260 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



Unfortunately this peace was as hollow as those 

 which had preceded it, and hostilities soon recom- 

 menced, in defiance of treaties. Although these 

 dissensions were suspended as long as Henry IV. 

 lived, they revived almost immediately after his 

 assassination by Ravaillac. The construction of 

 Fort Louis, which commanded the town, became an 

 incessant cause of uneasiness and irritation to the 

 Rochellais. Although every new treaty contained 

 a special clause for securing the demolition of this 

 citadel, it nevertheless continued to exist, recalling 

 to mind the gloomy prediction of Lesdiguieres, that 

 either " the town must swallow up the fortress, or 

 the fortress would swallow up the town." At length, 

 in 1627, Richelieu appeared before the gates of La 

 Rochelle, and in a very few days the inhabitants saw 

 that the ancient republic of Eleanor was drawing- 

 near its end. The issue of this second siege de- 

 stroyed the last stronghold of the Protestants, and 

 compelled them forcibly to submit to one common 

 law with their Catholic brethren. From this time 

 forth protestantism was simply a religion, and ceased 

 to constitute a political watchword. 



The siege of 1573 was tinged with the character 

 of an age in which the traditions of chivalry were 

 not yet wholly effaced. It was purely by force of 

 arms that the captains of the Duke d'Anjou had 

 attempted to reduce the rebel city. Prodigal of 

 their own lives, they had shown very little care for 

 those of their soldiers. The fury of the attack and 

 the energy of the resistance explain the nature and 

 enormous amount of the losses experienced by both 



