[429] During some days he appeared so unwilling to talk about the trial that even Barillon could not venture to introduce the subject.

[430] Soon it began to be clear that defeat and mortification had only hardened the King's heart.

The first words which he uttered when he learned that the objects of his revenge had escaped him were, "So much the worse for them." In a few days these words, which he, according to his fashion, repeated many times, were fully explained.

He blamed himself; not for having prosecuted the Bishops, but for having prosecuted them before a tribunal where questions of fact were decided by juries, and where established principles of law could not be utterly disregarded even by the most servile Judges.

This error he determined to repair.