that hailed it. In the religious struggle a frenzy
had been kindled which made weakness violent, and turned good men into
prodigies of ferocity; and at Rome, where every loss inflicted on
Catholicism and every wound was felt, the belief that, in dealing with
heretics, murder is better than toleration prevailed for half a century.
The predecessor of Gregory had been Inquisitor-General. In his eyes
Protestants were worse than Pagans, and Lutherans more dangerous than
other Protestants.[136] The Capuchin preacher, Pistoja, bore witness
that men were hanged and quartered almost daily at Rome;[137] and Pius
declared that he would release a culprit guilty of a hundred murders
rather than one obstinate heretic.[138] He seriously contemplated razing
the town of Faenza because it was infested with religious error, and he
recommended a similar expedient to the King of France.[139] He adjured
him to hold no intercourse with the Huguenots, to make no terms with
them, and not to observe the terms he had made. He required that they
should be pursued to the death, that not one should be spared under any
pretence, that all prisoners should suffer death.[140] He threatened
Charles with the punishment of Saul when he forebore to exterminate the
Amalekites.[141] He told him that it was his mission to avenge the
injuries of the Lord, and that nothing is more cruel than mercy to the
impious.[142] When he sanctioned the murder of Elizabeth he proposed
that it should be done in execution of his sentence against her.[143] It
became usual with those who meditated assassination or regicide on the
plea of religion to look upon the representatives of Rome as their
natural advisers. On the 21st of January 1591, a young Capuchin came, by
permission of his superiors, to Sega, Bishop of Piacenza, then Nuncio at
Paris. He said that he was inflamed with the desire of a martyr's death;
and having been assured by divines that it would be meritorious to kill
that heretic and tyrant, Henry of Navarre, he asked to be dispensed from
the rule of his Order while he prepared his measures and watched his
opportunity. The Nuncio would not do this without authority from Rome;
but the prudence, courage, and humility which he discerned in the friar
made him believe that the design was really inspired from above. To make
this certain, and to remove all scruples, he submitted the matter to the
Pope, and asked his blessing upon it, promising that whatever he decided
shou