liament, Charles with his court
participated two days later (Thursday, the twenty-eighth of August) in the
celebration of a jubilee, and walked in a procession through the streets
of Paris; at successive "stations" rendering thanks to Heaven, with fair
show of devotion, for the preservation of his own life, and the lives of
his brothers and of _the King of Navarre_. It would have served greatly to
give a color of plausibility to the report of the conspiracy of the
Huguenots, could Navarre and Conde have been prevailed upon to appear in
the king's company on this occasion. But it must be mentioned to their
honor, that they were proof against the persuasions as well as the threats
of Charles.[1071] The same day a royal declaration was published,
reiterating the allegations made in the Palais de Justice, but protesting
that the king was determined to maintain his edict of pacification. As,
however, the Protestants were forbidden for the present from holding any
public or private assemblies for worship, it must be admitted that they
were not far wrong in regarding the declaration as only another part of
the trap cunningly devised for their destruction.[1072]

[Sidenote: Forced conversion of Navarre and Conde.]

Although the conversion of the young King of Navarre and his cousin, the
Prince of Conde, did not occur until some weeks later, it may be
appropriately mentioned here. No means were left untried to gain them over
to the Roman Catholic religion. The sophistries of monks were
supplemented by the more dangerous persuasions of a renegade Protestant
minister, Hugues Sureau du Rosier, formerly one of the pastors of the
church of Orleans.[1073] Whatever excuse his arguments may have furnished
by covering their renunciation of their faith with the decent cloak of
conviction, _fear_ was certainly the chief instrument in effecting the
desired change in the Huguenot princes. There is no room for doubt that
the character of Charles underwent a marked change, as we shall see later,
from the time that he consented to the massacre. He became more sullen,
more violent, more impatient of contradiction or opposition. It is not at
all unlikely that a mind never fully under control of reason, and now
assuredly thrown from its poise by a desperation engendered of remorse for
the fearful crime he had reluctantly approved, at times formed the
resolution to kill the obstinate King of Navarre and his cousin. On one
occasion Charles is said t