Enraged by what they denounced as the weak and impolitic clemency of the
King, in having thus shielded two of the most powerful leaders of the
adverse faction, Catherine de Medicis and the Guises, having first
wreaked their vengeance upon the corpse of the brave and veteran de
Coligny, which they induced the King to dishonour himself by subjecting
to the most ignominious treatment, next endeavoured to alienate
Marguerite from her husband, and to induce her to solicit a divorce. It
had formed no part of the Queen-mother's intention that the Princess
should remain fettered by the bonds which she had herself wreathed about
her; nor could she brook that after having accomplished a _coup-de-main_
which had excited the indignation of half of Europe, Henry of Navarre
should be indebted for an impunity which counteracted all her views to
the alliance which he had formed with her own family. Marguerite,
however, resolutely refused to lend herself to this new treachery,
declaring that as her husband had abjured his heresy, she had no plea to
advance in justification of so flagrant an act of perfidy; nor could the
expostulations of her mother produce any change in her resolve.

[Illustration: THE EVE OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEU Paris: Richard Bentley and
Son 1890.]

It is probable that the perfect freedom of action for which she was
indebted to the indifference of her young bridegroom had great influence
in prompting this reply, and that the crown which had so recently been
placed upon her brow had at the same time flattered her ambition;
while the frightful carnage of which she had just been a witness might
well cause her to shrink from the probable repetition of so hideous a
catastrophe. Be her motives what they might, however, neither threats
nor entreaties could shake the resolution of the Princess; and she was
supported in her opposition by her favourite brother, the Duc d'Alençon,