[From a marble in the Louvre, by Jean Goujon. A very interesting relic, formerly part of a beautiful chimney-piece brought from the Château de Villeroy, and now in the Louvre, the work of Germain Pilon. No 302A is from the marble by Germain Pilon, the celebrated sculptor of the French Renaissance. The marble is very much decayed, but the general character of the head is preserved, as well as the costume. The head is crowned with laurel. The mantle is ornamented with the fleur-de-lys, and the Order is that of St. Michel. The magnificent tomb of this king in St. Denis is by Pilon.]
302A. Henry II. King of France.
303. Charles IX. King of France.
[Born at St. Germain, 1550. Died there, 1574. Aged 24.]
The son of Henry II. and Catherine de Medici. He was brought up under the tutelage of his mother; and at an early age, gave promise of a good career, exhibiting a taste for literature, princely courage, and a love of glory. But under the influence of his pernicious mother, he became profligate and cruel. His unenviable reign is notorious for the horrible Massacre of St. Bartholomew, when thousands of Protestants were deliberately murdered. Remorse for this tremendous crime followed Charles IX. to his grave, into which he was prematurely cast by diseases, the result of his debaucheries.
[From a marble in the Louvre, attributed to Germain Pilon. It represents the king in his youth. The pedestal is inscribed, Carolus IX. 1568.]
304. Henry III. King of France.
[Born at Fontainebleau, 1552. Died at St. Cloud, 1589. Aged 37.]
The son of Henry II. and Catherine de Medici. He acquired military fame as Duke of Anjou, by the victories of Jarnac and Moncontoni, gained over the Huguenots. In 1573, he was elected King of Poland; but on the death of his brother, Charles IX. of France, he relinquished the sovereignty of Poland for that of France. As King, his early energy and manly courage, gave place to shameless vice and debauchery. He was surrounded by the most unworthy favourites, who caused his reign to be designated as “The reign of the minions.” He had had a hand in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew; but at a later period, driven out of his own capital by a faction, he formed an alliance with Henry of Navarre, the chief of the Protestants, and with that prince he laid siege to Paris. He was thus employed at the camp of St. Cloud, when he was assassinated by a monk, named Jacques Clement. Henry III. has been described, by some historians, as a pupil of Machiavelli, concealing a profoundly devised plan beneath his gross immoralities, obscenities, and blasphemies. His acts were frequently those of a madman, yet he was not without good qualities. He was the last king of the house of Valois. It had reigned 261 years, and given 13 monarchs to France.
[From the marble in the Louvre, by Germain Pilon. Like its fellow, No. 302A, very much eaten away, as though at some time exposed to the weather.]