him an offer of my services.’  I know not if those were his own words; but what is certain is, that everybody at this time, both kings and people, except fanatical Leaguers, regarded peace as a great public blessing, and were rejoiced to have a prospect of it before their eyes.  The very day of the interview, the King of Navarre wrote to Du Plessis-Mornay, ’M. du Plessis, the ice is broken; not without numbers of warnings that if I went I was a dead man.  I crossed the water, commending myself to God, who, by His goodness, not only preserved me, but caused extreme joy to appear on the king’s countenance, and the people to cheer so that never was the like, even shouting, Hurrah for the kings! whereat I was much vexed.’”

Some days afterwards, during the night of May 8, the Duke of Mayenne made an attack upon Tours, and carried for the moment the Faubourg St. Symphorien, which gave Henry III. such a fright that he was on the point of leaving the city and betaking himself to a distance.  But the King of Navarre, warned in time, entered Tours; and at his approach the Leaguers fell back.  “When the white scarfs appeared, coming to the king’s rescue, the Duke of Mayenne and his troops began shouting to them, ’Back! white scarfs; back!  Chatillon:  we are not set against you, but against the murderers of your father!’ meaning thereby that they were set against King Henry de Valois only, and not against the Huguenots.  But Chatillon, amongst the rest, answered them, ’You are all of you traitors to your country:  I trample under foot all vengeance and all private interests when the service of my prince and of the state is concerned; ’which he said so loudly that even his Majesty heard it, and praised him for it, and loved him for it.”  The two kings determined to move on Paris and besiege it; and towards the end of July their camp was pitched before the walls.

Great was the excitement throughout Europe as well as France, at the courts of Madrid and Rome as well as in the park of Plessis-les-Tours.  A very serious blow for Philip II., and a very bad omen for the future of his policy, was this alliance between Henry de Valois and Henry of Navarre, between a great portion of the Catholics of France and the Protestants.  Philip II. had plumed himself upon being the patron of absolute power in religious as well as political matters, and the dominant power throughout Europe in the name of Catholicism and Spain.  In both these respects he ran great risk of being beaten by a King of France who was a Protestant or an ally of Protestants and supported by the Protestant influence of England, Holland, and Germany.  In Italy itself and in Catholic Europe Philip did not find the harmony and support for which he looked.  The republic of Venice was quietly but certainly well disposed towards France, and determined to live on good terms with a King of France, a friend of Protestants or even himself Protestant.  And what hurt Philip II. still more