The King arrived at Lyons on the 6th. His army is besieging the town of Nove,[12] twelve miles from Lyons, which they think will not be hard to take, as it is commanded on every side by the adjoining hills. Still, they are not quite confident, as they know how obstinate the King’s opponents have hitherto been in defending the places they have occupied. Montpensier[13] is besieging the town of Fontenay; a capitulation, they say, was agreed on, but his men refused to accept it, preferring to risk their lives in storming the place, rather than forego their plunder, so the result is still uncertain. Great is the strength of despair, and however things may turn out, their spoils, I warrant, will be blood-stained. They say that the King, before he reached Lyons, asked his Council’s advice, as to whether he should send back the Italian troops he had brought with him as a body guard, and that Pibrac,[14] whom your Majesty saw at Vienna, was for dismissing them. This gave offence to the Queen Mother, and on his arrival at Lyons she ordered him to return to Paris, and resume his duties as Advocate of the Kingdom. The Queen Mother, people think, is in favour of war, because she hopes thereby to retain her power. Damville,[15] they say, received an unfavourable answer from the King, and consequently remained at Turin; he has now, I hear, been summoned by the King; a suspicious circumstance, as many think. It will be two months, it is supposed, before the King gets away from his affairs at Lyons, and in the meantime business here makes little progress. I expect the King and the Queen Mother will give your Majesty an account of what is passing in France. At any rate I feel justified in saying that everybody is anxiously looking for a marriage between the King and your Majesty’s daughter—it is the general topic of conversation. The Comte de Bailen, after being kept for a long time in Gascony by the dangers of the road, has at last started for Lyons. Paris, September 17, 1574. LETTER IV. I have despatched two letters to your Majesty since I arrived here, one I sent by way of Brussels, the other, dated the 17th, was given to a servant of the Duke of Bavaria, who was travelling this way from Spain. Now I have a convenient opportunity of sending despatches by the hands of Master John Koch. The King has determined to continue the war rather than suffer two religions in his kingdom, or allow the rebels to remain in possession of the towns they have seized; while they declare that they will hold them to the death, having no hope of safety left save in their walls and their despair. Thus the King is again getting entangled in difficulties, from which he will not easily free himself, and which he might perhaps have avoided.