710 FRA 
incapable of flight, covered with wounds, and exhaufted 
with fatigue, was furrounded and taken prifoner; when 
Montefquiou, captain of the duke of Anjou’s guards, 
rode up, and difcharged a ball into his head, which in- 
ftantly killed him. After this cruel and unmanly afTaffi- 
nation, the army of the hugonots, led by the valiant and 
intrepid Coligni, traverfed the heart of France, and even 
approached the capital, when a deputation entered his 
camp with the olive-branch of peace. The articles were 
iigned at St. Germain en Laye in 1570, and were as fa¬ 
vourable to the reformed as their molt zealous partizans 
could wifh. The edifls in their favour were confirmed, 
they were reftored to all their employments and dignities, 
and were permitted to retain poffeflion for two years of 
Rochelle, La Charite, Montauban, and Coignac. 
France, thus relieved from the fcourge of civil war, 
was for two years permitted to tafle the biefiings of tran¬ 
quillity ; yet during this interval the diltrufl of the hu¬ 
gonots was excited by the myfterious conduit and prac¬ 
tices of Catharine, which appeared manifeftly to indicate 
the contrivance of ferae dark and fanguinary plot. It 
was a prelude to the fatal malfacre of St. Bartholomew’s 
day in 1572, when it was determined immediately to ven¬ 
ture on the affafiination of the admiral Coligni. As he 
flowly returned from the palace of the Louvre to Iris own 
lioufe, engaged in the perufal of fome papers, he was 
wounded by two balls ; one broke the fore finger of his 
right hand, the other lodged in his left arm near the el¬ 
bow. Without betraying any emotion, he calmly pointed 
to the houfe whence the fhot came, but the aflaffin had 
efcaped, and Coligni was conveyed home by his attendants. 
The king received tire news with the moll furious indig¬ 
nation, and inftantly repaired to the admiral’s apartment, 
whom he affedted to confole with profeflions of regard, 
and with denunciations of vengeance again!! the daring 
affaflin. Charles and Catharine were both fenfible that 
their diffimulation could not avail them much longer. 
The probability of the admiral’s efcape quickened their 
determination ; and the king at length gave his confent 
to involve the hugonots in one promiscuous carnage; the 
young duke of Guife was appointed to direcl the inhuman 
daughter ; and the fignal was to be given by the tolling 
of the great bell of the church of St. Germain. At that 
dreadful knell the work of death began, and humanity 
recoils from the horrors of the fatal night of St. Bartho¬ 
lomew ; the unfeeling cruelties and favage barbarity of 
which, beggars all defeription. Yet the reader, who 
pofTelfesa mind fufficiently fortified to contemplate the 
particulars of this diabolical plot, will find them recorded 
under the article Bartholomew, vol. ii. p. 764. 
If the condudt of Charles was marked with an honour¬ 
able reluctance previous to the commencement of this 
abominable maffacre, during the execution of it he not 
only enjoyed the bloody fpebtacle from the windows of 
his palace, but is faid himfelf repeatedly to have fired 
upon the miferable fugitives even in the mid ft of their 
bufferings. But he was foon taught how difficult it is 
to eradicate the principles of religion; and perfecution 
deemed only to have confirmed the zeal of the proteftants. 
Rochelle, the grand afylum of calvinifm, fhut its gates 
againft the royal forces, commanded by the duke of An¬ 
jou. It redded with firmnefs the repeated attacks of the 
befiegers ; and the mind of Charles was juftly filled with 
anxiety, when he found that his youngeft brother Francis 
duke of Alenjon, had united himfelf in a fecret league 
with the king of Navarre. He began to awake from the 
guilty delirium ii.to which the counfels of his mother had 
plunged him ; and while he furveyed the dreary profpedt 
around him, he found the infidelity of his fubji'ets was 
vindicated by his own treacherous example. 
The (mail remnant of his reign was forely afflifted by 
civil commotion and fraternal difeord. Ever after the 
fatal m .fiacre of St. Bartholomew’s day, his countenance 
was marked with a fettled gloom, and his mind torn by 
N C E. 
contending paffions. He was deeply afflicted by the In¬ 
trigues of his brother the duke of Alenjon, and the king 
of Navarre; and though he hated the hugonots, he equally 
dreaded theafpiring families, of Guife and Montmorenci. 
Awakened to the ignominy with which the perfidious 
counfels of Catharine had obfeured his fame, he was de¬ 
termined in future to reign independent and alone ; but 
thefe refolutions were unfortunately adopted too late for 
the tranquillity of France. Every day proclaimed fome 
new and fatal fymplom ; a flow and internal fever ex- 
haufted his ftrength, and blood oozed even through the 
pores of his fkin. A diforder fo ftrange and x unprece- 
dented threw violent fulpicions on Catharine; but from 
the crime of poifon it is-more than probable tlfe queen, 
mother was free and innocent; and the fate of Charles 
may be aferibed to that violent exertion of bodily influ¬ 
ence, and bitter perturbation of mind, which gave an ir¬ 
reparable (hock to the circulating mafs. His conftitution, 
however ftrong, could not fuftain the weight of thefe ac¬ 
cumulated afflictions; and in the twenty-third year of his 
age he yielded up his life and crown, A.D. 1574. His 
1 a ft hours were employed with dignity and compofure 
and he refigned his breath at the moment when his pene¬ 
tration, his judgment? and his experience, might have 
remedied the perils in which the evil genius ot his mo¬ 
ther had involved his country. 
Henry III. fucceeded his brother Charles, and afeended 
the throne of France after lie had for feveral years reigned 
as king of Poland. In his early youth lie difplayed the 
promife of uncommon abilities; his manners were infinu- 
ating, his perfon graceful, his countenance engaging; and 
his (ubjefts regarded in him the expectation of the per¬ 
fect hero and confummate politician ; but the meridian 
of his fame was ill calculated to correfpond with the 
lu ft re of his dawning glory; and his people eventually 
difeerned a monarch irrefolute, inconftant, indolent, and 
voluptuous ; mingling devotion with fenfuality, and al¬ 
ternately governed by the licentious minions of his court, 
or by bigoted priefts who affumed the direction of his 
confcience. His fir ft act of fovereign authority was to re- 
ftore to the duke of Savoy feveral places which the French 
ftill retained in Piedmont. But the impolicy oft!.is mea- 
fure was forgotten in tiie fuperior imprudence of his refo- 
lution to profeente the war againft the hugonots. The 
cardinal of Lorrain, whofe fatal counfels influenced the 
mind of Henry, furvived not to behold the feenes of 
daughter which he had planned ; and marefchal d’Am- 
ville, informed of the royal determination, boldly erefled 
the ftandard of Oppofition, and fupported in Languedoc 
the principles of calvinifm. The young prince of Conde, 
previous to the death of Charles IX. had efcaped to Straf. 
burgh, and there abjured the catholic religion ; he now 
returned to join the forces of the confederates; while 
the duke of Alenfon, inflamed by ambition, deferted the 
court, and armed againft his brother. 
Amidft thefe contending ftorms the king, in 1575, was 
crowned at Rheims by the cardinal of Guife; and the 
next day he beftowed his hand on Louifa daughter to the 
count of Vandemont, of the houfe of Lorrain. But his 
nuptials were no (boner confummated, than he received 
the mortifying intelligence that it was rhe determination 
of the Polifh diet to chufe a new fovereign, and to place 
the crown of Poland on the head of the prince of Tran- 
fylvania. The king, however, gave himfelf up to fen- 
fual enjoyments, while his fubjedts experienced ail the 
miferies which attend a weak and divided adminiftraUon. 
The religious enmity of the catholics and hugonots, in 
1577, was repeatedly fufpended by treaties, which, as 
they were made without faith, were broken without he- 
fitation. But amidft the feenes of dark intrigue and open 
violence, which for three fucceffive years dishonoured and 
afflicted the kingdom, the virtues of Henry the young 
king of Navarre attained to maturity, and burft forth with 
an increafe of luftre which eclipied his rivals^ and con¬ 
firmed 
