by opposing them to one another, she
neutralized men, by holding the thread of all their interests in her
hands. But so fearful a game, which needs the head of a Louis XI.
to play it, draws down inevitably the hatred of all parties upon the
player, who condemns himself forever to the necessity of conquering; for
one lost game will turn every selfish interest into an enemy.

The greater part of the reign of Charles IX. witnessed the triumph of
the domestic policy of this astonishing woman. What adroit persuasion
must Catherine have employed to have obtained the command of the armies
for the Duc d'Anjou under a young and brave king, thirsting for glory,
capable of military achievement, generous, and in presence, too, of the
Connetable de Montmorency. In the eyes of the statesmen of Europe the
Duc d'Anjou had all the honors of the Saint-Bartholomew, and Charles IX.
all the odium. After inspiring the king with a false and secret jealousy
of his brother, she used that passion to wear out by the intrigues of
fraternal jealousy the really noble qualities of Charles IX. Cypierre,
the king's first governor, and Amyot, his first tutor, had made him
so great a man, they had paved the way for so noble a reign, that the
queen-mother began to hate her son as soon as she found reason to fear
the loss of the power she had so slowly and so painfully obtained. On
these general grounds most historians have believed that Catherine de'
Medici felt a preference for Henri III.; but her conduct at the period
of which we are now writing, proves the absolute indifference of her
heart toward all her children.

When the Duc d'Anjou went to reign in Poland Catherine was deprived
of the instrument by which she had worked to keep the king's passions
occupied in domestic intrigues, which neutralized his energy in other
directions. She then set up the conspiracy of La Mole and Coconnas, in
which her youngest son, the Duc d'Alencon (afterwards Duc d'Anjou, on
the accession of Henri III.) took part, lending himself very willingly
to his mother's wishes, and displaying an ambition much encouraged by
his sister Marguerite, then queen of Navarre. This secret conspiracy had
now reached the point to which Catherine sought to bring it. Its object
was to put the young duke and his brother-in-law, the king of Navarre,
at the head of the Calvinists, to seize the person of Charles IX.,
and imprison that king without an heir,--leaving the throne to the Duc
d'Alen