sentence milder, but still
severe, punishments were meted out: imprisonment and various sorts of
penance. By the edict of Chateaubriand a code of forty-six articles
against heresy was drawn up, and the magistrate empowered to put
suspected persons under surveillance.

In the face of this fiery persecution the conduct of the Calvinists was
wonderfully fine. They showed great adroitness in evading the law by
all means save recantation and great astuteness in using what poor
legal means of defence were at their disposal. On the other hand they
suffered punishment with splendid constancy and courage, very few
failing in the hour of trial, and most meeting death in a state of
exaltation. Large numbers found refuge in other lands. During the
reign of Henry II fourteen hundred fled to Geneva, not to mention the
many who settled in the Netherlands, England, and Germany.

[Sidenote: Protestant growth]

Far from lying passive, the Calvinists took the offensive not only by
writing and preaching but by attacking the images of the saints. Many
of these were broken or defaced. One student in the university of
Paris smashed the images of the Virgin and St. Sebastian and a stained
glass window representing the crucifixion, and posted up placards
attacking the cult of the saints. For this he was pilloried three
times and then shut into a small hole walled in on all sides {205} save
for an aperture through which food was passed him until he died.

Undaunted by persecution the innovators continued to grow mightily in
numbers and strength. The church at Paris, though necessarily meeting
in secret, was well organized. The people of the city assembled
together in several conventicles in private houses. By 1559 there were
forty fully organized churches (_eglises dressees_) throughout France,
and no less than 2150 conventicles or mission churches (_eglises
plantees_). Estimates of numbers are precarious, but good reason has
been advanced to show that early in the reign of Henry the Protestants
amounted to one-sixth of the population. Like all enthusiastic
minorities they wielded a power out of proportion to their numbers.
Increasing continually, as they did, it is probable, but for the
hostility of the government, they would have been a match for the
Catholics. At any rate they were eager to try their strength. A new
and important fact was that they no longer consisted entirely of the
middle classes. High officers of gover