you and all yours!' Luther did not name Francis I. in this letter, but it is well known that of all princes the king of France was the one in whom he had the least hope. He was not mistaken. From this time Francis I. no longer showed the same favour to learning, and especially to evangelical learning. The excommunication launched against Henry VIII., the schism which followed, the hope of seeing Paul III. embroiled with Charles V., and other motives besides, made him incline once more towards Rome. But the placards were the principal cause of this change. His wrath was unappeasable; he was determined to abolish these new doctrines which were paraded even on the gate of his palace. His indignation broke out in the midst of his courtiers and cardinals, bishops and councillors of parliament. Nay more, he laid it even before the protestant princes of Germany. Writing to them on the 15th February, he said: 'The enemy of truth has stirred up certain people who are not fools but madmen, and who have incurred the guilt of sedition and other antichristian actions. I am determined to crush these new doctrines; and to check this disease, which leads to frightful revolts, from spreading further. No one has been spared whatever his country or his rank.'[289] Such were the king's intentions. Protestantism, and with it liberty, perished in France, but God was mighty to raise them up again. [260] The _Chronique de François I._ p. 121, mentions among the ambassadors those of the emperor, of the King of England, of Venice, and of other princes, lordships, cities, marquises, counts, and barons of Germany, Italy, and elsewhere. [261] This speech of which Theodore Beza and Mezeray speak in their histories is found in the _Chronique de François I._, published by Guiffrey in 1860, and the Registers of the Hôtel de Ville quite bear out the _Chronique_. [262] _Chronique du Roi François I._ p. 125. [263] Ibid. p. 126. [264] Garnier, _Hist. de France_, xxiv. p. 540. [265] 'They shall perish, but thou shalt endure.'—'His enemies will I clothe with shame.'—'They shall look on him whom they pierced.' [266] 'France flourishes above all nations.' [267] _Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris_, p. 447. [268] Crespin, _Martyrol._ fol. 113 verso. [269] 'Ad machinam alligati et in altum sublati, deinde in ignem e sublimi dimissi, et rursum adducti.'—Sleidanus, fol. 136. [270] 'Carnifice demum abscindente funem, in subjectam flammam corruebant.—Sleidanus, fol. 136. [271] L. P. Daniel, _Hist. de France_, v. p. 654. [272] 'The Emperor issues edicts, the King punishes.'—Ribier, _Lettres d'Etat_, i. p. 358. [273] Clement Marot, _Epître au Roi_. [274] Isambert, _Anciennes Lois_, xii. p. 402. [275] This circular will be found in the _Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme français_, i. p. 328. [276] Sismondi, _Hist. des Français_, xvi. p. 455. See also Garnier, Rœderer, &c. [277] _Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris_, p. 451.