FrancisII. lefs, fince the Queen had vouchfafed to exprefs 1559 fome good-will for them in the time of Henry Paul IV. II. her Husband, and even she had promised to give them fome Tokens of it, if it was ever in her power.

XIV. They write to the

Queen-
Mother.

XV.

Though the Intereft of those Lords was not very great at Court at that time, yet they were pleafed to affure them, that they would exert themselves for their relief; but they were of opinion, that they ought to petition the Queen themselves; which they did, and their Letter was to this purport.

"

دو

That while King Henry was alive, they had conceived great hopes of her great Meekness and Goodness, infomuch that befides the Pray,, ers which they put up for the King, they prayed alfo for her, that it might please God ,, to pour down upon her all the Gifts of his Holy Spirit, that fhe might be like another Efther. But now as fhe was the King's Mother, who had trusted her with the care of the Government, they had better hopes than ever, and made their Addrefs to her, most humbly ,, befeeching her Majefty to make them reap the Fruits of their expectation, and not to permit that this new Reign fhould be ftained with in,, nocent Blood, which cried aloud before God; that his Wrath had been kindled in a very vifible manner, and that no other way was left to ,, appeafe him, than to give relief to the poor afflicted and perfecuted, and to hearken to their juftification; which doing, God Almighty would take care of her and her Children, and profper their Reign (n).

"

The Queen feeing herfelf in a way of fettling Her Maje- more and more her Authority, and to dive into fy's Anthe Secrets of the Reformed, made ufe of a great fawer.

(n) Beze Hift. Eccl. liv. 3.

deal

deal of cunning in her Anfwer. At first fhe Francis II feemed angry, because they called to her mind 1559. Pope the death of the King her Husband, Alas, fays Paul IV. fhe, of what do they threaten me! what worse thing could befall me, than to have been deprived of what I valued and cherished the most? But afterwards feeming a little pacified, fhe answered more graciously, and promised to the Prince, his Motherin-law, and the Admiral, to put an end to the Perfecutions, provided that the Reformed fhould not meet together, and that every one should live peaceably and without fcandal.

M. Ville

She had received a Letter from a Gentleman XVI. who had been in the Service of the late Queen of Letter of Navarr, and with whom fhe had often conferred madon to about Matters of Religion; that Letter helped her Ma much to the favourable Anfwer she gave to the jefty. Prince of Condé; for fhe was put in remembrance,,, that in the time of her Barrenness, the

دو

Cardinal of Lorrain, and the Duke of Guife, ,, had endeavoured to perfuade the King to put ,, her away; that at that time fhe had had re,, courfe to God, reading his Holy Word, fing, ing with delight the Pfalms tranflated into French rhymes, amongst which she had chofen for herself the 141, as fitted to her Cirumftan,, ces; that about that time God had granted her request, and fhe had been delivered of her eldest Son, and after him of many others; that fhe ought to remember that, instead of the Pfalms, the Cardinal had put in ufe fome lafcivious Verses of Horace and other Poets, fince ,, which Alteration, fo many Misfortunes had befallen the Kingdom. He intreated her, ,, to difmis fuch Men, and not to suffer any longer that thofe Foreigners, who had no right ,, to the Inheritance, fhould ufurp by fraud and violence the King's power and her own,

"

"

keep

1559.

Paul IV.

FrancisII.,, keeping at a distance the Princes of the Blood, Pope and trampling them under their feet; but to order things in fuch a manner, that every one might enjoy his own right, and to honour the Princes of the Blood, as those who were her beft and faithfulleft Servants. In fhort, to take ,, care that her Children fhould be trained up in the ways of the good King Jofias (0).

XVII. She com

plains of the Go

to the

Such was the Letter of M. de Ville-madon, which put the Queen in mind of her own Business, guefling that the Princes of the Blood were not mentioned without their being privy to it, and that their party would be too ftrong for her to cope with them, if fhe adhered ftiffly to her former Designs.

Therefore the thought proper to allure them with fair words. To that end, as fhe knew that the Duchefs of Montpenfier was inclined to the vernment Reformation, fhe feigned to complain to her of the Government, which fhe ftyled, a Tyrannical Duchefs of Montpen one, being in the hands of fome Foreigners; of the removal of the Conftable; and of the fcorn fhe faw herself expofed to; promifing that in due time fhe would fhew all manner of kindness to thofe poor People, (fo fhe called the Reformed.) In a word, fhe behaved herself in fuch a manner, that the Reformed had conceived great hopes of

fier.

XVIII.

comes to

Court.

her.

The coming of the King of Navarr to Court, The King was another reafon of the Reformed flattering of Navarr themselves with the hopes of fome relief. That Prince, either out of fpite against the Conftable, because not a word had been faid of him in the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrefis, or out of the flownefs of his Temper, had ftaid till this time in Bearn, though the Conftable had fent to him feveral Meffengers to haften his setting out to come

(0) Beze ibid.

to

1559. Pope Pius IV.

to Court, and take poffeffion of the place which Francis II. was due to him. At laft he arrived, but though he had made very fair Promises, and was in a Condition to perform them, being fupported by the best part of the Princes, and great Lords of the Kingdom, nevertheless, he fuffered himfelf to be prevailed upon by two of his Servants, Defcars, and the Bishop of Mendes, who had been bribed by his Enemies; infomuch that after having made but a very flender Figure at Court, where many deadly Affronts had been put upon him, he was very glad to accept of the Commiffion to bring Queen Elizabeth the King's Sifter to the King of Spain her Hufband, which afforded him a fair pretence of forfaking a Caufe to which he felt himself too much unequal.

Few days after, the Queen received a Letter XIX. from the Reformed Church of Paris on account Letter of of the Perfecution, carried on against Dubourg. the Church

They complained in it, that her Majesty the Queenperformed not, what she had promifed them; Mother. ,, that their Condition grew worse and worfe ,, every day; that it was evident by the violent purfuits carried on against Dubourg, that his Enemies aimed at nothing less than his Life; but if it was fo, fhe might depend upon it, that God would not let go fuch a Crime unpunished, fince fhe was fully convinced of ,, that Gentleman's innocence; that the Judgments of God would be fo heavy and fo vifi,,ble, that they could not be mistaken nor dif,, fembled; and if a ftop was not speedily put ,, to those cruel proceedings, there was reafon to fear, left People, provoked by fuch Violences, fhould fall into defpair, and break forth into civil Commotions, which of course would ,, prove the ruin of the Kingdom. That these Evils would not come from those who lived VOL. I. under

FrancisII.

1559.

under their direction, from whom she might Pope ,, expect a perfect fubmiffion and obedience, but Pius IV.,, that the far greater number were of thofe, who, ,, knowing only the Abufes of Popery, and having not as yet fubmitted to any Ecclefiaftical Difcipline, could not or would not bear Perfecution. That they had thought proper to give this warning to her Majesty, that if fome mifchief fhould happen, it fhould not be ,, put on their account (p).

XX.

Her An

fwer.

The Queen-Mother judging that Letter too fevere and unfeafonable, anfwered brifkly, Then, fays fhe, they threaten me, thinking to frighten me but they have not as yet obtained their end (q).

XXI. We have faid, that in King Henry's latter A very fe Years, the Cardinal of Lorrain had undertook to vere Edict fettle the Inquifition in France, by the Parliaagainst the ment's Authority; that having procured the Reformed. Pope's Bull for that purpofe, he ingaged Henry to take the neceffary steps to have them registred by the Parliament, but was ftrenuously oppofed by that illuftrious Body, fo that that Bufinefs had been poftponed till another time. Now, after that Prince's death, that Cardinal defiring to ingratiate himself into the Clergy's Affection, as well as into the People's, especially the Parifians; and feeing that he could not fucceed in his attempt for the fettling of an Inquifition in France, thought that he could do nothing better at this time, than to publish fome new Edict against the Reformed.

Therefore, under pretence of executing the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrefis in its full Intent and Purpofes, as there was an Article by which the late King had engaged himfelf to exert all his might to extirpate Herefy, he iffued out feveral Edicts more fevere than the former, which were often repeated, by which all Meetings were strictly forbidden under

2

(P) Bezę ibid. (2) Id. ibid.