n, to whom she owed her advancement in life, even when the more
short-sighted selfishness of her husband would have induced him to
sacrifice all other considerations to his own insatiable thirst
for power.

Unfortunately, however, the very excess of her affection rendered her a
dangerous adviser to the indignant and neglected Princess, from whose
private circle Henry at this period almost wholly absented himself.

Nor were these domestic anxieties the only ones against which the French
King had to contend at this particular crisis; for while the Court
circle had been absorbed in banquets and festivals, the seeds of civil
war, sown by a few of the still discontented nobles, began to germinate;
and Henry constantly received intelligence of seditious movements in the
provinces. On the banks of the Loire and the Garonne the symptoms of
disaffection had already ceased to be problematical; while at La
Rochelle and Limoges the inhabitants had assaulted the government
officers who sought to levy an obnoxious tax.

Little doubt existed in the minds of the monarch and his ministers that
these hostile demonstrations were encouraged, if not suggested, by the
secret agents of Philip III of Spain, and the Duke of Savoy, who had
been busily engaged some time previously in dissuading the Swiss and
Grisons from renewing the alliance which they had formed with Henri III,
and which became void at his death. This attempt was, however,
frustrated by an offer made to them by Sillery of a million in gold, as
payment of the debt still due to them from the French government for
their past services; which enormous sum reached them through the hands
of the Duc de Biron, to whom, as well as to the memory of his father,
the old Marechal, many of the Switzers were strongly and
personally attached.

Day by day, also, the King had still more serious cause of apprehension,
having ascertained almost beyond a doubt that the Duc de Bouillon, the
head of the Huguenot party, who were incensed against Henry for having
deserted their faith, was secretly engaged in a treaty with Spain,
Savoy, and England, a circumstance rendered doubly dangerous from the
fact that the Protestants still held several fortified places in
Guienne, Languedoc, and other provinces, which would necessarily, should
the negotiation prove successful, be delivered into his hands. There
can be no doubt, moreover, that the monarch keenly felt the ingratitude
of this noble, whom he had h