THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 

 
 CATHERINE DE' MEDICI 
 
 BY 
 
 H. DE BALZAC 
 
 Translated by 
 
 CLARA BELL 
 
 with a Preface by 
 
 GEORGE SAINTSBURY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE F. M. LUPTON PUBLISHING COMPANY
 
 College 
 Library, 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THIS book (as to which it is important to remember the 
 Sur if injustice is not to be done to the intentions of the 
 author) has plenty of interest of more kinds than one ; 
 but it is perhaps more interesting because of the place it 
 holds in Balzac's work than for itself. He had always 
 considerable hankerings after the historical novel : his 
 early and lifelong devotion to Scott would sufficiently 
 account for that. More than one of the (Euvres de Jeu- 
 nesse attempts the form in a more or less conscious way: 
 the Chouans, the first successful book, definitely attempts 
 it ; but by far the most ambitious attempt is to be found 
 in the book before us. It is most probable that it was of 
 this, if of anything of his own, that Balzac was thinking 
 when, in 1846, he wrote disdainfully to Madame Hanska 
 about Dumas, and expressed himself towards Les Trois 
 Mousquetaires (which had whiled him through a day of 
 cold and inability to work) nearly as ungratefully as 
 Carlyle did towards Captain Marryat. And though it is, 
 let it be repeated, a mistake, and a rather unfair mistake, 
 to give such a title to the book as might induce readei'S to 
 regard it as a single and definite novel, of which Catherine 
 is the heroine, though it is made up of three parts written 
 at very different times, it has a unity which the introduc- 
 tion shows to some extent, and which a rejected preface 
 given by M. de Lovenjoul shows still better. 
 
 To understand this, we must remember that Balzac, 
 though not exactly an historical scholar, was a consider- 
 able student of history ; and that, although rather an 
 amateur politician, he was a constant thinker and writer 
 
 iii
 
 iv Preface 
 
 on political subjects. We must add to these remembrances 
 the fact of his intense interest in all such matters as 
 Alchemy, the Elixir of Life, and so forth, to which the 
 sixteenth century in general, and Catherine de' Medici 
 in particular, were known to be devoted. All these in- 
 terests of his met in the present book, the parts of which 
 appeared in inverse order, and the genesis of which is im- 
 portant enough to make it desirable to incorporate some 
 of the usual bibliographical matter in the substance of 
 this preface. The third and shortest, Les Deux Rives, 
 a piece partly suggestive of the famous Prophecy of Cazotte 
 and other legends of the Revolution (but with more re- 
 trospective than prospective view), is dated as early as 
 1828 (before the turning-point), and was actually pub- 
 lished in a periodical in 1830. La Confidence des Ruggieri, 
 written in 1836 (and, as I have noted in the general in- 
 troduction, according to its author, in a single night) 
 followed, and Le Martyr Calviniste, which had several 
 titles, and was advertised as in preparation for a long time, 
 did not come till 1841. 
 
 It is unnecessary to say that all are interesting. The 
 personages, both imaginary and historical, appear at times 
 in a manner worthy of Balzac ; many separate scenes are 
 excellent ; and, to those who care to perceive them, the 
 various occupations of the author appear in the most in- 
 teresting manner. Politically, his object was, at least by 
 his own account, to defend the maxim that private and 
 public morality are different ; that the policy of a state 
 cannot be, and ought not to be, governed by the same con- 
 siderations of duty to its neighbors as those which ought 
 to govern the conduct of an individual. The very best 
 men those least liable to the slightest imputation of cor- 
 rupt morals and motives have endorsed this principle ; 
 though it has been screamed at by a few fanatics, a some- 
 what larger number of persons who found their account 
 in so doing, and a great multitude of hasty, dense, or
 
 Preface V 
 
 foolish folk. But it was something of a mark of that 
 amateurishness which spoilt Balzac's dealing with the 
 subject to choose the sixteenth century for his text. For 
 every cool-headed student of history and ethics will admit 
 that it was precisely the abuse of this principle at this 
 time, and by persons of whom Catherine de' Medici, if 
 not the most blainable, has had the most blame put on 
 her, that brought the principle itself into discredit. Be- 
 tween the assertion that the strictest morality of the Ser- 
 mon on the Mount must obtain between nation and nation, 
 between governor and governed, and the maxim that in 
 politics the end of public safety justifies any means what- 
 ever, there is a perfectly immense gulf fixed. 
 
 If, however, we turn from this somewhat academic point, 
 and do not dwell very much on the occult and magical 
 sides of the matter, interesting as they are, we shall be 
 brought at once face to face with the question, is the 
 handling of this book the right and proper one for an 
 historical novel ? Can we in virtue of it rank Balzac (this 
 is the test which he would himself, beyond all question, 
 have accepted) a long way above Dumas and near Scott ? 
 
 I must say that I can see no possibility of answer ex- 
 cept, " Certainly not." For the historical novel depends 
 almost more than any other division of the kind upon 
 interest of story. Interest of story is not, as has been 
 several times pointed out, at any time Balzac's main ap- 
 peal, and he has succeeded in it here less than in most 
 other places. He has discussed too much ; he has brought 
 in too many personages without sufficient interest of plot ; 
 but, above all, he exhibits throughout an incapacity to 
 handle his materials in the peculiar way required. How 
 long he was before he grasped " the way to do it," even 
 on his own special lines, is the commonplace and refrain 
 of all writing about him. Now, to this special kind he 
 gave comparatively little attention, and the result is that 
 he mastered it less than any other. In the best stories
 
 vi Preface 
 
 of Dumas (and the best number some fifteen or twenty at 
 least) the interest of narrative, of adventure, of what will 
 happen to the personages, takes you by the throat at once, 
 and never lets you go till the end. There is little or noth- 
 ing of this sort here. The three stories are excellently 
 well-informed studies, very curious and interesting in divers 
 ways. The Ruggieri is perhaps something more ; but it 
 is, as its author no doubt honestly entitled it, much more 
 an Etude Philosophique than an historical novelette. In 
 short, this was not Balzac's way. We need not be sorry 
 it is very rarely necessary to be that that he tried it ; we 
 may easily forgive him for not recognizing the ease and 
 certainty with which Dumas trod the path. But we 
 should be most of all thankful that he did not himself 
 enter it frequently, or ever pursue it far. 
 
 The most important part of the bibliography of the book 
 has been given above. The rest is a little complicated, 
 and for its ins and outs reference must be made to the 
 usual authority. It should be enough to say that the 
 Martyr, under the title of Les Lecamus, first appeared in 
 the Siecle during the spring of 1841. Sovverain published 
 it as a book two years later with the other two, as Catherine 
 de' Medicis Expliqute. The second part, entitled, not La 
 Confidence, but Le Secret des Ruggieri, had appeared much 
 earlier in the Chronique de Paris during the winter of 
 1836-37, and had been published as a book in the latter 
 year ; it was joined to Catherine de' Medicis Expliquee as 
 above. The third part, after appearing in the Monde as 
 early as May 1830, also appeared in the Deux Mondes for 
 December of the same year, then became one of the Romans 
 et Contes Philosophiques, then an Etude Philosophique, 
 and in 1843 joined Catherine de' Medicis Expliqu&e. The 
 whole was inserted in the Comddie in 1846. 
 
 G. S.
 
 CATHERINE DE' MEDICI 
 
 TO MONSIEUR LE MARQUIS DE PASTORET, MEMBER OF THE 
 ACADEMIE DES BEAUX-ARTS. 
 
 When we consider the amazing number of volumes written to 
 ascertain the spot where Hannibal crossed the Alps, without our 
 knowing to this day whether it was, as Whitaker and Rivaz say, 
 by Lyons, Geneva, the Saint-Bernard, and the Valley of Aosta ; or, 
 as we are told by Letronne, Follard, Saint-Simon, and Fortia 
 d'Urban, by the Isere, Grenoble, Saint-Bonnet, Mont Genevre, 
 Fenestrella, and the Pass of Susa ; or, according to Larauza, by 
 the Mont Cenis and Susa ; or, as Strabo, Polybius and de Luc tell 
 us, by the Rhone, Vienne, Yenne, and the Mont du Chat ; or, as 
 certain clever people opine, by Genoa, la Bochetta, and la Scrivia 
 the view I hold, and which Napoleon had adopted to say 
 nothing of the vinegar with which some learned men have 
 dressed the Alpine rocks, can we wonder, Monsieur le Marquis, to 
 find modern history so much neglected that some most important 
 points remain obscure, and that the most odious calumnies still 
 weigh on names which ought to be revered ? And it may be noted 
 incidentally that by dint of explanations it has become problema- 
 tical whether Hannibal ever crossed the Alps at all. Father Me- 
 nestrier believes that the Scoras spoken of by Polybius was the 
 Saone ; Letronne, Larauza, and Schweighauser believe it to be the 
 Is&re ; Cochard, a learned man of Lyons, identifies it with the 
 Drome. But to any one who has eyes, are there not striking 
 geographical and linguistic affinities between Scoras and Scrivia, 1 
 to say nothing of the almost certain fact that the Carthaginian 
 fleet lay at la Spezzia or in the Gulf of Genoa ? 
 
 I could understand all this patient research if the battle of 
 Cannae could be doubted ; but since its consequences are well 
 known, what is the use of blackening so much paper with theories 
 that are but the Arabesque of hypothesis, so to speak ; while the 
 most important history of later times, that of the Reformation, 
 is so full of obscurities that the name remains unknown of the 
 
 1
 
 2 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 man 1 who was making a boat move by steam at Barcelona at the 
 time when Luther and Calvin were inventing the revolt of mind ? 
 We, I believe, after having made, each in his own way, the 
 same investigations as to the great and noble character of Cath- 
 erine de' Medici, have come to the same opinion. So I thought 
 that my historical studies on the subject might be suitably dedi- 
 cated to a writer who has labored so long on the history of the 
 Reformation ; and that I should thus do public homage, precious 
 perhaps for its rarity, to the character and fidelity of a man true 
 to the Monarchy. 
 
 PARIS, January, 1848. 
 
 1 The inventor of this experiment was probably Salomon of 
 Caux, not of Caus. This great man was always unlucky ; after 
 his death even his name was misspelt. Salomon, whose original 
 portrait, at the age of forty-six, was discovered by the author of 
 the Human Comedy, was born at Caux, in Normandy.
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 WHEN men of learning are struck by a historical blunder, 
 and try to correct it, "Paradox!" is generally the cry ; 
 but to those who thoroughl} r examine the history of 
 modern times, it is evident that historians are privileged 
 liars, who lend their pen to popular beliefs, exactly as 
 most of the newspapers of the day express nothing but the 
 opinions of their readers. 
 
 Historical independence of thought has been far less 
 conspicuous among lay writers than among the priesthood. 
 The purest light thrown on history has come from the 
 Benedictines, one of the glories of France so long, that 
 is to say, as the interests of the monastic orders are not in 
 question. Since the middle of the eighteenth century, 
 some great and learned controversialists have arisen who, 
 struck by the need for rectifying certain popular errors to 
 which historians have lent credit, have published some re- 
 markable works. Thus Monsieur Launoy, nicknamed the 
 Evicter of Saints, made ruthless war on certain saints 
 who have sneaked into the Church Calendar. Thus the 
 rivals of the Benedictines, the too little known members 
 of the Academic des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, began 
 their mtmoires, their studious notes, full of patience, 
 erudition, and logic, on certain obscure passages of history. 
 Thus Voltaire, with an unfortunate bias, and sadly per- 
 verted passions, often brought the light of his intellect to 
 bear on historical prejudices. Diderot, with this end in 
 view, began a book much too long on a period of the 
 history of Imperial Rome. But for the French Revolution, 
 criticism, as applied to history, might perhaps have laid 
 .up the materials for a good and true history of France, for
 
 4 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 which evidence had long been amassed by the great French 
 Benedictines. Louis XVI., a man of clear mind, himself 
 translated the English work, which so much agitated the 
 last century, in which "Walpole tried to explain the career 
 of Eichard III. 
 
 How is it that persons so famous as kings and queens, 
 so important as generals of great armies, become objects 
 of aversion or derision ? Half the world hesitates between 
 the song on Marlborough and the history of England, as 
 they do between popular tradition and history as concern- 
 ing Charles IX. 
 
 At all periods when great battles are fought between 
 the masses and the authorities, the populace creates an 
 ogresque figure to coin a word for the sake of its exacti- 
 tude. Thus in our own time, but for the Memorials of 
 Saint-Helena, and the controversies of Eoyalists and Bon- 
 apartists, there was scarcely a chance but that Napoleon 
 would have been misunderstood. Another Abbe" de Pradt 
 or two, a few more newspaper articles, and Napoleon from 
 an Emperor would have become an Ogre. 
 
 How is error propagated and accredited. The mystery 
 is accomplished under our eyes without our discerning 
 the process. No one suspects how greatly printing has 
 helped to give body both to the envy which attends persons 
 in high places, and to the popular irony which sums up 
 the converse view of every great historical fact. For in- 
 stance, every bad horse in France that needs flogging is 
 called after the Prince de Polignac ; and so who knows 
 what opinion the future may hold as to the Prince de 
 Polignac's coup d'Etat ? In consequence of a caprice of 
 Shakespeare's a stroke of revenge perhaps, like that of 
 Beaumarchais on Bergasse (Begearss) Falstaff, in Eng- 
 land, is a type of the grotesque ; his name raises a laugh, 
 he is the King of Buffoons. Now, instead of being enor- 
 mously fat, ridiculously amorous, vain, old, drunken, and 
 a corrupter of youth, Falstaff was one of the most impor-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 5 
 
 tant figures of his time, a Knight of the Garter, holding 
 high command. At the date of Henry V.'s accession, 
 Falstaff was at most four-and-thirty. This General, who 
 distinguished himself at the battle of Agincourt, where he 
 took the Due d'Alen9on prisoner, in 1420 took the town of 
 Montereau, which was stoutly defended. Finally, under 
 Henry VI., he beat ten thousand Frenchmen with fifteen 
 hundred men who were dropping with fatigue and hunger. 
 So much for valor ! 
 
 If we turn to literature, Rabelais, among the French, a 
 sober man who drank nothing but water, is thought of as a 
 lover of good cheer and a persistent sot. Hundreds of ab- 
 gurd stories have been coined concerning the author of one 
 of the finest books in French literature, Pantagruel. 
 
 Aretino, Titian's friend, and the Voltaire of his day, is 
 now credited with a reputation, in complete antagonism 
 with his works and character, which he acquired by his 
 over free wit, characteristic of the writings of an age when 
 gross jests were held in honor, and queens and cardinals in- 
 dited tales which are now considered licentious. Instances 
 might be infinitely multiplied. 
 
 In France, and at the most important period of our his- 
 tory, Catherine de' Medici has suffered more from popular 
 error than any other woman, unless it be Brunehaut or 
 Fr6d6gonde ; while Marie de' Medici, whose every action 
 was prejudicial to France, has escaped the disgrace that 
 should cover her name. Marie dissipated the treasure 
 amassed by Henri IV. ; she never purged herself of the 
 suspicion that she was cognizant of his murder ; Eper- 
 non, who had long known Ravaillac, and who did not parry 
 his blow, w&sitinmate with the Queen ; she compelled her 
 son to banish her from France, where she was fostering 
 the rebellion of her other son, Gaston ; and Richelieu's 
 triumph over her on the Journte des Dupes was due solely 
 to the Cardinal's revealing to Louis XIII. certain docu- 
 ments secreted after the death of Henry IV.
 
 6 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Catherine de' Medici, on the contrary, saved the thron* 
 of France, she maintained the Royal authority under cir- 
 cumstances to which more than one great prince would 
 have succumbed. Face to face with such leaders of the 
 factions and ambitions of the houses of Guise and of Bour- 
 bon as the two Cardinals de Lorraine and the two 
 " Balafres," the two Princes de Conde, Queen Jeanne 
 d'Albret, Henri IV., the Connetable de Montmorency, 
 Calvin, the Colignys, and Theodore de Beze, she was forced 
 to put forth the rarest fine qualities, the most essential 
 gifts of statesmanship, under the fire of the Calvinist 
 press. These, at any rate, are indisputable facts. And 
 to the student who digs deep into the history of the 
 sixteenth century in France, the figure of Catherine de' 
 Medici stands out as that of a great king. 
 
 When once calumnies are undermined by facts labori- 
 ously brought to light from under the contradictions of 
 pamphlets and false anecdotes, everything is explained to 
 the glory of this wonderful woman, who had none of the 
 weakness of her sex, who lived chaste in the midst of the 
 gallantries of the most licentious Court in Europe, and 
 who, notwithstanding her lack of money, erected noble 
 buildings, as if to make good the losses caused by the de- 
 structive Calvinists, who injured Art as deeply as they did 
 the body politic. 
 
 Hemmed in between a race of princes who proclaimed 
 themselves the heirs of Charlemagne, and a factious 
 younger branch that was eager to bury the Connetable de 
 Bourbon's treason under the throne ; obliged, too, to fight 
 down a heresy on the verge of devouring the Monarchy, 
 without friends, and aware of treachery in the chiefs of 
 the Catholic party and of republicanism in the Calvinists, 
 Catherine used the most dangerous but the surest of politi- 
 cal weapons Craft. She determined to deceive by turns 
 the party that was anxious to secure the downfall of the 
 House of Valois, the Bourbons who aimed at the Crown,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 7 
 
 and the Reformers the Radicals of that day, who dreamed 
 of an impossible republic, like those of our own day, who, 
 however, have nothing to reform. Indeed, so long as she 
 lived, the Valois sat on the throne. .The great de Thou 
 understood the worth of this woman when he exclaimed, 
 on hearing of her death 
 
 "It is not a woman, it is Royalty that dies in her ! " 
 
 Catherine had, in fact, the sense of Royalty in the high- 
 est degree, and she defended it with admirable courage and 
 persistency. The reproaches flung at her by Calvinist 
 writers are indeed her glory ; she earned them solely 
 by her triumphs. And how was she to triumph but by 
 cunning ? Here lies the whole question. 
 
 As to violence that method bears on one of the most 
 hotly disputed points of policy, which, in recent days, has 
 been answered here, on the spot where a big stone from 
 Egypt has been placed to wipe out the memory of regicide, 
 and to stand as an emblem of the materialistic policy 
 which now rules us ; it was answered at les Carrnes and at 
 the Abbaye ; it was answered on the steps of Saint Roch ; 
 it was answered in front of the Louvre in 1830, and again 
 by the people against the King, as it has since been an- 
 swered once more by la Fayette's ' best of all republics' 
 against the republican rebellion, at Saint-Merri and the 
 Rue Transnonnain. 
 
 Every power, whether legitimate or illegitimate, mast 
 defend itself when it is attacked ; but, strange to say, 
 while the people is heroic when it triumphs over the nobil- 
 ity, the authorities are murderers when they oppose the 
 people ! And, finally, if after their appeal to force they 
 succumb, they are regarded as effete idiots. The present 
 Government (1840) will try to save itself, by two laws, 
 from the same evil as attacked Charles X., and Avhich he 
 tried to scotch by two decrees. Is not this a bitter mock- 
 ery ? May those in power meet cunning with cunning ? 
 Ought they to kill those who try to kill them ?
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 The massacres of the Revolution are the reply to the 
 massacre of Saint-Bartholomew. The People, being King, 
 did by the nobility and the King as the King and the 
 nobility did by the rebels in the sixteenth century. And 
 popular writers, who know full well that, under sim- 
 ilar conditions, the people would do the same again, 
 are inexcusable when they blame Catherine de' Medici and 
 Charles IX. 
 
 "All power is a permanent conspiracy," said Casimir 
 P6rier, when teaching what power ought to be. We ad- 
 mire the anti-social maxims published by audacious writers ; 
 why, then, are social truths received in France with such 
 disfavor when they are boldly stated ? This question alone 
 sufficiently accounts for historical mistakes. Apply the 
 solution of this problem to the devastating doctrines which 
 flatter popular passion, and to the conservative doctrines 
 which would repress the ferocious or foolish attempts of 
 the populace, and you will see the reason why certain per- 
 sonages are popular or unpopular. Laubardemont and 
 Laffemas, like some people now living, were devoted to the 
 maintenance of the power they believed in. Soldiers and 
 judges, they obeyed a Royal authority. D'Orthez, in our 
 day, would be discharged from office for misinterpreting 
 orders from the Ministry, but Charles X. left him to gov- 
 ern his province. The power of the masses is accountable 
 to no one ; the power of one is obliged to account to its 
 subjects, great and small alike. 
 
 Catherine, like Philip II. and the Duke of Alva, like 
 the Guises and Cardinal Granvelle, foresaw the future to 
 which the Reformation was dooming Europe. They saw 
 monarchies, religion, and power all overthrown. Cath- 
 erine, from the Cabinet of the French kings, forthwith 
 issued sentence of death on that inquiring spirit which 
 threatened modern society a sentence which Louis XIV. 
 finally carried out. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes 
 was a measure that proved unfortunate simply in con-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 9 
 
 sequence of the irritation Louis XIV. had aroused in 
 Europe. At any other time England, Holland, and the 
 German Empire would not have encouraged on their 
 territory French exiles and French rehels. 
 
 Why, in these days, refuse to recognize the greatness 
 which the majestic adversary of that most barren heresy 
 derived from the struggle itself ? Calvinists have written 
 strongly against Charles IX. 's stratagems ; bat travel 
 through France : as you see the ruins of so many fine 
 churches destroyed, and consider the vast breaches made 
 by religious fanatics in the social body ; when you learn 
 the revenges they took, while deploring the mischief of 
 individualism the plague of France to-day, of which the 
 germ lay in the questions of liberty of conscience which 
 they stirred up you will ask yourself on which side were 
 the barbarians. There are always, as Catherine says in 
 the third part of this Study, " unluckily, in all ages, 
 hypocritical writers ready to bewail two hundred scoundrels 
 killed in due season." Caesar, who tried to incite the Senate 
 to pity for Catiline's party, would very likely have con- 
 quered Cicero if he had had newspapers and an Opposition 
 at his service. 
 
 Another consideration accounts for Catherine's histori- 
 cal and popular disfavor. In France the Opposition has 
 always been Protestant, because its policy has never been 
 anything but negative ; it has inherited the theories of 
 the Lutherans, the Calvinists, and the Protestants on the 
 terrible texts of liberty, tolerance, progress, and philan- 
 thropy. The opponents of power spent two centuries in 
 establishing the very doubtful doctrine of freewill. Two 
 more were spent in working out the first corollary of free- 
 will liberty of conscience. Our age is striving to prove 
 the second political liberty. 
 
 Standing between the fields already traversed and the fields 
 as yet untrodden, Catherine and the Church proclaimed the 
 salutary principle of modern communities, Una fides, unu*
 
 10 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 but asserting their right of life and death over 
 all innovators. Even if she had been conquered, succeed- 
 ing times have shown that Catherine was right. The out- 
 come of freewill, religious liberty, and political liberty 
 (note, this does not mean civil liberty) is France as we 
 now see it. 
 
 And what is France in 1840 ? A country exclusively 
 absorbed in material interests, devoid of patriotism, devoid 
 of conscience ; where authority is powerless ; where elec- 
 toral rights, the fruit of freewill and political liberty, 
 raise none but mediocrities ; where brute force is neces- 
 sary to oppose the violence of the populace ; where dis- 
 cussion, brought to bear on the smallest matter, checks 
 every action of the body politic ; and where individualism 
 
 the odious result of the indefinite subdivision of property, 
 which destroys family cohesion will devour everything 
 even the nation, which sheer selfishness will some day lay 
 open to invasion. Men will say, ' Why not the Tzar ? ' as 
 they now say, 'Why not the Due d'Orleans ?' We do 
 not care for many things even now ; fifty years hence 
 we shall care for nothing. 
 
 Therefore, according to Catherine and according to all 
 who wish to see Society soundly organized man as a 
 social unit, as a subject, has no freewill, has no right to 
 accept the dogma of liberty of conscience, or to have 
 political liberty. Still, as no community can subsist with- 
 out some guarantee given to the subject against the sov- 
 ereign, the subject derives from that certain liberties under 
 restrictions. Liberty no, but liberties yes ; well defined 
 and circumscribed liberties. This is in the nature of 
 things. For instance it is beyond human power to fetter 
 freedom of thought ; and no sovereign may ever tamper 
 with mono}'. 
 
 The great politicians who have failed in this long contest 
 
 it has gone on for five centuries have allowed their 
 subjects wide liberties ; but they never recognize their
 
 Catherine de' Medici 11 
 
 liberty to publish anti-social opinions, nor the unlimited 
 freedom of the subject. To them the words subject and 
 free are, politically speaking, a contradiction in terms ; 
 and, in the same way, the statement that all citizens 
 are equal is pure nonsense, and contradicted by Nature 
 every hour. To acknowledge the need for religion, the 
 need for authority, and at the same time to leave all men 
 at liberty to deny religion, to attack its services, to oppose 
 the exercise of authority by the public and published ex- 
 pression of opinion, is an impossibility such as the Catholics 
 of the sixteenth century would have nothing to say to. 
 Alas ! the triumph of Calvinism will cost France more yet 
 than it has ever done ; for the sects of to-day religious, 
 political, humanitarian, and leveling are the train of 
 Calvinism ; and when we see the blunders of those in power, 
 their contempt for intelligence, their devotion to those 
 material interests in which they seek support, and which 
 are the most delusive of all props, unless by the special 
 aid of Providence the genius of destruction must certainly 
 win the day from the genius of conservatism. The attack- 
 ing forces, who have nothing to lose, and everything to 
 win, are thoroughly in agreement ; whereas their wealthy 
 opponents refuse to make any sacrifice of money or of 
 self-conceit to secure defenders. 
 
 Printing came to the aid of the resistance inaugurated 
 by the Vaudois and the Albigenses. As soon as human 
 thought no longer condensed, as it had necessarily been 
 in order to preserve the most communicable form had 
 assumed a multitude of garbs and become the very people, 
 instead of remaining in some sense divinely axiomatic, 
 there were two vast armies to contend with that of ideas 
 and that of men. Royal power perished in the struggle, 
 and we, in France, at this day are looking on at its last 
 coalition with elements which make it difficult, not to say 
 impossible. 
 
 Power is action j the electoral principle is discussion,
 
 12 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 No political action is possible when discussion is perma- 
 nently established. So we ought to regard the woman as 
 truly great who foresaw that future, and fought it BO 
 bravely. The House of Bourbon was able to succeed to 
 the House of Valois, and owed it to Catherine de' Medici 
 that it found that crown to wear. If the second Balafre 
 had been alive, it is very doubtful that the Bearnais, strong 
 as he was, could have seized the throne, seeing how dearly 
 it was sold by the Duo de Mayenne and the remnant of 
 the Guise faction. The necessary steps taken by Catherine, 
 who had the deaths of Fran9ois II. and Charles IX. on her 
 soul both dying opportunely for her safety are not, it 
 must be noted, what the Calvinist and modern writers blame 
 her for 1 Though there was no poisoning, as some serious 
 authors have asserted, there were other not less criminal 
 plots. It is beyond question that she hindered Par6 from 
 saving one, and murdered the other morally by inches. 
 
 But the swift death of FranQois II. and the skilfully 
 contrived end of Charles IX. did no injury to Calvinist 
 interests. The causes of these two events concerned only 
 the uppermost sphere, and were never suspected by writers 
 or by the lower orders at the time ; they were guessed only 
 by de Thou, by 1'Hdpital, by men of the highest talents, 
 or the chiefs of the two parties who coveted and clung to 
 the Crown, and who thought such means indispensable. 
 
 Popular songs, strange to say, fell foul of Catherine's 
 morality. The anecdote is known of a soldier who was 
 roasting a goose in the guardroom of the Chateau of 
 Tours while Catherine and Henri IV. were holding a con- 
 ference there, and who sang a ballad in which the Queen 
 was insultingly compared to the largest cannon in the 
 hands of the Calvinists. Henri IV. drew his sword to go 
 out and kill the man ; Catherine stopped him, and only 
 shouted out 
 
 " It is Catherine who provides the goose ! " 
 
 Though the executions at Amboise were attributed to
 
 Catherine de' Medici 13 
 
 Catherine, and the Calvinists made that able woman re- 
 sponsible for all the inevitable disasters of the struggle, 
 she must be judged by posterity, like Eobespierre at a 
 future date. 
 
 And Catherine was cruelly punished for her preference 
 for the Due d'Anjou, which made her hold her two elder 
 sons so cheap. Henri III. having ceased, like all spoilt 
 children, to care for his mother, rushed voluntarily into 
 such debauchery as made him, what the mother had made 
 Charles IX., a childless husband, a king without an heir. 
 Unhappily, Catherine's youngest son, the Due d'Alei^on, 
 died a natural death. The Queen-mother made every 
 effort to control her son's passions. History preserves 
 the tradition of a supper to nude women given in the 
 banqueting-hall at Chenonceaux on his return from Po- 
 land, but it did not cure Henri III. of his bad habits. 
 
 This great Queen's last words summed up her policy, 
 which was indeed so governed by good sense that we see 
 the Cabinets of every country putting it into practise in 
 similar circumstances. 
 
 " Well cut, my son," said she, when Henri III. came to 
 her, on her deathbed, to announce that the enemy of the 
 throne had been put to death. "Now you must sew up 
 again. " 
 
 She thus expressed her opinion that the sovereign must 
 make friends with the House of Lorraine, and make it 
 useful, as the only way to hinder the effects of the Guises' 
 hatred, by giving them a hope of circumventing the King. 
 But this indefatigable cunning of the Italian and the 
 woman was incompatible with Henri III.'s life of de- 
 bauchery. When once the Great Mother was dead, the 
 Mother of Armies (Mater castrorum), the policy of the 
 Valois died too. 
 
 Before attempting to write this picture of manners in ac- 
 tion, the author patiently and minutely studied the prin-
 
 14 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 cipal reigns of French history, the quarrels of the Bur- 
 gundians and the Armagnacs, and those of the Guises and 
 the Valois, each in the forefront of a century. His pur- 
 pose was to write a picturesque history of France. Isabella 
 of Bavaria, Catherine and Marie de' Medici, each fills a 
 conspicuous place, dominating from the fourteenth to the 
 seventeenth centuries, and leading up to Louis XIV. 
 
 Of these three queens, Catherine was the most interest- 
 ing and the most beautiful. Hers was a manly rule, not 
 disgraced by the terrible amours of Isabella, nor those, 
 even more terrible though less known, of Marie de' Medici. 
 Isabella brought the English into France to oppose her 
 son, was in love with her brother-in-law, the Due d'Orleans, 
 and with Boisbourdon. Marie de' Medici's account is still 
 heavier. Neither of them had any political genius. 
 
 In the course of these studies and comparisons, the 
 author became convinced of Catherine's greatness ; by 
 initiating himself into the peculiar difficulties of her posi- 
 tion, he discerned how unjust historians, biassed by Prot- 
 estantism, had been to this queen ; and the outcome was 
 the three sketches here presented, in which some erroneous 
 opinions of her, of those who were about her, and of the 
 aspect of the times, are combated. 
 
 The work is placed among my Philosophical Studies, 
 because it illustrates the spirit of a period, and plainly 
 shows the influence of opinions. 
 
 But before depicting the political arena on which Cath- 
 erine comes into collision with the two great obstacles in 
 her career, it is necessary to give a short account of her 
 previous life from the point of view of an impartial critic, 
 so that the reader may form a general idea of this large 
 and royal life up to the time when the first part of this 
 narrative opens. 
 
 Never at any period, in any country, or in any ruling 
 family was there more contempt felt for legitimacy than 
 by the famous race of the Medici (in French commonly
 
 Catherine de' Medici 15 
 
 written and pronounced Medicis). They held the same 
 opinion of monarchy as is now professed in Russia : The 
 ruler on whom the crown devolves is the real and legiti- 
 mate monarch. Mirabeau was justified in saying, "There 
 has been but one mesalliance in my family that with the 
 Medici " ; for, notwithstanding the exertions of well-paid 
 genealogists, it is certain that the Medici, till the time of 
 Averardo de' Medici, gonfaloniere of Florence in 1314, 
 were no more than Florentine merchants of great wealth. 
 The first personage of the family who filled a conspicuous 
 place in the history of the great Tuscan Republic was 
 Salvestro de' Medici, gonfaloniere in 1378. This Salvestro 
 had two sons Cosmo and Lorenzo de' Medici. 
 
 From Cosmo descended Lorenzo the Magnificent, the 
 Due de Nemours, the Duke of Urbino, Catherine's father, 
 Pope Leo X., Pope Clement VII., and Alessandro, not 
 indeed Duke of Florence, as he is sometimes called, 
 but Duke delta citta di Penna, a title created by Pope 
 Clement VII. as a step towards that of Grand Duke of 
 Tuscany. 
 
 Lorenzo's descendants were Lorenzino the Brutus of 
 Florence who killed Duke Alessandro ; Cosmo, the first 
 Grand Duke, and all the rulers of Florence till 1737, when 
 the family became extinct. 
 
 But neither of the two branches that of Cosmo or that 
 of Lorenzo succeeded in a direct line, till the time when 
 Marie de' Medici's father subjugated Tuscany, and the 
 Grand Dukes inherited in regular succession. Thus Ales- 
 sandro de' Medici, who assumed the title of Duke della 
 citta di Penna, and whom Lorenzino assassinated, was 
 the son of the Duke of Urbino, Catherine's father, by a 
 Moorish slave. Hence Lorenzino, the legitimate son of 
 Lorenzo, had a double right to kill Alessandro, both as a 
 usurper in the family and as an oppressor of the city. 
 Some historians have indeed supposed that Alessandro was 
 the son of Clement VII. The event that led to the
 
 16 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 recognition of this bastard as head of the Eepublic was his 
 marriage with Margaret of Austria, the natural daughter 
 of Charles V. 
 
 Francesco de' Medici, the husband of Bianca Capello, 
 recognized as his son a child of low birth bought by that 
 notorious Venetian lady ; and, strange to say, Fernando, 
 succeeding Francesco, upheld the hypothetical rights of 
 this boy. Indeed, this youth, known as Don Antonio 
 de' Medici, was recognized by the family during four ducal 
 reigns ; he won the affection of all, did them important 
 service, and was universally regretted. 
 
 Almost all the early Medici had natural children whose 
 lot was in every case splendid. The Cardinal Giulio 
 de' Medici, Pope Clement VII., was the illegitimate son 
 of Griuliano I. Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici was also a 
 bastard, and he was within an ace of being Pope and head 
 of the family. 
 
 Certain inventors of anecdote have a story that the Duke 
 of Urbino, Catherine's father, told her : " Afiglia d'in- 
 ganno non manca mai figliuolanza" (A clever woman can 
 always have children, a propos to some natural defect in 
 Henri, the second son of Fran9ois I., to whom she was 
 betrothed). This Lorenzo de' Medici, Catherine's father, 
 had married, for the second time, in 1518, Madeleine de 
 la Tour d'Auvergne, and died in 1519, a few days after 
 his wife, who died in giving birth to Catherine. Catherine 
 was thus fatherless and motherless as soon as she saw the 
 light. Hence the strange events of her childhood, check- 
 ered by the violent struggles of the Florentines, in the 
 attempt to recover their liberty, against the Medici who 
 were determined to govern Florence, but who were so 
 circumspect in their policy that Catherine's father took 
 the title of Duke of Urbino. 
 
 At his death, the legitimate head of the House of the 
 Medici was Pope Leo X., who appointed Giuliano's illegiti- 
 mate son, Giulio de' Medici, then Cardinal, Governor of
 
 Catherine de' Medici 17 
 
 Florence. Leo X. was Catherine's grand- uncle, and this 
 Cardinal G-iulio, afterwards Clement VII., was her left- 
 handed uncle only. This it was which made Bran tome so 
 wittily speak of that Pope as an " uncle in Our Lady." 
 
 During the siege by the Medici to regain possession of 
 Florence, the Kepublican party, not satisfied with having 
 shut up Catherine, then nine years old, in a convent, 
 after stripping her of all her possessions, proposed to ex- 
 pose her to tho fire of the artillery, between two battle- 
 ments the suggestion of a certain Battista Cei. Bernardo 
 Castiglione went even further in a council held to deter- 
 mine on some conclusion to the business ; he advised that, 
 rather than surrender Catherine to the Pope who de- 
 manded it, she should be handed over to the tender 
 mercies of the soldiers. All revolutions of the populace 
 are alike. Catherine's policy, always in favor of Koyal 
 authority, may have been fostered by such scenes, which 
 an Italian girl of nine could not fail to understand. 
 
 Alessandro's promotion, to which Clement VII., himself 
 a bastard, largely contributed, was no -doubt owing partly 
 to the fact of his being illegitimate, and to Charles V.'s 
 affection for his famous natural daughter Margaret. 
 Thus the Pope and the Emperor were moved by similar 
 feelings. At this period Venice was mistress of the com- 
 merce of the world ; Rome governed its morals ; Italy 
 was still supreme, by the poets, the generals, and the 
 statesmen who were her sons. At no other time has any 
 one country had so curious or so various a multitude of 
 men of genius. There were so many, that the smallest 
 princelings were superior men. Italy was overflowing 
 with talent, daring, science, poetry, wealth, and gallantry, 
 though rent by constant internal wars, and at all times 
 the arena on which conquerors met to fight for her fairest 
 provinces. 
 
 When men are so great, they are not afraid to confess 
 their weakness ; hence, no doubt, this golden a#e for 
 
 2
 
 18 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 bastards. And it is but justice to delare that these illegit- 
 imate sons of the Medici were ardent for the glory and 
 the advancement of the family, alike in possessions and 
 in power. And as soon as the Duke della citta di Penna, 
 the Moorish slave's sou, was established as Tyrant of 
 Florence, he took up the interest shown by Pope Clement 
 VII. for Lorenzo II. 's daughter, now eleven years of age. 
 
 As we study the march of events and of men in that 
 strange sixteenth century, we must never forget that the 
 chief element of political conduct was unremitting craft, 
 destroying in every nature the upright conduct, the 
 squareness which imagination looks for in eminent men. 
 In this, especially, lies Catherine's absolution. This 
 observation, in fact, disposes of all the mean and foolish 
 accusations brought against her by the writers of the re- 
 formed faith. It was indeed the golden age of this type 
 of policy, of which Machiavelli and Spinoza formulated 
 the code, and Hobbes and Montesquieu ; for the Dialogue 
 of " Sylla and Eu crates " expresses Montesquieu's real 
 mind, which he could not set forth in any other form in 
 consequence of his connection with the Encyclopedists. 
 These principles are to this day the unconfessed morality 
 of every Cabinet where schemes of vast dominion are 
 worked out. In Prance we were severe on Napoleon 
 when he exerted this Italian genius which was in his 
 blood, and its plots did not always succeed ; but Charles 
 V. , Catherine, Philip II., Giulio II. , would have done 
 just as he did in the affairs of Spain. 
 
 At the time when Catherine was born, history, if 
 related from the point of view of honesty, would seem an 
 impossible romance. Charles V., while forced to uphold 
 the Catholic Church against the attacks of Liither, who 
 by threatening the tiara threatened his throne, allowed 
 Home to be besieged, and kept Pope Clement VII. in 
 prison. This same Pope, who had no more bitter foe 
 than Charles V., cringed to him that he might place
 
 Catherine de' Medici 19 
 
 Alessandro de' Medici at Florence, and the Emperor gave 
 his daughter iii marriage to the bastard Duke. No sooner 
 was he firmly settled there than Alessandro, in concert 
 with the Pope, attempted to injure Charles V. by an 
 alliance, through Catherine de' Medici, with Francis I., 
 and both promised to assist the French king to conquer 
 Italy. 
 
 Lorenzino de' Medici became Alessandro's boon com- 
 panion, and pandered to him to get an opportunity of kill- 
 ing him ; and Filippo Strozzi, one of the loftiest spirits of 
 that age, regarded this murder with such high esteem 
 that he vowed that each of his sons should marry one of 
 the assassin's daughters. The sons religiously fulfilled 
 the father's pledge at a time when each of them, under 
 Catherine's protection, could have made a splendid alli- 
 ance ; for one was Doria's rival, and the other Marshal of 
 France. 
 
 Cosmo de' Medici, Alessandro's successor, avenged the 
 death of the Tyrant with great cruelty, and persistently 
 for twelve years, during which his hatred never flagged 
 against the people who had, after all, placed him in power. 
 He was eighteen years of age when he succeeded to the 
 government ; his first act was to annul the rights of 
 Alessandro's legitimate sons, at the time when he was 
 avenging Alessandro ! Charles V. confirmed the dispos- 
 session of his grandson, and recognized Cosmo instead of 
 Alessandro's son. 
 
 Cosmo, raised to the throne by Cardinal Cibo, at once 
 sent the prelate into exile. Then Cardinal Cibo accused 
 his creature, Cosmo, the first Grand Duke, of having 
 tried to poison Alessandro's son. The Grand Duke, as 
 jealous of his authority as Charles V. was of his, abdicated, 
 like the Emperor, in favor of his son Francesco, after 
 ordering the death of Don Garcias, his other son, in re- 
 venge for that of Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, whom 
 Garcias had assassinated.
 
 20 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Cosmo I. and his son Francesco, who ought to have 
 been devoted, soul and body, to the Koyal House of 
 France, the only power able to lend them support, were 
 the humble servants of Charles V. and Philip II., and 
 consequently the secret, perfidious, and cowardly foes of 
 Catherine de' Medici, one of the glories of their race. 
 
 Such are the more important features contradictory and 
 illogical indeed the dishonest acts, the dark intrigues 
 of the House of the Medici alone. From this sketch 
 some idea may be formed of the other princes of Italy and 
 Europe. Every envoy from Cosmo I. to the Court of 
 France had secret instructions to poison Strozzi, Queen 
 Catherine's relation, when he should find him there. 
 Charles V. had three ambassadors from Francis I. mur- 
 dered. 
 
 It was early in October 1533 that the Duke della cittb 
 di Penna left Florence for Leghorn, accompanied by 
 Catherine de' Medici, sole heiress of Lorenzo II. The 
 Duke and the Princess of Florence, for this was the title 
 borne by the girl, now fourteen years of age, left the city 
 with a large following of servants, officials, and secretaries, 
 preceded by men-at-arms, and escorted by a mounted 
 guard. The young Princess as yet knew nothing of her 
 fate, excepting that the Pope and Duke Alessandro were 
 to have an interview at Leghorn ; but her uncle, Filippo 
 Strozzi, soon told her of the future that lay before her. 
 
 Filippo Strozzi had married Clarissa de' Medici, whole 
 sister to Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, Catherine's 
 father ; but this union, arranged quite as much with a 
 view to converting one of the stoutest champions of the 
 popular cause to the support of Medici as to secure the 
 recall of that then exiled family, never shook the tenets 
 of the rough soldier who was persecuted by his party for 
 having consented to it. In spite of some superficial 
 change of conduct, somewhat overruled by this alliance,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 21 
 
 he remained faithful to the popular side, and declared 
 against the Medici as soon as he perceived their scheme of 
 subjugating Florence. This great man even refused the 
 offer of a principality from Leo X. At that time Filippo 
 Strozzi was a victim to the policy of the Medici, so shifty 
 in its means, so unvarying in its aim. 
 
 After sharing the Pope's misfortunes and captivity, 
 when, surprised by Colouna, he took refuge in the castle 
 of Saint- Angelo, he was given up by Clement VII. as a 
 hostage and carried to Naples. As soon as the Pope was 
 free, he fell upon his foes, and Strozzi was then near being 
 killed ; he was forced to pay an enormous bribe to get out 
 of the prison, where he was closely guarded. As soon as 
 he was at liberty, with the natural trustfulness of an honest 
 man, he was simple enough to appear before Clement VII. , 
 who perhaps had flattered himself that he was rid of him. 
 The Pope had so much to be ashamed of that he received 
 Strozzi very ungraciously. Thus Strozzi had very early 
 begun his apprenticeship to the life of disaster, which is 
 that of a man who is honest in politics, and whose con- 
 science will not lend itself to the caprices of opportunity, 
 whose actions are pleasing only to virtue, which is perse- 
 cuted by all by the populace, because it withstands their 
 blind passions ; by authority, because it resists its usurpa- 
 tions. 
 
 The life of these great citizens is a martyrdom, through 
 which they have nothing to support them but the strong 
 voice of conscience, and the sense of social duty, which in 
 all cases dictates their conduct. 
 
 There were many such men in the Republic of Florence, 
 all as great as Strozzi and as masterly as their adversaries 
 on the Medici side, though beaten by Florentine cunning. 
 In the conspiracy of the Pazzi, what can be finer than the 
 attitude of the head of that house ? His trade was im- 
 mense, and he settled all his accounts with Asia, the Le- 
 vant, and Europe before carrying out that great plot, to
 
 22 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 '. 
 
 the end that his correspondents should not be the loserg if 
 he should fail. 
 
 And the history of the rise of the Medici family in the 
 fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is one of the finest that 
 remains unwritten, though men of great genius have at- 
 tempted it. It is not the history of a republic, or of any 
 particular community or phase of civilization ; it is the 
 history of political man, and the eternal history of political 
 developments, that of usurpers and conquerors. 
 
 On his return to Florence, Filippo Strozzi restored the 
 ancient form of government, and banished Ippolito de' 
 Medici, another bastard, as well as Alessandro, with whom 
 he was now acting. But he then was afraid of the incon- 
 stancy of the populace ; and as he dreaded Pope Clement's 
 venge'ance, he went to take charge of a large commercial 
 house he had at Lyons in correspondence with his bankers 
 at Venice and Rome, in France, and in Spain. A strange 
 fact ! These men who bore the burden of public affairs 
 as well as that of a perennial struggle with the Medici, to 
 say nothing of their squabbles with their own party, could 
 also endure the cares of commerce and speculation, of 
 banking with all its complications, Avhich the vast multi- 
 plicity of coinages and frequent forgeries made far more 
 difficult then than now. The word banker is derived from 
 the bench on which they sat, and which served also to ring 
 the gold and silver pieces on. Strozzi found in his adored 
 wife's death a pretext to offer to the Republican party, 
 whose police is always all the more terrible because every- 
 body is a voluntary spy in the name of Liberty, which 
 justifies all things. 
 
 Filippo's return to Florence happened just at the time 
 when the city was compelled to bow to Alessandro's yoke ; 
 but he had previously been to see Pope Clement, with 
 whom matters were so promising that his feelings towards 
 Strozzi had changed. In the moment of triumph the 
 Medici so badly needed such a man as Strozzi, were it only
 
 Catherine de' Medici 23 
 
 to lend a grace to Alessandro's assumption of dignity, that 
 Clement persuaded him to sit on the bastard's council, 
 which was about to take oppressive measures, and Filippo 
 had accepted a diploma as senator. But for the last two 
 years and a half like Seneca and Burrhus with Nero he 
 had noted the beginnings of tyranny. He found himself 
 the object of distrust to the populace, and so little in favor 
 with the Medici, whom he opposed, that he foresaw a catas- 
 trophe. And as soon as he heard from Alessaudro of the 
 negotiations for the marriage of Catherine with a French 
 Prince, which were perhaps to be concluded at Leghorn, 
 where the contracting powers had agreed to meet, he re- 
 solved to go to France and follow the fortunes of his niece, 
 who would need a guardian. Alessandro, delighted to be 
 quit of a man so difficult to manage in what concerned 
 Florence, applauded this decision, which spared him a 
 murder, and advised Strozzi to place himself at the head 
 of Catherine's household. 
 
 In point of fact, to dazzle the French Court, the Medici 
 had constituted a brilliant suite for the young girl whom 
 they quite incorrectly styled the Princess of Florence, and 
 who was also called the Duchess of Urbino. The proces- 
 sion, at the head of it Duke Alessandro, Catherine, and 
 Strozzi, consisted of more than a thousand persons, exclu- 
 sive of the escort and serving men ; and when the last of 
 them were still at the gate of Florence, the foremost had 
 already got beyond the first village outside the town where 
 straw plait for hats is now made. 
 
 It was beginning to be generally known that Catherine 
 was to marry a son of Francis the First, but as yet it was 
 no more than a rumor which found confirmation in the 
 country from this triumphant progress from Florence to 
 Leghorn. From the preparations required, Catherine 
 suspected that her marriage was in question, and her 
 uncle revealed to her the abortive scheme of her ambitious 
 family, who had aspired to the hand of the Dauphin.
 
 24 Catherine Je' MeJiei 
 
 Duke Alessaudro still hoped that the Duke of Albany 
 might succeed in changing the determination of the French 
 King, who, though anxious to secure the aid of the 
 Medici in Italy, would only give them the Due d'Orleaus. 
 This narrowness lost Italy to France, and did not hinder 
 Catherine from being Queen. 
 
 This Duke of Albany, the son of Alexander Stewart, 
 brother of James III. of Scotland, had married Anne de 
 la Tour de Boulogne, sister to Madeleine, Catherine's 
 mother ; he was thus her maternal uncle. It was through 
 her mother that Catherine was so rich and connected with 
 so many families ; for, strangely enough, Diane de Poi- 
 tiers, her rival, was also her cousin. Jean de Poitiers, 
 Diane's father, was son of Jeanne de la Tour de Boulogne, 
 the Duchess of Urbino's aunt. Catherine was also related 
 to Mary Stewart, her daughter-in-law. 
 
 Catherine was now informed that her dower in money 
 would amount to a hundred thousand ducats. The ducat 
 was a gold piece as large as one of our old louis-d'or, but 
 only half as thick. Thus a hundred thousand ducats in 
 those days represented, in consequence of the high value 
 of gold, six millions of francs at the present time, the 
 ducat being worth about twelve francs. The importance 
 of the banking-house of Strozzi, at Lyons, may be im- 
 agined from this, as it was his factor there who paid over 
 the twelve hundred thousand livres in gold. The counties 
 of Auvergne and Lauraguais also formed part of Cath- 
 erine's portion, and the Pope Clement VII. made her a gift 
 of a hundred thousand ducats more in jewels, precious 
 stones, and other wedding gifts, to which Duke Alessandro 
 contributed. 
 
 On reaching Leghorn, Catherine, still so young, must 
 have been flattered by the extraordinary magnificence dis- 
 played by Pope Clement VII., her " uncle in Our Lady," 
 then the head of the House of Medici, to crush the Court 
 of France. He had arrived at the port in one of his
 
 Catherine de' Medici 25 
 
 galleys hung with crimson satin trimmed with gold fringe, 
 and covered with an awning of cloth of gold. This barge, 
 of which the decorations had cost nearly twenty thousand 
 ducats, contained several rooms for the use of Henri de 
 France's future bride, furnished with the choicest curios- 
 ities the Medici had been able to collect. The oarsmen, 
 magnificently dressed, and the seamen were under the 
 captaincy of a Prior of the Order of the Knights of Ehodes. 
 The Pope's household filled three more barges. 
 
 The Duke of Albany's galleys, moored by the side of 
 the Pope's, formed with these, a considerable flotilla. 
 
 Duke Alessandro presented the officers of Catherine's 
 household to the Pope, with whom he held a secret con- 
 ference, introducing to him, as seems probable, Count 
 Sebastian Montecuculi, who had just left the Emperor's 
 service rather suddenly, it was said and the two Gen- 
 erals, Antonio de Leyva and Fernando Gonzaga. "Was 
 there a premeditated plan between these two bastards to 
 make the Due d'Orleans the Dauphin ? What was the 
 reward promised to Count Sebastian Montecuculi, who, 
 before entering the service of Charles V., had studied 
 medicine ? History is silent on these points. We shall 
 see indeed in what obscurity the subject is wrapped. It 
 is so great that some serious and conscientious historians 
 have recently recognized Montecuculi's innocence. 
 
 Catherine was now officially informed by the Pope him- 
 self of the alliance proposed for her. The Duke of Albany 
 had had great difficulty in keeping the King of France 
 to his promise of giving even his second son to Catherine 
 de' Medici ; and Clement's impatience was so great, he 
 was BO much afraid of seeing his schemes upset either by 
 some intrigue on the part of the Emperor, or by the 
 haughtiness of France, where the great nobles cast an 
 evil eye on this union, that he embarked forthwith and 
 made for Marseilles. He arrived there at the end of 
 October 1533.
 
 26 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 In spite of his splendor, the House of the Medici was 
 eclipsed by the sovereign of France. To show to what a 
 pitch these great bankers carried their magnificence, the 
 dozen pieces given by the Pope in the bride's wedding 
 purse consisted of gold medals of inestimable historical 
 interest, for they were at that time unique. But Francis 
 I., who loved festivity and display, distinguished himself 
 on this occasion. The wedding feasts for Henri de Ya- 
 lois and Catherine went on for thirty-four days. It is 
 useless to repeat here details which may be read in every 
 history of Provence and Marseilles as to this famous meet- 
 ing between the Pope and the King of France, which 
 was the occasion of a jest of the Duke of Albany's as to 
 the duty of fasting ; a retort recorded by Brantome which 
 vastly amused the Court, and shows the tone of manners 
 at that time. 
 
 Though Henri de Valois was but three weeks older than 
 Catherine, the Pope insisted on the immediate consum- 
 mation of the marriage between these two children, so 
 greatly did he dread the subterfuges of diplomacy and the 
 trickery commonly practised at that period. Clement, 
 indeed, anxious for proof, remained thirty-four days at 
 Marseilles, in the hope, it is said, of some visible evidence 
 in his young relation, who at fourteen was marriageable. 
 And it was, no doubt, when questioning Catherine before 
 his departure, that he tried to console her by the famous 
 speech ascribed to Catherine's father : "A figlia d'in- 
 ganno, non manca mat la figliuolanza." 
 
 The strangest conjectures have been given to the world 
 as to the causes of Catherine's barrenness during ten 
 years. Few persons nowadays are aware that various 
 medical works contain suppositions as to this matter, so 
 grossly indecent that they could not be repeated. 1 This 
 gives some clue to the strange calumnies which still 
 blacken this Queen, whose every action was distorted to 
 1 See Bayle. Art. Fernet,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 27 
 
 her injury. The reason lay simply with her husband. 
 It is sufficient evidence that at a time when no prince 
 was shy of having natural children, Diane de Poitiers, far 
 more highly favored than his wife, had no children ; and 
 nothing is commoner in surgical experience than such a 
 malformation as this Prince's, which gave rise to a jest 
 of the ladies of the Court, who would have made him. 
 Abbe de Saint- Victor, at a time when the French lan- 
 guage was as free as the Latin tongue. After the Prince 
 was operated on, Catherine had ten children. 
 
 The delay was a happy thing for France. If Henri II. 
 had had children by Diane de Poitiers, it would have 
 caused serious political complications. At the time of his 
 treatment, the Duchesse de Valentiuois was in the second 
 youth of womanhood. These facts alone show that the 
 history of Catherine de' Medici remains to be entirely re- 
 written ; and that, as Napoleon very shrewdly remarked, 
 the history of France should be in one volume only, or in 
 a thousand. 
 
 When we compare the conduct of Charles V. with that 
 of the King of France during the Pope's stay at Mar- 
 seilles, it is greatly to the advantage of Francis as indeed 
 in every instance. Here is a brief report of this meeting 
 as given by a contemporary : 
 
 " His Holiness the Pope, having been conducted to the 
 Palace prepared for him, as I have said, outside the port, 
 each one withdrew to his chamber until the morrow, when 
 his said Holiness prepared to make his entry. Which was 
 done with great sumptuousness and magnificence, he being 
 set on a throne borne on the shoulders of two men in his 
 pontifical habit, saving only the tiara, while before him. 
 went a white palfrey bearing the Holy Sacrament, the 
 said palfrey being led by two men on foot in very fine 
 raiment holding a bridle of white silk. After him came 
 all the cardinals in their habit, riding their pontifical 
 mules., and Madame the Ducliesa of TJrbino in great mag-
 
 28 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 nificence, with a goodly company of ladies and gentlemen 
 alike of France and of Italy. And the Pope, with all 
 this company, being come to the place prepared where 
 they should lodge, each one withdrew ; and all this was 
 ordered and done without any disorder or tumult. Now, 
 while as the Pope was making his entry, the King crossed 
 the water in his frigate and went to lodge there whence 
 the Pope had come, to the end that on the morrow he 
 might come from thence to pay homage to the Holy 
 Father, as beseemed a most Christian King. 
 
 " The King being then ready, set forth to go to the 
 Palace where the Pope was, accompanied by the Princes 
 of his blood, Monseigneur the Due de Vendosmois (father 
 of the Yidame de Chartres), the Comte de Saint-Pol, 
 Monsieur de Montmorency, and Monsieur de la Eoche- 
 sur-Yon, the Due de Nemours (brother to the Duke of 
 Savoy who died at that place), the Duke of Albany, and 
 many others, counts, barons, and nobles, the Due de 
 Montmorency being at all times about the King's person. 
 The King, being come to the Palace, was received by the 
 Pope and all the College of Cardinals assembled in con- 
 sistory, with much civility (fort humainement). This 
 done, each one went to the place appointed to him, and 
 the King took with him many cardinals to feast them, 
 and among them Cardinal de' Medici, the Pope's nephew, 
 a very magnificent lord with a fine escort. On the mor- 
 row, those deputed by his Holiness and by the King 
 began to treat of those matters whereon they had met to 
 agree. First of all, they treated of the question of faith, 
 and a bull was read for the repression of heresy, and to 
 hinder things from coming to a greater combustion (une 
 plus grande combustion) than they are in already. Then 
 was performed the marriage ceremony between the Due 
 d'Orleans, the King's second son, and Catherine de' 
 Medici, Duchess of Urbino, his Holiness* niece, under 
 conditions the same, or nearly the same, as had been for-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 29 
 
 merly proposed to the Duke of Albany. The said mar- 
 riage was concluded with great magnificence, and our 
 Holy Father married them. 1 This marriage being thus 
 concluded, the Holy Father held a consistory, wherein he 
 created four cardinals to wait on the King, to wit : Cardinal 
 le Veneur, heretofore Bishop of Lisieux andHigh Almoner: 
 Cardinal de Boulogne, of the family of la Chambre, half 
 brother on his mother's side to the Duke of Albany ; Car* 
 dinal de Chatillon of the family of Coligny, nephew to the 
 Sire de Montmorency; and Cardinal de Givry." 
 
 "When Strozzi paid down the marriage portion in the 
 presence of the Court, he observed some surprise on the 
 part of the French nobles ; they said pretty loudly that it 
 was a small price for such a mesalliance what would 
 they say to-day ? Cardinal Ippolito replied 
 
 " Then you are not informed as to your King's secrets. 
 His Holiness consents to bestow on France three pearls of 
 inestimable price Genoa, Milan, and Naples." 
 
 The Pope left Count Sebastian Montecuculi to present 
 himself at the French Court, where he made an offer of 
 his services, complaining of Antonio de Leyva and Fer- 
 nando Gonzaga, for which reason he was accepted. Mon- 
 tecuculi was not one of Catherine's household, which was 
 composed entirely of French ladies and gentlemen ; for, 
 by a law of the realm which the Pope was rejoiced to see 
 carried out, Catherine was naturalized by letters patent 
 before her marriage. Montecuculi was at first attached 
 to the household of the Queen, Charles V.'s sister. Then, 
 not long after, he entered the Dauphin's service in the 
 capacity of cupbearer. 
 
 The Duchesse d'Orleans found herself entirely swamped 
 at the Court of Francis I. Her young husband was in 
 
 1 At that time in French, as in Italian, the words marry and 
 espouse were used in a contrary sense to their present meaning. 
 Marier was the fact of being married, apouser was the priestly 
 function.
 
 30 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 love with Diane de Poitiers, who was certainly her equal 
 in point of birth, and a far greater lady. The daughter 
 of the Medici took rank below Queen Eleanor, Charles 
 V.'s sister, and the Duchesse d'Etampes, whose marriage 
 to the head of the family of de Brosse had given her one 
 of the most powerful positions and highest titles in France. 
 Her aunt, the Duchess of Albany, the Queen of Navarre, 
 the Duchesse de Guise, the Duchesse de Venddme, the 
 wife of the Conne table, and many other women, by their 
 birth and privileges as well as by their influence in the 
 most sumptuous Court ever held by a French King not 
 excepting Louis XIV. wholly eclipsed the daughter of 
 the Florentine merchants, who was indeed more illustrious 
 and richer through the Tour de Boulogne family than 
 through her descent from the Medici. 
 
 Filippo Strozzi, a republican at heart, regarded his 
 niece's position as so critical and difficult, that he felt 
 himself incapable of directing her in the midst of con- 
 flicting interests, and deserted her at the end of a year, 
 being indeed recalled to Italy by the death of Clement 
 VII. Catherine's conduct, when we remember that she 
 was but just fifteen, was a marvel of prudence. She very 
 adroitly attached herself to the King, her father-in-law, 
 leaving him as rarely as possible ; she was with him on 
 horseback, in hunting, and in war. 
 
 Her adoration of Francis I. saved the House of Medici 
 from all suspicion when the Dauphin died poisoned. At 
 that time Catherine and the Due d'Orleans were at the 
 King's headquarters in Provence, for France had already 
 been invaded by Charles V., the King's brother-in-law. 
 The whole Court had remained on the scene of the wed- 
 ding festivities, now the theater of the most barbarous 
 war. Just as Charles V., compelled to retreat, had fled, 
 leaving the bones of his army in Provence, the Dauphin 
 was returning to Lyons by the Rhone. Stopping at 
 Tournon for the night, to amuse himself, he went through
 
 Catherine de' Medici 31 
 
 some athletic exercises, such as formed almost the sole 
 education he or his brother received, in consequence of 
 their long detention as hostages. The Prince being very 
 hot it was in the month of August was so rash as to ask 
 for a glass of water, which was given to him, iced, by 
 Montecuculi. The Dauphin died almost instantaneously. 
 
 The King idolized his son. The Dauphin was indeed, 
 as historians are agreed, a very accomplished Prince. His 
 father, in despair, gave the utmost publicity to the pro- 
 ceedings against Montecuculi, and placed the matter in 
 the hands of the most learned judges of the day. 
 
 After heroically enduring the first tests of torture with- 
 out confessing anything, the Count made an avowal by 
 which he fully implicated the Emperor and his two gen- 
 erals, Antonio de Leyva and Fernando Gonzago. This, 
 however, did not satisfy Francis I. Never was a case 
 more solemnly thrashed out than this. An eyewitness 
 gives the following account of what the King did : 
 
 " The King called all the Princes of the Blood, and all the 
 Knights of his Order, and many other high personages of 
 the realm, to meet at Lyons ; the Pope's Legate and 
 Nuncio, the cardinals who were of his Court, and the am- 
 bassadors of England, Scotland, Portugal, Venice, Fer- 
 rara, and others ; together Avith all the princes and great 
 nobles of foreign countries, both of Italy and of Germany, 
 who were at that time residing at his Court, to wit : The 
 Duke of Wittemberg, in Allemaigne ; the Dukes of Soni- 
 ma, of Arianna, and of Atria ; the Princes of Melphe 
 [Malfi ?] (who had desired to marry Catherine), and of 
 Stilliano, Neapolitan ; the Marquis di Vigevo, of the 
 House of Trivulzio, Milanese ; the Signer Giovanni Paolo 
 di Ceri, Roman ; the Signor Cesare Fregose, Genoese ; 
 the Signor Annibale Gonzaga, Mantuan, and many more. 
 Who being assembled, he caused to be read in their pres- 
 ence, from the beginning to the end, the trial of that 
 wretched man who had poisoned his late Highness the
 
 82 Catharine de' Medici 
 
 Dauphin, with all the interrogations, confessions, con- 
 frontings, and other proceedings usual in criminal trials, 
 not choosing that the sentence should be carried out 
 until all those present had given their opinion on thia 
 monstrous and miserable matter." 
 
 Count Montecuculi's fidelity and devotion may seem 
 extraordinary in our day of universal indiscretion, when 
 everybody, and even Ministers, talk over the most trivial 
 incidents in which they have put a finger ; but in those 
 times princes could command devoted servants, or knew 
 how to choose them. There were monarchical Moreys 
 then, because there was faith. Never look for great 
 things from self-interest : interests may change ; but 
 look for anything from feeling, from religious faith, mon- 
 archical faith, patriotic faith. These three beliefs alone 
 can produce a Berthereau of Geneva, a Sydney or a Straf- 
 ford in England, assassins to murder Thomas a Becket, or 
 a Montecuculi : Jacques Cceur and Jeanne d'Arc, or Riche- 
 lieu and Danton ; a Bonchamp, a Talmont, or a Clement, a 
 Chabot. 
 
 Charles V. made use of the highest personages to carry 
 out the murder of three ambassadors from Francis I. A 
 year later Lorenzino, .Catherine's cousin, assassinated 
 Duke Alessandro after three years of dissimulation, and 
 in circumstances which gained him the surname of the 
 Florentine Brutus. The rank of the victim was so little 
 a check on such undertakings that neither Leo X. nor 
 Clement VII. seems to have died a natural death. Mari- 
 ana, the historian of Philip II., almost jests in speaking 
 of the death of the Queen of Spain, a Princess of France, 
 saying that " for the greater glory of the Spanish throne 
 God suffered the blindness of the doctors who treated the 
 Queen. for dropsy." When King Henri II. allowed hirn- 
 gelf to utter a gcandal which deserved a sword-thrust, he 
 could find la Chataignerie willing to take it. At that 
 time royal personages had their meals served to them iu
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 padlocked boxes of which they had the key. Hence the 
 droit de cadenas, the right of the padlock, an honor which 
 ceased to exist in the reign of Louis XIY. 
 
 The Dauphin died of poison, the same perhaps as 
 caused the death of MADAME, under Louis XIV. Pope 
 Clement had been dead two years ; Duke Alessandrc, 
 ateeped in debauchery, seemed to have no interest in the 
 Duo d'Orl^ans' elevation. Catherine, now seventeen years 
 old, was with her father-in-law, whom she devotedly 
 admired ; Charles V. alone seemed to have an interest ii? 
 the Dauphin's death, because Francis I. intended his son 
 to form an alliance which would have extended the power 
 of France. Thus the Count's confession was very ingeni- 
 ously based on the passions and policy of the day. - Charles 
 V. had fled after seeing his troops Overwhelmed in Pro- 
 vence, and with them his good fortune, his reputation, and 
 his hopes of aggrandizement. And note, that even if an 
 innocent man had confessed under torture, the King 
 afterwards gave him freedom of speech before an august 
 assembly, and in the presence of men with whom inno- 
 cence had a fair chance of a hearing. The King wanted 
 the truth, and sought it in good faith. 
 
 In spite of her now brilliant prospects, Catherine's posi- 
 tion at court was unchanged by the Dauphin's death ; her 
 childlessness made a divorce seem probable when her 
 husband should become king. The Dauphin was now 
 enslaved by Diane de Poitiers, who had dared to be the 
 rival of Madame d'Etampes. Catherine was therefore 
 doubly attentive and insinuating to her father-in-law, 
 understanding that he was her sole mainstay. 
 
 Thus the first ten years of Catherine's married life wore 
 spent in the unceasing regrets caused by repeated disap- 
 pointments when she hoped to have a child, and the vexa- 
 tions of her rivalry with Diane. Imagine what the life 
 must be of a princess constantly spied on by a jealous 
 mistress who was favored by the Catholic party, and by 
 3
 
 34 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 the strong support the Seuechale had acquired through 
 the marriage of her daughters one to Eobert de la Mark, 
 Due de Bouillon, Prince de Sedan ; the other to Claude 
 de Lorraine, Due d'Aumale. 
 
 Swamped between the party of the Duchesse d'Etampes 
 and that of the Senechale (the title borne by Diane de 
 Poitiers during the reign of Francis I.), who divided the 
 Court and political feeling between the two mortal foes, 
 Catherine tried to be the friend of both the Duchess and 
 Diane de Poitiers. She, who was to become so great a 
 queen, played the part of a subaltern. Thus she served 
 her apprenticeship to the double-faced policy which after- 
 wards was the secret clue to her life. At a later date the 
 queen foimd herself between the Catholics and the Cal- 
 vinists, as the woman had been, for ten years, between 
 Madame d'Etampes and Madame de Poitiers. 
 
 She studied the contradictions of French policy. 
 Francis upheld Calvin and the Lutherans, to annoy Charles 
 V. Then, after having covertly and patiently fostered the 
 Reformation in Germany, after tolerating Calvin's presence 
 at the Court of Navarre, he turned against it with undis- 
 guised severity. So Catherine could see the Court and the 
 women of the Court playing with the fire of heresy ; Diane 
 at the head of the Catholic party with the Guises, only 
 because the Duchesse d'Etampes was on the side of Calvin 
 and the Protestants. 
 
 This was Catherine's political education ; and in the 
 King's private circle she could study the mistakes made 
 by the Medici. The Dauphin was antagonistic to his 
 father on every point ; he was a bad son. He forgot the 
 hardest but the truest axiom of Royalty, namely, that the 
 throne is a responsible entity, and that a son who may 
 oppose his father during his lifetime must carry out his 
 policy on succeeding to the throne. Spinoza, who was as 
 deep a politician as he was a great philosopher, says, in 
 treating of the case of a king who has succeeded to another
 
 Catherine de' Medici 86 
 
 by a revolution or by treason : " If the new King hopes to 
 secure his throne and protect his life, he must display so 
 much zeal in avenging his predecessor's death that no one 
 shall feel tempted to repeat such a crime. But to avenge 
 him worthily it is not enough that he should shed the 
 blood of his subjects ; he must confirm the maxims of 
 him whose place he fills, and walk in the same ways of 
 government. 
 
 It was the application of this principle which gave the 
 Medici to Florence. Cosmo I., Alessandro's successor, 
 eleven years later instigated the murder, at Venice, of the 
 Florentine Brutus, and, as has been said, persecuted the 
 Strozzi without mercy. It was the neglect of this prin- 
 ciple that overthrew Louis XVI. That King was false to 
 every principle of government when he reinstated the 
 Parlements suppressed by his grandfather. Louis XV. had 
 been clear-sighted ; the Parlements, and especially that of 
 Paris, were quite half to blame for the disorders that 
 necessitated the assembling of the States- General. Louis 
 XV. 's mistake was that when he threw down that barrier 
 between the throne and the people, he did not erect a 
 stronger one, that he did not substitute for the Parlements, 
 a strong constitutional rule in the provinces. There lay 
 the remedy for the evils of the Monarchy, the voting power 
 for taxation and the incidents of the taxes, with consent 
 gradually won to the reforms needed in the monarchical rule. 
 
 Henri II. 'a first act was to give all his confidence to the 
 Connetable de Montmorency, whom his father had desired 
 him to leave in banishment. The Connetable de Mont- 
 morency, with Diane de Poitiers, to whom he was closely 
 attached, was master of the kingdom. Hence Catherine 
 was even less powerful and happy as Queen of France than 
 she had been as the Dauphiness. 
 
 At first, from the year 1543, she had a child every year 
 for ten years, and was fully taken up by her maternal
 
 S6 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 functions during that time, which includes*! the last yeart 
 of Francis I.'s reign, and almost the whole of her husband's. 
 It is impossible not to detect in this constant child-bearing 
 the malicious influence of a rival who thus kept the legiti- 
 mate wife out of the way. Thifa feminine and barbarous 
 policy was no doubt one of Catherine's grievances against 
 Diane. Being thus kept out of the tide of affairs, this clever 
 woman spent her time in observing all the interests of the 
 persons at Court and all the parties formed there. The 
 Italians who had followed her excited violent suspicions. 
 After the execution of Montecuculi, the Connetable de 
 Montmorency, Diane, and most of the crafty politicians at 
 Court were racked with doubts of the Medici ; but Francis 
 I. always scouted them. Still the Gondi, the Biraguas, 
 the Strozzi, the Euggieri, the Sardini, in short, all who 
 were classed as the Italians who had arrived in Catherine's 
 wake, were compelled to exercise every faculty of wit, 
 policy, and courage to enable them to remain at Court 
 Tinder the burden of disfavor that weighed on them. 
 During the supremacy of Diane de Poitiers, Catherine's 
 obligingness went so far that some clever folks have seen 
 in it an evidence of the profound dissimulation to which 
 she was compelled by men and circumstances, and by the 
 conduct of Henri II. But it is going too far to say that 
 she never asserted her rights as a wife and a queen. Her 
 ten children (besides one miscarriage) were a sufficient 
 explanation of the King's conduct, who was thus set free 
 to spend his time with Diane de Poitiers. But the King 
 certainly never fell short of what he owed to himself ; he 
 gave the Queen an entry worthy of any that had previously 
 taken place, on the occasion of her coronation. The 
 records of the Parlement and of the Exchequer prove that 
 these two important bodies went to meet Catherine outside 
 Paris, as far as Saint-Lazare. Here, indeed, is a passage 
 from du Tillet's narrative : 
 " A scaffolding had been erected %t Saint-Lazare,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 37 
 
 whereon was a throne (which du Tillet calls a chair of 
 state, chair e de parement}. Catherine seated herself on 
 this, dressed in a surcoat, or sort of cape of ermine, covered 
 with jewels ; beneath it a hodice, with a court train, and 
 on her head a crown of pearls and diamonds ; she was 
 supported by the Mar6 chale de la Mark, her lady of honor. 
 Around her, standing, were the princes of the Blood and 
 other princes and noblemen richly dressed, with the 
 Chancellor of France in a robe of cloth of gold in a pattern 
 on a ground of red cramoisy.' In front of the Queen and 
 on the same scaffolding were seated, in two rows, twelve 
 duchesses and countesses, dressed in surcoats of ermine, 
 stomachers, trains, and fillets, that is to say, coronets, 
 whether duchesses or countesses. There were the duch- 
 esses d'Estouteville, de Montpensier the elder and the 
 younger the Princesse de la Roche-sur-Yon ; the Duch- 
 esses de Guise, de Nivernois, d'Aumale, de Valentinois 
 (Diane de Poitiers) ; Mademoiselle the legitimized bastard 
 " of France " (a title given to the King's daughter Diane, 
 who became Duchesse de Castro-Farnese, and afterwards 
 Duchesse de Montmorency-Damville), Madame la Cou- 
 ntable, and Mademoiselle de Nemours, not to mention 
 the other ladies who could find no room. The four capped 
 Presidents (a mortier), with some other members of the 
 Court and the chief clerk, du Tillet, went up on to the 
 platform and did their service, and the First President 
 Lizet, kneeling on one knee, addressed the Queen. The 
 Chancellor, likewise on one knee, made response. She 
 made her entrance into Paris at about three in the after- 
 noon, riding in an open litter, Madame Marguerite de 
 France sitting opposite to her, and by the side of the litter 
 came the Cardinals d'Amboise, de Cha'tillon, de Boulogne, 
 and de Lenoncourt, in their rochets. She got out at the 
 Church of Notre-Dame, and was received by the clergy. 
 
 1 The old French word cramoisi did not mean merely a crimson 
 rd, but denoted a special excellence of the dye. f See Rabelais.)
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 After she had made her prayer, she was carried along the 
 Kue de la Calandre to the Palace, where the royal supper 
 was spread in the great hall. She sat there in the middle 
 at a marble table, under a canopy of velvet powdered with 
 gold fleurs de lys." 
 
 It will here be fitting to controvert a popular error 
 which some persons have perpetuated, following Sauval in 
 the mistake. It has been said that Henri II. carried his 
 oblivion of decency so far as to place his mistress's initials 
 even on the buildings which Catherine had advised him 
 to undertake or to carry on at such lavish expense. But 
 the cypher, which is to be seen at the Louvre, amply re- 
 futes those who have so little comprehension as to lend 
 credit to such nonsense, a gratuitous slur on the honor of 
 our kings and queens. The H for Henri and the two Cs, 
 face to face, for Catherine seem indeed to make two Ds for 
 Diane ; and this coincidence was no doubt pleasing to the 
 King. But it is not the less certain that the royal cypher 
 was officially constructed of the initials of the King and 
 the Queen. And this is so true, that the same cypher is 
 still to be seen on the corn-market in Paris which Cath- 
 erine herself had built. It may also be found in the crypt 
 of Saint Denis on Catherine's tomb, which she caused to 
 be constructed during her lifetime by the side of that of 
 Henri II. , and on which she is represented from life by 
 the sculptor to whom she sat. 
 
 On a solemn occasion, when he was setting out on an 
 expedition to Germany, Henri II. proclaimed Catherine 
 Kegent during his absence, as also in the event of his 
 death on March 25, 1552. Catherine's bitterest enemy, 
 the author of the Discours merveilletix sur les deportements 
 de Catherine II., admits that she acquitted herself of these 
 functions to the general approbation, and that the King 
 was satisfied with her administration. Henri II. had men 
 and money at the right moment. And after the disastrous 
 day of Saint-Quentin, Catherine obtained from the Pari-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 39 
 
 sians considerable sums, which she forwarded to Com- 
 piegne, whither the King had come. 
 
 In politics Catherine made immense efforts to acquire 
 some little influence. She was clever enough to gain over 
 to her interests the Connetable de Montmorency, who was 
 all powerful under Henri II. The King's terrible reply to 
 Montmorency's insistency is well known. This answer 
 was the result of the good advice given by Catherine in the 
 rare moments when she was alone with the King, and 
 could explain to him the policy of the Florentines, which 
 was to set the magnates of a kingdom by the ears and build 
 up the sovereign authority on the ruins Louis XL's 
 system subsequently carried out by Eichelieu. Henri II., 
 who saw only through the eyes of Diane and the Conne- 
 table, was quite a feudal King, and on friendly terms with 
 the great houses of the realm. 
 
 After an ineffectual effort in her favor made by the Con- 
 netable, probably in the year 1556, Catherine paid great 
 court to the Guises, and schemed to detach them from 
 Diane's party so as to set them in opposition to Montmo- 
 rency. But, unfortunately, Diane and the Connetable 
 were as virulent against the Protestants as the Guises 
 were. Hence their antagonism lacked the virus which re- 
 ligious feeling would have given it. Besides, Diane boldly 
 defied the Queen's plans by coquetting with the Guises and 
 giving her daughter to the Due d'Aumale. She went so 
 far that she has been accused by some writers of granting 
 more than smiles to the gallant Cardinal de Lorraine. 1 
 
 1 Some satirist of the time has left the following lines on Henri 
 II. [in which the pun on the words Sire and Cire (wax) would be 
 lost in translation] : 
 
 " Sire, si vous laissez, comme Charles desire, [ 
 Comme Diane veut, par trop vous gouverner, 
 Fondre, petrir, mollir, refondre, retourner, 
 Sire, vous n'6tes plus, vous n'etes plus que cire." 
 
 Charles was the Cardinal de Lorraine.
 
 40 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 The signs of grief and the ostentations regret displayed 
 by Catherine on the King's death cannot be regarded as 
 genuine. The fact that Henri II. had been so passionate- 
 ly and faithfully attached to Diane de Poitiers made it in- 
 cumbent on Catherine that she should play the part of a 
 neglected wife who idolized her husband ; but, like every 
 clever woman, she carried on her dissimulation, and never 
 ceased to speak with tender regret of Henri II. Diane her- 
 self, it is well known, wore mourning all her life for her 
 husband, Monsieur de Breze. Her colors were black and 
 white, and the King was wearing them at the tournament 
 where he was fatally wounded. Catherine, in imitation 
 no doubt of her rival, wore mourning for the King to th 
 end of her life. 
 
 On the King's death, the Duchesse de Valentinois was 
 shamelessly deserted and dishonored by the Conne'table de 
 Montmorency, a man in every respect beneath his reputa- 
 tion. Diane sent to offer her estate and Chdteau of 
 Chenonceaux to the Queen. Catherine then replied in 
 the presence of witnesses, " I can never forget that she 
 was all the joy of my dear Henri ; I should be ashamed to 
 accept, I will give her an estate in exchange. I would 
 propose that of Chaumont-on-the-Loire." The deed of 
 exchange was, in fact, signed at Blois in 1559. Diane, 
 whose sons-in-law were the Due d'Aumale and the Due de 
 Bouillon, kept her whole fortune and died peacefully in 
 1566 at the age of sixty-six. She was thus nineteen years 
 older than Henri II. These dates, copied from the epitaph 
 on her tomb by an historian who studied the question at 
 the end of the last century, clear up many historical diffi- 
 culties ; for many writers have said she was forty when her 
 father was sentenced in 1523, while others have said she 
 was but sixteen. She was, in fact, four-and-twenty. 
 
 After reading everything both for and against her con- 
 duct with Francis I., at a time when the House of Poitiers 
 was in the greatest danger, we can neither confirm nor
 
 Catherine de' Medici 41 
 
 deny anything. It is a passage of history that still re- 
 mains obscure. "We can see by what happens in our own 
 day how history is falsified, as it were, in the making. 
 
 Catherine, who founded great hopes on her rival's age, 
 several times made an attempt to overthrow her. On 
 one occasion she was very near the accomplishment of her 
 hopes. In 1554, Madame Diane, being ill, begged the 
 King to go to Saint-Germain pending her recovery. This 
 sovereign coquette would not be seen in the midst of the 
 paraphernalia of doctors, nor bereft of the adjuncts of 
 dress. To receive the king on his return, Catherine ar- 
 ranged a splendid ballet, in which five or six young ladies 
 were to address hid in verse. She selected for the pur- 
 pose Miss Fleming, related to her uncle, the Duke of 
 Albany, and one of the loveliest girls imaginable, fair and 
 golden-haired ; then a young connection of her own, 
 Clarissa Strozzi, with magnificent black hair and rarely 
 fine hands ; Miss Lewiston, maid of honor to Mary 
 Stewart ; Mary Stewart herself ; Madame Elisabeth de 
 France, the unhappy Queen of Spain ; and Madame Claude. 
 Elisabeth was nine years old, Claude eight, and Mary 
 Stewart twelve. Obviously, the Queen aimed at showing 
 off Clarissa Strozzi and Miss Fleming without other rivals 
 in the King's eyes. The King succumbed : he fell in love 
 with Miss Fleming and she bore him a son, Henri de 
 Valois, Comte d'Angouleme, Grand Prior of France. 
 
 But Diane's influence and position remained unshaken. 
 Like Madame de Pompadour later with Louis XV., the 
 Duchesse de Valentinois was forgiving. But to what 
 sort of love are we to ascribe this scheme on Catherine's 
 part ? Love of power or love of her husband ? Women 
 must decide. 
 
 A great deal is said in these days as to the licence of 
 the press ; but it is difficult to imagine to what a pitch it 
 was carried when printing was a new thing. Aretino, tho
 
 42 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Voltaire of his time, as is well known, made monarchs 
 tremble, and foremost of them all Charles V. But few 
 people know perhaps how far the audacity of pamphleteers 
 could go. This Chateau of Chenonceaux had been given 
 to Diane, nay, she was entreated to accept it. to induce 
 her to overlook one of the most horrible publications ever 
 hurled at a woman, one which shows how violent was the 
 animosity between her and Madame d'Etampes. In 1537, 
 when she was eight-and-thirty, a poet of Champagne, 
 named Jean Voute, published a collection of Latin verses, 
 and among them three epigrams aimed at her. We must 
 conclude that the poet was under high patronage from 
 the fact that his volume is introduced by an eulogium 
 written by Simon Maori n, the King's first Gentleman of 
 the Bed-chamber. Here is the only passage quotable to- 
 day from these epigrams, which bear the title : In 
 Pictaviam, anum auUcam. (Against la Poitiers, an old 
 woman of the Court.) 
 
 " Non trahit esca ficta praedam." 
 
 " A painted bait catches no game," says the poet, after 
 telling her that she paints her face and buys her teeth and 
 hair ; and he goes on : ' ' Even if you could buy the finest 
 essence that makes a woman, you would not get what you 
 want of your lover, for you would need to be living, and 
 you are dead." 
 
 This volume, printed by Simon de Colines, was dedi- 
 cated " To a Bishop !" To FranQois Bohier, the brother 
 of the man who, to save his credit at Court and atone for 
 his crime, made an offering on the accession of Henri II. 
 of the chateau of Chenonceaux, built by his father, Thomas 
 Bohier, Councilor of State under four Kings : Louis XL, 
 Charles VIII. , Louise XII., and Francis I. What were 
 the pamphlets published against Madame de Pompadour 
 and Marie Antoinette in comparison with verses that 
 might have been written by Martial ! Voute must have
 
 Catherine de' Medici 43 
 
 come to a bad end. Thus the estate and chateau of 
 Chenonceaux cost Diane nothing but the forgiveness of 
 an offense a duty enjoined by the Gospel. Not being 
 assessed by a jury, the penalties inflicted on the Press were 
 rather severer then than they are now. 
 
 The widowed Queens of France were required to remain 
 for forty days in the King's bed-chamber, seeing no light 
 but that of the tapers ; they might not come out till after 
 the funeral. This inviolable custom annoyed Catherine 
 greatly ; she was afraid of cabals. She found a way to 
 evade it. The Cardinal de Lorraine coming out one 
 morning at such a time ! at such a juncture ! from the 
 house of "the Fair Boman," a famous courtesan of that 
 day, who lived in the Eue Culture-Sainte-Catherine, 
 was roughly handled by a party of roisterers. " Whereat 
 his Holiness was much amazed," says Henri Estienne, 
 " and gave it out that heretics were lying in wait for 
 him." And on this account the Court moved from Paris 
 to Saint-Germain. The Queen would not leave the King 
 her son behind, but took him with her. 
 
 The accession of Francis II., the moment when Cath- 
 erine proposed to seize the reins of power, was a disap- 
 pointment that formed a cruel climax to the twenty-six 
 years of endurance she had already spent at the French 
 Court. The Guises, with incredible audacity, at once 
 usurped the sovereign power. The Due de Guise was 
 placed in command of the army, and the Conn6table de 
 Montmorency was shelved. The Cardinal took the control 
 of the finances and the clergy. 
 
 Catherine's political career opened with one of those 
 dramas which, though it was less notorious than some 
 others, was not the less horrible, and initiated her no 
 doubt into the agitating shocks of her life. Whether it 
 was that Catherine, after vainly trying the most violent 
 remedies, had thought she might bring the King back to 
 her through jealousy ; whether on coming to her second
 
 44 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 youth she had felt it hard never to have known love, 
 she had shown a warm interest in a gentleman of royal 
 blood, Francois de Yenddme, sou of Louis de Venddme 
 the parent House of the Bourbons the Vidame de Char- 
 tres, the name by which he is known to history. Cath- 
 erine's covert hatred of Diane betrayed itself in many 
 ways, which historians, studying only political develop- 
 ments, have failed to note with due attention. Catherine's 
 attachment to the Vidame arose from an insult offered 
 by the young man to the favorite. Diane looked for the 
 most splendid matches for her daughters, who were indeed 
 of the best blood in the kingdom. Above all, she was 
 ambitious of an alliance with the Royal family. And her 
 second daughter, who became the Duchesse d'Aumale, 
 was proposed in marriage to the Vidame, whom Francis I., 
 with sage policy, kept in poverty. For, in fact, when the 
 Vidame de Chartres and the Prince de Conde first came 
 to Court, Francis I, gave them appointments ! What ? 
 the office of chamberlains in ordinary, with twelve hundred 
 crowns a year, as much as he bestowed on the humblest of 
 his gentlemen. And yet, though Diane offered him im- 
 mense wealth, some high office under the Crown, and the 
 King's personal favor, the Vidame refused. And then 
 this Bourbon, factious as he was, married Jeanne, daughter 
 of the Baron d'Estissac, by whom he had no children. 
 
 This proud demeanor naturally commended the Vidame 
 to Catherine, who received him with marked favor, and 
 made him her devoted friend. Historians have compared 
 the last Due de Montmorency, who was beheaded at Tou- 
 louse, with the Vidame de Chartres for his power of 
 charming, his merits, and his talents. 
 
 Henri II. was not jealous ; he did not apparently think 
 it possible that a Qneen of France could fail in her duty, 
 or that a Medici could forget the honor done her by a 
 Valois. When the Queen was said to be flirting with the 
 Vidame de Chartres, she had been almost deserted by the
 
 Catherine de' Medici 46 
 
 King since the birth of her last child. So this attempt 
 came to nothing as the King died wearing the colors 
 of Diane de Poitiers. 
 
 So, at the King's death, Catherine was on terms of 
 gallant familiarity with the Vidame, a state of things in 
 no way out of harmony with the manners of the time, 
 when love was at once so chivalrous and so licentious that 
 the finest actions seemed as natural as the most blamable. 
 But, as usual, historians have blundered by regarding 
 exceptional cases as the rule. 
 
 Henri II. 's four sons nullified every pretension of the 
 Bourbons, who were all miserably poor, and crushed under 
 the scorn brought upon them by the Conntable de Mont- 
 morency's treason, in spite of the reasons which had led 
 him to quit the country. The Vidame de Chartres, who 
 was to the first Prince de Conde" what Richelieu was to 
 Mazarin, a father in politics, a model, and yet more a 
 master in gallantry, hid the vast ambition of his family 
 under a semblance of levity. Being unable to contend 
 with the Guises, the Montmorencys, the Princes of Scot- 
 land, the Cardinals, and the Bouillons, he aimed at dis- 
 tinction by his gracious manners, his elegance, and his wit, 
 which won him the favors of the most charming women, 
 and the heart of many- he never thought about. He was 
 a man privileged by nature, whose fascinations were ir- 
 resistible, and who owed to his love affairs the means of 
 keeping up his rank. The Bourbons would not have taken 
 offense, like Jarnac, at la Chataignerie's scandal ; they were 
 very ready to accept lands and houses from their mistresses 
 witness the Prince de Cond6, who had the estate of 
 Saint- Valery from Madame la Marechale de Saint-Andre. 
 
 During the first twenty days of mourning for Henri II., 
 a sudden change came over the Vidame's prospects. 
 Courted by the Queen-mother, and courting her as a man 
 may court a queen, in the utmost secrecy, he seemed fated 
 to play an important part j and Catherine, in fact, resolved
 
 46 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 to make him useful. The Prince received letters from 
 her to the Prince de Conde, in which she pointed out the 
 necessity for a coalition against the Guises. The Guises, 
 informed of this intrigue, made their way into the Queen's 
 chamber to compel her to sign an order consigning the 
 Vidame to the Bastille, and Catherine found herself under 
 the cruel necessity of submitting. The Vidame died after 
 a few months' captivity, on the day when he came out of 
 prison, a short time before the Amboise conspiracy. 
 
 This was the end of Catherine de' Medici's first and 
 only love affair. Protestant writers declared that the 
 Queen had him poisoned to bury the secret of her gal- 
 lantries in the tomb. 
 
 Such was this woman's apprenticeship to the exercise of 
 royal power.
 
 PART I 
 
 FEW persons in these days know how artless were the 
 dwellings of the citizens of Paris in the sixteenth century, 
 and how simple their lives. This very simplicity of habits 
 and thought perhaps was the cause of the greatness of this 
 primitive citizen class for they were certainly great, free 
 and noble, more so perhaps than the citizens of our time. 
 Their history remains to be written ; it requires and 
 awaits a man of genius. Inspired by an incident which, 
 though little known, forms the basis of this narrative, and 
 is one of the most remarkable in the history of the citizen 
 class, this reflection will no doubt occur to every one who 
 shall read it to the end. Is it the first time in history 
 that the conclusion has come before the facts ? 
 
 In 1560, the houses of the Hue de la Vieille-Pelleterie lay 
 close to the left bank of the Seine, between the Pont 
 Notre-Dame and the Pont au Change. The public way 
 and the houses occupied the ground now given up to the 
 single path of the present quay. Each house, rising from 
 the river, had a way down to it by stone or wooden steps, 
 defended by strong iron gates, or doors of nail-studded 
 timber. These houses, like those of Venice, had a door to 
 the land and one to the water. At the moment of writing 
 this sketch, only one house remains of this kind as a rem- 
 iniscence of old Paris, and that is doomed soon to disap- 
 pear ; it stands at the corner of the Petit-Pont, the little 
 bridge facing the guard-house of the II6tel-Dieu. 
 
 Of old each dwelling presented, on the river-side, the 
 
 47
 
 48 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 peculiar physiognomy stamped on it either by the trade 
 and the habit of the owners, or by the eccentricity of the 
 constructions devised by them for utilizing or defiling 
 the Seine. The bridges being built, and almost all choked 
 ap by more mills than were convenient for the require- 
 ments of navigation, the Seine in Paris was divided into as 
 many pools as there were bridges. Some of these old Paris 
 basins would have afforded delightful studies of color for 
 the painter. What a forest of timbers was built into the 
 cross-beams that supported the mills, with their immense 
 sails and wheels ! What curious effects were to be found 
 in the joists that shored up the houses from the river. 
 Genre painting as yet, unfortunately, was not, and engrav- 
 ing in its infancy ; so we have no record of the curious 
 scenes which may still be found, on a small scale, in some 
 provincial towns where the rivers are fringed with wooden 
 houses, and where, as at Vendome, for instance, the pools, 
 overgrown with tall grasses, are divided by railings to 
 separate the various properties on each bank. 
 
 The name of this street, which has now vanished from 
 the map, sufficiently indicates the kind of business carried 
 on there. At that time the merchants engaged in any 
 particular trade, far from dispersing themselves about the 
 city, gathered together for mutual protection. Being 
 socially bound by the guild which limited their increase, 
 they were also united into a brotherhood by the Church. 
 This kept up prices. And then the masters were not at 
 the mercy of their workmen, and did not yield, as they do 
 now, to all their vagaries ; on the contrary, they took 
 charge of them, treated them as their children, and taught 
 them the finer mysteries of their craft. A workman, to 
 become a master, was required to produce a masterpiece 
 always an offering to the patron saint of the guild. And 
 will you venture to assert that the absence of competition 
 diminished their sense of perfection, or hindered beauty of 
 workmanship, when your admiration of the work of the
 
 1 Catherine de' Medici 40 
 
 older craftsmen has created the now trade of dealers in 
 
 In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the fur trade 
 was one of the most flourishing industries. The difficulty 
 of obtaining furs, which, coming from the North, ne- 
 cessitated long and dangerous voyages, gave a high value 
 to skins and furriers' work. Then, as now, high prices 
 led to demand, for vanity knows no obstacles. 
 
 In France, and in other kingdoms, not only was the use 
 of furs restricted by law to the great nobility, as is proved 
 by the part played by ermine in ancient coats-of-armj ; 
 but certain rare furs, such as vair, which was beyond 
 doubt imperial sable, might be worn only by kings, dukes, 
 and men of high rank holding certain offices. Vair (a 
 name still used in heraldry, vair and counter vair) was 
 subdivided into grand vair and menu vair. The word 
 has within the last hundred years fallen so completely into 
 disuse, that in hundreds of editions of Perrault's fairy 
 tales, Cinderella's famous slipper, probably of fur, menu 
 vair, has become a glass slipper, pantoufte de verre. Not 
 long since a distinguished French poet was obliged to re- 
 store and explain the original spelling of this word, for 
 the edification of his brethren of the press, when giving 
 an account of the " Cenerentola," in which a ring is 
 substituted for the symbolical slipper an unmeaning 
 change. 
 
 The laws against the use of fur were, of course, perpet- 
 ually transgressed, to the great advantage of the furriers. 
 The high price of textiles and of furs made a garment in 
 those days a durable thing, in keeping with the furniture, 
 armor, and general details of the sturdy life of the time. A 
 nobleman or lady, every rich man as well as every citizen, 
 possessed at most two dresses for each season, and they 
 lasted a lifetime or more. These articles were bequeathed 
 to their children. Indeed, the clauses relating to weap- 
 ons and raiment in marriage contracts, in these days, un- 
 4
 
 60 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 important by reason of the small value of clothes that are 
 constantly renewed, were at that period of great interest. 
 High prices had led to durability. 
 
 A lady's outfit represented a vast sum of money ; it was 
 included in her fortune, and safely bestowed in those 
 enormous chests which endanger the ceilings of modern 
 houses. The full dress of a lady in 1840 would have been 
 the deshabille of a fine lady of 1540. The discovery of 
 America, the facility of transport, the destruction of social 
 distinctions, which has led to the effacement of visible 
 distinctions, have all contributed to reduce the furrier's 
 craft to the low ebb at which it stands, almost to nothing. 
 The articles sold by a furrier at the same price as of old 
 say twenty livres has fallen in value with the money : 
 the livre or franc was then worth twenty of our present 
 money. The citizen's wife or the courtesan who, in 
 our day, trims her cloak with sable, does not know that in 
 1440 a malignant constable of the watch would have taken 
 her forthwith into custody, and haled her before the judge 
 at le ChAtelet. The English ladies who are so fond of 
 ermine are unconscious of the fact that formerly none but 
 queens, duchesses, and the Chancellor of France were per- 
 mitted to wear this royal fur. There are at this day 
 various ennobled families bearing the name of Pelletier 
 or Lepelletier, whose forebears were obviously wealthy 
 furriers ; for most of our citizen names were originally 
 surnames of that kind. 
 
 This digression not only explains the long squabbles 
 as to precedence which the Drapers' Guild carried on for 
 two centuries with the Mercers and the Furriers, each 
 insisting on marching first, as being the most important, 
 but also accounts for the consequence of one Master Le- 
 camus, a furrier honored with the patronage of the two 
 queens, Catherine de' Medici and Mary Stewart, as well 
 M that of the legal profession, who for twenty years had
 
 Catherine de' Medici 51 
 
 been the Syndic of his Corporation, and who lived ill this 
 street. The house occupied by Lecatnus was one of the 
 three forming the three corners of the cross-roads at the 
 end of the Pont an Change, where only the tower now 
 remains that formed the fourth corner. At the angle 
 of this house, forming the corner of the bridge and of 
 the quay, now called the Quai aux Fleurs, the architect 
 had placed a niche for u' Madonna, before whom tapers 
 constantly burned, with posies of real flowers in their sea- 
 son, and artificial flowers in the winter. 
 
 On the side towards the Hue du Pont, as well as on 
 that to the Rue de la Vieille-Pelleterie, the house was 
 supported on wooden pillars. All the houses of the trad- 
 ing quarters were thus constructed, with an arcade beneath, 
 where foot passengers walked under cover on a floor hard- 
 ened by the mud they brought in, which made it a rather 
 rough pavement. In all the towns of France these arcades 
 have been called piliers in England rows a general 
 term to which the name of a trade is commonly added, 
 as " Piliers des Halles," " Piliers de la Boucherie." These 
 covered ways, required by the changeable and rainy climate 
 of Paris, gave the town a highly characteristic feature, 
 but they have entirely disappeared. Just as there now 
 remains one house only on the river-bank, so no more than 
 about a hundred feet are left of the old piliers in the 
 market, the last that have survived till now ; and in a few 
 days this remnant of the gloomy labyrinth of old Paris will 
 also be destroyed. The existence of these relics of the 
 Middle Ages is, no doubt, incompatible with the splendor of 
 modern Paris. And these remarks are not intended as a 
 lament over those fragments of the old city, but as a veri- 
 fication of this picture by the last surviving examples 
 now falling into dust, and to win forgiveness for such 
 descriptions, which will be precious in the future which is 
 following hard on the heels of this age. 
 
 The walls were of timber covered with slates. The
 
 52 Catfierine de' Medici 
 
 spaces between the timbers had been filled up with bricks, 
 in a way that may still be seen in some provincial towns, 
 laid in a zigzag pattern known as Point de Hongrie. The 
 window-sills and lintels,. also of wood, were handsomely 
 carved, as were the corner tabernacle above the Madonna, 
 and the pillars in front of the shop. Every window, every 
 beam dividing the stories, was graced with arabesques of 
 fantastic figures and animals wreathed in scrolls of foliage. 
 On the street side, as on the river side, the house was 
 crowned with a high-pitched roof having a gable to the 
 river and one to the street. This roof, like that of a Swiss 
 chalet, projected far enough to cover a balcony on the 
 second floor, with an ornamental balustrade ; here the 
 mistress might walk under shelter and command a view of 
 the street, or of the pool shut in between two bridges and 
 two rows of houses. 
 
 Houses by the river were at that time highly valued. 
 The system of drainage and water supply was not yet in- 
 vented ; the only main drain was one round Paris, con- 
 structed by Aubriot, the first man of genius and deter- 
 mination who in the time of Charles V. thought of 
 sanitation for Paris. Houses situated like this of the 
 Sieur Lecamus found in the river a necessary water-supply, 
 and a natural outlet for rain water and waste. The vast 
 works of this kind under the direction of the Trade Pro- 
 vosts are only now disappearing. None but octogenarians 
 can still remember having seen the pits which swallowed 
 up the surface waters, in the Rue Montmartre, Rue du 
 Temple, etc. These hideous yawning culverts were in 
 their day of inestimable utility. Their place will probably 
 be forever marked by the sudden rising of the roadway 
 over what was their open channel another archaeological 
 detail which, in a couple of centuries, the historian will 
 find inexplicable. 
 
 One day, in 1816, a little girl who had been sent to an 
 actress at the Amblgu with some diamonds for the part
 
 Catherine de' Medici 63 
 
 of a queen, wns caught iu a storm, and so irresistibly 
 swept away by the waters to the opening of the drain in 
 the Eue du Temple, that she would have been drowned 
 in it but for the help of a passer-by, who was touched by 
 her cries. But she had dropped the jewels, which were 
 found in a man-hole. This accident made a great com- 
 motion, and gave weight to the demands for the closing 
 of these gulfs for swallowing water and little girls. These 
 curious structures, five feet high, had more or less mova- 
 ble gratings, which led to the flooding of cellars when the 
 stream produced by heavy rain was checked by the grat- 
 ing being choked with rubbish, which the residents often 
 forgot to remove. 
 
 The front of Master Lecamus' shop was a large window, 
 but filled in with small panes of leaded glass, which made 
 the place very dark. The furs for wealthy purchasers 
 were carried to them for inspection. To those who came 
 to buy in the shop, the goods were displayed outside be- 
 tween the pillars, which, during the day, were always 
 more or less blocked by tables and salesmen sitting on 
 stools, as they could still be seen doing under the arcade 
 of the Halles some fifteen years since. From these out- 
 posts the clerks, apprentices, and sewing girls could chat, 
 question, and answer each other, and hail the passer-by 
 in a way which Walter Scott has depicted in the Fortunes 
 of Nigel, The signboard, representing an ermine, was 
 hung out as we still see those of village inns, swinging 
 from a handsome arm of pierced and gilt ironwork. Over 
 the ermine were these words : 
 
 LECAMUS 
 
 Furrier 
 
 To Her Majesty the Queen and the King our 
 Sovereign Lord 
 
 On one side, and on the other :
 
 54 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 ' To Her Majesty the Queen Mother 
 Aud to the Gentlemen of the Parlement." 
 
 The words " To Her Majesty the Queen " had been lately 
 added; the gilt letters were new. This addition was a 
 consequence of the recent changes produced by Henri II. 's 
 sudden and violent death, which overthrew many fortunes 
 at Court, and began that of the Guises. 
 
 The back shop looked over the river. In this room sat 
 the worthy citizen and his wife, Mademoiselle Lecamus. 
 The wife of a man who was not noble had not at that time 
 any right to the title of Dame, or lady ; but the wives of 
 the citizens of Paris were allowed to call themselves De- 
 moiselle (as we might say Mistress), as part of the privi- 
 leges granted and confirmed to their husbands by many 
 kings to whom they had rendered great services. Be- 
 tween this back room and the front shop was a spiral lad- 
 der or staircase of wood, a sort of corkscrew leading up 
 to the next story, where the furs were stored, to the old 
 couple's bedroom, and again to the attics, lighted by dor- 
 mer windows, where their children slept, the maid-servant, 
 the clerks, and the apprentices. 
 
 This herding of families, servants, and apprentices, and 
 the small space allotted to each in the dwelling, where the 
 apprentices all slept in one large room under the tiles, ac- 
 counts for the enormous population at that time crowded 
 together in Paris on a tenth of the ground now occupied 
 by the city, and also for the many curious details of me- 
 dieval life, and the cunning love affairs, though these, 
 pace the grave historian, are nowhere recorded but by 
 the story writers, and without them would have been 
 lost. 
 
 At this time a grand gentleman such as the Admiral 
 de Coligny, for instance had three rooms for himself in 
 Paris, and his people lived in a neighboring hostelry. 
 There were not fifty mansions in all Paris, not fifty palaces,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 56 
 
 that is to say, belonging to the sovereign princes or great 
 vassals, whose existence was far superior to that of the 
 greatest German rulers, such as the Duke of Bavaria or 
 the Elector of Saxony. 
 
 The kitchen in the Lecamus' house was on the river-side 
 below the back shop. It had a glass door opening on to 
 an ironwork balcony, where the cook could stand to draw 
 up water in a pail and to wash the household linen. Thus 
 the back shop was at once the sitting-room, the dining- 
 rooin, and the counting-house. It was in this important 
 room always fitted with richly carved wood, and adorned 
 by some chest or artistic article of furniture that the 
 merchant spent most of his life ; there he had jolly sup- 
 pers after his day's work ; there were held secret debates 
 on the political interests of the citizens and the Royal 
 family. The formidable guilds of Paris could at that 
 time arm a hundred thousand men. Their resolutions 
 were stoutly upheld by their serving-men, their clerks, 
 their apprentices, and their workmen. Their Provost was 
 their commander-in-chief, and they had, in the Hdtel de 
 Ville, a palace where they had a right to assemble. 
 
 In that famous " citizens parlor " (parlouer aux toivr- 
 geois) very solemn decisions were taken. But for the con- 
 tinual sacrifices which had made war unendurable to the 
 Guilds, wearied out with losses and famine, Henri IV., a 
 rebel made king, might never have entered Paris. 
 
 Every reader may now imagine for himself the char- 
 acteristic appearance of this corner of Paris where the 
 bridge and the quay now open out, where the trees rise 
 from the Quai aux Fleurs, and where nothing is left of 
 the past but the lofty and famous clock-tower whence the 
 signal was tolled for the Massacre of Saint-Bartholomew. 
 Strange coincidence ! One of the houses built round the 
 foot of that tower at that time surrounded by wooden 
 shops the house of the Lecamus, was to be the scene of 
 one of the incident* that led to that night of horrors,
 
 66 Catherine cle' Medici 
 
 which proved, unfortunately, propitious rather than fatal 
 to Calvinism. 
 
 At the moment when this story begins, the audacity 
 of the new religious teaching was setting Paris by the ears. 
 A Scotchman, named Stewart, had just assassinated 
 President Minard, that member of the Parlement to 
 whom public opinion attributed a principal share in the 
 execution of Anne du Bourg, a councilor burnt on the 
 Place de Grve after the tailor of the late King, who had 
 been tortured in the presence of Henri II. and Diane de 
 Poitiers. Paris was so closely watched, that the archers 
 on guard compelled every passer-by to pray to the Virgin, 
 in order to detect heretics, who yielded unwillingly, or even 
 refused to perform an act opposed to their convictions. 
 
 The two archers on guard at the corner of the Lecamug* 
 house had just gone off duty ; thus Christophe, the fur- 
 rier's son, strongly suspected of deserting the Catholic 
 faith, hud been able to go out without fear of being com- 
 pelled to adore the Virgin's image. At seven in the even- 
 ing of an April day, 1560, night was falling, and the ap- 
 prentices, seeing only a few persons walking along the 
 arcades on each side of the street, were carrying in the 
 goods laid out for inspection preparatory to closing the 
 house and the shop. Christophe Lecamus, an ardent 
 youth of two-and-twenty, was standing in the door, ap- 
 parently engaged in looking after the apprentices. 
 
 " Monsieur," said one of these lads to Christophe, point- 
 ing out a man who was pacing to and fro under the arcade 
 with a doubtful expression, "that is probably a spy or a 
 thief, but whatever he is, such a lean wretch cauuot be an 
 honest man. If he wanted to speak to us on business, he 
 would come up boldly instead of creeping up and down as 
 he is doing. And what a face ! " he went on, mimicking 
 the stranger, " with his nose hidden in his cloak ! What 
 a jaundiced eye, and what a starved complexion ! "
 
 Catherine de' Medici 57 
 
 As soon as the stranger thus described saw Christophe 
 standing alone in the doorway, he hastily crossed from the 
 opposite arcade where he was walking, came under the 
 pillars of the Lecamus' house, and passing along by the 
 shop before the apprentices had come out again to close 
 the shutters, he went up to the young man. 
 
 ft I am Chaudieu ! " he said in a low voice. 
 
 On hearing the name of one of the most famous minis- 
 ters, and one of the most heroic actors in the terrible 
 drama called the Keformation, Christophe felt such a thrill 
 as a faithful peasant would hate felt on recognizing hig 
 King under a disguise. 
 
 "Would you like to see some furs ? w said Ohristophe, 
 to deceive the apprentices whom he heard behind him. 
 "Though it is almost dark, I can show you some myself." 
 
 He invited the minister to enter, but the man replied 
 that he would rather speak to him out of doors. Chris- 
 tophe fetched his cap and followed the Calvinist. 
 
 Chaudieu, though banished by an edict, as secret pleni- 
 potentiary of Theodore de Bze and Calvin who directed 
 the Reformation in France from Geneva went and came, 
 defying the risk of the horrible death inflicted by the Parle- 
 ment, in concert with the Church and the Monarch, on 
 a leading reformer, the famous Anne du Bourg. This 
 man, whose brother was a captain in the army, and one 
 of Admiral Coligny's best warriors, was the arm used by 
 Calvin to stir up France at the beginning of the twenty- 
 two years of religions wars which were on the eve of an 
 outbreak. This preacher of the reformed faith waa one 
 of those secret wheels which may best explain the immense 
 spread of the Reformation. 
 
 Chaudieu led Christophe down to the edge of the water 
 by an underground passage like that of the Arche Marion, 
 filled in some ten years since. This tunnel between the 
 house of Lecamus and that next it ran under the Eue de 
 la Vieille-Pelleterie, and was known as le Pont aux Four-
 
 68 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 rears. It was used by the dyers of the Cite as a way 
 down to the river to wash their thread, silk, and materials. 
 A little boat lay there, held and rowed by one man. In 
 the bows sat a stranger, a small man, and very simply 
 dressed. In an instant the boat was in the middle of the 
 river, and the boatman steered it under one of the wooden 
 arches of the Pont au Change, where he quickly secured 
 it to an iron ring. No one had said a word. 
 
 ' ' Here we may talk in safety, there are neither spies nor 
 traitors/' said Chaudieu to the two others. "Are you 
 filled with the spirit of self-sacrifice that should animate 
 a martyr ? Are you ready to suffer all things for our holy 
 Cause ? Do you fear the torments endured by the late 
 King's tailor, and the Councilor du Bourg, which of a 
 truth await us all '?" He spoke to Christophe, looking at 
 him with a radiant face. 
 
 " I will testify to the Gospel," replied Christophe sim- 
 ply, looking up at the windows of the back shop. 
 
 The familiar lamp standing on a table, where his father 
 was no doubt balancing his books, reminded him by its 
 mild beam of the peaceful life and family joys he was re- 
 nouncing. It was a brief but complete vision. The 
 young man's fancy took in the homely harmony of the 
 whole scene the places where he had spent his happy 
 childhood, where Babette Lallier lived, his future wife, 
 where everything promised him a calm and busy life ; he 
 saw the past, he saw the future, and he sacrificed it all. 
 At any rate, he staked it. 
 
 Such were men in those days. 
 
 " We need say no more/' cried the impetuous boatman. 
 "We know him for one of the saints. If the Scotchman 
 had not dealt the blow, he would have killed the infamous 
 Minard." 
 
 " Yes/' said Lecamus, " my life is in the hands of the 
 brethren, and I devote it with joy for the success of the 
 Reformation. I have thought of it all seriously. I know
 
 Catherine de' Medici 59 
 
 what we are doing for the joy of the nations. In two 
 words, the Papacy makes for celibacy, the Eeformation 
 makes for the family. It is time to purge France of its 
 monks, to restore their possessions to the Crown, which 
 will sell them sooner or later to the middle classes. Let 
 us show that we can die for our children, and to make our 
 families free and happy ! " 
 
 The young enthusiast's face, with Chaudieu's, the boat- 
 man's, and that of the stranger seated in the bows, formed 
 a picture that deserves to be described, all the more so be- 
 cause such a description entails the whole history of that 
 epoch, if it be true that it is given to some men to sum up 
 in themselves the spirit of their age. 
 
 Eeligious reform, attempted in Germany by Luther, in 
 Scotland by John Knox, and in France by Calvin, found 
 partisans chiefly among those of the lower classes who had 
 begun to think. The great nobles encouraged the move- 
 ment only to serve other interests quite foreign to the 
 religious question. These parties Avere joined by adven- 
 turers, by gentlemen who had lost all, by youngsters to 
 whom every form of excitement was acceptable. But 
 among the artisans and men employed in trade, faith was 
 genuine, and founded on intelligent interests. The poorer 
 nations at once gave their adherence to a religion which 
 brought the property of the Church back to the State, 
 which suppressed the convents, and deprived the dignitaries 
 of the Church of their enormous revenues. Everybody in 
 trade calculated the profits from this religious transaction, 
 and devoted themselves to it body, soul, and purse ; and 
 among the youth of the French citizen class, the new 
 preaching met that noble disposition for self-sacrifice of 
 every kind which animates the young to whom egoism is 
 unknown. 
 
 Eminent men, penetrating minds, such as are always to 
 be found among the masses, foresaw the Eepublic in the 
 ^Reformation, and hoped to establish throughout Europe a
 
 60 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 form of government like that of the United Netherlands, 
 which at last triumphed over the greatest power of the 
 time Spain, ruled by Philip II., and represented in the 
 Low Countries by the Duke of Alva. Jean Hotoman was 
 at that time planning the famous book in which this 
 scheme is set forth, which diffused through France the 
 leaven of these ideas, stirred up once more by the League, 
 subdued by Richelieu, and afterwards by Louis XIV., to 
 reappear with the Economists and the Encyclopedists 
 under Louis XV., and burst into life under Louis XVI. ; 
 ideas which were always approved by the younger branches, 
 by the House of Orleans in 1789, as by the House of Bour- 
 bon in 1589. 
 
 The questioning spirit is the rebellions spirit. A rebel- 
 lion is always either a cloak to hide a prince, or the swad- 
 dling wrapper of a new rule. The House of Bourbon, a 
 vounger branch than the Valois, was busy at the bottom of 
 the Reformation. At the moment when the little boat lay 
 moored under the arch of the Pont au Change, the question 
 was further complicated by the ambition of the Guises, 
 the rivals of the Bourbons. Indeed, the Crown as repre- 
 sented by Catherine de' Medici could, for thirty years, hold 
 its own in the strife by setting these two factions against 
 each other ; whereas later, instead of being clutched at by 
 many hands, the Crown stood face to face with the people 
 without a barrier between ; for Richelieu and Louis XIV. 
 had broken down the nobility, and Louis XV. had over- 
 thrown the Parlements. Now a king alone face to face with 
 a nation, as Louis XVI. was, must inevitably succumb. 
 
 Christophe Lecamus was very typical of the ardent and 
 devoted sons of the people. His pale complexion had that 
 warm burnt hue which is seen in some fair people ; his hair 
 was of a coppery yellow ; his eyes were bluish-gray, and 
 sparkled brightly. In them alone was his noble soul visible, 
 for his clumsy features did not disguise the somewhat 
 triangular shap of a plain face by lending it the look of
 
 Catherine de' Medici 61 
 
 dignity which a man of raiik can assume, and his forehead 
 was low, and characteristic only of great energy. His 
 vitality seemed to be seated no lower down than his chest, 
 which was somewhat hollow. Sinewy, rather than mus- 
 cular, Christophe was of tough texture, lean but wiry. 
 His sharp nose showed homely cunning, and his counte- 
 nance revealed intelligence of the kind that acts wisely on 
 one point of a circle, but that has not the power of com- 
 manding the whole circumference. His eyes, set under 
 brows that projected like a pent-house, and faintly outlined 
 with light down, were surrounded with broad light-blue 
 circles, with a sheeny white patch at the root of the nose, 
 almost always a sign of great excitability. Christophe was 
 of the people the race that fights and allows itself to be 
 deceived ; intelligent enough to understand and to serve an 
 idea, too noble to take advantage of it, too magnanimous 
 to sell himself. 
 
 By the side of old Lecamus' only son, Chaudieu, the 
 ardent minister, lean from watchfulness, with brown hair, 
 a yellow skin, a contumacious brow, an eloquent month, 
 fiery hazel eyes, and a short rounded chin, symbolized that 
 Christian zeal which gave the Reformation so many fanatical 
 and earnest preachers, whose spirit and boldness fired whole 
 communities. This aide-de-camp of Calvin and Theodore 
 de Be"ze contrasted well with the furrier's son. He repre- 
 sented the living canse of which Christophe was the effect. 
 You could not have conceived of the active firebrand of 
 the popular machine under any other aspect. 
 
 The boatman, an impetuous creature, tanned by the 
 open air, the dews of night, and the heats of the day, with 
 firmly set lips, quick motions, a hungry, tawny eye like a 
 vulture's, and crisp black hair, was the characteristic 
 adventurer who risks his all in an undertaking as a gambler 
 stakes his whole fortune on a card. Everything in the 
 man spoke of terrible passions and a daring that would 
 flinch at nothing. His quivering muscles were as able to
 
 62 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 keep silence as to speak. His look was assertive rather 
 than noble. His nose, upturned but narrow, scented 
 battle. He seemed active and adroit. In any age you 
 would have known him for a party leader. He might have 
 been Pizarro, Hernando Cortez, or Morgan the Destroyer 
 if there had been no Keformation a doer of violent deeds. 
 
 The stranger who sat on a seat, wrapped in his cloak, 
 evidently belonged to the highest social rank. The fine- 
 ness of his linen, the cut, material, and perfume of his 
 raiment, the make and texture of his gloves, showed a man 
 of the Court, as his attitude, his haughtiness, his cool de- 
 meanor, and his flashing eye revealed a man of war. His ap- 
 pearance was at first somewhat alarming, and inspired 
 respect. We respect a man who respects himself. Though 
 short and hunchbacked, his manner made good all the de- 
 fects of his figure. The ice once broken, he had the 
 cheerfulness of decisiveness and an indescribable spirit of 
 energy which made him attractive. lie had the blue eyes 
 and the hooked nose of the House of Navarre, and the 
 Spanish look of the marked physiognomy that was char- 
 acteristic of the Bourbon kings. 
 
 With three words the scene became of the greatest 
 interest. 
 
 " Well, then," said Chaudieu, as Christophe Lecamus 
 made his profession of faith, " this boatman is la Eenaudie ; 
 and this is Monseigneur the Prince de Cond6," he added, 
 turning to the hunchback. 
 
 Thus the four men were representative of the faith of 
 the people, the intellect of eloquence, the arm of the 
 soldier, and Royalty cast into the shade. 
 
 " You will hear what we require of you/' the minister 
 went on, after allowing a pause for the young man's asto- 
 nishment. " To the end that you may make no mistakes, 
 we are compelled to initiate you into the most important 
 secrets of the Reformation. " 
 
 The Prince and la Eenaudie assented by a gesture, when
 
 Catherine de' Medici 68 
 
 the minister ceased speaking, to allow the Prince to say 
 something if he should wish it. Like all men of rank en- 
 gaged in conspiracies, who make it a principle not to ap- 
 pear before some critical moment, the Prince kept silence. 
 Not from cowardice : at such junctures he was the souloi 
 the scheme, shrank from no danger, and risked his head ; 
 but with a sort of royal dignity, he left the explanation of 
 the enterprise to the preacher, and was content to study 
 the new instrument he was compelled to make use of. 
 
 " My son/' said Chaudieu in Huguenot phraseology, 
 " we are abont to fight the first battle against the Roman 
 whore. In a few days our soldiers must perish at the stake, 
 or the Guises must be dead. So, ere long, the King and 
 the two Queens will be in our power. This is the first ap- 
 peal to arms by our religion in France, and France will 
 not lay them down till she has conquered it is of the 
 nation that I speak, and not of the kingdom. Most of 
 the nobles of the kingdom see what the Cardinal de Lor- 
 raine and the Duke his brother are driving at. Under 
 pretense of defending the Catholic faith, the House of 
 Lorraine claims the Crown of France as its inheritance. 
 It leans on the Church, and has made it a formidable ally; 
 the monks are its supporters, its acolytes and spies. It 
 asserts itself as a protector of the throne it hopes to usurp, 
 of the Valois whom it hopes to destroy. 
 
 ' ' We have decided to rise up in arms, and it is because 
 the liberties of the people are threatened as well as the 
 interests of the nobility. We must stifle in its infancy 
 a faction as atrocious as that of the Bonrguignons, who 
 of old put Paris and France to fire and sword. A Louis 
 XI. was needed to end the quarrel between the Burgundians 
 and the Crown, but now a Prince of Cond6 will prevent 
 the Lorrains from going too far. This is not a civil war ; 
 it is a duel between the Guises and the Reformation a 
 duel to the death ! We will see their heads laid low, or 
 they shall crush ours 1 "
 
 64 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " Well spoken 1 " said the Prince. 
 
 " In these circumstances, Christophe," la Renaudie put 
 in, " we must neglect no means of strengthening our party 
 for there is a party on the side of the Reformation, the 
 party of offended rights, of the nobles who are sacrificed 
 to the Guises, of the old army leaders so shamefully 
 tricked at Fontainebleau, whence the Cardinal banished 
 them by erecting gibbets to hang those who should ask 
 the King for the price of their outfit and arrears of pay." 
 
 " Yea, my son," said Chaudieu, seeing some signs of 
 terror in Christophe, " that is what requires ns to triumph 
 by fighting instead of triumphing by conviction and mar- 
 tyrdom. The Queen-mother is ready to enter into our 
 views ; not that she is prepared to abjure the Catholic 
 faith she has not got so far as that, but she may perhaps 
 be driven to it by our success. Be that as it may, humil- 
 iated and desperate as she is at seeing the power she had 
 hoped to wield at the King's death in the grasp of the 
 Guises, and alarmed by the influence exerted by the young 
 Queen Marie, who is their niece and partizan, Queen Cath- 
 erine will be inclined to lend her support to the princes 
 and nobles who are about to strike a blow for her deliver- 
 ance. At this moment, though apparently devoted to the 
 Guises, she hates them, longs for their ruin, and will make 
 use of us to oppose them ; but Monseigneur can make use 
 of her to oppose all the others. The Queen-mother will 
 consent to all we propose. We have the Conne'table on 
 our side Monseigneur has just seen him at Chantilly, but 
 he will not stir without orders from his superiors. Being 
 Monseigneur's uncle, he will not leave us in the lurch, and 
 our generous Prince will not hesitate to rush into danger 
 to enlist Anne de Montmorency. 
 
 " Everything ia ready ; and we have cast our eyes on 
 you to communicate to Queen Catherine our treaty of alli- 
 ance, our schemes for edicts, and the basis of the new rule. 
 The Court is at Blois. Many of our friends are there ;
 
 Catherine de' Medici 65 
 
 but those are our future chiefs and, like Monseigneur," 
 
 and he bowed to the Prince, "they must never be sns- 
 pected ; we must sacrifice ourselves for them. The 
 Queen-mother and our friends are under such close es- 
 pionage, that it is impossible to communicate with them 
 through any one who is known, or of any consequence. 
 Such a person would at once be suspected, and would 
 never be admitted to speak with Madame Catherine. God 
 should indeed give us at this moment the shepherd David 
 with his sling to attack Goliath de Guise. Your father 
 a good Catholic, more's the pity is furrier to the two 
 Queens ; he always has some garment or trimming in hand 
 for them ; persuade him co send you to the Court. You 
 will arouse no suspicions, and will not compromise Queen 
 Catherine. Any one of our leaders might lose his head 
 for an imprudence which should give rise to a suspicion of 
 the Queen-mother's connivance with us. But where a 
 man of importance, once caught out, gives a clue to 
 suspicions, a nobody like you escapes scot-free. You see ! 
 The Guises have so many spies, that nowhere but in the 
 middle of the river can we talk without fear. So you, my 
 eon, are like a man on guard, doomed to die at his post. 
 Understand, if you are taken, you are abandoned by us all. 
 If need be, we shall cast opprobrium and disgrace on you. 
 If we should be forced to it, we should declare that you 
 were a creature of the Guises whom they sent to play a 
 part to implicate us. So what we ask of you is entire 
 elf-sacrifice. : 
 
 "If you perish," said the Prince de Cond6, "I pledge 1 
 my word as a gentleman that your family shall be a sacred 
 trust to the House of Navarre ; I will bear it in my heart 
 and serve it in every way." 
 
 " That word, my Lord, is enough," replied Christophe, 
 forgetting that this leader of faction was a Gascon. " We 
 live in times when every man, prince or citizen, must do 
 hie duty." 
 5
 
 66 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " That is a true Huguenot ! If all our men were like 
 him/' said la Renaudie, laying his hand on Christophe's 
 shoulder, " we should have won by to-morrow." 
 
 " Young man/' said the Prince, " I meant to show you 
 that while Chaudieu preaches and the gentleman bears 
 arms, the prince fights. Thus, in so fierce a game every 
 stake has its value." 
 
 " Listen," said la Eenaudie ; "I will not give you the 
 papers till we reach Beaugency, for we must run no 
 risks on the road. You will find me on the quay there ; 
 my face, voice, and clothes will be so different that you 
 may not recognize me. But I will say to you, ' Are you 
 a Gutpin ? ' and you must reply, ' At your service/ 
 As to the manner of proceeding, I will tell you. You 
 will find a horse at la Pinte jleurie, near Saint-Germain 
 1'Auxerrois. Ask there for Jeanle Breton, who will take 
 you to the stable and mount you on a nag of mine, known 
 to cover thirty leagues in eight hours. Leave Paris by the 
 Bussy gate. Breton has a pass for me ; take it for your- 
 self and be off, riding round outside the towns. You 
 should reach Orleans by daybreak." 
 
 " And the horse ? " asked Lecamus. 
 
 " He will hold out till you get to Orleans," replied la 
 Renaudie. "Leave him outside the suburb of Bannier, 
 for the gates are well guarded ; we must not arouse sus- 
 picion. You, my friend, must play your part well. You 
 must make up any story that may seem to you best to 
 enable you to go to the third house on your left on enter- 
 ing Orleans ; it is that of one Tourillon, a glover. Knock 
 three raps on the door and call out, 'In the service of 
 Messieurs de Guise ! ' The man affects to be a fanatical 
 Guisard ; we four only know that he is on our side. He 
 will find you a boatman, such another as himself, of course, 
 but devoted to our cause. Go down to the river at once, 
 get into a boat painted green with a white border. You 
 ought to be at Beaugency by noonday to-morrow. Therf
 
 Catherine de' Medici 67 
 
 I will put you in the way of getting a boat to carry you 
 down to Blois without running any danger. Our enemies 
 the Guises do not command the Loire, only the river-ports. 
 
 "You may thus see the Queen in the course of to- 
 morrow or of the next day." 
 
 " Your words are graven here," said Christophe, touch- 
 ing his forehead. 
 
 Chaudiett embraced his son with a religious fervency ; 
 he was proud of him. 
 
 " The Lord protect you \" he said, pointing to the sun- 
 set which crimsoned the old roofs covered with shingles, 
 and shot fiery gleams among the forest of beams round 
 which the waters foamed. 
 
 "You are of the stock of old Jacques Bonhomme," 
 said la Kenaudie to Christophe, wringing his hand. 
 
 " We shall meet again, Monsieur," said the Prince, with 
 a gesture of infinite graciousness, almost of friendliness. 
 
 With a stroke of the oar, la Renaudie carried the young 
 conspirator back to the steps leading up to the house, and 
 the boat vanished at once under the arches of the Pont an 
 Change. 
 
 Christophe shook the iron gate that closed the entrance 
 from the river-side and called out. Mademoiselle Lecamus 
 heard him, opened one of the windows of the back-shop, 
 and asked how he came there. Christophe replied that 
 he was half-frozen, and that she must first let him in. 
 
 " Young master," said la Bourguignonne, " you went 
 out by the street door and come in by the river-gate ? 
 Your father will be in a pretty rage." 
 
 Christophe, bewildered by the secret conference which 
 had brought him into contact with the Prince de Cond6, 
 la Renaudie, and Chaudieu. and even more agitated by the 
 expected turmoil of an imminent civil war, made no reply ; 
 he hurried up from the kitchen to the back-shop. There, 
 on seeing him, his mother, who was a bigoted old Catholic, 
 could not contain herself.
 
 68 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " I will wager," she broke out, " that the three man 
 you were talking to were ref " 
 
 " Silence, wife," said the prudent old man, whose white 
 head was bent over a book. "Now, you lazy oafs," he 
 went on to three boys who had long since finished sup- 
 per, "what are you waiting for to take you to bed ? It is 
 eight o'clock. You must be up by five in the morning. 
 And first you have the President de Thou's robes and cap 
 to carry home. Go all three together, and carry sticks 
 and rapiers. If you meet any more ne'er-do-weels of your 
 own kidney, at any rate there will be three of yon." 
 
 " And are we to carry the ermine surcoat ordered by the 
 young Queen, which is to be delivered at the H6tel de 
 Soissons, from whence there is an express to Blois and to the 
 Queen-mother ? " asked one of the lads. 
 
 " No/' said the Syndic ; " Queen Catherine's account 
 amounts to three thousand crowns, and I must get the 
 money. I think I will go to Blois myself." 
 
 " 1 should not think of allowing you, at your age, 
 Father, and in such times as these, to expose yourself on 
 the high roads. I am two-and-twenty ; you may send me 
 on this errand," said Christophe, with an eye on a boy 
 which he had no doubt contained the surcoat. 
 
 " Are you glued to the bench ?" cried the old man to 
 the apprentices, who hastily took up their rapiers and 
 capes, and Monsieur de Thou's fur gown. 
 
 This illustrious man was to be received on the morrow 
 by the Parliament as their President ; he had just signed 
 the death warrant of the Councillor du Bourg, and was 
 fated, before the year was out, to sit in judgment on the 
 Prince de Conde. 
 
 "La Bourguignonne," said the old man, "go and ask 
 my neighbor Lallier if he will sup with us this evening, 
 furnishing the wine ; we will give the meal. And, above 
 all, toll him to bring his daughter."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 69 
 
 The "Syndic of the Guild of Furriers was a handsome old 
 aian of sixty, with white hair and a broad high forehead. 
 As furrier to the Court for forty years past, he had wit- 
 nessed all the revolutions in the reign of Francis I., and 
 had retained his royal patent in spite of feminine rivalries. 
 He had seen the arrival at Court of Catherine de' Medici, 
 then but just fifteen ; he had seen her succumb to the 
 Dachesse d'Etampes, her father-in-law's mistress, and to the 
 Duchesse de Valentinois, mistress to the late King, her 
 husband. But through all these changes the furrier had 
 got into no difficulties, though the Court purveyors often 
 fell into disgrace with the ladies they served. His prudence 
 was as great as his wealth. He maintained an attitude of 
 excessive humility. Pride had never caught him in its 
 snares. The man was so modest, so meek, so obliging, so 
 poor at Court and in the presence of queens, princesses, 
 and favorites that his servility had saved his shop-sign. 
 
 Such a line of policy betrayed, of course, a cunning and 
 clear-sighted man. Humble as he was to the outer world, 
 at home he was a despot. He was the unquestioned mas- 
 ter in his own house. He was highly respected by his 
 fellow merchants, and derived immense consideration from 
 his long tenure of the first place in business. Indeed, he 
 was gladly helpful to others ; and among the services he 
 had done, the most important perhaps was the support he 
 had long afforded to the most famous surgeon of the six- 
 teenth century Ambroise Par6, who owed it to Lecamus 
 that he could pursue his studies. In all the disputes that 
 arose between the merchants of the guild, Leoamus was for 
 conciliatory measures. Thus general esteem had confirmed 
 his supremacy among his equals, while his assumed char- 
 acter had preserved him the favor of the Court. 
 
 Having for political reasons, maneuvered in his parish 
 for the glory of his trade, he did what was needful to keep 
 himself in a sufficient odor of sanctity with the priest of 
 the Church of Saint-Pierre aux Boeufs, who regarded him
 
 70 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 as one of the men most devoted in all Paris to the Catholic 
 faith. Consequently, when the States- General were con- 
 voked, Lecamus was unanimously elected to represent the 
 third estate by the influence of the priests, which was at 
 that time enormous in Paris. 
 
 This old man was one of those deep and silent ambitious 
 men who for fifty years are submissive to everybody in turn, 
 creeping up from place to place, no one knowing how, till 
 they are seen peacefully seated in a position which no one, 
 not even the boldest, would have dared to admit was the goal 
 of his ambition at the beginning of his life so long was 
 the climb, so many gulfs were there to leap, into which he 
 might fall ! Lecamus, who had hidden away a large for- 
 tune, would run no risks, and was planning a splendid fu- 
 ture for his son. Instead of that personal ambition which 
 often sacrifices the future to the present, lie had family 
 ambition, a feeling that seems lost in these days, smothered 
 by the stupid regulation of inheritance by law. Lecamus 
 foresaw himself President of the Paris Parlement in the 
 person of his grandson. 
 
 Christophe, the godson of the great historian de Thou, 
 had received an excellent education, but it had led him to 
 skepticism and inquiry, which indeed were increasing apace 
 among the students and Faculties of the University. 
 Christophe, was at present studying for the bar, the first 
 step to a judgeship. The old furrier pretended to be un- 
 decided as to his son's career ; sometimes he would make 
 Christophe his successor, and sometimes he would have 
 him a pleader ; but in his heart he longed to see this son 
 in the seat of a Councilor of the Parlement. The furrier 
 longed to place the house of Lecamus on a par with the old 
 and honored families of Paris citizens which had produced 
 a Pasquier, a Mole, a Miron, a Seguier, Lamoignon, du 
 Till6t, Lecoigneux, Lescalopier, the Goix, the Arnaulds, 
 all the famous sheriffs and high-provosts of corporations 
 who had rallied to defend the throne.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 71 
 
 To the end that Christophe might in that day do credit 
 to his rank, he wanted him to marry the daughter of the 
 richest goldsmith in the Cite, his neighbor Lallier, whose 
 nephew, at a later day, presented the keys of Paris to Henri 
 IV. The most deeply-rooted purpose in the good man's 
 heart was to spend half his own fortune and half of Lal- 
 lier's in the purchase of a lordly estate, a long and diffi- 
 cult matter in those days. 
 
 But he was too deep a schemer, and knew the times too 
 well, to overlook the great movements that were being 
 hatched ; he saw plainly, and saw truly, when he looked 
 forward to the division of the kingdom into two camps. 
 The useless executions on the Place de 1'Estrapade, that 
 of Henry II/s tailor and that, still more recent, of the 
 Councilor Anne du Bourg, besides the connivance of the 
 reigning favorite in the time of Francis I., and of many 
 nobles now, at the progress of reform, all were alarming 
 indications. The furrier was determined, come what 
 might, to remain faithful to the Church, the Monarchy, 
 and the Parlement, but he was secretly well content that 
 his son should join the Reformation. He knew that he 
 had wealth enough to ransom Christophe if the lad should 
 ever compromise himself seriously ; and then, if France 
 should turn Calviuist, his son could save the family in any 
 furious outbreaks in the capital such as the citizens could 
 vividly remember, and as would recur again and again 
 through four reigns. 
 
 Like Louis XL, the old furrier never confessed these 
 thoughts even to himself ; his cunning completely deceived 
 his wife and his son. For many a day this solemn person- 
 age had been the recognized head of the most populous 
 quarter of Paris the heart of the city bearing the title 
 of Quartenier, which became notorious fifteen years later. 
 Clothed in cloth, like every prudent citizen who obeyed 
 the sumptuary laws, Master Lecamus the Sieur Lecarnus, 
 a title he held in virtue of an edict of Charles V. permit-
 
 72 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 ting the citizens of Paris to purchase Seiyneuries, and their 
 wives to assume the fine title of demoiselle or mistress 
 wore no gold chain, no silk ; only a stout doublet with large 
 buttons of blackened silver, wrinkled hose drawn up above 
 his knee, and leather shoes with buckles. His shirt, of 
 fine linen, was pulled out, in the fashion of the time, into 
 full puffs through his half-buttoned waistcoat and slashed 
 trunks. 
 
 Though the full light of the lamp fell on the old man's 
 broad and handsome head, Christophe had no inkling of 
 the thoughts hidden behind that rich Dutch-looking com- 
 plexion ; still he understood that his old father meant to 
 take some advantage of his affection for pretty Babette 
 Lallier. And Christophe, as a man who has laid his own 
 schemes, smiled sadly when he heard the invitation sent 
 to his fair mistress. 
 
 As soon as la Bourguignonne and the apprentices were 
 gone, old Lecamus looked at his wife with an expression 
 that fully showed his firm and resolute temper. 
 
 " You will never rest till you have got the boy hanged 
 with your damned tongue ! " said he in stern tones. 
 
 " I wou'd rather see him hanged, but saved, than alive 
 and a Huguenot," was the gloomy reply. "To think 
 that the child I bore within me for nine months should 
 not be a good Catholic, but hanker after the heresies of 
 
 Colas that he must spend all eternity in hell ! " and 
 
 she began to cry. 
 
 " You old fool \" said the furrier, " then give him a 
 chance of life, if only to convert him ! Why, you said a 
 thing, before the apprentices, which might set our house 
 on fire, and roast us all in it like fleas in straw." 
 
 The mother crossed herself, but said nothing. 
 
 " As for you," said the good man, with a scrutinizing 
 look at his son, "tell me what you were doing out there 
 
 on the water with Come close to me while I speak to 
 
 you," he added, seizing his son by the arm, and drawing
 
 Catherine de' Medici 78 
 
 him close to him while he whispered in the lad's ear ' ' udth 
 the Prince de CondeV' Christophe started. "Do you 
 suppose that the Court furrier does not know all their 
 faces ? And do you fancy that I arn not aware of what is 
 going on ? Monseigneur the Grand Master has ordered 
 out troops to Amboise. And when troops are removed 
 from Paris to Amboise while the Court is at Blois, when 
 they are marched by way of Chartres and Vendome instead 
 of by Orleans, the meaning is pretty clear, heh ? Trouble 
 is brewing. 
 
 " If the Queens want their surcoats, they will send for 
 them. The Prince de Conde may be intending to kill 
 Messieurs de Guise, who on their part mean to got rid of 
 him perhaps. Of what use can a furrier's son be in such a 
 broil ? When you are married, when you are a pleader in 
 the Parlement, yon will be as cautious as your father. A 
 furrier's son has no business to be of the new religion till 
 all the rest of the world is. I say nothing against the 
 Reformers ; it is no business of mine ; but the Court is 
 Catholic, the two Queens are Catholic, the Parlement is 
 Catholic : we serve them with furs, and we must be Catholic. 
 
 " You do not stir from here, Christophe, or I will place 
 you with your godfather the President de Thou, who will 
 keep you at it, blackening paper night and day, instead of 
 leaving you to blacken your soul in the hell-broth of these 
 damned Genevese." 
 
 " Father," said Christophe, leaning on the back of the 
 old man's chair, " send me off to Blois with Queen Marie's 
 surcoat, and to ask for the money, or I am a lost man. 
 And you love me " 
 
 "Lost!" echoed his father, without any sign of sur- 
 prise. " If you stay here, you will not be lost. I shall 
 know where to find you.** 
 
 " I shall be killed/' 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " The most zealous Huguenots have oast their eyes on 
 
 v
 
 74 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 me to serve them in a certain matter, and if I fail to do 
 what I hilffe just promised, they will kill me in the street, 
 in the face of day, here, as Minard was killed. But if you 
 send me to the Court on business of your own, I shall 
 probably be able to justify my action to both parties. 
 Either I shall succeed for them without running any risk, 
 and so gain a good position in the party ; or, if the danger 
 is too great, I can do your business only." 
 
 The old man started to his feet as if his seat were of 
 red-hot iron. 
 
 " Wife," said he, " leave us, and see that no one in- 
 trudes on Christophe and me." 
 
 When Mistress Lecamus had left the room, the furrier 
 took his son by a button and led him to the corner of the 
 room which formed the angle towards the bridge. 
 
 " Christophe," said he, quite into his son's ear, as he 
 had just now spoken of the Prince de Conde, " be a Hu- 
 guenot if that is your pet vice, but with prudence, in your 
 secret heart, and not in such a way as to be pointed at by 
 every one in the neighborhood. What you have just told 
 me shows me what confidence the leaders have in you. 
 What are you to do at the Court ? " 
 
 " 1 cannot tell you," said Christophe ; " I do not quite 
 know that myself yet." 
 
 " H'm, h'm," said the old man, looking at the lad, " the 
 young rascal wants to hoodwink his father. He will go 
 far ! Well, well," he went on, in an undertone, " you are 
 not going to Blois to make overtures to the Guises, nor to 
 the little King our Sovereign, nor to little Queen Mary. 
 All these are Catholics ; but I could swear that the Italian 
 Queen owes the Scotch woman and the Lorrains some 
 grudge : I know her. She has been dying to put a finger 
 in the pie. The late King was so much afraid of her 
 that, like the jewelers, he used diamond to cut diamond, 
 one woman against another. Hence Queen Catherine's 
 hatred of the poor Duchesse de Valentinois, from whom
 
 Catherine de' Medici 76 
 
 she took the fine Chdteau of Chenonceaux. But for Mon- 
 sieur le Conne table, the Duchess would have had her neck 
 wrung at least 
 
 " Hands off, my boy I Do not trust yourself within 
 reach of the Italian woman, whose only passions are in her 
 head ; a bad sort that. Ay, the business you are sent to 
 the Court to do will give you a bad headache, I fear," 
 cried the father, seeing that Christophe was about to speak. 
 " My boy, I have two schemes for your future life ; you 
 will not spoil them by being of service to Queen Catherine. 
 But, for God's sake, keep your head on your shoulders ! 
 And the Guises would cut it off as la Bourguignonne cuts 
 off a turnip, for the people who are employing you would 
 throw you over at once." 
 
 " I know that, father," said Christophe. 
 
 "And you are so bold as that ! Yon know it, and you 
 will risk it ? " 
 
 " Yes, father." 
 
 " Why, the Devil's in it ! " cried the old man, hugging 
 his son, " we may understand each other ; you are your 
 father's son. My boy, you will be a credit to the family, 
 and your old father may be plain with you, I see. But 
 do not be more of a Huguenot than the Messieurs de 
 Coligny ; and do not draw your sword. You are to be a 
 man of the pen ; stick to your part as a sucking lawyer. 
 Well, tell me no more till you have succeeded. If I hear 
 nothing of you for four days after you reach Blois, that 
 silence will tell me that you are in danger. Then the old 
 man will follow to save the young one. I have not sold 
 furs for thirty years without knowing the seamy side of a 
 Court robe. I can find means of opening doors." 
 
 Christophe stared with amazement at h earing his father 
 speak thus ; but he feared some parental snare, and held 
 his tongue. 
 
 Then he said 
 
 " Very well, make up the account ; write a letter to the
 
 7G Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Queen. I must be off this moment, or dreadful things 
 will happen. " 
 
 " Be off ? But how ? " 
 
 "I will buy a horse. Write, for God's sake !" 
 
 "Here ! Mother ! Give yonr boy some money," the 
 furrier called out to his wife. 
 
 She came in, flew to her chest, and gave a purse to 
 Christophe, who excitedly kissed her. 
 
 " The account was ready," said his father ; ' ' here it is. 
 I will write the letter." 
 
 Christophe took the bill and put it in hia pocket. 
 
 " But at any rate you will sup with ns," said the good- 
 man. " In this extremity you and the Lallier girl must 
 exchange rings." 
 
 " Well, I will go to fetch her," cried Christophe. 
 
 The young man feared some indecision in his father, 
 whose character he did not thoroughly appreciate ; he 
 went up to his room, dressed, took out a small trunk, 
 stole down-stairs, and placed it with his cloak and rapier 
 under a counter in the shop. 
 
 "What the devil are you about?" asked his father, 
 hearing him there. 
 
 " I do not want any one to see my preparations for 
 leaving ; I have put everything under the counter," he 
 whispered in reply. 
 
 " And here is the letter," said his father. 
 
 Christophe took the paper, and went out as if to fetch 
 their neighbor. 
 
 A few moments after Christophe had gone out, old 
 Lallier and his daughter came in, preceded by a woman- 
 servant carrying three bottles of old wine. 
 
 " Well, and where is Christophe?" asked the furrier 
 and his wife. 
 
 " Chrictophe ? " said Babette ; " we have not seen him." 
 
 " A pretty rogue is my son ! " cried Lecamus. " He 
 tricks me as if I had no beard. Why, old gossip, what
 
 Catherine de' Medici 77 
 
 will oome to us ? We live in times when the children are 
 all too clever for their fathers ! " 
 
 "But he has long been regarded by all the neighbors as 
 a mad follower of Colas," said Lallier. 
 
 " Defend him stoutly on that score/' said the furrier to 
 the goldsmith. " Youth is foolish, and runs after any- 
 thing new ; but Babette will keep him quiet, she is even 
 newer than Calvin. " 
 
 Babette smiled. She truly loved Christophe, was af- 
 fronted by everything that was ever said against him. She 
 was a girl of the good old middle-class type, brought up 
 under her mother's eye, for she had never left her ; her 
 demeanor was as gentle and precise as her features ; she 
 was dressed in stuff of harmonious tones of gray ; her ruff, 
 plainly pleated, was a contrast by its whiteness to her sober 
 gown ; on her head was a black velvet cap, like a child's 
 hood in shape, but trimmed, on each side of her face, with 
 frills and ends of tan-colored gauze. Though she was fair- 
 haired, with a white skin, she seemed cunning and crafty, 
 though trying to hide her wiliness under the expression 
 of a simple and honest girl. 
 
 As long as the two women remained in the room, com- 
 ing to and fro to lay the cloth, and place the jugs, the 
 large pewter dishes, and the knives and forks, the gold- 
 smith and his daughter, the furrier and his wife, sat in 
 front of the high chimney-place, hung with red serge and 
 black fringes, talking of nothing. It was in vain that 
 Babette asked where Christophe could be ; the young 
 Huguenot's father and mother made ambiguous replies ; 
 but as soon as the party had sat down to their meal, and 
 the two maids were in the kitchen, Lecamus said to his 
 future daughter-in-law 
 
 " Christophe is gone to the Court." 
 
 " To Blois ! What a journey to take without saying 
 good-by to me ! " said Babette. 
 
 " He was in a great hurry,* said his old mother.
 
 78 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " Old friend/' said the furrier to Lallier, taking up the 
 thread of the conversation, " we are going to see hot work 
 in France ; the Reformers are astir." 
 
 " If they win the day, it will only be after long fighting, 
 which will be very bad for trade," said Lallier, incapable 
 of looking higher than the commercial point of view. 
 
 " My father, who had seen the end of the wars between 
 the Bourguignons and the Armagnacs, told me that our 
 family would never have lived through them if one of his 
 grandfathers his mother's father had not been one of 
 the Goix, the famous butchers at the Halle, who were at- 
 tached to the Bourguignons, while the other, a Lecamus, 
 was on the side of the Armagnacs ; they pretended to be 
 ready to flay each other before the outer world, but at 
 home they were very good friends. So we will try to save 
 Christophe. Perhaps a time may come when he will save 
 us." 
 
 " You are a cunning dog, neighbor," said the gold- 
 smith. 
 
 " No," replied Lecamus. " The citizen class must take 
 care of itself, the populace and the nobility alike owe 
 it a grudge. Everybody is afraid of the middle class in 
 Paris excepting the King, who knows us to be his friends." 
 
 " You who know so much, and who have seen so much," 
 said Babette timidly, "pray tell me what it is that the 
 Eeformers want." 
 
 " Ay, tell us that, neighbor ! " cried the goldsmith. 
 " I knew the late King's tailor, and I always took him to 
 be a simple soul, with no great genius ; he was much such 
 another as you are, they would have given him the Host 
 without requiring him to confess, and all the time he was 
 up to his eyes in this new religion. He 1 a man whose 
 ears were worth many hundred thousand crowns. He must 
 have known some secrets worth hearing for the King and 
 Madame de Valentinois to be present when he was tortured." 
 
 " Ay ! and terrible secrets too," said the furrier. " The
 
 Catherine de' Medici 79 
 
 Reformation, my friends," he went on, in a low voice, 
 "will give the Church lands back to the citizen class. 
 When ecclesiastical privileges are annulled, the Reformers 
 mean to claim equality of taxation for the nobles and the 
 middle class, and to have only the King above all alike 
 if indeed they have a king at all." 
 
 " What, do away with the Throne ? " cried Lallier. 
 
 " Well, neighbor," said Lecamus, " in the Low Coun- 
 tries the citizens govern themselves by provosts over them, 
 who elect a temporary chief." 
 
 " God bless me ! Neighbor, we might do all these fine 
 things, and still be Catholics," said the goldsmith. 
 
 " We are too old to see the triumph of the middle class 
 in Paris, but it will triumph, neighbor, all in good time, 
 all in good time ! Why, the King is bound to rely on us 
 to hold his own, and we have always been well paid for 
 our support. And the last time all the citizens were en- 
 nobled, and they had leave to buy manors, and take the 
 names of their estates without any special letters patent 
 from the King. You and I, for instance, grandsons of 
 the Goix in the female line, are we not as good as many 
 a nobleman ! " 
 
 This speech was so alarming to the goldsmith and the 
 two women, that it was followed by a long silence. The 
 leaven of 1789 was already germinating in the blood of 
 Lecamus, who was not yet so old but that he lived to see 
 the daring of his class under the Ligue. 
 
 " Is business pretty firm in spite of all this turmoil ?" 
 Lallier asked the furrier's wife. 
 
 " It always upsets trade a little," said she. 
 
 " Yes, and so I have a great mind to make a lawyer 
 of my son," added Lecamus. " People are always going 
 to law." 
 
 The conversation then dwelt on the commonplace, to 
 the goldsmith's great satisfaction, for he did not like polit- 
 ical disturbances or over-boldness of thought.
 
 80 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 The banks of the Loire, from Blois as far as Angers, 
 were always greatly favored by the two last branches of 
 the Koyal Family who occupied the throne before the 
 advent of the Bourbons. This beautiful valley so well 
 deserves the preference of kings, that one of our most 
 elegant writers describes it as follows : " There is a prov- 
 ince in France which is never sufficiently admired. As 
 fragrant as Italy, as flowery as the banks of the Guadal- 
 quivir, beautiful besides with its own peculiar beauty. 
 Wholly French, it has always been French, unlike our 
 Northern provinces, debased by Teutonic influence, or 
 our Southern provinces, which have been the concubines 
 of the Moors, of the Spaniards, of every nation that has 
 coveted them this pure, chaste, brave, and loyal tract is 
 Touraine ! There is the seat of historic France. Au- 
 vergne is Auvergne, Languedoc is Languedoc and noth- 
 ing more ; but Touraine is France, and the truly national 
 river to us is the Loire which waters Touraine. We need 
 not, therefore, be surprised to find such a quantity of 
 monuments in the departments which have taken their 
 names from that of the Loire and its derivations. At 
 every step in that land of enchantment we come upon a 
 picture of which the foreground is the river, or some calm 
 reach, in whose liquid depths are mirrored a chateau, with 
 its turrets, its woods, and its dancing springs. It was 
 only natural that large fortunes should center round 
 spots where Eoyalty preferred to live, and where it so long 
 held its Court, and that distinguished birth and merit 
 should crowd thither and build palaces on a par with 
 Koyalty itself." 
 
 Is it not strange, indeed, that our sovereigns should 
 never have taken the advice indirectly given them by 
 Louis XI., and have made Tours the capital of the king- 
 dom ? Without any very great expenditure, the Loire 
 might have been navigable so far for trading vessels and 
 light ships of war. There the seat of Government would
 
 Catherine de' Medici 81 
 
 have been safe from surprise and high-handed invasion. 
 There the strongholds of the north would not have needed 
 such sums for their fortifications, which alone have cost 
 as much money as all the splendors of Versailles. If Louia 
 XIV. had listened to Vau ban's advice, and had his palace 
 built at Mont-Louis, between the Loire and the Cher, 
 perhaps the ^Revolution of 1789 would never have taken 
 place. 
 
 So these fair banks bear, at various spots, clear marks 
 of royal favor. The chateaux of Chambord, Blois, Am- 
 boise, Chenonceaux, Chaumont, Plessis-les-Tours, all the 
 residences built by kings* mistresses, by financiers, and 
 noblemen, at Ve"retz, Azay-le-Kidean, Usse, Villandri, 
 Valenc.ay, Chanteloup, and Duretal, some of which have 
 disappeared, though most are still standing, are splendid 
 buildings, full of the wonders of the period that has been 
 so little appreciated by the literary sect of Medievalists. 
 
 Of all these chateaux, that of Blois, where the Court 
 was then residing, is the one on which the magnificence of 
 the Houses of Orleans and of Valois has most splendidly 
 set its stamp ; and it is the most curious to historians, 
 archffiologists, and Catholics. At that time it stood quite 
 alone. The town, enclosed in strong walls with towers, 
 lay below the stronghold, for at that time the chateau 
 served both as a citadel and as a country residence. Over- 
 looking the town, of which the houses, then as now, 
 climbed the hill on the right bank of the river, their blue 
 slate roofs in close array, there is a triangular plateau, 
 divided by a stream, now unimportant since it runs un- 
 derground, but in the fifteenth century, as historians tell 
 us, flowing at the bottom of a rather deep ravine, part of 
 which remains as a deep hollow-way, almost a precipice, 
 between the suburb and the chdteau. 
 
 It was on this plateau, with a slope to the north and 
 south, that the Comtes de Blois built themselves a " castel '* 
 in the architecture of the twelfth century, where the 
 6
 
 82 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 notorious Thibault le Tricheur, Thibault le Vieux, and 
 many more held a court that became famous. In those 
 days of pure feudal rule, when the King was no more than 
 inter pares primus (the first among equals), as a King of 
 Poland finely expressed it, the Counts of Champagne, of 
 Blois, and of Anjou, the mere Barons of Normandy, and 
 the Dukes of Brittany lived in the style of sovereigns and 
 gave kings to the proudest kingdoms. The Plantagenets 
 of Anjou, the Lusignaus of Poitou, the Roberts and Wil- 
 liams of Normandy, by their audacious courage mingled 
 their blood with royal races, and sometimes a simple 
 knight, like du Glaicquin (or du Guesclin), refused royal 
 purple and preferred the Constable's sword. 
 
 When the Crown had secured Blois as a royal demesne, 
 Louis XII., who took a fancy to the place, porhaps to get 
 away from Plessis and its sinister associations, built on to 
 the chateau, at an angle, so as to face east and west, a 
 wing connecting the residence of the Counts of Blois with 
 the older structure, of which nothing now remains but 
 the immense hall where the States-General sat under 
 Henri III. Francis I., before he fell in love with Cham- 
 bord, intended to finish the chateau by building on the 
 other two sides of a square ; bat he abandoned Blois for 
 Chambord, and erected only one wing, which in his time 
 and in that of his grandsons practically constituted the 
 chateau. 
 
 This third building of Francis I.'s is much more exten- 
 sive and more highly decorated than the Louvre de Henri 
 II. , as it is called. It is one of the most fantastic efforts 
 of the architecture of the Renaissance. Indeed, at a time 
 when a more reserved style of building prevailed and no 
 one cared for the Middle Ages, a time when literature was 
 not so intimately allied with art as it now is, la Fontaine 
 wrote of the Chateau of Blois in his characteristically art- 
 less language : " Looking at it from outside, the part done 
 by order of Francis I. pleased me more than all the rest ;
 
 Catherine de' Medici 88 
 
 there are a number of little windows, little balconies, little 
 colonnades, little ornaments, not regularly ordered, which 
 make up something great which I found very pleasing." 
 
 Thus the Chdteau of Blois had the attraction of repre- 
 senting three different kinds of architecture three periods, 
 three systems, three dynasties. And there is not, perhaps, 
 any other royal residence which in this respect can com- 
 pare with it. The vast building shows, in one enclosure, 
 in one courtyard, a complete picture of that great product 
 of national life and manners which Architecture always is. 
 
 At the time when Christophe was bound for the Court, 
 that portion of the precincts on which a fourth palace 
 now stands the wing added seventy years later, during 
 his exile, by Gastou, Louis XIII.'s rebellious brother 
 was laid out in pastures and terraced gardens, picturesquely 
 scattered among the foundation stones and unfinished 
 towers begun by Francis I. These gardens were joined 
 by a bold flying bridge which some old inhabitants still 
 alive saw destroyed to a garden on tho other side of the 
 ch&teau, which by the slope of the ground lay on the same 
 level. The gentlemen attached to Queen Anne de Bre- 
 tagne, or those who approached her with petitions from 
 her native province, to discuss, or to inform her of the 
 state of affairs there, were wont to await her pleasure here, 
 her lever, or the hour of her walking out. Hence history 
 has handed down to us as the name of this pleasauuce Le 
 Perchoir aux Bretons (the Bretons' Perch) ; it now is an 
 orchard belonging to some private citizen, projecting be- 
 yond the Place des Jesuites. That square also was then ' 
 included in the domain of this noble residence which had 
 its upper and its lower gardens. At some distance from 
 the Place des Jesuites, a summer-house may still be seen 
 buik by Catherine de' Medici, as local historians tell us, 
 to accommodate her hot baths. This statement enables 
 us to trace the very irregular arrangement of the gardens 
 which went up and down hill, following the undulations
 
 84 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 of the soil ; the land about the chateau is indeed very un- 
 even, a fact which added to its strength, and, as we shall 
 see, caused the difficulties of the Due de Guise. 
 
 The gardens were reached by corridors and terraces ; 
 the chief corridor was known as the Galerie des Cerfs (or 
 stags), on account of its decorations. This passage led to 
 a magnificent staircase, which undoubtedly suggested the 
 famous double staircase at Chambord, and which led to 
 the apartments on each floor. 
 
 Though la Fontaine preferred the chateau of Francis I. 
 to that of Louis XII., the simplicity of the Pdre du Peu- 
 ple may perhaps charm the genuine artist, much as he 
 may admire the splendor of the more chivalrous king. 
 The elegance of the two staircases which lie at the two 
 extremities of Louis XII. 's building, the quantity of 
 fine and original carving, of which, though time has 
 damaged them, the remains are still the delight of anti- 
 quaries ; everything, to the almost cloister-like arrange- 
 ment of the rooms, points to very simple habits. As yet 
 the Court was evidently non-existent, or had not attained 
 such development as Francis I. and Catherine de' Medici 
 subsequently gave it, to the great detriment of feudal 
 manners. As we admire the brackets, the capitals of 
 some of the columns, and some little figures of exquisite 
 delicacy, it is impossible not to fancy that Michel Colomb, 
 the great sculptor, the Michael Angelo of Brittany, 
 must have passed that way to do his Queen Anne a pleas- 
 ure, before immortalizing her on her father's tomb the 
 lust Duke of Brittany. 
 
 Whatever la Fontaine may say, nothing can be more 
 stately than the residence of Francis, the magnificent 
 King. Thanks to I know not what coarse indifference, 
 perhaps to utter forgetfnlness, the rooms occupied by 
 Catherine de' Medici and her son Francis II. still remain 
 almost in their original state. The historian may reani- 
 mate them with the tragical scenes of the Beformation, of
 
 Catherine de' Medici 86 
 
 which the struggle of the Guises and the Bourbons against 
 the House of Valoii formed a complicated drama played 
 out on this spot. 
 
 The buildings of Francis I. quite crush the simpler res- 
 idence of Louis XII. by sheer mass. From the side of 
 the lower gardens, that is to say, from the modern Place 
 des Jesuites, the chateau is twice as lofty as from the side 
 towards the inner court. The ground floor, in which are 
 the famous corridors, is the second floor in the garden 
 front. Thus the first floor, where Queen Catherine 
 resided, is in fact the third, and the royal apartments are 
 on the fourth above the lower garden, which at that time 
 was divided from the foundations by a very deep moat. 
 Thus the chateau, imposing as it is from the court, seems 
 quite gigantic when seen from the Place as la Fontaine 
 saw it, for he owns that he never had been into the court 
 or the rooms. From the Place des Je'suites every detail 
 looks small. The balconies you can walk along, the colon- 
 nades of exquisite workmanship, the sculptured windows 
 their recesses within, as large as small rooms, and used, 
 in fact, at that time as boudoirs have a general effect re- 
 sembling the painted fancies of operatic scenery when the 
 artist represents a fairy palace. But once inside the court, 
 the infinite delicacy of this architectural ornamentation 
 is displayed, to the joy of the amazed spectator, though 
 the stories above the ground floor are, even there, as high 
 as the Pavilion de 1'Horloge at the Tuileries. 
 
 This part of the building, where Catherine and Mary 
 Stewart held magnificent court, had in the middle of the 
 facade a hexagonal hollow tower, up which winds a staii- 
 case in stone, an arabesque device invented by giants and 
 executed by dwarfs to give this front the effect of a dream. 
 The balustrade of the stairs rises in a spiral of rectangular 
 panels composing the five walls of the tower, and forming 
 at regular intervals a transverse cornice, enriched outside 
 and In with florid carvings in stone. This bewildering
 
 86 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 creation, full of delicate and ingenious details and marvels 
 of workmanship by which these stones speak to us, can 
 only be compared to the overcharged and deeply cut ivory 
 carvings that come from China, or are made at Dieppe. 
 In short, the stone is like lace. Flowers and figures of 
 men and animals creep down the ribs, multiply at every 
 step, and crown the vault with a pendant, in which the 
 chisels of sixteenth century sculptors have outdone the art- 
 less stone-carvers who, fifty years before, had made the 
 pendants for two staircases in Louis XII. 's building. 
 Though we may be dazzled as we note these varied forma 
 repeated with infinite prolixity, we nevertheless perceive 
 that Francis I. lacked money for Blois, just as Louis XIV. 
 did for Versailles. In more than one instance a graceful 
 head looks out from a block of stone almost in the rough. 
 More than one fanciful boss is but sketched with a few 
 strokes of the chisel, and then abandoned to the damp, 
 which has overgrown it with green mold. On the fa9ade, 
 by the side of one window carved like lace, another shows 
 us the massive frame eaten into by time, which has carved 
 it after a manner of its own. 
 
 The least artistic, the least experienced eye finds here 
 a delightful contrast between this front, rippling with 
 marvels of design, and the inner front of Louis Xll/a 
 chateau, consisting on the ground floor of arches of the 
 airiest lightness, upheld by slender columns, resting on 
 elegant balustrades, and two stories above with windows 
 wrought with charming severity. Under the arches runa 
 a gallery, of which the walls were painted in fresco ; the 
 vaulting too must have been painted, for some traces are 
 still visible of that magnificence, imitated from Italian 
 architecture a reminiscence of our Kings' journeys thither 
 when the Milanese belonged to them. 
 
 Opposite the residence of Francis I. there was at that 
 time the chapel of the Counts of Blois, its fagade almost 
 harmonizing with the architecture of Louis XII. 's build-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 87 
 
 ing. No figure of speech can give an adequate idea of 
 the solid dignity of these three masses of building. In 
 spite of the varieties of style, a certain imposing royalty, 
 showing the extent of its fear by the magnitude of its 
 defenses, held the three buildings together, different as 
 they were ; two of them flanking the immense hall of the 
 States- General, as vast and lofty as a church. 
 
 And certainly neither the simplicity nor the solidity of 
 those citizen lives which were described at the beginning 
 of this narrative lives in which Art was always repre- 
 sented was lacking to this royal residence. Blois was 
 the fertile and brilliant example which found a living 
 response from citizens and nobles, from money and rank, 
 alike in towns and in the country. You could not have 
 wished that the home of the King who ruled Paris as it 
 was in the sixteenth century should be other than this. 
 The splendid raiment of the upper classes, the luxury of 
 feminine attire, must have seemed singularly suited to the 
 elaborate dress of these curiously wrought stones. 
 
 From floor to floor, as he mounted the wonderful stairs 
 of this oastle of Blois, the King of France could see further 
 and further over the beautiful Loire, which brought him 
 news of all his realm, which it parts into two confronted and 
 almost rival halves. If, instead of placing Chambord in 
 a dead and gloomy plain two leagues away, Francis I. had 
 built a Chambord to complete Blois on the site of the 
 gardens, where Gaston subsequently erected his palace, 
 Versailles would never have existed, and Blois would 
 inevitably have become the capital of France. 
 
 Four Valois and Catherine de' Medici lavished their 
 wealth on the Chateau of Blois, but any one can guess 
 how prodigal the sovereigns were, only from seeing the 
 thick dividing wall, the spinal column of the building, 
 with deep alcoves cut into its substance, secret stairs and 
 closets contrived within it, surrounding such vast rooms 
 as the council hall, the guard-room, and the royal apart-
 
 88 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 menta, in which a company of infantry now finds ample 
 quarters. Even if the visitor should fail to understand 
 at a first glance that the marvels of the interior are worthy 
 of those of the exterior, the remains of Catherine de' 
 Medici's room into which Christophe was presently ad- 
 mitted are sufficient evidence of the elegant art which 
 peopled these rooms with lively fancies, with salamanders 
 sparkling among flowers, with all the most brilliant hues 
 of the palette of the sixteenth century decorating the 
 darkest staircase. In that room the observer may still 
 see the traces of that love of gilding which Catherine had 
 brought from Italy, for the princesses of her country loved 
 (as the author above quoted delightfully expresses it) to 
 overlay the chateaux of France with the gold gained in 
 trade by their ancestors, and to stamp the walls of royal 
 rooms with the sign of their wealth. 
 
 The Queen-mother occupied the rooms on the first floor 
 that had formerly been those of Queen Claude de France, 
 Francis L's wife ; and the delicate sculpture is still to be 
 seen of double C's, with a device in pure white of swans 
 and lilies, signifying Candidior candidis, the whitest of 
 the white, the badge of that Queen whose name, like 
 Catherine's, began with C, and equally appropriate to 
 Louis XII. 's daughter and to the mother of the Valois ; 
 for notwithstanding the violence of Calvinist slander, no 
 doubt was ever thrown on Catherine de' Medici's endur- 
 ing fidelity to Henri II. 
 
 The Queen-mother, with two young children still on 
 her hands a boy, afterwards the Due d'Alengon, and Mar- 
 guerite, who became the wife of Henri IV., and whom 
 Charles IX. called Margot needed the whole of this first 
 floor. 
 
 King Francis II. and his Queen Mary Stewart had the 
 royal apartments on the second floor that Francis I. had 
 occupied, and which were also those of Henri III. The 
 royal apartments, and those of the Queen-mother, are
 
 Catherine de' Medici 89 
 
 divided from end to end of the eMteau into two parts by 
 the famous party wall, four feet thick, which supports the 
 thrust of the immensely thick walls of the rooms. Thus 
 on the lower as well as on the upper floor the rooms are in 
 two distinct suites. That half which, facing to the south, 
 is lighted from the court, held the rooms for state re- 
 ceptions and public business ; while, to escape the heat, 
 the private rooms had a north aspect, where there is a 
 splendid frontage with arcades and balconies, and a view 
 over the county of the Vend6mois, the Per choir aux 
 Bretons, and the moats of the town the only town men- 
 tioned by the great fable writer, the admirable la Fontaine. 
 
 Francis I.'s chateau at that time ended at an enormous 
 tower, only began, but intended to mark the vast angle 
 the palace would have formed in turning a flank ; Gaston 
 subsequently demolished part of its walls to attach his 
 palace to the tower ; but he never finished the work, and 
 the tower remains a ruin. This royal keep was used as a 
 prison, or, according to popular tradition, as oubliettes. 
 What poet would not feel deep regret or weep for France 
 as he wanders now through the hall of this magnificent 
 ch&teau, and sees the exquisite arabesques of Catherine de' 
 Medici's room, white-washed and almost smothered by 
 order of the governor of the barracks at the time of the 
 cholera for this royal residence is now a barrack. 
 
 The paneling of Catherine de' Medici's closet, of which 
 more particular mention will presently be made, is the 
 last relic of the rich furnishing collected by five artistic 
 kings. 
 
 As we make our way through this labyrinth of rooms, 
 halls, staircases, and turrets, we can say with horrible 
 certainty, " Here Mary Stewart cajoled her husband in 
 favor of the Guises. There those Guises insulted Cath- 
 erine. Later, on this very spot, the younger Balafre fell 
 nnder the swords of the avengers of the Crown. A century 
 earlier Ixraii XIL lignaled from that window to invite the
 
 90 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 advance of his friend the Cardinal d'Amboise. From this 
 balcony, d'Epernon, Eavaillac's accomplice, welcomed 
 Queen Marie de' Medici, who, it is said, knew of the 
 intended regicide and left things to take their course ! " 
 
 In the chapel where Henry IV. and Marguerite de 
 Valois were betrothed the last remnant of the old 
 chateau of the Counts of Blois the regimental boots are 
 made. This wonderful structure, where so many styles 
 are combined, where such great events have been accom- 
 plished, is in a state of ruin which is a disgrace to France. 
 How grievous it is to those who love the memorial build- 
 ings of old France, to feel that ere long these eloquent 
 stones will have gone the way of the house at the corner 
 of the Kue de la Vieille-Pelleterie : they will survive, per- 
 haps, only in these pages. 
 
 It is necessary to observe that, in order to keep a keener 
 eye on the Court, the Guises, though they had a mansion 
 in the town, which is still to be seen, had obtained per- 
 mission to reside above the rooms of Louis XII. in the 
 apartments since used by the Duchesse de Nemours, in 
 the upper story on the second floor. 
 
 Francis II. and his young Queen, Mary Stewart, in love 
 like two children of sixteen, as they were, had been sud- 
 denly transferred, one cold winter's day, from Saint-Ger- 
 main, which the Due de Guise thought too open to sur- 
 prise, to the stronghold, as it then was, of Blois, isolated 
 on three sides by precipitous slopes, while its gates were 
 strictly guarded. The Guises, the Queen's uncles, had 
 the strongest reasons for not living in Paris, and for de- 
 taining the Court in a place which could be easily guarded 
 and defended. 
 
 A struggle for the throne was being carried on, which 
 was not ended till twenty-eight years later, in 1588, when, 
 in this same chateau of Blois, Henri III., bitterly humil- 
 iated by the House of Lorraine, under his mother's very
 
 Catherine de' Medici 91 
 
 eyes, planned the death of the boldest of the Guises, the 
 second Balafre 1 (or scarred), son of the first Balafre", by 
 whom Catherine de' Medici was tricked, imprisoned, spied 
 on, and threatened. 
 
 Indeed, the fine Chateau of Blois was to Catherine the 
 strictest prison. On the death of her husband, who had 
 always kept her in leading-strings, she had hoped to rule ; 
 but, on the contrary, she found herself a slave to strangers, 
 whose politeness was infinitely more cruel than the brutality 
 of jailers. She could do nothing that was not known. 
 Those of her ladies who were attached to her either had 
 lovers devoted to the Guises, or Argus eyes watching over 
 them. Indeed, at that time the conflict of passions had 
 the capricious vagaries which they always derive from the 
 powerful antagonism of two hostile interests in the State. 
 Love-making, which served Catherine well, was also an 
 instrument in the hands of the Guises. Thus the Prince 
 de Conde, the leader of the Eeformed party, was attached 
 to the Mar6chale de Saint-Andre, whose husband was the 
 Grand Master's tool. The Cardinal, who had learnt from 
 the affair of the Vidame de Chartres that Catherine was 
 unconquered rather than unconquerable, was paying court 
 to her. Thus the play of passions brought strange com- 
 plications into that of politics, making a double game of 
 chess, as it were, in which it was necessary to read both 
 the heart and brain of a man, and to judge, on occasion, 
 whether one would not belie the other. 
 
 Though she lived constantly under the eye of the Car- 
 dinal de Lorraine or of his brother, the Due Fran9ois de 
 Guise, who both distrusted her, Catherine's most imme- 
 diate and shrewdest enemy was her daughter-in-law, Queen 
 Mary, a little fair girl as mischievous as a waiting-maid, 
 as proud as a Stewart might be who wore three crowns, as 
 learned as an ancient scholar, as tricky as a school-girl, as 
 much in love with her husband as a courtesan of her lover, 
 devoted to her uncles, whom she admired, and delighted to
 
 92 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 find that King Francis, by her persuasion, shared her high 
 opinion of them. A mother-in-law is always a person dis- 
 liked by her daughter-in-law, especially when she has won 
 the crown and would like to keep it as Catherine had 
 imprudently too plainly shown. Her former position, 
 when Diane de Poitiers ruled King Henri II., had been 
 more endurable ; at least she had enjoyed the homage due 
 to a Queen, and the respect of the Court ; whereas, now, the 
 Duke and the Cardinal, having none about them but their 
 own creatures, seemed to take pleasure in humiliating her. 
 Catherine, a prisoner among courtiers, was the object, not 
 every day, but every hour, of blows offensive to her dignity ; 
 for the Guises persisted in carrying on the same system as 
 the late King had employed to thwart her. 
 
 The six-and-thirty years of disaster which devastated 
 France may be said to have begun with the scene in v/hich 
 the most perilous part had been allotted to the son of the 
 Queen's furrier a part which makes him the leading figure 
 in this narrative. The danger into which this zealous re- 
 former was falling became evident in the course of the 
 morning when he set out from the river-port of Beaugency, 
 carrying precious documents which compromised the 
 loftiest heads of the nobility, and embarked for Blois in 
 company with a crafty partisan, the indefatigable la Re- 
 naudie, who had arrived on the quay before him. 
 
 While the barque conveying Christophe was being 
 wafted down the Loire before a light easterly breeze, the 
 famous Cardinal de Lorraine, and the second Due de Guise, 
 one of the greatest war captains of the time, were consider- 
 ing their position, like two eagles on a rocky peak, and 
 looking cautiously round before striking the first great 
 blow by which they tried to kill the Reformation in France. 
 This was to be struck at Amboise, and it was repeated in 
 Paris twelve years later, on the 24th August, 1572. 
 
 In the course of the previous night, three gentlemen, 
 who played an important part in the twelve years' drama
 
 Catherine de' Medici 98 
 
 that rose from this double plot laid by the Guises on one 
 hand and the Reformers on the other, had arrived at the 
 chateau at a furious gallop, leaving their horses half dead 
 at the postern gate, held by captains and men who were 
 wholly devoted to the Due de Guise, the idol of the sol- 
 diery. 
 
 A word must be said as to this great man, and first of 
 all a word to explain his present position. 
 
 His mother was Antoinette de Bourbon, great-aunt of 
 Henri IV. But of what account are alliances ! At this 
 moment he aimed at nothing less than his cousin de Conde's 
 head. Mary Stewart was his niece. His wife was Anne, 
 daughter of the Duke of Ferrara. The Grand Conn6table 
 Anne de Montmorency addressed the Duo de Guise as 
 " Monseigneur," as he wrote to the king, and signed him- 
 self " Your very humble servant." Guise, the Grand 
 Master of the king's household, wrote in reply, " Monsieur 
 le Conn6table," and signed, as in writing to the Parliament, 
 " Your faithful friend." 
 
 As for the Cardinal, nicknamed the Transalpine Pope, 
 and spoken of by Estienne as " His Holiness," the whole 
 Monastic Church of France was on his side, and he treated 
 with the Pope as his equal. He was vain of his eloquence, 
 and one of the ablest theologians of his time, while he 
 kept watch over France and Italy by the instrumentality 
 of three religious Orders entirely devoted to him, who 
 were on foot for him day and night, serving him aa spies 
 and reporters. 
 
 These few words are enough to show to what a height 
 of power the Cardinal and the Duke had risen. In spite 
 of their wealth and the revenues of their offices, they 
 were so entirely disinterested, or so much carried away by 
 the tide of politics, and so generous too, that both were in 
 debt no doubt after the manner of Cassar. Hence, when 
 Henri III. had seen his threatening foe murdered, the 
 second Balafre, the House of Guise was inevitably ruined.
 
 94 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Their vast outlay for above a century, in hope of seizing 
 the Crown, accounts for the decay of this great House 
 under Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., when the sudden end 
 of MADAME revealed to all Europe how low a Chevalier de 
 Lorraine had fallen. 
 
 So the Cardinal and the Duke, proclaiming themselves 
 the heirs of the deposed Carlovingian kings, behaved very 
 insolently to Catherine de' Medici, their niece's mother- 
 in-law. The Duchesse de Guise spared Catherine no mor- 
 tification ; she was an Este, and Catherine de' Medici was 
 the daughter of self-made Florentine merchants, whom 
 the sovereigns of Europe had not yet admitted to their 
 royal fraternity. Francis I. had regarded his son's mar- 
 riage with a Medici as a mesalliance, and had only allowed 
 it in the belief that this son would never be the Dauphin. 
 Hence his fury when the Dauphin died, poisoned by the 
 Florentine Montecuculi. 
 
 The Estes refused to recognize the Medici as Italian 
 princes. These time-honored merchants were, in fact, 
 struggling with the impossible problem of maintaining a 
 throne in the midst of republican institutions. The title 
 of Grand Duke was not bestowed on the Medici till much 
 later by Philip II., King of Spain ; and they earned it by 
 treason to France, their benefactress, and by a servile at- 
 tachment to the Court of Spain, which was covertly thwart- 
 ing them in Italy. 
 
 " Flatter none but your enemies ! " This great axiom, 
 uttered by Catherine, would seem to have ruled all the 
 policy of this merchant race, which never lacked great 
 men till its destinies had grown great, and which broke 
 down a little too soon under the degeneracy which is 
 always the end of royal dynasties and great families. 
 
 For three generations there was a prelate and a warrior 
 of the House of Lorraine ; but, which is perhaps not less 
 remarkable, the Churchman had always shown as did 
 the present Cardinal a singular likeness to Cardinal
 
 Catherine de* Medici 96 
 
 Ximenes, whom the Cardinal de Richelieu also resembled. 
 These five prelates all had faces that were at once mean 
 and terrifying ; while the warrior's face was of that Basque 
 and mountain type which reappears in the features of 
 Henri IV. In both the father and the son it was seamed 
 by a scar, which did not destroy the grace and affability 
 that bewitched their soldiers as much as their bravery. 
 
 The way and the occasion of the Grand Master's being 
 wounded is not without interest here, for it was healed 
 by the daring of one of the personages of this drama, 
 Ambroise Pare, who was under obligation to the Syndic 
 of the furriers. At the siege of Calais the Duke's head 
 was pierced by a lance which, entering below the right 
 eye, went through to the neck below the left ear, the 
 end broke off and remained in the wound. The Duke 
 was lying in his tent in the midst of the general woe, 
 and would have died but for the bold promptitude and 
 devotion of Ambroise Pare. 
 
 " The Duke is not dead, gentlemen," said Pare, turning 
 to the bystanders, who were dissolved in tears. " But he 
 soon will be," he added, " unless I treat him as if he were, 
 and I will try it at the risk of the worst that c#n befall 
 me. . . . You see ! " 
 
 He set his left foot on the Duke's breast, took the stump 
 of the lance with his nails, loosened it by degrees, and at 
 last drew the spear-head out of the wound, as if it had 
 been from some senseless object instead of a man's head. 
 Though he cured the Prince he had handled so boldly, 
 he could not hinder him from bearing to his grave the 
 terrible scar from which he had his name. His son also 
 had the same nickname for a similar reason. 
 
 Having gained entire mastery over the King, who was 
 ruled by his wife, as a result of the passionate and mutual 
 affection which the Guises knew how to turn to account, 
 the two great Princes of Lorraine reigned over France, 
 and had not an enemy at Court but Catherine de' Medici,
 
 96 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 And no great politician ever played a closer game. Th 
 respective attitudes of Henri II.'s ambitious widow, and of 
 the no less ambitious House of Lorraine, was symbolized, 
 as it were, by the positions they held on the terrace of the 
 chdteau on the very morning when Christophe was about 
 to arrive there. The Queen-mother, feigning extreme 
 affection for the Guises, had asked to be informed as to 
 the news brought by the three gentlemen who had arrived 
 from different parts of the kingdom ; but she had been 
 mortified by a polite dismissal from the Cardinal. She 
 was walking at the further end of the pleasaunce above 
 the Loire, where she was having an observatory erected 
 for her astrologer, Euggieri ; the building may still be 
 seen, and from it a wide view is to be had over the beauti- 
 ful valley. The two Guises were on the opposite side over- 
 looking the Vend6mois, the upper part of the town, the 
 Perchoir aux Bretons, and the postern gate of the ch&teau. 
 Catherine had deceived the brothers, tricking them by 
 an assumption of dissatisfaction ; for she was really very 
 glad to be able to speak with one of the gentlemen who 
 had come in hot haste, and who was in her secret con- 
 fidence ; who boldly played a double game, but who was, 
 to be sure, well paid for it. This gentleman was Chiverni, 
 who affected to be the mere tool of the Cardinal de Lor- 
 raine, but who was in reality in Catherine's service. 
 Catherine had two other devoted allies in the two Gondis, 
 creatures of her own ; but they, as Florentines, were too 
 open to the suspicions of the Guises to be sent into the 
 country ; she kept them at the Court, where their every 
 word and action was closely watched, but where they, on 
 their side, watched the Guises and reported to Catherine. 
 These two Italians kept a third adherent to the Queen- 
 mother's faction, Birague, a clever Piedmontese, who, like 
 Chiverni, pretended to have abandoned Catherine to attach 
 himself to the Guises, and who encouraged them in their 
 undertakings while spying for Catherine.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 97 
 
 Chiverni had arrived from Ecouen and Paris. The 
 last to ride in was Saint- Andre, Marshal of France, who 
 rose to be such an important personage that the Guises 
 adopted him as the third of the triumvirate they formed 
 against Catherine in the following year. But earlier than 
 either of these, Vieilleville, the builder of the Chateau 
 of Duretal, who had also by his devotion to the Guises 
 earned the rank of Marshal, had secretly come and more 
 secretly gone, without any one knowing what the mission 
 might be that the Grand Master had given him. Saint- 
 Andr6, it was known, had been instructed to take mili- 
 tary measures to entice all the reformers who were under 
 arms to Amboise, as the result of a Council held by the 
 Cardinal de Lorraine, the Due de Guise, Birague, Chi- 
 verni, Vieilleville, and Saint-Andre. As the heads of 
 the House of Lorraine thus employed Birague, it is to 
 be supposed that they trusted to their strength, for they 
 knew that he was attached to the Queen-mother ; but it 
 is possible that they kept him about them with a view 
 to discovering their rival's secret designs, as she allowed 
 him to attend them. In those strange times the double 
 part played by some political intriguers was known to both 
 the parties who employed them ; they were like cards in 
 the hands of players, and the craftiest won the game. 
 
 All through this sitting the brothers had been impene- 
 trably guarded. Catherine's conversation with her friends 
 will, however, fully explain the purpose of this meeting, 
 convened by the Guises in the open air, at break of day, 
 in the terraced garden, as though every one feared to 
 speak within the walls full of ears of the Chateau of Blois. 
 
 The Queen-mother, who had been walking about all 
 the morning with the two Gondis, under pretence of ex- 
 amining the observatory that was being built, but, in fact, 
 anxiously watching the hostile party, was presently joined 
 by Chiverni. She was standing at the angle of the terrace 
 opposite the Church of Saint-Nicholas, and there feared 
 7
 
 98 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 no listeners. The wall is as high as the church-towers, 
 and the Guises always held council at the other corner of 
 the terrace, below the dungeon then begun, walking to 
 and from the Per choir des Bretons and the arcade by the 
 bridge Avhich joined the gardens to the Perchoir. There 
 was nobody at the bottom of the ravine. 
 
 Chiverni took the Queen's hand to kiss it, and slipped 
 into her fingers a tiny letter without being seen by the 
 Italians. Catherine quickly turned away, walked to the 
 corner of the parapet, and read as follows : 
 
 " You are powerful enough to keep the balance true 
 between the great ones, and to make them contend as to 
 which shall serve you best ; you have your house full of 
 kings, and need not fear either Lorrains or Bourbons so 
 long as you set them against each other ; for both sides 
 aim at snatching the crown from your children. Be your 
 advisers' mistress, and not their slave ; keep up each side 
 by the other ; otherwise the kingdom will go from bad to 
 worse, and great wars may ensue. L'HoPiTAL. 
 
 The Queen placed this letter in the bosom of her 
 stomacher, reminding herself to burn it as soon as she 
 should be alone. 
 
 " When did you see him ?" she asked Chiverni. 
 
 " On returning from seeing the Connetable at Melim ; 
 he was going through with the Duchesse de Berri, whom 
 he was most anxious to convey in safety to Savoy, so as to 
 return here and enlighten the Chancellor Olivier, who is, 
 in fact, the dupe of the Lorraius. Monsieur de 1'Hopital 
 h resolved to adhere to your cause, seeing the aims that 
 Messieurs de Guise have in view. And he will hasten back 
 as fast as possible to give you his vote in the Council." 
 
 " Is he sincere ? " said Catherine. " For you know that 
 when the Lorrains admitted him to the Council, it was to 
 enable them to rule."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 99 
 
 " L'H6pital is a Frenchman of too good a stock not to 
 be honest/' said Chiverni ; " besides, that letter is a suffi- 
 cient pledge." 
 
 ' ' And what answer does the Conn6table send to these 
 gentlemen ? " 
 
 " He says the King is his master, and he awaits his 
 orders. On this reply, the Cardinal, to prevent any 
 resistance, will propose to appoint his brother Lieutenant- 
 General of the realm/' 
 
 " So soon ! " cried Catherine in dismay. " Well, and 
 did Monsieur de FHopital give you any further message 
 for me ? " 
 
 " He told me, Madame, that you alone can stand be- 
 tween the throne and Messieurs de Guise." 
 
 " But does ht suppose that I will use the Huguenots as 
 a means of defense." 
 
 " Oh, Madame," cried Chiverni, surprised by her per- 
 spicacity, " we never thought of placing you in such a 
 difficult position." 
 
 " Did he know what a position I am in ? " asked the 
 Queen calmly. 
 
 " Pretty nearly. He thinks you made a dupe's bargain 
 when, on the death of the late King, you accepted for 
 your share the fragments saved from the ruin of Madame 
 Diane. Messieurs de Guise thought they had paid their 
 debt to the Queen by gratifying the woman. 
 
 " Yes," said Catharine, looking at the two Gondis, " I 
 made a great mistake there." 
 
 " A mistake the gods might make ! " replied Charles de 
 Gondi. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the Queen, " if I openly take up the 
 cause of the Reformers I shall be the slave of a party." 
 
 " Madame," said Chiverni eagerly, " I entirely agree 
 with you. You must make use of them, but not let them 
 make use of you." 
 
 "Although, for the moment, your strength lies there,"
 
 100 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 said Charles de Gondi, " we must not deceive ourselves ; 
 success and failure are equally dangerous ! " 
 
 " I know it/' said the Queen. " One false move will be 
 a pretext eagerly seized by the Guises to sweep me off the 
 board ! " 
 
 " A Pope's niece, the mother of four Yalois, the Queen 
 of France, the widow of the most ardent persecutor of the 
 Huguenots, an Italian and a Catholic, the aunt of Leo X., 
 can you form an alliance with the Reformation ? " asked 
 Charles de Gondi. 
 
 " On the other hand/' Albert replied, " is not second- 
 ing the Guises consenting to usurpation ? You have to 
 deal with a race that looks to the struggle between the 
 Church and the Reformation to give them a crown for the 
 taking. You may avail yourself of Huguenot help with- 
 out abjuring the Faith/' 
 
 " Remember, Madame, that your family, which ought to 
 be wholly devoted to the King of France, is at this mo- 
 ment in the service of the King of Spain/' said Chiverni. 
 " And it would go over to the Reformation to-morrow if 
 the Reformation could make the Duke of Florence king ! " 
 
 " I am very well inclined to give the Huguenots a help- 
 ing hand for a time," said Catherine, " were it only to be 
 revenged on that soldier, that priest, and that woman ! " 
 
 And with an Italian glance, her eye turned on the Duke 
 and the Cardinal, and then to the upper rooms of the 
 chateau where her son lived and Mary Stewart. " Those 
 three snatched the reins of government from my hands," 
 she went on, " when I had waited for them long enough 
 while that old woman held them iu my place." 
 
 She jerked her head in the direction of Chenonceaux, 
 the chateau she had just exchanged for Chaumont with 
 Diane de Poitiers. "Ma" she said in Italian, " it would 
 seem that these gentry of the Geneva bands have not wit 
 enough to apply to me ! On my honor, I cannot go to 
 meet them 1 And not one of you would dare to carry them
 
 Catherine de' Medici 101 
 
 a message." She stamped her foot. " I hoped you might 
 have met the hunchback at Ecouen," she said to Chiverni. 
 " He has brains. " 
 
 "He was there, Madame," replied Chiverni, " but he 
 could not induce the Connetable to join him. Monsieur 
 de Montmorency would be glad enough to overthrow the 
 Guises, who obtained his dismissal ; but he will have noth- 
 ing to do with heresy." 
 
 " And who, gentlemen, is to crush these private whims 
 that are an offense to Royalty ? By Heaven ! these nobles 
 must be made to destroy each other as Louis XL made 
 them, the greatest of your kings. In this kingdom there 
 are four or five parties, and my son's is the weakest of 
 them all." 
 
 " The Reformation is an idea," remarked Charles de 
 Gondi, " and the parties crushed by Louis the Eleventh 
 were based only on interest." 
 
 " There is always an idea to back up interest," replied 
 Chiverni. " In Louis XL's time the idea was called the 
 Great Fief !" 
 
 " Use heresy as an ax," said Albert de Gondi. " You 
 will not incur the odium of executions." 
 
 " Ha ! " said the Queen, " but I know nothing of the 
 strength or the schemes of these folks, and I cannot com- 
 municate with them through any safe channel. If I were 
 found out in any such conspiracy, either by the Queen, 
 who watches me as if I were an infant in arms, or by my 
 two jailers, who let no one come into the chateau, I 
 should be banished from the country, and taken back to 
 Florence under a formidable escort captained by some 
 ruffianly Guisard ! Thank you, friends ! Oh, daughter- 
 in-law ! I hope you may some day be a prisoner in your own 
 house; then you will know what you have inflicted on me ! " 
 
 " Their schemes !" exclaimed Chiverni. " The Grand 
 Master and the Cardinal know them ; but those two foxes 
 will not tell. If yon, Madame, can make them tell, I will
 
 102 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 devote myself to you, and come to an understanding with 
 the Prince de Conde." 
 
 " Which of their plans have they failed io conceal 
 from you ? " asked the Queen, glancing towards the broth- 
 ers de Guise. 
 
 " Monsieur de Vieilleville and Monsieur de Saint-Andre 
 have just had their orders, of which we know nothing ; 
 but the Grand Master is concentrating his best troops on 
 the left bank, it would seem. Within a few days you will 
 find yourself at Amboise. The Grand Master came to this 
 terrace to study the position, and he does not think Blois 
 favorable to his private schemes. Well, then, what does 
 he want ? " said Chiverni, indicating the steep cliffs that 
 surround the chateau. "The Court could nowhere be 
 safer from sudden attack than it is here." 
 
 " Abdicate or govern," said Albert de Goudi in the 
 Queen's ear as she stood thinking. 
 
 A fearful expression of suppressed rage flashed across 
 the Queen's handsome ivory-pale face. She was not yet 
 forty, and she had lived for twenty-six years in the French 
 Court, absolutely powerless, she, who ever since she had 
 come there had longed to play the leading part. 
 
 " Never so long as this son lives ! His wife has be- 
 witched him ! " 
 
 After a short pause these terrible words broke from her 
 in the language of Dante. 
 
 Catherine's exclamation had its inspiration in a strange 
 prediction, spoken a few days before at the Chateau of 
 Chaumont, on the opposite bank of the Loire, whither 
 she had gone with her astrologer Ruggieri to consult a 
 famous soothsayer. This woman was brought to meet her 
 by Nostradamus, the chief of those physicians who in that 
 great sixteenth century believed in the occult sciences, 
 with Ruggieri, Cardan, Paracelsus, and many more. This 
 fortune-teller, of whose life history has no record, had 
 fixed the reign of Francis II. at one year's duration.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 103 
 
 " And what is your opinion of all this ? " Catherine 
 asked Chiverni. 
 
 " There will be fighting," said the cautious gentleman. 
 " The King of Navarre " 
 
 " Oh ! say the Queen ! " Catherine put in. 
 
 "Very true, the Queen," said Chiverni, smiling, "has 
 made the Prince de Conde the chief of the reformed party ; 
 he, as a younger son, may dare much ; and Monsieur le 
 Cardinal talks of sending for him to come here." 
 
 " If only he comes ! " cried the Queen, " I am saved ! " 
 
 So it will be seen that the leaders of the great Eeforming 
 movement had been right in thinking of Catherine as an 
 ally. 
 
 " This is the jest of it," said the Queen ; " the Bour- 
 bons are tricking the Huguenots, and Master Calvin, de 
 Beze, and the rest are cheating the Bourbons ; but shall 
 we be strong enough to take in the Huguenots, the Bour- 
 bons, and the Guises ? In front of three such foes we are 
 justified in feeling our pulse," said she. 
 
 " They have not the King," replied Albert. " You must 
 always win, having the King on your side." 
 
 " Maladetta Maria!" said Catherine, between her 
 teeth. 
 
 " The Guises are already thinking of diverting the 
 affections of the middle class," said Birague. 
 
 The hope of snatching the Crown had not been pre- 
 meditated by the two heads of the refractory House of 
 Guise ; there was nothing to justify the project or the 
 hope ; circumstances suggested such audacity. The two 
 Cardinals and the two Balafris were, as it happened, four 
 ambitious men, superior in political gifts to any of the 
 men about them. Indeed, the family was only subdued 
 at last by Henri IV., himself a leader of faction, brought 
 up in the great school of which Catherine and the Guises 
 were the teachers and he had profited by their lessons.
 
 104 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 At this time these two brothers were the arbiters of 
 the greatest revolution attempted in Europe since that 
 carried through in England under Henry VIII. , which had 
 resulted from the invention of printing. They were the 
 enemies of the Reformation, the power was in their hands, 
 and they meant to stamp out heresy ; but Calvin, their 
 opponent, though less famous than Luther, was a etronger 
 man. Calvin saw Government where Luther had only seen 
 Dogma. Where the burly, beer-drinking, uxorious Ger- 
 man fought with the Devil, flinging his inkstand at the 
 fiend, the man of Picardy, frail and unmarried, dreamed of 
 plans of campaign, of directing battles, of arming princes, 
 and of raising whole nations by disseminating republican 
 doctrines in the hearts of the middle classes, so as to make 
 up, by increased progress in the Spirit of Nations, for his 
 constant defeats on the battle-field. 
 
 The Cardinal de Lorraine and the Due de Guise knew 
 quite as well as Philip II. and the Duke of Alva where the 
 Monarchy was aimed at, and how close the connection was 
 between Catholicism and sovereignty. Charles V., in- 
 toxicated with having drunk too deeply of Charlemagne's 
 cup, and trusting too much in the strength of his rule, 
 for he believed that he and Soliman might divide the world 
 between them, was not at first conscious that his front was 
 attacked ; as soon as Cardinal Granvelle showed him the 
 extent of the festering sore, he abdicated. 
 
 The Guises had a startling conception : they would ex- 
 tinguish heresy with a single blow. They tried to strike 
 that blow for the first time at Amboise, and they made a 
 second attempt on Saint-Bartholomew's Day ; this time 
 they were in accord with Catherine de' Medici, enlightened 
 as she was by the flames of twelve years' wars, and yet 
 more by the ominous word " Eepublic " spoken and even 
 published at a later date by the writers of the Reformation, 
 whose ideas Lecamus, the typical citizen of Paris, had al- 
 ready understood. The two Princes, on the eye of striking
 
 Catherine de' Medici 105 
 
 a fatal bk>w to the heart of the nobility, in order to cat it 
 off from the first from a religious party whose triumph 
 would be it& ruin, were now discussing the means of an- 
 nouncing their Coup d'Etat to the King, while Catherine 
 was conversing with her four counselors. 
 
 "Jeanne d'Albret knew what she was doing when she 
 proclaimed herself the protectress of the Huguenots ! 
 She has in the Reformation a battering-ram which she 
 makes good play with ! " said the Grand Master, who had 
 measured the depth of the Queen of Navarre's scheming. 
 
 Jeanne d'Albret was, in point of fact, one of the cleverest 
 personages of her time. 
 
 " Theodore de Beze is at Nerac, having taken Calvin's 
 orders." 
 
 1 ' What men those common folk can lay their hands 
 on I" cried the Duke. 
 
 " Ay, we have not a man on our side to match that 
 fellow la Renaudie," said the Cardinal. " He is a perfect 
 Catiline." 
 
 " Men like him always act on their own account," re- 
 plied the Duke. " Did not I see la Renaudie's value ? I 
 loaded him with favors, I helped him to get away when 
 he was condemned by the Bourgogne Parlement, I got 
 him back into France by obtaining a revision of his trial, 
 and I intended to do all I could for him, while he was 
 plotting a diabolical conspiracy against us. The rascal 
 has effected an alliance between the German Protestants 
 and the heretics in France by smoothing over the dis- 
 crepancies of dogma between Luther and Calvin. He 
 has won over the disaffected nobles to the cause of the 
 Reformation without asking them to abjure Catholicism. 
 So long ago as last year he had thirty commanders on his 
 side ! He was everywhere at once : ' at Lyons, in Lan- 
 guedoc, at Nantes. Finally, he drew up the Articles 
 settled in Council and distributed throughout Germany, 
 in which theologians declare that it is justifiable to use
 
 106 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 force to get the King out of our hands, and this is being 
 disseminated in every town. Look for him where you 
 will, you will nowhere find him I 
 
 " Hitherto I have shown him nothing but kindness ! 
 We shall have to kill him like a dog, or to make a bridge 
 of gold for him to cross and come into our house. " 
 
 " Brittany and Languedoc, the whole kingdom indeed, 
 is being worked upon to give us a deadly shock," said the 
 Cardinal. '-'After yesterday's festival, I spent the rest 
 of the night in reading all the information sent me by my 
 priesthood ; but no one is involved but some impoverished 
 gentlemen and artisans, people who may be either hanged 
 or left alive, it matters not which. The Colignys and the 
 Condes are not yet visible, though they hold the threads 
 of the conspiracy. " 
 
 "Ay," said the Duke; "and as soon as that lawyer 
 Avenelles had let the cat out of the bag, I told Brague- 
 lonne to give the conspirators their head : they have no 
 suspicions, they think they can surprise us, and then per- 
 haps the leaders will show themselves. My advice would 
 be that we should allow ourselves to be beaten for forty- 
 eight hours " 
 
 " That would be half-an-hour too long," said the Cardi- 
 nal in alarm. 
 
 " How brave you are ! " retorted le BalafrS. 
 
 The Cardinal went on with calm indifference 
 
 "Whether the Prince de Conde be implicated or no, if 
 we are assured that he is the leader, cut off his head. 
 What we want for that business is judges rather than sol- 
 diers, and there will never be any lack of judges ! Victory 
 in the Supreme Court is always more certain than on the 
 field of battle, and costs less." 
 
 " I am quite willing," replied the Duke. " But do you 
 believe that the Prince do Conde is powerful enough to 
 inspire such audacity in those who are sent on first to 
 attack us ? Is there not ? "
 
 Catherine de' Medici 107 
 
 " The King of Navarre/' said the Cardinal. 
 
 "A gaby who bows low in my presence," replied the 
 Dake. " That Florentine woman's graces have blinded 
 you I think " 
 
 "Oh, I have thought of that already," said the prelate. 
 " If I aim at a gallant intimacy with her, is it not that I 
 may read to the bottom of her heart ? " 
 
 "She has no heart," said His brother sharply. " She is 
 even more ambitious than we are." 
 
 " You are a brave commander," said the Cardinal ; 
 " but take my word for it, our skirts are very near touch- 
 ing, and I made Mary Stewart watch her narrowly before 
 you ever suspected her. Catherine has no more religion 
 in her than my shoe. If she is not the soul of the conspir- 
 acy, it is not for lack of goodwill ; but we will draw her 
 out and see how far she will support us. Till now I know 
 for certain that she has not held any communication with 
 the heretics." 
 
 " It is time that we should lay everything before the 
 King, and the Queen-mother, who knows nothing," said 
 the Duke, " and that is the only proof of her innocence. 
 La Renaudie will understand from my arrangements that 
 we are warned. Last night Nemours must have been fol- 
 lowing up the detachments of the Reformed party, who 
 were coming in by the cross-roads, and the conspirators 
 will be compelled to attack us at Amboise ; I will let them 
 all in. Here," and he pointed to the three steep slopes 
 of rock on which the Chateau de Blois is built, just us 
 Chiverni had done a moment since, "we should have a 
 fight with no result ; the Huguenots could come and go 
 at will. Blois is a hall with four doors, while Amboise is 
 a sack." 
 
 "I will not leave the Florentine Queen," said the 
 Cardinal. 
 
 " We have made one mistake," remarked the Duke, 
 playing with his dagger, tossing it in the air, and catch-
 
 108 Catherine de* Medici 
 
 ing it again by the handle ; " we ought to have behaved 
 to her as to the Reformers, giving her liberty to move, so 
 as to take her in the act." 
 
 The Cardinal looked at his brother for a minute, shak- 
 ing his head. 
 
 " What does Pardaillan want ? " the Duke exclaimed, 
 seeing this young gentleman coming along the terrace. 
 Pardaillan was to become famous for hig fight with la 
 Benaudie, in which both were killed. 
 
 " Monseigneur, a youth sent here by the Queen's furrier 
 is at the gate, and says that he has a set of ermine to de- 
 liver to Her Majesty. Is he to be admitted ?" 
 
 *' To be sure ; an ermine surcoat she spoke of but yester- 
 day," said the Cardinal. " Let the shop-clerk in. She 
 will need the mantle for her journey by the Loire." 
 
 " Which way did he come, that he was not stopped 
 before reaching the gate ? " asked the Grand Master. 
 
 " I do not know," said Pardaillan. 
 
 "I will go to see him in the Queen's rooms," said le 
 Balafre. " Tell him to await her lever in the guard-room. 
 But, Pardaillan, is he young ? " 
 
 " Yes, Monseigneur ; he says he is Lecamus' son." 
 
 " Lecamus is a good Catholic," said the Cardinal, who, 
 like the Duke, was gifted with a memory like Caesar's. 
 "The priest of Saint- Pierre aux Boeufs trusts him, for he 
 is officer of the peace for the Palace." 
 
 " Make this youth chat with the Captain of the Scotch 
 Guard, all the same/' said the Grand Master, with an em- 
 phasis which gave the words a very pointed meaning. 
 " But Ambroise is at the chateau ; through him we shall 
 know at once if he really is the son of Lecamus, who was 
 formerly his very good friend. Ask for Ambroise Pare." 
 
 At this moment the Queen came towards the brothers, 
 who hurried to meet her with marks of respect, in which 
 Catherine never failed to discern deep irony. 
 
 " Gentlemen/' said she, " will you condescend to inform
 
 Catherine de' Medici 109 
 
 me of what is going on ? Is the widow of your late sov- 
 ereign of less account in your esteem than Messieurs de 
 Vieilleville, Birague, and Chiverni ? " 
 
 "Madame/' said the Cardinal, with an air of gallantry, 
 "our first duty as men, before all matters of politics, is 
 not to alarm, ladies by false rumors. This morning, in- 
 deed, we have had occasion to confer on State affairs. 
 You will pardon my brother for having in the first instance 
 given orders on purely military matters which must be in- 
 different to you the really important points remain to be 
 discussed. If you approve, we will all attend the lever of 
 the King and Queen ; it is close on the hour." 
 
 " Why, what is happening, Monsieur le Grand Maitre?" 
 asked Catherine, affecting terror. 
 
 " The Reformation, Madame, is no longer a mere heresy ; 
 it is a party which is about to take up arms and seize the 
 King." 
 
 Catherine, with the Cardinal, the Duke, and the gentle- 
 men, made their way towards the staircase by the corridor, 
 which was crowded with courtiers who had not the right 
 of entrfa, and who ranged themselves against the wall. 
 
 Gondi, who had been studying the Princes of Lorraine 
 while Catherine was conversing with them, said in good 
 Tuscan and in Catherine's ear these two words, which be- 
 came bywords, and which express one aspect of that royally 
 powerful nature 
 
 " Odiate e aspettate !" Hate and wait. 
 
 Pardaillan, who had delivered to the officer on guard at 
 the gatehouse the order to admit the messenger from the 
 Queen's furrier, found Christophe standing outside the 
 portico and staring at the faade built by good King Louis 
 XII, whereon there was at that time an even more numer- 
 ous array of sculptured figures of the coarsest buffoonery 
 if we may judge by what has survived. The curious 
 will detect, for instance, a figure of a woman carted on 
 the capital of one of the columns of the gateway holding
 
 110 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 up her skirts, ami saucily exhibiting " what Brunei dis- 
 played to Marphisa " to a burly monk crouching in the 
 capital of the corresponding column at the other jamb of 
 this gate, above which once stood a statue of Louis XII. 
 Several of the windows of this front, ornamented in this 
 grotesque taste, and now unfortunately destroyed, amused, 
 or seemed to amuse, Christophe, whom the gunners of the 
 Guard were already pelting with their pleasantries. 
 
 " He would like to be lodged there, he would," said the 
 sergeant-at-arms, patting his store of charges for his musket 
 which hung from his belt in the sugar-loaf-shaped cart- 
 ridges. 
 
 " Hallo, you from Paris, you never saw so much be- 
 fore ! " said a soldier. 
 
 " He recognizes good King Louis ! " said another. 
 
 Christophe affected not to hear them, and tried to look 
 even more helplessly amazed, so that his look of blank 
 stupidity was an excellent recommendation to Pardaillan. 
 
 "The Queen is not yet risen," said the young officer. 
 "Come and wait in the guardroom." 
 
 Christophe slowly followed Pardaillan. He purposely 
 lingered to admire the pretty covered balcony with an 
 arched front, where, in the reign of Louis XII., the 
 courtiers could wait under cover till the hour of recep- 
 tion if the weather was bad, and where at this moment 
 some of the gentlemen attached to the Guises were 
 grouped ; for the staircase, still so well preserved, which 
 led to their apartments is at the end of that gallery, in a 
 tower of which the architecture is greatly admired by the 
 curious. 
 
 " Now, then ! have you come here to study graven 
 images ? " cried Pardaillan, seeing Lecamus riveted in 
 front of the elegant stonework of the outer parapet which 
 unites or, if you will, separates the columns of each 
 archway. 
 
 Christophe followed the young captain to the grand
 
 Catherine de' Medici 111 
 
 staircase, not without glancing at this almost Moorish-look- 
 ing structure from top to bottom with an expression of 
 ecstasy. Oil this fine morning the court was full of cap- 
 tains-at-arrns and of courtiers chatting in groups; and 
 their brilliant costumes gave life to the scene, in itself so 
 bright, for the marvels of architecture that decorated the 
 fagade were still quite ne\v. 
 
 " Come in here," said Pardaillau to Lecamus, signing 
 to him to follow him through the carved door on the 
 second floor, which was thrown open by a sentry on his 
 recognizing Pardaillan. 
 
 Christophe's amazement may easily be imagined on en- 
 tering this guardroom, so vast, that the military genius of 
 our day has cut it across by a partition to form two rooms. 
 It extends, in fact, both on the second floor, where the King 
 lived, and on the first, occupied by the Queen-mother, for 
 a third of the length of the front towards the court, and 
 is lighted by two windows to the left and two to the right of 
 the famous staircase. The young captain made his way 
 toward the door leading to the King's room, which opened 
 out of this hall, and desired one of the pages-in-waiting to 
 tell Madame Dayelle, one of the Queen's ladies, that the 
 furrier was in the guardroom with her surcoats. 
 
 At a sign from Pardaillan, Christophe went to stand 
 by the side of an officer seated on a low stool in the corner 
 of a chimney-place as large as his father's shop, at one end 
 of this vast hall opposite another exactly like it at the 
 other end. In talking with this gentleman, Christophe 
 succeeded in interesting him by telling him the trivial 
 details of his trade ; and he seemed so completely the 
 craftsman, that the officer volunteered this opinion to the 
 captain of the Scotch Guard, who came in to cross-ques- 
 tion the lad while scrutinizing him closely out of the 
 corner of his eye. 
 
 Though Christophe Lecamus had had ample warning, he 
 still did not understand the cold ferocity of the interested
 
 112 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 parties between whom Chandieu had bid him stand. To 
 an observer who should have mastered the secrets of the 
 drama, as the historian knows them now, it would have 
 seemed terrible to see this young fellow, the hope of two 
 families, risking his life between two such powerful and 
 pitiless machines as Catherine and the Guises. But how few 
 brave hearts ever know the extent of their danger ! From 
 the way in which the quays of the city and the chateau 
 were guarded, Christophe had expected to find snares and 
 spies at every step, so he determined to conceal the im- 
 portance of his errand and the agitation of his mind under 
 the stupid tradesman's stare, which he had put on before 
 Pardaillan, the officer of the Guard, and the captain. 
 
 The stir which in a royal residence attends the rising of 
 the King began to be perceptible. The nobles, leaving 
 their horses with their pages or grooms in the outer court, 
 for no one but the King and Queen was allowed to enter the 
 inner court on horseback, were mounting the splendid 
 stairs in twos and threes and filling the guardroom, 
 a large room with two fireplaces where the huge man- 
 tels are now bereft of adornment, where squalid red tiles 
 have taken the place of the fine mosaic flooring, where 
 royal hangings covered the rough walls now daubed with 
 whitewash, and where every art of an age unique in its 
 splendor was displayed at its best. 
 
 Catholics and Protestants poured in as much to hear 
 the news and study each other's faces as to pay their court 
 to the King. His passionate affection for Mary Stewart, 
 which neither the Queen-mother nor the Guises attempted 
 to check, and Mary's politic submissiveness in yield- 
 ing to it, deprived the King of all power ; indeed, though 
 he was now seventeen, he knew nothing of Eoyalty but its 
 indulgences, and of marriage nothing but the raptures of 
 first love. In point of fact, everybody tried to ingratiate 
 himself with Queen Mary and her uncles, the Cardinal de 
 Lorraine and the Grand Master of the Household.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 All this bustle went on under the eyes of Ghristophe, 
 who watched each fresh arrival with very natural excite- 
 ment. A magnificent curtain, on each side of it a, page 
 and a yeoman of the Scotch Guard then on duty, showed 
 him the entrance to that royal chamber, destined to be 
 fatal to the son of the Grand Master, for the younger 
 Balafre fell dead at the foot of the bed now occupied by 
 Mary Stewart and Francis II. The Queen's ladies occupied 
 the chimney-place opposite to that where Christophe was 
 still chatting with the captain of the Guard. This fire- 
 place, by its position, was the seat of honor, for it is built 
 into the thick wall of the council-room, between the door 
 into the royal chamber and that into the council-room, BO 
 that the ladies and gentlemen who had a right to sit there 
 were close to where the King and the Queens must pass. 
 The courtiers were certain to see Catherine ; for her 
 maids of honor, in mourning, like the rest of the Court, 
 came up from her rooms conducted by the Countess 
 Fieschi, and took their place on the side next the council- 
 room, facing those of the young Queen, who, led by the 
 Duchesse de Guise, took the opposite angle next the royal 
 bedchamber. 
 
 Between the courtiers and these young ladies, all 
 belonging to the first families in the kingdom, a space was 
 kept of some few paces, which none but the greatest nobles 
 were permitted to cross. The Countess Fieschi and the 
 Duchesse de Guise were allowed by right of office to be 
 seated in the midst of their noble charges, who all re- 
 mained standing. 
 
 One of the first to mingle with these dangerous bevies 
 was the Due d'Orleans, the King's brother, who came 
 down from his rooms above, attended by his tutor, 
 Monsieur de Cypierre. This young Prince, who was 
 destined to reign before the end of the year, under 
 the name of Charles IX., at the age of ten was excess- 
 ively shy. The Due d'Anjou and the Due d'Alencon, his 
 3
 
 114 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 two brothers and the infant Princess Marguerite, who be- 
 came the wife of Henri IV., were still too young to appear 
 at Court, and remained in their mother's apartments. 
 The Due d'Orleans, richly dressed in the fashion of the 
 time, in silk trunk hose, a doublet of cloth of gold, brocaded 
 with flowers in black, and a short cloak of embroidered 
 velvet, all black, for he was still in mourning for the late 
 King his father, bowed to the two elder ladies, and joined 
 the group of his mother's maids of honor. Strongly dis- 
 liking the Guisards (the adherents of the Guises), he re- 
 plied coldly to the Duchess's greeting, and went to lean 
 his elbow on the back of the Countess Fieschi's tall 
 chair. 
 
 His tutor, Monsieur de Cypierre, one of the finest char- 
 acters of that age, stood behind him as a shield. Amyot, 
 in a simple abbe's gown, also attended the Prince ; he 
 was his instructor as well as being the teacher of the three 
 other royal children, whose favor was afterwards so advan- 
 tageous to him. 
 
 Between this chimney-place ' ( of honor " and that at 
 the further end of the hall where the Guards stood in 
 groups with their captain, a few courtiers, and Christophe 
 carrying his box the Chancellor Olivier, 1'Hopital's patron 
 and predecessor, in the costume worn ever since by the 
 Chancellors of France, was walking to and fro with Car- 
 dinal de Tournon, who had just arrived from Rome, and 
 with whom he exchanged a few phrases in murmurs. On 
 them was centered the general attention of the gentlemen 
 packed against the wall dividing the hall from the King's 
 bedroom, standing like a living tapestry against the rich 
 figured hangings. In spite of the serious state of affairs, 
 the Court presented the same appearance as every Court 
 must, in every country, at every time, and in the midst 
 of the greatest perils. Courtiers always talk of the most 
 trivial subjects while thinking of the gravest, jesting while 
 watching every physiognomy, and considering questions
 
 Catherine de' Medici 115 
 
 of love and marriage with heiresses iu the midst of the most 
 sanguinary catastrophes. 
 
 " What did you think of yesterday's fete ? " asked 
 Bourdeilles, the Lord of Brautome, going up to Mademoi- 
 selle de Piennes, one of the elder Queen's maids of honor. 
 
 " Monsieur du Bai'f and Monsieur du Bellay had had 
 the most charming ideas/' said she, pointing to the two 
 gentlemen who had arranged everything, and who were 
 standing close at hand. " I thought it in atrocious taste/' 
 she added in a whisper. 
 
 " You had no part in it ? " said Miss Lewiston from the 
 other side. 
 
 " What are you reading, Madame ? " said Amyot to 
 Madame Fieschi. 
 
 " Amadis de Gaule, by the Seigneur des Essarts, pur- 
 vey or-in-ordinary to the King's Artillery." 
 
 " A delightful work," said the handsome girl, who be- 
 came famous as la Fosseuse, when she was lady-in-waiting 
 to Queen Margaret of Navarre. 
 
 " The style is quite new," remarked Amyot. " Shall 
 you adopt such barbarisms ?" he asked, turning to Bran- 
 t6me. 
 
 " The ladies like it ! What is to be said ?" cried Bran- 
 tome, going forward to bow to Madame de Guise, who had 
 in her hand Boccaccio's Famous Ladies. " There must 
 be some ladies of your House there, Madame," said he. 
 " But Master Boccaccio's mistake was that he did not live 
 in these days ; he would have found ample matter to en- 
 large his volumes." 
 
 "How clever Monsieur de Brantome is!" said the 
 beautiful Mademoiselle de Limeuil to the Countess Fieschi. 
 " He came first to us, but he will stay with the Guises." 
 
 " Hush ! " said Madame Fieschi, looking at the fair 
 Limeuil. " Attend to what concerns you " 
 
 The young lady turned to the door. She was expect- 
 ing Sordini, an Italian nobleman, who subsequently made
 
 116 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 him marry her after a little accident that overtook her in 
 the Queen's dressing-room, and which procured her the 
 honor of having a queen for her midwife. 
 
 " By Saint Alipantin, Mademoiselle Davila seems to 
 grow prettier every morning/' said Monsieur de Robertet, 
 Secretary of State, as he bowed to the Queen-mother's 
 ladies. 
 
 The advent of the Secretary of State, though he was 
 exactly as important as a Cabinet Minister in these days, 
 made no sensation whatever. 
 
 " If you think that, Monsieur, do lend me the epigram 
 against Messieurs de Guise ; I know you have it," said 
 Mademoiselle Davila to Robertet. 
 
 " I have it no longer," replied the Secretary, going 
 across to speak to Madame de Guise. 
 
 " I have it," said the Comte de Grammont to Mademoi- 
 selle Davila ; " but I will lend it you on only one con- 
 dition." 
 
 " On condition ? For shame!" said Madame 
 
 Fieschi. 
 
 " You do not know what I want," replied Grammont. 
 
 " Oh, that is easy to guess," said la Limeuil. 
 
 The Italian custom of calling ladies, as French peasants 
 call their wives, la Such-an-one, was at that time the 
 fashion at the Court of France. 
 
 " You are mistaken," the Count replied eagerly ; " what 
 I ask is, that a letter should be delivered to Mademoiselle 
 de Matha, one of the maids on the other side a letter 
 from my cousin de Jarnac." 
 
 " Do not compromise my maids ; I will give it her my- 
 self," said the Countess Fieschi. " Have you heard any 
 news of what is going on in Flanders ? " she asked Car- 
 dinal de Tournon. " Monsieur d'Egmont ia at some new 
 pranks, it would seem." 
 
 " He and the Prince of Orange," said Oypierre, with a 
 highly exprewiv* shrug.
 
 Catherine de' Mediei 11T 
 
 "The Duke of Alva and Cardinal de Granvelle are 
 going there, are they not, Monsieur ? " asked Amyot of 
 Cardinal de Tournon, who stood, uneasy and gloomy, 
 between the two groups after his conversation with the 
 Chancellor. 
 
 "We, happily, are quiet, and have to defy heresy only 
 on the stage/* said the young Duke, alluding to the part 
 he had played the day before, that of a Knight subduing 
 a Hydra with the word " Eeformation " on its brow. 
 
 Catherine de' Medici, agreeing on this point with her 
 daughter-in-law, had allowed a theater to be constructed 
 in the great hall, which was subsequently used for the 
 meetings of the States at Blois, the hall between the build- 
 ings of Louis XII. and those of Francis I. 
 
 The Cardinal made no reply, and resumed his walk in 
 the middle of the hall, talking in a low voice to Monsieur 
 de Robertet and the Chancellor. Many persons know 
 nothing of the difficulties that Secretaryships of State, 
 now transformed into Cabinet Ministries, met with in the 
 course of their establishment, and how hard the Kings 
 of France found it to create them. At that period a 
 Secretary like Robertet was merely a clerk, of hardly 
 any account among the princes and magnates who settled 
 the affairs of State. There were at that time no minis- 
 terial functionaries but the Superintendent of Finance, 
 the Chancellor, and the Keeper of the King's Seals. 
 The King granted a seat in the Council, by letters patent, 
 to such of his subjects as might, in his opinion, give use- , 
 ful advice in the conduct of public affairs. A seat in ' 
 the Council might be given to a president of a law court 
 in the Parlement, to a bishop, to an untitled favorite. 
 Once admitted to the Council, the subject strengthened 
 his position by getting himself appointed to one of the 
 Crown offices to which a salary was attached the govern- 
 ment of a province, a constable's sword, a marshal's baton, 
 the command of the Artillery, the post of High Admiral,
 
 118 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 the colonelcy of some military corps, the captaincy of the 
 galleys or often some function of Court, such as that of 
 Grand Master of the Household, then held by the Due 
 de Guise. 
 
 " Do you believe that the Duo de Nemours will marry 
 Franqoise ? " asked Madame de Guise of the Due d'Or- 
 leaus' instructor. 
 
 " Indeed, Madame, I know nothing but Latin, " was the 
 reply. 
 
 This made those smile who were near enough to hear 
 it. Just then the seduction of Fran9oise de Kohan by the 
 Due de Nemours was the theme of every conversation ; 
 but as the Due de Nemours was cousin to the King, and 
 also allied to the House of Valois through his mother, the 
 Guises regarded him as seduced rather than as a seducer. 
 The influence of the House of Kohan was, however, so 
 great, that after Francis II. 's death the Due de Nemours 
 was obliged to quit France in consequence of the lawsuit 
 brought against him by the Eohans, which was compro- 
 mised by the offices of the Guises. His marriage to the 
 Duchesse de Guise, after Poltrot's assassination, may ac- 
 count for the Duchess's question to Amyot, by explaining 
 some rivalry, no doubt, between her and Mademoiselle de 
 Rohan. 
 
 " Look, pray, at that party of malcontents," said the 
 Comte de Grammont, pointing to Messieurs de Coligny, 
 Cardinal de Chatillon, Danville, There 1 , Moret, and several 
 other gentlemen suspected of meddling in the Reformation, 
 who were standing all together between two windows at 
 the lower end of the hall. 
 
 " The Huguenots are on the move/' said Cypierre. " We 
 know that Theodore de B6ze is at Nerac to persuade the 
 Queen of Navarre to declare herself on their side by publicly 
 renouncing the Catholic faith," he added, with a glance at 
 the Bailli d'Orleans, who was Chancellor to the Queen 
 of Navarre, and a keen observer of the Court.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 119 
 
 " She will do it," said the Bailli d'Orleans drily. 
 
 This personage, the Jacques Coeur of his day, and one 
 of the richest middle-class men of his time, was named 
 Groslot, and was envoy from Jeanne d' Albret to the French 
 Court. 
 
 " Do you think so ?" said the Chancellor of France to 
 the Chancellor of Navarre, quite understanding the full 
 import of Groslot's remark. 
 
 " Don't you know/* said the rich provincial, ' ' that the 
 Queen of Navarre has nothing of the woman in her but 
 her sex ? She is devoted to none but manly things ; her 
 mind is strong in important matters, and her heart un- 
 daunted by the greatest adversities." 
 
 " Monsieur le Cardinal," said the Chancellor Olivier to 
 Monsieur de Tournon, who had heard Groslot, " what do 
 you think of such boldness ? " 
 
 " The Queen of Navarre does well to choose for her 
 Chancellor a man from whom the House of Lorraine will 
 need to borrow, and who offers the King his house when 
 there is a talk of moving to Orleans/* replied the Car- 
 dinal. 
 
 The Chancellor and the Cardinal looked at each other, 
 not daring to speak their thoughts ; but Eobertet expressed 
 them, for he thought it necessary to make a greater dis- 
 play of devotion to the Guises than these great men, since 
 he was so far beneath them. 
 
 " It is most unfortunate that the House of Navarre, in- 
 stead of abjuring the faith of their fathers, do not abjure 
 the spirit of revenge and rebellion inspired by the Conne- 
 table de Bourbon. We shall see a repetition of the wars 
 of the Armagnacs and the Bourgnignons." 
 
 " No/' said Groslot, " for there is something of Louis XI. 
 in the Cardinal de Lorraine." 
 
 " And in Queen Catherine too," observed Eobertet. 
 
 At this moment Madame Dayelle, Mary Stewart's favorite 
 waiting-woman, crossed the room, and went to the Queen's
 
 120 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 chamber. The appearance of the waiting- woman made a 
 little stir. 
 
 "We shall be admitted directly, "said Madame Fieschi. 
 
 " I do not think so," said the Dncheese de Guise. " Their 
 Majesties will come out, for a State Council is to beheld." 
 
 La Dayelle slipped into the royal chamber after scratch- 
 ing at the door, a deferential custom introduced by 
 Catherine de' Medici, and adopted by the French Court. 
 
 "What is the weather like, my dear Dayelle ? " asked 
 Queen Mary, putting her fair fresh face out between the 
 curtains. 
 
 " Oh ! Madame " 
 
 " What is the matter, Dayelle ? Yon might have the 
 bowmen at your heels " 
 
 fi Oh ! Madame is the King still sleeping ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " We are to leave the castle, and Monsieur le Cardinal 
 desired me to tell you so, that yon might suggest it to the 
 King/' 
 
 " Do you know why, my good Dayelle ? " 
 
 " The Reformers mean to carry you off." 
 
 " Oh, this new religion leaves me no peace ! I dreamed 
 last night that I was in prison I who shall wear the united 
 crowns of the three finest kingdoms in the world." 
 
 "Indeed ! but, Madame, it was only a dream." 
 
 '' Carried off ! That would be rather amusing. But 
 for the sake of religion, and by heretics horrible 1 " 
 
 The Queen sprang out of bed and seated herself in front 
 of the fireplace in a large chair covered with red velvet, 
 after wrapping herself in a loose black velvet gown handed 
 to her by Dayelle, which she tied about the waist with a 
 silken cord. Dayelle lighted the fire, for the early May 
 mornings are cool on the banks of the Loire. 
 
 " Then did my uncles get this news in the course of the 
 night ?" the Queen inquired of Dayelle, with whom she 
 was on familiar terms.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 121 
 
 " Early this morning Messieurs de Guise were walking 
 on the terrace to avoid being overheard, and received there 
 some messengers arriving in hot haste from various parts 
 of the kingdom where the Reformers are busy. Her High- 
 ness the Queen-mother went out with her Italians hoping 
 to be consulted, but she was not invited to join the little 
 council." 
 
 " She must be furious." 
 
 " All the more so because she had a little wrath left over 
 from yesterday," replied Dayelle. ' ' They say she was far 
 from rejoiced by the sight of your Majesty in your dress of 
 woven gold and your pretty veil of tan-colored crape " 
 
 " Leave us now, my good Dayelle ; the King is waking. 
 Do not let any one in, not even those who have the entrte. 
 There are matters of State in hand, and my uncles will not 
 disturb us." 
 
 " Why, my dear Mary, are you out of bed already ? Is it 
 daylight ?" said the young King, rousing himself. 
 
 " My dear love, while we were sleeping, malignants have 
 been wide awake, and compel us to leave this pleasant 
 home." 
 
 " What do you mean by malignants, my sweetheart ? 
 Did we not have the most delightful festival last evening 
 but for the Latin which those gentlemen insisted on drop- 
 ping into our good French ?" 
 
 " Oh ! " said Mary, " that is in the best taste, and Rabelais 
 brought Latin into fashion." 
 
 " Ah ! you are so learned, and I am only sorry not to be 
 able to do you honor in verse. If I were not King, I would 
 take back Master Amyot from my brother, who is being 
 made so wise " 
 
 " You have nothing to envy your brother for ; he writes 
 verses and shows them to me, begging me to show him 
 mine. Be content, you are by far the best of the four, 
 and will bo as good a king as yon are a charming lover. 
 Indeed, that perhaps is the reason your mother loves
 
 122 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 you so little. But be easy ; I, dear heart, will love you 
 for all the world." 
 
 " It is no great merit in me to love such a perfect Queen," 
 said the young King. "I do not know what hindered me 
 from embracing you before the whole Court last night, 
 when you danced the branle with tapers. I could see how 
 all the women looked serving-wenches by you, my sweet 
 Marie !" 
 
 "For plain prose your language is charming, my dear 
 heart : it is love that speaks, to be sure. And, you know, 
 my dear, that if you were but a poor little page, I should 
 still love you just as much as I now do, and yet it is a good 
 thing to be able to say, ' My sweetheart is a King ! ' ' 
 
 " Such a pretty arm ! Why must we get dressed ? I 
 like to push my fingers through your soft hair and tangle 
 your golden curls. Listen, pretty one ; I will not allow 
 you to let your women kiss your fair neck and your pretty 
 shoulders any more ! I am jealous of the Scotch mists for 
 having touched them." 
 
 " Will you not come to see my beloved country ? The 
 Scotch would love you, and there would be no rebellions, 
 as there are here." 
 
 " Who rebels in our kingdom ? " said Francois de Valois, 
 wrapping himself in his gown, and drawing his wife on to 
 his knee. 
 
 " Yes, this is very pretty play," said she, withdrawing 
 her cheek from his kiss. " But you have to reign, if you 
 please, my liege." 
 
 " Who talks of reigning ? This morning I want to " 
 
 " Need you say ' I wwnt to,' when you can do what you 
 will ? That is the language of neither king nor lover. 
 However, that is not the matter on hand we have im- 
 portant business to attend to." 
 
 " Oh ]" said the King, "it is along time since we have 
 had any business to do. .Ts it amusing ? " 
 
 *' Not at all," said Mary ; " we must make a move."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 123 
 
 " I will wager, my pretty one, that you have seen one 
 of your uncles, who manage matters so well that, at seven- 
 teen, 1 am a King only in name. I really know not why, 
 since the first Council, I have ever sat at one ; they could 
 do everything quite as well by setting a crown on' my 
 chair ; I see everything through their eyes, and settle 
 matters blindfold." 
 
 " Indeed, Monsieur," said the Queen, standing up and 
 assuming an air of annoyance, "you had agreed never 
 again to give me the smallest trouble on that score, but 
 to leave my uncles to exercise your royal power for the 
 happiness of your people. A nice people they are ! Why, 
 if you tried to govern them unaided, they would swallow 
 you whole like a strawberry. They need warriors to rule 
 them a stern master gloved with iron ; while you yon 
 are a charmer whom I love just as you are, and should not 
 love if you were different do you hear, my lord ? " she 
 added, bending down to kiss the boy, who seemed inclined 
 to rebel against this speech, but who was mollified by the 
 caress. 
 
 " Oh, if only they were not your uncles ! " cried Francis. 
 " I cannot endure that Cardinal ; and when he puts on 
 his insinuating air and his submissive ways, and says to 
 me with a bow, ' Sire, the honor of the Crown and the 
 faith of your fathers is at stake, your Majesty will never 
 
 allow ' and this and that I am certain he toils for 
 
 nothing but his cursed House of Lorraine." 
 
 " How well you mimic him \" cried the Queen. " But 
 why do you not make these Guises inform you of what is 
 going forward, so as to govern by and by on your own 
 account when you are of full age ? I am your wife, and 
 your honor is mine. We will reign, sweetheart never 
 fear ! But all will not be roses for us till we are free to 
 please ourselves. There is nothing so hard for a King 
 as to govern ! 
 
 " Ana I the Queen now, I ask you ? Do you think that
 
 124 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 your mother ever fails to repay me in evil for what good 
 my uncles may do for the glory of your throne ? And 
 mark the difference ! My uncles are great princes, de- 
 scendants of Charlemagne, full of good-will, and ready to 
 die for you ; while this daughter of a leech, or a merchant, 
 Queen of France by a mere chance, is as shrewish as a 
 citizen's wife who is not mistress in her house. The Italian 
 woman is provoked that she cannot set every one by the 
 ears, and she is always coming to me with her pale, solemn 
 face, and then with her pinched lips she begins : * Daugh- 
 ter, you are the Queen ; I am only the second lady in the 
 kingdom* she is furious, you see, dear heart 'but if I 
 were in your place, I would not wear crimson velvet while 
 the Court is in mourning, and I would appear in public 
 with my hair plainly dressed and with no jewels, for what 
 is unseemly in any lady is even more so in a queen. Nor 
 would I dance myself ; I would only see others dance ! ' 
 That is the kind of thing she says to me/' 
 
 " Oh, dear Heaven ! " cried the King, " I can hear 
 her ! Mercy, if she only knew " 
 
 " Why, you still quake before her. She wearies you 
 say so ? We will send her away. By my faith, that she 
 should deceive you might be endured, but to be so 
 tedioiw " 
 
 " In Heaven's name, be silent, Marie," said the King, 
 at once alarmed and delighted. " 1 would not have you 
 lose her favor." 
 
 " Never fear that she will quarrel with me, with the 
 three finest crowns in the world on my head, my little 
 King," said Mary Stewart. " Even though she hates me 
 for a thousand reasons, she flatters me, to win me from 
 my uncles." 
 
 "Hates you?" 
 
 "Yes, my angel ! And if I had not a thousand such 
 proofs as women can give eaoh other, and such as women 
 only can understand, her persistent opposition to our
 
 Catherine de' Medici 125 
 
 happy love-making would be enough. Now, is it my 
 fault if your father could never endure Mademoiselle de' 
 Medici ? In short, she likes me so little, that you had to 
 be quite in a rage to prevent our having separate sets of 
 rooms here and at Saint-Germain. She declared that it 
 was customary for the Kings and Queens of France. Cus- 
 tomary ! It was your father's custom ; that is quite in- 
 telligible. As to your grandfather, Francis, the good 
 man established the practise for the convenience of his 
 love affairs. So be on your guard ; if we are obliged to 
 leave this place, do not let the Grand Master divide us." 
 
 " If we leave ? But I do not intend to leave this pretty 
 chateau, whence we see the Loire and all the country 
 around a town at our feet, the brightest sky in the world 
 above us, and these lovely gardens. Or if I go, it will be 
 to travel with yon in Italy and see Kaphael's pictures and 
 Saint-Peter's at Kome." 
 
 " And the orange-trees. Ah, sweet little King, if you 
 could know how your Mary longs to walk under orange- 
 trees in flower and fruit ! Alas ! I may never see one ! 
 Oh ! to hear an Italian song under those fragrant groves, 
 on the shore of a blue sea, under a cloudless sky, and to 
 clasp each other thus ! " 
 
 " Let us be off/' said the King. 
 
 "Be off ! " cried the Grand Master, coming in. " Yes, 
 Sire, you must be off from Blois. Pardon my boldness ; 
 but circumstances overrule etiquette, and I have come to 
 beg you to call a Council." 
 
 Mary and Francis had started apart on being thus taken 
 by surprise, and they both wore the same expression of 
 offended sovereign Majesty. 
 
 "You are too much the Grand Master, Monsieur de 
 Guise," said the young King, suppressing his wrath. 
 
 ' ' Devil take lovers ! " muttered the Cardinal in Cath- 
 erine's ear. 
 
 " My son," replied the Queen-mother, appearing behind
 
 126 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 the Cardinal, " the safety of your person is at stake as well 
 as of your kingdom. " 
 
 " Heresy was awake while you slept, Sire," said the 
 Cardinal. 
 
 "Withdraw into the hall/' said the little King; "we 
 will hold a Council." 
 
 " Madame," said the Duke to the Queen, " your furrier's 
 son has come with some furs which are seasonable for 
 your journey, as we shall probably ride by the Loire. 
 But he also wishes to speak with Madame," he added, 
 turning to the Queen-mother. " While the King is dress- 
 ing, would you and Her Majesty dismiss him forthwith, 
 so that this trifle may no further trouble us/' 
 
 " With pleasure," replied Catherine ; adding to herself, 
 "If he thinks to be rid of me by such tricks, he little 
 knows me." 
 
 The Cardinal and the Duke retired, leaving the two 
 Queens with the King. As he went through the guard- 
 room to go to the council-chamber, the Grand Master 
 desired the usher to bring up the Queen's furrier. 
 
 When Chrisfcophe saw this official coming towards him 
 from one end of the room to the other, he took him, from 
 his dress, to be some one of importance, and his heart sank 
 within him ; but this sensation, natural enough at the 
 approach of a critical moment, became sheer terror when 
 the usher, whose advance had the effect of directing the 
 eyes of the whole splendid assembly to Christophe with 
 his bundles and his abject looks, said to him 
 
 "Their Highnesses the Cardinal de Lorraine and the 
 Grand Master desire to speak to you in the council-room." 
 
 " Has any one betrayed me ? " was the thought of this 
 hapless envoy of the Reformers. 
 
 Christophe followed the usher, his eyes bent on the 
 ground, and never looked up till he found himself in the 
 spacious council-room as large almost as the guardroom. 
 The tw Guises were alone, standing in front of the splen-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 127 
 
 did chimney-place that backed against that in the guard- 
 room, where the maids of honor were grouped. 
 
 " You have come from Paris ? Which road did you 
 take ? " the Cardinal said to Christophe. 
 
 " I caine by water, Monseigneur," replied the lad. 
 
 "And how did you get into Blois?" said the Grand 
 Master. 
 
 " By the river port, Monseigneur." 
 
 " And no one interfered with you ? " said the Duke, 
 who was examining the young man closely. 
 
 "No, Monseigneur. I told the first soldier, who made 
 as though he would stop me, that I had come on duty to 
 wait on the two Queens, and that my father is furrier to 
 their Majesties." 
 
 " What is doing in Paris ?" asked the Cardinal. 
 
 " They are still trying to discover the murderer who 
 killed President Minard." 
 
 " Are not you the son of my surgeon's greatest friend ?" 
 asked the Due de Guise, deceived by Christophe's expres- 
 sion of candor, now that his fears were allayed. 
 
 " Yes, Monseigueur." 
 
 The Grand Master went out, hastily lifted the curtain 
 which screened the double doors of the council-chamber, 
 and showed his face to the crowd, among whom he looked 
 for the King's surgeon-in-chief. Ambroise Par6, stand- 
 ing in a corner, was aware of a glance shot at him by the 
 Duke, and went to him. Ambroise, already inclined to 
 the Reformed religion, ended by adopting it ; but the 
 friendship of the Guises and of the French kings preserved 
 him from the various disasters that befell the heretics. 
 The Duke, who felt that he owed his life to Ambroise 
 Pare, had appointed him surgeon-in-chief to the King 
 within a few days past. 
 
 "What is it, Monseigneur ?" said the leech. "Is the 
 King ill ? I should not be surprised." 
 
 "Why?"
 
 128 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " The Queen is too fascinating," said the surgeon. 
 
 " Ah I " replied the Duke, surprised. " However, that is 
 not the case, " he went on after a pause. "Ambroise, I 
 want you to see a friend of yours/' and he led him on to 
 the threshold of the council-chamber door and pointed to 
 Christophe. 
 
 f< Ah, to be sure/' cried the surgeon, holding out his 
 hand to the youth. " How is your father, my boy ? " 
 
 " Very well, Master Ambroise," Christophe replied. 
 
 " And what are you doing at Court ? " Par went on. 
 " It is not your business to carry parcels ; your father 
 wants to make a lawyer of you. Do you want the protec- 
 tion of these two great Princes to become a pleader ? " 
 
 " Why, yes, indeed," replied Christophe, " but for my 
 father's sake ; and if you can intercede for us, add your 
 entreaties/' he went on, with a piteous air, "to obtain an 
 order from Monseigneur the Grand Master for the payment 
 of the moneys due to my father, for he does not know 
 which way to turn " 
 
 The Cardinal and his brother looked at each other, and 
 seemed to be satisfied. 
 
 " Leave us now," said the Grand Master to Ambroise 
 with a nod. " And yon, my friend," he added to Chris- 
 tophe, "settle your business quickly, and get back to 
 Paris. My secretary will give you a pass, for, by Heaven, 
 the roads will not be pleasant to travel on ! " 
 
 Neither of the brothers had the slightest suspicion of 
 the important interests that lay in Christophe's hands, 
 being now quite assured that he was certainly the son of 
 Lecamus, a good Catholic, purveyor to the Court, and that 
 he had come solely to get his money. 
 
 " Take him round to be near the door of the Queen's 
 chamber ; she will ask for him no doubt," said the Car- 
 dinal to the surgeon. 
 
 While the furrier's son was being thus cross-questioned
 
 ' Catherine de' Medici 129 
 
 in the council-room, the King had left his mother and the 
 Queen together, having gone into his dressing-room, which 
 was beyond a room adjoining the bedroom. 
 
 Catherine, standing in the recess of the deep window, was 
 looking out on the gardens lost in melancholy thought. 
 She foresaw that one of the greatest commanders of the 
 age, in the course of that morning, in the very next hour, 
 would take the place of her son the King, under the ter- 
 rible title of Lieu tenant- General of the kingdom. In the 
 face of such peril she was alone, without a plan, without 
 defense. Indeed, as she stood there in her mourning, 
 which she had not ceased to wear since the death of Henri 
 II., she might have been compared to a phantom, so still 
 were her pale features as she stood absorbed in thought. 
 Her black eye seemed to wander in the indecision for 
 which great politicians are so often blamed, which in them 
 is the result of the breadth of sight which enables them to 
 see every difficulty, and to balance one against the other, 
 adding up the sum-total of risk before taking a part. 
 There was a ringing in her ears, a turmoil in her blood ; 
 but she stood there, nevertheless, calm and dignified, while 
 gauging the depths of the political abyss beyond the real 
 gulf that lay at her feet. 
 
 Since the day when the Vidame de Chartres had been 
 arrested, this was the second of those terrible days of which 
 there were henceforth to be so many in the course of her 
 royal career ; but she never again made a mistake in the 
 school of power. Though the scepter seemed always to fly . 
 from her grasp, she meant to seize it, and, in fact, did I 
 seize it, by that sheer force of will which had never given 
 way to the scorn of her father-in-law, Francis I. , and his 
 Court by whom, though Dauphiness, she had been so 
 little thought of nor to the constant denials of Henri IL, 
 nor to the unresting antagonism of her rival, Diane de 
 Poitiers. A man would not have understood this Queen 
 in check j but Mary Stewart, so fair, so crafty, so clever, 
 9
 
 130 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 so girlish, and yet so omniscient, watched her out of the 
 corner of her eye while affecting to warble an Italian air 
 with an indifferent countenance. Without understanding 
 the tempest of ambition which brought a cold moisture to 
 the Florentine Queen's brow, the pretty Scotch girl, with 
 her saucy face, knew that the high position of her uncle, the 
 Due de Guise, was filling Catherine with suppressed fury. 
 Now, nothing amused her so much as watching her mother- 
 in-law, whom she regarded as an intriguing adventuress, 
 who, having been humbled, was always prepared for re- 
 venge. The face of the elder was grave and gloomy, a 
 little cadaverous, by reason of the livid complexion of the 
 Italians, which by daylight looks like yellow ivory, though 
 by candle-light it is dazzling ; while the younger face was 
 bright and fresh. At sixteen Mary Stewart had that 
 creamy fairness for which she was so famous. Her bright, 
 rosy face, with clearly-cut features, sparkled with childish 
 mischief, very frankly expressed in the regular arch of her 
 brows, the brightness of her eyes, and the pert smile of her 
 pretty mouth. She had then in perfection that kittenish 
 grace which nothing neither captivity nor the sight of 
 the horrible block ever completely quelled. 
 
 Thus these two Queens, one in the morning, the other 
 in the summer of life, were at this time a perfect con- 
 trast. Catherine was an imposing sovereign, an impene- 
 trable widow, with no passion but the love of power. 
 Mary was a feathered-brained and light-hearted wife, who 
 thought of her crowns as playthings. One looked for- 
 ward to impending misfortunes ; she even had a glimpse 
 of the murder of the Guises, guessing that this would be 
 the only way to strike down men who were capable of rais- 
 ing themselves above the throne and the Parlement ; 
 she saw rivers of blood in a long struggle the other little 
 dreamed that she would herself be murdered by form of law. 
 
 A curious reflection brought a little calm to the Italian, 
 Queen.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 131 
 
 " According to the soothsayer and to Kuggieri's fore- 
 cast, this reign is soon to end. My difficulties will not 
 last," thought she. 
 
 And thus, strange to say, an occult science, now for- 
 gotten judicial astrology was a support to Catherine at 
 this juncture, as it was throughout her life ; for the belief 
 grew constantly from seeing the predictions of those who 
 practised it realized with the greatest exactitude. 
 
 " You are very serious, Madame," said Mary Stewart, 
 taking from Dayelle's hands her little cap, pinched down 
 over the parting of her hair with two frilled wings of 
 handsome lace beyond the puffs of wavy yellow hair that 
 shadowed her temples. 
 
 The painters of the time have so amply perpetuated this 
 cap, that it now belongs essentially to the Queen of Scots, 
 though it was Catherine who invented it when she went 
 into mourning for Henri II. ; but she could not wear it 
 with such good effect as her daughter-in-law, to whom it 
 was infinitely more becoming. And this was not the 
 smallest of the grievances harbored by the Queen-mother 
 against the young Queen. 
 
 " Does your Majesty mean that for a reproof ? " said 
 Catherine, turning to her daughter-in-law. 
 
 "I owe respect, and should not dare " said the 
 
 Scotchwoman meaningly, with a glance at Dayelle. 
 
 Between the two Queens the favorite waiting-woman 
 stood like the figure-head on a fire-dog ; an approving 
 smile might cost her her life. 
 
 " How can I be as gay as you after losing the late King, 
 and when I see my son's kingdom on the eve of a confla- 
 gration ?" 
 
 " Politics do not much concern women/' replied Mary 
 Stewart. " Besides, my uncles are there." 
 
 These two sentences, in the circumstances, were two 
 poisoned arrows. 
 
 " Let us see our furs then/' the Italian replied, " and
 
 132 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 so turn our minds to our own business, while your unolei 
 gettle that of the kingdom." 
 
 " Oh, but we shall attend the Council, Madame ; we are 
 of more use there than you suppose." 
 
 " We ? " said Catherine, with feigned astonishment. 
 " I, for my part, do not know Latin ! " 
 
 "You fancy me so learned ?" said Mary Stewart, with 
 a laugh. " Nay, Madame, 1 swear to yon that at this mo- 
 ment I am studying in the hope of rivaling the Medici 
 and of knowing some day how to heal the wounds of the 
 country." 
 
 This sharp shaft pierced Catherine to the heart, for it 
 was an allusion to the origin of the Medici, who were de- 
 scended, as some said, from a leech, or, as others had it, 
 from a rich drug merchant. She had no reply ready. 
 Dayelle colored when her mistress looked to her for the 
 applause which everybody, and even queens, expect from 
 their inferiors when they have no better audience. 
 
 " Your witticisms, Madame, cannot, unfortunately, heal 
 either the maladies of the State or those of the Church," 
 said Catherine, with calm and dignified coldness. " My 
 forefathers' knowledge of snch matters won them thrones ; 
 while you, if you persist in jesting in the midst of danger, 
 are like enough to lose yours." 
 
 At this juncture Dayelle opened the door to Christophe, 
 shown in by the chief physician himself after scratching 
 at the door. 
 
 The young Reformer wanted to study Catherine's coun- 
 tenance, and affected a shyness, which was natural enough 
 on finding himself in this place ; but he was surprised by 
 Mary's eagerness. She rushed at the boxes to look at her 
 surcoat. 
 
 "Madame," said Christophe, addressing Catherine. 
 
 He turned his back on the other Queen and Dayelle, 
 promptly taking advantage of the attention the two wra 
 devoting to the furs to strike a bold blow.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 133 
 
 " What do you want of me ? " asked Catherine, looking 
 keenly at him. 
 
 Christophe had placed the agreement proposed by the 
 Prince de Conde, with the Reformer's plan of action and 
 an account of their forces, over his heart, between his 
 cloth jerkin and his shirt, wrapped inside the furrier's bill 
 of what Queen Catherine owed him. 
 
 " Madame/' said he, "my father is in dreadful want of 
 money, and if you would condescend to look through the 
 accounts/' he added, unfolding the paper and slipping the 
 agreement under it, ' ' you will see that your Majesty owes 
 him six thousand crowns. May your goodness have pity 
 on us ! See, Madame." 
 
 And he held out the document. 
 
 " Read it. This dates so far back as the accession of the 
 late King." 
 
 Catherine was bewildered by the preamble to the ad- 
 dress, but she did not lose her presence of mind ; she 
 hastily rolled up the paper, admiring the young man's 
 readiness and daring. She saw from these masterly tac- 
 tics that he would understand her, so she tapped him on 
 the head with the roll of paper, and said : " You are 
 very ill advised, my young friend, in handing the oill in 
 before the furs. Learn some knowledge of women ! 
 You must never ask for your money till we are perfectly 
 satisfied." 
 
 " Is that the tradition ? " said the young Queen to her 
 mother-in-law, who made no reply. 
 
 " Ah, Mesdames, excuse my father," said Christophe. 
 " If he had not wanted the money, you would not have 
 your furs. The country is up in arms, and there is so 
 much danger on the roads, that only our great need in- 
 duced me to come. No one else would risk his life." 
 
 " This lad is quite fresh," said Mary Stewart, smiling. 
 
 It is not superfluous to the better understanding of this 
 important little scene to remark that a surcoat was, as the
 
 134 Catherine de' Medici ' 
 
 name implies, a sort of close-fitting jacket or spencer which 
 ladies wore over their dress, and which wrapped them 
 closely, shaped down to the hips. This garment protected 
 the back, chest, and throat from the cold. Surcoats were 
 lined with fur which turned up over the stuff, forming a 
 more or less wide border. Mary Stewart while trying on 
 her surcoat was looking at herself in a large Venetian mir- 
 ror, to see the effect of it at the back ; thus she had left 
 her mother-in-law liberty to glance at the packet of papers, 
 of which the volume might otherwise have excited her 
 suspicions. 
 
 " Does a man ever speak to a lady of the dangers he has 
 incurred when he is safe and sound in her presence ? " said 
 she, turning round on Christophe. 
 
 " Oh, Madame, I have your account too," said he, look- 
 ing at her with well-acted simplicity. 
 
 The young Queen looked at him from head to foot with- 
 out taking the paper ; but she observed, without drawing 
 any conclusions at the moment, that he had taken Queen 
 Catherine's bill out of his breast, and drew hers out of his 
 pocket. Nor did she see in the lad's eyes the admiration 
 that her beauty won her from all the world ; but she was 
 thinking so much of her surcoat, that she did not at once 
 wonder what could be the cause of his indifference. 
 
 "Take it, Dayelle," said she to the waiting- woman. 
 "You can give the account to Monsieur de Versailles 
 (Lom6nie), and desire him, from me, to pay it." 
 
 " Indeed, Madame, but if you do not give me an order 
 signed by the King, or by His Highness the Grand Master, 
 who is at hand, your gracious promise will have no 
 effect." 
 
 "You are rather hastier than beseems a subject, my 
 friend," said Mary Stewart. " So you do not believe in 
 royal promises ? " 
 
 The King came in dressed in his long silk hose and 
 trunks, the breeches of the time, but wore neither doublet
 
 Catherine de' Medici 135 
 
 nor cloak ; he had only a rich wrapper of velvet lined 
 throughout with fur ; fur wrapper, a word of modern use, 
 can alone describe the nfyligt of his apparel. 
 
 " Who is the rascal that doubts your word ?" said the 
 yonng King, who, though at a distance, had heard his 
 wife's speech. 
 
 The door of the King's closet was hidden by the bed. 
 This closet was subsequently called the old closet (le Cabinet 
 vieux) to distinguish it from the splendid painted closet 
 constructed for Henri III. on the other side of the room 
 adjoining the hall of the States-General. Henri III. hid 
 the assassins in the old closet, and sent to desire the Due 
 de Guise to attend him there ; while he, during the murder, 
 remained concealed in the new closet, whence he emerged 
 only to see this overweening subject die a subject for 
 whom there could be no prison, no tribunal, no judges, 
 no laws in the kingdom. But for these dreadful events, 
 the historian could now hardly identify the former uses 
 of these rooms and halls filled with soldiers. A sergeant 
 writes to his sweetheart on the spot where Catherine 
 gravely considered her struggle with parties. 
 
 " Come, my boy," said the Queen-mother ; " I will see 
 that you are paid. Trade must flourish, and money is its 
 main sinew." 
 
 " Ay, go, my good youth," said the young Queen, 
 laughing ; " my august mother understands matters of 
 trade better than I do." 
 
 Catherine was about to leave the room without replying 
 to this innuendo ; but it struck her that her indifference 
 might arouse suspicions, and she retorted on her daughter- 
 in-law 
 
 "And you, my dear, trade in love." 
 
 Then she went down-stairs. 
 
 " Put all those things away, Dayelle. And come to the 
 council-room, Sire," said the young Queen to the King, 
 enchanted at having to decide the important question of
 
 186 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 the lieutenancy of the kingdom in her mother-in-law's 
 absence. 
 
 Mary Stewart took the King's arm. Dayelle went out 
 first, speaking a word to the pages, and one of them 
 young Teligny, fated to perish miserably on the night of 
 Saint- Bartholomew shouted out 
 
 " The King ! " 
 
 On hearing the cry, the two musketeers carried arms, 
 and the two pages led the way towards the council- 
 chamber between the line of courtiers on one side and 
 the line formed by the maids of honor to the two Queens 
 on the other. All the members of the Council then 
 gathered round the door of the hall, which was at no 
 great distance from the staircase. The Grand Master, 
 the Cardinal, and the Chancellor advanced to meet the 
 two young sovereigns, who smiled to some of the maids, 
 or answered the inquiries of some of the Court favorites 
 more intimate than the rest. 
 
 The Queen, however, evidently impatient, dragged 
 Francis II. on towards the vast council-room. As soon as 
 the heavy thud of the arquebuses dropping on the floor 
 again announced that the royal pair had gone in, the pages 
 put on their caps, and the conversations in the various 
 groups took their course again on the gravity of the 
 business about to the discussed. 
 
 " Chiverni was sent to fetch the Conn6 table, and he has 
 not come," said one. 
 
 " There is no prince of the blood present," remarked 
 another. 
 
 The Chancellor and Monsieur de Tournon looked anx- 
 ious. 
 
 " The Grand Master has sent word to the Keeper of the 
 Seals to be sure not to fail to attend this Council ; a good 
 many letters patent will be issued, no doubt." 
 
 " How is it that the Queen-mother remains below, in 
 her own rooms, at such a juncture ? "
 
 Catherine de' Medici 137 
 
 "They are going to make things hot for us/' said 
 Groslot to Cardinal de Chatillon. 
 
 In short, every one had something to aay. Some were 
 pacing the room from end to end, others were flitting 
 round the maids of honor, as though it could be possible 
 to catch a few words through a wall three feet thick, or 
 two doors and the heavy curtains that screened them. 
 
 The King, seated at one end of the long table covered 
 with blue velvet, which stood in the middle of the room, 
 his young Qneen in an armchair at his side, was waiting 
 for his mother. Robertet was mending his pens. The 
 two Cardinals, the Grand Master, the Chancellor, the 
 Keeper of the Seals in short, the whole assembly, looked 
 at the little King, wondering why he did not give the 
 word for them all to be seated. 
 
 "Are we to sit in council in the absence of the Queen- 
 mother ? " the Chancellor asked, addressing the young 
 King. 
 
 The two Guises ascribed Catherine's absence to some 
 cunning trick of their niece's. Then, spurred by a sig- 
 nificant look, the much daring Cardinal said to the King 
 
 " Is it your Majesty's goodwill that we should proceed 
 without Madame your mother ?" 
 
 Francis, not daring to have an opinion of his own, 
 replied 
 
 " Gentlemen, be seated." 
 
 The Cardinal briefly pointed out the dangers of the 
 situation. This great politician, who showed astounding 
 skill in this business, broached the question of the lieuten- 
 ancy amid utter silence. The young King was, no doubt, 
 conscious of an awkwardness, and guessed that his mother 
 had a real sense of the rights of the Crown, and a knowl- 
 edge of the danger that threatened his power, for he 
 replied to a direct question on the Cardinal's part 
 
 "We will wait for my mother." 
 
 Enlightened by this inexplicable delay on Queen Cath- 
 
 V
 
 138 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 erine's part, Mary Stewart suddenly recalled in a single 
 flash of thought three incidents which were clear in her 
 memory. In the first place, the bulk of the packet pre- 
 sented to her mother-in-law, which she had seen, though 
 so inattentive at the moment (for a woman who seems to 
 see nothing is still a lynx), then the place where Chris- 
 tophe had carried them to separate them from hers. 
 
 ' * Why ? " she said to herself. And then she remem- 
 bered the boy's cold look, which she at once ascribed to 
 the Reformers' hatred of the Guises' niece. A voice 
 within her cried, "Is he not an envoy from the Hugue- 
 nots ?" 
 
 Acting, as all hasty persons do, on the first impulse, she 
 exclaimed 
 
 " I myself will go and fetch my mother. " 
 
 She rushed away and down the stairs, to the great 
 amazement of the gentlemen and ladies of the Court. 
 She went down to her mother-in-law's rooms, crossed the 
 guardroom, opened the door of the bedroom as stealthily 
 as a thief, crept noiselessly over the carpet as silently as a 
 shadow, and could see her nowhere. Then she thought 
 she could surprise her in the splendid private room between 
 the bedroom and the oratory. The arrangement of this 
 oratory is perfectly recognizable to this day ; the fashion 
 of the time then allowed it to serve all the purposes in 
 private life which are now served by a boudoir. 
 
 By a piece of good-fortune, quite unaccountable when 
 we see in how squalid a state the Crown has left this 
 chateau, the beautiful paneling of Catherine's closet exists 
 to this day ; in the fine carving the curious may still dis- 
 cern traces of Italian magnificence, and discover the hid- 
 ing-places the Queen-mother had contrived there. 
 
 A somewhat exact description of these curiosities is 
 indeed indispensable to a comprehension of the scene that 
 took place there. The woodwork at that time consisted 
 of about a hundred and eighty small oblong panels, of
 
 Catherine de' Medici 139 
 
 which a hundred or so still remain, each carved with a, 
 different design, obviously suggested by the most elegant 
 Italian arabesques. The wood is holm-oak ; the red ground 
 which is found under the coat of lime wash, applied at the 
 time of the cholera a quite useless precaution shows 
 plainly that these panels were gilt ; and in spots where the 
 whitewash has rubbed off we see that some portions of the 
 design were in color, blue, red, or green against the gold 
 background. The number of these panels shows an evi- 
 dent intention to cheat investigation ; but if there could 
 be a doubt, the keeper of the chateau, while holding up 
 Catherine's memory to the execration of all living men, 
 shows to visitors, at the bottom of the paneling, and on a 
 level with the floor, a somewhat heavy skirting which can 
 be raised, and under which there are a number of ingeni- 
 ous springs. By pressing a knob thus concealed, the 
 Queen could open certain of these panels, known to her 
 alone, behind which lay a hiding-place of the same oblong 
 shape as the panels, but of varying depth. To this day 
 a practised hand would find it difficult to detect which of 
 these panels would open on its invisible hinges ; and when 
 the eye was diverted by the skilfully combined colors and 
 gilding that covered the cracks, it is easy to imagine that 
 it was impossible to discover one or two panels among 
 nearly two hundred. 
 
 At the moment when Mary Stewart laid her hand on the 
 somewhat elaborate latch of the door to the closet, the 
 Italian Queen, having convinced herself already of the im- 
 portance of the Prince de Conde's schemes, had just 
 pressed the spring hidden by the skirting, one of the 
 panels had fallen open, and Catherine had turned to the 
 table to take up the papers and hide them, to turn her 
 attention to the safeguard of the devoted messenger who 
 had brought them to her. When she heard the door open, 
 she at once guessed that no one but Queen Mary would 
 venture to come in unannounced.
 
 140 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " You are lost," she said to Christopbe, seeing that ghe 
 could neither hide the papers nor close the panel promptly 
 enough to preserve the secret of her hiding-place. 
 
 Christophe's only reply was a sublime look. 
 
 " Povero miol " said Catherine, before turning to her 
 daughter-in-law. " Treason, Madame ! " she exclaimed. 
 " I have them fast ! Send for the Cardinal and the Duke. 
 And be sure," she added, pointing to Christophe, * ' that 
 this fellow does not escape ! " 
 
 Thus in an instant this masterful woman saw that it 
 would be necessary to give up the hapless young man ; 
 she could not hide him, it was impossible to help him to 
 escape ; and besides, though a week ago he might have 
 been saved, now the Guises had, since that morning, been 
 aware of the conspiracy, and they too must have the lists 
 which she held in her hand, and were drawing all the 
 Eeformers into a trap. And so, pleased at finding her 
 adversaries in the mind she had hoped for, now that the 
 plot had become known, policy required her to assume the 
 merit of discovering it. 
 
 These dreadful considerations flashed through her mind 
 in the brief moment while the young Queen was opening 
 the door. Mary Stewart stood silent for an instant. Her 
 expression lost its brightness and assumed that keenness 
 which suspicion always gives the eye, and which in her was 
 terrible by the sudden contrast. She looked from Chris- 
 tophe to the Queen-mother, and from the Queen-mother 
 to Christophe, with a glance of malignant doubt. Then 
 she snatched up a bell, which brought in one of Cath- 
 erine's maids of honor. 
 
 " Mademoiselle du Kouet, send in the Oaptain of the 
 Guard," said Mary Stewart, in breach of every law of 
 etiquette, necessarily set aside in such circumstances. 
 
 While the young Queen gave her order, Catherine stood 
 looking at Christophe as much as to say, " Courage !" 
 The young Reformer understood, and replied by an ex-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 141 
 
 preasion which conveyed, " Sacrifice me, as they have 
 sacrificed me ! " 
 
 " Put your trust in me," Catherine answered by a ges- 
 ture. 
 
 Then when her daughter-in-law turned upon her, she 
 was deeply engaged in examining the papers. 
 
 11 You are of the Eeformed religion?" said Mary 
 Stewart to Christophe. 
 
 ' 'Yes, Madame." 
 
 " Then I was not mistaken," she muttered to herself, 
 as she read in the young man's eyes the same expression 
 in which coldness and aversion lurked behind a look of 
 humility. 
 
 Pardaillan appeared at once, sent down by the two Princes 
 of Lorraine and the King. The captain sent for by Mary 
 Stewart followed this young man a most devoted adher- 
 ent of the Guises. 
 
 " Go from me to the King, beg him, with the Cardinal 
 and the Grand Master, to come here at once, and tell them 
 I would not take such a liberty but that something of 
 serious importance has occurred. Go, Pardaillan. And 
 you, Lewiston, keep guard over this Eeformed traitor," 
 she added to the Scotchman in their native tongue, point- 
 ing to Christophe. 
 
 The two Queens did not speak till the King came. It 
 was a terrible pause. Mary Stewart had shown her mother- 
 in-law the whole extent of the part her uncles made her 
 play ; her unsleeping and habitual distrust stood revealed ; 
 and her youthful conscience felt how disgraceful such a 
 part must be to a great Queen. Catherine, on her side, 
 had betrayed herself in her alarm, and feared that she had 
 been understood ; she was trembling for the future. The 
 two women, one ashamed and furious, the other vicious 
 but calm, withdrew into the window bay, one leaning on 
 the right side, the other on the left ; but their looks were 
 so expressive, that each turned away, and with a common
 
 142 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 instinct looked out of the window at the sky. These two 
 women, clever as they were, at that moment had no more 
 wit than the commonest. Perhaps it is always so when cir- 
 cumstances overpower men. There is always a moment 
 when even genius is conscious of its smallness in the pres- 
 ence of a great catastrophe. 
 
 As for Christophe, he felt like a man falling into an 
 abyss. Lewiston, the Scotch captain, listened to the 
 silence, looking at the furrier's son and the two Queens 
 with a soldier's curiosity. The King's entrance put an 
 end to this painful situation. 
 
 The Cardinal went straight up to Queen Catherine. 
 
 " I have in my hand all the threads of the plot hatched 
 by the heretics ; they sent this boy to me carrying this 
 treaty and these documents," said Catherine in an under- 
 tone. 
 
 While Catherine was explaining matters to the Cardinal, 
 Queen Mary was speaking a few words in the Grand 
 Master's ear. 
 
 " What is this all about ? " asked the young King, stand- 
 ing alone amid this conflict of violent interests. 
 
 ' ' The proofs of what I was telling your Majesty are 
 already to hand," said the Cardinal, seizing the papers. 
 
 The Due de Guise, unmindful of the fact that he was 
 interrupting him, drew his brother aside and said in a 
 whisper 
 
 " This then makes me Lieutenant-General without any 
 opposition. " 
 
 A keen glance was the Cardinal's only reply, by which 
 he conveyed to his brother that he had already appreciated 
 the advantages to be derived from Catherine's false 
 position. 
 
 "Who sent you ?" asked the Duke of Christophe. 
 
 " Chaudieu the preacher," he replied. 
 
 ' ' Young man, you lie," said the Duke roughly. " It 
 was the Prince de Conde."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 143 
 
 " The Prince de Conde, Monseigneur," replied Chris- 
 tophe, with a look of surprise. " I never saw him. I 
 belong to the Palais. I am working under Monsieur de 
 Thou. I am his clerk, and he does not know that I have 
 joined the religion. I only submitted to the preacher's 
 entreaties. " 
 
 " That will do/' said the Cardinal. " Call Monsieur 
 de Robertet," he added to Lewiston, " for this young 
 villain is craftier than old politicians. He has taken us 
 in, my brother and me, when we should have given him 
 the Host without confession. " 
 
 " You are no child, by Heaven ! " cried the Duke, 
 "and you shall be treated as a man." 
 
 " They hoped to win over your august mother," said 
 the Cardinal, turning to the King, and trying to lead him 
 aside to bring him to his way of thinking. 
 
 " Alas ! " replied Catherine, speaking to her son with a 
 reproachful air, and stopping him just as the Cardinal was 
 taking him into the oratory to subjugate him with danger- 
 ous eloquence, " you here see the effect of the position I 
 am placed in. I am supposed to rebel against my lack of 
 influence in public affairs I, the mother of four princes 
 of the House of Valois." 
 
 The young King prepared to listen. Mary Stewart, 
 seeing his brow knit, led him off into the window recess, 
 where she cajoled him with gentle speeches in a low voice ; 
 much the same, no doubt, as those she had lavished on him 
 when he rose. 
 
 The two brothers meanwhile read the papers handed 
 over to them by the Queen-mother. Finding in them much 
 information of which their spies and Monsieur de Brague- 
 lonne, the governor of the Chatelet, knew nothing, they 
 were inclined to believe in Catherine's good faith. Eob- 
 ertet came in and had private instructions with regard to 
 Christophe. The hapless tool of the leaders of the Refor- 
 mation was led away by four men of the Scotch Guard,
 
 144 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 who took him downstairs and handed him over to Monsieur 
 de Montrcsor, the Provost of the chateau. This terrible 
 personage himself escorted Christophe with five or six 
 sergeants to the prison situated in the vaulted cellars of 
 the now ruined tower, which the verger of the ch&teau of 
 Blois shows the visitor, and says that these were the 
 oubliettes. 
 
 After such an event the Council could only be an empty 
 form : the King, the young Queen, the Grand Master, 
 and the Cardinal de Lorraine went back to the council- 
 room, taking with them Catherine, quite conquered, who 
 only spoke to approve of the measures demanded by the 
 Guises. In spite of some slight opposition on the part of 
 the Chancellor Olivier, the only person to utter a word 
 suggesting the independence needful to the exercise of his 
 functions, the Due de Guise was appointed Lieutenant- 
 General of the kingdom. Robertet carried the motions 
 with a promptitude arguing such devotion as might be 
 well called complicity. 
 
 The King, with his mother on his arm, once more crossed 
 the guardroom, and announced to the Court that he pro- 
 posed to move to Amboise on the following day. This 
 royal residence had been unused since Charles VIII. had 
 very involuntarily killed himself there by striking his 
 head against the pediment of a door that was being carved 
 for him, believing that he could pass under the scaffolding 
 without bending his head. Catherine, to mask the schemes 
 of the Guises, had announced her intention of finishing 
 the ch&teau of Amboise on behalf of the Crown at the 
 same time as her own chateau of Chenonceaux. But no 
 one was deceived by this pretense, and the Court anticipated 
 strange events. 
 
 After spending about two hours in accustoming himself 
 to the darkness of his dungeon, Christophe found that it 
 was lined with boards, clumsy indeed, but thick enough
 
 Catherine de' Medici 145 
 
 to make the square box healthy and habitable. The door, 
 like that into a pig-sty, had compelled him to bend double 
 to get into it. On one side of this trap a strong iron grating 
 admitted a little air and light from the passage. This 
 arrangement, exactly like that of the crypts at Venice, 
 showed very plainly that the architect of the chateau of 
 Blois belonged to the Venetian school, which gave so many 
 builders to Europe in the Middle Ages. By sounding the 
 walls above the woodwork, Christophe discovered that the 
 two walla which divided this cell from two others, to the 
 right and left, were built of brick ; and as he knocked, to 
 estimate the thickness of the wall, he was not a little 
 surprised to hear some one knocking on the other side. 
 
 " Who are you ? " asked his neighbor, speaking into 
 the corridor. 
 
 "I am Christophe Lecamus." 
 
 "And I," said the other voice, " am Captain Chaudieu. 
 I was caught this evening at Beaugency ; but, happily, 
 there is nothing against me." 
 
 " Everything is discovered," said Christophe ; " so you 
 are saved from the worst of it." 
 
 " We have three thousand men at this present time in 
 the forests of Venddmois, all men determined enough to 
 seize the Queen-mother and the King on their journey. 
 Happily, la Renaudie was cleverer than I ; he escaped. 
 You had jnst set out when the Guisards caught us." 
 
 " But I know nothing of la Renaudie." 
 
 " Pooh ! my brother told me everything," replied the 
 captain. 
 
 On hearing this, Christophe went back to his bench and 
 made no further reply to anything the so-called captain 
 could say to him, for he had had enough experience of the 
 law to know how necessary it was to be cautious in prison. 
 
 In the middle of the night he saw the pale gleam cf a 
 lantern in the passage, after hearing the unlocking of the 
 ponderous bolts that closed the iron door of the cellar. 
 10
 
 146 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 The provost himself had come to fetch Christophe. This 
 attention to a man who had been left in the dungeon with- 
 out food struck Christophe as strange ; but the upset at 
 Court had, no doubt, led to his being forgotten. One of 
 the provost's sergeants bound his hands with a cord, which 
 he held till they had reached one of the low rooms in Louis 
 XII.'s part of the chateau, which evidently was the ante- 
 room to the apartments of some person of impoi'tance. 
 The sergeant and the provost bid him be seated on a bench, 
 where the sergeant tied his feet as he had already tied his 
 hands. At a sign from Monsieur de Montresor the sergeant 
 then left them. 
 
 " Now listen to me, my young friend," said the provost 
 to Christophe, and the lad observed that he was in full 
 dress at that hour of the night, for his fingers fidgeted 
 with the collar of his Order. This circumstance made the 
 furrier's son thoughtful ; he saw that there was more to 
 come. At this moment, certainly, they could not be going 
 either to try him or to hang him. 
 
 " My young friend, you may spare yourself much suffer- 
 ing by telling me here and now all you know of the com- 
 munications between Queen Catherine and Monsieur de 
 Conde. Not only will you not be hurt, but you will be 
 taken into the service of Monseigneur, the Lieutenant- 
 General of the kingdom, who likes intelligent people, and 
 who was favorably impressed by your looks. The Queen- 
 mother is to be packed off to Florence, and Monsieur de 
 Conde will no doubt stand his trial. So, take my word 
 for it, small men will do well to attach themselves to the 
 great men in power. Tell me everything, and it will be 
 to your advantage." 
 
 '' Alas, Monsieur," replied Christophe, " I have nothing 
 to say. I have confessed all I know to Messieurs de Guise 
 in the Queen's room. Chaudieu persuaded me to place 
 those papers in the hands of the Queen-mother, by mak- 
 ing me believe that the peace of the country was involved."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 147 
 
 " You never saw the Prince de Conde ?" 
 
 " Never," said Christophe. 
 
 Thereupon Monsieur de Montresor left Christophe and 
 went into an adjoining room. 
 
 Christophe was not long left to himself. The door by 
 which he had entered soon opened for several men to pass 
 in, who did not shut it, letting various far from pleasant 
 sounds come in from the courtyard. Blocks of wood and 
 instruments were brought in, evidently intended to torture 
 the Reformers' messenger. Christophers curiosity soon 
 found matter for reflection in the preparations the new- 
 comers were making under his very eyes. Two coarse and 
 poorly-clad varlets obeyed the orders of a powerful and 
 thick-set man, who, on coming in, had a look at Chris- 
 tophe like that of a cannibal at his victim ; he had scru- 
 tinized him from head to foot, taking stock of his sinews, 
 of their strength and power of resistance, with the calcu- 
 lating eye of a connoisseur. This man was the Blois 
 executioner. Backwards and forwards several times, his 
 men brought in a mattress, wooden wedges, planks, and 
 other objects, of which the use seemed neither obvious nor 
 hopeful to the unhappy boy for whom the preparations 
 were being made, and whose blood ran cold in his veins 
 with apprehension, which though vague was appalling. 
 Two other men came in when Monsieur de Montresor 
 reappeared. 
 
 " What, is nothing ready yet ? " said the chief provost, 
 to whom the two newcomers bowed respectfully. "Do 
 you know/' he went on to the big man and his two satel- 
 lites, " that Monsieur le Cardinal supposes you to be get- 
 ting on with your work ? Doctor," he added, turning to 
 one of the newcomers, " here is your man," and ho pointed 
 to Christophe. 
 
 The doctor went up to the prisoner, untied his hands, 
 and sounded his back and chest. Science quito seriously 
 repeated the torturer's investigation. Meanwhile, a sery-
 
 148 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 ant in the livery of the House of Guise brought in several 
 chairs, a table, and all the materials for writing. 
 
 "Begin your report," said Monsieur de Montresor to 
 the second person who had come in, dressed in black, who 
 was a clerk. 
 
 Then he came back to stand by Christophe, to whom 
 he said very mildly 
 
 " My boy, the Chancellor, having learnt that you refuse 
 to give satisfactory replies to my questions, has decided 
 that you must be put to the torture ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary." 
 
 " Is he in good health, and can he bear it ? " the clerk 
 asked of the doctor. 
 
 " Yes," said the man of medicine, a physician attached 
 to the House of Lorraine. 
 
 " Well, then, retire to the adjoining room ; we will 
 send for you if it is necessary to consult you." 
 
 The physician left the room. 
 
 His first panic past, Christophe collected all his courage. 
 The hour of his martyrdom was come. He now looked on 
 with cold curiosity at the arrangements made by the exe- 
 cutioner and his varlets. After hastily making up a bed, 
 they proceeded to prepare a machine called the boot, con- 
 sisting of boards, between which each leg of the victim was 
 placed, surrounded with pads. The machinery used by 
 bookbinders to press the volumes between two boards, 
 which they tighten with cords, will give a very exact idea 
 of the way in which each leg was encased. It is easy, 
 then, to imagine the effect of a wedge driven home by a 
 mallet between the two cases in which the legs were con- 
 fined, and which, being tightly bound with rope, could 
 not yield. The wedges were driven in at the knees and 
 ankles, as if to split a log of wood. The choice of these 
 two spots where there is least flesh, and where, in conse- 
 quence, the wedge found room at the expense of the bones, 
 made this form of torture horribly painful. In ordinary
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 torture four wedges were driven in two at the knees and 
 two at the ankles ; in extraordinary torture as many as 
 eight were employed, if the physician pronounced that 
 the victim's powers of endurance were not exhausted. 
 
 At this period the boots were also applied to the hands ; 
 but as time pressed, the Cardinal, the Lieutenant-General 
 of the kingdom, and the Chancellor spared Christophe 
 this. 
 
 The preamble to the examination was written ; the pro- 
 vost himself had dictated a few sentences, walking about 
 the room with a meditative air, and requiring Christophe 
 to tell him his name Christian name age, and profes- 
 sion ; then he asked him from whom he had received the 
 papers he had delivered to the Queen. 
 
 " From Chaudieu the minister," said he. 
 
 " Where did he give them to you ? " 
 
 " At my own home in Paris. " 
 
 " When he handed them to you, he must have told you 
 whether the Queen-mother would receive you well." 
 
 " He told me nothing of the kind," replied Christophe. 
 "He only desired me to give them secretly to Queen 
 Catherine." 
 
 " Then have you often seen Chaudieu, that he knew 
 that you were coming here ? " 
 
 " It was not from me that he heard that I was to carry 
 the furs to the two Queens, and at the same time to ask 
 in my father's behalf for the money owed him by the 
 Queen-mother ; nor had I time to ask him who had told 
 him." 
 
 " But those papers, given to you without any wrapper 
 or seal, contain a treaty between the rebels and Queen 
 Catherine. You must have known that they exposed you 
 to the risk of suffering the punishment dealt out to those 
 who are implicated in a rebellion." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " The persons who induced you to commit an act of
 
 150 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 high treason must have promised you some reward and the 
 Queen-mother's patronage. " 
 
 11 1 did it out of attachment to Chaudieu, the only per- 
 son I saw." 
 
 " Then you persist in declaring that you did not see the 
 Prince de Conde ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Did not the Prince de Conde tell you that the Queen- 
 mother was inclined to enter into his views in antagonism 
 to the Guises ? " 
 
 " I did not see him." 
 
 " Take care. One of your accomplices, la Renaudie, is 
 arrested. Strong as he is, he could not resist the torture 
 that awaits you, and at last confessed that he, as well as 
 the Prince, had had speech with you. If you wish to es- 
 cape the anguish of torture, I beg you to tell the simple 
 truth. Then perhaps you may win your pardon." 
 
 Christophe replied that he could not tell anything of 
 which he had no knowledge, nor betray accomplices, when 
 he had none. On hearing this, the provost nodded to the 
 executioner, and went back into the adjoining room. 
 
 On seeing this, Christophe knit his brows, wrinkling 
 his forehead with a nervous spasm, and preparing to 
 endure. He clenched his fists with such a rigid clutch 
 that the nails ran into the flesh without his feeling it. 
 The three men took him up, carried him to the camp 
 bed, and laid him there, his legs hanging down. While 
 the executioner tied him fast with stout ropes, his two 
 men each fitted a leg into a boot ; the cords were tight- 
 ened by means of a wrench without giving the victim any 
 great pain. When each leg was thus held in a vice, the 
 executioner took up his mallet and his wedges, and looked 
 alternately at the sufferer and the clerk. 
 
 " Do you persist in your denial ? " said the clerk. 
 
 " I have told the truth," replied Christophe. 
 
 " Then go on," said the clerk, shutting hia eyes.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 151 
 
 The cords were tightened to the utmost, and this mo- 
 ment, perhaps, was the most agonizing of all the torture ; 
 the flesh was so suddenly compressed that the blood was 
 violently thrown back into the trunk. The poor boy 
 could not help screaming terribly ; he seemed about to 
 faint. The doctor was called back. He felt Christophe's 
 pulse, and desired the executioner to wait for a quarter of 
 an hour before driving in the wedges, to give time for the 
 blood to recover its circulation and sensation to return. 
 
 The clerk charitably told Christophe that if he could 
 not better endure even the beginnings of the suffering he 
 could not escape, he would do better to reveal all he knew ; 
 but Christophe's only reply was 
 
 " The King's tailor 1 the King's tailor ! " 
 
 " What do you mean by saying that ? " asked the clerk. 
 
 " Foreseeing the torments I shall go through/' said 
 Christophe, slowly, to gain time and to rest, * ' I am sum- 
 moning all my strength, and trying to reinforce it by re- 
 membering the martyrdom endured for the sacred cause 
 of the Keformation by the late King's tailor, who was 
 tortured in the presence of the King and of Madame de 
 Valentinois ; I will try to be worthy of him I" 
 
 While the physician was advising the hapless man not 
 to drive his torturers to extremities, the Cardinal and the 
 Duke, impatient to know the results of this examination, 
 came in and desired Christophe to reveal the truth at 
 once. The furrier's son repeated the only confession he 
 would allow himself to make, implicating nobody but 
 Chaudieu. 
 
 The Princes nodded. On this, the executioner and his 
 foreman seized their mallets, each took a wedge and drove 
 it home between the boots, one standing on the right, and 
 the other on the left. The executioner stood at the knees, 
 the assistant at the ankles, opposite. The eyes of the wit- 
 nesses of this hideous act were fixed on Christophe's, who, 
 excited no doubt by the presence of these grand personages,
 
 152 Catherine tie' 
 
 flashed such a look at them that his eyes sparkled like 
 flame. 
 
 At the two next wedges a horrible groan escaped him. 
 Then when he saw the men take up the wedges for the 
 severer torture, he remained silent ; but his gaze assumed 
 such dreadful fixity, and flashed at the two Princes such 
 a piercing magnetic fluid, that the Duke and the Cardinal 
 were both obliged to look down. Philippe le Bel had 
 experienced the same defeat when he presided at the tor- 
 ture by hammer, inflicted in his presence on the Templars. 
 This consisted in hitting the victim on the chest with one 
 arm of the balanced hammer used to coin money, which 
 was covered with a leather pad. There was one knight 
 whose eyes were so fixed on the King that he was fasci- 
 nated, and could not take his gaze off the sufferer. At 
 the third blow the King rose and went away, after hearing 
 himself called upon to appear before the judgment of God 
 within a year as he did. 
 
 At the fifth wedge, the first of the greater torture, 
 Christope said to the Cardinal 
 
 " Cut my misery short, Monseigneur ; it is useless." 
 
 The Cardinal and the Duke withdrew, and Christophe 
 could hear from the next room these words, spoken by 
 Queen Catherine 
 
 " Go on, go on ; after all, he is only a heretic ! " 
 
 She thought it prudent to appear more severe to her 
 accomplice than his executioners were. 
 
 The sixth and seventh wedge were driven in, and Chris- 
 tophe complained no more, his face shone with a strange 
 radiance, due, no doubt, to the immense strength he de- 
 rived from fanatical excitement. In what else but in 
 feeling can we hope to find the fulcrum enabling a man 
 to endure such anguish ? At last, when the executioner 
 was about to insert the eighth wedge, Christophe smiled. 
 This dreadful torment had lasted one hour. 
 
 The clerk went to fetch the leach, to know whether
 
 Catherine de' Medici 153 
 
 the eighth wedge could be driven in without endangering 
 the sufferer's life. The Duke meanwhile came in again to 
 see Christophe. 
 
 " By our Lady ! you are a fine fellow," said he, lean- 
 ing down to speak in his ear. "I like a brave man. 
 Enter my service, you shall be happy and rich, my favors 
 will heal your bruised limbs ; I will ask you to do nothing 
 cowardly, like rejoining your own party to betray their 
 plans ; there are always plenty of traitors, and the proof is 
 to be found in the prisons of Blois. Only tell me on what 
 terms are the Queen-mother and the Prince de Conde." 
 
 " I know nothing about it, Monseigneur," cried Leca- 
 mus. 
 
 The doctor came in, examined the victim, and pro- 
 nounced that he could bear the eighth wedge. 
 
 " Drive it in," said the Cardinal. " After all, as the 
 Queen says, he is only a heretic," he added, with a hideous 
 smile at Christophe. 
 
 Catherine herself slowly came in from the adjoining 
 room, stood in front of Christophe, and gazed at him 
 coldly. She was the object of attentive scrutiny to the 
 two brothers, who looked alternately at the Queen-mother 
 and her accomplice. The whole future life of this ambi- 
 tious woman depended on this solemn scrutiny ; she felt 
 the greatest admiration for Christophers courage, and she 
 looked at him sternly ; she hated the Guises, and she 
 smiled upon them. 
 
 " Come," said she, " young man, confess that you saAv 
 the Prince de Conde ; you will be well rewarded." 
 
 " Oh, Madame, what a part you are playing ! " cried 
 Christophe, in pity for her. 
 
 The Queen started. 
 
 " He is insulting me I IB he not to be hanged ? " said 
 she to the two brothers, who stood lost in thought. 
 
 " What a woman I " cried the Grand Master, who was 
 consulting his brother in the window recess,
 
 154: Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " I will stay in France and be revenged," thought the 
 Queen. " Proceed, he must confess or let him die I" she 
 exclaimed, addressing Monsieur de Montresor. 
 
 The provost turned away, the executioners were busy, 
 Catherine had an opportunity of giving the martyr a look, 
 which no one else saw, and which fell like dew on Chris- 
 tophe. The great Queen's eyes seemed to glisten with 
 moisture ; they were, in fact, full of tears, two tears at 
 once repressed and dry. The wedge was driven home, one 
 of the boards between which it was inserted split. Chris- 
 tophe uttered a piercing cry ; then his face became radiant; 
 he thought he was dying. 
 
 " Let him die," said the Cardinal, echoing Queen 
 Catherine's words with a sort of irony. " No, no," he 
 added to the provost, " do not let us lose this clue." 
 
 The Duke and the Cardinal held a consultation in a low 
 voice. 
 
 " What is to be done with him ?" asked the executioner. 
 
 " Send him to prison at Orleans," said the Duke. 
 " And, above all," he said to Monsieur de Montr esor, " do 
 not hang him without orders from me." 
 
 The excessive sensitiveness of every internal organ, 
 strung to the highest pitch by the endurance which worked 
 upon every nerve in his frame, no less affected every sense 
 in Christophe. He alone heard these words spoken by the 
 Due de Guise in the Cardinal's ear 
 
 " I have not given up all hope of hearing the truth from 
 this little man." 
 
 As soon as the two Princes had left the room, the exe- 
 cutioners unpacked the victim's legs, with no attempt at 
 gentle handling. 
 
 " Did you ever see a criminal with such fortitude ? " 
 said the head man to his assistants. The rogue has 
 lived through the infliction of the eighth wedge ; he 
 ought to have died. I am the loser of the price of his 
 body."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 155 
 
 " Untie me without hurting me, my good friends/' said 
 poor Christophe. " Some day I will reward you." 
 
 "Come, show some humanity/' said the doctor. 
 " Monseigneur the Duke esteems the young man, and 
 commended him to my care/' cried the leech. 
 
 " I am off to Amboise with my men/' said the execu- 
 tioner roughly. " Take care of him yourself. -And here 
 is the jailer." 
 
 The executioner went off, leaving Christophe in the 
 hands of the smooth-spoken doctor, who, with the help 
 of Christophers warder, lifted him on to a bed, gave him 
 some broth, which he made him swallow, sat down by his 
 side, felt his pulse, and tried to comfort him. 
 
 "You are not dying," he said, "and you must feel a 
 comfort to your mind when you reflect that you have done 
 your duty. The Queen charged me to take good care of 
 you/' he added, in a low voice. 
 
 " The Queen is very good," said Christophe, in whom 
 acute anguish had developed wonderful lucidity of mind, 
 and who, after enduring so much, was determined not to 
 spoil the results of his devotion. " But she might have 
 saved me so much suffering by not delivering me to my 
 tormentors, and by telling them herself the secrets, of 
 which I know nothing." 
 
 On hearing this reply, the doctor put on his cap and 
 cloak and left Christophe to his fate, thinking it vain to 
 hope to gain anything from a man of that temper. The 
 jailer had the poor boy carried on a litter by four men 
 to the town prison, where Christophe fell asleep, in that 
 deep slumber which, it is said, comes upon almost every 
 mother after the dreadful pains of childbirth. 
 
 The two Princes of Lorraine, when they transferred the 
 Court to Amboise, had no hope of finding there the leader 
 of the Reformed party, the Prii:ce de Conde, whom they 
 had ordered to appear in the King's name to take him in
 
 156 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 a snare. As a vassal of the Crown, and as a Prince of the 
 Blood, Conde was bound to obey the behest of the King. 
 Not to come to Amboise would be a felony ; but, by com- 
 ing, he would place himself in the power of the Crown. 
 Now, at this moment, the Crown, the Council, the Court, 
 and every kind of power, were in the hands of the Due de 
 Guise and the Cardinal de Lorraine. 
 
 In this difficult dilemma, the Prince de Conde showed 
 the spirit of decisiveness and astuteness, which made him 
 a worthy representative of Jeanne d'Albret and the brave 
 General of the Kef ormers' forces. He traveled at the heels 
 of the last conspirators to Vendome to support them in case 
 of success. But when this first rush to arms ended in the 
 brief skirmish in which the flower of the nobility whom Cal- 
 vin had misled all perished, the Prince, and a following of 
 fifty gentlemen, arrived at the chateau d'Amboise the very 
 day after this affair, which the Guises, with crafty policy, 
 spoke of as the riots at Amboise. On hearing of the 
 Prince's advance, the Duke sent out the Marechal de Saint- 
 Andr6 to receive him with an escort of a hundred men-at- 
 arms. When the Bearnais came to the gate of the chdteau, 
 the marshal in command refused to admit the Prince's 
 suite. 
 
 "You must come in alone, sir/' said the Chancellor 
 Olivier, Cardinal de Tournon, and Birague, who awaited 
 him outside the portcullis. 
 
 " And why ? " 
 
 " You are suspected of felony/' replied the Chancellor. 
 
 The Prince, who saw that his party was being cut off 
 by the Due de Nemours, quietly replied 
 
 " If that is the case, I will go in to my cousin alone and 
 prove my innocence." 
 
 He dismounted and conversed with perfect freedom 
 with Birague, Tournon, the Chancellor Olivier, and the 
 Due de Nemours, from whom he asked details of the riot. 
 
 " Monseigneur/' said the Due de Nemours, " the rebels
 
 Catherine de' Medici 157 
 
 had sympathizers inside Amboise. Captain Lanoue had 
 got in some men-at-arms, who opened the gate to them 
 through which they got into the town, and of which they 
 had the command " 
 
 " That is to say, yon got them into a sack," replied the 
 Prince, looking at Birague. 
 
 " If they had been supported by the attack that was to 
 have been made on the Porte des Bons-Hommes by Cap- 
 tain Chaudieu, the preacher's brother, they would have 
 succeeded," said the Due de Nemours, "but, from the 
 position I had taken up, in obedience to the Due de Guise, 
 Captain Chaudieu was obliged to make a detour to avoid 
 fighting me. Instead of arriving at night like the rest, 
 that rebel did not come up till daybreak, just as the King's 
 troops had crushed those who had got into the town." 
 
 " And you had a reserve to recapture the gate that had 
 been given up to them ? " 
 
 " Monsieur le Marechal de Saint- Andre was on the spot 
 with five hundred men." 
 
 The Prince warmly praised these military maneuvers. 
 
 "To have acted thus," said he in conclusion, "the 
 Lieutenant-General must have known the Reformers' 
 secrets. They have evidently been betrayed." 
 
 The Prince was treated with greater strictness at each 
 step. After being parted from his followers on entering 
 the chateau, the Cardinal and the Chancellor stood in his 
 way when he turned to the stairs leading to the King's 
 apartments. 
 
 " We are instructed by the King, sir, to conduct you to 
 your own rooms." 
 
 " Am I then a prisoner ?" 
 
 " If that were the King's purpose, yon would not be 
 attended by a Prince of the Church and by me," replied 
 the Chancellor. 
 
 The two functionaries led the Prince to an apartment 
 where a guard of honor so called was allotted to him,
 
 158 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 and where be remained for several hours without seeing 
 any one. From his window he looked out on the Loire, 
 the rich country which makes such a beautiful valley be- 
 tween Amboise and Tours, and he was meditating on his 
 situation, wondering what the Guises might dare to do 
 to his person, when he heard the door of his room open, 
 and saw the King's fool come in, Chicot, who had once 
 been in his service. 
 
 rt I heard you were in disgrace," said the prince. 
 
 ' ' You cannot think how sober the Court has become 
 since the death of Henri II. " 
 
 "And yet the King loves to laugh, surely. " 
 
 ** Which King ? Francis II. or Francis of Lorraine ?" 
 
 " Are you so fearless of the Duke that you speak 
 BO?" 
 
 " He will not punish me for that, Sir," replied Chicot, 
 smiling. 
 
 "And to what do I owe the honor of this visit ?" 
 
 " Was it not due to you after your coming here ? I 
 have brought you my cap and bauble." 
 
 "I cannot get out then ?" 
 
 "Try!" 
 
 "And if I do get out?" 
 
 " I will confess that you have won the game by playing 
 against the rules." 
 
 " Chicot, you frighten me. Have you been sent by some 
 one who is interested in my fate ? " 
 
 Chicot nodded " Yes." He went nearer to the Prince, 
 and conveyed to him that they were watched and over- 
 heard. 
 
 " What have you to say to me ? " asked Monsieur de 
 Conde". 
 
 "That nothing but daring can get you out of the 
 scrape," said the fool, whispering the words into his ear. 
 " And this is from the Queen-mother." 
 
 " Tell those who have sent you," replied the Prince,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 159 
 
 " that I should never have come to this cMteau if I had 
 anything to blame myself for, or to fear." 
 
 " I fly to carry your bold reply/' said the fool. 
 
 Two hours later, at one in the afternoon, before the 
 King's dinner, the Chancellor and Cardinal de Tournon 
 came to fetch the Prince to conduct him to Francis II. in 
 the great hall where the Council had sat. There, before 
 all the Court, the Prince de Conde affected surprise at the 
 cool reception the King had given him, and he asked the 
 reason. 
 
 " You are accused, cousin," said the Queen-mother 
 sternly, "of having meddled with the plots of the Ee- 
 formers, and you must prove yourself a faithful subject 
 and a good Catholic if you wish to avert the King's anger 
 from your House." 
 
 On hearing this speech, spoken by Catherine in the 
 midst of hushed silence, as she stood with her hand in the 
 King's arm and with the Due d'Orleans on her left hand, 
 the Prince de Conde drew back three steps, and with an 
 impulse of dignified pride laid his hand on his sword, 
 looking at the persons present. 
 
 "Those who say so, Madame, lie in their throat !" he 
 exclaimed in angry tones. 
 
 He flung his glove at the King's feet, saying 
 
 " Let the man who will maintain his calumny stand 
 forth!" 
 
 A shiver ran through the whole Court when the Due de 
 Guise was seen to quit his place ; but instead of picking 
 up the glove as they expected, he went up to the intrepid 
 hunchback. 
 
 " If yon need a second, Prince, I beg of you to accept 
 my services," said he. " I will answer for you, and will 
 show the Reformers how greatly they deceive themselves 
 if they hope to have you for their leader." 
 
 The Prince de Conde could not help offering his 
 hand to the Lieutenant- General of the kingdom. Chicot
 
 160 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 picked up the glove and restored it to Monsieur de 
 Conde". 
 
 " Cousin," said the boy-King, "yon should never draw 
 yonr sword but in defense of your country. Come to 
 dinner." 
 
 The Cardinal de Lorraine, puzzled by his brother's 
 action, led him off to their rooms. The Prince de Cond6, 
 having weathered the worst danger, gave his hand to 
 Queen Mary Stewart to lead her to the dining-room ; but, 
 while making nattering speeches to the young Queen, he 
 was trying to discern what snare was at this moment being 
 laid for him by the BalafrS's policy. In vain he racked 
 his brain, he could not divine the Guises' scheme ; but 
 Queen Mary betrayed it. 
 
 " It would have been a pity/' said she, laughing, " to 
 see so clever a head fall ; you must allow that my uncle 
 is magnanimous." 
 
 " Yes, Madame, for my head fits no shoulders but my 
 own, although one is larger than the other. But is it 
 magnanimity in your uncle ? Has he not rather gained 
 credit at a cheap rate ? Do you think it such an easy 
 matter to have the law of a Prince of the Blood ? " 
 
 " We have not done yet," replied she. " "We shall see 
 how you behave at the execution of the gentlemen, your 
 friends, over which the Council have determined to make 
 the greatest display." 
 
 " I shall do as the King does," said Conde. 
 
 " The King, the Queen-mother, and I shall all be present, 
 with all the Court and the Ambassadors " 
 
 " Quite a high day ? " said the Prince ironically. 
 
 " Better than that," said the young Queen, " an auto- 
 da-fb, a function of high political purport. The gentle- 
 men of France must be subjugated by the Crown ; they 
 must be cured of their taste for faction and maneuver- 
 ing " 
 
 "You will not cure them of their warlike temper by
 
 Catherine de' Medici 161 
 
 showing them their danger, Madame, and at this game you 
 risk the Crown itself/' replied the Prince. 
 
 At the end of this dinner, which was gloomy enough, 
 Queen Mary was so unfortunately daring as to turn the 
 conversation publicly on the trial which the nobles, taken 
 underarms, were at that moment undergoing, and to speak 
 of the necessity for giving the utmost solemnity to their 
 execution. 
 
 " But, Madame," said Francis II., " is it not enough for 
 the King of France to know that the blood of so many brave 
 gentlemen must be shed? Must it be a cause of triumph? " 
 
 "No, Sir, but an example," replied Catherine. 
 
 " Your grandfather and your father were in the habit 
 of seeing heretics burned," said Mary Stewart. 
 
 " The kings, who reigned before me went their way," 
 said Francis, " and I mean to go mine." 
 
 "Philip II.," Catherine went on, "who is a great king, 
 lately, when he was in the Netherlands, had an auto-da-fe 
 postponed till he should have returned to Valladolid." 
 
 " What do you think about it, cousin ? " said the King 
 to the Prince de Conde. 
 
 ' ' Sir, you cannot avoid going ; the Papal Nuncio and 
 the Ambassadors must be present. For my part, I am 
 delighted to go if the ladies are to be of the party." 
 
 The Prince, at a glance from Catherine de' Medici, had 
 boldly taken his line. 
 
 While the Prince de Conde was being admitted to the 
 chateau of Amboise, the furrier to the two Queens was 
 also arriving from Paris, brought thither by the uneasiness 
 produced by the reports of the Rebellion, not only in him- 
 self and his family, but also in the Lalliers. 
 
 At the gate of the chateau, when the old man craved 
 admission, the captain of the Guard, at the words " Quein's 
 furrier," answered at once 
 
 " My good man, if you want to be hanged, you have 
 only to set foot in the courtyard." 
 M
 
 162 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 On hearing this, the unhappy father sat down on a rail 
 a little way off, to wait till some attendant on either of the 
 Queens, or some woman of the Court, should pass him, to 
 ask for some news of his son ; but he remained there the 
 whole day without seeing anybody he knew, and was at 
 last obliged to go down into the town, where he found a 
 lodging, not without difficulty, in an inn on the Square 
 where the executions were to take place. He was obliged 
 to pay a livre a day to secure a room looking out on the 
 Square. 
 
 On the following day, he was brave enough to look on 
 from his window at the rebels who had been condemned 
 to the wheel, or to be hanged, as men of minor impor- 
 tance ; and the Syndic of the Furriers' Guild was glad 
 enough not to find his son among the sufferers. 
 
 When it was all over, he went to place himself in the 
 clerk's way. Having mentioned his name, and pressed a 
 purse full of crown-pieces into the man's hand, he begged 
 him to see whether, in the three former days of execution, 
 the name of Christophe Lecamus had occurred. The 
 registrar, touched by the despairing old father's manners 
 and tone of voice, conducted him to his own house. After 
 carefully comparing notes, he could assure the old man 
 that the said Christophe was not among those who had 
 hitherto been executed, nor was he named among those 
 who were to die within the next feAV days. 
 
 " My dear master," said the clerk to the furrier, " the 
 Parlement is now engaged in trying the lords and gentle- 
 men concerned in the business, and the principal leaders. 
 So, possibly, your son is imprisoned in the chateau, and 
 will be one in the magnificent execution for which my 
 Lords the Due de Guise and the Cardinal de Lorraine are 
 making great preparations. Twenty-seven barons are to 
 be beheaded, with eleven counts and seven marquises, fifty 
 gentlemen in all, and leaders of the Reformers. As the 
 administration of justice in Touraine has no connection
 
 Catherine de' Medici 163 
 
 with that of the Paris Parlement, if you positively must 
 have some news of your son, go to my Lord the Chancellor 
 Olivier, who, by the orders of the Lieutenaut-General of 
 the kingdom, has the management of the proceedings/' 
 
 Three times did the poor old man go to the Chancellor's 
 house and stand in a file of people in the courtyard, in 
 common with an immense number of people who had come 
 to pray for their relations' lives ; but as titled folks were 
 admitted before the middle class, he was obliged to give 
 up all hope of speaking with the Chancellor, though he 
 saw him several times coming out of his house to go either 
 to the chateau or to the commission appointed by the 
 Parlement, along a way cleared for him by soldiers, 
 between two hedges of petitioners who were thrust aside. 
 
 It was a dreadful scene of misery, for among this crowd 
 were wives, daughters, and mothers, whole families in 
 tears. Old Lecamus gave a great deal of gold to the 
 servants at the chdteau, enjoining on them that they 
 should deliver certain letters he wrote to la Dayelle, Queen 
 Mary's waiting-woman, or to the Queen-mother's woman ; 
 but the lackeys took the good man's money, and then, by 
 the Cardinal's orders, handed all letters to the Provost of 
 the Law Court. As a consequence of their unprecedented 
 cruelty, the Princes of Lorraine had cause to fear revenge ; 
 and they never took greater precautions than during the 
 stay of the Court at Amboise, so that neither the most 
 effectual bribery, that of gold, nor the most diligent in- 
 quiries brought the furrier any light as to his son's fate. 
 He wandered about the little town in a melancholy way, 
 watching the tremendous preparations that the Cardinal 
 was making for the shocking spectacle at which the Prince 
 de Conde was to be present. 
 
 Public curiosity was being stimulated, by every means 
 in use at the time, from Paris to Nantes. The execution 
 had been announced from the pulpit by every preacher, in 
 a breath with the King's victory over the heretics.
 
 164 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Three elegant stands, the center one apparently to be 
 the finest of the three, were being erected against the 
 curtain-wall of the ch&teau, at the foot of which the ex- 
 ecution was to take place. All round the open space 
 raised wooden seats were being put up, after the fashion 
 of an amphitheater, to accommodate the enormous crowd 
 attracted by the notoriety of this auto-da-fe. About ten 
 thousand persons were camping out in the fields on the 
 day before this hideous spectacle. The roofs were crowded 
 with spectators, and windows were let for as much as ten 
 livres, an enormous sum at that time. 
 
 The unhappy father had, as may be supposed, secured 
 one of the best places for commanding a view of the Square 
 where so many men of family were to perish, on a huge 
 scaffold erected in the middle, and covered with black 
 cloth. On the morning of the fatal day, the headsman's 
 block, on which the victim laid his head, kneeling in front 
 of it, was placed on the scaffold, and an armchair, hung 
 with black, for the Recorder of the Court, whose duty it 
 was to call the condemned by name and read their sen- 
 tence. The enclosure was guarded from early morning 
 by the Scotch soldiers and the men-at-arms of the king's 
 household, to keep the crowd out till the hour of the ex- 
 ecutions. 
 
 After a solemn Mass in the chapel of the chateau and 
 in every church in the town, the gentlemen were led forth, 
 the last survivors of all the conspirators. These men, 
 some of whom had been through the torture cham- 
 ber, were collected round the foot of the scaffold, and ex- 
 horted by monks, who strove to persuade them to re- 
 nounce the doctrines of Calvin. But not one would listen 
 to these preachers, turned on to them by the Cardinal de 
 Lorraine, among whom, no doubt, these gentlemen feared 
 there might be some spies on behalf of the Guises. 
 
 To escape being persecuted with these exhortations, they 
 begaa to sing a psalm turned into French verse by
 
 Catherine de' Medici 165 
 
 Clement Marot. Calvin, as is well known, had decreed 
 that God should be worshiped in the mother tongue of 
 every country, from motives of common sense as well as 
 from antagonism to the Eoman Church. It was a pathetic 
 moment for all those among the throng, who felt for these 
 gentlemen, when they heard this verse sung at the moment 
 when the Court appeared on the scene 
 
 " Lord help us in our need ! 
 
 Lord, bless us with Thy grace t 
 
 And on the saints in sore distress 
 
 Let shine Thy glorious face ! " 
 
 The eyes of the Reformers all centered on the Prince de 
 Conde", who was intentionally placed between Queen Mary 
 and the Due d'Orleaus. Queen Catherine de' Medici sat 
 next her son, with the Cardinal on her left. The Papal 
 Nuncio stood behind the two Queens. The Lieutenant- 
 General of the kingdom was on horseback, below the Eoyal 
 stand, with two marshals of France and his captains. As 
 soon as the Prince de Conde appeared, all the gentlemen 
 sentenced to death, to whom he was known, bowed to him, 
 and the brave hunchback returned the salutation. 
 
 "It is hard," said he to the Due d'0rle"ans, "not to be 
 civil to men who are about to die." 
 
 The two other grand stands were filled by invited guests, 
 by courtiers, and the attendants on their Majesties ; in 
 short, the rank and fashion of the chateau from Blois, who 
 thus rushed from festivities to executions, just as they 
 afterwards rushed from the pleasures of Court life to the 
 perils of war, with a readiness which to foreigners will al- 
 ways be one of the mainsprings of their policy in France. 
 The poor Syndic of the Furriers' Guild felt the keenest 
 joy at failing to discern his son among the fifty-seven gen- 
 tlemen condemned to death. 
 
 At a signal from the Due de Guise, the clerk, from the 
 top of the scaffold, called out at once, in a loud voice
 
 166 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " Jean-Louis- Alberic, Baron de Raunay, guilty of heresy, 
 of the crime of high treason, and of bearing arms against 
 the King's Majesty/' 
 
 A tall, handsome man mounted the scaffold with a firm 
 step, bowed to the people and to the Court, and said 
 
 " The indictment is false ; I bore arms to deliver the 
 King from his enemies of Lorraine ! " 
 
 He laid his head on the block, and it fell. 
 
 The Reformers sang 
 
 " Thou, Lord, hast proved our faith 
 And searched our soul's desire, 
 And purified our froward hearts, 
 As silver proved by fire." 
 
 " Robert-Jean-Rene Briquemant, Comte de Villemon- 
 gis, guilty of high treason and rebellion against the King/' 
 cried the Recorder. 
 
 The Count dipped his hands in the Baron de Raunay's 
 blood, and said 
 
 " May this blood be on the head of those who are truly 
 guilty!" 
 
 The Reformers sang on 
 
 "Thou, Lord, hast led our feet 
 
 Where foes had laid their snare ; 
 To Thee, O Lord, the glory be, 
 Though we should perish there." 
 
 " Confess, my lord Nuncio/' said the Prince de Cond6, 
 " that if French gentlemen know how to plot, they also 
 know how to die/' 
 
 " What hatred yon are entailing on the heads of your 
 children, brother/' said the Duchesse de Guise to the Car- 
 dinal de Lorraine. 
 
 " The sight makes me feel sick," said the young King, 
 who had turned pale at the sight of all this blbodshed. 
 
 " Pooh ! Rebels ! " said Catherine de' Medici. 
 
 Still the hymn went on, still the ax was plie4. At last
 
 Catherine de' Medici 167 
 
 the sublime spectacle of men who could die singing, and, 
 above all, the impression produced on the crowd by the 
 gradual dwindling of the voices, became stronger than the 
 terror inspired by the Guises. 
 
 " Mercy ! " cried the mob, when they heard at last only 
 the feeble chant of a single victim, reserved till the last as 
 being the most important. 
 
 He was standing alone at the foot of the steps leading up 
 to the scaffold, and sang 
 
 " Lord, help us in our need ! 
 
 Lord, bless us with Thy grace ! 
 
 And on the saints in sore distress 
 
 Let shine Thy glorious face ! " 
 
 " Come, Due de Nemours," said the Prince de Conde, 
 who was tired of his position ; " you, to whom the secur- 
 ing of the victory is due, and who helped to entrap all 
 these people, do not you feel that you ought to ask the 
 life of this one ? It is Castelnau, who, as I was told, had 
 your promise for courteous treatment when he surren- 
 dered " 
 
 " Did I wait to see him here before trying to save him ? " 
 said the Due de Nemours, stung by this bitter reproof. 
 
 The clerk spoke slowly, intentionally, no doubt 
 
 " Michel- Jean-Louis, Baron de Castelnau- Chalosse, 
 accused and convicted of the crime of high treason, and of 
 fighting against his Majesty the King." 
 
 "No," retorted Castelnau haughtily; "it can be no 
 crime to oppose the tyranny and intended usurpation of 
 the Guises!" 
 
 The headsman, who was tired, seeing some stir in the 
 royal seats, rested on his ax. 
 
 " Monsieur le Baron," said he, " I should be glad not 
 to hurt you. One minute may perhaps save you." 
 
 And all the people shouted again for mercy. 
 
 " Come," said the King, " a pardon, for poor Castelnau, 
 who saved the PUG de Orleans, '*
 
 168 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 The Cardinal intentionally misinterpreted the word 
 " Come." He nodded to the executioner, and Castelnau's 
 head fell at the moment when the King pronounced his 
 pardon. 
 
 " That one goes to your account, Cardinal," said Cath- 
 erine. 
 
 On the day after this horrible massacre, the Prince de 
 Conde set out for Navarre. 
 
 This affair made a great sensation throughout France 
 and in every foreign Court. The torrents of noble blood 
 then shed caused the Chancellor Olivier such deep grief, that 
 this admirable judge, seeing the end at which the Guises 
 were aiming, felt that he was not strong enough to hold his 
 own against them. Although they had made him what he 
 was, he would not sacrifice his duty and the Monarchy to 
 them ; he retired from public life, suggesting that l'H6pi- 
 tal should be his successor. Catherine, on hearing of 
 Olivier's choice, proposed Biragne for the post of Chan- 
 cellor, and urged her request with great pertinacity. The 
 Cardinal, who knew nothing of the note written to Cath- 
 erine by 1'Hopital, and who believed him still faithful to 
 the House of Lorraine, upheld him as Birague's rival, and 
 the Queen-mother affected to be over-ridden. 
 
 L'Hopital was no sooner appointed than he took steps 
 to prevent the introduction into France of the Holy Office, 
 which the Cardinal de Lorraine wished to establish ; and 
 he so effectually opposed the Anti-Gallican measures and 
 policy of the Guises, and showed himself so sturdy a 
 Frenchman, that within three months of his appointment 
 he was exiled, to reduce his spirit, to his estate of le Vignay, 
 near Etampes. 
 
 Old Lecamus impatiently waited till the Court should 
 leave Amboise, for he could find no opportunity of speak- 
 ing to either Queen Mary or Queen Catherine ; but he 
 hoped to be able to place himself in their way at the time 
 when the Court should be moving along the river-bank on
 
 Catherine de' Medici 169 
 
 the way back to Blois. The furrier dressed himself as a 
 poor man, at the risk of being seized as a spy, and favored 
 by this disguise, he mingled with the beggars who stood 
 by the wayside. 
 
 After the departure of the Prince de Conde, the Duke 
 and the Cardinal thought that they had silenced the Re- 
 formed party, and they left the Queen-mother a little more 
 liberty. Lecamns knew that Catherine, instead of travel- 
 ing in a litter, liked to ride on horseback on a plancliette, 
 as it was called, a side saddle with a foot-rest. This sort 
 of stirrup was invented by or for Catherine, who, having 
 hurt her leg, rested both feet on a velvet sling, sitting 
 sideways, and supporting one knee in a hollow cut in the 
 saddle. As the Queen had very fine legs, she was accused 
 of having hit on this device for. displaying them. 
 
 Thus the old man was able to place himself in sight 
 of the Queen-mother ; but when she saw him, she affected 
 anger. 
 
 " Go away from hence, good man, and let no one see 
 you speaking to me," she said with some anxiety. " Get 
 yourself appointed delegate to the States- General from the 
 corporation of Paris Guilds, and be on my side in the 
 Assembly at Orleans, you will then hear something definite 
 about your son " 
 
 " Is he alive ? " said the old man. 
 
 " Alas ! " said the Queen, " I hope it." 
 
 And Lecamus was obliged to return home with this sad 
 reply, and the secret as to the convocation of the States- 
 General, which the Queen had told him. 
 
 Some days before this, the Cardinal de Lorraine had 
 received information as to the guilt of the Court of 
 Navarre. At Lyons, and at Mouvans in Dauphine, the 
 Reformers, commanded by the most enterprising of the 
 Bourbon princes, had tried to inflame the population. 
 This daring attempt, after the dreadful executions at
 
 170 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Amboise, astonished the Guises, who, to put an end to 
 heresy, no doubt, by some means of which they kept the 
 secret, proposed to assemble the States- General at Orleans. 
 Catherine de' Medici, who saw a support for her own 
 policy in the representations of the nation, consented with 
 joy. The Cardinal, who aimed at recapturing his prey, 
 and overthrowing the House of Bourbon, convoked the 
 States solely to secure the presence of the Prince de Conde 
 and of the King of Navarre, Antoine de Bourbon, father 
 of Henri IV. He then meant to make use of Christophe 
 to convict the Prince of high treason if he were able once 
 more to get him into the King's power. 
 
 After spending two months in the prison of Blois, 
 Christophe one morning was carried out on a litter lying 
 on a mattress, was embarked on a barge, and taken up the 
 river to Orleans before a westerly breeze. He reached that 
 town the same evening, and was taken to the famous tower 
 of Saint- Aignan. Christophe, who knew not what to make 
 of his transfer, had time enough for meditation on his 
 behavior and on his future prospects. There he remained 
 two months more, on his bed, unable to use his legs. 
 His bones were crushed. When he begged to be allowed 
 the help of a surgeon, the jailer told him that his orders 
 with regard to his prisoner "were so strict that he dared not 
 allow any one else even to bring him his food. This 
 severity, of which the effect was absolutely solitary con- 
 finement, surprised Christophe. His idea was that he 
 mifst be either hanged or released ; he knew nothing what- 
 ever of the events happening at Amboise. 
 
 In spite of the secret warnings to remain at home sent 
 to them by Catherine de' Medici, the two chiefs of the 
 House of Bourbon determined to appear at the meeting 
 of the States-General, since autograph letters from the 
 King were reassuring ; and when the Court was settling 
 at Orleans, Groslot, the Chancellor of Navarre, announced 
 their advent, to the surprise of all.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 171 
 
 Francis II. took up his quarters in tho house of the 
 Chancellor of Navarre, who was also the Bailli or Recorder 
 of Orleans. This man Groslot, whose double appointment 
 is one of the odd features of a time when Reformers were 
 in possession of abbeys Groslot, the Jacques Coaur of 
 Orleans, one of the richest citizens of his day, did not leave 
 his name to his house. It came to be known as the 
 Bailliage, having been purchased, no doubt, from his 
 heirs, by the Crown, or by the provincial authorities, to be 
 the seat of that tribunal. This elegant structure, built by 
 the citizens of the sixteenth century, adds a detail to the 
 history of a time when the King, the nobility, and the 
 middle class vied with each other in wealth, elegance, and 
 splendor ; especially in their dwellings as may be seen at 
 Varangeville, Ango's magnificent manor-house, and the 
 H6tel d'Hercules, as it is called, in Paris, which still 
 exists, but in a condition that is the despair of archaeolo- 
 gists and of lovers of medieval art. 
 
 Those who have been to Orleans can hardly have failed 
 to observe the Hdtel de Ville in the Place de 1'Estape. 
 This townhall is the Old Bailli's Court, the Hotel Groslot, 
 the most illustrious and most neglected house in Orleans. 
 
 The remains of this hotel plainly show to the archffi- 
 ologist's eye how magnificent it must once have been, at a 
 time when citizens built their houses more of wood than 
 of stone, and the upper ranks alone had the right to build 
 manor-houses, a word of special meaning. Since it served 
 as the King's residence at a time when the Court made so 
 much display of pomp and luxury, the Hotel Groslot 
 must then have been the largest and finest house in 
 Orleans. 
 
 It was on the Place de TEstape that the Guises and 
 the King held a review of the municipal guard, to which 
 Monsieur de Cypierre was nominated captain during the 
 King's visit. At that time, the Cathedral of Sainte-Croix 
 afterwards finished by Henri IV., who desired to set the
 
 172 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 seal to his conversion was being built, and the surround- 
 ing ground, strewn with blocks of stone and encumbered 
 with piles of timber, was held by the Guises, who lodged 
 in the Bishop's palace, now destroyed. 
 
 The town was in military occupation, and the measures 
 adopted by the Guises plainly showed how little liberty 
 they intended to give to the States-General, while the 
 delegates flocked into the town and raised the rents of 
 the most wretched lodgings. The Court, the municipal 
 militia, the nobles, and the citizens all alike expected 
 some Coup d'Etat ; and their expectations were fulfilled 
 when the Princes of the Blood arrived. 
 
 As soon as the two Princes entered the King's room, 
 the Court saw with dismay how insolent was the behavior 
 of the Cardinal de Lorraine, who, to assert his audacious 
 pretensions, kept his head covered, while the King of 
 Navarre before him was bareheaded. Catherine de' 
 Medici stood with downcast eyes, not to betray her indig- 
 nation. A solemn explanation then took place between 
 the young King and the two heads of the younger branch. 
 It was brief, for at the first words spoken by the Prince de 
 Conde, Francis II. closed the discussion by saying 
 
 " My lords and cousins, I fancied the incident of 
 Amboise was at an end ; it is not so, and we shall see 
 cause to regret our indulgence ! " 
 
 " It is not the King who speaks thus," said the Prince 
 de Cond6, " but Messieurs de Guise." 
 
 " Good-day, Monsieur," said the little King, crimson 
 with rage. 
 
 As he went through the great hall, the Prince was 
 stopped by the two captains of the Guards. When the 
 officer of the French Guard stepped forward, the Prince 
 took a letter out of the breast of his doublet and said, in 
 the presence of all the Court 
 
 " Can you read me this, Monsieur de Maille-Breze ? " 
 
 " With pleasure," said the French captain :
 
 Catherine de' Medici 178 
 
 " ' Cousin, come in all security ; I give you my royal 
 word that you may. If you need a safe conduct, these 
 presents will serve you.'" 
 
 "And signed ?" said the bold and mischievous 
 
 hunchback. 
 
 "Signed 'Francois !'" said Maille. 
 
 " Nay, nay/' replied the Prince, " it is signed ' Your 
 good cousin and friend, Frangois ! Gentlemen," he 
 went on, turning to the Scotch Guard, " I will follow you 
 to the prison whither yon are to escort me by the King's 
 orders. There is enough noble spirit in this room to un- 
 derstand that." 
 
 The utter silence that reigned in the room might have 
 enlightened the Guises, but silence is the last thing that 
 princes listen to. 
 
 " Monseigneur," said the Cardinal de Tournon, who 
 was following the Prince, " since the day at Amboise you 
 have taken steps in opposition to the royal authority at 
 Lyons and at Mouvans in Dauphine things of which the 
 King knew nothing when he addressed you in those 
 terms." 
 
 " Kascals ! " cried the Prince, laughing. 
 
 " You made a public declaration against the Mass, and 
 in favor of heresy " 
 
 ' ' We are masters in Navarre," said the Prince. 
 
 " In Beam, you mean ! But you owe homage to the 
 Crown," replied the President de Thou. 
 
 " Ah, you are here, President ! " exclaimed the Prince 
 ironically. " And is all the Parlement with you ?" 
 
 With these words, the Prince flashed a look of contempt 
 at the Cardinal and left the room ; he understood that his 
 head was in peril. 
 
 On the following day, when Messieurs de Thou, de 
 Viole, d'Espesse, Bourdin the public prosecutor, and du 
 Tillet, the chief clerk, came into his prison, he kept them
 
 174 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 standing, and expressed his regrets at seeing them engaged 
 on a business which did not concern them ; then he said 
 to the clerk 
 
 " Write." 
 
 And he dictated as follows : 
 
 "I, Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, peer of the 
 realm, Marquis de Conti, Comte de Soissons, Prince of 
 the Blood of France, formally refuse to recognize any 
 Commission appointed to try me, inasmuch as that by 
 virtue of my rank and the privileges attaching to every 
 member of the Koyal Family, I can only be attainted, 
 heard, and judged by a Parlement of all the peers in their 
 places, the Chambers in full assembly, and the King 
 seated on the bed of justice. You ought to know this 
 better than any one, gentlemen, and this is all you will get 
 of me. For the rest, I trust in God and my Eight." 
 
 The magistrates proceeded nevertheless, in spite of the 
 determined silence of the Prince. 
 
 The King of Navarre was at liberty, but closely watched; 
 his prison was a wider one than the Prince's, and that was 
 the whole difference between his position and his brother's ; 
 for the heads of the King and the Prince were to be felled at 
 the same time. 
 
 So Christophe was so closely confined by order of the 
 Cardinal and the Lieutenant-General of the kingdom 
 only to afford proof to the judges of the Prince's guilt. 
 The letters found on the person of La Sagne, the Prince's 
 secretary, intelligible to a statesman, were not clear enough 
 for the judges. The Cardinal had thought of bringing 
 the Prince accidentally face to face with Christophe, who 
 had been placed, not without a purpose, in a lower room 
 of the tower of Saint- Aignan, and the window looked out 
 on the yard. Each time he was examined by the magis- 
 trates, Christophe entrenched himself in systematic denial, 
 which naturally prolonged the affair till the meeting of 
 the States-General.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 175 
 
 Lecamus, who had made a point of getting himself 
 elected by the citizens of Paris as a deputy for the "Third 
 Estate/'' came to Orleans a few days after the Prince's 
 arrest. This event, of which he had news at Etampes, 
 increased his alarms, for he understood he who alone in 
 the world knew of his sou's interview with the Prince 
 under the Pont-au-Change that Christophe's fate was 
 bound up with that of the rashly daring head of the Ref- 
 ormation party. So he determined to study the myste- 
 rious interests which had become so entangled at Court 
 since the States had met, so as to hit upon some plan for 
 rescuing his son. It was vain to think of having recourse 
 to Queen Catherine, who refused to receive the furrier. 
 No one of the Court to Avhom he had access could give 
 him any satisfactory information with regard to Christophe, 
 and he had sunk to such depths of despair that he was 
 about to address himself to the Cardinal, when he heard 
 that Monsieur de Thou had accepted the office of one of the 
 judges of the Prince de Conde a blot on the good fame of 
 that great jurist. The Syndic went to call on his son's pa- 
 tron, and learned that Christophe was alive but a prisoner. 
 
 Tourillon, the glover, to whose house la Renaudie had 
 sent Christophe, had offered a room to the Sieur Lecamus 
 for the whole time during which the States-General should 
 be sitting. He believed the furrier to be, like himself, 
 secretly attached to the Reformed religion ; but he soon 
 perceived that a father who fears for his son's life thinks 
 no more of shades of religious dogma ; he throws himself 
 soul and body on the mercy of God, never thinking of the 
 badge he wears before men. 
 
 The old man, repulsed at every attempt, wandered half- 
 witless about the streets. Against all his expectations, his 
 gold was of no avail ; Monsieur de Thou had warned him 
 that even if he should bribe some servant of the Guise 
 household, he would only be so much out of pocket, for 
 the Duke and the Cardinal allowed nothing to be known.
 
 176 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 concerning Christophe. This judge, whose fair fame is 
 somewhat tarnished by the part he played at this juncture, 
 had tried to give the unhappy father some hope ; but he 
 himself trembled for his godson's life, and his consola- 
 tions only added to the furrier's alarm. The old man was 
 always prowling round the house ; in three months he 
 grew quite thin. 
 
 His only hope now lay in the warm friendship which 
 had so long bound him to the Hippocrates of the sixteenth 
 century. Ambroise Par6 tried to say a word to Queen 
 Mary as he came out of the King's room ; but the instant 
 he mentioned Christophe, the daughter of the Stewarts, 
 annoyed by the prospect before her in the event of any ill 
 befalling the King, whom she believed to have been poi- 
 soned by the Reformers, as he had been taken suddenly ill, 
 replied 
 
 " If my uncles would take my opinion, such a fanatic 
 would have been hanged before now." 
 
 On the evening when this ominous reply had been re- 
 peated to Lecamus by his friend Pare, on the Place de 
 1'Estape, he went home half dead, and retired to his room, 
 refusing to eat any supper. 
 
 Tourillon, very uneasy, went up-stairs, and found the old 
 man in tears ; and as the poor furrier's feeble eyes showed 
 the reddened and wrinkled linings of the lids, the glover 
 believed that they were tears of blood. 
 
 "Be comforted, father," said the Huguenot, "the 
 citizens of Orleans are enraged at seeing their town treated 
 as if it had been taken by assault, and guarded by Mon- 
 sieur de Cypierre's soldiery. If the Prince de Condi's 
 life should be in danger, we should very soon demolish 
 the tower of Saint- Aignan, for the whole town is on the 
 Reformers' side, and would rise in rebellion, you may be 
 quite certain." 
 
 " But even if the Guises were seized, would their death 
 give me back my son ? " said the unhappy father.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 177 
 
 At this instant there was a timid rap at the outer door ; 
 Tourillon went down to open it. It was quite dark. In 
 these troubled times the master of every household took 
 elaborate precautions. Tourillon looked out through the 
 bars of a wicket in the door, and saw a stranger, whose 
 accent betrayed him as an Italian. This man, dressed in 
 black, asked to see Lecamus on matters of business, and 
 Tourillon showed him in. At the sight of the stranger 
 the old furrier quaked visibly, but the visitor had time to 
 lay a finger on his lips. Lecamus, understanding the 
 gesture, immediately said 
 
 " You have come to offer furs for sale, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Si" replied the stranger in Italian, with an air of 
 privity. 
 
 This man was, in fact, the famous Ruggieri, the Queen- 
 mother's astrologer. Tourillon went down-stairs, perceiv- 
 ing that he was not wanted. 
 
 " Where can we talk without fear of being overheard a " 
 said the astute Florentine. 
 
 " Only in the open fields," replied Lecamus. " But we 
 shall not be allowed out of the town ; you know how strictly 
 the gates are guarded. No one can pass out without an 
 order from Monsieur de Cypierre, not even a member of 
 the Assembly like myself. Indeed, at to-morrow's sitting 
 we all intend to complain of this restriction on our liberty/' 
 
 " Work like a mole, never let your paws be seen in any 
 kind of business/' replied the wily Florentine. "To- 
 morrow will no doubt be a decisive day. From my calcu- 
 lations, to-morrow, or soon after, you will perhaps see 
 your son/' 
 
 " God grant it ! Though you are said to deal only with 
 the Devil!" 
 
 " Come and see me at home," said the astrologer, smil- 
 ing. "I watch the stars from the tower belonging to 
 the Sieur Touchet du Beauvais, the Lieutenant of the 
 Bailiwick, whose daughter has found favor in the eyea of 
 la
 
 178 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 the little Due d'Orleans. I have cast the girl's horoscope, 
 and it does ill fact portend that she will become a great 
 lady and be loved by a King. The Lieutenant is a clever 
 fellow, he is interested in science, and the Queen found 
 me lodgings with the good man, who is cunning enough 
 to be a rabid Guisard till Charles IX. comes to the throne." 
 
 The furrier and the astrologer made their way to the 
 Sieur de Beauvais' house without being seen or interfered 
 with ; and in the event of Lecamus being discovered, Rug- 
 gieri meant to afford him a pretext in his desire to consult 
 the astrologer as to his son's fate. 
 
 When they had climbed to the top of the turret where 
 the astrologer had established himself, Lecamus said 
 
 " Then my son is really alive ? " 
 
 "At present," said the Italian. "But we must make 
 haste to save him. Remember, seller of skins, that I 
 would not give two farthings for yours if in the whole 
 course of your life you breathe one word of what I am 
 about to tell you." 
 
 " The warning is not needed, master. I have been 
 furrier to the Court since the time of the late King Louis 
 XII., and this is the fourth reign I have lived under." 
 
 " And you may soon say the fifth/' replied Ruggieri. 
 
 " What do you know of my son ? " 
 
 " Well, he has been through the torture-chamber." 
 
 " Poor boy ! " sighed the old man, looking up to heaven. 
 
 " His knees and ankles are a little damaged, but he has 
 gained royal protection, which will be over him as long 
 as he lives/' the Florentine added, on seeing the father's 
 horror. " Your little Christophe has done good service 
 to our great Queen Catherine. If we can get your son 
 out of the clutches of the Cardinal, you will see him Coun- 
 cilor in the Parlement yet. And a man would let his 
 bones be broken three times over to find himself in the 
 good graces of that beloved sovereign a real genius she, 
 who will triumph over every obstacle.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 179 
 
 <( I have cast the horoscope of the Due de Guise : he 
 will be killed within a year. Come now, Christophe did 
 meet the Prince de Coude " 
 
 " You know the future, do not you know the past?" 
 the furrier put in. 
 
 " I am not questioning you, I am informing you, good 
 man. Well, your son will be placed to-morrow where the 
 Prince will pass by. If he recognizes him, or if the Prince 
 recognizes your son, Monsieur de Conde forfeits his head. 
 As to what would become of his accomplice God only 
 knows ! But be easy. Neither your son nor the Prince 
 is doomed to die ; I have read their destiny ; they will 
 live. But by what means they may escape I know not. 
 Now we will do what we can, apart from the certainty of 
 my calculations. Monsieur de Conde shall get a prayer- 
 book to-morrow, delivered to him by a safe hand, in which 
 he shall find a warning. God grant that your son may be 
 secretive, for he can have no warning ! And a mere flash 
 of recognition would cost the Prince his life. Thus, al- 
 though the Queen-mother has every reason to depend on 
 Christophe's fidelity " 
 
 " He has been put to cruel tests/' cried the furrier. 
 
 " Do not speak in that way. Do you suppose that the 
 Queen is dancing for joy ? She is indeed going to take 
 her measures exactly as though the Guises had decided on 
 the Prince's death ; and she is wise, that shrewd and pru- 
 dent Queen ! Now she counts on you to help her in every 
 way. You have some influence in the 'Third Estate/ 
 where you are the representative of the Guilds of Paris ; 
 and even if the Guisards should promise to set your son at 
 liberty, try to deceive them and stir up your class against 
 the Princes of Lorraine. Vote for the Queen-mother as 
 Regent ; the King of Navarre will give his assent to that 
 publicly, to-morrow, in the Assembly." 
 
 " But the King ? " 
 
 " The King will die," said Ruggieri ; " I have read it iu
 
 180 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 the stars. What the Queen requires of you in the Assembly 
 is very simple ; but she needs a greater service from you 
 than that. You maintained the great Ambroise Pare 
 while he was a student ; you are his friend " 
 
 " Ambroise loves the Due de Guise in these days better 
 than he loves me," said the furrier. " And he is right ; 
 he owes his place to him. Still, he is faithful to the King. 
 And, although he has a leaning towards the Reformation, 
 he will do nothing but his duty." 
 
 " A plague on all honest men ! " cried the Florentine. 
 " Ambroise boasted this evening that he could pull the 
 little King through. If the King recovers his health, the 
 Guises must triumph, the Princes are dead men, the House 
 of Bourbon is extinct, we go back to Florence, your son 
 is hanged, and the Guises will make short work of the rest 
 of the Royal family " 
 
 " Great God ! " cried Lecamus. 
 
 " Do not exclaim in that way ; it is like a citizen who 
 knows nothing of Court manners ; but go forthwith to Am- 
 broise, and find out what he means to do to save the King. 
 If it seems at all certain, come and tell me what the opera- 
 tion is in which he has such faith." 
 
 " But " Lecamus began. 
 
 " Obey me blindly, my good friend, otherwise you will 
 be dazzled." 
 
 " He is right," thought the furrier. 
 
 And he went off to the King's surgeon, who lived in an 
 inn in the Place du Martroi. 
 
 At this juncture Catherine de' Medici found herself, 
 politically speaking, in the same extremities as she had 
 been in when Christophe had seen her at Blois. Though 
 she had inured herself to the struggle, and had exerted her 
 fine intellect in that first defeat, her situation, though 
 precisely the same now as then, was even more critical 
 and dangerous than at the time of the riots at Amboise.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 181 
 
 Events had grown in magnitude, and the Queen had 
 grown with them. Though she seemed to proceed in 
 agreement with the Princes of Lorraine, Catherine held 
 the threads of a conspiracy skilfully plotted against her 
 terrible associates, and was only waiting for a favorable 
 moment to drop her mask. 
 
 The Cardinal had jnst found himself deceived by 
 Catherine. The crafty Italian had seen in the younger 
 branch of the Eoyal family an obstacle she could use to 
 check the pretensions of the Guises ; and, in spite of the 
 counsel of the two Gondis, who advised her to leave the 
 Guises to act with what violence they could against the 
 Bourbons, she had, by warning the Queen of Navarre, 
 brought to nought the plot to seize Beam concerted by the 
 Guises with the King of Spain. As this State secret was 
 known only to themselves and to Catherine, the Princes 
 of Lorraine were assured of her betrayal, and they wished to 
 send her back to Florence ; but to secure proofs of Cath- 
 erine's treachery to the State the House of Lorraine was 
 the State the Duke and Cardinal had just made her privy 
 to their scheme for making away with the King of Navarre. 
 
 The precautions which were immediately taken by An- 
 toine de Bourbon proved to the brothers that this secret, 
 known but to three people, had been divulged by the 
 Queen-mother. The Cardinal de Lorraine accused Cath- 
 erine of her breach of faith in the presence of the King, 
 threatening her with banishment if any fresh indiscretions 
 on her part should imperil the State. Catherine, seeing 
 herself in imminent danger, was compelled to act as a high- ' 
 handed sovereign. She gave ample proof indeed of her 
 fine abilities, but it must also be confessed that she was 
 well served by the friends she trusted. 
 
 L'Hdpital sent her a letter in these terms : 
 
 " Do not allow a Prince of the Blood to be killed by ft 
 committee, or you will soon be carried off yourgelf."
 
 182 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Catherine sent Birague to le Vignay, desiring the Chan- 
 cellor to come to the Assembly of the States- General, al- 
 though he was in banishment. Birague returned the same 
 evening with FHopital, halting within three leagues of 
 Orleans, and the Chancellor thus declared himself on the 
 side of the Queen-mother. 
 
 Chiverni, whose fidelity was with good reason regarded 
 as doubtful by the Guises, had fled from Orleans, and by 
 a forced march, which nearly was his death, he reached 
 Ecouen in ten hours. He there told the Connetable de 
 Montmorency of the danger his nephew the Prince de 
 Cond6 was in, and of the encroachments of the Guises. 
 Anne de Montmorency, furious at learning that the Prince 
 owed his life merely to the sudden illness of which Francis 
 II. was dying, marched up with fifteen hundred horse and 
 a hundred gentlemen under arms. The more effectually 
 to surprise the Guises, he had avoided Paris, coming from 
 Ecouen to Corbeil, and from Corbeil to Pithiviers by the 
 Valley of the Essonne. 
 
 " Man to man, and both to pull, leaves each but little 
 wool ! " he said, on the occasion of this dashing advance. 
 
 Anne de Montmorency, who had been the preserver of 
 France when Charles V. invaded Provence, and the Due de 
 Guise, who had checked the Emperor's second attempt at 
 Metz, were, in fact, the two greatest French warriors of 
 their time. 
 
 Catherine had waited for the right moment to stir up 
 the hatred of the man whom the Guises had overthrown. 
 The Marquis de Simeuse, in command of the town of Gien, 
 on hearing of the advance of so considerable a force as the 
 Connetable brought with him, sprang to horse, hoping to 
 warn the Duke in time. The Queen-mother, meanwhile, 
 certain that the Connetable would come to his nephew's 
 rescue, and confident of the Chancellor's devotion to the 
 royal cause, had fanned the hopes and encouraged the 
 apirit oi the Reformed party. The Colignys and the
 
 Catherine de' Medici 183 
 
 adherents of the imperiled House of Bourbon had made 
 common cause with the Queen-mother's partisans ; a coal- 
 ition between various antagonistic interests, attacked by a 
 common foe, was silently formed in the Assembly of the 
 States, where the question was boldly broached of making 
 Catherine Regent of France in the event of the young 
 King's death. Catherine herself, whose faith in astrology 
 was far greater than her belief in Church dogmas, had 
 ventured to extremes against her foes when she saw her 
 son dying at the end of the time fixed as his term of life 
 by the famous soothsayer brought to the chateau de Chau- 
 mont by Nostradamus. 
 
 A few days before the terrible close of his reign, Fran- 
 cis II. had chosen to go out on the Loire, so as not to be 
 in the town at the hour of the Prince de Conde's intended 
 execution. Having surrendered the Prince's head to the 
 Cardinal de Lorraine, he feared a riot quite as much as he 
 dreaded the supplications of the Princesse de Conde. As 
 he was embarking, a fresh breeze, such as often sweeps the 
 Loire at the approach of winter, gave him so violent an 
 earache that he was forced to return home ; he went to 
 bed, never to leave it alive. 
 
 In spite of the disagreement of the physicians, who, all 
 but Chapelain, were his enemies and opponents, Ambroise 
 Par6 maintained that an abscess had formed in the head, 
 and that if no outlet were pierced the chances of the King's 
 death were greater every day. 
 
 In spite of the late hour and the rigorous enforcement 
 of the curfew at that time in Orleans, which was ruled as 
 in a state of siege, Park's lamp was shining in his window 
 where he was studying. Lecamus called to him from be- 
 low ; and when he had announced his name, the surgeon 
 gave orders that his old friend should be admitted. 
 
 "You give yourself no rest, Ambroise, and while sav- 
 ing the lives of others you will wear out your own," said 
 the furrier as he went in.
 
 184 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Indeed there sat the surgeon, his books open, his in- 
 struments lying about, and before him a skull not long 
 since buried, dug up from the grave, and perforated. 
 
 " I must save the King." 
 
 " Then you are very sure you can, Ambroise ? " said the 
 old man, shuddering. 
 
 " As sure as I am alive. The King, my good old 
 friend, has some evil humor festering on his brain, which 
 will fill it up, and the danger is pressing ; but by piercing 
 the sKull I let the matter out and free his head. I have 
 already performed this operation three times ; it was in- 
 vented by a Piedmontese, and I have been so lucky as to 
 improve upon it. The first time it was at the siege of 
 Metz, on Monsieur de Pienne, whom I got out of the 
 scrape, and who has only been all the wiser for it ; the 
 second time it saved the life of a poor man on whom I 
 wished to test the certainty of this daring operation to 
 which Monsieur de Pienne had submitted ; the third time 
 was on a gentleman in Paris, who is now perfectly well. 
 Trepanning for that is the name given to it is as yet 
 little known. The sufferers object to it on the score of 
 the imperfection of the instrument, but that I have been 
 able to improve. So now I am experimenting on this 
 head, to be sure of not failing to-morrow on the King's." 
 
 " You must be very sure of yourself, for your head will 
 be in danger if you " 
 
 " I will wager my life that he is cured," replied Pare", 
 with the confidence of genius. " Oh, my good friend, 
 what is it to make a hole in the skull with due care ? It 
 is what soldiers do every day with no care at all." 
 
 " But do you know, my boy," said the citizen, greatly 
 daring, " that if you save the King, you ruin France ? 
 Do you know that your instrument will place the crown of 
 the Valois on the head of a Prince of Lorraine, calling him- 
 self the direct heir of Charlemagne ? Do you know that 
 surgery and politics are, at this moment, at daggers drawn ?
 
 Catherine de' Medici 186 
 
 Yes, the triumph of your genius will be the overthrow of 
 your religion. If the Guises retain the Regency, the blood 
 of the Reformers will flow hi streams ! Be a great citizen 
 rather than a great surgeon, and sleep through to-morrow 
 morning, leaving the King's room free to those leeches 
 who, if they do not save the King, will save France.'' 
 
 "I ! " cried Pare. " I leave a man to die when I can 
 cure him ? Never ! If I am to be hanged for a Calvinist, 
 I will go to the chateau, all the same, right early to-mor- 
 row. Do not you know that the only favor I mean to ask, 
 when I have saved the King, is your Christophers life ? 
 There will surely be a moment when Queen Mary can 
 refuse me nothing." 
 
 " Alas, my friend, has not the little King already re- 
 fused the Princesse de Condc any pardon for her husband ? 
 Do not kill your religion by enabling the man to live who 
 ought to die." 
 
 " Are you going to puzzle yourself by trying to find out 
 how God means to dispose of things in the future ? " said 
 Par6. " Honest folks have but one motto ' Do your 
 duty, come what may.' I did this at the siege of Calais 
 when I set my foot on the Grand Master ; I risked being 
 cut down by all his friends and attendants, and here I am, 
 surgeon to the King ; I am a Reformer, and yet I can call 
 the Guises my friends. I will save the King ! " cried the 
 surgeon, with the sacred enthusiasm of conviction that 
 genius knows, " and God will take care of France ! " 
 
 There was a knock at the door, and a few minutes later 
 one of Ambroise Fare's servants gave a note to Lecamus, 
 who read aloud these ominous words : 
 
 " A scaffold is being erected at the Convent of the R6- 
 collets for the beheading of the Prince de Cond6 to-mor- 
 row." 
 
 Ambroise and Lecamus looked at each other both over- 
 powered with horror,
 
 186 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " I will go and make sure/* said the furrier. 
 
 Out on the square, Ruggieri took Lecamus by the arm, 
 asking what was Fare's secret for saving the King ; but 
 the old man, fearing some treachery, insisted on going to 
 see the scaffold. So the astrologer and the furrier went 
 together to the Eecollets, where, in fact, they found car- 
 penters at work by torchlight. 
 
 " Hey day, my friend," said Lecamus to one of them ; 
 "what business is this ?" 
 
 " We are preparing to hang some heretics, since the 
 bleeding at Ambroise did not cure them/' said a young 
 friar, who was superintending the workmen. 
 
 " Monseigneur the Cardinal does well/' said the prudent 
 Euggieri. " But in my country we do even better." 
 
 "What do you do ?" 
 
 "We burn them, brother." 
 
 Lecamus was obliged to lean on the astrologer ; his legs 
 refused to carry him, for he thought that his son might 
 next day be swinging to one of those gibbets. The poor 
 old man stood between two sciences astrology and medi- 
 cine ; each promised to save his son, for whom the scaffold 
 was visibly rising. In this confusion of mind he was as 
 wax in the hands of the Florentine. 
 
 " Well, my most respectable vendor of vair, what have 
 yon to say to these pleasantries of Lorraine ? " said 
 Euggieri. 
 
 "Woe the day ! You know I would give my own skin 
 to see my boy's safe and sound." 
 
 " That is what I call talking like a skinner," replied the 
 Italian. " But if you will explain to me the operation 
 that Ambroise proposes to perform on the King, I will 
 guarantee your son's life." 
 
 " Truly ? " cried the old furrier. 
 
 " What shall I swear by ?" said Euggieri. 
 
 On this the unhappy old man repeated his conversation 
 witk Par to the Italian, who was off, leaving the discon-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 187 
 
 Bolate father in the road the instant he had heard the 
 great surgeon's secret. 
 
 "Whom the devil does he mean mischief to ?" cried 
 Lecamus, as he saw Kuggieri running at his utmost spesd 
 towards the Place de 1'Estape. 
 
 Lecamus knew nothing of the terrible scene which was 
 going on by the King's bedside, and which had led to the 
 order being given for the erection of the scaffold for the 
 Prince, who had been sentenced in default, as it were, 
 though his execution was postponed for the moment by 
 the King's illness. 
 
 There was no one in the hall, on the stairs, or in the 
 courtyard of the Bailli's house but those on actual duty. 
 The crowd of courtiers had resorted to the lodgings of the 
 King of Navarre, who, by the law of the land, was Eegent. 
 The French nobles, terrified indeed by the insolence of the 
 Guises, felt an impulse to close their ranks round the chief 
 of the younger branch, seeing that the Queen-mother was 
 subservient to the Guises, and not understanding her Ital- 
 ian policy. Antoine de Bourbon, faithful to his secret 
 compact with Catherine, was not to renounce his claim to 
 the regency in her favor till the States-General should 
 have voted on the question. 
 
 This absolute desertion had struck the Grand Master 
 when, on his return from a walk through the town as a 
 precautionary measure he found no one about the King 
 but the friends dependent on his fortunes. The room 
 where Francis II. 's bed had been placed adjoins the great 
 hall of the bailiff's residence, and was at that time lined 
 with oak paneling. The ceiling, formed of narrow boards, 
 skilfully adjusted and painted, showed an arabesque pat- 
 tern in blue on a gold ground, and a piece of it, pulled 
 down about fifty years ago, has been preserved by a col- 
 lector of antiquities. This room, hung with tapestry, and 
 the floor covered with a carpet, was so dark that the
 
 188 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 burning tapers scarcely gave it light. The enormous 
 bedstead, with four columnar posts and silk curtains, 
 looked like a tomb. On one side of the bed, by the King's 
 pillow, were Queen Mary and the Cardinal de Lorraine ; 
 on the other sat Catherine in an armchair. The physician- 
 in-ordinary, the famous Jean Chapelain, afterwards in 
 attendance on Charles IX., was standing by the fireplace. 
 Perfect silence reigned. 
 
 The young King, pale and slight, lost in the sheets, was 
 hardly to be seen, with his small, puckered face on the 
 pillow. The Duchesse de Guise, seated on a stool, was 
 supporting Mary Stewart ; and near Catherine, in a 
 window recess, Madame de Fieschi was watching the 
 Queen-mother's looks and gestures, for she understood the 
 perils of her position. 
 
 In the great hall, notwithstanding the late hour, Mon- 
 sieur de Cypierre, the Due d'Orleans' tutor, appointed to 
 be governor of the town, occupied a chimney corner with 
 the two Gondis. Cardinal de Tournon, who at this crisis 
 had taken part with Queen Catherine, on finding himself 
 treated as an inferior by the Cardinal de Lorraine, whose 
 equal he undoubtedly was in the Church, was conversing 
 in a low voice with the brothers Gondi. The MarSchal de 
 Vieilleville and Monsieur de Saint-Andr6, Keeper of the 
 Seals, were discussing in whispers the imminent danger of 
 the Guises. 
 
 The Due de Guise crossed the hall, glancing hastily 
 about him, and bowed to the Due d'Orleans, whom he 
 recognized. 
 
 "Monseigneur," said he, "this may give you a lesson in 
 the knowledge of men. The Catholic nobility of the 
 kingdom have crowded round a heretic prince believing 
 that the States assembled will place the Regency in the 
 hands of the heir to the traitor who so long kept your 
 illustrious grandfather a prisoner." 
 
 And after this speech, which was calculated to make a
 
 Catherine de' Medici 189 
 
 deep impression on a prince's mind, he went into the bed- 
 room where the young King was lying, not so much asleep 
 as heavily drowsy. As a rule, the Due de Guise had the 
 art of overcoming, by his affable expression, the sinister 
 appearance of his scarred features ; but at this moment he 
 could not force a smile, seeing the instrument of power 
 quite broken. The Cardinal, whose civic courage was 
 equal to his brother's military valor, came forward a step 
 or two to meet the Lieu tenant-General. 
 
 " Robertet believes that little Pinard has been bought 
 over by the Queen-mother," he said in his ear, as he led him 
 back into the hall. ' ( He has been made use of to work on 
 the members of the Assembly." 
 
 "Bah ! what matters our being betrayed by a secretary, 
 when there is treason everywhere ? " cried the Duke. 
 " The town is for the Reformers, and we are on the eve of 
 a revolt. Yes ! the Gutpins are malcontents," he added, 
 giving the people of Orleans their common nickname, 
 " and if Pare cannot save the King, we shall see a desper- 
 ate outbreak. Before long we shall have to lay siege to 
 Orleans, which is a vermin's nest of Huguenots." 
 
 " In the last minute," said the Cardinal, " I have been 
 watching that Italian woman, who sits there without a 
 spark of feeling. She is waiting for her son's death, God 
 forgive her ! I wonder whether it would not be well to 
 arrest her and the King of Navarre too." 
 
 "It is more than enough to have the Prince de Cond 
 in prison," replied the Duke. 
 
 The sound of a horse ridden at top-speed came up from 
 the gate. The two Princes went to the window, and by 
 the light of the gatekeeper's torch and of the cresset that 
 was always burning under the gateway, the Duke recog- 
 nized in the rider's hat the famous cross of Lorraine, 
 which the Cardinal had made the badge of their partisans. 
 He sent one of the men-at-arms, who stood in the ante- 
 room, to say that the newcomer was to be admitted j and.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 he went to the head of the stairs to meet him, followed by 
 his brother. 
 
 " What is the news, my dear Sinieuse ? " asked the 
 Duke, with the charming manner he always had for a 
 soldier, as he recognized the Commandant of Grien. f 
 
 " The Connetable is entering Pithiviers ; he left Ecouen 
 with fifteen hundred horse and a hundred gentlemen " 
 
 " Have they any following ?" said the Duke. 
 
 " Yes, Monseigneur," replied Simeuse. " There are two 
 thousand six hundred of them in all. Some say that Thore 
 is behind with a troop of infantry. If Montmorency 
 amuses himself with waiting for his son, you have time 
 before you to undo him." 
 
 " And that is all you know ? Are his motives for this 
 rush to arms commonly reported ? " 
 
 " Anne speaks as little as he writes ; do you go and 
 meet him, brother, while I will greet him here with his 
 nephew's head," said the Cardinal, ordering an attendant 
 to fetch Kobertet. 
 
 " Vieilleville," cried the Duke to the Marshal, who 
 came in, " the Connetable de Montmorency has dared to 
 take up arms. If I go out to meet him, will you be re- 
 sponsible for keeping order in the town ? " 
 
 " The instant you are out of it, the townsfolk will 
 rise ; and who can foresee the issue of a fray between 
 horsemen and citizens in such narrow streets ? " replied 
 the Marshal. 
 
 " My Lord ! " said Robertet, flying up the stairs, ' ' the 
 Chancellor is at the gates, and insists on coming in ; are 
 we to admit him ? " 
 
 "Yes, admit him/' said the Cardinal de Lorraine. 
 " The Constable and the Chancellor together would be 
 too dangerous ; we must keep them apart. We were 
 finely tricked by the Queen-mother when we elected 
 1'Hopital to that office." 
 
 Eebertet nodded to a captain who awaited the reply at
 
 Catherine de' Medici 191 
 
 the foot of the stairs, and returned quickly to take the 
 Cardinal's orders. 
 
 " My Lord/' said he, making a last effort, " I take the 
 liberty of representing to you that the sentence requires 
 the approval of the King in Council. If you violate the 
 law for a Prince of the Blood, it will not be respected in 
 favor of a Cardinal or of a Due de Guise." 
 
 "Pinard has disturbed your mind, Eobertet/' said the 
 Cardinal sternly. "Do you not know that the King 
 signed the warrant on the day when he went out, leaving 
 it to us to carry it out ? " 
 
 " Though you are almost requiring my head of me when 
 you give me this duty which, however, will be that of 
 the town-provost I obey, my Lord." 
 
 The Grand Master heard the debate without wincing ; 
 but he took his brother by the arm, and led him to a 
 corner of the hall. 
 
 " Of course," said he, " the direct heirs of. Charlemagne 
 have the right to take back the crown which was snatched 
 from their family by Hugues Capet ; but can they ? 
 The pear is not ripe. Our nephew is dying, and all the 
 Court is gone over to the King of Navarre." 
 
 " The King's heart failed him ; but for that, the B6ar- 
 nais would have been stabbed," replied the Cardinal, " and 
 we could easily have disposed of the children." 
 
 " We are in a bad position here," said the Duke. ' ' The 
 revolt in the town will be supported by the States-General. 
 L'Hdpital, whom we have befriended so well, and whose 
 elevation Queen Catherine opposed, is now our foe, and 
 we need the law on our side. The Queen-mother has too 
 many adherents now to allow of our sending her away. 
 And besides, there are three more boys ! " 
 
 " She is no longer a mother ; she is nothing but a queen," 
 said the Cardinal. " In my opinion, this is the very mo- 
 ment to be rid of her. Energy, and again energy ! that is 
 what I prescribe."
 
 192 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Having said this, the Cardinal went back into the King's 
 room, and the Duke followed him. The prelate went 
 straight up to Catherine. 
 
 "The papers found on La Sagne, the Prince de Conde's 
 secretary, have been communicated to you/' said he. 
 ''You know that the Bourbons mean to dethrone your 
 children ? " 
 
 " I know it all/' said the Queen. 
 
 " Well, then, will you not have the King of Navarre 
 arrested ? " 
 
 " There is a Lieutenant-General of the kingdom," re- 
 plied she. 
 
 At this moment Francis complained of the most violent 
 pain in his ear, and began to moan lamentably. The 
 physician left the fireplace, where he was warming him- 
 self, and came to examine the patient's head. 
 
 " Well, Monsieur ? " said the Grand Master, addressing 
 him. 
 
 " I dare not apply a compress to draw the evil humors. 
 Master Ambroise has undertaken to save his Majesty by 
 an operation, and I should annoy him by doing so." 
 
 "Put it off till to-morrow," said Catherine calmly, 
 " and be present, all of you medical men ; for you know 
 what calumnies the death of a prince gives ground for." 
 
 She kissed her son's hands and withdrew. 
 
 " How coolly that audacious trader's daughter can speak 
 of the Dauphin's death, poisoned as he was by Monte- 
 cuculi, a Florentine of her suite ! " cried Mary Stewart. 
 
 " Marie/' said the little King, " my grandfather never 
 cast a suspicion on. her innocence." 
 
 " Cannot we hinder that woman from coming here to- 
 morrow ?" said the Queen in an undertone to her two 
 uncles. 
 
 "What would become of us if the King should die ?" 
 replied the Cardinal. " Catherine would hurl us all into 
 his grave."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 193 
 
 Anfl BO that night the question stood plainly stated 
 between Catherine de' Medici and the House of Lorraine. 
 The arrival of the Chancellor and the Connetable de 
 Moutmorency pointed to rebellion, and the dawn of the 
 morrow would prove decisive. 
 
 On the following day the Queen-mother was the first to 
 appear. She found no one in her son's room but Mary 
 Stewart, pale and fatigued from having passed the night 
 in prayer by the bedside. The Duchesse de Guise had 
 kept the Queen company, and the maids of honor had 
 relieved each other. The young King was asleep. 
 
 Neither the Duke nor the Cardinal had yet appeared. 
 The prelate, more daring than the soldier, had spent this 
 last night, it is said, in vehement argument, without being 
 able to induce the Duke to proclaim himself King. With 
 the States-General sitting in the town, and the prospect of 
 a battle to be fought with the Constable, the " Balafre' " 
 did not think the opportunity favorable ; he refused to 
 arrest the Queen-mother, the Chancellor, Cardinal de 
 Tournon, the Gondis, Kuggieri, and Birague, in face of 
 the revolt that would inevitably result from such violent 
 measures. He made his brother's schemes dependent on 
 the life of Francis II. 
 
 Perfect silence reigned in the King's bedchamber, 
 Catherine, attended by Madame de Fieschi, came to the 
 bedside and gazed at her son with an admirable assumption 
 of grief. She held her handkerchief to her eyes, and re- 
 treated to the window, where Madame de Fieschi brought 
 her a chair. From thence she could look down into the 
 courtyard. 
 
 It had been agreed between Catherine and the Cardinal 
 de Tournon that if Montmorency got safely into the town, 
 he, the Cardinal, would come to her, accompanied by the 
 two Gondis ; in case of disaster, he was to come alone. 
 At nine in the morning the two Princes of Lorraine, ac- 
 companied by their suite, who remained in the hall, came 
 13
 
 194 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 to the King's room. The captain on duty had informed 
 them that Ambroise Pare had but just arrived with Chape- 
 lain and three other physicians, prompted by Catherine, 
 and all hating Ambroise. 
 
 In a few minutes the great hall of the Bailliage pre- 
 sented precisely the same appearance as the guardroom at 
 Blois on the day when the Due de Guise was appointed 
 Lieutenant-G-eneral of the kingdom, and when Christophe 
 was tortured ; with only this difference, that then love 
 and glee reigned in the royal rooms, and that the Guises 
 were triumphant ; whereas now death and grief prevailed, 
 and the Princes of Lorraine felt the power slipping from 
 their grasp. 
 
 The maids of honor of the two Queens were grouped on 
 opposite sides of the great fireplace, where an immense 
 fire was blazing. The room was full of courtiers. 
 
 The news, repeated no one knows by whom, of a bold 
 plan of Ambroise Fare's for saving the King's life, brought 
 in every gentleman who had any right to appear at Court. 
 The outer steps of the house and the courtyard were 
 thronged with anxious groups. The scaffold erected for 
 the Prince, opposite the Convent of the Recollets, aston- 
 ished all the nobles. People spoke in whispers, and here, 
 as at Blois, the conversation was a medley of serious and 
 frivolous subjects, of grave and trivial talk. They were 
 beginning to feel used to turmoils, to sudden rebellion, to 
 a rush to arms, to revolts, to the great and sudden events 
 which marked the long period during which the House of 
 Valois was dying out, in spite of Queen Catherine's efforts. 
 Deep silence was kept for some distance outside the bed- 
 room door, where two men-at-arms were on guard, with 
 two pages, and the captain of the Scotch company. 
 
 Antoine de Bourbon, a prisoner in his lodgings, finding 
 himself neglected, understood the hopes of the courtiers ; 
 he was overwhelmed at hearing of the preparations made 
 during the night for his brother's execution.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 195 
 
 In front of the hall fireplace stood one of the finest and 
 grandest figures of his time, the Chancellor de FH6pital, in 
 his crimson robes bordered with ermine, and wearing his 
 square cap, in right of his office. This brave man, regard- 
 ing his benefactors as the leaders of a rebellion, had es- 
 poused the cause of his king, as represented by the Queen- 
 mother ; and at the risk of his head he had gone to Ecouen 
 to consult the Connetable de Montmorency. No one dared 
 to disturb the meditations in which he was plunged. 
 Robertet, the Secretary of State, two marshals of France, 
 Vieilleville and Saint- Andre, and the Keeper of the Seals, 
 formed a group in front of the Chancellor. 
 
 The men of the Court were not actually laughing, but 
 their tone was sprightly, especially among those who were 
 disaffected to the Guises. 
 
 The Cardinal had at last secured Stewart, the Scotchman 
 who had murdered President Minard, and was arranging 
 for his trial at Tours. He had also confined in the chateaux 
 of Blois and of Tours a considerable number of gentlemen 
 who had seemed compromised, to inspire a certain degree 
 of terror in the nobles ; they, however, were not terrified, 
 but saw in the Reformation a fulcrum for the lever of 
 resistance they derived from a feeling of their inborn 
 equality with the King. Now, the prisoners at Blois had 
 contrived to escape, and, by a singular fatality, those 
 who had been shut up at Tours had just followed their 
 example. 
 
 " Madame," said the Cardinal de Chatillon to Madame 
 de Fieschi, " if any one takes an interest in the prisoners 
 from Tours, they are in the greatest danger." 
 
 On hearing this speech, the Chancellor looked round at 
 the group of the elder Queen's maids of honor. 
 
 " Yes, for young Desvaux, the Prince de Conde's equerry, 
 who was imprisoned at Tours, added a bitter jest to his 
 escape. He is said to have written a note to Messieurs de 
 Guise to this effect :
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " * We have heard of the escape of your prisoners at 
 Blois ; it has grieved ns so much, that we are about to run 
 after them ; we will bring them back to you as soon as we 
 have arrested them.' " 
 
 Though he relished this pleasantry, the Chancellor 
 looked sternly at Monsieur de Ch&tillon. 
 
 At this instant louder voices were heard in the King's 
 bedchamber. The two marshals, with Robertet and the 
 Chancellor, went forward, for it was not merely a question 
 of life and death to the King ; everybody was in the 
 secret of the danger to the Chancellor, to Catherine, and 
 to her adherents. The silence that ensued was absolute. 
 
 Ambroise had examined the King ; the moment seemed 
 favorable for the operation ; if it were not performed, he 
 might die at any moment. As soon as the brothers de 
 Guise came in, he explained to them the causes of the 
 King's sufferings, and demonstrated that in such extremi- 
 ties trepanning was absolutely necessary. He only awaited 
 the decision of the physicians. 
 
 " Pierce my son'3 skull as if it were a board, and with 
 that horrible instrument ! " cried Catherine de' Medici. 
 " Maitre Ambroise, I will not permit it." 
 
 The doctors were consulting, but Catherine spoke so 
 loud that, as she intended, her words were heard in the 
 outer room. 
 
 " But, Madame, if that is the only hope of saving him ? " 
 said Mary Stewart, weeping. 
 
 "Ambroise," said Catherine, "remember that you an- 
 swer for the King with your head." 
 
 "We are opposed to the means proposed by Maitre 
 Ambroise," said the three physicans. " The King may 
 be saved by injecting a remedy into the ear which will re- 
 lease the humors through that passage." 
 
 The Due de Guise, who was studying Catherine's face, 
 euddenly went up to her, and led her into the window-bay.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " You, Madame/' said he, " wish yonr son to die ; you 
 are in collusion with your enemies, and that since we 
 came from Blois. This morning Councilor Viole told 
 your furrier's son that the Prince de Cond6 was to be be- 
 headed. That young man, who, under torture, had de- 
 nied all knowledge of the Prince de Cond6, gave him a 
 'farewell greeting as he passed the window of the lad's 
 prison. You looked on at your hapless accomplice's 
 suffering with royal indifference. Now, you are opposed 
 to your eldest son's life being saved. You will force us to 
 believe that the death of the Dauphin, which placed the 
 crown on the head of the late King, was not natural, but 
 that Montecnculli was your " 
 
 " Monsieur le Chancelier ! " Catherine called out, and 
 at this signal Madame de Fieschi threw open the double 
 doors of the bedchamber. 
 
 The persons assembled in the hall could thus see the 
 whole scene in the King's room : the little King, deadly 
 pale, his features sunk, his eyes dim, but repeating the word 
 " Marie," while he held the hand of the young Queen, who 
 was weeping ; the Duchessede Guise standing, terrified by 
 Catherine's audacity ; the two Princes of Lorraine, not 
 less anxious, but keeping close to the Queen-mother, and 
 resolved to have her arrested by MaillS-Bre'ze' ; and finally, 
 the great surgeon Ambroise Par6,with theKing's physician. 
 He stood holding his instruments, but not daring to per- 
 form the operation, for which perfect quiet was as neces- 
 gary as the approbation of the medical authorities. 
 
 " Monsieur le Chancelier," said Catherine, " Messieurs 
 de Guise wish to authorize a strange operation on the 
 King's person. Ambroise proposes to perforate his head. 
 I, as his mother, and one of the commission of Regency, 
 protest against what seems to me to be high treason. 
 The three physicians are in favor of an injection which, 
 to me, seems quite as efficacious and less dangerous than 
 the cruel process recommended by Ambroiae."
 
 198 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 At these words there was a dull murmur in reply. 
 The Cardinal admitted the Chancellor, and then shut the 
 bedroom doors. 
 
 " But I am Lieutenant-General of the realm/' said the 
 Due de Guise, " and you must understand, Monsieur le 
 Chancelier, that Ambroise, surgeon to his Majesty, an- 
 swers for the King's life." 
 
 " Well, since this is the state of affairs," said the great 
 Ambroise Pare, " I know what to be doing." 
 
 He put out his arm over the bed. 
 
 " This bed and the King are mine," said he. " I con- 
 stitute myself the sole master, and singly responsible ; I 
 know the duties of my office, and I will operate on the 
 King without the physicians' sanction." 
 
 " Save him ! " cried the Cardinal, " and you shall be tb.6 
 richest man in France." 
 
 " Only go on ! " said Mary Stewart, pressing Fare's 
 hand. 
 
 " I cannot interfere," said the Chancellor, " but I shall 
 record the Queen-mother's protest." 
 
 " Eobertet," the Due de Guise called out. 
 
 Eobertet came in, and the Duke pointed to the Chan- 
 cellor. 
 
 "You are Chancellor of France," he said, "in the 
 place of this felon. Monsieur de Maille, take Monsieur 
 de 1'Hopital to prison with the Prince de Conde. As to 
 you, Madame," and he turned to Catherine, "your protest 
 will not be recognized, and you would do well to remem- 
 ber that such actions need the support of adequate force. 
 I am acting as a faithful and loyal subject of King 
 Francis II., my sovereign. Proceed, Ambroise," he said to 
 the surgeon. 
 
 " Monsieur de Guise," said 1'Hdpital, " if you use any 
 violence, either on the person of the King or on that of 
 his Chancellor, remember that in the hall without there 
 is enough French nobility to arrest all traitors."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 199 
 
 "Gentlemen, gentlemen," said the surgeon, "if you 
 prolong this debate, you may as well shout ' Vive Charles 
 IX.,' for King Francis is dying." 
 
 Catherine stood unmoved, looking out of window. 
 
 * ( Well, then, we will use force to remain masters in 
 the King's bedroom," said the Cardinal, trying to keep 
 the door ; but he was startled and horrified, for the great 
 hall was quite deserted. The Court, sure that the King 
 was dying, had gone back to Antoine of Navarre. 
 
 <' Come ; do it, do it," cried Mary Stewart to Ambroise. 
 
 " I and you, Duchess," she said to Madame de Guise, 
 " will protect you." 
 
 "Nay, Madame," said Pare, "my zeal carried me too 
 far ; the doctors, with the exception of my friend Chape- 
 lain, are in favor of the injection ; I must yield to them. 
 If I were physican and surgeon-in-chief, he could be 
 saved ! Give it me," he said, taking a small syringe 
 from the hand of the chief physician, and filling it. 
 
 "Good God!" cried Mary Stewart; "I command 
 you " 
 
 " Alas ! Madame," replied Pare, " I am subordinate to 
 these gentlemen." 
 
 The young Queen and the Duchesse de Guise stood be- 
 tween the surgeon and the doctors and the other persons 
 present. The chief physician held the King's head, and 
 Ambroise made the injection into the ear. The two 
 Princes of Lorraine were watchful ; Robertet and Mon- 
 sieur de Maille stood motionless. At a sign from Cath- 
 erine, Madame de Fieschi left the room unnoticed. At 
 the same instant 1'Hopital boldly threw open the door of 
 the King's bedroom. 
 
 " I have arrived in the nick of time," exclaimed a man, 
 whose hasty steps rang through the hall, and who, in 
 another minute, was at the door of the King's room. 
 "What, gentlemen! You thought to cut off my fine 
 nephew, the Prince de Conde's head ? You have roused
 
 200 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 the lion from his lair, aud here he is ! " added the Conne- 
 table de Montmorency. " Ambroise, you are not to stir 
 up my King's brains with your instruments ! The Kings 
 of France do not allow themselves to be knocked about 
 in that way unless by their enemies' sword in fair fight ! 
 The first Prince of the Blood, Antoine de Bourbon, the 
 Prince de Conde, the Queen-mother, and the Chancellor 
 are all opposed to the operation." 
 
 To Catherine's great satisfaction, the King of Navarre 
 and the Prince de Conde both made their appearance. 
 
 " What is the meaning of this ? " said the Due de Guise, 
 laying his hand on his poniard. 
 
 "Aa Lord High Constable, I have dismissed all the 
 sentinels from their posts. Blood and thunder ! we are 
 not in an enemy's country, I suppose. The King our 
 Master is surrounded by his subjects, and the States- 
 General of the realm may deliberate in perfect liberty. 
 I have just come from the Assembly, gentlemen ; I laid 
 before it the protest of my nephew de Conde, who has 
 been rescued by three hundred gentlemen. You meant 
 to let the royal blood, and to decimate the nobility of 
 France. Henceforth I shall not trust anything you 
 propose, Messieurs de Lorraine. And if you give the 
 order for the King's head to be opened, by this sword, 
 which saved France from Charles V., I say it shall not be 
 done !" 
 
 " All the more so," said Ambroise Pare, " because it is 
 too late, suffusion has begun.'' 
 
 " Your reign is over, gentlemen," said Catherine to the 
 two Guises, seeing from Pare'a manner that there wag now 
 no hope. 
 
 " You, Madame, have killed your son ! " said Mary 
 Stewart, springing like a lioness from the bed to the win- 
 dow, and seizing the Italian Queen by the arm with a 
 vehement clutch. 
 
 "My dear/' replied Catherine de' Medici, with a keen,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 201 
 
 cold look that expressed the hatred she had suppressed 
 for six months past, " you, to whose violent passion this 
 death is due, will now go to reign over your own Scotland 
 and yon will go to-morrow. I am now Regent in fact 
 as well as in name/' 
 
 The three physicians had made a sign to the Queen- 
 mother. 
 
 "Gentlemen," she went on, addressing the Guises, "it 
 is an nnderstood thing between Monsieur de Bourbon 
 whom I hereby appoint Lieu tenant-General of the king- 
 dom and myself that the conduct of affairs is our busi- 
 ness. Come, Monsieur le Chancelier." 
 
 " The King is dead ! " said the Grand Master, obliged 
 to carry out the functions of his office. 
 
 " God save King Charles IX. ! " cried the gentlemen 
 who had come with the King of Navarre, the Prince de 
 Conde, and the Constable. 
 
 The ceremonies performed when a King of France dies 
 were carried out in solitude. When the king-at-arms 
 called out three times in the great hall, "The King is 
 dead ! " after the official announcement by the Due de 
 Guise, there were but a few persons present to answer 
 " God save the King ! " 
 
 The Queen-mother, to whom the Countess Fieschi 
 brought the Due d'Orleans, now Charles IX., left the 
 room leading the boy by the hand, and followed by the 
 whole Court. Only the two Guises, the Duchesse de 
 Guise, Mary Stewart, and Dayelle remained in the room 
 where Francis II. had breathed his last, with two guards 
 at the door, the Grand Master's pages and the Cardinal's, 
 and their two private secretaries. 
 
 " Vive la France ! " shouted some of the Reformers, a 
 first cry of opposition. 
 
 Robertet who owed everything to the Duke and the 
 Cardinal, terrified by their schemes and their abortive 
 attempts, secretly attached himself to the Queen-mother,
 
 202 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 whom the Ambassadors of Spain, England, the German 
 Empire, and Poland met on the stairs, at their head Car- 
 dinal Tournon, who had gone to call them after looking 
 up from the courtyard to Catherine de' Medici just as she 
 was protesting against Ambroise Fare's operation. 
 
 " Well, the sons of Louis d'Outre-Mer, the descendants 
 of Charles de Lorraine, have proved cravens," said the 
 Cardinal to the Duke. 
 
 " They would have been packed off to Lorraine," replied 
 his brother. " I declare to you, Charles," he went on, 
 " if the crown were there for the taking, I would not put 
 out my hand for it. That will be my son's task." 
 
 " Will he ever have the army and the Church on his 
 side as you have ? " 
 
 " He will have something better." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "The people." 
 
 "And there is no one to mourn for him but me the 
 poor boy who loved me so well 1 " said Mary Stewart, hold- 
 ing the cold hand of her first husband. 
 
 "How can we be reconciled to the Queen?" said the 
 Cardinal. 
 
 " Wait till she quarrels with the Huguenots," said the 
 Duchess. 
 
 The clashing interests of the House of Bourbon, of 
 Catherine, of the Guises, and of the Reformers produced 
 such confusion in Orleans, that it was not till three days 
 after that the King's body, quite forgotten where it lay, 
 was placed in a coffin by obscure serving men, and carried 
 to Saint-Denis in a covered vehicle, followed only by the 
 Bishop of Senlis and two gentlemen. When this dismal 
 little procession arrived at the town of Etampes, a follower 
 of the Chancellor de 1'Hopital attached to the hearse this 
 bitter inscription, which history has recorded : " Tannegny 
 du Chastel, where are you ? Yet you too were French ! " 
 A stinging innuendo, striking at Catherine, Mary Stewart,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 203 
 
 and the Guises. For what Frenchman does not know that 
 Tanneguy du Chastel spent thirty thousand crowns (a mil- 
 lion of francs in these days) on the obsequies of Charles 
 VII., the benefactor of his family ? 
 
 As soon as the tolling bells announced the death of 
 Francis II., and the Connetable de Montmorency had 
 thrown open the gates of the town, Tourillon went up to 
 his hayloft and made his way to a hiding-place. 
 
 " What, can he be dead ? " exclaimed the glover. 
 
 On hearing the voice, a man rose and replied, " Prtt & 
 servir" ("Beady to serve/' or " Eeady, aye ready "), the 
 watchword of the Eeformers of Calvin's sect. 
 
 This man was Chaudieu, to whom Tourillon related the 
 events of the last week, during which he had left the 
 preacher alone in his hiding-place, with a twelve-ounce 
 loaf for his sole sustenance. 
 
 " Be off to the Prince de Conde, brother, ask him for 
 a safe-conduct for ine, and find me a horse," cried the 
 preacher. " I must set out this moment." 
 
 " Write him a line then, that I may be admitted." 
 
 " Here," said Chaudieu, after writing a few lines, " ask 
 for a pass from the King of Navarre, for under existing 
 circumstances I must hasten to Geneva." 
 
 Within two hours all was ready, and the zealous minis- 
 ter was on his way to Geneva, escorted by one of the 
 King of Navarre's gentlemen, whose secretary Chaudieu 
 was supposed to be, and who was the bearer of instructions 
 to the Reformed party in Dauphine. 
 
 Chaudieu's sudden departure was at once permitted, to 
 further the interests of Queen Catherine, who, to gain 
 time, made a bold suggestion which was kept a profound 
 secret. This startling scheme accounts for the agree- 
 ment so unexpectedly arrived at between the Queen and 
 the leaders of the Protestant party. The crafty woman 
 had, as a guarantee of her good faith, expressed a desire
 
 204 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 to heal the breach between the two Churches, in an as- 
 sembly which could be neither a Synod, nor a Council, 
 nor a Convocation, for which indeed a new name was 
 needed, and, above all else, Calvin's consent. It may be 
 said in passing, that, when this mystery came out, it led 
 to the alliance of the Guises with the Connetable de Mont- 
 morency against Catherine and the King of Navarre a 
 strange coalition, known to history as the Triumvirate, 
 because the Marechal de Saint- Andr6 was the third person 
 in this purely Catholic combination, to which Catherine's 
 gtrange proposal for a meeting gave rise. The Guises 
 were then enabled to judge very shrewdly of Catherine's 
 policy ; they saw that the Queen cared little enough for 
 this assembly, and only wanted to temporize with her allies 
 till Charles IX. should be of age ; indeed, they deceived 
 Montmorency by making him believe in a collusion be- 
 tween Catherine and the Bourbons, while Catherine was 
 taking them all in. The Queen, it will be seen, had in 
 a short time made great strides. 
 
 The spirit of argument and discussion which was then 
 in the air was particularly favorable to this scheme. 
 The Catholics and the Huguenots were all to shine in turn 
 in this tournament of words. Indeed, that is exactly what 
 happened. Is it not extraordinary that historians should 
 have mistaken the Queen's shrewdest craft for hesitancy ? 
 Catherine never went more directly to the end she had in 
 view than when she seemed to have turned her back on 
 it. So the King of Navarre, incapable of fathoming 
 Catherine's motives, despatched Chaudieu to Calvin ; 
 Chaudieu having secretly intended to watch the course of 
 events at Orleans; where he ran, every hour, the risk of 
 being seized and hanged without trial, like any man who 
 had been condemned to banishment. 
 
 At the rate of traveling then possible Ohaudieu oould 
 not reach Geneva before the month of February, the 
 negotiations could not be completed till March, and the
 
 Catherine de' Medici 205 
 
 meeting could not be called till the beginning of May 
 1561. Catherine intended to amuse the Court meanwhile, 
 and lull party-feeling by the King's coronation, and by 
 his first Bed of Justice in the Parlement when L'Hdpital 
 and de Thou passed the royal letter, by which Charles IX. 
 intrusted the Government of the kingdom to his mother, 
 seconded by Antoine de Navarre as Lieutenant-General of 
 the realm the weakest prince of his time. 
 
 Was it not one of the strangest things of that day to 
 gee a whole kingdom in suspense for the Yea or Nay of a 
 French citizen, risen from obscurity, and living at Geneva ? 
 The Pope of Rome held in check by the Pope of Geneva ? 
 The two Princes of Lorraine, once so powerful, paralyzed 
 by the brief concord between the first Prince of the 
 Blood, the Queen-mother, and Calvin ? Is it not one of 
 the most pregnant lessons that history has preserved to 
 kings, a lesson that should teach them to judge of men, to 
 give genius its due without any hesitation, and to seek it 
 out, as Louis XIV. did, wherever God has hidden it ? 
 
 Calvin, whose real name was not Calvin, but Cauvin, 
 was the son of a cooper at Noyon, in Picardy. Calvin's 
 birthplace accounts to a certain degree for the obstinacy 
 mingled with eccentric irritability which characterize the 
 arbiter of the destinies of France in the sixteenth century. 
 No one is less known than this man, who was the maker 
 of Geneva and of the spirit of its people. Jean-Jacques 
 Rousseau, who knew little of history, was utterly ignorant 
 of this man's influence on his Republic. 
 
 At first, indeed, Calvin, dwelling in one of the humblest 
 houses in the upper town, near the Protestant Church of 
 Saint-Pierre, over a carpenter's shop one point of re- 
 semblance between him and Robespierre had no great 
 authority in Geneva. His influence was for a long time 
 checked by the hatred of the Genevese. 
 
 In the sixteenth century Geneva could boast of Farel, 
 one of those famous citizens who have remained unknown
 
 206 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 to the world, some of them even to Geneva itself. In the 
 year 1537, or thereabouts, this Farel attached Calvin to 
 Geneva by pointing out to him that it might become the 
 stronghold of a reformation more thorough than that of 
 Luther. Farel and Cauvin looked on Lutheranism as an 
 incomplete achievement, ineffectual, and with no hold on 
 France. Geneva, lying between France and Italy, speak- 
 ing the French tongue, was admirably placed for com- 
 municating with Germany, Italy, and France. Calvin 
 adopted Geneva as the seat of his spiritual fortunes, and 
 made it the citadel of his dogmas. At FareFs request, 
 the town council of Geneva authorized Calvin to lecture 
 on theology in the month of September 1538. Calvin left 
 preaching to Farel, his first disciple, and patiently devoted 
 himself to teaching his doctrine. His authority, which 
 in the later years of his life was paramount, took long to 
 establish. The great leader met with serious difficulties ; 
 he was even banished from Geneva for some time in con- 
 sequence of the austerity of his doctrines. There was a 
 party of very good folks who clung to their old luxury 
 and the customs of their fathers. But, as is always the 
 case, these worthy people dreaded ridicule ; they would 
 not admit what was the real object of their struggles, and 
 the battle was fought over details apart from the real 
 question. 
 
 Calvin insisted on leavened bread being used for the 
 Sacrament, and on there being no holy days but Sunday. 
 These innovations were disapproved of at Berne and at 
 Lausanne. The Genevese were required to conform to 
 the ritual of Switzerland. Calvin and Farel resisted ; 
 their political enemies made a pretext of this refractori- 
 ness to exile them from Geneva, whence they were ban- 
 ished for some years. At a later period Calvin came 
 back in triumph, invited by his flock. 
 
 Such persecution is always a consecration of moral power 
 when the prophet can wait. And this return was the era
 
 Catherine de' Medici 207 
 
 of this Mahomet. Executions began, and Calvin organized 
 his religious Terror. As soon as this commanding spirit 
 reappeared, he was admitted to the citizenship of Geneva ; 
 but after fourteen years' residence there, he was not yet 
 on the Council. At the time when Catherine was de- 
 spatching a minister to treat with him, this king in the 
 realm of thought had no title but that of Pastor of the 
 Church of Geneva. Indeed, Calvin never had more than 
 a hundred and fifty francs a year in money, fifteen hun- 
 dred-weight of corn and two casks of wine for his whole 
 remuneration. His brother, a tailor, kept a shop a few 
 paces away from the Place Saint-Pierre, in a street where 
 one of Calvin's printing-places may still be seen. 
 
 Such disinterestedness, which in Voltaire and Bacon 
 was lacking, but which is conspicuous in the life of 
 Babelais, of Campanella, of Luther, of Vico, of Descartes, 
 of Malebranche, of Spinoza, of Loyola, of Kant, and of 
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, surely forms a noble setting for 
 these sublime and ardent souls. 
 
 Eobespierre's life, so like that of Calvin, can alone 
 perhaps enable our contemporaries to understand Calvin's. 
 He, founding his power on a similar basis, was as cruel 
 and as tyrannical as the Arras lawyer. It is strange too 
 that Picardy Arras and Noyon should have given to the 
 world these two great instruments of reform. Those who 
 examine into the motives of the executions ordered by 
 Calvin will find, on a different scale, no doubt, all of 1793 
 at Geneva. Calvin had Jacques Gruet beheaded "for 
 having written impious letters and worldly verse, and la- 
 bored to overthrow Church ordinances." Just consider 
 this sentence, and ask yourself if the worst despotism 
 can show in its annals a more absurdly preposterous 
 indictment. 
 
 Valentin Gentilis, condemned to death for involuntary 
 heresy, escaped the scaffold only by making more humilia- 
 ting amends than ever were inflicted by the Catholic
 
 208 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Church. Seven years before the conference presently to 
 be held in Calvin's house on the Queen-mother's pro- 
 posals, Michel Servent (or Servetus), a Frenchman, passing 
 through Geneva, was put in prison, tried, condemned on 
 Calvin's testimony, and burnt alive for having attacked 
 the mystery of the Trinity in a work which had not been 
 either composed or printed at Geneva. Compare with 
 this the eloquent defense of Jean-Jacques Bonsseau, whose 
 book, attacking the Catholic religion, written in France, 
 and published in Holland, was indeed burnt by the hand 
 of the executioner ; but the writer, a foreigner, was only 
 banished from the kingdom, where he had been trying to 
 strike at the fundamental truths of religion and govern- 
 ment ; and compare the conduct of the Parlement with 
 that of the Genevese tyrant. 
 
 Bolsee, again, was brought to judgment for having 
 other ideas than Calvin on the subject of predestination. 
 "Weigh all this, and say whether Fouquier-Tinville did 
 anything worse. Calvin's fierce religious intolerance was, 
 morally speaking, more intense, more implacable, than 
 the fierce political intolerance of Robespierre. On a 
 wider stage than was offered by Geneva, Calvin would 
 have shed more blood than the terrible apostle of political 
 equality, as compared with Catholic equality. 
 
 Three centuries earlier a monk, also a son of Picardy, 
 had led the Avhole of Western Europe to invade the East. 
 Peter the Hermit, Calvin, and Robespierre, sons of the 
 same soil, at intervals of three centuries, were, in a polit- 
 ical sense, the levers of Archimedes. Each in turn was 
 an embodied idea finding its fulcrum in the interests of 
 man. 
 
 Calvin is, beyond doubt, the almost unrecognized 
 maker of that dismal town of Geneva, where, only ten 
 years since, a man, pointing out a carriage gate the first 
 in the town, for till then there had only been house doors 
 in Geneva said, " Through that gate luxury drove into
 
 Catherine de' Medici 209 
 
 Geneva/' Calvin, by the severity of his sentences and 
 the austerity of his doctrine, introduced the hypocritical 
 feeling that has been well called Puritanism [the nearest 
 English equivalent perhaps to the French word mtimerie]. 
 Good conduct, according to the momiers or puritans, lay 
 in renouncing the arts and the graces of life, in eating 
 well but without luxury, and in silently amassing money 
 without enjoying it otherwise than as Calvin enjoyed his 
 power in fancy. 
 
 Calvin clothed the citizens in the same gloomy livery 
 as he threw over life in general. He formed in the Con- 
 sistory a perfect Calvinist inquisition, exactly like the 
 revolutionary tribunal instituted by Eobespierre. The 
 Consistory handed over the victims to be condemned by 
 the Council, which Calvin ruled through the Consistory 
 just as Robespierre ruled the Convention through the 
 Jacobin Club. Thus an eminent magistrate of Geneva 
 was sentenced to two months' imprisonment, to lose his 
 office, and to be prohibited from ever filling any other, 
 because he led a dissolute life and had made friends among 
 Calvin's foes. In this way Calvin was actually a legislator ; 
 it was he who created the austere manners, sober, respec- 
 table, hideously dull, but quite irreproachable, which have 
 remained unchanged in Geneva to this day ; they pre- 
 vailed there indeed before the English habits were formed 
 that are universally known as Puritanism, under the 
 influence of the Cameronians, the followers of Cameron, a 
 Frenchman who trod in Calvin's steps. These manners 
 have been admirably described by Walter Scott. 
 
 The poverty of this man, an absolute sovereign, who 
 treated as a power with other powers, asking for their 
 treasure, demanding armies, and filling his hands with 
 their money for the poor, proves that the Idea, regarded 
 as the sole means of dominion, begets political misers, 
 men whose only enjoyment is intellectual, and who, like 
 the Jesuits, love power for its own sake, Pitt, Lather, 
 14
 
 210 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Calvin, and Robespierre, all these Harpagons in greed of 
 dominion, died penniless. History has preserved the 
 inventory made in Calvin's rooms after his death, and 
 everything, including his books, was valued at fifty 
 crowns. Luther's possessions amounted to as much ; 
 indeed, his widow, the famous Catherine de Bora, was 
 obliged to petition for a pension of fifty crowns bestowed 
 on her by a German Elector. 
 
 Potemkin, Mazarin, and Richelieu, men of thought and 
 action, who all three founded or prepared the foundations 
 of empires, each left three hundred millions of francs ; 
 but these men had a heart, they loved women and the 
 arts, they built and conquered ; while, with the exception 
 of Luther, whose wife was the Helen of this Iliad, none 
 of the others could accuse himself of ever having felt his 
 heart throb for a woman. 
 
 This brief history was needed to explain Calvin's posi- 
 tion at Geneva. 
 
 One day early in February, 1561, on one of the mild 
 evenings which occur at that time of year on the shores 
 of Lake Leman, two men on horseback arrived at Pr6- 
 l'Evque, so called from the ancient residence of the 
 Bishop of Geneva, driven out thirty years before. These 
 two men, acquainted, no doubt, with the laws of Geneva 
 as to the closing of the gates, very necessary then, and 
 . absurd enough in these days, rode towards the Porte de 
 Rives ; but they suddenly drew rein at the sight of a man 
 of fifty, walking with the help of a woman-servant's arm, 
 and evidently returning to the town. This personage, 
 rather stout in figure, walked slowly and with difficulty, 
 dragging one foot before the other with evident pain, and 
 wearing broad, laced shoes of black velvet. 
 
 " It is he," said Chaudieu's companion, who dismounted, 
 gave his bridle to the preacher, and went forward open- 
 armed to meet the master. 
 
 The man on foot, who was in fact Jean Calvin, drew
 
 Catherine de' Medici 211 
 
 back to avoid the embrace, and cast the severest glance at 
 his disciple. At the age of fifty Calvin looked like a man 
 of seventy. Thick-set and fat, he seemed all the shorter 
 because frightful pain from the stone obliged him to walk 
 much bent. These sufferings were complicated with 
 attacks of the worst form of gout. Anybody might have 
 quaked at the aspect of that face, almost as broad as it 
 was long, and bearing no more signs of good-nature, in 
 spite of its roundness, than that of the dreadful King 
 Henry VIII. , whom Calvin, in fact, resembled. His 
 sufferings, which never gave him a reprieve, were visible 
 in two deep furrows on each side of his nose, following 
 the line of his mustache, and ending, like it, in a full 
 gray beard. 
 
 This face, though red and inflamed like a drunkard's, 
 showed patches where his complexion was yellow ; still, 
 and in spite of the velvet cap that covered his massive, 
 broad head, it was possible to admire a large and nobly 
 formed forehead, and beneath it two sparkling brown 
 eyes, which in moments of wrath could flash fire. Whether 
 by reason of his bulk, or because his neck was too thick 
 and short, or as a consequence of late hours and incessant 
 work, Calvin's head seemed sunk between his broad 
 shoulders, which compelled him to wear a quite shallow, 
 pleated ruff, on which his face rested like John the Bap- 
 tist's in the charger. Between his mustache and his 
 beard there peeped, like a rose, a sweet and eloquent 
 mouth, small, and fresh, and perfectly formed. This 
 face was divided by a square nose remarkable for its long 
 aquiline outline, resulting in high-lights at the tip, signif- 
 icantly in harmony with the prodigious power expressed 
 in his magnificent head. 
 
 Though it was difficult to detect in these features any 
 trace of the constant headaches which tormented Calvin 
 in the intervals of a slow fever that was consuming him, 
 pain, constantly defied by study and a strong will, gave
 
 212 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 this apparently florid face a terrible tinge, attributable, no 
 doubt, to the hne of the layer of fat due to the sedentary 
 habits of a hard worker. It bore the marks of the per- 
 petual struggle of a sickly temperament against one of 
 the strongest wills known in the history of mankind. 
 Even the lips, though beautiful, expressed cruelty. A 
 chaste life, indispensable to vast projects, and compnlgory 
 in such conditions of sickly health, had set its stamp on 
 the face. There was regret in the serenity of that mighty 
 brow, and suffering in the gaze of the eyes, whose calm- 
 ness was a terror. 
 
 Calvin's dress gave effect to his head, for he wore the 
 famous black cloth gown, belted with a cloth band and 
 brass buckle, which was adopted as the costume of Cal- 
 vinist preachers, and which, having nothing to attract the 
 eye, directed all the spectator's attention to the face. 
 
 "lam in too great pain to embrace you, Theodore," 
 said Calvin to the elegant horseman. 
 
 Theodore de Be"ze, at that time two-and-forty, and, by 
 Calvin's desire, a free citizen of Geneva for two years past, 
 was the most striking contrast to the terrible minister to 
 whom he had given his allegiance. Calvin, like all men 
 of the middle class who have risen to moral supremacy, 
 like all inventors of a social system, was consumed with 
 jealousy. He abhorred his disciples, would suffer no 
 equal, and could not endure the slightest contradiction. 
 However, between him and Theodore de Beze the differ- 
 ence was so great ; this elegant gentleman, gifted with a 
 charming appearance, polished, courteous, and accustomed 
 to Court life, was, in his eyes, so unlike all his fierce Jan- 
 issaries, that for him he set aside his usual impulses. He 
 never loved him, for this crabbed lawgiver knew absolutely 
 nothing of friendship ; but having no fear of finding his 
 successor in him, he liked to play with Theodore, as Rich- 
 elieu at a later time played with hie cat. He found him 
 pliant and amusing. When he saw that de B$z succeeded
 
 Catherine de' Medici 218 
 
 to perfection in every mission, he took delight in the pol- 
 ished tool of which he believed himself to be the soul and 
 guide ; so true is it that even those men who seem most 
 surly cannot live without some semblance of affection. 
 
 Tbiodore was Calvin' s spoilt child. The great Reformer 
 never scolded him, overlooked his irregularities, his love 
 affairs, his handsome dress, and his choice language. 
 Possibly Calvin was well content to show that the Refor- 
 mation could hold its own even among Court circles. 
 Th6odore de B6ze wanted to introduce a taste for art, let- 
 ters, and poetry into Geneva, and Calvin would listen to his 
 schemes without knitting his grizzled brows. Thus the 
 contrast of character and person was as complete as the 
 contrast of mind in these two celebrated men. 
 
 Calvin accepted Chaudieu's very humble bow, and re- 
 plied by slightly bending his head. Chaudieu slipped the 
 bridles of both horses over his right arm and followed the 
 two great Reformers, keeping to the right of Theodore de 
 B6ze, who was walking on Calvin's right. Calvin's house- 
 keeper ran forward to prevent the gate being shut, by 
 telling the captain of the Guard that the Pastor had just 
 had a severe attack of pain. 
 
 Theodore de Beze was a native of the Commune of 
 V6zelay, the first to demand for itself corporate govern- 
 ment, of which the curious tale has been told by one of 
 the Thierrys. Thus the spirit of citizenship and resistance 
 which were endemic at Ve'zelay no doubt contributed an 
 item to the great rising of the Reformers in the person of 
 this man, who is certainly a most singular figure in the 
 history of heresy. 
 
 " So you still suffer great pain ? " said Theodore to 
 Calvin. 
 
 " The sufferings of the damned, a Catholic would say/' 
 replied the Reformer, with the bitterness that colored his 
 least remarks. " Ah ! I am going fast, my son, and what 
 will become of you when I am gore ? "
 
 214 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 ' ' We will fight by the light of your writings/' said 
 Chandieu. 
 
 Calvin smiled ; his purple face assumed a more gracious 
 expression, and he looked kindly on Chaudieu. 
 
 " Well have you brought me any news ? " he asked. 
 "Have they killed a great many of us ?" he added, with a 
 sinile, and a sort of mocking glee sparkled in his brown eyes. 
 
 "No," said Chaudieu ; " peace is the order of the day." 
 
 " So much the worse, so much the worse ! " cried Cal- 
 vin. " Every form of peace would be a misfortune if it 
 were not always, in fact, a snare. Our strength lies in 
 persecution. Where should we be if the Church took up 
 the Eef ormation ? " 
 
 "Indeed," said Theodore, "that is what the Queen- 
 mother seems inclined to do/' 
 
 " She is quite capable of it," said Calvin. " I am study- 
 ing that woman." 
 
 " From hence ? " cried Chaudieu. 
 
 " Does distance exists for the spirit ? " said Calvin se- 
 verely, regarding the interruption as irreverent. " Cath- 
 erine longs for power, and women who aim at that lose all 
 sense of honor and faith. What is in the wind ?" 
 
 " Well, she suggests a sort of Council," said Thodore 
 de Beze. 
 
 ' ' Near Paris ? " asked Calvin roughly. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Ah ! that is well ! " said Calvin. 
 
 "And we are to try to come to an understanding, and 
 draw up a public Act to consolidate the two Churches." 
 
 " Ah ! if only she had courage enough to separate the 
 French Church from the court of Borne, and to create a 
 patriarch in France, as in the Greek Church ! " cried the 
 Eeformer, whose eyes glistened at this idea, which would 
 place him on a throne. " But, my son, can a Pope's 
 niece be truthful ? She only wants to gain time." 
 
 " And do not we need time to recover from our check
 
 Catherine de' Medici 215 
 
 at Amboise, and to organize some formidable resistance 
 in various parts of the kingdom ? " 
 
 " She has sent away the Queen of Scotland," said Chau- 
 dieu. 
 
 " That is one less, then," said Calvin, as they passed 
 through the Porte de Eives. " Elizabeth of England will 
 keep her busy. Two neighboring queens will soon be 
 fighting ; one is handsome, and the other ugly enough 
 a first cause of irritation ; and then there is the question 
 of legitimacy " 
 
 He rubbed his hands, and his glee had such a ferocious 
 taint that de Beze shuddered, for he too saw the pool of 
 blood at which his master was gazing. 
 
 " The Guises had provoked the House of Bourbon," 
 said de Beze after a pause ; " they broke the stick between 
 them at Orleans." 
 
 " Ay," said Calvin ; " and you, my son, did not believe 
 me when, as you last started for Nerac, I told you that 
 we should end by stirring up war to the death between 
 the two branches of the royal family of France. 
 
 " So at last 1 have a court, a king, a dynasty on my 
 side. My doctrine has had its effect on the masses. The 
 citizen class understand me ; henceforth they will call 
 those who go to Mass idolaters, those who paint the walls 
 of their place of worship, and put up pictures and statues 
 there. Oh, the populace find it far easier to demolish 
 cathedrals and palaces than to discuss justification by 
 faith or the real presence ! Luther was a wrangler, I am 
 an army ! He was a reasoner, I am a system ! He, my 
 child, was but a tormentor, I am a Tarqnin ! 
 
 " Yes, they of the truth will destroy churches, will 
 tear down pictures, will make millstones of the statues to 
 grind the bread of the people. There are bodies in great 
 States, I will have only individuals ; bodies are too resis- 
 tant, and see clearly when individuals are blind. 
 
 " Now, we must combine this agitating doctrine with
 
 216 Catherine da' Medici 
 
 political interests, to consolidate it and to keep up the 
 material of my armies. I have satisfied the logic of 
 thrifty minds and thinking brains by this bare, undecorated 
 worship which lifts religion into the sphere of the ideal. 
 I have made the mob understand the advantages of the 
 suppression of ceremonial. 
 
 " Now it is your part, Theodore, to enlist people's in* 
 terests, Do not overstep that line. In the way of doc- 
 trine everything has been done, everything has been said ; 
 add not one jot ! Why does Cameron, that little pasteur 
 in Gascony, meddle with writing ? " 
 
 Calvin, Theodore de Beze, and Chaudieu went along the 
 streets of the upper town and through the crowd, without 
 any attention being paid to the men who were unchaining 
 the mob in cities and ravaging France. After this terrify- 
 ing harangue, they walked on in silence, till they reached 
 the little square of Saint-Pierre, and made their way to- 
 wards the minister's dwelling. Calvin's lodging consisted 
 of three rooms on the second floor of this house, which 
 is hardly known, and of which no one ever tells you in 
 Geneva where, indeed, there is no statue to Calvin. The 
 rooms were floored and wainscoted with pine, and on one 
 side there were a kitchen and a servant's room. The en- 
 trance, as is commonly the case in Genevese houses, was 
 through the kitchen, which opened into a small room 
 with two windows, parlor, dining, and drawing-room in 
 one. Next to this was the study where, for fourteen years, 
 Calvin's mind had carried on the battle with pain, and be- 
 yond was his bedroom. Four oak chairs with tapestry 
 seats, placed round a long table, formed all the furniture 
 of the sitting-room. A white earthenware stove in one 
 corner of the room gave out a pleasant warmth ; paneling 
 of unvarnished pine covered the walls, and there was no 
 other decoration. The bareness of the place was quite in 
 keeping with the frugal and simple life led by the Be- 
 former.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 217 
 
 " Well, " said de B6ze, as he went in, taking advantage 
 of a few minutes when Ghaudieu had left them to put 
 up the horses at a neighboring inn, " what am I to do ? 
 Will you agree to this meeting ? " 
 
 " Certainly, " said Calvin. " You, my son, will bear the 
 brunt of the struggle. Be decisive, absolute. Nobody, 
 neither the Queen, nor the Guises, nor I want pacification 
 as a result; it would not suit our purpose. I have much 
 confidence in Duplessis-Mornay. Give him the leading 
 
 part. We are alone " said he, with a suspicious glance 
 
 into the kitchen, of which the door was open, showing two 
 shirts and some collars hung to dry on a line. " Go and 
 shut all the doors. Well," he went on, when Theodore 
 had done his bidding, "we must compel the King of 
 Navarre to join the Guises and the Conn6table de Mont- 
 morency, by advising him to desert Queen Catherine de' 
 Medici. Let us take full advantage of his weakness ; he 
 is but a poor creature. If he prove a turncoat to the Ital- 
 ian woman, she, finding herself bereft of his support, 
 must inevitably join the Prince de Conde and Coligny. 
 Such a manoeuver may possibly compromise her so effect- 
 ually that she must remain on our side " 
 
 Th&odore de B6ze raised the hem of Calvin's gown and 
 kissed it. 
 
 " Oh, master," said he, "you are indeed great !" 
 
 " Unfortunately, I am dying, my dear Theodore. If I 
 should die before seeing you again," he went on, whisper- 
 ing in the ear of his Minister for Foreign Affairs, " re- 
 member to strike a great blow by the hand of one of our 
 martyrs." 
 
 " Another Minard to be killed ? " 
 
 " Higher than a lawyer." 
 
 "A king?" 
 
 " Higher still The man who wants to be King." 
 
 " The Duo d Guise I " cried Theodore, with a gesture 
 of dismay.
 
 218 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " Well/* cried Calvin, fancying that lie discerned re- 
 fusal, or at least an instinct of resistance, and failing to 
 notice the entrance of Chaudieu, " have we not a right to 
 strike as we are struck ? Yes, and in darkness and silence ! 
 May we not return wound for wound, and death for death? 
 Do the Catholics hesitate to lay snares for us and kill us ? 
 I trust to you ! Burn their churches. Go on, my sons ! 
 If you have any devoted youths " 
 
 " I have," Chaudieu put in. 
 
 " Use them as weapons of war. To triumph, we may 
 use every means. The Balafre, that terrible man of war, 
 is, like me, more than a man ; he is a dynasty, as I am a 
 system ; he is capable of annihilating us ! Death to the 
 Due de Guise ! " 
 
 " I should prefer a peaceful victory, brought about by 
 time and reason," said de Be"ze. 
 
 " By time ! " cried Calvin, flinging over his chair. 
 " By reason ! Are you mad ? Conquer by reason ? Do 
 you know nothing of men, you who live among them 
 idiot ? What is so fatal to my teaching, thrice-dyed 
 simpleton, is that it is based on reason. By the thunders 
 of Saint Paul, by the sword of the Mighty ! Pumpkin as 
 you are, Theodore, cannot you see the power that the 
 catastrophe at Amboise has given to my reforms ? Ideas 
 can never grow till they are watered with blood. The 
 murder of the Due de Guise would give rise to a fearful 
 persecution, and I hope for it with all my might ! To us 
 reverses are more favorable than success ! The Reforma- 
 tion can be beaten and endure, do yon hear, oaf ? Whereas 
 Catholicism is overthrown if we win a single battle. 
 
 "What are these lieutenants of mine ? Wet rags and 
 not men ! Guts on two legs ! Christened baboons ! O 
 God, wilt Thou not grant me another ten years to live ? 
 If I die too soon, the cause of religion is lost in the hands 
 of such rascals ! 
 
 " YOU are as helpless as Antoine de Navarre ! Begone !
 
 Catherine de' Medici 219 
 
 leave me ! I must have a better messenger ! You are an 
 ass, a popinjay, a poet ! Go, write your Catullics, your 
 Tibullics, your acrostics 1 Hoo ! " 
 
 The pain he suffered was entirely swamped by the fires 
 of his wrath. Gout vanished before this fearful excite- 
 ment. Calvin's face was blotched with purple, like the 
 sky before a storm. His broad forehead shone. His eyes 
 flashed fire. He was not like the same man. He let him- 
 self give way to this sort of epileptic frenzy, almost mad- 
 ness, which was habitual with him ; but, then struck by 
 the silence of his two listeners, and observing Chaudieu, 
 who said to de Beze, " The burning bush of Horeb ! " the 
 minister sat down, was dumb, and covered his face with 
 his hands, with their thickened joints, and his fingers 
 quivered in spite of their strength. 
 
 A few minutes later, while still trembling from the last 
 shocks of this tempest the result of his austere life he 
 said in a broken voice 
 
 "My vices, which are many, are less hard to subdue 
 than my impatience ! Ah ! wild beast, shall I never con- 
 quer you ? " he exclaimed, striking his breast. 
 
 " My beloved master," said de Beze in a caressing tone, 
 taking his hands and kissing them, " Jove thunders, but 
 he can smile." 
 
 Calvin looked at his disciple with a softened expression. 
 
 " Do not misunderstand me, my friends," he said. 
 
 " I understand that the shepherds of nations have ter- 
 rible burdens to bear," replied Theodore. " You have a 
 world on your shoulders." 
 
 " I," said Chaudieu, who had become thoughtful under 
 the master's abuse, " have three martyrs on whom we can 
 depend. Stewart, who killed the President, is free " 
 
 " That will not do," said Calvin mildly, and smiling, as 
 a great man can smile when fair weather follows a storm 
 on his face, as if he were ashamed of the tempest. " I know 
 men. He who kills one President will not kill a second,"
 
 220 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " Is it absolutely necessary ? " said de B6ze. 
 
 " What, again ? " cried Calvin, his nostrils expanding. 
 if There, go ; you will put me in a rage again. You have 
 my decision. You, Chaudieu, walk in your own path, 
 and keep the Paris flock together. God be with you. 
 Dinah ! Light my friends out." 
 
 " Will you not allow me to embrace you ? " said de Bdze 
 with emotion. " Who can tell what the morrow will bring 
 forth ? We may be imprisoned in spite of safe-con- 
 ducts " 
 
 " And yet you want to spare them ! " said Calvin, em- 
 bracing de B&ze. 
 
 He took Chaudieu's hand, saying 
 
 " Mind you, not Huguenots, not Reformers : be Cal- 
 Tinists ! Speak only of Calvinism. Alas ! this is not 
 ambition, for I am a dying man ! Only, everything of 
 Luther's must be destroyed, to the very names of Lutheran 
 and Lutheranism." 
 
 " Indeed, divine man, yon deserve such honor ! " cried 
 Chaudieu. 
 
 "Uphold uniformity of creed. Do not allow any 
 further examination or reconstruction. If new sects arise 
 from among us, we are lost." 
 
 To anticipate events and dismiss Theodore de Bze, 
 who returned to Paris with Chaudieu, it may be said that 
 Poltrot, who, eighteen months later, fired a pistol at the 
 Due de Guise, confessed, under torture, that he had been 
 urged to the crime by Theodore de Beze ; however, he re- 
 tracted this statement at a later stage. Indeed, Bossuet, 
 who weighed all the historical evidence, did not think 
 that the idea of this attempt was due to Theodore de Bze. 
 Since Bossuet, however, a dissertation of an apparently 
 trivial character apropos to a famous ballad, enabled a com- 
 piler of the eighteenth century to prove that the song sung 
 throughout France by the Huguenots on the death of the 
 Duo de Guise was written by Theodore de Bdze j and,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 221 
 
 moreover, that the well-known ballad or lament on Mal- 
 brouck the Duke of Marlborough is plagiarized from 
 Theodore de Beze. 1 
 
 On the day when Theodore de BSze and Chaudieu 
 reached Paris, the Court had returned thither from Reims, 
 where Charles IX. had been crowned. This ceremony, to 
 which Catherine gave unusual splendor, making it the oc- 
 casion of great festivities, enabled her to gather round her 
 the leaders of every faction. 
 
 After studying the various parties and interests, she saw 
 a choice of two alternatives either to enlist them on the 
 aide of the Throne, or to set them against each other. 
 The Connetable de Montmorency, above all else a Catho- 
 lic, whose nephew, the Prince de Cond6 was the leader of 
 the Reformation, and whose children also had a leaning 
 to that creed, blamed the Queen-mother for allying her- 
 self with that party. The Guises, on their side, worked 
 hard to gain over Antoine de Bourbon, a Prince of no 
 strength of character, and attach him to their faction, 
 and his wife, the Queen of Navarre, informed by de 
 Bze, allowed this to be done. These difficulties checked 
 Catherine, whose newly-acquired authority needed a brief 
 period of tranquillity ; she impatiently awaited Calvin's 
 reply by de Beze and Chaudieu, sent to the great Re- 
 former on behalf of the Prince de Conde the King of 
 Navarre, Coligny, d'Andelot, and Cardinal de Ch&tillon. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Queen-mother was true to her promises 
 to the Prince de Cond6. The Chancellor quashed the 
 trial, in which Christophe was involved, by referring the 
 case to the Paris Parlement, and they annulled the sen- 
 tence pronounced by the Commission, declaring it incom- 
 petent to try a Prince of the Blood. The Parlement re- 
 opened the trial by the desire of the Guises and the Queen- 
 mother. La Sagne's papers had been placed in Catherine's 
 1 Sea note at the end of this volume.
 
 222 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 hands, and she had burnt them. This sacrifice was the 
 first pledge given, quite vainly, by the Guises to the Queen- 
 mother. The Parlement, not having this decisive evi- 
 dence, re-instated the Prince in all his rights, possessions, 
 and honors. 
 
 Christophe, thus released when Orleans was in all its 
 excitement over the King's accession, was excluded from 
 the case, and, as a compensation for his sufferings, was 
 passed as a pleader by Monsieur de Thou. 
 
 The Triumvirate the coalition of interests which were 
 imperiled by Catherine's first steps in authority was 
 hatching under her very eyes. Just as in chemistry hos- 
 tile elements fly asunder at the shock that disturbs their 
 compulsory union, so in politics the alliance of antagonis- 
 tic interests can never last long. Catherine fully under- 
 stood that, sooner or later, she must fall back on the Con- 
 netable and the Guises to fight the Huguenots. The con- 
 vocation, which served to flatter the vanity of the orators 
 on each side, and as an excuse for another imposing cere- 
 mony after that of the coronation, to clear the blood-stained 
 field for the religions war that had, indeed, already begun, 
 was as futile in the eyes of the Guises as it was in Ca- 
 therine's. The Catholics could not fail to be the losers ; 
 for the Huguenots, under the pretence of discussion, would 
 be able to proclaim their doctrine in the face of all Prance, 
 under the protection of the King and his mother. The 
 Cardinal de Lorraine, flattered by Catherine into the hope 
 of conquering the heretics by the eloquence of the Princes 
 of the Church, induced his brother to consent. To the 
 Queen-mother six months of peace meant much. 
 
 A trivial incident was near wrecking the power which 
 Catherine was so laboriously building up. This is the 
 scene as recorded by history ; it occurred on the very day 
 when the envoys from Geneva arrived at the H6tel de Co- 
 ligny in Rue Bethisy, not far from the Louvre. At the 
 coronation, Charles IX, who was much attached to his
 
 Catherine de' Medici 228 
 
 instructor, Amyot, made him High Almoner of France. 
 This affection was fully shared by the Due d'Anjou (Henri 
 III.), who also was Amyot's pupil. 
 
 Catherine heard this from the two Gondis on the way 
 home from Eeims to Paris. She had relied on this Crown 
 appointment to gain her a supporter in the Church, and 
 a person of importance to set against the Cardinal de Lor- 
 raine ; she had intended to bestow it on Cardinal de Tour- 
 non, so as to find in him, as in l'H6pital, a second crutch 
 to use her own words. On arriving at the Louvre, she 
 sent for the preceptor. Her rage at seeing the catastrophe 
 that threatened her policy from the ambition of this self- 
 made man the son of a shoemaker was such that she 
 addressed him in this strange speech recorded by certain 
 chroniclers 
 
 " What ! I can make the Guises cringe, the Colignys, 
 the Montmorencys, the House of Navarre, the Prince de 
 Cond6, and I am to be balked by a priestling like you, 
 who were not content to be Bishop of Auxerre ! " 
 
 Amyot excused himself. He had, in fact, asked for 
 nothing ; the King had appointed him of his own free will 
 to this office, of which he, a humble teacher, regarded 
 himself as unworthy. 
 
 " Eest assured, Master," for it was by this name that 
 the Kings Charles IX. and Henri III. addressed this great 
 writer, " that you will not be left standing for twenty-four 
 hours unless you induce your pupil to change his mind/' 
 
 Between death promised him in such an uncompromis 
 ing way, and the abdication of the highest ecclesiastical 
 office in the kingdom, the shoemaker's son, who had grown 
 covetous, and hoped perhaps for a Cardinal's hat, deter- 
 mined to temporize. He hid in the abbey of Saint-Ger- 
 main en Laye. 
 
 At his first dinner, Charles IX., not seeing Amyot, asked 
 for him. Some Guisard, no doubt, told the King what 
 had passed between Amyot and the Queen-mother.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " What 1 " cried he, " has he been made away with be- 
 cause I created him High Almoner ? " 
 
 He went off to his mother in the violent state of a child 
 when one of his fancies is contravened. 
 
 " Madame/' said he, as he entered her room, " did I not 
 comply with your wishes, and sign the letter you asked 
 of me for the Parlement, by virtue of which you govern 
 my kingdom ? Did you not promise me, when you laid 
 it before me, that my will should be yours ? and now the 
 only favor I have cared to bestow excites your jealousy. 
 The Chancellor talks of making me of age at fourteen, 
 three years from hence, and you treat me as a child ! By 
 God, but I mean to be King, and as much a King as my 
 father and grandfather were kings 1 " 
 
 The tone and vehemence with which he spoke these 
 words were a revelation to Catherine of her son's true 
 character ; it was like a blow from a bludgeon on her 
 heart. 
 
 " And he speaks thus to me," thought she, " to me, who 
 made him King." " Monsieur," she said, " the business 
 of being King in such times as these is a difficult one, 
 and you do not yet know the master minds you have to 
 deal with. You will never have any true and trust- 
 worthy friend but your mother, or other adherents than 
 those whom she long since attached to her, and but for 
 whom you would perhaps not be alive at this day. The 
 Guises are averse both to your position and your person, 
 I would have you know. If they could sew me up in a 
 sack and throw me into the river," said she, pointing to 
 the Seine, "they would do it to-night. Those Lorrainers 
 feel that I am a lioness defending her cubs, and that stays 
 the bold hands they stretch out to clutch the crown. To 
 whom, to what is your preceptor attached ? where are his 
 allies ? What is his authority ? what services can he do 
 you? what weight will his words have ? Instead of gaining 
 a buttress to uphold your power, you have undermined it.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 225 
 
 " The Cardinal de Lorraine threatens you ; he plays the 
 King, and keeps his hat on his head in the presence of the 
 first Prince of the Blood ; was it not necessary to counter- 
 balance him with another cardinal, invested with authority 
 equal to his own ? Is Amyot, a shoe-maker who might 
 tie the bows of his shoes, the man to defy him to his face ? 
 Well, well, you are fond of Amyot. You have appointed 
 him ! Your first decision shall be respected, my Lord ! 
 But before deciding any further, have the kindness to 
 consult me. Listen to reasons of State, and your boyish 
 good sense will perhaps agree with my old woman's experi- 
 ence before deciding, when yon know all the difficulties." 
 
 " You must bring back my master ! " said the King, 
 not listening very carefully to the Queen, on finding her 
 speech full of reproofs. 
 
 " Yes, you shall have him," replied she. " But not he, 
 nor even that rough Cypierre, can teach you to reign." 
 
 " It is you, my dear mother," he exclaimed, mollified by 
 his triumph, and throwing off the threatening and sly ex- 
 pression which Nature had stamped on his physiognomy. 
 
 Catherine sent Gondi to find the High Almoner. When 
 the Florentine had discovered Amyot's retreat, and the 
 Bishop heard that the courtier came from the Queen, he 
 was seized with terror, and would not come out of the 
 Abbey. In this extremity Catherine was obliged to write 
 to him himself, and in such terms that he came back and 
 obtained the promise of her support, but only on condition 
 of his obeying her blindly in all that concerned the King. 
 
 This little domestic tempest being lulled, Catherine 
 came back to the Louvre. It was more than a year since 
 che had left it, and she now held council with her nearest 
 friends as to how she was to deal with the young King, 
 whom Cypierre had complimented on his firmness. 
 
 " What is to be done ? " said she to the two Gondig, 
 Kuggieri, Birague, and Chiverni, now tutor and Chan- 
 cellor to the Due d'Aajou. 
 15
 
 226 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " First Q'l all," said Birague, " get rid of Cypierre ; he 
 is not a courtier, he will never fall in with your views, 
 and will think he is doing his duty by opposing you." 
 
 " Whom can I trust ? " cried the Queen. 
 
 " One of us," said Birague. 
 
 " By my faith," said Gondi, " I promise to make the 
 King as pliant as the King of Navarre." 
 
 " You let the late King die to save your other children; 
 well, then, do as the grand Signors of Constantinople do : 
 crush this one's passions and fancies," said Albert de 
 Gondi. " He likes the arts, poetry, hunting, and a little 
 girl he saw at Orleans ; all this is quite enough to occupy 
 him." 
 
 " Then you would be the King's tutor ? " said Catherine, 
 to the more capable of the two Gondis. 
 
 " If you will give me the necessary authority ; it might 
 be well to make me a Marshal, of France and a Duke. 
 Cypierre is too small a man to continue in that office. 
 Henceforth the tutor of a King of France should be a 
 Marshal and Duke, or something of the kind " 
 
 " He is right," said Biragne. 
 
 "Poetry and hunting," said Catherine, in a dreamy 
 voice. 
 
 ' ' We will hunt and make love ! " cried Gondi. 
 
 " Besides," said Chiverni, " you are sure of Amyot, who 
 will always be afraid of a drugged cup in case of disobedi- 
 ence, and with Gondi you will have the King in leading 
 strings." 
 
 " You were resigned to the loss of one son to save the 
 three others and the Crown ; now you must have the 
 courage to keep this one occupied to save the kingdom 
 to save yourself perhaps," said Euggieri. 
 
 " He has just offended me deeply," said Catherine. 
 
 " He does not know how much he owes you ; and if he 
 did, you would not be safe," Birague replied with grave 
 emphasis.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 227 
 
 " It is settled," said the Queen, on whom this reply had 
 a startling effect ; " you are to be the King's governor, 
 Gondi. The King must make me a return in favor of 
 one of my friends for the concession I have made for that 
 cowardly Bishop. But the fool has lost the Cardinal's 
 hat ; so long as I live I will hinder the Pope from fitting 
 it to his head ! We should have been very strong with 
 Cardinal de Tournon to support us. What a trio they 
 would have made : he as High Almoner with 1'Hopital 
 and de Thou ! As to the citizens of Paris, I mean to make 
 my son coax them over, and we will lean on them/' 
 
 And Gondi was, in fact, made a Marshal, created Due 
 de Eetz and tutor to the King, within a few days. 
 
 This little Council was just over when Cardinal de Tour- 
 non came to announce to the Queen the messengers from 
 Calvin. Admiral Coligny escorted them to secure them 
 respectful treatment at the Louvre. The Queen sum- 
 moned her battalion of maids of honor, and went into the 
 great reception-room built by her husband, which no 
 longer exists in the Louvre of our day. 
 
 At that time the staircase of the Louvre was in the clock- 
 tower. Catherine's rooms were in the older part of the 
 building, part of which survives in the Tour du Musee. 
 The present staircase to the galleries was built where the 
 Salle des ballets was before it. A ballet at that time meant 
 a sort of dramatic entertainment performed by ' all the 
 Court. 
 
 Revolutionary prejudice led to the most ridiculous mis- 
 take as to Charles IX a propos to the Louvre. During 
 the Revolution a belief defamatory of this King, whose 
 character has been caricatured, made a monster of him. 
 Chenier's tragedy was written under the provocation of 
 the tablet hung up on the window of the part of the palace 
 that projects towards the Quay. On it were these words, 
 " From this window Charles IX. of execrable memory fired 
 on the citizens of Paris." It may be well to point out to
 
 228 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 fntnre historians and studious persons that the whole of 
 that side of the Louvre, now called the Old Louvre the 
 projecting wing at a right angle to the Quay, connecting 
 the galleries with the Louvre, by what is called the Galerie 
 d'Apollon, and the Louvre with the Tuileries by the picture 
 gallery was not in existence in the time of Charles IX. 
 The principal part of the site of the river-front, where 
 lies the garden known as le Jardin de 1'Infante, was 
 occupied by the H6tel de Bourbon, which belonged, in 
 fact, to the House of Navarre. It would have been physi- 
 cally impossible for Charles IX, to fire from the Louvre de 
 Henri II. on a boat full of Huguenots crossing the Seine, 
 though he could see the river from some windows, which 
 are now built up, in that part of the palace. 
 
 Even if historians and libraries did not possess maps in 
 which the Louvre at the time of Charles IX. is perfectly 
 shown, the building bears in itself the refutation of the 
 error. The several kings who have contributed to this vast 
 structure have never failed to leave their cypher on the 
 work in some form of monogram. The venerable buildings, 
 now all discolored, of that part of the Louvre that goes 
 down to the Quay bear the initials of Henri II. and of 
 Henri IV. ; quite different from those of Henri III., who 
 added to his H Catherine's double C in a way that looks 
 like D to superficial observers. It was Henri IV. who was 
 able to add his own palace, the H6tel de Bourbon, with its 
 gardens and domain, on to the Louvre. He first thought 
 of uniting Catherine de' Medici's palace to the Louvre by 
 finishing the galleries, of which the exquisite sculpture is 
 too little appreciated. 
 
 But if no plan of Paris under Charles IX. were in 
 existence, nor the monograms of the two Henrys, the 
 difference in the architecture would be enough to give the 
 lie to this calumny. The rusticated bosses of the H6tel 
 de la Force, and of this portion of the Louvre, are precisely 
 characteristic of the transition from the architecture of the
 
 Catherine de' Medici 229 
 
 Renaissance to the architecture of Henri III., Henri IV., 
 and Lonis XIII. 
 
 This archaeological digression, in harmony, be to sure, 
 with the pictures at the beginning of this narrative, enables 
 us to see the aspect of this other part of Paris, of which 
 nothing now remains but that portion of the Louvre, where 
 the beautiful bas-reliefs are perishing day by day. 
 
 When the Court was informed that the queen was about 
 to give audience to Theodore de B6ze and Chaudieu, in- 
 troduced by Admiral Coligny, every one who had a right 
 to go into the throne room hastened to be present at this 
 interview. It was about six o'clock ; Admiral Coligny 
 had supped, and was picking his teeth as he walked upstairs 
 between the two Calvinists. This playing with a toothpick 
 Was a confirmed habit with the Admiral ; he involuntarily 
 picked his teeth in the middle of a battle when meditating 
 a retreat. " Never trust the Admiral's toothpick, the Con- 
 stable's ' No/ or Catherine's ' Yes,' " was one of the prov- 
 erbs of the Court at the time. And after the massacre of 
 Saint-Bartholomew, the mob made horrible mockery of the 
 Admiral's body, which hung for three days at Montfaucon, 
 by sticking a grotesque toothpick between his teeth. 
 Chroniclers have recorded this hideous jest. And, indeed, 
 this trivial detail in the midst of a tremendous catastrophe 
 is just like the Paris mob, which thoroughly deserves this 
 grotesque parody of a line of Boileau's : 
 
 " Le Frangais, ne malm, crea la guillotine." 
 
 (The Frenchman, a born wag, invented the guillotine.) 
 In all ages, the Parisians have made fun before, during, 
 and after the most terrible revolutions. 
 
 Theodore de B6ze was in Court dress, black silk long 
 hose, slashed shoes, full trunks, a doublet of black silk, also 
 slashed, and a little black velvet cloak, over which fell a 
 fine white ruff, deeply gauffered. He wore the tuft of beard 
 called a virguk (a comma) and a mustache, his sword
 
 230 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 hung by his side, and he carried a cane. All who know the 
 pictures at Versailles, or the portraits by Odieuvre, know 
 his round and almost jovial face, with bright eyes, and the 
 remarkably high and broad forehead, which is characteristic 
 of the poets and writers of that time. De Beze had a 
 pleasant face, which did him good service. He formed a 
 striking contrast to Coligny, whose austere features are 
 known to all, and to the bitter and bilious-looking Chau- 
 dieu, who wore the preacher's gown and Calvinist bands. 
 
 The state of affairs in the Chamber of Deputies in our 
 own day, and that, no doubt, in the Convention too, may 
 enable us to understand how at that Court and at that 
 time persons, who six months after would be fighting to 
 the death and waging heinous warfare, would meanwhile 
 meet, address each other with courtesy, and exchange 
 jests. 
 
 When Coligny entered the room, Birague, who would 
 coldly advise the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, and the 
 Cardinal de Lorraine, who would tell his servant Besme 
 not to miss the Admiral, came forward to meet him, and 
 the Piedmontese said, with a smile 
 
 " "Well, my dear Admiral, so you have undertaken to 
 introduce these gentlemen from Geneva ? " 
 
 " And you will count it to me for a crime perhaps," 
 replied the Admiral in jest, " while, if you had undertaken 
 it, you would have scored it as a merit." 
 
 " Master Calvin, I hear, is very ill," said the Cardinal 
 de Lorraine to Theodore de Beze. " I hope we shall not 
 be suspected of having stirred his broth for him ! " 
 
 " Nay, Monseigneur, you would lose too much by that," 
 said Theodore de Beze shrewdly. 
 
 The Due de Guise, who was examining Chaudieu, stared 
 at his brother and Birague, who were both startled by this 
 speech. 
 
 " By God ! " exclaimed the Cardinal, " heretics are of 
 the right faith in keen politics I "
 
 Catherine de' Medici 231 
 
 To avoid difficulties, the Queen, who was announced at 
 this moment, remained standing. She began by conversing 
 with the Conuetable, who spoke eagerly of the scandal of 
 her admitting Calvin's envoys to her presence. 
 
 "But you see, my dear Constable, we receive them 
 without ceremony." 
 
 "Madame," said the Admiral, approaching Catherine, 
 " these are the two doctors of the new religion who have 
 come to an understanding with Calvin, and have taken his 
 instructions as to a meeting where the various Churches 
 of France may compromise their differences." 
 
 " This is Monsieur Theodore de Beze, my wife's very 
 great favorite," said the King of Navarre, coming forward 
 and taking de Beze by the hand. 
 
 " And here is Chaudieu ! " cried the Prince de Conde. 
 " My friend the Due de Guise knows the captain," he 
 added, looking at le Balafre ; "perhaps he would like to 
 make acquaintance with the minister." 
 This sally made everybody laugh, even Catherine. 
 
 " By my troth," said the Due de Guise, " I am delighted 
 to see a man who can so well choose a follower, and make 
 ase of him in his degree. One of your men," said he to 
 the preacher, " endured, without dying or confessing any- 
 thing, the extreme of torture ; I fancy myself brave, but 
 I do not know that I could endure so well ! " 
 
 "Hm!" observed Ambroise Pare, "you said not a 
 word when I pulled the spear out of your face at Calais." 
 
 Catherine, in the middle of the semicircle formed right 
 and left of the maids of honor and Court officials, kept 
 silence. While looking at the two famous Eeformers, she 
 was trying to penetrate them with her fine, intelligent, 
 black eyes, and study them thoroughly. 
 
 " One might be the sheath and the other the blade," 
 Albert de Gondi said in her ear. 
 
 "Well, gentlemen," said Catherine, who could not help 
 smiling, " has your master given you liberty to arrange a
 
 232 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 public conference where you may convert to the Word of 
 God those modern Fathers of the Church who are the glory 
 of our realm ? " 
 
 "We have no master but the Lord," said Chaudieu. 
 
 " Well, you acknowledge some authority in the King of 
 France ? " said Catherine, smiling, and interrupting the 
 minister. 
 
 " And a great deal in the Queen/' added de B6ze, bow- 
 ing low. 
 
 " You will see," she went on, " that the heretics will be 
 my most dutiful subjects." 
 
 " Oh, Madame ! " cried Coligny, " what a splendid king- 
 dom we will make for you ! Europe reaps great profit 
 from our divisions. It has seen one half of France set 
 against the other for fifty years past." 
 
 " Have we come here to hear chants in praise of here- 
 tics ? " said the Constable roughly. 
 
 " No, but to bring them to amendment," answered the 
 Cardinal de Lorraine in a whisper, "and we hope to 
 achieve it by a little gentleness." 
 
 " Do you know what I should have done in the reign 
 of the King's father ? " said Anne de Montmorency. " I 
 should have sent for the Provost to hang those two rascals 
 high and dry on the Louvre gallows." 
 
 " Well, gentlemen, and who are the learned doctors 
 you will bring into the field ? " said the Queen, silencing 
 the Constable with a look. 
 
 " Duplessis-Mornay and Theodore de Beze are oar 
 leaders," said Chaudieu. 
 
 " The Court will probably go to the chAteau of Saint- 
 Germain ; and as it would not be seemly that this colloquy 
 should take place in the same town, it shall be held in the 
 little town of Poissy," replied Catherine. 
 
 " Shall we be safe there, Madame ? " asked Chaudieu. 
 
 " Oh ! " said the Queen, with a sort of simplicity, " you 
 will, no doubt, know what precautions to take. Monsieur
 
 Catherine de' Medici 233 
 
 the Admiral will make arrangements to that effect with 
 my cousins de Guise and Montmorency." 
 
 " Fie on it all !" said the Constable; "I will have no 
 part in it." 
 
 The Queen took Chaudieu a little way apart. 
 
 " What do you do to your sectarians to give them such 
 a spirit ? " said she. f< My furrier's son was really sub- 
 lime." 
 
 " We have faith," said Chaudieu. 
 
 At this moment the room was filled with eager groups, 
 all discussing the question of this assembly, which, from 
 the Queen's suggestion, was already spoken of as the 
 " Convocation of Poissy." Catherine looked at Chaudieu, 
 and felt it safe to say 
 
 " Yes, a new faith." 
 
 " Ah, Madame, if you were not blinded by your connec- 
 tion with the Court of Rome, you would see that we are 
 returning to the true doctrine of Jesus Christ, who, while 
 sanctifying the equality of souls, has given all men on 
 earth equal rights." 
 
 "And do yon think yourself the equal of Calvin ?" said 
 Catherine shrewdly. " Nay, nay, we are equals only in 
 church. What, really ? Break all bonds between the 
 people and the throne ?" cried Catherine. " Yon are not 
 merely heretics ; you rebel against obedience to the King 
 while avoiding all obedience to the Pope." 
 
 She sharply turned away, and returned to Theodore de 
 Beze. 
 
 "I trust to you, Monsieur," she said, "to carry through 
 this conference conscientiously. Take time over it." 
 
 "I fancied," said Chaudieu to the Prince de Cond6, 
 the King of Navarre, and Admiral Coligny, " that aCairs 
 of State were taken more seriously." 
 
 "Oh, we all know exactly what we mean," said the 
 Prince de Conde, with a significant glance at Theodore de 
 Beze.
 
 234 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 The hunchback took leave of his followers to keep an 
 assignation. This great Prince and party leader was one 
 of the most successful gallants of the Court ; the two 
 handsomest women of the day fought for him with such 
 infatuation, that the Marechale de Saint-Andre, the wife 
 >f one of the coming Triumvirate, gave him her fine estate 
 at Saint- Valery to win him from the Duchesse de Guise, 
 the wife of the man who had wanted to bring his head 
 under the ax ; being unable to wean the Due de Nemours 
 from his flirtations with Mademoiselle de Eohan, she fell 
 in love, meanwhile, with the leader of the .Reformed 
 party. 
 
 " How different from Geneva ! " said Chaudieu to 
 Theodore de Be"ze on the little bridge by the Louvre. 
 
 " They are livelier here, and I cannot imagine why they 
 are such traitors," replied de Bze. 
 
 ' ' Meet a traitor with a traitor-and-a-half ," said Chaudieu 
 in a whisper. " I have saints in Paris that I can rely on, 
 and I mean to make a prophet of Calvin. Christophe will 
 rid us of the most dangerous of our enemies." 
 
 ft The Queen-mother, for whom the poor wretch en- 
 dured torture, has already had him passed, by highhanded 
 orders, as pleader before the Parlement, and lawyers are 
 more apt to be tell-tales than assassins. Remember Aven- 
 elles, who sold the secret of our first attempt to take up 
 arms." 
 
 "But I know Christophe," said Chaudieu, with an air 
 of conviction," as he and the Calvinist ambassador parted. 
 
 Some days after the reception of Calvin's secret envoys 
 by Catherine, and towards the end of that year for the 
 year then began at Easter, and the modern calendar was 
 not adopted till this very reign Christophe, still stretched 
 on an armchair, was sitting on that side of the large somber 
 room where our story began, in such a position as to look 
 out on the river. His feet rested on a stool. Mademoi-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 235 
 
 selle Lecamus and Babette Lallier had just renewed the 
 application of compresses, soaked in a lotion brought by 
 Ambroise, to whose care Catherine had commended Chris- 
 tophe. When once he was restored to his family, the lad 
 had become the object of the most devoted care. Babette, 
 with her father's permission, came to the house every 
 morning, and did not leave till the evening. Christophe, 
 a subject of wonder to the apprentices, gave rise in the 
 neighborhood to endless tales, which involved him in poetic 
 mystery. He had been put to torture, and the famous 
 Ambroise Pare was exerting all his skill to save him. 
 "What, then, had he done to be treated so ? On this point 
 neither Christophe nor his father breathed a word. Cath- 
 erine, now all-powerful, had an interest in keeping silence, 
 and so had the Prince de Conde. The visits of Ambroise 
 Par6, the surgeon to the King and to the House of Guise, 
 permitted by the Queen-mother and the Princes of Lor- 
 raine to attend a youth accused of heresy, added to the 
 singularity of this business, which no one could see through. 
 And then the priest of Saint-Pierre aux Bosufs came several 
 times to see his churchwarden's son, and these visits made 
 the causes of Christophe's condition even more inexplic- 
 able. 
 
 The old furrier, who had a plan of his own, replied 
 evasively when his fellows of the guild, traders, and friends 
 spoke of his son 
 
 " I am very happy, neighbor, to have been able to save 
 him ! You know ! it is well not to put your finger 
 between the wood and the bark. My son put his hand to 
 the stake and took out fire enough to burn my house clown ! 
 They imposed on his youth, and we citizens never get 
 anything but scorn and harm by hanging on to the great. 
 This quite determines me to make a lawyer of my boy ; 
 the law courts will teach him to weigh his words and deeds. 
 The young Queen, who is now in Scotland, had a great 
 deal to do with it ; but perhaps Christophe was very im-
 
 286 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 prudent too. I went through terrible grief. All this will 
 probably lead to my retiring from business ; I will never 
 go to Court any more. My son has had enough of the 
 Reformation now ; it has left him with broken arms and 
 legs. But for Ambroise, where should I be ?" 
 
 Thanks to these speeches and to his prudence, a report 
 was spread in the neighborhood that Christophe no longer 
 followed the creed of Colas. Every one thought it quite 
 natural that the old Syndic should wish to see his son a 
 lawyer in the Parlement, and thus the priest's calls seemed 
 quite a matter of course. In thinking of the old man's 
 woes, no one thought of his ambition, which would have 
 been deemed monstrous. 
 
 The young lawyer, who had spent ninety days on the 
 bed put up for him in the old sitting-room, had only been 
 out of it for a week past, and still needed the help of 
 crutches to enable him to walk. Babette's affection and 
 his mother's tenderness had touched Christophe deeply ; 
 still, having him in bed, the two women lectured him 
 soundly on the subject of religion. President de Thou 
 came to see his godson, and was most paternal. Christophe, 
 as a pleader in the Parlement, ought to be a Catholic, he 
 would be pledged to it by his oath ; and the President, 
 who never seemed to doubt the young man's orthodoxy, 
 added these important words 
 
 " You have been cruelly tested, my boy. I myself know 
 nothing of the reasons Messieurs de Guise had for treating 
 you thus ; but now I exhort yon to live quietly henceforth, 
 and not to interfere in broils, for the favor of the King and 
 Queen will not be shown to such as brew storms. You are 
 not a great enough man to drive a bargain with the King, 
 like the Duke, and the Cardinal. If you want to be coun- 
 cilor in the Parlement some day, yon can only attain that 
 high office by serious devotion to the cause of Royalty." 
 
 However, neither Monsieur de Thou 's visit, nor Babette's 
 oharms, nor the entreaties of Mademoiselle Leoamua his
 
 Catherine de' Medici 287 
 
 mother, had shaken the faith of the Protestant martyr. 
 Christophe clung all the more stoutly to his religion in 
 proportion to what he had suffered for it. 
 
 " My father will never allow me to marry a heretic," 
 aid Babette in his ear. 
 
 Christophe replied only with tears, which left the pretty 
 girl speechless and thoughtful. 
 
 Old Lecamus maintained his dignity as a father and a 
 Syndic, watched his son, and said little. The old man, 
 having got back his dear Christophe, was almost vexed 
 with himself, and repentant of having displayed all his 
 affection for his only son ; but secretly he admired him. 
 At no time in his life had the furrier pulled so many wires 
 to gain his ends ; for he could see the ripe harvest of the 
 crop sown with so much toil, and wished to gather it all. 
 
 A few days since he had had a long conversation with 
 Christophe alone, hoping to discover the secret of his son's 
 tenacity. Christophe, who was not devoid of ambition, 
 believed in the Prince de Conde". The Prince's generous 
 speech which was no more than the stock-in-trade of 
 princes was stamped on his heart. He did not know 
 that Conde 1 had wished him at the devil at the moment 
 when he bid him such a touching farewell through the 
 bars of his prison at Orleans. 
 
 " A Gascon would have understood," the Prince had said 
 to himself. 
 
 And in spite of his admiration for the Prince, Christophe 
 cherished the deepest respect for Catherine, the great 
 Queen who had explained to him in a look that she was 
 compelled by necessity to sacrifice him, and then, during 
 his torture, had conveyed to him in another glance an un- 
 limited promise by an almost imperceptible tear. 
 
 During the deep calm of the ninety days and nights he 
 had spent in recovering, the newly-made lawyer thought 
 over the events at Blois and at Orleans. He weighed, in 
 spite of himself, it may be said, the influence of these two
 
 238 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 patrons ; lie hesitated between the Queen and the Prince. 
 He had certainly done more for Catherine than for the Ref- 
 ormation ; and the young man's heart and mind, of course, 
 went forth to the Queen, less by reason of this difference 
 than because she was a woman. In such a case a man will 
 always found his hopes on a woman rather than on a man. 
 
 " I immolated myself for her what will she not do for 
 me?" 
 
 This was the question he almost involuntarily asked 
 himself as he recalled the tone in which she had said, 
 " My poor boy ! " 
 
 It is difficult to conceive of the pitch of self -conscious- 
 ness reached by a man alone and sick in bed. Everything, 
 even the care of which he is the object, tends to make 
 him think of himself alone. By exaggerating the Prince 
 de Conde's obligations to him, Christophe looked forward 
 to obtaining some post at the Court of Navarre. The lad, 
 a novice still in politics, was all the more forgetful of the 
 anxieties which absorb party leaders, and of the swift rush 
 of men and events which overrule them, because he lived 
 almost in solitary imprisonment in that dark parlor. Every 
 party is bound to be ungrateful when it is fighting for dear 
 life ; and when it has won the day, there are so many per- 
 sons to be rewarded, that it is ungrateful still. The rank 
 and file submit to this oblivion,but the captains turn against 
 the new master who for so long has marched as their equal. 
 
 Christophe, the only person to remember what he had 
 suffered, already reckoned himself as one of the chiefs of 
 the Reformation by considering himself as one of its mar- 
 tyrs. Lecamus, the old wolf of trade, acute and clear- 
 sighted, had guessed his son's secret thoughts ; indeed, 
 all his maneuvering was based on the very natural hesitancy 
 that possessed the lad. 
 
 " Would not it be fine/' he had said the day before to 
 Babette, " to be the wife of a Councilor to the Parlement; 
 you would be addressed as Madame."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 239 
 
 " You are crazy, neighbor/' said Lallier. " In the first 
 place, where would you find ten thousand crowns a year 
 in landed estate, which a Councilor must show, and from 
 whom could you purchase a connection ? The Queen- 
 mother and Kegent would have to give all her mind to it 
 to get your son into the Parlement ; and he smells of the 
 stake too strongly to be admitted." 
 
 " What would you give, now, to see your daughter a 
 Councilor's wife ? " 
 
 " You want to sound the depth of my purse, you old 
 fox ! " exclaimed Lallier. 
 
 Councilor to the Parlement ! The words distracted 
 Christophe's brain. 
 
 Long after the conference was over, one morning when 
 Christophe sat gazing at the river, which reminded him 
 of the scene that was the beginning of all this story, of the 
 Prince de Conde, la Renaudie, and Chaudieu, of his journey 
 to Blois, and of all he hoped for, the Syndic came to sit 
 down by his son with ill-disguised glee under an affectation 
 of solemnity. 
 
 " My boy/' said he, " after what took place between 
 you and the heads of the riot at Amboise, they owed you 
 so much that your future might very well be cared for by 
 the House of Navarre. " 
 
 "Yes/' replied Christophe. 
 
 " Well," his father went on, " I have definitely applied 
 for permission for you to purchase a legal business in B arn. 
 Our good friend Pare undertook to transmit the letters I 
 wrote in your name to the Prince de Conde and Queen 
 Jeanne. Here, read this reply from Monsieur de Pibrac, 
 Vice-Chancellor of Navarre : 
 
 " To Master Lecamus, Syndic of the Guild of Furriers. 
 
 "His Highness the Prince de Conde bids me express to 
 you his regret at being unable to do anything for his fellow- 
 prisoner in the Tour de Saint- Aignan, whom he remembers
 
 240 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 well, and to whom, for the present, he offers the place of 
 man-at-arms in his own company, where he will have the 
 opportunity of making his way as a man of good heart 
 which he is. 
 
 " The Queen of Navarre hopes for an occasion of re- 
 warding Master Ohristophe, and will not fail. 
 
 "And with this, Monsieur le Syndic, I pray God hare 
 yon in His keeping. PIBRAG, 
 
 " Chancellor of Navarre. 
 
 "Nerao." 
 
 " Nerac ! Pibrac ! Crac!" cried Babette. "There is 
 nothing to be got out of these Gascons ; they think only 
 of themselves." 
 
 Old Lecamus was looking at his son with ironical 
 amusement. 
 
 tc And he wants to set a poor boy on horseback whose 
 knees and ankles were pounded up for him ! " cried the 
 mother. " What a shameful mockery ! " 
 
 " I 3o not seem to see you as a Councilor in Navarre," 
 said the old furrier. 
 
 " I should like to know what Queen Catherine would 
 do for me if I petitioned her," said Christophe, much 
 crestfallen. 
 
 " She made no promises," said the old merchant, " but 
 I am sure she would not make a fool of you, and would 
 remember your sufferings. Still, how could she make a 
 councilor-at-law of a Protestant citizen ? " 
 
 " But Christophe has never abjured ! " exclaimed Ba- 
 bette. " He may surely keep his own secret as to his 
 religious opinions." 
 
 "The Prince de Coiide would be less scornful of a 
 Councilor to the Parlement of Paris, "said Lecamus. 
 
 " A Councilor, father \ Is it possible ? " 
 
 " Yes, if you do nothing to upset what I am managing 
 for you. My neighbor Lallier here is ready to pay two
 
 Catherine de' Medici 241 
 
 hundred thousand livrea, if I add as much again, for the 
 purchase of a fine estate entailed on the heirs male, which 
 we will hand over to you." 
 
 " And I will add something more for a house in Paris/' 
 aaid Lallier. 
 
 " Well, Christophe ?" said Babette. 
 
 "Yon are talking without the Queen/' replied the 
 young lawyer. 
 
 Some days after this bitter mortification, an apprentice 
 brought this brief note to Christophe 
 
 " Chaudieu wishes to see his son." 
 
 " Bring him in/' said Christophe. 
 
 ' ' my saint and martyr ! " cried the preacher, embrac- 
 ing the young man, " have you got over your sufferings ?" 
 
 " Yes, thanks to Par6 ! " 
 
 " Thanks to God, who gave you strength to endure 
 them ! But what is this I hear ? You have passed as a 
 pleader, you have taken the oath of fidelity, you have 
 confessed the Whore, the Catholic, Apostolic, Romish 
 Church?" 
 
 " My father insisted." 
 
 " But are we not to leave father and mother and chil- 
 dren and wife for the sacred cause of Calvinism, and to 
 suffer all things ? Oh, Christophe, Calvin, the great 
 Calvin, the whole party, the whole world, the future 
 counts on your courage and your greatness of soul ! We 
 want your life." 
 
 There is this strange feature in the mind of man : the 
 most devoted, even in the act of devoting himself, always 
 builds up a romance of hope even in the most perilous 
 crisis. Thus, when on the river under the Pont au 
 Change, the prince, the soldier, and the preacher had 
 required Christophe to carry to Queen Catherine the 
 document which, if discovered, would have cost him his 
 life, the boy had trusted to his wit, to chance, to his per- 
 spicacity, and had boldly marched on between the two
 
 242 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 formidable parties the Guises and the Queen who had 
 so nearly crushed him. While in the torture-chamber he 
 still had said to himself, " 1 shall live through it it is 
 only pain ! " 
 
 But at this brutal command, " Die ! " to a man who 
 was still helpless, hardly recovered from the injuries he 
 had suffered, and who clung all the more to life for having 
 seen death so near, it was impossible to indulge in any 
 such illusions. 
 
 Christophe calmly asked, " What do you want of me ? " 
 
 " To fire a pistol bravely, as Stewart fired at Minard." 
 
 " At whom ? " 
 
 "The Due de Guise/' 
 
 " Assassination ? " 
 
 " Revenge ! Have you forgotten the hundred gentle- 
 men massacred on one scaffold ! A child, little d'Aubigne, 
 said as he saw the butchery, ' They have beheaded all 
 France/ " 
 
 " We are to take blows and not to return them, is the 
 teaching of the Gospel/' replied Christophe. " If we are 
 to imitate the Catholics, of what use is it to reform the 
 Church ?" 
 
 " Oh, Christophe, they have made a lawyer of you, and 
 you argue ! " said Chaudieu. 
 
 " No, my friend/' the youth replied. " But principles 
 are ungrateful, and you and yours will only be the play- 
 things of the House of Bourbon/' 
 
 " Oh, Christophe, if you had only heard Calvin, you 
 would know that we can turn them like a glove ! The 
 Bourbons are the glove, and we the hand/' $ 
 
 " Read this," said Christophe, handing Pibrac's letter 
 to the minister. 
 
 "Alas, boy ! you are ambitious ; you can no longer sac- 
 rifice yourself ; " and Chaudieu went away. 
 
 Not long after this visit, Christophe, with the families
 
 Catherine de' Medici 243 
 
 of Lallier and Lecamus, had met to celebrate the plight- 
 ing of Babette and Christophe in the old parlor, whence 
 Christophe's couch was now removed, for he could climb 
 the stairs now, and was beginning to drag himself about 
 without crutches. It was nine in the evening, and they 
 waited for Ambroise Pare. The family notary was sitting 
 it a table covered with papers. The furrier was selling 
 his house and business to his head-clerk, who was to pay 
 forty thousand livres down for the house, and to mortgage 
 "it as security for the stock-in-trade, besides paying twenty 
 thousand livres on account. 
 
 Lecamus had purchased for his sou a magnificent house 
 in the Hue de Saint-Pierre aux Bceufs, built of stone by 
 Philibert de FOrme, as a wedding gift. The Syndic had 
 also spent two hundred and fifty thousand livres out of 
 his fortune, Lallier paying an equal sum, for the acquisition 
 of a fine manor and estate in Picardy, for which five hun- 
 dred thousand livres were asked. This estate being a de- 
 pendence of the Crown, letters patent from the King 
 called letters of rescript were necessary, besides the pay- 
 ment of considerable fines and fees. Thus the actual mar- 
 riage was to be postponed till the royal signature could be 
 obtained. 
 
 Though the citizens of Paris had obtained the right of 
 purchasing manors and lands, the prudence of the Privy 
 Council had placed certain restrictions on the transfer of 
 lands belonging to the Crown ; and the estate on which 
 Lecamus had had his eye for the last ten years was one of 
 these. Ambroise had undertaken to produce the necessary 
 permission this very evening. Old Lecamus went to and 
 fro between the sitting-room and the front door with an 
 impatience that showed the eagerness of his ambition. 
 
 At last Ambroise appeared. 
 
 "My good friend \" exclaimed the surgeon in a great 
 fuss, and looking at the supper-table, "what is you? 
 napery like ? Very good. Now bring waxlights, aod
 
 244 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 make haste, make haste. Bring out the best of everything 
 you have." 
 
 " What is the matter ? " asked the priest of Saint-Pierre 
 aux Bceufs. 
 
 " The Queen-mother and the King are coming to sup 
 with you," replied the surgeon. "The Queen and King 
 expect to meet here an old Councilor, whose business is 
 to be sold to Christophe, and Monsieur de Thou, who 
 has managed the bargain. Do not look as if you expected 
 them ; I stole out of the Louvre." 
 
 In an instant all were astir. Christopher's mother and 
 Babette's aunt trotted about in all the flurry of house- 
 wives taken by surprise. In spite of the confusion into 
 which the announcement had thrown the party, prepa- 
 rations were made with miraculous energy. Christophe, 
 amazed, astounded, overpowered by such condescension, 
 stood speechless, looking on at all the bustle. 
 
 " The Queen and the King here I" said the old mother. 
 
 " The Queen ? " echoed Babette ; " but what for, what 
 to do ? " 
 
 Within an hour everything was altered ; the old room 
 was smartened up, the table shone. A sound of horses 
 was heard in the street. The gleam of torchec carried by 
 the mounted escort brought all the neighbors* noses to 
 the windows. The rush was soon over ; no one was left 
 under the arcade but the Queen-mother and her son. 
 King Charles IX., Charles deGondi, Master of the Ward- 
 robe, and tutor to the King ; Monsieur de Thou, the re- 
 tiring Councilor; Pinard, Secretary of State, and two pages. 
 
 " Good folks," said the Queen as she went in, " the 
 King, my son, and I have come to sign the marriage con- 
 tract of our furrier's son, but on condition that he re- 
 mains a Catholic. Only a Catholic can serve in the Par- 
 lement, only a Catholic can own lands dependent on the 
 Crown, only a Catholic can sit at table with the King 
 wh*fc do you say, Pinard ? "
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 The Secretary of State stepped forward, holding the 
 letters patent. 
 
 " If we are not all Catholics here," said the little King, 
 " Pinard will throw all the papers into the fire ; but we 
 are all Catholics ? " he added, looking round proudly 
 enough at the company. 
 
 "Yes, Sire/' said Christophe Lecamus, bending the 
 knee, not without difficulty, and kissing the hand the 
 young King held out to him. 
 
 Queen Catherine, who also held out her hand to Chris- 
 tophe, pulled him up rather roughly, and leading him 
 into a corner, said 
 
 "Understand, boy, no subterfuges ! We are playing 
 an honest game ? " 
 
 "Yes, Madame," he said, dazzled by this splendid re- 
 ward and by the honor the grateful Queen had done 
 him. 
 
 " Well, then, Master Lecamus, the King, my son, and 
 I permit you to purchase the offices and appointments of 
 this good man Groslay, Councilor to the Parlement, who 
 is here ? " said the Queen. " I hope, young man, that 
 you will follow in the footsteps of your Lord the Presi- 
 dent. " 
 
 De Thou came forward and said 
 
 " I will answer for him, Madame." 
 
 " Very well, then proceed, notary/' said Pinard. 
 
 "Since the King, our master, does us the honor of 
 signing my daughter's marriage-contract," cried Lallier, 
 " I will pay the whole price of the estate." 
 
 "The ladies may be seated," said the young King 
 graciously. " As a wedding gift to the bride, with my 
 mother's permission, I remit my fines and fees." 
 
 Old Lecamus and Lallier fell on their knees and kissed 
 the boy-King's hand. 
 
 " By Heaven, Sire, what loads of money these citizens 
 haye I " said Gondi in his ear.
 
 246 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 And the young King laughed. 
 
 " Their Majesties being so graciously inclined/' said 
 old Lecamus, " will they allow me to present to them my 
 successor in the business, and grant him the royal pa- 
 tent as furrier to their Majesties ? " 
 
 " Let us see him," said the King, and Lecamus brought 
 forward his successor, who was white with alarm. 
 
 Old Lecamus was shrewd enough to offer the yocng 
 King a silver cup which he had bought from Benvenuto 
 Cellini when he was staying in Paris at the Tour de Nesle, 
 at a cost of not less than two thousand crowns. 
 
 " Oh, mother ! what a fine piece of work ! " cried the 
 youth, lifting the cup by its foot. 
 
 " It is Florentine," said Catherine. 
 
 " Pardon me, Madame," said Lecamus ; " it was made in 
 France, though by a Florentine. If it had come from 
 Florence, it should have been the Queen's ; but being 
 made in France, it is the King's." 
 
 "I accept it, my friend," cried Charles IX., "and 
 henceforth I drink out of it." 
 
 " It is good enough," the Queen remarked, " to be in- 
 cluded among the Crown treasure." 
 
 " And you, Master Ambroise," she went on in an under- 
 tone, turning to the surgeon, and pointing to Christophe, 
 " have you cured him ? "Will he walk ? " 
 
 " He will fly," said the surgeon, with a smile. " You 
 have stolen him from us very cleverly !" 
 
 " The abbey will not starve for lack of one monk ! " 
 replied the Queen, in the frivolous tone for which she haff 
 been blamed, but which lay only on the surface. 
 
 The supper was cheerful ; the Queen thought Babettr 
 pretty, and, like the great lady she was, she slipped a dia- 
 mond ring on the girl's finger in compensation for the 
 value of the silver cup. 
 
 King Charles IX. , who afterwards was perhaps rather 
 too fond of thus invading his subjects' homes, supped with
 
 Catherine de' Medici 247 
 
 a good appetite ; then, on a word from his new tutor, 
 who had been instructed, it is said, to efface the virtuous 
 teaching of Cypierre, he incited the President of Parle- 
 ment, the old retired councilor, the Secretary of State, the 
 priest, the notary, and the citizens to drink so deep, that 
 Queen Catherine rose to go at the moment when she saw 
 that their high spirits were becoming uproarious. 
 
 As the Queen rose, Christophe, his father, and the two 
 women took up tapers to light her as far as the door of the 
 shop. Then Christophe made so bold as to pull the 
 Queen's wide sleeve and give her a meaning look. Cath- 
 erine stopped, dismissed the old man and the woman 
 with a wave of her hand, and said to the young man 
 "What?" 
 
 " If you can mako any use of the information, Madame," 
 said he, speaking close to the Queen's ear, " I can tell you 
 that assassins are plotting against the Due de Guise's life." 
 
 " You are a loyal subject," said Catherine with a smile, 
 " and I will never forget you." 
 
 She held out her hand, famous for its beauty, drawing 
 off her glove as a mark of special favor. And Christophe, 
 as he kissed that exquisite hand, was more Royalist than 
 ever. 
 
 " Then I shall be rid of that wretch without my having 
 anything to do with it," was her reflection as she put on 
 her glove. 
 
 She mounted her mule and returned to the Louvre with 
 her two pages. 
 
 Christophe drank, but he was gloomy ; Fare's austere 
 face reproached him for his apostasy ; however, later 
 events justified the old Syndic. Christophe would cer- 
 tainly never have escaped in the massacre of Saint-Bar- 
 tholomew ; his wealth and lands would have attracted the 
 butchers. History has recorded the cruel fate of the wife 
 of Lallier's successor, a beautiful woman, whose naked 
 body remained hanging by the hair for three dayg to one
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 of the starlings of the Pont au Change. Babette could 
 shudder then as she reflected that such a fate might have 
 been hers if Christophe had remained a Calvinist, as the 
 Beforrners were soon generally called. Calvin's ambition 
 was fulfilled, but not till after his death. 
 
 This was the origin of the famous Lecamus family of 
 lawyers. Tallemant des Reaux was mistaken in saying 
 they had oome from Picardy. It was afterwards to the 
 interest of the Lecamus family to refer their beginnings to 
 the time when they had acquired their principal estate, 
 situated in that province. 
 
 Christophe's son, and his successor under Louis XIII., 
 was father of that rich President Lecamus, who in Louis 
 XIV.'s time built the magnificent mansion which divided 
 with the H6tel Lambert the admiration of Parisians and 
 foreigners, and which is certainly one of the finest build- 
 ings in Paris. This house still exists in the Rue de Tho- 
 rigny, though it was pillaged at the beginning of the 
 Revolution, as belonging to Monsieur de Juign6, Arch- 
 bishop of Paris. All the paintings were then defaced, and 
 the lodgers who have since dwelt there have still further 
 damaged it. This fine residence, earned in the old house 
 in the Rue de la Pelleterie, still shows what splendid 
 results were then the outcome of family spirit. We may 
 be allowed to doubt whether modern individualism, result- 
 ing from the repeated equal division of property, will ever 
 raise sueh edifices.
 
 PART n. 
 
 THE RUGQIEBI'S SECBKT. 
 
 BETWEEN eleven o'clock and midnight, towards the end 
 of October 1573, two Florentines, brothers, Albert de 
 Gondi, Marshal of France, and Charles de Gondi la Tour, 
 Master of the Wardrobe to King Charles IX., were sitting 
 at the top of a house in the Kue Saint-Honore on the edge 
 of the gutter. Such gutters were made of stone ; they 
 rang along below the roof to catch the rain-water, and 
 were pierced here and there with long gargoyles carved in 
 the form of grotesque creatures with gaping jaws. In 
 spite of the zeal of the present generation in the destruc- 
 tion of ancient houses, there were still in Paris many such 
 gutter-spouts when, not long since, the police regulations 
 as to waste-pipes led to their disappearance. A few sculp- 
 tured gutters are still to be seen in the Saint- Antoine 
 quarter, where the low rents have kept owners from add- 
 ing rooms in the roof. 
 
 It may seem strange that two persons invested with such 
 important functions should have chosen a perch more 
 befitting cuts. But to any one who has hunted through 
 the historical curiosities of that time, and seen how many 
 interests were complicated about the throne, so that the 
 domestic politics of France can only be compared to a 
 tangled skein of thread, these two Florentines are really 
 cats, and quits in their place in a gutter. The devotion to 
 the person of Catherine de' Medici, who had transplanted 
 them to the French Court, required them to shirk none of 
 the consequences of their intrusion there. 
 
 249
 
 250 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 But to explain how and why these two courtiers were 
 perched up there, it will be necessary to relate a scene 
 which had just taken place within a stone's throw of this 
 gutter, at the Louvre, in the fine brown room which is, 
 perhaps, all that remains of Henri II. 's apartments 
 where the Court was in attendance after supper on the 
 two Queens and the King. At that time middle-class 
 folk supped at six o'clock, aud men of rank at seven ; but 
 people of exquisite fashion supped between eight and 
 nine ; it was the meal we nowadays call dinner. 
 
 Some people have supposed that etiquette was the inven- 
 tion of Louis XIV. ; but this is a mistake ; it was intro- 
 duced into France by Catherine de' Medici, who was so 
 exacting that the Connetable Anne de Moiitmorency had 
 more difficulty in obtaining leave to ride into the courtyard 
 of the Louvre than in winning his sword, and even then 
 the permission was granted only on the score of his great 
 age. Etiquette was slightly relaxed under the first three 
 Bourbon Kings, but assumed an Oriental character under 
 Louis the Great, for it was derived from the Lower Em- 
 pire, which borrowed it from Persia. In 1573 not only 
 had very few persons a right to enter the courtyard of the 
 Louvre with their attendants and torches, just as in Louis 
 XIV.'s time only dukes and peers might drive under the 
 porch, but the functions which gave the privilege of at- 
 tending their Majesties after supper could easily be counted. 
 The Marechal de Eetz, whom we have just seen keeping 
 watch on the gutter, once offered a thousand crowns of 
 that day to the clerk of the closet to get speech of Henry 
 III. at an hour when he had no right of entrte. And how 
 a certain venerable historian mocks at a view of the court- 
 yard of the chdteau of Blois, into which the draughtsman 
 introduced the figure of a man on horseback ! 
 
 At this hour, then, there were at the Louvre none but 
 the most eminent persons in the kingdom. Queen Eliza- 
 fcwth ttf Austria and hor mother-in-law, Catherine de*
 
 Catherine de' Medici 251 
 
 Medici, were seated to the left of the fireplace. In the 
 opposite corner the King, sunk in his armchair, affected 
 an apathy excusable on the score of digestion, for he had 
 eaten like a prince returned from hunting. Possibly, too, 
 he wished to avoid speech in the presence of so many per- 
 sons whose interest it was to detect his thoughts. 
 
 The courtiers stood, hat in hand, at the further end of 
 the room. Some conversed in undertones ; others kept 
 an eye on the King, hoping for a glance or a word. One, 
 being addressed by the Queen-mother, conversed with her 
 for a few minutes. Another would be so bold as to speak 
 a word to Charles IX., who replied with a nod or a short 
 answer. A German noble, the Count of Solern, was 
 standing in the chimney corner by the side of Charles V.'s 
 granddaughter, with whom he had come to France. Near 
 the young Queen, seated on a stool, was her lady-in-wait- 
 ing, the Countess Fieschi, a Strozzi, and related to Cath- 
 erine. The beautiful Madame de Sauves, a descendant of 
 Jacques Cceur, and mistress in succession of the King of 
 Navarre, of the King of Poland, and of the Due d'Alengon 
 had been invited to supper, but she remained standing, 
 her husband being merely a Secretary of State. Behind 
 these two ladies were the two Gondis, talking to them. 
 They alone were laughing of all the dull assembly. Condi, 
 made Due de Retz and Gentleman of the Bedchamber, 
 since obtaining the Marshal's baton though he had never 
 commanded an army, had been sent as the King's proxy 
 to be married to the Queen at Spires. This honor plainly 
 indicated that he, like his brother, was one of the few 
 persons whom the King and Queen admitted to a certain 
 familiarity. 
 
 On the King's side the most conspicuous figure was the 
 Marechal de Tavannes, who was at Court on business; 
 Neufville de Villeroy, one of the shrewdest negotiators of 
 the time, who laid the foundation of the fortunes of his 
 family ; Messieurs de Birague and de Chiverni, one in
 
 252 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 tendance on the Queen-mother, the other Chancellor of 
 Anjou and of Poland, who, knowing Catherine's favor- 
 itism, had attached himself to Henry III., the brother 
 whom Charles IX. regarded as an enemy ; Strozzi, a 
 cousin of Queen Catherine's, and a few more gentlemen, 
 among whom were to be noted the old Cardinal de Lor- 
 raine, and his nephew, the young Due de Guise, both very 
 much kept at a distance by Catherine and by the King. 
 These two chiefs of the Holy Alliance, afterwards known 
 as the League, established some years since with Spain, 
 made a display of the submission of servants who await 
 their opportunity to become the masters ; Catherine and 
 Charles IX. were watching each other with mutual atten- 
 tion. 
 
 At this Court as gloomy as the room in which it had 
 assembled each one had reasons for sadness or absence of 
 mind. The young Queen was enduring all the torments 
 of jealousy, and disguised them ineffectually by attempt- 
 ing to smile at her husband, whom she adored as a pious 
 woman of infinite kindness. Marie Touchet, Charles IX. 's 
 only mistress, to whom he was chivalrously faithful, had 
 come home a month since from the chdteau of Fayet, in 
 Dauphine, whither she had retired for the birth of her 
 child ; and she had brought back with her the only son 
 Charles IX. ever had Charles, at first Comte d'Auvergne, 
 and afterwards Due d'Angoulme. 
 
 Besides the grief of seeing her rival the mother of the 
 King's son, while she had only a daughter, the poor Queen 
 was enduring the mortification of complete desertion. 
 During his mistress's absence, the King had made it up 
 with his wife with a vehemence which history mentions as 
 one of the causes of his death. Thus Marie Touchet's re- 
 turn made the pious Austrian princess understand how little 
 her husband's heart had been concerned in his love-making. 
 !N"or was this the only disappointment the young Queen had 
 to endure in this matter : till now Catherine de' Medici had
 
 Catherine de' Medici 258 
 
 seemed to be her friend ; but, in fact, her mother-in-law, 
 for political ends, had encouraged her son's infidelity, and 
 preferred to support the mistress rather than the wife. 
 And this is the reason why. 
 
 When Charles IX. first confessed his passion for Marie 
 Touchet, Catherine looked with favor on the girl for rea- 
 sons affecting her own prospects of dominion. Marie 
 Touchet was brought to Court at a very early age, at the 
 time of life when a girl's best feelings are in their bloom ; 
 she loved the King passionately for his own sake. Ter- 
 rified at the gulf into which ambition had overthrown the 
 Dnchesse de Valentinois, better known as Diane de Poi- 
 tiers, she was afraid too, no doubt, of Queen Catherine, 
 and preferred happiness to splendor. She thought per- 
 haps that a pair of lovers so young as she and the King 
 were could not hold their own against the Queen-mother. 
 
 And, indeed, Marie, the only child of Jean Touchet, the 
 lord of Beauvais and le Quillard, King's Councillor, and 
 Lieutenant of the Bailiwick of Orleans, halfway between 
 the citizen class and the lowest nobility, was neither alto- 
 gether a noble nor altogether bourgeoise, and was probably 
 ignorant of the objects of innate ambition aimed at by 
 the Pisseleus and the Saint- Valliers, women of family 
 who were struggling for their families with the secret 
 weapons of love. Marie Touchet, alone, and of no rank, 
 spared Catherine de' Medici the annoyance of finding in 
 her son's mistress the daughter of some great house who 
 might have set up for her rival. 
 
 Jean Touchet, a wit in his day, to whom some poets 
 dedicated their works, wanted nothing of the Court. 
 Marie, a young creature, with no following, as clever and 
 well informed as she was simple and artless, suited the 
 Queen-mother to admiration, and won her warm affection. 
 
 In point of fact, Catherine persuaded the Parlement to 
 acknowledge the son which Marie Touchet bore to the 
 King in the month of April, and she granted him the
 
 254 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 title of Comte d'Auvergne, promising the King that she 
 would leave the boy her personal estate, the ComUs of Au- 
 vergue and Lauraguais. Afterwards, Marguerite, Queen 
 of Navarre, disputed the gift when she became Queen of 
 France, and annulled it ; but later still, Louis XIII., out 
 of respect to the Royal blood of the Valois, indemnified 
 the Comte d'Auvergne by making him Due d'Angou- 
 
 Catherine had already given Marie Touchet, who asked 
 for nothing, the manor of Belleville, an estate without a 
 title, near Vincennes, whither she came when, after hunt- 
 ing, the King slept at that Royal residence. Charles IX. 
 spent the greater part of his later days in that gloomy 
 fortress, and, according to some authors, ended his days 
 there as Louis XII. had ended his. Though it was very 
 natural that a lover so entirely captivated should lavish on 
 the woman he adored fresh proofs of affection when he 
 had to expiate his legitimate infidelities, Catherine, after 
 driving her son back to his wife's arms, certainly pleaded 
 for Marie Touchet as women can, and had won the King 
 back to his mistress again. Whatever could keep Charles 
 IX. employed in anything but politics was pleasing to 
 Catherine ; and the kind intentions she expressed towards 
 this child for the moment deceived Charles IX., who was 
 beginning to regard her as his enemy. 
 
 The motives on which Catherine acted in this business 
 escaped the discernment of the Queen, who, according 
 to Brantome, was one of the gentlest Queens that ever 
 reigned, and who did no harm nor displeasure to any one, 
 even reading her Hours in secret. But this innocent 
 Princess began to perceive what gulfs yawn round a 
 throne, a terrible discovery which might well make her 
 feel giddy ; and some still worse feeling must have in- 
 spired her reply to one of her ladies, who, at the King's 
 death, observed to her that if she had had a son, she would 
 be Queen-mother and Eegent
 
 Catherine de' Medici 255 
 
 " Ah, God be praised that He never gave me a son ! 
 What would have come of it ? The poor child would have 
 been robbed, as they tried to rob the King my husband, 
 and I should have been the cause of it. God has had 
 mercy on the kingdom, and has ordered everything for the 
 best." 
 
 This Princess, of whom Brantome thinks he has given 
 an ample description when he had said that she had a 
 complexion of face as fine and delicate as that of the 
 ladies of her Court, and very pleasing, and that she had a 
 beautiful shape though but of middle height, was held of 
 small account at the Court ; and the King's state afford- 
 ing her an excuse for her double grief, her demeanor 
 added to the gloomy hues of a picture to which a young 
 Queen less cruelly stricken than she was might have given 
 some brightness. The pious Elizabeth was at this crisis a 
 proof of the fact that qualities which add luster to a woman 
 in ordinary life may be fatal in a Queen. A Princess 
 who did not devote her whole night to prayer would have 
 been a valuable ally for Charles IX., who found no help 
 either in his wife or in his mistress. 
 
 As to the Queen-mother, she was absorbed in watching 
 the King ; he during supper had made a display of high 
 spirits, which she interpreted as assumed to cloak some 
 plan against herself. Such sudden cheerfulness was in 
 too strong a contrast to the fractious humor he had be- 
 trayed by his persistency in hunting, and by a frenzy of 
 toil at his forge, where he wrought iron, for Catherine to 
 be duped by it. Though she could not guess what states- 
 man was lending himself to these schemes and plots for 
 Charles IX. could put his mother's spies off the scent 
 Catherine had no doubt that some plan against her was in 
 the wind. 
 
 The unexpected appearance of Tavannes, arriving at 
 the same time as Strozzi, whom she had summoned, had 
 greatly aroused her suspicions. By her power of organi-
 
 266 Catherine de' Medici i 
 
 zation Catherine was superior to the evolution of circum- 
 stances ; but against sudden violence she was powerless. 
 
 As many persons know nothing of the state of affairs, 
 complicated by the multiplicity of parties which then 
 racked France, each leader having his own interests in 
 view, it is needful to devote a few words to describing the 
 dangerous crisis in which the Queen-mother had become 
 entangled. And as this will show Catherine de' Medici in 
 a new light, it will carry us to the very core of this narra- 
 tive. 
 
 Two words will fully summarize this strange woman, so 
 interesting to study, whose influence left such deep traces 
 on France. These two words are dominion and astrology. 
 Catherine de' Medici was excessively ambitious ; she had 
 no passion but for power. Superstitious and fatalist, as 
 many a man of superior mind has been, her only sincere 
 belief was in the occult sciences. "Without this twofold 
 light, she must always remain misunderstood ; and by 
 giving the first place to her faith in astrology, a light will 
 be thrown on the two philosophical figures of this Study. 
 
 There was a man whom Catherine clung to more than 
 to her children ; this man was Cosmo Euggieri. She gave 
 him rooms in her Hdtel de Soissons ; she had made him 
 her chief counselor, instructing him to tell her if the stars 
 ratified the advice and common-sense of her ordinary ad- 
 visers. 
 
 Certain curious antecedent facts justified the power 
 which Ruggieri exerted over his mistress till her latest 
 breath. One of the most learned men of the sixteenth 
 century was beyond doubt the physician to Catherine's 
 father, Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino. This leech 
 was known as Ruggiero the elder (vecchio Ruggier, and in 
 French Roger I'Ancien, with authors who have written con- 
 cerning alchemy), to distinguish him from his two sons, 
 Lorenzo Ruggiero, called the Great by writers on the Cabala, 
 and Cosmo Ruggiero, Catherine's astrologer, also known
 
 Catherine de' Medici 257 
 
 as Rog&r by various French historians. French custom 
 altered their name to Ruggieri, as it did Catherine's from 
 Medici to Medicis. 
 
 The elder Ruggieri, then, was so highly esteemed by 
 the family of the Medici that the two Dukes, Cosmo and 
 Lorenzo, were godfathers to his sons. In his capacity of 
 mathematician, astrologer, and physician to the Ducal 
 House three offices that were often scarcely distinguished 
 he cast the horoscope of Catherine's nativity, in con- 
 cert with Bazile, the famous mathematician. At that 
 period the occult sciences were cultivated with an eager- 
 ness which may seem surprising to the skeptical spirits 
 of this supremely analytical age, who perhaps may find in 
 this historical sketch the germ of the positive sciences 
 which flourish in the nineteenth century bereft, how- 
 ever, of the poetic grandeur brought to them by the 
 daring speculators of the sixteenth ; for they, instead of 
 applying themselves to industry, exalted art and vivified 
 thought. The protection universally granted to these 
 sciences by the sovereigns of the period was indeed justi- 
 fied by the admirable works of inventors who, starting 
 from the search for the magnum opus, arrived at astonish- 
 ing results. 
 
 Never, in fact, were rulers more curious for these mys- 
 teries. The Fugger family, in whom every modern Lu- 
 cullus must recognize his chiefs, and every banker his 
 masters, were beyond a doubt men of business, not to be 
 caught nodding ; well, these practical men, while lending 
 the capitalized wealth of Europe to the sovereigns of the 
 sixteenth century who ran into debt quite as handsomely 
 as those of to-day these illustrious entertainers of Charles 
 V. furnished funds for the retorts of Paracelsus. At the 
 beginning of the sixteenth century, Ruggieri the elder 
 was the head of that secret college whence came Cardan, 
 Nostradamus, and Agrippa, each in turn physician to 
 the Valois ; and all the astronomers, astrologers, and al- 
 17
 
 258 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 chemists who at that period crowded to the Courts of the 
 Princes of Christendom, and who found especial welcome 
 and protection in France from Catherine de' Medici. 
 
 In the horoscope cast for Catherine by Bazile and Rug- 
 gieri the elder, the principal events of her life were pre- 
 dicted with an accuracy that is enough to drive disbe- 
 lievers to despair. This forecast announced the disasters 
 which, during the siege of Florence, affected her early life, 
 her marriage with a Prince of France, his unexpected acces- 
 sion to the throne, the birth and the number of her children. 
 Three of her sons were to reign in succession, her two 
 daughters were to become queens ; all were to die childless. 
 And this was all so exactly verified, that many historians 
 have regarded it as a prophecy after the event. 
 
 It is well known that Nostradamus brought to the 
 chateau of Chaumont, whither Catherine went at the time 
 of la Eenaudie's conspiracy, a woman who had the gift of 
 reading the future. Now in the time of Francis II., when 
 the Queen's sons were still children and in good health, 
 before Elizabeth de Valois had married Philip II. of Spain, 
 or Marguerite de Valois had married Henri de Bourbon, 
 King of Navarre, Nostradamus and this soothsayer con- 
 firmed all the details of the famous horoscope. 
 
 This woman, gifted no doubt with second sight, and 
 one of the extensive association of indefatigable inquirers 
 for the magnum opus, though her life has evaded the ken 
 of history, foretold that the last of these children to wear 
 the crown would perish assassinated. Having placed the 
 Queen in front of a magical mirror in which a spinning- 
 wheel was reflected, each child's face appearing at the end 
 of a spoke, the soothsayer made the wheel turn, and the 
 Queen counted the number of turns. Each turn was a 
 year of a reign. When Henri IV. was placed on the 
 wheel, it went round twenty-two times. The woman 
 some say it was a man told the terrified Queen that 
 Henri de Bourbon would certainly be King of France,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 259 
 
 and reign so many years. Queen Catherine vowed a 
 mortal hatred of the Bearnais on hearing that he would 
 succeed the last, murdered Valois. 
 
 Curious to know what sort of death she herself would 
 die, she was warned to beware of Saint-Germain. Thence- 
 forth, thinking that she would be imprisoned or violently 
 killed at the chateau of Saint-Germain, she never set foot 
 in it, though, by its nearness to Paris, it was infinitely better 
 situated for her plans than those where she took refuge 
 with the King in troubled times. When she fell ill, a 
 few days after the Due de Guise was assassinated, during 
 the assembly of the States- General at Blois, she asked 
 the name of the prelate who came to minister to her. 
 She was told that his name was Saint-Germain. 
 
 " I am a dead woman ! " she cried. 
 
 She died the next day, having lived just the number of 
 years allotted to her by every reading of her horoscope. 
 
 This scene, known to the Cardinal de Lorraine, who as- 
 cribed it to the Black Art, was being realized ; Francis II. 
 had reigned for two turns only of the wheel and Charles IX. 
 was achieving his last. When Catherine spoke these 
 strange words to her son Henri as he set out for Poland, 
 " You will soon return ! " they must be ascribed to her 
 faith in the occult sciences, and not to any intention of 
 poisoning Charles IX. Marguerite de France was now 
 Queen of Navarre ; Elizabeth was Queen of Spain ; the 
 Due d'Anjou was King of Poland. 
 
 Many other circumstances contributed to confirm Cath- 
 erine's belief in the occult sciences. On the eve of the 
 tournament where Henri II. was mortally wounded, Cath- 
 erine saw the fatal thrust in a dream. Her astrological 
 council, consisting of Nostradamus and the two Ruggieri, 
 had foretold the King's death. History has recorded 
 Catherine's earnest entreaties that he should not enter the 
 lists. The prognostic, and the dream begotten of the 
 prognostic, were verified.
 
 260 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 The chronicles of the time relate another and not less 
 strange fact. The courier who brought news of the victory 
 of Moncontour arrived at night, having ridden so hard 
 that he had killed three horses. The Queen-mother was 
 roused, and said, "I knew it." 
 
 " In fact," says Brantome, " she had the day before an- 
 nounced her son's succsss and some details of the fight." 
 
 The astrologer attached to the House of Bourbon foretold 
 that the youngest of the Princes in direct descent from 
 Saint-Louis, the son of Antoiue de Bourbon, would be 
 King of France. This prophecy, noted by Sully, was ful- 
 filled precisely as described by the horoscope, which made 
 Henri IV. remark that by dint of lies these astrologers 
 hit on the truth. 
 
 Be this as it may, most of the clever men of the time be- 
 lieved in the far-reaching " science of the Magi/' as it 
 was called by the masters of astrology or sorcery, as it 
 was termed by the people and they were justified by the 
 verification of horoscopes. 
 
 It was for Cosmo Kuggieri, her mathematician and as- 
 trologer her wizard, if you will that Catherine erected 
 the pillar against the corn-market in Paris, the only re- 
 maining relic of the H6tel de Soissons. Cosmo Rug- 
 gieri, like confessors, had a mysterions influence which 
 satisfied him, as it does them. His secret ambition, too, 
 was superior to that of vulgar minds. This man, depicted 
 by romance-writers and playwrights as a mere juggler, 
 held the rich abbey of Saint-Mah6 in Lower Brittany, and 
 had refused high ecclesiastical preferment j the money he 
 derived in abundance from the superstitious mania of the 
 time was sufficient for his private undertakings ; and the 
 Queen's hand, extended to -protect his head, preserved 
 every hair of it from harm. 
 
 As to Catherine's devourmg thirst for dominion, her 
 desire to acquire power was so great that, in order to grasp 
 it, she could ally herself with the Guises, the enemies of
 
 Catherine de' Medici 261 
 
 the throne ; and to keep the reins of State in her own 
 hands, she adopted every means, sacrificing her friends 
 and even her children. This woman could not live with- 
 out the intrigues of rule, as a gambler cannot live with- 
 out the excitement of play. Though she was an Italian 
 and a daughter of the luxurious Medici, the Calvinists, 
 though they calumniated her plentifully, never accused 
 her of having a lover. 
 
 Appreciating the maxim " Divide to reign/' for twelve 
 years she had been constantly playing off one force against 
 another. As soon as she took the reigns of government 
 into her hands, she was compelled to encourage discord to 
 neutralize the strength of two rival Houses and save the 
 throne. This necessary system justified Henri II. 's fore- 
 sight. Catherine was the inventor of the political see- 
 saw, imitated since by every Prince who has found him- 
 self in a similar position ; she upheld by turns, the Cal- 
 vinists against the Guises, and the Guises against the 
 Calvinists. Then, after using the two creeds to check 
 each other in the heart of the people, she set the Due 
 d'Anjou against Charles IX. After using things to coun- 
 teract each other, she did the same with men, always 
 keeping the clue to their interests in her own hands. 
 
 But in this tremendous game, which requires the head 
 of a Louis XI. or a Louis XVIII., the player inevitably is 
 the object of hatred to all parties, and is condemned to 
 win unfailingly, for one lost battle makes every interest 
 his enemy, until indeed by dint of winning he ends by 
 finding no one to play against him. The greater part of 
 Charles IX/s reign was the triumph of the domestic policy 
 carried out by this wonderful woman. What extraordinary 
 skill Catherine must have brought into play to get the 
 chief command of the army given to the Due d'Anjon, 
 under a brave young King thirsting for glory, capable and 
 generous and in the face of the Connetable Anne de 
 Montmorency I The Due d'Anjou, in the eyes of all
 
 262 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Europe, reaped the honors of Saint-Bartholomew's Day, 
 while Charles IX. had all the odium. After instilling 
 into the King's mind a spurious and covert jealousy of his 
 brother, she worked upon this feeling so as to exhaust 
 Charles IX. 's really fine qualities in the intrigues of rivalry 
 with his brother. Cypierre, their first tutor, and Amyot, 
 Charles IX. 's preceptor, had made their royal charge so 
 noble a man, and had laid the foundations of so great a 
 reign, that the mother hated the son from the very first 
 day when she feared to lose her power after having con- 
 quered it with so much difficulty. 
 
 These facts have led certain historians to believe that 
 the Queen-mother had a preference for Henri III. ; but 
 her behavior at this juncture proves that her heart was 
 absolutely indifferent towards her children. The Due 
 d'Anjou, when he went to govern Poland, robbed her of 
 the tool she needed to keep Charles IX. 's mind fully oc- 
 cupied by these domestic intrigues, which had hitherto 
 neutralized his energy by giving food to his vehement 
 feelings. Catherine then hatched the conspiracy of la 
 Mole and Coconnas, in which the Due d'Alen9on had 
 a hand ; and he, when he became Due d'Aujou on his 
 brother's being made King, lent himself very readily to 
 his mother's views, and displayed an ambition which was 
 encouraged by his sister Marguerite, Queen of Navarre. 
 
 This plot, now ripened to the point which Catherine 
 desired, aimed at putting the young Duke and his brother- 
 in-law, the King of Navarre, at the head of the Calvinists, 
 at seizing Charles IX., thus making the King, who had 
 no heir, a prisoner, and leaving the throne free for the 
 Duke, who proposed to establish Calvinism in France. 
 Only a few days before his death, Calvin had won the 
 reward he hoped for the Reformed creed was called 
 Calvinism in his honor. 
 
 La Mole and Coconnas had been arrested fifty days be- 
 fore the night on which this scene opens, to be beheaded
 
 Catherine de' Medici 263 
 
 in the following April ; and if le Laboureur and other 
 judicious writers had not amply proved that they were 
 the victims of the Queen-mother, Cosmo Ruggieri's par- 
 ticipation in the affair would be enough to show that she 
 secretly directed it. This man, suspected and hated by 
 the King for reasons which will be presently sufficiently 
 explained, was implicated by the inquiries. He admitted 
 that he had furnished la Mole with an image representing 
 the King and stubbed to the heart with two needles. 
 This form of witchcraft was at that time a capital crime. 
 This kind of bedevilment (called in French cnvouter, from 
 the Latin vultus, it is said) represented one of the most 
 infernal conceptions that hatred could imagine, and the 
 word admirably expresses the magnetic and terrible process 
 carried on, in occult science, by constantly active malevo- 
 lence on the person devoted to death ; its effects being in- 
 cessantly suggested by the sight of the wax figure. The 
 law at that time considered, and with good reason, that the 
 idea thus embodied constituted high treason. Charles IX. 
 desired the death of the Florentine ; Catherine, more 
 powerful, obtained from the Supreme Court, through the 
 intervention of her Councilor Lecamus, that her astrolo- 
 ger should be condemned only to the galleys. As soon as 
 the -King was dead, Ruggieri was pardoned by an edict 
 of Henri III.'s, who reinstated him in his revenues and 
 received him at Court. 
 
 Catherine had, by this time, struck so many blows on 
 her son's heart, that at this moment he was only anxious 
 to shake off the yoke she had laid on him. Since Marie 
 Touchet's absence, Charles IX., having nothing to occupy 
 him, had taken to observing very keenly all that went on 
 around him. He had set very skilful snares for certain 
 persons whom he had trusted, to test their fidelity. He 
 had watched his mother's proceedings, and had kept her 
 in ignorance of his own, making use of all the faults she
 
 264 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 had inculcated in order to deceive her. Eager to efface 
 the feeling of horror produced in France by the massacre 
 of Saint-Bartholomew, he took an active interest in public 
 affairs, presided at the council, and tried by well-planned 
 measures to seize the reins of government. Though the 
 Queen might have attempted to counteract her son's en- 
 deavors by using all the influence that maternal authority 
 and her habit of dominion could have over his mind, the 
 downward course of distrust is so rapid that, at the first 
 leap the son had gone too far to be recalled. 
 
 On the day when his mother's words to the King of 
 Poland were repeated to Charles IX., he already felt so 
 ill that the most hideous notions dawned on his mind ; 
 and when such suspicions take possession of a son and a 
 King nothing can remove them. In fact, on his death- 
 bed his mother was obliged to interrupt him, exclaiming, 
 "Do not gay that, Monsieur I" when Charles IX., in- 
 trusting his wife and daughter to the care of Henri IV., 
 was about to put him on his guard against Catherine. 
 
 Though Charles IX. never failed in the superficial 
 respect of which she was so jealous, and she never called 
 the Kings, her sons, anything but Monsieur, the Queen- 
 mother had, for some months past, detected in Charles' 
 manner the ill-disguised irony of revenge held in suspense. 
 But he must be a clever man who could deceive Catherine. 
 She held in her hand this conspiracy of the Due d'Alen- 
 9on and la Mole, so as to be able to divert Charles's efforts 
 at emancipation by this new rivalry of a brother ; but 
 before making use of it, she was anxious to dissipate the 
 want of confidence which might make her reconciliation 
 with the King impossible for how could he leave the 
 power in the hands of a mother who was capable of poison- 
 ing him ? 
 
 Indeed, at this juncture she thought herself so far in 
 danger that she had sent for Strozzi, her cousin, a soldier 
 famous for his death. She held secret councils with Bi-
 
 Catherine de' Medici 265 
 
 rague and the Gondis, and never had she so frequently con- 
 sulted the oracle of the Hdtel de Soissons. 
 
 Though long habits of dissimulation and advancing 
 years had given Catherine that Abbess-like countenance, 
 haughty and ascetic, expressionless and yet deep, reserved 
 but scrutinizing, and so remarkable for any student of her 
 portraits, those about her perceived a cloud over this cold, 
 Florentine mirror. No sovereign was ever a more impos- 
 ing figure than this woman had made herself since the 
 day when she had succeeded in coercing the Guises after 
 the death of Francis II. Her black velvet hood, with a 
 peak over the forehead, for she never went out of mourn- 
 ing for Henri II. , was, as it were, a womanly cowl round 
 her cold, imperious features, to which she could, however, 
 on occasion, give insinuating Italian charm. She was so 
 well made, that she introduced the fashion for women to 
 ride on horseback in such a way as to display their legs ; 
 this is enough to prove that hers were of perfect form. 
 Every lady in Europe thenceforth rode on a side-saddle, 4 
 la planchette, for France had long set the fashions. 
 
 To any one who can picture this impressive figure, the 
 scene in the great room that evening has an imposing 
 aspect. The two Queens, so unlike in spirit, in beauty, and 
 in dress, and almost at daggers drawn, were both much 
 too absent-minded to give the impetus for which the cour- 
 tiers waited to raise their spirits. 
 
 The dead secret of the drama which, for the past six 
 months, the son and mother had been cautiously playing, 
 was guessed by some of their followers ; the Italians, 
 more especially, had kept an attentive lookout, for if 
 Catherine should lose the game, they would all be the 
 victims. Under these circumstances, at a moment when 
 Catherine and her son were vying with each other in sub- 
 terfuges, the King was the center of observation. 
 
 Charles IX., tired by a long day's hunting, and by the 
 serious reflections he brooded over in secret, looked forty
 
 266 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 this evening. He had reached the last stage of the malady 
 which killed him, and which gave rise to grave suspicions 
 of poison. According to de Thou, the Tacitus of the Va- 
 lois, the surgeon found unaccountable spots in the King's 
 body (ex causd incognitd reperti livores). His funeral was 
 even more carelessly conducted than that of Francis II. 
 Charles the Ninth was escorted from Saint-Lazare to Saint- 
 Denis by Brant6me and a few archers of the Guard com- 
 manded by the Comte de Solern. This circumstance, 
 added to the mother's supposed hatred of her son, may 
 confirm the accusation brought against her by de Thou ; at 
 least it gives weight to the opinion here expressed, that 
 she cared little for any of her children, an indifference 
 which is accounted for by her faith in the pronouncement 
 of astrology. Such a woman could not care for tools that 
 were to break in her hands. Henri III. was the last King 
 under whom she could hope to reign ; and that was all. 
 
 In our day it seems allowable to suppose that Charles 
 IX. died a natural death. His excesses, his manner of 
 life, the sudden development of his powers, his last strug- 
 gles to seize the reins of government, his desire to live, his 
 waste of strength, his last sufferings and his last pleas- 
 ures, all indicate, to impartial judges, that he died of 
 disease of the lungs, a malady at that time little under- 
 stood, and of which nothing was known ; and its symp- 
 toms might lead Charles himself to believe that he was 
 poisoned. 
 
 The real poison given him by his mother lay in the evil 
 counsels of the courtiers with whom she surrounded him, 
 who induced him to waste his intellectual and physical 
 powers, and who thus were the cause of a disease which 
 was purely incidental and not congenital. 
 
 Charles the Ninth, at this period of his life more than 
 at any other, bore the stamp of a somber dignity not un- 
 becoming in a King. The majesty of his secret thoughts 
 was reflected in his face, which was remarkable for the
 
 Catherine de' Medici 267 
 
 Italian complexion he inherited from his mother. This 
 ivory pallor, so beautiful by artificial light, and so well 
 suited with an expression of melancholy, gave added effect 
 to his deep blue eyes showing narrowly under thick eye- 
 lids, and thus acquiring that keen acumen which imagina- 
 tion pictures in the glance of a King, while their color was 
 an aid to dissimulation. Charles's eyes derived an awe- 
 inspiring look from his high, marked eyebrows accen- 
 tuating a lofty forehead which he could lift or lower 
 with singular facility. His nose was long and broad, and 
 thick at the tip a true lion's nose ; he had large ears ; 
 light reddish hair ; lips of the color of blood, the lips of a 
 consumptive man ; the upper lip thin and satirical, the 
 lower full enough to indicate fine qualities of feeling. 
 
 The wrinkles stamped on his brow in early life, when 
 terrible anxieties had blighted its freshness, made his face 
 intensely interesting ; more than one had been caused by 
 remorse for the massacre of Saint-Bartholomew, a deed 
 which had been craftily foisted on him ; but there Avere 
 two other lines on his face which would have been eloquent 
 to any student who at that time could have had a special 
 revelation of the principles of modern physiology. These 
 lines made a deep furrow from the cheek-bones to each 
 corner of the mouth, and betrayed the efforts made by an 
 exhausted organization to respond to mental strain and to 
 violent physical enjoyment. Charles IX. was worn out. 
 The Queen-mother, seeing her work, must have felt some 
 remorse, unless, indeed, politics stifle such a feeling in all 
 who sit under the purple. If Catherine could have fore- 
 seen the effects of her intrigues on her son, she might per- 
 haps have shrunk from them ? 
 
 It was a terrible spectacle. The King, by nature so 
 strong, had become Aveak ; the spirit, so nobly tempered, 
 was racked by doubts ; this man, the center of authority, 
 felt himself helpless ; the nfitnri'lly firm temper had lost 
 confidence in its power. The warrior's valor had degen-
 
 268 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 crated into ferocity, reserve had become dissimulation, the 
 refined and tender passion of the Valois was an insatiable 
 thirst for pleasure. This great man, misprized, perverted, 
 with every side of his noble spirit chafed to a sore, a King 
 without power, a loving heart without a friend, torn a 
 thousand ways by conflicting schemes, was, at four-and- 
 twenty, the melancholy image of a man who has found 
 everything wanting, who distrusts every one, who is ready 
 to stake his all, even his life. Only lately had he under- 
 stood his mission, his power, his resources, and the obsta- 
 cles placed by his mother in the way of the pacification of 
 the kingdom, and the light glowed in a broken lamp. 
 
 Two men, for whom the King had so great a regard 
 that he had saved one from the massacre of Saint-Bartho- 
 lomew, and had dined with the other at a time when his 
 enemies accused him of poisoning the King his chief 
 physician Jean Chapelain, and the great surgeon Ambroise 
 Pare 1 had been sent for from the country by Catherine, 
 and, obeying the summons in hot haste, arrived at the 
 King's bedtime. They looked anxiously at their sovereign, 
 and some of the courtiers made whispered inquiries, but 
 they answered with due reserve, saying nothing of the 
 sentence each had secretly pronounced. Now and again 
 the King would raise his heavy eyelids and try to conceal 
 from the bystanders the glance he shot at his mother. 
 Suddenly he rose, and went to stand in front of the fire- 
 place. 
 
 " Monsieur de Chiverni," said he, " why do you keep 
 the title of Chancellor of Anjou and Poland ? Are you 
 our servant or our brother's ?" 
 
 " I am wholly yours, Sire/' replied Chiverni, with a bow. 
 
 " Well, then, come to-morrow ; I mean to send yon to 
 Spain, for strange things are doing at the Court of Madrid, 
 gentlemen." 
 
 The King looked at his wife and returned to his chair. 
 
 " Strange things are doing everywhere," he added in a
 
 Catherine de' Medici 269 
 
 whisper to Marshal Tavannes, one of the favorites of hia 
 younger days. And he rose to lead the partner of his 
 youthful pleasures into the recess of an oriel window, say- 
 ing to him 
 
 " I want you ; stay till the last. I must know whether 
 you will be with me or against me. Do not look astonished. 
 I am breaking the leading strings. My mother is at the 
 bottom of all the mischief here. In three months I shall 
 either be dead, or be really King. As you love your life, 
 silence ! You are in my secret with Solern and Villeroy. 
 If the least hint is given, it will come from one of you 
 three. Do not keep too close to me ; go and pay your 
 court to my mother ; tell her that I am dying, and that 
 you cannot regret it, for that I am but a poor creature." 
 
 Charles IX. walked round the room leaning on his old 
 favorite's shoulder, and discussing his sufferings with him, 
 to mislead inquisitive persons ; then, fearing that his 
 coldness might be too marked, he went to talk with the 
 two Queens, calling Birague to his side. 
 
 Just then Pinard glided in at the door and came up to 
 Queen Catherine, slipped in like an eel, close to the wall. 
 He murmured two words in the Queen-mother's ear, and 
 she replied with an affirmative nod. The King did not 
 ask what this meant, but he went back to his chair with a 
 scowl round the room of horrible rage and jealousy. This 
 little incident was of immense importance in the eyes of 
 all the Court. This exertion of authority without any 
 appeal to the King was like the drop of water that 
 makes the glass overflow. The young Queen and Countess 
 Fieschi withdrew without the King's paying her the least 
 attention, but the Queen-mother attended her daughter-in- 
 law to the door. Though the misunderstanding between 
 the mother and son lent enormous interest to the move- 
 ments, looks, and attitude of Catherine and Charles IX., 
 their cold composure plainly showed the courtiers that 
 they were in the way ; as soon as the Queen had gone
 
 270 Catherine de' Mediei 
 
 they took their leave. At ten o'clock no one remained 
 but certain intimate persons the two Gondis, Tavannes, 
 the Comte de Solern, Birague, and the Queen-mother. 
 
 The King sat plunged in the deepest melancholy. This 
 silence was fatiguing. Catherine seemed at a loss ; she 
 wished to retire, and she wanted the King to attend her to 
 the door, but Charles remained obstinately lost in thought ; 
 she rose to bid him good-night, Charles was obliged to 
 follow her example ; she took his arm, and went a few 
 steps with him to speak in his ear these few words 
 
 "Monsieur, I have matters of importance to discuss 
 with you." 
 
 As she left, the Queen-mother met the eyes of the Gondis 
 reflected in a glass, and gave them a significant glance, 
 which her son could not see all the more so because he 
 himself was exchanging meaning looks with the Comte de 
 Solern and Villeroy ; Tavannes was absorbed in thought. 
 
 " Sire," said the Mar6chal de Ketz, coming out of his 
 meditations, "you seem right royally bored. Do you 
 never amuse yourself nowadays ? Heaven above us ! 
 where are the times when we went gadding about the 
 streets of nights ? " 
 
 " Yes, those were good times," said the King, not with- 
 out a sigh. 
 
 "Why not be off now?" said Monsieur de Birague, 
 bowing himself out, with a wink at the Gondis. 
 
 "I always think of that time with pleasure," cried the 
 Marechal de Eetz. 
 
 "I should like to see you on the roofs, Monsieur le 
 Marechal," said Tavannes. " Sacre chat d' Italic, if yon 
 might but break your neck," he added in an undertone to 
 the King. 
 
 " I know not whether you or I should be nimblest at 
 jumping across a yard or a street ; but what I do know is, 
 that neither of us is more afraid of death than the other," 
 replied the Due de Retz.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 271 
 
 " Well, Sir, will you come to scour the town as you did 
 when you were young ? " said the Master of the Wardrobe 
 to the King. 
 
 Thus at four-and-twenty the unhappy King was no 
 longer thought young, even by his flatterers. Tavannes 
 and the King recalled, like two school-fellows, some of the 
 good tricks they had perpetrated in Paris, and the party 
 was soon made up. The two Italians, being dared to jump 
 from roof to roof across the street, pledged themselves to 
 follow where the King should lead. They all went to put 
 on common clothes. 
 
 
 
 The Comte de Solern, left alone with the King, looked 
 at him with amazement. The worthy German, though 
 filled with compassion as he understood the position of 
 the King of France, was fidelity and honor itself, but he 
 had not a lively imagination. King Charles, surrounded 
 by enemies, and trusting no one, not even his wife who, 
 not knowing that his mother and all her servants were 
 inimical to him, had committed some little indiscretions 
 was happy to have found in Monsieur de Solern a devotion 
 which justified complete confidence. Tavannes and Vil- 
 leroy were only partly in the secret. The Comte de 
 Solern alone knew the whole of the King's schemes ; and 
 he was in every way very useful to his master, inasmuch 
 as that he had a handful of confidential and attached men 
 at his orders who obeyed him blindly. Monsieur de 
 Solern, who held a command in the Archers of the Guard, 
 had for some days been picking from among his men some 
 who were faithful in their adherence to the King, to form 
 a chosen company. The King could think of everything. 
 
 "Well, Solern/' said Charles IX., "we were needing a 
 pretext for spending a night out of doors. I had the ex- 
 cuse, of course, of Madame de Belleville ; but this is better, 
 for my mother can find out what goes on at Marie's 
 house." 
 
 Monsieur de Solern, as he was to attend the King, asked
 
 272 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 if he might not go the rounds with some of his Germans, 
 and to this Charles consented. By eleven o'clock the 
 King, in better spirits now, set out with his three com- 
 panions to explore the neighborhood of the Rue Saint- 
 Honore. 
 
 " I will take my lady by surprise/' said Charles .to 
 Tavannes as they went along the Rue de 1'Autruche. 
 
 To make this nocturnal ploy more intelligible to those 
 who may be ignorant of the topography of old Paris, it 
 will be necessary to explain the position of the Rue de 
 FAutruche. The part of the Louvre, begun by Henri II., 
 was still being built amid the wreck of houses. Where 
 the wing now stands looking over the Pont des Arts, there 
 was at that time a garden. In the place of the Colonnade 
 there were a moat and a drawbridge on which, somewhat 
 later, a Florentine, the Marechal d'Ancre, met his death. 
 Beyond this garden rose the turrets of the H6tel de Bour- 
 bon, the residence of the princes of that branch till the 
 day when the Constable's treason (after he was ruined by 
 the confiscation of his possessions, decreed by Francis I., 
 to avoid having to decide between him and his mother) 
 put an end to the trial that had cost France so dear, by 
 the confiscation of the Constable's estates. 
 
 This chateau, which looked well from the river, was not 
 destroyed till the time of Louis XIV. 
 
 The Rue del'Autruche ran from the Rue Saint-Honore, 
 ending at the H6tel de Bourbon on the quay. This street, 
 named de 1'Autriche on some old plans, and de 1'Austruc 
 on others, has, like many more, disappeared from the map. 
 The Rue des Poulies would seem to have been cut across 
 the ground occupied by the houses nearest to the Rue 
 Saint-Honore. Authors have differed, too, as to the 
 etymology of the name. Some suppose it to be derived 
 from a certain Hdtel d'Osteriche (Osterrichen) inhabited 
 in the fourteenth century by a daughter of that house who 
 married a French nobleman. Some assert that this was
 
 Catherine de' Medici 273 
 
 the site of the Royal Aviaries, whither, once on a time, all 
 Paris crowded to see a living ostrich. 
 
 Be it as it may, this tortuous street was made notable 
 by the residences of certain princes of the blood, who 
 dwelt in the vicinity of the Louvre. Since the sovereign 
 had deserted the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, where for 
 several centuries he had lived in the Bastille, and removed 
 to the Louvre, many of the nobility had settled near the 
 palace. The H6tel de Bourbon had its fellow in the old 
 Hdtel d'Alen9on in the Rue Saint-Honore. This, the 
 palace of the Counts of that name, always an appanage of 
 the Crown, was at this time owned by Henri II. 's fourth 
 son, who subsequently took the title of Due d'Anjou, and 
 who died in the reign of Henri III., to whom he gave no 
 little trouble. The estato then reverted to the Crown, 
 including the old palace, which was pulled down. In 
 those days a prince's residence was a vast assemblage of 
 buildings ; to form some idea of its extent, we have only 
 to go and see the space covered by the H6tel de Soubise, 
 which is still standing in the Marais. Such a palace in- 
 cluded all the buildings necessary to these magnificent 
 lives, which may seem almost problematical to many 
 persons who see how poor is the state of a prince in these 
 days. There were immense stables, lodgings for physi- 
 cians, librarians, chancellors, chaplains, treasurers, offi- 
 cials, pages, paid servants, and lackeys, attached to the 
 Prince's person. 
 
 Not far from the Rue Saint-Honore, in a garden belong- 
 ing to the H6tel, stood a pretty little house built in 1520 
 by command of the celebrated Duchesse d'Alengon, which 
 had since been surrounded with other houses erected by 
 merchants. Here the King had installed Marie Touchet. 
 Although the Due d'Alengon was engaged in a conspiracy 
 against the King at that time, he was incapable of annoy- 
 ing him in such a matter. 
 
 As the King was obliged to pass by his lady's door on 
 18
 
 274 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 his way down the Eue Saint-Honore, where at that time 
 highway robbers had no opportunities within the Barrie're 
 des Sergents, he could hardly avoid stopping there. 
 While keeping a look out for some stroke of luck a be- 
 lated citizen to be robbed, or the watch to be thrashed 
 the King scanned every window, peeping in wherever 
 he saw lights, to see what was going on, or to overhear 
 a conversation. But he found his good city in a provok- 
 ingly peaceful state. On a sudden, as he came in front 
 of the house kept by a famous perfumer named Rene, 
 who supplied the Court, the King was seized with one 
 of those swift inspirations which are suggested by ante- 
 cedent observation, as he saw a bright light shining from 
 the topmost window of the roof. 
 
 This perfumer was strongly suspected of doctoring rich 
 uncles when they complained of illness ; he was credited 
 at Court with the invention of the famous Elixir a suc- 
 cessions the Elixir of Inheritance and had been accused 
 of poisoning Jeanne d'Albert, Henri IWs mother, who 
 was buried without her head having been opened, in spite 
 of the express orders of Charles IX., as a contemporary 
 tells us. For two months past the King had been seeking 
 some stratagem to enable him to spy out the secrets of 
 Rene's laboratory, whither Cosmo Ruggieri frequently 
 resorted. Charles intended, if anything should arouse 
 his suspicions, to take steps himself without the interven- 
 tion of the Police or the Law, over whom his mother 
 would exert the influence of fear or of bribery. 
 
 It is beyond all doubt that during the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, and the years immediately preceding and following 
 it, poisoning had been brought to a pitch of perfection 
 which remains unknown to modern chemistry, but which 
 is indisputably proved by history. Italy, the cradle of 
 modern science, was at that time the inventor and mistress 
 of these secrets, many of which are lost. Romancers have 
 made such extravagant use of this fact, that whenever
 
 Catherine de' Medici 275 
 
 they introduce Italians they make them play the part of 
 assassins and poisoners. 
 
 But though Italy had then the monopoly of those subtle 
 poisons of which historians tell us, we must regard her 
 supremacy in toxicology merely as part of her pre-emi- 
 nence in all branches of knowledge and in the arts, in 
 which she led the way for all Europe. The crimes of the 
 period were not hers alone ; she served the passions of the 
 age, as she built magnificently, commanded armies, painted 
 glorious frescoes, sang songs, loved Queens, and directed 
 politics. At Florence this hideous art had reached such, 
 perfection, that a woman dividing a peach with a duke 
 could make use of a knife of which one side only was 
 poisoned, and, eating the untainted half, dealt death with 
 the other. A pair of perfumed gloves introduced a mortal 
 malady by the pores of the hand ; poison could be con- 
 cealed in a bunch of fresh roses of which the fragrance, 
 inhaled but once, meant certain death. Don Juan of 
 Austria, it is said, was poisoned by a pair of boots. 
 
 So King Charles had a right to be inquisitive, and it is 
 easy to imagine how greatly the dark suspicions which 
 tormented him added to his eagerness to detect Rene in 
 the act. 
 
 The old fountain, since rebuilt, at the corner of the 
 Rue de 1'Arbre-Sec, afforded this illustrious crew the 
 necessary access to the roof of a house, which the King 
 pretended that he wished to invade, not far from Rene's. 
 Charles, followed by his companions, began walking along 
 the roofs, to the great terror of the good folks awakened 
 by these marauders, who would call to them, giving them 
 some coarsely grotesque name, listen to family squabbles 
 or love-makings, or do some vexatious damage. 
 
 "When the two Gondis saw Tavannes and the King 
 clambering along the roof adjoining Rene's, the Marechal 
 de Retz sat down, saying he was tired, and his brother 
 remained with him.
 
 276 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " So much the better/' thought the King, glad to b 
 quit of his spies. 
 
 Tavannes made fun of the two Italians, who were then 
 left alone in the midst of perfect silence in a place where 
 they had only the sky above them and the cats for listen- 
 ers. And the brothers took advantage of this position to 
 speak out thoughts which they never would have uttered 
 elsewhere thoughts suggested by the incidents of the 
 evening. 
 
 " Albert/* said the Grand Master to the Marshal, " the 
 King will get the upper hand of the Queen ; we are doing 
 bad business so far as our fortunes are concerned by 
 attaching ourselves to Catherine's. If we transfer our 
 services to the King now, when he is seeking some sup- 
 port against his mother, and needs capable men to rely 
 upon, we shall not be turned out like wild beasts when 
 the Queen-mother is banished, imprisoned, or killed." 
 
 "You will not get far, Charles, by that road," the 
 Marshal replied. " Yon will follow your master into the 
 grave, and he has not long to live ; he is wrecked by dis- 
 sipation ; Cosmo Ruggieri has foretold his death next 
 year." 
 
 " A dying boar has often gored the hunter/' said Charles 
 de Gondi. " This plot of the Duo d'Alengon with the 
 King of Navarre and the Prince de Cond6, of which la 
 Mole and Coconnas are taking the onus, is dangerous 
 rather than useful. In the first place, the King of Na- 
 varre, whom the Queen-mother hopes to take in the fact, 
 is too suspicious of her, and will have nothing to do with 
 it. He means to get the benefit of the conspiracy and 
 run none of the risks. And now, the last idea is to place 
 the crown on the head of the Due d'Alen9on, who is to 
 turn Calvinist." 
 
 " Budelone ! Dolt that you are, do not you see that 
 this plot enables our Queen to learn what the Huguenots 
 can do with the Due d'Alen9on, and what the King means
 
 Catherine de' Medici 277 
 
 to do with the Huguenots ? For the King is temporizing 
 with them. And Catherine, to set the King riding on a 
 wooden horse, will betray the plot which must nullify his 
 schemes/' 
 
 " Ay ! " said Charles de Gondi, " by dint of taking our 
 advice she can beat us at our own game. That is very 
 good." 
 
 " Good for the Due d'Anjou, who would rather be 
 King of France than King of Poland ; I am going to ex- 
 plain matters to him." 
 
 " Yon are going, Albert ? " 
 
 " To-morrow. Is it not my duty to attend the King of 
 Poland ? I shall join him at Venice, where the Signori 
 have undertaken to amuse him." 
 
 " You are prudence itself." 
 
 " Che lestia! I assure you solemnly that there is not 
 the slightest danger for either of us at Court. If there 
 were, should I leave ? I would stick to our kind Mis- 
 tress." 
 
 " Kind ! " said the Grand Master. " She is the woman 
 to drop her tools if she finds them too heavy." 
 
 " coglione ! You call yourself a soldier, and are afraid 
 of death ? Every trade has its duties, and our duty is to 
 Fortune. When we attach ourselves to monarchs who 
 are the fount of all temporal power, and who protect and 
 ennoble and enrich our families, we have to give them 
 such love as inflames the soul of the martyr for heaven ; 
 when they sacrifice us for the throne we may perish, for 
 we die as much for ourselves as for them, but our family 
 does not perish. Ecco ; I have said I " 
 
 " You are quite right, Albert ; yon have got the old 
 duchy of Retz." 
 
 " Listen to me," said the Due de Retz. " The Queen 
 has great hopes of the Ruggieri and their arts to reconcile 
 her to her son. When that artful youth refused to hare 
 anything to do with Ren6, our Queen easily guessed what
 
 278 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 her son's suspicions were. But who can tell what the 
 King has in his pocket ? Perhaps he is only doubting as 
 to what fate he intends for his mother ; he hates her, you 
 understand ? He said something of his purpose to the 
 Queen, and the Queen talked of it to Madame de Fieschi ; 
 Madame de Fieschi carried it on to the Queen-mother, 
 and since then the King has kept out of his wife's way." 
 
 " It was high time " said Charles de Gondi. 
 
 " What to do ? " asked the Marshal. 
 
 "To give the King something to do," replied the 
 Grand Master, who, though he was on less intimate terms 
 with Catherine than his brother, was not less clear-sighted. 
 
 " Charles," said de Retz gravely, " I have started on a 
 splendid road ; but if you want to be a Duke, you must, 
 like me, be our Mistress's ready tool. She will remain 
 Queen ; she is the strongest. Madame de Sauves is still 
 devoted to her ; and the King of Navarre and the Due 
 d'Alen9on are devoted to Madame de Sauves ; Catherine 
 will always have them in leading strings under this King, 
 as she will have them under King Henri III. Heaven send 
 he may not be ungrateful ! " 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " His mother does too much for him." 
 
 "Hark ! There is a noise in the Rue Saint-Honore," 
 cried Chai'les de Gondi. " Renews door is being locked. 
 Cannot you hear a number of men ? They must have 
 taken the Ruggieri." 
 
 " The devil ! What a piece of prudence ! The King 
 has not shown his usual impetuosity. But where will he 
 imprison them ? Let us see what is going on." 
 
 The brothers reached the corner of the Rue de 
 1'Autruche at the moment when the King was enter- 
 ing his mistress's house. By the light of the torches 
 held by the gatekeeper they recognized Tavannes and the 
 Ruggieri. 
 
 " Well, Tavannes," the Grand Master called out as he
 
 Catherine de' Medici 279 
 
 ran after the King's companion, who was making his 
 way back to the Louvre, "what adventures have you 
 had?" 
 
 " We dropped on a full council of wizards, and arrested 
 two who are friends of yours, and who will explain for 
 the benefit of French noblemen by what means you, who 
 are not Frenchmen, have contrived to clutch two Crown 
 offices," said Tavannes, half in jest. 
 
 "And the King ?" asked the Grand Master, who was 
 not much disturbed by Tavannes' hostility. 
 
 "He is staying with his mistress." 
 
 " We have risen to where we stand by the most absolute 
 devotion to our masters, a brilliant and noble career which 
 you too have adopted, my dear Duke," replied the 
 Marechal de Ketz. 
 
 The three courtiers walked on in silence. As they 
 bid each other good-night, rejoining their retainers, who 
 escorted them home, two men lightly glided along the 
 Eue de 1'Autruche in the shadow of the wall. These 
 were the King and the Comte de Solern, who soon 
 reached the river-bank at a spot where a boat and 
 rowers, engaged by the German Count, were awaiting 
 them. In a few minutes they had reached the opposite 
 shore. 
 
 " My mother is not in bed," cried the King, " she will 
 see us ; we have not made a good choice of our meeting- 
 place." 
 
 " She will think some duel is in the wind," said Solern. 
 " And how is she to distinguish who we are at this dis- 
 tance?" 
 
 "Well ! Even if she sees me ! " cried Charles IX. " I 
 have made up my mind now." 
 
 " The King and his friend jumped on shore, and hur- 
 ried off towards the Pr6 aux Clercs. On arriving there, 
 the Comte de Solern, who went first, parleyed with a man
 
 280 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 on sentry, with whom he exchanged a few words, and who 
 then withdrew to a group of others. 
 
 Presently two men, who seemed to be princes by the 
 way the outposts saluted them, left the spot where they 
 were in hiding behind some broken fencing, and came to 
 the King, to whom they bent the knee ; but Charles 
 IX. raised them before they could touch the ground, say- 
 ing 
 
 e ' No ceremony ; here we are all gentlemen together." 
 
 These three were now joined by a venerable old man, 
 who might have been taken for the Chancellor de 
 THdpital, but that he had died the year before. Then all 
 four walked on as quickly as possible to reach a spot 
 where their conversation could not be overheard by their 
 retainers, and Solern followed them at a little distance to 
 keep guard over the King. This faithful servant felt 
 some doubts which Charles did not share, for to him indeed 
 life was too great a burden. The Count was the only wit- 
 ness to the meeting on the King's side. 
 
 It soon became interesting. 
 
 " Sire," said one of the speakers, "the Connetable de 
 Montmorency, the best friend the King, your father, had, 
 and possessed of all his secrets, agreed with the Marechal 
 de Saint- Andre that Madame Catherine should be sown 
 np in a sack and thrown into the river. If that had been 
 done, many good men would be alive now." 
 
 " I have executions enough on my conscience, Mon- 
 sieur," replied the King. 
 
 " Well, Sire," said the youngest of the four gentlemen, 
 " from the depths of exile Queen Catherine would still 
 manage to interfere and find men to help her. Have we 
 not everything to fear from the Guises, who, nine years 
 since, schemed for a monstrous Catholic alliance, in which 
 your Majesty is not included, and which is a danger to the 
 throne ? This alliance is a Spanish invention for Spain 
 till oherishes the hope of leveling the Pyrenees. Sire,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 281 
 
 Calvinism can save France by erecting a moral barrier be- 
 tween this nation and one that aims at the Empire of the 
 world. If the Queen-mother finds herself in banishment, 
 she will throw herself on Spain and the Guises. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the King, " I will have you to know 
 that with your help, and with peace established on a 
 basis of confidence, I will undertake to make every soul 
 in the kingdom quake. By God and every sacred relic ! 
 it is time that the Koyal authority should assert itself. 
 Understand this clearly ; so far, my mother is right, 
 power is slipping from your grasp, as it is from mine. 
 Your estates, your privileges are bound to the throne ; 
 when you have allowed religion to be overthrown, the 
 hands you are using as tools will turn against the Mon- 
 archy and against you. 
 
 " I have had enough of fighting ideas with weapons 
 that cannot touch them. Let us see whether Protes- 
 tantism can make its way if left to itself ; above all, let 
 us see what the spirit of that faction means to attack. 
 The Admiral, God be merciful to him, was no enemy of 
 mine. He swore to me that he would restrain the revolt 
 within the limits of spiritual feeling, and in the temporal 
 kingdom secure mastery to the King and submissive 
 subjects. Now, gentlemen, if the thing is still in your 
 power, set an example, and help your sovereign to con- 
 trol the malcontents who are disturbing the peace of both 
 parties alike. "War robs us of all our revenue, and ruins 
 the country ; I am weary of this troubled State so much 
 so, that, if it should be absolutely necessary, I would sac- 
 rifice my mother. I would do more ; I would have about 
 me a like number of Catholics and of Protestants, and I 
 would hang Louis XI.'s ax over their head to keep them 
 equal. If Messieurs de Guise plot a Holy Alliance which 
 endangers the Crown, the executioner shall begin on them. 
 
 " I understand the griefs of my people, and am quite 
 ready to cut freely at the nobles who bring trouble on out
 
 282 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 country. I care little for questions of conscience ; I mean 
 henceforth to have submissive subjects who will work, 
 under my rule, at the prosperity of the State. 
 
 ' ' Gentlemen, I give you ten days to treat with your ad- 
 herents, to break up your plots, and return to me, who 
 will be a father to you. If you are refractory, you will see 
 great changes. I shall make use of smaller men who, at 
 my bidding, will rush upon the great lords. I will follow 
 the example of a king who pacified his realm by striking 
 down greater men than you are who dared to defy him. If 
 Catholic troops are wanting, I can appeal to my brother of 
 Spain to defend a threatened throne ; nay, and if I need a 
 Minister to carry out my will, he will lend me the Duke 
 of Alva." 
 
 " In that event, Sire, we can find Germans to fight your 
 Spaniards," said one of the party. 
 
 " I may remind you, cousin," said Charles IX. coldly, 
 " that my wife's name is Elizabeth of Austria ; your allies 
 on that side might fail yon. But take my advice ; let us 
 fight this alone without calling in the foreigner. You are 
 the object of my mother's hatred, and you care enough for 
 me to play the part of second in my duel with her well, 
 then, listen. You stand so high in my esteem, that I offer 
 you the office of High Constable ; you will not betray us 
 as the othor has done." 
 
 The Prince thus addressed took the King's hand in a 
 friendly grasp, exclaiming 
 
 "God's 'onnds, brother, that is indeed forgiving evil ! 
 But, Sire, the head cannot move without the tail, and our 
 tail is hard to drag along. Give us more than ten days. 
 We still need at least a month to make the rest hear reason. 
 By the end of that time we shall be the masters." 
 
 " A month, so be it ; Villeroy is my only plenipotentiary. 
 Take no word but his, whatever any one may say." 
 
 " One month," said the three other gentlemen ; " that 
 will be enough time."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 283 
 
 " Gentlemen/' said the King, " we are but five, all men 
 of mettle. If there is any treachery, we shall know with 
 whom to deal." 
 
 The three gentlemen left the King with every mark of 
 deep respect and kissed his hand. 
 
 As the King recrossed the Seine, four o'clock was strik- 
 ing by the Louvre clock. 
 
 Queen Catherine was still up. 
 
 " My mother is not gone to bed," said Charles to the 
 Comte de Solern. 
 
 " She too has her forge," said the German. 
 
 " My dear Count, what must you think of a king who is 
 reduced to conspiracy ? " said Charles IX. bitterly, after 
 a pause. 
 
 " I think, Sire, that if you would only allow me to throw 
 that woman into the river, as our young friend said, France 
 would soon be at peace." 
 
 ' ' Parricide ! and after Saint-Bartholomew's ! " said 
 the King. "No, no Exile. Once fallen, my mother 
 would not have an adherent or a partisan." 
 
 " Well, then, Sire," the Count went on, "allow me to 
 take her into custody now, at once, and escort her beyond 
 the frontier, for by to-morrow she will have won you round." 
 
 " Well," said the King, " come to my forge ; no one 
 can hear us there. Besides, I am anxious that my mother 
 should know nothing of the arrest of the Ruggieri. If she 
 knows I am within, the good lady will suspect nothing, 
 and we will concert the measures for arresting her." 
 
 When the King, attended by Solern, went into the low 
 room which served as his workshop, he smiled as he 
 pointed to his forge and various tools. 
 
 " I do not suppose," said he, " that of all the kings 
 France may ever have, there will be another with a taste 
 for such a craft. But when I am really King, I shall not 
 forge swords ; they shall all be sheathed." 
 
 " Sire," said the Comte de Solern, " the fatigues of
 
 284 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 tennis, your work at the forge, hunting, and may I say 
 it ? love-making, are chariots lent you by the Devil to 
 hasten your journey to Saint-Denis." 
 
 " Ah, Solern I " said the King sadly, " if only you could 
 feel the fire they have set burning in my heart and body. 
 Nothing can slake it. Are you sure of the men who are 
 guarding the Euggieri ? " 
 
 "As sure as of myself. " 
 
 "Well, in the course of this day I shall have made 
 up my mind. Think out the means of acting, and I will 
 give you my final instructions at five this evening, at 
 Madame de Belleville's. 
 
 The first gleams of daybreak were struggling with the 
 lights in the King's workshop, where the Comte de Solern 
 had left him alone, when he heard the door open and saw 
 his mother, looking like a ghost in the gloom.' Though 
 Charles IX. was highly strung and nervous, he did not 
 gtart, although under the circumstances this apparition 
 had an ominous and grotesque aspect. 
 
 "Monsieur," said she, "you are killing yourself " 
 
 " I am fulfilling my horoscopes," he retorted, with a 
 bitter smile. "Bat you, Madam, are you as ill as lam ?" 
 
 " We have both watched through the night, Monsieur, 
 but with very different purpose. When you were setting 
 out to confer with your bitterest enemies in the open night, 
 and hiding it from your mother, with the connivance of 
 Tavannes and the Gondis, with whom you pretended to be 
 scouring the town, I was reading despatches which prove 
 that a terrible conspiracy is hatching, in which your brother 
 the Due d'Alen9on is implicated with your brother-in-law, 
 the King of Navarre, the Prince de Conde, and half the 
 nobility of your kingdom. Their plan is no less than to 
 snatch the Crown from you by taking possession of your 
 person. These gentlemen have already a following of fifty 
 thousand men, all good soldiers."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 285 
 
 " Indeed ! " said the King incredulously. 
 
 "Your brother is becoming a Huguenot/' the Queen 
 went on. 
 
 " My brother joining the Huguenots ? " cried Charles, 
 brandishing the iron bar he held. 
 
 " Yes. The Due d'Alen9on, a Huguenot at heart, is 
 about to declare himself. Your sister, the Queen of 
 Navarre, has scarcely a tinge of affection left for you. She 
 loves Monsieur le Due d'Alen9on, she loves Bussy, and she 
 also loves little la Mole." 
 
 " What a large heart ! " said the King. 
 
 "Little la Mole, to grow great," the Queen went on, 
 " can think of no better means than making a King of 
 France to his mind. Then, it is said, he is to be High 
 Constable." 
 
 "That damned Margot ! " cried the King. "This 
 is what comes of her marrying a heretic " 
 
 " That would be nothing ; but then there is the head 
 of the younger branch, whom you have placed near the 
 throne against my warnings, and who only wants to see 
 you all kill each other ! The House of Bourbon is the 
 enemy of the House of Valois. Mark this, Monsieur, a 
 younger branch must always be kept in abject poverty, for 
 it is born with the spirit of conspiracy, and it is folly to 
 give it weapons when it has none, or to leave them in its 
 possession when it takes them. The younger branches 
 must be impotent for mischief that is the law of sov- 
 ereignty. The sultans of Asia observe it. 
 
 " The proofs are up-stairs in my closet, whither I 
 begged you to follow me when we parted last night, but 
 you had other projects. Within a month, if we do not 
 take a high hand, your fate will be that of Charles the 
 Simple." 
 
 " Within a month I " exclaimed Charles, amazed at 
 the coincidence of this period with the term fixed by the 
 priaoes that very night. " In a month we shall be the
 
 286 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 masters/' thought he to himself, repeating their words. 
 " You have proofs, Madame ? " he asked aloud. 
 
 " They are unimpeachable, Monsieur ; they are sup- 
 plied by my daughter Marguerite. Terrified by the 
 probable outcome of such a coalition, in spite of her 
 weakness for your brother d'Alengon, the throne of the 
 Valois lay, for once, nearer to her heart than all her 
 amours. She asks indeed, as the reward of her revela- 
 tion, that la Mole shall go scot free ; but that popinjay 
 seems to me to be a rogue we ought to get rid of, as well as 
 the Comte de Coconnas, your brother d'Alen9on's right- 
 hand man. As to the Prince de Conde", that boy would 
 agree to anything so long as I may be flung into the river ; 
 I do not know if that is his idea of a handsome return on 
 his wedding-day for the pretty wife I got him. 
 
 " This is a serious matter, Monsieur. You spoke of 
 predictions ! I know of one which says that the Bourbons 
 will possess the throne of the Valois ; and if we do not 
 take care, it will be fulfilled. Do not be vexed with your 
 sister, she has acted well in this matter." 
 
 " My son," she went on, after a pause, with an assump- 
 tion of tenderness in her tone, " many evil-minded per- 
 sons, in the interest of the Guises, want to sow dissen- 
 sion between you and me, though we are the only two 
 persons in the realm whose interests are identical. Ke- 
 flect. You blame yourself now, I know, for Saint Bar- 
 tholomew's night ; you blame me for persuading you to 
 it. But Catholicism, Monsieur, ought to be the bond of 
 Spain, France, and Italy, three nations which by a secretly 
 and skilfully worked scheme may, in the course of time, 
 be united under the House of Valois. Do not forfeit your 
 chances by letting the cord slip which includes these three 
 kingdoms in the pale of the same faith. 
 
 " Why should not the Valois and the Medici carry out, 
 to their great glory, the project of Charles V., who lost 
 his head ? Let those descendants of Jane the Crazy people
 
 Catherine de 5 Medici 287 
 
 the new world which they are grasping at. The Medici, 
 masters of Florence and Rome, will subdue Italy to your 
 rule ; they will secure all its advantages by a treaty of 
 commerce and alliance, and recognize you as their liege 
 lord for the fiefs of Piedmont, the Milanese, and Naples 
 over which you have rights. These, Monsieur, are the 
 reasons for the war to the death we are waging with the 
 Huguenots. Why do you compel us to repeat these 
 things ? 
 
 " Charlemagne made a mistake when he pushed north- 
 wards. France is a body of which the heart is on the 
 Gulf of Lyons, and whose two arms are Spain and Italy. 
 Thus we should command the Mediterranean, which is 
 like a basket into which all the wealth of the East is 
 poured to the benefit of the Venetians now, in the teeth 
 of Philip II. 
 
 " And if the friendship of the Medici and your inherited 
 rights can thus entitle you to hope for Italy, force, or 
 alliance, or perhaps inheritance, may give you Spain. 
 There you must step in before the ambitious House of 
 Austria, to whom the Guelphs would have sold Italy, and 
 who still dream of possessing Spain. Though your wife 
 is a daughter of that line, humble Austria, hug her closely 
 to stifle her ! There lie the enemies of your dominion, 
 since from thence comes aid for the Reformers. Do not 
 listen to men who would profit by our disagreement, and 
 who fill your head with trouble by representing me as your 
 chief enemy at home. Have I hindered you from having 
 an heir ? Is it my fault that your mistress has a son and 
 your wife only a daughter ? Why have you not by this 
 time three sons, who would cut off all this sedition at the 
 root ? Is it my part, Monsieur, to reply to these ques- 
 tions ? If you had a son, would Monsieur d'Alen9on 
 conspire against you ? " 
 
 As she spoke these words, Catherine fixed her eyes on 
 Charles IX. with the fascinating gaze of a bird of prey
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 on its victim. The daughter of the Medici was beautiful 
 in hr way ; her real feelings illumined her face, which, 
 like that of a gambler at the green-table, was radiant with 
 ambitious greed. Charles IX. saw her no longer as the 
 mother of one man, but, as she had been called, the 
 mother of armies and empires (mater castrorum). Cath- 
 erine had spread the pinions of her genius, and was boldly 
 soaring in the realm of high politics of the Medici and 
 the Valois, sketching the vast plans which had frightened 
 Henri II., and which, transmitted by the Medici to 
 Richelieu, were stored in the Cabinet of the House of 
 Bourbon. But Charles IX., seeing his mother take so 
 many precautions, supposed them to be necessary, and 
 wondered to what end she was taking them. He looked 
 down ; he hesitated ; his distrust was not to be dispelled 
 by words. 
 
 Catherine was astonished to see what deeply founded 
 suspicion lurked in her son's heart. 
 
 "Well, Monsieur," she went on, "do you not choose 
 to understand me ? What are we, yon and I, compared 
 with the eternity of a royal Crown ? Do you suspect me 
 of any purposes but those which must agitate us who dwell 
 in the sphere whence empires are governed ? " 
 
 " Madam," said he, " I will follow you to your closet 
 we must act " 
 
 "Act?" cried Catherine. "Let them go their way 
 and take them in the act ; the law will rid you of them. 
 For God's sake, Monsieur, let them see us smiling." 
 
 The Queen withdrew. The King alone remained stand- 
 ing for a minute, for he had sunk into extreme dejection. 
 
 " On which side are the snares ? " he said aloud. " Is 
 it she who is deceiving me, or they ? What is the better 
 policy ? Deus ! discerne causam meam," he cried, with 
 tears in his eyes. " Life is a burden to me. Whether 
 natural or compulsory, I would rather meet death than 
 tkwe o*atiditry torments," he added, and he struck
 
 Catherine de' Medici 289 
 
 the hammer on his anvil with' such violence that the 
 vaults of the Louvre quaked. " Great God ! " he ex- 
 claimed, going out and looking up at the sky, " Thou for 
 whose holy religion I am warring, give me the clearness 
 of Thine eyes to see into my mother's heart by questioning 
 the Ruggieri." 
 
 The little house inhabited by the Lady of Belleville, 
 where Charles had left his prisoners, was the last but one 
 in the Rue de 1'Autruche, near the Rue Saint-Honore. 
 The street-gate, guarded by two little lodges built of 
 brick, looked very plain at a time when gates and all their 
 accessories were so elaborately treated. The entrance 
 consisted of two stone pillars, diamond-cut, and the archi- 
 trave was graced with the reclining figure of a woman 
 holding a cornucopia. The gate, of timber covered with 
 heavy iron scroll-work, had a wicket peephole at the level 
 of the eye for spying any one who desired admittance. 
 In each lodge a porter lived, and Charles's caprice in- 
 sisted that a gatekeeper should be on the watch day and 
 night. 
 
 There was a little courtyard in front of the house paved 
 with Venetian mosaic. At that time, when carriages had 
 not been invented, and ladies rode on horseback or in 
 litters, the courtyards could be splendid with no fear of 
 injury from horses or vehicles. We must constantly bear 
 these facts in mind to understand the narrowness of the 
 streets, the small extent of the forecourts, and various 
 other details of the dwellings of the fifteenth century. 
 
 The house, of one story above the ground floor, had at 
 the top a sculptured frieze, on which rested a roof sloping 
 up from all the four sides to a flat space at the top. The 
 sides were pierced by dormer windows adorned with archi- 
 traves and side-posts, which some great artist had chiseled 
 into delicate arabesques. All the three windows of the first- 
 floor rooms were equally conspicuous for this embroidery 
 19
 
 290 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 in stone, thrown into relief by the red-brick walls. On 
 the ground floor a double flight of outside steps, elegantly 
 sculptured the balcony being remarkable for a true lovers' 
 knot led to the house door, decorated in the Venetian 
 style with stone cut into pointed lozenges, a form of orna- 
 ment that was repeated on the window- jambs on each 
 side of the door. 
 
 A garden laid out in the fashion of the time, and full 
 of rare flowers, occupied a space behind the house of equal 
 extent With the forecourt. A vine hung over the walls. 
 A silver pine stood in the center of a grass plot ; the flower 
 borders were divided from the turf by winding paths lead- 
 ing to a little bower of clipped yews at the further end. 
 The garden walls, covered with a coarse mosaic of colored 
 pebbles, pleased the eye by a richness of color that harmo- 
 nized with the hues of the flowers. The garden front of 
 .the house, like the front to the court, had a pretty balcony 
 from the middle window over the door ; and on both 
 fa9ades alike the architectural treatment of this middle 
 window was carried up to the frieze of the cornice, with a 
 bow that gave it the appearance of a lantern. The sills 
 of the other windows were inlaid with fine marbles let into 
 the stone. 
 
 Notwithstanding the perfect taste evident in this build- 
 ing, it had a look of gloom. It was shut out from the 
 open day by neighboring houses and the roofs of the Hotel 
 d'Alei^on, which cast their shadow over the courtyard 
 and garden ; then absolute silence prevailed. Still, this 
 silence, this subdued light, this solitude, were restful to 
 a soul that could give itself up to a single thought, as in a 
 cloister where we may meditate, or in a snug home where 
 we may love. 
 
 Who can fail now to conceive of the interior elegance 
 of this dwelling, the only spot in all his kingdom where 
 the last Valois but one could pour out his heart, confess 
 his sufferings, give play to his taste for the arts, and
 
 Catherine de' Medici 291 
 
 enjoy the poetry he loved pleasures denied him by the 
 cares of his most ponderous royalty. There alone were 
 his lofty soul and superior qualities appreciated ; there 
 alone, for a few brief months, the last of his life, could he 
 know the joys of fatherhood, to which he abandoned 
 himself with the frenzy which his presentiment of an 
 imminent and terrible death lent to all his actions. 
 
 In the afternoon of this day, Marie was finishing her 
 toilet in her oratory the ladies' boudoir of that time. 
 She was arranging the curls of her fine black hair, so as 
 to leave a few locks to turn over a new velvet coif, and 
 was looking attentively at herself in the mirror. 
 
 " It is nearly four o'clock ! That interminable Council 
 must be at an end by now," said she to herself. ' ' Jacob 
 is back from the Louvre, where they are greatly disturbed 
 by reason of the number of councilors convened, and by 
 the duration of the sitting. What can have happened, 
 some disaster ? Dear Heaven ! does lie know how the 
 spirit is worn by waiting in vain ? He is gone hunting, 
 perhaps. , If he is amused, all is well. If I see him happy, 
 I shall forget my sorrows " 
 
 She pulled down her bodice round her waist, that there 
 might not be a wrinkle in it, and turned to see how her 
 dress fitted in profile ; but then she saw the King reclin- 
 ing on a couch. The carpeted floors deadened the sound 
 of footsteps so effectually, that he had come in without 
 being heard. 
 
 " You startled me," she said, with a cry of surprise, 
 which she instantly checked. 
 
 " You were thinking of me, then ?" said the King. 
 
 * ' When am I not thinking of you ? " she asked him, 
 sitting down by his side. 
 
 She took off his cap and cloak, and passed her hands 
 through his hair as if to comb it with her fingers. 
 Charles submitted without speaking. Marie knelt down 
 to study her royal Master's pale face, and discerned in it
 
 Catherine de' Mediei 
 
 the lines of terrible fatigue and of a more devouring 
 melancholy than any she had ever been able to scare away. 
 She checked a tear, and kept silence, not to irritate a 
 grief she as yet knew nothing of by some ill-chosen word. 
 She did what tender wives do in such cases ; she kissed 
 the brow seamed with precocious wrinkles and the hollow 
 cheeks, trying to breathe the freshness of her own spirit 
 into that careworn soul through its infusion into gentle 
 caresses, which, however, had no effect. She raised her 
 head to the level of the King's, embracing him fondly 
 with her slender arms, and then laid her face on his labor- 
 ing breast, waiting for the opportune moment to question 
 the stricken man. 
 
 " My Chariot, will you not tell your poor, anxious 
 friend what are the thoughts that darken your brow and 
 take the color from your dear, red lips ?" 
 
 " With the exception of Charlemagne," said he, in a 
 dull, hollow voice, " every King of France of the name of 
 Charles has come to a miserable end." 
 
 " Pooh ! " said she. " What of Charles VIII. ? " 
 
 "In the prime of life," replied the King, "the poor 
 man knocked his head against a low doorway in the 
 chateau d'Arnboise, which he was decorating splendidly, 
 and he died in dreadful pain. His death gave the Crown 
 to our branch." 
 
 "Charles VII. reconquered his kingdom." 
 
 " Child, he died " and the King lowered his voice 
 " of starvation, in the dread of being poisoned by the 
 Dauphin, who had already caused the death of his fair 
 Agnes. The father dreaded his son. Now, the son dreads 
 his mother ! " 
 
 " Why look back on the past ? " said she, remembering 
 the terrible existence of Charles VI. 
 
 " Why not, dear heart ? Kings need not have recourse 
 to diviners to read the fate that awaits them ; they have 
 only to study history. I am at this time engaged in trying
 
 Catherine de' Medici 298 
 
 to escape the fate of Charles the Simple, who was bereft of 
 his crown, and died in prison after seven years' captivity." 
 
 " Charles V. drove out the English ! " she cried 
 triumphantly. 
 
 " Not he, but du Gruesclin ; for he, poisoned by Charles 
 of Navarre, languished in sickness. " 
 
 "But Charles IV. ?" said she. 
 
 " He married three times and had no heir, in spite of 
 the masculine beauty that distinguished the sons of Philip 
 the Handsome. The first Valois dynasty ended in him. 
 The Second Valois will end in the same way. The Queen 
 has only brought me a daughter, and I shall die without 
 leaving any child to come, for a minority would be the 
 greatest misfortune that could befall the kingdom. 
 Besides, if I had a son, would he live ? Charles is a 
 name of ill-omen, Charlemagne exhausted all the luck 
 attending it. If I could be King of France again, I 
 would not be called Charles X." 
 
 " Who then aims at your crown ? " 
 
 " My brother d'Alen9on is plotting against me. I see 
 enemies on every side " 
 
 " Monsieur/* said Marie, with an irresistible pout. 
 " Tell me some merrier tales/' 
 
 " My dearest treasure," said the King vehemently, 
 "never call me Monsieur, even in jest. You remind me 
 of my mother, who incessantly offends me with that word. 
 I feel as if she deprived me of my crown. She says ' My 
 son* to the Due d'Anjou, that is to say, the King of 
 Poland." 
 
 " Sire," said Marie, folding her hands as if in prayer, 
 "there is a realm where you are adored, which your 
 Majesty fills entirely with glory and strength ; and there 
 the word Monsieur means my gentle lord." 
 
 She unclasped her hands, and with a pretty action 
 pointed to her heart. The words were so sweetly musical 
 Musiqutes, to use an expression of the period, applied to
 
 294 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 love-sougs that Charles took Marie by the waist, raised 
 her with the strength for which he was noted, seated her 
 on his knee, and gently rubbed his forehead against the 
 curls his mistress had arranged with such care. 
 
 Marie thought this a favorable moment ; she ventured 
 on a kiss or two, which Charles allowed rather than 
 accepted ; then, between two kisses, she said 
 
 " If my people told the truth, you were scouring Paris 
 all night, as in the days when you played the scapegrace 
 younger son ? " 
 
 " Yes/' said the King, who sat lost VL thought. 
 
 " Did not you thrash the watch aiid rob certain good 
 citizens ? And who are the men placed under my guard, 
 and who are such criminals that yott have forbidden all 
 communication with them ? No girl was ever barred in 
 with greater severity than these mn, who have had neither 
 food nor drink. Solern's Germans have not allowed any 
 one to go near the room where you left them. Is it a 
 joke ? Or is it a serious matte*- ?" 
 
 "Yes," said the King, rousing himself from his reverie, 
 " last night I went scampering over the roofs with Ta- 
 vannes and the Gondis. I wanted to have the company of 
 my old comrades in folly. But our legs are not what they 
 were ; we did not dare jump across the streets. However, 
 we crossed two courtyards by leaping from roof to roof. 
 The last time, however, when we alighted on a gable close 
 by this, as we clung to the bar of a chimney, we decided, 
 Tavannes and I, that we could not do it again. If either 
 of us had been alone, he would not have tried it." 
 
 " You were the first to jump, I will wager." 
 
 The King smiled. 
 
 te I know why you risk your life so." 
 
 " Hah, fair sorceress ! " 
 
 " You are weary of life." 
 
 " Begone with witchcraft ! I am haunted by it ! " said 
 the King, grave once more.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 295 
 
 " My witchcraft is love," said she, with a smile. " Since 
 the happy day when you first loved me, have I not always 
 guessed your thoughts ? And if you will suffer me to say 
 so, the thoughts that torment you to-day are not worthy 
 of a King." 
 
 " Am 1 a king ? " said he bitterly. 
 
 " Can you not be King ? What did Charles VII. do, 
 whose name you bear ? He listened to his mistress, my 
 lord, and he won back his kingdom, which was invaded 
 by the English then as it is now by the adherents of the 
 New Eeligion. Your last act of State opened the road 
 you must follow : Exterminate heresy." 
 
 " You used to blame the stratagem," said Charles, "and 
 now " 
 
 " It is accomplished," she put in. " Besides, I am of 
 Madame Catherine's opinion. It was better to do it your- 
 self than to leave it to the Guises." 
 
 " Charles VII. had only men to fight against, and I 
 have to battle with ideas," the King went on. " You 
 may kill men ; you cannot kill words ! The Emperor 
 Charles V. gave up the task ; his son, Don Philip, is 
 spending himself in the attempt. We shall die of it, we 
 kings. On whom can I depend ? On my right, with the 
 Catholics I find the Guises threatening me ; on my left, 
 the Calvinists will never forgive the death of my poor 
 Father Coligny, nor the blood-letting of August ; besides, 
 they want to be rid of us altogether. And in front of me, 
 my mother " 
 
 " Arrest her ; reign alone," said Marie, whispering in 
 his ear. 
 
 " I wanted to do so yesterday but I do not to-day. 
 You speak of it lightly enough." 
 
 " There is no such great distance between the daughter 
 of an apothecary and the daughter of a leech," said Marie 
 Touchet, who would often laugh at the parentage falsely 
 given her.
 
 296 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 The King knit his brows. 
 
 " Marie, take no liberties. Catherine de' Medici is my 
 mother, and you ought to tremble at " 
 
 " But what are you afraid of ? " 
 
 ''Poison I" cried the King, beside himself. 
 
 " Poor boy 1 " said Marie, swallowing her tears, for so 
 much strength united to so much weakness moved her 
 deeply. " Oh ! " she went on, " how you make me hate 
 Madame Catherine, who used to seem so kind ; but her 
 kindness seems to be nothing but perfidy. Why does she 
 do me so much good and you so much evil ? While I was 
 away in Dauphine I heard a great many things about the 
 beginning of your reign which you had concealed from 
 me : and the Queen your mother seems to have been the 
 cause of all your misfortunes." 
 
 " How ?" said the King, with eager interest. 
 
 " Women whose souls and intentions are pure rnle the 
 men they love through their virtues ; but women who do 
 not truly wish them well find a motive power in their 
 evil inclinations. Now the Queen has turned many fine 
 qualities in yon into vices, and made you believe that 
 your bad ones were virtues. Was that acting a mother's 
 part ? Be a tyrant like Louis XL, make everybody 
 dreadfully afraid of you, imitate Don Philip, banish the 
 Italians, hunt out the Guises, and confiscate the estates 
 of the Calvinists ; you will rise to stand in solitude, and 
 you will save the Crown. The moment is favorable ; your 
 brother is in Poland. " 
 
 " We are two infants in politics," said Charles bitterly. 
 " We only know how to love. Alas ! dear heart, yester- 
 day I could think of all this ; I longed to achieve great 
 things. Puff ! my mother has blown down my house of 
 cards. From afar difficulties stand out as clearly as 
 mountain peaks. I say to myself, ' I will put an end 
 to Calvinism ; I will bring Messieurs de Guise to their 
 senses ; I will cut adrift from the Court of Borne ; I will
 
 Catherine de' Medici 297 
 
 rely wholly ou the people of the middle class ; ' in short, 
 at a distance everything looks easy, but when we try to 
 climb the mountains, the nearer we get, the more obstacles 
 we discern. 
 
 " Calvinism in itself is the last thing the party-leaders 
 care about ; and the Guises, those frenzied Catholics, 
 would be in despair if the Calvinists were really exter- 
 minated. Every man thinks of his own interests before 
 all else, and religious opinions are but a screen for insa- 
 tiable ambition. Charles IX/s party is the weakest of all ; 
 those of the King of Navarre, of the King of Poland, of 
 the Due d'Alenc,on, of the Condes, of the Guises, of my 
 mother, form coalitions against each other, leaving me 
 alone even in the Council Chamber. In the midst of so 
 many elements of disturbance my mother is the stronger, 
 and she has just shown me that my plans are inane. 
 We are surrounded by men who defy the law. The ax 
 of Louis XL of which you speak is not in our grasp. The 
 Parlement would never sentence the Guises, nor the King 
 of Navarre, nor the Condes, nor my brothers. It would 
 think it was setting the kingdom in a blaze. What is 
 wanted is the courage to command murder ; the throne 
 must come to that, with these insolent wretches who have 
 nullified justice ; but where can I find faithful hands ? 
 The Council I held this morning disgusted me with every- 
 thing treachery on all sides, antagonistic interests every- 
 where ! 
 
 " 1 am tired of wearing the crown ; all I ask is to die in 
 peace. " 
 
 And he sank into gloomy somnolence. 
 
 "Disgusted with every thing I" echoed Marie Touchet 
 sadly, but respecting her lover's heavy torpor. 
 
 Charles was, in fact, a prey to utter prostration of mind 
 and body, resulting from over-fatigue of every faculty, and 
 enhanced by the dejection caused by the vast scale of his 
 misfortunes and the evident impossibility of overcoming
 
 298 Catherine de' Mediei 
 
 them in the face of such a multiplicity of difficulties as 
 genius itself takes alarm at. The King's depression was 
 proportionate to the height to which his courage and his 
 ideas had soared during the last few months ; and now a 
 fit of nervous melancholy, part, in fact, of his malady, had 
 come over him as he left the long sitting of the Council 
 he had held in his closet. Marie saw that he was suffer- 
 ing from a crisis when everything is irritating and impor- 
 tunate even love ; so she remained on her knees, her head 
 in the King's lap as he sat with his fingers buried in her 
 hair without moving, without speaking, without sighing, 
 and she was equally still. Charles IX. was sunk in the 
 lethargy of helplessness ; and Marie, in the dark despair of 
 a loving woman, who can see the border-line ahead where 
 love must end. 
 
 Thus the lover sat for some little time in perfect silence, 
 in the mood when every thought is a wound, when the 
 clouds of a mental storm hide even the remembrance of 
 past happiness. 
 
 Marie believed herself to be in some sort to blame for 
 this terrible dejection. She wondered, not without alarm, 
 whether the King's extravagant joy at welcoming her back, 
 and the vehement passion she could not contend with, 
 were not helping to wreck his mind and frame. As she 
 looked up at her lover, her eyes streaming with tears that 
 bathed her face, she saw tears in his eyes too and on his 
 colorless cheeks. This sympathy, uniting them even in 
 sorrow, touched Charles IX. so deeply, that he started up 
 like a horse that feels the spur. He put his arm round 
 Marie's waist, and before she knew what he was doing had 
 drawn her down on the couch. 
 
 " I will be King no more ! " he said. " I will be noth- 
 ing but your lover, and forget everything in that joy. I 
 will die happy, and not eaten up with the cares of a 
 throne." 
 
 The tone in which he spoke, the fire that blazed in eyes,
 
 Catherine de' Medici 299 
 
 just now so dull, instead of pleasing Marie, gave her a ter- 
 rible pang ; at that moment she blamed her love for con- 
 tributing to the illness of which the King was dying. 
 
 " You forget your prisoners/' said she, starting up sud- 
 denly. 
 
 " What do I care about the men ? They have my per- 
 mission to kill me." 
 
 " What ? Assassins ! " said she. 
 
 ' ( Do not be uneasy, we have them safe, dear child. 
 Now, think not of them, but of me. Say, do you not 
 love me ? " 
 
 " Sire ! " she cried. 
 
 1 ' Sire ! " he repeated, flashing sparks from his eyes, so 
 violent was his first surge of fury at his mistress's ill-timed 
 deference. " You are in collusion with my mother." 
 
 " Great God !" cried Marie, turning to the picture over 
 her praying-chair, and trying to get to it to put up a prayer. 
 " Oh ! make him understand me ! " 
 
 " What ! " said the King sternly. " Have you any sin on 
 your soul ? " 
 
 And still holding her in his arms, he looked deep into 
 her eyes. " I have heard of the mad passion of one 
 d'Entragues for you," he went on, looking wildly at her, 
 " and since their grandfather Capitaine Balzac married a 
 Visconti of Milan, those rascals hesitate at nothing." 
 
 Marie gave the King such a look of pride that he was 
 ashamed. Just then the cry was heard of the infant 
 Charles de Valois from the adjoining room ; he was just 
 awake, and his nurse was no doubt bringing him to his 
 mother. 
 
 " Come in, la Bourguignoime," said Marie, taking the 
 child from his nurse and bringing him to the King. 
 "You are more of a child than he," said she, half angry, 
 but half appeased. 
 
 " He is a fine boy," said Charles IX., taking his son in 
 his arms.
 
 800 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " No one but me can know how like you he is," said 
 Marie. " He has your smile and ways already." 
 
 "What, so young ? " said the King, smiling. 
 
 " Men will never believe such things," said she ; " but 
 look, my Chariot, play with him, look at him now, am I 
 not right ? " 
 
 " It is true," said the King, startled by a movement on 
 the infant's part, which struck him as the miniature 
 reproduction of a trick of his own. 
 
 " Pretty flower ! " said his mother. " He will never go 
 away from me ; he will never make me unhappy." 
 
 The King played with the child, tossing it, kissing it 
 with entire devotion, speaking to it in those vague and 
 foolish words, the onomatopoeia of mothers and nurses ; his 
 voice was childlike, his brow cleared, joy came back to his 
 saddened countenance ; and when Marie saw that her lover 
 had forgotten everything, she laid her head on his shoulder 
 and whispered in his ear 
 
 " Will not you tell me, my Chariot, why you put assas- 
 sins in my keeping, and who these men are, and what you 
 intend to do with them ? And whither -were you going 
 across the roofs ? I hope there was no woman in the 
 case." 
 
 "Then you still love me so well ? " said the King, 
 caught by the bright flash of one of those questioning looks 
 which women can give at a critical moment. 
 
 " You could doubt me," replied she, as the tenrs 
 gathered under her beautiful girlish eyelids. 
 
 " There are women in my adventure, but they ara 
 witches. Where was I ? " 
 
 "We were quite near here, on the gable of a house, said 
 Marie. " In what street ? " 
 
 " In the Rue Saint-Honor6, my jewel," said the King, 
 who seemed to have recovered himself, and who, as he re- 
 called his ideas, wanted to give his mistress some notion 
 of the scene that was about to take place here. *' As I
 
 Catherine de' Medici SOI 
 
 crossed it in pursuit of some sport, my eyes were attracted 
 by a bright light in a top window of the house inhabited 
 by Rene, my mother's perfumer and glover yours too, the 
 whole Court's. I have strong suspicions as to what goes 
 on in that man's house, and if I am poisoned that is where 
 the poison is prepared." 
 
 " I give him up to-morrow, " said Marie. 
 
 " What, you have still dealt with him since I left him ?" 
 said the King. " My life was here/' he added gloomily, 
 "and here no doubt they have arranged for my death." 
 
 " But, my dear boy, I have but just come home from 
 Dauphin^ with our Dauphin," said she, with a smile, " and 
 I have bought nothing of Rene" since the Queen of Navarre 
 died. Well, go on ; you climbed up to Rent's roof ?" 
 
 "Yes," the King went on. "In a moment I, followed 
 by Tavannes, had reached a spot whence, without being 
 eeen, I could see into the devil's kitchen, and note certain 
 things which led me to take strong measures. Do you 
 ever happen to have noticed the attics that crown that 
 damned Florentine's house ? All the windows to the street 
 are constantly kept shut excepting the last, from which 
 the H6tel de Soissons can be seen, and the column my 
 mother had erected for her astrologer Cosmo Ruggieri. 
 There is a room in this top story with a corridor lighted 
 from the inner yard, so that in order to see what is being 
 done within, a man must get to a perch which no one 
 would ever think of climbing, the coping of a high wall 
 which ends against the roof of Renews house. The creatures 
 who placed the alembics there to distil death, trusted to 
 the faint hearts of the Parisians to escape inspection ; but 
 they counted without their Charles de Valois. I crept 
 along the gutter, and supported myself against the window- 
 jamb with my arm round the neck of a monkey that is 
 sculptured on it." 
 
 "And what did you see, dear heart ?" said Marie, in 
 alarm.
 
 302 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 "A low room where deeds of darkness are plotted," 
 replied the King. " The first thing on which my eyes 
 fell was a tall, old man seated in a chair, with a magnifi- 
 cent beard like old 1'Hopital's, and dressed, like him, in 
 black velvet. The concentrated rays of a brightly burn- 
 ing lamp fell on his high forehead, deeply furrowed by 
 hollow lines, on a crown of white hair and a calm, thought- 
 ful face, pale with vigils and study. His attention was 
 divided between a manuscript on parchment several cen- 
 turies old, and two lighted stoves on which some heretical 
 mixtures were cooking. Neither the floor nor the ceiling 
 was visible ; they were so covered with animals hung up 
 there, skeletons, dried herbs, minerals, and drugs, with 
 which the place was stuffed ; here some books and retorts, 
 with chests full of instruments for magic and astrology ; 
 there diagrams for horoscopes, phials, wax figures, and 
 perhaps the poisons he concocts for Rene in payment for 
 the shelter and hospitality bestowed on him by my mother's 
 glover. 
 
 " Tavannes and I were startled, I can tell you, at the 
 sight of this diabolical arsenal ; for merely at the sight of 
 it one feels spellbound, and but that my business is to be 
 King of France, I should have been frightened. ' Trem- 
 ble for us both/ said I to Tavannes. 
 
 1 ' But Tavannes' eyes were riveted on the most mys- 
 terious object. On a couch by the old man's side lay a 
 girl at full length, of the strangest beauty, as long and 
 slender as a snake, as white as an ermine, as pale as death, 
 as motionless as a statue. Perhaps it was a woman just 
 dug out of her grave, for she seemed to be still wrapped 
 in her shroud ; her eyes were fixed, and I could not see 
 her breathe. The old wretch paid no sort of heed to her. 
 I watched him so curiously that his spirit I believe passed 
 into me. By dint of studying him, at last I admired that 
 searching eye, keen and bold, in spite of the chills of age ; 
 that mouth, mobile with thoughts that came from what
 
 Catherine de' Medici 303 
 
 seemed a single fixed desire, graven in a myriad wrinkles. 
 Everything in the man spoke of a hope which nothing can 
 discourage and nothing dismay. His attitude, motionless 
 but full of thrilling life, his features so chiseled, so deeply 
 cut by a passion that has done the work of the sculptor's 
 tool, that mind dead-set on some criminal or scientific pur- 
 pose, that searching intelligence on the track of Nature 
 though conquered by her, and bent, without having broken, 
 under the burden of an enterprise it will never give up, 
 
 threatening creation with fire borrowed from itself 1 
 
 was fascinated for a moment. 
 
 " That old man was more a king than I, for his eye saw 
 the whole world and was its master. I am determined to 
 temper no more swords ; I want to float over abysses, as 
 that old man does ; his science seems to me a sovereignty. 
 In short, I believe in these occult sciences." 
 
 "You, the eldest son, and the defender of the Holy 
 
 Catholic, Apostolic, and Eoman Church ! " cried Marie. 
 a j 
 
 " Why, what has come over you ? Go on ; I will be 
 frightened for you, and yon shall be brave for me." 
 
 " The old man looked at the clock and rose," the King 
 went on. " He left the room, how I could not see, but 
 I heard him open the window towards the Kue Saint- 
 Honore. Presently a light shone out, and then I saw 
 another light, answering to the old man's by which we 
 could perceive Cosmo Kuggieri on the top of the column. 
 
 " ' Oh, ho ! They understand each other/ said I to 
 Tavannes, Who at once thought the whole affair highly 
 suspicious, and was quite of my opinion that we should 
 seize these two men, and at once make a search in their 
 abominable workshop. But before proceeding to a raid, 
 we wanted to see what would happen. By the end of a 
 quarter of an hour the door of the laboratory opened, and 
 Cosmo Euggieri, my mother's adviser the bottomless pit 
 in which all the Court secrets are buried, of whom wives
 
 304 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 crave help against their husbands and their lovers, ancJ 
 husbands and lovers take counsel against faithless women, 
 who gains money out of the past and the future, taking 
 it from every one, who sells horoscopes, and is supposed 
 to know everything, that half-demon came in, saying to 
 the old man, ' Good-evening, brother/ 
 
 " He had with him a horrible little old woman, tooth- 
 less, hunchbacked, crooked, and bent like a lady's mar- 
 moset, but far more hideous ; she was wrinkled like a 
 withered apple, her skin was of the color of saffron, her 
 chin met her nose, her mouth was a hardly visible slit, her 
 eyes were like the black spots of the deuce on dice, her 
 brow expressed a bitter temper, her hair fell in gray locks 
 from under a dirty coif ; she walked with a crutch ; she 
 stank of devilry and the stake ; and she frightened us, for 
 neither Tavannes nor I believed that she was a real woman ; 
 God never made one so horrible as she. 
 
 " She sat down on a stool by the side of the fair white 
 serpent with whom Tavannes was falling in love. 
 
 " The two brothers paid no heed to either the old woman 
 or the young one, who, side by side, formed a horrible 
 contrast. On one hand life in death, on the other death 
 in life." 
 
 " My sweet poet ! " cried Marie, kissing the King. 
 
 " ' Good evening, Cosmo/ the old alchemist replied. 
 And then both looked at the stove. ' What is the power 
 of the moon to-night ? ' the old man asked Cosmo. 
 '"Why, caro Lorenzo/ my mother's astrologer replied, 
 ' the high tides of September are not yet over ; it is im- 
 possible to read anything in the midst of such confusion/' 
 'And what did the Orient say this evening?' 'He 
 has just discovered/ said Cosmo, 'that there is a creative 
 force in the air which gives back to the earth all it takes 
 from it ; he concludes, with us, that everything in this 
 world is the outcome of a slow transformation, but all the 
 various forms are of one and the same matter/ 'That
 
 Catherine de' Medici S06 
 
 is what my predecessor thought,' replied Lorenzo. ' This 
 morning Bernard Palissy was telling me that the metals 
 are a result of compression, and that fire, which parts all 
 things, joins all things also ; fire has the power of com- 
 pressing as well as that of diffusing. That worthy has a 
 spark of genius in him.' 
 
 " Though I was placed where I could not be eeen, Cosmo 
 went up to the dead girl, and taking her hand, he said, 
 ' There is some one near ! Who is it ? ' ( The King,' 
 said she. 
 
 "I at once showed myself, knocking on the window- 
 pane j Ruggieri opened the window, and I jumped into 
 this wizard's kitchen, followed by Tavannes. 
 
 " ' Yes, the King/ said I to the two Florentines, who 
 seemed terror-stricken. ' In spite of your furnaces and 
 books, your witches and your learning, you could not 
 divine my visit. I am delighted to see the famous Lorenzo 
 Rnggieri, of whom the Queen my mother speaks with 
 such mystery," said I to the old man, who rose and bowed. 
 ' You are in this kingdom without my consent, my 
 good man. Whom are you working for here, you, who 
 from father to son have dwelt in the heart of the House 
 of the Medici ? Listen to me. You have your hand in so 
 many purses, that the most covetous would by this have 
 had their fill of gold ; yon are far too cunning to plunge 
 unadvisedly into criminal courses, but you ought not 
 either to rush like feather-brains into this kitchen ; you 
 must have some secret schemes, you who are not content 
 with gold or with power ? Whom do you serve, God or 
 the Devil ? What are you concocting here ? I insist on 
 the whole truth. I am honest man enough to hear and 
 keep the secret of your undertakings, however blamable 
 they may be. So tell me everything without concealment. 
 If yon deceive me, you will be sternly dealt with. But 
 Pagan or Christian, Calvinist or Mohammedan, you have 
 my Royal word for it that you may leave the country un- 
 20
 
 306 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 punished, even if you have some peccadilloes to confess. 
 At any rate, I give you the remainder of this night and 
 to-morrow morning to examine your consciences, for you 
 are my prisoners, and you must now follow me to a place 
 where you will be guarded like a treasure/ 
 
 ' ' Before yielding to my authority, the two Florentines 
 glanced at each other with a wily eye, and Lorenzo Rug- 
 gieri replied that I might be certain that no torture would 
 wring their secrets from them ; that in spite of their frail 
 appearance, neither pain nor human feeling had any hold 
 on them. Confidence alone could win from their lips 
 what their mind had in its keeping. I was not to be sur- 
 prised if at that moment they treated on an equal footing 
 with a King who acknowledged no one above him but God, 
 for that their ideas also came from God alone. Hence 
 they demanded of me such confidence as they would grant. 
 So, before pledging themselves to answer my questions 
 without reserve, they desired me to place my left hand in 
 the young girl's and my right hand in the old woman's. 
 Not choosing to let them suppose that I feared any devilry 
 I put out my hands. Lorenzo took the right and Cosmo 
 the left, and each placed one in the hand of a woman, so 
 there I was like Jesus Christ between the two thieves. All 
 the time the two witches wero studying my hands, Cosmo 
 held a mirror before me, desiring me to look at myself, 
 while his brother talked to the two women in an unknown 
 tongue. Neither Tavannes nor I could catch the mean- 
 ing of a single sentence. 
 
 " We set seals on every entrance to this laboratory before 
 bringing away the men, and Tavannes undertook to keep 
 guard till Bernard Palissy and Chapelain, my physician- 
 in-chief, shall go there to make a close examination of all 
 the drugs stored or made there. It was to hinder theii 
 knowing anything of the search going on in their kitchen, 
 and to prevent their communicating with any one what- 
 Tr outiide for they might have sent some message to
 
 Catherine de' Medici 307 
 
 my mother that I brought these two demons to be shut 
 up here with Solera's Germans to watch them, who are as 
 good as the stoutest prison-walls. Rene himself is con- 
 fined to his room under the eye of Solera's groom, and 
 the two Avitches also. And now, sweetheart, as I hold the 
 key of the Cabala, the kings of Thunes, the chiefs of 
 witchcraft, the princes of Bohemia, the masters of the 
 future, the inheritors of all the famous soothsayers, I will 
 read and know your heart, and at last we will know what 
 is to become of us." 
 
 " I shall be very glad if they can lay my heart bare/' 
 said Marie, without showing tlie least alarm. 
 
 " I know why necromancers do not frighten you ; you 
 cast spells yourself. 
 
 " Will you not have some of these peaches ?" said she, 
 offering him some fine fruit on a silver-gilt plate. " Look 
 at these grapes and pears ; I went myself to gather them 
 all at Vincennes." 
 
 " Then I will eat some, for there can be no poison in 
 them but the philters distilled from your fingers/' 
 
 "You ought to eat much fruit, Charles ; it would 
 cool your blood, which you scorch by such violent living." 
 
 " And ought I not to love you less too ? " 
 
 " Perhaps " said she. " If what you love is bad for 
 
 you, and I have thought so I should find power in my 
 love to refuse to let you have it. I adore Charles far more 
 than I love the King, and I want the man to live without 
 the troubles that make him sad and anxious." 
 
 " Royalty is destroying me." 
 
 " It is so," replied she. " If you were only a poor 
 prince like your brother-in-law the King of Navarre, that 
 wretched debauchee who has not a sou or a stitch of his 
 own, who has merely a poor little kingdom in Spain where 
 he will never set foot, and Beam in France, which yields 
 him scarcely enough to live on, I should be happy, much 
 happier than if I were really Queen of France "
 
 308 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " But are you not much more than the Queen ? King 
 Charles is hers only for the benefit of the kingdom, for the 
 Queen, after all, is part of our politics." 
 
 Marie smiled with a pretty little pout, saying 
 
 " We all know that, my liege. And my sonnet is it 
 finished F " 
 
 " Dear child, it is as hard to write verses as to draw up 
 an edict of pacification. I will finish them for you soon. 
 Ah God ! life sits lightly on me here, would I could never 
 leave you ! But I must, nevertheless, examine the two 
 Florentines. By all the sacred relics, I thought one Kug- 
 gieri quite enough in France, and behold there are two ! 
 Listen, my dearest heart, you have a good mother-wit, 
 you would make a capital lieutenant of police, for you 
 detect everything " 
 
 " Well, Sire, we women take all we dread for granted, 
 and to us what is probable is certain ; there is all our sub- 
 tlety in two words." 
 
 " Well, then, help me to fathom these two men. At this 
 moment every determination I may come to depends on 
 this examination. Are they innocent ? Are they guilty ? 
 Behind them stands my mother." 
 
 " I hear Jacob on the winding stair," said Marie. 
 
 Jacob was the King's favorite body servant, who ac- 
 companied him in all his amusements ; he now came to 
 ask whether his Master would wish to speak with the two 
 prisoners. 
 
 At a nod of consent, the mistress of the house gave some 
 orders. 
 
 " Jacob," said she, "make every one in the place leave 
 the house, excepting the nurse and Monsieur le Dauphin 
 d'Auvergne they may stay. Do you remain in the room 
 down-stairs ; but first of all shut thi windows, draw the 
 curtains, and light the candles." 
 
 The King's impatience was so great that, whilt these 
 preparations were being made, he came to take his place
 
 Catherine de' Medici 309 
 
 in a large settle, and his pretty mistress seated herself by 
 his side in the nook of a wide white marble chimney-place, 
 where a bright fire blazed on the hearth. In the place of 
 a mirror hung a portrait of the King, in a red velvet 
 frame. Charles rested his elbow on the arm of the seat, 
 to contemplate the two Italians at his ease. 
 
 The shutters shut, and the curtains drawn, Jacob 
 lighted the candles in a sort of candelabrum of chased sil- 
 ver, placing it on a table at which the two Florentine* 
 took their stand seeming to recognize the candlestick as 
 the work of their fellow-townsman, Benvenuto Cellini. 
 Then the effect of this rich room, decorated in the King's 
 taste, was really brilliant. The russet tone of the tapes- 
 tries looked better than by daylight. The furniture, ele- 
 gantly carved, reflected the light of the candles and of the 
 fire in its shining bosses. The gilding, judiciously intro- 
 duced, sparkled here and there like eyes, and gave relief to 
 the brown coloring that predominated in this nest for lovers. 
 
 Jacob knocked twice, and at a word brought in the two 
 Florentines. Marie Touchet was immediately struck by 
 the grand presence which distinguished Lorenzo in the 
 sight of great and small alike. This austere and vener- 
 able man, whose silver beard was relieved against an over- 
 coat of black velvet, had a forehead like a marble dome. 
 His severe countenance, with two black eyes that darted 
 points of fire, inspired a thrill as of a genius emerged from 
 the deepest solitude, and all the more impressive because 
 its power was not dulled by contact with other men. It 
 was as the steel of a blade that has not yet been used. 
 
 Cosmo Riiggieri wore the Court dress of the period. 
 Marie nodded to the King, to show him that he had not 
 exaggerated the picture, and to thank him for introduo- 
 ing her to this extraordinary man. 
 
 " I should have liked to see the witches too,** she 
 whispered. 
 
 Charles IX., sunk again in brooding, made no reply;
 
 310 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 he was anxiously flipping off some crumbs of bread that 
 happened to lie on his doublet and hose. 
 
 " Your science cannot work on the sky, nor compel the 
 sun to shine, Messieurs de Florence/' said the King, 
 pointing to the curtains which had been drawn to shut out 
 the gray mist of Paris. " There is no daylight/' 
 
 " Our science, Sire, enables us to make a sky as we 
 will," said Lorenzo Kuggieri. " The weather is always 
 fair for those who work in a laboratory by the light of 
 a furnace." 
 
 " That is true," said the King. " Well, Father," said 
 he, using a word he was accustomed to employ to old 
 men, " explain to us very clearly the object of your 
 studies." 
 
 " Who will guarantee us impunity ?" 
 
 " The word of a King ! " replied Charles, whose cu- 
 riosity was greatly excited by this question. 
 
 Lorenzo Ruggieri seemed to hesitate, and Charles ex- 
 claimed 
 
 " What checks you ? we are alone." 
 
 " Is the King of France here ? " asked the old man. 
 
 Charles IX. reflected for a moment, then he replied, 
 " No." 
 
 " But will he not come ?" Lorenzo urged. 
 
 " No," replied Charles, restraining an impulse of rage. 
 
 The imposing old man took a chair and sat down. 
 Cosmo, amazed at his boldness, dared not imitate his 
 brother. 
 
 Charles IX. said, with severe irony 
 
 " The King is not here, Monsieur, but you are in the 
 presence of a lady whose permission you ought to wait 
 for." 
 
 " The man you see before you, Madame," said the grand 
 old man," is as far above kings as kings are above their 
 subjects, and you shall find me courteous, even when you 
 know my pewer."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 311 
 
 Hearing these bold words, spoken with Italian em- 
 phasis, Charles and Marie looked at each other and then at 
 Cosmo, who, with his eyes fixed on his brother, seemed 
 to be asking himself/' How will he get himself. out of the 
 awkward position we are in ? " 
 
 In fact, one person only could appreciate the dignity 
 and skill of Lorenzo Euggieri's first move ; not the King, 
 nor his young mistress, over whom the elder man had 
 cast the spell of his audacity, but his not less wily brother 
 Cosmo. Though he was superior to the cleverest men at 
 Court, and perhaps to his patroness Catherine de' Medici, 
 the astrologer knew Lorenzo to be his master. 
 
 The learned old man, buried in solitude, had gauged 
 the sovereigns of the earth, almost all of them wearied 
 out by the perpetual shifting of politics ; for at that time 
 great crises were so sudden, so far reaching, so fierce, and 
 eo unexpected ! He knew their satiety, their lassitude ; 
 he knew with what eagerness they pursued all that was 
 new, strange, or uncommon ; and, above all, how glad they 
 were to rise now and then to intellectual regions so as to 
 escape from the perpetual struggle with men and things. 
 To those who have exhausted politics, nothing remains 
 but abstract thought ; this Charles V. had proved by his 
 abdication. 
 
 Charles IX, who made sonnets and swords to recreate 
 himself after the absorbing business of an age Avhen the 
 Throne was in not less ill-odor than the- King, and when 
 Royalty had only its cares and none of its pleasures, could 
 not but be strangely startled by Lorenzo's audacious 
 negation of his power. Eeligious impiety had ceased to 
 be surprising at a time when Catholicism was closely in- 
 quired into ; but the subversion of all religion, assumed 
 as a groundwork for the wild speculations of mystical arts, 
 naturally amazed the King, and roused him from his 
 gloomy absence of mind. Besides, a victory to be won 
 over mankind was an undertaking which weuld mak
 
 312 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 every other interest seem trivial in the eyes of the Eug- 
 gieri. An important debt to be paid depended on this 
 idea to be suggested to the King ; the brothers could not 
 ask for this, and yet they must obtain it. The first thing 
 was to make Charles IX. forget his suspicions by making 
 him jump at some new idea. 
 
 The two Italians knew full well that in this strange 
 game their lives were at stake ; and the glances deferent 
 but proud that they exchanged with Marie and the 
 King, whose looks were keen and suspicions, were a drama 
 in themselves. 
 
 " Sire," said Lorenzo Euggieri, " you have asked for 
 the truth. But to show her to you naked, I must bid you 
 sound the well, the pit, from which she will rise. I pray 
 you let the gentleman, the poet, forgive us for saying what 
 the Eldest Son of the Church may regard as blasphemy 
 I do not believe that God troubles Himself about human 
 affairs. " 
 
 Though fully resolved to preserve his sovereign in- 
 difference, Charles IX. could not control a gesture of 
 surprise. 
 
 " But for that conviction, I should have no faith in the 
 miraculous work to which I have devoted myself. But 
 to carry it out, I must believe it ; and if the hand of God 
 rules all things, I am a madman. So, be it known to the 
 King, we aim at winning a victory over the immediate 
 course of human nature. 
 
 "I am an alchemist, Sire ; but do not suppose, with 
 the vulgar, that I am striving to make gold. The com* 
 position of gold is not the end, but only an incident of 
 our researches ; else we should not call our undertaking 
 Magnum Opus' the great work. The Great "Work is 
 something far more ambitious than that. If I, at this 
 day, could recognize the presence of God in matter, the 
 fire of the furnaces that have been burning for centuries 
 would be extinguished to-morrow at my bidding.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 313 
 
 " But make no mistake to deny the direct interfer- 
 ence of God is not to deny God. We place the Creator of 
 all things far above the level to which religions reduce 
 Him. Those who hope for immortality are not to be ac- 
 cused of Atheism. Following the example of Lucifer, we 
 are jealous of God, and jealousy is a proof of violent love. 
 Though this doctrine lies at the root of our labors, all 
 adepts do not accept it. Cosmo/' said the old man, in- 
 dicating his brother, " Cosmo is devout ; he pays for 
 masses for the repose of our father's soul, and he goes 
 to hear them. Your mother's astrologer believes in the 
 Divinity of Christ, in the Immaculate Conception, and in 
 Transubstantiation ; he believes in the Pope's indulgences, 
 and in hell he believes in an infinite number of things. 
 His hour is not yet come, for I have read his horoscope ; 
 he will live to be nearly a hundred. He will live through 
 two reigns, and see two kings of France assassinated " 
 
 " Who will be ?" asked the King. 
 
 " The last of the Valois and the first of the Bourbons," 
 replied Lorenzo. " But Cosmo will come to my way of 
 thinking. In fact, it is impossible to be an alchemist and 
 a Catholic ; to believe in the dominion of man over 
 matter, and in the supreme power of mind." 
 
 " Cosmo will live to be a hundred ? " said the King, 
 knitting his brows in the terrible way that was his 
 wont. 
 
 " Yes, Sire," said Lorenzo decisively. " He will die 
 peacefully in his bed." 
 
 " If it is in your power to predict the moment of your 
 death, how can you be ignorant of the result of your in- 
 quiries ? " asked the King. And he smiled triumphantly 
 as he looked at Marie Touchet. 
 
 The brothers exchanged a swift look of satisfaction. 
 
 "He is interested in alchemy," thought they, "o we 
 are safe." 
 
 ",0ur prognostics are based on the existing relation* of
 
 314 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 mail to nature ; but the very point we aim at is the com 
 plete alteration of those relations," replied Lorenzo. 
 
 The King sat thinking. 
 
 " But if you are sure that you must die, you are assured 
 of defeat," said Charles IX. 
 
 "As our predecessors were," replied Lorenzo, lifting 
 his hand and letting it drop with a solemn and emphatic 
 gesture, as dignified as his thoughts. " But your mind 
 has rushed on to the goal of our attempts, Sire ; we must 
 come hack again, Sire ! Unless you know the ground on 
 which our edifice is erected, you may persist in saying 
 that it will fall, and judge this science, which has been 
 pursued for centuries by the greatest minds, as the vulgar 
 judge it." 
 
 The King bowed assent. 
 
 " I believe, then, that this earth belongs to man, that 
 he is master of it, and may appropriate all the forces, all 
 the elements thereof. Man is not a creature proceeding 
 directly from the hand of God, but the result of the prin- 
 ciple diffused throughout the infinite Ether, wherein 
 myriads of beings are produced ; and these have no re- 
 semblance to each other between star and star, because 
 the conditions of life are everywhere different. Ay, my 
 Liege, the motion we call life has its source beyond all 
 visible worlds ; creation draws from it as the surrounding 
 conditions may require, and the minutest beings share in 
 it by taking all they are able, at their own risk and peril ; 
 it is their part to defend themselves from death. This is 
 the sum-total of alchemy. 
 
 " If man, the most perfect animal on this globe, had 
 within him a fraction of the Godhead, he could not perish 
 but he does perish. To escape from this dilemma, 
 Socrates and his school invented the soul. I the succes- 
 sor of the great unknown kings who have ruled this science 
 I am for the old theories against the new ; I believe in 
 the transmutation of matter which I can see, as against the
 
 Catherine de' Medici 315 
 
 eternity of a soul which I cannot see. I do not acknowl- 
 edge ike world of souls. If such a world existed, the 
 substances of which the beautiful combination, produces 
 your body and which in Madame are so dazzling would 
 not separate and resolve themselves after your death to 
 return each to its own place ; the water to water, the fire 
 to fire, the metal to metal, just as when my charcoal is 
 burnt its elements are restored to their original molecules. 
 
 "Though you say that something lives on, it is not we 
 ourselves ; all that constitutes our living self perishes. 
 
 " Now, it is my living self that I desire to perpetuate 
 beyond the common term of life ; it is the present mani- 
 festation for which I want to secure longer duration. 
 What ! trees live for centuries, and men shall live but for 
 years, while those are passive and we are active ; while 
 they are motionless and speechless, and we walk and talk! 
 No creature on earth ought to be superior to us either in 
 power or permanency. We have already expanded our 
 senses ; we can see into the stars. We ought to be able to 
 extend our life. I place life above power. Of what use 
 is power if life slips from us ? 
 
 " A rational man ought to have no occupation but that 
 of seeking not whether there is another life but the 
 secret on which our present life is based, so as to be able 
 to prolong it at will ! This is the desire that has silvered 
 my hair. But I walk on boldly in the darkness, leading 
 to battle those intellects which share my faith. Life will 
 gome day be ours." 
 
 " But how ? " cried the King, starting to his feet. 
 
 " The first condition of our faith is the belief that this 
 world is for man ; you must grant me that," said Lorenzo. 
 
 " Well and good, so be it I " said Charles de Valois, 
 impatient, but already fascinated. 
 
 " Well, then, Sire, if we remove God from this world, 
 what is left but man ? Now let us survey our domain,, 
 The material world is composed of elements j those ele-
 
 316 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 ments have a first principle within them. All these 
 principles resolve themselves into one which is gifted with 
 motion. The number Three is the formula of creation : 
 Matter, Motion, Production \" 
 
 ' Proof, proof ? Pause there I" cried the King. 
 
 " Do you not see the effects ?" replied Lorenzo. " We 
 have analyzed in our crucibles the acorn from which an 
 oak would have arisen as well as the embryo which would 
 have become a man ; from these small masses of matter a 
 pure element was derived to which some force, some mo- 
 tion would have been added. In the absence of a Creator, 
 must not that first principle be able to assume the exter- 
 nal forms which constitute our world ? For the phenom- 
 ena of life are everywhere the same. Yes, in metals as 
 in living beings, in plants as in man, life begins by an 
 imperceptible embryo which develops spontaneously. 
 There is a first principle ! We must detect it at the point 
 where it acts on itself, where it is one, where it is a Prin- 
 ciple before it is a Creature, a cause before it is an effect ; 
 then we shall see it Absolute formless, but capable of 
 assuming all the forms we see it take. 
 
 " When we are face to face with this particle or atom, 
 and have detected its motion from the starting-point, we 
 shall know its laws ; we are thenceforth its masters, and 
 able to impose on it the form we may choose, among all we 
 see ; we shall possess gold, having the world, and can give 
 ourselves centuries of life to enjoy our wealth. That is 
 what we seek, my disciples and I. All our powers, all our 
 thoughts are directed to that search ; nothing diverts us 
 from it. One hour wasted on any other passion would be 
 stolen from our greatness ! You have never found one of 
 your hunting-dogs neglectful of the game or the death, and 
 I have never known one of my persevering subjects diverted 
 by a woman or a thought of greed. 
 
 " If the adept craves for gold and power, that hunger 
 otnM of our necessities ; h clutches at fortune as a thirsty
 
 Catherine de' Medici 817 
 
 hound snatches a moment from the chase to drink, be- 
 cause his retorts demand a diamond to consume, or ingots 
 to be reduced to powder. Each one has his line of work. 
 This one seeks the secret of vegetable nature, he studies 
 the torpid life of plants, he notes the parity of motion in 
 every species and the parity of nutrition ; in every case he 
 discerns that sun, air, and water are needed for fertility 
 and nourishment. Another investigates the blood of ani- 
 mals. A third studies the laws of motion generally and 
 its relation to the orbits of the stars. Almost all love to 
 struggle with the intractable nature of metals ; for though 
 we find various elements in everything, we always find 
 metals the same throughout, down to their minutest 
 particles. 
 
 " Hence the common error as to our labors. Do you 
 gee all these patient toilers, these indefatigable athletes, 
 always vanquished, and always returning to the assault ? 
 Humanity, Sire, is at our heels, as your huntsman is at the 
 heels of the pack. It cries to us, ' Hurry on ! Overlook 
 nothing ! Sacrifice everything, even a man you who 
 sacrifice yourselves ! Hurry onward ! Cut off the head 
 and hands of Death, my foe ! ' 
 
 " Yes, Sire, we are animated by a sentiment on which 
 the happiness depends of generations to come. We have 
 buried many men and what men ! who have died in the 
 pursuit. When we set foot on that road it is not to work 
 for ourselves : we may perish without discovering the 
 secret. And what a death is that of a man who does not 
 believe in a future life ! We are glorious martyrs ; we bear 
 the selfishness of the whole race in our hearts ; we live in 
 our successors. On our way we discover secrets which en- 
 rich the mechanical and liberal arts. Our furnaces shed 
 gleams of light which help society to possess more perfect 
 forms of industry. Gunpowder was discovered in our re- 
 torts ; we shall conquer the thunder yet. Our patent 
 vigils may overthrow politics. "
 
 818 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " Can that be possible ! " cried the King, sitting up 
 again on the settle. 
 
 " Why not ? " replied the Grand Master of the New Tem- 
 plars. Tradidit mundum disputationibus ! God has 
 given us the world. Listen to this once again ! Man is 
 lord on earth, and matter is his. Every means, every 
 power is at his service. What created us ? A motion. 
 What power keeps life in us ? A motion ? And should 
 not science grasp this motion ? Nothing on earth is lost, 
 nothing flies off from our planet to go elsewhere ; if it 
 were so, the stars would fall on one another. The waters 
 of the Deluge are all here, and not a drop lost. Around 
 us, above, below, are the elements whence have proceeded 
 the innumerable millions of men who have trodden the 
 earth, before and since the Deluge. What is it that re- 
 mains to be done ? To detect the disintegrating force ; 
 on the other hand, to discover the combining force. We 
 are the outcome of a visible toil. When the waters covered 
 our globe, men came forth from them who found the ele- 
 ments of life in the earth's covering, in the atmosphere and 
 in food. Earth and air, then, contain the first principle 
 of human transformations ; these go on under our eyes 
 by the agency of what is under our eyes ; hence we can 
 discover the secret by not confining our efforts to the span 
 of one man's life, but making the task endure as long as 
 mankind itself. We have, in fact, attacked matter as a 
 whole ; Matter in which I believe, and which I, Grand Mas- 
 ter of our Order, am bent on penetrating. 
 
 " Christopher Columbus gave a world to the King of 
 Spain ; I am seeking to give the King of France a people 
 that shall never die. I, an outpost on the remotest frontier 
 which cuts us off from the knowledge of things, a patient 
 student of atoms, I destroy forms, I dissolve the bonds of 
 every combination, I imitate Death to enable me to imitate 
 Life. In short, I knock incessantly at the door of Creation, 
 and shall still knock till my latest day. When I die, my
 
 Catherine de' Medici 319 
 
 knocker will pass into other bands not less indefatigable, 
 as unknown giants bequeathed it to me. 
 
 " Fabulous images, never understood, such as those of 
 Prometheus, of Ixion, of Adonis, of Pan, etc., which are 
 part of the religious beliefs of every people and in every 
 age, show us that this hope had its birth with the human 
 race. Chaldaea, India, Persia, Egypt, Greece, and the 
 Moors have transmitted Magian lore the highest of all the 
 occult sciences, the storehouse of the results of generations 
 of watchers. Therein lay the bond of the noble and majes- 
 tic Order of the Temple. When he burned the Templars, 
 a predecessor of yours, Sire, only burned men ; their 
 secrets remain with us. The reconstruction of the Tem- 
 ple is the watchword of an unrecognized people, a race of 
 intrepid seekers, all looking to the Orient of life, all 
 brethren, all inseparable, united by an idea, stamped with 
 the seal of toil. I am the sovereign of this people, their 
 chief by election and not by birth. I guide them all to- 
 wards the essence of life ! Grand Master, Eosicrucians, 
 companions, adepts, we all pursue the invisible molecule 
 which escapes our crucibles, and still evades our sight ; 
 but we shall make ourselves eyes manifold more powerful 
 than those bestowed on us by nature ; we shall get to the 
 primitive atom, the corpuscular element so perseveringly 
 sought by all the sages who had preceded us in the sub- 
 lime pursuit. 
 
 " Sire, when a man stands astride on that abyss, and 
 has at his command divers so intrepid as my brethren, 
 other human interests look very small ; hence we are not 
 dangerous. Religious disputes and political struggles are 
 far from us ; we are immeasurably beyond them. Those 
 who contend with nature do not condescend to take men 
 by the throat. 
 
 ' ' Moreover, every result in our science is appreciable ; 
 we can measure every effect, we can predict it, whereas in 
 the combinations which include men and their interests
 
 S20 Catherine de' Medioi 
 
 everything is unstable. We shall submit the diamond to 
 our crucible ; we shall make diamonds ; we shall make 
 gold 1 Like one of our craft at Barcelona, we shall make 
 ships move by the help of a little water and fire. We shall 
 dispense with the wind, nay, we shall make the wind, we 
 shall make light and renew the face of empires by new in- 
 dustries ! But we will never stoop to mount a throne to 
 be gehennaed by nations." 
 
 Notwithstanding his desire to avoid being entrapped 
 by Florentine cunning, the King, as well as his simple- 
 minded mistress, was by this time caught and carried 
 away in the rhetoric and rhodomontade of this pompous 
 and specious flow of words. The lovers' eyes betrayed 
 how much they were dazzled by the vision of mysterious 
 riches spread out before them ; they saw, as it were, 
 subterranean caverns in long perspective full of toiling 
 gnomes. The impatience of curiosity dissipated the alarms 
 of suspicion. 
 
 "But, then/' exclaimed the King, "you are great poli- 
 ticians, and can enlighten us." 
 
 " No, Sire," said Lorenzo simply. 
 
 "Why not ?" asked the king. 
 
 " Sire, it is given to no one to be able to predict what 
 will come of a concourse of some thousands of men ; we 
 may be able to tell what one man will do, how long he 
 will live, and whether he will be lucky or unlucky ; but 
 we cannot tell how several wills thrown together will act, 
 and any calculation of the swing of their interests is even 
 more difficult, for interests are men plus things ; only in 
 solitude can we discern the general aspect of the future. 
 The Protestantism that is devouring you will be devoured 
 in its turn by its practical outcome, which, in its day, 
 will become a theory too. Europe, so far, has not gone 
 further than religion ; to-morrow it will attack Royalty." 
 
 " Then the night of Saint-Bartholomew was a great con- 
 ception ? "
 
 Catherine de' Medici 321 
 
 " Yes, Sire ; for when the people triumph, they will 
 have their Saint-Bartholomew. When Religion and 
 Koyalty are swept away, the people will attack the great, 
 and after the great they will fall upon the rich. Finally, 
 when Europe is no more than a dismembered herd of men 
 for lack of leaders, it will be swallowed up by vulgar con- 
 querors. The world has presented a similar spectacle 
 twenty times before, and Europe is beginning again. 
 Ideas devour the ages as men are devoured by their pas- 
 sions. When man is cured, human nature will cure itself 
 perhaps. Science is the soul of mankind, and we are its 
 pontiffs ; and those who study the soul care but little for 
 the body." 
 
 " How far have you gone ? " asked the King. 
 
 " We move but slowly ; but we never lose what we have 
 once conquered." 
 
 " So you, in fact, are the King of the Wizards," said 
 Charles IX., piqued at finding himself so small a person- 
 age in the presence of this man. 
 
 The imposing Grand Master of Adepts flashed a look at 
 him that left him thunder-stricken. 
 
 " You are the King of men," replied he ; "I am the 
 King of ideas. Besides, if there were real wizards, you 
 could not have burnt them !" he added, with a tonch of 
 irony. " We too have our martyrs." 
 
 " But by what means," the King went on, " do you cast 
 nativities ? How did you know that the man near your 
 window last night was the King of France ? What power 
 enabled one of your race to foretell to my mother the fate 
 of her three sons ? Can you, the Grand Master of the 
 Order that would fain knead the world, can you, I say, 
 tell me what the Queen my mother is thinking at this 
 moment ? " 
 
 "Yes, Sire." 
 
 The answer wns ipoken before COBDIO could pnll his 
 brother's coat to warn him,
 
 322 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " You know why my brother, the King of Poland, is 
 returning home ? " 
 
 " Yes, Sire/' 
 
 "And why?" 
 
 "To take your place." 
 
 " Our bitterest enemies are our own kith and kin," 
 cried the King, starting up in a fury, and striding up and 
 down the room. "Kings have no brothers, no sons, no 
 mother ! Coligny was right ; my executioners are in the 
 conventicles, they are at the Louvre. You are either im- 
 posters or regicides ! Jacob, call in Solera." 
 
 "My Lord," said Marie Touchet, "the Kuggieri have 
 your word of honor. You have chosen to eat of the fruit 
 of the tree of knowledge ; do not complain of its bitter- 
 ness. " 
 
 The King smiled with an expression of deep contempt ; 
 his material sovereignty seemed small in his eyes in com- 
 parison with the supreme intellectual sovereignty of old 
 Lorenzo Ruggieri. Charles IX. could scarcely govern 
 France ; the Grand Master of the Rosicrucians commanded 
 an intelligent and submissive people. 
 
 " Be frank ; I give you my word as a gentleman that 
 your reply, even if it should contain the avowal of the 
 worst crimes, shall be as though it had never been spoken," 
 the King said. " Do you study poisons ? " 
 
 " To know what will secure life, it is needful to know 
 what will cause death." 
 
 "You have the secret of many poisons ?" 
 
 " Yes, but in theory only, and not in practise ; we 
 know them, but do not use them." 
 
 " Has my mother asked for any ? " 
 
 " The Queen-mother, Sire, is far too clever to have re- 
 course to such means. She knows that the sovereign who 
 uses poisons shall perish by poison ; the Borgias, and 
 Biauca, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, are celebrated ex- 
 amples of the dangers incurred by those who use such
 
 Catherine de' Medici 323 
 
 odious means. At Court everything is known. You can 
 kill a poor wretch outright ; of what use, then, is it to 
 poison him ? But if you attempt the life of conspicuous 
 persons, what chance is there of secrecy ? Nobody could 
 have fired at Coligny but you, or the Queen-mother, or 
 one of the Guises. No one made any mistake about that. 
 Take my word for it, in politics poison cannot be used 
 twice with impunity ; princes always have successors. 
 
 " As to smaller men, if, like Luther, they become sov- 
 ereigns by the power of ideas, by killing them you do not 
 kill their doctrine. The Queen is a Florentine ; she 
 knows that poison can only be the instrument of private 
 vengeance. My brother, who has never left her since she 
 came to France, knows how deeply Madame Diane ag- 
 grieved her ; she never thought of poisoning her, -and she 
 could have done so. What would the King your father 
 have said ? No woman would have been more thoroughly 
 justified, or more certain of impunity. But Madame de 
 Valentinois is alive to this day." 
 
 " And the magic of wax images ? " asked the King. 
 
 " Sire," said Cosmo, "those figures are so entirely in- 
 nocuous that we lend ourselves to such magic to satisfy 
 blind passions, like physicians who give bread pills to per- 
 sons who fancy themselves sick. A desperate woman im- 
 agines that by stabbing the heart of an image she brings 
 disaster 0*1 the faithless lover it represents. What can 
 we say ? These are our taxes." 
 
 " The Pope sells indulgences," said Lorenzo Ruggieri, 
 smiling. 
 
 " Does my mother make use of such images ?" 
 
 " Of what use would such futile means be to her who 
 can do what she will ? " 
 
 " Could Queen Catherine save you at this moment ? " 
 asked Charles ominously. 
 
 " We are in no danger, Sire," said Lorenzo calmly. " I 
 knew before I entered this house that I should leave it
 
 $24 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 safe and sound, as surely as I know the ill-feeling that the 
 King will bear my brother a few days hence ; but, even if 
 he should run some risk, he will triumph. Though the 
 King reigns by the sword, he also reigns by justice," he 
 added, in allusion to the famous motto on a medal struck 
 for Charles IX. 
 
 " You know everything ; I shall die before long, and 
 that is well," returned the King, hiding his wrath under 
 feverish impatience. " But how will my brother die, who, 
 according to you, is to be Henri III. ? " 
 
 A violent death." 
 
 "And Monsieur d'Alen9on ?" 
 
 "He will never reign." 
 
 "Then Henri de Bourbon will be King ?" 
 
 "Yes, Sire." 
 
 "And what death will he die ?" 
 
 "A violent death." 
 
 " And when I am dead, what will become of Madame ? " 
 asked the King, turning to Marie Touchet. 
 
 " Madame de Belleville will marry, Sire." 
 
 " You are impostors ! Send them away, my Lord," 
 said Marie Touchet. 
 
 " Dear heart, the Ruggieri have my word as a gentle- 
 man," said Charles, smiling. "Will Marie have children ?" 
 
 "Yes and Madame will live to be more than eighty." 
 
 " Must I have them hanged ? " said the King to his 
 mistress. " And my son, the Comte d'Auvergne ?" said 
 Charles, rising to fetch the child. 
 
 "Why did you tell him that I should marry ?" said 
 Marie Touchet to the two brothers during the few mo- 
 ments when they were alone. 
 
 "Madame," replied Lorenzo with dignity, "the King 
 required us to tell the truth, and we told it." 
 
 " Then it is true ?" said she. 
 
 " As true as that the Governor of Orleans loves you to 
 distraction."
 
 Catherine de' Medici 325 
 
 " But I do not love him/* cried she. 
 
 " That is true, Madame/' said Lorenzo. " But your 
 horoscope shows that you are to marry the man who at 
 present loves you/' 
 
 " Could you not tell a little lie for my sake ?" said she 
 with a smile. " For if the King should believe your fore- 
 
 C/ctSt ' " 
 
 " Is it not necessary that he should believe in our inno- 
 cence ? " said Cosmo, with a glance full of meaning. 
 " The precautions taken by the King against us have given 
 us reason, during the time we spent in your pretty jail, 
 to suppose that the occult sciences must have been ma- 
 ligned in his ears." 
 
 " Be quite easy/' replied Marie ; " I know him, and his 
 doubts are dispelled." 
 
 " We are innocent/' said the old man haughtily. 
 
 " So much the better ; for at this moment the King is 
 having your laboratory searched and your crucibles and 
 phials examined by experts." 
 
 The brothers looked at each other and smiled. 
 
 Marie took this smile for the irony of innocence ; but 
 it meant : " Poor simpletons ! Do you suppose that if we 
 know how to prepare poisons, we do not also know how 
 to conceal them ?" 
 
 " Where are the King's people, then ? " asked Cosmo. 
 
 " In Rent's house," replied Marie ; and the Euggieri 
 exchanged a glance which conveyed from each to each 
 the same thought. " The Hotel de Soissons is inviolable ! " 
 
 The King had so completely thrown off his suspicions, 
 that when he went to fetch his son, and Jacob intercept- 
 ed him to give him a note written by Chapelain, he opened 
 it in the certainty of finding in it what his physician told 
 him concerning his visit to the laboratory, where all that 
 had been discovered bore solely on alchemy. 
 
 " Will he live happy ? " asked the King, showing his 
 infant son to the two alchemists.
 
 326 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " This is Cosmo's concern/' said Lorenzo, turning to 
 his brother. 
 
 Cosmo took the child's little hand and studied it care- 
 fully. 
 
 " Monsieur," said Charles IX. to the elder man, " if 
 you are compelled to deny the existence of the spirit to 
 believe that your enterprise is possible, tell me how it is 
 that you can doubt that which constitutes your power. 
 The mind you desire to annihilate is the torch that illumines 
 your search. Ah, ha ! Is not that moving while denying 
 the fact of motion ? " cried he, and pleased at having hit 
 on this argument, he looked triumphantly at his mistress. 
 
 " Mind," said Lorenzo Enggieri, " is the exercise of an 
 internal sense, just as the faculty of seeing various objects 
 and appreciating their form and color is the exercise of 
 our sight. That has nothing to do with what is assumed 
 as to another life. Mind thought is a faculty which 
 may cease even during life with the forces that produce it." 
 
 " You are logical," said the King with surprise. " But 
 alchemy is an atheistical science." 
 
 "Materialist, Sire, which is quite a different thing. 
 Materialism is the outcome of the Indian doctrines trans- 
 mitted through the mysteries of Isis to Chaldaea and 
 Egypt, and brought back to Greece by Pythagoras, one 
 of the demi-gods among men ; his doctrine of transmigra- 
 tion is the mathematics of materialism, the living law of 
 its phases. Each of the different creations which make 
 up the earthly creation possesses the power of retarding 
 the impulse that drags it into another form. 
 
 " Then alchemy is the science of sciences ! " cried 
 Charles IX., fired with enthusiasm. I must see yon at 
 work. 
 
 " As often as you will, Sire. You cannot be more eager 
 than the Queen your mother." 
 
 " Ah ! That is why she is so much attached to you ! " 
 cried the King.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 327 
 
 "The House of Medici has secretly encouraged our 
 research for almost a century past." 
 
 " Sire," said Cosmo, " this child will live nearly a hun- 
 dred years ; he will meet with some checks, but will be 
 happy and honored, having in his veins the blood of the 
 Valois." 
 
 " I will go to see you," said the King, who had recovered 
 his good humor. " You can go." 
 
 The brothers bowed to Marie and Charles IX. and with- 
 drew. They solemnly descended the stairs, neither look- 
 ing at each other nor speaking ; they did not even turn to 
 look up at the windows from the courtyard, so sure were 
 they that the King's eye was on them ; and, in fact, as 
 they turned to pass through the gate, they saw Charles 
 IX. at a window. 
 
 As soon as the alchemist and the astrologer were in the 
 Kue de 1'Autruche, they cast a look in front and behind 
 to see that no one was either following them or waiting for 
 them, and went on as far as the Louvre moat without 
 speaking a word ; but there, finding that they were alone, 
 Lorenzo said to Cosmo in the Florentine Italian of the 
 time 
 
 " Affe d'Iddio ! como le abbiamo infinocchiato ! " (By 
 God, we have caught them finely !) 
 
 " Gran merc'es I a lui sta di spartojarsi " (Much good 
 may it do him ; he must make what he can of it) said 
 Cosmo. " May the Queen do as much for me ! We have 
 done a good stroke for her." 
 
 Some days after this scene, which had struck Marie 
 Touchet no less than the King, in one of those moments 
 when in the fulness of joy the mind is in some sort 
 released from the body, Marie exclaimed 
 
 " Charles, I understand Lorenzo Enggieri ; but Cosmo 
 said nothing." 
 i "That is true," said the King, startled by this sudden
 
 328 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 flash of light, " and there was as much falsehood as truth 
 in what they said. Those Italians are as slippery as the 
 silk they spin." 
 
 This suspicion explains the hatred of Cosmo that the 
 King betrayed on the occasion of the trial on the con- 
 spiracy of la Mole and Coconnas. When he found that 
 Cosmo was one of the contrivers of that plot, the King 
 believed himself duped by the two Italians ; for it proved 
 to him that his mother's astrologer did not devote himself 
 exclusively to studying the stars, fulminating powder and 
 final atoms. Lorenzo had then left the country. 
 
 In spite of many persons' incredulity of such things, the 
 events which followed this scene confirmed the prophecies 
 uttered by the Ruggieri. 
 
 The King died three months later. The Comte de 
 Gondi followed Charles IX. to the tomb, as he had been 
 told that he would by his brother, the Mardchal de Retz, 
 a friend of the Euggieri, and a believer in their foresight. 
 
 Marie Touchet married Charles de Balzac, Marquis 
 d'Entragues, Governor of Orleans, by whom she had two 
 daughters. The more famous of these two, the Comte 
 d'Auvergne's half-sister, was Henri IV. 's mistress, and at 
 the time of Biron's conspiracy tried to place her brother 
 on the throne of France and oust the Bourbons. 
 
 The Comte d'Auvergne, made Due d'Angoule'me, lived 
 till the reign of Louis XIV. He coined money in his 
 province, altering the superscription ; but Louis XIV. 
 did not interfere, so great was his respect for the blood of 
 the Valois. 
 
 Cosmo lived till after the accession of Louis XIII. ; he 
 saw the fall of the House of Medici in France and the 
 overthrow of the Concini. History has taken care to re- 
 cord that he died an atheist that is to say, a materialist. 
 
 The Marquise d'Entragues was more than eighty when 
 she died. 
 
 Lorenzo and Cosmo had for their disciple the famous
 
 Catherine de' Medici 329 
 
 Comte eta Saint-Germain, who became notorious under 
 Louis XV. The great alchemist was not less than a 
 hundred and thirty years old, the age to which some bio- 
 graphers say Marion Delorme attained. The Count may 
 have heard from the Ruggieri anecdotes of the Massacre 
 of Saint-Bartholomew and of the reigns of the Valois, in 
 which they could at pleasure assume a part by speaking in 
 the first person. The Comte de Saint-Germain is the last 
 professor of alchemy who explained the science well, but 
 he left no writings. The doctrine of the Cabala set forth 
 in this volume was derived from that mysterious personage. 
 It is a strange thing ! Three men's lives, that of the 
 old man from whom this information was obtained, that 
 of the Comte de Saint-Germain, and that of Cosmo Rug- 
 gieri, embrace European history from the reign of Francis 
 I. to that of Napaleon. Only fifty lives of equal length 
 would cover the time to as far back as the first known 
 epoch of the world. " What are fifty generations for 
 studying the mysteries of life ? " the Comte de Saint- 
 Germain used to say. 
 
 PARIS, November-December 1836.
 
 PART m. 
 
 THE TWO DREADS. 
 
 . JST 1786 Bodard de Saint- James, treasurer to the Navy, 
 was of all the financiers of Paris the one whose luxury gave 
 rise to most remark and gossip. At that time he was 
 building his famous Folly at Neuilly, and his wife bought, 
 to crown the tester of her bed, a plume of feathers of 
 which the price had dismayed the Queen. It was far easier 
 then than now to make oneself the fashion and be talked 
 of by all Paris ; a witticism was often quite enough, or the 
 caprice of a woman. 
 
 Bodard lived in the fine house in the Place Venddme 
 which the farmer-general Dang6 had not long since been 
 compelled to quit. This notorious Epicurean was lately 
 dead ; and on the day when he was buried, Monsieur de 
 Bi6vre, his intimate friend, had found matter for a jest, 
 saying that now one could cross the Place Vend6me with- 
 out danger (or Dange). This allusion to the terrific 
 gambling that went on in the deceased man's house was 
 his funeral oration. The house is that opposite to the 
 Chancellerie. 
 
 To complete Bodard's history as briefly as possible, he 
 was a poor creature, he failed for fourteen millions of 
 francs after the Prince de Gu6me'ne'e. His clumsiness in 
 not anticipating that Serene bankruptcy to use an ex- 
 pression of Lebrun-Pindare's led to his never even being 
 mentioned. He died in a garret, like Bourvalais, Bouret, 
 and many others. 
 
 Madame de Saint-James indulged an ambition of never 
 
 receiving any but people of quality a stale absurdity that 
 
 330
 
 Catherine de' Medici 331 
 
 is ever new. To her the cap of a lawyer in the Pailement 
 was but a small affair ; she wanted to see her rooms filled 
 with persons of title who had at least the minor privileges 
 of entrte at Versailles. To say that many blue ribbons 
 were to be seen in the lady's house would be untrue ; but 
 it is quite certain that she had succeeded in winning the 
 civility and attention of some members of the Roman 
 family, as was proved subsequently in the too famous case 
 of the Queen's necklace. 
 
 One evening it was, I believe, in August, 1786 I was 
 greatly surprised to see in this millionaire's room, precise 
 as she was in the matter of proofs of rank, two new faces, 
 which struck me as being of decidedly inferior birth. 
 
 She came up to me as I stood in a window recess, where 
 I had intentionally ensconced myself. 
 
 " Do tell me/' said I, with a questioning glance at one 
 of these strangers, " who is that specimen ? How did he 
 get into your house ? " 
 
 " He is a charming man." 
 
 ' ' Do you see him through the prism of love, or am I 
 mistaken in him ? " 
 
 " You are not mistaken," she replied, laughing ; " he 
 is as ugly as a toad ; but he has done me the greatest serv- 
 ice a woman can accept from a man." 
 
 As I looked at her with mischievous meaning, she 
 hastened to add " He has entirely cured me of the ugly 
 red patches which spoilt my complexion and made me look 
 like a peasant woman." 
 
 I shrugged my shoulders with disgust. 
 
 " A quack ! " I exclaimed. 
 
 "No," said she, " he is a physician to the Court pages. 
 He is clever and amusing, I assure you ; and he has written 
 books too. He is a very learned physicist." 
 
 " If his literary style is like his face ! " said I, smil- 
 ing. " And the other ? " 
 
 "What other?"
 
 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " That little prim man, as neat as a doll, and who looki 
 ai if he drank verjuice." 
 
 " He is a man of good family," said she. " He has 
 come from some province I forget which. Ah ! yes, 
 from Artois. He is in Paris to wind up some affair that 
 concerns the Cardinal, and His Eminence has just intro- 
 duced him to Monsieur de Saint-James. They have agreed 
 in choosing Monsieur de Saint-James to be arbitrator. 
 In that the gentleman from the provinces has not shown 
 much wisdom. What are people thinking of when they 
 place a case in that man's hands ? He is as gentle as a lamb, 
 and as shy as a girl. His Eminence is most kind to him." 
 
 " What is it about ? " said I. 
 
 " Three hundred thousand livres," said she. 
 
 " What ! a lawyer ? " I asked, with a little start of as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 " Yes," replied she. 
 
 And, somewhat disturbed by having to make this humil- 
 iating confession, Madame Bodard returned to her game of 
 faro. 
 
 Every table was made up. I had nothing to do or to 
 say. I had just lost two thousand crowns to Monsieur de 
 Laval, whom I had met in a courtesan's drawing-room. I 
 went to take a seat in a deep chair near the fire. If ever 
 on this earth there was an astonished man, it certainly 
 was I on discovering that my opposite neighbor was the 
 Controller-General. Monsieur de Calonne seemed to be 
 drowsy, or else he was absorbed in one of those brown 
 studies which come over a statesman. When I pointed 
 out the Minister to Beanmarchais, who came to speak to 
 me, the creator of Figaro explained the mystery without 
 speaking a word. He pointed first to my head and then 
 to Bodard's in an ingeniously significant way, by directing 
 his thumb to one and his little finger to the other, with 
 the rest of the fingers closed. My first impulse was to go 
 and say something sharp to Calonne, but I sat still ; in
 
 Catherine de' Medici 338 
 
 the first place, because I intended to play the favorite a 
 trick, and also because Beaumarchais had somewhat 
 familiarly seized my hand. 
 
 " What is it, Monsieur ? " said I. 
 
 With a wink he indicated the Minister. 
 
 " Do not wake him/' he said in a low tone ; " we may 
 be only too thankful when he sleeps/' 
 
 " But even sleeping is a scheme of finance," said I. 
 
 " Certainly it is," replied the statesman, who had read 
 our words by the mere motion of our lips. " And would to 
 God we could sleep a long time ; there would not be such 
 an awakening as you will see ! " 
 
 " Monseigneur/' said the play-writer, " I owe you some 
 thanks." 
 
 " What for?" 
 
 " Monsieur de Mirabeau is gone to Berlin. I do not 
 icnow whether in this matter of the Waters we may not 
 both be drowned." 
 
 " You have too much memory and too little gratitude," 
 jeplied the Minister drily, vexed at this betrayal of one of 
 his secrets before me. 
 
 "Very possibly," said Beaumarchais, greatly nettled. 
 l< But 1 have certain millions which may square many 
 accounts." Calonne affected not to have heard. 
 
 It was half -past twelve before the card-tables broke up. 
 Then we sat down to supper ten of us : Bodard and 
 Ais wife, the Controller-General, Beaumarchais, the two 
 strangers, two pretty women whose names may not be 
 mentioned, and a farmer-general named, I think, Lavoisier. 
 ,3f thirty persons whom I had found on entering the draw- 
 mg-room but these ten remained. And the two " speci- 
 mens " would only stay to supper on the pressing invitation 
 of the lady of the house, who thought she could discharge 
 her debt to one by giving him a meal, and asked the other 
 perhaps to please her husband, to whom she was doing the 
 l wherefore I know not. Monsieur de Calonne was a
 
 334 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 power, and if any one had cause to be annoyed it would 
 have been I. 
 
 The supper was at first deadly dull. The two men and 
 the farmer-general weighed on us. I signed to Beaumar- 
 chais to make the son of Esculapius, by whom he was sit- 
 ting, drink till he was tipsy, giving him to understand that 
 I would deal with the lawyer. As this was the only kind 
 of amusement open to us, and as it gave promise of some 
 blundering impertinence on the part of the two strangers, 
 which amused us by anticipation, Monsieur de Calonne 
 smiled on the scheme. In two seconds the ladies had en- 
 
 
 
 tered into our Bacchic plot. By significant glances they 
 expressed their readiness to play their part, and the wine 
 of Sillery crowned our glasses again and again with silvery 
 foam. The surgeon was easy enough to deal with ; but 
 as I was about to pour out my neighbor's second glass, he 
 told me with the cold politeness of a money-lender that he 
 would drink no more. 
 
 At this time, by what chance I know not, Madame de 
 Saint-James had turned the conversation on the wonderful 
 suppers to the Cornte de Cagliostro, given by the Cardinal 
 de Rohan. My attention was not too keenly alive to what 
 the mistress of the house was saying ; for since her reply 
 I had watched, with invincible curiosity, my neighbor's 
 pinched, thin face, of which the principal feature was a 
 nose at once wide and sharp, which made him at times 
 look very like a ferret. Suddenly his cheeks flushed as he 
 heard Madame de Saint-James disputing with Monsieur 
 de Calonne. 
 
 " But I assure you, Monsieur," said she in a positive 
 tone, " that I have seen Queen Cleopatra." 
 
 " I believe it, Madame," said my neighbor. " I have 
 spoken to Catherine de' Medici." 
 
 " Oh ! oh !" said Monsieur de Calonne. 
 
 The words spoken by the little provincial had an inde- 
 scribably sonorous tone to use a word borrowed from
 
 Catherine de' Medici 335 
 
 physical science. This sudden clearness of enunciation, 
 from a man who till now had spoken very little and very 
 low, in the best possible taste, surprised us in the highest 
 degree. 
 
 " Why, he is talking ! " exclaimed the surgeon, whom 
 Beaumarchais had worked up to a satisfactory condition. 
 
 " His neighbor must have touched a spring," replied 
 the satirist. 
 
 Our man colored a little as he heard these words, though 
 they were spoken in a murmur. 
 
 " And what was the late lamented Queen like ?" asked 
 Calonne. 
 
 " I will not assert that the person with whom I supped 
 last night was Catherine de' Medici herself ; such a mira- 
 cle must seem as impossible to a Christian as to a philoso- 
 pher," replied the lawyer, resting his finger-tips lightly 
 on the table, and leaning back in his chair as if preparing 
 to speak at some length. " But, at any rate, I can swear 
 that that woman was as like to Catherine de' Medici as 
 though they had been sisters. The lady I saw wore a black 
 velvet dress, absolutely like that which the Queen is wear- 
 ing in the portrait belonging to the King ; on her head 
 was the characteristic black velvet cap ; her complexion 
 was colorless, and her face the face you know. I could 
 not help expressing my surprise to His Eminence. The 
 suddenness of the apparition was all the more wonderful 
 because Monsieur le Comte de Cagliostro could not guess 
 the name of the personage in whose company I wished to 
 be. I was utterly amazed. The magical spectacle of a 
 supper where such illustrious women of the past were the 
 guests robbed me of my presence of mind. When, at 
 abont midnight, I got away from this scene of witchcraft, 
 I almost doubted my own identity. 
 
 " But all these marvels seemed quite natural by com- 
 parison with the strange hallucination under which I was 
 presently to fall. I know not what words I can use to
 
 336 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 describe the condition of my senses. But I can declare, in 
 all sincerity of heart, that I no longer wonder that there 
 should have been, of old, spirits weak enough or strong 
 enough to believe in the mysteries of magic and the power 
 of the Devil. For my part, till I have ampler informa- 
 tion I regard the apparitions of which Garden and certain 
 other thaumaturgists have spoken as quite possible." 
 
 These words, pronounced with incredible eloquence of 
 tone, were of a nature to rouse extreme curiosity in those 
 present. Our looks all centered on the orator, and we sat 
 motionless. Our eyes alone showed life as they reflected 
 the bright wax lights in the candlesticks. By dint of 
 watching the stranger, we fancied we could see an emana- 
 tion from the pores of his face, and especially from those 
 of his brow, of the inner feelings that wholly possessed 
 him. This rnan, apparently so cold and strictly reserved, 
 seemed to have within him a hidden fire, of which the 
 flame came forth to us. 
 
 " I know not/' he went on, " whether the figure I had 
 seen called np made itself invisible to follow me ; but as 
 soon as I had laid my head on my pillow, I saw the grand 
 shade of Catherine rise before me. I instinctively felt my- 
 self in a luminous sphere ; for my eyes, attracted to the 
 Queen with painful fixity, saw her alone. Suddenly she 
 bent over me " 
 
 At these words the ladies with one consent betrayed 
 keener curiosity. 
 
 " But/' said the lawyer, " I do not know whether I 
 ought to go on ; although I am inclined to think that it 
 was but a dream, what remains to be told is serious." 
 
 "Does it bear on religion ?" asked Beaumarchais. 
 
 "Or is it in any way indecent ?" asked Calonne. 
 "These ladies will forgive it." 
 
 " It bear& on government," replied the lavyer. 
 
 " Go on," said the Minister. "Voltaire, Diderot, and 
 their like have done much to educate our ears/'
 
 Catherine de' Medici 337 
 
 The Controller-General was all attention, and his neigh- 
 bor, Madame de Genlis, became absorbed. The stranger 
 still hesitated. Then Beanmarchais exclaimed impetu- 
 ously 
 
 " Come, proceed, Maitre ! Do not you know that when 
 the laws leave folks so little liberty, people revenge them- 
 selves by laxity of manners ? " 
 
 So the lawyer went on 
 
 " Whether it was that certain ideas were fermenting in 
 my sonl, or that I was prompted by some unknown power, 
 I said to her 
 
 " 'Ah, Madame, you committed a very great crime/ 
 
 " ' Which ? ' she asked in a deep voice. 
 
 " ' That for which the signal was given by the Palace 
 clock on the 24th of August.' 
 
 " She smiled scornfully, and some deep furrows showed 
 on her pallid cheeks. 
 
 " ' Do you call that a crime ? ' replied she ; ' it was only 
 an accident. The undertaking was badly managed, and 
 the good result we looked for failed for France, for all 
 Europe, and for the Catholic Church. How could we help 
 it ? Our orders were badly carried out. We could not 
 find so many Moutlucs as we needed. Posterity will not 
 give us credit for the defective communicationa which 
 hindered us from giving our work the unity of impulse 
 which is necessary to any great Coup d'Etat ; that was our 
 misfortune. If by the 25th of August not the shadow of a 
 Huguenot had been left in France, I should have been re- 
 garded to the remotest posterity as a noble incarnation of 
 Providence. How often have the clear-seeing spirits of 
 Sixtus V., of Eichelieu, of Bossuet, secretly accused me of 
 having failed in my undertaking, after daring to conceive 
 of it ! And how many regrets attended my death 1 
 
 " ' The disease was still rife thirty years after that Saint- 
 Bartholomew's night ; and it had caused the shedding of 
 ten times more noble blood in France than was left to be 
 
 23
 
 338 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 shed on August 2G, 1572. The revocation of the Edict 
 of Nantes, for which you had medals struck, cost more 
 tears, more blood and money, and killed more prosperity 
 in France than three Saint-Bartholomews. Letellier, 
 with a dip of ink, carried into effect the decree which the 
 Crown had secretly desired since my day ; but though on 
 August 25, 1572, this tremendous execution was necessary, 
 on August 25, 1G85, it was useless. Under Henri de 
 Valois' second son heresy was scarcely pregnant ; under 
 Henri de Bourbon's second son the teeming mother had 
 cast her spawn over the whole world. 
 
 " 'You accuse me of crime, and you raise statues to the 
 son of Anne of Austria ! But he and I aimed at the same 
 end. He succeeded ; I failed ; but Louis XIV. found 
 the Protestants disarmed, while in my day they had power- 
 ful armies, statesmen, captains, and Germany to back 
 them." 
 
 "On hearing these words slowly spoken, I felt within 
 me a tremulous thrill. I seemed to scent the blood of I 
 know not what victims. Catherine had grown before me. 
 She stood there like an evil genius, and I felt as if she 
 wanted to get into my conscience to find rest there " 
 
 " He must have dreamed that," said Beaumarchais, in 
 a low voice. " He certainly never invented it." 
 
 " < My reason is confounded/ said I to the Queen. 
 'You pride yourself on an action which three generations 
 have condemned and held accursed, and ' 
 
 ' ' ' Add,' said she, ' that writers have been more unjust 
 to me than my contemporaries were. No one undertakes 
 my defense. I am accused of ambition I who was so 
 rich and a Queen. I am taxed with cruelty I who have 
 but two decapitations on my conscience. And to the most 
 impartial minds I am still, no doubt, a great riddle. Do 
 you really believe that I was governed by feelings of hatred, 
 that I breathed only vengeance and f ary ? ' She smiled 
 icornfully. ' I was as calm and cold as Reason itself. I
 
 Catherine de' Medici 339 
 
 condemned the Huguenots without pity, but without 
 anger ; they were the rotten orange in my basket. If I 
 had been Queen of England,, I should have judged the 
 Catholics in the same way, if they had been seditious. To 
 give our power any vitality at that period, only one God 
 could be allowed in the State, only one faith and one 
 master. Happily for me, I left rny excuse recorded in 
 one sentence. When Birague brought me a false report of 
 the loss of the battle of Dreux < Well and good/ said I, 
 'then we will go to Sermon.' Hate the leaders of the 
 New Religion ? I esteemed them highly, and I did not 
 know them. If I ever felt an aversion for any political 
 personage, it was for that cowardly Cardinal de Lorraine, 
 and for his brother, a wily and brutal soldier, who had 
 me watched by their spies. They were my children's 
 enemies ; they wanted to snatch the crown from them ; 
 I saw them every day, and they were more than I could 
 bear. If we had not carried out the plan for Saint-Bar- 
 tholomew's Day, the Guises would have done it with the 
 help of Rome and its monks. The Ligue, which had no 
 power till I had grown old, would have begun in 1573.' 
 
 " ' But, Madame,' said I, ' instead of commanding that 
 horrible butchery excuse my frankness why did you not 
 employ the vast resources of your political genius in giving 
 the Reformers the wise institutions which made Henri IV.'s 
 reign so glorious and peaceful ? " 
 
 " She smiled again, shrugging her shoulders, and her 
 hollow wrinkles gave her pale features an ironical expres- 
 sion full of bitterness. 
 
 " ( After a furious struggle a nation needs repose,' said 
 she. ' That is the secret of that reign. But Henri IV. 
 committed two irremediable blunders. He ought neither 
 to have abjured Protestantism nor to have left France 
 Catholic after his own conversion. He alone has ever been 
 in a position to change the face of France without a shock. 
 Either not a single stole, or not a single conventicle !
 
 340 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 That is what he ought to have seen. To leave two hostile 
 principles at work in a government with nothing to bal- 
 ance them is a crime in a King ; it is sowing the seed of 
 revolutions. It belongs to God alone to leave good and 
 evil forever at odds in the work of His hand. But this 
 sentence was perhaps inscribed at the foundations of Henri 
 IV/s policy, and perhaps it was what led to his death. It 
 is impossible that Sully should not have cast a covetous 
 eye on the immense possessions of the clergy though the 
 clergy were not their sole masters, for the nobles dissi- 
 pated at least two-thirds of the Church revenues. Sully 
 the Reformer owned Abbeys nevertheless/ She paused, 
 to think, as it seemed. 
 
 " ' But does it occur to you/ said she, ' that you are 
 asking a Pope's niece her reason for remaining Catholic ? * 
 Again she paused 'And, after all, I would just as 
 soon have been a Calvinist/ she went on, with a gesture 
 of indifference. ' Can the superior men of your age still 
 think that religion had really anything to do with that 
 great trial, the most tremendous of those that Europe has 
 been required to decide a vast revolution retarded by 
 trivial causes, which will not hinder it from overflowing 
 the whole world, since I failed to stop it. A Revolution/ 
 said she, with a look of deep meaning, 'which is still 
 progressing, and which yon may achieve. Yes, You, wlio 
 hear me ! ' 
 
 "I shuddered." 
 
 " ' "What ! Has no one yet understood that old interests 
 on one hand, and on the other new interests, had taken 
 Rome and Luther to be their standards of battle ! What ! 
 When Louis IX., to avoid a somewhat kindred struggle, 
 dragged after him a population a hundred times greater 
 than that I condemned to death, and left them in the 
 sands of Egypt, he earned the title of Saint, while I ! 
 But I/ she added, 'failed/" 
 
 " She looked down and stood silent for a minute. It
 
 Catherine de' Medici 341 
 
 was no longer a Queen that I beheld, but rather one of 
 those Druidesses of old who sacrificed men, and could un- 
 roll the pages of the future while exhuming the lore of 
 the past. But she presently raised her royal and majestic 
 face. 
 
 " ' By directing the attention of the middle classes to 
 the abuses of the Roman Church/ said she, ( Luther and 
 Calvin gave birth in Europe to a spirit of investigation 
 which inevitably led the nations to examine everything. 
 Examination leads to doubt. Instead of the faith indis- 
 pensable to social existence, they brought in their train, 
 and long after them, an inquisitive philosophy, armed with 
 hammers, and greedy of destruction. Science, with its 
 false lights, sprang glittering from the womb of heresy. 
 Reform in the Church was not so much what was aimed 
 at as the indefinite liberty of man, which is fatal to power. 
 I have seen that. The result of the successes of the Re- 
 formers in their contest against the priesthood even at 
 that time better armed and more formidable than the 
 Crown was the destruction of the monarchical power 
 raised with so much difficulty by Louis XI. on the 
 ruins of feudality. Their aim was nothing less than the 
 annihilation of Religion and Royalty, and over their wreck 
 the middle classes of all lands were to join in a common 
 compact. Thus this contest was war to the death be- 
 tween these new allies and ancient laws and beliefs. The 
 Catholics were the representative expression of the ma- 
 terial interests of the Crown, the Nobility, and the Priest- 
 hood. 
 
 " ' It was a duel to the death between two giants ; the 
 night of Saint-Bartholomew was, unfortunately, only a 
 wound. Remember that, to save a few drops of blood at 
 the right moment, a torrent had to be shed at a later day. 
 There is a misfortune which the Intelligence that looks 
 down on a kingdom cannot avert ; that, namely, of having 
 no peri by whom to be judged when h suUHabs under
 
 342 Catherine cle' Medici 
 
 the burden of events. My peers are few ; fools are in the 
 majority ; these two propositions account for everything. 
 If my name is held in execration in France, the inferior 
 minds which constitute the mass of every generation are 
 to blame. 
 
 " ' In such great crises as I have been through, reign- 
 ing does not mean holding audience, reviewing troops, and 
 signing decrees. I may have made mistakes ; I was but 
 a woman. But why was there no man then living who 
 was superior to the age ? The Duke of Alva had a soul 
 of iron, Philip II. was stultified by Catholic dogmas, 
 Henri IV. was a gambler and a libertine, the Admiral 
 was systematically pig-headed. Louis XI. had lived too 
 soon ; Eichelieu came too late. Whether it were virtuous 
 or criminal, whether the Massacre of Saint-Bartholomew 
 is attributed to me or no, I accept the burden. I shall 
 always stand between those two great men as a visible 
 link in an unrecognized chain. Some day paradoxical 
 writers will wonder whether nations have not sometimes 
 given the name of executioner to those who, in fact, were 
 victims. Not once only will mankind be ready to im- 
 molate a God rather than accuse itself ! You are all ready 
 to shed tears for two hundred louts, when you refuse 
 them for the woes of a generation, of a century, of the 
 whole world ! And you also forget that political liberty, 
 the peace of a nation, and science itself are gifts for which 
 Fate demands a heavy tax in blood ! ' 
 
 " ' May the nations never be happy at less cost ?' cried 
 I, with tears in my eyes. 
 
 " ' Great Truths leave their wells only to find fresh 
 vigor in baths of blood. Christianity itself, the essence 
 of all truth, since it proceeds from God, was not established 
 without martyrs. Has not blood flowed in torrents ? 
 Must it not forever flow ? You will know you who are 
 to be one of the builders of the social edifice founded by 
 the apostles. As long as you use your instrument* to
 
 Catherine de' Medici 343 
 
 level heads, you will be applauded ; then, when you want 
 to take up the trowel, you will be killed." 
 
 " * Blood ! blood! ' the words rang in my brain like the 
 echo of a bell. 
 
 " ( According to you," said I, ' Protestantism has the 
 same right as you have to argue thus ? ' 
 
 "But Catherine had vanished as though some draught 
 of air had extinguished the supernatural light which 
 enabled my mind to see the figure which had grown to 
 gigantic proportions. I had suddenly discerned in myself 
 an element which assimilated the horrible doctrines set 
 forth by the Italian Queen. 
 
 " I woke in a sweat, and in tears ; and at the moment 
 when reason, triumphing within me, assured me in her 
 mild tones that it was not the function of a King, nor 
 even of a nation, to practise these principles, worthy only 
 of a people of atheists " 
 
 " And how are perishing monarchies to be saved ?" 
 asked Beaumarchais. 
 
 " God is above all, Monsieur," replied my neighbor. 
 
 "Well, then," said Monsieur de Calonne, with the 
 flippancy which characterized him, " we have always the 
 resource of believing ourselves to be instruments in the 
 hand of God, as the gospel according to Bossuet has it." 
 
 As soon as the ladies understood that the whole scene 
 was a conversation between the Queen and the lawyer, 
 they had begun whispering. Indeed, I have spared the 
 reader the exclamations and interruptions with which they 
 broke into the lawyer's narrative. However, such phrases 
 as, " What a deadly bore ! " and " My dear, when will he 
 have done ? " reached my ear. 
 
 When the stranger ceased speaking, the ladies were 
 silent. Monsieur Bodard was asleep. The surgeon being 
 half drunk, Lavoisier, Beaumarchais, and I alone had 
 been listening ; Monsieur de Calonne was playing with 
 the lady at his side.
 
 344 Catherine d' Medici 
 
 At this moment the silence was almost solemn. The 
 light of the tapers seemed to me to have a magical hue. 
 A common sentiment linked us by mysterious bonds to 
 this man who, to me, suggested the inexplicable effects 
 of fanaticism. It needed nothing less than the deep 
 hollow voice of Beaumarchais' neighbor to rouse us. 
 
 " I too dreamed 1 " he exclaimed. 
 
 I then looked more particularly at the surgeon, and 
 felt an indescribable sentiment of horror. His earthy 
 complexion, his features, large but vulgar, were the exact 
 expression of what I must be allowed to call la canaille, 
 the rough mob. A few specks of dull blue and black 
 dotted his skin like spots of mud, and his eyes flashed 
 with sinister fires. The face looked more ominous perhaps 
 than it really was, because a powdered wig & la frimas 
 crowned his head with snow. 
 
 " That man must have buried more than one patient," 
 aid I to my neighbor. 
 
 " I would not trust my dog to his care," he replied. 
 
 " I hate him involuntarily/' said I. 
 
 " I despise him," replied he. 
 
 " And yet how unjust ! " cried I. 
 
 " Oh ! bless me, by the day after to-morrow he may be 
 as famous as Volange the actor," replied the stranger. 
 
 Monsieur de Calonne pointed to the surgeon with a 
 gesture that seemed to convey, " This fellow might amuse 
 us." 
 
 " And did you too dream of a queen ? " asked Beau- 
 marchais. 
 
 " No, I dreamed of a people," said he with emphasis, 
 making us laugh. " I was attending a patient whose leg 
 I was to amputate the next day " 
 
 " And you found a people in your patient's thigh ? " 
 asked Monsieur de Calonne. 
 
 " Exactly so I" replied the surgeon. 
 
 " Is net he amusing ? " cried Madame de Genlis.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 345 
 
 " I was greatly surprised," the speaker went on, never 
 heeding these interruptions, and stuffing his hands into 
 his breeches pockets, " to find some one to talk to in that 
 leg. I had the strange power of entering into my patient. 
 When I first found myself in his skin, I discerned there 
 an amazing number of tiny beings, moving, thinking, 
 and arguing. Some lived in the man's body, and some in 
 his mind. His ideas were creatures that were born, grew, 
 and died ; they were sick, gay, healthy, sad and all had 
 personal individuality. They fought or fondled. A few 
 ideas flew forth and went to dwell in the world of intellect. 
 Suddenly I understood that there are two worlds the visi- 
 ble and the invisible universe ; that the earth, like man, 
 has a body and a soul. A new light was cast on nature, 
 and I perceived its immensity when I saw the ocean of 
 beings everywhere distributed in masses and in species, 
 all of one and the same living matter, from marble rocks 
 up to God. A magnificent sight T In short, there was a 
 universe in my patient. When IWnserted my lancet in his 
 gangrened leg, I destroyed a thousand such beings. You 
 laugh, ladies, at the idea that you are a prey to a thousand 
 creatures " 
 
 "No personalities," said Monsieur de Calonne, " speak 
 for yourself and your patient. " 
 
 " My man, horrified at the outcry of his animalcules, 
 wanted to stop the operation ; but I persisted, telling 
 him that malignant creatures were already gnawing at his 
 bones. He made a motion to resist me, not understanding 
 that what I was doing was for his good, and my lancet 
 pierced me in the side " 
 
 "He is too stupid," said Lavoisier. 
 
 "No, he is drunk," replied Beau mar chais. 
 
 " But, gentlemen, my dream has a meaning," cried the 
 surgeon. 
 
 " Oh, oh !" cried Bodard, waking, " my leg is asleep I " 
 
 " Tour animalcule! are dead," taid his wile.
 
 346 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 " That man has a vocation," said my neighbor, who 
 had imperturbably stared at the surgeon all the time he 
 was talking. 
 
 " It is to Monsieur's vocation what action is to speech, 
 or the body to the soul," said the ugly guest. 
 
 But his tongue was heavy, and he got confused ; he 
 could only utter unintelligible words. Happily, the con- 
 versation took another turn. By the end of half an hour 
 we had forgotten the surgeon to the Court pages, and he 
 was asleep. 
 
 When we rose from table, the rain was pouring in 
 torrents. 
 
 " The lawyer is no fool," said I to Beaurnarchais. 
 
 " Oh ! he is dull and cold. But you see the provinces 
 can still produce good folks who take political theories 
 and the history of France quite seriously. It is a leaven 
 that will spread." 
 
 "Have you a carriage?" Madame de Saint- James 
 asked me. 
 
 " No," said I shortly. " I did not know that I should 
 want it this evening. You thought, perhaps, that I 
 should take home the Controller-General ? Did he come 
 to your house en polisson? " (the fashionable name at the 
 time for a person who drove his own carriage at Marl* 
 dressed as a coachman.) Madame de Saint- James left me 
 hastily, rang the bell, ordered her husband's carriage, and 
 took the lawyer aside. 
 
 " Monsieur de Robespierre, will yon do me the favor of 
 seeing Monsieur Marat home, for he is incapable of stand- 
 ing upright?" said she. 
 
 " With pleasure, Madame," replied Monsieur de Robes- 
 pierre with an air of gallantry ; " I wish you had ordered 
 me to do something more difficult," 
 
 PABIS, January, 1828.
 
 Catherine de' Medici 347 
 
 NOTE 
 
 This is the song published by the Abbe de la Place in his col- 
 lection of interesting fragments, in which may be found the dis- 
 sertation alluded to. [It will be seen that it goes to the old tune 
 of Malbrouk s'en va-t-en guerre.] 
 
 THE DUG DE GUISE'S BURIAL 
 
 Qui veut oulr chanson ? (Bis.) 
 C'est du Grand Due de Guise ; 
 
 Et bon bon bon bon, 
 
 Di dan di dan don, 
 C'est du Grand Due de Guise ! 
 
 (This last line was spoken, no doubt, in a comic tone.) 
 Qui est mort et enterre. 
 
 Qui est mort et enterre. (Bis. ) 
 Aux quatre coins du poele, 
 
 Et bon bon bon bon, 
 
 Di dan di dan don, 
 Quatre gentilshomm's* y avoit. 
 
 Quatre gentilshomm's y avoit. (Bis.) 
 L'un portoit son grand casque, 
 
 Et bon, etc. 
 Et Vautre ses pistolets. 
 
 Et 1'autre ses pistolets, (Bis.) 
 Et 1'autre son epee, 
 
 Et bon, etc. 
 Qui tant d' 'Huguenots a tues 
 
 Qui tant d'Hugu'nots a tues. (Bis.) 
 Venoit le quatrieme, 
 
 Et bon, etc. 
 Qui etoit le plus dolent. 
 
 Qui etoit le plus dolent ; (Bis.) 
 Apres venoient les pages, 
 
 Et bon, etc. 
 Et les valets de pied.
 
 848 Catherine de' Medici 
 
 Et les valets de pied, (Bis.) 
 Avecque de grands ordpes, 
 
 Et bon, etc. 
 Et des souliers cir6s. 
 
 Et des souliers cires, (Bis.) 
 Et des beaux has d'estame, 
 
 Etbon, etc. 
 Et des culottes de pfau. - 
 
 Et des culottes de piau. (Bis.) 
 La ceremonie faite, 
 
 Et bon, eto. 
 Chacun s'o#a coucher. 
 
 Chacun s'alla coucher : (Bis.) 
 Les uns avec leurs ferunies, 
 
 Et bon, eto. 
 Et les autres tout seuls. 
 
 The discovery of these curious verses seems to prove, to a cer- 
 tain extent, the guilt of Theodore de Beze, who tried to mitigate 
 the horror caused by this murder by turning it to ridicule. The 
 principal merit of this song lay, it would appear, in the tune. 
 
 THE END.
 
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