ing with Rome which threatened to rend the
delicate web in which Charles was striving to hold the confidence of
the Protestant world.[132] He requested that the Legate might be
recalled; and the Pope was willing that there should be some delay.
While Orsini tarried on his way, Gregory's reply to the announcement of
the massacre arrived at Paris. It was a great consolation to himself, he
said, and an extraordinary grace vouchsafed to Christendom. But he
desired, for the glory of God and the good of France, that the Huguenots
should be extirpated utterly; and with that view he demanded the
revocation of the edict. When Catherine knew that the Pope was not yet
satisfied, and sought to direct the actions of the King, she could
hardly restrain her rage. Salviati had never seen her so furious. The
words had hardly passed his lips when she exclaimed that she wondered at
such designs, and was resolved to tolerate no interference in the
government of the kingdom. She and her son were Catholics from
conviction, and not through fear or influence. Let the Pope content
himself with that.[133] The Nuncio had at once foreseen that the court,
after crushing the Huguenots, would not become more amenable to the
counsels of Rome. He wrote, on the very day of St. Bartholomew, that the
King would be very jealous of his authority, and would exact obedience
from both sides alike.

At this untoward juncture Orsini appeared at Court. To Charles, who had
done so much, it seemed unreasonable that he should be asked for more.
He represented to Orsini that it was impossible to eradicate all the
remnants of a faction which had been so strong. He had put seventy
thousand Huguenots to the sword; and, if he had shown compassion to the
rest, it was in order that they might become good Catholics.[134]

The hidden thoughts which the Court of Rome betrayed by its conduct on
this memorable occasion have brought upon the Pope himself an amount of
hatred greater than he deserved. Gregory XIII. appears as a pale figure
between the two strongest of the modern Popes, without the intense zeal
of the one and the ruthless volition of the other. He was not prone to
large conceptions or violent resolutions. He had been converted late in
life to the spirit of the Tridentine Reformation; and when he showed
rigour it was thought to be not in his character, but in the counsels of
those who influenced him.[135] He did not instigate the crime, nor the
atrocious sentiments