as rather 
Character of Hot; which rose above 
ivity 
FRANCE, 
tions with ayowed heretics, he seized the first opportu- _ Histery- 
through mere fickleness. _His courage was undoubted ; 
but it courage which could act than sup- 
the greatest dangers, if they 
exertion, but which cooled, if 
called for acti 
be shunned or endured rather 
pci 
tively useless in this view, from the thoughtlessness of 
i ey and the warm sincerity Be oP Powia 
is mode of carrying on war was stam y the pe- 
culiarities of his character. At the edad ot 
a campaign, he darted on his enemy with all his force, 
and endeavoured to attain his object, by the decision 
and rapidity of his first movements ; but he seldom had 
any regular and com ive plan of warfare, the 
consequence of which was, that with whatever appear- 
ance of ultimate and success he commenced 
hostilities, he ly found himself, at the end of the 
ig 
_ It will appear from this sketch, that his faults as a 
sovereign were of that nature which seldom fail to cap- 
multitude, as 
real gentleman. To the period of his reign, 
we may justly trace those features in the character of 
the higher society in France, for which it was so long 
and so justly celebrated in Europe. Anne of Bretagne 
had begun to introduce ladies at court ; but it was not 
till the reign of Francis that th Lsppertesy Shere, ce 
gularly, or that they were consid as an essential 
part of it. The consequences were soon i : 
Seg, meensitny gave a softness and a polish to that 
of manners, which the rative ignorance 
and barbarism of the as well as its martial habits, 
necessarily generated. 
It was during this period, that the religious disputes 
commenced, which afterwards Spliated rence oe ge- 
nerally, and gave rise to such 
Calvin was a native of Noyon in 
tected by M of Navarre, sister of Francis: these 
circumstances some influence in causing his tenets 
to take root and spread in France. But those who em- 
them soon became the objects of tion, 
rancis at one period (as has been already mentioned) 
was desirous of uniting himself with Protestant 
inces of Germany, Sane Emperor Charles ; but 
é of awakening the indignation of the Roman pon- 
tiff, and the prejudices of his people, by his negocia- 
and bitter civil wars. 
i , and was yk 
563 
nity to prove the soundness of his faith, by ordering six 
of his subjects, who had embraced the Protestant reli- 
ion, to be publicly burnt ; he himself being present at 
e execution, and. declaring, with his usual and cha- 
racteristic yehemence, that if one of his hands were in- 
fected with heresy he would cut it off with the other, 
and would not spare eyen his own children if found 
guilty of that crime, Even before the time of Calvin, 
it that the French had imbibed the reform- 
ed elicit ; for the inhabitants of Cabrieres and Me-_ 
_rindol, small towns in Provence, followed the opi- 
nions of the Waldenses ; and on this account the Par- 
liament of Provence issued against them a decree, so 
barbarous and cruel, that the execution of it was sus~ 
pended by orders from the court. .But some years af 
terwards, in 1545, from what cause is not known, it 
was carried into execution by the Cardinal de Tournon, 
aman of a most cruel and bigotted disposition. At 
this period, of the Fendh army was returning’ 
from Italy ; and these were employed against the de- 
fenceless inhabitants of Cabrieres and Merindol, 3000 
of whom, without distinction of age or sex, are said to 
haye been massacred. Nor was this barbarous work 
confined to these places ; twenty-two other villages or 
towns were reduced to ashes, in the vain hope of utterly 
bit ig the heresy. 
en Henry IT. son of Francis I. mounted the throne 
gent commands or requests of the dying Francis to his 
son, was, that he d never recal the Constable 
Montmorency, and that he should, by all means in his 
wer, repress the ambition of the family of Guise. 
enry, however, was inattentive to the injunctions of his. 
dying father. The Constable Montmorency was recal- 
- Jed and loaded with honours ; and the house of Guise 
were entrusted with his confidence. Henry did not 
long remain faithful to his wife Catherine of Medicis ; 
indeed it would appear, that at this period she either did 
not or exercise, those qualities and seducing 
arts for which she afterwards became so famous; since 
her hushand deserted her, and gave himself up, a blind 
and willing slave, to Diana de Poitiers, whom he crea- 
ted Duchess de Valentinois, though she was 20 years 
older than himself. 
Before Henry had ascended the throne, his Queen 
had brought him a son, who was named Francis. In 
1548, on the death of James V. of Scotland, Mary his 
daughter, then an infant, succeeded to the throne of 
that ki Taking advantage of this circumstance, 
the ministers of England endeavoured, by force of arms, 
to obtain for Edward VI. the hand of the infant Queen 
of Scotland. This the ministers of Mary resisted, and 
the King of France sent a powerful army to the support 
of his ancient allies, Jn return for this assistance, the 
Scotch entrusted their Queen to the French admiral, on 
his return to France ; and soon after her arrival in Paris, 
she was betrothed to the Dauphin. 
In 1549, a dangerous rebellion broke out in the pro- 
. ‘ a Rebellion 
vince of Guienne ;,and, as Montmorency and the Duke 1 alee: 
A. D, 1549. 
of Guise were the most confidential ministers of the 
King, they were dispatched to quell it. Their conduct 
ou this occasion was diametrically ite: the con- 
stable endeavoured to repress the rebellion by the most 
violent and cruel measures ; while, on the contrary, the 
Duke of Guise reclaimed the insurgents by his concili- 
ating address, and lenient ‘measures. To this line of 
conduct he was probably led, by that ambition which 
afterwards so decidedly marked the character of his fa- 
he was 29 years of age. One of the last and most ur- Se 
