shall not fail," said the king to them, "to keep your eyes open,
and give orders that such mischievous spirits as may be composed of the
remnants of the Amboise rebellion or other gentry, studious of innovation
and alteration in the state, be so discovered and restrained that they be
not able to corrupt by their machinations, under whatsoever pretexts they
may hide them, simple folks led on by confidence in the clemency whereof
we have heretofore made use." The bailiffs followed, for the most part
successfully, but in some cases vainly, the instructions they had
received. One morning in December, 1560, the Duke of Guise was visited
by a courier from the Count de Villars, governor of Languedoc; he
informed the duke that the deputies of that province had just been
appointed, and that they all belonged to the new religion, and were
amongst the most devoted to the sect; there was not a moment to lose,
"for they were men of wits, great reputation, and circumspection. The
governor was very vexed at not having been able to prevent their election
and departure; but plurality of votes had carried the day against him."
This despatch was "no sooner received than some men were got ready to go
and meet those deputies, in order to put them in a place where they would
never have been able to do good or harm." The deputies of Languedoc
escaped this ambuscade, and arrived safe and sound at Orleans; but they
"were kept under strict watch, and their papers were confiscated up to
the moment when the death of the king occurred to deliver them from all
fear." [_Histoire des Etats generaux,_ by G. Picot, t. ii. pp. 25-29.]
In Provence, in Dauphiny, in the countship of Avignon, at Lyons, on
occasion and in the midst of the electoral struggle, several local
risings, seizures of arms, and surprisals of towns took place and
disturbed the public peace. There was not yet religious civil war, but
there were the preparatory note and symptoms of it.

At the same time that they were thus laboring to keep out of the
approaching states-general adversaries of obscure rank and belonging to
the people, the Guises had very much at heart a desire that the great
leaders of the Reformers and of the Catholic malcontents, especially the
two princes of the house of Bourbon, the King of Navarre and the Prince
of Conde, should come to this assembly, and there find themselves under
the thumb of their enemies. They had not gone to the assemblage of
notables at