Volume II Part 48 (1/2)

Tocsain, 126.

[1007] Mem. de l'estat, _ubi sup._, 124; Jean de Serres (1575), iv., fol.

35; Reveille-Matin, 182; Euseb. Philadelphi Dial., i. 40; De Thou, iv.

(liv. lii.) 590.

[1008] ”Avec une contenance fort esmeue et abatue.” Mem. de l'estat.

”Humilissimo animo et consternate ore.” Jean de Serres, _ubi supra_.

[1009] Jean de Serres's ”_consternatiori_ tamen animo” is an evident misprint for ”_constantiori_ tamen animo.”

[1010] Memoires de l'estat, 124, 125; Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 35 _verso_; Reveille-Matin, 183; Eusebii Philad. Dial. (1574), i. 40; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 590; Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist. univ., ii. 19 (liv.

i., c. 4).

[1011] Eusebii Phil. Dialogi, i. 40, 41; Reveille-Matin, _ubi sup._, 183, copied _verbatim_ in Mem. de l'estat, 126. The Reveille-Matin removes the apparent contradiction between the various accounts respecting the bell that gave the signal for the ma.s.sacre by showing that _both_ bells were rung. So also Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 16 (liv. i., c. 4), after mentioning how Catharine, for the time being, removed Charles's hesitation by alleging the necessity of cutting off the corrupt members in order to save the Church, the Bride of Christ, and citing the saying: ”Che pieta lor ser crudele. Che crudelta lor ser pietosa,” adds: ”Le roi se resout, et elle avance le tocsain du Palais, en faisant sonner _une heure et demie_ devant celui de Sainct Germain de l'Auxerrois.” By neglecting the clue thus given, the chronological order of the events of the day has been lost by a number of historians. It will be noticed that the number of the royal guards reported to have been slain was, strangely enough, derived from that of the Huguenot gentlemen butchered in the Louvre by those very guards. The story may have been perpetuated by misapprehension of the facts; it could have arisen only from wilful falsehood.

[1012] Tocsain contre les ma.s.sacreurs (Rheims, 1579), 124, 125; Reveille-Matin, 126; Eusebii Philadelphi Dialogi, i. 41; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 18; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 586.

[1013] Tocsain contre les ma.s.sacreurs, 125; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 18; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 586; Euseb. Philad. Dialogi, _ubi supra_.

[1014] ”The courtiers and the soldiers of the royal guard were the executioners of this commission on the (Huguenot) n.o.blesse, terminating, they said, by the sword and general disorder, those processes which pens and paper and the order of justice had hitherto failed to bring to an issue.” Reveille-Matin, _ubi supra_, 184; Eusebii Philad. Dialogi, i 41; Memoires de l'estat, 127.

[1015] Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 18.

[1016] Tocsain contre les ma.s.sacreurs, 136, 137.

[1017] Reveille-Matin, _ubi supra_, 184, 185; Eusebii Philad. Dial., i.

42; Mem. de l'estat, 127; Jean de Serres (1575), iv. 38; De Thou, iv.

(liv. lii.) 588; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 18. The minor details of the story are given, with variations, by different authors. D'Aubigne gives us Biron's answer to the commands and menaces with which Madame de la Chataigneraie sought to gain possession of young La Force: ”I would certainly intrust him in the hands of his relative, in order to take care of him, but not in the hands of his next heir, who took too great care of him yesterday morning,” ii. 21. It must be noted, however, that the ”Memoires authentiques de Jacques Nompar de Caumont, Duc de la Force, Marechal de France, recueillis par le Marquis de la Grange” (Paris, 1843), i. 2-37, so far from accusing the sister of La Force, ascribe the persistent attempts to secure his death solely to Archan (or Larchant), who had _married_ this sister; and they state that, at her death, she left her property, including what she had inherited from her husband, to her brother.

[1018] Memoires de l'estat, _ubi supra_, 146

[1019] Mem. de l'estat, 146; Tocsain contre les ma.s.sacreurs, 129, 130; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 592; Claude Haton, ii. 678; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii.

20.

[1020] Tocsain, 136.

[1021] Mem. de l'estat, 146.

[1022] ”Radices, atque etiam radic.u.m fibras, funditus evellas.” Pii Quinti Epistolae, 111. See _ante_, chapter xvi., p. 308.

[1023] Mem. de l'estat, 147. The children of other cities emulated the example of those of Paris. In Provins, in the month of October, 1572, a Huguenot, Jean Crespin, after having been hung by the officers of justice, was taken down from the gallows by ”les petis enfans de Provins, _de l'age de douze ans et au des...o...b.._,” to the number of more than one hundred. By these mimic judges he was declared unworthy to be dragged save by his feet, and, his punishment by hanging being reckoned too light, he was roasted in a fire of straw, and presently thrown into the river. Numbers of older persons looked on, approving and encouraging the children; a few good Catholics were grieved to see such cruelty practised on a dead body.

Mem. de Claude Haton, ii. 704-706.

[1024] Mem. de l'estat, _ubi supra_, 128.

[1025] ”On en remarqua qui avoient les yeux attaches sur le corps du Baron du Pont, pour voir si elles y trouveroient quelque cause ou quelque marque de l'impuissance qu'on lui reprochoit.” De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 587. See Euseb. Philadelphi Dial., i. 45, and Jean de Serres (1575) iv., fol. 39.

[1026] ”Le Roy, la Royne mere, et leurs courtisans, rioyent a gorge desployee.” Mem. de l'estat, _ubi supra_, 132.