ts, and in return expects the same favor although, by accounts
they had received from England, many ships were arming to assist their
rebels at La Rochelle. "My lady and mother" advances another step, and
declares that Elizabeth by treaty is bound to assist her son against his
rebellious subjects; and they expect, at least, that Elizabeth will not
only stop these armaments in all her ports, but exemplarily punish the
offenders. I resume the letter.

"And on hearing this, the said Walsingham changed color, and appeared
somewhat astonished, as my lady and mother well perceived by his face;
and on this he requested the Count of Worcester to mention the order
which he knew the Queen his mistress had issued to prevent these people
from assisting those of La Rochelle; but that in England, so numerous
were the seamen and others who gained their livelihood by maritime
affairs, and who would starve without the entire freedom of the seas,
that it was impossible to interdict them."

Such is the first letter on English affairs which Charles IX despatched
to his ambassador, after an awful silence of six months, during which
time La Motte Fenelon was not admitted into the presence of Elizabeth.
The apology for the massacre of St. Bartholomew comes from the King
himself, and contains several remarkable expressions, which are at least
divested of that style of bigotry and exultation we might have expected:
on the contrary, this sanguinary and inconsiderate young monarch, as he
is represented, writes in a subdued and sorrowing tone, lamenting his
hard necessity, regretting he could not have recourse to the laws, and
appealing to others for his efforts to check the fury of the people,
which he himself had let loose. Catherine de' Medici, who had governed
from the tender age of eleven years, when he ascended the throne, might
unquestionably have persuaded him that a conspiracy was on the point of
explosion. Charles IX died young, and his character is unfavorably
viewed by the historians. In the voluminous correspondence which I have
examined, could we judge by state letters of the character of him who
subscribes them, we must form a very different notion; they are so
prolix and so earnest that one might conceive they were dictated by the
young monarch himself!

[Illustration: Catherine de Medici, accompanied by her suite, issues
from the gate of the Louvre the morning after the massacre of St.
Bartholomew

Painting by Ed. Debat-Pons