highest lords of the kingdom, to give him their counsel, dwelt upon the
signal failure of all the measures of repression hitherto adopted, and
upon the necessity of finding other remedies for the public ills. He
disclaimed any intention on the king's part to introduce a discussion
respecting the two religions in order to settle their respective merits.
It was not to establish the faith, but to regulate the state, that they
were assembled. Those who were in no sense Christians might yet be
citizens; and, in leaving the Church, a man did not cease to be a good
subject of the king. "We can live in peace," he added, "with those who
do not observe the same ceremonies and usages, and we can apply to
ourselves the current saying: A wife's faults ought either to be cured
or to be endured."[1252] When the opinions of the members of the
assembly were successively given, the apprehensions entertained by the
Romish party, from the very initiation of the plan of the conference,
were seen to be well grounded.[1253] The orthodoxy of the sentiments of
the majority was by no means above suspicion. The nuncio, Santa Croce,
chronicles with alarm the preponderance of those who openly advocated
the adoption of lenient measures. It was evident that the Edict of July,
with its bloody policy, could command the votes of only a small
minority. The pontifical ambassador trembled lest the Protestants
should, after all, obtain the largest concessions. He was, consequently,
as despondent as ever his predecessor had been.[1254] But, more prudent
than the Bishop of Viterbo, he took pains to conceal his fears from the
eyes of the courtiers, lest he should furnish the Huguenots with fresh
means of influencing the wavering government. Accordingly, instead of
giving up everything as lost, he spared neither time nor money,
besieging the doors of the grandees who were believed to be true friends
of the Holy See, and entreating them to dismiss all intention of leaving
the court, and thus abandoning the field to their enemies.[1255] He even
sought an interview with Catharine de' Medici, and, in company with the
Spanish ambassador, offered her the united forces of the Pope and of
Philip to repress any disturbances that might arise from the adoption of
a course unpalatable to the Huguenots; and he returned from the audience
persuaded that "these preachers would obtain no churches, and would gain
nothing from the conference."[1256]

In this conclusion, however, t