Memoirs of Philippe de Mornay

tearing his name and his State, to discharge them against an old servant, of whom, to my great regret, the fidelity is better known than recognized. As for the letter from the Pope, of which you write to me, concerning M. de Rosny Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, the King's chief minister and you, I do not yet know what it is. From men of honor and virtue I can never expect anything else. Even from such as those, who have made it appear in stronger terms. I salute you, etc.

Letter from M. Du Plessis to M. de Guaschon, September 1600.

Monsieur; I have received at the same time, and by the same man, yours of the 8th, 10th, 12th, and 20th of August, for which I am obliged to you. I praise God for the good success he has given to all your negotiation; even for the establishment of the Chambre de Guienne a special judicial court for Protestant cases in the region of Guyenne, beyond and against hope. This is knowing how to draw fruit from the occasion. And that is due, after the blessing of God, to your patience and dexterity. I have always doubted that M. the President de Fresne a high-ranking magistrate would not return with his office to Languedoc: if it is, as they say, by employing him in Italy, I cannot well understand it. One will be in difficulty to find one who has all the required qualities. If this war heats up, as it seems, I hold that we have cause to praise God for it; for the malignant humors will have to evaporate; that is why I estimate that more than ever we must be moderate in our actions, so that those who want to break it, do not find or take the subject in us, alleging the danger within as more considerable than the interest without. And on this subject you know what my advice was for the Council of Trent the Catholic ecumenical council that defined the Counter-Reformation; to have skirmished over it will perhaps not have hurt; but to reawaken it when it sleeps would be out of place. And our actions normally only reawaken through occasions. For my particular self, what shall I tell you? I foresaw all that I see of it; and nevertheless you do me pleasure to tell me. But it was necessary, for the beginning, that God be served; And for what has happened since, that people of good be informed, and the truth known. They make it believed