the pre-eminence which it did three centuries ago. Saintonge long since
yielded the palm to Brittany.

10. Vide _Oeuvres de Champlain_, Quebec ed, Tom. III. p. v.

11. In 1558, it was estimated that there were already 400,000 persons in
France who were declared adherents of the Reformation.--_Ranke's Civil
Wars in France_, Vol. I., p. 234.

"Although our assemblies were most frequently held in the depth of
midnight, and our enemies very often heard us passing through the
street, yet so it was, that God bridled them in such manner that we
were preserved under His protection."--_Bernard Palissy_, 1580. Vide
_Morlay's Life of Palissy_, Vol. II., p. 274.

When Henry IV. besieged Paris, its population was more than 200,000.--
_Malte-Brun_.

12. "Catherine de Medicis was of a large and, at the same time, firm and
powerful figure, her countenance had an olive tint, and her prominent
eyes and curled lip reminded the spectator of her great uncle, Leo X"
--_Civil Wars in France_, by Leopold Ranke, London, 1852, p 28.

13. Philippe Emanuel de Lorraine, Duc de Mercoeur, born at Nomeny,
September 9, 1558, was the son of Nicolas, Count de Vaudemont, by his
second wife, Jeanne de Savoy, and was half-brother of Queen Louise, the
wife of Henry III. He was made governor of Brittany in 1582. He
embraced the party of the League before the death of Henry III.,
entered into an alliance with Philip II., and gave the Spaniards
possession of the port of Blavet in 1591. He made his submission to