creed itself became at last confounded; and every man or woman who had a quarrel to avenge, a lawsuit to settle, a wife or husband grown inconvenient, or a prospective inheritance if obstacles could be removed, found a ready road to the object of their desires. Towards mid-day some of the quieter people attempted to restore order. A party of the town police made their way to the palace. Charles caught eagerly at their offers of service, and bade them do their utmost to put the people down; but it was all in vain. The soldiers, maddened with plunder and blood, could not be brought to assist, and without them nothing could be done. All that afternoon and night, and the next day and the day after, the horrible scenes continued, till the flames burnt down at last for want of fuel. The number who perished in Paris was computed variously at from two to ten thousand. In this, as in all such instances, the lowest estimate is probably the nearest to the truth.

The massacre was completedcompleted in Paris only, as it proved, to be continued elsewhere. It was assuming a form, however, considerably larger than anything which the contrivers of it had contemplated; and it became a question what explanation of such a business should be given to the world. The age was not tenderhearted; but a scene of this kind was as yet unprecedented, and transcended far the worst atrocities which had been witnessed in the

Netherlands. The opinion of Europe would require some account of it, and the court at first thought that half the truth might represent the whole. On the 24th, while the havoc was at its height, circulars went round to the provinces that a quarrel had broken out between the houses of Guise and Coligny; that the admiral and many more had been unfortunately killed, and that the king himself had been in danger through his efforts to control the people. The governors of the different towns were commanded to repress at once any symptoms of disorder which might show themselves, and particularly to allow no injury to be done to the Huguenots. Aumale and Guise had gone in pursuit of Montgomery, and at the moment were not in Paris. The queenmother used the opportunity to burden them with the entire responsibility. But her genius had overshot its mark, and she was not to escape so easily. Guise returned in the evening to find the odium cast upon himself. He at once insisted that the circulars should be recalled. The Parliament of Paris was assembled, and the king was compelled to admit publicly that the troops had received their orders from himself. The story of the Huguenot conspiracy was revived, systematised, and supported by pretended confessions made at the moment of death by men who could now offer no contradiction. The Protestants of the provinces, finding themselves denounced from the throne,

were likely instantly to take arms to defend themselves. Couriers were therefore dispatched with second orders that they should be dealt with as they had been dealt with at Paris; and at Lyons, Orleans, Rouen, Bordeaux, Toulon, Meaux, in half the towns and villages of France, the bloody drama was played once again. The king,

thrown out into the hideous torrent of blood, became drunk with frenzy, and let slaughter have its way, till even Guise himself affected to be shocked, and interposed to put an end to it; not, however, till, according to the belief of the times, a hundred thousand men, women, and children had been miserably murdered.

This description may be supplemented by the account given by Sully of his own narrow escape on this occasion when he was a scholar :-"I had gone to bed betimes in the evening, and felt myself awakened about three hours after midnight by the sound of all the bells, and the confused cries of the populace. My governor, St. Julian, with my valet de chambre, went hastily out to know the cause; and I never afterwards heard more of these two men, who, without doubt, were among the first that were sacrificed to the public fury. I continued alone in my chamber dressing myself, when in a few moments I saw my landlord enter, pale and astonished. He was of the reformed religion, and having learned what the matter was, had resolved to go to mass, to save his life, and preserve his house from being pillaged. He came to persuade me to do the same, and to take me with him. I did not think proper to follow him, but

resolved to try if I could gain the College of Burgundy, where I studied, notwithstanding the distance it was from the house where I lodged, which made the attempt very perilous. I put on my scholar's robe, and taking a I large prayer-book under my arm, I was seized with horror at the sight of went down. Upon entering the street, the furies, who rushed from all parts, and burst open the houses, bawling out 'Slaughter, slaughter, massacre the Huguenots!' And the blood which I saw shed before my eyes redoubled my terror. I fell into the midst of a body of guards; they stopped me, questioned me, and were beginning to use me ill, when, happily for me, the book that Í carried was perceived, and served me for a passport. Twice after this I fell into the same danger, from which I extricated myself with the same happiness. At last I arrived at the College of Burgundy, where a danger far greater than any I had yet met with awaited me. The porter having twice refused me entrance, I remained in the midst of the street, at the mercy of the furies, whose numbers increased every moment, and who were evidently in quest of their prey, when I bethought myself of calling for the principal of the college, La Faye, a good man, who loved me tenderly. The porter, gained by some small pieces of money which I put into his hand, did not fail to make him come. This honest man made me go into his chamber, where two inhuman priests, whom I heard make mention of the Sicilian vespers, wanted to force me from him, that they might cut me in pieces, saying the order was to slaughter the very infants at the breast. All that he could do was to conduct me secretly to a remote closet, where he locked me up. I was there confined three days, uncertain of my destiny, receiving succour only from a domestic belonging to this charitable man, who brought me from time to time something to preserve my life."

DON SEBASTIAN was induced to undertake this fatal expedition, in the first instance, by the entreaties of Mulley Mahomet Al Sherif, who had been driven from all his possessions in Morocco, and had taken refuge in the Portuguese settlements on the coast of Africa. In his determination to restore the exiled prince he was actuated by the various motives of ambition, glory, love of enterprise, and above all others by his zeal for Holy Church and his desire to extend

1 In giving this specimen of a Portuguese historian, it is necessary to remind the reader that he is not to look for accuracy or completeness of information. For instance, the Moorish king, whom he speaks of as having been poisoned, was ill of a fatal disease on the day of the battle, and did not expect to live through it. But the author does not exaggerate the folly of Don Sebastian, who in his lifetime was the Quixote of monarchs, and after his death lived in the memory of his people in much the same way as King Arthur or James IV. of Scotland. Even as late as the time of Buonaparte's invasion of Portugal he was expected to appear and deliver his subjects!

the dominion of Christ amongst barbarous and infidel nations. His intention soon became public, and reached the ears of Abdelmelech, who had expelled Al Sherif from the throne, and who now vainly endeavoured by urgent remonstrances to divert the king from the enterprise.

In the spring of the year 1578, Don Sebastian assembled all his forces in Lisbon, consisting of upwards of 17,000 men—that is to say, 9000 Portuguese infantry under the command of Diego Lopez de Siguiera; 2000 noblemen, who served without pay, as adventurers, and were led by Christoval de Tavora; about 2000 Germans under Talberg; 1500 Italians, who had arrived in Cadiz, under the leadership of an Englishman named Thomas Strinul; 2000 Castilians and Andalusians; 600 mounted nobles and knights; besides other cavalry, amounting altogether to not more than 1500, reliance being placed principally on the infantry to oppose the

formidable and numerous cavalry of the Moors. With these forces the king set sail on the feast of St. John the Baptist, 1578, accompanied by the shouts and acclamations of the people, banners flying, the martial strains of warlike music, and every demonstration of triumph and exultation. The armada soon reached Cadiz, where it received a reinforcement of about 1000 men, and, after a delay of a few days, again set sail, | crossed the Straits, and after coasting Barbary, it cast anchor at Tangiers in Portuguese territory.

Here the king sent a message to Mulley Mahomet, who was in the neighbourhood at the head of a body of 300 Moors, and invited him to get ready to take part in the expedition. He, however, finding that the king intended personally to take the command, | replied that if his majesty meant to restore him to his possessions, this was not the way to effect his purpose, as the Moors would take umbrage at the presence of Christian king in their states the head of a powerful army, and would be thereby induced to refrain from joining in any attempt to overthrow the usurper.

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large numbers of the Moors to join the party of Al Sherif.

Mulley Abdelmelech had already taken the field three months previously, having set out from Morocco on the 20th of April. He now sent word to his brother Mulley Amet to place himself at the head of 5000 horse, and keep the invading army constantly in sight. He himself proceeded by forced marches in the direction of Alcazar Quibir, and pitched his camp in the level country about Tremesenal. From this position he was enabled conveniently to observe the movements of the king, who, after losing some days in Arzila, had, with the object of testing the spirit of the army, caused a false alarm to be raised. A battery of artillery was fired off, the whole camp ran to arms, and night adding to the confusion, the king sallied out and ordered the troops to be drawn up in line of battle. They remained thus under arms till the approach of morning, when it was discovered that no enemy was in sight.

But the Moors soon after made their appearance to the number of about 5000 cavalry, whereupon the king marched out at the head of his horse and put them to flight, following in the pursuit for the space of three leagues. He was much blamed by some of his advisers for his imprudence in thus exposing his person, but they were sharply rebuked by the fiery young king, on whom such advice invariably seemed to produce rather the opposite effect. Ac