that may be, if most of the great
minds of that epoch believed in this vast science,--called Magic by the
masters of judicial astrology, and Sorcery by the public,--they were
justified in doing so by the fulfilment of horoscopes.

It was for the use of Cosmo Ruggiero, her mathematician, astronomer, and
astrologer, that Catherine de' Medici erected the tower behind the Halle
aux Bles,--all that now remains of the hotel de Soissons. Cosmo Ruggiero
possessed, like confessors, a mysterious influence, the possession of
which, like them again, sufficed him. He cherished an ambitious
thought superior to all vulgar ambitions. This man, whom dramatists and
romance-writers depict as a juggler, owned the rich abbey of Saint-Mahe
in Lower Brittany, and refused many high ecclesiastical dignities; the
gold which the superstitious passions of the age poured into his coffers
sufficed for his secret enterprise; and the queen's hand, stretched
above his head, preserved every hair of it from danger.

II. SCHEMES AGAINST SCHEMES

The thirst for power which consumed the queen-mother, her desire for
dominion, was so great that in order to retain it she had, as we have
seen, allied herself to the Guises, those enemies of the throne; to keep
the reins of power, now obtained, within her hands, she was using every
means, even to the sacrifice of her friends and that of her children.
This woman, of whom one of her enemies said at her death, "It is more
than a queen, it is monarchy itself that has died,"--this woman could
not exist without the intrigues of government, as a gambler can live
only by the emotions of play. Although she was an Italian of the
voluptuous race of the Medici, the Calvinists who calumniated her never
accused her of having a lover. A great admirer of the maxim, "Divide to
reign," she had learned the art of perpetually pitting one force against
another. No sooner had she grasped the reins of power than she was
forced to keep up dissensions in order to neutralize the strength of two
rival houses, and thus save the Crown. Catherine invented the game of
political see-saw (since imitated by all princes who find themselves
in a like situation), by instigating, first the Calvinists against the
Guises, and then the Guises against the Calvinists. Next, after pitting
the two religions against each other in the heart of the nation,
Catherine instigated the Duc d'Anjou against his brother Charles
IX. After neutralizing events