[805] Ibid. p. 124.
[806] Ibid. p. 128.
[807] Ibid. p. 129.
[808] 'Più dannoso all' Italia fu il soggiorno che, per qualche tempo, fece occultamente Calvino, sotto il nome di Carlo d'Heppeville, alla corte di Ferrara, circa il 1535.'—Tiraboschi, Hist. de la Litt. ital. vii. p. 358.
CHAPTER XVI.
CALVIN'S FLIGHT.
(Spring, 1536.)
Duke Hercules of Este had remarked that certain changes had taken place since the arrival of the Frenchman. Calvin's discussion with François the chaplain could not be kept secret. Borgia's grandson knew that the pope, under the pretence of heresy, might deprive him of his states; already his father, Duke Alphonso, through being on bad terms with Rome, had passed many years in exile. The Inquisition had a tribunal at Ferrara, and what was going on at court was more than enough to alarm it. A report had been made to the pope; Charles V. had been informed; and Paul III. proposed a treaty to the duke, in which there was a secret article stipulating the removal of all the French then at Ferrara; but there was one among them for whom a severer fate was reserved. The duke, retracting the indulgence he had conceded to his wife, declared that he was resolved to put an end to the schismatic intrigues of which the court was the theatre; that the count and countess of Marennes, Soubise, the other gentleman, and even Marot, must quit his states; 'and as for M. d'Espeville,' he added, 'know, madam, that if he is discovered, he will forthwith be dragged to punishment on account of religion.'[809]
=TRIALS OF RENEE.=
This order was like a thunderstroke to Renée. Called to leave the land of her ancestors, she had created a little France at Ferrara; and now, all who gave her any comfort in her exile were about to be torn from her. Rome would deprive her of that pious and learned teacher who had given her such good counsel; perhaps he would expiate on an Italian scaffold the crime of having proclaimed the Gospel. All the lords and ladies of the court, and even the satirical Marot, were to leave Ferrara. Leon Jamet seems to have been the only Frenchman permitted to stay; the duchess, who required a secretary, had obtained her husband's permission for this ex-clerk of the treasury to remain with her in that character. Thus the daughter of Louis XII., after the bright days she had enjoyed, was condemned to remain almost alone in her palace, as in a gloomy chamber; her slightest movements were watched; she was tormented by priests whom she despised, and exposed by the grandson of Borgia to unjust harshness. Marot, touched by so many misfortunes, and knowing the part which the queen of Navarre, Renée's cousin, would take in this great trial, addressed her in these touching lines:
Ah! Marguerite, écoute la souffrance