even added that, although
Du Bourg was in orders, he had begged the king to spare him as a learned
man. "In like manner," says Wuertemberg, "the Duke of Guise with great
oaths affirmed that he was innocent of the death of those who had been
condemned on account of their faith. 'The attempt,' he added, 'has
frequently been made to kill us, both the cardinal and myself, with
fire-arms, sword, and poison, and, although the culprits have been
arrested, I never meddled with their punishment.'" And when the Duke of
Wuertemberg again "conjured them not to persecute the poor Christians of
France, for God would not leave such a sin unpunished," both the cardinal
and the Duke of Guise gave him their right hands, promising on their
princely faith, and by the salvation of their souls, that they would
neither openly nor secretly persecute the partisans of the "new
doctrines!" Such were the barefaced impostures which this "par nobile
fratrum" desired Christopher of Wuertemberg to publish for their
vindication among the Lutherans of Germany. But the liars were not
believed. The shrewd Landgrave of Hesse, on receiving Wuertemberg's
account, even before the news of the massacre of Vassy, came promptly to
the conclusion that the whole thing was an attempt at deception.
Christopher himself, in the light of later events, added to his manuscript
these words: "Alas! It can now be seen how they have kept these promises!
_Deus sit ultor doli et perjurii, cujus namque res agitur._"[33]

[Sidenote: Throkmorton's account of the French court.]

Meanwhile events of the greatest consequence were occurring at the
capital. The very day after the Saverne conference began, Sir Nicholas
Throkmorton wrote to Queen Elizabeth an account of "the strange issue" to
which affairs had come at the French court since his last despatch, a
little over a fortnight before. His letter gives a vivid and accurate view
of the important crisis in the first half of February, 1562, which we
present very nearly in the words of the ambassador himself. "The Cardinal
of Ferrara," says Throkmorton, "has allured to his devotion the King of
Navarre, the Constable, Marshal St. Andre, the Cardinal of Tournon, and
others inclined to retain the Romish religion. All these are bent to
repress the Protestant religion in France, and to find means either to
range [bring over to their side] the Queen of Navarre, the Prince of
Conde, the Admiral, and all others who favor that religion, or to