=SUCCESS OF THE COMEDY.=
At last the play was ended. The Sorbonne exulted; the Queen of Navarre, who had formerly lashed the priests and monks, was now scourged by them in return.
Shouts of approbation rose from every bench, and the theologians clapped the piece with all their might; such applause as that of these reverend doctors had never been heard before.[420] There were, however, a few reasonable men to whom such a satire written against the king's sister appeared unbecoming. 'The authors have used neither veil nor figure of speech,' they said: 'the queen is openly and disgracefully insulted in the play.'[421] The monks, finding they had gone too far, wished to hush up the matter; but in a short time the whole city was full of it, and a few days after a mischievous friend went and spoke of it at court, describing the whole play, scene after scene, to the queen herself.[422]
The Sorbonne, the highest authority in the Church after the pope, had struck the first blow; the second had been given in the colleges; the third was to be aimed at Margaret by the court. By ruining this princess in the eyes of her brother, the enemies of the Reformation would cause her the most unutterable sorrow, for she almost adored Francis. Afterwards they would get her banished to the mountains of Béarn. Montmorency lent himself to this intrigue; he advanced prudently, speaking to the king about heresy, of the dangers it was bringing upon France, and of the obligation to free the kingdom from it for the salvation of souls. Then, appearing to hesitate, he added: 'It is true, Sire, that if you wish to extirpate the heretics, you must begin with the Queen of Navarre.'[423] ... And here he stopped.
Margaret was not informed of this perfidious proceeding immediately; but everybody told her that if she allowed the impertinence of the monks and the condemnation of the Sorbonne to pass unpunished, she would encourage their malice. She communicated what had taken place to her brother, declared herself to be the author of the Mirror, and insisted on the fact that it contained nothing but pious sentiments, and did not attack the doctrines of the Church: 'None of us,' she said, 'have been found sacramentarians.' Finally, she demanded that the condemnation by the theological faculty should be rescinded, and the college of Navarre called to account.
=CHRISTIANS MADE A SHOW.=
Calvin watched the whole business very closely; it might almost be said, after reading his letter, that he had been among the spectators. He censured the behaviour of both scholars and masters.[424] 'Christians,' he said later, 'are made a show of, as when in a triumph the poor prisoners are paraded through the city before being taken to prison and strangled. But the spectacle made of believers is no hindrance to their happiness, for in the presence of God they remain in possession of glory, and the Spirit of God gives them a witness who dwells steadfast in their hearts.'[425]
[397] Flor. Rémond, Hist. de l'Hérésie, pp. 847-849.
[398] Sainte-Marthe, Oraison funèbre de Marguerite, p. 45.
[399] The first edition of the Miroir de l'Ame pécheresse, was published at Alençon, by Simon Dubois.