70S 
FRANCE. 
vened at Fontainbleau ; the conftable, the admiral, and 
his brother d’Andelot, attended with a numerous train of 
adherents; and Coligny entering the cabinet of his fove- 
reign, prefented a petition for the toleration of the reform¬ 
ed religion ; adding, that although no name was affixed 
to it, whenever his majetty would fignify his pleafure, it 
would be (igned by one hundred and fifty thoufand per- 
fons. It was oppofed with the utmoft afperity by the 
Guiles, but their violence was checked by the fecret fug- 
gettions of Catharine, and Francis declared his intention 
of attembling the dates in the enfuing December, to re¬ 
concile all religious differences. Yet on the conclufion 
of this council, the king of Navarre, and his brother the 
prince of Conde, doubtful of the promifed convention of 
the ftatcs, concerted meafures to difpotfefs the Guifes 
of their power and offices ; a fcheme which foon reached 
the ears of the court. Catharine, alarmed at their pre- 
fumption, now again united herfelf to the Guifes ; and 
an emiffary belonging to the king of Navarre, named la 
Sague, was feized at Eftampes, by order of the queen- 
mother; the letters which lie carried contained expref- 
lions dark and myfterious ; thofe of Francis de Vendome 
were, by the perfonnl enmity of the Guifes, conftrued 
into treafon ; that nobleman, the molt gallant of the court, 
and who had been deemed peculiarly acceptable to the 
queen-mother, experienced the tranfition of female paf- 
fions, and beheld her regard converted into hatred, which 
fulfered him to languiflt out his life in confinement. 
But while the princes of the houfe of Bourbon main¬ 
tained their liberty, the power of Catharine and the 
Guifes was expofed to be fliaken by every blaft ; and 
the court, fearful of venturing on open hoftilities, deter¬ 
mined to facrifice the faith of the fovereign, rather than 
hazard the tranquillity of the kingdom. The afTembly 
of the ffates, which had been appointed for Meaux, 
was now transferred to Orleans ; and the young king, 
whofe health hourly declined, and whofe impending dif- 
folution battened the deiigns of the Guifes, proceeded 
towards that city with a train of a thoufand horfe. The 
marel'chal de St. Andre was difpatched for the two 
princes of the houfe of Bourbon, the king of Navarre, 
and his brother the prince of Conde, with the ftrongert: 
affurances of amity. They were at firtt received by 
Francis with coldnefs, which gave way to reproaches*. 
The king feated between the duke of Guile and the car¬ 
dinal of Lorrain, and furrounded by the captains of his 
guard, arraigned the prince of Coride in the mod violent 
terms, accufed him of having attempted to feize on the 
principal cities of his dominions, and even having plotted 
againtt his life, and that of his brothers. Condo, not in 
the leatt difmayed, offered to prove his innocence. “ To 
afeeriain it, (replied Francis) it is necett'ary to proceed by 
the ufual modes of juttice ;” he immediately quitted the 
room, and after a ihort conference with Catharine, who 
with her ufual duplicity affected to deplore the,violence 
which Ihe herfelf recommended, the two princes were ar¬ 
retted, and immediately placed under confinement. 
The hugonots received with attonifhment the intelli¬ 
gence of this hoftile meafure ; but were (truck with the 
deeped furrow and affliction, when they found that the 
prince of Condo was doomed to fall a victim to their 
caufe. The chancellor and five judges were appointed 
to interrogate him in prifon ; but the gloomy reftraint 
to which he was condemned, could not ttiakc his magna¬ 
nimous mind ; he rejected with indignation the fubfer- 
vient tribunal, and boldly demanded that public trial to 
which his dignity entitled him. His undaunted courage 
fecured his reputation, but could not have averted the 
malice of his enemies ; Grollot, the mayor of Orleans, 
who was fufpebted of endeavouring to interett the inha¬ 
bitants in favour of the prince, was accufed of conniving 
at the meetings of the Calvinitts ; he was tried, con¬ 
demned, and executed ; and his fate was confidered only 
preparatory to that of Conde. 
Catharine now faw the error that (he had fallen into by 
2 
uniting herfelf too clofely with the princes of Lorrain. 
Borne away by the tide of prejudice, fhe was no longer 
capable of refitting the torrent ; and the fate of Conde 
appeared inevitable, w hen he was preferved from the iiTK 
pending ftroke by an event as momentous as it was un¬ 
expected. The king, on the morning of Grottot’s execu¬ 
tion, was feized with a violent,pain in his head, attended 
with fainting. It was foon difcovered that an impofthume 
had formed in his ear, and the burgeons pronounced the 
fymptoms mortal. The Guifes, impatient of delay, and 
fearful lett their prey fhould elcape, hurried on the procefs 
with indecent hafte, which fwept away even the forms of 
juttice ; and the prince of Conde was condemned to have 
his head (truck off on a fcaffold before the king’s apart¬ 
ment. But the chancellor de l’Hofpital, ever averfe to 
thefe violent meafures, and fenfible of the danger which 
might arife from the execution of fo iniquitous a fentence, 
withheld, under various pretences, his fignature to the 
order of the execution ; and to this delay the prince of 
Conde was indebted for his life ; for, whiltt the Guifes 
{till affaiied Francis with inceflant importunities, the 'aft 
breath of-that monarch yielded to the inveteracy of his 
difeafe, and he expired in the eighteenth year of his age, 
and the fecond of his reign, A.D. 1560. His character 
prefents a blamelefs void, undiftinguifhed by any atts of 
virtue or of vice ; and his languid difpofition appears to 
have been equally incapable of difeharging the duties of 
his rank, or of directing the helm of ftate. Amidtt the ca¬ 
bals of his court, hiscorpfe was indecently neglected; Ca¬ 
therine and the Guiles were engaged in taking care of their 
influence ; and the funeral obfequies of the deceafed mo¬ 
narch were only attended by Sanfac and la Broffe, who 
had been his governors, and by Guillard, bifliopof Senlis, 
who had long been blind. 
The early death of Francis II. and the fucceflion of 
Charles IX. then only in the eleventh year of his age, 
opened a boundlefs field of ambition to the intriguing 
genius of Catharine de Medicis. Supported equally by 
the princes of Bourbon and Lorrain, the dilplayed Angu¬ 
lar addrefs in fecuring for herfelf the firtt place in the ad- 
miniftration. Mary, the widow of the deceafed monarch, 
foon retired to her native kingdom of Scotland. The 
prince of Conde, releafed from his fetters, was pronounced 
gimtlefs, and re-admitted to his feat in the council ; the 
king of Navarre his brother, obtained the title of lieute¬ 
nant-general ; while the powers cf regent, though w ith¬ 
out the name, were unanimoully vetted in Catharine. To 
fecure her authority (he attached to her interetts the con- 
ftable Montmorency ; five united in a clofe confederacy 
the duke of Guile and the marefchal de St. Andre ; and 
by this league, to which was given the name of the Tri¬ 
umvirate, flte hoped to reprefs the afpiring defigns of all 
oppofite or contending parties. The ceremony of Charles’s 
coronation was fcarcely performed at Rheims, before his 
mother began to regard with fufpicion and diftrutt the 
very confederacy fhe had fo lately formed. Sheattempted 
to balance its defects by another fcheme of equal political 
weight: (lie allured the king of Navarre by the charms 
of mademoifelle de Rouet, one of her maids of ho if our, 
to renounce his claim to the regency, as firtt prince of • 
the blood ; and (he gratified Coligni by avowedly patro. 
nifln'g the doctrines and followers ot Calvin. In this 
doubtful (ituation of affairs each party became diligently 
employed in ttrengthening their private or feparate inte¬ 
retts, when a fa'tal accident battened the rupture between 
the factions, and let loofe the united rage of perfonai 
and religions reientinent. The duke of Guile, in return¬ 
ing towards Paris, had halted at Vaffy, a little town cf 
Champagne. TIis attendants farcattically intuited a con¬ 
gregation of protettants, who were affembled at their de¬ 
votions ; the followers of the duke'were attacked by the 
religionifts; and, as he himfelf attempted to quell the 
difpute, he was wounded in the face. His dorneltics, 
enraged at the fight of their matter’s blood, drew their 
fwords, and killed and wounded above two hundred and 
fifty 
