NOTICES OF 
 
 THE REFORMATION 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SOUTH-WEST PROVINCES OF FRANCE. 
 
 BY ROBERT FRANCIS JAMESON. 
 f| 
 
 PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE ; 
 
 AND SOLD BY L. AND Q. SEELEY, 
 
 FLEET STREET, LONDON. 
 
 MDCCCXXXIX. 
 
L. AND G. SEELEr, THAMES DITTOV, SURREY. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 MARGUERITE DE VALOIS ET D'ALENCON, QUEEN 
 OF NAVARRE. - - 1 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 JEANNE D'ALBRET. - - - 18 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 LETTER FROM CARDINAL D'ARMAGNAC TO THE 
 QUEEN OF NAVARRE. THE QUEEN'S REPLY. - 37 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUEEN. ROMANISM TRIUM- 
 PHANT. * - 57 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF NAVARRENX. THE COUNT DE 
 MONTGOMERY. ROUT OF THE ROMANISTS. - 73 
 
 340737 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 TOTAL ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. DEATH 
 OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. - - - 95 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 HENRY III. OF NAVARRE, AND IV. OF FRANCE. 
 THE PRINCESS CATHERINE OF NAVARRE - 115 
 
 CHAP. VHI. 
 
 RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF ROMANISM. EDICT OF 
 FONTAINEBLEAU. - 132 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION. DEATH OF HENRY IV. 160 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Louis XIIT. CONFIRMATION OF THE EDICT OF 
 FONTAINEBLEAU. GRIEVANCES OF THE PRO- 
 TESTANTS. - - 163 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 PROGRESSIVE DEPRIVATION OF PROTESTANT PRIVI- 
 LEGES. - - - 184 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 Louis XIV. TYRANNOUS TREATMENT OF THE 
 PROTESTANTS. THEIR DESTRUCTION. PRESENT 
 STATE OF PROTESTANTISM. - - - 197 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE south-west of France presents many attrac- 
 tions to the traveller and the invalid, from the 
 varied character of the scenery, and the mild 
 nature of the climate. The superb city of Bor- 
 deaux, and the vine-covered banks of the Garonne, 
 lie on the northern frontier of this tract; the 
 dreary waste of the Landes occupies its centre ; 
 while along the southern limit, the magnificent 
 range of the Pyrennees, with their numerous val- 
 lies, presents landscapes and climates to suit all 
 tastes and constitutions. These latter portions 
 comprise what was formerly known as the province 
 of Beam, the principal of the several small states 
 or counties, which formed the ancient kingdom of 
 Navarre. The capital of this little monarchy was 
 Pau, a town now possessing fourteen thousand 
 inhabitants, situated on a promontory fronting the 
 south, whose abrupt cliff overlooks a broad, strag- 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 gling, but unnavigable river, (the Gave de Pau,) 
 and a series of hills tufted with Chateaux and 
 vineyards, above which rise, with stupendous 
 grandeur, the snowy tops of the Pyrennees. On 
 the highest point of this promontory stands the 
 Chateau d* Henri quatre. 
 
 As I purposed making some little stay at Pau, 
 I was led to look around me with more steady 
 enquiry than mere passers-by either do or can 
 do. The * Pare,' from its English look and name, 
 its delicious shade and range of prospect, first 
 engaged my attention. A lovely tract of country 
 lay before me, with a brilliant sun beaming on it. 
 It was market day, and crowds of peasants, (the 
 men dressed like Scotch highlanders, the females 
 like Welsh women, except the hat,} came pouring 
 along the roads, some on rough angular-limbed 
 nags, (the women astride,) some in ox-carts, and 
 some in wooden shoes, the exact model of a New 
 Zealand canoe. All were gabbling their not un- 
 musical patois l with a cheerful air. Every one, 
 old and young, looked comely and good-humoured, 
 
 1 It is a mixture of French and Spanish, as will be seen by this 
 verse of one of the popular songs : 
 
 " Au mounde nou y a nat Partou'|| 
 Coura lou qui rn'ayme a you : ^-^i* 
 Eth sap parla pla Ion Frances, 
 Dab Ian gran yen qu* in ey courtes 1 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 and one might notice, at the meeting of roads, the 
 friendly greetings of encountering groups, as they 
 jostled on to the Pau market; and the little aids 
 offered to little mishaps, without the seeming 
 thought that the delay might lose them a customer 
 at the Place de la Halle. This is an amiable 
 people, thought I. My next thought was, how 
 they became such, for, my good reader, (although 
 I call you and the Bearnoise so yet,) I believe 
 " there is none good, no not one," naturally. 
 Besides here in France, (la belle France,) they 
 have had two or three revolutions within the last 
 century, in one of which, at least, social demorali- 
 zation reached its lowest depth, a jubilee of crime, 
 a pandemonium without its dignity or diabolical 
 sagacity. 1 Has religion (" pure religion and unde- 
 
 Si pourtabe espade, you crey, 
 Que semblare lou Rey." 
 
 In all the world there is not a swain, 
 Like he who for me expresses his pain ; 
 He speaks the French so wond'rous well, 
 Like the great Monsieurs at court do dwell ! 
 I think if the sword was beside him to swing, 
 He would have all the air and the look of a king. 
 1 The squirrel-like humour for revolutions still exists in France. 
 The democratic SDJjjt of levelling, which modern intellect seems 
 to think sufficieSSfer the reproduction of Paradise, (opposed 
 though it be to the course and laws of nature,) would, if it could 
 be effected, speedily end in the way the prophet Isaiah has fore- 
 
Till INTRODUCTION. 
 
 filed,") mellowed their character ; thought I. The 
 thought was an idle one, for I knew that, in 
 this department of the Lower Pyrennees, there 
 were four hundred and seven Romanist churches, 
 and one Jewish synagogue ; while per contra, there 
 were only ten Protestant " temples." Now I am 
 not a bigot, when I make this moral computation 
 of the effects of doctrine, but I have travelled, 
 and read history: I had noticed, also, the total 
 want of respect which the people evince towards 
 the Romish Priests. They were jostled about, as if 
 they had not been, (both in creed and spirit) the 
 legitimate successors of the apostles, and had not 
 belonged to the infallible church. 
 
 I turned to the left, and the ancient pile on the 
 verge of the cliff was before me. It was the Cha- 
 teau, where Marguerite de Valois had discussed 
 points of faith with Calvin and Beza, and acquired 
 the then rare knowledge of the truth : it was the ' 
 palace where Jeanne d'Albret (the " good Queen 
 Bess" of these regions) had reigned, after the 
 model of King Josiah, who " did that which was 
 
 c 
 
 told. The restless jarring and selfish contention of men would 
 equally exist amongst those equalizers, until worn out and dis- 
 gusted with their new state, in which, of course, there could be no 
 " decider " amongst them, they would call on some gigantic 
 agitator < Thou hast clothing, be thou our Ruler, and let this 
 ruin be under thy hand." (Isaiah iii. 6.) 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 right in the sight of the Lord ; " it was the castle 
 where Henri Quatre was born, who, but I shall 
 speak of him hereafter. Now, to my shame be it 
 spoken, though I was intimately acquainted with 
 Henri, I was not quite so familiar with his mother. 
 I had admired her spirited conduct at Rochelle, 
 and reverenced her as the mother of a hero ; but I 
 was less conversant with her history at home, in 
 this her little kingdom, than I ought to have been, 
 before I visited her romantic capital. Here, she 
 had " fought the good fight of faith," with emi- 
 nent success ; here she had planted the standard 
 of truth, which, for half a century, had waved in 
 these sunny realms, " lifted up on the high moun- 
 tains." Might not the little leaven of those days 
 have leavened the whole lump of society ? Might 
 not the inoculation of truth in the Bearnoise of 
 the sixteenth century, have caused their descend- 
 ants of the nineteenth to take the common disease 
 of our nature more kindly ? 
 
 The interest excited by these ideas, induced me 
 to extend my knowledge of the local history of this 
 ex-kingdom, and for this purpose I obtained an 
 introduction to the Reverend Doctor Don Juan 
 de Herrando, the principal librarian of the exten- 
 sive collection belonging to the town, preserved in 
 the ancient monastery of the Cordeliers. This 
 worthy Spaniard, (to whose courtesy and informa- 
 
 b 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tion I am much a debtor,) has been for seven and 
 twenty years the superintendant of this library, 
 many curious works of which he has rescued from 
 the ravages of time and revolution. By his kind- 
 ness I was placed in one of the ancient cloisters, 
 and provided with materials for attaining the 
 object I desired. On one side of me were the 
 works of the Protestants, on the other, those of 
 the Romanist historians, which I will now enume- 
 rate, to save the trouble of more particular refe- 
 rence in the subsequent pages. 
 
 PROTESTANTS. 
 
 Olhagaray : Histoire de 
 
 Barn et Foix. 
 Daubigne : Histoire Univer- 
 
 selle : (Navarre.) 
 Le Due de Rohan : -Me- 
 
 moires de sa Vie. 
 Le Vassor : Histoire de 
 
 Louis XIII. 
 Bruzen de la Martiniere : 
 
 Histoire de la Vie de 
 
 Louis XIV. 
 
 ROMANISTS. 
 
 Favin : Histoire de Na- 
 varre. 
 
 Marca : Idem. 
 
 Mirasson : Essai sur Phis- 
 toire de Barn. 
 
 Poeydevant : Les Troubles 
 de Beam. 
 
 Montlucq : Commentaires 
 
 de sa Vie. 
 
 Vauvilliers : Histoire de 
 
 Jeanne d'Albret. 
 
 NEUTRALS ; Le Due de Sully. 
 Bayle. 
 
 From these sources I derived a knowledge of 
 the local history of Beam, which interested me, 
 not only as a sojourner there, but also as a native 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 of the British empire. I was particularly sfruck 
 with the similarity between the history of Navarre, 
 during the seventeenth century, and that of 
 Ireland during the present. The contest between 
 the two great branches of Christian doctrine, was 
 here carried on, with the same stormy outcry in 
 the name of the Prince of Peace. Here were 
 seen those, who would " inherit the earth," claim- 
 ing their asserted right, not by " meekness" but 
 defiance. Here was to be seen a Goliath, professing 
 to defend the ark ; and a Samson in his blindness, 
 pulling at the pillars of the Lord's temple, instead 
 of that of Dagon. One thing however, was not 
 to be seen here : men, in the vain conceit of their 
 own imaginations, and, in ignorance of the very 
 nature of religion, endeavouring to revolutionize 
 the kingdom of God into a republic ! 
 
 If ' biography is history speaking by examples,' 
 history illustrates biography by manifesting the 
 principles which guided those examples ; and it is 
 the knowledge of the motives of human action 
 which it is most desirable to attain. For this 
 purpose I have drawn up a few ' notices ' of the 
 religious history of Beam, in reference to the 
 struggle between the Romanists and Protestants. 
 The conduct of the Romish Church, in its invari- 
 able persecution of those who differ from it, has 
 been recorded by numerous examples in history, 
 b 2 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The more numerous those examples, the more 
 certain will be the deduction of the principles 
 which guided that conduct. If the conduct of the 
 Romish Church in Beam, was precisely similar 
 to that which it is now pursuing in Ireland, (and I 
 fear also in England,) we must infer that the 
 same motives lead to, and the same principles 
 govern, the proceedings of that church in the 
 latter, as they did in the former instance. God 
 grant that the same result may not ensue ! To 
 aid in preventing it, (that is, to aid human effort) 
 I have put my hand to the rope in sounding the 
 tocsin. 
 
 In giving a picture of the times when Protes- 
 tantism prevailed in Beam, I have not finished the 
 sketch by painting its ruins. The landscape of 
 this period would neither be picturesque nor pleas- 
 ing. It would be like a view of that part of the 
 ocean, where some lamented friend was lost. 
 
 There are only ten small places, (the French 
 word "temple" is neither significant nor Chris- 
 tian,) of Protestant worship in this district of 
 Beam, now the department of the lower Pyren- 
 nees. They are at Bayonne, Orthez, Sauveterre, 
 Lagorre, Monte, Castletarb, Nay, Osse, Salieres, 
 and Pau ; at which latter town, the Protestants 
 assemble in a small room, rented by the English 
 visitants for their own use. That amiable lady, 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 the duchess of Gordon, has purchased a site for 
 a Protestant church and school-room, both of 
 which are in great forwardness ; but the finishing 
 of which is now suspended for want of funds. 
 Alas ! that ' all who behold it,' of the Romish 
 Church, * begin to mock.' I wish I could induce 
 my readers, (if I have any,) to aid in the restora- 
 tion of religion amongst the Bearnoise. They 
 are of a mild plastic temperament and lively 
 capacity, fitting them for instruction ; they live 
 under tolerant laws, and they have the memory 
 of * the good old times ' of Jeanne d'Albret still 
 in remembrance, to inspirit the effort for their 
 recurrence. Their present Protestant pastor, M. 
 Jules Leonard Buscarlet, a man of piety and 
 ardent feeling, must find his exertions futile to 
 increase his congregation, until a fit place for 
 assembly is opened. 
 
 The Romish Church in France is reviving its 
 ancient spirit of assumption. The existing laws 
 prohibit public processions of Roman ceremonies 
 in towns where there are Protestant ' temples.' 
 The erection of convents is also illegal. But both 
 these prohibitions are violated. The violation 
 of the one engenders a disposition openly to con- 
 temn other creeds, and exhibits too much air of 
 authority and mastery, in a nation which has, 
 legally, no established religion. Perhaps the 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 institution of retreats for the friendless and bro- 
 ken-hearted (if restricted to such,) might not be 
 objected to, if we did not know the encroaching 
 spirit of Romanism, and that in these cloistered 
 barracks, its forces have been disciplined for the 
 subjugation of the minds (not the hearts,) of men. 
 The motives for seeking these retreats are also, 
 usually, very questionable. Even the declared 
 one, abhorrence of the world, is more fretfulness 
 than change of spirit. One of the authors of 
 the ' Chants Chretiens,' collected by M. Henri 
 Luteroth, has well expressed this. 
 
 CANTIQUE 122, 
 
 11 est ais de te hair 
 
 Monde qui plais, monde qui trompes ; 
 
 Aise de maudire et fletrir 
 
 Tes biens, tes voluptes, tes pompes. 
 
 Quand on a bu peine et plaisir 
 
 Au vase que tu nous presentes 
 
 Quand on connait ce que tu vantes, 
 
 II est aise de te hair. 
 
 Quand on a vu dans tes douleurs 
 Moins d'amertume que en tesftes, 
 Quand age a fane les couleurs 
 Des fleurs dont tu parais nos ttes : 
 Quand Tame, avide de Pavenir, 
 Au bout d'une vaine poursuite, 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 Se voit au seiul du dernier glte 
 II est aise de te hair. 
 
 It is an easy thing to hate 
 The world which cheats thee with its lures ; 
 Easy to scorn its wealth and state 
 When poverty and pain are yours. 
 When cloying joy and bitter woe, 
 From the same flowing cup we drain, 
 The world, when all its wiles we know, 
 It is full easy to disdain. 
 
 World, when thy very woes are found 
 Less bitter than thy pleasures be ; 
 When time has stript the wreaths that bound 
 Our brows, in hours of festal glee ; 
 When, tired of vain pursuit, the soul, 
 The future eyes with anxious ken, 
 Just on the threshold of the goal, 
 Tis easy, world, to hate thee then. 
 
 PAU. January, 1839. 
 
THE 
 
 REFORMATION IN NAVARRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MARGUERITE DE VALOIS ET D' 
 QUEEN OF NAVARRE. 
 
 THE doctrines of the Reformation were early dis- 
 seminated in France, where many pious and 
 enquiring minds, disgusted by the general laxity 
 of clerical manners, and revolting from a mental 
 subserviency to an ignorant priesthood, had already 
 become desirous to receive, if not to attempt re- 
 form. 1 A conviction appears to have impressed 
 those, who were thus weakened in clerical al- 
 legiance, that the doctrines professed and taught 
 by a demoralized clergy, must either be erroneous 
 
 1 ' ' La corruption des moeurs, la dissipation, le jeu, P avarice, 
 Pignorance et Poisivete parmi les ecclesiastiques furent les avant- 
 coureurs de ce schisme.' Bordenave, Etat des Eglises, fyc. 
 B 
 
2 CHAPTER I. 
 
 or not have been brought forward to their full 
 extent. The principle was the same : the repres- 
 sion of truth must either produce or advance error. 
 It struck obviously on the opening intellect of the 
 age, and roused enquiries, which, however, were 
 left unsatisfied, from the difficulty of attaining 
 information, since the Romish church had closed 
 up the only source of truth. The full and broad 
 flood of Gospel light which beamed on such minds, 
 when Luther and his brother reformers broke 
 down the barriers which had excluded it, was 
 truly genial in its influence. As the holy light 
 rose on the nations, though the great masses of 
 ignorance and superstition stood unpenetrated and 
 darkening all within their shadow, yet the rays 
 shot hither and thither on many ( a happy val- 
 ley ; ' mind after mind was enlightened, heart 
 after heart was warmed. In no part of Europe 
 was this renovating influence more rapidly and 
 consentaneously experienced than in the south- 
 west provinces of France, lying between the 
 Garonne and the Pyrennees. This extensive 
 tract of country had, formerly, been governed by 
 petty but independent princes, the Counts of Foix, 
 Beam, &c. but, at the commencement of the 
 sixteenth century, was under the dominion of the 
 house of Albret : Jean d' Albret (the first of that 
 name) having by his marriage with Catharine de 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 3 
 
 Foix, obtained the crown of Navarre, of which 
 kingdom these provinces formed a principal part. 
 In the year 1512, Jean d'Albret the 2nd, (son of 
 the preceding) was excommunicated by Pope 
 Julius II. as an adherent to the council of Pisa, 
 which had been convoked against the decrees and 
 interests of that pontiff. Three centuries pre- 
 viously, one of Jean d' Albret's maternal ancestors, 
 Gaston, Vicomte de Beam, had been equally dis- 
 tinguished by the rational glory of Popish excom- 
 munication. He had allied himself with the 
 Comte de Thoulouse in defending the persecuted 
 Albigenses. 
 
 By the Bull which Julius II. issued against 
 Jean d'Albret, the kingdom of the latter was de- 
 clared forfeited, and given to the first who could 
 seize it. Ferdinand of Spain gladly availed him- 
 self of this licence, and forthwith took possession 
 of High Navarre, or that portion of the Navarrese 
 domain which lay on the southern side of the 
 Pyrennees. The loss of this territory, which has 
 ever since remained annexed to the crown of 
 Spain, was not a circumstance likely to dispose 
 the king of Navarre to a more amicable feeling 
 towards the head of the Roman church. His 
 successors inherited this aversion, though it did 
 not break out into open opposition to the Romish 
 doctrines till the reign of Henry d'Albret the 2nd. 
 B 2 
 
4 CHAPTER I. 
 
 It was during the earlier period of his reign that 
 Luther's opinions became generally promulgated. 
 In France, as we have already observed, these 
 opinions were eagerly received by many ; by none 
 with more devoted earnestness of heart and head 
 than Marguerite of Valois, Duchess d'Alengon, 
 and sister of Francis the 1st of France. This 
 amiable, intelligent, and accomplished Princess 
 was the daughter of Charles d' Orleans, Comte 
 d'Angouleme, and of Louise of Savoy. She was 
 born at Angouleme on the llth of April, 1492. 
 On the death of her father in 1496, Marguerite, 
 with her mother, brother, and sister, were taken 
 under the protection of the French court, and pro- 
 vided with the most ample means of instruction 
 which that age afforded. Marguerite early dis- 
 tinguished herself by a love of study. She ac- 
 quired a thorough knowledge of the Italian and 
 Spanish languages, and is even said to have taken 
 lessons in Hebrew from Paul Paradis, a celebrated 
 scholar of that day. But it was not only by the 
 embellishments of education that she was distin- 
 guished ; she had a natural elegance of mind, a 
 quick and judicious perception, which, joined to a 
 peculiar sensitiveness of feeling, produced strength 
 and rectitude of thinking, and established her 
 character as a sensible and amiable woman. Her 
 early piety was remarkable, the more so, since she 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 5 
 
 was brought up under the immediate care of her 
 mother Louise of Savoy, who, as Robertson (Hist. 
 Charles V. vol. iii.) describes her, was ' a woman, 
 deceitful, vindictive, rapacious, and capable of 
 sacrificing any thing to the gratification of her 
 passions.' In her seventeenth year, such was the 
 depth of her religious impressions, that she adopted 
 for her device, a marigold bending to the sun (or, as 
 it is more expressively noted in French, une fieur 
 de souci regardant le soleil) with the motto ( non 
 inferiora secutus,' not following lower things. It 
 is true that she is represented as having adopted 
 this device and motto on her marriage in Decem- 
 ber, 1509, with Charles, Duke d'Alengon, an 
 union to which she had a strong repugnance, 
 but which she was compelled to enter into by the 
 French court from state motives. Still the tone 
 of her mind, as well as feeling, is expressed. She 
 turned for " perfect peace " unto Him who can 
 alone bestow it, and " stayed " her mind with real 
 consolation. The marriage was an unhappy one. 
 The Duke d'Alengon was neither in person, mind, 
 or manners, calculated to gain or retain the affec- 
 tions of a Marguerite de Valois. Her residence was 
 chiefly at Angouleme, where her little court (of whom 
 our Anna Boleyn was one, being a maid of honour) 
 passed their time very domestically. Marguerite 
 had a taste for poetry, and employed her pen very 
 
D CHAPTER I. 
 
 early in such compositions as the taste of the time 
 most favoured, in songs, pastorals, and ( mo- 
 ralities ' or dramatic dialogues on moral or re- 
 ligious subjects. So devoted was the Duchess 
 to authorship, that she never travelled without her 
 writing-desk, which the grandmother of Brantome, 
 the historian, usually held on her knee on such 
 occasions. Even while engaged in needlework or 
 tapestry, a secretary was always at hand, ready to 
 note down her recitations. The fruits of her 
 aptitude and preparation were numeous. The 
 earliest work ascribed to her was the ' Tales' 
 (' Contes de la Reine de Navarre') which, though 
 now the only production bearing her name, that 
 is generally known, yet there is good reason to 
 doubt that it was written by her. The levity, al- 
 most grossness, of these Tales is utterly at vari- 
 ence with the character of Marguerite. All the 
 other works, ascribed to her, were published in 
 her life time,butthe " Contes," were not published 
 till nine years after her decease, viz. in 1558, and 
 then without any author s name attached to them. 
 In the first edition there were only sixty -seven 
 tales ; in subsequent editions, many others were 
 added, an unusual, and very unlikely procedure in 
 the publication of a deceased writer's works. The 
 only ground for the supposition that Marguerite 
 had been the authoress of the work, seems to have 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. t 
 
 been that its object was to expose the misconduct 
 of the Romish clergy. The period at which it 
 was published in Paris, (in 1558,) was apparently 
 selected to excite odium against the royal family 
 of Navarre in the minds of the Romanists. At 
 that very time the king and queen of Navarre, 
 (the latter the daughter of Marguerite,) had quit- 
 ted Paris for their own dominions, highly offended 
 with the French king, because, in the conferences at 
 Cercamp, for negociating peace with Spain, the 
 interests of the Navarrese monarch had been 
 entirely neglected. It is not probable that a 
 friend, either to the family or memory of Mar- 
 guerite de Valois, would have selected so inaus- 
 picious period for publishing a work of so very 
 questionable a character, and none but a friend 
 could have possessed either the materials or the 
 power to publish. 
 
 The work, however, by the production of which 
 she was principally distinguished during her life, 
 was that entitled " Le Miroir deVame pechefeuse.^ 
 This book, which was published at Alencon in 
 1531, exhibits a spirit of true piety and well-con- 
 sidered doctrine. It evinces a mind that had 
 been accustomed to self-examination, and tho- 
 roughly instructed in pure and scriptural religion. 
 The Roman Catholic doctrines of the merit of 
 works, of purgatory, and the intercessory and 
 
 
8 CHAPTER I. 
 
 mediatorial power of the Virgin and the Saints, are 
 entirely set aside. ' The blood of Christ alone/ 
 says Beza, ' was her all-sufficient remedy.' ' Mar- 
 guerite/ observes another French writer, (M. 
 Eusebe Castaigne) ' semble avoir toujours en vue 
 cette parole, de Saint Paul, in Adam omnes 
 moriuntur, in Christo omnes vivificabantur.' 1 
 Cor. xv. 22. So great was the celebrity of this 
 work, that our Queen Elizabeth translated it into 
 English, and it was ' Imprinted in Apryl of the 
 yeare of our Lord 1548/ under the title of ' A 
 Godlie Meditation of the Christian soule.' 
 
 This work of the Duchess d'Alencon, though 
 undoubtedly original in its matter and opinions, 
 seems, however, to have been but an imitation of 
 another with nearly similar title, which had been 
 published eight years before the birth of Mar- 
 guerite, viz. in 1484, by ' Robin Fouquet et 
 Jehan Chrees.' 
 
 The Duke d'Alencon died in April 1525, leav- 
 ing the Duchess still in the bloom of life and 
 literary reputation, but without issue. Whatever 
 her feelings might have been on this occasion, the 
 capture of her brother, Francis the First, at the 
 fatal battle of Pavia, but a few weeks previous, 
 seems to have absorbed all its expression. Francis 
 and his sister had always been warmly attached, 
 and had lived on the most confidential terms. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 9 
 
 His e Marguerite des Marguerites? as he used to 
 call her, 1 had often endeavoured to temper his 
 gaiety by sober counsel, and was always listened 
 to with attention, if not with effect. When the 
 Duchess heard of his illness at Madrid, where he 
 was imprisoned by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, 
 she immediately determined to go to his assist- 
 ance, and having procured a ( safe conduct ' from 
 the Spanish monarch, proceeded to that capital. 
 The ^health and spirits of Francis were restored by 
 the tender care of his sister. It is related of her 
 (Oligaray, p. 502,) that she passed her time in 
 reading to her brother, chiefly from the Bible, to 
 which Francis was then very attentive. 1 She 
 strictly adhered to the advice she had given to one 
 of her dependents (Bertrand Elie,) viz. ' that he 
 should never allow a day to pass without having 
 attentively read several pages of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, and thus, by bathing our souls in the celes- 
 tial liquor they distil, we shall be faithfully pre- 
 served against all kinds of evils and diabolical 
 temptations.' With these endeavours for the 
 eternal advantage of her brother, she added every 
 effort for his temporal benefit. Having obtained 
 
 1 Marguerite is the French word for a daisy. 
 2 What an interesting subject for a Protestant painter : 
 the gay, but almost despairing Francis listening to the Scripture 
 lessons of his pious sister. 
 
 B 5 
 
10 CHAPTER I. 
 
 an interview with the Emperor, she urged every 
 motive that might be likely to induce him to 
 release his prisoner, ending with threats which so 
 moved the conqueror's anger, that he is said to 
 have determined ta imprison her at the expiration 
 of the period assigned for her safe conduct. The 
 usual time required for a journey from Madrid to 
 the French frontier, was then about fifteen days, 
 but Marguerite, who had lingered in the vain 
 hope of releasing her brother, having obtained 
 information of the Emperor's design, suddenly 
 set out from Madrid on horseback, and accom- 
 plishing the journey in eight days, reached the 
 frontier at the end of the day on which her safe 
 conduct expired. 
 
 Francis obtained his liberty not long after this 
 period, and in 1527 gave his sister Marguerite in 
 marriage to Henry d' Alb ret, (the second of that 
 name,) King of Navarre. Marguerite was then 
 in her thirty-fifth year, Henry in his twenty- 
 fifth. He was a man of a spirited and yet suffi- 
 ciently judicious character. He had shared the 
 fate of his friend and ally, Francis, at the battle 
 of Pavia; but escaped from confinement by a 
 daring and ingenious stratagem. His opinions 
 appear to have been inclined towards the doctrine, 
 or, at least the parcy of the Reformers ; and in 
 the maintenance of these, his queen, Marguerite 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 11 
 
 d' Alencon, was a ready ally. It was at this period 
 that a persecution of the Protestants commenced in 
 Germany, and extending to France, numbers of 
 the most eminent, and, consequently, the most 
 exposed to danger amongst the Reformers, fled 
 for refuge to the little court of the sovereigns of 
 Navarre. The chief portion of the dominions 
 then remaining to the d'Albret family, was the 
 province of Beam. The court of the sovereign 
 was held alternately at Pau and the castle of Bar- 
 barte near Nerac. At the latter of these places, 
 the Queen of Navarre received the celebrated 
 Calvin, then scarcely of age, and a number of 
 other distinguished individuals ; who, as Calvin 
 declared, came to her as one f who was promoting 
 the kingdom of God/ 1 Amongst these was 
 Gerard Roussel, a professor of the Sorbonne, 
 Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples, one of the most en- 
 lightened men of the age, Clement Marot, the 
 celebrated translator of the Psalms of David, 
 Pierre Caroli, Etienne Dolet, &c. The first of 
 these, (Roussel,) was a man eminent for his know- 
 ledge of Scripture, and the mild and progressive 
 mode in which he advanced reform. He was 
 peculiarly careful not to offend ancient prejudice, 
 or to startle the wakening minds of those amongst 
 
 1 'QuodDeus (ilia) usus fuerit ad regnum suum promoven- 
 dum.' 
 
12 CHAPTER I. 
 
 whom he moved, by too rapid an advance. This 
 offended the more ardent spirit of young Calvin, 
 who denounced him as a temporizer. 1 But 
 the procedure of Roussel was approved of by 
 the Queen, who, in appointing him the court 
 preacher, required him, when the first public 
 service of the reformed worship was performed by 
 him, to officiate in the dress of a monk. He was 
 accustomed to say. when attacked respecting his 
 apparent non-conformity to the then existing 
 sects of reform, * Je ne suis pas Lutheriste, ni 
 Zuingliste, mais Rousseliste.' His opinions, how- 
 ever, were purely evangelical. He caused the 
 Scriptures to be read in French in the churches, 
 and the eucharist to be administered to the laity 
 in both kinds, teaching that the Saviour was 
 present only to the eye of faith. He abolished 
 the worship of images, and the invocation of 
 saints, and rejected the authority of the Holy 
 See, which he charged with having blemished 
 the purity of the religion of Jesus Christ, by gross 
 superstitions. In 1543, Roussel was made bishop 
 of Oloron, in Beam, which see had a revenue of 
 eighteen hundred crowns, an ample provision in 
 those days. In this new station, he in a great 
 measure threw off his cautious process of reform, 
 
 1 Epist. Calvini : Epist. 62. The Queen of Navarre wrote to 
 Calvin, on this occasion, justifying the conduct of Roussel. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 13 
 
 promoting its progress by the most active mea- 
 sures. His zeal was ultimately the cause of his 
 death. 
 
 The district of Soule, which formed part of 
 the diocese of Oloron, had remained unmoved by 
 changes of opinion, and was considered one of 
 the strong-holds of the Romish faith. Roussel 
 despatched thither one of his chaplains, who had 
 been an Augustinian monk, as a missionary of the 
 reformed religion. The preacher more particu- 
 larly inveighed, like the proto-reformer of Ger- 
 many, against indulgences. A great crowd as- 
 sembled to hear him in the church of Mauleon. 
 While he was declaiming against the superstitious 
 usages of the place, one of the chief residents^ 
 named Pierre Maytie, roused by hearing their 
 ' Diana ' traduced, stood up and opposed him ; 
 and having excited the congregation against the 
 preacher, he was pulled out of the pulpit, and 
 driven with insult out of the town. The bishop 
 of Oloron felt it necessary to punish this insult, 
 and set out himself for Mauleon to re-estab- 
 lish his authority. He mounted the same pulpit, 
 and addressed the people respecting the errors of 
 their faith ; but Maytie was again there, standing 
 close to the pulpit, wrapped up in a huge cloak. 
 While Roussel was in the full animation of his 
 address, Maytie drew forth a hatchet from under 
 
14 CHAPTER I. 
 
 his cloak, and commenced cutting away the pillars 
 of the pulpit. The tumult spread, the pulpit 
 was soon levelled, and Roussel, still in it, thrown 
 prostrate on the ground, bruised and almost life- 
 less. He escaped from the immediate conse- 
 quences of their fury, but died shortly after from 
 the injuries then sustained. 
 
 The death of Roussel was a great loss to the 
 queen, whose efforts in the cause of reform had 
 latterly met with great discouragement from the 
 king of Navarre. Whether from a fear of offend- 
 ing Francis I. from the persuasion of his Roman 
 Catholic courtiers, or from the unstable and half- 
 enlightened nature of his own religious impressions, 
 Henry became an opponent of the doctrines he 
 had formerly favoured. He is said, on one oc- 
 casion, to have gone to the queen's apartments, 
 (where he had heard that a protestant minister 
 was engaged in worship,) full of fury against the 
 innovating teacher, and finding that he had fled, 
 to have struck the queen, and declared he would 
 inform her brother the king of France of her 
 conduct. Francis immediately wrote to his sister, 
 reprobating her support of the Protestants, and 
 urging her to adhere to the ' ancient faith. 
 Marguerite replied, that her commiseration for 
 the misfortunes of so many pious and learned in- 
 dividuals had led her to aid them, but that she 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 15 
 
 had never designed to quit the * ancient faith.' 
 Marguerite, who never passed a day ' sans avoir 
 attentivement vaque a la lecture du Livre Sacre,' 
 knew well what the ' ancient faith ' was. 
 
 But the reformed opinions had already taken 
 root in Beam, The discussion of points of doc- 
 trine became general : those who argued were 
 necessarily led to enquiry, which was amply aided 
 by the many able and pious reformers, who had 
 congregated in this district ; while the Romish 
 clergy, sunk in lethargy and ignorance, had little 
 disposition and less ability for such mental contests. 
 To check this spirit of enquiry, the king of 
 Navarre issued a decree, on the 30th of August 
 1546, ' forbidding the clergy to preach, without 
 having been previously examined and approved of 
 by their bishops ; and all persons were cautioned 
 against disputing on religion in taverns, cabarets, 
 public places, or private houses. 9 The absurdity 
 and inefficacy of this latter injunction, was soon 
 apparent. Restrictions of this nature have gene- 
 rally been found the best promoters of what they 
 were designed to obviate. The deprivation of one 
 sense has been said to quicken the power of 
 another ; so by restricting the expression of 
 opinion, the inclination to form it was increased. 
 
 But this restrictive ordonnance, though ineffec- 
 tual in repressing the opinions of the Barnois, 
 was enforced on their queen, with the added 
 
16 CHAPTER I. 
 
 agency of domestic surveillance. Marguerite does 
 not appear to have lived happily with Henry of 
 Navarre during the latter period of their union. 
 She was now in her fifty -fifth year, and her hus- 
 band was still in the summer period of man's life ; 
 a disparity not always considered compensated by 
 the grace and beauty of mental character. One 
 daughter alone remained as the fruit of their 
 union, Jeanne d'Albret, born at the Chateau 
 de Pau, the 7th of January, 1528. But this only 
 child was separated from her parents by the para- 
 mount influence of the king of France, who 
 dreaded that her hand might be given to young 
 Philip of Spain by her father, and her mind drawn 
 away from Romanism by her mother. To pre- 
 vent these consequences, injurious alike to his 
 interests and his inclination, Francis, compulsorily, 
 married his niece, when only in her twelfth year, 
 to the Duke of Cleves. 1 The lonely mother was 
 thus deprived of the society of her child, and when 
 her next warmest object of regard, her brother 
 Francis, died, (March 31, 1547) her spirit seems to 
 have forsaken her, and the world to have become 
 valueless. She retired to the little village of 
 Tusson in Angouleme, joining a religious com- 
 
 1 It is said that the infant bride was so overloaded with the 
 weight of her gorgeous finery, as to be unable to walk ; which 
 compelled the constable of France to carry her in his arms from 
 her carriage to the church. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 17 
 
 munity of females, over whom she presided. Sub- 
 sequently she removed to the Chateau d'Odos, 
 near Tarbes, where she died December 21, 1549, 
 from the effects of exposure in observing a comet 
 which was then visible. While gazing anxiously 
 at the celestial stranger, she was seized with para- 
 lysis, and, being immediately removed to her bed, 
 died in eight days after. Her senses do not ap- 
 pear to have entirely forsaken her, even under the 
 influence of the distressing malady which had 
 attacked her. On hearing it observed that she 
 was going to felicity ' Not yet,' she exclaimed 
 * I must sleep a long time in the earth first.' 
 The Romish writers claim her as a re-convert, 
 because, in her dying moments, she kissed a 
 crucifix which was placed before her. She, who 
 had embraced the cross in early life, and had so 
 long borne it typically by patient endurance, 
 might, surely, while in the agony of leaving one 
 world, and in the earnest expectation of entering 
 another, have clasped a crucifix without any super- 
 stitious feeling. The materialism of religion could 
 have had but little influence over the dying senses 
 of a Christian like the Queen of Navarre, who, 
 while her paralytic hands grasped a crucifix, 
 sufficiently declared the sort of feeling with 
 which she viewed it, by thrice exclaiming, as she 
 expired ' Jesus ! Jesus ! Jesus ! ' 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 HENRY D' ALBRET (the 2nd.) of Navarre, sur- 
 vived his Queen about six years. His govern- 
 ment was mild and beneficial to his people, nor 
 does he appear to have enforced his * Ordonnance ' 
 against the Reformed doctrines with any severity, 
 but to have satisfied himself with declaring his 
 own opinions by his publication. The incongruous 
 marriage of his daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, with 
 the Duke of Cleves, had been dissolved by Papal 
 license, and another contracted (October 20, 1548) 
 with Antoine de Bourbon, Duke de Vendome. 
 The Princess was young and handsome, lively, 
 and, as Brantome tells us, c aimait une danse 
 aussitot qu'un sermon/ She was of a shrewd dis- 
 cerning intellect, possessing the literary propen- 
 sities and tastes of her mother, but with a far 
 more determined and self-confident spirit. Though 
 brought up in the Romish faith, yet she had 
 
JEANNE D'ALBRET. 19 
 
 a full knowledge of the reformed doctrines, 
 and early manifested an aversion to the grosser 
 superstitions of Popery, yet without any ear- 
 nest adherence to either faith. An anecdote is 
 related of her, which seems to illustrate both the 
 lightness of her temperament and of her religious 
 impressions. The two eldest children of her 
 second marriage had died in infancy. Her father 
 despaired of having descendants to his throne, 
 when, on the eve of the birth of her third child, 
 afterwards the celebrated Henry IV. of France, 
 she arrived at the Chateau de Pau, her father's 
 residence. Henry d' Albret anxiously awaited the 
 birth of an heir, which Jeanne had told him she 
 would announce by singing a Bearnoise song, and 
 being in the ante-chamber at the time of her 
 accouchment, he heard her chanting the invocation 
 to the Virgin, used by the common people 
 ' Noustre Dame deii cap deii pont, adjudatme a 
 d'aqueste hore.' ( Our Lady of the Bridge-head, 
 assist me in this hour !' This was in 1553. In 
 1555 the King of Navarre died, and Jeanne d' Al- 
 bret ascended the throne of her ancestors. On 
 the 18th of August, 1555, Jeanne, and her hus- 
 band Antoine de Bourbon were crowned, taking 
 the usual oaths, according to the forms of the Ro- 
 man Catholic Church, to the rites and discipline of 
 which they in every respect conformed. Two 
 
20 CHAPTER II. 
 
 days after this solemn ceremony, the estates of 
 Beam (consisting of the nobility, clergy, and de- 
 puties of towns) presented an address to their new 
 sovereigns, stating that ' A sect had latterly 
 sprung up, infected with heresy, which offended 
 the faithful by their contempt and transgression 
 of the divine precepts ; that, as it was the duty of 
 the sovereign to protect the church against all 
 injustice and persecution, they prayed their ma- 
 jesties to exhort the bishops to search diligently 
 after these new sectaries, and to direct that, in 
 case of negligence on the part of the prelates, the 
 delinquents should be prosecuted by the judges 
 of the ordinary court, who should report, every 
 two months, their proceedings thereon ; and that 
 proclamation should be made by sound of trumpet 
 in all towns and markets, commanding all classes 
 of people to abstain from disputing on, or in any 
 manner questioning the constitutions of the church. 
 
 It is evident, from the presentation and terms 
 of this address, that the Reformed doctrines were, 
 as yet, chiefly confined to the lower classes of the 
 Bearnoise people, although some, at least, of the 
 prelates were disposed to favour them. That the 
 ( sect ' had become considerable in number is also 
 evinced by ' all classes of people in all towns and 
 markets,' requiring a legislative admonition. 
 
 The king and queen of Navarre averred, in 
 
JEANNE D'ALBRET. 21 
 
 their answer to this address, that ' they desired to 
 extirpate heresy in their dominions, and would 
 direct the bishops to proceed against heretics in 
 conformity with the edict of the late king Henry, 
 issued in 1546.' An order was subsequently pub- 
 lished, threatening the prelates with the seizure of 
 their temporalities, in the case of laxity in the 
 pursuit of heretics, and directing certain legal 
 proceedings for their prosecution, ' in order that 
 all heresy and all heretics should be exterminated.' 
 Notwithstanding this apparent inquisitorial vigour, 
 no prosecution was commenced against the new 
 heresy. Jeanne d'Albret, when she came to re- 
 side in Beam, was brought into association with 
 the friends of her late mother. These faithful 
 adherents were the Protestant exiles whom the 
 pious and tender-hearted Marguerite had sheltered 
 from persecution ; the learned Theodore Beza, 
 the eloquent Henri Barran, and the enthusiastic 
 and venerable Jaques Lefevre, who, when in the 
 hundred and first year of his age, lamented, with 
 his dying breath, that he had missed the crown of 
 martyrdom. These and other eminent individuals 
 were gladly welcomed by the filial feeling and 
 acute understanding of the queen of Navarre. 
 Her mother's writings and personal example were 
 admonitory records ; her mother's friends, illus- 
 trious examples, of the purer doctrines which she 
 
22 CHAPTER II. 
 
 found extending around her. The king, her hus- 
 band, who was of a vacillating temper, appears to 
 have been lured by the talents of those whom the 
 Queen had received into favour, to listen with 
 complacency, if not with conviction. Under these 
 circumstances, the fulminations against heresy 
 were mere summer thunderings, which, instead of 
 causing ravage, only cleared and refreshed the 
 atmosphere. 
 
 So great was the encouragement given by the 
 sovereigns of Navarre to the remnant of the re- 
 formers who remained in that kingdom, after 
 the death of Marguerite de Valois, that many 
 others shortly joined them. Amongst these was 
 aGenevese minister, Francis Guy de Boisnormand, 
 a man of considerable talent, who, with Henri 
 Barran, formerly a monk of Beam, obtained so 
 great an influence over the Queen, that she be- 
 came a decided patroness of their doctrines. The 
 Navarrese court again became the place of refuge 
 for the oppressed Protestants of France and Ger- 
 many, and, on every side, the welcomed strangers 
 repaid the hospitality they received, by their mis- 
 sionary efforts. 
 
 These proceedings soon attracted the notice of 
 the courts of Rome and Paris. Threats and 
 admonitions were addressed to the king and 
 queen of Navarre. To obviate the consequences 
 
JEANNE D'ALBRET. 23 
 
 of these denunciations, especially from their feudal 
 superior, the king of France, the Navarrese sove- 
 reigns determined to proceed to Paris, leaving the 
 young prince Henry, (born Dec. 23, 1553) under 
 the guardianship of Louis d' Albert, bishop of 
 Lescar, and of Susanne de Bourbon, Baroness 
 Miossens ; while the government of the state was 
 committed to the Cardinal d'Armagnac. One of 
 the first proceedings of the latter was to imprison 
 Henri Barran, and order Boisnormond to quit 
 Beam ; while the husband of Susanne de Bour- 
 bon (the Baron de Miossens) and the bishop of 
 Lescar, as President of the States, equally lent 
 themselves to the establishment of coercive mea- 
 sures against the Reformers. A proclamation was 
 issued, e forbidding all private meetings for prayer 
 and devotion ; denouncing all those, who did not 
 conform to the rites and usages of the Romish 
 Church, as subject to banishment and forfeiture 
 of goods ; and warning all persons neither to read 
 or lend books, that lay under the censure of the 
 church/ 
 
 These measures appear to have been enforced 
 with rigour, and, though the coerced Protestants 
 of Beam appealed to their sovereigns in France, 
 yet they were unable to obtain relief, the influ- 
 ence of the French Court being paramount. 
 Such was the degree of apprehension entertained 
 
24* CHAPTER II. 
 
 by Antoine and his queen, that they considered 
 it expedient to attend mass publicly at Nerac, 
 with the young Prince Henry, when they re- 
 turned to Beam, and despatched Pierre d'Albret, 
 Bishop of Commenges, to the Pope, with assur- 
 ances of their allegiance to the Roman See. At 
 the same time, (March 1560,) they issued an 
 ' ordonnance,' for the due observance of ecclesias- 
 tical discipline. 
 
 In these measures, the king of Navarre seems 
 to have been a more willing participant than his 
 queen. While at Paris she had publicly attended 
 the Protestant worship, at the Pre aux Clercs, 
 and her domestic chaplain, (M. David,) was a 
 minister of that church. But the king her hus- 
 band had domestic alleviators of another kind ; 
 he carried with him a company of theatrical per- 
 formers. His religious opinions, or rather, his 
 formula of religion, had, also, during this sojourn 
 at the French court, been drawn into greater con- 
 formity with established usages ; having been in- 
 duced to believe, that his temporal interests would 
 suffer from too daring a profession of the new 
 doctrines. The laxity of his moral conduct, in 
 respect of his conjugal vows, had caused much 
 coldness between his queen and himself. The 
 influence of Jeanne d'Albret was thus materially 
 weakened ; but through the same cause, the in- 
 
JEANNE D'ALBRET. 25 
 
 fluence of religion on Jeanne was greatly strength- 
 ened. Whether the rule of patient endurance., 
 both as to public and private evils, caused her ac- 
 quiescence in an apparent adhesion to the Romish 
 faith, cannot now be determined. The policy of 
 the measure was questionable, especially when it is 
 considered that no devious or simulative act can 
 either be sanctioned by or tend to promote reli- 
 gion. But the subsequent conduct of the queen of 
 Navarre made a large atonement for this error. 
 
 The death of Francis II. king of France, (5th 
 of Dec. 1560,) occasioned the return of Antoine 
 and the queen to St. Germain. Here the king of 
 Navarre, either tired with the restraints of the 
 severer code of the Reformers, or, as it is alleged, 
 being really converted to Romanism by a priest 
 named Baldwin, publicly professed that faith, and 
 so far evinced his sincerity, that he removed 
 Lagauchere, the Protestant tutor of his son prince 
 Henry, and placed him under the entire control 
 of Romish teachers. He used also every effort 
 to induce the queen to renounce her opinions, 
 proceeding even to harshness in the height of 
 his zeal. But Jeanne d'Albret remained firm 
 in the reformed faith, declaring * that sooner 
 than ever again go to mass or suffer her king- 
 dom or her child to do so, she would, were it 
 possible, cast them into the depths of the sea to 
 c 
 
26 CHAPTER II. 
 
 hinder it.' l An ocular witness (the cardinal de 
 Ferrara) narrates 2 that, on one occasion, Jeanne 
 took her young son (then eight years of age) in her 
 arms, and ' uttered a long and earnest exhortation 
 to him never to attend the mass in any way what- 
 ever ; and, that if he disobeyed her in that, he 
 might be assured she would disinherit him and no 
 longer consider herself his mother.' Did the 
 remembrance of that strongly expressed, but fond 
 and maternal exhortation, glance on the mind or 
 heart of Henry IV. when, in 1593, he bowed 
 before the idols and incense of Notre Dame ? 
 
 A character, at once so warm and so firm, could 
 not hesitate on a course of proceeding. In the 
 beginning of April 1561, Jeanne d'Albret was sud- 
 denly missed from the palace of her husband, and 
 the court of France. She had fled to the hills of 
 her native Beam, and the more congenial advisers 
 which they sheltered. The king of Navarre, 
 who was governor of the French province of 
 Guienne, despatched instructions to his Lieu- 
 tenant, Blaise de Montlucq, a zealous opponent of 
 the Protestants, to intercept the royal fugitive. 
 But the queen had prepared for her flight, by 
 previously directing her seneschal in Beam, the 
 Sieur de Dandaux, to meet her on the banks of 
 
 1 Beza. Hist. Eccles. 1. p. 689. 
 
 2 Lettres Politiques, p. 136. 
 
JEANNE D'ALBRET. 7 
 
 the Garonne, with as large a force as he could 
 assemble. Dandaux, who subsequently became a 
 traitor to the Protestant cause, and was a man 
 of loose life, in this instance so effectually per- 
 formed his duty, that the queen reached Pau in 
 safety. 
 
 The protectress of the reformed interest arrived 
 most opportunely for its aid and maintenance. 
 
 Shortly after the death of Francis II, in 
 1560, the king of Navarre, then at St. Ger- 
 main's, had, in conjunction with the queen 
 Regent of France, issued a commission to Blaise 
 de Montlucq, lieutenant-governor of Guienne, 
 to raise a force for the maintenance of order 
 in Beam, and the bordering provinces. The 
 contests between the Romanists and Reformers 
 had become serious, for the number and power of 
 the latter had so increased, that the former had to 
 contend with nearly equal strength in opposing 
 the advance of the ' new opinions.' The dark 
 bigotry of the one party, and the fervid zeal of 
 the other, were perpetually in conflict. Earnest 
 religious feeling is essentially missionary, and we 
 know that even the Pharisees would " compass sea 
 and land to make one proselyte." Thus a sort of 
 invasive principle is necessarily inherent in all 
 sects, which does not permit a truce, and counter- 
 acts the usual neutralizing effect of equality. At 
 c 2 
 
28 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Bourdeaux, and at Auch, the two parties being 
 nearly equal, disputed the possession of the 
 churches ; and throughout the whole range of 
 country, from the Garonne to the Pyrennees, the 
 near approach to equality produced aggression 
 and contest. 
 
 Montlucq, who had been appointed to appease 
 and quell these disorders, was a daring unhesita- 
 ting leader, a bigotted Romanist, and an unscru- 
 pulous pursuer of his object. His brother GeofFroi 
 de Montlucq had been a monk, and when Pro- 
 testantism was in favour at the court of Navarre, 
 under the auspices of Marguerite de Valois, he 
 left his cloister and served that princess in several 
 diplomatic missions, for which his character was 
 peculiarly fitted. When the times changed, 
 GeofFroi changed also, and became bishop of 
 Valence. 
 
 The powers of Blaise de Montlucq were ample ; 
 he was to raise troops, ( pour courir susj to run 
 down all offenders against the peace ; but two 
 counsellors were appointed to attend him, Messrs. 
 Compain and Gerard, who, desiring to apply the 
 deliberative judgment of law, instead of the sum- 
 mary measures of war, to the breaches of order, 
 are styled by Montlucq, in his Memoirs, ( the 
 worst men in all France.' Instead, therefore, of 
 these ( meschants homines,' he selected two able- 
 
JEANNE D'ALBRET. 29 
 
 bodied men, armed with strong battle-axes, who, 
 being constantly attendant on him, were popularly 
 styled his lacquies. In addition to these, he raised 
 a body of arquebusiers and pikemen, and taking 
 his station at Bourdeaux, waited a fit occasion to 
 commence his work of pacification. Before his 
 troops were ready to take the field, a commotion 
 broke out at La Plume, w r here two Protestants 
 had been imprisoned by the authorities. Their 
 fellow-religionists surrounded the town, demand- 
 ing their liberation, but Montlucq had, as yet, 
 only three hundred men arrayed, and therefore 
 advised the magistrates to release their prisoners. 
 
 Not long after this, the magistrates at Agen 
 endeavoured to seize a Protestant minister in tha ^ 
 town, but were prevented by the people, who 
 espoused his cause. Montlucq marched forthwith, 
 overawed the people, secured the minister, and 
 left him to the tender mercies of his persecutors. 
 These, and other similar acts of oppression on 
 conscience, excited the Protestants to resistance. 
 At Marmaude they arose, attacked and burnt the 
 Franciscan monastery, and drove the friars from 
 the town. At Cahors and at Grenade, the Ro- 
 manists took the lead, and massacred many of 
 their opponents. Inspired by this success of his 
 party, Montlucq took the field, but was previously 
 waited on by a Protestant minister, M. de 
 
30 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Barelle, who came on the part of the Protestants, 
 to lay their grievances before him. Montlucq 
 states, that Barelle offered him, on the part of the 
 Protestants, a body of four thousand men, to be 
 paid by that party, to be placed under his com- 
 mand for the preservation of order. This offer, 
 whether truly affirmed or not, is a sufficient proof 
 of the strength and wealth of the reformers. But 
 Montlucq was enraged at this presumption, as he 
 termed it, and taking Barelle by the throat, 
 threatened to hang him from the balcony of his 
 house. Perhaps there is no fact that so fully 
 illustrates the confidence of the Protestants, both 
 in the justice and strength of their cause, than the 
 return of Barelle, not long afterwards, to Mont- 
 lucq, accompanied with the celebrated preacher 
 Boisnormand, for the purpose of again propitia- 
 . ting the fiery general, by a statement of the inju- 
 ries and oppression their party had suffered. This 
 was, indeed, entering the lion's den, but the same 
 power which protected Daniel, ensured their 
 safety. 
 
 That very night Montlucq secretly despatched 
 his son-in-law, M. de Fontenelle, with a body of 
 men to St. Menard, in order to seize the persons 
 of several obnoxious Protestants, particularly M. 
 Verdier, a nephew of the queen of Navarre's 
 advocate. The mission was successfully executed, 
 
JEANNE D'ALBRET. 31 
 
 and Verdier, with a deacon of one of the reformed 
 churches, and two others, were brought into the 
 presence of Montlucq. After a fierce declama- 
 tion against the offending religionists, especially 
 against Verdier, for having affirmed that he served 
 a greater king than the governor of France, Mont- 
 lucq seized the latter by the collar, and dashing him 
 to the ground, ordered his two e lacquies' who were 
 present, to despatch him, which they did, by hack- 
 ing him to death. Two others were hung, equally 
 without form or trial, on an elm tree close by, and 
 the poor deacon was flogged so unmercifully, that 
 he died in eight days after. Six gentlemen, and 
 thirty others of inferior rank, who had been taken 
 prisoners at Saint Livrade by a detachment of 
 Montlucq's forces, were also hung without judi- 
 cial inquiry. 
 
 These butcheries only tended to exasperate the 
 Reformers and compelled them to associate for 
 defence. The town of Nerac was gained posses- 
 sion of by them ; Leizac and Bazas were organized 
 for resistance, and Lectoure (a fortified town near 
 Agen) was occupied by them. 
 
 In this state of affairs the queen of Navarre 
 arrived in Beam. Her first care was to write to 
 Montlucq to suspend his operations, on her under- 
 taking to oblige the Protestants to lay down their 
 arms. But Montlucq, though desirous of the 
 
32 CHAPTER II. 
 
 latter resnlt, would not relinquish his crusade 
 against the faith. He was aware that the queen, 
 though the hereditary sovereign of Navarre, acted 
 without, or rather in opposition to, the wishes and 
 sanction of her husband. Her seneschal, the 
 sieur de Dandaux kept up a treacherous, it may 
 be styled a treasonable correspondence with the 
 duke of Guise, the head of the Romish party* 
 M. de Burie, the governor of Beam, was a timid 
 man and pressed the queen to give up the protec- 
 tion of the Protestant party, for fear of political 
 consequences. But Jeanne d' Albret acted from 
 higher motives than policy ; she was firm in her 
 faith and in its maintenance, and resolute in her 
 measures. A body of five hundred Bearnaise 
 troops were despatched by her to the assistance of 
 the Protestants, shut up in Lectoure, by the forces 
 of Montlucq. M. de Bugoles, who commanded in 
 Lectoure, on hearing of the approach of the Bear- 
 naise corps, sallied forth to meet them, but the 
 two bands fell into an ambuscade, were routed, 
 and Lectoure was taken. The captured Protes- 
 tants suffered death by the orders of Montlucq. 
 Nerac was also taken by storm by his forces, 
 who drove out all of the Reformed party ; men, 
 women, and children flying from his merciless 
 sword to the protection of the queen. The many 
 defeats suffered by the Protestants at this time, 
 
JEANNE D'ALBRET. 33 
 
 although they brought far more force into the 
 field than Montlucq, may be adduced as proofs 
 that their rising was not the result of long-designed 
 and organized plans, but that they were driven 
 into a defensive, and, as it must be acknowledged, 
 sometimes an offensive array. Montlucq (who has 
 left us an account of his exploits in which he 
 details his cruelties as laudable exercises of 
 ' Catholic' zeal) states that 'one could not touch 
 the lowest Protestant without rousing the ire of 
 the whole body ; ' an unconscious testimony to the 
 deep influence of a pure faith in banding heart to 
 heart and hand to hand, without respect to the 
 usual selfish considerations of personal interest or 
 safety. 
 
 At this juncture Antony de Bourbon, king of 
 Navarre, died (17 November, 1562) of a wound 
 received at the siege of Rouen, while engaged 
 against the Huguenot party. Jeanne was conse- 
 quently left uncontrolled mistress of her own 
 actions. Antony and she had never met since 
 they parted at Paris in April 1561. Their public 
 conduct had been equally at variance. Antony 
 having sided with the Romanist party and com- 
 missioned Montlucq to act in Beam, while Jeanne 
 supported the Protestants and opposed the opera- 
 tions of that ferocious leader. She now deter- 
 mined to act as an independent sovereign. 
 C 5 
 
34 CHAPTER II. 
 
 After several preparatory edicts (ordering an 
 appropriation of fifteen thousand livres tournois 
 (625.) out of the ecclesiastical revenues of Beam 
 for the maintenance of the Reformed worship ; 
 decreeing a registry of the valuables of the churches, 
 and freedom of admission to the Reformed clergy 
 to .all parochial places of worship, for the adminis- 
 tration of baptism and marriage, Jeanne publicly 
 received the communion, according to the Re- 
 formed rite, at the church of St. Martin at Pau, 
 on Easter day 1563. The public processions of 
 the Roman church, especially the Fete Dieu, were 
 prohibited ; a restriction against which the estates 
 of Beam remonstrated in the strongest terms. 
 The queen replied, that a double motive had 
 induced her to issue these decrees, viz. the dis- 
 charge of her own duty and conscience, and the 
 safety of the souls of her subjects ; and, in answer 
 to a second remonstrance from the estates, briefly 
 commanded them not to set an example of disobe- 
 dience to her decrees. 
 
 The opposition of the estates, or higher orders 
 of the realm would, doubtless, have involved the 
 queen in considerable difficulties, had not the 
 bishop of Lescar, a cousin of the queen's, and 
 the first in rank of the episcopal order, given an 
 example of great weight, by enforcing the prohi- 
 bition in his diocese, and by dismantling his 
 
JEANNE D'ALBRET. 35 
 
 cathedral of its gorgeous altars, images, and other 
 anti-scriptural devices. He even appointed two 
 Protestant ministers, who had formerly been 
 monks, to preach in the cathedral and administer 
 the reformed communion to the queen, who went 
 expressly to Lescar to support and commemorate 
 this reform. At Oloron, the next diocese in epis- 
 copal rank, the queen was not so successful. 
 Claude Regin, the bishop of Oloron, had suc- 
 ceeded Roussel the Reformed head of that dio- 
 cese, after a lapse of eight years, during which 
 there had been no bishop. The people of Oloron 
 had become strengthened in the doctrines of the 
 Reformation, but Regin, the new bishop, was a 
 bigotted Romanist, and opposed their progress. 
 The prohibition was received by him and his 
 clergy with the utmost hostility. They fortified 
 the Episcopal Palace and prepared for open and 
 determined resistance, but the clergy were not 
 seconded by the people, and the queen having 
 despatched one of her judges and other officers to 
 Oloron, the malcontents were arrested, and after 
 a short imprisonment, released without further 
 punishment. 
 
 The Romish clergy finding opposition fruitless, 
 vented their indignation in a statement of their 
 grievances to cardinal d' Armagnac, who had been 
 governor or regent of Beam some years previous.. 
 
36 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The cardinal forthwith wrote to the queen, ex- 
 postulating with her on her adoption and mainte- 
 nance of the * new opinions.' This letter and the 
 reply which Jeanne d' Albret made to the mission- 
 ary effort of the cardinal, merit consideration, 
 both as affording a summary of the arguments 
 adduced by the respective parties, in support of 
 the Protestant and Romish faith, but still more 
 as being illustrative of the mental character and 
 spirit of the queen, who, as it is said, wrote her 
 reply instantly, and returned it by the cardinal's 
 courier. They will be given in the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 LETTER FROM CARDINAL D ARMAGNAC TO THE 
 QUEEN OF NAVARRE. THE QUEEN'S REPLY. 
 
 THE following is the letter addressed to the queen 
 by the cardinal d' Armagnac. 
 
 * Madam, 
 
 ' The duty of the service in which I was born, 
 and which I have continued faithfully to fulfil, 
 both to the late sovereigns, your father and mother, 
 as well as to the late king, your husband, has so 
 complete an influence on my conduct, that I must 
 ever be attentive to the means of sustaining your 
 welfare and the glory of your illustrious house. 
 Moved by the zeal which attaches me to your 
 interests, I will never conceal from you whatever 
 it is desirable that you should learn, and which I 
 may have previously heard, trusting that you will 
 receive, in good part, the representations of your 
 long-tried, most attached and faithful servant, who 
 will never offer to make them for his own private 
 
38 CHAPTER III. 
 
 advantage, but solely for the sake of your con- 
 science and the prosperity of your affairs. I can- 
 not, then, Madam, conceal from you the deep 
 affliction which penetrates me on account of the 
 information I have received of the overthrow of 
 images and altars, and the pillage of ornaments, 
 silver, and jewels, committed in the cathedral of 
 Lescar by the agents of your authority, as well as 
 the severity of those agents to the chapter and 
 people by the interdiction of divine service. This 
 proceeding appears to me the more monstrous, 
 since it took place in your presence, and resulted 
 from evil counsels, which must lead to your ruin. 
 It is in vain for you to conceive that you can trans- 
 plant the new religion into your dominions at your 
 pleasure. The wishes of the ministers who have 
 assured you of this, are at variance with those of 
 your subjects. They will never consent to leave 
 their religion, as they already have declared by their 
 protest at the last meeting of the estates of Beam. 
 They will rather renounce the allegiance they owe 
 to you, than that which they owe to God, and which 
 their ancestors taught them to observe in the way 
 adhered to by all Christendom. But, even sup- 
 posing that they were reduced to accept your 
 faith, consider what you would have to fear from 
 the two sovereigns whose territories surround you, 
 and who abhor nothing so much as the new opi- 
 
LETTER FROM CARDINAL D*ARMAGNAC. 39 
 
 nions with which you are so delighted. Their 
 policy would lead them to seize your dominions, 
 rather than suffer them to become the prey of 
 strangers. To shelter you from these dangers, 
 you have not, like England, the ocean for a ram- 
 part. Your conduct perils the fortunes of your 
 children, and risks the beholding them deprived of 
 a throne before they are entitled to occupy it. 
 You will thus become worse than an infidel, by 
 neglecting to provide for those of your own house. 
 Such is the fruit of your Evangelism ; the cause 
 alike of rebellion, of scandal and of sacrilege, which 
 are common at this time, and are sanctioned by 
 those whom you term teachers of the faith, but who 
 are only, apostates from it. You would indeed be 
 excusable, if these men came to you in sheep's 
 clothing and deceived you ; but they come openly 
 as ravening wolves, using violence to kings and 
 princes, to tear from them that liberty of conscience 
 which they pretend to advocate. 
 
 ' It was not thus that the early Christians acted. 
 They were ready to suffer a thousand deaths, 
 rather than cause the least scandal to their 
 brethren. Instead of drawing the sword against 
 their sovereign, they, on the contrary, bent their 
 necks under the hand that struck them, showing 
 this obedience even to idolatrous kings. Without 
 entering into argument with you concerning the 
 
40 CHAPTER III. 
 
 errors you follow, I would lead you to consider 
 that those who support these errors cannot extri- 
 cate themselves, since they read neither the 
 Fathers of the Church or the Decrees of the 
 ancient Councils. l Search their doctrine ; read it 
 in St. Ignatius, St. Marcial, St. Denis, Tertullian, 
 Irenaeus, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Chrysos- 
 tom and many others, and you will find it opposed 
 to that which the new doctors teach. You will 
 allege, I make no doubt, that you should rely on 
 the Scriptures rather than the writings of men. 
 But we differ in their interpretation, and, if you 
 affirm that they are clear, you give the lie to St. 
 Peter, who declares that there are in St. Paul's 
 Epistles obscure passages which the ignorant wrest 
 to their own destruction. The prince of darkness 
 spreads obscurity over light itself. Can there be 
 
 1 It is singular that the Oxford Tract writers (nominal Protes- 
 tants) use the same argument, at the present day, against the 
 adherents to the Articles of the Church of England. I find that 
 Beam had its ' Puseyism' and its 'Professor* at this time. 
 Jean de Serres (one of the ministers of Beam and subsequently 
 Professor of Theology at Nismes) published two works (one in 
 1577, 'Une exhortation pour la paix de 1'Eglise;' and another 
 in 1597, ' Apparatus ad fidem Catholicam, sive de principiis reli- 
 gionis Christianas communi omnium consensu semper et ubique 
 ratis,') in which similar opinions to those of the ' Oxford Tracts,' 
 are maintained. The first was condemned by the Synod of San- 
 mur, the second by that of Montpellier. 
 
LETTER FROM CARDINAL D*ARMAGNAC. 41 
 
 clearer and more positive words than these of the 
 Saviour, " this is my body ; " and yet, by the sub- 
 tlety of your doctors, one finds the whole of 
 Christendom divided and disputing as to their true 
 meaning ; and, although every one would readily 
 admit that these words are indicative of a literal 
 meaning, still your ministers persist in considering 
 them as merely figurative, assimilating them to the 
 phrases, I am the door ; I am the true vine /" 
 
 ' But, even in arguing on the interpretation of 
 Scripture, ought we not to look to ancient tradi- 
 tion and the opinion of those who were both wit- 
 nesses and interpreters of it ? And has not God, 
 who worked so many miracles through them, mani- 
 festly directed us to regard these holy personages 
 rather than Luther and Calvin, Farel, Videl, and 
 so many other presumptuous men, who would 
 desire us to slight those reverend names and adopt 
 their novelties ? Would they have us hold an open 
 council to hear them, or unite in one common 
 opinion against the Catholic church ? But that 
 would be to expect unity in those who have the 
 spirit of division, as is proved by the many sects 
 into which their Reform is split. God permits 
 this schism to manifest and point out which is the 
 one and always existing church, according to his 
 promise ; notwithstanding what your prophets 
 declare respecting it, that it has been hid for 
 
42 CHAPTER III. 
 
 twelve or thirteen hundred years under the dark- 
 ness of idolatry, which, according to their absurd 
 opinion, has covered it till the present period. It 
 is astonishing that persons of good sense and who, 
 like you, are endowed with the gifts of God, 
 should allow themselves to be deceived by those 
 who only labour to ruin souls. Many of the higher 
 orders, who have been seduced thus like you, have 
 become undeceived, and now regard those as dan- 
 gerous heretics, who, for the purposes of imposition, 
 had erected themselves into Reformers. In fol- 
 lowing their example, you will imitate your ances- 
 tors ; you will preserve the crown to the prince 
 your son, and you will secure the safety of your 
 soul, \vhich can only find it in the Catholic 
 church. 
 
 6 It is not through vanity that I thus become 
 your adviser. The favours with which the deceased 
 sovereigns, your father, your husband, and your 
 mother honoured me, might entitle me to this 
 privilege"; but the character of the Legate of the 
 Holy See in Beam and Navarre, which you recog- 
 nize in me, authorizes me to assume that office. 
 The friendship which I bear you, through these 
 great motives, moves me to beseech you with tears, 
 to return into the great fold of Christians, and 
 avoid the wolves who are pursuing you. 
 
 6 Without wasting time in farther reflections, let 
 
LETTER FROM CARDINAL D*ARMAGNAC. 43 
 
 me intreat you to place in their former condition 
 the churches of Lescar, of Pau, and other places 
 which have been so deplorably desolated by you. 
 This advice is preferable to that given you by your 
 ministers, which it imports you to abandon, and if 
 you neglect to follow it, I shall feel the deepest re- 
 gret, under the apprehension that your conduct will 
 entail the utmost misery, not only on yourself but 
 others. If, however, you reject my counsel, I 
 shall console myself for my want of success, by 
 the assurance of having performed, a good office, 
 for your consideration, pursuant to my duty, and 
 to the will of God our common father ; and I shall 
 no further concern myself, than as a loyal and 
 faithful servant would, at the anger of a sick mas- 
 ter, whose state makes him heedless of the reme- 
 dies which are presented to him for his cure. The 
 assurance I have both of the rectitude of my con- 
 science and my humble regard for you, leads me 
 again to pray you to pay attention to my words, and 
 to receive them as the most devoted homage it is 
 in my power to offer you. With God's assistance, 
 I shall beseech him, without ceasing, to grant you 
 length of days and happiness, with his strength and 
 blessing, trusting that you will pardon the prolix- 
 ity of this letter, as it proceeds from the abundance 
 of the heart, which has carried me into greater 
 extent than I designed when it was commenced 
 
44 CHAPTER III. 
 
 with the own hand of your most loyal and very 
 obedient servant, 
 (Signed) 
 
 ( THE CARDINAL D' ARMAGNAC.' 
 Viellepinte, August 18, 1563. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to point out the specious 
 humility of this letter, or the total absence of spi- 
 ritual sentiment or religious argument which it 
 exhibits. By referring to the Fathers and the 
 ancient Councils of the church, for the meaning of 
 the inspired writers of the Holy Scriptures, the 
 cardinal virtually designates the sacred penmen as 
 incorrect and obscure in their style, and as second- 
 ary and inferior to the uninspired authors, whom 
 he refers to as clear and unerring guides. If the 
 first generation of Christian instructors, who drew 
 their facts and doctrines from their own know- 
 ledge and the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit, 
 cannot be trusted as safe teachers, much less, it 
 might be argued, can those who wrote in succeed- 
 ing generations, without that immediate know- 
 ledge or inspiration : or if, on the contrary, the 
 lapse of centuries increased the illuminating 
 power of Christian expositors, then those who write 
 latest must be admitted to be the safest guides, and 
 consequently a Doddridge, a Henry, or a Scott, 
 are names that should supersede those of Ignatius, 
 
THE QUEEN'S REPLY. 45 
 
 Chrysostom, Irenaeus, or even Augustine. These 
 observations it might seem irrelevant to make 
 here, if by the rotation of time and the reproduc- 
 tive nature of worldly matter, the contest between 
 Protestantism and Romanism had not again com- 
 menced : assertions are reiterated that have been 
 formerly disproved, arguments reproduced that 
 have been long since controverted. But the 
 armour which St. Paul recommended to the Ephe- 
 sians is still calculated for modern warfare, and 
 God grant his people strength enough to use it. 
 
 The queen of Navarre replied to the cardinal 
 d'Armagnac, as follows : 
 f My Cousin, 
 
 * From my earliest years I have been acquainted 
 with the zeal which attached you to the service of 
 my kindred. I am not authorized by ignorance 
 of that zeal to refuse it the praise and the esteem 
 it merits, or to be prevented from feeling a grati- 
 tude which I should be desirous to continue 
 towards those who like you, having partaken of 
 the favour of my family, have preserved good- 
 will and fidelity towards it. I should trust you 
 would still entertain those feelings towards me, as 
 you profess to do, without allowing them to be 
 changed or destroyed by the influence of I know 
 not what religion or superstition; thanking you 
 
46 CHAPTER III. 
 
 at the same time for the advice you give me, and 
 which I receive according to its varied character, 
 the dissimilar and mingled points it touches, being 
 divided between heaven and earth, God and men ! 
 
 * As to the first point, concerning the reform 
 which I have effected at Pau and at Lescar, and 
 which I desire to extend throughout my sove- 
 reignty, I have learned it from the Bible, which I 
 read more willingly than the works of your doctors. 
 I have there found, in the account of king Josias, 
 a model by which I ought to regulate my conduct, 
 in order that I may not draw on my myself the 
 reproach cast on those kings of Israel, who pre- 
 tended to serve the Lord while they allowed the 
 high places to remain. 
 
 ' As to the ruin impending over me, through 
 bad counsel, under the colour of religion, I am not 
 so devoid of the gifts of God, or of the aid of 
 friends, as to be unable to make choice of persons 
 worthy of my confidence and capable of acting, 
 not under a vain pretence, but with the true spirit 
 of religion. Such as is the head, so are the mem- 
 bers. I have not undertaken to plant a new re- 
 ligion in my dominions, but rather to rebuild the 
 ruins of the ancient faith, which can only be re- 
 garded as a good design, and which I trust will be 
 successful. I clearly perceive that you have been 
 misinformed, both respecting the answer of my 
 

 THE QUEEN'S REPLY. 47 
 
 estates and the disposition of my subjects. The 
 two estates have professed their obedience to re- 
 ligion. The three first remonstrances were un- 
 founded, but being satisfactorily answered, my 
 subjects, ecclesiastics, nobles, and citizens, without 
 exception, have vowed obedience, which is the 
 safeguard against rebellion. I use no compulsion, 
 nor punish with death or imprisonment, the expe- 
 dients of arbitrary power. 
 
 ' I know who my neighbours are : the one hates 
 my religion as much as I do his ; but that does not 
 affect our mutual relations ; and, besides, I am not 
 so destitute of advice and friends as to have neg- 
 lected all necessary precautions for the defence of 
 my rights, in case of attack. My other neighbour 
 I regard as the stem of which I have the honour 
 to be an offshoot. Far from abhorring my religion, 
 he protects it in the persons of the nobles ; and of 
 my son, who, like myself, is flattered by the 
 honour which this connexion attaches to our house. 
 Both modes of worship are recognized in his do- 
 minions, nor is any one despised on account of his 
 faith. But even supposing that it were so; allow- 
 ing even that my subjects should desire to claim 
 the aid of either of these princes; the one would 
 hesitate to receive them, through the fear that, in 
 offending me, he might irritate a superior power, 
 that is to say, France, to whom, as you know, 
 
48 CHAPTER III. 
 
 this country is of great importance ; while the 
 other, far from being in my estimation, a tyrant or 
 usurper, on the contrary, covers and protects me 
 under the shadow of his wings, where I feel as- 
 sured of safety. Although you think to intimi- 
 date me, I am protected from all apprehension. 
 First, by my confidence in God, whom I serve, 
 and who knows how to defend his cause. Second- 
 ly, because my tranquillity is not affected by the 
 designs of those whom I can easily oppose, and 
 because the effect of these designs will never be to 
 weaken my spirit or turn aside the resolution I 
 have taken, and which I will execute, with the 
 grace of Him who encompasses my country, as the 
 ocean does England! 
 
 I do not perceive that I run the risk of sacri- 
 ficing either my own welfare, or that of my son ; 
 on the contrary, I trust to strengthen it in the 
 only way which every Christian should pursue ; 
 and even though the spirit of God might not 
 inspire me with a knowledge of this way, yet 
 human intellect would induce me to act as I do, 
 from the many examples which I recal with 
 regret, especially that of the late king, my hus- 
 band, of whose history you well know the begin- 
 ning, the course, and the end. Where are the 
 splendid crowns you held out to him ? Did he 
 gain any by combatting against true religion and 
 
 
THE QUEEN'S REPLY. 49 
 
 his conscience ? Yes, his conscience, as witness 
 his last words addressed to the queen, declaring 
 that he would cause the reformed ministers to 
 preach throughout his territories, if he should be 
 cured of his wound. 1 Mark the fruit of the gos- 
 pel, which divine mercy causes to be gathered in 
 its time and place. See the care of the eternal 
 Father, who remembers those upon whom his 
 name is called.' 
 
 I blush with shame when you talk of the many 
 atrocities which you allege to have been committed 
 by those of our faith : cast out the beam out of 
 thine own eye, and thou shalt then see clearly the 
 mote in thy brother's eye : purify the earth that 
 is stained with the innocent blood which those of 
 your party have shed, a fact you can bear testi- 
 mony to ; and I well know whence sprung the first 
 disturbances, when the ministers of the gospel 
 preaching every where under the sanction of the 
 edict of tolerance issued in January 1559, you and 
 the Cardinal de Tournon, injured the character of 
 the late king, my husband, by inducing him to 
 
 1 Unquestionably Jeanne must have been well informed of the 
 particulars of her husband's death. De Thou affirms the fact as 
 stated here, but Mezeray says, that Anthony died irresolute, as he 
 had lived. Olligarray (a Protestant) is silent on the point. The 
 ' last words ' were sadly contradicted by the last actions of An- 
 thony of Bourbon, and were at best only expressive of a provi- 
 sional resolution. " The Queen " was Catharine de Medicis, 
 D 
 
50 CHAPTER III. 
 
 interrupt their efforts ? I am far, however, from 
 approving here the excesses committed in many 
 places under the name of religion, and which 
 our ministers deplore equally with all men of rec- 
 titude. My voice calls loudly for vengeance 
 against their authors, who have profaned the true 
 faith ; by the grace of God, the disgrace of these 
 disorders shall be effaced from Beam, which will 
 be saved from this ruin, as well as all others with 
 which it is threatened. 
 
 You are ignorant of what our ministers are, who 
 preach patience, obedience to Sovereigns, and the 
 other virtues of which the apostles and the mar- 
 tyrs have left them an example. You will not 
 dispute, you observe, about our doctrine : nor will 
 I, although its truth is so manifest, that it is vain 
 for you to call it false. It is not through mistrust 
 of my cause that I refrain, but from the fear of 
 making useless efforts to conduct you to the hill 
 of Sion. You affirm that multitudes draw back 
 from our belief, while I maintain that the number 
 of its adherents increases daily. As to ancient 
 authorities, I hear them every day cited by our 
 ministers. I am not, indeed, sufficiently learned 
 to have gone through so many works, but neither, 
 I suspect, have you, nor are better versed in them 
 than myself, as you were always known to be 
 more acquainted with matters of state than those 
 
THE QUEEN'S REPLY. 51 
 
 of the church. You do wrong to blame us for 
 having quitted the ancient faith. Take that blame 
 to yourself, (' prenez vous par le vez,') you who 
 have rejected the milk with which you nourished 
 my mother, before the honours of Rome had fasci- 
 nated your eyes. 
 
 We are agreed on the reading the Scriptures, 
 without looking farther. We acknowledge that 
 there are difficult passages ; your corruptions, 
 which have rendered them so, have eaten like a 
 canker. It is also too true, that the spirit of 
 darkness blinds men ; you and others have been 
 examples of it. I have learned in our religion, 
 that St. Augustine, (versus Adamantus,) had well 
 explained these words, ' This is my body/ in 
 saying that Jesus Christ spoke of his own body, 
 while he gave the sign of it. This explanation is 
 a better elucidation than that which you give of 
 the passage, where the Saviour said, that he 
 would speak no longer in parables, since, then, the 
 supper had been finished. Read again these pas- 
 sages attentively, before you explain them so un- 
 happily on any other occasion ; it might be par- 
 donable in me as a female, but you, a cardinal, to 
 be so old and yet so ignorant ! Truly, my cousin, 
 I feel shame for you ! 
 
 You affect to repeat often, my doctors, my min- 
 isters. Would to God they were mine, and that 
 D 2 
 
52 CHAPTER III. 
 
 I was enriched with so great a treasure. I would 
 say with St. Paul, I am not ashamed of the gos- 
 pel. But do not however believe, that I consider 
 them infallible. I place no reliance on doctors, 
 not even Calvin, Beza, and others, but as they 
 follow Scripture. You would send them to a 
 council. They desire it, provided that it shall be a 
 free one, and that the parties should not be judges. 
 The motive of the surety they require, is founded on 
 the examples of John Huss and Jerome of Prague. 
 
 There are not many sects among our ministers, 
 but rather amongst you, as I learned at Poissy. 1 
 We have one God, one faith, one church, which 
 he has promised to govern until the end of the 
 world. As to the morals and manners of our min- 
 isters, are you of opinion that they should go to 
 Rome to learn better ? You make them declare 
 that the church has lain hid for twelve or thirteen 
 hundred years. They said nothing like it, for 
 they acknowledge an universal church, where it 
 has been always existing, but not with you whom 
 they deny to be the true church. They carry no 
 farther a decision on the fate of those who pre- 
 ceded you in the same belief, leaving all to the 
 secret judgment of God. False assertions should 
 not be made, when one wishes to be believed. 
 
 1 The Conference between the Protestants and Romanists held 
 at Poissy near St. Germain en Laye in 1560. 
 
THE QUEEN'S REPLY. 53 
 
 I am equally astonished with you, that persons 
 of good sense should be misled, and if you lose 
 patience at it, I, who have much less than you, 
 only view it in the same light. 
 
 Nothing afflicts me more than that you, after 
 having received the truth, should have abandoned 
 it for idolatry, because you there found the ad- 
 vancement of your fortune and worldly honours. 
 I believe that if you are not guilty of the sin 
 against the Holy Ghost, you are very nearly so. 
 Hasten, I intreat you, to pray, for fear that the 
 door of mercy may be shut against you. I must 
 stop here, practising obedience to what God com- 
 mands " be ye angry and sin not. 19 
 
 If it is true, as you say, that the followers of 
 the faith have become persecutors, keep those titles 
 for yourself which the Holy Spirit ascribes to you. 
 When you call our ministers disturbers, it seems 
 to me that I hear Ahab addressing Elijah, but the 
 prophet answered " I have not troubled Israel, 
 but thou and thy Father's house, in that ye have 
 forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and 
 hast followed Baalim." Have you no shame in 
 inducing me to take a part, only sustained by those 
 who league against their sovereign and God ; so 
 that far from thus gaining a title to my esteem, 
 you hazard having to repent of your own 
 attempts. 
 
54 CHAPTER III. 
 
 I understand, better than you do, how to act 
 towards the princes, my allies, and to my son, 
 who belongs to that church, out of which there is 
 no salvation, and in which I feel assured of my 
 own safety. 
 
 You beg me not to consider it strange or wrong 
 that you have thus addressed me, since you act as 
 legate of the pope ; but I will not receive one at 
 the same price which France has paid, who has 
 had to repent of the bargain. I acknowledge 
 God, as the only being to whom, in Beam, I am 
 responsible for the exercise of my authority ; I 
 have not withdrawn from the Catholic church, nor 
 adopted any error contrary to its creed. Keep, 
 therefore, your tears to mourn your own danger, 
 to which I will readily contribute mine, to shew 
 my charity, if they can serve to draw you into the 
 true fold of Christianity and tend to make you a 
 shepherd instead of a hireling. 
 
 If you have no better reasons for combating 
 my undertaking, do not again urge me to follow 
 your worldly prudence ; I consider it mere folly 
 before God ; it cannot impede my endeavours. 
 Your doubts makes me tremble; my assurance 
 makes me firm. When you desire again to per- 
 suade me, that the words of your mouth are the 
 voice of your conscience and your faithfulness, be 
 more careful, and let the fruitless letter you have 
 
THE QUEEN'S REPLY. 55 
 
 sent me be the last of that kind that I shall re- 
 ceive. I have seen the letter that you wrote to 
 my cousin of Lescar, 1 and which he will answer : 
 it is equally malignant and prejudiced. It is 
 sufficient for me to observe that you would hurl 
 upon the country of Beam, the misery into which 
 you have plunged France. But though you may 
 envy her prosperity, the Arbiter of her destinies 
 will preserve it, notwithstanding your malicious 
 intrigues ; and, by his grace, will confirm it. May 
 that grace abound towards you in the pardon of 
 your sins ! Yet I almost dread to beseech Him 
 for it, lest He may address to me the reproach 
 which Samuel met with on account of Saul. 2 
 
 Receive this from one who knows not how to 
 style herself; not being able to call herself a 
 friend, and doubtful of any affinity till the time of 
 repentance and conversion, when she will be 
 Your cousin and friend, 
 
 JEANNE/ 
 
 This most characteristic letter fully depicts the 
 mind, heart, and temper of Jeanne d'Albret. 
 Acute and sarcastic ; ardent and devoted ; irrita- 
 
 1 Louis d'Albret, Bishop of Lescar, and guardian of prince 
 Henry of Navarre. He was a ' laissez oiler ' character. 
 
 2 1 Samuel xvi. 1. "And the Lord said unto Samuel, How 
 long wiltthou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him." 
 
56 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ble and daring. How firm and deeply felt must 
 have been the conviction which her faith produced ! 
 Her petty domain entirely encircled by the power- 
 ful sovereignties, ruled by the atrocious patron of 
 the butchery of St. Bartholomew's, and the 
 bigotted husband of our Smithfield Mary ! Her 
 throne, was, as it were, on a sandy shelf, sur- 
 rounded by the waves, beyond the reach of the 
 fellow monarchs of her faith ! Her nobles, her 
 dignified clergy, nay, her state advisers, for the 
 most part, openly or secretly, opposed to her de- 
 sign ! And yet, with what assured, determined, 
 and sagacious energy, did she maintain her holy 
 cause ; advancing the standard of her faith with a 
 resolute arm, while she exclaimed, like her royal 
 prototype, " The Lord is on my side ; I will not 
 fear what man can do unto me ! " 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUEEN. THE ROMANISTS 
 
 TRIUMPHANT. 
 
 A FEW weeks after the queen of Navarre had so 
 decidedly evinced her determination to adhere to 
 the Reformed doctrines, the thunder of the Vati- 
 can was brought to bear upon her. A citation 
 from the pope was issued, September 28, 1563, 
 and, notwithstanding an intercessory remonstrance 
 from the court of France, was duly followed by 
 excommunication, the declared forfeiture of her 
 crown, and the absolution of her subjects from 
 their oaths of allegiance. But Jeanne had 
 secured her authority by prompt and well-com- 
 bined measures, and the great body of her people 
 were now too well acquainted with the errors of 
 Romanism, to be led into rebellion by the anti- 
 christian mandate. 
 
 In the February previous, an ecclesiastical coun- 
 cil had been established, by which conventual 
 
 D 5 
 
 
58 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 bodies were dissolved, and their property em- 
 ployed in the foundation of schools and charitable 
 institutions. The symbols of Romanism, crosses, 
 images, and altars, were removed, and the churches 
 supplied with Reformed pastors. These changes 
 were effected without much difficulty ; the re- 
 sistance made by the Romish priests not being 
 supported by the people. A few imprisonments took 
 place, of those contumaciously resisting, but in every 
 instance, the queen almost immediately remitted 
 the punishment. It is true that the estates of the 
 kingdom warmly discussed the question of these 
 changes, but the utmost opposition that resulted, 
 was an address for liberty of conscience. The 
 queen immediately issued an edict to that effect, 
 arresting the progress of her ecclesiastical com- 
 missaries in e dismantling ' the Roman edifices, 
 and ordering the statu quo to be maintained. But 
 the Romanists were interdicted from restoring 
 their worship in the churches then in possession 
 of the Protestants, or of extending their ecclesias- 
 tical influence. 
 
 This concession was a very slight one, for the 
 officers of the ecclesiastical council had already 
 passed through the land and effected their changes 
 very generally. The higher order of the Roman 
 clergy, and the nobles, formed the great majority 
 of the estates, and yet, after fifteen days debate, 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUEEN. 59 
 
 no stronger resolution was passed than that which 
 induced this concession ; so that neither the cause 
 or the effect of it evinced any serious tendency to 
 weaken the advance of reform. 
 
 A transient peace, or rather truce, between the 
 Huguenots and the Romanists of France left the 
 queen a period of leisure for her domestic govern- 
 ment. In the regulation of this, she was ably and 
 faithfully supported by the Count de Grammont, 
 the head of a family long distinguished for its 
 ability and devotedness to the house of Navarre. 
 The expulsion of the monastic orders was followed 
 by the establishment of colleges. The convents 
 of the Jacobins and Dominicans at Orthez con- 
 tained no less than two hundred and thirty of these 
 useless drones, who were superseded by busy 
 youths and instructors of the reformed faith. So 
 unpopular were the monks, that they petitioned, 
 when removing, for a military guard, to save them 
 from insult. The golden chalices, censers, &c. 
 used in public worship, by the self-called descen- 
 dants and followers of the apostolic fishermen, 
 were publicly sold, and the proceeds employed in 
 the formation of public works. It is obvious that 
 Romanism had lost its hold on popular feeling ; in 
 most instances a quiet sufferance, in some a joyous 
 tumult, accompanied these public strippings of the 
 " purple and scarlet, gold and precious stones." 
 
60 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The spirit of Erasmus, rather than that of Calvin, 
 seemed prevalent with many. At Pau, the 
 municipal body, being petitioned by the priests of 
 the town, not to dispose of certain property 
 granted to their church for masses for the dead, 
 replied that the ' dead having no need of support, 
 the funds would be expended in maintaining living 
 soldiers.' Again, the same body replied to a re- 
 quest to be allowed tapers during the Roman ser- 
 vice, that ( when the days were dark or cloudy, 
 they might light the tapers.' 
 
 But internal peace was soon broken, through 
 the excitement caused by the resumption of the 
 civil contest in France. The lull in the storm 
 seems only to have led to its increased force. The 
 Romanists struggled as for a last effort ; the Pro- 
 testants with the vigour of their youthful state. 
 
 At Thoulouse, the Romanist population rose on 
 the Reformed, who defended themselves bravely, 
 but sought to treat with their adversaries. This 
 was refused, and the Protestants in the end were 
 driven from the city, all their property seized, and 
 three thousand five hundred of them put to the 
 sword. At Limoux, where the Protestants were 
 the strongest party, they suffered from treason. 
 Their minister was massacred, with many others, 
 and their goods confiscated. At Foix, similar 
 scenes and results ensued. The Protestants were 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUEEN. 61 
 
 the chief part of the population, and, on the out- 
 break of the religious contest, occupied the castle. 
 M, de Failles, the governor of the town, promised 
 them protection. They listened to the deceit, 
 opened their defences in a feeling of assurance, 
 and were ruined. The Protestant minister, Anto- 
 ine Caffer, saved himself in the disguise of a shep- 
 herd, but Failles inflicted the most atrocious 
 cruelties on many of those who had credulously 
 fancied that faith would be kept with heretics. At 
 Castries, the Protestants successfully resisted their 
 enemies, and burnt the bishop's palace. These 
 places were in the French territory, or on its im- 
 mediate frontier, and the Romanist aggressors 
 were excited or conducted by the king's autho- 
 rities ; but in the Navarrese domain the excite- 
 ment was chiefly on the side of the Protestants ; 
 who were roused by the flight of the refugees into 
 the Bearnoise territory, and their pitiable detail of 
 sufferings. Though the outward demonstration of 
 hostile feeling was not so strong in Beam, it was not 
 less deep in the breasts of the Romish party. Open 
 violence would have been unavailing on their part ; 
 recourse was, therefore, had to dark and secret 
 proceedings. The Romish clergy engaged in this, 
 as more suitable to them than the clash of wea- 
 pons in the field. The Abbe de Sauvelade was 
 the c Apostolic ' leader, and enlisting several of the 
 
62 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 displaced canons of Lescar and Oloron, with the 
 Baron de Navailles and other Romish nobles, 
 planned the course to be followed for restoring 
 their faith in Beam. They took steps for seizing 
 the persons of Jeanne d'Albret and her children, 
 and hurrying them through the passes of the 
 Pyrennees into Spain. On the same day, Whit- 
 sunday 1 566, the conspirators at the head of the 
 Romish population were to rise on their Pro- 
 testant neighbours while engaged at divine service, 
 and put all to the sword. But providence saved 
 Beam from the stain which the commission of this 
 crime would have left on its history. A subordi- 
 nate agent of the plot communicated its know- 
 ledge to his medical attendant, and by the latter 
 it was carried to the queen. The detection of the 
 conspiracy was considered by Jeanne as a suf- 
 ficient punishment for its baffled agents ; and, 
 though Sauvelade, for a subsequent act of rebel- 
 lion, was imprisoned, yet even with this added 
 guilt, he was pardoned. 
 
 Lenity is only appreciated by noble minds, and 
 the gloomy bigotry of superstition seems to con- 
 sider that it is a crime to waste the better feelings 
 of our nature on those who lie beyond its own 
 dark confines. A Protestant, to the mind and 
 feeling of a Romanist, is but a promethean man, 
 not a fellow creature. 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUEEN. 63 
 
 The personal immunity of offenders gave en- 
 couragement to those who were discontented with 
 the queen's measures. Punishment was due to 
 them, but they liberally threw in a gratuitous 
 rebellion. 
 
 The prince of Conde and M. Chatillon, had re- 
 newed the civil contest in France, and called on 
 the queen of Navarre, as a Protestant sovereign, 
 to give aid to their cause. A body of her troops 
 crossed the Garonne under the command of M. 
 Caumont, for the camp of Conde, in October 1568. 
 
 The opportunity which the absence of an armed 
 force gave, was not neglected by the Romanist 
 leaders. The Count de Luxe, who held a Seignory 
 in the district of Mauleon, in the north-west part 
 of Beam, raised his tenantry, and seducing a small 
 corps of men at arms, of which he held the com- 
 mand, from their allegiance to the queen, attacked 
 and gained possession of Garris, about forty miles 
 from Pau, and the only fortified place in that part 
 of the country. The young prince of Navarre, 
 then in his fifteenth year, proceeded against the 
 the rebels, who, on an assurance of being allowed 
 the free exercise of their religion, submitted, but 
 three of the leaders of the movement were ex- 
 cepted from the amnesty, and suffered death. 
 
 The body of troops under the Viscount Cau- 
 mont, which had marched from Beam to join the 
 
64f CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Prince de Conde, hearing of this outbreak, fell 
 upon the town of Bolbonne in their route to Mon- 
 tauban, and destroyed the monastery there. The 
 system of reprisals recommenced. A number of 
 Protestants who had assembled with a minister, 
 M. Martin Tachard, (a preacher of great emi- 
 nence,) at the village of Cabannes, was surprised 
 in the night by a party of Montlucq's troops. 
 Tachard was carried a prisoner to Thoulouse, 
 into which town he was led with a number of 
 paternosters, pasted on boards, hung round his 
 neck, and subjected to derision and insult. When 
 summoned before the tribunal that was appointed 
 to examine him, he knelt down and prayed pub- 
 licly to God, in terms suitable to his situation, 
 then rising up, he solemnly warned his judges 
 that they would suffer the just anger of their God, 
 if they failed to act towards him in truth and sin- 
 cerity. Notwithstanding this solemn warning, 
 Tachard was condemned to be hung, and was 
 drawn through the streets to the gallows, singing 
 the 12/2nd Psalm. As a further indignity, his 
 body was left hanging for two days. At Reolle, 
 Montlucq hung eighty Protestants to the beams 
 of the market-house. At Monsegur, which he 
 took by storm, the Protestant population were 
 put to the sword, and twenty fugitives having been 
 subsequently found secreted in houses, were also 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUEEN. 65 
 
 ordered by him to be hung. That the Protestant 
 troops should have retaliated, (though not with 
 the same barbarous atrocity,) cannot excite asto- 
 nishment. 
 
 The civil war in France was of short duration. 
 It commenced in September 1567, and peace was 
 signed on the 23d of March following. The 
 Bearnaise revolters, thus losing the support they 
 counted on, were easily induced to submit to the 
 queen of Navarre, who, when the Count de Luxe 
 and his associates knelt before her at her Chateau 
 de Pau, addressed them to this purport : ' That 
 the overruling providence of God, which works in 
 all things for his honour and glory, having pre- 
 served her hitherto, she was thereby taught to 
 show equal mercy to others, and in so doing, she 
 desired to efface the memory of their misdeeds. 
 On the assurance of their amendment, she forgave 
 the past, trusting that her clemency would pro- 
 duce worthy fruit in the future.' 
 
 Such was the benign character of this most 
 Christian queen ! Such was the language of the 
 first Protestant authority in France, only five 
 years before the massacre of St. Bartholomew's. 
 But " even so ; every good tree bringeth forth 
 good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil 
 fruit," 
 
 Charles the Ninth, the French king, was at 
 
66 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 that period engaged with his spiritual advisers, in 
 the preparation of the means for the general 
 slaughter of the Protestants, which was soon after 
 perpetrated. Jeanne d'Albret being " a stone of 
 stumbling and a rock of offence " to the extirpa- 
 tors of " heresy," was accordingly marked out for 
 immolation. 
 
 M. de la Mothe Fenelon was, therefore, de- 
 spatched on an embassy to the Navarrese queen, 
 under the ostensible character of arbitrator between 
 the queen and her revolted subjects ; but at the 
 same time, to save the trouble and expense of a 
 second mission, he was the bearer of a commission 
 from the king of France to the count de Luxe, 
 empowering him to levy troops for the support of 
 the Romanist cause, in anticipation of the renewal 
 of the civil war. In a few months after, the war 
 was resumed, and by the provident prudence of 
 the king of France, de Luxe was immediately in 
 the field against his sovereign the queen of Na- 
 varre. Jeanne took steps to defend herself. To 
 defray her expences, all the Romanist convents, 
 oratories, and extra-parochial chapels were sold, 
 as well as the remaining ornaments of value in the 
 churches. The estates of her kingdom, also, not- 
 withstanding their former remonstrances, gave her 
 a subsidy of twelve thousand crowns. Jeanne at 
 the same time wrote to our queen, Elizabeth of 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUEEN. 67 
 
 England, detailing her situation and danger, and 
 entreating the aid of that great Protestant prin- 
 cess. The appeal of her suffering sister was 
 readily listened to by Elizabeth, who sent Jeanne 
 the sum of 100,000 angels, (50,000.) and six 
 pieces of cannon with all their furniture. With 
 these resources troops were speedily arrayed, at 
 the head of a part of which, Jeanne set out for 
 Rochelle, where the prince of Conde, and the 
 heads of the Protestant party were assembled; 
 leaving the government of her territories to her 
 lieutenant-general, the baron d'Arros, and the 
 president of her council, M. de Salettes. It is 
 probable, as the Protestant historians conjecture, 
 that the queen left Beam, with her son and 
 daughter, for the greater security which the Hu- 
 guenot army afforded, and, possibly, on account 
 of the distrust which the revolt of her subjects had 
 engendered. But the estates and people of Beam 
 testified the utmost loyalty to their sovereign, 
 levying forces, and raising money for her service. 
 The estates also despatched two commissioners to 
 the queen, one a Protestant, the other a Romanist, 
 to assure her of their fidelity and adherence, 
 
 The national feeling of the Bearnoise had been 
 roused by the proclamation issued by Charles the 
 Ninth of Prance, on the breaking out of the war 
 against the queen of Navarre. In this proclama- 
 
68 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 tion, the king declared the territories of the queen 
 to be forfeited, and announced his design to occupy 
 them. The appointment of de Luxe (a pardoned 
 rebel,) to act as his lieutenant in the queen's 
 dominion, was not a measure calculated to draw 
 any honourable man to his standard ; and, pos- 
 sibly, for this reason, he was superseded in his 
 command, and the leading of "the revolt in Beam 
 and Navarre, entrusted to Antoine de Lomagne, 
 viscount de Terride. 
 
 The state of the country at this time was 
 lamentable. Each one took the side which opi- 
 nion, interest, or connection led to. Dandaux, 
 formerly so active in the service of the queen, 
 forsook her for the French party, and became her 
 active enemy. But the Baron d'Arros, the queen's 
 Lieutenant, was indefatigable in his exertions to 
 sustain her cause. With the forces he had raised 
 he invested Oloron, of which the Romanists had 
 gained possession. D'Arros had taken prisoner 
 M. Desgarrabaque, who commanded the town, 
 together with several of the chief of his party, and 
 thinking to terrify the garrison into a surrender, 
 sent a notice to the besieged, that he would put 
 his prisoners to death if they did not yield the 
 town. The son of Desgarrabaque commanded as 
 his father's deputy, but firm in his military feeling, 
 only answered by firing on D'Arros. The baron 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUEEN. 69 
 
 impetuously assaulted the town, but was routed 
 with considerable loss. A proposition was subse- 
 quently made to Arros, to give up Oloron on his 
 releasing his prisoners. It was accepted, but the 
 prisoners being given up with too little precaution, 
 the party in Oloron refused to surrender. 
 
 This check lured many of the Romanist waver- 
 ers to throw off their neutral disguise, and come 
 forth in arms against the queen. Many of her 
 former councillors and commanders espoused the 
 anti-protestant side. Town after town fell into 
 their hands ; those places that resisted (such as 
 Nay) being subjected to fire and sword and the 
 most barbarous cruelty. The threat of inflicting 
 similar atrocities on all who resisted, was sufficient 
 to induce a surrender, for Arros had no means of 
 affording aid. 
 
 While the revolted barons were thus extending 
 the rebellion on all sides, the Viscount de Terride, 
 at the head of a body of French troops, entered 
 Beam. The episcopal towns of Oloron and Lescar 
 were speedily subdued, the troops burning and 
 ravaging the houses of the Protestants, who were 
 hung and shot without mercy. The cruelties to 
 which those of the Reformed faith were exposed 
 were most revolting. The small town of Bellocq, 
 on the frontier, being almost exclusively Protest- 
 ant, the whole population fled on the approach of 
 
70 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 their enemies, only five Romanist inhabitants 
 remaining, and an old infirm Protestant. This 
 wretched individual was immolated, a victim to 
 bigotry and disappointed vengeance. Orthez sur- 
 rendered on the express stipulation of personal 
 security to the Reformed. The promise was 
 readily given and religiously kept by the Roman- 
 ists, for in that sense they speedily ensured " a 
 -rest for the people of God." 
 
 Pau, the capital of Beam, being soon after sub- 
 dued, the same atrocities attended the resumption 
 of the Roman sway. An elm near the market- 
 place is still shewn, where the Protestant preach- 
 ers and officers were suspended, and from whence 
 having hung sufficiently long in the sight of the 
 people, their bodies were taken and cast into the 
 adjacent river. 
 
 Terride being now in possession of the greater 
 part of the queen of Navarre's dominions, issued 
 a decree, in Easter 1569, for the restoration of the 
 Romish worship. The images were set up in their 
 " high places ; " the monks took possession again 
 of their dormitories, and the smoke of burnt herbs 
 ascended in the churches instead of " the Chris- 
 tian's vital breath, the contrite sinner's voice." 
 
 In how short a time had the spoiler destroyed 
 the fair scenery of our Christian queen. The 
 sprouting herb, the branching tendrils were 
 
DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUEEN. 71 
 
 withered but the root was still in the dry 
 ground. 
 
 Amidst all this devastation of her cherished 
 land, and the added defeat of the French Huguenots 
 at the battle of Jarnac, Jeanne preserved her hope 
 and spirit. She harangued the vanquished troops 
 of her party, who were dispirited by the death of 
 the prince of Conde ; placed her son at their head ; 
 wrote again to queen Elizabeth of England for 
 assistance, which was again afforded, and despatch- 
 ed a letter to the Jurats of Navarre informing 
 them that speedy succour would be sent. But 
 the Jurats were now Romanists, and the letter, 
 instead of being published to the country, was 
 placed in the hands of Terride. 
 
 One town only, and that the principal place of 
 strength, Navarrenx, remained faithful to the 
 queen. It was indeed a city of refuge. Arros, 
 and all the chiefs of the queen's party were assem- 
 bled within its walls. The remains of the regular 
 troops were its garrison, besides a crowd of fugi- 
 tives whom the atrocities of the "Romanists had 
 driven from their homes. So strong was the 
 bigotted feeling that actuated the conquerors, that 
 even those of their faith who had assisted the 
 Protestants, as mere employed workmen, in pre- 
 paring the churches for the reformed worship, 
 were subjected to persecution. Terride published 
 
72 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 another ordonnance, entirely prohibiting the Re- 
 formed worship under pain of death ; all persons 
 were enjoined to attend mass, and to bear crosses 
 from their necks as signs of their faith. Death 
 or apostacy being thus offered to the surviving 
 Protestants, many fled to Navarrenx, in which 
 place were now enclosed the remaining strength 
 of the Protestants of Beam. This town, there- 
 fore, Terride determined to assail, and in the 
 middle of April 1569, having assembled an army 
 composed of six thousand Navarrese revolters 
 under de Luxe, four thousand French under St. 
 Colombe, two thousand Bearnoise foot, and twelve 
 squadrons of cavalry under St. Salvi, his brother, 
 he set forth for Navarrenx to offer up a final holo- 
 caust of heretics, and to complete his conquests. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF NAVARRENX. THE COUNT DE 
 MONTGOMERY. ROUT OF THE ROMANISTS. 
 
 NAVARRENx(or, according to modern orthography, 
 Navarreins) is a small town nearly in the centre 
 of the Department of the Lower Pyrennees ; but, 
 in those days, forming a barrier on the western 
 frontier of Bdarn. It had been fortified, accord- 
 ing to the science of the time, by Henry II. of 
 Navarre, as a defence against the Spaniards ; but, 
 situated as it was, in a sandy district, on the banks 
 of an unnavigable river (the Gave d'Oloron) it 
 possessed no other advantages than its battlements. 
 Within the narrow circuit of these were assembled 
 the best of the chivalry of Navarre, and a crowd of 
 refugees who had sought a shelter, and who, 
 banded together in a common interest of defence, 
 aided the slender garrison, of only four hundred 
 men, in their military duties. 
 
 On the 27th of April, 1569, the viscount de 
 
fl CHAPTER V. 
 
 Terride appeared before the town and summoned 
 it to surrender. M. de Bassillon was the Governor, 
 a man deficient in judgment and military skill ; 
 but the queen's lieutenant, the baron d'Arros, 
 assumed the direction of affairs, aided by the 
 numerous leaders of the Protestant party who had 
 joined him. The summons was indignantly re- 
 pelled. Terride (who had, evidently, expected 
 that the town would have speedily capitulated at 
 the sight of the formidable array he had brought 
 against it, especially considering the hopelessness 
 of the cause and of aid for its maintenance) found 
 it necessary to send to Orthez for artillery. In 
 the mean time he surrounded the town with his 
 troops, cut off its communication with the river, 
 and effected a close blockade. But he did not 
 trust solely to external effort ; he had Romanist 
 friends within the town, and these formed a plan 
 for blowing up the magazine, and in the confusion 
 admitting Terride. The trains were laid, and the 
 whole design securely arranged for execution, but 
 on the very eve of its accomplishment, two children 
 who were playing about, discovered the train, and 
 their artless wonder caused the plot, thus provi- 
 dentially, to come to the knowledge of the garrison. 
 On the same day (2nd of May) to shew their spirit 
 and indignation, the besieged made a successful 
 sortie against the enemy. The next day M. de 
 
THE SIEGE OF NAVARRENX. 75 
 
 Lons arrived, from the queen, with news that a 
 force under the count de Montgomery, was assem- 
 bling on the right bank of the Garonne for their 
 succour. 
 
 On the 24th of May the long-expected and 
 dreaded artillery was received by Terride. This 
 boasted aid consisted of four cannon of the kind 
 called " lombards" (or battering pieces of no great 
 calibre) with which he commenced firing into the 
 town at five hundred paces from the walls. At 
 the first fire, the whole population of the town 
 are said to have been seized with a panic ; to have 
 rushed out of the houses, as if an earthquake had 
 occurred, and to have been, with difficulty, 
 deterred from bursting the gates for flight. Hap- 
 pily Terride was either ignorant of or possibly 
 alarmed at the commotion, and did not avail him- 
 self of the panic. The people of Navarrenx soon 
 became habituated to the noisy engines, l which 
 after all, it would appear, were little to be dreaded, 
 probably from the inexpertness of those directing 
 them ; for it is recorded that during the seventy- 
 seven days they were before the town, the cannon 
 threw into it one thousand seven hundred and 
 seventy shot, while the total loss of life, amongst 
 
 1 It would seem from this panic (something like that of the 
 South-Sea Islanders on first hearing a cannonade) and from other 
 circumstances, that Navarrenx was unprovided with artillery. 
 E 2 
 
76 CHAPTER V. 
 
 the besieged, from casualties of war, was only 
 thirty-four men. 
 
 On the 27th of May, Terride assaulted the 
 town on the side of the bridge, in which failing, he 
 attempted'to burn the bridge, but was driven back, 
 and the besieged regained possession of the river, 
 from the loss of which they had suffered much. 
 This success, and the cheering prospect of succour, 
 raised the spirits of the pent-up Protestants, who, 
 on the 29th, testified their feelings, by assembling 
 together and reverently receiving the sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper. During this solemn meeting, 
 the enemy fiercely cannonaded the town, but their 
 ears were now accustomed to the sound, and their 
 hearts were firmer, being strengthened by the 
 exercise of devotion. 
 
 The Romanist inhabitants were not idle, while 
 their Protestant neighbours were devoting them- 
 selves to God. They were actively engaged in 
 another plot to give up the town to Terride, but 
 Providence again interposed and allowed it to be 
 discovered in time for its prevention. 
 
 The next morning (the 30th) the besieged made 
 another successful sortie, and also another a few 
 days after, of which much booty, provisions, and 
 a few prisoners were the result. 
 
 At that period the service of troops, or retainers 
 in the field, was seldom other than expeditionary, 
 
THE SIEGE OF NAVARRENX. 77 
 
 for some specified object or time. No commissariat 
 existed, the maintenance of troops depending 
 solely on themselves, and the opportunities afforded 
 for supply. When, therefore, a body of men had, 
 locust-like, exhausted the supplies of the district 
 they were in, it became necessary to move to 
 another. 
 
 Terride had now lost eight hundred men in 
 combat; the remainder were daily deserting his 
 standard; discontent was general, yet no one 
 ventured to speak of abandoning the enterprise. 
 At last Terride himself began to hesitate, espe- 
 cially as news arrived that a body of the queen's 
 forces, formed by the coalition of several detached 
 parties in Guienne, were advancing to relieve 
 Navarrenx. The joy in the town was great, while 
 those before the walls suspended the fight as if 
 preparing to retreat. But the queen's forces, on 
 arriving at Mont-de-Marsan, within a few days 
 march of Navarrenx, were met by the French 
 troops and defeated. Tho siege was again resum- 
 ed with vigour by Terride, while the unhappy Pro- 
 testants in Navarrenx lost all hope. Yet, notwith-' 
 standing this hopeless situation, and the extremity 
 to which the town was reduced for want of provi- 
 sions, a capitulation was not thought of. Every 
 one knew the fate that awaited him if Terride, either 
 by force or treaty, gained possession of the town. 
 
78 CHAPTER V. 
 
 But Providence had not forsaken the little band. 
 Their expectation of succour had been disap- 
 pointed, by the defeat of the Bearnaise corps, who 
 had endeavoured to aid their brethren ; but Mont- 
 gomery, whom the queen had selected for the 
 relief of her people, was still strengthening him- 
 self for that object. 
 
 Gabriel, Count de Montgomery, was the grand- 
 son of Robert Montgomery, a native of Scotland, 
 who had emigrated to France at the beginning of 
 the reign of Francis I. His son, James, acquired 
 great distinction as a warrior, being mentioned by 
 historians as M. de Lorge, the name of his estate, 
 though he subsequently became Count de Mont- 
 gomery. Gabriel de Lorge, Count de Montgomery, 
 the eldest son of James, inherited the gallantry 
 and spirit of his father. He was one of the most 
 distinguished nobles of the court, being selected 
 to head the auxiliaries sent by France to the as- 
 sistance of Mary Stuart in Scotland. In the 
 tournament held on the 30th of June 1559, 
 on occasion of the marriages of the sister and 
 daughter of Henry II. of France ; Montgomery, 
 who was forced into personal contest with the 
 king, had the misfortune to inflict a wound, of 
 which Henry died ten days after. In consequence 
 of this unhappy accident, Montgomery quitted 
 France, and travelled in Italy and England till 
 
THE SIEGE OF NAVARRENX. 79 
 
 1562; when the civil wars respecting religion 
 commenced. His mind had become seriously im- 
 pressed with religious truth, and the gay courtier 
 was now a devoted Protestant, in defence of which 
 faith, he returned to France. The eminent ser- 
 vices which he rendered to the Huguenot cause, 
 induced the queen of Navarre, to select him for 
 the important duty of saving her dominions, (now 
 nearly entirely in the power of her enemies,) from 
 total ruin. 
 
 Montgomery left the Huguenot camp at Chalus, 
 in the Angoumois, with a small body of trusty 
 followers. He had to pass through a tract of 
 country guarded by the French king's forces. 
 From Bordeaux to Thoulouse, the right bank of 
 the Garonne was watched vigilantly by the enemy's 
 posts ; Monlucq commanding in the one city, 
 Marshal d' Anville in the other. But Montgomery, 
 by frequent manoeuvres and counter-marches, be- 
 tween the two head-quarters, which he effected as 
 well to deceive his enemies, as to favour the junc- 
 tion of his Protestant partizans, so completely 
 confused the two generals, that he passed the 
 Garonne without opposition ; and in the begin- 
 ning of August entered Beam with two thousand 
 five hundred foot, and five hundred horse. 
 
 Terride had continued before the town of 
 Navarrenx, having full confidence in the ability 
 
80 CHAPTER V. 
 
 of Monlucq and d'Anville, to repel Montgomery ; 
 but the latter had arrived within a day's march 
 of Navarrenx, before Terride was aware of his 
 having passed the Garonne. A panic seized the 
 Romanist camp, which was immediately broken 
 up, and Terride retired in all haste to Orthez. 
 When the people of Navarrenx looked over their 
 walls on the morning of the 9th of August, 
 ' behold there was no man there ! ' That day, the 
 famished and worn-out garrison and inhabitants, 
 who had been shut up for seventy-seven days, and 
 subjected to hourly assaults and dangers, devoted 
 to a public thanksgiving to the God who had thus 
 mercifully served them, and in whom they 
 trusted. 
 
 The troops of Montgomery were soon seen 
 before Navarrenx, but they did not enter the town ; 
 for the exhausted place had only gratitude to offer 
 them, and the work of deliverance was only be- 
 gun. Montgomery therefore moved on to Orthez, 
 in pursuit of Terride, who yet found time in his 
 retreat to devastate the country, and practise his 
 usual atrocities. Amongst others he burnt the 
 mansion of a Romanist gentleman, who, notwith- 
 standing his creed, had adhered to the queen. 
 The Sieur Vasson was ninety years old, and might 
 well have been spared a declaration of partizanship, 
 yet Terride's troops slew the old man and his only 
 
THE SIEGE OF NAVARRENX. 81 
 
 daughter, and threw their bodies into the neigh- 
 bouring river. But the career of the spoiler was 
 near its termination. On the 13th of August, 
 Montgomery arrived before Orthez. Having al- 
 lowed his troops two hours rest, they were assem- 
 bled for prayer, after which, at mid-day, he led 
 them on the assault of the town. Troops so 
 instigated, so strengthened, so led, could not be 
 resisted. They mounted the walls, poured into 
 the place with overwhelming ardour, and the un- 
 fortunate town of Orthez was subjected to all the 
 horrors of an assault. A crowd of monks, priests, 
 and refugees, besides the routed military, suffered 
 on this occasion, from the exasperation of their 
 opponents. Terride and his principal officers shut 
 themselves up in the castle, but with such pre- 
 cipitation, that neither a sufficient garrison for its 
 defence, nor ammunition or provisions were got 
 together for its maintenance. Accordingly^ on 
 the 15th, Terride was compelled to capitulate. 
 By the first article of this capitulation, all the 
 Protestant ministers in Beam were to be set at 
 liberty, and have restitution of their goods which 
 had been seized. By the second, Terride was to 
 be exchanged for the brother of Montgomery, 
 (a prisoner of Monlucq's,) or to pay eight hundred 
 crowns ransom. By the third article, ' all the 
 other chiefs and gentlemen, not excepting even 
 
 E 5 
 
82 CHAPTER V. 
 
 the Bearnois rebels/ were to be exchanged or 
 ransomed. This article, subsequently gave rise 
 to much discussion, as we shall presently, have 
 occasion to notice. 1 The vigour and decision of 
 Montgomery were eminently evinced on this oc- 
 casion : for, on the very day of signing the capitu- 
 lation, Monlucq had reached St. Sever, only ten 
 miles from Orthez. The French general and his 
 'lackies,' retreated in haste, baffled from their 
 expected prey. As to Terride, he died shortly 
 after from disease, either produced or accelerated 
 by vexation. 
 
 Montgomery was now joined by the liberated 
 Protestants, (who crowded to his victorious ban- 
 ner,) and proceeded on his march for Pau, the 
 capital of Beam. The Sieure de Peyre was the 
 Governor of that town, appointed by Terride, who 
 had also ejected all the Protestant members of the 
 government, and substituted Romanists. Peyre 
 had imprisoned the leading partizans of the queen 
 and the ministers of Pau, Antoine Pourrat, 
 
 2 As this Article has given rise to much controversy amongst 
 historians, it is here given in the original. "3. Que les autres 
 chefs et gentilshommes renfermes dans le chateau d'Orthez, tous, 
 sans en excepter me'me les Bearnais rebelles n'auront nul de'plai- 
 sir, mais la vie sauve : seulement ils resteront prisonniers de 
 guerre jusqu'a leur entier echange avec les Protestants du 
 me'me rang, qui se trouve, entre les mains des Catholiques, ou } 
 i leur choix, jusqu'a ce quils aient paye leur ransons." 
 
THE SIEGE OF NAVARRENX. 83 
 
 Augier de Plantier and Pierre Viret. He received 
 the news of Montgomery's entry into Beam on 
 the 12th of August in the evening while at sup- 
 per, and excited, possibly, by the hilarity of the 
 repast, as well as the intelligence he had received, 
 he immediately ordered Pourrat and Plantier to 
 be brought out of their dungeon and marched by 
 beat of drum to the market-place, where, being 
 followed by himself, as is affirmed by his wife, 
 the unfortunate ministers were hurried into eter- 
 nity, by being publicly hung. Viret only was 
 saved, because Montlucq had ordered him to be kept 
 in safe custody. A deed like this could only have 
 been performed by a dastard. Having, subse- 
 quently, learned the intelligence of the capture of 
 Orthez, and the advance of Montgomery on Pau, 
 Peyre quitted the chateau of that place, early on 
 the morning of the 19th, with his wife and family, 
 and without any intimation, either to the garrison 
 or functionaries of the town. It is said that the 
 prisoners whom he had confined in the oubliettes of 
 the chateau, (a high tower which stands close to 
 the gateway,) seeing him, through their gratings, 
 stealing off in this inglorious and selfish way, 
 raised such shouts after him, that the town, 
 which immediately encircles the castle, was roused 
 to notice his disgraceful flight. He was shortly 
 after surprised by the Protestants at Hagetmau, 
 
84 CHAPTER V. 
 
 (twenty miles from Pau,) where having concealed 
 himself under a bridge, he was discovered and 
 shot in his lurking-place. 
 
 Montgomery took quiet possession of Pau, 
 where he was received where great rejoicing. His 
 first proceeding, on entering the town, was to 
 release the impatient tenants of the oubliettes, with 
 whom, and a vast crowd of citizens, he immedi- 
 ately went to the adjoining church of St. Martin, 
 where Pierre Viret gave public thanks to God, 
 and afterwards an exposition of the 124th Psalm. 
 
 Eight of the principal revolters taken at Orthez, 
 suffered the penalty of the law. The Romanist 
 historians maintain that they were treacherously 
 murdered, not only contrary to the capitulation of 
 Orthez, but, by being invited by Montgomery to 
 an entertainment, where they were barbarously 
 1 poignarded ' by his orders. One portion of the 
 charge appears to be disproved by the very terms 
 of its statement. The bold warrior, confident from 
 conquest, surrounded by his victorious troops, and 
 a concurrence of Protestant partisans, had no need 
 to practice treachery, especially towards those 
 already in his power. The open, honourable, and 
 religious character of Montgomery, are opposed to 
 the commission of so perfectly gratuitous a crime ; 
 nor can it be imagined, that an individual, who 
 like him, bore the unhappy notoriety of having 
 
MONTGOMERY'S ROUT. 85 
 
 innocently shed blood, (of which all but his own 
 sensitive feeling acquitted him,) would so wantonly 
 and unnecessarily have stained himself afresh, and 
 with the hue of positive guilt. Was the bold and 
 decisive Montgomery, the man to have invited the 
 shackled and helpless revolters against this faith 
 and their allegiance, to an ( entertainment. 1 The 
 ' poignard ' also, let it be remarked, never was 
 a Protestant weapon. 1 
 
 The second part of the charge requires more 
 consideration. The terms of the third article of 
 the capitulation of Orthez, (which we have given in 
 a previous note,) as it appears in the alleged ori- 
 ginal autograph, which is .still preserved, are 
 remarkable. It is to be presumed that Montgo- 
 mery drew up these terms, for Terride would not 
 have used the word ' rebels ' as designating his 
 own officers, nor was he in a situation to dictate 
 terms. He is described as being totally defence- 
 less, surrounded by Montgomery's troops, and 
 ignorant of the operations of his friends. The fire 
 that was laying the town in ashes, had, it is said, 
 gained a wing of the castle, when Terride 's bro- 
 
 1 Montlucq mentions in his Memoirs, that the Protestants, 
 ^Noncombatants) to defend themselves against their Romanist 
 oppressors, usually carried heavy sticks, called ' Johannots.' 
 Defoe tells us, the Protestants of his days carried what was termed 
 a ' Protestant flail,' a pliable stick loaded with lead. 
 
86 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ther, de Sevignac, a Protestant, serving with 
 Montgomery, besought that general to spare his 
 relative, and negotiated a surrender. Is it pro- 
 bable that Montgomery should have offered to 
 save the thrice guilty revolters, now completely in 
 his power, and not only to spare their lives, but to 
 declare that they should not even be molested ? 
 (n* auront nul deplaisir?) Catherine de Medicis 
 is known to have destroyed some documents of that 
 period, in order to compromise the character of 
 her she most hated, Jeanne d'Albret ; and inter- 
 polation of an existing document, or even its 
 forgery, is not a more malign proceeding, morally 
 considered. Is it not more accordant with the 
 circumstances of the parties, and the usual phra- 
 seology of articles of surrender, to conjecture that 
 the words originally ran thus : ' due les autres 
 chefs et gentilshommes, renfermes dans le Cha- 
 teau d'Orthez, exceptes les Bernais rebelles, $c.' 
 It is remarkable that the Romanist historian, 
 Mathieu, states that one of the ' rebels,' (St. 
 Colombe, who had surrendered on this occasion, 
 and suffered death at Pau,) was excepted from 
 the terms of the capitulation. Now, the capitu- 
 lation itself makes no mention of individual names ; 
 the conclusion therefore must be, that the rebels 
 generally were excepted. To term those f rebels? 
 who were treated like ' chefs et gentilshommes? 
 
MONTGOMERY'S ROUT. 87 
 
 and to receive ' nul deplaisir? appears in itself a 
 contradiction. 
 
 The capitulation was broken by the Romanists, 
 who slaughtered the Protestant ministers in viola- 
 tion of the first article. This is, undoubtedly, no- 
 justification of a reciprocal violation of it. But it 
 may be doubted, whether those declaredly guilty 
 of conspiracy and treason, previous to this rebel- 
 lion, could be considered as comprised in an hon- 
 ourable surrender, and that under such doubt, 
 arising on a violated compact, the course of civil 
 justice, and the operation of a national law, might, 
 from a species of severe necessity, have been justi- 
 fiably suffered to proceed. 
 
 The Protestant historians acknowledge the exe- 
 cution of the Bearnaise revolters, but they deny 
 the mode, and defend the legality of the act. It 
 remains even a matter of doubt, whether the eight 
 who suffered at Pau, were captured at the assault 
 of the town of Orthez, or the surrender of the 
 castle. The character of Montgomery, and of 
 the cause he maintained, may readily lead to 
 the conjecture, that as only eight suffered, while 
 hundreds must have been captured, those eight 
 were taken under circumstances which justified 
 their execution. 
 
 The Romanist historians state that this alleged 
 ' atrocity ' took place on St. Bartholomew's day, 
 
88 CHAPTER V. 
 
 (August 24,) of the year 1569, and that the demo- 
 niac destruction, which for ever blackened the 
 memory of the day, in 1572, was but a just re- 
 prisal for this deed. Mark the gradation of Ro- 
 manist sympathy, and the scale by which it regu- 
 lates social regard : thirty thousand Protestant lives 
 were sacrificed as ' a just retribution for those of 
 eight rebels of the Romish faith. The assertion 
 violates both divine precept and human feeling. 
 
 Montgomery had now leisure to turn his 
 attention to the religious interests of those whom 
 he had delivered from a thraldom of the worst 
 kind. A synod was assembled, which re-enacted 
 the establishment of the Protestant worship. The 
 monasteries which had sprung up in the interval 
 of Romish sway, were again dissolved, and the 
 churches cleared of their demi-pagan accessories. 
 These changes were quietly effected, for Montlucq 
 and D'Anville could not agree upon the mode of re- 
 conquering Beam, and wasted, in private dissen- 
 tions, the time they should have employed in public 
 effort. The union of the Protestant body, in con- 
 sequence of their recent success, presented too for- 
 midable an opposition to the discomfited generals. 
 
 But the domestic enemies of the Protestant 
 faith were still in activity. The province of Bi- 
 gorre, on the eastern frontier of Barn, (which to 
 this day is noted for superstitious bigotry,) became 
 
MONTGOMERY'S ROUT. 89 
 
 a refuge for the Romish party. They established 
 themselves in the town of Tarbes, (only twenty - 
 five miles from Pau,) and prepared for a fresh 
 onset. But Montgomery, with his usual promp- 
 titude, marched his troops to Tarbes on the 1st of 
 September, and entering it after some ineffectual 
 opposition, which led to the pillage of the town, 
 immediately proceeded to the re-establishment of 
 the Reformed worship. The monks and chapters 
 of the Romish church, who had, during Terride's 
 sway, resumed the occupation of the convents and 
 cathedrals, were, it must be acknowledged, with 
 stern severity, driven from their posts. Most of 
 the convents were burnt by the troops, but chiefly 
 by the partizan corps, who, spreading over the 
 country, and being actuated by the resentment of 
 their personal and local injuries, were not sparing 
 in the mode and measure of retribution. Many 
 instances of cruelty towards the Romish ecclesias- 
 tics, are unhappily recorded. Those who refused 
 to quit their stations, were summarily sacrificed to 
 the impatient spirit of these roving restorers of 
 reform. One instance of the tenacious determi- 
 nation of the priests is remarkable. The monks 
 of the Augustine convent at Orthez, calmly waited 
 the approach of Montgomery's troops, who, how- 
 ever far from maltreating them, were gratified by 
 the reception given them. 
 
90 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The prior, Jean Simon, was, it was conceived, 
 disposed to embrace the Reformed faith, and pos- 
 sibly, thus led to the forbearance shown to his 
 brethren. A day was appointed for the public 
 profession of the new faith by the imagined pro- 
 selyte. A great crowd filled the church to hear 
 Father Simon. He entered the pulpit and ad- 
 dressed the excited congregation, but instead of a 
 recantation of errors, he launched forth into the 
 most violent denunciation of the Reformed doc- 
 trines. The tide of feeling which had at first been 
 so greatly in his favour, reacted with force against 
 him. An infuriated trooper shot him in the midst 
 of his harangue. 
 
 This total repression of Romanist sway in eccle- 
 siastical matters, was only carrying into effect the 
 decree of the synod of Lescar, assembled by 
 Montgomery. The celebration of mass was for- 
 bidden, under severe penalties. None but re- 
 formed ministers could baptize or preach, and 
 these ministers were directed to make missionary 
 excursions throughout the country, to perform 
 the necessary functions of spiritual office. 
 
 During the operations of Montgomery, in tra- 
 versing Beam, arid restoring the Protestant insti- 
 tutions, Montlucq, though unable to prevent that 
 proceeding, had not been idle. The town of 
 Mont-de-Marson, in the Landes, on the north 
 
THE COUNT DE MONTGOMERY. 91 
 
 western frontier, was assailed by him, and it de- 
 tained him before it a considerable time. Mont- 
 gomery had not force sufficient to retain his 
 conquest, and assist Mont-de-Marson ; while to 
 inarch to that distant point, would have left Barn 
 exposed to the attacks of Marshall d'Anville. 
 Under these circumstances, M. Favas, who held 
 the town for the queen of Navarre, found it hope- 
 less to continue its defence, and therefore, pro- 
 posed to capitulate. Montlucq assented; a con- 
 ference was appointed, but in that moment of 
 fancied security, he ordered his soldiers to assault 
 the town, and spare no one. He was faithfully 
 obeyed. 
 
 The arms of the Huguenots in France had not 
 been so successful as those of their brethren in 
 Navarre. The loss of the battle of Moncontour, 
 at this time, forced the former to fall back on the 
 southern provinces, where their party was strongest, 
 and Montgomery was required to join the princi- 
 pal army on the banks of the Dordogne. He 
 accordingly marched at the head of his victorious 
 troops, pursuing his route with the same unvaried 
 success. He quitted Navarre on the 15th of 
 October, having in less than ten weeks, re-con- 
 quered the whole kingdom of lower Navarre, and 
 re-established the authority and institutions of 
 its legitimate sovereign. Montlucq, his principal 
 
92 CHAPTER V. 
 
 opponent, (himself one of the most skilful and 
 daring generals of that time,) expresses his admi- 
 ration at the bold and well-planned manoeuvres of 
 Montgomery. When he heard that the count had 
 passed the Garonne, in the face of every pre- 
 cautionary defence, he would not credit the in- 
 formation ; but being assured of the" fact, he hints 
 that the Protestants were aided by the prince of 
 darkness, and that he, devoutly, ( thrice made 
 the sign of the cross ! ' 
 
 As we are now taking leave of Montgomery, 
 whose exploits were performed at a distance from 
 the scene to which our notices chiefly refer, it 
 may be satisfactory to give a summary detail of 
 his future course. 
 
 The effectual aid, afforded by his skill and 
 efforts, to the Protestant cause, excited the anger 
 of his most Christian majesty. The Parliament 
 of Paris condemned him to death, par contumace, 
 soon after his leaving Beam, and he was executed 
 in effigy. The peace of St. Germains, (22nd of 
 August, 1570), by which these civil feuds were 
 for a while composed, procured his indemnity. 
 He was at Paris in 1572, on the fatal 24th of 
 August, the day of the massacre of St. Bartho- 
 mew's. It may readily be conceived, that the 
 count de Montgomery was marked out as a 
 special victim, but it pleased God then to save 
 
THE COUNT DE MONTGOMERY. 93 
 
 him. He escaped on horseback, riding, as is 
 recorded, thirty leagues at a stretch, and having 
 been pursued during a third of that distance ; a 
 prodigious effort, but it was an effort for life. 
 He reached the island of Jersey, and subsequently 
 England ; where he married the daughter of an 
 English naval officer. In 1573, he fitted out and 
 commanded a small fleet of private-armed ships, 
 which sailed from an English port, for the relief 
 of Rochelle ; the civil war having again broke 
 out. But in this expedition he failed, and was 
 compelled to return to England. His martial spirit 
 and devotion to the cause of the Reformers, led 
 him again to join the Huguenot standard, and he 
 was entrusted with the government and defence 
 of Domfront in Normandy. Being besieged in 
 this fortress in 1574 by Massillon, a general of 
 the guise faction, he was compelled to surrender, 
 and was carried a prisoner to Paris. The queen- 
 mother, Catherine de Medicis, bore an implacable 
 hatred to Montgomery, not only on account of 
 his religion and services, but from his having been 
 the unfortunate instrument of the death of her 
 husband, Henry II. She accordingly revived the 
 sentence against him pronounced by the Parlia- 
 ment of Paris, three years previous, and he was 
 executed, by her order, on the 25th of June, 1574. 
 There is great similarity between the lives and 
 
94 CHAPTER V. 
 
 characters of the two nearly contemporary heroes 
 of those times, Sir Walter Raleigh, and count 
 de Montgomery. The spirit, as it were, of the 
 same soil is discernible in both ; the same daring 
 splendour of achievement; the same confident 
 reliance on self-resource ; the same devotion to 
 the same cause during life ; and the same pecu- 
 liarity of circumstances attending their death. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TOTAL ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. 
 DEATH OF JEANNE D*ALBRET. 
 
 THE Baron d'Arros and M. Montamat, were left 
 in charge of the civil and military government of 
 Navarre by Montgomery, they having held the 
 same offices previous to the entry of the viscount 
 de Terride. The name and power of Montgomery 
 had hitherto kept the country in subjection, but 
 now the restless spirits raised their heads again. 
 De Luxe, the conspirator against the queen's 
 person, and the first who raised the standard of 
 revolt, had been driven to take shelter in the 
 fastnesses of the Pyrennees. He now re-appeared, 
 and, having privately given notice of his design, 
 a number of small parties converging secretly to- 
 wards the town of Tarbes, took possession of and 
 established themselves in that place. Montamat, 
 however, who had profited by the skilful teaching 
 of Montgomery, lost no time in advancing against 
 
96 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 the revolters ; and, having unexpectedly stormed 
 the town in the night time, put the crowd of de 
 Luxe's followers to the sword. De Luxe, him- 
 self, with his usual good fortune, escaped. This 
 timely defeat kept down the risings that had been 
 projected throughout Beam, and the country, 
 happily, again enjoyed a season of repose. 
 
 A silent conformity to the new order of things 
 now prevailed, and the government of the queen 
 took measures for the settlement of ecclesiastical 
 order, and the establishment of religious union. 
 On the 28th of November, 1569, an ordonance 
 was published, of which the following is the chief 
 portion. 
 
 6 A considerable period has elapsed since the 
 blessing of heaven has been shed on B&arn, by 
 permitting the reformed doctrines to be preached, 
 in order to dissipate the long established errors 
 which had overspread religion, and from which the 
 people have been delivered by the operation of that 
 grace which had conducted the queen herself to 
 the knowledge of the truth. Her majesty's tender 
 love for her subjects, towards whom she has the 
 bowels of a mother \les entr allies de mere] joined 
 to the voice of her conscience, having made it her 
 duty to communicate to them this happy know- 
 ledge, she fulfilled that obligation through the aid 
 of the ministers whom she had invited to her do- 
 
ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. 97 
 
 minions, and by whose labours the work of God 
 has prospered, so that their hearers have renounced 
 the idolatry that enslaved them, for the extir- 
 pating which the queen exerted her sovereign 
 authority The progress of these doc- 
 trines amongst her subjects, induced the queen to 
 grant liberty of conscience, equally extending it 
 to those who- professed what they call Catholicism, 
 which, however, being founded only on human 
 opinion, must be a false religion. But instead of 
 acknowledging this gracious proceeding, many of 
 her subjects, some openly, others in secret, con- 
 spired and raised revolts, seized on the towns, 
 abolished the true faith, murdered its ministers, 
 re-established the Roman worship, administered the 
 government in the name of another prince, sup- 
 pressed her authority, and wounded her honour in 
 many ways. It was necessary to repress these 
 injuries, and punish their authors in justice to her 
 faithful subjects. It was her duty to deprive 
 those, whose religion led them to abolish that 
 which she professed, of the liberty they abused. 
 But, in this, she had overstepped no law. Those 
 who violated conventions and solemn obligations 
 renounced the operation of them on themselves. 
 It wa not proper longer to delay conforming to 
 the command of God, who would be worshipped 
 according to the faith delivered by the Prophets 
 
98 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 and Apostles, which the Romish faith was not. 
 The country could not be left without religion; 
 divine wisdom had turned the designs of wicked 
 men against themselves, and made them serve for 
 the establishment of the true faith. They must 
 be deprived of a liberty they knew not how to use. 
 And seeing that the divine law orders princes to 
 lead their people in the ways of truth, which can 
 alone be done by the encouragement of the true 
 preaching of the gospel, and the repression of those 
 who corrupt the doctrines of salvation, the gover- 
 nors of the kingdom, acting in the name and under 
 the authority of the queen, decree 
 
 6 1. The queen, desiring that the word shall 
 be announced only by those, who, being called by 
 God, have a legitimate vocation, her majesty, for 
 that purpose, annuls, repeals, banishes, and pro- 
 scribes all exercise of the Roman religion, without 
 any exception ; such as masses, vespers, proces- 
 sions, litanies, vigils, feasts, painted or carved 
 images, luminaries, offerings, and, especially those 
 usually made at funerals, as customary in the 
 Romish church. 
 
 ' 2. [Orders the removal of all altars and altar- 
 pieces from churches.] 
 
 6 3. All the inhabitants of the country, of what- 
 soever rank, are enjoined to attend the preachings, 
 instructions and prayers offered by the ministers 
 
ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. 99 
 
 of the gospel according to the word of God, her 
 majesty desiring that the inhabitants of all places, 
 wherein such worship is established, shall duly 
 attend at each service, and those who are distant, 
 at least every Sunday ; and the jurats of every 
 district are required to enforce the execution of 
 this order, each one observing the conduct of those 
 under them, and making a faithful report of those 
 who refuse obedience. 
 
 ' 4. [Subjects the inhabitants of each district to 
 the control of its consistory, which is empowered 
 to summon individuals to account for their con- 
 duct, and to reprimand and correct.] 
 
 f 5. Seeing that the reformed church recog- 
 nizes baptism as being one of the sacraments 
 established for receiving the signs of the remission 
 of sins, whence it imposes on parents the duty of 
 presenting their children to the church to be bap- 
 tized, yet, as a great many persons refuse to per- 
 form this duty, pretending to fulfil it by adminis- 
 tering that sacrament themselves, the queen 
 interdicts all parents, god-fathers, &c. from bap- 
 tizing, under such penalties as she shall further 
 decree. 
 
 ' 6. [Recognizes the validity of Romish bap- 
 tism, performed while that worship was permitted, 
 but ordains that those who have been baptized by 
 Romish priests, subsequent to the prohibition of 
 
 F 2 
 
100 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 that worship, shall be re-baptized by the reformed 
 pastors, under penalty of punishment as rebels.] 
 
 6 7. [Prohibits the .re-baptizing by Romish 
 priests.] 
 
 ' 8. It is forbidden to announce or publish the 
 days of the papal festivals, and thus to keep peo- 
 ple in superstition and idleness, against the law of 
 God which prohibits both ; for which reason it is 
 enjoined on all to work six days of the week, 
 and to inform against those who do contrary. 
 
 e 9. Marriage, not being such, unless sanctioned 
 by the benediction of the church, all persons are 
 required to give public notice of their intended 
 union, that it may be ratified and blessed in the 
 face of the reformed church, on pain of subjection 
 to the laws against concubinage. 
 
 ' 10. The priests, monks, and other ecclesiastics 
 of the Romish church, are forbidden to remain in 
 the country except by licence of the queen ; but 
 all who fear God and respect the orders of govern- 
 ment, will be so licensed. 
 
 ( 1 1 . The effects of proper education being of 
 the greatest importance, none will be permitted 
 to act as a schoolmaster, unless of the reformed 
 religion ; and every one who would act in such 
 capacity, must be examined by a minister, who 
 will judge of his ability and other qualifications 
 for the due performance of his functions. 
 
ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. 101 
 
 ' 12. All matters and business of justice shall 
 cease on the Sabbath day, unless in cases of ne- 
 cessity : the shops and public houses shall be 
 closed during the time of divine service, at which 
 all persons ought to attend. All sports, usually 
 lawful, are interdicted during the same period. 
 
 ' 13. [The first part regulates the period of 
 preaching at other times than on the Sabbath.] 
 There .shall be a cessation from labour during the 
 preaching, and not at other times, in order that 
 superstition may not be revived by the observance 
 of days. 
 
 ' 14. [Regulation of interments of the dead.] 
 
 ' 15. And as, by the instigation of the evil 
 spirit, many have withdrawn from the church 
 after having embraced its doctrines, and others 
 have been cut off from it on account of their im- 
 proper conduct, without either of these parties 
 having manifested a desire to return ; it is hereby 
 ordered that both those who have been excom- 
 municated by the church, as well as those who 
 have voluntarily separated from it, shall be chas- 
 tized and punished by the magistracy, as scanda- 
 lous livers, rebels, and disturbers of the church, if, 
 during the space of a year, they shall not return 
 to their duty and give signs of repentance. 
 
 16. [Regulates payment of tythes and church 
 dues.] 
 
102 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ' Lastly. In order that no one may have oppor- 
 tunities of wasting time in evil ways, all illegal 
 games, dances, masquerades, impure songs, and 
 such like disorderly proceedings are hereby pro- 
 hibited.' 
 
 This proclamation, there is reason to believe, 
 was drawn up by Armand Guillaume Barbaste, 
 formerly a Carmelite monk, who had embraced the 
 reformed faith, and was one of the ministers of 
 Lescar. He had been deputed by the synod, 
 which met early in October of this year (1569), to 
 attend the queen of Navarre at Rochelle, in order 
 to obtain her sanction for the proceedings of that 
 body. It is an ordonnance sufficiently determi- 
 nate in its enactments, except in the 12th article, 
 which is at variance with the third. The word 
 of God, which is professed to be the guide and 
 ground work of this religious legislation, allows 
 no abatement of the sanctity of the Sabbath. He 
 " who dwelleth in a temple not made with hands," 
 has not restricted the period of holy rest to the 
 opening and shutting of a house of prayer. 
 
 Nearly one hundred and fifty Romish ecclesi- 
 astics are said to have conformed to the terms of 
 the tenth article of this code. The number of the 
 clergy and monks of that communion, at that time 
 in Beam, were computed at two thousand. The 
 greater portion of these sought refuge in the 
 
ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. 103 
 
 neighbouring countries of France and Spain, wait- 
 ing their turn of invasion : 
 
 * As when a prowling wolf 
 
 Watches where shepherds pen their flocks at eve ; 
 Or like a cormorant, devising death 
 To those who lived.' 
 
 The opportunity was soon afforded. The court 
 of France, bigotedly hostile to the reformed faith, 
 readily listened to the appeals of the refugees for 
 aid, and ordered Montlucq to assemble a force 
 for the reconquest of Beam. That general lost 
 no time in drawing the fugitives from that country 
 round him at Nogaro. The towns of Bordeaux, 
 Bayonne, and Thoulouse, were ordered to send 
 him all their field artillery, and his brother, the 
 bishop of Valence (who had retroceded from the 
 Protestant to the Romish church) supplied him 
 wi^h funds for the destruction of his former 
 brethren. 
 
 The veteran rebel, the count de Luxe, was again 
 in motion, and joined Montlucq at Acqs in Lan- 
 guedoc, with a body of Romanist refugees. At 
 the head of these forces, in June 1570, Montlucq 
 advanced into the queen's dominions and laid siege 
 to Rabastens, a fortified town, about forty-five 
 miles to the west of Pau. The governors of the 
 kingdom, d'Arros and Montamat, were taken by 
 surprise, and immediately despatched orders to the 
 
104 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 different leaders of their party to assemble for the 
 defence of their country and religion. These 
 despatches were intercepted, and thus the enemy 
 had time for the due development of his plans. 
 
 After five days' prosecution of the siege of 
 Rabastens, Montlucq ordered an assault. He ex- 
 horted his soldiers to remember that the enemies 
 of their faith, heretics condemned already, were 
 opposed to them ; that they must revenge the in- 
 juries their brethren had suffered, and spare no 
 one. Leading his men on to execute these 
 savage orders, Montlucq received a severe, and, as 
 it subsequently proved, a mortal wound. But he 
 had strength and resolution enough to urge his 
 troops to the onset, stimulating them still more to 
 avenge his personal disaster. They rushed to the 
 walls, overpowered the garrison, and commenced 
 their work of butchery. Out of the whole garri- 
 son and population of Rabastens, only four in- 
 dividuals escaped with life, two of these being 
 Romanists. The authorities of the town, with 
 the ministers and members of the consistory, had 
 sought shelter in a high tower overlooking the 
 ramparts. Montlucq's men forced these, to the 
 number of fifty, to leap from its height, by which 
 they were either crushed by the fall, or drowned 
 in the fosses. 
 
 While Montlucq was occupied before Rabastens, 
 
ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. 105 
 
 Bonasse, a Bearnoise partizan at the head of 
 another corps, surprised Tarbes. But Montamat 
 had now assembled a competent force for taking 
 the field, and inarched to Tarbes, which is twenty 
 five miles from Pau, the seat of government. 
 Having brought up his artillery, he soon effected 
 a breach, and the unfortunate town was, for the 
 third time, subjected to the horrors of an assault. 
 Bonasse, and many other of the rebel chiefs, 
 amongst the rest the Abbe de Sauvelade, were 
 killed, together with nearly the whole garrison. 
 Montamat pursued his victorious career in repress- 
 ing attempted risings in other parts of the country, 
 until the intelligence of negociations having com- 
 menced between the king of France and the queen, 
 calmed the excitement of both parties. Peace 
 was signed at St. Germains on the 2nd of Au- 
 gust, 1570 ; a peace which was only a disguised 
 war, and, during whose nominal continuance, more 
 Protestant lives were sacrificed than actual conflict 
 would probably have destroyed. 
 
 The queen of Navarre, who had, hitherto, re- 
 mained at Rochelle to aid with her energy and 
 talent, the Huguenot cause in France, upon the 
 success of which depended the maintenance of her 
 own institutions, now returned in triumph to her 
 own dominions. Her first and most anxious en- 
 deavour was the perfect settlement and clear 
 
 F 5 
 
106 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 position of religious matters. An exterior con- 
 formity to her views was not the sole object of this 
 pious princess. Her tender solicitude for the best 
 interests of her subjects, required that " a right 
 spirit should be put within them." The synod of 
 Rochelle had been consulted by the queen re- 
 specting the drawing up an exposition of the 
 reformed faith, a work which had been previously 
 performed, in 1559, by the general assembly of 
 the French Protestant church, but had been since 
 modified to meet the peculiar state of the times. 
 This declaration of doctrine, together with the 
 mode of its ministration, was embodied in a decree 
 published by the queen soon after her return to 
 Beam. It is entitled ' Ordonnances ecclesias- 
 tiques de Jeanne, par le grace de Dieu, reine de 
 Navarre, sur le retablissement du royaume de 
 Jesus Christ en son pays souverain de Beam.' 
 
 This paper is an enlarged and more definite 
 copy of the proclamation published in the queen's 
 name, on the 25th of November previously. 
 The preamble states it to be both the right and 
 the duty of sovereigns, to attend to the welfare 
 of the souls, as well as the persons and properties 
 of their subjects: * and that duty consists, not 
 only in their leading their people to the sources of 
 truth, but in excluding all error, falsehood, 
 and superstition, and in sustaining a well-regu- 
 
ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. 107 
 
 lated system of morals, which would be relaxed 
 or destroyed if not founded on, and supported by, 
 the power of religion and the purity of worship.' 
 
 The number of parishes in Barn was four 
 hundred and fifty. In each of these, a minister 
 was to be resident, having previously been exa- 
 mined and licensed by the consistory or synod, 
 and having taken an oath before a magistrate, to 
 adhere to the confession of faith adopted by the 
 reformed Church, and to obey the civil authority 
 of the realm. No one was to be allowed to preach 
 without this previous proceeding, under pain of 
 banishment. All persons were commanded to at- 
 tend divine service, under penalty of five sous for the 
 poor, and ten sous for the rich, for the first offence ; 
 five livres penalty for the poor, and ten for the 
 rich, for the second failure ; and of imprisonment 
 for the third. Those who absented themselves 
 from the Lord's Supper, after due remonstrance, 
 were to suffer exile for two years. The sabbath- 
 day was commanded ' to be sanctified by Christian 
 works, and the suspension of all employ, either 
 servile or vicious ; ' meaning, of course, sports 
 and public festivities. 
 
 The government of the Church was entrusted 
 to an ecclesiastical council, consisting of two lay- 
 men, ( ( deux gentilshommeS) ) two ministers, two 
 of the queen's ordinary council, two of fhe cham- 
 
108 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 bers of accounts, two deacons, two inspectors, 
 ( ( surveillantsj ) and two jurats of the principal 
 towns. These were to be chosen by the national 
 synod annually. The synod itself, composed of 
 delegates from the body of the clergy, and in 
 which the queen or her deputy presided, met at 
 least once a year. Besides the election of the 
 ecclesiastical council, it was empowered to decide 
 all cases of spiritual delinquency, or clerical dif- 
 ferences. The duties of the council were those 
 of patrons of benefices, and guardians and re- 
 ceivers of the revenues of the Church. The 
 
 1 
 
 rents of bishop's lands, or those of the suppressed 
 monastic institutions, prebendaries, canonries, 
 and ecclesiastical dues in general, were received 
 by the diacre-general, and accounted for to the 
 council, who regulated the payment for the sup- 
 port of the parochial clergy, public schools, widows, 
 orphans, strangers, or casual poor, and also for 
 the settlement, by portion, of young women, 
 principally the children or widows of those con- 
 nected with the Church. 
 
 Besides these two principal ecclesiastical bodies, 
 there were consistories and conferences. (Collo- 
 ques.} The latter being committees or branches 
 of the first, consisting of surveillants or inspec- 
 tors, who reported breaches of discipline or doc- 
 trine to the main body. The ministers or pastors 
 
ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. 109 
 
 were chosen by the parishioners of each place, the 
 ecclesiastical council, or, in the case of private 
 right, the patron, naming two candidates to the 
 consistory or conference, who appointed the time 
 of election by the people of the vacant benefice, 
 having previously examined and testified as to the 
 qualifications of the parties. The ministers were 
 paid by the council, not by the parishioners, and 
 were excluded from all civil jurisdiction or employ. 
 
 Many regulations follow for the setting the poor 
 to work, or maintaining those willing but unable to 
 perform it ; for the education of poor children, 
 ' that they might be brought up in the fear of 
 God, and, if they possess talent, or a peculiar turn 
 for any particular employ, that they should be further 
 instructed in letters, or such particular pursuit ; ' l 
 and also for the repression of all public disorder. 
 
 The Romanist faction had still strength and 
 daring enough to oppose the execution of this 
 ordinance. They saw that its enforcement would 
 be the death blow of their party ; and they endea- 
 voured to excite public feeling against the enact- 
 ment, by declaring that it was opposed to the 
 rights and liberties of the people. But Jeanne 
 d'Albret was not of a character to allow her 
 
 1 It may be noticed, en passant, that the want of this discri- 
 mination and selection is a great blemish in the educational 
 system of England. 
 
110 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 judgment or her conscience to be set aside or 
 quieted by opposition of any kind ; and by her 
 firm and steady perseverance, the estates of her 
 kingdom at last were induced to acquiesce and 
 register her decree. It was published on the 15th 
 of January, 1572. 
 
 At this period, negociations for an union be- 
 tween Henry, prince of Navarre, and Marguerite 
 de Valois, sister of Charles IXth of France, 
 were in course of discussion. The queen of 
 Navarre, notwithstanding the difference of re- 
 ligion, seemed to be attracted by the hope of 
 terminating the hostile influence of the French 
 court, and of drawing into real affinity, the ties 
 of family. The house of Valois were her nearest 
 kindred, and another Marguerite was to sit on 
 the Navarre throne ; both agreeable inductions 
 to the feeling heart of Jeanne d'Albret. Alas ! 
 she little imagined that this union would be but 
 an ursine embrace ; that she was only drawn 
 nearer, to be crushed more completely ! 
 
 Soon after the publication of the f Ordonnances 
 EcclesiastiqueSy the queen of Navarre set off for 
 Blois, where the French court then was, and 
 where her son, prince Henry, had preceded her. 
 The court subsequently removed to Paris, and 
 thither the queen followed. Gaillart, bishop of 
 Chartres, who had embraced the reformed doc- 
 
ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. Ill 
 
 trine, though he remained in alliance with the 
 Romish church, had invited the queen to his 
 palace, and thither her majesty proceeded, happy, 
 doubtless, in being welcomed by a Christian bro- 
 ther. But the hand of death was upon her, ready 
 to bear her away to " a better country." She 
 arrived at Paris on the 4th of June 1572 ; on the 
 9th she was a corpse. The Protestant historians 
 of Beam, (Olhagaray and D'Aubigne,) aver that 
 the queen vj&$ poisoned, and, significantly remarks, 
 that it occurred at an entertainment at which the 
 duke of Anjou, (afterwards Henry III. of France) 
 was present. But though there is no moral rea- 
 son to doubt this dark imputation on the duke's 
 character, yet the physical appearances after death 
 do not bear out the assertion. The proces-verbal, 
 on the opening of the queen's body, states that 
 an abscess was discovered on the left side, which 
 accounted for her decease. Claude, bishop of 
 Oloron, (in Beam,) who left a manuscript journal 
 of the events of the time, states that the queen 
 died of pleurisy, occasioned by the hurry of her 
 journey. This appears very probable, or at least, 
 that the excitement of her situation might have 
 hastened the mortal tendency of her constitutional 
 disorder. But the Romanist historians, (at least 
 one of them, the Abbe Poeydevant,) aver that 
 this morbid excitement was occasioned by the 
 
112 CHAPTER VI, 
 
 intemperate anger of the queen, on being forced 
 to hang out tapestry from the windows of her 
 hotel, on the day of the procession of the F6te 
 Dieu. This is at least a characteristic assertion. 
 
 Jeanne d'Albret, when she found the end of her 
 days was approaching, drew round her the most 
 spiritual ministers of her creed, deriving much 
 consolation from the fervent prayers of these righ- 
 teous men. Her faith was stedfast, and calmly 
 expectant of the promises she believed. The dis- 
 position of her worldly affairs was also attended to 
 with the same rectitude and judgment which she 
 had evinced through life. She directed her re- 
 mains to be interred, without pomp or vain cere- 
 mony, in the same tomb with her late father, 
 Henry II. of Navarre. 1 She left her son Henry 
 the crown of Navarre, requesting the king of 
 France, the queen mother,, the dukes of Anjou 
 and Alengon, to take him under their protection, 
 and allow him the free exercise of his religion. 
 Surely Jeanne d'Albret must have remembered 
 that the " friendship of the world is enmity with 
 God." But she died a few weeks before St. Bar- 
 tholomew's day, 15*72. 
 
 Jeanne earnestly implored her son in her last 
 will, (a document, which, if sculptured on the 
 
 1 This was not done. Henry of Navarre was buried at Lescar, 
 Jeanne d'Albret at Vendome. 
 
ABOLITION OF ROMANISM IN BEARN. 113 
 
 tomb of Henry the Fourth, would be a sufficient 
 illustration of his character,) to cultivate piety, 
 and to regulate his conduct according to the doc- 
 trines in which he had been brought up ; not to 
 allow himself to be drawn away by the illusions of 
 the world, by its pleasures or vices, falsely attrac- 
 tive ; to w r atch with carefulness the execution of 
 the ordinances she had published in B&arn, not to 
 suffer them to be changed or relaxed; to drive 
 from his dwelling evil counsellors, flatterers, liber- 
 tines, and irreligious men, and to draw around him 
 people of character, pious and Christian persons ; 
 to be a tender guardian of his sister Catherine, 
 (the only remaining offspring of the queen, born in 
 1558,) taking care that she should be educated in 
 the reformed faith, and that she should be married 
 only to a prince of the same communion. To every 
 one of these earnest appeals of a pious and tender 
 parent, Henry of Navarre acted in direct opposition. 
 . Jeanne d'Albret, who was born on the 7th of 
 January, 1528, was consequently in her forty -fifth 
 year when she died. She had reigned seventeen 
 years in Navarre, during the last ten, as the sole 
 administratrix of the government. One ruling 
 principle seemed to actuate her conduct both in 
 public and private life, the advancement of scrip- 
 tural religion ; it was her duty, her desire, 
 her object in every political or municipal mea- 
 
114 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 sure. To this her acute mind was bent, and 
 her feeling heart inclined , her accomplishments 
 (and she was skilled in all the knowledge of that 
 day,) were but handmaids to her piety, and enabled 
 her to act with readiness and effect, even when 
 unsupported by those in whom she had trusted. 
 Dandaux, her first minister, proved faithless to her 
 and her cause ; Grammont, the hereditary friend of 
 her family, deserted her in her need, and remained 
 in a selfish neutrality. Miossens, the husband of 
 Susanne de Bourbon, her son's early guardian, 
 plotted against her life. But Jeanne d'Albret 
 trusted in one that never forsaketh. How rarely 
 have thrones been filled with such a ruler. The 
 " powers that be are " undoubtedly " ordained of 
 God;" but though thus his servants, it is lament- 
 ably true, that few have been his followers. Nor 
 is it a consequence, as some appear to imagine, 
 that being " ordained)'' sovereigns are necessarily 
 sanctified. " Thus saith the Lord to his anointed , 
 to Cyrus : I have surnamed thee, I have girded 
 thee, though thou hast not known my name" l 
 
 But " blessed is she that believeth, for there 
 shall be a performance of those things that were 
 told her of the Lord. 1 ' 2 
 
 1 Isaiah xlv. 45. 2 Luke i, 45. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HENRY THE THIRD OF NAVARRE, AND FOURTH 
 
 OF FRANCE. THE PRINCESS CATHERINE 
 
 OF NAVARRE. 
 
 ON the 18th of August, 1572, Henry, the young 
 king of Navarre was united in marriage to Mar- 
 guerite de Valois, the French king's sister. It is 
 an appalling incident in the history of the human 
 heart, that at the time of this union, Charles the 
 Ninth had doomed his brother-in-law to death. 
 That atrocious crime, the massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew, took place only six days after the 
 sacred ceremony ; a holy offering to bigotry, only 
 exceeded by the wholesale slaughter of Protest- 
 ants by the Irish Romanists in 1640. 
 
 It is not within the scope of these local notices, 
 to detail the history of this event at Paris. The 
 influence its consequences had upon the kingdom 
 of Navarre, were soon discernible. 
 
 The king of Navarre had been saved from 
 
116 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 intended destruction by the intervention of his 
 bride, but he lost his liberty of person and con- 
 science. He had not resolution sufficient to with- 
 stand the importunities used to draw him over to 
 Romanism, of which he not only made profession, 
 but wrote to the pope on his conversion. Still 
 further, in the face of his own regal duties, and the 
 entreaty of her whom he had just committed to 
 the tomb, he, within four months after that event, 
 signed an ordinance for the abrogation of Protes- 
 tantism in Navarre, and for the restitution of Ro- 
 manism as it had previously existed. The execu- 
 tion of this decree was committed to the Count 
 de Grammont, and, as it would appear, without 
 any reservation or softening clause or circum- 
 stance which might intimate that it emanated not 
 from voluntary feeling, but from coercion. The 
 violation of a parental command, and the sacrifice 
 of the cause of God, and the best interests of his 
 people, as the price of personal safety, are not 
 deeds which evince the two principal attributes of 
 greatness, firmness of mind, and rectitude of 
 purpose. 
 
 The cries of the victims of St. Bartholomew's 
 soon reached the ears of the Bearnoise people; 
 crowds of miserable fugitives flocked to that yet 
 Protestant asylum. The reins of government 
 were in the hands of persons of that faith, and 
 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. 117 
 
 instant precautions were taken to prevent treach- 
 ery and aggression from the Romish party. The 
 leading members of the church were banished, but 
 no reprisal of a severe nature was inflicted on 
 them ; and the frontier towns were garrisoned and 
 placed under the command of faithful adherents. 
 
 In this state of anxious solicitude the people of 
 Beam remained, till on the 16th of October, a 
 proclamation was received from the king of Na- 
 varre, ordering the resumption of the Romish 
 worship, the banishment of the Protestant clergy, 
 and the restitution to honour, office, and estate, of 
 all who had been dispossessed by the late queen. 
 This unexpected blow roused a spirit of indigna- 
 tion, not the less lively, because self-preservation 
 was at stake. The estates of the kingdom and the 
 synod, or general assembly of the church, were 
 immediately convoked. A day of fasting and 
 prayer was appointed, for imploring the guidance 
 and assistance which they felt to be so necessary. 
 The king of Navarre had written a letter to the 
 estates, urging them to the quiet adoption of the 
 new measure, but this unhappy evidence of volun- 
 tary direction, was passed over with a mournful 
 silence. It was unanimously voted, that as the 
 king was a prisoner at Paris, it was necessary to 
 provide for the government and defence of the 
 country. 
 
118 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 While proceedings were in progress for the pre- 
 servation of the kingdom from external and inter- 
 nal attempts, the Count de Grammont, who had 
 been appointed by Henry to the government of 
 Navarre, arrived on the frontier, from whence he 
 despatched a letter ' to the rebels of BSarnJ cau- 
 tioning the Protestants, that the steps they were 
 taking, would only draw down punishment on 
 them. The baron d'Arros still remained in the 
 post which the late queen had entrusted him with. 
 His father, a man in his eightieth year, blind 
 and infirm, except in spirit and purpose, was pre- 
 sent when the letter of Grammont was read to the 
 assembled council, and urging the immediate 
 marching of a force to intercept the count, drew 
 his sword, and presented the handle to his son, 
 desired him to take that to Grammont, and use it 
 for him. The appeal was not fruitless. Gram- 
 mont was attended only by a party of Romanist 
 exiles, who were now returning full of hope and 
 exultation, and had arrived at the castle of Haget- 
 man, where he was to pass the night. The baron 
 d'Arros lost no time, but at the head of thirty- 
 eight gentlemen of his party, rode off to Haget- 
 man, surprised the unwary band whom he slew or 
 put to flight, and rushing to the chamber of Gram- 
 mont, \vould have put him to death but for the 
 entreaties of the count's daughter-in-law. Gram- 
 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. 119 
 
 mont was carried a prisoner to Pan, and the expec- 
 tations of the Romanists were foiled. Arros, who 
 had the chief direction of affairs, entered into an 
 armed confederacy with the Protestant towns on 
 the French frontier, for the negotiation of which, 
 a meeting of deputies took place at Nismes early 
 in 1573. , Strengthened by mutual support, the 
 Protestants of the south of France and of Beam 
 enjoyed for a time a tranquil existence. 
 
 By the death of Charles the Ninth in 1574, the 
 duke of Anjou ascended the throne of France, 
 under the title of Henry the Third. On his acces- 
 sion, as a mark of grace, the king of Navarre 
 obtained his liberty, and to cement more firmly 
 the friendship of the two kings, they received the 
 Eucharist at Lyons on the 1st of November 1574. 
 The estates of Beam sent a deputation to their 
 sovereign, testifying their satisfaction and fidelity, 
 and offering donations to himself and sister. In 
 the mean time they passed resolutions and laws for 
 the security of their religious institutions. But 
 the king of Navarre, though emancipated from his 
 supposed thraldom, evinced no disposition to 
 second the object of the estates in this respect. 
 The baron d' Arros, when Henry recovered his 
 liberty, waited on him at Lyons, and tendered his 
 resignation as governor of the kingdom. Henry 
 willingly accepted the offer of the Protestant 
 
120 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 champion, and appointed in his room one of the 
 Romanist revolters against his mother's authority, 
 the bason de Miossens. 
 
 The first act of the new viceroy was to dissolve 
 the Ecclesiastical Council, appointed by the late 
 queen, Jeanne d'Albret, appropriating to himself 
 their duties and authority. The Protestant clergy, 
 who foresaw, in this primary measure, their own 
 ultimate overthrow, petitioned the Estates of the 
 kingdom on the subject of this change. The 
 Estates addressed Miossens in favour of the con- 
 tinuance of the council, but he refused their 
 request. On the other hand the Romanists sent a 
 deputation to the king soliciting the extension, or 
 rather the re-establishment of those privileges, 
 which they then only possessed by sufferance. 
 They were favourably received by the king, and 
 liberty of open worship granted to them. 
 
 These concessions to the Romish party, and the 
 committal of power to the hands of one of that 
 faith, was the more remarkable, since the king of 
 Navarre, (having quitted the French court and 
 joined the Huguenot forces under the duke 
 d'Alengon,) had professedly returned to the Pro- 
 testant church. But his courtiers were princi- 
 pally Romanists, to whom, whether from policy or 
 inclination, he listened more readily in council 
 than to his Protestant advisers. Even a deputa- 
 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. 121 
 
 tion from the Estates, who waited on the king to 
 oppose the relaxation of the laws against the open 
 profession of Romanism, returned unsuccessful from 
 their mission. No further attempt, however, was 
 made to violate the existing state of things, and 
 the Protestants continued, while civil war was 
 raging in France and on their frontier, to enjoy 
 the exercise of their religion without other distur- 
 bance than anxiety. 
 
 It was not until the end of the year 1578 that 
 the king of Navarre paid his first visit to his domi- 
 nions as a sovereign. He was accompanied by his 
 queen, a bigoted Romanist, the daughter of 
 Catherine de Medicis. The announcement of the 
 approach of a member of that persecuting family, 
 which had perpetrated the massacre of St. Bartho- 
 lomew during the bridal festivities of their king, 
 seems to have excited universal consternation 
 amongst the Protestant people of Barn. Singu- 
 lar as it may appear when the ordinary feeling of 
 subjects who greet a new sovereign is considered, 
 the synod, which was then in session, immediately 
 ordered a national fast. The subsequent treat- 
 ment of the queen does not appear to have been 
 more flattering. The chapel of the Chateau de 
 Pau had been prepared for the performance of the 
 Romish worship for the queen's use. On Easter 
 
 G 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 day, 1579, the Romanists of Pau, desirous of 
 attending the solemnity on the occasion, crowded 
 to the chapel, notwithstanding it had been forbid- 
 den ; but the soldiers on guard, without respect 
 to the place or the person of the queen, drove 
 them out and imprisoned several. It is true that 
 the king resented this proceeding, but the queen 
 being incensed at the feeling of dislike which her 
 religion engendered, suddenly quitted Pau for 
 Nerac, declaring that she would never re-enter 
 Beam till Protestantism was abolished. The 
 generality of this adverse disposition to the queen 
 and her opinions, as well as the firm stand made 
 by the Estates of the kingdom against the restora- 
 tion of Romanism, plainly show that the doctrines 
 of the Reformers were widely and strongly esta- 
 blished. Those just recovered from disease usually 
 evince a more than ordinary precaution against its 
 contagion. But can any man who feels the glow 
 of health and the vigour of pure vital action within 
 him, see unmoved, the plague-spotted victim or 
 the cadaverous leper approach him ? Another 
 proof of the earnest and general impression which 
 the Reformed doctrines had made in Bfearn, was 
 the missionary spirit of its people. The Navar- 
 rese traders to Spain are described by the Roman- 
 ist historians, as carrying with them across the 
 Pyrennees, a ' dogmatical spirit,' which caused the 
 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. 
 
 Inquisition to send its familiars to the frontier to 
 form a sanatory cordon. 
 
 The civil war in France requiring the personal 
 efforts of the king of Navarre, the regency of that 
 kingdom was entrusted to his sister Catherine. 
 This princess, now in her twenty-fourth year, was 
 a devout and conscientious Protestant, of mild 
 and amiable manners, but without the firmness of 
 character which so remarkably distinguished her 
 mother, Jeanne d'Albret. The placing the govern- 
 ment of Beam in her hands, was a boon to the 
 Reformers which they thankfully acknowledged ; 
 and, though all questions of moment were referred 
 to the king's own decision, yet, as his political 
 interests led him into more decided opposition to 
 the Romanist party in France, he acquiesced in 
 most of the measures that were proposed to him, 
 favourable to the Protestant party in Barn. A 
 popular rumour, or prophecy as it was called, was 
 current amongst the Huguenots, at this time, that 
 the papal power would be put down by a Protest- 
 ant prince who should become the chief of the 
 Christian union. A Piedmontoise astrologer of 
 the ' Francis Moore ' order, named Jacques Broch- 
 art, was the author of this ' prophecy/ which seems 
 to have obtained credence at the court of Henry of 
 Navarre. The gay and easy-tempered monarch 
 (whose religious opinions, like his mantle, were put 
 
 G 2 
 
124 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 off or on according as the thermometer of his for- 
 tunes rose or fell) was flattered into a stauncher 
 profession of Protestantism, and despatched one of 
 his councellors of state, Segur, on a mission to 
 the reformed princes of Germany, in order to 
 negotiate an alliance. Segur executed his mission 
 in so indiscreet and vain-glorious a manner, that 
 he was imprisoned by the Emperor, and gave 
 occasion to many political pleasantries against the 
 apostolic ambition of the libertine monarch. 
 
 It was, possibly, from a knowledge of the cha- 
 racter of Henry, that the king of France, on 
 hearing of the failure of Segur 's mission, des- 
 patched one himself to the king of Navarre to 
 endeavour to regain his alliance. The Duke 
 d'Epernon was deputed on this occasion, and was 
 received at Pau by the king of Navarre with much 
 distinction. The duke's chief effort was to detach 
 the king from Protestantism. Henry so far gave 
 way, as to allow a conference to be held, in his 
 presence, for the discussion of the merits of the 
 two modes of faith. Maret, a pastor of the 
 Reformed church sustained his tenets with ability 
 and success. On being pressed as to the political 
 expediency of the king's return to Romanism, and 
 being asked whether it was a wise thing to prefer 
 the psalms of Marot 1 to the crown of France, 
 1 Clement Marot translated the Psalms of David. 
 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. 
 
 Maret replied that the king might carry the 
 psalms in his hand while the crown was on his 
 head, and that the surest mode of obtaining that 
 crown was to punish the murderers of St. Bar- 
 tholomew's, to grant freedom of conscience, em- 
 ploy the tithes in the maintenance of the true 
 church of Christ, and thus to ensure that " peace 
 which passeth understanding." 
 
 This missionary effort of the French king took 
 place during a short truce which had been agreed 
 upon by the gasping combatants in these civil 
 contests. It is said that the royal catechumen 
 would have assented to the wishes of the courtly 
 missionary, but for the persuasion of his chancel- 
 lor, Arnaud Ferrier, who pointed out the impolicy 
 of doing so at that juncture. 
 
 These peaceful contests, however, soon gave 
 way to the clamour of war. The French king, 
 who was associated with the duke of Guise and 
 the league, took up arms to oppose his expected 
 convert, and issued severe edicts against the Pro- 
 testants of his dominions. The king of Navarre, 
 on the other hand, prepared to meet his oppo- 
 nents ; and as the war was of a decidedly religious 
 character, he published a manifesto declarative of 
 his opinions, which were, probably, considered of too 
 neutral a kind to gain favour with either party. In 
 this manifesto, issued in 1585, Henry declared that 
 
126 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 he was neither[a heretic or apostate. Could he be a 
 heretic who believedin the Old and New Testament 
 and the Apostle's creed? Could he be an apostate, 
 who had never abandoned the opinions in which he 
 was educated ? If he was in error, he desired to 
 learn the truth from a council lawfully assembled, 
 having, as yet, acquired no light sufficient to dis- 
 cover it. He was desirous of affording the ( Ca- 
 tholics ' the peaceful exercise of their faith, which 
 he had always respected. 
 
 This profession of faith called forth a bull of 
 excommunication from Rome against Henry, de- 
 priving him, by its sentence, of his dominions, and 
 absolving his subjects from their oaths of alle- 
 giance. At the same time the king of France 
 issued an edict condemning all the Protestants in 
 his territories to banishment and confiscation of 
 goods, if they did not conform to Romanism with- 
 in six months. In answer to these fulminations 
 against himself and party, the king of Navarre 
 ordered the authorities of his kingdom to treat the 
 Romanists in their jurisdiction in the way that the 
 French monarch should do the Protestants in his. 
 The king of France not only adhered to his de- 
 cree, but increased its severity, for two months 
 before the period allowed for conformity, he limited 
 the time to fifteen days. The king of Navarre 
 was equally rigid, and thus a reciprocal ejection 
 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. 127 
 
 of their subjects took place ; the Protestants of 
 France, flying to Navarre, the Romanists of Na- 
 varre to France. Much individual misery was 
 caused by these proceedings, while the general 
 strength of each party was increased, both in num- 
 ber and hostility of feeling. 
 
 To sustain the war, the estates of Beam, and a 
 convocation of ministers of the church, held at 
 Navarrenx, voted a subsidy to the king ; the latter 
 body coming forward, for the first time, with a 
 voluntary taxation. But the burdens, which these 
 perpetual contests inflicted on the people, had, 
 evidently, abated their zeal, for a vote of 18,000 
 crowns having been moved by the nobility, the 
 burgesses in the estates refused to concur in a 
 larger grant than fifteen thousand. It is observ- 
 able, also, that the king having endeavoured to 
 raise a loan on a mortgage of the revenues of his 
 dominions for forty years, the estates declared such 
 to be contrary to the privileges and liberties of the 
 country, and passed a resolution prohibiting such 
 anticipatory measures of finance. Had this whole- 
 some restriction of limiting the efforts of nations 
 to the level of their immediate resources, been 
 similarly observed by other states, much strife and 
 bloodshed might have been avoided in subsequent 
 ages. In a good cause, there is generally found 
 sufficient energy to support it, and the necessity 
 
128 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 of contemporaneous effort will excite that energy 
 if it be deficient. This was evinced by Beam at 
 that time ; the prudent economy of the burgesses 
 of that state, called forth greater exertion on the 
 part of the nobility and clergy, and many indi- 
 viduals came forward with a liberal zeal. Funds 
 were also raised by private contribution for the 
 succour of places and persons who had suffered 
 through their own exertions, or the operations of 
 the war ; and throughout the country, voluntary 
 offers of military service were general. 
 
 Beam, however, was happily exempted from 
 the actual evils of war, the contest being carried 
 on in the heart of France. But the more rigorous 
 enforcement of ecclesiastical discipline, consequent 
 upon the religious excitement of this period, seems 
 to have given rise to some domestic discord. The 
 payment of tithes was resisted by some, when 
 claimed by lay proprietors, and the question, as to 
 its enforcement, divided the estates so equally, 
 that the Princess Regent decided the point her- 
 self, by issuing an edict in aid of its collection. 
 The consistories, in the performance of their 
 duties, excited, also, some discontent. A female, 
 who was charged with using rouge, was publicly 
 censured, and appears to have gained a party of 
 lax religionists in her support, at Pau, the court 
 residence. Yet deep and well-grounded senti- 
 
HENRY OF NAVARRE. 
 
 ments of religion pervaded the Bearnoise commu- 
 nity, and were evinced in love to the faithful 
 brethren, as well as in rigour to the weak or stray- 
 ing. Geneva was at this time threatened by the 
 king of Sardinia, and Theodore Beza had written 
 to the churches of Beam, through Lambert 
 Daneau, professor of theology at Orthez, in favour 
 of the ' mother of the pure faith and asylum of the 
 saints.' Daneau (who had recently finished a 
 commentary on St. Matthew, which the estates 
 ordered to be translated into the vulgar tongue, 
 and printed at the public expence) was a popular 
 preacher, and stirred up his brethren in the minis- 
 try to plead the cause of the Genevese, which 
 was done so effectually, that, notwithstanding the 
 impoverished and burtheried state of B&arn, aid 
 both of men and money were sent to Switzer- 
 land. 
 
 The death of Henry III. of France, in 1589, 
 made room, on the throne of that kingdom, for 
 Henry of Navarre. But the steps to that throne 
 were as yet barricaded by the Romish league, 
 which opposed its occupation by a heretic. Henry, 
 to conciliate his opponents, published a declaration 
 of his intention to respect the Roman faith in 
 France, and to permit its worship in Beam. This 
 declaration was neither satisfactory to friend or 
 foe; the Romanists had not pre-eminence, the 
 
 G 5 
 
130 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Protestants had not security. Beam, however, 
 continued for two years longer in comparative 
 quietude. One event alone disturbed its peace. 
 
 The Princess Catherine of Navarre, the regent 
 of that kingdom, though a devoted Protestant, was 
 strongly attached to a Romanist nobleman, the 
 count de Soissons. The count was attached to 
 the king of Navarre's party, and, as is alleged, had 
 in view, by an union with the princess, to establish 
 a claim to the crown of France, both from his 
 marital right and his religion, which, if Henry was 
 passed by, would, he conceived, ingratiate him 
 with the French people. A correspondence was 
 kept up between the princess and the count, 
 through the countess of Grammont, a forsaken 
 mistress of the Navarre monarch, and a clandestine 
 marriage was determined on. To effect this, the 
 count speeded to Pau, while Henry was engaged 
 in the north of France. But Henry had good in- 
 telligence and faithful friends. Paugeas, the pre- 
 sident of the council of Navarre, on the night of 
 count's arrival, surrounded the Chateau de Pau, 
 and producing an order from the king, obliged 
 the disappointed lover instantly to quit the king- 
 dom. The princess, also, was subjected to tem- 
 porary restraint ; but, when again at liberty, 
 shame and vexation would not allow her to remain 
 in a public station where so humiliating a noto- 
 
CATHERINE OF NAVARRE. 131 
 
 riety attached to her. She accordingly determined 
 to resign the regency of Navarre, and join her 
 brother at Saumur ; and quitted Pau to the great 
 regret of the people, in the month of October, 
 1592. 1 
 
 1 Catherine d'Albret subsequently married a Romanist prince, 
 the duke of Lorraine and Bar, the 15th of January, 1599. It is 
 pitiable to read her letters to her brother, Henry IV. describing 
 the persecution she suffered from the Lorraine family, to induce 
 her to change her religion. To these appeals, written in sisterly 
 affection, tempered by conjugal regard, Henry, who knew not the 
 nature of an awakened sense of religion, answered coldly. The 
 pope for some time resisted the grant of a dispensation, even after 
 the marriage. It at last arrived on the day of her death which, 
 there is little doubt, occurred through poison. Catherine, when 
 pressed to turn Romanist, answered, ' Were there no other rea- 
 son, I could never belong to a religion, which would teach me to 
 believe that my mother was damned.* She died, February 13, 
 1604. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF ROMANISM. EDICT OF 
 FONTAINEBLEAU. 
 
 THE meridian height of religious prosperity had 
 been attained in Beam. The shadows were now 
 lengthening and betokening the fading of that 
 light which had shone upon her. The princess 
 Catherine was succeeded in the government of 
 Navarre by a zealous Protestant, Jacques de Cau- 
 mont, marquis de Laforce ; but though thus in- 
 ternally favored, yet the clamour of war was now 
 approaching from without. The marshal de Vil- 
 lars, one of the commanders of the league, was 
 secretly invited by the Romanists of Tarbes, to 
 take possession of that town. He accordingly 
 marched into the province of Bisongorre (of which 
 Tarbes is the capital) with a large force, and was 
 admitted by the stratagem of his friends within. 
 He then fell upon Pontacq, which, after a short 
 siege, he entered and gave up to fire and sword. 
 
RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF ROMANISM. 133 
 
 Advancing to Pau, he summoned that place to 
 surrender, but was vigorously repelled, and finding 
 opposition gathering round him, he found it 
 necessary to retreat, devastating -the country in 
 his course. 
 
 This incursion had been excited by the Navar- 
 rese Romanists. A few short months after, an 
 event happened which gave additional force to 
 their attempts. Henry, now king of France by 
 inheritance, found his nominal profession of Pro- 
 testantism was a bar to his quiet settlement on the 
 throne of that kingdom. After a short parade of 
 hesitation, and a few flirting interviews with the 
 disputants of Rome, the king declared himself of 
 that communion on the 25th of July, 1593. 
 
 To those acquainted with the character of the 
 gay, worldly-minded monarch, this event could 
 not have been unexpected ; but on the people of 
 Beam, generally, the intelligence came with an 
 astounding effect. It is said that the synod, on 
 learning the perversion of their native sovereign, 
 directed that the public prayers, usually made for 
 their prince, should be discontinued. This can 
 scarcely be true in the terms in which it is stated. 
 It is impossible that the reformed, or indeed any 
 other Christian church, would have departed from 
 so fundamental a duty, as that of praying for those 
 whom God had set over them. The style of prayer 
 
134 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 must, of course, have been altered ; but that, 
 doubtless, was all that was done on this occasion. 
 
 Amongst other edicts relative to religion, issued 
 by Henry IV. -on this occasion, it was ordered 
 that the Roman worship should be restored in all 
 places whence it had been driven by the conflicts 
 of war. The kingdom of Navarre had excluded 
 that worship from its soil by the legislative sanc- 
 tion of its queen, Jeanne d'Albret, and the con- 
 currence of the estates, long previous to the war 
 alluded to. The marquis de Laforce, there- 
 fore, the governor of that state, took no measures 
 to introduce, or sanction the Romish worship. 
 The inhabitants of the valley of Barretons (a dis- 
 trict a few miles to the south-west of Oloron) 
 amongst whom were many of that faith, petitioned 
 the estates of Beam to admit the exercise of its 
 worship amongst them, conformably, as they 
 alleged, to the above-cited edict. The estates 
 debated long and violently respecting the admission 
 of this petition, for, as yet, no one could be found 
 openly to advocate the object the petition prayed 
 for. The result of this debate was, that the pe- 
 tition should be laid before the governor for his 
 decision. That decision was adverse to the pe- 
 titioners, but the marquis was summoned to Paris 
 to answer for his judgment, which the king 
 reversed. 
 
RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF ROMANISM. 135 
 
 An alliance with Rome was concluded by the 
 French court, by the terms of which the Roman 
 religion was to be re-established in Navarre, its 
 bishoprics restored, and conventual institutions 
 refounded. This was not effected by a sudden 
 change, for Henry was too well acquainted with 
 his native Country, and possibly, too considerative 
 of its manifest wishes, to force these measures 
 upon them. He began by bringing influence to 
 bear upon individuals, thus undermining the sup- 
 ports of party. Sponde, a Protestant minister, 
 son of the secretary of Jeanne d'Albret, was in- 
 duced to turn Romanist, and was made bishop of 
 Pamiers. Those reformed ministers who were 
 most zealous in the maintenance of their creed, 
 were distressed and harassed by the withholding of 
 their stipends, which, as it will be recollected, were 
 now payable by the crown, and not as originally, 
 by an ecclesiastical council elected annually by 
 the synod. Many were thus driven to seek sub- 
 sistence, at a distance from their benefices, with 
 relatives and friends. On every occasion of in- 
 volvement between the two creeds, the Romanists 
 presumed on the known tendency of the court. 
 The decisions of consistories were first questioned 
 and opposed, and then became scorned and power- 
 less. Neglect of religious ordinances became 
 observant; superstitious usages of former days 
 
136 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 were revived ; reprehension of them raised party 
 feuds, and on all these occasions, the Romanists 
 readily allied themselves to the soi-disant perse- 
 cuted offender. 1 
 
 In this state the kingdom remained till the 
 edict of Nantes in 1598. This celebrated decree, 
 which regulated the condition of the French Pro- 
 testants, did not affect those of Navarre. The 
 latter state claimed a separate legislation, and its 
 peculiar privileges. The edict also, as it referred 
 to a class of religionists who dissented from the 
 established faith of the nation at large, could not 
 apply to Beam, where Protestantism was, by 
 sovereign decree, the only recognized religion. 
 The estates despatched a deputation on the sub- 
 ject to the king, which, according to his orders, 
 was composed of two Protestants and two Roman- 
 ists. It may readily be conceived that such a 
 deputation, under the circumstances of the time, 
 could only tend to advance the Romish interests. 
 
 In April 1599, a decree was signed at Fontain- 
 bleau by the king of France and Navarre, for the 
 re-establishment of the * Catholic ' religion in the 
 latter kingdom. This paper was drawn up under 
 the king's inspection, by the chancellor of Na- 
 varre, Pompone de Bellievre. The preamble 
 
 1 The present state of Ireland will probably occur to the reader. 
 
RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF ROMANISM. 137 
 
 declares the desire of his majesty to see all his 
 subjects united in one mode of worship, since a 
 concert of prayer, resulting from that harmony, 
 would draw down more powerfully the benedic- 
 tion of heaven on the king and his people. His 
 majesty, however, wishing to unite those divided 
 in opinion and by schism, announces that he is 
 about to banish all constraint and all subject of 
 jealousy, by granting to every one a requisite 
 liberty of conscience, and exercise of worship, and 
 by dispensing, as far as circumstances will allow, 
 an equal treatment to the professors of the two 
 creeds. But, waiting till it shall please God to 
 grant his wishes, in drawing all his subjects to the 
 belief and practice of the same faith, his majesty 
 decrees, * that all Catholics dwelling in Barn, 
 shall have liberty to profess their 'religion, freely 
 and publicly, in all places where it may be re- 
 established: that lay-patrons of benefices of the 
 Catholic faith, may present persons of that com- 
 munion for filling the same, and performing the 
 sacred functions according the rites of the Catholic 
 church, notwithstanding any presentations which 
 they may have already made, and which are de- 
 clared null and void by this present decree : that 
 also in all places where the curs shall be present- 
 able by lay patrons, two shall be chosen in each, 
 in order there to re-establish the same religious 
 
138 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 exercises : that the grants of benefices made during 
 the late troubles, shall not cause any obstruction 
 to the rights of the said patrons, who shall be 
 replaced in the enjoyment of the same : that in 
 those places in which Catholicism shall be re-es- 
 tablished, the cemeteries shall be given up to its 
 ministers : that the bishops and cures, and all other 
 ecclesiastics, approved by the ordinaries of the 
 district, shall be empowered without disturbance, 
 to assist the sick, to celebrate the holy sacrifice, 
 and exercise all other functions of their ministry, 
 both in the houses of Catholics, and also in all 
 other places where their worship is not publicly 
 celebrated: that the bishops shall be restored to 
 the possession of houses which had belonged to 
 them before the seizure, (saissie,} as well as to 
 their entire temporal and spiritual jurisdiction : 
 that they shall be entitled to take out of the tithes 
 of their dioceses, the produce requisite to furnish 
 three thousand crowns for the bishop of Lescar, 
 and eighteen hundred for the bishop of Oloron : 
 that all Catholics inhabiting the country, shall be 
 admitted to all sort of public duty and employ, 
 without being subject to any exclusion on account 
 of their religion : that it shall not be permitted to 
 any person of either religion, to insult or provoke 
 by injuries, or by means of disputes or religious 
 controversies, which should be banished as opposed 
 
RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF ROMANISM. 139 
 
 to the Holy Spirit: and that to such end, the 
 ministers of either worship, who should fulfil the 
 duty of preaching, should not be suffered to use 
 any expression capable of exciting animosity, or 
 wounding mutual charity between citizens, and so 
 disturbing that peace which is the common benefit 
 both of religion and the state.' 
 
 Although the Navarrese had expected ever 
 since the accession of their king to the throne of 
 France, that a measure of this kind would be 
 inflicted on them, yet the expectation appears to 
 have had the effect of a menace, and rather to 
 have excited a spirit of resistance than ofacqui- 
 escence. Thirty years had elapsed since Protes- 
 tantism had been the only recognized religion of 
 the country, a period sufficient for its educational 
 growth in two generations, and which, aided by 
 the exertions of able ministers and the influence 
 of favouring governors, had imbued the higher 
 orders with congenial sentiments, and the lower 
 with feelings of respect, for the doctrines and 
 worship of the reformers. The reception of this 
 decree, therefore, (which it could not be doubted, 
 from the character of him who framed it, and of 
 those who were its objects, was but the forerunner 
 of aggression, if not a virtual abrogation of the 
 privileges hitherto enjoyed,) caused an universal 
 excitement in Beam. Most of the members of 
 
140 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 the council of state, of the leading families of the 
 kingdom, as well as the chief amongst the clergy, 
 assembled and addressed the marquis de Laforce, 
 (who was still governor of Navarre,) expressing 
 their alarm at the terms of the edict, and the 
 danger they apprehended from its execution. The 
 synod met and agreed on a memorial to the king. 
 The estates were convened to consider the decree, 
 since, by the constitution of the country, no edict 
 of the sovereign was valid without their sanction. 
 No direct opposition was offered by that assembly, 
 but they, having first passed a resolution that the 
 interests of the country were in danger, proceeded 
 to debate on the financial part of the edict, by 
 which tithes and other ecclesiastical property was 
 re-appropriated, and diverted from the then cur- 
 rent use. It was resolved, that these funds had 
 by a former law and by long usage, been devoted 
 to the maintenance of the Protestant clergy, and 
 that no substitution was provided for them by the 
 edict. This significant resolution, added to the 
 remonstrances of the council and synod, drew 
 from the king a modifying or rather explanatory 
 decree soon after, and which was accompanied by 
 a letter from his majesty to the council of state, 
 in which he detailed the motives that had led him 
 to issue the edict of Fontainbleau, and urged 
 those which ought to induce obedience. This sup- 
 
EDICT OF FONTAINEBLEAU. 141 
 
 plementary decree defined the places where the 
 Romanists were to be restricted from intruding, 
 viz., towns and parishes in which the Protestants 
 had erected churches, and in which there was 
 a minister paid by the state. But several excep- 
 tions were appended, in which, notwithstanding 
 this prohibition, Romanist worship might be in- 
 troduced; and these were made in favour of 
 several of the court party who possessed property 
 or influence in the excepted places. To compen- 
 sate the Protestants for the loss of their cemeteries, 
 part of the public domains were to be granted to 
 them for that purpose. Funeral ceremonies, 
 processions of the host, &c. amongst the Romanists, 
 in places where their worship was not re-esta- 
 blished, were to be conducted without ostentation 
 and parade. The spiritual jurisdiction of the 
 bishops was particularly defined, and their tem- 
 poral power was restricted to the seignories of 
 their immediate residence. 
 
 This concession on the part of the king, had a 
 soothing effect on his loyal people. The estates 
 despatched two of their body, the baron de Na- 
 vailles, a Romanist, and M. Colombe, a Protestant, 
 to Paris; to thank their sovereign, and to endea- 
 vour to efface the- impressions of disobedience, 
 which their representations might have made. 
 They were likewise instructed to pray his majesty, 
 
142 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 not to place in public employ, any individuals 
 whose characters were suspected; a singular ap- 
 plication, undoubtedly, but sufficiently understood 
 by all parties, as alluding to those adverse to the 
 Protestant institutions of the country. The object 
 more immediately referred to, was the appoint- 
 ment of M. Dupont to be advocate general, and 
 president of the exchequer-chamber of Beam; 
 that person, (though a Protestant,) being married 
 to a zealous Romanist, who had rendered herself 
 remarkable by many displays of contumely and 
 opposition to Protestant regulations. The depu- 
 tation proceeded to Paris, where, in a short time, 
 Henry succeeded in persuading the Protestant 
 member, Colombe, to conform to Romanism. 
 
 The estates of Navarre perceiving that opposi- 
 tion to the admission of the Romanists would be 
 fruitless, took the opportunity of the truce of 
 discussion with the king, to attend to the settle- 
 ment of their Protestant institutions, and fortify 
 them, as it were, against the approaching attack. 
 The churches were ordered to be placed in thorough 
 repair. The syndics, whose office it was to make 
 circuits through the country once every year, to 
 watch over the public institutions and remedy 
 grievances, were ordered in future, to proceed on 
 these missions thrice annually ; that is, every four 
 months. Every precaution was taken to rectify 
 
EDICT OF FONTAINEBLEAU. 143 
 
 and strengthen the religious institutions, while yet 
 there was power in the hands of those favourable 
 to them. Having thus prepared for the storm, 
 they passed the edict of Fontainbleau, and sub- 
 mitted to the will of God and their sovereign. 
 
 Notwithstanding the acquiescence of the es- 
 tates, the execution of the edict, on the part of 
 the governor and council, was delayed on various 
 pretexts. It was suggested that a period should 
 be named for the presentation to benefices by lay 
 Romanist patrons. Explanations were required 
 as to the disposal of the Protestant schools in such 
 benefices. Difficulties were started respecting 
 the surrender of cemeteries ; since the Protestants 
 gave up not only the prospect of interment for 
 themselves in places habitually reverenced, but 
 also the remains of their fathers, from whose 
 family tombs they were to be excluded. It was, 
 also, strongly urged by the Protestant ministers, 
 that the indefinite description of ' tons autres ec- 
 clesiastiqueS) in the allowance accorded of visiting 
 the sick, &c. in places where there was no public 
 Romish worship, might allow the Jesuits an en- 
 trance, and they expressly protested against their 
 admission. In the nomination of magistrates, 
 the council further prayed, that the number of 
 Romanists should not exceed that of Protestants, 
 and that the cur&s and priests on admission, 
 
144 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 should be required to take an oath before the 
 governor, to respect the laws and institutions of 
 the country. One of the councillors of state was 
 despatched by that body, to lay these several 
 representations and remonstrances before the king. 
 That monarch, to deprive the Navarrese of all 
 pretext for further delay, acceded to the altera- 
 tions required : the scholars were to be provided 
 for ; the Jesuits were to be excluded ; the ceme- 
 tries were to be common to the two religions; in 
 short all was conceded, but, at the same time, 
 peremptory orders were given for the immediate 
 execution of the edict. 
 
 On the 18th of August 1599, the two bishops 
 of Beam, (Abbadie, bishop of Lescar, and Maytie, 
 bishop of Oloron ; the latter the son of that May- 
 tie who had caused the death of Roussel the Pro- 
 testant bishop of the same see,) entered the king- 
 dom, and performed the first mass in the church 
 of Corlaas ; a seignory of the baron de Miossens, 
 a bigotted Romanist, and who had been concerned 
 in the conspiracy against the late queen, Jeanne 
 d' Albret. Commissioners had been appointed by the 
 governor to attend the bishops, and to watch the due 
 execution of the new law. It appears that, in several 
 towns, these commissioners were the only persons 
 who formed a congregation at the new worship. 
 But in the country parts, the ' old religion ' had 
 
EDICT OF FONTAINEBLEAU. 145 
 
 many latent worshippers, who now came forth. 
 It would seem, however, that the bishops were 
 not much encouraged by the reception they met 
 with ; for shortly after taking possession of their 
 sees, they both quitted Beam for Chamberry, in 
 Savoy, where the king of France and Navarre 
 then was. Their object was, as is acknowledged 
 by the historians of their party, to obtain from 
 the king additional powers to overcome the resist- 
 ance they met with. They did not meet with a 
 very favourable reception ; and, therefore, instead 
 of taking Protestantism by assault, they were 
 compelled to proceed by the more usual mode of 
 mining, and the lengthened process of siege. 
 They were more successful with their priestly bre- 
 thren in France, who raised a sum of money, by 
 which the Bearnoise bishops were enabled to send 
 missionaries into Navarre, to expedite its subju- 
 gation. The only aid the king afforded them, was 
 empowering them to resume possession of their 
 alienated temporalities, on repayment of the price 
 given to those who acquired a title by purchase, 
 during the period of Protestant rule. These tem- 
 poralities had been sold in difficult times, and 
 under peculiar circumstances, which caused them 
 to be purchased at very low rates, and considera- 
 bly under their value. But the resumption, after 
 so long a possession, was considered unjust by the 
 H 
 
146 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 possessors, and the council of state joined in that 
 opinion. The king, however, ratified the power 
 conferred on the bishops. The parties threatened 
 with dispossession, petitioned the estates of the 
 realm. The estates concurred with the council 
 of state, and the question came again before the 
 king, who contrived to temporize without coming 
 to an immediate decision. Encouraged by the 
 apparent success of remonstrance on this occasion, 
 the synod drew up a statement of grievances, and 
 despatched two of their body, Brasselay and 
 Disserote, to lay it before their sovereign. These 
 grievances not only embodied that just alluded 
 to, but others, such as the violation of the edict 
 of Fontainebleau by the intrusion of the Jesuits, 
 by placing Romanist teachers in the parish schools, 
 and by the non-observance by the priests, of the 
 localities to which they had been restricted. A 
 particular grievance of the latter kind, which 
 excited the Protestant community, w r as that the 
 bishop of Oloron had established the mass, in a 
 parish of which the patron and minister were of 
 the reformed faith, notwithstanding their remon- 
 strances. All these acts of aggression took place 
 within five months of the re-establishment of the 
 Romish worship. The Navarrese council had in- 
 terposed its arrets, but the king, by the advice 
 of the French priesthood, nullified the judgments 
 
EDICT OF FONTAINEBLEAU. 147 
 
 of the council, and left the complaints of the 
 synod unsatisfied, except with vague promises. 
 
 The two religions were now in the field, ranged, 
 as it were, against each other. The Protestants 
 had the country on their side, and the authorities 
 (the local authorities) were members of their own 
 body. The Romanists were supported by the 
 royal power and a consciousness that if they acted 
 with common prudence, they would obtain its 
 fullest assistance. Thus circumstanced, although 
 the graver and better order of both parties refrain- 
 ed from any openly aggressive act, yet collisions 
 frequently occurred, and kept alive a discordancy 
 which effectually prevented that union which the 
 king vainly, and, it may be added, ignorantly 
 expected. The synod of Gap, in Provence, (to 
 which the Bearnoise church sent deputies,) had 
 declared, in a public document, that the pope was 
 antichrist. This the king ordered to be expunged 
 from the acts of the synod. In Barn the zealous 
 newly-arrived priests proclaimed from their pulpits 
 that no one could be saved out of the " Catholic " 
 church. This the council of state at Pau took up, 
 and reprimanded the assertors of the anti-union 
 dogma. The superstitious and almost pagan ob- 
 servance of days, especially of May-day (a floral 
 fete which might be rendered one of sublime 
 interest, particularly in the delicious climate of 
 H 2 
 
148 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Beam) was reintroduced by those of the Roman 
 faith, and caused great offence to their reformed 
 neighbours. The reprobation they met with from 
 the latter, and the attempts made to put them 
 down, caused disputes which ultimately came 
 before the royal seat of judgment, by which these 
 observances were not only sustained, but a sort of 
 " Book of Sports " published, in the shape of new 
 edicts. The shelter which the confessional afford- 
 ed to criminal or invidious designs, became also a 
 subject of reprobation, and led in several instances 
 to open rupture. The Romanists complained 
 likewise of not being admitted to an equality of 
 office with the Protestants, pursuant to the new 
 laws. This the king at first vainly endeavoured 
 to obviate, since as the greater number of muni- 
 cipal offices and the representatives to the estates, 
 were elected by the people, who, especially in the 
 towns, were generally Protestants, they could not 
 be compelled to elect those of the Roman party. 
 To remedy this alleged evil, the king decreed that 
 the election of more than half the number of 
 Jurats, Sec. of the same communion should be 
 invalid. But here again arose fresh sources of 
 discussion. One of the Protestant Jurats of the 
 town of Lescar was converted to the Roman faith. 
 The Bearnoise council of state directed that his 
 post should be considered vacant and another 
 
EDICT OF FONTAINEBLEAU. 140 
 
 Protestant Jurat be elected. This was violently 
 opposed by the Romanists, who, as usual, ap- 
 pealed to the king, and an edict shortly came forth 
 decreeing, that ' if any person, while in office, 
 should forsake the pretended reformed faith, the 
 original election should still remain valid.' 
 
 Such were some of the many discordances arising 
 from the attempt to join light and darkness. 
 Would a chemist endeavour to unite dissimilar 
 substances, except for the purpose of neutraliza- 
 tion or combustion ? But union was not the 
 object of those who professed this endeavour to 
 unite. A vantage ground was required, and the 
 approach to obtain it could only be acquired by 
 holding out the white flag, and advancing under 
 its peaceable professions, The result will soon 
 appear. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION. DEATH OF HENRY IV. 
 
 Six years had elapsed since Romanism had been 
 re-established in Navarre. During that period 
 the Protestants had been kept in a continued 
 state of anxious watchfulness for the preservation 
 of their institutions. The college of Orthez was 
 that at which the students for the ministry were 
 educated. This fountain-head was now attempted 
 to be closed. The professors were diminished, the 
 salaries of all lowered, and the students deprived 
 of their resources and limited to the number of 
 thirty. The library of the college was closed, as 
 affording too easy an access to the ( poison ' of Pro- 
 testant reasoning. At the same time the king 
 directed that wherever there was a Protestant 
 church, a Romanist place of worship should like- 
 wise be opened. This was a direct violation of 
 the edict of Fontainebleau, but it was favouring 
 the * equality ' of the two religions. 
 
ROMAN-CATHOLIC MISSION. 151 
 
 Amongst other grievances against which the 
 Protestants in vain appealed, was the violation of 
 the Sabbath-day and of the appointed fasts, by 
 the Romanists. During the uninterrupted reign 
 of reform, these periods of worship and solemnity 
 were duly reverenced ; the shops were shut and 
 public business suspended. Even for some time 
 subsequent, the laws and customs of the country 
 in this respect were enforced on all. But the 
 Romanists now began to resist, and obtained a 
 royal order for their exemption from the observ- 
 ance required. 
 
 By these means the priests were enabled to 
 establish themselves in many places from which 
 they had been long excluded. But the number of 
 the Roman clergy was yet small. To remedy this 
 deficiency, the pope (Paul V.) at the request, as is 
 affirmed, of the French court, despatched a body 
 of missionaries from Italy to convert the yet lin- 
 gering Bearnoise. These missionaries were, Za- 
 charie Colombe, (whom it may be remembered, 
 had been the Protestant deputy from the Navar- 
 rese estates, and who was now a monk of the 
 Barnabite order at Milan,) Maurice Olgiatti, and 
 another monk Louis Bitorte. Colombe was a 
 native of B&arn, and though his family were of the 
 reformed faith, yet he had become a violent bigot 
 to that which he now professed. These three 
 
152 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 brethren arrived in Beam in July 1606. Their 
 arrival had been held forth to the people, as a 
 mission from heaven, and every means employed 
 to give it effect. The bishops and clergy met them 
 on the frontier and led them onward to the field of 
 exertion with triumphal display. The place 
 selected for their first effort was a small country 
 town, about eight leagues from the frontier and 
 nearly as many from Pau. This place, Luc, which 
 had then about two thousand inhabitants, was in 
 the centre of a Romanist district, and within a 
 short distance of Corlaas, where the first mass had 
 been performed in 1599, but the parish church 
 was still in the possession of the Protestants. 
 Colombe has described the scene of his first effort 
 in this place, in a letter which he addressed to 
 Cavalchini, the General of the Barnabites. ' At 
 our arrival in Beam,' says he, ' the Catholic church 
 appeared to us like a feeble patient, who had lost 
 nearly all his blood, through the murderous attack 
 of robbers, and who, covered with wounds, appears in 
 a state, in which he sometimes sinks under his suf- 
 ferings, that are rendered worse by the pestiferous 
 odours he is compelled to breathe, and sometimes 
 a little revived, raises himself up and gives hope of 
 a happy recovery. All the monasteries and reli- 
 gious houses, all places consecrated to piety, have 
 been pulled down and destroyed ; given up to 
 
ROMAN-CATHOLIC MISSION. 153 
 
 flames, they only present heaps of ashes and ruins. 
 Two monks of the order of St. Francis, who had 
 escaped from the sword of the persecutor which 
 immolated so many victims of their order, and 
 who survived till this time, were the only remains 
 in this country. One was concealed at Jurangon, l 
 the other at Oloron. Two Jesuits had preached 
 at the former place the preceding year, with the 
 permission of the council of state, who, however, 
 forbad them to confess. They had, however, left 
 the province, since the governor and all in autho- 
 rity, rooted in Calvinism, made themselves merry 
 with mimicking their discourses, gesture, and 
 accent, watching, at the same time, if any phrase, 
 offensive to the ears of heresy, escaped them, 
 being resolved, in such cases, to punish them.' 
 After thus describing the abasement of Romanism, 
 the missionary proceeds to describe his own 
 triumphs. He mentions his arrival at Luc, where, 
 as no place sufficiently large could be procured for 
 worship, the bishop of Oloron had an altar erected, 
 under a pavilion formed of the branches of trees, 
 and placed in an extensive meadow. A day was 
 appointed for the consecration of this rustic tem^ 
 pie, and notice given to all the country round. 
 ' The bishop, dressed in his pontifical robes, and 
 
 1 A suburb of the town of Pau, the capital of Beam. 
 H 5 
 
154* CHAPTER IX. 
 
 followed by the priests and laymen of his church, 
 commenced a procession from the town. One part 
 of those who attended the preaching of the minis- 
 ter of Luc followed the procession. The others, 
 astonished at this novel spectacle, stood wondering 
 and indecisive, and at last joined with the throng, 
 while the chief people of their party, stood at the 
 windows of their houses, full of hate and rage, 
 vomiting forth a thousand blasphemies.' 
 
 The bishop performed his part. ' After the 
 credo,' continues Colombe, ( I stood on a platform, 
 and the people sat down on the herbage of the 
 meadow, with their heads uncovered, and exposed 
 to the glowing rays of the sun. I took for the 
 subject of my discourse, the erection of this rustic 
 altar. I recalled to my hearers the golden age of 
 Christianity. I set before their eyes the absurdity 
 of a heresy which assumes the name of reform. I 
 dare not, said I to them, to draw your attention, 
 compare myself to St. Paul in the glory of his 
 apostleship ; but I can say to you that I have a 
 juster title than he had to be called the least of the 
 apostles ; that I have persecuted the church of 
 God, in calumniating her doctrines with the deceit- 
 ful allegations of the new sect, in which I had been 
 brought up, as you have been, and from the dark 
 abyss of which I have been drawn by the vivifying 
 influence of that light which dispels the darkness 
 
ROMAN-CATHOLIC MISSION. 155 
 
 of men. This same light I am bringing to shine 
 upon you. It is from the voice of that visible 
 authority which is vouchsafed us here below, l and 
 unites knowledge with power , that I have received 
 this mission, and that I am come, without taking 
 counsel either of flesh or blood, to restore you 
 to the Christian faith, which has been so disfigured 
 by the systems of unbelief. I then, in few words, 
 opened to the people the rules and fundamental 
 doctrines of the Catholic faith. I made them feel 
 the dreadful yoke they were under, and the bar- 
 barity and impiety of their new masters, who had 
 overturned their altars, destroyed their monas- 
 teries, broken their images, and profaned the 
 churches and the tombs of their ancestors. I 
 shewed them to what profane purposes the stones 
 of their church and ancient abbey had been ap- 
 plied, how their parish church had been changed 
 into a temple, where the holy God to whom it 
 was consecrated, was accused by Calvin, their 
 leader, of being the author of sin and of the dam- 
 nation of sinners. I recalled to their memory the 
 many injuries and outrages to which, for the last 
 forty years, they had been victims, and the ruinous 
 imposts which they had been forced to pay to this 
 tyrannical sect. I carried them back to its origin. 
 
 1 The Pope. 
 
156 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 I led them to observe how it had been born and 
 nursed in France, and yet had infected Beam more 
 than any other province. Trust not, I cried to 
 them, trust not in these innovators ; they are alse 
 prophets who clothe themselves in sheepskin in 
 order more easily to devour the souls of the faith- 
 ful. Heresy, I added, like a torrent ravages your 
 cities, your fields, your families and property ; but 
 this torrent becomes less and less, like a brook 
 which hardly flows, and will change at last into a 
 lifeless lake, where its stagnant waters repose in 
 slimy impurity. The Catholic church is a vessel 
 which may indeed be tossed by the tempest, but 
 which can never be wrecked. She has the war- 
 ranty of the word of Jesus Christ. The ancient 
 heresies have verified the promise, and those of 
 our days are already beginning to afford a new 
 proof. This is the moment of your liberty. Ren- 
 der God thanks for it ; cleanse yourselves inter- 
 nally in the sight of this altar which has been con- 
 secrated before your eyes ; purify your souls by 
 confession ; wash yourselves in the waters of peni- 
 tence ; return with sincerity to the faith, and walk 
 in the path of salvation which is opened to you.' 
 
 Such was the style of address which a Protes- 
 tant apostate, sanctioned by the pope's bull and 
 the king's commission, ventured to deliver. The 
 note of war was plainly sounded and the banner of 
 
ROMAN-CATHOLIC MISSION. 157 
 
 enlistment boldly raised. Was this the Utopian 
 unity that Henry IV. desired to effect ? 
 
 The three missionaries had divided the country 
 between them, and proceeded with a triumphant 
 air, throughout the land, under the protection of 
 the king's mandate. As might have been ex- 
 pected and, probably desired, the great excite- 
 ment of their progress occasioned various commo- 
 tions. At Lescar the procession of the Fete Dieu 
 was broken and dispersed, the bishop of that isee 
 being compelled to fly from the town. Several 
 other similar scenes of violence occurred, and such 
 was the universal commotion that the estates which 
 had met, as usual, in the month of August, 
 remained sitting in permanence. They despatched 
 deputies to the king at Paris to represent the state 
 of the country, and the encroachments daily mak- 
 ing on their privileges and institutions, praying 
 that the measures latterly adopted by the crown 
 respecting religion might be stayed. l 
 
 The reply to these representations and requests 
 was sufficiently declarative of the arbitrary and 
 anti-protestant designs of the court. The estates 
 were forbidden to discuss matters of religion, nor 
 was any one to be allowed to petition that body on 
 
 1 It is remarkable that one of these deputies was the Syndic 
 Colombe, a Protestant, and brother of the Romish missionary of 
 that name. 
 
158 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 any point connected with it. All causes, arising 
 from or depending upon, religious differences, 
 were, in future, to be carried on at the expence 
 of the parties, and not of the public or state, 
 unless his majesty should think fit to direct other- 
 wise. It was also enjoined in the estates and 
 synod, that in the future, no deputation should be 
 sent to the king, without permission previously 
 obtained from his majesty ; and that the request 
 preferred for sending such deputation, should 
 express clearly and fully the objects for which it 
 was sent. The obvious purpose (certainly the 
 effect) of these regulations and prohibitions, was 
 to prevent redress by stifling complaint, and, to 
 induce a kind of resigned indifference amongst the 
 Protestants, to the advance of popery, by the con- 
 scious hopelessness of their condition. 
 
 The advanced guard of missionaries was soon 
 followed by a more regular body. The Jesuits 
 had been recalled to France in 1604 by Henry, 
 and now, in 1607, they were permitted to re-enter 
 Beam, contrary to the express stipulation of the 
 edict of Fontainebleau. In vain were protesta- 
 tions made at these successive encroachments ; 
 they only hurried on measures for silencing oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 The synod of Beam endeavoured to stem the 
 torrent pouring in upon them. The restriction of 
 
ROMAN-CATHOLIC MISSION. 159 
 
 the number of students for the reformed church, 
 to thirty, when above four hundred parishes had to 
 be supplied with ministers, and the diminution, as 
 well as uncertain payment, of their salaries, had 
 caused a dearth of labourers in the vineyard. This 
 obliged the synod to concentrate their efforts, by 
 uniting several parishes into one, while at the same 
 time, they endeavoured to raise funds for avoiding 
 this weakening of their lines. The ministers of 
 their church were interdicted from entering into 
 public disputations with the Roman priests, with- 
 out previous permission of the synod. All mem- 
 bers of the reformed communion were called upon 
 to refrain from attending the masses and sermons 
 of the Romish priests ; to prevent their children 
 from attending schools opened by the latter, and 
 not to be misled, through a false liberality, into 
 aiding the efforts of the church of Rome. Lay 
 patrons also, of the reformed faith were exhorted 
 not to present the Romish clergy to their bene- 
 fices. To these, and other regulations of a similar 
 tendency, the synod added general protests against 
 the encroaching nature of the public measures, 
 and, especially, against the intrusion of the priests 
 into parishes and churches exclusively protestant. 
 
 These proceedings were as ineffectual as the 
 mandate of Canute : the tide continued to roll in. 
 The missionaries gained possession of the church 
 
160 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 at Luc. They extended their conquests on all 
 sides. When they encountered resistance of too 
 aggressive a nature, the redress they obtained at 
 the royal hand, was more than commensurate with 
 the evil suffered, and not only compensated the 
 check, but aided their advance. While the mis- 
 sionaries and priests worked above ground, the 
 Jesuits worked under ground. A prudential regard 
 for their own interests and none for those of their 
 opponents, regulated their proceedings; for the 
 dread and doubtfulness of a simultaneous assault, 
 seems to have been the only reason why the Pro- 
 testant institutions were not at once laid low. 
 
 While this unhappy contest was thus proceed- 
 ing, he, who commenced it, was summoned to his 
 dread account in another world. In 1610 Henry 
 IV. of France was murdered by a priest of that 
 communion which he had forsaken Protestantism 
 to embrace. 
 
 Henry had reigned thirty-eight years over the 
 kingdom of Navarre, his birth-place. His easy 
 sociable temper, his brave and spirited conduct in 
 the field, while at the head of his Navarrese protes- 
 tants, had endeared him to his countrymen, who 
 hailed in his personal excellence, a worthy suc- 
 cessor of Marguerite de Valois and Jeanne 
 d'Albret. But during the last twenty years of his 
 reign he became a stranger to his native country . 
 
DEATH OF HENRY IV. 161 
 
 he forsook the religion of his people ; he reversed 
 the decrees of his maternal predecessor, whose 
 name was associated with the institution of that 
 religion, and the best interests of the country ; he 
 broke up the established order and the peaceful 
 unity which time had so happily produced, and 
 this in opposition to his own solemn declaration, 
 to his people's urgent appeals, and to his sainted 
 mother's dying entreaty! It will scarcely be urged 
 that a deep and settled conviction of religious 
 truth led the libertine and inconstant monarch to 
 attempt these changes. Nor will it be asserted 
 that the violation of a solemn engagement or a 
 disguised mode of acting, are consistent with any 
 religious conviction. The edict of Fontainebleau 
 was a solemn pledge to a certain course of pro- 
 ceeding. It was a declaration and guarantee of 
 privilege. But it was used merely as a shield, 
 behind which an inimical advance might with more 
 security be made. The crown of France (at least 
 the undisputed enjoyment of it,) was the price 
 that Henry received for his second apostacy ; but 
 the crown of Navarre was already his, and by the 
 strongest of titles, since he was the son and heir of 
 Jeanne d'Albret. There was no obvious necessity 
 for a religious change in his countrymen, because 
 their sovereign had changed his religious profes- 
 sion; nor since Protestantism, even in France, 
 
162 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 was recognized and protected by the state, could 
 there exist any conscientious reason for denying 
 the Bearnoise people as a nation, what was guaran- 
 teed to every Protestant individual in the realm. 
 
 Had Henry the Fourth of France adhered to 
 the scriptural religion he was brought up in ; had 
 he trusted in the God who, that religion must 
 have taught him, never forsakes those who sin- 
 cerely obey him ; what a different aspect might 
 the continent of Europe, nay the whole world, 
 have exhibited at this day ! Had the crown of 
 France been lost through adherence to principle, 
 that principle would have gained popular impor- 
 tance, and the sacrifice have constituted a legiti- 
 mate claim to the title of great. Navarre, as a 
 Protestant kingdom, under such a king, would 
 have upheld, and been reciprocally supported by, 
 the Protestants of France ; their cause must have 
 gained, as it had gained, a more extensive hold 
 on that nation, through the active maintenance 
 of its enlightened doctrines. Had Henry the 
 Fourth acquired a firm seat in the throne of 
 France, without a change of religion, what a wide 
 extent of prospect opens ! But, these are vain 
 speculations, he reigned as a Romanist, and died 
 such, on the 14th of May, 1610. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 
 
 LOUIS XIII. CONFIRMATION OF THE EDICT OF 
 FONTAINEBLEAU. GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTES- 
 TANTS. 
 
 Louis XHIth, the son of Henry, was in his 
 tenth year only, when he succeeded to the crowns 
 of France and Navarre. His mother, Mary de 
 Medicis, the hereditary opponent of Protestantism, 
 obtained the regency of these states ; but the 
 Protestants of the two countries were a numerous 
 and powerful body, and it was, consequently, ex- 
 pedient to retain them in peaceable subjection. 
 One of the earliest measures, therefore, of the 
 Regent, was to confirm the edicts of Nantes and 
 Fontainebleau, and to grant permission for the 
 representatives of the Reformed church to meet 
 in general assembly. These periodical meetings 
 had been of most essential service to the reformed 
 religion, by the union of interests and the mutual 
 aid, which the knowledge of each others' grievances 
 
164 CHAPTER X. 
 
 enabled them to afford. For this reason, Henry 
 IV. had interdicted this assemblage, without his 
 previous concurrence ; a favour readily obtained, 
 when the assembly had no point of interest to 
 discuss, but more generally withheld from dis- 
 trust of consequences. 
 
 The pope, (Paul V.) was highly displeased 
 at the yielding disposition of the Regent. Henry 
 IV. had declared the edict of Nantes, to be 
 " irrevocable et perpetuelle" and the holy Father 
 was moved to anger, that the new sovereign 
 should be led to adhere to the solemn engagement 
 of his parent and predecessor. But the regent 
 despatched a confidential messenger to Rome, to 
 disavow the charge of sincerity, declaring that 
 the apparent concessions were only specious 
 f d'arreter quelques esprits brouillons et inquiets.' 
 The truth of the assertion was shortly proved. 
 
 The general assembly of the Protestant church 
 of France, consisting of ministers and laymen, 
 (anciens or elders), from the fifteen districts into 
 which that church was divided, met, after much 
 delay, at Saumur, on the 25th of May, 1611. 
 To this assembly Beam sent four deputies, in 
 addition to the governor of Navarre, the marquis 
 de la Force, who had been elected a deputy by 
 the province of Guienne. The most sanguine ex- 
 pectations were excited throughout the protes- 
 
GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 165 
 
 tant community, respecting the advantages to be 
 derived from this religious congress. Much had 
 been endured ; much was to be remedied. The 
 hopes, which always attend a new reign, were net 
 entirely dissipated, although various instances had 
 occured of contravention of the edicts of privi- 
 lege, so recently confirmed : only a few months 
 after the death of Henry, the bishop of Lescar 
 in Beam had triumphantly obtained possession 
 of his cathedral, and had re-established his autho- 
 rity in full exercise. The Jesuits, also, presuming 
 on the favour of the court, had effected an entry 
 into Beam, and having procured a royal ordinance 
 interdicting the protestants from having more than 
 one school of their communion in each place, the 
 proselyting Fathers filled up the vacant ground 
 with their own scholastic institutions. 
 
 These and other grievances were laid before the 
 congress at Saumur, which had elected the Mare- 
 chal de Bouillon (a nobleman of considerable 
 political influence,) as president. But amongst 
 the other deputies at Saumur, was one from the 
 queen regent, who had commissioned him to 
 proceed thither to gain over adherents to the 
 court. This individual was La Varenne, valet- 
 de-chambre to the king. The character and sta- 
 tion of this agent, as well as the object of his 
 mission, peculiarly illustrate the views of the 
 
166 CHAPTER X. 
 
 court, and the opinion entertained of those of 
 the protestant party. But the regent was not 
 entirely ignorant of all she had to deal with : for 
 La Varenne was so successful as to purchase the 
 treachery of the president, de Bouillon. Through 
 his medium, the regent was informed of the de- 
 signs and secret proceedings of the assembly, 
 which he contrived to lead into discussions that 
 would afford occasion to the interference of the 
 court. Separate statements of grievances, requir- 
 ing redress, were ultimately drawn up by the 
 assembly on the part of France, and that of 
 Navarre, but before they could be laid before the 
 government, the deputies were required by the 
 regent to delegate their duties to a committee of 
 six, (two of which were to be named by the 
 crown,) and to dissolve the assembly. It was ac- 
 cordingly dispersed on- the 8th of September, after 
 four months ineffectual labour, and the deputies 
 separated, in the spirit of the advice giyen by 
 one of their associates, the amiable du Plessis 
 Mornay : * let "us/ said he, ' then separate, and 
 let each one leave here his animosities. It would 
 only augment our evils to carry them with us. 
 Let us endeavour to obtain by a respectful silence 
 and a Christian endurance, that which we cannot 
 gain by our remonstrances/ 
 
 The dissolution of the General Assembly was, 
 
GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 167 
 
 soon after, followed by an ordinance for the abo- 
 lition of provincial meetings or synods. This, in 
 effect, was an abrogation of church government. 
 It was an open declaration of the ultimate design 
 of the court. 
 
 A general expression of indignation could not 
 be repressed. The Navarrese protestants had not 
 been included in the restriction of synods, and 
 the synod of Pau was sitting at the time this edict 
 was published. They immediately despatched one 
 of their body, M. Duprat, to the queen, to protest 
 against the extension of the ordinance to Barn, 
 and to remonstrate generally against the progres- 
 sive encroachments of the Romanists. Duprat 
 acquitted himself of this mission with consummate 
 skill and prudence. Knowing that the cause he 
 advocated would carry no weight with it, he applied 
 himself to obtain personal friends and private fa- 
 vour, and succeeded in obtaining not alone fair 
 promises, but a gratuity of twelve hundred livres, 
 for the support of theTeformed church at Navarre, 
 and an order for the immediate payment of the 
 arrears due to its ministers. The queen regent 
 also addressed a letter to the synod of Beam, in 
 which she promised security for their religion and 
 privileges, and claimed their fidelity as subjects 
 in return. 
 
 The motive of these gracious measures was ob- 
 
168 CHAPTER X. 
 
 vious. The protestant party in France threatened 
 at that time an appeal to arms. The military 
 heads of that party had met at Grenoble and at 
 Tonneins, in the western side of France, the depu- 
 tation from the churches were assembled. To 
 this latter body the protestants of Navarre sent 
 four deputies. They were well aware that their 
 hope of existence, as a religious body, solely de- 
 pended on an union with their brethren in France, 
 and that the professions made by the court were 
 only intended to prevent such accordance. During 
 the last twenty years they had seen the govern- 
 ment of France persevering in a series of depriva- 
 tion of privileges, and aiding the advance of Ro- 
 manism, notwithstanding the edicts it had issued, 
 and the professions it made. The assembly at 
 Tonneins had been convoked, under royal per- 
 mission, to name a new committee of deputies to 
 succeed those appointed at Saumur. The refusal 
 of this permission would have thrown on the 
 court the charge of instigating the protestants to 
 a more urgent mode of demand ; and the grant of 
 it was accepted by the protestants as the last they 
 might expect. It was used accordingly. 
 
 The two assemblies at Tonniens and Grenoble 
 adjourned to Nismes, the centre of French pro- 
 testantism. Articles of union between the French 
 and Navarrese churches were agreed on, and mea- 
 

 GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 169 
 
 tures of defence taken. At that period (1616) the 
 court of France had thrown off the mask with 
 respect to protestantism. An alliance with Spain, 
 and the destruction of heresy, had been resolved 
 on ; but the detail of these political circumstances 
 belongs to the history of France, which is replete 
 with facts exculpatory of the nature of the defence 
 which the French and Navarrese protestants were 
 forced to adopt. 
 
 The duke de Rohan raised a body of armed 
 protestants, and marching to the banks of the 
 Dordogne, was joined by the marquis de Laforce, 
 the governor of B&arn. Their object was to op- 
 pose the passage of the king to Bordeaux, where 
 he was going to celebrate his union with the in- 
 fanta of Spain. The king, however, arrived at 
 Bordeaux by sea. The synod of Pau thought it 
 more consistent with their character to remonstrate 
 peaceably, and accordingly, despatched two of 
 their body to the king at Bordeaux. They were 
 well received, but Laforce was deprived of his 
 government. The Bearnoise, however, retained 
 the marquis in his post, which he had so long and 
 ably filled, and enabled him to raise troops for the 
 maintainance of the peace and institutions of the 
 country. 
 
 In February 1617, a conference between the 
 king's party and that of the prince de Conde, the 
 
170 CHAPTER X. 
 
 chief of the reformed, led to a peace. But Barn, 
 and its affairs, were not included in this negocia- 
 tion ; a desire of self-security led the prince to 
 avoid entangling himself with other matters than 
 his own. A similar spirit, it is to be feared, 
 caused the French synod of Vitre, subsequently 
 assembled, to decline receiving deputies from 
 Beam. The Navarrese were thus left, as it were, 
 at the feet of the king ; while the Romanists of 
 that kingdom seized the moment for urging on 
 the court the immediate realization of their wishes. 
 The Romish members of the estates of Navarre 
 petitioned the king to unite the two countries of 
 France and Navarre under the same laws, and to 
 re-establish the Roman catholic worship in its 
 ancient lustre. This proceeding roused increased 
 effort on the part of the protestants. An extra- 
 ordinary synod was assembled at Pau ; the council 
 of state drew up arguments against the petition, 
 and meetings of the most influential of the re- 
 formed party were held. Representations and 
 resolutions were forwarded to the government, 
 and the ardent feeling of the people expressed in 
 every possible way. All was vain. The recent 
 peace with the Huguenots of France, and their 
 desertion of their brethren in Navarre, was an 
 opportunity not to be neglected. On the 25th of 
 June, 1617, Louis XIII. signed an edict at Fon- 
 
GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 171 
 
 tainbleau, directing that the Roman Catholic re- 
 ligion should be re-established in every town, 
 village, and locality in Navarre, and that full and 
 entire restoration should be made to the bishops 
 and clergy of that church of all tithes, lands, rents, 
 and other possessions heretofore held by them. 
 The exercise of protestant worship was neverthe- 
 less allowed, and the sum of seventy-eight thou- 
 sand crowns allowed, out of the surplus revenue 
 of the state, for the support of its ministers. Now 
 the sum allowed to the Romanist clergy in Beam, 
 by the government, since their entry, by virtue of 
 the first edict of Fontainebleau, was twenty-four 
 thousand crowns ; so that it would appear, even 
 supposing the same scale of remuneration to be 
 allowed to both communions, that the protestants 
 were more than thrice the number of the Roman- 
 ists. This sudden overthrow of the religious 
 establishment of the great majority of the people, 
 consequently excited great commotion. An 
 assembly of the chief persons in Beam took place 
 at Orthez, by whom Paul Lescun, a counsellor of 
 state, and a man of great talent and of deserved 
 popularity, was deputed to personally entreat the 
 king to re-consider the decree. Lescun, who ex- 
 celled as an orator, pleaded the cause of his country 
 with energy and judgment, but the utmost he 
 could obtain was the extension of the period for 
 I 2 
 
172 CHAPTER X. 
 
 the resumption of ecclesiastical property, till the 
 February following, but the immediate installation 
 of the Romish clergy was peremptorily ordered. 
 The estates of Beam refused to register this edict. 
 The government declared that the two nations of 
 France and Navarre were united, and that the 
 registry of the edict in any other court of the 
 crown domain was sufficient. It was accordingly 
 verified and registered by the parliament of Bor- 
 deaux and Thoulouse. 
 
 The crown and the people were now at issue ; 
 the people referred the case to the highest tri- 
 bunal. A day of fasting and prayer was ap- 
 pointed to be simultaneously observed in all the 
 Protestant churches of Navarre. How many fer- 
 vent petitions for guidance by infinite wisdom, 
 how many earnest appeals to the ruler of kings, 
 must have been breathed forth on that day. 
 Shortly after that act of solemn devotion, another 
 great national meeting was held at Orthez, at 
 which it was resolved to make a final appeal to the 
 king and his cabinet. These reiterated, peace- 
 able, but firm expostulations, show the deep and 
 Christian feeling of this persecuted people. An 
 address was despatched to the sovereign in the name 
 of the assembly. The king refused to receive it ! 
 
 On the 9th of June 1618, Renard, a commis- 
 sary of the king, arrived at Pau, with a large 
 
GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 173 
 
 retinue of followers, and accompanied by the 
 bishop of Lescar, commissioned to superin- 
 tend the execution of the edicts in favour 
 of the Romanists. At the same time a depu- 
 tation of ministers of the Reformed church, 
 the syndics of Beam, and the chiefs of the coun- 
 try, laid a protest before the council of state at 
 Pau, against the execution of those edicts. Renard 
 declared the council incompetent to receive or 
 judge such protest. The council thought other- 
 wise, and not only received the protest, but on the 
 29th of June, decided that they could not allow 
 Renard to execute the edict, in respect of the 
 resumption of ecclesiastical property, or the forced 
 replacing of Romish worship. This decision was 
 received by the people with enthusiastic joy. 
 Since the arrival of the royal commissioner, 
 crowds of Protestants from all parts of the pro- 
 vince had hastened to Pau, anxious for the result 
 of the Protest. The scholars from Orthez were 
 particularly noticed. They wore in their caps a 
 fox's tail, in allusion to the name of the Romanist 
 agent Renard. The fashion became general. 
 Insults were heaped upon the unwelcome visitant, 
 and such was the furious delight of the mob at 
 Pau, that he found it expedient to leave the town 
 two days after the decision of the council. It is 
 an evidence of the Anti-Romanist spirit of the 
 
174 CHAPTER X. 
 
 B&arnoise people, that Renard found no resting- 
 place of safety till he reached Dax on the Adour, 
 beyond the confines of Beam, where he waited 
 the orders of the king. The bishops of Lescar and 
 Oloron, also, who had anticipated a triumphant 
 installation into all their mitred honours, consi- 
 dered it prudent to avoid the storm raised against 
 them, and fled to Paris. 
 
 The French cabinet was indignant at this oppo- 
 sition, but took no steps for the forcible mainte- 
 nance of its authority. The crooked and barbed 
 weapons that had been generally used against the 
 Protestants, directed with a steady and patient 
 aim, had always been more effectual than the 
 thundering rush of impatient anger, with the 
 engines of the state. Renard, notwithstanding 
 his name, was not considered a suitable agent for 
 a second mission. He was therefore ordered to 
 transmit his commission and papers to another 
 agent of the court, who was a resident at Pau, 
 Desquille, a counsellor of the Navarrese chancery. 
 To this individual an additional edict of the 
 French king was privately sent, which he was 
 instructed to deliver to the governor and council 
 of Navarre. Desquille quietly took measures for 
 fulfilling this commission. He, unexpectedly, 
 required an audience of the council, shewed his 
 authority, and placing the royal edict in the hands 
 
GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 175 
 
 of the governor, suddenly retired, and mounting a 
 horse, quitted Pau before the knowledge of his 
 mission had transpired. 
 
 This adroit, but undignified mode of communi- 
 cating a royal order, is highly lauded by the Ro- 
 manist historians, who appear to be either insen- 
 sible to or regardless of the tyranny of forcing a 
 change of religion on a people so generally and so 
 strongly opposed to it, as the circumstance they 
 narrate so clearly evinces. 
 
 The edict which Desquille delivered to the 
 authorities of Navarre, comprised the king's mo- 
 tives, which he was thus pleased to state : ' That 
 in the re-establishment of the Catholic religion in 
 Beam, and in the orders given for the restitution 
 of ecclesiastical property, he principally proposed 
 to relieve his conscience, which would not permit 
 him any longer to leave the Catholics of that 
 country in slavery, or their clergy and prelates 
 labouring under the deprivation of their goods, 
 so justly acquired by the donations of the faithful. 1 
 
 1 At the sacre or coronation of the king, (Louis XIII.) the fol- 
 lowing declaration was made by him : ' Je tacherai de bonne foi 
 et selon mon pouvoir de chasser de ma jurisdiction et des terres 
 de mon obeissance, les heretiques condemnes par 1'Eglise.' This 
 having excited much alarm amongst the Huguenots, Louis pub- 
 lished another declaration on the 12th of May 1615, in which he 
 promised to keep inviolably his engagements with them. But the 
 bonne foi was better kept than the inviolable engagement. 
 
176 CHAPTER X. 
 
 By so doing he fulfilled the will of his glorious 
 father, who, frequently, previously to his decease, 
 had expressed his regret that he had not been able 
 to remedy those disorders. That one of his prin- 
 cipal motives had, likewise, been to maintain peace 
 and union amongst his subjects, which could not 
 exist whilst the clergy were deprived of their just 
 rights, of which they had been despoiled by the 
 pretended reformers. That, however, far from 
 maltreating these reformers, he had, by his indul- 
 gence, removed all cause of complaint, and even 
 furnished them with motives of gratitude, in pro- 
 viding for their wants, and the support of their 
 worship and ministers in a way that could leave 
 them nothing to desire,' &c. Finally, the edict, 
 after eulogizing the royal clemency, which led his 
 majesty ' rather to act like a father who pardons, 
 than a judge who punishes,' peremptorily directs 
 the registering and execution of his edicts. 
 
 This mandate met with no better reception than 
 its predecessor. The peeple appeared to throw 
 aside all apprehension of consequences in the 
 ardour of enthusiasm for their cause. The synod 
 of Beam endeavoured to soothe down public feel- 
 ing, from the wildness of heat and clamour, into a 
 firm and steadfast principle, and to strengthen 
 men's minds by the spirit of that religion whose 
 form they contended for. A solemn fast had been 
 
GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 177 
 
 held on the 1st of March previous; another was 
 now appointed for the 1st of July. The national 
 association at Orthez continued its sittings. The 
 press teemed with productions called forth by the 
 spirit of the times. Amongst these works one 
 was particularly distinguished. It was entitled, 
 ' Apologie des eg Uses Reformers, de V obeisance du 
 Roi et des Etats de Sbarn, pour justifier les oppo- 
 sitions par eux formies contre la main leve des 
 biens ecclesiastiques" It was written by Jean 
 Paul de Lescun, who had been deputed by the 
 national assembly at Orthez the preceding year, 
 (1617) to remonstrate against the measures of the 
 crown. While at Paris on that occasion, he had 
 published two other works on the same exciting 
 topic, which had attracted much attention. The 
 one c Avis d'un Gentilhomme,' &c, was a summary 
 of arguments, and the other, f Memoires sur les 
 opposition aux pourmite des EvequesJ &c., a nar- 
 rative of events connected with these edicts, and 
 the hostile proceedings of the court against the 
 Protestant religion. 
 
 However the people might view the edicts and 
 intentions of the king, it was necessary that the 
 local government should treat them with decorous 
 respect. There appears to have been great diffi- 
 culty in determining how to effect this consistently 
 with their judgment, and the feeling of the coun- 
 I 5 
 
178 CHAPTER X. 
 
 try. But after two month's delay, the council of 
 Navarre made a humble representation to his 
 majesty, recapitulating the fundamental laws of 
 the kingdom, under which it was necessary that 
 they should proceed, and stating that the several 
 parties affected by the edicts, would be required 
 to state their respective demands and objections 
 previous to registering, and, consequently, execu- 
 ting those decrees. 
 
 The political condition of France at this period, 
 appears to have prevented the king from pursuing 
 the measure with any vigour. This relaxation 
 encouraged the Navarrese. The synod which met 
 at Pau on the 15th of April 1619, came to an 
 unanimous resolution to stand fast to their rights, 
 which had been bestowed on them by Jeanne 
 d'Albret, and had been ratified by Henry IV., 
 and by the queen-regent at the commencement of 
 the present reign. This declaration was signed by 
 all the nobility and gentry of the Protestant faith 
 assembled at Orthez. 
 
 At this period (23rd May,) the general assem- 
 bly of the French Protestant church met at 
 Loudun. Lescun was deputed by the B&arnoise 
 synod to attend it, and with his accustomed energy 
 and eloquence, pressed on the assembly, and suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining their vote for a petition to the 
 king, for the repeal of his edict for the re-estab- 
 
GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 179 
 
 lisliment of the Romish church in B&arn. It was 
 presented to the king at Chantilly, but scornfully 
 rejected, as were the remonstrances against other 
 grievances. The assembly at Loudun came to a 
 resolution, not to separate till their grievances 
 were heard. They were commanded to dissolve 
 the meeting before the 5th of January, 1620. 
 This peremptory mandate roused the spirit of the 
 Protestant party. Preparations were made for 
 resistance, but the calmer counsels of Duplessis, 
 Mornay, and others, prevailed. They separated 
 without any result in April following. 
 
 This suspension of effort on the part of the 
 French Protestants, enabled the king to proceed 
 with his designs against B&arn. That province 
 had become more calm in the expression, but not 
 cooler in the degree of feeling. A new attack on 
 their religion had, in some measure, diverted the 
 attention of the people from the king's edicts, to 
 the immediate agent of this fresh encroachment. 
 Father Daniel, provincial of the Capuchins in 
 Guienne, had ventured to proceed to Pau, and 
 commence preaching. He was challenged to a 
 theological discussion by M. Charles, the Protes- 
 tant professor of divinity at Orthez, and the great 
 hall of the Estates, in the Chateau de Pau, was as- 
 signed for the controversy. The utmost interest was 
 excited. Both disputants, of course, claimed the 
 
180 CHAPTER X. 
 
 victory ; but without any deep critical enquiry, we 
 may safely assign it to the Protestant champion, 
 since Father Daniel, in his version of the discus- 
 sion, complains that * very few Catholics were 
 admitted. 9 
 
 While these controversies were going on in 
 Beam, the people were suddenly electrified with 
 the intelligence that the king had arrived at Bor- 
 deaux. The utmost alarm seized on all. The 
 synod instantly met and despatched two deputies, 
 (L'abbadie, the minister of Pau, and Desmarez,) 
 to the assembly of the French church then sitting 
 at Alais, to concert the measures to be adopted. 
 The governor, the Marquis de la Force, and Cas- 
 saux, president of the council, also set off to meet 
 the king at Bordeaux. Louis immediately sent 
 them back to Pau, with peremptory orders to 
 return immediately with the act of registration of 
 his late edicts, and despatched a confidential agent 
 to report the proceedings. The statement sent to 
 the king, by this agent, of the opposition and 
 excitement of the mass of the people, determined 
 him to proceed personally to Pau. He accor- 
 dingly left Bordeaux, but was stopped at Grenade 
 on the frontier of Beam, by some local difficulty. 
 The knowledge of the king's approach at once 
 determined the conduct of the council. The 
 edicts were duly registered on the 8th of October, 
 
GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 181 
 
 1620. The Marquis de la Force set out imme- 
 diately for Grenade with the act of registration, 
 hoping to prevent the king from entering Barn, 
 but the monarch would not be deterred, but pro- 
 ceeded on his march. 
 
 Louis XIII. entered Pau (the capital of the 
 ancient domain of his family) on the 15th of Oc- 
 tober. A gloomy silence accompanied his progress 
 to the Chateau. No sort of display, on the part 
 of his subjects, testified joy or a wish to shew 
 respect. It was the entry rather of a foreign con- 
 queror amongst a vanquished people, than the heir 
 of their loved and honoured native dynasty. So 
 manifestly adverse was the population, that the 
 king only remained two days at Pau, proceeding 
 on to Navarrenx. This town was the only strong 
 place in Beam, and contained as its garrison, the 
 sole corps of regular troops. These troops had 
 participated in the expression of feeling against 
 the king's edicts, especially on hearing of his arri- 
 val at Bordeaux, and there appeared to be some 
 doubt whether they would accede to the royal will 
 so readily as the people of Pau had done. The 
 king, therefore, sent forward a regiment of his 
 body guard under the count de Schomberg, to 
 precede him to Navarre. The count was received 
 by the governor, Desales, who, being informed 
 that etiquette required him to advance to meet 
 
182 CHAPTER X. 
 
 the king, left the fortress at the head of the chief 
 part of the garrison. Schomberg immediately 
 seized on the gates, and held the city for the king. 
 Desales was rewarded for his acquiescing sim- 
 plicity, by being deprived of his government. 
 Similar precautions were taken to secure Orthez, 
 from whence a great proportion of the Protestants 
 fled. They considered themselves compromised 
 by the active part taken against Renard. 
 
 The king shortly after returned to Pau, where 
 he directed the church of St. Martin, then the 
 only one, to be resumed by the Romanists, and to 
 be purified by the usual ceremonies after its pro- 
 fanation by the Protestants. He caused the act 
 of union between France and Navarre to be re- 
 gistered. He directed the bishops and clergy to 
 take their seats at the council of state and the 
 meeting of estates ; and placed them in full pos- 
 session of their pristine wealth and honour. He 
 then, having overturned the laws and institutions 
 of the last fifty years, demanded an oath of fealty 
 from his subjects, and, very characteristically, 
 bound himself to respect and maintain their 
 rights and privileges ! On concluding these au- 
 thoritative acts, his majesty joined in a solemn 
 procession and mass, carrying a lighted taper 
 through the streets in a very edifying manner. 
 Five days sufficed for the despatch of these mo- 
 
GRIEVANCES OF THE PROTESTANTS. 183 
 
 mentous affairs, after which Louis XIII. (sur- 
 named by the Romanist historians, the Just) 
 quitted the castle of his ancestors *(the scene of so 
 many interesting events) and the people, whose 
 institutions he had destroyed, fully persuaded by 
 his confessor (the Jesuit Darnoux) that he had 
 acted piously towards God, and wisely towards 
 men. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 PROGRESSIVE DEPRIVATION OF PROTESTANT 
 PRIVILEGES. 
 
 THE intelligence of the overthrow of the Pro- 
 testant church in Navarre, was received with 
 the utmost indignation by the Huguenots of 
 France. They saw, in the course taken by the 
 king, the fate that was ultimately destined for 
 themselves. A simultaneous rising, in the Pro- 
 testant districts of Languedoc and Guienne, took 
 place against the Romanists of those provinces. 
 The royal forces in Beam being called into action 
 in those districts, the repressed spirit of the 
 Navarrese sprung into reaction. An assembly of 
 the Protestants was held at Pau, at which resolu- 
 tions were passed declaratory of their determina- 
 tion to resist the resumption of Romanist sway. 
 An attempt was also made to surprise Navarrenx ; 
 but the loss suffered on the occasion only tended 
 to exasperate the country. The spirit of resist- 
 
DEPRIVATION OF PRIVILEGES. 185 
 
 ance again became general, and the governor, the 
 marquis de Laforce, found it expedient to sanction 
 the non-execution of the king's edict respecting 
 the Romanists. The triumph was a short one. 
 In May 1621, the duke d'Epernon was commis- 
 sioned by the king to enter Barn with a force of 
 two thousand foot and five hundred horse, which 
 being joined by the Romanist party, enabled him, 
 in three weeks, to resume possession of the whole 
 country. The marquis de Laforce was deprived 
 of the government, and compelled to fly ; the 
 marshal de Themines, a rigid Romanist, being 
 appointed in his stead. The Romanists were 
 again placed in possession of the churches and 
 ecclesiastical property ; those of the Protestant 
 party, who were compromised by the late proceed- 
 ings, flying to the neighbouring recesses of the 
 Pyrennees. 
 
 This detour of the king's forces, enabled the 
 Protestants of the neighbouring provinces of 
 France to make head against his authority. So 
 stoutly did they maintain their ground, that Louis 
 himself found it necessary to appear on the scene of 
 action, and on the 16th of August, laid siege to 
 Montauban, with a force of ten thousand men, and 
 forty-five pieces of artillery, a tremendous train at 
 that period. The marquis de Laforce, with many 
 of the Bearnoise refugees, were in the town, 
 
186 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 under the chieftainship of the duke de Rohan, but 
 the whole of the garrison was under two thousand 
 men, though the citizens, and even the women, 
 distinguished themselves in active and enthusiastic 
 opposition to the besiegers. M. Charles, the 
 professor of divinity at Orthez, was also there, and 
 contributed with other zealous Protestant minis- 
 ters to maintain the spirit of the garrison and 
 people. After attempting every mode of attack 
 during a siege of three months, Louis was com- 
 pelled, to his great mortification, to retire with 
 great loss and dishonour. 
 
 This defeat inspirited the Protestants The 
 people of Montpellier rose and drove all the 
 Romish priests, monks, and nuns, out of their 
 city on the 21st of November, a week after the 
 king's retreat from Montauban. The example 
 was widely followed, but the Bearnoise were 
 kept in check by the troops and Romish refugees, 
 who fell back on that province. By a detachment 
 of these, Lescun, the indefatigable and talented 
 opponent of the Romanists, was taken. He was 
 carried a prisoner to Bordeaux, where being 
 charged with having perverted the public mind 
 against the king by his writings and speeches, he 
 was condemned to have his head, legs, and arms cut 
 off, which cruel sentence was carried into effect 
 on the 18th of May, 1622. A very different fate 
 
DEPRIVATION OF PRIVILEGES. 187 
 
 awaited the marquis de Laforce, only three days 
 afterwards. The marquis had attained that period 
 of life, when action in the field is unsuitable. 
 His long continuance in the honorable post of 
 governor of Beam, had made the loss of that 
 dignity peculiarly grievous to him. It is pos- 
 sible also, that the calmer consideration, which 
 increasing age produced, had led him to calculate 
 the probable fatal termination of the contest he 
 was engaged in. Whatever were the conducive 
 motives, the leading one was obviously his own 
 aggrandisement; for, after a short negotiation 
 with the court, he quitted the ranks of the re- 
 formers, and was honoured with the baton of a 
 marshal of France, on the 21st of May, 1622. 
 At this period, the king was again in the field 
 against the Protestants. After various fortune, 
 a peace was signed between Louis and the duke 
 de Rohan, highly favorable in point of stipulation, 
 to the cause of the latter. The edict of Nantes was 
 re-confirmed, and the Protestants placed, nominally, 
 in possession of all the privileges they desired. 
 
 This peace enabled the king to proceed with 
 his measures in Beam. The Jurats, or town 
 councillors, of those places most noted for their 
 adhesion to Protestantism, were removed, and their 
 posts filled with Romanists. The reformed clergy 
 were turned out of their churches, and the priests 
 
188 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 reinstated. The Protestants were denied the use 
 of bells, and admission to the church-yards. 
 Their schoolmasters were left without salaries, 
 and consequently, were obliged to give up their 
 occupations. On the other hand, in those parts 
 of the country where there was no power to 
 coerce, the Protestants refused to pay tithes to 
 the Romish priests, or to allow any sums to be 
 paid out of the public rates for purpose connected 
 with their worship. At Orthez, the cordeliers 
 entered the town, to resume possession of their 
 ancient domicile, under the auspices of the new 
 Jurats. But the possession was disputed by those 
 who had purchased the building. The Jurats 
 ordered force to be used to obtain entrance, but 
 the people rose and drove the cordeliers away, 
 wounding and maltreating several. Such was the 
 state of society which the edict of Louis produced. 
 The sudden stoppage of the tide of opinion 
 caused it at first to rush with more force, but the 
 barricades to stem it were every day raised higher 
 and higher. The Jesuits and the Capuchins were 
 established at Pau. The Barnabites opened a 
 college at Ney, while the Protestant seminary 
 was ordered to be closed. In order to instigate 
 the young and aspiring to bend to their doctrines, 
 the government filled up every vacant office with 
 Romanists ; while every discouragement was offered 
 
DEPRIVATION OF PRIVILEGES. 189 
 
 to those of the reformed church who held offices 
 by patent or custom. So bound and shackled was 
 the province, that though another war between 
 the Huguenots and the king broke out in 1625, 
 yet the Navarrese evinced no sympathy in action. 
 In February 1626, peace was again concluded 
 between the king and the Protestants. The first 
 fruit of it was an edict issued by Louis to the 
 people of Navarre, stating that their country was 
 not included in the edict of Nantes, although 
 now united with France : that grave inconveniences 
 had arisen from having Protestants mingled with 
 Catholics in the courts of that nation ; finally that 
 the king forbade all collections, by ministers or 
 others, that were not authorized by letters patent 
 specially obtained. This was at once stopping up 
 the source and fountain of the reformed worship, 
 as well as throwing a national discredit on its 
 members. The public grant which, it had been 
 stipulated, should be allowed to the reformed 
 church, was altogether a nullity, and, by the 
 closure of private resource, the fall and ruin of 
 that institution was ensured. The flagrant treachery 
 and stern tyranny of the measure, increased its 
 effect, since the hopelessness of opposition was, 
 thereby, more completely manifested. In 1628, 
 the fall of Rochelle, the bulwark of the Protes- 
 tant cause in France, deprived that party of their 
 
190 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 last hope of successful resistance to the yoke im- 
 posed upon them. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, as evincing the rotatory 
 nature of human progress, that the sons of many 
 of the most ardent Protestants of Navarre were 
 zealous combatants in the king's army against 
 Rochelle. Eight years only had elapsed, since 
 the complete restitution of Romanism had been 
 effected : the sprouting branches had been trained 
 in the way the government desired them to go ; 
 the influence of worldly principle and present 
 hope had lured many ; the want of any principle 
 had, possibly, led more; for in the contest of 
 opinions, a sort of neutral ground is usually es- 
 tablished, where a refuge may be found from the 
 sway of either. How vitally important, to the 
 well-being of society, is the nature of a govern- 
 ment ! How deeply responsible are those who 
 constitute it ! 
 
 The fate of the town of Pamiers, in the county 
 of Foix, will afford an example of the mode of 
 treatment inflicted on those who adhered to their 
 faith. Pamiers had declared for the duke de 
 Rohan, in the outbreak of 1625. In the ensuing 
 year it was taken by assault by the king's forces. 
 The governor was executed and the remaining 
 Protestants were driven out of the place. The 
 churches, after being purified from Protestant 
 
DEPRIVATION OF PRIVILEGES. 191 
 
 contagion, were occupied by the Romish clergy. 
 All other modes of worship were rigidly pro- 
 hibited. The love of home, (the altar-hearth of 
 home,) induced the expelled citizens to creep 
 back to their birth-spot. Some conformed to the 
 Roman faith; others put on the semblance of 
 conformity. A little band, however remained of 
 faithful disciples, who, gradually, spread around 
 them a negative influence, till, at last, the Pro- 
 testants again became so numerous as to come 
 forth and claim participation in the rights of 
 citizenship. But the arm of power was again ex- 
 tended. The parliament of Thoulouse issued 
 mandates for the suppression of the rising body, 
 and, as the Romanist historians express it, 
 * peace was once more established in the town.' 
 But ' in those times there was no peace to him 
 that went out, nor to him that came in, but great 
 vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the 
 coun tries. 7> (2 Chron. xv. 5.) 
 
 The family of Laterrade at Pau, were Protest- 
 ants. Two of the daughters, Jeanne and Marie 
 Laterrade, had been lured by the pomp and spe- 
 cious arguments of the priests, so as to evince an 
 inclination to become Romanists. The unhappy 
 parents urged every argument against this declen- 
 sion, and proceeded to a more authoritative en- 
 deavour to deter their children from apostacy. 
 
192 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The disappointed priests applied to the parliament 
 of Pau, by whose orders, the two females were 
 taken from their parent's house, and placed in the 
 convent of Notre Dame. The protestant consis- 
 tory took up the case, on the part of the parents, 
 and addressed the governor. But the application was 
 vain. The grasp of " the Church/' was inflexible. 
 
 But the impatient expectations of the Romish 
 party were not realized with sufficient rapidity. 
 In 1633 the king issued an edict restricting the 
 Protestant ministers from preaching in any other 
 places than where they resided. This was an 
 effectual crush to missionary exertions, or the 
 extension of individual ability. As it allowed no 
 substitution in the case of death or disability, the 
 enforcement of this edict necessarily led to more 
 and more restriction. The synod was also pro- 
 hibited from executing any ecclesiastical function, 
 without the consent of the parliament. Not even 
 a day of fasting or prayer could be simultaneously 
 held without the sanction of the Romish authorities. 
 
 In 1640, more coercive measures were adopted. 
 The parliament of Pau decreed that no Protestant 
 place of worship should be allowed to exist in 
 any place where there were fewer than ten resi- 
 dent families of that persuasion. 1 
 
 1 A measure of a similar nature was proposed in the British 
 parliament, with respect to the Protestant church in Ireland, 
 in 1835. 
 
DEPRIVATION OF PRIVILEGES. 193 
 
 This decree roused the Navarrese Protestants 
 to exert themselves against the desolating oppres- 
 sion that was every day bearing more heavily on 
 them. The synod drew up a petition to the king 
 against this measure and the other restrictions 
 under which they laboured. The monarch did 
 not condescend to notice the petition. 
 
 At this period the Protestants were much dis- 
 pirited by a secession from their body of one of 
 their most popular ministers, Martin, minister of 
 Cartets. He had been engaged for thirty-seven 
 years in that office, and was now in the seventieth 
 year of his age. His only son had been brought 
 up under his own eye, and was intended to suc- 
 ceed him in his ministerial office. The fond fa- 
 ther, however, thought that his son's talents were 
 worthy of a more finished education, and, as there 
 were now no professors of his own faith, he was 
 tempted by the high sounding titles of those of the 
 Barnabite college at Nay, to trust him to their 
 tuition. Young Martin had nearly attained his 
 twentieth year, and fortified, as it was conceived, 
 by early and long acquaintance with the tenets of 
 the reformed church, of which he was considered 
 a sincere disciple, he set out to be instructed by 
 the monks of Nay. 1 Here his progress was rapid, 
 
 1 It is surprising to find many English protestants on the con- 
 tinent, sending their children, with strange inconsistency or re- 
 K 
 
194 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 so much so that the Barnabite brethren considered 
 him worthy of every effort to detach him from the 
 faith he was brought up in, and to place his light 
 in their own candlestick. They cautiously ab- 
 stained, however, from attacking his doctrines, but 
 first wrought him into implicit credence in apos- 
 tolical succession, and the authority of the church. 
 The descent was then rapid to a total prostration 
 before those who claimed the inheritance of that 
 authority. When they had entangled him in the 
 mazes of school divinity, he was easily secured and 
 bound, and, in this state, sent to the monastery 
 of Nolan, to enter on his noviciate as a Barnabite 
 monk. 
 
 The father of Martin knew nothing of this 
 change in his son's opinions until it was too late 
 to counteract them. Arguments, prayers, en- 
 treaties, were ineffectual. In due time young 
 Martin became a monk, and the disappointed 
 parent refused all intercourse with his perverted 
 son: but the young Barnabite now took a new 
 view of his filial duty he determined to convert 
 his father. For two years the young man at- 
 tempted to gain an interview with his angry pa- 
 rent. He was allowed to leave his convent to 
 
 ligious indifference, to Romanist places of instruction. If it be a 
 blessed work to be accessary to the saving of a soul, what must it 
 be to aid in destroying one ? 
 
DEPRIVATION OF PRIVILEGES. 195 
 
 reside near the minister of Cartets, till at last his 
 patient assiduity appeared to soften his father's 
 heart. He was admitted to his house again ; the 
 old man thought that " he who was lost was found," 
 but the religious " prodigal" came not to repent. 
 Strange to say he wrought so powerfully on his 
 father's mind that he won him over from the faith 
 of scripture, to " the doctrines of men." Still 
 more singular it was to find that the elder Martin 
 became an active coadjutor with his son in mis- 
 sionary effort. He published a statement of his 
 reasons for quitting the faith he had advocated for 
 seven and thirty years. It was profusely circu- 
 lated by the Romanist party, and drew general 
 attention to the aged convert, who was successfully 
 used as a lure to the people. A day was ap- 
 pointed for his public recantation in the cathedral 
 of Lescar, to which he was led by crowds of 
 priests in solemn procession, and attended by mul- 
 titudes of people from the surrounding district. 
 After a Te Deum, the ex-minister recanted pub- 
 licly, and exhorted his hearers (amongst whom it 
 is said were eight hundred protestants) to quit the 
 way of perdition, and return into the bosom of 
 the church. 
 
 In the ensuing year, 1643, Louis XIII. de- 
 prived the ministers of the reformed church in 
 Navarre, of the stipend he had engaged to give 
 K 2 
 
196 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 them, on the resumption of ecclesiastical property 
 by the Romanists. These allowances had been 
 irregularly paid, but being now entirely discon- 
 tinued, occasioned great distress. It will be re- 
 collected that in 1626, the Protestants had been 
 prohibited from making collections of money with- 
 out licence from the government, but this decree 
 was now relaxed, and permission given to the 
 Protestants to support themselves. This act of 
 grace was the last which providence allowed 
 Louis XIII. to extend to the Bearnoise Protest- 
 ants. He quitted this world on the 14th of May, 
 1643. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LOUIS XIV. TYRANNOUS TREATMENT OF THE 
 PROTESTANTS. THEIR DESTRUCTION. PRESENT 
 STATE OF PROTESTANTISM. 
 
 THE history of Louis XIV. is, in relation to his 
 Protestant subjects, a mere epitaph on their tomb. 
 His reign, like that of his predecessor, commenced 
 with assurances of favour and privileges ; but long 
 before its termination, those privileges were de- 
 stroyed, and that favour turned to deadly hatred. 
 The Romanists do not conceal, that it was the 
 fixed purpose of those two monarchs to destroy 
 Protestantism, and that all their declarations of 
 protection and advantage, were only held out to 
 keep their victims in a steady posture on the block, 
 till the moment for execution came. 
 
 The assurances made to the Protestants by Car- 
 dinal Mazarine, in the name of the young king, 
 were accepted as realities, notwithstanding the 
 experience of the past reign. If the edicts of 
 
198 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Nantes and Fontainbleau were confirmed, it ap- 
 peared to the guileless reasoners, that all interven- 
 ing and derogatory decrees were, ipso facto, 
 abolished. But this was not royal logic. The 
 Bearnoise reformers, inspirited by that view of the 
 king's declaration, began again to raise their heads 
 and to extend their doctrines. This called forth 
 the voice of authority, and on the 29th of January, 
 1644, a decree was issued, enforcing all the re- 
 strictions and penalties published during the pre- 
 vious reign. To enforce these, a commission, of 
 six members of the Navarrese council of state, was 
 appointed. The Protestants were unwilling to 
 consider the assurances made to them, only a few 
 months before, as a mere nullity. They pe- 
 titioned the queen-regent, Anna of Austria, for 
 the allowance of such privileges as were essential 
 toUieir existence as a body, especially for the 
 establishment of seminaries of their own commu- 
 nion. On the 14th of July, they received the 
 royal reply. There were a sufficient number of 
 seminaries in Beam, but as a special act of grace, 
 a certain number of Protestant youths were to be 
 educated, at the king's expence in the Jesuit 
 college at Pan ! 
 
 At the town of St. Sever the reformers, soon 
 after the king's declaration, commenced rebuilding 
 their church, which had been destroyed in the late 
 
LOUIS xiv. 199 
 
 wars. This act of assumption was discovered by 
 the commissioners of the council, and the heretical 
 design prevented. At Nerac, where the majority 
 of the inhabitants were of the Reformed religion, 
 a school was opened for their children, but the 
 hand of power quickly closed it. The same attempt 
 and subsequent abolition, occurred in many other 
 places, shewing that the vigour of life was still in 
 the Protestant body, notwithstanding all the efforts 
 of their enemies to subdue it. It was only for 
 existence that the Reformers struggled. Their 
 political importance was destroyed. They had 
 neither force nor leaders ; for all interchange and 
 power of union being cut off, by the severe restric- 
 tions under which they laboured, no concert could 
 exist amongst them, and they offered no advantages 
 of aid to the ambitious or discontented heads of 
 parties. But a purer principle, a more decidedly 
 religious feeling, seems to have prevailed amongst 
 them, from being thus secluded from political 
 strife. Even when the civil war of the Fronde 
 broke out, at the end of the year 1648, the lure 
 of expectation or the wish for triumph, could not 
 excite them into the contest against the king. 
 This loyal demeanour gained them the cheap grace 
 of another confirmation of the edict of Nantes. 
 But the danger having passed, the persecution 
 against the Protestants again commenced. 
 
200 CHAPTER XII, 
 
 Notwithstanding every act of coercion, the doc- 
 trines of reform were not only firmly maintained 
 but extended. It was ' a trial of the spirits.' The 
 fearful, the weak in faith and mind, had been 
 drawn out of the ranks of reform, by the proceed- 
 ings of the Romanists; but the strong, the vigor- 
 ous and firm remained, and became stronger from 
 the loss of the weak. But the time was approach- 
 ing when ' the three hundred of Thermopylae ' 
 were to take their station in the pass. 
 
 The Romish hierarchy in France were dissatis- 
 fied with the slow process of extinction, which the 
 wary cardinal at the head of the French govern- 
 ment thought it expedient to adopt. In their 
 Christian feeling they considered that the ' coup de 
 grace' should not be delayed. The assembly of 
 the clergy of France, on the representation of the 
 bishop of Commenges, addressed the Queen Regent 
 to this effect in 1650. They represented that the 
 Protestants were surreptitiously educating their 
 children in their own opinions ; that they were 
 blasphemously building places for their heretical 
 worship ; and that they were unjustly collecting 
 money for the support of their ministers, instead 
 of contributing to the wealth of " the only true 
 church." But, in the midst of the wars in which 
 the government was involved, and the treachery 
 and tergiversation of the leading characters of the 
 
TREATMENT OF THE PROTESTANTS. 201 
 
 time, it was not expedient to crush at once the 
 hopes of two millions of people. Acts of alternate 
 grace and repression were extended towards them, 
 by which they were retained in humble depend- 
 ence, till the period the fulness of time had 
 arrived for their destruction. 
 
 In August 1684, the Treaty of Ratisbon having 
 put an end to the state of war in which Louis had 
 been involved during his whole reign, preparations 
 were made for cleansing the land from the conta- 
 mination of Protestantism. On the 23d of the 
 same month (August 1684) an e ordinance ' was 
 issued, prohibiting any reformed minister from 
 remaining more than three years in one place. It 
 also prohibited the serving any other ministra- 
 tion within twenty leagues from the " temple" 
 vacated, or from returning to such vacated place 
 until after twelve years ; nor was any minister, 
 who had retired from his office, permitted to reside 
 nearer than six leagues from the scene of his for- 
 mer labours. This was separating the officers from 
 the troops, previously to breaking them. The 
 Protestants remonstrated on the occasion, and in 
 the statement which they drew up, enumerated the 
 violations of the Edict of Nantes, which they had 
 successively suffered. ' II toit' (says a Protestant 
 writer Martimere) ' si aise de prouver qu'on 1'avoit 
 viole, qu'il y avoit une espece de ridicule & 
 1'entreprendre.' 
 
202 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Twelve days after, (4th September,) another 
 ' ordonnance ' closed all private Protestant chapels. 
 On the 8th of January 1685, an interdiction was 
 laid on the ministers in public chapels. On the 
 9th of July, it was forbidden to Protestants to be 
 either printers or booksellers ; nor was any Pro- 
 testant allowed to retain a Romanist as a servant. 
 These and other restrictive regulations were heaped 
 upon the abused reformers, gradually pressing 
 them down and preventing them from effort, just 
 previous to their final overthrow. But these were 
 tender mercies, compared to the means employed 
 to extirpate Protestants in Beam and the western 
 parts of France. 
 
 In September 1684, marshal Boufflers was sent 
 into Beam with a strong force, who were billeted 
 on the Protestants throughout the country, and 
 upon whom they lived at discretion. Conformity 
 to the Romish church was the only means of ex- 
 emption. The utmost severity was exercised 
 towards the unfortunate people, whose complaints 
 were utterly unheeded. In the different towns 
 public notice was given that, on a certain day, the 
 troops would enter, and that all Protestants, who 
 would conform in the interval, would be exone- 
 rated from the burden of their support and unli- 
 censed conduct. At Oloron, this intimation was 
 made by the bishop, to whom the inhabitants, 
 
TREATMENT OF THE PROTESTANTS. 203 
 
 scared by the apprehension of the cruelties endured 
 by others, almost entirely submitted. At Pau, a 
 number of respectable Protestants offered to sub- 
 mit, on condition that the two ministers of the 
 town should be released from prison. To the 
 honour of the reformed clergy of Beam, the name 
 of only one of them (Goulard) is mentioned as 
 having renounced his faith. 
 
 These tyrannous measures (which were called 
 la Dragonade) produced so much apparent con- 
 formity, that public rejoicings were ordered to be 
 held at Pau. This festivity must have much 
 resembled the dance of negroes in an African 
 slave-ship ! 
 
 On the 22nd of October, 1685, that fatal decree 
 was registered, which destroyed evangelical reli- 
 gion in France, by the revocation of the edict of 
 Nantes. In Beam, the Protestants had already 
 been dragonaded into exterior conformity, but 
 many fled into the fastnesses of the Pyrennees for 
 shelter. Only fifteen days were allowed by the 
 decree of revocation for conformity to the Romish 
 church, or the infliction of penalties for recusancy. 
 Those who did not at once " fly from the wrath to 
 come,'* which their fellow-men had impiously 
 taken upon them to fulminate, were compelled to 
 bear the loss of either life, liberty, or religion. 
 Troops were dispersed in all directions, in pur- 
 
204 . CHAPTER XII. 
 
 suit of fugitives, to whom no quarter was given ; 
 and, to prevent escape by sea, a penalty of three 
 thousand francs was imposed for every Protestant 
 sheltered by captains or owners of vessels. 
 
 The events that occurred at this period, and the 
 cruel results occasioned by the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantes, are registered in the history of 
 every Protestant nation, to whose refuge and 
 sympathy, many thousands of the unfortunate 
 Huguenots were enabled to fly. A medal struck 
 in memory of this Romish act of faith by Louis 
 XIV, states that 2,000,000 of Calvinists were 
 brought back to the church, ( ( ob vicies centena 
 millia calviniarorum, &c.') ; by which it would 
 appear that they constituted a tenth part of the 
 then population of France. At least two hundred 
 thousand escaped, but the computation on the 
 medal appears to be inclusive of the aggregate 
 number. In the south of France the Protestants 
 were, at the time, on the increase, a circumstance 
 which, probably, led to the apparently sudden 
 determination to stop their progress. Eighty 
 6 temples ' had been built in Beam during the 
 reign of Jeanne d'Albret, and the first ten years of 
 that of Henr}^ IV. At the period of the revoca- 
 tion of the edict of Nantes, nearly three hundred 
 Protestant places of worship existed in that coun- 
 try. These were probably, mere " upper cham- 
 
TREATMENT OF THE PROTESTANTS. 205 
 
 bers," unostentatious places of assembly for the 
 most part, and yet publicly known and designated 
 as Protestant " temples." Many parts of Navarre 
 must necessarily, (from the severity of the edicts,) 
 have been without any ostensible places of wor- 
 ship, and the shrinking Protestants have assem- 
 bled only " in dens and caves of the earth." The 
 number of known places of Protestant worship 
 equalled those of the Romanists ; it is not, there- 
 fore, an unfounded assumption, to calculate the 
 former at two-thirds of the entire Bearnoise popu- 
 lation. The town of Salies, the second of size and 
 population in B&arn, is mentioned as having suff- 
 ered much from the dragonade, on account of the 
 majority of the inhabitants being Protestants. As 
 the population of Beam, at that period, only 
 amounted to about half of its present number, 
 (450,000), it is probable there were nearly 150,000 
 Protestants subject to the tyrannous edict of 
 1685. 
 
 At present, there are scarcely five thousand 
 nominal Protestants in this district. Persecution 
 and patronage having been removed, they have 
 dropped, in the absence of excitement, into an 
 apparent state of lukewarmness. Here and there 
 a zealous minister " prophecies upon the bones/' 
 and " a shaking " is visible. But the French 
 character is not disposed to be sectarian in its 
 
206 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 humbler sense, of separation and inferiority. The 
 hubbub of concourse, or exterior distinction, are 
 requisite to engage them. If a * coup de religion ' 
 could be effected with sufficient notoriety in any 
 part of France, the excitenr^nt of a spirit might 
 possibly spread; or, if Protestant " temples " could 
 be reared, like their stately prototype of Cha- 
 renton, 1 they could no doubt be speedily filled. 
 But these very considerations are arguments for 
 increased missionary efforts ; and, happily, they 
 are now in operation in several parts of France. 
 Within the last few years, Protestant congrega- 
 tions have been formed at Avignon, Rheims, 
 Tours, and other places ; humble indeed as to 
 number, but still forming links in the chain which 
 may one day receive the electric fire from heaven, 
 that may corruscate over and enlighten the whole 
 of France. 
 
 The French reformed church is divided into 
 sixteen synodal districts, having eighty-five con- 
 sistories, and two hundred and eighty places of 
 worship. There are also thirty-one consistories, 
 and two hundred and eight churches of the ' Con- 
 
 1 The Protestant temple of Charenton was destroyed by the 
 mob of Paris, who poured forth to level it, in October 1685. The 
 event is recorded by a medal then struck, representing the stately 
 edifice in ruins, its fluted pillars of stone and solid masonry lying 
 around in scattered heaps. 
 
TREATMENT OF THE PROTESTANTS. 207 
 
 fession of Augsburg/ or Lutheran faith. The 
 Societe Evangelique de France has, likewise, 
 fourteen settled ministers, and eight Evangelistes, 
 or missionaries. The European, or Continental 
 society of London, and the Societe Evangelique 
 of Geneva, are also in the field, independently of 
 the Societe Biblique, and other bodies of aux- 
 iliaries. 
 
 The estimated number of Protestants in France, 
 at present, is about a million and a half. Some 
 raise the amount higher, but " they are not all 
 Israel, which are of Israel." The droppings from 
 the Romish church do not much swell the stream; 
 but there are many of the Guizot school, (such as 
 in England, are called ( rational Christians,') who 
 roll with it. " The church of the Laodiceans " 
 has many followers here. 
 
 In the south-west of France, (particularly the 
 ancient Beam, the mild plastic character of 
 the people, and historic recollections seem to 
 invite missionary exertion. The sun that has set 
 has left some warmth in the soil. May it rise 
 again and endure, not merely as in former days, 
 during the course of a polar summer, but " until 
 time shall be no longer." 
 
 O 
 
 THE END. , 
 
L, AND G. SEELEY, THAMES DITTOS, SURREY. 
 
n 
 
 540757 
 
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