ned hands, flocked to the altars of God, our common Father,
to thank him that the massacre had been accomplished.

The annals of the world are filled with narratives of crime and woe,
but the Massacre of St. Bartholomew stands perhaps without a parallel.

It has been said, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
Church." This is only true with exceptions. Protestantism in France
has never recovered from this blow. But for this massacre one half of
the nobles of France would have continued Protestant. The Reformers
would have constituted so large a portion of the population that
mutual toleration would have been necessary. Henry IV. would not have
abjured the Protestant faith. Intelligence would have been diffused;
religion would have been respected; and in all probability, the
horrors of the French Revolution would have been averted.

God is an avenger. In the mysterious government which he wields,
mysterious only to our feeble vision, he "visits the iniquities of the
fathers upon the children, even unto the third and fourth generation."
As we see the priests of Paris and of France, during the awful tragedy
of the Revolution, massacred in the prisons, shot in the streets, hung
upon the lamp-posts, and driven in starvation and woe from the
kingdom, we can not but remember the day of St. Bartholomew. The 24th
of August, 1572, and the 2d of September, 1792, though far apart in
the records of time, are consecutive days in the government of God.

CHAPTER VI.

THE HOUSES OF VALOIS, OF GUISE, AND OF BOURBON.

Illustrious French families.--The house of Valois.--Early condition
of France.--Clovis.--The Carlovingian dynasty.--Capet and
Philip.--Decay of the house of Valois.--House of Guise.--The dukedom
of Lorraine.--Claude of Lorraine.--Marriage of the Count of
Guise.--Francis I.--The suggestion and its results.--Bravery of
the duke.--His prominence.--Days of war.--The bloody rout.--Scene
from the castle.--Claude the Butcher.--The Cardinal of Lorraine.--The
reprimand.--Duke of Mayence.--The family of Guise.--Henry the
Eighth.--Death of Claude.--Francis, Duke of Guise.--The dreadful
wound.--Le Balafre.--Interview with the king.--Jealousy of
the king.--Arrogance of the Guises.--Power of the house of
Guise.--Appointment of Francis.--Thralldom of Henry II.--Mary, Queen
of Scots.--Francis II.--Troubles between the Protestants and
Catholics.--Admiral Coligni.--Antoinette.--Massacre by the Duke of
Guise.--The Butcher