which lasted seventy years, the history of France exhibits a scene of murder, war, cruelty, and fanaticism, from which humanity recoils with horror. In 1559, the edict of Ecouen was promulgated, which sentenced all heretics to death; and be it observed, that the guilt or innocence of the accused depended on Catholic judges. On the accession of Francis the Second, who had married the celebrated and unfortunate Mary Stuart, niece of the Prince of Lorraine, the whole power of the State was confined to the House of Guise, whose bigotry and ambition produced the most deplorable calamities. It so happened that the Prince of Condé, whose birth and talents gave him the most just pretensions to an effective share in the administration, was a Hugonot; it was easy, therefore, for the Cardinal and his brother to crush their rival, by accusing him of an intention to subvert the established religion. In this design, they met with complete success, and the Prince, in order to revenge himself, and procure toleration to the Calvinists, put himself at the head of the famous conspiracy of Ambroise. This plot was revealed to the Guises by an accomplice: twelve hundred victims were immolated: the Prince was arrested, and would have fallen a victim to the vengeance of the Cardinal and his brother, had not the sudden death of Francis arrested their tyrannical career. Charles the Ninth succeeded his brother at the early age of ten, and the Queen Mother, Catherine of Medicis, who had borne with indignation and impatience the yoke of the Princes of Lorraine, determined to curb their insolence, and abridge their authority. " Di vide et impera" was her motto, and she hoped, by making concessions to the Protestant leaders, to secure her own power by holding the balance between the contending parties. The dreadful consequences which resulted from this Machiavelian policy, proved the fallacy of her expectations. The French historians enumerate four distinct civil wars during this reign. The Duke of Guise was assassinated by Poltrot; the Prince of Condé was slain in the Battle of Jarnac; and the famous De Coligney, and many other of the principal leaders of the Protestants, were slaughtered in the horrible massacre of St. Bartholomew.* It is a fact too well attested by history, that Charles himself, from a window of the Louvre, fired mus * Millot estimates the number of persons murdered in Paris and the provinces, at 60,000; other writers at 100,000. Hist. Moderne, vol. 2, p. 459. kets on his subjects, which were handed up to him ready loaded by his attendants.* These enormities were perpetrated for the glory of God they were justified on the plea that it was criminal to keep faith with heretics, and the event was so joyfully welcomed at Rome and Madrid, that public festivities were ordered to celebrate the bloody sacrifice. The Parliament of Paris ordered an annual procession to commemorate the deliverance of religion from the machinations of its enemies, and a medal was struck, bearing this inscription, Piety arms justice." The reign of Henry the Third is remarkable for the consolidation of that armed confederacy. which, under the impious title of the "Holy League," was made the instrument of promoting the ambitious schemes of the House of Lorraine. Pope Sixtus the Fifth issued a bull against the Hugonots; in which, after having declared that Kings and Princes were all subject to the decrees of the Vatican, he absolved the French from their allegiance to their lawful monarch, and anathematized the King of Navarre, afterwards Henry the Fourth, as a blas *Vide, Voltaire Henriade: Que dis je, o crime,' o honte, o comble de nos maux phemer, a heretic, an infidel, an enemy of God, and a reviler of the only true faith that is to say, of the faith which Sixtus found most conducive to his own interest. The Doctors of the Seorbonne imitated the example of their spiritual leader, and declared, that it was lawful to deprive an incapable prince of the throne. Thus strengthened, the leaguers became ungovernably insolent; they convened an assembly at Nancy, and then drew up a memorial, which was presented to the King, in which he was enjoined to banish from the Court, all persons suspected of heresy to enforce the decisions of the Council of Trent: to establish the inquisition in the principal towns of the kingdom: to surrender all the fortified cities to the League, and to pay the arrears due to the troops. Even these insolent demands were not sufficient to tranquillize the fears of bigotry, or gratify ecclesiastical ambition. By the death of the Duke of Anjou, Henry the Fourth, became presumptive heir to the crown, and as his religious opinions inclined to toleration, and his talents and courage rendered him capable of restraining the turbulence of the Duke of Guise, the Leaguers determined to exclude him from the succession. An edict was extorted from the King at Rouen, which, among other articles, incapacitated all but Catholics from holding any of the great offices of state. By this decree, the King of Navarre was indi rectly declared incapable of inheriting the throne. Though the King was of a weak and imbecile temper, he was at length roused to the highest indignation, by the triumphant and increasing popularity of the Duke of Guise. But as he despaired to bring him to condign punishment by judicial proceedings, he resolved to follow the example of his predecessors, and gratify his resentment at the expense of his honour and his virtue. With his own hand he presented the dagger to the assassin, and caused him to be murdered in the royal apartments. When the news of this bloody catastrophe reached Paris, the Catholics, with one voice, demanded vengeance on the Sovereign. The Duke of Mayenne, brother to the Duke of Guise, was appointed chief of the League. To oppose this confederacy, Henry reconciled himself with the King of Navarre, and their united forces besieged the capital. Here there occurred another of these atrocious deeds which superstition, inflamed by ecclesiastical fury, has so frequently perpetrated. Jacques Clement, a Dominican friar, whose imagination had been worked upon by the fanatical preachers of the time, fancied that he was an instrument in the hands of Heaven, destined to rescue his country from the impending dangers of he |