[76] An allusion to the Vision of Victoria, depicted in "The Casque's Lark," the fifth of this series.
[77] It is certain that Admiral Coligny's head departed for Rome; whether it ever arrived there is not known. Mandelot, the Governor of Lyons, acknowledged receipt of a letter from Charles IX ordering the nobleman "to arrest the carrier of the head, and to take the same away from him."—Extracts from the correspondence of Mandelot, published by M. Paulin, Paris, 1845, p. 119.
[78] Out of respect for our female readers we dare not here quote the Register Journal of L'Etoile, page 81, where is found in extenso the conversation, marked by a savage obscenity, between the Queen and the court ladies who accompanied her. The conversation is confirmed by all contemporaneous historians.
[79] See "The Brass Bell," number two in this series.
[80] See "The Carlovingian Coins," the ninth of this series.
[81] See, on the siege of La Rochelle, the daring manoeuvres of Captain Mirant; the combat sustained by Barbot the boilermaker, single-handed against two companies; the firing of the stranded ship L'Ensensoir by the Rochelois women, and their heroism in the combats in which they took part, History of La Rochelle and of the Country of Aunis, by Arcère 1756, 2 vols. in quarto. I refer my readers to that excellent work in order that those who would wish to certify the facts may see that all the episodes herein narrated concerning the siege of La Rochelle are strictly historic.
[82] As thrillingly recounted in "The Pilgrim's Shell," the twelfth work of this series.
[83] As an instance of the proud and noble bearing of the staunch republicans in this Council, the story is told that when it was found that in the passport issued by the Duke of Anjou the Rochelois were designated as "rebels," they refused to accept it, and Anjou was forced to send another passport.—History of La Rochelle, by Arcere, p. 417.
[84] "I am guilty, I am guilty, I am very guilty."
[85] Register Journal of L'Etoile, p. 34.