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

gave him the peaceful possession of the throne
during the few years he was yet to occupy it.
The signing of this edict inaugurated an era of
tranquillity and great prosperity to France. The
twelve years that followed are perhaps the most
glorious in the annals of that country since the
opening of the sixteenth century. Spain
immediately offered terms of peace, and France,
weary of civil war, sheathed the sword with joy.
Now that Henry had rest from war, he gave
himself to the not less glorious and more fruitful
labors of peace. France in all departments of her
organization was in a state of frightful disorder--
was, in fact, on the verge of ruin. Castles burned to
the ground, cities half in ruins, lands reverting into
a desert, roads unused, marts and harbors forsaken,
were the melancholy memorials which presented
themselves to one's eye wherever one journeyed.
The national exchequer was empty; the inhabitants
were becoming few, for those who should have
enriched their country with their labor, or adorned
it with their intellect, were watering its soil with
418