We borrow the very words of the Venetian ambassadors who lived within her sphere.

The first, Lorenzo Contarini, wrote in 1552, "The queen is younger than the king, but only thirteen days; she is not pretty, but she is possessed of extraordinary wisdom and prudence; no doubt of her being fit to govern; nevertheless she is not consulted or considered so much as she well might be." Five years later, in 1557, after the battle and capture of Saint-Quentin, France was in a fit of stupor; Paris believed the enemy to be already beneath her walls; many of the burgesses were packing up and flying, some to Orleans, some to Bourges, some still farther.

The king had gone to Compiegne "to get together," says Brantome, "a fresh army." [Illustration: Catherine de' Medici (in her young days)----255] Queen Catherine was alone at Paris.

Of her own motion "she went to the Parliament (according to the _Memoires de la Chatre_ it was to the Hotel de Ville that she went and made her address) in full state, accompanied by the cardinals, princes, and princesses; and there, in the most impressive language, she set forth the urgent state of affairs at the moment.

She pointed out that, in spite of the enormous expenses into which the Most Christian king had found himself drawn in his late wars, he had shown the greatest care not to burden the towns.