The Greatest Works of Charles Carleton Coffin. Charles Carleton Coffin
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the Huguenots. What a spectacle is that which Catherine de' Medici, Francis, and Mary, and Catherine's two younger sons, Henry and Charles, witness as they stand on the balcony of Amboise! In the yard before them are gibbets, with corpses dangling beneath them; stakes are driven into the ground, and Huguenots are roasting in the flames; soldiers are hacking unarmed men to pieces, and pitching the dead bodies into the river, till it is choked with corpses. Twelve thousand Huguenots are put to death.
Francis has been king fifteen months. There comes a day when there is a commotion in the royal palace. Francis has an abscess above his ear, and he has fainted. The doctors come, but their skill is of no avail. By the bedside of the dead king stands Mary of Scotland. The brief days of happiness are ended; henceforth her life will be full of trouble and sorrow.
Charles IX. is king — a boy ten years old. Mary must return to Scotland. With tearful eyes she bids farewell to France — to its joys and pleasures, its sunny skies and blooming fields. She has been tenderly cared for — servants in livery to wait upon her, to carry her sedan. She sails to Scotland from Calais. She sits upon the deck of the vessel, gazing sadly, till the land is lost to view, and then writes an
"ADIEU TO FRANCE.
"Farewell to thee, thou pleasant shore!
The loved, the cherished home to me.
Of infant joy — a dream that's o'er;
Farewell! dear France, farewell to thee!
**The sail that wafts me bears away
From thee but half my soul alone;
Its fellow-half will fondly stay,
And back to thee has faithful flown.
**I trust it to thy gentle care;
For all that here remains to me
Lives but to think of all that's there,
To love and to remember thee!"
While Mary is thus sailing: to her distant home, where we shall see her by-and-by, the boy who was fed on wine and garlic is quietly pursuing his studies in Paris, preparing himself for the duties of life, little knowing the part which he is to play in the great drama of history.
CHAPTER XX
THE MAN WHO FILLED THE WORLD WITH WOE
NEVER before was there an assembly in Brussels like that which gathers in the great audience-chamber of the king's palace on October 25th, 1555, Princes, nobles, dukes, lords, ladies, archbishops, and a crowd of church prelates are there. The clock strikes three, and those for whom they are waiting enter the hall. Who are they? There comes a broad-shouldered man, with an ugly face, shaggy beard, white hair, crooked nose, and large underlip. He has lost all his teeth, except a few stabs. Once he was straight as an arrow; but now he walks with a crutch.
and has to lean upon another's arm. He looks to be seventy, yet is only fifty-five. It is Charles, Emperor of Germany, King of Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands — the man before whom Doctor Luther made his plea for liberty at Worms. For more than a third of a century Charles has been at war — his armies marching through Spain, Germany, France, and Italy. He has an empire in the New World larger than all his domains in Europe, for, since he came to the throne, Hernando Cortez has overturned the throne of Montezuma. They have discovered the Pacific Ocean, have found mountains of silver and gold in Peru. They have been in the Floridas, and marched under De Soto to the Mississippi. His empire is greater than that ruled by Caesar. Although he is so great a potentate, the gout has got hold of him. He is an enormous eater. At five o'clock in the morning he eats a chicken fricasseed in sweetened milk; then he has a long nap. At twelve o'clock he has a superb dinner of twenty dishes, and drinks a bottle of wine. At four o'clock he eats his first supper, a heartier meal than his dinner, with pastry and sweetmeats, and drinks goblets of beer. At midnight he eats his second supper, and drinks more beer. He is always hungry, yet everything tastes alike; for, abusing his stomach, he has lost the sense of taste.
The man upon whose arm he leans is only twenty-two, tall, handsome, with dark-brown hair, broad forehead, and clearly cut features. He has brown eyes, and wears a mustache and beard. Although he is so young, he has been appointed commander-in-chief of the army which has been fighting against Admiral Coligny, general of the French armies. People call him William the Silent and Prince of Orange. He is the son of William called the "Rich." He came to Brussels, when he was only eleven years old, to be educated. Charles V. was here, and took a liking to the boy, making him a page at court. He was so fond of William that he wanted him always by his side. He revealed to him all the secrets of State. There are but few men in the throng that know more of state-craft than this young man. He is quick to hear; he understands the intrigues that are all the time going on among kings and princes, to build up and to tear down; but he has the faculty of keeping his thoughts to himself, or of letting them be known at the right time. Let us keep him in remembrance, for, of all the men that walk the earth, few will do more for liberty than he.
Behind the emperor comes Philip, with spindle-legs, a face like his father's (large mouth, heavy underjaw), twenty-eight years old, proud, gross, eater of bacon-fat. Little regard has he for justice. What cares he for the rights and liberties of men? Nothing.
One of the bishops is Anthony Perrenot, of Arras, who can speak seven languages. He has been Charles's chief adviser. He detests the people, and hates heretics. The year after Charles was elected emperor he persuaded him to issue an edict against heretics. These were some of the provisions:
"No one shall print, write, copy, keep, conceal, sell, buy, or give in the churches, streets, or other places, any book written by Martin Luther or any other heretic.
"Any person who teaches or reads the Bible, any person who says anything against the Church or its teachings, shall be executed.
"Any person who gives food or shelter to a heretic shall be burned to death. Any person who is suspected, although it may not appear that he has violated the command, after being once admonished, shall be put to death.
"If any one has knowledge of a heretic, and does not make it known to the court, he shall be put to death.
"An informer against a heretic shall recover one-half of the estates of the accused. If any one be present at a meeting of heretics, and shall inform against them, he shall have full pardon."
The Jesuits establish their torture-chamber. Thousands are put to death. The prisons are filled with accused heretics. Other thousands flee the country, seeking a refuge where no priest shall find them, or where they may be free from persecution. Their estates are confiscated, the property being divided between the men who ask questions, the king, and those who inform against the heretics.
Charles has wrenched money from the people of Holland to enable him to carry on his ware in Germany and Italy. He has trampled on their ancient rights and privileges, making himself a despot. But he is weary of life, and is about to resign his crown to Philip. This is the day selected for his abdication. Since he came to the throne he has burned, or hanged, or otherwise put to death, more than one hundred thousand men and women for reading the Bible. He began to bum them in 1523. The first victims were two monks, who were burned in Brussels. The priests incited the people to hunt the heretics out of the land. Not a week passed, scarcely a day, that there was not a burning of heretics; but though so many were disposed of, they seemed to multiply faster than ever. In 1535, Charles issued another edict. Thus it ran:
"All heretics shall be put to death.
"If a man who has been a heretic recants, he may be killed by the sword, instead of being burned to death.
"If a woman who has been a heretic repents, she may be buried alive, instead of being burned."
For twenty years this has been the law of the land, and the smoke of die burning has