Protestantism in France From Death of Francis I to Edict of Nantes - James Aitken Wylie

in her every look and movement; but in contrast
with these fascinations of person was her soul,
which was encompassed with a gloomy
superstition, that might more fittingly be styled a
necromancy than a faith. She came with a
determined purpose of making the proud realm on
which she had just stepped bow to her will, and
minister to her pleasures, although it should be by
sinking it into a gulf of pollution or drowning it in
an ocean of blood. Thirty years had she waited,
foreseeing the goal afar off, and patiently bending
to obstacles she had not the power summarily to
annihilate.
Death had been the steady and faithful ally of
this extraordinary woman. Often had he visited the
Louvre since the daughter of the House of Medici
came to live under its roof; and each visit had
advanced the Florentine a stage on her way to
power. First, the death of the Dauphin--who left no
child--opened her way to the throne. Then the
death of her father-in-law, Francis I, placed her on
that throne by the side of Henry II. She had the
crown, but not yet the kingdom; for Diana of
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