e Thou, who relates an
extraordinary speech made by the King at the Louvre, in 1599, on the
occasion of the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes, to the deputies of
the Parliament of Paris, in the course of which he declared that,
twenty-six years previously, when he was residing at the Court of
Charles IX, he was about to cast the dice with Henri de Lorraine, Duc de
Guise, his relative, amid a large circle of nobles, when at the instant
in which they were prepared to commence their game drops of blood
appeared upon the table, which were renewed without any apparent agency
as fast as they were wiped away. Each party carefully ascertained that
it could not proceed from any of the individuals present; and the
phenomenon was so frequently repeated that Henry, as he averred, at once
amazed and disturbed, declined to persevere in the pastime, considering
the circumstance as an evil omen.[154] Whatever may be the opinion of
the reader as to the actual cause of this apparent prodigy, it is at
least certain that it was verified by subsequent events, as well as the
extraordinary and multiplied prophecy that the King himself would meet
his death in a coach.

Under these circumstances, combined with the almost universal credulity
of the age and nation which he governed, it is scarcely matter of
surprise that Henri IV, on so momentous an occasion as the birth of his
son, should have sought, even while he feigned to disregard the result,
to learn the after-destiny of the royal infant; and accordingly, a few
days subsequently, he commanded M. de la Riviere,[155] who publicly
professed the science of judicial astrology, to draw the horoscope of
the Dauphin with all the accuracy of which the operation was
susceptible. The command was answered by an assurance from La Riviere
that the work was already in progress; but as another week passed by
without any communication from the seer, Henry became impatient, and
again summoned him to his presence in order to inquire the cause of
the delay.

"Sire," replied La Riviere, "I have abandoned the undertaking, as I am
reluctant to sport with a science whose secrets I have partially
forgotten, and which I have, moreover, frequently found defective."

"I am not to be deceived by so idle a pretext," said the King, who
readily detected that the alleged excuse was a mere subterfuge; "you
have no such scruples, but you have resolved not to reveal to me what
you have ascertained, lest I should discove