st judicial post at a
critical juncture, he accepted a dignity for which he had little
ambition, only that he might the better serve his country. What he could
not remedy he resolved to make as endurable as possible. It was not
within the power of a single virtuous statesman to allay the storm and
quiet the surging waters; but by good-will, perseverance, and nerve, he
might steer the ship of state through many a narrow channel and by many
a hidden rock. An ardent lover and earnest advocate of toleration, he
yet considered it politic to consent to urge the Parliament of Paris, in
the king's name, to register the Edict of Romorantin, in accordance with
which the system of persecution was for a while to be continued. One of
the original conspirators of Amboise, according to the explicit
statement of a writer who saw his signature affixed to the secret papers
of the confederates,[876] he made no opposition to the article that
pronounced the penalties of treason upon those who assembled in arms to
celebrate the rites of religious worship. Yet he dissembled not from
timidity, treachery, or ambition, but solely that by unremitting labor
he might heal the unhappy dissensions of his country. "_Patience,
patience, tout ira bien_," were the words he always had in his mouth for
encouragement and consolation.[877]

[Sidenote: Perplexity of the ruling family.]

As the summer advanced the perplexities of the Guises increased. Every
day there were new alarms. The English ambassador, not able to conceal
his satisfaction at the perplexity of his queen's covert enemies, wrote
to Cecil: "If I should discourse particularly unto you what these men
have done since my last letters ... you would think me as fond in
observing their doings as they mad in variable executing. But you may
see what force _fear_ hath that occasioned such variety.... They be in
such security, as no man knoweth overnight where the king will lodge.
Tomorrow from all parts they have such news as doth greatly perplex
them. Every day new advertisements of new stirs, as of late again in
Dauphiny, in Anjou, in Provence; and to make up their mouths, the king
being in the skirts of Normandy, at Rouen, upon Corpus Christi Day,
there was somewhat to do about the solemn procession, so as there was
many slain in both parts. But at length the churchmen had the worse, and
for an advantage, the order is by the king commanded, that the priests
for their outrage shall be grievously pun