ificance. A silken
cord had been stretched across the road by which the monarch
was to enter, that he might stop and promise to respect the
liberties and franchises of La Rochelle. Constable Montmorency
was the first to notice the cord, and in some anger and
surprise asked whether the magistrates of the city intended to
refuse their sovereign admission. The symbolism of the pretty
custom was duly explained to him, but for all response the old
warrior curtly observed that "such usages had passed out of
fashion," and at the same instant cut the cord with his sword.
(Arcere, i. 349; Delmas, 80, 81.) Charles himself refused the
request of the mayor that he should swear to maintain the
city's privileges. After so inauspicious a beginning of his
visit, the inhabitants were not surprised to find the king,
during his stay, reducing the "corps-de-ville" from 100 to 24
members, under the presidency of a governor invested with the
full powers of the mayor; ordering that the artillery should
be seized, two of the towers garrisoned by foreign troops, and
the magistrates enjoined to prosecute all ministers that
preached sedition; or banishing some of the most prominent
Protestants from La Rochelle.

It was characteristic of the government of Catharine de'
Medici--always destitute of a fixed policy, and consequently
always recalling one day what it had done the day before--that
scarcely two months elapsed before the queen mother put
everything back on the footing it had occupied before the
royal visit to La Rochelle.

FOOTNOTES:

[430] The most authentic account of these important interviews is that
given by Francois de la Noue in his Memoires, chap. xi. It clearly shows
how much Davila mistakes in asserting that "the prince, the admiral, and
Andelot persuaded them, without further delay, to take arms." (Eng.
trans., London, 1678, bk. iv., p. 110.) Davila's careless remark has led
many others into the error of making Coligny the advocate, instead of the
opposer, of a resort to arms. See also De Thou, iv. (liv. xlii.) 2-7, who
bases his narrative on that of De la Noue, as does likewise Agrippa
d'Aubigne, l. iv., c. vii. (i. 209), who uses the expression: "L'Amiral
voulant endurer toutes extremitez et se confier en l'innocence."

[431] "Ains avec le fer."

[432] "Une armee gaillarde." La Noue, _ubi s