The Memoirs

The Grand Tour : 1567-1572

In the year 1567, shortly before the troubles of St Denis, as they are called, broke out and because of their obvious approach, M. du Plessis left Paris for Buhy. He wanted to join in the war under his uncles, M. de Bourry and M. de Wardes, who were among the first to take service and who were in the very vanguard of the army. But his mother would not permit it thinking it was enough to let his elder brother, M. de Buhy, go as cornet to M. de Wardes. He was the first in the charge at the battle of St Denis, at the side of D'Aubervillier and in front of M. de Genlis. M. de Genlis retired to Soissons and M. de Wardes, after bringing his nephew home, went to Normandy to try and rouse the party for the Religion round about his own country ; as they met with no success, they sought for some way by which they might recross the Seine and join the army before Chartres. M. du Plessis again importuned his mother for leave to go with them, which she at length gave. But God, who willed otherwise, did not permit his studies to come to an end so soon. For he had scarcely left home and was still in one of their own villages called Buschet when his horse fell on him and broke his leg in two places. So back home he went and could not use the limb for three months so that he had to be carried from place to place, because of the King's army which was camped in the neighbourhood of Buhy. During this illness he amused himself with writing a lament on the civil wars in France in French verse, which, when peace was made, he gave to the Cardinal of Chatillon, together with

94 A HUGUENOT FAMILY

several sonnets in praise of the three brothers Coligny. This youthful effort was lost when the Cardinal's librarywas pillaged at Bresles near Beauvais. Peace was signed at Chartres, though, as every one knows, it was a peace which was almost worse than war, and was moreover of short duration.

During this brief respite he obtained his mother's consent, with some difficulty, to travel in the charge of his tutor, the aforementioned Lazare Ramigny. This journey was not undertaken without extreme danger, on account of the disturbed condition of every town through which they passed. To give instances, they narrowly escaped assassination as they left Paris by the Porte St Marceau, and again at Montargis, so full of doubts and fears was every one ; then at Nevers they were recognized by some of the Duke's men as belonging to the Religion and as the Duke was at that time at the height of his sufferings from the wound which he had got in the recent civil war they were in peril there. Next they had great difficulty in getting out of Lyons, as M. de Birague, at that time Governor of the Lyonnais, refused them passports. So they had to watch to see at what hour the guard at the Gate was changed, and then to slip out at the moment when the change was made. So at last they reached Geneva towards the middle of August 1568, about the same time that the Prince de Conde l left Noyers to retire to La Rochelle. They stayed but a short time in Geneva because of the plague and so passing through Switzerland into Germany, they reached Frankfort. He spent the winter at Heidelberg in the house of M. Emmanuel Tremelius, a Christian and a man learned in many languages but excelling in Hebrew. M. du Plessis worked hard at German, which he learnt more by study than by conversation so as to escape the society of Germans, with whom it is difficult to mix without drinking too much. However he got on so well that by the end of six months there was not a book which

1 Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, 1530-1569.

THE GRAND TOUR: 1 567-1 572 95

he had not read and understood. He also made a beginning in the study of law and was familiar with the most learned men in all professions, although he listened more to their friendly talk than to their lectures.

The year 1567 found him at Frankfort at the time of the September Fair, where he made the acquaintance of M. Hubert Languet, by nationality a Burgundian and well known in our time for his piety, doctrine and virtue, and also for having been employed on various important embassies to most of the Princes of Christendom. M. du Plessis got a great deal of useful information from him on the conduct of his travels. The friendship then formed lasted till the last hour of M. Languet's life, who, as he lay dying, spoke of M. du Plessis as a loving father might speak of an only son. With his last words he told me that he had never loved anyone so much, and he would feel himself only too happy, if I would promise to ask my husband (for he was at that time absent) on his behalf, that in the first book which M. du Plessis should publish he should say that they had been friends, and that he held M. Languet in honour. It is this request which made M. du Plessis add a brief epistle to the latin translation of his book on " The Truth of the Christian Religion," in which he made worthy mention of his old friend.

After seeing the fair at Frankfort he left that city and went by way of Switzerland and the Grisons to Italy. Through an introduction from M. Languet he became acquainted with M. de Foix,1 at that time the King's ambassador to the Signory of Venice, but who was soon after succeeded by M. du Ferrier.2 Both M. de Foix and M. du Ferrier loved him well, and their friendship still holds, and so long as the wars for the religion which he openly confessed lasted in France there was no Frenchman with whom they were more intimate than with him.

1 Paul de Foix, 1528-1584, Ambassador to Venice, England and Rome. Archbishop of Toulouse, 1577. 1 Arnand du Ferrier, 1 508-1585.

•

96 A HUGUENOT FAMILY

His first stay was at Padua where he went on with his legal studies, but privately more than by attending the public lectures for it seemed to him that the Italian doctors lectured rather to display their own learning than to teach their scholars. Besides his studies he did not neglect to practise the use of his weapons and other exercises. He also continued other subjects of study besides the law, and, so as to leave no hour idle, took great pleasure in the evenings in acquiring a knowledge of simples. Since the signing of a league between the Pope, the King of Spain and the Venetians against the Turk, the Signory had allowed the Pope and his ministers to exercise more authority than was customary, and in consequence the Bishop of Padua, a member of the Pisani family, began to make more diligent inquiry after heretics than heretofore. M. du Plessis, therefore, feeling himself too well known through various disputations and conferences in which he had taken part on various occasions and with different people, left for Venice. He spent six or seven months there living on very familiar terms with M. du Ferrier, the Ambassador, and had enjoyed many a talk with him on Hebrew, the reformed religion and other subjects. Another friend of his was M. de Mezieres, also known as Francois Perrot Parisien, a man of rare piety and sound doctrine, who had been employed in honourable service by more than one king. This friendship lasts between them at the present day.

But even at Venice he met with more than one little difficulty, on account of his religion. Among others one day the Signors of the Inquisition, who were four gentlemen deputed by the Signory to inquire into such matters, sent for him requiring him to take an oath on certain articles. He answered, in Italian, that his religion would not allow him to do so. The Commissary, mistaking the meaning of the word religion as used by M. du Plessis, asked him if he was a " religious ", meaning to say a monk, thinking he was too young. He replied that

THE GRJND TOUR: 1 567-1 572 97

there were others even younger than he, and so they acted on his reply and no more was heard of the matter. All the same he did not intend to deceive them, but rather to explain his creed openly and give reasons for his faith. Another time, on an Easter morning, he went with M. du Ferrier's secretary to the Palace on certain matters of business. The Doge and the whole Signory were standing in full state in the courtyard under the Gallery just by the little door which leads into St Mark's. I have often heard him describe how the Sacrament, as they call it, was borne out of St Mark's accompanied by a little crowd of all sorts of people in the Italian fashion, on its way to Sebastian Zeni, then a prisoner in the Palace. The Doge, the Signory and the crowd of nobles all threw themselves on their knees, while he alone remained standing, with his head covered, in their midst. Some of them stared at him but nobody made a trouble over it. He met with several such little affairs while in Italy, from which he extracted himself without offence to his conscience through God's grace. I have often heard him say that he was never more full of zeal for his religion, nor more careful of his conduct, so that he might give no cause for scandal to those of his companions and friends who knew him to belong to the reformed church. He made friends with M. Calignon,1 who, at that time, was still sunk .in the abuses of the papacy, although he was not without some knowledge of the Truth. Their talk was mainly on religion for M. du Plessis sought to encourage and enlighten him ; since those days M. Calignon has done much good work for the reformed churches, and notably for those in Dauphine" ; and in very truth he is a man gifted with fine and rare qualities. M. du Plessis made ready to leave Venice for the Levant, but he got no further than the coast of Istria and Dalmatia because of the war of Cyprus which broke out just then and made it dangerous for Christians to travel further east. In 1571 he left Venice and started on a

1 Soffrey de Calignon, 1550-1606, afterwards Chancellor of Navarre.

G

98 A HUGUENOT FAMILY

tour round Italy, going by the Adriatic coast and returning by way of Tuscany to Genoa. Wherever he went he inquired very thoroughly into what there was to see, so that nothing might escape him. To this end he had read all the best histories he could find during any prolonged stay that he made in a town, both particular and general histories of Italy as a whole and of its states, principalities and republics as well ; nor did he stop short, as most do, at seeing the antiquities of each place, but he also studied their chances and changes, their beginnings, births, progress, growth and the causes of these things, together with the spots where battles had been fought and sieges laid and assaults given, all of which he very fully recorded in Italian in a manuscript which he left with others in the hands of M. Jean Metellus, a Burgundian of Franche Comte\ from whom I have so far failed to recover any of them. He followed the same method in all his travels in Germany, Hungary, the Low Countries and England, and he and I are both trying to get all these records together for the use of our children. During this tour he passed by Ferrara, which was still feeling earthquake shocks, and he stayed there several days so as to observe and inquire into the circumstances of these shocks which had lasted seven or eight months, and were the worst ever felt there. From there he went on to Rome, and on the way often lodged in the same inns with friars of the order known as Cordeliers, many of whom were travelling to Rome for their general synod. He could hardly do this without often entering into dangerous conversations on affairs in France which was only just emerging from the recent troubles and wars about the religion ; as indeed happened at Ancona, a town in the March subject to the Pope, with an abbe who was travelling to Loretto. As the only way to avoid idolatry he was forced to slip off secretly from his companion by the old post-road, which nobody took because it was a sort of crime to pass by Loretto without saluting the shrine. At Spoleto he was in danger because, at the end of an earthquake which had gone on

THE GRAND TOUR: 1 567-1 572 99

for two months, a Madonna was set up in imitation of Loretto, on the outskirts of the town, which was said to weep and work miracles and to have saved the town from destruction by earthquakes by her tears. The people came in battalions from the neighbouring towns, marching under crucifixes as if they were banners, and those who did not salute them were in danger of their lives, which might have befallen him more than once whilst travelling by that road. But God saved him in time because, just as he was passing through Spoleto, an edict of Pope Pius V was published which, on account of certain impostures which had been discovered, forbade all pilgrimages on pain of excommunication, till the miracles had been duly proved and approved. Notwithstanding this edict some of the crowd as he passed in front of the shrine seized his stirrups to make him dismount, but when he refused they dared not use force on account of the Pope's edict. The fame of this idolatry spread all through Italy and many marvels were told of the idol. But although he heard tell of this or that blind or lame man who had been cured, he always found, on inquiry, that it had happened in the next village further on, while among all those whom he questioned he never found one to give thanks for himself. He mentioned this some time after to the Duke of Savoy ' when he visited his court, and the Duke, who had heard of the miracles, was troubled at this remark.

Now, whether M. du Plessis had been denounced from Venice or Padua where he had stayed, or whether he had laid himself open to suspicion in his talks with the friars with whom he fell in on his way, it is certain that on the second night after his arrival in Rome, where he put up at the Boar, the Bargello, or Captain of the Watch, came to his lodgings and asked his name, country, business, whence he came, whither he was going and so on. He answered nothing but the truth although he gave his family name of Philippe de Mornay instead of du Plessis,

1 Philibert Emmanuel, m. Marguerite de France, d. Francois I.

ioo A HUGUENOT FAMILY

the name by which he was generally known. His servants were lodged in an adjoining wardrobe room and in order that they should not contradict him but should conform to his answers he spoke in a loud voice, which they overheard and so made their answers agree with his when their turn came to be questioned. So the Bargello went away but two hours later he came back and began his inquiries all over again. This redoubled M. du Plessis' alarm and he was on the very point of jumping from the window in an effort to escape ; however by the grace of God he made a bold answer and the guard again retired. When morning came he slipped off to Tivoli and kept out of the way for a few days and then came back to Rome to see everything that his first hurried visit had not given him time to see. At Milan and Cremona, both towns belonging to the King of Spain, he ran similar risks. Once being questioned by some very inquisitive Spaniards one of them told him that all Frenchmen were Lutherans, to which he replied that it was just as if one said all Spaniards were Moors. This started a discussion, the man declaring that lutherans were worse than Jews, and as, when they left the table, the Spaniard went off to find the Inquisitor of Cremona, a great persecutor, M. du Plessis, warned by God, went off to Piacenza in a hurry and kept out of the way there. He also visited the court of Savoy where he made himself agreeable to the Duchess and several other people of importance, but without putting himself forward. And so having finished his tour of Italy he returned to Venice. Throughout his journey he paid his respects to the learned men in each town, of whatever faculty or profession, but above all those who had any knowledge of the truth so that he might comfort himself with them.

From Venice he took his way by Trent, Innsbruck and Linz and reached Vienna in time for the wedding of the Archduke Charles with his niece, the daughter of the King of Bavaria. From there, furnished with the proper passports, he went on into Hungary, where he was very

THE GRAND TOUR: 1 567-1 572 101

well received by all the governors and where he pursued his usual method for getting acquainted with notable persons and places. He continued his journey through Moravia, Bohemia, Misnia, Thuringia, Hesse, Franconia, etc., so that he ended at Frankfort once more at the September Fair 1571, and there decided to spend the winter at Cologne. In the course of this winter he became very intimate with Petrus Ximenes,1 the great Spanish theologian, a modest and sincere man in intention if not in faith. In many points of doctrine they agreed but Ximenes had entrenched himself in the belief in the visible Church, from which he thought it wrong to differ however great were the errors into which she fell. M. du Plessis begged him to put into writing his principal reasons for this belief, and afterwards refuted them in a little paper in latin which those in Cologne called Scriptum Triduanum. It passed through many hands but it was never printed. The said Ximenes asked for time to write his answer but he never wrote it although often earnestly solicited by his friends. In Cologne M. du Plessis also knew Charles de Boisot, since Governor of Zealand, and his brother who was afterwards Admiral of the same country where they were both held in high esteem ; and the lords of Rhumen, Mansard and Ohain who had fled from the persecutions and burnings of those who professed the reformed religion in the Low Countries. He was acquainted too with a learned man a Burgundian of Franche Comt£, called Metellus, driven away not because of the reformed religion, which indeed he did not profess, but because of the Cardinal de Granvelle's hatred for him. Familiarity with these people brought him into touch with affairs in the Low Countries, which soon after began to move by the taking of Brielle, Flushing and Camfer, and above all by the base treachery of the Spaniards in Rotterdam.' M. du Plessis wrote two remonstrances on this latter

1 Petrus Ximenes, b. at Middelburg 1514, of Portuguese parents. 1 Massacre by the Spaniards 1571.

102 A HUGUENOT FAMILY

event, which were scattered all over the Low Countries both in French and in Flemish. The first was to induce them to refuse to admit garrisons ; the second, following their refusal, to show how little the Spaniards could be trusted after their recent treachery ; and these two papers were not without fruit. They were sent to the Prince of Orange, then at Dillenbourg, although they were not seen by him till eight years later. From this time forth in all negotiations with the Low Countries he was absolutely trusted. He passed the winter in reading Canon Law and the Fathers, in attending discussions on the religion and in writing various papers, which for the most part remained in the hands of the aforesaid Metellus, from whom I have never been able to get them. He also wrote a commentary on the Salic and Ripuarian Laws, which might yet be recovered from Metellus, in which he explained all the foreign words, or at least those not latin, which he found there.

In the spring of 1572 he went into the Low Countries, where he made a very careful study of the country, even finding means of getting into the castles and garrisoned places, because it seemed likely that King Charles would declare war against the King of Spain. Thence he crossed over into England, though not without great danger, just at the time when Mons was taken and the whole country was in an uproar. Shortly after his arrival in England the late M. du Montmorenci 1 and M. de Foix came across, to take the oath to a league between the late King Charles and the Queen of England.

He composed a poem addressed to the Queen, of which sixty verses were lost because he had torn them up and hidden them in different places on account of their dangerous character and of the searchings and persecutions that went on under the Duke of Alva ; and he could never rewrite them. The poem might have had eight hundred verses and invoked her aid for the ruin

1 Francois due de Montmorenci, Marshal of France, 1530-1579, eldest son of the Conneteble de Montmorenci.

THE GRAND TOUR: 1 567-1 572 103

of Anti-christ and the establishment of the true Church. Whilst he was in England he was asked if he would visit the Queen of Scotland on behalf of King Charles, but he refused fearing lest he might be asked to carry letters prejudicial to the affairs of England, and, in consequence, to the Religion.

And so towards the end of July he reached France, and having spent a few days at Buhy with his mother, he went on to Paris to join the late Admiral Coligny. He told the Admiral everything that he had observed in the Low Countries, all of which was communicated to the King. Next he presented a remonstrance on the justice, utility and facility of a war against the King of Spain, which paper was afterwards printed very incorrectly in the Memoires de France. After all which the late Admiral proposed that he should join the Prince of Orange who was moving about with his army, and assure him that succour was coming from the King ; this plan was speedily abandoned owing to the defeat of M. de Genlis on his way to Mons. M. du Plessis was very resolute in his determination to reach the Prince of Orange in spite of all dangers, and wanted to disguise himself as a peasant. When the Admiral discussed the matter with him, for the Admiral had been advised by M. Languet that M. du Plessis was worthy of confidence y in spite of his twenty-three years, he told him that he held himself ready not for gain or advancement, seeing how great was the risk, but because he felt assured he would employ him in nothing that would not be for the glory of God, who would guide him so long as he served Him. The massacre of the 24th of August, St Bartholomew's Day, brought this and many other matters to naught.

M. du Plessis arrived in France some three weeks before the massacre on St Bartholomew's Day1 took place, and I have often heard him say that he expected no good to come out of the condition of affairs. Even on the King of Navarre's wedding-day he scarcely went out, so

1 24th August 1572.

104 * HUGUENOT FAMILY

little did he rejoice in it. Certain warnings were given him too, which he passed on but without doing any good. On the Friday before St Bartholomew's Day he had obtained three days' leave of absence from the Admiral, and was ready to start for Buhy with his mother who was then in Paris, but whilst he was at M. de Foix's house, bidding him good-bye, one of his servants, a German called Eberhard Blanclz, came to tell him that the Admiral had been wounded. He ran to the spot, met the Admiral and accompanied him back to his lodgings, and from this moment felt all his forebodings of approaching evil redoubled. Notwithstanding which, and in spite of all Mile, de Buhy's prayers and commands, he made up his mind to give up his journey and await the issue of events, as God might ordain them. But he made her leave Paris immediately by telling her how certain he was of the coming danger, so that she set out on the eve of that miserable day towards four o'clock in the afternoon, and slept at Pontoise, half-way to her own home. He felt he could not himself shun the danger with honour while the King of Navarre, the Prince of Cond6, the Admiral, and so many of the great nobles stayed behind.

On the Saturday evening M. du Plessis came home very late from the Admiral's house and had warnings given him that certain of the citizens were arming themselves. His lodging was in the Rue St Jacques, at the sign of the Golden Compass. On this Saturday, the morrow of the attack on the Admiral, he had retained another lodging, nearer to those of the Admiral, so that he might go in and out more easily at any hour of the day or night. God willed that this new lodging could not be got ready for him before the following Monday. On the Sunday morning at five o'clock the aforementioned German, whom he had sent to the Admiral's lodging, came running back terrified, to warn him of the uproar which was going on there. M. du Plessis jumped up and hastily dressed himself, intending to go there himself,

THE GRAND TOUR: 1 567-1 572 105

but various encounters on the way sent him back to his lodging. His host was called Poret (he yet lives) a Roman Catholic, but a man of conscience too. Search was made for M. du Plessis in this man's house and ( he had barely time to burn his papers. He himself got in between two roofs and did not come out till he heard the searchers leave. The rest of the day he passed with what patience he could, and in the meantime he sent to M. de Foix's house, on whose friendship he knew he could rely, to beg him to help him escape. But M. de Foix had taken shelter in the Louvre, not even he feeling safe in his own house.

On Monday morning the fury beginning again, his host came to him and begged him to leave, saying that he could do nothing to save him, while on the other hand M. du Plessis might be his ruin, although he would not have minded this if he could have really kept him safe. The murderers were already in his next neighbour's house, one Odet Petit, a bookseller, whom they had killed and thrown out of the window.

On hearing this M. du Plessis put on a very plain black suit and took his sword, and left while the mob were busy sacking the neighbouring house, and so passed into the Rue St Martin and got into a little alley known as the Trousse Vache to the house of a huissier, named Gerard, who was the Buhy family's man of business. The way there was long and M. du Plessis did not reach the Alley without several dangerous encounters. He found the huissier standing at his door and was welcomed by him, and just at the right time too for at that moment a captain of the watch passed. The huissier promised to get him out of Paris the following morning. M. Gerard then set him to work with his other clerks. The worst was that his servants, although he had not mentioned where he was going to take refuge, guessed where he was and came, one after the other, to look for him, and were noticed going into the house. Thereupon that night the captain of the watch sent to the huissier with orders

io6 A HUGUENOT FAMILY

to send the stranger who was with him to him. The huissier was frightened and very early in the morning he came to M. du Plessis and begged him to go away. M. du Plessis made up his mind to go, however great was the risk, and this was on the Tuesday morning. He left his old tutor, M. Raminy, behind for fear lest they should run into more danger together than they would apart.

As he was coming down the stairs all alone, for the huissier would not listen to any proposal that he should bear him company out of the town, one of the clerks offered his services of his own free will, saying that he could get M. du Plessis through the Porte St Martin because he had formerly belonged to the guard there, and was well known. M. du Plessis was overjoyed at the offer, but when he got downstairs he saw the man had only slippers on his feet, and he begged him to get his shoes for he did not look fit for going on a journey ; but the man said it was no matter and M. du Plessis did not like to urge him. As ill-luck would have it, the Porte St Martin was not open that morning and they were obliged to go on to the Porte St Denis, where the clerk had no acquaintance. After answering many questions they were allowed to pass on the information that M. du Plessis belonged to Rouen, that he was clerk to a frocureur, and was on his way to spend his holidays with his relations. But one of the guard caught sight of the clerk's slippers and gave it as his opinion that he was not going far away in that condition, and that the man was probably a Roman Catholic helping a huguenot to escape. Thereupon four soldiers were sent after them who arrested them near to Villette between Paris and St Denis. Immediately a furious mob gathered, carters and quarrymen and lime-burners from the quarries and kilns in the neighbourhood. God preserved them in this first onslaught, and from the blows of the mob, but even while M. du Plessis tried to turn aside their wrath with soft words, they dragged them towards the river. The clerk began to lose his head and swore again and again,

THE GRAND TOUR: 1 567-1 572 107

in these very words, that M. du Plessis was no huguenot. Forgetting that they had agreed to say he was a procureur's clerk, he even called him M. de Buhy, a family which was well known in the neighbourhood of Paris. God shut their ears so that they heeded him not. M. du Plessis was certain that nobody knew who he was and he begged them to consider how vexed they would be if they killed a man by mistake, and he told them he could give them good references in Paris, and that they ought to put him into some house in the neighbourhood, guarding him well and in the meantime send some of their number to the addresses which he would give them. At length some of the less infuriated among them agreed to this. They took him to an inn in the neighbourhood where he got the innkeeper to serve some breakfast. The gentlest threats were for drowning him. He was on the point of jumping through the window, but, taking all things into consideration, he resolved to brave it out. He gave as references the family of Rambouillet, even mentioning the Cardinal, just to overawe them, knowing well that common people like them would never get a hearing from such high nobility. And in fact they did not think for a moment of taking this suggestion. They put all sorts of questions to him, and the Rouen coach passing at that moment they stopped it to see if any passenger recognized him for a fellow-townsman, but no one knowing him they decided that he was a liar and again talked of drowning him. As he claimed to be a clerk (as idiots most usually call the learned) they had a Breviary brought to see if he knew latin, and seeing that he did they said that it was enough to infect all Rouen, and that he most certainly should be done away with. Upon which, so as to escape their pestering, he told them that he would answer no more questions, for if he had been ignorant they would have thought ill of him, and now that it was proved that he had some learning they thought worse ; and it was clear that they were most unreasonable people and they must do what they thought good.

108 A HUGUENOT FAMILY

In the meantime they had sent two of their company to the huissier aforementioned, whose address M. du Plessis had given them as one of his references, with a note from him in the following words, " Sir, I am detained by the guard of the Porte St Denis, and by some of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who will not believe that I am Philippe Mornay, your clerk, who has your permission to visit his relations at Rouen during his holidays. I beg you to confirm my statement so that I may be allowed to continue my journey." The messengers found M. Gerard just starting for the Law Courts, a well-dressed and solid looking man. At first he snubbed them but afterwards he wrote on the back of the note that P. Mornay was neither a rebel nor a seditious fellow (he dared not say he was not a huguenot), and this he signed with his name. A little servant-boy in the house nearly spoilt everything by saying that the new clerk only came on the Monday. In the midst of so many difficulties we ought to acknowledge how the divine goodness and providence of God watches over us and for us against all human hope. The note was brought back, and straightway looks and words underwent a change, and M. du Plessis was reconducted to the place where he had been first arrested. So by nine o'clock he parted from them and took his way by St Denis, L'Isle Adam, and thence to Chantilly on foot, where he found M. de Montmorenci. The Marshal was very lukewarm and not without reason. He kept M. du Plessis one day hoping that the King would disavow the murder of the Admiral, in which case he was determined to revenge him ; but news to the contrary reaching him he decided to bow to the King's will.

M. du Plessis thereupon set out for Buhy, their family house, on a little horse that M. de Montmorenci lent him, and slept that night at Ivry le Temple, which he reached tired out and drenched. This was on the Thursday after the St Bartholomew when the weather towards evening was most strange (indeed several folk

THE GRAND TOUR: 1 567-1 572 109

escaped from Paris under cover of it). At supper-time some of those who were in the same lodgings came into his room cursing and saying there must be a huguenot among them who ought to be in a fine fright, and glanced suspiciously at him. He made no remark and turned away as if he took no interest in what they said, so that matter passed over and he went to his sleeping chamber. The following day he set out for Buhy and on the way there only just missed du Borgne de Montafie" and his troopers, who had overrun all the French Vexin and had carried off prisoners some of the gentlemen, his neighbours. This escape was due to his meeting with an old lady called Desseaux, who had been in service with his mother, Mile, de Buhy, and who was being escorted along the road by a peasant. M. du Plessis and this man recognized each other. The peasant told him to look out and added that they had been stopped by the abovementioned troop not far from where they then were, which was close to Montjavou and a league from Buhy.

At Buhy he found the household all scattered and his mother away. He had news of her at Buchet, a hamlet near to Buhy, from an old serving-man called Saturny, who told him she had fled to the house of M. du Lu, a neighbour of very moderate means. There he found her, and they took comfort together. He told her he intended to leave the country after he had escorted her to M. de Villarceaux's house, where in truth she found a refuge. A few days later M. de Villarceaux' son-in-law, the Baron de Montenay, who was a connection of the de Buhy family, offered to get him a passport from M. de Guise, which would allow him to go wherever he liked. M. du Plessis declined the offer, saying that he would not owe his life to those of whom his conscience forbade him to make use, and that God would open the door to let him get out of France, just as He had opened it to let him escape from the massacre. Three days later he crossed over to England, embarking at Polet, a suburb of Dieppe,

no A HUGUENOT FAMILY

by the help of his brother-in-law, M. Auberville, who employed for that service captain Montiut to whom he was deeply indebted. There was so bad a storm that the sailors talked of putting in at Calais which would have suited them as ill as if they had been carried off to Peru. But God stilled the storm and brought them to the haven of Rye where M. du Plessis was very well received by the English. And his only consolation in this ship was the screams of some women and children who fled the same shipwreck as himself across the waves. This was the 9th day after the massacre. I must add that he often told me that from the very moment when he heard of the massacre he lifted up his heart to God and straightway felt a certain assurance of escape. And not only escape but of justice which has already been made manifest to those who observe the ways of justice carefully. On the other hand, M. Raminy only looked for death and in truth he was slain on Wednesday the 27th August just as he thought he could get out safely by the Porte St Honore" and rejoin M. du Plessis.