[514] Ibid., ubi supra.
[515] Hist. ecclés., i. 34. Occasionally, instead of cutting out the tongue of the "Lutheran," a large iron ball was forced into his mouth, an equally effective means of preventing distinct utterance. This was done to two converted monks, degraded and burned in Saintonge, in August, 1546. A. Crottet, Hist. des églises réf. de Pons, Gémozac et Mortagne, 212.
[516] Alluding to the compacts into which Francis had entered, the emperor accuses him of having purposely violated them all: "los quales nunca a guardado, como es notorio, sino por el tiempo que no a podido renobar guerra, ó a querido esperar de hallar oportunidad de dañarme con disimulacion." From Henry he anticipates little better treatment. Instruct. of Charles V. to the Infante Philip, Augsburg, Jan. 18, 1548, Pap. d'état du Card, de Granvelle, iii. 285. It ought to be added, however, that both Francis and his son retorted with similar accusations; and that, in this case at least, all three princes seem to have spoken the exact truth.
[517] The dauphin Francis died at Tournon, Aug. 10, 1536, probably from the effects of imprudently drinking ice-water when heated by a game at ball. None the less was one of his dependants—the Count of Montecuccoli—compelled by torture to avow, or invent the story, that he had poisoned him at the instigation of Charles the Fifth. He paid the penalty of his weakness by being drawn asunder by four horses! How little Francis I. believed the story is seen from the magnificence and cordiality with which, three years later, he entertained the supposed author and abettor of the crime. See an interesting note of M. Guiffrey, Cronique du Roy Françoys Ier, 184-186. The imperialists replied by attributing the supposed crime, with equal improbability, to Catharine de' Medici, the youthful bride of Henry, who succeeded to his brother's title and expectations. Charles of Angoulême, a prince whose inordinate ambition, if we may believe the memoirs of Vieilleville, led him to exhibit unmistakable tokens of joy at a false report of the drowning of his two elder brothers, died on the 8th of September, 1545, of infection, to which he wantonly exposed himself by entering a house and handling the clothes of the dead, with the presumptuous boast "that never had a son of France been known to die of the plague."
[518] See Brantôme, Hommes illustres (Œuvres, vii. 369, 370).
[519] This was as early as 1538. Mémoires de Vieilleville (Ed. Petitot), liv. v. c. 24, 25.
[520] "The king is a goodly tall gentleman, well made in all the parts of his body, a very grim countenance, yet very gentle, meek, and well beloved of all his people." The Journey of the queen's ambassadors to Rome, anno 1555 (the last to pay reverence to the Pope, under Mary), printed in Hardwick, State Papers, I. 68.
[521] "Non senza pericolo," says Matteo Dandolo, "perchè corrono molte volte alle sbarre con poco vedere, sì che si abbatterono un giorno a correre all' improvviso il padre (Francis) contra il figlio, e diede lui alla buona memoria di quello un tal colpo nella fronte, che gli levò la carne più che se gli avesse dato una gran frignoccola." Relazioni Venete, ii. 171.
[522] Relations Vén. (Ed. Tommaseo), i. 286.
[523] Histoire ecclésiastique, i., 43. The most striking features of the character of Henry are well delineated by the Venetian ambassadors who visited the court of France during the preceding and the present reigns. Even the Protestants who had experienced his severity speak well of his natural gentleness, and deplore the evils into which he fell through want of self-reliance. The discriminating Regnier de la Planche styles him "prince de doux esprit, mais de fort petit sens, et du tout propre à se laisser mener en lesse" (Histoire de l'estat de France, éd. Panthéon litt., 202). Claude de l'Aubespine draws a more flattering portrait, as might be expected from one who served as minister of state in the councils of Francis I. and the three succeeding monarchs: "Ce prince estoit, à la vérité, très-bien nay, tant de corps que de l'esprit.... Il avoit un air si affable et humain que, dès le premier aspect, il emportoit le cœur et la dévotion d'un chacun. Aussi a il esté constamment chery et aimé de tous ses subjets durant sa vie, désiré et regretté après sa mort" (Histoire particulière de la cour du Roy Henry II., Cimber et Danjou, Archives curieuses, iii. 277). Tavannes is less complimentary: "Le roy Henry eut les mesmes defauts de son predecesseur, l'esprit plus foible, et se peut dire le règne du connestable, de Mme. de Valentinois et de M. de Guise, non le sien." (Mémoires de Gaspard de Saulx, seigneur de Tavannes, ed. Petitot, i. 410.)