y sole endeavor.
And that is why I send to you this warm appeal,
To fill your mind with new, enthusiastic zeal.

"No longer then amuse yourself with home distractions;
Past is the time for gardening and its attractions.
Come, follow with your King, who loves you most of all,
For that the sweet strong verses from your lips do fall.
And if Ardoise shall not behold you shortly present,
A mighty quarrel will break out and prove unpleasant!"

"Bravo! sire, bravo!" cried Coligny, "I am better versed in matters of
war than in matters of poetry, but it seems to me that those lines are
equal to the best, even written by Ronsard, or Dorat, or even Michel de
l'Hopital, Chancellor of France."

"Ah! my father!" exclaimed Charles IX.; "would what you said were true!
For the title of poet, you see, is what I am ambitious, above all
things, to gain; and as I said a few days ago to my master in poetry:

"'The art of making verse, if one were criticised,
Should ever be above the art of reigning prized.
The crowns that you and I upon our brows are wearing,
I as the King receive, as poet you are sharing.
Your lofty soul, enkindled by celestial beams,
Flames of itself, while mine with borrowed glory gleams.
If 'mid the gods I ask which has the better showing,
Ronsard is their delight: I, but their image glowing.
Your lyre, which ravishes with sounds so sweet and bold,
Subdues men's minds, while I their bodies only hold!
It makes you master, lifts you into lofty regions,
Where even the haughty tyrant ne'er dared claim allegiance.'"

"Sire," said Coligny, "I was well aware that your Majesty conversed with
the Muses, but I did not know that you were their chief counsellor."

"After you, my father, after you. And in order that I may not be
disturbed in my relations with them, I wish to put you at the head of
everything. So listen: I must now go and reply to a new madrigal my dear
and illustrious poet has sent me. I cannot, therefore, give you the
documents necessary to make you acquainted with the question now
debating between Philip II. and myself. There is, besides, a plan of the
campaign drawn up by my ministers. I will find it all for you, and give
it to you to-morrow."

"At what time, sire?"

"At ten o'clock; and if by chance I am busy making verses, or in my
cabinet writing, well--you will come in just the same, and take all the
papers which you wi