of Navarre expected to make any deep impression upon the
subjects of Philip through the friendly reception which he thus
solicited by the most craven abasement, his arrival at St.
Germain-en-Laye speedily undeceived him. Francis, instead of meeting him
on his approach, in accordance with the customary rules of royal
courtesy, and entertaining him graciously as they rode side by side to
the palace, was purposely taken in an opposite direction on a hunting
excursion. Humiliated by this neglect, the adherents of Navarre were
still more annoyed when they found that no chamber had been set apart in
the castle for the first prince of the blood, to whom immemorial usage
conceded the apartments next to those of the reigning monarch. But
neither these insults, nor the contemptuous treatment he received at the
hands of the courtiers, by whom he was compelled to make every advance,
were sufficient to arouse the prince to any noble resolution.[764] To
regain the kingdom of which, by his marriage with Jeanne d'Albret, he
had become the titular sovereign, was the great ambition of his life.
This was impracticable without the support of the French court. He could
not, therefore, afford to break with the all-powerful Guises. What were
the prerogatives of the first prince of the blood in the administration
of the French government, in comparison with the absolute sovereignty of
the little kingdom on either slope of the Pyrenees? In vain did his
faithful attendants remonstrate with him, and portray the path of honor
as that of ultimate success and safety. Disgusted at his unmanly
weakness, they returned crestfallen to their homes, or threw up his
service for that of noblemen who, if ancient enemies, could at least
prove themselves valuable and trustworthy patrons. The partisans of the
Reformation, after waiting fruitlessly to hear a single word uttered in
behalf of the churches, now everywhere rapidly multiplying, but still
subjected to bitter persecution, disappointed, but full of faith in God,
renounced their trust in princes, and awaited a deliverance, in Heaven's
own time, from a higher source. Theodore Beza cited Navarre's shameful
fall as a new and signal illustration of our Lord's own words: "A rich
man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven!"[765]

[Sidenote: Meets fresh indignities.]

[Sidenote: Philip offers Catharine assistance.]

[Sidenote: Antoine's appeals to Philip II.]

But the abasement of this irresolute princ