[1209] Rel. di Marc' Antonio Barbaro, Rel. des Amb. Vén., ii. 88, 89. "È proceduto esso ambasciatore con la regina e Navarra con parole quasi sempre aspre e severe, minacciando di guerra dal canto del re suo, et dicendo in faccia alle lor maestà parole assai gagliarde e pungenti, e levando al re di Navarra del tutto la speranza della ricompensa, stando le cose in quei termini, et ponendoli inanzi l'inimicizia di Filippo."
[1210] "Etenim si de ilia (spe) ejiceretur dubium non erat, quin se totum ad Calvinistas converteret, et qui cum pudore ac simultatione illis favebat, perfricta fronte eorum sectam ita promoveret, ut brevissimo tempore totum Galliæ regnum occuparet." Sanctacrucii, de civ. Gall. diss. comment., 1471.
[1211] Ibid., 1473.
[1212] Santacrucii, de civ. Galliæ diss. com., 1472, 1473. That the whole affair was planned in deceit and treachery, is patent not only from Santa Croce's account both in his letters and in his systematic treatise, but from the whole of the Vargas correspondence. Even when the Pope—much to the ambassador's disgust—thought of complying with Antoine's request to intercede with Philip for some indemnification for the loss of the kingdom of Navarre, he took the pains to explain that his urgency would not amount to importunity, much less to a command; his aim was only to feed Antoine with false hopes while France was in so precarious a situation: "esto seria por cumplir con Vandome y entretenerle, por estar Francia en los términos en que está," etc. Papiers d'état du cardinal de Granvelle, vi. 344.
[1213] De Thou, iii. 78, 79.
[1214] Hist. ecclés. des égl. réf., i. 419 (the author of which, however, erroneously gives the end of November as the date of their departure); Jean de Serres, Commentarii de statu relig. et reipubl., i. 345 (who makes the same mistake); De Thou, iii. 99. "Cur autem aliquid adhuc spei habeam, illud etiam in causa est quod nudius tertius Guisiani omnes serio discesserunt, omnibus bonis invisi, ac plerisque etiam malis. Abiit quoque Turnonius et Conestabilis.... Probabile est aliquid simul moliri, sed tamen incerto eventu. De hoc intra paucos dies certi erimus, utinam ne nostro malo." Letter of Beza to Calvin, Oct. 21, 1561, Baum, ii., App., 110.
[1215] That the Huguenots were about this time as sanguine as their opponents were despondent, may be seen from the prediction of Languet (letter of October 9th), that unless the opposite party precipitated a war within two or three months, everything would be safe; so great would be the accession of strength that the reformers would actually be the strongest. At court everything tended in that direction, and the queen mother herself was not likely to try to stem the current. Martyr, it was reported, had several times brought tears to her eyes, when conversing with her. "However," dryly observes the diplomatist, "I am not over-credulous in these matters." Epist. secr., ii. 145.
[1216] Throkmorton to Queen Elizabeth, Paris, November 26, 1561, State Paper Office.
[1217] Others besides Jeanne were apprehensive. The Viscount de Gruz, in his memorial to Queen Elizabeth (Sept. 24, 1561), stated that the king's constitution was so bad that he was not likely to live long, for he ate and slept very little. His brothers were equally infirm in health. Monsieur D'Orléans had a very bad cough, and the physicians feared that he had the disease of his late brother, Francis; while Monsieur D'Anjou had been ill for more than a year, and was dying from day to day. State Paper Office.
[1218] Letters of Beza, Oct. 21st and Nov. 4th, ubi supra. "Tantum abest ut impetrarim (abeundi facultatem) ut etiam regina ipsa me accersitum expresse rogarit ut saltem ad tempus manerem."