ous acts against the Protestants, she caused them to rise in arms. The Prince de Condé and Admiral Coligny were chosen as commanders of all the Protestant forces. After the death of Condé, which happened at the battle of Jarnac, the whole command devolved upon Coligny, and well did he prove himself worthy of the trust reposed in him. He carried on the war against the troops of Catherine with various success, sometimes conquering, sometimes suffering a defeat, but never permitting himself to be disheartened, however great his loss might be. Catherine de Medici, finding, at length, that she could not exterminate the Protestants by force of arms, resolved to do so by stratagem. She therefore concluded a peace with them, and invited the principal of them to court, where they were received with the greatest apparent cordiality. But Coligny, knowing the treachery of the queen, and suspecting some plot to be concealed under this veil of kindness, resolved to defeat her ends. For this purpose he intended to form a colony in the New World, where the Protestants, should circumstances hereafter compel them, might retire and live in peace and security. With this design, in the year 1562, he sent out an expedition consisting of two ships, under the command of John Ribaud. These vessels arrived on the coast of Florida in the month of May of the "ame year, and Ribaud entered a river which he called the May, but which was subsequently named San Mateo, by the Spaniards; it is now called St. John's. Here he erected a column (of stones), on which was inscribed the arms of France, as a token of possession; he then sailed farther north, and left a colony at the bay of Port Royal. But this colony, on account of dissensions among the chiefs, was soon abandoned. A short time afterwards, Coligny sent out three other vessels, under the command of Laudonnière. He reached Florida on the 20th of June, 1564, and sailed up the river May. Here he found the column which had been left by Ribaud still in existence, and decorated with garlands of flowers,

which the Indians had hung around it, and which the chief Saturiova now showed him with great apparent gratification. Laudonnière, struck with the beauty of the place, determined to form his settlement here, and commenced building a fortress, which he called Fort Carolina. But a scarcity of provisions arose, and the colonists became discontented, and desired to return to their native country. Laudonnière withstood their demands as long as possible, but finally yielding to their importunity, he embarked on the 28th of August, and began his voyage; but he had sailed only a short distance when he met with a fleet of several vessels, commanded by Ribaud, who was appointed to succeed him in the command. They, therefore, all returned, and the colony soon advanced to a more flourishing condition. But things were not long allowed to remain in this state. On the 20th of September an expedition of the Spaniards, under Melendez, arrived at the fort, and with the exception of women and children, massacred every living soul. This proved a death-blow to all the hopes of Coligny; and thus the colony, which, had it been suffered to have flourished, would have saved France a civil war, and prevented the great massacre of St. Bartholomew's day, was entirely destroyed.

Charles IX. and Catherine now began to display their hostility more openly than ever against the Protestant religion. They imposed such rigorous exactions upon its professors, that they once more rose in arms, and once more Coligny led them to battle. Here he met with various success; but on the whole, fortune seemed to incline in his favour. Catherine, at last, despairing of ever conquering the Protestants in the field, again concluded a treaty with him. Coligny was invited to Paris, where he was received with the most distinguished marks of favour. He had one hundred thousand francs given him by Charles IX. as an indemnity for his losses in the wars, and was admitted to a seat in the council.

Things continued in this condition until the night of St. Bar

tholomew's, the 24th of August, 1572, a night in which one of the most horrible transactions that ever disgraced humanity, occurred; a night in which thousands of innocent beings were sent to their final account without previous warning; a night in which deeds were perpetrated (the result not more of religious than political animosity) which are now equally reprobated by Catholic and Protestant. Particular orders had been given to prevent all chance of Coligny's escape. The Duke of Guise, with a band of miscreants, hastened to his house, which they surrounded. A man by the name of Besme then entered the room in which Coligny was sitting. "Art thou Coligny?" said he; "I am he indeed," said the admiral; "young man, you ought to respect my gray hairs; but, do what you will, you can shorten my life only by a few days." Besme immediately plunged his sword into his body, and his companions pierced him with many wounds. The body was then thrown out of the window into the street, where Guise was impatiently waiting to see it. He wiped the blood off his face in order to recognize the features, and then gave orders to cut off his head, which he sent to Catherine. This head was then embalmed and sent to the Pope, whilst his body remained in the street, exposed to every indignity from the ferocious rabble.

Thus perished Coligny, one of the greatest and most remarkable men that France ever produced. Well might his enemies exult in his fall; for he was the bulwark of the cause which he had espoused. With him perished the best hopes of Protestantism in France. The succeeding leader renounced the faith; and then there followed persecution, exile and apostacy, till the Revolution levelled all distinctions, and seemed for a time to have extinguished all religion with a deluge of political fanaticism.

15

SULLY,

FIRST MINISTER OF HENRY IV. OF FRANCE.

After the wretched assassination of his old master Henry the Fourth, Sully withdrew himself from public affairs, and lived in retirement thirty years at his chateau of Villebon, seldom or never coming to court. Louis the Thirteenth, however, wishing to have his opinion upon some matters of consequence, sent for him to come to him at Paris, and the good old man obeyed his summons, but not with the greatest alacrity. The gay courtiers on seeing a man dressed unlike to themselves, and of grave and serious manners, totally different from their own, and which appeared to be those of the last century, turned Sully into ridicule, and took him off to his face. Sully perceiving this, said coolly to the King, "Sire, when your father, of glorious memory, did me the honour to consult me on any matter of importance, he first sent away all the jesters and all the buffoons of his court."

Sully kept up always at his table at Villebon, the frugality to which he had been accustomed in early life in the army. His table consisted of two dishes, dressed in the plainest and most simple manner.

The courtiers reproached him often with the simplicity of his table. He used to reply in the words of an ancient, "If the guests are men of sense, there is sufficient for them; if they are not, I can very well dispense with their company."

Sully dined at the upper end of the hall, with the persons of his own age, at a table apart. The young people were served at a table by themselves. Sully gave as a reason for this arrangement, that the persons of different ages might not be mutually tiresome to each other.

The Pope having once written a letter to M. de Sully upon his becoming Minister, which ended with his Holiness's wishes that he might enter into the right way; Sully answered, that