I regret to say that the current representations as to the
termination of Conde's dishonorable attachment to Isabeau de Limueil are
proved by contemporary documents to be erroneous. The tears and
remonstrances of his wife Eleonore de Roye (see _ante_, chapter xiv.) may
have had some temporary effect. But an anonymous letter among the Simancas
MSS., written March 15, 1565 (and consequently more than six months after
Eleonore's death, which occurred July 23, 1564), portrays him as "hora piu
che mai passionato per la sua Limolia." Duc d'Aumale, Pieces justif., i.
552. Just as Calvin (letter of September 17, 1563, Bonnet, Lettres franc.,
ii. 539) had rebuked the prince with his customary frankness, warning him
respecting his conduct, and saying that "les bonnes gens en seront
offensez, les malins en feront leur risee," so now Coligny and the
Huguenot gentlemen of his suite united with the Protestant ministers in
begging him to renounce his present course of life, and contract a second
honorable marriage. The latter held up to him "il pericolo et infamia
propria, et il scandalo commune a tutta la relligione per esserne lui
capo;" the former threatened to leave him. I have seen no injurious
reports affecting Conde's morals after his marriage, November 8, 1565, to
Francoise Marie d'Orleans Longueville. Duc d'Aumale, Princes de Conde, i.
263-278.

[656] Long the idol of the Huguenots, both of high or of low degree, he
enjoyed a popularity perpetuated in a spirited song ("La Chanson du Petit
Homme"), current so far back as the close of the first war, 1563, the
refrain of which, alluding to the prince's diminutive stature, is: "_Dieu
gard' de mal le Petit Homme!_" Chansonnier Huguenot, 250, etc.

[657] The author of the Vie de Coligny (Cologne, 1686) gives more than one
instance of a deference on the part of the subject of his biography which
may seem to the reader excessive, but which alone could satisfy the
chivalrous feeling of the loyal knight of the sixteenth century.

[658] Brantome (Hommes illustres, OEuvres, viii. 163, 164) relates that
Honorat de Savoie, Count of Villars, begged the Duke of Anjou to have
Stuart given over to him, and, having gained his request, murdered him.

[659] "Qui par artifices merveilleusement subtils ont bien sceu vandre le
sang de la maison de France contre soy-mesmes."

[660] The Earl of Leicester wrote to Randolph: "Robert Stuart,
Chastellier, and certaine other worthy gentlemen, to the nu