596 



Memoirs of Henri/ the Great. 



After every thiiiff was arranged, accord- 

 ing to these previous dispositions, in 

 the most dreadful silence, tlie king, 

 fearing to arrest the enterprise from a 

 sentiment of commiseration, did not 

 dare save the Count de la Rochefou- 

 cauld, whom he loved. Seeing him, 

 towards night, on the point of quitting 

 the Louvre, Charles invited, and then 

 pressed him to remain: the coinit, how- 

 ever, refused ; when the king, being 

 unable to retain him without hazarding 

 bis secret, abandoned him to his fate, 

 shuddering from the bottom of his soul 

 at being thus compelled to sacrifice his 

 friend for the preservation of his secret. 

 Every thing was atrocious in this unex- 

 ampled conspiracy of a sovereign against 

 his subjects. Its conception, execution, 

 its details, and feelings of the most 

 sacred nature, %vere either annihilated, 

 changed, or perverted. Religious zeal 

 became an impious frenzy ; filial piety 

 degenerated into sanguinary fury ; and 

 obedience to the monarch was changed 

 to the most execraMe cowardice. 



Charles, uniformly followed by liis 

 mother and the Duke of Anjou, entered 

 a small study adjoining the portal of the 

 Louvre; he seated liimstif under the 

 archway of one of the windows, and 

 looked out, shuddering with apprehen- 

 sion. The report of a pistol was heard ! 

 " I cannot say from what direction," says 

 the Duke of Anjou, '■'the noipe proceeded. 



the staircase. From the dreadful noise 

 w hich resounded in all directions, the 

 admiral immediately surmised that his 

 life was sought for. He rose from the 

 bed, and, leaning his back against the 

 wall, with clasj)ed hands and eyes de- 

 voutly raised to heaven, began to 

 ejaculate a contrite prayer. Having 

 forced open the bed-room door with cries 

 of Death 1 Death! Berne rushing 

 forward, sword in hand, was the first 

 who beheld Coligny thus fervently 

 occupied, who instantly exclaimed, " Is 

 it thou who art Coligny ?" " It is I 

 myself,'" answered the admiral, who 

 thus continued : " Young man, respect 

 my white hairs'^ Berne replied by 

 plunging his sword into his body, 

 upon which the admiral fell bathed 

 in his blood, when he was instantly 

 pierced by an hundred other swords. 

 " It is done," cried Beme from the 

 window. " 37(6 Duke'of Angouleme will 

 not believe it," answered the Duke of 

 Guise from the street, " but on beholding 

 the corpse at his feet :" and instantly the 

 mutilated carcase was precipitated from 

 the casement into the court-yard. The 

 Duke of Angouleme then wijied the 

 gore from the admiral's visage with his 

 own hand, in order to recognize the 

 features ; after which the prince is stated 

 to have so far forgotten himself as to 

 kick the corpse about with his feet. 

 Hatred combining with every impulse 



but 1 well know the sound deeply affected of vengeance, and the very last degree 



V.S all three; it struck onr senses arid of dastardly barbarity having been 



our judgments, bewildered with appre- adopted, the body became a prey to all 



hensions and terrors, tvith a certainty of the disgusting outrages of popular 



the great enormities which were on the frenzy. The admiral's head was severed 



eve of perpetration." The king, struck 

 with horror, arose, and in conjunction 

 with the fjueen and the Duke of Anjou, 

 immediately despatched a gentleman 

 with directions to the Duke of Guise to 

 undertake nothing against the person of 

 the admiral,— a command which, if at- 

 tended to, would have put a stop to 

 every thing; but it was too late ! The 

 vindictive duke, fired with vengeance, 

 bad with difficulty awaited to behold 

 the projected signal in oidcr to rush to 

 the dwelling of his victim. In the king's 

 name the doors were immediately open- 

 ed, and the porter who surrendered up 

 the keys was stabbed on the instant. 

 The Swiss of the Navarre guard, 'siir- 

 prised, took flight and concealed tlicm- 

 selves; when three colonels of the 

 French troops, accompanied by Pe- 

 trncci, Siennois, and Beme, a German, 

 with an escort of soldiers, rushed into 

 the hotel, an<l [irecipitaicly ascended 



from the trunk, and the corpse, cruelly 

 mutilated, dragged through the streets 

 to the place of execution, and there 

 suspended by the feet to the gibbet of 

 Montfaucon. 



On the'24lh of August, 1572, at four 

 in the morning, the palace bell tolled: 

 the fatal signal for the massacre of St. 

 Bartholomew ; which announced to the 

 catholics that Admiral Coligny was no 

 more. 'I'lie assassins, who were armed 

 with daggers and pistols, had adopted 

 the preconcerted badges on their arms 

 and in their ca()s, in order to recognize 

 one another. On hearing the shoutings, 

 cries, and tumult, which immediately 

 followed the sonnd of the palace bell, 

 the Calvinisls, half dressed and unarmed, 

 rushed forth from their dwellings : those 

 who proceeded to gain the residence of 

 the admiral, were slaughtered by the 

 comjiany of guards j osted in front of the 

 rntrancc; if they sought for refuge in 



the 



