458 The Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. [May, 
that in retiring to rest her husband’s bed was surrounded by thirty or 
forty Huguenots, who were talking all night of the accident which 
had befallen the admiral, and resolved the next morning to insist upon 
the king’s doing justice for them on the Guises. No sleep was to be 
had under such circumstances, and before day the King of Navarre rose 
with the intention of playing at tennis till the king (Charles) was up. 
When the King of Navarre and his gentleman had retired, the queen 
soon fell asleep. In less than an hour she was woke up by a man 
striking with his hands and feet against the door of her chamber, and 
calling out ‘ Navarre! Navarre!’ Margaret’s chambermaid opened the 
door, and immediately a man covered with blood, and pursued by four 
soldiers, ran in for refuge. ‘ He, wishing for protection,” says Margaret, 
“ threw himself on my bed. I, feeling a man lay hold of me, threw 
myself out at the bed-side, and him after me, still holding me round the 
body. I did not know the man, nor did I know if he came there to 
injure me, or whether the soldiers were ‘after him or me; we both of 
us cried out, and were both equally frightened.” It was with difficulty 
the queen could obtain this person’s pardon ; the captain of the guards 
conducted her to the chamber of her sister, the Duchess of Lorrain ; 
and at the moment of entering that apartment, a gentleman was killed 
close to her. She almost fainted away, and could only be brought to 
by her sister’s care. 
On coming to herself, the Queen of Navarre inquired for her husband, 
who on quitting his room had been conducted to the king’s presence, 
along with the Prince of Condé. They were not allowed to take their 
swords, and on the way they saw several of their friends murdered 
before them, particulerly the brave Piles, who so valiantly defended 
St. Jean d’Angely. In order to frighten them into compliance with the 
king’s wishes, they were made to feel the full extent of their danger ; 
they passed through long lines of soldiers, who were prepared to 
massacre them. Charles received them in great anger, and commanded 
them with his usual oaths and blasphemies to renounce the religion 
which they had only taken as a pretext for their rebellion. As the — 
princes, however, expressed the difficulty they felt in changing their 
creed, his rage became excessive, and he told them that he would no ~ 
longer be thwarted in his wishes by his subjects; that they ought to — 
teach others by their example to revere him as the image of God, and 
be no longer the enemies of his mother’s images. The Prince of Condé — 
boldly told him, that he was accountable to God alone for his religion; — 
that his possessions and his life were in his mejesty’s power, and he 
inight dispose of them as he pleased; but that no menaces, nor even — 
death should make him renounce the truth. They were then remanded — 
for three days, with the information, that if they did not become 
éatholics they would be treated as guilty of high treason, both human ~ 
and divine. The King of Navarre was in addition to send an order to 
his states, forbidding the exercise of every religion but the Romish. 
The Marshal de la Force was a child at the time of the massacre ; he 
has left some memoirs of his life, and has given the following narrative — 
of what occurred to him. “ A horse-dealer, who had seen the Duke of 
Guise and his satellites go into the Admiral Coligny’s house, and who, — 
gliding through the crowd, had witnessed the murder of that nobleman, _ 
ran immediately to give information to M. Cammont de La Force, to — 
whom he had sold ten horses a week before.” é 
