hieve his
conquests, and had freed Philip from all fear of French interference in
behalf of the Dutch patriots. No wonder then, that, when a courier, sent
by the Spanish ambassador at Paris, with tidings of the events of St.
Bartholomew's Day, reached Madrid, on the evening of Saturday, the seventh
of September--so slowly did news travel in those days--Philip was almost
beside himself with joy.[1166] "He showed so much gayety, contrary to his
native temperament and custom," the French envoy, St. Goard, wrote to his
master, "that he was evidently more delighted than with all the pieces of
good fortune that had ever befallen him; and he called to him his
familiars to tell them that he knew that your Majesty was his good
brother, and that he saw that there was no one else in the world that
deserved the title of 'Very Christian.'" Not content with gloating over
the bloody bulletin with his cronies, he promptly sent his secretary,
Cayas, to congratulate the French ambassador, and to inform him that "the
king his master was going that very hour to St. Jerome, to render all
manner of thanks to God, and to pray that in matters of so great
importance his Majesty might be sustained by His hand." When, the next
morning, St. Goard had been very graciously admitted to an audience, he
tells us that Philip--the man who rarely or never gave a hearty or manly
expression to his feelings--"began to laugh, and, with demonstrations of
extreme pleasure and satisfaction, praised your Majesty as having earned
your title of 'Very Christian,' telling me there was no king that could
claim to be your companion, either in valor or in prudence." It was
natural that Philip should chiefly extol Charles's alleged dissimulation,
and dwell on the happiness of Christendom saved from a frightful war. It
was equally politic for St. Goard to chime in, and echo his master's
praise. But there was sound truth in the concluding remark he made to
Philip: "However this may be, _Sire, you must confess that you owe your
Netherlands to his Majesty, the King of France_."[1167]

[Sidenote: Charles instigates the murder of French prisoners.]

[Sidenote: The Duke of Alva jubilant but wary.]

We have also more direct testimony to Philip's delight at the Parisian
massacre, in the form of a letter from the monarch to the Duke of Alva. In
this extraordinary communication, worthy of the depraved source from which
it emanated, the bloodthirsty king does not attempt to conceal