[909] Throkmorton to queen, Poissy, Oct. 10, 1560, State Paper Office.
[910] In a despatch to his ambassador at Madrid, Sept. 18, 1560 (Négoc. sous François II., 523, etc.), Francis states that 1,000 or 1,200 armed soldiers had been posted in sixty-six houses, ready to sally out by night, capture the city, and open the gates to 2,000 men waiting outside. Of course, according to the king or his ministers, the object was plunder, and the enterprise a fair specimen of Huguenot sanctity.
[911] La Planche, 365-368; La Place, 69; Nég. sous François II., ubi supra; Mém. de Castelnau, 1. ii., c. 9; Languet, ii. 70; De Thou, ii. 806. Calvin, in a letter to Beza (Sept. 10, 1560), seems to allude, though not by name, to Maligny, and to condemn his rashness; but the passage is purposely too obscure to throw much light upon the matter. Bonnet, iv. 126, etc.
[912] Letter of the king, apud Négoc. sous François II., 580, 581.
[913] The curious reader may task his ingenuity in deciphering the somewhat remarkable spelling in which the count quaintly relates the occurrence in question: "Aytant o Pont-Sainct-Esperit, je trouvis entre les mains de Rocart, capitayne de là, deux charges de mulles de livres de Genaive, fort bien reliez: toutefoys cela ne les en carda que je ne les fice toux brûler, comensent le prumier à les maytre o fu; de coe je fu bien suivi de monsieur de Joyeuse, vous asseurent qu' ill i en avoet beocoup de la copagnie qu'il les playnoet fort, les estiment plus de mille aycus: pour sayte foys-là je ne les voullus croere." Letter of Villars to the constable, Oct. 12, 1560, apud Négoc. sous François II., p. 655.
[914] On Sunday, the 28th of July, a gathering composed almost entirely of women was discovered. Nothing daunted, 1,200 persons met the next night, with torches and open doors, in the large school-rooms, where their pastor, Maupeau, preached an appropriate sermon from Rev. vi. 9, on "the souls of them that were slain for the word of God." Soon the same place was resorted to by day. Summoned before the magistrates, judge, and consuls, the Huguenots declared their loyalty, but said that they had no idea that the king wanted to dictate to the conscience, which belongs to God. Presently the church of St. Michael was seized. Then the Cardinal of Lorraine (Oct. 14th) wrote to the bishop, telling him to call upon M. de Villars for aid in suppressing assemblies and the preaching. Hist. ecclés. des égl. réf., i. 207-210.
[915] They are Nismes, Montpellier, Montagnac, Annonay, Castres, Marsillargues, Aigues Mortes, Pézénas, Gignac, Sommières, St. Jean de Gardonnenches, Anduze, Vauvers (Viviers?), Uzès, and Privas.
[916] Sommaire des instructions données à Pignan envoyé au roy par Honorat de Savoye, Cte. de Villars, Oct. 15, 1560, apud Négoc. sous François II., 659-661.
[917] On hearing of the seizure of Aigues Mortes by treachery. Hist. ecclés. des égl. réf., i. 211.
[918] Letters of De Villars to the Guises, Oct. 27 and 29, 1560. Nég. sous François II., 671.