ptible of no deep
impressions; but it was very easily affected for the time. His queen,
Jeanne d'Albret, was his very opposite in mental and moral constitution.
Whereas the very first blast threw him into a fervor of enthusiastic
devotion to the purer faith, the heart of the queen--a woman not made to
be led, but to lead--yielded slowly to the melting influences of the
Gospel. But it never lost its glow. Jeanne came very reluctantly to the
determination to cast in her lot with the Reformation. She hesitated to
risk the loss of her possessions, and regretted to abandon the
attractions of the world. When, however, the decision was once made, the
question was never reopened for fresh deliberation.[925]

[Sidenote: Antoine's short-lived zeal.]

[Sidenote: New pressure upon Navarre and Conde.]

[Sidenote: Navarre's concessions.]

At this time, Antoine, we are told, renounced the mass, and was supposed
to think, as he certainly spoke, of nothing but the means of advancing
the cause in which he had embarked. Beza preached before him in one of
the churches, and all signs pointed to the rapid establishment of the
Reformation on a firm basis. The eloquent orator added his persuasion to
the entreaties of the representatives of the Protestant churches of
France and the exhortations of Constable Montmorency. All had urged
Antoine to make his appearance at Fontainebleau with a powerful escort.
We have seen the ill-success with which the joint effort was attended.
The spies whom the Guises kept in pay around the King of Navarre, in the
persons of his most intimate advisers, deterred him from a movement
which they portrayed as fraught with peril. A few days after the
conclusion of the assembly came the king's summons. To this Antoine at
first replied that, if the accusers of his brother, of whose innocence
he was fully persuaded, would declare themselves, and if he were assured
that impartial justice would be shown, he would come to the court in
company with few attendants. Conde wrote, at the same time, and
expressed perfect confidence in his ability to disprove all the
allegations against him, provided a safe access to the court was
afforded him. On this point the suspicions of the Bourbon princes were
soon set at rest by new letters from the king and his mother, assuring
them that they would find not only security, but an opportunity to
refute charges which Francis and Catharine professed themselves
unwilling to credit.[926] To