as was possible. Among these unfortunates was a journeyman
tailor, who had been summoned before the king, and reproached by him for
listening to heretical doctrines; when Diane de Poitiers, who had been
instrumental in causing his arrest, also began to harangue him, the
tailor suddenly broke silence: "Madame," said he, "content yourself with
having infested France, and do not bring your ordure to mingle with
things as sacred as the truth of God." He was consequently given one of
the posts of honor among the victims, his stake being erected in the Rue
Saint-Antoine, nearest the window of the Hotel de la Roche-Pot, from
which the king watched the executions, and it is related that,
notwithstanding his atrocious sufferings, he fixed upon the monarch,
from amidst the flames, so steadfast and terrible a look that Henri
withdrew from the window, declaring that he would never be present at
another _auto-da-fe_. This did not signify, however, that he would order
no more.

Both Francois and Henri had formed, and partially carried out, various
enlightened measures for the embellishment of the capital and its
environs, the rebuilding of the Louvre, the completion of Fontainebleau,
the improvement of the navigation of the Seine, etc. Henri ordered the
demolition of the old royal residence, the Palais des Tournelles, and
its pestiferous moats were filled up. He is represented as being
inordinately fond of processions, and every event, of good or bad omen,
was made a pretence for one of these public displays. Catherine de
Medicis had brought with her from Tuscany a taste for luxury, letters,
and the arts; Philibert Delorme, whom the French consider the second of
their great architects, and who, under her orders, began, in 1564, the
construction of the Tuileries, testifies to "the exceeding pleasure
which she took in architecture, designing and sketching out the plans
and profiles of the edifices she intended to erect."

Under the reign of Henri II began the rise in importance, and the
frequent appearance in the national councils, of the great families
afterward so prominent in the wars of the League. The Connetable de
Montmorency, the Marechal de Saint-Andre, and the Guises, younger branch
of the ducal house of Lorraine, who at this period claimed to be only
the heirs of the house of Anjou, but who, later, asserted themselves to
be descendants of Charlemagne, monopolized the royal favors and the
royal authority. The eldest of Henri