In the History of the Rise of the Huguenots I attempted to trace the progress of the Protestant party in France from the feeble and obscure beginnings of the Reformation to the close of the reign of Charles the Ninth; when, by reason of heroic struggles, and of the fortitude wherewith persecution and treachery had been endured, the Huguenots had gained an enviable place in the respect and admiration of Christendom. In the present work I have undertaken to portray the subsequent fortunes of the same valiant people, through a period not less critical and not less replete with varied and exciting incident, down to the formal recognition of their inalienable rights of conscience in a fundamental law of the kingdom, declared to be perpetual and irrevocable. As the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day constituted the most thrilling occurrence related in the former volumes, so in the volumes now offered to the public the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes is the event toward which the action throughout tends, and in relation to which even transactions of little weight in themselves assume importance. A conflict persistently maintained in vindication of an essential principle of morals is always a noble subject of contemplation.