at worth indeed to deserve not to be forgotten.
Sully appeared once more at court after his momentary retreat to the
arsenal; but, in spite of the show of favor which Mary de' Medici thought
it prudent and decent to preserve towards him for some little time, he
soon saw that it was no longer the place for him, and that he was of as
little use there to the state as to himself; he sent in, one after the
other, his resignation of all his important offices, and terminated his
life in regular retirement at Rosny and Sully-sur-Loire. Du Plessis-
Mornay attempted to still exercise a salutary influence over his party.

"Let there be no more talk amongst us," said he, "of Huguenots or
Papists; those words are prohibited by our edicts. And, though there
were no edict at all, still if we are French, if we love our country, our
families, and even ourselves, they ought henceforth to be wiped out of
our remembrance. Whoso is a good Frenchman, shall to me be a citizen,
shall to me be a brother." This meritorious and patriotic language was
not entirely without moral effect, but it no longer guided, no longer
inspired the government; egotism, intrigue, and mediocrity in ideas as
well as in feelings had taken the place of Henry IV. Facts, before long,
made evident the sad result of this. All the parties, all the personages
who walked the stage and considered themselves of some account, believed
that the moment had arrived for pushing their pretensions, and lost no
time about putting them forward. Those persons we will just pass in
review without stopping at any one of them. History has no room for all
those who throng about her gates without succeeding in getting in and
leaving traces of their stay. The reformers were the party to which the
reign of Henry IV. had brought most conquests, and which was bound to
strive above everything to secure the possession of them by extracting
from them every legitimate and practicable consequence. Mary de' Medici,
having been declared regent, lost no time about confirming, on the 22d of
May, 1610, the edict of Nantes and proclaiming religious peace as the due
of France. "We have nothing to do with the quarrels of the grandees,"
said the people of Paris; "we have no mind to be mixed up with them."
Some of the preachers of repute and of the party's old leaders used the
same language. "There must be nought but a scarf any longer between us,"
Du Plessis-Mornay would say. Two great Protestant nam