st of theologian or
inquisitor-general of the faith, his remonstrances were overborne by the
suggestions of Diana and the Guises, who hoped to reap a rich harvest
from new confiscations.[700] The king was entreated to go in person to
listen to the discussions in parliament. Early on the morning of the
tenth of June, his chamber was visited by a host of ecclesiastics--among
them four cardinals, two archbishops, two bishops, and several doctors
of the Sorbonne, with De Mouchy, the inquisitor, at their head. They
urged him to follow out their suggestion, and were so successful in
overcoming his reluctance that, as a contemporary wrote, he thought
himself consigned to perdition if he failed to go.[701]

[Sidenote: Parliament meets in the Augustinian monastery.]

The magnificent hall of the royal palace on the island of the "Cite," in
which parliament was accustomed to meet, was in course of preparation
for the festivities that were to accompany the marriages of Elizabeth,
Henry's daughter, with Philip the Second of Spain, and of his only
sister, Margaret, with the Duke of Savoy. Parliament was consequently
sitting in the monastery of the Augustinian friars on the southern bank
of the Seine.[702] Thither Henry proceeded in state with a retinue of
noblemen, and accompanied by the archers of his body-guard. Taking his
seat upon the elevated throne prepared for him, with the constable, the
Guises, and the princes that had attended him, on his right and left,
Henry made to the judges a short address indicative of his purpose to
take advantage of the peace in order to labor for the re-establishment
of the faith, and of his desire to obtain the advice of his supreme
court.[703] When the king had concluded, Bertrand, Cardinal Archbishop
of Sens and Keeper of the Seals, announced the command of his Majesty
that the consideration of the religious questions undertaken in the
_Mercuriale_ should be resumed.

[Sidenote: Fearlessness of the counsellors.]

[Sidenote: Anne du Bourg.]

The counsellors could be in no doubt respecting the motives of this
solemn and unusual audience; yet they entered upon the discussion with
the utmost fearlessness.[704] Claude Viole boldly recommended the
convocation of an oecumenical council. Du Faur declaimed against the
flagrant abuses of the church. While admitting that the trouble of the
kingdom arose from diversity in religion, he pointed out the necessity
of a careful scrutiny into the true author