?
Happily, a minute account, in the form of a manuscript memorandum taken
down at the time by Duke Christopher, is still extant in the archives of
Stuttgart.[30] Little known, but authentic beyond the possibility of
cavil, this document deserves more attention than it has received from
historians; for it places in the clearest light the shameless mendacity of
the Guises, and shows that the duke had nearly as good a claim as the
cardinal, his brother, to the reputation which the Venetian ambassador
tells us that Charles had earned "_of rarely telling the truth_."

[Sidenote: Lying assurances.]

Duke Christopher made the acquaintance of Charles of Lorraine as a
preacher on the morning after his arrival, when he heard him, in a sermon
on the temptation in the wilderness, demonstrate that no other mediators
or intercessors must be sought for but Jesus Christ, who is our only
Saviour and the only propitiation for our sins. That day Christopher had a
long conversation with Guise respecting the unhappy condition of France,
which the latter ascribed in great part to the Huguenot ministers, whose
unconciliatory conduct, he said, had rendered abortive the Colloquy of
Poissy. Wuertemberg corrected him by replying that the very accounts of the
colloquy which Guise had sent him showed that the unsuccessful issue was
owing to the prelates, who had evidently come determined to prevent any
accommodation. He urged that the misfortunes that had befallen France were
much rather to be ascribed to the cruel persecutions that had been
inflicted on so many guiltless victims. "I cannot refrain from telling
you," he added, "that you and your brother are strongly suspected in
Germany of having contributed to cause the death, since the decease of
Henry the Second--and even before, in his lifetime--of several thousands
of persons who have been miserably executed on account of their faith. As
a friend, and as a Christian, I must warn you. Beware, beware of innocent
blood! Otherwise the punishment of God will fall upon you in this life and
in the next." "He answered me," writes Wuertemberg, "_with great sighs_: 'I
know that my brother and I are accused of that, and of many other things
also. But _we are wronged_,[31] as we shall both of us explain to you
before we leave.'"

The cardinal entered more fully than his brother into the doctrinal
conference, talking now with Wuertemberg, now with his theologian Brentius,
and trying to persuade both that