ents. Missals and
chalices even had, in some places, been sold at auction to meet the
exorbitant demands of royal officers. It was to be feared that, if
Christian kings continued to lay sacerdotal possessions under
contribution, the Queen of the South would rise up in judgment with this
generation, and would condemn it. Lest, however, this commination should
not prove terrible enough, the examples of Belshazzar and others were
judiciously subjoined. On the other hand, Charles was urged to acquire a
glory superior to that of Charlemagne, and to earn the surname of
_Clerophilus_, or _Maximus_, by freeing the clergy of its burdens. By a
very remarkable condescension, after this lofty flight of eloquence, the
clerical advocate deigned to utter a short sentence or two in the
interest of the "noblesse," and even of the poor, down-trodden
people--begging the king to lighten the burdens which that so good, so
obedient people had long borne patiently, and not to suffer this third
foot of the throne to be crushed or broken.[995] When the crown had
returned to this course of just action, the Church would pray very
devoutly in its behalf, the nobility fight valiantly, _the people obey
humbly_. It would be paradise begun on earth.[996]

[Sidenote: The clergy alone makes no progress.]

Thus spoke the chosen delegates of the three orders when summoned into
the royal presence for the first time after the lapse of seventy-seven
years. The nobility and clergy vied with each other in extolling their
own order; the people made little pretension, but had a large budget of
grievances demanding redress. Nearly forty years had the Reformation
been gaining ground surely and steadily. It had found, at last,
recognition more or less explicit in the noblesse and the "tiers etat."
But the clergy had made no progress, had learned nothing. The speech of
Quintin, their chosen representative, on this critical occasion, was
long and tiresome; but, instead of convincing, it only excited shame and
disgust.[997]

Indeed, an allusion of his to the favorers of heresy daring to present
petitions in behalf of the Huguenots, who demanded places in which to
worship God, was taken by Admiral Coligny as a personal insult to
himself, for which Quintin was compelled to make a public apology.[998]

[Sidenote: Coligny presents a Huguenot petition.]

The incredible supineness of Antoine of Navarre prevented the States
from demanding with much decision that the reg