[1079] "Mais ceux qui sont extremement malades sont excusez d'appliquer toutes herbes à la douleur pour l'appaiser, quand elle est insupportable, attendant le bon medecin, que j'estime devoir estre un bon Concile, pour une si furieuse et dangereuse maladie." Letter of Catharine to the Bishop of Rennes, Aug. 23, 1561, apud Le Laboureur, Add. to Castelnau, i. 727.
[1080] An incident, preserved for us by Languet, which happened about this time, reveals somewhat of Catharine's temper and of the doubts that pervaded the young king's mind. On Corpus Christi day, the queen mother, in conversation with her son, recommended to him that, while duly reverencing the sacrament, he should not entertain so gross a belief as that the bread which was carried around in the procession was the very body of Christ which hung from the cross. Charles replied that he had received the same warning from others, but coupled with the injunction that he should say nothing about it to any one. "Yet," responded Catharine smiling, "you must take care not to forsake your ancestral religion, lest your kingdom may be thrown into confusion, and you yourself be driven into banishment." To which Charles aptly replied: "The Queen of England has changed the religion of her kingdom, but no one gives her any trouble." Epist. secr., ii. 127.
[1081] De Thou (iii., liv. xxviii., pp. 60-63) gives the substance, Gerdesius (Scrinium Antiq., v. 339, seq.) the text of this extraordinary letter. See also Jean de Serres, i. 212, etc.
[1082] From Hurault's letter of July 12th, to the Bishop of Rennes, we learn the date of the Cardinal of Ferrara's departure from Rome—July 2d. He travelled so slowly, however, that it was not until September 19th that he reached St. Germain.
[1083] "Que je n'avoys reçu change depuis qu'il n'avoit voulu parler à moy de peur d'estre excommunié." Letter of Beza to Calvin, Aug. 25, 1561, Baum, ii. Appendix, 46. This long and important letter, giving a graphic account of the first days of Beza at St. Germain, was signed, for safety's sake, "T. de Chalonoy," and addressed to "Monsieur d'Espeville, à Villedieu." The Duke d'Aumale has also published this letter in his Histoire des Princes de Condé, i. 340-342. There are some striking differences in the two; none more noteworthy than the omission in Prof. Baum's copy of a sentence which very clearly marks the distrust still felt by the reformers of the upright Chancellor L'Hospital. After reference to L'Hospital's greeting, Beza originally wrote: "Force me fut de le suyvre, mais ce fut avec un tel visage qu'il congnut assez que je le congnoissois." From the later copy and from the Latin translation inserted by Beza himself in the collection of Calvin's letters, these words are omitted.
[1084] "Avec une troupe cent foys plus grande que je n'eusse desiré." Ubi supra.
[1085] Letter of Beza of Aug. 25th, ubi supra. Beza, to whom Condé immediately afterward gave an account of the act of reconciliation, was not altogether satisfied with it. I have spoken of it as unfortunate, because it removed all the obstacles to the more complete union of the constable and the Guises against the Huguenots. La Place, 140; De Thou, iii. (liv. xxviii.) 56.
[1086] "Estant arrivez à la court, ilz y furent mieux accueillis que n'eust esté le pape de Rome, s'il y fust venu." Mém. de Claude Haton, i. 155.
[1087] Letter of Beza of Aug. 25th, Baum. ii., Appendix, 47-54; La Place, 155-157; De Thou, iii. (liv. xxviii.) 64; Hist. ecclés. des égl. réf. i. 309-312.
[1088] "Nous confessons, dy-je, que panis est corpus sacramentale, et pour définir que c'est à dire sacramentaliter, nous disons qu'encores que le corps soit aujourd'huy au ciel et non ailleurs, et les signes soyent en la terre avec nous, toutefoys aussi veritablement nous est donné ce corps et reçu par nous, moyennant la foy," etc. Baum, ii. App., 52.