situation of Henry of Navarre was now extremely critical. Pope
Sextus V., besides giving the League his Papal blessing, had
fulminated against the King of Navarre the awful thunders of
excommunication.

The bull of excommunication was exceedingly coarse and vulgar in its
denunciatory terms, calling the King of Navarre "_this bastard and
detestable progeny of Bourbons_."

Henry replied to this assault in accents intrepid and resolute, which
caused Catholic Europe to stand aghast.

"Henry," said this bold document, "by the grace of God King
of Navarre, sovereign prince of Bearn, first peer and prince
of France, resists the declaration and excommunication of
Sextus V., self-styled Pope of Rome, asserts it to be false,
and maintains that Mr. Sextus, the self-styled Pope, _has
falsely and maliciously lied;_ that he himself is
_heretic_, which he will prove in any full and free council
lawfully assembled; to which if he does not consent and
submit, as he is bound by the canons, he, the King of
Navarre, holds and pronounces him to be anti-Christ and
heretic, and in that quality declares against him perpetual
and irreconcilable war."

This energetic protest was placarded in most of the towns of France,
and by some fearless followers of the prince was even attached to the
walls of the Vatican. The Pope, though at first much irritated, had
the magnanimity to express his admiration of the spirit manifested by
Henry.

"There are but two princes in Europe," said he, "to whom I could
venture to communicate the grand schemes revolving in my mind, Henry
of Navarre and Elizabeth of England; but, unfortunately, they are both
heretics."

Henry III., having no moral principles to guide him in any thing, and
having no generous affections of any kind, in carrying out his plan of
wielding the energies of the League without any scruples of
conscience, issued the infamous Edict of Nemours in 1585, which
commanded every Protestant minister to leave the kingdom within one
month, and every member of the Reformed faith either to abjure his
religion and accept the Catholic faith, or to depart from France
within six months. The penalty for disobedience in either of these
cases was _death and the confiscation of property_. This edict was
executed with great rigor, and many were burned at the stake.

Henry of Navarre was amazed, and, for a time, overwhelmed in receiving
the news of