The  same  conditions  of  life  and  education  produced
a  Rabelais  and  a  Roussel,  but  they  failed  to  produce
a  Luther.
We  said  at  the  beginning  that  St.  Bartholomew's
Day  did  not  kill  the  Reformation.  That  was  killed
already.  It  killed  what  was  left  of  the  political
strength  after  the  religious  strength  had  gone  out
of  it.  The  weavers  of  Meaux,  the  poor  artizans
of  Paris,  the  countrymen  of  Provence,  these  formed
the  real  strength  of  the  French  Reformers.  But
the  Du  Bellays  and  the  Chatillons — the  men  who
first  stood  in  the  front — had  none  of  the  earnestness
which  turns  a  Revolt  into  a  Revolution,  a  Protest
into  a  Reformation.  Or,  if  they  had  it  at  first,  it
was  choked  in  the  bud  by  Rabelais.
Happily  we  have  nothing  like  this  in  our  English
history.  Our  men  were  terribly,  deeply  in  earnest.
