ope had constituted his
legates, with the commission to put forth their most strenuous exertions
to uphold the Roman Church in France, found advice, exhortation, and
persuasion all in vain, Lorraine, in an evil hour, advised the holding
of a colloquy: "Lotharingius audaci potius quam prudenti consilio reginae
persuasit, ut Possiaci conventus haberetur episcoporum Galliae, in quo de
religione ac moribus tractaretur: simulque copia fieret Hugonottorum
principibus, Ministros illi vocant, si vellent, veniendi, neque iis
solum qui erant in Gallia, sed ex finitimis etiam provinciis vocarentur,
ut quae erant de religione controversa proponerentur; futurum sperans, ut
ne respondere quidem ad sua postulata auderent. Confidebat enim
Lotharingius et doctrinae et eloquentiae suae, et plurimum, ut debebat,
ipsius causae bonitati." Cardinal Tournon was opposed to this course:
"Non probabat hoc factum Turnonius, ut qui disputationem omnem cum
haereticis fugiendam noverat." P. Santacrucii de civilibus Galliae
dissensionibus commentarii, Martene et Durand, tom. v. 1462.]

[Footnote 1069: Letter of La Riviere, in the name of all the ministers
of Paris, Aug. 10, 1561, Baum, ii., App., 37-39.]

[Footnote 1070: The letter, now in the State archives of Geneva, is
signed "_Le Roy de Navarre bien vostre, Anthoyne_," Baum, _ubi supra_,
ii. 40. The character of this contemptible prince is best understood
when such lines are read in the light of the intrigues he was at this
very moment--as we shall have occasion to see--carrying on at Rome. When
it is borne in mind that the colloquy of Poissy _preceded_ the edict of
January by four months, and that Beza manifested no little _hesitation_
in coming to France, it becomes somewhat difficult to comprehend Mr.
Froude's account (Hist. of England, vii. 390): "The Cardinal of Lorraine
demanded from the Parliament of Paris the revocation of the edicts (sic)
of January. Confident of his power, he even challenged the Protestants
to a public discussion before the court. Theodore Beza _snatched
eagerly_ at the gage; the Conference of Poissy _followed_," etc.]

[Footnote 1071: Letter of Calvin to Martyr, Aug. 17, 1561, _apud_ Baum,
ii., App., 40; and Bonnet, Calvin's Letters, Eng. tr., iv. 209.]

[Footnote 1072: Letter of Beza to Calvin, Aug. 22, 1561, written three
hours after his arrival, _apud_ Baum, ii., App., 44.]

[Footnote 1073: See the admirable biography of Beza, by Dr. H. Heppe,
being the sixth vo