CIVIL AND RELIGIONS ORATORY. 549 



At the Orleans States-General, in 1560, the Chancellor of France, Michel 

 do 1'IIospital (Fig. 415) opened the first sitting with a very powerful speech, 

 in which he declared, as Philippe Pot had clone, that institutions such as the 

 Stuirs-General were very useful to the monarchy, and that the Kings of 

 France could not do better, in certain circumstances, than consult their 

 subjects. After enumerating all the ills which desolated the kingdom, torn 

 as it was by civil and religious wars, he advised the Crown to combat this 

 social anarchy by wise tolerance and well-conceived reforms. "We have," 

 he declared, "been like the captains who assailed their enemies with all 



Fig. 416. Portrait of Henri III. Reduced Fac-simile of an Engraving by (faultier. In the 

 Library of M. Firmin-Didot, Paris. 



their forces, leaving thus our homes unprotected. It is for us, fortified 

 with virtue and morality, to assail the enemy with the arms of charity, 

 prayer, persuasion, and God's Word." These words were uttered nine years 

 before the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Later the kings presided in person 

 at the opening of the States-General, and delivered a speech. These speeches 

 have been preserved, and, amongst others, those of Henri III. (Fig. 416) 

 to the States-General of Blois in 1576 and 1588. Mezeray relates that 

 Henri III., who spoke well, was very fond of delivering these speeches, and 



