Agnes Strickland's Queens of England, Vol. 3. (of 3) / Abridged and Fully Illustrated

CONTENTS

In presenting this last volume of Queens of England to our readers, we are glad to say that we have been permitted to carry the story through the entire history of that country, from the Conquest to the present day. We present a more complete, although less extended account than is given in any volume or series of volumes now before the public. We feel sure that the interest has been continued unabated from the beginning, and that not only pleasure but real profit will be derived from a careful perusal of every page of these three volumes. It is true that some eminent names and many noteworthy events have been sacrificed; but nothing has been omitted which has been requisite for the comprehension of events which have depended upon them. Those who follow carefully the story of these famous characters, will find suggestions which will prompt them to independent inquiry and landmarks which will indicate a more elaborate and complete course of study.

Sebastopol...........................................Frontispiece



When the Edict of Nantes was revoked by Louis XIV., of which mention has been made in a previous reign, persecutions that equalled the never-to-be-forgotten St. Bartholomew, followed, and being spread over a longer period, affected a larger number of victims. This Edict had permitted to Protestants the free observance of their religion so long that when it was repealed it was a cruel blow, though perhaps a triumph to Roman Catholics. Those faithful adherents to Protestantism who refused to become converts were executed or imprisoned; but thousands escaped and fled, leaving their property to be confiscated to the crown, while they sought refuge, strangers in a strange land, with poverty staring them in the face. Those were times when horrors unspeakable were of daily occurrence. Armed bodies of dragoons went from town to town in France, barbarously butchering the terror-stricken men, women, and children, who had failed to confess and receive the sacrament according to the mode prescribed by the king; while thousands hastened at the point of the sword to do so, pretending, in order to escape massacre, that they had suddenly awakened to the error of their former ways.