In another place a spider was seen weaving his web over a bundle of swords, gauntlets, morions, and such like, with an inscription from Theocritus, explaining how sure a sign this was of peace and oblivion of past quarrels. But among the masques given during these nuptial festivities there was one in which Charles IX. appeared as Jupiter, Elizabeth as Minerva, and Catherine as Juno, while the Huguenots were represented as Typhon and the Giants. One of the devices was strikingly suggestive of impending treachery: Cadme, relinque ratem; pastoria sibila finge; Fas superare dolo, quem vis non vincit aperta. It would, however, be unfair to give political importance to what was probably nothing more than the unauthorized language of a court poet. One little incident connected with these rejoicings may be adduced, however, to show the bigoted temper of the Parisians: they were scandalized that the court should amuse itself with balls and banquets, and other festivities during the season of Lent! One thing was wanting to these rejoicings--none of the Protestant leaders were present. They still kept aloof at Rochelle, endeavoring to give consistency to their affairs. “And they did wisely,” says the Abbé Perau in his Life of Coligny; “for orders had been issued to arrest the principal of them immediately upon their arrival.” This statement, although corroborated by the compiler of the “Mémoires de l’Etat de France,” may well be doubted. The air was thick with suspicions, some of which had evidently reached the German Protestant courts; and to show the interest they took in the condition of their co-religionists in France, the electors-palatine of Saxony and Brandenburg, the dukes of Bavaria, Brunswick, and Wurtemburg, and others, resolved to send an embassy to congratulate Charles on his marriage. Charles received the embassadors at Villars-Cotterets, a magnificent mansion built by Francis I. They began by complimenting him: “Our masters know that your majesty, being so young, was not the author of the late war. It was the work of certain turbulent and wicked men, who take delight in disorders and confusion. Continue to deserve that most august of titles--the _Peacemaker_--and punish sternly every one who attempts to cause any fresh disturbance in your kingdom.... In the multitude of people, as the Wise Man saith, is the king’s honor (Proverbs xiv. 28), and the principal law imposed by God and nature upon kings and princes is the preservation of their subjects. Those who would induce you to break your faith, saying that it is impossible for a state to exist where there is a diversity of religion, speak differently from what they think, or are ignorant of what has been done in many great and flourishing states.” The embassadors showed him that the Grand Turk permitted Christians to live at peace in his dominions, that the Emperor Charles V. had come to terms with the Protestants of Germany,