lentingly would have striven to crush the whole papal power.

Jeanne d'Albret, on the contrary, was in _principle_ a Protestant. She
was a woman of reflection, of feeling, of highly-cultivated intellect,
and probably of sincere piety. She had read, with deep interest, the
religious controversies of the day. She had prayed for light and
guidance. She had finally and cordially adopted the Protestant faith
as the truth of God. Thus guided by her sense of duty, she was
exceedingly anxious that her son should be a Protestant--a Protestant
Christian. In most solemn prayer she dedicated him to God's service,
to defend the faith of the Reformers. In the darkness of that day, the
bloody and cruel sword was almost universally recognized as the great
champion of truth. Both parties appeared to think that the thunders of
artillery and musketry must accompany the persuasive influence of
eloquence. If it were deemed important that one hand should guide the
pen of controversy, to establish the truth, it was considered no less
important that the other should wield the sword to extirpate heresy.
Military heroism was thought as essential as scholarship for the
defense of the faith.

A truly liberal mind will find its indignation, in view of the
atrocities of these religious wars, mitigated by comparison in view of
the ignorance and the frailty of man. The Protestants often needlessly
exasperated the Catholics by demolishing, in the hour of victory,
their churches, their paintings, and their statues, and by pouring
contempt upon all that was most hallowed in the Catholic heart. There
was, however, this marked difference between the two parties: the
leaders of the Protestants, as a general rule, did every thing in
their power to check the fury of their less enlightened followers. The
leaders of the Catholics, as a general rule, did every thing in their
power to stimulate the fanaticism of the frenzied populace. In the
first religious war the Protestant soldiers broke open and plundered
the great church of Orleans. The Prince of Conde and Admiral Coligni
hastened to repress the disorder. The prince pointed a musket at a
soldier who had ascended a ladder to break an image, threatening to
shoot him if he did not immediately desist.

"My lord," exclaimed the fanatic Protestant, "wait till I have thrown
down this idol, and then, if it please you, I will die."

It is well for man that Omniscience presides at the day of judgment.
"The Lord kn