OUR HOLIDAY. GYMNASTICS.-XII. LADDER EXERCISES. THE ladders of the gymnasium are of various forms, including that in common use, and the rundled pole, as well as the ship's rope ladder. They are placed either in upright, slanting, or horizontal positions. They must all, however, be made very strong, and very securely fixed. The upright ladder-the position of which is quite perpendicular from the ceiling to the floor-affords a variety of amusing exercises, of all degrees of skill. The mildest form of gymnastic exercise may be taken by ascending in the ordinary way. This may be made a little less easy by ascending two or more steps at a time, by going up with one hand only, using both hands in turn, or by going up with a weight carried in the hand which is disengaged. Another method is to ascend the ladder sideways, only one of the beams or outside supports facing you. You then plant the arch of the foot on the alternate rundles or cross pieces, and the body of the ladder is between, although not close to, the knees. A further and more difficult way of ascent is with the back towards the ladder. You grasp it from behind, the palm of each hand being directed up Fig. 39. backward or forward in the same way. He may change his grasp from the rundles to the outside beams, and alter his position in a variety of ways which experience and experiment will suggest to better purpose than a lengthened written description. Those who desire fuller information as to the capabilities of the horizontal ladder may turn to our chapter on "The Horizontal Bar," in which are set forth many exercises which may be performed equally well on the horizontal ladder. O Fig. 37. We now come to another kind of ladder, namely, the rundled pole. In this ladder the rundles or steps are run completely through a single pole, instead of being fixed through two upright beams, and they project to an equal distance on each side. A representation of this ladder is given in Fig. 39. THE SLANTING LADDER. Fig. 38.-THE HORIZONTAL Ladder. wards, and you step from heel THE Rundled Pole. to heel, the arch of each foot resting on the rundle. going up in this way, the hands In may make the grasp either above the head, or at the level of the hips. Those who wish to perform more difficult feats sometimes place the hocks over one rundle while the insteps are locked in another below, and then extend the body in a line at right angles from the ladder, the hold being kept by the legs alone. With a ladder fixed in a slanting direction, a still greater variety of movement is at your disposal. The series of exercises performed with the upright ladder may also be gone through with one placed diagonally. The ascent with the back towards the ladder is best performed in this case with the hands taking their grasp as they hang down behind, and exerting their power to raise the body by a push upwards instead of a pull. Another way of going up the slanting ladder is shown in Fig. 37. The body here assumes more or less of the form of a bow, according to the number of the rundles between the hands and the feet. This number being varied from time to time, at the option of the gymnast, the exercise becomes in proportion more difficult or amusing. But after performing the bow, the gymnast should straighten himself up close to the under surface of the ladder, either by raising the position of the hands or lowering that of the feet. In this way he may complete either the ascent or the descent. A common mode of ascend. ing this ladder is shown in our illustration. The legs are transferred from rundle to rundle, and at each change of the sitting posture the hands take a higher grasp. Many of the exercises with the upright ladder may also be accomplished with advantage here, the change of form in the apparatus giving zest and variety to movements which might otherwise become too monotonous. Akin both to the horizontal ladder and to the rack, which was described in a former paper, is THE HORIZONTAL BEAM, a notice of which will complete our account of the apparatus and the exercises of the gymnasium. This beam usually stretches from side to side of the apartment, being fixed with the care that is requisite in preparing all other gymnastic appliances. It is available for a wider range of exercise when it is so placed as to be raised or lowered at pleasure, and when, also, one end only may be lowered into a secure recess, so as to transform the horizontal pole into one placed diagonally. Its thickness is usually from four to six inches. On this beam the "hanging" exercises of the ladder and the rack may be performed, together with others previously enumerated. Our illus. tration (Fig. 40) affords examples of the ways in which the beam may be traversed from end to end, either method affording very good exercise. We have now gone through a complete round of exercises for gym. nastic training, either in public or in private in the confined space of the homely apartment, or in the commodious and well-furnished halls which are occasionally devoted in our own country, but more frequently in Germany and America, to the physical culture of the young. The high utility of gymnastic training is undeniable, but it should be pursued within limits which we have been careful to point out, or otherwise many of the exercises may not only lose their value, but become positively mischievous in their tendency. Our hope is that every one of the students of the POPULAR EDUCATOR may be induced or encouraged by these articles to give a certain portion of his time and attention to systematic physical training, not out of idleness or mere desire for amusement, but as a means of recruiting and sustaining his energies for mental culture. Fig. 40.-THE HORIZONTAL BEAM. The ladder horizontally placed, as shown in Fig. 38, also affords a great variety of movement. In the simple hanging position, which is illustrated in our engraving, the gymnast may travel from end to end of the ladder, by changing the grasp of his hands from rundle to rundle. Again, he may hang with his face turned in the direction of the ladder's length, and travel VOL. III. See Vol. I., page 175. 76 rade, vas, wad inrade, invasion, wade, rast, waste vchi, vey vagabond, vagrant. vehicle, convey. convene, contravene. advent, content, vernal. revert, convert, divert, diverse, reverse, versatile. verity, aver. Of wife, and the household, the band and the stay." Ver Verus I turn Vetus (veteris) old Vigil Tarif, a fixed scale of duties levied on imports, comes, it would seem, from Tarifa, the Moorish name of a fortress standing on a promontory, on which, as it commanded the entrance of the Mediterranean, a custom-house was erected. A saunterer is one who wiled away his time in La Sainte Terre, the Holy Land, after the first enthusiasm of the crusades had gone off, and pilgrimages became a sort of religious fashion for the idlers of the day. A poltroon (from the Latin, pollice truncus, deprived Tentus of his thumb) is one who through fear has cut off his thumb Tenuis rather than go to war: such mutilations are still not unknown. Tepco From poltroon, in French poltron, some derive to palter and paltry. | Terra The word post may well claim a place among etymological curi- Testis osities. Post, coming from the Latin positus, placed, may signify a stock placed in the ground, a post; or such a stock (or something like a post), with a hole in it to receive letters; hence, a post or post-office: it may also be applied to a military station, because a person or persons are posted, that is, placed at the particular spot to keep and defend it. Hence it is easy to see how the epithet ay be applied to horses or carriages, as posthorses, post-chaise, and posting-house, because at that house horses and carriages were placed for hire; and as persons travelling from posting-house to posting-house would naturally, as being away from home, and intent on some business, probably business of an urgent nature, make all possible speed, so to post and to travel post-haste, came to signify rapid travelling. Thus a post, a wholly stationary and immovable thing, came by natural deviation and easy steps to represent the utmost speed in travelling known before the laying down of railways. Textus Tritus Trudo Trusus Turba scen watchful ten, tain, tin tent provide, invidious. visible, vision. vigilant. I hold I am warm tep, tepe trituration, attrition. intrude, detrude. tuition, intuition. vital, vitality. Unda Unctus Vinco Vivo Voco If we fix our eye on the etymology of words we shall, in some cases, become aware of marked incongruities. What, for instance, Vita shall we say of calling a weekly newspaper a journal (French, jour, a day)? I have even seen a Journal of Sacred Literature which made its appearance every three months. So a journeyman is one who works under a master, though to appearance he is a day-labourer. To adjourn is properly to hold meetings from Volvo day to day, whereas now it signifies to break up an assembly, or to fix some time in the future for coming together again. “An adjournment is no more than a continuance of the session from one day to another, as the word itself signifies."-Blackstone. Volo Volutus Voro Vulgus exuberant. umbrageous, unbrella. undulate, inundate. unguent. unction. invincible. victory, Victoria. vivid, survive. victuals. vocative, invoke, revoke. voluntary, benevolent. volatile. revolve, devolve. revolution, involution. voracious, carnivorous. vulgar, divulge. convulsion. False spelling has been the parent of false etymology. A country-dance is not a dance in the country, but a contre danse, amation. The four words are made up of Latin elements, but dance where each one stands opposite to his partner in the long line of couples; the French term contre signifying opposite. Shamefacedness and shamefaced have properly nothing to do with the face or countenance, but are misspellings under a false notion for shamefastness, and shamefast, like steadfast and steadfastness. Hurricane is in origin, whatever it may be in fact, totally innocent of hurrying away the canes of the sugar plantations in the West Indies, and comes to us from our Gallic neighbours, who, borrowing an Oriental term uracan, to describe an Oriental storm or tornado, designate it ouragan. The alligator, or crocodile of the New World, was very appropriately designated by the Spaniards who first saw it, el largato, that is, the lizard, the lizard, the largest lizard, the type of the lizard species. In time the article el, the, blended with the noun and formed alligator. We have a similar combination in Eldorado, the gold country. In Ben Jonson, who writes aligarta, we see the word in the process of its transformation. For this word Dr. Johnson could find no etymology, and Sir T. Herbert made it to be a compound of German and Spanish. Inter and disinter may be compared with inhumation and exhuthey are not pure Latin words. To inhume (inhumo) or to pur in the ground, is good Latin, and the Romans practised inhumation; indeed, for a corpse to remain uncovered with earth was accounted a great calamity among them. But the practice of burial, to which these four words point, owes its origin and prevalence to the Christian Church, from the usages of which the words themselves are derived. The doctrine of the resurrection of the body made an article of the Christian's creed, and, entering into his heart and life, naturally led to the discontinuance of burning dead bodies, and to their being inhumed or interred, put into the earth, there to await their resurrection or rising again. Umbrella, from umbra, a shade, is etymologically a little shade. Umbrella is a medieval word used to represent a Greek word (Kadov, ski-ad-i-on) of the same import. Umbrellas are of Eastern origin. In Constantinople, under the Greek empire, they were used for the same purpose as our ladies now use parasols, namely, to shade the head and face from the heat of the sun. Such a protection was less needful in our cold moist climate, and doubtless the rough and sturdy manners of our old English forefathers were averse to a foreign fashion, and so (to The use of the umbrella in the shape of a them) effeminate. parasol found a home in France, and was made prevalent in this country probably by Catherine of Braganza, though it was known here before her time, as may appear from the following quo tations "I saw in the court of Spain once A lady falling in the king's sight, along ; And there she lay, flat spread, as an umbrella."—Ben Jonson.. The latter passage makes it very clear that the umbrella, at the time it was written, was intended not, as now, to keep off the rain, but to cover the face from the sun. But what are we to say of the description in the former quotation, in which it clearly appears that the umbrella was "flat" when "spread?" The explanation is offered in the fact that the first kind of parasol I cite a few words from Miss Strickland's was a large fan. "Queens of England" (Vol. VIII., p. 355): "The courtly belles used the gigantic green shading-fans which had been introduced by the Queen (Catherine) and her Portuguese ladies, to shield their complexion from the sun, when they did not wish wholly to obscure their charms by putting on their masks. Both the mask and the fan, or umbrella, were in general use in this reign. The green shading-fan is of Moorish origin, and for more than a century after the marriage of Catherine of Braganza was considered an indispensable luxury by our fair and stately ancestral dames, who used them in open carriages, in the promenade, and at prayers, when they ostentatiously screened their devotions from public view, by spreading them before their faces when they knelt. The India trade, opened by Catherine's marriage treaty, soon supplied the ladies of England with fans better adapted, by their lightness and elegance, to be used as weapons of coquetry at balls and plays. Addison has devoted several papers in the Spectator to playful satire on these toys, from whence the now general terms of flirt and flirtation have been derived." Undoubtedly the practice of flirtation grew and prevailed in and before the days of Addison: but as to the origin of the word firt Miss Strickland is in error. Derived from to fleer, flirt or furt, signifying a light and silly tossing, is of Saxon origin, and may be found in some of our earliest writers. This flirting of the fan is termed by Addison, flutter. The piece in which he describes this flutter is in his best style for quiet satire, and I shall therefore transcribe it as your lesson in composition, requesting you to send to some friend an account both of the ensuing and of my observations on the umbrella, the parasol, and the fan. EXERCISE IN COMPOSITION. MR. SPECTATOR,-Women are armed with fans, as men with swords, and sometimes do more execution with them. To the end, therefore, that ladies may be entire mistresses of the weapons which they bear, I have erected an academy for the training up of young women in "the exercise of the fan," according to the most fashionable airs and motions that are now practised at eourt. The ladies who " carry "fans under me, are drawn up twice a day in my great hall, where they are instructed in the use of their arms, and exercised by the folowing words of command: Handle your fans! Unfurl your fans! Discharge your fans! Ground your fans! By the right observation of these few plain words of command, a Woman of tolerable genius, who will apply herself diligently to her exercise for the space of but one half-year, shall be able to give her fan all the graces that can possibly enter into that little modish machine. But to the end that my readers may form to themselves a right notion of this exercise, I beg leave to explain it to them in all its parts. When my female regiment is drawn up in array, with every one her weapon in her hand, upon my giving the word "to handle their fans, each of them shakes her fan at me with a smile, then gives her right-hand woman a tap upon the shoulder, then presses her lips with the extremity of her fan, then lets her arms fall in an easy motion, and stands in a readiness to receive the next word of command. All this is done with a close fan, and is generally learned in the first week. but I have several ladies with me, who at their first entrance could not give a pop loud enough to be heard at the farther end of the room, who can now discharge a fan" in such a manner that it shall make a report like a pocket-pistol. I have likewise taken care, in order to hinder young women from letting off their fans in wrong places or unsuitable occasions, to show upon what subject the crack of a fan may come in properly. I have likewise invented a fan with which a girl of sixteen, by the help of a little wind which is inclosed about one of the largest sticks, can make as loud a crack as a woman of fifty with an ordinary fan. When the fans are thus "discharged," the word of command in course is to "ground their fans." This teaches a lady to quit her fan gracefully when she throws it aside in order to take up a pack of cards, adjust a curl of hair, replace à fallen pin, or apply herself to any other matter of importance. This part of the exercise, as it only consists in tossing a fan with an air upon a long table (which stands by for that purpose), may be learned in two days' time as well as in a twelvemonth. When my female regiment is thus disarmed, I generally let them walk about the room for some time; when on a sudden, like ladies that look upon their watches after a long visit, they all of them hasten to their arms, catch them up in a hurry, and place themselves in their proper stations upon my calling out-"Recover your fans!" This part of the exercise is not difficult, provided a woman applies her thoughts to it. The "fluttering of the fan" is the last, and indeed the masterpiece of the whole exercise; but if a lady does not mis-spend her time, she may make herself mistress of it in three months. I generally lay aside the dog-days and the hot time of the summer for the teaching this part of the exercise, for as soon as ever I pronounce-" Flutter your fans," the place is filled with so many zephyrs and gentle breezes as are very refreshing in that season of the year, though they might be dangerous to ladies of a tender constitution in any other. I have seen a fan so There is an infinite variety of motions to be made use of in the P.S. I teach young gentlemen the whole art of gallanting a fan. expense. READINGS IN FRENCH.-XI. ЈАС ОРО. SECTION I. ON aime à recueillir, comme un religieux souvenir, tout ce qui appartient (a) à la vie des hommes illustres. A ce titre l'anecdote suivante ne sera pas sans intérêt, car vous connaissez tous son principal héros: Napoléon ! Par un beau jour d'été, deux jeunes enfants, un garçon et une petite fille s'amusaient à courir dans un magnifique jardin d'Ajaccio en Corse. Tous les deux, armés d'un filet pour prendre des papillons,' se livraient avec ardeur à la poursuite de ces jolis insectes. Laetitia Ramolini, et la petite Élisa, sa sœur.* Les deux enfants se dirigèrent vers un bouquet (b) de lilas The next motion is that of "unfurling the fan," in which are comprehended several little flirts and vibrations, as also gradual and deliberate openings, with many voluntary fallings asunder in the fan itself, that are seldom learned under a month's practice. This part of the exercise pleases the spectators more than any other, as it discovers on a sudden an infinite number of cupids, garlands, altars, birds, beasts, rainbows, and the like agreeable figures, that display themselves to view, whilst every one in the regiment holds a picture in her hand. Upon my giving the word to "discharge their fans," they give one Alors écartant les branches, prenant sa sœur par la main, il general crack that may be heard at a considerable distance when the lui facilite le passage de l'autre côté du jardin. Libres alors, wind sets fair. This is one of the most difficult parts of the exercise; ils s'élancent à la poursuite du fugitif et ne tardent pas à se "Ah! Napoléon, qu'est-ce donc que tu viens de faire ?" 10 "Je viens de franchir un défilé pour gagner la bataille. Suismoi." 5. Qui étaient les deux enfants ? 6. Vers quel endroit se diri. gèrent-ils ? 7. Que firent-ils en même temps? 8. Prirent-ils le papillon? 9. Où s'en alla l'insecte ? 10. Que dit alors Élisa ? 20. Quel fut l'effet des paroles de Napoléon ? 21. Que fit alors Elisa ? 11. Que lui répondit le jeune 22. Que ramassa-t-elle ? Napoléon ? 12. Que fit-il en écartant les branches ? (a) From appartenir. (b) Bouquet, clump. (c) Se posèrent, were lowered. Rase campagne, open country. 23. Y avait-il beaucoup d'œufs de cassés ? NOTES. (e) From gésir. HISTORIC SKETCHES.-XXXV. THE MURDER OF THE GUISES. AT Christmas time, in the year 1588, there was considerable excitement in the town of Blois-on-the-Loire. King Henry III of France was staying in the castle, and in the town, where were assembled many of the first nobility of the country, the Duke of Guise kept his court. The excitement arose by reason of the (f) Sauvons-nous, let us run away. question mooted between the king and the duke which of them (g) From savoir. SECTION II. "Hélas!" disait le petite en sanglotant, "que (a) devenir ?1 en voilà (b) au moins pour un petit écu (c) de perdus! Que dire (d) à maman quand je vais être de retour? Je vais être battue, et le produit de ces œufs qui devait faire vivre notre famille pendant trois jours! "a "Allons! calme-toi," dit Napoléon, en lui donnant deux petites pièces de monnaie qu'il avait dans sa poche; "voilà déjà une partie du prix de tes oeufs; suis-nous pour le reste." Elisa s'approcha et lui dit mystérieusement à l'oreille : "A quoi penses-tu donc, Napoléon? Nous allons être au moins pour trois jours au pain sec et à l'eau."5 "Nous avons cassé les œufs," répliqua Napoléon, "il faut les payer."" En ce moment on entendit la voix perçante de la bonne qui faisait retentir l'air des noms de Napoléon et d'Élisa.' "Nous voici ! (e) nous voici!" répondirent ensemble les deux enfants.8 "Ah! c'est bien heureux! depuis deux heures que je vous cherche. Quelle est donc cette petite ?"" ajouta la bonne en voyant la paysanne qui marchait derrière Napoléon. "C'est nous," dit Napoléon, "qui avons cassé ses œufs en courant après les papillons ;10 et je mène cette petite à maman pour qu'elle paie (ƒ) le dégât que nous avons fait." "1 Peu d'instants après, la bonne et les deux enfants, suivis de la petite paysanne, entrèrent dans une salle où était réunie la famille Bonaparte.12 Madame Lætitia prit la parole: Napoléon, Elisa, je vous avais fait cadeau d'un filet;13 mais vous m'avez désobéi en franchissant la haie et en courant plus loin à travers la campagne; rendez-moi vos filets, cela vous épargnera l'occasion de me désobéir encore." 14 "Maman," fit (g) Napoléon, "c'est moi qui suis coupable; c'est moi qui ai entraîné Élisa." 15 La petite fille ne dit mot, mais elle sauta au cou de son frère.16 "Ma sœur," dit l'archidiacre d'Ajaccio, "péché avoué est à moitié pardonné: je demande grâce pour Napoléon."" "Oh bien ! mon oncle," dit Elisa, "demandez grâce aussi pour moi, je vous en prie, car j'ai fait bien plus de mal que lui."1 should be the greater. For a long while it had been mooted in one shape or another, but now the matter tended towards a solution. Of course, whenever it becomes a question between a king and one of his subjects who is to be master, and which is to rule, there is not any middle way by which the question can be answered. It is a desperate case, and can only be settled by the removal of one or other of the disputants. Let us shut our eyes for a while to the history of events which have hap pened since the days of Henry III. and the Guise, and let us try to realise what the condition of things was which could allow of any question of the kind being raised; and then let us try to conjure up in our mind's eye the scene which presented itself to men gentle and simple when the points between king and duke were finally settled. Thanks to the tasteful and wise liberality of the French Government, this task of realising the latter part of the subject is not so very difficult. Blois Castle is one of those historical castles which have remained in outward form, and in some of the internal arrangements, precisely as they were left by their ancient possessors. Time and base uses have played havoc with the decorations, furniture, and fittings, but the castle itself remains substantially the same. The Imperial Government has taken advantage of this fact to preserve so grand an historical monument of French history; it has cast out those who made vile use of it, and has restored with beneficent hand the former appearance and beauty of the place. The greatest pains have been taken to profit by suggestions from every reliable quarter, as to the colour and design of the old decorations; and these have been reproduced with rare faithfulness; so that, at this day, the Castle of Blois presents to the visitor, in all its internal arrangements, as well as in outward form, the same appearance it presented on the day at which happened the events about to be sketched here. ments are large and spacious, including the guard-room and council-chamber. As in other rooms of ancient date, the ceilings are low, and massive beams, the support of the roof, obtrude into the chamber; and the windows, being so many large arrowslits in exceedingly thick walls, admit but a scanty light. But the place was quite suitable to the purpose for which it was intended; and its elegant founder, Francis I., did his best to combine the elegance of the palace with the strength of the fortress. The inmates of the castle at the time represented in this sketch were Henry III., his wife, his mother, the famous or infamous Catherine de Medicis, the celebrated Maréchal d'Aumont, the Seigneur Ornano, and a few more of that small section of the French nobility which remained faithful to the fortunes of Henry of Valois. The royal guard, which had been strengthened materially, was under the command of Captain Larchant, who was considered to be entirely devoted to his master. In the town were lodged the Duke of Guise; his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine; the Archbishop of Lyons; the President de Neuilly; Mandreville, and others of the adherents of the Duke of Guise. Henry had withdrawn secretly from Paris when barricades had been thrown up to resist his authority, and when the people clamoured loudly for his deposition, and for the elevation of their favourite, Guise. He fled to Blois, where his influence was pretty strong, and where he announced his intention of calling a grand council to settle the affairs of the nation; for the nation had, for a long while past, been in a disastrously unsettled condition. There was a party in the state called the League, consisting of all the ultra-Catholics of France, that is to say, men who are wholly devoted to the interests of the Church, and completely under the domination of the churchmen. They did not consider Henry of Valois sound in the faith; they feared and hated Catherine de Medicis, his mother, as an enemy to the supremacy of the Church over the State; and they wished, not only to supplant Henry by their chief, the Duke of Guise, but to prevent, by one and the same action, the accession of the heretic heirpresumptive, Henry of Navarre. of failure when she could make certain of the result? Why should she be at the vast trouble and expense of doing that openly which might be done easily and at slight cost in a private way? The idea of assassination naturally presented itself to Catherine; but then the proposed victim also naturally suspected her of entertaining the idea. This she knew, and that any plot to be really effective must be deeply laid. She resolved first to cast the suggestion into the mind of the king, her son; not to propose any definite plan, for she knew his nature, how it would shrink from the first proposal of so responsible an act; and that he must be gradually worked upon, and incited by appeals; now to his own fears for himself; now to his hatred for the Guises; now to the feasibility of a wellplanned murder. Catherine, bold as she was bad, when she had some master-stroke of villany to make, had not given the quality of courage to her son. Henry must be accustomed to the thought, and then accustomed to the idea of working it out. Contrary to expectation, Henry took in his mother's suggestion with some energy, and only began to tremble when he saw the risks he ran of the plot being discovered before it could be executed; but, as his mother urged, these were only additional reasons for taking the utmost precaution, and for not suffering execution to lag. The king saw no way but that of murder by which he could rid himself of his enemies; he felt he had lost the confidence of France; and he knew he had not in himself the genius of command to win it back again. The only statesmanlike feature in the whole of his conduct was where he reckoned on terrifying his rebels into submission by suddenly striking down their chiefs, and on gathering up the reins of authority before the people could recover from their confusion. It was determined to do away with the Duke of Guise, and with his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine. Let us see how that determination was pursued. The king gave out that, because of his sins, and in order to show his contrition for them, he would spend the vigil of Christmas at the shrine of Notre Dame de la Noue, in the forest of that name, about eight miles from Blois. Ostentatious preparations were made for the departure of the court, which was all to share in the fast and humiliation which the king proposed to himself as acceptable to God. The Guises, and their party, while affect The League had an organisation far-reaching and deep-rooted, and it did not disguise either its power or its objects, which could not of course avoid collision with the power and authority of the king. The king, indeed, was not master in something like one-ing to admire the pious devotion of the king, secretly scoffed at half of his dominions; and over the other half, his influence held the people as much through the principle and ideal of loyalty to the institution of monarchy, as through any love or respect to him personally. From Paris, as has been mentioned, the king and his household had been driven in haste; and now at Blois, the Duke of Guise and his friends presented themselves, ostensibly under colour of waiting upon their sovereign, really to counteract him in anything he might attempt towards regaining his authority. The better to conceal their real aim, the Guisards, as they were called, at least the chiefs of them, affected devoted loyalty to the king, and professed to be shocked when the people cried "Long live the Guise!" instead of "Long live the King!" There was not any doubt, however, as to their veritable intentions, and the king knew them; so did his mother, the deviser of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and the author of many a good man's death; and she knew that the position of her son, and of her family, was a desperate one. For a woman like Catherine de Medicis to get the notion into her head that anything affect ing herself, or those whom she controlled for her own purposes, was in desperate case, was the same thing as devising mischief of a deadly kind towards those who made the case desperate. it, and thought it furnished another proof, if one was wanted, of Henry's insanity. They did not propose to join the party, bat they smiled approvingly on its purpose, and they kept their jokes about it till they could crack them over their dinner and supper tables. To the dark, unscrupulous mind of Catherine, which could nevertheless sum up with exactness the probabilities and the facts of a case, and their mutual bearing the one upon the other, and which was practised also in all the tortuous ways of plots, it appeared certain that out of the present difficulty there was only one way, and that a violent one. She knew that so long as the Duke of Guise and his brother remained at the head of the League, Henry's crown could never be safe, and she knew that to dislodge them by fair means would require a force infinitely greater than was at her disposal; indeed, she could not reckon with confidence on what was nominally on her side, and she feared as a fatal thing any catastrophe or mistake which might happen in the prosecution of regular war with inadequate strength. A plan more congenial to her crooked ways of thought soon developed itself in her brain. Why should she run the risk It was scarcely a laughing matter, however. Henry sent out summonses the day before Christmas Eve, requiring the attendance of those persons named at a council in the castle next morning at six a.m. He was to set out to La Noue at nine o'clock. Several of the nobility who were temporarily resident at Blois were summoned, and among them the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine. Finance, it was understood, was the subject to be debated at the council. Previously to issuing the summonses, a private council had been held by Henry with the Seigneurs de Rieux, Alphonse Ornano, the secretaries of state, and some other friends. At this council Henry is reported to have said: "It is now a long while that I have been under the tutelage of the Messieurs de Guise. I have had ten thousand reasons to distrust them, but never so many as since the opening of the States Parliament (at Blois). I am resolved to call them to account, but not by the ordinary way of justice; for M. de Guise has so much power in this place that, if he were brought to trial, he would proceed himself to try his judges. I am resolved to have him killed, as speedily as may be, in my room. It is time I was sole king. The king who has an equal, has a master." When Henry had finished, several members of the council proposed, by way of amendment, that the duke should be arrested and openly tried in due form of law; but the others opposed, saying that in high treason punishment ought to precede trial; and Henry overruled the objections to his plan, the execution of which was fixed for the morning of the 23rd of December. A council had also been held by the chiefs on the opposite side, at which it had been determined that the person of the king should be seized and taken to Paris, and that the states being there entirely under the control of the Guise faction, Henry should be deposed as unfit to reign; be dismissed to some |