nimirum illam orabas, daret operam ut omnia pacificarentur, efficeretque
ne rursus ad bella civilia rediretur, quae non possent non extremum exitium
afferre." Jean de Serres, iii, 193.

[570] Letter _apud_ J. de Serres, iii. 188-190.

[571] De Thou, iii. 136; Castelnau, liv. vii., c. 1, where the sum is
erroneously trebled; Davila, bk. iv., p. 130. See also Soldan, ii., 324,
and Von Polenz, ii. 365.

[572] Norris, in a letter to Cecil, Sept. 25, 1568, gives almost the very
words of the angry contestants. State Paper Office.

[573] Davila, bk. iv. 130; De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 136.

[574] Ranke, Civil Wars and Monarchy in France, 236, 237.

[575] Davila and De Thou, _ubi supra_. De Thou seems certainly to be
wanting in his accustomed accuracy when he represents--iv. (liv. xliv.)
136, 137--the submission of the test-oath to the Protestants as posterior
to, and consequent upon the fall of L'Hospital: "La reine delivree du
Chancelier, et n'ayant plus personne qui s'opposat a ses volontes, ne
songea plus qu'a brouiller les affaires, etc." I have shown that the papal
bull which L'Hospital opposed was dated at Rome on the same day (August 1,
1568) on which Charles sent his orders to the president of the Parisian
parliament to administer the oath to the Protestants of the capital. Yet,
as early as on the 12th of May, 1568, the English ambassador, Norris,
wrote to Cecil that Anjou, a cruel enemy of the Protestants, had a privy
council of which Cardinal Lorraine was the "chiefest" member, and his own
chancellor, who sealed everything submitted to him, "which thing he [the
good olde chauncelor of the Kinges] hathe so to harte as he is retirid him
to his owne house in the towne of Paris; and wheras the King's chauncelor
I meane, who nether for love nor dread wolde seal enything against the
statutes of the realme, or that might be prejudiciall to the same, this of
Mr. d'Anjou's refusithe nothing that is proferid to him." State Paper
Office, Duc d'Aumale, ii. 360.

[576] Jean de Serres, iii. 191; Davila, bk. iv., p. 128.

[577] See Soldan, Gesch. des Prot. in Frankreich, ii. 327, note 63. Yet
Conde himself, shortly before the flight from Noyers, expressed himself in
strikingly confident terms as to Tavannes's probity. In a letter to the
king, complaining of the treacherous plots formed against himself, July
22, 1568, the prince says he is sure that Tavannes is not privy to these
designs, "car je le cognois de trop longue mai