Memoirs of Henri/ 



The Marquis of Revel, running in liis 

 shirt to the hanks of the Seine, and 

 having cast himself into a hoat, was 

 killed t)y a ball from an arqnebuse, 

 levelled at him by his cousin Bussi 

 d'Amboise. 



Nearly all the illuslrions houses of 

 France were compelled to go into 

 mourning in consequence of this san- 

 guinary tragedy. La Rochefoncauld, 

 whom the king wished (o save, Crussol, 

 Teligny, son-in-law of the admiral, 

 Pluviant, Berni, Clermont, Lavardin, 

 Caumont de la Force, Pardaillan, Levi, 

 De Piles, and a great number of other 

 captains, fell by the daggers of the as- 

 sassins. Some few escaped ; among 

 whom were, Roham, Vidame de Char- 

 Ires, and Montgomery. The king par- 

 doned Grammont, Duras, Ganiaches, 

 and Bouchavane ; the Guises also spared 

 a few ; and the pittiless Marshal de Ta- 

 vannes, who was heard to exclaim, 

 "Bleed, bleed ; the physicians say that it 

 is equally ffood to be let blood in August 

 as in May, ' nevertheless rescued from 

 death the person of Neufville ; and Ar- 

 mand de Gontaut de Biron, who, though 

 a Catholic, was accused of favouring the 

 Calvinists, saved bis life by fortifying 

 himself in the arsenal. It is somewhat 

 remarkable that, among so many valiant 

 warriors, only two of the number of pro- 

 scribed defended themselves; one was 

 Guerchi, who, with his arm enveloped 

 in his cloak, fought for a long period in 

 the house of the admiral, and was only 

 compelled to yield from superior num- 

 bers; the other was Tavcrny, lieutenant 

 of the Marshalsea, a practitioner of the 

 long robe, who, aided by a single valet, 

 sustained an assault in his own house 

 for nine hours. Had not sur|)rise and 

 terror petrified the courage of all the 

 rest, they might have exterminated 

 their ferocious assailants, since brave 

 warriors, liowever inferior in numbers, 

 generally obtain the victory over base 

 assassin!!. 



During these disastrous days. Provi- 

 dence rescued a childdcslincd ul a future 

 period to contribute to the regeneration 

 of France. Young Rosny, at that pe- 

 riod twelve years old, was awakened, 

 during the first day of the massacre, by 

 the sound of the bells, and the confused 

 shoutings of the populace. His pre- 

 ceptor and valet de cAawiJreprecijiitately 

 quitted the hotel in order to ascertain 

 the cause of the tunuilf, concerning 

 whom not a syllabic afterwards trans- 

 pired, so that' there is little doubt but 

 they were among the first vielimsof the 



jVIoNTiiLV Ma«. No. ;j98. 



the Great. 



599 



slaughter. Rosny, loft alone in his 

 apartment, speedily dressed himself, 

 and, being told by the owner of the 

 hotel the danger that awaited him, re- 

 solved to seek refuge in the collrge of 

 Burgundy, at which seminary he was 

 pursuing his studies. He dressed him- 

 self in his student's apparel, and taking 

 a thick volume of Catholic pra)ers un- 

 der his arm, descended info the street. 

 He was petrified with horror on behold- 

 ing, at every step, bauds of flic enraged 

 populace, crying out, " Kill, hill, mas- 

 sacre the Huguenots.'''' He at length 

 fell amidst a company of guards, f)y 

 whom he was stopped; but the mass- 

 book, which he carried under his arm, 

 proved a passport, and he was permitted 

 to proceed : twice afterwards he was ar- 

 rested in his j)rogress, but he had the 

 good fortune to escape the threatened 

 jieril by the same simple means. On 

 gaining the College of Burgundy, the 

 porter at first refused him admittance ; 

 he then conceived himself lost with- 

 out resource, when the thought suddenly 

 struck him of enquiring for the superior 

 of the college, a virtuous ecclesiastic, 

 named La Faje, who took charge of 

 him, and kept him concealed in his 

 closet for three days, whither that re- 

 spectable priest, the worthy representa- 

 tive of the Evangelists, conveyed food 

 to him every morning and night. An 

 order at length having appeared, pro- 

 hibiting farther slaughter and pillage, 

 young Rosny was liberated from his 

 liiding-place, and confided to the custody 

 of the King of Navarre. 



Among the various trails of barbarity 

 that disgraced this nnirdeions festival, 

 historians have only preserved one truly 

 noble and arenerous deed, which never- 

 theless carries with it a stamp of the fe- 

 rocity that characterized the period in 

 question. Vezins, a gentleman of 

 Querci, had been for a length of time 

 on very bad terms with one of his 

 neighbours, named Regnicr, a Calvinist, 

 whose death he had an hundred times 

 vowed to accouiplish : both these indi- 

 viduals hap|)ened to be at Paris at the 

 I6te of Saint Bartholomew ; and Regnier 

 trembled, lest Vezins, profiling by cir- 

 cumstance, should satiate, at the ex- 

 jjcnse of his life, the inveterate hatred 

 which he entertained towards him- 

 While overcome by these terrors, the 

 door of bis chamber was forced o|)cn, 

 and Vezins entered, sword in hand, ac- 

 companied by two soldiers. " Follow 

 me," said he, addressing Regnier in a 

 harsh and authoritative tone ; the latter, 

 4 H palsied 



