League shall be bound to employ their bodies, goods, and
means to inflict vengeance upon those thus offending. Should
any Leaguer, after having taken the oath, withdraw from the
association under any pretext whatever, the refractory
member shall be injured, in body and goods, in every manner
which can be devised, as enemies of God, rebels, and
disturbers of the public peace. The Leaguers shall swear
implicit obedience to their chief, and shall aid by counsel
and service in preserving the League, and in the ruin of all
who oppose it. All Catholic towns and villages shall be
summoned secretly, by their several governors, to enter into
this League, and to furnish arms and men for its execution.

OATH.

I swear by God the Creator, touching the Evangelists, and
upon the pain of eternal damnation, that I have entered
into this holy Catholic League loyally and sincerely, either
to command, to obey, or to serve. I promise, upon my life
and honor, to remain in this League to the last drop of my
blood, without opposing or retiring upon any pretext
whatever.

Such was the character of secret societies in the sixteenth century. A
more atrocious confederacy than this the human mind could hardly have
conceived. It was, however, peculiarly calculated to captivate the
multitude in those days of darkness and blood. Though at first formed
and extended secretly, it spread like wildfire through all the cities
and provinces of France. Princes, lords, gentlemen, artisans, and
peasants rushed into its impious inclosures. The benighted populace,
enthralled by the superstitions of the Church, were eager to manifest
their zeal for God by wreaking the most awful vengeance upon
_heretics_. He who, for any cause, declined entering the League, found
himself exposed to every possible annoyance. His house and his barns
blazed in midnight conflagrations; his cattle were mutilated and
slain; his wife and children were insulted and stoned in the streets.
By day and by night, asleep and awake, at home and abroad, at all
times and every where, he was annoyed by every conceivable form of
injury and violence.

Soon the League became so powerful that no farther secrecy was
needful. It stalked abroad in open day, insulting its foes and
vaunting its invincibility. The gigantic plan it unblushingly avowed
was to exterminate Protestantism by f