rather than zealous theologians, and who were
clamorous for Catholicism only as the means of obtaining power, at
once relinquished all hope of victory. For a time, however, they still
assumed a hostile attitude, and heaped unmeasured ridicule upon what
they styled the feigned conversion of the king. They wished to compel
the monarch to purchase their adhesion at as dear a price as possible.

Many important cities surrendered to the royal cause under the
stipulation that the preaching of the Protestants should be utterly
prohibited in their precincts and suburbs. Even the Pope, Clement
VIII., a weak and bigoted man, for a time refused to ratify the act of
the Archbishop of Bourges in absolving Henry from the pains and
penalties of excommunication. He forbade the envoy of Henry to
approach the Vatican. The Duke of Nevers, who was the appointed envoy,
notwithstanding this prohibition, persisted in his endeavors to obtain
an audience; but the Pope was anxious to have the crown of France in
the possession of one whose Catholic zeal could not be questioned. He
would much have preferred to see the fanatic Duke of Mayenne upon the
throne, or to have promoted the Spanish succession. He therefore
treated the Duke of Nevers with great indignity, and finally gave him
an abrupt dismission.

But the mass of the French people, longing for repose, gladly accepted
the conversion of the king. One after another the leaders of the
League gave in their adhesion to the royal cause. The Duke of Mayenne,
however, held out, Paris being still in his possession, and several
other important cities and fortresses being garrisoned by his troops.
The Pope, at length, having vainly done every thing in his power to
rouse France and Catholic Europe to resist Henry, condescended to
negotiate. His spirit may be seen in the atrocious conditions which he
proposed. As the price of his absolution, he required that Henry
should abrogate every edict of toleration, that he should exclude
Protestants from all public offices, and that he should exterminate
them from the kingdom as soon as possible.

To these demands Henry promptly replied, "I should be justly accused
of shamelessness and ingratitude if, after having received such signal
services from the Protestants, I should thus persecute them."

Henry was fully aware of the influence of forms upon the imaginations
of the people. He accordingly made preparations for his coronation.
The event was celebrated