THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW 115 THE ASSASSINATION OF FRANCIS, DUKE OF GUISE 161 THE ASSASSINATION OF HENRY, DUKE OF GUISE 228 THE ASSASSINATION OF HENRY III. 238 THE ACT OF ABJURING PROTESTANTISM 292 THE RECONCILIATION WITH MAYENNE 309 KING HENRY IV. CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 1475-1564 Navarre.--Catharine de Foix.--Ferdinand and Isabella.--Dismemberment of Navarre.--Plans for revenge.--Death of Catharine.--Marriage of Henry and Margaret.--Lingering hopes of Henry.--Jeanne returns to Navarre.--Birth of Henry IV.--The royal nurse.--Name chosen for the young prince.--The castle of Courasse.--Education of Henry.--Death of the King of Navarre.--Jeanne d'Albret ascends the throne.--Residence in Bearn.--Marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots.--Betrothal of Henry.--Henry's tutor.--Remark of Dr. Johnson.--Henry's motto.--La Gaucherie's method of instruction.--Death of Henry II.--Catharine de Medicis regent.--Influence of Plutarch.--Religious agitation.--The Huguenots.--The present controversy.--The Sorbonne.--Purging the empire.--The burning chamber.--Persecution of the Protestants.--Calvin and his writings.--Calvin's physical debility.--Continued labors.--Execution of Servetus.--Inhabitants of France.--Antony of Bourbon.--Jeanne d'Albret.--The separation.--Different life.--Rage of the Pope.--Growth of Protestantism.--Catharine's blandishments.--Undecided action.--Seizure of the queen.--Civil war.--Death of Antony of Bourbon.--Effects of the war.--Liberty of worship.--Indignation and animosity.--Religious toleration.--Belief of the Romanists.--Establishment of freedom of conscience. About four hundred years ago there was a small kingdom, spreading over the cliffs and ravines of the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees, called Navarre. Its population, of about five hundred thousand, consisted of a very simple, frugal, and industrious people. Those who lived upon the shore washed by the stormy waves of the Bay of Biscay gratified their love of excitement and of adventure by braving the perils of the sea. Those who lived in the solitude of the interior, on the sunny slopes of the mountains, or by the streams which meandered through the verdant valleys, fed their flocks, and harvested their grain, and pressed rich wine from the grapes of their vineyards, in the enjoyment of the most pleasant duties of rural life. Proud of their independence, they were ever ready to grasp arms to repel foreign aggression. The throne of this kingdom was, at the time of which we speak, occupied by Catharine de Foix. She was a widow, and all her hopes and affections were centred in her son Henry, an ardent and impetuous boy six or seven years of age, who was to receive the crown when it should fall from her brow, and transmit to posterity their ancestral honors.