s by fire and sword, considerable as were the
defections from their ranks of those who found in the reformed Catholic
church a spiritual refuge, still greater was the loss of the Protestant
cause in failing to secure the adherence of such minds as Dolet and
Rabelais, Ronsard and Montaigne, and of the thousands influenced by
them. And a study of just these men will show how the Italian
influence worked and how it grew stronger in its rivalry with the
religious interest. {232} Whereas Marot had found something to
interest him in the new doctrines, Ronsard bitterly hated them.
Passionately devoted, as he and the rest of the Pleiade were, to the
sensuous beauties of Italian poetry, he had neither understanding of
nor patience with dogmatic subtleties. In the Huguenots he saw nothing
but mad fanatics and dangerous fomentors of rebellion. In his
_Discourses on the Evils of the Times_, he laid all the woes of France
at the door of the innovators. And powerfully his greater lyrics
seduced the mind of the public from the contemplation of divinity to
the enjoyment of earthly beauty.

The same intensification of the contrast between the two spirits is
seen in comparing Montaigne with Rabelais. It is true that Rabelais
ridiculed all positive religion, but nevertheless it fascinated him.
His theological learning is remarkable. But Montaigne ignored religion
as far as possible. [Sidenote: Montaigne's aloofness] Nourished from
his earliest youth on the great classical writers, he had no interest
apart from "the kingdom of man." He preferred to remain in the old
faith because that course caused him the least trouble. He had no
sympathy with the Protestants, but he did not hate them, as did
Ronsard. During the wars of religion, he maintained friendly relations
with the leaders of both parties. And he could not believe that creed
was the real cause of the civil strife. "Take from the Catholic army,"
said he, "all those actuated by pure zeal for the church or for the
king and country, and you will not have enough men left to form one
company." It is strange that beneath the evil passions and
self-seeking of the champions of each party he could not see the fierce
flame of popular heroism and fanaticism; but that he, and thousands of
men like him, could not do so, and could not enter, even by
imagination, into the causes {233} which, but a half century earlier,
had set the world on fire, largely explains how the religious iss