, opposite the Louvre, and demanded that a
banquet be prepared for them. Though the royal party was masked, the
unwilling host knew his guests but too well, and dared not deny their
peremptory command. In the midst of the carousal, at a preconcerted
signal, the king's followers began to ransack the house, maltreating the
occupants, wantonly destroying the costly furniture, appropriating the
silver plate, and breaking open doors and coffers in search of money. The
next day even Paris itself was indignant at the base conduct of its king.
To the first president of parliament, who that day visited the palace and
informed Charles of the current rumors respecting his having been present
and conniving at the pillage, the despicable monarch denied their truth
with his customary horrible imprecation. But when the president expressed
his great satisfaction, and said that parliament would at once institute
proceedings to discover and punish the guilty, Charles promptly responded:
"By no means. You will lose your trouble;" and he added a significant
threat for Nantouillet, that, should he pursue his attempt to obtain
satisfaction, he would find that he had to do with an opponent infinitely
his superior. Euseb. Phil. Dialogi, ii. 117, 118; Jean de Serres, iv.,
fol. 114, _verso_; D'Aubigne, ii. 104; De Thou, iv. (liv. lvi.) 821.

[1315] Article 4th. Text in Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 98.

[1316] J. de Serres, iv., fol. 112.

[1317] This hamlet must not be confounded with the important town of
Milhaud, or Milhau-en-Rouergue, mentioned below, nearly seventy miles
farther west.

[1318] Histoire du Languedoc, v. 321.

[1319] Jean de Serres, iv., fols. 113, 114; De Thou, v. (liv. lvii.) 12,
13; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 107; Histoire du Languedoc, v. 322. It ought to
be noted that the Montauban assembly in reality did little more than
confirm the regulations drawn up by previous and less conspicuous
political assemblies of the Huguenots held at Anduze in February, and at
Realmont, in May, 1573. This clearly appears from references to that
earlier legislation contained in the more complete "organization" adopted
four months later at Milhau. See the document in Haag, France Protestante,
x. (Pieces justificatives) 124, 125. M. Jean Loutchitzki has published in
the Bulletin, xxii. (1873) 507-511, a list of the political assemblies
much fuller than given by any previous writer.

[1320] As it is of interest to fix the geographical distribution of