es in college. He could have had
but little affection for his father, for the stern soldier had passed
most of his days in the tented field, and his son had hardly known
him. From his mother he had long been separated; but he cherished her
memory with affectionate regard, and his predilections strongly
inclined him toward the faith which he knew that she had so warmly
espoused. It was, however, in its political aspects that Henry mainly
contemplated the question. He regarded the two sects merely as two
political parties struggling for power. For some time he did not
venture to commit himself openly, but, availing himself of the
privilege of his youth, carefully studied the principles and the
prospects of the contending factions, patiently waiting for the time
to come in which he should introduce his strong arm into the conflict.
Each party, aware that his parents had espoused opposite sides, and
regarding him as an invaluable accession to either cause, adopted all
possible allurements to win his favor.

Catharine, as unprincipled as she was ambitious, invited him to her
court, lavished upon him, with queenly profusion, caresses and
flattery, and enticed him with all those blandishments which might
most effectually enthrall the impassioned spirit of youth.
Voluptuousness, gilded with its most dazzling and deceitful
enchantments, was studiously presented to his eye. The queen was all
love and complaisance. She received him to her cabinet council. She
affected to regard him as her chief confidant. She had already formed
the design of perfidiously throwing the Protestants off their guard by
professions of friendship, and then, by indiscriminate massacre, of
obliterating from the kingdom every vestige of the reformed faith. The
great mass of the people being Catholics, she thought that, by a
simultaneous uprising all over the kingdom, the Protestants might be
so generally destroyed that not enough would be left to cause her any
serious embarrassments.

For many reasons Catharine wished to save Henry from the doom
impending over his friends, if she could, by any means, win him to
her side. She held many interviews with the highest ecclesiastics upon
the subject of the contemplated massacre. At one time, when she was
urging the expediency of sparing some few Protestant nobles who had
been her personal friends, Henry overheard the significant reply from
the Duke of Alva, "The head of a salmon is worth a hundred frogs." The
y