churches multiplied in Nismes. This place was the strong-hold of the Hugenots in the sixteenth century; and in the year 1815, in consequence of the religious reaction of that period, scenes of the most deplorable violence on account of religious opinions were enacted in the public highways. These barbarities did not cease until the month of March, in 1817, when a powerful body from the Cevennes presented themselves at the city-gates, during a massacre that was actually in progress under the walls of the Amphitheatre, declaring "that 30,000 men were ready to descend from the mountains with the weapons of despair, if the safety of their brothers required it." This announcement instantly sheathed the assassin's dagger.

END OF THE FIRST SERIES.

RÉSUMÉ

OF

THE HISTORY OF FRANCE.

FROM THE ACCESSION OF CLOVIS TO THE PRESENT TIME.

THE biography of Saint Louis is more closely associated with the story of the Crusaders than with the history of his country, for he dedicated himself with the most entire devotion to that visionary project. Being made prisoner by the Saracens, he disdained the offer of life on condition of forsaking his army-remaining in captivity until ransomed by his admiring subjects. Setting out a second time, with unabated fervour, for the Holy Land, he turned aside to besiege Tunis, where he fell a victim to the plague. Philip III., who succeeded Saint Louis, introduced letters of nobility, by which the power and dignity of the feudal baron was restricted; and, having reduced the Tuniseens to subjection, closed his boisterous rule. It was in the reign of Philip le Bel, that the Knights Templars were brought to the stake, and burned for crimes which it was never proved they had committed. A third estate was now first introduced, and, under this new regulation, deputies from the cities were called up to the assemblies of the clergy and nobility. The reign of Louis X., or the Hardy, was disgraced by the cruel death of his queen, whom he ordered to be strangled, and the infamous execution of the minister Marigni, whose friends, in turn, took off the monarch by poison.

In the fourth Charles the Capetian line ended, and the sixth Philip was the first of the family of Valois that sat upon the throne. King Edward III. of England asserted his claims to the French throne, but Philip succeeded by the Salic law, and demanded his rival's homage. This vain request laid the foundation of jealousies that did not subside even after the slaughter of thousands. In one naval engagement, the French lost upwards of two hundred ships and thirty thousand men; and the victory of Cressy placed the English in a position, from which folly alone would attempt to dislodge them. But valour has always been a characteristic of the Gauls, and, burning with desire to retrieve their honour, the French again tried the fortune of the fight on the field of Poictiers. Again the English were victorious, and amongst their prisoners were king

John the Good and his son Philip. Anarchy prevailed throughout the French provinces generally, after this series of reverses; but the death of king Edward, and of his brave son, the Black Prince, gave De Guesclin, constable of France, an opportunity of employing his great talents in restoring order to the institutions of the kingdom. The battle of Agincourt, where Henry V. established his fame as a soldier, completely overwhelmed the nation; submission was now their only alternative, but their humiliation was much relieved by the marriage of their conqueror with Catherine, their king's daughter. The Armagnes, a party of crown-vassals, espoused the cause of the English king, in preference to that of the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VII., and sustained their objects by the most desperate means. Never were expectations more entirely overthrown, by the course into which events, under the hand of Providence, were, in this remarkable instance, conducted. Henry V. died before the Dauphin, leaving his throne to a child only nine months old; it was in vain that the Armagnes claimed the throne of France for the infant king of England,-fortune seemed to sport with all their speculations. At the moment when the nobles of France were most dispirited, a peasant girl, known in history as the Maid of Orleans, or Joan of Arc, appeared, and, professing to have received an inspiration which qualified her for military enterprises, placed herself, in full armour, at the head of the Dauphin's army. Victory attended the heroine, until she succeeded in expelling the English, and placing the Dauphin on the throne of his ancestors, which he ascended with the title of Charles VII. The fate of Joan is ever to be lamented; betrayed by one of her own countrymen into the hands of her enemies, the savage manners of the times subjected her first to personal insult, and afterwards to a cruel death at the stake in the market-place of Rouen. Her memory is revered by her country, and she is acknowledged to have been sincere in her devotion to its liberties.

At this period a standing army was first established, by which the liberties of the states were abridged; and it became prudent policy, on the monarch's part, to aim at foreign conquests. No sovereign, perhaps, ever united a head more wise with a heart more wicked, than Louis XI. He was one of the greatest politicians of any age; taking for his motto dissimuler c'est regner-he was insidious, absolute, and tyrannical: when the nobles became factious, he subdued by dividing them; when the people threatened, he used force, putting thousands to death without so much as the form of a trial. He broke the spirit of the nobility, enslaved the people, and extended the power of the crown. When his latter days approached, he became conscience-stricken, and, sending into Calabria for a supposed saint, endeavoured to postpone his fate through the intercession of prayers, and processions, and the instrumentality of relics and rosaries. He expired, after a reign of three-and-twenty years, detested by all classes of his subjects.

In the following reign, the French pursued foreign wars, contending with Austria, and over-running Naples. It was at this crisis that those projects are supposed to have originated, which armed the kings of France against Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, and finally produced the modern political system of Europe.

The reign of the amiable and virtuous Louis XII. was disturbed by the violence of Pope Julius II., less a saint than a soldier. This military ecclesiastic took cities, won victories, and complained against the partiality of Providence in favouring the French. Conciliation, however, was the means adopted by Louis to effect conquests, and by this peaceful system he succeeded in multiplying friends. He gave his daughter in marriage to a grandson of Ferdinand of Spain, renouncing, at the same time, his claims on Milan and Genoa; and he endeavoured to secure the amity of Henry VIII. of England, by espousing Mary, the sister of that monarch.

crown.

In the year 1515, Francis I., a prince of shining abilities, great personal bravery, and the most popular acquirements, ascended the throne. He was young, ambitious, and Europe directed its attention towards him as the rival of Charles for the imperial At a ceremonious meeting on "the Field of the Cloth of Gold," Henry VIII. of England swore to maintain a lasting friendship towards his royal cousin of France; but, soon forgetting this pledge, he joined the party of the Emperor, and supported his claims against those of Francis. The battle of Pavia followed not long after, in which the French king was defeated; but, before he surrendered, calling his officers together, he said calmly," Gentlemen, we have lost all but our honour." The conqueror did not exhibit that generosity which was due to so great and gallant a prince; for, consigning him to captivity, he detained him from his country during two whole years. This narrow policy produced its natural consequences. The liberated prince burned with impatience to revenge the insult, and, forming a league with the Venetians, as well as with his treacherous friend Henry VIII., again renewed hostilities. The pope interfered between the contending parties, and obtained a temporary suspension of violent measures; but the personal animosity of the monarchs could not be entirely repressed, and, in direct opposition to the papal denunciation, the Emperor invaded France.

Less successful within the enemies' country than on neutral ground, the Emperor felt his military fame, and his personal safety, endangered; and, availing himself of the most favourable juncture for the purpose, offered terms of peace, which Francis, not very reluctantly, accepted.

It was not long after this happy termination of continued differences between these illustrious princes, that Francis was seized with a lingering illness, which put a period to his life, when he had only reached the thirty-third year of his age.

To Francis I. succeeded his son Henry, styled the Second, to whom, with the throne, descended a bitter contest with the see of Rome, still governed by Julius II. At St. Quentin the French suffered a signal chastisement from the Spaniards; a disgrace, to a great extent, retrieved by the brilliant successes of the Duke of Guise. This gallant soldier preserved the lustre of his country's arms, repulsed the united forces of England, Spain, and Flanders, and recovered possession of the city of Calais. King Henry was slain by Count de Montgomery, the strongest knight in France, at a tournament given in celebration of the marriage of his daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, with Philip, king of Spain. The count endeavoured to avoid the encounter, but the monarch persevered

in displaying his courage and dexterity, notwithstanding the known superiority of his antagonist. Francis II. was the son of the second Henry and of Catherine de Medicis, daughter of the Duke d'Urbino. He espoused the celebrated and unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots, but only survived his marriage two years. His reign was marked by religious intolerance, and by the continued persecution of the Huguenots, a cruelty wholly imputable to his mother. It is from this reign the origin of the national debt may be dated; a weight which crushed the very throne itself, after a lapse of 200 years. To Henry, his brother Charles IX. succeeded; but the change in governors brought no alteration in the government, Catherine de Medicis retaining the reins of power. Religious persecution continued with undiminished ferocity, until it reached a climax of horror in the assassination of the Protestants in Paris on St. Bartholomew's day.

These contests, miscalled religious, are all memorable, and distinguished in history by circumstances that preceded or attended them. The massacre of the Protestants at Vassi, in 1562, by the Duke of Guise's followers, was the signal of the first;-the intrigues of Queen Catherine, and cruelty of the Duke of Alva, proved the occasion of the second; an attempt to seize the prince of Condè, and Coligny, the leaders of the Protestants, laid the foundation of another rupture;-the infamous massacre on St. Bartholomew's day, in 1572, brought on a fourth civil war ;—and, lastly, a powerful faction was formed against the House of Guise, and hostilities were renewed; just at this critical juncture, a painful malady carried off the king. For some time he lingered under excruciating agonies of mind and body; and those are not wanting who assert, that, after the horrible massacre on St. Bartholomew's day, he had a perpetual flush, and acquired a fierceness of countenance, which before that event did not belong to him. His sleep became broken, and little refreshing, nor could soporific drafts relieve him. Overwhelmed by guilty woes, he expired before he had completed his twenty-fourth year.

The wretched Charles was succeeded on the throne by his brother, Henry III., a man entirely immersed in pleasures, and little disposed to relish the honours of government, accompanied by the fatigues which belong to them. Taking advantage of the monarch's suspicions, the powerful family of Guise entered into "the Sacred League” with the court of Spain, for the defence of the Roman Catholic religion, and proceeded to such extremities in their frantic zeal, as to contemplate the deposition of the king. Roused from his revelry by the approach of danger, Henry caused the elder branches of the House of Guise to be assassinated, as the most secure mode of ensuring tranquillity to his kingdom. The confederates, influenced with resentment at this barbarous act, publicly denounced the king, erased his name from the book of common prayer, and declared that it would be a meritorious act to put him to death by any means. James Clement, a Dominican friar, volunteered to perpetrate the bloody deed, and actually stabbed the royal victim as he was reading a letter in one of the state-apartments at St. Cloud. Although at first sunk in those allurements that degrade society, he soon extricated himself from their fetters, and exhibited such shining abilities, that, had he not been born to a throne, he might have been judged worthy to fill one. In this monarch, who died in 1569, the line of Valois ended.