rmation struck root in France.

King Henry II, who had been educated in Spain, where he was detained
as a hostage, was resolutely intolerant, and when the general peace
was concluded he turned his thoughts to the state of religion. He
made an attempt to introduce the Inquisition, but was killed in a
tourney before he had achieved his purpose. The Protestants at that
time were estimated by Calvin at about 300,000, and in certain
districts they were increasing rapidly. They had two translations of
the Bible, and a celebrated book of hymns; and they now began to
combine and organise. They were strongest in Dauphiny, which was near
Geneva, and at Lyons, which was a centre of trade. Then they spread
to Normandy, and in the west, and as time went by it became difficult
to say which part of the country or which class of the population was
most deeply influenced by their doctrine. No province ever became
Protestant, and hardly any town. There never was any prospect that
the Reformation would prevail; but at first, in the tide of early
expansion, this was not quite evident, and they dreamt, not of liberty
only, but of predominance. They did not profess the liberal
principle, and never repudiated the maxim of their chief at Geneva
regarding the repression of other sects. They thought it a life and
death struggle, persuaded that the Catholics were irreconcilable, and
impossible fellow-subjects and neighbours. By image-breaking,
assaults on processions, and general violence, they made the part of
tolerant Catholics difficult to play. As a religious body, guided by
the counsels of Calvin, they should have professed passive obedience.
But they were associated with vast political interests, and with men
less eager about points of doctrine than about affairs of state, who
brought them into action against the government. As there were
princes of the blood among them, and even crowned heads, resistance to
the authority of the day was not felt to be seditious. In this way it
came to pass that while Calvin at Geneva was preaching non-resistance,
Calvinists in France formed an armed opposition and became involved in
plots.

As the new king was too young to govern, Queen Catharine, his mother,
became nominal regent; but as he was married to Mary Stuart, her
uncles governed the kingdom. One of them was the Duke of Guise, the
conqueror of Calais, and the most popular soldier in France. His
brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, on