Lat. 16mo; Cæterorum octo Lyricorum carmina; Nonnulla etiam aliorum, Gr. Lat. 16mo. The latter work was intended as an appendix to the preceding. Henry inscribed to Philip Melanchthon this, his first impression of Pindar; a poet so highly esteemed by him that he thrice printed his works," in forma minori." He had antecedently bestowed excessive labour on his "Inter"pretatio" of Pindar, and is said to have brought on by it, a personal indisposition; it had been however a performance of his earlier years, and Maittaire pronounces it tumid, and bearing the marks of inexperience.

1561. Xenophontis omnia quæ extant opera, cum annotationibus H. Steph. &c. Græce, fol.; Eadem, Latine, ex interpretatione diversorum, cum copiosissimo indice, fol. This was Henry's first edition of the works of Xenophon, which he repeated anno 1589. He reformed the Greek text by a collation of MSS. &c. the greater part of which were supplied from the "Bibliotheca Fuggeri," which Scrimgerus, Tusanus, and Stracelius, (all at various times "Professores Regii" of Greek in the university of Paris,) had suggested. They contributed also by other helps to the perfection of this edition. For the " Memorabilia" he found great advantage in consulting an edition, given a few years before by Petrus Victorius from

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the Juntine press. The like advantages were afforded in the "

Agesilaus,"

Apologia," and

"Hiero," by a German edition which Joannes Reuchlinus had edited. Henry was thus enabled to give to the public an impression of Xenophon, enriched with "prolegomena," notes, and a "spi

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cilegium vocabulorum ποιητικωτέρων,” as far excelling the Aldine edition, as the Aldine excelled the Florentine; in which two "libelli" or books had been incorporated into one, in the same manner as the two dramas of Eschylus already mentioned.

CHAPTER XXIV.

HENRY ESTIENNE II. CONTINUED-STATE PARTIES AND

RELIGIOUS DISSENSIONS-PROGRESS OF CALVINISMCOMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL WARS-POLICY OF CATHERINE DE' MEDICI-CONFERENCE Of Poissy.

BEFORE we proceed with the history of Henry Estienne's typographical operations, it may be expedient to advert for a moment, to circumstances and events political and ecclesiastical; which however unconnected with Henry personally, could not fail to affect the convenience and success of his literary projects. The French king, Henry II, in consequence of a wound accidentally received in a tournament, departed this life as we have mentioned, July 10, 1559, in the thirteenth year of his reign. His successor was Francis II, his eldest son, a youth of sixteen, of a weak intellect, and feeble bodily temperament. This prince in the preceding year 1558, whilst yet Dauphin of France, had married the celebrated Mary Stuart, (daughter of James V, king of Scots, by his queen, Mary of Lorrain,) generally known as

Mary, queen of Scots: having in her infancy succeeded to her father's throne. This union, had it been more permanent, might have been expected to produce results of no less literary than political interest. The French court was now a scene of contention between the two powerful parties of Bourbon and of Guise; whose rivalry had been in action through part of the reign of Francis I, and the whole of that of Henry II, and kept alive by alternate elevations and depressions. The great point in dispute was the office of tutor or governor to the young king, which belonged by ancient custom to the princes of the blood; and amongst them for consanguinity and reputation, seemed to be due to the prince of Condé, or the king of Navarre, both avowed patrons of the reformed in France. On the other hand, the duke of Guise and the cardinal of Lorrain, no less zealous advocates of the catholic party, nearly allied also to the king himself in respect of his marriage with the young queen of Scots, claimed this dignity as due to their personal rank and merits, and their past services. But Catherine de' Medici, the queenmother, a woman unparalleled by any of her own sex, and never surpassed by any of the other, in the arts of court-policy and dissimulation, was bent upon getting the disputed authority into her own hands; and by connecting herself with one of the contending parties obtained it. The youthful