the Louvie, tliey were driven back by 

 the pikes of the soldiers, and assailed by 

 discharges from fire-arms ; and in their 

 flight from thence tliey fell amidst the 

 troops of the Diike of Guise and the 

 patroles of citizens, who madr a horrid 



carnage of the defenceless fugitives. 

 The populace, en masse, now aroused, 

 flew to arms, seizing every weapon 

 which presented itself, and tlien rushing 

 in crowds to every quarter of the city ; 

 no sound was heard but the horrible 

 cry — Kill the Huguenots! From the 

 streets they proceeded to tlie hotels, 

 when, forcing open the gates, breaking 

 the windows, and throwing down walls, 

 every one, without any distinction of age 

 or sex, was indiscriminately massacred; 

 the air resounded with the horrid cries 

 of the murderers, the piercing shrieks of 

 the wounded, and the groans of the 

 dying ; the slaughter became general. 

 During the first day no pillage took 

 place, the thirst for cupidity was 

 smotiiered by the impulse of barbarous 

 rage; victims, and not riches, were 

 then the objects of their search ; gold 

 was despised, and nothing worthy of 

 consideration but human blood. Head- 

 less trunks were every instant precipi- 

 tated from the windows into the court- 

 yards or the streets; the gateways were 

 choked up witli (he bodies of the dead 

 and dying, and the streets presented a 

 spectacle of human bodies dragged by 

 their butchers in order to be tlirown 

 into the Seine. 



The royal palace, which ought to 

 have offered a sacred asylum, a paternal 

 refuge, wa&staiiied by the same horrors. 

 In a moment the Louvre was filled with 

 assassins. The King of Navarre was 

 suddenly awakened from his sleep by the 

 forcing open the door of his chamber by 

 several of his friends and olUcers ; some, 

 already woundecl, rushed forward to die 

 at his feet, while the remainder were 

 butchered under his eyes. Henry, un- 

 able to defend them, disdained to seek 

 refuge in flight: the murderers sur- 

 rounded his bud, and uttered loud me- 

 naces; but he manifested so much firm- 

 ness, and inspired them with such a 

 sentiment of respect, that they did not 

 dare attemjit his life ; or, we may almost 

 .«ay, that a miracle of Divine Providence 

 rescued the prince, who was intended 

 at a future period to repair so many ills. 

 Henry at length found means to escape 

 to the royal apartments ; and the as- 

 sassins, an hour afterwards, forced their 

 way to the idiambcr of the young (jueeii 

 Margaret, whose interesting narrative. 



Memoirs of Henry the Great 597 



recorded by herself, we will now proceed 

 to give, as a most lively record of this 

 horrid scene. 



The night of the affair of Saint Bar- 

 tholomew, the queen mother, perceiving 

 her (laughter up rather late, commanded 

 her to retire. '''As I was in the act of 

 performinp; my obeisance," says Marga- 

 ret, " i:iij sister of Lorraitie took me by 

 tlie arm, stopped me, and, beginning to 

 weep most bitterly, said: Good heaven, 

 sister, do not go!" On witnesssing this 

 conduct, Catherine became irritated, 

 and reproached her eldest daughter 

 for the imprudence of her conduct. 

 " What a sight," answered the former, 

 ^Uo send her thus to be sacrificed! If 

 they discover any thing, they will avenge 

 themselves upon her." This altercation 

 finished by Margaret receiving fresh 

 commands from her mother to retire; 

 when her sister, bursting into tears, em- 

 braced her. "■ As for myself," con- 

 tinues Margaret, "/ quitted the chamber 

 astonished and quite lietvildered, without 

 having the most distant idea of any thing 

 that was to be apprehended." 



"Summoned to the apartment of my 

 husband, 1 found his bed surrounded by 

 thirty or forty Huguenots, whom I did 

 not (IS yet know ; during the night they 

 cnntinued to converse of nothing but the 

 accident iuhich had happened to the ad- 

 miral. The tears of my sister still con- 

 tinued to weigh heavily at my heart, and 

 I could not sleep for the dreadful appre- 

 hension she had excited, without being 

 able to divine the cease. In this manner 

 the night passed on, without my being al- 

 lowed to close my eyes." Before dawn of 

 day, Henry arose aiidquitled the cham- 

 ber, accompanied by all his gentlemen; 

 when the young queen, overcome by 

 fatigue, caused the doors to be closed, 

 and tlien resigned herself to sleep. 



About an hour after, Margaret sud- 

 denly started, aroused on hearing a 

 noise occasioned by some one striking 

 against the door with their feet and 

 hands, and crying aloud Navarre, Na- 

 varre! Her attendant believing that 



it was the king, opened (he door; when 

 a man bleeding profusely reeled forward 

 into the apartment, followed by four 

 archers, who entered promiscuously 

 with him : he had received a sword- 

 wouiid in the wrist, and one from a 

 halberd in the arm : " Being anxious to 

 screen his person," continues Margaret, 

 " he threw himself on my bed ; upon 

 which, finding my person grasped by the 

 man, I sprang to the bedside, and he after 

 me, continuing to clasp me round the 



body. 



