that the Pope had long since done himself the pleasure and the honor of appointing the French monarch protector of the papal chair in general, and of the Caraffa family in particular, and that the moment had arrived for claiming the benefit of that protection.  He assured him, moreover, as by full papal authority, that in respecting the recent truce with Spain, his majesty would violate both human and divine law.  Reason and justice required him to defend the pontiff, now that the Spaniards were about to profit by the interval of truce to take measures for his detriment.  Moreover, as the Pope was included in the truce of Vaucelles, he could not be abandoned without a violation of that treaty itself.—­The arts and arguments of the Cardinal proved successful; the war was resolved upon in favor of the Pope.  The Cardinal, by virtue of powers received and brought with him from his holiness, absolved the King from all obligation to keep his faith with Spain.  He also gave him a dispensation from the duty of prefacing hostilities by a declaration of war.  Strozzi was sent at once into Italy, with some hastily collected troops, while the Duke of Guise waited to organize a regular army.

The mischief being thus fairly afoot, and war let loose again upon Europe, the Cardinal made a public entry into Paris, as legate of the Pope.  The populace crowded about his mule, as he rode at the head of a stately procession through the streets.  All were anxious to receive a benediction from the holy man who had come so far to represent the successor of St. Peter, and to enlist the efforts of all true believers in his cause.  He appeared to answer the entreaties of the superstitious rabble with fervent blessings, while the friends who were nearest him were aware that nothing but gibes and sarcasms were falling from his lips.  “Let us fool these poor creatures to their heart’s content, since they will be fools,” he muttered; smiling the while upon them benignantly, as became his holy office.  Such were the materials of this new combination; such was the fuel with which this new blaze was lighted and maintained.  Thus were the great powers of the earth—­Spain, France, England, and the Papacy embroiled, and the nations embattled against each other for several years.  The preceding pages show how much national interests, or principles; were concerned in the struggle thus commenced, in which thousands were to shed their life-blood, and millions to be reduced from peace and comfort to suffer all the misery which famine and rapine can inflict.  It would no doubt have increased the hilarity of Caraffa, as he made his triumphant entry into Paris, could the idea have been suggested to his mind that the sentiments, or the welfare of the people throughout the great states now involved in his meshes, could have any possible bearing upon the question of peace or wax.  The world was governed by other influences.  The wiles of a cardinal—­the arts of a concubine—­the snipe-shooting of an ambassador—­the speculations