Chapter 1: Driven From Home.
In the year 1567 there were few towns in the southern counties ofEngland that did not contain a colony, more or less large, ofFrench Protestants. For thirty years the Huguenots had been exposedto constant and cruel persecutions; many thousands had beenmassacred by the soldiery, burned at the stake, or put to deathwith dreadful tortures. Fifty thousand, it was calculated, had, inspite of the most stringent measures of prevention, left theirhomes and made their escape across the frontiers. These had settledfor the most part in the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, inHolland, or England. As many of those who reached our shores werebut poorly provided with money, they naturally settled in or nearthe ports of landing.
Canterbury was a place in which many of the unfortunate emigrantsfound a home. Here one Gaspard Vaillant, his wife, and her sister,who had landed in the year 1547, had established themselves. Theywere among the first comers, but the French colony had grown,gradually, until it numbered several hundreds. The Huguenots werewell liked in the town, being pitied for their misfortunes, andadmired for the courage with which they bore their losses; settingto work, each man at his trade if he had one, or if not, taking tothe first work that came to hand. They were quiet and God-fearingfolk; very good towards each other, and to their poor countrymen ontheir way from the coast to London, entertaining them to the bestof their power, and sending them forward on their way with lettersto the Huguenot committee in London, and with sufficient money intheir pockets to pay their expenses on the journey, and to maintainthem for a while until some employment could be found for them.
Gaspard Vaillant had been a landowner near Civray, in Poitou. Hewas connected by blood with several noble families in thatdistrict, and had been among the first to embrace the reformedreligion. For some years he had not been interfered with, as it wasupon the poorer and more defenceless classes that the first fury ofthe persecutors fell; but as the attempts of Francis to stamp outthe new sect failed, and his anger rose more and more against them,persons of all ranks fell under the ban. The prisons were filledwith Protestants who refused to confess their errors; soldiers werequartered in the towns and villages, where they committed terribleatrocities upon the Protestants; and Gaspard, seeing no hope ofbetter times coming, or of being permitted to worship in peace andquietness, gathered together what money he could and made his way,with his wife and her sister, to La Rochelle, whence he took shipto London.
Disliking the bustle of a large town, he was recommended by some ofhis compatriots to go down to Canterbury, where three or fourfugitives from his own part of the country had settled. One ofthese was a weaver by trade, but without money to manufacture loomsor set up in his calling. Gaspard joined him as partner, embarkingthe little capital he had saved; and being a shrewd, clear-headedman he carried on the business part of the concern, while hispartner Lequoc worked at the manufacture.
As the French colony in Canterbury increased, they had nodifficulty in obtaining skilled hands from among them. The businessgrew in magnitude, and the profits were large, in spite of the factthat numbers of similar enterprises had been established by theHuguenot immigrants in London, and other places. They were, indeed,amply sufficient to enable Gaspard Vaillant to live in thecondition of a substantial citizen, to aid his fellow countrymen,and to lay by a good deal of money.
His wife's sister had not remained very long with him. She had,upon their first arrival, given lessons in her own language to thedaughters of burgesses, and of the gentry near the town; but, threeyears after the arrival of the family there, she had married awell-to-do young yeoman who farmed a hundred acres of his own land,two miles from the town. His relations and neighbours had shakentheir heads over what they considered his folly, in marrying thepretty young Frenchwoman; but ere long they were obliged to ownthat his choice had been a good one.
Just after his first child was born he was, when returning home oneevening from market, knocked down and run over by a drunken carter,and was so injured that for many months his life was in danger.Then he began to mend, but though he gained in strength he did notrecover the use of his legs, being completely paralysed from thehips downward; and, as it soon appeared, was destined to remain ahelpless invalid all his life. From the day of the accident Luciehad taken the management of affairs in her hands, and having beenbrought up in the country, and being possessed of a large share ofthe shrewdness and common sense for which Frenchwomen are oftenconspicuous, she succeeded admirably. The neatness and order of thehouse, since their marriage, had been a matter of surprise to herhusband's friends; and it was not long before the farm showed theeffects of her management. Gaspard Vaillant assisted her with hiscounsel and, as the French methods of agriculture were considerablyin advance of those in England, instead of things going to rack andruin, as John Fletcher's friends predicted, its returns wereconsiderably augmented.
Naturally, she at first experienced considerable opposition. Thelabourers grumbled at what they called new-fangled French fashions;but when they left her, their places were supplied by hercountrymen, who were frugal and industrious, accustomed to make themost out of small areas of ground, and to turn every foot to thebest advantage. Gradually the raising of corn was abandoned, and alarge portion of the farm devoted to the growing of vegetables;which, by dint of plentiful manuring and careful cultivation, wereproduced of a size and quality that were the surprise andadmiration of the neighbourhood, and gave her almost a monopoly ofthe supply of Canterbury.
The carters were still English; partly because Lucie had the goodsense to see that, if she employed French labourers only, she wouldexcite feelings of jealousy and dislike among her neighbours; andpartly because she saw that, in the management of horses andcattle, the Englishmen were equal, if not superior, to hercountrymen.
Her life was a busy one. The management of the house and farmwould, alone, have been a heavy burden to most people; but shefound ample time for the tenderest care of the invalid, whom shenursed with untiring affection.
"It is hard upon a man of my size and inches, Lucie," he said oneday, "to be lying here as helpless as a sick child; and yet I don'tfeel that I have any cause for discontent. I should like to begoing about the farm, and yet I feel that I am happier here, lyingwatching you singing so contentedly over your work, and makingeverything so bright and comfortable. Who would have thought, whenI married a little French lady, that she was going to turn out anotable farmer? All my friends tell me that there is not a farmlike mine in all the country round, and that the crops are thewonder of the neighbourhood; and when I see the vegetables that arebrought in here, I should like to go over the farm, if only foronce, just to see them growing."
"I hope you will be able to do that, some day, dear. Not on foot, Iam afraid; but when you get stronger and better, as I hope youwill, we will take you round in a litter, and the bright sky andthe fresh air will do you good."
Lucie spoke very fair English now, and her husband had come tospeak a good deal of French; for the service of the house was allin that language, the three maids being daughters of French workmenin the town. The waste and disorder of those who were in the housewhen her husband first brought her there had appalled her; and thewomen so resented any attempt at teaching, on the part of theFrench madam, that after she had tried several sets with equallybad results, John Fletcher had consented to the introduction ofFrench girls; bargaining only that he was to have good Englishfare, and not French kickshaws. The Huguenot customs had been keptup, and night and morning the house servants, with the Frenchneighbours and their families, all assembled for prayer in thefarmhouse.
To this John Fletcher had agreed without demur. His father had beena Protestant, when there was some danger in being so; and hehimself had been brought up soberly and strictly. Up to the time ofhis accident there had been two congregations, he himself readingthe prayers to his farm hands, while Lucie afterwards read them inher own language to her maids; but as the French labourers took theplace of the English hands, only one service was needed.
When John Fletcher first regained sufficient strength to take muchinterest in what was passing round, he was alarmed at the increasein the numbers of those who attended these gatherings. Hithertofour men had done the whole work of the farm; now there weretwelve.
"Lucie, dear," he said uneasily one day, "I know that you are acapital manager; but it is impossible that a farm the size of ourscan pay, with so many hands on it. I have never been able to domore than pay my way, and lay by a few pounds every year, with onlyfour hands, and many would have thought three sufficient; but withtwelve--and I counted them this morning--we must be on the highroadto ruin."
"I will not ruin you, John. Do you know how much money there was inyour bag when you were hurt, just a year ago now?"
"Yes, I know there were thirty-three pounds."
His wife went out of the room and returned with a leather bag.
"Count them, John," she said.
There were forty-eight. Fifteen pounds represented a vastly greatersum, at that time, than they do at present; and John Fletcherlooked up from the counting with amazement.
"This can't be all ours, Lucie. Your brother must have been helpingus."
"Not with a penny, doubting man," she laughed. "The money is yours,all earned by the farm; perhaps not quite all, because we have notmore than half as many animals as we had before. But, as I toldyou, we are growing vegetables, and for that we must have more menthan for corn. But, as you see, it pays. Do not fear about it,John. If God should please to restore you to health and strength,most gladly will I lay down the reins; but till then I will manageas best I may and, with the help and advice of my brother and hisfriends, shall hope, by the blessing of God, to keep all straight."
The farm throve, but its master made but little progress towardsrecovery. He was able, however, occasionally to be carried round ina hand litter, made for him upon a plan devised by GaspardVaillant; in which he was supported in a half-sitting position,while four men bore him as if in a Sedan chair.
But it was only occasionally that he could bear the fatigue of suchexcursions. Ordinarily he lay on a couch in the farmhouse kitchen,where he could see all that was going on there; while in warmsummer weather he was wheeled outside, and lay in the shade of thegreat elm, in front of the house.
The boy, Philip--for so he had been christened, after JohnFletcher's father--grew apace and, as soon as he was old enough toreceive instruction, his father taught him his letters out of ahorn book, until he was big enough to go down every day to schoolin Canterbury. John himself was built upon a large scale, and atquarterstaff and wrestling could, before he married, hold his ownwith any of the lads of Kent; and Philip bade fair to take afterhim, in skill and courage. His mother would shake her headreprovingly when he returned, with his face bruised and his clothestorn, after encounters with his schoolfellows; but his father tookhis part.
"Nay, nay, wife," he said one day, "the boy is eleven years oldnow, and must not grow up a milksop. Teach him if you will to behonest and true, to love God, and to hold to the faith; but inthese days it needs that men should be able to use their weapons,also. There are your countrymen in France, who ere long will bedriven to take up arms, for the defence of their faith and livesfrom their cruel persecutors; and, as you have told me, many of theyounger men, from here and elsewhere, will assuredly go back to aidtheir brethren.
"We may even have trials here. Our Queen is a Protestant, andhappily at present we can worship God as we please, in peace; butit was not so in the time of Mary, and it may be that troubles mayagain fall upon the land, seeing that as yet the Queen is notmarried. Moreover, Philip of Spain has pretensions to rule here;and every Englishman may be called upon to take up bow, or bill,for his faith and country. Our co-religionists in Holland andFrance are both being cruelly persecuted, and it may well be thatthe time will come when we shall send over armies to theirassistance.
"I would that the boy should grow up both a good Christian and astout soldier. He comes on both sides of a fighting stock. One ofmy ancestors fought at Agincourt, and another with the Black Princeat Cressy and Poitiers; while on your side his blood is noble and,as we know, the nobles of France are second to none in bravery.
"Before I met you I had thoughts of going out, myself, to fightamong the English bands who have engaged on the side of theHollanders. I had even spoken to my cousin James about takingcharge of the farm, while I was away. I would not have sold it, forFletchers held this land before the Normans set foot in England;but I had thoughts of borrowing money upon it, to take me out tothe war, when your sweet face drove all such matters from my mind.
"Therefore, Lucie, while I would that you should teach the boy tobe good and gentle in his manners, so that if he ever goes amongyour French kinsmen he shall be able to bear himself as befits hisbirth, on that side; I, for my part--though, alas, I can do nothingmyself--will see that he is taught to use his arms, and to bearhimself as stoutly as an English yeoman should, when there is needof it.
"So, wife, I would not have him chidden when he comes home with abruised face, and his garments somewhat awry. A boy who can holdhis own, among boys, will some day hold his own among men; and thefisticuffs, in which our English boys try their strength, are asgood preparation as are the courtly sports; in which, as you tellme, young French nobles are trained. But I would not have himbackward in these, either. We English, thank God, have not had muchoccasion to draw a sword since we broke the strength of Scotland onFlodden Field; and in spite of ordinances, we know less than weshould do of the use of our weapons. Even the rules that every ladshall practise shooting at the butts are less strictly observedthan they should be. But in this respect our deficiencies can berepaired, in his case; for here in Canterbury there are several ofyour countrymen of noble birth, and doubtless among these we shallbe able to find an instructor for Phil. Many of them are driven tohard shifts to procure a living; and since that bag of yours isevery day getting heavier, and we have but him to spend it upon, wewill not grudge giving him the best instruction that can beprocured."
Lucie did not dispute her husband's will; but she neverthelesstried to enlist Gaspard Vaillant--who was frequently up at the farmwith his wife in the evening, for he had a sincere liking for JohnFletcher--on her side; and to get him to dissuade her husband fromputting thoughts into the boy's head that might lead him, some day,to be discontented with the quiet life on the farm. She found,however, that Gaspard highly approved of her husband's determination.
"Fie upon you, Lucie. You forget that you and Marie are both ofnoble blood, in that respect being of condition somewhat abovemyself, although I too am connected with many good families inPoitou. In other times I should have said it were better that theboy should grow up to till the land, which is assuredly anhonourable profession, rather than to become a military adventurer,fighting only for vainglory. But in our days the sword is not drawnfor glory, but for the right to worship God in peace.
"No one can doubt that, ere long, the men of the reformed religionwill take up arms to defend their right to live, and worship God,in their own way. The cruel persecutions under Francis the First,Henry the Second, and Francis the Second have utterly failed intheir object. When Merindol, Cabrieres, and twenty-two other townsand villages were destroyed, in 1547; and persons persecuted andforced to recant, or to fly as we did; it was thought that we werebut a handful, whom it would be easy to exterminate. But in spiteof edict after edict, of persecution, slaughterings, and burnings,in spite of the massacres of Amboise and others, the reformedreligion has spread so greatly that even the Guises are forced torecognize it as a power. At Fontainebleau Admiral Coligny,Montmorency, the Chatillons, and others openly professed thereformed religion, and argued boldly for tolerance; while Conde andNavarre, although they declined to be present, were openly rangedon their side. Had it not been that Henry the Second and Franciswere both carried off by the manifest hand of God, the first by aspear thrust at a tournament, the second by an abscess in the ear,France would have been the scene of deadly strife; for
both were,when so suddenly smitten, on the point of commencing a war ofextermination.
"But it is only now that the full strength of those who hold thefaith is manifested. Beza, the greatest of the reformers next toCalvin himself, and twelve of our most learned and eloquent pastorsare at Poissy, disputing upon the faith with the Cardinal ofLorraine and the prelates of the Romish church, in the presence ofthe young king, the princes, and the court. It is evident that theprelates are unable to answer the arguments of our champions. TheGuises, I hear, are furious; for the present Catharine, the queenmother, is anxious for peace and toleration, and it is probablethat the end of this argument at Poissy will be an edict allowingfreedom of worship.
"But this will only infuriate still more the Papists, urged on byRome and Philip of Spain. Then there will be an appeal to arms, andthe contest will be a dreadful one. Navarre, from all I hear, hasbeen well-nigh won over by the Guises; but his noble wife will, allsay, hold the faith to the end, and her kingdom will follow her.Conde is as good a general as Guise, and with him there is a hostof nobles: Rochefoucauld, the Chatillons, Soubise, Gramont, Rohan,Genlis, and a score of others. It will be terrible, for in manycases father and son will be ranged on opposite sides, and brotherwill fight against brother."
"But surely, Gaspard, the war will not last for years?"
"It may last for generations," the weaver said gloomily, "thoughnot without intermissions; for I believe that, after each successon one side or the other, there will be truces and concessions; tobe followed by fresh persecutions and fresh wars, until either thereformed faith becomes the religion of all France, or is entirelystamped out.
"What is true of France is true of Holland. Philip will annihilatethe reformers there, or they will shake off the yoke of Spain.England will be driven to join in one or both struggles; for ifpapacy is triumphant in France and Holland, Spain and France wouldunite against her.
"So you see, sister, that in my opinion we are at the commencementof a long and bloody struggle for freedom of worship; and at anyrate it will be good that the boy should be trained as he wouldhave been, had you married one of your own rank in France; in orderthat, when he comes to man's estate, he may be able to wield asword worthily in the defence of the faith.
"Had I sons, I should train them as your husband intends to trainPhil. It may be that he will never be called upon to draw a sword,but the time he has spent in acquiring its use will not be wasted.These exercises give firmness and suppleness to the figure,quickness to the eye, and briskness of decision to the mind. A manwho knows that he can, at need, defend his life if attacked,whether against soldiers in the field or robbers in the street, hasa sense of power and self reliance that a man, untrained in the useof the strength God has given him, can never feel. I was instructedin arms when a boy, and I am none the worse weaver for it.
"Do not forget, Lucie, that the boy has the blood of many goodFrench families in his veins; and you should rejoice that yourhusband is willing that he shall be so trained that, if the needshould ever come, he shall do no discredit to his ancestors on ourside. These English have many virtues, which I freely recognize;but we cannot deny that many of them are somewhat rough anduncouth, being wondrous lacking in manners and coarse in speech. Iam sure that you yourself would not wish your son to grow up likemany of the young fellows who come into town on market day. Yourson will make no worse a farmer for being trained as a gentleman.You yourself have the training of a French lady, and yet you managethe farm to admiration.
"No, no, Lucie, I trust that between us we shall make a trueChristian and a true gentleman of him; and that, if needs be, hewill show himself a good soldier, also."
And so, between his French relatives and his sturdy English father,Philip Fletcher had an unusual training. Among the Huguenots helearned to be gentle and courteous; to bear himself among hiselders respectfully, but without fear or shyness; to consider that,while all things were of minor consequence in comparison to theright to worship God in freedom and purity, yet that a man shouldbe fearless of death, ready to defend his rights, but withmoderation and without pushing them to the injury of others; thathe should be grave and decorous of speech, and yet of a gay andcheerful spirit. He strove hard so to deport himself that if, atany time, he should return to his mother's country, he could takehis place among her relations without discredit. He learned tofence, and to dance.
Some of the stricter of the Huguenots were of opinion that thelatter accomplishment was unnecessary, if not absolutely sinful;but Gaspard Vaillant was firm on this point.
"Dancing is a stately and graceful exercise," he said, "and likethe use of arms, it greatly improves the carriage and poise of thefigure. Queen Elizabeth loves dancing, and none can say that she isnot a good Protestant. Every youth should be taught to dance, ifonly he may know how to walk. I am not one of those who think that,because a man is a good Christian, he should necessarily be awkwardand ungainly in speech and manner, adverse to innocent gaieties,narrow in his ideas, ill dressed and ill mannered, as I see aremany of those most extreme in religious matters, in this country."
Upon the other hand, in the school playground, under the shadow ofthe grand cathedral, Phil was as English as any; being foremost intheir rough sports, and ready for any fun or mischief.
He fought many battles, principally because the difference of hismanner from that of the others often caused him to be called"Frenchy." The epithet in itself was not displeasing to him; for hewas passionately attached to his mother, and had learned from herto love her native country; but applied in derision it was regardedby him as an insult, and many a tough battle did he fight, untilhis prowess was so generally acknowledged that the name, thoughstill used, was no longer one of disrespect.
In figure, he took after his French rather than his Englishancestors. Of more than average height for his age, he wasapparently slighter in build than his schoolfellows. It was notthat he lacked width of chest, but that his bones were smaller andhis frame less heavy. The English boys, among themselves, sometimesspoke of him as "skinny," a word considered specially appropriateto Frenchmen; but though he lacked their roundness and fulness oflimb, and had not an ounce of superfluous flesh about him, he wasall sinew and wire; and while in sheer strength he was fully theirequal, he was incomparably quicker and more active.
Although in figure and carriage he took after his mother'scountrymen, his features and expression were wholly English. Hishair was light brown, his eyes a bluish gray, his complexion fair,and his mouth and eyes alive with fun and merriment. This, however,seldom found vent in laughter. His intercourse with the graveHuguenots, saddened by their exile, and quiet and restrained inmanner, taught him to repress mirth, which would have appeared tothem unseemly; and to remain a grave and silent listener to theirtalk of their unhappy country, and their discussions on religiousmatters.
To his schoolfellows he was somewhat of an enigma. There was nomore good-tempered young fellow in the school, no one more ready todo a kindness; but they did not understand why, when he waspleased, he smiled while others roared with laughter; why when, intheir sports, he exerted himself to the utmost, he did so silentlywhile others shouted; why his words were always few and, when hediffered from others, he expressed himself with a courtesy thatpuzzled them; why he never wrangled nor quarrelled; and why anytrick played upon an old woman, or a defenceless person, roused himto fury.
As a rule, when boys do not quite understand one of their numberthey dislike him. Philip Fletcher was an exception. They did notunderstand him, but they consoled themselves under this by theexplanation that he was half a Frenchman, and could not be expectedto be like a regular English boy; and they recognized instinctivelythat he was their superior.
Much of Philip's time was spent at the house of his uncle, andamong the Huguenot colony. Here also were many boys of his own age.These went to a school of their own, taught by the pastor of theirown church, who held weekly services in the crypt of the cathedral,which had been granted to them for that purpose by the dean.
While,with his English schoolfellows, he joined in sports and games;among these French lads the talk was sober and quiet. Scarce a weekpassed but some fugitive, going through Canterbury, brought thelatest news of the situation in France, and the sufferings of theirco-religionist friends and relations there; and the politicalevents were the chief topics of conversation.
The concessions made at the Conference of Poissy had infuriated theCatholics, and the war was brought on by the Duke of Guise who,passing with a large band of retainers through the town of Vassy inChampagne, found the Huguenots there worshipping in a barn. Hisretainers attacked them, slaying men, women, and children--somesixty being killed, and a hundred or more left terribly wounded.
The Protestant nobles demanded that Francis of Guise should bepunished for this atrocious massacre, but in vain; and Guise, onentering Paris, in defiance of Catharine's prohibition, wasreceived with royal honours by the populace. The Cardinal ofLorraine, the duke's brother, the duke himself, and their allies,the Constable Montmorency and Marshal Saint Andre, assumed sothreatening an attitude that Catharine left Paris and went toMelun, her sympathies at this period being with the reformers; bywhose aid, alone, she thought that she could maintain her influencein the state against that of the Guises.
Conde was forced to leave Paris with the Protestant nobles, andfrom all parts of France the Huguenots marched to assist him.Coligny, the greatest of the Huguenot leaders, hesitated; being,above all things, reluctant to plunge France into civil war. Butthe entreaties of his noble wife, of his brothers and friends,overpowered his reluctance. Conde left Meaux, with fifteen hundredhorse, with the intention of seizing the person of the young king;but he had been forestalled by the Guises, and moved to Orleans,where he took up his headquarters. All over France the Huguenotsrose in such numbers as astonished their enemies, and soon becamepossessed of a great many important cities.
Their leaders had endeavoured, in every way, to impress upon themthe necessity of behaving as men who fought only for the right toworship God; and for the most part these injunctions were strictlyobeyed. In one matter, alone, the Huguenots could not berestrained. For thirty years the people of their faith had beenexecuted, tortured, and slain; and their hatred of the Romishchurch manifested itself by the destruction of images and picturesof all kinds, in the churches of the towns of which they obtainedpossession. Only in the southeast of France was there any exceptionto the general excellence of their conduct. Their persecution herehad always been very severe, and in the town of Orange the papaltroops committed a massacre almost without a parallel in itsatrocity. The Baron of Adrets, on behalf of the Protestants, tookrevenge by massacres equally atrocious; but while the butchery atOrange was hailed with approbation and delight by the Catholicleaders, those promoted by Adrets excited such a storm ofindignation, among the Huguenots of all classes, that he shortlyafterwards went over to the other side, and was found fightingagainst the party he had disgraced.
At Toulouse three thousand Huguenots were massacred, and in othertowns where the Catholics were in a majority terrible persecutionswere carried out.
It was nearly a year after the massacre at Vassy before the twoarmies met in battle. The Huguenots had suffered greatly, by thedelays caused by attempts at negotiations and compromise. Conde'sarmy was formed entirely of volunteers, and the nobles and gentry,as their means became exhausted, were compelled to return home withtheir retainers; while many were forced to march to their nativeprovinces, to assist their co-religionists there to defendthemselves from their Catholic neighbours.
England had entered, to a certain extent, upon the war; Elizabeth,after long vacillation, having at length agreed to send sixthousand men to hold the towns of Havre, Dieppe, and Rouen,providing these three towns were handed over to her; thus evincingthe same calculating greed that marked her subsequent dealings withthe Dutch, in their struggle for freedom.
In vain Conde and Coligny begged her not to impose conditions thatFrenchmen would hold to be infamous to them. In vain Throgmorton,her ambassador at Paris, warned her that she would alienate theProtestants of France from her; while the possession of the citieswould avail her but little. In vain her minister, Cecil, urged herfrankly to ally herself with the Protestants. From the firstoutbreak of the war for freedom of conscience in France, to thetermination of the struggle in Holland, Elizabeth baffled bothfriends and enemies by her vacillation and duplicity, and her utterwant of faith; doling out aid in the spirit of a huckster ratherthan a queen, so that she was, in the end, even more hated by theProtestants of Holland and France than by the Catholics of Franceand Spain.
To those who look only at the progress made by England, during thereign of Elizabeth--thanks to her great ministers, her valiantsailors and soldiers, long years of peace at home, and the spiritand energy of her people--Elizabeth may appear a great monarch. Tothose who study her character from her relations with thestruggling Protestants of Holland and France, it will appear thatshe was, although intellectually great, morally one of the meanest,falsest, and most despicable of women.
Rouen, although stoutly defended by the inhabitants, supported byMontgomery with eight hundred soldiers, and five hundred Englishmenunder Killegrew of Pendennis, was at last forced to surrender. Theterms granted to the garrison were basely violated, and many of theProtestants put to death. The King of Navarre, who had, since hejoined the Catholic party, shown the greatest zeal in their cause,commanded the besiegers. He was wounded in one of the attacks uponthe town, and died shortly afterwards.
The two armies finally met, on the 19th of December, 1562. TheCatholic party had sixteen thousand foot, two thousand horse, andtwenty-two cannon; the Huguenots four thousand horse, but onlyeight thousand infantry and five cannon. Conde at first broke theSwiss pikemen of the Guises, while Coligny scattered the cavalry ofConstable Montmorency, who was wounded and taken prisoner; but theinfantry of the Catholics defeated those of the Huguenots, thetroops sent by the German princes to aid the latter behaving withgreat cowardice. Conde's horse was killed under him, and he wasmade prisoner. Coligny drew off the Huguenot cavalry and theremains of the infantry in good order, and made his retreatunmolested.
The Huguenots had been worsted in the battle, and the loss of Condewas a serious blow; but on the other hand Marshal Saint Andre waskilled, and the Constable Montmorency a prisoner. Coligny wasspeedily reinforced; and the assassination of the Duke of Guise, byan enthusiast of the name of Jean Poltrot, more than equalizedmatters.
Both parties being anxious to treat, terms of peace were arranged;on the condition that the Protestant lords should be reinstated intheir honours and possessions; all nobles and gentlemen should beallowed to celebrate, in their own houses, the worship of thereformed religion; that in every bailiwick the Protestants shouldbe allowed to hold their religious services, in the suburbs of onecity, and should also be permitted to celebrate it, in one or twoplaces, inside the walls of all the cities they held at the time ofthe signature of the truce. This agreement was known as the Treatyof Amboise, and sufficed to secure peace for France, until thelatter end of 1567.