paid no debts, and treated the people as if they were dogs or cattle.  They claimed all the great offices of state, and all high commands in the army and navy; sold justice, tampered with the law, quarrelled with the parliaments,—­indeed, were a turbulent, haughty, and powerful aristocracy, who felt that they were above all law and all restraint.  They were not only engaged in perpetual intrigues, but even in treasonable correspondence with the enemies of their country.  They disregarded the honor of the kingdom, and attempted to divide it into principalities for their children.  “The Guises wished to establish themselves in Provence, the Montmorencies in Languedoc, the Longuevilles in Picardy.  The Duke of Epernon sought to retain the sovereignty of Guienne, and the Duke of Vendome to secure the sovereignty of Brittany.”  One wanted to be constable, another admiral, a third to be governor of a province, in order to tyrannize and enrich themselves like Roman proconsuls.  Every outrage was shamelessly perpetrated by them with impunity, because they were too powerful to be punished.  They assassinated their enemies, filled the cities with their armed retainers, and made war even on the government; so that all central power was a mockery.  The Queen-regent was humiliated and made contemptible, and was forced, in her turn and in self-defence, to intrigues and cabals, and sought protection by setting the nobles up against each other, and thus dividing their forces.  Even the parliaments, which were courts of law, were full of antiquated prejudices, and sought only to secure their own privileges,—­at one time siding with the Queen-regent, and then with the factious nobles.  The Huguenots were the best people of the land; but they were troublesome, since they possessed cities and fortresses, and erected an imperium in imperio. In their synods and assemblies they usurped the attributes of secular rulers, and discussed questions of peace and war.  They entered into formidable conspiracies, and fomented the troubles and embarrassments of the government The abjuration of Henry IV. had thinned their ranks and deprived them of court influence.  No great leaders remained, since they had been seduced by fashion.  The Huguenots were a disappointed and embittered party, hard to please, and hard to be governed; full of fierce resentments, and soured by old recollections.  They had obtained religious liberty, but with this they were not contented.  Their spirit was not unlike that of the Jacobins in England after the Stuarts were expelled from the throne.  So all things combined to produce a state of anarchy and discontent.  Feudalism had done its work.  It was a good thing on the dissolution of the Roman Empire, when society was resolved into its original elements,—­when barbarism on the one hand, and superstition on the other, made the Middle Ages funereal, dismal, violent, despairing.  But commerce, arts, and literature had introduced a new era,—­still unformed, a vast chaos of conflicting forces, and yet redeemed by reviving intelligence and restless daring.  The one thing which society needed in that transition period was a strong government in the hands of kings, to restore law and develop national resources.