ii8 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. Henry II., corrupted by their own mother, caused the line to end in disgrace and wretchedness. During the two centuries of their reign the country, from the general impulse which affected all Europe, had advanced in art, learning, and the like, but it had gone back in the sense of personal honour, mercy, and morality. The whole policy of Europe had been infected by Italian craft, and falsehood was viewed as the licensed weapon of statesmen. But France bore off the palm, not only of deceit, but of treachery and bloodshed, and the standard of outward decency and female virtue fell to its lowest in the courts of Catharine de' Medici and her daughter Margaret. Earnest men had gone over to Calvinism, leaving only the dregs behind them ; but even religion on both sides was stained with the savage ferocity of the time. As a rule, no quarter was given, duels were common, private assassination was even more frequent, and both the Jesuit and Dominican orders were wont to deem any means justifiable which removed a foe of the Church. 15. The Battle of Ivry, 1590. — Henry of Navarre, now Henry IV. of France, had been steeped to the utmost in the profligacy of the court, and though his sweet, generous temper, keen wit, and ready courage kept him far above his unhappy cousins, his honour was not untainted, and he was a Huguenot rather by party than in faith. The South was now tranquil under Henry, and most of its cities were Huguenot ; but the whole North was a field of battle, fearfully devastated alike by both parties. The Cardinal of Bourbon was proclaimed king Ijy the League as Charles X., and troops were sent by Philip II. to his aid. But Spanish interference was sure to rouse French hatred, and Henry IV. was accepted by all the Royalist Catholics, and was aided by Elizabeth of England and the German Lutherans. In the winter he made great progress in Normandy, always respecting Catholic churches and restraining cruelties. While he was besieging Dreux, Mayenne came to relieve it, and a battle was fought in the plain of Ivry on the 14th of March, 1590. The Leaguers were blessed by a Franciscan friar, holding up a great cross, while the Huguenots sang a psalm, and Henry made one of the speeches that tell so much on the French, " Upon them ! God is for us. Behold His enemies and yours ! If signals fail you, follow my white plume. It shall lead the way to honour
