fruits of his
instructions, enforced by his own example. He had given the first taste of
blood, and now, perhaps without his actual command, the pack had taken the
scent and hunted down the game. He was avowedly on a crusade to
re-establish the supremacy of the Roman Catholic religion throughout
France. If he had not hesitated to hang a poor pin-dealer for allowing his
child to be baptized according to the forms of Calvin's liturgy; if he was
on his way to Paris to restore the Edict of July by force of arms, it is
idle to inquire whether he or his soldiers were responsible for the blood
shed in peace. "He that sowed the seed is the author of the harvest."

[Sidenote: Conde appeals to the king.]

The news quickly flew to Conde that the arch-enemy of the Protestants had
begun the execution of the cruel projects he had so long been devising
with his fanatical associates; that Guise was on his way toward seditious
Paris, with hands yet dripping with the blood of the inhabitants of a
quiet Champagnese town, surprised and murdered while engaged in the
worship of their God. Indignant, and taking in the full measure of the
responsibility imposed upon him as the most powerful member of the
Protestant communion, the prince, who was with the court at the castle of
Monceaux--built for herself by Catharine in a style of regal
magnificence--laid before the king and his mother a full account of the
tragic occurrence. It was a pernicious example, he argued, and should be
punished promptly and severely. Above all, the perpetrators ought not to
be permitted to endanger the quiet of France by entering the capital.
Catharine was alarmed and embarrassed by the intelligence; but, her fear
of a conjunction between Guise and Navarre overcoming her reluctance to
affront the Lorraine family, induced her to consent; and she wrote to the
Duke, who had by this time reached his castle of Nanteuil, forbidding him
to go to Paris, but inviting him to visit the court with a small escort.
At the same time she gave orders to Saint Andre to repair at once to
Lyons, of which he was the royal governor. But neither of the triumvirs
showed any readiness to obey her orders. The duke curtly replied that he
was too busy entertaining his friends to come to the king; the marshal
promptly refused to leave the king while he was threatened by such
perils.[42]

[Sidenote: Beza's remonstrance.]

[Sidenote: An anvil that has worn out many hammers.]

The King of Nav