e infamous massacre of _La Saint
Barthelemy_ took place.) In 1589 he succeeded to the throne of France;
but his religion proving an obstacle to his coronation, he consented
to abjure it in 1593. In 1598 he issued the edict of Nantes, granting
toleration to the Protestants".

Mezeray, speaking of the marriage of the King of Navarre (afterwards
Henry IV.) with Margaret de Valois, says, "There were many diversions,
tournaments, and ballets at Court; and amongst others, one which
seemed to presage the calamity that was so near bursting out upon the
Huguenots--the King and his brothers defending Paradise against the
King of Navarre and his brothers, who were repulsed and banished to
Hell;" and Sainte Foix, in his relation of the horrible massacre,
gives a detail, which in the present age appears almost incredible.

Catherine of Medicis, whose abominable politics had corrupted the
disposition of her son, was at the head of the cabinet council who
agreed to the murder of more than one hundred thousand Protestants;
and the miserable bigot Charles IX. stationed during the massacre at
the window of a house then belonging to the Constable of Bourbon,
fired with his own hands upon the Huguenots with a long blunderbuss,
whilst they were trying to escape across the river.

The River Erdre runs northward of the city, and forms a beautiful
feature, winding for many miles among cultivated fields and woodlands,
through a country agreeably diversified with villas, to which the
wealthier inhabitants retire during the summer months. The river
resembles a lake for the greater part of its course, and is called the
Barban.

The Gothic church of Saint Pierre, built by the English in 1434, is
a fine old structure: having been much neglected for many years, and
greatly defaced during the Revolution, it was at this time restoring.
Among the monuments about to be replaced, was an excellent one of Anne
de Bretagne, whose effigy, and that of her husband, are as large as
life. The allegorical figures of Justice, Temperance, Prudence, and
Fortitude, the twelve Apostles, and the supporters to the Arms (a
greyhound and a lion), are all executed in the finest white marble.
They were hidden during the Revolution, and have only very lately been
discovered, as have also some capital paintings piously preserved
for the Church. Anne was first married to Charles VIII. in 1499, and
afterwards to Louis XII. She died at the Chateau de Blois in 1514, and
Louis