CHAPTER XV.

THE CLOSING SCENE.

[1572–1574.]

Reaction--Tolerant Protestations of Government--Walsingham’s disbelief and caution--Renewal of Civil War--Mission of Cardinal Orsini--Siege of Rochelle--Honorable terms of Capitulation--Siege of Sancerre--Famine--Horrible scenes--Capitulation--Meeting at Montauban--Troubled state of France--Intrigues of Alençon--Shrove-Tuesday plot--La Mole and Coconnas executed--Charles falls ill--Conversation with Henry of Navarre--Charles’s visions--His Huguenot nurse--Her exhortations--The King’s remorse--His dying words--Suspicions of Poison--His character--His married life--Judgment of Posterity 471

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

CÆDES COLIGNII ET SOCIORUM EJUS. THE MASSACRE IN PARIS (from the Picture in the Vatican by Vasari) _Frontispiece._

GASPARD DE COLIGNY 68

CATHERINE DE MEDICIS 146

THE

MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW.