ties, factions, and
seditions--'Lutherans,' 'Huguenots,' and 'Papists'--and let us retain
only the name of 'Christians.'"[986] In concluding his address, he did
not forget to dwell upon the lamentable condition of the royal finances,
thrown into almost inextricable confusion by twelve or thirteen years of
continuous war and the expenses attending three magnificent weddings. He
begged the estates, while they exposed their grievances, not to fail to
provide the king with means for meeting his obligations.[987]

[Sidenote: Effrontery of Cardinal Lorraine.]

[Sidenote: De Rochefort orator for the noblesse.]

[Sidenote: L'Ange for the tiers etat.]

It now devolved upon the deputies to prepare a statement of their
grievances, and for this purpose the "noblesse" retired to the
Dominican, the clergy to the Franciscan, and the "tiers" to the
Carmelite convents.[988] The Cardinal of Lorraine had had the effrontery
to solicit, through his creatures, the honor of representing the three
orders collectively; but the proposition had been rejected with
undissembled derision. Loud voices were heard from among the deputies of
the people, crying, "We do not choose to select _him_ to speak for us of
whom we intend to offer our complaints!"[989] Three orators were deputed
to speak for the three orders.[990] The Sieur de Rochefort, in behalf of
the nobles, declared their approval of the government of Catharine, but
insisted at some length upon the necessity of conciliating their good
will by a studious regard for their privileges. He likened the king to
the sun and the "noblesse" to the moon. Any conflict between the two
would produce an eclipse that would darken the entire earth. He
denounced the chicanery of the ecclesiastical courts and the
non-residence of the priests;[991] and he closed by presenting a
petition, which was read aloud by one of the secretaries of state,
demanding the grant of churches for the use of those nobles who
preferred the purer worship.[992] The Bordalese lawyer, Jean L'Ange, in
the name of the people, dwelt chiefly on the three capital vices of the
clergy--ignorance, avarice, and luxury,[993] and portrayed very
effectively the general disorders, the intolerable tyranny of the
Guises, the exhausted state of the public treasury, and the means of
restoring the Church to purity of faith and regularity of discipline.

[Sidenote: Arrogant speech of Quintin for the clergy.]

[Sidenote: Presumption in favor of the