. +That faithful servant was filled with a distrust not shared by Charles +IX., a man to whom life was now a burden. He was the only person on the +king's side who witnessed this mysterious conference, which presently +became animated. + +"Sire," said one of the new-comers, "the Connetable de Montmorency, +the closest friend of the king your father, agreed with the Marechal de +Saint-Andre in declaring that Madame Catherine ought to be sewn up in a +sack and flung into the river. If that had been done then, many worthy +persons would still be alive." + +"I have enough executions on my conscience, monsieur," replied the king. + +"But, sire," said the youngest of the four personages, "if you merely +banish her, from the depths of her exile Queen Catherine will continue +to stir up strife, and to find auxiliaries. We have everything to fear +from the Guises, who, for the last nine years, have schemed for a vast +Catholic alliance, in the secret of which your Majesty is not included; +and it threatens your throne. This alliance was invented by Spain, +which will never renounce its project of destroying the boundary of the +Pyrenees. Sire, Calvinism will save France by setting up a moral barrier +between her and a nation which covets the empire of the world. If the +queen-mother is exiled, she will turn for help to Spain and to the +Guises." + +"Gentlemen," said the king, "know this, if by your help peace without +distrust is once established, I will take upon myself the duty of making +all subjects tremble. _Tete-Dieu_! it is time indeed for royalty to +assert itself. My mother is right in that, at any rate. You ought to +know that it is to your interest was well as mine, for your hands, your +fortunes depend upon our throne. If religion is overthrown, the hands +you allow to do it will be laid next upon the throne and then upon you. +I no longer care to fight ideas with weapons that cannot touch them. +Let us see now if Protestantism will make progress when left to itself; +above all, I would like to see with whom and what the spirit of that +faction will wrestle. The admiral, God rest his soul! was not my enemy; +he swore to me to restrain the revolt within spiritual limits, and +to leave the ruling of the kingdom to the monarch, his master, with +submissive subjects. Gentlemen, if the matter be still within your +power, set that example now; help your sovereign to put down a spirit +of rebellion which takes tranquillity from each and all of us. War is +depriving us of revenue; it is ruining the kingdom. I am weary of these +constant troubles; so weary, that if it is absolutely necessary I will +sacrifice my mother. Nay, I will go farther; I will keep an equal number +of Protestants and Catholics about me, and I will hold the axe of +Louis XI. above their heads to force them to be on good terms. If +the Messieurs de Guise plot a Holy Alliance to attack our crown, the +executioner shall begin with their heads. I see the miseries of my +people, and I will make short work of the great lords who care little +for consciences,--let them hold what opinions they like; what I want in +future is submissive subjects, who will work, according to my will, for +the prosperity of the State. Gentlemen, I give you ten days to negotiate +with your friends, to break off your plots, and to return to me who will +be your father. If you refuse you will see great changes. I shall use +the mass of the people, who will rise at my voice against the lords. +I will make myself a king who pacificates his kingdom by striking down +those who are more powerful even than you, and who dare defy him. If +the troops fail me, I have my brother of Spain, on whom I shall call +to defend our menaced thrones, and if I lack a minister to carry out my +will, he can lend me the Duke of Alba." + +"But in that case, sire, we should have Germans to oppose to your +Spaniards," said one of his hearers. + +"Cousin," replied Charles IX., coldly, "my wife's name is Elizabeth of +Austria; support might fail you on the German side. But, for Heaven's +sake, let us fight, if fight we must, alone, without the help of +foreigners. You are the object of my mother's hatred, and you stand near +enough to me to be my second in the duel I am about to fight with +her; well then, listen to what I now say. You seem to me so worthy of +confidence that I offer you the post of _connetable_; _you_ will not +betray me like the other." + +The prince to whom Charles IX. had addressed himself, struck his hand +into that of the king, exclaiming: + +"_Ventre-saint-gris_! brother; this is enough to make me forget many +wrongs. But, sire, the head cannot march without the tail, and ours is a +long tail to drag. Give me more than ten days; we want at least a month +to make our friends hear reason. At the end of that time we shall be +masters." + +"A month, so be it! My only negotiator will be Villeroy; trust no one +else, no matter what is said to you." + +"One month," echoed the other seigneurs, "that is sufficient." + +"Gentlemen, we are five," said the king,--"five men of honor. If any +betrayal takes place, we shall know on whom to avenge it." + +The three strangers kissed the hand of Charles IX. and took leave of him +with every mark of the utmost respect. As the king recrossed the Seine, +four o'clock was ringing from the clock-tower of the Louvre. Lights were +on in the queen-mother's room; she had not yet gone to bed. + +"My mother is still on the watch," said Charles to the Comte de Solern. + +"She has her forge as you have yours," remarked the German. + +"Dear count, what do you think of a king who is reduced to become a +conspirator?" said Charles IX., bitterly, after a pause. + +"I think, sire, that if you would allow me to fling that woman into the +river, as your young cousin said, France would soon be at peace." + +"What! a parricide in addition to the Saint-Bartholomew, count?" cried +the king. "No, no! I will exile her. Once fallen, my mother will no +longer have either servants or partisans." + +"Well, then, sire," replied the Comte de Solern, "give me the order to +arrest her at once and take her out of the kingdom; for to-morrow she +will have forced you to change your mind." + +"Come to my forge," said the king, "no one can overhear us there; +besides, I don't want my mother to suspect the capture of the Ruggieri. +If she knows I am in my work-shop she'll suppose nothing, and we can +consult about the proper measures for her arrest." + +As the king entered a lower room of the palace, which he used for a +workshop, he called his companion's attention to the forge and his +implements with a laugh. + +"I don't believe," he said, "among all the kings that France will ever +have, there'll be another to take pleasure in such work as that. But +when I am really king, I'll forge no swords; they shall all go back into +their scabbards." + +"Sire," said the Comte de Solern, "the fatigues of tennis and hunting, +your toil at this forge, and--if I may say it--love, are chariots which +the devil is offering you to get the faster to Saint-Denis." + +"Solern," said the king, in a piteous tone, "if you knew the fire they +have put into my soul and body! nothing can quench it. Are you sure of +the men who are guarding the Ruggieri?" + +"As sure as of myself." + +"Very good; then, during this coming day I shall take my own course. +Think of the proper means of making the arrest, and I will give you my +final orders by five o'clock at Madame de Belleville's." + +As the first rays of dawn were struggling with the lights of the +workshop, Charles IX., left alone by the departure of the Comte de +Solern, heard the door of the apartment turn on its hinges, and saw his +mother standing within it in the dim light like a phantom. Though very +nervous and impressible, the king did not quiver, albeit, under the +circumstances in which he then stood, this apparition had a certain air +of mystery and horror. + +"Monsieur," she said, "you are killing yourself." + +"I am fulfilling my horoscope," he replied with a bitter smile. "But +you, madame, you appear to be as early as I." + +"We have both been up all night, monsieur; but with very different +intentions. While you have been conferring with your worst enemies in +the open fields, concealing your acts from your mother, assisted by +Tavannes and the Gondis, with whom you have been scouring the town, I +have been reading despatches which contained the proofs of a +terrible conspiracy in which your brother, the Duc d'Alencon, your +brother-in-law, the king of Navarre, the Prince de Conde, and half the +nobles of your kingdom are taking part. Their purpose is nothing less +than to take the crown from your head and seize your person. Those +gentlemen have already fifty thousand good troops behind them." + +"Bah!" exclaimed the king, incredulously. + +"Your brother has turned Huguenot," she continued. + +"My brother! gone over to the Huguenots!" cried Charles, brandishing the +piece of iron which he held in his hand. + +"Yes; the Duc d'Alencon, Huguenot at heart, will soon be one before the +eyes of the world. Your sister, the queen of Navarre, has almost ceased +to love you; she cares more for the Duc d'Alencon; she cares of Bussy; +and she loves that little La Mole." + +"What a heart!" exclaimed the king. + +"That little La Mole," went on the queen, "wishes to make himself a +great man by giving France a king of his own stripe. He is promised, +they say, the place of connetable." + +"Curse that Margot!" cried the king. "This is what comes of her marriage +with a heretic." + +"Heretic or not is of no consequence; the trouble is that, in spite of +my advice, you have brought the head of the younger branch too near the +throne by that marriage, and Henri's purpose is now to embroil you with +the rest and make you kill one another. The house of Bourbon is the +enemy of the house of Valois; remember that, monsieur. All younger +branches should be kept in a state of poverty, for they are born +conspirators. It is sheer folly to give them arms when they have none, +or to leave them in possession of arms when they seize them. Let every +younger son be made incapable of doing harm; that is the law of Crowns; +the Sultans of Asia follow it. The proofs of this conspiracy are in my +room upstairs, where I asked you to follow me last evening, when you +bade me good-night; but instead of doing so, it seems you had other +plans. I therefore waited for you. If we do not take the proper measures +immediately you will meet the fate of Charles the Simple within a +month." + +"A month!" exclaimed the king, thunderstruck at the coincidence of that +period with the delay asked for by the princes themselves. "'In a +month we shall be masters,'" he added to himself, quoting their words. +"Madame," he said aloud, "what are your proofs?" + +"They are unanswerable, monsieur; they come from my daughter Marguerite. +Alarmed herself at the possibilities of such a combination, her love for +the throne of the Valois has proved stronger, this time, than all her +other loves. She asks, as the price of her revelations that nothing +shall be done to La Mole; but the scoundrel seems to me a dangerous +villain whom we had better be rid of, as well as the Comte de Coconnas, +your brother d'Alencon's right hand. As for the Prince de Conde, he +consents to everything, provided I am thrown into the sea; perhaps that +is the wedding present he gives me in return for the pretty wife I gave +him! All this is a serious matter, monsieur. You talk of horoscopes! +I know of the prediction which gives the throne of the Valois to the +Bourbons, and if we do not take care it will be fulfilled. Do not be +angry with your sister; she has behaved well in this affair. My son," +continued the queen, after a pause, giving a tone of tenderness to +her words, "evil persons on the side of the Guises are trying to sow +dissensions between you and me; and yet we are the only ones in the +kingdom whose interests are absolutely identical. You blame me, I know, +for the Saint-Bartholomew; you accuse me of having forced you into +it. Catholicism, monsieur, must be the bond between France, Spain, +and Italy, three countries which can, by skilful management, secretly +planned, be united in course of time, under the house of Valois. Do not +deprive yourself of such chances by loosing the cord which binds the +three kingdoms in the bonds of a common faith. Why should not the Valois +and the Medici carry out for their own glory the scheme of Charles the +Fifth, whose head failed him? Let us fling off that race of Jeanne la +Folle. The Medici, masters of Florence and of Rome, will force Italy to +support your interests; they will guarantee you advantages by treaties +of commerce and alliance which shall recognize your fiefs in Piedmont, +the Milanais, and Naples, where you have rights. These, monsieur, are +the reasons of the war to the death which we make against the Huguenots. +Why do you force me to repeat these things? Charlemagne was wrong in +advancing toward the north. France is a body whose heart is on the Gulf +of Lyons, and its two arms over Spain and Italy. Therefore, she must +rule the Mediterranean, that basket into which are poured all the riches +of the Orient, now turned to the profit of those seigneurs of Venice, +in the very teeth of Philip II. If the friendship of the Medici and your +rights justify you in hoping for Italy, force, alliances, or a possible +inheritance may give you Spain. Warn the house of Austria as to +this,--that ambitious house to which the Guelphs sold Italy, and which +is even now hankering after Spain. Though your wife is of that house, +humble it! Clasp it so closely that you will smother it! _There_ are +the enemies of your kingdom; thence comes help to the Reformers. Do not +listen to those who find their profit in causing us to disagree, and who +torment your life by making you believe I am your secret enemy. Have _I_ +prevented you from having heirs? Why has your mistress given you a son, +and your wife a daughter? Why have you not to-day three legitimate heirs +to root out the hopes of these seditious persons? Is it I, monsieur, +who am responsible for such failures? If you had an heir, would the Duc +d'Alencon be now conspiring?" + +As she ended these words, Catherine fixed upon her son the magnetic +glance of a bird of prey upon its victim. The daughter of the Medici +became magnificent; her real self shone upon her face, which, like +that of a gambler over the green table, glittered with vast cupidities. +Charles IX. saw no longer the mother of one man, but (as was said of +her) the mother of armies and of empires,--_mater castrorum_. Catherine +had now spread wide the wings of her genius, and boldly flown to the +heights of the Medici and Valois policy, tracing once more the mighty +plans which terrified in earlier days her husband Henri II., and which, +transmitted by the genius of the Medici to Richelieu, remain in writing +among the papers of the house of Bourbon. But Charles IX., hearing the +unusual persuasions his mother was using, thought that there must be +some necessity for them, and he began to ask himself what could be her +motive. He dropped his eyes; he hesitated; his distrust was not lessened +by her studied phrases. Catherine was amazed at the depths of suspicion +she now beheld in her son's heart. + +"Well, monsieur," she said, "do you not understand me? What are we, you +and I, in comparison with the eternity of royal crowns? Do you suppose +me to have other designs than those that ought to actuate all royal +persons who inhabit the sphere where empires are ruled?" + +"Madame, I will follow you to your cabinet; we must act--" + +"Act!" cried Catherine; "let our enemies alone; let _them_ act; take +them red-handed, and law and justice will deliver you from their +assaults. For God's sake, monsieur, show them good-will." + +The queen withdrew; the king remained alone for a few moments, for he +was utterly overwhelmed. + +"On which side is the trap?" thought he. "Which of the two--she or +they--deceive me? What is my best policy? _Deus, discerne causam meam_!" +he muttered with tears in his eyes. "Life is a burden to me! I prefer +death, natural or violent, to these perpetual torments!" he cried +presently, bringing down his hammer upon the anvil with such force that +the vaults of the palace trembled. + +"My God!" he said, as he went outside and looked up at the sky, "thou +for whose holy religion I struggle, give me the light of thy countenance +that I may penetrate the secrets of my mother's heart while I question +the Ruggieri." + + + + +III. MARIE TOUCHET + + +The little house of Madame de Belleville, where Charles IX. had +deposited his prisoners, was the last but one in the rue de l'Autruche +on the side of the rue Saint-Honore. The street gate, flanked by two +little brick pavilions, seemed very simple in those days, when gates and +their accessories were so elaborately treated. It had two pilasters +of stone cut in facets, and the coping represented a reclining woman +holding a cornucopia. The gate itself, closed by enormous locks, had +a wicket through which to examine those who asked admittance. In each +pavilion lived a porter; for the king's extremely capricious pleasure +required a porter by day and by night. The house had a little courtyard, +paved like those of Venice. At this period, before carriages were +invented, ladies went about on horseback, or in litters, so that +courtyards could be made magnificent without fear of injury from horses +or carriages. This fact is always to be remembered as an explanation +of the narrowness of streets, the small size of courtyards, and certain +other details of the private dwellings of the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries. + +The house, of one story only above the ground-floor, was capped by a +sculptured frieze, above which rose a roof with four sides, the peak +being flattened to form a platform. Dormer windows were cut in this +roof, with casings and pediments which the chisel of some great artist +had covered with arabesques and dentils; each of the three windows on +the main floor were equally beautiful in stone embroidery, which the +brick of the walls showed off to great advantage. On the ground-floor, +a double portico, very delicately decorated, led to the entrance door, +which was covered with bosses cut with facets in the Venetian manner,--a +style of decoration which was further carried on round the windows +placed to right and left of the door. + +A garden, carefully laid out in the fashion of the times and filled with +choice flowers, occupied a space behind the house equal to that of the +courtyard in front. A grape-vine draped its walls. In the centre of a +grass plot rose a silver fir-tree. The flower-borders were separated +from the grass by meandering paths which led to an arbor of clipped yews +at the farther end of the little garden. The walls were covered with a +mosaic of variously colored pebbles, coarse in design, it is true, but +pleasing to the eye from the harmony of its tints with those of the +flower-beds. The house had a carved balcony on the garden side, above +the door, and also on the front toward the courtyard, and around the +middle windows. On both sides of the house the ornamentation of the +principal window, which projected some feet from the wall, rose to the +frieze; so that it formed a little pavilion, hung there like a lantern. +The casings of the other windows were inlaid on the stone with precious +marbles. + +In spite of the exquisite taste displayed in the little house, there +was an air of melancholy about it. It was darkened by the buildings +that surrounded it and by the roofs of the hotel d'Alencon which threw +a heavy shadow over both court and garden; moreover, a deep silence +reigned there. But this silence, these half-lights, this solitude, +soothed a royal soul, which could there surrender itself to a single +emotion, as in a cloister where men pray, or in some sheltered home +wherein they love. + +It is easy now to imagine the interior charm and choiceness of this +haven, the sole spot in his kingdom where this dying Valois could pour +out his soul, reveal his sufferings, exercise his taste for art, and +give himself up to the poesy he loved,--pleasures denied him by the +cares of a cruel royalty. Here, alone, were his great soul and his high +intrinsic worth appreciated; here he could give himself up, +for a few brief months, the last of his life, to the joys of +fatherhood,--pleasures into which he flung himself with the frenzy that +a sense of his coming and dreadful death impressed on all his actions. + +In the afternoon of the day succeeding the night-scene we have just +described, Marie Touchet was finishing her toilet in the oratory, which +was the boudoir of those days. She was arranging the long curls of her +beautiful black hair, blending them with the velvet of a new coif, and +gazing intently into her mirror. + +"It is nearly four o'clock; that interminable council must surely be +over," she thought to herself. "Jacob has returned from the Louvre; +he says that everybody he saw was excited about the number of the +councillors summoned and the length of the session. What can have +happened? Is it some misfortune? Good God! surely _he_ knows how +suspense wears out the soul! Perhaps he has gone a-hunting? If he is +happy and amused, it is all right. When I see him gay, I forget all I +have suffered." + +She drew her hands round her slender waist as if to smooth some trifling +wrinkle in her gown, turning sideways to see if its folds fell properly, +and as she did so, she caught sight of the king on the couch behind her. +The carpet had so muffled the sound of his steps that he had slipped in +softly without being heard. + +"You frightened me!" she said, with a cry of surprise, which was quickly +repressed. + +"Were you thinking of me?" said the king. + +"When do I not think of you?" she answered, sitting down beside him. + +She took off his cap and cloak, passing her hands through his hair +as though she combed it with her fingers. Charles let her do as she +pleased, but made no answer. Surprised at this, Marie knelt down to +study the pale face of her royal master, and then saw the signs of a +dreadful weariness and a more consummate melancholy than any she had yet +consoled. She repressed her tears and kept silence, that she might +not irritate by mistaken words the sorrow which, as yet, she did not +understand. In this she did as tender women do under like circumstances. +She kissed that forehead, seamed with untimely wrinkles, and those +livid cheeks, trying to convey to the worn-out soul the freshness of +hers,--pouring her spirit into the sweet caresses which met with no +response. Presently she raised her head to the level of the king's, +clasping him softly in her arms; then she lay still, her face hidden on +that suffering breast, watching for the opportune moment to question his +dejected mind. + +"My Charlot," she said at last, "will you not tell your poor, distressed +Marie the troubles that cloud that precious brow, and whiten those +beautiful red lips?" + +"Except Charlemagne," he said in a hollow voice, "all the kings of +France named Charles have ended miserably." + +"Pooh!" she said, "look at Charles VIII." + +"That poor prince!" exclaimed the king. "In the flower of his age he +struck his head against a low door at the chateau of Amboise, which he +was having decorated, and died in horrible agony. It was his death which +gave the crown to our family." + +"Charles VII. reconquered his kingdom." + +"Darling, he died" (the king lowered his voice) "of hunger; for he +feared being poisoned by the dauphin, who had already caused the death +of his beautiful Agnes. The father feared his son; to-day the son dreads +his mother!" + +"Why drag up the past?" she said hastily, remembering the dreadful life +of Charles VI. + +"Ah! sweetest, kings have no need to go to sorcerers to discover +their coming fate; they need only turn to history. I am at this moment +endeavoring to escape the fate of Charles the Simple, who was robbed of +his crown, and died in prison after seven years' captivity." + +"Charles V. conquered the English," she cried triumphantly. + +"No, not he, but du Guesclin. He himself, poisoned by Charles de +Navarre, dragged out a wretched existence." + +"Well, Charles IV., then?" + +"He married three times to obtain an heir, in spite of the masculine +beauty of the children of Philippe le Bel. The first house of Valois +ended with him, and the second is about to end in the same way. The +queen has given me only a daughter, and I shall die without leaving +her pregnant; for a long minority would be the greatest curse I could +bequeath to the kingdom. Besides, if I had a son, would he live? The +name of Charles is fatal; Charlemagne exhausted the luck of it. If I +left a son I would tremble at the thought that he would be Charles X." + +"Who is it that wants to seize your crown?" + +"My brother d'Alencon conspires against it. Enemies are all about me." + +"Monsieur," said Marie, with a charming little pout, "do tell me +something gayer." + +"Ah! my little jewel, my treasure, don't call me 'monsieur,' even in +jest; you remind me of my mother, who stabs me incessantly with that +title, by which she seems to snatch away my crown. She says 'my son' to +the Duc d'Anjou--I mean the king of Poland." + +"Sire," exclaimed Marie, clasping her hands as though she were praying, +"there is a kingdom where you are worshipped. Your Majesty fills it with +his glory, his power; and there the word 'monsieur,' means 'my beloved +lord.'" + +She unclasped her hands, and with a pretty gesture pointed to her heart. +The words were so _musiques_ (to use a word of the times which depicted +the melodies of love) that Charles IX. caught her round the waist with +the nervous force that characterized him, and seated her on his knee, +rubbing his forehead gently against the pretty curls so coquettishly +arranged. Marie thought the moment favorable; she ventured a few kisses, +which Charles allowed rather than accepted, then she said softly:-- + +"If my servants were not mistaken you were out all night in the streets, +as in the days when you played the pranks of a younger son." + +"Yes," replied the king, still lost in his own thoughts. + +"Did you fight the watchman and frighten some of the burghers? Who are +the men you brought here and locked up? They must be very criminal, as +you won't allow any communication with them. No girl was ever locked in +as carefully, and they have not had a mouthful to eat since they came. +The Germans whom Solern left to guard them won't let any one go near the +room. Is it a joke you are playing; or is it something serious?" + +"Yes, you are right," said the king, coming out of his reverie, "last +night I did scour the roofs with Tavannes and the Gondis. I wanted to +try my old follies with the old companions; but my legs were not what +they once were; I did not dare leap the streets; though we did jump two +alleys from one roof to the next. At the second, however, Tavannes and +I, holding on to a chimney, agreed that we couldn't do it again. If +either of us had been alone we couldn't have done it then." + +"I'll wager that you sprang first." The king smiled. "I know why you +risk your life in that way." + +"And why, you little witch?" + +"You are tired of life." + +"Ah, sorceress! But I am being hunted down by sorcery," said the king, +resuming his anxious look. + +"My sorcery is love," she replied, smiling. "Since the happy day when +you first loved me, have I not always divined your thoughts? And--if you +will let me speak the truth--the thoughts which torture you to-day are +not worthy of a king." + +"Am I a king?" he said bitterly. + +"Cannot you be one? What did Charles VII. do? He listened to his +mistress, monseigneur, and he reconquered his kingdom, invaded by the +English as yours is now by the enemies of our religion. Your last _coup +d'Etat_ showed you the course you have to follow. Exterminate heresy." + +"You blamed the Saint-Bartholomew," said Charles, "and now you--" + +"That is over," she said; "besides, I agree with Madame Catherine that +it was better to do it yourselves than let the Guises do it." + +"Charles VII. had only men to fight; I am face to face with ideas," +resumed the king. "We can kill men, but we can't kill words! The Emperor +Charles V. gave up the attempt; his son Philip has spent his strength +upon it; we shall all perish, we kings, in that struggle. On whom can +I rely? To right, among the Catholics, I find the Guises, who are my +enemies; to left, the Calvinists, who will never forgive me the death of +my poor old Coligny, nor that bloody day in August; besides, they want +to suppress the throne; and in front of me what have I?--my mother!" + +"Arrest her; reign alone," said Marie in a low voice, whispering in his +ear. + +"I meant to do so yesterday; to-day I no longer intend it. You speak of +it rather coolly." + +"Between the daughter of an apothecary and that of a doctor there is no +great difference," replied Touchet, always ready to laugh at the false +origin attributed to her. + +The king frowned. + +"Marie, don't take such liberties. Catherine de' Medici is my mother, +and you ought to tremble lest--" + +"What is it you fear?" + +"Poison!" cried the king, beside himself. + +"Poor child!" cried Marie, restraining her tears; for the sight of +such strength united to such weakness touched her deeply. "Ah!" she +continued, "you make me hate Madame Catherine, who has been so good to +me; her kindness now seems perfidy. Why is she so kind to me, and bad to +you? During my stay in Dauphine I heard many things about the beginning +of your reign which you concealed from me; it seems to me that the +queen, your mother, is the real cause of all your troubles." + +"In what way?" cried the king, deeply interested. + +"Women whose souls and whose intentions are pure use virtue wherewith to +rule the men they love; but women who do not seek good rule men through +their evil instincts. Now, the queen made vices out of certain of +your noblest qualities, and she taught you to believe that your worst +inclinations were virtues. Was that the part of a mother? Be a tyrant +like Louis XI.; inspire terror; imitate Philip II.; banish the Italians; +drive out the Guises; confiscate the lands of the Calvinists. Out of +this solitude you will rise a king; you will save the throne. The moment +is propitious; your brother is in Poland." + +"We are two children at statecraft," said Charles, bitterly; "we know +nothing except how to love. Alas! my treasure, yesterday I, too, thought +all these things; I dreamed of accomplishing great deeds--bah! my mother +blew down my house of cards! From a distance we see great questions +outlined like the summits of mountains, and it is easy to say: 'I'll +make an end of Calvinism; I'll bring those Guises to task; I'll separate +from the Court of Rome; I'll rely upon my people, upon the burghers--' +ah! yes, from afar it all seems simple enough! but try to climb those +mountains and the higher you go the more the difficulties appear. +Calvinism, in itself, is the last thing the leaders of that party care +for; and the Guises, those rabid Catholics, would be sorry indeed to +see the Calvinists put down. Each side considers its own interests +exclusively, and religious opinions are but a cloak for insatiable +ambition. The party of Charles IX. is the feeblest of all. That of the +king of Navarre, that of the king of Poland, that of the Duc d'Alencon, +that of the Condes, that of the Guises, that of my mother, are all +intriguing one against another, but they take no account of me, not +even in my own council. My mother, in the midst of so many contending +elements, is, nevertheless, the strongest among them; she has just +proved to me the inanity of my plans. We are surrounded by rebellious +subjects who defy the law. The axe of Louis XI. of which you speak, is +lacking to us. Parliament would not condemn the Guises, nor the king of +Navarre, nor the Condes, nor my brother. No! the courage to assassinate +is needed; the throne will be forced to strike down those insolent men +who suppress both law and justice; but where can we find the faithful +arm? The council I held this morning has disgusted me with everything; +treason everywhere; contending interests all about me. I am tired with +the burden of my crown. I only want to die in peace." + +He dropped into a sort of gloomy somnolence. + +"Disgusted with everything!" repeated Marie Touchet, sadly; but she did +not disturb the black torpor of her lover. + +Charles was the victim of a complete prostration of mind and body, +produced by three things,--the exhaustion of all his faculties, +aggravated by the disheartenment of realizing the extent of an evil; the +recognized impossibility of surmounting his weakness; and the aspect of +difficulties so great that genius itself would dread them. The king's +depression was in proportion to the courage and the loftiness of ideas +to which he had risen during the last few months. In addition to this, +an attack of nervous melancholy, caused by his malady, had seized him +as he left the protracted council which had taken place in his private +cabinet. Marie saw that he was in one of those crises when the least +word, even of love, would be importunate and painful; so she remained +kneeling quietly beside him, her head on his knee, the king's hand +buried in her hair, and he himself motionless, without a word, without +a sigh, as still as Marie herself,--Charles IX. in the lethargy of +impotence, Marie in the stupor of despair which comes to a loving woman +when she perceives the boundaries at which love ends. + +The lovers thus remained, in the deepest silence, during one of those +terrible hours when all reflection wounds, when the clouds of an inward +tempest veil even the memory of happiness. Marie believed that she +herself was partly the cause of this frightful dejection. She asked +herself, not without horror, if the excessive joys and the violent love +which she had never yet found strength to resist, did not contribute to +weaken the mind and body of the king. As she raised her eyes, bathed in +tears, toward her lover, she saw the slow tears rolling down his pallid +cheeks. This mark of the sympathy that united them so moved the king +that he rushed from his depression like a spurred horse. He took Marie +in his arms and placed her on the sofa. + +"I will no longer be a king," he cried. "I will be your lover, your +lover only, wholly given up to that happiness. I will die happy, and not +consumed by the cares and miseries of a throne." + +The tone of these words, the fire that shone in the half-extinct eyes of +the king, gave Marie a terrible shock instead of happiness; she blamed +her love as an accomplice in the malady of which the king was dying. + +"Meanwhile you forget your prisoners," she said, rising abruptly. + +"Hey! what care I for them? I give them leave to kill me." + +"What! are they murderers?" + +"Oh, don't be frightened, little one; we hold them fast. Don't think of +them, but of me. Do you love me?" + +"Sire!" she cried. + +"Sire!" he repeated, sparks darting from his eyes, so violent was the +rush of his anger at the untimely respect of his mistress. "You are in +league with my mother." + +"O God!" cried Marie, looking at the picture above her _prie-dieu_ and +turning toward it to say her prayer, "grant that he comprehend me!" + +"Ah!" said the king suspiciously, "you have some wrong to me upon your +conscience!" Then looking at her from between his arms, he plunged his +eyes into hers. "I have heard some talk of the mad passion of a certain +Entragues," he went on wildly. "Ever since their grandfather, the +soldier Balzac, married a viscontessa at Milan that family hold their +heads too high." + +Marie looked at the king with so proud an air that he was ashamed. +At that instant the cries of little Charles de Valois, who had just +awakened, were heard in the next room. Marie ran to the door. + +"Come in, Bourguignonne!" she said, taking the child from its nurse and +carrying it to the king. "You are more of a child than he," she cried, +half angry, half appeased. + +"He is beautiful!" said Charles IX., taking his son in his arms. + +"I alone know how like he is to you," said Marie; "already he has your +smile and your gestures." + +"So tiny as that!" said the king, laughing at her. + +"Oh, I know men don't believe such things; but watch him, my Charlot, +play with him. Look there! See! Am I not right?" + +"True!" exclaimed the king, astonished by a motion of the child which +seemed the very miniature of a gesture of his own. + +"Ah, the pretty flower!" cried the mother. "Never shall he leave us! +_He_ will never cause me grief." + +The king frolicked with his son; he tossed him in his arms, and kissed +him passionately, talking the foolish, unmeaning talk, the pretty, baby +language invented by nurses and mothers. His voice grew child-like. At +last his forehead cleared, joy returned to his saddened face, and then, +as Marie saw that he had forgotten his troubles, she laid her head upon +his shoulder and whispered in his ear:-- + +"Won't you tell me, Charlot, why you have made me keep murderers in +my house? Who are these men, and what do you mean to do with them? In +short, I want to know what you were doing on the roofs. I hope there was +no woman in the business?" + +"Then you love me as much as ever!" cried the king, meeting the clear, +interrogatory glance that women know so well how to cast upon occasion. + +"You doubted _me_," she replied, as a tear shone on her beautiful +eyelashes. + +"There are women in my adventure," said the king; "but they are +sorceresses. How far had I told you?" + +"You were on the roofs near by--what street was it?" + +"Rue Saint-Honore, sweetest," said the king, who seemed to have +recovered himself. Collecting this thoughts, he began to explain to his +mistress what had happened, as if to prepare her for a scene that was +presently to take place in her presence. + +"As I was passing through the street last night on a frolic," he said, +"I chanced to see a bright light from the dormer window of the house +occupied by Rene, my mother's glover and perfumer, and once yours. I +have strong doubts about that man and what goes on in his house. If I am +poisoned, the drug will come from there." + +"I shall dismiss him to-morrow." + +"Ah! so you kept him after I had given him up?" cried the king. "I +thought my life was safe with you," he added gloomily; "but no doubt +death is following me even here." + +"But, my dearest, I have only just returned from Dauphine with our +dauphin," she said, smiling, "and Rene has supplied me with nothing +since the death of the Queen of Navarre. Go on; you climbed to the roof +of Rene's house?" + + + + +IV. THE KING'S TALE + +"Yes," returned the king. "In a second I was there, followed by +Tavannes, and then we clambered to a spot where I could see without +being seen the interior of that devil's kitchen, in which I beheld +extraordinary things which inspired me to take certain measures. Did +you ever notice the end of the roof of that cursed perfumer? The windows +toward the street are always closed and dark, except the last, from +which can be seen the hotel de Soissons and the observatory which my +mother built for that astrologer, Cosmo Ruggiero. Under the roof +are lodging-rooms and a gallery which have no windows except on the +courtyard, so that in order to see what was going on within, it was +necessary to go where no man before ever dreamed of climbing,--along the +coping of a high wall which adjoins the roof of Rene's house. The +men who set up in that house the furnaces by which they distil +death, reckoned on the cowardice of Parisians to save them from being +overlooked; but they little thought of Charles de Valois! I crept along +the coping until I came to a window, against the casing of which I +was able to stand up straight with my arm round a carved monkey which +ornamented it." + +"What did you see, dear heart?" said Marie, trembling. + +"A den, where works of darkness were being done," replied the king. "The +first object on which my eyes lighted was a tall old man seated in a +chair, with a magnificent white beard, like that of old l'Hopital, and +dressed like him in a black velvet robe. On his broad forehead furrowed +deep with wrinkles, on his crown of white hair, on his calm, attentive +face, pale with toil and vigils, fell the concentrated rays of a lamp +from which shone a vivid light. His attention was divided between an old +manuscript, the parchment of which must have been centuries old, and two +lighted furnaces on which heretical compounds were cooking. Neither the +floor nor the ceiling of the laboratory could be seen, because of the +myriads of hanging skeletons, bodies of animals, dried plants, minerals, +and articles of all kinds that masked the walls; while on the floor were +books, instruments for distilling, chests filled with utensils for magic +and astrology; in one place I saw horoscopes and nativities, phials, +wax-figures under spells, and possibly poisons. Tavannes and I were +fascinated, I do assure you, by the sight of this devil's-arsenal. Only +to see it puts one under a spell, and if I had not been King of France, +I might have been awed by it. 'You can tremble for both of us,' I +whispered to Tavannes. But Tavannes' eyes were already caught by the +most mysterious feature of the scene. On a couch, near the old man, lay +a girl of strangest beauty,--slender and long like a snake, white as +ermine, livid as death, motionless as a statue. Perhaps it was a woman +just taken from her grave, on whom they were trying experiments, for she +seemed to wear a shroud; her eyes were fixed, and I could not see that +she breathed. The old fellow paid no attention to her. I looked at him +so intently that, after a while, his soul seemed to pass into mine. By +dint of studying him, I ended by admiring the glance of his eye,--so +keen, so profound, so bold, in spite of the chilling power of age. I +admired his mouth, mobile with thoughts emanating from a desire which +seemed to be the solitary desire of his soul, and was stamped upon every +line of the face. All things in that man expressed a hope which nothing +discouraged, and nothing could check. His attitude,--a quivering +immovability,--those outlines so free, carved by a single passion as +by the chisel of a sculptor, that IDEA concentrated on some experiment +criminal or scientific, that seeking Mind in quest of Nature, thwarted +by her, bending but never broken under the weight of its own audacity, +which it would not renounce, threatening creation with the fire it +derived from it,--ah! all that held me in a spell for the time being. I +saw before me an old man who was more of a king than I, for his glance +embraced the world and mastered it. I will forge swords no longer; +I will soar above the abysses of existence, like that man; for his +science, methinks, is true royalty! Yes, I believe in occult science." + +"You, the eldest son, the defender of the Holy Catholic, Apostolic, and +Roman Church?" said Marie. + +"I." + +"What happened to you? Go on, go on; I will fear for you, and you will +have courage for me." + +"Looking at a clock, the old man rose," continued the king. "He went +out, I don't know where; but I heard the window on the side toward +the rue Saint-Honore open. Soon a brilliant light gleamed out upon the +darkness; then I saw in the observatory of the hotel de Soissons another +light replying to that of the old man, and by it I beheld the figure +of Cosmo Ruggiero on the tower. 'See, they communicate!' I said +to Tavannes, who from that moment thought the matter frightfully +suspicious, and agreed with me that we ought to seize the two men and +search, incontinently, their accursed workshop. But before proceeding +to do so, we wanted to see what was going to happen. After about +fifteen minutes the door opened, and Cosmo Ruggiero, my mother's +counsellor,--the bottomless pit which holds the secrets of the court, he +from whom all women ask help against their husbands and lovers, and all +the men ask help against their unfaithful wives and mistresses, he who +traffics on the future as on the past, receiving pay with both +hands, who sells horoscopes and is supposed to know all things,--that +semi-devil came in, saying to the old man, 'Good-day to you, brother.' +With him he brought a hideous old woman,--toothless, humpbacked, +twisted, bent, like a Chinese image, only worse. She was wrinkled as a +withered apple; her skin was saffron-colored; her chin bit her nose; +her mouth was a mere line scarcely visible; her eyes were like the black +spots on a dice; her forehead emitted bitterness; her hair escaped in +straggling gray locks from a dirty coif; she walked with a crutch; she +smelt of heresy and witchcraft. The sight of her actually frightened us, +Tavannes and me! We didn't think her a natural woman. God never made a +woman so fearful as that. She sat down on a stool near the pretty snake +with whom Tavannes was in love. The two brothers paid no attention +to the old woman nor to the young woman, who together made a horrible +couple,--on the one side life in death, on the other death in life--" + +"Ah! my sweet poet!" cried Marie, kissing the king. + +"'Good-day, Cosmo,' replied the old alchemist. And they both looked into +the furnace. 'What strength has the moon to-day?' asked the elder. 'But, +_caro Lorenzo_,' replied my mother's astrologer, 'the September tides +are not yet over; we can learn nothing while that disorder lasts.' 'What +says the East to-night?' 'It discloses in the air a creative force which +returns to earth all that earth takes from it. The conclusion is that +all things here below are the product of a slow transformation, but that +all diversities are the forms of one and the same substance.' 'That is +what my predecessor thought,' replied Lorenzo. 'This morning Bernard +Palissy told me that metals were the result of compression, and that +fire, which divides all, also unites all; fire has the power to compress +as well as to separate. That man has genius.' Though I was placed where +it was impossible for them to see me, Cosmo said, lifting the hand +of the dead girl: 'Some one is near us! Who is it' 'The king,' she +answered. I at once showed myself and rapped on the window. Ruggiero +opened it, and I sprang into that hellish kitchen, followed by Tavannes. +'Yes, the king,' I said to the two Florentines, who seemed terrified. +'In spite of your furnaces and your books, your sciences and your +sorceries, you did not foresee my visit. I am very glad to meet the +famous Lorenzo Ruggiero, of whom my mother speaks mysteriously,' I said, +addressing the old man, who rose and bowed. 'You are in this kingdom +without my consent, my good man. For whom are you working here, you +whose ancestors from father to son have been devoted in heart to the +house of Medici? Listen to me! You dive into so many purses that by +this time, if you are grasping men, you have piled up gold. You are +too shrewd and cautious to cast yourselves imprudently into criminal +actions; but, nevertheless, you are not here in this kitchen without a +purpose. Yes, you have some secret scheme, you who are satisfied neither +by gold nor power. Whom do you serve,--God or the devil? What are you +concocting here? I choose to know the whole truth; I am a man who can +hear it and keep silence about your enterprise, however blamable it +maybe. Therefore you will tell me all, without reserve. If you deceive +me you will be treated severely. Pagans or Christians, Calvinists or +Mohammedans, you have my royal word that you shall leave the kingdom in +safety if you have any misdemeanors to relate. I shall leave you for +the rest of the night and the forenoon of to-morrow to examine your +thoughts; for you are now my prisoners, and you will at once follow me +to a place where you will be guarded carefully.' Before obeying me +the two Italians consulted each other by a subtle glance; then Lorenzo +Ruggiero said I might be assured that no torture could wring their +secrets from them; that in spite of their apparent feebleness neither +pain nor human feelings had any power of them; confidence alone could +make their mouth say what their mind contained. I must not, he said, be +surprised if they treated as equals with a king who recognized God only +as above him, for their thoughts came from God alone. They therefore +claimed from me as much confidence and trust as they should give to me. +But before engaging themselves to answer me without reserve they must +request me to put my left hand into that of the young girl lying there, +and my right into that of the old woman. Not wishing them to think I was +afraid of their sorcery, I held out my hands; Lorenzo took the right, +Cosmo the left, and each placed a hand in that of each woman, so that I +was like Jesus Christ between the two thieves. During the time that the +two witches were examining my hands Cosmo held a mirror before me and +asked me to look into it; his brother, meanwhile, was talking with the +two women in a language unknown to me. Neither Tavannes nor I could +catch the meaning of a single sentence. Before bringing the men here we +put seals on all the outlets of the laboratory, which Tavannes undertook +to guard until such time as, by my express orders, Bernard Palissy, and +Chapelain, my physician, could be brought there to examine thoroughly +the drugs the place contained and which were evidently made there. In +order to keep the Ruggieri ignorant of this search, and to prevent them +from communicating with a single soul outside, I put the two devils in +your lower rooms in charge of Solern's Germans, who are better than +the walls of a jail. Rene, the perfumer, is kept under guard in his own +house by Solern's equerry, and so are the two witches. Now, my sweetest, +inasmuch as I hold the keys of the whole cabal,--the kings of Thune, the +chiefs of sorcery, the gypsy fortune-tellers, the masters of the future, +the heirs of all past soothsayers,--I intend by their means to read +_you_, to know your heart; and, together, we will find out what is to +happen to us." + +"I shall be glad if they can lay my heart bare before you," said Marie, +without the slightest fear. + +"I know why sorcerers don't frighten you,--because you are a witch +yourself." + +"Will you have a peach?" she said, offering him some delicious fruit on +a gold plate. "See these grapes, these pears; I went to Vincennes myself +and gathered them for you." + +"Yes, I'll eat them; there is no poison there except a philter from your +hands." + +"You ought to eat a great deal of fruit, Charles; it would cool your +blood, which you heat by such excitements." + +"Must I love you less?" + +"Perhaps so," she said. "If the things you love injure you--and I have +feared it--I shall find strength in my heart to refuse them. I adore +Charles more than I love the king; I want the man to live, released from +the tortures that make him grieve." + +"Royalty has ruined me." + +"Yes," she replied. "If you were only a poor prince, like your +brother-in-law of Navarre, without a penny, possessing only a miserable +little kingdom in Spain where he never sets his foot, and Bearn in +France which doesn't give him revenue enough to feed him, I should be +happy, much happier than if I were really Queen of France." + +"But you are more than the Queen of France. She has King Charles for the +sake of the kingdom only; royal marriages are only politics." + +Marie smiled and made a pretty little grimace as she said: "Yes, yes, I +know that, sire. And my sonnet, have you written it?" + +"Dearest, verses are as difficult to write as treaties of peace; but you +shall have them soon. Ah, me! life is so easy here, I wish I might never +leave you. However, we must send for those Italians and question them. +_Tete-Dieu_! I thought one Ruggiero in the kingdom was one too many, but +it seems there are two. Now listen, my precious; you don't lack sense, +you would make an excellent lieutenant of police, for you can penetrate +things--" + +"But, sire, we women suppose all we fear, and we turn what is probable +into truths; that is the whole of our art in a nutshell." + +"Well, help me to sound these men. Just now all my plans depend on the +result of their examination. Are they innocent? Are they guilty? My +mother is behind them." + +"I hear Jacob's voice in the next room," said Marie. + +Jacob was the favorite valet of the king, and the one who accompanied +him on all his private excursions. He now came to ask if it was the +king's good pleasure to speak to the two prisoners. The king made a sign +in the affirmative, and the mistress of the house gave her orders. + +"Jacob," she said, "clear the house of everybody, except the nurse and +Monsieur le Dauphin d'Auvergne, who may remain. As for you, stay in +the lower hall; but first, close the windows, draw the curtains of the +salon, and light the candles." + +The king's impatience was so great that while these preparations were +being made he sat down upon a raised seat at the corner of a lofty +fireplace of white marble in which a bright fire was blazing, placing +his pretty mistress by his side. His portrait, framed in velvet, was +over the mantle in place of a mirror. Charles IX. rested his elbow on +the arm of the seat as if to watch the two Florentines the better under +cover of his hand. + +The shutters closed, and the curtains drawn, Jacob lighted the wax +tapers in a tall candelabrum of chiselled silver, which he placed on the +table where the Florentines were to stand,--an object, by the bye, which +they would readily recognize as the work of their compatriot, Benvenuto +Cellini. The richness of the room, decorated in the taste of Charles +IX., now shone forth. The red-brown of the tapestries showed to +better advantage than by daylight. The various articles of furniture, +delicately made or carved, reflected in their ebony panels the glow of +the fire and the sparkle of the lights. Gilding, soberly applied, shone +here and there like eyes, brightening the brown color which prevailed in +this nest of love. + +Jacob presently gave two knocks, and, receiving permission, ushered in +the Italians. Marie Touchet was instantly affected by the grandeur of +Lorenzo's presence, which struck all those who met him, great and small +alike. The silvery whiteness of the old man's beard was heightened by a +robe of black velvet; his brow was like a marble dome. His austere face, +illumined by two black eyes which cast a pointed flame, conveyed an +impression of genius issuing from solitude, and all the more effective +because its power had not been dulled by contact with men. It was like +the steel of a blade that had never been fleshed. + +As for Cosmo Ruggiero, he wore the dress of a courtier of the time. +Marie made a sign to the king to assure him that he had not exaggerated +his description, and to thank him for having shown her these +extraordinary men. + +"I would like to have seen the sorceresses, too," she whispered in his +ear. + + + + +V. THE ALCHEMISTS + +Again absorbed in thought, Charles IX. made her no answer; he was idly +flicking crumbs of bread from his doublet and breeches. + +"Your science cannot change the heavens or make the sun to shine, +messieurs," he said at last, pointing to the curtains which the gray +atmosphere of Paris darkened. + +"Our science can make the skies what we like, sire," replied Lorenzo +Ruggiero. "The weather is always fine for those who work in a laboratory +by the light of a furnace." + +"That is true," said the king. "Well, father," he added, using an +expression familiar to him when addressing old men, "explain to us +clearly the object of your studies." + +"What will guarantee our safety?" + +"The word of a king," replied Charles IX., whose curiosity was keenly +excited by the question. + +Lorenzo Ruggiero seemed to hesitate, and Charles IX. cried out: "What +hinders you? We are here alone." + +"But is the King of France here?" asked Lorenzo. + +Charles reflected an instant, and then answered, "No." + +The imposing old man then took a chair, and seated himself. Cosmo, +astonished at this boldness, dared not imitate it. + +Charles IX. remarked, with cutting sarcasm: "The king is not here, +monsieur, but a lady is, whose permission it was your duty to await." + +"He whom you see before you, madame," said the old man, "is as far above +kings as kings are above their subjects; you will think me courteous +when you know my powers." + +Hearing these audacious words, with Italian emphasis, Charles and Marie +looked at each other, and also at Cosmo, who, with his eyes fixed on his +brother, seemed to be asking himself: "How does he intend to get us out +of the danger in which we are?" + +In fact, there was but one person present who could understand the +boldness and the art of Lorenzo Ruggiero's first step; and that person +was neither the king nor his young mistress, on whom that great seer +had already flung the spell of his audacity,--it was Cosmo Ruggiero, +his wily brother. Though superior himself to the ablest men at court, +perhaps even to Catherine de' Medici herself, the astrologer always +recognized his brother Lorenzo as his master. + +Buried in studious solitude, the old savant weighed and estimated +sovereigns, most of whom were worn out by the perpetual turmoil of +politics, the crises of which at this period came so suddenly and +were so keen, so intense, so unexpected. He knew their ennui, their +lassitude, their disgust with things about them; he knew the ardor with +which they sought what seemed to them new or strange or fantastic; above +all, how they loved to enter some unknown intellectual region to escape +their endless struggle with men and events. To those who have exhausted +statecraft, nothing remains but the realm of pure thought. Charles the +Fifth proved this by his abdication. Charles IX., who wrote sonnets and +forged blades to escape the exhausting cares of an age in which both +throne and king were threatened, to whom royalty had brought only cares +and never pleasures, was likely to be roused to a high pitch of interest +by the bold denial of his power thus uttered by Lorenzo. Religious +doubt was not surprising in an age when Catholicism was so violently +arraigned; but the upsetting of all religion, given as the basis of a +strange, mysterious art, would surely strike the king's mind, and drag +it from its present preoccupations. The essential thing for the two +brothers was to make the king forget his suspicions by turning his mind +to new ideas. + +The Ruggieri were well aware that their stake in this game was their own +life, and the glances, so humble, and yet so proud, which they exchanged +with the searching, suspicious eyes of Marie and the king, were a scene +in themselves. + +"Sire," said Lorenzo Ruggiero, "you have asked me for the truth; but, to +show the truth in all her nakedness, I must also show you and make +you sound the depths of the well from which she comes. I appeal to +the gentleman and the poet to pardon words which the eldest son of the +Church might take for blasphemy,--I believe that God does not concern +himself with human affairs." + +Though determined to maintain a kingly composure, Charles IX. could not +repress a motion of surprise. + +"Without that conviction I should have no faith whatever in the +miraculous work to which my life is devoted. To do that work I must have +this belief; and if the finger of God guides all things, then--I am a +madman. Therefore, let the king understand, once for all, that this work +means a victory to be won over the present course of Nature. I am an +alchemist, sire. But do not think, as the common-minded do, that I seek +to make gold. The making of gold is not the object but an incident of +our researches; otherwise our toil could not be called the GREAT WORK. +The Great Work is something far loftier than that. If, therefore, I were +forced to admit the presence of God in matter, my voice must logically +command the extinction of furnaces kept burning throughout the ages. But +to deny the direct action of God in the world is not to deny God; do not +make that mistake. We place the Creator of all things far higher than +the sphere to which religions have degraded Him. Do not accuse of +atheism those who look for immortality. Like Lucifer, we are jealous of +our God; and jealousy means love. Though the doctrine of which I speak +is the basis of our work, all our disciples are not imbued with it. +Cosmo," said the old man, pointing to his brother, "Cosmo is devout; he +pays for masses for the repose of our father's soul, and he goes to hear +them. Your mother's astrologer believes in the divinity of Christ, in +the Immaculate Conception, in Transubstantiation; he believes also in +the Pope's indulgences and in hell, and in a multitude of such things. +His hour has not yet come. I have drawn his horoscope; he will live to +be almost a centenarian; he will live through two more reigns, and he +will see two kings of France assassinated." + +"Who are they?" asked the king. + +"The last of the Valois and the first of the Bourbons," replied Lorenzo. +"But Cosmo shares my opinion. It is impossible to be an alchemist and a +Catholic, to have faith in the despotism of man over matter, and also in +the sovereignty of the divine." + +"Cosmo to die a centenarian!" exclaimed the king, with his terrible +frown of the eyebrows. + +"Yes, sire," replied Lorenzo, with authority; "and he will die peaceably +in his bed." + +"If you have power to foresee the moment of your death, why are you +ignorant of the outcome of your researches?" asked the king. + +Charles IX. smiled as he said this, looking triumphantly at Marie +Touchet. The brothers exchanged a rapid glance of satisfaction. + +"He begins to be interested," thought they. "We are saved!" + +"Our prognostics depend on the immediate relations which exist at the +time between man and Nature; but our purpose itself is to change those +relations entirely," replied Lorenzo. + +The king was thoughtful. + +"But, if you are certain of dying you are certain of defeat," he said, +at last. + +"Like our predecessors," replied Lorenzo, raising his hand and letting +it fall again with an emphatic and solemn gesture, which presented +visibly the grandeur of his thought. "But your mind has bounded to the +confines of the matter, sire; we must return upon our steps. If you do +not know the ground on which our edifice is built, you may well think +it doomed to crumble with our lives, and so judge the Science cultivated +from century to century by the greatest among men, as the common herd +judge of it." + +The king made a sign of assent. + +"I think," continued Lorenzo, "that this earth belongs to man; he is +the master of it, and he can appropriate to his use all forces and all +substances. Man is not a creation issuing directly from the hand of God; +but the development of a principle sown broadcast into the infinite of +ether, from which millions of creatures are produced,--differing beings +in different worlds, because the conditions surrounding life are varied. +Yes, sire, the subtle element which we call _life_ takes its rise beyond +the visible worlds; creation divides that principle according to the +centres into which it flows; and all beings, even the lowest, share it, +taking so much as they can take of it at their own risk and peril. It is +for them to protect themselves from death,--the whole purpose of alchemy +lies there, sire. If man, the most perfect animal on this globe, bore +within himself a portion of the divine, he would not die; but he does +die. To solve this difficulty, Socrates and his school invented the +Soul. I, the successor of so many great and unknown kings, the rulers of +this science, I stand for the ancient theories, not the new. I believe +in the transformations of matter which I see, and not in the possible +eternity of a soul which I do not see. I do not recognize that world +of the soul. If such a world existed, the substances whose magnificent +conjunction produced your body, and are so dazzling in that of Madame, +would not resolve themselves after your death each into its own element, +water to water, fire to fire, metal to metal, just as the elements of my +coal, when burned, return to their primitive molecules. If you believe +that a certain part of us survives, _we_ do not survive; for all that +makes our actual being perishes. Now, it is this actual being that I +am striving to continue beyond the limit assigned to life; it is our +present transformation to which I wish to give a greater duration. +Why! the trees live for centuries, but man lives only years, though +the former are passive, the others active; the first motionless and +speechless, the others gifted with language and motion. No created thing +should be superior in this world to man, either in power or in duration. +Already we are widening our perceptions, for we look into the stars; +therefore we ought to be able to lengthen the duration of our lives. I +place life before power. What good is power if life escapes us? A wise +man should have no other purpose than to seek, not whether he has some +other life within him, but the secret springs of his actual form, in +order that he may prolong its existence at his will. That is the +desire which has whitened my hair; but I walk boldly in the darkness, +marshalling to the search all those great intellects that share my +faith. Life will some day be ours,--ours to control." + +"Ah! but how?" cried the king, rising hastily. + +"The first condition of our faith being that the earth belongs to man, +you must grant me that point," said Lorenzo. + +"So be it!" said Charles de Valois, already under the spell. + +"Then, sire, if we take God out of this world, what remains? Man. Let +us therefore examine our domain. The material world is composed of +elements; these elements are themselves principles; these principles +resolve themselves into an ultimate principle, endowed with motion. The +number THREE is the formula of creation: Matter, Motion, Product." + +"Stop!" cried the king, "what proof is there of this?" + +"Do you not see the effects?" replied Lorenzo. "We have tried in our +crucibles the acorn which produces the oak, and the embryo from which +grows a man; from this tiny substance results a single principle, +to which some force, some movement must be given. Since there is no +overruling creator, this principle must give to itself the outward forms +which constitute our world--for this phenomenon of life is the same +everywhere. Yes, for metals as for human beings, for plants as for +men, life begins in an imperceptible embryo which develops itself. A +primitive principle exists; let us seize it at the point where it begins +to act upon itself, where it is a unit, where it is a principle before +taking definite form, a cause before being an effect; we must see +it single, without form, susceptible of clothing itself with all the +outward forms we shall see it take. When we are face to face with this +atomic particle, when we shall have caught its movement at the very +instant of motion, _then_ we shall know the law; thenceforth we are the +masters of life, masters who can impose upon that principle the form we +choose,--with gold to win the world, and the power to make for ourselves +centuries of life in which to enjoy it! That is what my people and I +are seeking. All our strength, all our thoughts are strained in that +direction; nothing distracts us from it. One hour wasted on any other +passion is a theft committed against our true grandeur. Just as you have +never found your hounds relinquishing the hunted animal or failing to +be in at the death, so I have never seen one of my patient disciples +diverted from this great quest by the love of woman or a selfish +thought. If an adept seeks power and wealth, the desire is instigated by +our needs; he grasps treasure as a thirsty dog laps water while he swims +a stream, because his crucibles are in need of a diamond to melt or an +ingot of gold to reduce to powder. To each his own work. One seeks the +secret of vegetable nature; he watches the slow life of plants; he notes +the parity of motion among all the species, and the parity of their +nutrition; he finds everywhere the need of sun and air and water, to +fecundate and nourish them. Another scrutinizes the blood of animals. +A third studies the laws of universal motion and its connection with +celestial revolutions. Nearly all are eager to struggle with the +intractable nature of metal, for while we find many principles in other +things, we find all metals like unto themselves in every particular. +Hence a common error as to our work. Behold these patient, indefatigable +athletes, ever vanquished, yet ever returning to the combat! Humanity, +sire, is behind us, as the huntsman is behind your hounds. She cries +to us: 'Make haste! neglect nothing! sacrifice all, even a man, ye who +sacrifice yourselves! Hasten! hasten! Beat down the arms of DEATH, +mine enemy!' Yes, sire, we are inspired by a hope which involves the +happiness of all coming generations. We have buried many men--and what +men!--dying of this Search. Setting foot in this career we cannot work +for ourselves; we may die without discovering the Secret; and our death +is that of those who do not believe in another life; it is this life +that we have sought, and failed to perpetuate. We are glorious martyrs; +we have the welfare of the race at heart; we have failed but we live +again in our successors. As we go through this existence we discover +secrets with which we endow the liberal and the mechanical arts. From +our furnaces gleam lights which illumine industrial enterprises, and +perfect them. Gunpowder issued from our alembics; nay, we have mastered +the lightning. In our persistent vigils lie political revolutions." + +"Can this be true?" cried the king, springing once more from his chair. + +"Why not?" said the grand-master of the new Templars. "_Tradidit mundum +disputationibus_! God has given us the earth. Hear this once more: man +is master here below; matter is his; all forces, all means are at his +disposal. Who created us? Motion. What power maintains life in us? +Motion. Why cannot science seize the secret of that motion? Nothing +is lost here below; nothing escapes from our planet to go +elsewhere,--otherwise the stars would stumble over each other; the +waters of the deluge are still with us in their principle, and not +a drop is lost. Around us, above us, beneath us, are to be found the +elements from which have come innumerable hosts of men who have crowded +the earth before and since the deluge. What is the secret of our +struggle? To discover the force that disunites, and then, _then_ +we shall discover that which binds. We are the product of a visible +manufacture. When the waters covered the globe men issued from them who +found the elements of their life in the crust of the earth, in the +air, and in the nourishment derived from them. Earth and air possess, +therefore, the principle of human transformations; those transformations +take place under our eyes, by means of that which is also under our +eyes. We are able, therefore, to discover that secret,--not limiting the +effort of the search to one man or to one age, but devoting humanity +in its duration to it. We are engaged, hand to hand, in a struggle with +Matter, into whose secret, I, the grand-master of our order, seek to +penetrate. Christophe Columbus gave a world to the King of Spain; I seek +an ever-living people for the King of France. Standing on the confines +which separate us from a knowledge of material things, a patient +observer of atoms, I destroy forms, I dissolve the bonds of +combinations; I imitate death that I may learn how to imitate life. I +strike incessantly at the door of creation, and I shall continue so to +strike until the day of my death. When I am dead the knocker will pass +into other hands equally persistent with those of the mighty men who +handed it to me. Fabulous and uncomprehended beings, like Prometheus, +Ixion, Adonis, Pan, and others, who have entered into the religious +beliefs of all countries and all ages, prove to the world that the hopes +we now embody were born with the human races. Chaldea, India, Persia, +Egypt, Greece, the Moors, have transmitted from one to another Magic, +the highest of all the occult sciences, which holds within it, as a +precious deposit the fruits of the studies of each generation. In it lay +the tie that bound the grand and majestic institution of the Templars. +Sire, when one of your predecessors burned the Templars, he burned men +only,--their Secret lived. The reconstruction of the Temple is a vow of +an unknown nation, a race of daring seekers, whose faces are turned to +the Orient of _life_,--all brothers, all inseparable, all united by one +idea, and stamped with the mark of toil. I am the sovereign leader of +that people, sovereign by election, not by birth. I guide them onward +to a knowledge of the essence of life. Grand-master, Red-Cross-bearers, +companions, adepts, we forever follow the imperceptible molecule which +still escapes our eyes. But soon we shall make ourselves eyes more +powerful than those which Nature has given us; we shall attain to a +sight of the primitive atom, the corpuscular element so persistently +sought by the wise and learned of all ages who have preceded us in the +glorious search. Sire, when a man is astride of that abyss, when he +commands bold divers like my disciples, all other human interests are +as nothing. Therefore we are not dangerous. Religious disputes and +political struggles are far away from us; we have passed beyond and +above them. No man takes others by the throat when his whole strength +is given to a struggle with Nature. Besides, in our science results are +perceivable; we can measure effects and predict them; whereas all things +are uncertain and vacillating in the struggles of men and their selfish +interests. We decompose the diamond in our crucibles, and we shall make +diamonds, we shall make gold! We shall impel vessels (as they have at +Barcelona) with fire and a little water! We test the wind, and we shall +make wind; we shall make light; we shall renew the face of empires with +new industries! But we shall never debase ourselves to mount a throne to +be crucified by the peoples!" + +In spite of his strong determination not to be taken in by Italian +wiles, the king, together with his gentle mistress, was already caught +and snared by the ambiguous phrases and doublings of this pompous and +humbugging loquacity. The eyes of the two lovers showed how their minds +were dazzled by the mysterious riches of power thus displayed; they saw, +as it were, a series of subterranean caverns filled with gnomes at their +toil. The impatience of their curiosity put to flight all suspicion. + +"But," cried the king, "if this be so, you are great statesmen who can +enlighten us." + +"No, sire," said Lorenzo, naively. + +"Why not?" asked the king. + +"Sire, it is not given to any man to foresee what will happen when +thousands of men are gathered together. We can tell what one man will +do, how long he will live, whether he will be happy or unhappy; but +we cannot tell what a collection of wills may do; and to calculate the +oscillations of their selfish interests is more difficult still, for +interests are men _plus_ things. We can, in solitude, see the future as +a whole, and that is all. The Protestantism that now torments you will +be destroyed in turn by its material consequences, which will turn to +theories in due time. Europe is at the present moment getting the better +of religion; to-morrow it will attack royalty." + +"Then the Saint-Bartholomew was a great conception?" + +"Yes, sire; for if the people triumph it will have a Saint-Bartholomew +of its own. When religion and royalty are destroyed the people will +attack the nobles; after the nobles, the rich. When Europe has become +a mere troop of men without consistence or stability, because without +leaders, it will fall a prey to brutal conquerors. Twenty times already +has the world seen that sight, and Europe is now preparing to renew +it. Ideas consume the ages as passions consume men. When man is cured, +humanity may possibly cure itself. Science is the essence of humanity, +and we are its pontiffs; whoso concerns himself about the essence cares +little about the individual life." + +"To what have you attained, so far?" asked the king. + +"We advance slowly; but we lose nothing that we have won." + +"Then you are the king of sorcerers?" retorted the king, piqued at being +of no account in the presence of this man. + +The majestic grand-master of the Rosicrucians cast a look on Charles IX. +which withered him. + +"You are the king of men," he said; "I am the king of ideas. If we were +sorcerers, you would already have burned us. We have had our martyrs." + +"But by what means are you able to cast nativities?" persisted the king. +"How did you know that the man who came to your window last night was +King of France? What power authorized one of you to tell my mother the +fate of her three sons? Can you, grand-master of an art which claims +to mould the world, can you tell me what my mother is planning at this +moment?" + +"Yes, sire." + +This answer was given before Cosmo could pull his brother's robe to +enjoin silence. + +"Do you know why my brother, the King of Poland, has returned?" + +"Yes, sire." + +"Why?" + +"To take your place." + +"Our most cruel enemies are our nearest in blood!" exclaimed the king, +violently, rising and walking about the room with hasty steps. "Kings +have neither brothers, nor sons, nor mothers. Coligny was right; my +murderers are not among the Huguenots, but in the Louvre. You are either +imposters or regicides!--Jacob, call Solern." + +"Sire," said Marie Touchet, "the Ruggieri have your word as a gentleman. +You wanted to taste of the fruit of the tree of knowledge; do not +complain of its bitterness." + +The king smiled, with an expression of bitter self-contempt; he thought +his material royalty petty in presence of the august intellectual +royalty of Lorenzo Ruggiero. Charles IX. knew that he could scarcely +govern France, but this grand-master of Rosicrucians ruled a submissive +and intelligent world. + +"Answer me truthfully; I pledge my word as a gentleman that your answer, +in case it confesses dreadful crimes, shall be as if it were never +uttered," resumed the king. "Do you deal with poisons?" + +"To discover that which gives life, we must also have full knowledge of +that which kills." + +"Do you possess the secret of many poisons?" + +"Yes, sire,--in theory, but not in practice. We understand all poisons, +but do not use them." + +"Has my mother asked you for any?" said the king, breathlessly. + +"Sire," replied Lorenzo, "Queen Catherine is too able a woman to employ +such means. She knows that the sovereign who poisons dies by poison. +The Borgias, also Bianca Capello, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, are noted +examples of the dangers of that miserable resource. All things are known +at courts; there can be no concealment. It may be possible to kill +a poor devil--and what is the good of that?--but to aim at great men +cannot be done secretly. Who shot Coligny? It could only be you, or the +queen-mother, or the Guises. Not a soul is doubtful of that. Believe me, +poison cannot be twice used with impunity in statecraft. Princes have +successors. As for other men, if, like Luther, they are sovereigns +through the power of ideas, their doctrines are not killed by killing +them. The queen is from Florence; she knows that poison should never +be used except as a weapon of personal revenge. My brother, who has not +been parted from her since her arrival in France, knows the grief that +Madame Diane caused your mother. But she never thought of poisoning her, +though she might easily have done so. What could your father have said? +Never had a woman a better right to do it; and she could have done it +with impunity; but Madame de Valentinois still lives." + +"But what of those waxen images?" asked the king. + +"Sire," said Cosmo, "these things are so absolutely harmless that +we lend ourselves to the practice to satisfy blind passions, just as +physicians give bread pills to imaginary invalids. A disappointed woman +fancies that by stabbing the heart of a wax-figure she has brought +misfortunes upon the head of the man who has been unfaithful to her. +What harm in that? Besides, it is our revenue." + +"The Pope sells indulgences," said Lorenzo Ruggiero, smiling. + +"Has my mother practised these spells with waxen images?" + +"What good would such harmless means be to one who has the actual power +to do all things?" + +"Has Queen Catherine the power to save you at this moment?" inquired the +king, in a threatening manner. + +"Sire, we are not in any danger," replied Lorenzo, tranquilly. "I knew +before I came into this house that I should leave it safely, just as +I know that the king will be evilly disposed to my brother Cosmo a few +weeks hence. My brother may run some danger then, but he will escape it. +If the king reigns by the sword, he also reigns by justice," added the +old man, alluding to the famous motto on a medal struck for Charles IX. + +"You know all, and you know that I shall die soon, which is very well," +said the king, hiding his anger under nervous impatience; "but how will +my brother die,--he whom you say is to be Henri III.?" + +"By a violent death." + +"And the Duc d'Alencon?" + +"He will not reign." + +"Then Henri de Bourbon will be king of France?" + +"Yes, sire." + +"How will he die?" + +"By a violent death." + +"When I am dead what will become of madame?" asked the king, motioning +to Marie Touchet. + +"Madame de Belleville will marry, sire." + +"You are imposters!" cried Marie Touchet. "Send them away, sire." + +"Dearest, the Ruggieri have my word as a gentleman," replied the king, +smiling. "Will madame have children?" he continued. + +"Yes, sire; and madame will live to be more than eighty years old." + +"Shall I order them to be hanged?" said the king to his mistress. "But +about my son, the Comte d'Auvergne?" he continued, going into the next +room to fetch the child. + +"Why did you tell him I should marry?" said Marie to the two brothers, +the moment they were alone. + +"Madame," replied Lorenzo, with dignity, "the king bound us to tell the +truth, and we have told it." + +"_Is_ that true?" she exclaimed. + +"As true as it is that the governor of the city of Orleans is madly in +love with you." + +"But I do not love him," she cried. + +"That is true, madame," replied Lorenzo; "but your horoscope declares +that you will marry the man who is in love with you at the present +time." + +"Can you not lie a little for my sake?" she said smiling; "for if the +king believes your predictions--" + +"Is it not also necessary that he should believe our innocence?" +interrupted Cosmo, with a wily glance at the young favorite. "The +precautions taken against us by the king have made us think during the +time we have spent in your charming jail that the occult sciences have +been traduced to him." + +"Do not feel uneasy," replied Marie. "I know him; his suspicions are at +an end." + +"We are innocent," said the grand-master of the Rosicrucians, proudly. + +"So much the better for you," said Marie, "for your laboratory, and your +retorts and phials are now being searched by order of the king." + +The brothers looked at each other smiling. Marie Touchet took that smile +for one of innocence, though it really signified: "Poor fools! can they +suppose that if we brew poisons, we do not hide them?" + +"Where are the king's searchers?" + +"In Rene's laboratory," replied Marie. + +Again the brothers glanced at each other with a look which said: "The +hotel de Soissons is inviolable." + +The king had so completely forgotten his suspicions that when, as he +took his boy in his arms, Jacob gave him a note from Chapelain, he +opened it with the certainty of finding in his physician's report +that nothing had been discovered in the laboratory but what related +exclusively to alchemy. + +"Will he live a happy man?" asked the king, presenting his son to the +two alchemists. + +"That is a question which concerns Cosmo," replied Lorenzo, signing his +brother. + +Cosmo took the tiny hand of the child, and examined it carefully. + +"Monsieur," said Charles IX. to the old man, "if you find it necessary +to deny the existence of the soul in order to believe in the possibility +of your enterprise, will you explain to my why you should doubt what +your power does? Thought, which you seek to nullify, is the certainty, +the torch which lights your researches. Ha! ha! is not that the motion +of a spirit within you, while you deny such motion?" cried the king, +pleased with his argument, and looking triumphantly at his mistress. + +"Thought," replied Lorenzo Ruggiero, "is the exercise of an inward +sense; just as the faculty of seeing several objects and noticing their +size and color is an effect of sight. It has no connection with what +people choose to call another life. Thought is a faculty which ceases, +with the forces which produced it, when we cease to breathe." + +"You are logical," said the king, surprised. "But alchemy must therefore +be an atheistical science.' + +"A materialist science, sire, which is a very different thing. +Materialism is the outcome of Indian doctrines, transmitted through +the mysteries of Isis to Chaldea and Egypt, and brought to Greece +by Pythagoras, one of the demigods of humanity. His doctrine of +re-incarnation is the mathematics of materialism, the vital law of its +phases. To each of the different creations which form the terrestrial +creation belongs the power of retarding the movement which sweeps on the +rest." + +"Alchemy is the science of sciences!" cried Charles IX., +enthusiastically. "I want to see you at work." + +"Whenever it pleases you, sire; you cannot be more interested than +Madame the Queen-mother." + +"Ah! so this is why she cares for you?" exclaimed the king. + +"The house of Medici has secretly protected our Search for more than a +century." + +"Sire," said Cosmo, "this child will live nearly a hundred years; he +will have trials; nevertheless, he will be happy and honored, because he +has in his veins the blood of the Valois." + +"I will go and see you in your laboratory, messieurs," said the king, +his good-humor quite restored. "You may now go." + +The brothers bowed to Marie and to the king and then withdrew. They went +down the steps of the portico gravely, without looking or speaking to +each other; neither did they turn their faces to the windows as they +crossed the courtyard, feeling sure that the king's eye watched them. +But as they passed sideways out of the gate into the street they looked +back and saw Charles IX. gazing after them from a window. When the +alchemist and the astrologer were safely in the rue de l'Autruche, they +cast their eyes before and behind them, to see if they were followed +or overheard; then they continued their way to the moat of the Louvre +without uttering a word. Once there, however, feeling themselves +securely alone, Lorenzo said to Cosmo, in the Tuscan Italian of that +day:-- + +"Affe d'Iddio! how we have fooled him!" + +"Much good may it do him; let him make what he can of it!" said Cosmo. +"We have given him a helping hand,--whether the queen pays it back to us +or not." + +Some days after this scene, which struck the king's mistress as forcibly +as it did the king, Marie suddenly exclaimed, in one of those moments +when the soul seems, as it were, disengaged from the body in the +plenitude of happiness:-- + +"Charles, I understand Lorenzo Ruggiero; but did you observe that Cosmo +said nothing?" + +"True," said the king, struck by that sudden light. "After all, there +was as much falsehood as truth in what they said. Those Italians are as +supple as the silk they weave." + +This suspicion explains the rancor which the king showed against Cosmo +when the trial of La Mole and Coconnas took place a few weeks later. +Finding him one of the agents of that conspiracy, he thought the +Italians had tricked him; for it was proved that his mother's astrologer +was not exclusively concerned with stars, the powder of projection, and +the primitive atom. Lorenzo had by that time left the kingdom. + +In spite of the incredulity which most persons show in these matters, +the events which followed the scene we have narrated confirmed the +predictions of the Ruggieri. + +The king died within three months. + +Charles de Gondi followed Charles IX. to the grave, as had been foretold +to him jestingly by his brother the Marechal de Retz, a friend of the +Ruggieri, who believed in their predictions. + +Marie Touchet married Charles de Balzac, Marquis d'Entragues, the +governor of Orleans, by whom she had two daughters. The most celebrated +of these daughters, the half-sister of the Comte d'Auvergne, was the +mistress of Henri IV., and it was she who endeavored, at the time +of Biron's conspiracy, to put her brother on the throne of France by +driving out the Bourbons. + +The Comte d'Auvergne, who became the Duc d'Angouleme, lived into the +reign of Louis XIV. He coined money on his estates and altered the +inscriptions; but Louis XIV. let him do as he pleased, out of respect +for the blood of the Valois. + +Cosmo Ruggiero lived till the middle of the reign of Louis XIII.; he +witnessed the fall of the house of the Medici in France, also that of +the Concini. History has taken pains to record that he died an atheist, +that is, a materialist. + +The Marquise d'Entragues was over eighty when she died. + +The famous Comte de Saint-Germain, who made so much noise under Louis +XIV., was a pupil of Lorenzo and Cosmo Ruggiero. This celebrated +alchemist lived to be one hundred and thirty years old,--an age which +some biographers give to Marion de Lorme. He must have heard from the +Ruggieri the various incidents of the Saint-Bartholomew and of the +reigns of the Valois kings, which he afterwards recounted in the first +person singular, as though he had played a part in them. The Comte de +Saint-Germain was the last of the alchemists who knew how to clearly +explain their science; but he left no writings. The cabalistic doctrine +presented in this Study is that taught by this mysterious personage. + +And here, behold a strange thing! Three lives, that of the old man from +whom I have obtained these facts, that of the Comte de Saint-Germain, +and that of Cosmo Ruggiero, suffice to cover the whole of European +history from Francois I. to Napoleon! Only fifty such lives are needed +to reach back to the first known period of the world. "What are fifty +generations for the study of the mysteries of life?" said the Comte de +Saint-Germain. + + + + + +PART III + + + + +I. TWO DREAMS + +In 1786 Bodard de Saint-James, treasurer of the navy, excited more +attention and gossip as to his luxury than any other financier in Paris. +At this period he was building his famous "Folie" at Neuilly, and his +wife had just bought a set of feathers to crown the tester of her bed, +the price of which had been too great for even the queen to pay. + +Bodard owned the magnificent mansion in the place Vendome, which +the _fermier-general_, Dange, had lately been forced to leave. That +celebrated epicurean was now dead, and on the day of his interment his +intimate friend, Monsieur de Bievre, raised a laugh by saying that +he "could now pass through the place Vendome without _danger_." This +allusion to the hellish gambling which went on in the dead man's house, +was his only funeral oration. The house is opposite to the Chancellerie. + +To end in a few words the history of Bodard,--he became a poor man, +having failed for fourteen millions after the bankruptcy of the +Prince de Guemenee. The stupidity he showed in not anticipating that +"serenissime disaster," to use the expression of Lebrun Pindare, was +the reason why no notice was taken of his misfortunes. He died, like +Bourvalais, Bouret, and so many others, in a garret. + +Madame Bodard de Saint-James was ambitious, and professed to receive +none but persons of quality at her house,--an old absurdity which is +ever new. To her thinking, even the parliamentary judges were of small +account; she wished for titled persons in her salons, or at all events, +those who had the right of entrance at court. To say that many _cordons +bleus_ were seen at her house would be false; but it is quite certain +that she managed to obtain the good-will and civilities of several +members of the house of Rohan, as was proved later in the affair of the +too celebrated diamond necklace. + +One evening--it was, I think, in August, 1786--I was much surprised to +meet in the salons of this lady, so exacting in the matter of gentility, +two new faces which struck me as belonging to men of inferior social +position. She came to me presently in the embrasure of a window where I +had ensconced myself. + +"Tell me," I said to her, with a glance toward one of the new-comers, +"who and what is that queer species? Why do you have that kind of thing +here?" + +"He is charming." + +"Do you see him through a prism of love, or am I blind?" + +"You are not blind," she said, laughing. "The man is as ugly as a +caterpillar; but he has done me the most immense service a woman can +receive from a man." + +As I looked at her rather maliciously she hastened to add: "He's a +physician, and he has completely cured me of those odious red blotches +which spoiled my complexion and made me look like a peasant woman." + +I shrugged my shoulders with disgust. + +"He is a charlatan." + +"No," she said, "he is the surgeon of the court pages. He has a fine +intellect, I assure you; in fact, he is a writer, and a very learned +man." + +"Heavens! if his style resembles his face!" I said scoffingly. "But who +is the other?" + +"What other?" + +"That spruce, affected little popinjay over there, who looks as if he +had been drinking verjuice." + +"He is a rather well-born man," she replied; "just arrived from some +province, I forget which--oh! from Artois. He is sent here to conclude +an affair in which the Cardinal de Rohan is interested, and his Eminence +in person had just presented him to Monsieur de Saint-James. It seems +they have both chosen my husband as arbitrator. The provincial didn't +show his wisdom in that; but fancy what simpletons the people who sent +him here must be to trust a case to a man of his sort! He is as meek as +a sheep and as timid as a girl. His Eminence is very kind to him." + +"What is the nature of the affair?" + +"Oh! a question of three hundred thousand francs." + +"Then the man is a lawyer?" I said, with a slight shrug. + +"Yes," she replied. + +Somewhat confused by this humiliating avowal, Madame Bodard returned to +her place at a faro-table. + +All the tables were full. I had nothing to do, no one to speak to, and +I had just lost two thousand crowns to Monsieur de Laval. I flung myself +on a sofa near the fireplace. Presently, if there was ever a man on +earth most utterly astonished it was I, when, on looking up, I saw, +seated on another sofa on the opposite side of the fireplace, Monsieur +de Calonne, the comptroller-general. He seemed to be dozing, or else he +was buried in one of those deep meditations which overtake statesmen. +When I pointed out the famous minister to Beaumarchais, who happened to +come near me at that moment, the father of Figaro explained the mystery +of his presence in that house without uttering a word. He pointed first +at my head, then at Bodard's with a malicious gesture which consisted in +turning to each of us two fingers of his hand while he kept the others +doubled up. My first impulse was to rise and say something rousing to +Calonne; then I paused, first, because I thought of a trick I could play +the statesman, and secondly, because Beaumarchais caught me familiarly +by the hand. + +"Why do you do that, monsieur?" I said. + +He winked at the comptroller. + +"Don't wake him," he said in a low voice. "A man is happy when asleep." + +"Pray, is sleep a financial scheme?" I whispered. + +"Indeed, yes!" said Calonne, who had guessed our words from the mere +motion of our lips. "Would to God we could sleep long, and then the +awakening you are about to see would never happen." + +"Monseigneur," said the dramatist, "I must thank you--" + +"For what?" + +"Monsieur de Mirabeau has started for Berlin. I don't know whether we +might not both have drowned ourselves in that affair of 'les Eaux.'" + +"You have too much memory, and too little gratitude," replied the +minister, annoyed at having one of his secrets divulged in my presence. + +"Possibly," said Beaumarchais, cut to the quick; "but I have millions +that can balance many a score." + +Calonne pretended not to hear. + +It was long past midnight when the play ceased. Supper was announced. +There were ten of us at table: Bodard and his wife, Calonne, +Beaumarchais, the two strange men, two pretty women, whose names I will +not give here, a _fermier-general_, Lavoisier, and myself. Out of thirty +guests who were in the salon when I entered it, only these ten remained. +The two _queer species_ did not consent to stay until they were urged +to do so by Madame Bodard, who probably thought she was paying her +obligations to the surgeon by giving him something to eat, and pleasing +her husband (with whom she appeared, I don't precisely know why, to be +coquetting) by inviting the lawyer. + +The supper began by being frightfully dull. The two strangers and +the _fermier-general_ oppressed us. I made a sign to Beaumarchais to +intoxicate the son of Esculapius, who sat on his right, giving him to +understand that I would do the same by the lawyer, who was next to me. +As there seemed no other way to amuse ourselves, and it offered a +chance to draw out the two men, who were already sufficiently singular, +Monsieur de Calonne smiled at our project. The ladies present also +shared in the bacchanal conspiracy, and the wine of Sillery crowned our +glasses again and again with its silvery foam. The surgeon was easily +managed; but at the second glass which I offered to my neighbor the +lawyer, he told me with the frigid politeness of a usurer that he should +drink no more. + +At this instant Madame de Saint-James chanced to introduce, I +scarcely know how, the topic of the marvellous suppers to the Comte +de Cagliostro, given by the Cardinal de Rohan. My mind was not very +attentive to what the mistress of the house was saying, because I was +watching with extreme curiosity the pinched and livid face of my little +neighbor, whose principal feature was a turned-up and at the same +time pointed nose, which made him, at times, look very like a weasel. +Suddenly his cheeks flushed as he caught the words of a dispute between +Madame de Saint-James and Monsieur de Calonne. + +"But I assure you, monsieur," she was saying, with an imperious air, +"that I _saw_ Cleopatra, the queen." + +"I can believe it, madame," said my neighbor, "for I myself have spoken +to Catherine de' Medici." + +"Oh! oh!" exclaimed Monsieur de Calonne. + +The words uttered by the little provincial were said in a voice of +strange sonorousness, if I may be permitted to borrow that expression +from the science of physics. This sudden clearness of intonation, coming +from a man who had hitherto scarcely spoken, and then in a low and +modulated tone, surprised all present exceedingly. + +"Why, he is talking!" said the surgeon, who was now in a satisfactory +state of drunkenness, addressing Beaumarchais. + +"His neighbor must have pulled his wires," replied the satirist. + +My man flushed again as he overheard the words, though they were said in +a low voice. + +"And pray, how was the late queen?" asked Calonne, jestingly. + +"I will not swear that the person with whom I supped last night at the +house of the Cardinal de Rohan was Catherine de' Medici in person. +That miracle would justly seem impossible to Christians as well as to +philosophers," said the little lawyer, resting the tips of his fingers +on the table, and leaning back in his chair as if preparing to make +a speech. "Nevertheless, I do assert that the woman I saw resembled +Catherine de' Medici as closely as though they were twin-sisters. She +was dressed in a black velvet gown, precisely like that of the queen in +the well-known portrait which belongs to the king; on her head was the +pointed velvet coif, which is characteristic of her; and she had the +wan complexion, and the features we all know well. I could not help +betraying my surprise to his Eminence. The suddenness of the evocation +seemed to me all the more amazing because Monsieur de Cagliostro had +been unable to divine the name of the person with whom I wished to +communicate. I was confounded. The magical spectacle of a supper, where +one of the illustrious women of past times presented herself, took from +me my presence of mind. I listened without daring to question. When +I roused myself about midnight from the spell of that magic, I was +inclined to doubt my senses. But even this great marvel seemed natural +in comparison with the singular hallucination to which I was presently +subjected. I don't know in what words I can describe to you the state +of my senses. But I declare, in the sincerity of my heart, I no longer +wonder that souls have been found weak enough, or strong enough, to +believe in the mysteries of magic and in the power of demons. For +myself, until I am better informed, I regard as possible the apparitions +which Cardan and other thaumaturgists describe." + +These words, said with indescribable eloquence of tone, were of a nature +to rouse the curiosity of all present. We looked at the speaker and kept +silence; our eyes alone betrayed our interest, their pupils reflecting +the light of the wax-candles in the sconces. By dint of observing +this unknown little man, I fancied I could see the pores of his skin, +especially those of his forehead, emitting an inward sentiment with +which he was saturated. This man, apparently so cold and formal, seemed +to contain within him a burning altar, the flames of which beat down +upon us. + +"I do not know," he continued, "if the Figure evoked followed me +invisibly, but no sooner had my head touched the pillow in my own +chamber than I saw once more that grand Shade of Catherine rise before +me. I felt myself, instinctively, in a luminous sphere, and my eyes, +fastened upon the queen with intolerable fixity, saw naught but her. +Suddenly, she bent toward me." + +At these words the ladies present made a unanimous movement of +curiosity. + +"But," continued the lawyer, "I am not sure that I ought to relate what +happened, for though I am inclined to believe it was all a dream, it +concerns grave matters. + +"Of religion?" asked Beaumarchais. + +"If there is any impropriety," remarked Calonne, "these ladies will +excuse it." + +"It relates to the government," replied the lawyer. + +"Go on, then," said the minister; "Voltaire, Diderot, and their fellows +have already begun to tutor us on that subject." + +Calonne became very attentive, and his neighbor, Madame de Genlis, +rather anxious. The little provincial still hesitated, and Beaumarchais +said to him somewhat roughly:-- + +"Go on, _maitre_, go on! Don't you know that when the laws allow but +little liberty the people seek their freedom in their morals?" + +Thus adjured, the small man told his tale:-- + +"Whether it was that certain ideas were fermenting in my brain, or +that some strange power impelled me, I said to her: 'Ah! madame, you +committed a very great crime.' 'What crime?' she asked in a grave voice. +'The crime for which the signal was given from the clock of the palace +on the 24th of August,' I answered. She smiled disdainfully, and a few +deep wrinkles appeared on her pallid cheeks. 'You call that a crime +which was only a misfortune,' she said. 'The enterprise, being +ill-managed, failed; the benefit we expected for France, for Europe, +for the Catholic Church was lost. Impossible to foresee that. Our +orders were ill executed; we did not find as many Montlucs as we +needed. Posterity will not hold us responsible for the failure of +communications, which deprived our work of the unity of movement which +is essential to all great strokes of policy; that was our misfortune! +If on the 25th of August not the shadow of a Huguenot had been left in +France, I should go down to the uttermost posterity as a noble image of +Providence. How many, many times have the clear-sighted souls of Sixtus +the Fifth, Richelieu, Bossuet, reproached me secretly for having failed +in that enterprise after having the boldness to conceive it! How many +and deep regrets for that failure attended my deathbed! Thirty years +after the Saint-Bartholomew the evil it might have cured was still in +existence. That failure caused ten times more blood to flow in France +than if the massacre of August 24th had been completed on the 26th. The +revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in honor of which you have struck +medals, has cost more tears, more blood, more money, and killed the +prosperity of France far more than three Saint-Bartholomews. Letellier +with his pen gave effect to a decree which the throne had secretly +promulgated since my time; but, though the vast execution was necessary +of the 25th of August, 1572, on the 25th of August, 1685, it was +useless. Under the second son of Henri de Valois heresy had scarcely +conceived an offspring; under the second son of Henri de Bourbon that +teeming mother had cast her spawn over the whole universe. You accuse +me of a crime, and you put up statues to the son of Anne of Austria! +Nevertheless, he and I attempted the same thing; he succeeded, I failed; +but Louis XIV. found the Protestants without arms, whereas in my reign +they had powerful armies, statesmen, warriors, and all Germany on their +side.' At these words, slowly uttered, I felt an inward shudder pass +through me. I fancied I breathed the fumes of blood from I know not what +great mass of victims. Catherine was magnified. She stood before me like +an evil genius; she sought, it seemed to me, to enter my consciousness +and abide there." + +"He dreamed all that," whispered Beaumarchais; "he certainly never +invented it." + +"'My reason is bewildered,' I said to the queen. 'You praise yourself +for an act which three generations of men have condemned, stigmatized, +and--' 'Add,' she rejoined, 'that historians have been more unjust +toward me than my contemporaries. None have defended me. I, rich and +all-powerful, am accused of ambition! I am taxed with cruelty,--I who +have but two deaths upon my conscience. Even to impartial minds I am +still a problem. Do you believe that I was actuated by hatred, that +vengeance and fury were the breath of my nostrils?' She smiled with +pity. 'No,' she continued, 'I was cold and calm as reason itself. I +condemned the Huguenots without pity, but without passion; they were +the rotten fruit in my basket and I cast them out. Had I been Queen of +England, I should have treated seditious Catholics in the same way. The +life of our power in those days depended on their being but one God, +one Faith, one Master in the State. Happily for me, I uttered my +justification in one sentence which history is transmitting. When Birago +falsely announced to me the loss of the battle of Dreux, I answered: +"Well then; we will go to the Protestant churches." Did I hate the +reformers? No, I esteemed them much, and I knew them little. If I felt +any aversion to the politicians of my time, it was to that base Cardinal +de Lorraine, and to his brother the shrewd and brutal soldier who spied +upon my every act. They were the real enemies of my children; they +sought to snatch the crown; I saw them daily at work and they wore me +out. If _we_ had not ordered the Saint-Bartholomew, the Guises would +have done the same thing by the help of Rome and the monks. The League, +which was powerful only in consequence of my old age, would have begun +in 1573.' 'But, madame, instead of ordering that horrible murder (pardon +my plainness) why not have employed the vast resources of your political +power in giving to the Reformers those wise institutions which made the +reign of Henri IV. so glorious and so peaceful?' She smiled again and +shrugged her shoulders, the hollow wrinkles of her pallid face giving +her an expression of the bitterest sarcasm. 'The peoples,' she said, +'need periods of rest after savage feuds; there lies the secret of +that reign. But Henri IV. committed two irreparable blunders. He ought +neither to have abjured Protestantism, nor, after becoming a Catholic +himself, should he have left France Catholic. He, alone, was in a +position to have changed the whole of France without a jar. Either not +a stole, or not a conventicle--that should have been his motto. To leave +two bitter enemies, two antagonistic principles in a government with +nothing to balance them, that is the crime of kings; it is thus that +they sow revolutions. To God alone belongs the right to keep good +and evil perpetually together in his work. But it may be,' she said +reflectively, 'that that sentence was inscribed on the foundation of +Henri IV.'s policy, and it may have caused his death. It is impossible +that Sully did not cast covetous eyes on the vast wealth of the +clergy,--which the clergy did not possess in peace, for the nobles +robbed them of at least two-thirds of their revenue. Sully, the +Reformer, himself owned abbeys.' She paused, and appeared to reflect. +'But,' she resumed, 'remember you are asking the niece of a Pope to +justify her Catholicism.' She stopped again. 'And yet, after all,' +she added with a gesture of some levity, 'I should have made a good +Calvinist! Do the wise men of your century still think that religion had +anything to do with that struggle, the greatest which Europe has ever +seen?--a vast revolution, retarded by little causes which, however, will +not be prevented from overwhelming the world because I failed to smother +it; a revolution,' she said, giving me a solemn look, 'which is still +advancing, and which you might consummate. Yes, _you_, who hear me!' I +shuddered. 'What! has no one yet understood that the old interests and +the new interests seized Rome and Luther as mere banners? What! do they +not know Louis IX., to escape just such a struggle, dragged a population +a hundredfold more in number than I destroyed from their homes and left +their bones on the sands of Egypt, for which he was made a saint? while +I--But I,' she added, '_failed_.' She bowed her head and was silent +for some moments. I no longer beheld a queen, but rather one of those +ancient druidesses to whom human lives are sacrificed; who unroll the +pages of the future and exhume the teachings of the past. But soon she +uplifted her regal and majestic form. 'Luther and Calvin,' she said, 'by +calling the attention of the burghers to the abuses of the Roman Church, +gave birth in Europe to a spirit of investigation which was certain +to lead the peoples to examine all things. Examination leads to doubt. +Instead of faith, which is necessary to all societies, those two men +drew after them, in the far distance, a strange philosophy, armed with +hammers, hungry for destruction. Science sprang, sparkling with her +specious lights, from the bosom of heresy. It was far less a question of +reforming a Church than of winning indefinite liberty for man--which is +the death of power. I saw that. The consequence of the successes won +by the religionists in their struggle against the priesthood (already +better armed and more formidable than the Crown) was the destruction +of the monarchical power raised by Louis IX. at such vast cost upon +the ruins of feudality. It involved, in fact, nothing less than the +annihilation of religion and royalty, on the ruins of which the whole +burgher class of Europe meant to stand. The struggle was therefore war +without quarter between the new ideas and the law,--that is, the old +beliefs. The Catholics were the emblem of the material interests of +royalty, of the great lords, and of the clergy. It was a duel to the +death between two giants; unfortunately, the Saint-Bartholomew proved to +be only a wound. Remember this: because a few drops of blood were spared +at that opportune moment, torrents were compelled to flow at a later +period. The intellect which soars above a nation cannot escape a great +misfortune; I mean the misfortune of finding no equals capable of +judging it when it succumbs beneath the weight of untoward events. My +equals are few; fools are in the majority: that statement explains +it all. If my name is execrated in France, the fault lies with the +commonplace minds who form the mass of all generations. In the great +crises through which I passed, the duty of reigning was not the mere +giving of audiences, reviewing of troops, signing of decrees. I may have +committed mistakes, for I was but a woman. But why was there then no man +who rose above his age? The Duke of Alba had a soul of iron; Philip II. +was stupefied by Catholic belief; Henri IV. was a gambling soldier and +a libertine; the Admiral, a stubborn mule. Louis XI. lived too +soon, Richelieu too late. Virtuous or criminal, guilty or not in the +Saint-Bartholomew, I accept the onus of it; I stand between those two +great men,--the visible link of an unseen chain. The day will come when +some paradoxical writer will ask if the peoples have not bestowed the +title of executioner among their victims. It will not be the first time +that humanity has preferred to immolate a god rather than admit its +own guilt. You are shedding upon two hundred clowns, sacrificed for a +purpose, the tears you refuse to a generation, a century, a world! +You forget that political liberty, the tranquillity of a nation, nay, +knowledge itself, are gifts on which destiny has laid a tax of blood!' +'But,' I exclaimed, with tears in my eyes, 'will the nations never be +happy at less cost?' 'Truth never leaves her well but to bathe in the +blood which refreshes her,' she replied. 'Christianity, itself the +essence of all truth, since it comes from God, was fed by the blood of +martyrs, which flowed in torrents; and shall it not ever flow? You will +learn this, you who are destined to be one of the builders of the social +edifice founded by the Apostles. So long as you level heads you will be +applauded, but take your trowel in hand, begin to reconstruct, and your +fellows will kill you.' Blood! blood! the word sounded in my ears like +a knell. 'According to you,' I cried, 'Protestantism has the right to +reason as you do!' But Catherine had disappeared, as if some puff of air +had suddenly extinguished the supernatural light which enabled my mind +to see that Figure whose proportions had gradually become gigantic. +And then, without warning, I found within me a portion of myself +which adopted the monstrous doctrine delivered by the Italian. I woke, +weeping, bathed in sweat, at the moment when my reason told me firmly, +in a gentle voice, that neither kings nor nations had the right to apply +such principles, fit only for a world of atheists." + +"How would you save a falling monarchy?" asked Beaumarchais. + +"God is present," replied the little lawyer. + +"Therefore," remarked Monsieur de Calonne, with the inconceivable levity +which characterized him, "we have the agreeable resource of believing +ourselves the instruments of God, according to the Gospel of Bossuet." + +As soon as the ladies discovered that the tale related only to a +conversation between the queen and the lawyer, they had begun to whisper +and to show signs of impatience,--interjecting, now and then, little +phrases through his speech. "How wearisome he is!" "My dear, when will +he finish?" were among those which reached my ear. + +When the strange little man had ceased speaking the ladies too were +silent; Monsieur Bodard was sound asleep; the surgeon, half drunk; +Monsieur de Calonne was smiling at the lady next him. Lavoisier, +Beaumarchais, and I alone had listened to the lawyer's dream. The +silence at this moment had something solemn about it. The gleam of the +candles seemed to me magical. A sentiment bound all three of us by some +mysterious tie to that singular little man, who made me, strange to say, +conceive, suddenly, the inexplicable influences of fanaticism. Nothing +less than the hollow, cavernous voice of Beaumarchais's neighbor, the +surgeon, could, I think, have roused me. + +"I, too, have dreamed," he said. + +I looked at him more attentively, and a feeling of some strange horror +came over me. His livid skin, his features, huge and yet ignoble, gave +an exact idea of what you must allow me to call the _scum_ of the earth. +A few bluish-black spots were scattered over his face, like bits of mud, +and his eyes shot forth an evil gleam. The face seemed, perhaps, +darker, more lowering than it was, because of the white hair piled like +hoarfrost on his head. + +"That man must have buried many a patient," I whispered to my neighbor +the lawyer. + +"I wouldn't trust him with my dog," he answered. + +"I hate him involuntarily." + +"For my part, I despise him." + +"Perhaps we are unjust," I remarked. + +"Ha! to-morrow he may be as famous as Volange the actor." + +Monsieur de Calonne here motioned us to look at the surgeon, with a +gesture that seemed to say: "I think he'll be very amusing." + +"Did you dream of a queen?" asked Beaumarchais. + +"No, I dreamed of a People," replied the surgeon, with an emphasis which +made us laugh. "I was then in charge of a patient whose leg I was to +amputate the next day--" + +"Did you find the People in the leg of your patient?" asked Monsieur de +Calonne. + +"Precisely," replied the surgeon. + +"How amusing!" cried Madame de Genlis. + +"I was somewhat surprised," went on the speaker, without noticing the +interruption, and sticking his hands into the gussets of his breeches, +"to hear something talking to me within that leg. I then found I had the +singular faculty of entering the being of my patient. Once within his +skin I saw a marvellous number of little creatures which moved, and +thought, and reasoned. Some of them lived in the body of the man, others +lived in his mind. His ideas were things which were born, and grew, and +died; they were sick and well, and gay, and sad; they all had special +countenances; they fought with each other, or they embraced each other. +Some ideas sprang forth and went to live in the world of intellect. I +began to see that there were two worlds, two universes,--the visible +universe, and the invisible universe; that the earth had, like man, a +body and a soul. Nature illumined herself for me; I felt her immensity +when I saw the oceans of beings who, in masses and in species, spread +everywhere, making one sole and uniform animated Matter, from the stone +of the earth to God. Magnificent vision! In short, I found a universe +within my patient. When I inserted my knife into his gangrened leg I +cut into a million of those little beings. Oh! you laugh, madame; let me +tell you that you are eaten up by such creatures--" + +"No personalities!" interposed Monsieur de Calonne. "Speak for yourself +and for your patient." + +"My patient, frightened by the cries of his animalcules, wanted to stop +the operation; but I went on regardless of his remonstrances; telling +him that those evil animals were already gnawing at his bones. He made a +sudden movement of resistance, not understanding that what I did was for +his good, and my knife slipped aside, entered my own body, and--" + +"He is stupid," said Lavoisier. + +"No, he is drunk," replied Beaumarchais. + +"But, gentlemen, my dream has a meaning," cried the surgeon. + +"Oh! oh!" exclaimed Bodard, waking up; "my leg is asleep!" + +"Your animalcules must be dead," said his wife. + +"That man has a vocation," announced my little neighbor, who had stared +imperturbably at the surgeon while he was speaking. + +"It is to yours," said the ugly man, "what the action is to the word, +the body to the soul." + +But his tongue grew thick, his words were indistinct, and he said no +more. Fortunately for us the conversation took another turn. At the end +of half an hour we had forgotten the surgeon of the king's pages, +who was fast asleep. Rain was falling in torrents as we left the +supper-table. + +"The lawyer is no fool," I said to Beaumarchais. + +"True, but he is cold and dull. You see, however, that the provinces +are still sending us worthy men who take a serious view of political +theories and the history of France. It is a leaven which will rise." + +"Is your carriage here?" asked Madame de Saint-James, addressing me. + +"No," I replied, "I did not think that I should need it to-night." + +Madame de Saint-James then rang the bell, ordered her own carriage to be +brought round, and said to the little lawyer in a low voice:-- + +"Monsieur de Robespierre, will you do me the kindness to drop Monsieur +Marat at his own door?--for he is not in a state to go alone." + +"With pleasure, madame," replied Monsieur de Robespierre, with his +finical gallantry. "I only wish you had requested me to do something +more difficult." + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Catherine de' Medici, by Honore de Balzac + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CATHERINE DE' MEDICI *** + +***** This file should be named 1854.txt or 1854.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/5/1854/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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