umber of the abuses it had been expected
to remove, and to render indelible the line of demarcation between Roman
Catholic and Protestant, which it was to have effaced.

[Sidenote: Cardinal Lorraine returns to France,]

The Cardinal of Lorraine returning to France, after the conclusion of the
council (the fourth of December, 1563), made it his first object to secure
the ratification of the Tridentine decrees. He had now thrown off the mask
of moderation, which had caused his friends such needless alarms, and was
quite ready to sacrifice (as the nuncio had long since prophesied he would
sacrifice)[327] the interests of France to those of the Roman See. But the
undertaking was beyond his strength.

[Sidenote: and unsuccessfully seeks the approval of the decrees of Trent.]

On Lorraine's arrival at court, then stopping at St. Maur-sur-Marne
(January, 1564), Catharine answered his request that the king should
approve the conclusions of Trent by saying that, if there was anything
good in them, the king would gladly approve of it, even if it were not
decreed by the council. And, at a supper, to which he was invited the same
evening at the quarters of the Cardinal of Bourbon, he had to put up with
a good deal of rough jesting from Conde and his boon companions, who plied
him with pungent questions respecting the Pope and the doings of the holy
Fathers.[328]

[Sidenote: Wrangle between Lorraine and L'Hospital.]

A few weeks later Lorraine made a more distinct effort to secure
recognition for the late council's work. Several of the presidents of
parliament, the avocat-general, and the procureur du roi had been summoned
to court--which, meanwhile, had removed to Melun (February, 1564)--to give
their advice to the privy council respecting this momentous question. The
cardinal's proposition met with little favor. Chancellor L'Hospital
distinguished himself by his determined opposition, and boldly refuted the
churchman's arguments. The cardinal had long been chafing at the
intractability of the lawyer, who owed his early advancement to the
influence of the house of Guise, and now could no longer contain his
anger. He spoke in a loud and imperious tone, and used taunts that greatly
provoked the illustrious bystanders. "It is high time for you to drop your
mask," he said to L'Hospital, "for, as for myself, I cannot discover what
religion you are of. In fact, you seem to have no other religion than to
injure as much as possible bo