uld obtain his release."
Henry IV. was right. As early as the 7th of August, the Duke of Mayenne
had an announcement made to the Parliament of Paris, and written notice
sent to all the provincial governors, "that, in the interval until the
states-general could be assembled, he urged them all to unite with him in
rendering with one accord to their Catholic king, that is to say,
Cardinal de Bourbon, the obedience that was due to him." The cardinal
was, in fact, proclaimed king under the name of Charles X.; and eight
months afterwards, on the 5th of March, 1590, the Parliament of Paris
issued a decree "recognizing Charles X. as true and lawful king of
France." Du Plessis-Mornay, ill though he was, had understood and
executed, without loss of time, the orders of King Henry, going bail
himself for the promises that had to be made and for the sums that had
to be paid to get the cardinal away from the governor of Chinon. He
succeeded, and had the cardinal removed to Fontenay-le-Comte in Poitou,
"under the custody of Sieur de la Boulaye, governor of that place, whose
valor and fidelity were known to him." "That," said Henry IV. on
receiving the news, "is one of the greatest services I could have had
rendered me; M. du Plessis does business most thoroughly." On the 9th of
May, 1590, not three months after the decree of the Parliament of Paris
which had proclaimed him true and lawful King of France, Cardinal de
Bourbon, still a prisoner, died at Fontenay, aged sixty-seven. A few
weeks before his death he had written to his nephew Henry IV. a letter in
which he recognized him as his sovereign.

The League was more than ever dominant in Paris; Henry IV. could not
think of entering there. Before recommencing the war in his own name, he
made Villeroi, who, after the death of Henry III., had rejoined the Duke
of Mayenne, an offer of an interview in the Bois de Boulogne to see if
there were no means of treating for peace. Mayenne would not allow
Villeroi to accept the offer. "He had no private quarrel," he said,
"with the King of Navarre, whom he highly honored, and who, to his
certain knowledge, had not looked with approval upon his brothers' death;
but any appearance of negotiation would cause great distrust amongst
their party, and they would not do anything that tended against the
rights of King Charles X." Renouncing all idea of negotiation, Henry IV.
set out on the 8th of August from St. Cloud, after having told off his