speak. Leave was granted him, and he
indulged in an address much more remarkable for its coarse invective
than for its weight of argument.[1158] Not content with dissuading his
hearers from listening to the Protestant ministers as persons already
sufficiently convicted of error, he called them apes and foxes,[1159]
and advised that they be sent to Trent, where the Pope had convoked a
free council to which they might have free access. He condemned the
French for holding a separate council, and reprobated the discussion of
topics of such importance as those now under consideration in the
presence of women, and of men trained to war. After these gentle hints
respecting the qualifications of the queen and his noble auditors to act
as judges, he approached the all-absorbing question of the real
presence--a feeble part of his speech in which we may be excused from
following him. The remainder of the day was spent in warm debate, which
continued until the approach of night. Just as all were rising and about
to leave, however, the queen called to her Beza and the Cardinal of
Lorraine, and adjured them in God's name to strive for the establishment
of peace. A knot of friends gathered around each; the conference was
renewed amid much confusion and noise; but the darkness soon
necessitated an adjournment.[1160]

[Sidenote: Close of the Colloquy of Poissy.]

It was the last day of the Colloquy of Poissy. If anything more had
until now been needed to demonstrate the futility of all hopes based
upon an open discussion regulated solely by the caprice of the Cardinal
of Lorraine, it was certainly furnished by the experience of the last
session. Catharine, however, was loth to abandon the scheme from which
she had expected such important results to flow. With her usual
incapacity to understand the strength of religious convictions deeply
implanted in the soul, she still hoped to secure, from a private
interview of the more moderate Roman Catholics with a few of the leading
Protestants, a plan of agreement that might serve to unite both
communions. Some of her more conscientious advisers shared in the same
sanguine expectations.

[Sidenote: A private conference.]

[Sidenote: The Roman Catholic champions.]

[Sidenote: The Abbe de Salignac.]

Five Roman Catholic ecclesiastics were chosen to confer with as many
Protestant ministers. They were selected as well for learning and
ability as for reputed moderation of sentiment.[1161] The