Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/145

 1 5 72-j THE MASS A CRE OF ST BAR THOL OME W. 125 Calvinism ; it was a new superstition as overbearing as the old, and without the sanction of traditionary ex- istence ; it had shaken her own power and her son's throne, and though, if it would serve her purpose, she was ready to make use of it, she was no less willing, if it stood in her way, to set her foot upon its neck. The impatience of the Huguenots would not endure disap- pointment, and their own safety was as much involved as that of the Prince of Orange in the intended cam- paign. The idea of a general massacre -of the Hugue- nots had been long familiar to the minds of the Catho- lics. If the project on Flanders was abandoned, they knew that they would be unable to live in the districts of France where they were out-numbered, and they de- clared without reserve that they would fall back into the west, and there maintain their own liberties. But the reopening of the civil war was a territle prospect. Coligny still had a powerful hold on the mind of the King. The Queen-mother when she attempted to op- pose him found her influence shaking; and even she herself, as late certainly as the loth of August, was hesitating on the course which she should adopt. On that day she was still clinging to the hope that Eliza- beth might still take Alencon ; it was only when she found distinctly that it would not be, that she fell back upon her own cunning. The French Court, as the reader will remember, had broken up in June, to reassemble in August for the marriage of the Princess. The Admiral went down to Chatillon, and while there he received a warning not