Villeroi, having broken with the League, had become Henry IV.'s minister of foreign affairs, and obtained some confidence at Rome in return for the good will he testified towards the papacy.

By his councillor's advice, no doubt, the king made no official stir, sent no brilliant embassy; D'Ossat quietly resumed negotiations, and alone conducted them from the end of 1594 to the spring of 1595; and when a new envoy was chosen to bring them to a conclusion, it was not a great lord, but a learned ecclesiastic, Abbot James du Perron, whose ability and devotion Henry IV.

had already, at the time of his conversion, experienced, and whom he had lately appointed Bishop of Evreux.

Even when Du Perron had been fixed upon to go to Rome and ask for the absolution which Clement VIII.

had seven or eight months before refused, he was in no hurry to repair thither, and D'Ossat's letters make it appear that he was expected there with some impatience.