Respecting the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, there are two theories. Some writers contend that it was the result of a long premeditated plot, and this view was so ably maintained by John Allen in the _Edinburgh Review_ (vol. xliv. 1826), that nothing farther was left to be said on the subject. Others are of opinion that it was the accidental result of a momentary spasm of mingled terror and fanaticism caused by the unsuccessful attempt to murder Coligny. This theory has been supported by Ranke in a review of Capefigue’s “Histoire de la Réforme,” printed in the second volume of his “Historisch-politische Zeitschrift” (1836), and in the first volume of his “Französische Geschichte;” by Soldan in his “Frankreich und die Bartholomäus-Nacht;” by Baum in his “Leben Beza’s;” and by Coquerel in the “Revue Théologique” in 1859. Since they wrote, many new materials tending to confirm their views have come to light, some of which are for the first time noticed in this volume. Foremost in value among the materials for this portion of the French history are the extracts from the “Simancas Archives,” published by M. Gachard in the “Correspondance de Philippe II.” The letters of Catherine de Medicis (as published by Alberi) throw a new light upon some of the obscurer parts of the reign of Charles IX.; and though it would be unwise to trust them implicitly, I can scarcely imagine a more valuable contribution to French history than a complete collection of her correspondence. Her letters are scattered all over France: a few have been printed in local histories, but far the greater part of them (including those in the collection of Mr. Murray of Albemarle Street) remain almost unknown. Much curious information has been gleaned from the “Relazioni” of the Venetian embassadors, edited by Alberi, or in the more accessible volumes of Tommaseo and Baschet. I need not point out the value of the documents contained in the correspondence of Aubespine, La Mothe-Fénelon, Cardinal Granvelle, and in the “Archives de la Maison d’Orange-Nassau,” published by Groen van Prinsterer. The letters of the English agents in France, so singularly neglected by many writers, help to explain several of the incidents of the Tumult of Amboise and the proposed war in Flanders in 1572. The omission from Walsingham’s correspondence of all account of the Massacre is much to be lamented. Though I have sought for it in vain, I still entertain a hope that it may some day be recovered. In the Record Office there is a curious report by the famous Kirkaldy of Grange, of which Mr. Froude has already made use in his last volume. Two other remarkable contemporary letters--one in Spanish, the other in German--are noticed in their proper place.