Et nunc, reges, .... (Ps. ii

7. 4* tout ce que , » , de glorieux. Cf. quid boni, nihil boni,

7. 13. Et à qui sa propre patrie n^est plus qu'un triste lieu d'exil.

Cf. Quousque enim in regno exulabo ? (Quint. Curt. v. 24.) 7- a8. ' Est-ce là entrer dès les premières paroles au milieu de son sujet, et y transporter tout de suite l'auditeur ? Que cet exorde est majestueux, sombre, et religieux I . . . . Pas un mot qui ne porte, pas un qui ne soit une image ou une idée, un tableau ou une leçon, et au milieu de cet assemblage si imposant, la grande idée de Dieu qui domine tout. . . . L'imagination, assaillie par tant d*objets de douleur et de réflexion, n*a. vu, n'a pu voir que le renversement des trônes, les coups de la fortune, les tempêtes, l'Océan . . . Personne avant Bossuet n'avait parlé de ce ton, ni écrit de ce style.' (La Harpe,)

8. I. Henry IV, surnamed Henry the Great^ bom in iç^Ç^V "^^ ^^^

126 FRENCH SACRED ORATORF.

Castle of Pau, was son of Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Yen* dôme, and of Jeanne d* Albret, Queen of Navarre. He was brought up in the Reformed Church. In 1572, Henry married Marguerite of Valois, sister of Charles IX, King of France, and shortly after succeeded, on the throne of Navarre, his mother, who died at the French Court under mysterious circumstances. On the death of Henry III, Henry of Navaire was, on the and of August, 1589, proclaimed King of France by the army. The League, however, opposed him, and it was not until he had won the victories of Arques (1589) and Ivry (1590) that his chances seemed likely to be crowned with success, and indeed the war might hâve lasted long had not Henry abjured Calvinism in 1593. He was crowned at Chartres in February of the following year. 'Paris vaut bien une messe/ Henry of Navarre had said. In 1598 he signed the famous Edict of Nantes, which granted to the Calvinists liberty of worship and other privilèges. In the following year his marriage with Marguerite of Valois was annuUed, and he married Mary of Medici. On the I4th of May, 1610, he was stabbed by Ravaillac, a religions fanatic. His son, Louis XIII, succeeded him.

8. 6. James IV, King of Scotland, and great-grandfather of James I, King of England, had married Margaret, daughter of Henry VII.