On the scaffold, before he laid down his head on the block, he significantly said to the by-standers, “You see, sirs, that the little ones are caught, and that the great ones, who have been guilty of the fault, are allowed to escape.” La Mole displayed his ruling passion strong in death. His last words, after having prayed to God and the Virgin, were, “commend me to the kind remembrance of the queen of Navarre and the ladies.” He was not forgotten by his lady-love; neither was his companion. Queen Margaret and the duchess of Nevers are said by some to have embalmed the heads of their admirers, that they might always preserve them for contemplation; while by others they are asserted to have taken them in a carriage to a chapel, at the foot of Montmartre, and buried them with their own hands. Two years afterwards, the sentences against la Mole and Coconas were annulled by Henry III. The abortive plot in favour of the duke of Alençon proved a source of trouble to two individuals, more eminent in rank, and far more estimable in character, than were la Mole and Coconas. The marshals Francis de Montmorenci, and Arthur de Cossé, the former of whom was the eldest son of the celebrated constable, were suspected, or pretended to be so, by the queen mother; Montmorenci was also well known to feel that hatred of the Guises which was characteristic of his family. At her suggestion, therefore, they were committed to the Bastile, by Charles IX. This was nearly the last exercise of his authority. He died about a fortnight after, leaving his mother to hold the office of regent, till his successor, the third Henry, could return from Poland. Montmorenci was the husband of Diana, the natural daughter of Henry II., and had been employed on numerous occasions, civil and military, in all of which he had honourably acquitted himself. Of his martial exploits the most prominent was the brave though unsuccessful defence of Terouane. He was liberal, high-minded, learned, firm, and of invariable rectitude. Cossé was still more illustrious in arms than his fellow prisoner. He had distinguished himself at various sieges, particularly those of Sens and Metz, and in the battle of St. Denis, and many other encounters. Nor was he a mere enterprising soldier. It is said of him, by contemporary historians, and it is no light praise, “that his head was as good as his arm.” The party which had hitherto been known as that of the Politicians now took the name of the Third Party. It received a large increase, by the junction of catholics, whose indignation was excited by the constraint put upon the duke of Alençon and the king of Navarre, at Vincennes, and the close imprisonment of two such eminent men as de Montmorenci and de Cossé. Condé, too, was busy in Germany, stirring up the protestant princes to succour his friends, and keeping up a continual correspondence with the French calvinists.