Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/393

 I575-] THE SPANISH TREATY. 373 cular errand, Monsieur borrowed a carriage from a friend, slipped out of the Louvre in disguise, and made his way to St Cloud. Several hundred mounted gentlemen were waiting to receive him, and in a few days he was with La Noue on the Loire, at the head of a Huguenot army. All had been prepared for a rising. He wrote to his brother, to say that he had fled only to save his life. He put out a Proclamation, in which he styled himself Protector of the liberties of France. 1 Conde was at Strasburgh, ready to march on Paris; while Casimir, brother of the Elector Palatine, entered Lorraine with 10,000 Reiters, meaning to cross France and join La Noue. The King, in real or affected dismay, remained idle in the palace. He shut himself into his room, saw no one, and ' lay tormented on his bed,' with his mother at his side. Hating and fearing equally both Guises and Huguenots, he could form no plan and trust none of his council. 2 The Duke of Guise flew to Lorraine, and partially checked Casimir, but was wounded and dis- abled in a skirmish. The treasury was empty ; the Catholics were without leaders and disorganized. The Queen-mother, as usual, undertook to mediate, and went off to La Noue's camp to see Monsieur. The Hugue- nots having been deceived so often, demanded substan- tial guarantees that the promises made them should be 1 Gouverneur-general pour le Roy et Protecteur de la liberte et bien publique de France. Dale to Burghley, September 21 : MSS. France. 2 ' Ipse sibi timet et metuit omnes, desideratur in eo animus et consilium.' Dale to Burghley, Sep- tember 21 : MSS. Ibid.