Note 165 — Chapter I

‘Ceste place, que les huguenots tenoient quasy pour imprenable.’ Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil, vol. i. p. 512. ‘Cette orgueilleuse cité, qui se croyoit imprenable.’ Mém. de Montglat, vol. i. p. 45. Howell, who visited Rochelle in 1620 and 1622, was greatly struck by its strength. Howell's Letters, pp. 46, 47, 108. At p. 204, he calls it, in his barbarous style, ‘the chiefest propugnacle of the Protestants there.’ For a description of the defences of Rochelle, see De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. vi. pp. 615–617; and some details worth consulting in Mezeray, Hist. de France, vol. ii. pp. 977–980.