Prince of Conde escaped, renounced
the religion which had been forced on them by fear of death, and
prosecuted a bloody civil war, with the firm resolution of never
abandoning it until religious liberty was guarantied.

Meanwhile, Charles IX. died, as it was supposed, by poison. His last
hours were wretched, and his remorse for the massacre of St.
Bartholomew filled his soul with agony. He beheld spectres, and
dreamed horrid dreams; his imagination constantly saw heaps of livid
bodies, and his ears were assailed with imaginary groans. He became
melancholy and ferocious, while his kingdom became the prey of
factions and insurrections. But he was a timid and irresolute king,
and was but the tool of his infamous mother, the grand patroness of
assassins, against whom, on his death bed, he cautioned the king of
Navarre.

[Sidenote: Henry III.--Henry IV.]

He was succeeded by his brother, the King of Poland, under the title
of Henry III. The persecutions of the Huguenots were renewed, and the
old scenes of treachery, assassination, and war were acted over again.
The cause of religion was lost sight of in the labyrinth of
contentions, jealousies, and plots. Intrigues and factions were
endless. Nearly all the leaders, on both sides, perished by the sword
or the dagger. The Prince of Conde, the Duke of Guise, and his
brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, were assassinated. Shortly after,
died the chief mover of all the troubles, Catharine de Medicis, a
woman of talents and persuasive eloquence, but of most unprincipled
ambition, perfidious, cruel, and dissolute. She encouraged the
licentiousness of the court, and even the worst vices of her sons,
that she might make them subservient to her designs. All her passions
were subordinate to her calculations of policy, and every womanly
virtue was suppressed by the desire of wielding a government which she
usurped.

Henry III. soon followed her to the grave, being, in turn,
assassinated by a religious fanatic. His death (1589) secured the
throne to the king of Navarre, who took the title of Henry IV.

Henry IV., the first of the Bourbon line, was descended from Robert,
the sixth son of St. Louis, who had married the daughter and heiress
of John of Burgundy and Agnes of Bourbon. He was thirty-six years of
age when he became king, and had passed through great experiences and
many sorrows. Thus far he had contended for Protestant opinions, and
was the acknowledged leader of the Protes