window. Henry said, "Let nobody enter this house to vex or molest any
one in it." He arrived in front of Notre-Dame, followed by five or six
hundred men-at-arms, who trailed their pikes "in token of a victory that
was voluntary on the people's part," it was said. There was no uproar,
or any hostile movement, save on the left bank of the Seine, in the
University quarter, where the Sixteen attempted to assemble their
partisans round the gate of St. Jacques; but they were promptly dispersed
by the people as well as by the royal troops. On leaving Notre-Dame,
Henry repaired to the Louvre, where he installed royalty once more.
At ten o'clock he was master of the whole city; the districts of
St. Martin, of the Temple, and St. Anthony alone remained still in the
power of three thousand Spanish soldiers under the orders of their
leaders, the Duke of Feria and Don Diego d'Ibarra. Nothing would have
been easier for Henry than to have had them driven out by his own troops
and the people of Paris, who wanted to finish the day's work by
exterminating the foreigners; but he was too judicious and too
far-sighted to embitter the general animosity by pushing his victory
beyond what was necessary. He sent word to the Spaniards that they must
not move from their quarters and must leave Paris during the day, at the
same time promising not to bear arms any more against him, in France.
They eagerly accepted these conditions. At three o'clock in the
afternoon, ambassador, officers, and soldiers all evacuated Paris, and
set out for the Low Countries. The king, posted at a window over the
gate of St. Denis, witnessed their departure. They, as they passed,
saluted him respectfully; and he returned their salute, saying, "Go,
gentlemen, and commend me to your master; but return no more."

After his conversion to Catholicism, the capture of Paris was the most
decisive of the issues which made Henry IV. really King of France. The
submission of Rouen followed almost immediately upon that of Paris; and