Page:History of Freedom.djvu/175

 MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW 131

that she intended one day to entrap Coligny, and to make a signal butchery of him and his adherents, and that letters in which the Queen rene\ved this promise to the Pope had been read by credible witnesses. Santa Croce was living, and did not contradict the statement. The Stratage1na had originally stated that Lorraine had in- formed Sermoneta of the project soon after he arrived at Rome. In the reprint this passage \vas omitted. The book had, therefore, undergone a censorial revision, which enhances the authenticity of the final narrative. Two other pieces are extant, which were printed at the Stamperia Camerale, and show \vhat \vas believed at Rome. One is in the shape of a letter written at Lyons in the midst of scenes of death, and describing what the author had witnessed on the spot, and \vhat he heard from Paris. 1 He reports that the King had positively com- manded that not one Huguenot should escape) and was overjoyed at the accomplishment of his orders. He believes the thing to have been premeditated, and inspired by Divine justice. The other tract is remarkable because it strives to reconcile the pretended conspiracy \vith the hypothesis of premeditation. 2 There were two plots which went parallel for months. The King knew that Coligny was compassing his death, and deceived him by feigning to enter into his plan for the invasion of the Lo\v Countries; and CoHgny, allowing himself to be overreached, summoned his friends to Paris, for the purpose of killing Charles, on the 23rd of August. The writer expects that there will soon be no Huguenots in France. Capilupi at first borrowed several of his facts, which he afterwards corrected. The real particulars relative to the marriage are set forth minutely in the correspondence of Ferralz; and they absolutely contradict the supposition of the complicity of Rome. 3 It was celebrated in flagrant defiance of the Pope, who persisted in refusing the dispensation, and 1 Intiera Relatione delta vIorte delt A mmiraglio, 2 Ragguaglio degli ordini et modi temdi dalla Majesta Christianissima nella iistruttione della setta degli Ugollotti Con la morte dell' A mmiraglio, etc. 3 Bib. Imp. F, Fr, 16,139'