came extinct, and another family obtained the throne. This new
dynasty, under Pepin, was called the Carlovingian. The crown descended
generally from father to son for about two hundred years, when the
last of the race was poisoned by his wife. This family has been
rendered very illustrious, both by Pepin and by his son, the still
more widely renowned Charlemagne.

Hugh Capet then succeeded in grasping the sceptre, and for three
hundred years the Capets held at bay the powerful chieftains who
alternately assailed and defended the throne. Thirteen hundred years
after Christ, the last of the Capets was borne to his tomb, and the
feudal lords gave the pre-eminence to Philip of Valois. For about two
hundred years the house of Valois had reigned. At the period of which
we treat in this history, luxury and vice had brought the family near
to extinction.

Charles IX., who now occupied the throne under the rigorous rule of
his infamous mother, was feeble in body and still more feeble in mind.
He had no child, and there was no probability that he would ever be
blessed with an heir. His exhausted constitution indicated that a
premature death was his inevitable destiny. His brother Henry, who
had been elected King of Poland, would then succeed to the throne; but
he had still less of manly character than Charles. An early death was
his unquestioned doom. At his death, if childless, the house of Valois
would become extinct. Who then should grasp the rich prize of the
sceptre of France? The house of Guise and the house of Bourbon were
rivals for this honor, and were mustering their strength and arraying
their forces for the anticipated conflict. Each family could bring
such vast influences into the struggle that no one could imagine in
whose favor victory would decide. Such was the condition of the house
of Valois in France in the year 1592.

2. Let us now turn to the house of Guise. No tale of fiction can
present a more fascinating collection of romantic enterprises and of
wild adventures than must be recorded by the truthful historian of the
house of Guise. On the western banks of the Rhine, between that river
and the Meuse, there was the dukedom of Lorraine. It was a state of no
inconsiderable wealth and power, extending over a territory of about
ten thousand square miles, and containing a million and a half of
inhabitants. Rene II., Duke of Lorraine, was a man of great renown,
and in all the pride and pomp of feudal power he en