Hestery. 
—_—\y— 
Several 
cues ace 
knowlalge 
him. 
Attempt on 
his life. 
Defents the 
Duke of 
Mayence, 
A. D. 1595. 
584 
receiving no satisfactory answer, he resolved to dis- 
| rp thar he conceived his duty required of him. 
He ore ordered the garrison to evacuate the town, 
and, delivering the keys to the magistrates, he said, « I 
scorn to steal an advantage, or to make my fortune at 
other men's expence. I am going to pay my allegiance 
to the king, and I leave it in your power to act as you 
please.” This short, but candid and honest 
was received by shouts from the inhabitants, of “ Long 
life to Henry IV.!" and the example of Meaux was 
followed by the cities of Orleans, Bourges, Lyons, and 
Pontoise. When the deputies from Meaux waited 
upon Henry, they were so confounded, that they were 
incapable of speech, and threw themselves at the king’s 
feet. Having regarded them in silence for some mo- 
ments, Henry burst ‘into tears, and, lifting them up, 
said, ‘* Come not, as enemies, to crave forgiveness ; but 
come as children to a father, always willing to receive 
you with open arms.” 
The king determined to take advantage of returning 
prosperity to celebrate his coronation. As Rheims 
was still in the ion of the enemy, he was crown- 
ed at Chartres. Almost immediately afterwards, the 
winees of Orleannois and os were a up 
their respective governors to the king; and a sin- 
pa accident rn the capital to him. The Duke 
of Mayence having been obliged to leave it, to quell 
some Tietbenned in Picardy, entrusted the com- 
mand of it to the Count de Brisac. This nobleman 
seems to have formed the romantic idea of establishing 
a republic in France ; but his designs being received 
with contempt by the chiefs of the League, he deliver- 
ed up the capital to Henry. Villars, who had so gal- 
lantly defended Rouen, soon afterwards opened the 
gates of that city, and a asc Henry king. The 
young Duke of Guise also made his peace ; and, on 
the reduction of Laon by the king in person, Amiens, 
and a t aoa of Picardy, submitted to him. 
In A om midst of his successes, his enemies resolved 
to assail his life. On his return from Picardy to Paris, 
John Chastel, a scholar of the college of the Jesuits, 
struck him on the mouth with a knife, as, in the apart- 
ments of the Louvre, he stooped to embrace a nobleman 
that was presented to him. The blow was intended for 
his threat, but his stooping prevented it touching that 
dangerous part. Chastel was instantly seized, and de- 
livered over to condign punishment. On his examina- 
tion, he confessed that he had been prompted to this 
deed by hearing his p tors assert, that the murder 
of kings was lawful, and that as Henry had not yet 
been absolved by the Pope, he ought still to be regard- 
ed and treated as a heretic: hence he inferred that it 
would be a merit to put him to death. Father Guis- 
card, on whom were found some writings, which in- 
culeated the same doctrine, was also executed, and all 
the Jesuits were banished by a decree of the parliament 
of Paris. 
In 1595, Henry entered the city of Dijon in Bur- 
dy, convinced that his life would be safest while 
was in the midst of his troops, and engaged in mi- 
litary affairs. Scarcely, however, had he made himself 
master of Troyes, before he learnt that the Duke of 
Mayence, in conjunction with the Spaniards, had cros- 
sed the Saone. He immediately resolved to attack 
them ; and conducted himself on this occasion with so 
much boldness and impetuosity, that, with only 1800 
troops, he routed an army of 14,000 men. In Picardy, 
however, his cause was not so fortunate; the Spanish 
army invading that province, and reducing several 
FRANCE. : 
cities of im which Henry himself, in com 
ance with the ambition of his mistress, the fair 
brielle D'Etrees, who wanted a principality for her 
son, pe ae ao a fruitless tion into Franche 
Compté. In su mee” 0 1596, the Duke of 
Guise surprised Marseilles, Henry was informed 
of this event, he was so much transported, that he ex- 
separate himself from them ; but he had formed a re- 
solution never to acknowledge Henry, til] that monarch 
had been absolved by the Pope. Henry, being made 
aequainted with his scruples, secretly su, to him 
to retire to Chalons, till his Holiness granted his absolu- 
tion; and the Duke had scarcely reached that place, 
when the Roman Pontiff, fully convinced that Her 
was firmly established on the throne, absolved him in 
form. e Duke immediately threw himself at the 
feet of the sovereign, and vowed a fidelity which he 
proved to be conscientious, by his future conduct. 
Soon after these events, Archduke Albert, who 
was now governor of the Netherlands, sent an army 
to besiege Calais, which was obliged to surrender, be- 
fore the king could come to its assistance. This cala~ pyouttes i 
mity was soon followed by another still more grievous, Henry. 
Spaniards. 
for Amiens was taken by surprise by the 
Nor were the demands on the king's ess and men 
tal resources yet exhausted ; he was harassed by the 
complaints of the Protestants, who expected that he 
would have ted them pyrene 2 eee a 
vileges; and the Dukes of Savoy Morceur, still re- 
fused to acknowledge his authority, unless on condi- 
tions with which he did not deem it proper to 4 
The king at this time labouring under a severe in 
position, felt these misfortunes more keenly ; and his 
difficulties were greatly increased by the exhausted 
state of his finances. He was therefore under the 
necessity of assembling his nobles, and ing them 
acquainted with the real state of his affairs ; “ I have 
not called you Pn woes said he, “ as my predecessors 
used to do, to oblige you to adopt my measures, or im~« 
plicitly obey my will: I have assembled you, to take 
your advice, to which I will listen with attention and 
candour, and with a firm resolution to follow it, pro 
vided it will benofit the country.” Bur the nobility, 
though disposed to give their advice, were not in a 
condition to assist their sovereign in carrying into ef- 
fect the measures which they recommended; the 
were exhausted and dispirited. “Give me an army, 
cried he, “ and I will cheerfully sacrifice my life for 
the state.” Troops Low could supply him ‘with ; but 
as he complained, b for these troops could not be 
rocured. nes 
: In this critical and embarrassing situation, he had 
the sense to it the Marquis de Rosny, after- 
saci Dake of Sully, soperntendant BP ape 
in 
wards the celeb 
the finances ; and he soon placed the 
tion to support the expences of the war, financial 
measures were wise and efficacious, at the same time 
that they were not burdensome to the people. By means 
of them, Henry in a short time was at head of an 
army of 20,000 men, the best appointed that he had 
ever commanded. Elizabeth reinforced this army with 
4000 troops ; so that in 1597, the king deemed himself 
sufficiently strong to attempt the recovery of Amiens, _ 
« Let us go,” said he, on setting out on this expedi- 
tion, “ and act the King of Navarre; we have acted the 
King of France long enough.” ‘The enterprise was 
nd 
perin 4 
in a situa~ the finances, . 
PO 
