In 1589, after Henry the fourth’s attempt upon Paris, when he had little more than the shadow of an army left, and was obliged to retreat on Normandy, the Parisians were so confident that the Bearnese would be brought back a prisoner by the duke of Mayenne, that the windows in St. Anthony’s-street were hired, to see him pass along in his way to the Bastile; in the following year, he held them cooped up within their walls, suffering the direst extremity of famine; and now, in 1594, he entered the capital in triumph, as an acknowledged sovereign, amidst the shouts of the multitude. It must be owned, however, that for the submission of Paris, as well as of many other cities, Henry had to thank his purse rather than his sword. For giving up Paris, Brissac, the governor, received nearly seventeen hundred thousand livres. The whole of the strong places which the king bought, cost him no less than thirty-two millions of livres, besides governments, offices, and titles. At dinner, on the day of his entry, he pointedly alluded to this circumstance, in the presence of some of the vendors. Nicolas, a jovial poet and man of wit, was standing by Henry’s chair: “Well,” said the king to him, “what say you to seeing me here in Paris?” “Sire,” replied Nicolas, “that which is Cæsar’s has been rendered unto Cæsar.” “Ventre saint-gris!” exclaimed Henry in reply, “I have not been treated at all like Cæsar, for it has not been rendered to me but sold to me, and at a pretty high price too.” There was, nevertheless, one man among the Leaguers who was not venal. This was du Bourg, the governor of the Bastile. His vigilance had recently frustrated a plot to seize on the fortress, and he now prepared to defend his charge to the utmost. For five days he refused to listen to any overtures, and he even turned his cannon upon the city. But having received information that it was impossible for Mayenne to succour him, he consented to capitulate upon honourable terms. His garrison was allowed to retire with arms and baggage. Money he refused to accept; nor would he acknowledge Henry as his master; he had, he said, given his faith to the duke of Mayenne, and he would not violate it. With a strange mixture of ferocity, coarseness, and chivalrous feeling, he added, that Brissac was a traitor, that he would maintain it in mortal combat with him before the king, and that he “would eat his heart in his belly.”