284 -The Unknown River. 



throne of her son Tyherri, who was dead. Clotaire II. 

 had the four sons arrested. The queen herself was 

 arrested near the lake of Yverdun, and taken to Clo- 

 taire's camp in Burgundy. Three days of torture ended 

 by a derisive promenade on a camel through the camp. 

 Her grandsons were slaughtered before her eyes ; then 

 she herself was tied to the tail of a wild horse. Her 

 body was brought to Autun and laid in a marble tomb. 



But the grandest and noblest action of all that shed 

 lustre on the antique city is the refusal of the Count de 

 Charni to execute the massacre of St. Bartholomew. 

 There were eight hundred Calvinists in the place, and 

 the order came to slay them ; but the advocate Jeannin 

 recommended the Bailly, de Charni, to disobey the 

 royal mandate, and they spared the Calvinists, to their 

 own eternal honor. In his disobedience De Charni 

 had the boldness to tell the king that he wished to leave 

 him time to reflect upon orders issued in anger ; and the 

 Chancellor, on reading De Charni's letter to his majesty, 

 observed : * Cest un juge de village qui nous prescrit 

 notre devoir / ' 



The bishops of Autun, when newly appointed, used 

 to make a solemn entry into their city. They had an 

 episcopal residence at Lucenay (an exquisitely beautiful 

 little place amongst the hills), and the new bishop left 

 this residence in state. But he did not enter Autun at 

 once. First he stopped at the monastery of St. Andoche, 

 without the walls, and the abbess was obliged to enter- 

 tain him and all his retinue. Near the convent there 

 was a country-house called Genetoie, and the proprietor 



