THE BARTHOLOMEW MASSACRE. ported himself against the wall, being unable to stand upright, on account of his wound. The first who enters the chamber is a Lorraine or German, named Behem Besme, a servant of the Duke of Guise. Art thou not the Admiral? Yes, I am he.' And looking, without any emotion, at the naked sword of the assassin: Young man, thou shouldst have regard for my old age and my infirmity; but thou wilt not, however, shorten my life.' Besme plunges his sword into his breast, and gives him a second blow on the head. The others finish the murder by stabs of the dagger.* Guise waited with impatience in the court. 'Besme, have you done it?' 'It is done, my lord.' M. le Chevalier would' not believe it until he saw it with his own eyes. Throw the body from the window.' Besme and one of his companions lift the body of the Admiral, who, still respiring, clings to the casement. They precipitate him into the yard. The Duke of Guise wipes with his handkerchief his face covered with blood. 'I recognize him,' said he; it is the man.' And giving the corpse a kick with his foot, he burst forth into the street, crying out: Courage, comrades! we have happily begun; let us go for others; the king commands it.' Sixteen years and four months after, the 23rd of December, 1588, in the castle of Blois, the corpse of this same Henry de Guise was lying before Henry III., who also gave him a kick in the face. Sovereign justice of God! Coligny was aged fifty-five and a half years. After the peace of 1570, he read morning and evening the sermons of Calvin upon the book of Job, saying that this history was his remedy and his consolation in all his ills. He also employed some hours daily in compiling memoirs. These papers, having been brought to the council after St. Bartholomew, were burnt by the order of the king, from fear of increasing the regret for his death. THE MASSACRE. We wish, in completing our task, to abridge as much as possible the details of St. Bartholomew. When the sun of the 24th of August rose upon Paris, all was tumult, confusion, and carnage; blood streaming in the streets; corpses of men, women, and children encumbering This Besme received the reward of his crime from the Cardinal of Lorraine, who allowed him to marry one of his illegitimate daughters. Double shame, for an ecclesiastic to recompense such a man, and to have such a recompense to give. THE BARTHOLOMEW MASSACRE. the doors; everywhere groans, blasphemies, cries of death, and imprecations; the butchers by thousands insulting their victims before killing them, and then seizing their spoils; the dagger, lance, knife, sword, arquebuse, all the arms of the soldier and the brigand employed in this execrable massacre, and the vile populace running behind the butchers, giving the death-stroke to the Huguenots, mutilating them, dragging them in the mud with a cord round the neck, to have their part also in this festival of cannibals. At the Louvre, the Huguenots, conducted one after another through a double line of halberts, fell covered with blood, before reaching the end; and the ladies of the court, right worthy mothers, wives, and sisters of the assassins, came to satiate their shameless eyes upon the corpses of the victims! It has been remarked, that of so many brave noblemen who had a thousand times fronted death on the fields of battle, there was only one, Taverny, who attempted to defend himself; yet he was a civilian. The others offered their throat to the dagger and the stiletto, like women. A massacre so monstrous, overwhelming their minds, paralyzed their hands; and before they had power to come to themselves, they were no more. Some, however, who lived on the other side of the Seine, at the Faubourg St. Germain, Montgomery, Rohan, Segur, La Ferriere, had time to comprehend their situation and escape. It was now that the king, maddened with fury, seized an arquebuse, and fired upon the French. Two hundred and twentyseven years after, Mirabeau took up from the dust of centuries the arquebuse of Charles IX. to turn it against the throne of Louis XVI. The generations of royal races are responsible for each other. On the same Sunday morning the king called to his presence Henry de Navarre and Henry de Conde. He said to them in a ferocious tone: 'Mass, death, or the Bastile!' After some resistance, the two princes consented to make profession of the Roman faith; but neither the court nor the people believed in the sincerity of their abjuration. The massacre lasted four days. It was necessary to cover it with a pretext before France and Europe. They first wished to throw the weight on the Guises, but they refused. They next invented the pretended conspiracy of the Huguenots against Charles IX. and his family. There were tergiversations of all sorts, inventions which could not last an hour, POETRY. declarations which they denied the next day, orders and counter-orders to the governors of the provinces:-miserable farce of comedians after a tragic catastrophe!. Thursday, when the blood of the victims was inundating the streets of Paris, the clergy celebrated an extraordinary jubilee, and made a general procession. They even resolved to consecrate an annual fete to a triumph so glorious; and while Catholic pulpits were resounding with thanksgiving, a medallion was struck with this inscription: La piete a reveille la justice! or, "Religion has awakened justice." Battle. Poetry. THE SAVIOUR'S GLORY. JESUS, Lord of life and glory, Priests in robes, when sacrificing, From the altar flames arising Rose accepted to the Throne. As the shadows of redemption, At the brightness of thy glory, By thy death so sad and gory, By thy rising from the grave, Now we feel thy power to save! F. P. ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. Anecdotes and Selections. THE UNGRATEFUL SON.-In a town in the centre of England, lived a family of humble circumstances. Some of the younger children and their father died, leaving the aged mother with two sons grown up, and able to assist her. This, however, they both refused to do, and she was obliged to apply to the parish for relief, and for some years two shillings a week were allowed her by the overseers, which, with a trifle added by some christian friends, was all which she had for subsistence. During this time her youngest son died. He had lived without the fear of God, and died in agonies both of body and mind. The eldest was clever in his business; he got forward in the world, and became possessed of considerable property. But he still refused to assist his mother; and even while holding offices of consideration and importance, left his mother to her allowance from the parish. This conduct of course was noticed; he was repeatedly spoken to upon the subject; at length he ordered her name to be taken off the parish books, and he allowed her the two shillings a week out of his own pocket, at a time when he possessed thousands of pounds, and was without a family. One day some friends being together her case was mentioned, and they proposed to remonstrate with the ungrateful son. No," said an aged minister, "let him alone; if he dies possessed of the property he is now worth, I shall be deceived. God will never suffer such base ingratitude to prosper." In a short time afterwards the mother died; and such was her humility and christian spirit, that she died imploring a blessing upon her son. He buried her with more attention to his own situation than he had bestowed upon her while alive. Years passed on; she was forgotten, and his behaviour towards her was only remembered by a few, who had been impressed with the vileness of his conduct. His circumstances at length began to change; repeated losses ensued, and at length he became a bankrupt and lived in abject poverty. Sons and daughters, do not forget this lesson! It is only one leaf taken out of the great book of retributive providence in fulfilment of many passages of the Word of God. 66 A NONCONFORMIST ANECDOTE.-Mr. William Jenkyn being with Mr. Reynolds, Mr. John Flavel, and Mr. Keeling, spending the day in prayer, with many of his friends, in a place where they thought themselves out of danger, the soldiers broke in upon them in the midst of the worship. All the ministers made their escape except Mr. Jenkyn. Mr. Flavel was so near that he heard the insolence of the officers and soldiers to Mr. Jenkyn when they had taken him, and observes in his diary that he might have escaped as well as himself had it not been for a piece of vanity in a lady, whose ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. long train hindered his going down stairs, having, out of his too great civility, let her pass before him. He was cruelly doomed to be a prisoner as long as he lived: and he died in Newgate, Jan. 19, 1685, aged 72, having been a prisoner there but four months; where, as he said a little before his death, a man might be as effectually murdered as at Tyburn. A nobleman having heard of his happy release, said to the king, "May it please your majesty, Jenkyn has got his liberty." Upon which he asked with eagerness, "Aye, who gave it him?" The nobleman replied, 66 A greater than your majesty, the King of Kings.' With which the king seemed greatly struck, and remained silent. The king himself, Charles II., died in a few days-viz. Feb. 6, 1685. OUR TIME.-God, though most liberal and bounteous of all other things, yet teaches us, by the frugal dispensation of his providence, how careful we ought to be to make good use of time, because he never grants us two moments together, nor vouchsafes a second until he has withdrawn the first, still keeping the third in his own hand, so that we are entirely uncertain whether we shall have it or not. Time is given us to prepare for eternity, and eternity will not be too long to lament lost time, if we have made a bad use of it. THE POSSESSION OF RICHES, though dangerous, is not absolutely incompatible with the life of faith and walk with God. When they are neither anxiously coveted, nor eagerly pursued, nor improperly confided in, nor inordinately loved; when they come by the blessing of God, are thankfully received, moderately enjoyed, and carefully improved, they may then be ornaments of godliness and means of usefulness. Yet they are generally encumbrances to the possessor, and sources of contention and separation between brethren; and frequently they exclude men from many spiritual advantages. When they are increased, those are increased that eat them;" which commonly creates uneasiness, and renders the possession of the blessing of peace more precarious. Let the poor then learn contentment, and the wealthy caution and moderation. 66 We A VALUABLE DISCOVERY.-As a poor labouring man was digging in his garden, in the neighbourhood of Holywell, he discovered at a few inches below the surface seven guineas of the reign of George III., and also two massive gold rings of a beautiful antique description, one of which bears the following inscription:-"My heart joins with you." As may naturally be expected, digging was renewed with vigour, but only two more guineas were discovered. know where any man may find richer treasure. Read Matt. xiii. 44. VALUE OF LABOUR.-God is constantly teaching us that nothing valuable is ever obtained without labour; and that no labour can be honestly expended without our getting its value in return. He is not careful to make every thing easy to man. The Bible itself is no light book; human duty no holiday engagement. The grammar of deep personal religion, and the grammar of real practical virtue, are not to be learned by any "Reading made easy." |