ged in this act of devotion his ears were
annoyed by the psalms of the Protestants, who were assembled in the
vicinity. He sent an imperious message for the minister and the
leading members of the congregation immediately to appear before him.
The young men fulfilled their mission in a manner so taunting and
insulting that a quarrel ensued, shots were exchanged, and immediately
all the vassals of the duke, who were ripe for a fray, commenced an
indiscriminate massacre. The Protestants valiantly but unavailingly
defended themselves with sticks and stones; but the bullets of their
enemies reached them everywhere, in the houses, on the roofs, in the
streets. For an hour the carnage continued unchecked, and sixty men
and women were killed and two hundred wounded. One only of the men of
the duke was killed. Francis was ashamed of this slaughter of the
defenseless, and declared that it was a sudden outbreak, for which he
was not responsible, and which he had done every thing in his power to
check; but ever after this he was called by the Protestants "_The
Butcher of Vassy_."

When the news of this massacre reached Paris, Theodore de Beza was
deputed by the Protestants to demand of Catharine, their regent,
severe justice on the Duke of Guise; but Catharine feared the princes
of Lorraine, and said to Beza,

"Whoever touches so much as the finger-tip of the Duke of Guise,
touches me in the middle of my heart."

Beza meekly but courageously replied, "It assuredly behooves that
Church of God, in whose name I speak, to endure blows and not to
strike them; but may it please your majesty also to remember that it
is an anvil which has worn out many hammers."

At the siege of Rouen the Duke of Guise was informed that an assassin
had been arrested who had entered the camp with the intention of
taking his life. He ordered the man to be brought before him, and
calmly inquired,

"Have you not come hither to kill me?"

The intrepid but misguided young man openly avowed his intention.

"And what motive," inquired the duke, "impelled you to such a deed?
Have I done you any wrong?"

"No," he replied; "but in removing you from the world I should promote
the best interests of the Protestant religion, which I profess."

"My religion, then," generously replied the duke, "is better than
yours, for it commands me to pardon, of my own accord, you who are
convicted of guilt." And, by his orders, the assassin was safely
conducted out of cam