The Memoirs

An Escape from the Massacre of St Bartholomew

At the time of the massacre I had been living in Paris for two years, detained by the business of settling the division of the property of the late M. de la Borde, along with my mother, my brothers and my sister de Vaucelas. My father died on the 15th August 1570 at the time peace was made after the last troubles before the massacre. In early youth my father had studied, and afterwards had travelled, in Germany and Italy. I remember hearing him say that he had several times listened to preachings in Strasbourg, and had even been present at disputations between Master Martin Luther and other learned doctors. He had thus learnt something of the abuses in the Roman Church, but he had never been instructed in the true religion. He came back to Paris to meet his mother, Dame Magdalene Desfeugerais, and once there he thought no more of seeking religious instruction, but only of getting married and securing some suitable appointment. Shortly afterwards he married Dame Magdalene Chevalier,1 my mother, by whom he had several children. He also obtained a post as president in the Chambres des Comptes of Paris which he filled with integrity. He was beloved by those who did business with him for he hated all gifts, even to refusing fruit and sweets.

A little time before the first troubles began the Prince and Princess of Conde" asked my father to let them lodge at his house so as to be near the Louvre, for he lived at la

1 Great-granddaughter of Etienne Chavalier, for whom Foucquet illuminated the famous "Heures de Chevalier."

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Chasse, rue des Bourdonnetz. While the Prince was there preachings were held, and this fact was much commented on, when the first troubles started soon after. It was on this account that my father, who had been ill and who had gone to a little house he possessed at Arcueil, was surrounded by three or four thousand men who had marched out of Paris to take him prisoner. On seeing this mob my father broke open several barrels of wine for the soldiers and asked to speak with their officers. M. Marcel, at that time Prevot des March ands of Paris, who ever afterwards declared that he accepted the position of leader with the sole object of saving my father's life, was among them. My father handed over to them all his most valuable plate and rings to save them from the pillaging rabble they had with them, who had already seized most of his servants, calling them preachers and huguenots, though of a truth they were all men who went to mass every day and knew nothing of the true religion. My father, thinking to ride with them, was pulled off his horse and dragged to Paris on foot, sometimes with a pistol at his throat and sometimes a dagger, and in this wise was taken to the Faubourg St Marceau where he remained a prisoner. M. de Brissac,1 at that time Governor of Paris, who was very friendly with my father, promptly set him at liberty, but not before he had abjured the truth, which, after all, was no great matter for him because he had no immediate thought of deserting the mass. At the same time seeing that he could not live safely in Paris he decided to retire to his country house at la Borde, where he stayed throughout the troubles. M. de Guise had a mind to take him and his house by surprise, and did in truth damage his property not a little. The reason for this particular hatred of my father both by M. de Guise and by the Paris populace is to be traced to the preachings in his house in Paris. Besides this the first Sacrament at which the Prince was present was to have been held in the

x Charles de Cosse, Comte de Brissac, Marshal of France, 1507-1563.

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fields at la Borde, when in that same afternoon the Duke of Guise, whilst crossing the forest on his way to Fontainebleau, met and very nearly fought with the Prince. Furthermore, my father had not only lent but had also gone surety for considerable sums of money for the Prince's use, and it was supposed that without such help from his supporters he would have been too hard up to have been able to defend himself in the wars against him, and that he would have been more easily brought to ruin. M. de la Borde, my father, finding himself persecuted for a religion which he had never professed, recognized the goodness of God which thus manifested itself, and took steps to receive instruction. He conferred with two ministers, M. Gaudet and M. de Miremont in the Marquise de Rothelin's house at Blandy, a league away from his own house. After receiving instruction he made public profession of the true religion, and God gave him grace to remain steadfast in it to the last breath of his life. On the first journey he took to Paris after peace was made he sought out the same company before whom he had abjured the faith, none of them yet knowing that he had since professed the reformed religion. He asked them to give him the book in which they had forced him to sign his abjuration : having it in his hand he told them publicly and freely how deeply he regretted that he had been a traitor to God, in that he had cared so little for his salvation as to deny even that small part of the truth which he had known. Thus saying he erased his signature, adding that at any rate those who might hereafter know of his fault would also know of his repentance. During the years 1569 and 1570 he was almost always ill and never left his house. His property was seized, his furniture was inventoried and a garrison was quartered on him. Throughout the whole time he received the consolations of M. de Miremont, minister of the Church, who often came to see him. M. de Morvillier, at that time senior conseiller d'etat, knowing how ill he was and that he needed change of air, sent to

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offer him his abbey of St Pere at Melun, whither my father had himself carried in a litter, leaving my three brothers at home, all three dangerously ill. On his arrival at Melun he fainted, caused, as the doctors thought, by a fall coming along the road. The next day just as he was dispatching one of his servants to get news of my brothers he was seized with a second fainting fit and had time to say no more than these words, " Lord, it is eightand- fifty years since Thou gavest me a soul. Thou gavest it white and unsoiled : I give it back besmirched and foul. Wash it in the blood of Jesus Christ Thy Son." Saying which he gave back his soul to God at Melun, of which place he was lord and viscount. His body was taken to Chatillon, in the parish of la Borde, which now belongs to my eldest brother, M. Guy Arbaleste, lord of la Borde and Chatillon.

Soon after the death of the late M. de la Borde, my mother, my brothers, my sister de Vaucelas and I myself went to Paris, where the division of his property between us was made. At that time I was a widow, having been married at the age of eighteen to M. Jean de Pas, lord of Feuqueres. We were married in the year 1567, just at the moment when King Charles IX retired from Meaux to Paris, and the troubles of St Denis began. I will give you a very brief account of my first husband. He was brought up as a page to the Duke of Orleans,1 and after his death, the late King Francois I, the Duke's father, took him as gentleman-in-waiting in his own house. Later on he was attached to King Francois II,2 then dauphin of France, who was only a child. The Dauphin took a fancy to him and generally made him sleep in the wardrobe-room along with the Keeper of the wardrobe, for he rarely liked him out of his sight. And not being old enough to say his name Feuqueres he called him Frigallet. Whilst in extreme youth he had a company of the King's guard and was

1 Charles, 3rd son of Frangois I, d. 1545.

2 Grandson of Francois I, d. 1560.

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made Governor of Roye, a place on the frontier of Picardy. Madame du Peron, seeing how much he was loved by his masters and how popular he was at court, begged him to make her son cornet in his company. Her son afterwards became Duke of Retz ' and Marshal of France. For some time Monsieur de Feuqueres was fighting in Picardy with the Admiral, and, notwithstanding his youth, was one of the Marechaux de camp. Whilst in these parts he often heard a Cordelier, dressed in his monk's frock, preaching the truth, and he listened with pleasure and began to have some knowledge of the errors of the Roman Church. Later on he went to Italy with M. de Guise,3 and whilst there the French gentlemen who accompanied the said Duke did homage to the Pope and kissed his toe. But M. de Feuqueres remarked that for a little money given to the Pope a man was free to eat meat in Lent and on other forbidden days, whereas also by the Pope's authority, another might be burnt for eating an egg. This troubled his conscience with a longing to learn how he might seek the truth. And yet on the other hand he felt himself on the road to advancement in the court and on the point of acquiring honours and wealth which he could never hope to possess if he were to make profession of the truth ; on the contrary he might expect banishment from France where the fires of persecution were alight. I have often heard him say that the difficulties in making his choice between the two paths made him ill. At length, after reading the second Psalm, he determined to forget all worldly considerations, learning by it that kings and princes more often than not leagued themselves against God and against Christ his beloved King. From that moment he resolved to quit the mass and its errors and to profess the truth. At the same time he did not abandon the Court, even listening in company with a few other zealots to sermons in the Queen mother's

1 Gondi, Albert de. His mother had charge of the children of Henri II. 8 Francois, Due de Guise. He was in Italy from Dec. 1556 to autumn 1557-

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room whilst she was at dinner in the company of some of her ladies-in-waiting, who were protestants.

About this time M. de Feuqueres took part in the attempt on Amboise 1 although so cleverly and so secretly that he was merely suspected and could never be arrested. An official, who was made prisoner on this charge, had his life given him by M. de Guise on condition that, dressed like a priest and moving about the vestibule, chamber and anti-chamber of the King and Queen mother he should discover who was concerned in the affair. And he did in truth accuse several gentlemen who were arrested and in great trouble but he could never get hold of M. de Feuqueres although he knew about him. God always stood in his way as M. de Feuqueres has often related. He was also at Orleans when the Prince of Conde was arrested. He could see that the King, his master, looked askance at him and his guardian angel warned him to depart. He thereupon went to Chatillon to join the Admiral who was on the point of setting out for Orleans to clear himself. M. de Feuqueres offered to accompany him but the Admiral advised against it and so instead he went to Paris. There news came of the death of his master, King Francois II, which set him, and many others, free from anxiety.

On the outbreak of the first troubles the late King Charles sent him to the Dukes of Lorraine and Savoy, both of whom offered him service and a place at Court. The Duke of Savoy even made him a specially good offer, to wit that he should be made a general both for offensive and defensive war and should direct the fortification of various places as need arose. On his return to court, where he saw the King and the Queen Mother, he found that the Prince of Conde had withdrawn from the court and had seized Orleans. After he had given a report on his mission he was commanded by the Queen Mother to follow the Prince and assure him of her goodwill in all

1 La turaulte d'Amboise, March 1560, a huguenot plot under Renaudie in which Louis, Prince de Conde, was implicated.

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matters concerning both his person and his estate, and to implore him to be a protector of mother and child against the family of Guise. In accordance with these orders he joined the Prince, who did him the honour to appoint him his senior marechal de camp in his army, in which position he acquitted himself in a way which won him much praise. During the siege of Orleans he stayed in the town, busy with the fortifications and other matters and those who were there with him acknowledge that most of what was well done in the town could be attributed to his ability and zeal. During these troubles and also when they were over he was high in the favour of the Prince of Porcien.1 He accepted a lieutenancy in his company of men-at-arms, realizing on the one hand that he could not expect to be welcomed at court at once, whilst on the other the Prince of Porcien was full of zeal and love for the Faith and, moreover, promised to do great things for it. And in truth, peace being made and all the Huguenots being in disgrace at Court, the Prince retired into Champagne, where he engaged M. de Feuqueres to fortify Linchamps in Ardennes, which belonged to the Lady Catherine of Cleves, his wife. She married M. de Guise after the Prince's death. Shortly before the troubles of St Denis began the late M. de Feuqueres came to Paris. He had a mind to get married and approached my father on the subject, setting before him certain gifts of land and legacies left him by the Prince of Porcien who had died three months before. Our marriage was arranged and notice given on a Thursday for the wedding to take place on the Sunday following, which was St Michael's day.

However M. de Feuqueres received a summons from the Prince of Conde- to take part in the enterprise of Meaux. So he left on the Friday morning with his retinue, and by good luck got out of Paris. M. de la Borde, my father, wishing to leave that same afternoon, ran into great danger, and if the Marechal de Vielle-

1 Antoine de Croi.

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ville had not arrived in Paris at that moment my father and all of us would have been detained. We got out and went to Brie Comte Robert. The Prince of Conde's enterprise coming to naught, the late M. de Feuqueres followed us and we were married on St Michael's day just as the King rode into Paris, which was, as I have said, the first event in the second troubles. We went to la Borde, to my father's house, whence M. de Feuqueres departed on the following Tuesday to join the Prince and the Admiral. His rank as marechal de camp was confirmed and a company of men-at-arms given him. He filled this post right through the troubles with much honour and the praise of all. It was he, who at the battle of St Denis, after the charges were over, reconnoitred the enemy, and in consequence, on his assurances to the Prince and the Admiral that the enemy had retreated into Paris with all his cannon, our quarters at St Denis and our army's quarters were both maintained. Throughout the march into Lorraine, as I have often heard him say, our army was so well quartered that the enemy could never rush any of our camps nor get to blows with any of our troops. But we must acknowledge that God manifestly blessed his zeal in his charge. For instance, I have heard him tell how at Notre-Dame de l'Epine he thought there were no mortal means by which a battle could be avoided in a position which would have been very disadvantageous for the Prince and his army, and how, as the Prince camped, a severe frost set in all the night which enabled the troops to march at break of day, and to traverse, with ease, a league or so of very bad road which had stopped them just at that point. They were no sooner over it than the enemy reached its other end, but God willed that a thaw should come at the selfsame moment which held the enemy in camp the whole day, unable to pass. Thus the prince evaded the battle and could effect a junction with his foreign troops, and so strengthened, march to Chartres where peace was made.

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During this march I was at Orleans whither my father had gone to escape the troubles, while Mile, de la Borde, my mother, who did not profess the reformed religion, was free to stay either in Paris or in some of our other houses doing the best she could to protect our property. From Orleans we went to la Borde where we passed the whole of the spring. When summer came we bid my father farewell and I never saw him again. My husband and I went to the Ardennes where we met with many difficulties from the various governors of the district, who knew M. de Feuqueres to be devoted to the Religion and to be an able soldier. Every day some attempt to assassinate him was made. In the month of August 1568, the Prince of Condd, who was at Noyers, sent for him but M. de Feuqueres had scarcely had time to gather his friends and to mount a-horseback before he learnt that the Prince had retreated to la Rochelle, finding it impossible, with due regard to his own safety, to await the day fixed for the rendezvous. M. de Feuqueres waited a few weeks and then made an agreement with M. de Genlis and several other gentlemen, who found themselves in the same predicament, to send a messenger to the Prince of Orange asking whether he would like them all to join with him. He was overjoyed with the proposal for the help came at a very opportune moment. When the Prince of Orange asked Monsr. de Malberg about these French lords who were about to join him M. de Malberg spoke very affectionately of M. de Feuqueres and praised him highly, which was the reason why the Prince, on the arrival of the French troops, greeted him with special kindness and employed him on every possible occasion. The Prince of Orange with his army of Germans and French quitted the Low Countries and crossing Picardy and Champagne joined the Duke of Deux Ponts ' on the German frontier.

In this same month God gave us Suzanne de Pas, our eldest daughter, and the only child of the late M. de

1 Wolfgang of Bavaria, Duke of Zweibriicke or Deux Ponts.

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Feuqueres. I was brought to bed with her at Sedan the 29th December 1568. Her godfather was M. Doncher and his wife was her godmother. M. de Feuqueres was never able to see me on his marches to and fro, for he could not leave the army on account of his office of marechal de camp, which he held under the Duke of Deux Ponts during his march on la Charite\ M. de Feuqueres knew the town, and the battery being made ready, those in command within surrendered in the month of May 1569. M. de Feuqueres was wounded in the leg before this place by the kick of a horse, and a fever supervening he gave up his soul to God to the sorrow of all honest men, leaving behind him a happy memory. This was on the 23rd of May in the aforesaid year. I was nineteen years old, in deep trouble, away from my native land and from all means of livelihood and harassed with an infinite amount of business. While at Sedan I learnt of my father's death, the late M. de la Borde, of a sister's death who was just about to be married and of my father-in-law's death as well. Such little property as I possessed had been seized on account of the troubles ; and I never saw so much as a farthing of M. de Feuqueres' fortune. But God raised me up friends, and helped me through all my troubles. Nevertheless, my health has never been good from that time forth, and most of the doctors who have attended me have attributed it to the burden of sorrow then laid upon me. Peace being made my mother sent for me to come to Paris, where, after having helped in the division of my late father's estate, I lingered on to try and get my daughter's inheritance from her father settled. And I was still there when the massacre of St Bartholomew took place.

For the sake of my health and to divert my mind from so many matters of business I had arranged to spend the winter with my sister de Vaucelas and, as I was to start on the Monday following St Bartholomew's Day, I intended to go to the Louvre on the Sunday to take

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leave of the Princess de Conti,1 Mme de Bouillon,' the Marchioness de Rothelin and Mme de Dampierre. But whilst I was yet abed one of my kitchen-maids, who was a protestant, and who lodged in the town, came running to me in terror saying that men were being killed on every side. I do not let myself be easily dismayed but having put on my petticoat and looked out of the window I saw down in the Rue St Antoine, where I lodged, people in a turmoil and several companies of the guard every one of them having a white cross fastened to his hat. I could see that the girl's news was real and I sent to my mother's house, where my brothers were, to know what was the matter. Every one there was in great alarm because at that time my brothers called themselves protestants. M. Pierre Chevalier, bishop of Senlis, my maternal uncle, sent me word to put my valuables together and he would send for me immediately, but just as he was sending someone to fetch me news came that the late M. Charles Chevalier seigneur d'Esprunes, who was much attached to the reformed religion, had been killed in the Rue de Bdtisy where he lodged so as to be near the Admiral.

And this was one reason why M. de Senlis forgot all about me, as well as the fact that when he tried to go down the street he was arrested, and if he had not crossed himself when bidden he would have been in danger of his life. But this he did willingly for he had no knowledge of the truth. After waiting half an hour and seeing the tumult in my street increasing, I sent my daughter, who was three years and a half old, in the arms of a servant girl to the house of M. de Perreuze, at that time maitre des requites in the King's household, and one of the kindest of my kinsmen and friends. M. de Perreuze took the child in by a back door and sent me word that I should be welcome if I liked to come too. I accepted his offer and went to his house, I being the

1 Jeanne de Coesme, m. Francois, 3rd son of Louis, Prince de Cond6. 1 Wife of Henri Robert de la Marck, Due de Bouillon.

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seventh to take shelter there. Our host had not yet really understood what was happening, but after sending one of his men to the Louvre the man brought word of the Admiral's death and of ever so many more lords and gentlemen and that the whole town was in an uproar. By this time it was eight o'clock in the morning. I had scarcely left my lodgings before the Duke of Guise's servants arrived, bade my landlord give me up and searched high and low for me. Not being able to find me they sent to my mother with an offer to guarantee my life and property if I would bring them ioo crowns. My mother sent word of this offer to M. de Perreuze's house, but after thinking it over carefully I decided that it was better that they should neither know my whereabouts, nor that I should go to them, but rather to beg my mother to say that she did not know what had become of me, and at the same time to offer them the money they demanded. Getting no news of me they pillaged my lodgings.

The following people had taken refuge in M. de Perreuze's house, to wit, M. de Landres and his wife Mile de Chaufreau, M. de Mattio and all their households, more than forty persons in all. In order to divert suspicion M. de Perreuze was obliged to send to a distant quarter of the town to get in supplies for so large a number. Either he or his wife stood at the door of his house to say a word of greeting to M. de Guise or to M. de Nevers1 or other catholic lords as they passed to and fro, as well as to the city captains who were pillaging the houses of huguenots in the neighbourhood. We were all there till Tuesday but however good a face M. de Perreuze put on he could not escape suspicion, so that orders were given that his house was to be searched on Tuesday afternoon. Most of those who had taken refuge there had already gone elsewhere and only the late Mile de Chaufreau and I were left. Our host was obliged to hide us, Mile de Chaufreau and her waiting-woman in the woodhouse outside, and

1 Louis de Gonzague, Due de Nevers, 1539-1595-

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me and one of my women in a hollow gable ; the rest of our servants disguised and hid themselves as they best could. Whilst I was in this hollow above the attic I heard the most terrible cries from men, women and children who were being murdered in the streets, and having left my child below I fell into the greatest per- / plexity and almost despair so that, had I not feared God's wrath, I would far sooner have flung myself down than have fallen alive into the hands of the mob, or have seen my daughter massacred before my eyes, which would have been more terrible to me than my own death. But one of my servant girls took the child safely through every peril and got with her to the house of Dame Marie Guillard, Dame d'Esprunes, my maternal grandmother, and there she left her, and my grandmother kept her till her own death. That same Tuesday afternoon in the very street where M. de Perreuze lived, Vielle rue du Temple, the President de la Place 1 (of happy memory) was killed under pretence of taking him to the King to save his life. M. de Perreuze, seeing an attack made so close to his house, and he himself threatened, employed M. de Thou 2 (the King's Advocate and at the present time President in the court of Parliament) to safeguard us and to preserve his house from pillage. This outbreak of violence passing by him more easily than he had thought likely it next became a question how to disguise us and get us away to other quarters. I could not go to my mother's house because a guard had been set in it, so I went to the house of a smith who had married one of my mother's women, a turbulent fellow who was captain of his quarter. I counted on his doing me no hurt on account of the kindnesses that my mother had done him. My mother came there in the evening to see me, more dead than alive and much more shivery than I was. I spent the night at this blacksmith's hearing

1 Pierre de la Place, President a la Cour des Aides, historian and calvinist theologian, 1 520-1572.

2 Christophe de Thou, premier President, 1508-1582.

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the huguenots abused and seeing the booty brought in from the pillaged houses. The blacksmith told me roundly that I must go to mass. On the Wednesday morning my mother sent to the president Tambonneau, and also to her godmother, Mile Morin, wife of the Lieutenant Criminel and mother of the Chancellor L'Hospital's 1 wife, who was still living at that time, imploring their help in saving me. About noon I went to see them all alone, and not knowing the way I followed a little boy who walked ahead of me. They were lodged in the Cloisters of Notre-Dame and the only people present were Mile Morin, the Chancellor's mother-inlaw, M. and Mme Tambonneau, and their brother, M. de Paraz ; and besides these only one of their serving-men, Jacques Minier, knew of my presence. I got into the house secretly and I was lodged in the president Tambonneau's study all that Wednesday and the Thursday up to nightfall. But on Thursday evening word was sent that the house was to be searched for M. de Chaumont Barbezieux, who was their kinsman, and for Mme de Belesbat, their sister, and fearing that during the search I might be discovered they were of opinion that I ought to move elsewhere. I was taken at midnight to a cornchandler's house, a man who had been their servant and who was a worthy fellow. I was with him for five days, helped by M. and Mme de Tambonneau and all their fan ily. Indeed I received such generous friendship and assistance in my need that, apart from the relationship between Mme de Tambonneau and myself, there will never be a day of my life when I do not feel deeply indebted to them all.

On the following Wednesday, Mile de la Borde, my mother, having had time to get her breath and find means to save my brothers from shipwreck by inducing them to go to mass, concluded that she could save me in the same manner. She therefore sent our cousin M. de

1 Michel de l'Hospital, 1507-1573, huguenot Chancellor of Catherine de Medici.

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Paroz to talk with me but after several discussions together he found me, by God's grace, very far from consenting. On the Wednesday morning, that is eleven days after St Bartholomew's day, after my mother had done everything she possibly could to win my consent, and instead of the answer she wanted receiving nothing but entreaties that she would help me to escape from Paris, she finally threatened to send my little daughter back to me. I could make no other answer but that I would take the child in my arms and we would be both massacred together, but at the same time I determined to leave Paris whatever might happen to me. I begged the man who had brought my mother's messages to take a place for me in a stage waggon or in some boat plying up the Seine. During the time that I stayed with the cornchandler I suffered not a little. I was lodged in a room above one in which lived Mme de Foissy, which made it impossible to move about for fear of being heard ; neither could they let me have a light as much on her account as on the neighbours'. When anything was brought me to eat it was hidden in an apron under the pretence of fetching linen for this Mme de Foissy.

At length I left these lodgings on Wednesday, the eleventh day after the massacre, at eleven in the morning and took my place in a boat going to Sens. My friends would not take a seat for me in the stage waggon, partly because they are so very public and partly they feared I might be recognized. On getting into the boat, which was bound for Sens, I found myself in company with two monks and a priest and two shopkeepers and their wives. As we passed les Tournelles the boat was stopped and passports demanded. Every one produced theirs but me, and I had none. Thereupon they all began to say I must be a huguenot and that I ought to be drowned. They made me get out of the boat. I besought them to take me to the house of M. de Voysenon, auditor of accounts, who was a friend of mine and my grandmother Mile d'Esprune's man of business. He was a staunch

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catholic and I assured them that he would answer for me. Two soldiers marched me up to the house. It was God's will that they remained standing at the door and let me go up alone. I found poor M. de Voysenon terribly upset and though I was in disguise he would call me Mademoiselle and tell me all about several people who had taken refuge with him. I told him I had no time to listen to him because I thought every minute the soldiers would follow me, and I added it seemed that God had chosen him to be the means of saving my life and if he failed I was as good as dead. So he went down to the soldiers and told them he had met me at the house of Mile d'Esprunes whose son was the Bishop of Senlis, and they were very good catholics and well known as such. The soldiers answered very curtly that they were not inquiring about those folk but about me. He replied that he had known me to be a catholic at one time, but what I was now he couldn't say. At that moment an honest woman came by and asked what they wanted to do with me. " By God, drown her for a huguenot. Can't you see what a fright she's in." And in truth I thought every moment they would throw me in the river. " You know me," said the woman. " I'm no huguenot. I go to mass every day but I've been in such a fright for this week past that I'm all in a fever." " By God," said one of the soldiers, " so are we all. It's given me the scab." So they put me back into the boat, telling me that if I had been a man I should not have got off so cheap. That very same time as I was arrested in the boat my lodging at the corn-chandler's was ransacked and if I had been discovered in it I should have been in great danger. We went on our way and night found us at a place which is called little la Borde. The whole afternoon the monks and the shopkeepers talked of nothing but of their joy in what they had seen in Paris, and if I said a word they told me I talked like a huguenot. So the only thing I could do was to feign sleep so that there was no occasion for me to speak.

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As we came off the boat I caught sight of Minier, the man I mentioned before, who had been sent by Mme Tambonneau to learn what had become of me for, having heard of my arrest, she was in great trouble on my account. It was this man who had acted as gobetween for my mother and me and carried all her messages. He signed to me not to take notice of him but as it was he who had taken my passage on the boat the women with me recognized him. I managed to tell him this without being seen by them so he came into the room where we all were and told me his mistress had sent him to look after the vintage. At supper he sat at table with us and calling me Charlotte, bade me fetch him wine. This dispelled all their doubts of me. There was but one sleeping-room in this inn where we were, with three beds in it ; the monks and priest slept in one, the two shopkeepers in another, and their wives and I in the third. I was very uneasy for I was wearing a shift made of Holland, trimmed with point-lace which Mme de Tambonneau had lent me and I thought that the women would see I wasn't the servant girl I pretended to be if I slept with them. On Thursday morning, as we were going aboard, Minier declined to come too because he said boats always made him feel ill. He whispered to me not to get off at either Corbeil nor Melun, of which latter place we were Seigneurs, for fear I should be recognized and so run into danger, but to remember to get off at the village of Ivry about a league from Corbeil. When I saw Ivry I asked the boatman to let me get on shore but he refused. But it was God's will that just opposite the village the boat should ground which obliged him to disembark us all. After paying the boatman, Minier and I walked to Ivry and being there he decided to take me to Bouschet, another league further on and close to the house of the Chancellor L'Hospital. Bouschet belonged to the President Tambonneau and Minier meant me to shelter with his vinedresser. We covered five leagues afoot. He left me

i28 A HUGUENOT FAMILY

with this poor labourer and went on to Vallegrand, the Chancellor's house, to see if I could take refuge there with Mme de l'Hospital. However he found them all in an upset for the King had quartered a large garrison on them on pretence of protecting the Chancellor, and his wife had been forced to go to mass. M. de l'Hospital sent word by Minier that I was very welcome to come to his house on the understanding that I would go to mass. He did not, however, expect me to agree to this condition after all the dangers I had experienced in escaping from Paris to avoid this very thing. I stayed on with the vinedresser for fifteen days while Minier went back to Paris. By ill-luck Queen Elizabeth's • Swiss came to turn the village upside-down in a search for some miserable huguenot, just at the very time that I reached Bouschet, but by God's grace they left the house where I was alone because it had a warrant against search. These Swiss served me for an excuse to stay indoors and not to be bothered to go to mass, even when there was a procession of the entire parish. The poor vine-dresser greatly regretted the neighbouring families of the gentry who had all been massacred, acknowledging that the country had no one left so charitable to the poor and so worthy as they. He always let me say grace in French before and after meat and took me for a servant-girl belonging to Mme Tambonneau, as Minier had said. At the end of a fortnight I had a mind to go to Brye to get advice as to what I had better do. I borrowed an ass from the vine-dresser and besought him to escort me. To this he consented and we crossed the river Seine between Corbeil and Melun, at a place called St Port, and from thence I went on to Esprunes, a house which belonged to my late grandmother. As soon as I got there the servant-girls in the place flung their arms round my neck, saying : " Oh, Mademoiselle, we thought you were dead." The poor vine-dresser stood still in astonishment, asking if I were in truth a lady, and on leaving

1 Isabelle or Elizabeth d'Autrione, wife of Charles IX.

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offered me his house, promising to keep me well hidden and to see I was not forced to go to mass, and begging me to excuse him because he had not given me the big bed to sleep in. Making an end of what he had to say he went back home while I stayed for the next fortnight at Esprunes. I must not forget to add that the chaplain of Esprunes, who lived at Melun, came to see me, and among other consoling remarks he told me that " Since God's judgments were manifest among His children it behoved the wicked and the evil-doer to be smitten with fear."

At the end of a fortnight I again mounted an ass and after a ride of four leagues reached the house of my eldest brother, M. de la Borde. I found him in great vexation of spirit, partly because to save his life he was forced to go to mass, and partly because he was pursued by demands to swear to all sorts of abjurations. Our friends in Paris, when they heard that I was with him, were alarmed lest I should persuade him from taking these oaths, and told him plainly that I should be his ruin if he let me stay at la Borde without going to mass. In consequence on the following Sunday he took me into the chapel, knowing that the priest was there ; but I, catching sight of the man, turned my back on my brother and went away weeping bitterly. My brother was sorry then that he had ever said a word to me on the subject. I decided to stay no longer at la Borde, but as, when I left Paris, I had only fifteen silver testons in my purse and no clothes but those I wore as a disguise, I spent a whole week trying to find a carter who would take me to Sedan. Out of 1500 • crowns which were owing to me in that neighbourhood I got forty paid. Whilst I was waiting one of my waiting-women and one of my menservants joined me. I told my brother of my plan, which he thought very dangerous. All the same he persuaded my carter, who was making difficulties, to take me, only imploring me not to tell my mother and our

1 Part of her inheritance from her father.

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other friends that he knew about my going because he was afraid they would all be so angry with him. His farewell to me was his assurance that as I was so full of love and zeal for God He would surely bless my journey and my person ; as indeed it came to pass by His mercy. I reached Sedan on All Souls' Day, Nov. ist, without let or hindrance on my way. On reaching Sedan I found many friends who offered me help of all sorts. I was not an hour in the town before I was once more dressed like a lady, each one lending me something, and I was welcomed with every kindness and distinction by the Duke and Duchess of Bouillon. I stayed at Sedan until my marriage with M. du Plessis as I will relate in due time.