Mean while the Deed of Clement was approved at Rome; and himself worfhipped in Paris. The Holy League acknowledged for their King the Cardinal of Bourbon, an old Prieft, Uncle to Henry the Fourth, in order to fhow the World that it was the Hereticks, and not the Houfe of Bourbon, which their Hatred purfued.

Thus the Duke of Mayenne was wife enough not to affume the Title of King, yet to get all the Royal Power in his hands; while the miferable Cardinal of Bourbon, whom the League call'd King, was kept Prifoner by Henry the Fourth during the remainder of his Life, which lafted but two Years.

The League more fupported than by the Pope, affifted by the Spaniards, and extremely powerful by itfelf, was at the height of its Grandeur, and look'd down upon Henry the Fourth with that Hatred which Religion infpires, and with a Contempt begot by their Succeffes.

Henry had few Friends, few great Towns, no Money, a fmall Army; but his Courage, his Activity, his Policy fupplied all thofe Wants. He gained feveral Victories, efpecially that of Ivry against Mayenne. This Battle was one of the moft remarkable that ever was fought.

fought. The two Generals exerted on that Day all their Art, the Soldiers all their Courage; few Faults were committed on either fide. Henry owed at laft the Victory to the Superiority of his Knowledge and Valour; but he confefs'd that Mayenne had fulfilled all the Duties of a great General. He was, faid the King, deficient only in his Caufe.

He proved as clement in the Victory as. he was terrible in the Battle. He knew befides, that Power is often leffened by the full ufe of it, and extended by Moderation. He ftopp'd the Fury of the Soldiers who were purfuing the Enemy, he took care of the Wounded, fet at liberty many Prifoners. Yet fo much Valour, and fo much Generofity, did not mollify the Heart of the League.

2

The Civil Wars of France were now become the Quarrel of Europe, King Philip the Second was eagerly engaged in the Defence of the League: Queen Elizabeth all forts of Affiftance to gave Henry, not because he was a Proteftant; but because he was an Enemy to Philip the Second, whofe incroaching Power was dangerous to herfelf: She fent him five thoufand Men under the Command of the Earl of Efex, her Favourite, the fame whom he caufed afterwards to be beheaded.

The

The King continued the War with va→ rious Succefs. In one Day he took by Storm all the Suburbs of Paris. He had taken the Town perhaps likewife, had he had no other View but to conquer. But he was afraid of giving up his Capital as a Prey to the Soldiery, and of deftroying the City which he had a mind to fave. He befieged Paris, he raised the Siege, he begun it again; at laft he blocked it up, and cut off all the Communications to the Town, hoping that the Scarcity of Provifions would force the Parifians to furrender without. Bloodshed.

But Mayenne, the Priefts, and the Sixteen Burgeffes managed fo dexterously the Spirits of the People, work'd up their Hatred against the Hereticks to fuch a Degree, and fool'd their Imgaination to fuch an Enthusiasm, that they chose rather to die by Hunger, than to fubmit.

The Fryars and the Monks made a Show, which, as ridiculous as it was in itself, was yet of great ufe to animate the People. They made a kind of military Mufter, marching in Rank and Files, wearing rufty Armours over their Cowls, having at their Head the Figure of the Virgin Mary, wielding Swords in their Hands, and crying, they

were

were all ready to fight, and to die in the Defence of the Faith. So that the Citizens, who faw their Confeffors in Arms, thought really that they fought the Cause of God.

However, Scarcity occafioned foon an univerfal Famine. That prodigious Multitude of Citizens had no other Support but the Sermons of their Priefts, and the fictitious Miracles of Fryars, who, by the way, had all Things in plenty in their Convents, while all the Town was reduced to ftarve. The miferable Parifians, lull'd at firft by the hopes of being foon relieved, were finging Ballads in the Streets, and Lampoons againft Henry; a Fact not to be related with probability of any other Nation, but fuitable enough to the Genius of the French even in fo deflate a Condition. That fhort-lived wretched Mirth was ftopp'd quickly by the moft ferious and the most inexpreffible Mifery. Thirty thousand Men died of Hunger in a Month's time. The poor

Harved Citizens tried to make a fort of Bread with the Bones of the Dead, which being bruifed and boiled, were reduced to a kind of Jelly. But fuch an unnatural Food afforded them no other manner of Benefit than to kill them the fooner. It is recorded and confirmed by all the Teftimonies which can be credible, that C

a Woman killed and fed on her own Child. Moreover, the ftubborn Obftinacy of the Parifians was equal to their Calamities. Henry pitied their Condition more than they did themselves: his GoodNature prevailed over his Intereft.

fend up

He fuffered his Soldiers to fell privately all forts of Provifions to the Town; thus it happened, what was never feen before, that the Befiegers fed the Befieged. 'Twas a fingular Spectacle to fee the Soldiers from the bottom of their Trenches Victuals to the Citizens, who were throwing down Money to them from the Ramparts. Many Officers, prompted by the Licentioufnefs common to a military Life, bartered a Sirloin of Beef for a Wench; fo that one might have feen Women getting down in Baskets, and the Bafkets hoifted up again full of Provisions. By thefe means the Officers were taken up with an unfeafonable Licentioufnefs, the Soldiers got too much Money, the Befieged were relieved, and Henry loft the Town. For in the mean time an Army of Spaniards came from the Low Countries; the King was obliged to raise the Siege, and run again through all the Toils and Viciffitudes of War, till at laft the Spaniards being driven out of the Kingdom, he came a third time before Paris, that

was