e of others in renouncing his Huguenot associations, had
conciliated the duke's favor to such an extent that he excited no
suspicion before the commission of the treacherous act.

[Sidenote: Execution of Poltrot.]

But, if Poltrot was a fanatic, he was not of the stuff of which martyrs
are made. When questioned in the presence of the queen and council to
discover his accomplices, his constancy wholly forsook him, and he said
whatever was suggested. In particular he accused the admiral of having
paid him to execute the deed, and Beza of having instigated him by holding
forth the rewards of another world. La Rochefoucauld, Soubise, and others
were criminated to a minor degree. During his confinement in the prisons
of the Parisian parliament, to which he was removed, he continually
contradicted himself. But his weakness did not save him. He was condemned
to be burned with red-hot pincers, to be torn asunder by four horses, and
to be quartered. Before the execution of this frightful sentence, he was,
by order of the court, put to torture. But, instead of reiterating his
former accusations, he retracted almost every point.[240] To purchase a
few moments' reprieve, he sought an interview with the first president of
the parliament, Christopher de Thou; and we have it upon the authority of
that magistrate's son, the author of an imperishable history of his times,
that, entering into greater detail, Poltrot persisted constantly in
exculpating Soubise, Coligny, and Beza. A few minutes later, beside
himself with terror and not knowing what he said in his delirium, he
declared the admiral to be innocent; then, at the very moment of
execution, he accused not only him, but his brother, D'Andelot, of whom he
had said little or nothing before.[241]

[Sidenote: Beza and Coligny are accused, but vindicate themselves.]

Coligny heard in Normandy the report of the atrocious charges that had
been wrung from Poltrot. Copies of the assassin's confession were
industriously circulated in the camp, and he thus became acquainted with
the particulars of the accusation. With Beza and La Rochefoucauld, who
were with him at Caen, he published, on the twelfth of March, a long and
dignified defence. The reformer for himself declared, that, although he
had more than once seen persons ill-disposed toward the Duke of Guise
because of the murders perpetrated by him at Vassy, he had never been in
favor of proceeding against him otherwise than by the ordin