On the first of February he
assembled in the city of Nantes a large number of noblemen and of
persons belonging to the "tiers etat," who claimed to be as complete a
representation of the estates of France as the circumstances of the
country would admit. It was a hazardous undertaking; but so prudently
did the deputies deport themselves, that, although the Parliament of
Brittany was then sitting at Nantes, they were not detected in the crowd
of pleaders before the court. After solemnly protesting that the
enterprise was directed neither against the majesty of the king and of
the princes of the blood, nor against the legitimate estate of the
kingdom, the assembly was intrusted with the secret of the name of the
prince by whose authority the arrest of the Guises was to be attempted.
The tenth of March[816] was fixed upon for the execution of the design.
At that date, it was supposed, Francis and his court would be sojourning
on the banks of the Loire.[817] Five hundred gentlemen were selected,
and placed under the command of ten captains. All were to obey the
directions of the "mute" chief, and his delegate, La Renaudie. Others of
the confederates were pledged to prevent the provincial towns from
sending assistance to the Guises. The force thus raised was to be
disbanded only when a legitimate government had been re-established, and
the usurpers brought to punishment.[818]

[Sidenote: Confidence of the Guises.]

The plan was well devised, and its execution was entrusted to capable
hands. The omens, indeed, were favorable. The Cardinal of Lorraine and
his brother, intoxicated by the uniform success hitherto attending their
ambitious projects, despised such vague rumors of opposition as reached
their ears. The party adverse to their tyranny, composed not only of
Protestants and others who sought the best interests of their country,
but recruited from the ranks of the restless and of those who had
private wrongs to redress, was sure, on the first tidings of its
uprising, to secure the active co-operation of many of the most powerful
nobles, and possibly might enlist the majority of the population. Rarely
has an important secret been so long and so successfully kept. It was
deemed little short of a miracle that, in a time of peace, and in a
country where the regal authority was so implicitly obeyed, a
deliberative assembly of no mean size had been convened from all the
provinces of France, and the Guises had obtained intimat