mple of the prince and his
people, would not have been converted to the faith."[350]

[Sidenote: Memorable speech of the king.]

At the conclusion of the mass--the most brilliant that had ever been
celebrated within the walls of the cathedral, Francis proceeded to the
episcopal palace, to dine in public, with the princes his children, the
high nobility, cardinals, ambassadors, privy counsellors, and some of
the judges of the Parliament of Paris. Here it was that he delivered a
speech memorable in the history of the great religious movement of the
time. Addressing parliament and representatives of the lower judiciary,
Francis plainly disclaimed all sympathy with the Reformation. "The
errors," he said, "which have multiplied, and are even now multiplying,
are but of our own days. Our fathers have shown us how to live in
accordance with the word of God and of our mother Holy Church. In that
church I am resolved to live and die, and I am determined to prove that
I am entitled to be called Very Christian. I notify you that it is my
will that these errors be driven from my kingdom. Nor shall I excuse any
from the task. _Were one of my arms infected with this poison, I should
cut it off! Were my own children contaminated, I should immolate
them!_[351] I therefore now impose this duty upon you, and relieve
myself of responsibility." Turning to the doctors of the university,
the king reminded them that the care of the faith was entrusted to them,
and he therefore appealed to them to watch over the orthodoxy of all
teachers and report all defections to the secular courts.

[Sidenote: Constancy of the sufferers.]

Francis had spoken in the heat of passion, but, in the words of a
contemporary, "if his fury was great, still greater was the constancy of
the martyrs."[352] Of this, indeed, the king did not have to wait long
for a proof. For, after having witnessed, in company with the queen, the
_amende honorable_ of six condemned "Lutherans" or "Christaudins," which
took place on the square in front of the cathedral, Francis, as he
returned to the Louvre, passed the places where these unfortunates were
undergoing their supreme torments--three near the _Croix du Tiroir_, in
the Rue St. Honore, and three at the Halles. The first were men of some
note--Simon Fouhet, of Auvergne, one of the royal choristers, supposed
to have been the person who posted the placard in the castle of Amboise,
Audebert Valleton, of Nantes, and Nicholas L'H