r years had been only nominally under his control. His
touching reply to the royal summons is the last production of the
chancellor's pen that has come down to us. Interposing no obstacle to the
execution of the king's will, the writer invoked the testimony of the
queen mother that, in all things pertaining to the royal interests, "he
had been forgetful rather of his own advantage than of the king's service,
and had always followed _the great royal road_, turning neither to the
right hand nor to the left, and giving himself to no private faction."
"And now," he added, "that my maladies and my age have rendered me useless
to do you service, just as you have seen the old galleys in the port of
Marseilles, which, though dismantled, are yet regarded with pleasure, so I
very humbly beg you to view me both in my present state and my past, which
shall be an instruction and an example to all your subjects to do you good
service. God give you grace to choose servants and counsellors more
competent than I have been, and as affectionate and devoted to your
service as I am." The closing words were characteristic of the life-long
advocate of toleration: a recommendation of gentleness and clemency, in
imitation of a long-suffering and pardoning God.[1349] Two months later
Michel de l'Hospital ended his eventful life. France could ill afford to
lose at this juncture a magistrate[1350] so upright--a statesman who "had
the lilies of France in his heart."[1351]

[Sidenote: The party of the "Politiques."]

[Sidenote: Hotman's Franco-Gallia.]

Since the siege of La Rochelle, or more properly since the day of the
massacre, a new party had been forming, of those who could not bring
themselves to approve the cruel acts of the court, or who, for any reason,
were jealous of the faction now in power. As opposed to the Italian
counsellors by whom the queen mother had surrounded the throne, it was
pre-eminently a French or patriotic party. It demanded the expulsion of
Florentines and of Lorrainers from the kingdom, or at least from the
management of public affairs. The "Malcontents," or "Politiques," as they
now began to be called,[1352] demanded a return to the former usages of
the kingdom, in accordance with which the most important decisions were
never made without consulting the States General. Two books appearing
about this time made a deep impression. In an anonymous treatise entitled
"Franco-Gallia," the authorship of which was speedily tr