"Were there thirty crowns to win," said he, at about the same time to the
States of France, "I would not change my religion on compulsion, the
dagger at my throat. Instruct me, instruct me, I am not obstinate."
There spoke the wily freethinker, determined not to be juggled out of
what he considered his property by fanatics or priests of either church.
Had Henry been a real devotee, the fate of Christendom might have been
different. The world has long known how much misery it is in the power
of crowned bigots to inflict.

On the other hand, the Holy League, the sacred Confederacy, was catholic
or nothing. Already it was more papist than the pope, and loudly
denounced Sixtus V. as a Huguenot because he was thought to entertain a
weak admiration both for Henry the heretic and for the Jezebel of
England.

But the holy confederacy was bent on destroying the national government
of France, and dismembering the national domain. To do this the pretext
of trampling out heresy and indefinitely extending the power of Rome, was
most influential with the multitude, and entitled the leaders to enjoy
immense power for the time being, while maturing their schemes for
acquiring permanent possession of large fragments of the national
territory. Mayenne, Nemours, Aumale, Mercoeur longed to convert
temporary governments into independent principalities. The Duke of
Lorraine looked with longing eyes on Verdun, Sedan, and, the other fair
cities within the territories contiguous--to his own domains. The
reckless house of Savoy; with whom freebooting and landrobbery seemed
geographical, and hereditary necessities, was busy on the southern
borders, while it seemed easy enough for Philip, II., in right of his
daughter, to secure at least the duchy of Brittany before entering on