pe, not without some apparent
reason, that the truth might yet reach the heart of kings.

But, independently of the gross inconsistency between the design
ascribed to La Renaudie and the known sentiments of the Huguenots
at this time, there are other marks of improbability connected with
the statement of Geraut Faure. It was not made at the time of the
pretended disclosure, or shortly after, when, if genuine, it would
have insured the informer favor and reward; but, after the lapse of
"two years," when Francis the Second had been dead nine months, and
when under a new king fresh political issues had arisen. In fact,
if the term of two years be construed strictly, it carries us back
to September, 1559, when Francis the Second had been barely three
months on the throne, and the plans of the Huguenots had, to all
appearance, by no means had time to assume the completeness implied
in Faure's statement. Not to speak of the great vagueness and the
utter absence of circumstantial details in the announcement of the
conspiracy and in the promised advantages, it should be remarked
that the confidant selected by La Renaudie was a very unlikely
person to be chosen. The "official," an ecclesiastical judge
deputed by the Bishop of Perigueux to take charge of spiritual
jurisdiction in his diocese, could scarcely be regarded by La
Renaudie as the safest depositary of so valuable a trust.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 729: Davila, p. 20.]

[Footnote 730: "Lancea sanctorum tunc inopina salus." Epigram _apud_ Le
Laboureur, Additions aux mem. de Castelnau, i. 276.]

[Footnote 731:

Sic cruce detractum fixit tua lancea Christum,
Per latus illorum quos sua membra vocat.
At Deus omnipotens, Christi justissimus ultor,
Sanguine, dixit, erit lancea tincta tuo. _Ib._, _ubi supra_.
]

[Footnote 732: "O que si ce bon roy eusse vescu," says Montluc, "ou si
ceste paix ne se fust faite, qu'il eust bien rembarre les Lutheriens en
Allemagne." Memoires, Petitot ed., ii. 483.]

[Footnote 733: Davila, Civil Wars of France, p. 6. Hist. du tumulte
d'Amboise, Recueil des choses memorables, _in initio_; Mem. de Conde, i.
320.]

[Footnote 734: Yet Catharine herself, in a letter written in 1563 to her
son Charles IX., just after he had declared himself to be of age, admits
the full truth of her opponents' assertion, that Francis II. w