Memoirs of Hmrj/ the Great. 60l' 



on the mnliiatcd coiiiso of Coligoy, sus- feasible? CiKiilis miisl, lioWBvcr, liu'e 



jtciided to I'lse gibhtt t)y the lliiglis, sup- befti disabused in the end, fiiidiiij il i.n- 



poited by iron iiuoks: if such \v:is the possible to suhstaiiliate any thiuj: ths 



fact, the admiral could not have jjeen criino hud, however, heeri cominittud, 



removed on the night of llie niiuder hy and to stiHe the menacing appeals of tho 



Marshal Moiilmorcncj, as stated by most horrid remorse, it was rcqu'sile lie 



Daiigeau. should seek, if possible, to deceive him- 



" Prom the period of the 2it/i of self; a dangerous and easy expedient, 



Ait^nsl," says Sully, vol. i. "the /tinir iinforliiualeiy too common vvilli princes. 



shuddered on hearing the recital of the Had there been any p nticle of truth in 



thousand traits of craslt;! narrated to him 

 Li/ those who arrogated to themselves a 

 degree of honour, in his presence, for the 

 active parts they had tahrn in the 

 slaughter Of all those who approach- 



ti)is allegation, it on<;ht to have been 

 pnblishetl on ilie very <-ve ol' the mas- 

 sacre, and not after the lajise of tin'co 

 diys, wiiicli was the fact; as in suc'i 

 case there would have been some justi- 



ce/ <//e jHo«a;Y/('« 2^^''*''"' '"^ ""^ Z^"**''**'^'' fication for tlie excesses committed. 



/lis confidence so complelelij as Ambrose Such was the reflection ol' the President 



Pare, a famous Calvinisl surgeon, whom de Tiion, who shuddered at being rom- 



Charles preserved bi/ keeping him at the pelled, from his station as first president 



Louvre, although he had previousU/ de- of the parliament, to approve in appear' 



dared that nothing should compel him to ance these false motives suggested by his 



abrogate his faith. The day after the sovereign. In answer lo tlii'-, we beg to 



7nassacre Charles took Pare aside, and remark that, no high post or situation 



began a candid avowal of the horrible whatsoever can force a wan to approve of 



anxiety by tvhich his mind was tormented, assassination, and consecrate the same as 



Avihrose,''^ said tiie king, '■^ I know not an act of justice by his public approbation 



what has occurred to nie within these two of an execrable crime, 



or three days, but I ^nd tny mind and }ny As is customary witii characters 



body agitated, as if I was labouring 

 under a dreadful J ever ; it seems to me 

 every moment, as well waking as sleeping, 

 thai those mangled corpses present iliem- 



governed by extremes, tiie youthful 

 Cliarles, once impregnated with tiie.se 

 dangerous maxims, no longer showed 

 any r('S])cct for moderate measures; and 



selves to my vietv with hideous aspects and be in consequence publicly authoiised 



awered with gore. I sincerely wish that all the massacres that were connnilied 



the iunocent had not been comprised among in the provinces. Tiiesc proved hor- 



the number of the slain." ribic beyond (■X|>ression ; at Meau\, 



As soon as the king had commanded Angers, Bourges, Orleans, Lyons, 'I'ou- 



a cessation of the massacre, he proceeded louse, and Rouen, wifhont ennnieratiug 



lo meet the parliament, where be held a the .smaller towns, vi'lasres, and iveii 



court of justice. He then declared that private castles, the loids of whirb were 



after a thousand attempts, as lioquently not always in safety against liie elfer- 



pardonod, against bis sovereign and his vescence of popular fury, 

 country. Admiral C'oligny bad put a Mandelot, governor of Lyons, having 



climax to his atrocious crimes by resolv- ascertained that some Huguenots bad 



ing to exterminate the royal family and escaped the slaughter of their butchers, 



all the iirinces, consisting of the king, after four thousand citizens had been 



the queen, the Dukes of Anjou and slain, caused them to be pursued and ar- 



Alencon, and the King of Navarre, ex- rested, and then .strove to pievaii upon 



ccpting oidy the Prince ol Conde, whom the public executioner to put an cud to 



he had designed to place ujioii the throne, lliem. This man, however, refused, 



with the intention of afterw.irds putting alleging that be was no assassin, only 



Jill end to bini, and asMiming in hisown exercising bis ministry in the nam,* of 



j)erson the supreme jiuihority. It <ioes the JiUW and by order of Jusliecj an' 



not appear improbable, from the sudden answer and a mode of pro(u^eding \<ry 



change in Cliarles's conduct, and the remarkable in ati ijidividual exercising 



fury that <-on.sc quently predominated such a luuction, and nniler the reign of 



over a weak mind, that he in the tirst a |)riiice who bad himself become the 



instance belie\ed in the truth of this executioner of bis people ! As a proof 



pretended con.s])irai:y ; and when we are of the horriil state of things at that 



h(i to coiiteu)plate the deeji du|)li(;ily of period, a butcher, who had particularly 



the queen mother, Avhat ti'.stinninies and signalized himself during this slauglit(;r 



perjured wiincs.sut. may she not ba\e by l.'ie number of iiugiKMiots he bad 



suboincd to iendf.1 tiie I, ili hood moie m'jidcrcd, was icwurdid b^ leLciuU'^- 



an 



