ster who wrote
the words he subscribed, predicts the chain of successive murders in
provincial France, scarcely one of which had as yet been attempted. "_It
is probable_," he said, in the same letter of the twenty-sixth of August,
that has just been cited, "_that the fire thus kindled will go coursing
through all the cities of my kingdom_, which, following the example of
what has been done in this city, will assure themselves of all the
adherents of the said religion."[1080]

[Sidenote: Verbal orders.]

No mere surmise, founded upon the probable effects of the exhibition of
cruelty in Paris, led to the penning of this sentence. Charles had
purposely fired the train which was to explode with the utmost violence at
almost every point of his wide dominions. "As it has pleased God," he
wrote to Mondoucet, "to bring matters to the state in which they now are,
I do not intend to neglect the opportunity not only to re-establish, if I
shall be able, lasting quietness in my kingdom, but also to serve
Christendom."[1081] Accordingly, secret orders, for the most part verbal,
had already been sent in all directions, commanding the provinces to
imitate the example set by Paris. The reality of these orders does not
rest upon conjecture, but is attested by documentary evidence over the
king's own hand. As we have seen in the last chapter, Charles published,
on the twenty-eighth of August, a declaration of his motives and
intentions. This was despatched to the governors of the provinces and to
other high officers, in company with a circular letter, of which the final
sentence deserves particular notice. "Moreover," says the king, "whatever
verbal command I may have given to those whom I sent to you, as well as to
my other governors and lieutenants-general, at a time when I had just
reason to fear some inauspicious events, from having discovered the
conspiracy which the admiral was making against me, I have revoked and
revoke it completely, intending that nothing therein contained be put into
execution by you or by others; for such is my pleasure."[1082]

[Sidenote: Instructions to Montsoreau at Saumur.]

What was the import of these orders? The manuscripts in the archives of
Angers seem to leave no room for doubt. This city was the capital of the
Duchy of Anjou, given in appanage to Henry, the king's brother, and was,
consequently, under his special government. On Tuesday, the twenty-sixth
of August, the duke sent to the Governor of