ficently than he could have done by trophies, pyramids, or most gorgeous buildings.

Many opposite characters were to be seen both in the court and family of Francis I. His admired and talented sister, the celebrated Margaret, was unlike her dissipated mother, Louisa of Savoy. Francis and Margaret present, in their younger days, the interesting portrait of an attached brother and sister, possessing the same intellectual tastes, the same personal attractions, and much the same natural dispositions. It was in her court when duchess of Alençon, that Anne Boleyn, who became one of her ladies, is supposed to have acquired, as it is said, a taste for the reformed opinions," which she manifested at the court of Henry vir when, unhappily, she became maid of honour to the ill-treated queen Catharine.

66

The bishop of Meaux, who was the great friend, adviser, and correspondent of the princess Margaret, became a convert to Lefevre's preaching, but not a separatist from the church of Rome. He erroneously believed that a faithful adherence to the doctrines and commands of the gospel was compatible with obedience to papal authority; but the sequel will show he was forced to choose between them.

Berquin, an officer of the king's household, was, in the fullest sense of the word, a Protestant, and, as such, was burned in Paris. Lefevre, with the bishop of Meaux, and the reformer Farel, often conversed with Margaret,

the king's sister; and she became, there is every reason to believe, a sincere Christian, and a true friend to "the new opinions," as they were called, though they were as old as the gospel itself. She did what she could, in later days, to shelter the persecuted Protestants, and, in her fine old castle of Pau, a tower is yet shown, where, when queen of Navarre, she concealed the famous reformer Calvin.

The characters of persons who are attached to a party are sure to come down to posterity in portraits drawn by different hands. Thus, that of Margaret of Valois, who, by a second marriage, became queen of Navarre, when represented by the friends of the reformation, is quite unlike what it is when described by its adversaries.

The former say that, from the age of fifteen, "the Spirit of God began to be manifested in her, and to appear in all her actions;" while an opponent asserts that Margaret had "scarcely any religion, and patronised those whose religious views were most libertine and convenient, and who yet spoke uncharitably of the ignorance and ill-lives of the clergy."

Margaret was an authoress; some of the tales she wrote have been considered unsuited to the delicacy of a female pen, and some of her advocates deny that she was their author. Her subject was, the scandals of monastic life at that day; her wit was lavished on the ignorance, superstitions, follies, and vices that abounded among the professed religious orders.

The court of Francis used to make progresses, as it was termed, in the fashion of our queen Elizabeth, journeying through the kingdom with great pomp and pageantry; feasting at the nobles' castles, thus levying heavy contributions from them, and indulging in an excess of pleasures. When Margaret accompanied her brother on these occasions, a lively French author affirms that the princess wrote these tales in her litter as she travelled, and that his own grandmother was her attendant, and used to hold her writing-stand.

She wrote, however, some deeply spiritual poems. One collection of hers is called "Pearls of the Pearl of Princesses;" and another, "The Mirror of the Sinful Soul." Many will deem some of her writings interesting as an example of what has been called the religious novel.

These literary tastes naturally led both Margaret and her royal brother among the reformed party of Paris. But this intercourse appears to have been blessed by God to the spiritual good of the sister only; Margaret became the protector, and Francis the persecutor, of the French Protestants.

It was not, however, until their principles came too openly into collision with his that persecution commenced. For some time, Francis rather favoured than opposed them. He attended the discourses at the university, which was then resorted to by students from Germany, England, and other parts, who carried

thither the writings of Luther and other controversialists. He listened with pleasure to the freedom of intellectual conversation in his own palace, and called the learned persons he patronised his sons. But the principal step he took for the advancement, especially of biblical learning, was to found two professorships for Greek and Hebrew, at Paris. The learned Beza, for this act, places the portrait of Francis 1. among those of the reformers, and says the place is due to him who, though a persecutor, was instrumental in that reform, by 66 banishing barbarism from the world."

A well-known anecdote relates, that, not long before this time, a monk, in preaching, exhorted his hearers to be careful of a newlyinvented language, called Greek, and assured them that whoever learned Hebrew instantly became a Jew.

It seemed probable that Francis, at one time, especially under the influence of his sister, would have become the patron of learned and pious men among the reformed, and thus the Protestant religion might have been established in the kingdom. But it is also probable that the strictness of morals and manners then inculcated by the Protestants would have been a great obstacle to this dissipated king; and the grace of God must certainly have changed his heart, and reformed his life before he could, in sincerity, join with those who desired to take the doctrines and precepts of the gospel for a guide to their steps. But while such a change

as cannot be wrought by the will of man, might never have been effected in him, Francis might have aided the new-born church, simply from liberal feeling, and a desire to promote learning and intellect, were it not for some circumstances which seem to have exercised an adverse influence over his conduct in regard to his Protestant subjects.

The historian, Brantome, tells us that king Francis had some cause of complaint against the pope, and told his ambassador that, if his master did not change his conduct, he would act by the Protestants of his kingdom as Henry vin. was doing in England. "Sire," replied the pope's ambassador, "you would then be the greatest sufferer; a new religion requires a new prince."

Francis meditated on the remark; his acute understanding perceived its force; and the historian adds that he embraced the ambassador, and loved him better for his advice. The king of France was an absolute sovereign, and wished to remain so. The reformation produced not only a religious, but a political revolution. Civil bondage is incompatible with religious freedom; religious bondage is friendly to political despotism.

The sovereigns of Europe who most opposed the reformation, did so chiefly on political grounds. Charles v. contended with the Protestants for their civil, still more than for their religious liberties. Such was the general cause of Protestant persecution when conducted by