ding
the vanguard, had, at Pont-sur-Yonne, received a powerful detachment,
under the Count of La Rochefoucauld, which had made its way from the
provinces of Poitou, Saintonge, and Guyenne, across the valley of the
Loire, to reinforce the Prince of Conde's army.[472] Having effected a
junction, the united body had changed its course, recrossed the Seine, and
countermarched to the river Marne, at Epernay and Chalons. Coligny's
skilful manoeuvre had disappointed the queen's plan, and she resorted to
her accustomed arts of negotiation. So flattering, indeed, were her
promises, that Conde, had he not been restrained by the more prudent
counsels of his associates (among whom the Vidame of Chartres was most
urgent in his protests against so suicidal a policy), would instantly have
relaxed the sinews of war.[473] A petty act of treachery served to open
his eyes, and to prevent the Protestants from involving themselves in more
serious disaster; for the Count de Brissac took advantage of a three days'
armistice to fall unexpectedly upon an outpost of the prince's army and
gain an advantage, which was duly magnified by report at Paris into a
brilliant victory.[474] Unabashed by this incident, Catharine soon after
renewed her seductive offers (on the twentieth of December, 1567). She
invited a conference with the Cardinal of Chatillon and other Protestant
leaders, and herself went so far as Chalons to meet them. Thence the scene
of the negotiations was transferred to Vincennes, in the vicinity of
Paris, and for a time the prospect of reconciliation was bright and
encouraging. The king's envoys consented to the re-establishment of the
Edict of Amboise, without any past or future restrictions, until the
decision of the religious question by that mythical assembly which, like a
mirage of the desert, ever and anon arose to entrance and disappoint the
longing eyes of thoughtful men in this century--a free, universal, and
legitimate council of the Church. But the hopes founded on these promises
were as illusory as any previously conceived. Instead of a formal and
unambiguous ratification of the terms by Charles himself, the Cardinal of
Chatillon was treated only to complaints about the causeless rising of the
Protestants, and expressions of astonishment that Conde had not instantly
countermanded the approach of the German auxiliaries on receiving the
king's gracious proffers.[475]

[Sidenote: Catharine implores Alva's assistance.]

[Sid