s of Brantome; the Commentaries of Jean de Serres, in their
various editions, as well as other writings attributed to the same
author; the rich "Memoires de Conde," both in their original and their
enlarged form; the series of important documents comprehended in the
"Archives curieuses" of Cimber and Danjou; the disquisitions collected
by M. Leber; the histories of Davila, Florimond de Raemond, Maimbourg,
Varillas, Soulier, Mezeray, Gaillard; the more recent historical works
of Sismondi, Martin, Michelet, Floquet; the volumes of Browning,
Smedley, and White, in English, of De Felice, Drion, and Puaux, in
French, of Barthold, Von Raumer, Ranke, Polenz, Ebeling, and Soldan, in
German. The principal work of Professor Soldan, in particular, bounded
by the same limits of time with those of the present history, merits, in
virtue of accuracy and thoroughness, a wider recognition than it seems
yet to have attained. My own independent investigations having conducted
me over much of the ground traversed by Professor Soldan, I have enjoyed
ample opportunity for testing the completeness of his study and the
judicial fairness of his conclusions.

The posthumous treatise of Professor H. Wuttke, "Zur Vorgeschichte der
Bartholomaeusnacht," published in Leipsic since the present work was
placed in the printer's hands, reached me too late to be noticed in
connection with the narrative of the events which it discusses.
Notwithstanding Professor Wuttke's recognized ability and assiduity as a
historical investigator, I am unable to adopt the position at which he
arrives.

I desire here to acknowledge my obligation for valuable assistance in
prosecuting my researches to my lamented friend and correspondent,
Professor Jean Guillaume Baum, long and honorably connected with the
Academie de Strasbourg, than whom France could boast no more
indefatigable or successful student of her annals, and who consecrated
his leisure hours during forty years to the enthusiastic study of the
history of the French and Swiss Reformation. If that history is better
understood now than when, in 1838, he submitted as a theological thesis
his astonishingly complete "Origines Evangelii in Gallia restaurati,"
the progress is due in great measure to his patient labors. To M. Jules
Bonnet, under whose skilful editorship the Bulletin of the French
Protestant Historical Society has reached its present excellence, I am
indebted for help afforded me in solving, by means of