t-day of St. Lawrence.[993] It
was, however, above all in the civil wars that his abilities shone forth
resplendent. Equally averse to beginning war without absolute necessity,
and to ending it without securing the objects for which it had been
undertaken, he was the good genius whose wholesome advice was frequently
disregarded, but never without subsequent regret on the part of those who
had slighted it. We have seen, in a former chapter,[994] the touching
account given by Agrippa d'Aubigne of the appeal of the admiral's wife,
which alone was successful in moving him to overcome his almost invincible
repugnance to taking up arms, even in behalf of a cause which he knew to
be most holy. I find a striking confirmation of the accuracy of the report
in a passage of his will, wherein he defends himself from the calumnies of
his enemies.[995] "And forasmuch as I have learned that the attempt has
been made to impute to me a purpose to attack the persons of the king, the
queen, and the king's brothers, I protest before God that I never had any
such will or desire, and that I never was present at any place where such
plans were ever proposed or discussed. And as I have also been accused of
ambition in taking up arms with those of the reformed religion, I make the
same protestation, that only zeal for religion, together with fear for my
own life, compelled me to assume them. And, indeed, I must confess my
weakness, and that the greatest fault which I have always committed in
this respect has been that I have not been sufficiently alive to the acts
of injustice and the slaughter to which my brethren were subjected, and
that the dangers and the traps that were laid for myself were necessary to
move me to do what I have done. But I also declare before God, that I
tried every means in my power, in order so long as possible to maintain
peace, fearing nothing so much as civil disturbances and wars, and clearly
foreseeing that these would bring after them the ruin of this kingdom,
whose preservation I have always desired and labored for to the utmost of
my ability."

To Coligny's strategy too much praise could scarcely be accorded. The
Venetian ambassador, Contarini, in the report of his mission to the
senate, in the early part of the year 1572, expressed his amazement that
the admiral, a simple gentleman with slender resources, had waged war
against his own powerful sovereign, who was assisted by the King of Spain
and by a few German a