the most truly
poetical compositions that genius ever produced. The age produced also
great divines; but these did not occupy so prominent a place in the
nation's eye as during the succeeding reigns.

[Sidenote: Reflections.]

While the virgin queen was exercising so benign an influence on the
English nation, great events, though not disconnected with English
politics, were taking place on the continent. The most remarkable of
these was the persecution of the Huguenots. The rise and fortunes of
this sect, during the reigns of Henry II., Francis II., Charles IX.,
Henry III., and Henry IV., now demand our attention. If a newspaper
had, in that age, been conducted upon the principles it now is, the
sufferings of the Huguenots would always be noticed. It is our
province to describe just what a modern newspaper would have alluded
to, had it been printed three hundred years ago. It would not have
been filled with genealogies of kings, but with descriptions of great
popular movements. And this is history.

* * * * *

REFERENCES.--For the history of this reign, see Hume,
Lingard, and Hallam; Miss Strickland's Queens of England;
Life of Mary, Queen of Scots; M'Crie's Life of Knox;
Robertson's History of Scotland; Macaulay's Essay on Nares's
Life of Burleigh; Life of Sir Walter Raleigh; Neale's
History of the Puritans. Kenilworth may also be profitably
read.

CHAPTER VII.

FRANCIS II., CHARLES IX., HENRY III., AND HENRY IV.

The history of France, from the death of Francis I. to the accession
of Henry IV. is virtually the history of religious contentions and
persecutions, and of those civil wars which grew out of them. The
Huguenotic contest, then, is a great historical subject, and will be
presented in connection with the history of France, until the death of
Henry IV., the greatest of the French monarchs, and long the
illustrious head of the Protestant party.

The reform doctrines first began to spread in France during the reign
of Francis I. As early as 1523, he became a persecutor, and burned
many at the stake, among whom the descendants of the Waldenses were
the most numerous. In 1540, sentence was pronounced against them by
the parliament of Aix. Their doctrines were the same in substance as
those of the Swiss reformers.

While this persecution was raging, John Calvin fled from France to
Ferrara, from which city he proceeded to Geneva. T