ndifferently
written, was a prominent character in subsequent scenes of blood, and
was, as we may hereafter see, the agent employed by Henry II. to cajole,
or frighten his aunt, Renee, and bring her back into the bosom of the
Roman Church. The letters-patent giving this personage, who is styled
"doctor of theology and prior of the preaching friars (Dominicans) of
Paris," authority to exercise the functions of inquisitor of the faith
throughout the kingdom, in place of Valentin Lievin, deceased, are of
May 30, 1536, Recueil des anc. lois fr., xii. 503. Similar letters were
issued April 10, 1540. His confirmation by Henry II., June 22, 1550,
ibid., xiii. 173.]

[Footnote 444: Histoire ecclesiastique, i. 13. It is, in fact, an
interesting circumstance that Rocheli, or Rochetti, the deputy
inquisitor referred to in the text, not long after became a convert to
Protestantism, and applied himself to preaching the doctrines he had
once labored to overturn.]

[Footnote 445: The first, entitled "Epistolae duae; prima de fugiendis
impiorum illicitis sacris et puritate Christianae religionis; secunda de
Christiani hominis officio in sacerdotiis papalis ecclesiae vel
administrandis vel abjiciendis," 1537. The second, "Contre la secte
fantastique et furieuse des Libertins qui se disent spirituels," 1544.
The latter, from its pointed reference to Quintin and Pocquet, two
notorious leaders, seems to have given offence to Margaret of Navarre,
by whom they had been harbored in ignorance of their true character. A
letter written to the queen by Calvin immediately upon learning this,
April 28, 1545 (Bonnet, Lettres francaises, i. 111-117), is at once one
of the best examples of his nervous French style, and a fine
illustration of manly courage tempered with respect for a princess who
had deserved well of Protestantism. A single sentence admirably portrays
his attitude toward the formidable sect which had so devastated the Low
Countries and had now entered France in the persons of two of its worst
apostles--a sect regarded by him as more pernicious and execrable than
any previously existing: "Un chien abaye, s'il voit qu'on assaille son
maistre; je seroys bien lasche, si en voyant la verite de Dieu ainsi
assaillie, je faisoys du muet sans sonner mot."]

[Footnote 446: "A exhorte et prie la cour de vouloir faire punir et
bruler les vrais heretiques," etc. Reg. du Parl., May 24, 1543,
Boscheron des Portes, Hist. du parlement de Bordeaux, i