of Vassy.--Remonstrance to the queen.--Magnanimity
of the Duke of Guise.--Religious wars.--Assassination of the Duke of
Guise.--Death of the duke.--Jean Poltrot.--Anecdote.--Prediction of
Francis.--Enthusiasm of the populace.--The house of Bourbon.--The
houses united.

At this time, in France, there were three illustrious and rival
families, prominent above all others. Their origin was lost in the
remoteness of antiquity. Their renown had been accumulating for many
generations, through rank, and wealth, and power, and deeds of heroic
and semi-barbarian daring. As these three families are so blended in
all the struggles of this most warlike period, it is important to give
a brief history of their origin and condition.

1. _The House of Valois._ More than a thousand years before the birth
of Christ, we get dim glimpses of France, or, as it was then called,
Gaul. It was peopled by a barbarian race, divided into petty tribes or
clans, each with its chieftain, and each possessing undefined and
sometimes almost unlimited power. Age after age rolled on, during
which generations came and went like ocean billows, and all Gaul was
but a continued battle-field. The history of each individual of its
countless millions seems to have been, that he was born, killed as
many of his fellow-creatures as he could, and then, having acquired
thus much of glory, died.

About fifty years before the birth of Christ, Caesar, with his
conquering hosts, swept through the whole country, causing its rivers
to run red with blood, until the subjugated Gauls submitted to Roman
sway. In the decay of the Roman empire, about four hundred years after
Christ, the Franks, from Germany, a barbarian horde as ferocious as
wolves, penetrated the northern portion of Gaul, and, obtaining
permanent settlement there, gave the whole country the name of France.
Clovis was the chieftain of this warlike tribe. In the course of a few
years, France was threatened with another invasion by combined hordes
of barbarians from the north. The chiefs of the several independent
tribes in France found it necessary to unite to repel the foe. They
chose Clovis as their leader. This was the origin of the French
monarchy. He was but little elevated above the surrounding chieftains,
but by intrigue and power perpetuated his supremacy. For about three
hundred years the family of Clovis retained its precarious and
oft-contested elevation. At last, this line, enervated by luxury,
be